Patents by Inventor Martin Hardegger
Martin Hardegger 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).
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Patent number: 9279902Abstract: An optical module for an optical unit associated with forming a light curtain for monitoring a protective or surveillance field. The optical module includes at least one radiation emitting and/or radiation receiving element for transmitting and/or receiving a radiation beam associated with forming a light curtain. The optical module includes a module body for mounting a radiation transmitter/receiver carrier that carries the at least one transmitting and/or receiving element associated with the radiation beam. The module body has at least one alignment element for aligning the optical module within a support element that forms an outer housing of the optical unit.Type: GrantFiled: May 2, 2013Date of Patent: March 8, 2016Assignee: Rockwell Automation Safety AGInventors: Carl Meinherz, Richard Casty, Danilo Dorizzi, Martin Hardegger, Manfred Norbert Stein, Clau Lombriser, Guido Baumgartner
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Patent number: 9274343Abstract: A lens carrier and an optical module for forming a light curtain associated with monitoring a protective field. The lens carrier includes at least one lens for focusing a radiation beam forming said light curtain and a lens mask having at least one opening for shaping the radiation beam to have a predetermined aperture. The lens carrier is formed by overmolding said lens mask with a transparent material. The optical module has such a lens carrier and a module body for mounting a radiation transmitter/receiver carrier that comprises at least one transmitter and/or receiver for transmitting and/or receiving said radiation.Type: GrantFiled: May 2, 2013Date of Patent: March 1, 2016Assignee: Rockwell Automation Safety AGInventors: Carl Meinherz, Richard Casty, Danilo Dorizzi, Martin Hardegger, Manfred Norbert Stein, Clau Lombriser, Guido Baumgartner
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Patent number: 9250123Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for assembling a circuit carrier with a housing component and furthermore to an optical unit for emitting and/or receiving radiation that is fabricated using this particular method of assembling and aligning the circuit carrier with the housing component. The method comprises the following steps: providing said circuit carrier, wherein on said circuit carrier there is arranged at least one electronic component, and providing said housing component having at least one first opening; aligning said circuit carrier in a way that said electronic component is aligned with respect to said first opening in the housing component, wherein the electronic component is directly used as a fiducial for its own position on the circuit carrier; fixing the circuit carrier at the housing component.Type: GrantFiled: May 27, 2014Date of Patent: February 2, 2016Assignee: Rockwell Automation Safely AGInventors: Martin Hardegger, Henry Schulze
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Patent number: 9201162Abstract: The present invention relates to light curtains and, in particular, to safety light curtains for monitoring a protective field and to optical units of such light curtains which comprise optoelectronic components interconnected by a communication bus and to a method for allocating individual addresses to each of a plurality of optoelectronic components. The optical unit comprises a controller unit, a plurality of optoelectronic components interconnected by means of a communication bus, each of said optoelectronic components having a transmission input terminal for receiving a transmission signal and a transmission output terminal for outputting a transmission signal, and a receiving terminal for receiving a control signal from said control unit. An individual address is allocated to each of said optoelectronic components depending on a position of the respective optoelectronic component with respect to the other optoelectronic components.Type: GrantFiled: April 24, 2014Date of Patent: December 1, 2015Assignee: Cedes Safety & Automation AGInventors: Martin Hardegger, Carl Meinherz, Christopher Walther, Danilo Dorizzi
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Publication number: 20150288454Abstract: The present invention relates to a transceiver element for an optical unit of a photoelectric barrier to such a photoelectric barrier. In particular, a transceiver element comprises at least one optical sender, at least one optical receiver and a control element, wherein said control element comprises a driver unit for driving said at least one optical sender to emit radiation and at least one receiver unit for sensing and evaluating electrical signals generated by said optical receiver.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 28, 2014Publication date: October 8, 2015Applicant: CEDES SAFETY & AUTOMATION AGInventors: Carl Meinherz, James Edward Dogul, George E. Rollins, Martin Hardegger, Christopher Walther, Danilo Dorizzi
