Patents by Inventor John Winter

John Winter 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: 11336129
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A charging device has a charging circuit that includes a charging coil located proximate to a surface of the charging device, a pulse generating circuit, and a controller. The pulse generating circuit may be configured to provide a pulsed signal to the charging circuit, where each pulse in the pulsed signal includes a plurality of cycles of a clock signal that has a frequency greater or less than a nominal resonant frequency of the charging circuit. The controller may be configured to detect a change in resonance of the charging circuit based on a difference in response of the charging circuit to first and second pulses transmitted in the pulsed signal. The controller may be further configured to determine that a chargeable device has been placed in proximity to the charging coil based on the difference in responses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: AIRA, INC.
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Publication number: 20220120920
    Abstract: A product includes a transparent scintillator material, a beta emitter material having an end-point energy of greater than 225 kiloelectron volts (keV), and a photovoltaic portion configured to convert light emitted by the scintillator material to electricity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2020
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Inventors: Joshua Jarrell, Nerine Cherepy, John Winter Murphy, Rebecca J. Nikolic, Erik Lars Swanberg, JR.
  • Patent number: 11305908
    Abstract: A tablet counter and packaging module including a rotary disc with tablet apertures spaced thereabout, the tablet apertures configured to receive a tablet; a negative pressure system configured to retain the tablets in the tablet apertures; ejection devices to selectively eject one or more of the tablets from the corresponding tablet apertures; a plurality of ejection receptacles configured to collect the tablets ejected by the ejection devices; an inspection system operably engaged with the rotary disc and at least one of the ejection devices, the inspection system being configured to analyze tablets retained within the tablet apertures to determine if one or more tablet characteristics associated with the tablet; and the ejection devices configured to eject the tablet from a tablet aperture based on the determined at least one tablet characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: Aylward Enterprises, LLC
    Inventors: Jeffrey L. Burkett, Jr., William F. Clukey, Jr., Vincent E. Holley, John A. Winters
  • Patent number: 11296550
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A charging device has a plurality of charging cells provided on a charging surface, a charging circuit and a controller. The controller may be configured to cause the charging circuit to provide a charging current to a resonant circuit when a receiving device is placed on the charging surface, provide a measurement slot by causing the charging circuit to decrease or terminate the charging current for a period of time and determine whether the receiving device has been removed from the charging surface based on measurement of a characteristic of the resonant circuit during the measurement slot. The characteristic of the resonant circuit may be representative of electromagnetic coupling between a transmitting coil in the resonant circuit and a receiving coil in the receiving device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: AIRA, INC.
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters, James Scott
  • Patent number: 11264839
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A charging device has a plurality of charging cells provided on a charging surface, a charging circuit and a controller. The controller may be configured to cause the charging circuit to provide a charging current to a resonant circuit when a receiving device is placed on the charging surface, detect a change or rate of change in voltage or current level associated with the resonant circuit, provide a measurement slot by terminating the charging current for a period of time, and determine that the receiving device has been removed from the charging surface by performing a passive or digital ping procedure during the measurement slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: AIRA, INC.
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters, James Scott
  • Publication number: 20210351634
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A charging device has a charging circuit that includes a charging coil located proximate to a surface of the charging device, a pulse generating circuit, and a controller. The pulse generating circuit may be configured to provide a pulsed signal to the charging circuit, where each pulse in the pulsed signal includes a plurality of cycles of a clock signal that has a frequency greater or less than a nominal resonant frequency of the charging circuit. The controller may be configured to detect a change in resonance of the charging circuit based on a difference in response of the charging circuit to first and second pulses transmitted in the pulsed signal. The controller may be further configured to determine that a chargeable device has been placed in proximity to the charging coil based on the difference in responses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2021
    Publication date: November 11, 2021
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Patent number: 11063480
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A charging device has a charging circuit that includes a charging coil located proximate to a surface of the charging device, a pulse generating circuit, and a controller. The pulse generating circuit may be configured to provide a pulsed signal to the charging circuit, where each pulse in the pulsed signal includes a plurality of cycles of a clock signal that has a frequency greater or less than a nominal resonant frequency of the charging circuit. The controller may be configured to detect a change in resonance of the charging circuit based on a difference in response of the charging circuit to first and second pulses transmitted in the pulsed signal. The controller may be further configured to determine that a chargeable device has been placed in proximity to the charging coil based on the difference in responses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: AIRA, INC.
