Patents by Inventor John A. Dickinson

John A. Dickinson 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: 9617852
    Abstract: Methods and equipment have been developed that combine the use of continuous miners, flexible conveyor trains, and longwall mining techniques to provide flexible and efficient removal of resources from subterranean formations. Some systems include: a main gate; and a tailgate connected to the maingate by an active mine face; wherein the active mine face extends at an angle between 95° and 135° relative to the maingate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Seneca Industries Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy J. Myers, Michael Cline, John Dickinson
  • Patent number: 9597634
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for treating an exhaust gas in a foreline of a substrate processing system are provided herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus for treating an exhaust gas in a foreline of a substrate processing system includes a plasma source coupled to a foreline of a process chamber, a reagent source coupled to the foreline upstream of the plasma source, and a foreline gas injection kit coupled to the foreline to controllably deliver a gas to the foreline, wherein the foreline injection kit includes a pressure regulator to set a foreline gas delivery pressure setpoint, and a first pressure gauge coupled to monitor a delivery pressure of the gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Colin John Dickinson, Mehran Moalem, Daniel O. Clark
  • Patent number: 9596973
    Abstract: An auxiliary grey water supply device captures used wash water from a commercial warewashing machine for supply to a pre-rinse station without substantial modification of the commercial warewashing machine. The captured wash water is delivered to a pre-rinse station for pre-rinsing of dishes that will be washed within the commercial warewashing machine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Seven Hour Drive, LLC
    Inventors: Eduardo Yong Lee, Daniel John Dickinson
  • Patent number: 9584439
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a cloud computing system provides user extensibility by providing a plugin interface for major systems. Plugin interfaces for a compute service, object service, network service, authentication and authorization service, message service, and image service are disclosed. One or more of the plugin interfaces can be used to alter the allocation of virtual to physical resources across multiple services. Compound services and smart allocation facilities are possible with user-directed modification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward Leafe, Alexander Walsh, Paul Voccio, Antony Joel Messerli, Charles B. Thier, John A. Dickinson, Gregory Lee Holt, Christopher James Behrens, Trey Eugene Morris, Matthew Charles Dietz, Jason LuVern Kolker, Ziad Sawalha, Yogeshwar Srikrishan, William Randolph Mathews, Vishvananda Ishaya
  • Patent number: 9579480
    Abstract: A breathing assistance unit for providing pressurized heated humidified air to a user increases user compliance. The breathing assistance unit generates positive emotional and cognitive states of a user about the therapy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Limited
    Inventors: Venkata Subbarao Potharaju, Christie Jayne Stanton, Andrew Paul Maxwell Simon, Yi-Cheng Sun, Hayden Owen Briscoe, Samuel Frew, Steven John Worthington, Philip John Dickinson, Cameron Jon Haxton, Robin Lynn Randolph
  • Publication number: 20170033369
    Abstract: A catalyst layer including: (i) a platinum-containing electrocatalyst; (ii) an oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst; (iii) one or more carbonaceous materials selected from the group consisting of graphite, nanofibres, nanotubes, nanographene platelets and low surface area, heat-treated carbon blacks wherein the one or more carbonaceous materials do not support the platinum-containing electrocatalyst; and (iv) a proton-conducting polymer and its use in an electrochemical device are disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Inventors: Sarah Louise BURTON, Angus John DICKINSON, Julie O'SULLIVAN
  • Patent number: 9552967
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include an abatement system for abating compounds produced in semiconductor processes. The abatement system includes a plasma source that has a first plate and a second plate parallel to the first plate. An electrode is disposed between the first and second plates and an outer wall is disposed between the first and second plates surrounding the electrode. The plasma source has a first plurality of magnets disposed on the first plate and a second plurality of magnets disposed on the second plate. The magnetic field created by the first and second plurality of magnets is substantially perpendicular to the electric field created between the electrode and the outer wall. In this configuration, a dense plasma is created.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Michael S. Cox, Rongping Wang, Brian T. West, Roger M. Johnson, Colin John Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20170011078
    Abstract: A technique is applied to eventually converge on a single data storage strategy for any set of object data which had an inconsistent data storage strategy applied during storage while there was a network partition. This state could occur in instances of a highly available distributed object storage system which can store objects according to multiple data storage strategies. Upon the healing of a network partition, the technique discovers if multiple data storage strategies were applied to the object data stored during a network partition, deterministically identifies which data storage strategy represents the correct strategy, for example based on the log of state transitions requested by the client according to the API contract, and ensures that this strategy is consistently applied to all object data in the collection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2015
