Patents by Inventor Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward 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).

  • Publication number: 20130081714
    Abstract: A flow control valve, in particular in the form of an electromagnetic proportional 2-way flow control valve (1), having a valve housing (2), in which a control piston (3) is guided such that it can be displaced axially, which control piston (3) actuates at least one fluid-conducting connection (4) between a fluid inlet (5) and an outflow opening (6), wherein an actuator part, in particular an armature (8), which can be actuated by an actuator, in particular in the form of a proportional magnet, acts on the control piston (3), is characterized in that a pressure detecting piston (9) serves for the action of the actuator part on the control piston (3), and in that the fluid inlet (5) is connected in a fluid-conducting manner by means of a pressure detecting channel (11) to a pressure detecting chamber (12) in such a way that the fluid pressure which prevails in the pressure detecting chamber (12) loads the pressure detecting piston (9) and the control piston (3) with a force (F) in the direction of relief of th
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2011
    Publication date: April 4, 2013
    Inventors: Christopher Ward, Peter Malone
  • Publication number: 20130082200
    Abstract: A flow control valve, in particular in the form of an electromagnetic proportional directional flow control valve (1), having a valve housing (2), in which a control piston (3) is guided such that it can be displaced axially, which control piston (3) actuates at least one fluid-conducting connection (4) between a fluid inlet (5) and an outflow opening (6), wherein an actuator part, in particular an armature (8), which can be actuated by an actuator, in particular in the form of a proportional magnet, acts on the control piston (3), is characterized in that a pressure detecting piston (9) serves for the action of the actuator part on the control piston (3), in that the fluid inlet (5) is connected in a fluid-conducting manner by means of a pressure detecting channel (11) to a pressure detecting chamber (12) in such a way that the fluid pressure which prevails in the pressure detecting chamber (12) loads the pressure detecting piston (9) and the control piston (3) with a force (F) in the direction of relief of
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2011
    Publication date: April 4, 2013
    Inventors: Christopher Ward, Peter Malone
  • Patent number: 8370799
    Abstract: A method for providing codebase modification assistance includes receiving training data including learning application code prior to modification and the same learning application code subsequent to modification, the modification being of a known type. Portions of the learning application code that have been changed by the modification are detected. One or more substrings are identified from names associated with the detected portions of the learning application code that have been changed. A target application code that is to be modified according to the known type of modification of the training data is received. The identified one or more substrings are searched for from names associated with portions of the received target application code. The portions of the target application code for which the one or more substrings have been found within associated names are displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Yarden Nir-Buchbinder, Brian L. Peterson, Christopher Ward
  • Patent number: 8358652
    Abstract: A method to organize nodes into an overlay network and to disseminate multicast messages within this overlay both through an efficient tree embedded in the overlay and through gossips exchanged between overlay neighbors. Regardless of the size of the system, this invention incurs a constant low overhead on each node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2013
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Chunqiang Tang, Rong Nickle Chang, Christopher Ward
  • Publication number: 20130010648
    Abstract: A method to organize nodes into an overlay network and to disseminate multicast messages within this overlay both through an efficient tree embedded in the overlay and through gossips exchanged between overlay neighbors. Regardless of the size of the system, this invention incurs a constant low overhead on each node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2012
    Publication date: January 10, 2013
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Chunqiang Tang, Rong Nickle Chang, Christopher Ward
  • Publication number: 20120327777
    Abstract: A method to organize nodes into an overlay network and to disseminate multicast messages within this overlay both through an efficient tree embedded in the overlay and through gossips exchanged between overlay neighbors. Regardless of the size of the system, this invention incurs a constant low overhead on each node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2012
    Publication date: December 27, 2012
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Chunqiang Tang, Rong Nickle Chang, Christopher Ward
  • Patent number: 8332267
    Abstract: A method and system for adjudicating measurement data in real time and re-adjudicating a segment of an input measurement data stream upon submission of a new adjudication instruction in a service level evaluation system. An adjudication instruction associated with a service level is received. Measurement data including a first measurement data point is received. The received adjudication instruction is applied in real time to the first measurement data point to generate a first adjudicated measurement data point. A service level is evaluated based on the first adjudicated measurement data point. To re-adjudicate the data stream segment, a new adjudication instruction is received and the segment is identified. The input data stream's adjudication is suspended and the stream is queued into storage. The segment of measurement data is retrieved and re-adjudicated by applying the new adjudication instruction. The input data stream's adjudication is resumed afterwards from the queued input stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Melissa Jane Buco, Rong Nickle Chang, Laura Zaihua Luan, Christopher Ward
  • Patent number: 8302097
