Polymer encased smokeless tobacco products
Patent No. 11,198,151
Methods for encasing bodies including smokeless tobacco or a tobacco substitute with a polymeric casing can include coating a compressed body with microfibers, applying tubular casings to compressed bodies, printing netting and webs on compressed bodies, injection molding around compressed bodies, applying a webbing to compressed bodies, placing compressed bodies into a skin forming bath, and including thermoplastic polymers in a compressed body.
Inventors: Andrew Nathan Carroll (Chester, Virginia), Shannon Maxwell Black (Richmond), Yan Helen Sun (Midlothian, Virginia), William J. Burke (Nashville, Tennessee), Christopher Joseph Dinovi (Ruther Glen, Virginia), David Phillips (Richmond), Jason Andrew Macko (Richmond), Robert Smith (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Dec. 14, 2021
Cartridge and e-vaping device with serpentine heater
Patent No. 11,197,500
A cartridge of an e-vaping device includes a housing extending in a longitudinal direction, a reservoir in the housing, a heater in the housing, and an absorbent material at least partially surrounding the sinusoidal shaped member. The reservoir is configured to store a pre-vapor formulation. The heater has a sinusoidal shaped member translating about an elliptical shape to define a channel there through. The absorbent material is in fluid communication with the reservoir.
Inventors: Shmuel Gavrielov (N. Miami Beach, Flordia), Yuval Malka (Richmond), Rangaraj Sundar (Richmond), Isaac Weigensberg (Richmond), David Rubli (Revava, Israel), Moshe Eliyahu (Beit Shemesh, Israel), Arye Weigensberg (Richmond), Scott A. Fath (Richmond), Christopher S. Tucker (Midlothian, Virginia), William J. Bogdziewicz (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Dec. 14, 2021
Electronic smoking article
Patent No. 11,197,499
An electronic smoking article includes a liquid aerosol formulation, a heater operable to at least partially volatilize the liquid aerosol formulation and form an aerosol and a tubular filter segment downstream of the heater. The tubular filter segment is operable to selectively filter aerosol particles and vapors from the aerosol.
Inventors: San Li (Midlothian, Virginia), Georgios D. Karles (Richmond), Richard Jupe (Richmond), Gerd Kobal (Sandy Hook, Virginia), Munmaya K. Mishra (Manakin Sabot, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Dec. 14, 2021
Microscale whole blood coagulation assay platform
Patent No. 11,199,533
A blood clot retraction assay device and methods of measuring whole-blood clot retractive forces during coagulation are described. When placed in proximity to a micro-beam, a blood droplet attaches thereto, applying a force to the micro-beam during clot formation. Using Piezoresistive micro-beams or other Piezoresistive components disposed upon such micro-beams, the device measures retractive force of a blood droplet based upon changes in resistance. The sensitivity of such measurements allows use of small quantities of blood for measurement, between 15 microliters and 300 microliters. The device further permits continuous measurement of coagulation, allowing measurement of distinct reaction, contraction development, and fibrinolysis phases for each blood sample.
Inventors: Jianping Fu (Ann Arbor, Michigan), Kevin R. Ward (Glen Allen, Virginia), Zida Li (Ann Arbor, Michigan), Xiang Li (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Assignee: The Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Dec. 14, 2021
Cathode-minimized stimulation programming
Patent No. 11,198,012
Programming a stimulator device to deliver a stimulation therapy at high-density parameter settings using a cathode-minimized electrode configuration determined to induce paresthesia over a patient pain pattern at low-density parameter settings.
Inventors: Hector Cantua (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Medtronic (Minneapolis, Minneapolis)
Dec. 14, 2021
Change monitoring and detection for a cloud computing environment
Patent No. 11,201,865
Aspects described herein allow for systems and methods to monitor production changes to resources in a cloud computing environment and determine whether those changes were performed in accordance with a change management policy. A change order monitoring application receives data from cloud computing audit logs to detect infrastructure changes and combines that data with application information to determine which application was affected. The change order monitoring application then uses a machine learning algorithm to cluster multiple change events together when it is likely that the change events were part of the same change. If cluster of change activity does not appear to be authorized, the change order monitoring application sends an alert to a change management team and an application team to get more information about the activity.
Inventors: Daniel W. File (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Hao Liu (Reston, Virginia), Rajesh Kanna Durairaj (Plano, Texas), Peter Terrana (Mechanicsville, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Dec. 14, 2021
Artificial surfing reef construction method
Patent No. 11,198,983
The present invention relates to a new artificial surfing reef construction method, using geosynthetic cementitious composite mat, with a top coating of plasticized gypsum composition. The current invention artificial surfing reef construction method, can be built in surfing lakes, water basins, pools, lagoons, ponds, reservoirs, rivers, streams and bodies of water.
Inventors: Walter Judson Bennett (Mechanicsville, Virginia)
Assignee: N/A
Product package, display card, clip and blank therefor
Patent No. 11,203,476
Aspects of the disclosure relate to a package, a product carrier, clip and a blank for forming the product carrier. An aspect of the invention provides a package comprising a display card and a clip. An article is mounted to the display card by the clip. The display card comprises a front panel and a rear panel. The clip comprises a front wall and opposed side walls. The clip together with at least one of the front and rear panels forms a tubular structure for receiving a part of the article. The article comprises at least one limb. The article is mounted to the display card by the at least one limb which extends through the tubular structure.
Inventors: Matthew E. Zacherle (Chesterfield, Virginia), Cullen B. Rosenbrien (Richmond)
Assignee: Westrock MWV (Atlanta, Georgia)
Dec. 21, 2021
Delta connected resonant turn off circuits
Patent No. 11,211,816
A static transfer switch is provided for supplying power to a load alternately from two different power sources. Switching between the two power sources may occur within a fraction of one electrical cycle. In response to sensing degraded performance in the power source supplying the load, resonant turn off circuits connected directly to the main switches of two phases of the power source are actuated to commutate the respective main switches. The main switch of the third phase is commutated with one or more of the resonant turn off circuits through the delta side of a transformer connected to the three phases of the power source.
Inventors: Veerakumar Bose (Richmond), Thomas Kendzia III (Henrico, Virginia), Christopher Alan Belcastro (Mechanicsville, Virginia)
Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (Baden, CH)
Dec. 28, 2021
Determining specific terms for contactless card activation
Patent No. 11,210,656
Systems, methods, articles of manufacture, and computer-readable media for determining specific terms to activate a contactless card. An application executing on a server may receive a request from a device specifying a uniform resource locator comprising encrypted data, the encrypted data based at least in part on a private key assigned to a contactless card. The application may decrypt the encrypted data and determine a type of the contactless card. The application may determine a plurality of terms associated with the type of the contactless card and transmit the terms to a web browser on the device. The application may receive, from the web browser, an indication specifying acceptance of the plurality of terms. The application may store, based on the decryption of the encrypted data and the received indication specifying acceptance of the terms, an indication in a database specifying the contactless card is activated for use.
