Patents by Inventor Frank Thoma

Frank Thoma 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: 11609363
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a layered optical composite, in particular for use in an augmented reality device. In particular, the disclosure relates to a layered optical composite and a process for its preparation, a device comprising the layered optical composite and a process for its preparation, and the use of a layered optical composite in an augmented reality device. The present disclosure relates to a layered optical composite comprising: a. a substrate having a front face and a back face, b. a coating comprising: i. a type T layer, and ii. a type C region comprising one or more type C layers; in which the substrate has: i. a thickness tG in the range from 0.2 to 1.2 mm; ii. a refractive index nG at a wavelength ? in the range from 1.6 to 2.4; and iii. an optical absorption coefficient KG at the wavelength ? of less than 10 cm?1; in which the type C layers individually and independently have: i. a thickness tC in the range from 9 to 250 nm; ii.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: SCHOTT AG
    Inventors: Kurt Nattermann, Jens Ulrich Thomas, Frank-Thomas Lentes, Thorsten Damm, Peter Naß
  • Publication number: 20230075139
    Abstract: The present invention relates to touch-sensor detector systems and methods incorporating an interpolated variable impedance touch sensor array and specifically to such systems and methods for force-aware interaction with handheld display devices on one or more surfaces of the device. An exemplary embodiment includes a method for receiving a flexing gesture formed on a sensor panel of the handheld device including determining two or more pressure inputs at the sensor panel and determining a relative pressure between the two or more pressure inputs. The method further includes correlating the relative pressure inputs to the flexing gesture, associating the flexing gesture with a UI element and providing an input to the UI element based on the gesture and the relative pressure between the two or more pressure inputs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2022
    Publication date: March 9, 2023
    Inventors: John Aaron Zarraga, Alexander Meagher Grau, Bethany Noel Haniger, Bradley James Bozarth, Brogan Carl Miller, Ilya Daniel Rosenberg, James Frank Thomas, Mark Joshua Rosenberg, Peter Hans Nyboer, Reuben Eric Martinez, Scott Gregory Isaacson, Stephanie Jeanne Oberg, Timothy James Miller, Tomer Moscovich, Yibo Yu
  • Publication number: 20230057730
    Abstract: A lead-acid battery is disclosed. The lead-acid storage battery has a container with a cover, the container including one or more compartments. One or more cell elements are provided in the one or more compartments. The one or more cell elements include a positive plate, the positive plate having a positive grid and a positive electrochemically active material on the positive grid; a negative plate, the negative plate having a negative grid and a negative electrochemically active material on the negative grid, wherein the negative electrochemically active material comprises barium sulfate and an organic expander; and a separator between the positive plate and the negative plate. Electrolyte is provided within the container. One or more terminal posts extend, from the cover and are electrically coupled to the one or more cell elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2022
    Publication date: February 23, 2023
    Inventors: Frank-Thomas Johns, Uwe Bitomsky, Andreas Dudenbostel, Matthew A. Spence, Kavi G. Loganathan, Qingfang Shi, Cornelia Brendel
  • Patent number: 11587298
    Abstract: A method to efficiently update and manage outputs of real time or offline 3D reconstruction and scanning in a mobile device having limited resource and connection to the Internet is provided. The method makes available to a wide variety of mobile XR applications fresh, accurate and comprehensive 3D reconstruction data, in either single user applications or multi-user applications sharing and updating the same 3D reconstruction data. The method includes a block-based 3D data representation that allows local update and maintains neighbor consistency at the same time, and a multi-layer caching mechanism that retrieves, prefetches, and stores 3D data efficiently for XR applications. Between sessions of an XR device, blocks may be persisted on the device or in remote storage in one or more cache layers. The device may, upon starting a new session, selectively use the blocks from one or more layers of the cache.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: David Geoffrey Molyneaux, Frank Thomas Steinbruecker, Mohan Babu Kandra
  • Patent number: 11580705
    Abstract: A method to culling parts of a 3D reconstruction volume is provided. The method makes available to a wide variety of mobile XR applications fresh, accurate and comprehensive 3D reconstruction data with low usage of computational resources and storage spaces. The method includes culling parts of the 3D reconstruction volume against a depth image. The depth image has a plurality of pixels, each of which represents a distance to a surface in a scene. In some embodiments, the method includes culling parts of the 3D reconstruction volume against a frustum. The frustum is derived from a field of view of an image sensor, from which image data to create the 3D reconstruction is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: Frank Thomas Steinbrücker, David Geoffrey Molyneaux, Zhongle Wu, Xiaolin Wei, Jianyuan Min, Yifu Zhang
  • Patent number: 11572301
