Foxconn Innovation: Cleaning Robots, Fool-Proofing Manufacturing and Rotating Notebook Screens

The Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., also known as Foxconn Technology Group, is headquartered in New Taipei, Taiwan. The electronics contract manufacturing company creates parts for many of the world’s most popular electronic products which are often sold under other brand names. Although headquartered in Taiwan, Foxconn operates manufacturing facilities all over the world, including a factory in São Paulo, Brazil, where workers have recently returned after a five-day strike. The corporation has been under scrutiny for many worker’s rights issues in recent years, although there is some speculation that the company may be attempting, albeit imperfectly, to encourage democratization and trade unions among its workers. Although the company has experienced sliding profit margins in recent years, CEO Terry Gou has said that he expects annual revenue growth of 10 percent to 15 percent for Foxconn over the next five years.

In recent months, IPWatchdog’s Companies We Follow series has opened its focus to include the research and development activities of this electronics manufacturer. Although much of the company’s work is contracted from other companies, recent patent applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show that Hon Hai Precision invents a surprising amount of its own technologies. Improvements to cleaning robots and smart television sets are discussed in a couple of patents we explore below. A couple of patent applications also discuss hardware improvements to notebook computer screens that allow them to rotate or be positioned in other ways.

Foxconn enjoys a very diverse patent portfolio as well, to judge by the patents recently issued to the Taiwanese corporation by the USPTO. A few patents protect intriguing improvements to audio/video telecommunication systems, including an image capture device for video telephones with an adjustable field of view. Unmanned technologies, including robotic arms and unmanned aerial vehicles, are the focal point of a few other patents that we shared today. Other patents assigned to Hon Hai Precision also show development in the fields of fiber optics transmissions and printing devices.

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Foxconn’s Patent Applications: Cleaning Robots, Fool-Proofing Manufacturing and Rotating Notebook Screens

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. manufactures the electronic components for a stunning array of devices, consoles and other electronics products. Many readers may be familiar with Foxconn’s contracts with Apple to develop that company’s iPhone and iPad products, but the manufacturer is also responsible for creating essential parts for the Kindle, Xbox One, Wii U and the PlayStation 4.

From U.S. Patent Application No. 20140257562, entitled “Object Searching System, Object Searching Method, and Cleaning Robot.”

A couple of patent applications that we found in our survey of this company’s recently filed applications describe technologies which may help build smarter residences in the near future. Media reports indicate that Foxconn will delve more deeply into the field of robotics development in the near future. Although that article discusses developments in the field of industrial robotics, we found a useful improvement to cleaning robots operating in a residence, outlined within U.S. Patent Application No. 20140257562, entitled Object Searching System, Object Searching Method, and Cleaning Robot. Conventional room cleaning robots have an issue in that they sometimes cannot differentiate from an important item lying on the floor, such as a piece of jewelry, or trash that should be cleared away. The cleaning robot that would be protected here has a chassis-mounted camera and a comparison module that compares images against a reference database. If the item viewed is not an item to be cleaned, the robot’s cleaning path is adjusted. More convenient system for using smart TVs would also be protected by U.S. Patent Application No. 20140282648, which is titled Smart Television and Method for Broadcasting TV Show Therefor. The technology is designed to eliminate the need for a user to manually input an account identification and password to enjoy personalized television content. This patent application would protect a smart TV with a facial image capturing unit and a storage unit containing facial images and data mapping the relationship of that account to their favorite television content.

Quicker methods of connecting computing device users to virtual resources over the Internet are discussed in U.S. Patent Application No. 20140280968, which is titled Data Center and Method for Providing Virtual Service. The technology described in this patent application is designed to help Internet users access virtual services at data centers without having to remember domain names or network addresses. This data center would include a virtual resource description unit for acquiring data, including tag data of the virtual service and logon information.

Functions for preventing against errors in devices used for manufacturing processes could be protected for Hon Hai Precision through U.S. Patent Application No. 20140277610, titled Electronic Device and Method for Adjusting Fool-Proofing Functions of Operations Using the Electronic Device. This patent application would protect a computer-implemented method for obtaining operations from user inputs and fool-proofing those operations with an algorithm that is triggered if the user input falls outside of a certain range. The invention is designed to improve upon conventional fool-proofing methods used by computing devices in manufacturing settings while reducing downtime needed to apply fool-proofing to an operation.

From U.S. Patent Application No. 20140254081, titled “Electronic Device Having Slidable Screen.”

There were a trio of patent applications that we explored which disclosed a number of intriguing new technologies for personal computing devices; among these, we noticed a special focus on the functions of a display screen for notebook computers. U.S. Patent Application No. 20140254082, filed under the title Electronic Device Having Movable Screen, discusses an innovation which would provide better stability for rotating touchscreens. The electronic device that would be protected contains a sliding member over a base as well as a restricting strip and two positioning holes and pillars helping to secure the display screen. A similar issue in using rotating displays on notebook computers is also addressed by U.S. Patent Application No. 20140254081, which is titled Electronic Device Having Slidable Screen. The patent application describes a covered sliding member on an electronic device and a bobbin rotatably mounted on the sliding member’s cover. The bobbin and a transmission line wrapped around the bobbin increases the number of positions that can be reached by the rotatable screen of this notebook computer. Quicker methods of accessing data stored on a flash drive through a computing device may be protected for Hon Hai Precision through the filing of U.S. Patent Application No. 20140282236, entitled Electronic Device and Human-Computer Interaction Method. This patent application would protect an electronic device with an input/output (I/O) port that receives an external storage device, and an instruction receiver located near the port. When a flash device is inserted into an I/O port, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port), a control module receiving instructions from the instruction receiver causes the graphical user interface (GUI) to display a folder associated with the external storage device. This greatly reduces the amount of time spent by a computer user when trying to access files after a flash storage has been inserted.