Inventors: Jeffrey Rule (Chevy Chase, Maryland), Marisa Thomas (Richmond), Amy Apponyi (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Dec. 28, 2021
Systems and methods for providing cash redemption to a third party
Patent No. 11,210,643
A system includes one or more memory devices storing instructions, and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to perform steps of a method. Upon receiving a request to provide cash redemption to a third party from a provider client terminal, the system may allocate an amount of cash to a temporary financial account and generate a temporary access code that may be used to access the cash in the temporary financial account. The system may transmit the temporary access code to a recipient client terminal and upon an ATM terminal’s receipt of the input access code, the system may authorize the withdrawal of the amount of cash.
Inventors: Angela Baber (Richmond), Peter Davey (Powhatan, Virginia), Abhinav Agrawal (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Walter Avery Miller (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Dec. 28, 2021
Airship powered aerospace vehicle
Patent No. 11,208,192
The present invention relates to an aerospace vehicle comprising an airplane or spacecraft, operatively coupled to an airship balloon containing lighter than air gas adapted to elevate the vehicle. A control system adapted to deflate the balloon upon reaching a predetermined altitude by directing the gas for powering the vehicle at greater speed. The balloon can be re-inflated for decreasing the speed of the vehicle upon reaching a destination and deflated in a controlled manner for landing the vehicle or disengaged from the vehicle upon transferring the gas from the balloon to a propulsion system of the vehicle.
Inventors: Kevin Arash Peyman (Richmond), Nazmi Peyman (Richmond)
Assignee: N/A
Dec. 28, 2021
Intraoral fluid delivery system and method
Patent No. 11,207,242
A system for intraoral fluid delivery comprises a rate-controlled and/or volume-controlled fluid supply device, a reservoir for holding one or more fluids to be delivered to a patient’s oral cavity, a mouthpiece to be worn by a patient at least partially within the patient’s oral cavity, and tubing to carry the one or more fluids from the fluid supply device to the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece comprises a fluid inlet adjacent and/or exterior to the patient’s oral cavity when the mouthpiece is worn by the patient, a fluid outlet posterior to the fluid inlcet, and a fluid channel therebetween.
Inventors: Jeffrey Ward Cash (Richmond)
Assignee: Jeffrey Ward Cash (Richmond)
Dec. 28, 2021
Systems and methods for manufacturing a ring from a metal sheet
Patent No. 11,207,722
A method for manufacturing a ring includes clamping a first region of a metal sheet against a mandrel, and, while the first region of the metal sheet is clamped against the mandrel, bending the metal sheet around the mandrel to join opposite end faces of the metal sheet and form the ring shaped to the mandrel. A system for manufacturing a ring from a metal sheet includes (a) a mandrel having a ring-shaped surface, (b) a clamp facing the ring-shaped surface and configured to clamp a first region of a metal sheet to the mandrel, and (c) a plurality of dies configured to bend the metal sheet around the mandrel, while the clamp clamps the first region to the mandrel, to join opposite end faces of the metal sheet and form a ring shaped to the ring-shaped surface.
Inventors: Brian Ford (Mosley, Virginia), James Myers (Chesterfield, Virginia), Edgar Hernandez (Chesterfield, Virginia)
Assignee: Amsted Rail Co. (Chicago, Illinois)
Dec. 28, 2021
Dynamic sensing updates using postural input in a multiple device cardiac rhythm management system
Patent No. 11,207,532
Methods and systems in which a first medical device provides patient status details to a second medical device. Patient status details may include one or more of patient posture and/or patient activity level, or other indications of patient status. The second medical device, in response to information about patient status and changes in patient status, uses a sensing configuration management function to respond to and accommodate the change in patient status. In an example, a first medical device monitors patient posture and communicates information related to patient posture to a second medical device, which then tailors sensing configurations to the patient posture.
Inventors: Steven Lee Eddy (Chesterfield, Virginia), Brendan Early Koop (Ham Lake, Minneapolis)
Assignee: Cardiac Pacemakers (St. Paul, Minneapolis)
Dec. 28, 2021
Dark tobacco inbreds and hybrids comprising reduced nicotine demethylation and nornicotine
Patent No. 11,206,778
The present disclosure provides tobacco inbred plants TND950 (phph) SRC, Narrow Leaf Madole (phph) SRC, Narrow Leaf Madole SRC, CMS TND950 SRC, CMS Narrow Leaf Madole SRC, and CMS KY171 SRC, and hybrids PD7305 SRC, PD7309 SRC, PD7312 SRC, PD7318 SRC, and PD7319 SRC. The present disclosure also provides parts of such plants and products made from those parts. The present disclosure also includes progeny of the provided plants including hybrids.
Inventors: Marcos Fernando de Godoy Lusso (Chesterfield, Virginia), Andrew Carl Adams (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Dec. 28, 2021
Mobile multi-feature product authentication
Patent No. 11,216,933
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, system and/or mobile device for authenticating security features, the mobile device for authenticating security features includes at least one sensor for detecting security features, a memory having stored thereon computer readable instructions, and at least one processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions to receive a target image of a product to be authenticated, the product including at least one security feature, identify the product to be authenticated based on the target image and product information stored in a product database, obtain sensor configuration information for the at least one sensor associated with the at least one security feature of the product based on the identified product, examine the at least one security feature of the product with the at least one sensor based on the obtained sensor configuration information, and authenticate the product based on results from the examination.
Inventors: Kevin Harrup (Hopewell, Virginia), Rosana Altoveros (Richmond), Mike Shaw (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Methods, systems, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer readable media for validating encoded information
Patent No. 11,216,796
A method, system and/or device for validating encoded information, the validation device including a memory having computer readable instructions stored thereon and a database including a plurality of validation rules, and at least one processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions to receive formatted data from at least one formatting device, extract attributes associated with encoded information from the formatted data, the extracted attributes including at least one of a formatting device identifier, a store identifier, value information from the encoded information, and time information, validate the formatted data based on the extracted attributes and the plurality of validation rules, store the results of the validation and at least a subset of the extracted attributes in the database, generate modified formatted data compatible with a POS terminal based on the results of the validation, and transmit the modified formatted data to the at least one of formatting device.
Inventors: Michael Fitzsimmons (Richmond), William M. Houston (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond, VA)
Jan. 4, 2022
Low porosity high strength UHMW PE fabrics
Patent No. 11,214,037
Low porosity fibrous materials, articles formed therefrom and processes for their formation. Multiple plies of high tenacity, multifilament elongate bodies are optionally stitched together and pressed as a set without being laminated, adhered or thermally fused to each other. Pressing spreads the component filaments of the elongate bodies, forcing the filaments to occupy spaces between adjacent fibers and thereby reducing porosity of the complete multi-ply material.
Inventors: Ashok Bhatnagar (Richmond), Huy Xuan Nguyen (Midlothian, Virginia), Lori L. Wagner (Richmond)
Assignee: Honeywell International (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Jan. 4. 2022
Methods and machines for making oral products
Patent No. 11,213,988
A method of forming an oral product includes extruding a mixture, conveying the extruded mixture through one or more pairs of forming rollers, and cutting the extruded mixture into one or more oral products. The mixture can include polymer and at least one flavorant, sweetener, active ingredient, or combination thereof. The extruded mixture forms an extrudate having a predetermined cross-sectional shape. The one or more pairs of forming rollers abut to define a passage there between as each forming roller rotates. The passage has a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the predetermined cross-sectional shape. The method can be performed using a machine including an extruder, one or more pairs of forming rollers, and a cutting device.
