Document	Document Title
US07970410B2	Method and apparatus for remote initiation of ARINC 615 downloads A method and apparatus for remotely downloading data from a selected one of a plurality of avionics line replaceable units (LRUs) on an aircraft. In one configuration, a method includes transmitting a message wirelessly to a receiver on the aircraft identifying an LRU having data to be downloaded; selectively switching a communication path from the identified LRU to an aircraft data services link (ADSL) dependent upon the identified LRU; and wirelessly downloading data from the identified LRU utilizing the selectively switched communication path.
US07970409B2	Wireless communication system, terminal device and base station for wireless communication system, and channel scheduling method thereof The present invention relates to a method of setting a traffic stream of a wireless communication considering terminal state information. The present invention provides a wireless communication system, comprising a base station for controlling a wireless communication and a terminal device connected to the base station to transmit and receive data, wherein the terminal device transmits terminal state information representing a state thereof to the base station and the base station sets data transmission mode using the received terminal state information. According to the present invention, there is an advantage in that a traffic stream can be maintained considering a state of the terminal, and thus, power consumption of the terminal can be minimized.
US07970408B2	Wireless switched network An access point in a wireless network includes an external indication of the access point's proximity to another access point. The external indication can be a LED that blinks at a rate that is related to the proximity of the access point to the other access point. An access point is also capable of producing a network map that indicates the access point's proximity relative to other access points that are coupled to the network. The access point is further capable of monitoring wireless network traffic to ascertain whether wireless network traffic has exceeded a threshold, and if so, releasing some client devices so that wireless network traffic no longer exceeds the threshold. The access point is also capable of automatically choosing one of a plurality of radio frequencies on which to operate. The access point chooses a frequency after evaluating frequencies on which other access points may be operating.
US07970406B2	Method for transferring data The method for transferring data sends the data as part of first and second permanent identifiers during a communication procedure prior to establishing a traffic channel in the communication system. Besides the data, the first permanent identifier includes routing information to a home system forming part of the communication system. The second permanent identifier is an expanded permanent identifier with the data forming at least part of the expanded portion thereof. Based at least on recognizing a portion of the second permanent identifier, a home system sends the first and second permanent identifiers to a destination entity. The destination entity extracts the data from the first and second permanent identifiers. In this manner, a traffic channel does not need to be established to transmit the data.
US07970405B2	Method of transmitting data in handover between base stations in wireless communication system The present invention relates to a method of transmitting data in a handover between base stations. When a mobile terminal performs a handover between base stations in a wireless communication system, a gateway transmits data traffic to be transmitted to a mobile terminal by using an IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) to a serving base station being serviced to the mobile terminal and a target base station to which a handover of the mobile terminal is made in a bi-casting method. Accordingly, when the mobile terminal performs the handover between the base stations, the gateway transmits the data traffic in the bi-casting method. As a result, it is possible to efficiently use a resource of a user plane connection interval between the gateway and the base station, thereby minimizing the loss of data traffic transmitted in a downlink, that is, data.
US07970403B2	Mobile station, mobile exchange station and mobile communication method A mobile station includes a cell selector unit for performing a cell reselection procedure for a predetermined period after a failure of detection of a radio link with a first radio base station which manages a first cell, a connection re-establishment request signal transmitter unit for transmitting a connection re-establishment request signal to a second radio base station managing a selected second cell, when it is determined that the second cell is a cell using a same radio access scheme as that of the first cell, and a connection recovery procedure starter unit for starting a connection recovery procedure for a mobile exchange station managing the second radio base station, when it is determined that a response signal received from the second base station in response to the connection re-establishment request signal indicates rejection of connection re-establishment.
US07970402B2	Method for performing handovers in a communication system The invention relates to a method wherein a transport layer association is established. Thereafter, a handover condition is detected in the first mobile node, which obtains a second address. The second address is updated to a first name server node. A query message is sent to a second name server node for an address of the second mobile node. The second address is indicated to the second mobile node. The first mobile node waits for a response from the second name server node or the second mobile node. Upon receiving a new address for the second mobile node from the second name server node, the first mobile node repeats the indication of the second address of the first mobile node to the second mobile node using the new address as a destination address for the second mobile node.
US07970401B2	Associating a handoff address to a communication session A system and method for associating a handoff address to a communication session includes determining one or more communication sessions are established in a first network. Each of one or more handoff addresses is associated with each of the one or more communication sessions. Associating each of the one or more handoff addresses is according to a temporal order of establishment of the one or more communication sessions.
US07970391B2	Managing availability status in a communications network A system and a method are disclosed for a presence engine and a method of operating a presence engine for encoding or decoding availability status into a signal representative of an audio signal. The presence engine is configured to manage availability status of a user. The presence engine comprises an input configured to receive a signal representative of an audio signal and an output configured to send a signal representative of an audio signal. The presence engine also comprises a processor configured to encode availability status of a user into a signal representative of an audio signal and/or configured to decode availability status of a user from a signal representative of an audio signal.
US07970389B2	Presentation of sponsored content based on mobile transaction event A system and computer-implemented method for positioning targeted sponsored content on a mobile communication facility includes the steps of: (a) receiving data corresponding to a transaction event having occurred via the interaction of a user with the mobile communication facility, wherein the transaction event includes transmission of data representative of a first product or a first service being purchased by the user; (b) selecting advertising content based at least upon a relevance between an advertisement for a second product or a second service and the purchased first product or first service in the transaction event, wherein the relevance is further based on information relating to compatibility of the advertising content, second product, or second service with the mobile communication facility; and (c) presenting the selected advertising content on a display of the mobile communication facility.
US07970383B2	Information providing system and information providing method Providing an information providing system and an information providing method capable of providing detail information required for a user to execute his/her scheduled activity smoothly.An information providing system 1 comprises an inhibition storing section 101 for preliminary storing inhibition information relating to inhibition factors corresponding to scheduled information relating to the scheduled activity; a candidate storing section 102 for preliminary storing candidate information relating to candidates of a coping method corresponding to the inhibition information; a schedule receiving section 103 for receiving the scheduled information from a communication terminal; an inhibition selecting section 104 for selecting from the inhibition storing section the inhibition information corresponding to the scheduled information; a candidate selecting section 105 for selecting from the candidate storing section the candidate information corresponding to the inhibition information; a candidate transmitting section 106 for transmitting the candidate information to the communication terminal 2; a selection receiving section 107 for receiving from the communication terminal 2, a selection information selected by the communication terminal 2; and a detail transmitting section 108 for transmitting detail information on the basis of the selection information to the communication terminal 2.
US07970381B2	Method of authenticating a short message service (sms) message An authentication method that can be used by a telematics-equipped vehicle to authenticate an SMS message and provide additional security features above and beyond those inherent to the SMS protocol. Generally speaking, a call center uses a mathematical function to derive a security code, and then sends an SMS message to a telematics-equipped vehicle that includes information related to the derived security code. The telematics-equipped vehicle can utilize the transmitted information to authenticate the sender of the SMS message and/or its contents. One group of suitable mathematical functions utilizes keyed-hash message authentication codes (HMACs).
US07970377B2	Systems and methods for coordinating the coverage and capacity of a wireless base station A communications base station is installed at a selected new location and the base station, prior to going “on line” monitors the wireless traffic from other base stations within interference range of the new base station's coverage area. The new base station also monitors the wireless traffic between mobile devices within its coverage area and these other base stations. Based upon these monitored conditions, as well as other known conditions, the new base station then determines the transmitting parameter configuration it should imply in order to achieve a desired optimization between capacity and coverage area. After the new base station is on line, a central control can monitor the entire network to determine if any additional changes are necessary and if so the new transceiver, or any other transceiver, can be instructed to monitor itself with respect to interference and to take corrective action to improve overall network coverage and capacity.
US07970376B2	Charging efficiency A method for performing charging in a telecommunications system, comprising: storing at a subscriber information store subscription information including charging arrangement information indicative of the charging arrangement for a first communication terminal operating in the telecommunications system; providing by means of packet data interface apparatus packet data communication services to the first terminal, the packet data interface apparatus being capable of interfacing between the first communication terminal and a packet-switched data link to another communications terminal; generating by means of packet data interface apparatus charging messages indicative of the usage of the packet data communication services by the first terminal; transferring the charging messages to charging apparatus; and performing by means of the charging apparatus a charging operation to attribute to a subscriber for the first communications terminal a charge for use of the communication services by the first terminal; the method further including the steps of: transferring the charging arrangement information to the packet data interface apparatus; and storing at the packet data interface apparatus the charging arrangement information for the first communication terminal; and wherein the stop of generating charge messages comprises generating the said charging messages dependant on the charging arrangement information for the first communication terminal.
US07970371B2	Receiving apparatus, program and receiving method A receiving portion for receiving a wireless signal generated on the basis of a baseband signal having either a predetermined frequency band or a baseband signal having any of partial frequency bands; a signal processing portion for generating the baseband signal; a band shifter for shifting the frequency band of the baseband signal by such an amount of shift that the center frequency of at least a specific partial frequency band is in the vicinity of 0 Hz; a filter portion for outputting a partial signal, which is gained by sampling a signal component of the frequency band having a bandwidth of the specific partial frequency band with approximately 0 Hz as the center frequency, from the baseband signal; and a determining portion for determining the frequency band of the baseband signal on the basis of the partial signal.
US07970369B2	Receiving devices A network includes a service provider, a plurality of transmitters and a receiving device. The receiving device identifies the frequencies at which broadcast services are provided by a transmitter local to the receiving device. A search is carried out until a signal is received by the receiving device (S4.1). Then, the receiving device looks-up the transmitter (step S4.2). This involves searching the table 29 and identifying the row 30 that includes data corresponding to the frequency of the found signal. Optionally, it is determined whether or not there is only one candidate transmitter (step S4.3), by determining how many rows 30 in the table 29 include data corresponding to the frequency of the found signal. If there is more than one row, then the transmitter is disambiguated (step S4.4.).
US07970368B2	Wired cellular telephone system Telephone apparatus, including a cable television (CATV) network interface, which is adapted to be connected to a CATV network so as to receive downstream cellular telephone communication signals transmitted at a downstream intermediate frequency (IF) via the CATV network from a base-station transceiver system (BTS) operative in a cellular telephone network. The apparatus includes a telephone interface, which is adapted to connect to a cellular telephone operative in the cellular telephone network via a physical connection.The apparatus also includes signal conversion circuitry, which is adapted to convert the downstream communication signals received at the downstream IF via the CATV network interface to downstream radio-frequency (RF) cellular telephone signals compatible with the cellular telephone network, and to convey the downstream RF cellular telephone signals to the cellular telephone via the physical connection.
US07970365B2	Systems and methods for compensating for transmission phasing errors in a communications system using a receive signal A method for correcting transmission phasing errors in an plurality of antenna elements is provided. The method includes receiving at least a first signal having a first frequency at the plurality of antenna elements at an angle of arrival (AOA). The method also includes identifying an actual fractional wavelength value (ftrue) for the first signal received with respect to a reference location for at least one of the plurality of antenna elements, obtaining a estimated phase propagation of the first signal at the one of the plurality of antenna elements relative to the reference location based at least on configuration data for plurality of antenna elements, and updating the configuration data associated with the AOA for the one of the plurality of antenna elements based on the estimated phase propagation and ftrue.
US07970364B2	Strategy for using the envelope information within a closed loop power control system A power control system includes a reference path filter used to suppress high frequencies in an input signal and generate a filtered envelope signal, a reference path amplifier to scale the filtered input signal based on a gain signal and generate a reference signal, a signal path amplifier to amplify an RF modulated signal and generate a signal path output signal scaled by a gain of an actuator signal, and a power detector to detect a power associated with the signal path output signal. The system includes an ADC to receive, pre-filter and convert the detected envelope signal into a measurement signal, and a comparator block to receive the reference signal and the measurement signal, and generate an error signal based on the difference, and a controller to generate the actuator signal for controlling the gain of the signal path amplifier based on the error signal.
US07970360B2	Electronic device with a distortion correction circuit for a power amplifier, and associated methods An electronic device includes a radio frequency (RF) modulator, a power amplifier, and a distortion correction circuit coupled between the RF modulator and the power amplifier. The distortion correction circuit includes a variable gain amplifier coupled between the RF modulator and the power amplifier, and an amplitude correction control loop. The amplitude correction control loop includes a first logarithmic converter having an input coupled to the RF modulator, a second logarithmic converter having an input coupled to an output of the power amplifier, and a difference circuit coupled to outputs of the first and second logarithmic converters for controlling the gain of the variable gain amplifier for correcting distortion in an output signal from the power amplifier.
US07970354B1	Frequency agile duplex filter Systems and methods are disclosed for an electronically adjustable signal filter system, which comprises, in some embodiments, a first filter coupled to an antenna coupling network and a second filter, a power amplifier coupled to the first filter, an antenna connected to an antenna coupling network, a pilot tone generator coupled to the first filter, and a first signal source connected to the power amplifier and first filter. In some embodiments, the power amplifier amplifies the first signal, the first filter places a notch into the first signal transmitted to the antenna coupling network, the antenna coupling network combines the first signal and a second signal received from the antenna and transmits a third signal to the second filter.
US07970351B2	System and method for direct communication between wireless communication devices A wireless communication device includes conventional components to permit a network communication link to be established with a wireless communication network. In addition, the wireless communication device includes a non-network short-range transceiver that detects the presence of other similarly equipped devices. When two such equipped devices come within proximity of each other, a direct non-network wireless communication link is established. The two devices exchange portions of profile data and each analyzed the received profile data. If a match occurs, a contact notification is generated. This permits the wireless communication device to act as an auto-detecting social network device that detects the proximity of other devices whose owners have a profile that matches the stored user preference data. Subsequent communication may occur in a conventional manner using the wireless network communication channels and web applications may also be used to gain additional information.
US07970334B2	Image-carrier protecting agent, protecting-layer forming device, image forming method, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge A protecting layer is formed on a surface of an image carrier with a protecting agent that contains at least an organic compound having melting property of which penetration at 25° C. ranges from 3 millimeters to 30 millimeters, and organic compound particles having thermal decomposition property of which a weight average particle size ranges from 2 micrometers to 20 micrometers. A melting temperature of the organic compound is lower than a decomposition temperature of the organic compound particles, and a volume ratio of the organic compound to the organic compound particles ranges from 99/1 to 50/50.
US07970333B2	System and method for protecting an image on a substrate A system and a method to protect an image on a substrate. The method includes forming an unfused toner image, partially fusing the unfused toner image at a first temperature by exposing the composition to radiation to prevent disruption of the image upon application of the wax-hybrid composition to form a partially fused toner image, cooling the partially fused toner image to a second temperature, providing a protective coating composition comprising a wax-hybrid, applying the protective coating composition over the partially fused toner image, permanently fixing the protective coating composition and partially fused toner image to form a final printed image.
US07970332B2	Oil less fusing using nano/micro textured fusing surfaces Exemplary embodiments provide a fixing member having a textured surface, and methods for making and using the textured fixing member. The fixing member can include a substrate having one or more functional layers formed thereon. The one or more functional layers can include an outermost or top surface having a surface wettability that is hydrophobic and/or oleophobic; ultrahydrophobic and/or ultraoleophobic; or superhydrophobic and/or superoleophobic by forming textured features. Such fixing member can be used as an oil-less fusing member for high speed, high quality electrophotographic printing to ensure and maintain a good toner release from the fused toner image on an image supporting material(e.g., a paper sheet), and further assist paper stripping. In addition, the textured surface can provide an oil-free, such as wax-free, toner design for the oil-less fixing process.
US07970330B2	Fusers, printing apparatuses and methods of fusing toner on media Fusers, printing apparatuses and methods of fusing toner on media are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment of the fusers includes a pressure roll; a fuser belt; a nip formed by the fuser belt contacting the pressure roll, the nip including an inlet end where the medium enters the nip, an outlet end where the medium exits the nip, and a nip width defined between the inlet end and the outlet end; a mechanism for moving the pressure roll toward or away from the fuser belt to adjust the nip width; and a stripping member for stripping the medium from the fuser belt after the medium exits from the outlet end of the nip.
US07970321B2	Sealing member, toner accommodating container and image forming apparatus A toner container detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus, includes a main body for containing toner; a toner discharging portion having an opening; and a coupling member. The coupling member includes a supporting portion and an engaging portion. The engaging portion is configured and positioned to displace in an inward direction with the supporting portion as the engaging portion enters a hollow cylindrical driving member of an assembly of the image forming apparatus, and is also configured and positioned to engage with a slot of the hollow cylindrical driving member when the supporting portion elastically restores in an outward direction. The engaging portion includes a rotational force receiving portion capable of being abutted in a circumferential direction of the hollow cylindrical driving member to receive a rotational drive force from the hollow cylindrical driving member to rotate the main body with the toner discharging portion.
US07970315B2	Developing cartridge having gear support A developing cartridge is provided. The developing cartridge includes an input gear which receives an external driving force; a developing roller which carries developer; a supply roller that is in contact with the developing roller and supplies the developer to the developing roller; a supply roller gear that is meshed with the input gear to drive the supply roller using a driving force transmitted from the input gear; and a developing roller gear that drives the developing roller with a driving force transmitted from the supply roller gear.
US07970309B2	Image forming apparatus including a power-control feature for flicker suppression The image forming apparatus includes an image forming part, a fixing part including a heater and a temperature detection element; and a power-control part that controls power to be supplied to the heater according to the detection temperature of the temperature detection element, wherein during the power to be supplied to the heater is controlled so as to keep the detection temperature at a control target temperature, if the on-duty ratio selected so to keep the detection temperature at the control target temperature is a specific on-duty ratio and the specific on-duty ratio continues for a predetermined number of cycles, the power-control part switches to another control cycle different in the number of consecutive half-waves of the AC waveform from the control cycle.
US07970305B2	Development apparatus, image forming apparatus and image forming method for consuming degraded toner The development apparatus that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier comprises: a developer roller operable to carry toner on a circumferential surface thereof and develop the electrostatic latent image using the toner; a supply roller operable to perform toner supply to the developer roller; a voltage applier operable to apply a bias voltage V1 to the developer roller and apply a bias voltage V2 to the supply roller; and a controller operable to control the voltage applier in a toner compulsive consumption mode so that a value obtained by subtracting an average S2 of the bias voltage V2 per unit time from an average S1 of the bias voltage V1 per unit time indicates the same polarity as a normal charging polarity of the toner. Here, the toner compulsive consumption mode performs development to compulsively consume the toner carried on the circumferential surface of the developer roller.
US07970299B2	Image forming apparatus capable of detecting surface temperature rotating body without contact The aim of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that accurately detects surface temperature of a rotating body using a noncontact temperature detection section and corrects the detected temperature according to the temperature of the surrounding area. The present invention detects the temperature of a thermal unit and the temperature of a holding unit and corrects the temperature of the thermal unit based on the temperature of the holding unit so that effects from the temperature of a surrounding area can be corrected and the temperature can accurately be detected without scarring a surface of the rotating body. Accurate regulation of the surface temperature of the rotating body can therefore be performed.
US07970298B2	Image forming apparatus with a control for preventing a reduction in accuracy of detecting a toner image An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member for bearing a toner image; toner image forming means for forming a toner image on the image bearing member; a detecting member for directing light to an object and for detecting the light reflected by the object; a controller for controlling a toner image forming condition of the toner image forming means in accordance with an output of the detecting member with respect to the toner image formed on the image bearing member and an output of the detecting member with respect to the image bearing member; a cleaning member, in contact to the image bearing member, for cleaning the image bearing member; an executing portion for executing, when the output with respect to the image bearing member reaches a reference level, an operation in a cleaning mode in which the cleaning member cleans the image bearing member; and a change portion for changing the reference level in accordance with a use amount of the image bearing member.
US07970297B2	Powder container and image forming apparatus A powder conveying unit conveys powder input from a powder inlet of a powder containing chamber into the powder containing chamber. A powder detecting unit detects a full state of the powder conveyed by the powder conveying unit in the powder containing chamber. A sensor chamber is provided outside the powder containing chamber connected with each other. The powder detecting unit is provided in the sensor chamber, a bottom surface of the sensor chamber is at higher level than a bottom surface of the powder containing chamber, and the bottom surface of the sensor chamber is inclined downward toward the powder containing chamber.
US07970295B2	Document processing system and method for adjustable print consumable refill level Document processing systems and methods are presented in which a graphical user interface is used to set a user-selectable refill level for a print engine consumable, such as toner, replenisher, paper, etc. Once the user-selectable level has been reached, the user is notified and is prompted to either refill the print consumable or to continue use of the document processing system without refilling.
US07970288B2	Electronic system with APC An electronic system comprises an automatic power control (APC) unit, an adjustment unit, and a calibration unit. The automatic power control (APC) unit receives a first input signal and a second input signal and generates an output signal. An adjustment unit coupled to the first input terminal of the APC unit generates a voltage offset according to an adjustment signal. The calibration unit provides the adjustment signal with a series of values. The calibration unit monitors the output signal until the output signal changes states.
US07970286B2	Optical transmission device In a wavelength-division multiplexing communications system including a plurality of optical transmission devices having an optical amplifier, downstream optical transmission devices transmit gain wavelength characteristic information of an optical amplifier in each of the downstream optical transmission devices to an upstream optical transmission device. The upstream optical transmission device controls gain wavelength characteristics on the basis of the received gain wavelength characteristic information.
US07970279B2	N-way serial-channel interconnect Methods and apparatus are described for an n-Way, Serial-Channel interconnect. An apparatus includes a communications network interconnect including an input layer including a plurality of input channels; a multicast channel branching fabric coupled to the input layer; and a modular output layer coupled to the multicast channel branching fabric layer, the modular output layer including a plurality of individual serial data channels; and a plurality of sets of endpoints, each set of endpoints coupled to one of the plurality of individual serial data channels.
US07970273B2	Diaphragm control apparatus of interchangeable lens camera A diaphragm control apparatus in a camera body includes a stepping motor, a lead screw thereof, wherein a slider is driven by the lead screw, a position detector, and a controller. When the stepping motor is in a free state, the slider allows a diaphragm operatively-associated rod to move to an initial position. The controller detects the slider origin position when the stepping motor is in the free state and drives the stepping motor stepwise to move the slider away from the origin position against a biasing force of a resilient biaser, and drives the stepping motor stepwise to move the slider toward the origin position while detecting the slider position; and sets an initial excitation pattern of the stepping motor upon a distance from the detected slider position to the origin position becoming less than a slider moving distance for one step of the stepping motor.
US07970259B2	Recording and / or reproducing apparatus and editing method A portable recording and/or reproducing apparatus for recording and/or reproducing data to and/or from a storage medium are provided. The medium has a data area and a management area. The data area stores data and the management area stores management information for managing the data. The apparatus includes stopping means for stopping reproduction of the data according to a user's input. Updating means for updates the management information so that an address of the storage medium corresponding to the stop position of the reproduced data determined by the user's input becomes the end address of the reproduced data.
US07970256B2	Fast play DVD A medium having a plurality of data blocks stored therein is disclosed. The medium can be a DVD. The plurality of data blocks can be viewed by playing the medium in a medium player. The medium player can be a DVD player. A first instruction set instructs the medium player to play the plurality of data blocks of the medium in a pre-determined sequence. Further, a second instruction set instructs the medium player to play the plurality of data blocks of the medium in response to user commands that determine the order for playing the plurality of data blocks of the medium.
US07970254B2	PLL control circuit of optical disc apparatus, and recording medium having recorded thereon program for controlling the optical disc apparatus A PLL control circuit of an optical disc apparatus comprising: a voltage frequency conversion circuit that adjusts an oscillating frequency based on a control voltage to generate a first frequency signal; a phase comparison circuit that compares the phase of the first frequency signal with the phase of a second frequency signal generated based on an RF (Radio Frequency) signal at the time of photoelectric conversion of reflected light of the laser beam applied to an optical disc, to generate a phase difference signal indicating a phase difference between the first frequency signal and the second frequency signal; a charge pump circuit that generates the control voltage for synchronizing the phases of the first frequency signal and the second frequency signal according to the phase difference signal; a first detection circuit that detects whether the RF signal exceeds a predetermined level; a second detection circuit that detects whether the phases of the first frequency signal and the second frequency signal are synchronized; and a control circuit that controls the charge pump circuit to generate the control voltage regardless of the phase difference signal, if the first detection circuit detects that the RF signal exceeds the predetermined level, and to generate the control voltage according to the phase difference signal, if the second detection circuit detects that the phases of the first frequency signal and the second frequency signal are synchronized.
US07970251B2	Outlet device An outlet device, which is to be arranged on a wall surface, includes an outlet box in which electric wiring and optical interconnection are to be accommodated, and a cover plate which covers the outlet box. The cover plate includes a plate surface formed with an opening section through which an electric connection port of at least one of a telephone jack and an electric power supply outlet is to be exposed, and a bulged portion formed, on left or right side of the plate surface, to bulge frontward from the plate surface. The bulged portion is operable to accommodate a connection adaptor to which an optical connector attached directly to an end portion of an optical fiber is fitted, and includes a bottom face formed with an opening through which an optical connection port of the connection adaptor is to be exposed so as to be oriented downward.
US07970250B2	Method of removing a telecommunications panel from a frame A latch and handle arrangement for a panel that provides a number of functions. The arrangement including a lever arm that functions as both a handle and a latch release in some panel and frame embodiments. The lever arm also functioning as a fastener cover in other panel and frame embodiments.
US07970247B2	Buffer tubes for mid-span storage Disclosed is a buffer tube that possesses a higher buffer-tube filling coefficient. Optical fibers enclosed within the buffer tube demonstrate improved attenuation performance when subjected to temperature variations between about −40° C. and 70° C. The buffer tube is suitable for deployments requiring mid-span access.
US07970241B2	High efficient silicon-on-lithium niobate modulator A modulator includes an electro-optical substrate and a first and second waveguide formed of a doped semiconductor material positioned on a surface of an electro-optical substrate forming a slot therebetween. A doping level of the semiconductor material being chosen to make the first and second waveguide conductive. A dielectric material is positioned in the slot which increases confinement of both an optical field and an electrical field inside the slot. A refractive index of the semiconductor material and a refractive index of the dielectric material positioned in the slot being chosen to reduce the Vπ·L product of the modulator.
US07970234B2	Post-processing circuit for processing an image signal according to frequency components of the image signal A post-processing circuit for processing an image signal according to frequency components of an image signal includes: a low-frequency extracting unit outputting a low-frequency image component of the image signal as a low-frequency signal; a high-frequency extracting unit multiplying a high-frequency image component of the image signal by a first gain and outputting the multiplication product as a high-frequency signal; an intermediate-frequency extracting unit multiplying an intermediate-frequency image component of the image signal by a second gain and outputting the multiplication product as an intermediate-frequency signal; and an adder adding the low-frequency signal, the high-frequency signal, and the intermediate-frequency signal and outputting the addition sum as a post-processed signal, wherein the first gain and the second gain are differently set according to a pixel location in a spatial domain.
US07970233B2	Distortion of digital images using spatial offsets from image reference points A method for distorting a digital image comprising receiving the coordinates of one or more than one image reference point defined by a user within the digital image, receiving one or more than one spatial offset assigned by the user and associated with the coordinates of the one or more than one defined image reference point, providing a mixing function algorithm embodied on a computer-readable medium for distorting the digital image, calculating an offset matrix by applying the mixing function algorithm based on the one or more than one spatial offset and the coordinates of the one or more than one defined image reference point; and distorting the digital image by application of the offset matrix. A graphic tag may be associated with each of the defined image reference points and displayed over the digital image, and the assignment of the spatial offset may be accomplished by movement of the graphic tag with the pointing device. Abstract image reference points may be used to limit distortion.
US07970232B2	Image analysis method, image analysis program, pixel evaluation system having the image analysis method, and pixel evaluation system having the image analysis program In the case where a digital camera is used for evaluating a display quality of an image display panel, moire is generated due to a shift of a pixel pitch between a pixel of a panel and a pixel of a digital camera, and thus, a great influence is given as measurement deviation. The present invention carries out a panel display quality evaluation at low cost and short time with relieved influence of moire by treating a value, which is obtained by recognizing a coordinate of a panel pixel in a shot image based on an image for detecting a coordinate and positional information thereof with high accuracy and by calculating average luminance by panel pixel unit based on a center position of a coordinate, as representative luminance in each pixel of the panel, in a panel evaluation method of shooting an image display panel with a digital camera.
US07970228B2	Image enhancement methods with consideration of the smooth region of the image and image processing apparatuses utilizing the same An image processing method applied in an image processor for processing an image including first pixels each having a corresponding pixel value. The pixel values of first pixels are distributed within a first distribution range. Second pixels comprise a region and are obtained from first pixels when a difference between pixel values of adjacent second pixels is less than a predetermined value. Gained pixel values are obtained after applying a gain to the image. An amount of distortion is obtained by summing up weighted differences between a reference pixel value and gained pixel value of first pixels having gained pixel value not distributed within first distribution range. A weighting factor does not equal to 1 when first pixel is within the region, and equals to 1 when first pixel is outside the region. The gain is updated according to the distortion. Processed image is obtained by applying the updated gain.
US07970226B2	Local image descriptors A local image descriptor generation technique that produces a descriptor for an image patch is presented. The technique generally involves smoothing the pixels of the image patch, followed by employing a transformation to produce a transform vector for each of a set of sample points spaced across the image patch. The transform vectors are weighted and spatially accumulated to produce a prescribed number of linearly summed vectors. The linearly summed vectors are concatenated to form a raw local image descriptor, which is normalized to produce a finalized descriptor for the image patch.
US07970223B2	Image encoding apparatus, image decoding apparatus, image encoding method, image decoding method, image encoding program, and image decoding program A variable-length encoder that feeds a Coded Block Pattern (CBP) as an input symbol to variable-length code output part. Coded symbol memory supplies CBPs in neighboring blocks as coding map table reference information to coding map table provider. Coding map table provider determines a coding map table used in coding of the CBP, based on these CBPs in the neighboring blocks, and provides a coding map table H4 to variable-length code output part. Variable-length coding table provider feeds a variable-length coding table to variable-length code output part. Then the coding target CBP is subjected to variable-length coding, and the resultant is outputted as coded data. This allows information source coding of coding symbols to be performed efficiently according to the coding condition and the property of image.
US07970222B2	Determining a delay Embodiments for determining a delay are disclosed.
US07970219B2	Color image encoding and decoding method and apparatus using a correlation between chrominance components A color image encoding and decoding method and apparatus use a correlation between chrominance components in order to improve coding efficiency. The color image decoding method includes: transforming chrominance components of a color image in each of two or more inter-prediction modes, calculating costs for the conversion values in each of the two or more inter-prediction modes using a predetermined cost function, selecting one of the two or more inter-prediction modes based on the calculation result, and outputting conversion values of the selected inter-prediction mode; entropy encoding the output conversion values.
US07970216B2	Methods and apparatus for reducing storage size Prediction-based compression engines are spoon-fed with sequentially efficiently compressible (SEC) streams of input data that make it possible for the compression engines to more efficiently compress or otherwise compact the incoming data than would be possible with streams of input data accepted on a TV-raster scan basis. Various techniques are disclosed for intentionally forming SEC input data streams. Among these are the tight packing of alike files or fragments into concatenation suitcases and the decomposition of files into substantially predictably consistent (SPC) fragments or segments that are routed to different suitcases according to their type. In a graphics-directed embodiment, image frames are partitioned into segment areas that are internally SPC and multidirectional walks (i.e., U-turning walks) are defined in the segment areas where these defined walks are traced during compression and also during decompression. A variety of pre-compression data transformation methods are disclosed for causing apparently random data sequences to appear more compressibly alike to each other. The methods are usable in systems that permit substantially longer times for data compaction operations than for data decompaction operations.
US07970215B2	Automatic generation of compact code tables An apparatus includes a compact table generator module and a storage medium. The compact table generator creates a compact code table having multiple code word groups arranged in one or more hierarchies. Each of these code word groups includes a group mask that corresponds to one or more code words in a variable length code table. The storage medium stores information regarding the code word groups, such as a group mask for each of the code word groups, and a code index for each code word in the variable length code table.
US07970214B2	Rotate and slant projector for fast fully-3D iterative tomographic reconstruction Disclosed herein are embodiments of a rotate-and-slant projector that takes advantage of symmetries in the geometry to compute truly volumetric projections to multiple oblique sinograms in a computationally efficient manner. It is based upon the 2D rotation-based projector using the fast three-pass method of shears, and it conserves the 2D rotator computations for multiple projections to each oblique sinogram set. The projector is equally applicable to both conventional evenly-spaced projections and unevenly-spaced line-of-response (LOR) data (where the arc correction is modeled within the projector). The LOR-based version models the exact location of the direct and oblique LORs, and provides an ordinary Poisson reconstruction framework. Speed optimizations of various embodiments of the projector include advantageously utilizing data symmetries such as the vertical symmetry of the oblique projection process, a coarse-depth compression, and array indexing schemes which maximize serial memory access.
US07970208B2	Apparatus to detect homogeneous region of image using adaptive threshold A homogeneous region detector of an image using an adaptive threshold, and a method of the same. The homogeneous region detector includes a global region standard deviation calculation part to calculate a global region standard deviation of a whole region of an input image, a local region standard deviation calculation part to divide the input image into a predetermined number of local regions and to calculate a local region standard deviation of the each local region, and a homogeneous region determination part to separate the homogeneous region from a feature region in the input image using an adaptive threshold calculated based on entropy of the input image. Accordingly, the homogeneous region can be precisely detected by effectively separating the homogeneous region from the feature region of the input image by using the threshold adaptively calculated based on the entropy of the input image, so that the homogeneous region can be applied to various fields of image processing.
US07970203B2	Purpose-driven data representation and usage for medical images A technique for selecting portions of a multi-resolution medical image data set to be stored and the portions of the multi-resolution medical image data set to be discarded in order to reduce the overall amount of image data that is stored for each image data set. The selection is based on the clinical purpose for obtaining the medical image data. The clinical purpose for obtaining the medical image is used to define regions of interest in the medical image. At each resolution level of the multi-resolution medical image data set, the regions of interest are stored at the full resolution, while the remaining portions of the medical image are stored at a lesser resolution. A three-dimensional bit mask of the regions of interest is produced from a segmentation of the regions of interest. The segmentation list and the multi-resolution medical image data set are decomposed into multiple resolution levels. Each resolution level has a low frequency component and several high frequency components. The low frequency portions at each resolution level may be stored in their entirety. The segmentation list is used to select the regions in the high frequency portions of the multi-resolution image data that correspond to the regions of interest and those regions that do not. The regions in the high frequency portions of the multi-resolution image data that correspond to the region of interest are stored. Those regions in the high frequency portions of the multi-resolution image data that do not correspond to a region of interest are discarded.
