Linear Distance Or Length Patents (Class 702/158)
  • Patent number: 11448576
    Abstract: A multifunctional true triaxial rock drilling test system and method; rock cores are respectively taken from a plurality of drilling holes on the same test piece, uniaxial test and triaxial test are respectively performed on these rock cores to obtain multiple groups of mechanical property parameters, multiple groups of drilling parameters are obtained according to a multifunctional true triaxial rock drilling tester that can directly measure the drilling parameters, relational expression between mechanical property parameters of rock mass and the drilling parameters is established, and mechanical property parameters of rock mass can be obtained just by detecting the drilling parameters of the rock mass through the relational expression. The multifunctional true triaxial rock drilling tester is preset test device, has function of performing triaxial loading on the test piece, and can simulate drilling process of drilling rig in a three-way confining pressure state in underground engineering of the test piece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignees: SHANDONG UNIVERSITY, SHANDONG TIANQIN ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shucai Li, Qi Wang, Bei Jiang, Hongke Gao
  • Patent number: 11435457
    Abstract: A surveying instrument comprises a projection optical system for irradiating a distance measuring light which is a linearly-polarized light to an object to be measured, a light receiving optical system for receiving a reflected distance measuring light from the object to be measured, a polarization selecting module for selecting a polarization of the reflected distance measuring light received by the light receiving optical system and an arithmetic control module for controlling a distance measurement based on a light receiving result of the reflected distance measuring light, wherein the arithmetic control module is configured to give a material information to a distance measurement result of the object to be measured based on a change in light receiving amounts caused due to a selection of the polarization by the polarization selecting module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: TOPCON Corporation
    Inventors: Ken-ichiro Yoshino, Taizo Eno, Hideki Morita, Kohei Fujita
  • Patent number: 11378383
    Abstract: A plant facility apparatus recognition system is provided, which appropriately recognizes a plant facility apparatus even in a plant facility in which a wireless facility and a marker are not able to be installed even when the shape of the plant facility apparatus is different from or has been changed from design data. The plant facility apparatus recognition system that uses a mobile device having a camera to recognize the plant facility apparatus to be subjected to work in the plant facility includes a characteristic length acquirer that acquires information on the pipe as a first characteristic length from an image obtained by causing the camera to image the plant facility apparatus and the pipe existing near the plant facility apparatus, and a characteristic length comparator that compares the first characteristic length with a second characteristic length acquired from the design data and related to the pipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukihiro Murata, Hiroshi Seki, Yohei Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 11304036
    Abstract: A method for receiving a V2X message by a V2X communication apparatus is disclosed. The method for receiving a V2X message may include receiving a V2V message including Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) information from at least one CACC vehicle, and the CACC information includes CACC String ID (CSID) information for identifying a CACC string to which the CACC vehicle is belonged and string length management information used for managing a string length of the CACC string, obtaining the CSID information and the string length management information from the V2V message; and setting a value of the string length management information of the subject vehicle based on the CSID information and the string length management information. Here, the string length management information may include at least one of Order In String (OIS) information indicating a current order of the CACC vehicle in the CACC string or CACC String Length (CSL) information indicating a length of the CASS string.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Seungryul Yang, Woosuk Ko
  • Patent number: 11290339
    Abstract: Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for estimating physical disparity for data locality in software-defined infrastructures are disclosed. For each node in a cluster of nodes connected to a switch, vital product data (VPD) of a cable connecting the node to the switch is obtained, and for each cable, a length of the cable is determined from the VPD. A management application assigns a group identifier to each node in the cluster based on the length of the cable connecting the node to the switch. The management application selects a node in the cluster for storing a data set in dependence upon the group identifier of the node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Gary D. Cudak, Ronald F. Ridgeway, Jr., John M. Petersen, Alexander V. Verrigni
  • Patent number: 11275152
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method for detecting a radar mounting angle. The present disclosure provides an apparatus for detecting the radar mounting angle that includes a controller configured to determine a vehicle driving state of the vehicle, select a moving target when the vehicle driving state of the vehicle is determined to be straight driving, store a position of the moving target and generate a moving target driving lane of the moving target based on position information on the moving target, and detect a radar mounting angle of the vehicle using the generated moving target driving lane of the moving target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: MANDO MOBILITY SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Joung-Chel Moon
  • Patent number: 11245729
    Abstract: Disclosed embodiments are related to grouping sets of intercommunicating objects to minimize the number of rules/policies needed to be stored to enforce those rules/policies. Given a set of objects communicating with each other using different services, embodiments group these objects to minimize the total number of final rules that are implemented. This allows an original set of policies to be reduced into a smaller set of policies, which conserves computational resources. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: SALESFORCE.COM, INC.
