Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110143237 | Radiative Heat Transfer via Fins in a Steam Reformer - Embodiments are disclosed that relate to increasing radiative heat transfer in a steam reformer from an exterior shell which includes a diffusion burner to an interior reactor via angled fins coupled to the exterior shell. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a steam reformer, comprising an exterior shell which includes a diffusion burner and angled fins, the angled fins extending away from an inner surface of the exterior shell and downward toward the diffusion burner. The steam reformer further comprises an interior reactor positioned at least partly within the exterior shell. | 06-16-2011 |
20110206570 | Radiative Heat Transfer via Shunt in a Steam Reforming Reactor - Embodiments are disclosed that relate to increasing a temperature in a low temperature zone in a steam reforming reactor via a radiative heating shunt. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a steam reforming reactor comprising a reaction chamber having an interior surface, a packing material located within the reaction chamber, and a radiative heating shunt extending from the interior surface into the reaction chamber. The radiative heating shunt comprises a porous partition enclosing a sub-volume of the reaction chamber bounded by the porous partition and a portion of the interior surface, the sub-volume being at least partly free of packing material such that radiative heat has a path from the interior surface to a distal portion of the porous partition that is unobstructed by packing material. | 08-25-2011 |
20120076697 | Radiative Heat Transfer via Fins in a Steam Reformer - Embodiments are disclosed that relate to increasing radiative heat transfer in a steam reformer from an exterior shell which includes a diffusion burner to an interior reactor via angled fins coupled to the exterior shell. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a steam reformer, comprising an exterior shell which includes a diffusion burner and angled fins, the angled fins extending away from an inner surface of the exterior shell and downward toward the diffusion burner. The steam reformer further comprises an interior reactor positioned at least partly within the exterior shell. | 03-29-2012 |
20120141893 | STEPPED STEAM REFORMER - Embodiments are disclosed that relate to increasing heat transfer in a steam reformer. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a steam reformer including an outer wall and an inner wall which includes a step extending outward toward the outer wall and downward toward a bottom of the steam reformer at a position between a top of the steam reformer and the bottom of the steam reformer. The steam reformer further includes a reaction chamber disposed between the outer wall and the inner wall. | 06-07-2012 |
20120141894 | STEAM REFORMER WITH RECUPERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGER - Embodiments are disclosed that relate to temperature distribution in a reaction chamber of a steam reformer. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a steam reformer, comprising a central chamber through which feed gas flows, a reaction chamber surrounding the central chamber and having an inner wall and an outer wall, and a recuperative heat exchanger disposed between the inner wall of the reaction chamber and the central chamber. | 06-07-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120182172 | Detecting Shopper Presence in a Shopping Environment Based on Shopper Emanated Wireless Signals - Tracking systems and methods for tracking shoppers in a shopping environment are provided. The systems include at least one receiver configured to receive wireless transmissions from a remote source and a data analyzer configured to receive data from the at least one receiver and to determine statistical data corresponding to the shoppers. The methods include receiving a wireless signal within a band transmitted from a mobile transmitter in a shopping environment, and transmitting tracking data corresponding to reception of the wireless signal to a data analyzer. | 07-19-2012 |
20130132241 | IMPUTED PROBABILISTIC PRODUCT LOCATION BASED ON SHOPPER PATH AND TRANSACTION LOG DATA - Systems and methods for imputing the location of a product in a shopping environment are provided to address the above discussed problems. One example system disclosed herein includes a sensor system configured to track paths for a plurality of shoppers in a shopping environment. The system may further include a data analyzer computing device configured to receive signal data from the sensor system and transaction data from a point of sale system in the shopping environment. The transaction data may indicate the products purchased by the shopper in the shopping environment. The signal data may be matched to corresponding transaction data for the same shopping path. The system may impute one or more product locations of products in the transaction data associated with multiple shopper paths. The imputed product locations may be represented in a probability map, or used to make corrections to a preexisting planogram. | 05-23-2013 |
20130325546 | PURCHASE BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS BASED ON VISUAL HISTORY - Methods for providing and comparing visual purchase deconstructions are provided. One example method for providing a visual purchase deconstruction includes recognizing a pre-purchase event, tracking movement of a focus position of one or both eyes of the shopper, recognizing a purchase event of the product, and, upon recognizing the purchase event, determining the purchase deconstruction representing the purchase based on the movement of the focus location during a pre-purchase window, the pre-purchase window having a duration from the pre-purchase event to the purchase event. The visual purchase deconstruction may be compared to one or more other purchases for any combination of products and shoppers. The visual purchase deconstruction and/or the comparisons thereof may be usable to determine one or more the factors that resulted in a product being purchased. | 12-05-2013 |