US07970192B2	Method and apparatus for controlling an imaging modality A method is described for controlling an imaging modality. The method includes acquiring data specific to an examination object and automatically selecting a raw data record from a number of raw data records on the basis of the data specific to the examination object. The method further includes producing an image on the basis of the selected raw data record and by using a selected control parameter set. The produced image is then output to a user. Thereafter, a change command of the user is detected, for altering the control parameter set, or detecting a confirmation command for confirming the control parameter set. Next, the control parameter set is changed in accordance with a detected change command. The method then includes repeating the method steps of producing, outputting, detecting and changing with the respectively current, changed control parameter set until a confirmation signal is detected. Finally, image data is acquired by using the current control parameter set when a confirmation command is detected. An apparatus suitable for controlling an imaging modality is also described.
US07970190B2	Method and device for determining the location of pelvic planes A method for determining a location of a frontal pelvic plane of a pelvic bone includes ascertaining a position of a pubic point of the pelvic bone; generating at least one x-ray recording of the pelvic bone; ascertaining a straight line in the at least one x-ray recording that passes through the pubic point and a contour of the pelvic bone; and ascertaining the location of the frontal pelvic plane from a rear-projection of the straight line.
US07970186B2	System, method and computer program product for fingerprint verification A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium carrying program instructions for verifying a fingerprint when executed using a computing system, the executed program instructions executing a method, the method: producing a test image of a fingerprint-under-test; producing a test ridge map from the test image and a reference ridge map from each of one or more reference fingerprint images; extracting fingerprint points of interest from the ridge maps; screening candidate reference ridge maps based upon a correspondence between the points of interest from the reference ridge maps and the points of interest from the test ridge map wherein the correspondence includes a first threshold and one or more candidate ridge maps having the correspondence within the first threshold are included in a set of candidate ridge maps; comparing local ridge data surrounding one or more points of interest of the test ridge map within a second threshold with local ridge data surrounding corresponding one or more points of interest of each of the test ridge maps in the set of candidate ridge maps; and asserting a comparison signal responsive to a correspondence between the local ridge data of the test ridge map and the local ridge data from one or more candidate ridge maps of the set of candidate ridge maps.
US07970169B2	Secure stamping of multimedia document collections Secure stamping of multimedia document collections is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises adding an image to a collection of media objects, and producing a visual representation of the collection that includes the image, where the visual representation has an identifier to identify the collection and graphical content representing the media objects.
US07970162B2	Loudspeaker bobbin interconnection assembly A bobbin interconnection assembly in a moving coil loudspeaker is disclosed. The assembly includes a first coupling member fixed to a central region of a diaphragm of the loudspeaker. The assembly also includes a second coupling member that may be removably engaged to the first coupling member. The second coupling member is fixed to an inner rim of an annular damper, and to a voice coil bobbin.
US07970151B2	Hybrid beamforming A system such as a speakerphone may include a processor, memory and an array of microphones. The processor may be configured (via program instructions stored in the memory) to perform automatic echo cancellation, self calibration and beam forming. In particular, the processor may receive input signals from the microphone array and operate on the input signals with a highly directed virtual beam which is a composite of two or more beams which are restricted to respective frequency ranges. The two or more beams may include beams of different kinds, e.g., superdirective beams and delay-and-sum beams.
US07970149B2	Audio speaker with partially spherical speaker housing and escutcheon A speaker housing assembly including an adapter and a speaker enclosure is disclosed. The adapter has an escutcheon and a partially spherical recessed concave portion. The speaker enclosure has a partially spherical sidewall that is received in the recessed concave portion of the adapter. A lock assembly secures the speaker enclosure to the adapter through an arcuate slot. Flanges of the lock assembly are placed in registry with teeth formed on opposite sides of the arcuate slot to lock the speaker enclosure in place. An elastomeric pad is provided between the recessed concave portion and the partially spherical sidewall to dampen vibrations and supplement the locking engagement of the lock assembly.
US07970147B2	Video game controller with noise canceling logic A method for reducing noise disturbance associated with an audio signal received through a microphone is provided. The method initiates with magnifying a noise disturbance of the audio signal relative to a remaining component of the audio signal. Then, a sampling rate of the audio signal is decreased. Next, an even order derivative is applied to the audio signal having the decreased sampling rate to define a detection signal. Then, the noise disturbance of the audio signal is adjusted according to a statistical average of the detection signal. A system capable of canceling disturbances associated with an audio signal, a video game controller, and an integrated circuit for reducing noise disturbances associated with an audio signal are included.
US07970136B2	Apparatus and materials for two-stage printing of value indicia A roll of label stock includes a plurality of first regions suitable for being printed on by thermal printing. The first regions are blank. The label stock also includes a plurality of pre-printed color images, each associated with a respective one of the first regions. A stamp printer that prints postage indicia on the label stock refrains from printing an image thereon, but would print images on another type of label stock that does not include pre-printed images.
US07970128B2	Systems and methods for efficient generation of hash values of varying bit widths A technique for producing a hashed output of an input message according to any number of hash algorithms (e.g. SHA-256, SHA-348, SHA-512) having varying bit widths is described. At least a portion of the input message is stored in a first group of registers each having a bit width equal to a first bit width (e.g. 32 bits). If the selected hash algorithm has a larger bit width (e.g. 64 bits), a remainder of the input message is stored in a second plurality of registers each having a bit width equal to the first bit width. The hashed output is then computed according to the selected hash algorithm.
US07970123B2	Adaptive coupling equalization in beamforming-based communication systems A method and system for rapid adaptive coupling equalization in beamforming-based communication systems, particularly sector-based beamforming systems, provides smooth transitions for AEC when the look direction of the communication system changes and when the acoustic environment varies with time. The coefficients of inactive beamformers are modified in real-time, using adaptive beamforming techniques based on the real-time loudspeaker-coupling signal, in order to force the outputs of inactive beamformers to have the same response to the loudspeaker coupling signal as the active beamformer does.
US07970117B2	Method and system for handling calls at an automatic call distributor A method for handling calls at an automatic call distributor includes receiving from a first caller a first call for distribution to one of a plurality of agents and receiving from the first caller a first request associated with the first call. The method includes linking the first request to one or more additional requests associated with one or more additional calls from one or more additional callers. The method also includes distributing for handling to a first agent of the plurality of agents the first call and the one or more additional calls associated with the one or more additional requests linked to the first request.
US07970113B2	Caller number notification A caller number notification synchronized with an incoming signal is disclosed. An analog circuit interface section outputs incoming call signal presence information that shows whether to receive the incoming call signal that has the information indicated at a predetermined position on a highway and outputs the received caller ID to a speech signal path. An analog extension interface section detects the incoming call signal presence information on the highway, detects the caller ID on the speech signal path, generates an incoming call signal based on the detected incoming signal presence information and sends out the generated incoming call signal and the detected caller ID to the analog extension. A system control section connects the analog circuit interface section to the analog extension interface section.
US07970112B1	Telephonic voting system A computer system has a CPU, a registration terminal and a plurality of telephones. The CPU has an office registration section, an initial phone-in registration section and a vote section. A registration office contains the registration terminal whereat a voter provides appropriate identification and proof of citizenship, if necessary, and then enters a personal identification number into the office registration section through the registration terminal. A first link is between one of the plurality of telephones and the initial phone-in registration section, preferably through a computer, whereby the voter enters into the initial phone-in registration section the personal identification number, an identifying name and a password. A second link is between one of the plurality of telephones and the vote section, preferably through a computer, whereby the voter enters into the vote section the personal identification number and provides the identification name and the password and then votes.
US07970110B2	Voice over IP method for developing interactive voice response system A personal Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system includes a plurality of IVR servers communicating personal IVR service node information in a network and a plurality of personal IVR service node clients coupled to the plurality of IVR servers communicating the personal IVR service node information. The plurality of personal IVR service node clients have a client-server relationship with the plurality of IVR servers. The personal IVR system further includes facilities for managing transmission of the personal IVR service node information using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.
US07970102B2	Apparatus and method for detecting foreign materials in a container The present invention is an apparatus and method for detecting foreign material in containers in a product stream. Two X-ray emitters and two sensor arrays are positioned in a constellation to improve the detection of foreign material. A first x-ray emitter is positioned so that it projects an x-ray beam in a downward manner through the product stream. A second x-ray emitter is positioned so that it projects an x-ray beam in an upward manner through the product stream. Two sensor arrays are each positioned in receiving relation to each of the x-ray beams to receive and provide signals from each of the beams after they have interacted with the product stream. Signals from each of the two sensor arrays are processed and compared with user defined thresholds to detect and indicate the presence of foreign material in containers.
US07970098B2	Medical imaging method and apparatus allowing localized image quality specification In a method and device for medical imaging, a number of input parameters with regard to an image exposure are imported into a controller of the imaging device, that associate a desired image quality with a defined image exposure region. A number of control parameters are determined corresponding to each input parameter. The controller supplies each control parameter to the image acquisition apparatus for acquiring the image exposure of the examination region with the desired local image quality.
US07970092B2	Phase comparator and regulation circuit A phase comparison process in a timing recovery process for high-speed data communication defines a data window and compares the phase of a clock in the window with the phase of an edge of data so as to realize a parallel process, wherein the phase comparison and the process of determining whether a data edge lies within the window are performed in parallel to each other, and the phase comparison result is output only if the data edge lies within the window. With this configuration, it is possible to perform an accurate phase comparison process with no errors without requiring high-precision delay circuits.
US07970091B2	Method for reducing spectral regrowth in a spectrally efficient digital modulation scheme A method that uses time-domain processing on a spectrally efficient digital modulation scheme to reduce the bandwidth expansion in envelope elimination and restoration (EER) amplifiers is disclosed. The method identifies and localizes sections of the signal responsible for the out of band emissions, or spectral regrowth, using a filter. The detected sections are flagged and extended to allow for introduction of a lower frequency transition in place of the extended section, thus reducing spectral regrowth from the output of an EER amplifier. The method is particularly useful for improving the quality of digital AM radio transmission.
US07970078B2	Method and receiver for estimating the channel impulse response using a constant modulus interference removal iteration A receiver and associated method estimates a channel impulse response of the communications signal. A communications signal is received as a burst of transmitted symbols, including a known training sequence. The joint estimation of timing offset and initial channel impulse response is determined based on the cross-correlations of the known transmitted symbols and received communications signal. A constant modulus interference removal iteration is applied to improve the initial channel impulse estimation.
US07970074B2	Data transmitting and receiving method using phase shift based precoding and transceiver supporting the same A method for performing a precoding based on a generalized phase shift or a precoding based on an extended phase shift in a Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) system employing several sub-carriers, and a transceiver for supporting the same are disclosed. A phase-shift-based precoding matrix is generalized by multiplying a diagonal matrix for a phase shift by a unitary matrix for maintaining orthogonality between sub-carriers. In this case, a diagonal matrix part may be extended by multiplying a precoding matrix for removing an interference between sub-carriers by a diagonal matrix for a phase shift. By generalization and extension of the phase-shift-based precoding, a transceiver is more simplified, and a communication efficiency increases.
US07970068B2	Mobile channel estimation for DBV-T COFDM demodulator A channel estimator for use in a DVB-T system is capable of high Doppler performance without incurring restrictive delay spread limitations, in a hardware efficient manner. A first channel impulse response is generated that has ambiguity due to under-sampling in the frequency domain. A filter is then used to filter scattered pilots to generate a mask that is capable of resolving the ambiguities. In at least one approach, a finite impulse response filter is used during the mask generation process to generate a snapshot of the channel frequency response in non-real time. In another approach, an infinite impulse response filter is used during the mask generation process to generate a channel frequency response in real time.
US07970064B2	Transmitter, method for generating a plurality of long preambles and communication device A transmitter that has a determination unit for determining a plurality of symbols (301) such that each symbol (301) has a tail component (302) and the plurality is determined in such a way that the tail components (302) are substantially equal and a tone generation unit for arranging the plurality of symbols (301) to form a plurality of long preambles (300) such that the plurality of long preambles (300) are tone-interleaved.
US07970057B2	Method for scalably encoding and decoding video signal In one embodiment, decoding of a video signal includes predicting at least a portion of a current image in a current layer based on at least an intra-coded portion of a base image in a base layer and shift information for samples in the predicted current image.
US07970056B2	Method and/or apparatus for decoding an intra-only MPEG-2 stream composed of two separate fields encoded as a special frame picture A method for decoding a bitstream comprising the steps of (A) generating a first field picture in response to a frame picture of a first bitstream, (B) generating a second field picture in response to the frame picture of the first bitstream and (C) generating a second bitstream containing the first field picture and the second field picture.
US07970053B2	Method and apparatus for encoding and/or decoding moving pictures A method of encoding moving pictures using a plurality of quantization matrices. The method involves selecting one of the plurality of quantization matrices in consideration of an at least one characteristics of an input image; transforming the input image; and quantizing the transformed input image using the selected quantization matrix.
US07970052B2	Method and apparatus for encoding and/or decoding moving pictures A method of encoding moving pictures using a plurality of quantization matrices. The method involves selecting one of the plurality of quantization matrices in consideration of an at least one characteristics of an input image; transforming the input image; and quantizing the transformed input image using the selected quantization matrix.
US07970043B2	Searcher for multiple orthogonal channels with known data—WCDMA step2 search A circuit and algorithm are disclosed for a step2 search of a three step search of synchronization channels in a W-CDMA system. A mobile terminal of the CDMA system includes an RF downconverter for receiving I and Q signals. A searcher, responsive to the I and Q signals, includes a first correlator for correlating the I and Q signals with a primary synchronization code on a primary synchronization channel, and a second correlator for correlating I and Q signals with a secondary synchronization code on a secondary synchronization channel. The correlated I and Q signals are added for each of the secondary synchronization codes. An energy calculator and a maximum energy detector use the correlated I and Q signals of both the primary and secondary synchronization channels to detect the most likely scrambling code group of secondary synchronization codes.
US07970038B2	Slab laser with stand-off for ceramic spacers An RF excited gas discharge laser is disclosed including a housing holding the lasing gas. An electrode assembly is mounted within the housing. The electrode assembly includes a pair of elongated planar electrodes mounted in face to face relationship with a narrow gap therebetween. A pair of planar dielectric plates are positioned along the side edges of the gap to seal the discharge region. The plates extend part of the way into the gap from both sides edges of the electrodes. The inner surfaces of the electrodes are provided with an opposed trench in the region surrounding the inner edges of the plates. In this way, the exposure of the inner edges of the plates to the discharge is minimized improving performance.
US07970036B2	Organic semiconductor laser and method for producing it An organic semiconductor laser, which is produced integrally with an electrically operable inorganic LED (1), and also the method for producing said laser.
US07970034B2	Laser diode device A laser diode device with which a low voltage is realized is provided. The laser diode device includes: a substrate; a semiconductor laminated structure including a first conductive cladding layer, an active layer, and a second conductive cladding layer on one face side of the substrate and having a contact layer as the uppermost layer, in which a protrusion is formed in the contact layer and the second conductive cladding layer; and an electrode provided on the contact layer. The contact layer has a concavo-convex structure on a face on the electrode side, and the electrode is contacted with the contact layer at contact points of a top face, a side face, and a bottom face of the concavo-convex structure.
US07970028B2	System and methods for speckle reduction A method of operating a laser source comprising is provided. The method reduces speckle contrast in a projected image by creating a plurality of statistically independent speckle patterns. The method comprises generating a plurality of sub-beams that define an optical mode. The method further comprises controlling the phase of selected sub-beams to continuously sequence the laser source through a plurality of orthogonal optical modes. The plurality of orthogonal modes create a corresponding number of statistically independent speckle patterns, thus reducing speckle contrast in a image projected using the laser source by time averaging.
US07970015B2	Method for transmitting a message by compressed data transmission between a sender and a receiver via a data network A method for transmitting a message by compressed data transmission between a sender and a receiver using connectionless or connection oriented protocols. The sender gateway assures that the appropriate handling of the message data is made by knowing the transmission protocol(s) used. T The rules and structures of the protocol(s) must be known to be able to use a compression method ideally suited to the needs of the particular protocol. Both gateways analyze the data stream between sender and receiver, compress outgoing and decompressing incoming data. For connection oriented protocols, differently structured data structures are transmitted during a connection. To distinguish different data structures, the gateway providing for compression examines the data to be transmitted and, by knowing the definition of the protocol used and the state of the machine, it can control the compression to use a file-oriented compression on certain parts of the data stream.
US07970011B2	Apparatus and methods for incorporating bandwidth forecasting and dynamic bandwidth allocation into a broadband communication system A method for providing network access to a shared access communications medium for a plurality of users includes the steps of conducting predictive admission control by arbitrating user requests for access to the shared medium based on predicted aggregate demands, conducting lookahead scheduling for use in making user channel assignments by forecasting schedule transmission opportunities one or more channels of the shared medium, and balancing load by making channel assignments such that a plurality users are each assigned a respective channel of the shared medium based upon a predicted need. Congestion parameters can predicted for each channel of the shared medium and mapped to a congestion measure using a mathematical function that takes into account packet loss rate, packet delay, packet delay jitter, and available capacity.
US07969998B2	Method and system for tunneling data using a management protocol A method and system for providing network management communication between a plurality of network elements are disclosed. A method includes creating a tunnel configured for transmitting data between the network elements and transmitting network management information over the tunnel using a network management protocol. The tunnel passes through a gateway network element configured to communicate with the network elements utilizing the network management protocol.
US07969996B2	Tunneling apparatus and tunnel frame sorting method and its program for use therein The present invention provides a tunneling apparatus which can perform tunneling without requiring the network to be suspended or requiring the existing configuration of a local network to be modified. The frame sorting part 11 determines whether or not a frame input from a local network through a physical interface is an encapsulated tunnel frame. If such frame is a tunnel frame, the frame sorting part 11 outputs such frame to the decapsulation unit of the tunneling part 13. If such frame is not a tunnel frame, the frame sorting part 11 outputs such frame to at least one of the address resolution unit of the kernel part 12 and the encapsulation unit of the tunneling part, based on the characteristics of such frame.
US07969990B2	Routing of data including multimedia between electronic devices Rerouting apparatus for rerouting data including multimedia data. The apparatus is for association with electronic equipment and allows for routing the data to a device regarded as the most convenient for playing the media. The apparatus comprises an announcer device for indicating to surrounding equipment that associated equipment is available for rerouting, thereby to enable receipt of rerouted communications therefrom, and a scout device for scanning surroundings of the associated equipment to find out about compatible equipment in the vicinity, thereby to reroute communications thereto. The apparatus may be attached to any device having data processing capability, to enable rerouting of data and communications therebetween.
US07969988B2	Method and independent communications subnet for determining label-switched routes a communications subnet of this type A method and system are provided for determining label-switched routes between a source router and a target router of an independent communications subnet, over which information packets having a predetermined IP target address are to be transmitted. An independent communications subnet suitable for implementing the method as well as to routers used therein also is provided. In an embodiment, the label-distributing multi-protocol, hitherto only used in IP backbone networks, is coupled with an internal subnet route protocol that is used in independent communications subnets so as to be able to design a more efficient and faster routing of information packets over different route topologies in an independent communications.
US07969986B2	Method and device for using a data object representing a user in a distributed communication network A method and device are provided for conducting a media communication session with at least one user presented by at least one data object, where the data object resides at a plurality of platforms associated with a distributed IP communication network. The media communication session is established following the initiation of a request to establish that session, where the request identifies the at least one data object but does not specify any communication device through which that media communication session will be established.
US07969982B2	Method and device for processing real-time data A method and a device are disclosed for processing data packets which comprise real-time data packets. The data packets are classified first by a co-processor unit into at least one first data packet type comprising real-time data packets, and a second data packet type. The data packets of the first data packet type are processed via a first data path with a further co-processor unit while the data packets of the second data packet type are processed via a second data path which comprises a main processor unit. Thus real-time data packets are processed without using the main processor unit.
US07969974B2	System and method for providing a multipath switchover between redundant streams A method is provided in one example embodiment and it includes receiving a first plurality of packets from an active stream at an output device and communicating the first plurality of packets to a next destination. The method also includes receiving a second plurality of packets from a standby stream of the output device, the streams are sent by an input device. The method further includes performing a switchover at the output device such that the second plurality of packets is communicated to the next destination and the first plurality of packets is not. The switchover is triggered when a portion of the first plurality of the packets from the active stream is not received during a period of time that is greater than a majority of inter-arrival times of the second plurality of packets on the standby stream.
US07969966B2	System and method for port mapping in a communications network switch System and method for implementing a port mapping technique in a switch of a communications network, wherein the switch includes a plurality of ports including user ports and network ports, are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises identifying a first portion of the ports as user ports; identifying a second portion of the ports as network ports; assigning a plurality of the user ports to a first session; and preventing user ports assigned to the first session from interacting with one another.
US07969964B2	Cell search method, forward link frame transmission method, apparatus using the same and forward link frame structure In a cellular system in which OFDM is used, a forward link synchronization channel, a common pilot channel structure, an initial cell searching method of a mobile station, and an adjacent cell searching method for handover are required.A method of transmitting a forward synchronization signal in a wireless communication system according to the present invention includes generating a frame comprised of a plurality of sync blocks; and transmitting the frame through a forward link, wherein the frame comprises primary synchronization channel sequences which provide timing information of the sync blocks and a plurality of secondary synchronization channel sequences which provide timing information of the frame, wherein a cell identifier is specified by a combination of the primary synchronization channel sequence and a hopping code word specified by the plurality of the secondary synchronization channel sequences. Therefore, the cell searching time can be efficiently reduced in an OFDM system.
US07969955B2	Method and device for multimedia multicast transmission over a wireless network A system and a method for multimedia multicast transmission in a mobile wireless network are proposed, which can be applied in a multiple-antenna system as well as a single antenna system. The basic message and additional message are transmitted at the same time. Receivers with different capability also with different complexities are used to demodulate different message. In order to design low-complexity receiver, the signal can be demodulated noncoherently for multimedia transmission.
US07969951B2	Power-saving wireless network, packet transmitting method for use in the wireless network and computer readable media A power-saving wireless network, a packet transmitting method for use in the wireless network, and computer readable medium therefor are provided. The wireless network comprises a PAN coordinator, a receiving node and a transferring node. When the transmitting node has a packet planed to be transmitted to the receiving node which is in a sleep mode, the packet is alternatively transmitted to the PAN coordinator. As soon as the receiving node wakes from the sleep mode, all packets are transmitted to the receiving node from the PAN coordinator. After the packets are all successfully transmitted, the receiving node turns back to the sleep mode subsequently. Thereby, the performance of the wireless network would not be restricted to the sleep period and memory capacity. Thus, the nodes in the wireless network would greatly facilitate saving power.
US07969947B2	Mobile TV broadcast systems and methods based on TD-SCDMA network A mobile TV broadcast system based on TD-SCDMA network is disclosed herein.
US07969944B2	Hand over method for dual band/dual mode mobile communication terminal The handover method includes the steps of the base stations of the synchronous mobile communication network transmitting dummy pilot signals for the asynchronous mobile communication network, the mobile communication terminal, for which call connection with the asynchronous mobile communication network is performed through the asynchronous wireless device, determining whether the dummy pilot signals for the asynchronous mobile communication network have been received through the asynchronous wireless device; the mobile communication terminal requesting handover from the asynchronous mobile communication network if it is determined that the dummy pilot signals for the asynchronous mobile communication network have been received; and the asynchronous mobile communication network determining that handover is possible, notifying the mobile communication terminal of the determination that handover is possible, and the asynchronous mobile communication network requesting handover to the synchronous mobile communication network, thus performing handover.
US07969935B2	Transparent broadcast structure in communication systems A broadcast channel, such as a broadcast control channel that carries a short message service, in a GSM/EDGE or similar communication system can be extended with additional timeslots. These additional timeslots can be pointed out in a tree structure, the root of which is in the SMS broadcast channel. The extended broadcast channel can be used for broadcast-like services provided under a multimedia broadcast/multicast service.
US07969930B2	Apparatus, system and method for managing wireless local area network service based on a location of a multi-mode portable communication device A wireless access point monitors a wireless wide area network (WWAN) reverse link (RL) channel assigned to a multi-mode wireless communication device identified by a wireless wide area network (WWAN) as positioned proximate a geographical area at least partially including a wireless local area network (WLAN) service area of the access point. The access point sends a device proximity message to the WWAN based on a WWAN RL signal transmitted by the multi-mode wireless communication device and received at the access point. The device proximity message may indicate a request to perform a WLAN acquisition procedure to establish WLAN service from the access point.
US07969926B2	System and method for transmitting/receiving signal in a communication system A system and method for transmitting and receiving signals in a communication system are provided, in which a BS communicates with a first MS located within an inner area of a cell during first and second time periods in TDD and communicates with a second MS located within an outer area of the cell during the first time period in FDD, and an RS detects signals transmitted between the BS and the second MS during the first time period and transmits the detected signals simultaneously to the BS and the second MS during the second time period.
US07969913B2	Localization apparatus for recognizing location of node in sensor network and method thereof Provided are a localization apparatus for recognizing a location of a node in a sensor network and a method thereof. The method includes the steps of: a) selecting reference nodes from a plurality of anchor nodes to be used for triangulation; and b) obtaining location information of a target node by performing triangulation using the selected reference node, wherein in the step a), the reference nodes are selected by removing anchor nodes having obstacle factor from a plurality of the anchor nodes where the obstacle factor causes error in a distance measured by the target node.
US07969909B2	System and method for seeking a wireless network for a wireless device The invention relates to a system and method for initiating a command relating to one network that an electronic communication device may be in communication with, depending on triggering conditions relating to another network that the device may be in communication with. In the method, the device initiates a command relating to a network for a communication device only after satisfaction of a predetermined condition relating to another network. The network may be a 802.11a network; the another network may be a non-802.11a network; the predetermined condition may be detection of a connection to the non-802.11a network; and the command may be to initiate monitoring for a connection to the 802.11a network.
US07969904B2	Packet transmission scheduling technique A packet data transmission method of the HSDPA system includes collecting information on the quality of physical channels, a status of the MAC buffer, the priority level of data, the delay of data, and the like, determining the transmission order of data and the size of a data block to be transmitted based on the collected information, and transmitting the data block through the physical layer according to the order of transmissions. Since the HSDPA scheduler takes into account the delay of data, the quality of real-time services can be improved.
US07969903B2	Method, apparatus and system for hybrid-multiplexing and demultiplexing This invention discloses method, apparatus and system for hybrid-multiplexing and demultiplexing. The technical solution of the present invention obtains a corresponding preset frame structure parameter set in accordance with specific circumstances of the current link bandwidth, and hybrid-multiplexes byte streams of received services in accordance with the frame structure parameter set to form a multiplexed frame adapted to the current link bandwidth, so as to achieve the objective of making full use of the link bandwidth. Moreover, when the bandwidth of the physical link varies due to switching of modulation modes on the physical link, the hybrid-multiplexing apparatus adaptively changes the frame structure of the multiplexed frame without breaking off the service. In other words, the hybrid-multiplexing method supports ACM switching.
US07969893B2	List-based alerting in traffic monitoring A technique for identifying deviations in patterns of data traffic between host devices communicating over a network involves establishing a baseline traffic distribution by categorizing data traffic during a learning period. The baseline traffic distribution includes a list of categories and a metric value and a measure of variability of the metric value for each category in the list. An observed traffic distribution is generated by categorizing data traffic during an observation period. The observed traffic distribution includes a list of categories and a metric value associated with each category in the list. An alarm is generated in response to at least one of the metric values of the categories of the observed traffic distribution deviating significantly from the corresponding metric value in the baseline traffic distribution based on a pair-wise comparison of the observed metric values with respective thresholds established for corresponding categories of the baseline traffic distribution.
US07969890B2	Methods, systems, and computer program products for load balanced and symmetric path computations for VoIP traffic engineering The subject matter described herein includes methods, systems, and computer program products for load balanced and symmetric SPF path computations for VoIP traffic engineering. One method includes advertising an output interface cost in a first direction over a first network segment between a source IP device and a destination IP device that is different from an output interface cost in advertised in a second direction over the first network segment. A plurality of available network paths between the source IP device and the destination IP device is identified. A path cost is calculated for each of the available network paths from the source IP device to the destination IP device. Calculating a path cost includes, for paths that include the first network segment, substituting the output interface cost advertised in the first direction with the output interface cost advertised in the second direction. The path costs are ranked based on the calculated costs. A lowest cost path is selected from the ranked paths. Both directions of a media session are assigned to the lowest cost path.
US07969880B2	Device and method for relaying packets Computing process with a computational expression is executed using seed information including at least one of destination information and source information associated with a received packet. It is preferable to select a physical port for transmission of the received packet based on the result of the computation. It is also preferable to select a port group for transmission of the received packet based on the result of the computation. Here, the computational expression is capable of being modified. Meanwhile, the physical port for transmission of the received packet is selected from a plurality of candidate ports among the plurality of physical ports. The port group for transmission of the received packet is selected from among a plurality of port groups including a mutually different candidate port.
US07969878B2	Quality guarantee for real-time applications over shared networks A shared wireless channel may serve real-time traffic and non-real-time traffic. Depending on channel conditions, the real-time traffic may experience variable levels of quality. The present invention contemplates systems and methods for guaranteeing bounded access time for real-time applications in a shared wireless network in the presence of non-real-time traffic. The systems and methods provide mechanisms to adapt to changing characteristics of wireless channels and to maximize throughput of non-real-time traffic while preserving the quality of real-time applications. The systems and methods may be extended generally to provide adaptive control over the delivery of multiple classes of traffic to protect the quality of critical applications over a shared transmission medium, including IEEE 802.11 networks, IEEE 802.16 networks, and DOCSIS networks.
US07969873B2	Data transmission scheme with scheduling optimization for physical channel group A novel apparatus for and a method of optimized data transmission whereby an input data stream is distributed over a plurality of physical channels within a logical channel group. Transmission of data over the channel group appears as transmission over a single logical channel having a bandwidth approximately equal to the sum of the physical channel bandwidths. The physical channels making up the logical channel group may have different bandwidth capacities. The method of data unit distribution among a plurality of physical channels generates several transmission plans for scheduling data units, which may have difference lengths, over the physical channels where the data stream is composed of data units from different sessions. A best plan according to one or more optimization criteria is selected and used for distribution of the data units. The original order of transmission of the data units can be reproduced for each data session at the receiving side without the need for additional fields or modification of existing fields of the data units.
US07969871B2	Communication control apparatus, communication control method, recording medium storing communication control program A communication control apparatus has a setting unit for setting a receiving filter for discarding a broadcast frame received continuously not less than a predetermined threshold during a predetermined N number of time slots.The apparatus has a storage unit for canceling the set receiving filter when receiving the broadcast frame less than the threshold at N+1st time slot after the continuous reception at the N times, and storing the cancellation of the receiving filter. The apparatus has a control unit for not discarding the broadcast frame when the broadcast frame not less than the threshold is received at N+2nd time slot after the N+1st time slot and the cancellation of the receiving frame is stored.
US07969869B2	Method and apparatus for failure resilient forwarding of data over a computer network In one embodiment, a method and an apparatus for failure-resilient forwarding of data over a computer network include introducing a marker into the data stream, e.g., at the sending node, and allowing, in turn, forwarding nodes and/or receivers to efficiently track data stream reception. The marker functions as a checkpoint for the data transport process, and is identified and indexed at each forwarding node and receiver. Each receiver saves the marker prior to delivering data to an application, thereby designating a point in the data stream at which all preceding data is confirmed to have been delivered to the application. Thus, if a forwarding node fails, the receiver may request stream data from an alternate forwarding node by specifying to the alternate forwarding node to provide data starting from the marker.
US07969863B2	Directed cost protocol One embodiment disclosed relates to a method of cost determination for paths between switches in a mesh. A set of paths between each pair of the mesh switches is defined, and start-up costs for the paths are calculated. The costs for the previously defined paths are subsequently recalculated using a directed cost protocol. The directed cost protocol may include generating at a first switch a cost packet with path information associated with a specific path, and unlasting the cost packet via the specific path to a second switch.
US07969861B2	Method of transmitting control signals in wireless communication system A method of transmitting control signals in a wireless communication system is provided. The method comprises allocating at least one control signal in a control channel region comprising a plurality of tiles, each tile consisting of a plurality of consecutive subcarriers in a frequency domain on a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a time domain and transmitting the at least one control signal, wherein the number of the at least one control signal is determined based on the number of available sequences for the control channel region and the number of bit carried by each control signal.
US07969856B2	Optical encoding disc having light converging portions and light diverging portions An exemplary optical encoding disc includes a plurality of concentric annular tracks. Each track includes a plurality of coding units. Each coding unit includes a light converging portion and a light diverging portion. The light converging portions and the light diverging portions are arranged alternately along a circumferential direction of the optical encoding disc.
US07969849B2	Method of reading a fourier hologram recorded on a holographic storage medium and a holographic storage system The invention relates to a method for reading a Fourier hologram recorded on a holographic storage medium with a holographic storage system. The method comprises the steps of: —calculating a characteristic value from a detected image of a reconstructed Fourier hologram in at least two relative positions of a reference beam and said storage medium, each of the characteristic values being indicative of a misalignment of the reference beam and said storage medium at the respective relative position, —calculating a servo value from the measured characteristic values, —determining an aligned relative position of said reference beam and said storage medium by means of a predetermined servo function using the calculated servo value, —setting the relative position of the reference beam and said storage medium to said aligned relative position, and—detecting an image at said aligned relative position. The invention also relates to a holographic storage system for reading a Fourier hologram recorded on a holographic storage medium, said system comprising reference beam generating means, storage medium receiving means and a detector for detecting a reconstructed hologram. The system further comprises a servo control unit for executing the method according to the invention.
US07969841B2	Method and apparatus for recording management information medium and the recording medium The write-once recording medium has a data structure for managing temporary defect management areas, TDMAs, of the recording medium, where each TDMA is for at least storing temporary defect management information. In one embodiment, the recording medium includes a TDMA access indicator, TAI, area for selectively storing data indicating which one of the TDMAs is currently in use.