    Abstract: A method for separating a portion from a sheet glass element having a thickness of at least 2 millimeters along an intended separation line that divides the sheet glass element into the portion and a remaining main part is provided. The method includes producing filamentary damages comprising sub-micrometer hollow channels in a volume of the glass sheet element adjacently aligned along the separation line; and heating and/or cooling the glass sheet element to cause expansion and/or contraction so that the portion detaches from the main part along the separation line. The portion and the remaining main part each remain intact as a whole. The step of producing the filamentary damages includes generating a plasma within the volume with laser pulses of an ultrashort pulse laser; and displacing points of incidence of the laser pulses over a surface of the glass sheet element along the separation line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: SCHOTT AG
    Inventors: Fabian Wagner, Andreas Ortner, Albrecht Seidl, Frank-Thomas Lentes, Jörn Gerban, Simon Schmitt
  • Publication number: 20230013511
    Abstract: Various techniques pertaining to methods, systems, and computer program products identify, for a first portable device at a first location in a three-dimensional (3D) physical environment, a first sparse map, the first portable device connected to a remote computing system for accessing sharable world data of the 3D physical environment that comprises a physical object, wherein the plurality electronic devices include the plurality of portable devices having respective sparse maps installed thereupon. A second sparse map is identified for a second portable device connected to the remote computing system for accessing the sharable world data. The second portable device performs content persistence for a virtual content relative to the physical object at least by using a merged map determined by merging a version of the first sparse map and a version of the second sparse map based at least in part upon one or more persistence coordinate frames.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2022
    Publication date: January 19, 2023
    Applicant: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: Yilun Cao, Mohan Babu Kandra, David Geoffrey Molyneaux, Daniel Olshansky, David Paul Pena, Frank Thomas Steinbrücker, Rafael Domingos Torres
  • Publication number: 20230020260
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for melting down glass are provided. The method includes using microwave radiation for at least part of the energy supply for melting for transforming a batch into a glass melt. The microwave radiation captures at least part of the transition between batch and primary melt. The method and apparatus include melting assembly with a melting tank which has walls within which both the batch for melting and the molten batch can be accommodated as a glass melt, where above the batch and above the glass melt there is at least one microwave-emitting source disposed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2022
    Publication date: January 19, 2023
    Applicant: SCHOTT AG
    Inventors: Volker OHMSTEDE, Michael HAHN, Günter WEIDMANN, Hildegard RÖMER, Peter FRANKE, Frank-Thomas LENTES, Wolfgang SCHMIDBAUER, Rainer Erwin EICHHOLZ
  • Patent number: 11530812
    Abstract: A method for operating a forced-flow steam generator constructed as a waste-heat steam generator having a pre-heater, including pre-heater heating surfaces, and having an evaporator including evaporator heating surfaces connected downstream on the flow medium side of the pre-heater heating surfaces. A device for adjusting a feed water mass flow has a set point for the feed water mass flow. During the creation of the set point for the feed water mass flow, a waste-heat flow transferred to a fluid in the evaporator heating surfaces is determined, and mass storage and energy storage in the fluid in the evaporator heating surfaces is detected during non-steady-state plant operation. A behaviour over time of a mass storage in the evaporator is coupled with a behaviour over time of a mass storage in the pre-heater, wherein scaling is carried out with a ratio of the density changes in the evaporator and pre-heater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: Siemens Energy Global GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Jan Brückner, Tobias Schulze, Frank Thomas
  • Patent number: 11520150
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a device, in particular an augmented reality device. In particular, the disclosure relates to a device, a kit, a process for making the device, and a process for making a visual impression.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: SCHOTT AG
    Inventors: Simone Monika Ritter, Antoine Carré, Peter Naß, Frank-Thomas Lentes
  • Patent number: 11513648
    Abstract: The present invention relates to touch-sensor detector systems and methods incorporating an interpolated variable impedance touch sensor array and specifically to such systems and methods for force-aware interaction with handheld display devices on one or more surfaces of the device. An exemplary embodiment includes a method for receiving a flexing gesture formed on a sensor panel of the handheld device including determining two or more pressure inputs at the sensor panel and determining a relative pressure between the two or more pressure inputs. The method further includes correlating the relative pressure inputs to the flexing gesture, associating the flexing gesture with a UI element and providing an input to the UI element based on the gesture and the relative pressure between the two or more pressure inputs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Sensel, Inc.
