Document Document Title
US07891015B2 High-bandwidth actuator drive for scanning probe microscopy
An actuator subsystem for use in a scanning probe microscope (SPM) system having a probe for measuring a sample comprises and actuator and an actuator driving circuit. The actuator operates in the SPM system to generate relative motion between the probe and the sample while the SPM system collects data indicative of a property of the sample. The relative motion includes a range of motion of at least 1 micron. The actuator driving circuit applies a drive signal to the actuator to cause the relative motion, and has a small signal bandwidth of at least 200 kHz with a phase lag of not more than 100 degrees within the small signal bandwidth.
US07891012B1 Method and computer-usable medium for determining the authorization status of software
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and computer-usable medium for determining the authorization status of object code. In one embodiment, an application program embodied in an executable file is executed to periodically send a first data packet to a driver. A counter is decremented for each periodic interval in which the data packet is not received, and is reset in response to the data packet being received. The authorized status of the executable file is revoked if the counter reaches a predetermined value. In another embodiment, an application program generates a second data packet by creating a signature of the executable file and then encrypting that signature. The second data packet is sent to a driver for comparison with a previously-obtained packet. Thereafter, the authorized status of the executable file is revoked if a portion of the second data packet does not match the previously-obtained packet.
US07891011B1 User-based digital rights management
A digital content management system is provided in which a user's rights to access content are independent of the format in which the content is stored. A user receives a file containing electronic content, such as music or a ring tone, encoded in a particular format. The system determines the identity of that content, independent of the format in which the content is encoded. The system then determines whether the user has rights to that content. If so, the user is permitted to play the content. If the user later receives a different file that contains the same content but in a different format, the system determines that the different file encodes content that the user already has the right to play, and it allows the user to play the content in the second format.
US07891010B2 Information providing apparatus and information providing method
An authentication function authenticates a PDA. The content database holds the usage conditions of a content and the information about the content. The communication function controls the reception of the usage conditions and the content information, both transmitted from the PDA. The content management function updates the usage conditions and the content information received, on the basis of the usage conditions and the content information held. The desired content is thereby retrieved quickly.
US07891007B2 Systems and methods for issuing usage licenses for digital content and services
A method for managing rights in digital content includes generating rights data for a piece of digital content and forming a piece of rights managed digital content by associating the rights data with the piece of digital content. The rights data includes parameters that govern the terms on which the content may be licensed, and may include a list of entities to which the content may be licensed, a respective set of one or more rights that each such entity has in the digital content, and any conditions that may be placed on those rights. A method for licensing rights managed digital content includes receiving a license request for a license to use the piece of rights managed digital content, where the license request includes such a signed rights label. The digital signature on the signed rights label is validated to determine whether a trusted entity issued the signed rights label. If a trusted entity issued the signed rights label, a license to use the piece of rights managed digital content in accordance with the rights data may be issued.
US07891005B1 Verifying human interaction via rotated images
A human interaction proof may restrict access to computer systems by testing the image orientation detection capabilities of the user making the access attempt. The human interaction proof includes a challenge where a plurality of images is presented. The images in the challenge may be drawn from image databases or the Internet, and may be part of a set of images that have been screened for difficulty with respect to computers. Some of the presented images are rotated away from their proper orientations. A user presented with the challenge is asked to differentiate the rotated images from the non-rotated images. A correct response leads to a grant of access, and an incorrect answer leads to a denial of access. The images in the challenge may be further modified with regard to color, lighting, cropping, etc. before presentation; the modifications increase the difficulty of the challenge for computers.
US07890992B2 Method and apparatus for selection of authentication servers based on the authentication mechanisms in supplicant attempts to access network resources
A computer-implemented method is provided for processing access requests in an AAA network. The method includes receiving an access request from a network device, identifying, based upon the access request, an authentication mechanism for facilitating AAA services for the network device and selecting, based on the identified authentication mechanism, a particular server from a plurality of servers that is compatible with the identified authentication mechanism.
US07890985B2 Server-side media stream manipulation for emulation of media playback functions
A media server in a home entertainment network allows a media rendering device to act as a digital media receiver. The media server enables trick mode functions such as scan forward or reverse, slow motion, pause, and seek on rendering devices with capabilities limited to 1× playback. The media server receives commands from user input at the rendering device transmitted over the network to the media server. The media server manipulates the media stream before transmission over the network by deleting or adding frames to the media stream as necessary to emulate the desired playback functions and replacing frame timestamps to create a media stream that appears to the media rendering device as a sequential 1× stream. The transmitted media stream may not contain all of the media content stored in the corresponding media file on the media server, thus avoiding limitations on the download bandwidth and local client storage.
US07890983B2 Channel buffering method for dynamically altering channel number of internet protocol television
A channel buffering method is for dynamically altering a number of channels for an Internet protocol television (IPTV). The method is applicable for a home gateway (HG) having a channel section used for channel buffering. After the HG has received two consecutive channel-switching requests, the HG compares whether the two requests are similarly directed to switching a channel towards the same direction or not; if yes, a cumulative switching frequency is set, and two trimming numerical values are set through the cumulative switching frequency, and thus, the channel section for buffering the channels can be dynamically adjusted through the two trimming numerical values.
US07890978B2 Generic data processing engine
A generic data processing engine is operable to receive a format definition and process data formatted according to the definition, without use of formatting information in the data. The format definition includes a description of the syntax of the format, and a description of the semantics of the format. The syntax and semantics may be described in the same language or in different languages, and the engine is configured to produce an internal representation of the syntax and semantics. The engine receives queries and uses them together with the internal representation to set masks for the filters. The filters apply the masks to the data and return filtered data to the engine, which may forward a portion of the filtered data to applications, store a portion of the filtered data, set new masks based on a portion of the filtered data, or modify the existing masks based on a portion of the filtered data. The filters may also be configured to return filtered data directly to applications, bypassing the engine.
US07890975B2 Data broadcast method
A system for providing a plurality of sets of broadcast data service transmitted as part of a broadcast signal, including a processor configured to periodically extract at least some of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service from a broadcast carousel included in the broadcast signal, a memory configured to store the extracted plurality of sets of the broadcast data service, defining a plurality of digital-audio/video-data-sets including television clips, a first controller configured to allow selection from a list of the plurality of sets of the digital-audio/video-data-sets, and a second controller responsive to a user initiated selection signal to cause the memory to output a user selected one of the plurality of digital-audio/video-data-sets selected from the list, wherein the processor converts the digital-audio/video-data of the plurality of sets of the broadcast data service into real time audio/video data, and updates portions of data related to the stored extracted plurality of sets.
US07890966B2 Disk drive access door
An information management system is disclosed and can include a housing that can have a front panel assembly. The front panel assembly can have a frame formed with an opening and a door adjacent to the opening. Further, the system can include a disk drive within the housing. The disk drive can include an open/close button and a disk drive tray that can movable between a retracted position and an extended position. The door of the front panel assembly can be movable between a closed position in which the disk drive is not accessible, an ejection position in which the open/close button is pressed, and an open position in which the disk drive is accessible and the disk drive tray is in the extended position through the opening.
US07890951B2 Model-based provisioning of test environments
Model-based provisioning of test environments includes accessing a model of an application to be installed in a test environment of a system and further accessing a model of the system and a model of the test environment. An installation specification for the application is also generated, the installation specification being derived at least in part from the model of the application, the model of the system, and the model of the test environment.
US07890941B1 Binary profile instrumentation framework
Techniques for reliable binary instrumentation based on annotation information are described. A binary file that comprises a code section representing the executable code of a computer program is accessed. The binary file also comprises annotation information that indicates the boundaries of one or more portions of the computer program. Accurate data flow information and control flow information may be generated based on the annotation information included in the binary file. The binary file is instrumented by inserting a set of instrumentation code at one or more points in the code section of the computer program. The one or more points are determined based on the data flow information and the control flow information.
US07890939B2 Partial methods
Partial methods enable separation of method declaration and/or calls from method implementation. A partial method specifies a signature of a join or hook point in a class. Calls to a partial method specify a join or hook point in code that can optionally be linked with an actual method implementation of the same signature. Separate method implementations or other code related to a partial method are injected into a single program prior to execution. Unimplemented partial methods are treated as no operation instructions or otherwise ignored.
US07890938B2 Heterogeneous normalization of data characteristics
Methods, systems, and data structures are provided for normalizing data characteristics between applications. A first application is associated with a first data characteristic, and a second application is associated with a second data characteristic. A most-restrictive or common data characteristic is determined from the first and second data characteristics. The most restrictive or common data characteristic is enforced on access attempts to the first or second applications.
US07890935B2 Thread-specific presentation of breakpoints
A method, system and computer program product for performing thread-specific display of breakpoints are disclosed. The method includes, in response to determining that an event received from a user interface is a request to update a source code of a software module, updating a source display pane and determining whether a first breakpoint is capable of firing in a current thread. In response to determining that the first breakpoint is not capable of firing in the current thread, the first breakpoint is displayed in an altered display state to indicate that the first breakpoint cannot be hit in the current thread.
US07890931B2 Visual debugger for stylesheets
A visual Debugger for stylesheets assists a user of stylesheets debug the stylesheets by: allowing the user to set breakpoints on the stylesheet; running to, and stopping at, the breakpoints; single stepping through each template rule as the rule is fired (both forward and backward); evaluating the template rule on the fly; showing the relationship between each template rule and the source document that provides the data; supporting stylesheets that call external programs written in Java or JavaScript; supporting stylesheets that include or import other stylesheets; supporting XML documents that use the “?xml-stylesheet” processing instruction to include stylesheets; supporting multiple debug sessions; and allowing the user to edit the stylesheet or source document and then allowing the debugger to be relaunched.
US07890927B2 Apparatus and method for configuring and editing a control system with live data
Methods and apparatus for configuring process, environmental, industrial and other control systems generate and/or utilize models representing configurations of control systems and/or the systems controlled by them. Records of changes to the models or the configurations represented by them are maintained, thereby, for example, providing bases for determining current states, prior states and histories of changes. Objects in the model have characteristics, such as an object type characteristic and an area characteristic. Users can have corresponding permissions. A security mechanism apparatus controls access by users to the objects. Composite objects are defined by definition objects and are displayed in encapsulated or expanded formats. Objects can include an edit control type identifier that determines how they are presented for editing. Functionality responds to user commands by transferring characteristics of a first object depicted by the graphical user interface to a second object. Configuration-time formulas contained objects are evaluated to constants prior to downloading to the control system.
US07890919B1 Automatic component update and integration
An application development environment is described that updates one or more component tools offered in the application development environment. The application development environment determines the address of a server site related to the application under edit. After accessing this server site, the application development environment searches for one or more components related to the application being edited. The application development environment downloads and compares the server site components with one or more local components associated with the application. If a difference is detected, and a user authorizes the update, the application development environment revises the local components with the downloaded components and updates the component tools to facilitate presentation of the new components to the developer.
US07890916B1 Debugging using a virtual file system interface
Various approaches for controlling a circuit implemented on an integrated circuit device having programmable logic. According to one approach a hierarchy of directories and files are maintained in a virtual file system that is registered with an operating system. The directories and files are associated with resources of the programmable logic. Each file represents a respective data set of configuration data for an associated one of the resources, and at least one of the files is a clock control file that is associated with a clock control circuit on the integrated circuit. A first value is stored in the clock control circuit of the programmable logic in response to invocation of an operating system file access command that references the clock control file and specifies the first value. Advancement of a clock signal on the programmable logic is controlled in response to the first value stored in the clock control circuit.
US07890900B2 Various methods and apparatuses for effective yield enhancement of good chip dies having memories per wafer
A method and apparatus are described in which an optimal configuration of memory instances is determined. The optimal configuration of memory instances to be fabricated with built-in repair capacity and memory instances that are non-repairable may provide a maximum number of good chip dies per wafer. An amount of memory instances to be fabricated with built-in repair capacity as well as a remaining amount of memory instances to be fabricated without any built-in repair components in the integrated circuit design is determined relative to achieving the maximum number of good chip dies per wafer for a given defect density and wafer area. The amount of good dies produced per fabricated wafer for a populated amount of memories with built-in repair components is determined to be between an amount established by a minimum limit for the die area up to the amount established by a maximum limit for the die area.
US07890898B2 Method for semiconductor circuit
Capacity-gate voltage characteristics of a field-effect transistor having plural gates are measured against a voltage change in each one of the gates for an inverted MOSFET and for an accumulated MOSFET, respectively. These measurements together with numerical simulations provided from a model for quantum effects are used to determine flat band voltages between the plural gates and a channel. Next, an effective normal electric field is calculated as a vector line integral by using a set of flat band voltages for the measured capacity as a lower integration limit. Lastly, mobility depending on the effective normal electric field is calculated from current-gate voltage characteristic measurements and capacity measurements in a source-drain path, and the calculated mobility is substituted into an equation for a current-voltage curve between source and drain.
US07890894B2 Phase abstraction for formal verification
A method for functional verification includes transforming an original multiphase circuit design into a phase-abstracted circuit design by identifying cyclical (repetitive) signals in the multiphase circuit design, determining a number of simulation phases for the multiphase circuit design, unwinding the multiphase circuit design by the number of phases to create an unwound design, and then applying logic reduction techniques to the unwound design using the clock-like signals to reduce (simplify) the logic in the unwound design by eliminating unused/unnecessary registers, inputs, outputs, and logic. The resulting phase-abstracted design can then be processed much more efficiently by functional verification engines than the original multiphase circuit design due to the reduced number of registers/inputs.
US07890890B2 Lasso select
A lasso select tool that allows a user to draw a flexible line of selection ink in order to select one or more graphical objects for manipulation. As the user draws this selection line, the lasso select tool continuously redraws and displays a connection line connecting one end of the selection line with the opposite end of the selection line. This connection line thus graphically demonstrates to the user the area that is presently encompassed by the resulting lasso enclosure. Further, the lasso select tool will change the appearance of any object selected with the lasso enclosure. The lasso select tool also selects objects that are only substantially encompassed by the lasso enclosure. For example, the lasso select tool may select ink objects that are only 60% or more encompassed by the lasso enclosure.
US07890880B2 Method and device for interactive control of a machine
The invention relates to a method and a device for interactive control of a machine, whereby the operating parameters necessary for the working process of the machine are inputted into a data processing unit (12), for storing the operating parameters, using an input unit (10) with input fields in a form which guides the user. Working processes are thus carried out as a result of the inputs. A data set of the base rules for the working process of the machine is recorded in the data processing unit. A limited selection (11) of possible input choices is provided for the user by application of the data set based on the machine configuration and machine environment, which further comprise compatible parts for addition to the extant parts of a working process. Operator guidance is facilitated, whereby the user is provided with a limited selection (11), corresponding to the further parts of the process, on operating fields, by the input unit (10) on the surface (16) for manual input and/or for input using a manipulator (38).
US07890875B2 IM conversation management
A method and apparatus for managing IM conversations is provided. In response to idle time and, preferably, read message status, particular current conversations are removed from a list of current conversations. The removed conversations may be moved to an archive which may be automatically maintained in response to size constraints. An archive interface is facilitated to review conversations, save all or portions thereof, delete, etc. The archived conversations are preferably associated with the contact for the conversation to show a history of conversations.
US07890868B2 Selecting a connectable element of a hardware device in a measurement system
A system and method for selecting a connectable element of a hardware device in a measurement system. A diagram of the measurement system may be displayed. The diagram may include a first icon representing a hardware device component of the measurement system. The hardware device may include one or more connectable elements. A graphical indication of the one or more connectable elements of the hardware device may be displayed in response to user input. For example, the user may hover a pointer, e.g., a mouse cursor, over the first icon or may hover the pointer in a vicinity of the first icon to cause the graphical indication to be displayed. A first connectable element of the hardware device may be selected in response to user input received to the displayed graphical indication of the one or more connectable elements. For example, the first connectable element may be selected in order to connect the first connectable element to another component in the measurement system.
US07890867B1 Video editing functions displayed on or near video sequences
Video editing functions displayed in or near video sequences are described, including displaying a video window including a video sequence of a video presentation, receiving an input to enable an editing panel for performing an editing function for the video sequence, and displaying the editing panel using the video window in response to the receiving.
US07890858B1 Transferring, processing and displaying multiple images using single transfer request
Systems and methods for transferring, processing and displaying multiple images using a single transfer request such as a Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) transfer request are disclosed. The method may generally include requesting a document, e.g., an HTML document, that references a composite image containing multiple image portions, splitting the composite image into the multiple image portions, determining a layout of the image portions in a client browser, e.g., a web page browser, and laying out the image portions in the client browser according to the determined layout. The splitting of the composite image into the multiple image portions may utilize Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), e.g., using a CSS clip function for each image portion, and may use absolute positioning of the image portions within the composite image. The determining the layout and the laying out of the multiple image portions may be implemented utilizing JavaScript.
US07890856B2 Server side web browsing and multiple lens system, method and apparatus
A user may access a host server and receive display information within a single browser window. The display information includes at least one lens, wherein each lens controls server side web browsing and allows the user to view a separate web page from the Internet. The host server provides personalized web browsing capability specific to a particular user independent of the browser, device or location of the user. After the user submits a request to view a particular web page, the web page information is retrieved by the host server and transmitted to the user for display within a selected lens. Each lens controls server-side web browsing through independent navigational controls, such as a horizontal and vertical scroll bar, a resize button and the like. One lens may also control the web content displayed in another lens. The host server may reformat entire web pages so that they can be displayed within a lens without the need for scrolling. Additionally, each lens may have multiple cookies associated therewith. Users may further submit bookmarks which are applicable to one or more of the lenses. Bookmarks may be recognized through initiating a single command.
US07890854B2 Web media asset identification system and method
Methods of dynamically identifying a server provided media asset on a client device are provided herein.
US07890852B2 Rich text handling for a web application
A method and apparatus for representing and controlling documents including rich text for Web based applications and browsers is provided so that editing of rich text can be facilitated within the browsers. The rich text is represented in a memory structure so that various formats may be flexibly maintained. Text, images, tables, links and the like are represented in the memory structure, which may be maintained in databases for eventual editing. A controller class and subsidiary classes represent the rich text and provide methods to convert html to the memory structure and back, representing the rich text in a relational database, retrieving the rich text from a relational database, and presenting the rich text for editing. A spell checking facility for the rich text is included.
US07890851B1 System for facilitating the preparation of a patent application
A computer program and a computer for drafting a patent application including a template memory for storing and duplicating standard headings and paragraphs of a patent and which interacts with other memories and processors to provide a structure and process to follow in preparing a patent application. An independent claim processor (12) duplicates an independent claim under the heading SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION AND ADVANTAGES and edits same into a grammatically correct sentence structure. A multiple claim processor (14) duplicates all of the claims under the heading DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT and edits same into grammatically correct sentence structure. A reference number processor (20) is responsive to a Figure number memory (18) for searching and adding reference numerals to the element names in the order of occurrence.
US07890849B2 Concurrent presentation of media and related content lists
The concurrent presentation technique provides information about content related to a source media currently being presented to a user in a fashion that allows the user to keep viewing the source media while either interactively or non-interactively perusing a list of related content. Thus, the user can see a list of related content without interrupting the presentation experience, and if desired, the user can choose to interact with the list to obtain further information about available related content.
US07890842B2 Computer-implemented method for correcting transmission errors using linear programming
A computer-implemented method for correcting transmission errors. According to the method, a transmitted vector corrupted by error can be recovered solving a linear program. The method has applications in the transmission of Internet media, Internet telephony, and speech transmission. In addition, error correction is embedded as a key building block in numerous algorithms, and data-structures, where corruption is possible; corruption of digital data stored on a hard-drive, CD, DVD or similar media is a good example. In short, progress in error correction has potential to impact several storage and communication systems.
US07890837B2 System and method for a common testing framework
In an embodiment, a method provides an input and an expected test output for a unit test. The unit test is executed using a module under test and the input, thereby generating an actual test output. The actual and expected test outputs are serialized into XML, so that comparison and extraction of differences between actual and expected test outputs can be performed using methods for comparisons and extraction of differences between XML documents, such as XML change detection or calculation of checksums.
US07890833B2 Wireless communication using codeword encoded with high-rate code
Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and apparatus for wireless communication using codeword with high-rate codes. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US07890830B1 Test signal generating apparatus
The present invention is to provide a test signal generating apparatus which can generate a test signal for testing a device that dynamically change its operational state in response to a signal or the like. The test signal generating apparatus includes: a pattern storage unit 20 having patterns; a pattern selecting unit 23 for selecting a pattern from among the patterns; a test signal generating unit 25 for generating a test signal having a pattern selected by the pattern selecting unit 23, a trigger signal receiving unit 21 for receiving at least one trigger signal, and a pattern map storage unit 22 having a pattern map defining the number of repetitions for each pattern and a pattern corresponding to a test signal to be generated by the test signal generating unit after the test signal generating unit repeats the test signal on the basis of the number of repetitions.
US07890826B2 Method and apparatus for test of asynchronous pipelines
A method and apparatus for test of asynchronous pipelines. An asynchronous data pipeline includes first and second pluralities of pipeline stages in an alternating sequence. Each of the pipeline stages includes a control circuit, a latch circuit configured to latch data responsive to an indication from the control circuit, and a combinational logic circuit coupled to receive data from an output of the latch circuit. Each of the latch circuits is scannable. The latch circuits of the first and second pluralities of pipeline stages form a data scan chain configured to load test data into the combinational logic circuits during testing of the data pipeline. The data pipeline further includes a control scan chain configured to load control data for operating the control circuits during testing of the data pipeline. Testing of the data pipeline can include independent testing of the control portion or the data portion.
US07890824B2 Asynchronous communication apparatus using JTAG test data registers
An adaptation of a test data register (TDR) structure defined by the IEEE 1149.1 Joint Tag Action Group (JTAG) interface standard to provide a debugging path. Existing multi-core processor solutions are covered, but an expansion for a more generic solution is provided. In general, the present apparatus is for extending the IEEE 1149.1 JTAG standard to provide an asynchronous protocol for bypassing test circuitry and bi-directionally communicating with functional circuitry. The apparatus includes an integrated circuit having function register and JTAG standard TDR. Digital logic is configured to control the direct transfer of data between the JTAG standard TDR and the function register.
US07890818B2 Read level control apparatuses and methods
Various read level control apparatuses and methods are provided. In various embodiments, the read level control apparatuses may include an error control code (ECC) decoding unit for ECC decoding data read from a storage unit, and a monitoring unit for monitoring a bit error rate (BER) based on the ECC decoded data and the read data. The apparatus may additionally include an error determination unit for determining an error rate of the read data based on the monitored BER, and a level control unit for controlling a read level of the storage unit based on the error rate.
US07890807B2 Method and system for troubleshooting a misconfiguration of a computer system based on configurations of other computer systems
A method and system for identifying a configuration parameter of a “sick” computer system that is at fault for causing an undesired behavior based on analysis of configuration parameters from other computer systems is provided. In one embodiment, a troubleshooting system collects “suspect” values for “suspect” configuration parameters used by a “sick” application when the undesired behavior was exhibited by the sick computer system. The troubleshooting system then compares the suspect values to sample values of the suspect configuration parameters retrieved from sample computer systems. The troubleshooting system uses that comparison to identify one or more suspect configuration parameters that are likely at fault for causing the application to exhibit the undesired behavior.
US07890800B2 Method, operating system and computing hardware for running a computer program
A method for running a computer program on computing hardware, in particular on a microprocessor. The computer program includes multiple program objects designed as tasks, for example. Transient and permanent errors are detected during the running of the computer program on the computing hardware. To be able to handle these transient errors constructively when they occur in a computer system in such a way that the functionality and function reliability of the computer system are restored within the shortest possible error tolerance time, at least one program object that has already been sent for execution is set into a defined state on detection of an error and is restarted from this state. The program object is a runtime object of the computer program, for example, also known as a task. One or more tasks that are still being executed or have already been executed on occurrence of an error are restarted and run again.
US07890797B2 Vehicle including a processor system having fault tolerance
A vehicle includes a high assurance processing system including a plurality of data processors coupled in parallel, a bridge coupled to the input/output processor, and an input/output processor coupled to the bridge for coupling to a sensor and an effector. Sensor data passes to the bridge through the input/output processor for processing by the parallel data processors, which generate redundant effector data for comparison by the bridge to detect errors. If data matches are found, data is transmitted to the effector.
US07890784B2 Power supplying mode switching controller, image forming apparatus, and image reading apparatus
A power supplying mode switching controller is disclosed. The power supplying mode switching controller includes a main controller which controls an image forming apparatus, a power supply circuit which has a normal mode and a power saving mode, an I/O controller which switches the power supply circuit to the normal mode when a factor returning to the normal mode is generated in the power saving mode, and an SD interface to which an SD card is attached. The I/O controller includes a first attaching change detecting circuit which detects an attaching change of the SD card to the SD interface, and when the first attaching change detecting circuit detects the attaching change of the SD card to the SD interface in the power saving mode, the I/O controller switches the power supply circuit to the normal mode and informs the main controller of the attaching change of the SD card.
US07890776B2 Use of priority information to intelligently allocate power for personal computing devices in a Power-over-Ethernet system
A Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) communication system dynamically provides power and data communications over a communications link. In an enterprise environment made up of one or more personal computing devices (e.g., personal or laptop computers), a switch determines an allocated amount of power to be supplied to each device. The system includes a switch, a power supply, and one or more personal computing devices having a PoE control module. The PoE control module can be part of, for example, a Power Source Equipment/Powered Device (PSE/PD) system or a LAN-On-Motherboard/Powered Device (LOM/PD) system. A method of dynamically providing power to personal computing devices includes determining the power requirements of each device based on one or more factors, which can include, for example, battery charge status, power load, power mode, etc., of each device. Various algorithms can be used to decide priority in providing power to the devices.
US07890771B2 Saving and retrieving data based on public key encryption
In accordance with certain aspects, data is received from a calling program. Ciphertext that includes the data is generated, using public key encryption, in a manner that allows only one or more target programs to be able to obtain the data from the ciphertext. In accordance with another aspect, a bit string is received from a calling program. An identifier of the calling program is checked to determine whether the calling program is allowed to access data encrypted in ciphertext of the bit string. The data is decrypted using public key decryption and returned to the calling program only if the calling program is allowed to access the data.
US07890770B2 Method for deactivating and reactivating security modules
This invention concerns a security module deactivation and reactivation method particularly intended for access control of conditional access data. These security modules include a plurality of registers (R1, R2, R3, Rn) containing values. The method includes the step of sending at least one management message (RUN-EMM) containing an executable code, this executable code being loaded into a memory of the security module and then executed. The execution of this code in particular can carry out the combination and/or the enciphering of the values of the registers, or render these values illegible.This method also allows the reactivation of the security modules that have been deactivated previously. In this case, the method includes the step of sending another message containing an executable code (RUN-EMM−1) for the reactivation of the modules, this executable code having an inverted function to that of the executable code used for the deactivation of the security modules.
US07890769B2 System and method for secure code downloading
Systems and methods that support secure code downloading are provided. In one embodiment, a method that securely downloads code may include, for example, one or more of the following: receiving a command in a security processor; loading an encryption or decryption key based on the received command; configuring the security processor with a selected scrambling type and a selected signature type based on the received command; and processing incoming code using the loaded encryption or decryption key and the configured security processor.
US07890757B2 Receiver non-repudiation
Techniques for assuring a receiver's non repudiation of a communication are provided. A sender encrypts data pursuant to a key. The encrypted data is sent to a receiver. A key to decrypt the data is sent separately to the receiver. The sender ensures the proper verifying information is acquired from the receiver for both the encrypted data and for the key.
US07890753B2 Secure mode for processors supporting MMU and interrupts
A digital system is provided with a secure mode (3rd level of privilege) built in a non-invasive way on a processor system that includes a processor core, instruction and data caches, a write buffer and a memory management unit. A secure execution mode is thus provided on a platform where the only trusted software is the code stored in ROM. In particular the OS is not trusted, all native applications are not trusted. A secure execution mode is provided that allows virtual addressing when a memory management unit (MMU) is enabled. The secure execution mode allows instruction and data cache to be enabled. A secure execution mode is provided that allows all the system interruptions to be unmasked. The secure mode is entered through a unique entry point. The secure execution mode can be dynamically entered and exited with full hardware assessment of the entry/exit conditions. A specific set of entry conditions is monitored that account for caches, write buffer and MMU being enabled. The structure of the activation sequence code accounts for caches, write buffer and MMU being enabled. The structure of the exit sequences code accounts for caches, write buffer and MMU being enabled. A specific way is provided to manage a safe exit of secure mode under generic interruptions and allows return from interruption through entry point and activation sequence and a proper resuming of the secure execution. A specific way is provided to manage the MMU in secure mode and provide data exchange between secure and non-secure environment.
US07890748B1 System and method for HIPAA compliant communication
The present invention is a system and method for subscribers to communicate electronically over the internet while meeting HIPAA confidentiality requirements. It entails establishing a secure virtual private network (VPN) or higher level domain and enrolling subscribers. Communications sent between subscribers via the VPN or domain have confidential information attached. Unsecured notifications can be sent to the receiving subscriber directing them to log on to the VPN or domain to retrieve the secured message.
US07890745B2 Apparatus and method for protection of management frames
In one embodiment, methods and apparatus to protect management frames are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US07890744B2 Activating content based on state
A content author provides content to be displayed, including some content elements for which display is conditional on the state of the machine in which the content will be viewed. The conditional statements controlling the display of these content elements, in one embodiment refer to states provided by a state monitor. The state may refer to the state of any aspect of the viewing environment, including hardware, software, firmware, user preferences, software operating modes, and any other detectable state. The resulting content is optionally combined with other similar content via a structural transform. This content is transformed with a presentation transform. One of the transforms checks the states and resolves the conditional statements included by the content author. The result of the transforms is presentation data. A display of this presentation data includes the content which, according to the conditional statements and the state of the viewing environment is appropriate for display.
US07890741B2 Low power digital audio decoding/playing system for computing devices
A computer system includes a system CPU responsive to a control signal to load a first operating system or a second operating system. The first operating system is run by the computer system in a first operation mode and the second operating system is run by the computer system in a second entertainment mode. A PC operating in an entertainment mode may operate a variety of entertainment software applications. A quick boot process is also provided. The quick boot process may include an accelerated BIOS boot process that defers and delays appropriate tasks. The quick boot process may also include: detecting a condition; performing a BIOS boot process; loading an image file associated with the condition; and executing the image file associated with the condition. The condition may be that associated hardware is unchanged from a previous boot. A parental control system is also disclosed.
US07890725B2 Bufferless transactional memory with runahead execution
A method for executing an atomic transaction includes receiving the atomic transaction at a processor for execution, determining a transactional memory location needed in memory for the atomic transaction, reserving the transactional memory location while all computation and store operations of the atomic transaction are deferred, and performing the computation and store operations, wherein the atomic transaction cannot be aborted after the reservation, and further wherein the store operation is directly committed to the memory without being buffered.
US07890720B2 Snapshot system
A storage system including: a disk device including an original volume and a plurality of snapshot generations; and a storage control unit which includes a processor unit. The processor unit receives write data to a storage area of the original volume, and determines whether data stored in the storage area of the original volume is already copied to the snapshot volume or not; if the data stored in the storage area of original volume is not already copied to snapshot volume, the processor unit copies the data from original volume to the snapshot volume, when a use capacity of the snapshot volume is larger than threshold amount by the copy, the processor unit indicates a specified snapshot generation, the processor unit migrates data of the specified snapshot generation from the snapshot volume to tape device; the processor unit deletes information of the specified snapshot generation in the snapshot volume.
US07890717B2 Storage system, data transfer method, and program
A storage system including: a first disk array apparatus for providing first volumes for storing data sent from a host system; a second disk array apparatus for providing second volumes for storing back-up data of the first volumes; and a console terminal for operating the first disk array apparatus. The console terminal is equipped with a setting unit for setting a priority for each first volume in accordance with an external command. The first disk array apparatus is equipped with: a storage unit for storing the priorities set by the priority setting unit; and a transfer unit for reading the priorities from the storage unit upon receiving the data and transferring the data stored in the first volumes to the second volumes of the second disk array apparatus in order of descending priority of the first volumes that store the data.
US07890708B2 Prioritization of out-of-order data transfers on shared data bus
Uncontested priority is provided to out-of-order data transfers over in-order data transfers on a data bus shared by a plurality of memory requesters. By always granting priority to out-of-order transfers such as deferred read data transfers over in-order transfers such as write and/or cache-to-cache data transfers, it is assured that no newer command or transaction ever negatively affects the latency of an older command or transaction.
US07890707B2 Efficient retry for transactional memory
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for implementing retrying transactions in a transactional memory system. The system allows a transaction to execute a retry operation. The system registers for waits on every read in a read set of the retrying transaction. The retrying transaction waits for notification that something in the read set has changed. A transaction knows if notification is required in one of two ways. If the transactional memory word contained a waiters bit during write lock acquisition, then during release the transactional memory word is looked up in an object waiters map, and waiting transactions are signaled. If a writing transaction finds a global count of waiting transactions to be greater than zero after releasing write locks, a transaction waiters map is used to determine which waiting transactions need to be signaled. In each case, the write lock is released using a normal store operation.
US07890705B2 Shared-memory multiprocessor system and information processing method
Large-scale table format data on a common memory is sorted in parallel by a plurality of processors. A record to be processed is divided and assigned at first to the processors. Next, each processor counts the number of local appearances of item value numbers related to the record to be processed. Next, the number of local appearances of the item value numbers counted at the processors is converted into the global accumulation of item value numbers, i.e., the accumulation to be commonly used between the processors. Finally, each processor utilizes the global accumulation as a pointer to change the order of the assigned records.
US07890701B2 Method and system for dynamic distributed data caching
A method and system for dynamic distributed data caching includes providing a cache community of peer members and a master member. A master member volunteers to leave the cache community upon which decision a peer member is selected to become the new master member. Each peer member has an associated first content portion indicating content to be cached by the respective peer. A client may be allowed to join the cache community. A peer list associated with the cache community is updated to include the client. The peer list indicates the peers in the cache community. A respective second content portion is associated with each peer based on the addition of the client.
US07890690B2 System and method for dual-ported flash memory
A method for emulating a dual-port I2C device includes monitoring a bus for I2C traffic. A system receives an I2C interrupt on the bus. The system determines whether the received I2C interrupt is one of either a hardware interrupt or a software interrupt. In the event the received I2C interrupt is a hardware interrupt, the system responds to the hardware interrupt, and accesses a flash memory for read/write operation based on the hardware interrupt. In the event the received I2C interrupt is a software interrupt, the system responds to the software interrupt, and accesses a flash memory for read/write operation based on the software interrupt.
