Insulation Panel
Patent No. 11993445
An insulation panel has an insulation core layer disposed that includes at least a first particulate and a second particulate of a plurality of discrete puffed polysaccharide particulates that defines a plurality of voids within the core layer. The first particulate is at least partially adhered to at least the second particulate at one or more bonded areas without the use of external non-water-soluble adhesives.
Inventors: Charles-Alexandre Vincent (St. Bruno de Montarville, Canada.); James McGoff (Silver Spring, Md.)
Assignee: TemperPack Technologies (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Electronic Smoking Article
Patent No. 11992059
An electronic smoking article or electronic vaping article includes a reservoir containing a liquid material and having an outlet, a capillary having a capillary inlet and a capillary outlet, the capillary inlet of the capillary in communication with the outlet of the reservoir, a heater operable to heat the capillary to a temperature sufficient to at least initially volatilize liquid material contained within the capillary, and a shuttle valve between the outlet of the reservoir and the capillary inlet. The shuttle valve is operable to prevent release of liquid material from the reservoir when the shuttle valve is in a closed position and is operable to release liquid material from the reservoir when the shuttle valve is in an open position.
Inventors: David B. Kane (Richmond); David R. Schiff (Highland Park, Va.); Tony Gatta (Philadelphia, Pa.); Chris Carrick (Newark, N.J.); Jonathan D. Albert (Philadelphia, Pa.);
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Combined Cartridge For Electronic Vaping Device
Patent No. 11992051
A cartridge for an e-vaping device enables simultaneous vaporization of different pre-vapor formulations to form a vapor for vaping by an adult vaper. The cartridge includes a dispensing interface coupled to a plurality of reservoirs and a heater coupled to the dispensing interface in a housing. The dispensing interface may include a trunk and separate roots extending into separate reservoirs, such that the dispensing interface draws different pre-vapor formulations from the reservoirs to the trunk via the separate roots. The heater is coupled to the trunk, such that the heater is operable to simultaneously vaporize the different pre-vapor formulations drawn into the trunk.
Inventors: Ali Rostami (Glen Allen, Va.); Christopher S. Tucker (Midlothian, Va.); David Kane (Richmond); Peter Lipowicz (Midlothian, Va.); Georgios Karles (Richmond); Gerd Kobal (Sandy Hook, Va.); Yezdi Phitawalla (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Techniques For Generation Of Synthetic Data With Simulated Handwriting
Patent No. 11995906
Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for generating synthetic data with simulated handwriting, such as for training or evaluating a computer vision process, for instance. Some embodiments are particularly directed to creating simulated handwriting based on input text. For example, attributes of various glyphs included in typefaces stored in a vectorized graphics format may be randomized to produce randomized glyphs. The randomized glyphs may then be used to replace glyphs in an input text to generate simulated handwriting for the input text. In some embodiments, simulated handwriting may be overlaid with a background image to produce a synthetic handwriting image. In some such embodiments, noise may be introduced into the synthetic handwriting image to generate synthetic data comprising the simulated handwriting. In one embodiment, the synthetic data may simulate a handwritten check that is used to train or evaluate an optical character recognition process.
Inventors: David Saul (Richmond); Neeraj Sharma (Glen Allen, Va.); Andrew Joyner (Henrico, Va.); Kenneth B. Brewer (Vienna, Va.); Ratnakar Krishnama (Glen Allen, Va.)’
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Social Media Graphical Interface System
Patent No. 11995674
Systems and methods are disclosed for providing social media referrals based rewards to a customer. The systems and methods may provide incentives to customers of financial-service providers (“FSP”) based on their referrals to the FSP. Customer referrals may be determined for the customer by gathering data regarding referrals received from messages distributed by the customer via social media. Based on the referrals, an amount of rewards may be provided for business transactions initiated by the customer.
Inventors: Bor J Sun (San Francisco, Calif.); Jonathan R. Turfboer (Richmond); Philip Kedy (Midlothian, Va.); George H. Williams (Midlothian, Va.); Matthew S. Butterworth (Richmond)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Carton And Blank Therefor
Patent No. 11993439
Aspects of the disclosure relate to a carton for packaging one or more article and a blank for forming the carton. The carton comprises a plurality of panels forming walls of a tubular structure including a top wall, a first side wall, a base wall, and a second side wall. The carton comprises a carrying handle having at least one handle panel hingedly connected at a proximal end thereof to one of the plurality of panels. The hinged connection is interrupted by at least one cut line defining a tab. The tab is struck from one of a portion of the one of the plurality of panels. The tab is integral with the at least one handle panel and extends from the hinged connection internally of the carton when in use.
Inventor: Nathaniel B. Ball (Richmond)
Assignee: WestRock Packaging Systems (Atlanta, Ga.)
