Patents Examined by Walter L. Lindsay, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11867714
    Abstract: An accelerometer for measuring acceleration in the direction of a z-axis which is perpendicular to an xy-plane, where a first proof mass is suspended from a first side anchor point with a first suspension structure which allows the first proof mass to undergo rotation about a first rotation axis. A second proof mass is suspended from a second side anchor point with a second suspension structure. The second suspension structure allows the second proof mass to undergo rotation about a second rotation axis. The torsion elements in the first and second suspension structure lie further away from the center of the accelerometer than the corresponding side anchor points from which the masses are suspended.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Matti Liukku, Ville-Pekka Rytkönen, Anssi Blomqvist
  • Patent number: 11867606
    Abstract: An air quality sensor system is disclosed comprising a housing defining a sidewall means. An air input is located on a first sidewall of the sidewall means with an air output located on a second sidewall of the sidewall means angularly disposed relative to the first sidewall of the sidewall means. A particle sensor including a fan is located within the housing and interposed between the air input and the output for sensing the number of particles passing between the air input and the air output. Preferably, a temperature and humidity sensor, a volatile organic compound (VOC) sensor and a carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor are provided for sensing the ambient air. A transmitter may be included for transmitting data from the particle sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: CRS Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric Streed, Dustin Aumock, Daniel F Cox
  • Patent number: 11867315
    Abstract: A method for verifying the operation of a safety valve having a valve member and a positioner for controlling the position of the valve member is proposed. The safety valve is part of a plant on which a process with a process medium runs. The plant has a sensor for monitoring the state of the plant, the process and the process medium. A sensor's measured value is used to determine a point in time during ongoing plant operation at which the operability of the valve can be verified in the context of a partial stroke test. The test can also be monitored with the sensor and the stroke range traversed therein can be dynamically adapted to the state. The test can thus be performed safely during operation and with an optimized stroke range. The method enables more frequent testing of and more reliable statements about the operability of the safety valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: SAMSON AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventor: Tobias Boll
  • Patent number: 11860081
    Abstract: A corrosion resistance test method for a coated metal material that includes a metal base and a surface treatment film, includes the steps of: disposing one or more water-containing material holders each holding a water-containing material to be in contact with the surface treatment film and one or more electrodes to be in contact with the water-containing material, and electrically connecting, with an external circuit, between the one electrode and the metal base, or between the electrodes; and supplying a current between the one electrode and the metal base, or between at least one of the electrodes and at least one of the other electrodes, as an anode and a cathode, to bring corrosion of the coated metal material to progress. The water-containing material comprises water, an electrolyte material, and kaolinite, and comprises the kaolinite at 36.0 mass % or more to 45.0 mass % or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Teruaki Asada, Katsunobu Sasaki, Tatsuya Ezaki, Tsutomu Shigenaga, Akihide Takami
  • Patent number: 11860183
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and circuitries are provided for generating an acceleration current in response to a threshold temperature being reached. In one example, temperature based acceleration current source circuitry includes a first temperature sensitive device, a second temperature sensitive device, differential trigger circuitry, and an acceleration current source. The first temperature sensitive device is configured to generate a first signal that varies responsive to temperature changes at a first rate. The second temperature sensitive device is configured to generate a second signal that varies responsive to temperature changes at a second rate. The differential trigger circuitry is configured to generate a trigger signal based on a difference between the first signal and the second signal. The acceleration current source circuitry is configured to output an acceleration current in response to the trigger signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Carsten Ingo Stoerk, Johann Erich Bayer, Ruediger Ganz
  • Patent number: 11857306
    Abstract: A method of obtaining multiple MRI contrasts of a subject comprising the steps of concurrently acquiring an MRSI and fMRI data in the same scan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: UNM Rainforest Innovations
    Inventor: Stefan Posse
  • Patent number: 11860257
    Abstract: A three-dimensional magnetic resonance image dataset of an object is acquired using a multi-shot imaging protocol in which several k-space lines are acquired in one shot. The three-dimensional k-space includes a central region and a periphery, wherein the sampling order of k-space lines differs between the central region and the periphery. At least one k-space line from each shot passes through the central region, whereas the periphery includes regions, which are sampled by k-space lines from a subset of the plurality of shots.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GmbH
    Inventors: Daniel Polak, Stephen Farman Cauley
  • Patent number: 11852649
    Abstract: The present invention relates to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and more specifically to an anchor structure for anchoring MEMS components within a MEMS device. The anchor points for rotor and stator components of the device are arranged such that the anchor points are arranged along and overlap a common axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Akira Konno
  • Patent number: 11852650
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometers that are configured for a user interface mode and a true wireless stereo (TWS) mode of an audio device. The accelerometers are fabricated with specific electromechanical parameters, such as mass, stiffness, active capacitance, and bonding pressure. As a result of the specific electromechanical parameters, the accelerometers have a resonance frequency, quality factor, sensitivity, and Brownian noise density that are suitable for both the user interface mode and the TWS mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS S.r.l.