Inventors: Carl Gregory Miller (Richmond), Charles Lester Dendy (Ruther Glen, Virginia), Jeremy J. Straight (Midlothian, Virginia), Gregory James Griscik (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Material compression and portioning
Patent No. 11,213,967
An apparatus includes channel assemblies in a rotatable section, a cutting assembly, a discharge assembly, and a cleanout assembly. The channel assembly holds a bulk instance of compressible material extending through upper and lower channels of a continuous channel. The cutting assembly moves in relation to the channel assembly to isolate the upper and lower channels, severing upper and lower material portions of the bulk instance. The discharge assembly directs gas into the lower channel of a channel assembly to discharge the lower material portion from the lower channel, based on radial alignment of a conduit assembly of the channel assembly with a conduit assembly of the discharge assembly. The cleanout assembly supplies a fluid through the conduit assembly of the channel assembly, based on radially alignment of the conduit assembly of the channel assembly with a conduit assembly of the cleanout assembly.
Inventors: Dwight David Williams (Powhatan, Virginia), James David Evans (Chesterfield, Virginia), Patrick Sean McElhinney (Chesterfield, Virginia), Jarrod Wayne Chalkley (Mechanicsville, Virginia), Christopher R. Newcomb (Richmond), Robert V. Powell (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Secure file sharing method and system
Patent No. 11,218,312
Systems and methods are provided for securely sharing data. A processor forms two or more shares of a data set encrypted with a symmetric key, the data set associated with a first user device, and causes the encrypted data set shares to be stored separately from each other in at least one remote storage location. The processor generates first and second encrypted keys by encrypting data indicative of the symmetric key with a first asymmetric key of first and second asymmetric key pairs associated with the first user device and a second user device, respectively, and causes the encrypted key to be stored in the at least one storage location. To restore the data set, a predetermined number of the two or more encrypted data set shares and at least one of the second asymmetric keys of the first and second asymmetric key pairs are needed.
Inventors: Mark S. O’Hare (Coto De Caza, California), Rick L. Orsini (Flower Mound, Texas), Don Martin (Chesterfield, Virginia)
Assignee: Security First Corp. (Austin, Texas)
Jan. 4. 2022
Combinations of phosphorous-containing compounds for use as anti-wear additives in lubricant compositions
Patent No. 11,214,750
The present disclosure relates to a lubricant composition comprising a first phosphorus compound, a second phosphorus compound, and a third phosphorus compound, wherein the first phosphorus compound is present in the lubricant composition in an amount to provide between about 120 and 350 ppm phosphorus. The lubricant composition may provide robust anti-wear and reduced pitting.
Inventors: Jeffrey L. Milner (Chesterfield, Virginia)
Assignee: Afton Chemical Corp. (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Silicone functionalized viscosity index improver
Patent No. 11,214,753
A multi-functional olefin copolymer viscosity index improver and a lubricating oil composition including such lubricant additive that provides improved viscometric properties and helps reduce low speed pre-ignition events at the same time. In one approach, the multi-functional olefin copolymer viscosity index improver is silicone functionalized and includes an acylated olefin copolymer with aminosilane or aminosiloxone pendant or side groups.
Inventors: Arturo Carranza (Glen Allen, Virginia), Kongsheng Yang (Glen Allen, Virginia), Ashutosh Gupta (Henrico, Virginia), Sheng Jiang (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Afton Chemical Corp. (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Hold a dental cleaning device on food related accessories
Patent No. 11,213,121
An ice cream toothbrush apparatus includes an edible ice cream segment and a toothbrush segment. The toothbrush segment includes a handle and a brush head, while the ice cream segment includes a handle and an edible ice cream head. The ice cream handle and toothbrush handle are configured to couple together so that the ice cream handle and toothbrush handle form a continuous handle between the ice cream head and the toothbrush head.
Inventors: Nevaan Kothari (Glen Allen, Virginia), Riaan Kothari (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: N/A
Jan. 4, 2022
Electronic vaping device and cartridge for electronic vaping device
Patent No. 11,213,068
A cartridge includes an air flow passageway defining a first airflow direction, a heating element having a longitudinal axis, the longitudinal axis perpendicular to the first airflow direction, and a jacket at least partially surrounding the heating element along the longitudinal axis of the heating element and defining a second airflow direction perpendicular to the first airflow direction.
Inventors: San Li (Midlothian, Virginia), Barry S. Smith (Hopewell, Virginia)), Christopher S. Tucker (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2021
Systems and methods for providing card interactions
Patent No. 11,216,806
A method including receiving a first application user credential associated with a user profile; comparing, for a first match, the first application user credential with a stored second application user credential, wherein the stored second application user credential is associated with a user identity; and responsive to finding a first match, verifying the user identity by performing the following: communicating with a card using near field communication; receiving a public key of a key pair of the card and cardholder identification information of an account holder of the card; instructing the card to generate a digital signature; receiving the digital signature from the card; verifying the digital signature using the public key; and comparing, for a second match, at least a portion of the user identity with at least a portion of the cardholder identification information.
Inventors: Lara Mossler (Farmville, Virginia), Aravindhan Manivannan (Henrico, Virginia), Baskar Dilli (McLean, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 4, 2022
On-line oil and foreign matter detection system and method employing hyperspectral imaging
Patent No. 11,222,203
A method for removing foreign matter from an agricultural product stream of a manufacturing process. The method includes conveying a product stream past an inspection station; scanning a region of the agricultural product stream as it passes the inspection station using at least one light source of a single or different wavelengths; generating hyperspectral images from the scanned region; determining a spectral fingerprint for the agricultural product stream from the hyperspectral images; comparing the spectral fingerprint obtained in step (c) to a spectral fingerprint database containing a plurality of fingerprints using a computer processor to determine whether foreign matter is present and, if present, generating a signal in response thereto; and removing a portion of the conveyed product stream in response to the signal. A system for detecting foreign matter within an agricultural product stream is also provided.
Inventors: Henry M. Dante (Midlothian, Virginia), Samuel Timothy Henry (Richmond), Seetharama C. Deevi (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 11, 2022
Compositions and methods for producing tobacco plants and products having altered alkaloid levels with desirable leaf quality
Patent No. 11,220,695
The present disclosure includes methods and compositions for improving leaf quality in low-alkaloid tobacco plants, e.g., by combining inducible promoters and non-coding RNAs for suppression of an ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) gene. Also provided are low alkaloid tobacco plants with normal, suppressed, or otherwise altered polyamine levels. Further provided are tobacco plants with altered total alkaloid, nicotine levels, commercially acceptable leaf grade, their development via breeding or transgenic approaches, and production of tobacco products from these tobacco plants.
Inventors: Marcos Fernando de Godoy Lusso (Chesterfield, Virginia), James A. Strickland (Richmond), Jesse Frederick (Richmond), Dongmei Xu (Glen Allen, Virginia), Chengalrayan Kudithipudi (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 11, 2022
Amorphous silica particles and methods of producing amorphous silica particles
Patent No. 11,220,618
An amorphous silica particles, gravel, other particles and products provide a safe replacement for crystalline silica sand, gravel, or particles in consumer and industrial applications wherein dust may be produced during use or installation. The amorphous silica particles, gravel, other particles or products may comprise components that increase the density, hardness, and other properties from container glass. These components include, but are not limited to, iron oxides, aluminum oxides, and zirconium oxides.
