Patents by Inventor Mark A. Foster

Mark A. Foster 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: 12079013
    Abstract: Systems and methods for taking, processing, retrieving, and/or displaying images from unmanned aerial vehicles are disclosed, including an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: an image capture device; and a controller configured to: determine a flight plan of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the flight plan configured such that the unmanned aerial vehicle and fields of view of the image capture device are restricted to a geographic area within boundaries of a geographic location identified by coordinates of the geographic location; execute the flight plan; and capture, with the image capture device, one or more aerial images restricted to fields of view within the boundaries of the geographic location while executing the flight plan, such that items outside of the boundaries are not captured in the one or more aerial images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2024
    Assignee: Pictometry International Corp.
    Inventors: Mark A. Foster, Frank Gluffrida, Antony Parchment
  • Publication number: 20220404209
    Abstract: An additive manufacturing apparatus includes a laser and a detection system. The laser emits a laser beam to heat a powder bed to form a melt pool, and the melt pool emits light proportional to a temperature of the melt pool. The detection system includes a spectral disperser and one of a) two or more on-axis sensors or b) a line scanner. The two or more on-axis sensors or the line scanner are/is located along an axis of the emitted light, the detection system receives the emitted light from the melt pool, and an intensity of the emitted light detected by the a) two or more on-axis sensors or the b) line scanner is compared with a blackbody spectral map at a particular wavelength of the emitted light to determine a temperature of the melt pool.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2022
    Publication date: December 22, 2022
    Inventors: Steven M. Storck, Robert K. Mueller, Ryan H. Carter, Brendan P. Croom, Nathan G. Drenkow, Milad Alemohammad, Mark A. Foster, Christopher D. Stiles
  • Publication number: 20220026929
    Abstract: Systems and methods for taking, processing, retrieving, and/or displaying images from unmanned aerial vehicles are disclosed, including an unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising: an image capture device; and a controller configured to: determine a flight plan of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the flight plan configured such that the unmanned aerial vehicle and fields of view of the image capture device are restricted to a geographic area within boundaries of a geographic location identified by coordinates of the geographic location; execute the flight plan; and capture, with the image capture device, one or more aerial images restricted to fields of view within the boundaries of the geographic location while executing the flight plan, such that items outside of the boundaries are not captured in the one or more aerial images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Inventors: Mark A. Foster, Frank Gluffrida, Antony Parchment
  • Publication number: 20170235018
    Abstract: A method comprising receiving aerial images captured by one or more unmanned aerial vehicle; receiving metadata associated with the aerial images captured by the one or more unmanned aerial vehicle; geo-referencing the aerial images based on a geographic location of a surface to determine geographic coordinates of pixels of the aerial images; receiving a geographic location from a user; retrieving one or more of the aerial images associated with the geographic location based on the determined geographic coordinates; and displaying to the user one or more overview image depicting the geographic location and overlaid with one or more icons indicative of and associated with the retrieved aerial images associated with the geographic location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 9, 2017
    Publication date: August 17, 2017
    Inventors: Mark A. Foster, Frank Giuffrida, Antony Parchment
  • Patent number: 9645377
    Abstract: A compressive imaging system includes an illumination system arranged to illuminate an object of interest with illumination light, and a detection system configured to detect at least a portion of the illumination light after being at least one of reflected from, scattered from, or transmitted through the object of interest or to detect fluorescent light from the object of interest and to provide an imaging signal. The compressive imaging system further includes an image processing system configured to communicate with the detection system to receive the imaging signal. The illumination light from the illumination system comprises a plurality of light pulses such that each light pulse has a preselected spectrum that is distinguishable from spectra of all other pulses. The image processing system is configured to form an image of the object of interest using information concerning the preselected spectra of the plurality of light pulses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Bryan T. Bosworth, Mark A. Foster, Jasper R. Stroud, Trac Tran, Sang Chin, Dung Tran
  • Publication number: 20160231549
    Abstract: A compressive imaging system includes an illumination system arranged to illuminate an object of interest with illumination light, and a detection system configured to detect at least a portion of the illumination light after being at least one of reflected from, scattered from, or transmitted through the object of interest or to detect fluorescent light from the object of interest and to provide an imaging signal. The compressive imaging system further includes an image processing system configured to communicate with the detection system to receive the imaging signal. The illumination light from the illumination system comprises a plurality of light pulses such that each light pulse has a preselected spectrum that is distinguishable from spectra of all other pulses. The image processing system is configured to form an image of the object of interest using information concerning the preselected spectra of the plurality of light pulses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Applicant: The Johns Hopkins University
    Inventors: Bryan T. BOSWORTH, Mark A. FOSTER, Jasper R. STROUD, Trac TRAN, Sang CHIN, Dung TRAN
  • Patent number: 8286199
    Abstract: An add-on application, running on a computer, allows a user to store, in a repository, information such as (for example) document images, and to associate particular information with specified states of a host application such as the QUICKBOOKS® accounting software. When the add-on application determines, for example, that a bill is being displayed (or is about to be displayed) on the screen by the host application, the add-on application automatically obtains, and displays on the screen, information associated with the bill, such as a list or count of one or more electronic documents that are associated with the bill. In our particular embodiment, the auxiliary window is a toolbar or sidebar window located within the host application window itself. The foregoing is achieved utilizing standard host-application SDK and operating-platform API functionality, thus reducing the risk of degrading the host application's performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: SmartVault Corporation
    Inventors: Eric J. Pulaski, Roger O. Knapp, Mark A. Foster, Manikprabhu M. Rajendra
  • Publication number: 20080078886
    Abstract: A cargo carrier is disclosed for the efficient delivery of cargo to space, such as to support the International Space Station (ISS). Both pressurized and unpressurized cargo may be delivered into space on an expendable launch vehicle, such as the Delta-IV rocket. The cargo carrier may utilize a slightly modified Delta-IV second stage to provide on-orbit station keeping of the payload until it is transferred to the ISS. The cargo carrier can include an unpressurized section having a rigid central structure supporting a frame to which unpressurized cargo modules are coupled. In addition, a pressurized cargo section may be coupled to the unpressurized section. The cargo carrier may utilize existing on-orbit assets such as the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to transfer the ISS cargo from a rendezvous orbit to the ISS.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2006
    Publication date: April 3, 2008
    Applicant: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Mark A. Foster, Russell B. Livermore
  • Patent number: 4541134
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to vibration damping supports and in particular to a suspension unit for a stretcher.The stretcher support unit comprises a rectangular base frame (10) on which is supported, by means of a resilient support mechanism, a stretcher frame or carrier (11). The support mechanism comprises a pair of cantilever arms (20) inclined upwards in opposite directions and each pivotally mounted at its lower end on the base frame (10). The movements of the cantilever arms (20) are controlled by respective gas-liquid suspension units (30), which are mounted between the base frame (10) and an extension arm (28) of each cantilever arm (20). The suspension units comprise, in one embodiment, a gas reservoir (70), a sealed liquid reservoir (71), a flexible diaphragm (72) forming one end of the liquid reservoir and an actuator piston (73).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 1983
    Date of Patent: September 17, 1985
    Assignee: The University of Bath
    Inventors: Joseph Black, Mark A. Foster, Nicholas G. Luard