System and method for converting automated clearing house data
Patent No. 9,053,512
A method includes determining by a computing system a plurality of automated clearing house (ACH) data conversion rules and converting ACH data into converted ACH data according to the determined ACH data conversion rules. Each of the plurality of ACH data conversion rules includes a name associated with a source data field, a name associated with a target data field, and an instruction indicating how to convert ACH data in the source data field into converted ACH data to be stored in the target data field.
Inventors: Stanley K. Loving (Chesterfield, Va.), Richard K. Forbis (Howe, Texas), David P. Drzewi (East Hampton, Conn.), Gerald W. Price (Richmond), Susan I. Aucoin (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Assignee: Bank of America Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.)
June 9, 2015
Feedback mechanism
Patent No. 9,052,867
A feedback application may be executing on a data processing system to transmit a screen update to at least two computers. The feedback application receives an indication of completion from a first computer, in response to transmitting the screen update. The feedback application updates a completion gauge to indicate a partial completion among participants, in response to receiving the indication of completion from the first computer. The feedback application receives a second indication of completion from a second computer, in response to transmitting the screen update. The feedback application updates the completion gauge to indicate a completion among participants, in response to receiving the indication of completion from the second computer.
Inventors: Ravi P. Bansal (Tampa, Fla.), Rick A. Hamilton II (Richmond), Andrew R. Jones (Austin, Texas), Brian M. O’Connell (Research Triangle Park, N.C.), Keith R. Walker (Austin, Texas)
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.)
June 9, 2015
Apparatus and method for loading cavities of plug space plug filter rod
Patent No. 9,049,887
An apparatus for serially delivering filling media to spaced apart cavities of an endless filter rod, which includes a conveyor which conveys a strip of plug wrap along a feed path, a transfer wheel arrangement which serially delivers filter segments to the plug wrap as it moves along the feed path such that the filter segments are arranged in plug-space-plug relation with cavities separated by the filter segments, and a filling wheel which rotates about a horizontal axis and includes pockets or cleats which receive filling media at the loading zone and deliver the filling media to the cavities at a discharge station along the feed path.
Inventors: Ahmet Ercelebi (Mechanicsville, Va.), Martin T. Garthaffner (Chesterfield, Va.), Barry S. Smith (Hopewell, Va.), Georgios D. Karles (Richmond), Jose Nepomuceno (Beaverdam, Va.)
Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc. (Richmond)
June 9, 2015
Silicon single crystal doped with gallium, indium, or aluminum
Patent No. 9,051,659
A doped silicon single crystal having a resistivity variation along a longitudinal and/or radial axis of less than 10% and a method of preparing one or a sequential series of doped silicon crystals is disclosed. The method includes providing a melt material comprising silicon into a continuous Czochralski crystal growth apparatus, delivering a dopant, such as gallium, indium, or aluminum, to the melt material, providing a seed crystal into the melt material when the melt material is in molten form, and growing a doped silicon single crystal by withdrawing the seed crystal from the melt material. Additional melt material is provided to the apparatus during the growing step. A doping model for calculating the amount of dopant to be delivered into the melt material during one or more doping events, methods for delivering the dopant, and vessels and containers used to deliver the dopant are also disclosed.
Inventors: John P. DeLuca (Chesterfield, Va.), Frank S. Delk II (Henrico, Va.), Bayard K. Johnson (Jefferson Hills, Penn.), William L. Luer (St. Charles, Mo.), Neil D. Middendorf (St. Louis, Mo.), Dick S. Williams (St. Charles, Mo.), Nels Patrick Ostrom (Worden, Ill.), James N. Highfill (St. Paul, Mo.)
Assignee: GTAT IP Holding (Merrimack, N.H.)
June 9, 2015
Systems and methods for initiating payment from a client device
Patent No. 9,053,476
The disclosed embodiments include a mobile client device for automatically performing a mobile financial service function, including a memory storing software instructions, the software instructions including a mobile financial service application configured to perform financial service processes. The system may also include and one or more processors configured to execute the software instructions to detect a physical action performed on the mobile client device, and determine a first financial service function to perform based on the detected physical action, wherein the first financial service function is a function provided by the mobile financial service application. The one or more processors may also determine whether verification of a user is required, verify the user if verification of the user is required, and automatically initiate the first financial service function.