Inventors: Scott D. Trom (Spring, Texas), Bernard G. Pike (Richmond)
Assignee: Xaris Holdings (Spring, Texas)
Jan. 11, 2022
Insert and wear ring for a railway roller bearing
Patent No. 11,220,279
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a wear ring assembly is provided for a railway roller bearing. The wear ring assembly includes a wear ring having a central opening for receiving a journal of a railway wheel assembly and an insert including a plurality of spacers configured to extend in the opening of the wear ring to separate the wear ring from the journal. The spacers are spaced apart from each other about the wear ring. The insert may include one or more flanges that separate the wear ring from a bearing cone.
Inventors: Michael Lumpkin (Richmond), Michael Mason (Richmond)
Assignee: Amsted Rail Co. (Chicago, Illinois)
Jan. 11, 2022
Carbon based materials as solid-state ligands for metal nanoparticle catalysts
Patent No. 11,219,892
High activity metal nanoparticle catalysts, such as Pd or Pt nanoparticle catalyst, are provided. Adsorption of metal precursors such as Pd or Pt precursors onto carbon based materials such as graphene followed by solventless (or low-solvent) microwave irradiation at ambient conditions results in the formation of the catalysts in which metal nanoparticles are supported on i) the surface of the carbon based materials and ii) in/on/within defects/holes in the carbon based materials.
Inventors: Stanley Eugene Gilliland (Chesterfield, Virginia), Bernard Frank Gupton (Richmond), Carlos E. Castano Londono (Richmond), John R. Regalbuto (Columbia, South Carolina), John Meynard M. Tengco (Columbia, South Carolina)
Assignee: Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond) & University of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina)
Jan. 11, 2022
Cigarettes and filter subassemblies with squeezable flavor capsule and methods of manufacture
Patent No. 11,219,243
Improved delivery of additive materials to cigarettes is provided through the use of one or more capsules containing additive materials, such as flavor components, in the filter section of a cigarette. The capsule or capsules are provided between first and second absorbent members and the capsules are subjected to an external force, such as squeezing, by a smoker prior to or during smoking of the cigarette in order to release at least a portion of the additive material and expose the additive material to mainstream smoke passing through the filter. The capsules provide a barrier between the additive materials and other cigarettes components, such as sorbents or filter materials, in order to reduce additive material migration into the other cigarette components prior to desired use. An outer cover which is impermeable to the fluid within the capsules is provided about the capsule or capsules and the first and second absorbent members.
Inventors: Georgios D. Karles (Richmond), Jeffrey Allen (Midlothian, Virginia), Jose Nepomuceno (Beaverdam, Virginia)
Assignee: Philip Morris USA (Richmond)
Jan. 11, 2022
Receiver health systems and methods for a real time location platform
Patent No. 11,222,726
Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to facilitate proximity detection and location tracking. An example apparatus includes a real time location system (RTLS) health processor. The example RTLS health processor includes an event processor to process an event included in a message from an RTLS device to identify event information related to the RTLS device, the event relating to a health of the RTLS device and the event information including an event type and an event detail. The example RTLS health processor includes a health analyzer to compare the event detail to a prescribed bound for the event type, the event relating to a health of the device. The example RTLS health processor includes an output generator to, when the event detail is outside the prescribed bound, trigger a response to address the event with respect to the RTLS device.
Inventors: Matthew James Cannell (Glen Allen, Virginia), Philip Crawley (Glen Allen, Virginia), Shawn Reed (Glen Allen, Virginia), Ricardo Alexander (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: General Electric Co. (Schenectady, New York)
Jan. 11, 2022
Dependency analyzer in application dependency discovery, reporting, and management tool
Patent No. 11,221,854
Techniques for monitoring operating statuses of an application and its dependencies are provided. A monitoring application may collect and report the operating status of the monitored application and each dependency. Through use of existing monitoring interfaces, the monitoring application can collect operating status without requiring modification of the underlying monitored application or dependencies. The monitoring application may determine a problem service that is a root cause of an unhealthy state of the monitored application. Dependency analyzer and discovery crawler techniques may automatically configure and update the monitoring application. Machine learning techniques may be used to determine patterns of performance based on system state information associated with performance events and provide health reports relative to a baseline status of the monitored application. Also provided are techniques for testing a response of the monitored application through modifications to API calls. Such tests may be used to train the machine learning model.
Inventors: Muralidharan Balasubramanian (Gaithersburg, Maryland), Eric K. Barnum (Midlothian, Virginia), Julie Dallen (Vienna, Virginia), David Watson (Arlington, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 11, 2022
Asynchronous channel based bus architecture enabling decoupled services
Patent No. 11,221,981
In an asynchronous channel based bus architecture enabling decoupled services, there is an asynchronous channel based bus having at least one channel. A first service is coupled to the asynchronous channel based bus, the first service passes messages to and receives messages on the at least one channel. A second service is also coupled to the asynchronous channel based bus, the second service also passes messages to and receive messages on the at least one channel.
Inventors: Dave Shanley (Ashland, Virginia)
Assignee: VMware (Palo Alto, California)
Jan. 11, 2022
Automated teller machine card ejection mechanism
Patent No. 11,222,514
In some implementations, an automated teller machine (ATM) may accept a card. The ATM may eject the card at a first time. The ATM may retract the card based on a determination that a threshold amount of time has elapsed from the first time and that the card has not been removed. The ATM may eject the card at a second time after retracting the card. The ATM may retract the card based on a determination that the threshold amount of time has elapsed from the second time and that the card has not been removed. The ATM may provide the card to a card storage compartment of the ATM after retracting the card and based on a determination that the card has been ejected or retracted a threshold number of times.
Inventors: Stephen Young (Keswick, Virginia), Matthew Kolesaric (Mechanicsville, Virginia), Michael Kidd (Litchfield, New Hampshire)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 11, 2022
Method for combating impulsive interference/noise in multicarrier underwater acoustic communications
Patent No. 11,223,434
A communication system includes a repetitive orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (“ROFDM”)transmitter communicating with an ROFDM receiver. The ROFDM transmitter includes an ROFDM modulator, which includes a K-point Fast Fourier Transform receiving a block of time-domain data symbols and generating an initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol. The initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol is based on a block of frequency-domain data symbols corresponding to the block of time-domain data symbols. The initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol includes an ending part. The ROFDM modulator includes an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol repeater generating a repetitive orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol by repeatedly reproducing the initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol. The modulator includes a cyclic prefix adder pretending a cyclic prefix to the repetitive orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol to generate a baseband transmitted signal. The cyclic prefix includes the ending part of the initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol. The ROFDM receiver includes an ROFDM demodulator.
Inventors: Zhiqiang Liu (Henrico, Virginia)
Assignee: The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy (Washington, D.C.)