    Inventor: Gianstefano Monni
  • Patent number: 11239033
    Abstract: A monitoring device for switching systems including a contact assembly having at least a movable contact and a kinematic chain for actuating said movable contact and opening/closing the contact assembly. The monitoring device includes: an accelerometer adapted to be positioned on a moving part of the switching system and capable of determining acceleration data of the moving part; a control unit including: a first processing unit adapted to receive acceleration data measured by the accelerometer and calculate timing instants of predetermined events and motion parameters related to the switching system; a second processing unit adapted to receive the timing instants of predetermined events and the motion parameters and to use at least one timing instant and at least one motion parameter to calculate electro/mechanical parameters of the switching system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Stevan Marinkovic, Kai Hencken, Andrea Bianco, Yannick Maret
  • Patent number: 11085513
    Abstract: The system of the present disclosure provides two or more sensors located on two parallel transmission or kinematic paths having different ratios with respect to the actuator position. Each sensor provides a different position measurement output and the difference between the sensor outputs provides a reduced indication of the position of the actuator/moved component. Integrating sensors in the reduction path avoids the need for the reduction gear mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: RATIER-FIGEAC SAS
    Inventors: Bruno Seminel, Adil Sardi, Frédéric Vermande
  • Patent number: 11062216
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention include methods, systems, and computer program products for predicting olfactory perception. A non-limiting example of the method includes receiving a library including a plurality of indexed olfactory descriptors. The method also includes receiving an olfactory target descriptor. The method also includes calculating a coefficient matrix and a perceptual distance between an indexed olfactory descriptor and an olfactory target descriptor. The method also includes generating a perceptual descriptor prediction for the olfactory target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Guillermo Cecchi, Amit S. Dhurandhar, Elkin D. Gutierrez, Pablo Meyer Rojas
  • Patent number: 11022677
    Abstract: Disclosed is a calibration device of an imaging system for a moving carrier, the imaging system including: a support panel; an antenna array comprising radiating elements positioned on the support panel; and optical sensors capable of providing images and positioned on the support panel. The calibration device includes at least one optical pattern generator, each generator being secured to the support panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: THALES
    Inventors: Patrick Garrec, Stéphane Formont, Richard Montigny
  • Patent number: 11009347
    Abstract: A distance to a target to be read by image capture over a range of working distances is determined by directing an aiming light spot along an aiming axis to the target, and by capturing a first image of the target containing the aiming light spot, and by capturing a second image of the target without the aiming light spot. Each image is captured in a frame over a field of view having an imaging axis offset from the aiming axis. An image pre-processor compares first image data from the first image with second image data from the second image over a common fractional region of both frames to obtain a position of the aiming light spot in the first image, and determines the distance to the target based on the position of the aiming light spot in the first image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Carl D. Wittenberg, David P. Goren
  • Patent number: 10984546
    Abstract: In accordance with some embodiments, a technique that enables an electronic device with a camera to automatically gather and generate requisite data from the real-world environment to allow the electronic device to quickly and efficiently determine and provide accurate measurements of physical spaces and/or objects within the real-world environment is described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Alexandre da Veiga
  • Patent number: 10978863
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems and methods of sag in a power line. In an embodiment, a monitoring device may include a distance sensor and an operating parameter sensor. A processor of the monitoring device may acquire, via the distance sensor, a first distance measurement. The processor may acquire, via the operating parameter sensor, a first operating parameter measurement. The processor may provide an output signal indicating that the power line is sagging when a combination of the first distance measurement and the first operating parameter measurement exceed a first combined distance-operating parameter threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Scott M. Manson, Shankar V. Achanta, Gregary C. Zweigle, Richard M. Edge
  • Patent number: 10942022
