Patents Examined by Yaritza H Perez Bermudez
  • Patent number: 9082319
    Abstract: Methods, apparatuses, and systems for computer-aided tracking, navigation, and motion tracking. In one embodiment, a system for determining a spatial position, including a tracking device and a processor. The tracking devices has a working end, a reference end, a plurality of links connecting the working end to the reference end, wherein each link has at least one degree of freedom relative to an adjacent link, and a plurality of sensors measuring the orientation of the links in a plurality of degrees of freedom, wherein X is a minimum number of degrees of freedom about which information is required to define the spatial position. The processor receives information from the sensors and determine the spatial position of the working end of the tracking device relative to the reference end of the tracking device based on information from the sensors measuring Y degrees of freedom, wherein Y is greater than X.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: Carnegie Mellon University
    Inventors: Kenji Shimada, Emily M. Geist
  • Patent number: 9069021
    Abstract: A device for measuring electrical work includes at least one switchable output configured to connect the device to at least one electrical load. An Internet connection means is configured to establish an Internet connection for the device. A clock is configured to electronically determine a current time for the device. At least one electronic memory is configured to store electronic data. A smartcard comprises an integrated microcontroller. The integrated microcontroller is configured to intelligently control the at least one electronic memory, the Internet connection means, the at least one switchable output, the clock, and the electronic data stored in the at least one electronic memory. A smartcard insertion means is configured to have the smartcard be inserted therein. The electronic data from the at least one electronic memory is transmittable via the Internet connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Inventor: Holger Siegel
  • Patent number: 9068898
    Abstract: A thermometer includes first and second surface temperature measurement units, first and second reference temperature measurement units, a storage unit, a temperature correction unit, and a temperature calculation unit. The first reference temperature measurement unit measures a temperature at an opposite side of the first surface temperature measurement unit as a first reference temperature through a first heat insulating portion having a first thermal resistance value. The second reference temperature measurement unit measures a temperature at an opposite side of the second surface temperature measurement unit as a second reference temperature through a second heat insulating portion having a second thermal resistance value. The temperature correction unit corrects the first surface temperature and the first reference temperature based on the second surface temperature and the second reference temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Sakiko Shimizu
  • Patent number: 9064837
    Abstract: A monitoring method of a three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC) is provided, wherein the method includes: providing a plurality of TSVs, providing a plurality of inverters; connecting the inverters with the plurality of TSVs as a circuit loop; enabling the circuit loop to oscillate; measuring an output signal on an output end of one of the plurality of inverters; and determining the manufacturing state of the plurality of TSVs of the 3D IC based on the output signal and apparatus using the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventors: Keng-Li Su, Chih Sheng Lin, Chih-Wen Hsiao
  • Patent number: 9014998
    Abstract: A sensor includes an electronic module that comprises several electronic subassemblies and a processor that can be electrically coupled to the electronic subassemblies. The subassemblies respectively feature a programmable storage device with subassembly-specific data of the respective subassembly. The content of the respective programmable storage devices can be read out and evaluated by the processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Vega Grieshaber KG
    Inventors: Martin Gaiser, Juergen Haas, Juergen Motzer
  • Patent number: 9002667
    Abstract: A power meter comprises at least two measurement paths and distribution device. A first measurement path contains at least one pre-amplifier and a first detector. A second measurement path contains at least one direct connection and a second detector. An additional third path alternative to or optional to the second path contains at least one attenuation element and a second or respectively third detector. The distribution device distributes a test signal to the measurement paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Thomas Reichel, Toralf Bratfisch, Michael Katzer
  • Patent number: 8990045
    Abstract: A pedometer has first and second signal generators mounted along the inner margin of a first shoe and separated by a fixed distance. A sensor and transmitter assembly is mounted along the inner margin of a second shoe. The sensor and transmitter assembly includes a sensor, a microcontroller unit and a wireless transmitter. A pair of impulses is received by the microcontroller unit each time the shoes pass in close proximity to each other. The microcontroller unit generates various pedestrian performance data based on the impulses. The pedestrian performance data is wirelessly transmitted to a display unit carried by the pedestrian.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Silicon Valley Micro E Corp.
