Document Document Title
US08393011B2 Piezoresistor height sensing cantilever
A device comprising at least one cantilever comprising at least one piezoresistor is described, where the cantilevers comprise silicon nitride or silicon carbide and the piezoresistors comprise doped silicon. Methods for making and using such a device are also provided.
US08393009B2 Sensor for noncontact profiling of a surface
A sensor for scanning a surface with an oscillating cantilever (12), made from piezoelectric material that is suitable for a transverse oscillation of the free end of a beam, holding an electrically conductive probe tip (14) on the free end of the beam in transverse direction, a first deflection electrode (26A, 26B) and an inversely phased second electrode (28A, 28B, 28C) being provided to collect charges that are separated within the space of the deflection electrodes (34, 36). The cantilever (12) is provided with at least one electrode (30) in addition to the deflection electrodes (26A, 26B, 28A, 28B, 28C) that provides electrical contact to the tip (14), the at least one additional electrode being located in a region on the deflecting beam where the surface charge density due to the strain caused by beam deflection (34, 36) is smaller than in the region where the deflection electrodes are located.
US08393002B1 Method and system for testing an entity
A system and method is provided wherein, in one aspect, a number of different elements are presented to a user. The user is instructed to pick the elements that are the most related to one another. If the user selects the two most related elements, the user is presented with access to additional information, such as a screen for creating an email account. The system and method are intended to allow access to information by humans, but not remote computers emulating a human.
US08392998B1 Uniquely identifying attacked assets
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for uniquely identifying attacked assets. One method includes maintaining asset data mapping unique asset identifiers to non-unique asset identifiers and maintaining protection data mapping identifiers of sensors to unique identifiers of assets protected by the sensor. Attack data specifying attacks on particular assets is received. The unique identifier of each asset attacked is determined from the attack data, the protection data and the asset data.
US08392989B2 Anti-malware scanning in parallel processors of a graphics processing unit
A method of anti-malware scanning includes providing, in a computing system including a central processor, a multimedia processor including a number of processors to operate in parallel with one another. The anti-malware scanning further includes executing an anti-malware algorithm using the multimedia processor to free the central processor for a non-anti-malware related task.
US08392985B2 Security management in system with secure memory secrets
In some embodiments a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) manages a first flag that identifies whether a secure environment has ever been established. A chipset manages a second flag that identifies that there might have been secrets in memory and a reset or power failure occurred. At least one processor and/or the chipset lock, maintain a lock, and/or unlock a memory in response to the second flag. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08392981B2 Software firewall control
A software firewall that may be simply configured using rules specified for types of network interfaces rather than individual network interfaces. The network types may be specified with type identifiers that have a readily understandable meaning to a user, facilitating ease of configuring the firewall. The network types could include, for example, wired, wireless and remote access. A rule specified based on a network type can be translated to firewall filters for network interfaces of that network type. The translation may be performed automatically and may be updated based on network location awareness information.
US08392979B2 Document processing automated system and image forming apparatus
It is facilitated to execute a workflow requiring user authentication. When an IC card reading/writing apparatus reads information recorded in an IC card owned by a user, an image forming apparatus transmits user credential information included in the read information to an authentication server. The authentication server performs authentication of the user based on the user credential information transmitted from the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus transmits workflow program information included in the information recorded in an authentication token and parameter information for the workflow program to an application server. The application server controls the image forming apparatus based on the workflow program information.
US08392977B2 Systems and methods for using a client agent to manage HTTP authentication cookies
Systems and methods are described for using a client agent to manage HTTP authentication cookies. One method includes intercepting, by a client agent executing on a client, a connection request from the client; establishing, by the client agent, a transport layer virtual private network connection with a network appliance; transmitting, by the client agent via the established connection, an HTTP request comprising an authentication cookie; and transmitting, by the client agent via the connection, the connection request. A second method includes intercepting, by a client agent executing on a client, an HTTP communication comprising a cookie from an appliance on a virtual private network to the client; removing, by the client agent, the cookie from the HTTP communication; storing, by the client agent, the received cookie; transmitting, by the client agent, the modified HTTP communication to an application executing on the client; intercepting, by the client agent, an HTTP request from the client; inserting, by the client agent in the HTTP request, the received cookie; and transmitting the modified HTTP request to the appliance. Corresponding systems are also described.