May 28, 2024
Apparatus For Securing Loads
Patent No. 11993437
The invention to which this application relates to improvements to a retaining band which can be used to securely locate, form and retain a load of items or goods, in one embodiment on a pallet, and thereby retain the said items or goods as a single integral package. The invention allows for the adaptation of the retaining bands to be detectable when with a predetermined range of detection apparatus such as X-ray and/or metal detection apparatus so that should the retaining band or fragments thereof be discarded or dislodged, the presence of the same is detectable and therefore prevented from becoming a potential contaminant or safety hazard.
Inventor: Sean Ronald Smith (Richmond)
Assignee: Detectamet Limited (Pocklington, Great Britain)
May 28, 2024
Portion Of An Electronic Vaping Device Formed Of An Oxygen Sequestering Agent
Patent No. 11992823
An electronic vaping device includes a housing extending in a longitudinal direction, a reservoir in the housing, the reservoir configured to store a pre-vapor formulation, a heater in the housing, the heater configured to heat the pre-vapor formulation, at least one portion formed of a material including at least one polymer and at least one oxygen sequestering agent, and a power supply.
Inventors: Jason Andrew Macko (Richmond); Georgios Karles (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Heat Diffuser For An Aerosol-generating System
Patent No. 11997776
A heat diffuser for use with an electrically-operated aerosol-generating device is configured to be removably coupled to the aerosol-generating device. The heat diffuser includes a non-combustible porous body configured to absorb heat from an electric heating element. The porous body is formed from a heat storage material such that, in use, air drawn through the porous body is heated by the heat absorbed by and stored in the porous body. Example embodiments also provide heated aerosol-generating article and an aerosol-generating system, both comprising the heat diffuser.
Inventor: Michel Thorens (Moudon, Switzerland)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Non-combustible Vaping Device
Patent No. 11992605
A vapor cartridge for a non-combustible vaping device may be configured to receive a flavor cartridge, generate a vapor, and direct the generated vapor through the flavor cartridge to provide a flavored vapor. The flavor cartridge may include an instance of electrically conductive material extending at least partially around the flavor cartridge. The vapor cartridge may include an authentication assembly including a set of electrically conductive instruments may independently and directly contact the instance of electrically conductive material of the flavor cartridge inserted into the vapor cartridge, such that the electrically conductive instruments are electrically connected to each other through the instance of electrically conductive material of the flavor cartridge. The vapor cartridge may be coupled with a base that includes a control circuitry configured to control vapor generation by the vapor generator, based on the electrically conductive instruments being electrically connected to each other through the flavor cartridge.
Inventors: Terry Bache (Richmond); Ryan Newcomb (Richmond); Eric A. Hawes (Midlothian, Va.); Dmitriy Kirzhner (Richmond); Raymond Lau (Richmond); Danielle Crawford (Richmond); Dwight D. Williams (Richmond); William Eugene Rabbitt (Chesterland, Ohio); Carl Roy Stevens (Stow, Ohio)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Methods, Systems, And Media For A Microservices Orchestration Engine
Patent No. 11994976
Systems, methods and media are directed to a microservices orchestration engine, which includes an engine framework and an orchestrator. The engine framework combines an input request with framework specifications to form a job stream and define communication between the orchestrator and microservice provision components that execute microservices to be executed in a non-production environment during a test of computer-executable code. The orchestrator receives the formed job stream and sends a plurality of tasks based on the formed job stream. The tasks are executed by respective microservice provision components that execute microservices, enabling the test of computer-executable code in the non-production environment.
Inventors: Neeraj Sharma (Glen Allen, Va.); Jeffrey A. Tyree (Powhatan, Va.); Suresh Vadigi (Kennett Square, Pa.); Siwatm Piyasirisilp (Herndon, Va.); Andrew Tony Hartwell (Prosper, Texas)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Systems And Methods For Configuring A Mobile Device To Automatically Initiate Payments
Patent No. 11995631
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 Y. Moreton (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Instrument Conveyance Using A Shuttle
Patent No. 11993467
A system for instrument conveyance may include at least one handling unit configured to dispense or accept instruments; at least one head unit configured to obtain input from a user in connection with a transaction involving instruments, where the at least one head unit includes a presentation opening between an interior side and an exterior side of the at least one head unit; a transportation system disposed between the at least one handling unit and the at least one head unit; and a shuttle device configured to transport instruments between the at least one handling unit and the at least one head unit via the transportation system, where the shuttle device includes an internal compartment for containing instruments, and where the shuttle device is configured to expose the internal compartment to the exterior side of the at least one head unit via the presentation opening.