US07890687B2 Motherboard and interface control method of memory slot thereof
The invention provides a motherboard and an interface control method of a memory slot thereof. The motherboard includes a plurality of slot groups, a bus, and an interface controller. Each of the slot groups includes a first memory slot and a second memory slot connected with the bus. The first memory slot and the second memory slot form two different access addresses. The interface controller transmits a plurality of pin control signals to the corresponding slot groups to make the two access addresses of the first memory slot and the second memory slot of a using slot group of the slot groups different from the two access addresses of the first memory slot and the second memory slot of each of the other slot groups. Then, the interface controller accesses the using slot group via the bus.
US07890686B2 Dynamic priority conflict resolution in a multi-processor computer system having shared resources
A system and method for fair dynamic priority conflict resolution in a multi-processor computer system having shared resources wherein each multi-processor seeking access to said shared resource possesses a common priority level. In the occurrence of a priority tie or when a single port is active, a typical dynamic conflict resolution scheme is altered to ensure fair resolution of the conflict or tie. Upon determination that a priority conflict tie exists, one of the processor elements is selected based on a predetermined priority level. The identity of the selected processor element and the configuration of the conflict priority tie is stored. Upon a subsequent conflict priority tie having the same configuration as a previous priority conflict tie, the processor elements selected in previous ties are prevented from being selected in subsequent priority conflict ties until all of the processor elements in a particular priority tie configuration have been selected. In situations involving a single active port, established dynamic conflict resolution schemes are modified to provide fair access and reduce priority tie conflicts.
US07890683B2 Communication system that exchanges host and device roles of first and second communication apparatuses
In a communication system, one of a plurality of communication apparatuses that acts as a host controls data transmission and the other communication apparatuses that act as devices perform data transmission under control of the host over a predetermined communication interface. The communication apparatuses have both host and device roles, and are configured to exchange the host and device roles by using a predetermined communication protocol are connected to the predetermined communication interface. A first apparatus acts as a host and a second apparatus as a device. The second apparatus transmits information concerning the second apparatus to the first apparatus. The first apparatus compares the transmitted information with information concerning the first apparatus to determine whether or not to switch the host and device roles according to a predetermined criterion. In response to an affirmative determination, the host and device roles are switched by using the predetermined communication protocol.
US07890682B2 Semiconductor storage device and storage system
A semiconductor storage device includes an external input/output port. A system bus of a server, which is extended to outside of the server, is connected to the external input/output port directly as a serial interface.
US07890680B2 Physical layer device having a serdes pass through mode
A physical layer device (PLD), comprising: a first serializer-deserializer (SERDES) device having a first parallel port; a second SERDES device having a second parallel port; a third SERDES device having a third parallel port; and a path selector being selectively configurable to provide either (i) a first signal path between the first and second parallel ports, or (ii) a second signal path between the first and third parallel ports.
US07890661B2 Proximity synchronizing audio gateway device
A digital audio gateway device for use in a wireless network of digital audio playback devices. The gateway device is wirelessly linked to one or more digital audio playback devices to provide a gateway to the Internet for the digital audio playback devices. In addition to functioning as a gateway, the device provides additional functionality and may act as a cache of digital audio data for the various digital audio players connected in the wireless network and may also act to automatically update digital audio content on the audio players, synchronize digital audio content and playlists between the digital audio players and continue automatically or upon user request a particular playlist as the user moves from one digital audio player to another.
US07890650B2 Method and device for transmitting information in a network, as well as a corresponding network
A method and a device for transmitting information in a network having at least three subscribers, as well as a corresponding network, the information being transmitted in at least a first frame of a predefined length and structure, and the first frame on a first transmission path being transmitted in a loop to the next, second subscriber in each instance, given a predefined transmission direction, the information being additionally transmitted in a second frame having the same length and structure as the first frame, the second frame on a second transmission path being transmitted to a one-after-the-next, third subscriber, the second transmission path and, thus, the second frame skipping the second subscriber, and an assessment being made in dependence upon at least one criterion, thus information, length or structure.
US07890647B2 Content display-playback system, content display-playback method, recording medium having content display-playback program recorded thereon, and operation control apparatus
A content display-playback system includes at least one server that distributes audio-visual content via streaming, and at least one client that plays back, by streaming, the content distributed via streaming from the server, and the server and client are connected. The client beforehand makes settings regarding a client operation to be performed for submitting a streaming distribution request to the server to perform playback by streaming.
US07890646B2 Synchronization orchestration
Systems and methods for orchestrating synchronizations between different targets in a synchronization community. The order and nature of synchronizations may depend on multiple factors, including the initiator of the synchronization, the data being synchronized, and other characteristics of the synchronization participants and synchronization community.
US07890639B1 Method and apparatus for controlling access to portal content from outside the portal
To display content controlled by a portal outside of the portal itself, a user is authenticated to the portal and then permission to access the content authorized. After authentication and authorization, the requested content is returned to the requesting program. The content is returned in the user's preferred language, a using a layout information file to determine how to display the content. A layout strings file storing a layout string in a specific language is also selected, according to the user's preferred languages. The content from a content provider and the layout string are then formatted as specified by the layout information file, and presented to the user or the requesting program.
US07890638B2 Communication between a real world environment and a virtual world environment
Gateway systems and methods are disclosed for allowing for communication between a real world environment and a virtual world environment. A gateway system in one embodiment is implemented between the virtual world environment and the real world environment. For a session being initiated from a real world user to a virtual world user, the gateway system receives a signaling message from the real world user to initiate the session with the virtual world user, and processes the signaling message to identify a virtual world identifier assigned to the virtual world user. The gateway system converts the signaling message to a communication request message in a protocol used in the virtual world environment, and transmits the communication request message to the virtual world user to establish the session. When the session is established, the virtual world user and the real world user may communicate via voice and/or data.
US07890637B1 Secure communications in a system having multi-homed devices
This disclosure relates to a secure network device for multi-homed devices. An example network device includes a state table, an association establishment module, and an inspection module. The state table is configured to store information for communication associations between devices. The association establishment module is configured to process a request to establish a communication association between a first device and a second device and to store state information for the communication association in the state table. The first device and the second device each comprise a multi-homed device associated with a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and the state information includes the IP addresses associated with the first device and the IP addresses associated with the second device. The inspection module is configured to secure the communication association between the first device and the second device by using the state information that is stored in the state table.
US07890636B2 Application integrated gateway
In one embodiment, a network application may offload stateful operations to a user-plane application. In one embodiment, the network application receives state information for a user device. The network application then sends the state information to a user-plane application, which can maintain the state information. The network application may then offload a stateful operation to the user-plane application. For example, the network application may have the user-plane application perform stateful operations. Also, the network application may use the state information maintained at the user-plane application for error recovery after the network application fails. For example, the network application may recover the state information from the user-plane application after failure.
US07890632B2 Load balancing using replication delay
A method, system, and computer usable program product for load balancing using replication delay are provided in the illustrative embodiments. In response to a request to update, a system updates data associated with a write server, forming updated data of a data partition. The system receives a read request for the data partition. The system calculates a time difference between an arrival time of the request to update and an arrival time of the read request. The system receives a set of average replication delays for a set of replica servers serving the data partition. The system directs the read request to a replica server in the set of replica servers whose average replication delay is less than or equal to the time difference.
US07890631B2 Connection acceptance control
A method of bandwidth allocation for delivery of stored digital content from at least one server device to at least one client device by way of a network. The method includes the steps of: describing a control variable which represents a target flow rate of content from the server device to each client device; determining time-varying constraints on the target flow rate of the content; determining a cost function of the control variables for all clients, wherein the cost function represents an aggregate flow rate and is a sum of all flow rates for all clients; and prescribing bandwidth to all clients based upon a value of the control variables that maximize the cost function comprising performing periodic computations to update the value of the control variable such that the bandwidth can be continuously allocated to each client.
US07890628B2 Method for controlling services
A method and apparatus are provided for controlling services provided at a first electronic device at a second electronic device. A plurality of electronic devices connected to a network provide services in the form of providing data to the network, or allowing the data to be manipulated. Each service is represented as a manipulable data object created at the device providing the service. Each object contains sufficient information to allow the service the object represents to be controlled. The objects are transmitted over the network and are stored in an object list maintained by a master device. Any compatible device may then retrieve an object from the object list and use the information contained in it to fully control the service.
US07890627B1 Hierarchical statistical model of internet reputation
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for predicting the reputation of a communication identifier, such as a web address, a domain name, an IP address, host name, email address, IM address, telephone number, VoIP telephony address, and the like. In embodiments, the present invention may receive a communication from a first communication identifier, parse the first communication identifier into its components, and assign the components to a hierarchical tree structure, where the hierarchical tree structure maintains the hierarchical relationship between the components of the communication identifier. The present invention may monitor and keep count of a number of communications from the first communication identifier, wherein the number of communications may be kept for both malicious and/or unwanted communications and non-malicious and/or unwanted communications. Attributes may then be provided to the number of communications for each appropriate component of the hierarchical tree, and a statistical measure may be calculated as related to the number of communications for each component of the hierarchical tree. The present invention may then receive a communication from a second communication identifier, where the second communication identifier may be previously unknown and have a common component with the hierarchical tree. The statistical measure of the common component may then be assigned to the second communication identifier, and utilizing the statistical measure assigned to the second communication identifier, may provide a prediction of reputation of the second communication identifier.
US07890624B2 Method for reducing variability and oscillations in load balancing recommendations using historical values and workload metrics
The present invention provides a method of preventing harmful variability and oscillation in weight based, dynamic load balancing environments. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods to effectively determine the magnitude of weight changes in dynamic load balancing environments based on the workload magnitude and server farm capacity. This method depends on the development of new multi-system characteristics such as a relative workload metric to characterize the workload of the system relative to the collective capacity of all of the systems to handle the workload.
US07890623B2 Generating data for media playlist construction in virtual environments
Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for generating song playlists for use in an immersive virtual environment. Generally, playlists may be generated based on stored music preference data. The music preference data may be generated by storing user interactions with specific songs. The user interactions may be associated with characteristics of the user's situational context within the virtual world. The music preference data may be indexed by song name, and/or by musical properties. Subsequently, the music preference data may be used to generate a playlist adapted to the user's current situation within the virtual world.
US07890613B2 Program deployment apparatus and method
With a management server that is connected via a network to at least one physical server including a physical server with a virtualization facility for providing a virtual server to a client and deploys a program to the at least one physical server as necessary, and by a program deployment method for such a management server for deploying a program to the at least one physical server as necessary, there is provided units for detecting one or more nodes which are any of the physical server, the virtualization facility, and the virtual server and connected via the network, acquiring first configuration information about a virtual layer of each detected node for each detected node, and selectively deploying the program to the relevant node based on the first configuration information for each acquired node.
US07890612B2 Method and apparatus for regulating data flow between a communications device and a network
A network security device which acts as an “airlock” for traffic between a communications device and a network. Data is screened using rules based analysis by the security device to counter various threats, including viruses, phishing, attempts to “hijack” communications, communications with known malicious addresses or unknown addresses, and transmission of sensitive information. Data packets can be reassembled into files for screening, and decoded or expanded as necessary, but is never executed. The data path for the data being screened is kept separate from the operations of the network security device itself, so that the device is incorruptible—its programming cannot be compromised from outside sources. Updates for rules and entry of sensitive data for screening, etc., must be done through a physical interface, not via the normal data communications channel. The device is invisible—it cannot be “seen” by the network, and thus cannot be attacked.
US07890605B1 System and method for pre-installing of virtual private server files
A system, method and computer program product for managing Virtual Private Servers, including launching a plurality of active Virtual Private Servers (VPSs) in user space of a computing system; generating a plurality of inactive VPSs, wherein data related to the inactive VPS comprises a set of files and links stored in a dedicated container; upon request from a user for a VPS, activating one of the inactive VPSs using the dedicated container using data related to the inactive VPS that comprises a set of files and links stored in a dedicated container; and configuring the activated VPS based on user parameters. The configuring step can include configuring any of URL names, IP addresses, passwords, resource allocations, DNS names, hostnames, VPS administrative functions, and VPS user password. The generating step optionally runs as a background process, or at a time of low system load. The generating step can include generating a plurality of inactive VPSs of any of mail server, web server, database server, FTP server, and game server. The generating step can also setting up a disk partition for each inactive VPS, and copying files associated with each inactive VPS that is being pre-installed to the disk partition.
US07890601B2 System for dynamically integrating remote portlets into portals
The present invention discloses a system and method allowing dynamically integrating remote portlets into each Portal by providing local portlets as remote portlet Web-Services by providing, to each Portal-Server, a publishing functionality allowing electronic creation of a service description for each single local portlet and publishing it into a Central-Registry and a find/binding functionality to find remote portlet Web-Services via the Central-Registry and bind them using the service description for accessing the remote portlet. Preferably, each Portal-Server includes a Portlet-Registry component as well as a Portlet-Proxy. The Portlet-Registry provides service description to the Portlet-Proxy that establishes a SOAP-communication with a remote Portal-Server providing the remote portlet Web-Service to be selected. The main advantage of the present invention is that local portlets become available for all Portal-Server without requiring local installation of the portlet code itself. Furthermore, new remote portlets can be included into a portal by finding them in a registry and binding them.
US07890600B2 Data optimization system for decreasing data transmission volume from server to client
A method, system, and computer program product for decreasing a volume of data transmitted from a server to a client device in a data processing network, the server processing a received request for a resource from the client device, the processed requested resource comprising data embedded in a file of elements, the elements defining a format of the data. The method comprises the steps of: intercepting the processed requested resource; a first parsing step, parsing the processed requested resource to identify at least two occurrences of a formatting element; associating an identifier with the identified formatting element; a second parsing step, parsing the processed requested resource to extract each of the data elements associated with the identified formatting element; and constructing a code set comprising the identifier and each of the extracted data elements associated with the identifier.
US07890598B2 Remote access management
A remote access management service for enabling remote access to an item of media content stored in a network device from a remote device. The network device includes a remote access server application program and account information identifying the remote device, and the remote device includes a remote access client application program. The management service comprises: an interface configured to provide network connections to the network device and the remote device; and a remote access management application program to collect information on remote access analysis by monitoring remote access transactions between the remote device and the network device, the remote access management application program operating to receive a remote access request from the remote access client application program including the account information and a content identifier indicating the item of media content.
US07890590B1 Variable bayesian handicapping to provide adjustable error tolerance level
A Bayesian spam filter calculates multiple handicap values, each of which is mapped to a selectable error tolerance level. Users operate a user interface component such a slider to select a desired error tolerance level. The Bayesian spam filter utilizes the corresponding handicap value for its filtering operations. Thus, the users of the anti-spam program can adjust their error tolerance levels up and down as desired.
US07890588B2 Unwanted mail discriminating apparatus and unwanted mail discriminating method
Whether mail transmitted is unwanted mail is discriminated even in a case where the mail is transmitted from a zombie PC is determined by an unwanted mail discriminating apparatus. The unwanted mail discriminating apparatus has a mail receiver for receiving e-mail; an information extractor for extracting discrimination information for discrimination on whether or not unwanted mail, from the e-mail received; a reliability evaluating part (a sender information reliability evaluator and a URL information reliability evaluator) for connecting to a reliability evaluation database storing information corresponding to the discrimination information, which is for evaluating reliability of the discrimination information, and for evaluating the reliability of the extracted discrimination information with reference to the information stored in the reliability evaluation databases; and a discriminator for discriminating whether the received e-mail is unwanted mail, based on the reliability of the discrimination information evaluated.
US07890574B2 Internet operating system through embeddable applet-style application
An Internet-based operating system providing data and application software stored on a server that may be selectively downloaded to a client device upon request, allowing server-based applications to be accessed and executed on the client device. The end user, operating a client device may access a wide variety of application software with no need to purchase, install, and maintain the software on his machine. Using an easy-to-use GUI, a user selects an application, opens existing or creates new files. The application executable code is identified by a link embedded in a stream of markup language, typically XML. The operating system allows complex applications to be executed on thin clients having limited memory/storage capacity.
US07890571B1 Serving dynamic web-pages
A web-serving system for managing a cache memory having constituent objects of a web-page stored therein includes a cache manager in communication with the cache memory for controlling the content of the cache memory. A programmable script in communication with the cache manager detects the occurrence of a triggering event. In response to the triggering event, the programmable script instructs the cache manager to alter the content of the cache memory.
US07890569B1 Tracking time usage on a disconnected client over a period of time
The tracking control module is adapted to track time usage (e.g., during a user's subscription to a particular service) on a disconnected client over a period of time with limited server interaction in a manner that is not likely to be affected by system clock changes. The module is designed to take an initial read when an executable associated with the service starts. As the program runs, the running time during the service life can be tracked by the module based on computer cycles that occur over the service life rather than on the system clock. In some embodiments, the system clock is only relied upon to track the time between service lives during which the program is asleep, thus minimizing the affect any system clock changes would have on the accuracy of the time estimate. The module adjusts the time left in the service period according to the time determinations.
US07890559B2 Forward shifting of processor element processing for load balancing
A data processing system, which is particularly useful for carrying out modular multiplication, especially for cryptographic purposes, comprises a plurality of independent, serially connected processing elements which are provided with data in a cyclical fashion via a control mechanism that is capable of transferring data from a set of registers to earlier ones in the series of the serially connected processing elements, at the end of a predetermined number of cycles.
US07890554B2 Apparatus and method of exporting file systems without first mounting the file systems
A method, system and apparatus for exporting file systems without having to mount them first are provided. Most Unix-based servers usually mount some system operation critical files at startup. Thus, directories have to be mounted. One or more of these directories are usually used as mount points for mounting other file systems when needed. An extended attribute file is used to provide all information needed to export a file system. Thus, a server need not mount a file system to obtain this information. That is on startup, a server needs only refer to these extended attribute files to obtain the information needed to export the file systems.
US07890552B2 Methods, systems, and computer program products for implementing media content analysis, distribution, and re-allocation services
A method, system, and computer program product for implementing media content analysis, distribution, and re-allocation services across a network are provided. The method includes analyzing factors that impact access to, and quality of, the media content provided over the network. The method also includes identifying a current storage location of the media content, creating decision criteria and metrics for re-allocating selected media content to an alternate storage location in response to the analyzing, and re-allocating the selected media content to the alternate storage location. The method further includes updating an inventory database to reflect the alternate storage of the selected media content.
US07890542B1 Non-intrusive data logging
The invention relates to enabling a user to log data of a block diagram without using a functional logging block within the block diagram. There is a first timing identifier for a first data set based on a timing characteristic of the first data set. There is also a first task identifier established by an execution engine that is associated with a first data set. The logging of the data associated with the first data set is based on the first timing identifier and the first task identifier.
US07890537B2 Custom caching
Methods and systems are presented for custom caching. Application threads define caches. The caches may be accessed through multiple index keys, which are mapped to multiple application thread-defined keys. Methods provide for the each index key and each application thread-defined key to be symmetrical. The index keys are used for loading data from one or more data sources into the cache stores on behalf of the application threads. Application threads access the data from the cache store by providing references to the caches and the application-supplied keys. Some data associated with some caches may be shared from the cache store by multiple application threads. Additionally, some caches are exclusively accessed by specific application threads.
US07890533B2 Method and system for information extraction and modeling
Systems and methods for modeling information from a set of documents are disclosed. A tool allows a user to extract and model concepts of interest and relations among the concepts from a set of documents. The tool automatically configures a database of the model so that the model and extracted concepts from the documents may be customized, modified, and shared.
US07890532B2 Complex data access
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media implementing various aspects of complex data in a conceptual table are disclosed which enable complex data in the form of tables to be added to a conceptual table. The complex data can map to scalar values in a plurality of data tables. Complex data may be entered via data modeling methods, accessed via cursoring methods, and queried via query expansion methods.
US07890531B2 Method for resolving permission for role activation operators
A method for resolving permissions using role activation operators to evaluate permissions assigned to a user in a role context inheritance hierarchy. The method comprises several steps. A step of retrieving a plurality of activated roles within a role context that match roles assigned to a user, wherein one or more permissions in the role context inherit from one or more permissions in a parent role context in a role context permission inheritance hierarchy. A step of determining an aggregate permission for each of the plurality of activated roles, wherein a role activation operator determines how an activated role is evaluated. A step of processing the aggregate permissions for the plurality of activated roles. A step of resolving a final permission for the user.
US07890530B2 Method and system for controlling access to data via a data-centric security model
A method and system for controlling access to data via a data-centric security model. A business data classification scheme is defined as a hierarchy that includes data types aligned with business operations. A data element is labeled with a data label. The data label includes multiple attributes associated with a data-centric security model. A first attribute is a data type of the data element. A second attribute includes security requirements. Data control rules are automatically generated for an enforcement of the security requirements. The enforcement grants or denies to a user an access to the data element via a predefined action. The enforcement is based on a predefined association among the predefined action, a predefined role that includes the user, the data type and, optionally, a purpose for performing the predefined action.
US07890522B2 Record media written with data structure for recognizing a user and method for recognizing a user
The present invention relates to a record media written with a data structure used in recognizing specific users in hardware such as a robot, etc., a method for recognizing a user by using a data structure written in the record media, and a user identification database access method for the user identification software component application programming interface (API) and an error handling method in the user identification software component API. Among the user identification elements, in particular, the present invention relates to a method for building a database of image data for the user's clothes, and a performance evaluation of a vision-based recognizer, which is means for recognizing the user's image information for the clothes.
US07890520B2 Processing apparatus and associated methodology for content table generation and transfer
An information-processing apparatus to connect to a reproduction apparatus, store contents in a host database having attributes of contents stored in a content storage section, identify contents stored in a reproduction apparatus, extract attributes of identified contents of the reproduction apparatus from the host database, create plural tables of different types, and transfer the created tables to the reproduction apparatus.
US07890518B2 Method for creating a scalable graph database
Embodiments of a method for creating a graph database which is arranged to store or process data in the form of graph tuples comprising n-parts, are described. In an embodiment, each tuple-part is encoded into a unique part identifier (hereinafter called a UPI), each UPI comprises a tag at a fixed position within the UPI. The tag indicates the datatype of the encoded tuple-part. The content data for the tuple-part is encoded in a code that is configured to reflect the ranking or order of the content data, corresponding to each datatype, relative to other tuples in a set of tuples. For content data that comprises a character-string, the code comprises a hashcode; and for content data that comprises or includes a numeric value, the code comprises an immediate value that directly stores the numeric value without encoding.
US07890516B2 Recommending queries when searching against keywords
A query including one or more current search terms is received from a user and executed against a target database. When the query yields a number of results less than a defined search threshold (a.k.a. an “unsuccessful” search), the current search terms are compared with an associations database. The associations database includes associations between search terms in previously-executed queries that yielded less than a threshold number of results and replacement search terms that were substituted to generate a successful query yielding at least the threshold number of results. Upon finding a match between one or more of the search terms and the current search terms, the associations between the search terms and the replacement search terms are used to identify suggested replacement search terms and present them to the user.
US07890511B2 System and method for conducting network analytics
A log file from a server is analyzed and entries in the log file are deleted, combined, or condensed to create a list of page views that more accurately reflects traffic to a server. The list of page views may be added to a database for searching, sorting, and analyzing the page views.
US07890502B2 Hierarchy-based propagation of contribution of documents
A method and system for determining the contribution of a document within a hierarchy of documents based on the contribution of descendant documents is provided. The contribution system provides a hierarchy of documents that specifies the ancestor/descendant relations between documents. For each document of a hierarchy, the contribution system determines the contribution of each document factoring in the contribution of descendant documents. The contribution may be the relevance of a document to a topic, a feature of a document, and so on.
US07890499B1 Presentation of search results with common subject matters
Methods, systems, and computer program products feature determining a plurality of search result items responsive to a search query. A plurality of search modes are identified based on the query or the plurality of search result items or both. Each search mode is associated with a respective collection of records. The plurality of search result items are provided to a user with an indication of each search mode in the plurality of search modes. User input selecting a first search mode is received, where the first search mode is one of the plurality of search modes. One or more mode-specific search result items are determined based on the search query, where each mode-specific search result item is from the collection of records that is associated with the first search mode. The one or more mode-specific search result items are provided to the user.
US07890495B2 Background index bimapping for faster query performance
A database engine and a system running a database engine utilize a dynamic bitmap updating routine to avoid the delay associated with building an entire bitmap. When running a query on a table, the database engine can build a bitmap over a column of the table that helps avoid unnecessary I/O operations to retrieve records. The database engine initializes the bitmap so that all elements have a value of “1”, or active, and proceeds to scan and retrieve the records of the table according to the bitmap using a first process. Any retrieved record is further analyzed to determine if it is part of the result set. Concurrently, a second process is initiated which continually updates the values within the bitmap according to a set of selection criteria. As the first process continues to operate, more and more elements of the bitmap are set to “0”, or inactive, so that the first process can avoid unnecessary I/O operations.
US07890487B1 Facilitating client-side data-management for web-based applications
A database engine embedded within a browser implements a system that facilitates managing client-side data for web-based applications. During operation, the system receives a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) at the browser. The system then retrieves a web-page associated with the URL. Next, the system executes a script associated with the web-page. While executing this script, the system receives a request to open a database. In response to this request, the system uses the database engine to open a database associated with the web-page, wherein the database engine is embedded in the browser. The system then uses the database engine to execute database commands.
US07890480B2 Processing of deterministic user-defined functions using multiple corresponding hash tables
A deterministic UDF processing mechanism processes user-defined functions (UDFs) using multiple hash tables. Data access patterns for a UDF are collected, and an appropriate hash table set is then determined for the UDF from the data access patterns. If a UDF accesses some similar columns and some disjoint columns, the similar columns are grouped together, and one or more hash tables are allocated to the similar columns. Disjoint columns are allocated their own hash tables. In addition, the allocation of hash tables may be adjusted based on historical access patterns collected over time. By dynamically allocating and adjusting sets of hash tables to a deterministic UDF, the performance of the UDF is greatly increased.
US07890479B2 Efficient XML schema validation of XML fragments using annotated automaton encoding
An XML schema is compiled into an annotated automaton encoding, which includes a parsing table for structural information and annotation for type information. The representation is extended to include a mapping from schema types to states in a parsing table. To validate a fragment against a schema type, it is necessary simply to determine the state corresponding to the schema type, and start the validation process from that state. When the process returns to the state, fragment validation has reached successful completion. This approach is more efficient than a general tree representation. Only the data representation of the schema information is handled, making it much easier than manipulating validation parser code generated by a parser generator. In addition, only one representation is needed for schema information for both document and fragment validation. This approach also provides a basis for incremental validation after update.
US07890478B2 Projected business objects
A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method for implementing a reusable template entity within a software system. The method includes retrieving a template entity from a repository in response to a request, wherein the template entity contains a plurality of elements related to a plurality of roles associated with the template entity and determining, based on metadata related to the at least one template entity and the request, a list of elements from the plurality of elements to undergo state modification. The method further includes adapting the template entity according to the list of elements to yield a projected entity and providing an instance of the projected entity.
US07890476B2 Data generator apparatus for testing data dependent applications, verifying schemas and sizing systems
A data generator for database schema verification, system sizing and functional test of data dependent applications. Allows for generation of data from random values or from working databases which may be profiled to generate patterns for occurrences of values and sizes of values. The data may be filled with a fill rate that dictates the percentage of fields assigned nulls. Cardinality allows for a fixed number of values to occur across the records for a field. May utilize reference data associated with an existing database to fill fields. Qualifiers and multi-value fields may be filled to mimic real data. Maximum, nominal and average number of occurrences of sizes of data and qualifiers and multi-value data may be specified. May also utilize dictionaries to fill. Hierarchical levels and number of child nodes may also be specified and used in filling taxonomy tables and hierarchy tables for example.
US07890470B2 Method and apparatus for synchronizing device providing content directory service with device not providing content directory
Provided is a method for synchronizing contents included in devices in a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network. A control point device, which contains local content but cannot provide a content directory service, converts information regarding content objects of the control point device into Digital Item Description Language Lite (DIDL-Lite) format, and manages a mapping table, thereby performing synchronization with a device such as a UPnP media server providing a content directory service, without loading a separate protocol stack.
US07890469B1 File change log
A method, system, and computer program product are provided to update file change log data to indicate that a change to a file in a file system has occurred. The file change log data are accessible for read access using a file system-independent operating system function. Applications can read, open, close, and seek data in the file change log using file system-independent operating system functions. The file change log data can be read by multiple applications simultaneously, even when data are being written to the file change log. Operations such as writing data to the file change log and renaming or deleting the file change log file itself are prevented when performed by an application rather than the file system. These prohibitions protect the file change log.
US07890462B2 System and method for handling parallel updates of objects requiring time sensitive acknowledgement
A system and method of updating persistent objects in a persistent store. In response to receipt of a confirmation of task competition, an attempt is made to acquire a lock for corresponding item data in the persistent store. Regardless of whether the lock is acquired, a successful update of the persistent store is acknowledged to the sender of the confirmation within a defined time period.
US07890460B2 Method and apparatus for performing real-time update transactions between a database system and remote database clients
A method for performing an update transaction in a database system that includes sending to a remote database client an update request to update data in a database system, in which the update request comprises a first checksum value corresponding to a state of the data in the database system as of the time of the update request. The method further includes receiving a reply from the remote database client that includes a new value for the data in the database system and the first checksum value. The method further includes determining whether the first checksum value matches a second checksum value corresponding to the state of the data in the database system as of the time that the database system received the reply, and if the first checksum value matches the second checksum value, the data in the database system is updated with the new value for the data.
US07890450B2 Policy creating apparatus, policy creating method, and computer product
A policy integrity validating unit validates whether a system model can achieve an objective set up in a policy without violating a constraint set up in the policy when a system model is operated according to a procedure set up in the policy. When the policy integrity validating unit determines that there is no integrity between a policy created by a system administrator and the system model, an alternate policy creating unit creates an alternate policy that replaces the policy created by the system administrator. Upon receipt of the alternate policy, the policy integrity validating unit validates integrity between the alternate policy and the system model. When the policy integrity validating unit determines that there is integrity between the alternate policy and the system model, a policy creating apparatus presents the alternate policy to the system administrator.
US07890447B2 Information handling system and method for diagnosis, and repair, using rules collected by forward chaining
In an information handling system (IHS), IHS problem diagnosis and repair includes receiving configuration items of the IHS from a configuration management database, collecting a set of rules and corresponding actions relating to the configuration items of the IHS, the set of rules and corresponding actions collected from an expert system, collecting a prioritization of the set of rules and corresponding actions, filtering the set of rules and corresponding actions per the prioritization and based on a plurality of preferences, and sending the set of rules and corresponding actions to the IHS.
US07890434B2 Portable intelligent shopping device
A method for selling items by a vendor in a shopping venue includes steps of: receiving a first signal from a mobile information processing device, the signal including a list of items of interest; and transmitting a second to the mobile information processing device, the second signal indicating that at least one of the items of interest from the list is available in the shopping venue.
US07890432B2 Infrastructure with meter communication capabilities
A system for providing franking services includes one or more networks, one or more postage meters, and a postal infrastructure data center connected to the one or more meters through the one or more networks, wherein the postal infrastructure data center establishes communication with the one or more meters as required.
US07890428B2 Flexible licensing architecture for licensing digital application
An application includes a plurality of features. A transaction is engaged with a retailer to obtain a product license corresponding to the application. The product license defines at least one feature of the application that may be employed. A base copy of the application is obtained from a distributor and is actuated. A use license corresponding to the product license is acquired from a licensor by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, where the use license includes feature policy granting rights to employ each feature defined in the product license.
US07890424B1 Enhanced demand deposit accounts
A method for adjusting a demand deposit account. The method may comprise the step of structuring the demand deposit account with at least a first balance tier and a second balance tier. The methods may also comprise the steps of monitoring a balance of the demand deposit account, and accruing interest to at least a portion of the balance of the demand deposit account at an interest rate if the balance falls within the second balance tier. The interest rate may be tied to an interest rate of an investment account.
US07890420B2 Method and apparatus for development and use of a credit score based on spend capacity
Share of Wallet (“SOW”) is a modeling approach that utilizes various data sources to provide outputs that describe a consumers spending capability, tradeline history including balance transfers, and balance information. These outputs can be appended to data profiles of customers and prospects and can be utilized to support decisions involving prospecting, new applicant evaluation, and customer management across the lifecycle. A SOW score focusing on a consumer's spending capability can be used in the same manner as a credit bureau score.
US07890418B2 Hedging risks associated with variable priced orders for derivative financial products
Systems and methods are provided for executing a hedge transaction in connection with the execution of a derivative product order in which the price of the derivative product is defined by one or more variables. The hedge transaction may be executed at an exchange or match engine that is different from the exchange or match engine executing the derivative product order. The execution of derivative product transaction may be contingent on the existence of an appropriate hedge transaction. Alternatively, a best efforts approach may be used to fill the hedge transaction order after executing the derivative product transaction.
US07890414B2 System and method for group positioning of market information in a graphical user interface
A method for repositioning information related to a plurality of commodities on a graphical user interface is provided. The method includes receiving market information relating to a first commodity and a second commodity. The market information includes a number of items of interest, each of which may be associated with a price. A first information display region associated with the first commodity and including a number of locations arranged such that each location corresponds to a price level along at least a portion of a first static price axis is displayed at a first time. A second similar information display region associated with the second commodity is also displayed at that time. Indicators associated with items of interest related to the first commodity and the second commodity are displayed in the first information display region and the second information display region, respectively. The method includes receiving a command to reposition one of the information display regions. In response to the repositioning command, the indicators representing market information are moved to new locations in the first and second information display regions. More than two information display region may alternatively be utilized and positioned in this manner.
US07890412B2 Distributed trading bus architecture
A distributed trading system for handling a plurality of order requests, each order request comprising parameters under which a participant will buy and/or sell a futures contract. A validator component is coupled to a messaging bus and has a first interface for receiving order request and an interface generating a validated order message on the messaging bus related to validated orders, wherein the validator implements processes for validating the order requests. A risk allocation value (RAV) component is coupled to the messaging bus and has an interface for receiving validated order messages from the validator, wherein the RAV component implements processes for evaluating risk associated with an order should that order be completed. A match engine is coupled to the messaging bus and has an interface for receiving validated order messages from the RAV component, wherein the match engine implements processes for matching orders based on the order-specified criteria. A persist component is coupled to the messaging bus and has an interface for receiving messages related to orders and trades, wherein the persist component implements processes for persistently storing information related to orders and trades.
US07890411B2 Trading actual shares of a security in a round-lot-based system
A round-lot-based system for trading of securities includes a plurality of client stations for entering quotes for securities and a server process. The system receives quotes from the clients, aggregates the quotes and causes a total of all aggregated quotes to be displayed for a plurality of price levels on the client systems. The system uses a graphical user that depicts aggregated quotes in an aggregate window, and a plurality of price levels of a product traded in the market. The system also aggregates round, odd, and/or mixed lot orders into an aggregate of actual shares. The aggregate of actual shares may be placed on a book and rounded down to the nearest round lot for displaying on the round-lot-based system.
