Patents by Inventor Thomas A. Carls

Thomas A. Carls 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: 8940668
    Abstract: A method of treating a very high salinity high temperature hydrocarbon containing formation is described. The method includes (a) providing a hydrocarbon recovery composition to at least a portion of a hydrocarbon containing formation having a brine salinity of above about 13 wt % and a temperature of above about 7° C., wherein the composition comprises a C15-18 internal olefin sulfonate; and (b) allowing the composition to interact with hydrocarbons in the hydrocarbon containing formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: Shell Oil Company
    Inventors: Julian Richard Barnes, Kirk Herbert Raney, Thomas Carl Semple, Johan Paul Smit, Jasper Roelf Smit, Malcolm Shpakoff
  • Publication number: 20150005884
    Abstract: A prosthetic system for implantation between upper and lower vertebrae comprises an upper joint component. The upper joint component comprises an upper contact surface and an upper articulation surface. The system further includes a lower joint component. The lower joint component comprises a lower contact surface and a lower articulation surface configured to movably engage the upper articulation surface to form an articulating joint. The articulating joint is adapted for implantation within a disc space between the upper and lower vertebrae, allowing the upper and lower vertebrae to move relative to one another. The system further includes a bridge component extending posteriorly from one of either the upper or lower joint components and from the disc space. The bridge component has a distal end opposite the one of the either upper or lower joint components. The distal end of the bridge component comprises a connection component adapted to receive a fastener.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2014
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventors: Thomas Carls, Eric C. Lange, Danny Braddock, JR., Steven C. Humphreys, Scott D. Hodges, Richard G. Fessler, Jeffrey Zhang
  • Publication number: 20140353250
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for treating a formation containing crude oil hydrocarbons, comprising injecting an aqueous composition comprising an internal olefin sulfonate with a nominal carbon chain length between 24 to 44 into said formation and displacing said crude oil hydrocarbons toward one or more production wells. The invention further provides a method for treating a formation containing crude oil hydrocarbons, a method for improving the wettability of a subsurface surface in an subsurface formation containing crude oil hydrocarbons, and a method for separating crude oil hydrocarbons from crude oil hydrocarbons compositions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2014
    Publication date: December 4, 2014
    Applicant: SHELL OIL COMPANY
    Inventors: Thomas Carl SEMPLE, Carmen REZNIK, Julian Richard BARNES, James Laurel BUECHELE, Sheila Teresa DUBEY, Timothy Elton KING
  • Patent number: 8888320
    Abstract: An LED module for a luminaire has a downwardly directed heat sink comprising cooling fins that extend rearward from the module's front end and downward from its top wall, which has a top face that abuts the underside of a luminaire carrier plate. A circuit board carrying at least one LED is mounted on the front face, and a prism is mounted to the heat sink over the LED(s). The front (light-emitting) face of the catadioptric prism has several prominent side-by-side sections which emit beam patterns that diverge laterally and overlap in a central region. A prominent full-width upper section on the front face emits a primarily downwardly directed beam pattern to help fill in dark spots.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: Hubbell Incorporated
    Inventors: Thomas Carl Lueken, Michael Scott Neuer, Zhijie Chen, Jamey Butteris, Ezekial Thomas Hill
  • Publication number: 20140336926
    Abstract: Example techniques and systems include generating cluster information to consolidate multiple locations. In one example, a method includes receiving, at a computing device, a plurality of location identifiers corresponding to a plurality of locations at which a mobile computing device was previously located, defining, by the computing device, a plurality of geographic regions based at least in part on the plurality of location identifiers, wherein each of the plurality of geographic regions defines a physical area in which at least one of the plurality of locations is located, selecting, by the computing device, a subset of the plurality of geographic regions based on respective distances between a current location of the mobile computing device and a respective reference point within each of the geographic regions, and outputting, by the computing device and for display, an indication of the subset of the plurality of geographic regions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Publication date: November 13, 2014
    Inventors: Tushar Jairaj Udeshi, Dale Kris Hawkins, Thomas Carl Stamm, Guang Yang
  • Patent number: 8864832
    Abstract: A prosthetic system for implantation between upper and lower vertebrae comprises an upper joint component. The upper joint component comprises an upper contact surface and an upper articulation surface. The system further includes a lower joint component. The lower joint component comprises a lower contact surface and a lower articulation surface configured to movably engage the upper articulation surface to form an articulating joint. The articulating joint is adapted for implantation within a disc space between the upper and lower vertebrae, allowing the upper and lower vertebrae to move relative to one another. The system further includes a bridge component extending posteriorly from one of either the upper or lower joint components and from the disc space. The bridge component has a distal end opposite the one of the either upper or lower joint components. The distal end of the bridge component comprises a connection component adapted to receive a fastener.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: HH Spinal LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Carls, Eric Lange, Danny Braddock, Jr., Steven Craig Humphreys, Scott D. Hodges, Richard G. Fessler, Jeffrey Zhang
  • Publication number: 20140277484
    Abstract: An intervertebral fusion implant comprises a body defining a longitudinal axis and extending between a first end and a second end. The body defines a first wall configured for engaging a first vertebral surface and a second wall configured for engaging a second vertebral surface. The first wall is connected to the second wall. The first wall is movable relative to the second wall such that the body is deformable from a first, initial implanted configuration such that the body is disposed between the first vertebral surface and the second vertebral surface for fixation thereof and a second configuration such that the body is deformed relative to the first configuration to adapt to an orientation of the first vertebral surface and the second vertebral surface. Methods of use are disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Applicant: WARSAW ORTHOPEDIC, INC.