Inventors: Lawrence Douglas (McLean, Va.), Paul Moreton (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Financial Corp. (McLean, Va.)
June 9, 2015
Methods and apparatus for the selective removal of constituents from aqueous tobacco extracts
Patent No. 9,049,886
Methods for the selective removal of specific constituents of tobacco extract include contacting an extract with a nitrosamine selective adsorption agent, a metal selective adsorption agent and/or a nitrate selective adsorption agent. Preferred characteristics of such agents are identified.
Inventors: Stephen G. Zimmermann (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc. (Richmond)
June 9, 2015
Methods for triazole synthesis
Patent No. 9,051,282
Disclosed are methods of synthesizing triazoles that avoids the use of concentrated acids in favor of carbonic acid generated from CO.sub.2 that can be practiced at ambient and/or elevated temperature and/or atmospheric and/or elevated pressures. The disclosed methods also provide a way of synthesizing triazole products that are sufficiently pure and/or of sufficient concentration whereby the reaction product(s) may not require purification or other treatment before being used in, for example, formulating water treatment compositions that will tend to suppress corrosion or as an intermediate product in a more complex synthesis.
Inventors: William H. Henderson (Ashland, Va.), John Richardson (Hanover, Va.)
Assignee: Chemtreat Inc. (Glen Allen, Va.)
June 9, 2015
Automatic price display control by emulation of electronic cash register price lookup
Patent No. 9,058,621
A system and method for distribution of product price and/or sales data in a retail establishment. Product price and/or sales data is stored locally, either in a central computer or master electronic cash register (ECR) or remotely at a master computer. The product price data is stored in the form of a price look-up (PLU) table. The price data can be pushed from the master ECR, local or master computers to and ECR emulation hub to an ECR emulation hub. Similarly, the ECR emulation hub can request product price data from the master ECR, local or master computers. Once the product price data arrives at the ECR emulation hub, it can be processed and sent to a display, which will be located near the appropriate product. The ECR emulation hub can also record and/or transmit prices actually charged for products over time to allow for automatic auditing of promotional pricing offers such as those made by manufacturers of the product. The ECR emulation hub acts like an ECR, thereby requiring no special software or hardware modifications to existing pricing display systems that already support ECRs.
Inventors: William R. Sweeney (Richmond)
Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc. (Richmond)
June 16, 2015
Composite laminate for a thermal and acoustic insulation blanket
Patent No. 9,056,666
A multilayer laminate for use as a flame barrier in an aircraft comprising (i) a polymeric film layer capable of withstanding a temperature of at least 200 C for at least 10 min, (ii) an adhesive layer having an areal weight of from 2 to 40 gsm capable of activation at a temperature of from 75 to 200 degrees C., (iii) an inorganic refractory layer, and (iv) aramid paper comprising from 50 to 90 weight percent of aramid fibers and from 10 to 50 weight percent of meta-aramid binder wherein the inorganic refractory layer of (iii) comprises platelets in an amount of at least 85% by weight with a dry areal weight of 15 to 50 gsm and a residual moisture content of no greater than 10 percent by weight.
Inventors: Llewellyn Bentley Richardson III (Chesterfield, Va.), Dariusz Wlodzimierz Kawka (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co. (Wilmington, Del.)
June 16, 2015
Cutting, stripping and crimping all-in-one tool
Patent No. 9,059,573
A tool includes lower and upper members which are connected together so that the tool can be moved to an open position or to a closed position. The tool has a number of cutting blades and surfaces which allow a user to cut or strip a HDMI cable. The tool also has a pair of platforms which hold an associated laced wire guide and mated terminal block therein. The tool can be used to terminate the cut and stripped HDMI cable with the mated wire guides and terminal block.
Inventors: Kyle Dean Hedrick (Midlothian, Va.), Michael Stephens (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Textron Innovations Inc. (Providence, R.I.)
June 16, 2015
Smoke detector with an easily-readable and highly-visible battery-life display
Patent No. 9,057,631
A smoke detector with an easily-readable battery-life display is an apparatus that visually displays the remaining battery life for a smoke detector through an analog or digital device. The apparatus primarily includes a smoke detector, a battery power indicator, and a reference resistor. The battery power indicator is positioned on the underside of the smoke detector so that a person can look up at the smoke detector mounted on a ceiling and view the battery power indicator. The reference resistor draws a small amount of current from the battery, which allows the battery power indicator to measure the gradual reduction of voltage readings across the reference resistor and consequently determine the remaining battery life, and thus displaying the remaining battery life in the appropriate zone (red, yellow or green).