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Issued Patents of Note: From Video Conferencing to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Adjustments 

Foxconn is the most innovative corporation headquartered in Taiwan and one of the most inventive in the world. The ranking list of 2013 U.S. patent grant recipients from IFI CLAIMS often cited in our Companies We Follow series reports that Hon Hai Precision was granted 2,279 patent grants from the USPTO during that year, ranking it 8th among all global patenting entities. A recent foray into the patents assigned to this corporation in the past few weeks represents a wide range of technological development in robotics, fiber optics systems and even video conferencing technologies.

From U.S. Patent No. 8836854, entitled “Electronic Device Having Image Capturing Device Capable of Adjusting View Angles.”

In many video conferencing systems, lip syncing techniques are already employed in order to ensure that the video and audio of a video conference are played at the same time for an end user. Issues in lip syncing methods caused by an end user with a low-capability computer processor could be addressed by the innovation protected by U.S. Patent No. 8830290, which is titled Video Conference Apparatus and Method for Audio-Video Synchronization. This patent protects an audio-video synchronization method that detects the presence time of both audio and visual effects and adding timestamps to the data feed of a video conference which syncs the presence time of these effects. An intriguing improvement to video telephones was also recently secured by Hon Hai Precision through the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 8836854, entitled Electronic Device Having Image Capturing Device Capable of Adjusting View Angles. Conventional image capturing devices on a video telephone typically have fixed angles, making it inconvenient to bring certain items into the image capture device’s field of view. This patent protects an electronic device with a shell containing an image capturing device. The image capturing device has a pair of rotation shafts and a matching block for adjusting the image device’s position.

Unmanned and robotic technologies will be a greater focus for Foxconn, as we explored in our coverage of the company’s recently filed patent applications. Some patents lately assigned to the company by the USPTO increase Hon Hai Precision’s actual patent holdings in this area. U.S. Patent No. 8838272, issued under the title Robotic Arm Control System and Method, protects a technology designed to limit errors in non-linear movements attempted by joint-type robotic arms. The robotic arm control method described herein is capable of creating an original coordinate system complete with x-axis, y-axis and z-axis from any three points of an object. The non-linear mapping technology can also be utilized by non-joint-type robotic arms as well.

Airborne drones with technological components which can overcome certain human operator errors are discussed within U.S. Patent No. 8838290, entitled Control Device and Method for Adjusting Flight Direction of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using the Same. The system protected by this patent includes the usage of electronic compass chips on both the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and the device controlling the UAV. This system can adjust a control signal coming from the device using the recorded angle of deviation separating the directional heading of the UAV and the control device. This invention has been developed to ensure that proper flight adjustments are made even when a human operator is attempting to adjust a UAV’s flight path when the control device is positioned at a different angle than the UAV’s path.

From U.S. Patent No. 8834308, titled “Transporting Apparatus With Belt.”

Fiber optics systems for transmitting large data sources across long distances with incredibly quick transmission speeds are an area of development for Hon Hai Precision, as is evidenced by U.S. Patent No. 8843000, simply titled Optical Fiber Transmission System. The system described here involves a light-emitting source, a multitude of light-receiving terminals, optical fibers connecting the source to the terminals, a reflective member and a signal analyzer for storing a receiving address for transmissions. The technology protected by this patent is designed to improve upon shortcomings in conventional fiber optics transmission systems where the number of light-receiving terminals within a system is limited.

Finally, we noticed and decided to profile one final patent issued to this company, this one in the field of printing technology. U.S. Patent No. 8834308, which is titled Transporting Apparatus With Belt, describes an innovation which has been created to address issues in slipped belts within a printing apparatus which can damage paper printouts or result in low-quality printing jobs. This patent protects a transporting apparatus with a mounting plate, an assistant wheel assembly with multiple wheels and a gasket, and an elastic member traveling between the wheels. The transporting apparatus is configured so that tension on the elastic belt is even, reducing the likelihood of belt slippage.

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One comment so far.

  • [Avatar for Mark Nowotarski]
    Mark Nowotarski
    October 13, 2014 06:02 pm

    Hon Hai has a fascinating in-house patent system. I studied them a while ago and it appears as if they are treating the patent process almost the same as a production process. Their patent applications are very uniform in structure. They issue in half the time with half the number of rejections as their direct competitors. When I reviewed their file histories to see how they got such high allowance rates, I discovered that they almost never cite case law or even the MPEP in their responses. They simply amend claims or present arguments to directly address an examiners’ concerns. This was quite eye opening and informed by own practice.