Patents Examined by Walter L. Lindsay, Jr.
  • Patent number: 12292368
    Abstract: The present invention provides an evaluation method for evaluating a state in an apparatus concerning particles existing inside a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate, including arranging a plate in a charged state inside the apparatus and obtaining the number of particles adhered to the plate by performing a dummy operation different from an operation of processing the substrate, and evaluating the state in the apparatus based on a coefficient representing a ratio of the number of particles adhered to the plate by performing the dummy operation for the plate in an uncharged state to the number of particles adhered to the plate in the charged state, and the number of particles obtained in the arranging the plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masami Yonekawa, Hisanobu Azuma, Toshihiro Ifuku
  • Patent number: 12292279
    Abstract: Provided is a movement distance measurement apparatus for confirming the operating state of a power transmission device for automobiles, which has removed the effect of temperature, and the movement distance measurement apparatus for confirming the operating state of a power transmission device for automobiles, which has removed the effect of temperature, is configured to measure the movement distance T of the detection target object 20 using a resonance circuit including the sensing coil by using changes in the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit and changes in the output voltage of the resonance circuit according to changes in the distance between the detection target object 20 and the sensing coil, and to be provided with a diode voltage detection unit that separately detects diode voltage included in the output value of the resonance circuit not to be affected by temperature change by removing the diode voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: SHILLA INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Byoung Sun Choi, Ik Hyun Kwon
  • Patent number: 12294061
    Abstract: A battery resistance measurement system measures an electrical resistance of a battery and comprises a determination unit and a measurement unit. The determination unit determines, based on whether a predetermined condition is satisfied, whether a target battery has switched from a charged state to a discharged state in which while the target battery receives supplied electric power the target battery outputs electric power larger than the supplied electric power. The measurement unit starts measuring the electrical resistance of the target battery at a time when the determination unit determines that the target battery is switched from the charged state to the discharged state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yoshida, Yuto Baba
  • Patent number: 12291608
    Abstract: Computer-implemented methods may include identifying a polymer for decomposition. The method may further include accessing, for an ionic liquid, one or more properties corresponding to the polymer. One or more properties may characterize a reaction between the polymer and the ionic liquid. The method may also include accessing a value of the property using a quantum-mechanical or thermodynamical method. The method may include determining a bond string and position (BSP) representation of a molecule of the ionic liquid. The method may further include determining an embedded representation of the ionic liquid based on the BSP representation. In addition, the method may include generating a relationship between BSP representations of molecules and the one or more properties. The method may also include identifying an ionic liquid as a prospect for depolymerizing the specific polymer based on the relationship. The method may include outputting an identification of the ionic liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: X Development LLC
    Inventors: Vahe Gharakhanyan, Julia Yang, Tusharkumar Gadhiya, Alexander Holiday
  • Patent number: 12287204
    Abstract: A microelectromechanical resonator is provided with two proof masses that are coupled with an anti-phase coupling structure that includes a seesaw lever and a force-displacement lever. Moreover, a joint extends from the seesaw lever to the force-displacement lever and a mass connection element extends from each proof masse to the adjacent lever.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2025
    Inventor: Ville Kaajakari
  • Patent number: 12287306
    Abstract: A system for determining an ambient concentration of compositions for bathroom cleaning comprises a processor operable to receive a concentration measurement from a sensor over a network within a first period of time. The processor is operable to compare the received concentration measurement to a first threshold and to a second threshold greater than the first threshold. The processor is operable to instruct a memory communicatively coupled to the processor to store an indication that a bathroom was cleaned in response to a determination that the received concentration measurement is greater than the first threshold and less than the second threshold. The processor is operable to send an alert for display on a user device indicating either that the sensor has been tampered or that a spill event has occurred in response to a determination that the received concentration measurement is greater than the second threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2025
    Assignee: 7-ELEVEN, INC.
