James Patrick O'Brien

US Patent:

51848520, Feb 9, 1993

Filed:

Jul 23, 1991

Appl. No.:

7/734566

Inventors:

James O'Brien - Burbank CA

Assignee:

Thomas Industries Inc., Builders Brass Works Division - Los Angeles CA

International Classification:

E05C 1502

US Classification:

292 40

Abstract:

A rod casing for activating vertically arranged latch bolts, the casing and latch bolts arranged in an active stile of a door and engageable to a door frame. The rod casing provides a vertically slidable actuator cam engageable by both a lock/unlock actuator and a delatch or dogging actuator. The lock/unlock actuator and the delatch actuator are rotatably mounted upon a spindle piece which itself is rotatable by a user such as by a key-activated lock cylinder. The lock/unlock actuator when rotated slidingly abuts the actuator cam and drives the actuator cam vertically upward to cause unlatching of the latch bolts. The delatch actuator, upon rotation of the spindle piece in an opposite direction underlies the actuator cam and dogs the actuator cam in its vertically risen position. To deactivate the delatch actuator, the lock/unlock actuator can be rotated to interfere and displace the delatch actuator to release the actuator cam from the dogging position. The actuator cam is composed of a resilient material to allow the delatch actuator to engage the actuator cam in a spring-like or resiliently compressible fashion to help hold the actuator cam in its dogging position.

US Patent:

51141922, May 19, 1992

Filed:

Mar 5, 1991

Appl. No.:

7/664797

Inventors:

George F. Toledo - Fall Brook CA
James A. O'Brien - Burbank CA

Assignee:

Thomas Industries, Inc. - Louisville KY

International Classification:

E06B 720
E05C 302

US Classification:

292 21

Abstract:

A latch assembly for use with a panic exit device, particularly a top latch having a U-shape which engages a stem portion of a T-shaped receiving lug mounted overhead to a top member of the door frame. The U-shaped top latch is pivotably mounted to the active stile of the door. The latch assembly causes the U-shaped latch to pivot upward to capture the stationary T-shaped receiving lug, or pivot downwardly to disengage from the T-shaped receiving lug. The latch member is in sliding and abutting engagement with a latch cam which pivots in one direction to retain the latch member in an upward orientation to capture the T-shaped receiving lug, and pivots in an opposite direction to allow the latch member to pivot downwardly upon opening pressure on the door and actuation of the panic exit device, to release the latch member from the receiving lug. The latch cam is activated by movement of a panic bar of a panic exit device mounted onto the door, and the latch cam, once moved to disengage the latch member from the receiving lug, holds the latch member in a condition for automatic re-engagement with the receiving lug once the door re-closes.

US Patent:

51936470, Mar 16, 1993

Filed:

Mar 23, 1992

Appl. No.:

7/856290

Inventors:

James A. O'Brien - Burbank CA

Assignee:

Thomas Industries, Inc. - Los Angeles CA

International Classification:

F03G 100
E05F 300
F16H 1904

US Classification:

185 40R

Abstract:

A device for controlling swinging doors utilizing an externally powered motor to compress a spring during door opening to store energy in the spring. The motor is not used to open the door, but only to compress the spring, thereby utilizing a minimum amount of electrical energy and allowing for a very easy opening of the door. The motor acts as a generator during the closing of the door with generated electrical energy fed back to the motor to retard rotation of the rotor, providing a brake on the closing movement of the door. The feedback circuitry includes a switch for varying the braking during the final degrees of closing movement as well as a variable setting device allowing control of braking force.

US Patent:

52437353, Sep 14, 1993

Filed:

Mar 9, 1992

Appl. No.:

7/848302

Inventors:

James A. O'Brien - Burbank CA

Assignee:

Thomas Industries, Inc. - Los Angeles CA

International Classification:

E05F 300
F03G 100
F16H 1904

US Classification:

16 64

Abstract:

A device for closing swinging doors of the type utilizing a rotating member to compress a spring during door opening to store energy in the spring to effect a closing of the door is provided with a driving connection to a d. c motor/generator effective to cause rotation of the motor during a closing movement of the door. The motor/generator acts as a generator during the closing with the generated electrical energy fed back to the motor/generator to retard rotation of the rotor, providing a brake on the closing movement of the door. The feedback circuitry includes a switch disabling or diminishing the braking during the final degrees of closing movement as well as a variable setting device allowing control of braking force.

