Patents by Inventor Robert Blanchard

Robert Blanchard 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: 20120100943
    Abstract: A pulley for a belt transmission device of the type including at least one shaft and two flanges supported by the shaft, one of the flanges, recessed centrally and received so as to fit onto the shaft for an axially free installation being fitted with return elements to return in the direction of the other flange, and delimiting with the other flange a groove of variable dimension inside which it is possible for the belt to be inserted, at least one of the flanges being a flange made of synthetic material furnished, on its surface facing the other flange, with a centrally recessed dish made of metal. The or each dish is, in its zone adjacent to the central recess, separated from the flange that it lines by a space, called a peripheral space, which reduces in the zone the thermal exchanges between flange and dish.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Applicant: FRANCE REDUCTEURS
    Inventor: Robert BLANCHARD
  • Publication number: 20120096965
    Abstract: Transmission device between an input drive shaft and an output shaft, of the type including a housing inside which are placed at least partially a reduction gear mechanism and a progressive cone clutch mechanism, the reduction gear mechanism including a driving member engaged with a driven member, formed by a gearwheel mounted so as to rotate freely on the output shaft and able to be coupled to/uncoupled from the output shaft via two friction cones of the clutch mechanism, the cones being placed coaxial to the axial bore of the gearwheel and capable of coming, under the action of a control device, into bearing contact with a conical bearing surface of the gearwheel. The conical bearing surfaces of the gearwheel are, relative to the axis of rotation of the gearwheel, offset axially from the gear teeth of the gearwheel and are placed on the same side of the gear teeth.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Applicant: FRANCE REDUCTEURS
    Inventor: Robert BLANCHARD
  • Patent number: 8139162
    Abstract: In accord with embodiments and implementations consistent with the present invention, rather than perform a full scan of every frequency to find a channel, the tuner is programmed to find a reasonable sample of channels. For example, the tuner can search for at least two or three (generalized as N) channels to determine the frequency plan of the channels (by virtue of detection of at least one channel) and then use one of the known plans to directly identify the frequency map. The process can then step quickly through each frequency, without optimizing or fine tuning each channel, to determine the existence of a channel. With this process the number of tunable channels is found quicker and the initial setup time is shortened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Robert L. Hardacker
  • Publication number: 20120038745
    Abstract: A method of two dimensional (2D) content data conversion to three dimensional (3D) content data in a 3D television involves receiving 3D video content and 2D user interface content data via a 2D to 3D content conversion module. A displacement represented by disparity data that defines a separation of left eye and right eye data for 3D rendering of the 2D user interface content data is determined The 3D video content is displayed on a display of the 3D television. 3D user interface content data is generated at a 3D depth on the display based upon the received 2D user interface content data and the determined displacement. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2010
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Inventors: Yang Yu, Robert Blanchard, Steven Richman
  • Patent number: 8109175
    Abstract: A transmission between a drive element and a drive shaft of the wheels of a self-propelled tractor vehicle includes generally housed at least partially inside a box, a progressive friction clutch that includes at least one rotary driving element and two driven elements that are carried by the drive shaft and are integral in rotation therewith. These driving and driven elements are, under the action of a control element, brought into variable-tightening support contact to obtain a variation of the torque transmitted to the shaft. The drive shaft is formed by two half-shafts mounted to rotate freely relative to one another, each able to be connected, directly or indirectly, to one of the wheels of the vehicle, whereby each of the driven elements is carried by one of the two half-shafts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: France Reducteurs
    Inventor: Robert Blanchard
  • Patent number: 8102405
    Abstract: A method of processing television images consistent with certain implementations involves receiving a television signal and capturing a television image; capturing and storing a frame of the television image to a frame memory device; editing the captured image to at least isolate a portion of the image; and storing the isolated portion of the image to a storage device for subsequent retrieval. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Peter Rae Shintani
  • Publication number: 20110304771
    Abstract: A method of processing television images consistent with certain implementations involves receiving a television signal and capturing a television image; capturing and storing a frame of the television image to a frame memory device; editing the captured image to at least isolate a portion of the image; and storing the isolated portion of the image to a storage device for subsequent retrieval. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2011
    Publication date: December 15, 2011
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Peter Rae Shintani
  • Publication number: 20110307920
    Abstract: A method consistent with certain implementations involves delivering a triggered declarative object (TDO) to a television receiver device that carries out a programmed routine when user activated and includes an announcement definition that announces presence of the TDO to the at the announcement time; and the TDO including data that defines a time of display of an announcement and a location on a video display for display of the announcement of the TDO. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2010
    Publication date: December 15, 2011
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Mark Kenneth Eyer
  • Patent number: 8035656
    Abstract: A method of processing television images consistent with certain implementations involves receiving a command from a television user interface to capture a television image; capturing and storing a frame of the television image to a frame memory device; receiving commands from the television user interface for editing the captured image to at least isolate a portion of the image; editing the captured image in accord with the editing commands; and storing the isolated portion of the image to a storage device for subsequent retrieval. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Peter Rae Shintani
  • Publication number: 20110128443