    Inventors: Francesco Rizzini, Nicolo' Manca, Cristian Dall'Oglio
  • Patent number: 11852658
    Abstract: A measurement input circuit for a measurement device for measuring an electric signal in a device under test comprises a signal input that receives the electronic signal from the device under test and provides the received electronic signal at a signal node, a direct signal coupling path that is coupled between the signal node an electrical ground and comprises a first impedance value, an alternating signal coupling path that is coupled between the signal node and the electrical ground, and comprises a second impedance value that is lower than the first impedance value, and a signal output that is coupled to the signal node and outputs the received electronic signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Martin Peschke
  • Patent number: 11852651
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method for determining the installation orientation of an accelerometer system relative to a vehicle within which it has been installed. The method comprises obtaining a plurality of acceleration measurements within the co-ordinate frame of the accelerometer system and then analysing the distribution of these measurements to determine the relative installation orientation. In particular, the measurements can be grouped according to the vehicle movement phase at which they were obtained and the measurements within the groups then used to determine the lateral and horizontal planes of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Bridgestone Mobility Solutions B.V.
    Inventors: Martin Marenz, Christian Meissner
  • Patent number: 11852705
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of MR imaging of an object (10). It is an object of the invention to enable MR imaging using a 3D radial or spiral acquisition scheme providing an enhanced image quality in the presence of motion. The method comprises the steps of: —generating MR signals by subjecting the object (10) to an imaging sequence comprising RF pulses and switched magnetic field gradients; —acquiring the MR signals using a 3D radial or spiral acquisition scheme with oversampling of a central portion (26) of k-space; —detecting motion-induced displacements (d) and/or deformations of the object (10) during the acquisition of the MR signals and assigning each of the acquired MR signals to a motion state; —reconstructing an MR image from the MR signals weighted in the central portion (26) of k-space, wherein a stronger weighting (W, 30) is applied to MR signals acquired in more frequent motion states, while a weaker weighting (W, 31, 32) is applied to MR signals acquired in less frequent motion states.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Gabriele Beck, Chennakeshava Krishna, Suthambhara Nagaraj, Johannes Martinus Peeters
  • Patent number: 11852701
    Abstract: A defect centre-based sensor is disclosed. The sensor comprises instrumentation which includes a generator for causing excitation in an active element, for example a diamond, and a detector for measuring a transition in the active element. The generator is an optical source and/or the detector is an optical detector. The sensor further comprises an optical waveguide and a sensor head in communication with the source and/or the detector via the optical waveguide. The sensor head houses the active element having at least one defect centre, for example, a nitrogen vacancy, responsive to an applied magnetic field, electric field or temperature and a signal delivery arrangement, for example at least one lens, arranged to optically couple the optical waveguide to the active element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: The University of Warwick
    Inventors: Angelo Frangeskou, Gavin Morley, Ben Green, Ben Breeze, Matthew Dale, Rajesh Patel
  • Patent number: 11846527
    Abstract: A sensor device includes a first pair of connection terminals extended from a first sensor and a second pair of connection terminals extended from a second sensor. A first negative connection terminal that is a negative connection terminal of the first pair of connection terminals and a second negative connection terminal that is a negative connection terminal of the second pair of connection terminals are electrically connected to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: PROTERIAL, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshikazu Hayakawa, Tomoyuki Murayama, Yuta Sugiyama, Hirotaka Eshima
  • Patent number: 11848182
    Abstract: In a device for processing imaging-analysis data, two kinds of imaging-analysis data are stored in a storage section 21: (a) first imaging-analysis data, in which measurement data of a target substance, acquired by performing a first predetermined analysis at each of a plurality of measurement points within an analysis target area of a sample S, is associated with spatial position information of the measurement point, and (b) second imaging-analysis data, in which measurement data of a reference substance, acquired by performing a second predetermined analysis at each of the measurement points, is associated with spatial position information of the measurement point. A normalization executer 28 normalizes the measurement data of the target substance at each measurement point, based on the measurement data of the reference substance acquired at the same measurement point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: SHIMADZU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomonori Oshikawa