    Abstract: The invention generally relates to methods for manually calibrating imaging systems such as optical coherence tomography systems. In certain aspects, an imaging system displays an image showing a target and a reference item. A user looks at the image and indicates a point within the image near the reference item. A processor detects an actual location of the reference item within an area around the indicated point. The processor can use an expected location of the reference item with the detected actual location to calculate a calibration value and provide a calibrated image. In this way, a user can identify the actual location of the reference point and a processing algorithm can give precision to the actual location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: PHILIPS IMAGE GUIDED THERAPY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Andreas Johansson, Jason Sproul
  • Patent number: 10921629
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present technology may comprise methods and apparatus for increased sensitivity of a capacitive proximity sensor. The method and apparatus may comprise a sense electrode and a drive electrode configured to create at least one inflection point corresponding to an increase or decrease in rate of change of capacitance within one or more sensing regions of the electrical field of the capacitive sensor. In alternative embodiments, the sense electrode may be configured to create multiple zones that may be used to indicate a desired signal such an upcoming replacement period and a replace now period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Takayasu Otagaki, Kazuyoshi Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 10906571
    Abstract: A solution for monitoring a railway vehicle is provided. A vehicle node and one or more sensor nodes are deployed on the railway vehicle. Each sensor node is configured to acquire data and communicate with the vehicle node only when certain conditions are met. The sensor node(s) and vehicle node can evaluate operating conditions to determine whether an alert should be sent to initiate action. In an illustrative application, the alert can correspond to excessive hunting by a wheelset of the rail vehicle which is posing a danger for derailment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: International Electronic Machines Corp.
    Inventor: Zahid F. Mian
  • Patent number: 10884109
    Abstract: Features of the present disclosure implement an analytical formalism to calculate a time of flight (ToF) for a signal in order to identify the distance between the ToF imaging system and a target object. The features of the present disclosure allow a flexible, fast, and accurate solution for phase unwrapping in ToF imaging system. Such techniques minimize the memory usage, accounts for the factors that generally contribute to differences in the performance of the selected modulation frequencies, and mitigates the unwrapping errors that occur in low signal to noise areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventor: Sergio Ortiz Egea
  • Patent number: 10880623
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method and system for automated vegetation growth, condition and status monitoring near high voltage utility electric lines using stationary sensors, wireless or wired communications and computation technologies and proprietary algorithms. The method and system of the current invention monitors the power line infrastructures remotely and advises the vegetation maintenance crews on mitigating actions without requiring human interventions, thus saving cost and reducing risks to the humans and environment. A comprehensive vegetation encroachment condition report with vegetation proximity advisory (VPA) and vegetation resolution advisory (VRA) is automatically generated and transmitted to the operational staff by the system for each electric line span at certain time interval or continuously without boots-on-the-ground manual asset inspection and/or air patrol using aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Green Grid Inc.
    Inventors: Chinmoy Prosun Saha, Jeffrey Scott Pickles
  • Patent number: 10801842
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with a shortest path engine for warehouse management are described. In one embodiment, a method determines a shortest path between a first location and a second location. The method includes receiving a request for a shortest path between a first location and a second location and accessing a first data structure. The first data structure maps the first location to a first reference point and the second location to a second reference point. A shortest path between the first reference point and the second reference point is determined and the determined shortest path is returned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventor: Bimal Patel
  • Patent number: 10613185
    Abstract: A tracking device broadcasts beacon signals that are separated in time by broadcast intervals. The tracking device determines the broadcast intervals based on a behavior model. The behavior model specifies one or more conditions, such as times of day within a 24-hour day, and associates a usage probability with each condition. A higher usage probability causes the tracking device to broadcast beacon signals at shorter broadcast intervals. A mobile device in communication with the tracking device can reconfigure the behavior model, either by modifying portions of the behavior model or by replacing the behavior model with a different behavior model. This allows the behavior model to adapt to different circumstances, such as different usage patterns during weekdays, weekends, and vacations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Tile, Inc.