Inventors: Thomas W. Newton (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: N/A
June 16, 2015
High speed object inserter and related methods
Patent No. 9,055,768
An apparatus for inserting one or more objects into a filter component of a tobacco rod includes at least one storage apparatus that stores a plurality of the objects, each object having a predetermined volume. At least one inserter wheel receives the objects stored in the storage apparatus, and inserts the objects into at least one band of filter material. Each of the at least one inserter wheels has an outer periphery with a plurality of pockets and distributed about the outer periphery. Each pocket has a shape configured to support one of the objects with between about one quarter and about one half of the volume of the object received in the pocket. The remainder of the object protrudes from the pocket above the outer periphery of the inserter wheel. A method of inserting one or more objects into a filter component of a tobacco rod is also described.
Inventors: Shawn Henley (Mechanicsville, Va.), Robert Amiss (Lanexa, Va.), Wilfried Hoffmann (Locust Hill, Va.)
Assignee: Hauni Maschinenbau AG (Hamburg, Germany)
June 16, 2015
Devices, systems and methods for medicament delivery
Patent No. 9,056,170
An apparatus includes a housing, a needle, a first energy storage member and a second energy storage member. The needle is movably disposed within the housing and is configured to be to be placed in fluid communication with a medicament container. The needle is configured to move between a first position and a second position. In its first position, the needle is contained within the housing. In its second position, at least a portion of the needle extends from the housing. The first energy storage member is disposed within the housing, and is configured to produce a first force when actuated. The second energy storage member is disposed within the housing, and is configured to be actuated in response to the first force to produce a second force to move the needle from the first needle position to the second needle position.
Inventors: Eric S. Edwards (Moseley, Va.), Evan T. Edwards (Charlottesville, Va.), Mark J. Licata (Doswell, Va.), Paul F. Meyers (Fishers, Ind.)
Assignee: kaleo Inc. (Richmond)
June 16, 2015
System and method for converting automated clearing house data
Patent No. 9,053,512
A method includes determining by a computing system a plurality of automated clearing house (ACH) data conversion rules and converting ACH data into converted ACH data according to the determined ACH data conversion rules. Each of the plurality of ACH data conversion rules includes a name associated with a source data field, a name associated with a target data field, and an instruction indicating how to convert ACH data in the source data field into converted ACH data to be stored in the target data field.
Inventors: Stanley K. Loving (Chesterfield, Va.), Richard K. Forbis (Howe, Texas), David P. Drzewi (East Hampton, Conn.), Gerald W. Price (Richmond), Susan I. Aucoin (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Assignee: Bank of America Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.)
June 9, 2015
Feedback mechanism
Patent No. 9,052,867
A feedback application may be executing on a data processing system to transmit a screen update to at least two computers. The feedback application receives an indication of completion from a first computer, in response to transmitting the screen update. The feedback application updates a completion gauge to indicate a partial completion among participants, in response to receiving the indication of completion from the first computer. The feedback application receives a second indication of completion from a second computer, in response to transmitting the screen update. The feedback application updates the completion gauge to indicate a completion among participants, in response to receiving the indication of completion from the second computer.
Inventors: Ravi P. Bansal (Tampa, Fla.), Rick A. Hamilton II (Richmond), Andrew R. Jones (Austin, Texas), Brian M. O’Connell (Research Triangle Park, N.C.), Keith R. Walker (Austin, Texas)
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.)
June 9, 2015
Apparatus and method for loading cavities of plug space plug filter rod
Patent No. 9,049,887
An apparatus for serially delivering filling media to spaced apart cavities of an endless filter rod, which includes a conveyor which conveys a strip of plug wrap along a feed path, a transfer wheel arrangement which serially delivers filter segments to the plug wrap as it moves along the feed path such that the filter segments are arranged in plug-space-plug relation with cavities separated by the filter segments, and a filling wheel which rotates about a horizontal axis and includes pockets or cleats which receive filling media at the loading zone and deliver the filling media to the cavities at a discharge station along the feed path.
