Patents by Inventor James W. Howard

James W. Howard 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).

  • Publication number: 20230376069
    Abstract: Embodiment herein provides an Infrastructure article (101) and method thereof for synchronizing blinks of infrastructure articles in a mesh network. The method includes detecting an expiry of a sync timer counted by a real time clock (RTC) and determining whether a charge level of a battery (105) of the infrastructure article (101) meets a battery charge threshold. When the charge level of the battery (105) of the infrastructure article (101) meets the battery charge threshold, the method includes establishing a connection with other infrastructure article and/or an infrastructure article server (200) in the mesh network, and sending a time to synchronize blink of the at least one light source (106) to all other infrastructure articles in the mesh network. When the charge level of the battery (105) of the infrastructure article (101) does not meet the battery charge threshold, the method includes resetting the sync timer, and initiating a count of the sync timer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2021
    Publication date: November 23, 2023
    Inventors: Lingesh Venugopalappa, Justin M. Johnson, Eric J. Larson, James W. Howard, Mark G. Mathews
  • Patent number: 11816971
    Abstract: A system, wearable device and management device provided for predicting a flashover event. According to one aspect of the disclosure, a wearable device for predicting a flashover event is provided. The wearable device includes at least one thermal sensor configured to generate thermal data associated with an environment, and processing circuitry configured to: determine a risk of ignition of at least one combustible gas in the environment based on the thermal data, and trigger at least one action based on the determined risk of ignition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Andrew Long, Panagiotis D. Stanitsas, Jerome Shanko, Jr., Wesley M. Barbee, Matthew M. Shettel, Matthew Shannon, Johnathan R. Graves, James W. Howard, James B. Snyder, James L. C. Werness, Jr., Jason Patterson, Ravi Raagav Srinivas, Payas Tikotekar
  • Patent number: 11802795
    Abstract: An optical system is disclosed and includes an optical sensor, a plurality of photosensitive pixels disposed on the optical sensor, a wavelength-selective optical filter in optical communication with the photosensitive pixels, the wavelength-selective optical filter being disposed remotely from the optical sensor, an area disposed in the wavelength-selective optical filter, the area having a transmission spectrum different from a transmission spectrum of a portion of the wavelength-selective optical filter not in the area and a reflector, the wavelength-selective optical filter and a measurement subject each being disposed between the reflector and the optical sensor along an optical path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
    Inventors: John A. Wheatley, Mark A. Roehrig, Del R. Lawson, Tony J. Kaufman, James W. Howard, Kevin W. Gotrik, Claire R. Donoghue, Joshua M. Fishman, Jonah Shaver
  • Patent number: 11682185
    Abstract: In general, techniques are described for a personal protective equipment (PPE) management system (PPEMS) that uses images of optical patterns embodied on articles of personal protective equipment (PPEs) to identify safety conditions that correspond to usage of the PPEs. In one example, an article of personal protective equipment (PPE) includes a first optical pattern embodied on a surface of the article of PPE; a second optical pattern embodied on the surface of the article of PPE, wherein a spatial relation between the first optical pattern and the second optical pattern is indicative of an operational status of the article of PPE.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Caroline M. Ylitalo, Kui Chen-Ho, Paul L. Acito, Tien Yi T. H. Whiting, James B. Snyder, Travis L. Potts, James W. Howard, James L. C. Werness, Jr., Suman K. Patel, Charles A. Shaklee, Katja Hansen, Glenn E. Casner, Kiran S. Kanukurthy, Steven T. Awiszus, Neeraj Sharma
  • Patent number: 11631186
    Abstract: Systems and methods for image recognition are provided. A style-transfer neural network is trained for each real image to obtain a trained style-transfer neural network. The texture or style features of the real images are transferred, via the trained style-transfer neural network, to a target image to generate styled images which are used for training an image-recognition machine learning model (e.g., a neural network). In some cases, the real images are clustered and representative style images are selected from the clusters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Muhammad J. Afridi, Elisa J. Collins, Jonathan D. Gandrud, James W. Howard, Arash Sangari, James B. Snyder
  • Patent number: 11429803
    Abstract: In some examples, a method includes selecting, by a coding computing device, a particular identifier from a set of identifiers generated by an identifier allocation authority, wherein the set of identifiers are included within a global set of identifiers maintained by the identifier allocation authority; coding, by the coding computing device, the particular identifier from the set of identifiers into an optical element set that represents an optical code comprising a plurality of finder optical elements arranged in a pattern to localize the optical code within an image, a plurality of context optical elements representing context information, and a plurality of content optical elements representing content information; and generating a visual output of the optical code that is decodable to the particular identifier which, in combination with at least one other parameter associated with the optical element set, comprises a globally unique identifier in a set of globally unique identifiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: James W. Howard, James B. Snyder
  • Publication number: 20220215665
