Patents by Inventor Christopher Ard

Christopher Ard has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8736568
    Abstract: In a touch sensor, as well as providing touch position data, additional data is provided on the shape of the touch. This is achieved by having sampling nodes on a finer mesh than the size of the actuating object, typically a finger, so each finger touch activates a group of adjacent nodes on the sensor. In this way, each touch has a shape formed by the activated nodes. The shape allows the touch sensor to report an angle with each touch and data indicating how elongate the touch is, preferably both together as a vector in which the direction of the vector gives the angle and the magnitude of the vector gives the ellipticity. For each frame of data collected from the sensor array, the sensor outputs an (x, y) coordinate of touch position and a further (x, y) coordinate of a shape vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Atmel Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Sleeman, Martin John Simmons, Daniel Pickett, Christopher Ard
  • Patent number: 8636958
    Abstract: A nozzle reactor includes a passage having one or more regions with a converging-diverging shape. The nozzle reactor accelerates a reacting fluid to supersonic velocities and mixes it with a feed material. The reacting fluid and the feed material may be pre-heated. The high speed collision between the reacting fluid and the feed material at elevated temperatures causes the materials to react.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Marathon Oil Canada Corporation
    Inventors: Jose Armando Salazar-Guillen, Mahendra Joshi, Christopher Ard
  • Publication number: 20130058835
    Abstract: A nozzle reactor includes a passage having one or more regions with a converging-diverging shape. The nozzle reactor accelerates a reacting fluid to supersonic velocities and mixes it with a feed material. The reacting fluid and the feed material may be pre-heated. The high speed collision between the reacting fluid and the feed material at elevated temperatures causes the materials to react.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2011
    Publication date: March 7, 2013
    Applicant: MARATHON OIL CANADA COMPANY
    Inventors: Jose Armando Salazar-Guillen, Mahendra Joshi, Christopher Ard
  • Publication number: 20120267286
    Abstract: A reactor for cracking heavy hydrocarbons includes a tube having an internal passage filled with a fluid that includes heavy hydrocarbon material. The reactor is oriented vertically so that the fluid moves downward through the internal passage of the tube. The internal passage includes alternating linear sections and curved sections. The internal passage is oriented so that it lies on a single plane. The reactor may be combined with another reactor to produce a reactor system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2011
    Publication date: October 25, 2012
    Applicant: MARATHON OIL CANADA COMPANY
    Inventors: Jose Armando Salazar-Guillen, Christopher Ard
  • Publication number: 20120235937
    Abstract: In a touch sensor, as well as providing touch position data, additional data is provided on the shape of the touch. This is achieved by having sampling nodes on a finer mesh than the size of the actuating object, typically a finger, so each finger touch activates a group of adjacent nodes on the sensor. In this way, each touch has a shape formed by the activated nodes. The shape allows the touch sensor to report an angle with each touch and data indicating how elongate the touch is, preferably both together as a vector in which the direction of the vector gives the angle and the magnitude of the vector gives the ellipticity. For each frame of data collected from the sensor array, the sensor outputs an (x, y) coordinate of touch position and a further (x, y) coordinate of a shape vector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2012
    Publication date: September 20, 2012
    Inventors: Peter Sleeman, Martin John Simmons, Daniel Pickett, Christopher Ard
  • Patent number: 8154529
    Abstract: In a touch sensor, as well as providing touch position data, additional data is provided on the shape of the touch. This is achieved by having sampling nodes on a finer mesh than the size of the actuating object, typically a finger, so each finger touch activates a group of adjacent nodes on the sensor. In this way, each touch has a shape formed by the activated nodes. The shape allows the touch sensor to report an angle with each touch and data indicating how elongate the touch is, preferably both together as a vector in which the direction of the vector gives the angle and the magnitude of the vector gives the ellipticity. For each frame of data collected from the sensor array, the sensor outputs an (x, y) coordinate of touch position and a further (x, y) coordinate of a shape vector. This allows many novel gestures to be provided, such as single finger “drag and zoom” and single finger “drag and rotate”.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: Atmel Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Sleeman, Martin John Simmons, Daniel Pickett, Christopher Ard
  • Publication number: 20120019449
    Abstract: Examples of touch sensors are capable of determining the position of one or more touches and/or gestures on a three dimensional object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2010
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Inventors: Esat Yilmaz, Christopher Ard
  • Publication number: 20110308995
    Abstract: An improved hydrocarbon cracking process includes a first reactor such as a nozzle reactor positioned in series with a second reactor such as a tubular reactor. A cracking fluid such as steam or natural gas is reacted with heavy hydrocarbon material in the first reactor. The first reactor may provide a tremendous amount of thermal and kinetic energy that initiates cracking of heavy hydrocarbon materials. The second reactor provides sufficient residence time at high temperature to increase the conversion of heavy hydrocarbon materials to the desired level. The cracking fluid functions as a hydrogen donor in the cracking reactions so that very little of the heavy hydrocarbon material becomes hydrogen depleted and forms coke even if the heavy hydrocarbon material is repeatedly recycled through the process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2010
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Inventors: Jose Armando Salazar-Guillen, Christopher Ard
  • Publication number: 20100289754
    Abstract: In a touch sensor, as well as providing touch position data, additional data is provided on the shape of the touch. This is achieved by having sampling nodes on a finer mesh than the size of the actuating object, typically a finger, so each finger touch activates a group of adjacent nodes on the sensor. In this way, each touch has a shape formed by the activated nodes. The shape allows the touch sensor to report an angle with each touch and data indicating how elongate the touch is, preferably both together as a vector in which the direction of the vector gives the angle and the magnitude of the vector gives the ellipticity. For each frame of data collected from the sensor array, the sensor outputs an (x, y) coordinate of touch position and a further (x, y) coordinate of a shape vector. This allows many novel gestures to be provided, such as single finger “drag and zoom” and single finger “drag and rotate”.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2009
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Inventors: Peter Sleeman, Martin John Simmons, Daniel Pickett, Christopher Ard