US07969839B2	Apparatus and method for detecting an optimal writing power A method and apparatus for accomplishing an OPC (optimal power calibration) at a test area secured in data recording area of a writable optical recording medium and detecting an optimal writing power appropriate to the test area. The method searches for a marginal area adjacent to a data section recorded on an optical recording medium, records test data on the marginal area discovered in the searching step while changing a writing power; and reproduces the test data recorded on the marginal area and determining an optimal writing power based upon the characteristics of the reproduction signal. The method and system can reduce delay time required to move an optical pickup inward and outward to accomplish the OPC operation and enhances writing characteristics since an optimal writing power is obtained from a test area which is very close to data area to record input data.
US07969836B2	Optical pickup apparatus An optical pickup apparatus reads an information signal recorded on a recording surface of an optical disk along a track by projecting a light beam. Said optical pickup apparatus has: an objective lens for converging said light beam onto said recording surface; an objective lens moving device for moving said objective lens in a radial direction of said optical disk; and a divisional photosensing device for receiving return light reflected by said optical disk, in a plurality of divided regions. Said divisional photosensing device has: a first divisional photosensing device for dividing a first region including both edge portions in said radial direction of said return light, in two divided areas in said radial direction; a second divisional photosensing device for receiving a second region including both edge portions in a direction which perpendicularly crosses said radial direction of said return light, in two divided areas in said radial direction; and a third divisional photosensing device for receiving a third region including an almost center portion of said return light, in two divided areas in said radial direction.
US07969824B2	Timepiece movement for driving a display element along a complex path and timepiece comprising such a movement A timepiece, includes a frame supporting a drive element, a time base and drive trains pivotably mounted on the frame and arranged so as to drive at least one display train intended to carry an element displaying information, such as the time. The movement also includes a fixed gear, firmly attached to the frame, with which a toothed element of the display train is arranged to mesh, and a drive element having first and second kinematic links, respectively, with one of the drive trains and with the toothed element so as to drive the latter in translation in a first direction along the fixed gear. Preferably, the drive element is embodied in the form of a deformable element, and the movement also includes a retrograde mechanism for driving the toothed element rapidly in the opposite direction by means of the drive element.
US07969819B2	Method for taking time-synchronized seismic measurements A method for taking seismic measurements that includes a downhole sensor positionable within a tool string located within the bore of a well, the tool string having a network which effects communication with a downhole sensor. The downhole sensor includes a downhole clock that may be placed in communication over the network with the top-hole clock for synchronization. A seismic source is positioned within a transmitting distance of the downhole sensor and activated at a time when the network is disconnected. The downhole sensor records signals from the seismic source at along with a downhole timestamp from the downhole clock. When the network is reconnected, the downhole clock and the top-hole clock are re-synchronized and any downhole clock drift is calculated. The recorded downhole timestamp may then be adjusted to reflect what it would have been if the downhole clock had been synchronized with the top-hole clock.
US07969817B2	Ocean bottom seismic station Methods and apparatus for cable termination and sensor integration at a sensor station within an ocean bottom seismic (OBS) cable array are disclosed. The sensor stations include a housing for various sensor components. Additionally, the sensor stations can accommodate an excess length of any data transmission members which may not be cut at the sensor station while enabling connection of one or more cut data transmission members with the sensor components. The sensor stations further manage any strength elements of the cable array.
US07969811B2	Semiconductor memory device highly integrated in direction of columns First and second read word lines are provided in each set made of two adjacent rows. First, second, third, and fourth read bit lines are provided in each column. Each of the first and second read word lines is connected to memory cells in a corresponding one of the sets. Each of the first and third read bit lines is connected to a memory cell in one row in each of the sets, out of memory cells in a corresponding one of the columns. Each of the second and fourth read bit lines is connected to a memory cell in the other row in each of the sets, out of the memory cells in the corresponding one of the columns.
US07969810B2	256 Meg dynamic random access memory A 256 Meg dynamic random access memory is comprised of a plurality of cells organized into individual arrays, with the arrays being organized into 32 Meg array blocks, which are organized into 64 Meg quadrants. Sense amplifiers are positioned between adjacent rows in the individual arrays while row decoders are positioned between adjacent columns in the individual arrays. In certain of the gap cells, multiplexers are provided to transfer signals from I/O lines to datalines. A data path is provided which, in addition to the foregoing, includes array I/O blocks, responsive to the datalines from each quadrant to output data to a data read mux, data buffers, and data driver pads. The write data path includes a data in buffer and data write muxes for providing data to the array I/O blocks. A power bus is provided which minimizes routing of externally supplied voltages, completely rings each of the array blocks, and provides gridded power distribution within each of the array blocks. A plurality of voltage supplies provide the voltages needed in the array and in the peripheral circuits. The power supplies are organized to match their power output to the power demand and to maintain a desired ratio of power production capability and decoupling capacitance. A powerup sequence circuit is provided to control the powerup of the chip. Redundant rows and columns are provided as is the circuitry necessary to logically replace defective rows and columns with operational rows and columns. Circuitry is also provided on chip to support various types of test modes.
US07969800B2	Semiconductor memory apparatus A semiconductor memory apparatus includes a row path activating unit configured to generate a line connection control signal according to a received address and active command. The semiconductor memory apparatus also includes a cell array circuit unit including an input/output line switch for connecting a first input/output line in a cell block and a second input/output line extending to the outside of the cell block. The cell array also including a bit line switch for connecting a bit line pair to each other. The input/output line switch and the bit line switch are further controlled by the line connection control signal from the row path activating unit.
US07969796B2	High voltage generating circuit and semiconductor memory device having the same and method thereof A high voltage generating circuit may include a pulse signal generator, a counter, a plurality of transmitters, and/or a plurality of pumpers. The pulse signal generator may be configured to be enabled in response to a refresh command signal to output a pulse signal. The counter may be configured to count the pulse signal and sequentially output a plurality of selection signals. The plurality of transmitters may be configured to be sequentially enabled in response to individual selection signals of the plurality of selection signals to transmit the pulse signal. The plurality of pumpers may correspond to the plurality of transmitters. Each of the plurality of pumpers may be configured to collectively generate a high voltage based on the transmitted pulse signal from a corresponding transmitter of the plurality of transmitters.
US07969792B2	Data strobe clock buffer in semiconductor memory apparatus, method of controlling the same, and semiconductor apparatus having the same A data strobe clock buffer of a semiconductor memory apparatus includes a buffering block configured to buffer an external data strobe clock signal in response to a buffer enable signal to generate an internal data strobe clock signal, a timing discriminating block configured to discriminate toggle timing of the internal data strobe clock signal in response to a burst start signal and a burst length signal to generate a timing discrimination signal, and an enable controlling block configured to generate the buffer enable signal in response to the timing discrimination signal.
US07969788B2	Charge loss compensation methods and apparatus Methods and apparatus for compensating for charge loss in memories include tracking a specific block of the main memory array and determining charge loss compensation by comparing pre-cycled and post-cycled mean threshold voltages for the tracking block; or tracking each block of the main memory and determining charge loss and compensation on a block by block basis.
US07969784B2	Nonvolatile semiconductor memory having plural data storage portions for a bit line connected to memory cells Data having three values or more is stored in a memory cell in a nonvolatile manner. A data circuit has a plurality of storage circuits. One of the plurality of storage circuits is a latch circuit. Another one of the plurality of storage circuits is a capacitor. The latch circuit and the capacitor function to temporarily store program/read data having two bits or more. Data held by the capacitor is refreshed using the latch circuit if data variation due to leakage causes a program. As a result, the data circuit does not become large in size even if multi-level data is used.
US07969781B2	Method of controlling memory system A memory unit includes a plurality of first blocks each having a first block size. Each of the first blocks stores data of a plurality of second blocks each having a second block size which is smaller than the first block size. A control unit writes the data of the second block in the first block. The control unit is configured such that in a case where the second block to be written is a block that is to be written in the same first block as the second block that is already written in the first block, the second block to be written is written in the same first block even if an address of the second block to be written is not consecutive to an address of the second block that is already written in the first block.
US07969772B2	Magnetic mechanical switch A method and apparatus for managing data, particularly in regard to non-volatile memory cells. In some embodiments, at least two actuating conductors are at least partially surrounded by a main ferromagnetic core and an adjacent hard magnet. When current is conducted through the actuating conductors, a flexible beam is induced to traverse a first air gap that defines a high resistance position and a low resistance position.
US07969769B2	Multi-terminal chalcogenide logic circuits Logic circuits are disclosed that include one or more three-terminal chalcogenide devices. The three-terminal chalcogenide devices are electrically interconnected and configured to perform one or more logic operations, including AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR, and XNOR. Embodiments include series and parallel configurations of three-terminal chalcogenide devices. The chalcogenide devices include a chalcogenide switching material as the working medium along with three electrical terminals in electrical communication therewith.In one embodiment, the circuits include one or more input terminals, one or more output terminals, and a clock terminal. The input terminals receive one or more input signals and deliver them to the circuit for processing according to a logic operation. Upon conclusion of processing, the output of the circuit is provided to the output terminal. The clock terminal delivers a clock signal to facilitate operation of the three-terminal devices included in the instant circuits. In one embodiment, the clock signal includes an ON cycle and an OFF cycle, where the circuit performs a logic operation during the ON cycle and any three-terminal devices that are switched to the conductive state during the ON cycle are returned to their resistive state during the OFF cycle.
US07969768B2	Magnetic random access memory A magnetic random access memory of an aspect of the present invention including a magnetoresistive effect element having a fixed layer whose magnetization direction is fixed, a recording layer whose magnetization direction is reversible, and a non-magnetic layer provided between the fixed and recording layers, wherein the magnetization directions of the fixed and recording layers are in a parallel state or in an anti-parallel state depending on a direction of a current flowing between the fixed and recording layers, a first transistor having a gate and a first current path having one end connected to the fixed layer, a second transistor having a gate and a second current path having one end connected to the recording layer, a first bit line to which other end of the first current path is connected, and a second bit line to which other end of the second current path is connected.
US07969757B2	Apparatus providing bias to solar cells Solar panels of certain technologies may experience a degradation of their efficiency as a result of exposure to sunlight, either prior to installation or during normal operation. A direct current to pulse amplitude modulated (“PAM”) current converter, denominated a “PAMCC”, is connected to the solar panel and to a source of alternating current. The PAMCC receives direct current from the solar panel and provides pulse amplitude modulated current at its output terminals at such times that the solar panel is capable to provide current, denominated “normal operation”. The PAMCC may be reconfigured to form a buck converter and a rectifier wherein the rectifier converts power received at the output (during normal operation) terminals to provide rectified, direct current to the buck converter. The buck converter provides direct current in the forward biased direction to the solar panel, thereby reconditioning the solar panel. Alternating current received at the output terminals of the PAMCC may be provided by an electric grid or by other means, such as other solar power converters.
US07969755B2	Apparatus for electrical power transmission A device for the transmission of electrical energy includes at least one current converter. Each current converter has phase elements with respective arrangements of circuit elements that comprise at least two switchable power semiconductors each and at least two free-wheeling diodes, each connected in parallel thereto, and energy storing means. The transfer properties in or between power distribution networks are improved with the novel device. The device is provided with means for controlling the current converter in such a manner that the zero crossing, the amplitude and/or the instantaneous values of an alternating current of a transfer network that can be connected to the device and/or the direct current of a direct current line that connects at least one current converter to a direct current source, and/or the direct voltage and the direct current of at least three interconnected current converters can be controlled.
US07969750B2	Electrical enclosure and support assembly therefor A support assembly is provided for supporting an electrical enclosure with respect to an electrical busway and with respect to a support structure, such as a wall, which is disposed proximate to the electrical busway. The support assembly includes at least one mounting assembly having a plurality of mounting elements. A first one of the mounting elements is coupled to the electrical enclosure. A second different one of the mounting elements is coupled to the support structure. A number of coupling assemblies interconnect the mounting elements. The first one of the mounting elements is movable with respect to the second different one of the mounting elements, in order to enable the electrical enclosure to move with the electrical busway and with respect to the support structure.
US07969724B2	Data storage assembly A data storage assembly includes a bracket, a data storage device, a driving member and a locking member. The bracket includes a sidewall. The data storage device is moveably received in the bracket along a first direction parallel to the sidewall. The driving member is moveable along the first direction and includes a driving portion. The locking member includes a resisting portion corresponding to the driving portion of the driving member. The driving portion is capable of urging the resisting portion to move the locking member along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The storage device is secured in the bracket in a locking position along a first direction by the locking member.
US07969721B2	Portable computer A portable computer includes a host, a display portion and a plurality of functional modules. The display portion is pivotally connected with the host and has an accommodation concave space. Each of the functional modules has the same connecting structure to be engaged within the accommodation concave space. Either one of the functional modules is installed within the accommodation concave space.
US07969716B2	Sliding-type portable electronic device A sliding-type portable electronic device comprises a first body; a second body, a sliding mechanism and a rotating component. The sliding mechanism is secured on the second body and slidably assembled on the first body. The rotating component is rotatably assembled in the first body. The sliding mechanism slides in the first body and hits the rotating component. The sliding mechanism can hit the rotating component to make a silvery sound, thereby enhancing entertainment and personalization of the portable electronic device.
US07969712B2	Power integrity circuits with EMI benefits A stable power, low electromagnetic interference (EMI) apparatus and method for connecting electronic devices and circuit boards is disclosed. The apparatus involves a capacitor which includes a body member, a set of power terminals and a set of ground terminals connected to the top of the body member. The set of power terminals and the set of ground terminals alternate one with another. As a result of this configuration, a high inductance on the PCB side is achieved. The capacitor further includes a set of terminals connected to the bottom of the body member and includes metal planes within the body member. The metal planes are positioned to electrically connect either the set of power terminals or the set of ground terminals to the set of terminals.
US07969710B2	Solid electrolytic capacitor and method of manufacturing the same Provided is a solid electrolytic capacitor including a capacitor element with a positive polarity; an anode wire of which one side is inserted into the capacitor element and the other side projects outward from the capacitor element; a cathode extraction layer formed on the capacitor element; a plurality of conductive bumps formed on the cathode extraction layer; an anode lead frame fixed to the side of the capacitor element, where the anode wire projects outward, and having an insertion portion into which the projecting end of the anode wire is inserted; a molding portion formed to surround the capacitor element and exposing the projecting end of the anode wire, the outer surface of the anode lead frame, and ends of the conductive bumps; an anode lead terminal provided on the molding portion so as to be electrically connected to the exposed end of the anode wire and the anode lead frame; and a cathode lead terminal provided on the molding portion so as to be electrically connected to the exposed ends of the conductive bumps.
US07969703B2	Overcurrent protection circuit and voltage regulator incorporating same An overcurrent protection circuit includes a current limiter and a status detector, and a voltage regulator includes an output transistor. The output transistor is configured to regulate a voltage input to an input terminal to output a given constant voltage from an output terminal, while passing a current from the input terminal to the output terminal according to a control signal applied thereto. The current limiter reduces the current passed through the output transistor when the passed current exceeds a given current limit. The status detector is configured to generate a status signal indicating operation of the current limiter. A constant voltage regulator incorporating the overcurrent protection circuit is also disclosed.
US07969697B2	Low-voltage CMOS space-efficient 15 KV ESD protection for common-mode high-voltage receivers An electrostatic discharge protection device is disposed between true-complement input pins of a differential signal pair and a ground node. A common node couples the three diode stacks together. A first and a second diode stack each connect to one of the differential signal pair input pins. The third diode stack couples to the ground node. Each of the diode stacks is fabricated by a pair of high concentration p-type contact dopant regions within a low concentration n-well region. Each of the p-type contact dopant regions is configured to form back-to-back diodes connected in series with cathodes in common. In protecting common mode receivers, current from an ESD event is channeled to ground rather than to the complementary receiver node. The diode stacks are capable of withstanding a 15 kV incident and save up to 25% in area compared to a fully parallel configuration for differential signal pairs.
US07969683B2	Write first design for a perpendicular thin film head A magnetic head structure for perpendicular recording and reading. The head structure includes a write head portion for writing data to magnetic media via lines of flux oriented substantially perpendicular to a surface of the media facing the write head portion. The write head portion includes a first pole piece having a first pole tip, a probe pole piece with a probe pole tip for emitting magnetic flux, an insulation stack positioned between the pole pieces, and one or more write coils embedded in the insulation stack. A read head portion that has been fabricated after the write head portion is coupled to the write head portion.
US07969682B2	Head control device, storage device, and maximum power determining method A signal-level calculating unit calculates a signal level based on a gain signal. A sample generating unit associates heater power with the signal level and generates samples used for determining the maximum power. An approximation-line determining unit determines an approximation line of the samples in a two-dimensional coordinate system. A line shifting unit shifts the approximation line and determines a line for determining a signal level when the heater power is increased by one step. A comparative-value calculating unit calculates a comparative value based on the line. An upper-limit determining unit compares the comparative value and an actual signal level, and determines whether the heater power has reached the maximum power.
US07969678B2	Magnetic disk drive having assisted recording and methods of recording data thereto In one embodiment, a magnetic disk drive includes a magnetic disk, a head slider for flying above the spinning magnetic disk, a pattern analyzer for analyzing a data pattern of data to be recorded on the magnetic disk to determine a recording current reversal timing and a recording assistance area in accordance with the analysis so that the rear end of the determined recording assistance area is shifted forward if the determined recording current reversal timing is earlier than a criterion, or the rear end of the determined recording assistance area is shifted backward if the determined recording current reversal timing is later than the criterion, a recording assistance element on the slider for forming the determined recording assistance area on the magnetic disk, and a recording element for recording the data on the magnetic disk using the recording current in accordance with the determined recording current reversal timing.
US07969677B2	Write driver monitoring and detection Electronic circuitry and methods are disclosed for monitoring a portion of a write driver, for example, a steady state value of a write driver of a hard disk drive preamplifier. Based on a result of the monitoring, a condition, such as a fault, can be detected in the write driver. For example, apparatus for monitoring a write driver of a disk drive system comprises a comparator circuit coupled to an output of the write driver and configured to compare a value present at the output of the write driver with a reference value such that at least one condition associated with the write driver is detectable as a result of the comparison of the write driver output value and the reference value.
US07969673B2	Night vision instrument focus device Provided is a device for improving the focus of an object viewed using a night vision instrument.
US07969667B2	Lens assembly A lens assembly comprises a lens group M and a lens frame 1 for retaining the lens group M. In this lens assembly, the lens frame 1 has an entire circumference support 2b for supporting the rim on the subject side, of each lens M, across the entire circumference thereof, and an end face support 2a for supporting the lens M on the image side. Each lens M comprises a chamfer 3b formed at a rim of a lens surface on the subject side across the entire circumference thereof, and the entire circumference support 2b supports the chamfer 3b such that the entire circumference support 2b is continuous with the lens surface at substantially the same radius of curvature with the lens surface. According to the present invention, there is provided a lens assembly which can reduce size and cost and has stable lens retaining ability.
US07969661B2	Wide angle zoom lens and image pickup device using the same A wide angle zoom lens, includes, from an object side in the following order: a first lens group that has a negative refractive power; a second lens group that has a positive refractive power; and a third lens group. When variable magnification is carried out from a wide angle end to a telephoto end, the first and second lens groups move while the third lens group remains fixed, so that an air space between the first lens group and the second lens group becomes narrow and that a space between the second lens group and the third lens group becomes wide. The first and second lens groups each include at least one positive lens and one negative lens. The third lens group includes one positive or negative meniscus lens whose convex surface faces an image surface. The following conditional expressions (1) and (2) are satisfied: 1.4≦\|f1\|/fw≦1.8 (1); and 1.7≦f2/fw≦2.1 (2) where f1 is a focal length of the first lens group of the wide angle zoom lens; f2 is a focal length of the second lens group of the wide angle zoom lens; and fw is a focal length of the entire system at the wide angle end of the wide angle zoom lens.
US07969658B2	Eyepiece optical system and electronic view finder incorporating the same The invention relates to an eyepiece optical system that, albeit being of small size, works in favor of gaining an angle of field and optical performance, and an electronic view finder incorporating such an eyepiece optical system. Specifically, the invention is characterized by comprising, in order from an object side to an exit side thereof, a first lens group that is a single lens that has positive refracting power and is in a meniscus configuration concave on its object side, a second lens group that is a single lens that has negative refracting power and is in a meniscus configuration concave on its object side, and a third lens group that is a single lens that has positive refracting power, wherein an object-side concave lens surface in the first lens group is an aspheric surface, an object-side concave lens surface in the second lens group is an aspheric surface, and an exit-side lens surface in the third lens group is an aspheric surface.Alternatively, the eyepiece optical system is characterized by comprising a first lens group having a curved refractive surface, and a rear lens group having positive refracting power, wherein while the first lens group remains fixed, the rear lens group moves along an optical axis with satisfaction of given conditions, thereby implementing diopter adjustment.
US07969655B2	Prism sheet An exemplary prism sheet includes a transparent main body. The transparent main body includes a first surface and a second surface. The first surface and the second surface are on opposite sides of the main body. The first surface of transparent main body defines a plurality of spherical depressions. The second surface defines a plurality of rectangular structures. Each rectangular structure defines four adjacent triangular pyramid depressions.
US07969649B2	Controller which controls a variable optical attenuator to control the power level of a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal when the number of channels are varied An optical amplifying apparatus which includes an optical amplifier, an optical attenuator and a controller. The optical amplifier amplifies a light signal having a variable number of channels. The optical attenuator passes the amplified light signal and has a variable light transmissivity. Prior to varying the number of channels in the light signal, the controller varies the light transmissivity of the optical attenuator so that a power level of the amplified light signal is maintained at an approximately constant level that depends on the number of channels in the light signal prior to the varying the number of channels. While the number of channels in the light signal is being varied, the controller maintains the light transmissivity of the optical attenuator to be constant. Subsequent to varying the number of channels in the light signal, the controller varies the light transmissivity of the optical attenuator so that a power level of the amplified light signal is maintained at an approximately constant level that depends on the number of channels in the light signal subsequent to the varying the number of channels.
US07969648B2	Gain and signal level adjustments of cascaded optical amplifiers An optical amplification device which includes first and second optical amplifiers, and a controller. The first optical amplifier receives a light and amplifies the received light. The second optical amplifier receives the light amplified by the first optical amplifier, and amplifies the received light. When a level of the light received by the first optical amplifier changes by Δ, the controller controls a level of the light received by the second optical amplifier to change by approximately −Δ. In various embodiments, the controller causes the sum of the gains of the first and second optical amplifiers to be constant. In other embodiments, the optical amplification device includes first and second optical amplifier and a gain adjustor. The gain adjustor detects a deviation in gain of the first optical amplifier from a target gain, and adjusts the gain of the second optical amplifier to compensate for the detected deviation.
US07969646B2	Display system The present invention relates to a display system based on photon energy up-conversion.
US07969644B2	System and method for despeckling an image illuminated by a coherent light source A method and system for reducing speckle in an image produced from a coherent source of radiation is provided. The method includes coupling a source beam received from a coherent optical source into an optical fiber. A position of at least a portion of the fiber may be modulated using a ditherer. The source beam may be refracted by a lens after it is decoupled from the optical fiber, such that the source beam is aimed at a microlens diffuser. In accordance with a particular embodiment, the source beam may be projected from the microlens diffuser onto a spatial modulator. The spatial modulator may be positioned to project the source beam via an imaging lens, to a target.
US07969629B2	Data classifying method, multi-dimensional interpolation device, multi-dimensional interpolation method, and computer program A data divider divides N-dimensional digital image signals into higher-order bit signals and lower-order bit signals. Reference values corresponding to all combinations of the divided higher-order bit signals are divisionally stored in 2N−1 sub-memories without overlaps. The (N+1) reference values necessary for interpolation processing are read by a reference value reader at the same time.
US07969616B2	Systems and methods for efficient print job compression Systems and methods described herein provide for an efficient method for print job compression. In some embodiments, threshold halftone lookup tables directed to specific object types are used to compare pixel data for specific detected objects. Pixel data for such specified objects may be encoded using the appropriate object-specific threshold halftone lookup table into one of two multi-bit values, which serve to increase the frequency of repetitive or redundant encoded data and permit efficient compression by algorithms that exploit data repetition and/or redundancy. The methods described herein are applicable to a variety of printers, including raster and PDL printers.
US07969604B2	Systems and methods for printing artwork containing transparency Systems and methods provide a mechanism to print documents having transparent artwork that overlaps other artwork. One aspect of the systems and methods includes sending the document to a printer control system coupled to a printer. The printer control system detects overlapping areas, and processes the artwork into separate atomic regions. Objects contributing to the atomic region are placed in an object stack. A rasterizer having knowledge of the printer characteristics creates object raster buffers for the portions of the objects that contribute to the atomic region. The object raster buffers are then blended according to transparency values associated with the object to create an atomic region raster buffer. The atomic region raster buffer is combined with other atomic region raster buffers and raster images for other non-overlapping objects into a printer raster buffer that may be processed by the printer to produce a page.
US07969600B2	Printing of linked data in a network Print data is input from a computer, and a main translator of an image processing apparatus analyzes the print data, and performs an output data process. In addition, a sub-translator analyzes the print data, performs an external reference data obtaining process through a network, holds the obtained external reference data in a storage device, and manages the data in a resource management table. When the main translator requires the external reference data, it performs the output data process using the external reference data managed in the resource management table. Thus, the output data process and the external resource pre-reading process are simultaneously performed, thereby improving the throughput of the entire system.
US07969596B2	Methods and systems for imaging device document translation Aspects of the present invention relate to systems, methods and devices for translating documents through the use of an imaging device. Some aspects relate to the receipt of a document at an imaging device, in some cases in conjunction with language selection parameters, and the transmission of that document and any accompanying language parameters to a remote computing device at which the document is translated and then sent to a destination.
US07969595B2	Internet printing A network printer for users printing documents in the Internet contains a keypad, when a user on the keypad enters a number, the printer sends the number to a first server; the first Internet server translates the number into the URL of a document in a second server in the Internet, and sends the URL to the printer; according to the URL, the printer retrieves the document from the second server via Internet, and prints the document.
US07969592B2	Printing and copying fault monitoring using cover sheets The disclosed method identifies potentially faulty sheets that were printed when the parameters were outside the predetermined normal parameter range and maintains one or more locations of the potentially faulty sheets within the stacks of sheets. If one or more of the stacks of sheets contain one or more of the potentially faulty sheets, the method prints one or more printing fault cover sheets and outputs the printing fault cover sheets to the stacks of sheets that contain the potentially faulty sheets. The printing fault cover sheets identify the locations of the potentially faulty sheets within the stacks of sheets. By providing the printing fault cover sheets and continuing the printing operation, the method can be set to stop the printing only for printing parameters that physically prevent printing, and not for printing parameters that only affect printing quality, thereby maintaining high productivity while still allowing the user to easily locate sheets that potentially have printing faults.
US07969590B2	Image printing system, image printing apparatus, and image printing method According to this invention, there is provided an image printing system which causes a plurality of image printing apparatuses to share and concurrently process an image printing job for outputting a plurality of prints based on image printing conditions and image information supplied from an information processing apparatus. In the image printing system of the invention, each of the image printing apparatuses interactively connected to each other has a proof/wait selection function of selecting a proof mode of outputting a single print or a wait mode of displaying image printing conditions and waiting. A master machine to which image printing conditions and image information are supplied from an information processing apparatus executes image printing operation in the proof mode or wait mode, and transfers the image printing conditions and image information to another image printing apparatus.
US07969588B2	Image forming device and control method therefor An image forming device includes a control unit configured to control by sorting common setting information valid among a plurality of devices and specific setting information valid for a specific device, an internal storage device configured to store setting data that includes a pair of setting data of identification information indicating a type of setting item and setting values, an external storage device controller configured to control to input and output the setting data with a detachable external storage device, and a selective-write device configured to select and write the setting data read from the external storage device based on the predetermined criteria.
US07969587B2	Retractable electronic pen for sensing coded data An electronic pen for interacting with a substrate having coded data disposed thereon. The pen includes: an image sensor for sensing the coded data when the pen is used to interact with the surface; a cartridge having a nib for contacting the surface; a retraction mechanism for slidably moving the cartridge between a retracted position and an extended position; a force sensor cooperating with the retraction mechanism; and a processor configured to generate indicating data indicative of the interaction with the substrate. The image sensor is configured to sense the coded data only when the force sensor detects that the nib is in contact with the substrate.
US07969586B2	Electronic leveling apparatus and method An electronic leveling apparatus for optically measuring a height difference relative to a leveling staff comprises a telescope, a camera fixed to the telescope, a first actuator for rotating both said telescope and said camera in a horizontal plane about a fixed vertical axis of the apparatus, and a controller. The camera has a depth of focus that is at least twice a depth of focus of the telescope. The controller uses a first output signal from said telescope to output a leveling signal representing a detected height difference. The controller uses a second output signal from said camera to identify a representation of a leveling staff and to control the first actuator based on the identified representation of the leveling staff. Furthermore a method for optically measuring a height difference of an electronic leveling apparatus relative to a leveling staff is provided.
US07969584B2	Measuring method including measuring angle of concave portion and irradiating light over concave portion The measuring method for providing a precise determination of a geometry of a concave portion is provided. The measuring method includes: measuring an angle of a side wall of a concave portion with a bottom surface thereof formed in an insulating film (operation S1); defining a plurality of parameter groups including an angle of the side wall of the concave portion with the bottom surface, a dimensional width and a dimensional depth and preparing library containing a plurality of waveforms of reflected lights respectively correlated with such plurality of parameter groups (operation S2); an operation of irradiating light over the concave portion (operation S4); an operation of detecting reflected light (operation S5); referencing the waveform of reflected light with the waveform selected from the library (operation S6); and when a difference between the waveform of reflected light and the waveform selected from the library is lower than a specified value, then assigning the parameter such as the dimensional width of the concave portion and the like correlated with the selected waveform for an optimum value to determine the geometry of the concave portion. The angle of the side wall of the concave portion with the bottom surface thereof in the parameter groups of the library is a measured angle in the operation S1.
US07969582B2	Laser scanning microscope apparatus, and surface shape measuring method thereof A laser scanning microscope apparatus comprising, a controlling unit for obtaining height information at each scanning point of a sample to be examined by obtaining a relative distance that maximizes an intensity output from a photo-detecting unit, which is obtained when the sample to be examined is scanned with a light from a laser light source, when a relative distance is changed by a Z scanning unit, includes an arithmetic processing unit for obtaining a plurality of height profiles of one line acquired by scanning the sample to be examined in a state of light with the light defecting unit while shifting the plurality of height profiles of one line in a scanning direction by a predetermined amount, and for obtaining one profile by linking the plurality of height profiles.
US07969567B2	Method and device for detecting shape of surface of medium A defect generated during a nano-imprint process is inspected by a scatterometry method. The scatterometry method is to illuminate the surface of a medium with light having a plurality of wave lengths by means of a first illuminator through a half mirror and an objective lens and cause light reflected on the medium to be incident on a spectrometer through the objective lens and the half mirror. A second illuminator illuminates a foreign material or scratch on the surface of the medium from an oblique direction with respect to the surface of the medium. Light is scattered from the foreign material or scratch and detected by first and second detectors. The first detector is placed in a direction defining a first elevation angle with the surface of the medium. The second detector is placed in a direction defining a second elevation angle with the surface of the medium. When coordinates of a defect that are obtained by the scatterometry method match coordinates of the foreign material or scratch, an inspection device determines that the defect is not generated during the nano-imprint process. When the matching is negative, the inspection device determines that the defect is generated during the nano-imprint process.
US07969565B2	Device for inspecting a surface A device that is usable to inspect the surface of a material uses an inspection system which includes an optical unit. That optical unit can register the light which is reflected by the surface to be inspected. An illumination system, that uses at least two light sources, provides the light. The optical unit and the illumination system are connected to a control unit. The at least two light sources are arranged spaced at a distance from each other and both emit light directed to a recording region of the optical unit. The optical unit is oriented toward the surface to be inspected and at least one of the illumination light sources can be subdivided into several individual light sources. The control unit controls at least two of the illumination system light sources that are arranged at a distance from each other or the respective individual light sources of at least one of the illumination sources both selectively and independently of each other. The recording region of the optical unit lies on a displacement plane of the surface to be inspected with that surface being displaced through the recording region in relation to the inspection system. The distance between the light sources of the illumination system extends in the displacement direction of the surface to be inspected. The individual light sources of at least one of the sources are arranged transversely to the displacement direction of the surface to be inspected.
US07969561B2	Apparatus and method for monitoring extinction ratio of optical signals An apparatus for monitoring extinction ratio (ER) of optical signals comprises an optical spectrum analyzing unit, an ER monitoring control unit and an ER monitoring output unit. The optical spectrum analyzing unit measures two peak values corresponding to level one and level zero of optical signals from an optical coupler, and obtains two wavelengths for the two peak values. The ER monitoring output unit outputs the difference of the two wavelengths to the ER monitoring control unit. With a relation formula of the wavelength difference, the ER monitoring control unit estimates an optimal resolution bandwidth for setting up the optical spectrum analyzing unit. As such, the optical spectrum analyzing unit measures two optical powers corresponding to level one and level zero of optical signals. With the two optical powers, the ER monitoring output unit computes an ER value.
US07969555B2	Lens structure, optical system having the same, and lithography method using the optical system Disclosed are a lens structure, an optical system including the same, and a lithography method using the optical system. The disclosed lens structure includes: a lens that has a substantially semispherical shape and includes a protruding portion having a truncated cone shape that is provided on its aspherical surface; a thin metal film that is formed on the surface of the protruding portion, and has an aperture formed at a position corresponding to the center of an upper surface of the protruding portion; and an immersion layer that is formed with a constant thickness on the upper surface of the protruding portion.
US07969554B2	Method, computer program, apparatus and system providing printing for an illumination mask for three-dimensional images A method able to provide illumination source parameters for illumination of a lithographic mask in order to project a three-dimensional image into a resist system. Source intensities of incident beams are determined using a near linear program and responsive to an allowed range of variation. Computer program, apparatus and system are detailed and variations are described.
US07969552B2	Environmental system including a transport region for an immersion lithography apparatus A lithographic projection apparatus that is arranged to project a pattern from a patterning device onto a substrate using a projection system has a liquid supply system arranged to supply a liquid to a space between the projection system and the substrate. The apparatus also includes a liquid collecting system that includes a liquid collection member having a wick structure member through which a liquid is collected from a surface of an object opposite to the liquid collection member.