US07890404B2 System and method for executing cash payment via a computer network
The invention presented comprises a system and method for executing a cash payment via a computer network. A payor computing device communicates over a computer network with payee computing devices via a P2P server. The P2P server is operative to receive a payment request from the payor computing device and process the payment by debiting a financial instrument specified by a payor utilizing the payor computing device. The payment request is transmitted from the P2P server to a cash payment server operative to receive the payment request and translate the request into the native format of an ATM control server, the native format of the P2P server and ATM control server not being interoperable. The ATM control server is operative to generate a PIN code, which is transmitted along with the received payment instructions to an ATM. The ATM receives the payment instructions and dispenses the payment upon receipt of the PIN code. Receipt data is also generated by the ATM control server, translated into the native format of the P2P server by the cash payment server, and delivered to the payor and payee via the P2P sever.
US07890391B2 System and method for implementing a revenue recognition model
A system and method for implementing a revenue recognition model in an automated environment includes receiving rules, over a communications network, associated with an entity. Information associated with a transaction is received, and one or more automated processes are implemented to determine whether revenue from the transaction is recognizable.
US07890390B2 Managing part number preferredness
Methods, systems and apparatus for defining, updating and communicating the current status of parts used by an enterprise to designers and procurement specialists. Allowable values of preferredness of parts are defined based on technology roadmaps, and these values are periodically checked in a current time period against certain criteria, and changes are made in the preferredness values to reflect current conditions in the time period and current estimates for future conditions. Software, including algorithms, is changed as required to implement the changes in the preferredness values, and the updated software is released for use by procurement and design personnel for ensuring consistency of values of preferredness and preferred part codes within an enterprise.
US07890389B2 Methods and systems for grouping and managing stock requests
Systems, methods, and computer-readable medium are disclosed for releasing stock requests to a storage facility, such as a warehouse. Such systems, methods and computer-readable medium may generate a condition record reflecting a predetermined set of conditions to be met by the attributes of a stock request, receive the stock request including one or more attributes about a stock item, determine whether the attributes of the received stock request meet the conditions of the condition record, associate a wave template of the condition record with the stock request if a determination is made that the stock request does meet the condition record, and create a wave object based on each stock request associated with the wave template. The wave object may then be released to the warehouse for fulfillment of each stock request associated with the wave object.
US07890379B2 Methods, systems, and products for facilitating electronic purchases
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for facilitating electronic purchases. A record of a customer's selection of items is received at a merchant's server. Some items in the record are associated with a different merchant and were selected from the different merchant's website. The merchant inspects the record for items associated with the different merchant. The merchant sends a recommendation to the customer to remove a different merchant's item and to instead add a substitute item associated with the merchant.
US07890371B2 Method for processing transaction information
A method for processing transaction information is provided according to the present invention. The method enables business vender to provide consumers with paperless transaction information, e.g. invoice information, via a route mainframe and a electronic data interchange platform. The method includes providing a mobile electronic device and establishing an information service platform to connect the electronic data interchange platform, for providing the consumers a means for payment of bills; when the cash register of the business vender receives a request of the payment of bills by using the mobile electronic device, having the card reader to access balance of the electronic purse of the mobile electronic device; judging whether the balance of the electronic purse is enough for the payment of bills, if not, prohibiting the mobile electronic device from proceeding to the payment of bills, and terminating the transaction information process; if yes, then having the mobile electronic device proceed to the payment of bills and allowing the cash register to transmit, via the route mainframe and the electronic data interchange platform, transaction information received to the information service platform for saving; and transmitting at least a part of the transaction information to the mobile electronic device by the information service platform.
US07890367B2 System and method for tiered filtering of purchase transactions
A filtering module to process purchase transaction data received from a retailer POS is disclosed. Merchant information is used to filter purchase transactions by determining whether the purchase transaction qualifies an initiating purchaser for a reward. The retailer POS transmits purchase data from a merchant to a host, wherein the purchase data includes retailer data, transaction data and a retailer item identifier, and wherein the retailer item identifier enables the host to determine a manufacturer item identifier. The retailer POS then receives a determination that the merchant is a qualifying merchant when the purchase data corresponds to the loyalty program data and causes the host to issue loyalty awards based on the manufacturer item identifier and the loyalty program data.
US07890356B1 Reasonable value self insured medical benefit plan
A self-insured or self funded medical benefit plan is provided by an employer wherein the self-insured medical benefit plan is governed by ERISA, and wherein the employer who is providing the medical benefit plan is 100 percent responsible for payment for medical services provided to an employee, receiving the benefit of the medical benefit plan, to a medical service provider for covered medical services and products. The medical benefit plan and method for providing the medical benefit plan determines a reasonable value for the medical services provided by a medical service provider to a participant of the plan, reprices a bill or claim from the medical service provider, and protects the participant/employee under ERISA from attempted collections of additional moneys that a medical service provider may believe is owed for the medical services but were not paid by the exemplary self insured medical benefit plan.
US07890355B2 System and method for the assessment, pricing, and provisioning of distance-based vehicle insurance
A method for assessing, pricing, and provisioning distance-based vehicle insurance is disclosed. Receiving identification information of a customer and an associated vehicle, a current odometer reading of the vehicle, and a garaging location of the vehicle is disclosed. The customer is provided with a quote including a policy rate identifying a cost per distance unit based on the customer and vehicle identification information and the garaging location. Performing a purchase transaction for an insurance policy in response to the customer selecting one of the items for purchase, wherein coverage provided by the insurance policy expires based on the earlier of an odometer expiration value occurring and a predetermined time limit is disclosed. The expiration odometer value is the sum of the current odometer reading and the total number of distance units included in the selected item. The current odometer reading is not audited prior to or during the purchase transaction.
US07890354B2 Systems and methods for long-term care insurance with immediate and ongoing health care maintenance benefits
Methods and systems related to long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance policies are priced by stratifying potential purchasers according to risk factors which are explored during the underwriting process. In addition to coverage for long-term care, immediate health care benefits are provided to the purchasers in the form of an interactive health management program. The health management program may include contact between health care advisors and the availability of a wide range of health care services to provide positive health planning and resources to the policyholders. Underwriting and portions of the health management program may be provided through automation to reduce overhead expenses.
US07890350B1 Method for generating and transmitting prescription renewal request information
A method for providing prescription renewal request information via an electronic network. Upon receiving a request from a client for renewal request information for a particular prescriber, a report is generated containing the requested renewal request information and transmitted to the client. The transmitted report allows the client to easily review renewal request information and helps the client to manage appointments with patients whom the prescriber wishes to see. Depending on the client request, the transmitted report may be an “active renewals” page containing renewal request information regarding renewal requests that the prescriber has not reviewed, an “archived renewals” page containing renewed request information regarding renewal requests that the prescriber has reviewed, an “appointment” page containing renewal request information regarding patients with whom the prescriber wishes to make an appointment, or a “prescription detail” page containing detailed renewal request information regarding a particular renewal request.
US07890346B2 Health services delivery system with incentives
A system of health care service and an associated method of the administration thereof to a plurality of subscribers including a providing entity organizationally structured to implement a health care program which includes categorizing subscribers desirous of health care service, including preventative services, into a plurality of predetermined profiles. The profiles are defined by personal characteristics including age, gender, clinical history, etc. and each profile is associated with a predetermined curative or preventative treatment regimen with which a respective subscriber is expected to comply. An incentive system is implemented to motivate the subscribers into compliance with the assigned treatment regimen and comprises the assignment of credits and penalties based on a degree of compliance with the treatment regimen. Valuable consideration is awarded to the subscriber evidencing a satisfactory degree of compliance.
US07890345B2 Establishment of a telephone based engagement
In general, in one aspect, a computer-implemented method for establishing multiple communication channels between a service provider and a consumer includes establishing a text based communication between the consumer and the service provider over the Internet. The method also includes receiving, at a central system, a first telephone number provided by the consumer via a first user interface and a second telephone number provided by the service provider via a second user interface. The method also includes calling, from the central system, the first telephone number and the second telephone number and bridging the calls between the central system and the first telephone number and the central system and the second telephone number to establish a communication channel between the service provider and the consumer.
US07890340B2 Method and system for allowing a neurologically diseased patient to self-monitor the patient's actual state
In a method for allowing a patient suffering from a neurological disease and being treated with medication to self-monitor his or her current state, information regarding the motor functions and/or verbal and/or cognitive abilities of the patient are interactively acquired upon using a computer located for easy and repeated access by the patient, and at least one criterion number or a statement describing the state is determined on the basis of this information by an expert system at the computer and is made available to the patient by an output device at the computer.
US07890339B2 Surface ownership data management system
A system, method and computer program relate to gathering and managing ownership data for properties in a geographic area on which an asset, such as a pipeline is located.
US07890338B2 Method for managing a whitelist
An improved method is provided for managing a whitelist. Upon receipt of an electronic message from an approved sender, the message is reviewed for references to other potential sender that may be added to the whitelist. For example, the potential sender may be copied on the electronic message. Based on this reference, the potential sender is deemed trustworthy and placed on the recipient's whitelist.
US07890331B2 System and method for generating audio-visual summaries for audio-visual program content
The invention describes a system (1) for generating audio-visual summaries for audio-visual program content (3). The system comprises a search unit (4) for locating a pre-generated text summary (5;) associated with the program content (3); a speech synthesizer (6) for converting the text summary (5,) into speech (7); a video 5 summary generator (8) for generating a video summary (9) of the audio-visual program content (3), and an audio/video mixer (10) for mixing the synthesized speech (7) with the video summary (9). Moreover the invention describes an appropriate method for generating audio-visual summaries (5i) for audio-visual program content (3).
US07890326B2 Business listing search
A method of operating a voice-enabled business directory search system includes selecting a subset of speech recognition language models from a larger set of speech recognition language models based on a type of business provided by a user, identifying weight values for the selected language models, and recognizing an identifier of a specific business in a speech input from the user based on the selected language models and the weight values.
US07890323B2 Digital filtering method, digital filtering equipment, digital filtering program, and recording medium and recorded device which are readable on computer
Included in the digital filtering equipment for extracting a feature quantity from a speech signal in order to execute a speech recognition based on an inputted speech signal are: a) an waveform determining section for obtaining an inputted speech signal and quantizing the speech signal waveform; b) a division value operating section for summing a quantized signal data in a prescribed adjoining region to divide the summation value by the number of summed data, with respect to a data quantized at each point by the waveform determining section, whereby a division value is obtained with the data being centered; c) a comparison section for comparing a division value calculated by the division value operating section and the quantized data calculated in the division value operating section to output logical truth of a comparison result, with respect to each data; and d) a conversion section for converting the quantized data into the selected data points based on an output from the comparison section. Thus, the feature quantity can be extracted only by applying an integer summation and comparison operation, so that performance of arithmetic operation is extremely simplified to be fast and inexpensive.
US07890320B2 Tower of numeric types
Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for providing a numeric tower that represents a structure supporting statically defined numeric data types. The numeric data types each are operable to implement a different but accurate representation of a particular value. Numeric operations are supported for the numeric tower that can be performed with any of the statically defined numeric data types. The numeric tower is extensible, and allows for additional statically defined numeric data types to be added, as well as operations. The numeric tower is also operable to detect overflow situations. For example, suppose a result of an operation will result in an overflow situation because the operation does not fit within a range supported by the particular numeric type. The system converts the numeric type to a different one of the numeric data types when the result does not fit within a range supported by the first one.
US07890318B2 Informing troubleshooting sessions with device data
A method for troubleshooting a problem with a device includes acquiring device data for the device, receiving a user's query concerning a device in a natural language, presenting possible refinements to at least a portion of the user's query for defining a problem statement, presenting candidate solutions that are associated with the defined problem statement in a knowledge base, at least one of the presentation of possible refinements and the presentation of candidate solutions being informed by device data that is linked through a diagnostic model of the device to at least one of the problem statements and candidate solutions.
US07890311B2 Method of simulating flow-through area of a pressure regulator
The flow-through area of a pressure regulator positioned in a branch of a simulated fluid flow network is generated. A target pressure is defined downstream of the pressure regulator. A projected flow-through area is generated as a non-linear function of (i) target pressure, (ii) flow-through area of the pressure regulator for a current time step and a previous time step, and (iii) pressure at the downstream location for the current time step and previous time step. A simulated flow-through area for the next time step is generated as a sum of (i) flow-through area for the current time step, and (ii) a difference between the projected flow-through area and the flow-through area for the current time step multiplied by a user-defined rate control parameter. These steps are repeated for a sequence of time steps until the pressure at the downstream location is approximately equal to the target pressure.
US07890300B2 Method for monitoring a field device
A method for monitoring a field device connected via a data bus with a control unit. To prevent unauthorized tampering with the field device, the control unit requests, at intervals of time, an individual identifier of the field device. The requested individual identifier is compared with an identifier stored in the control unit. An alarm is produced or a warning, in the case of a change in the requested individual identifier.
US07890288B1 Timing functions to optimize code-execution time
A method and system for optimizing a test plan of an Integrated Circuit (IC). The test plan includes two or more test sequences. A test sequence includes the measurement of a parameter of the IC. The total test time of the IC is reduced by performing one or more activities during a desired wait time associated with the measurement of the parameter. The test plan may be further optimized by modifying the one or more activities performed during the desired wait time.
US07890280B2 Method and a system for determining a physical property as a function of position
A method and system for determining a physical property as a function of position. A data series including data point from one or more channels is obtained by frequency modulation continuous wave. A number of data points correspond to Nda different values of frequency of modulation. One or more processing steps are performed including at least part of said primary data series to obtain at least one secondary data series comprising N (N>Nda) data points from the values of frequency of modulation. The secondary data series from frequency domain is transformed to obtain at least one back scattering curve in space domain, and optionally the back scattering curve(s) to one or more physical properties as a function of position.
US07890277B2 Method for determination of strain distribution in components
A method for determination of strain distribution in components, in particular in gas turbine components, is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes: a) vibrational excitation of the component and measured recording of a vibrational amplitude distribution of the component for a number of measured points by means of a vibrometer, each measuring point being determined by three coordinates and the measured vibrational amplitude distribution of each measuring point being a vectorial parameter; b) smoothing of the vibrational amplitude distribution recorded by measurement for each measuring point; c) definition of polygonal elements, wherein each measuring point forms a corner of at least one element; d) calculation of a tensor strain condition for each of the polygonal elements from the tensor vibrational amplitude distributions present in the corners of the elements; and e) calculation of the strain distribution in the corners of the elements from the strain conditions of the elements.
US07890276B2 Pressure relief valve monitoring
A pressure relief valve monitoring system and method is disclosed. In one aspect there is an online pressure relief valve monitoring system that includes at least one acoustic sensor located about a pressure relief valve that obtains ultrasonic measurements therefrom. One or more temperature sensors located about the pressure relief valve obtain temperature measurements therefrom. A data acquisition system receives the ultrasonic measurements from the at least one acoustic sensor and the temperature measurements from the one or more temperature sensors. An online monitor monitors the measurements received by the data acquisition system for detection of a leak about the pressure relief valve. The online monitor detects the presence of the leak as a function of the ultrasonic measurements and temperature measurements.
US07890274B2 Method for quantifying hole flow rates in film cooled parts
A method for measuring a flow rate through a cooling hole of a film cooled part includes the steps of 1) measuring a transient thermal response of an internal surface temperature corresponding solely to an inside portion of a cooling hole for a film cooled part resulting from a flow of fluid through the part, the fluid having an initial temperature that is different from an initial temperature of the film cooled part, 2) mathematically characterizing the transient thermal response, and 3) determining the cooling hole flow rate from the mathematical characterization.
US07890270B2 Optical system for measuring metabolism in a body, method and program
A living body light measuring device including plural light-radiating devices for radiating light to a head of a subject, plural light-receiving devices for detecting light which is transmitted through the head of the subject after radiation from the light-radiating devices, a calculator for calculating a change of concentration of oxidized and deoxidized hemoglobin in the head of the subject at a measurement point using a pair of each of the plural light-radiating devices and corresponding ones of the light-receiving devices. The calculator decides whether the oxidized hemoglobin concentration change and the deoxidized hemoglobin concentration change are statistically significant at each of the measurement points, and the display displays the decisions regarding the individual measurement points.
US07890261B1 Non real time traffic system for a navigator
A system for improving the operation of a GPS based navigator. Statistical and/or time of day information is used to select the best route between a current location and a desired location. The statistical information may take into account anomalies, and a user can select the amount of risk they which take. The system can be updated with more updated information. In addition, the selection of the desired location can be carried out by downloading information from a PDA.
US07890260B2 Navigation system with minimal on-board processing
A navigation system that provides a position estimate. In one embodiment, a method includes integrating an acceleration estimate in each of three dimensions. Subtracting a GPS velocity in each of the dimensions from the integrated acceleration estimate in each dimension to determine a velocity noise error in each dimension. Filtering the velocity noise error in each dimension. Adding the filtered velocity noise error to the integrated acceleration estimate in each dimension to obtain a velocity estimate in each dimension. Integrating the velocity estimate in each dimension to determine an integrated velocity estimate in each dimension. Subtracting a GPS position in each dimension from the integrated velocity estimate in each dimension to determine a position noise error in each dimension. Filtering the position noise error in each dimension and adding the filtered position noise error in each dimension to the integrated velocity estimate to obtain a position estimate in each dimension.
US07890259B2 Method and system for provisioning turn-by-turn navigation demonstrations
A method of demonstrating navigation in a vehicle includes receiving a navigation demonstration mode request and global positioning information at a call center. A destination prompt is transmitted from the call center to the vehicle. A point-of-interest category is received at a call center. A point-of-interest destination is determined based on the point-of-interest category. A route is determined based on the received global positioning information and the point-of-interest destination. The route is transmitted from the call center to the vehicle.
US07890253B2 Location information sharing method based on wired and wireless internet using location ID
Location information sharing method based on wired and wireless internet using a location identification (ID). Converting a location ID entered in the content of documents through Internet terminals into a URL, which provides location ID related services to the Internet terminal. Searching a desired location information from one of plural location information servers by using the location ID, wherein the general web server connects with one of plural location information servers by using the location ID through the domain name management server and request the connected location information server to search a location information corresponding to the location ID. Transmitting the location information including a coordinate value searched corresponding to the location ID from the location information server to the wired or wireless terminal requesting the location information. Performing application function including viewing map around a location coordinate contained in the searched location information corresponding to location ID.
US07890249B2 System and method for determining a center of gravity of an aircraft
According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a method of determining a center of gravity of an aircraft includes receiving a strut length for each of the gears of an aircraft, determining an arm length for each of the gears, and determining a center of gravity of the aircraft based on a relationship between the center of gravity and respective arm lengths for each of the gears. The arm length of each of the gears is determined according to the strut length of a gear strut of a respective gear and a relationship between the strut length of the gear strut to another gear of another aircraft and the arm length of the respective gear.
US07890236B2 Automated control module for a power machine
The application discloses an automated control module, which is configured to receive an input signal from a sensor and generate a universal control signal that can be processed by different machine controllers having different control configurations. In one embodiment the universal control signal is transmitted to a machine controller on the power machine through a connection assembly including a connector plug and socket. In another embodiment, the universal control signal is transmitted through a wireless interface. The machine controller processes the universal control signal and outputs a device control signal to operate different devices “on board” the power machine.
US07890232B2 Airbag system
A first processing circuit determines a collision of a vehicle based on an output from a sensor for detecting a collision of the vehicle. A second processing circuit outputs a signal to deploy an airbag based on an output from the first processing circuit. A communication unit controls information communication between the first processing circuit and an electronic control unit outside the airbag system. A first power supply unit generates a first driving voltage for driving the first and second processing circuits based on a voltage of an outside power supply. The first power supply unit includes backup power supply unit that supplies a backup voltage when the voltage of the outside power supply falls. A second power supply unit supplies a second driving voltage to the communication unit based on an output of the first power supply unit. A power supply control unit stops the supply of the second driving voltage from the second power supply unit to the communication unit on detection of a fall in the voltage of the outside power supply.
US07890231B2 Lane keeping assistance equipment for automotive vehicles
A lane keeping assistance equipment loaded on an automotive vehicle having a response motion unit for controlling a steering of the vehicle traveling on a traffic lane between lane markings, having a lane marking detecting device for detecting a lane marking location; a sideways distance detecting device for detecting a sideways distance between the lane marking location and the vehicle; and a control device for controlling lane keeping by setting a travel target point and signaling the response motion unit for the vehicle to travel on that point, wherein, corresponding to changes in the distance amount between the lane marking location and the vehicle during a driver's continuing intervening steering act and a prescribed time afterwards, the control device updates the distance amount between the travel target point and the lane marking location after that prescribed time elapses.
US07890230B2 Vehicle motion control device and method
The objective of the present invention is to provide a vehicle motion control device capable of controlling the driving force distribution to the wheels with superior stability and response while effectively utilizing the tire grip. Specifically, the present invention provides a vehicle motion control device for a vehicle, the vehicle having a plurality of wheels and a driving device for driving the wheels based on a driving force/load distribution ratio, having: a force detection unit for detecting forces that act on the wheels; a target distribution ratio calculating unit for obtaining nonlinear terms by use of a group of parameters including the forces detected by the force detection unit, and obtaining a target value of the driving force/load distribution ratio so as to minimize the nonlinear terms, the nonlinear terms being included in elements of a system matrix of equations of state that describe a state of motion of the vehicle; and a driving device control unit for controlling the driving device based on the target value of the driving force/load distribution ratio.
US07890228B2 Power source monitoring system for AGVs and method
An automatic guided vehicle (AGV) and method has at least one AGV with a drive assembly, a rechargeable power source on-board the AGV configured to supply power to the drive assembly, and a controller on-board the AGV. The controller on-board the AGV is configured to substantially continuously monitor at least two conditions including an operating condition of the AGV, a state of charge of the power source, and an electrical power supplied for recharging the rechargeable power source, wherein the controller determines when the rechargeable power source of the AGV is to be recharged, and controls a recharging process of the power source based upon at least one of the monitored conditions.
US07890214B2 Method and apparatus for controlling soot blowing using statistical process control
A statistical process control system employs a consistent soot blowing operation for a heat exchange section of, for example, a fuel burning boiler, collects heat absorption data for the heat exchange section and analyzes the distribution of the heat absorption data as well as various parameters of the heat absorption distribution to readjust the soot blowing operation. The statistical process control system may set a desired lower heat absorption limit and a desired upper heat absorption limit and compare them, respectively, with an actual lower heat absorption limit and an actual upper heat absorption limit to determine the readjustment to be made to the soot blowing operation. Alternatively, the statistical process control system may be used to determine permanent slagging of the heat exchange section.
US07890211B2 Master-slave manipulator system and apparatus
A teleoperator system with telepresence is shown which includes right and left hand controllers (72R and 72L) for control of right and left manipulators (24R and 24L) through use of a servomechanism that includes computer (42). Cameras (46R and 46L) view workspace (30) from different angles for production of stereoscopic signal outputs at lines (48R and 48L). In response to the camera outputs a 3-dimensional top-to-bottom inverted image (30I) is produced which, is reflected by mirror (66) toward the eyes of operator (18). A virtual image (30V) is produced adjacent control arms (76R and 76L) which is viewed by operator (18) looking in the direction of the control arms. Use of the teleoperator system for surgical procedures also is disclosed.
US07890208B2 Mail processing system with unique mailpiece authorization assigned in advance of mailpieces entering carrier service mail processing stream
A mailing list is created including destination addresses for mailpieces to be submitted to a carrier service for delivery. A unique mailpiece identifier associated with mailpieces on the mailing list is generated by the carrier or other trusted third party. The unique mailpiece identifier is printed on the mailpiece with which it is associated. The mailpieces with the printed unique identifier are submitted to the carrier service. The carrier service obtains the printed unique identifier from the mailpiece. The obtained unique identifier from each said mailpiece is utilized to verify that data associated with the mailpiece has been processed by the carrier or trusted third party. When the unique number has been obtained from the mailpieces, the carrier service, if desired, may note this fact in the carrier records to prevent reuse of the unique identifier.
US07890197B2 Dual model approach for boiler section cleanliness calculation
A method of controlling soot blowers near a heat exchange section includes generating models of both the ideal clean operating condition of the section and the dirty operating condition. The current operating condition of the section is used to calculate a reliability parameter that provides an indication of the reliability of the ideal and dirty models. If the reliability parameter indicates that the models are reliable, the models are used to help evaluate the cleanliness status of a particular heat exchange section and assist in making decisions on whether to blow the section or not, and whether to make any necessary adjustments to the operating sequence of the soot blowers. If the reliability parameter indicates that the models are unreliable, the models are regenerated using additional process data.
US07890193B2 Oral device
The invention is a removable plastic oral appliance which includes sensors for detecting the position of a patient's tongue and mandible. Pressure sensors in the appliance itself detect tongue contact and pressure against the palate or the lower teeth against the upper teeth. The sensors are connected electronically to an electronic processor which interprets the information against one or more contra-indicated tongue or jaw positions or activities, and selects an appropriate response from a pre-selected range of responses. The electronic processor sends a signal to a stimulus electrode to cause the patient to stop the contraindicated tongue position, jaw position, or activity.
US07890190B1 Deflectable hollow stylet guidewire system
A body implantable lead system includes an over-the-wire lead with a longitudinally extending lumen. A hollow stylet having an outer peripheral surface is introduced into the lumen and an annular resilient blood seal within the lumen may be sealingly positioned between the outer peripheral surface of the stylet and the lead to prevent flow of blood beyond the blood seal and into the lumen in a proximal direction. A guidewire is slidably received within the hollow stylet and includes a tip end which may project through the passage at the distal end of the lead such that relative movement of the guidewire and stylet within the lead is enabled while avoiding friction between the blood seal and the guidewire. Either the guidewire or the stylet may be preshaped for proper placement of the lead for engagement with the body tissue and surrounded by a semi-rigid retractable sheath.
US07890189B2 Mono-body defibrillaton probe
A probe including at its distal extremity a tubular flexible sheath core supporting at least a winding forming a shock electrode and connected to a electrical conductor of connection extending in a internal lumen of the sheath core. The sheath core extends axially without a solution of continuity in the area supporting the winding. In particular, the sheath core comprises cavities to receive and hold conducting inserts, of homologous size with cavities formed locally close to the ends of the winding, the insert being connected to the interior side to the electrical conductor, and on the external side to the corresponding extremity of winding. A longitudinal slit connects the two cavities and allows, by elastic deformation of the sheath core, the introduction into the cavities and in the internal lumen of the unit formed by the final extremity of the electrical conductor beforehand equipped with its two inserts.
US07890176B2 Methods and systems for treating chronic pelvic pain
Methods of treating chronic pelvic pain include applying at least one stimulus to a stimulation site within a patient with an implanted system control unit in accordance with one or more stimulation parameters. Systems for treating chronic pelvic pain include a system control unit configured to apply at least one stimulus to a stimulation site within a patient in accordance with one or more stimulation parameters.
US07890169B2 Cardiac rhythm management system selecting between multiple same-chamber electrodes for delivering cardiac therapy
A cardiac rhythm management system selects one of multiple electrodes associated with a particular heart chamber based on a relative timing between detection of a depolarization fiducial point at the multiple electrodes, or based on a delay between detection of a depolarization fiducial point at the multiple electrodes and detection of a reference depolarization fiducial point at another electrode associated with the same or a different heart chamber. Subsequent contraction-evoking stimulation therapy is delivered from the selected electrode.
US07890168B2 Active implantable medical device of AAI/DDD type, notably cardiac pacemaker, comprising means for automatic mode adjustment at the implantation
An active implantable medical device of the AAI/DDD type, notably a cardiac pacemaker, including automatic mode adjustment at implantation. The device detects spontaneous atrial and ventricular events, and is able to pace the atrium and ventricle. The device can operate in an AAI mode with ventricular sensing, a DDD mode, and includes automatic mode commutation, able to schedule, as a function of predetermined criteria, commutation from AAI to DDD mode, and reversely from DDD to AAI. The device automatically detects an implantation and has its initial mode of operation adjusted upon detection of the implantation (10). The device temporarily operates (14) in an AAI mode with activation of the means for mode commutation, then analyzes (20) the atrio-ventricular conduction so as to detect whether a potential conduction disorder exists. In case of a potential conduction disorder existing (presence) (24), the device is then set to a DDD mode and the automatic mode commutation is inhibited. Otherwise (26), the device is set to an AAI mode, and the automatic mode commutation remains activated.
US07890165B2 Implantable medical device with reduced MRI image distortion
An implantable medical device includes a housing and a circuit board provided within the housing. The circuit board includes a plurality of electronic components electrically coupled thereto. At least one non-functional component is provided on the circuit board and formed from a material that has an electromagnetic permeability configured to reduce the amount of image distortion caused by at least one of the plurality of electronic components when the device is subject to a magnetic field during an MRI scan.
US07890164B2 Iontophoresis device
An shaped iontophoresis device is capable of permeating an active agent (e.g., a drug solution) into an oral cavity, a skin cancer, or the like by iontophoresis in a pinpoint manner. A catheter-type iontophoresis device includes a small working electrode assembly and a small non-working electrode assembly at the tip of a holding portion. A first ion exchange membrane and a fourth ion exchange membrane at the tips of the assemblies are brought into close contact with a target area so that a drug solution is permeated by iontophoresis in a pinpoint manner. The working electrode assembly and the non-working electrode assembly are attached to the tip of a rod-shaped member. The rod-shaped member is detachable from the tip of the holding portion, and is exchangeable integrally with the portion. The iontophoresis device may advantageously take the form of a rod or catheter.
US07890157B2 Method for fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy and spectroscopy
A method and system for analysis of fluorescence emission spectroscopy data and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy data are described. A unique Laguerre expansion can be found for fluorescence intensity decays of arbitrary form with convergence to a correct solution faster than with conventional methods. The Laguerre expansion technique includes expansion coefficients highly correlated with intrinsic fluorescence lifetimes, allowing direct characterization of fluorescence dynamics. For complex systems, conventional analysis of fluorescence intensity decay in terms of discrete exponential components can not readily provide a true representation of underlying fluorescence dynamics. Utilizing the Laguerre expansion technique, an alternative non-parametric method for analysis of time-resolved fluorescence data from various systems is described, facilitating characterization and discrimination of a sample. An ultra-fast method for analysis of fluorescence lifetime imaging is also described, facilitating real-time analysis of compositional and functional changes in samples, at a microscopic or macroscopic level.
US07890154B2 Selection of ensemble averaging weights for a pulse oximeter based on signal quality metrics
A method and a system for ensemble averaging signals in a pulse oximeter, including receiving first and second electromagnetic radiation signals from a blood perfused tissue portion corresponding to two different wavelengths of light, obtaining an assessment of the signal quality of the electromagnetic signals, selecting weights for an ensemble averager using the assessment of signal quality, and ensemble averaging the electromagnetic signals using the ensemble averager.
US07890151B2 Opening and closing device for cellular phone
Disclosed herein is an apparatus for opening and closing a portable terminal. The apparatus includes a second cam, which has an upper rib to be latched with the upper portion of the housing and a lower rib to be latched with the bottom of the housing, thereby providing structural stability. In addition, frictional wear and noise can be suppressed while the second cam moves, thereby improving the service life and reliability of the device.
US07890150B2 Wireless communication device and antenna module thereof
A antenna module comprises various different single-band miniature antennas respectively coupled to and hid inside individual batteries, and each antenna shares original terminals of the individual battery; the antenna module is allowed to use the terminals to electrically connect to a main body of a wireless communication device to enable the individual antenna module to receive signals in a different frequency range and the wireless communication device to be unnecessary to be disposed with various different single-band antennas. Whereby, space for original disposition of various different single-band antennas can be saved for the disposition of other components.
US07890145B2 System and method for antenna selection
Systems and methods that provide antenna selection in multi-antenna-element communication systems are provided. In one embodiment, a system that selects N antenna elements in an M-antenna-element transmitter or an M-antenna-element receiver, in which N is less than M, may include, for example, M antenna elements in the M-antenna-element transmitter or the M-antenna-element receiver; N RF chains; and a switch coupled to the N RF chains. The M-antenna-element receiver may determine a bit error rate for each possible N antenna element subset of the M antenna elements. The M-antenna-element receiver may determine the particular N antenna element subset with a lowest bit error rate. In response to the determination of the particular N antenna element subset with the lowest bit error rate, the switch may couple the N RF chains to the particular N antenna element subset with the lowest bit error rate.
US07890143B2 Multi-transceiver system with MIMO and beam-forming capability
A system and method for communicating with a second communication system utilizing a plurality of antennas. Various aspects of the present invention may comprise determining whether communicating with the second communication system utilizing a plurality of antennas in a first configuration, which comprises a beam-forming configuration, is preferable to utilizing a plurality of antennas in a second configuration, which comprises a MIMO or MISO configuration. If it is determined that the first configuration is preferable to the second configuration, the communication system may be configured to communicate with the second communication system by utilizing at least a portion of the plurality of antennas in the first configuration. If it is determined that the second configuration is preferable to the first configuration, then the communication system may be configured to communicate with the second communication system by utilizing at least a portion of the plurality of antennas in the second configuration.
US07890140B2 Macro implementing method and apparatus using SAT between subscriber identity module and mobile equipment
Disclosed is a macro implementing method and apparatus that can perform a series of operations desired by a user through an interface between an ME (Mobile Equipment) and a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) that support a SAT (Sim Application Toolkit). A combination of commands is provided so that a series of operations desired by the user can be performed in the ME using the SAT. The ME can provide a user-defined SAT service for automatically performing a series of operations desired by the user by combining and storing SAT commands so that a series of operations desired by the user can be performed. Thereafter a SIM application in the SIM can be successively performed using stored SAT commands. The terminal user directly constructs a single macro by tying several commands using the SAT, and thus operations that require repeated operations or complicated execution processes can successively be performed using a single execution input.
US07890139B2 Method for providing paying services, user identification device, and device for providing said services
A method is provided for providing paying services in a radio communication network which operates, in particular, according to the GSM Standard “Global System Mobile” or the UMTS Standard “Universal Mobile Telecommunications System”,” via at least one radio communication terminal having a device for user identification, especially a “Subscriber Identity Module” or a “UMTS Subscriber Identity Module” (U)SIM, and at least one device for providing the services. According to the present invention, when a request for a service is made by the radio communication terminal to the device for providing the services, at least one message generated by the user identification device is transmitted. The present invention also relates to a network control unit for carrying out such method, the unit including at least parts for generating a request message aimed at a device for providing a paying service, and to a device for providing the services, the device including parts for evaluating at least one message generated by the user identification device during the request for a service made by the radio communication terminal, in addition to parts for initiating the service, and parts for providing the service.