    Inventors: John Aaron Zarraga, Alexander Meagher Grau, Bethany Noel Haniger, Bradley James Bozarth, Brogan Carl Miller, Ilya Daniel Rosenberg, James Frank Thomas, Mark Joshua Rosenberg, Peter Hans Nyboer, Reuben Eric Martinez, Scott Gregory Isaacson, Stephanie Jeanne Oberg, Timothy James Miller, Tomer Moscovich, Yibo Yu
  • Patent number: 11501489
    Abstract: An extended or cross reality system includes a computing device communicably connected to a plurality of portable electronic devices via a network component, a repository accessible by the computing device and the plurality of portable electronic devices, and a dense map merge component. The extended or cross reality system determines a representation for multiple portions of a 3D environment based at least in part upon on a set of dense maps received from the plurality of portable devices, wherein the set of dense maps is grouped into multiple subgroups based at least in part upon pose data pertaining to the set of dense maps or surface information in the set of dense maps. The extended or cross reality system storing the representation as at least a portion of a shared persistent dense map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: Yilun Cao, Mohan Babu Kandra, David Geoffrey Molyneaux, Daniel Olshansky, David Paul Pena, Frank Thomas Steinbrücker, Rafael Domingos Torres
  • Publication number: 20220277529
    Abstract: A method to efficiently update and manage outputs of real time or offline 3D reconstruction and scanning in a mobile device having limited resource and connection to the Internet is provided. The method makes available to a wide variety of mobile XR applications fresh, accurate and comprehensive 3D reconstruction data, in either single user applications or multi-user applications sharing and updating the same 3D reconstruction data. The method includes a block-based 3D data representation that allows local update and maintains neighbor consistency at the same time, and a multi-layer caching mechanism that retrieves, prefetches, and stores 3D data efficiently for XR applications. Between sessions of an XR device, blocks may be persisted on the device or in remote storage in one or more cache layers. The device may, upon starting a new session, selectively use the blocks from one or more layers of the cache.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Publication date: September 1, 2022
    Applicant: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: David Geoffrey Molyneaux, Frank Thomas Steinbruecker, Mohan Babu Kandra
  • Publication number: 20220267189
    Abstract: A method for separating a substrate of a brittle-hard material is provided. The method includes the steps of introducing defects into the substrate at a spacing from one another along a separation line using at least one pulsed laser beam; selecting an average spacing between neighboring defects and a number of laser pulses for generating a respective defect such that a breaking stress (?B) for separating the substrate along the separation line is smaller than a first reference stress (?R1) of the substrate and such that an edge strength ?K of the separation edge obtained after separation is greater than a second reference stress (?R2) of the substrate; and separating the substrate after introducing the defects by applying a stress along the separation line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Applicant: SCHOTT AG
    Inventors: Fabian WAGNER, Volker PLAPPER, Andreas ORTNER, Simon SCHMITT, Frank-Thomas LENTES, Albrecht SEIDL, Antal MAKACS, Patrick BARTHOLOME
  • Patent number: 11423602
    Abstract: A method to reconstruct an environment with depth information is provided. The method makes available to a wide variety of XR applications fresh and accurate 3D reconstruction data of environments with low processing time and low usage of computational resources and storage spaces. The method includes capturing depth information about an environment upon a change within a field-of-view of a user caused by, for example, motions of headpose, user location, and/or objects, and updating a representation of the environment based on depths associated with different confidence levels by the captured depth information. The method may include updating a geometry of the environment based on depths associated with confidence levels higher than a threshold. The method may include, upon a change of the 3D environment, inferring the removal of surfaces in the environment based on depths associated with confidence levels lower than the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: David Geoffrey Molyneaux, Frank Thomas Steinbruecker, Shiyu Dong
  • Publication number: 20220253453
