Patents Examined by Tom Steven
  • Patent number: 7275025
    Abstract: A method and system for analyzing performance of a turbine. The turbine optimizer allows a user to evaluate the current performance of their turbine with its current configuration and the future performance of their turbine with a modified configuration. The turbine optimizer determines the current performance characteristic of the turbine based on the current configuration information. Upon receiving from a user a request to display the future performance characteristics, the turbine optimizer calculates the performance characteristics for that turbine if various modifications are made to its configuration. The turbine optimizer may provide a graph that illustrates the current performance characteristics and future performance characteristics with those modifications. The turbine optimizer may also calculate various financial estimates based on the current operating characteristics or future operating characteristics of the turbine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2007
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Jeffrey Chan, John Karl Reinker, Suresh Sharma
  • Patent number: 7272541
    Abstract: This invention presents methods and systems for generating and handling a harmonized network of points. More generally, this invention reorganizes and optimizes a network of points in terms of spatial distribution regularity. Implementations may allow users to manipulate the network of points while maintaining the organization of the network of points. The network of points can define a surface, which can include Béziers and Nurbs three-dimensional surfaces. The surface can be used in a CAD system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2007
    Assignee: Dassault Systems
    Inventors: Sebastien Rosel, Thierry Rouf
  • Patent number: 7266488
    Abstract: A technique for performing signal integrity analysis of a system includes providing a stimulus pattern and a model of the system and performing analog simulation of the model utilizing the stimulus pattern. The stimulus pattern includes sequences of signal transitions with associated transition times and the sequences of signal transitions conform to a bus protocol and the associated transition times are according to characteristics of the system. The stimulus pattern is generated by initializing each of the sequences of signal transitions to an initial signal value and the associated transition times to an initial time, generating subsequent signal values and subsequent transition times by applying protocol rules and calculating timing adjustments for each of a list of transactions; the subsequent signal values and subsequent transition times to be added to the sequences of signal transitions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2007
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas E. Wallace, Jr., Jonathan P. Dowling
  • Patent number: 7263689
    Abstract: Described is an application program interface (API) that enables dynamic modification to applications executing in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment. The application program interface includes a navigation function, a query function, a thread management function, and a modifier function. The navigation function returns program information for a local or remote computer (i.e., specified computing device). The query function returns information about a program on the specified computing device. The thread management function controls execution of other programs on the specified computing device. The modifier function modifies a system memory on the specified computing device that stores the heterogeneous program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2007
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew J. Edwards, Carlos P. Gomes
  • Patent number: 7257526
    Abstract: An efficient parallel event simulation method is implemented by simulating blocks of M edge events, where M is approximately equal to e logeN, and N being the number of interconnected processing elements. Following a simulation iteration, each processing element shares information with adjacent processing elements that relates to events that the processing elements simulated which may affect the simulation of events at the neighbor processing elements. When the communication reveals that the information that is shared by a neighbor processing elements is different from the information that the processing element assumed, then the arriving information is kept and the simulation process is repeated. In executing the repeated simulations of a block, the same random variable values are employed. When all of the processing elements find that the arriving shared information is the same as the information already known to the receiving processing element, simulation of the block ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2007
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Boris Dmitrievich Lubachevsky, Alan Weiss
  • Patent number: 7254526
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for searching a database of web site functional characteristics to identify web sites that are compatible with designated functions are provided. With the apparatus and method, a database of functional characteristics is compiled and a search interface is provided. The database may be compiled in an automatic, manual, or semiautomatic manner by, for example, retrieving web site content with various functions of a web browser disabled and analyzing the resultant output through the web browser. With the search interface, a user may enter designations of the functional characteristics that the user is either interested in having or not having in the resultant list of web sites. Based on the user's designation of functional characteristics, the search engine associated with the search interface searches the database of web sites and identifies the web site entries in the database that are compatible with the designated functional characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Bryan E. Aupperle, Marcia L. Peters
  • Patent number: 7254524
    Abstract: A method and system for creating a simulation authoring environment. Specifically, the present invention discloses a method and system for creating a simulation application that simulates a real-life interaction with a network device. In one embodiment, a real command-line interface with the device is monitored at a server computer. The interface, including the line-commands and their outputs are captured. The line-commands for the particular communication sequence are summarized and grouped into steps. Also, the line-commands can be edited. New line-commands can also be introduced into the communication sequence. Additionally, the server computer re-executes the communication sequence in order to determine all the valid permutations associated with the communication sequence. A simulation application is generated such that the simulation application presents real-life outputs to command-line inputs in an instructional exercise format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Richey, Maruthachala Mandiram Ponnambalam
