Patents by Inventor Niels Thomas

Niels Thomas 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: 20230009729
    Abstract: A blade root cover segment suitable for fitting to a wind turbine blade to span a gap between the blade and a spinner cover. The blade root cover segment includes a first end and a second end and comprises: a curved flange for abutting against a correspondingly curved surface of the wind turbine blade; a cover wall extending radially from the flange; and a tensioning band associated with the flange. The tensioning band comprises a first end proximate to the first end of the blade root cover segment and a second end proximate to the second end of the blade root cover segment, and wherein the first end and the second end of the tensioning band include connection means for connecting with and applying tension between a like blade root collar segment. The invention also encompasses a blade root cover comprising a plurality of blade root cover segments. The invention also extends to a method of assembling a blade root cover from a plurality of blade root cover segments.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Publication date: January 12, 2023
    Inventors: Niels Martin Henriksen, Jan Kjærsgaard Petersen, Niels Thomas Bengtson, Ole Mølgaard Jeppesen, Jesper Horsager Nielsen
  • Patent number: 10215163
    Abstract: This invention relates to a lightning current transfer system adapted for usage in a wind turbine (W) having a hub (40) rotatably supported relative to a nacelle (50) and a plurality of pitchable blades (20) connected with the hub (20). The system (100) comprises a blade band (10) mountable to the root of the blade (10) and a lightning ring (30) mountable to the nacelle (50). The lightning ring (30) and the blade band (10) are positioned relative to each other to form a spark gap (SG) there between.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
    Inventors: Morten Bagger Søgaard, Niels Thomas Bengtson, Nicolai Tolstrup
  • Publication number: 20160281687
    Abstract: This invention relates to a lightning current transfer system adapted for usage in a wind turbine (W) having a hub (40) rotatably supported relative to a nacelle (50) and a plurality of pitchable blades (20) connected with the hub (20). The system (100) comprises a blade band (10) mountable to the root of the blade (10) and a lightning ring (30) mountable to the nacelle (50). The lightning ring (30) and the blade band (10) are positioned relative to each other to form a spark gap (SG) there between.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2014
    Publication date: September 29, 2016
    Applicant: Vestas Wind Systems A/S
    Inventors: Morten Bagger Søgaard, Niels Thomas Bengtson, Nicolai Tolstrup
  • Patent number: 8331568
    Abstract: In Transport Layer Security (TLS) or other communication protocols, the load on the server may be lowered by reducing the number of expensive decryption operations that the server has to perform. When a client contacts a server, the client sends the server the client's public key. The server chooses a secret value, encrypts the value with the client's public key, and sends the encrypted value to the client. When the client decrypts the secret, the server and client share a secret value, which may be used to derive an encryption key for further messages. In many key agreement schemes, the client chooses and encrypts the secret value, and the server recovers the value with an expensive decryption operation. By instead having the server choose the value and send it to the client, an expensive decryption operation is redistributed from the server to the client, thereby freeing server resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Niels Thomas Ferguson
  • Patent number: 8325924
    Abstract: In an example, one or more cryptographic keys may be associated with a group. Any member of the group may use the key to encrypt and decrypt information, thereby allowing members of the group to share encrypted information. Domain controllers (DCs) maintain copies of the group's keys. The DCs may synchronize with each other, so that each DC may have a copy of the group's keys. Keys may have expiration dates, and any client connected to a DC may generate a new key when a key is nearing expiration. The various clients may create new keys at differing amounts of time before expiration on various DCs. DCs that store keys early thus may have time to propagate the newly-created keys through synchronization before other DCs are requested to store keys created by other clients. In this way, the creation of an excessive number of new keys may be avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Tolga Acar, Josh Benaloh, Niels Thomas Ferguson, Carl M. Ellison, Mira Belenkiy, Duy Lan Nguyen
  • Patent number: 8085933
    Abstract: Encryption is provided with additional diffusion components to construct a block cipher with a large and variable block size. The cipher incorporates an encryption system or algorithm such that the cipher is at least as secure as the encryption system or algorithm. Additional components of the cipher provide improved diffusion. This combination ensures that the cipher is at least as strong as the encryption algorithm, and at the same time it provides additional security properties due to its improved diffusion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Niels Thomas Ferguson