US07890136B1 Communication device
The communication device which implements a voice communicating function, a OS updating function, a navigation system, a remote controlling system, an auto emergency calling system, a cellular TV function, a GPS search engine function, a mobile ignition key function, a voice print authentication system, a fingerprint authentication system, an auto time adjusting function, a video/photo function, a taxi calling function, an address book updating function, a batch address book updating function, a batch scheduler updating function, and a calculating function.
US07890133B2 Mobile wireless communications device providing pattern/frequency control features and related methods
A mobile wireless communications device may include a portable housing, a wireless transceiver carried by the portable housing, and a plurality of antennas also carried by the portable housing. Each antenna may have a different gain pattern at a different respective operating frequency, and the antennas may have different shapes to define different gain patterns at a given operating frequency. The mobile wireless communications device may further include a frequency/pattern diversity controller for controlling the wireless transceiver to preferentially operate with the plurality of antennas.
US07890132B2 Systems and methods for calibrating power regulated communication circuitry
Systems and methods are provided for calibrating the control mechanism in a communication circuit to allow the communication circuit to maintain a desired output power level. The communication circuit includes a variable gain adjustment circuit and a power amplifier, which operate together to provide an output power level. A control circuit controls the variable gain adjustment circuit based on a default gain parameter, a high power threshold, and a low power threshold. A calibration circuit in the control circuit calibrates a default gain parameter to provide a desired output power. A power detector can detect the desired output power level to provide an output power measurement. The calibration circuit calibrates upper and lower power thresholds to provide an acceptable range of power variation around the output power measurement.
US07890131B2 Program for adjusting channel interference between devices in a wireless network
The performance and ease of management of wireless communications environments is improved by a mechanism that enables access points (APs) to perform automatic channel selection. A wireless network can therefore include multiple APs, each of which will automatically choose a channel such that channel usage is optimized. Furthermore, APs can perform automatic power adjustment so that multiple APs can operate on the same channel while minimizing interference with each other. Wireless stations are load balanced across APs so that user bandwidth is optimized. A movement detection scheme provides seamless roaming of stations between APs.
US07890129B2 Method and apparatus for delivering information to an idle mobile station in a group communication network
A method and apparatus provides for delivering information to an idle mobile station in a group communication network includes delivering the information to the mobile station in special form, e.g., short data burst (SDB) form, if the information is smaller than a predetermined size limit. In one embodiment, the method and apparatus provides for encapsulating the information inside a frame, forwarding the frame to a server for delivery to the mobile station, and causing the server to extract the information from the frame and deliver the information to the mobile station on a forward common channel. In one embodiment, the method and apparatus provides for receiving information for delivery to the mobile station, the information being tagged for delivery on a forward common channel, and delivering the information to the mobile station on the forward common channel. In one aspect, the method delivers the information when the mobile station is in idle state with no traffic channel.
US07890120B2 Method of locating a cellular terminal
A method of locating and tracking a cellular terminal (1) is described. The method comprises the detection of one or more handover events that take place when the cellular terminal (1) moves between transmission regions (3) of a cellular terminal network provider. Information regarding the handover events is recorded within a database (4) so that the location of the cellular terminal (1) can be calculated. The calculation of the location of the cellular terminal (1) is achieved by either comparing the information with previously stored data or by extracting information regarding the location and geometry of the individual transmissions regions (3) such that a handover region (9) can be calculated. The precise location and area of the handover regions (9) takes account of various factors including power, time of flight of the transmitted signals and timing synchronization within transmission regions (3) and the effects of shadowing of the transmitted signals.
US07890116B2 Adaptive beacon period in a distributed network
A wireless communications network includes one or more wireless communications devices and a wireless transmission medium. The one or more wireless communications devices transmit beacon messages across the wireless transmission medium during a beacon period that is within a superframe. The beacon period has a number of beacon slots that is dynamically adjusted.
US07890115B2 Method of scheduling uplink resources in cellular communication system
A method of scheduling resources in an uplink of a wireless cellular communication system, comprising the steps of measuring, by each user equipment in a present cell, pilot strengths of adjacent cells to find base stations within adjacent cells on which the user equipment has the strongest inter-cell interferences and to calculate values of the inter-cell interferences in an uplink direction which is caused by the user equipment on said base stations within said adjacent cells; grouping all user equipments within the present cell based on the calculated values of the inter-cell interferences; grouping used sub-carriers based on the groups of the user equipments so that each group of user equipments corresponds to one group of sub-carriers; allocating each group of sub-carriers to the user equipments included in the group of user equipments selected corresponding to the group of sub-carriers; and based on the allocation of the group of the sub-carriers, calculating a modified signal noise interference power ratio of each user equipment on the corresponding group of sub-carriers, and performing a multi-user equipment resource scheduling algorithm.
US07890111B2 System and method for virtual wireless roaming
A system and method is provided for call routing from a wired telephone switch. A wireless device is registered with a database of the wired telephone switch. Incoming wireless calls destined for the wireless device are routed to a standard telephone. The wireless device is unregistered to disable the call routing to the standard telephone.
US07890103B2 Wireless base station and mobile station
A mobile station used in a mobile communication system which accepts location registrations from mobile stations in order to perform mobile station location management, the mobile station being comprising a detection unit which detects that it is in an overlap region of hierarchical location registration areas; and a delay unit which delays location registration when the detection has been made.
US07890101B2 Call controlling apparatus, call controlling method, and computer program
An I-CSCF and an S-CSCF are included in a single call controlling apparatus. A message from a terminal directed to one of a plurality of degenerate-call controlling apparatuses. The I-CSCF in that apparatus receives the message and forwards the message to an S-CSCF that serves as the storing destination, which is specified for each subscriber in advance. The I-CSCF is configured to receive a message that has been forwarded from the same call controlling apparatus or another call controlling apparatus and to control sessions of the terminal based on the received messages.
US07890097B2 Systems and methods for monitoring selected terrestrially used satellite frequency signals to reduce potential interference
A satellite radiotelephone frequency band can be reused terrestrially by an ancillary terrestrial network even within the same satellite cell, using interference reduction/cancellation techniques. An interference reducer is responsive to a space-based component and to an ancillary terrestrial network. The interference reducer is configured to reduce interference in wireless communications that are received by the space-based component from first radiotelephones in the satellite footprint over a satellite radiotelephone frequency band using wireless communications that are received by the ancillary terrestrial network from selected ones of second radiotelephones in the satellite footprint over the satellite radiotelephone frequency band and/or wireless communications that are transmitted by the ancillary terrestrial network to the second radiotelephones in the satellite footprint over the satellite radiotelephone frequency band. The interference reducer may include a prefilter that is configured to determine the selected ones of the second radiotelephones.
US07890095B2 Method for after service of mobile telephone
The invention relates to a mobile terminal, and in particular to a method for after service of a mobile terminal which is adapted to optimize the performance of the mobile terminal. The method comprises the steps of: self-diagnosing, judging if the terminal malfunctions and connecting with the A/S center in the mobile terminal; requesting from the A/S center state information for indicating the operated condition to the mobile terminal; transmitting from the mobile terminal the stated information thereof according to the request; analyzing the transmitted state information and transmitting control information; and correcting the operated condition of the mobile terminal according to the transmitted control information. According to the method for after service of the mobile terminal, the inconvenience of the user to visit the A/C center can be reduced.
US07890094B2 Mobile communication method and radio base station
A mobile communication method includes the steps of: transmitting, from a radio base station (eNB) to a mobile station (UE), a measurement rule designation command which designates addition or deletion of a measurement rule; transmitting, from the radio base station (eNB) to the mobile station (UE), a measurement object designation command, which designates addition or deletion of a measurement object, independently from the measurement rule designation command; and transmitting, from the radio base station (eNB) to the mobile station (UE), a mapping designation command which designates associating of the measurement object with the measurement rule.
US07890084B1 Enterprise instant message aggregator
A disclosed enterprise instant messaging (IM) service aggregator enables validation of mobile stations and/or users for enterprise IM service through a wireless communication network; and in the examples, the enterprise IM service provides a secure messaging environment that allows IM traffic to/from wireless mobile stations. The security offered may be unique to and controlled by each enterprise, for example, by enabling each enterprise to generate its own encryption key for distribution through the aggregator and by allowing mobile stations to generate their own keys for distribution back through the aggregator to the enterprise IM servers. As disclosed, the login credentials are encrypted from the mobile station to the enterprise IM server. The use of standard encryption methods within the call flows allows a simple method of ensuring that only authorized users can access the enterprise servers and that the messages will be encrypted by the strongest possible means.
US07890074B2 Data acquisition system
In a data acquisition system of ADC system, a log amplifier is provided at the pre-stage of an A/D converter, a signal amplified by the log amplifier having a nonlinear input-output characteristic is A/D-converted, and an adding operation of data is performed while reconverting a voltage value data which is converted to a nonlinear characteristic to data with a linear scale according to a table memory for reverse-log conversion. A known voltage value is inputted into the log amplifier to perform measurement, and calibration of the table memory is performed by storing the voltage value and the voltage value data after A/D-converted.
US07890070B2 Filter circuit arrangement
A filter circuit arrangement for filtering of a radio-frequency signal has a first tunable filter and a phase regulation loop in order to hold the first tunable filter to a transmission phase constant relative to the frequency of the radio-frequency signal. The filter circuit arrangement has a second tunable filter arranged parallel to the first tunable filter in the phase regulation loop. The first tunable filter and the second tunable filter exhibit different attenuation characteristics and are fashioned and connected within the phase regulation loop so that: a capture range of the filter circuit arrangement, in which a tuning of the phase regulation loop to a radio-frequency signal to be filtered is possible is dominated by the attenuation characteristic of the second tunable filter, and so that the transmission behavior of the filter circuit arrangement in operation is dominated by the attenuation characteristic of the first tunable filter, given a tuned phase regulation loop. A circuit arrangement for generation of a local oscillator signal has an oscillation generator and a filter circuit arrangement as described above arranged downstream of the oscillation generator.
US07890060B2 Enhanced location based service for positioning intersecting objects in the measured radio coverage
A method, apparatus or tangible computer medium (which stores computer executable code or program code) performs or facilitates obtaining information concerning one or more characteristics of one or more monitored wireless signals or links, such as radio frequency (RF) signals, transmitted across a geographic area; and detecting a presence of an object in the geographic area according to a variation of a characteristic of one or more of the RF signals reflecting interference of the RF signal(s) by the object.
US07890058B2 Game machine and information communication system using data carrier
A game apparatus includes an apparatus body; and a plurality of small playing members each having a data carrier for transmitting driving electric power and performing mutual communications with the apparatus body. The number of points is added by the apparatus body when a change is given from the outside to an arbitrarily selected small playing member among the plurality of small playing members under a predetermined condition. In another aspect, an automated traveling control system for executing a process corresponding to a kind of a carrier object traveling by a gate is disclosed.
US07890057B2 Road-vehicle communication system, and roadside apparatus, mobile apparatus which are used for the same
A roadside apparatus is connected to a roadside network and an in-vehicle apparatus which carries out wireless data transfer with the roadside apparatus, and it is equipped with a specifying unit for specifying an in-vehicle apparatus by associating an IP address which was assigned with respect to each in-vehicle apparatus, and an in-vehicle apparatus identifier other than an IP address. By this configuration, between the roadside apparatus and the in-vehicle apparatus, enabled is data communication which utilized an IP series communication protocol for specifying an in-vehicle apparatus by use of an IP address which was assigned with respect to each in-vehicle apparatus, and a non-IP series communication protocol for specifying an in-vehicle apparatus by use of LID.
US07890056B2 RFID reader architecture
A highly integrated and low-cost reader for a radio frequency identification (RFID) system is realized by providing a transmitter operable to generate an outbound radio frequency (RF) signal and a receiver operable to receive an inbound RF signal having a frequency similar to a frequency of the outbound RF signal on a single integrated circuit. Since the inbound RF signal may include not only a modulated RF signal produced by an RFID tag responsive to the outbound RF signal, but also a blocking signal corresponding to the outbound RF signal, the receiver additionally includes a block cancellation module operable to substantially cancel the blocking signal from the inbound RF signal using the outbound RF signal and to substantially pass the modulated RF signal before down-conversion of the modulated RF signal.
US07890055B1 Touch field compound field detector personal ID
A near field detection device that detects a field near the body when appropriately connected to conductive plates. The near field is generated by an oscillatory voltage device which when in contact with the body permeates all that is in contact with the body. The detector electronics and conductive plates are packaged so that near contact with the body is accommodated. A footwear packaging scheme provides a convenient location to embed the detector invention, though other packaging arrangements and locations on the body are claimed. Auxiliary electronics may be included with the detector and conductive plates to provide additional synergistic functionality to the packaging scheme.
US07890050B2 Methods of reducing interference including determination of feeder link signal error and related systems
Methods of reducing interference in a satellite communications system may include receiving a plurality of feeder link signals and time aligning the plurality of feeder link signals to provide time aligned feeder link signals. At least two of the time aligned feeder link signals may be combined to provide reduced interference of at least one of the feeder link signals. Related systems are also discussed.
US07890043B2 Pressure-controlled steam oven for asymptotic temperature control of continuous feed media
A non-atmospheric pressure vapor oven system that utilizes a controllable pressure zone to facilitate fast phase change heat transfer at any desired temperature to heat or cool flat substrates, and to level temperatures across different locations of the substrates. The system enables the use of a heat transfer fluid, such as water, without being limited to a particular temperature, such as the fluid's natural boiling point at atmospheric pressure. The system includes a vapor oven (hermetic enclosure) defining a pressure chamber having sealed entry and exit ports for transferring an object (e.g., a sheet of paper) with added material (e.g., toner) through the pressure chamber, and a pressure regulation apparatus for setting the saturation temperature (boiling point) of heat transfer fluid inside the vapor oven to an optimal heating/cooling temperature by selectively controlling the pressure inside the hermetic enclosure.
US07890039B2 Sheet separation device, sheet conveyance apparatus, and image forming system
A sheet separation member having a separation pick includes a substrate made of hard material, which is swingable around a support shaft connected to a stable member, and a wrapping member made of resin softer than the substrate for wrapping the substrate. A leading end of the substrate is integrally molded with the wrapping member using inert molding, and a leading end of the wrapping member protrudes from the leading end of the substrate by not more than 5 mm.
US07890028B2 Developing device and image forming apparatus comprising the same
A developing device and image forming apparatus that can satisfy stability over time in relation to amount of developer carried, and prevent developer retention, deterioration of developer and developing sleeve adhesion, wherein the amount of developer carried per unit area on the developer carrier in the developing region is 30 mg/cm2 to 60 mg/cm2; the weight mean particle diameter of the toner is 4.5 μm to 8.0 μm; the ratio Dw/Dn of the toner weight mean particle diameter (Dw) and the number mean particle diameter (Dn) is 1.20 or less; an irregular roughness pattern having the maximum height Rz of the surface roughness of 20 to 40 μm and the mean space Sm of the roughness of 100 to 200 μm is formed on the surface of the developer carrier; and the relationship between the developing gap PG and the gap DG between the developer restricting member and the developer carrier is 1.0≦(DG/PG)≦3.0.
US07890026B2 Development apparatus and image forming apparatus
When dynamic torques are Ts, Ti, and T2, respectively, and rotation angle speeds are Rs, R1, and R2, respectively, at the time of rotations of the developing sleeve 40 and the screws 41 and 42, the mass of the developer housed in the second agitating chamber 902 is M2, the mass of the developer which is present in the space of the side of the developing sleeve when a space formed by the developing chamber 900 and the first agitating chamber 901 is divided is Ms, the mass of the developer which is present in the space of the side of the screw 41 is M1, gravitational acceleration is G, each load on the developer by rotations of the developing sleeve and the screws is defined as Wds (mW/g)=Rs×Ts×G/Ms, Wd1(mW/g)=R1×T1×G/M1, and Wd2 (mW/g)=R2×T2×G/M2, respectively, relationships of 0.5
US07890023B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus to remove a jammed printing medium and to prevent a transmission of fixing heat is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit to fix a toner image into a printing medium when the toner image is transferred onto the printing medium, the fixing unit including a fixing frame on which a pair of fixing rollers are rotatably disposed, at least one discharge roller disposed on the fixing frame, and a discharge guide movable with respect to the fixing frame, and having a plurality of guide protrusions to guide the printing medium toward the discharge roller when the printing medium passes through the fixing unit. The fixing unit additionally includes a cover to cover the discharge roller and the discharge guide, and a plurality of heat dissipating ribs extending from an outer surface of the cover. The heat dissipating ribs have a height and are arranged at a gap from each other so as to prevent a user's hand from directly contacting the cover.
US07890022B2 Cover member, developing cartridge and developing unit for image forming apparatus
A developing unit includes a developer cartridge containing developer and a developing cartridge with a developing cartridge body comprising a mounting portion and a cover member. The mounting portion accepts the developer cartridge for replenishing developer consumed by the developing cartridge. The cover member closes an opening of the mounting portion when the developer cartridge is not inserted into the mounting portion. When a developing unit is initially constructed, printing is performed using developer contained in the developing unit. A developer cartridge containing developer can be inserted into the developing unit, allowing the supply of developer in the developing unit to be replenished.
US07890010B2 Fixing device for color image forming apparatus and control method
A fixing device switches ON a heater lamp of the press roller in a fixing device in a color print mode. In a monochromatic mode, power comparable to the power consumption of the heater lamp can be supplied additionally to an exciting coil on the heat roller side when a heater lamp 3 stays OFF. An amount needed for the heat roller can be therefore added flexibly to the exciting coil. During a warm-up, power comparable to power consumption of the option can be supplied additionally to the exciting coil on the heat roller side.
US07890002B2 Image forming apparatus with cooling device and controller permitting image heating during error occurrence
There is provided an image forming apparatus that effectively suppresses an increase in temperature of a heating device by operating an air blowing device when image formation is performed to a small-size recording material, and which can continuously perform the image formation. The image forming apparatus includes a heating device to heat a recording material to be conveyed, a cooling fan that blows air from an air blowing port facing a part of the heating device, and a shutter that moves such that an opening width of the air blowing port is regulated depending on a width of the recording material. The image forming apparatus also includes an error detecting device that detects an error of the cooling fan. When the error detecting device detects an error of the cooling fan, the shutter moves to a position such that image formation is continued.
US07889995B2 In-service optical dispersion determining system and method
A system and method for in-service optical dispersion determination are provided. Optical dispersion is determined by splitting a first optical signal into two components, introducing a time delay between the two components such that corresponding pulses of the two components partially overlap, combining the two components to generate a combined optical signal comprising a first component and a second component, determining power of the combined optical signal while applying a plurality of dispersion compensation values, in order to determine a dispersion compensation value that results in a minimum detected power of the combined optical signal. Polarization Mode Dispersion is determined by adjusting the time delay that is introduced until the power of the combined optical signal is substantially equal for all of the plurality of dispersion compensation values.
US07889992B1 Hybrid superconductor-optical quantum repeater
A hybrid superconductor-optical quantum repeater is provided. The hybrid superconductor-optical quantum repeater comprises an optical subsystem configured to receive an optical signal via an optical channel and a superconductor subsystem coupled to the optical subsystem. The optical subsystem and superconductor subsystem are coupled to one another via a microwave transmission medium. The optical subsystem is configured to receive an optical signal via the optical channel and down-convert a photon of the optical signal to a microwave photon in a microwave output signal that is output to the superconductor subsystem via the microwave transmission medium. The superconductor subsystem stores a quantum state of the microwave photon and transmits the microwave photon along an output channel from the superconductor subsystem.
US07889991B2 Planar lightwave circuit based tunable 3 port filter
The invention relates to a tunable optical add/drop module (TOADM) monolithically integrated on a single planar lightwave circuit (PLC). The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing virtual pupils at the interface between the channel waveguides and the slab waveguide on the PLC for focusing each wavelength channel, and additional on-chip lenses on the PLC for transforming the focal plane of the spatially dispersive demultiplexer into a substantially flat plane at the edge of the PLC. On-chip lenses are realized as reflective surfaces within slab waveguiding regions having a surface curvature to provide optical power.
US07889986B2 Image-taking apparatus
An image-taking apparatus includes: a face-detecting section that detects a face in a subject image; and a face-metering section that meters individual faces when the faces are detected by the face-detecting section, thereby obtaining metered values for the respective faces. The apparatus further includes a calculation section that calculates correct exposure values for the respective faces based on the metered values obtained by the face-metering section. The apparatus further includes a shooting section that performs, in response to a single shooting instruction, shootings with correct exposures for the respective faces based on the correct exposure values for the respective faces calculated by the calculation section.
US07889982B2 Method and apparatus for a submersible electronic device
The method and apparatus for a submersible electronic device provides an electronic device such as, for example, a digital camera (100), PDA, computer, or the like, which may comprise a user interface, a body (101), and an electronic assembly disposed within the body, the device being characterized in that the housing is completely filled with a perfluorocarbon (PFC) liquid, or a hydrofluoroether (HFE), or a perfluoropolyether (PFPE), or an aqueous coolant composition comprising a mixture of an alkylene glycol (such as propylene glycol), de-ionized water, and a corrosion inhibitor (such as benzotriazole). A method of introducing any of the aforementioned liquids into the device includes submersion into the liquid inside a vacuum chamber (150) so that air pockets are removed to provide total liquid dispersion into device cavities, and the like. The device is then sealed and removed from the chamber (150).
US07889976B2 System and method for television programming data management
A system, method, and service of managing data comprises establishing a computerized user profile guideline corresponding to selected television programming interests of a user; instructing a processor to manage data based on the computerized user profile guideline, wherein the data is received from a television programming broadcaster; and managing access to specified television programming when the computerized user profile guideline corresponding to the selected television programming interests of the user is satisfied. The process of managing access may comprise alerting the user with information pertaining to the specified television programming.
US07889968B2 Recording medium having data structure for managing reproduction of multiple reproduction path video data for at least a segment of a title recorded thereon and recording and reproducing methods and apparatuses
The recording medium includes at least one data area storing video data for at least one segment of a title. The video data is recorded as video data packets and at least a portion of the video data packets associated with different reproduction paths for the segment are multiplexed. In one exemplary embodiment, the multiplexed video data packets are multiplexed on a video data packet basis. In another exemplary embodiment, the video data packets associated with each reproduction path for the segment are recorded as one or mores groups and the groups are multiplexed.
US07889963B2 Optical waveguide device and device for producing optical waveguide device
An optical waveguide device that is smaller in size and has higher impact resistance. The optical waveguide device (1) has a V-groove (14) formed in a groove forming surface (SF) at an end of a base board (10) where an optical waveguide section (11) is formed. An optical fiber element (22) is embedded by an adhesive layer (13) and connected to the base board (10) with an end of the optical fiber element (22) fitted in the V-groove (14).
US07889959B2 Composite material for cable floatation jacket
A composite material for a cable floatation jacket is provided. The composite material comprises a thermoplastic elastomer matrix, and a plurality of carbon constituents interspersed in the thermoplastic elastomer matrix. The carbon constituents comprise a plurality of carbon fibers, and a plurality of carbon microballoons attached to each of the carbon fibers. The composite material in heated liquid form can be extruded onto a cable core to produce the floatation jacket.
US07889955B2 Micromachined optical pressure sensor
A pressure sensor including: a deflectable diaphragm including a substantially central boss and channel; and, an optical waveguide having first and second arms, wherein the first arm is substantially aligned with an edge of the boss and the second arm is substantially aligned with an edge of the channel.
US07889951B2 Processor to processor communication in a data driven architecture
In an embodiment, an apparatus includes a first processor that includes a first processor element. The apparatus also includes a second processor that includes a second processor element. The first processor is configured to transmit data to the second processor through a third processor, wherein no processor element within the third processor is configured to perform a process operation on the data as part of the transmission of the data from the first processor to the second processor.
US07889949B2 Joint bilateral upsampling
A “Joint Bilateral Upsampler” uses a high-resolution input signal to guide the interpolation of a low-resolution solution set (derived from a downsampled version of the input signal) from low-to high-resolution. The resulting high-resolution solution set is then saved or applied to the original input signal to produce a high-resolution output signal. The high-resolution solution set is close to what would be produced directly from the input signal without downsampling. However, since the high-resolution solution set is constructed in part from a downsampled version of the input signal, it is computed using significantly less computational overhead and memory than a solution set computed directly from a high-resolution signal. Consequently, the Joint Bilateral Upsampler is advantageous for use in near real-time operations, in applications where user wait times are important, and in systems where computational costs and available memory are limited.
US07889937B2 Method of spatial and SNR picture compression
The versatile method of spatial and SNR scalable picture compression comprises: high resolution encoding (202a) an input picture (vi) yielding high resolution encoded data (coHR,LQ), being the base data; deriving a first down-scaled representative picture (p1) on the basis of the high resolution encoded data (coHR,LQ); deriving a second down-scaled representative picture (p2) on the basis of the input picture (vi); and lower resolution encoding (214) lower resolution quality enhancement data (coMR,MQ), usable for improving the visual quality of a picture reconstructable from the high resolution encoded data (coHR,LQ), on the basis of comparing the first down-scaled representative picture (p1) with the second down-scaled representative picture. This enables good bit-rate distribution for multi-resolution, multi-quality users.
US07889927B2 Chinese character search method and apparatus thereof
The present invention provides a Chinese character search method. According to the method, the user first inputs the notation of the known character. When the input notation is received, some corresponding Chinese characters are shown in the display. Then, the user chooses the correct character for which he is searching. Next, symbols are added to this character to represent the unknown Chinese character in the word. Then, those words containing this character are searched and are shown in a display.
US07889919B2 Image processing system and photographing apparatus for illuminating a subject
An image processing system includes a photographing apparatus and a processing apparatus. The photographing apparatus includes LEDs for emitting light with characteristics of spectroscopic distributions varied in a visible light area, an image pick-up device unit which picks-up a subject image that is illuminated by the LEDs and is formed by an image pick-up optical system and which outputs an image signal, and a control unit. The control unit sequentially lights-on the LEDs upon an instruction for photographing a subject spectroscopic image being input from an operating switch, picks-up the image, and thus controls the operation for capturing subject spectroscopic images. The processing apparatus includes a calculating device which performs a desired image calculation based on the image signal.
US07889910B2 Character pattern extracting method, charged particle beam drawing method, and character pattern extracting program
A character pattern extracting method includes ranking character patterns whose number is larger than a maximum number of character patterns in an aperture, depending on the number of reference times in design data of a semiconductor device, extracting first extraction patterns whose number is smaller than the maximum number from the large number of read character patterns in a descending order of the reference time number, defining character patterns except the first extraction patterns out of the larger number of character patterns as candidate patterns, selecting from the candidate patterns a plurality of candidate patterns whose number corresponds to a difference between the number of extracted patterns from the maximum number, and creating combinations of the selected candidate patterns, and extracting second extraction patterns included in a combination among the combinations of candidate patterns, in which a manufacturing time of the semiconductor device is most shortened.
US07889897B2 Method and system for displaying unseen areas in guided two dimensional colon screening
A method and system for displaying unseen areas in guided two dimensional (2D) colon screening, includes calculating segmentation and colon surface for a colon; calculating a centerline for the colon; designating as a current focus point a current point of intersection of a current portion of the centerline and a current cross-sectional image of a colon in a current image plane; and extracting a colon surface portion in a connected colon component containing the current focus point; and marking voxels of the colon surface portion as a “seen” area. Unseen areas of the colon surface are calculated by subtracting seen areas from the total colon area of observation. The unseen areas may then be displayed.
US07889895B2 Method and apparatus for identifying pathology in brain images
A method and apparatus for identifying pathology in a brain image comprises the steps of firstly determining the location of the midsagittal plane (MSP) of the brain illustrated in the image under examination by identifying the symmetry of the two hemispheres based on the determination of up to 16 approximated fissure line segments (AFLSs). Those AFLSs with a larger angular deviation from the MSP than a predefined threshold are considered as outlier AFLSs while the rest are taken as inlier AFLSs. The ratio of the number of the outlier AFLSs to the number of inlier AFLSs is then calculated. A comparison of the ratio with a further predetermined threshold value is made and if the ratio exceeds the further predetermined threshold value, pathology is present in the brain image.
US07889886B2 Image capturing apparatus and image capturing method
In an image capturing apparatus, a video input unit (2) captures the image of an object and sequentially acquires image data associated with the image capturing, a model data memory (6) stores model data associated with the first feature quantity calculated from a feature point of the object in a model image, a principal object detection unit (3) calculates the second feature quantity from a feature point of the object in the acquired image data, a state change estimation unit (4) estimates, on the basis of the second feature quantity and the model data, the timing when the object satisfies a predetermined condition, and an image input processing control unit (7) stores the image data corresponding to the estimated timing in an image recording unit (5). This configuration makes the image capturing apparatus acquire an image in a more proper state without large-capacity memory.
US07889883B2 Conformable ear piece and method of using and making same
An ear piece device made of pliable material dimensioned for fitting the ear canal of a user. In one embodiment, one canal extends through a portion of the ear piece to provide an opening for communication between a person's inner ear and an environment outside the person's ear. The ear piece has at least two fold lines to facilitate the reversible collapsing of the device into a star-like configuration.
US07889880B1 Hearing aid wind-vortex noise preventer blanket accessories
This invention is directed to the elimination of the cause of hearing aid wind noise pollution which is referred to here as that form of audible vibrations generated by the energy of wind-produced vortices and eddy currents at the ear area and amplified by the hearing aid circuitry in the form of objectionable roar or burbles. Said invention constitutes a disposable porous blanket accessory provided for covering the obstructions and irregularities of the hearing aids in their operating mode and any pertinent outer ear area to prevent the formation of audible wind eddies, vortices, and burbles in the airstream. Said blanket is press-applied by use of an adhesive backing which is so affixed on the blanket surface as to preserve the porous nature of the blanket and its acoustic and electronic compatibility properties by either coating or impregnating only the individual fibers of the blanket surface to be so treated and thus retaining said properties.
US07889877B2 Device for generating a medium stream
The invention relates to a device for generating a medium stream, having a chamber, which chamber comprises chamber walls lying opposite one another and at least one medium opening for the medium stream, which medium stream can be generated in the chamber by a diaphragm, which diaphragm, in an inactive operating state of the device, is arranged substantially untensioned in the chamber between the chamber walls lying opposite one another, and associated with which diaphragm is a drive device, responsive to electrical drive signals, for driving the diaphragm to deform the same, the drive device being designed to impose a deformation on the diaphragm in an active operating state of the device, during which deformation the diaphragm has an inner mechanical tension.
US07889875B2 Class-D driving method for stereo load
The present invention provides a class D amplifier and method for driving a tri-wired stereo amplifier. Additionally, the class D amplifier includes a first filter, a second filter, a processor, a 2D-quantitizer, a signal generator, and a logic circuit. The class D amplifier and method of the invention can reduce cost of production and increase processing efficiency. More particularly, the class D amplifier and method of the invention are processed in an optimal feedback mode, so as to reduce the reciprocal effect between the two channels, and avoid mismatch of the two amplifiers.
US07889874B1 Noise suppressor
A method of suppressing noise in a signal containing speech and noise to provide a noise suppressed speech signal. An estimate is made of the noise and an estimate is made of speech together with some noise. The level of the noise included in the estimate of the speech together with some noise is variable so as to include a desired amount of noise in the noise-suppressed signal.
US07889866B2 Information leakage prevention apparatus and information leakage prevention method
A clock signal extractor (11) is connected to an interface of an information equipment (2) for processing an information signal, to extract a clock signal component from the information signal. A clock signal generator (12) generates a pseudo clock signal having an optional phase difference relative to the clock signal component extracted by the clock signal extractor (11). A prevention signal generator (13) generates, based on the pseudo clock signal generated by the clock signal generator (12), a leakage prevention signal having an electromagnetic wave strength stronger than electromagnetic waves leaking from the information signal. A prevention signal output unit (14) outputs the leakage prevention signal generated by the prevention signal generator (13).
US07889865B1 Signal processing apparatus and methods
A unified system of programming communication. The system encompasses the prior art (television, radio, broadcast hardcopy, computer communications, etc.) and new user specific mass media. Within the unified system, parallel processing computer systems, each having an input (e.g., 77) controlling a plurality of computers (e.g., 205), generate and output user information at receiver stations. Under broadcast control, local computers (73, 205), combine user information selectively into prior art communications to exhibit personalized mass media programming at video monitors (202), speakers (263), printers (221), etc. At intermediate transmission stations (e.g., cable television stations), signals in network broadcasts and from local inputs (74, 77, 97, 98) cause control processors (71) and computers (73) to selectively automate connection and operation of receivers (53), recorder/players (76), computers (73), generators (82), strippers (81), etc. At receiver stations, signals in received transmissions and from local inputs (225, 218, 22) cause control processors (200) and computers (205) to automate connection and operation of converters (201), tuners (215), decryptors (224), recorder/players (217), computers (205), furnaces (206), etc. Processors (71, 200) meter and monitor availability and usage of programming.
US07889864B2 Data processing system and method
A data processing system includes: a stream decoder for decrypting a stream encrypted by broadcast encryption to obtain a first decrypted stream; an internal buffer for storing the first decrypted stream; and an encryption/decryption processor. The encryption/decryption processor decrypts a stream encrypted by content encryption to obtain a second decrypted stream and storing the second decrypted stream in the internal buffer, and reads one of the first and second decrypted streams from the internal buffer and encrypts the read-out stream by content encryption.
US07889854B2 Systems, devices, and methods for handling connectivity loss
Certain exemplary embodiments comprise a method that can comprise, responsive to a request from a second telecommunications device for a first call between the second telecommunications device and a first telecommunications device, determining one or more signals adapted to cause a second call to be set-up between a virtual subscriber and the second telecommunications device. Certain exemplary embodiments can, via the one or more signals, cause the second call to be set-up between the virtual subscriber and the second telecommunications device.
US07889846B2 Voice coordination/data retrieval facility for first responders
Disclosed is a communication server that uses a communication mediator to conduct voice/text communication sessions between users with different communications systems through a session initiation protocol (SIP) server. The communication server uses a voice recognition system to interface with participants in communications sessions and to provide a link between the participants and the mediator. The voice recognition system monitors ongoing voice communications for keywords and verbally prompts the participants to provide additional value to the communication session. The mediator can also access and retrieve information directly from a directory or from other data sources through an intelligent data server. Based on the directory information, additional participants can be added to the communication session. The mediator can also establish a connection between the data server, the voice recognition server, and the SIP server so that data requested by participants during a session may be retrieved from the data sources.
