3m Innovative Properties Company

Other

Justin M Johnson

James W Howard

James B Snyder

Ronald David Jesme

Jacob D Chatterton

Jaewon Kim

Robert D Lorentz

Guruprasad Somasundaram

Donald R Battles

Travis L Potts

Deepti Pachauri

Lori-Ann S Prioleau

Steven J Perron

James C Vanous

Brinda B Badri

G Marco Bommarito

Kevin D Landgrebe

Thomas J Brace

Dipankar Ghosh

Zheng Huang

Thomas J Dahlin

Craig W Lindsay

Zhiguo Wen

Christopher D Sebesta

Sihua Yuan

Kenneth L Smith

Douglas B Gundel

Tao Yang

Steven T Awiszus

Kiran S Kanukurthy

Kui Chen-Ho

Eric C Lobner

Michael E Hamerly

Jia Hu

Glenn E Casner

Suman K Patel

Myungchan Kang

Michael C Molinet

Jonathan Dale Gandrud

Robert A Sainati

Christopher R Yungers

Badri Veeraraghavan

Robert W Shannon

Christian Weinmann

Andrew H Tilstra

Terrence H Joyce

Saber Taghvaeeyan

Tadesse G Nigatu

David V Mahoney

Nicholas Andrew Asendorf

Andrew Bonifas

Onur Sinan Yordem

Swagata R Banerjee

Ryan D Erickson

Subhalakshmi M Falknor

Qihong Nie

Mark G Mathews

James L C Werness, Jr

Yingyu Wang

Xuetao Yu

Gaofei Guo

Eric J Larson

Michael D Benson

J T Johnson

Chad Sulheim

Xin X Wang

Nathan A Christopherson

Carla H Barnes

Lingesh Venugopalappa

Tongyong Li

Xeutao Yu

Tamara M Meehan-Russell

Embodiment herein provides an Infrastructure article () and method thereof for synchronizing blinks of infrastructure articles in a mesh network. The method includes detecting an expiry of a sync timer counted by a real time clock (RTC) and determining whether a charge level of a battery () of the infrastructure article () meets a battery charge threshold. When the charge level of the battery () of the infrastructure article () meets the battery charge threshold, the method includes establishing a connection with other infrastructure article and/or an infrastructure article server () in the mesh network, and sending a time to synchronize blink of the at least one light source () to all other infrastructure articles in the mesh network. When the charge level of the battery () of the infrastructure article () does not meet the battery charge threshold, the method includes resetting the sync timer, and initiating a count of the sync timer.

Infrastructure article system for synchronizing blinks of infrastructure articles connected in mesh network

At least some embodiments of the present disclosure directs to a method for processing an input image having an embedded element, comprising the steps of: computing one or more histograms of the input image; identifying a range of interest in one of the one or more histograms; and determining, by the processor, a threshold based on the range of interest. In some embodiments, a computing device processes the input image using the threshold to generate an output image.

Apparatus and methods for preprocessing images having elements of interest

Techniques are described for forming a gradient index (GRIN) lens for propagating an electromagnetic wave comprising receiving, by a manufacturing device having one or more processors, a model comprising data specifying a plurality of layers, wherein at least one layer of the plurality of layers comprises an arrangement of one or more volume elements comprising a first dielectric material and a second dielectric material, wherein the at least one layer of the plurality of layers has a dielectric profile that is made up of a plurality of different effective dielectric constants of the volume elements in the layer, and generating, with the manufacturing device by an additive manufacturing process, the GRIN lens based on the model.

Volume based gradient index lens by additive manufacturing

The disclosure is directed to an article, such as a pathway article or a sheeting. The article includes a physical surface having a code embodied thereon. The code is associated with pathway information in transaction data stored by a blockchain managed by a consensus network of node. The pathway information indicates one or more characteristics of a vehicle pathway, wherein the pathway information provides at least one of: information descriptive of at least a portion of the vehicle pathway, or vehicle operation instructions associated with the portion of the vehicle pathway.

Pathway article authentication

An article includes a substrate having a physical surface, a multi-dimensional machine-readable code embodied on the physical surface, wherein the multi-dimensional machine-readable optical code includes a static data (SD) optical element set and a dynamic lookup data (DLD) optical element set. Each of the SD and the DLD sets are embodied on the physical surface. The DLD optical element set encodes a look-up value that references dynamically changeable data, wherein the SD optical element set encodes static data that does not reference other data. The DLD optical element set is not decodable at the distance greater than the threshold distance.