US07969551B2	Stage drive method and stage unit, exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method A lithographic projection apparatus includes a substrate table to hold a substrate, a projection system to project a patterned beam of radiation onto the substrate and a liquid confinement structure to confine a liquid in a space between the projection system and the substrate, the substrate, the substrate table, or both, to form a part of a boundary of the space. In addition, a closing plate forms a part of a boundary of the space in place of the substrate, the substrate table, or both, when moved without substantially disturbing the liquid, the liquid confinement structure, or both.
US07969546B2	Liquid crystal display panel A liquid crystal display panel and a method of fabricating the same are provided. In the method, a first substrate is provided, and gates and scan lines are formed. An insulation layer covering the gates and the scan lines is formed, and a channel layer is formed on the insulation layer. A source and a drain are formed on each channel layer, and a data line electrically connected to each source is formed. A plurality of pixel electrodes are then formed, and a second substrate is provided. A plurality of pillar spacers are formed on the second substrate, and the first substrate and the second substrate are assembled. A liquid crystal layer then fills between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US07969538B2	Liquid crystal display device A liquid crystal display device which can prevent the generation of bubbles on an adhesive surface between a liquid crystal display panel and a face plate which protects the liquid crystal display panel is provided. In mounting the face plate on an upper polarizer of the liquid crystal display panel by way of an adhesive material, a picture frame is formed on a periphery of the face plate for enhancing design property. Although the picture frame is formed by printing black ink, a quantity of Si present in the black ink is set to not more than 0.7% and not less than 0.01% thus preventing the generation of bubbles attributed to defective adhesion between the face plate and the adhesive material.
US07969535B2	Pixel unit, liquid crystal display panel, electro-optical apparatus, and methods for manufacturing the same A pixel unit having a display area is provided. The pixel unit includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer, and at least one ultraviolet light (UV) absorption pattern. The second substrate is disposed in parallel to the first substrate, and the liquid crystal layer is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The UV absorption pattern is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. A part of the display area overlaps the UV absorption pattern to define at least one first alignment area, while the part of the display area which does not overlap the UV absorption pattern defines at least one second alignment area. The liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer present different pre-tilt angles in the first alignment area and the second alignment area.
US07969528B2	Liquid crystal display device, and method for assembling the same A method for assembling a liquid crystal display device includes: a) assembling together a front frame, a liquid crystal panel and an optical plate unit in a dust-free environment to form a first unit in a manner that the liquid crystal panel closes an opening in the front frame and that a sealed state is established between the liquid crystal panel and the optical plate unit; b) assembling a circuit board to one side of a rear frame without requirement of a dust-free environment to form a second unit; c) assembling a light source to one of the first and second units; and d) interconnecting the first and second units without requirement of a dust-free environment in a manner that the light source is able to provide light to a light-entrance surface of the optical plate unit.
US07969524B2	Liquid crystal display panel, manufacturing method of the same, and liquid crystal display apparatus A liquid crystal display panel includes a TFT connected to wiring equipped with an input terminal; a pixel electrode connected to the TFT; and a common electrode opposed to the pixel electrode, wherein an electrode spacing between the pixel electrode and the common electrode is adjusted depending on the amount of a signal degradation that arises from a signal flow from the input terminal through the wiring to the TFT.
US07969516B2	Projector A projector includes: a lighting device which emits illumination light; a liquid crystal panel which modulates the illumination light emitted from the lighting device according to image information; a projection system which projects light modulated by the liquid crystal panel; a polarization plate which is disposed at least either on the light incident side or the light exit side of the liquid crystal panel and has at least a polarization layer; a liquid crystal panel side light-transmissive substrate affixed to the liquid crystal panel side surface of the polarization plate and made of inorganic material; and an opposite side light-transmissive substrate affixed to the surface of the polarization plate on the side opposite to the liquid crystal panel side surface of the polarization plate. The thickness of the liquid crystal panel side light-transmissive substrate is smaller than the thickness of the opposite side light-transmissive substrate.
US07969511B2	Method and apparatus for improving quality of composite video signal and method and apparatus for decoding composite video signal A method and apparatus for improving the quality of a composite video signal and a method and apparatus for decoding the composite video signal. The method for improving the quality of the composite video signal respectively detects edges from a luminance information signal and a chrominance information signal separated from the composite video signal, detects an artifact region using the detected edges, and filters the detected artifact region. Accordingly, an artifact can be effectively removed while preserving edge information and detail information of an image to improve picture quality.
US07969510B2	Video processing system and method with recursive and non-recursive filtering in separate high frequency bands A video noise reducer divides a signal into spatial frequency bands and derives both recursively and non-recursively filtered signals for each band. Both signals are processed non-linearly. These signals are combined in ways that vary between the bands to provide a noise signal and a detail signal. A clean video signal with all noise removed is used in the recursive loop. The output signal includes detail enhancement and may have a subjectively pleasant amount of noise added back.
US07969508B2	Method and apparatus for outputting video signal in format suitable for TV A method and apparatus output a video signal in a format suitable for a TV. The method of outputting a video signal in a format suitable for a TV includes reading information from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag attached to a TV receiver, extracting information regarding a TV output format from the read information, and outputting a video signal in the TV output format specified in the extracted information.
US07969492B2	Image pickup apparatus An image pickup apparatus includes a plurality of pixels and increasing portions increasing charges stored in the pixels, wherein the frequency of increasing the charges is controlled every group of at least one pixel in response to luminance of light incident upon the pixels by the increasing portions.
US07969487B2	Solid-state imaging apparatus A solid-state imaging apparatus including: a pixel section having pixels two-dimensionally arranged into row direction and column direction, each pixel containing a photoelectric conversion section, an accumulation section for accumulating output of the photoelectric conversion section, an amplification section for amplifying output of the photoelectric conversion section accumulated at the accumulation section and outputting it as pixel signal, and a reset section for effecting reset of the accumulation section; a vertical scanning section for selecting row to be read out of the pixel section; vertical signal lines provided correspondingly to columns of the pixel section, onto which pixel signals of pixels arranged in column direction are outputted; a column amplifier section for effecting suppression of dark current component of the pixels contained in pixel signals inputted through the vertical signal line and for amplifying the pixel signals after the suppression; a horizontal scanning section for selecting the pixel signal amplified by the column amplifier section and outputting it onto a horizontal signal line; and a dark current correction signal generation section for generating and applying on the column amplifier section a signal for suppressing the dark current component based on the pixel signal from the horizontal signal line.
US07969486B2	Image-capture apparatus and variable magnification lens An image-capture apparatus includes a variable magnification lens, imaging means for converting an image taken by the variable magnification lens into an electrical image signal, and imaging control means. By referring to a conversion coordinate coefficient, the image control means moves a point on the image and outputs the new image signal. In the variable magnification lens, in order from the object side, a first lens group having positive refractive power, a second lens group that has negative refractive power and performs a variable magnification action by shifting on an optical axis, a third lens group having positive refractive power, a fourth lens group that has negative refractive power and a fifth lens group having positive refractive power are arrayed.
US07969484B2	Solid-state image sensing device There is provided a solid-state image sensing device including a pixel section in which cells are arrayed, each cell including a photoelectric conversion unit, a reading circuit reading out, to a detection unit, signal charges obtained by the photoelectric conversion unit, an amplifying circuit amplifying and outputting a voltage corresponding to the signal charges, and a reset circuit resetting the signal charges, an exposure time control circuit controlling an exposure time and controlling the exposure time to be equal for all cells, an A/D conversion circuit A/D-converting a signal output from the pixel section by changing a resolution of a signal level, line memories storing an A/D-converted signal, and a signal processing circuit processing output signals from the line memories to have a linear gradient with respect to an optical input signal amount by controlling an amplification factor in accordance with a resolution of a pixel output signal after A/D-conversion.
US07969480B2	Method of controlling auto white balance There is provided a method of controlling auto white balance that can be appropriately used for a camera of an electric device that uses a wide-angle or a super wide-angle lens. A method of controlling auto white balance according to an aspect of the invention may include: converting a color space of an input image from an RGB color space into a YCbCr color space; dividing the input image into a plurality of divided regions; selecting a predetermined number of divided regions in order determined by mean values of Y of pixels included in the plurality of divided regions; comparing a predetermined threshold value with the number of pixels having values of Cb and Cr within a predetermined Cb-Cr range among the pixels included in the selected divided regions in order to determine a white area; and calculating auto white balance gains by using mean values of Y, mean values of Cb, and mean values of Cr of the pixels included in each of the selected divided regions when the number of pixels within the predetermined Cb-Cr range is greater than the threshold value.
US07969471B2	Control apparatus and control method A control apparatus receives a third command from a remote control apparatus. The control apparatus determines which of the first interface unit and the second interface unit is used to connect an image capture apparatus and the control apparatus, if a mode of the image capture apparatus is not the same as a mode designated by the third command. If the first interface unit is used to connect the image capture apparatus and the control apparatus is determined, the third command is converted into a first command for changing the mode of the image capture apparatus to the mode designated by the third command. If the second interface unit is used to connect the image capture apparatus and the control apparatus is determined, the third command is converted into a second command for changing the mode of to the image capture apparatus to the mode designated by the third command.
US07969465B2	Method and apparatus for substrate imaging The invention provides a substrate surface imaging method and apparatus that compensates for non-linear movement of the substrate surface during an imaging sequence. In one aspect of the invention, the imaging method and apparatus compensate for the non-linear substrate surface movement by adjusting the image receiver trigger points to correspond to image positions on the substrate surface. In another aspect, the invention provides synchronous imaging where the distance between each image position is determined by counting the number of stepper motor steps between image positions. In still another aspect, the invention provides for asynchronous substrate imaging by determining an image trigger time between each image position and using the image trigger time to trigger the receiver at the appropriate time to accurately image the substrate surface.
US07969459B2	Thermal print head A thermal printhead (A) includes an insulating substrate (1), a heating resistor (2) provided on the substrate (1) and a protective film (4) covering the heating resistor (2). The protective film (4) is made up of a first layer (41), a second layer (42) and a third layer (43). The first layer (41) is held in contact with the heating resistor (2). The second layer (42) covers the first layer (41). The second layer (42) is harder than the first layer (41) and has a higher thermal conductivity than that of the first layer (41). The third layer (43) is the outermost layer and covers the second layer (42). The third layer (43) is harder than the second layer (42) and thinner than the second layer (42).
US07969440B1	Method and system for curve fitting using digital filtering In one embodiment, a method for curve generation includes forming an initial interpolation polygon using samples within input data as interpolation knots, and upsampling the interpolation polygon by inserting extra samples in each segment between interpolation knots. A filter is then passed throughout a sequence of samples representing the upsampled interpolation polygon. Next, the interpolation polygon is substituted with the filtered polygon converted into a next interpolation polygon using segment-by-segment transformations, where segments of the filtered polygon are delimited by consecutive samples corresponding to interpolation knots, and each segment is transformed to fit between respective interpolation knots. Further, the passing of the filter and the substitution of the current interpolation polygon are repeated until a predefined condition is satisfied, to provide fitting curves.
US07969439B2	Method and apparatus for fast flicker-free displaying overlapped sparse graphs with optional shape A method for converting graphic elements containing sparse graphs into graphic layers is described, comprising the steps of: correspondingly mapping respective sparse graphs to respective sparse graphic layers, and projecting sequentially from top to bottom the regular graphs between the sparse graphs into a projection plane to form a regular graphic composition layer. Also described is a method for fast flicker-free displaying overlapped sparse graphs with optional shape, comprising: converting graphic element containing sparse graphs to be displayed into graphic layers; deciding whether to plot or erase the sparse graph to be displayed, and, when the sparse graph is decided to be erased, setting various points on the corresponding sparse graph to be transparent; and completing the plotting of points of the sparse graph point by point based on the shape of the sparse graph to be displayed. Apparatuses corresponding to the above methods are also described.
US07969435B1	Method for modifying any modeled surface as a lofted surface A three-dimensional object modeling tool is described that can derive the 2D cross sections of one or more lofted or unlofted surfaces, allowing those surfaces to be modified instantly. The modeling tool (loft tool) includes sub-tools for selecting a surface, moving a 2D section, editing a 2D section, creating a 2D section, and removing a 2D section. By analysis of the selected lofted surface and its faces, the loft tool can derive an appropriate number of 2D cross section to present to the user for manipulation. When deriving the 2D cross section the modeling tool operates by simplifying the curves making up the lofted surface, and from these can generate 2D cross section that can be easily manipulated and used to instantly update the lofted surface and redisplay it for further user modification.
US07969433B2	Methods and apparatus for determining high quality sampling data from low quality sampling data A method for a computer system includes determining a plurality of illumination modes associated with a plurality of scene descriptors, wherein the plurality of scene descriptors includes a first scene descriptor and a second scene descriptor, determining a first plurality of weights, wherein each weight from the first plurality of weights is associated with an illumination mode from the plurality of illumination modes, determining illumination data associated with the first scene descriptor in response to the first plurality of weights and in response to the plurality of illumination modes, determining a second plurality of weights, wherein each weight from the second plurality of weights is associated with an illumination mode from the plurality of illumination modes, and determining illumination data associated with the second scene descriptor in response to the second plurality of weights and in response to the plurality of illumination modes.
US07969432B2	Providing for application integrity, improved start-up time, and reduced memory utilitization in a safety-critical graphics processing environment At least one of graphics operation description information or graphics object description information (106) is included within application logic (102). At least one of the graphics operation description information or graphics object description information (106) is included in the program address space of a graphics driver (108).
US07969425B2	Method and system for enabling user instruction through interaction with interface surface There is provided a method of, and interface system for, enabling a user to instruct a computer system to perform an operation by interacting with graphical information and coded data printed on a first interface surface using a sensing device which generates indicating data indicative of the operation by sensing the coded data. In the method, and interface system, the computer system receives the indicating data from the sensing device, the computer system performs the operation indicated by the indicating data, and in response to performing the operation, a second interface surface is printed with graphical information relating to the performed operation and coded data.
US07969422B2	Pattern detection system A detection system. The detection system includes a transparent substrate, an image sensor array, and a reflective layer. The substrate has first surface located opposite second surface and third surface located opposite fourth surface. The array is adjacent to the fourth surface. The reflective layer is adjacent to the third surface; the substrate is configured to receive light through the first surface; the second surface is configured to reflect the received light onto the third surface at a pre-selected angle of incidence; the reflective layer is configured such that the light creates surface plasmons whenever a first dielectric having a first refractive index is adjacent to the reflective layer; the reflective layer is configured to reflect the light onto the array whenever a second dielectric having a second refractive index is adjacent to the reflective layer; and the first refractive index differs from the second refractive index.
US07969418B2	3-D computer input device and method A 3-D computer input device to provide position information to a computer system in three dimensions is disclosed. Said 3-D computer input device is comprised of five buttons each one capable of generating one signal when it is touched by the user's finger, each two different succeeding touches represent a motion in a positive or negative direction along an axis, or represent a clockwise or anti-clockwise rotation about one axis. Accordingly, 12 different succeeding touches represent motion in six degrees of freedom. The five buttons are coupled to a chassis which is suitable for a user to grasp with one hand or to put it on a finger ring, or to be attached to a keyboard, portable hand-held device, game controller, or the like.
US07969410B2	Optically detecting click events Apparatus and method of optically detecting click events are described. Images of a contact surface are captured at respective capture times. The captured images are convolved with a two-dimensional circularly symmetric spatial bandpass filter to produce corresponding filtered images each including a set of pixels with respective pixel value magnitudes. Based on the pixel value magnitudes of the corresponding filtered images, each of the capture times is assigned to one of an in-contact time class during which the contact surface is determined to be in-contact with a user's finger and an out-of-contact time class during which the contact surface is determined to be out-of-contact with the user's finger. A select signal indicating that the contact surface has been touched to make a selection is generated based on a click event predicate defining at least one condition on the time classes respectively assigned to successive ones of the capture times.
US07969406B2	Backlight driving system for a liquid crystal display device A backlight driving system for a backlight unit for a liquid crystal display device using a field sequential driving scheme, the backlight unit including a plurality of first color (C1), second color (C2), and third color (C1) organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), a first switch unit including first, second and third color switches, the first switch unit adapted to supply one of a first voltage and a ground voltage to cathodes of respective C1, C2 and C3 OLEDs, and a light source controller adapted to supply independent first, second and third color second voltages to anodes of respective C1, C2 and C3 OLEDs.
US07969392B2	Current programming apparatus and matrix type display apparatus A matrix type display apparatus includes a pixel circuit unit including electroluminescent elements and pixel circuits driving the electroluminescent elements arranged in a matrix, a plurality of data lines, each corresponding to a column of the pixel circuits for supplying a data current to the pixel circuits, and predetermined current setting circuits for supplying to the data lines a predetermined current for reducing a current to be supplied to the data lines, according to a setting by a reference current unrelated to a displaying, at a time of black displaying of the electroluminescent elements. In addition, switches are arranged corresponding to each of the data lines between the pixel circuits and the predetermined current setting circuits, and a row scanning circuit controls on and off of the switches. The row scanning circuit turns off the switches to disconnect the pixel circuit unit and the predetermined current setting circuits, and sets the predetermined current in the predetermined current setting circuits, and thereafter, the row scanning circuit turns on the switches to connect the pixel circuit unit and the predetermined current setting circuits, and to supply the data lines with the data current and the predetermined current.
US07969390B2	Display device and driving method thereof To solve the lack of program time, which is a problem of a display device including an EL element, and to provide a display device including a pixel circuit with a high aperture ratio and a driving method thereof. In a circuit including a driving transistor, a capacitor, a display element which can be used as a capacitor, a first power supply line and a second power supply line, potentials of the first power supply line and the second power supply line are set to be almost the same, thereby a threshold voltage of the driving transistor is held in the display element, and after that, a charge is divided into the display element and the capacitor.
US07969381B2	Patch antenna A wireless device has a housing, a patch antenna, and an open/shut sensing unit which senses the open/shut state of the housing and forms an open/shut signal indicating the open/shut state. The patch antenna has a first element which corresponds to a first polarized wave, a second element which corresponds to a second polarized wave and is to be added to the first element, and a switching unit. The switching unit disconnects and connects the second element from and to the first element based on the open/shut signal to make the patch antenna suitable for the first or second polarized wave.
US07969380B2	Antenna gasket for process housings A method and apparatus for providing wireless communication and optionally power to the interior of a housing assembly is disclosed. In one embodiment, an antenna is molded within a gasket material, such as silicon, so as to be completely encapsulated. The gasket preferably includes at least one support arm, which holds the antenna toward the middle of the housing, so as to minimize interference from the metal housing. In further embodiments, an inductive coil is encapsulated in the gasket. An alternating current is passed through this coil to create a changing magnetic field, which can then be used to create electrical power in physically separate components, such as filtering elements. In certain embodiments, multiple loops are molded to correspond to multiple filtering elements within the housing.
US07969378B2	Radio antenna assembly An antenna assembly is provided for mounting on a predetermined support structure positioned on a surface, the support structure having a peripheral edge at an elevated position above the surface. The antenna assembly includes an antenna and a support for supporting the antenna at an elevated position above the surface when mounted on the support structure. The support is adapted to support the antenna at a sufficient height above the surface to provide a direct path for electromagnetic radiation from at least a portion of the antenna to a position on the surface external of the peripheral edge of less than or equal to about 4.5 meters from substantially any point on the peripheral edge, or to a position on the surface at a point positioned 3 meters from the front of the support structure and 3 meters from a side of the support structure.
US07969370B1	Liquid antennas A fluidic antenna is described, using an electromagnetic energy coupler, a non-metallic container coupled to the electromagnetic energy coupler, a fluid having charged particles moving through the non-metallic container at a predetermined rate, and a charge focuser disposed about the non-metallic container, wherein the electromagnetic energy coupler is configured to couple energy between the fluid and at least one of a transmitter and receiver, and the charge focuser is configured to adjust a cross sectional area of charged particles in the fluid to result in a fluid characteristic impedance that approaches that of a surrounding medium, thereby enabling at least one of launching and receiving electromagnetic energy.
US07969368B2	Wideband structural antenna operating in the HF range, particularly for naval installations A structural antenna system for operation in the HF frequency range, particularly for naval communications, is described, comprising at least one linear radiating arrangement (14) adapted to be operatively associated with a ground conductor (GND) and at least one electrical impedance device (Z1-Z4), in which the aforesaid linear radiating arrangement (14) is coupled to a pre-existing naval structure which has a predominantly vertical extension and is electrically conducting, such as a funnel (F). A structural antenna system with multiple feed comprises a plurality of linear radiating arrangements (114) positioned in meridian planes of the naval structure of the funnel type (F), spaced at equal angular intervals.
US07969358B2	Compensation of beamforming errors in a communications system having widely spaced antenna elements Systems and methods for operating a communications system. The methods involve computing one or more complex weights to be applied to transmit signals and receive signals by beamformers. The complex weights are based at least on configuration data for the communications system. The methods also involve applying a first plurality of weight corrections to the complex weights based on phasing errors occurring in a communication path inclusive of a control system and antenna elements. The methods further involve applying a second plurality of weight corrections to the complex weights based on phase differences at the antenna elements relative to a reference location for the receive signals.
US07969352B2	Global positioning system accuracy enhancement Methods and systems enhance the accuracy of the global positioning system (GPS) using a low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite constellation. According to embodiments described herein, GPS data is received from GPS satellites at a GPS control segment and is used to create GPS correction data to be utilized by user equipment to correct errors within the GPS data. The GPS correction data is transmitted from the GPS control segment to a LEO ground segment, where it is uplinked to the LEO satellite constellation. To account for bandwidth constraints and minimize any performance degradation of the LEO satellites, the GPS correction data is broadcast to earth on a subset of the total number of available spot beams. The subset of spot beams is selected in part according to satellite angular velocity, bandwidth constraints, and message latency estimates.
US07969335B2	Digital correction of nonlinearity errors of multibit delta-sigma digital to analog converters Digital correction of multibit ADAC nonlinearities for error feedback DACs is provided. The integral nonlinearity (INL) error of the multibit ADAC is estimated (on line or off line) by a low-resolution calibration ADC (CADC) and stored in a random-access memory (RAM) table. The INL values are then used to compensate for the ADAC's distortion in the digital domain. When this compensation is combined with mismatch-shaping techniques such as DWA, the resolution requirement for CADC can be relaxed significantly. The implementation of the proposed correction circuit for error-feedback modulators is inherently simple, since the correction only needs a digital summation without any additional digital filtering.
US07969324B2	Optimization of vehicular traffic flow through a conflict zone An automatic vehicular traffic flow control technique defines a controlled area, wherein vehicles belonging to different traffic streams contend for occupancy of a conflict zone. A traversal order is computed for the vehicles in the controlled area, wherein the ordered vehicles are assigned to traverse the conflict zone sequentially in accordance with their respective positions in the traversal order. Tracking and tracked vehicles are designated, wherein a respective tracked vehicle immediately precedes each of the tracking vehicles in the traversal order. The tracking vehicles maintain a specified physical relationship with their respective tracked vehicles until the tracked vehicle has traversed the conflict zone. The speed of the traffic streams is increased as necessary so as to achieve a desired throughput through the conflict zone.
US07969319B2	Variable height bin level sensor for use with a product dispensing agricultural implement A fill level sensor is magnetically coupled to a hopper of an agricultural implement to provide a signal indicative of product fill level in the hopper relative to a fill line. The sensor can be positioned at various heights to provide variability in the height of the sensed fill line. The fill level sensing components are contained within a sensor housing. A magnet for magnetically mounting the sensor may be coupled to an exterior surface of the sensor housing or enclosed within the sensor housing.
US07969318B2	Flow detector with alarm features The disclosed invention relates to detecting a flow condition in a fluid supply system. The invention is particularly useful for detecting flow in a toilet system. The flow detection device comprises a processor associated with a flow sensor. Predefined flow criteria are stored in a memory associated with said processor. When the processor detects flow through the fluid supply system, the processor uses the flow criteria to characterize the detected flow. If such flow complies with predefined flow conditions, a flow event is noted and an alert is issue. Such alert is configured according to predefined alert-criteria stored in a memory.
US07969308B2	Seal arrangement A seal arrangement having monitoring means and a seal portion. The monitoring means includes means for determining the integrity of the seal portion, the determining means being arranged to deliver a signal to radio frequency identification (RFID) means for producing an output signal in response to the integrity of the seal portion as determined by the means for determining. The present invention also provides a container, a pipe section, a pipeline and a closure member provided with such a seal arrangement.
US07969307B2	Diagnostic radio frequency identification sensors and applications thereof An integrated passive wireless chip diagnostic sensor system is described that can be interrogated remotely with a wireless device such as a modified cell phone incorporating multi-protocol RFID reader capabilities (such as the emerging Gen-2 standard) or Bluetooth, providing universal easy to use, low cost and immediate quantitative analyses, geolocation and sensor networking capabilities to users of the technology. The present invention can be integrated into various diagnostic platforms and is applicable for use with low power sensors such as thin films, MEMS, electrochemical, thermal, resistive, nano or microfluidic sensor technologies. Applications of the present invention include on-the-spot medical and self-diagnostics on smart skin patches, Point of Care (POC) analyses, food diagnostics, pathogen detection, disease-specific wireless biomarker detection, remote structural stresses detection and sensor networks for industrial or Homeland Security using low cost wireless devices such as modified cell phones.
US07969306B2	Context-aware and real-time item tracking system architecture and scenarios Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for real-time and context-aware tracking of items. Tags bound to items are read and information read from the tags and location information about the tags is provided by at least two enterprises and used to maintain disposition information about the items, which is made visible to enterprises in the supply chain. The disposition information can be mapped to a world model that tracks the items and circumstances affecting the items, for example, geo-spatial events and traffic delays. Visibility of the disposition information can be controlled through authorization. Visible information can include relationships between particular items and business documents such as order and shipping documents.
US07969302B2	System and method for dynamic association of security levels and enforcement of physical security procedures A method and system for dynamic association of security levels and enforcement of security procedures. A secure object can be tracked across a building or complex, and security levels may be dynamically updated to reflect the new security requirement. In response to the security level adjustment, security measures and protocols may be implemented dynamically. The system comprises a sensitivity index assigned to each of a plurality of secure objects, a scanner for detecting the sensitivity index, and a logic unit in communication with the scanner for determining a security level for the secure area based on the sensitivity indices of the plurality of secure objects within the secure area. The method comprises detecting a plurality of secure objects within a secure area, each secure object having a sensitivity index, and determining a security level for the secure area based on the sensitivity indices of the plurality of secure objects within the secure area.
US07969301B2	Personal radio location system Methods and apparatus for using an energy emanating device to find a person (17a,b) or an object based on preselected attributes (33) stored in the energy emanating device (10) are disclosed.
US07969300B2	Signal transmission between a sensor and a controller device in a wireless sensor network A wireless sensor network includes a controller connected with multiple antennas for sending out a beacon signal at different instants into different directions and for receiving a sensor signal. Furthermore, the wireless sensor network comprises a sensor having a receiver connected with a sensor antenna for receiving the beacon signal, a transmitter connected with the sensor antenna for sending out the sensor signal, and a control unit which takes care that the sensor signal is transmitted after the beacon signal has been received.
US07969296B1	Method and system for fire detection A method and system are provided, which provides reliable fire detection. In one implementation, the automated system includes a combination of sensors configured to measure various factors associated with a hazard, such as a fire or gas leakage, and generate sensor readings. Factors measured can include smoke, carbon monoxide and heat. The system further includes a detection device that is configured to determine whether a hazard or fire exists by performing a fuzzy analysis of sensor readings. The fuzzy analysis includes categorizing respective sensor readings into fuzzy sets, and determining whether the hazard exists based on a combination of the categorizations. In addition the size and direction of a fire can be determined from multiple sensors.
US07969293B2	Integrated read station for a wheel-mounted vehicle A read station and method for a vehicle includes a support pad for admitting and exiting a vehicle onto an upper pad surface; two or more data-receiving systems, one or both of such systems receiving a data transmission from a vehicle situated on the read station pad surface. The data-receiving systems include an identification-data transmission system and a monitored parameter-data transmission system. One or more of the read station data-receiving systems may be configured to effect data transmission from the vehicle as the vehicle moves across the support pad. The information-data transmission system couples a vehicle wheel unit based RFID tag with an electric field established by one or more system antennae disposed on the support pad. The monitored parameter-data communication system includes one or more wheel-unit mounted monitoring device(s) transmitting data to one or more receivers disposed within the read station and an initiator sub-system that transmits a signal from pad based antenna(s) to initiate a data transmission sequence.
US07969292B2	Tire air pressure measuring apparatus which reduces the probability of false warnings A tire pressure measuring apparatus provides a warning of an error of a tire air pressure measuring module only when it is not that determined a vehicle stops and also any on of receivers has not received an air pressure data signal for an error determining duration. Therefore, a probability of a false warning can be reduced.
US07969287B2	Haptic effect control system A haptic effect control system includes: a user interface adapted to receive a user-provided input and transmit a control signal representing the user-provided input; a controller in communication with the user interface and adapted to receive the control signal, analyze the control signal, and generate and transmit a first haptic-audio signal in response to the analysis of the control signal, wherein the first haptic-audio signal represents a first audio output for creating a desired sound pressure deviation from the ambient pressure of the user's environment; and an audio system including a device capable of producing the first audio output having a desired sound pressure level, wherein the audio system is adapted to receive the first haptic-audio signal and transmit the first audio output in response to the first haptic-audio signal.
US07969269B2	Pick-up apparatus for inductive power transfer systems An Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) pick-up apparatus includes a magnetically permeable core, a first coil, being wound about the core so as to be inductive coupled therewith such that a current induced in the first coil is most sensitive to a first directional component of magnetic flux and a second coil, being wound about the core so as to be inductively coupled therewith such that a current induced in the second coil is most sensitive to a second directional component of magnetic flux. The first directional component is substantially orthogonal to the second directional component.
US07969268B2	Ignition coil with spaced secondary sector windings An ignition coil configured for electrical communication with a spark plug of an internal combustion engine has a primary spool and a secondary spool. The primary spool has a bore and an outer surface with a low-voltage winding supported thereon. The secondary spool has a cavity with a magnetic core received therein and a substantially cylindrical outer surface. The secondary spool is received at least partially in the bore of the primary spool. A high-voltage winding is supported on the outer surface of the secondary spool. The high-voltage winding has discrete winding sectors spaced from one another along a length of the secondary spool.
US07969259B2	Electronic component operated with surface acoustic waves An apparatus includes a piezoelectric substrate having a signal line with a first electrical port and a second electrical port, and a first partial filter connected in series with a second partial filter. The partial filters are arranged between the electrical ports. The first partial filter includes a first serial transducer and a second serial transducer located in an acoustic path and in series branches of the signal line. The serial transducers are acoustically coupled with one another. The second partial filter includes a coupler transducer and an end-positioned transducer that are located in a double mode surface acoustic wave (DMS) path. The end-positioned transducer is positioned at an end of the signal line.
US07969256B2	Signal transmission circuit and signal transmission system with reduced reflection A signal transmission circuit includes a transmitting circuit for outputting a transmitting signal to a transmission line, a parallel circuit including a capacitor and a first resistance connected between an output terminal of the transmitting circuit and the transmission line, and a series circuit including an inductor and a second resistance connected between an output side of the parallel circuit and a ground.
US07969254B2	I/Q impairment calibration using a spectrum analyzer A quadrature modulator (QM) may be calibrated by determining total equivalent offsets in the I- and Q-channels, a total equivalent gain imbalance between the I- and Q-channels, and a total equivalent phase skew between the I- and Q-channels. These values may be obtained by taking various scalar measurements of the image to signal ratio (ISR) and carrier to signal ratio (CSR) of the QM, while alternatively altering the system gain imbalance, system phase skew, I-channel offset and Q-channel offset using a respective gain parameter, phase parameter, I-channel offset parameter, and Q-channel parameter. The gain and phase parameters may be defined in terms of the ISR, and the channel offset parameters may be defined in terms of the CSR. The system gain imbalance, system phase skew, and total offset in the channels may then be calculated based on the various ISR and CSR measurements.
US07969253B2	VCO with stabilized reference current source module A VCO includes a reference current module and a clock signal generating module. The reference current module generates a reference current according to a reference voltage. The clock signal generating module generates a clock signal according to the reference current. The reference current module utilizes the negative feed-back mechanism to keep the generated reference current at the predetermined size without being changed with the variation of the process and the bias source.
US07969248B1	Oscillator tuning for phase-locked loop circuit In one example, a method of tuning an oscillator of a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit includes adjusting a coarse control signal to select one of a plurality of frequency tuning curves of the oscillator. The method includes adjusting a fine control signal to select a position on the selected frequency tuning curve. A frequency of the oscillator is determined by the coarse control signal and the fine control signal. The method includes attempting to detect a lock between a feedback signal and a reference signal. A frequency of the feedback signal is determined by the frequency of the oscillator. The method includes comparing the fine control signal to a reference value if the lock is detected. The method includes adjusting the coarse control signal to select a different one of the frequency tuning curves if the selected position on the selected frequency tuning curve is outside a desired tuning range.
US07969241B2	Gain control methods and systems in an amplifier assembly A Variable Gain Amplifier (VGA) amplifies an input signal according to a gain, to produce an amplified signal. A detector module detects a power indicative of a power of the amplified signal. A comparator module compares the detected power to a high threshold, a low threshold and a target threshold intermediate the high and low thresholds. A controller module changes the gain of the VGA so as to drive the detected power in a direction toward the middle threshold when the comparator module indicates the detected power is not between the high and low thresholds.
US07969240B2	Gain control for linear radio frequency power amplifiers A bias control circuit is provided comprising an input port for receiving a signal indicative of an amplitude of a supply voltage provided to a multi stage power amplifier circuit. Electronic circuitry, electrically coupled to the input port, generates a bias control signal in dependence upon the signal indicative of a supply voltage for provision to a first stage power amplifier of the multi stage power amplifier circuit. The bias control signal is generated such that a gain change of the multi stage power amplifier circuit due to a supply voltage change is substantially compensated.
US07969236B1	Reference current generator with low temperature coefficient dependence Embodiments of the invention describe a core circuit for a reference current generator circuit that biases a first transistor to source a first current and a second transistor parallel to the first transistor, biased to source a second current controlled by the first current. A third transistor is coupled parallel to the second transistor and sources a third current controlled by the first current. The third transistor has a different threshold voltage than a threshold voltage of the second transistor. A resistive component coupled to conduct the second current has a resistive voltage that is substantially equal to a voltage differential between the first transistor and the second transistor. The conducting current through the resistive component is substantially independent of temperature variations.
