Patents by Inventor Ralph A. Hamilton
Ralph A. Hamilton 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: 11222556Abstract: This technology relates to a display mounted messaging system. The display mounted messaging system may include a light emitting diode (LED) display attached to a housing of a sensor. The housing of the sensor may rotate. The display mounted messaging system may also include an LED controller which is configured to selectively activate and deactivate at least one LED in the LED display, to provide a message in the direction of an intended recipient.Type: GrantFiled: December 13, 2018Date of Patent: January 11, 2022Assignee: Waymo LLCInventors: Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Pierre-Yves Droz, Simon Verghese
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Patent number: 11059457Abstract: The disclosure relates to detecting and clearing debris from a sensor window. For instance, a system may include the sensor window and one or more processors. The sensor window may include a transparent thin film conductor. The one or more processors may be configured to identify a change in capacitance using the transparent thin film conductor, detect debris on the sensor window using the change in capacitance, and activate a cleaning system in order to clear the detected debris from the sensor window.Type: GrantFiled: July 23, 2018Date of Patent: July 13, 2021Assignee: Waymo LLCInventors: Felix Jose Alvarez Rivera, Ralph Hamilton Shepard
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Publication number: 20210149027Abstract: One example system includes a light source that emits light. The system also includes a waveguide that guides the emitted light from a first side of the waveguide toward a second side of the waveguide opposite the first side. The waveguide has a third side extending between the first side and the second side. The system also includes a mirror that reflects the guided light toward the third side of the waveguide. At least a portion of the reflected light propagates out of the waveguide toward a scene. The system also includes a light detector, and a lens that focuses light from the scene toward the waveguide and the light detector.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 29, 2020Publication date: May 20, 2021Inventors: Pierre-Yves Droz, David Neil Hutchison, Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Nathaniel Golshan
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Patent number: 10890650Abstract: One example system includes a light source that emits light. The system also includes a waveguide that guides the emitted light from a first side of the waveguide toward a second side of the waveguide opposite the first side. The waveguide has a third side extending between the first side and the second side. The system also includes a mirror that reflects the guided light toward the third side of the waveguide. At least a portion of the reflected light propagates out of the waveguide toward a scene. The system also includes a light detector, and a lens that focuses light from the scene toward the waveguide and the light detector.Type: GrantFiled: September 5, 2017Date of Patent: January 12, 2021Assignee: Waymo LLCInventors: Pierre-Yves Droz, David Neil Hutchison, Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Nathaniel Golshan
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Publication number: 20210002940Abstract: A monitoring system and method are configured to detect a status of a door for a component on a vehicle. The monitoring system includes a sound sensor positioned within an auditory range of the door. The sound sensor detects sound energy generated in relation to a closed position of the door and an open position of the door. The sound sensor outputs a sound signal indicative of the sound energy. A monitoring control unit is in communication with the sound sensor. The monitoring control unit receives the sound signal and analyzes the sound signal to determine the status of the door.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 1, 2019Publication date: January 7, 2021Applicant: THE BOEING COMPANYInventors: Eric Lee Nicks, James Ralph Hamilton
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Publication number: 20200300979Abstract: The present disclosure relates to limitation of noise on light detectors using an aperture. One example implementation includes a system. The system includes a lens disposed relative to a scene. The lens focuses light from the scene. The system also includes an opaque material that defines an aperture. The system also includes a waveguide having a first side that receives light focused by the lens and transmitted through the aperture. The waveguide guides the received light toward a second side of the waveguide opposite to the first side. The waveguide has a third side extending between the first side and the second side. The system also includes a mirror that reflects the guided light toward the third side of the waveguide. The system also includes an array of light detectors that detects the reflected light propagating out of the third side.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 8, 2020Publication date: September 24, 2020Inventors: Pierre-Yves Droz, David Neil Hutchison, Ralph Hamilton Shepard
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Patent number: 10698088Abstract: The present disclosure relates to limitation of noise on light detectors using an aperture. One example implementation includes a system. The system includes a lens disposed relative to a scene. The lens focuses light from the scene. The system also includes an opaque material that defines an aperture. The system also includes a waveguide having a first side that receives light focused by the lens and transmitted through the aperture. The waveguide guides the received light toward a second side of the waveguide opposite to the first side. The waveguide has a third side extending between the first side and the second side. The system also includes a mirror that reflects the guided light toward the third side of the waveguide. The system also includes an array of light detectors that detects the reflected light propagating out of the third side.Type: GrantFiled: August 1, 2017Date of Patent: June 30, 2020Assignee: Waymo LLCInventors: Pierre-Yves Droz, David Neil Hutchison, Ralph Hamilton Shepard