    Abstract: An example apparatus that processes DTVCC data has a demultiplexer that extracts DTVCC data packets from an DTV signal. A parser receives the DTVCC data packets and parses the data packets by: passing normal DTVCC data to a CC decoder; detecting ancillary data in the DTVCC data packets; and separating the ancillary data from the DTVCC data for output to an ancillary data process. An example apparatus that processes DTVCC data has an ancillary data packager that packages data ancillary to DTV data for insertion into the DTVCC data packets. A DTVCC data packager receives CC data from a CC data source into DTVCC data packets and packages the ancillary data together with the DTVCC data into DTVCC data packets. A multiplexer multiplexes the DTVCC data packets from the DTVCC data packager with non-CCDTV data to produce DTV signal data. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2010
    Publication date: June 2, 2011
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Mark Kenneth Eyer
  • Publication number: 20110128442
    Abstract: In certain implementations, closed captioning data can be packaged in IP packets and transmitted over an HDMI interface to permit closed captioning data to be rendered at a television set or other HDMI sink closer to the TV set rather than at a source so as to more closely match the capabilities of the display device. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2010
    Publication date: June 2, 2011
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Mark Kenneth Eyer, Peter Rae Shintani
  • Patent number: 7950030
    Abstract: An interceptor detects command signals from a TV remote control and logs the signals. The signals can be correlated not just to channel number but also to programs by accessing a program/channel database. A log of channels/programs that have been viewed by, e.g., a child can thus be obtained and viewed by a parent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Behram Dacosta, Peter Shintani
  • Publication number: 20110109812
    Abstract: An interceptor detects command signals from a TV remote control and logs the signals. The signals can be correlated not just to channel number but also to programs by accessing a program/channel database. A log of channels/programs that have been viewed by, e.g., a child can thus be obtained and viewed by a parent.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2011
    Publication date: May 12, 2011
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Behram Dacosta, Peter Shintani
  • Publication number: 20110023672
    Abstract: The present invention provides a debonding apparatus, a system comprising such apparatus, and methods for using such apparatus or system for the removal of flexible substrates (14) post-processing without damage to fabricated devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2009
    Publication date: February 3, 2011
    Inventors: Robert Blanchard, Steve R. Rednour, Douglas Loy
  • Publication number: 20110007226
    Abstract: A digital TV (DTV) incorporates a TV white space device capable of operating on plural TV frequencies and responsive to the DTV processor to send a signal to an interfering white space device nearby the DTV that is interfering with a TV channel being presented on the TV. The signal sent from the TV white space device to the interfering white space device alters operation of the interfering white space device so as to reduce if not eliminate the interference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2009
    Publication date: January 13, 2011
    Inventors: Peter Shintani, Robert Blanchard, Koichi Oshima
  • Publication number: 20110001651
    Abstract: In certain embodiments, a remotely controllable television has an energy converter that receives light energy from a laser in a remote controller and converts the light energy to electrical energy. A remote control code interpreter that is receives a turn-on code from the remote controller. The electrical energy from the energy converter is used to supply power to the remote control code interpreter. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2009
    Publication date: January 6, 2011
    Inventors: Brant L. Candelore, Robert Blanchard, Peter Rae Shintani
  • Publication number: 20110001887
    Abstract: A remotely controllable electronic appliance has a radio frequency energy converter that receives a radio frequency energy from a remote controller and converts the radio frequency energy to electrical energy, where the electrical energy from the energy converter is used to supply power to receive a turn-on code. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2009
    Publication date: January 6, 2011
    Inventors: Peter Rae Shintani, Robert Blanchard, Brant L. Candelore
  • Publication number: 20100307269
    Abstract: A direction-reversing device includes at least one input shaft, an output shaft, and direction-reversing element with a clutch sleeve including a moving clutch sleeve, mounted to move axially on one of the shafts carrying it to enable occupying forward and reverse positions. This device also includes a blocking element that is driven in rotation by the input shaft that carries the moving clutch sleeve, whereby this blocking element is mounted to move between the off position, in which the moving clutch sleeve is able to switch from one operating position to the next, and the on position, in which the blocking element forms an obstacle that prevents the switching of the moving clutch sleeve from one position to the next, being able to switch automatically from the off position to the on position when the input shaft is driven at a speed of rotation that exceeds a predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2010
    Publication date: December 9, 2010
    Applicant: FRANCE REDUCTEURS
    Inventor: Robert BLANCHARD
  • Publication number: 20100307289
    Abstract: A transmission device for an automotive vehicle of the type includes, mounted on an output shaft formed by at least two wheel drive half-shafts of a vehicle mounted to freely rotate one relative to the other, at least one rotary gearwheel, and two clutch mechanisms with clutch sleeves arranged on both sides of the gearwheel. This device includes, on the one hand, two clutch sleeve configurations: the driving configuration of the gearwheel, and the engine brake configuration of the gearwheel, and, on the other hand, a declutching control mechanism that includes at least one clutch sleeve pilot unit, coaxial to the gearwheel, mounted relative to the gearwheel that moves angularly between two end positions. The declutching pilot unit can be driven into each of the end positions by the two wheel drive half-shafts when they are driven at a speed of rotation that is different from that of the gearwheel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2010
    Publication date: December 9, 2010
    Applicant: FRANCE REDUCTEURS
    Inventor: Robert BLANCHARD
  • Publication number: 20100238293
    Abstract: A graphical power meter involving a device for measuring, in real time, an internal power consumption value corresponding to power being consumed by an electronic device; and a device for displaying a graphical representation of the real-time internal power consumption value from the measuring device to a consumer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2009
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Applicants: Sony Corporation, a Japanese corporation, Sony Electronics Inc., a Delaware corporation
    Inventors: Jean Baronas, Robert Blanchard