Patents Issued in March 18, 2008
  • Patent number: 7346442
    Abstract: A controller (5) controls the engaging force between a pump impeller (1a) connected to an engine (2) and a turbine runner (1b) connected to an automatic transmission (23). The controller (5) first performs feedforward control of the engaging force. The controller (5) determines a reference value and a target rotation speed based on the capacity characteristics of the torque converter (1), and if the rotation speed of the engine (2) becomes less than the reference value, performs feedback control of the engaging force so that the deviation between the target rotation speed and the rotation speed decreases. When a predetermined condition is satisfied, the controller (5) changes over from feedforward control to feedback control, even if the rotation speed of the engine (21) is not less than the reference value. As a result, the control precision of feedback control when performing a slip lock-up, is increased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akira Higashimata, Satoshi Segawa
  • Patent number: 7346443
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of servo-control in a vehicle braking system that includes at least one electric brake provided with at least one actuator comprising a pusher facing friction elements and driven by an electric motor to apply a force selectively against the friction elements in response to a braking setpoint, the method making use of a relationship for transforming a setpoint for the braking that is to be applied by the pusher into a setpoint for the position of the pusher. The method of the invention includes the step of adjusting a particular relationship by imposing pauses in the position of the pusher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Messier-Bugati
    Inventor: Julien Thibault
  • Patent number: 7346444
    Abstract: A capacitor unit used as an auxiliary power source is structured by a plurality of series connected capacitors that have an initial dispersion of characteristics controlled within a predetermined value. During charging, the capacitor unit is monitored if a voltage of the entire capacitor unit is not exceeding a predetermined value. This prevents each capacitor from being charged at a voltage exceeding a withstand voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yohsuke Mitani
  • Patent number: 7346445
    Abstract: A method for operating an internal combustion engine, including the following steps: forming a value for a maximum admissible torque, forming a dimension figure for the actual torque and comparing the dimension figure to the value and triggering an error response if the actual torque exceeds the maximum admissible torque. The value for the maximum admissible torque is developed from a first approximation value and an estimated value for the torque contribution of an intervention of a fault regulator. Also, a control unit as well as its use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Gerit Von Schwertfuehrer
  • Patent number: 7346446
    Abstract: An internal combustion engine employs exhaust gas recompression and fuel injection during the recompression as part of an overall homogeneous charge compression ignition control. In-cylinder fuel reformation is estimated using exhaust gas burned gas fractions determined from sensed exhaust gases and models. Models include air actually consumed in in-cylinder fuel combustion and reforming processes and air required to complete in-cylinder combustion reactions of reformed fuel. Reformed fuel is calculated based on the modeled and measured exhaust gas burned gas fractions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Jun-Mo Kang, Chen-Fang Chang, Tang-Wei Kuo
  • Patent number: 7346447
    Abstract: An engine knock control system for an engine having a turbocharger includes a first module that determines octane scalars indicative of an engine knock propensity for each cylinder of the engine system and a second module that determines a cylinder air mass limit based on the octane scalars. A third module limits a boost output of the turbocharger based on the cylinder air mass limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas J. Babcock, Richard M. Backman, Emil Ritzen
  • Patent number: 7346448
    Abstract: A measuring and testing system for a test piece (1) with at least one operational fluid, particularly to test an internal combustion engine, is provided with at least one measuring arrangement connected to a space (2) of the test piece (1) containing operational fluid, and comprising a partial measuring arrangement (4, 5, 6) for the quantity parameter of the operational fluid and at least one additional partial measuring arrangement (6, 7) for at least one quality parameter for the characterization of the physical and/or chemical condition of the operational fluid, as well as a control and evaluation unit (6) connected to the measuring arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: AVL List GmbH
    Inventors: Franz Graf, Karol Schleifer, Klaus-Christoph Harms
  • Patent number: 7346449
    Abstract: There are provided a driving evaluation method for evaluating a fuel consumption rate of driving a vehicle in certain driving interval on the basis of driving data acquired at time of driving in the driving interval, including: calculating an energy consumption efficiency in the driving interval; calculating a driving environment variable indicative of an environment factor which exerts an influence on energy consumption by driving in the driving interval; selecting a probability density function or a cumulative distribution function corresponding to the calculated driving environment variable from a plurality of probability density functions or cumulative distribution functions having the energy consumption efficiency as a probability variable; and calculating an evaluation value for evaluating a fuel consumption rate of driving in the driving interval by using the selected probability density function or the selected cumulative distribution function and the calculated energy consumption efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Makoto Sato