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Publication number: 20200193878Abstract: This technology relates to a display mounted messaging system. The display mounted messaging system may include a light emitting diode (LED) display attached to a housing of a sensor. The housing of the sensor may rotate. The display mounted messaging system may also include an LED controller which is configured to selectively activate and deactivate at least one LED in the LED display, to provide a message in the direction of an intended recipient.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 13, 2018Publication date: June 18, 2020Inventors: Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Pierre-Yves Droz, Simon Verghese
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Publication number: 20200142034Abstract: One example system includes a lens disposed relative to a scene and configured to focus light from the scene. The system also includes an opaque material. The opaque material defines a plurality of apertures including a primary aperture and one or more secondary apertures. The system also includes one or more light detectors (e.g., a single element detector or an array of detectors) configured to intercept and detect diverging light focused by the lens and transmitted through at least one of the plurality of apertures defined by the opaque material.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 29, 2018Publication date: May 7, 2020Inventors: Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Blaise Gassend, Pierre-Yves Droz
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Publication number: 20200096634Abstract: One example system comprises a light source configured to emit light. The system also comprises a waveguide configured to guide the emitted light from a first end of the waveguide toward a second end of the waveguide. The waveguide has an output surface between the first end and the second end. The system also comprises a plurality of mirrors including a first mirror and a second mirror. The first mirror reflects a first portion of the light toward the output surface. The second mirror reflects a second portion of the light toward the output surface. The first portion propagates out of the output surface toward a scene as a first transmitted light beam. The second portion propagates out of the output surface toward the scene as a second transmitted light beam.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 25, 2018Publication date: March 26, 2020Inventors: Pierre-Yves Droz, David Neil Hutchison, James Dunphy, Nathaniel Golshan, Ralph Hamilton Shepard
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Patent number: 10425598Abstract: An imaging system uses a dynamically varying coded mask, such as a spatial light modulator (SLM), to time-encode multiple degrees of freedom of a light field in parallel and a detector and processor to decode the encoded information. The encoded information may be decoded at the pixel level (e.g., with independently modulated counters in each pixel), on a read-out integrated circuit coupled to the detector, or on a circuit external to the detector. For example, the SLM, detector, and processor may create modulation sequences representing a system of linear equations where the variables represent a degree of freedom of the light field that is being sensed. If the number of equations and variables form a fully determined or overdetermined system of linear equations, the system of linear equations' solution can be determined through a matrix inverse. Otherwise, a solution can be determined with compressed sensing reconstruction techniques with the constraint that the signal is sparse in the frequency domain.Type: GrantFiled: June 20, 2017Date of Patent: September 24, 2019Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyInventors: Joseph Hsuhuan Lin, Michael Kelly, Ralph Hamilton Shepard, III, Brian Tyrrell
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Publication number: 20190072649Abstract: One example system includes a light source that emits light. The system also includes a waveguide that guides the emitted light from a first side of the waveguide toward a second side of the waveguide opposite the first side. The waveguide has a third side extending between the first side and the second side. The system also includes a mirror that reflects the guided light toward the third side of the waveguide. At least a portion of the reflected light propagates out of the waveguide toward a scene. The system also includes a light detector, and a lens that focuses light from the scene toward the waveguide and the light detector.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 5, 2017Publication date: March 7, 2019Inventors: Pierre-Yves Droz, David Neil Hutchison, Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Nathaniel Golshan
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Publication number: 20190041498Abstract: The present disclosure relates to limitation of noise on light detectors using an aperture. One example implementation includes a system. The system includes a lens disposed relative to a scene. The lens focuses light from the scene. The system also includes an opaque material that defines an aperture. The system also includes a waveguide having a first side that receives light focused by the lens and transmitted through the aperture. The waveguide guides the received light toward a second side of the waveguide opposite to the first side. The waveguide has a third side extending between the first side and the second side. The system also includes a mirror that reflects the guided light toward the third side of the waveguide. The system also includes an array of light detectors that detects the reflected light propagating out of the third side.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2017Publication date: February 7, 2019Inventors: Pierre-Yves Droz, David Neil Hutchison, Ralph Hamilton Shepard
