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Actor Marlon Brando has four patents, all named "Drumhead tensioning device and method."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8175767 | Diagnostic apparatus A diagnostic apparatus (10) in which a drive circuit (2) is configured of switching means (3) for supplying an electric current to a linear solenoid valve and variably regulating a valve opening degree on the basis of inputted ON-OFF signals, cu... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8160790 | Vehicle speed control system and straddle-type vehicle A vehicle speed control system for a vehicle including a failure detector configured to determine whether or not a failure occurs in the vehicle, a vehicle speed restriction controller configured to control a driving power source to decrease a vehicle speed of the v... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8160791 | Method and device for detecting a malfunction of a control coupling A method for detecting a fault in a coupling having the coupling elements that are movable against each other, which are situated between a first drive unit and a second drive unit, having the steps of providing a torque by the second drive unit, activating the coup... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8108113 | Apparatus and method for preventing incorrect gear shifts in automatic transmissions of motor vehicles A method (42) for preventing incorrect gear shifts in automatic transmissions (14) of motor vehicles comprising the following steps: determining a current output torque (Mis) of a source gear (GSOURCE); generating a history of out... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8086380 | Variable bleed solenoid recovery system A recovery control system and method for automatic transmissions includes a diagnostic module that determines a fault condition of a variable bleed solenoid (VBS) when the automatic transmission fails to establish a desired drive ratio. A recovery module initiates a... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8055418 | Automated manual transmission shift methodology for tanker trucks A method and system for hybrid automated manual transmission and non-hybrid automated manual transmission shift methodologies for tanker trucks are disclosed. A request is received to change a transmission gear ratio of a vehicle transporting a liquid. The request i... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8024097 | Automobile operation apparatus and method designed for failure of drive gear of automatic transmission Provided is an automobile operation apparatus and method designed for detecting failure of a drive gear selector of an automatic transmission having a normal mode constituted by P, R, N and D gears, and a sport mode. The automobile operation apparatus includes up/do... | 09/20/2011 |
| 7970523 | Torque estimator for a machine A torque estimator is disclosed for estimating torque on a machine. A computer system may include a torque estimator module located on the machine. The torque estimator module may be configured to receive a plurality of engine parameters, receive a drivetrain compon... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7957873 | Vehicle transmission shift inhibit method and apparatus A control method is provided including detecting transmission output speed and a forward and reverse shift request, and executing inhibit limits when the detected speed exceeds a predetermined threshold speed. The inhibit limits slow the output speed to zero upon de... | 06/07/2011 |
| 7933706 | Shift control device for automatic transmission and control method thereof An automatic transmission calculates a current thermal load state of the frictional element, predicts (S41), prior to the start of the shift, a heat generation amount of the frictional element during the shift, predicts (S42) a thermal load state of th... | 04/26/2011 |
| 7890238 | Method for detecting damage in the shift-control actuator of an automated manual transmission A method for diagnosing damage in the shift control actuator of an automated manual transmission, involving at least one of the following steps: (a) determining a shift control actuator is damaged if an actual period needed for synchronizing a gear differs from a no... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7835843 | Abnormality determining apparatus and method for automatic transmission An ECU executes a program that includes a step of determining whether an output shaft rotation speed NOUT is equal to or greater than a reference rotation speed at which determining regions with all of the gear speeds in a stepped automatic transmission do not overl... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7809485 | Shift control apparatus and method of continuously variable transmission A shift control apparatus of a CVT installed in a non-ABS equipped vehicle is arranged to estimate a condition of a transmission ratio of the CVT, to prohibit a shift operation of varying the transmission ratio to a high-speed-side transmission ratio relative to a f... | 10/05/2010 |
| 7643924 | Failure determining apparatus and method for hydraulic pressure control circuit An ECU executes a program that includes the steps of setting an abnormality flag when a hydraulic pressure switch is on even though a lock-up clutch is in a lock-up OFF state, forcing an SLU off when the lock-up clutch is on and the abnormality flag is on, determini... | 01/05/2010 |
| 7421326 | Clutch fault detection A method for detecting a clutch fault of an automatic transmission includes determining a current clutch energy density of a clutch during a range shift and comparing the current clutch energy density to a first energy density threshold. A diagnostic alert is activa... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7412307 | Refuse vehicle control system and method A refuse vehicle is disclosed that includes a control system which comprises a plurality of microprocessor based interface modules, a communication network, and at least one output device. The control system is configured to disable the output device based on certai... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7402123 | Automatic transmission control method and system having fail-safe function In an automatic transmission control system and method, an electronic control unit is programmed to output a command to establish another gear stage different from the gear stage at the time of occurrence of fault-induced disengagement by combination of engagements ... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7400960 | Abnormality detecting apparatus for automatic speed changer In a conventional abnormality detecting apparatus, it is impossible to judge a breakdown before the breakdown actually takes place. An abnormality detecting apparatus for an automatic speed changer includes a speed change controlling unit for controlling the automat... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7390283 | Process for controlling an automated motor vehicle drive train and drive train A process for controlling an automated motor vehicle drive train which has an engine and a transmission, with the step of at least once detecting at least one wear parameter of the transmission during its running performance, the wear parameter representing the wear... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7370547 | Shift control system, shift control method and shift switching device A shift control system rotates an actuator to cause a wall of a detent plate to contact a roller of a detent spring, and detects the position of contact so as to detect the position of the wall of the detent plate. This wall position is set as a reference position o... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7366638 | Abnormally detecting apparatus for automatic speed changer In a conventional abnormality detecting apparatus, it is impossible to judge a breakdown before the breakdown actually takes place. An abnormality detecting apparatus for an automatic speed changer includes a speed change controlling unit for controlling the automat... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7357754 | Mechanism and method of controlling an automatic shifting power transmission to effect a first gear launch The present invention provides a mechanism and method of launching a vehicle using a conventional automatic shifting power transmission. By slipping a first gear reaction clutch during a launch, an efficient hydrodynamic fluid drive with a low stall speed may be use... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7349784 | Control method for automobile transmissions A control method for automatic transmissions wherein a reverse motion condition in the neutral or drive ranges, caused by burning or the like in the operating devices of the automatic transmission, can be automatically detected to prevent an unwanted reverse motion ... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7347118 | Process and device for preventing the engagement of an impermissible speed in an automated gearbox A process for preventing the engagement of an impermissible speed in an automated gearbox with a gear-switching member, which can be moved along a gear-selection speed range and out of it into speed step ranges containing the following steps: acquiring the speed ste... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7343236 | Electronic control system The present invention provides a universal power control module for automatic transmissions. The power control module includes a processor and at least two sensor inputs that convey engine and vehicle data to the processor. This data may include vehicle speed, engin... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7317978 | Driving force control apparatus for vehicle A driving force control apparatus for a vehicle includes a first sensor that detects an output command supplied to a power source, a second sensor that detects an operating condition amount of a vehicle and a controller. The controller calculates a basic command val... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7303505 | Method for controlling rate of change of ratio in a continuously variable transmission A method for controlling a rate of change of speed ratios in a continuously variable transmission (CVT) includes sensing a vehicle speed, sensing an engine speed, and sensing a change in a position of an accelerator pedal. The method includes determining a desired e... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7291934 | Machine with an electrical system A machine includes an electrical power source, which may include a mechanical power source and an electric generator drivingly connected to the mechanical power source. The machine may also include one or more power loads connected to the electric generator. Additio... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7269492 | Control system To offer a control system that is not only equipped with a high fail-safe function but also capable of avoiding erroneous failure detection. The CPU 110 outputs a drive signal DC for driving the load L according to the input signals from sensors S1 | 09/11/2007 |
| 7255019 | Method of detecting false neutral in an automated transmission system A method and system for controlling downshifting in an automated mechanical transmission system (10) utilized on a vehicle. When an automatic power downshift from a currently engaged ratio (GR) is required, the engine acceleration (EA) is monitored and compar... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7247121 | Control device for automatic transmission A position sensor for an automatic transmission has multiple switches, each of which generates “ON” or “OFF” signal depending on a selected position of a shift lever. Signal patterns (“ON” and “OFF” signals) of the normal operation are memorized as a... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7227332 | Driving control device and method for electric vehicle and program therefor A driving control device for an electric vehicle includes an electric machine which is driven by a current supplied from a battery, a transmission which is coupled with the electric machine and performs shifting at a predetermined gear ratio, a charging state detect... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7203296 | Method, system, and article for placing a telephone call to a previously-called party Upon receiving a service code from a calling party, a list of parties previously called by the calling party is retrieved. An audio message is generated based on the list, and communicated to the calling party. A dialed input indicating a selected party from the lis... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7203587 | Shift lever operating position judging device A shift lever operating position judging device includes a position sensor having switches. Each switch is arranged to be at an ON state within a different range in a shift lever operating range, and two or three switches out of the plurality of switches are at the ... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7165638 | Hybrid drive system wherein clutch is engaged when engine speed has exceeded motor speed upon switching from motor drive mode to engine drive mode A hybrid vehicle drive system including (a) an engine, (b) an electric motor, (c) a planetary gear device having a first rotary element connected to the engine, a second rotary element connected to the electric motor and connected through a first clutch to an output... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7151990 | Method for controlling an automated gearbox, electronic safety system and adapter plug A method for controlling an automated gearbox of a motor vehicle. An electronic control unit controls pre-determined functionalities, and especially pre-determined functionalities of the automated gearbox. Functional software runs on a main processor of the control ... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7139652 | Range selection control device of automatic transmission A range selector issues a range selection command signal representative of an operation range of a shift-by-wire type automatic transmission meeting with a driver's intention. The operating range is at least one of P(parking)-range, R(reverse)-range, N(neutral)-rang... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7117965 | Control apparatus and method for taking failure countermeasure for hybrid vehicular drive system In control apparatus and method for taking failure countermeasure for a hybrid vehicular drive system, on a lever diagram of a planetary gear mechanism, a revolution speed order is a first motor/generator, an engine, the output member, and a second motor/generator, ... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7107869 | Shift control system and shift control method A shift control system rotates an actuator to allow a wall of a detent plate and a roller of a detent spring to contact each other and then detects the position of contact so as to detect the position of the wall of the detent plate. After the wall position is deter... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7104923 | Start control apparatus and program for a start control method A start control apparatus includes a position sensor, a basic start determination processor, a sensor output determination processor, and a start permission continuation processor. The basic start determination processor determines whether a sensor output is in a pe... | 09/12/2006 |
