Patents by Inventor H. Bruce MacKay

H. Bruce MacKay 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: 5760312
    Abstract: A pressurized ball testing device for determining the relative pressure of tennis balls or other inflated balls whose internal pressure cannot be directly measured comprises a housing having two half shells, attached along a common axis so that the two half shells are movable along the central axis relative to each other. The interior of each half shell has a ball support centered on the central axis. The ball to be measured is placed between the two ball supports so that when the two half shells are pressed together, the ball is simultaneously compressed and held in place. The pressures are relative to a new ball or reference ball, allowing the balls to be sorted for suitability of play. Two methods of measurement are described, one using constant force and the other using constant displacement. In either case the ball to be tested is squeezed from opposite sides by finger-like protrusions to enhance the displacement of the side of the ball for a given force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 2, 1998
    Inventors: H. Bruce MacKay, Daniel J. Bozich
  • Patent number: 5426720
    Abstract: An adaptive process control system selectively controls vibrations in a given medium in real time. Unwanted vibrations present at a point being monitored in a given medium are sensed, and the system generates an appropriate offsetting vibration that is applied to the medium at a convenient location, which may be remote from the monitored point. The system includes a vibration sensor, such as one or more accelerometers, that sense both input and output vibrations present within the medium; at least one vibration generator, such as an electromagnetic shaker, that generates appropriate offsetting vibrations that are applied to the medium at one or more appropriate locations; and a neural network controller that controls the vibration generator(s) so as to force the sensed vibration at the monitored point(s) to a desired level. The adaptive vibration cancellation provided by the invention takes place in real time, and without the need to process time-consuming complex mathematical algorithms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1993
    Date of Patent: June 20, 1995
    Assignee: Science Applications International Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel J. Bozich, H. Bruce MacKay, Jay A. Eggert, Ernest E. Muenchau
  • Patent number: 5367612
    Abstract: An adaptive process control system selectively controls vibrations in a given medium in real time. Unwanted vibrations present at a point being monitored in a given medium are sensed, and the system generates an appropriate offsetting vibration that is applied to the medium at a convenient location, which may be remote from the monitored point. The system includes a vibration sensor, such as one or more accelerometers, that sense both input and output vibrations present within the medium; at least one vibration generator, such as an electromagnetic shaker, that generates appropriate offsetting vibrations that are applied to the medium at one or more appropriate locations; and a neural network controller that controls the vibration generator(s) so as to force the sensed vibration at the monitored point(s) to a desired level. The adaptive vibration cancellation provided by the invention takes place in real time, and without the need to process time-consuming complex mathematical algorithms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1990
    Date of Patent: November 22, 1994
    Assignee: Science Applications International Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel J. Bozich, H. Bruce MacKay, Jay A. Eggert, Ernest E. Muenchau
  • Patent number: 5072381
    Abstract: An electronic gaming system for playing games which includes a system base station and a plurality of gaming boards. The system base station downloads game instructions, a game schedule, and game card arrays into the gaming boards. These game card arrays are stored in the system base station as a gaming card library. The gaming card library contains a plurality of game card arrays such that no two arrays are identical. Each game card array is stored as a single record containing the elements of a particular array, while the individual enjoys instantaneous access to a plurality of gaming cards. The game schedule stores symbols which are to be matched with randomly generated symbols, particularly where the symbols are numbers and the pattern is a plurality of elements of a 5.times.5 array. The base station employs an algorithm to generate cards which ensures that numerical arrays of consecutive adjacent gaming arrays in said library differ by more than one array entry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 1990
    Date of Patent: December 10, 1991
    Assignee: Selectro-Vision, Ltd.
    Inventors: John Richardson, H. Bruce MacKay