    Inventors: Shengbo Zhu, Su Shiong Huang
  • Patent number: 8972209
    Abstract: A method for detecting an internal failure in a capacitor bank connected in one phase or more phases respectively to a power system. The capacitor bank includes a plurality of capacitor units. Each of the capacitor units includes a plurality of capacitor elements connected in parallel and/or series. The capacitor units are further divided into two strings and a current transformer is arranged in the midpoints of the two strings so that the capacitor units are further divided into four quadrants and the internal failure(s) may occur in one or more capacitor elements or units and involves one or more capacitor quadrants. The method includes initiating an alarm and/or a trip signal when the determined total number of internal elements failures exceeds a first or a second threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd.
    Inventors: Zoran Gajic, Jianping Wang, Mustafa Ibrahim
  • Patent number: 8935111
    Abstract: The disclosed system includes a metering device for monitoring electrical power grid conditions, a controller for determining if the metering device is detecting a condition on an electrical grid that is indicative of a delayed voltage recovery event, and a communication device for communicating with one or more remotely located bi-directional power source modules connected to the electrical power grid, wherein the controller is programmed to send a notification via the communication device to the one or more remotely located bi-directional power source modules if the controller detects a condition indicative of delayed voltage recovery event. In some embodiments, the metering device includes a grid metering device. In some embodiments, the metering device measures power factor, and a change in the voltage and ratio of VARs to Watts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: NEC Energy Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles Vartanian, C. Michael Hoff, David Colucci, Peter Gottlieb
  • Patent number: 8924171
    Abstract: A device for monitoring the structure of a vehicle, including an electric measurement sensor, a processing circuit connected to the sensor for converting the sensor measurements into monitoring data, and a transmitter for transmitting the monitoring data to a collecting member, wherein the processing circuit is miniaturized and has a small size so as to be contained within a cube measuring 40×40×40 mm or less, is connected to the sensor by a short wired electrical connection, the length of which measures less than 200 mm, includes an onboard battery, and includes a radio means for transmitting the monitoring data to a mobile collecting member temporarily located in the vicinity thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS France
    Inventors: Katell Moreau, Vincent Rouet, Sébastien Rolet
  • Patent number: 8924168
    Abstract: Described herein are embodiments of methods and systems to detect actuation of a switch using vibrations and vibration signatures. One aspect of the method comprises sending an actuation signal to a switch, receiving a vibration signal associated with the switch, and determining from the vibration signal whether the actuation occurred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Lane Leslie Manoosingh, Ryan Marc LaFrance
  • Patent number: 8855944
    Abstract: A sensor-equipped wheel support bearing assembly capable of accurately detecting the load acting on the bearing assembly is provided. The sensor-equipped wheel support bearing assembly includes a sensor unit in an outer member that serves as a stationary member. The sensor unit includes a strain generating member, having two or more contact fixing segments to be fixed to the stationary member, and two or more sensors for detecting strain in the strain generating member. The contact fixing segments are spaced from each other in a direction circumferentially of the stationary member at the same axial positions. An estimating section is provided in the bearing assembly for estimating load thereon based on the difference between respective output signals from the sensors by calculating amplitudes of the output signals or values corresponding to such amplitudes from the difference between the respective output signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2014
    Assignee: NTN Corporation
    Inventors: Toru Takahashi, Hiroshi Isobe, Kentarou Nishikawa
  • Patent number: 8818741
    Abstract: A method of testing an electrical circuit includes applying test vectors to a circuit, detecting thermal changes in portions of the circuit during application of the test vectors, and identifying unexpected activity corresponding to the thermal changes. The method supplements standard testing techniques to provide a new method of assessing operation of fabricated integrated circuits and programmed field programmable gate arrays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Robert T. Narumi, Parviz Saghizadeh
  • Patent number: 8818745
    Abstract: Various methods and systems are provided for monitoring and analysis of electrical components. In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining raw radio frequency (RF) component data associated with an electrical component, cross-correlating the raw RF component data with a synchronized pseudo-random sequence (PRS) signal injected into the electrical component to determine a correlated impulse response, and determining a condition of the electrical component based at least in part upon the correlated impulse response. In another embodiment, a system includes a signal injection system coupled to an electrical component. The signal injection system injects a synchronized PRS signal into the electrical component. A data capture device obtains raw RF component data synchronized with the PRS signal through a RF antenna. A data analysis device cross-correlates the raw RF component data with the PRS signal to determine characteristics associated with the electrical component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Southern Company Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Olin Alvin Williams, Jr., Michael Jack Swan
