Patents by Inventor Thomas Kühn

Thomas Kühn 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: 20090224841
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for the detection of a predamping state of an inductive sensor. The sensor has at least one oscillator with a resonant circuit and an oscillation amplifier. According to the method the oscillatory response of the oscillator is analyzed with an operating amplification or gain. According to the invention the method is further developed in that the oscillatory behaviour of the oscillator is additionally analyzed for an analysis amplification or gain, which is chosen lower than the operating amplification. The analysis amplification is also chosen in such a way that the oscillatory response of the oscillator reacts sensitively to objects or articles located in close proximity to the sensor. The invention also relates to an inductive sensor with predamping detection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2009
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Inventor: Thomas Kuehn
  • Patent number: 7577740
    Abstract: A vehicle processing system exchanges data through a vehicle entertainment and information system, a service gateway, and a content provider. The vehicle processing system requests data from the content provider through a service gateway. The service gateway generates and transmits a downstream service packet to the vehicle entertainment and information system. The content provider may include a packet generation subsystem that forms the downstream data packets. The subsystem may encode the data and embed a data identifier that may identify the data format of the downstream data packets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Kühn, Ralph Behrens, Volker Kuz
  • Patent number: 7463020
    Abstract: The invention relates to a preferably ferriteless inductive proximity switch having at least one transmitting coil, one oscillator circuit and at least two receiving coils arranged in the alternating magnetic field of the transmitting coil, whereby the transmitting coil and the receiving coil are arranged adjacent to each other on a printed circuit board, and also having an evaluation circuit connected to the receiving coil for evaluating the received signal of the receiving coils when a target approaches the proximity switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2008
    Assignee: Pepperl & Fuchs GmbH
    Inventor: Thomas Kühn
  • Publication number: 20080143448
    Abstract: The invention relates to a proximity switch, particularly an inductive proximity switch, with an oscillator having an at least partly self-compensated feedback network influenceable by a target to be detected, as well as an oscillator amplifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 10, 2006
    Publication date: June 19, 2008
    Inventor: Thomas Kuehn
  • Publication number: 20080024234
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an inductive proximity switch with an oscillator having a resonant circuit and an amplifier and with an evaluating and control device for evaluating an impedance of the resonant circuit and for outputting a switching signal. According to the invention, the proximity switch is characterized in that a frequency measuring device is provided for measuring the oscillation frequency of the oscillator and for eliminating ambiguities of the evaluation result of the evaluating and control device. The invention also relates to a method for operating an inductive proximity switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2007
    Publication date: January 31, 2008
    Inventor: Thomas Kuehn