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the problem of scheduling work for employees and/or other resources in a help desk or similar environment. The employees have different levels of training and availabilities. The jobs, which occur as a result of dynamically occurring events, consist of multiple tasks ordered by chain precedence. Each job and/or task carries with it a penalty which is a step function of the time taken to complete it, the deadlines and penalties having been negotiated as part of one or more service level agreement contracts. The goal is to minimize the total amount of penalties paid. The invention consists of a pair of heuristic schemes for this difficult scheduling problem, one greedy and one randomized. The greedy scheme is used to provide a quick initial solution, while the greedy and randomized schemes are combined in order to think more deeply about particular problem instances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Melissa Jane Buco, Rong Nickle Chang, Laura Zaihua Luan, Christopher Ward, Joel Leonard Wolf, Philip Shi-lung Yu
  • Patent number: 8301613
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method, system and a computer program for correlating an incident service ticket with an incident resource ticket. The method includes, in response to a creation of an incident service ticket in a certain service category; searching with a data processor for open incident resource tickets of the same or similar category; searching with the data processor based on a set of similarity rules for corresponding critical configuration items defined in business service configuration items and, if both searches succeed, searching with the data processor found incident resource tickets ordered by time using found critical configuration items and, if a match is found, declaring the incident service ticket to be correlated with the matching incident resource ticket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Genady Grabarnik, Gabriela P. Marcu, Larisa Shwartz, Christopher Ward
  • Publication number: 20120131567
    Abstract: Data characterizing a source computing environment having at least one hardware resource and at least one workload is obtained, as is a specification of a target computing environment to which the at least one workload is to be migrated in a migration. Based on the data characterizing the source computing environment and the specification of the target computing environment, the migration is categorized into one of a plurality of categories; and the migration is specified in accordance with a migration technique selected based on the categorizing step. Techniques to identify suitable migration candidates are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2011
    Publication date: May 24, 2012
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: James Barros, Kamal Bhattacharya, Brian L. Peterson, Birgit Pfitzmann, John Rofrano, Kunwadee Sripanidkulchai, Christopher Ward
  • Patent number: 8156170
    Abstract: A method and arrangements for increased precision in the computation of a reciprocal square root is disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to achieve fifty three (53) bits of precision in less processing time than previously possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert F. Enenkel, Robert L. Goldiez, T. J. Christopher Ward
  • Publication number: 20120079452
    Abstract: A method for providing codebase modification assistance includes receiving training data including learning application code prior to modification and the same learning application code subsequent to modification, the modification being of a known type. Portions of the learning application code that have been changed by the modification are detected. One or more substrings are identified from names associated with the detected portions of the learning application code that have been changed. A target application code that is to be modified according to the known type of modification of the training data is received. The identified one or more substrings are searched for from names associated with portions of the received target application code. The portions of the target application code for which the one or more substrings have been found within associated names are displayed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2010
    Publication date: March 29, 2012
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Yarden Nir-Buchbinder, Brian L. Peterson, Christopher Ward
  • Publication number: 20120066547
    Abstract: A method for problem determination and resolution in an information technology (IT) system includes receiving a problem ticket, searching a database for a plurality of problem features based on data included in the problem ticket, extracting the plurality of problem features from the database, and generating a problem signature corresponding to the problem ticket, wherein the problem signature comprises at least one non-textual feature extracted from the plurality of problem features.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2010
    Publication date: March 15, 2012
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Allen M. Gilbert, Laura Zaihua Luan, Daniela Rosu, Christopher Ward
  • Publication number: 20120054731
    Abstract: Disclosed is a computer-implemented method, system and computer program(s) for migration of a source machine instance to a target machine instance of least one heterogeneous virtual server device managed within a cloud computing environment. The method includes discovering machine images of a cloud service provider and storing results in a computer-readable catalog containing cloud metadata comprised of machine image identifiers and information discovered about the machine images. The method further includes, in response to a request for migration document in a computer-readable form that comprises a specification of a required migration target machine instance, specifying weight/priority information for components to be included in the target machine instance, where the weight information indicates weights for operations comprising component installation, component removal and component upgrade in the target machine instance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2011
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nishanth Aravamudan, Karen Cheng, Robert Filepp, Robert D. Kearney, Markus Klems, Brian L. Peterson, Larisa Shwartz, Christopher Ward, Christopher Charles Young
  • Publication number: 20120054342
