373465 results about "Industrial engineering" patented technology

A medical manipulator system has an operating unit including a grip handle and a composite input unit, a working unit detachably mounted on the operating unit and including an end effector, and a controller for controlling the operating unit. The controller judges starting and ending of a surgical case and increments the usage count of the working unit based on a manner in which the working unit is mounted and dismounted, and the times at which the working unit is mounted and dismounted, and disables the working unit if the usage count of the working unit exceeds a preset count.

Embodiments of a clamping system are disclosed. In some embodiments, a system used with a motor assembly and a clamping device is presented, the system adjusting torque limits in the motor assembly according to conditions, for example operating temperature of the motor assembly and aging of the clamping device and the motor assembly. The clamping device can be, for example, a stapler or a vessel sealer.

Methods and systems are provided for optimizing the control of energy supply and demand. An energy control unit includes one or more algorithms for scheduling the control of energy consumption devices on the basis of variables relating to forecast energy supply and demand. Devices for which energy consumption can be scheduled or deferred are activated during periods of cheapest energy usage. Battery storage and alternative energy sources (e.g., photovoltaic cells) are activated to sell energy to the power grid during periods that are determined to correspond to favorable cost conditions.

A method of managing a fluid or gas reservoir is disclosed which assimilates diverse data having different acquisition time scales and spatial scales of coverage for iteratively producing a reservoir development plan that is used for optimizing an overall performance of a reservoir. The method includes: (a) generating an initial reservoir characterization, (b) from the initial reservoir characterization, generating an initial reservoir development plan, (c) when the reservoir development plan is generated, incrementally advancing and generating a capital spending program, (d) when the capital spending program is generated, monitoring a performance of the reservoir by acquiring high rate monitor data from a first set of data measurements taken in the reservoir and using the high rate monitor data to perform well-regional and field-reservoir evaluations, (e) further monitoring the performance of the reservoir by acquiring low rate monitor data from a second set of data measurements taken in the reservoir, (f) assimilating together the high rate monitor data and the low rate monitor data, (g) from the high rate monitor data and the low rate monitor data, determining when it is necessary to update the initial reservoir development plan to produce a newly updated reservoir development plan, (h) when necessary, updating the initial reservoir development plan to produce the newly updated reservoir development plan, and (i) when the newly updated reservoir development plan is produced, repeating steps (c) through (h). A detailed disclosure is provided herein relating to the step (a) for generating the initial reservoir characterization and the step (b) for generating the initial reservoir development plan.

A mobile inventory robot system generates an inventory map of a store and a product database when a mobile inventory robot is manually navigated through the store to identify items on shelves, a location for each of the items on the shelves, and a barcode for each of the items. The system performs inventory of the items by navigating through the store via the inventory map, capturing a shelf image, decoding a product barcode from the captured shelf image, retrieving a product image for the decoded product barcode from the product database, segmenting the captured shelf image to detect an image of an item on the shelves, determining whether the detected image matches the retrieved image and, if not, setting an out-of-stock flag for an the item.

A method for performing uniform processing in multiple reaction chambers includes (a) conducting a cycle constituted by steps in each reaction chamber according to the order of the reaction chambers at which the steps are conducted; and then (b) conducting the steps in each reaction chamber after changing the immediately prior order of the reaction chambers at which the steps are conducted; and then (c) repeating process (b) until a target treatment is complete at the multiple reaction chambers. The target treatment conducted on a substrate in each reaction chamber is the same.