US07969235B2	Self-adaptive multi-stage charge pump A charge pump circuit for generating an output voltage is described. The charge pump includes multiple output generation stages connected in series and a corresponding set of multiple gate stages connected in series, where the output stages have the same structure as the corresponding gate stages. The switches that the provide the output of each output generation stage are controlled by the corresponding gate stage. The number of output stages that are active in boosting the voltage self-adapts according to the output level being regulated, with the later stages changing from a boosting operation to a filtering function with not being used to active boost the output.
US07969229B2	On-chip redundancy high-reliable system and method of controlling the same A comparator circuit for comparing outputs of an on-chip redundant system is mounted on a second semiconductor chip that is separate from the on-chip redundant system. The second semiconductor chip which preferably contains a power source circuit for supplying power to the on-chip redundant system, a driver circuit for driving an output circuit, and the like are mounted. With this configuration, the influence of a failure occurring in the on-chip redundancy system can be prevented from being exerted on the comparator measure.
US07969228B2	Thermal switch for integrated circuits, design structure, and method of sensing temperature A single-ended thermal switch, design structure, and method of sensing temperature. A circuit includes a first MOS transistor and a second MOS transistor connected in series between a first power supply and a second power supply. The circuit apparatus also includes a signal conditioner connected to a node between the first and second MOS transistors. The first MOS transistor and the second MOS transistor are configured such that a leakage current of the second MOS transistor decreases a voltage of the node below a switch point of the signal conditioner when the temperature exceeds a threshold temperature.
US07969218B2	Receiver for reducing intersymbol interference of a channel and compensating for signal gain loss, and method thereof Example embodiments are directed to a receiver for reducing ISI of at least one data transmission channel and compensating for signal gain loss, and method thereof. A receiver may include a high pass filter and a Schmitt trigger controlled by a plurality of first control signals and a plurality of second control signals. The plurality of first control signals and the plurality of second control signals may be used to shift a first trigger voltage and a second trigger voltage of the Schmitt trigger. A method of reducing intersymbol interference and compensating for signal gain loss of a receiver connected to at least one data transmission channel is also provided.
US07969213B2	DLL circuit A delay locked loop (DLL) circuit includes a clock input buffer that generates a reference clock signal by buffering an external clock signal and outputs the reference clock signal by correcting a duty cycle of the reference clock signal in response to a duty cycle control signal. The DLL circuit also includes a timing compensation unit configured that generates a compensation reference clock signal by compensating for a toggle timing of the reference clock signal that is changed during the duty cycle correction operation in response to a timing control signal. The DLL circuit further includes and a duty cycle control unit that generates the duty cycle control signal and the timing control signal by detecting the duty cycle of the reference clock signal.
US07969209B2	Frequency divider circuit Fractional frequency division is performed by sequentially selecting phase signals for division, where transitioning from a previous phase signal to a next phase signal for division occurs in response to not only the frequency-divided previous phase signal but also a second one of the phase signals. A phase transition that is triggered at least in part in response to a second phase signal having a phase that is greater (with respect to the phase signal sequence) than the phase of the next phase signal can aid minimization of signal glitches. The first frequency-divided signal can be further divided to produce a second frequency-divided signal having a 50-percent duty cycle.
US07969206B2	Semiconductor element drive circuit A drive circuit for driving a semiconductor element according to an input signal includes an output stage, a clamp circuit, a comparator, and a clamp control circuit. The output stage includes a series circuit of two transistors. A node between the transistors is coupled to a control terminal of the semiconductor element. One of the transistors is turned on when the input signal indicates that the semiconductor element is driven. The clamp circuit clamps a potential of the control terminal to a level enough to drive the semiconductor element when the one of the transistors is turned on. The comparator compares a power supply voltage of the drive circuit with a threshold voltage. The clamp control circuit disables the clamp circuit when the power supply voltage is less than the threshold voltage.
US07969202B2	Fractional-N frequency synthesizer A circuit, with applications to phase-locked loops and frequency synthesis, where a divider circuit shuffles between dividing the output of a voltage-controlled oscillator by N or N+1, where N is an integer, and where a phase frequency detector provides three logic signals to a charge pump so that one of three values of current may be sourced to a loop filter, with the result that the circuit behaves as a conventional phase-locked loop having a fictitious divider circuit that is capable of dividing the output of the voltage-controlled oscillator by a non-integral value.
US07969197B2	Output buffer circuit and differential output buffer circuit, and transmission method An output buffer includes inverters, a delay circuit for delaying an input signal, buffers and switches. The output buffer transmits a logic signal to a transmission path and, in accordance with an amount of signal attenuation in the transmission path, creates a waveform including four or more kinds of signal voltages. The buffers are redundantly connected in parallel, and the number of buffers concurrently turn ON is controlled by respective switches provided in series with output resistors of the buffers. By selecting the buffers of switches which are turned ON, the preemphasis amount and a number of preemphasis taps are adjusted through a selector logic selection signal so that the preemphasis amount is made variable and the ON resistance of the buffers is made constant.
US07969192B2	Variable off-chip drive A driver circuit includes a set of selectable drivers each having an individual drive capability, the drivers being selectable such that i) when a subset of the drivers is selected, a signal will be driven by the drivers at a first drive level, and ii) when the subset of the drivers and at least one additional driver is selected, signal will be driven by the drivers at a level that is greater than the first level by a level of drive provided by the least one additional driver.
US07969191B2	Low-swing CMOS input circuit The invention relates to a CMOS input circuit for receiving low-swing input signals, which is an alternative to the CMOS input circuits as known from the prior art. The CMOS input circuit according to the invention comprises a leveling circuit (LC) that is constructed for arranging, under control of a voltage associated with an output voltage of a CMOS input stage (Inv1), a leveling transistor (M3) which is located in a supply path of the CMOS input stage (Inv1), (i) as a forward-biased diode-connected transistor for regulating the voltage on a source of the CMOS input stage (Inv1) for reducing the gate-source voltage of a switching transistor (M1, M2) in the CMOS input stage (Inv1), when an input voltage of the CMOS input circuit assumes a level associated with a first logical level causing the switching transistor (M1, M2) to be switched off, and (ii) as a conductive path when the input voltage assumes a level associated with a second logical level causing the switching transistor (M1, M2) to be switched on. The invention also relates to an Input-Output circuit, an electronic circuit and a semiconductor device comprising such CMOS input circuit. The invention provides an alternative to known CMOS input circuit that make use of a diode-connected transistor that is short-circuited in case of one of the input voltage levels. An advantageous embodiment of the invention incorporates a positive feedback mechanism that makes the circuit more suitable for low supply voltages.
US07969183B2	Semiconductor device The present invention is directed to adjust a resistance value of an output buffer on the basis of a resistance value of an external resistor. A potential according to a resistance ratio between an external resistor and each of resistance adjusters is detected by a code generator. In the code generator, code signals for adjusting resistance are adjusted in accordance with the detection result. The resistance value of each of the resistance adjusters is adjusted to an external resistor. Further, by code signals with which the resistance value of each of the resistance adjusters is adjusted to the resistance value of the external resistor, the resistance of the resistance value of an output buffer is adjusted.
US07969175B2	Separate test electronics and blower modules in an apparatus for testing an integrated circuit The invention relates to an apparatus for testing an integrated circuit of an electronic device.
US07969172B2	Probing method and probing program Disclosed is a probing method including, when the probes are configured to make contact with a chip row including four chips continuously arranged in an oblique direction so that the probe card test four chips at a time, finding a first reference oblique chip row extending in the oblique direction and containing a center chip positioned at the center of the wafer and a plurality of first additional oblique chip rows arranged in parallel with the first reference oblique chip row at an upper side of the first reference oblique chip row, and setting contact positions between the probes and the first oblique chip rows wherein the contact positions are positions of the probes obtained by shifting the probes; setting contact positions between the probes and the second oblique chip rows in an opposite direction to a first step; and setting a plurality of index group and test order.
US07969171B1	Test circuit and system A test circuit and system for testing one or more electrical properties of an electronic circuit or other device under test (DUT) by applying and monitoring test signals to the DUT is disclosed. The test circuit can utilize a plurality of universal interface channel circuits in a single automated test system to provide a unique and flexible approach for testing electronic circuits or devices that has many advantages. A single data acquisition circuit can be coupled to one or more universal interface channel circuits. Each of the universal interface channel circuits can be independently commanded by the data acquisition circuit to provide one of a variety of test signals to a DUT as desired.
US07969166B2	Method and circuit for detecting the presence, position and/or approach of an object relative to an electrode A circuit for detecting the presence, position or the approach of an object in an observation area, the circuit has a sensor electrode assembly with an electrode that forms part of a capacitor system whose capacitance relative to a reference potential (e.g. ground) is dependent on the presence, position or approach of objects in the observation area. An evaluation circuit coupled to the sensor electrode detects a phase shift of the capacitance of the condenser system. An LC network is coupled to the capacitor system, and an oscillator connected to the electrode applies a frequency to the system formed by including the electrode and the LC network at a frequency within the range of a parallel resonance frequency of the LC network.
US07969156B2	Method and apparatus for monitoring a load Applicants have created an improved method and apparatus for remotely monitoring an electrical load and assessing key attributes of power-related anomalies and line disturbances caused or created by the electrical load and qualifying their conformity to certain expected steady state conditions. The apparatus includes an intelligent power distribution module that can include a power output section, a power input section, a communication section, and related circuitry. The intelligent power distribution module can further include a memory section, a sensing device, a processing device, and a switch. The method for monitoring an electrical load having a current and voltage requirement supplied by an electrical source coupled to the load generally includes: interfacing a sensing module between the load and the electrical source; sensing one or more characteristics of the load; and determining the performance of the load sensing.
US07969154B2	Methods for installing an antenna reception system Various systems, methods and apparatus are described for detecting an excessive or faulty ground current in a conductive wire or electronic device. A ground current detector is coupled to a known earth ground to determine whether other ground lines are carrying excessive, faulty and/or leaking currents. If these types of unsafe conditions are detected, then a user can take appropriate action to locate and correct these problems.
US07969145B2	Position detecting device with a magnetoresistive element Disclosed is a position detecting device provided with a magnetoresistive element that can accurately detect a position using a magnet and a detector that moves opposite to the magnet. A front surface of a magnet having a circular shape is magnetized to the N-pole, and a rear surface thereof is magnetized to the S-pole. A detector moves in the X-Y plane at a position that is spaced from the front surface of the magnet. The detector is provided with an X direction detecting element and a Y direction detecting element. The X direction detecting element and the Y direction detecting element are magnetoresistive elements. The front surface of the magnet is tapered such that the center thereof protrudes.
US07969143B2	Method of tracking an object having a passive transponder attached thereto A method of tracking translation and rotation of one or more objects within a region of interest. The method includes providing a passive transponder in the region of interest, the transponder having a position and an orientation, generating an electromagnetic field in the region of interest, causing the transponder to generate electromagnetic signal, mapping the electromagnetic field and the signal as functions of the position and the orientation of the transponder, fixing the transponder to the object being tracked, receiving the signals generated by the transponder while the transponder is fixed to the object being tracked, and processing the signal, with reference to the functions, to compute the three-dimensional translational position and three-axis rotational orientation of the object.
US07969136B2	Band gap circuit generating a plurality of internal voltage references A semiconductor device includes: a first reference voltage generator for generating a first reference voltage; a first band gap circuit for dividing a voltage at a second reference voltage output node to produce a first and a second band gap voltages having a property relative to temperature variations; a first comparator for receiving the first reference voltage as a bias input and comparing the first band gap voltage with the second band gap voltage; and a first driver for pull-up driving the second reference voltage output node in response to an output signal of the first comparator.
US07969125B2	Programmable power control system A power control system includes a switching power converter and a programmable power factor correction (PFC) and output voltage controller. The programmable PFC and output voltage controller generates a control signal to control power factor correction and voltage regulation of the switching power converter. In at least one embodiment, the control signal is a pulse width modulated signal. The programmability of the PFC and output voltage controller provides the programmable PFC and output voltage controller flexibility to operate in accordance with programmable parameters, to adapt to various operating environments, and to respond to various operating exigencies. In at least one embodiment, the programmable PFC and output voltage controller includes a state machine to process one or more programmable, operational parameters to determine the period and pulse width states of the control signal.
US07969124B2	Power supply apparatus, test apparatus, and electronic device There is provided a power supply apparatus including a power supply section that supplies an output current to an external load, and a current control section that flows an electric current varying in a direction opposite to a supply current being supplied to the power supply section into a ground of the power supply section.
US07969118B2	Electronic apparatus with remaining battery power indicating function An electronic apparatus has a multiplicity of display units including an electronic viewfinder and a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel. The apparatus has various display modes. The remaining battery power, i.e., estimated amounts of remaining battery times relative to a current remaining battery capacity, are calculated for the respective display modes. The calculated remaining battery power is collectively displayed as the remaining battery power information on the respective display units. The remaining battery power can be obtained for all the display modes even when the battery is being charged, so that a user can always grasp the remaining battery power of any of the display modes.
US07969112B2	Stator resistance adaptation in sensorless PMSM drives A method of estimating stator resistance of a permanent magnet synchronous machine, when the permanent magnet synchronous machine is controlled with an inverter using a control system having an adaptive observer which is augmented with a signal injection, the adaptive observer having a stator resistance estimate ({circumflex over (R)}s) as a parameter, in which method an error signal (ε) is obtained from the signal injection, a speed correction term (ωε) is calculated from the error signal (ε), the rotor position estimate is corrected using the speed correction term (ωε) in the adaptive observer, whereby the error signal (ε) is driven to zero. The method comprises the step of correcting the value of the stator resistance estimate ({circumflex over (R)}s) in the adaptive observer when the speed correction term (ωε) differs from zero.
US07969102B2	Interactive LED lighting system for entertainment and network thereof An interactive LED lighting system for entertainment and a network thereof comprise a plurality of LED light controllers being capable of connecting with a wireless operating end, a plurality of kinetic energy sensors or wireless remote controls for receiving commands output by the wireless operating end, the kinetic energy sensors or the wireless remote controls so as to generate RGB signals and in turn make LED lamps connected with the LED light controllers change colors they emit.
US07969098B2	Dimming circuit for discharging lamp capable of turning off under a low power condition A dimming circuit includes a resonant unit, a rectification unit, a half-bridge output unit, a first switch device and a second switch device, and a selection unit. The rectification unit is connected to the resonant unit. The half-bridge output unit includes a first electric-controlled switch and a second electric-controlled switch in series. The first and second switch devices are connected to the first and second electric-controlled switches. The selection unit may turn on the first switch device and the second electric-controlled switch when a potential is rising that turns on the discharging lamp and turn off the second switch device and keep turning on the second switch device when the discharging lamp is lighting. The selection unit further turns on the second switch device to turn off the second electric-controlled switch for turning off the discharging lamp in a low power condition.
US07969091B2	Field-emission apparatus of light source comprising a low pressure gas layer An apparatus of light source includes a cathode structure, an anode structure, a fluorescent layer, a secondary electron generating layer, and a low-pressure gas layer. The fluorescent layer is located between the cathode structure and the anode structure. The low-pressure gas layer is filled between the cathode structure and the anode structure. The secondary electron generating layer is located on the cathode structure. The secondary electron generating layer can generate additional secondary electrons to hit the fluorescent layer for improving the performance of the light source.
US07969087B2	Organic light emitting diode display and method for manufacturing the same An organic light emitting device including a first pixel, a second pixel, and a third pixel displaying different colors from each other according to the present invention is disclosed, wherein the organic light emitting device includes a substrate, a pixel electrode formed on the substrate, a reflecting electrode facing the pixel electrode, an emission layer disposed between the pixel electrode and the reflecting electrode, and a transflective member forming a micro-cavity along with the reflecting electrode, wherein a optical path length is a distance between the reflecting electrode and the transflective member, and the optical path lengths of at least two pixels among the first pixel, the second pixel, and the third pixel are the same, and the transflective member is removed in the white pixel.
US07969086B2	Organic light emitting display apparatus Provided is an organic light emitting display apparatus in which short circuit between conductive lines exposed outside a display unit is avoided. The organic light emitting display apparatus includes a substrate, a display unit disposed on the substrate, a plurality of conductive lines disposed on the substrate and extending in an edge direction of the substrate; an insulator filling the conductive lines; and a first spacer disposed on the insulator.
US07969084B2	Display device having backlight device and electron emission unit A display device is provided including a display panel for displaying an image and a backlight panel for providing light to the display panel. The backlight panel includes a vacuum chamber including a first substrate, a second substrate, and a sealing member. Cathode electrodes are on a side of the first substrate along a first direction with a gap between each other. Gate electrodes are between the cathode electrodes. Electron emission regions are at either sides of the cathode electrodes facing the gate electrodes. A diffusion electrode is above the cathode electrodes and the gate electrodes. An insulator is between the diffusion electrode and the cathode electrodes and between the diffusion electrode and the gate electrodes. Openings are in the diffusion electrode for exposing the electron emission regions. A light emitting unit is on the second substrate.
US07969074B2	Low pressure discharge lamp The invention relates to a mercury-free low pressure discharge lamp with a discharge vessel having an ionizable filling. The surface temperature of the discharge vessel, and thus the temperature of the ionizable filling, can be adjusted at least in some sections such that an emitting substance can produce the radiation required for the excitation of the luminescent substance. The temperature of the fluid is preferably adjusted in a temperature control circuit, using a temperature sensor, a pump and a heating device.
US07969063B2	Driver A driver, including: a piezoelectric element extending and contracting upon application of an electrical voltage; a driving member having one end secured to the piezoelectric element; a frictionally coupling member, frictionally coupling the driving member; and a drive circuit, connected with a power supply to activate the piezoelectric element at a predetermined period, including: a charge switching element for connecting an electrode of the piezoelectric element with the power supply, a discharge switching element, and a protective resistor arranged in an electric path between the power supply and the piezoelectric element or between the piezoelectric element and a ground point, wherein a resistance value of the protective resistor is set larger than an ON resistance of the switching element but smaller than a value obtained by dividing one half of the drive period of the switching element by a capacitance of the piezoelectric element, in a predetermined period.
US07969060B2	Electric motor The invention relates to an electric motor comprising a permanent magnet rotor, which is supported rotationally about a central axis, a wound stator having a cylinder ring-shaped stator winding, claw poles, which are disposed perpendicularly to ring disc-shaped stator plates and around the central axis, and a cylinder jacket-shaped yoke ring, the length of the claw poles in the axially parallel direction being clearly greater than half the inner diameter of the stator. It is the object of the invention to provide an electric motor, in which the stator is composed of the least number of components, requires simple assembly and has a robust structure and optimum efficiency, thereby enabling greater design flexibility, usability of installation space and thus an economic construction. This objective is solved according to the invention in that the magnetically conductive part of the stator comprises a cylinder jacket-shaped yoke ring and two ring disc-shaped stator plates, the stator plates are each designed as a single piece with a plurality of claw poles and the ring disc-shaped stator plates comprise ends, which are connected to one another.
US07969059B2	Brush assembly having a brush wear detector and indicator for a D.C. motor A brush assembly having a brush wear indicator for use with electric actuating devices such as motors and generators that detects the worn condition of a brush and generates a signal indicating this worn condition.
US07969050B2	External rotor and housing therefor A housing for an external rotor with a side wall; an end cover directly connected to the side wall; a cavity formed between the side wall and the end cover; a plurality of openings formed in the side wall; a plurality of wind wheels; a plurality of air inlets, each of the air inlets disposed one between adjacent wind wheels; a base disposed at the center of the end cover and connected to the side wall via the wind wheels; and a center hole disposed at the center of the base, the center hole for forming connection to a drive shaft of the external rotor. An external rotor with the housing, a magnetic conductive housing; and a plurality of magnetic tiles.
US07969043B2	Power management systems with multiple power sources An electronic system includes a plurality of primary power sources operable for powering a load and charging a secondary power source, and a power management unit coupled to the plurality of primary power sources and the secondary power source. The power management unit is operable for selectively directing power of each of the primary power sources to the load according to a power requirement of the load. The power management unit is further operable for directing power of the secondary power source to the load if the power requirement of the load exceeds a total power capacity of the plurality of primary power sources.
US07969022B1	Die-to-die wire-bonding Methods for die-to-die wire-bonding, and devices and systems formed thereby, are described herein. A die to die wire-bonding method may comprise bonding a first conductive bump having a first bump size to a first die pad; bonding a first wire to a second die pad, the first wire bonded to the second die pad by a second conductive bump having a second bump size, the second bump size being smaller than the first bump size; and bonding the first wire to the first conductive bump.
US07969018B2	Stacked semiconductor chips with separate encapsulations Stacked semiconductor chips. One embodiment provides a device having a first body. A first power semiconductor chip and first external contact elements is provides. A second body includes a second semiconductor chip and second external contact elements. The second body is placed over the first body. The first external contact elements and the second external contact elements define a first plane.
US07969005B2	Packaging board, rewiring, roughened conductor for semiconductor module of a portable device, and manufacturing method therefor A method for manufacturing a semiconductor module includes: a first process of forming a conductor on one face of an insulating layer; a second process of exposing the conductor from the other face of the insulating layer; a third process of providing a first wiring layer on an exposed area of the conductor and on the other face of the insulating layer; a fourth process of preparing a substrate on which a circuit element is formed, the second wiring being formed on the substrate; and a fifth process of embedding the conductor in the insulating layer by press-bonding the insulating layer and the substrate in a state where the conductor on which the first wiring layer is provided by the third process is disposed counter to the second wiring layer. Wiring is formed without causing damaging to the circuit element.
US07969004B2	Semiconductor device, method for mounting semiconductor device, and mounting structure of semiconductor device In order to realize a semiconductor device which is easily mounted on a circuit board and which has high mounting reliability, a semiconductor device 1 of the present invention includes: a semiconductor substrate 2; and an Au bump 3 provided on an electrode 21. The Au bump 3 is provided with a projection 3a. Also, on a surface of the Au bump 3, a solder layer 32 is formed via a Ni layer 31. The projection 3a makes it possible to easily mount the semiconductor device 1 by applying a small weight. Further, even if the amount of solder 62 supplied on an electrode 61 on a circuit board 6 is reduced, it is possible to bond the semiconductor device with a sufficient amount of solder during mounting. Furthermore, because a Ni layer 31 prevents dissolution of the bump, it is possible to ensure high mounting reliability.
US07968994B2	Memory modules and systems including the same Provided is a memory module. The memory module may include a mounting substrate including a plurality of first substrate pads disposed on a top surface of the mounting substrate, a first semiconductor package disposed on a top surface of the mounting substrate, the first semiconductor package having a first frame and first external connection terminals which extend through the outside of the first frame and are disposed on the first substrate pads, a first connection member including first connection terminals disposed between the first external connection terminals and the first substrate pads and a pressure fixing member compressing the first connection member to electrically connect the first external connection terminals and the first substrate pads by the medium of the first connection terminals.
US07968991B2	Stacked package module and board having exposed ends A stacked package module is disclosed, which comprises: a first package structure comprising a first circuit board with a first chip embedded therein, wherein the first chip has a plurality of electrode pads; the first circuit board comprises a first surface, an opposite second surface, a plurality of exposed electro-connecting ends, a plurality of first conductive pads on the first surface, a plurality of conductive vias, and at least one circuit layer, therewith the electrode pads of the first chip electrically connecting to the electro-connecting ends and the first conductive pads directly through the conductive vias and the circuit layer; and a second package structure electrically connecting to the first package structure through a plurality of first solder balls to make a package on package. The stacked package module of this invention has characters of compact size, high performance, high flexibility, and detachability.
US07968988B2	Power semiconductor module having a thermally conductive base plate on which at least four substrates are arranged in at least one single row The power semiconductor module (1) has a heat-conducting base plate (11) on which at least three substrates (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) are placed, each substrate supporting at least one power semiconductor component (8, 9) that gives off heat generated during operation. In order to optimize a power semiconductor module of this type with regard to mechanical load and heat dissipation, the substrates (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) are placed on the base plate (11) while being arranged in a single row (12), and pressing devices (15, 16), which are situated close to the substrate, are provided on both longitudinal sides (11a, 11b) of the base plate (11) while being arranged parallel to the row (12). The base plate can be pressed against a cooling surface by the pressing devices.
US07968986B2	Lid structure for microdevice and method of manufacture A system and a method are described for forming features at the bottom of a cavity in a substrate. Embodiments of the systems and methods provide an infrared transmitting, hermetic lid for a microdevice. The lid may be manufactured by first forming small, subwavelength features on a surface of an infrared transmitting substrate, and coating the subwavelength features with an etch stop material. A spacer wafer is then bonded to the infrared transmitting substrate, and a device cavity is etched into the spacer wafer down to the etch stop material, exposing the subwavelength features. The etch stop material may then be removed, and the microdevice enclosed in the device cavity, by bonding the device wafer to the lid.
US07968981B2	Inline integrated circuit system An integrated circuit package system including: providing a leadframe with an integrated circuit mounted thereover; encapsulating the integrated circuit with an encapsulation; mounting an etch barrier below the leadframe; and etching the leadframe.
US07968980B2	Support member for mounting a semiconductor device, conductive materials, and its manufacturing method A semiconductor device comprises a support member having a pair of first conductive materials and a pair of second conductive materials on an insulating substrate, and a sealing member covering a semiconductor element arranged on the support member, wherein the support member has an insulating portion where the insulating substrate is exposed between the pair of the first conductive materials, and at least one of the pair of the second conductive materials is arranged along the side of the insulating portion, and the sealing member is disposed so that the sealing member is over at least a part of at least one of the first conductive materials and the second conductive materials.
US07968978B2	Microwave integrated circuit package and method for forming such package A method for packaging a semiconductor device. The method includes: providing a dielectric layer over the semiconductor device; determining patterns and placement of material on the dielectric layer to provide a predetermined magnetic or electric effect for the device, such effects being provided on the device from such patterned and placed material solely by electrical or magnetic waves coupled between such material and the device; and forming the material in the determined patterns and placement to provide the predetermined effects.
US07968976B2	Guard ring extension to prevent reliability failures An embodiment of the present invention is a technique to prevent reliability failures in semiconductor devices. A trench is patterned in a polyimide layer over a guard ring having a top metal layer. A passivation layer is etched at bottom of the trench. A capping layer is deposited on the trench over the etched passivation layer. The capping layer and the top metal layer form a mechanical strong interface to prevent a crack propagation.
US07968974B2	Scribe seal connection A feedthrough in an IC scribe seal is disclosed. The feedthrough is structured to maintain isolation of components in the IC from mechanical damage and chemical impurities introduced during fabrication and assembly operations. A conductive structure penetrates the scribe seal, possibly in more than one location, connecting an interior region to an exterior region. A feedthrough vertical seal surrounds the conductive element in the IC and connects to the scribe seal. A horizontal diffusion barrier connects to the scribe seal and the feedthrough vertical seal. The feedthrough vertical seal, the horizontal diffusion barrier and the IC substrate form a continuous barrier to chemical impurities around the conductive element in the interior region. The conductive structure includes any combination of a doped region in an active area, an MOS transistor gate layer, and one or more interconnect metal layers. The feedthrough is compatible with aluminum and copper interconnect metallization.
US07968972B2	High-frequency bipolar transistor and method for the production thereof A high-frequency bipolar transistor includes an emitter contact adjoining an emitter connection region, a base contact adjoining a base connection region, and a collector contact adjoining a collector connection region. A first insulation layer is disposed on the base connection region. The collector connection region contains a buried layer, which connects the collector contact to a collector zone. A silicide or salicide region is provided on the buried layer and connects the collector contact to the collector zone in a low-impedance manner. A second insulation layer is disposed on the collector connection region but not on the silicide region.
US07968970B2	Semiconductor device, method for manufacturing semiconductor device, and power amplifier element A semiconductor device is presented, which includes a semiconductor substrate with a high concentration impurity of a first type conductivity and an epitaxial layer with a low concentration impurity provided on the semiconductor substrate, where a trench coupled to the semiconductor substrate is provided in the epitaxial layer with the low concentration impurity. And the semiconductor device further includes a high concentration impurity region of the first type conductivity having the same type conductivity as the type of the semiconductor substrate formed in at least the epitaxial layer with the low concentration impurity along an inner wall of the trench and coupled to the semiconductor substrate with the high concentration impurity of a first type conductivity, and contacts formed on the high concentration impurity region of the first type conductivity.
US07968964B2	High density photodiodes The present invention is a front-side contact, back-side illuminated (FSC-BSL) photodiode arrays and front-side illuminated, back-side contact (FSL-BSC) photodiode arrays having improved characteristics, including high production throughput, low-cost manufacturing via implementation of batch processing techniques; uniform, as well as high, photocurrent density owing to presence of a large continuous homogeneous, heavily doped layer; and back to front intrachip connections via the homogenous, heavily doped layers on the front and back sides of the substrate.
US07968962B2	Semiconductor fabrication method and system A semiconductor device is disclosed. In one embodiment, a device includes a substrate having one or more vias and a carrier coupled to the substrate to form a sealed cavity between the carrier and the substrate. In some embodiments, the sealed cavity may be pressurized. The device may also include a redistribution layer formed over the one or more vias on a side of the substrate. Other devices, systems, and methods are also disclosed.
US07968953B2	Semiconductor device including schottky barrier diode and method of manufacturing the same A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a plurality of first columns having a first conductivity type, a plurality of second columns having a second conductivity type, a first electrode, and a second electrode. The first columns and the second columns are alternately arranged on the substrate to provide a super junction structure. The first electrode is disposed on the super junction structure, forms schottky junctions with the first columns, and forms ohmic junctions with the second columns. The second electrode is disposed on the substrate on an opposite side of the super junction structure. At least a part of the substrate and the super junction structure has lattice defects to provide a lifetime control region at which a lifetime of a minority carrier is controlled to be short.
US07968944B2	Integrated circuit chip with FETs having mixed body thicknesses and method of manufacture thereof An Integrated Circuit (IC) chip that may be a bulk CMOS IC chip with silicon on insulator (SOI) Field Effect Transistors (FETs) and method of making the chip. The IC chip includes areas with pockets of buried insulator strata and FETs formed on the strata are SOI FETs. The SOI FETs may include Partially Depleted SOI (PD-SOI) FETs and Fully Depleted SOI (FD-SOI) FETs and the chip may include bulk FETs as well. The FETs are formed by contouring the surface of a wafer, conformally implanting oxygen to a uniform depth, and planarizing to remove the Buried OXide (BOX) in bulk FET regions.
US07968941B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes: an epitaxial layer; a body layer, formed in the epitaxial layer, which includes a channel region; a source layer disposed in superposition on the body layer; a gate insulator, formed on the epitaxial layer, which is in a ring shape surrounding the source layer; a gate electrode formed through the gate insulator; a drift layer, formed in the epitaxial layer, which is in a ring shape surrounding the body layer; and a drain layer formed in the surface of the epitaxial layer and disposed opposite to the source layer. The body layer is disposed such that the boundary surface at an end in the gate-width direction is in contact with the undersurface of the gate insulator. The gate insulator has a thick film portion thicker than a part above the channel region in the gate-length direction at least in a part where the gate insulator is in contact with the boundary surface of the body layer at the end in the gate-width direction.
US07968934B2	Memory device including a gate control layer An integrated memory device, an integrated memory chip and a method for fabricating an integrated memory device is disclosed. One embodiment provides at least one integrated memory device with a drain, a source, a floating gate, a selection gate and a control gate, wherein the conductivity between the drain and the source can be controlled independently via the control gate.
US07968933B2	Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a tunnel insulating film, a floating gate electrode, an inter-electrode insulating film, and a control gate electrode. The tunnel insulating film is formed on a selected part of a surface of a semiconductor substrate. The floating gate electrode is formed on the tunnel insulating film. At least that interface region of the floating gate electrode, which is opposite to the substrate, is made of n-type Si or metal-based conductive material. The inter-electrode insulating film is formed on the floating gate electrode and made of high-permittivity material. The control gate electrode is formed on the inter-electrode insulating film. At least that interface region of the control gate electrode, which is on the side of the inter-electrode insulating film, is made of a p-type semiconductor layer containing at least one of Si and Ge.
US07968929B2	On-chip decoupling capacitor structures The present disclosure provides on-chip decoupling capacitor structures having trench capacitors integrated with a passive capacitor formed in the back-end-of-line wiring to provide an improved overall capacitance density. In some embodiments, the structure includes at least one deep trench capacitor and a passive capacitor formed in at least two back-end-of-line wiring levels. The trench and passive capacitors are in electrical communication through one of the wiring levels. In other embodiments, the structure includes at least one deep trench capacitor, a first back-end-of-line wiring level, and a second back-end-of-line wiring level. The deep trench capacitor with a dielectric that has an upper edge that terminates at a lower surface of a shallow trench isolation region. The first wiring level is in electrical communication with the trench capacitor. The second wiring level is vertically electrically connected to the first wiring level by vertical connectors so as to form a passive capacitor.
US07968924B2	Semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same In a semiconductor device comprising a capacitive element, an area of the capacitive element is reduced without impairing performance, and further, without addition of an extra step in a manufacturing process. A first capacitor is formed between an active region of a semiconductor substrate provided through a first capacitive insulating film and a lower electrode comprised of a conductor film in the same layer as a select gate electrode of a select, a second capacitor is formed between the lower electrode, and an upper electrode comprised of a conductor film in the same layer as a memory gate electrode of a memory, provided through the second capacitive insulating film in the same layer as the insulating films of a multi-layer structure, including a charge storage layer, and a stacking-type capacitive element is comprised of the first capacitor and the second capacitor, wherein a planar shape of the lower electrode is a grid-like shape having a plurality of lengths of linear conductor films each having a first width, formed along a first direction with a first interval provided therebetween, and a plurality of lengths of linear conductor films each having a second width, formed along a second direction (the direction intersecting the first direction) with a second interval provided therebetween.
US07968922B2	Semiconductor apparatus, solid state image pickup device using the same, and method of manufacturing them The invention provides a semiconductor apparatus provided with at least one set of buried channel type first conductive type MOS transistor and surface channel type first conductive type MOS transistor on the same substrate, in which a first conductive type impurity region is provided below a gate electrode of the buried channel type and surface channel type MOS transistors and between source drain regions. Further, the invention provides a solid state image pickup device having a photoelectric conversion portion and a pixel including a plurality of transistors formed in correspondence to the photoelectric conversion portion, in a substrate, wherein the plurality of transistors includes a buried channel type first conductive type MOS transistor and a surface channel type first conductive type MOS transistor, and a first conductive type impurity region is provided below a gate electrode of the buried channel type and surface channel type MOS transistors and between source drain regions.