    Inventors: Josselin de la Broise, Aaron Okano, Akhila Hegde
  • Patent number: 10365352
    Abstract: A measurement instrument is disclosed. The measurement instrument comprises a front lens assembly, a distance measurement module and a deflection module. The front lens assembly comprises an optical path along an instrument optical axis and the distance measurement module is configured to transmit and receive optical radiation along a measurement path. The deflection module is arranged between the distance measurement module and the front lens assembly to deflect the measurement path across the instrument optical axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: Trimble AB
    Inventors: Mikael Nordenfelt, Mikael Hertzman
  • Patent number: 10334165
    Abstract: Systems and methods for capturing omnistereo content for a mobile device may include receiving an indication to capture a plurality of images of a scene, capturing the plurality of images using a camera associated with a mobile device and displaying on a screen of the mobile device and during capture, a representation of the plurality of images and presenting a composite image that includes a target capture path and an indicator that provides alignment information corresponding to a source capture path associated with the mobile device during capture of the plurality of images. The system may detect that a portion of the source capture path does not match a target capture path. The system can provide an updated indicator in the screen that may include a prompt to a user of the mobile device to adjust the mobile device to align the source capture path with the target capture path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
    Inventors: Robert Anderson, Steven Maxwell Seitz, Carlos Hernandez Esteban
  • Patent number: 10293834
    Abstract: A method is provided for estimating the effective wheelbase length of a trailer in a vehicle combination including a towing vehicle and at least one towed trailer. The method includes driving the vehicle combination forwards, determining the speed of the vehicle combination, determining the steering angle of the towing vehicle, determining the steering angle of each towed trailer, determining the yaw rate of the towing vehicle and the yaw rate of the towed trailer or determining the articulation angle for each towed trailer, and using the determined values to calculate a value for the effective wheelbase for each towed trailer. An arrangement for estimating the effective wheelbase length of a trailer in a vehicle combination is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Volvo Truck Corporation
    Inventor: Kristoffer Tagesson
  • Patent number: 10291903
    Abstract: In order to obtain a low-cost stereo camera which can decrease the load of software-based calibration, a stereo camera is provided with a first vehicle-mounted camera which comprises a first lens unit and a first imaging element, and a second vehicle-mounted camera which comprises a second lens unit and a second imaging element. This stereo camera is characterized in that the first imaging element has a first sensitivity value recording unit in which sensitivity values of the first imaging element are recorded, and the second imaging element has a second sensitivity value recording unit in which sensitivity values of the second imaging element are recorded, wherein the sensitivity variation width between the sensitivity values of the first imaging element recorded in the first sensitivity value recording unit and the sensitivity values of the second imaging element recorded in the second sensitivity value recording unit is within a preset reference width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Sasada, Ken Ohsumi, Kazuo Matsuura
  • Patent number: 10147265
    Abstract: A mobile image capture system, a system comprising: a sensing unit for attaching to a vehicle, the sensing unit having a camera constructed and arranged to view a participant on the vehicle, the camera capturing at least one image; and processing electronics for storing data representing the captured at least one image or for relaying data representing the captured at least one image to a computer or a network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Curtis A. Vock, Perry Youngs, Adrian Larkin
  • Patent number: 10086253
    Abstract: The method makes it possible to measure a speed of a competitor, such as a skier or snowboarder, on a ski or snowboard course, by means of a measurement system with a transponder module worn by the competitor. The method includes the step of activating the transponder module which includes a measurement unit with at least one measurement sensor, as soon as the race starts, a step of measuring the speed of the competitor via the measurement unit during the race along the course, and a step of transmitting the competitor's speed measurement to at least one base station of a decoder device of the measurement system for a timing device in order to display the speed of the competitor in real time or continuously on at least one screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: Swiss Timing Ltd
    Inventors: Fabien Masse, Reto Galli
  • Patent number: 10067746
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to technology for generating random numbers that are distributed by the population distribution. An empirical cumulative distribution function is constructed from random samples of the population, and a first random number is generated that is uniformly distributed over a first interval. A second interval in the empirical cumulative distribution function is found such that a range of values of the second interval cover the first random number. A second random number is then generated as an approximation to the random number drawn from the population, where the second random number is employed as part of a testing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: FUTUREWEI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventor: Jiangsheng Yu
  • Patent number: 10062033