    Inventors: Shahmeer Ali Mirza, John Robert Keller, Matthew O'Daniel Redmond
  • Patent number: 12281933
    Abstract: A distributed optical fibre sensor is described which is arranged to measure one or more parameters as functions of position along a sensing optical fibre that extends along a path through an environment. The sensor includes a first probe light source arranged to generate pulses of first probe light in one or more first wavelength bands, a second probe light source arranged to generate pulses of second probe light in one or more second wavelength bands separate from said first wavelength bands, a wavelength division multiplexer arranged to launch the first probe light pulses and the second probe light pulses into the sensing optical fibre for backscatter within the sensing optical fibre, and a receiver arranged to receive and separately detect both Raman shifted components of the backscattered probe light, and coherent Rayleigh backscattered components of the second probe light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2025
    Assignee: VIAVI SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Vincent Handerek
  • Patent number: 12282080
    Abstract: Techniques, systems and apparatus are described for magnetic resonance imaging. A method includes generating an MRI image by processing a first image obtained by applying a first order of modules including at least a first control module at a first time point and a first labeling module at a second time point to a target object, wherein the first control module inverts a magnetization of the target object and a second image obtained by applying a second order of modules including at least a second labeling module at a third time and a second control module at a fourth time to the target object, wherein the second labeling module inverts the magnetization of the target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2025
    Assignee: The Regents of the University of California
    Inventor: Jia Guo
  • Patent number: 12281957
    Abstract: Acoustic optical integrity detection system architectures and methods can be used to detect optical integrity of an optical component by detecting a discontinuity on and/or in the optical component (e.g., on the optical surface and/or within the bulk of the optical component). In some examples, integrity detection can be used to ensure safety compliance of an optical system, optionally including a laser. Acoustic integrity detection can utilize transducers (e.g., piezoelectric transducers) to transmit ultrasonic waves along an optical surface and/or through the thickness of an optical component. A discontinuity of the optical surface can interact with the transmitted wave causing attenuation, redirection and/or reflection of at least a portion of the transmitted wave. Portions of the transmitted wave energy after interaction with the discontinuity can be measured to determine discontinuity location, type, and/or severity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2025
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Michael K. McCord, Ehsan Khajeh, Brian M. King, Tong Chen, Yaser Shanjani
  • Patent number: 12282270
    Abstract: A developer cartridge may include: a first gear having a small-diameter gear portion and a large-diameter gear portion; and a second gear including: a first columnar portion centered on a second axis; a second columnar portion having a smaller diameter than the first columnar portion; a first engagement portion extending along a portion of a peripheral surface of the first columnar portion and engageable with the small-diameter gear portion; a second engagement portion extending along a portion of a peripheral surface of the second columnar portion and positioned closer to a housing than the first engagement portion in an axial direction and engageable with the large-diameter gear portion; and a protruding portion protruding in the axial direction and rotatable together with the first engagement portion and the second engagement portion. The second engagement portion may engage the large-diameter gear portion after the first engagement portion engages the small-diameter gear portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2025
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Keita Shimizu, Takashi Shimizu, Hideshi Nishiyama, Naoya Kamimura, Tomonori Watanabe
  • Patent number: 12276931
    Abstract: An image formation apparatus includes: an image former that forms an image on a recording medium delivered along a predetermined delivery path and outputs the recording medium; a first hardware processor that judges whether or not the recording medium is an envelope; a second hardware processor that acquires a basis weight of the recording medium; a third hardware processor that determines control for when an image is formed on the recording medium on the basis of a judgment result from the first hardware processor and a basis weight acquired by the second hardware processor; and a fourth hardware processor that controls operation of the image former on the basis of a determination result from the third hardware processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2025
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventors: Masahiro Nonoyama, Masahiro Kamiya, Katsuhide Sakai, Junichi Masuda, Taku Kimura
  • Patent number: 12276532
    Abstract: A method and a system may inductively determine a position of a display screen of a computing device. Associated processes may generate a magnetic field by providing an alternating current to a driver coil, and may generate a voltage at a sensor coil in response to the magnetic field. The system and method may additionally include determining a linear position of the display screen by executing an algorithm at a processor. An input to the algorithm may include voltage data associated with the voltage generated at the sensor coil. The linear position of the display screen may correspond to a size of the display screen between a minimum size and a maximum size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2025
    Assignee: Renesas Electronics America Inc.
