Patents by Inventor John Robert McDonald

John Robert McDonald 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: 11391223
    Abstract: A controller may identify an indication to initiate an engine braking procedure associated with an engine of a machine. The controller may obtain, based on identifying the indication to initiate the engine braking procedure, information relating to a requested amount of engine braking power of the engine. The controller may cause one or more components of a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) of the engine to adjust, and a throttle valve of the engine to adjust, based on the information relating to the requested amount of engine braking power of the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Wade James Robel, Spencer Landon Huhn, Kevin Weiss, John Robert McDonald, Jason Kenneth Bloms
  • Publication number: 20220056854
    Abstract: A controller may identify an indication to initiate an engine braking procedure associated with an engine of a machine. The controller may obtain, based on identifying the indication to initiate the engine braking procedure, information relating to a requested amount of engine braking power of the engine. The controller may cause one or more components of a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) of the engine to adjust, and a throttle valve of the engine to adjust, based on the information relating to the requested amount of engine braking power of the engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2020
    Publication date: February 24, 2022
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Wade James ROBEL, Spencer Landon HUHN, Kevin WEISS, John Robert McDONALD, Jason Kenneth BLOMS
  • Patent number: 6091658
    Abstract: An automobile has an electronic device with a nonvolatile memory implementation. The electronic device includes non-programmable nonvolatile memory (ROM), volatile memory (RAM) and programmable nonvolatile memory (EEPROM). A controller (CPU) is coupled to and controls reads and writes to and from the ROM, RAM, and EEPROM. When the CPU detects a key-off event it calculates an error recovery code (checksum) for a data string stored in the RAM and stores the checksum and data into one of two memory locations in the EEPROM. The CPU will alternate between the two memory locations each cycle. When the CPU detects a key-on event it calculates the checksum for the data string stored in the RAM. If the data string is invalid or if validity of the EEPROM data cannot be confirmed, then the CPU copies a predetermined data string from the ROM to the RAM. If the CPU determines that the calculated KAM checksum does not equal the stored KAM checksum, then the CPU copies the EEPROM data string to the KAM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2000
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: John Robert McDonald, John Lowell Zeller, Thomas Scott Gee