  • Patent number: 7346450
    Abstract: A stop area is set in an arbitrary area where map matching processing is to be stopped, by an operation switch group or a remote controller. When a vehicle enters the stop area, the map matching processing is stopped, and when the vehicle exits from the stop area, the map matching processing is performed. It is supposed that a situation where the map matching processing should be performed has changed to a situation where the map matching processing should be stopped or vice versa. Here, since the stop area can be set in advance, it is not necessary to perform any selection operation. Thus, load on a driver during driving the vehicle can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yoshimasa Usui
  • Patent number: 7346451
    Abstract: When a guiding route is included in a display target region at a photograph display mode, route data of the guiding route is also read. Within the read route data, information of a region for editing a photograph is stored. This information includes a road kind (color information), coordinates of the start/end points of the road, and a road width when editing is for a road. Next, photograph data is read, so that a color of the photograph data is edited based on the stored information of the route data. For instance, a color of the photograph data in a corresponding road region is changed to red that represents “national road.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naohiro Sakashita, Masatoshi Abo
  • Patent number: 7346452
    Abstract: An inertial (“INS”)/GPS receiver uses injected alignment data to determine the alignment of the INS sub-system when the receiver is in motion during start-up. The alignment data is determined from parameterized surface information, measured GPS velocity, and a known or predetermined angular relationship between the vehicle on which the receiver is mounted and an inertial measurement reference, or body, frame associated with the accelerometers and gyroscopes of the inertial measuring unit (“IMU”). The parameterized surface information, which provides a constraint, may be the orientation of the surface over which the vehicle that houses the receiver is moving. The receiver uses the initial GPS position to determine the location of the vehicle on the parameterized surface, and thus, the known surface orientation. The receiver then determines the roll, pitch and heading of the vehicle on the surface using the associated GPS velocity vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: NovAtel, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas John Ford, Jason Hamilton, Michael Bobye
  • Patent number: 7346453
    Abstract: An alarm device according to the present invention includes a distance measuring sensor for detecting an object in a slanting rear direction of a vehicle and a distance to the object from the vehicle, a direction indicator switch, an alarming object determination part for determining whether the object detected by the distance measuring sensor is an alarming object, and an alarm generation part for generating an alarm to the driver based on the determination result at the alarming object determination part, and so on. The alarming object determination part determines whether the object is an alarming object based on a change with time in the distance between the object detected by the distance measuring sensor and the vehicle, and detection duration of the object by the distance measuring sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Katsuji Matsuoka
  • Patent number: 7346454
    Abstract: A method for depth matching borehole images and/or core section images is disclosed wherein signals from sensors at different levels on a logging tool are converted into an averaged signal representing the average bed signal at the center of the borehole at each of the different levels. A depth matching technique is applied to the averaged signals from the sensors at different levels on the logging tool to determine the optimum depth offset necessary for matching two sets of signals from sensors at the different levels of the logging tool. In an alternative embodiment of the invention a Hough transform is utilized to process the well log images and generate three-dimensional images in Hough space. The three dimensional images are converted into two-dimensional extremum curves. Depth matching is performed on the two dimensional extremum curves to calculate an offset to match the two dimensional extremum curves. The calculated offset is then applied to the well log images to depth match them.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Gilles Mathieu, Jean-Pierre Delhomme, Philip Cheung, Yinyu Wang
  • Patent number: 7346455
    Abstract: A wellbore evaluation system evaluates mechanical wear and corrosion to components of a well system including a production tubing string positionable in a well and a sucker rod string movable within the production tubing string. A deviation sensor determines a deviation profile of the production tubing string in the well, and a rod sensor senses and measures wear and corrosion to the sucker rod string as it is removed from the well to determine a rod profile. A data acquisition computer is in communication with the sensors for computing and comparing the deviation profile and the rod profile as a function of depth in the well. A 3-dimensional image of wellbores, with isogram mapping, may be generated and examined over the internet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Robbins & Myers Energy Systems L.P.