  • Patent number: 7249004
    Abstract: A mill roll analysis system is described that includes a user interface module, a structural analysis engine, and an analysis control script. The user interface module receives mill roll design data from a remote user via a computer network. The analysis control script automatically directs the structural analysis engine to define and evaluate an appropriate analytical model for the mill roll design based on the mill roll design data. The mill roll analysis system presents an intuitive web-based interface for capturing the mill roll design data, and may present predefined mill roll applications and mill roll types for selection for the user. As a result, the remote user need not be familiar with the underlying analytical modeling techniques, which may be highly-complex by nature. Consequently, a user may utilize the system to evaluate and improve mill roll design in order to achieve increased product performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2007
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: David D. Lindeman, Eric G. Almquist
  • Patent number: 7246055
    Abstract: An open system for multiple discrete, geographically disperse simulation engines to communicate with each other across a distributed electronic network, such as the Internet, comprises a portal accessible to the simulation engines over the network. Local portions of the simulation may be run separately by each simulation engine, and the output data files are stored on and managed by the portal. A co-simulating engine may request an output data file stored by the portal and use that data as input for its downstream portion of the simulation. In this fashion, multiple geographically disperse simulation engines can test bench their designs in an open, network centric simulation environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2007
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Raminderpal Singh
  • Patent number: 7245980
    Abstract: A method and apparatus calculates production quantities of a production system such as the throughput of a tool group, good unit equivalents of a tool group, number of units shipped and started for each step of the production system, process time of each step, average processing time, rate and units processed for each tool group, number of tools required and minimum and actual number of test cells or tool groups required. Some or all of these production quantities are calculated by taking into account the downtime of any controller of a tool group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2007
    Assignee: Wright Williams & Kelly, Inc.
    Inventors: Daren Dance, David Jimenez
  • Patent number: 7239992
    Abstract: The invention relates to the simulation of the deformation of materials, notably of soft body tissues. An apparatus comprises a memory (MEM, NT) storing data as to the position of an object, recorded at the vertices of a grid pattern, and data for force to be exerted on the object. A computer (?P, MT) evaluates new positions of the vertices, as a function of a force exerted globally and mechanical parameters of the material. According to the invention, this computer comprises a module for calculating, for each mesh, a deviation between the current length of an edge and its previous length, and the force data at each vertex of the mesh. Another module calculates, for each vertex, new positional data relating to this vertex as a function of the forces exerted thereon and its previous position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2007
    Assignee: INRIA Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique
    Inventors: Nicholas Ayache, Herve Delingette, Guillaume Picinbono
  • Patent number: 7233962
    Abstract: There is disclosed a method and computer program product for estimating a measure of the quality of the received signal in a computer simulation of an optical transmission system, wherein the simulation includes additive optical noise generated by components within the transmission system. The method and product are able to account for non-Gaussian statistics of noise fluctuations observed in the receivers of optical communications systems, in order to provide for the more accurate simulation of system performance than may be the case using prior art methods based on Gaussian approximation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2007
    Assignee: VPlsystems Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Mark Adam John Summerfield, Konstantin Kuzmin
  • Patent number: 7233886
    Abstract: An improved empirical model-based surveillance or control system for monitoring or controlling a process or machine provides adaptation of the empirical model in response to new operational states that are deemed normal or non-exceptional for the process or machine. An adaptation decision module differentiates process or sensor upset requiring alerts from new operational states not yet modeled. A retraining module updates the empirical model to incorporate the new states, and a pruning technique optionally maintains the empirical model by removing older states in favor of the added new states recognized by the model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2007
    Assignee: SmartSignal Corporation
    Inventors: Stephan W. Wegerich, David R. Bell, Xiao Xu
  • Patent number: 7231274
    Abstract: A process for identifying TPMS electronic wheel sensors on a production line is disclosed. The line of identification data is transmitted in digital bit stream between the electronic wheel sensor and the production line database. Data from the electronic wheel sensors is provided to the vehicle electronic control unit at a subsequent point on the assembly line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2007
    Assignee: Lear Corporation
    Inventors: Malcom L. Moulds, Keith Christenson
  • Patent number: 7231331
    Abstract: A method for predicting the location of stress corrosion cracking in a steel gas pipeline in which in-line stress corrosion cracking smart tool data, external low level metal loss data and soil characterization data are compiled to predict the location of stress corrosion cracking in a steel gas pipeline segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2007
    Assignee: Kinder Morgan, Inc.
