Patents by Inventor Franz Grob

Franz Grob 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: 7886275
    Abstract: In a process for providing run time information for computer programs for controlling industrial robots (robot control programs), a first system time of a computer system executing the program is determined after the calling and before the execution of an individual command or a sequence of individual commands (subroutine). The individual command or the subroutine is subsequently executed, and a second system time of the computer system is determined after the execution. The determination of the system times is carried out on the basis of access times to certain areas of a program memory of the computer system, which areas characterize the individual commands or the subroutine. It is thus possible to carry out run time measurements on robot control programs in a simple and efficient manner, and the results of these run time measurements can be used to optimize such programs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: KUKA Roboter GmbH
    Inventor: Franz Grob
  • Publication number: 20050120338
    Abstract: In a process for providing run time information for computer programs for controlling industrial robots (robot control programs), a first system time of a computer system executing the program is determined after the calling and before the execution of an individual command or a sequence of individual commands (subroutine). The individual command or the subroutine is subsequently executed, and a second system time of the computer system is determined after the execution. The determination of the system times is carried out on the basis of access times to certain areas of a program memory of the computer system, which areas characterize the individual commands or the subroutine. It is thus possible to carry out run time measurements on robot control programs in a simple and efficient manner, and the results of these run time measurements can be used to optimize such programs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2004
    Publication date: June 2, 2005
    Inventor: Franz Grob
  • Patent number: 6356806
    Abstract: A method for handling the voltage drop, at least in the control unit of a robot with a PC control is provided that minimizes the time of a plant stoppage and avoids wasteful process interruptions. The PC control has a real time operating system for the time critical control and regulation of the robot movement and a standard PC operating system for communication with an operator. In the case of a voltage drop a battery/accumulator operation takes place with running robot movement and optionally application operations broken off or ended in a clearly defined manner. Then, working processes of the control are terminated. The contents of the working memory at the termination time concerning the real time operating system and robot control programs are stored, particularly as an image, in at least one mass memory. For restarting the robot after such a stoppage thereof the standard PC operating system is loaded in the conventional manner into the working memory and started.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Assignee: Kuka Roboter GmbH
    Inventors: Franz Grob, Stefan Sturm, Carsten Spie&bgr;