Document	Document Title
US08045833B2	Cable comprising a shear thickening composition Shear thickening compositions can function in an energy or communications transmission cable to provide enhanced protection against externally applied forces, e.g., cutting or puncture from a shovel. As a free or bound layer, or when used via impregnation into a substrate used for an internal component or wrap, the shear thickening composition provides protection against mechanical damage that far surpasses conventional technologies. In foamable compositions for cable components, the shear thickening composition provides enhanced integrity of the polymer melt for enhanced foam performance. As a flame retardant component, the shear thickening composition provides an enhanced char formation mechanism for superior flame retardance.
US08045832B2	Mode size converter for a planar waveguide A process for forming a mode size converter with an out-of-plane taper formed during deposition with a shadow mask is disclosed. Mode-size converters according to the present invention can have any number of configurations. Measured coupling efficiencies for waveguides with mode size converters according to the present invention show marked improvement.
US08045818B2	Image processing apparatus and image processing method Background images are removed and only desired payment information is extracted from a grayscale image of a check or similar financial instrument. A density distribution improvement process applied to grayscale raw image data 40 acquired by scanning a check corrects the density distribution of the raw image data 40 to separate the density range of the desired payment information from the density range of the background image. A threshold level 44 for clearly separating the payment information from the background image is then calculated from the characteristics of the density distribution of the grayscale improved image data 42 acquired by the density distribution improvement process. Histograms of the density distributions are used to determine the characteristics of the density distribution. The improved image data 42 is then converted to binary image data 46 using the threshold level 44.
US08045807B2	Pattern edge detecting method and pattern evaluating method A pattern edge detecting method includes: detecting edge points in an image of an inspection pattern acquired from an imaging device; generating a plurality of edge lines from the edge points using a grouping process; generating a plurality of edge line group pairs, each composed of a combination of first and second edge line groups to be a candidate of any of one and the other of an outside edge and an inside edge of the inspection pattern, the generated edge lines being divided into two parts in different manners; performing shape matching between the first and second edge line groups for each edge line group pair; and specifying, as an edge of the inspection pattern, one of the first and second edge line groups constituting the edge line group pair whose matching score is best of matching scores of the edge line group pairs obtained during the shape matching.
US08045805B2	Method for determining whether a feature of interest or an anomaly is present in an image A system and method for identifying objects of interest in image data is provided. The present invention utilizes principles of Iterative Transformational Divergence in which objects in images, when subjected to special transformations, will exhibit radically different responses based on the physical, chemical, or numerical properties of the object or its representation (such as images), combined with machine learning capabilities. Using the system and methods of the present invention, certain objects that appear indistinguishable from other objects to the eye or computer recognition systems, or are otherwise almost identical, generate radically different and statistically significant differences in the image describers (metrics) that can be easily measured.
US08045798B2	Features generation and spotting methods and systems using same An image partitioner is configured to find a partition point that divides a received image into four sub-images each having a pre-selected activated pixel count. A recursion processor is configured to (i) apply the image partitioner to an input image to generate a first partition point and four sub-images and to (ii) recursively apply the image partitioner to at least one of the four sub-images for at least one recursion iteration to generate at least one additional partition point. A formatter is configured to generate a features representation of the input image in a selected format. The features representation is based at least in part on the partition points. The features representation can be used in various ways, such as by a classifier configured to classify the input image based on the features representation.
US08045778B2	Hot spot detection, segmentation and identification in pet and spect images A potential region of interest segmentation device segments an image data into regions of potential interest. From the regions of potential interest, an identifying device identifies a region of interest including an object of interest based on a set of rules. A recognizing device differentiates among the identified objects of interest and selects at least one particular object of interest.
US08045773B2	Method for segmenting a myocardial wall and device for detecting a coronary artery with pathological changes The present invention relates to a method for segmenting a myocardial wall with the following steps: recording a first data record and a second data record in the same cardiac phase by means of x-ray radiation with differing radiation intensities, reconstructing the myocardial wall from the first and second data record. To generate a detailed and complete reconstruction of the myocardial wall, it is proposed that the method be supplemented by the following steps: separating an inside and an outside of the myocardial wall from the data record recorded with higher radiation intensity, and separating tissue interspersing the myocardial wall between the inside and the outside, in particular fatty tissue, from the data record recorded with lower radiation intensity.
US08045768B2	Method and device for recognition of natural skin The invention relates to a method for the recognition of natural skin (5), wherein the skin surface (4) is illuminated at an irradiation point (1) with light from the visible spectrum or the adjacent spectrum, wherein that part of the light entering through the skin surface (4) at the irradiation point (1), scattered in the skin (5), and exiting from the skin surface (4) again, is detected at a detection point (9), using a detector (20), and wherein the signal determined by the detector (20) is passed to a comparator and compared with stored data. Furthermore, a device for carrying out the method is an object of the invention.
US08045766B2	Device, program, and method for determining sleepiness A sleep prevention system captures a facial image of a driver, determines a sleepiness level from the facial image and operates warning devices including neck air conditioner, seatbelt vibrator, and brake controller if necessary based on the sleepiness determination. A sleepiness determination device determines sleepiness from facial expression information such as distances between corners of a mouth, distance between an eyebrow and eye, tilt angle of a head, and other facial feature distances. The facial distances are calculated from captured images and from reference information gather during wakefulness. The sleepiness degree is determined based on the determination results including combinations thereof.
US08045761B2	Detection of environmental conditions in a sequence of images A method for determining the presence and location of static shadows and other ambient conditions (such as glare, snow, rain, etc.) in a series of time-successive images is provided. Each image comprises a series of image elements locatable on a plane, with each element being associated with a color defined by three chromatic elements. Furthermore, each image is partitioned into a set of elements, with each element comprising one or more pixels. According to the process of the present method, the ambient conditions are detected using a mixture of processes which utilize the chromatic elements, luminance qualities and temporal characteristics of the series of images.
US08045753B2	Method of and system for authenticating an item A method of authenticating the identity of an item bearing or associated with a printed security marker, the method comprising: a. printing the security marker with a pattern that encodes at least one of a unique product identifier, a batch identifier, and positional information about a portion of the marker; b. scanning and storing an image of the security marker as printed, said image being taken at sufficiently high resolution to capture artifacts of the printing process; and authentication steps comprising: c. imaging a portion of the marker at sufficiently high resolution to capture the artifacts, and d. querying a data store by providing the image of the portion of the marker or a compressed or parameterized version of the image and data derived from the pattern.
US08045752B2	Systems and methods for witness card analysis A system for and method of assessing fluid spray using image processing techniques of a calibration and one or more as-sprayed witness cards. Calibration and as-sprayed witness cards are exposed to a backlight sufficient to make a plurality of stains thereon electronically visible. At the same time an image of the stains is captured by, e.g., a digital camera. Resulting image data is processed to assess characteristics of the stains of the fluid on the as-sprayed witness card(s) and thereby assess characteristics of the spray, e.g., volume of fluid delivered. In one embodiment, the witness card is a chemically coated semiopaque plate.
US08045747B2	Bi-directional loudspeaker A thin and cost-effective bi-directional loudspeaker which can reproduce high quality sound toward contrary directions simultaneously, arranged from bottom to the top, consists of a frame (2), a U-yoke (3), a first magnet (4), a washer (5), a copper cap (6), a second magnet (7), a voice coil (8), a diaphragm (9), a spacer (12), a spider (15), a dust cap (18) and a connector (1) disposed on lateral side of the frame (2). Said loudspeaker is characterized in that: said diaphragm (9) is in a cone shape whose an inner edge (10) of said apex is fixed with top of said voice coil (8). A periphery (16) of the spider (15) is fixed with an upper edge (14) of the supporting ring (12) and a bottom edge (13) thereof is fixed with an exterior (11) of the diaphragm (9). Said spider (15), spacer (12) and diaphragm (9) are coupled by adhesive and fixed on top of said frame (2).
US08045746B2	Speaker device It is an object of the present invention to use a simplified structure to improve a strength of a neck portion of a conical diaphragm in the vicinity of a voice coil fixing section, thereby inhibiting an undesired dividing vibration in a speaker device. The speaker device of the present invention comprises: a generally conical diaphragm having an opening formed in a generally central position thereof; a voice coil bobbin fixed in the inner circumferential portion of the foregoing opening of the diaphragm; and a diaphragm reinforcing annular member disposed near a fixing section fixing together the diaphragm and the voice coil bobbin. The annular member includes, in the form of an integrally formed body, a diaphragm reinforcing portion having an inclined surface which contacts an inclined surface of the diaphragm close to the inner circumferential portion thereof and is fixed to the inclined surface of the diaphragm by virtue of an adhesive agent, and a cylindrical portion having a liquid holding portion which is formed between the voice coil bobbin and the annular member and is filled with the adhesive agent.
US08045740B2	In-the-ear hearing apparatus having a band element for attaching a housing part A hearing device opening in a housing of an in-the-ear hearing device is to be able to be sealed in a simple manner. To this end, an elastic band is provided, which is attached to a second housing part and/or faceplate and to a first housing part or inside the second housing part. The band pulls the second housing part into the corresponding opening of the first housing part. The second housing part is herewith automatically brought into position and retained. An electrical component can be mounted on the elastic band if necessary.
US08045736B2	Sound field reproduction system The present invention is directed to providing a sound field reproduction system that can enhance the sound separation between the front and rear seats or left and right seats of a vehicle. The sound field reproduction system includes a control unit for creating a first sound signal and a second sound signal from one or a plurality of sources, a narrow-directional speaker mounted on the front seat side of the vehicle, a speaker mounted on the rear seat side of the vehicle, and a signal processing unit for driving the narrow-directional speaker based on the first sound signal that has been processed according to frequency range, and for driving the speaker based on the second sound signal.
US08045732B1	Mapping control signals to values for one or more internal parameters Mapping a plurality of external control signals to values for one or more internal parameters is disclosed. Each external control signal is mapped to a control signal-specific set of internal parameter values corresponding to the level of the signal. The resulting signal-specific sets of internal parameter values are combined to generate a combined set of internal parameter values. The combined set of internal parameter values includes a single value for each internal parameter for which a value was included in at least one signal-specific set of internal parameter values. For each internal parameter for which a value is included in more than one of the signal-specific sets of internal parameter values, the combined set of internal parameter values includes a combined value based at least in part on the values included in the signal-specific sets of internal parameter values.
US08045731B2	Sound quality adjustment device LPF and HPF extract bass and treble ranges, respectively, from an input sound signal, and bass and treble boost circuits perform dynamic range expansion/contraction on the extracted bass- and treble-range sound signals in accordance with input levels of the sound signals. The input sound signal and the sound signals output from the boost circuits are added together. There may also be provided coefficient calculation sections for calculating filter coefficients on the basis of the levels of the sound signals extracted by the LPF and HPF. In this case, the bass and treble boost sections perform, in accordance with the filter coefficients calculated by the corresponding coefficient calculation sections, filter processes for increasing/decreasing the levels of the bass and treble ranges, respectively.
US08045730B1	Methods and systems for reducing acoustic echoes in communication systems Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods and systems that reduce acoustic echoes in audio signals in accordance with changing conditions at first and second locations that are linked together in a communication system. In one embodiment of the present invention, a first digital signal encoding sounds produced at the first location is output from the first location, and a second digital signal encoding an acoustic echo and sounds produced at the second location is output from the second location. The method computes a control state that depends on the signals transmitted between the first and the second locations and computes an approximate acoustic echo based on the control state.
US08045727B2	Headset power management The invention relates to an energy saving headset 100. The headset 100 comprises a power management unit 150 that is operable to reduce the power consumption of the headset 100 when a user 110 is not present. The power management unit 150 uses capacitive sensing to detect the presence of the user 110. Capacitive sensing is advantageous since it provides a flexible and reliable sensor that can accurately detect the presence or absence of a user 110 either by detecting user proximity or user contact. Moreover, in various embodiments, the sensitivity of a capacitive sensor may be adjusted to account for user movement or changes in environmental conditions, such as, for example, the presence of water, or sweat, on the headset 100 to further improve sensing reliability. The invention further relates to headsets using user presence signals based on capacitive sensing to control other functions of the headset or to control external devices to which the headset is connected, either wirelessly or by wires.
US08045726B2	Noise-cancelling headphone A noise-cancelling headphone includes a cancel signal generator that receives ambient noise via an electro-acoustic transducer and generates and outputs a cancel signal eliminating the noise and a speaker unit that outputs an audio signal and a cancel signal, and connects the cancel signal generator to a first terminal of two input terminals of the speaker unit and connects a sound source of an audio signal to a second terminal thereof, whereby obtaining the noise-cancelling headphone with which one can enjoy music with high quality without the change in the sound quality and volume between when a noise-cancelling function is activated and when deactivated.
US08045723B2	Active sound effect generating apparatus An active sound effect generating apparatus includes a controller (a fourth acoustic adjuster and a fifth acoustic adjuster) which determines the amplitude of a control signal by adjusting the amplitudes of reference signals (intermediate signals) depending on an engine rotational frequency change [Hz/second] calculated by an engine rotational frequency change calculator and an accelerator opening [%] detected by an accelerator opening sensor.
US08045722B2	Method of and apparatus for controlling sound field through array speaker Provided are a method and apparatus for controlling a sound field through an array speaker. The method includes calculating a coefficient of a filter that controls sound pressure of an input signal, based on a sound pressure ratio of a suppression area that suppresses sound emitted from an array speaker and an emphasis area that emphasizes the sound, and sound pressure efficiency in the emphasis area, generating a plurality of output signals that focuses the sound to the emphasis area by filtering the input signal based on the calculated coefficient of the filter, and outputting a sound field controlled sound based on the generated plurality of output signals. Accordingly, a listener in a predetermined direction and distance from the array speaker can clearly hear sound, without wearing an earphone or a headset so as to focus the sound only to the listener.
US08045719B2	Rendering center channel audio An audio upmixer, such as a two-channel to three-channel upmixer, employs a difference in a measure of sound at the ears of a listener in accordance with first and second models, one based on a reproduction of the original channels and the other based on a reproduction of the upmixed channels. The difference is minimized while simultaneously causing a, portion of one or more of the stereophonic channels to be applied to the center loudspeaker under some conditions of the signals in the stereophonic channels, the portion being commensurate with the value of a weighting factor, such that the weighting factor controls a balance between two opposing conditions, one in which no signals are applied to the center loudspeaker and another in which no signals are applied to the left and right loudspeakers.
US08045715B2	Method of handling security key change and related communication device A method of handling security key change for a user equipment in a wireless communication system includes applying a radio resource control procedure to activate key change, where the radio resource control procedure covers two conditions where the key change is accompanied with an authentication and key agreement run and without an authentication and key agreement run.
US08045711B2	System and method for comparison of private values An embodiment includes a first system for computing a contribution to a greater-than comparison of a first private value and a second private value. The first system includes: an accessing unit configured to access the first private value; a processor unit configured to compute a first encrypted value by encrypting the first private value, compute a decrypted value by decrypting a third encrypted value, and compute a contribution to a result of the greater-than comparison by checking a relation between the decrypted value and a modulus value; and a communication unit configured to send the first encrypted value to a second system and to receive the third encrypted value.
US08045706B2	System of efficiently implementing secure hash algorithm (SHA-1) in digital hardware that accomplishes optimal computation speed using minimal hardware resources A method of completing the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1) computation in exactly 81 clock cycles with digital hardware. The general implementation techniques include: using a combination of synchronous storage elements to store the required computation values and asynchronous circuits to perform all the logic and mathematic operations of each step of the 81-step SHA-1 computation within a single clock cycle; using a quad-output-channel 16×32-bit circular queue memory to store the 512-bit message segment (block), as a computation buffer of the Wt parameter, and to supply the Wt-3, Wt-8, Wt-14, and Wt-16 data parameters simultaneously; using a combination of a counter circuit and a decoder/encoder circuit to control selecting data parameters and sequencing the 81-step SHA-1 computation; and using an automated controller to control internal units that perform SHA-1 and allowing external systems to access the SHA-1 computation service. The robust architecture allows for a highly efficient digital hardware implementation.
US08045699B2	Method and system for performing automated telemarketing A method for performing automated telemarketing is disclosed. The method includes receiving potential customer data that includes a telephone number; initiating a telephone call to the telephone number using an auto-dialing technology; receiving notification that the potential customer has answered the telephone call; sending a verbal greeting to the potential customer in response to receiving the notification; conversing with the potential customer using speech recognition technology, the conversing including receiving a message from the potential customer; and updating the potential customer data responsive to the message received from the potential customer.
US08045692B2	System and method for determining whether to request additional telephone numbering resources by a telecommunications carrier A system for determining whether to request additional telephone number resources for a telecommunications carrier. The system may include a first database operated by a telecommunications carrier and configured to store data indicative of telephone number usage of telephone numbers assigned to the telecommunications carrier. A computing device may be in communication with a second database via a network, the second database may contain telephone number usage information associated with multiple telecommunications carriers. The computing device may execute software to query the first and second databases to retrieve information associated with the telecommunications carrier (i) to determine current utilization of telephone numbers of a rate center and (ii) to determine months to exhaust of telephone numbers.
US08045688B2	Method and system for presenting customized caller options via a communication device A method and a system for presenting customized caller options via a communication device (104) are disclosed. The method includes receiving (404) an incoming call from a calling party at the second communication device. The method further includes comparing (406) a caller Identification (ID) information associated with the incoming call to a pre-defined stored list of caller ID information. Further, the method includes presenting (408) the calling party with customized caller options. The customized caller options are presented as a function of the comparison between the incoming call caller ID information and the pre-defined stored list of caller ID information.
US08045687B2	Call-connecting device, call-connecting method, call-connecting program, and call-accepting server A server system includes a database having an identification number and a contact destination number as associated information; a storage device for containing the database; a call-accepting unit for accepting a call designating an advertised telephone number from a user's telephone as well as for extracting the identification number therefrom; a contact destination-extracting unit for extracting the contact destination number associated with the identification number from the database; and a connection-processing unit for connecting the call from a user's telephone to the telephone of an advertiser corresponding to the contact destination number according to the extracted contact destination number.
US08045671B2	Injection system and associated operating method A feeding system for an absorber liquid containing a neutron poison, in particular for a quick shut-down of a nuclear reactor, has a storage container for the absorber liquid and is configured for high operational reliability with simple construction. In particular, a chemical decomposition of the absorber liquid or corrosion of the container wall of the storage container is to be excluded. For this purpose, the storage container is connected to a pressure container via an overflow line, wherein the pressure container is filled with a motive fluid.
US08045663B2	Circuit and method for removing skew in data transmitting/receiving system A data transmission/reception system can lessen a skew between data and clock signal by substantially reducing a data reception error. The data transmission/reception system using a first clock signal and a second clock signal having a phase difference corresponding to a half of data bit period as compared with the first clock signal includes a skew information extracting unit and a timing control unit. The skew information extracting unit obtains and outputs skew edge information data necessary for a skew removal by sampling data transmitted in a training operating mode as one of the first and second clock signals in a receiving side. The timing control unit receives the skew edge information data through a transmitting side, and compares its phase with a phase of the transmitted data and controls a timing between transmission data and a transmission sampling clock signal applied to a transmission output unit according to the phase comparison result. Time taken in a training operation can be relatively shortened, and circuits of the receiving side can be simplified and power consumption can be relatively reduced.
US08045659B2	OFDM receiver and its automatic gain control circuit An OFDM receiver includes: a variable gain amplifier controlling a signal level of an intermediate frequency signal that is obtained from a reception signal by frequency-conversion; and an automatic gain controller controlling a gain of the variable gain amplifier means. The automatic gain controller includes: a clip detector comparing a clip number threshold value with a detected number of transient clips in which a signal level of the intermediate frequency signal exceeds a parameter clip level, so as to detect a period where the detected number exceeds the clip number threshold value; an accumulator accumulating a detection output of the clip detector; and a target value decision circuit to which an accumulation output of the accumulator is supplied.
US08045653B2	Method and system for controlling a receiver in a digital communication system Detection method and device for a receiver in a digital communication system designed to process a frame comprising a periodic sub-set of length n, said method comprising the following steps:—determining a first vector u having a length n;—determining a second shifted vector v;—calculating a correlation function between said first and second vectors;—calculating a quadratic error function between said first and second vectors;—calculating a first cost function that is a linear combination of both preceding functions and, according to the sign of the result,—calculating a second cost function of frame beginning estimate; and—starting the communication system receiver.
US08045643B1	Forward and reverse VSWR insensitive power detection using quadrature downconversion A system and method for detecting both the forward and reverse power of a power amplifier are provided. The power amplifier is a quadrature power amplifier including an in-phase amplifier circuit and a quadrature-phase amplifier circuit. A radio frequency (RF) input signal is split and phase-shifted to provide an in-phase RF input to the in-phase amplifier circuitry and a quadrature-phase RF input to the quadrature-phase amplifier circuitry, where the quadrature-phase RF input is +90 degrees out-of-phase with the in-phase RF input. In one embodiment, a power detection system operates to downconvert quadrature output signals from the in-phase and quadrature-phase amplifier circuits based on quadrature local oscillator signals. The outputs of the quadrature downconversion are then selectively combined to provide a quadrature signal indicative of forward power, a quadrature signal indicative of reverse power, or both a quadrature signal indicative of forward power and a quadrature signal indicative of reverse power.
US08045638B2	Method and apparatus for impairment correlation estimation in a wireless communication receiver A wireless communication receiver improves signal impairment correlation estimation in MIMO/MISO systems by considering different transmit power allocations and different transmit antenna power distributions in its impairment correlation calculations. The receiver may be implemented in according to a variety of architectures, including, but not limited to, Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) Generalized RAKE (G-RAKE), Joint Detection (JD) G-RAKE, and Minimum Mean Squared Error (MMSE) G-RAKE. Regardless of the particular receiver architecture adopted, the improved impairment correlations may be used to calculate improved (RAKE) signal combining weights and/or improve channel quality estimates for reporting by receivers operating in Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) systems transmitting HSDPA channels via MIMO or MISO transmitters. A transmitter may be configured to facilitate impairment correlation determinations by wireless communication receivers operating in MIMO/MISO environments, by signaling one or more values, e.g., data-to-pilot signal transmit power ratios and/or transmit antenna power distributions for the data and pilot signals.
US08045630B2	Scattered pilot location detector A detector of patterns corresponding to pilot symbols is capable of detecting patterns of SP symbols promptly without using a TMCC signal. The SP location detector includes a multiplier which multiplies received signals generated by demodulating OFDM modulation signals in which pilot symbols are dispersively disposed in accordance with four types of patterns and which are transmitted periodically by a pseudo-random number bit sequence, four arithmetic circuits which are respectively provided corresponding to the four types of patterns and which respectively extract pilot symbols corresponding to respective patterns from results of multiplication by the multiplier and calculate sums of phase differences between the extracted pilot symbols, followed by outputting absolute values thereof, and a pattern detection circuit which detects the corresponding arithmetic circuit maximum in the calculated absolute value from within the four arithmetic circuits.
US08045629B1	DSL data collection system Information is sent by a DSL system component using a non-disruptive operational data parameter. One or more bits of the non-disruptive operational data parameter are used to send other information. In some instances the selected parameter will be an unused parameter, such as an unused fast operational mode or interleaved operational mode parameter used to report operational data in a DSL system. In one embodiment of the invention, a remote modem provides a unique equipment identifier that can be paired with the telephone number on which the modem is operating. Verification of and/or searching for the correct pairing of telephone number and unique equipment identifier can be performed as well.
US08045628B2	Digital video broadcast service discovery Embodiments are directed to binary phase shift key modulating a first pilot symbol according to a reference sequence, and differentially binary phase shift key modulating a second pilot symbols. The original reference sequence and the delayed differentially modulated sequence are then combined before performing an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform and inserting a guard interval. Receiver operations are an inverse of the transmitter operations, which were just discussed. The receiver does not have to know the reference sequence. Embodiments are directed to specifying a plurality of seeds that are bit patterns each having r bits not all of which have a value of zero, extending the seeds into respective sequences by applying to each seed a recurrence formula; and using one of the sequences as a comb sequence and using the sequences other than the comb sequence as binary phase shift keying patterns.
US08045619B2	Motion estimation apparatus and method A motion estimation apparatus and method is disclosed. The apparatus includes a block error calculator to calculate a specified block error based on a candidate motion vector previously estimated and spatiotemporarily neighboring on a present block; a motion estimation mode decider to decide a motion estimation mode for the present block to be processed based on the calculated block error; and a motion vector estimator to estimate a last motion vector in the decided motion estimation mode.
US08045617B2	Image decoding apparatus An image decoding apparatus is capable of decoding coded bit streams with different coding schemes. The image decoding apparatus includes a coding scheme decision section for deciding a coding scheme from coding scheme identification information multiplexed into a coded bit stream, a setting unit for setting header information on a second coding scheme in accordance with header information in a first coding scheme, and a decoder for decoding image coded data in the first coding scheme in response to the header information on the second coding scheme, which is set.
US08045612B1	Fast inverse integer transform for video decoding In video decoding using the H.264/AVC standard, the computation of an inverse 4×4 integer transform of a coefficient matrix derived by variable length decoding may be carried out using data reduction techniques to reduce the computation load. If the index value of the highest-indexed nonzero coefficient in the matrix is three or higher, the transform is computed conventionally, using two 1D transform operations separated by a transpose operation, and followed by rounding and shifting. If the index value of the highest-indexed nonzero coefficient in the matrix is zero (including the case where there is no nonzero coefficient), the inverse integer transform operation includes only rounding and shifting of that coefficient. If the index value of the highest-indexed nonzero coefficient in the matrix is one or two, then the inverse integer transform operation can be performed using a single integrated 2D transform followed by rounding and shifting.
US08045609B2	Adaptive equalization employing pattern recognition In described embodiments, an adaptive equalizer employed by a receiver in a communication channel, such as Fiber Channel, employs pattern recognition. When a repeating pattern, such as an IDLE or ARBFF pattern, is employed by a standard to, for example, maintain a communication link, an equalizer of the receiver might adaptively set its equalizer parameters based on characteristics of the signal energy of the repeating pattern rather than adaptively set its equalizer parameters based on characteristics of the signal energy of generally random user data carried on the link. Pattern recognition by the receiver allows for maintaining adaptive equalizer parameters at settings preferred for data detection of the typical random data, improving data detection performance of the receiver when the channel transitions from a preset or synchronization repeating pattern to a user random data pattern.
US08045607B2	Method applied to an equalizer for reducing ISI and related ISI reduction apparatus A method applied to an equalizer includes receiving an input data-stream having a training sequence component with a first number of symbols and a data component with a second number of symbols, wherein the first number plus the second number equals a third number; when a symbol number is not greater than the first number, training the training sequence component to generate a first trained coefficient set; when the symbol number is between the first number and the third number, recycling the training sequence component to generate a recycled training sequence component, and training the recycled training sequence component to generate a second trained coefficient set; storing the input data-stream to generate a delayed input data-stream when the symbol number is not greater than the third number; and applying the second trained coefficient set to the equalizer when the symbol number is greater than the third number.
US08045600B2	Method and apparatus for compensating for processing timing misalignment in a communication receiver According to the teachings presented herein, a wireless communication apparatus compensates for timing misalignment in its received signal processing. In at least one embodiment, the apparatus estimates a set of path delays for a received signal and sets processing delays on the estimated path delays. The apparatus jointly hypothesizes combinations of fractional timing offsets for two or more paths, and computes a decision metric for each joint hypothesis that indicates the accuracy of the joint hypothesis. As non-limiting examples, the decision metric may be a signal quality metric, or a distance metric (such as between a measured net channel response and an effective net channel response reconstructed as a function of the combination of fractional timing offsets included in the joint hypothesis). The apparatus evaluates the decision metrics to identify a best estimate of timing misalignment, and correspondingly compensates coherent processing of the received signal.
US08045599B2	Selection of training sequences for multiple-in multiple-out transmissions A cellular communication system comprises a Multiple-In Multiple-Out, MIMO, transmitter (101) and receiver (103). The MIMO transmitter (101) comprises a message generator (303) for generating MIMO messages comprising selected training sequences and transceivers (305, 307, 309) transmitting the messages on a plurality of antennas (311, 313, 315). The training sequences are selected by a midamble selector (317) from a set of training sequences in response to an associated antenna on which the message is to be transmitted. The set of training sequences is associated with the cell of the MIMO transmitter and comprises disjoint subsets of training sequences for each of the plurality of antennas. The receiver (103) comprises a transmit antenna detector (419) which determines which antenna of the MIMO transmitter the message is transmitted from in response to the training sequence of the received message.
US08045597B2	Multi-path searching A method of multi-path searching in a cellular network is provided. The method carries out a correlation process over a predetermined integration period in relation to a first pilot signal received in connection with a first cell of the cellular network to generate first multiple correlation measurements corresponding to a plurality of time delays in the signal, analyzing the first multiple correlation measurements in relation to the time delays to identify multi-path positions in the signal. Information of the multi-path positions over a first predetermined integration period is stored as a first set of candidate multi-path positions and compared with a second set of candidate multi-path positions derived from second multiple correlation measurements corresponding to the time delays over a second predetermined integration period in relation to the first pilot signal, so as to confirm or reject candidate multi-path positions and define modified candidate multi-path positions.
US08045596B2	Apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving a signal in a communication system An apparatus for transmitting/receiving a signal in a communication system is provided. A Mobile Station (MS) spreads a transmission signal to generate a spreading signal, receives, from a Base Station (BS), information on a second spreading signal transmission region, extended from a first spreading signal transmission region, and maps the generated spreading signal to a subcarrier in the second spreading signal transmission region. A Base Station (BS) transmits information on a second spreading signal transmission region extended from a first spreading signal transmission region, for reception of a spreading signal, receives a spreading signal mapped to subcarriers over the second spreading signal transmission region, from an Mobile Station (MS), detects a spreading signal from the spread signal mapped to the subcarriers, and despreads the detected spreading signal to restore a transmission signal.
US08045588B2	Method and apparatus for providing and receiving three-dimensional digital contents Provided are a method and an apparatus for providing three-dimensional (3D) digital content by using a conventional system for providing two-dimensional (2D) digital content. The method includes generating an elementary stream (ES) regarding first data of 2D digital content, generating an ES regarding second data of 3D digital content, packetizing the ESs of the first data and the second data, and recording) the packetized second data and content information of the second data within header information of multiplexed stream of the packetized first data.
US08045583B2	Communication condition information in a mobile terminal and network of a wireless communication system A communication system which has a plurality of mobile terminals and a base station, each of the mobile terminals and/or base station comprising a medium access control sub-layer, upper layers of the medium access control sub-layer, and a lower layer of the medium access control sub-layer, wherein the medium access control sub-layer is configured to perform self-basic functions in response to basic function execution requests or functions associated with the upper layers or lower layer in response to requests therefrom. According to the present invention, the communication system can provide a compatible multimedia communication service even if an originating terminal and a terminating terminal employ different communication manners, they are available from different manufacturers or they are operated by different communication service operators.
US08045566B2	Automated router load balancing One embodiment disclosed relates to a method of load balancing between a plurality of routers. A packet is received at a router from a source host to be forward to a destination host. An algorithm is applied at the router to select a gateway for the source host for packets destined to the destination host. An ICMP redirect message is then sent from the router to the source host to reset the gateway of the source host for packets destined to the destination host. An ARP request is received at the plurality of routers from a requesting host from a source IP address in relation to a destination IP address. An algorithm is applied at each router to determine which single router is to respond to the request. The responding router sends an ARP reply to the requesting host.
US08045560B2	Method and system for managing a network having multiple domains Exemplary embodiments are directed to a system and method for managing a network having multiple domains. An exemplary method includes identifying a router interface connected with a switch; assigning a Layer 2 identifier to the interface, wherein the identifier uniquely identifies a Layer 2 domain within the network; and assigning the Layer 2 identifier to the switch.
US08045557B1	Group communication through broadcast channels Methods, media, and systems are provided for optimizing the use of broadcast channels for group communication streams on a wireless telecommunications data network. Transmission proxy servers associated with base stations are used to determine whether a broadcast channel or unicast channel is most efficient for transmission of a group communication stream. Transmission proxy servers examine factors such as number of users, movement, duration and bandwidth required to make the channel determination. A contact management server coordinates the authentication across multiple access networks in coordination with the transmission proxy servers. Delivery can be more flexible, higher service levels can be more easily guaranteed, and secure but seamless handoffs are possible utilizing the claimed embodiments.
US08045552B2	Wired exchange of control information in wireless system Pairing information is automatically exchanged over a temporary cable in a wireless high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) system. Subsequently, the cable is disconnected and a source of HDMI (such as a disk player) wirelessly sends HDMI A/V to a sink (such as a HDTV).
US08045548B1	Data stream labeling and processing A transaction is sent over a communication link to a receiving node. The transaction includes data along with a tag identifying a data type of the data. The receiving node either forwards or processes the data according to whether the data type matches the type of data type processed by circuitry associated with the receiving node. Thus, a destination is determined for data transported on the communication link using a data type identifier sent with the data.
US08045546B1	Configuring routing in mesh networks A plurality of processor tiles are provided, each processor tile including a processor core. An interconnection network interconnects the processor cores and enables transfer of data among the processor cores. An extension network connects input/output ports of the interconnection network to input/output ports of one or more peripheral devices, each input/output port of the interconnection network being associated with one of the processor tiles such that each input/output port of the interconnection network sends input data to the corresponding processor tile and receives output data from the corresponding processor tile. The extension network is configurable such that a mapping between input/output ports of the interconnection network and input/output ports of the one or more peripheral devices is configurable.
US08045545B2	Intelligent database exchange for OSPF The present invention relates to systems and methods for eliminating unnecessary link state database exchanges and processes when two OSPF routers are forming a full adjacency. In particular, the invention provides methods and mechanisms for deducing information about unreachable routers from link state changes received, recording the information about the unreachable routers for a given period of time, constructing a neighbor database summary list that does not contain the LSAs that the neighbor has through using the information about the unreachable routers and reachable routers, and determining whether the neighbor router is restarted after it becomes unreachable. In addition, the present invention provides a few of options to deduce and use the information about the unreachable routers and the information in the link state database for eliminating unnecessary link state database exchanges and processes.
US08045537B2	Traffic load control in a mesh network The present technology relates to protocols relative to utility meters associated with an open operational framework. More particularly, the present subject matter relates to protocol subject matter for advanced metering infrastructure, adaptable to various international standards, while economically supporting a 2-way mesh network solution in a wireless environment, such as for operating in a residential electricity meter field. The present subject matter supports meters within an ANSI standard C12.22/C12.19 system while economically supporting a 2-way mesh network solution in a wireless environment, such as for operating in a residential electricity meter field, all to permit cell-based adaptive insertion of C12.22 meters within an open framework. Cell isolation is provided through quasi-orthogonal sequences in a frequency hopping network. Additional features relate to apparatus and methodology subject matters concerning Traffic Load Control in a Mesh Network.
