Patents by Inventor Michael A. Branz

Michael A. Branz 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: 12093119
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for safeguarding a system against false positives. The method includes: receiving a time series of a criticality, the system including a functionality that is triggered when the criticality meets a first predetermined criterion; computing a time series of a reference, the reference being a comparison criticality for a triggering of the functionality; computing a time series of an error measure at least based on the time series of the criticality and the time series of the reference, a triggering of the functionality being classified as a false positive when a portion of the time series of the error measure meets a second predetermined criterion; and identifying at least one near-false positive, a non-triggering of the functionality being classified as a near-false positive when a portion of the time series of the error measure meets a third predetermined criterion, but not the second predetermined criterion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
    Inventors: Jan Stellet, Jan Schumacher, Nils Tiemann, Stefan Aulbach, Wolfgang Branz, Michael Egert
  • Patent number: 6641238
    Abstract: A temperature and/or humidity controlled cabinet includes an environmentally controlled compartment having a main access opening and a swing door that is configured to selectively permit access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment via at least a portion of the main access opening and to close off access to the inside of the temperature controlled compartment via at least a portion of the main access opening. The cabinet further includes at least one sliding door that is defined in a portion of the swing door and that is configured to selectively permit access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment and to close off access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2003
    Assignee: Carrier Commercial Refrigeration, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Hing Wah Chiu
  • Publication number: 20030025426
    Abstract: A temperature and/or humidity controlled cabinet includes an environmentally controlled compartment having a main access opening and a swing door that is configured to selectively permit access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment via at least a portion of the main access opening and to close off access to the inside of the temperature controlled compartment via at least a portion of the main access opening. The cabinet further includes at least one sliding door that is defined in a portion of the swing door and that is configured to selectively permit access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment and to close off access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2002
    Publication date: February 6, 2003
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Hing Wah Chiu
  • Patent number: 6467859
    Abstract: A temperature and/or humidity controlled cabinet includes an environmentally controlled compartment having a main access opening and a swing door that is configured to selectively permit access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment via at least a portion of the main access opening and to close off access to the inside of the temperature controlled compartment via at least a portion of the main access opening. The cabinet further includes at least one sliding door that is defined in a portion of the swing door and that is configured to selectively permit access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment and to close off access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2002
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Hing Wah Chiu
  • Publication number: 20010030492
    Abstract: A temperature and/or humidity controlled cabinet includes an environmentally controlled compartment having a main access opening and a swing door that is configured to selectively permit access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment via at least a portion of the main access opening and to close off access to the inside of the temperature controlled compartment via at least a portion of the main access opening. The cabinet further includes at least one sliding door that is defined in a portion of the swing door and that is configured to selectively permit access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment and to close off access to the inside of the environmentally controlled compartment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2000
    Publication date: October 18, 2001
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Hing Wah Chiu
  • Patent number: 6178763
    Abstract: A refrigeration unit with a thermal break member and an anti-sweat heating mechanism in the form of a heater wire suitable for high humidity environments is provided. The thermal break member includes a main body portion and a conduit portion connected to the main body portion. The conduit portion defines a channel disposed near the access opening of the refrigerated compartment and configured to receive therein the heater wire. The thermal break member includes a closure member and a flexible hinge portion. The flexible hinge portion has a first end connected to the main body portion and a second end connected to the closure member. A typical value for the durometer of the flexible hinge portion is 70 Shore A, and a typical value for the durometer of the main body portion and the closure member is 80 Shore D.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2001
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Harry A. Brancheau, Dan G. Hopkins, Thomas E. Yingst, Michael A. Branz
  • Patent number: 5442997
    Abstract: A cooking apparatus receives a sealed container of food inside a cooking chamber. A controller operates a motor to drive a rack and pinion gear set to lower a nozzle to puncture the cover of the container. Limit switches position the nozzle at a predetermined location within the container. The controller activates solenoids which open steam and/or water valves to permit steam and/or water from a boiler to be introduced inside the food container through the nozzle to mix and complete cooking of the food contents of the container. The controller operates the motor to withdraw the nozzle from within the container and activates a solenoid of a steam valve to provide steam through a confinement cylinder that subjects the nozzle to a steam bath after the nozzle has been retracted from within the food container. A limit switch cooperates with the controller to prevent the nozzle from being withdrawn from the cooking chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 1993
    Date of Patent: August 22, 1995
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Michael D. Black, Harry A. Brancheau, James H. Jenkins
  • Patent number: 5168719