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Patent number: 10070055Abstract: Devices and methods for multiplexed imaging are provided. In one embodiment, an imaging device can simultaneously direct light of a same spectrum from each of a plurality of image channels onto an image sensor to create a multiplexed image on the sensor. Each image channel can collect light from different portions of an extended field of view or from the same portion with different perspectives. The device can also include one or more encoders to encode light from the channels prior to detection. The devices and methods described herein can also include disambiguating a captured multiplexed image to create images for each of the plurality of image channels. Disambiguated images can cover the extended field of view at a high spatial resolution despite using only a single small format image sensor, or can produce stereo or 3D images having the full resolution of the sensor.Type: GrantFiled: March 25, 2015Date of Patent: September 4, 2018Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyInventors: Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Yaron Rachlin
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Publication number: 20170366763Abstract: An imaging system uses a dynamically varying coded mask, such as a spatial light modulator (SLM), to time-encode multiple degrees of freedom of a light field in parallel and a detector and processor to decode the encoded information. The encoded information may be decoded at the pixel level (e.g., with independently modulated counters in each pixel), on a read-out integrated circuit coupled to the detector, or on a circuit external to the detector. For example, the SLM, detector, and processor may create modulation sequences representing a system of linear equations where the variables represent a degree of freedom of the light field that is being sensed. If the number of equations and variables form a fully determined or overdetermined system of linear equations, the system of linear equations' solution can be determined through a matrix inverse. Otherwise, a solution can be determined with compressed sensing reconstruction techniques with the constraint that the signal is sparse in the frequency domain.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 20, 2017Publication date: December 21, 2017Inventors: Joseph Hsuhuan Lin, Michael KELLY, Ralph Hamilton SHEPARD, III, Brian TYRRELL
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Publication number: 20170214861Abstract: Described herein are devices and methods for uniquely encoding one or more channels of an optically multiplexed imaging system rapidly and precisely to improve the system's efficiency and performance. The disclosed devices and methods generally provide dynamically variable image encoding that can occur at speeds faster than a capturing frame rate of an image sensor and with a precision that is less than an angular sampling of an image sensor pixel. Such dynamically variable encoding can allow an imaging system to be optimized for use with various scene conditions and sensing objectives, while providing improved efficiency and robustness of disambiguation over prior technologies.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 23, 2016Publication date: July 27, 2017Inventors: Yaron Rachlin, Tina Shih, Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Vinay N. Shah
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Publication number: 20170026570Abstract: Devices and methods for multiplexed imaging are provided. In one embodiment, an imaging device can simultaneously direct light of a same spectrum from each of a plurality of image channels onto an image sensor to create a multiplexed image on the sensor. Each image channel can collect light from different portions of an extended field of view or from the same portion with different perspectives. The device can also include one or more encoders to encode light from the channels prior to detection. The devices and methods described herein can also include disambiguating a captured multiplexed image to create images for each of the plurality of image channels. Disambiguated images can cover the extended field of view at a high spatial resolution despite using only a single small format image sensor, or can produce stereo or 3D images having the full resolution of the sensor.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 25, 2015Publication date: January 26, 2017Inventors: Ralph Hamilton Shepard, Yaron Rachlin
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Patent number: 7578611Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a stirrer tool that includes a head component having a first body portion and a second body portion connected to the first body portion with a first plurality of projections extending substantially radially out from and substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of a body portion. Head component may also have a second plurality of projections extending in a substantially distal direction away from a distal end of the body portion, and all of the projections may be made of a substantially stiff material that is flexible enough to be bent to fit through an opening in a container that is smaller in diameter than a diameter of the head component and stiff enough to mix viscous products.Type: GrantFiled: February 2, 2009Date of Patent: August 25, 2009Inventor: Ralph Hamilton
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Publication number: 20090135668Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a stirrer tool that includes a head component having a first body portion and a second body portion connected to the first body portion with a first plurality of projections extending substantially radially out from and substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of a body portion. Head component may also have a second plurality of projections extending in a substantially distal direction away from a distal end of the body portion, and all of the projections may be made of a substantially stiff material that is flexible enough to be bent to fit through an opening in a container that is smaller in diameter than a diameter of the head component and stiff enough to mix viscous products.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 2, 2009Publication date: May 28, 2009Inventor: Ralph Hamilton
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Patent number: D904909Type: GrantFiled: November 7, 2018Date of Patent: December 15, 2020Assignee: Waymo LLCInventors: David Gordon Duff, Blaise Gassend, Ryan Davis, Ralph Hamilton Shepard, John Massey, Pierre-Yves Droz