US08045535B1	Power-efficient channel condition feedback for OFDM channels A wireless device includes a transceiver that receives packets via a wireless channel. A measurement circuit measures a channel condition of the wireless channel when the measurement circuit is in an active state. A controller identifies a request for a channel condition of the wireless channel in a first packet received by the transceiver, transitions the measurement circuit from an inactive state to the active state in response to the request, and transitions the measurement circuit to the inactive state in response to the measurement circuit having completed measuring the channel condition of the wireless channel during processing of a second packet received by the transceiver.
US08045533B2	Arbitrating colocated transceivers associated with different systems Systems and methods according to the present invention provide arbitration methods, systems and devices which enable a WLAN transceiver (30) and a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver (32) to share the transmission medium. Various arbitration signals (BT, WL, RXIND and PRI) enable the transceivers to indicate a seizure of ownership of the medium as well as to accommodate special arbitration cases, e.g., priority packet transmission/reception. Some arbitration features are hardware programmable to provide design flexibility.
US08045524B2	Efficient resource utilization with interlace and/or interlace offset switching A method for switching group assignment of an access terminal (AT) includes receiving a control message indicating a current group to which the AT is assigned and an assigned group to which the AT is to be switched, and decoding data in a next-received group interlace which corresponds to the assigned group.
US08045522B2	Method and system for performing handoff in wireless networks Method and system for performing handoff in wireless networks. According to an embodiment, the present invention provides a method for wireless communication. The method includes providing an access terminal that is configured to perform wireless IP communication. The method also includes providing a first wireless connection for the access terminal by a first access node. The method further includes providing a first network access for the access terminal by a first connectivity node. Additionally, the method includes obtaining a plurality of addresses for the access terminal. The plurality of address includes a first address and a second address. The first address is associated with a first priority level. The second address is associated with a second priority level. The method additionally includes storing the plurality address by a home agent. The method also includes initiating a handoff process for switching from the first connectivity node to a second connectivity node.
US08045519B2	Scheduling in wireless communication systems A method in a wireless communication network (100) wherein information is communicated in a frame structure wherein each frame includes multiple sub-frames, including grouping at least two wireless communication terminals in a group, assigning the group to less than all sub-frames constituting a communication frame, and assigning a radio resource assignment control channel of one or more assigned sub-frames to the group. The control channel is used to assign radio resources to one or more terminals of the group.
US08045505B2	Mechanism for automatic network formation and medium access coordination The invention provides a set of mechanisms by which a wireless mobile mesh node equipped with a directional antenna may self form and self adapt its steady-state communications schedule. A link establishment handshake is carried out over an ongoing subtemplate-based discovery scan. During time not reserved for steady-state communications with previously discovered neighbors, nodes continue to search for an establish links with new neighbors. Initial and subsequent bandwidth allocation protocols may be utilized to allow peer nodes to coordinate communication opportunities between the peer nodes without impacting or having knowledge about reservations for communications with other peers. The link establishment and initial bandwidth allocation protocols may be piggy-backed for readily establishing an initial steady-state schedule with a peer upon link establishment without impact on previous steady state reservations by other nodes or on ongoing link establishment attempts elsewhere.
US08045504B2	Method and apparatus for facilitating network mobility Various embodiments are described for facilitating network mobility in communication networks with an aim toward enhancing the scalability of MIP. Generally, in most of these embodiments, a network node (121) sends a message to a network device (131) to establish a data path for a remote unit (101) served by the network node. This message comprises a source link layer address which is associated with the remote unit. The message may or may not be sent in response to receiving signaling to facilitate wireless connectivity of a remote unit via the network node. In addition, the network device to which the message is sent may be an access router (AR) or a foreign agent (FA) of the remote unit.
US08045500B2	Communication system and method for transmitting signals to a plurality of different types of receivers A communication system and method of communicating signals to a plurality of different types of receivers is provided. The communication system includes at least one transmitter that transmits high priority and low priority signals as a single frequency network. At least one satellite receives and re-transmits at least one of the high priority and low priority signals. At least one terrestrial repeater is in communication with the at least one transmitter, and receives from the at least one transmitter and re-transmits at least one of the high priority and low priority signals. A plurality of receivers includes at least a first receiver configured to process the high priority signal to emit an output signal based upon the high priority signal, and a second receiver configured to process the high priority and low priority signals to emit an output signal based upon the high priority and low priority signals.
US08045484B2	Method for problematic user detection A method for problematic station detection featuring problematic station detection algorithm based on calculating the amount of time a station is wasting.
US08045477B2	Smart protection escalation mechanism prevention Techniques are provided for detecting at a controller associated with a physical layer of a network an occurrence of a failure within the physical layer of the network. In response to detecting the failure, the controller sends messages to at least first and second nodes in a transport layer of the network, where the messages are configured to indicate normal operations in the physical layer so as to prevent execution of transport layer protection processes for a period of time.
US08045473B2	Tailored relief for congestion on application servers for real time communications Techniques for managing computational load in real-time communications include receiving usage data on a particular node of a packet-switched network. The usage data indicates an amount of computational resources consumed on that particular node by application layer processes for a first type of data packet. It is determined whether this amount exceeds a threshold amount associated with performance degradation. If it is determined that the amount exceeds the threshold, then a message is sent to a different node on the network. The message includes overload state data that indicates the type of data packets and a reduction request. The reduction request indicates a request to reduce an amount of those type data packets that are sent to the particular node in a particular way. These techniques allow application traffic to be diverted under more specific control than approaches that stop all traffic of all data types to the node.
US08045465B2	Wireless mobile terminal and telecommunication system A wireless mobile terminal determining a size of an advertised window depending on a current data rate of a wireless downlink transmission is provided. The wireless mobile terminal receives from a transmission control protocol (TCP) sender a data packet comprising a header portion and a payload portion; and determines the current data rate of the wireless downlink transmission to the wireless mobile terminal from signaling information contained in the header portion of the data packet; and determines the size of the advertised window depending on the current data rate of the wireless downlink transmission.
US08045462B2	Partitioning communication system A system and method for communicating data between two nodes defines a plurality of separate partitions on each node and assigns one or more subjects to at least one of the plurality of the separate partitions. The subjects in each node communicate data with each other over one or more channels. For communicating the data, the present invention separates data communications on a channel from that of other channels. More specifically, each node runs under the control of a separation kernel (SK) that partitions the nodes to define the subjects according to an SK configuration data. A partitioning communication system (PCS) separates the communications channels according to a PCS configuration data.
US08045458B2	Prioritizing network traffic Methods and systems for operation upon one or more data processors for prioritizing transmission among a plurality of data streams based upon a classification associated with the data packets associated with each of the plurality of data streams, respectively. Systems and methods can operate to allocate bandwidth to priority data streams first and recursively allocate remaining bandwidth to lesser priority data streams based upon the priority associated with those respective lesser priority data streams.
US08045456B1	Hierarchical port-based rate limiting A system for regulating traffic in a computer network comprises a plurality of rate buckets associated with a network interface ingress port. The system includes at least two rate buckets, related hierarchically, assigned to a specific ingress port on a network equipment device. At least one traffic parameter is associated with each rate bucket. Each rate bucket monitors traffic based on individual user-defined traffic parameters. At least one packet threshold parameter is associated with each rate bucket. Packets exceeding a rate bucket's packet threshold parameter are sent to subsequent rate buckets within the hierarchy based on an aggregate information rate assigned to the port. Each hierarchical rate bucket assigned to a specific port evaluates each packet prior to discarding a packet.
US08045451B2	Apparatus and method for channel estimation in a mobile communication system An apparatus and a method for estimating a Channel Impulse Response (CIR) with respect to a location where a power of a channel exists are provided to enhance a channel estimator in a mobile communication system. The apparatus includes a CIR searcher for selecting a CIR group that is a region where a channel power exists, a CIR estimation part for estimating a CIR of the selected CIR group, and a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) for performing a DFT on the estimated CIR.
US08045449B2	OFDM receiver and methods for operating in high-throughput and increased range modes An OFDM receiver operates in a high-throughput mode or an increased-range mode. The receiver includes FFT circuitry to generate frequency domain symbol-modulated subcarriers for a set of OFDM subcarriers. During the increased-range mode, data is received on a single subchannel and the FFT circuitry generates frequency domain symbol-modulated subcarriers for a set of OFDM subcarriers associated with the single subchannel. During the high-throughput mode, data is received on each subchannel of a plurality of subchannels and the FFT circuitry generates frequency domain symbol-modulated subcarriers for a different one of the subchannels. The OFDM receiver may operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.
US08045445B2	Information recording medium, integrated circuit, recording/playback apparatus, computer program, and information recording/playback method An optical disk 101 is of a type in which information is recorded on a groove track, and an optical disk 107 is of a type in which information is recorded on a land track. The optical disk 101 has a control data area 102, and a data recording area 103 in which user data is recorded. The optical disk 107 has a control data area 108, and a data recording area 109 in which user data is recorded. A code for indicating the groove track or the land track onto which tracking servo control is executed is provided both in the control data area 102 of the optical disk 101, and in the control data area 108 of the optical disk 107.
US08045426B2	Optical head device, and recording and/or reproducing device An object of the invention is to suppress an influence of a wavefront aberration which is generated at the time of correcting a third-order spherical aberration, and realize satisfactory information recording and/or reproducing. A collimator lens 4 corrects a third-order spherical aberration which is generated depending on the thickness of a light transmissive layer from a surface of a first optical information recording medium 30, corresponding to an optimal substrate thickness of a first objective lens 6, to an intended information recording surface, assuming that the light transmissive layer thickness of the first optical information recording medium 30 which minimizes a residual third-order spherical aberration at the time of incidence of parallel light into the first objective lens 6 is defined as the optimal substrate thickness of the first objective lens 6. The optimal substrate thickness of the first objective lens 6 is defined in such a manner that a variation of a wavefront aberration which is generated on the information recording surface of the first optical information recording medium 30 farthest from the first objective lens 6 at the time of correcting the third-order spherical aberration, and a variation of a wavefront aberration which is generated on the information recording surface of the first optical information recording medium 30 closest to the first objective lens 6 at the time of correcting the third-order spherical aberration are set equal to each other.
US08045425B2	Optical disk apparatus and optical pickup An optical disk apparatus includes a light source that emits a light flux. A light source drive circuit causes the light source to emit the light flux. An optical base has an optical system disposed thereon. The optical system includes an objective lens for guiding the light flux emitted from the light source to a disk-shaped recording medium. A moving mechanism moves the optical base. A first heat radiation member is connected to the light source, and a second heat radiation member is connected to the light source drive circuit and is different from the first heat radiation member. The first heat radiation member and the second heat radiation member are provided so as to face the disk-shaped recording medium. The first heat radiation member is disposed on the disk-shaped recording medium side with respect to the second heat radiation member, and the first heat radiation member has a hole provided therein, for exposing the second heat radiation member to the disk-shaped recording medium.
US08045424B2	Reading method and device for optical disk drives A reading method and a reading device for an optical disk drive, which reads data on a track of an optical disk, receives a host command to read required data, checks cache data, reads cache required data to respond to the command, sets the required data to a target track of the optical disk if no required data exists, calculates moving time for which an optical head is moved from a current position to the target track by way of track jumping and track skipping, respectively, compares the moving time for the track skipping and the track jumping with each other, selects one of the track jumping and the track skipping corresponding to the shorter one of the moving time, moves the optical head to the target track to read the required data and responds to the host command to enhance the reading efficiency.
US08045420B2	Medicine timer A medicine holder encloses one or more medicines which are in their original labeled containers, and emits an alarm signal when each dose is due. The alarm is automatically silenced when the holder is opened to retrieve the medicine. The timer is then automatically restarted when the holder is closed. The dose regimen is determined by an easily-operated selector switch, and is visibly displayed.
US08045414B2	Non-volatile semiconductor memory device The row decoder receives writing instruction signal and reading instruction signal to selectively activate one of the word lines according to an input state of row address signals. The data buffer receives a data input signal when the writing instruction signal is received, and drives corresponding one of the bit lines and amplifies a minute reading signal transmitted to one of the bit lines to output a data output signal when the reading instruction signal is received.The power supply circuit supplies a certain voltage to the memory cell, and in response to the reading instruction signal, keeps the voltage at a ground potential.
US08045408B2	Semiconductor integrated circuit with multi test A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a multi-mode control signal generating unit configured to control an activation of a up/down mat I/O switch control signal, which controls I/O switches in a up/down mat, according to a multi-test mode signal and a read/write discriminating signal, a multi-mode decoder configured to output multi-mat select signals to simultaneously activate a plurality of mats according to a multi-test mode active write signal, and a mat controller configured to enable word lines and the I/O switches according to the up/down mat I/O switch control signal and the multi-mat select signals.
US08045407B2	Memory-write timing calibration including generation of multiple delayed timing signals A memory controller with multiple delayed timing signals. Control information is provided by a first output driver circuit to a first signal path. Write data, associated with the control information, is provided by a second output driver circuit to a second signal path. Timing information is provided by a third output driver to a third signal path. Rising and falling edge transitions of the timing information indicate times at which subsequent symbols of the write data are valid on the signal path. The timing information is delayed with respect to the control information to account for a difference between a time that the control information takes to reach the destination device while traversing the first signal path and a time that the write data takes to reach the destination device while traversing the second signal path.
US08045395B2	Circuits, systems and methods for driving high and low voltages on bit lines in non-volatile memory An integrated circuit bit line driver system includes a plurality of bit line drivers coupled to respective bit lines of an array of non-volatile memory cells. Each of the bit line drivers includes a bias transistor through which an input signal is coupled to the respective bit line. The bit line driver system includes a bias voltage circuit that generates a bias voltage that is coupled to the respective gates of the bias transistors. The bias voltage circuit initially accelerates the charging of the transistor gates, and subsequently completes charging the gates at a slower rate. The bias voltage is generated using a diode-coupled transistor having electrical characteristics the match those of the bias transistors so that the bias voltage varies with process or temperature variations of the integrated circuit in the same manner as the threshold voltage of the bias transistors vary with process or temperature variations.
US08045393B2	Program method of nonvolatile memory device According to an aspect of a program method of a nonvolatile memory device, a first program operation for programming a first data stored in a first latch may be performed and a cache program signal may be input for inputting a second data to be programmed subsequently. When the cache program signal is input, a determination is made as to whether a first program verify operation is being performed, and if so, the verify operation is stopped, the second data is input, and the first program verify operation is restarted.
US08045388B2	Semiconductor device and control method of the same The present invention provides a semiconductor memory and a control method therefor, the semiconductor device including a first current-voltage conversion circuit (16) connected to a core cell (12) provided in a nonvolatile memory cell array (10), a second current-voltage conversion circuit (26) connected to a reference cell (22) through a reference cell data line (24), a sense amplifier (18) sensing an output from the first current-voltage conversion circuit and an output from the second current-voltage conversion circuit, a compare circuit (28) comparing a voltage level at the reference cell data line with a predefined voltage level, and a charging circuit (30) charging the reference cell data line, if the voltage level at the reference cell data line is lower than the predefined voltage level during pre-charging the reference cell data line. According to the present invention, the pre-charging period of the reference cell data line can be shortened, and the data read time can be shortened.
US08045378B2	Nonvolatile memory with correlated multiple pass programming A group of memory cells is programmed respectively to their target states in parallel using a multiple-pass programming method in which the programming voltages in the multiple passes are correlated. Each programming pass employs a programming voltage in the form of a staircase pulse train with a common step size, and each successive pass has the staircase pulse train offset from that of the previous pass by a predetermined offset level. The predetermined offset level is less than the common step size and may be less than or equal to the predetermined offset level of the previous pass. Thus, the same programming resolution can be achieved over multiple passes using fewer programming pulses than conventional method where each successive pass uses a programming staircase pulse train with a finer step size. The multiple pass programming serves to tighten the distribution of the programmed thresholds while reducing the overall number of programming pulses.
US08045366B2	STRAM with composite free magnetic element Spin-transfer torque memory includes a composite free magnetic element, a reference magnetic element having a magnetization orientation that is pinned in a reference direction, and an electrically insulating and non-magnetic tunneling barrier layer separating the composite free magnetic element from the magnetic reference element. The free magnetic element includes a hard magnetic layer exchanged coupled to a soft magnetic layer. The composite free magnetic element has a magnetization orientation that can change direction due to spin-torque transfer when a write current passes through the spin-transfer torque memory unit.
US08045359B2	Switching element, method of manufacturing the switching element, and memory element array Disclosed is a switching element including: an insulative substrate; a first electrode and a second electrode provided to the insulative substrate; an interelectrode gap between the first electrode and the second electrode, comprising a gap of a nanometer order which causes switching phenomenon of resistance by applying a predetermined voltage between the first electrode and the second electrode; and a sealing member to seal the interelectrode gap such that the gap is retained.
US08045341B2	Terminal and mobile terminal apparatus A terminal is formed by plating a terminal substrate in which a first material capable of being plated and a second material incapable of being plated are two-color molded. For example, by two-color molding an ABD resin and a PC resin to form a terminal substrate and plating the terminal substrate, a terminal having a conductive part corresponding to the ABS resin and a nonconductive part corresponding to the PC resin is obtained.
US08045333B2	Intrinsically safe compliant circuit element spacing A compliant circuit element spacing system comprises a circuit board, a dummy spacer component, and a compliant circuit element. One or more active components are mounted to the circuit board. The dummy spacer component is also mounted to the circuit board, such that the dummy spacer component is electrically isolated from each active component mounted to the circuit board. The compliant circuit element is positionable proximate the circuit board, and spaced from the circuit board by the dummy spacer component. The spacing component isolates the compliant circuit element from each active component mounted to the circuit board.
US08045327B2	Electronic apparatus According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a housing, a partition, a first cooling fan, and a second cooling fan. The partition partitions an inside of the housing into a first chamber and a second chamber. The first chamber communicates with a first inlet, a third inlet, and a first outlet. The second chamber communicates with a second inlet and a second outlet. The first cooling fan locates above the third inlet in the first chamber, and includes a first intake configured to draw air in the first chamber, and a second intake configured to draw air outside the housing through the third inlet, the first cooling fan being configured to discharge the air to a heat sink. The second cooling fan locates in the second chamber and is configured to draw air in the second chamber, and to discharge the air to the second outlet.
US08045325B2	Disk array structure A disk array structure includes a housing, a connection seat, and at least two disks. The housing contains at least two transversal holding spaces, and the connection seat is assembled with the housing, containing a circuit board, at least two connectors, and a rear sheath casing. Each connector is electrically connected at an inner side of the circuit board, and the rear sheath casing is assembled at an outer side of the circuit board, containing plural connection holes and a toggle switch. Each disk is loosely installed in each holding space of the housing, with one end electrically connected with each connector of the connection seat, and the other end having a handle. The structure is carried conveniently, the disks are extracted conveniently, heat is dissipated quickly, the structure is manufactured quickly, manufacturing cost is reduced, and the structure serves as a mouse pad and is toggled for use conveniently.
US08045318B2	Tunable capacitor using electrowetting phenomenon A tunable capacitor using an electrowetting phenomenon includes a first electrode; a second electrode which is spaced apart from the first electrode and faces the first electrode; a fluidic channel which is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode; a first insulating layer which is disposed between the first electrode and the fluidic channel; and a conductive fluid which is disposed in the fluidic channel and moves along the fluidic channel when a direct current (DC) potential difference occurs between the first and second electrodes. Accordingly, it is possible to fabricate the tunable capacitor with the simplified fabrication process, good reliability and durability, and no restriction on the tuning range.
US08045304B2	Semiconductor circuit including electrostatic discharge circuit having protection element and trigger transistor A semiconductor circuit includes, a first pad for a first power source, a second pad for a second power source, a third pad for an input/output signal, a protection element arranged between the third pad and the second pad; and a transistor functioning as a trigger element for use in flowing a trigger current to the protection element. The transistor includes a gate and a backgate being connected to the first pad and is connected to the protection element such that a source potential of the transistor becomes lower than a potential of the third pad, based on a voltage drop caused by the protection element, when potentials of the first pad and the third pad are kept at a power supply voltage level.
US08045302B2	Compressor protection and grid fault detection device A compressor monitoring system includes current and voltage monitors, current and voltage averaging modules, a control module, and a switch. The current monitor measures a current drawn by a motor of a compressor. The current averaging module generates first and second average current values based on the current measured by the current monitor. The voltage monitor measures a utility power voltage. The voltage averaging module generates first and second average voltage values based on the voltage measured by the voltage monitor. The control module selectively generates a fault signal when a first ratio is greater than a first predetermined threshold and a second ratio is less than a second predetermined threshold. The first ratio is based on the first and second average current values. The second ratio is based on the first and second average voltage values. The switch deactivates the motor when the fault signal is generated.
US08045295B2	Method and apparatus for providing an additional ground pad and electrical connection for grounding a magnetic recording head Method and apparatus are presented for electrically coupling a slider to ground. In one embodiment, a bonding pad is provided on a side of the slider body separate from the bonding pad(s) used for read/write signals. This separate bonding pad is electrically coupled within the slider body to components that are to be coupled to ground. A separate conductor provided on the suspension (e.g., a trace, a flex circuit, etc.) may be electrically coupled to the separate bonding pad via gold ball bonding. The conductor is also coupled to ground in the hard-disk drive device (e.g., via the preamplifier). The use of the separated bonding pad and trace may negate the need to use a conductive adhesive to electrically ground the slider via its attachment to the tongue of a slider.
US08045293B2	Thin film magnetic head including thermal deformation-preventing layer A thin film magnetic head includes a recording and playback element, a lead conductor layer for feeding a power to the recording and playback element, an electrically conductive bump for conductively connecting the lead conductor layer to an electrode pad for external connection, and an insulating protective layer filling between the recording and playback element and the electrically conductive bump. A thermal deformation-preventing layer composed of a material having a thermal expansion coefficient smaller than that of the insulating protective layer is disposed in the insulating protective layer in such a way as to locate between a medium-facing surface and the electrically conductive bump without being exposed at the medium-facing surface. In the resulting thin film magnetic head, protrusion of the recording and playback element toward the recording medium side can be prevented without changing the configuration of the recording and playback element nor the forming material.
US08045285B1	Data synchronization for bit insertion or deletion In an implementation, a media drive includes bit patterned magnetic media and a module. The module is to cause data encoded by one or more error correction codes to be written on the bit patterned magnetic media with a constraint that is configured to be used to synchronize the data if a bit insertion or deletion occurs.
US08045281B2	Method of setting write factor in hard disk drive and hard disk drive using the same A method of setting write factors of each head in a hard disk and a hard disk drive using the method. The method includes writing a write signal onto a test track based on a write factor initially set on the magnetic head, writing the write signals onto the tracks adjacent to the test track, measuring the write quality of the test track, changing the write factor of the magnetic head and repeating the writing of the write signal onto the test track, and setting a write factor of the magnetic head by selecting the write factor corresponding to an optimum write quality from among the write qualities of the write factors of the test track.
US08045280B2	Compact adjustable lens The present invention provides a solution for designing a compact adjustable lens assembly, wherein a circular shaped piezoelectric crystal is bending a thin glass cover, thereby providing a shift of focal length of the lens assembly.
US08045250B1	Optical scanning using rotating parallel plate A beam of incident light may be positioned on a target by directing the beam towards the target and transmitting the incident beam of light through one or more refractive plates having first and second parallel refracting surfaces in a path of the beam and adjusting an angular orientation of one or more refractive plates.
US08045246B2	Method and apparatus for bulk erasure in a holographic storage system A method and system for bulk erasing in a holographic storage system is disclosed. The method may involve illuminating the entire volume storage region of a photorefractive crystal with a laser to achieve bulk erasure, or may involve selective erasure of a portion of a single written page. For bulk erasure of the entire photorefractive crystal the use of a separate laser or an incoherent light source is used.
US08045242B2	Color conversion apparatus and color conversion method A color conversion apparatus includes: an original data analyzing unit configured to extract background color information of an original and color information of a character and line drawing object on the background; a background color changing unit configured to change the background color of the original when necessary, on the basis of the result of comparing the background color information acquired from the original data analyzing unit with a preset threshold value; and a character and line drawing color correcting unit configured to change lightness of the character and line drawing color in a way that increases a lightness difference between the background color for printing and the character and line drawing color on the background when necessary, on the basis of the background color information of the original acquired from the original data analyzing unit, the background color information for printing acquired from the background color changing unit, and the character and line drawing color information on the background acquired from the original data analyzing unit. The color conversion apparatus contributes to saving of color material, reduction in load on a printer engine, prevention of stripping of color material, and prevention of deformation of paper.
US08045238B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method and image reading apparatus An image processing apparatus includes a first log conversion unit configured to execute gradation conversion processing for copying on an image signal generated by reading an original, an output-signal converting unit configured to generate an output signal from the image signal subjected to the gradation conversion processing for copying and output the output signal to an output apparatus, a second log conversion unit configured to be provided independently from the first log conversion unit and execute gradation conversion processing for specific original detection on the image signal generated by reading the original, and a specific-original detecting unit configured to detect whether the original is a specific original from the image signal subjected to the gradation conversion processing for specific original detection.
US08045236B2	Apparatus, and associated method, for facilitating background processing of push content Apparatus, and an associated method, for a communication device operable pursuant to a push content communication scheme. An instruction detector detects a message containing a instruction by which to operate upon push content. The message is, for instance, generated by a mobile station at which an application associated with the content is resident. Once detected by the instruction detector, a content operator operates upon the content in a manner corresponding to the instruction contained in the detected message. Once operated upon, the content is stored at a storage element, available when an application of which the content is associated, becomes active.
US08045233B2	Method for controlling the shapes of FM-AM mixed dots on a multi-bit depth imaging apparatus Disclosed is a method for controlling the shapes of FM-AM mixed halftone dots on the multi-bit depth imaging apparatus. In the prior art, since the reproduction of the shapes of the dots in various gradations is absolutely based on the theory of random error diffusion and is influenced by the dynamic controlling output mechanism for the multi-bit dots, it is hard to assure the controllability of the shapes of the dots in a certain gradation. Based on the prior art, the dynamic statistic algorithm with adjacent output gray levels is introduced to assure the controllability of the shapes of the dots and solve the problem of random change of the shapes of the dots due to the randomicity of the error diffusion. According to the disclosed method, the features of the multi-bit imaging apparatus can be achieved fully in light of the requirements of the dots on the basis of the original method for multi-bit FM-AM mixed screening using error diffusion based on dual-feedback. The effect of FM-AM mixed halftone screening can be achieved under low resolution with controllable shapes of the dots. The problem of granular sensation can be solved during the practical output of the mixed halftone dots so as to assure the smooth effect of the gradations.
US08045231B1	Method and apparatus for performing digital image processing without rasterization A method including storing a plurality of segments. Each of the segments includes a first drawing command to render a scanline on a rendering device. The segments are non-overlapping. The method further includes receiving a page element. The page element includes a second drawing command to render a page on the rendering device. The page element includes a first segment. The method further includes merging the first segment into the plurality of segments. Merging the first segment into the plurality of segments includes selectively shrinking one of the plurality of segments.
US08045219B2	Printed media products including data files provided in multiple layers of encoded, colored dots A printed media product, such as a trading card, that has a substrate and an encoded data element applied to a surface of the substrate containing information. The encoded data element includes first, second, and third data layers with first, second, and third patterns of encoded, colored dots defined by a binary encoding scheme. The dots of the first, second, and third layers are different colors separately resolvable by a scanner with decoding software. The colors of the dots are cyan, yellow, and magenta, and the layers are printed so that the dots overlap. The binary encoding scheme includes a two dimensional run length limited code. The printed media product includes a graphics element that can be interpreted by a human user, and typically, the information encoded in the encoded data element layers is related to the information in the graphics element.
US08045212B2	Laser print apparatus that generates pulse with value and justification value based on pixels in a multi-bit image A laser print apparatus includes a memory for storing a multi-bit image including a plurality of pixels. Each pixel is represented by an N-bit value, wherein N is greater than one. A modulation code generator analyzes three adjacent pixels. The three adjacent pixels include a left pixel, a center pixel, and a right pixel. The modulation code generator is configured to generate a pulse width value based on the value of the center pixel, and a justification value based on the values of the left pixel and the right pixel. A laser print engine forms an output pixel on media based on the pulse width value and the justification value.
US08045211B2	Image forming device An image forming device is provided with an external storage, a printing unit, a storage controlling unit configured to store the image data in the external storage or an internal storage. The storage controlling device stores the image data developed from the print data retrieved from the print data stored in the external in the external storage, while stores the image data developed from the print data transmitted from the external device in the internal storage. At least file names of image data stored in the external storage on the displaying unit are displayed for selection when the external storage is connected to the image forming device, and file names of image data stored in the internal storage are displayed when the external storage is not connected to the image forming device. A reprinting unit performs a reprinting operation based on the selected image data.
US08045209B2	Image processing apparatus Detection section 22 detects the blank space area in each page for all pages of the document, determining section 23 determines image size for combining a designated stamp image in uniform size in all the pages of that document based on a detection result by detection section 22. Combining section 24 combines the stamp image determined by determining section 23 in each page of the document. For example, size of the maximum blank space area which can fit within blank space areas of all pages of the document in uniform size, is sought, image combining is carried out with an original size if the original size of the stamp image is not larger than the maximum blank space area size, and the stamp image is combined to be in a reduced size so that it fits within the maximum blank space area size if the original size of the stamp image exceeds the maximum blank space area size.
US08045199B2	Method and system to share an image forming apparatus among a plurality of hosts A method and a system to share an image forming apparatus among a plurality of hosts. The method includes generating a print enable signal to be transmitted to one of the plurality of hosts corresponding to an order of forming communication channels among one or more hosts to enable wireless communication, and performing a print job by enabling the host that receives the print enable signal to transmit print data to the image forming apparatus. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus such as a printer or multi-purpose tray is wirelessly connected to the plurality of hosts to perform print jobs and scanning jobs.
US08045196B2	Image processing system, image processing apparatus, and image processing program product suited for transmitting and receiving data among a plurality of image processing apparatuses To allow inputting and outputting of data using any apparatus of a plurality of MFPs, each of the plurality of MFPs includes a HDD to store user data including user identification information for identifying a plurality of users, a job attribute information generating portion to generate job attribute information which associates location information on the network of data inputted in a scanner with one of a plurality of user identification information, a control portion to control so as to store the job attribute information in HDDs of other MFPs connected to the network, a user identification information input portion to accept an input of the user identification information, a job attribute information obtaining portion to obtain from the HDDs of other MFPs connected to the network the job attribute information including the user identification information inputted, and a data obtaining portion to obtain data associated by the job attribute information obtained.
US08045195B2	Image forming apparatus and image forming system An image forming system is supplied which is able to prevent the record medium from being taken by other people and to improve the secrecy performance of image data. In the system, an image processing apparatus has an storing section that stores image data to form image, a reading section that reads out the identification information from a carriable medium, an encryption executing section that executes an encryption of the image data based on the identification information, and a transmitting section that transmits the encrypted image data to an image forming apparatus together with the identification information; and the image forming apparatus has a receiving section that receives the image data and the identification information, a reading section that reads out the identification information from the carriable medium, a judging section that judges the received image data based on the identification information, a decryption executing section that executes a decryption of the image data based on the identification information, and an image forming section that performs an image formation of the decrypted image data.
US08045190B2	Image forming apparatus having a convenient sheet insertion function An image forming apparatus includes a scanner unit to read an original document, an image data storage unit to store read image data, a print unit to print out the image data, a sheet insertion designation unit to perform a sheet insertion processing and a sheet insertion control unit. The user performs execution designation of the sheet insertion processing by the sheet insertion designation unit before a reading job of a first original document. When the execution of the sheet insertion processing is designated and a reading job of a specified original document is ended, the sheet insertion control unit requests the user to select a mode of the sheet insertion processing, and creates page data for performing the sheet insertion in the mode designated there. The printout including the page data for the sheet insertion is performed collectively after reading jobs of all original documents are ended.
US08045187B2	Variable data printing within a print driver The present invention provides for variable data printing by a print driver. Static print data is received, wherein the static print data is in a page description language. Variable print data is also received, wherein the variable print data comprises one or more sets of variable data. In addition, mapping rule data is received, wherein the mapping rule data comprises rules for mapping the one or more sets of variable data into the static print data. One or more modified versions of the static print data are generated, by applying the rules for mapping the one or more sets of variable data into the static print data. The one or more modified versions of the static print data are output for printing. As such, virtually any application can have VDP functionality, and a less complex VDP solution can be realized.
US08045174B2	Assessing a network A network is assessed, in particular, a network having a main line and a plurality of branch lines. The method includes the steps of: (i) introducing test signals into the main line, the main line being coupled to the branch lines; (ii) imposing a modulation on test signals which propagate along the branch line, and (iii) monitoring test signals returned along the main line. The imposed phase modulation is detected interferometrically such that the test signals from the designated branch line can be distinguished with respect to the signals returned from other branch lines.
US08045172B2	Method and apparatus for determining the concentration of a substance in a liquid In a method for determining the concentration of at least one substance in a liquid the liquid is applied onto a test strip containing at least one test zone, wherein an optical sensor arrangement is moved step-by-step in a first direction over the surface of the test strip while the test trip is at the same time irradiated with light of a predetermined wave length and wherein in each step the radiation reflected from the surface of the test strip is measured, and wherein in each measurement step the test strip surface is irradiated alternately with light of at least two different wave lengths and the irradiation is measured at the same time and the difference between the measurement signals obtained in each measurement step using irradiation light of different wave lengths is analyzed.
US08045171B2	Inspection chip producing method and specimen detecting method A method of producing an inspection chip includes a microstructure producing step of producing a microstructure where metallic portions having dimensions permitting excitation of surface plasmons are formed and distributed on one surface of a substrate, a specimen attaching step of attaching a specimen to the surfaces of the metallic portions of the microstructure, and a metallic particle attaching step of attaching metallic particles having dimensions permitting excitation of surface plasmons to the metallic portions and the specimen, wherein the specimen is attached to the metallic portions to which no substance capable of specifically binding to the specimen is secured in the specimen attaching step, and/or the metallic particles to which no substance capable of specifically binding to the specimen is secured are attached to the specimen in the metallic particle attaching step.
US08045160B2	Spectroscopy module Alignment marks 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d are formed on the flat plane 11a of the peripheral edge portion 11 formed integrally with the diffracting layer 8, and when the lens portion 7 is mounted onto the substrate 2, these alignment marks 12a, 12b, 12c and 12d are positioned to the substrate 2, thereby making exact alignment of the diffracting layer 8 with respect to the light detecting portion 4a of the light detecting element 4, for example, not by depending on a difference in curvature radius of the lens portion 7. In particular, the alignment marks 12a, 12b, 12c and 12d are formed on the flat plane 11a, thereby image recognition is given to exactly detect positions of the alignment marks 12a, 12b, 12c and 12d, thus making it possible to make exact alignment.