Inventors: Steve Faletti (Brooklyn, N.Y.); David Kelly Wurmfeld (Fairfax, Va.); Scott R. Neilson (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Aerosol Sprayers And Methods Of Using The Same
Patent No. 11993447
An aerosol sprayer may be connected to an aerosol container to form an aerosol delivery system. The aerosol sprayer includes a base secured to the container, a cap secured to the base, a pivoting trigger and a nozzle which is slidably movable relative to the trigger between an extended operable position and a retracted, locked position. The nozzle and trigger have interfitting locking structures to prevent actuation of the trigger when the nozzle is in the retracted locked position.
Inventors: Peter Beegle (Midlothian, Va.); Jacob VanBecelaere (Olathe, Kan.); Bryan Fields (Overland Park, Kan.); Brian VanHouten (Kansas City, Mo.)
Assignee: Silgan Dispensing Systems Corp. (Grandview, Mo.)
May 28, 2024
Voice Assistance In Virtual Reality Environments And Augmented Reality Environments
Patent No. 12001752
In some implementations, a voice assistance device may receive an indication of a visualization change associated with the virtual or augmented reality environment. The voice assistance device may determine that a change value, calculated based on the indication of the visualization change, satisfies a relevance threshold. The voice assistance device may apply, based on the indicator of change satisfying the relevance threshold, a description model to determine at least one sentence describing the virtual or augmented reality environment. The voice assistance device may apply a text-to-speech model to the at least one sentence to generate a digital sound signal and may transmit, to an output component, the digital sound signal.
Inventors: Julian Duque (Arlington, Va.); Tania Cruz Morales (Washington, D.C.); Kevin M. Lowe (Richmond); Helen Temesghen-Blount (Washington, D.C.); Luis Catacora (Vienna, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
June 4, 2024
Augmented Reality Smartglasses For Use At Cultural Sites
Patent No. 12001974
Described augmented reality (AR) systems and devices provide users with enhanced human sensorial perceptions using digital content. More particularly, the system software platform and methodology of smartglasses create an immersive AR experience for visitors of cultural sites using object identification and optical flow tracking. Using graphical user interfaces, the system enables platform administrators to convert disparate cultural site content to coherent AR story-telling experiences called palimpsests or tours. During a learning phase, points of interest are catalogued and images are taken at different angles and under different lighting conditions to create markers. Using geolocation systems, data is loaded on the smartglasses a roomful at a time to increase efficiency. In use, AR content is generated after points of interest markers are matched using similarity and threshold algorithms. Optical flow tracking is used to track user movement and enhance the AR experience.
Inventors: Luigi Percuoco (Monza, Italy); Antonio Scuderi (Verona, Italy)
Assignee: Artglass USA (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Composition And Methods For Producing Tobacco Plants And Products Having Increased Phenylalanine And Reduced Tobacco-specific Nitrosamines (TSNAs)
Patent No. 11999961
The present disclosure provides approaches for reducing tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) in tobacco. Some of these approaches include genetically engineering tobacco plants to increase one or more antioxidants, increase oxygen radicle absorbance capacity (ORAC), increase phenylalanine, or reduce nitrite. Also provided are methods and compositions for producing modified tobacco plants and tobacco products therefrom comprising reduced TSNAs.
Inventors: Chengalrayan Kudithpudi (Midlothian, Va.); Dongmei Xu (Glen Allen, Va.); James Strickland (Richmond); Yanxin Shen (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Mannich-based Quaternary Ammonium Salt Fuel Additives
Patent No. 11999917
The present disclosure provides fuel additives including Mannich-based quaternary ammonium salt additives, fuel compositions including such additives, and Methods of improving performance of fuel injector using such additives.
Inventors: Scott D. Schwab (Richmond); Geeta Vadehra (Richmond); Michel Nuckols (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: Afton Chemical Corp. (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Aerosol-generating System Including An Aerosol-generating Article, And An Electrically Operated Aerosol-generating Device
Patent No. 11998682
The aerosol-generating system includes an aerosol-generating article with an aerosol-forming substrate, the aerosol-generating article having an outlet end and a distal end upstream from the outlet end. The system also includes an electrically operated aerosol-generating device including a housing having a cavity configured to receive the distal end of the aerosol-generating article, an electric heating element, and a heat diffuser including a non-combustible porous body for absorbing heat from the electric heating element such that, in use, air drawn through the aerosol-generating article from the distal end to the outlet end is heated by the heat absorbed in the porous body.
Inventor: Michel Thorens (Moudon, Switzerland)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Capsules With Internal Channels, Heat-not-burn (HNB) Aerosol-generating Devices, And Methods Of Generating An Aerosol
Patent No. 11998050
A capsule for an aerosol-generating device may include a housing defining inlet openings, outlet openings, and internal channels between the inlet openings and the outlet openings. The internal channels are configured to hold an aerosol-forming substrate. The housing is configured to facilitate a heating of the aerosol-forming substrate via conduction and/or convection so as to generate an aerosol.