US07889844B2 Multi X-ray generator and multi X-ray imaging apparatus
A compact apparatus can form multi X-ray beams with good controllability. Electron beams (e) emitted from electron emission elements (15) of a multi electron beam generating unit (12) receive the lens effect of a lens electrode (19). The resultant electron beams are accelerated to the final potential level by portions of a transmission-type target portion (13) of an anode electrode (20). The multi X-ray beams (x) generated by the transmission-type target portion (13) pass through an X-ray shielding plate (23) and X-ray extraction portions (24) in a vacuum chamber and are extracted from the X-ray extraction windows (27) of a wall portion (25) into the atmosphere.
US07889839B2 Betatron with a yoke made of composite powder
A betatron is provided, particularly for an x-ray inspection station, and includes a rotationally symmetrical inner yoke that is composed of two spaced-apart pieces, an outer yoke which connects the two pieces of the inner yoke, at least one main field coil, and at least one toroidal betatron tube located between the pieces of the inner yoke. At least part of the inner yoke and/or the outer yoke can be made of a composite powder.
US07889835B2 System and method for detecting an object by dynamically adjusting computational load
A system and method for ascertaining the identity of an object within an enclosed article. The system includes an acquisition subsystem, a reconstruction subsystem, a computer-aided detection (CAD) subsystem, and an alarm resolution subsystem. The acquisition subsystem communicates view data to the reconstruction subsystem, which reconstructs it into image data and communicates it to the CAD subsystem. The CAD subsystem analyzes the image data to ascertain whether it contains any area of interest. A feedback loop between the reconstruction and CAD subsystems allows for continued, more extensive analysis of the object. Other information, such as risk variables or trace chemical detection information may be communicated to the CAD subsystem to dynamically adjust the computational load of the analysis.
US07889826B2 Process, voltage, temperature independent switched delay compensation scheme
A delay compensation circuit for a delay locked loop which includes a main delay line having a fine delay line comprising fine delay elements and a coarse delay line comprising coarse delay elements, the main delay line being controlled by a controller, the delay compensation circuit comprising: an adjustable fine delay for modeling a coarse delay element, a counter for controlling the adjustable fine delay to a value which is substantially the same as that of a coarse delay element, a circuit for applying a representation of the system clock to the delay compensation circuit, and a circuit for applying the fine delay count from the counter to the controller for adjusting the fine delay line of the main delay line to a value which is substantially the same as that of a coarse delay element of the main delay line.
US07889807B2 Scalable VLSI architecture for K-best breadth-first decoding
In some embodiments, a device includes a multiple-input multiple-output (“MIMO”) decoder module coupled to a first log-likelihood-ratio (“LLR”) computing unit. The decoder module includes at least one processing unit and at least one sorting unit. The decoder module preferably uses a K-best breadth-first search method to decode data from MIMO sources. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving data representing a vector of receive signal samples detected by multiple receive transceivers. The method further includes performing a K-best breadth-first search on the data to obtain an estimated constellation point. The method further includes providing a user data stream based at least in part on the estimated constellation point.
US07889803B2 Time and frequency domain based approaches for fine timing and frequency estimations
A method and apparatus for estimating timing and frequency offsets in an ISDB-T and ISDB-TSB receiver. In different embodiments, the method comprises estimating timing and frequency offsets by different estimation processes; assigning weights to the timing and frequency offsets according to the channel condition; and calculating timing and frequency offsets using the estimates of timing and frequency offsets and the weights.
US07889799B2 Method and apparatus for OFDM channel estimation
According to methods and apparatus taught herein, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) transmitter increases pilot density in the edge regions of an OFDM signal, such as by using additional pilot sub carriers in the edge regions. For example, the OFDM signal includes first pilot sub carriers uniformly distributed across the frequency band of the OFDM signal, and second pilot sub carriers distributed within the edge regions. A corresponding OFDM receiver circuit uses the increased pilot density to improve channel estimation. For example, the receiver circuit uses the first pilot sub carriers in a Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation process to obtain first channel estimates, and uses the results of ML estimation along with the second pilot sub carriers in a Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) estimation process to obtain second channel estimates. The receiver forms the improved channel estimates using the first and second channel estimates.
US07889794B2 Extracting key frame candidates from video clip
A method of analyzing a digital video clip to determine candidate frames for subsequent key frame selection, includes: performing a global motion estimate on the video clip that indicates translation of a scene or camera, or scaling of the scene; and forming a plurality of video segments based on the global motion estimate and labeling each segment in accordance with a predetermined series of camera motion classes. The method further includes extracting key frame candidates from the labeled segments and computing a confidence score for each candidate by using rules corresponding to each camera motion class and a rule corresponding to object motion. An important feature of the invention is that the rules corresponding to camera motion include extracting a candidate frame for a pan segment with a confidence score related to a translation amount during the pan, and not extracting candidate frames for object motion based frames for fast pan and zoom segments, and the rule corresponding to object motion includes extracting a candidate frame for a fixed segment with a confidence score related to the segment length.
US07889792B2 Method and system for video encoding using a variable number of B frames
An effective method for dynamically selecting the number of I, P and B frames during video coding is proposed. Short-term look-ahead analysis of a video sequence yields a variable number of B frames to be coded between any two stored pictures. The first picture of a group of frames (GOF) may be coded as a B picture. Motion speed is calculated for each picture of the GOF with respect to the first picture of the GOF. Subject to exceptions, as long as the subsequent pictures exhibit motion speeds that are similar and motion vector displacements that are co-linear with those of the first picture in the GOF, they may be coded as B pictures. When a picture is encountered having a motion speed that is not the same as that of the first picture in the GOF, the picture may be coded as a P picture. In some embodiments, a sequence of B pictures that terminates in a P picture may be called a “group of frames” (GOF).
US07889790B2 Method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting quantization offset values
An encoding scheme dynamically adjusts a quantization rounding offset parameter used for encoding pictures according to statistics of previously encoded pictures of similar type. A look-up table can be used to store different relative quantization rounding offset parameters associated with different numbers of bits required to encode the pictures. The dynamically adjusted quantization rounding offset scheme achieves better coding performance at high bit rates. In one example, the dynamic quantization offset values are applied to a Uniform-Reconstruction-Quantizer (URQ) used for Laplacian sources.
US07889789B2 Making interlace frame level coding mode decisions
For each of plural blocks (e.g., 8×16 blocks) in a source interlaced video frame, a video encoder measures vertical intensity level fluctuation between neighboring lines and between alternating lines in the block, and determines an interlace effect status value for the block. For example, the encoder calculates a ratio between the fluctuations of neighboring and alternating lines and compares the ratio with one or more thresholds. The encoder also can measure horizontal intensity level fluctuation and compare it with vertical intensity fluctuation. The encoder determines a frame-level interlace coding mode (e.g., frame mode or field mode) for the frame based at least in part on the interlace effect status values. The encoder can represent a frame-level interlace coding mode decision with a bitstream element, and a decoder can perform one or more video decoding functions based at least in part on the value of the bitstream element.
US07889784B2 Multicarrier modulation messaging for SNR per subchannel during showtime information
Upon detection of a trigger, such as the exceeding of an error threshold or the direction of a user, a diagnostic link system enters a diagnostic information transmission mode. This diagnostic information transmission mode allows for two modems to exchange diagnostic and/or test information that may not otherwise be exchangeable during normal communication. The diagnostic information transmission mode is initiated by transmitting an initiate diagnostic link mode message to a receiving modem accompanied by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). The receiving modem determines, based on the CRC, if a robust communications channel is present. If a robust communications channel is present, the two modems can initiate exchange of the diagnostic and/or test information. Otherwise, the transmission power of the transmitting modem is increased and the initiate diagnostic link mode message re-transmitted to the receiving modem until the CRC is determined to be correct.
US07889782B2 Joint de-spreading and frequency correction using a correlator
A correlator (140) for de-spreading a spread-spectrum signal includes a state machine (205), a frequency correction look-up table (207), a pseudorandom code generator (209), and a correlator structure (301 and 801). The spread-spectrum signal includes symbols, and each symbol includes a plurality of chips. The correlator structure includes a plurality of taps (309 and 809) at which a coordinate rotation digital computer (CORDIC) operation is performed to determine an offset from a nominal carrier frequency of the spread-spectrum signal and to change a phase of each chip of a received symbol, in order to correct a carrier frequency of the spread-spectrum signal while de-spreading the spread-spectrum signal.
US07889776B2 High-power semiconductor laser
A light source includes a semiconductor laser diode and a narrow spectral and spatial bandwidth reflector in optical communication with respect to the semiconductor diode laser and aligned with the output beam of the diode laser, such that a portion of the light in the output beam is reflected back into the laser.
US07889775B2 Particle damage protection for high power CO2 slab laser mirrors
A CO2 gas discharge laser includes elongated planar live and ground electrodes vertically spaced and electrically insulated from each. The electrodes are spaced apart by ceramic spacer strips arranged along the edges of the electrodes. An auxiliary electrode is located at each end of the live electrode, co-planar with the live electrode, longitudinally spaced part from the live electrode vertically spaced apart from, but electrically connected to, the ground electrode. The auxiliary electrode has two raised portions spaced apart by a distance less than the distance between inside edges of the ceramic strips. The raised portions of the auxiliary electrode prevent erosion of the ceramic strips by laser radiation generated in the resonator when the laser is operating.
US07889771B2 Driving device and method
A driving device including a light emitter, a biasing circuit, a light receiver, an automatic control system, and an alternating current (AC) path is disclosed. The light emitter generates an optical signal. The biasing circuit generates a driving signal to activate the light emitter such that the light emitter operates in a working range. The light receiver detects the output power of the optical signal for generating a corresponding electrical signal. The automatic control system adjusts the driving signal according to the corresponding electrical signal such that the output power of the optical signal approaches a preset value. The AC path is coupled between the light emitter and an external signal source for receiving at least one AC modulated signal such that the light emitter generates at least one modulated optical signal.
US07889764B2 Method for the synchronization of data, such as distributed data, taking account of clock drifts and inaccuracies
The present invention relates to a method for creating a correspondence between the local time of a first machine (B), having a first clock (HB), and that of a second machine (A), having a second clock (HA).The invention also relates to a method of synchronization between data recorded and date stamped by said first machine (B) with respect to the local time of said second machine (A). In order to make it more flexible and robust, this method does not comprise a synchronization of said clocks (HA, HB), but is based on the establishment of a correspondence ‘by intervals’ between the times that they indicate. In order to establish correspondence, a non-monotonic temporal reference may be formed by the clock of a synchronous bus connecting, at least temporarily, the two machines (and possibly other devices).
US07889762B2 Apparatus and method for in-line insertion and removal of markers
An apparatus is provided, for performing a direct memory access (DMA) operation between a host memory in a first server and a network adapter. The apparatus includes a host frame parser and a protocol engine. The host frame parser is configured to receive data corresponding to the DMA operation from a host interface, and is configured to insert markers on-the-fly into the data at a prescribed interval and to provide marked data for transmission to a second server over a network fabric. The protocol engine is coupled to the host frame parser. The protocol engine is configured to direct the host frame parser to insert the markers, and is configured to specify a first marker value and an offset value, whereby the host frame parser is enabled to locate and insert a first marker into the data.
US07889755B2 HSDPA system with reduced inter-user interference
In a wireless network (100) with HSDPA-enabled user equipment devices (130), the base transceiver station (120) transmits to each HSDPA-enabled UE information regarding allocation of HSDPA codes and associated modulation techniques for other HSDPA-enabled UEs. Using this additional control information, each UE configures decision feedback filter of its equalizer to reduce inter-user interference. The additional control information may be transmitted in a packet (300) that includes a CRC portion (310) with the packet's CRC masked by a common ID, which is known to the HSDPA-enabled UEs. To reduce the number of bits needed to transmit the additional control information, the HSDPA codes used with a particular modulation technique are allocated consecutively. For each modulation technique, only the beginning code and the total number of codes need be known to the UEs. The number of codes used with each modulation technique may be allowed to change once in several TTIs.
US07889743B2 Information dissemination method and system having minimal network bandwidth utilization
An information disseminating apparatus that transmits information between nodes of a network while expending minimal or no network bandwidth for transmitting the information. The apparatus can include a message processor that generates or receives a message to be transmitted from a first note to a second node in the network, and a transmitter that transmits data packets in a sequence that represents the message from the first node to the second node. The apparatus may further include a plurality of queues each associated with a class and services one or more data packets each having a marker that corresponds to the class, and a queue processor that dequeues the data packets from the queues in accordance to the sequence and the class associated with each of the queues.
US07889739B2 Label and exp field based MPLS network device
A network device receives a label-switched-path (LSP) labeled data packet, maps the LSP labeled data packet to an input queue, maps a data packet in the input queue to an output queue based on a received LSP label value and a received exp label value, and transmits the LSP labeled data packet from the output queue.
US07889738B2 Shared application inter-working with virtual private networks
A method of providing a shared application infrastructure simultaneously to multiple independent virtual private networks with potentially overlapping IP addresses, involves connecting to an underlying layer 1, 2 or 3 virtual private network offering one or more virtual private networks, determining which virtual private network traffic is being received from or sent into, maintaining logically separate routing tables per VPN to allow overlapping addresses, and providing an application which provides a logical instance of the service to each VPN.
US07889736B2 IP communication network routing protocol message validity state signaling device
A device for processing routing protocol messages for a router of an Internet protocol communication network comprises a processor that determines if routing information contained in a routing protocol message to be sent to at least one destination peer router has been checked at least once by at least one routing checking tool, and the result of each check. It adds to the routing protocol message status information representing at least the result of each check effected on the message, with a view to sending it to the destination peer router.
US07889735B2 Method and apparatus for defending against denial of service attacks in IP networks based on specified source/destination IP address pairs
A method and apparatus for defending against a Denial of Service attack wherein a target victim of an attack has recognized the existence of an attack and identified its source. The carrier network which provides service to the victim automatically receives one or more IP (Internet Protocol) source/destination IP address pairs from the victim, and then limits (e.g., blocks) the transmission of packets from the identified source address to the identified destination address. The carrier may implement this filtering capability as a stand-alone box included in the network, or as a line card incorporated into otherwise conventional network elements already present in the network. The source/destination address pairs to be blocked may be advantageously communicated from the victim with use of security signatures and with use of redundant connections from the victim to the carrier network to ensure receipt even under congested network conditions.
US07889732B2 Method for converting between unicast sessions and a multicast session
The invention includes methods for converting between a plurality of unicast sessions and a multicast session. A method for converting from unicast sessions to a multicast session includes receiving a request for establishing a unicast session for delivering content to a first client device, generating a multicast session establishment message adapted for establishing a multicast session with the client device for delivering the content to the client device, and generating at least one multicast session join message for the other client devices, the at least one multicast session join message adapted for enabling the other client devices to join the multicast session. The multicast session establishment message is generated using a threshold number of unicast sessions. A method for converting from a multicast session to a unicast session is provided. A method for converting from a plurality of unicast sessions to a plurality of multicast sessions is provided.
US07889699B2 Method for selecting serving node in multi-hop wireless mobile communication system
Provided is a multi-hop wireless mobile communication system where a plurality of nodes exist. To select a serving node to be provided with a service, a Mobile Station (MS) receives relay information provided for serving node selection from at least two nodes and selects a first mode of selecting a node that requires the minimum time for unit data transmission/reception as the serving node or a second mode of selecting a node that can transmit and receive the maximum data per unit time as the serving node, based on the received relay information, in order to select the serving node.
US07889696B2 Retransmission method and apparatus using multiple mother codes in a system using HARQ
An apparatus and method for retransmitting a codeword packet in a system using Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) are provided. The HARQ retransmission method includes defining multiple mother codes, and selecting one of code rates of the mother codes as an initial transmission code rate according to channel condition, determining a retransmission unit for each of codeword packets coded with code rates corresponding to the mother codes and retransmitting corresponding codeword packets in units of the determined retransmission units every time there is a retransmission request.
US07889687B2 High-frequency component
A high-frequency component in which a low-frequency-band transmission characteristic is not degraded even when impedance mismatching is generated by providing a SAW filter in a high-frequency-band circuit. The high-frequency component includes a diplexer having a high pass filter and a low pass filter connected in parallel to an antenna port, a high-frequency-band circuit serially connected to the high pass filter, and a low-frequency-band circuit serially connected to the low pass filter. A filter causing impedance mismatching is connected to the high-frequency-band circuit. The high pass filter includes a first series resonant circuit and a second series resonant circuit, and the resonance frequency of the first series resonant circuit is a trap frequency of a signal in the low-frequency band, and the resonance frequency of the second series resonant circuit is a trap frequency of undesired resonance generated in the transmission characteristic of the filter of the low-frequency-band side.
US07889685B2 System and method for platform resilient VoIP processing
A system and method for platform resilient VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) processing in a partitioned environment. The system comprises a plurality of soft partitions. At least one soft partition is a sequestered partition. The sequestered partition including one or more core processors having a controlled, real-time operating system and at least one network interface card (NIC) coupled to the one or more core processors. The NIC is dedicated to the sequestered partition, and the one or more core processors are used as an offload engine solely dedicated to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) processing.
US07889679B2 Arrangements for networks
A system for analyzing a network including a plurality of nodes associated and/or connected together by links. The system includes a processor coupled to a data memory. The processor is configured to access a first representation of the network and associated link weight measures w in the memory. Moreover, the system is configured to provide node values for the nodes and determine from the node values corresponding slope measures for links existing between the nodes, the slope measures being computed from a function of differences in node values and from the weight measures w for the links, the weight measures w being used for scaling the function of differences in nodes values; to select for at least some of the nodes one or more steepest ascent links having one or more greatest positive slope measures; and to generate a second representation corresponding to a steepest ascent graph of the network derived from information included in the steepest ascent links.
US07889676B1 Systems and methods for storing and retrieving data
Systems and methods for storing and retrieving data are disclosed. An example method includes the steps of receiving a range of addresses, storing the range of addresses in a bulk object in a database for storing information associated with addresses. In some embodiments the storing includes inserting the bulk object into an index, the index being a structure used to access objects in the database. In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a request to retrieve the addresses stored and generating a response to the response, where the response is at least in part based on the bulk object.
US07889674B2 Zigbee network device for assigning addresses to child nodes after constructing cluster-tree structure, address assigning method and routing method
An address assigning method in a ZigBee network environment formed of a plurality of devices (or nodes), includes: linking the plurality of nodes in a cluster-tree structure; requesting desirable address blocks from a lowest level to a second highest level of the tree ancestor nodes desirable address blocks, respectively; and assigning the desired address blocks to descendents using a top-down procedure.
US07889672B2 Communication apparatus and method of calculating round trip time
A communication apparatus which transmits data to a transmission destination, and receives, from the transmission destination, an acknowledgement indicating that the data has been received stores, in a memory, first specific data for specifying a plurality of transmission data, and transmission time data indicating transmission times of the plurality of transmission data. Based on second specific data contained in the acknowledgement, the communication apparatus searches the memory for first specific data for specifying transmission data corresponding to the acknowledgement, and calculates a round trip time based on the transmission time of the transmission data specified by the found first specific data, and a reception time at which the acknowledgement is received.
US07889669B2 Equalized network latency for multi-player gaming
A method is provided for equalizing latency among a group of connections that are being used by the same latency-sensitive application, such as for multi-player network gaming. Delay is added to the packet flow in each connection as necessary at the provider edge router connecting the application server to the network. An NMS connected to the provider edge router continuously monitors the round-trip delay of each connection, determines the additional delay of each connection required to equalize the delays, and informs the provider edge router. The provider edge router buffers traffic on each connection for the respective duration as indicated by the NMS. The NMS may also reroute some of the connections over higher latency resources to reduce the amount of buffering required, which provides the additional advantage of using what might otherwise be less used or economically less valued resources.
US07889668B2 Method of operating a network
An Internet Protocol router device (10) for use in a data network comprising a plurality of nodes (10, 20, 30), wherein packets of data are sent from one node in the network to another on a hop by hop basis. The router includes: a data store (14) for storing a routing table indicating the next hop destination for a received packet on the basis of the ultimate destination specified by the received packet; a digital processor (13) operable to maintain the routing table on the basis of communications received from neighboring router devices (20, 30) within the network; and a timer (15) for timing the length of time elapsed since last receiving a communication, or a communication of a type which is one of a subset of the possible types of communication, from each of one or more of the router device's neighbors; wherein the data store (14) is further operable to store in respect of each of said one or more of the router device's neighbors a router dead interval; and the digital processor (13) is further operable to compare said length of time elapsed with the corresponding router dead interval in respect of each of said one or more of the router device's neighbors and to ascertain that the corresponding router device is no longer operating correctly if the comparison indicates that a length of time equal to or greater than the router dead interval has elapsed without receiving a said communication, or a said communication of a type which is one of a subset of the possible types of communication, from said neighboring router device; the router device being characterised in that the digital processor (13) is further operable to dynamically vary the or each router dead interval in accordance with one or more properties of the network.
US07889666B1 Scalable and robust troubleshooting framework for VPN backbones
A system and method is disclosed for a scalable and robust network troubleshooting framework for VPN backbones addressing scalability and data imperfection. The framework takes advantage of lattice data structures to identify multi-dimensional hierarchical events that occur frequently across multiple data sources. Correlation schemes and inference rules are created for diagnosing network events and generating actionable reports for important events.
US07889652B1 Traffic engineering using extended bandwidth accounting information
A system distributes extended traffic accounting information of bandwidth availability on links throughout a network. For example, routers within the network utilize an extended reservation protocol to calculate bandwidth availability information for links. In calculating the bandwidth availability information, the extended reservation protocol accounts for not only the amount of bandwidth reserved on each of links via the resource reservation protocol itself, but also for the bandwidth usage by other traffic on the links, such as Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) traffic or Internet Protocol (IP) traffic. The routers exchange bandwidth availability information using a routing protocol to gain network-wide knowledge of bandwidth availability.
US07889648B2 Resource revoking method based on resource admission control subsystem and network device
A resource admission control subsystem based resource revoking method is provided. The method includes: receiving by a service-based policy decision function a Revoke Reservation notification; and when determining service resources have been allocated by border gateway function for the session, notifying, by the service-based policy decision function, the border gateway function to release and revoke the service resources allocated for the session. A network device is also provided. The network device includes: a processing unit for receiving a Revoke Reservation indication; a determining unit for determining whether it is necessary to request a border gateway function to release and revoke service resources in accordance with the Revoke Reservation indication from the processing unit; and a second notifying unit for notifying the border gateway function when the determining unit determines to request the border gateway function to release and revoke the service resources.
US07889642B2 GMPLS fast re-route for OADM and AUX 10Mbps support
Embodiments of the present invention provide a GMPLS fast re-route of packets within a network using a multicast address and a table comprising a list of alias IP addresses. According to various embodiments of the invention an alternate data path from a source node to a destination node allows a packet to traverse to the destination node without IP forwarding techniques being applied. In other words, a tunneling effect from a source node to a destination node allows other nodes in the network to ignore the packet and only read the multicast address within the header and immediately forward the packet to the destination node. A predetermined set of IP addresses are determined from network topology including all potential paths, for a packet to traverse, to a destination address.
US07889641B2 Path flow formulation for fast reroute bypass tunnels in MPLS networks
A path-flow formulation of defining MPLS FRR bypass LSPs is presented. The path-flow formulation comprises first identifying a set of candidate bypass LSPs, each of which meets various network constraints and has an explicit route around a network facility to be protected. The constraints may include Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees, implementation requirements, network element resource limitations, and resiliency requirements. The constraints may be user-selected, and may be non-linear. The set of candidate bypass LSPs form a linear programming (LP) problem, or an integer linear programming (ILP) problem if the allowable number of bypass LSPs is constrained. In an optimization step, LP solutions are used to select the bypass LSPs from among the candidate bypass LSPs by allocating bandwidth to them.
US07889639B2 Fiber channel switch and computer system using the same
The fiber channel switch is capable of protecting data even if communication for adjusting reserves of access rights, which is performed by communication means, is interrupted. The fiber channel switch comprises: a plurality of connection terminals connected to a host computer and a physical storage unit via fiber channels; a storage virtualization unit producing a virtual storage unit; a first communication unit for communicating with another fiber channel switch; an access adjusting unit for adjusting an access reserve between the fiber channel switches; a unit for setting a master-slave relation between the fiber channel switches; a block control unit for blocking access between the host computer and the physical storage unit via the fiber channel switch if the fiber channel switch is set as a slave when the communication between the fiber channel switches is interrupted.
US07889631B2 Optical information recording medium, and substrate and manufacturing method for the optical information recording medium
In an optical disk including at least a rewritable phase change material and comprising a recording layer having a reflectivity of more than 15%, an address output value as an address pit signal component occupying in a reproduced signal in a non recording state is prescribed to be 0.18 though 0.27 or a numerical aperture of an address pit signal occupying in a reproduced signal in a non recording state is prescribed to be more than 0.3.
US07889625B2 Optical pickup and optical disk driving apparatus using the same
An operation mode is arranged to be switched between in recording/reproducing and in adjustment. A switching circuit with a hold circuit therefor is on a light receiving element including an optical pickup having a laser light source emitting a laser beam, an objective lens focusing the laser beam onto a recording layer of a disc, and a light receiving element receiving an optical signal modulated. The light receiving element is operable in an adjustment mode for selecting of the signal of an individual light-receiving surface and for outputting the same. The light receiving element is configured so that the address selection signal line in the adjustment mode may be used also as a sensitivity switching signal line. A compact and highly reliable optical pickup with less signal lines can be provided.
US07889620B2 Optical pickup device and optical disk device
A light source emits light with a first wavelength and light with a second wavelength longer than the first wavelength toward an optical disk from adjacent positions. An optical receiver detects light reflected from the optical disk. An astigmatism-generating element generates light used for focus control in a condition where a focusing position on one of two perpendicular cross sections including an optical axis of the light reflected from the optical disk is located ahead of the optical receiver and a focusing position on the other cross section is located behind the optical receiver are included. The astigmatism-generating element is a Fresnel mirror configured to include a plurality of reflecting mirrors. A level difference between the reflecting mirrors adjacent to each other is distributed in a range from a depth of substantially (natural number/2) times the first wavelength to (natural number/2) times the second wavelength.
US07889619B2 Hologram recording/reproducing apparatus and light source apparatus
A hologram recording/reproducing apparatus records data as a hologram by applying signal and reference light beams to a hologram-recording medium, obtains a diffracted light beam by applying a reproduction light beam to the hologram, and reproduces the data using the diffracted light beam. The hologram recording/reproducing apparatus includes an external-cavity light source, a polarization-control element that changes a polarization angle of a light beam emitted from the external-cavity light source, a polarizing-beam-splitting element that splits the light beam to obtain two light beams and that changes a ratio between amounts of the two light beams, a photoreceptor that receives one of the two light beams, a spatial light modulator that receives the other beam and that generates signal, reference, and reproduction light beams, and a control unit that changes the polarization angle or polarization state of the light beam.
US07889618B2 Objective optical element and optical pickup apparatus
A first phase structure corrects at least one of a spherical aberration due to a difference between a protective substrate thickness t1 and a protective substrate thickness t2 and a spherical aberration due to a difference between a first wavelength λ1 and a second wavelength λ2, and a second phase structure corrects at least one of a spherical aberration generated when the first wavelength λ1 is changed in a range of ±10 nm, a best image point movement generated when the first wavelength λ1 is changed in a range of ±10 nm, and a spherical aberration generated when environmental temperature is changed.
US07889616B2 Polarization state detector systems and methods for read-out of multilevel oriented nano-structure optical media
A polarization detection system structured for optical read-out of disc-shaped optical data/information storage and retrieval media with surfaces comprised of pits or marks configured as multilevel oriented nano-structures (ONS) with varying pit or mark orientations and widths. The polarization detection system comprises: an optical beam source; a stage for mounting and rotating an optical disc medium about a central axis; at least one photodetector; a beam splitter positioned in an optical path between the source and stage, for directing an incident beam from the source onto an optical disc mounted on the stage and a return beam from the disc onto the photodetector; and an optical polarizer positioned in an optical path between the beam splitter and the at least one photodetector, for detection and analysis of changes in polarization of the return beam effected by variation of the orientation of the walls and/or widths of the pits or marks of the disc.
US07889614B2 Optical disc and optical disc device
In a multilayer optical disc having information layers conforming to a plurality of different optical disc standards, because the type of each information layer is not recorded in the other information layers, in read and write operations by a compatible optical disc device conforming to a plurality of optical disc standards, every time the information layer being accessed changes, it has been necessary to read the type of the information layer and select a method of generating a tracking error signal adapted to the type of information layer, so access has taken time. In order to solve the above problem, in the optical multilayer disc according to the present invention, having information layers conforming to a plurality of different optical disc standards, in an area in one of the information layers, information about the other information layers is recorded. The time required to access the other information layers can be reduced by using this information to select a tracking error signal generating method.
US07889611B2 Media processor capable of efficiently discarding media
A media processor, such as an optical disk publisher, is capable of efficiently discarding media such as a defective CD without using a manual discarding process. At the time of media publication of an optical disk publisher 5, blank media 14 stored in a supply-side stacker 13 is taken out by a media conveying mechanism 12 and is conveyed to a media drive 15, and predetermined data is written into the blank media 14. Printing is performed on printing surfaces of the media into which data has been normally written by means of a label printer 19. The published media is stored in a storage-side stacker 22. Defective media on which a failure in writing has occurred is disposed of so as not to be readable by mechanically destroying a recording surface of the defective media by means of a media disposal mechanism while moving the defective media in a state where the defective media is mounted on a media tray 71 of a printer 19. Discarded media after the disposal is ejected from a media outlet 25.
US07889608B2 Information-signal recording and reproducing apparatus, related method, and related computer program
A recording medium includes a plurality of signal recording layers. A head reproduces two information signals from respective places in the recording medium on a time sharing basis. The reproduced signals are stored in a buffer memory before being outputted therefrom at first and second transfer rates respectively. The reproduced signals are transmitted from the head to the buffer memory on a time sharing basis and at a third transfer rate higher than the first and second transfer rates. Information amounts of the respective reproduced signals continuously transmitted from the head to the buffer memory are decided on the basis of a given relation among parameters including intra-layer seek times and inter-layer seek times related to the head, and the first, second, and third transfer rates.
US07889607B2 Optical disk device and integrated circuit used therein
This invention involves irradiating an optical disk with laser light, pulse-driven by a high-frequency signal from an HF oscillator, and converting the output of a photo-detector that receives laser light reflected from the optical disk into an electronic pulse readout signal using a current amplifier. The pulse readout signal is converted into a temporally continuous readout signal by a peak hold circuit. The invention solves the problems of SNR deterioration of the readout signal and the difficulty of removing the impact of high-frequency modulation accompanying the increase in the readout speed factor in optical disk devices.
US07889598B2 Method of seismic processing for the decomposition of a wavefield into harmonic components and applications to the determination of angular gathers of reflectivity
Method of processing seismic data representative of at least one wavefield, characterized in that local harmonic components of the wavefield are determined at a given point P of the subsurface by implementing a recurrent processing according to which a harmonic of rank n+1, n being a positive integer, is determined as a function of one or more harmonics of rank n or lower to which is applied at least one filtering which depends on at least one local parameter at the point P, this local parameter being chosen from among the components of the wavevector, the frequency of the wavefield, the local velocity, the local anisotropy parameters or any combination of these various parameters.
US07889597B2 Method of processing seismic data acquired by means of multi-component sensors
The invention relates to a method of processing seismic data acquired by means of a sensor having at least three geophone components, characterized in that estimators are determined which are combinations of these components making it possible to isolate the various data depending on whether they correspond to propagation with reflection or with conversion. The estimators find application in particular for determining a sensor reconstruction according to which the operators to be applied to the various components of the sensor are determined in such a way as to minimize the deviation between reference data and data obtained by applying the estimators to the sensor reconstruction, the operators thus determined being applied to the data acquired.
US07889594B2 Semiconductor memory device
A circuit which can reduce time taken by a clock alignment training operation in a semiconductor memory device is provided. The semiconductor memory device, which includes: a clock inputting unit configured to receive a system clock and a data clock; a clock dividing unit configured to divide a frequency of the data clock to generate a data division clock, wherein the clock dividing unit determines a phase of the data division clock in response to an inversion division control signal; a phase dividing unit configured to generate a plurality of multiple phase data division clocks having respective predetermined phase differences in response to the data division clock; a data serializing unit configured to serialize predetermined parallel pattern data in correspondence with the multiple phase data division clocks; and a signal transmitting unit configured to transmit an output signal of the data serializing unit to the outside.
US07889589B2 Memory including periphery circuitry to support a portion or all of the multiple banks of memory cells
A memory including periphery circuitry configured to support multiple banks of memory cells. The periphery circuitry includes switches that are set to put the periphery circuitry into a first mode to support a portion of the multiple banks of memory cells and a second mode to support all of the multiple banks of memory cells.
US07889588B2 Circuit having gate oxide protection for low voltage fuse reads and high voltage fuse programming
A circuit for reading and programming a fuse. The electronic circuit includes a data fuse coupled to a data node and a reference fuse coupled to a reference node. A programming circuit is coupled to the data node, wherein the programming circuit is configured to, when activated, cause the data fuse to be programmed. A sensing circuit is configured to draw current from the data node and the reference node in order to develop a voltage differential between the data node and the reference node during a read operation. A read circuit is configured to, when activated, enable the sensing circuit to develop the voltage differential during the read operation. A protection circuit is configured to form a voltage divider within the sensing circuit during programming of the fuse.
US07889576B2 Semiconductor storage device
This invention provides static random access memory (SRAM). The SRAM has a plurality of memory cells arranged in row and column directions. The plurality of memory cells each have a latch circuit in which input and output terminals of a pair of inverters are cross-connected and which maintains complementary levels at a pair of storage nodes, and a pair of write transistors provided between the pair of storage nodes and a prescribed power supply voltage. Further, the gate potentials of the pair of write transistors are respectively controlled according to a row address, a column address, and write data.
US07889575B2 On-chip bias voltage temperature coefficient self-calibration mechanism
Techniques and corresponding circuitry for deriving a supply a bias voltage for a memory cell array from a received reference voltage is presented. The circuit includes a voltage determination circuit, which is connected to receive the reference voltage and generate from it the bias voltage, a temperature sensing circuit, and a calibration circuit. The calibration circuit is connected to receive the bias voltage and to receive a temperature indication from the temperature sensing circuit and determine from the bias voltage and temperature indication a compensation factor that is supplied to the voltage determination circuit, which adjusts the bias voltage based upon the compensation factor.
US07889571B2 Buffering systems methods for accessing multiple layers of memory in integrated circuits
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to data storage and computer memory, and more particularly, to systems, integrated circuits and methods for accessing memory in multiple layers of memory implementing, for example, third dimension memory technology. In a specific embodiment, an integrated circuit is configured to implement write buffers to access multiple layers of memory. For example, the integrated circuit can include memory cells disposed in multiple layers of memory. In one embodiment, the memory cells can be third dimension memory cells. The integrated circuit can also include read buffers that can be sized differently than the write buffers. In at least one embodiment, write buffers can be sized as a function of a write cycle. Each layer of memory can include a plurality of two-terminal memory elements that retain stored data in the absence of power and store data as a plurality of conductivity profiles.