US08045155B2	Spectroscopic module The spectroscopy module is provided with a body portion for transmitting light, a spectroscopic portion for dispersing light made incident from the front plane of the body portion into the body portion to reflect the light on the front plane, a light detecting element having a light detecting portion for detecting the light dispersed and reflected by the spectroscopic portion and electrically connected to a wiring formed on the front plane of the body portion by face-down bonding, and an underfill material filled in the body portion side of the light detecting element to transmit the light. The light detecting element is provided with a light-passing hole through which the light advancing into the spectroscopic portion passes, and a reservoir portion is formed on a rear plane of the body portion side in the light detecting element so as to enclose a light outgoing opening of the light-passing hole.
US08045151B2	Laminated film defect inspection method and laminated film defect inspection device A first inspection process of inspecting presence of a defect on a front surface of a film body with a protective film separated therefrom; a separator removing process of separating a separator from the inspected laminated film; a second inspection process of inspecting presence of the defect in the film body in a vertical attitude while introducing the film body with the separator separated and removed therefrom to a film travel path directed in a vertical direction, and storing detection data; a separator laminating process and a protective film laminating process of laminating a separator and a protective film to a back surface and a front surface of the inspected film body, respectively; and a film collecting process of winding up the inspected laminated film laminated with the protective film and the separator are provided.
US08045150B2	Semiconductor wafer inspection method A semiconductor wafer inspection method includes: an imaging step in which a first image being an image of the chamfered surface seen from the main surface side and a second image being an image of the chamfered surface seen from the back surface side are taken; a calculation step in which a first width is obtained based on the first image, the first width being a width of the chamfered surface seen from the main surface side, a second width is obtained based on the second image, the second width being a width of the chamfered surface seen from the back surface side, and a ratio of the first width to the second width thus obtained is calculated; and a shape determination step in which a form of the chamfered surface is determined to be abnormal in a case where the ratio is out of a predetermined range.
US08045143B2	Optical phase domain reflectometer An apparatus to measure optical characteristics of an optical medium may include an optical source to generate an optical square wave for transmission into the optical medium and an optical receiver to receive a reflected optical waveform from the optical medium caused by a portion of the optical square wave being reflected by any anomaly in the optical medium. The optical receiver may convert the reflected optical waveform to a reflected electrical waveform. The apparatus may also include a module to combine the reflected electrical waveform with a reference waveform to form a resulting waveform. The reference waveform may correspond substantially to the optical square wave and may be delayed a predetermined time duration. A controller may be included to process the resulting waveform to detect any anomaly and a location of the anomaly in the optical medium based on an amplitude of the resulting waveform at a sample delay position in the resulting waveform.
US08045141B2	Detecting element, detecting device and detecting method The present invention provides a detecting element which can stably detect a substance with high sensitivity; a detecting device therefor; and a detecting method therefor. The detecting element and the detecting device according to the present invention have a plurality of planes having a plurality of mutually-separated metallic structures arranged thereon. The detecting method according to the present invention includes making a detecting light irradiate the detecting element so that the light can intersect a plurality of the planes. Thereby, the detecting light is more frequently absorbed in the vicinity of the metallic structure and the detecting device can stably detect a slight change of a spectrum originating from a trace change of a refractive index occurring in the vicinity of the metallic structure, with the high sensitivity.
US08045137B2	Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method A lithographic apparatus is disclosed wherein a liquid supply system is configured to at least partly fill a region between a substrate and a projection system of the lithographic apparatus with a liquid and having a liquid confinement structure fixed in a plane substantially perpendicular to an optical axis of the projection system and configured to cooperate with a substrate table configured to hold the substrate in order to restrict the liquid to a region above an upper surface of the substrate table so that a side of the substrate to be exposed is substantially covered in the liquid during exposure.
US08045136B2	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.
US08045119B2	Active device array substrate An active device array substrate including a substrate, an active device array, an detecting circuit, a plurality of driver chip pads, a plurality of flexible printed circuit (FPC) pads, a plurality of connection lines and an inner shorting ring is provided. The active device array and the detecting circuit are disposed on the substrate, and the detecting circuit is electrically connected to the active device array. The driver chip pads and the FPC pads are disposed on the substrate, wherein the driver chip pads are electrically connected to the active device array. The connection lines are disposed on the substrate, and each of the connection lines is respectively connected to the detecting circuit and the corresponding FPC pad. The inner shorting ring is disposed on the substrate, and the inner shorter ring is respectively electrically connected to the corresponding FPC pad and the active device array.
US08045112B2	Display device and method of manufacturing the same A display device includes: a first panel having a pixel region including a pixel electrode therein; a second panel having a common electrode facing the first panel; a liquid crystal layer having vertically aligned liquid crystal molecules interposed between the first and second panels; a first alignment layer disposed on the pixel electrode; and a second alignment layer disposed on the common electrode. At least one of the pixel electrode and the common electrode has a micro slit pattern. At least one of the first and second alignment layers divides the pixel region into domains, is formed to have pretilt directions corresponding to a given domain, and pretilts the vertically aligned liquid crystal molecules in the given domain. A direction of summed horizontal components of a fringe field at an edge of the pixel region is substantially equal to a direction of summed horizontal components of a pretilt direction of the at least one of the first and second alignment layer.
US08045107B2	Color-tunable plasmonic device with a partially modulated refractive index A color-tunable plasmonic device is provided with a partially modulated refractive index. A first dielectric layer overlies a bottom electrode, and has a refractive index non-responsive to an electric field. A second dielectric layer overlies the first dielectric layer, having a refractive index responsive to an electric field. An electrically conductive top electrode overlies the second dielectric layer. A plasmonic layer including a plurality of discrete plasmonic particles is interposed between the top and bottom electrodes. In one aspect, the plasmonic layer is interposed between the first and second dielectric layers. In a second aspect, the plasmonic layer is interposed between the first dielectric layer and the bottom electrode. In a third aspect, a first plasmonic layer is interposed between the first dielectric layer and the bottom electrode, and a second plasmonic layer of discrete plasmonic particles is interposed between the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer.
US08045102B2	Polarizer, method of fabricating the same and liquid crystal display having the same Disclosed are a polarizer, a method for fabricating the same, and a liquid crystal display having the same. The liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal panel and a polarizer attached to the liquid crystal panel. The polarizer includes a polarizing film, a first support film, and a second support film. The first support film has optical anisotropy and is attached to the polarizing film. The first support film has a first thickness. The second support film is attached to the polarizing film while facing the first support film and has a second thickness, which is greater than the first thickness. The polarizer is fabricated by evaporating a solvent from a solution including polymer resin to form an optical film and then elongating the optical film.
US08045097B2	Liquid crystal display device and viewing angle control module In a liquid crystal display device including a display liquid crystal panel and a viewing-angle-control liquid crystal panel and capable of switching viewing angle characteristics, a half wavelength plate for setting a viewing restricted direction is provided between the display liquid crystal panel and the viewing-angle-control liquid crystal panel. This makes it possible to realize a liquid crystal display device that allows a viewing restricted direction to be set as appropriate.
US08045089B2	Liquid crystal display A liquid crystal display includes: a liquid crystal panel; a light source disposed at a lower portion of the liquid crystal panel and providing light to the liquid crystal panel; a light guide plate for guiding light emitted from the light source toward the liquid crystal panel; and a lower cover including a plurality of guide protrusions being in contact with the side of the light guide plate to guide the position of the light guide plate and accommodating the light source and the light guide plate therein.
US08045078B2	Array substrate for liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same An array substrate for a liquid crystal display device, including: a substrate; a gate line on the substrate; a data line crossing the gate line to define a pixel region; a thin film transistor connected to the gate line and the data line, the thin film transistor including a gate electrode connected to the gate line, a semiconductor layer whose boundary is within the gate electrode, a source electrode connected to the data line and a drain electrode spaced apart from the source electrode; a passivation pattern covering the data line and the thin film transistor; and a pixel electrode extending from the drain electrode.
US08045069B2	Method and system for providing multiple views directed to multiple viewing zones A multi view display (49) is arranged to provide large viewing zones (23, 24) while producing little or no cross-talk The display may include a barrier (20) comprising a plurality of color portions (20a, 20b, 20c) that co-operate with color filters (19a-19f) in a display panel (14) to selectively direct light to the viewing zones (23, 24) A lenticular screen (30) may be arranged to create or image light lines onto imaging units (32a, 32f) of the display panel (14) that are spaced from one another, so that adjacent units (32a, 32f) are illuminated by light from different lenses (30a, 30b, 30c), directed towards different viewing zones (23, 24) A light source (35) may generate the light at positions aligned with boundaries between adjacent lenses (30a, 30b, 30c) The imaging units may be operated so that units (32a, 32b) displaying information for the first viewing zone (23) are separated from units (32d, 32e) displaying information for the second viewing zone (24) by units (32c, 32f) not used to display information Adjacent columns of units (32a, 32b) may be used to display information to one viewing zone (23) The viewing zones (23, 24) may be enlarged using a scatterer (36) A switchable diffuser (40) or barrier (48) may be provided so that the display (49) can operate in different multi-view and/or single view modes.
US08045064B2	Contrast control apparatus and method A contrast control apparatus includes a memory for storing input image signals within one frame and an image reducing unit for selecting at least one image signal of the input image signals. An accumulation value calculating unit calculates accumulation values for predetermined sampling gray values with respect to the selected image signal. An image characteristic decision unit determines at least one characteristic of the selected image based on the accumulation values. A contrast control function calculating unit calculates a contrast control function based on the characteristic of the selected image. A contrast controller controls contrast of the image signals stored in the memory according to the contrast control function.
US08045056B2	Information storage medium containing subtitles and processing apparatus therefor An information storage medium containing subtitles and a subtitle processing apparatus, where the information storage medium includes: audio-visual (AV) data; and subtitle data in which at least one subtitle text data and output style information designating an output form of the subtitle texts are stored with a text format. With this, output times of subtitle texts included in the text subtitle data can be overlapped, a subtitle file can be easily produced, and subtitles for an AV stream can be output with various forms.
US08045055B2	Information storage medium containing subtitles and processing apparatus therefor An information storage medium containing subtitles and a subtitle processing apparatus, where the information storage medium includes: audio-visual (AV) data; and subtitle data in which at least one subtitle text data and output style information designating an output form of the subtitle texts are stored with a text format. With this, output times of subtitle texts included in the text subtitle data can be overlapped, a subtitle file can be easily produced, and subtitles for an AV stream can be output with various forms.
US08045042B2	Image rotating adapter and camera having the same An image rotating adapter includes: a first prism forming a subject image transmitted through an imaging lens on a position; and a second prism further reversing the subject image reversed by the first prism. The adapter also includes: a rotation drive unit rotating the second prism; a control unit controlling the rotation drive unit; a rotation instruction unit instructing the control unit to start or stop rotation; a target position setting unit previously setting one or more target positions to stop the second prism; a preset instruction unit instructing the control unit to perform a preset function for moving the second prism to the target position; a speed control unit adjusting rotation speed of the second prism; and a detection unit detecting a rotation position and a rotation direction of the second prism.
US08045024B2	Producing full-color image with reduced motion blur A method of forming a full-color output image using a color filter array image having a plurality of color channels and a panchromatic channel, comprising capturing a color filter array image having a plurality of color channels and a panchromatic channel, wherein the panchromatic channel is captured using a different exposure time than at least one of the color channels; computing an interpolated color image and an interpolated panchromatic image from the color filter array image; computing a transform relationship from the interpolated color image; and forming the full color output image using the interpolated panchromatic image and the functional relationship.
US08045017B2	Methods and systems for detecting flash rate of surrounding lights for controlling camcorder frame rate Methods and systems for determining the frequency of the AC power supply of any pulsating light, such as fluorescent lights, for different purposes such as adjusting a camcorder's frame rate, is described in detail herein. In one embodiment a method is described that determines the frequency of the power supply, using a single sampling rate. In another embodiment two concurrent samplings of different rates are employed to determine the power supply frequency. Additionally, two exemplary systems describe the implementations of two embodiments of the presented methods.
US08045013B2	Imaging device, imaging method and computer program An imaging device includes an image input unit for inputting an image of a subject, an image signal processing unit for processing the input image, an image recording unit for recording the input image on a recording medium, a smiling degree detection unit for detecting a smile level of the subject contained in the input image processed by the image signal processing unit, a detection threshold level setting unit for setting a smiling face detection threshold level at which a determination of whether the subject is smiling is performed based on the smile level detected by the smiling degree detection unit, and a photographing control unit for controlling a photographing operation in response to the smiling face detection threshold level being reached by the smile level of the subject detected by the smiling degree detection unit.
US08045011B2	Imaging apparatus An imaging apparatus including an infrared video camera. The infrared video camera includes a sensor array operable to produce successive video images in the form of pixelated two-dimensional images. The imaging apparatus further comprises a processing arrangement operable to reduce or increase the overall brightness of an image in dependence upon the overall brightness of the pre-enhanced image and the overall brightness of the preceding enhanced image, so that the change in the overall brightness (DC-level) between the enhanced image and the preceding enhanced image is decreased.
US08045010B2	Imaging apparatus, imaging pickup unit connectable to a lens unit, and a lens unit connectable to imaging pickup unit An imaging apparatus including a lens unit and an image pickup unit. The lens unit includes an optical system that projects a subject image onto an imaging device, the imaging device that converts the subject image into an electric signal, an imaging device driving part that drives the imaging device, an signal processing device that converts the electric signal from the imaging device into a digital signal, and a first connection part that connects the lens unit to the imaging pickup unit mechanically and electrically. The imaging pickup unit includes an electric power supply part, a second connection part that connects the lens unit to the imaging pickup unit mechanically and electrically, voltage supply lines that supply output voltage to the lens unit, and a voltage generating circuit that generates the output voltage supplied to the voltage supply lines.
US08045007B2	Image capturing system and image capturing method An image capturing system can provide an image having the desirable composition captured by an image capturing apparatus to the user is provided.The image capturing system includes: an image capturing unit; a composition storage section for storing a plurality of compositions of the image captured by the image capturing unit; plurality of position indication units for indicating a position at which a main subject should be located in order to capture an image having the composition stored in the composition storage section; and a composition presentation section for presenting the composition of the image captured by the image capturing unit for the plurality of position indication units when the main subject is located at the position indicated by the position indication unit. The image capturing unit is fixedly installed in a predetermined position. The plurality of position indication units have a plurality of position indication mark units drawn on the positions at which the main subject should be located in each of the plurality of compositions stored in the composition storage section.
US08044996B2	Surface construction using combined photographic and structured light information The invention relates to topographic construction that combines photographic and structured light information. The dual modality construction acquires structured light information for an object and photographic images from multiple views about the object. Topographic construction then processes the structured light information and photographic data in the multiple images to generate a surface representation of the object in each modality. The photographic and structured light surface representations are then combined to output a dual modality surface topography.
US08044995B2	Image processor and method for adjusting image quality An image processor includes: an receiving module configured to receive a video signal of a content; an image quality adjusting module configured to adjust image quality of the video signal received by the receiving module using image quality adjustment parameters including at least a contrast-related parameter; a 3D video detecting module configured to determine whether the video signal is of a 3D content; and a control module configured to control the image quality adjusting module to adjust the image quality of the video signal using the contrast-related parameter being set to a second parameter setting for enhancing contrast more than at a first parameter setting, when the video signal is determined to be the 3D content by the 3D video detecting module while the image quality adjusting module is adjusting the image quality using the contrast-related parameter being set at the first parameter setting.
US08044994B2	Method and system for decoding and displaying 3D light fields A method and system acquire and display light fields. A continuous light field is reconstructed from input samples of an input light field of a 3D scene acquired by cameras according to an acquisition parameterization. The continuous light is reparameterized according to a display parameterization and then prefiltering and sampled to produce output samples having the display parametrization. The output samples are displayed as an output light field using a 3D display device. The reconstruction can be performed by interpolating the input samples having the different views.
US08044991B2	Local positioning system and method A local positioning system which includes a video camera, a computer communicating with the video camera and a target object sighted by the video camera and having a target object coordinate system. The computer is adapted to define a relative position and orientation of the video camera with respect to the target object, determine a position and orientation of the video camera in the target object coordinate system, and determine the position of a point of interest in the target object coordinate system. The system can also be used to aim the camera at a previously recorded point of interest on the target object. Contact with, or close proximity to, the target object is not required. A local positioning method is also disclosed.
US08044989B2	Mute function for video applications A mute function is provided that allows a user to mute a video application without alerting other participants to the muting. A user participating in the video application selects the mute function, which causes the user's video device to present a virtual image of the user to the other participants of the video application. Therefore, the other participants to the video application may continue to believe that the user is actively participating in the video application when, in fact, the user has selected the mute function and may be engaging in other activities.
US08044988B2	Spring Clip A method and apparatus for attaching a mirror to a housing with a spring clip such that the spring clip applies a substantially constant force to the mirror when a fastener for attaching the spring clip to a mounting structure of the housing has an axis defining an angle with a surface of the mounting structure that is within a predetermined range of angles. An arched contact surface with an aperture for receiving the fastener is provided on the spring clip such that the fastener contacts the contact surface tangentially.
US08044986B2	Image forming apparatus and method for controlling the same An image of a color misregistration detection pattern is formed, and the amount of color misregistration is detected by reading of the pattern image. The amount of color misregistration detected by a detecting unit and the delay time from the time when image data is requested to the time when the image data is output are stored. The color misregistration is corrected based on the stored delay time and amount of color misregistration.
US08044983B2	Video display apparatus According to one embodiment, a video display apparatus includes a liquid crystal panel configured to display a video on a display area and light sources, each configured to be controlled respectively and to light in an illumination area into which the display area is virtually divided according as arrangement of the light sources. The apparatus includes a first calculation unit configured to calculate a second emission intensity corresponding to a small-area based on a video signal in a small-area, wherein the small-area is segmented area of the display area and smaller than the illumination area. The apparatus includes a second calculation unit configured to calculate a first emission intensity to control the light source from the second emission intensities and a control unit configured to light the light sources at the first emission intensities.
US08044971B2	Methods of and apparatus for processing computer graphics When an alpha test is performed as part of the rendering process in a multisampled graphics processing pipeline, rather than taking the single alpha value initially defined for each fragment an individual alpha value is generated in respect of each of covered sampling position that the fragment in question is being used to render. The individual alpha values estimated for each sample position are then individually compared with a threshold alpha value defined for the alpha test, and the result of this alpha test comparison is used to decide either keep or discard the sample position from further processing.
US08044949B2	Light emitting device and electronic apparatus for displaying images To solve degradation with time of a light emitting element by a new method. When the potential of an electrode of a monitor pixel is sampled and fed back to a light emitting pixel, degradation with time of a light emitting element can be corrected. In addition, when a writing period is divided into a plurality of periods during which a plurality of rows are selected, a gray scale can be expressed by a weighted light emitting period. That is to say, a light emitting device of the invention has a plurality of monitoring light emitting elements, a monitor line for monitoring changes in the potentials of electrodes of the plurality of light emitting elements, and a means for preventing, when any one of the plurality of monitoring light emitting elements is short-circuited, a current from flowing to the short-circuited monitoring light emitting element through the monitor line.
US08044948B2	Liquid crystal display and driving method thereof An LCD groups pixels in each row into a plurality of blocks, and calculates difference in gray between every two image data applied to a pair of adjacent odd and even pixels in each block including pixels in a row for each of first to third colors. It is determined that a block is first or second dot block depending on a sign of the gray difference when a magnitude of the gray difference between the odd pixel and the even pixel in each pair in the block for at least one color is equal to or larger than a critical value. A current block in a current row and in columns is determined to be a one-dot block when the current block is the first dot block and a previous block in a previous row and in the columns is the second dot block. When the number of the one-dot blocks is a predetermined percentage of the number of the total blocks, it is determined that a one-dot pattern is generated and one-dot inversion of the LCD is changed into another inversion. In this way, a pattern generating flicker is determined and the inversion type is changed for reducing the flicker.
US08044944B2	Defective pixel management for flat panel displays Systems and methods for identifying defective pixels and adjusting an input to control display of the defective pixels may improve the quality of the image viewed on a flat panel display including one or more defective pixels. The screen position of each defective pixel is identified and stored. Adjustment information is also stored for each defective pixel. The adjustment information is used to modify a stored color value for each defective pixel or to disable one or more color components of each defective pixel prior to displaying an image on a flat panel display device including the defective pixels.
US08044941B2	Method for providing human input to a computer The invention provides a method for providing human input to a computer which allows a user to interact with a display connected to the computer. The method includes the steps of placing a first target on a first portion of the user's body, using an electro-optical sensing means, sensing data related to the location of the first target and data related to the location of a second portion of the user's body, the first and second portions of the user's body being movable relative to each other, providing an output of the electro-optical sensing means to the input of the computer, determining the location of the first target and the location of the second portion of the user's body, and varying the output of the computer to the display based upon the determined locations for contemporaneous viewing by the user.
US08044940B2	Display system, display device, and program A display system having an input device that communicates with a display device. The input device being able to: detect a track of points of contact between the input device and the display surface; write the track data to a memory; and send the track data to the display device. The display device being able to: detect positions on the display surface contacted by the input device and generate a line formed by the detected positions; toggle between a position detection mode to a position non-detection mode; instruct the input device to detect the track it is in the position non-detection mode; request the track data from the input device when it toggles to the position detection mode; synthesize the track data from the input device and the drawing data to generate image data; and display the generated image data.
US08044932B2	Method of controlling pointer in mobile terminal having pointing device Provided is a method of controlling a pointer, such as changing between a pointer mode for activating the pointer and a search key mode for deactivating the pointer, in a mobile terminal having a pointing device. The method of controlling a pointer includes detecting movement input by the pointing device; identifying whether the detected movement satisfies a condition of changing a display mode; if the detected movement satisfies a condition of changing a display mode, displaying the pointer by changing the current display mode to a pointer mode; identifying whether a specific key is input; and if the specific key is input, hiding the pointer by changing the current display mode to a search key mode. Additionally, if elapsed time measured after displaying the pointer exceeds a predetermined value, the display mode of the mobile terminal may automatically be changed to a search key mode.
US08044931B2	Technique for determining a minimum size of presentation data A presentation authoring tool is used to create presentation data for later projection, to determine a recommended font size for the created presentation data displayed on a display screen of a computer executing the presentation authoring tool. The user interface presents a display screen for receiving input of an expected viewing distance for the later projection of the presentation. The recommended font is determined based upon the expected viewing distance of the later projection having a projected font size viewable by a person, having a certain vision capability, at the expected viewing distance. The expected viewing distance may be a maximum viewing distance or a room depth of a room in which the later projection takes place.
US08044928B2	Method for pairing 1-way devices Disclosed is a peripheral device, comprising a sensor to trip when in proximity to a host device, and a transmitter coupled to the sensor to transmit a bind request to a host device. Further described is a method of binding the peripheral device to a host device.
US08044917B2	Liquid crystal display device A liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal panel, a gate driver configured to drive a plurality of gate lines on the panel, a data driver configured to drive a plurality of data lines on the panel in response to the pixel data stream, a timing controller configured to control the gate driver and the data driver, and a single-chip drive voltage generating section configured to supply voltages used by the common electrode on the liquid crystal panel, the gate driver, the data driver, and the timing controller using an external input voltage.
US08044916B2	Shift register and organic light emitting display having the same A shift register includes a sampling circuit to sample an input signal in response to a start pulse and two clock signals having different duty ratios from each other, a holding circuit to hold the input signal in response to an output signal of the sampling circuit and the two clock signals, an inverter to invert the output signal of the sampling circuit or the holding circuit, and a NAND gate to receive the output signal of the sampling circuit or the holding circuit and the output signal of the inverter and perform a logical operation on the received output signals to output an output signal. The first clock signal has a duty ratio smaller than the second clock signal. The sampling circuit and the holding circuit have a three-stack structure in which three transistors are coupled with one another in series.
US08044912B2	Semiconductor device including correction parameter generator and method of generating correction parameters A semiconductor device includes an address generator and an output unit. The address generator is configured to output a plurality of addresses in response to a first number of most significant bits of a current pixel value including a first selection bit and a second number of most significant bits of a previous pixel value including a second selection bit. The output unit is configured to determine correction parameters which respectively correspond to the plurality of addresses, in response to the plurality of addresses, to select an index pattern from a plurality of index patterns in response to the first selection bit and the second selection bit, and to arrange the determined correction parameters into the selected index pattern to output arranged correction parameters. The index pattern is a pattern that can be generated according to positions of the determined correction parameters in a look-up table including the plurality of indexes.
US08044909B2	Liquid-crystal display apparatus, control method thereof, and computer program A liquid-crystal display apparatus comprising, a liquid-crystal display device driven by an AC voltage, an image divider configured to temporally divide input image data into N (N≧2) for each frame, a correction unit configured to correct a driving voltage for driving the liquid-crystal display device based on a difference between adjacent divided image data obtained by the N division, a polarity inverter configured to invert a polarity to make drive polarities of adjacent divided image data different, out of the divided image data obtained by the N division including the divided image data for which driving voltage is corrected by the correction unit, a driver configured to drive the liquid-crystal display device using the polarity-inverted divided image data, and an inversion order alteration unit which alters an inversion order for the drive polarities.
US08044907B2	Liquid crystal display and method of manufacturing the same A liquid crystal display including two substrates, gate bus lines, liquid crystal molecules, and a polymer that determines directions in which the liquid crystal molecules tilt. A plurality of divisional areas are arranged on one of the substrates. The pixels are aligned in a column between drain bus lines. A pixel electrode is formed at each of the divisional areas. A first thin film transistor drives a first divisional area, and a second thin film transistor drives a second divisional area of the same column. The first and second thin film transistors are electrically connected to the same gate bus line. Either the pixel electrodes formed at each of the divisional areas are electrically insulated from each other, or they are connected to each other through a high resistance. A first threshold voltage within the first divisional area is different from a second threshold voltage of the second divisional area.
US08044906B2	Semiconductor device, and display device and electronic device utilizing the same A semiconductor device having a normal function means is provided, in which the amplitude of an output signal is prevented from being decreased even when a digital circuit using transistors having one conductivity is employed. By turning OFF a diode-connected transistor 101, the gate terminal of a first transistor 102 is brought into a floating state. At this time, the first transistor 102 is ON and its gate-source voltage is stored in a capacitor. Then, when a potential at the source terminal of the first transistor 102 is increased, a potential at the gate terminal of the first transistor 102 is increased as well by bootstrap effect. As a result, the amplitude of an output signal is prevented from being decreased.
US08044905B2	TFT arrangement for display device A new TFT arrangement is demonstrated, which enables prevention of TFT to be formed over a joint portion between the adjacent SOI layers prepared by the process including the separation of a thin single crystal semiconductor layer from a semiconductor wafer. The TFT arrangement is characterized by the structure where a plurality of TFTs each belonging to different pixels is gathered and arranged close to an intersection portion of a scanning line and a signal line. This structure allows the distance between regions, which are provided with the plurality of TFTs, to be extremely large compared with the distance between adjacent TFTs in the conventional TFT arrangement in which all TFTs are arranged in at a regular interval. The formation of a TFT over the joint portion can be avoided by the present arrangement, which leads to the formation of a display device with a negligible amount of display defects.
US08044902B2	Method of driving a color liquid crystal display and driver circuit for driving the display as well as portable electronic device with the driver circuit The present invention provides a method and a circuit for driving a color liquid crystal display in a normal driving mode and a power saving mode, wherein in the normal driving mode, voltages corresponding to image display data are applied to data electrodes of the color liquid crystal display, and wherein in the power saving mode, voltages corresponding to highly significant bit signals of the image display data are applied as display data signals to the data electrodes.
US08044893B2	Voltage programmed pixel circuit, display system and driving method thereof A voltage programmed pixel circuit, display system having the pixel circuit and driving method thereof is provided. The pixel circuit includes a light emitting device, a driving transistor connected to the light emitting device and a programming circuit. The programming circuit adjusts a pixel current during a programming cycle of the pixel circuit.
US08044891B2	Systems and methods for providing threshold voltage compensation of pixels Systems and methods for providing threshold voltage compensation of pixels are provided. A representative system incorporates first switching element and a voltage compensation driver. The first switching element is operative to transfer a data signal. The voltage compensation driver is operative to generate a compensation voltage according to a reference signal and output a driving current according to the data signal and the compensation voltage.
US08044888B2	Surface discharge type plasma display panel divided into a plurality of sub-screens A surface-discharge type PDP includes plural electrode pairs formed of first and second sustain electrodes arranged on a first substrate. Each pair extends along a line direction, and the first and second sustain electrodes are in parallel and adjacent to each other. Plural address electrodes arranged on a second substrate opposing the first substrate via a discharge space, each extending along a row direction, a matrix corresponding to a screen to be displayed is formed with the main electrodes and address electrodes, the address electrodes are orthogonal to the main electrodes, each of the address electrode is divided into, for example two partial address electrodes separated from each other by a border line located between adjacent main electrode pairs, whereby the screen is divided into two partial screens, wherein a first clearance between the partial address electrodes is substantially larger than a second clearance between main electrode pair adjacent across the border line. The arrangement order of the first and second sustain electrodes may preferably be such that first sustain electrodes of the first and second partial screens face each other via the border line, and the partial address electrodes may not cross over the first sustain electrodes nearest to the border line.
US08044886B2	Method of driving plasma display panel and plasma display apparatus thereof The present invention relates to a plasma display apparatus and, more particularly, to a method of driving a plasma display panel. The plasma display apparatus includes a plasma display panel including a plurality of scan electrodes and sustain electrodes formed on an upper substrate, and a plurality of address electrodes formed on a lower substrate, and a driver for supplying driving signals to the plurality of electrodes. The plurality of scan electrodes are divided into first and second groups and then supplied with scan signals, and scan bias voltages supplied to the first and second groups in at least any one period of an address period are different from each other. In at least one of a plurality of subfields constituting one frame, a width of a first sustain signal of a plurality of sustain signals supplied during a sustain period is larger than a width of each of the remaining sustain signals.
US08044873B2	Antennas with periodic shunt inductors An antenna may be formed from conductive regions that define a gap that is bridged by shunt inductors. The inductors may have equal inductances and may be located equidistant from each other to form a scatter-type antenna structure. The inductors may also have unequal inductances and may be located along the length of the gap with unequal inductor-to-inductor spacings, thereby creating a decreasing shunt inductance at increasing distances from a feed for the antenna. This type of antenna structure functions as a horn-type antenna. One or more scatter-type antenna structures may be cascaded to form a multiband antenna. Antenna gaps may be formed in conductive device housings.
US08044871B2	Hybrid antenna unit A hybrid antenna unit includes a circuit board having top and bottom surfaces, a planer antenna element which is mounted on the top surface of the circuit board and which receives first and second radio waves, an antenna base and a top cover that cover the circuit board and the planer antenna element. A bar antenna element stands on the top cover in a slanting position. A processing unit is mounted on the bottom surface of the circuit board and is connected to the planer antenna element. The processing unit processes the first and the second radio waves. A shielding case is mounted on the bottom surface of the circuit board and shields the processing unit. A booster circuit is mounted on the circuit board and is for use in the bar antenna element.
US08044860B2	Internal antenna for mobile device A mobile device includes a ground plane, a conductive housing disposed on the ground plane including a sidewall, a first conductive strip spaced apart from the conductive housing, and a second conductive strip electrically connecting the first conductive strip to the conductive housing.
US08044853B2	Navigation receiver The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system and method for processing navigation signals received from multiple global navigation satellite systems (GNSS'). In a particular implementation, signals received from multiple GNSS' may be processed in a single receiver channel.
US08044852B2	Position determination based on hybrid pseudorange solution data Embodiments provided herein recite methods and systems for position determination based on hybrid pseudorange solution data. In one embodiment, navigation satellite system (NSS) pseudorange data is received for high yield pseudoranges. In addition, NSS pseudorange data is received for high accuracy pseudoranges. The high accuracy pseudoranges and selected ones of the high yield pseudoranges utilized by a hybrid PVT processor to determine a hybrid NSS-based location solution.
US08044851B2	Method for suppressing multipath errors in a satellite navigation receiver A method of multipath error suppression in a satellite navigation receiver, including steps of navigation satellites signals searching, receiving and processing complex signals from each satellite, tracking found signals with a following-up open loop and determining coordinates, receiver velocity and exact time based on measurements of direct and reflected signal delay and Doppler frequency, the method including: forming, on the basis of navigation parameters, a two-dimensional accumulated power grid, calculating single-path signal corrections using the centered accumulated power grid determining, whether a multipath is presented, and performing, in case of positive result of this determination, improvement of corrections using weights, wherein, performing improvement of corrections using weights is carried out by forming a likelihood function on the basis of a centered accumulated powers vector, and correction is performed according to the found likelihood function global maximum.
US08044841B1	Geometry and sensitivity weighted dynamic multi-sensor selection system and method A method of selecting a sub-set of a plurality of available sensors to guide an interceptor to a target is described. The method includes characterizing a quality of position estimate received from each of the plurality of available sensors, projecting the positioning errors of the sensors onto a plane normal to a line-of-sight of the interceptor, and selecting the sub-set of the plurality of available sensors based on the projection of positioning errors.
US08044839B2	Combined radar and communications link In a CW radar system for detecting motion behind a wall involving modulation of the radar transmission, means are provided to interrupt the CW wave when motion is detected and to use the same radar transmitter to transmit a serial digital message to a remote monitoring receiver. The encoding can include a receiver wakeup message to turn on the receiver only when motion has been detected. In one embodiment, a microprocessor is used to detect when motion exists behind a wall and to provide a tailorable message to modulate the radar's transmitter in the period when the CW signal from the radar is turned off after motion detection.
US08044833B2	High speed serializer According to one embodiment, a high speed serializer for multiplexing 2N data inputs, N being a positive integer, comprises one less than 2N multiplexing cells arranged in N stages. The stages are numbered 1 through N, and the output of the Nth stage is a serial transmission and the inputs of the 1st stage are the 2N data inputs. Each stage comprises half as many multiplexing cells as the preceding stage. Additionally, each multiplexing cell comprises a multiplexer that comprises a pair of inputs and an output. 2N-2 of the multiplexing cells in the first stage further comprise a latch, and the output of the latch is coupled to an input of the multiplexer.
US08044819B1	Coal boundary detection using an electric-field borehole telemetry apparatus A method to detect the relative position of a drill bit with respect to a coal seam boundary using an electric-field borehole telemetry apparatus, that includes the steps: providing a measure-while-drilling apparatus that includes inclination sensors, directional sensors, logging sensors of choice and an electric-field borehole telemetry apparatus, within the electric-field borehole telemetry apparatus, in addition to monitoring the inclination, direction and logging parameters, monitoring one or more parameters of the electrical output of the telemetry apparatus, transmitting to the surface the inclination, direction and logging parameters as well as the one or more parameters of the electrical output by means of the telemetry apparatus, computing the usual drilling parameters needed to guide the drill string along the intended path, determining from the one or more transmitted parameters of the electrical output from the downhole apparatus parameters indicative of approaching or penetrating the coal boundary, and making corrections to the direction of drilling to maintain the drill string and bit in the coal seam.
