ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,691,444, issued on July 28, was assigned to FOSHAN MIDEA CHUNGHO WATER PURIFICATION EQUIPMENT Co. LTD. (Foshan, China) and MIDEA GROUP Co. LTD. (Foshan, China).

"Water softening device" was invented by Bo Zhang (Foshan, China), Pu Qing (Foshan, China), Zhipeng Hao (Foshan, China), Chenghuan Hu (Foshan, China), Ziming Gong (Foshan, China), Rensheng Huang (Foshan, China), Yuedong Zheng (Foshan, China) and Yumin Liao (Foshan, China).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present disclosure provides a water softening device. The water softening device includes a box body, an inner frame assembly, a top cover assembly, a regeneration assembly and ...