US Patent:

51618370, Nov 10, 1992

Filed:

Nov 4, 1991

Appl. No.:

7/787261

Inventors:

James O'Brien - Burbank CA

Assignee:

Thomas Industries Inc., Builders Brass Works Div. - Los Angeles CA

International Classification:

E05C 904

US Classification:

292 40

Abstract:

A rod casing for activating vertically arranged latch bolts, the casing and latch bolts arranged in an active stile of a door and engageable to a door frame. The rod casing provides a vertically slidable actuator cam engageable by both a lock/unlock actuator and a delatch or dogging actuator. The lock/unlock actuator and the delatch actuator are rotatably mounted upon a spindle piece which itself is rotatable by a user such as by a key-activated lock cylinder. The lock-unlock actuator when rotated, slidingly abuts the actuator cam and drives the actuator cam vertically upward to cause unlatching of the latch bolts. The delatch actuator, upon rotation of the spindle piece in an opposite direction underlies the actuator cam and dogs the actuator cam in its vertically risen position. A panic exit device is also provided which has a lift plate mounted fixedly to the rod slide, the lift plate liftable by a pivoting of a lift lever, the lift lever pivoted by a lateral thrusting of a push plate slidably held beneath a push pad of the panic exit device. When compressed by a user, the push pad compresses two motion actuators housed beneath the push pad which laterally translate the push plate toward the lift lever.

US Patent:

20190156548, May 23, 2019

Filed:

Jan 18, 2019

Appl. No.:

16/252059

Inventors:

- Glendale CA, US
Martin WATT - Glendale CA, US
Bo MORGAN - Glendale CA, US
James O'BRIEN - Glendale CA, US

Assignee:

DreamWorks Animation L.L.C. - Glendale CA

International Classification:

G06T 13/40
G06T 17/20
G06T 13/20
G06T 7/20

Abstract:

Systems and methods for automatically animating a character based on an existing corpus of animation are described. The character may be from a previously produced feature animated film, and the data used for training may be the data used to animate the character in the film. A low-dimensional embedding for subsets of the existing animation corresponding to different semantic labels may be learned by mapping high-dimensional rig control parameters to a latent space. A particle model may be used to move within the latent space, thereby generating novel animations corresponding to the space's semantic label, such as a pose. Bridges may link a first pose of a first model within the latent space that is similar to a second pose of a second model of the space. Animations corresponding to transitions between semantic labels may be generated by creating animation paths that traverse a bridge from one model into another.

US Patent:

20190073826, Mar 7, 2019

Filed:

Mar 2, 2018

Appl. No.:

15/910898

Inventors:

- Glendale CA, US
Paul DiLorenzo - La Verne CA, US
David Otte - Palo Alto CA, US
James O'Brien - El Cerrito CA, US

Assignee:

DreamWorks Animation LLC - Glendale CA

International Classification:

G06T 17/20
G06T 13/40
G06T 7/73

Abstract:

Systems, methods, and computer-readable medium for approximating mesh deformations for character rigs are disclosed. An embodiment includes applying a first deformation function to one or more mesh elements to determine an intermediate position based on a transform to a first structural element, wherein the one or more mesh elements are assigned to the first structural element, generating an offset based on a second deformation function for the one or more mesh elements using a deformation function approximation model, wherein the offset is a positional offset of the one or more mesh elements from the intermediate position to a target position corresponding to the transform applied to the first structural element, and generating a combined mesh deformation for the one or more mesh elements by combining the intermediate position and the offset.

US Patent:

20170206696, Jul 20, 2017

Filed:

Jan 18, 2017

Appl. No.:

15/409479

Inventors:

- Glendale CA, US
Martin WATT - Glendale CA, US
Bo MORGAN - Glendale CA, US
James O'BRIEN - Glendale CA, US

Assignee:

DreamWorks Animation LLC - Glendale CA

International Classification:

G06T 13/40
G06T 17/20
G06T 7/20

Abstract:

Systems and methods for automatically animating a character based on an existing corpus of animation are described. The character may be from a previously produced feature animated film, and the data used for training may be the data used to animate the character in the film. A low-dimensional embedding for subsets of the existing animation corresponding to different semantic labels may be learned by mapping high-dimensional rig control parameters to a latent space. A particle model may be used to move within the latent space, thereby generating novel animations corresponding to the space's semantic label, such as a pose. Bridges may link a first pose of a first model within the latent space that is similar to a second pose of a second model of the space. Animations corresponding to transitions between semantic labels may be generated by creating animation paths that traverse a bridge from one model into another.