Patents by Inventor Hans PFAFF

Hans PFAFF 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: 11217436
    Abstract: There is provided a method of measuring a mass of an ion species in a mass stream. Where the mass stream is a mass stream emitted from a separation device as a function of a separation parameter, the method comprising: obtaining a mass trace for the ion species, wherein the mass trace comprises a set of intensity peaks, each intensity peak providing a respective measured mass and a respective signal measured by a mass spectrometer; and determining the mass of the ion species as an extrapolation of the measured masses of the set of intensity peaks of the mass trace towards a signal zero.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
    Inventor: Hans Pfaff
  • Publication number: 20200176238
    Abstract: There is provided a method of measuring a mass of an ion species in a mass stream. Where the mass stream is a mass stream emitted from a separation device as a function of a separation parameter, the method comprising: obtaining a mass trace for the ion species, wherein the mass trace comprises a set of intensity peaks, each intensity peak providing a respective measured mass and a respective signal measured by a mass spectrometer; and determining the mass of the ion species as an extrapolation of the measured masses of the set of intensity peaks of the mass trace towards a signal zero.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2019
    Publication date: June 4, 2020
    Inventor: Hans Pfaff
  • Patent number: 10658165
    Abstract: A measure of abundance is determined for an element or element combination within a sample, the element or element combination having at least one isotopic variant. An isotopic mass spectral pattern is identified for the element or element combination that indicates an expected abundance and expected mass-to-charge ratio difference for each isotopic variant. These are identified relative to the respective abundance and mass-to-charge ratio of a principal isotope. The isotopic mass spectral pattern is compared with mass spectral data from a molecular mass analysis of the sample to identify peak groups, each matching the isotopic mass spectral pattern. A measure of abundance is determined for the element or element combination as a function of the intensity measurement of one or more peaks from each of the identified peak groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
    Inventors: Hans Pfaff, Timothy J. Stratton
  • Patent number: 10615015
    Abstract: Methods of identification of at least one most likely elemental composition of at least one species of molecules contained in a sample and/or originated from a sample by at least one ionisation process are provided. The method includes measuring a mass spectrum of the sample and may include reducing the measured mass spectrum to a neutral mass spectrum. The method further includes determining for a peak of interest a set of candidate species of molecules which have an expected peak with a peak position within a peak position tolerance range in the corresponding measured mass spectrum or neutral mass spectrum. An identification mass spectrum is identified for each candidate species and a range of peak positions is determined of all peaks of the identification mass spectrum. Two subscores of candidate species are determined by comparing the identification spectra with the measured or neutral mass spectrum and final scores are calculated from the subscores.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GMBH
    Inventors: Martin Strohalm, Hans Pfaff, Evgenia Razumovski
  • Patent number: 10504707
    Abstract: A computer implemented method for compressing mass spectrometry data, the method comprising decomposing the mass spectrometry data of a mass stream emitted from a separation device as a function of a separation parameter into a plurality of mass traces, wherein the mass spectrometry data are generated by analysis in a mass spectrometer; identifying erroneous mass traces in the plurality of mass traces by applying an event detection algorithm to each of the plurality of mass traces; and forming a compressed version of the mass spectrometry data from the mass traces and the mass spectrometry data corresponding to the identified erroneous mass traces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
    Inventors: Hans Pfaff, Christoph Henrich, Robert Malek, Katja Tham
  • Publication number: 20190295830
    Abstract: A computer implemented method for compressing mass spectrometry data, the method comprising decomposing the mass spectrometry data of a mass stream emitted from a separation device as a function of a separation parameter into a plurality of mass traces, wherein the mass spectrometry data are generated by analysis in a mass spectrometer; identifying erroneous mass traces in the plurality of mass traces by applying an event detection algorithm to each of the plurality of mass traces; and forming a compressed version of the mass spectrometry data from the mass traces and the mass spectrometry data corresponding to the identified erroneous mass traces.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Inventors: Hans PFAFF, Christoph HENRICH, Robert MALEK, Katja THAM
  • Patent number: 10347478