    Abstract: In general, techniques are described for a personal protective equipment (PPE) management system (PPEMS) that uses images of optical patterns embodied on articles of personal protective equipment (PPEs) to identify safety conditions that correspond to usage of the PPEs. In one example, an article of personal protective equipment (PPE) includes a first optical pattern embodied on a surface of the article of PPE; a second optical pattern embodied on the surface of the article of PPE, wherein a spatial relation between the first optical pattern and the second optical pattern is indicative of an operational status of the article of PPE.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2022
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Inventors: Caroline M. Ylitalo, Kui Chen-Ho, Paul L. Acito, Tien Yi T.H. Whiting, James B. Snyder, Travis L. Potts, James W. Howard, James L.C. Werness, Jr., Suman K. Patel, Charles A. Shaklee, Katja Hansen, Glenn E. Casner, Kiran S. Kanukurthy, Steven T. Awiszus, Neeraj Sharma
  • Patent number: 11361562
    Abstract: The disclosure is directed to an article, such as a pathway article or a sheeting. The article includes a physical surface having a code embodied thereon. The code is associated with pathway information in transaction data stored by a blockchain managed by a consensus network of node. The pathway information indicates one or more characteristics of a vehicle pathway, wherein the pathway information provides at least one of: information descriptive of at least a portion of the vehicle pathway, or vehicle operation instructions associated with the portion of the vehicle pathway.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
    Inventors: James B. Snyder, Justin M. Johnson, James W. Howard
  • Publication number: 20220163388
    Abstract: An optical system is disclosed and includes an optical sensor, a plurality of photosensitive pixels disposed on the optical sensor, a wavelength-selective optical filter in optical communication with the photosensitive pixels, the wavelength-selective optical filter being disposed remotely from the optical sensor, an area disposed in the wavelength-selective optical filter, the area having a transmission spectrum different from a transmission spectrum of a portion of the wavelength-selective optical filter not in the area and a reflector, the wavelength-selective optical filter and a measurement subject each being disposed between the reflector and the optical sensor along an optical path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Inventors: John A. Wheatley, Mark A. Roehrig, Del R. Lawson, Tony J. Kaufman, James W. Howard, Kevin W. Gotrik, Claire R. Donoghue, Joshua M. Fishman, Jonah Shaver
  • Patent number: 11324421
    Abstract: A method and system for monitoring impairment indicators. The method comprises, during a first time window, measuring a first movement signal related to movement of a person with a movement sensor associated with the person, and measuring a first environmental signal with an environmental sensor. The method further comprises electronically storing at least one numerical descriptor derived from the first movement signal and the first environmental signal as reference data for the person. The method further includes, during a second time window, measuring a second movement signal related to movement of the person with the movement sensor and measuring a second environmental signal with the environmental sensor; and comparing at least one numerical descriptor derived from the second movement signal and the second environmental signal to the reference data to identify an impairment indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: James W. Howard, Eric C. Lobner, Jennifer F. Schumacher
  • Patent number: 11314971
    Abstract: In general, techniques are described for a personal protective equipment (PPE) management system (PPEMS) that uses images of optical patterns embodied on articles of personal protective equipment (PPEs) to identify safety conditions that correspond to usage of the PPEs. In one example, an article of personal protective equipment (PPE) includes a first optical pattern embodied on a surface of the article of PPE; a second optical pattern embodied on the surface of the article of PPE, wherein a spatial relation between the first optical pattern and the second optical pattern is indicative of an operational status of the article of PPE.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: Caroline M. Ylitalo, Kui Chen-Ho, Paul L. Acito, Tien Yi T. H. Whiting, James B. Snyder, Travis L. Potts, James W. Howard, James L. C. Werness, Jr., Suman K. Patel, Charles A. Shaklee, Katja Hansen, Glenn E. Casner, Kiran S. Kanukurthy, Steven T. Awiszus, Neeraj Sharma
  • Patent number: 11250303
    Abstract: An article includes a substrate having a physical surface, a multi-dimensional machine-readable code embodied on the physical surface, wherein the multi-dimensional machine-readable optical code includes a static data (SD) optical element set and a dynamic lookup data (DLD) optical element set. Each of the SD and the DLD sets are embodied on the physical surface. The DLD optical element set encodes a look-up value that references dynamically changeable data, wherein the SD optical element set encodes static data that does not reference other data. The DLD optical element set is not decodable at the distance greater than the threshold distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company
    Inventors: James W. Howard, James B. Snyder, Travis L. Potts, Deepti Pachauri, Guruprasad Somasundaram, Justin M. Johnson, Tamara M. Meehan-Russell
  • Publication number: 20210366255
    Abstract: A system, wearable device and management device provided for predicting a flashover event. According to one aspect of the disclosure, a wearable device for predicting a flashover event is provided. The wearable device includes at least one thermal sensor configured to generate thermal data associated with an environment, and processing circuitry configured to: determine a risk of ignition of at least one combustible gas in the environment based on the thermal data, and trigger at least one action based on the determined risk of ignition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2019
    Publication date: November 25, 2021
    Inventors: Andrew LONG, Panagiotis D. STANITSAS, Jerome SHANKO, Jr., Wesley M. BARBEE, Matthew M. SHETTEL, Matthew SHANNON, Johnathan R. GRAVES, James W. HOWARD, James B. SNYDER, James L.C. WERNESS, Jr., Jason PATTERSON, Ravi Raagav SRINIVAS, Payas TIKOTEKAR