    Inventors: Simon J. Ward, John P. Rogers
  • Patent number: 7346456
    Abstract: To perform diagnosis of a completion system, at least one parameter of the completion system in a wellbore is monitored using a sensor. A profile is generated based on the monitored parameter, and a real-time diagnosis is performed of an operation of the completion system based on a comparison of the generated profile and an expected profile to identify an anomaly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Djerassem Le Bemadjiel
  • Patent number: 7346457
    Abstract: A method is provided for evaluating the performance of a plurality of oil wells which were established to produce from a common reservoir beneath the earth's surface. The method comprises inputting information about the reservoir into a computer and establishing a time interval and time steps within that time interval over which performance of the wells will be evaluated. The total oil which is accessible clearing each time step in each time interval is determining, and then individual recovery factor for each time step is determined. A composite recovery factor is determined using the individual recovery factors, and the composite recovery factors are normalized to the best well in the field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Younes Jalali, Tao Gang
  • Patent number: 7346458
    Abstract: A robust genotyping method using a DNA chip is provided. In the DNA chip used in the genotyping method, optimal probe pairs of a wild-perfect match probe and a mutant-perfect match probe are immobilized for each mutation site on a substrate. The method includes setting up a genotyping algorithm using data obtained from hybridization of an identified standard nucleic acid to the DNA chip, and genotyping an unknown target nucleic acid by substituting input vectors that are calculated from hybridization of the target nucleic acid to the DNA chip into the genotyping algorithm. The results of genotyping the target nucleic acid using the optimal probe pairs for each mutation site are statistically robust to errors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyeong-sop Shim, Tae-sung Park, Jae-shick Yang
  • Patent number: 7346459
    Abstract: An environmental impact information collection system modifies and analyzes environmental impact information, which is collected and stored in advance, and obtains the environmental impact at each process done in an organization, according to each product. The environmental impact information collection system then obtains a set of environmental impacts in a product's life cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masamitsu Sakurai, Tatsuo Tani, Hiroshi Uramoto, Hiromitsu Hatano
  • Patent number: 7346460
    Abstract: The present invention provides an objective bubble point pressure determination method enables new applications of downhole PV (Pressure Volume) test results such as in situ measurement of the bubble point pressure for use as a quality control parameter for sampling. The present invention provides a method and apparatus to fit data points to a curve and to smooth these points over an interval of N points. The derivative of the curve is determined to obtain peak acceleration. The peak acceleration represents the bubble point pressure. This bubble point pressure is verified by comparison to changes in fluid compressibility and visual observation of a pressure volume plot history.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated
    Inventors: Rocco DiFoggio, John M. Michaels, Jaedong Lee
  • Patent number: 7346461
    Abstract: An apparatus, computer program product and method of analyzing structures. Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) are extracted from the data and the most energetic IMF is selected. A spline is fit to the envelope for the selected IMF. The spline derivative is determined. A stability spectrum is developed by separating the positive and negative results into two different spectra representing stable (positive) and unstable (negative) damping factors. The stability spectrum and the non-linearity indicator are applied to the data to isolate unstable vibrations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventors: Norden E. Huang, Liming W. Salvino
  • Patent number: 7346462
    Abstract: A system, method, and article of manufacture for determining parameter values associated with an electrical grid in accordance with an exemplary embodiment is provided. The electrical grid has a point of interconnection where the electrical grid is electrically coupled to a power source. The method includes measuring real power at the point of interconnection of the electrical grid to obtain a plurality of real power values. The method further includes measuring reactive power at the point of interconnection of the electrical grid to obtain a plurality of reactive power values. The method further includes measuring a voltage at the point of interconnection of the electrical grid to obtain a plurality of voltage values. The method further includes estimating at least one parameter value associated with the electrical grid utilizing the plurality of real power values, the plurality of reactive power values, and the plurality of voltage values, and a mathematical estimation technique.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Robert Delmerico
  • Patent number: 7346463
    Abstract: A system for controlling remotely located electrically-powered systems in an electrical network includes a first transceiver. The first transceiver has an identifier in memory and wirelessly communicates bidirectionally with a control center via a plurality of additional wireless birdirectional transceivers. At least one of the plurality of additional wireless bidirectional transceivers is a site controller coupled to a wide area network. At least another of the additional wireless bidirectional transceivers is coupled to a meter. A microcontroller is coupled to the first transceiver and to a remotely located electrically-powered system. The microcontroller controls operation of the electrically-powered device from at least a state of powered on to a state of powered off when a signal associated with actuating the power state of the remotely located electrically-powered system is received. A keypad containing user selectable buttons is coupled to the microcontroller for receiving user input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Hunt Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas D. Petite, Richard M. Huff
  • Patent number: 7346464
    Abstract: A gait waveform feature extracting method and an individual identification system extract features of the gait waveform. A one-step waveform corresponding to one step of a walking movement is specified using, as an index, a peak amplitude corresponding to a state where substantially a whole bottom surface of one foot is in contact with the ground and a toe of the other foot is just after leaving the ground among the electric field displacement formed on the human body in accordance with the human body's walking movements. Based on the specified one-step waveform, the features of the one-step waveform are extracted, so that the peak amplitude appears without influence from electric-charge interference between the right and left legs. Accordingly, the one-step waveform reflects the actual one step of the walking movement, and therefore, the features of the one-step waveform can be precisely extracted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Kiyoaki Takiguchi