    Abstract: A method and system for persisting data are provided. Batch data is periodically extracted via a computer system from at least one primary data source. Batch data is transformed via the computer system. The batch data is loaded, via the computer system, into a database. Real-time data is continuously received from at least one secondary data source. The received real-time data is indexed in an index. Business intelligence reports are generated from both the real-time data in the index and the batch data in the database.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2022
    Publication date: August 11, 2022
    Inventor: Frank THOMAS
  • Patent number: 11411280
    Abstract: A lead-acid battery is disclosed. The lead-acid storage battery has a container with a cover, the container including one or more compartments. One or more cell elements are provided in the one or more compartments. The one or more cell elements include a positive plate, the positive plate having a positive grid and a positive electrochemically active material on the positive grid; a negative plate, the negative plate having a negative grid and a negative electrochemically active material on the negative grid, wherein the negative electrochemically active material comprises barium sulfate and an organic expander; and a separator between the positive plate and the negative plate. Electrolyte is provided within the container. One or more terminal posts extend from the cover and are electrically coupled to the one or more cell elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignees: CPS Technology Holdings LLC, Clarios Germany GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Frank-Thomas Johns, Uwe Bitomsky, Andreas Dudenbostel, Matthew A. Spence, Kavi G. Loganathan, Qingfang Shi, Cornelia Brendel
  • Publication number: 20220244828
    Abstract: The present invention relates to touch sensor detector systems and methods incorporating an interpolated variable impedance touch sensor array and specifically to such systems and methods for gesture recognition and associating a UI element with the recognized gesture. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a variable impedance array (VIA) system for receiving a gesture that includes: a plurality of physical VIA columns connected by interlinked impedance columns; a plurality of physical VIA rows connected by interlinked impedance rows; and a processor configured to interpolate a location and/or pressure of the gesture in the physical columns and rows from an electrical signal from a plurality of column drive sources (connected to the plurality of physical VIA columns through the interlinked impedance columns) sensed at a plurality of row sense sinks (connected to the plurality of physical VIA rows through the interlinked impedance rows).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2022
    Publication date: August 4, 2022
    Inventors: John Aaron Zarraga, Alexander Meagher Grau, Bethany Noel Haniger, Bradley James Bozarth, Brogan Carl Miller, Ilya Daniel Rosenberg, James Frank Thomas, Mark Joshua Rosenberg, Peter Hans Nyboer, Reuben Eric Martinez, Scott Gregory Isaacson, Stephanie Jeanne Oberg, Timothy James Miller, Tomer Moscovich, Yibo Yu
  • Patent number: 11396471
    Abstract: A method for the production of glass or glass ceramic elements from flat glass or glass ceramic parts is provided where the edges of the glass or glass ceramic elements are treated by a combination of two processes. The flat glass or glass ceramic element with an edge surface connecting the two side surfaces is produced. The edge surface has at least one first elongated, strip-shaped edge region and at least one second elongated strip-shaped edge region, which are formed by a ground edge. The edge regions extend in the longitudinal direction along the edge surface and along the side surfaces. The first edge region has elongated parallel filamentary damages that are parallel and adjacent to one another and, in particular, spaced apart equidistantly, in the longitudinal direction thereof extending transversely to the side surfaces and along the surface of the first edge region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: SCHOTT AG
    Inventors: Volker Plapper, Fabian Wagner, Andreas Ortner, Albrecht Seidl, Frank-Thomas Lentes
  • Patent number: 11398081
    Abstract: An augmented reality/mixed reality system that provides a more immersive user experience. That experience is provided with increased speed of update for occlusion data by using depth sensor data augmented with lower-level reconstruction data. When operating in real-time dynamic environments, changes in the physical world can be reflected quickly in the occlusion data. Occlusion rendering using live depth data augmented with lower-level 3D reconstruction data, such as a raycast point cloud, can greatly reduce the latency for visual occlusion processing. Generating occlusion data in this way may provide faster operation of an XR system using less computing resources and enabling the system to be packaged in a battery operated wearable device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: David Geoffrey Molyneaux, Frank Thomas Steinbrücker, Zhongle Wu, Xiaolin Wei, Jianyuan Min, Yifu Zhang