The invention provides systems and methods for facilitating the sale of commodity-like goods / services. The commodity-like goods / services at which the invention is directed, are of a type that are relatively indistinguishable from one brand, identity and / or outlet to another in end-use functionality and features. These types of goods / services are many times sold at retail under various brands or identities at multiple locations, to the final end user. Such goods / services may also or separately be of a type that are repeatedly purchased at intervals, and / or for which the price varies between purchases, from outlet to outlet or brand to brand. The goods / services may also be of a character such that they are not deliverable to the consumer, but require the consumer to travel to the retailer outlet. The system and methods also provide information relating to the consumers and competitors of a retailer of such goods / services. The invention establishes methods and procedures to define, organize, collect, distribute, and maintain information that can be used by the owner of a business selling commodity-like goods / services as well as by its customers. This information may include, but is not limited to, name brand of the product, location of the retailer, price of the product, other related goods / services available and their prices, and promotions. These processes may be performed and implemented on a computer network that is accessible in real time via a suitable communication device, such as a computer, wireless communication device, telephone or the like. A database of such information is created, allowing the consumer and other retailers to query the database using various search criteria. The consumer has the opportunity to obtain information about retailers of commodity-like goods / services that meet the consumer's requirements, and pricing may be guaranteed by the retailer.

A cloud computing system management system including a plurality of computing devices configured to host virtual machine instances, each computing device in the plurality of computing devices including a local agent that continuously evaluates the observed load relative to a utility maximization function. If observed load is higher than a calculated optimal level, individual loading processes are offered for “sale” via a market scheduler. If observed load is lower than a calculated optimal level, then available capacity is offered as a bid via the market scheduler. The market scheduler matches bids with available processes and coordinates the transfer of load from the selling device to the buying device. The offered prices and utility maximization functions can be employed to optimize the performance of the cloud system as a whole.

A method and system for creating a series of online snapshots for recovery purposes. A series of concurrent, overlapping snapshots (e.g., file snapshots or database file snapshots) may be created over a user-specified time interval at a user-specified frequency. Monitoring for a recovery indication may occur during the user-specified time interval. Once it is established that a "recovery" is necessary, a snapback procedure may be implemented to iteratively restore one or more pre-update snapshot images. Between restore iterations, testing to determine if the problem still exists may occur. When the testing of the data results in a determination that the problem is resolved, no further restores are necessary.

A policy-based cache manager, including a memory storing a cache of digital content, a plurality of policies, and a policy index to the cache contents, the policy index indicating allowable cache content for each of a plurality of policies, a content scanner for scanning a digital content received, to derive a corresponding content profile, and a content evaluator for determining whether a given digital content is allowable relative to a given policy, based on the content profile. A method is also described and claimed.

A system for dispensing a customised nutritional serving is made up of ingredients stored within a device incorporating the system. The device has a controller in whose memory is stored an inventory of the ingredients available in the device, their compositions and properties and customer profile data. The controller is programmed to formulate a serving which best matches the customised serving selected by the customer within constraints set by the programming taking into account the inventory of ingredients and the health profile of the customer. The customer is then presented with the selected serving and either accepts it or modifies it. The device is then programmed to prepare and dispense the final selection.

This invention provides methods and systems for trading and investing in groups of demand-based adjustable return (“DBAR”) contingent claims, including digital options, and for establishing markets and exchanges for such claims. The advantages of the present invention, as applied to the establishment and operation of a DBAR digital options exchange, include the ability to offer investments whose profit and loss scenarios are comparable to those for digital options or other derivatives in traditional securities markets, without the need for options or derivatives sellers or order-matching of conventional markets. A DBAR digital options exchange of the present invention can also offer conditional investments, or limit orders, in which an investment in a state of a DBAR contingent claim (such as the price of an underlying asset or index) can be executed or withdrawn in response to the implied probability of the occurrence of that state.

A method of providing financing is provided. The method provides financing for allowing a customer to purchase a product selected from an inventory of products maintained by a dealer. The method includes the steps of maintaining a database of the dealer's inventory, gathering information from the customer, calculating a credit score for the customer based at least in part on the information gathered from the customer, determining an advance amount to be paid to the dealer for each individual product in the dealer inventory in the event that that particular product is sold to the customer, calculating a front-end profit to be realized by the dealer for each individual product in the dealer inventory, and presenting a financing package to the dealer for each individual product in the dealer's inventory.