Jan. 11, 2022
Polymer encased smokeless tobacco products
Patent No. 11,198,151
Methods for encasing bodies including smokeless tobacco or a tobacco substitute with a polymeric casing can include coating a compressed body with microfibers, applying tubular casings to compressed bodies, printing netting and webs on compressed bodies, injection molding around compressed bodies, applying a webbing to compressed bodies, placing compressed bodies into a skin forming bath, and including thermoplastic polymers in a compressed body.
Inventors: Andrew Nathan Carroll (Chester, Virginia), Shannon Maxwell Black (Richmond), Yan Helen Sun (Midlothian, Virginia), William J. Burke (Nashville, Tennessee), Christopher Joseph Dinovi (Ruther Glen, Virginia), David Phillips (Richmond), Jason Andrew Macko (Richmond), Robert Smith (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Dec. 14, 2021
Cartridge and e-vaping device with serpentine heater
Patent No. 11,197,500
A cartridge of an e-vaping device includes a housing extending in a longitudinal direction, a reservoir in the housing, a heater in the housing, and an absorbent material at least partially surrounding the sinusoidal shaped member. The reservoir is configured to store a pre-vapor formulation. The heater has a sinusoidal shaped member translating about an elliptical shape to define a channel there through. The absorbent material is in fluid communication with the reservoir.
Inventors: Shmuel Gavrielov (N. Miami Beach, Flordia), Yuval Malka (Richmond), Rangaraj Sundar (Richmond), Isaac Weigensberg (Richmond), David Rubli (Revava, Israel), Moshe Eliyahu (Beit Shemesh, Israel), Arye Weigensberg (Richmond), Scott A. Fath (Richmond), Christopher S. Tucker (Midlothian, Virginia), William J. Bogdziewicz (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Dec. 14, 2021
Electronic smoking article
Patent No. 11,197,499
An electronic smoking article includes a liquid aerosol formulation, a heater operable to at least partially volatilize the liquid aerosol formulation and form an aerosol and a tubular filter segment downstream of the heater. The tubular filter segment is operable to selectively filter aerosol particles and vapors from the aerosol.
Inventors: San Li (Midlothian, Virginia), Georgios D. Karles (Richmond), Richard Jupe (Richmond), Gerd Kobal (Sandy Hook, Virginia), Munmaya K. Mishra (Manakin Sabot, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Dec. 14, 2021
Microscale whole blood coagulation assay platform
Patent No. 11,199,533
A blood clot retraction assay device and methods of measuring whole-blood clot retractive forces during coagulation are described. When placed in proximity to a micro-beam, a blood droplet attaches thereto, applying a force to the micro-beam during clot formation. Using Piezoresistive micro-beams or other Piezoresistive components disposed upon such micro-beams, the device measures retractive force of a blood droplet based upon changes in resistance. The sensitivity of such measurements allows use of small quantities of blood for measurement, between 15 microliters and 300 microliters. The device further permits continuous measurement of coagulation, allowing measurement of distinct reaction, contraction development, and fibrinolysis phases for each blood sample.
Inventors: Jianping Fu (Ann Arbor, Michigan), Kevin R. Ward (Glen Allen, Virginia), Zida Li (Ann Arbor, Michigan), Xiang Li (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Assignee: The Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Dec. 14, 2021
Cathode-minimized stimulation programming
Patent No. 11,198,012
Programming a stimulator device to deliver a stimulation therapy at high-density parameter settings using a cathode-minimized electrode configuration determined to induce paresthesia over a patient pain pattern at low-density parameter settings.
Inventors: Hector Cantua (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Medtronic (Minneapolis, Minneapolis)
Dec. 14, 2021
Change monitoring and detection for a cloud computing environment
Patent No. 11,201,865
Aspects described herein allow for systems and methods to monitor production changes to resources in a cloud computing environment and determine whether those changes were performed in accordance with a change management policy. A change order monitoring application receives data from cloud computing audit logs to detect infrastructure changes and combines that data with application information to determine which application was affected. The change order monitoring application then uses a machine learning algorithm to cluster multiple change events together when it is likely that the change events were part of the same change. If cluster of change activity does not appear to be authorized, the change order monitoring application sends an alert to a change management team and an application team to get more information about the activity.
Inventors: Daniel W. File (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Hao Liu (Reston, Virginia), Rajesh Kanna Durairaj (Plano, Texas), Peter Terrana (Mechanicsville, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Dec. 14, 2021
Artificial surfing reef construction method
Patent No. 11,198,983
The present invention relates to a new artificial surfing reef construction method, using geosynthetic cementitious composite mat, with a top coating of plasticized gypsum composition. The current invention artificial surfing reef construction method, can be built in surfing lakes, water basins, pools, lagoons, ponds, reservoirs, rivers, streams and bodies of water.
Inventors: Walter Judson Bennett (Mechanicsville, Virginia)
Assignee: N/A
Product package, display card, clip and blank therefor
Patent No. 11,203,476
Aspects of the disclosure relate to a package, a product carrier, clip and a blank for forming the product carrier. An aspect of the invention provides a package comprising a display card and a clip. An article is mounted to the display card by the clip. The display card comprises a front panel and a rear panel. The clip comprises a front wall and opposed side walls. The clip together with at least one of the front and rear panels forms a tubular structure for receiving a part of the article. The article comprises at least one limb. The article is mounted to the display card by the at least one limb which extends through the tubular structure.
Inventors: Matthew E. Zacherle (Chesterfield, Virginia), Cullen B. Rosenbrien (Richmond)
Assignee: Westrock MWV (Atlanta, Georgia)
Dec. 21, 2021
Delta connected resonant turn off circuits
Patent No. 11,211,816
A static transfer switch is provided for supplying power to a load alternately from two different power sources. Switching between the two power sources may occur within a fraction of one electrical cycle. In response to sensing degraded performance in the power source supplying the load, resonant turn off circuits connected directly to the main switches of two phases of the power source are actuated to commutate the respective main switches. The main switch of the third phase is commutated with one or more of the resonant turn off circuits through the delta side of a transformer connected to the three phases of the power source.
Inventors: Veerakumar Bose (Richmond), Thomas Kendzia III (Henrico, Virginia), Christopher Alan Belcastro (Mechanicsville, Virginia)
Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (Baden, CH)
Dec. 28, 2021
Determining specific terms for contactless card activation
Patent No. 11,210,656
Systems, methods, articles of manufacture, and computer-readable media for determining specific terms to activate a contactless card. An application executing on a server may receive a request from a device specifying a uniform resource locator comprising encrypted data, the encrypted data based at least in part on a private key assigned to a contactless card. The application may decrypt the encrypted data and determine a type of the contactless card. The application may determine a plurality of terms associated with the type of the contactless card and transmit the terms to a web browser on the device. The application may receive, from the web browser, an indication specifying acceptance of the plurality of terms. The application may store, based on the decryption of the encrypted data and the received indication specifying acceptance of the terms, an indication in a database specifying the contactless card is activated for use.