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Publication number: 20150287318Abstract: An industrial-enabled mobile electronic device, such as a personal mobile phone or tablet computer, allows a user to wirelessly interact with industrial devices for a variety of purposes. The mobile electronic device can communicate with an industrial device to read and write configuration settings, read and view log data, send commands to the industrial device, and other such functions. The mobile electronic device can perform various types of analysis on images and video of the industrial device captured by the mobile electronic device, including identifying and translating a model or device number printed on the device, or translating error codes displayed by the industrial device. The mobile electronic device can also retrieve additional information about the industrial device or the device's stored data via interaction with a remote technical support service, and can be used to facilitate dialog with a remote technical support person.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 4, 2014Publication date: October 8, 2015Applicant: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Suresh R. Nair, Burt Sacherski, Christopher J. Burke, Derek W. Jones, Frederic Boutaud, Martin Hardegger, Rudolf Laurenz Papenbreer, David M. O'Brien, Kentaro Sugimoto
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Patent number: 9103931Abstract: The present invention relates to a light curtain that comprises at least one first optical unit having a plurality of light emitting elements and light receiving elements and at least one second optical unit having a plurality of light emitting elements and light receiving elements, wherein said light emitting elements and light receiving elements are operable to form a light grid from a plurality of light barriers formed between opposing light emitting elements and light receiving elements. The first and second optical unit each comprise a transceiver unit carrying said plurality of light emitting elements and light receiving elements, and at least one separate detachable plug-in module, said first and second transceiver units being identically built and said first and second plug-in modules differing from each other in order to define the functionality of the first optical unit and the second optical unit, respectively.Type: GrantFiled: April 11, 2012Date of Patent: August 11, 2015Assignee: CEDES SAFETY & AUTOMATION AGInventors: Carl Meinherz, Martin Hardegger
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Patent number: 9025019Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for utilizing time of flight sensors in an industrial automation environment. The method includes employing a multi pixel camera associated with a time of flight sensor to detect an object located within a defined or bounded target area, comparing pixels with adjacent pixels associated with an image of the object captured by the multi pixel camera, identifying the object as being a colored, texture, or highly reflective object, and controlling industrial machinery based on the identification of the object entering the target area.Type: GrantFiled: October 18, 2010Date of Patent: May 5, 2015Assignees: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc., Cedes Safety & Automation AGInventors: Carl Meinherz, Craig Martin Brockman, Elik I. Fooks, Manfred Norbert Stein, Martin Hardegger, Wei Jie Chen, Reto Berner, Richard Galera, Robert M. Black, Roger Merz, Suresh Nair, Steven A. Eisenbrown
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Publication number: 20150041626Abstract: The subject matter disclosed herein describes an optical sensor used in a safety system. The sensor includes two pixel matrices on a single substrate. Each of the pixel matrices are arranged in a row and column format, and pixels from one matrix are interspersed with pixels from the other matrix such that alternating pixels in each row and column belong to separate matrices. Two sets of selection logic allow each matrix to be enabled separately. Additional monitoring logic is included to detect shorted pixels and/or shorted selection lines. In addition, the frames generated by each pixel array may be compared to detect variation in performance between arrays.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 27, 2014Publication date: February 12, 2015Inventors: Anatoly G. Grinberg, Wayne R. Foster, Martin Hardegger, Derek W. Jones, Simon Eggenberger, Carl Meinherz
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Publication number: 20140361149Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for synchronizing the optical units of a photoelectric barrier and to such a photoelectric barrier. The synchronization method comprises the steps of transmitting radiation forming a synchronization signal from a first optical sender of the first optical unit; controlling a plurality of the optical receivers of the at least one second optical unit to monitor whether the synchronization signal has been received and performing a synchronization step if the synchronization signal has been received. The method further performs the step of defining at least one of said plurality of optoelectronic components to be used for the synchronization step.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 11, 2014Publication date: December 11, 2014Inventors: Carl Meinherz, Martin Hardegger, Christopher Walther, Danilo Dorizzi