US07968919B2	Integrated circuit including a charge compensation component A charge compensation component having a drift path between two electrodes, an electrode and a counterelectrode, and methods for producing the same. The drift path has drift zones of a first conduction type and charge compensation zones of a complementary conduction type with respect to the first conduction type. A drift path layer doping comprising the volume integral of the doping locations of a horizontal drift path layer of the vertically extending drift path including the drift zone regions and charge compensation zone regions arranged in the drift path layer is greater in the vicinity of the electrodes than in the direction of the center of the drift path.
US07968916B2	Circuit and method for interconnecting stacked integrated circuit dies Signals are routed to and from identical stacked integrated circuit dies by selectively coupling first and second bonding pads on each of the dies to respective circuits fabricated on the dies through respective transistors. The transistors connected to the first bonding pads of an upper die are made conductive while the transistors connected to the second bonding pads of the upper die are made non-conductive. The transistors connected to the second bonding pads of a lower die are made conductive while the transistors connected to the first bonding pads of the lower die are made non-conductive. The second bonding pads of the upper die are connected to the second bonding pads of the lower die through wafer interconnects extending through the upper die. Signals are routed to and from the circuits on the first and second dies through the first and second bonding pads, respectively.
US07968915B2	Dual stress memorization technique for CMOS application A stress-transmitting dielectric layer is formed on the at least one PFET and the at least one NFET. A tensile stress generating film, such as a silicon nitride, is formed on the at least one NFET by blanket deposition and patterning. A compressive stress generating film, which may be a refractive metal nitride film, is formed on the at least one PFET by a blanket deposition and patterning. An encapsulating dielectric film is deposited over the compress stress generating film. The stress is transferred from both the tensile stress generating film and the compressive stress generating film into the underlying semiconductor structures. The magnitude of the transferred compressive stress from the refractory metal nitride film may be from about 5 GPa to about 20 GPa. The stress is memorized during an anneal and remains in the semiconductor devices after the stress generating films are removed.
US07968906B2	Substrate-triggered bipolar junction transistor and ESD protection circuit An ESD protection circuit using a novel substrate-triggered lateral bipolar junction transistor (STLBJT) for providing a discharging path between power rails. The ESD protection circuit comprises an ESD detection circuit and a STLBJT device. The STLBJT device formed in a P-type substrate includes N-type collector and emitter regions coupled to the power rails, respectively. The substrate region between the collector and emitter regions, on which there is no field oxide device, serves as a base of the STLBJT device. The STLBJT device further includes a first P-type region coupled to the ESD detection circuit and a second P-type region coupled to one of the power rails, which are spatially separated from the collector/emitter regions, respectively. The STLBJT device is turned on by substrate-triggering responsive to the signal coming from the ESD detection circuit and establishes the discharging path between the power rails.
US07968905B2	ZnO-containing semiconductor layer and ZnO-containing semiconductor light emitting device A ZnO-containing semiconductor layer contains Se or S added to ZnO and has an emission peak wavelength of ultraviolet light and an emission peak wavelength of visual light. By combining the ZnO-containing semiconductor layer with phosphor or semiconductor which is excited by the emitted ultraviolet light and emits visual light, visual light at various wavelengths can be emitted.
US07968900B2	High performance LED package A light emitting diode lamp is disclosed that includes a resin package that defines a recess in the shape of a solid polygon or another three-dimensional solid. The recess includes a floor, two side walls along the respective longer sides of the floor, and two end walls along the respective shorter sides of the floor. The two side walls define an angle therebetween greater than 3°, and the two end walls define an angle therebetween greater than 40°. A light emitting diode chip is positioned on the rectangular floor of the package.
US07968898B2	Nitride semiconductor light emitting device, method of manufacturing nitride semiconductor light emitting device, and nitride semiconductor transistor device Provided are a nitride semiconductor light emitting device including a coat film formed at a light emitting portion and including an aluminum nitride crystal or an aluminum oxynitride crystal, and a method of manufacturing the nitride semiconductor light emitting device. Also provided is a nitride semiconductor transistor device including a nitride semiconductor layer and a gate insulating film which is in contact with the nitride semiconductor layer and includes an aluminium nitride crystal or an aluminum oxynitride crystal.
US07968896B2	Separate optical device for directing light from an LED Embodiments of the present invention provide separate optical devices operable to couple to a separate LED, the separate optical device comprising an entrance surface to receive light from a separate LED when the separate optical device is coupled to the separate LED, an exit surface opposite from and a distance from the entrance surface and a set of sidewalls. The exit surface can have at least a minimum area necessary to conserve brightness for a desired half-angle of light projected from the separate optical device. Furthermore, each sidewall is positioned and shaped so that rays having a straight transmission path from the entrance surface to that sidewall reflect to the exit surface with an angle of incidence at the exit surface at less than or equal to a critical angle at the exit surface.
US07968893B2	Semiconductor light emitting device and method of manufacturing the same Disclosed are a semiconductor light emitting device, which can improve characteristics of the semiconductor light emitting device such as a forward voltage characteristic and a turn-on voltage characteristic, increase light emission efficiency by lowering an input voltage, and increase reliability of the semiconductor light emitting device by a low-voltage operation, and a method of manufacturing the same. The semiconductor light emitting device includes: an n-type GaN semiconductor layer; an active layer formed on a gallium face of the n-type GaN semiconductor layer; a p-type semiconductor layer formed on the active layer; and an n-type electrode formed on a nitrogen face of the n-type GaN semiconductor layer and including a lanthanum (La)-nickel (Ni) alloy.
US07968889B2	Semiconductor device with thinned gate insulating film and polycrystal semiconductor layer and production method thereof The present invention provides a semiconductor device having a high breakdown voltage and high reliability even if a gate electrode is formed to be thin. The present invention is a semiconductor device including a polycrystal semiconductor layer, a gate insulating film, and a gate electrode, stacked on an insulating substrate in this order, wherein the polycrystal semiconductor layer has a surface roughness of 9 nm or less, the gate insulating film has a multilayer structure including a silicon oxide film on the polycrystal semiconductor layer side and a film containing a material with a dielectric constant higher than a dielectric constant of silicon oxide on the gate electrode side.
US07968887B2	Active matrix circuit substrate, method of manufacturing the same, and active matrix display including the active matrix circuit substrate An active matrix circuit substrate including data lines, select lines, and pixel circuits electrically coupled with a data line and two adjacent select lines. The pixel circuits include a thin film transistor having a gate electrode coupled with one of the two adjacent select lines and a storage capacitor having a second electrode coupled with the other select line adjacent to the select line to which the gate electrode is coupled. The gate electrode of a first pixel circuit and the second electrode of the storage capacitor of the adjacent pixel circuit are the same structure having a line shape.
US07968885B2	Display device and manufacturing method thereof To provide a display device having a thin film transistor with high electric characteristics and excellent reliability and a manufacturing method thereof. A gate electrode, a gate insulating film provided over the gate electrode, a first semiconductor layer provided over the gate insulating film and having a microcrystalline semiconductor, a second semiconductor layer provided over the first semiconductor layer and having an amorphous semiconductor, and a source region and a drain region provided over the second semiconductor layer are provided. The first semiconductor layer has high crystallinity than the second semiconductor layer. The second semiconductor layer includes an impurity region having a conductivity type different from a conductivity type of the source region and the drain region between the source region and the drain region.
US07968884B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof A semiconductor device manufactured utilizing an SOI substrate, in which defects due to an end portion of an island-shaped silicon layer are prevented and the reliability is improved, and a manufacturing method thereof. The following are included: an SOI substrate in which an insulating layer and an island-shaped silicon layer are stacked in order over a support substrate; a gate insulating layer provided over one surface and a side surface of the island-shaped silicon layer; and a gate electrode which is provided over the island-shaped silicon layer with the gate insulating layer interposed therebetween. The gate insulating layer is formed such that the dielectric constant in the region which is in contact with the side surface of the island-shaped silicon layer is lower than that over the one surface of the island-shaped silicon layer.
US07968882B2	Flexible display device and manufacturing method thereof A flexible display device adapted to prevent a disconnection of pad electrode and a line short-circuit is disclosed. The flexible display device and the manufacturing method thereof according to the present embodiments forms only the barrier film or no layer on the mother substrate in the vicinity of the cut line which divides the mother substrate into the TFT substrate. Even when the mother substrate is pressed using a press machine, cracks or lifts of layers are not generated in the TFT substrate unlike the conventional technology so that a disconnection is not generated in the gate pad electrode or the data pad electrode. Thus, line short-circuits generated as the layers are separated and attached to the TFT substrate can be prevented.
US07968879B2	Thin film transistor and display device including the same One object of the present invention is reduction of off current of a thin film transistor. Another object of the present invention is improvement of electric characteristics of the thin film transistor. Further, another object of the present invention is improvement of image quality of the display device including the thin film transistor. The thin film transistor includes a semiconductor film containing germanium at a concentration greater than or equal to 5 at. % and less than or equal to 100 at. % or a conductive film which is provided over a gate electrode with the gate insulating film interposed therebetween and which is provided in an inner region of the gate electrode so as not to overlap with an end portion of the gate electrode, a film covering at least a side surface of the semiconductor film containing germanium at a concentration greater than or equal to 5 at. % and less than or equal to 100 at. % or the conductive film, a pair of wirings formed over the film covering the side surface of the semiconductor film containing germanium at a concentration greater than or equal to 5 at. % and less than or equal to 100 at. % or the conductive film.
US07968876B2	Phase change memory cell having vertical channel access transistor Memory devices are described along with methods for manufacturing. A device as described herein includes a substrate having a first region and a second region. The first region comprises a first field effect transistor comprising first and second doped regions separated by a horizontal channel region within the substrate, a gate overlying the horizontal channel region, and a first dielectric covering the gate of the first field effect transistor. The second region of the substrate includes a second field effect transistor comprising a first terminal extending through the first dielectric to contact the substrate, a second terminal overlying the first terminal and having a top surface, and a vertical channel region separating the first and second terminals. The second field effect transistor also includes a gate on the first dielectric and adjacent the vertical channel region, the gate having a top surface that is co-planar with the top surface of the second terminal. A second dielectric separates the gate of the second field effect transistor from the vertical channel region.
US07968874B2	Organic electroluminescent device material and organic electroluminescent device Disclosed is an organic electroluminescent device (organic EL device) that utilizes phosphorescence and is improved in luminous efficiency and fully secured of driving stability. The organic EL device comprises an anode, an organic layer containing a hole-transporting layer, a light-emitting layer, and an electron-transporting layer, and a cathode piled one upon another on a substrate while the hole-transporting layer is disposed between the light-emitting layer and the anode and the electron-transporting layer is disposed between the light-emitting layer and the cathode. The light-emitting layer comprises an aluminum heterocomplex or dimeric complex of deuterated substituted or unsubstituted 2-methyl-8-hydroxyquinoline (Me8HQ-D) in which the hydrogen atoms in the methyl group of substituted or unsubstituted 2-methyl-8-hydroxyquinoline (Me8HQ) are deuterated as a host material and an organic metal complex containing at least one metal selected from groups 7 to 11 of the periodic table as a guest material.
US07968868B2	Optical semiconductor device and manufacturing method of the same A side barrier is provided between columnar dots each constituted by directly stacking respective quantum dots in seven or more layers. Out of respective side barrier layers composing the side barrier, each of the lower side barrier layers (four layers of the undermost layer to the fourth layer from the bottom) is formed as a first side barrier layer into which a tensile strain is introduced, and each of the upper side barrier layers (three layers of the fifth layer to the uppermost layer from the bottom) is formed as a second side barrier layer which has no strain.
US07968854B2	Device for sterilizing a fluid The invention relates to a device for sterilizing a fluid and includes a container provided for receiving the fluid, at least one UV light source for the sterilization of the fluid, and at least one measuring device for determining absorption properties and/or cloudiness of the fluid. A light source is associated with the measuring device. The light from the light source to the measuring device in a first operating mode leads through the fluid at least on a partial section, and in a second operating mode on this partial section leads through a reference medium having known absorption properties and/or cloudiness.
US07968842B2	Apparatus and systems for processing samples for analysis via ion mobility spectrometry The invention provides an interface assembly for delivering an ionized analyte from an ionization apparatus into an ion mobility spectrometer. This allows analysis of biological and non-biological samples, even non-volatile solids, via differential mobility spectrometry, without fragmentation of molecules. The invention also provides portable sample analysis systems that operate at ambient pressure. Systems of the invention may be used for high molecular weight species detection, for example, drinking water contaminants, pathogenic biological agents, bio-organic substances, non-biological material, peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides, polymers, bacteria, and hydrocarbons.
US07968841B2	Force and acceleration sensor using four wave mixing technique A sensor for measuring force, the sensor including: a light source; and a mixing medium in optical communication with the light source and exposed to the force; wherein four wave mixing of light interacting with the mixing medium provides a signal that indicates the force.
US07968834B2	Response-enhanced monolithic-hybrid pixel A light-sensing pixel is described that includes more than one detector element, each of which is sensitive to a range of wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrums. The detectors are arranged in a readout circuit that can be constructed on a monolithic semiconductor product such that one or more of the detectors can be switched on or off to include or exclude an output contribution from said detectors and enhance the response of the pixel. Also, the detectors can included a laser-treated semiconductor sensor for efficient sensing of radiation in one or more regions of the spectrum. Arrays and imaging products using such pixels are disclosed.
US07968831B2	Systems and methods for optimizing the aimpoint for a missile Methods and systems are disclosed that automatically display an optimized aimpoint on a target image in received seeker data. In one embodiment, a method receives missile seeker target data. A seeker mode data is extracted from the received missile seeker target data. The location of a most vulnerable spot on a target is identified based on a comparison of target library data with seeker image data. A marker is generated at the location of the optimized aimpoint and output to a display.
US07968818B2	Apparatus and method for welding strap connections between inner grid straps of spacer grid using laser tool, and spacer grid manufactured using the same An apparatus and method for welding strap connections between inner grid straps of a spacer grid using a laser tool, and a spacer grid manufactured by the same, in which the strap connections between the inner grid straps of the spacer grid are seam-welded continuously or intermittently using the laser tool, so that the structural strength of the spacer grid is increased, a spattering phenomenon, in which a welded material is spattered during welding, is reduced, and thermal deformation is reduced. Further, fine welding is possible, and thus the welded bead of each strap connection between the inner grid straps can have a small size, and the number of welding defects can be reduced. In addition, the flow resistance of a coolant is reduced, and thereby the pressure drop of the coolant can be reduced As a result, the load on a flow pump for the coolant can be reduced, and economic efficiency and safety can be improved.
US07968815B2	Resistance spot welder and a bearing/spindle arrangement for the resistance spot welder A resistance spot welder including a first plate, a second plate rotatably connected to the first plate through a shaft and driven on the shaft by an actuator, gun arms removably fixed on and electrically insulated with the first and second plates, and electrode tips confronting each other and fixed on the gun arms.
US07968811B2	Integrated ignition and key switch An ignition and key switch assembly for a motorcycle includes a cover having a front surface, a rear surface, a first cover portion and a second cover portion, an ignition coil located in the first cover portion, the ignition coil being held in the first cover portion by a protective layer, and a key switch received within the second cover portion and being accessible at the cover front surface. A mounting bracket is provided for mounting the cover to the key switch and an aligning feature is provided for aligning the cover to the key switch.
US07968800B2	Passive component incorporating interposer A passive component incorporating interposer includes a double-sided circuit board (1) having a wiring layer (8) on both sides, a passive component (2) mounted on the wiring layer (8) on one surface of the double-sided circuit board (1), a second insulating layer (3) made of woven fabric or non-woven fabric or inorganic filler and thermosetting resin laminated on the surface of the double-sided circuit board (1) mounted with the passive component (2), a first insulating layer (4) made of woven fabric or non-woven fabric or inorganic filler and thermosetting resin laminated on the other surface of the double-sided circuit board (1) not mounted with the passive component (2), first and second wiring layers (5, 6) formed on the first and second insulating layers (3, 4), and a through hole (7) for electrically connecting the wiring layers (8) disposed on both surfaces of the double-sided circuit board (1) and the first and second wiring layers (5, 6), where the first wiring layer (5) is formed to enable mounting of a semiconductor element (9).
US07968799B2	Interposer, electrical package, and contact structure and fabricating method thereof A contact structure on a substrate which has at least one contact is provided. The contact structure includes a compliant layer, at least one solder pad, at least one conductive via, and at least one conductive arm. The compliant layer is disposed on the substrate and covers the contact. The solder pad is disposed on the surface of the compliant layer which is at the opposite side of the substrate. The conductive via is disposed in the compliant layer and is connected to the contact. The conductive arm is disposed on the surface of the compliant layer in opposite to the substrate, and two ends of the conductive arm are respectively connected to the conductive via and the solder pad. Furthermore, a method for fabricating the contact structure, an interposer and an electrical package using the contact structure are provided.
US07968797B2	Modular electric fence system and assembly A modular insulator system and assembly for attaching a conductor to a support member. The modular insulator assembly includes an insulator body attachable to a support member. A conductor retainer is attachable to the insulator body in a manner that forms a conductor passage between the conductor retainer and the insulator body. The modular insulator system includes an insulator body selected from a top-mount insulator body, a support passage insulator body, an insulator body including an extended neck, a surface mount insulator body and a combination surface/T-post mount insulator body the insulator body attachable to the support member and a conductor retainer selected from a group of conductor retainers including a bare conductive wire retainer, a narrow gage conductive tape retainer and a wide gage conductive tape retainer, the selected insulator body attachable to a support member and the selected conductor retainer attachable to the selected insulator body.
US07968790B2	Photovoltaic (PV) enhancement films for enhancing optical path lengths and for trapping reflected light A solar energy conversion assembly for efficiently capturing solar energy by providing additional chances to absorb reflected sunlight and providing longer path lengths in the photovoltaic (PV) material. The assembly includes a PV device including a layer of PV material and a protective top covering the PV material (e.g., a planar glass cover applied with adhesive to the PV material). The assembly further includes a PV enhancement film formed of a substantially transparent material, and film is applied to at least a portion of the protective top such as with a substantially transparent adhesive. The PV enhancement film includes a plurality of absorption enhancement structures on the substrate opposite the PV device. Each absorption enhancement structure includes a light receiving surface that refracts incident light striking the PV enhancement film to provide an average path length ratio of greater than about 1.20 in the layer of PV material.
US07968786B2	Volume adjusting apparatus and volume adjusting method A volume adjusting apparatus includes a sound collecting unit configured to collect noise data of a surrounding environment, an analyzing unit configured to extract a feature value indicating a feature of the noise data collected by the sound collecting unit and a feature value indicating a feature of supplied musical tune data, and a control unit configured to generate volume adjustment information for adjusting playback volume of the musical tune data based on the feature value of the noise data and the feature value of the musical tune data and adjusts the playback volume of the musical tune data based on the volume adjustment information.
US07968785B2	Frequency spectrum conversion to natural harmonic frequencies process A process is disclosed for converting standard musical notes to natural musical notes based upon Rod formats. A signal of standard musical notes is input and the frequency of each note in the signal is analyzed. A Rod format natural harmonic resonance is selected and the frequency of each note in the signal is converted to a natural frequency corresponding to the selected Rod format natural harmonic resonance. A signal consisting of the converted notes is output. An apparatus capable of performing the inventive process on a signal of standard musical notes includes a signal input port and a signal output port, means for converting the frequency of standard musical notes to a corresponding natural frequency corresponding to a Rod format, means for selecting a Rod format natural harmonic resonance, and a frequency analyzer.
US07968779B2	Stringed instrument conditioning device An device for accelerating the conditioning process of a stringed musical instrument by causing such instrument to be continuously strummed and vibrated, whereby such vibrations are transmitted to the wooden body of the instrument, which causes the instrument to be prematurely aged and over time improves the consistency, richness, and quality of the sound produced by the instrument when played.
US07968774B2	Celery cultivar ADS-16 A celery cultivar, designated ADS-16, is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of celery cultivar ADS-16, to the plants of celery cultivar ADS-16 and to methods for producing a celery plant by crossing the cultivar ADS-16 with itself or another celery cultivar. The invention further relates to methods for producing a celery plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic celery plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to celery cultivars or breeding cultivars and plant parts derived from celery cultivar ADS-16, to methods for producing other celery cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from celery cultivar ADS-16 and to the celery plants, varieties, and their parts derived from the use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid celery seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing cultivar ADS-16 with another celery cultivar.
US07968769B2	Alfalfa variety named magnum VI Disclosed is an alfalfa seed designated Magnum VI and deposited as ATCC Accession Number PTA-8324. Also disclosed are plants, or parts thereof, grown from the seed of the cultivar, plants having the morphological and physiological characteristics of the Magnum VI cultivar, and methods of using the plant or parts thereof in an alfalfa breeding program.
US07968768B2	Generation of plants with improved drought tolerance The present invention is directed to plants that display a drought tolerance phenotype due to altered expression of a DR05 nucleic acid. The invention is further directed to methods of generating plants with a drought tolerance phenotype.
US07968766B2	Plant UDP-galatose epimerases This invention relates to an isolated nucleic acid fragment encoding a UDP-galactose 4-epimerase. The invention also relates to the construction of a chimeric gene encoding all or a portion of the UDP-galactose 4-epimerase, in sense or antisense orientation, wherein expression of the chimeric gene results in production of altered levels of the UDP-galactose 4-epimerase in a transformed host cell.
US07968765B2	Plants having improved growth characteristics and method for making the same The present invention concerns a method for improving growth characteristics of plants by increasing expression and/or activity in a plant of an LRR receptor kinase or a homologue thereof. One such method comprises introducing into a plant an RLK827 nucleic acid molecule or functional variant thereof. The invention also relates to transgenic plants having improved growth characteristics, which plants have modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding an LRR receptor kinase. The present invention also concerns constructs useful in the methods of the invention.
US07968764B2	Methods for increasing the yield of fermentable sugars from plant stover Methods for increasing yield of fermentable sugars from plant stover are provided. The methods include using plants homozygous for two brown midrib mutations, bm1 and bm3. The methods also include using plants homozygous for a mutation in a gene that results in reduced cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase activity, and a mutation in a gene that results in reduced 5 -hydroxyconiferaldehyde/5-hydroxyconiferyl alcohol O-methyltransferase activity. The methods also include using transgenic plants that have reduced cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase activity and reduced 5 -hydroxyconiferaldehyde/5-hydroxyconiferyl alcohol O-methyltransferase activity in comparison with wild-type plants.
US07968760B2	Treatment of particulate biodegradable organic waste by thermal hydrolysis using condensate recycle A method of treating particulate biodegradable organic waste by thermal hydrolysis. The method includes subjecting a quantity of the particulate biodegradable waste to thermal hydrolysis at a temperature above about 130° C. and a pressure at or above the saturated water vapor pressure to produce a slurry. The slurry will include solubilized organic material and unhydrolyzed residual solids. The method further includes decreasing the pressure at which the slurry is maintained. Typically, the step of decreasing slurry pressure will occur in a flash tank, which allows the separation of an organic acid-rich steam from other hydrolysis products. The method further includes capturing the steam or other condensable gases released when pressure is decreased and condensing the steam or other condensable gases into a condensate. The captured condensate may then be added to a quantity of particulate biodegradable waste prior to thermal hydrolysis. Also disclosed is an apparatus for practicing the method described above.
US07968753B2	Method for the production of organic peroxides by means of a microreaction technique The invention provides a process for efficient and reliable preparation of organic peroxides, preferably dialkyl peroxides, peroxycarboxylic acids, peroxycarboxylic esters, diacyl peroxides, peroxycarbonate esters, peroxydicarbonates, ketone peroxides and perketals with the aid of at least one static micromixer and an apparatus for performing the process.
US07968751B2	Method of fluorination A method of fluorination comprising reacting monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, composite saccharides formed by bonding of these saccharides with proteins and lipids and saccharides having polyalcohols, aldehydes, ketones and acids of the polyalcohols, and derivatives and condensates of these compounds with a fluorinating agent represented by general formula (I) thermally or under irradiation with microwave or an electromagnetic wave having a wavelength around the microwave region. In accordance with the method, the fluorination at a selected position can be conducted safely at a temperature in the range of 150 to 200° C. where the reaction is difficult in accordance with conventional methods. The above method comprising the irradiation with microwave or an electromagnetic wave having a wavelength around the microwave region can be applied to substrates other than saccharides. When a complex compound comprising HF and a base is reacted under irradiation with microwave, fluorination at a specific position which is difficult in accordance with conventional methods proceeds highly selectively, efficiently in a short time and safely.
US07968747B2	Process for preparing 2-aminooxyethanol The invention relates to a process for preparing aminoglycol by reacting ketoximes with ethylene oxide under basic conditions to give a substituted 2-hydroxyethyl ketoxime and subsequently reacting the latter with an acid to give aminoglycol.
US07968745B2	Purification process of iodixanol A process for the manufacture of iodixanol by performing a purification process of the crude product in a solvent comprising n-propanol. The crude product may be obtained in aqueous solution from dimerization of 5-acetamido-N,N′-bis(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)-2,4,6-triiodo-isophthalamide (“Compound A”).
US07968730B2	Synthesis of amines and intermediates for the synthesis thereof The invention relates in a first embodiment to a method for the manufacture of esters of the formula I, or especially of amides of the formula II, wherein the symbols have the meanings given in the specification, as well as other intermediates and compounds useful in the synthesis of tryptamines and other substances mentioned in the title. The synthesis methods and intermediates are useful in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals.
US07968725B2	Pyridinyl modulators of γ-secretase The present invention relates to compounds of Formula I as shown below, wherein the definitions of A, X, R1 R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, and R9 are provided in the specification. Compounds of Formula I are useful for the treatment of diseases associated with γ-secretase activity, including Alzheimer's disease.
US07968723B2	Compounds, their preparation and use Novel compounds of the general formula (I), in which the variables are as defined in claim 1, the use of these compounds as pharmaceutical compositions, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds and methods of treatment employing these compounds and compositions. The present compounds are useful in the treatment and/or prevention of conditions mediated by Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors (PPAR), in particular the PPARδ subtype, namely, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia, syndrome X (including the metabolic syndrome, i.e. impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, hyper-triglyceridaemia and/or obesity), cardiovascular diseases (including atherosclerosis) and hypercholesterolaemia.
US07968706B2	Method of manufacturing phthalocyanine compound Provided is a method of manufacturing a phthalocyanine compound denoted by general formula (3). The method comprises conducting a reaction of a compound denoted by general formula (1) or (2) with a metal and/or metal compound in a solvent in the presence of a secondary amine and/or diamine to obtain the phthalocyanine compound denoted by general formula (3). In general formulas (1) and (2), Z denotes an organic group forming a six-membered cyclic aromatic structure with two carbon atoms bonded to Z. In general formula (3), Z is one defined as in general formulas (1) and (2), and M denotes a metal atom belonging to Periods 1 to 4 of Groups 1 to 12.
US07968694B2	Tuberculosis antigen detection assays and vaccines The present invention relates to isolated Tuberculosis (TB) antigens that are useful in therapeutic and vaccine compositions for stimulating a TB specific immunological response. The identified antigens are also useful in diagnostic assays to determine the presence of active TB in an individual. Accordingly, the present invention includes polypeptide molecules, nucleic acid molecules, vaccine compositions, diagnostic assays, and methods of diagnosis and monitoring treatment related to these TB antigens.
US07968689B2	Antibodies to HSDEK49 polypeptides The present invention relates to human secreted polypeptides, and isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding said polypeptides, useful for diagnosing and treating immune disorders and diseases. Antibodies that bind these polypeptides are also encompassed by the present invention. Also encompassed by the invention are vectors, host cells, and recombinant and synthetic methods for producing said polynucleotides, polypeptides, and/or antibodies. The invention further encompasses screening methods for identifying agonists and antagonists of polynucleotides and polypeptides of the invention. The present invention further encompasses methods and compositions for inhibiting or enhancing the production and function of the polypeptides of the present invention.
US07968683B1	Factor IXa crystals, related complexes and methods The present invention relates to factor IXa complexes and crystals thereof as well as methods for identifying inhibitors of factor IXa.
US07968679B2	Purified rhIGF-I/rhIGFBP-3 complexes and their method of manufacture Complexes of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 with new levels of purity are provided. Chromatographic techniques have been developed that remove contaminants, such as mass and charge variants of IGFBP-3. The new techniques enable the production of high-quality pharmaceutical compositions comprising IGF-I/IGFBP-3 complexes.
US07968671B2	Alkylphenol-terminated copolycarbonates, processes for preparing the same, molding compositions containing the same, and articles prepared therefrom Copolycarbonates comprising alkylphenolchain terminator groups for adjusting the molecular weight, compositions of these copolycarbonates with additives chosen from the group of heat stabilizers and mold release agents, the use thereof for the production of moldings and moldings obtained therefrom.
US07968668B2	Diisocyanate terminated macromer and formulation thereof for use as an internal adhesive or sealant A novel macromer or mixture thereof is described herein, comprising benzoyl isocyanate terminal moieties and at least two residues of a water-soluble polymer having a molecular weight ranging from 80 to 10,000 adjacent to the carbonyl group of the benzoyl isocyanate moieties, thereby forming at least two ester linkages in the macromer or mixture thereof. A method for making a polyisocyanate macromer is also described herein.
US07968664B2	Nitric oxide-releasing diazeniumdiolated acrylonitrile-based polymers, and compositions, medical devices, and uses thereof The invention described herein provides for novel nitric oxide-releasing polymers that comprise at least two adjacent units derived from acrylonitrile monomer units and containing at least one carbon-bound diazeniumdiolate. The diazeniumdiolated acrylonitrile-derived polymers can be used in medical devices therapeutically. Accordingly, the invention also provides a method of treating a biological disorder and a method of promoting angiogenesis that includes administering a medical device comprising a nitric oxide-releasing polymer comprising at least two adjacent units of acrylonitrile before exposure to nitric oxide and at least one nitric oxide releasing N2O2— group, wherein the N2O2— group is attached directly to the polyacrylonitrile backbone, to a specific location on or within the mammal in an amount effective to treat the biological disorder or promote angiogenesis.
US07968663B2	Anion exchange polymers, methods for making and materials prepared therefrom A novel anion exchange polymer is provided. A method of making the anion exchange polymer includes reacting a tertiary amine, an acid inhibitor and a polyepoxide to form a quaternary ammonium monomer and polymerizing the quaternary ammonium monomer in the presence of a catalyst. The exchange polymer is prepared without using alkyl halides and can be used to make improved ion exchange materials that are chemically resistant and non-fouling.
US07968662B2	Repellent composition containing graft copolymer, graft copolymer and method of preparing graft copolymer A repellent agent composition including an aqueous continuous phase and a graft copolymer dispersed in the aqueous continuous phase. The graft copolymer has a water soluble polymer trunk having hydroxyl groups and branches having fluorinated groups bonded to the polymer trunk at a carbon atom substituted with a hydroxyl group. Also disclosed is a method of making the graft copolymer and a substrate treated with the repellent composition.
US07968660B2	Polymer-based composites comprising carbon nanotubes as a filler, method for producing said composites, and associated uses This invention relates to a method for producing carbon nanotubes in a dispersed state. The method comprises a stage whereby polymerization is carried out from at least one so-called monomer of interest, in the presence of a catalytic system. The catalytic system comprises a co-catalyst/catalyst catalytic couple that is supported by a catalyst carrier, which corresponds to said carbon nanotubes. The invention also relates to composite materials obtained by said method, and to a catalytic system for implementing said method. The invention further relates to the use of the inventive method and products in a field of polymers, especially that of nanotechnologies.
US07968656B2	Absorbable copolyesters of poly(ethoxyethylene diglycolate) and glycolide A semi-crystalline, absorbable copolyester composition comprising the reaction product of a polycondensation polyester and at least one lactone, wherein the polycondensation polyester comprises the reaction product of diglycolic acid and/or a derivative thereof and diethylene glycol; and the copolyester comprises about 30 to 60% by weight of the polycondensation polyester based on the total weight of the copolyester. Also medical devices such as absorbable sutures comprising such copolyesters and absorbable microspheres comprising such copolyesters and methods of making of such absorbable microspheres. Additionally, a method of melt blowing an absorbable copolyester composition and a nonwoven construct are disclosed.
US07968655B2	Polyamide, polyester and polyether block copolymer The invention relates to a segmented block copolymer including polyamide blocks, polyester blocks and polyether blocks, of general formula: (I) -[BD-BM]n- in which: BD or hard block is a polyamide block; BM or soft block represents a mixture of polyether blocks and polyester blocks; and n is the number of -BD-BM- units in said copolymer, characterized in that the percentage of polyether blocks (PE blocks) is strictly higher than 15 wt % of said copolymer, and in that said polyester blocks (PES blocks) have a glass transition temperature Tg below 10° C.
US07968650B2	Polymeric compositions comprising at least one volume excluding polymer The present invention relates to compositions comprising a polymeric substrate comprising at least one volume excluding polymer. In one embodiment, the present invention provides polymeric articles that are capable of acting as osmotic drivers. The articles are capable of maintaining a desired water balance by moving water in or out of a substrate to maintain cation concentration equilibrium between the substrate and its environment.
US07968646B2	Method of in situ bioproduction and composition of bacterial cellulose nanocomposites Provided are novel methods for making cellulose nanocomposites, comprising biosynthesis of cellulose fibrils in situ using a growth medium comprising a polymer matrix material, under conditions suitable to provide for dispersion of the fibril throughout the growth medium as the fibrils are being formed to provide a cellulose nanocomposite material or film wherein the cellulose fibrils are highly or uniformly dispersed in the cellulose nanocomposite material, and wherein fibril structure and/or nanocomposite composition is customizable. Certain method aspects further comprise removing or separating the cellulose nanocomposite material or film from the medium, and may further comprise washing the cellulose nanocomposite material or film to remove residual medium. Particular aspects further comprise freeze-drying the cellulose nanocomposite material or film, and/or further comprise forming a molded product using the cellulose nanocomposite material or film. Compositions made by the methods are provided.