  • Patent number: 7992198
    Abstract: An authentication mechanism is provided for a web method platform that allows homogeneous access for different types of clients according to a bootstrapping procedure utilized to establish the session. Different clients can be assigned different levels of trust based in part on the bootstrapping procedure and/or information provided during the procedure. The bootstrapping procedure can produce a token that is used by the clients in subsequent requests to provide previous authentication or state information to the platform. The token can comprise a shared secret used to ensure integrity of communications in some cases, and the token can be opaque to the client. Tokens can expire and require a client to re-bootstrap to provide higher levels of authentication protection, and tokens can be shared among a plurality of application servers to facilitate effective handling of requests in a farmed environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Brian J. Guarraci, Christopher C. White, Niels Thomas Ferguson, Jeffrey Dick Jones, Sean Patrick Nolan, Johnson T. Apacible, Vijay Varadan
  • Publication number: 20110158818
    Abstract: A hub enclosure (6), e.g. a spinner, for a hub (4) of a wind turbine is disclosed. The hub enclosure (6) comprises an aperture defining an aperture area and at least two aperture covers (10). The aperture covers (10) are arranged to cover substantially separate parts of the aperture area. Each of the aperture covers (10) is movable between a first position and a second position. In the first position the corresponding part of the aperture area is closed, and in the second position the corresponding part of the aperture area is open. The aperture covers (10) are positioned relative to each other in such a manner that neighbouring aperture covers (10) are arranged to cover adjacent parts of the aperture area. Thus, when two neighbouring aperture covers (10) are both in the second position, an opening is defined having an area which corresponds to the sum of the areas covered by the two aperture covers (10).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2009
    Publication date: June 30, 2011
    Applicant: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventors: Carsten Bruun Andersen, Niels Thomas
  • Publication number: 20100306525
    Abstract: In Transport Layer Security (TLS) or other communication protocols, the load on the server may be lowered by reducing the number of expensive decryption operations that the server has to perform. When a client contacts a server, the client sends the server the client's public key. The server chooses a secret value, encrypts the value with the client's public key, and sends the encrypted value to the client. When the client decrypts the secret, the server and client share a secret value, which may be used to derive an encryption key for further messages. In many key agreement schemes, the client chooses and encrypts the secret value, and the server recovers the value with an expensive decryption operation. By instead having the server choose the value and send it to the client, an expensive decryption operation is redistributed from the server to the client, thereby freeing server resources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 28, 2009
    Publication date: December 2, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Niels Thomas Ferguson
  • Publication number: 20100208898
    Abstract: In an example, one or more cryptographic keys may be associated with a group. Any member of the group may use the key to encrypt and decrypt information, thereby allowing members of the group to share encrypted information. Domain controllers (DCs) maintain copies of the group's keys. The DCs may synchronize with each other, so that each DC may have a copy of the group's keys. Keys may have expiration dates, and any client connected to a DC may generate a new key when a key is nearing expiration. The various clients may create new keys at differing amounts of time before expiration on various DCs. DCs that store keys early thus may have time to propagate the newly-created keys through synchronization before other DCs are requested to store keys created by other clients. In this way, the creation of an excessive number of new keys may be avoided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 19, 2009
    Publication date: August 19, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tolga Acar, Josh Benaloh, Niels Thomas Ferguson, Carl M. Ellison, Mira Belenkiy, Duy Lan Nguyen
  • Patent number: 7690045
    Abstract: An access control system applies contents-based policies to data that is being transferred. This transfer can be between different computers, different operating systems on a single computer, different applications within on the same operating system, or different parts of the same operating system, for example. Data is scanned at a scan engine associated with a security reference monitor (SRM) as the data is being transmitted, on-the-fly. The data is forwarded directly to the recipient, so the data is not stored at the SRM. The data is encrypted at the SRM as it comes by, and the key is revealed to the recipient if it is subsequently determined that the transfer is allowed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Niels Thomas Ferguson