Inventors: Zack Blackmon (Williamsburg, Va.); Patrick Good (Richmond); Rangaraj S. Sundar (Richmond); Jarrett Keen (Richmond); Eric Hawes (Midlothian, Va.); Yannick Hourmand (Haslingfield, Great Britain); Niall Gallager (Cambridge, Great Britain)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Garniture With Insert
Patent No. 11998039
The garniture includes at least one first garniture section with a first longitudinal length and a first upper surface, a first groove being defined within the first upper surface along the first longitudinal length, the first groove being defined by one or more first mating surfaces, and at least one first insert overlaying the first groove, an upper end of the at least first insert defining a second groove within a second upper surface of the at least one first insert, a lower end of the at least one insert including one or more second mating surfaces, a first upper portion of the first upper surface and a second upper portion of the second upper surface being substantially flush with each other.
Inventor: Dwight D. Williams (Powhatan, Va.)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Location-based Note Sharing
Patent No. 12004043
In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method that includes presenting a first user interface (UI) and a second UI on a mobile device. The first UI may include a map display and a control to compose a note. The method may include, in response to a user of the mobile device activating the control to compose the note, presenting a second UI including: an input to receive text for the note, one or more controls to select a picture for the note, and a control to save the note. The method may include, in response to the user activating the control to save the note: determining a location for the note using a geo-location sensor within the mobile device, sending the received text, the selected picture, and the location for the note to a server device, and displaying an indication of the note on the map display based on the location determined for the note.
Inventors: Arunkumar Natarajan (Glen Allen, Va.); Venkata Mandali (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
June 4, 2024
Visualizing Interest Charges Based On Payment Options
Patent No. 12002086
Systems as described herein may visualization interest charges based on payment options. Transaction information associated with a plurality of recurring payment accounts may be received. A calendar view displaying an aggregated daily balance and an aggregated interest charge may be generated. Upon receiving a transaction request with a transaction amount, a projected aggregated daily interest charge may be generated in real-time. After detecting that the projected aggregated daily interest charge exceeds a threshold amount, an alert associated with the calendar view may be generated to recommend an alternative payment method to a user device.
Inventors: Afna Kanhirothan Polil (Schaumburg, Ill.); Eric K. Barnum (Midlothian, Va.); Seshu Pitcha (Schaumburg, Ill.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
June 4, 2024
Aggregated Service Status Reporter
Patent No. 12003595
Systems as described herein may include generating an aggregated service status report for a real-time service delivery platform. A plurality of services running in a service domain may be determined. A request for a status of system behavior corresponding to a particular service may be received. Service connection details of the particular service may be discovered and metric data of real-time data movement may be tracked. Real-time snapshot aggregation of the particular service may be provided. In a variety of embodiments, a real-time system behavior report for the service across availability zones may be presented.
Inventor: Brian Burnett (Mechanicsville, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
June 4, 2024
Elevator Belt Monitoring System
Patent No. 11999594
An elevator belt monitoring apparatus includes a housing for receiving an elevator belt and a plurality of screws or pins which are operable to pierce the belt and the spaced parallel cords arranged within the belt. One screw or pin engages each cord. A plurality of bridge contacts are connected with adjacent pairs of screws or pins and signal contacts are connected with the screws or pins adjacent to the outer edges of the belts. The signal contacts are connected with a monitoring device which sends and receives signals to the contacts to provide an indication of the condition or deterioration of the belt.
Inventor: Xuefeng Ge (Henrico, Va.)
Assignee: Weidmuller Interface GmbH & Co. (Detmold, Germany)
June 4, 2024
Statistical Audibility Prediction(SAP) Of An Arbitrary Sound In The Presence Of Another Sound
Patent No. 12003951
A statistical audibility prediction (SAP) method for predicting the audibility of a signal over time at a listening location, the signal from a signal source in the presence of a concurrent masking sound or masker from a masker source. The method includes receiving, via a processor over a plurality of auditory channels, a specific loudness of the signal and masker at the listening location. The method includes calculating for each auditory channel a standard deviation of a distribution of the specific loudness of the signal and masker, and calculating, via the processor, corresponding channel-specific detectability indices (d′.sub.t,i) for each auditory channel as a function of their standard deviations. The corresponding channel-specific detectability indices are then summed to produce a total detectability index (d′.sub.t), which may be output as an electronic signal that indicates the predicted audibility vs. time, e.g., to a downstream process and/or system or offline.
Inventors: Menachem Rafaelof (Yorktown, Va.); Kyle Wendling (Henrico, Va.); Andrew W. Christian (Hampton, Va.)
Assignee: United States of America as Represented By The Administrator (Washington, D.C.)