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Publication number: 20210210989
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. One method includes providing a first charging current to a first transmitting coil in a wireless charging device, where the first transmitting coil is coupled to a receiving coil in a first power receiving device, providing a second charging current to a second transmitting coil in the wireless charging device, where the second transmitting coil is coupled to a receiving coil in a second power receiving device, the first charging current and the second charging current being provided at different frequencies from one another, receiving a first modulated signal from the first power receiving device, where the first modulated signal includes a carrier signal provided at a frequency corresponding to the frequency of the first charging current, and filtering the first modulated signal using a band-pass filter configured to block a second modulated signal transmitted by the second power receiving device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2021
    Publication date: July 8, 2021
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Publication number: 20210210282
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A wireless charging device has a plurality of charging cells provided on a first surface and a processor configured to provide a charging current to a first charging coil in a surface of the wireless charging device, determine that an impedance of a resonant circuit has varied from a threshold or setpoint impedance, and restore the threshold or setpoint impedance by modifying frequency of the charging current. The resonant circuit may include the first charging coil. A method for operating the wireless charging device includes providing a charging current to a first charging coil in a surface of the wireless charging device, determining that an impedance of a resonant circuit has varied from a threshold or setpoint impedance, and restoring the threshold or setpoint impedance by modifying frequency of the charging current. The resonant circuit may include the charging coil.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2021
    Publication date: July 8, 2021
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Patent number: 11021766
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for producing direct reduced iron (DRI), including: generating a reducing gas in a coal gasifier using coal, oxygen, steam, and a first coke oven gas (COG) stream as inputs to the coal gasifier; and delivering the reducing gas to a shaft furnace and exposing iron ore agglomerates to the reducing gas to form metallic iron agglomerates. The method further includes delivering a second COG stream directly to the shaft furnace.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: Midrex Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Haruyasu Michishita, John Winter
  • Publication number: 20210152034
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. One method for operating a charging device includes determining that a chargeable device is positioned proximate to a charging coil provided by a charging surface, providing a charging current to the charging coil, and excluding adjacent coils from operation while the current is provided to the charging coil. Each of the adjacent coils is located within the charging surface adjacent to the charging coil. The adjacent coils may be excluded from participating in one or more device discovery procedures. The charging device may refrain from providing charging current to the adjacent coils while the current is provided to the charging coil.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2020
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Publication number: 20210086934
    Abstract: A tablet counter and packaging module including a rotary disc with tablet apertures spaced thereabout, the tablet apertures configured to receive a tablet; a negative pressure system configured to retain the tablets in the tablet apertures; ejection devices to selectively eject one or more of the tablets from the corresponding tablet apertures; a plurality of ejection receptacles configured to collect the tablets ejected by the ejection devices; an inspection system operably engaged with the rotary disc and at least one of the ejection devices, the inspection system being configured to analyze tablets retained within the tablet apertures to determine if one or more tablet characteristics associated with the tablet; and the ejection devices configured to eject the tablet from a tablet aperture based on the determined at least one tablet characteristic.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Applicant: Aylward Enterprises, LLC
    Inventors: Jeffrey L. Burkett, JR., William F. Clukey, JR., Vincent E. Holley, John A. Winters
  • Patent number: 10958110
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A method for decoding data includes demodulating voltage or current waveform in each tank circuit of a plurality of inductive power transfer circuits to obtain at least one demodulated signal from each tank circuit, capturing a bit sequence from each demodulated signal by clocking signal state of each demodulated signal through a direct memory access (DMA) circuit, streaming bit sequences received from the DMA circuit into a plurality of data streams, and decoding one or more messages from the plurality of data streams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: AIRA, INC.
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Publication number: 20210028657
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A charging device has a plurality of charging cells provided on a charging surface, a charging circuit and a controller. The controller may be configured to cause the charging circuit to provide a charging current to a resonant circuit when a receiving device is placed on the charging surface, detect a change or rate of change in voltage or current level associated with the resonant circuit, provide a measurement slot by terminating the charging current for a period of time, and determine that the receiving device has been removed from the charging surface by performing a passive or digital ping procedure during the measurement slot.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters, James Scott
  • Publication number: 20210028655
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for providing a wireless charging device are disclosed. A method for operating the wireless charging device includes transmitting a first pulse through each of a plurality of charging circuits, determining peak voltage at nodes in the plurality of charging circuits, each node coupling a transmitting coil to a capacitor in one charging circuit in the plurality of charging circuits, the peak voltage at each node being responsive to the first pulse and indicative of a coupling coefficient with a receiving coil in a chargeable device, determining that a minimum peak voltage responsive to the first pulse is associated with a first charging circuit in the plurality of charging circuits, and providing a first charging current to the first charging circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Publication number: 20210028656
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A charging device has a plurality of charging cells provided on a charging surface, a charging circuit and a controller. The controller may be configured to cause the charging circuit to provide a charging current to a resonant circuit when a receiving device is placed on the charging device, detect a change or rate of change in voltage or current level associated with the resonant circuit or a change or rate of change in power transferred to the receiving device and determine that the receiving device has been removed from the charging device when the change or rate of the change in voltage or current level or change or rate of change in power transferred to the receiving device exceeds a threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters, James Scott
  • Publication number: 20210028651
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A charging device has a plurality of charging cells provided on a charging surface, a charging circuit and a controller. The controller may be configured to cause the charging circuit to provide a charging current to a resonant circuit when a receiving device is placed on the charging surface, provide a measurement slot by causing the charging circuit to decrease or terminate the charging current for a period of time and determine whether the receiving device has been removed from the charging surface based on measurement of a characteristic of the resonant circuit during the measurement slot. The characteristic of the resonant circuit may be representative of electromagnetic coupling between a transmitting coil in the resonant circuit and a receiving coil in the receiving device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters, James Scott
  • Publication number: 20200381959
    Abstract: Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A method for decoding data includes demodulating voltage or current waveform in each tank circuit of a plurality of inductive power transfer circuits to obtain at least one demodulated signal from each tank circuit, capturing a bit sequence from each demodulated signal by clocking signal state of each demodulated signal through a direct memory access (DMA) circuit, streaming bit sequences received from the DMA circuit into a plurality of data streams, and decoding one or more messages from the plurality of data streams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Publication date: December 3, 2020
    Inventors: Eric Heindel Goodchild, John Winters
  • Patent number: D924570
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Inventor: William John Winter
  • Patent number: D924571
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Inventor: William John Winter