US07889569B2 System, method and storage medium for controlling asynchronous updates to a register
A system for controlling asynchronous updates to a register, the system including a generally accessible register that is asynchronously updateable by hardware and software. The system also includes protection logic that is in communication with the register. The protection logic includes circuitry to prevent a hardware update to the register from being overwritten by a software update.
US07889568B2 Memory, memory operating method, and memory system
A memory includes a plurality of memory cells each of which includes a memory transistor and a selection transistor; a control gate line; a selection gate line; a source line; a bit line; a first driver that sets the control gate line and the selection gate line at a first voltage in a program operation; a second driver that sets the source line at a second voltage in the program operation, and sets the source line at a third voltage higher than the second voltage while the control gate line and the selection gate line are set at the first voltage; and a third driver that sets the bit line at a fourth voltage after the source line is set at the second voltage, the bit line being coupled to a memory cell being programmed.
US07889564B2 Semiconductor memory device including memory cell array having dynamic memory cell, and sense amplifier thereof
A semiconductor memory device and a sense amplifier thereof are provided. The semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array and a plurality of sense amplifiers. The memory cell array includes a memory cell array block having a plurality of memory cells. Each of the plurality of sense amplifiers is configured to apply, based on a restore signal, a first voltage to a corresponding bit line to restore a first data value in a selected memory cell of the plurality of memory cells if a read value in the selected memory cell is the first data value and apply a second voltage based on the restore signal to the corresponding bit line to prevent a second data value from being restored in the selected memory cell if the read value in the selected memory cell is the second data value.
US07889556B2 Flash memory having insulating liners between source/drain lines and channels
A memory array comprises a semiconductor body having a plurality of trenches aligned generally in parallel. The trenches contain semiconductor material, such as doped amorphous silicon, and act as source/drain lines for the memory array. Insulating liners lie between the semiconductor material within the trenches and the semiconductor body. A plurality of word lines overlie the plurality of trenches and channel regions in the semiconductor body in an array of cross points. Charge trapping structures lie between the word lines and the channel regions at the cross points, providing an array of flash memory cells. The charge trapping structures comprise dielectric charge trapping structures adapted to be programmed and erased to store data. A method for manufacturing such devices includes patterning and forming the sources/drain lines with insulating liners prior to formation of the charge trapping structure over the channel regions.
US07889551B2 Page buffer of non-volatile memory device and programming method of non-volatile memory device
A page buffer includes a first register, a second register and a data I/O unit. The first register temporarily stores data to be programmed into cells included in a first memory cell block group, or reads and stores data of a corresponding memory cell. The second register temporarily stores data to be programmed into cells included in a second memory cell block group, or reads and stores data of a corresponding memory cell. The data I/O unit inputs specific data to the first register and the second register, or outputs data stored in the first register and the second register.
US07889549B2 Nonvolatile semiconductor memory and data programming/erasing method
A nonvolatile semiconductor memory comprises: a semiconductor substrate; a first gate electrode formed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate through a first gate insulating film; a second gate electrode formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate through a second gate insulating film and being adjacent to the first gate electrode through an insulating film; a charge trapping film formed at least in a trap region surrounded by the semiconductor substrate, the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode; and a tunnel insulating film formed between the charge trapping film and the second gate electrode. In one of programming and erasing, electrons are injected into the charge trapping film from the second gate electrode through the tunnel insulating film by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling.
US07889542B2 Method of addressing digital data
A magnetic memory storage device with at least one magnetic storage element comprising electrical addressing leads to inject electrical current directly through a single magnetic memory storage element. The number of electrical addressing leads is at least one more than the number of magnetic memory storage elements.
US07889536B2 Integrated circuit including quench devices
An integrated circuit includes a line, at least two quench devices coupled to the line, and a resistivity changing material memory cell coupled to the line. The at least two quench devices are configured to quench a write signal on the line during a write operation of the memory cell.
US07889535B2 F-SRAM margin screen
A process of testing an integrated circuit containing a programmable data storage component containing at least two ferroelectric capacitors coupled to complementary state nodes that includes applying a disturb voltage prior to a recall operation. Also, a process of testing an integrated circuit containing a programmable data storage component containing at least two ferroelectric capacitors coupled to complementary state nodes that includes adjusting a disturb voltage and determining if a screening data value and a read data value meet a criterion for determining a limiting disturb voltage.
US07889530B2 Reconfigurable content-addressable memory
A system for determining memory addresses including a first content-addressable memory (CAM) configured to generate a first matchvector based on a first key; a first inverse-mask-reverse (IMR) module operatively connected to the first CAM, where the first IMR module is configured to generate a first auxiliary matchvector based on the first matchvector; and a first priority encoder (PE) operatively connected to the first IMR module, where the first PE is configured to output a first encoded memory address based on the first auxiliary matchvector, where the first CAM, the first IMR module, and the first PE are associated with a first reconfigurable content-addressable memory (RCAM).
US07889523B2 Variable load, variable output charge-based voltage multipliers
A charge-based voltage multiplier device comprising a charge-pump circuit and a charge-pump controller is provided. The charge-pump circuit is configured to multiply an input voltage signal (Vin) into an output voltage signal (Vout), the charge-pump circuit includes a plurality of charge-pump stages, wherein at least one of the charge-pump stages includes a weighted capacitor array of pump cells. The charge-pump controller is configured to provide a pump cell select to selectively control the weighted capacitor array of pump cells of the at least one of the charge-pump stages of the charge-pump circuit.
US07889512B1 Mid-bus connection to traces on a printed circuit board
A technique for observing signaling on the traces between ICs on a PC board without introducing significant signal degradation is provided. A route-through connector footprint allows the use of a standard connector without the use of stub traces. The route-through connector footprint allows a standard connector to be introduced directly into the line traces routed between ICs. Because stub traces are not used, this technique for mechanical interconnection into the line traces on a PC board allows for a single board layout to be used for both test and production. Additionally, because stub traces are not used, signal quality is minimally impacted and testing can be performed at operational speeds improving the reliability of the test function. The use of a route-through connector footprint additionally saves PC board space and cost.
US07889510B2 Component-embedded board device and faulty wiring detecting method for the same
A component-embedded board device has a wiring board in which an electronic component is embedded, a connection member which is conductive and arranged at a surface of the wiring board, and an inner wiring unit which is arranged in the wiring board and connects an electrode of the electronic component with the connection member. The component-embedded board device is further provided with an inspection connection member for an inspection of a faulty wiring of the inner wiring unit, and an inspection wiring unit which is arranged in the wiring board and connects the inspection connection member with one of the electrode and a predetermined portion of the inner wiring unit. The inspection connection member is conductive and arranged at a surface of the wiring board.
US07889503B2 Electronic appliance having an electronic component and a heat-dissipating plate
An electronic appliance includes a circuit board mounted with an electronic-circuit component. The circuit board is covered with a shield, and a metallic heat-dissipating member is arranged on the electronic-circuit component. The shield is grounded on the circuit board, and arranged such that at least one of the surfaces is in the vicinity of the heat-dissipating member. The heat-dissipating member is grounded on the circuit board by a ground member, and at the periphery of the ground member, magnetic members are arranged.
US07889502B1 Heat spreading circuit assembly
A circuit assembly including a substrate which has a dielectric layer, a heat spreader layer located at a first surface of the substrate, a heat generating component located at a second surface of the substrate, and a thermal pathway in thermal connection between the heat spreader layer and the heat generating component.
US07889497B2 Highly portable media device
An improved portable media device and methods for operating a media device are disclosed. According to one aspect, the portable media device can also function as a solid-state drive for data storage. The form factor of the portable media device can be hand-held or smaller, such that it is highly portable. The portable media device can use one or more status indicators. The portable media device can also include a peripheral bus connector, a rechargeable battery, and one or more input devices. According to another aspect, the portable media device has the capability to store media device status information in persistent memory before powering down. Thereafter, when the portable media device is again powered up, the stored media player status information can be retrieved and utilized. According to still another aspect, the portable media device can form and/or traverse a media asset playlist in an efficient manner.
US07889475B2 Power strip having surge protective devices
The present invention provides a power strip having surge protective device. The power strip includes a first surge protective device, a buffer conductive device and a second surge protective device. When a surge is inputted into the power strip, the surge is subject to two-stage suppressions so as to protect the electrical appliances which are electrically connected to the power strip.
US07889472B1 Dual voltage hot swap module power control
A module hot swap circuit includes a low voltage-drop rectifier adapted to receive either positive or negative voltages of different absolute values. The rectifier is coupled to a power manager that provides dual startup/shutdown voltage thresholds and inrush current limiting. A detector prevents reverse current flow allowing the module to hold up during input voltage drop-outs.
US07889470B2 ESD protection circuit with active triggering
An ESD protection circuit is provided. The circuit includes a discharging component, a diode, and an ESD detection circuit. The discharging component is coupled between an input/output pad and a first power line of an IC. The diode is coupled between the input/output pad and a second power line of the IC in a forward direction toward the second power line. The ESD detection circuit includes a capacitor, a resistor, and a triggering component. The capacitor and the resistor are formed in series and coupled between the first power line and the second power line. The triggering component has a positive power end coupled to the input/output pad and a negative power end coupled to the first power line. An input of the triggering component is coupled to a node between the capacitor and the resistor.
US07889463B1 Fused lead wire for ballast protection
A ballast having fused leads protects against uncommon, but harmful, ballast failures. The fused leads prevent a current in the primary coil of the ballast from exceeding a potentially damaging value. A thermal protector shorts the primary ballast coil if the temperature of the secondary ballast coil exceeds a potentially damaging value. Since the thermal protector permanently disables the ballast, potentially damaging repetitive overheating of the ballast is prevented.
US07889462B2 Protective circuit for protection of an appliance, in particular an electric motor, against thermal overloading
At least one embodiment of the invention relates to a protective circuit for protection of an appliance, in particular of an electric motor, against thermal overloading. In at least one embodiment, the protective circuit includes a first and a second terminal for connecting a temperature detection element; a detection unit for detecting whether a resistance value of the temperature detector element which is connected between the first and the second terminals, is in a first or a second resistance range; a short-circuit detector for identifying whether there is a short circuit between the first and the second terminals; signaling outputs for emitting signal messages to an evaluation unit when the detected resistance value is in the second resistance range and/or when a short circuit has been identified by the short-circuit detector; and a third terminal, which is connected to the second terminal via a predetermined resistance.
US07889455B2 Computer program product for power system for a robot accessor of an automated data storage library
A computer program product for operating an automated data storage library with storage shelves, data storage drive(s), a bus bar; and a robot accessor with a drive system for moving the robot accessor, an accessor communication interface, a bus bar relay configured to engage and disengage the bus bar; a robot control configured to operate the drive system to move the robot accessor, to operate the picker, to operate the bus bar relay to engage the bus bar when the robot accessor is stationary; and a power storage system configured to receive power via the bus bar relay when the bus bar relay engages the bus bar, to store the received power, and to deliver the stored power to the robot accessor at least when the bus bar relay is disengaged.
US07889451B2 Magnetic recording apparatus and clock signal generating method
According to an aspect of the embodiment, in a magnetic recording apparatus having a magnetic recording medium of a patterned media system, a voltage generated between both terminals of a magnetic field generating coil in a case that a DC current is supplied to a recording element of a magnetic head is measured by a voltage measuring circuit in order to perform accurate recording at the center of each of magnetic body regions sectioned with non-magnetic body regions. Based on the measured voltage, a change in coil inductance in passage of the magnetic head over a magnetic body region and a non-magnetic body region in a patterned media is detected by a voltage change detecting circuit. A write clock signal which synchronizes with the change in coil inductance is generated by a clock signal generating circuit.
US07889449B2 Memory device for storing data and reading data
According to an aspect of an embodiment, a memory device has a medium including a plurality of tracks, each of which has a plurality of sectors separated by a plurality of servo areas, for storing data in the sectors of the tracks, a head for writing data into and reading data from the medium and a controller for determining whether the head has read out data from a sector on a target track correctly or not in reference to information obtained from servo areas sandwiching the sector and for driving the head so as to retry reading out data from the sector when the controller determines that the head failed to have read out data on the target track.
US07889448B2 Magnetic spacing measurement
One embodiment in accordance with the invention includes a method. The method can include utilizing a harmonic test on a magnetic disk of a hard disk drive that produces a first result and a second result. A magnetic spacing distance between a transducer head of the hard disk drive and the magnetic disk can be determined utilizing the first result and the second result. A flying height between a head structure of the hard disk drive and a surface of the magnetic disk can be determined utilizing the magnetic spacing distance.
US07889432B2 Immersion microscope objective lens
An immersion microscope objective lens of the present invention has: in order from an object, a first lens group G1 having positive refractive power and having a cemented lens of a plano convex lens having a plane facing the object and a meniscus lens having a concave surface facing the object, and a single meniscus lens having a convex surface facing the object; a second lens group having positive refractive power and having a plurality of cemented lenses; and a third lens group having negative refractive power and having a cemented meniscus lens having a concave surface facing an image, and a cemented meniscus lens having a concave surface facing the object. And the following conditional expressions 0.12
US07889427B2 Light collimating and diffusing film and system for making the film
A light collimating and diffusing film and a method for making the film are provided. The film includes a plastic layer having a first side and a second side opposite the first side and at least a first peripheral edge. The first side has a first textured surface, wherein between 7 to 20 percent of slope angles on the first textured surface proximate a first axis has a value between zero and five degrees. The first axis is substantially parallel to the first peripheral edge. The plastic layer collimates light propagating therethrough.
US07889418B2 Electro-optical display, electrophoretic display, and electronic device
An electro-optical display includes a first substrate and a second substrate opposing to each other, a display layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a cover layer covering a surface of the second substrate on an opposite side of the display layer. A surface of the display layer disposed on the first substrate is a display face, and the first substrate and the cover layer are bonded with a moisture-proof resin disposed at a sealing region surrounding the display face. The first substrate and/or the cover layer have a groove in the surface that is in contact with the moisture-proof resin, and the groove is filled with the moisture-proof resin.
US07889417B2 Electromechanical system having a dielectric movable membrane
An electromechanical device includes a partially reflective and partially transmissive layer and a movable functional element. The movable functional element includes a patterned flexible dielectric layer and a reflective layer mechanically coupled to the flexible dielectric layer. The patterned flexible dielectric layer is configured to flex in response to voltages applied to the partially reflective and partially transmissive layer to move the functional element in a direction generally perpendicular to the partially reflective and partially transmissive layer. The reflective layer is situated between the flexible dielectric layer and the partially reflective and partially transmissive layer.
US07889416B1 Method of aligning a light beam in an optical scanning system employing an agile beam steering mirror
Scan line position error resulting in banding, bow, skew, etc. is corrected by way of an agile beam steering mirror assembly in a ROS printing system and the like. The agile beam steering mirror system comprises a piezoelectric bending actuator fixedly mounted to a substrate at a proximate end thereof. A mirror structure is mounted at a free distal end of the bending actuator. Voltage applied to the bending actuator causes rotation of the mirror to thereby correct for positional errors of the scan line. Correction waveforms may be stored in control memory associated with the agile beam steering mirror assembly. A capacitive sensing circuit using a sensing electrode located beneath the free end of the bending actuator may be used in a feedback arrangement to determine and control mirror position.
US07889414B2 Reflection type display apparatus
A reflection type display apparatus includes a first light modulating layer for controlling electrically and externally a light absorbing state and a light transmitting state, a second light modulating layer for controlling electrically and externally a light reflecting state and the light transmitting state, and a reflector for reflecting light of a particular wavelength band. The first and second light modulating layers and the reflector are arranged in order from a light incidence side. The first light modulating layer includes a first electrode of a light transmitting property arranged at the light incidence side, and a first counter electrode disposed in opposition to the first electrode sandwiching a first electrolytic solution containing a first metal ion between the first electrode and the first counter electrode, for controlling the light absorbing state and the light transmitting state according to depositing of the first metal ion onto the first electrode and according to dissolving of the first metal ion into the first electrolytic solution.
US07889411B2 System and method for calculating aerial image of a spatial light modulator
A method of calculating an aerial image of a spatial light modulator array includes calculating pair-wise interference between pixels of the spatial light modulator array; calculating effective graytones corresponding to modulation states of the pixels; and calculating the aerial image based on the pair-wise interference and the effective graytones. The graytones depend only on the modulation states of the pixels. The pair-wise interference depends only on position variables. The position variables are position in an image plane and position in a plane of a source of electromagnetic radiation. The pair-wise interference can be represented by a matrix of functions. The pair-wise interference can be represented by a four dimensional matrix. The effective graytones are approximated using sinc functions, or using polynomial functions.
US07889407B2 Method for producing a duplicate hologram recording medium, apparatus for producing a duplication master, apparatus for producing a duplicate hologram recording medium, and duplication master
An apparatus for producing a duplicate hologram recording medium includes: a positioning section configured to place the duplication master and the duplicate hologram recording medium at predetermined relative positions; an angle selective plate arranged between the duplication master and the duplicate hologram recording medium, the angle selective plate having an angle selective film whose transmittance changes in accordance with an incidence angle of a light beam; and a duplicating-reference-beam generating and radiating section generating a duplicating reference beam, and radiating the duplicating reference beam at such an incidence angle that the duplicating reference beam is transmitted through a predetermined region of a recording layer of the duplication master and is reflected by the angle selective film.
US07889404B2 Image reading device, image forming apparatus, and reading-unit install method
An adjusting unit adjusts an output level of digital data converted from image data, based on a correction coefficient for each color. A color correction unit performs a color-correction process of correcting a fluctuation of adjusted output level based on a color-correction parameter that differs from one image reading device to another. The correction coefficient is generated before a reading unit is installed in the image reading device such that the output level becomes a predetermined value when reading the original document without the color-correction process, and then adjusted without the color-correction process at a time of installing the reading unit.
US07889395B2 Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program
In order to provide an edge emphasis technique that can eliminate image deterioration of a digital image, an image processing apparatus includes a region setting unit which sets a region including a pixel of interest, a brightness value derivation unit which derives brightness values of the pixels, a first derivative derivation unit which derives first derivatives of the brightness values derived by the brightness value derivation unit, an edge direction determination unit which determines an edge direction of brightness at a position of the pixel of interest based on the results of the first derivatives, a range determination unit which determines a range, and a replacement unit which replaces the pixel value of the pixel of interest.
US07889392B2 Image forming system, image forming apparatus, image processing apparatus and storage medium readable by computer
An image forming system includes: a data conversion unit that converts first image data into second image data; and an image output unit that outputs an image obtained by reproducing the second image data. The data conversion unit includes: a determination unit which divides the first image data into a dot block each includes plural pieces of dot data, and determines whether or not an array of dot data included in each dot block corresponds to a specific array; and a replacement unit which replaces the data out of the second image data, which is located in a portion corresponding to the dot block, with first replacement data including image forming dot data with which an image is formed. The specific array includes a first array in which the dot data to be thinned out is configured as the image forming dot data, and the dot data not to be thinned out is configured as non-image forming dot data with which an image is not formed.
US07889376B2 Electronic blackboard
A writing medium includes a board surface on which drawing is executed. A reader reads a drawing object drawn on the writing medium. A power supply switch is located at a front side of an electronic blackboard to execute an on/off operation of the electronic blackboard. A data port is located right above the power supply switch to output the read drawing data to a removable exterior storage medium.
US07889375B2 Print control apparatus and method, and print system
In this invention, a combined job obtained by combining a plurality of jobs is authenticated as a single job. According to the arrangement of this invention, when print jobs are to be spooled, these jobs are transferred from a dispatcher to a spooler where the jobs are combined. Upon reception of a print instruction, the print job is read out from a spool file, transferred from a despooler to a graphic engine again, and transferred from the dispatcher to a printer driver. At this time, the printer driver issues an authentication request in printing to a job accounting client. Thus, only one authentication request suffices for one combined job.
US07889371B2 Image forming device having division management function
In a case where both a division management function which counts the number of pages printed for each division and a color management function which counts the only number of chromatically printed pages for each division are valid, an image forming device executes monochromatic printing even if a division to which a user belongs who has requested the printing is not determined, and executes color printing after the division to which the user belongs who has requested the printing is determined. Furthermore, the image forming device counts the number of monochromatically printed pages by a division undefined counter which is not associated with a specific division, and counts the number of chromatically printed pages by a division counter corresponding to the division to which the user belongs who has requested the printing.
US07889366B2 Image forming device, image forming method, and image processing system
A printer as an image forming device establishes the same password for multiple confidential printing jobs received within a specified time period from the same user and sends them back to the source of the transmission. The printer approves the execution of the particular confidential printing job when the entered password matches with the password established for the confidential printing job.
US07889361B2 Methods and apparatus for adaptive imposition templates
Methods and apparatus are provided for receiving a print file having an actual page size, and a nominal imposition template specifying a nominal page size, and generating an imposition flat for printing. If the actual page size matches the nominal page size, the nominal imposition template is applied to the print file without change. If, however, the actual page size differs from the nominal page size, the nominal imposition template is automatically modified based on the actual page size, and then the modified imposition template is applied to the print file to create the imposition flat.
US07889357B2 Method for positioning a target portion of a substrate with respect to a focal plane of a projection system
A method is provided for positioning at least one target portion of a substrate with respect to a focal plane of a projection system. The method comprises performing height measurements of at least part of the substrate to generate height data, using predetermined correction heights to compute corrected height data for the height data. The method further comprises positioning the target portion of the substrate with respect to the focal plane of the projection system at least partially based on the corrected height data.
US07889352B2 Integrated polarization beam splitter with quarter-wave plate for polarimeter and PMD compensation applications
An optical device for changing polarization comprises a waveguide having a waveguide end facet coupled to a quarter-wave plate/reflector combination to rotate the polarization of incident light to the waveguide by 90 degrees. In one embodiment, a polarization beam splitter/rotator combination (PBSR) uses a quarter-wave plate in reflection at the end facet of the waveguide. The polarization beam splitter/rotator combination and variations of that structure are applied in various useful topologies as polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensators and polarimeters.
US07889349B2 Method and apparatus for improvement of spectrometer stability, and multivariate calibration transfer
The present invention provides improved methods and apparatuses for accurate measurements using interferometers. A functional relationship between the optical path difference and time is determined from a reference signal from an interferometer. The times at which the interferometer had specific optical path differences can be determined from the functional relationship. Those times can then be used to select times at which the spectroscopic signal from the interferometer was produced at the specific optical path differences. The invention can be applied, as examples, to maintain instrument calibration, and to transfer or compare calibrations or measurements across different interferometers.
US07889344B2 Transmitted-light-intensity measuring device, medium identifying device, medium conveying device, and image forming apparatus
A device for measuring intensity of a transmitted light, includes a first measuring unit that measures a first intensity of a light transmitted through a medium on a conveying path in its thickness direction and outputs a first measured value; a second measuring unit that is arranged adjacent to the first measuring unit, measures a second intensity of the light transmitted through the medium in the thickness direction, and outputs a second measured value; and an operating unit that obtains a true measured value from the first measured value and the second measured value.
US07889342B2 Web measurement device
A sensor is provided that measures web caliper using optical and magnetic measuring devices. The optical measuring devices may employ a confocal chromatic aberration method to accurately determine the distance to the moving web and the magnetic devices may be ferrite core coil and target. Means of stabilizing a moving web are included for improving dynamic measurement accuracy.
US07889341B2 Multiphoton-excitation laser scanning microscope
A multiphoton-excitation laser scanning microscope capable of efficiently collecting fluorescence emitted from a specimen to acquire a brighter multiphoton-excitation fluorescence image is provided. This multiphoton-excitation laser scanning microscope includes a multiphoton-excitation laser light source for emitting ultrashort pulsed laser light, a light-scanning unit configured to scan a specimen with the ultrashort pulsed laser light emitted from the multiphoton-excitation laser light source in two dimensions, an objective lens configured to focus the ultrashort pulsed laser light scanned by the light-scanning unit on the specimen, a collector lens disposed opposite the objective lens, with the light-scanning unit disposed therebetween, to collect fluorescence emitted from the specimen, and a light detector configured to detect the fluorescence collected by the collector lens. The collector lens has a higher numerical aperture and a larger field number than the objective lens.
US07889336B2 Optical integrated nanospectrometer
A planar nanospectrometer formed as a single chip that uses diffraction structures, which are combinations of numerous nano-features placed in a predetermined configuration and providing multiple functionalities such as guiding light, resonantly reflecting light at multiple wavelengths, directing light to detectors, and focusing light on the detectors. The diffraction structure can be described as a digital planar hologram that comprises an optimized combination of overlaid virtual sub-gratings, each of which is resonant to a single wavelength of light. Each device includes at least one sensor, at least one light source, and at least one digital planar hologram in an optical waveguide. The device of the present invention allows detection of small amounts of analytes in gases and liquids or on solid surfaces and can be particularly advantageous for field analysis of environmental safety in multiple locations because of its miniature size and low cost.
US07889314B2 Calibration methods, lithographic apparatus and patterning device for such lithographic apparatus
A calibration method to calibrate a substrate table position in a lithographic apparatus, the method including repeatedly irradiating a pattern onto a surface of the substrate so as to create a two dimensional arrangement of patterns on the surface of the substrate, the irradiating including displacing the substrate table between successive irradiations to irradiate the pattern onto different locations on the surface of the substrate, reading out the patterns in the two dimensions to obtain pattern read out results, deriving incremental position deviations from the read out results of neighboring patterns in dependency on the position of the substrate table in the two dimensions, deriving from the incremental position deviations a position error of the substrate table as a function of the two dimensional position of the substrate table and calibrating the position of the substrate table using the position dependent position error.
US07889312B2 Apparatus comprising a rotating contaminant trap
A contaminant trap apparatus arranged in a path of a radiation beam to trap contaminants emanating from a radiation source configured to produce the radiation beam is disclosed. The contaminant trap apparatus includes a rotor having a plurality of channel forming elements defining channels which are arranged substantially parallel to the direction of propagation of the radiation beam, the rotor including electrically chargeable material and arranged to be electrically charged as a result of the operation of the radiation source; and a bearing configured to rotatably hold the rotor with respect to a rotor carrying structure, wherein the apparatus is configured to (i) control or redirect an electrical discharge of the rotor, or (ii) suppress an electrical discharge of the rotor, or (iii) both (i) and (ii).
US07889311B2 Apparatus for testing liquid crystal display panel
An apparatus for testing a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel which is capable of easily attaching or detaching a large polarizer to/from a test board when testing a large LCD panel, the apparatus comprising a test board for outputting light to an LCD panel which is placed thereon, a polarizer fixing unit rotatably formed at the test board and having a groove in which a polarizer is inserted, and a stop formed at the test board to fix the polarizer fixing unit to a desired position.
US07889310B2 Method for producing apertures in a diffuse reflector layer having a metal reflection film
A transflective type liquid crystal display has display side members; rear side members which include a diffuse reflector layer with apertures, and a glass substrate; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the display side members and the rear side members, wherein on the opposite side from the diffuse reflector layer, the glass substrate has aperture-forming lenses used for exposure and removal during formation of the apertures of the diffuse reflector layer, and a flattening layer used to flatten a concave and convex surface produced by the aperture-forming lenses. This makes it possible to implement a transflective type liquid crystal display with excellent visibility regardless of whether an external light or internal lighting source is used.
US07889308B2 Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display module includes an observation region to allow a visual inspection be performed after bonding of the substrates for inspecting the sealant that may be otherwise blocked by the common voltage line. An embodiment of a liquid crystal display device includes a first electrode on a first substrate, a second electrode and a third electrode on a second substrate, the second electrode electrically contacting the first electrode at a first portion and the third electrode at a second portion, and including a transparent conductive material, a sealant attaching the first and second substrates together in a sealant region, the sealant between the first and second electrodes and the sealant including a plurality of conductive balls for electrically connecting the first and second electrodes, and a liquid crystal layer between the attached first and second substrates and within the sealant.
US07889306B1 Liquid crystal display and fabrication method thereof
A liquid crystal display and a method of fabricating the same is capable of strengthening adhesion between a sealant and a lower plate in a panel with a high aperture ratio to which an organic protective film is applied. The organic protective film and a gate insulating film are patterned in such a manner that the sealant comes into contact with a substrate directly. Accordingly, the organic protective film or the gate insulating film at the area coated with the sealant is partially or entirely removed to directly contact the sealant with the gate insulating film or the lower glass, thereby strengthening the adhesion between the sealant and the lower plate.
US07889304B2 Liquid crystal display and fabricating method thereof
A liquid crystal display device and a fabricating method thereof for simplifying a process are disclosed. In the method of fabricating the liquid crystal display device, a first conductive pattern group including a gate line and a gate electrode, a common line and a common electrode, a pixel electrode and a pad is formed on a substrate. An insulating film including a plurality of contact holes and a semiconductor pattern is formed on the first mask pattern group. And a second conductive pattern group including a data line, a source electrode and a drain electrode is formed on an insulating film provided with the semiconductor pattern, and exposes an active layer of the semiconductor pattern.
US07889303B2 Liquid crystal display device
In a liquid crystal display device according to a FFS method, a line inversion drive with suppressed crosstalk due to a signal distortion is made available. Pixels A are disposed in sequence in a left to right direction in a first row, while pixels B are disposed in sequence in the left to right direction in a second row that is below the first row. In the pixel A, a pixel electrode is formed of the first layer transparent electrode and connected with a thin film transistor through a contact hole. In the pixel B, a common electrode is formed of the first layer transparent electrode and connected with a common electric potential line through a contact hole. Also in the pixel A, a common electrode having a plurality of slits is formed of the second layer transparent electrode and connected with the common electric potential line through a contact hole. In the pixel B, a pixel electrode having a plurality of slits is formed of the second layer transparent electrode and connected with a thin film transistor through a contact hole.
US07889296B2 Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method for the same
On a glass substrate, gate bus lines, data bus lines, and TFTs are formed. Then, on the substrate, an insulating film, covering the gate bus lines, data bus lines and TFTs, is formed, and a positive type photoresist film is further formed thereon. Next, through exposure and development processes, the resist film is divided for each picture element and subjected to ultraviolet ray irradiation to harden only a surface layer thereof. Then, the resist film is subjected to heat treatment to form thereon wrinkle-form surface ruggedness of a uniform pattern, which is determined depending on the size of the resist film. Subsequently, reflection electrodes are formed on the resist film. The reflection electrodes are formed to overlap the gate bus line, data bus line and TFTs, and the regions between the adjacent reflection electrodes serve as light transmission regions.
US07889279B2 Method and apparatus for suppressing cross-coloration in a video display device
A method for suppressing cross-coloration in a video display device includes receiving high-frequency components of luminance signals corresponding to scanlines of an image frame, determining luminance transitions according to the high-frequency components of the luminance signals, and adjusting chrominance signals of the scanlines according to the luminance transitions.
US07889278B2 Display apparatus that displays image and sub image and control method thereof
The present invention relates to a display apparatus comprising a display part which displays a main image and a sub image thereon, further comprising a user selection part having a menu adjusting button, such as a button; and a processor to adjust a display state of the sub image by a selection of the menu adjusting button if the display part displays the main image and the sub image thereon, and to adjust a predetermined menu by the selection of the menu adjusting button if the display part does not display the sub image thereon. Thus, the present invention provides a display apparatus to change a display state of a sub image without difficulty and a control method thereof.
US07889275B2 System and method for continuous flash
A photo illumination technology that facilitates user selectable illumination of an existing photo ranging from full artificial flash illumination to ambient light illumination and every gradation between. The technology in one embodiment employs a digital camera feature that captures two photos hundredths of a second apart where one photo is captured in concert with a flash and one is captured with no flash. Compensations are made to reconcile any movement of the subject matter that may have occurred between the two photos and the user is presented with the infinite gradations of illumination on the subject matter when selecting a photo for display or printing.
US07889267B2 Focus state display apparatus and focus state display method
A focus state display apparatus comprising focus area extraction means for extracting the image signals of a predetermined area from photographed image signals, edge enhancement processing means for enhancing the edge of the extracted image signals, time integration value calculation means for calculating an integration value of the edge-enhanced image signals in a certain period of time, focus state determination means for determining the focus state of the photographed image signals on the basis of the calculated integration value, and focus state display means for displaying the determined focus state. A user is capable of readily determining the focus state of a camera and confirming and adjusting the focus thereof with accuracy even in a display apparatus of a camera-equipped portable terminal device, where the size and resolution thereof are limited.
US07889258B2 Dual sensitivity image sensor
A system of taking images of different sensitivities at the same time uses both an image sensor, and an auxiliary part to the image sensor. The image sensor element can be a photogate, and the auxiliary part can be the floating diffusion associated with the photogate. Both the photogate and the floating diffusion accumulate charge. Both are sampled at different times. The floating diffusion provides a lower sensitivity amount of charge than the photogate itself. The system can have a photogate and floating diffusion in each pixel along with a select transistor, a reset transistor, and a follower transistor. All of this circuitry can be formed of CMOS for example. The system can also operate in a column/parallel mode, where each column of the photo sensor array can have a column signal processor which samples and holds the reset signal, the floating diffusion signal and the photogate signal.
US07889257B2 On-chip time-based digital conversion of pixel outputs
An integrated sensor chip comprises at least one pixel. The at least one pixel comprises: one or several integration regions for receiving and storing photogenerated charges; a modulation region that moves the photogenerated charges to be stored in the at least two integration regions; and sense nodes, in which each of the sense nodes is associated with one of the integration regions, into which the photogenerated charges are moved from the integration regions during a readout stage. The chip comprises: at least one function generator for generating a time-varying function that is applied to the integration regions during the readout cycle to move the photogenerated changes to the sense nodes; a counter generates a count during the generation of the time-varying function; and registers, in which each of the registers is associated with one of the sense nodes during read out, for storing digital values; wherein the registers store the count in response to the associated sense node receiving photogenerated charges from the associated integration regions.
US07889241B2 Imaging device and imaging method
A imaging device includes an imaging element; a memory unit configured to temporarily store pieces of image data captured individually at predetermined timings via the imaging element; a comparator configured to compare the image data recorded in the memory unit to detect whether an image change greater than or equal to a first threshold has occurred; a determining unit configured to determine whether the image change has converged to an amount less than or equal to a second threshold by comparing the image data recorded in the memory unit when an image change greater than or equal to the first threshold has been detected; and a controller configured to exercise control so that image data captured via the imaging element is recorded on a predetermined recording medium when it is determined that the image change has converged to an amount less than or equal to the second threshold.