    Abstract: Approaches are described for discovering a formation associated with an agent group engaging in an activity over a window of time. A formation analysis system computes first and second results for an objective function based on first and second sets of role assignments for each agent in the agent group at first and second moments in time, respectively. The formation analysis system iterates by: replacing the first set of role assignments with the second set of role assignments, and determining whether completion criteria have been met based at least in part on comparing the first result with the second result. If the completion criteria have not been met, then the formation analysis system replaces the second set of role assignments with a third set of role assignments that associate each agent in the first agent group with a different role assignment in the third set of role assignments at a third moment in time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick Lucey, Alina Bialkowski, George Peter Carr, Iain Matthews, Yisong Yue
  • Patent number: 10062124
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods and systems for computer-based construction estimation. An electronic image is obtained wherein a placard is shown in the electronic image. A scaling factor is determined using the a priori known geometry of the placard. One or more measurements may be calculated of a structure in the electronic image using the calculated scaling factor. A system is described for implementing the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Inventors: Michael D. Meadows, Gregory D. Farnell, Christopher P. Farnell, Michael J. Leonard
  • Patent number: 9930826
    Abstract: The press wheel has instrumentation associated therewith detecting a rolling of the wheel over a planted set. The press wheel also has a computing device connected to the instrumentation and to the speed monitoring device of the planter. The computing device determines spacings between planted sets. The data obtained is real-time data and is readily available to the operator of the planter so that the speed of the planter can be adjusted on the fly to maintain an ideal set spacing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Inventor: Robert Craig McCloskey
  • Patent number: 9904841
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of estimating a finger movement direction of a finger, comprising the steps of: a) acquiring a reference fingerprint image; b) acquiring at least one candidate fingerprint image at each acquisition time in a time sequence of acquisition times; c) determining, for each of the acquisition times, a match parameter value for each of a plurality of candidate finger movement directions, the match parameter value being indicative of a correlation between a reference fingerprint image portion and a candidate fingerprint image portion corresponding to displacement in the candidate finger movement direction; d) determining, for each of the candidate finger movement directions, a local extremum match parameter value indicating a maximum correlation for the time sequence of acquisition times; and e) estimating the finger movement based on an evaluation of the determined local extremum match parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: FINGERPRINT CARDS AB
    Inventors: Hans Thörnblom, Eric Setterberg
  • Patent number: 9891596
    Abstract: A device for monitoring athletic performance of a user has a wristband configured to be worn by the user. The electronic module may include a controller and a screen and a plurality of user inputs operably associated with the controller. The user inputs may include a user input configured to be applied by the user against the screen and in a direction generally normal to the screen. The controller may further be configured to generate one or more user interfaces in response to various user inputs and conditions. For example, the controller may generate workout mode interfaces and non-workout mode interfaces including various goal information, workout data, reminders and the like. In one or more arrangements, multiple types of information may be displayed simultaneously.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Miles W. Brown, Matt Capozzi, Michael T. Hoffman, Tomislav Lakovic, Aaron B. Weast, Jordan M. Rice
  • Patent number: 9693503
    Abstract: A crop harvesting width of a harvester head is partitioned into a plurality of portions. At least one sensor detects a metric of a crop being harvested for each of the plurality of portions. A processing unit determines an attribute of the crop harvested for each of a plurality of portions using the detected metric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventors: Niels Dybro, Larry L. Hendrickson
  • Patent number: 9665735
    Abstract: The tool to provide anonymous data in response to a request for information is configured to receiving a request for information relating to a population of interest from a user; determining criteria associated with the population of interest, wherein the criteria define an individual representative of the population of interest; determining a characteristic of the individual within one or more categories; classifying the characteristic of the individual into a cluster, the cluster comprising a subset of all possible outcomes for the category; classifying a plurality of individuals from a database into clusters based on the one or more categories; determining a subset of the plurality of individuals that are similar to the individual representative of the population of interest based on the clusters; transforming the characteristics of the individuals in the subset to generate anonymous data responsive to the request for information; and providing the anonymous data to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Robert L. Abbott, Jason P. Blackhurst, Frederick A. Shahda, Alfred Hamilton
  • Patent number: 9212897
    Abstract: A column used for gas chromatography (GC) is fabricated from an open tubular light guiding capillary. The light guiding capillary is suitable for transmission of optical frequencies employed in commercially available hand held laser range finders.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Thermo Finnigan LLC
    Inventors: Edward B. McCauley, James M. Hitchcock
  • Patent number: 9146666