US08044816B2	Apparatus, system, and method for detecting the formation of a short between a magnetoresistive head and a head substrate An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for detecting the formation of a short between a magnetoresistive (“MR”) head and a head substrate. The apparatus is presented with a logic unit containing a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of generating a baseline electric potential level between a head substrate and ground, monitoring the level of the electric potential between the head substrate and ground, and detecting the formation of a short circuit between the MR head and the head substrate by detecting a change in the electric potential level monitored by the monitoring module from the baseline level to a predetermined threshold level. Beneficially, such an apparatus, system, and method would reduce read errors on the magnetic tape storage system, the time and resources required to recover from such errors, and allow for preventative measures to obviate contamination short related failures of tape drive systems.
US08044812B2	Optical wireless sensor network A wireless sensor network including a receiver including a photodetector, and a sensor node that includes a sensor configured to sense a property, a transmitter configured to emit outgoing optical energy, the outgoing optical energy being indicative of the property, and a photodetector configured to harvest incoming optical energy and convert the incoming optical energy into electrical energy useful by the transmitter, wherein the photodetector of the receiver is positioned to receive the outgoing optical energy.
US08044809B2	Automated consumer to business electronic marketplace system An automated consumer to business electronic marketplace system is presented, wherein various aspects of user status, user behavior or operation of a vehicle associated with user are monitored and reported to an electronic marketplace. Suppliers of insurance products and other suppliers of automobile or personal products or services may offer users prices for products or services based on the data reported. The system may further allow the user to choose monitoring and reporting options based on discounts offered for certain reporting options.
US08044806B2	Security tag with engaging element A theft deterrent tag is provided that has an engaging element which forms a loop for attaching to an article or object to be monitored thereby. A second engaging element can also be provided to secure an article or object.
US08044801B1	RFID tag with double-switch rectifier The present disclosure provides a power rectifier for a Radio Frequency Identification tag circuit. The power rectifier is constructed from a pair of complementary MOS transistors. Gates of the transistors have predetermined voltages applied to them. The applied voltages bias the transistors to near their active operating regions, while an additional RF control signal is being applied to only one of the gates of the transistors in the complementary pair.
US08044795B2	Event recorder for portable media device Operational parametric sensing and event recording capabilities are provided for portable electronic devices such as media players, cell phones, laptop computers, and the like that takes the form of a standalone sensing unit or as an integrated component of the portable electronic device.
US08044794B2	Mobile wireless communications device blocker and associated methods A vehicle wireless communications blocker may be used in a vehicle for an occupant's wireless communications device and may include a long-range and short-range wireless transceiver both coupled to a controller. The controller may be switchable between off-hook and on-hook states based upon control signals via the short-range wireless transceiver, and the occupant's wireless communications device may be blocked from occupant communication via the long-range transceiver when in the off-hook state. The blocker may include a housing to be installed in the vehicle, a short-range wireless transceiver carried by the housing to wirelessly communicate with the short-range wireless transceiver of the occupant's wireless communications device, and a controller carried by the housing and coupled to the short-range wireless transceiver to selectively switch the controller of the occupant's wireless communications device to the off-hook state so that the occupant's wireless communications device is blocked from occupant communication via the long-range transceiver.
US08044789B2	Method and system for improving the monitoring of the external environment of a motor vehicle The invention relates to a method and system for improving the monitoring of the external environment of a motor vehicle. According to the invention, the vehicle comprises a built-in system for detecting objects with which it is likely to collide, within a monitored area covering a blind spot, comprising a capturing device for acquiring images that are representative of one or more objects located within said area and an electronic system for processing and analysing input signals. The inventive method comprises the automatic activation of an infrared light source in the direction of the monitored area when the images acquired cannot be processed and analysed in order to provide a result that would reliably detect a determined object and the automatic deactivation of said infrared light source when the acquired images produce the correct result without the need for infrared light. In addition, the system comprises a model with an infrared light source.
US08044782B2	Protecting children and passengers with respect to a vehicle There is provided a system and methods for mitigation of the potential dangers to which at least a child, and passengers, are exposed to prior to, during travel and after travel, when outside and adjacent a vehicle. Potential dangers to which a child is exposed are risks associated with driving and non-driving behavior of the driver, when the child is inside and outside the vehicle, when the vehicle is driven on public roads and on private property grounds, and as a result of deficient of mistaken operation of child and passenger related devices. The system and methods require input commands into an indicator to operate equipment elements aboard the vehicle, including sensors, operable devices and alert systems, and are operative for communication with remote stations, with adjacent-driven vehicles, and with the vehicle owner.
US08044779B2	Method and device for assisting a driver when maneuvering a vehicle or vehicle-trailer combination The invention relates to a method and a device for assisting a driver when maneuvering a vehicle or vehicle-trailer combination (1) which has vehicle elements (2, 3) which can move with respect to one another. The method provides that the vehicle or vehicle-trailer combination is/are displayed in the straight-ahead position on a display unit (A) using a static display element (4) which corresponds to the straight-ahead position of the vehicle elements (2, 3) and in addition respectively using a dynamic display element (6, 7) which is assigned to the respective vehicle element (2, 3) and is determined as a function of an instantaneous or future position of the vehicle elements (2, 3) which can move with respect to one another. In this context, the dynamic display elements (6, 7) are displayed enhanced multiply and highlighted in terms of color.
US08044761B2	Varistor A varistor 1 comprises a varistor element 10, a pair of external electrodes 30a, 30b on one main side of the varistor element 10 and a resistor 60 on the same main side, wherein the resistor 60 is formed so as to connect the pair of external electrodes 30a, 30b. The varistor element 10 contains zinc oxide as the main component and Ca oxides, Si oxides and rare earth metal oxides as accessory components, wherein the proportion X of the calcium oxides in terms of calcium atoms is 2-80 atomic percent with respect to 100 mol of the main component and the proportion Y of the silicon oxides in terms of silicon atoms is 1-40 atomic percent with respect to 100 mol of the main component, X/Y satisfying formula (1) below, and the external electrodes and resistor contain oxides other than bismuth oxide and copper oxide 1≦X/Y<3 (1).
US08044760B2	Four-layer element and method for producing a four-layer element A multilayer element has a body in which at least one first internal electrode and at least one second internal electrode are arranged. These internal electrodes have an overlapping region, which extends up to the surface of the body on at least one side. The internal electrodes have a recess in a corner region of the body.
US08044759B2	Overlapping compact multiple transformers Systems and methods are provided for overlapping compact multiple transformers. The systems and methods may include a first transformer section that includes a first primary winding section and a first secondary winding, where the first primary winding section is inductively coupled to the first secondary winding, where the first transformer section is associated with a first rotational current flow direction in the first primary winding section; and a second transformer section that includes a second primary winding section and a second secondary winding, where the second primary winding section is inductively coupled to the second secondary winding, wherein the second transformer section is associated with a second rotational current flow direction in the second primary winding section, where a first portion of the first primary winding section is adjacent to a second portion of the second primary winding section, where the adjacent first and second portions include a substantially same first linear current flow direction.
US08044756B2	Programmable inductor The present invention provides a programmable integrated inductor having a compact design, having a dual turn and a parallel programmable impedance. In particular, the impedance value of the programmable changes, like a variable, programmable, as its range may be set to an unlimited number of values. The invention, thus, provides a wider range of programmable values without compromising space, at a constant equivalent given inductor area.
US08044755B2	MEMS power inductor A scalable MEMS inductor is formed on the top surface of a semiconductor die. The MEMS inductor includes a plurality of magnetic lower laminations, a circular trace that lies over and spaced apart from the magnetic lower laminations, and a plurality of upper laminations that lie over and spaced apart from the circular trace.
US08044754B2	Transformer for reducing electromagnetic interference and power transform circuit applied therein A transformer for reducing the electromagnetic interference (EMI) effect is disclosed. The transformer includes a bobbin; a magnetic core assembly partially sleeved by the bobbin; a first primary winding coiled around the bobbin; a secondary winding coiled on the first primary winding; and a first shielded element disposed between the first primary winding and the secondary winding for disconnecting the EMI transmission from the first primary winding to the secondary winding. The first primary winding includes a first winding portion and a second winding portion, and the first winding portion has larger EMI comparing to the second winding portion. The first winding portion of the first primary winding is adjacently disposed to the magnetic core assembly for shielding the EMI of the first primary winding by using the magnetic core assembly. The second winding portion is coiled on the first winding portion and adjacently disposed to the secondary winding for increasing the electromagnetic coupling rate of the first primary winding and the secondary winding. In addition, a power transform circuit applied in the transformer for reducing the EMI effect is also disclosed. The power transform circuit includes a switch, a power input for receiving a power signal; and a transformer electrically connected to the power input and the switch, for receiving and transforming the power signal.
US08044752B2	High-current, compact flexible conductors containing high temperature superconducting tapes High-current, compact, flexible conductors containing high temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes and methods for making the same are described. The HTS tapes are arranged into a stack, a plurality of stacks are arranged to form a superstructure, and the superstructure is twisted about the cable axis to obtain a HTS cable. The HTS cables of the invention can be utilized in numerous applications such as cables employed to generate magnetic fields for degaussing and high current electric power transmission or distribution applications.
US08044749B1	Coupler device The present invention is directed to a coupler that includes a coupler structure including at least one first transmission line disposed on a first major surface of a coupler dielectric substrate and at least one second transmission line disposed on a second major surface of the coupler dielectric substrate. The coupler structure includes four symmetric ports such that each port of the four symmetric ports is characterized by substantially identical impedance characteristics. A first ground plane structure is coupled to the coupler structure and including a first outer dielectric material and a first conductive exterior layer disposed substantially parallel to the first major surface. A second ground plane structure is coupled to the coupler structure and including a second outer dielectric material and a second conductive exterior layer disposed substantially parallel to the second major surface. A thermal path is disposed between the coupler structure and at least one of the first conductive exterior layer or second conductive exterior layer. The thermal path is characterized by a thermal resistance substantially within a range between 15 W/mK and 50 W/mK, such that the coupler has a power handling capability of more than 800 W per square inch of heat sink interface.
US08044745B2	Method and apparatus for applying clock phase and frequency offset Various apparatuses and methods for offsetting the phase and/or frequency of a clock signal are disclosed herein. For example, some embodiments provide an apparatus for generating a clock signal, including a quadrature delay circuit connected to an input clock signal. The quadrature delay circuit outputs components of the input clock signal with different phase shifts. A first amplitude modulator is connected to the first output of the quadrature delay circuit, and a second amplitude modulator is connected to the second output of the quadrature delay circuit. A summer combines the output of the first and second amplitude modulators.
US08044741B2	Systems and methods for reducing flicker noise in an oscillator Various systems and methods for implementing dynamic logic are disclosed herein. For example, some embodiments of the present invention provide LC tank circuits having an inductance and a capacitance. In addition, the circuits include a flicker noise reducing switch that is operable to selectively incorporate the capacitance such that an output of the circuit operates at a frequency based on a combination of the inductance and the capacitance.
US08044740B2	Temperature compensated RC oscillator for signal conditioning ASIC using source bulk voltage of MOSFET A temperature compensated CMOS RC oscillator circuit changes the source-bulk voltage to stabilize the MOSFET's threshold voltage variation over temperature using a resistor and temperature-correlated bias current. The MOSFET's source is connected to ground through a resistor. This temperature-correlated bias current also runs through this resistor. When temperature increases, the bias current also increases, which increases the MOSFET's source-bulk voltage. The increased source-bulk voltage helps to stabilize the threshold voltage of MOSFET at high temperature. A power saving logic is also embedded in this oscillator to achieve higher frequency at lower power consumption. In the present invention, there is no high gain op amp or high speed comparator, which makes the resultant oscillator to be low power design and which can be integrated into a single chip with other system.
US08044737B2	Timing oscillators and related methods Timing oscillators as well as related methods and devices are described. A timing oscillator may include a mechanical resonating structure with major elements and minor elements coupled to the major element. The timing oscillator can generate stable signals with low phase noise at very high frequencies which allows a timing oscillator to be used effectively in a number of devices including computers and mobile phones for time and data synchronization purposes. The signal generated by the timing oscillator can be tuned using a driver circuit and a compensation circuit.
US08044733B1	Stress tolerant differential colpitts voltage controlled oscillators Some of the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus comprising a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) having a first transistor, a first resistor operatively coupled between a first terminal of the first transistor and a first node, a first capacitor operatively coupled between a second terminal of the first transistor and the first node, and a second capacitor operatively coupled to the first node, wherein the first capacitor and the second capacitor forms a capacitive voltage divider. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US08044727B2	Phased locked loop circuit including voltage controlled ring oscillator There is provided a voltage controlled ring oscillator having a plurality of ring-connected amplifiers (401), and a plurality of variable capacitance elements (502a, 502b) being respectively connected to the plurality of amplifiers and having capacitances varied by a voltage control. A plurality of load resistors (402) and a plurality of tail current sources (403) are respectively connected to the plurality of amplifiers.
US08044723B2	Oscillator signal generation with spur mitigation in a wireless communication device Techniques for generating oscillator signals in a wireless communication device are described. A phase-locked loop (PLL) may be used to generate an oscillator signal for a selected frequency channel. Different PLL settings may be used for the blocks in the PLL for different frequency channels. The different PLL settings may be for different PLL loop bandwidths, different amounts of charge pump current, different frequency equations associated with different sets of high and low divider ratios, different frequency division schemes associated with different prescaler ratios and/or different integer divider ratios, high side or low side injection for a super-heterodyne receiver or transmitter, and/or different supply voltages for one or more circuit blocks such as an oscillator. A suitable set of PLL settings may be selected for each frequency channel such that adverse impact due to spurs can be mitigated.
US08044717B2	Amplifier circuit and method therefor In one embodiment, an amplifier circuit is formed to minimize pop and click noise on the outputs of the amplifier circuit. The amplifier circuit is configured to place an output stage of the amplifier circuit in a high impedance state to minimize the pop and click noise. In another embodiment, the amplifier circuit is configured to couple the inputs of two amplifiers together to minimize the pop and click noise.
US08044692B2	Level-restorer for supply-regulated PLL The present disclosure provides for a processor that can include digital processing circuitry that receives a digital clock signal from a supply regulated phase locked loop. The supply regulated phase locked loop can include a voltage controlled oscillator that can output an analog signal and a level restorer that can receive the analog signal from the voltage controlled oscillator and can translate the analog output into a digital signal that corresponds to an analog output of the voltage controlled oscillator. The supply regulated phase locked loop can receive an analog input having an input voltage that is within a range of acceptable input voltages. The supply regulated phase locked loop can also be configured to generate the digital output signal, such that the range of acceptable input voltages includes voltage values that are greater than and less than the output voltage.
US08044690B2	System and method for clock-synchronized triangular waveform generation A triangular waveform generator is converted to a free running oscillator controlled by a calibration code. The free running oscillator can be synchronized to an external clock signal by comparing the external clock frequency to the frequency of the triangular waveform and adjusting the calibration code until the discrepancy in frequency is minimized.
US08044689B2	Semiconductor circuit A pseudo differential circuit is a circuit system taking the advantages of both a CMOS circuit and a differential circuit. However, when process variability and the like are taken into account, a cross point of positive and negative outputs is not constant, thereby increasing a variation in duty of an output waveform. A semiconductor circuit according to the present invention includes: a first transistor being of a first conductivity type, coupled between a first power supply and an output terminal, and applied with an input signal; a second transistor being of a second conductivity type and coupled between a second power supply and the output terminal; a third transistor being of the second conductivity type and coupled between the first power supply and the output terminal; and a fourth transistor being of the first conductivity type and coupled between the second power supply and the output terminal.
US08044685B2	Floating driving circuit A floating driving circuit according to the present invention comprises an input circuit to receive an input signal. A latch circuit receives a trigger signal for generating a latch signal. The latch signal is used to turn on/off a switch. A coupling capacitor is connected between the input circuit and the latch circuit to generate the trigger signal in response to the input signal. A diode is connected from a voltage source to a floating supply terminal of the latch circuit for charging a capacitor. The capacitor is coupled between the floating supply terminal and a floating ground terminal of the latch circuit to provide a supply voltage to the latch circuit. The latch circuit is controlled by the input signal via the coupling capacitor.
US08044683B2	Logic circuit capable of level shifting A logic circuit includes a logic gate unit, an inverter, and a switching circuit. The logic gate unit receives a power supply voltage and an input signal to output a first signal. The inverter receives the first signal to output a second signal. The switching circuit provides one of first and second power supply voltages as the power supply voltage of the logic gate unit in response to the first and second signals. The first power supply voltage and the second power supply voltage have different voltage levels, thus enabling stable level shifting.
US08044682B2	FPGA having low power, fast carry chain An in-FPGA carry chain is provided that does not exhibit significant leakage current. In particular, parts of the carry chain can be switched on/off when desired. In this manner, carry chain parts can have their leakage currents substantially disabled when they are not in use, thus saving power. Additionally, there is provided a carry chain whose logic is separate from the other parts (e.g., LUTs) of the logic blocks that perform the remaining arithmetic functions, and whose inputs are the input data to be added, rather than data that is output in delayed fashion from the other parts (e.g., LUTs) of the logic blocks. Such a configuration reduces latency by allowing the carry chain to operate directly on the received input data without need to wait on results from the other parts (e.g., LUTs) of the logic blocks.
US08044675B2	Testing apparatus with high efficiency and high accuracy A testing apparatus includes a public test board, a single DUT (device under test) test board and a holder. The public test board includes a plurality of public test channel sets each having a plurality of public signal terminals for receiving test signals. On the single DUT test board, a plurality first signal terminals are arranged according to the pin layout of a DUT, a plurality second signal terminals are arranged according to the terminal layout of a public channel set, and a plurality traces are arranged for electrically connecting corresponding first and second signal terminals. The holder can connect the pins of the DUT to corresponding first signal terminals.
US08044658B2	Position detector In a position detecting apparatus, a magnetic scale part has a magnetic pattern formed by magnetization along a longitudinal direction. An increased magnetization part is arranged at an end portion of the magnetic scale part in the longitudinal direction. The increased magnetization part is magnetized with an increased intensity of magnetization as compared to the magnetic scale part. A magnetic field shaping part is disposed adjacent to the magnetic scale part for shaping a magnetic field generated from the magnetic scale part. A magnetic detection part detects both the magnetic field from the magnetic pattern of the magnetic scale part and the magnetic field from the increased magnetization part. The magnetic detection part is arranged in opposed relation to the magnetic scale part movably in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic scale part. The magnetic pattern and the increased magnetization part are arranged along a track through which the magnetic detection part moves.
US08044656B2	Device for calibration of a field transmitter Device for calibration of a field transmitter comprising a shaped body on which there are disposed first means for sensing magnetic fields the activation of which allows calibration of a first measurement parameter of the transmitter, second means for sensing magnetic fields the activation of which allows calibration of a second measurement parameter of the transmitter, magnetic actuation means suitable to activate said first and second means for sensing magnetic fields. Said shaped body is configured so that it can be removably connected to the transmitter on the external surface of the enclosure thereof.
US08044655B2	Pulse measurement apparatus and method An embodiment of the invention is directed to a pulse measuring system that measures a characteristic of an input pulse under test, particularly the pulse shape of a single-shot, nano-second duration, high shape-contrast optical or electrical pulse. An exemplary system includes a multi-stage, passive pulse replicator, wherein each successive stage introduces a fixed time delay to the input pulse under test, a repetitively-gated electronic sampling apparatus that acquires the pulse train including an entire waveform of each replica pulse, a processor that temporally aligns the replicated pulses, and an averager that temporally averages the replicated pulses to generate the pulse shape of the pulse under test. An embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for measuring an optical or an electrical pulse shape. The method includes the steps of passively replicating the pulse under test with a known time delay, temporally stacking the pulses, and temporally averaging the stacked pulses. An embodiment of the invention is directed to a method for increasing the dynamic range of a pulse measurement by a repetitively-gated electronic sampling device having a rated dynamic range capability, beyond the rated dynamic range of the sampling device; e.g., enhancing the dynamic range of an oscilloscope. The embodied technique can improve the SNR from about 300:1 to 1000:1. A dynamic range enhancement of four to seven bits may be achieved.
US08044646B2	Voltage regulator with quasi floating gate pass element Various apparatuses, methods and systems for a voltage regulator are disclosed herein. For example, some embodiments provide an apparatus for regulating a voltage including an N-channel transistor that is connected between an input and an output, an error amplifier that is connected to the output, a capacitor that is connected between the error amplifier and a gate of the N-channel transistor, and a comparator that is connected to a node between the error amplifier and the capacitor. The apparatus also includes a charge pump that is switchably connected to the gate of the N-channel transistor. The apparatus is adapted to connect the charge pump to the gate of the N-channel transistor when a voltage at the node between the error amplifier and the capacitor rises above a threshold voltage.
US08044645B2	Multi-phase voltage regulator A multiphase voltage regulator provides a voltage to an output terminal. The voltage regulator includes N parallel switches providing respective current phases that are added together to generate a total current for a general load coupled to the output terminal. The voltage regulator also includes N inductive circuits. Each inductive circuit is between an output node of a respective switch and the output terminal. A sense circuit adds the voltages in each of the output nodes of the N switches. An amplifier circuit has an input receiving the added voltage, and outputs a current proportional to the total current. A controller with two pins reads the total current. The two pins are connected to the inputs of the amplifier.
US08044642B2	Power supply device capable of stably supplying output voltage with increased responsiveness In a power supply device, a synchronous rectifier step-down converter alternately turns on and off a switch and a synchronous rectifier switch. A reference voltage generator generates a predetermined reference voltage. An error amplifier outputs an error voltage such that an output voltage of the step-down converter approaches the predetermined reference voltage. A pulse-width signal generator generates a pulse-width signal controlling turning on and off the switch and the synchronous rectifier switch based on the error voltage. A driver circuit controls turning on and off the switch and the synchronous rectifier switch based on the pulse-width signal. An inductor is connected in series with output of the step-down converter. A bypass switch short-circuits an output terminal of the step-down converter to an input terminal of the step-down converter. A mode controller controls turning on and off the bypass switch.
US08044639B2	Selector circuit A selector circuit outputs one of a first input voltage or a second input voltage via an output terminal. A first transistor and a second transistor are provided in series between a first input terminal and the output terminal. A third transistor and a fourth transistor are provided in series between a second input terminal and the output terminal. A control unit controls the ON/OFF operations of the first transistor through the fourth transistor. The back gates of the first transistor and the second transistor are connected such that at least one body diode of the first transistor M1 and at least one body diode of the second transistor are arranged in opposing directions. The back gates of the third transistor and the fourth transistor are connected in the same way.
US08044637B2	Battery charging method A charging and equalizing method for a battery having a control computer in a charging system in communication with a plurality of module processors. Charging and equalization pauses periodically for voltage measurement by the module processors. The control computer determines when to equalize battery cells in the modules based on their open circuit voltages transmitted by the module processors. A selected group of cells in each module can be equalized. Equalization is carried out in the modules until all of the module processors indicate that equalization has been completed. Charging can then resume until charging is complete or cells reach a maximum voltage given by the control computer. In an alternative embodiment, a selected group of cells may be partially bypassed while charging to reduce the charge rate of the cell.
US08044634B2	Enhanced portable battery powered electrical appliance An appliance, such as a flashlight, accepts first and second batteries. The appliance also includes an electrical load, such as a light source. A first circuit, such as a DC to DC converter, receives power from the first battery and supplies power to the load. A second circuit, such as a DC to DC converter, receives power from the second battery and supplies electrical power to the load. In one embodiment, the appliance accepts batteries having multiple physical sizes.
US08044633B2	Drive device of electric motor An electric motor has a field pole formed by a field current passing through a field winding. A voltage booting converter converts output voltage of a battery and outputs the voltage between a power source line and a grounding line. Field winding is electrically connected onto an electric current channel between battery and power source line and formed so that voltage switched by a switching element is applied to both ends. A controller controls the field current so as to adjust density of magnetic flux between a rotor and a stator by performing switching control on switching element and a switching element connected in parallel to field winding and converts the output voltage of battery into voltage in accordance with a voltage command value.
US08044632B2	Power conversion device A power conversion device includes a converter that converts AC power to DC power, a converter controller that controls an output voltage of the converter, an inverter that converts the DC power to AC power at a variable frequency, an inverter controller that controls an output frequency of the inverter, and a current detector that detects an AC current on an input side of the converter. It is configured in such a manner that the inverter controller adjusts a slip frequency of the induction motor in response to a fluctuation of the AC current on the input side of the converter detected by the current detector. It thus becomes possible to suppress a beat current in an output current of the inverter at the occurrence of a load fluctuation as well as a power supply voltage fluctuation.
US08044616B1	Method and apparatus for initializing operation of a disk drive A system for controlling a disk in a disk drive includes a motor control circuit and a first circuit that retrieves firmware speed control instructions from non-volatile memory. During retrieval of the firmware speed control instructions, at least one of the motor control circuit determines a position of the disk, one of the first circuit and the motor control circuit spins up the disk and the motor control circuit ramps up a speed of the disk. The first circuit performs speed control of the disk based on the firmware speed control instructions.
US08044614B2	Wiper apparatus control method and wiper control system A wiper apparatus includes: a wiper blade driven by a motor; and a wiper blade driven by a motor. The motors are drive-controlled by control microcomputers, respectively. The control microcomputers are connected to each other through a communication line. While exchanging position information of the wiper blades through the communication line, the control microcomputers synchronously drive the motors on the basis of a position relationship between both of the wiper blades. In the case where a communication abnormality occurs when the position relationship between the wiper blades is in a normal state, the wiper blade is stopped after reaching a lower turning position. In the case where the communication abnormality occurs in a state where the position relationship between the blades is inverted, the blade is stopped after reaching an upper turning position.
US08044611B2	LED control device An LED controller is provided that can easily control light-on testing of LEDs. A super voltage can be added to a signal including a low voltage and a high voltage. When the super voltage is not detected, LED driving circuit is operated in normal mode. When the super voltage is detected, LED driving circuit is operated in test mode. In test mode, the LEDs are turned on by a test signal directly input to LED driving circuit instead of by light emission data sent from shifter register to storage circuit. Accordingly, light-on testing of LEDs can be carried out easily.
US08044610B2	LED driver with adaptive algorithm for storage capacitor pre-charge A method is provided for driving a plurality of light emitters in a plurality of output paths with each output path including at least one light emitter. The method includes the steps of applying a supply voltage level to a plurality of output paths; generating a current for each path during a period of a predetermined length for the output path; sensing a current level for each output path during the period; comparing each sensed current level with a reference level; increasing the supply voltage level if the sensed current level is lower than the reference level; determining a lowest supply voltage level for the worst case output path; and using the lower supply voltage level as a common supply voltage level for all output paths.
US08044609B2	Circuits and methods for controlling LCD backlights A circuit for controlling light sources comprises a converter, a feedback circuit and a current distribution controller. The converter is operable for converting an input voltage to an output current and for providing the output current to the light sources. The feedback circuit is coupled to the light sources for generating feedback signals indicative of currents flowing through the light sources respectively. The current distribution controller is coupled to the feedback circuit for generating control signals based on the feedback signals respectively so as to regulate the currents of the light sources respectively, and for controlling the converter to regulate the output current based on the feedback signals.
US08044604B2	Inverter A soft start circuit generates a soft start voltage which changes over time when light emission of an EEFL is started. A pulse modulator receives a feedback voltage that corresponds to the output voltage of an inverter and the soft start voltage, and adjusts the duty ratio of a pulse signal PWM such that these two voltages match one another using a feedback operation. A striking control circuit monitors an error signal which is asserted when an abnormal state occurs. In a case in which the error signal has been asserted at a detection timing after the soft start voltage has reached a target voltage, the striking control circuit resets and restarts the soft start circuit. A driver controls the switching of the voltage at the primary coil of a transformer according to the pulse signal received from the pulse modulator.
US08044602B2	Method of driving discharge lamp, driving device, and projector A method for driving a discharge lamp that supplies an AC current to a discharge lamp having a first electrode and a second electrode so as to produce discharge and to cause the discharge lamp to emit light includes, during a steady operation in which the AC current is supplied to the discharge lamp, changing a difference between the absolute values of average current values for two polarities during one cycle of the AC current in accordance with a predetermined pattern.
US08044597B2	Drive circuit of fluorescent display A drive circuit for a fluorescent display that can prevent generation of reactive power in a Zener diode used to generate a cutoff bias voltage. In one embodiment, the drive circuit operates as a single ended primary inductor converter (SEPIC) circuit and includes an input side closed circuit, an output side closed circuit, and a coupling capacitor connecting the two closed circuits. The input side closed circuit includes an input power source, a first inductor and a switching element. The output side closed circuit includes a second inductor, a diode and a second capacitor. A filament of the fluorescent display is connected to the second capacitor. One end of a Zener diode is connected to a negative potential side of the filament and the other end of the Zener diode is connected to an input power source.
US08044591B2	Fluorescent lamp and lighting unit A fluorescent lamp can be configured to prevent a decrease in luminescent efficiency when located in a high temperature room. The fluorescent lamp can include a couple of stems each including an emitter electrode located opposite to each other at each end of a tube, a filler gas located in the tube, a damping material and a coolest portion connected to the tube via the stem and the damping material. The coolest portion can be configured with a first material that has a higher thermal conductivity than the conductivity of both the tube and the stems. The damping material can be configured with both the first material and a second material that has a lower conductivity than the conductivity of the first material. A content ratio of first material vs. second material can change along a length of the damping material. Thus, the coolest portion can maintain a favorable temperature and the fluorescent lamp can maintain a favorable luminescent efficiency even when in a sealed casing.
US08044579B2	Electroluminescent device with liquid-repellent portion and electronic apparatus An electroluminescent device includes a first substrate being provided with a plurality of luminescent elements, a second substrate facing the first substrate with the plurality of luminescent elements therebetween, a desiccating agent covering the face of the first substrate at the side facing the second substrate or of the second substrate at the side facing the first substrate, and a liquid-repellent portion surrounding the desiccating agent and being repellent to a coating liquid for forming the desiccating agent.
US08044575B2	Color conversion type organic EL display A color conversion type organic EL display can comprise an organic EL substrate that includes a substrate, a lower reflective electrode, a bank, and an organic EL layer sandwiched between the lower reflective electrode and an upper transparent electrode. The color conversion type organic EL display can further comprise a color filter substrate in which a black matrix and a color filter are formed in a pattern on a transparent substrate by a photo process, and which has a pixel region separated by the black matrix. The organic EL substrate and the color filter substrate can be bonded together and positioned such that the pixel region of the EL substrate and the pixel region of the color filter substrate are opposed.
US08044569B2	Light emitting device A light emitting device includes a wavelength converting member for absorbing light emitted by an exciting light source and emitting light of a different wavelength. With a wavelength at which the light from the exciting light source has a maximum energy intensity denoted as a first wavelength, a wavelength at which the light from the wavelength converting member has a maximum energy intensity denoted as a second wavelength, a wavelength lying between the first and second wavelengths at which the light from the light emitting device has a minimum energy intensity denoted as a third wavelength, and 650 nm denoted as a fourth wavelength, then the light emitting device has an emission spectrum such that the proportion of the energy intensity at the first wavelength to the energy intensity at the third wavelength is in a range from 100:15 to 100:150, and the proportion of the energy intensity at the first wavelength to the energy intensity at the fourth wavelength is in a range from 100:45 to 100:200.
US08044565B2	Composite ceramic electrode and ignition device therewith A spark plug, center electrode and method of construction is provided. The spark plug has a generally annular ceramic insulator and a conductive shell surrounding at least a portion of the ceramic insulator. A ground electrode is operatively attached to the shell, with the ground electrode having a ground electrode sparking surface. A center electrode has an elongate body with a center electrode sparking surface. The center electrode sparking surface and the ground electrode sparking surface provide a spark gap. The center electrode body is constructed of a composite material including at least one ceramic material.
US08044563B2	Light emitting unit and conductive device thereof A light-emitting unit includes a light-emitting component, a conductive device and a power source. The light-emitting component includes at least one end. The conductive device includes a tubular body having an opening and detachably telescoped to the end of the light-emitting component, and at least one abutting portion protruding toward the light-emitting component for abutting against the light-emitting component. The conductive device is utilized to excite the light-emitting component to emit lights via the power source.
US08044561B2	Ceramic electrode, ignition device therewith and methods of construction thereof A spark plug, a center electrode therefore and method of construction is provided. The spark plug has a generally annular ceramic insulator extending between a terminal end and a nose end. A conductive shell surrounds at least a portion of the ceramic insulator and a ground electrode having a ground electrode sparking surface is operatively attached to the shell. An elongate center electrode has a body extending between opposite ends, wherein the body is compacted and sintered of a conductive or semi-conductive ceramic material. One of the electrode ends provides a center electrode sparking surface to provide a spark gap between the center electrode sparking surface and the ground electrode sparking surface.
US08044558B2	Dimmable high pressure arc lamp apparatus and methods A dimmable arc lamp assembly comprises a lamp enclosure comprising a chamber enclosing a light-emitting material, first and second electrodes extending into the chamber of the lamp enclosure, and a heating element proximate the chamber configured to heat at least a portion of the lamp enclosure to a temperature greater than the boiling point of the light-emitting material such that the light-emitting material remains in a gaseous state. Because the light-emitting material remains above its boiling point during lamp operation, dimming is not susceptible to control issues that can result from condensation of the light-producing material. Such lamps may be used in various applications such as in flat panel displays.
US08044553B2	Temperature compensated surface acoustic wave device and method having buried interdigital transducers for providing an improved insertion loss and quality factor A SAW device having metal electrodes on a surface of the piezoelectric substrate includes a dielectric layer deposited on the surface. Depositing the layer results in seams extending upward from the electrodes extending above the surface of the substrate. An additional seam results from one seam extending from one electrode joining a second seam extending from an adjacent electrode within the dielectric layer and is generally formed above the height of the electrodes. The additional seam is removed through planarization or the like. The dielectric layer may be further planarized for providing a thickness of the dielectric layer above the electrodes as desired.
US08044543B2	Stator and wire winding method therefor A stator, with a stator core, a plurality of windings with a plurality of in-phase windings and anti-phase windings, a plurality of slots, an insulating plate, a plurality of cylinders, and a plurality of teeth. The teeth protrude from the stator core. The winding is received in the slot and wraps around the tooth. The insulating plate is disposed on the surface of the stator core. The cylinders are disposed on the insulating plate. A transition line is disposed between two adjacent teeth and hangs on the cylinder. A plurality of supporting mechanisms is disposed on the cylinders.
US08044541B2	Multi-degree-of-freedom actuator and stage device A multi-degree-of-freedom actuator includes a movable element having a plurality of permanent magnets, and a stator including a stator core and a plurality of coils. The permanent magnets are arranged in the X direction such that the number P of poles is an even number of two or more. The coils are of two types: X-direction driving coil and Z-direction driving coil. The Z-direction driving coils the number of which is P are disposed at positions opposite to magnetic poles of the permanent magnets. The X-direction driving coil or coils the number of which is P/2 are each disposed at a position opposite to an intermediate point between two adjacent ones of the magnetic poles of the permanent magnets.
