Patents by Inventor Thorsten Zerfass

Thorsten Zerfass 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: 20240010379
    Abstract: The invention relates to a labelling device, in particular a price-displaying device, for labelling individual packages (2), comprising: a feed assembly (3) for transporting particular packages (2); a label-dispensing assembly (9) for dispensing a label (8) that can be detached from a material strip (10) in a dispensing direction as far as a transfer position; and a label-application assembly (13) for applying the label (8) dispensed in the transfer position onto the surface of the package (2); wherein the label application assembly (13) comprises a label-suction assembly (15) which picks up a label (8) dispensed by the label-dispensing assembly (9) and holds it in the transfer position, from which position the label (8) is transferred to the surface of the package (2). According to the invention, the label-suction assembly (15) is designed to generate a first airflow and to conduct the airflow such that both a suction force and a compressive force are exerted on the label (8) in the transfer position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2021
    Publication date: January 11, 2024
    Inventors: Mario WIEGEL, Artem VINOKUROV, Thorsten ZERFAß
  • Patent number: 11361411
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of neighbor influence compensation between a plurality of objects in at least one digital image, wherein the at least one digital image contains image information about a plurality of objects. Each of the plurality of objects is configured to receive at least one molecule comprising genetic information, wherein the at least one molecule is configured to receive a fluorescent compound, and the at least one digital image is taken by an optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation of the fluorescent compounds received by the at least one molecules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Qiagen GmbH
    Inventors: Maiko Lohel, Thorsten Zerfass
  • Publication number: 20210390666
    Abstract: Method and system for compensating intensity biases in a plurality of digital images. Each digital image of the plurality of digital images contains a plurality of objects and each of the plurality of objects is configured to receive at least one molecule comprising genetic information, wherein the at least one molecule is configured to receive one of at least a first fluorescent compound and a second fluorescent compound. A first digital image of the plurality of digital images is taken by an optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation by the first fluorescent compound, and a second digital image of the plurality of digital images is taken by the optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation by the second fluorescent compound.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Publication date: December 16, 2021
    Applicant: QIAGEN GmbH
    Inventors: Thorsten ZERFASS, Maiko LOHEL, Fernando Carrillo OESTERREICH
  • Publication number: 20210374915
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of neighbor influence compensation between a plurality of objects in at least one digital image, wherein the at least one digital image contains image information about a plurality of objects. Each of the plurality of objects is configured to receive at least one molecule comprising genetic information, wherein the at least one molecule is configured to receive a fluorescent compound, and the at least one digital image is taken by an optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation of the fluorescent compounds received by the at least one molecules.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2017
    Publication date: December 2, 2021
    Applicant: QIAGEN GmbH
    Inventors: Maiko LOHEL, Thorsten ZERFASS
  • Patent number: 10991107
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a system for aligning at least one part of a second digital image with at least one part of a first digital image comprising: dividing the at least one part of the first digital image into a plurality of tiles t_fi; dividing the at least one part of the second digital image into a plurality of tiles t_si; creating a plurality of correlation images fci; determining the position of a global maximum correlation value p_?? for each of the plurality of correlation images fci_??; calculating a plurality of first offset vectors fov, the offset vector fov_?? representing the offset between the tile t_si?? and the corresponding tile t_fi??; and aligning the at least one part of the second digital image with the at least one part of the first digital image by applying the corresponding first offset vectors fov.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: QIAGEN GmbH
    Inventors: Guido Schuster, Thorsten Zerfass, Thomas Unterer, Jan Hauth, Maiko Lohel
  • Patent number: 10963992
    Abstract: Method and system for compensating intensity biases in a plurality of digital images. Each digital image of the plurality of digital images contains a plurality of objects and each of the plurality of objects is configured to receive at least one molecule comprising genetic information, wherein the at least one molecule is configured to receive one of at least a first fluorescent compound and a second fluorescent compound. A first digital image of the plurality of digital images is taken by an optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation by the first fluorescent compound, and a second digital image of the plurality of digital images is taken by the optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation by the second fluorescent compound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: QIAGEN GmbH
    Inventors: Thorsten Zerfass, Maiko Lohel, Fernando Carrillo Oesterreich
  • Patent number: 10878562
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a system for the overall brightness of at least one object in a digital image. In particular, the method for determining the overall brightness of at least one object in a digital image, the at least one object being configured to receive molecules comprising genetic information, the method comprising the steps of: generating an area A comprising k sample points, the k points being distributed in the area A according to a predetermined distribution; aligning the center position of the area A to the center position of the at least one object in the digital image; extracting the intensity value at each of the k sample points; and calculating the central tendency of the extracted intensity values at the respective k sample points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Qiagen GmgH
