Patent Issued for Garage Door Support (USPTO 10,260,268)

2019 APR 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventor Whitlock, Ryan (Clinton, IL), filed on May 23, 2017, was published online on April 29, 2019, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 10,260,268 is assigned to State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Existing garage door reinforcement systems essentially alter an unreinforced door by incorporating more and/or better quality struts into the main body of the door. For instance, struts comprising stronger metal alloys, and thicker brackets forming sturdier geometries, may be built into a door at a closer spacing across the height of the door to reinforce it against bending or bowing.

“However, known reinforcing struts are typically manually and/or permanently engaged with the body of the door. This type of system may require a prohibitive amount of effort for placement and removal of the reinforcing components. Such a system may also lead to excessive energy costs from moving the additional weight of reinforcement each time the door is moved, i.e., even at times when the reinforcement is unnecessary. An improved reinforcement system is needed that more closely fulfills the objectives, and conserves the resources, of users.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “Embodiments of the present technology relate to a reinforced door and systems, apparatus and methods for reinforcing doors. The embodiments provide for an actuator drivingly engaged to a reinforcement beam for retraction and extension across a door. The embodiments may permit improved reinforcement--for example of garage doors--which may be selectively applied and removed dependent on need. The embodiments may also permit remote actuation of the reinforcement beam for improved response time if the need for reinforcement changes.

“In an aspect of the invention, a bracing system for a door is provided. The door has a height, a width, a periphery, and adjacent surrounding structure. The bracing system includes a first anchor positioned adjacent the periphery and fixed to the surrounding structure. The bracing system also includes an anchor surface positioned on the surrounding structure adjacent the periphery substantially opposite of the first anchor. The bracing system further includes a beam fixed to the first anchor and having a distal end configured to be engaged with the anchor surface. The bracing system still further includes an actuator drivingly engaged to the beam. The actuator and the beam are configured such that activation of the actuator causes movement of the distal end with respect to the anchor surface. The system may include additional, less, or alternate apparatus or components, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect of the invention, a reinforced garage door is provided. The door includes a plurality of vertically stacked panels adjacent surrounding structure. The panels define a peripheral margin, a height and a width of the door. The door also includes a bracing assembly. The bracing assembly includes a first anchor positioned adjacent the peripheral margin and fixed to the surrounding structure and an anchor surface positioned on the surrounding structure adjacent the peripheral margin substantially opposite of the first anchor. The door further includes a beam fixed to the first anchor and having a distal end configured to be engaged with the anchor surface. The door still further includes an actuator drivingly engaged to the beam. The actuator and the beam are configured such that activation of the actuator causes movement of the distal end with respect to the anchor surface. The door may include additional, less, or alternate components, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In still another aspect of the invention, a computer-implemented method for reinforcing a door is provided. The method includes determining a position of a retractable reinforcement beam. The method also includes analyzing weather-related event data against an event threshold to determine a reinforcement triggering event has occurred. The method further includes automatically issuing an actuation command to an actuator drivingly engaged with the reinforcement beam in response to the determination of the reinforcement triggering event. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternative actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein, and may be implemented via one or more local or remote processors, and/or via computer-executable instructions stored on non-transitory computer-readable media or medium.

“In yet still another aspect of the invention, another computer-implemented method for reinforcing a door is provided. The method includes providing a controller in communication with an actuator drivingly engaged with a retractable reinforcement beam. The method also includes providing a mobile device in communication with the controller. The method further includes issuing an actuation command, via the mobile device, to the controller for activation of the actuator and extension of the reinforcement beam across the door. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternative actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein, and may be implemented via one or more local or remote processors, and/or via computer-executable instructions stored on non-transitory computer-readable media or medium.

“Advantages of these and other embodiments will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the exemplary embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments described herein may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“I claim:

“1. A bracing system for a door having a height, a width, a periphery and adjacent surrounding structure, the bracing system comprising: a first anchor positioned adjacent the periphery and fixed to the surrounding structure; an anchor surface positioned on the surrounding structure adjacent the periphery substantially opposite of the first anchor; a beam fixed to the first anchor and having a distal end configured to be engaged with the anchor surface; and an actuator drivingly engaged to the beam, said actuator and said beam being configured such that activation of the actuator causes-- movement of the distal end with respect to the anchor surface, movement of the beam alternatingly into and out of bracing engagement with the door.

“2. The bracing system according to claim 1, wherein the bracing engagement with the door is provided via a brace fixed to the door and releasably engaged with an intermediate portion of the beam.

“3. The bracing system according to claim 2, wherein-- the height of the door extends along a substantially vertical axis and the width of the door extends along a substantially horizontal axis, the brace is coupled to the door to substantially reduce movement orthogonal to the vertical axis and to the horizontal axis.

“4. The bracing system according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is drivingly engaged to the distal end such that activation of the actuator causes a telescoping movement of the distal end with respect to an adjacent portion of the beam.

“5. The bracing system according to claim 4, wherein the actuator is drivingly engaged to the distal end of the beam by a cable that drives movement of the distal end away from the anchor surface.

“6. The bracing system according to claim 1, wherein the distal end is frictionally engaged with the anchor surface when the beam is in an extended position.

“7. The bracing system according to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the beam extends behind a middle third of the width of the door.

“8. The bracing system according to claim 7, wherein at least a portion of the beam extends behind a middle third of the height of the door.

“9. The bracing system according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is configured to retract the distal end of the beam to a position substantially above the door.

“10. The bracing system according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is activated in response to depression of a touchpad in wired connection with the actuator.

“11. The bracing system according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is activated by a controller including a communication element.

“12. The bracing system according to claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to activate the actuator based on instructions received via communication network from a mobile electronic device.

“13. The bracing system according to claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to automatically activate the actuator based on instructions received from a third party server.

“14. The bracing system according to claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to query a third party server for information relating to weather conditions and to automatically activate the actuator if the information obtained meets one or more event threshold(s).

“15. The bracing system according to claim 14, wherein the controller periodically queries the third party server at preset intervals.

“16. The bracing system according to claim 14, further comprising a sensor configured to sense weather-related data for automated activation of the actuator.

“17. The bracing system according to claim 16, wherein the sensor is a barometric sensor.

“18. A computer-implemented method for reinforcing a door, the computer-implemented method comprising, via one or more processors or transceivers: determining a position of a retractable reinforcement beam; analyzing weather-related event data against an event threshold to determine a reinforcement triggering event has occurred; analyzing obstruction-related data to determine absence of physical obstruction to a path of the beam; and automatically issuing an actuation command to an actuator drivingly engaged with the reinforcement beam in response to the determination of the reinforcement triggering event and determination of absence of physical obstruction to the path of the beam.

“19. A reinforced garage door comprising: a plurality of vertically stacked panels adjacent surrounding structure, the panels defining a peripheral margin, a height and a width of the door; a bracing assembly including-- a first anchor positioned adjacent the peripheral margin and fixed to the surrounding structure; an anchor surface positioned on the surrounding structure adjacent the peripheral margin substantially opposite of the first anchor; a beam fixed to the first anchor and having a distal end configured to be engaged with the anchor surface; and an actuator drivingly engaged to the beam, said actuator and said beam being configured such that activation of the actuator causes-- movement of the distal end with respect to the anchor surface, movement of the beam alternatingly into and out of bracing engagement with the door.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Whitlock, Ryan. Garage Door Support. U.S. Patent Number 10,260,268, filed May 23, 2017, and published online on April 29, 2019. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,260,268.PN.&OS=PN/10,260,268RS=PN/10,260,268

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