Inventors: Jeffrey Rule (Chevy Chase, Maryland), Marisa Thomas (Richmond), Amy Apponyi (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Dec. 28, 2021
Systems and methods for providing cash redemption to a third party
Patent No. 11,210,643
A system includes one or more memory devices storing instructions, and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to perform steps of a method. Upon receiving a request to provide cash redemption to a third party from a provider client terminal, the system may allocate an amount of cash to a temporary financial account and generate a temporary access code that may be used to access the cash in the temporary financial account. The system may transmit the temporary access code to a recipient client terminal and upon an ATM terminal’s receipt of the input access code, the system may authorize the withdrawal of the amount of cash.
Inventors: Angela Baber (Richmond), Peter Davey (Powhatan, Virginia), Abhinav Agrawal (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Walter Avery Miller (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Dec. 28, 2021
Airship powered aerospace vehicle
Patent No. 11,208,192
The present invention relates to an aerospace vehicle comprising an airplane or spacecraft, operatively coupled to an airship balloon containing lighter than air gas adapted to elevate the vehicle. A control system adapted to deflate the balloon upon reaching a predetermined altitude by directing the gas for powering the vehicle at greater speed. The balloon can be re-inflated for decreasing the speed of the vehicle upon reaching a destination and deflated in a controlled manner for landing the vehicle or disengaged from the vehicle upon transferring the gas from the balloon to a propulsion system of the vehicle.
Inventors: Kevin Arash Peyman (Richmond), Nazmi Peyman (Richmond)
Assignee: N/A
Dec. 28, 2021
Intraoral fluid delivery system and method
Patent No. 11,207,242
A system for intraoral fluid delivery comprises a rate-controlled and/or volume-controlled fluid supply device, a reservoir for holding one or more fluids to be delivered to a patient’s oral cavity, a mouthpiece to be worn by a patient at least partially within the patient’s oral cavity, and tubing to carry the one or more fluids from the fluid supply device to the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece comprises a fluid inlet adjacent and/or exterior to the patient’s oral cavity when the mouthpiece is worn by the patient, a fluid outlet posterior to the fluid inlcet, and a fluid channel therebetween.
Inventors: Jeffrey Ward Cash (Richmond)
Assignee: Jeffrey Ward Cash (Richmond)
Dec. 28, 2021
Systems and methods for manufacturing a ring from a metal sheet
Patent No. 11,207,722
A method for manufacturing a ring includes clamping a first region of a metal sheet against a mandrel, and, while the first region of the metal sheet is clamped against the mandrel, bending the metal sheet around the mandrel to join opposite end faces of the metal sheet and form the ring shaped to the mandrel. A system for manufacturing a ring from a metal sheet includes (a) a mandrel having a ring-shaped surface, (b) a clamp facing the ring-shaped surface and configured to clamp a first region of a metal sheet to the mandrel, and (c) a plurality of dies configured to bend the metal sheet around the mandrel, while the clamp clamps the first region to the mandrel, to join opposite end faces of the metal sheet and form a ring shaped to the ring-shaped surface.
Inventors: Brian Ford (Mosley, Virginia), James Myers (Chesterfield, Virginia), Edgar Hernandez (Chesterfield, Virginia)
Assignee: Amsted Rail Co. (Chicago, Illinois)
Dec. 28, 2021
Dynamic sensing updates using postural input in a multiple device cardiac rhythm management system
Patent No. 11,207,532
Methods and systems in which a first medical device provides patient status details to a second medical device. Patient status details may include one or more of patient posture and/or patient activity level, or other indications of patient status. The second medical device, in response to information about patient status and changes in patient status, uses a sensing configuration management function to respond to and accommodate the change in patient status. In an example, a first medical device monitors patient posture and communicates information related to patient posture to a second medical device, which then tailors sensing configurations to the patient posture.
Inventors: Steven Lee Eddy (Chesterfield, Virginia), Brendan Early Koop (Ham Lake, Minneapolis)
Assignee: Cardiac Pacemakers (St. Paul, Minneapolis)
Dec. 28, 2021
Dark tobacco inbreds and hybrids comprising reduced nicotine demethylation and nornicotine
Patent No. 11,206,778
The present disclosure provides tobacco inbred plants TND950 (phph) SRC, Narrow Leaf Madole (phph) SRC, Narrow Leaf Madole SRC, CMS TND950 SRC, CMS Narrow Leaf Madole SRC, and CMS KY171 SRC, and hybrids PD7305 SRC, PD7309 SRC, PD7312 SRC, PD7318 SRC, and PD7319 SRC. The present disclosure also provides parts of such plants and products made from those parts. The present disclosure also includes progeny of the provided plants including hybrids.
Inventors: Marcos Fernando de Godoy Lusso (Chesterfield, Virginia), Andrew Carl Adams (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Dec. 28, 2021
Mobile multi-feature product authentication
Patent No. 11,216,933
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, system and/or mobile device for authenticating security features, the mobile device for authenticating security features includes at least one sensor for detecting security features, a memory having stored thereon computer readable instructions, and at least one processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions to receive a target image of a product to be authenticated, the product including at least one security feature, identify the product to be authenticated based on the target image and product information stored in a product database, obtain sensor configuration information for the at least one sensor associated with the at least one security feature of the product based on the identified product, examine the at least one security feature of the product with the at least one sensor based on the obtained sensor configuration information, and authenticate the product based on results from the examination.
Inventors: Kevin Harrup (Hopewell, Virginia), Rosana Altoveros (Richmond), Mike Shaw (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Methods, systems, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer readable media for validating encoded information
Patent No. 11,216,796
A method, system and/or device for validating encoded information, the validation device including a memory having computer readable instructions stored thereon and a database including a plurality of validation rules, and at least one processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions to receive formatted data from at least one formatting device, extract attributes associated with encoded information from the formatted data, the extracted attributes including at least one of a formatting device identifier, a store identifier, value information from the encoded information, and time information, validate the formatted data based on the extracted attributes and the plurality of validation rules, store the results of the validation and at least a subset of the extracted attributes in the database, generate modified formatted data compatible with a POS terminal based on the results of the validation, and transmit the modified formatted data to the at least one of formatting device.
Inventors: Michael Fitzsimmons (Richmond), William M. Houston (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond, VA)
Jan. 4, 2022
Low porosity high strength UHMW PE fabrics
Patent No. 11,214,037
Low porosity fibrous materials, articles formed therefrom and processes for their formation. Multiple plies of high tenacity, multifilament elongate bodies are optionally stitched together and pressed as a set without being laminated, adhered or thermally fused to each other. Pressing spreads the component filaments of the elongate bodies, forcing the filaments to occupy spaces between adjacent fibers and thereby reducing porosity of the complete multi-ply material.
Inventors: Ashok Bhatnagar (Richmond), Huy Xuan Nguyen (Midlothian, Virginia), Lori L. Wagner (Richmond)
Assignee: Honeywell International (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Jan. 4. 2022
Methods and machines for making oral products
Patent No. 11,213,988
A method of forming an oral product includes extruding a mixture, conveying the extruded mixture through one or more pairs of forming rollers, and cutting the extruded mixture into one or more oral products. The mixture can include polymer and at least one flavorant, sweetener, active ingredient, or combination thereof. The extruded mixture forms an extrudate having a predetermined cross-sectional shape. The one or more pairs of forming rollers abut to define a passage there between as each forming roller rotates. The passage has a cross-sectional shape corresponding to the predetermined cross-sectional shape. The method can be performed using a machine including an extruder, one or more pairs of forming rollers, and a cutting device.