  • Patent number: 8812237
    Abstract: A method of measuring a parameter characteristic of a rock formation is provided, the method including the steps of obtaining crosswell electromagnetic signals between two wells and using an inversion of said signals to investigate or delineate the presence of a resistivity anomaly, such as brine in a low resistivity background, wherein the resistivity anomaly is assumed to be distributed as one or more bodies characterized by a limited number of geometrical parameters and the inversion is used to determine said geometrical parameters. The method can also be applied to determine the trajectory of an in-fill well to be drilled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignees: Schlumberger Technology Corporation, Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Michael Wilt, Alberto Marsala, Steve Crary, Saleh B. Al-Ruwaili, Tarek M. Habashy, Shouxiang Ma
  • Patent number: 8805638
    Abstract: A sensor for measurement of a desired variable of a medium includes a sensor having at least two measured value pick-ups and at least two processing units within a sensor housing. The measured value pick-up is defined as a part of the sensor which directly responds to a measured variable to be detected. Each measured value pick-up may be connected via a signal line to each processing unit so that the signal value representing the measured value can be transferred to the processing unit. The at least two measured value pick-ups pick up at least two measured values independently of one another and transfer them to their connected processing units. With this arrangement, the effective actual values of the measurement value to be checked is applied to both measured value picks-ups without time delay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH
    Inventor: Erwin Morath
  • Patent number: 8781792
    Abstract: Techniques for improving parametric chip yield of manufactured chips are provided. In one aspect, a method for optimizing parametric chip yield is provided. The method includes the following steps. Parametric chip yield is computed based on performance and power consumption of a plurality of manufactured chips subject to a given voltage binning scheme. It is then determined whether the parametric chip yield computed is optimal. If the parametric chip yield is not optimal, the voltage binning scheme is altered and the compute and determine steps are repeated. Otherwise the binning scheme is left unaltered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Chandramouli Visweswariah, Jinjun Xiong, Vladimir Zolotov
  • Patent number: 8775127
    Abstract: The present description refers in particular to a computer-implemented method, computer program product, and computer system for trust evaluation of sensor data during at least part of a sensor data life-cycle. The computer-implemented method may include evaluating an acquisition trust value (ATV) of sensor data at a sensor data acquisition module from at least one sensor node in a wireless sensor network (WSN), wherein the WSN comprises at least one sink, evaluating a delivery trust value (DTV) of sensor data at a sensor data delivery module from a sending entity to a receiving entity; and evaluating a processing trust value (PTV) at a sensor data processing module in a processing entity, to obtain a trust evaluation of the sensor data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: SAP AG
    Inventors: Laurent Gomez, Cédric Hébert, Alessandro Sorniotti, Cédric Ulmer
  • Patent number: 8744799
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a system and method for analyzing movements of a handheld electronic device. The system comprises: memory; a microprocessor; a first module to generate movement data responsive to movements of the device; a second module providing instructions to the microprocessor to map the movement data to a string representation relating to symbols in a spatial coordinate system associated with the device and store the string representation in the memory; and a third module. The third module provides instructions to the microprocessor to analyze data relating to the string representation against data relating to a gesture string representing a gesture related to a command for the device to determine if the gesture has been imparted on the device; and if the string representation sufficiently matches the gesture string, executes a command associated with the gesture on the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: BlackBerry Limited
    Inventors: Jeffrey Alton Hugh Dods, Sean Bartholomew Simmons
  • Patent number: 8744784
    Abstract: This invention provides a diagnostic mechanism of a differential pressure type mass flow controller comprising a diagnostic parameter calculating section that obtains a mass flow rate integrated value by means of an integrating calculation from the lowering pressure value of an inlet side sensor among the inlet side sensor and an outlet side sensor arranged in communication respectively at the inlet side and the outlet side of a differential pressure generating resistive element that generates a differential pressure between the inlet and the outlet by changing a flow rate control valve arranged on the channel where a fluid flows from a flow rate control state to a closed state, and further obtains a diagnostic volume value from the obtained mass flow rate integrated value, and a comparing section that compares the diagnostic volume value obtained at the diagnostic parameter calculating section with a specified volume value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Horiba STEC, Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tadahiro Yasuda, Kazuhiro Matsuura, Kentaro Nagai, Daniel Mudd