US07968638B2	Polyolefin composition with high filler loading capacity Disclosed are highly filled thermoplastic olefin compositions and, in particular, thermoplastic olefin compositions that comprise propylene/alpha-olefin copolymers and a high level of organic or inorganic filler. Specifically, the description addresses a filled polymer composition comprising: (a) a first polymer component comprising propylene copolymer having a heat of fusion
US07968637B2	Curable composition A curable composition, useful as a thermosetting binder, having a polycarboxy polymer or co-polymer, an emulsion polymer, and a multifunctional polyol.
US07968636B2	Tire compositions and components containing silated cyclic core polysulfides Sulfur-containing silane coupling agents, and organic polymers containing carbon-carbon double bonds. These silanes can be carried on organic and inorganic fillers. The invention also relates to tire compositions and articles of manufacture, particularly tires, made from the elastomer compositions described herein.
US07968634B2	Tire compositions and components containing silated core polysulfides Sulfur-containing silane coupling agents, and organic polymers containing carbon-carbon double bonds. These silanes can be carried on organic and inorganic fillers. The invention also relates to tire compositions and articles of manufacture, particularly tires, made from elastomer compositions.
US07968633B2	Tire compositions and components containing free-flowing filler compositions Free-flowing filler compositions containing sulfur-containing silane coupling agents, and a tire composition containing the filler composition, for use in the manufacture of tires.
US07968632B2	Polycarbonate resin composition and process for producing thereof There is provided an antistatic polycarbonate resin composition and molded product formed by melt-molding the said resin composition, which resin composition has totally well balanced excellent properties including heat resistance, in which yellow- or brown-coloring can be prevented even though under melt-kneading step, molding step and such a circumstance that it is used at high temperature for long times, and the fluidity is improved without notably deterioration of mechanical strengths and transparency.A polycarbonate resin composition comprising 100 parts by weight of polycarbonate resin, 0.1 to 5.0 parts by weight of phosphonium sulfonate (A) represented by the following chemical formula (1), 0.1 to 10 parts by weight of aromatic polycarbonate resin oligomer (B) and 0.01 to 8 parts by weight of caprolactone-based polymer (C); and a molded product produced by melt-molding the said polycarbonate resin.
US07968628B2	Modified asphalt binder material using crosslinked crumb rubber and methods of manufacturing the modified asphalt binder Bituminous asphalt binder materials which are modified by the addition of crumb rubber or ground tire rubber and a cross-linking agent are described. In addition, methods are provided for producing a modified asphalt binder containing crumb rubber or ground tire rubber and a cross-linking agent. The modified asphalt binders comprise neat asphalt, crumb rubber, one or more acids and a cross-linking agent. Optionally, the modified asphalt binder may include one or more polymer additives. The crumb rubber may be obtained from recycled truck and/or automobile tires. The addition of crumb rubber in asphalt binders can improve the consistency and properties of the asphalt binders at high and low temperatures. In particular, the modified asphalt binders of the present invention exhibit improved elastic behavior, resulting in improved performance of roads or other surfaces paved using the modified asphalt binder. Road resistance to permanent deformation, fatigue cracking and thermal cracking is improved by use of the modified asphalt binder.
US07968623B2	Tree resistant insulation compositions Insulation compositions for electric power cables having a polyolefin base polymer and an additive comprising either low molecular weight wax or polyethylene glycol (PEG) and optionally further comprising one or more hindered amine light stabilizers, amine antioxidants and other antioxidant blends are disclosed. Also disclosed are insulation compositions comprising a C2 to C8 alpha olefin in combination with a polyethylene homopolymer together with, optionally, one or more hindered amine light stabilizer and a liquid cresol antioxidant.
US07968621B2	Pigment dispersed liquid, production method for the same, and light curable ink composition using the pigment dispersed liquid Pigment dispersed liquid contains, at least: a colorant; a dispersant; and a polymerizable compound, the pigment dispersed liquid contain a substantial amount of a polymerization inhibitor.
US07968616B2	Bone cement composition and method The disclosure is directed to a composition includes a first component and a second component. The first component includes a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), a contrast agent, and a radical donor. The second component includes methyl methacrylate (MMA), a radical scavenger, and a polymerization accelerator. The composition has an average setting time of about 13 minutes. The disclosure is further directed to a kit and a method of making the above-mentioned composition.
US07968613B2	Compositions for compounding, extrusion and melt processing of foamable and cellular fluoropolymers The present invention relates generally to the use of talc as a chemical foaming agent in perfluoropolymers to form foamable and foamed compositions. For example, in one aspect, a foamable composition is disclosed, which comprises (i) one or more base perfluoropolymers comprising at least 50 percent by weight of the composition, and (ii) talc blended with the one or more base perfluoropolymers, where the talc comprises 3 percent to about 15 percent by weight of the composition. Each of the perfluoropolymers is selected from the group consisting of tetrafluoroethylene/perfluoromethylvinyl ether copolymer (MFA), hexafluoropropylene/tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (FEP) and perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) and any blend thereof, where hydrogen-containing fluoropolymers are absent from the composition. The one or more base perfluoropolymers are melt-processable at one or more elevated processing temperatures of at least about 600° F. at which the talc functions as a chemical foaming agent for extrusion or mold processing of the composition into a foamed article having uniform cell structures.
US07968610B2	Process for stabilizing the performances of a catalyst for Fischer Tropsch reaction Process for maintaining the stability of performances of a catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch reaction, performed in a slurry bubble column reactor under a triphase system which comprises gradually increasing the PH2O/PH2 ratio and the PH2O/Z ratio, during the start-up phase, with Z=P0·(T/T1)4·e−(K2/(t·K3)) from 0.4 to 0.8, for a period of time not shorter than 100-150 hrs and not longer than 200-300 hours and, at the end of the start-up phase, maintaining the PH2O/PH2 and PH2O/Z ratios substantially equal to or lower than 0.8.
US07968609B2	Mixtures of nanoparticles Methods of sol-gel processing for the preparation of mixed gels and nanoparticles are described. Further, mixed gels and nanoparticles obtained by the method are also disclosed. More specifically, a process for mixture of NiO nanoparticles and Yttria stabilized Zirconia nanoparticles obtained by only one sol-gel process is described.
US07968600B2	Medicament for preventive and therapeutic treatment of physical dysfunction caused by nerve damage A medicament for preventive and/or therapeutic treatment of a physical dysfunction such as motor dysfunction caused by nerve damage resulting from an accident, cerebral crisis and the like, which comprises as an active ingredient a compound or a salt thereof represented by the following general formula (I): wherein R1 to R5 represents hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, or an alkyl-substituted silyl group, X represents —CONH— or —NHCO—, and A represents a carboxylic acid-substituted aromatic group which may be substituted or a tropolonyl group which may be substituted.
US07968598B2	Ester compound and use thereof An ester compound represented by the formula (1): wherein R represents a C1-C4 alkyl group or a C3-C4 alkenyl group, and A represents a single bond or an oxygen atom, has an excellent pest controlling efficacy, and it is useful as an active ingredient of a pest controlling agent.
US07968596B2	Preparation and diabetic use of Gibberellins The present invention relates to application of compounds of formula (1) (Gibberellins) and their derivatives for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition or medicaments for the treatment of diabetes, its complications and associated conditions, including obesity, micro and macro vascular diseases, nephropathy, neuropathy, eye diseases, diabetic ulcerations and the like. The method results the normalization of serum glucose level and other physiological conditions.
US07968589B2	Glucagon receptor antagonist compounds, compositions containing such compounds and methods of use Glucagon receptor antagonist compounds are disclosed. The compounds are useful for treating type 2 diabetes and related conditions. Pharmaceutical compositions and methods of treatment are also included.
US07968586B2	Cytotoxic compounds and conjugates The present disclosure provides cytoxic compounds useful as drugs or prodrugs and to drug-cleavable substrate conjugates where the drug and cleavable substrate are optionally linked through a self-immolative linker.
US07968582B2	5(S)-substituted pyrazoline compounds, their preparation and use as medicaments The present invention relates to substituted pyrazoline compounds, methods for their preparation, medicaments comprising these compounds as well as their use for the preparation of a medicament for the treatment of humans and animals.
US07968579B2	Antifungal triazole derivatives Disclosed herein are antifungal triazole derivatives or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, a preparation method thereof, and a pharmaceutical composition comprising the same. The triazole derivatives of Chemical Formula 1 or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof according to the present invention have excellent inhibitory activity against a broad spectrum of fungi, in addition to being safe to the body, and thus are very useful in the treatment and prevention of fungal infection.
US07968570B2	Isoindolone compounds and their use as metabotropic glutamate receptor potentiators The present invention is directed to compounds of formula I: wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9 and n are as defined for formula I in the description. The invention also relates to processes for the preparation of the compounds and to new intermediates employed in the preparation, pharmaceutical compositions containing the compounds, and to the use of the compounds in therapy.
US07968569B2	Methods for treatment of multiple myeloma using 3-(4-amino-1-oxo-1,3-dihydro-isoindol-2-yl)-piperidine-2,6-dione Methods of treating, preventing and/or managing cancer as well as and diseases and disorders associated with, or characterized by, undesired angiogenesis are disclosed. Specific methods encompass the administration of an immunomodulatory compound alone or in combination with a second active ingredient. The invention further relates to methods of reducing or avoiding adverse side effects associated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, biological therapy or immunotherapy which comprise the administration of an immunomodulatory compound. Pharmaceutical compositions, single unit dosage forms, and kits suitable for use in methods of the invention are also disclosed.
US07968566B2	Pyrrolo(2,3-b) pyridine derivatives, the preparation and the pharmaceutical use thereof in the form of kinase inhibitors Novel compounds of formula (I): or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein R, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, and R6 have the meanings given in the description, pharmaceutical compositions comprising said compounds and use thereof as protein kinase inhibitors.
US07968562B2	Pharmaceutical formulations comprising an immune response modifier Pharmaceutical formulations comprising an immune response modifier (IRM) chosen from imidazoquinoline amines, imidazotetrahydroquinoline amines, imidazopyridine amines, 6,7-fused cycloalkylimidazopyridine amines, 1,2-bridged imidazoquinoline amines, thiazolo-quinolineamines, oxazolo-quinolinamines, thiazolo-pyridinamines, oxazolo-pyridinamines, imidazonaphthyridine amines, tetrahydroimidazonaphthyridine amines, and thiazolonaphthyridine amines; a fatty acid; and a hydrophobic, aprotic component miscible with the fatty acid are useful for the treatment of dermal associated conditions. Novel topical formulations are provided. In one embodiment, the topical formulations are advantageous for treatment of actinic keratosis, postsurgical scars, basal cell carcinoma, atopic dermatitis, and warts.
US07968551B2	Chromenoneindoles Chromenoneindole derivatives of the formula (I), in which R1, R2, R3, R, A and B are as defined in Claim 1, and pharmaceutically usable prodrugs, derivatives, solvates, stereoisomers and salts thereof, exhibit particular actions on the central nervous system, in particular 5-HT reuptake-inhibiting and 5-HTx-agonistic and/or -antagonistic actions. They are distinguished by particularly high bioavailability and particularly high inhibition of 5-HT reuptake.
US07968548B2	Melanocortin receptor-specific piperazine compounds with diamine groups Melanocortin receptor-specific compounds with diamine groups of the general formula and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, where W is a diamine heteroatom unit with at least one cationic center, hydrogen bond donor or hydrogen bond acceptor, J, Q, L1, L2, L3, R1a, R1b, R2a, R2b and X are as defined in the specification, and the carbon atom marked with an asterisk can have any stereochemical configuration. Compounds disclosed herein bind to one or more melanocortin receptors and may be an agonist, a partial agonist, an antagonist, an inverse agonist or an antagonist of an inverse agonist as to one or more melanocortin receptors, and may be employed for treatment of one or more melanocortin receptor-associated conditions or disorders, including specifically treatment of obesity and related conditions.
US07968542B2	Thiophene compounds and thrombopoietin receptor activators A compound represented by the formula (I) (wherein R1, R2, R3 and R4 are as defined in the description), a tautomer, prodrug or pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the compound or a solvate thereof.
US07968541B2	Crystalline form of N-[[4-fluoro-2-(5-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenyl]methyl]-4,6,7,9-tetrahydro-3-hydroxy-9,9-dimethyl-4-oxo-pyrimido[2,1-C][1,4]-oxazine-2-carboxamide, sodium salt monohydrate Disclosed is a crystalline form of N-[[4-fluoro-2-(5-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenyl]methyl]-4,6,7,9-tetrahydro-3-hydroxy-9,9-dimethyl-4-oxo-pyrimido[2,1-c][1,4]oxazine-2-carboxamide, sodium salt monohydrate. Also disclosed are at least one pharmaceutical composition comprising at least one crystalline form of N-[[4-fluoro-2-(5-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenyl]methyl]-4,6,7,9-tetrahydro-3-hydroxy-9,9-dimethyl-4-oxo-pyrimido[2,1-c][1,4]oxazine-2-carboxamide, sodium salt monohydrate, and at least one method of using at least one crystalline form of N-[[4-fluoro-2-(5-methyl-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenyl]methyl]-4,6,7,9-tetrahydro-3-hydroxy-9,9-dimethyl-4-oxo-pyrimido[2,1-c][1,4]oxazine-2-carboxamide, sodium salt monohydrate to treat AIDS or HIV infection.
US07968538B2	Substituted arylamine compounds and methods of treatment The invention relates to 5-HT6 receptor antagonists. Novel arylamine compounds and use of these compounds and their pharmaceutical compositions, e.g., in the treatment, modulation and/or prevention of physiological conditions associated with serotonin action, such as in treating obesity, and obesity-related disorders, e.g., cardiovascular disease, digestive disease, respiratory disease, cancer and type II diabetes; and psychological disorders such as schizophrenia, are disclosed.
US07968525B1	Use of RNA interference to validate new termiticide target sites and a method of termite control Methods, matrix compositions and kits for increasing the mortality of termites (R. flavipes) and interfering with termite development using RNA interference techniques to target cellulase, lignocellulase, hexamerin, broad, farnesoic acid methyl transferase, cytochrome P450 and vitellogenin activity are provided.
US07968506B2	Wet cleaning stripping of etch residue after trench and via opening formation in dual damascene process After trench line pattern openings and via pattern openings are formed in a inter-metal dielectric insulation layer of a semiconductor wafer using trench-first dual damascene process, the wafer is wet cleaned in a single step wet clean process using a novel wet clean solvent composition. The wet clean solvent effectively cleans the dry etch residue from the plasma etching of the dual damascene openings, etches back the TiN hard mask layer along the dual damascene openings and forms a recessed surface at the conductor metal from layer below exposed at the bottom of the via openings of the dual damascene openings.
US07968498B2	Weed control process comprising the application of mesotrione and second herbicide A novel process for controlling weeds in a crop comprising sorghum, the process comprising the application of a herbicidally effective amount of: (i) mesotrione, and (ii) a second herbicide selected from one or more of prosulfuron, dicamba, 2, 4-D, halosulfuron-methyl and quinclorac to the locus of the weeds is disclosed.
US07968493B2	Method for the preparation of adsorption compositions including gold or silver nanoparticles This invention relates to novel adsorbent compositions for adsorbing pesticides like chlorpyrifos and malathion. This composition consists of nanoparticles of gold/silver supported on activated alumina or magnesia in powder or other forms. This invention includes a device and a method for decontaminating water contaminated with pesticides. This device consists of a housing provided with an inlet and an outlet. The housing is loaded with nanoparticles of gold/silver supported on activated magnesia. Contaminated water is allowed to pass through the housing while pesticides are adsorbed by the composition. Decontaminated water flows out through the outlet.
US07968487B2	Single component, phosphine-free, initiators for ethylene homopolymerization and copolymerization with functionalized co-monomers Novel phosphine-free non-ionic single catalysts, and method for making such catalysts, for the homo-polymerization and copolymerization of olefins such as ethylene, α-olefins and functionalized olefins without the use of additional co-activators, are disclosed. These phosphine-free non-ionic single catalysts are also active for co-polymerization of olefins with monomers with polar functionalities. The catalyst of this invention comprise of a late transition metal with a chelating monoanionic ligand, an R group and a neutral 2 electron donor ligand. Catalysts are prepared by the oxidative addition of benzylhalide (halide=Cl, Br or I) to an appropriate metal source in the presence of a stabilizing agent, such as nitrogen based ligands, followed by the addition of the deprotonated form of the chelating ligand.
US07968486B2	Dielectric ceramics and capacitor A dielectric ceramic and a capacitor comprising the dielectric ceramic are disclosed. The dielectric ceramic has a high dielectric constant that is stable over temperature, and has a small spontaneous polarization. The capacitor can reduce audible noise caused by an electrically induced strain in a power supply circuit.
US07968479B2	Elastic multilayer composite including pattern unbonded elastic materials, articles containing same, and methods of making same An elastic multilayer composite includes a pattern unbonded elastic layer attached to at least one extensible facing layer. A method for forming an elastic multilayer composite includes the steps of providing an elastic material; bonding the elastic material to form a pattern unbonded elastic material; and attaching the pattern unbonded elastic material to at least one facing material.
US07968476B1	Fabric assembly suitable for resisting ballistic objects and method of manufacture A fabric assembly particularly useful as soft body armor has two separate sections each containing a number of fabrics made from yarns having a tenacity of at least 7.3 grams per dtex and a modulus of at least 100 grams per dtex. Compressed fabrics in the first section are employed and are connected by connectors that have a force to break in tension not greater than 65 N and are spaced apart by between 6 to 51 mm. Fabrics in the second section have at most a small amount of compression and are not joined other than to prevent slippage of the fabrics relative to one another.
US07968474B2	Methods for nanowire alignment and deposition The present invention provides methods and systems for nanowire alignment and deposition. Energizing (e.g., an alternating current electric field) is used to align and associate nanowires with electrodes. By modulating the energizing, the nanowires are coupled to the electrodes such that they remain in place during subsequent wash and drying steps. The invention also provides methods for transferring nanowires from one substrate to another in order to prepare various device substrates. The present invention also provides methods for monitoring and controlling the number of nanowires deposited at a particular electrode pair, as well as methods for manipulating nanowires in solution.
US07968472B2	Film forming method and film forming apparatus The invention includes inserting an object to be processed into a processing vessel, which can be maintained vacuum, and making the processing vessel vacuum; performing a sequence of forming a ZrO2 film on a substrate by alternately supplying zirconium source and an oxidizer into the processing vessel for a plurality of times and a sequence of forming SiO2 film on the substrate by alternately supplying silicon source and an oxidizer into the processing vessel for one or more times, wherein the number of times of performing each of the sequences is adjusted such that Si concentration of the films is from about 1 atm % to about 4 atm %; and forming a zirconia-based film having a predetermined thickness by performing the film forming sequences for one or more cycles, wherein one cycle indicates that each of the ZrO2 film forming sequences and the SiO2 film forming sequences are repeated for the adjusted number of times of performances.
US07968471B2	Porous insulating film, method for producing the same, and semiconductor device using the same The present invention provides a process of producing a porous insulating film effective as an insulating film constituting a semiconductor device and a process of producing a porous insulating film having high adhesion to a semiconductor material, which is in contact with the upper and lower interfaces of the insulating film. Gas containing molecule vapor of at least one or more organic silica compounds, which have a cyclic silica skeleton in its molecule and have at least one or more unsaturated hydrocarbon groups bound with the cyclic silica skeleton is introduced into plasma to grow a porous insulating film on a semiconductor substrate.
US07968463B2	Formation method of metallic compound layer, manufacturing method of semiconductor device, and formation apparatus for metallic compound layer A formation method of a metallic compound layer includes preparing, in a chamber, a substrate having a surface on which a semiconductor material of silicon, germanium, or silicon germanium is exposed, and forming a metallic compound layer, includes: supplying a raw material gas containing a metal for forming a metallic compound with the semiconductor material to the chamber; heating the substrate to a temperature at which the raw material gas is pyrolyzed; and forming a metallic compound layer by reaction of the metal with the semiconductor material so that no layer of the metal is deposited on the substrate. A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device employs this formation method of a metallic compound layer.
US07968455B2	Copper deposition for filling features in manufacture of microelectronic devices A method for plating copper onto a semiconductor integrated circuit device substrate by forming an initial metal deposit in the feature which has a profile comprising metal on the bottom of the feature and a segment of the sidewalls having essentially no metal thereon, electrolessly depositing copper onto the initial metal deposit to fill the feature with copper. A method for plating copper onto a semiconductor integrated circuit device substrate by forming a deposit comprising a copper wettable metal in the feature, forming a copper-based deposit on the top-field surface, and depositing copper onto the deposit comprising the copper wettable metal to fill the feature with copper.
US07968444B2	Lead-free tin alloy electroplating compositions and methods Disclosed are electrolyte compositions for depositing a tin alloy on a substrate. The electrolyte compositions include tin ions, ions of one or more alloying metals, a flavone compound and a dihydroxy bis-sulfide. The electrolyte compositions are free of lead and cyanide. Also disclosed are methods of depositing a tin alloy on a substrate and methods of forming an interconnect bump on a semiconductor device.
US07968443B2	Cross-contamination control for processing of circuits comprising MOS devices that include metal comprising high-K dielectrics A cross method for fabricating a CMOS integrated circuit (IC) includes providing a semiconductor wafer having a topside semiconductor surface, a bevel semiconductor surface, and a backside semiconductor surface, wherein the bevel semiconductor surface and backside semiconductor surface include silicon or germanium. A metal including high-k gate dielectric layer is formed on at least the topside semiconductor surface and on at least a portion of the bevel semiconductor surface and backside semiconductor surface. The high-k dielectric material on the bevel semiconductor surface and the backside semiconductor surface are selectively removed while protecting the high-k dielectric layer on the topside semiconductor surface. The selective removing includes a first oxidizing treatment, and a fluoride including wet etch follows the first oxidizing treatment. The fabrication of the IC is completed including forming at least one metal gate layer on the high-k gate dielectric layer after the selectively removing step.
US07968442B2	Fin field effect transistor and method of fabricating the same A fin field effect transistor includes a fin protruding from a semiconductor substrate, a gate insulating layer formed so as to cover upper and lateral surfaces of the fin, and a gate electrode formed across the fin so as to cover the gate insulating layer. An upper edge of the fin is rounded so that an electric field concentratedly applied to the upper edge of the fin through the gate electrode is dispersed. A thickness of a portion of the gate insulating layer formed on an upper surface of the fin is greater than a thickness of a portion of the gate insulating layer formed on a lateral surface of the fin, in order to reduce an electric field applied through the gate electrode.
US07968439B2	Plasma immersion ion implantation method using a pure or nearly pure silicon seasoning layer on the chamber interior surfaces Plasma immersion ion implantation employing a very high RF bias voltage on an electrostatic chuck to attain a requisite implant depth profile is carried out by first depositing a partially conductive silicon-containing seasoning layer over the interior chamber surfaces prior to wafer introduction.
US07968434B2	Method of forming of a semiconductor film, method of manufacture of a semiconductor device and a semiconductor device This invention provides a method of forming semiconductor films on dielectrics at temperatures below 400° C. Semiconductor films are required for thin film transistors (TFTs), on-chip sensors, on-chip micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and monolithic 3D-integrated circuits. For these applications, it is advantageous to form the semiconductor films below 400° C. because higher temperatures are likely to destroy any underlying devices and/or substrates. This invention successfully achieves low temperature growth of germanium films using diboran. First, diboran gas is supplied into a reaction chamber at a temperature below 400° C. The diboran decomposes itself at the given temperature and decomposed boron is attached to the surface of a dielectric, for e.g., SiO2, forming a nucleation site and/or a seed layer. Second, source gases for semiconductor film formation, for e.g., SiH4, GeH4, etc., are supplied into the chamber, thereby forming a semiconductor film.
US07968417B2	Method for integrating high voltage and high speed bipolar transistors on a substrate and related structure According to an exemplary embodiment, a method for integrating a high speed bipolar transistor in a high speed transistor region of a substrate with a high voltage transistor in a high voltage transistor region of the substrate includes forming a buried subcollector in the high speed transistor region of the substrate. The method further includes forming a first high energy implant region in the high voltage transistor region of the substrate, where the first high energy implant region extends to a depth greater than a depth of a peak dopant concentration of the buried subcollector, thereby increasing a collector-to-emitter breakdown voltage of the high voltage transistor. The collector-to-emitter breakdown voltage of the high voltage transistor can be greater than approximately 5.0 volts. The high speed bipolar transistor can have a cutoff frequency of greater approximately 200.0 GHz.
US07968398B2	Method for producing a floating gate with an alternation of lines of first and second materials A diblock copolymer layer comprising at least two polymers and having a lamellar structure perpendicularly to a substrate is deposited on a first gate insulator formed on the substrate. One of the polymers of the diblock copolymer layer is then eliminated to form parallel grooves in the copolymer layer. The grooves are filled by a first metallic or semi-conductor material and the rest of the copolymer layer is eliminated. A second dielectric material is deposited to form a second gate insulator. The second gate insulator of the floating gate then comprises an alternation of parallel first and second lines respectively of the first and second materials, the second material encapsulating the lines of the first material.
US07968390B2	Electronic devices with improved ohmic contact In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to an electronic device successively comprising from its base to its surface: (a) a support layer, (b) a channel layer adapted to contain an electron gas, (c) a barrier layer and (d) at least one ohmic contact electrode formed by a superposition of metallic layers, a first layer of which is in contact with the barrier layer. The device is remarkable in that the barrier layer includes a contact region under the ohmic contact electrode(s). The contact region includes at least one metal selected from the metals forming the superposition of metallic layers. Furthermore, a local alloying binds the contact region and the first layer of the electrode(s).
US07968388B2	Thin-film device, method for manufacturing thin-film device, and display A method for manufacturing a thin-film device includes forming a separation layer on a substrate, forming a base insulating layer on the separation layer, forming a thin-film device layer on the base insulating layer, bonding a transfer layer including the base insulating layer and the thin-film device layer to a transfer body with an adhesive, causing intralayer delamination or interfacial delamination in the separation layer, and removing the transfer layer from the substrate. The thin-film device layer includes a first wiring sublayer which is located at the bottom of the thin-film device layer and which is in contact with the base insulating layer, a dielectric sublayer which is in contact with a surface of the first wiring sublayer, a semiconductor sublayer electrically insulated from the first wiring sublayer with the dielectric sublayer, and a second wiring sublayer formed subsequently to the semiconductor sublayer. The first wiring sublayer includes electrodes located at the bottom of the thin-film device layer.
US07968381B1	Fin thyristor-based semiconductor device A semiconductor device having a thyristor-based device and a pass device exhibits characteristics that may include, for example, resistance to short channel effects that occur when conventional MOSFET devices are scaled smaller in connection with advancing technology. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, the semiconductor device includes a pass device having a channel in a fin portion over a semiconductor substrate, and a thyristor device coupled to the pass device. The fin has a top portion and a side portion and extends over the semiconductor substrate. The pass device includes source/drain regions separated by the channel and a gate facing and capacitively coupled to the side portion of the fin that includes the channel. The thyristor device includes anode and cathode end portions, each end portion having base and emitter regions, where one of the emitter regions is coupled to one of the source/drain regions of the pass device. The gate of the pass device is further adapted to switch the pass device between a blocking state and a conducting state via the capacitive coupling and form a conductive path between the source/drain regions. A control port is capacitively coupled to the base region of the end portion of the thyristor that is coupled to the source/drain region of the pass gate and is adapted to facilitate switching of the thyristor between blocking and conducting states.
US07968380B2	Semiconductor encapsulation material and method for encapsulating semiconductor using the same A semiconductor encapsulation material of the present invention contains a glass for metal coating which has a strain point of 480° C. or higher, a temperature corresponding to a viscosity of 104 dPa·s of 1,100° C. or lower, and a thermal expansion coefficient at 30 to 380° C. of 70×10−7 to 110×10−7/° C. The semiconductor encapsulation material of the present invention contains no environmentally harmful substances, has a heat resistance temperature as high as 500° C. or above, and can be used for the encapsulation of metals susceptible to oxidation, e.g., Dumet.
US07968365B2	Method for manufacturing solid-state imaging device A method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging device in which a charge generator that detects an electromagnetic wave and generates signal charges is formed on a semiconductor substrate and a negative-charge accumulated layer having negative fixed charges is formed above a detection plane of the charge generator, the method includes the steps of: forming an oxygen-feed film capable of feeding oxygen on the detection plane of the charge generator; forming a metal film that covers the oxygen-feed film on the detection plane of the charge generator; and performing heat treatment for the metal film in an inactive atmosphere to thereby form an oxide of the metal film between the metal film and the oxygen-feed film on the detection plane of the charge generator, the oxide being to serve as the negative-charge accumulated layer.
US07968364B2	MEMS switch capping and passivation method A MEMS switch with a platinum-series contact is capped through a process that also passivates the contact by controlling, over time, the amount of oxygen in the environment, pressures and temperatures. Some embodiments passivate a contact in an oxygenated atmosphere at a first temperature and pressure, before hermetically sealing the cap at a higher temperature and pressure. Some embodiments hermetically seal the cap at a temperature below which passivating dioxides will form, thus trapping oxygen within the volume defined by the cap, and later passivate the contact with the trapped oxygen at a higher temperature.
US07968351B2	Method for dissolution testing of pharmaceutical products The present invention relates to the field of dissolution measurement and, more particularly to methods for reproducible dissolution testing of pharmaceutical products such as allergen vaccines.
US07968349B2	Use of holographic sensor The present invention relates to a process for the detection of an analyte in a sample, comprising a) bringing the sample into contact with a first ligand which binds specifically to the analyte and which is immobilized on a substrate, and b) prior to or subsequent to step (a), bringing the sample into contact with a second ligand which binds specifically to the analyte and which includes a label: wherein the substrate comprises a holographic sensor comprising a support medium having a hologram disposed therein or thereon and the label causes an optical property of the sensor to change by interaction of the sensor with the label or, following the additional step of contacting the substrate with a reagent, by interaction of the sensor with a species produced by reaction of the label with the reagent, thereby indicating the presence of bound analyte.
US07968348B2	Environmental sampling and testing method Provided is sampling and testing device for the detection of specific molds, allergens, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other protein containing substances. Embodiments of the device include a sampling member slideably engaged with a base that contains a lateral flow strip adapted to detect specific analytes of interest. The sampling member defines a solvent reservoir that stores an elution solvent in a fluid-tight manner before the device is used to sample and test environmental surfaces. During slideable withdrawal of the sampling member from the base, the elution solvent stored in the reservoir is automatically released to a wick assembly of the sampling member. The wick assembly includes a wick adapted to receive, distribute, and retain the elution solvent. After a user samples an environmental surface for an analyte of interest with the elution solvent wetted wick, the sampling member is returned to the base where the wick contacts the lateral flow strip contained in the base. The wick transfers at least a portion of analyte and the elution solvent to the lateral flow strip for the colorimetric detection of specific allergens, viruses, bacteria, and other protein containing substances in the sample. The colorimetric results of the test are displayed through a window in the base.
US07968347B2	Photo-acoustic detection device and method An example method for detecting an analyte in a sample of a bodily fluid comprises the steps of exposing the bodily fluid sample to electromagnetic energy to cause a thermoelastic expansion in the analyte, and detecting a photoacoustic signal in the sample that results from the thermoelastic expansion.
US07968345B2	Permethylation of oligosaccharides A solid-phase permethylation procedure is described. For example, solid-phase permethylation can be utilized to prepare permethylated linear and branched, neutral and sialylated oligosaccharides, which can be analyzed by MALDI-MS.
US07968341B2	Sequence specific DNA recombination in eukaryotic cells The present invention relates to a method of sequence-specific recombination of DNA in eukaryotic cells, comprising the introduction of a first DNA comprising a nucleotide sequence containing at least one recombination sequence into a cell, introducing a second DNA comprising a nucleotide sequence containing at least one further recombination sequence into a cell, and performing the sequence specific recombination by a bacteriophage lambda integrase Int.
US07968337B2	Neural precursor cells, method for the production and use thereof in neural defect therapy The invention relates to isolated and purified neural precursor cells, to methods for the generation of such precursor cells in unlimited quantities from embryonic stem cells, and to their use for the therapy of neural defects, particularly in mammals, preferably in human beings, and for the generation of polypeptides.
US07968332B2	Lentiviral vectors for the preparation of immunotherapeutical compositions The invention relates to an immunogenic composition comprising a recombinant vector characterized in that it comprises a polynucleotide comprising the cis-acting central initiation region (cPPT) and the cis-acting termination region (CTS), these regions being of retroviral or retroviral-like origin, said vector comprising in addition a defined nucleotide sequence (transgene or sequence of interest) and regulatory signals of retrotranscription, expression and encapsidation of retroviral or retroviral-like origin, wherein the composition is capable of inducing or of stimulating a cell-mediated response for instance a CTL (Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes) response or a CD4 response, against one or several epitopes encoded by the transgene sequence present in the vector.
US07968322B2	Hydrogen fermentor and method of producing hydrogen The hydrogen fermentation apparatus is the one that generates hydrogen by decomposing organic matter through hydrogen fermentation. There are arranged a hydrogen fermentor which holds the treating liquid containing organic matter, and a string-shape carrier which is positioned to immerse itself in the treating liquid in the hydrogen fermentor, and on which hydrogen-generating bacteria are fixed.
US07968315B2	Production and purification of IL-29 The expression vectors and methods using an E. coli expression system for the large scale production of IL-29 are described. The vectors utilize the IL-29 coding sequence with specific changes in nucleotides in order to optimize codons and mRNA secondary structure for translation in E. coli. Also included are methods of producing, purifying and pegylating an IL-29 polypeptide.
US07968312B2	Production of polypeptides by improved secretion The present invention relates to polypeptides that have an activity corresponding to at least one activity of the SEC61 polypeptide, polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides and the use thereof in the preparation of host cells suitable for production of a polypeptide of interest. Such host cells may have an increased capacity to secrete a polypeptide of interest.
US07968311B2	Direct expression of peptides into culture media Expression systems are disclosed for the direct expression of peptide products into the culture media where genetically engineered host cells are grown. High yield was achieved with novel vectors, a special selection of hosts, and/or fermentation processes which include careful control of cell growth rate, and use of an inducer during growth phase. Special vectors are provided which include control regions having multiple promoters linked operably with coding regions encoding a signal peptide upstream from a coding region encoding the peptide of interest. Multiple transcription cassettes are also used to increase yield. The production of amidated peptides using the expression systems is also disclosed.