June 4, 2024
Insulation Panel
Patent No. 11993445
An insulation panel has an insulation core layer disposed that includes at least a first particulate and a second particulate of a plurality of discrete puffed polysaccharide particulates that defines a plurality of voids within the core layer. The first particulate is at least partially adhered to at least the second particulate at one or more bonded areas without the use of external non-water-soluble adhesives.
Inventors: Charles-Alexandre Vincent (St. Bruno de Montarville, Canada.); James McGoff (Silver Spring, Md.)
Assignee: TemperPack Technologies (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Electronic Smoking Article
Patent No. 11992059
An electronic smoking article or electronic vaping article includes a reservoir containing a liquid material and having an outlet, a capillary having a capillary inlet and a capillary outlet, the capillary inlet of the capillary in communication with the outlet of the reservoir, a heater operable to heat the capillary to a temperature sufficient to at least initially volatilize liquid material contained within the capillary, and a shuttle valve between the outlet of the reservoir and the capillary inlet. The shuttle valve is operable to prevent release of liquid material from the reservoir when the shuttle valve is in a closed position and is operable to release liquid material from the reservoir when the shuttle valve is in an open position.
Inventors: David B. Kane (Richmond); David R. Schiff (Highland Park, Va.); Tony Gatta (Philadelphia, Pa.); Chris Carrick (Newark, N.J.); Jonathan D. Albert (Philadelphia, Pa.);
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Combined Cartridge For Electronic Vaping Device
Patent No. 11992051
A cartridge for an e-vaping device enables simultaneous vaporization of different pre-vapor formulations to form a vapor for vaping by an adult vaper. The cartridge includes a dispensing interface coupled to a plurality of reservoirs and a heater coupled to the dispensing interface in a housing. The dispensing interface may include a trunk and separate roots extending into separate reservoirs, such that the dispensing interface draws different pre-vapor formulations from the reservoirs to the trunk via the separate roots. The heater is coupled to the trunk, such that the heater is operable to simultaneously vaporize the different pre-vapor formulations drawn into the trunk.
Inventors: Ali Rostami (Glen Allen, Va.); Christopher S. Tucker (Midlothian, Va.); David Kane (Richmond); Peter Lipowicz (Midlothian, Va.); Georgios Karles (Richmond); Gerd Kobal (Sandy Hook, Va.); Yezdi Phitawalla (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Techniques For Generation Of Synthetic Data With Simulated Handwriting
Patent No. 11995906
Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for generating synthetic data with simulated handwriting, such as for training or evaluating a computer vision process, for instance. Some embodiments are particularly directed to creating simulated handwriting based on input text. For example, attributes of various glyphs included in typefaces stored in a vectorized graphics format may be randomized to produce randomized glyphs. The randomized glyphs may then be used to replace glyphs in an input text to generate simulated handwriting for the input text. In some embodiments, simulated handwriting may be overlaid with a background image to produce a synthetic handwriting image. In some such embodiments, noise may be introduced into the synthetic handwriting image to generate synthetic data comprising the simulated handwriting. In one embodiment, the synthetic data may simulate a handwritten check that is used to train or evaluate an optical character recognition process.
Inventors: David Saul (Richmond); Neeraj Sharma (Glen Allen, Va.); Andrew Joyner (Henrico, Va.); Kenneth B. Brewer (Vienna, Va.); Ratnakar Krishnama (Glen Allen, Va.)’
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Social Media Graphical Interface System
Patent No. 11995674
Systems and methods are disclosed for providing social media referrals based rewards to a customer. The systems and methods may provide incentives to customers of financial-service providers (“FSP”) based on their referrals to the FSP. Customer referrals may be determined for the customer by gathering data regarding referrals received from messages distributed by the customer via social media. Based on the referrals, an amount of rewards may be provided for business transactions initiated by the customer.
Inventors: Bor J Sun (San Francisco, Calif.); Jonathan R. Turfboer (Richmond); Philip Kedy (Midlothian, Va.); George H. Williams (Midlothian, Va.); Matthew S. Butterworth (Richmond)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Carton And Blank Therefor
Patent No. 11993439
Aspects of the disclosure relate to a carton for packaging one or more article and a blank for forming the carton. The carton comprises a plurality of panels forming walls of a tubular structure including a top wall, a first side wall, a base wall, and a second side wall. The carton comprises a carrying handle having at least one handle panel hingedly connected at a proximal end thereof to one of the plurality of panels. The hinged connection is interrupted by at least one cut line defining a tab. The tab is struck from one of a portion of the one of the plurality of panels. The tab is integral with the at least one handle panel and extends from the hinged connection internally of the carton when in use.
Inventor: Nathaniel B. Ball (Richmond)
Assignee: WestRock Packaging Systems (Atlanta, Ga.)