US07889239B2 Imaging system, imaging controller, and method and program for vertical synchronization
An imaging system having an imaging device for producing images of objects and picture signals and an imaging controller connected to the imaging device through a transmission line. The imaging device includes a vertical synchronizing signal-producing circuit to produce an internal vertical synchronizing signal for the production of images of objects. The imaging controller includes a delay-measuring circuit and a vertical-synchronization phase-advancing circuit. In the system, the imaging controller transmits a test signal to the imaging device and receives the test signal returned from the imaging device. The delay-measuring circuit measures a delay of a phase of the returned test signal relative to a phase of the transmitted test signal. The vertical-synchronization phase-advancing circuit then advances a phase of an external vertical synchronizing signal by the delay and transmits the external vertical synchronizing signal to the imaging device. The vertical synchronizing signal-producing circuit at the imaging device is reset by the phase advanced external vertical synchronizing signal transmitted from the vertical-synchronization phase-advancing circuit.
US07889227B2 Intuitive user interface for endoscopic view visualization
An intuitive user interface is provided for endoscopic view visualization. The user interface may permit individual or simultaneous navigation through images displayed in an endoscopic view window, a three dimensional overview window, and a multi-planar reformatted window. An operation performed directly on one of the windows may commence the navigation. The endoscopic view window may be divided into a plurality of sub-regions, each sub-region having a corresponding navigation function. The endoscopic view window and the three dimensional overview window may have corresponding icons related to a single location in corresponding images being displayed. The corresponding icons may be color coded to facilitate intuitive alignment of the corresponding images displayed in the different windows. The three dimensional overview window may have a geometric icon to facilitate intuitive alignment of the corresponding images. The multi-planar reformatted window may permit spherical navigation through the images displayed.
US07889226B2 Hardware architecture for video conferencing
Video processing architectures, systems, and methods for a multipoint control unit are provided. In one example, a video processing system includes a motherboard and at least one daughterboard, each daughterboard having a plurality of processors interconnected via a daughterboard switch, where the daughterboard switch is configured to switch data between the plurality of processors and between the motherboard and daughterboard. The video processing system may further include a plurality of daughterboards each having an identical hardware and/or mechanical configuration. The plurality of daughterboards may be configured to be mechanically and electrically couplable together in any order, and may be stackable to form a series chain of daughterboards extending from the motherboard, each respective daughterboard switch being further configured to switch data to a daughterboard switch on another daughterboard to permit data flow along said series chain.
US07889221B2 Optical scanning apparatus
An optical scanning apparatus forms a latent image by scanning a laser beam emitted from a light source on an image bearing member. The apparatus includes first and second laser beam detectors for detecting the laser beam and a scanning-line slope detector for detecting a slope of a scanning line on the image bearing member on the basis of the result of detection obtained by the first and second laser beam detectors. The first laser beam detector detects the laser beam in a scanning area in front of an area in which the latent image is formed on the image bearing member and the second laser beam detector detects the laser beam in a scanning area behind the area in which the latent image is formed on the image bearing member.
US07889216B2 Image display device, electronic apparatus, and pixel location determining method
An image display device displays an image by using a plurality of display pixels, each display pixel including four sub-pixels corresponding to different colors. The four sub-pixels forming each of the display pixels are located such that two sub-pixels having a smaller level of luminance are located at edges of the display pixel, each of the two sub-pixels being located at either edge of the display pixel, and such that two other sub-pixels are located at a central portion of the display pixel so that an absolute value of a difference between a luminance added value, which is a value obtained by adding luminance levels of one of the sub-pixels located at the edges of the display pixel and an adjacent pixel, and a luminance added value, which is a value obtained by adding luminance levels of the other sub-pixel located at the edge of the display pixel and an adjacent pixel, is reduced.
US07889215B2 Conversion of a sub-pixel format data to another sub-pixel data format
A method of determining implied sample areas for each data point of each color in a source pixel data specified in a first sub-pixel format is used for sub-pixel rendering an image on a display specified in a second sub-pixel format. Each of the first and second sub-pixel formats comprises a plurality of colored sub-pixels. The method comprises determining a geometric center of each colored sub-pixel of the first format to define a sampling point; and defining each implied sample area by forming lines that are substantially equidistant between the sampling point of one colored sub-pixel and the sampling point of another neighboring same color colored sub-pixel. A similar technique may be used for determining resample areas for computing color values for rendering an image specified in a first sub-pixel format on a display substantially comprising a plurality of colored sub-pixels arranged in a second sub-pixel format.
US07889207B2 Image apparatus with image noise compensation
An image apparatus (10) for providing an adjusted image (242) of a scene (236) includes a capturing system (16) and a control system (24). The capturing system (16) captures an underexposed first frame (240) that is defined by a plurality of pixels (240A), including a first pixel and a second pixel. The first frame (240) includes at least one of a first texture region (240S) and a second texture region (240T). The control system (24) can analyze information from the pixels (240A) and determine if the first pixel has captured a portion of the first texture region (240S) or the second texture region (240T). Further, the control system (16) can analyze information from the pixels (240A) and to determine if the second pixel has captured a portion of the first texture region (240S) or the second texture region (240T). With this design, the control system (16) can reduce the noise in the first frame (240) to provide a well exposed adjusted image (242).
US07889206B2 Direct memory accessing for fetching macroblocks
Presented herein are a system, method, and apparatus for retrieving an object from memory. The object can be stored in a manner, such that the first byte of the object and the last byte of the object are in the middle of the memory data words. The object is retrieved by a direct memory access controller. The direct memory access controller, when provided with a read transaction with the starting address and the ending address of the object, retrieves the data words storing the object, and overwrites the portions of the data word that precede and follow the object.
US07889204B2 Processor architecture for executing wide transform slice instructions
A programmable processor and method for improving the performance of processors by expanding at least two source operands, or a source and a result operand, to a width greater than the width of either the general purpose register or the data path width. The present invention provides operands which are substantially larger than the data path width of the processor by using the contents of a general purpose register to specify a memory address at which a plurality of data path widths of data can be read or written, as well as the size and shape of the operand. In addition, several instructions and apparatus for implementing these instructions are described which obtain performance advantages if the operands are not limited to the width and accessible number of general purpose registers.
US07889202B2 Transparent multi-buffering in multi-GPU graphics subsystem
This invention discloses a method and system for implementing transparent multi-buffering in multi-GPU graphics subsystems. The purpose of multi-buffering is to reduce GPU idle time. In one example, after rendering a first image by a first GPU in a back buffer, the first image is displayed by flipping to the back buffer. After that, the front buffer and back buffer are exchanged, and then shifting the back buffer and internal buffers in a predetermined sequence. A second image is rendered to current back buffer by a second GPU. The second image is displayed by flipping to a current back buffer. After that, the front buffer and back buffer are exchanged again, and shifting the back buffer and internal buffers again.
US07889186B2 Pen input device and method for tracking pen position
The pen input device has both a movement detection system and a position detection system that collectively track the position of the pen input device during a writing operation on a writing surface. The pen input device has a writing tip capable of performing a writing operation in contact with the writing surface. A controller is operable to activate the movement detection system continuously during the writing operation and to activate the position detection system intermittently during the writing operation. The movement detection system is operable to determine movement data that represent changes between successive positions of the writing tip. The position detection system is operable to determine position data that represents a position of the writing tip on the writing surface.
US07889181B2 Wireless File Transmission
A computer system which includes one or more wireless interface devices that are adapted to communicate with a remote host over a radio link. Each of the wireless interface devices is a pen-based device which includes an ink field in which pen events are translated into pen data packets and transmitted to the remote host over the radio link. Local inking is provided at the wireless interface device in order to maintain the pen paradigm in essentially real time.
US07889180B2 Method for searching menu in mobile communication terminal
The present invention relates to a method for searching a menu in a mobile communication terminal, wherein a plurality of main menus and sub menus of each main menu are simultaneously searched on a single menu screen using various navigational keys.
US07889178B2 Programmable resolution for optical pointing device
A pointing device, such as an optical mouse, includes a light unit for illuminating a surface, a photodetector array configured to generate image information related to the illuminated surface, a navigation engine for generating navigation information at a target resolution of the pointing device, and a resolution input interface for controlling or adjusting the target resolution value of the pointing device via input of a resolution scaling ratio. The resolution input interface is configured for user input of the resolution scaling ratio, such that the target resolution of the pointing device can be readily adjusted, in real time, over a broad range of resolution values and in small increments. A technique for mitigating cursor jitter problems at high resolution values is also disclosed.
US07889174B2 Tactile feedback interface device including display screen
A control device including a housing and a carrier moveable with respect to the housing in a first rotary degree of freedom. A first sensor senses the movement of the carrier and outputs a first control signal. A roller rotatably coupled to the carrier rotates with the carrier in the first degree of freedom and rotates independently of the carrier in a second rotary degree of freedom. A second sensor senses rotary motion of the roller and outputs a second control signal. Preferably, an arm member coupled between carrier and housing pivots about an axis. A third sensor, such as a switch, can be used to detect when the carrier has been pushed in a direction substantially orthogonal to a plane of rotation of the arm member. Force feedback can also be provided in the rotary degrees of freedom of the control device.
US07889168B2 Image display apparatus
An image display apparatus includes a plurality of display devices, a plurality of scan interconnections and a plurality of modulation interconnections, a scanning circuit for applying a scanning signal to the scan interconnections, and a modulation circuit for applying a modulation signal to the modulation interconnections. The scanning circuit applies the scanning signals to a group of scan interconnections selected from the plurality of scan interconnections in one select period, and applies the scanning signals, in a subsequent select period, to the plurality of scanning interconnections which were shifted with one scan interconnection portion from the group of scanning interconnections to which the scanning signals were applied in a previous select period. The scanning signals which have the same polarity to the modulation signal in successive two select periods are applied to the scanning interconnection to which the scanning signals should be applied repeatedly, and the output from the scanning circuit has a portion in which signal level is controlled to a non-selection electric potential level between the scanning signals which are applied repeatedly to the scanning interconnection. The scanning circuit is configured to apply scanning signals with different selection electric potentials to a plurality of scan interconnections which are selected in one select period.
US07889162B2 Line-at-a-time foil display
A display device comprising a light guide (12), a front plate (14), and an intermediate electromechanically operable foil (16). Two electrode layers (22, 23) are arranged on either side of the foil (16) to induce electrostatic forces on the foil (16) and to bring selected portions of the foil into contact with the light guide (12), thereby extracting light from the light guide (12). The second electrode layer (22) is arranged on the opposite side of the light guide (12) with reference to the foil (16), and separated from the light guide (12) by means of a refractive layer (28). As no electrode layer is required on the light guide itself, the light path of rays extracted from the light guide is cleaner, and the absorption of light is reduced. The light guide can have a thickness such that the light extracted from the light guide per unit length is sufficient to allow for line-at-a-time addressing.
US07889158B2 Electrooptic device and electronic device
An electrooptic device includes: a first panel; a second panel on the back of the first panel; a first receiver circuit that measures a first ambient light incident on the first panel; a second receiver circuit that measures a second ambient light incident on the second panel; and a control circuit that measures the brightness of the environment where the first panel is placed on the basis of the luminance of the first ambient light whose ratio to that of the second ambient light is at or below a predetermined value, and that controls the display state of an image displayed on the first panel on the basis the brightness of the environment.
US07889157B2 Electro-luminescence display device and driving apparatus thereof
An electro-luminescence display device includes: pixels provided between data lines and scan lines, each of the pixels including a light-emitting cell driven with a current; and a current controller for temporarily increasing the current for driving the light-emitting cells.
US07889149B2 Aperture matched polyrod antenna
A dielectric polyrod having at least one tapered section, where a section exposed outside of the waveguide is tapered a long a curve that depends on the dielectric constant of the material used. The invention also relates to an aperture matched polyrod antenna which includes the same and an inductive tuning element used to achieve wideband impedance match and to create a Gaussian beam in the radiating near field of the antenna, suitable to mimic a small region plane wave.
US07889148B2 Compact broad-band admittance tunnel incorporating gaussian beam antennas
A plane wave antenna including: a horn antenna; a waveguide at least partially inside the horn antenna, wherein the waveguide includes: a central dielectric slab increasing in width toward the horn antenna and with a first dielectric constant, an upper slab above the central dielectric slab with a second dielectric constant, and a lower slab below the central dielectric slab with the second dielectric constant; wherein the central dielectric slab has a substantially constant thickness less than a quarter of a wavelength at a highest frequency of operation of the plane wave antenna.
US07889145B2 Arrangement with a transponder and a metal element
The invention relates to an arrangement with a transponder (2) and a metal component (1) provided for the transponder (2). An antenna for the transponder (2) is formed by a recess (3) in the metal component (1).
US07889144B2 Portable antenna positioner apparatus and method
A low power, lightweight, collapsible and rugged antenna positioner for use in communicating with geostationary, geosynchronous and low earth orbit satellite. By collapsing, invention may be easily carried or shipped in a compact container. May be used in remote locations with simple or automated setup and orientation. Azimuth is adjusted by rotating an antenna in relation to a positioner base and elevation is adjusted by rotating an elevation motor coupled with the antenna. Manual orientation of antenna for linear polarized satellites yields lower weight and power usage. Updates ephemeris or TLE data via satellite. Algorithms used for search including Clarke Belt fallback, transponder/beacon searching switch, azimuth priority searching and tracking including uneven re-peak scheduling yield lower power usage. Orientation aid via user interface allows for smaller azimuth motor, simplifies wiring and lowers weight. Tilt compensation, bump detection and failure contingency provide robustness.
US07889135B2 Phased array antenna architecture
An antenna array core comprising a plurality of microwave modules, a control layer, a mounting layer, and a signal distribution layer. The control layer is capable of distributing control signals to the plurality of microwave modules. The plurality of microwave modules are attached to an upper surface of the mounting layer and the mounting layer is made from a heat conductive material capable of cooling the plurality of microwave modules. The signal distribution layer is located below the mounting layer, wherein the signal distribution layer is capable of transmitting microwave signals to the plurality of microwave modules and wherein the arrangement of the plurality of microwave modules on the mounting layer, the control layer, and the wave distribution network form a layered architecture for the antenna core. The architecture is a balance between, size, thermal control, manufacturability, cost, and performance so as to be a unique solution.
US07889134B2 Circuit and method for suppression of electromagnetic coupling and switching noise in multilayer printed circuit boards
Apparatus for suppressing noise and electromagnetic coupling in the printed circuit board of an electronic device includes an upper conductive plate and an array of conductive coplanar patches positioned a distance t2 from the upper conductive plate. The distance t2 is chosen to optimize capacitance between the conductive coplanar patches and the upper conductive plate for suppression of noise or electromagnetic coupling. The apparatus further includes a lower conductive plate a distance t1 from the array of conductive coplanar patches and conductive rods extending from respective patches to the lower conductive plate.
US07889130B2 Multi-antenna transmitting apparatus and retransmittal method of multi-antenna transmitting apparatus
A multi-antenna transmitting apparatus wherein a relatively simple selection procedure can be used to reconcile the data transmission rate and the received data quality. When a transport signal, which is required to have a higher quality than other signals, is to be transmitted, a vector multiplexing part (105) reduces the number of transport beams (i.e., reduces the number of unique paths used for transmission), and further gives a higher priority to a unique vector belonging to a large unique value and uses that unique vector to vector multiplex the transport signal, thereby forming a transport beam (i.e., gives a higher priority to a signal, which is required to have a high quality, and transmits that signal by use of a unique path having a large path gain).
US07889129B2 Lightweight space-fed active phased array antenna system
A system for a satellite includes a core system and multiple nodes for generating an active phased array. Each node includes a transceiver for wirelessly receiving a transmit signal from the core system, for wirelessly transmitting the transmit signals to a target, for wirelessly receiving the receive signals from the target, and for wirelessly transmitting the receive signal back to the core system. The system also includes a subsystem for inhibiting signal interference between the transmit and receive signals. Each of the nodes may also include local power generation circuitry.
US07889125B2 Adjusting processor clock information using a clock drift estimate
A navigation system comprises a global positioning satellite receiver to receive at least one global positioning satellite signal and to output global positioning satellite information. The navigation system further comprises a programmable processor, communicatively coupled to the global positioning satellite receiver, to execute software. The navigation system further comprises a clock, communicatively to the programmable processor, to output processor clock information. The software estimates an amount of drift in the processor clock information using the GPS information and adjusts the processor clock information for the amount of drift in order to generate adjusted processor clock information. The software generates a navigation solution as a function of at least the global positioning satellite information and the adjusted processor clock information.
US07889122B2 Refractivity retrieval via direct measurement of GNSS bending angle
A method and system for taking direct measurements of GNSS signal's arrival angle to remotely measure the atmospheric variables used for weather prediction. More specifically, an improved method and system for obtaining and processing accurate information regarding the weather and other atmospheric changes by measuring the total refractive bending angle of the GNSS signal. For mobile platforms on which receivers are mounted, phased array receivers are used to allow precise measurements of GNSS arrival angles. By measuring the refractive bending angle, more accurate and cost-efficient measurements of atmospheric changes are obtained, thereby resulting in more accurate predictions of the weather.
US07889121B2 Transmit/receive module
A transmit/receive module that reduces size and weight of a radar apparatus is disclosed. The transmit/receive module includes a transmit input terminal, a receive output terminal, a transmit line, a receive line, and a plurality of branch devices. During monitoring of the transmit line, the plural branch devices are configured so that a standard signal inputted to the transmitting terminal passes through the transmit line, and is outputted to the receive output terminal. During monitoring of the receive line, the plural branch devices are configured so that the standard signal inputted to the transmitting terminal passes through the receive line, and is outputted to the receive output terminal.
US07889115B2 System and method for tracking and identifying aircraft and ground equipment
In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, systems and methods disclosed herein provide for tracking of objects, aircraft, vehicles, and ground equipment in a tracking area, such as an airspace and/or an airport terminal area. One embodiment of a tracking system of the present disclosure comprises a signal monitoring component adapted to communicate with an object, such as an aircraft, when the object enters the tracking area. The signal monitoring component is adapted to transmit a monopulse beacon query signal to the object and receive a monopulse beacon response signal from the object. The tracking system further comprises an interface component adapted to process the received monopulse beacon response signal from the object, initialize a beacon transponder on the object, and assign a network address to the object.
US07889107B2 Digital-to-analog converter
A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) includes multiple electro-optical converters to generate multiple first optical signals in response to multiple input signals, multiple optical attenuators to attenuate intensities of the first optical signals and to generate multiple second optical signals, an optical coupler to combine the second optical signals and to generate a third optical signal, and a photodetector to convert the third optical signal into an electrical analog signal.
US07889103B2 Method and apparatus for low complexity combinatorial coding of signals
To reduce the complexity of the encoding/decoding of pulse positions and/or pulse magnitudes associated with complex combinatorial computations, a method and structure for encoding and decoding of pulse position and/or pulse magnitudes requires fewer computations of these combinatorial functions. Adaptive switching between coding or encoding is performed in accordance with the estimated density of the plurality of occupied positions.
US07889093B2 System for safety information
A system for displaying safety information—particularly for pedestrian crosswalks and vehicle brake lights—that permits an operator located at a hub to upload and transmit at least one image to select traffic signals or brake light display screen connected within the network. The at least one image depicts a display of regional, local or even neighborhood significance. The operator, or user, can pinpoint which traffic signals will ultimately display these images. The images are locally significant, informative and whimsical.
US07889089B1 Auxiliary generator self-test verification device
A device for monitoring the self-testing of an auxiliary generator provides an alarm signal if the generator does not start and operate within a predetermined time period.
US07889087B2 Immersion detection
A fluid detection system comprises a liquid sensor, an air pump and an atmospheric pressure sensor encased within an air and water permeable casing defining an enclosed air space. The pressure sensor acquires pressure samples within the casing, the air pump expelling additional gas into the casing. In response to determining a flood-status or a non-flood-status state of the fluid detection system and comparing the samples, a failure of the fluid detection system or an immersion of the fluid detection system in fluid is determined. In some embodiments, failure is determined if a second sample is greater than a first sample in a non-flooded state, and in others immersion is determined if a second sample is greater than a first sample value and the determined state is flooded. In some examples, gas is expelled across a liquid detection surface and a third sample value is acquired.
US07889085B2 Swim watch
A watch device for use by a swimmer while swimming in a body of water. The watch device may generally comprise a housing, a location determining component disposed within the housing and operable to receive one or more satellite signals to determine a current geographic location of the housing, and a processing system. The processing system may synchronize the location determining component with the swimmer's arm movement so that the location determining component can determine the current geographic location of the housing.
US07889083B2 RFID device time synchronization from a public source
A radio frequency identification (RFID) device includes an antenna linked to a receiving circuit, the antenna tuned to receive a radio frequency (RF) time-code signal from a public source, a controller circuit and an internal clock linked to the receiving circuit, a microcontroller linked to the receiving circuit, a memory linked to the microcontroller, and a battery linked to and powering the receiving circuit, controller circuit, internal clock, microcontroller and memory.
US07889063B2 Customizable vehicle information display
A system and method for creating a customizable video display in a vehicle is provided for allowing a user to select what driving information is to be displayed. The system having a video display device fixed on the instrument panel of a vehicle, and an input device allowing users to choose what to view and the size the information will appear in, from a list of vehicle driver information. The method having the steps of providing a list of driver information from which the user may select, selecting the desired driver information to be displayed, selecting the size the information will be displayed in, and displaying the information on the video display device.
US07889062B1 Removable trailer hitch security system
A removable trailer hitch security system, comprising a housing assembly. The housing assembly comprises first and second ends and at least first, second, third, and fourth walls. The first and second walls comprise first holes that align. The first holes having first cooperative dimensions and shape to receive a first locking pin therethrough. The first end receives a hitch of a trailer assembly. A male member protrudes from the second end. The male member has a distal end. The male member further comprises fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth walls. The fifth and sixth walls comprises second holes that align. The second holes have second cooperative dimensions and shape to receive a second locking pin therethrough. The distal end inserts into a hitch receiver of a vehicle assembly. The present invention further comprises first and second cable assemblies and an electrical system.
US07889052B2 Authorizing payment subsequent to RF transactions
A transponder-reader payment system includes a fob including a transponder, and a RFID reader for interrogating the transponder. The system may further include a payment device separate and distinct from the fob, but associated with payment account mutually shared with the fob. In exemplary operation, the fob identifying information, or the payment device information, may be presented to the RFID reader for completion of a transaction request. A process server may receive the transaction request and satisfy the transaction request in accordance with a predetermined payment criteria. The process server may additionally augment a rewards account based on fob or payment device usage, thereby incenting fob usage in one instance and payment device usage in the other.
US07889049B2 Electronic component
An electronic component includes a layered structure, an isolated electrode, first and second external electrodes, and first and second internal electrodes. The layered structure includes laminated ceramic layers laminated. The first and second external electrodes are disposed on the surface of the layered structure. The isolated electrode extends in the x-axis direction inside the layered structure and is not connected to the first and second external electrodes. The first internal electrode faces a first end of the isolated electrode with a ceramic layer therebetween. The second internal electrode faces a second end of the isolated electrode with a ceramic layer therebetween. When viewed in plan from the z-axis direction, the width of the isolated electrode in the y-axis direction decreases in the direction from the first end to the second end of the isolated electrode.
US07889045B2 Balun transformer using a drum-shaped core
A balun transformer includes: a drum-shaped core having a core unit and a pair of flanges arranged on both sides of the core unit; a plurality of terminal electrodes arranged on the flanges; a primary winding wound around the core unit, both ends of the primary winding being connected to the terminal electrodes; and a secondary winding wound around the core unit, both ends and a center tap of the secondary winding being connected to the terminal electrodes, wherein the secondary winding includes a first wire extending from one end to the center tap, and a second wire extending from the other end to the center tap, and the first wire and the second wire are wound around the core unit so as to extend along each other.
US07889042B2 Helical coil design and process for direct fabrication from a conductive layer
A conductor assembly of the type which, when conducting current, generates a magnetic field or in which, in the presence of a changing magnetic field, a voltage is induced. According to an exemplary embodiment a conductor is positioned along a path of variable direction relative to a reference axis. The conductor has a width measurable along an outer surface thereof and along a series of different planes transverse to the path direction. The measured conductor width varies among the different planes. In one example, the conductor path is helical, positioned about the axis between turns of helical spaces, and the conductor width varies as a function of the azimuth angle.
US07889036B2 Magnetic holding device
The invention relates to a universally-applicable, detachable magnetic catch, suitable, for example, for the closing and opening of containers of for fixing or releasing an object, whereby each magnet (3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 16, 19, 21) is held with a positive fit in the recess (15, 18, 21) of a holder (11, 12, 14, 17, 20). One of said holders may be displaced by means of an operating device (5, 13) such that the magnetic poles of the magnets oppose each other to be either attracting or repelling. Each magnet has an upper side, an underside, parallel to the above and a circumferential surface at an angle of 90 DEG to the upper and underside. The upperside and the underside of the magnet are a non-symmetrical planar surface and the recess of the holder has a horizontal cross-sectional surface, identical to the non-symmetrical form of the upperside and the underside such that the magnet may only be introduced into the corresponding recess with the poles in a functional alignment.
US07889033B2 Electromagnetic device with displaceable connections
An electromagnetic switching device for controlling a branch includes, in at least one embodiment, a housing with a length in a longitudinal direction, with a first end side, which is oriented at right angles with respect to the longitudinal direction, and with a second end side, which is opposite the first end side and is oriented at right angles with respect to the longitudinal direction; a control coil, which is arranged in the housing, for actuating an electrical switch with a first and second coil contact; and a first and second connection element, which are arranged partially in the housing. In at least one embodiment, the connection elements are capable of being displaced in the longitudinal direction relative to the housing between a first and a second end position in such a way that they are freely accessible on one of the end sides in the first end position, are freely accessible on the other of the end sides in a second end position, and are electrically connected to the associated coil contacts both in the first end position and in the second end position.
US07889029B2 Active bandpass filter
An active bandpass filter is disclosed herein. The active bandpass filter has N transmission lines, N negative resistant circuits, a DC circuit, and at least (N−1) coupling circuit. Each transmission line has a first end and a second end. Each negative resistant circuit has a third end and a fourth end and is electrically coupled with a related transmission line, wherein the third end and the fourth end are electrically coupled with the first end and second end, respectively. The DC circuit provides a bias voltage for N negative resistant circuits, wherein the DC circuit electrically couples with N transmission lines via N coupling elements. Each coupling circuit has a fifth end and a sixth end and is electrically coupled with any two transmission lines, wherein the fifth end and sixth end are electrically coupled with the second end and the first end, respectively.
US07889024B2 Single cavity acoustic resonators and electrical filters comprising single cavity acoustic resonators
A single cavity acoustic resonator comprises: a first electrode; a second electrode; a third electrode disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The single cavity acoustic resonator also comprises: a first piezoelectric layer disposed between the third electrode and the first electrode, and comprising a first C-axis having an orientation; and a second piezoelectric layer disposed between the third electrode and the second electrode, and comprising a second C-axis having an orientation parallel to the first C-axis. Application of a time varying electrical signal at a drive frequency to either the third electrode or to the first and second electrodes results in a resonance of the single cavity acoustic resonator at twice a fundamental resonant frequency and a cancellation of substantially all even-order mixing products in the single cavity resonator. An electrical filter and a duplexer are also described.
US07889017B2 Resonator, oscillator and communication device
A resonator containing a plurality of resonator elements, respectively having an electrode and an oscillating component opposed while having a space in between, arranged so as to form a closed system. The oscillating component of the plurality of resonator elements is continuously formed in an integrated manner.
US07889016B2 Integrated RC oscillator with high frequency stability, notably for an integrated switched-mode power supply
An integrated oscillator (10), for an integrated circuit, comprises i) first (CI1) and second (CI2) compensated inverters mounted in series and each comprising first (PI11;PI21) and second (PI12;PI22) plain inverters mounted in parallel and comprising transistors having channel lengths respectively shorter and longer than an optimal channel length, the first compensated inverter (CI1) having input and output terminals respectively connected to first (N1) and second (N2) nodes and the second compensated inverter (CI2) having input and output terminals respectively connected to the second node (N2) and to a third node (N3), ii) a resistor (R) having a chosen resistance value and comprising first and second terminals connected respectively to the first (N1) and second (N2) nodes, and iii) a capacitor (C) comprising first and second terminals connected respectively to the first (N1) and third (N3) nodes, and having a chosen capacitance value to charge and discharge oneself in order to periodically deliver a clock signal at the desired oscillation frequency.
US07889012B2 System and method for cycle slip prevention in a frequency synthesizer
An improved method of cycle slip prevention in a frequency synthesizer is achieved by determining phase error between a divided VCO and reference, determining whether a phase error of a full cycle slip has occurred and in which direction and altering the phase of the VCO divided signal in the amount and direction to reduce the phase error to less than one reference cycle. The result is an improved transfer function of the PFD, proportional to the phase error in the region −2*pi to 2*pi, and fixed close to maximum when the phase error exceeds the above interval. This invention is achieved with the addition of digital circuitry to monitor and control the PFD and the VCO divider, and does not require additional analog charge pump circuitry.
US07889011B2 Output short circuit and load detection
One embodiment of an apparatus for testing an amplifier includes an amplifier having a driver and a filter, the filter being connected between an output of the driver and an output of the amplifier. The filter is operable to produce a demodulated output signal from a higher frequency modulated signal at the driver output. The apparatus also includes a voltage level detector connected to the driver output and a control circuit operable to detect at least one fault based on a voltage level measured at the driver output by the voltage level detector.
US07889004B1 Operational amplifiers with enhanced parameters
Operational amplifier embodiments are provided to enhance amplifier parameters such as bandwidth, stability, and headroom. In an amplifier embodiment, transistor followers are arranged with first and second differential pairs to facilitate selective positioning of first and second transfer function poles to enhance bandwidth and resistors and inductors are arranged to facilitate selective positioning of complex third transfer function poles to enhance phase margin. In another amplifier embodiment, the transistor followers are arranged to reduce headroom limitations to thereby enhance the voltage swing of output signals.
US07889002B2 Power amplifier
The invention refers to a power amplifier comprising a first transistor (MH) having a first main channel coupled between a positive power supply terminal (Vdd) and an output terminal (Vout), said first transistor having a control terminal driven by a first gate signal (Vgatehigh) provided by a high driver circuit, which is biased from a first voltage terminal (Vboot). The power amplifier further comprises a second transistor (ML) having a second main channel coupled between the output terminal and a negative power supply terminal (Vss), said second transistor having a second control terminal driven by a second gate signal (Vgatelow) provided by a low driver circuit, which is biased from a second voltage terminal (Vreg), and a switch circuit (10) coupled between the first voltage terminal (Vboot) and the second voltage terminal (Vreg), said switch circuit being controlled by the second gate Signal (Vgatelow).
US07888981B2 Semiconductor integrated circuit
The semiconductor integrated circuit includes a clock generating section having a digital control signal generating part operable to generate a clock signal and a digital control part. The clock generating section further includes a phase-frequency comparator and a control register. The comparator is supplied with a reference signal CLKin and a feedback signal. The control register is supplied with an output signal of the comparator, and stores two or larger bits of digital control information. The clock generating section further includes a control data storing circuit for previously storing sets of initial set data for lock operations. In response to operation select information, initial set data are stored at upper bit of the control register from the control data storing circuit. Thus, it becomes possible to reduce the number of steps to store control information in a register for digitally controlling the clock signal generating part.
US07888979B2 Pad input signal processing circuit
A pad input signal processing circuit includes a control unit for setting a level of a pad output terminal to which a first control signal is input in response to a power up signal, and a signal output unit for outputting a command signal in response to a signal of the pad output terminal and a second control signal.
US07888978B2 Frequency synthesizer
A frequency synthesizer includes first and second frequency dividers for receiving and frequency-dividing a signal generated by a voltage-controlled oscillator, a frequency mixer for mixing output signals of the first and second frequency dividers, and a third frequency divider for receiving and frequency-dividing a signal having one frequency of two frequencies that are output by the frequency mixer. The first, second third and frequency dividers and the frequency mixer are provided in a feedback loop within a PLL circuit between the voltage-controlled oscillator and the phase comparator. The phase comparator has a first input terminal to which a signal to which a signal that is output by the third frequency divider is input and a second input terminal to which a reference clock signal that is output by a reference signal generator is input. A loop filter supplies the voltage-controlled oscillator with a voltage that is based upon result of the phase comparison by a phase comparator. The voltage-controlled oscillator supplies the first and second frequency dividers with a signal that oscillates at a frequency corresponding to the voltage input to the oscillator.
US07888971B2 Verification support system and method
A verification support system for supporting logic verification of a circuit including a transmitter clock domain and a receiver clock domain, the transmitter clock domain, the system includes a detector for receiving data to be transmitted from the transmitter clock domain, and for detecting a fluctuation of the received data due to any timing fluctuation responsive to the transmitter clock. The system includes an identification unit to identify whether or not any fluctuation of the data determined by the detector is propagated to the output of the combinational logic on the basis of propagation of the received data through at least one of logic gates of the receiver clock domain to combinational logic so as to determine any fluctuation of data that is to be inputted to the combinational logic.
US07888963B2 Apparatus for controlling on-die termination
An on-die termination control unit turns on/off a corresponding transistor according to a code signal and adjusts an on-die termination resistance so it is equal to an external resistance. An offset compensating unit detects an offset voltage from an output voltage of the on-die termination control unit, stores the detected offset voltage in a capacitor, compares the capacitor voltage canceled the offset voltage with a preset reference voltage, and outputs the comparison result. A latch stores the output of the offset compensating unit for a predetermined time. A counter counts the output of the latch and increases or decreases the code signal.
US07888962B1 Impedance matching circuit
An impedance matching circuit has a reference impedance. A comparator has a first input coupled to a terminal of the reference impedance and has an output. A pull-up counter is coupled to the output of the single comparator.
US07888957B2 Probing apparatus with impedance optimized interface
In a membrane probing apparatus, the impedance of the interface between coaxial cables connected to the test instrumentation and the membrane supported co-planar waveguide that conductively connects to the probe's contacts is optimized by eliminating a ground plane in the interface board.
US07888954B1 Method of utilizing an interposer in an automated test system and an automated test system having an interposer
A method and apparatus is provided to facilitate testing of integrated circuits using an interposer to be utilized in conjunction with an automated test equipment (ATE) system that includes a device handler and a device tester. The interposer may be utilized to convert overall device under test (DUT) board pitches to accommodate various device handler pitch orientations, or conversely, the interposer may be utilized in conjunction with a single DUT board to convert the footprint of the DUT board to accommodate multiple device package footprints. The interposer may also be used to convert a DUT board exhibiting a first single/multi-site orientation to a converted DUT board that exhibits a second single/multi-site orientation. The interposer may be composed of an elastomeric material having multiple conductive columns distributed throughout the elastomeric material or may be composed of a more rigid material such as a Pogo® pin array or printed circuit board.