    Abstract: A method of extracting a mass trace from mass spectrometry data of a mass stream emitted from a separation device as a function of a separation parameter, the method comprising, receiving the mass spectrometry data, wherein the mass spectrometry data comprise a plurality of mass spectra each obtained for respective values of the separation parameter; identifying, from the plurality of mass spectra, a sequence of three or more intensity peaks that are ordered according to the separation parameter, wherein said identifying the sequence of intensity peaks comprises, selecting an initial intensity peak at an initial mass, and for each other intensity peak, selecting said intensity peak based on at least the mass of an adjacent intensity peak in the sequence of intensity peaks, the method further comprising, providing a mass trace, for a given emitted compound of the mass stream, from the identified sequence of intensity peaks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
    Inventors: Hans Pfaff, Christoph Henrich, Robert Malek, Katja Tham
  • Publication number: 20180350577
    Abstract: A method of extracting a mass trace from mass spectrometry data of a mass stream emitted from a separation device as a function of a separation parameter, the method comprising, receiving the mass spectrometry data, wherein the mass spectrometry data comprise a plurality of mass spectra each obtained for respective values of the separation parameter; identifying, from the plurality of mass spectra, a sequence of three or more intensity peaks that are ordered according to the separation parameter, wherein said identifying the sequence of intensity peaks comprises, selecting an initial intensity peak at an initial mass, and for each other intensity peak, selecting said intensity peak based on at least the mass of an adjacent intensity peak in the sequence of intensity peaks, the method further comprising, providing a mass trace, for a given emitted compound of the mass stream, from the identified sequence of intensity peaks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2018
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Inventors: Hans PFAFF, Christoph HENRICH, Robert MALEK, Katja THAM
  • Publication number: 20180240659
    Abstract: Methods of identification of at least one most likely elemental composition of at least one species of molecules contained in a sample and/or originated from a sample by at least one ionisation process are provided. The method includes measuring a mass spectrum of the sample and may include reducing the measured mass spectrum to a neutral mass spectrum. The method further includes determining for a peak of interest a set of candidate species of molecules which have an expected peak with a peak position within a peak position tolerance range in the corresponding measured mass spectrum or neutral mass spectrum. An identification mass spectrum is identified for each candidate species and a range of peak positions is determined of all peaks of the identification mass spectrum. Two subscores of candidate species are determined by comparing the identification spectra with the measured or neutral mass spectrum and final scores are calculated from the subscores.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2017
    Publication date: August 23, 2018
    Inventors: Martin STROHALM, Hans PFAFF, Evgenia RAZUMOVSKI
  • Patent number: 9395341
    Abstract: A method of and apparatus for improving the resolution of compounds eluted from a separation device are disclosed, particularly suited for use in the fields of gas or liquid chromatography.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
    Inventor: Hans Pfaff
  • Patent number: 9388577
    Abstract: A structural element (10) for use as a ceiling element or wall element. The structural element (10) has a facing shell (11) and a relatively thicker supporting shell (12). The facing shell (11) has a first concrete layer (14) with a textile reinforcement (15) arranged therein. The supporting shell (12) has a second concrete layer (16) and a supporting shell reinforcement (17) in the form of a box-grid structure from interconnected structural steel elements (18, 19, 20). The facing shell (11) is connected to the supporting shell (12) by a plurality of metal-free connecting bodies (24) in the form of a three-dimensional a textile grid structure (25). The textile grid structure can be produced as a woven fabric, a plait, a nonwoven fabric or a knit from carbon fibers and/or glass fiber threads that have a coating to produce the three-dimensional structure. Each connecting body (24) extends in at least two spatial planes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: Groz-Beckert KG
    Inventors: Hans Kromer, Roland Karle, Hans Pfaff
  • Publication number: 20150033655
    Abstract: A structural element (10) for use as a ceiling element or wall element. The structural element (10) has a facing shell (11) and a relatively thicker supporting shell (12). The facing shell (11) has a first concrete layer (14) with a textile reinforcement (15) arranged therein. The supporting shell (12) has a second concrete layer (16) and a supporting shell reinforcement (17) in the form of a box-grid structure from interconnected structural steel elements (18, 19, 20). The facing shell (11) is connected to the supporting shell (12) by a plurality of metal-free connecting bodies (24)in the form of a three-dimensional a textile grid structure (25). The textile grid structure can be produced as a woven fabric, a plait, a nonwoven fabric or a knit from carbon fibres and/or glass fibre threads that have a coating to produce the three-dimensional structure. Each connecting body (24) extends in at least two spatial planes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2012