Inventors: Carl Gregory Miller (Richmond), Charles Lester Dendy (Ruther Glen, Virginia), Jeremy J. Straight (Midlothian, Virginia), Gregory James Griscik (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Material compression and portioning
Patent No. 11,213,967
An apparatus includes channel assemblies in a rotatable section, a cutting assembly, a discharge assembly, and a cleanout assembly. The channel assembly holds a bulk instance of compressible material extending through upper and lower channels of a continuous channel. The cutting assembly moves in relation to the channel assembly to isolate the upper and lower channels, severing upper and lower material portions of the bulk instance. The discharge assembly directs gas into the lower channel of a channel assembly to discharge the lower material portion from the lower channel, based on radial alignment of a conduit assembly of the channel assembly with a conduit assembly of the discharge assembly. The cleanout assembly supplies a fluid through the conduit assembly of the channel assembly, based on radially alignment of the conduit assembly of the channel assembly with a conduit assembly of the cleanout assembly.
Inventors: Dwight David Williams (Powhatan, Virginia), James David Evans (Chesterfield, Virginia), Patrick Sean McElhinney (Chesterfield, Virginia), Jarrod Wayne Chalkley (Mechanicsville, Virginia), Christopher R. Newcomb (Richmond), Robert V. Powell (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Secure file sharing method and system
Patent No. 11,218,312
Systems and methods are provided for securely sharing data. A processor forms two or more shares of a data set encrypted with a symmetric key, the data set associated with a first user device, and causes the encrypted data set shares to be stored separately from each other in at least one remote storage location. The processor generates first and second encrypted keys by encrypting data indicative of the symmetric key with a first asymmetric key of first and second asymmetric key pairs associated with the first user device and a second user device, respectively, and causes the encrypted key to be stored in the at least one storage location. To restore the data set, a predetermined number of the two or more encrypted data set shares and at least one of the second asymmetric keys of the first and second asymmetric key pairs are needed.
Inventors: Mark S. O’Hare (Coto De Caza, California), Rick L. Orsini (Flower Mound, Texas), Don Martin (Chesterfield, Virginia)
Assignee: Security First Corp. (Austin, Texas)
Jan. 4. 2022
Combinations of phosphorous-containing compounds for use as anti-wear additives in lubricant compositions
Patent No. 11,214,750
The present disclosure relates to a lubricant composition comprising a first phosphorus compound, a second phosphorus compound, and a third phosphorus compound, wherein the first phosphorus compound is present in the lubricant composition in an amount to provide between about 120 and 350 ppm phosphorus. The lubricant composition may provide robust anti-wear and reduced pitting.
Inventors: Jeffrey L. Milner (Chesterfield, Virginia)
Assignee: Afton Chemical Corp. (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Silicone functionalized viscosity index improver
Patent No. 11,214,753
A multi-functional olefin copolymer viscosity index improver and a lubricating oil composition including such lubricant additive that provides improved viscometric properties and helps reduce low speed pre-ignition events at the same time. In one approach, the multi-functional olefin copolymer viscosity index improver is silicone functionalized and includes an acylated olefin copolymer with aminosilane or aminosiloxone pendant or side groups.
Inventors: Arturo Carranza (Glen Allen, Virginia), Kongsheng Yang (Glen Allen, Virginia), Ashutosh Gupta (Henrico, Virginia), Sheng Jiang (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: Afton Chemical Corp. (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2022
Hold a dental cleaning device on food related accessories
Patent No. 11,213,121
An ice cream toothbrush apparatus includes an edible ice cream segment and a toothbrush segment. The toothbrush segment includes a handle and a brush head, while the ice cream segment includes a handle and an edible ice cream head. The ice cream handle and toothbrush handle are configured to couple together so that the ice cream handle and toothbrush handle form a continuous handle between the ice cream head and the toothbrush head.
Inventors: Nevaan Kothari (Glen Allen, Virginia), Riaan Kothari (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: N/A
Jan. 4, 2022
Electronic vaping device and cartridge for electronic vaping device
Patent No. 11,213,068
A cartridge includes an air flow passageway defining a first airflow direction, a heating element having a longitudinal axis, the longitudinal axis perpendicular to the first airflow direction, and a jacket at least partially surrounding the heating element along the longitudinal axis of the heating element and defining a second airflow direction perpendicular to the first airflow direction.
Inventors: San Li (Midlothian, Virginia), Barry S. Smith (Hopewell, Virginia)), Christopher S. Tucker (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 4, 2021
Systems and methods for providing card interactions
Patent No. 11,216,806
A method including receiving a first application user credential associated with a user profile; comparing, for a first match, the first application user credential with a stored second application user credential, wherein the stored second application user credential is associated with a user identity; and responsive to finding a first match, verifying the user identity by performing the following: communicating with a card using near field communication; receiving a public key of a key pair of the card and cardholder identification information of an account holder of the card; instructing the card to generate a digital signature; receiving the digital signature from the card; verifying the digital signature using the public key; and comparing, for a second match, at least a portion of the user identity with at least a portion of the cardholder identification information.
Inventors: Lara Mossler (Farmville, Virginia), Aravindhan Manivannan (Henrico, Virginia), Baskar Dilli (McLean, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 4, 2022
On-line oil and foreign matter detection system and method employing hyperspectral imaging
Patent No. 11,222,203
A method for removing foreign matter from an agricultural product stream of a manufacturing process. The method includes conveying a product stream past an inspection station; scanning a region of the agricultural product stream as it passes the inspection station using at least one light source of a single or different wavelengths; generating hyperspectral images from the scanned region; determining a spectral fingerprint for the agricultural product stream from the hyperspectral images; comparing the spectral fingerprint obtained in step (c) to a spectral fingerprint database containing a plurality of fingerprints using a computer processor to determine whether foreign matter is present and, if present, generating a signal in response thereto; and removing a portion of the conveyed product stream in response to the signal. A system for detecting foreign matter within an agricultural product stream is also provided.
Inventors: Henry M. Dante (Midlothian, Virginia), Samuel Timothy Henry (Richmond), Seetharama C. Deevi (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 11, 2022
Compositions and methods for producing tobacco plants and products having altered alkaloid levels with desirable leaf quality
Patent No. 11,220,695
The present disclosure includes methods and compositions for improving leaf quality in low-alkaloid tobacco plants, e.g., by combining inducible promoters and non-coding RNAs for suppression of an ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) gene. Also provided are low alkaloid tobacco plants with normal, suppressed, or otherwise altered polyamine levels. Further provided are tobacco plants with altered total alkaloid, nicotine levels, commercially acceptable leaf grade, their development via breeding or transgenic approaches, and production of tobacco products from these tobacco plants.
Inventors: Marcos Fernando de Godoy Lusso (Chesterfield, Virginia), James A. Strickland (Richmond), Jesse Frederick (Richmond), Dongmei Xu (Glen Allen, Virginia), Chengalrayan Kudithipudi (Midlothian, Virginia)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
Jan. 11, 2022
Amorphous silica particles and methods of producing amorphous silica particles
Patent No. 11,220,618
An amorphous silica particles, gravel, other particles and products provide a safe replacement for crystalline silica sand, gravel, or particles in consumer and industrial applications wherein dust may be produced during use or installation. The amorphous silica particles, gravel, other particles or products may comprise components that increase the density, hardness, and other properties from container glass. These components include, but are not limited to, iron oxides, aluminum oxides, and zirconium oxides.