20140278655 | MODELING SHOPPERS' TIME IN STORES IN RELATION TO THEIR PURCHASES - A method for analyzing shopping behavior is provided. The method may comprise, for each of a plurality of a first group of shopper trips, detecting a wireless signal for a shopper proxy device adjacent an entrance and an exit of the store. A shopper trip length may be detected. A first relationship between a number of shopper trips and trip length may be calculated. For each of a plurality of a second group of shopper trips, the method further comprises receiving transaction data for a plurality of purchase transactions. A second relationship between shopper trips and items purchased may be calculated. A third relationship, between items purchased and trip length, based on the first and second relationships may be determined. Additionally, a current number of shoppers may be detected and an in-store service deployed in response to detecting that a current number of shoppers exceeds a first predetermined threshold. | 09-18-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080215462 | STILL IMAGE SHOPPING EVENT MONITORING AND ANALYSIS SYSTEM AND METHOD - The still image shopping event analysis systems and methods provided herein may implement low frequency still image sampling and perform a computer analysis of the still images captured, including discriminating differences between frames of the still images based on changes of pixels between the frames and detecting and/or analyzing one or more shopping events based on the discriminated differences between frames of the still images. The systems and methods provided herein may further count and/or analyze the shopping events based on patterns of changes between frames, including for example, numbers of customers visiting and amounts of time customers spent visiting a shopping area, whether the visit was a transitory visit or involved more detailed shopping, whether a purchase occurred, and/or which and number of item(s) purchased. | 09-04-2008 |
20080303662 | TRAFFIC AND POPULATION COUNTING DEVICE SYSTEM AND METHOD - A traffic and population counting device system and method is provided. The traffic and population counting device may be executable by a computing device and may include an entry selector configured to be selected to indicate that a shopper has entered a shopping zone and to keep a running count of a number of shoppers who enter the shopping zone. An exit selector may be configured to be selected to indicate that a shopper has exited a shopping zone and to keep a running count of a number of shoppers who exit the shopping zone. Further, a display may be configured to display a running population count of shoppers within the shopping zone. The running population count may be determined by a running difference between the running count of the number of shoppers who enter the shopping zone and the running count of the number of shoppers who exit the shopping zone. | 12-11-2008 |
20080306756 | SHOPPER VIEW TRACKING AND ANALYSIS SYSTEM AND METHOD - Devices, systems, and methods for tracking a view of a shopper are disclosed. The system may include camera coupled with a head of a shopper, and configured to capture one or more images in a field of view of the camera as captured image data. The shopper view tracking system may also include an analysis computing device configured to receive the captured image data, and an analysis program configured to determine an estimated shopper field of view having a boundary that is calculated to represent a probability of a person in a data sample having an actual measured focal point that occurs within the boundary, and to display the estimated shopper field of view superimposed on the one or more images in the captured image data. The analysis program further may be configured to generate an output including statistical measures based on the estimated field of view. | 12-11-2008 |
20090271251 | POINT OF VIEW SHOPPER CAMERA SYSTEM WITH ORIENTATION SENSOR - A point of view shopper camera system is provided to generate and analyze shoppers' view data. The point of view shopper camera system may comprise a head device including an eye camera and a head orientation sensor, a position tracking sensor to identify a shopper's position, and an analysis computing device. The eye camera may be configured to be mounted to the head of the shopper, and to capture a still or moving image of the field of view of the shopper. The analysis computing device may be configured to receive the captured image data from the eye camera, head orientation data from the head orientation sensor, and the shopper's position data from the position tracking sensor, and determine an estimated field of view of the shopper during a trip in a shopping environment. | 10-29-2009 |
20140176723 | Point of View Shopper Camera System with Orientation Sensor - A point of view shopper camera system is provided to generate and analyze shoppers' view data. The point of view shopper camera system may comprise a head device including an eye camera and a head orientation sensor, a position tracking sensor to identify a shopper's position, and an analysis computing device. The eye camera may be configured to be mounted to the head of the shopper, and to capture a still or moving image of the field of view of the shopper. The analysis computing device may be configured to receive the captured image data from the eye camera, head orientation data from the head orientation sensor, and the shopper's position data from the position tracking sensor, and determine an estimated field of view of the shopper during a trip in a shopping environment. | 06-26-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130145951 | SHOT SHELLS WITH PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING ABSORBERS - Shot shells with enhanced performance due to inclusion of an absorber between the shot wad and the shot payload. The absorber reduces the pressure within a shot gun's chamber during firing of the shell, such as by absorbing energy generated during the firing process, and may thereafter return some of the energy to the pellets as the absorber and pellets are propelled along the firearm's barrel. Accordingly, the absorber enables a shot shell to generate shot payload velocities that are greater than would be achieved without the absorber, typically at a lower internal chamber pressure. In some embodiments, the absorber has (1) a Young's Modulus of less than 2,000 psi (137.9 bar), (2) a compressive strength of at least 100 psi (6.9 bar) and/or less than 10,000 psi (689.5 bar), and/or (3) a tensile strength of at least 145 psi (10 bar) and/or less than 10,000 psi (689.5 bar). | 06-13-2013 |
20150268015 | SHOT SHELLS WITH PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING ABSORBERS - Shot shells with enhanced performance due to inclusion of an absorber between the shot wad and the shot payload. The absorber reduces the pressure within a shot gun's chamber during firing of the shell, such as by absorbing energy generated during the firing process, and may thereafter return some of the energy to the pellets as the absorber and pellets are propelled along the firearm's barrel. Accordingly, the absorber enables a shot shell to generate shot payload velocities that are greater than would be achieved without the absorber, typically at a lower internal chamber pressure. In some embodiments, the absorber has (1) a Young's Modulus of less than 2,000 psi (137.9 bar), (2) a compressive strength of at least 100 psi (6.9 bar) and/or less than 10,000 psi (689.5 bar), and/or (3) a tensile strength of at least 145 psi (10 bar) and/or less than 10,000 psi (689.5 bar). | 09-24-2015 |