  • Patent number: 7346465
    Abstract: A method performs quality control testing on the objects in a set of objects to obtain a level of quality. The method identifies a number of objects that satisfy the static testing limits, determines statistical measures from the number of objects, determines a dynamic range of values from the statistical measures, and then identifies the objects that satisfy the dynamic range of values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Subbah Rao Subramaniam, Tan Tiang Chuan, Colin Ong Li Shen
  • Patent number: 7346466
    Abstract: A magnetism detection device includes a geomagnetism detection element for detecting geomagnetism of each transverse axial component and a nonvolatile memory element of a thermal metamorphic type for storing one piece or a plurality of pieces of correction data for correcting the detected geomagnetism values. Each piece of correction data is expressed as a value of a ration of inter-axial correction coefficient to the axial sensitivity correction coefficient of either axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Hideki Sato
  • Patent number: 7346467
    Abstract: A method for adjusting a plurality of controlled subsystems in a building or plant that facilitates cooperative energy usage with a utility provider. By referring to a single profile of adjustments that correspond to changes in the value of a utility signal and distributing this to each relevant controller for each subsystem, a single setback delta can be applied to each subsystem for each change in utility signal value (i.e., pricing information). Alternatively, multiple profiles can be used to provide for firmer control and thereby allow for different zones to respond differently to a single change signal sent by the utility provider.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Philip J. Bohrer, Gregory J. Merten, Robert J. Schnell, Michael B. Atlass
  • Patent number: 7346468
    Abstract: Detecting, predicting, and diagnosing faults in a cooling system. According to one embodiment, a heat sink is in thermal contact with a heat-generating electronic component. When a temperature differential between the electronic component and the heat sink exceeds a set point, a fault signal is generated. The set point may be empirically or theoretically determined. The set point may be a static set point, or it may be a dynamic set point determined according to real-time operational parameters of the system. The system may be implemented with predictive failure analysis (PFA) to provide a more reliable, efficient, inexpensive, and robust computer system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Paul Douglas Bashor, Henry Gaines McMillan, Challis Llewellyn Purrington, Michael Leo Scollard, Victor A. Stankevich
  • Patent number: 7346469
    Abstract: In accordance with an implementation of the present technique, a method for processing data is disclosed. The method involves analyzing consistency of sensor readings obtained from a plurality of sensors monitoring a device, where each sensor reading is indicative of at least one operational parameter of the device. The method also involves assigning a confidence value to each of the sensor readings, where the confidence value is indicative of an operational condition of one of the plurality of sensors that provided the sensor reading. The method also includes weighting each sensor reading based on the confidence value assigned to the sensor reading to determine an acceptance or a rejection of the sensor reading and fusing the sensor readings that are accepted to obtain a fused sensor reading corresponding to the operational parameter measured by the sensors on the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Avinash Vinayak Taware, Fei Teng, Paul Teeporn Tanpitukpongse
  • Patent number: 7346470
    Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for assessing a probability of failure of operation of a semiconductor wafer. The method includes inputting risk factor data into a memory and inputting a plurality of wafers into a semiconductor fabrication manufacturing process. A subset of wafers is selected to obtain a sample population and at least one region of each wafer of the sample population is inspected. Circuit design data associated with each wafer of the sample population is obtained and one or more defects that present an increased risk to the operation of a particular wafer are identified. The identification is a function of the risk factor data, the inspecting step and the circuit design data. A probability of semiconductor wafer failure is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mary Wisniewski, Emmanuel Yashchin, Christina Landers, Asya Takken, Brian Trapp
  • Patent number: 7346471
    Abstract: Data slices of historical time series are leveraged to facilitate in more accurately predicting like data slices of future time series. Different predictive models are employed to detect outliers in different data slices to enhance the accuracy of the predictions. The data slices can be temporal and/or non-temporal attributes of a data set represented by the historical time series. In this manner, for example, a historical time series for a network location can be sliced temporally into one hour time periods as a function of a day, a week, a month, a year, etc. Outliers detected in these data slices can then be mitigated utilizing the predictive time series model by replacing the outlier with the expected value. The mitigated historical time series can then be employed in a predictive model to predict future web traffic for the network location (and advertising revenue values) with a substantial increase in accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David M. Chickering, Ashis Kumar Roy, Lawrence Andrew Koch, David E. Heckerman
  • Patent number: 7346472
    Abstract: A method and system for monitoring and analyzing at least one signal are disclosed. An abstract of at least one reference signal is generated and stored in a reference database. An abstract of a query signal to be analyzed is then generated so that the abstract of the query signal can be compared to the abstracts stored in the reference database for a match. The method and system may optionally be used to record information about the query signals, the number of matches recorded, and other useful information about the query signals. Moreover, the method by which abstracts are generated can be programmable based upon selectable criteria. The system can also be programmed with error control software so as to avoid the re-occurrence of a query signal that matches more than one signal stored in the reference database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Blue Spike, Inc.