Inventors: Scott D. Trom (Spring, Texas), Bernard G. Pike (Richmond)
Assignee: Xaris Holdings (Spring, Texas)
Jan. 11, 2022
Insert and wear ring for a railway roller bearing
Patent No. 11,220,279
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, a wear ring assembly is provided for a railway roller bearing. The wear ring assembly includes a wear ring having a central opening for receiving a journal of a railway wheel assembly and an insert including a plurality of spacers configured to extend in the opening of the wear ring to separate the wear ring from the journal. The spacers are spaced apart from each other about the wear ring. The insert may include one or more flanges that separate the wear ring from a bearing cone.
Inventors: Michael Lumpkin (Richmond), Michael Mason (Richmond)
Assignee: Amsted Rail Co. (Chicago, Illinois)
Jan. 11, 2022
Carbon based materials as solid-state ligands for metal nanoparticle catalysts
Patent No. 11,219,892
High activity metal nanoparticle catalysts, such as Pd or Pt nanoparticle catalyst, are provided. Adsorption of metal precursors such as Pd or Pt precursors onto carbon based materials such as graphene followed by solventless (or low-solvent) microwave irradiation at ambient conditions results in the formation of the catalysts in which metal nanoparticles are supported on i) the surface of the carbon based materials and ii) in/on/within defects/holes in the carbon based materials.
Inventors: Stanley Eugene Gilliland (Chesterfield, Virginia), Bernard Frank Gupton (Richmond), Carlos E. Castano Londono (Richmond), John R. Regalbuto (Columbia, South Carolina), John Meynard M. Tengco (Columbia, South Carolina)
Assignee: Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond) & University of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina)
Jan. 11, 2022
Cigarettes and filter subassemblies with squeezable flavor capsule and methods of manufacture
Patent No. 11,219,243
Improved delivery of additive materials to cigarettes is provided through the use of one or more capsules containing additive materials, such as flavor components, in the filter section of a cigarette. The capsule or capsules are provided between first and second absorbent members and the capsules are subjected to an external force, such as squeezing, by a smoker prior to or during smoking of the cigarette in order to release at least a portion of the additive material and expose the additive material to mainstream smoke passing through the filter. The capsules provide a barrier between the additive materials and other cigarettes components, such as sorbents or filter materials, in order to reduce additive material migration into the other cigarette components prior to desired use. An outer cover which is impermeable to the fluid within the capsules is provided about the capsule or capsules and the first and second absorbent members.
Inventors: Georgios D. Karles (Richmond), Jeffrey Allen (Midlothian, Virginia), Jose Nepomuceno (Beaverdam, Virginia)
Assignee: Philip Morris USA (Richmond)
Jan. 11, 2022
Receiver health systems and methods for a real time location platform
Patent No. 11,222,726
Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to facilitate proximity detection and location tracking. An example apparatus includes a real time location system (RTLS) health processor. The example RTLS health processor includes an event processor to process an event included in a message from an RTLS device to identify event information related to the RTLS device, the event relating to a health of the RTLS device and the event information including an event type and an event detail. The example RTLS health processor includes a health analyzer to compare the event detail to a prescribed bound for the event type, the event relating to a health of the device. The example RTLS health processor includes an output generator to, when the event detail is outside the prescribed bound, trigger a response to address the event with respect to the RTLS device.
Inventors: Matthew James Cannell (Glen Allen, Virginia), Philip Crawley (Glen Allen, Virginia), Shawn Reed (Glen Allen, Virginia), Ricardo Alexander (Glen Allen, Virginia)
Assignee: General Electric Co. (Schenectady, New York)
Jan. 11, 2022
Dependency analyzer in application dependency discovery, reporting, and management tool
Patent No. 11,221,854
Techniques for monitoring operating statuses of an application and its dependencies are provided. A monitoring application may collect and report the operating status of the monitored application and each dependency. Through use of existing monitoring interfaces, the monitoring application can collect operating status without requiring modification of the underlying monitored application or dependencies. The monitoring application may determine a problem service that is a root cause of an unhealthy state of the monitored application. Dependency analyzer and discovery crawler techniques may automatically configure and update the monitoring application. Machine learning techniques may be used to determine patterns of performance based on system state information associated with performance events and provide health reports relative to a baseline status of the monitored application. Also provided are techniques for testing a response of the monitored application through modifications to API calls. Such tests may be used to train the machine learning model.
Inventors: Muralidharan Balasubramanian (Gaithersburg, Maryland), Eric K. Barnum (Midlothian, Virginia), Julie Dallen (Vienna, Virginia), David Watson (Arlington, Virginia)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 11, 2022
Asynchronous channel based bus architecture enabling decoupled services
Patent No. 11,221,981
In an asynchronous channel based bus architecture enabling decoupled services, there is an asynchronous channel based bus having at least one channel. A first service is coupled to the asynchronous channel based bus, the first service passes messages to and receives messages on the at least one channel. A second service is also coupled to the asynchronous channel based bus, the second service also passes messages to and receive messages on the at least one channel.
Inventors: Dave Shanley (Ashland, Virginia)
Assignee: VMware (Palo Alto, California)
Jan. 11, 2022
Automated teller machine card ejection mechanism
Patent No. 11,222,514
In some implementations, an automated teller machine (ATM) may accept a card. The ATM may eject the card at a first time. The ATM may retract the card based on a determination that a threshold amount of time has elapsed from the first time and that the card has not been removed. The ATM may eject the card at a second time after retracting the card. The ATM may retract the card based on a determination that the threshold amount of time has elapsed from the second time and that the card has not been removed. The ATM may provide the card to a card storage compartment of the ATM after retracting the card and based on a determination that the card has been ejected or retracted a threshold number of times.
Inventors: Stephen Young (Keswick, Virginia), Matthew Kolesaric (Mechanicsville, Virginia), Michael Kidd (Litchfield, New Hampshire)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Virginia)
Jan. 11, 2022
Method for combating impulsive interference/noise in multicarrier underwater acoustic communications
Patent No. 11,223,434
A communication system includes a repetitive orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (“ROFDM”)transmitter communicating with an ROFDM receiver. The ROFDM transmitter includes an ROFDM modulator, which includes a K-point Fast Fourier Transform receiving a block of time-domain data symbols and generating an initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol. The initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol is based on a block of frequency-domain data symbols corresponding to the block of time-domain data symbols. The initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol includes an ending part. The ROFDM modulator includes an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol repeater generating a repetitive orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol by repeatedly reproducing the initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol. The modulator includes a cyclic prefix adder pretending a cyclic prefix to the repetitive orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol to generate a baseband transmitted signal. The cyclic prefix includes the ending part of the initial orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbol. The ROFDM receiver includes an ROFDM demodulator.
Inventors: Zhiqiang Liu (Henrico, Virginia)
Assignee: The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy (Washington, D.C.)
Jan. 11, 2022