  • Publication number: 20100002873
    Abstract: Encryption is provided with additional diffusion components to construct a block cipher with a large and variable block size. The cipher incorporates an encryption system or algorithm such that the cipher is at least as secure as the encryption system or algorithm. Additional components of the cipher provide improved diffusion. This combination ensures that the cipher is at least as strong as the encryption algorithm, and at the same time it provides additional security properties due to its improved diffusion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2009
    Publication date: January 7, 2010
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Niels Thomas Ferguson
  • Patent number: 7602906
    Abstract: Encryption is provided with additional diffusion components to construct a block cipher with a large and variable block size. The cipher incorporates an encryption system or algorithm such that the cipher is at least as secure as the encryption system or algorithm. Additional components of the cipher provide improved diffusion. This combination ensures that the cipher is at least as strong as the encryption algorithm, and at the same time it provides additional security properties due to its improved diffusion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Niels Thomas Ferguson
  • Publication number: 20080256616
    Abstract: An authentication mechanism is provided for a web method platform that allows homogeneous access for different types of clients according to a bootstrapping procedure utilized to establish the session. Different clients can be assigned different levels of trust based in part on the bootstrapping procedure and/or information provided during the procedure. The bootstrapping procedure can produce a token that is used by the clients in subsequent requests to provide previous authentication or state information to the platform. The token can comprise a shared secret used to ensure integrity of communications in some cases, and the token can be opaque to the client. Tokens can expire and require a client to re-bootstrap to provide higher levels of authentication protection, and tokens can be shared among a plurality of application servers to facilitate effective handling of requests in a farmed environment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2007
    Publication date: October 16, 2008
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brian J. Guarraci, Christopher C. White, Niels Thomas Ferguson, Jeffrey Dick Jones, Sean Patrick Nolan, Johnson T. Apacible, Vijay Varadan
  • Patent number: 7343011
    Abstract: A security mechanism suitable for wireless local area networks is disclosed that exhibits a reasonable trade-off between computation speed and resistance to attack. The illustrative embodiment can be implemented with operations that are quickly performed on most processors, and, therefore be in many cases reasonably implemented in software. The illustrative embodiment comprises modulo 2 additions, modulo 2B additions, bit rotations, and byte transpositions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2008
    Assignee: Conexant, Inc.
    Inventor: Niels Thomas Ferguson
  • Patent number: 6714091
    Abstract: Voltage controlled oscillator assembly which includes at least one voltage controlled oscillator, and a regulator for regulating the output power from the at least one voltage controlled oscillator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2004
    Assignee: Nokia Mobile Phones Limited
    Inventors: Soren Norskov, Carsten Rasmussen, Niels Thomas Hedegaard Povlsen
  • Publication number: 20040008840
    Abstract: A security mechanism suitable for wireless local area networks is disclosed that exhibits a reasonable trade-off between computation speed and resistance to attack. The illustrative embodiment can be implemented with operations that are quickly performed on most processors, and, therefore be in many cases reasonably implemented in software. The illustrative embodiment comprises modulo 2 additions, modulo 2B additions, bit rotations, and byte transpositions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2003
    Publication date: January 15, 2004
    Inventor: Niels Thomas Ferguson
  • Publication number: 20010011928
    Abstract: Voltage controlled oscillator assembly, comprising at least one voltage controlled oscillator, and means for regulating the output power from the at least one voltage controlled oscillator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2000
    Publication date: August 9, 2001
    Inventors: Soren Norskov, Carsten Rasmussen, Niels Thomas Hedegaard Povlsen
  • Publication number: 20010006356
    Abstract: Voltage controlled oscillator assembly comprising means for detecting a control voltage input and means for generating an output frequency signal depending on said control voltage input. Said voltage controlled oscillator assembly comprises at least two voltage controlled oscillators, means for reading data from an external source, and means for individually switching the at least two voltage controlled oscillators on and off in accordance with the data read.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2000
    Publication date: July 5, 2001
    Inventors: Soren Norskov, Carsten Rasmussen, Niels Thomas Hedegaard Povlsen