Method and system of detecting foreign materials within an agricultural product stream
Patent No. 10,527,558
Methods and systems for detecting foreign material within a product stream in real-time, involve illuminating a portion of the agricultural product stream with light spanning a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths; scanning a line of the illuminated agricultural product stream to acquire a hyperspectral image of the line, the hyperspectral image of the line having a width of a single pixel; processing the hyperspectral image of the scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of the hyperspectral image of the scanned line; comparing the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the agricultural product stream.
Inventors: Amrita Sahu (Richmond), Henry M. Dante (Midlothian, Virginia), Jerry W. Morris (Jetersville, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 7, 2020
Disposable beverage pod and apparatus for making a beverage
Patent No. 10,524,609
A disposable beverage pod includes a first compartment containing a beverage concentrate in dry or semi-dry form and a second compartment containing ethanol. An apparatus for making a single serving beverage is operable to receive the disposable beverage pod and mix the contents thereof with water from a water reservoir and optionally pressurized gas from a pressurized gas source to form a single serving beverage.
Inventors: Christian Schuh (Chesterfield, Virginia), Gerd Kobal (Sandy Hook, Virginia), Georgios D. Karles (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 7, 2020
Method for measuring a vapor precursor level in a cartomizer of an electronic vaping device and/or an electronic vaping device configured to perform the method
Patent No. 10,524,505
An electronic vaping device includes a cartomizer and a battery section. The cartomizer includes a housing, a liquid supply reservoir in the housing, a vaporizer connected to the liquid supply reservoir, a channel adjacent to the liquid supply reservoir. The liquid supply reservoir being is to store vapor precursor. The vaporizer includes a fluid-transport structure that is configured to transport the vapor precursor from the liquid supply reservoir to the channel. The battery section is configured to provide power to the vaporizer. The battery section includes a control circuit that is configured to determine a saturation level of the vapor precursor on the fluid-transport structure based on an electrical resistance of the fluid-transport structure.
Inventors: Jarrett Keen (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 7, 2020
Systems and methods for building generic CI/CD pipelines
Patent No. 10,528,332
At least one application may include instructions comprising application instructions and a plurality of separate pipeline definition instructions. The application instructions may be within a virtual container including at least one program that is generically executable in a plurality of different continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) environments. Each of the plurality of separate pipeline definition instructions may be configured for each of the plurality of different CI/CD environments such that each pipeline definition may operate only in the CI/CD environment for which it is created. Each pipeline definition may be configured to cause the CI/CD environment for which it is created to execute the at least one program.
Inventors: Brandon Atkinson (Chesterfield, Virginia), Christopher Bowers (Midlothian, Virginia), Dallas Edwards (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 7, 2020
Systems and methods for providing predictive quality analysis
Patent No. 10,528,340
The disclosed embodiments include methods and systems for providing predictive quality analysis. Consistent with disclosed embodiments, a system may receive input data associated with a software program and compare the input data with one or more predetermined analysis parameters. The system may further determine at least one risk rating based on the comparison, wherein each risk rating corresponds to a distinct software category. The system may perform additional operations, including determining at least one adjustment to the software program based on the determined at least one risk rating, and prioritizing the at least one adjustment based on a predetermined adjustment priority standard. Furthermore, the system may provide a report including at least an indication of the at least one prioritized adjustment, a timeline for implementing the at least one prioritized adjustment, and plan implementing the at least one prioritized adjustment.
Inventors: Jyoti Bhardwaj (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 7, 2020
Systems and methods for providing a financial discount or reward
Patent No. 10,528,969
The disclosed embodiments include methods and systems for providing a discount or reward at the point of sale. In one embodiment a system for providing a discount at the point of sale is disclosed. The system may be configured to receive transaction data relating to one or more purchase transactions and determine discount eligibility of the one or more purchase transactions. The system may also be configured to determine a discount amount based on the determined discount eligibility and the transaction data and apply the discount to the one or more purchase transactions. Further, the system may also be configured to display the applied discount to the user.
Inventors: Moshe Benjamin (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 7, 2020
Reseal label for box in a box re-sealable pack
Patent No. 10,526,121
A container of consumer goods includes a rigid outer box and a rigid inner box wherein a pull tab is configured to reseal a pre-cut opening in the inner box. The pull tab includes a cover layer larger than the pre-cut opening. The cover layer can be a piece of bundle wrap with a paper layer of the bundle wrap contacting the consumer goods inside the box. The outer box has a hinged lid permanently attached to a connecting tab of the pull tab whereby opening the hinged lid simultaneously opens the pre-cut opening in the inner box by lifting the pull tab. The connecting tab includes adhesive which is partially deadened to decrease adhesion of the connecting tab to the inner box. The pull tab can also include one or more machine readable markings to enhance automated application of the pull tab to an inner box blank during manufacturing of the container.
