Patents by Inventor Rickie Allan SPRAGUE

Rickie Allan SPRAGUE 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: 10318702
    Abstract: A system is provided with a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store a cached copy of data representative of a multi-valued decision diagram (MDD). The MDD indicates a Boolean function specifying a buildable space of all possible configurations of features of a vehicle. The processor is in communication with the memory, and programmed to generate a working copy of the data from the cache. The processor is further programmed to generate a restricted buildable space in the working copy of the data while traversing the MDD, including to remove available features from the labels of the outgoing edges deemed invalid according to a feature selection, disconnect outgoing edges having no remaining available features, and replace nodes that have no outgoing edges with the false node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Ford Motor Company
    Inventors: Melinda Kaye Hunsaker, Rickie Allan Sprague
  • Patent number: 10318701
    Abstract: A system is provided with a memory device and a processor. The memory device is adapted to store data representative of a multi-valued decision diagram (MDD) specifying a buildable space of all possible configurations of a vehicle. The processor is in communication with the memory and is programmed to identify an invalid configuration, and to generate a restricted buildable space, including to determine an edit distance of each complete path indicative of a number of features to change the invalid configuration of that path to one of the valid configurations, identify a minimum of the edit distances, and remove configurations having edit distances larger than the minimum. The processor is further programmed to identify at least one feature to change the invalid configuration to at least one valid configuration based on the restricted buildable space; and to generate output indicative of the at least one feature to change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Ford Motor Company
    Inventors: Bryan Roger Goodman, Melinda Kaye Hunsaker, David Mark Newton, Yu-Ning Liu, Essam Mahmoud Sabbagh, Rickie Allan Sprague, Yakov M. Fradkin
  • Publication number: 20170206577
    Abstract: A system is provided with a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store a cached copy of data representative of a multi-valued decision diagram (MDD). The MDD indicates a Boolean function specifying a buildable space of all possible valid configurations of features of a vehicle. The processor is in communication with the memory, and programmed to generate a working copy of the data from the cache. The processor is further programmed to generate a restricted buildable space in the working copy of the data while traversing the MDD, including to remove available features from the labels of the outgoing edges deemed invalid according to a feature selection, disconnect outgoing edges having no remaining available features, and replace nodes that have no outgoing edges with the false node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2016
    Publication date: July 20, 2017
    Inventors: Melinda Kaye HUNSAKER, Rickie Allan SPRAGUE
  • Publication number: 20170206304
    Abstract: A system is provided with a memory device and a processor. The memory device is adapted to store data representative of a multi-valued decision diagram (MDD) specifying a buildable space of all possible valid configurations of a vehicle. The processor is in communication with the memory and is programmed to identify an invalid configuration, and to generate a restricted buildable space, including to determine an edit distance of each complete path indicative of a number of features to change the invalid configuration of that path to one of the valid configurations, identify a minimum of the edit distances, and remove configurations having edit distances larger than the minimum. The processor is further programmed to identify at least one feature to change the invalid configuration to at least one valid configuration based on the restricted buildable space; and to generate output indicative of the at least one feature to change.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2016
    Publication date: July 20, 2017
    Inventors: Bryan Roger GOODMAN, Melinda Kaye HUNSAKER, David Mark NEWTON, Yu-Ning LIU, Essam Mahmoud SABBAGH, Rickie Allan SPRAGUE, Yakov M. FRADKIN