    Inventors: Maiko Lohel, Björn Labitzke, Thorsten Zerfass
  • Publication number: 20200273183
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a system for aligning at least one part of a second digital image with at least one part of a first digital image comprising: dividing the at least one part of the first digital image into a plurality of tiles t_fi; dividing the at least one part of the second digital image into a plurality of tiles t_si; creating a plurality of correlation images fci; determining the position of a global maximum correlation value p_v? for each of the plurality of correlation images fci_v?; calculating a plurality of first offset vectors fov, the offset vector fov_v? representing the offset between the tile t_siv? and the corresponding tile t_fiv?; and aligning the at least one part of the second digital image with the at least one part of the first digital image by applying the corresponding first offset vectors fov.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Guido SCHUSTER, Thorsten ZERFASS, Thomas UNTERER, Jan HAUTH, Maiko LOHEL
  • Patent number: 10740883
    Abstract: System, method and computer program product for background compensation of a digital image containing at least one first object, the at least one first object having received at least one molecule comprising genetic information, and at least one second object, the at least one second object not having received a molecule comprising genetic information, the at least one molecule being configured to receive a fluorescent compound, the digital image being determined by an optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation by the fluorescent compound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: QIAGEN GmbH
    Inventors: Thorsten Zerfass, Björn Labitzke, Maiko Lohel
  • Patent number: 10733707
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a system for determining the positions of a plurality of objects in a digital image by discriminating true positive positions of the plurality of objects from false positive candidate positions of the plurality of objects. In particular, the invention relates to a method for determining the positions of a plurality of objects in a digital image by discriminating true positive positions of the plurality of objects from false positive candidate positions of the plurality of objects, the plurality of objects being configured to receive molecules comprising genetic information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: QIAGEN GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Unterer, Guido Schuster, Maiko Lohel, Björn Labitzke, Thorsten Zerfass
  • Publication number: 20200243160
    Abstract: A method for performing a normalization of intensity values obtained to perform sequencing analysis comprises the steps: receiving (110) a plurality of image data for a plurality of channels, each image data (11a-11d, 15a-15d) describes for the respective channel (a-d) an intensity distribution over all positions of an image of the a plurality of image data (11 a-11 d, 15a-15d); parametrization (120) of the intensity distribution over all positions for the plurality of channels (a-d) to obtain parametrized distributions for the plurality of channels (a-d); combining (130) the parametrized distributions for the plurality of channels (a-d) to obtain a common distribution for all of the plurality of channels (a-d); and determining (140) for each of the plurality of channels (a-d) a transfer function such that the respective transfer function for the respective channel (a-d) maps the corresponding intensity distribution to the common distribution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2018
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Inventors: Fernando OESTERREICH CARRILLO, MAIKO LOHEL, THORSTEN ZERFASS
  • Publication number: 20190259137
    Abstract: Method and system for compensating intensity biases in a plurality of digital images. Each digital image of the plurality of digital images contains a plurality of objects and each of the plurality of objects is configured to receive at least one molecule comprising genetic information, wherein the at least one molecule is configured to receive one of at least a first fluorescent compound and a second fluorescent compound. A first digital image of the plurality of digital images is taken by an optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation by the first fluorescent compound, and a second digital image of the plurality of digital images is taken by the optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation by the second fluorescent compound.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2017
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Applicant: QIAGEN GmbH
    Inventors: Thorsten ZERFASS, Maiko LOHEL, Fernando Carrillo OESTERREICH
  • Publication number: 20190012770
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a system for determining the positions of a plurality of objects in a digital image by discriminating true positive positions of the plurality of objects from false positive candidate positions of the plurality of objects. In particular, the invention relates to a method for determining the positions of a plurality of objects in a digital image by discriminating true positive positions of the plurality of objects from false positive candidate positions of the plurality of objects, the plurality of objects being configured to receive molecules comprising genetic information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Publication date: January 10, 2019
    Inventors: Thomas UNTERER, Guido SCHUSTER, Maiko LOHEL, Björn LABITZKE, Thorsten ZERFASS
  • Publication number: 20190012773