    Inventors: Scott A. Moskowitz, Michael W. Berry
  • Patent number: 7346473
    Abstract: A fuzzy telecommunications performance analysis system for analyzing performance of a telecommunications system is disclosed. A performance analyzer analyzes the performance of telecommunications systems and resources (e.g., switches, processors, memories, I/O devices, etc.) by collecting system and resource performance data, fuzzifying the data, computing and combining linguistic variable values using values of membership functions and fuzzy logic operators, and defuzzifying the results for analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Verizon Business Global LLC
    Inventor: Michael David Maddox
  • Patent number: 7346474
    Abstract: A computer generates an analysis model in which an object is represented by meshes. When attributes of the meshes corresponding to space which possibly becomes a cause of residual fluid are set to a first substance causing the residual fluid, the attribute of the mesh corresponding to the boundary between the object and outside of the object and corresponding to the space is set from the first substance to a second substance of which specific gravity differs from that of the first substance. Then, the attribute is changed from the first substance to the second substance according to attribute of the mesh exists in the periphery, assuming the meshes of which attribute is set to the first substance as a processing subject. Accordingly, the presence or absence of residual fluid is determined according to the presence or absence of the meshes of which attribute is set to the first substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Fuji Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Jianrong Shen
  • Patent number: 7346475
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system and method for proactively determining motor wellness arising from potential mechanical faults of the motor. A controller is configured to detect indicia of impending mechanical motor faults. The controller includes a processor configured to determine motor parameters of a given motor including a load and generate a set of baseline data for the given motor. The processor is also configured to acquire current spectrum data from the given motor during operation, map at least one from a plurality of load bins based on the load, and generate a mechanical fault signature from the current spectrum. The processor is caused to compare the mechanical fault signature to baseline data from the set of baseline data corresponding to the mapped bin and determine amplitude variances within the mechanical fault signature indicative of an impending mechanical fault prior to an actual mechanical fault occurrence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Eaton Corporation
    Inventors: Steven A. Dimino, Thomas G. Habetler, Ramzy R. Obaid, Slobodan Krstic, Michael P. Nowak, Yanzhen Liu
  • Patent number: 7346476
    Abstract: An improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for generating trace data. In response to detecting a new trace event, a determination is made as to whether the new trace event occurred at an expected period of time with respect to a prior trace event. A time stamp in the trace data is placed in response to a determination that the new trace event did not occur at the expected period of time, wherein time stamps occurring at the expected period if time are eliminated from the trace data and wherein compression of the trace data occurs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Frank Eliot Levine, Milena Milenkovic, Robert J. Urquhart
  • Patent number: 7346477
    Abstract: Techniques for testing a station, such as a wireless-enabled device, are described. A first method relates to evaluating a station configured to communicate with at least one access point. Another device is controlled to communicate wirelessly with the station by transmitting a wireless signal. The first device is controlled, via software, to reduce the strength of the wireless signal, and the response of the station is evaluated. A second method relates to evaluating a station configured to communicate in accordance with a wireless communication standard. Another device is controlled to engage in wireless communication with the station in a manner that does not comply with the wireless communication standard, and the station's response is evaluated. A third method relates to evaluating a station that can be configured to communicate in different communication modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Mitesh K. Desai, David C. Harding
  • Patent number: 7346478
    Abstract: A method is provided of embedding tooling control data within a mechanical fixture design to enable programmable logic control verification simulation. The method includes the steps of constructing at least one of a mechanical fixture design, a workcell design, and a controls design. The method also includes the steps of executing a virtual programmable logic control (VPLC) simulation with a VPLC verification simulator to verify the at least one of the mechanical fixture design, the workcell design, and the controls design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Ford Motor Company
    Inventors: Joe Walacavage, Alan Baumgartner, Scott Kennedy, Shanker Ganti, Eric Newman
  • Patent number: 7346479