  • Patent number: 11846691
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for imaging a subject. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system may use at least one RF coil to generate an initial MR data set for an initial image of the subject. The MRI system may use the initial MR image to determine a difference in orientation between a current orientation of the subject in the initial MR image and a target orientation of the subject. The MRI system may use the determined difference in orientation to determine an adjustment to a gradient pulse sequence for controlling at least one gradient coil. The MRI system may apply the determined adjustment to the gradient pulse sequence to obtain an adjusted gradient pulse sequence. The MRI system may generate an adjusted MR data set using the adjusted gradient pulse sequence, and a second MR image of the subject using the adjusted MR data set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Hyperfine Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Laura Sacolick, Rafael O'Halloran, Hadrien A. Dyvorne, Khan Mohammad Siddiqui, Michal Sofka, Prantik Kundu, Tianrui Luo
  • Patent number: 11846570
    Abstract: A wind tunnel device is provided herein that enables the wind tunnel to transform between two modes of operation and/or to refresh/recondition air within the tunnel. The wind tunnel device may provide selective diversion of airflow within the wind tunnel. The diversion of airflow may enable the wind tunnel device to include a multi-configurable wind tunnel that can be operated as either an open-return wind tunnel or a closed-return wind tunnel. Additionally, or alternatively, the diversion of airflow may enable the wind tunnel device to recondition air within a closed-return wind tunnel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: WinField Solutions, LLC
    Inventors: William Hambleton, Daniel C. Bissell
  • Patent number: 11846902
    Abstract: The present invention provides a fixing device including a flexible cylindrical rotary member and an inner-surface opposing portion that opposes an inner surface of the rotary member at an end portion of the rotary member in a generatrix direction. The inner-surface opposing portion moves upstream in a recording material conveying direction in accordance with lateral shift of the rotary member in the generatrix direction. This restricts the lateral shift of the rotary member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Ohta, Terutaka Endo, Seiji Obata, Jiro Moriya, Takayuki Mizuta
  • Patent number: 11841412
    Abstract: The invention provides for a medical imaging system (100, 300). The execution of the machine executable instructions (110) causes a processor (102) to: receive (200) multiple diffusion weighted images (112) of a subject (318), wherein the multiple diffusion weighted images each have an assigned b-value, wherein the multiple diffusion weighted images each have an assigned diffusion weighting direction, wherein for a region of interest (309) there is at least one corresponding voxel (506) in each of the multiple diffusion weighted images; construct (202) a set of equations (114) for each of the at least one corresponding voxel, wherein the set of equations is constructed from an apparent diffusion equation for the assigned diffusion weighting direction of each of the multiple diffusion weighted images; solve (204) the set of equations for each voxel for the b0 value as an optimization; and construct (206) a b0 image using the b0 value for each voxel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Pierre Ermes, Giuseppe Valvano
  • Patent number: 11841636
    Abstract: A developing device includes a developing member to carry developer stored by a developing frame, and a regulating blade having a support plate fixed to the developing frame, a plate-like member, and a regulating member. One end portion of the plate-like member is opposed to the developing member, and the other end portion is welded to the support plate. The regulating member is fixed to a plate-like member surface, and contacts the developing member to regulate a developer thickness on a developing surface. The regulating member is provided with a recessed portion recessed at a regulating member end portion. The regulating member end portion is lower than a regulating member central portion. A plate-like member region welded to the support plate is located at the plate-like member other end portion and overlaps the regulating member central portion and the regulating member end portion at which the recessed portion is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yu Fukasawa, Takuya Kawakami, Yuji Kawaguchi