    Publication date: January 12, 2017
    Inventors: Clay GERRARD, Paul LUSE, Samuel MERRITT, John DICKINSON
  • Patent number: 9543124
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a plasma source for abating compounds produced in semiconductor processes. The plasma source has a first plate and a second plate parallel to the first plate. An electrode is disposed between the first and second plates and an outer wall is disposed between the first and second plates surrounding the cylindrical electrode. The plasma source has a first plurality of magnets disposed on the first plate and a second plurality of magnets disposed on the second plate. The magnetic field created by the first and second plurality of magnets is substantially perpendicular to the electric field created between the electrode and the outer wall. In this configuration, a dense plasma is created.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Michael S. Cox, Rongping Wang, Brian T. West, Roger M. Johnson, Colin John Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20160378846
    Abstract: Methods and systems to configure an object-based storage cluster with multiple selectable data handling policies, including to map an object to a storage device/node of the cluster based on the policy associated with the object. In an embodiment, each policy is associated with a respective one of multiple rings, partitions of which are mapped to storage devices of the same cluster, objects are associated with buckets/containers, and each bucket/container is associated within a user-selectable one of the policies, such as with a metadata-based policy index, and an object is mapped to a storage device/node of the cluster based on the ring associated with the policy index of the object's container.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2015
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Applicant: INTEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Paul E. Luse, John Dickinson, Clay Gerrard, Samuel Merritt
  • Publication number: 20160289789
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide an electromagnetic sensor (400) for detecting a microstructure of a metal target, comprising: a magnetic device (410, 420) for providing an excitation magnetic field; a magnetometer (430) for detecting a resultant magnetic field induced in a metal target; and a calibration circuit (450, 551, 552, 553, 554) for generating a calibration magnetic field for calibrating the electromagnetic sensor, wherein the calibration reference magnetic field is generated by an electrical current induced in the calibration circuit by the excitation magnetic field.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2016
    Publication date: October 6, 2016
    Inventors: Anthony Joseph Peyton, Wuliang Yin, Stephen John Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20160276179
    Abstract: Embodiments enclosed herein relate to methods and apparatus for reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) produced during processing, such as during semiconductor fabrication processing. A processing system may include an abatement controller and an effluent abatement system, wherein the abatement controller controls the effluent abatement system to reduce NOx production, while ensuring abatement of the effluent gases from the processing system. The effluent abatement system may include a combustion-type effluent abatement system and/or a plasma-type effluent abatement system. The abatement controller may select operating modes of the effluent abatement systems to reduce NOx production.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Publication date: September 22, 2016
    Inventors: Paul E. Fisher, Monique McIntosh, Andrew Herbert, Colin John Dickinson
  • Patent number: 9404992
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide an electromagnetic sensor (400) for detecting a microstructure of a metal target, comprising: a magnetic device (410, 420) for providing an excitation magnetic field; a magnetometer (430) for detecting a resultant magnetic field induced in a metal target; and a calibration circuit (450, 551, 552, 553, 554) for generating a calibration magnetic field for calibrating the electromagnetic sensor, wherein the calibration reference magnetic field is generated by an electrical current induced in the calibration circuit by the excitation magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
    Inventors: Anthony Joseph Peyton, Wuliang Yin, Stephen John Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20160197996
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a massively scalable object storage system are described. The object storage system is particularly useful for storage in a cloud computing installation whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand. In several embodiments, the object storage system includes a ring implementation used to associate object storage commands with particular physical servers such that certain guarantees of consistency, availability, and performance can be met. In other embodiments, the object storage system includes a synchronization protocol used to order operations across a distributed system. In a third set of embodiments, the object storage system includes a metadata management system. In a fourth set of embodiments, the object storage system uses a structured information synchronization system. Features from each set of embodiments can be used to improve the performance and scalability of a cloud computing object storage system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Publication date: July 7, 2016
