Patents by Inventor Thomas Llewellyn Owens

Thomas Llewellyn Owens 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: 20220407349
    Abstract: A fast-charging method is provided for rapidly charging an electric vehicle at a light-duty charging site comprising a residential dwelling or a small off-grid power station. The fast charging method incorporates an intermediate battery bank, or power buffer, that stores energy between EV charging cycles, then discharges the stored energy into the EV at a higher rate than the primary electric power source for the charging system. The power buffer thereby acts as a power multiplier that accelerates the rate of charge of an electric vehicle. Substantial power multiplication factors are possible at light-duty charging sites, resulting in large improvements in electric vehicle charging rates. The method may be applied using a number of primary power sources including AC from the utility grid, DC from photovoltaic panels, or power from other electric vehicle chargers (including both AC and DC electric vehicle chargers).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2021
    Publication date: December 22, 2022
    Inventor: Thomas Llewellyn Owens
  • Patent number: 11513367
    Abstract: A scleral contact lens has a core containing an optical filter. The core and/or the optical filter may comprise oxygen impermeable material, such that an overall oxygen permeability of the core is insufficient to oxygenate a user's cornea when wearing the contact lens. To provide oxygenation to the user's cornea, the contact lens further comprises an outer covering, and an inner covering, each corresponding to a thin layer of gas-permeable material shaped to form a respective manifold between the covering and the core. Oxygen from an outside environment passes through the outer covering to reach the outer manifold, through an air path formed within the core to the inner manifold, and through the inner covering to reach the cornea of the user's eye.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Tectus Corporation
    Inventors: Morrison Ulman, Ritu Raj Singh, Thomas Llewellyn Owens
  • Patent number: 11454826
    Abstract: An augmented reality system determines the position and orientation of an eye. The system includes an electronic contact lens that projects images onto a user's retina. The contact lens includes magnetic sensors. The magnetic sensors detect magnetic fields along one axis, or more than one axis, depending on their configuration. The sensors may be a conductive coil, a solenoid, or a tunneling magnetoresistance device. The sensors detect magnetic fields generated by magnetic sources. The magnetic sources may be collocated, or non-collocated, on a wearable device, a device in the environment, or a secondary electronic device. The sources may have different orientations such that they produce magnetic fields along different axes, and the sensors are configured to independently detect the magnetic fields. The system determines the pose of the eye using a combination of the measurements, and the position and orientation of the sensors and sources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: Tectus Corporation
    Inventors: Ramin Mirjalili, Joseph Czompo, Thomas Llewellyn Owens, Michael West Wiemer
  • Publication number: 20210311328
    Abstract: An augmented reality system determines the position and orientation of an eye. The system includes an electronic contact lens that projects images onto a user's retina. The contact lens includes magnetic sensors. The magnetic sensors detect magnetic fields along one axis, or more than one axis, depending on their configuration. The sensors may be a conductive coil, a solenoid, or a tunneling magnetoresistance device. The sensors detect magnetic fields generated by magnetic sources. The magnetic sources may be collocated, or non-collocated, on a wearable device, a device in the environment, or a secondary electronic device. The sources may have different orientations such that they produce magnetic fields along different axes, and the sensors are configured to independently detect the magnetic fields. The system determines the pose of the eye using a combination of the measurements, and the position and orientation of the sensors and sources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Publication date: October 7, 2021
    Inventors: Ramin Mirjalili, Joseph Czompo, Thomas Llewellyn Owens, Michael West Wiemer
  • Patent number: 11137622
    Abstract: An augmented reality system can include an electronic contact lens and a power source. The source generates a time-varying magnetic field which induces a time-varying current in conductive coils embedded in the electronic contact lens. The electronic contact lens uses the induced current to harvest power or to determine the orientation of the contact lens. The embedded conductive coils are positioned such that the AR system can harvest power and estimate the orientation of the eye at a variety of contact lens orientations. The conductive coils may be embedded within the contact lens at any number of positions and orientations. The embedded coils can encircle a portion of the contact lens and can collectively form an annulus within the contact lens. The conductive coils are embedded such that for at least three conductive coils, no two of the planes defined by the at least three conductive coils are parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Tectus Corporation
