Patents by Inventor Donald R. Bjork

Donald R. Bjork 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: 5416590
    Abstract: A hand-held apparatus and process for measuring the gap and mismatch of two adjacent surfaces. The apparatus includes two strobe lights positioned within a hand-held housing. An optical interface within the housing directs a portion of the light generated by each light source into substantially parallel planes which are projected out of the opening of the housing at converging angles onto the surfaces to be measured. A camera within the housing captures the resulting image and generates a signal corresponding to the image. A signal processor which includes a frame grabber card processes the signal generated by the array of detectors to thereby calculate the amount of gap and mismatch between the surfaces being measured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 16, 1995
    Assignee: TMA Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: John C. Stover, Donald R. Bjork, Donald A. Rudberg, Mark E. Southwood, Brett D. Swimley
  • Patent number: 5196906
    Abstract: An optical measurement device produces quality light scatter measurements using Bidirectional Reflective Distribution Function (BRDF) techniques to analyze data generated from an accurate, portable, relatively inexpensive scatterometer. The scatterometer is provided with interchangeable scanning heads, each scanning head being equipped with ROM data storage containing certain configuration information about the scanning head. The use of the interchangeable scanning heads allows the present invention to make measurements of light scatter for a wide variety of applications and samples under a variety of environmental conditions where scatter measurement has previously not been feasible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 1990
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1993
    Assignee: TMA Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: John C. Stover, James A. Bender, Marvin L. Bernt, Donald R. Bjork, Paul D. Chausse, Daniel R. Cheever, Kelly H. Kirchner, Tod F. Schiff, Vincent C. Skurdal