    Abstract: In one embodiment of the invention, parameter functions for a plurality of circuits in a subsystem are created. The subsystem has design constraints. Each one of the parameter functions corresponds to each one of the circuits. The parameter functions represent a relationship among design parameters of the subsystem. The design parameters include constraint and optimizing sets. Initial design points are selected on the parameter functions having a first sum of the constraint set and a second sum of the optimizing set such that the first sum satisfies the design constraints. New design points are selected on the parameter functions such that the second sum is improved within the design constraints.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Franklin M. Baez
  • Patent number: 7346480
    Abstract: This invention provides directional connectivity described by the interconnections of the blocks in the schematic or netlist that are used to propagate impedance data from one block to another. The propagation of impedance data for discrete time based simulation programs allow for the simulation under less than ideal termination conditions between the blocks. This invention also supports functionality where the input impedance and output impedance of each block are not perfectly terminated. This assumption can lead to very significant modeling errors in the simulated results. In general, termination impedances are complex frequency dependent functions that result in frequency dependent mismatch losses between the blocks. This invention allows for the propagation and calculation of impedance mismatches between the various blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Applied Wave Research, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph Edward Pekarek, Albert Santos, Scotty Hudson
  • Patent number: 7346481
    Abstract: Various approaches for controlling simulation of an electronic system are disclosed. In one approach, at least one breakpoint block is instantiated in a high-level design. The breakpoint block has an associated breakpoint condition driven by at least one signal of the design, and the design further includes at least one simulation block and at least one co-simulation block. The simulation block is simulated on a software-based simulation platform, and the co-simulation block and the breakpoint block are co-simulated on a hardware-based co-simulation platform. Advancement of a clock signal to the co-simulation block on the hardware-based co-simulation platform is inhibited in response to satisfaction of the breakpoint condition. After inhibiting the clock signal, advancement of steps of the clock signal is controlled on the co-simulation platform in one of a plurality of user-selectable clock advancement modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan B. Ballagh, Roger B. Milne, Nabeel Shirazi, Jeffrey D. Stroomer
  • Patent number: 7346482
    Abstract: Co-simulation of a circuit design includes simulating a first subset of blocks of the circuit design on a software-based co-simulation platform, simulating a second subset of the blocks of the circuit design on a hardware-based co-simulation platform, and maintaining coherency for a memory block of the circuit design between a first representation of data in the memory block on the software-based co-simulation platform and a second representation of the data in the memory block on the hardware-based co-simulation platform. Coherency is maintained by managing mutually exclusive access to the memory block from the first subset of blocks and the second subset of blocks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan B. Ballagh, Roger B. Milne, Nabeel Shirazi, Joshua Ian Stone
  • Patent number: 7346483
    Abstract: To perform a simulation, a design can be divided into “blocks” described by models. To ensure that data is efficiently transferred from an source model to a destination model, a dynamic first-in first-out (FIFO) can be placed between these models. The initial size of the dynamic FIFO can be set to a relatively small value. To prevent deadlock, the size of the FIFO can be automatically increased in size by increments. In this manner, the memory resources of the FIFO can be tightly controlled. Advantageously, the size of the optimized dynamic FIFO can be used as the desired size of the FIFO implemented in silicon, thereby also ensuring efficient use of silicon resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventors: Horia Toma, Thorsten Heiner Groetker, Srinivas Bongoni, Andrea Kroll
  • Patent number: 7346484
    Abstract: The monitor manager manages the execution of monitors during the simulation of a digital design. The monitor manager (20) includes an instance generator (32) that creates executable instances (38) of monitors that may be time-dependent monitors, an activation manager (34) that assigns instances to be active or inactive, and an execution unit (36) that executes active instances and receives returned status values passed, failed, active, or error. Executable instances of time-dependent monitors are software state machines having a state variable, one or more time-dependent variables, and at least two state-driven code blocks, at least one of which might be either a cycle-dependent code block that tests for a specific cycle-dependent condition, or an event-dependent code block that tests for a specific event-dependent condition. In either case, the state-driven code block increments the time-dependent variable, and, when the condition has been satisfied, increments the state variable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Intrinsity, Inc.