May 28, 2024
Apparatus For Securing Loads
Patent No. 11993437
The invention to which this application relates to improvements to a retaining band which can be used to securely locate, form and retain a load of items or goods, in one embodiment on a pallet, and thereby retain the said items or goods as a single integral package. The invention allows for the adaptation of the retaining bands to be detectable when with a predetermined range of detection apparatus such as X-ray and/or metal detection apparatus so that should the retaining band or fragments thereof be discarded or dislodged, the presence of the same is detectable and therefore prevented from becoming a potential contaminant or safety hazard.
Inventor: Sean Ronald Smith (Richmond)
Assignee: Detectamet Limited (Pocklington, Great Britain)
May 28, 2024
Portion Of An Electronic Vaping Device Formed Of An Oxygen Sequestering Agent
Patent No. 11992823
An electronic vaping device includes a housing extending in a longitudinal direction, a reservoir in the housing, the reservoir configured to store a pre-vapor formulation, a heater in the housing, the heater configured to heat the pre-vapor formulation, at least one portion formed of a material including at least one polymer and at least one oxygen sequestering agent, and a power supply.
Inventors: Jason Andrew Macko (Richmond); Georgios Karles (Richmond)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Heat Diffuser For An Aerosol-generating System
Patent No. 11997776
A heat diffuser for use with an electrically-operated aerosol-generating device is configured to be removably coupled to the aerosol-generating device. The heat diffuser includes a non-combustible porous body configured to absorb heat from an electric heating element. The porous body is formed from a heat storage material such that, in use, air drawn through the porous body is heated by the heat absorbed by and stored in the porous body. Example embodiments also provide heated aerosol-generating article and an aerosol-generating system, both comprising the heat diffuser.
Inventor: Michel Thorens (Moudon, Switzerland)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Non-combustible Vaping Device
Patent No. 11992605
A vapor cartridge for a non-combustible vaping device may be configured to receive a flavor cartridge, generate a vapor, and direct the generated vapor through the flavor cartridge to provide a flavored vapor. The flavor cartridge may include an instance of electrically conductive material extending at least partially around the flavor cartridge. The vapor cartridge may include an authentication assembly including a set of electrically conductive instruments may independently and directly contact the instance of electrically conductive material of the flavor cartridge inserted into the vapor cartridge, such that the electrically conductive instruments are electrically connected to each other through the instance of electrically conductive material of the flavor cartridge. The vapor cartridge may be coupled with a base that includes a control circuitry configured to control vapor generation by the vapor generator, based on the electrically conductive instruments being electrically connected to each other through the flavor cartridge.
Inventors: Terry Bache (Richmond); Ryan Newcomb (Richmond); Eric A. Hawes (Midlothian, Va.); Dmitriy Kirzhner (Richmond); Raymond Lau (Richmond); Danielle Crawford (Richmond); Dwight D. Williams (Richmond); William Eugene Rabbitt (Chesterland, Ohio); Carl Roy Stevens (Stow, Ohio)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
May 28, 2024
Methods, Systems, And Media For A Microservices Orchestration Engine
Patent No. 11994976
Systems, methods and media are directed to a microservices orchestration engine, which includes an engine framework and an orchestrator. The engine framework combines an input request with framework specifications to form a job stream and define communication between the orchestrator and microservice provision components that execute microservices to be executed in a non-production environment during a test of computer-executable code. The orchestrator receives the formed job stream and sends a plurality of tasks based on the formed job stream. The tasks are executed by respective microservice provision components that execute microservices, enabling the test of computer-executable code in the non-production environment.
Inventors: Neeraj Sharma (Glen Allen, Va.); Jeffrey A. Tyree (Powhatan, Va.); Suresh Vadigi (Kennett Square, Pa.); Siwatm Piyasirisilp (Herndon, Va.); Andrew Tony Hartwell (Prosper, Texas)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Systems And Methods For Configuring A Mobile Device To Automatically Initiate Payments
Patent No. 11995631
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 Y. Moreton (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Instrument Conveyance Using A Shuttle
Patent No. 11993467
A system for instrument conveyance may include at least one handling unit configured to dispense or accept instruments; at least one head unit configured to obtain input from a user in connection with a transaction involving instruments, where the at least one head unit includes a presentation opening between an interior side and an exterior side of the at least one head unit; a transportation system disposed between the at least one handling unit and the at least one head unit; and a shuttle device configured to transport instruments between the at least one handling unit and the at least one head unit via the transportation system, where the shuttle device includes an internal compartment for containing instruments, and where the shuttle device is configured to expose the internal compartment to the exterior side of the at least one head unit via the presentation opening.
Inventors: Steve Faletti (Brooklyn, N.Y.); David Kelly Wurmfeld (Fairfax, Va.); Scott R. Neilson (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
May 28, 2024
Aerosol Sprayers And Methods Of Using The Same
Patent No. 11993447
An aerosol sprayer may be connected to an aerosol container to form an aerosol delivery system. The aerosol sprayer includes a base secured to the container, a cap secured to the base, a pivoting trigger and a nozzle which is slidably movable relative to the trigger between an extended operable position and a retracted, locked position. The nozzle and trigger have interfitting locking structures to prevent actuation of the trigger when the nozzle is in the retracted locked position.