    Abstract: A method for image navigation on an electronic device is described. The method includes displaying an image. The method also includes detecting at least one contact with a touch sensor to obtain a first position. The method further includes obtaining an updated position corresponding to a contact movement. The method additionally includes determining a modified position by applying at least one scaling function based on the first position and the updated position. The method also includes moving the image based on the modified position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin K. Gibbs, William Phillip Hough
  • Patent number: 9105255
    Abstract: A mutual capacitance touch sensor includes a substrate, and an array of electrode elements formed on the substrate. Each electrode element includes at least one of a first electrode group having at least two drive electrodes and at least one sense electrode, or a second electrode group having at least two sense electrodes and at least one drive electrode. The respective electrodes of the first or second group are arranged to form multiple capacitances over different coupling distances. A controller is operatively coupled to the array of electrode elements, the controller configured to assign an input object as a conductive object when measurements of the multiple capacitances decrease as the input object approaches the touch sensor, and assign the input object as non-conductive object when measurements of at least one of the multiple capacitances increase as the input object approaches the touch sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Christopher James Brown, Andrew Kay, Dauren Slamkul
  • Patent number: 9074871
    Abstract: A pipe measuring system provides means for tallying a set of pipes, each of which has a threaded coupling at one end. The system includes a handheld laser instrument and target that are manually and sequentially placed at opposite ends of each pipe to measure its length. However, to measure the pipe's effective assembled length, rather than its actual length, the laser instrument has an adjustable backstop for engaging one end of the pipe. To use the system, a manufacture of the pipe first provides a specified make-up dimension that says how far the coupling should overlap the pipe when properly tightened. A manufacturer and/or end-user of the laser instrument establish the instrument with a zero reference. Then, based on the pipe manufacturer's specified make-up dimension and the location of the zero reference, the end-user adjusts the position of the backstop to be a certain distance from the zero reference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Inventors: Steven M. Lubeck, Phillip L. Lawson
  • Publication number: 20150142689
    Abstract: Systems and methods that incentivize physical fitness of a user are discussed herein. A system can include a motion component and a control component. The motion component can monitor motion data associated with the user. The control component can provide one or more rewards to the user, wherein the rewards can be based at least in part on the user meeting a target associated with the motion data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2015
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Applicant: Movband, LLC dba Movable
    Inventor: Blake Squires
  • Patent number: 9037304
    Abstract: A method of controlling a fluid delivery machine configured to deliver fluid on a worksite is disclosed. In the method, operation of a power source of the fluid delivery machine is controlled with a control module. Fluid delivery on the worksite is also controlled by the control module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Peter William Anderton, Khanh Tu Ngo, Apostolis Kouvelis, Marcin Domink Blaszkowski
  • Patent number: 9027220
    Abstract: A rivet setting machine is provided. In another aspect, a linear displacement sensor directly senses and detects a position of a rivet-setting punch relative to a nosepiece of a rivet setting machine. A further aspect provides a control system and software instructions for sensing the relative position of a punch and nosepiece used by a programmable controller to determine and monitor a rivet setting position without use of a force sensor, motor current/voltage sensor, or a rotation sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Newfrey LLC
    Inventor: Joseph Karl Schlafhauser
  • Publication number: 20150088456
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for extracting a feature point to recognize an obstacle using a laser scanner are provided. The apparatus includes a laser scanner that is installed at a front of a traveling vehicle and is configured to obtain laser scanner data having a plurality of layers in real time. In addition, a controller is configured to separate the laser scanner data obtained by the laser scanner into a plurality of layers to extract measurement data present in each layer and determine feature points of the measurement data to classify a type of obstacle based on a plurality of stored feature points.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Publication date: March 26, 2015
    Applicants: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Yonsei University, KIA MOTORS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Minkyun Yoo, Hyunju Kim, Hoon Lee, Youngwon Kim, Hyungsun Jang, Baehoon Choi, Beomseong Kim, Euntai Kim
  • Patent number: 8990045
    Abstract: A pedometer has first and second signal generators mounted along the inner margin of a first shoe and separated by a fixed distance. A sensor and transmitter assembly is mounted along the inner margin of a second shoe. The sensor and transmitter assembly includes a sensor, a microcontroller unit and a wireless transmitter. A pair of impulses is received by the microcontroller unit each time the shoes pass in close proximity to each other. The microcontroller unit generates various pedestrian performance data based on the impulses. The pedestrian performance data is wirelessly transmitted to a display unit carried by the pedestrian.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Silicon Valley Micro E Corp.