Inventors: Stephen Bellamah (Midlothian, Virginia), James S. Bigelow (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 7, 2020
GPS-based vehicular speed limiting system
Patent No. 10,535,261
The GPS-based vehicular speed limiting system comprises an on board diagnostic (OBD) interface unit and a GPS unit. The OBD interface unit plugs into the OBD-2 (or equivalent) connector inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle and communicates with one or more vehicle computers. The GPS unit receives signals from GPS satellites to determine the current vehicle location, which it may then display in map form utilizing map data stored in memory within the GPS. If the OBD interface unit determines that the vehicle is traveling faster than the posted speed limit, as determined by information stored in the map data and communicated to the OBD interface unit over the wireless link, the OBD interface unit may command the vehicle computers to limit the speed of the vehicle. Unplugging the OBD interface unit may result in a notification being sent to a smartphone.
Inventors: Mutaeb Alqahtani (Richmond), Abdullah Alqahtani (Richmond)
Assignee: N/A
Jan. 14, 2020
Product portion enrobing process and apparatus, and resulting products
Patent No. 10,531,685
A method of enrobing a product portion in polymer strands includes mounting at least one product portion on a holding device and passing the at least one product portion through a polymer enrobing zone. The polymer enrobing zone can include a flow of polymeric fibers produced by a polymer spray head. The polymer fibers can wraparound the at least one product portion to produce an enrobed product portion. The holding device can hold the at least one product portion by passing at least partially through the body of the product portion. At least a portion of the holding device is removed from the enrobed product portion. In some cases, the at least one product portion includes smokeless tobacco.
Inventors: Andrew Nathan Carroll (Chester, Virginia), Shannon Maxwell Black (Richmond), Yan Helen Sun (Midlothian, Virginia), William J. Burke (Nashville, Tennessee), Robert Smith (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC (Richmond)
Jan. 14, 2020
Roller chain outer plate links: arrangements, systems of use, and methods
Patent No. 10,533,646
Roller chain outer plate links including a cable support portion are disclosed. Example roller chain outer plate links include a link portion, a cable support portion oriented projecting from an outer face of the link portion, and a joint at one of the lead/tail ends of the link portion. The link portion, joint, and cable support portions each comprise portions integral with remaining portions of the outer plate link. Cable support portions of the roller chain outer plate links support a cable extending between components of an apparatus.
Inventors: William Mark Hogan (Virginia Beach, Virginia), Jamshid Naderi (Henrico, Virginia)
Assignee: FMH Conveyors (Jonesboro, Arkansas)
Jan. 14, 2020
Method and system of detecting foreign materials within an agricultural product stream
Patent No. 10,527,558
Methods and systems for detecting foreign material within a product stream in real-time, involve illuminating a portion of the agricultural product stream with light spanning a wavelength range including or within near-infrared and/or shortwave infrared wavelengths; scanning a line of the illuminated agricultural product stream to acquire a hyperspectral image of the line, the hyperspectral image of the line having a width of a single pixel; processing the hyperspectral image of the scanned line to obtain spectrum data for one or more pixels of the hyperspectral image of the scanned line; comparing the obtained spectrum data of the one or more pixels to predetermined spectrum data to determine whether the obtained spectrum data is indicative of foreign material within the scanned line of the agricultural product stream.
Inventors: Amrita Sahu (Richmond), Henry M. Dante (Midlothian, Virginia), Jerry W. Morris (Jetersville, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 7, 2020
Disposable beverage pod and apparatus for making a beverage
Patent No. 10,524,609
A disposable beverage pod includes a first compartment containing a beverage concentrate in dry or semi-dry form and a second compartment containing ethanol. An apparatus for making a single serving beverage is operable to receive the disposable beverage pod and mix the contents thereof with water from a water reservoir and optionally pressurized gas from a pressurized gas source to form a single serving beverage.
Inventors: Christian Schuh (Chesterfield, Virginia), Gerd Kobal (Sandy Hook, Virginia), Georgios D. Karles (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 7, 2020
Method for measuring a vapor precursor level in a cartomizer of an electronic vaping device and/or an electronic vaping device configured to perform the method
Patent No. 10,524,505
An electronic vaping device includes a cartomizer and a battery section. The cartomizer includes a housing, a liquid supply reservoir in the housing, a vaporizer connected to the liquid supply reservoir, a channel adjacent to the liquid supply reservoir. The liquid supply reservoir being is to store vapor precursor. The vaporizer includes a fluid-transport structure that is configured to transport the vapor precursor from the liquid supply reservoir to the channel. The battery section is configured to provide power to the vaporizer. The battery section includes a control circuit that is configured to determine a saturation level of the vapor precursor on the fluid-transport structure based on an electrical resistance of the fluid-transport structure.
Inventors: Jarrett Keen (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 7, 2020
Systems and methods for building generic CI/CD pipelines
Patent No. 10,528,332
At least one application may include instructions comprising application instructions and a plurality of separate pipeline definition instructions. The application instructions may be within a virtual container including at least one program that is generically executable in a plurality of different continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) environments. Each of the plurality of separate pipeline definition instructions may be configured for each of the plurality of different CI/CD environments such that each pipeline definition may operate only in the CI/CD environment for which it is created. Each pipeline definition may be configured to cause the CI/CD environment for which it is created to execute the at least one program.