    Inventors: Julien J. Prevost, Thomas A. Carls, Russell P. Nockels
  • Publication number: 20140243273
    Abstract: The present invention provides method of treating or lessening the severity of a disease selected from spondyloarthropathy, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, or any combination thereof comprising the administration of a compound of Formula I and an optional co-therapy (e.g., chemotherapy agent, DMARD, or any combination thereof). The present invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound of Formula I, a method of manufacturing a pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound of Formula I, and a method of administering a pharmaceutical composition comprising a solid form of a compound of Formula I.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2014
    Publication date: August 28, 2014
    Applicant: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
    Inventors: Irina Nikolaevna Kadiyala, Shahla Jamzad, Thomas Carl Hoock, Lori Kell Taylor, Kathryn Lea Sewell
  • Publication number: 20140224490
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of treating a hydrocarbon containing formation, comprising: (a) providing a composition to at least a portion of the hydrocarbon containing formation, wherein the composition comprises water and an anionic surfactant which is an internal olefin sulfonate (IOS), which has a weight ratio of branched IOS molecules to linear IOS molecules N which is greater than 0 to smaller than 11:89; and (b) allowing the composition to interact with the hydrocarbons in the hydrocarbon containing formation. Further, the invention relates to a hydrocarbon recovery composition which comprises the composition used in said method, and to a hydrocarbon containing composition produced from a hydrocarbon containing formation which in addition to hydrocarbons contains the composition used in said method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2012
    Publication date: August 14, 2014
    Applicant: SHELL INTERNATIONALE RESEARCH MAATSCHAPPIJ B.V.
    Inventors: Julian Richard Barnes, Michael Joseph Doll, Khrystyna Groen, Quoc An On, Thomas Carl Semple
  • Patent number: 8759261
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of treating a hydrocarbon containing formation comprising (a) providing a hydrocarbon recovery composition to at least a portion of the hydrocarbon containing formation, wherein the composition comprises one or more internal olefin sulfonates having 17 or more carbon atoms, (b) adding water and/or brine from the hydrocarbon formation to the composition, (c) adding a solubilizer which comprises an ethoxylated alcohol wherein the alcohol before ethoxylation had an average molecular weight of at least about 220 and (d) allowing the composition to interact with hydrocarbons in the hydrocarbon containing formation. The solubilizer may comprise less than about 0.1 wt %, preferably from about 0.02 to about 0.05 wt %, of the total composition and it may have from about 5 to about 9 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of alcohol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Shell Oil Company
    Inventors: Julian Richard Barnes, Kirk Herbert Raney, Thomas Carl Semple, Paul Gregory Shpakoff, Johan Paul Smit, Jasper Roelf Smit
  • Patent number: 8762935
    Abstract: An abstract component model can be used to drive an editor by providing an underlying stateful model for component implementation without the need to re-implement details. The abstract component model can represent one or more artifacts, wherein the abstract component model contains a plurality of model objects. A lightweight structure model contains a plurality of structure objects, wherein each structure object is a data structure that represents how the abstract component model should look like at the end of an update cycle. Additionally, a model updater can match one or more structure objects in the lightweight structure model to one or more model objects in the abstract component model, and update each said model object in the one or more structure objects based on said one or more structure objects in a top-down, depth-first fashion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas A Cook, Troy Beecroft, Thomas Carl Stamm
  • Patent number: 8761812
    Abstract: The systems and techniques disclosed herein provide the ability to determine locations visited by a user and associate relevant location labels with the locations visited based on contact information. In some examples, a location label can be applied based on a match between a location visited and information stored in a user's contact list. In other examples, a user can efficiently designate a contact and location label to be associated with a location visited. In still other examples, if a location visited by a user is not listed in the user's contact list, but is otherwise known to the system, the location visited can be appropriately labeled and the corresponding contact in the user's contact list can be updated to include the location visited.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Dale Kris Hawkins, Thomas Carl Stamm, Andrew Kirmse, Tushar Udeshi
  • Publication number: 20140156009
    Abstract: Systems, methods and devices for providing stabilization between first and second vertebrae are provided. More particularly, in one form a system includes an implant configured to be positioned in a disc space between the first and second vertebrae and a freestanding plate for engagement with extradiscal surfaces of the first and second vertebrae. The system also includes an insertion instrument with an engaging portion configured to releasably engage with the implant and the plate such that the implant and plate can be positioned together relative to the first and second vertebrae. In one aspect, an angular orientation of the implant relative to the plate is adjustable when the implant and the plate are engaged by the instrument. In this or another aspect, the implant and plate are held in a contiguous relationship when engaged by the instrument. However, different forms and applications are also envisioned.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2014
    Publication date: June 5, 2014
    Applicant: Warsaw Orthropedic, Inc.