US08044539B2	Intelligent solar energy collection system A street-lighting and solar energy collection system is disclosed. The system comprises a plurality of lighting/solar energy collecting units, an AC and DC power transmission means and a control unit. The system operates in one of the two operation modes. In the first operation mode as the street-lighting system, the units receive AC power from the power grid for lighting. In the second operation mode as the solar energy collecting system, the units transmit generated DC electricity to a centralized DC to AC converter in the control unit. The control unit further provides a means for switching the system in between two modes. When the system is operated as the solar energy collection system, it is disconnected from the power grid. The generated DC electricity from each unit is converted by the AC to DC converter in the control unit and is subsequently injected into the power grid. Communication devices in the units and in the control unit form an ad hoc communication network. Instructions for operations can be sent from the control unit to the units. Further, the operation status from each unit can be collected and be sent to the control unit.
US08044538B2	Multi-cellular photovoltaic panel system with DC-DC conversion replicated for groups of cells in series of each panel and photovoltaic panel structure A photovoltaic energy conversion system includes a distributed control structure for groups of cells of each multi-cellular panel, the components of which are entirely physically integrated in the photovoltaic panel. Each multi-cellular photovoltaic panel has a DC bus, supplied in parallel by a plurality of DC-DC converters, each provided with a controller that controls the working point of the photovoltaic cells coupled to the input of the DC-DC converter for a maximum yield of electric power by implementing a relatively simple MPPT algorithm. The controller includes a logic circuit and A/D converters of analog signals representing the input voltage and the input current generated by the group of cells that is coupled to the input of the DC-DC converter and optionally also of the output voltage of the converter, and a relatively simple D/A converter of the drive control signal of the power switch of the DC-DC converter.
US08044536B2	Powering devices having low and high voltage circuits Embodiments of the invention are directed to a device that includes a battery having an output of a battery voltage, a step-up voltage converter, a high voltage circuit, a low voltage circuit and a controller. The step-up voltage converter includes an input that is coupled to the battery voltage. The step-up voltage converter is configured to produce a high supply voltage at an output. The high voltage circuit is coupled to the output of the step-up voltage converter. The controller selectively powers the low voltage circuit using either the output from the step-up voltage converter or the battery voltage.
US08044535B2	Backup power system A power backup processor and a method of operating the power backup processor suitable for a single-phase AC power supply and with a higher efficiency, at least when the critical load is fed with the single-phase AC power supply, while having a high availability and quality of voltage supply. This can avoid the drawbacks related to high DC voltages.
US08044530B2	Fluid-based electrical generator The fluid-based electrical generator utilizes driven flow of a fluid to power an electrical generator for driving an external electrical device. The generator includes a reservoir having at least one sidewall and a floor. A motor coupled to a rotating shaft is mounted external to the reservoir, and a propeller is secured to the rotating shaft. The propeller is driven by the motor and is positioned within the reservoir for generating fluid flow. A rotating support having at least one vane secured thereto is rotatably secured to the floor of the reservoir, and the rotating support is driven to rotate by the fluid flow. An axle is further provided, with a lower end thereof being secured to the rotating support. The electrical generator is coupled to an upper end of the axle, with rotation of the axle driving the electrical generator to produce electricity for the external device.
US08044522B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a substrate; and a chip formed on the substrate and electrically connected to the substrate by a wire. The chip includes a wiring layer electrically connected to the wire; and a protective layer formed on the wiring layer. The wiring layer includes a wiring portion having the protective layer formed in an upper layer thereof and being electrically connected to another layer at a lower layer thereof; a bonding portion connected to one end of the wire at an exposed surface thereof, the exposed surface not having the protective layer formed in an upper layer thereof; and a connecting portion configured to join the wiring portion and the bonding portion. The connecting portion includes an etched portion formed by digging out the wiring layer.
US08044516B2	Semiconductor package with a reduced volume and thickness and capable of high speed operation and method for fabricating the same A semiconductor package includes a semiconductor chip provided with a bonding pad disposed over a surface thereof; a through electrode passing from the surface to a second surface opposing the first surface and connected electrically with the bonding pad; and a redistribution disposed at the second surface and connected electrically with the through electrode. An embodiment of the present invention is capable of significantly reducing the thickness and volume of the semiconductor package. It is also capable of high speed operation since the path of the signal inputted and/or outputted from the semiconductor package is shortened. It is capable of stacking easily at least two semiconductor packages having a wafer level, and it is capable of significantly reducing parasitic capacitance.
US08044513B2	Semiconductor device and semiconductor device manufacturing method A semiconductor device includes a plurality of first MOS transistors has a first gate electrode formed on a first gate insulating film provided in a first transistor region on a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of second MOS transistors has a second gate electrode formed on a second gate insulating film which is provided in a second transistor region on the semiconductor substrate and which is smaller in thickness than the first gate insulating film, a first element isolation region in the first transistor region, the first element isolation region provided between the plurality of first MOS transistors, and a second element isolation region in the second transistor region, the second element isolation region provided between the plurality of second MOS transistors. The upper surface of the second element isolation region is lower than the upper surface of the first element isolation region.
US08044512B2	Electrical property altering, planar member with solder element in IC chip package A structure includes a solder element for electrically coupling a substrate of an integrated circuit (IC) chip package and a printed circuit board (PCB); and a first electrical property altering, substantially planar member positioned between the solder element and at least one of a landing pad of the substrate and a landing pad of the PCB. In another embodiment, the electrical property altering, planar member can be applied to the solder element(s) between the IC chip and the package substrate.
US08044508B2	Method and apparatus for integrated-circuit battery devices A combined battery and device apparatus and associated method. This apparatus includes a first conductive layer, a battery comprising a cathode layer; an anode layer, and an electrolyte layer located between and electrically isolating the anode layer from the cathode layer, wherein the anode or the cathode or both include an intercalation material, the battery disposed such that either the cathode layer or the anode layer is in electrical contact with the first conductive layer, and an electrical circuit adjacent face-to-face to and electrically connected to the battery. Some embodiments further include a photovoltaic cell and/or thin-film capacitor. In some embodiments, the substrate includes a polymer having a melting point substantially below 700 degrees centigrade. In some embodiments, the substrate includes a glass. For example, some embodiments include a battery deposited directly on the back of a liquid-crystal display (LCD) device.
US08044488B2	Semiconductor device having particular impurity density characteristics The invention is based upon a semiconductor device where a high voltage bipolar transistor is manufactured on the same wafer with a high-speed bipolar transistor, and has a characteristic that the high-speed bipolar transistor and the high voltage bipolar transistor are formed on each epitaxial collector layer having the same thickness and are provided with a buried collector region formed in the same process and having the same impurity profile, the buried collector region exists immediately under a base of the high-speed bipolar transistor, no buried collector region and no SIC region exist immediately under a base of the high voltage bipolar transistor and distance between a base region and a collector plug region of the high voltage bipolar transistor is equal to or is longer than the similar distance of the high-speed bipolar transistor.
US08044485B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device made of a group-III nitride semiconductor having excellent properties is provided. The semiconductor device has a horizontal diode structure of Schottky type or P-N junction type, or combined type thereof having a main conduction pathway in the horizontal direction in a conductive layer with unit anode portions and unit cathode electrodes being integrated adjacently to each other in the horizontal direction. The conductive layer is preferably formed by depositing a group-III nitride layer and generating a two-dimensional electron gas layer on the interface. Forming the conductive layer of the group-III nitride having high breakdown field allows the breakdown voltage to be kept high while the gap between electrodes is narrow, which achieves a semiconductor device having high output current per chip area. Further, an electrode pad layer provided on an insulation protecting layer relieves electric field concentration at a junction of each unit anode portion and each unit cathode electrode, which achieves higher breakdown voltage.
US08044481B2	Photodiode chip having a high limit frequency The invention relates to a photodiode chip which has a great limit frequency and a junction from the active photodiode area of a photodiode mesa to the output pad of the high-frequency output of the photodiode chip. The aim of the invention is to further increase the bandwidth factor of photodiode chips. Said aim is achieved by establishing the connection from the photodiode mesa to the output pad by means of a high-resistance wire with impedance (Zleitung) which is spread across the length thereof and is at least as high as the load impedance (Zlast) effective at the output pad.
US08044478B2	Image sensor comprising a photodiode in a crystalline semiconductor layer and manufacturing method thereof Provided is an image sensor. The image sensor can include a readout circuitry on a first substrate. An interlayer dielectric is formed on the first substrate, and comprises a lower line therein. A crystalline semiconductor layer is bonded to the interlayer dielectric. A photodiode can be formed in the crystalline semiconductor layer, and comprises a first impurity region and a second impurity region. A via hole can be formed passing through the crystalline semiconductor layer and the interlayer dielectric to expose the lower line. A plug is formed inside the first via hole to connect with only the lower line and the first impurity region. A device isolation region can be formed in the crystalline semiconductor layer to separate the photodiode according to unit pixel.
US08044474B2	Optoelectronic module, and method for the production thereof An optoelectronic module having a carrier element, at least one semiconductor component for emitting or detecting electromagnetic radiation, said semiconductor component being applied on the carrier element and being electrically conductively connected and having a radiation coupling area, and also at least one optical device assigned to the semiconductor component. A connecting layer made of a radiation-transmissive, deformable material is arranged between the radiation coupling area and the optical device, the optical device and the semiconductor component being fixed relative to one another in such a way that they are pressed against one another and that the connecting layer is thereby squeezed in such a way that it generates a force that strives to press the optical device and the radiation coupling area apart.
US08044471B2	MOSFET having a channel mechanically stressed by an epitaxially grown, high K strain layer A transistor, such a MOSFET, having an epitaxially grown strain layer disposed over a channel region of a substrate for stressing the channel region to increase the carrier mobility in the channel, and method for making same. The strain layer is composed of a high dielectric constant material.
US08044467B2	Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same A semiconductor device with reduced contact resistance between a substrate and a plug includes a gate electrode disposed over the substrate, the plug formed over the substrate at both sides of the gate electrode and having a sidewall with a positive slope, a capping layer disposed between the gate electrode and the plug, and a gate hard mask layer whose sidewall disposed over the gate electrode is extended to a top surface of the capping layer. By employing the capping layer having a sidewall with a negative slope, the plug having the sidewall with a positive slope can be formed regardless of a shape or profile of the sidewall of the gate electrode. As a result, the contact area between the substrate and the plug is increased.
US08044464B2	Semiconductor device An object is to realize high performance and low power consumption in a semiconductor device having an SOI structure. In addition, another object is to provide a semiconductor device having a high performance semiconductor element which is more highly integrated. A semiconductor device is such that a plurality of n-channel field-effect transistors and p-channel field-effect transistors are stacked with an interlayer insulating layer interposed therebetween over a substrate having an insulating surface. By controlling a distortion caused to a semiconductor layer due to an insulating film having a stress, a plane orientation of the semiconductor layer, and a crystal axis in a channel length direction, difference in mobility between the n-channel field-effect transistor and the p-channel field-effect transistor can be reduced, whereby current driving capabilities and response speeds of the n-channel field-effect transistor and the p-channel field-effect can be comparable.
US08044458B2	Semiconductor device including a vertical gate zone, and method for producing the same A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body defining a trench structure having walls. A plurality of vertical gate zones each have a gate electrode and a gate oxide that covers the walls of the trench structure. A body zone of a first conduction type is arranged between two of the gate zones and a drift zone of a complementary conduction type with respect to the first conduction type vertically adjoins the body zone. Floating shielding zones of the first conduction type are arranged adjacent to the gate zones and extend into the semiconductor body deeper than the trench structure of the gate zones. A pn junction with the drift zone is below the trench structure. A buried dopant zone of the same charge type as the drift zone has a higher impurity concentration than the drift zone and is arranged in a space charge region of the pn junction at a distance from the trench bottom of the trench structure.
US08044454B2	Non-volatile memory device A non-volatile memory device having a SONOS structure and a manufacturing method thereof, where a conductive layer is formed between a charge trap layer and a blocking insulation layer of the SONOS structure. Therefore, when a voltage is applied to a gate, the conductive layer undergoes voltage distributions. Accordingly, a desired voltage can be applied to the blocking insulation layer, the charge trap layer and the tunnel insulating layer by controlling the effective oxide thickness (EOT) of the blocking insulation layer and the EOT of the charge trap layer and the tunnel insulating layer. It is therefore possible to improve the erase speed of a cell.
US08044453B2	Non-volatile memory device with a charge trapping layer A non-volatile memory device includes field insulating layer patterns on a substrate to define an active region of the substrate, upper portions of the field insulating layer patterns protruding above an upper surface of the substrate, a tunnel insulating layer on the active region, a charge trapping layer on the tunnel insulating layer, a blocking layer on the charge trapping layer, first insulating layers on upper surfaces of the field insulating layer patterns, and a word line structure on the blocking layer and first insulating layers.
US08044434B2	Semiconductor device employing group III-V nitride semiconductors and method for manufacturing the same The semiconductor device includes a P-type group III-V nitride semiconductor layer, an N-type group III-V nitride semiconductor layer, and an electrode in contact with both of the P-type group III-V nitride semiconductor layer and the N-type group III-V nitride semiconductor layer. The electrode includes a first electrode portion made of a first conductive material, and a second electrode portion, made of a second conductive material different from the first conductive material, bonded to the first electrode portion. The first electrode portion is in contact with the P-type group III-V nitride semiconductor layer, and the second electrode portion is in contact with the N-type group III-V nitride semiconductor layer.
US08044417B2	Enhancement of optical polarization of nitride light-emitting diodes by increased indium incorporation An increase in the Indium (In) content in light-emitting layers of light-emitting diode (LED) structures prepared on nonpolar III-nitride substrates result in higher polarization ratios for light emission than LED structures containing lesser In content. Polarization ratios should be higher than 0.7 at wavelengths longer than 470 nm.
US08044412B2	Package for a light emitting element A high-brightness LED module includes a substrate with a recess in which a light emitting element is mounted. The recess is defined by a sidewalls and a relatively thin membrane. At least two micro-vias are provided in the membrane and include conductive material that passes through the membrane. A p-contact of the light emitting element is coupled to a first micro-via and an n-contact of the light emitting element is coupled to a second micro-via.
US08044408B2	SiC single-crystal substrate and method of producing SiC single-crystal substrate The invention provides a high-quality SiC single-crystal substrate, a seed crystal for producing the high-quality SiC single-crystal substrate, and a method of producing the high-quality SiC single-crystal substrate, which enable improvement of device yield and stability. Provided is an SiC single-crystal substrate wherein, when the SiC single-crystal substrate is divided into 5-mm square regions, such regions in which dislocation pairs or dislocation rows having intervals between their dislocation end positions of 5 μm or less are present among the dislocations that have ends at the substrate surface account for 50% or less of all such regions within the substrate surface and the dislocation density in the substrate of dislocations other than the dislocation pairs or dislocation is 8,000/cm2.
US08044405B2	Thin film transistor substrate and manufacturing method thereof A thin film transistor (TFT) substrate is provided in which a sufficiently large contact area between conductive materials is provided in a contact portion and a method of fabricating the TFT substrate. The TFT substrate includes a gate interconnection line formed on an insulating substrate, a gate insulating layer covering the gate interconnection line, a semiconductor layer arranged on the gate insulating layer, a data interconnection line including a data line, a source electrode and a drain electrode formed on the semiconductor layer, a first passivation layer formed on the data interconnection line and exposing the drain electrode, a second passivation layer formed on the first passivation film and a pixel electrode electrically connected to the drain electrode. An outer sidewall of the second passivation layer is positioned inside an outer sidewall of the first passivation layer.
US08044404B2	Display apparatus and manufacturing method thereof A display apparatus includes; a substrate, a transistor formed on the substrate, a pixel electrode connected to the transistor, a wall surrounding the pixel electrode, the wall including a main wall and a sub wall, the main wall having a first height and the sub wall having a second height less than the first height of the main wall, an organic layer formed on the pixel electrode, a common electrode formed on the organic layer, and an encapsulation substrate coupled to the substrate.
US08044401B2	Thin film transistor, method of fabricating the same, organic light emitting diode display device including the same and method of fabricating the same A thin film transistor includes a substrate, a semiconductor layer disposed on the substrate, including a channel region and source and drain regions and crystallized using a metal catalyst, a gate electrode disposed to correspond to a predetermined region of the semiconductor layer, a gate insulating layer disposed between the gate electrode and the semiconductor layer to insulate the semiconductor layer from the gate electrode, and source and drain electrodes electrically connected to the source and drain regions of the semiconductor layer, respectively. The metal catalyst within 150 Å from a surface of the semiconductor layer in a vertical direction is formed to have a concentration exceeding 0 and not exceeding 6.5×E17 atoms per cm3 in the channel region of the semiconductor layer. An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device includes the thin film transistor.
US08044399B2	Display device A display has a glass substrate provided with a transparent conducting film, thin-film transistors, and an aluminum alloy wiring film electrically connecting the thin-film transistors to the transparent conducting film. The aluminum alloy wiring film is a layered structure having a first layer (X) of an aluminum alloy comprising at least one element selected from the specific element group Q including Ni and Ag, and at least one element selected from the specific element group R including rare-earth elements and Mg in a content in the specific range, and a second layer (Y) of an aluminum alloy containing having a resistivity lower than that of the first layer (X). The first layer (X) is in direct contact with the transparent conducting film.
US08044388B2	Method of forming a carbon nanotube-based contact to semiconductor Manufacturers encounter limitations in forming low resistance ohmic electrical contact to semiconductor material P-type Gallium Nitride (p-GaN), commonly used in photonic applications, such that the contact is highly transparent to the light emission of the device. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can address this problem due to their combined metallic and semiconducting characteristics in conjunction with the fact that a fabric of CNTs has high optical transparency. The physical structure of the contact scheme is broken down into three components, a) the GaN, b) an interface material and c) the metallic conductor. The role of the interface material is to make suitable contact to both the GaN and the metal so that the GaN, in turn, will make good electrical contact to the metallic conductor that interfaces the device to external circuitry. A method of fabricating contact to GaN using CNTs and metal while maintaining protection of the GaN surface is provided.
US08044384B2	Group III nitride based quantum well light emitting device structures with an indium containing capping structure Group III nitride based light emitting devices and methods of fabricating Group III nitride based light emitting devices are provided. The emitting devices include an n-type Group III nitride layer, a Group III nitride based active region on the n-type Group III nitride layer and comprising at least one quantum well structure, a Group III nitride layer including indium on the active region, a p-type Group III nitride layer including aluminum on the Group III nitride layer including indium, a first contact on the n-type Group III nitride layer and a second contact on the p-type Group III nitride layer. The Group III nitride layer including indium may also include aluminum.
US08044375B2	Apparatus and method for ion beam implantation using scanning and spot beams An ion implantation apparatus with multiple operating modes is disclosed. The ion implantation apparatus has an ion source and an ion extraction means for forming a converging beam on AMU-non-dispersive plane therefrom. The ion implantation apparatus includes magnetic scanner prior to a magnetic analyzer for scanning the beam on the non-dispersive plane, the magnetic analyzer for selecting ions with specific mass-to-charge ratio to pass through a mass slit to project onto a substrate. A rectangular quadruple magnet is provided to collimate the scanned ion beam and fine corrections of the beam incident angles onto a target. A deceleration or acceleration system incorporating energy filtering is at downstream of the beam collimator. A two-dimensional mechanical scanning system for scanning the target is disclosed, in which a beam diagnostic means is build in.
US08044366B2	Method for the determination of the neutron multiplicity counter dead time parameter A method is provided for simplifying the calibration of neutron multiplicity counters. The method includes multiplicity counter dead time correction algorithms that preclude the need for extended calibration steps with known radiation sources. The algorithms include approximations that allow calculation of the counter's efficiency without knowledge of sample source activity or origin.
US08044365B2	High-resolution ion chamber Nested ionization chambers provide independent measurements of a radiation beam that does not fully irradiate the volume of one or both chambers. By mathematically combining these independent measurements, partial volume effects caused by a change in ionization detector calibrations when the full detector volume is not irradiated by the radiation beam, may be decreased, providing more accurate measurement of extremely small radiation beams.
US08044362B2	Array substrate for X-ray detector, method of manufacturing the same, X-ray detector having the same installed therein, and method of manufacturing X-ray detector An x-ray detector including an array substrate including blocks extending along the array substrate in a first direction. Each of the blocks includes cells that are each associated with a data line extending in parallel with the first direction and a gate line extending perpendicularly to the first direction such that the data line crosses the gate line, a thin film transistor respectively connected to the gate and data lines, and a photodiode connected to the thin film transistor to receive light. The cells store charges corresponding to an amount of the light. Gate drivers are connected to ends of the gate lines to select rows of the cells associated with each of the gate lines. Read-out circuits are connected to ends of the data lines to read out charges stored in the cells, of each of the selected rows, that are respectively associated with each of the data lines.
US08044358B2	Spectroscopic fast neutron detection and discrimination using Li-Based semiconductors A neutron sensing material detector includes an anode; a cathode; and a semiconductor material disposed between the anode and the cathode. An electric field is applied between the anode and cathode. The semiconductor material is composed of a ternary composition of stoichiometry LiM2+GV and exhibits an antifluorite-type ordering, where the stoichiometric fractions are Li=1, M2+=1, and GV=1. Electron-hole pairs are created by absorption of radiation, and the electron-hole pairs are detected by the current they generate between the anode and the cathode. The anode may include an array of pixels to provide improved spatial and energy resolution over the face of the anode. The signal value for each pixel can be mapped to a color or grey scale normalized to all the other pixel signal values for a particular moment in time. A guard ring or guard grid may be provided to reduce leakage current.
US08044353B2	Non-dispersive infrared gas analyzer The invention relates to a NDIR-gas analyser comprising an infrared radiation source (1), a measuring vessel (3) containing a gas mixture (4) having a measuring gas component (5) that is to be detected, and a detector device (7) that is arranged behind the measuring vessel that can detect the influence of ageing of the radiation source (1) and optionally dirt deposits in the optical radiation path without interrupting measuring. According to the invention, at least one optopneumatic detector (15) is arranged in the beam path of the radiation source (1), said detector being filled with any gas (16) when arranged between the radiation source (1) and the measuring vessel (3). The concentration of measuring gas components is lower in the detector (15) than in the measuring vessel (3) if filled with the measuring gas components, and said detector is filled with a gas when arranged between the measuring vessel (3) and the detector device (7), the absorption spectrum of the detector being outside of the spectrum of the measuring gas components (5) and other transversal gases in the gas mixture (4). The measuring signal (12) of the detector device (7) is corrected by the detector signal (21) generated by the detector (15).
US08044350B2	Miniaturized ultrafine particle sizer and monitor An apparatus for measuring particle size distribution includes a charging device and a precipitator. The charging device includes a corona that generates charged ions in response to a first applied voltage, and a charger body that generates a low energy electrical field in response to a second applied voltage in order to channel the charged ions out of the charging device. The corona tip and the charger body are arranged relative to each other to direct a flow of particles through the low energy electrical field in a direction parallel to a direction in which the charged ions are channeled out of the charging device. The precipitator receives the plurality of particles from the charging device, and includes a disk having a top surface and an opposite bottom surface, wherein a predetermined voltage is applied to the top surface and the bottom surface to precipitate the plurality of particles.
US08044347B2	Method for processing mass analysis data and mass spectrometer Intensity data of the signals produced by an ion detector are sequentially stored in a data processor, with each piece of intensity data being associated with time t required for each of the various ions ejected from an ion trap to fly through a time-of-flight space and reach the ion detector. The data obtained within a time range T2 corresponding to a measurement mass range are extracted as profile data. The data obtained within either a time range T1 before the arrival of an ion having the smallest m/z value or a time range T3 after the arrival of an ion having the largest m/z value are extracted as noise component data. Various kinds of noise information such as the noise level or standard deviation are calculated from the noise component data. Based on this noise information, a noise component is removed from the profile data. For every mass scan cycle, the noise component data and profile data are almost simultaneously obtained. Therefore, even if the electrical noise from the ion detector changes with time, the noise can be properly removed with little influence from that change of the noise.
US08044346B2	Method and system for desorbing and ionizing chemical compounds from surfaces The invention relates to a method and system for ionizing analyte-containing sample lying on a surface of a substrate. The method comprises directing to the sample a heated flow of desorption gas in order to desorb analyte from the surface, and simultaneously directing to the sample light capable of ionizing the desorbed analyte in the presence of the desorption gas. The invention provides a method and system suitable for efficiently producing ions of neutral and nonpolar molecules on surfaces, for example for mass spectrometric purposes.
US08044335B2	Level sensor implemented with a plurality of light receiving elements A level sensor, i.e., a light receiving section (11X) having multiple light receiving elements (PDX1 to PDXn) arranged in parallel. In the level sensor, each two adjacent output terminals of the light receiving elements (PDX1 to PDXn) are connected by one of resistors (RX1 to RXn).
US08044334B2	High-pressure discharge lamp light source device having a power supply device with a switching state for switching from a direct current drive in a standby state to an alternating current drive in an operating state and projector To stabilize the arc bright point position of a discharge lamp and suppress deformation of an electrode when an ultrahigh-pressure discharge lamp is operated with extremely low electric power, the lamp is operated by supplying power from a power supply device having a step-down chopper circuit and a full bridge circuit, a rectangular wave alternating current being supplied when it is operated with rated power or dimmed power (about 60 to 80% of rated power), a DC current being supplied during standby power operation of at most 0.5×P (W) with respect to the maximum operating power P (W). Moreover, the high-pressure discharge lamp light source device may be mounted on a projector for projecting images and the mode being changed to standby power operation when there is no change in an image signal, for example, for a prescribed period of time.
US08044331B2	Image pickup apparatus and method for manufacturing the same An image pickup apparatus and manufacturing method is disclosed. The image pickup apparatus comprises an optical system, an optical wavefront modulator that modulates an optical transfer function, an aperture adjacent to the optical wavefront modulator, and an image pickup device for detecting an object image passing through the optical system and the optical wavefront modulator. A product of a diameter of the aperture at a stop position multiplied by a distance between the aperture and the optical wavefront modulator is less than 2.
US08044329B2	Compact limiter and controller assembly and method A power control system has a controller housing, a power switch disposed within the controller housing for selectively providing power from a power supply to a power load, a limiter disposed within the controller housing configured for providing a limit switching function in response to a threshold limit, and a controller disposed within the controller housing and configured for controlling one or more operations of the control system.
US08044320B2	Method and apparatus for the correction of defective solder bump arrays Disclosed is a method and apparatus for the correction of defective solder bump arrays arranged in a plurality of cavities in a mold. In the method, a faulty solder bump is searched, identified and located (i.e., its position is determined) in an arrangement of solder bumps disposed in cavities of a mold and the faulty solder bump is subsequently replaced by a prefabricated solder bump. The apparatus for carrying out the method comprises a mold holder, a scanning and locating device for finding and locating faulty solder bumps and a repair device for replacing the faulty solder bump by a prefabricated solder bump.
US08044314B2	Hybrid button A hybrid button according to the invention is provided. In one embodiment, the button can be implemented in an electronic device such as a media player. The button can include a metal or other non-plastic portion having a reverse flange and a plastic portion including anti-rotation legs. The legs can prevent rotation at least in part because they are retained by another structure. The plastic portion can be injection-molded onto the reverse flange of the metal or non-plastic portion. As such, the reverse flange fixes the position of the plastic portion with respect to the metal portion. Finally, the metal portion can include an actuator nub that actuates a switch when the button is depressed.
US08044311B2	Seating detection switch A thin, film-form seating switch able to detect whether an occupant sits on the seat or not, wherein, with a spacer (5) in-between, a film-form substrate (3) is disposed on one surface of the spacer and a film-form member (7) on the other surface, a first conductor (13) equipped with a first terminal (9) and a first electrode (11A) conductive with this and a second conductor (19) equipped with a second terminal (15) and a second electrode (17A) conductive with this are fixed to one surface of the film-form substrate, and a third conductor (21A) for letting the first electrode conduct with the second electrode when an occupant is seated is fixed to the film-form member (7). The above arrangement solves a conventional problem that it is troublesome to connect the connection terminals of wires or the like provided on a wiring harness or the like to respective terminals that are separately provided on a film-form substrate and a film-form member.
US08044304B2	Multilayer printed circuit board A multilayer printed circuit board is characterized in that circuit boards 1 and 2 and a circuit board 3 are laminated alternately to form a multilayer body using a simultaneous lamination method, the circuit boards 1 and 2 including a film-, thin plate-, or sheet-like insulating substrate 11 made of a thermosetting resin containing any one of epoxy resin, bismaleimide/triazine resin, and allylic polyphenylene ether resin as a major component, the circuit board 3 including a film-, thin plate-, or sheet-like insulating substrate 21 made of a thermoplastic resin containing a polyaryl ketone resin and amorphous polyether imide resin having a crystal-fusing peak temperature of 260° C. or more. By the present invention, it is possible to provide a multilayer printed circuit board which has small fusion or flow deformation at the time of simultaneous lamination, which does not have unevenness in positional precision in the lamination direction, which has no need for the processes to be readjusted, and which has high reliability in interlayer electrical connection.
US08044302B2	Printed circuit board having coplanar LC balance Provided is a printed circuit board having coplanar LC balance, comprising: an insulation layer, printed circuit patterns formed on the insulation layer, power source wirings supplying power in the printed circuit patterns, and at least three signal wirings formed between the power source wirings, wherein widths of signal wirings far from the power source wirings are wider than widths of signal wirings adjacent to the power source wirings to achieve LC balance, thereby reducing the skew between signal wirings and improving the quality of signal transfer.
US08044300B1	Two-gang low voltage mounting bracket with front plate and retractable clamp arms for rapid mounting using hole saw A two-gang low voltage bracket that enables rapid mounting of one or two low voltage electrical components to a wall. The two-gang bracket includes a front plate with an opening therein and a circular peripheral wall surrounding the opening and extending from the rear surface of the plate. Mounting fasteners extend through oversize holes in the plate and include clamp arms rigidly secured to their ends. The circular peripheral wall is of a diameter that is slightly less than the diameter of a standard size hole-saw. The clamp arms can be rotated to either a retracted or extended position. The peripheral wall is provided with open areas or recesses to fully accommodate the clamp arms when retracted thereby enabling the peripheral wall and clamp arms to pass easily within the wall opening created by the standard size hole-saw.
US08044296B2	Photovoltaic device and method for manufacturing the same A photovoltaic device uses a single crystal or polycrystalline semiconductor layer which is separated from a single crystal or polycrystalline semiconductor substrate as a photoelectric conversion layer and has a SOI structure in which the semiconductor layer is bonded to a substrate having an insulating surface or an insulating substrate. A single crystal semiconductor layer which is a separated surface layer part of a single crystal semiconductor substrate and is transferred is used as a photoelectric conversion layer and includes an impurity semiconductor layer to which hydrogen or halogen is added on a light incidence surface or on an opposite surface. The semiconductor layer is fixed to a substrate having an insulating surface or an insulating substrate.
US08044290B2	Method and apparatus for reproducing first part of music data having plurality of repeated parts A method and apparatus for reproducing a first part of music data having a plurality of repeated parts includes a method and an apparatus allowing a user to listen to more songs including the repeated parts by searching for a boundary between the first and second parts of the music data having the repeated parts via simple frequency analysis, marking information indicating the found boundary, and reproducing the music data until a part indicated by the marked information is reached. Accordingly, music reproduction satisfaction increases since an inconvenience of manipulating the apparatus for each song is lessened and more songs having different patterns are played.
US08044285B1	Maize variety inbred PH12TJ A novel maize variety designated PH12TJ and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PH12TJ with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PH12TJ through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PH12TJ or a locus conversion of PH12TJ with another maize variety.
US08044278B1	Maize variety inbred PH13JD A novel maize variety designated PH13JD and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PH13JD with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PH13JD through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PH13JD or a locus conversion of PH13JD with another maize variety.
US08044275B1	Inbred maize variety PHCGM A novel maize variety designated PHCGM and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PHCGM with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PHCGM through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PHCGM or a trait conversion of PHCGM with another maize variety. Inbred maize varieties derived from maize variety PHCGM, methods for producing other inbred maize varieties derived from maize variety PHCGM and the inbred maize varieties and their parts derived by the use of those methods.
US08044274B1	Inbred maize variety PH8KF A novel maize variety designated PH8KF and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PH8KF with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PH8KF through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PH8KF or a trait conversion of PH8KF with another maize variety. Inbred maize varieties derived from maize variety PH8KF, methods for producing other inbred maize varieties derived from maize variety PH8KF and the inbred maize varieties and their parts derived by the use of those methods.
US08044271B2	Garden bean cultivar H37115 A novel garden bean cultivar, designated H37115, is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of garden bean cultivar H37115, to the plants of garden bean line H37115, and to methods for producing a bean plant by crossing the cultivar H37115 with itself or another bean line. The invention further relates to methods for producing a bean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes, and to the transgenic plants produced by that method, and to methods for producing other garden bean lines derived from the cultivar H37115.
US08044270B2	Soybean cultivar S070161 A soybean cultivar designated S070161 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar S070161, to the plants of soybean S070161, to plant parts of soybean cultivar S070161, and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar S070161 with itself or with another soybean variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to soybean cultivars, or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from soybean variety S070161, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar S070161, and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing the cultivar S070161 with another soybean cultivar.
US08044241B2	Ligands for estrogen related receptors and methods for synthesis of said ligands Estrogen-Related Receptor (ERR) modulating compounds and methods for synthesis of said compounds are described.
US08044239B2	Partially fluorinated ureas and amides One aspect of the invention is a compound of formula (I) Ro-[L-(CqH2qS)pCrH2rRf]2 (I) wherein Ro is a divalent organic group having 2 to 40 carbon atoms; L is a linking group selected from —NHC(O)NH— or —C(O)NH— wherein the left side of the linking group is bonded to Ro; p is an integer of 0 or 1; q is an integer of 2 to 10; r is an integer of 1 to 10; and Rf is a linear or branched C1-C6 perfluoroalkyl group. Other aspects of the invention are a composite structure comprising a porous support and a porous nanoweb comprising fibrous structures comprised of one or more compositions of formula (I) and a method for making said composite structures.
US08044238B2	Method for production of purified (meth)acrylic acid The present invention relates to reducing corrosion of distillation equipment during azeotropic distillation of (meth)acrylic acid in the presence of dissolved copper, by providing aqueous (meth)acrylic acid having not more than 0.1% by weight formaldehyde, based on the total weight of the aqueous (meth)acrylic acid. The source of the copper may, for example, be copper-based polymerization inhibitors added to the aqueous (meth)acrylic acid and/or distillation equipment.