    Inventors: Ramin Mirjalili, Thomas Llewellyn Owens
  • Patent number: 10895762
    Abstract: An augmented reality system includes an electronic contact lens and a plurality of conductive coils to be worn, for instance, around a neck, around an arm, or on a chest of a user. The conductive coils can inductively couple to the electronic contact lens by producing magnetic fields that the electronic contact lens can convert into power. A direction of the resulting magnetic at the electronic contact lens can rotate over time, enabling the electronic contact lens to periodically form a strong inductive coupling with the plurality of conductive coils despite the orientation of the electronic contact lens. The electronic contact lens can also output a feedback signal representative of the power produced at the electronic contact lens or an orientation signal representative of the orientation of the eye, and the magnetic fields produced by the conductive coils can be altered based on the feedback signal or orientation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: Tectus Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Llewellyn Owens, Hawk Yin Pang
  • Patent number: 10838232
    Abstract: An augmented reality system may include an electronic contact lens and a power source. In order to enable the wireless transfer of power and data between the contact lens and the power source, one or both of the contact lens and the power source may contain solenoids. When current is driven through an embedded solenoid of the power source, the solenoid can produce a time-varying magnetic field. Likewise, when an embedded solenoid of the contact lens is in the presence of a time-varying magnetic field, a current is induced within the solenoid that may be used to power electronic components within the contact lens. Multiple solenoids may be embedded within the power source or the contact lens at positions and orientations that enable the contact lens to wirelessly receive power from a magnetic field produced by the power source at a variety of orientations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Tectus Corporation
    Inventors: Ramin Mirjalili, Thomas Llewellyn Owens
  • Patent number: 10838239
    Abstract: An augmented reality system includes an electronic contact lens and a plurality of conductive coils to be worn, for instance, around a neck, around an arm, or on a chest of a user. The conductive coils can inductively couple to the electronic contact lens by producing magnetic fields that the electronic contact lens can convert into power. A direction of the resulting magnetic at the electronic contact lens can rotate over time, enabling the electronic contact lens to periodically form a strong inductive coupling with the plurality of conductive coils despite the orientation of the electronic contact lens. The electronic contact lens can also output a feedback signal representative of the power produced at the electronic contact lens or an orientation signal representative of the orientation of the eye, and the magnetic fields produced by the conductive coils can be altered based on the feedback signal or orientation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Tectus Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Llewellyn Owens, Hawk Yin Pang
  • Publication number: 20200341299
    Abstract: A scleral contact lens has a core containing an optical filter. The core and/or the optical filter may comprise oxygen impermeable material, such that an overall oxygen permeability of the core is insufficient to oxygenate a user's cornea when wearing the contact lens. To provide oxygenation to the user's cornea, the contact lens further comprises an outer covering, and an inner covering, each corresponding to a thin layer of gas-permeable material shaped to form a respective manifold between the covering and the core. Oxygen from an outside environment passes through the outer covering to reach the outer manifold, through an air path formed within the core to the inner manifold, and through the inner covering to reach the cornea of the user's eye.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventors: Morrison Ulman, Ritu Raj Singh, Thomas Llewellyn Owens
  • Patent number: 10790700
    Abstract: An augmented reality system including a necklace and a contact lens display can be used to project information from the contact lens display onto the retina of the wearer's eye. In one example, the necklace generates a time-varying magnetic field (TVMF) that provides energy and information to the contact lens display via inductive coupling. The necklace can be configured to decrease the amount of energy absorbed by the body of the wearer and increase power transfer to the contact lens display. The necklace includes a conductive loop and one or more bucking loops that are positioned to increase transmitted energy while reducing the amount of energy absorbed by the human body. The amount of current travelling in one direction through the loops of the necklace is greater than the amount of current travelling in the opposite direction through the loops of the necklace. The necklace can include any number of signal generators and winding patterns for the loops.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: Tectus Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Llewellyn Owens, Hawk Yin Pang
  • Publication number: 20200166776