Multi-dimensional optical code with static data and dynamic lookup data optical element sets

In some examples, a computing device includes one or more computer processors, a communication device, and a memory comprising instructions that cause the one or more computer processors to: receive, using the communication device and from a set of vehicles, different sets of infrastructure data for a particular infrastructure article that is proximate to each respective vehicle of the set of vehicles, wherein each respective vehicle in the set of vehicles comprises at least one infrastructure sensor that generates infrastructure data descriptive of infrastructure articles that are proximate to the respective vehicle; determine, based at least in part on the different sets of infrastructure data for the particular infrastructure article from each respective vehicle of the set of vehicles, a quality metric for the infrastructure article; and perform at least one operation based at least in part on the quality metric for the infrastructure article.

Vehicle-sourced infrastructure quality metrics

In some examples, an optically active article includes a retroreflective substrate; and at least one security element disposed at the retroreflective substrate; an article message disposed at the retroreflective substrate, and wherein the at least one security element comprises validation information that is detectable outside a visible light spectrum, and wherein a combination of the article message and the validation information of the at least one security element indicates whether the optically active article is counterfeit.

Counterfeit detection of an optically active article using security elements

Methods that include: subjecting an article including a moisture sensor to steam sterilization in a steam sterilizer to produce a sterilized article, the moisture sensor having a moisture absorbing layer and a resonant circuit; subjecting the sterilized article to drying; and interrogating the resonant circuit, wherein the interrogation is affected by an amount of water present in the moisture absorbing layer.

Methods of monitoring wetness utilizing a resonant circuit

A temperature-sensing apparatus for sensing the temperature of an electrical conductor (), comprising a sensor frame () including a frame body () and a channel () adapted to accommodate the electrical conductor (). At least a portion of a temperature sensor is received in a chamber () of the sensor frame (). At least a portion of a thermal contact member is disposed between the electrical conductor () and the temperature sensor and configured to enhance thermal-contact therebetween. At least a portion of the thermal contact member is radially pressable against the electrical conductor ().

Real-time temperature measurement for electrical conductors

In one example, a system includes one or more personal protective equipment (PPE) devices each configured to be worn by a worker, the PPE devices each including one or more sensors that generate activity data indicative of activities of workers operating within one or more work environments. The system also includes a computing device, the computing device configured to: identify, based at least on the activity data, a plurality of clusters of one or more entities, wherein each entity of the entities is associated with one or more of the workers; and output an indication of a difference between performance by a target entity with respect to safety events and performance by the cluster that includes the target entity with respect to safety events.

Personal protective equipment and safety management system for comparative safety event assessment

In some examples, a computing device receives an image of an optically active article that includes a set of one or more symbols of a symbol set, wherein at least one symbol of the set of one or more symbols comprises a set of encoding regions that are embedded with the symbol. In response to receiving the image, the computing device may determine that a particular image region of the image represents the at least one symbol. For encoding regions within the at least one symbol, the computing device may determine, based at least in part on the determination that the particular image region of the image represents the at least one symbol, whether the one or more encoding regions are active or inactive. The computing device may perform, based at least in part on whether the one or more encoding regions are active or inactive, one or more operations.

Encoding data in symbols disposed on an optically active article

In some examples, an article includes a substrate and a plurality of optical element sets embodied on the substrate, wherein each optical element set includes a plurality of optical elements, wherein each respective optical element represents an encoded value in a set of encoded values, wherein the set of encoded values are differentiable based on visual differentiability of the respective optical elements, wherein each respective optical element set represents at least a portion of a message or error correction data to decode the message if one or more of the plurality of optical element sets are visually occluded, and wherein the optical element sets for the message and error correction data are spatially configured at the physical surface in a matrix such that the message is decodable from the substrate without optical elements positioned within at least one complete edge of the matrix that is visually occluded.

Occlusion-resilient optical codes for machine-read articles

The inventors of the present application developed novel retroreflective materials, and articles. One example of the present application is a retroreflective article, comprising a substrate and a machine-readable information disposed on the substrate, wherein the machine-readable information corresponds to a predetermined human-readable information.

Increasing dissimilarity of characters disposed on an optically active article

An article includes a substrate with a physical surface, and a hierarchy of parent and child optical element sets embodied on the physical surface, such that a first encoded value represented by the parent optical element set is based at least in part on the visual appearance of a particular optical element in the child optical element set, and a second, different encoded value represented by the particular parent optical element is based at least in part on the visual appearance, and the second encoded value not being decodable from a distance greater than a threshold distance, the first encoded value being decodable from the distance greater than the threshold distance.

Hierarchichal optical element sets for machine-read articles

Growing community of inventors

Hudson, WI, United States of America

Justin M Johnson