    Applicant: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt
  • Patent number: 9374395
    Abstract: Several different embodiments of a segmented object storage system are described. The object storage system divides files into a number of object segments, each segment corresponding to a portion of the object, and stores each segment individually in the cloud storage system. The system also generates and stores a manifest file describing the relationship of the various segments to the original data file. Requests to retrieve the segmented file are fulfilled by consulting the manifest file and using the information from the manifest to reconstitute the original data file from the constituent segments. Modifying, appending to, or truncating the object is accomplished by manipulating individual segments and the manifest file. In further embodiments, manipulation of the individual object segments and/or the manifest is used to implement copy-on-write, snapshotting, software transactional memory, and peer-to-peer transmission of the large file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt
  • Publication number: 20160166868
    Abstract: A plasma abatement process for abating effluent containing a PFC gas from a processing chamber is described. A plasma abatement process takes gaseous foreline effluent from a processing chamber, such as an etch chamber, and reacts with the effluent within a plasma chamber placed in the foreline path. The plasma dissociates the PFC gases and reacts them with a reagent, converting the effluent into compounds that are non-global warming and which may be easily removed by traditional facility water scrubbing technology. This disclosure explains methods to control the reagent hydrogen to oxygen ratio such that in addition to PFC destruction, the abated compounds have modified composition to enable extension of the maintenance interval for downstream supporting equipment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2015
    Publication date: June 16, 2016
    Inventor: Colin John DICKINSON
  • Publication number: 20160142512
    Abstract: Several embodiments using indirection objects to organize data in a cloud storage system are disclosed. An indirection object stores associations to different variants or segments of an object. The indirection object receives requests for the objects and responds with the appropriate variant, segment, or segments of the object. The variant, segment, or segments returned may vary from request to request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2015
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Inventor: John A. Dickinson
  • Publication number: 20160133442
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include an abatement system for abating compounds produced in semiconductor processes. The abatement system includes a plasma source that has a first plate and a second plate parallel to the first plate. An electrode is disposed between the first and second plates and an outer wall is disposed between the first and second plates surrounding the electrode. The plasma source has a first plurality of magnets disposed on the first plate and a second plurality of magnets disposed on the second plate. The magnetic field created by the first and second plurality of magnets is substantially perpendicular to the electric field created between the electrode and the outer wall. In this configuration, a dense plasma is created.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2016
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventors: Michael S. COX, Rongping WANG, Brian T. WEST, Roger M. JOHNSON, Colin John DICKINSON
  • Publication number: 20160118226
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a plasma source for abating compounds produced in semiconductor processes. The plasma source has a first plate and a second plate parallel to the first plate. An electrode is disposed between the first and second plates and an outer wall is disposed between the first and second plates surrounding the cylindrical electrode. The plasma source has a first plurality of magnets disposed on the first plate and a second plurality of magnets disposed on the second plate. The magnetic field created by the first and second plurality of magnets is substantially perpendicular to the electric field created between the electrode and the outer wall. In this configuration, a dense plasma is created.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2015
    Publication date: April 28, 2016
    Inventors: Michael S. Cox, Rongping Wang, Brian T. West, Roger M. Johnson, Colin John Dickinson
  • Patent number: 9306988
    Abstract: A segmented object storage system is an object storage system that divides files into a number of object segments, each segment corresponding to a portion of an object, and stores each segment individually in the storage system. The system also generates and stores a manifest file describing the relationship of the various segments to the original data file. Requests to retrieve the segmented file are fulfilled by consulting the manifest file and using the information from the manifest to reconstitute the original data file from the constituent segments. Modifying, appending to, or truncating the object is accomplished by manipulating individual segments and the manifest file. Manipulation of the individual object segments and/or the manifest can be used to implement copy-on-write, snapshotting, software transactional memory, and peer-to-peer transmission of the large file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: Rackspace US, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Barton, Will Reese, John A. Dickinson, Jay B. Payne, Charles B. Thier, Gregory Holt