    Inventors: Shengbo Zhu, Su Shiong Huang
  • Publication number: 20150059186
    Abstract: A hand-held power tool information device includes at least one detection unit configured to detect at least one processing distance covered by a cutting edge of a processing tool on a workpiece. The detection unit is also configured to detect the at least one processing distance independently of a guide rail. The hand-held power tool information device can further include a distance sensor unit that is configured to detect at least one distance value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2014
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Inventors: Christian Bermes, Martial Luepold, Bruno Sinzig
  • Patent number: 8949070
    Abstract: A method or apparatus for monitoring human activity using an inertial sensor is described. The method includes monitoring accelerations, and identifying a current user activity from a plurality of user activities based on the accelerations. In one embodiment, each of the plurality of user activities is associated with one of a plurality of types of periodic human motions that are detectable by the portable electronic device, and wherein the identification of the current user activity is made based on detecting two or more instances of the periodic human motion associated with the user activity. The method further includes counting periodic human motions appropriate to the current user activity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Philippe Richard Kahn, Arthur Kinsolving, Mark Andrew Christensen, Brian Y. Lee, David Vogel
  • Publication number: 20150032412
    Abstract: A detection system for monitoring and recording distance to at least one target. The detection system may comprise at least one module comprising: a power source; a trigger unit configured to detect the presence of the target; an enablement mechanism in communication with the trigger unit and operable to generate an enablement signal upon detection of the target; a data gathering unit comprising at least one measurement sensor operable to obtain at least one measured parameter and to record the at least one measured parameter in a memory; and a retrieval mechanism for providing access to records stored in the memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2014
    Publication date: January 29, 2015
    Inventors: SERGEY CHIZHEVSKIY, EREZ ROTEM, ERAN BASIS, YEHIEL LIPKA
  • Publication number: 20150019164
    Abstract: A normal detection method for measuring the distance to a measurement subject using one or more distance detectors, and obtaining a normal vector (Vn) on the measured surface of the measurement subject from the obtained measurement result (L), wherein: within a three-dimensional space, the straight line linking a first measurement point (Qa) measured at a first measurement position (Pa) using the distance detector and a second measurement point (Qd) measured at a second measurement position (Pd) different from the first measurement position (Pa) is set as a first vector (Vad); the straight line linking the first measurement point (Qa) and a third measurement point (Qf) measured at a third measurement position (Pf) different from the first measurement position (Pa) and the second measurement position (Pd) as a second vector (Vaf); and a normal vector (Vn) on the measured surface is obtained by determining the vector product of the first vector (Vad) and the second vector (Vaf).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2012
    Publication date: January 15, 2015
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshihito Fujita, Mikio Nakamura, Hirofumi Ienaga
  • Patent number: 8914250
    Abstract: A method and system are provided for determining a length quantity of a power transmission line, which connects a first location with a second location. A first signal having a first carrier frequency is provided at the first location. The first signal is transmitted from the first location to the second location via the power transmission line. A second signal having a second frequency is provided at the second location. A first phase difference between the first signal and the second signal is measured at the second location, and the length quantity is calculated from the measured phase difference. In the system, a second receiver at the second location is configured to receive the first signal having the first carrier frequency from the first location. A frequency generator creates the second signal having the second frequency at the second location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Dacfey Dzung, Mats Larsson
  • Patent number: 8892397
    Abstract: A device includes sensor substantially coplanar with one another in a sensor plane, each sensor generating a sense value that varies according to a physical distance between the sensor and an object without physically contacting the object. The device also includes control circuits configured to generate a first position value, a second position value, and a third value using the sense values. The first position value and the second position values identify a two-dimensional position of the object in the sensor plane and the third value varies in response to movement of the object in a Z-direction substantially perpendicular to the sensor plane. The control circuits include a programmable integrated circuit including an analog portion and a digital portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Richard Harding, John B. Foreman