    Inventor: James D. Davis
  • Patent number: 7228265
    Abstract: A method and system of emulating serial com port communication. A computer processing system has computer-executable operating system instructions including first instructions that interact with a first serial device according to a predefined input/output (I/O) hardware interface. A first serial device has a receive port and a transmit port and has the predefined (I/O) hardware interface. A second serial device has a receive port and a transmit port. The transmit port of the first serial device is in serial communication with the receive port of the second serial device, and the receive port of the first serial device is in serial communication with the transmit port of the second serial device. Computer-executable instructions emulate serial communication port device communication and include instructions that transmit information over another medium in response to receive requests from the second serial device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2007
    Assignee: Egenera, Inc.
    Inventors: Neil Haley, Justin Maynard
  • Patent number: 7222063
    Abstract: An emulator technology for correctly adapting a processing capability of an entertainment apparatus according to the contents requested by software. An emulator is incorporated in an entertainment apparatus without processing capability adjusting means, such as a personal computer operating system. The emulator judges through a determination section whether the software executed by the entertainment apparatus has requested a change of the processing capability of the apparatus, and if it is judged that the software has requested a change of the processing capability, the emulator makes it possible to change the processing capability of the entertainment apparatus within a range identified by predetermined change parameters supplied for the software in advance or afterward.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2007
    Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
    Inventor: Teiji Yutaka
  • Patent number: 7219039
    Abstract: The present invention provides a meshing method, called grafting, that lifts the prior art constraint on abutting surfaces, including surfaces that are linking, source/target, or other types of surfaces of the trunk volume. The grafting method locally modifies the structured mesh of the linking surfaces allowing the mesh to conform to additional surface features. Thus, the grafting method can provide a transition between multiple sweep directions extending sweeping algorithms to 2¾-D solids. The method is also suitable for use with non-sweepable volumes; the method provides a transition between meshes generated by methods other than sweeping as well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2007
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Jason Shepherd, Scott A. Mitchell, Steven R. Jankovich, Steven E. Benzley
  • Patent number: 7219048
    Abstract: Aspects of the present invention include a methodology for the general timing-driven iterative refinement-based approach, a timing-driven optimization (TDO) method that optimizes the circuit depth after the area oriented logic optimization, and a layout-driven synthesis flow that integrates performance-driven technology mapping and clustering with TDO to account for the effect of mapping and clustering during the timing optimization procedure of TDO. The delay reduction process recursively reduces the delay of critical fanins of a selected. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the fanins of the selected node are sorted according to their slack values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2007
    Assignee: Magma Design Automation, Inc.
    Inventor: Songjie Xu
  • Patent number: 7219045
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to methods for reliability simulations in aged circuits whose operation has been degraded through hot-carrier or other effects by allowing design rules on degradation to be included in the netlist. Once the hot-carrier circuit simulation is launched, the rules are checked and the reliability design rule violations are reported. The process can be performed on either the layout or schematic window. The design rule criteria can be any device parameter and can be expressed in absolute or relative terms. The criteria can be based on device type, model card name, instance geometry, or temperature. Additionally, values can be set prior to beginning the simulation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2007
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Lifeng Wu, Jeong Y. Choi, Alvin I. Chen, Jingkun Fang