US07888943B2 Method and apparatus for battery test
For one disclosed embodiment, power from a backup battery may be received by first circuitry. One or more other batteries different than the backup battery may be tested with the first circuitry. Second circuitry may be allowed to supply power from at least one of the one or more other batteries to at least one electronic component at startup based at least in part on the test having a first result. Startup of the at least one electronic component may be prevented based at least in part on the test having a second result. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US07888939B2 Tracking the positional relationship between a boring tool and one or more buried lines using a composite magnetic signal
A boring tool is moved through the ground in a region which includes at least one electrically conductive in-ground line and which is subject to static magnetic fields including the magnetic field of the earth. Tracking a positional relationship between the boring tool and the line, as well as a directional heading of the boring tool within the region are provided by: (i) generating a time varying magnetic field from the line; (ii) at the boring tool, detecting a composite magnetic signal which includes one component affected by the static magnetic fields and another component affected by the time varying magnetic field such that the static magnetic field component varies as a function of the directional heading and the time varying component varies as a function of the positional relationship; and (iii) processing the composite magnetic signal to separate the static magnetic field component and the time varying magnetic field component from the composite magnetic signal for use in determining the directional heading and the positional relationship. In one feature, the static magnetic field component is used to determine the directional heading of the boring tool and the time varying magnetic field component is used to determine the positional relationship.
US07888934B2 Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus
With a view to attaining a high quality of a diagnostic image there is provided a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus wherein an image is formed on the basis of magnetic resonance signals received from a subject with an electromagnetic wave transmitted thereto in a static magnetic field. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is provided with plural receiving coil units for receiving the magnetic resonance signals, the receiving coil units each comprising a coil body configured to receive a corresponding one of the magnetic resonance signals and output an electrical signal and an optical modulator configured to use an electric field of the electric signal outputted from the coil body directly as a modulation signal.
US07888933B2 Method for estimating formation hydrocarbon saturation using nuclear magnetic resonance measurements
A method for estimating fluid saturation in a formation penetrated by a wellbore from nuclear magnetic resonance measurements made at a plurality of lateral depths into the formation from the wellbore includes estimating a bound water volume, a total porosity and a free water volume at each of the lateral depths from the nuclear magnetic resonance measurements. A minimum water saturation is estimated at each lateral depth from the total porosity, the free water volume and the bound water volume at each lateral depth. A value of water saturation is estimated at each lateral depth from the minimum water saturation at each lateral depth. A relationship between lateral depth and water saturation is determined. Water saturation is estimated at a selected lateral depth greater than the greatest lateral depth of the nuclear magnetic resonance measurements.
US07888928B2 Component test apparatus having a pair of rotary transport hands
A component test apparatus performing a test on an electronic component is disclosed. The component test apparatus includes a component loading device, a transport hand, and a component unloading device. The transport hand includes a plurality of index units each one of which is capable of holding the electronic component and operating independently from the other ones of the index units. The index units are aligned adjacently in a transport direction of the electronic component extending from a loading position at which the component loading device loads the electronic component toward a test position at which a test socket is provided.
US07888918B2 Control circuit for multi-phase converter
A control circuit for use in controlling a phase of a multi-phase voltage converter in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes a driver operable to provide a first control signal to a high side switch of a half-bridge of the phase and a second control signal to a low side switch of the half bridge, such that a desired output voltage is provided by the phase, current sensing circuitry operable to detect the output current of the phase, a comparator operable to compare the output current to a threshold current value and a disabling device operable to provide an enable/disable signal to disable the driver when the output current is below the threshold current value.
US07888915B2 System for detecting generator winding faults
A system includes an induction generator controller configured to operate an induction generator via a converter. The induction generator controller includes a diagnostic mode configured to instruct the converter to send an input signal to a rotor of the induction generator, receive an output signal from the rotor and a stator of the induction generator, and identify winding faults within the rotor and/or the stator based on the output signals.
US07888913B1 Smart battery charger
A smart battery charger is provided that includes one or more sensors to identify a particular battery, generate a usage profile for the battery over time, and develop a charging strategy that maximizes the useful life of the battery. The useful life of the battery may be maximized by minimizing the charge on the battery over the course of the battery's life. The charge may be minimized by delayed charging and undercharging.
US07888911B2 Method and system for determining the SOC of a rechargeable battery
A method of determining the state of charge (SOC) of a rechargeable battery, the method comprising charging the battery using a substantially constant charge current; measuring the battery temperature; and conducting a first measurement of the battery voltage at a time interval, t1, from the start of the charging, and a second measurement of the battery voltage at a time interval, t2, from the first measurement.
US07888908B2 Photovoltaic charging system
A modular charging unit that allows efficient charging of a rechargeable battery with a charging station and during use away from the charging system uses ambient energy to extend battery life of the device.
US07888901B2 Active human-machine interface system including an electrically controllable damper
An active human-machine interface system includes a user interface, one or more motors, one or more motor controllers, one or more electrically controllable dampers, and one or more damper controllers. The motors are coupled to the user interface and are configured, upon being energized, to supply a haptic feedback force to the user interface. The motor controllers are coupled to, and configured to selectively energize, the motors. The electrically controllable dampers are coupled to the user interface and are configured, upon being energized, to supply a damping force to the user interface. The damper controllers are in operable communication with the motor controllers and are coupled to, and configured to selectively energize, the electrically controllable dampers.
US07888893B2 Control apparatus and method for linear synchronous motor
The start timing of the pole position inference process of the linear motor installed vertically is delayed by a predetermined time after instruction of brake release. For example, from (1) increasing of the thrust instruction value of an ASR control system up to a predetermined value, (2) the movement (falling) distance of the moving part, or (3) the moving (falling) speed of the moving part, the release condition of the brake is detected and moreover after a predetermined time, the inference process of the pole position is started. The inference process of the pole position of a synchronous motor is fit to the release timing of a brake and a malfunction of the inference process and a runaway (falling in the vertical drive) of a moving part are prevented.
US07888889B2 Protection for external electrode fluorescent lamp system
The present invention provides a protection means for a driving circuit which drives a set of external electrode fluorescent lamps (EEFL). The driving circuit with protection function for driving a set of EEFLs consistent with the present invention includes: a transformer connected to the set of EEFLs; a switching network connected to the transformer which delivers power to the transformer; a sensing circuit connected to the set of EEFLs which detects disconnection if one light source is disconnected; and a controller connected to the switching network which controls the switching network to reduce the total current supplied to the EEFLs which remain connected, if the sensing circuit detects that one EEFL is disconnected. Appropriate protection can therefore be implemented when the EEFL is disconnected on one end or both ends.
US07888884B2 Backlight unit and liquid crystal display device having the same
A backlight unit includes: a power supplying part; a non-dimming point light source receiving power from the power supplying part and providing a feed back signal to the power supplying part; a dimming control part outputting a dimming signal; and a plurality of dimming point light sources receiving power from the power supplying part, and receiving the dimming signal from the dimming control part.
US07888875B2 Lighting device such as a LED reading light
A lighting device of the type used as reading light in a vehicle. The lighting device comprises a single light-emitting diode and internal supply means adapted to generate a current to the single light-emitting diode. The internal supply means are connectable to an external power network. The device has an optical unit to recenter and focus the luminous flux emitted by the single light-emitting diode.
US07888873B2 Dynamic depressed collector
A biasing system for use with a multi-stage depressed collector of a high power amplifier includes one or more adjustable power sources. A power controller provides control signals to the power sources depending on the operational RF power level. For low power applications, biasing of collector electrodes is reduced such that savings in energy costs are realized, and operational temperature and wear are reduced. The control signals are based on values stored in a look-up table. For multiple depressed electrodes, biasing can be controlled in tandem or independently.
US07888867B2 Organic el device having bank with groove, organic el display panel, and method for manufacturing the organic el device
Disclosed is an organic EL device which comprises an organic light-emitting layer having a uniform thickness even though the organic light-emitting layer is formed by a coating method. Specifically disclosed is an organic EL device comprising a substrate, an anode arranged on the substrate, an organic light-emitting layer arranged on the anode, and a bank defining an arrangement region for the organic light-emitting layer. A groove is formed on the upper surface of the bank, and the outer or inner edge of the groove defines the border of the organic light-emitting layer.
US07888866B2 Light-emitting device
A light-emitting device includes a light-emitting element in which a first electrode layer, a functional layer having at least a light-emitting layer, and a second electrode layer are laminated. At least one of the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer has a light-transmissive electrode layer. A refractive material layer is provided at a side of the light-transmissive electrode layer not facing the functional layer. At a side of the refractive material layer not facing the light-transmissive electrode layer, a substrate formed with irregularities on a surface thereof abutting the refractive material layer is provided.
US07888845B2 Device for coupling low-frequency high-power ultrasound resonators by a tolerance-compensating force-transmitting connection
The invention relates to a device for coupling low-frequency high-power ultrasound resonators by a tolerance-compensating force-transmitting connection having at least one contact surface between the at least two resonators on or proximate to the oscillation maximum of the oscillation to be transmitted by the coupling for the purpose of transmitting low-frequency ultrasound power between the resonators coupled in this manner.
US07888834B2 Motor module
A motor module includes a bearing housing having a loading base, an electric unit, a bearing, and a magnetic rotor unit disposed on the bearing. In addition, a protruding portion is extending from the loading base, and the electric unit includes a printed circuit board (PCB) and sensing elements, wherein the PCB is utilized for disposing the loading base thereon. Moreover, signal circuits and motor windings are formed on the PCB around the loading base, the sensing elements are disposed around the motor windings, and the bearing is disposed at the protruding portion. Besides, the magnetic rotor unit is disposed on the motor windings, keeping a gap with the PCB; therefore, when electric current passes the motor windings, the magnetic rotor unit and the motor windings generate a flux linkage induction, so as to drive the magnetic rotor unit to rotate relative to the PCB.
US07888832B2 Vibration motor
A vibration motor having mounting hardware with a width dimension able to be kept within a thickness of a motor case, that is, a vibration motor provided with a vibration motor body attaching an eccentric weight to a motor shaft sticking out from a bearing part of a motor case and attaching a pair of motor terminals to a plastic end cap closing an opening of the motor case and with mounting hardware carrying this vibration motor body and to be set on a board, wherein the mounting hardware has a raised bottom flat-shaped part facing a barrel circumference of the motor case, oriented in an axial direction, and to be bonded to mounting patterns on the board, a collar-shaped support piece extending from this raised bottom flat-shaped part and fit over the bearing part in the axial direction, and a plug-in support piece extending from the raised bottom flat-shaped part to the opening side and plugged into first and second positioning slots provided in the plastic end cap in the axial direction.
US07888830B2 Dynamo apparatus for boat
A casing (31) is provided around a power transmission shaft (3a) interposed between a crankshaft (2a) of an engine (2) and a power transmission device (3). A dynamo apparatus (10) and a cooling fan (23) cooling the dynamo apparatus are constructed in the casing (31) around the power transmission shaft (3a) and are driven by the power transmission shaft (3a). The casing (31) is cylindrical and comprises a connection surface at a side of the engine (2), a connection surface at a side of the power transmission device (3) and an outer peripheral surface between the connection surfaces. Intake holes (3d) are formed in the connection surface (3e) of the casing (31) at the side of the power transmission device and the intake hole is formed at an inner peripheral side of a blade of the fan, and are arranged on a circle centering on the axial direction of the connection surface (3e) at an inner peripheral side of blades (23a) of the fan (23). An exhaust hole (21b) is formed in a portion (21a) of the casing (31) at the side of the engine.
US07888829B2 Vehicle AC generator
The vehicle AC generator includes a frame including an end wall section and a peripheral wall section, a stator core, a stator coil having rear and front coil ends projecting axially rearward and frontward respectively from the stator core, a rotor supported by the frame, and a cooling fan having centrifugal blades and fixed to the rotor. The peripheral wall section has a cooling air discharge opening adjoining the end wall section. The end wall section has a centrifugal-blade-facing portion axially facing the centrifugal blades, and a coil-end-facing portion axially facing the rear coil end. The coil-end-facing portion is bent at a predetermined curvature radius and extending from the centrifugal-blade-facing portion to the cooling air discharge opening. The inner end surface of the coil-end-facing portion is formed with a recess located axially rearwardly of a radial extension line of an inner end surface of the centrifugal-blade-facing portion.
US07888819B2 Multi-input power converter and uninterruptible power supply having the same
An uninterruptible power supply has first and second input terminals, first and second inductors, first and second AC switch units, first and second storing devices and a control unit. The first and the second inductors are electrically connected to the first and the second input terminals. The first and the second AC switch units are electrically connected to the first and the second inductors for conducting input currents. The control unit is electrically connected to the first and the second AC switch units which may be turned on and off thereby to control the first and the second inductors which charge the input currents and discharge the input currents to the first and the second storing devices.
US07888812B2 Method and apparatus for handling data and aircraft employing same
These teachings present triple data transport redundancy in the form of three data bus interfaces that are each designed and manufactured independently from one another and compatible with a common data handling protocol. This protocol can be one that includes no error correction. These interfaces can each couple to a corresponding first, second, and third data bus that may comprise optical data busses. Information gauges can be realized through use a memory that stores a plurality of images comprising views of an information gauge (or gauges) of interest showing a variety of different readings. Upon receiving information regarding a monitored parameter of interest (via, for example, the aforementioned data busses and data bus interfaces), this information can be used to address the stored information gauge view that corresponds to the present parameter value. That particular view can be recalled and displayed to thereby provide the corresponding information to a viewer.
US07888810B2 Wind turbine generator system
The wind turbine generator system utilizes environmental wind to produce electricity through wind-driven rotation of a turbine generator. The system includes a housing having upper and lower portions and a main open cover mounted thereon. The main open cover is configured to direct wind through an opening formed through the upper portion and into an interior thereof. A main turbine is rotatably mounted within the upper portion, with the environmental wind directed by the main open cover driving rotation thereof. The main turbine has a central aperture formed therethrough, with rotation of the main turbine driving air flow downwardly therethrough. A secondary turbine is rotatably mounted in the lower portion of the housing, with the secondary turbine being driven to rotate by the downwardly driven air generated by the main turbine. The secondary turbine partially drives rotation of the main turbine. An electrical generator is linked to the main turbine.
US07888807B2 Method of producing wire-connection structure, and wire-connection structure
For electrically connecting a wiring formed on one surface of an insulating substrate such as an FPC to an individual electrode arranged facing the other surface of the substrate, firstly, a through hole and a notch are formed by irradiating a laser beam from above onto the FPC. Next, the FPC is arranged to be positioned such that the individual electrode, the through hole and the notch are overlapped in a plan view. Next, an electroconductive liquid droplet having a diameter greater than a width of the notch is jetted, toward an area formed with the notch, from the one surface side of the FPC. The landed electroconductive liquid droplet flows along the notch in a thickness direction of the substrate due to an action of a capillary force and reaches assuredly to the individual electrode, thereby electrically connecting the wiring and electrode arranged sandwiching the insulating substrate assuredly.
US07888784B2 Substrate package with through holes for high speed I/O flex cable
An assembly of substrate packages interconnected with flex cables and a method of fabrication of the substrate package. The assembly allows input/output (I/O) signals to be speedily transmitted between substrate packages via flex cable and without being routed through the motherboard. Embodiments relate to a substrate package providing separable inter-package flex cable connection. Hermetically-sealed guiding through holes are provided on the substrate package as a mechanical alignment feature to guide connection between flex cables and high speed I/O contact pads on the substrate package. Embodiments of the method of fabrication relate to simultaneously forming hermetically-sealed guiding through holes and I/O contact pads.
US07888779B2 Method of fabrication InGaAIN film and light-emitting device on a silicon substrate
There is provided a method of fabricating InGaAlN film on a silicon substrate, which comprises the following steps of forming a pattern structured having grooves and mesas on the silicon substrate, and depositing InGaAlN film on the surface of substrate, wherein the depth of the grooves is more than 6 nm, and the InGaAlN film formed on the mesas of both sides of the grooves are disconnected in the horizontal direction. The method may grow high quality, no crack and large area of InGaAlN film by simply treating the substrate. At the same time, there is also provided a method of fabricating InGaAlN light-emitting device by using the silicon substrate.
US07888768B2 Power integrated circuit device having embedded high-side power switch
In one embodiment, a power integrated circuit device is provided. The power integrated circuit device includes a high-side power switch having a high voltage transistor and a low voltage transistor. The high voltage transistor has a gate, a source, and a drain, and is capable of withstanding a high voltage applied to its drain. The low voltage transistor has a gate, a source, and a drain, wherein the drain of the low voltage transistor is connected to the source of the high voltage transistor and the source of the low voltage transistor is connected to the gate of the high voltage transistor, and wherein a control signal is applied to the gate of the low voltage transistor from the power integrated circuit device. The high-side power switch is turned on when a predetermined voltage is applied to the source of the low voltage transistor, a voltage higher than the predetermined voltage is applied to the drain of the high voltage transistor, and a voltage level of the control signal becomes higher than the predetermined voltage by a threshold voltage of the low voltage transistor.
US07888759B2 Photoelectric conversion device, imaging device, and process for producing the photoelectric conversion device
A photoelectric conversion device comprising: a semiconductor substrate; an inorganic photoelectric conversion layer provided within the semiconductor substrate; and an organic photoelectric conversion layer provided above the inorganic photoelectric conversion layer, wherein the organic photoelectric conversion layer is prepared by a shadow mask method.
US07888758B2 Method of forming a permanent carrier and spacer wafer for wafer level optics and associated structure
A carrier wafer for wafer level fabrication of imager structures comprising a substrate with trenches corresponding to locations of imager arrays on an imager wafer. A method of fabricating such a carrier wafer and a method of fabricating an imager module employing such a carrier wafer are also provided.
US07888757B2 Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) device on thermally-sensitive substrate
A method of forming a magnetic memory device (and a resulting structure) on a low-temperature substrate, includes forming the memory device on a transparent substrate coated with a decomposable material layer subject to rapid heating resulting in a predetermined high pressure, and transferring the memory device to the low-temperature substrate.
US07888752B2 Structure and method to form source and drain regions over doped depletion regions
A structure and method of reducing junction capacitance of a source/drain region in a transistor. A gate structure is formed over on a first conductive type substrate. We perform a doped depletion region implantation by implanting ions being the second conductive type to the substrate using the gate structure as a mask, to form a doped depletion region beneath and separated from the source/drain regions. The doped depletion regions have an impurity concentration and thickness so that the doped depletion regions are depleted due to a built-in potential creatable between the doped depletion regions and the substrate. The doped depletion region and substrate form depletion regions between the source/drain regions and the doped depletion region. We perform a S/D implant by implanting ions having a second conductivity type into the substrate to form S/D regions. The doped depletion region and depletion regions reduce the capacitance between the source/drain regions and the substrate.
US07888747B2 Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate; a first impurity diffusion suppression layer and a thicker second impurity diffusion suppression layer formed on the semiconductor substrate in first and second isolated transistor regions; first and second crystal layers formed on the first and second impurity diffusion suppression layers; first and second gate electrodes formed on the first and second crystal layers; first and second p-type channel regions formed in the semiconductor substrate, the first impurity diffusion suppression layer and respective of the first and second crystal layers below the first and second gate electrodes; and first and second source/drain regions formed on both sides of the first and second channel region; wherein the first and second p-type channels have lower impurity concentrations in respective of the first and second crystal layers than in the semiconductor substrate.
US07888746B2 Semiconductor structure and method of manufacture
In various embodiments, semiconductor structures and methods to manufacture these structures are disclosed. In one embodiment, a semiconductor structure having a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate and a dielectric region is disclosed. The dielectric region is adjacent to the active layer of the SOI substrate and the dielectric region includes a portion of a buried oxide (BOX) layer of the SOI substrate. At least a portion of the dielectric region extends from a surface of the active layer of the SOI substrate to a depth of at least about three microns or greater below the surface of the active layer. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US07888739B2 Electrostatic discharge circuit and method of dissipating an electrostatic current
An electrostatic discharge circuit between a first pad and a second pad including an electrostatic discharge circuit element, including a bipolar transistor path and a resistor path, the electrostatic discharge circuit element alternately discharging an electrostatic current through the bipolar transistor path and the resistor path.
US07888734B2 High-voltage MOS devices having gates extending into recesses of substrates
An integrated circuit structure includes a high-voltage well (HVW) region in a semiconductor substrate; a first double diffusion (DD) region in the HVW region; and a second DD region in the HVW region. The first DD region and the second DD region are spaced apart from each other by an intermediate portion of the HVW region. A recess extends from a top surface of the semiconductor substrate into the intermediate portion of the HVW region and the second DD region. A gate dielectric extends into the recess and covers a bottom of the recess. A gate electrode is over the gate dielectric. A first source/drain region is in the first DD region. A second source/drain region is in the second DD region.
US07888728B2 Non-volatile semiconductor memory device and its manufacturing method
In a non-volatile semiconductor memory device and a method for manufacturing the device, each memory cell and its select Tr have the same gate insulating film as a Vcc Tr. Further, the gate electrodes of a Vpp Tr and Vcc Tr are realized by the use of a first polysilicon layer. A material such as salicide or a metal, which differs from second polysilicon (which forms a control gate layer), may be provided on the first polysilicon layer. With the above features, a non-volatile semiconductor memory device can be manufactured by reduced steps and be operated at high speed in a reliable manner.
US07888727B2 Semiconductor device and gate structure having a composite dielectric layer and methods of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device and/or gate structure having a composite dielectric layer and methods of manufacturing the same is provided. In the semiconductor device, gate structure, and methods provided, a first conductive layer may be formed on a substrate. A native oxide layer formed on the first conductive layer may be removed. A surface of the first conductive layer may be nitrided so that the surface may be altered into a nitride layer. A composite dielectric layer including the first and/or second dielectric layers may be formed on the nitride layer. A second conductive layer may be formed on the composite dielectric layer. The first dielectric layer may include a material having a higher dielectric constant. The second dielectric layer may be capable of suppressing crystallization of the first dielectric layer.
US07888725B2 Electronic devices including electrode walls with insulating layers thereon
An electronic device may include a substrate and a plurality of conductive electrodes on the substrate. Each of the conductive electrodes may have a respective electrode wall extending away from the substrate, and an electrode wall of at least one of the conductive electrodes may include a recessed portion. In addition, an insulating layer may be provided on the electrode wall, and portions of the electrode wall may be free of the insulating layer between the substrate and the insulating layer.
US07888709B2 Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer and manufacturing method
The integrated circuit/transducer device of the preferred embodiment includes a substrate, a complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuit that is fabricated on the substrate, and a capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) element that is also fabricated on the substrate. The CMOS circuit and cMUT element are fabricated during the same foundry process and are connected. The cMUT includes a lower electrode, an upper electrode, a membrane structure that support the upper electrode, and a cavity between the upper electrode and lower electrode.
US07888705B2 Methods for defining dynamic array section with manufacturing assurance halo and apparatus implementing the same
A method is disclosed for defining a dynamic array section to be manufactured on a semiconductor chip. The method includes defining a peripheral boundary of the dynamic array section. The method also includes defining a manufacturing assurance halo outside the boundary of the dynamic array section. The method further includes controlling chip layout features within the manufacturing assurance halo to ensure that manufacturing of conductive features inside the boundary of the dynamic array section is not adversely affected by chip layout features within the manufacturing assurance halo.
US07888686B2 Pixel structure for a solid state light emitting device
A light emitting device includes an active layer structure, which has one or more active layers with luminescent centers, e.g. a wide bandgap material with semiconductor nano-particles, deposited on a substrate. For the practical extraction of light from the active layer structure, a transparent electrode is disposed over the active layer structure and a base electrode is placed under the substrate. Transition layers, having a higher conductivity than a top layer of the active layer structure, are formed at contact regions between the upper transparent electrode and the active layer structure, and between the active layer structure and the substrate. Accordingly the high field regions associated with the active layer structure are moved back and away from contact regions, thereby reducing the electric field necessary to generate a desired current to flow between the transparent electrode, the active layer structure and the substrate, and reducing associated deleterious effects of larger electric fields.
US07888684B2 Light emitting device and method of producing light emitting device with a semiconductor includes one of chalcopyrite and oxychacogenide
There has not been a DC drive type light emitting device capable of providing high brightness. The present invention provides a light emitting device, including: a pair of electrodes; a light emitter placed between the electrodes; and a semiconductor laminated to be adjacent to the light emitter, in which the semiconductor contains one of a chalcopyrite and an oxychalcogenide.
US07888669B2 Nitride/zinc oxide based light-emitting diodes
A light-emitting nitride/zinc oxide based compound semiconductor device of double heterostructure. The double-heterostructure includes a light-emitting layer formed of an Al1-x-yInxGayN; 0≦x<1, 0
US07888667B2 Phase change memory device
A phase change memory device includes a mold layer disposed on a substrate, a heating electrode, a filling insulation pattern and a phase change material pattern. The heating electrode is disposed in an opening exposing the substrate through the mold layer. The heating electrode is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape, having its sidewalls conformally disposed on the lower inner walls of the opening. The filling insulation pattern fills an empty region surrounded by the sidewalls of the heating electrode. The phase change material pattern is disposed on the mold layer and downwardly extended to fill the empty part of the opening. The phase change material pattern contacts the top surfaces of the sidewalls of the heating electrode.
US07888663B2 Plasmonic structure lens and its application for online inspection
A surface plasmonic polariton lens is disclosed that has an optical plate having incident thereupon waves of electromagnetic radiation. The plate also has a thin metal film of a metal having a negative permittivity. There are slits in the thin film, the slits being of decreasing radial width, and decreasing radial separation at increasing radius and being for the transmission therethrough of diffracted waves of the electromagnetic radiation. There are rings between the slits, the rings being of decreasing radial width at increasing radius and being for the transmission therethrough of evanescent waves of the electromagnetic radiation. The diffracted waves and the evanescent waves form propagated waves. A probe with such a lens, and an inspection apparatus and method using the probe are also disclosed.
US07888659B2 Spatially-resolved measurement method for the detection of melanin in fluorophor mixtures in a solid sample
A method of obtaining a spatially resolved measurement for the detection of melanin in fluorophore mixtures of a solid sample includes emitting at least one pulse of light from a laser light source onto the solid sample at an excitation wavelength between 300 nm and 1000 nm so as to provide fluorescence excitation of the melanin by photon absorption. The pulse of light has a photon flux density between 1026 to 1028 photons per cm2 per second and a pulse length between 0.5 ns and 5 ns. An emitted spectral fluorescence response of the melanin is provided by evaluating a number of photons emitted at fluorescence wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm as to identify the melanin.
US07888653B2 Techniques for independently controlling deflection, deceleration and focus of an ion beam
Techniques for independently controlling deflection, deceleration, and focus of an ion beam are disclosed. In one particular exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as an apparatus for independently controlling deflection, deceleration, and focus of an ion beam. The apparatus may comprise an electrode configuration comprising a set of upper electrodes disposed above an ion beam and a set of lower electrodes disposed below the ion beam. The set of upper electrodes and the set of lower electrodes may be positioned symmetrically about a central ray trajectory of the ion beam. A difference in potentials between the set of upper electrodes and the set of lower electrodes may also be varied along the central ray trajectory to reflect an energy of the ion beam at each point along the central ray trajectory for independently controlling deflection, deceleration, and focus of an ion beam.
US07888646B2 System and method for detecting contraband
A technique is provided for detecting whether an object of interest is being carried by a subject. The technique includes coarsely scanning the subject with an electromagnetic radiation, measuring reflective intensity of radiation reflected from the subject, and detecting the presence or absence of the object of interest based upon the measured reflective intensity.
US07888645B2 Passive millimeter wave spectrometer for remote detection of chemical plumes
Systems and methods for the passive measurement of spectral lines from the absorption or emission by polar molecules. The system includes mmW front-end assembly, back-end electronics, and data acquisition hardware and software was assembled. The method relates to methods for processing multi-channel radiometric data from passive mmW detection systems.
US07888641B2 Electron microscope with electron spectrometer
A lens adjustment method and a lens adjustment system which adjust a plurality of multi-pole lenses of an electron spectrometer attached to a transmission electron microscope, optimum conditions of the multi-pole lenses are determined through simulation based on a parameter design method using exciting currents of the multi-pole lenses as parameters.
US07888639B2 Method and apparatus for processing a micro sample
An object of the invention is to realize a method and an apparatus for processing and observing a minute sample which can observe a section of a wafer in horizontal to vertical directions with high resolution, high accuracy and high throughput without splitting any wafer which is a sample. In an apparatus of the invention, there are included a focused ion beam optical system and an electron optical system in one vacuum container, and a minute sample containing a desired area of the sample is separated by forming processing with a charged particle beam, and there are included a manipulator for extracting the separated minute sample, and a manipulator controller for driving the manipulator independently of a wafer sample stage.
US07888635B2 Ion funnel ion trap and process
An ion funnel trap is described that includes a inlet portion, a trapping portion, and a outlet portion that couples, in normal operation, with an ion funnel. The ion trap operates efficiently at a pressure of ˜1 Torr and provides for: 1) removal of low mass-to-charge (m/z) ion species, 2) ion accumulation efficiency of up to 80%, 3) charge capacity of ˜10,000,000 elementary charges, 4) ion ejection time of 40 to 200 μs, and 5) optimized variable ion accumulation times. Ion accumulation with low concentration peptide mixtures has shown an increase in analyte signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of a factor of 30, and a greater than 10-fold improvement in SNR for multiply charged analytes.
US07888634B2 Method of operating a linear ion trap to provide low pressure short time high amplitude excitation
In accordance with an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for fragmenting ions in an ion trap of a mass spectrometer. The method comprises a) selecting parent ions for fragmentation; b) retaining the parent ions within the ion trap for a retention time interval, the ion trap having an operating pressure of less than about 1×10−4 Torr; c) providing a RF trapping voltage to the ion trap to provide a Mathieu stability parameter q at an excitement level during an excitement time interval within the retention time interval; d) providing a resonant excitation voltage to the ion trap during the excitement time interval to excite and fragment the parent ions; and, e) within the retention time interval and after the excitement time interval, terminating the resonant excitation voltage and changing the RF trapping voltage applied to the ion trap to reduce the Mathieu stability parameter q to a hold level less than the excitement level to retain fragments of the parent ions within the ion trap.
US07888629B2 Vehicular accessory mounting system with a forwardly-viewing camera
An accessory mounting system includes an assembly adapted for mounting or attachment at a portion of the windshield of a vehicle. A light absorbing layer at the portion of the windshield of the vehicle at least partially hides the assembly from view by a viewer external the vehicle when the viewer is viewing through the windshield with the assembly at the portion of the windshield. The light absorbing layer includes a light transmitting portion, and a forwardly-viewing camera disposed at the assembly views through the light transmitting portion of the light absorbing layer at the portion of the windshield of the vehicle when the assembly is at the portion of the windshield. The assembly may comprise a pivot element for connecting to an interior mirror or the assembly may comprise a mirror assembly mount button received by a mirror mount of a single-pivot or double-pivot interior rearview mirror assembly.
US07888628B2 Optical zoom system for a light scanning microscope
For a confocal scanning microscope (1) an optical zoom system (41) with linear scanning is provided, which not only makes a zoom function possible, in that a variable magnification of an image is possible, but rather which additionally produces a pupil image in the illuminating beam path (IB) [BS] and thereby makes a variable image length possible (distance between the original pupil (En.P) [EP] and the imaged/reproduced pupil (Ex.P) [AP]) so that axially varying objective pupil positions can thereby be compensated.
US07888617B2 Controller for wire-cut electrical discharge machine
In a reference (n-th) machining pass, the wire travels along a machining route RTn and passes through a reentrant angular corner with wire position WMn, producing a workpiece edge Hn. In the following (n+1)-th machining pass, the wire travels along a machining route RTn+1, but the straight sections preceding and following the corner are replaced with a circular arc route so that the wire passes smoothly through a straight route, then a circular arc route, and then a straight route. The radius of curvature of the circular arc route is determined in the controller on the basis of the difference between the offset specified for the reference (n-th) machining pass and the offset specified for the (n+1)-th pass in which the circular arc route is inserted. Accordingly, the machining margin does not increase in the reentrant angular corner and the machining accuracy is thereby improved.
US07888614B2 Control panel assembly
An illuminated control button with an eccentric switch and a button spring configured to substantially balance the mechanical resistance of the switch when the button is depressed. The switch may be a conventional push-button switch having a stem directly contacting a portion of the control button. The button spring may include an integral reflector and may have a rim that defines a surface engaging the button. The control button may include a fixed light source and the reflector may move about the light source when the control button is depressed. The present invention also provides a control button with a light source at least partially contained within an integrating sphere. In one embodiment, the integrating sphere includes a somewhat cup-shaped diffusely reflective surface that cooperates with a diffusely reflective surface on the back surface of the button to substantially evenly distribute light from the light source throughout the integrating sphere.
US07888610B2 Keypad and method for identifying keystrokes of a keypad
Embodiments of the invention are related to a keypad and an electronic device having a keypad. In one embodiment a keypad comprises a plurality of keys. Each of the plurality of keys comprises one main electrode and at least one signal electrode is being adapted to connect electrically the main electrode and the at least one signal electrode when said key is pressed. The main electrode is connected to a reference potential connection of the keypad and surrounds the at least one signal electrode of said key.
US07888609B2 Mounting assembly
A mounting assembly comprising: a first housing portion adapted to be mounted to an object, the first housing portion having a first opening and a plurality of pins located in the opening and a first portion of a closing mechanism located on the outside of the first housing portion; and a second housing portion having a member having a plurality of slots for mating with the plurality of pins and a second portion of a closing mechanism that mates with the first portion of a closing mechanism.
US07888604B2 Connection method of a flexible printed circuit board with two printed circuit boards, and electric or electronic component with parts connected by the connection method
Provided is a method of connecting conductive traces on one substrate to conductive traces on another substrate using an adhesive containing conductive particles and the resulting article.
US07888600B2 Circuit board and electrical connection box having the same
A circuit board includes a metal core having a plate shape, an insulation section covering a surface of the metal core, and a heat radiation section in which the metal core is exposed and which is provided at a circumference of the metal core.
US07888589B2 Photovoltaic device with concentration and spectral splitting of collected light beam
A photovoltaic device may include a housing having a transparent pupil receiving a collimated beam of radiation, and photovoltaic cell arrays being positioned on respective inner surfaces of the housing, each photovoltaic cell array sensing a respective spectral range of the radiation different from the other photovoltaic cell arrays. The photovoltaic device may further include dichroic filters being positioned along an optical axis of the transparent pupil and splitting the collimated beam into a corresponding divided beams of different spectrums, and mirrors corresponding to the divided beams. Each mirror may have reflecting surfaces, receive a respective divided beam, subdivide the received divided beam into reflected beams from the reflecting surfaces, and illuminate an active area of a photovoltaic cell of the respective array.