    Abstract: System, method and computer program product for background compensation of a digital image containing at least one first object, the at least one first object having received at least one molecule comprising genetic information, and at least one second object, the at least one second object not having received a molecule comprising genetic information, the at least one molecule being configured to receive a fluorescent compound, the digital image being determined by an optical imaging system during emission of electromagnetic radiation by the fluorescent compound.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Publication date: January 10, 2019
    Inventors: Thorsten ZERFASS, Björn LABITZKE, Maiko LOHEL
  • Publication number: 20190012785
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and a system for the overall brightness of at least one object in a digital image. In particular, the method for determining the overall brightness of at least one object in a digital image, the at least one object being configured to receive molecules comprising genetic information, the method comprising the steps of: generating an area A comprising k sample points, the k points being distributed in the area A according to a predetermined distribution; aligning the center position of the area A to the center position of the at least one object in the digital image; extracting the intensity value at each of the k sample points; and calculating the central tendency of the extracted intensity values at the respective k sample points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Publication date: January 10, 2019
    Inventors: Maiko LOHEL, Björn LABITZKE, Thorsten ZERFASS
  • Patent number: 9843718
    Abstract: A device for establishing one or several recording regions from an image region is provided. The device includes a neighborhood determining unit for determining whether two objects of the image region are neighboring. Additionally, the device includes a graph set determining unit for determining a graph set such that the graph set includes one or several complete graphs, each element of the complete graph being neighboring to every other element of this complete graph. Furthermore, the device includes a selection set determining unit configured to add a complete graph to the selection set when one of the elements of an object set is included by precisely this one of the complete graphs of the graph set. In addition, the device includes a recording region determining unit for determining the one or several recording regions based on the complete graphs of the selection set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.
    Inventors: Thorsten Zerfass, Erik Hasslmeyer, Timo Schlarb
  • Patent number: 9253449
    Abstract: A stability and, thus, also a quality of mosaic generation is improved by exploiting the advantages of global optimization while giving up performing the optimization fully on the basis of mutual alignment of the image information alone, i.e. on the basis of the result of a search for similarities, but when, additionally, information about error statistics of the capturing device, which took over portion-by-portion capturing of the object plane, is instead also taken into account in the positioning of the subimages in that a secondary constraint (secondary constraint) is set up for the capturing position variables in the optimization problem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Dirk Steckhan, Thorsten Zerfass, Thomas Wittenberg, Matthias Elter, Dietrich Paulus
  • Patent number: 9196036
    Abstract: A device for determining objects in a color recording has an identifier, a feature extractor and a classifier. The identifier is implemented to identify the connected regions whose size or shape correspond to a predetermined condition from a plurality of connected regions existing in a binary image derived from a color recording based on a size or a shape of these connected regions. The feature extractor is implemented, for each of the identified connected regions, to extract a feature set from the color recording. The classifier is implemented to classify the identified connected regions into at least two disjunct groups based on the extracted feature sets for the identified connected regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2015
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Matthias Elter, Thorsten Zerfass, Dirk Steckhan, Thomas Wittenberg, Christian Muenzenmayer, Timo Schlarb
  • Patent number: 8589104
    Abstract: A color value for an optical fiber of a fiberscope can be generated on the basis of the intensity values of a plurality of sensor elements of a sensor element arrangement that are sensitive to one spectral region each from a set of sensor spectral regions, if calibration values are provided for each of the spectral regions associated with the optical fiber. The intensity values of all sensor elements of the respective spectral region that are illuminated by the light guide can be combined with the provided calibration values, in order to obtain the color value associated with the optical fiber, which reproduces the color of the light transported by the optical fiber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignees: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V., Friedrich-Alexander Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg
    Inventors: Christian Winer, Thorsten Zerfass
  • Patent number: 8582861
    Abstract: A method of segmenting biological cells in a picture so that the biological cells represent a foreground of the picture includes a step of applying a first fast marching algorithm to the picture or to a pre-processed version of same in order to obtain a first fast marching image. In addition, the method includes a step of segmenting the first fast marching image or a further-processed version of same into a plurality of homogeneous regions. Furthermore, the method includes a step of mapping each of the homogeneous regions to one node of a graph, respectively. In addition, the method includes a step of classifying each homogeneous region either as background or foreground on the basis of the graph. Moreover, the method includes a step of applying a second fast marching algorithm within the homogeneous regions classified as foreground so as to segment the foreground into individual biological cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V.
    Inventors: Erik Hasslmeyer, Matthias Elter, Thorsten Zerfass, Timo Schlarb