    Abstract: A food preparation table includes a cabinet with a food preparation surface and a heat-insulated food storage compartment. An evaporator and a fan are disposed inside the cabinet so that air moves through the evaporator upon operation of the fan. In one embodiment, a temperature controller operates the evaporator fan only during operation of the refrigeration equipment in the cooling mode. A condiment plenum is disposed adjacent to the preparation surface and includes at least one condiment plenum wall that defines a complex structure. At least one open top condiment pan is received by the condiment plenum. A cool air supply system, which can include an auxiliary fan, one or more baffles, and air flow dams and guides, efficiently distributes cool air from a localized site, to widely dispersed locations, some of which being inside the storage compartment and some of which being exposed to the ambient atmosphere.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 1991
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1992
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Ralph A. Fuhrmann, Jr., Dan G. Hopkins, Harry A. Brancheau
  • Patent number: 4977754
    Abstract: A beverage merchandiser for refrigerating and displaying single-serving containers disposed on gravity feed shelves has a refrigerated compartment accessed by sliding, multi-pane glass panel doors mounted on rollers engaging side-by-side overhead tracks. An evaporator is disposed inside the refrigerated compartment near the top and rear walls of same and is configured with a shallow height relative to the depth of the evaporator to save space. A duct panel forms a duct along the top wall of the refrigerated compartment to direct cooled air from the evaporator toward the product nearest the doors of the merchandiser to keep this product cool, since it is the next-to-be-purchased product. The glass panes of the doors are kept defogged by a defogging mechanism. One of the defogging mechanisms uses air warmed in a housing for the condenser and compressor and provides same to a slot oriented in a grill, which is disposed beneath the bottom edge of the doors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 1990
    Date of Patent: December 18, 1990
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald D. Upton, Michael A. Branz, Edmund S. Richardson
  • Patent number: 4972682
    Abstract: A cooler cabinet having a refrigeration system, and particularly devised to maintain articles to-be-cooled, such as milk cartons and the like, and permit the continuous entry into the cabinet enclosure for the removal of the articles is disclosed as having a main chamber for the articles, an upper, separated chamber for enclosing the evaporator for the refrigeration system and a lower, separated chamber for enclosing condenser and compressor. Air distribution fans are positioned in the upper chamber and are arranged to produce circulatory air movement across the evaporator to be cooled thereby in the upper chamber, then downwardly along the front wall of the main chamber then across the floor of the main chamber, then upwardly along the back wall of the chamber in an air return path and back to the vicinity of the evaporator for continued recirculation. Wire grates are positioned on the floor and the front wall along which air is moved downwardly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 1989
    Date of Patent: November 27, 1990
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Phillip A. Smith, Robert A. Johnson, Michael A. Branz
  • Patent number: 4949554
    Abstract: A frozen merchandiser has a plurality of single pane, cylindrically curved, glass lids which are slidably counterbalanced with springs. Front and back plastic extrusions block the passaage of air, and the front extrusion provides a mounting surface for a handle. A refrigerated compartment has a fin-and-tube evaporator disposed in the upper portion thereof and against the rear wall thereof. The compartment has an access opening that is defined by a free edge of the front wall of the compartment and is disposed at a relatively low height above the floor on which the merchandiser rests. The mechanical components of the refrigeration system are mounted on a board that is slidable into and out of a housing which is heat insulated from the refrigerated compartment. The tubes carrying the refrigerant are disposed around and against the exterior of the compartment walls and held thereagainst by foamed heat insulation that surrounds the walls of the refrigerated compartment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1989
    Date of Patent: August 21, 1990
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Ralph A. Fuhrmann, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4612775
    Abstract: A refrigerant monitor and alarm includes a sensor positioned to detect the level of liquid state refrigerant in the system and provide an electrical output signal therefrom, a digital display for displaying the refrigerant level, a circuit coupling the digital display to the sensor for actuating the digital display, and a heat reclaim system lockout circuit coupled to the sensor. In a preferred embodiment, the level display is a bar-graph LED-type display incorporated on a control panel also including a refrigerant level alarm and other parameter alarms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 1985
    Date of Patent: September 23, 1986
    Assignee: Kysor Industrial Corporation
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Paul F. Renuad
  • Patent number: 4553400
    Abstract: A refrigerant monitor and alarm includes a sensor positioned to detect the level of liquid state refrigerant in the system and provide an electrical output signal therefrom, a digital display for displaying the refrigerant level, and a circuit coupling the digital display to the sensor for actuating the digital display. In a preferred embodiment, the level display is a bar-graph LED-type display incorporated on a control panel also including a refrigerant level alarm and other parameter alarms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 1984
    Date of Patent: November 19, 1985
    Assignee: Kysor Industrial Corporation
    Inventor: Michael A. Branz
  • Patent number: D350245
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 1993
    Date of Patent: September 6, 1994
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Ronald D. Upton
  • Patent number: D363398
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 24, 1995
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Ronald D. Upton, Harry A. Brancheau
  • Patent number: D376157
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 3, 1996
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Beverage Air Division
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Harry A. Brancheau, Ronald D. Upton
  • Patent number: D377800
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 4, 1997
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael A. Branz, Harry A. Brancheau, Ronald D. Upton, Dan G. Hopkins
  • Patent number: D398791
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: Specialty Equipment Companies, Inc.
    Inventors: Harry A. Brancheau, Michael D. Black, John W. Drummond, Michael A. Branz