Patents by Inventor Toan Q. Trinh

Toan Q. Trinh 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: 20240315928
    Abstract: A pill counting device includes a step feeder having moveable slats interleaved with fixed slats. The movable slats are vertically offset from one another and are configured to move vertically between top platforms of adjacent fixed slats to carry pills vertically up the step feeder. A top movable slat orients a subset of the plurality of pills into a row of pills to be fed into a count chamber. A camera configured to capture an image of a pill of the individual pills as it falls through the count chamber. The device further includes a control system configured to control movement of the movable slats and to control capturing of images by the camera. The control system is further configured to calculate a characteristic of the pill from the image, and to increment a pill counter in response to the characteristic of the pill meeting predefined criteria.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2024
    Publication date: September 26, 2024
    Inventors: Michael L Mahar, Toan Q. Trinh
  • Patent number: 12036185
    Abstract: A pill counting device includes a step feeder having moveable slats interleaved with fixed slats. The movable slats are vertically offset from one another and are configured to move vertically between top platforms of adjacent fixed slats to carry pills vertically up the step feeder. A top movable slat orients a subset of the plurality of pills into a row of pills to be fed into a count chamber. A camera configured to capture an image of a pill of the individual pills as it falls through the count chamber. The device further includes a control system configured to control movement of the movable slats and to control capturing of images by the camera. The control system is further configured to calculate a characteristic of the pill from the image, and to increment a pill counter in response to the characteristic of the pill meeting predefined criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: OPTUM, INC.
    Inventors: Michael L Mahar, Toan Q. Trinh
  • Publication number: 20230017452
    Abstract: A pill counting device includes a step feeder having moveable slats interleaved with fixed slats. The movable slats are vertically offset from one another and are configured to move vertically between top platforms of adjacent fixed slats to carry pills vertically up the step feeder. A top movable slat orients a subset of the plurality of pills into a row of pills to be fed into a count chamber. A camera configured to capture an image of a pill of the individual pills as it falls through the count chamber. The device further includes a control system configured to control movement of the movable slats and to control capturing of images by the camera. The control system is further configured to calculate a characteristic of the pill from the image, and to increment a pill counter in response to the characteristic of the pill meeting predefined criteria.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 12, 2022
    Publication date: January 19, 2023
    Inventors: Michael L Mahar, Toan Q. Trinh