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Inventors: Hans Kromer, Roland Karle, Hans Pfaff
  • Publication number: 20140379279
    Abstract: A method of characterising a sample from spectrometric data using calculation of spectral distance values is disclosed, for use in the field of mass spectrometry. Molecular formula assignment of peaks in mass spectral data is difficult and time-consuming, and the invention provides a computer implemented method of finding a most likely elemental composition of a measured spectral peak of interest. The method analyses isotopic peaks in a portion of the spectrum, using both their mass positions and intensities, to determine a spectral distance between those peaks and isotopic peaks of a candidate composition, finding peaks that match (140). A pattern spectral distance is determined (150) to provide a measure of the correspondence between a set of those peaks in the measured spectrum and peaks of each of a number of candidate compositions. The spectral fit is used to determine a most likely candidate composition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2014
    Publication date: December 25, 2014
    Inventor: Hans PFAFF
  • Publication number: 20140361159
    Abstract: A measure of abundance is determined for an element or element combination within a sample, the element or element combination having at least one isotopic variant. An isotopic mass spectral pattern is identified for the element or element combination that indicates an expected abundance and expected mass-to-charge ratio difference for each isotopic variant. These are identified relative to the respective abundance and mass-to-charge ratio of a principal isotope. The isotopic mass spectral pattern is compared with mass spectral data from a molecular mass analysis of the sample to identify peak groups, each matching the isotopic mass spectral pattern. A measure of abundance is determined for the element or element combination as a function of the intensity measurement of one or more peaks from each of the identified peak groups.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Publication date: December 11, 2014
    Inventors: Hans PFAFF, Timothy J. STRATTON
  • Patent number: 8831888
    Abstract: A method of characterizing a sample from spectrometric data using calculation of spectral distance values is disclosed, for use in the field of mass spectrometry. Molecular formula assignment of peaks in mass spectral data is difficult and time-consuming, and the invention provides a computer implemented method of finding a most likely elemental composition of a measured spectral peak of interest. The method analyzes isotopic peaks in a portion of the spectrum, using both their mass positions and intensities, to determine a spectral distance between those peaks and isotopic peaks of a candidate composition, finding peaks that match (140). A pattern spectral distance is determined (150) to provide a measure of the correspondence between a set of those peaks in the measured spectrum and peaks of each of a number of candidate compositions. The spectral fit is used to determine a most likely candidate composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
    Inventor: Hans Pfaff
  • Publication number: 20140114586
    Abstract: A method of and apparatus for improving the resolution of compounds eluted from a separation device are disclosed, particularly suited for use in the fields of gas or liquid chromatography.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
    Inventor: Hans PFAFF
  • Patent number: 8615369
    Abstract: A method of and apparatus for improving the resolution of compounds eluted from a separation device are disclosed, particularly suited for use in the fields of gas or liquid chromatography.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2013
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH
    Inventor: Hans Pfaff
  • Publication number: 20110054804
    Abstract: A method of and apparatus for improving the resolution of compounds eluted from a separation device are disclosed, particularly suited for use in the fields of gas or liquid chromatography.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2010
    Publication date: March 3, 2011
    Inventor: Hans PFAFF
  • Publication number: 20090299653
    Abstract: A method of characterising a sample from spectrometric data using calculation of spectral distance values is disclosed, for use in the field of mass spectrometry. Molecular formula assignment of peaks in mass spectral data is difficult and time-consuming, and the invention provides a computer implemented method of finding a most likely elemental composition of a measured spectral peak of interest. The method analyses isotopic peaks in a portion of the spectrum, using both their mass positions and intensities, to determine a spectral distance between those peaks and isotopic peaks of a candidate composition, finding peaks that match (140). A pattern spectral distance is determined (150) to provide a measure of the correspondence between a set of those peaks in the measured spectrum and peaks of each of a number of candidate compositions. The spectral fit is used to determine a most likely candidate composition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2009
    Publication date: December 3, 2009
    Inventor: Hans PFAFF