Patents Issued the Week of October 23-27

10.27.23

Patent Protection & Registration

Patents grant property rights on new and useful inventions, allowing the patent holder to prevent others from using, making, or selling that invention without permission for a limited time. U.S. patents are permitted by the U.S. Constitution and are designed to promote scientific progress and invention. By allowing inventors to profit from licensing or selling their patent rights, inventors can recoup their research and development costs and benefit financially from their inventing efforts. There are three main types of patents utility, plant, and design. Utility and plant patents can last up to 20 years, while design patents can last up to 15 years. When a patent expires, the patented material enters the public domain, making it free to use by anyone without a license. U.S. patents are issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

U.S. Patent No. 11,795,633 entitled “Method for Milling off Traffic Areas with a Milling Drum, as Well as Milling Machine for Carrying out the Method for Milling off Traffic Areas” issued October 25, 2023 to Wirtgen GmbH of Windhagen, Germany. Invented by Matthias Fritz of Hennef, Germany. Abstract: A method for milling off traffic areas with a milling drum of a milling machine includes: obtaining and storing target profile data of a desired target profile of a surface of the traffic area in target condition, wherein target values for a locally desired milling depth are assigned to position data in a stationary coordinate system independent of the milling machine; determining the current position of the milling drum in the coordinate system and detecting a current milling depth; during the milling operation, controlling the milling depth as a function of the target value assigned to the current position of the milling drum and the currently detected milling depth; updating the target profile data in the current position of the milling drum on the worked traffic area by the currently actually milled milling depth; and storing the updated target profile data.