US08044234B2	Bioabsorbable surgical composition Compounds are provided which can form bioabsorbable compositions useful as adhesives or sealants for medical/surgical applications. In embodiments, suitable compositions may possess various functional groups, including groups derived from multifunctional compounds, aliphatic or aromatic groups, groups derived from aliphatic diacids, groups derived from a dihydroxy compound, and combinations thereof. Methods for forming these compositions, as well as uses thereof, are also provided.
US08044225B1	Zwitterionic Group VIII transition metal initiators supported by olefin ligands A zwitterionic Group VIII transition metal complex containing the simple and relatively small 3-(arylimino)-but-1-en-2-olato ligand that catalyzes the formation of polypropylene and high molecular weight polyethylene. A novel feature of this catalyst is that the active species is stabilized by a chelated olefin adduct. The present invention also provides methods of polymerizing olefin monomers using zwitterionic catalysts, particularly polypropylene and high molecular weight polyethylene.
US08044216B2	Fluoroboron compound, aminomethylating agent for aromatic ring made of the same, and production method of compound containing aminomethyl aromatic ring using aminomethylating agent A production method of a compound containing a primary, secondary, or tertiary aminomethyl aromatic ring of the present invention includes: using a fluoroboron compound or a dimer thereof, or solvates thereof, which are represented by a formula (I): Ra(Rb)N—CH2—BF3M (I) as an aminomethylating agent for an aromatic ring; and reacting the aminomethylating agent with an aromatic ring-containing compound, which can react with the aminomethylating agent, under the presence of a metal catalyst such as a palladium compound so as to perform the direct aminomethylation of the aromatic ring.
US08044196B2	Process for producing pure form of 2-methyl-4-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-10H-thieno[2,3-b][1,5]benzodiazepine Disclosed is a process for producing pure form of 2-methyl-4-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-10H-thieno[2,3-b][1,5] benzodiazepine. The process comprises of reacting 2-(2-aminoanilino)-5-methylthiophene-3-carbonitrile with N-methyl piperazine in conjunction with N-methylpiperazine acid salt, to produce 2-methyl-4-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-10H-thieno[2,3-b][1,5] benzodiazepine. Also disclosed is a process for obtaining the Polymorphic Form I of 2-methyl-4-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-10H-thieno[2,3-b][1,5] benzodiazepine by crystallizing the crude 2-methyl-4-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-10H-thieno[2,3-b][1,5] benzodiazepine in a mixture of solvents.
US08044187B2	Human luteinizing hormone superagonists The invention is directed toward a human glycoprotein hormone having at least one, two, three, four, or five basic amino acids in the α-subunit at positions selected from the group consisting of positions 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 20. The invention is also directed to a human glycoprotein where at least one of the amino acids at position 58, 63, and 69 of the β-subunit of the human thyroid stimulating hormone are basic amino acids. The invention is further directed to a modified human glycoprotein hormone having increased activity over a wild-type human glycoprotein hormone, where the modified human glycoprotein comprises a basic amino acid substituted at a position corresponding to the same amino acid position in a non-human glycoprotein hormone having an increased activity over the wild-type human glycoprotein hormone. The invention is also directed to a method of constructing superactive nonchimeric analogs of human hormones comprising comparing the amino acid sequence of a more active homolog from another species to the human hormone, and selecting superactive analogs from the substituted human hormones. The invention is also directed to nucleic acids encoding the modified human glycoprotein hormones, vectors containing those nucleic acids, and host cells containing those vectors.
US08044184B2	Probe and primer for tubercle bacillus detection, and method of detecting human tubercle bacillus therewith An object of the present invention is to provide a novel primer and prove for detecting tubercle bacillus capable of avoiding false positive, and an easy-to-use, rapid and high-sensitivity method for detecting human tubercle bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) using the same. The present invention relates to an oligonucleotide comprising a part of or an entire sequence of the nucleic acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, SEQ ID NO:5, SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7 or SEQ ID NO:8, or a part of or an entire sequence of the complementary sequence thereof, wherein the oligonucleotide has a property of hybridizing with the nucleic acid sequence of IS6110 gene in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a primer and a probe containing the oligonucleotide for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and a method for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis using the primer and the probe.
US08044167B2	Process for production of high-purity diaryl carbonate An aromatic polycarbonate that is obtained by transesterification between a high-purity diphenyl carbonate and an aromatic dihydroxy compound. A specific industrially useful process for the production of a high-purity diaryl carbonate in which a diaryl carbonate having low contents of intermediate boiling point and high boiling point impurities is produced is disclosed. As a starting material, a reaction mixture containing an alkyl aryl carbonate obtained through a transesterification reaction between a dialkyl carbonate and an aromatic monohydroxy compound is used. The process in which separation by distillation is carried out uses three distillation columns in a specified order. Moreover, it is particularly preferable if a reactive distillation column and the three distillation columns, each of which has a specified structure, and the three distillation columns are each operated under specified distillation conditions.
US08044166B2	Process for preparing pentamethylene 1,5-diisocyanate The present invention relates to a process for preparing pentamethylene 1,5-diisocyanate, to pentamethylene 1,5-diisocyanate prepared in this way and to the use thereof.
US08044163B2	Aqueous polyurethane resin An aqueous polyurethane resin is obtained by allowing at least a polyol compound, an active hydrogen group-containing compound having anionic group, an active hydrogen group-containing acrylate compound and an alkoxysilyl group-containing polyamine compound to react with a polyisocyanate compound.
US08044161B2	Use of tocopherol The present invention relates to the use of tocopherol as a co-catalyst in the ring opening polymerisation of cyclic siloxanes. The present invention further relates to a method for manufacturing hydrophilic polysiloxanes, wherein a hydrido-containing cyclic siloxane is reacted with a hydrophilic molecule comprising a carbon-carbon double bond, having the general formula (I) H2C═CH—(CHR)n—O—(CHR1CR2R3)mR4 or (II) H2C═CH—(CHR)n—R5, wherein n is an integer from 0 to 4, m is an integer from 0 to 5, R, R1, R2, R3 and R4 are each independently hydrogen or a C1 to C6 alkyl, R5 is a saturated cyclic hydrocarbon containing carbonyl group, in the presence of a first catalyst to obtain a monomer, and polymerising said monomer in the presence of a second catalyst and tocopherol as a co-catalyst.
US08044158B2	Method for the production of water-absorbing polymer articles by polymerizing drops of a monomer solution A process for producing water-absorbing polymer particles by polymerizing droplets of a monomer solution in a surrounding gas phase, wherein the monomer solution comprises at least 0.0002% by weight of oxygen and the oxygen content of the gas phase is at least 0.5% by volume.
US08044156B2	Multi-purpose polymers, methods and compositions Disclosed are multi-purpose polymers that are the polymerization product of a monomer mixture comprising at least one amino-substituted vinyl monomer; at least one nonionic vinyl monomer; at least one associative vinyl monomer; at least one semihydrophobic vinyl surfactant monomer; and, optionally, comprising one or more hydroxy-substituted nonionic vinyl monomer, crosslinking monomer, chain transfer agent or polymeric stabilizer. These vinyl addition polymers have a combination of substituents, including amino substituents that provide cationic properties at low pH, hydrophobic substituents, hydrophobically modified polyoxyalkylene substituents, and hydrophilic polyoxyalkylene substituents. The polymers provide surprisingly beneficial rheological properties in acidic aqueous compositions, and are compatible with cationic materials. The multi-purpose polymers are useful in a variety of products for personal care, health care, household care, institutional and industrial care, and industrial applications.
US08044152B2	Epoxy resin containing side-chain-tethered caged POSS and preparation method thereof as well as epoxy resin material containing POSS-epoxy and preparation method thereof An epoxy resin containing side-chain-tethered caged POSS and a preparation method thereof as well as epoxy resin material containing POSS-epoxy and a preparation method thereof are disclosed. The epoxy resin containing side-chain-tethered caged POSS (POSS epoxy) is formed by tethering of POSS group to the side chain of the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin. The preparation method of the POSS epoxy includes a step of reacting epoxy resin with caged POSS to form epoxy resin containing side-chain-tethered caged POSS (POSS-epoxy). The preparation method of epoxy resin material containing POSS-epoxy includes a step of reacting DGEBA epoxy resin with POSS-epoxy to get epoxy resin material containing POSS-epoxy. The POSS-epoxy is distributed evenly in the epoxy resin material with POSS-epoxy.
US08044151B2	Wholly aromatic liquid-crystalline polyester The present invention provides a wholly aromatic liquid-crystalline polyester consisting of the repeating units represented by formulae (I), (II), (III) and (IV): wherein: the molar proportion of the repeating unit represented by formula (I) based on the total repeating units constituting the wholly aromatic liquid-crystalline polyester is 40-80 mol %; the molar ratio of the total amount of the repeating units represented by formulae (II) and (III) to the repeating unit represented by formula (IV) is from 90/100 to 100/90; the molar proportion of the repeating unit represented by formula (II) based on the total amount of the repeating units represented by formulae (II) and (III) is 80-99.9 mol%; and the two “—O—” attached to the benzene ring in formula (III) are positioned meta or para to each other and “Ar” in formula (IV) represents a bivalent aromatic group. The wholly aromatic liquid-crystalline polyester of the present invention exhibits excellent dielectric properties in high frequency regions as well as good mechanical properties such as impact strength.
US08044150B2	Transparent static dissipative coating compositions A method of preparing an electrostatic dissipative composition that includes combining a conductive polymer; a crosslinkable polymer, and a crosslinking agent to form a fluidized dispersion, and providing the fluidized dispersion with a pH of about 7 to 9 to form the electrostatic discharge composition.
US08044140B2	Methods and compositions for pigmented self-stratifying coatings A coating composition may include a polyol, a silsesquioxane, a polyurethane dendrimer, a crosslinker, and a pigment in contact with a dispersing agent. A process for preparing a coating composition is further disclosed including the step of contacting a polyol, a silsesquioxane, a polyurethane dendrimer, and a crosslinker to form a coating mixture dispersed within a solvent. The process further includes adding a pigment in contact with a dispersing agent to the coating mixture, and forming a self-stratifying coating having at least one layer, wherein the pigment resides substantially within one of the at least one layer.
US08044139B2	Fiber reinforced nylon composition The present invention relates to a fiber reinforced nylon composition, wherein the composition includes (A) 25 to 75 parts by weight of a polyarylamide resin, (B) 25 to 75 parts by weight of a reinforcing fiber having a cross-sectional aspect ratio of 1.5 or more, and (C) an impact modifier, and the impact modifier is included in an amount of 1 to 10 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of a mixture of the polyarylamide resin and the reinforced fiber. According to the present invention, the fiber reinforced nylonresin composition may exhibit minimal or no warpage, can have excellent fluidity and impact resistance, and can provide high whiteness and a glossy-coating due to minimal or no surface change after dipping in boiling water.
US08044136B2	Golf balls with cores or intermediate layers prepared from highly-neutralized ethylene copolymers and organic acids Disclosed are golf balls comprising cores or intermediate layers prepared from thermoplastic compositions having coefficients of restitution equal to or greater than 0.83 and PGA compressions greater than 100. Also disclosed is a composition comprising or prepared from (a) at least one aliphatic, mono-functional organic acid having from 16 to 20 carbon atoms, wherein the organic acid is unsaturated and linear; (b) an ethylene acid copolymer consisting essentially of copolymerized comonomers of ethylene and from 18 to 24 weight % of copolymerized comonomers of at least one C3 to C8 α,β ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid, based on the total weight of the ethylene acid copolymer, having a melt index from about 200 to about 600 g/10 minutes; wherein the combined acid moieties of (a) and (b) are nominally neutralized to a level from about 120% to about 200%; and optionally (c) filler.
US08044135B2	Polypropylene impact copolymer compositions The present invention relates to an impact-resistant olefin polymer composition including a polypropylene matrix having a weight average molecular weight and an ethylene-containing polymer including an ethylene-propylene copolymer having a molecular weight higher than the weight average molecular weight of the polypropylene matrix, the composition containing about 20 to 35 percent xylene solubles, and the xylene solubles fraction of the composition containing less than about 39 weight percent ethylene units, based on the combined weight of olefin monomers in the copolymer. The present invention further relates to impact copolymer compositions with a melt flow rate greater than about 8 that meet or exceed all pallet testing requirements. The compositions have superior stiffness-impact balance performance and excellent gloss and are useful for a number of applications including, but not limited to pallets, water-storm chambers, automotive compounding, septic tanks, bins, pales, crates, totes and plastic containers.
US08044134B2	Polylactic acid resin composition The present invention relates to a polylactic acid resin composition. The composition includes about 25 to about 80 parts by weight of a polylactic acid resin, (B) about 20 to about 75 parts by weight of a polycarbonate resin, and (C) about 0.01 to about 5 parts by weight of a chain extender including an amine group, based on about 100 parts by weight of (A)+(B). The polylactic acid resin composition of the present invention is environmentally-friendly and has excellent hydrolysis resistance and simultaneously improved mechanical strength and heat resistance, and accordingly can be used for manufacturing various molded products requiring heat resistance and mechanical strength, for example vehicles, machine parts, electronic parts, office machines, miscellaneous goods, and the like.
US08044128B2	White heat-curable silicone/epoxy hybrid resin composition for optoelectronic use, making method, premolded package, and LED device A white heat-curable silicone/epoxy hybrid resin composition is provided comprising (A) a heat-curable silicone resin, (B) a triazine derived epoxy resin composition, (C) a white pigment, (D) an inorganic filler, and (E) an antioxidant. Antioxidant (E) is a phosphite compound having formula: P(OR1)(OR2)2 wherein R1 and R2 are organic groups of at least 6 carbon atoms. Components (A) and (B) are present in a weight ratio of from 5:95 to 95:5. The composition effectively cures into a product maintaining heat resistance, light resistance and improved strength over a long term.
US08044122B2	Polycarbonate composition containing UV absorber The present invention relates to a composition containing polycarbonate and from 0.05 wt. % to 0.5 wt. % of a UV absorber and from 0.0001 wt. % to 0.03 wt. % 2-[2-hydroxy-4-(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]phenyl-4,6-di(4-phenyl)phenyl-1,3,5-triazine.
US08044111B2	Actinically-crosslinkable silicone-containing block copolymers The invention provide a new class of silicone-containing prepolymers containing poly(oxyalkylene) blocks, polysiloxane blocks, and actinically-crosslinkable groups which are acryl groups, thiol groups, ene-containing groups or combinations thereof. A prepolymer of the invention is prepared in a one-pot procedure according to the Michael addition of thiol to electron deficient alkenes, such as α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, without need for additional reaction step(s) to introduce actinically crosslinkable groups. The present invention is also related to silicone hydrogel contact lenses made from this class of silicone-containing prepolymers and to methods for making the silicone hydrogel contact lenses.
US08044102B2	Compositions and method for treating infection in cattle and swine Novel formulations combining a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as flunixin, with a fluorinated chloramphenicol or thiamphenicol derivative antibiotic such as florfenicol are disclosed. Methods for using such formulations in the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases of bovines and swine, including bovine respiratory disease and swine respiratory disease, are also disclosed.
US08044099B2	Synthetic bifunctional molecules containing drug moiety and pharmacokinetic modulating moiety Bifunctional molecules and methods for their use are provided. The subject bifunctional molecules are conjugates of a drug moiety and a pharmacokinetic modulating moiety, where these two moieties are optionally joined by a linking group. The bifunctional molecules are further characterized in that they exhibit at least one modulated pharmacokinetic property upon administration to a host as compared to a free drug control. The subject bifunctional molecules find use in a variety of therapeutic applications.
US08044088B2	1-acetic acid-indole derivatives with PGD2 antagonist activity Compounds of general formula (I) wherein R1 is halo or cyano; R2 is C1-C4 alkyl; and R3 is phenyl substituted with one or more substituents chosen from C1-C6 alkyl, halo or —SO2(C1-C6 alkyl); or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, hydrate, solvate, complex or prodrug thereof; are useful in the treatment of diseases and conditions mediated by the action of PGD2 at the CRTH2 receptor.
US08044083B2	Kinase inhibitors and methods of use thereof The compound of Formula (I) and pharmaceutically acceptable salts and prodrugs thereof are useful in the treatment and prevention of various disorders mediated by kinases.
US08044074B2	Substituted heterocycles, their use as medicament, and pharmaceutical preparations comprising them The invention relates to compounds of formula I in which R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6 and X have the meanings stated in the claims. The compounds are particularly suitable as antiarrhythmic active ingredients, in particular for the treatment and prophylaxis of atrial arrhythmias, for example atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter.
US08044073B2	Aminobenzimidazoles and benzimidazoles as inhibitors of respiratory syncytial virus replication Aminobenzimidazoles and benzimidazoles having inhibitory activity on RSV replication and having the formula the prodrugs, N-oxides, addition salts, quaternary amines, metal complexes and stereochemically isomeric forms thereof; wherein G is a direct bond or C1-10alkanediyl optionally substituted with one or more hydroxy, C1-6alkyloxy, Ar1C1-6alkyloxy, C1-6alkylthio, Ar1C1-6alkylthio, HO(—CH2—CH2—O)n—, C1-6alkyloxy(—CH2—CH2—O)n— or Ar1C1-6alkyloxy(—CH2—CH2—O)n—; R1 is Ar1 or a monocyclic or bicyclic heterocycle; Q is hydrogen, amino or mono- or di(C1-4alkyl)amino; one of R2a and R3a is selected from halo, optionally mono- or polysubstituted C1-6alkyl, optionally mono- or polysubstituted C2-6alkenyl, nitro, hydroxy, Ar2, N(R4aR4b), N(R4aR4b)sulfonyl, N(R4aR4b)carbonyl, C1-6alkyloxy, Ar2oxy, Ar2C1-6alkyloxy, carboxyl, C1-6alkyloxycarbonyl, or —C(═Z)Ar2; and the other one of R2a and R3a is hydrogen; in case R2a is different from hydrogen then R2b is hydrogen, C1-6alkyl or halogen and R3b is hydrogen; in case R3a is different from hydrogen then R3b is hydrogen, C1-6alkyl or halogen and R2b is hydrogen. Compositions containing these compounds as active ingredient and processes for preparing these compounds and compositions.
US08044069B2	Compounds as calcium channel blockers The present application relates to calcium channel inhibitors containing compounds of formula (I) wherein Ar1, Ar2, L1, L2, n, R1, R4, X and Y are as defined in the specification. The present application also relates to compositions comprising such compounds, and methods of treating conditions and disorders using such compounds and compositions.
US08044065B2	Benzothienopyridines for use as inhibitors of Eg5 kinesin Compounds of a certain formula I, in which R1, R2, R3, R4 and X have the meanings indicated in the description, are novel effective compounds with Eg5 inhibitory, anti-proliferative and/or apoptosis inducing activity.
US08044060B2	6-cyclylmethyl- and 6-alkylmethyl pyrazolo[3,4-D]pyrimidines, methods for their preparation and methods for their use to treat impairments of perception, concentration learning and/or memory Described are 6-cyclylmethyl- and 6-alkylmethyl-substituted pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidines of the formula (I): as defined herein, processes for their preparation and their use for producing medicaments for treating impairment of perception, concentration, learning and/or memory.
US08044054B2	Stereoisomerically enriched 3-aminocarbonyl bicycloheptene pyrimidinediamine compounds and their uses The present invention provides stereoisomers and stereoisomeric mixtures of 3-aminocarbonyl-bicycloheptene-2,4-pyrimidinediamine compounds having antiproliferative activity, compositions comprising the compounds and methods of using the compounds to inhibit cellular proliferation and to treat proliferate diseases such as tumorigenic cancers.
US08044041B2	Phthalazine derivatives as inhibitors of protein kinase The present invention relates to novel phthalazine derivatives and, more particularly, to phthalazine derivatives of formula (III) that are useful as protein kinase inhibitors. The invention also relates to methods of preparing the compounds, compositions containing the compounds, and methods of treatment using the compounds.
US08044037B2	Modified phosphocalcic compound, injectable composition containing same A phosphocalcic compound modified by a gem-bisphosphonic acid or one of its salts, a method for preparing same, as well as its use for preparing an injectable composition. The modified phosphocalcic compound is obtained by adding a gem-bisphosphonic acid or one of its alkali metal or alkaline earth salts to a suspension of a precursor phosphocalcic compound in ultras-pure water, while stirring the reaction medium at room temperature, then in recovering by centrifuging the formed compound. The compound is useful for making an injectable composition, for use in the treatment of bone remodeling equilibrium.
US08044036B2	Fungicidal active ingredient combination An active-compound combination of has very good fungicidal properties.
US08044034B2	Nanoparticle derivatives of gemcitabine The use of squalenic acid or a derivative thereof in formulating at least one polar active principle with a molecular weight of 100 Da or more, in the form of nanoparticles, and pharmaceutical compositions thereof.
US08044023B2	Hepatitis C virus inhibitors Hepatitis C virus inhibitors having the general formula are disclosed. Compositions comprising the compounds and methods for using the compounds to inhibit HCV are also disclosed.
US08044020B2	Pharmaceutical compositions and methods for insulin treatment Compositions and methods for treating a patient with insulin that combines insulin, a permeation enhancer, and a carrier that maintains an acidic pH, are disclosed.
US08044019B2	Cell penetrating peptide According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a novel cell penetrating peptide that transports proteins into cells and/or into nuclei at higher frequency than conventional cell penetrating peptides, and a pharmaceutical containing the peptide.
US08044008B2	Dental appliance cleansing composition A novel and safe composition has been discovered that is effective for cleaning dental appliances (e.g. removable braces, retainers, dentures, etc.). This composition bleaches, disinfects, and deodorizes the appliance, while removing plaque that has accumulated on the appliance during wear. The composition comprises a chloramine bleaching agent that liberates hypochlorous acid upon contact with water, a surfactant, a water-soluble carboxylic acid and an alkaline base to produce effervescence and regulate pH, a sequestering agent for alkaline earth metal ions, a drying agent, and an indicator dye that signifies the end of the cleansing process. In a preferred method of using this invention, the premixed components are added to water, and the dental appliance is submerged in the resulting effervescent solution until a color change indicates that cleaning is complete. This invention provides a safe, effective, and convenient method for cleansing and disinfecting dental appliances.
US08044007B2	Composition for keratin fibres comprising an arylated silicone The present invention relates to a conditioning and shine enhancing composition for keratin fibers especially human hair. Accordingly the subject of the present invention is an aqueous composition comprising at least one mono alkyl quaternary ammonium surfactant at a concentration of 0.01 to 10% by weight, and at least one arylated silicone at a concentration of 0.001 to 5% by weight, calculated to total composition.
US08043991B2	Selective isomerization of olefins to alkenes using a mesoporous catalyst A process for selectively making 2-alkenes from a NAO using a mesoporous catalyst that has been surface modified with a Brönsted acid compound. The Brönsted acid compound has a reactive silane connector, an organic linking group, and a Brönsted acid group. The mesoporous catalyst has an average pore diameter in a range of about 12 to about 100 Angstroms and a surface area of between about 400 to about 1400 m2/gram.
US08043990B2	Catalyst system for polymerization of olefins The invention relates to a catalyst system for polymerization of olefins, the catalyst system comprising a titanium-containing procatalyst carrying internal electron donor(s), an organoaluminium cocatalyst and a mixture of external electron donors, the mixture comprising a carboxylic acid ester or derivatives thereof, an alkoxy silane and a nitrogen based compound. The invention also relates to a process for polymerization of olefin(s) and to the polyolefin synthesized by the process.
US08043983B2	Flame-retardant metal-coated cloth A flame-retardant metal-coated cloth having a high degree of flame retardancy and a soft feeling without the use of any halogen compound or antimony compound is provided. In the flame-retardant metal-coated cloth, a flame-retardant film comprising a mixture (E) of a phosphorus compound (A), a metal hydroxide (B), a phosphoric ester (C), and a thermoplastic resin (D), is formed on at least one surface of a metal-coated cloth, and the ratio of (A):(B):(C):(D) is 20 to 200:100 to 950:10 to 250:100 in terms of a weight ratio.
US08043982B2	Basalt particle-containing compositions and articles for protective coatings and ballistic shield mats/tiles/protective building components It has been found that basalt particles, when combined with a resin binder and a reinforcing material, such as fiberglass, provide unexpected strength, fire-resistance, radiation impermeability, and projectile shielding for ballistic armor/shields, fire-resistant building panels, construction blocks and protective coatings on substrates. The armor panels can be worn, as in a bullet-proof vest, or can be used as a shield to protect a vehicle, aircraft or other structures as projectile penetration-resistant and fire and radiation resistant materials.
US08043980B2	Methods for making and using halosilylgermanes The invention provides compounds of, and methods for the preparation of compounds of, the molecular formula, SixGeyHz—aXa; wherein X is halogen, and x, y, z, and a are defined herein, and methods for the deposition of high-Ge content Si films on silicon substrates using compounds of the invention.
US08043970B2	Slurry compositions for selectively polishing silicon nitride relative to silicon oxide, methods of polishing a silicon nitride layer and methods of manufacturing a semiconductor device using the same Slurry compositions for selectively polishing silicon nitride relative to silicon oxide, methods of polishing a silicon nitride layer and methods of manufacturing a semiconductor device using the same are provided. The slurry compositions include a first agent for reducing an oxide polishing rate, an abrasive particle and water, and the first agent includes poly(acrylic acid). The slurry composition may have a high polishing selectivity of silicon nitride relative to silicon oxide to be employed in selectively polishing a silicon nitride layer in a semiconductor manufacturing process.
US08043969B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device A first layer is formed over a substrate, a light absorbing layer is formed over the first layer, and a layer having a light-transmitting property is formed over the light absorbing layer. The light absorbing layer is selectively irradiated with a laser beam via the layer having a light-transmitting property. When the light absorbing layer absorbs energy of the laser beam, due to emission of gas that is within the light absorbing layer, or sublimation, evaporation, or the like of the light absorbing layer, a part of the light absorbing layer and a part of the layer having a light-transmitting property in contact with the light absorbing layer are removed. By using the remaining part of the layer having a light-transmitting property or the remaining part of the light absorbing layer as a mask and etching the first layer, the first layer can be processed into a desired shape.
US08043967B2	Process for through silicon via filling A semiconductor electroplating process deposits copper into the through silicon via hole to completely fill the through silicon via in a substantially void free is disclosed. The through silicon via may be more than about 3 micrometers in diameter and more that about 20 micrometers deep. High copper concentration and low acidity electroplating solution is used for deposition copper into the through silicon vias.
US08043964B2	Method for providing electrical connections to spaced conductive lines An integrated circuit and a method of formation provide a contact area formed at an angled end of at least one linearly extending conductive line. In an embodiment, conductive lines with contact landing pads are formed by patterning lines in a mask material, cutting at least one of the material lines to form an angle relative to the extending direction of the material lines, forming extensions from the angled end faces of the mask material, and patterning an underlying conductor by etching using said material lines and extension as a mask. In another embodiment, at least one conductive line is cut at an angle relative to the extending direction of the conductive line to produce an angled end face, and an electrical contact landing pad is formed in contact with the angled end face.
US08043963B2	Semiconductor device manufacturing method and semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device that improves the reliability of a metal cap layer and productivity. The method includes an insulation layer step of superimposing an insulation layer (11) on a semiconductor substrate (2) including an element region (2b), a recess step of forming a recess (12) in the insulation layer (11), a metal layer step of embedding a metal layer (13) in the recess (12), a planarization step of planarizing a surface of the insulation layer (11) and a surface of the metal layer (13) to be substantially flush with each other, and a metal cap layer step of forming a metal cap layer (16) containing at least zirconium element and nitrogen element on the surface of the insulation layer (11) and the surface of the metal layer (13) after the planarization step.
US08043962B2	Metal wire for a semiconductor device formed with a metal layer without voids therein and a method for forming the same A metal wiring of a semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate; an insulating layer provided with a damascene pattern formed over the semiconductor substrate; a diffusion barrier layer which contains a RuO2 layer formed on a surface of the damascene pattern and an Al deposit-inhibiting layer formed on a portion of the RuO2 layer in both-side upper portion of the damascene pattern; and a wiring metal layer including Al formed on the diffusion barrier layer by MOCVD method in order to fill the damascene pattern.
US08043959B2	Method of forming a low-k dielectric layer with improved damage resistance and chemical integrity A method of forming a low-k dielectric layer or film includes forming a porous low-k dielectric layer or film over a wafer or substrate. Active bonding is introduced into the porous low-k dielectric layer or film to improve damage resistance and chemical integrity of the layer or film, to retain the low dielectric constant of the layer and film after subsequent processing. Introduction of the active bonding may be accomplished by introducing OH and/or H radicals into pores of the porous low-k dielectric layer or film to generate, in the case of a Si based low-k dielectric layer or film, Si—OH and/or Si—H active bonds. After further processing of the low-k dielectric film, the active bonding is removed from the low-k dielectric layer or film.
US08043953B2	Semiconductor device including an LSI chip and a method for manufacturing the same A semiconductor device that can be readily manufactured, can include a large number of pads, and can be thin, and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. The semiconductor device is characterized in that the semiconductor device includes an LSI chip, an insulating layer provided on the LSI chip and made of a nonphotosensitive resin, the insulating layer including a via hole in the position corresponding to an externally connected pad, and a wiring layer extending along the insulating layer through the via hole to the externally connected pad, and at least part of the via hole is formed by irradiating the insulating layer with laser light.
US08043950B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof It is an object of the present invention to manufacture a micromachine having a plurality of structural bodies with different functions and to shorten the time required for sacrifice layer etching in a process of manufacturing the micromachine. Another object of the present invention is to prevent a structural layer from being attached to a substrate after the sacrifice layer etching. In other words, an object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive and high-value-added micromachine by improving throughput and yield. The sacrifice layer etching is conducted in multiple steps. In the multiple steps of the sacrifice layer etching, a part of the sacrifice layer that does not overlap with the structural layer is removed by the earlier sacrifice layer etching and a part of the sacrifice layer that is under the structural layer is removed by the later sacrifice layer etching.
US08043944B2	Process for enhancing solubility and reaction rates in supercritical fluids Processes for enhancing solubility and the reaction rates in supercritical fluids are provided. In preferred embodiments, such processes provide for the uniform and precise deposition of metal-containing films on semiconductor substrates as well as the uniform and precise removal of materials from such substrates. In one embodiment, the process includes, providing a supercritical fluid containing at least one reactant, the supercritical fluid being maintained at above its critical point, exposing at least a portion of the surface of the semiconductor substrate to the supercritical fluid, applying acoustic energy, and reacting the at least one reactant to cause a change in at least a portion of the surface of the semiconductor substrate.
US08043939B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor wafer To provide a method for manufacturing an SOI substrate having a single crystal semiconductor layer having a small and uniform thickness over an insulating film. Further, time of adding hydrogen ions is reduced and time of manufacture per SOI substrate is reduced. A bond layer is formed over a surface of a first semiconductor wafer and a separation layer is formed below the bond layer by irradiating the first semiconductor wafer with H3+ ions by an ion doping apparatus. H3+ ions accelerated by high voltage are separated to be three H+ ions at a semiconductor wafer surface, and the H+ ions cannot enter deeply. Therefore, H+ ions are added into a shallower region in the semiconductor wafer at a higher concentration than the case of using a conventional ion implantation method.
US08043938B2	Method for manufacturing SOI substrate and SOI substrate A method is demonstrated to form an SOI substrate having a silicon layer with reduced surface roughness in a high yield. The method includes the step of bonding a base substrate such as a glass substrate and a bond substrate such as a single crystal semiconductor substrate to each other, where a region in which bonding of the base substrate with the bond substrate cannot be performed is provided at the interface therebetween. Specifically, the method is exemplified by the combination of: irradiating the bond substrate with accelerated ions; forming an insulating layer over the bond substrate; forming a region in which bonding cannot be performed in part of the surface of the bond substrate; bonding the bond substrate and the base substrate to each other with the insulating layer therebetween; and separating the bond substrate from the base substrate, leaving a semiconductor layer over the base substrate.
US08043934B2	Methods of use and formation of a lateral bipolar transistor with counter-doped implant regions under collector and/or emitter regions A method for protecting a semiconductor circuit from electrostatic discharge is disclosed. An electrostatic discharge is received at a node. Current created by the electrostatic discharge is directed vertically into a semiconductor body, laterally through the semiconductor and beneath a trench isolation region so that the current flows in a direction parallel to an upper surface of the semiconductor body, and to a reference supply node. The reference supply node being formed in a conductive layer disposed over the upper surface of the semiconductor body.
US08043932B2	Method of fabricating semiconductor device A method of fabricating a semiconductor device including at least one of the following steps: forming an oxide layer on and/or over a silicon substrate. Forming a first photoresist pattern on and/or over the oxide layer. Forming a trench by etching the oxide layer and the substrate using the first photoresist pattern as a mask. Removing the first photoresist pattern. Filling the trench with a trench oxide layer. Planarizing the trench oxide layer. Forming an etch stop layer on and/or over the trench oxide layer. Forming a second photoresist pattern on and/or over the etch stop layer. Etching the etch stop layer and the trench oxide layer using the second photoresist pattern as an etch mask. Removing the second photoresist pattern and the etch stop layer.
US08043930B2	Semiconductor memory device and method of manufacturing the same A semiconductor memory device includes first and second element isolation insulating films, first and second gate insulating films, first and second gate wiring and first and second mask layer. First and second upper surfaces of the first and second element isolation insulating films are higher than an upper surface of the substrate, first and second bottom surfaces of the first and second element isolation insulating films are lower than the upper surface of the substrate, a second height from the upper surface of the substrate to the second upper surface is larger than a first height from the upper surface of the substrate to the first upper surface. A height from the upper surface of the substrate to an upper surface of the first mask layer equals a height from the upper surface of the substrate to an upper surface of the second mask layer.
US08043925B2	Method of forming capacitor of semiconductor memory device A method of forming a semiconductor memory device includes sequentially forming an etch stop layer and then a mold layer, forming a plurality of line-shaped support structures and a first sacrificial layer filling gaps between the support structures on the mold layer, sequentially forming a plurality of line-shaped first mask patterns, a second sacrificial layer, and then second mask patterns on the support structures and on the first sacrificial layer, removing the second sacrificial layer, the first sacrificial layer, and the mold layer using the first mask patterns, the second mask patterns, and the support structures as masks, removing the first mask patterns and second mask patterns, filling the storage node electrode holes with a conductive material and etching back the conductive material to expose the support structures, and removing the first sacrificial layer and the mold layer to form pillar-type storage node electrodes supported by the support structures.
US08043921B2	Nitride removal while protecting semiconductor surfaces for forming shallow junctions A method of removing silicon nitride over a semiconductor surface for forming shallow junctions. Sidewall spacers are formed along sidewalls of a gate stack that together define lightly doped drain (LDD) regions or source/drain (S/D) regions. At least one of the sidewall spacers, LDD regions and S/D regions include an exposed silicon nitride layer. The LDD or S/D regions include a protective dielectric layer formed directly on the semiconductor surface. Ion implanting implants the LDD regions or S/D regions using the sidewall spacers as implant masks. The exposed silicon nitride layer is selectively removed, wherein the protective dielectric layer when the sidewall spacers include the exposed silicon nitride layer, or a replacement protective dielectric layer formed directly on the semiconductor surface after ion implanting when the LDD or S/D regions include the exposed silicon nitride layer, protects the LDD or S/D regions from dopant loss due to etching during selectively removing.