    Inventors: William Armstrong, Thomas Carls, John A. Cowan, James Duncan, Richard A. Hynes, Anthony J. Melkent, Jean-Pierre Mobasser, D. Hal Silcox
  • Patent number: 8740944
    Abstract: A bio-compatible stabilization system includes one or more inserters and a connector for traversing a space between one or more bony structures. The stabilization system is designed to reduce or eliminate stress shielding effects while functioning as a tension band. The connector includes an extendable member and an over-extension limiter that limits extension of the extendable member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Warsaw orthopedic, Inc.
    Inventors: Hai H. Trieu, Thomas Carls, Jonathan Dewey
  • Publication number: 20140135796
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining, calculating, and/or viewing a trajectory. The trajectory can be displayed on a display relative to image data of a patient. A user can use the system to determine relationships between two or more trajectories that have been determined. The relationships can be within two dimensional, three-dimensional, or four dimensional space. The relationships can include distance, angle, etc. The relationships can also be determined between real time trajectories and stored trajectories, or combinations thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2014
    Publication date: May 15, 2014
    Applicant: Medtronic Navigation, Inc.
    Inventors: David A. Simon, Kevin T. Foley, Thomas A. Carls, Anthony J. Melkent
  • Patent number: 8690948
    Abstract: Systems, methods and devices for providing stabilization between first and second vertebrae are provided. More particularly, in one form a system includes an implant configured to be positioned in a disc space between the first and second vertebrae and a freestanding plate for engagement with extradiscal surfaces of the first and second vertebrae. The system also includes an insertion instrument with an engaging portion configured to releasably engage with the implant and the plate such that the implant and plate can be positioned together relative to the first and second vertebrae. In one aspect, an angular orientation of the implant relative to the plate is adjustable when the implant and the plate are engaged by the instrument. In this or another aspect, the implant and plate are held in a contiguous relationship when engaged by the instrument. However, different forms and applications are also envisioned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc.
    Inventors: William Armstrong, Thomas Carls, John A. Cowan, James Duncan, Richard A. Hynes, Anthony J. Melkent, Jean-Pierre Mobasser, D. Hal Silcox, III
  • Patent number: 8685093
    Abstract: Methods and systems for performing a surgical procedure using implantable sensors are disclosed. The method includes providing one or more implantable sensors, each sensor configured for implantation adjacent to an anatomical feature of a patient; imaging the patient to determine the relative positions of the one or more implantable sensors relative to the anatomical features of the patient; inserting an implant adjacent to at least one of the anatomical features; and tracking the position of the implant relative to the at least one anatomical feature during the inserting of the implant using the implantable sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc.
    Inventors: Kent M. Anderson, Matthew M. Morrison, Thomas Carls, Eric C. Lange
  • Patent number: 8685026
    Abstract: The present application is directed to devices and methods for releasing tension on a surgical tether. In one embodiment, the release mechanism is constructed to be positioned between a locked position and a release position. In the locked position, the release mechanism is attached to the tether to prevent the tether from moving through the release mechanism. In the release position, the release mechanism allows the tether to move through the body. The release mechanism may be constructed to move between the release and locked positions after being implanted within a patient. In one embodiment, the release mechanism returns to the locked position after the tension on the tether has been reduced below a predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas A Carls, Randall Noel Allard
  • Patent number: 8664166
    Abstract: A method of treating a hydrocarbon containing formation, comprising (a) providing a composition to at least a portion of the hydrocarbon containing formation, wherein the composition comprises a derivative selected from the group consisting of a carboxylate or a sulfate or glycerol sulfonate of an ethoxylated/propoxylated primary alcohol having a branched aliphatic group with an average carbon number from 10 to 24 and having an average number of branches per aliphatic group of from 0.7 to 2.5 and having at least 0.5 moles of propylene oxide per mole of primary alcohol and having at least 0.5 moles of ethylene oxide per mole of primary alcohol; and (b) allowing the composition to interact with hydrocarbons in the hydrocarbon containing formation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Shell Oil Company
    Inventors: Kirk Herbert Raney, Thomas Carl Semple
  • Patent number: 8664167
    Abstract: A method of treating a hydrocarbon containing formation, comprising (a) providing a hydrocarbon recovery composition to at least a portion of the hydrocarbon containing formation, wherein the hydrocarbon recovery composition comprises a propoxylated composition which comprises (1) a glycerol sulfonate of a propoxylated primary alcohol having a branched aliphatic group with an average carbon number from 10 to 24 and having an average number of branches per aliphatic group of from 0.7 to 2.5 and having at least 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Shell Oil Company
    Inventors: Kirk Herbert Raney, Thomas Carl Semple