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Publication number: 20140346318Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for assembling a circuit carrier with a housing component and furthermore to an optical unit for emitting and/or receiving radiation that is fabricated using this particular method of assembling and aligning the circuit carrier with the housing component. The method comprises the following steps: providing said circuit carrier, wherein on said circuit carrier there is arranged at least one electronic component, and providing said housing component having at least one first opening; aligning said circuit carrier in a way that said electronic component is aligned with respect to said first opening in the housing component, wherein the electronic component is directly used as a fiducial for its own position on the circuit carrier; fixing the circuit carrier at the housing component.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 27, 2014Publication date: November 27, 2014Applicant: CEDES SAFETY & AUTOMATION AGInventors: Martin Hardegger, Henry Schulze
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Publication number: 20140319358Abstract: The present invention relates to light curtains and, in particular, to safety light curtains for monitoring a protective field and to optical units of such light curtains which comprise optoelectronic components interconnected by a communication bus and to a method for allocating individual addresses to each of a plurality of optoelectronic components. The optical unit comprises a controller unit, a plurality of optoelectronic components interconnected by means of a communication bus, each of said optoelectronic components having a transmission input terminal for receiving a transmission signal and a transmission output terminal for outputting a transmission signal, and a receiving terminal for receiving a control signal from said control unit. An individual address is allocated to each of said optoelectronic components depending on a position of the respective optoelectronic component with respect to the other optoelectronic components.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 24, 2014Publication date: October 30, 2014Applicant: CEDES SAFETY & AUTOMATION AGInventors: Martin Hardegger, Carl MEINHERZ, Christopher WALTHER, Danilo DORIZZI
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Patent number: 8872096Abstract: The subject matter disclosed herein describes an optical sensor used in a safety system. The sensor includes two pixel matrices on a single substrate. Each of the pixel matrices are arranged in a row and column format, and pixels from one matrix are interspersed with pixels from the other matrix such that alternating pixels in each row and column belong to separate matrices. Two sets of selection logic allow each matrix to be enabled separately. Additional monitoring logic is included to detect shorted pixels and/or shorted selection lines. In addition, the frames generated by each pixel array may be compared to detect variation in performance between arrays.Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 2012Date of Patent: October 28, 2014Assignees: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc., Rockwell Automation AGInventors: Anatoly G. Grinberg, Wayne R. Foster, Martin Hardegger, Derek W. Jones, Simon Eggenberger, Carl Meinherz
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Publication number: 20130335725Abstract: A system for calibrating a color sensing pixel based upon the distance between the color sensing pixel and an object. The distance is determined by measuring the phase shift of electromagnetic radiation as reflected from the surface of the object compared with the wave profile of the electromagnetic radiation incident on the object surface. The color sensing pixel is associated with a Time-of-Flight (ToF) pixel which is employed to determine the distance of the color sensing pixel. The electromagnetic radiation can be from any part of the electromagnetic spectrum, in particular the infrared and visible light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The color sensing pixel and the ToF pixel can reside on the same semiconductor or on disparate semiconductors.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 22, 2013Publication date: December 19, 2013Applicants: Cedes Safety & Automation AG, Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Martin Hardegger, Reto Berner, Richard Galera, Suresh Nair, Carl Meinherz, Craig Martin Brockman, Elik I. Fooks, Manfred Norbert Stein, Robert M. Black
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Publication number: 20130293966Abstract: A lens carrier and an optical module for forming a light curtain associated with monitoring a protective field. The lens carrier includes at least one lens for focussing a radiation beam forming said light curtain and a lens mask having at least one opening for shaping the radiation beam to have a predetermined aperture. The lens carrier is formed by overmolding said lens mask with a transparent material. The optical module has such a lens carrier and a module body for mounting a radiation transmitter/receiver carrier that comprises at least one transmitter and/or receiver for transmitting and/or receiving said radiation.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 2, 2013Publication date: November 7, 2013Applicant: CEDES SAFETY & AUTOMATION AGInventors: Carl Meinherz, Richard Casty, Danilo Dorizzi, Martin Hardegger, Manfred Norbert Stein, Clau Lombriser, Guido Baumgartner