    Inventor: Fritz A. Boehm
  • Patent number: 7346485
    Abstract: A method includes providing a plurality of component modules in a spreadsheet environment. Each component module is capable of modeling a portion of an event and includes at least one process. Each component module can be accessed independent of the other component modules, and at least one component module includes at least one input and at least one component module includes at least one output. The inputs and the outputs can be linked to thereby model the event. Thereafter, the processes of the component modules can be performed to simulate the event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Trevor L. Crowe, Christopher A. Forgie, Scott H. Mathews, Kyle M. Nakamoto
  • Patent number: 7346486
    Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for formal verification of software programs that advantageously translates the software, which can have bounded recursion, into a Boolean representation comprised of basic blocks and which applies SAT-based model checking to the Boolean representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
    Inventors: Franjo Ivancic, Pranav N. Ashar, Malay Ganai, Aarti Gupta, Zijiang Yang
  • Patent number: 7346487
    Abstract: A method for identifying a translation transforms a representation of context words in a source language into a transformed representation of context in a target language based on multiple different translations for at least one context word. Candidate representations of context words in a target language are determined for at least two candidate translations. The transformed representation is used to score each candidate representation and the scores are used to select a candidate translation. In another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus are provided for updating a translation dictionary by receiving votes from multiple clients as to which translation is correct.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Hang Li
  • Patent number: 7346488
    Abstract: An original inputted to an original inputting unit is divided to morphemes. A sequence of the divided morphemes is converted to conceptual categories. A typical sentence verifying unit verifies whether or not a string of predetermined conceptual categories exists in the sequence of the converted conceptual categories. When the string of predetermined conceptual categories exists in the sequence of the converted conceptual categories, a replacing unit generates a pattern of a predetermined translated sentence corresponding to the string of the conceptual categories and replaces the pattern of the predetermined translated sentence with translated words corresponding to the original morphemes of the conceptual categories constituting the pattern of the translated sentence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Syuuzi Kodama
  • Patent number: 7346489
    Abstract: A system analyzes text, determines phrasing and, in an exemplary embodiment, reformats the text to establish optimal spacing and related features for readability, reader comprehension and publishing economies. A neural network uses a library of text data to analyze text and determine phrases. Formatting emphasizes phrases using one or more of a plurality of techniques including word spacing, text darkness and controlling line breaks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Language Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas G. Bever, John Robbart, II
  • Patent number: 7346490
    Abstract: A method for information retrieval that matches occurrences of concepts in natural language text documents against descriptions of concepts in user queries. Said method, implemented in a computer system, includes a preferred version of the method that comprises (1) annotating natural language text in documents and other text-forms with linguistic information and Concepts and Concept Rules expressed in a Concept Specification Language (CSL) for a particular domain, (2) pruning and optimizing synonyms for a particular domain, (3) defining and learning said CSL Concepts and Concept Rules, (4) checking user-defined descriptions of Concepts represented in CSL (including user queries), and (5) retrieval by matching said user-defined descriptions (and queries) against said annotated text. CSL is a language for expressing linguistically-based patterns. Said patterns can represent the linguistic manifestations of concepts in text.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Axonwave Software Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel C Fass, Davide Turcato, Gordon W Tisher, James Devlan Nicholson, Milan Mosny, Frederick P Popowich, Janine T. Toole, Paul G McFetridge, Frederick W Kroon
  • Patent number: 7346491
    Abstract: In one aspect, the present invention provides a for estimating the similarity between at least two portions of text including the steps of forming a set of syntactic tuples, each tuple including at least two terms and a relation betweeen the two terms; classifying the relation between the terms in the tuples according to a predefined set of relations; establishing the relative agreement between syntactic tuples from the portions of text under comparison according to predefined classes of agreement; calculating a value representative of the similarity between the portions of text of each of the classes of agreement; and establishing a value for the similarity between the portions of text by calculating a weighted sum of the values representative of the similarity between the portions of text for each of the classes of agreement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Agency for Science, Technology and Research
    Inventors: Rajaraman Kanagasabai, Hong Pan