US07968309B2	Method for improving the thermostability of sucrose phosphorylase (SP) A sucrose phosphorylase (SP) having improved thermostability obtained by modifying a natural SP and a method for producing the SP having improved thermostability is provided. This SP having improved thermostability has an amino acid residue which is different from that of the natural sucrose phosphorylase, in at least one position selected from the group consisting of a position corresponding to position 14, a position corresponding to position 29 and a position corresponding to position 44 in motif sequence 1; a position corresponding to position 7, a position corresponding to position 19, a position corresponding to position 23 and a position corresponding to position 34 in motif sequence 2; and a position corresponding to position 19 in motif sequence 3, and wherein the enzyme activity of the SP having improved thermostability at 37° C., after heating the SP having improved thermostability in 20 mM Tris buffer (pH 7.0) at 55° C. for 20 minutes, is 20% or more of enzyme activity of the SP having improved thermostability at 37° C. before heating.
US07968307B2	Serpentine transmembrane antigens expressed in human cancers and uses thereof Described is a novel family of cell surface serpentine transmembrane antigens. Two of the proteins in this family are exclusively or predominantly expressed in the prostate, as well as in prostate cancer, and thus members of this family have been termed “STEAP” (Six Transmembrane Epithelial Antigens of the Prostate). Four particular human STEAPs are described and characterized herein. The prototype member of the STEAP family, STEAP-1, appears to be a type IIIa membrane protein expressed predominantly in prostate cells in normal human tissues. Structurally, STEAP-1 is a 339 amino acid protein characterized by a molecular topology of six transmembrane domains and intracellular N- and C-termini, suggesting that it folds in a “serpentine” manner into three extracellular and two intracellular loops. STEAP-1 protein expression is maintained at high levels across various stages of prostate cancer. Moreover, STEAP-1 is highly over-expressed in certain other human cancers.
US07968301B2	Method of modulating Sost binding to LRP The present invention relates to nucleic acid sequences and amino acid sequences which influence bone deposition, the Wnt pathway, ocular development, tooth development, and may bind to LRP. The nucleic acid sequence and polypeptides include Wise and Sost as well as a family of molecules which express a cysteine knot polypeptide. Additionally, the present invention relates to various molecular tools derived from the nucleic acids and polypeptides including vectors, transfected host cells, monochronal antibodies, Fab fragments, and methods for impacting the pathways.
US07968296B2	CACNB2 nucleic acid mutations as indicators of shorter than normal QT interval and ST segment elevation associated with sudden cardiac death Previously unknown mutations of the CACNA1C and CACNB2b genes are disclosed which are involved in ion channel disruptions associated with shorter than normal QT interval and ST segment elevation syndrome. These mutations are utilized to diagnose and screen for shorter than normal QT interval and ST segment elevation syndrome, thus providing modalities for diagnosing syncope and/or sudden cardiac death and/or predicting susceptibility to syncope and/or sudden cardiac death. Nucleic acid probes are provided which selectively hybridize to the mutant nucleic acids described herein. Antibodies are provided which selectively bind to the mutant polypeptides described herein. The mutations described herein are also utilized to screen for compounds useful in treating the symptoms manifest by such mutations.
US07968295B2	Bisulfite conversion of DNA The present invention provides an improved method for the bisulfite conversion of DNA, and facilitates the analysis of cytosine methylation of genomic DNA. Novel combinations of denaturing solvents, new reaction conditions and new purification methods provide surprisingly efficacious methods for bisulfite conversion of DNA relative to prior art methods. The converted DNA may subsequently be analyzed by many different methods.
US07968290B2	Method of detecting gene A method of detecting a gene including immobilizing a primer for DNA elongation onto an insoluble carrier having on the surface thereof a polymer substance containing a first unit having a phosphorylcholine group and a second unit having a carboxylic acid-derived group having an electron-attractive substituent bound to a carbonyl group; annealing the template DNA fragments or RNA fragments with the primer for DNA elongation, so as to elongate the DNA primer while incorporating therein an enzyme, thereby allowing coloration of a chromogenic reagent by its enzymatic action; and judging whether the DNA fragments or RNA fragments of the gene presents or not, based on the degree of coloration.
US07968289B2	Turn over probes and use thereof for nucleic acid detection The invention provides turnover probes for use in a variety of detection assays, for example, nucleic acid detection assays. In addition, the invention provides assays, for example, nucleic acid detection assays, using such turnover probes.
US07968276B2	Positive resist composition and method of forming resist pattern A positive resist composition used to form a second resist film in a method of forming a positive resist pattern, including: applying a positive resist composition on the substrate on which a first resist pattern formed of a first resist film is formed to form a second resist film; and selectively exposing the second resist film and alkali-developing the second resist film to form a resist pattern; whereinthe positive resist composition includes a resin component (A) having a structural unit (a0-1) represented by general formula (a0-1) and a structural unit (a0-2) represented by general formula (a0-2), which exhibits increased solubility in an alkali developing solution under action of acid, an acid-generator component (B) which generates acid upon exposure, and an organic solvent (S) which does not dissolve the first resist film, and the resin component (A) and the acid-generator component (B) are dissolved in the organic solvent (S).
US07968272B2	Semiconductor device manufacturing method to form resist pattern This invention discloses a method to form a resist pattern on a to-be-processed substrate by immersion exposure. A resist film is formed on the central portion of the upper surface of the to-be-processed substrate, on a bevel portion of the upper surface, which is obtained by chamfering the peripheral portion of the to-be-processed substrate, and on the end portion of the to-be-processed substrate. Pattern exposure for forming the latent image of a desired pattern on the resist film is executed while a liquid whose refractive index is higher than that of air exists between the resist film and a constituent element of a projection optical system of an exposure apparatus, which is nearest to the to-be-processed substrate. The resist film formed on the end portion of the to-be-processed substrate is removed by supplying a rinse solution to the end portion of the to-be-processed substrate after executing pattern exposure.
US07968268B2	Compositions and processes for immersion lithography New photoresist compositions are provided that are useful for immersion lithography. Preferred photoresist compositions of the invention comprise one or more materials that can be substantially non-mixable with a resin component of the resist. Further preferred photoresist compositions of the invention comprise 1) Si substitution, 2) fluorine substitution; 3) hyperbranched polymers; and/or 4) polymeric particles. Particularly preferred photoresists of the invention can exhibit reduced leaching of resist materials into an immersion fluid contacting the resist layer during immersion lithography processing.
US07968266B2	Toner compositions Toner compositions comprising low-melt toner particles and methods of preparing such toner compositions are provided. The toner particles include a polyester-containing binder, a colorant and an optional wax. The binder includes at least one crystalline polyester resin and at one amorphous acidic polyester resin.
US07968265B2	Toner, developer, toner container, process cartridge, image forming method, and image forming apparatus A toner is provided that includes a release agent, a colorant, a binder resin including a polyester resin, and a fixing auxiliary component including an ester compound of a fatty acid with an alcohol. The fatty acid includes stearic acid and behenic acid in a total amount of 80% by weight or more. The alcohol includes ethylene glycol in an amount of 80% by weight or more. The ester compound has a hydroxyl value of 10 to 100 mgKOH/g.
US07968262B2	Bis(enylaryl)arylamine containing photoconductors A photoconductor that includes, for example, a supporting substrate, a photogenerating layer, and a bis(enylaryl)arylamine containing charge transport layer.
US07968257B2	Halftone mask having a shielding pattern and plural overlapping halftone patterns of different widths A halftone mask includes a shielding pattern partially formed on a transparent substrate; a first halftone transmission pattern partially formed on the transparent substrate; and a second halftone transmission pattern formed on the first halftone transmission layer. On this halftone mask, a width of the second halftone transmission pattern is narrower than a width of the first halftone transmission pattern.
US07968246B2	Solid oxide fuel cell A fuel cell has a stack structure in which fired sheet bodies (laminates each including a fuel electrode layer, a solid electrolyte layer, and an air electrode layer) and support members for supporting the sheet bodies are stacked in alternating layers. Each of the sheet bodies is warped downward (toward an air-electrode-layer side). Because of a magnitude relationship of thermal expansion coefficient among the layers in the sheet body and that between the support member and the sheet body, a warp height gradually lessens in the course of temperature rise at start-up. However, even when a working temperature (800° C. or the like) is reached, the sheet bodies are still warped downward. By virtue of presence of the warp, the sheet bodies become unlikely to be deformed at the working temperature.
US07968242B2	Onboard fuel cell system and method of discharging hydrogen-off gas Consumed hydrogen-off gas is discharged from a fuel cell via a hydrogen-off gas exhaust flow passage. Consumed oxygen-off gas is discharged from the fuel cell via an oxygen-off gas exhaust flow passage. The oxygen-off gas flowing through the oxygen-off gas exhaust flow passage and the hydrogen-off gas flowing through the hydrogen-off gas exhaust flow passage are mixed and diluted in a mixing portion. The gases mixed in the mixing portion flow into a combustor via a gas-liquid separator. The combustor, which includes a platinum catalyst, causes hydrogen contained in the mixed gases to react with oxygen by combustion and further reduces the concentration of hydrogen contained in the mixed gases. The mixed gases whose concentration of hydrogen has been reduced by the combustor is discharged to the atmosphere.
US07968238B2	Method for operating fuel cell system A method for operating a fuel cell system including a fuel cell stack composed of a plurality of cells connected in series. The method includes the steps of: (a) supplying a fuel and an oxidant to anodes and cathodes of the cells, respectively, depending on a load to generate power at a constant voltage under constant voltage control; (b) temporarily suspending the supply of the oxidant with the fuel being supplied; and (c) lowering the constant voltage to a predetermined voltage simultaneously with or immediately before the suspension of the supply of the oxidant. According to this operation method, when the supply of the oxidant is suspended, a platinum catalyst in the cathodes can be reduced and reactivated in all the cells.
US07968229B2	Positive electrode for non-aqueous electrolyte battery and non-aqueous electrolyte battery A positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte battery includes a positive electrode active material layer containing at least a positive electrode active material and a binder and a coating layer containing a polymer provided on the positive electrode active material layer, wherein the polymer has a block chain A composed of a random copolymer containing a repeating unit (I) represented by formula (I), a repeating unit (II) represented by formula (II), and a block chain B containing a repeating unit (III) represented by formula (III) wherein R1-R3, R4a, R4b, R5-R13 are as defined herein.
US07968217B2	Articles for high temperature service and methods for their manufacture An article for use in aggressive environments is presented. In one embodiment, the article comprises a substrate and a self-sealing and substantially hermetic sealing layer disposed over the bondcoat. The substrate may be any high-temperature material, including, for instance, silicon-bearing ceramics and ceramic matrix composites. A method for making such articles is also presented. The method comprises providing a substrate; disposing a self-sealing layer over the substrate; and heating the sealing layer to a sealing temperature at which at least a portion of the sealing layer will flow.
US07968211B2	Aluminium composite sheet material Automotive body sheet in the form of an aluminium composite sheet material wherein a clad sheet is applied to at least one side of a core material, and wherein the core material is of an aluminium alloy selected from the group consisting of aa2xxx, aa5xxx and aa7xxx-series alloys, and wherein the clad sheet includes an AA6xxx-series alloy having less than 0.2 wt. % Cu or an AA5xxx-series alloy having less than 3.6 wt. % of Mg.
US07968202B2	Method for sealing natural stones The present invention relates to a sealed natural cut stone, the pores of which are permeable to water vapor but are impermeable to aqueous liquids, and a method for the production thereof and the use of such natural cut stones.
US07968198B2	Polyurea coating comprising a polyamine/mono(meth)acrylate reaction product Coating compositions comprising a polyurea formed from a reaction mixture comprising isocyanate and a (meth)acrylated amine are disclosed. The (meth)acrylated amine is the reaction product of a polyamine and a mono(meth)acrylate; the ratio of equivalents of isocyanate groups to equivalents of amine groups is greater than 1 and the isocyanate and the (meth)acrylated amine reaction product can be applied to a substrate at a volume mixing ratio of 1:1. Methods for using the coatings, and substrates coated therewith are also disclosed.
US07968197B2	Polyurea coating comprising an amine/(meth)acrylate oligomeric reaction product Coating compositions comprising a polyurea formed from a reaction mixture comprising isocyanate and an acrylated amine are disclosed. The (meth)acrylated amine is the reaction product of a polyamine and a (meth)acrylate; when the (meth)acrylate comprises a poly(meth)acrylate, the reaction product further comprises a mono(meth)acrylate and/or a monoamine. Methods for using the coatings, and substrates coated therewith, are also disclosed.
US07968178B1	Integrated concrete slab An integrated concrete slab includes concrete with stretchable fibers mixed therein covering and partially integrated with a portion of concrete that contains either no fibers or relatively few fibers mixed therein.
US07968166B2	Optical recording system Systems and method for optically recording data. One system comprises a disc comprising a substrate and a markable coating on said substrate, the markable coating having a thickness less than 1 μm and comprising: a matrix; and a color-forming agent included in the matrix and comprising a leuco dye and developer; wherein the leuco dye is selected to change from high reflectance of radiation with wavelengths between 400 and 500 nm to low reflectance of radiation with wavelengths between 400 and 500 nm when activated by the application of energy above a threshold level; and a marking light source positioned so as to illuminate the disc in a desired manner.
US07968161B2	Cellulose hydrate sausage casing featuring minimum meat cling A tubular sausage casing is disclosed that is based on cellulose and includes an interior impregnation containing at least one adhesive component and at least two separating components. The adhesive component and one of the separating components are bound to the cellulose of the casing while the second separating component is not bound. The inventive casing is used for mild or aged dry sausages, especially California-style salami.
US07968160B2	Vacuum thermal insulation with inflatable load-carrying structure A vacuum thermal insulation comprises an inflatable load-carrying structure and gas impermeable envelope with proper gates for inserting pressurized air into the structure and an evacuating vacuum chamber wherein, pressurized air is used for inflating and stiffening the load-carrying structure in order to prevent scrunching the envelope due to the atmospheric pressure. Thereby, producing vacuum in locations which are out of structure.
US07968154B2	Atomisation of a precursor into an excitation medium for coating a remote substrate The invention relates to a method and apparatus for applying and forming a coating on a substrate surface by the application of at least one atomized coating forming material onto the substrate to form the coating. The atomized coating forming material, upon leaving a suitable atomizer which can be an ultrasonic nozzle or nebulizer for example, passes through an exciting medium and, upon leaving the exciting medium, passes to the substrate. The substrate is positioned remotely from the exciting medium.
US07968145B2	System and method for depositing a material on a substrate A method and apparatus for depositing a film on a substrate includes introducing a material and a carrier gas into a heated chamber. The material may be a semiconductor material, such as a cadmium chalcogenide. A resulting mixture of vapor and carrier gas containing no unvaporized material is provided. The mixture of vapor and carrier gas are remixed to achieve a uniform vapor/carrier gas composition, which is directed toward a surface of a substrate, such as a glass substrate, where the vapor is deposited as a uniform film.
US07968141B2	Method for producing contact terminal with textured surface and use thereof The invention relates to a method for producing a contact terminal for electrical matters made of copper or a copper-base alloy in order to increase the reliability and lifetime of the contact terminal. According to the invention a textured structure is formed on the surface of the contact terminal by rolling of patterns. The invention also relates to a use of a textured structure based on cavities formed on the surface of a contact terminal for preserving a lubricant.
US07968138B2	Food sweetener A food sweetener including xylitol and D-ribose, a method of forming the food sweetener, a food product that includes the food sweetener, and a method of forming the food product. The food sweetener may be formed to have a fixed shape by being heated at an elevated temperature followed by being cooled to the temperature of the ambient atmosphere. The food product may be formed by heating or cooling a mixture of ingredients which include the xylitol, the D-ribose, and at least one other ingredient that does not contain a sweetening agent.
US07968117B1	Externally triggered microcapsules Disclosed are microcapsules comprising a polymer shell enclosing one or more immiscible liquid phases in which a drug or drug precursor are contained in a liquid phase. The microparticles also contain magnetic particles that can be heated by application of an external magnetic field and thus heated to a predetermined Curie temperature. Heating of the particles melts the polymer shell and releases the drug without causing heating of surrounding tissues.
US07968100B2	Surface proteins from coagulase-negative staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus that generate cross-reactive monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies Surface proteins are provided which generate polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies which are cross-reactive to both coagulase-positive staphylococcus bacteria, such as S. aureus and to coagulase-negative bacteria, such as S. epidermidis and S. hemolyticus. The antibodies may be generated from surface proteins that have been isolated on the basis of characteristics that may be common between S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci, or the A domains of those surface proteins, and these recombinant surface proteins are used to generate the cross-reactive antibodies. Vaccines comprising an immunologically effective amount of the proteins are also provided, and these vaccines are used in methods for the treatment or protection against a wide variety of staphylococcal infections.
US07968092B2	Human binding molecule against CD1a The present invention provides human binding molecules that specifically bind to CD1a, nucleic acid molecules encoding the human binding molecules, compositions comprising the human binding molecules and methods of identifying or producing the human binding molecules. The human binding molecules can be used in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of neoplastic disorders and diseases.
US07968090B2	Nucleic acids and corresponding proteins entitled 191P4D12(b) useful in treatment and detection of cancer A novel gene 191P4D12(b) and its encoded protein, and variants thereof, are described wherein 191P4D12(b) exhibits tissue specific expression in normal adult tissue, and is aberrantly expressed in the cancers listed in Table I. Consequently, 191P4D12(b) provides a diagnostic, prognostic, prophylactic and/or therapeutic target for cancer. The 191P4D12(b) gene or fragment thereof, or its encoded protein, or variants thereof, or a fragment thereof, can be used to elicit a humoral or cellular immune response; antibodies or T cells reactive with 191P4D12(b) can be used in active or passive immunization.
US07968088B2	Internally administered therapeutic agents for cranial nerve diseases comprising mesenchymal cells as an active ingredient Intravenous administration of bone marrow cells collected from rat bone marrow or peripheral blood to a rat cerebral infarction model was found to be effective in treating cerebral infarction. Human and murine bone marrow stem cells showed similar effects. Mesenchymal cells such as bone marrow cells, cord blood cells, or peripheral blood cells can be used as agents for in vivo administration against cranial nerve diseases.
US07968083B2	Methods of manufacturing deodorants, and deodorants resulting thereof This invention provides a deodorant capable of releasing deodorant agents at certain temperatures and having improved adherence to textiles. The deodorant of this invention includes polymer particles formed by reacting a main monomer of (N-substituted alkyl)acrylamide, a functional monomer for bonding the polymer particles to a fibrous substrate, and a cross-linking agent. A deodorant agent is loaded to the polymer particles.
US07968081B2	Peptide for diagnosing, preventing and treating atherosclerosis and uses thereof A peptide for diagnosing, preventing and treating atherosclerosis, and a use thereof, comprising an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2, and a use thereof. The peptide effectively targets atherosclerotic plaques, and binds to IL-4R to thereby exhibit antagonistic effects on IL-4-mediated signaling of cellular inflammatory reaction and survival reaction. The peptide of the present invention can be used for diagnosis of atherosclerosis, prevention and treatment of IL-4-induced inflammatory reaction and prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis which is primarily caused by the inflammatory reaction, as well as for prevention or treatment of atherosclerosis via conjugation with an anti-atherosclerotic drug.
US07968076B2	Method for producing sodium dithionite The invention relates to a process for the preparation of sodium dithionite, comprising the steps (a) provision of a synthesis batch comprising sodium formate, sulfur dioxide and an alkaline sodium compound in aqueous methanolic solution with formation of a sodium dithionite mother liquor, (b) isolation of sodium dithionite from the sodium dithionite mother liquor, a residual mother liquor being obtained, (c) separation of methanol from the residual mother liquor, (d) separation of the residual mother liquor into a thiosulfate-rich first part-stream and a thiosulfate-poor, formate-containing second part-stream by means of nanofiltration, (e) concentration of sodium formate in the second part-stream and (f) recycling of the concentrated second part-stream to process step (a).
US07968070B2	Process for the production of metal oxide powders Process for the production of a metal oxide powder having a BET surface area of at least 20 m2/g by reacting an aerosol with oxygen in a reaction space at a reaction temperature of more than 700° C. and then separating the resulting powder from gaseous substances in the reaction space, wherein the aerosol is obtained by atomisation using a multi-component nozzle of at least one starting material, as such in liquid form or in solution, and at least one atomising gas, the volume-related mean drop diameter D30 of the aerosol is from 30 to 100 μm and the number of aerosol drops larger than 100 μm is up to 10%, based on the total number of drops, and metal oxide powder obtainable by this process.
US07968069B2	Catalyst, its preparation and use for hydrodesulfurization of residua and heavy crudes A catalyst for hydrotreating, especially hydrodesulfurization, of residua and heavy crudes is prepared by synthesizing the support from titanium and boehmite, to form either a titanium/alumina support (TiO2/Al2O3) or a titanium-alumina support (TiO2—Al2O3) that is thereafter provided with at least one hydrogenating metal from group VIB in oxide form and a promoter from group VIII also in oxide form. The (TiO2/Al2O3) support is prepared from boehmite, which is peptized by using an inorganic acid, then extruded, calcined and impregnated with a solution containing titanium, while the (TiO2—Al2O3) support is prepared by admixing boehmite with a titanium-containing solution, peptized using an inorganic acid, extruded and calcined to obtain the titanium-alumina support.
US07968064B2	Method for extraction of metals by methyliminobisalkylacetamide The present invention provides a method for extraction of metals selected from Cr, Mo, Pd, Tc, W, Re, and Pu using a new extractant of methyliminobisalkylacetamide represented by a formula (I): CH3—N—(CH2CONR2)2 (I) wherein R represents an alkyl group having 8-12 carbon atoms.
US07968062B1	Drug disposal and verification device A drug disposal and verification device includes a first chamber and a second chamber. The first chamber has an injection port for receiving wasted drug solution and a disposal volume. A positive displacement flow measuring device positioned between the injection port and the disposal volume is used to measure the volume of wasted drug solution injected into the device. The positive displacement flow measuring device is also adapted to divert a small portion of the wasted drug solution to the second chamber. The second chamber holds a breakable test reagent ampule for quantitative testing of the wasted drug solution. The disposal volume of the first chamber may include at least one test strip for qualitative testing of the wasted drug solution.
US07968054B1	Nanostructure sensing and transmission of gas data A system for receiving, analyzing and communicating results of sensing chemical and/or physical parameter values, using wireless transmission of the data. Presence or absence of one or more of a group of selected chemicals in a gas or vapor is determined, using suitably functionalized carbon nanostructures that are exposed to the gas. One or more physical parameter values, such as temperature, vapor pressure, relative humidity and distance from a reference location, are also sensed for the gas, using nanostructures and/or microstructures. All parameter values are transmitted wirelessly to a data processing site or to a control site, using an interleaving pattern for data received from different sensor groups, using I.E.E.E. 802.11 or 802.15 protocol, for example. Methods for estimating chemical concentration are discussed.
US07968051B2	Clinical laboratory apparatus A clinical laboratory apparatus includes a plurality of reaction cuvettes, a first dispenser, a second dispenser, a controller, and an analyzer. A subject sample and a reagent are mixed in each of the plurality of reaction cuvettes. The first dispenser is configured to dispense the subject sample into each of the plurality of reaction cuvettes. The second dispenser is configured to dispense the reagent into each of the plurality of reaction cuvettes so that the subject sample and the reagent are mixed. The controller is configured to categorize the plurality of reaction cuvettes into at least first and second groups, to designate at least first and second analysis items among two or more analysis items with respect to the subject sample, to control the second dispenser to avoid dispensing the reagent relevant to the first analysis item into the second group of the reaction cuvettes. The analyzer is configured to analyze a mixed result.
US07968050B2	Method for sterilization of hydrogel contact lenses The present invention provides an aqueous solution for sterilizing and storing ophthalmic devices, preferably a contact lens, made of a hydrogel material, preferably a poly(oxyalkylene)-containing hydrogel material. The solution comprises one or more organic buffer agents, such as a Good buffer or a bis-aminopolyols; an organic tonicity-adjusting agent with multiple hydroxyl groups in an amount sufficient to provide an osmolarity of from about 200 to about 450 mosm/l, wherein the aqueous solution has a pH of from about 5.5 to about 8.5, provided that the aqueous solution include phosphate buffer at a concentration of about 15 mM or less and about 5000 ppm sodium chloride. The present invention also provides a method for sterilizing and storing an ophthalmic device using an aqueous solution of the invention.
US07968045B2	Installation for production of secondary steel based on scrap An installation for production of the secondary steel based on scrap in which the scrap (10) is fed in a scrap preheater (2) through a charging device (1), is preheated there and, finally, is brought into a smelting unit (3) and is melted there with primary energy only, the process gases (19), which leave the smelting unit (3), are not used for directly preheating the scrap (10) but are rather used indirectly by heating a gaseous preheatable medium, e.g., air (18) or inert gas, whereby energetic, fluidic, and spatial decoupling of preheating and melting and of post-combustion and preheating is achieved.
US07968039B2	Method of producing pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet To produce a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet according to which air entrapment and blistering can be prevented or eliminated through through-holes, and yet the through-holes are not readily visible at a substrate surface, a pressure-sensitive adhesive surface of a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 12 in a laminate comprising a substrate 11 and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 12 is irradiated with a CO2 laser having a pulse width of from 1 to 140 μsec, a pulse energy at each processing point of from 0.01 to 3.0 mJ, and a beam spot diameter at each processing point of from 30 to 160 μm, so as to form through-holes 2 having a diameter at the surface of the substrate 11 of from 0.1 to 42 μm at a hole density of from 30 to 50,000 per 100 cm2.
US07968036B2	Method for introducing an internal helical formation into a flexible tubular material There is disclosed a method for introducing a helical formation (11) into a flexible tubular material (12). The material (12) is supported together with a surrounding helical former (13) so as to deform the material (12) to have a helical indentation (11) corresponding to the shape of the former (13). The material (12) is then set in that configuration and the former (13) is removed.
US07968033B2	Paper food container with injection molded top rim structure and method of making same A food container in the form of a paper cup having a top edge and a plastic rim structure which is injection molded to the edge so as to seal the edge and be firmly be adhered thereto. The rim structure exhibits a flat annular upper surface to which a heat sealable closure made of metal foil with heat sealable plastic underlayer can be attached after filling the container with a suitable food product.
US07968031B2	Ceramic composite with integrated compliance/wear layer The integral layer provides a ductile interface for attachment locations of a turbine engine component where a metallic surface is adjacent the attachment location. The ductile layer provides a favorable load distribution through the composite at the attachment location, and eliminates the need for a metallic shim.
US07968027B2	Method for producing plastic rods The invention relates to a method for extruding round rods from transparent plastics such as for example polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC) or polyethylene (PET) and to a method for producing said round rods.
US07968021B2	Coefficient of thermal expansion control structure The present invention is directed to the incorporation of a substructure into tooling for constructing composite structures in order to control thermal expansion of the tooling during aerospace manufacturing processes. Substructure, such as headers and/or gussets is added to the tooling to constrain the growth of the laminate expansion and/or control the diametric growth of the tool during the curing cycle. The thickness of the face-sheet of the tooling also may be reduced in order to further reduce the effective coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the tooling.
US07968017B2	Stamper for optical disc, method for manufacturing optical disc, and optical disc This invention relates to a stamper for optical disc and a method for manufacturing an optical disc by using this stamper. A photoresist is applied to a substrate (2) and this photoresist is exposed, developed and then transferred to form a disc master which has a recess/protrusion pattern formed on its one side. The one side of the disc master (20) is etched to narrow the width of a protruding part constituting the recess/protrusion pattern, and the recess/protrusion pattern of the disc master (20) with the reduced width of the protruding part is transferred to form a stamper (30). The recess/protrusion pattern provided on the stamper (30) is transferred to form a predetermined pattern on a substrate of an optical disc.
US07968010B2	Method for electroplating a substrate One or more embodiments provide for a device that utilizes voltage switchable dielectric material having semi-conductive or conductive materials that have a relatively high aspect ratio for purpose of enhancing mechanical and electrical characteristics of the VSD material on the device.
US07967996B2	Process for wafer backside polymer removal and wafer front side photoresist removal A process is provided for removing polymer from a backside of a workpiece and/or photoresist from a front side of the workpiece. For backside polymer removal, the wafer is positioned near the ceiling to above a localized or remote plasma source having a side outlet through the sidewall of the chamber, and backside polymer is removed by rotating the workpiece while flowing plasma by-products from the side outlet to the wafer backside. For front side photoresist removal, the wafer is positioned away from the ceiling and below the side outlet of the localized plasma source, and front side photoresist is remove by rotating the workpiece while flowing plasma by-products from the side outlet to the wafer front side.
US07967990B2	Hybrid chemical/mechanical dewatering method for inactivating and removing pharmaceuticals and other contaminants from wastewater A hybrid chemical/mechanical dewatering sewage treatment plant and method employing rapid sludge chemical dewatering technology in conjunction with slower conventional mechanical dewatering solids agglomeration and disposal methods to meet operating constraints and environmental permitting restrictions and siting limitations for disposal of sewage and wastewater.
US07967978B2	Method and apparatus for filter conditioning An apparatus for preconditioning a filter media includes a reservoir containing a liquid; a pump operatively connected and in fluid communication with the reservoir; a filter housing operatively connected and in fluid communication with the reservoir and the pump, and having a filter media disposed therein; a control unit operatively connected to the pump; and wherein the pump is operable to circulate the liquid through the filter media to wet and remove air from the filter media prior to installation of the filter media in a processing application.
US07967967B2	Apparatus and method for electrochemical modification of liquid streams An apparatus and a method for electrochemical modification of liquid streams employing an electrolytic cell which utilizes an oxidation site defined by an anode, an anode compartment comprising liquid electrolyte anolyte where oxidation is effected, a cathode compartment comprising liquid electrolyte catholyte where reduction is effected, a cathode comprising conducting cathode particulates forming a cathode particulates bed and a current feeder device in at least intermittent contact with said cathode particulates where the cathode particulates are in motion and the particulates motion is substantially independent of bulk electrolyte flow, a separator which confines the cathode particulates to the cathode compartment, constrains electrolyte flow through the cathode particulates bed and permits ionic conduction of current between the anode and cathode, a cathode particulates conveyance system that manipulates cathode particulates motion. A separate system circulates the liquid undergoing modification through the electrolytic cell. An unidirectional current driving system drives unidirectional electric current supported by the liquid streams from the anode through the anolyte and the separator and into the catholyte and to the cathode particulates and to the current feeder device during the contact between the cathode particulates and the current feeder device.
US07967964B2	Single cell sensor for measuring the partial pressure of oxygen A single cell oxygen sensor apparatus and method are disclosed. An yttrium-based stabilized layer having electrical terminals connected to the yttrium-based stabilized layer can be provided on a substrate, wherein the yttrium-based stabilized layer is excitable by a constant current applied to the electrical terminals. A plurality of electrodes are located on a side of the yttrium-based stabilized layer and a plurality of heater elements located on said substrate opposite said yttrium-based stabilized layer. The heater elements can maintain the yttrium-based stabilized layer at a particular temperature. A cavity is formed and located between the yttrium-based stabilized layer and the heater elements. The partial pressure of oxygen can be measured by comparing the partial pressure of oxygen within the cavity with respect to the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere external to the single cell oxygen sensor apparatus.
US07967963B2	Wastewater analysis sensor cartridge A wastewater analysis sensor cartridge (10) according to the invention is intended to be used only once. It has a liquid-tight housing (20), which contains at least one electrochemical sensor element (30, 32) and at least one reference element (56). Furthermore, the housing (20) contains a sensor element electrolyte tank (40,42) and a reference element electrolyte tank (44). The ion-sensitive membranes (31, 33) of the sensor elements (30, 32) and the housing (20) consist of plastic.
US07967956B2	Information recording medium and method for producing the same The information recording medium of the present invention comprises at least one of the following oxide-based material layers: (I) an oxide-based material layer containing Zr, at least one element selected from the group GL1 consisting of La, Ga and In, and oxygen (O); (II) an oxide-based material layer containing M1 (where M1 is a mixture of Zr and Hf, or Hf), at least one element selected from the group GL2 consisting of La, Ce, Al, Ga, In, Mg and Y, and O; (III) an oxide-based material layer containing at least one element selected from the group GM2 consisting of Zr and Hf, at least one element selected from the group GL2, Si, and O; and (IV) an oxide-based material layer containing at least one element selected from the group GM2, at least one element selected from the group GL2, Cr, and O. This oxide-based material layer can be used, for example, as a dielectric layer.
US07967950B2	High bulk strong absorbent single-ply tissue-towel paper product The present invention relates to absorbent tissue-towel paper products comprising one essentially continuous ply of fibrous structure having a first surface and a second surface, wherein the product has an HFS absorbency greater than 8 g/g and the first surface exhibits an embossment height of at least 650 μm and the second surface exhibits an embossment height of at least about 650 μm.
US07967948B2	Process for non-chlorine oxidative bleaching of mechanical pulp in the presence of optical brightening agents A process for bleaching mechanical wood pulp is provided comprising subjecting the wood pulp to at least one bleaching stage with one or more bleaching agents in the presence of one or more optical brightening agent, wherein the bleaching agents are selected from the group consisting of oxidative bleaching agents other than chlorine based bleaching agents such as chlorine dioxide, elemental chlorine or a combination thereof, reductive bleaching agents or any combination of two or more thereof.
US07967944B2	Method of plasma load impedance tuning by modulation of an unmatched low power RF generator A workpiece is processed in a plasma reactor chamber using stabilization RF power delivered into the chamber, by determining changes in load impedance from RF parameters sensed at an RF source or bias power generator and resolving the changes in load impedance into first and second components thereof, and changing the power level of the stabilization RF power as a function one of the components of changes in load impedance.
US07967929B1	Methods for making and using high explosive fills for MEMS devices Secondary crystalline high explosives are disclosed which are suitable for filling very small volume loading holes in micro-electric initiators for micro-electro-mechanical mechanisms (MEMS), used as safe and arm (S&A) devices. The explosives are prepared by adding the such a high explosive to an aqueous first volatile mobile phase, adding such a high explosive to a non-aqueous second volatile mobile phase, mixing the first and second volatile mobile phases and then loading the combined phases into the MEMS device and allowing the aqueous and non-aqueous solvents to evaporate depositing the high explosive. Enhanced adhesion between the deposited high explosive and enhanced rheological properties can be obtained by adding a polymeric binder to both mobile phases.

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