Inventors: Brandon Atkinson (Chesterfield, Virginia), Christopher Bowers (Midlothian, Virginia), Dallas Edwards (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 7, 2020
Systems and methods for providing predictive quality analysis
Patent No. 10,528,340
The disclosed embodiments include methods and systems for providing predictive quality analysis. Consistent with disclosed embodiments, a system may receive input data associated with a software program and compare the input data with one or more predetermined analysis parameters. The system may further determine at least one risk rating based on the comparison, wherein each risk rating corresponds to a distinct software category. The system may perform additional operations, including determining at least one adjustment to the software program based on the determined at least one risk rating, and prioritizing the at least one adjustment based on a predetermined adjustment priority standard. Furthermore, the system may provide a report including at least an indication of the at least one prioritized adjustment, a timeline for implementing the at least one prioritized adjustment, and plan implementing the at least one prioritized adjustment.
Inventors: Jyoti Bhardwaj (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 7, 2020
Systems and methods for providing a financial discount or reward
Patent No. 10,528,969
The disclosed embodiments include methods and systems for providing a discount or reward at the point of sale. In one embodiment a system for providing a discount at the point of sale is disclosed. The system may be configured to receive transaction data relating to one or more purchase transactions and determine discount eligibility of the one or more purchase transactions. The system may also be configured to determine a discount amount based on the determined discount eligibility and the transaction data and apply the discount to the one or more purchase transactions. Further, the system may also be configured to display the applied discount to the user.
Inventors: Moshe Benjamin (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 7, 2020
Reseal label for box in a box re-sealable pack
Patent No. 10,526,121
A container of consumer goods includes a rigid outer box and a rigid inner box wherein a pull tab is configured to reseal a pre-cut opening in the inner box. The pull tab includes a cover layer larger than the pre-cut opening. The cover layer can be a piece of bundle wrap with a paper layer of the bundle wrap contacting the consumer goods inside the box. The outer box has a hinged lid permanently attached to a connecting tab of the pull tab whereby opening the hinged lid simultaneously opens the pre-cut opening in the inner box by lifting the pull tab. The connecting tab includes adhesive which is partially deadened to decrease adhesion of the connecting tab to the inner box. The pull tab can also include one or more machine readable markings to enhance automated application of the pull tab to an inner box blank during manufacturing of the container.
Inventors: Stephen Bellamah (Midlothian, Virginia), James S. Bigelow (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 7, 2020
GPS-based vehicular speed limiting system
Patent No. 10,535,261
The GPS-based vehicular speed limiting system comprises an on board diagnostic (OBD) interface unit and a GPS unit. The OBD interface unit plugs into the OBD-2 (or equivalent) connector inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle and communicates with one or more vehicle computers. The GPS unit receives signals from GPS satellites to determine the current vehicle location, which it may then display in map form utilizing map data stored in memory within the GPS. If the OBD interface unit determines that the vehicle is traveling faster than the posted speed limit, as determined by information stored in the map data and communicated to the OBD interface unit over the wireless link, the OBD interface unit may command the vehicle computers to limit the speed of the vehicle. Unplugging the OBD interface unit may result in a notification being sent to a smartphone.
Inventors: Mutaeb Alqahtani (Richmond), Abdullah Alqahtani (Richmond)
Assignee: N/A
Jan. 14, 2020
Product portion enrobing process and apparatus, and resulting products
Patent No. 10,531,685
A method of enrobing a product portion in polymer strands includes mounting at least one product portion on a holding device and passing the at least one product portion through a polymer enrobing zone. The polymer enrobing zone can include a flow of polymeric fibers produced by a polymer spray head. The polymer fibers can wraparound the at least one product portion to produce an enrobed product portion. The holding device can hold the at least one product portion by passing at least partially through the body of the product portion. At least a portion of the holding device is removed from the enrobed product portion. In some cases, the at least one product portion includes smokeless tobacco.
Inventors: Andrew Nathan Carroll (Chester, Virginia), Shannon Maxwell Black (Richmond), Yan Helen Sun (Midlothian, Virginia), William J. Burke (Nashville, Tennessee), Robert Smith (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services LLC (Richmond)
Jan. 14, 2020
Roller chain outer plate links: arrangements, systems of use, and methods
Patent No. 10,533,646
Roller chain outer plate links including a cable support portion are disclosed. Example roller chain outer plate links include a link portion, a cable support portion oriented projecting from an outer face of the link portion, and a joint at one of the lead/tail ends of the link portion. The link portion, joint, and cable support portions each comprise portions integral with remaining portions of the outer plate link. Cable support portions of the roller chain outer plate links support a cable extending between components of an apparatus.
Inventors: William Mark Hogan (Virginia Beach, Virginia), Jamshid Naderi (Henrico, Virginia)
Assignee: FMH Conveyors (Jonesboro, Arkansas)
Jan. 14, 2020