    Abstract: An augmented reality system may include an electronic contact lens and a power source. In order to enable the wireless transfer of power and data between the contact lens and the power source, one or both of the contact lens and the power source may contain solenoids. When current is driven through an embedded solenoid of the power source, the solenoid can produce a time-varying magnetic field. Likewise, when an embedded solenoid of the contact lens is in the presence of a time-varying magnetic field, a current is induced within the solenoid that may be used to power electronic components within the contact lens. Multiple solenoids may be embedded within the power source or the contact lens at positions and orientations that enable the contact lens to wirelessly receive power from a magnetic field produced by the power source at a variety of orientations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2018
    Publication date: May 28, 2020
    Inventors: Ramin Mirjalili, Thomas Llewellyn Owens
  • Publication number: 20200018990
    Abstract: An augmented reality system can include an electronic contact lens and a power source. The source generates a time-varying magnetic field which induces a time-varying current in conductive coils embedded in the electronic contact lens. The electronic contact lens uses the induced current to harvest power or to determine the orientation of the contact lens. The embedded conductive coils are positioned such that the AR system can harvest power and estimate the orientation of the eye at a variety of contact lens orientations. The conductive coils may be embedded within the contact lens at any number of positions and orientations. The embedded coils can encircle a portion of the contact lens and can collectively form an annulus within the contact lens. The conductive coils are embedded such that for at least three conductive coils, no two of the planes defined by the at least three conductive coils are parallel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2018
    Publication date: January 16, 2020
    Inventors: Ramin Mirjalili, Thomas Llewellyn Owens
  • Publication number: 20190355512
    Abstract: An augmented reality system including a necklace and a contact lens display can be used to project information from the contact lens display onto the retina of the wearer's eye. In one example, the necklace generates a time-varying magnetic field (TVMF) that provides energy and information to the contact lens display via inductive coupling. The necklace can be configured to decrease the amount of energy absorbed by the body of the wearer and increase power transfer to the contact lens display. The necklace includes a conductive loop and one or more bucking loops that are positioned to increase transmitted energy while reducing the amount of energy absorbed by the human body. The amount of current travelling in one direction through the loops of the necklace is greater than the amount of current travelling in the opposite direction through the loops of the necklace. The necklace can include any number of signal generators and winding patterns for the loops.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2018
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Thomas Llewellyn Owens, Hawk Yin Pang
  • Publication number: 20190331937
    Abstract: An augmented reality system includes an electronic contact lens and a plurality of conductive coils to be worn, for instance, around a neck, around an arm, or on a chest of a user. The conductive coils can inductively couple to the electronic contact lens by producing magnetic fields that the electronic contact lens can convert into power. A direction of the resulting magnetic at the electronic contact lens can rotate over time, enabling the electronic contact lens to periodically form a strong inductive coupling with the plurality of conductive coils despite the orientation of the electronic contact lens. The electronic contact lens can also output a feedback signal representative of the power produced at the electronic contact lens or an orientation signal representative of the orientation of the eye, and the magnetic fields produced by the conductive coils can be altered based on the feedback signal or orientation signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Inventors: Thomas Llewellyn Owens, Hawk Yin Pang
  • Publication number: 20190331938
    Abstract: An augmented reality system includes an electronic contact lens and a plurality of conductive coils to be worn, for instance, around a neck, around an arm, or on a chest of a user. The conductive coils can inductively couple to the electronic contact lens by producing magnetic fields that the electronic contact lens can convert into power. A direction of the resulting magnetic at the electronic contact lens can rotate over time, enabling the electronic contact lens to periodically form a strong inductive coupling with the plurality of conductive coils despite the orientation of the electronic contact lens. The electronic contact lens can also output a feedback signal representative of the power produced at the electronic contact lens or an orientation signal representative of the orientation of the eye, and the magnetic fields produced by the conductive coils can be altered based on the feedback signal or orientation signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Inventors: Thomas Llewellyn Owens, Hawk Yin Pang