    Inventors: Gustavo James Mehas, Damla Acar, Ashley De Wolfe, Pooja Agrawal, Nicholaus Wayne Smith
  • Patent number: 12270884
    Abstract: Lipid suppression in magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) is provided on a slice-by-slice basis using tailored local field control that is configured for lipid control for each slice in a planned slice prescription. Only those lipid voxels that fall within the bandwidth of the concurrent RF excitation pulse are targeted. Switched B0 offset fields are used to improve lipid suppression pulse performance by pushing water and lipids apart in the frequency domain. Multi-coil B0 shim arrays with rapidly switchable output currents that can be turned on during the lipid suppression pulse may be used. A convex optimization may be used to jointly solve for the shim currents and the lipid suppression pulse center frequency and bandwidth to optimize lipid suppression while minimizing water signal loss.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2025
    Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation
    Inventors: Kawin Setsompop, Jinmin Xu, Jason Stockmann
  • Patent number: 12270824
    Abstract: A sensor system including a chip arrangement, the chip arrangement including a sensor and an acceleration sensor, and the sensor system including a processor circuit. The processor circuit is configured in such a way that: one or multiple temperature-dependent variables and/or properties of the sensor are ascertained, and an offset of a signal of the acceleration sensor induced by a temperature gradient is corrected with the aid of the one or the multiple ascertained temperature-dependent variables and/or properties of the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2025
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Wolfram Geiger, Istvan Kadar-Nemet, Johannes Classen
  • Patent number: 12265144
    Abstract: Nuclear spins are excited in a region of interest in an object under examination by a radio-frequency pulse. During at least one phase of the radio-frequency pulse, excitation fields are transmitted while magnetic field gradients are simultaneously applied so that the magnetization of the nuclear spins moves on a trajectory through a transmission k-space. In a first phase of the at least one phase of the radio-frequency pulse, the trajectory moves at a radial distance around the center of the transmission k-space. The radial distance corresponds to the radius of a sphere superimposed with at least one radial harmonic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2025
    Assignee: Siemens Healthineers AG
    Inventors: Jürgen Herrler, Patrick Liebig, Rene Gumbrecht, Armin Nagel
  • Patent number: 12265356
    Abstract: A photoresponsive polymer that is fluidized by light irradiation and reversibly non-fluidized and contains a structural unit represented by a general formula (1) shown below: wherein each substituent is defined as described in the specification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2025
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Haruo Horiguchi, Kouji Sugama, Kazuaki Nakamura, Yukiko Nakai, Toyoko Shibata
  • Patent number: 12265354
    Abstract: Provided are an image bearing member; a charging member that charges the image bearing member; an exposure unit that exposes the image bearing member; a developing unit that develops an electrostatic latent image as a developer image by supplying a developer, charged to regular polarity, to the image bearing member; a transfer member that transfers the developer image to a transfer-receiving body; and a collecting member that collects a deposit on the image bearing member downstream of a transfer portion of the image bearing member at which the developer image is transferred to the transfer-receiving body by the transfer member, and upstream of a charging portion of the image bearing member charged by the charging member, in a rotation direction of the image bearing member. After transfer of the developer image to the transfer-receiving body, the developer remaining on the image bearing member is collected by the developing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2025
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Funatani, Shinsuke Kobayashi, Kensuke Umeda, Takanori Watanabe, Ai Suzuki
  • Patent number: 12259670
    Abstract: A tubular fixing member including a substrate, an elastic layer, an interlayer, and a surface layer are laminated in this order, in which “E1<E2” is satisfied in a case where a storage elastic modulus of the elastic layer is denoted by E1 and a storage elastic modulus of the interlayer is denoted by E2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Shingo Ebukuro, Yasuhiko Kinuta
  • Patent number: 12253387
    Abstract: A method of determining a configuration of a measurement volume, the method may include: generating, by at least one transmitter, a transmitted magnetic field within the measurement volume; measuring, by at least one receiver positioned, a total magnetic field in the measurement volume at at least one receiver position and generating at least one receiver output signal; generating, by a processing unit, a measured dataset; comparing, by the processing unit, the measured dataset with at least one of at least two reference configuration datasets each for determined for one of at least two different configurations of the measurement volume; and identifying, by the processing unit, a reference configuration dataset of the at least two reference configuration datasets that corresponds to the measured dataset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: Elbit Systems Ltd.
    Inventors: Evgeni Gurovich, Yoav Ophir
  • Patent number: 12247854
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses to obtain increased performance and differentiation for an inductive position sensor through non-disruptive placement of multiloop coil interconnects are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a sense element includes at least one transmit coil and a first receive coil that includes a first plurality of arrayed loops. In this embodiment, two or more of the first plurality of arrayed loops are phase blended. The sense element also includes a first plurality of interconnects. In this embodiment, each of the first plurality of interconnects connects two of the first plurality of arrayed loops. In this embodiment, the first plurality of interconnects is disposed outside of a sensing area of the sense element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2025
    Assignee: SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventor: James M. Maloof