US08043917B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a silicon substrate having first and second surfaces, the silicon substrate including no oxide film or an oxide film having a thickness no greater than 100 nm, forming a first oxide film at least on the second surface of the silicon substrate, forming a first film by covering at least the first surface, forming a mask pattern on the first surface by patterning the first film, forming a device separating region on the first surface by using the mask pattern as a mask, forming a gate insulating film on the first surface, forming a gate electrode on the first surface via the gate insulating film, forming a source and a drain one on each side of the gate electrode, and forming a wiring layer on the silicon substrate while maintaining the first oxide film on the second surface.
US08043910B2	Integrated semiconductor structure including a heterojunction bipolar transistor and a Schottky diode An integrated semiconductor structure includes a heterojunction bipolar transistor and a Schottky diode. The structure has a substrate, the heterojunction bipolar transistor overlying and contacting the substrate, wherein the heterojunction bipolar transistor includes a transistor collector layer, and a Schottky diode overlying the substrate and overlying the transistor collector layer. The Schottky diode includes a Schottky diode barrier layer structure that desirably is not of the same material, doping, and thickness as the transistor collector layer.
US08043907B2	Atomic layer deposition processes for non-volatile memory devices Embodiments of the invention provide memory devices and methods for forming such memory devices. In one embodiment, a method for fabricating a non-volatile memory device on a substrate is provided which includes depositing a first polysilicon layer on a substrate surface, depositing a silicon oxide layer on the first polysilicon layer, depositing a first silicon oxynitride layer on the silicon oxide layer, depositing a silicon nitride layer on the first silicon oxynitride layer, depositing a second silicon oxynitride layer on the silicon nitride layer, and depositing a second polysilicon layer on the second silicon oxynitride layer. In some examples, the first polysilicon layer is a floating gate and the second polysilicon layer is a control gate.
US08043897B2	Method for forming micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) package A method for forming a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) package includes following steps. A plurality of MEMS units are formed on a substrate, and each of the MEMS units includes at least a MEMS sensing element and a first chamber over the MEMS sensing element. The MEMS units include electric connection pads. A plurality of covering units are formed correspondingly over the MEMS units. Each of the covering units provides a second chamber over the MEMS sensing element opposite to the first chamber. The covering units are adhered to the MEMS units by an adhesive material. The MEMS units are diced into singulated units.
US08043875B2	LED packaging method An LED packaging method provides a package that includes a substrate, a LED chip, a carbon naonotube thin film and an adhesive layer. The LED chip includes an anode and a cathode. The carbon naonotube thin film includes at least two electrically conductive areas spaced from each other. The anode and the cathode are electrically connected to the adjacent electrically conductive areas. The adhesive layer is coated on the LED chip and the carbon nanotube thin film.
US08043867B2	Assay test strips and reading same An assay test strip includes a flow path, a sample receiving zone, a label, a detection zone that includes a region of interest, and at least one position marker. The at least one position marker is aligned with respect to the region of interest such that location of the at least one position marker indicates a position of the region of interest. A diagnostic test system includes a reader that obtains light intensity measurement from exposed regions of the test strip, and a data analyzer that performs at least one of (a) identifying ones of the light intensity measurements obtained from the test region based on at least one measurement obtained from the at least one reference feature, and (b) generating a control signal modifying at least one operational parameter of the reader based on at least one measurement obtained from the at least one reference feature.
US08043856B2	Adenoviral vectors for influenza virus production The invention provides adenovirus and retrovirus vectors useful to prepare influenza virus. Also provided is a canine RNA polymerase I promoter and vectors having that promoter.
US08043853B2	Postnatal gut neural crest stem cells The present invention relates to compositions and methods employing postnatal (e.g., adult) neural crest stem cells. The stem cells are multipotent and differentiate when transplanted in vivo. Transplantation methods are provided for therapeutic, diagnostic, and research applications.
US08043847B2	System including a tunable light and method for using same The present invention provides a system and method for providing light, which can be used to promote growth of biological material. The light includes a ceramic core, including a catalyst and a containment vessel. Light forms as fuel is ignited within the containment vessel. Use of the ceramic core increases the efficiency of the light are reduces undesired gas emissions from the light.
US08043838B2	Electroporation cuvette with spatially variable electric field An electroporation cuvette is constructed with electroporation electrodes arranged in non-parallel relation to form a gap whose width varies with the location within the cuvette, plus a pair of positioning electrodes that are arranged to cause electrophoretic migration of biological cells within the cuvette according to cell size. Once the cells, suspended in a solution of the impregnant, are distributed in the cuvette by the positioning electrodes, electric field pulses are generated by the non-parallel electroporation electrodes. Because of their distribution in the cuvette, the various cells will experience voltage differentials across their widths that approach uniformity regardless of cell diameter, since the larger cells will be positioned at locations where the gap between the electrodes is greater and the smaller cells at locations where the gap is relatively small while the voltage drop across the entire gap is uniform along the length of the cell. The voltage differential across the width of the cell is thus roughly paired with the cell diameter, and this reduces the disparity in voltage differential that cells of different sizes would otherwise experience with parallel electrodes.
US08043837B2	Aldolases, nucleic acids encoding them and methods for making and using them This invention relates to polypeptides having aldolase activity, including pyruvate activity such as, without limitation, HMG and/or KHG aldolase activity, polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides, and methods of making and using these polynucleotides and polypeptides. In some embodiments, the invention is directed to polypeptides having aldolase activity, including pyruvate activity such as, without limitation, HMG and/or KHG aldolase activity, including thermostable and thermotolerant activity, and polynucleotides encoding these enzymes, and making and using these polynucleotides and polypeptides. The polypeptides in accordance with the invention can be used in a variety of pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial contexts. In some embodiments, the invention provides polypeptides and biosynthetic pathways that are useful in the production of R-2-hydroxy 2-(indol-3ylmethyl)-4-keto glutaric acid (R-MP) and certain stereoisomers of monatin, such as R,R and S,R monatin, and salts thereof, as well as certain stereoisomers of monatin derivatives, such as the R,R and S,R configurations, and salts thereof.
US08043835B1	Methods for detecting and monitoring cancer using extracellular RNA The invention provides methods, reagents and kits for using extracellular RNA in bodily fluids including plasma and serum to detect, infer, or monitor diseases such as cancer and other neoplasia.
US08043834B2	Universal reagents for rolling circle amplification and methods of use Disclosed are compositions and methods useful for labeling and detection of analytes. The compositions generally are associations of three components: reporter binding agents, amplification target circles, and DNA polymerase. The compositions are assembled prior to their use in a rolling circle amplification reaction and can be stored and transported prior to use without substantial loss of activity. The reporter binding agents generally are composed of a specific binding molecule and a rolling circle replication primer. The specific binding molecule can be specific for a target molecule. The rolling circle replication primer has sequence complementary to the amplification target circle. The DNA polymerase can interact with the rolling circle replication primer and amplification target circle. For use as a general reagent, the specific binding molecule is not bound to the target molecule until the composition is used in an assay.
US08043815B2	Methods for analysis of PDEF and survivin as interconnected cancer biomarkers and targets for personalized medicine Provided are methods for determining whether an individual is a candidate to receive treatment with a DNA methylation inhibitor. The method can be performed a biological sample of cancerous tissue of the individual. Determining that PDEF expression is absent or low and survivin expression is present identifies the individual as a candidate to receive a treatment with a DNA methylation inhibitor. The method also includes communicating the result of identifying an individual as a candidate for receiving a DNA methylation inhibitor to a health care provider.
US08043814B2	Thermoelectric method of sequencing nucleic acids The present invention relates to a novel thermoelectric method for determining the sequence of nucleotides on a nucleic acid molecule through use of a thermopile and/or sequencing reagents flowing under the conditions of laminar flow. The methods disclosed herein involve the measurement of the heat generated by a deoxynucleotide incorporation event that can be accomplished without the need to control the temperature of any of a thermopile's junctions.
US08043811B2	Purification method and kits A method for separating nucleic acid from a liquid sample, said method comprising the steps of causing a liquid sample containing or suspected of containing said nucleic acid to flow along a bibulous membrane, for example of a conventional lateral flow device, so that nucleic acid is distributed along the length of the membrane. The nucleic acid may be detected on the membrane.
US08043810B2	Analyte detection using autocatalytic chain reactions Compositions and methods for detecting the presence of analytes employing autocatalytic chain reactions (ACR) having super linear kinetics for amplification of signal are disclosed.
US08043807B2	Methods and kits for determining a risk to develop cancer, for evaluating an effectiveness and dosage of cancer therapy and for correlating between an activity of a DNA repair enzyme and a cancer Methods and kits for (i) determining a risk of a subject to develop cancer; (ii) evaluating an effectiveness and dosage of cancer therapy administered to a cancer patient; and (iii) determining a presence of correlation or non-correlation between an activity of at least one DNA repair enzyme and at least one cancer, are disclosed.
US08043800B2	Photosensitive material for forming conductive film, and conductive material A photosensitive material for forming a conductive film including a silver salt-containing emulsion layer, and a conductive layer containing conductive fibers, wherein the amount of the conductive fibers in the conductive layer is 0.005 g/m2 to 0.2 g/m2.
US08043798B2	Method of forming fine patterns It is disclosed a method of forming fine patterns comprising: covering a substrate having photoresist patterns thereon made of a photoresist composition which is sensitive to high energy light rays with wavelength of 200 nm or shorter or electron beam radiation, with an over-coating agent for forming fine patterns, applying heat treatment to cause thermal shrinkage of the over-coating agent so that the spacing between adjacent photoresist patterns is lessened by the resulting thermal shrinking action, and removing the over-coating agent substantially completely. The present invention provides a method of forming fine patterns whereby fine patterns having pattern width or diameter of 100 nm or shorter and being excellent in uniformity (in-plane uniformity), etc. can be formed by ultrafine processing using high energy light rays with wavelength of 200 nm or shorter or electron beams.
US08043795B2	Method of forming resist pattern Disclosed is a method of forming a resist pattern, including: applying a positive resist composition on a support 1 to form a first resist film 2; selectively exposing the first resist film 2 through a first mask pattern, and developing it to form a first resist pattern 3; applying a negative resist composition including an organic solvent (S″) containing an alcohol-based organic solvent on the support 1 that the first resist pattern 3 is formed, thereby forming a second resist film 6; and selectively exposing the second resist film 6 through a second mask pattern, and developing it to form a resist pattern denser than the first resist pattern 3.
US08043793B2	Method for manufacturing electroluminescence element The present invention provides a method for manufacturing an electroluminescence element that has a light emitting layer containing a quantum dot and exhibits excellent life characteristics. In the method, patterning of the light emitting layer can be stably performed by a lift-off method. A photoresist layer is formed on a substrate having a first electrode layer. The photoresist layer is then exposed, developed, and patterned to ensure that a portion of the photoresist layer, which is located in a light emission area, is removed. A coating liquid containing a quantum dot having a silane coupling agent attached to the surface thereof is coated on the resultant substrate having the patterned photoresist layer and cured to form a light emitting layer. The remaining photoresist layer is then removed to lift off a portion of the light emitting layer, which is present on the photoresist layer.
US08043779B2	Pulverized toner To provide a pulverized toner excellent in the releasing ability and cleaning ability, and an image-forming apparatus for one-component developer, and a process cartridge using the pulverized toner. The pulverized toner contains a toner base particle containing at least a binder resin, a colorant, and a releasing agent, the mass ratio of the releasing agent to the binder resin is 3.0% to 6.0%, the adhesive force among the pulverized toners at 25° C. to 55° C. is 20 g to 80 g, and the pulverized toner is used for the image-forming apparatus for one-component developer containing the cleaning unit configured to dispose an elastic blade adjacent to the surface of the image bearing member so as to clean the surface.
US08043772B2	Manufacturing method and manufacturing system of semiconductor device In an exposure process forming a predetermined circuit pattern of a semiconductor device on a wafer, a resist dimension of the resist pattern formed on a wafer and a focus position in the exposure process at a past time are measured. A resist dimension and a focus position of a wafer to which the exposure process is secondly performed are estimated by using measurement results of the measured resist dimension and focus position, and a focus offset value is calculated by using estimated values of the estimated resist dimension and focus position. Then, an exposure dose is calculated with considering this focus offset value, and a resist pattern is formed on the wafer to which the exposure process is performed by using the calculated exposure dose and focus offset value.
US08043768B2	Liquid tank using fuel cell system and liquid level detection device A liquid tank capable of detecting liquid level when the tank is rotated. The liquid tank includes an airtight vessel to store the liquid; and at least two electrodes installed inside the airtight vessel. The distal ends of the electrodes are positioned at a central volume of the airtight vessel. A fuel cell adopting the liquid tank maintains the liquid level in the tank near 50% of the full level even when the fuel cell is rotated.
US08043765B2	Fuel cell system comprising vapor-phase fuel supplying system A fuel cell system is provided with a first separation layer and a buffer solution layer disposed between a liquid-phase fuel storage layer and an anode of a membrane electrode assembly. A vapor-phase fuel is transferred to the buffer solution layer through the first separation layer, condensed, and diluted to produce a liquid-phase fuel with a low concentration in the buffer solution layer, and the low concentration liquid-phase fuel is supplied to the membrane electrode assembly. A second separation layer may be interposed between the first separation layer and the fuel storage layer. Fuel is supplied by a passive supplying method so that the system can be small with a high efficiency and unnecessary power consumption can be prevented. The fuel cell system can be operated regardless of orientation.
US08043753B2	Method of operating a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell and aging apparatus In a first aging step, a plus electrode electric potential is applied to an anode of a fuel cell, and a minus electrode electric potential is applied to a cathode of the fuel cell. In this state, hydrogen pump operation is performed at maximum current density in use by supplying humidified hydrogen to the anode without supplying any oxygen-containing gas to the cathode. Thus, the hydrogen passes through a solid polymer electrolyte membrane toward the cathode. After the first aging step, in a second aging step, power generation of the fuel cell is performed at the maximum current density.
US08043747B2	Binder resin composition for nonaqueous electrolyte energy device electrode, nonaqueous electrolyte energy device electrode, and nonaqueous electrolyte energy device A binder resin composition, and an electrode for nonaqueous electrolyte energy devices and a nonaqueous electrolyte energy device including the binder resin composition. The binder resin composition includes a copolymer that contains a repeat unit derived from a nitrile group-containing monomer; a repeat unit derived from a monomer represented by Formula (I) (wherein R1 is H or CH3; R2 is H or monovalent hydrocarbonyl group; and n is an integer from 1 to 50) and/or a repeat unit derived from a monomer represented by Formula (II) (wherein R3 is H or CH3 and R4 is hydrogen or C4-100 alkyl); and optionally a repeat unit derived from a carboxyl group-containing monomer.
US08043733B2	Bit patterned medium A bit patterned medium in which an exchange coupling layer induces exchange coupling between adjacent bits in order to reduce a switching field difference resulting from different magnetization directions of bits. The exchange coupling layer is disposed either over or under a recording layer having a plurality of bits. The exchange coupling layer induces exchange coupling between a bit which is to be recorded and an adjacent bit and reduces a switching field difference resulting from a difference between the magnetization direction of the bit to be recorded and the magnetization direction of neighboring bits due to an exchange coupling force generated during the exchange coupling.
US08043729B2	Coated cutting tool insert The present invention discloses a coated cutting tool insert particularly useful for dry and wet machining, preferably milling, in low and medium alloyed steels, stainless steels, with or without raw surface zones under severe conditions such as vibrations, long overhang and recutting of chips. The insert is characterized by WC—Co cemented carbide with a W and Cr alloyed Co-binder phase and a coating including at least three TiCxNyOz layers and a top layer at least on the rake face of a smooth α-Al2O3.
US08043724B2	Phenyl and fluorenyl substituted phenyl-pyrazole complexes of Ir The invention provides emissive materials and organic light emitting devices using the emissive materials in an emissive layer disposed between and electrically connected to an anode and a cathode. The emissive materials include compounds with the following structure: wherein at least one of R8 to R14 is phenyl or substituted phenyl, and/or at least two of R8 to R14 that are adjacent are part of a fluorenyl group. The emissive materials have enhanced electroluminescent efficiency and improved lifetime when incorporated into light emitting devices.
US08043721B2	Method of making multilayer structures using tapes on non-densifying substrates A method of applying a ceramic coating to a substrate comprises laminating one or more layers of a green ceramic tape to a rigid substrate using a tackifying resin to adhere the tape to the substrate. Upon firing, the tackifying resin ensures near zero shrinkage of the tape in the XY plane without usage of elevated pressures or temperatures during lamination of green tape to the substrate. The thermal degradation completion temperature of the tackifying resin is lower than that of the resin binder used in the green tape.
US08043703B2	Thermally conductive graphite reinforced alloys Embodiments of the present invention provide composite bodies having a discontinuous graphite preform and at least one silicon-bearing metal alloy infiltrant. Embodiments of the present invention also provide methods for producing such composite bodies. The metal alloy is preferably comprised of aluminum, copper, or magnesium, or combinations thereof. Certain preferred embodiments provide at least one aluminum alloy having from about 5% silicon to about 30% silicon, more preferably from about 11% to about 13% silicon, as an alloying element. Certain presently preferred embodiments provide an aluminum-silicon eutectic composition having about 12.5% silicon. Embodiments of the invention provide composite materials be “tuned” to more closely match thermal expansion characteristics of a number of semiconductor or integrated circuit materials such as, but not limited to, silicon, alumina, aluminum nitride, gallium nitride, and gallium arsenide while also providing high thermal conductivity. Embodiments of the present invention are especially suited for use as a heat sink, a heat spreader, or both.
US08043700B2	Bicomponent superabsorbent fibre A multicomponent superabsorbent fiber includes a first superabsorbent material and a second superabsorbent material. In at least a part of the length direction (L) of the superabsorbent fiber, the first superabsorbent material and the second superabsorbent material are located side-by-side in the cross-direction (C) of the superabsorbent fiber. The first and second superabsorbent materials are selected such that at a given point during their swelling, the swelling capacity (SC) of the first superabsorbent material is greater than the swelling capacity of the second superabsorbent material so that the superabsorbent fiber (10) curls upon contact with liquid. Also, a method for reducing gel-blocking in a superabsorbent fiber.
US08043699B2	Compositions and methods for maintaining or restoring adhesive properties of a selectively-resealable adhesive In one embodiment, a method for restoring adhesive strength of an adhesive that has lost at least some of its adhesive strength includes applying a restoration agent to the adhesive. In one embodiment, a selectively-releasable adhesive includes a copolymer formed from a multifunctional alcohol and a multifunctional carboxylic acid, wherein the copolymer has been cured the equivalent of less than approximately 9 hours at approximately 120° C. and 100 milliTorr.
US08043695B2	Heat shrinkable foamed sheet In some preferred embodiments, a heat shrinkable foamed sheet has a foamed layer (2) constituting a core layer, and a non-foamed layer (3) constituting a surface skin layer integrally formed on the formed layer. The non-foamed layer (3) is less than about 1.55 μm in maximum surface smoothness measured in accordance with ISO8791-4. Alternatively, by regulating various dimensions of foam cells formed in the foamed layer (2) so as to fall within predetermined ranges, a heat shrinkable foamed sheet excellent in surface smoothness and printing nature can be obtained.
US08043687B2	Structure including a graphene layer and method for forming the same A method for forming a graphene layer is disclosed herein. The method includes establishing an insulating layer on a substrate such that at least one seed region, which exposes a surface of the substrate, is formed. A seed material in the seed region is exposed to a carbon-containing precursor gas, thereby initiating nucleation of the graphene layer on the seed material and enabling lateral growth of the graphene layer along at least a portion of a surface of the insulating layer.
US08043686B2	Method of moulding composite member, and composite member A method of moulding a composite member and a composite member are provided in which a convex part can be formed at one member by moulding the other member integrally to the one member. A concave part 10a is provided at least at a part inside a metal mould 10 located on the side opposite the second member fusion bonding surface side of the above-mentioned first member 6b, the above-mentioned second thermoplastic material is melted and ejected to the second member fusion bonding surface side of the first member 6b, the first member 6b is changed in shape by injection pressure of the melted second thermoplastic material, and a convex part 6a is formed at the first member.
US08043685B2	Sheet having elastic property and slip property, and solvent dispensing container using the sheet The object of the present invention is to provide a sheet applicable for closing an opening of a liquid dispensing container for a liquid handling system used in chemical experiments, in which the sheet is capable of preventing natural volatilization of a liquid in the container even if the tip is frequently inserted and drawn, and also facilitating inserting and drawing of the tip. The composite sheet of the present invention comprises a sheet having elastic property and another sheet having slip property wherein the sheets are stacked.The composite sheet of the present invention can be used to close an opening of a liquid dispensing container for a liquid handling system used in chemical experiments. It can prevent volatilization of the solvent, and also facilitate inserting and drawing of the tip.
US08043683B2	Thermoplastic film A thermoplastic film for the interior paneling of motor vehicles has a top layer with a structured surface layer and a foamed layer on the underside and with indentations or material weak points introduced on the reverse side. The top layer has a residual thickness of at least 35% in the region of the indentations and the foamed layer has a thickness between 15 and 50% of the density of the compact top layer.
US08043667B1	Method to improve mechanical strength of low-K dielectric film using modulated UV exposure Methods and apparatus for improving mechanical properties of a dielectric film on a substrate are provided. In some embodiments, the dielectric film is a carbon-doped oxide (CDO). The methods involve the use of modulated ultraviolet radiation to increase the mechanical strength while limiting shrinkage and limiting any increases in the dielectric constant of the film. Methods improve film hardness, modulus and cohesive strength, which provide better integration capability and improved performance in the subsequent device fabrication procedures such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and packaging.
US08043664B2	EVA blend compositions suitable for RF welding applications Disclosed are films obtained from blends of ethylene copolymers with organic acid salt-modified potassium ionomeric copolymers. The films of the present invention can be welded using RF energy.
US08043663B2	Process for the coating of objects Process for the coating of objects, comprising contacting the objects with a composition comprising an additive, a film-forming binder and optionally a distributing agent, at a temperature below the softening temperature Tp of the objects and at a temperature at which the binder can form a film, forming and consolidating an additive-containing layer of binder on the surface of the objects, the objects being kept in mutual motion while they are being contacted with the composition and while the additive-containing layer of binder is being formed and consolidated, which process is carried out in a container bounded by walls of which the temperature of the walls is so much lower than the application temperature that formation of a film of the binder on the walls is prevented.
US08043662B2	Aqueous solution for surface treatment of metal and method for preventing discoloration of metal surface To provide a solder-plating film which has good solder wettability and with which discoloration and twisting of the tin film after heat treatment are prevented. A method and a solution for surface treating a tin film are disclosed. The aqueous solution contains specific compounds and is brought into contact with a tin-plating film before reflow treatment of the tin film.
US08043658B2	Resistive heater geometry and regeneration method for a diesel particulate filter One embodiment of the invention includes a diesel particulate filter comprising a first face and a second face; a bottom electrode layer formed over the first face of the diesel particulate filter; a middle resistive layer formed over a portion of the bottom electrode layer; and a top electrode layer formed over a portion of the middle resistive layer.
US08043655B2	Low-energy method of manufacturing bulk metallic structures with submicron grain sizes Three dimensionally large metallic structures comprised of submicron grain sizes are produced by a process which includes directing a supersonic powder jet against a substrate such that the powder adheres to the substrate and to itself to form a dense cohesive deposit. The powder jet may be comprised of refractory metal powders. The powder may be deposited by a supersonic jet and may be extruded by Equi channel angular extrusion.
US08043648B2	Edible emulsions with mineral Edible water-in-oil emulsion comprising a source of mineral and 15 to 95 wt % fat, wherein the mineral is present in the aqueous phase and wherein the mineral is in-homogenously distributed over the aqueous phase and a process for making such an emulsion.
US08043647B1	Sugar replacement The invention is a low calorie sugar substitute suitable for use as a sugar replacement, including use in activities such as baking and cooking. It is a combination of an intense sweetener and a bulking agent. The intense sweetener is acesulfame potassium. The bulking agent is either erythritol or a mixture of gluco-mannitol and gluco-sorbitol. Preferably the ratio of intense sweetener to the bulking agent is in the range of 0.20 to 0.35 percent by weight.
US08043644B2	Method for exposing comminuted foodstuffs to a processing fluid A method includes producing a flowing sheet of comminuted foodstuff and then exposing the flowing sheet of material to a processing fluid in at least one of the major surfaces of the sheet. The transverse dimension of the flowing sheet of material may be generally equal to a dimension of the foodstuff pieces making up the comminuted foodstuff. The processing fluid may enter the sheet of material through one or both of the opposing surfaces used to form the sheet. Discrete openings may be formed through a wall of material used to form one of the major surfaces of the flowing sheet of material, and the processing fluid may be applied through such discrete openings. The processing fluid may also be applied through a porous and permeable material included in, or making up, a wall used to form one of the major surfaces of the flowing sheet of material.
US08043643B1	Coated cereal pieces Cereal pieces at least partially coated with a composition typically containing a starch component, generally a wheat starch or a dextrin component, are provided. The coating composition provides the cereal pieces with enhanced resistance to breakage and superior ability to retain their texture and strength in milk or other liquids compared to traditional cereal pieces.
US08043634B2	Drug and/or food supplement containing NISYLEN, Cepa, Euphrasia, Belladonna and/or Mercurius solubilis The present disclosure relates to a drug and/or food supplement with antiviral effects, in particular for the preventive and/or therapeutic treatment of herpes labialis and/or herpes genitalis, and/or with antibacterial and/or immunomodulating and/or antiphlogistic effects and/or for the preventive and/or therapeutic treatment of affections of the prostate, containing NISYLEN® and/or Cepa and/or Euphrasia and/or Belladonna and/or Mercurius solubilis.
US08043622B2	Method of treating inflammatory lung disease with suppressors of CpG oligonucleotides The present disclosure relates to oligodeoxynucleotides that suppress an immune response. Methods are disclosed for inhibiting or treating inflammatory lung disease by administering a therapeutically effective amount of a suppressive oligodeoxynucleotide.
US08043606B2	Polymeric compositions for sustained release of volatile materials A polymeric composition comprising a copolymer of ethylene with at least another monomer comprising at least a heteroatom, a tackifier, less than 10% of a compatible plasticizer or blend of plasticizers and a volatile material. The compositions are able to deliver effectively the volatile material incorporated for a long time and also have good adhesion properties on most substrates.
US08043602B2	Folate targeted enhanced tumor and folate receptor positive tissue optical imaging technology A method of differentiating tumors from healthy cells in tissue is disclosed. The method includes the steps of providing a marker-folate conjugate, placing the marker-folate conjugate in contact with the tissue and viewing the tissue.
US08043597B2	Process and apparatus for the combustion of sulfur A process for a combustion of sulfur with an oxygen-containing gas to produce sulfur dioxide. The process includes introducing the sulfur and the oxygen-containing gas to a furnace. The sulfur is evaporated and subsequently a portion of the sulfur is oxidized to sulfur dioxide under sub-stoichiometric conditions in a first portion of the furnace. The sulfur dioxide formed in the first furnace portion is introduced together with any unoxidized sulfur to a second portion of the furnace which is disposed adjacent to the first furnace portion. The sulfur dioxide and unoxidized sulfur are subjected to post-combustion with the oxygen-containing gas in an inlet of a downstream waste heat boiler.
US08043595B2	Mesoporous carbon including heteroatom, manufacturing method thereof, and fuel cell using the mesoporous carbon Provided are a mesoporous carbon containing at least one heteroatom boron and phosphorus, a manufacturing method thereof, and a fuel cell using the same. The mesoporous carbon contains a heteroatom such as boron and phosphorous to reduce sheet resistance, and thus can efficiently transfer electric energy. Such a mesoporous carbon can be used as a conductive material of electrodes for fuel cells. When the mesoporous carbon is used as a support for catalysts of electrodes, a supported catalyst containing the support can be used to manufacture a fuel cell having high efficiency.
US08043591B2	Process for preparing trichloromonosilane A process for preparing trichloromonosilane, in which silicon particles are reacted with hydrogen chloride in a fluidized bed reactor, wherein the silicon particles used are a silicon dust which is obtained as a waste product in the preparation of defined silicon particle size fractions from lump-form silicon and the silicon dust is introduced directly into the reactor.
US08043587B2	Reverse flow reactor A reactor cools humidifies gases produced by combustion or the like. The reactor has a chamber with an inlet at a lower end to receive a flow of gas, and an outlet at a upper end. The gas flows in a generally upward direction through the reactor. The horizontal cross-section of the chamber increases with height and the flow velocity of the gas decreases as it flows upwardly. The reactor includes at least one device for injecting water droplets into the upper region of the chamber, counter to the gas flow. As the water droplets fall, they gradually evaporate and lose mass and encounter a counterflow of increasingly higher velocity and temperature until the force of the upwardly flowing gas is sufficient to reverse their flow and carry them in an upward direction.
US08043577B2	Method and device for nozzle-jetting oxygen into a synthesis reactor With the help of a method and device for nozzle-jetting oxygen into a synthesis reactor, e.g. for oxy-dehydration, with largely axial flow of the gas mixture through a catalyst bed, it is intended to vastly improve the mixing-in and mixing-through of oxygen above the catalyst especially for oxy-dehydration process.This is achieved by feeding the oxygen to a ring distributor system arranged above the catalyst bed in pure form, as air or mixed with inert gas or water vapor and jetting the oxygen onto the catalyst surface through several exit openings in the ring distributor at an inclined angle deviating from the vertical.
US08043575B2	Reactor system and process for the manufacture of ethylene oxide A reactor system for the oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide. The reactor system includes a reactor tube that contains a packed bed of shaped support material that can include a catalytic component. The shaped support material has a hollow cylinder geometric configuration. The reactor system has specific combinations of reactor tube and catalyst system geometries.
US08043572B2	Rolling regeneration diesel particulate trap A rolling regeneration diesel particulate filter and filtering process that utilizes NO produced in the process to generate additional amounts of NO2 than the NO2 produced by the diesel engine. The process includes the step of flowing diesel engine combustion exhaust through a filter system including a first section and a second section. The first section is positioned upstream of the second section with respect to the direction of the flow of the diesel engine exhaust through the filter. The first section includes a foam constructed and arranged to trap carbon-based particulates in the exhaust. A first catalyst is carried by the foam to promote the conversion of NO in the exhaust from the diesel engine to NO2. The first catalyst also promotes the reaction of NO2 with at least a portion of the carbon-based particulates trapped by the foam to form CO and NO. The first catalyst carried by the foam also promotes the oxidation of CO to CO2, and the oxidation of NO, generated by the reaction of NO2 with carbon, to generate additional amounts of NO2.
US08043570B2	Device for diffusing volatile agents, provided with a cartridge extraction means The invention relates to a diffusion device (1) for an automotive vehicle. The diffusion device (1) comprises a housing (2) with an ambient air inlet (3), a treated air outlet (3), a diffusion chamber (4) and an insert (7). The insert (7) is located inside the diffusion chamber (4) and contains at least one volatile agent (AV1). The insert (7) can rotate via an electric motor (12) for selectively diffusing or not the volatile agent (AV1). The diffusion device (1) also comprises a blower (13) fixed on the housing (2). The insert (7) comprises a member (15) which carries two cartridges (8, 9) containing volatile agent. The member (15) rotates with the insert (7) and can be axially displaced by extraction means. These extraction means expels the member (15) out of the housing (2) when the user pushes on the cap (14).
US08043567B2	Gas sensor A gas sensor which includes walls delimiting a gas detection chamber, and having an introduction port (or an inlet) through which an observed gas is introduced into the gas detection chamber, a measuring element disposed in the gas detection chamber and measuring concentration of a subject gas contained in the observed gas, and a heater constituting at least a portion of the walls, the portion facing the gas detection chamber.
US08043564B2	Copolymer, and adsorbent or concentrating medium and needle for solid phase microextraction prepared using the copolymer Described is a copolymer of methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate which does not have any specificity to general organic solvents, can thus adsorb wide variety of the organic solvents, shows almost no desorption-adsorption hysteresis and therefore, is excellent in desorption characteristics. Also described is a method for the preparation of the copolymer; an adsorbent or a concentrating medium comprising the copolymer; a loop used in an injector for chromatography which is packed with the adsorbent or concentrating medium; a needle for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) which is packed with the adsorbent or concentrating medium; a kit for the preparation of a sample comprising the needle for SPME; a method for concentrating a sample; and a method for analyzing an analyte present in a sample.
US08043562B2	Analyzer having removable holders or a centrifuge An analyzer, preferably a desktop analyzer, includes: a component transport system; a liquid dispense or aspirating station; a member removably located on the transport system. The removable holder includes: a probe tip dispenser; a fluid supply section for holding a sample; a test element recess for holding one or more test elements or test element holders, wherein the removable holder is configured to contain the test element recess such that a test element can be acted upon by the liquid dispense or aspirating station, while the test element is in the recess; and a measurement device to analyze a sample. Another aspect provides a removable centrifuge model on the transport system, which separates samples, such as whole blood before analysis.
US08043560B2	Automatic analyzer An automatic analyzer using a reaction vessels of disposable type is provided which is compact in construction and with high accuracy of measurement.The analyzer is comprised with a reaction container which is capable of having a plurality of cuvettes of disposable type set therein, an extracting and injecting unit for injecting a first reagent, a specimen and a second reagent into a disposable cuvette, a light measuring unit for emitting light to the cuvette, and for measuring absorbance thereof and a CPU for producing a calculated value based on outputs of the light measuring unit.The light measuring unit measures absorbance of the first reagent, specimen and second reagent injected into and reacted with each other in a disposable cuvette, and also measures an air blank value representing absorbance of an empty disposable cuvette and a first reagent blank value representing absorbance of a disposable cuvette having first reagent in the cuvette (S104, S106). The CPU compensates the absorbance based on at least one of the air blank value and the first reagent blank value (S112, S113).
US08043556B2	Ablutionary installations An ablutionary installation including a mixing valve having respective inlets for hot and cold water and an outlet for temperature controlled water, a temperature sensor for monitoring outlet water temperature and providing a signal representative of the outlet water temperature to an electronic controller, a user interface permitting selection of outlet water temperature up to a pre-determined temperature, the electronic controller being operable to compare the selected and sensed outlet water temperatures for controlling the mixing valve to adjust the ratio of hot and cold water delivered to the outlet according to the selected outlet water temperature, and apparatus for initiating a disinfection cycle to deliver water to the outlet at a temperature higher than the pre-determined temperature, wherein the initiating apparatus includes an operating sequence with at least two inputs.
