Patents by Inventor Gregory J. Fera

Gregory J. Fera 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: 7209817
    Abstract: A diagnosis and repair recommendation system for a railroad locomotive is disclosed. The system uses generalized repair recommendations and instantiates them to a specific repair process for a unique road number locomotive. In addition to repair steps to be executed by the technician, the method and system remotely provides supporting documentation specifically tailored for each step in the repair process. As the repair is being conducted, feedback information is entered by the technician. The repair recommendations and the supporting documents are available to the technician via a remote unit, thereby allowing the technician to access the repair steps and supporting documentation while the repair is in progress.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Aiman Abdel-Malek, Brian Scallan, Jeanette M. Bruno, Bryan A. Mathewson, James E. Schlabach, Gregory J. Fera, Ivan Gomez
  • Patent number: 6959235
    Abstract: A diagnosis and repair recommendation system for a railroad locomotive is disclosed. The system uses generalized repair recommendations and instantiates them to a specific repair process for a unique road number locomotive. In addition to repair steps to be executed by the technician, the method and system remotely provides supporting documentation specifically tailored for each step in the repair process. As the repair is being conducted, feedback information is entered by the technician. The repair recommendations and the supporting documents are available to the technician via a remote unit, thereby allowing the technician to access the repair steps and supporting documentation while the repair is in progress.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2005
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Aiman Abdel-Malek, Brian Scallan, Jeanette M. Bruno, Bryan A. Mathewson, James E. Schlabach, Gregory J. Fera, Ivan Gomez
  • Patent number: 6650949
    Abstract: A method for sorting respective incident log data from a plurality of machines undergoing diagnostics is provided. The method allows for receiving incident log data comprising one or more incidents from the plurality of machines and for receiving operational parameter data from the plurality of machines. The method further allows for executing a set of incident-authentication rules indicative of whether a received incident actually corresponds to a faulty condition or not. An assigning step allows for assigning a predetermined incident severity rating to the respective incidents, and a processing step allows for processing the respective incidents based on their respective incident severity rating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2003
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gregory J. Fera, Christopher M. McQuown, Bryan S. Reichenbach, Edward P. Wisniewski
  • Patent number: 6580975
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining whether a railroad locomotive is configured with the correct software versions. The version numbers for software on board the vehicle are periodically determined by an on-board monitoring system. This information is later transmitted to a remote monitoring and diagnostic center, where the actual software version numbers are compared to the expected software versions. If there is a mismatch, personnel at the remote monitoring and diagnostic center are alerted to resolve the mismatch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2003
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: John H. Lovelace, II, Bradely Charles Hendrickson, Gregory J. Fera
  • Publication number: 20030004622
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining whether a railroad locomotive is configured with the correct software versions. The version numbers for software on board the vehicle are periodically determined by an on-board monitoring system. This information is later transmitted to a remote monitoring and diagnostic center, where the actual software version numbers are compared to the expected software versions. If there is a mismatch, personnel at the remote monitoring and diagnostic center are alerted to resolve the mismatch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2002
    Publication date: January 2, 2003
    Applicant: General Electric Company
    Inventors: John H. Lovelace, Bradley Charles Hendrickson, Gregory J. Fera
  • Patent number: 6430481
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining whether a railroad locomotive is configured with the correct software versions. The version numbers for software on board the locomotive are periodically determined by an on-board monitoring system. This information is later transmitted to a remote monitoring and diagnostic center, where the actual software version numbers are compared to the expected software versions. If there is a mismatch, personnel at the remote monitoring and diagnostic center are alerted to resolve the mismatch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2002
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: John H. Lovelace, II, Bradley Charles Hendrickson, Gregory J. Fera
  • Patent number: 6338152
    Abstract: A method and system for managing communication of electronic data between a diagnostic service center and a plurality of machines generally remote relative to each other is provided. The electronic data is made up of respective machine data from selected machines. The machine data is used for detecting the presence of respective malfunctions which, if left uncorrected, would likely result in respective mission failures of the selected machines. The method allows for storing in a database a list of respective cases to be processed. The method further allows for assigning to each case a respective download priority. A determining step allows for determining each case to be populated next with new machine data based at least upon the assigned download priority. Respective executing steps allow for executing a download of the new machine data, and for executing predetermined analysis on the downloaded data for detecting the presence of respective malfunctions in the selected machines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2002
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Gregory J. Fera, Eric H. Hedlund, Steven Loncher, John H. Lovelace, Thomas E. O'Camb, James E. Pander, Ashish Puri
  • Patent number: 6263265
    Abstract: A method for managing a fleet of mobile assets utilizing the Internet to display information regarding the location and performance parameters of the mobile assets. A user has access to multimedia information regarding the design parameters operating statistics, inspection reports, and maintenance recommendations regarding each of the mobile assets. A service provider may be linked via the Internet to a centralized data center for the analysis of data and updating of the Internet web pages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2001
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Gregory J. Fera