Inventors: Ahmet Ercelebi (Mechanicsville, Va.), Martin T. Garthaffner (Chesterfield, Va.), Barry S. Smith (Hopewell, Va.), Georgios D. Karles (Richmond), Jose Nepomuceno (Beaverdam, Va.)
Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc. (Richmond)
June 9, 2015
Silicon single crystal doped with gallium, indium, or aluminum
Patent No. 9,051,659
A doped silicon single crystal having a resistivity variation along a longitudinal and/or radial axis of less than 10% and a method of preparing one or a sequential series of doped silicon crystals is disclosed. The method includes providing a melt material comprising silicon into a continuous Czochralski crystal growth apparatus, delivering a dopant, such as gallium, indium, or aluminum, to the melt material, providing a seed crystal into the melt material when the melt material is in molten form, and growing a doped silicon single crystal by withdrawing the seed crystal from the melt material. Additional melt material is provided to the apparatus during the growing step. A doping model for calculating the amount of dopant to be delivered into the melt material during one or more doping events, methods for delivering the dopant, and vessels and containers used to deliver the dopant are also disclosed.
Inventors: John P. DeLuca (Chesterfield, Va.), Frank S. Delk II (Henrico, Va.), Bayard K. Johnson (Jefferson Hills, Penn.), William L. Luer (St. Charles, Mo.), Neil D. Middendorf (St. Louis, Mo.), Dick S. Williams (St. Charles, Mo.), Nels Patrick Ostrom (Worden, Ill.), James N. Highfill (St. Paul, Mo.)
Assignee: GTAT IP Holding (Merrimack, N.H.)
June 9, 2015
Systems and methods for initiating payment from a client device
Patent No. 9,053,476
The disclosed embodiments include a mobile client device for automatically performing a mobile financial service function, including a memory storing software instructions, the software instructions including a mobile financial service application configured to perform financial service processes. The system may also include and one or more processors configured to execute the software instructions to detect a physical action performed on the mobile client device, and determine a first financial service function to perform based on the detected physical action, wherein the first financial service function is a function provided by the mobile financial service application. The one or more processors may also determine whether verification of a user is required, verify the user if verification of the user is required, and automatically initiate the first financial service function.
Inventors: Lawrence Douglas (McLean, Va.), Paul Moreton (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Financial Corp. (McLean, Va.)
June 9, 2015
Methods and apparatus for the selective removal of constituents from aqueous tobacco extracts
Patent No. 9,049,886
Methods for the selective removal of specific constituents of tobacco extract include contacting an extract with a nitrosamine selective adsorption agent, a metal selective adsorption agent and/or a nitrate selective adsorption agent. Preferred characteristics of such agents are identified.
Inventors: Stephen G. Zimmermann (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc. (Richmond)
June 9, 2015
Methods for triazole synthesis
Patent No. 9,051,282
Disclosed are methods of synthesizing triazoles that avoids the use of concentrated acids in favor of carbonic acid generated from CO.sub.2 that can be practiced at ambient and/or elevated temperature and/or atmospheric and/or elevated pressures. The disclosed methods also provide a way of synthesizing triazole products that are sufficiently pure and/or of sufficient concentration whereby the reaction product(s) may not require purification or other treatment before being used in, for example, formulating water treatment compositions that will tend to suppress corrosion or as an intermediate product in a more complex synthesis.
Inventors: William H. Henderson (Ashland, Va.), John Richardson (Hanover, Va.)
Assignee: Chemtreat Inc. (Glen Allen, Va.)
June 9, 2015
Automatic price display control by emulation of electronic cash register price lookup
Patent No. 9,058,621
A system and method for distribution of product price and/or sales data in a retail establishment. Product price and/or sales data is stored locally, either in a central computer or master electronic cash register (ECR) or remotely at a master computer. The product price data is stored in the form of a price look-up (PLU) table. The price data can be pushed from the master ECR, local or master computers to and ECR emulation hub to an ECR emulation hub. Similarly, the ECR emulation hub can request product price data from the master ECR, local or master computers. Once the product price data arrives at the ECR emulation hub, it can be processed and sent to a display, which will be located near the appropriate product. The ECR emulation hub can also record and/or transmit prices actually charged for products over time to allow for automatic auditing of promotional pricing offers such as those made by manufacturers of the product. The ECR emulation hub acts like an ECR, thereby requiring no special software or hardware modifications to existing pricing display systems that already support ECRs.
