Patents by Inventor William T. Hatfield

William T. Hatfield 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: 5840032
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for three-dimensional imaging of ultrasound data by constructing projections of data from a volume of interest. An ultrasound scanner collects B-mode or color flow images in a cine memory, i.e., for a multiplicity of slices. A multi-row transducer array having a uniform elevation beamwidth is used to provide reduced slice thickness. In particular, the multi-row transducer array has a central row made up of elements having an area smaller than the combined area of the paired elements of two outermost rows The data from a respective region of interest for each of a multiplicity of stored slices is sent to a master controller, such data forming a volume of interest. The master controller performs an algorithm that projects the data in the volume of interest onto a plurality of rotated image planes using a ray-casting technique. The data for each projection is stored in a separate frame in the cine memory. These reconstructed frames are then displayed selectively by the system operator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1998
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: William T. Hatfield, Todd Michael Tillman, Douglas G. Wildes, Richard Y. Chiao
  • Patent number: 5257178
    Abstract: A method for optimally operating a computer numerical control (CNC) milling machine to form cavities in a ceramic substrate for receiving IC chips and other components of a high density interconnect structure electrically interconnected by a multi-layer interconnect (HDI) structure. Generation of the CNC program instructions is based on locations and dimensions of the components which, through a set of design rules, provide locations and dimensions for an initial set of cavities corresponding to the components on a one-for-one basis. Depending upon the particular arrangement of the components, specific neighboring cavities of the initial set may either overlap or be separated by walls. A representation of the location and dimensions of each of the cavities of the initial set is formed, and the representation is enhanced by a "combine pockets" step and by a "remove borders" step to represent locations and dimensions of cavities of an optimized set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 1991
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1993
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: William T. Hatfield, William W. Rohling, Wolfgang Daum, Carl L. Chalek
  • Patent number: 4737953
    Abstract: A method for operating a communication network bridge is disclosed. The bridge receives a message frame from a first network connected thereto and reads the source and destination addresses of the received frame. The bridge determines if the addresses are contained in a source address table maintained thereby and if both addresses are present, discards the frame. The bridge transmits the frame to a second network connected thereto if the source address is not in the table or if the source address but not the destination address is in the table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1986
    Date of Patent: April 12, 1988
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Steven R. Koch, Charles R. Stein, William T. Hatfield, Neil R. Shapiro, William C. Hughes
  • Patent number: 4715030
    Abstract: Apparatus for bridging between two local area networks is disclosed. The apparatus has two bridge sides each including means for receiving or transmitting a message frame, controller means for directing an incoming message frame into a memory means shared between the bridge sides or directing a frame out of the memory means for transmission, address reading means for reading an address portion of the incoming frame and processor means for determining frame transmissibility from the address portion as provided by the address reading means. The apparatus is configured such that the processor means determines incoming frame transmissibility substantially concurrent with the controller means directing the incoming frame into the memory means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1986
    Date of Patent: December 22, 1987
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Steven R. Koch, Charles R. Stein, William T. Hatfield, Neil R. Shapiro, William C. Hughes