    Abstract: A method and system for adjudicating measurement data in real time and re-adjudicating a segment of an input measurement data stream upon submission of a new adjudication instruction in a service level evaluation system. An adjudication instruction associated with a service level is received. Measurement data including a first measurement data point is received. The received adjudication instruction is applied in real time to the first measurement data point to generate a first adjudicated measurement data point. A service level is evaluated based on the first adjudicated measurement data point. To re-adjudicate the data stream segment, a new adjudication instruction is received and the segment is identified. The input data stream's adjudication is suspended and the stream is queued into storage. The segment of measurement data is retrieved and re-adjudicated by applying the new adjudication instruction. The input data stream's adjudication is resumed afterwards from the queued input stream.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2011
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Melissa Jane Buco, Rong Nickle Chang, Laura Zaihua Luan, Christopher Ward
  • Patent number: 8126756
    Abstract: A method and system for adjudicating measurement data in real time and re-adjudicating a segment of an input measurement data stream upon submission of a new adjudication instruction in a service level evaluation system. An adjudication instruction associated with a service level is received. Measurement data including a first measurement data point is received. The received adjudication instruction is applied in real time to the first measurement data point to generate a first adjudicated measurement data point. A service level is evaluated based on the first adjudicated measurement data point. To re-adjudicate the data stream segment, a new adjudication instruction is received and the segment is identified. The input data stream's adjudication is suspended and the stream is queued into storage. The segment of measurement data is retrieved and re-adjudicated by applying the new adjudication instruction. The input data stream's adjudication is resumed afterwards from the queued input stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Melissa Jane Buco, Rong Nickle Chang, Laura Zaihua Luan, Christopher Ward
  • Publication number: 20120039699
    Abstract: A method of forming layered stacks of bundles includes providing a gripping appliance comprising a first gripping assembly and a second gripping assembly. The first gripping assembly is configured for grasping one or more first bundles and the second gripping assembly is configured for grasping one or more second bundles. The first and second gripping assemblies are configured such that first and second bundles grasped thereby may be reoriented relative to one another. The method further includes retrieving from a first location one or more first bundles with the first gripping assembly and one or more second bundles with the second gripping assembly and transporting the first and second bundles to a second location, During transport of the first and second bundles, the bundles are reoriented relative to one another. The bundles are deposited at a selected position in the second location to form at least a partial layer of a layered stack of bundles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2011
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Inventors: Christopher Ward, Craig Gendreau
  • Publication number: 20120038393
    Abstract: An output stage comprising a current mode line driver, a voltage mode line driver, and a center-tapped transformer for coupling data provided by the line drivers to a transmission line is provided herein. The output stage is configured to operate in a backwards compatible Ethernet communication device. For example, the Ethernet communication device is configured to support 10G Ethernet and legacy Ethernet modes of 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, and 1000BASE-T. The current mode line driver can be utilized while operating in the 10G Ethernet mode to provide high linearity. The voltage mode line driver can be utilized while operating in legacy mode to conserve power. In order to accommodate the use of two different line drivers, a switch and/or a voltage regulator is used to couple/decouple a dc voltage to a center-tap of the transformer based on which of the two different line drivers is currently active.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Applicant: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Frank VAN DER GOES, Christopher Ward, Ovidiu Bajdechi, Erol Arslan
  • Publication number: 20120034620
    Abstract: Bio-adhesive compositions that include an extra-cellular matrix protein, bovine serum albumin conjugated with a fluorophore, and an aggregate are provided. The bio-adhesive composition may also include at least one component selected from the group consisting of collagen type IV, laminin, and chitosan. Also provided are methods of making the present compositions, that include taking a desired amount of extracellular matrix gel to liquid form of extracellular matrix; adding a desired amount of bovine serum albumin conjugated with a fluorophore; adding a desired amount of aggregate; and mixing. Further provided are methods for attaching cells to an apparatus using the present bio-adhesive compositions, and methods of attaching the present bio-adhesive compositions to an apparatus. Also provided are kits that include the present composition, components thereof or apparatuses, having the present composition attached thereto.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2011
    Publication date: February 9, 2012
    Applicant: UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE
    Inventors: Christopher WARD, William J. LEDERER, Benjamin L. PROSSER
  • Publication number: 20110295898
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method, system and a computer program for correlating an incident service ticket with an incident resource ticket. The method includes, in response to a creation of an incident service ticket in a certain service category; searching with a data processor for open incident resource tickets of the same or similar category; searching with the data processor based on a set of similarity rules for corresponding critical configuration items defined in business service configuration items and, if both searches succeed, searching with the data processor found incident resource tickets ordered by time using found critical configuration items and, if a match is found, declaring the incident service ticket to be correlated with the matching incident resource ticket.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2010
    Publication date: December 1, 2011
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Genady Grabarnik, Gabriela P. Marcu, Larisa Shwartz, Christopher Ward