US08043554B2	Manufacturing process using bladderless mold line conformal hat stringer Techniques for manufacturing structures that include composite hat stringers are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of forming a composite structure includes placing a generally cured composite hat stringer on a tool, the hat stringer having a rigid mold line conformal surface for adjoining a generally uncured skin, positioning the skin adjacent to the rigid mold line conformal surface, coupling the skin to the rigid mold line conformal surface of the composite hat stringer, including applying a pressure to a surface of the skin to urge the skin into engagement with the composite hat stringer, and curing the skin.
US08043544B2	Method of manufacturing an encapsulated package for a magnetic device A method of manufacturing an encapsulated package for a magnetic device on a substrate. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a magnetic core on the substrate and placing a shielding structure over the magnetic core to create a chamber thereabout. The method also includes depositing an encapsulant about a portion of the magnetic core within the chamber. The shielding structure limits the encapsulant entering the chamber.
US08043542B2	Method for the production of fiber-reinforced polypropylene molded parts containing pores Low density and acoustically absorbing panels are produced by consolidation in a mold of a heated part of a pre-cut, lofty, semi-finished product containing polypropylene fibers and reinforcing fibers and having an air pore content of 20 to 80 vol.-% wherein overlapping with the periphery of the pre-cut part are heated strips of polypropylene optionally containing up to 60 wt.-% reinforcing fibers, but containing 5 vol.-% or less of air pores.
US08043537B2	Injection molding system, computer program, method of injection molding, and injection molding machine There are provided an injection molding system, a computer program, a method of injection molding, and an injection molding machine capable of performing precise temperature control of a mold even when there is a delay in temperature increase of the mold in heat supply with a heating medium. The temperature control is performed so that temperatures of a fixed mold and a movable mold are maintained between an upper limit TU and a lower limit TL of a predetermined temperature range after start of injection of resin during an injection molding cycle. The temperature control of the fixed mold and the movable mold is performed only by switching ON/OFF supply of the heating medium, and cooling with a cooling medium is not performed. In a process of cooling the resin, the temperature control is performed so that the temperatures of the fixed mold and the movable mold are maintained between an upper limit TUa and a lower limit TLa of a temperature range effective for resin annealing by stop of supply of the cooling medium and the supply and stop of the heating medium.
US08043534B2	Maleimide compositions and methods for use thereof The invention is based on the discovery that compositions containing certain maleimide compounds and aromatic diene compounds are useful as thermosetting resins for the electronic packaging industry. The invention compositions described herein can be cured in a variety of ways, with or without a catalyst. In some embodiments, the well-known “ene” reaction can be used to cure the compositions described herein, and therefore no catalyst is required.
US08043528B2	Luminescent material A luminescent material is provided, which comprises a crystalline phase including Y, Si, O and N, and an activator comprising Tb and Ce.
US08043524B2	Synthetic refrigeration oil composition for HFC applications Novel refrigeration compositions comprising at least one ester of a hydroxycarboxylic acid which can have a chain length in the range of from 8 to 22 carbon atoms. The composition can contain a carrier fluid or base oil selected from alkylbenzenes, alkylated naphthenics, polyalkylene glycols, polyvinylethers, polyalphaolefins, mineral oils, polyol esters, and combinations thereof, providing improved fluidity and heat transfer, and enhanced oil return. A method of making a refrigeration composition by preparing at least one ester by esterifying a first component comprising at least one hydroxycarboxylic acid with a second component comprising at least one alcohol and combining the at least one ester with a base oil selected from the group consisting of alkylbenzenes, alkylated naphthenics, polyalkylene glycols, polyvinylethers, polyalphaolefins, mineral oils, polyol esters, and combinations thereof.
US08043521B2	Processing apparatus A processing method of subjecting at least two stacked films, which comprise a first film and a second film of a target object to be processed, to a removing process by wet etching comprises bringing a first process liquid into contact with the first film of the target object, thereby etching the first film, determining whether the first film has been removed or not, switching the first process liquid to a second process liquid differing in a condition from the first process liquid when it has been determined that the first film has been removed, and bringing the second process liquid into contact with the second film, thereby etching the second film.
US08043513B2	Gimbal-less micro-electro-mechanical-system tip-tilt and tip-tilt-piston actuators and a method for forming the same Fully monolithic gimbal-less micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) devices with large static optical beam deflection and fabrications methods are disclosed. The devices can achieve high speed of operation for both axes. Actuators are connected to a device, or device mount by linkages that allow static two-axis rotation in addition to pistoning without the need for gimbals, or specialized isolation technologies. The device may be actuated by vertical comb-drive actuators, which are coupled by bi-axial flexures to a central micromirror or device mount. Devices may be fabricated by etching an upper layer both from the top side and from the bottom side to form beams at different levels. The beams include a plurality of lower beams, a plurality of full-thickness beams, and a plurality of upper beams, the lower, full-thickness and upper beams That form vertical combdrive actuators, suspension beams, flexures, and a device mount.
US08043508B2	Method for purifying suspended water by membrane filtration A method for membrane filtration purification of suspended water, comprising filtering the suspended water under an external pressure through a porous hollow fiber membrane comprising a polyolefin, a copolymer of olefin and halogenated olefin, halogenated polyolefin or a mixture thereof and having an open area ratio in an outer surface of not less than 20% and a pore diameter in a minimum pore diameter layer of not smaller than 0.03 μm and not larger than 1 μm.
US08043507B2	Ion chromatography system using catalytic gas elimination A liquid chromatographic system is provided including catalytically combining hydrogen and oxygen gases in the chromatography eluent stream in a catalytic gas elimination chamber, to form water and thereby reduce the gas content in the eluent stream. Also, a liquid ion chromatographic system in which the effluent from the detector is recycled to a membrane suppressor and then is mixed with a source of eluent for recycle to the chromatographic column.
US08043505B2	Treatment equipment of organic waste and treatment method In treatment equipment of organic waste provided with a high temperature and pressure treatment apparatus to produce a slurried material by conducting the high temperature and high pressure treatment of the organic waste, a dehydration treatment apparatus to recover the dehydrated solid matter by conducting the dehydration treatment of the slurried material and a water treatment apparatus to conduct the purification treatment of a separated liquid separated by the dehydration treatment apparatus, the treatment equipment of organic waste is characterized by having a crusher to crush said organic waste before conducting the high pressure and temperature treatment and providing to said high temperature and pressure treatment apparatus a steam blowing means to blow steam into the organic waste in said high temperature and pressure treatment apparatus, wherein said high temperature and pressure treatment apparatus is formed as a continuous reaction tank to which the organic waste is continuously supplied and to which the steam is blown from the said steam blowing means to cause the reaction while heating, pressurizing and agitating, and wherein said water treatment apparatus is provided with a membrane separation treatment apparatus to conduct the separation treatment via the separation membrane as a condensed liquid of the residual solid matter in the separated liquid.
US08043499B2	Portable and autonomous desalination system The portable and autonomous desalination system is an autonomous reverse osmosis (RO) desalination system utilizing power from a combination of electricity generation and storage sources that include a photovoltaic (PV) unit, a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) unit, and an electricity storage unit. Electric power from PV, VAWT or storage units or a combination of these units is provided, depending upon the availability of sunlight or wind, or for night operation for water desalination using the reverse-osmosis process. The unit is portable, environmentally friendly, self-sufficient and self-sustaining in terms of supplying the electricity and fresh drinking water needs of the typical household. Multiple PV-VAWT-RO desalination units are combined together to provide fresh, clean water and electricity for communities of various sizes. A small-size, straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine runs at very low wind speeds for urban operation.
US08043496B1	System for extracting oil from algae A method and apparatus for extracting oil from algae comprises a disruptor (125) having a plurality of deflectors (220 and 225) against which a mixture of algae and water (100) is forcibly impacted upon the urging of a pump (115). The impacting of the algal cells against the deflectors ruptures their cell walls and liberates the lipids (oil) and other materials contained therein. A tank (130) collects the mixture and after a settling period, the mixture forms at least three layers comprising oil (155), water (160), and algal residue (165). The oil layer is removed through one or more conduits (177, 178) into a holding tank (185) for further refining and use. The water is discarded, and the biomass residue comprising algal cell walls and other non-oil components is removed to another holding container (199) from which it can be discarded or used as an agricultural fertilizer or the like. If desired, the residue can be further treated in order to scavenge any remaining oil.
US08043495B2	Process to hydrodesulfurize FCC gasoline resulting in a low-mercaptan product A process for reducing the sulfur content of a hydrocarbon stream, including: feeding a hydrocarbon stream including sulfur compounds to a catalytic distillation reactor having one or more hydrodesulfurization reaction zones; feeding hydrogen to the catalytic distillation reactor; concurrently in the catalytic distillation reactor: fractionating the hydrocarbon stream into a heavy fraction and a light fraction; contacting hydrogen and the light fraction to form H2S and a light fraction of reduced sulfur content; recovering the light fraction, H2S, and hydrogen as an overheads; recovering the heavy fraction; heating the overheads to a temperature from 500 to 700° F.; feeding the heated overheads and hydrogen to a high temperature low pressure reactor to form H2S and a reactor effluent of reduced mercaptan content; separating the reactor effluent, H2S, and unreacted hydrogen to form a light hydrocarbon fraction and a fraction including H2S and hydrogen; recycling a portion of the light hydrocarbon fraction to the catalytic distillation reactor.
US08043491B2	Particle-dispersed complex and solid electrolytic sensor using it A particle-dispersed complex which can serve as a very active electrochemical catalyst used as the sensor electrode of a solid electrolyte sensor such as an oxygen sensor and an exhaust gas sensor that are sensitive even at low temperature, or as the electrode or the like of an electrochemical device or the like such as an electrolysis or a battery or the like by dispersing without aggregating ruthenium system fine particles having a very small particle size into a carbon matrix phase to keep ruthenium system fine particles in a high catalyst active state. The particle-dispersed complex is characterized by comprising fine particles that have a particles size of 5-100 nm, contain ruthenium element as a constituent element, and are dispersed in a matrix mainly containing carbon, and by having conductivity.
US08043490B2	Electrochemical sensor A combination electrode, including: A first tube; a measuring membrane, which sealedly closes the first tube to form a measuring chamber; a second tube, which surrounds the first tube and is connected borderingly with the first tube to form an annular reference chamber; a buffer solution located in the measuring chamber; an electrolyte solution located in the reference chamber; a first tapping electrode in contact with the buffer solution; and a second tapping electrode in contact with the electrolyte; wherein, additionally, arranged in the reference chamber is an axially shiftable, annular, sealing element, which bounds the volume occupied by the electrolyte solution, the sealing element is biased by means of an electrically conductive, elastic, deformation element, which surrounds the first tube, and the second tapping electrode is electrically connected with the deformation element, in order to tap the potential of the second electrode via the deformation element.
US08043488B2	Rotatable sputter target The invention relates to a rotatable sputter target and to a method to manufacture such a sputter target. The sputter target comprises a target material and a magnet array located at the interior of the target material. The magnet array defines a central zone extending along the major part of the length of the target material and defines an end zone at each end of the central zone. The target material comprises a first material and a second material. The target material comprises the first material at least on the central zone and comprises the second material at least on the end zones. The second material has a lower sputter deposition rate than the first material. The second material is preferably applied by thermal spraying. The first material comprises a first element and the second material comprises a compound of the first element of the first material.
US08043486B2	System and method for isotope selective chemical reactions A system providing selective spin modification and reaction in an electrolytic cell. An electrolytic cell is coupled to a magnet that provides a level-splitting magnetic field in a region of electrolyte adjacent to a working electrode, thus establishing a spin resonance for an unpaired electron associated with a chemical species in the region of electrolyte adjacent to the working electrode. The working electrode carries an excitation current produced by a switching source or amplifier. The excitation current produces an alternating magnetic field adjacent to the working electrode that alters the spin state population density for the unpaired electron associated with a chemical species within the electrolyte, thereby enhancing or inhibiting the reaction of the chemical species during subsequent electrolysis.
US08043478B2	Retort heating apparatus A retort heating apparatus for processing a feed material includes a heating chamber bounded at least in part by a side wall. A plurality of baffles are at least partially disposed within the heating chamber. Each baffle includes an elongated body having a top surface, at least a portion of the top surface being arched. The plurality of baffles are vertically and horizontally spaced apart so that substantially all of the feed material that vertically passes through the heating chamber is horizontally displaced as the feed material passes by the baffles. Systems are also provided for heating the feed material within the heating chamber.
US08043477B2	Belt and method of making a belt for a paper making machine Belt and method of making a belt for a paper making machine. The belt includes a flat woven material having a top side surface and a bottom side surface and two terminal ends separated in a machine direction. Folds formed in the flat woven material are separated in the machine direction, so that the two terminal ends are located under the bottom side surface. Seam loops are located at the folds, and the two terminal ends one of are arranged adjacent each other and overlap each other in a region offset from a center between the folds. The instant abstract is neither intended to define the invention disclosed in this specification nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.
US08043473B2	Method of deinking recovered paper The object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing deinked pulp from recovered paper containing stickies while preventing excessive reduction in the size of stickies, lowering the COD of effluents, and producing deinked pulp with a smaller residual ink content.In the ink detachment stage of the process for producing deinked pulp from recovered paper containing stickies, an anhydride of crystalline layered silicate is added, preferably in an amount of 0.1-1.5 weight % of absolute-dry pulp, and a deinking treatment is performed at a pH of 7.0-9.9. In the present invention, the deinking treatment is performed in a weakly alkaline to neutral region which is generally said to be effective in reducing the amount of stickies but less effective in ink detachment and, yet, deinked pulp having a smaller amount of residual ink can be produced.
US08043467B2	Liquid processing apparatus and liquid processing method A liquid processing apparatus is arranged to planarize a film on a substrate by supplying onto the film a process liquid for dissolving the film while rotating the substrate. The apparatus includes a substrate holding member configured to rotatably hold the substrate in a horizontal state, a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the substrate holding member, and a liquid supply mechanism configured to supply the process liquid onto a surface of the substrate. The liquid supply mechanism includes first and second liquid delivery nozzles configured to deliver the same process liquid. The first liquid delivery nozzle has a smaller diameter and provides a smaller delivery flow rate, as compared to the second liquid delivery nozzle. The first liquid delivery nozzle is inclined to deliver the process liquid in a rotational direction of the substrate, and is movable between a center of the substrate and a peripheral edge thereof.
US08043465B2	Catheter for uniform delivery of medication The present invention provides a catheter for the delivery of fluid medication across an anatomical region. In accordance with some embodiments, the catheter includes an elongated tubular member made of a porous membrane. The porous membrane is configured so that a fluid introduced into an open end of the tubular member will flow through side walls of the tubular member at a substantially uniform rate along a length of the tubular member. In accordance with other embodiments, the catheter includes an elongated “weeping” tubular coil spring attached to an end of, or enclosed within, a tube. Fluid within the spring and greater than or equal to a threshold pressure advantageously flows radially outward between the spring coils. Advantageously, the fluid is dispensed substantially uniformly throughout a length of the spring. In accordance with other embodiments, the catheter includes a tube having a plurality of exit holes in a side wall of the tube. The exit holes combine to form a flow-restricting orifice of the catheter. Advantageously, fluid within the catheter flows through all of the exit holes, resulting in uniform distribution of fluid within an anatomical region.
US08043463B2	Label laminate and a method for manufacturing a label laminate A label laminate and a method for manufacturing a label laminate. The laminate includes a first label material layer and a second label material. The method includes forming a pattern in which adhesive areas and non-adhesive areas alternate on the face side of the first label material layer and on the face side of the second label material layer. The adhesive areas on the first label material layer are aligned with the non-adhesive areas on the second label material layer and the non-adhesive areas on the first label material layer are aligned with the adhesive areas on the second label material layer. The face sides of two label material layers are attached to each other. The adhesive areas are formed by a screening method. The non-adhesive areas have a surface energy, which is at least 25 dynes.
US08043456B2	Method and an apparatus for manufacturing tyres A robotized arm drives in rotation a drum carrying a tire being processed and conveniently moves it in front of a delivery nozzle supplying a continuous elongated element of elastomer material in order to form a tire component. The delivery nozzle is connected through at least one selecting valve with two or more extruders, each designed to supply a respective blend. The selecting valve connects the delivery nozzle with the outlet of one of the extruders, breaking communication between the nozzle and the other extruders. The outlets of the non-active extruders can be connected with at least one outlet duct. It is thus possible to replace the type of blend used for manufacturing the tire component without the article of manufacture having to be moved away from the delivery nozzle.
US08043447B2	Method of manufacturing high tensile strength thick steel plate In a method of manufacturing a high tensile strength thick steel plate, a steel slab contains 0.03-0.055% of C, 3.0-3.5% of Mn, and 0.002-0.10% of Al, the amount of Mo is limited to 0.03% or less, the amount of Si is limited to 0.09% or less, the amount of V is limited to 0.01% or less, the amount of Ti is limited to 0.003% or less, the amount of B is limited to 0.0003% or less, and of which Pcm value representing a weld cracking parameter is fallen within the range of 0.20-0.24% and DI value representing a hardenability index is fallen within the range of 1.00-2.60, is heated to 950-1100° C. The steel slab is subjected to a rolling process with a cumulative draft of 70-90% when a temperature is in a range of 850° C. or more, and then, the steel slab is subjected to a rolling process at 780° C. or higher with a cumulative draft of 10-40% when a temperature is in a range of 780-830° C., and subsequently, accelerated cooling at a cooling rate of 8-80° C./sec is started from 700° C. or higher and is stopped at a temperature between room temperature and 350° C.
US08043431B2	Substrate processing apparatus and method for manufacturing a semiconductor device A CVD device has a reaction furnace (39) for processing a wafer (1); a seal cap (20) for sealing the reaction furnace (39) hermetically; an isolation flange (42) opposite to the seal cap (20); a small chamber (43) formed by the seal cap (20), the isolation flange (42), and the wall surface in the reaction furnace (39); a feed pipe (19b) for supplying a first gas to the small chamber (43); an outflow passage (42a) provided in the small chamber (43) for allowing the first gas to flow into the reaction furnace (39); and a feed pipe (19a) provided downstream from the outflow passage (42a) for supplying a second gas into the reaction furnace (39). Byproducts such as NH4Cl are prevented from adhering to low temperature sections such as the furnace opening and therefore the semiconductor device production yield is therefore increased.
US08043425B2	Concrete with a low cement content A subject of the invention is a mixture comprising in proportions by mass: from 0.4 to 4%, preferably from 0.8 to 1.7%, of materials in the ultrafine particle size range, constituted by particles with a D90 smaller than 1 μm and/or with a specific BET surface area greater than 6 m2/g; from 1 to 6%, preferably from 2 to 5%, of Portland cement; from 8 to 25%, preferably from 12 to 21%, of materials in the fine particle size range, constituted by particles the D10 and the D90 of which are comprised between 1 μm and 100 μm and with a specific BET surface area of less than 5 m2/g, different from the cement; from 25 to 50%, preferably from 30 to 42%, of materials in the medium particle size range, constituted by particles the D10 and the D90 of which are comprised between 100 μm and 5 mm; and from 25 to 55%, preferably from 35 to 47%, of materials in the larger particle size range, constituted by particles the D10 of which is greater than 5 mm. The invention also relates in particular to premixes, concrete compositions and associated objects made of hardened concrete, as well as their preparation methods.
US08043423B2	Pigment dispersion liquid, ink jet recording ink, ink jet recording method, ink cartridge and ink jet recording apparatus A pigment dispersion liquid capable of stably recording images having high fastness and excellent quality for a long term in any cases has been provided. A pigment dispersion liquid mainly containing a polymer dispersant, a pigment and water, wherein the polymer dispersant is a copolymer comprised of at least a hydrophobic unit and a hydrophilic unit, the hydrophobic unit has a block portion comprised of at least one hydrophobic monomer, the hydrophilic unit has at least a repeating unit structure of an acrylamide structure of the following general formula (1), and the segment number (A) of the block portion comprised of a hydrophobic monomer to the number (B) of all segments of the polymer dispersant is in a range of 0.07 to 0.85 in terms of A/B ratio.
US08043422B2	Combinations of phenylpyrroles and pyrion compounds The present invention relates to combinations of a phenylpyrrole, or a salt thereof, and a pyrion compound which provide an improved biocidal effect. More particularly, the present invention relates to compositions comprising a combination of a phenylpyrrole selected from fludioxonil, fenpiclonil or pyrrolnitrin, or a salt thereof, together with a pyrion compound selected from 1-hydroxy-2-pyridinone, ciclopirox, ciclopirox olamine, piroctone, piroctone olamine, rilopirox, pyrion disulfide, sodium pyrithione and zinc pyrithione; in respective proportions to provide a synergistic biocidal effect.Compositions comprising these combinations are useful for the protection of any living or non-living material, such as crops, plants, fruits, seeds, objects made of wood, thatch or the like, engineering material, biodegradable material and textiles against deterioration due to the action of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, yeasts, algae, virusses, and the like.
US08043421B2	Durable automotive windshield coating and the use thereof The present invention is directed to a kit for rendering a glass surface water repellent. This invention is particularly directed to a kit for coating a windshield of a vehicle to render the windshield water repellent.
US08043414B2	Method and apparatus for desorption and dehumidifier using the same A method and an apparatus for desorption and a dehumidifier are provided in the present invention, in which an electrical potential is applied to electrodes disposed on both ends of an absorbing material so as to desorb the substances absorbed within the absorbing material whereby the absorbing material is capable of being maintained for cycling the absorbing operation. By means of the method and the apparatus of the present invention, the desorbing efficiency can be enhanced and the energy consumption can be reduced during desorption.
US08043410B2	Vacuum cleaner with removable dust collector, and methods of operating the same A vacuum cleaner includes a dust collector that compresses dust stored inside a dust container to minimize the volume of the dust. The dust collector would include one or more pressing plates that are used to compress the dust stored in dust collector. Various methods are used to control movements of the movable pressing plates to facilitate the compression operations. Also, various methods are used to determine when the dust collector is full and needs to be emptied.
US08043404B2	High extrusion ratio titanium metal matrix composites Disclosed herein are extruded titanium metal matrix composites with enhanced ductility. Also disclosed is the extrusion at high extrusion ratio of titanium metal matrix composites produced by powder metal processes. The ductility and machinability of these titanium metal matrix composites extruded at high extrusion ratios combined with their wear resistance and excellent imaging characteristics makes these high extrusion ratio extruded titanium metal matrix composites useful as biological implants, including prosthetic devices. Also disclosed are articles such as orthopedic implants for knee, hip, spine or other biomedical devices, with enhanced properties, made from the disclosed extruded material.
US08043397B2	Vacuum cleaner with removable dust collector, and methods of operating the same A vacuum cleaner includes a dust collector that compresses dust stored inside a dust container to minimize the volume of the dust. The dust collector would include one or more pressing plates that are used to compress the dust stored in dust collector. Various methods are used to control movements of the movable pressing plates to facilitate the compression operations. Also, various methods are used to determine when the dust collector is full and needs to be emptied.
US08043395B2	Air cleaner convertible for secondary air induction The present invention generally relates to a motor vehicle air cleaner assembly that is field or end user convertible to another variety of air cleaner having secondary air induction. The air cleaner is pre-configured to enable a field modification to provide for secondary air induction for admitting heated secondary air to the air cleaner and air filter to aid in melting snow or ice blockage of the air filter and permitting the vehicle to operate in snow and ice air filter blockage conditions.
US08043390B2	Apparatus and method for controlling the gas composition produced during the gasification of carbon containing feeds A method for controlling the output composition from a gasification device for use in the gasification of biomass using a gasifier in which the biomass and gas both flow in a downward direction. The method combines the use of steam and oxygen as a mixed oxidation stream to control the processes occurring within the gasifier. The oxidants are introduced into the gasifier using a number of injection rings. Each injection ring is comprised of a number of injection nozzles each radially distributed at the same vertical height and possibly connected to the same supply source. Particularly satisfactory results can be achieved through the use of three injection rings, one at the top of the gasifier, one at the interface of the oxidation and reduction zone and one a small distance below the grate assembly. The produced syngas also contains extremely low concentrations of tar and low molecular weight hydrocarbons.
US08043386B2	Process for producing polymer electrolyte A process for producing a polymer electrolyte for a nonaqueous battery by mixing a vinylidene fluoride copolymer and a nonaqueous electrolytic solution with a solvent that can be evaporated, wherein the vinylidene fluoride copolymer comprises 80 to 97 wt. % of vinylidene fluoride monomer units and 3 to 20 wt % of units of at least one monomer copolymerizable with vinylidene fluoride monomer and has an inherent viscosity of 1.5 to 10 dl/g, and evaporating the solvent to form a polymer electrolyte comprising the vinylidene fluoride copolymer impregnated with the nonaqueous electrolytic solution.
US08043385B2	Composition oxidation colouring of keratinic fibres, containing a cationic cellulose ether, a metasilicate and oxidation dyes, method for oxidation colouring and uses thereof The present invention relates to a dyeing composition comprising, in a medium appropriate for dyeing: A) one or more specific cationic cellulose ether (s), B) one or more metasilicate (s), and C) one or more benzene, heterocyclic or naphthalene oxidation dye (s). The present invention also relates to a method for dyeing keratinous fibers employing such a composition and to the use of this composition for dyeing of keratinous fibers.
US08043384B2	Method for making fire retardant materials and related products A method for making fire retardant material including fire retardant cellulosic insulation is described. The method includes an arrangement for adding one or more feedstocks and a fire retardancy chemical compound to a common blend tank prior to feedstock drying. The one or more feedstocks may include at least one virgin pulp stock feed and at least one recycled material stock feed. The amount and type of both the virgin feedstock and the recycled material feedstock is selectable. Old newsprint (ONP) may be one type of recycled material feedstock. Another suitable type of recycled material feedstock is old corrugated containers (OCC). The method further includes retaining the fiber feedstock and the chemical compound together for enough time to ensure adherence or impregnations of enough of the chemical to the fibers after the drying process. Fluffing or fiberizing of the treated fibers may be accomplished under less severe conditions than ordinarily employed when making conventional cellulose insulation.
US08043380B1	Bone implant with osteo-inducing structure A spine implant system having two or more adjacent segments that have a male-female annular interlocking relationship for increased mechanical stability and resistance to relative translation and rotation. One or more segments is provided with at least one perforation channel or void to promote osteo-induction within the segment. Optionally, two adjacent segments have at least one common or aligned perforation channel or void. Two or more spaced apart portions of a segment surface are optionally chamfered to provide easier fabrication and/or positioning of the segment. Two spaced apart exposed surface planes of an interlocked segment pair optionally are axially oriented at a small positive angle relative to each other, to approximate natural spine curvature. Segments in some embodiments have a curvilinear delta cross sectional shape and/or have crosshatched grooves in exposed surfaces. Many of the embodiments are useful in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF).
US08043368B2	Methods and apparatus for atrioventricular valve repair Methods and apparatus for use in repairing an atrioventricular valve in a patient are provided. The methods comprise accessing the patient's atrioventricular valve percutaneously, securing a fastening mechanism to a valve leaflet, and coupling the valve leaflet, while the patient's heart remains beating, to at least one of a ventricular wall adjacent the atrioventricular valve, a papillary muscle, at least one valve chordae, and a valve annulus to facilitate reducing leakage through the valve.
US08043367B2	Stents formed from polymer-bioceramic composite with radiopaque bioceramic particles Implantable medical devices fabricated at least in part of a polymer-bioceramic composite having bioceramic particles with radiopaque functional groups grafted to a surface of the bioceramic particles are disclosed. Implantable medical devices fabricated at least in part of a radiopaque material having bioceramic particles with polymer chains grafted onto a surface of the bioceramic particles, the radiopaque functional groups being chemically bonded to the grafted polymer chains, are disclosed.
US08043365B2	Methods for placement of vascular stent grafts and vascular stents The present application provides a method of repairing a diseased vessel having a plurality of branch vessels extending therefrom. The method includes locating a vessel to removal from blood flow. A single incision is made to provide access to the vessel. Branch locating stent grafts having radio opaque edges are placed in a plurality of branch vessels branching from the located vessel. A single main vessel stent graft is placed in the vessel temporarily occlude the branch locating stent grafts that subsequently are located using the radio opaque edges. The surgeon punctures the wall of the main vessel stent graft at the edges to provide an access port from the main vessel stent graft to the branch locating stent grafts and finally places a plurality of branch connecting stents corresponding to each of the plurality of branch locating stent grafts.
US08043361B2	Implantable medical devices, and methods of delivering the same A tubular endoprosthesis including a polymeric material is disclosed. The endoprosthesis has a collapsed position that can be reverted to a first expanded position larger than the collapsed position by heating to a first temperature subsequent to insertion of the endoprosthesis into a cavity or lumen in a mammal. The endoprosthesis can be further expanded to a second expanded position within the cavity or lumen.
US08043355B2	Double-tube type stent A double-tube type stent is inserted into a hollow tubular organ such as a bile duct so as to relieve narrowing of the bile duct on, for instance, an anastomotic area of the intrahepatic bile duct of a liver transplant patient. A hollow cylindrical body has a plurality of rhombic spaces formed by weaving a superelastic shape-memory-alloy wire so as to be crossed. A silicon coating layer is coated on an outer surface of the cylindrical body using a silicon solution. A polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tube is fixedly fitted around the cylindrical body having the silicon coating layer leaving a gap therebetween.
US08043334B2	Articulating facet fusion screw A spinal implant is provided having an elongate member with a longitudinal axis and threads extending over at least a portion of the outer surface thereof. The implant includes a stabilization feature associated with the elongate member that is selectively configurable between a delivery configuration and a deployed configuration in which the stabilization feature is oriented at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the elongate member. Also, at least a portion of the implant can include a fusion-promoting bioactive material. In another aspect, the invention includes methods for providing stabilization within a facet joint by delivery of an articulating intra-facet screw.
US08043333B2	Dynamic stabilization system A dynamic bone fixation element for securing an elongated fixation element such as, a longitudinal rod or bone plate, to a patient's bone, preferably a vertebra. The dynamic bone fixation element preferably includes a bone fixation element and a flexible element for connecting the bone fixation element to the elongated fixation element. The flexible element preferably permits the elongated fixation element to move with respect to the bone fixation element and hence with respect to the bone affixed thereto. The flexible element preferably permits extension and/or compression of the elongated fixation element with respect to the bone fixation element and polyaxially movement of the elongated fixation element with respect to the bone fixation element. The flexible element is preferably in the form of a spring or a spring-like flexible element.
US08043323B2	In vivo filter assembly Disclosed is an assembly for filtering debris flowing in an in vivo fluid stream, the assembly comprising at least one balloon configured to volumetrically expand and, during at least a portion of the expansion, operatively connect with a filter, and to contract following the expansion. The assembly further comprising a filter configured to operatively connect with the at least one balloon during at least a portion of the volumetric expansion of the at least one balloon, such that the filter expands during the operative connection in order to filter debris from a fluid flowing in a fluid stream within which the expanded filter is disposed.
US08043322B2	Removable vena cava filter having inwardly positioned anchoring hooks in collapsed configuration The present invention involves a removable filter for capturing thrombi in a blood vessel. The filter comprises a plurality of primary struts and a plurality of secondary struts. The plurality of primary struts has first ends attached together along a longitudinal axis. Each primary strut has an arcuate segment extending from the first end to an anchoring hook. The primary struts are configured to move between an expanded state for engaging the anchoring hooks with the blood vessel and a collapsed state for filter retrieval or delivery. Each primary strut is configured to cross another primary strut along the longitudinal axis in the collapsed state such that each anchoring hook faces the longitudinal axis away from the blood vessel for filter retrieval or delivery. The plurality of secondary struts has connected ends attached together along the longitudinal axis. The secondary struts extend therefrom to free ends to centralize the filter in the expanded in the blood vessel.
US08043309B2	Devices, systems and methods for retracting, lifting, compressing, supporting or repositioning tissues or anatomical structures Devices, systems and methods for retracting, lifting, compressing, supporting or repositioning tissues, organs, anatomical structures, grafts or other structures within the body of human or animal subjects for the purpose of treating a diseases or disorders and/or for cosmetic or reconstructive purposes and/or for research and development purposes or other purposes.
US08043307B2	Apparatus for compressing body tissue A medical device for endoscopically deploying a hemostatic clip adapted to compress tissue. The hemostatic clip comprises a ring portion adapted to fit on a distal end of an endoscope and a plurality of legs attached to the ring portion, each of the legs being movable between an open position and a closed position to compress tissue. The device may include an actuator mechanism to move each of the legs from the open position to the closed position. The device may include a releasable attachment connecting the clip to the endoscope. The clip may include a hinge connecting the ring portion to each of the legs.
US08043304B2	Cam lock burr hole plug for securing retainer/plug base A burr hole plug comprises a plug base configured for being mounted around a cranial burr hole. The plug base includes an aperture through which an elongated medical device exiting the burr hole may pass. The burr hole plug further comprises a retainer configured for being mounted within the aperture of the plug base. The retainer includes a retainer support, a slot formed in the retainer support for receiving the medical device, and a clamping mechanism having a movable clamping element and a cam configured for being rotated relative to the retainer support to linearly translate the movable clamping element into the slot, thereby securing the medical device. The retainer further comprises another clamping mechanism having another movable clamping element and another cam configured for being rotated relative to the retainer support to linearly translate the other movable clamping element, thereby laterally securing the retainer within the plug base.
US08043300B2	Handpiece tip assembly A tip assembly for a liquefaction surgical handpiece having a break-away or frangible tip protector. The tip protector protects the delicate tip from damage during handling and shipment, but is easily removed prior to use.
US08043290B2	Apparatus and methods for magnetic alteration of deformities Methods and apparatus for incrementally manipulating an internal body member of a patient are disclosed. The apparatus has a magnetic implant adapted to be received on a location of the body member, a platform external to the patient, and a magnetic member coupled to the platform, wherein the magnetic member generates a magnetic force between the implant and the platform to incrementally manipulate the body member. The implant and external magnetic member are preferably rare earth magnets or an array of rare earth magnets, and are configured to generate an attractive or repulsive force between the implant and the platform to reposition, reorient, deform, or lengthen the body member.
US08043288B2	Virtual electrode ablation catheter with electrode tip and variable radius capability actuated with at least one rack and pinion mechanisms A cardiac ablation catheter system incorporates several different, but complementary features. The catheter includes a virtual electrode section for transferring ablation energy to form a linear lesion in cardiac tissue. The distal tip of the catheter shaft is provided with a tip electrode to perform spot ablations. The distal end of the catheter, generally including the virtual electrode section, may be operably formed into a curve with a variable radius of curvature.
US08043287B2	Method of treating biological tissue A treatment method is disclosed for treating a bodily tissue utilizing one or more steps of removal of material as well as one or more steps of energy delivery in order to effectively treat the bodily tissue. These mechanisms of treatment may beneficially be used to induce separate treatment effects, for example to treat both the symptoms and the underlying cause of a specific pathological condition. In addition, a specific application of the inventive method is described for using the inventive method to treat an intervertebral disc.

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