Inventors: Peter Beegle (Midlothian, Va.); Jacob VanBecelaere (Olathe, Kan.); Bryan Fields (Overland Park, Kan.); Brian VanHouten (Kansas City, Mo.)
Assignee: Silgan Dispensing Systems Corp. (Grandview, Mo.)
May 28, 2024
Voice Assistance In Virtual Reality Environments And Augmented Reality Environments
Patent No. 12001752
In some implementations, a voice assistance device may receive an indication of a visualization change associated with the virtual or augmented reality environment. The voice assistance device may determine that a change value, calculated based on the indication of the visualization change, satisfies a relevance threshold. The voice assistance device may apply, based on the indicator of change satisfying the relevance threshold, a description model to determine at least one sentence describing the virtual or augmented reality environment. The voice assistance device may apply a text-to-speech model to the at least one sentence to generate a digital sound signal and may transmit, to an output component, the digital sound signal.
Inventors: Julian Duque (Arlington, Va.); Tania Cruz Morales (Washington, D.C.); Kevin M. Lowe (Richmond); Helen Temesghen-Blount (Washington, D.C.); Luis Catacora (Vienna, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
June 4, 2024
Augmented Reality Smartglasses For Use At Cultural Sites
Patent No. 12001974
Described augmented reality (AR) systems and devices provide users with enhanced human sensorial perceptions using digital content. More particularly, the system software platform and methodology of smartglasses create an immersive AR experience for visitors of cultural sites using object identification and optical flow tracking. Using graphical user interfaces, the system enables platform administrators to convert disparate cultural site content to coherent AR story-telling experiences called palimpsests or tours. During a learning phase, points of interest are catalogued and images are taken at different angles and under different lighting conditions to create markers. Using geolocation systems, data is loaded on the smartglasses a roomful at a time to increase efficiency. In use, AR content is generated after points of interest markers are matched using similarity and threshold algorithms. Optical flow tracking is used to track user movement and enhance the AR experience.
Inventors: Luigi Percuoco (Monza, Italy); Antonio Scuderi (Verona, Italy)
Assignee: Artglass USA (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Composition And Methods For Producing Tobacco Plants And Products Having Increased Phenylalanine And Reduced Tobacco-specific Nitrosamines (TSNAs)
Patent No. 11999961
The present disclosure provides approaches for reducing tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) in tobacco. Some of these approaches include genetically engineering tobacco plants to increase one or more antioxidants, increase oxygen radicle absorbance capacity (ORAC), increase phenylalanine, or reduce nitrite. Also provided are methods and compositions for producing modified tobacco plants and tobacco products therefrom comprising reduced TSNAs.
Inventors: Chengalrayan Kudithpudi (Midlothian, Va.); Dongmei Xu (Glen Allen, Va.); James Strickland (Richmond); Yanxin Shen (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Mannich-based Quaternary Ammonium Salt Fuel Additives
Patent No. 11999917
The present disclosure provides fuel additives including Mannich-based quaternary ammonium salt additives, fuel compositions including such additives, and Methods of improving performance of fuel injector using such additives.
Inventors: Scott D. Schwab (Richmond); Geeta Vadehra (Richmond); Michel Nuckols (Midlothian, Va.)
Assignee: Afton Chemical Corp. (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Aerosol-generating System Including An Aerosol-generating Article, And An Electrically Operated Aerosol-generating Device
Patent No. 11998682
The aerosol-generating system includes an aerosol-generating article with an aerosol-forming substrate, the aerosol-generating article having an outlet end and a distal end upstream from the outlet end. The system also includes an electrically operated aerosol-generating device including a housing having a cavity configured to receive the distal end of the aerosol-generating article, an electric heating element, and a heat diffuser including a non-combustible porous body for absorbing heat from the electric heating element such that, in use, air drawn through the aerosol-generating article from the distal end to the outlet end is heated by the heat absorbed in the porous body.
Inventor: Michel Thorens (Moudon, Switzerland)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Capsules With Internal Channels, Heat-not-burn (HNB) Aerosol-generating Devices, And Methods Of Generating An Aerosol
Patent No. 11998050
A capsule for an aerosol-generating device may include a housing defining inlet openings, outlet openings, and internal channels between the inlet openings and the outlet openings. The internal channels are configured to hold an aerosol-forming substrate. The housing is configured to facilitate a heating of the aerosol-forming substrate via conduction and/or convection so as to generate an aerosol.