Inventors: William R. Sweeney (Richmond)
Assignee: Philip Morris USA Inc. (Richmond)
June 16, 2015
Composite laminate for a thermal and acoustic insulation blanket
Patent No. 9,056,666
A multilayer laminate for use as a flame barrier in an aircraft comprising (i) a polymeric film layer capable of withstanding a temperature of at least 200 C for at least 10 min, (ii) an adhesive layer having an areal weight of from 2 to 40 gsm capable of activation at a temperature of from 75 to 200 degrees C., (iii) an inorganic refractory layer, and (iv) aramid paper comprising from 50 to 90 weight percent of aramid fibers and from 10 to 50 weight percent of meta-aramid binder wherein the inorganic refractory layer of (iii) comprises platelets in an amount of at least 85% by weight with a dry areal weight of 15 to 50 gsm and a residual moisture content of no greater than 10 percent by weight.
Inventors: Llewellyn Bentley Richardson III (Chesterfield, Va.), Dariusz Wlodzimierz Kawka (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co. (Wilmington, Del.)
June 16, 2015
Cutting, stripping and crimping all-in-one tool
Patent No. 9,059,573
A tool includes lower and upper members which are connected together so that the tool can be moved to an open position or to a closed position. The tool has a number of cutting blades and surfaces which allow a user to cut or strip a HDMI cable. The tool also has a pair of platforms which hold an associated laced wire guide and mated terminal block therein. The tool can be used to terminate the cut and stripped HDMI cable with the mated wire guides and terminal block.
Inventors: Kyle Dean Hedrick (Midlothian, Va.), Michael Stephens (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Textron Innovations Inc. (Providence, R.I.)
June 16, 2015
Smoke detector with an easily-readable and highly-visible battery-life display
Patent No. 9,057,631
A smoke detector with an easily-readable battery-life display is an apparatus that visually displays the remaining battery life for a smoke detector through an analog or digital device. The apparatus primarily includes a smoke detector, a battery power indicator, and a reference resistor. The battery power indicator is positioned on the underside of the smoke detector so that a person can look up at the smoke detector mounted on a ceiling and view the battery power indicator. The reference resistor draws a small amount of current from the battery, which allows the battery power indicator to measure the gradual reduction of voltage readings across the reference resistor and consequently determine the remaining battery life, and thus displaying the remaining battery life in the appropriate zone (red, yellow or green).
Inventors: Thomas W. Newton (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: N/A
June 16, 2015
High speed object inserter and related methods
Patent No. 9,055,768
An apparatus for inserting one or more objects into a filter component of a tobacco rod includes at least one storage apparatus that stores a plurality of the objects, each object having a predetermined volume. At least one inserter wheel receives the objects stored in the storage apparatus, and inserts the objects into at least one band of filter material. Each of the at least one inserter wheels has an outer periphery with a plurality of pockets and distributed about the outer periphery. Each pocket has a shape configured to support one of the objects with between about one quarter and about one half of the volume of the object received in the pocket. The remainder of the object protrudes from the pocket above the outer periphery of the inserter wheel. A method of inserting one or more objects into a filter component of a tobacco rod is also described.
Inventors: Shawn Henley (Mechanicsville, Va.), Robert Amiss (Lanexa, Va.), Wilfried Hoffmann (Locust Hill, Va.)
Assignee: Hauni Maschinenbau AG (Hamburg, Germany)
June 16, 2015
Devices, systems and methods for medicament delivery
Patent No. 9,056,170
An apparatus includes a housing, a needle, a first energy storage member and a second energy storage member. The needle is movably disposed within the housing and is configured to be to be placed in fluid communication with a medicament container. The needle is configured to move between a first position and a second position. In its first position, the needle is contained within the housing. In its second position, at least a portion of the needle extends from the housing. The first energy storage member is disposed within the housing, and is configured to produce a first force when actuated. The second energy storage member is disposed within the housing, and is configured to be actuated in response to the first force to produce a second force to move the needle from the first needle position to the second needle position.
Inventors: Eric S. Edwards (Moseley, Va.), Evan T. Edwards (Charlottesville, Va.), Mark J. Licata (Doswell, Va.), Paul F. Meyers (Fishers, Ind.)
Assignee: kaleo Inc. (Richmond)
June 16, 2015