Patents by Inventor NICHOLAS J. HEEDER

NICHOLAS J. HEEDER 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).

  • Publication number: 20220243778
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems, and computer program products for brake pad wear level monitoring are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, an apparatus for brake pad wear level monitoring includes a sensor module attached to a fixed portion of a braking system. In this embodiment, the sensor module is configured to generate data indicative of a relative distance between the sensor module and a sensor target attached to a brake pad. According to this embodiment, the sensor module is also configured to use the generated data generate transmission data and transmit the generated transmission data to an external device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Publication date: August 4, 2022
    Inventors: NICHOLAS J. HEEDER, NASHIRU ALHASSAN, ADITYA BALASUBRAMANIAN, MARK DUFFY, NEVIN R. MOLYNEAUX
  • Patent number: 10718829
    Abstract: Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for optimizing utilization of a wireless position sensor are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a controller of the wireless position sensor receives output from a magnetic-field-dependent sensor of the wireless position sensor. The magnetic-field-dependent sensor is configured to register the strength of a magnetic field of a magnet attached to a mechanical component. In this example, the registered strength corresponds to a position of the mechanical component along a directional path. According to this embodiment, the controller generates a comparison of the output to one or more predefined movement signatures and based on the comparison, determines whether to change an operating state of one or more components of the wireless position sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Nicholas J. Heeder, Edward F. O'Brien, Aditya Balasubramanian, Nevin R. Molyneaux, Mark Duffy
  • Publication number: 20200132787
    Abstract: Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for optimizing utilization of a wireless position sensor are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a controller of the wireless position sensor receives output from a magnetic-field-dependent sensor of the wireless position sensor. The magnetic-field-dependent sensor is configured to register the strength of a magnetic field of a magnet attached to a mechanical component. In this example, the registered strength corresponds to a position of the mechanical component along a directional path. According to this embodiment, the controller generates a comparison of the output to one or more predefined movement signatures and based on the comparison, determines whether to change an operating state of one or more components of the wireless position sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2018
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Inventors: NICHOLAS J. HEEDER, EDWARD F. O'BRIEN, ADITYA BALASUBRAMANIAN, NEVIN R. MOLYNEAUX, MARK DUFFY