  • Patent number: 11138880
    Abstract: In some examples, a computing device includes one or more computer processors, a communication device, and a memory comprising instructions that cause the one or more computer processors to: receive, using the communication device and from a set of vehicles, different sets of infrastructure data for a particular infrastructure article that is proximate to each respective vehicle of the set of vehicles, wherein each respective vehicle in the set of vehicles comprises at least one infrastructure sensor that generates infrastructure data descriptive of infrastructure articles that are proximate to the respective vehicle; determine, based at least in part on the different sets of infrastructure data for the particular infrastructure article from each respective vehicle of the set of vehicles, a quality metric for the infrastructure article; and perform at least one operation based at least in part on the quality metric for the infrastructure article.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
    Inventors: Kenneth L. Smith, Justin M. Johnson, James B. Snyder, James W. Howard, Michael E. Hamerly, Onur Sinan Yordem
  • Patent number: 11132554
    Abstract: In some examples, an optically active article includes a retroreflective substrate; and at least one security element disposed at the retroreflective substrate; an article message disposed at the retroreflective substrate, and wherein the at least one security element comprises validation information that is detectable outside a visible light spectrum, and wherein a combination of the article message and the validation information of the at least one security element indicates whether the optically active article is counterfeit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
    Inventors: Justin M. Johnson, James W. Howard, James B. Snyder, Kui Chen-Ho, Suman K. Patel, Travis L. Potts, Carla H. Barnes, Tadesse G. Nigatu
  • Publication number: 20210295059
    Abstract: In some examples, an article of conspicuity tape includes a retroreflective substrate; and a structured texture element (STE) embodied on the retroreflective substrate, wherein a visual appearance of the structured texture element is computationally generated for differentiation from a visual appearance of a natural environment scene for the article of conspicuity tape.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2019
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Panagiotis Stanitsas, James W. Howard, Andrew W. Long, James B. Snyder, Ravi R. Srinivas, Payas Tikotekar
  • Publication number: 20210247199
    Abstract: Example systems disclosed herein include a pathway-article assisted vehicle (PAAV) that utilizes an autonomous navigation system for navigating temporary zones on vehicle pathways. The PAAV includes at least image capture device and a computing device. The image capture device generates an image that includes an indication of a temporary zone on a vehicle pathway, such as a pathway article proximate to the vehicle pathway that indicates the temporary zone. The computing device processes the image to obtain the indication of the temporary zone from the image, such as a code on the pathway article, and modifies, based on the indication of the temporary zone, a mode of autonomous operation of the PAAV while operating within the temporary zone on the vehicle pathway.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Publication date: August 12, 2021
    Inventors: Justin M. Johnson, James W. Howard, James B. Snyder, Travis L. Potts, Kenneth L. Smith, Tamara M. Meehan Russell
  • Publication number: 20210229834
    Abstract: The systems and techniques of this disclosure relate to improving work safety in confined spaces by, for example, using machine vision to analyze location marking labels in the confined space to control an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) within the confined space. In one example, a system includes a UAV that includes an imaging device and a processor communicatively coupled to the imaging device. The processor may be configured to receive, from the imaging device, an image of a confined space, detect a location marking label within the image, process the image to decode data embedded on the location marking label, and control navigation of the UAV within the confined space based on the data decoded from the location marking label.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 8, 2019
    Publication date: July 29, 2021
    Inventors: James W. Howard, James L.C. Werness, Jr., Caroline M. Ylitalo, Claire R. Donoghue, John A. Wheatley, Robert D. Lorentz, Tien Yi T.H. Whiting, Matthew E. Sousa, Carla H. Barnes
  • Publication number: 20210221389
    Abstract: A system and method for determining a sensing capability of a PAAV and for performing at least one operation of the PAAV as a function of at least one policy applied to the sensing capability determined for the PAAV. A sensing capability of the PAAV is determined at least in part on sensor data received from at least one sensor accuracy measurement feature deployed along a pathway. At least one operation of the PAAV is performed as a function of at least one policy applied to the sensing capability determined for the PAAV.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2019
    Publication date: July 22, 2021
    Inventors: Andrew W. Long, James B. Snyder, Panagiotis D. Stanitsas, James W. Howard, Benjamin W. Watson, Kenneth L. Smith, James L. C. Werness, Jr., Claire R. Donoghue, Justin M. Johnson
  • Publication number: 20210150205
    Abstract: The disclosure is directed to an article, such as a pathway article or a sheeting. The article includes a physical surface having a code embodied thereon. The code is associated with pathway information in transaction data stored by a blockchain managed by a consensus network of node. The pathway information indicates one or more characteristics of a vehicle pathway, wherein the pathway information provides at least one of: information descriptive of at least a portion of the vehicle pathway, or vehicle operation instructions associated with the portion of the vehicle pathway.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2018
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: James B. Snyder, Justin M. Johnson, James W. Howard