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Publication number: 20130292554Abstract: An optical module for an optical unit associated with forming a light curtain for monitoring a protective or surveillance field. The optical module includes at least one radiation emitting and/or radiation receiving element for transmitting and/or receiving a radiation beam associated with forming a light curtain. The optical module includes a module body for mounting a radiation transmitter/receiver carrier that carries the at least one transmitting and/or receiving element associated with the radiation beam. The module body has at least one alignment element for aligning the optical module within a support element that forms an outer housing of the optical unit.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 2, 2013Publication date: November 7, 2013Applicant: CEDES SAFETY & AUTOMATION AGInventors: Carl Meinherz, Richard Casty, Danilo Dorizzi, Martin Hardegger, Manfred Norbert Stein, Clau Lombriser, Guido Baumgartner
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Publication number: 20130270422Abstract: The subject matter disclosed herein describes an optical sensor used in a safety system. The sensor includes two pixel matrices on a single substrate. Each of the pixel matrices are arranged in a row and column format, and pixels from one matrix are interspersed with pixels from the other matrix such that alternating pixels in each row and column belong to separate matrices. Two sets of selection logic allow each matrix to be enabled separately. Additional monitoring logic is included to detect shorted pixels and/or shorted selection lines. In addition, the frames generated by each pixel array may be compared to detect variation in performance between arrays.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 12, 2012Publication date: October 17, 2013Inventors: Anatoly G. Grinberg, Wayne R. Foster, Martin Hardegger, Derek W. Jones, Simon Eggenberger, Carl Meinherz
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Patent number: 8542348Abstract: A system for calibrating a color sensing pixel based upon the distance between the color sensing pixel and an object. The distance is determined by measuring the phase shift of electromagnetic radiation as reflected from the surface of the object compared with the wave profile of the electromagnetic radiation incident on the object surface. The color sensing pixel is associated with a Time-of-Flight (ToF) pixel which is employed to determine the distance of the color sensing pixel. The electromagnetic radiation can be from any part of the electromagnetic spectrum, in particular the infrared and visible light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The color sensing pixel and the ToF pixel can reside on the same semiconductor or on disparate semiconductors.Type: GrantFiled: November 3, 2010Date of Patent: September 24, 2013Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Martin Hardegger, Reto Berner, Richard Galera, Suresh Nair, Carl Meinherz, Craig Martin Brockman, Elik I. Fooks, Manfred Norbert Stein, Robert M. Black
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Publication number: 20120105823Abstract: A system for calibrating a color sensing pixel based upon the distance between the color sensing pixel and an object. The distance is determined by measuring the phase shift of electromagnetic radiation as reflected from the surface of the object compared with the wave profile of the electromagnetic radiation incident on the object surface. The color sensing pixel is associated with a Time-of-Flight (ToF) pixel which is employed to determine the distance of the color sensing pixel. The electromagnetic radiation can be from any part of the electromagnetic spectrum, in particular the infrared and visible light portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The color sensing pixel and the ToF pixel can reside on the same semiconductor or on disparate semiconductors.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 3, 2010Publication date: May 3, 2012Applicants: CEDES SAFETY & AUTOMATION AG, ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.Inventors: Martin Hardegger, Reto Berner, Richard Galera, Suresh Nair, Carl Meinherz, Craig Martin Brockman, Elik I. Fooks, Manfred Norbert Stein, Robert M. Black
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Publication number: 20120095575Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for controlling industrial equipment in the performance of various industrial activities based on the detected body movement of a user in an industrial automation environment. The method includes employing a time-of-flight sensor to detect movement of a body part of the user, ascertaining whether or not the movement of the body part conforms to a recognized movement of the body part, interpreting the recognized movement of the body part as a performable action, and thereafter actuating industrial machinery to perform the performable action.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 14, 2010Publication date: April 19, 2012Applicants: Cedes Safety & Automation AG, Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.Inventors: Carl Meinherz, Craig Martin Brockman, Elik I. Fooks, Manfred Norbert Stein, Martin Hardegger, Wei Jie Chen, Reto Berner, Richard Galera, Robert M. Black, Roger Merz, Suresh Nair, Steven A. Eisenbrown