Inventors: Zack Blackmon (Williamsburg, Va.); Patrick Good (Richmond); Rangaraj S. Sundar (Richmond); Jarrett Keen (Richmond); Eric Hawes (Midlothian, Va.); Yannick Hourmand (Haslingfield, Great Britain); Niall Gallager (Cambridge, Great Britain)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Garniture With Insert
Patent No. 11998039
The garniture includes at least one first garniture section with a first longitudinal length and a first upper surface, a first groove being defined within the first upper surface along the first longitudinal length, the first groove being defined by one or more first mating surfaces, and at least one first insert overlaying the first groove, an upper end of the at least first insert defining a second groove within a second upper surface of the at least one first insert, a lower end of the at least one insert including one or more second mating surfaces, a first upper portion of the first upper surface and a second upper portion of the second upper surface being substantially flush with each other.
Inventor: Dwight D. Williams (Powhatan, Va.)
Assignee: Altria Client Services (Richmond)
June 4, 2024
Location-based Note Sharing
Patent No. 12004043
In one aspect, the present disclosure relates to a method that includes presenting a first user interface (UI) and a second UI on a mobile device. The first UI may include a map display and a control to compose a note. The method may include, in response to a user of the mobile device activating the control to compose the note, presenting a second UI including: an input to receive text for the note, one or more controls to select a picture for the note, and a control to save the note. The method may include, in response to the user activating the control to save the note: determining a location for the note using a geo-location sensor within the mobile device, sending the received text, the selected picture, and the location for the note to a server device, and displaying an indication of the note on the map display based on the location determined for the note.
Inventors: Arunkumar Natarajan (Glen Allen, Va.); Venkata Mandali (Glen Allen, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
June 4, 2024
Visualizing Interest Charges Based On Payment Options
Patent No. 12002086
Systems as described herein may visualization interest charges based on payment options. Transaction information associated with a plurality of recurring payment accounts may be received. A calendar view displaying an aggregated daily balance and an aggregated interest charge may be generated. Upon receiving a transaction request with a transaction amount, a projected aggregated daily interest charge may be generated in real-time. After detecting that the projected aggregated daily interest charge exceeds a threshold amount, an alert associated with the calendar view may be generated to recommend an alternative payment method to a user device.
Inventors: Afna Kanhirothan Polil (Schaumburg, Ill.); Eric K. Barnum (Midlothian, Va.); Seshu Pitcha (Schaumburg, Ill.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
June 4, 2024
Aggregated Service Status Reporter
Patent No. 12003595
Systems as described herein may include generating an aggregated service status report for a real-time service delivery platform. A plurality of services running in a service domain may be determined. A request for a status of system behavior corresponding to a particular service may be received. Service connection details of the particular service may be discovered and metric data of real-time data movement may be tracked. Real-time snapshot aggregation of the particular service may be provided. In a variety of embodiments, a real-time system behavior report for the service across availability zones may be presented.
Inventor: Brian Burnett (Mechanicsville, Va.)
Assignee: Capital One Services (McLean, Va.)
June 4, 2024
Elevator Belt Monitoring System
Patent No. 11999594
An elevator belt monitoring apparatus includes a housing for receiving an elevator belt and a plurality of screws or pins which are operable to pierce the belt and the spaced parallel cords arranged within the belt. One screw or pin engages each cord. A plurality of bridge contacts are connected with adjacent pairs of screws or pins and signal contacts are connected with the screws or pins adjacent to the outer edges of the belts. The signal contacts are connected with a monitoring device which sends and receives signals to the contacts to provide an indication of the condition or deterioration of the belt.
Inventor: Xuefeng Ge (Henrico, Va.)
Assignee: Weidmuller Interface GmbH & Co. (Detmold, Germany)
June 4, 2024
Statistical Audibility Prediction(SAP) Of An Arbitrary Sound In The Presence Of Another Sound
Patent No. 12003951
A statistical audibility prediction (SAP) method for predicting the audibility of a signal over time at a listening location, the signal from a signal source in the presence of a concurrent masking sound or masker from a masker source. The method includes receiving, via a processor over a plurality of auditory channels, a specific loudness of the signal and masker at the listening location. The method includes calculating for each auditory channel a standard deviation of a distribution of the specific loudness of the signal and masker, and calculating, via the processor, corresponding channel-specific detectability indices (d′.sub.t,i) for each auditory channel as a function of their standard deviations. The corresponding channel-specific detectability indices are then summed to produce a total detectability index (d′.sub.t), which may be output as an electronic signal that indicates the predicted audibility vs. time, e.g., to a downstream process and/or system or offline.
Inventors: Menachem Rafaelof (Yorktown, Va.); Kyle Wendling (Henrico, Va.); Andrew W. Christian (Hampton, Va.)
Assignee: United States of America as Represented By The Administrator (Washington, D.C.)
June 4, 2024