US08392972B2 Protected access control method for shared computer resources
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for providing protected computer communications. The present invention may provide for computer communications where in response to a receipt of a communication at a first computing facility from a second computing facility, the first computing facility may be caused to send a request to a compliance center for security compliance information relating to the second computing facility. In response to the request for security compliance information, the first computing facility may receive compliance information related to the second computing facility, which may cause the first computing facility to perform an action regulating further communications from the second computing facility if the second computing facility security compliance information indicates that the second client computing facility is not compliant with a current security policy.
US08392971B1 Techniques for authenticating access to a private account at a public computing device using a user's mobile computing device
A computer-implemented method technique is presented. The technique can include selectively initiating, at a mobile computing device including one or more processors, communication between the mobile computing device and a public computing device. The technique can include transmitting, from the mobile computing device, authentication information to the public computing device. The authentication information can indicate access privileges to a private account associated with a user of the mobile computing device. The technique can include receiving, at the mobile computing device, an access inquiry from the public computing device. The access inquiry can indicate an inquiry as to whether the user wishes to login to the private account at the public computing device. The technique can also include transmitting, from the mobile computing device, an access response to the public computing device. The access response can cause the public computing device to provide the user with access to the private account.
US08392962B2 Web-based collaborative framework
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for facilitating network communications. Briefly described, one embodiment of the system, among others, includes a server-based application configured to produce web pages for a web site in accordance with input received from a user; and an interface to the server-based application receiving selections of features which are available to be added to the web site in response to user prompts and to set access rights on which features are to be available to different roles of users. Other systems and methods are also provided.
US08392957B2 Automatic content tagging, such as tagging digital images via a wireless cellular network using metadata and facial recognition
Described in detail herein are systems and methods for automatically generating tags for digital content, such as digital images from a digital camera or camcorder. Further, the system can automatically determine who or what may be in digital content. Further details and features are described herein.
US08392956B2 Systems and methods for processing media content requests
A method for processing media content requests includes receiving, at a multimedia distribution computing device, a request for a media stream to be provided to a media device. The method includes determining, at the multimedia distribution computing device, whether media content of the media stream is for time-shifted viewing. The method includes sending a unicast transmission including at least a portion of the media content to the media device when the media content is not determined to be for time-shifted viewing. The method includes joining the media device to a multicast group associated with the media stream without sending the unicast transmission to the media device when the media content is determined to be for time-shifted viewing.
US08392949B2 Electronic-program-guide retrieval method and electronic-program-guide retrieval system
An EPG retrieval system includes a data server, a client, and a dictionary database. The data server stores program information of an EPG. The client includes an access unit for accessing the data server, and an input unit for inputting a retrieval keyword for performing retrieval on the program information. The dictionary database stores retrieval keywords and keywords relevant to the retrieval keywords. The client inputs an arbitrary keyword, and extracts keywords relevant to the input keyword. The extracted keywords and the input keyword are used to perform retrieval on the program information.
US08392946B2 Method of recommending local and remote content
A method of recommending local and remote content, comprising: receiving, at a television apparatus, a first set of content items and linking information linking each of the content items of the first set to a respective subset of the first set; providing a second set of further content items, the content items of the second set being locally available at the television apparatus; and determining for each content item in a unified set including the first and second sets further linking information linking the content item to a further subset from the unified set; wherein for a certain content item of the first set, the further subset is determined by adding content items of the second set to the respective subset of the certain content item, the content items added being determined by comparing meta data associated with the certain content item with meta data respectively associated with all content items of the second set.
US08392943B2 Communications between networked cable services system devices
Communication methods between networked cable services system devices are provided. Two or more cable services system set-top boxes may be networked together in a house, business or other facility. Alternatively, two or more set-top boxes may be networked together where the two or more set-top boxes are located remotely from each other and are networked via a cable services system. A first set-top box may be designated and equipped as a proxy server for managing communications between networked set-top boxes and one or more other set-top boxes may be designated and equipped as client devices for communicating with other networked set-top boxes via the proxy server set-top box. One or more communication applications may be deployed on each of the networked set-top boxes for allowing user-to-user communications via the networked set-top boxes, as well as, user-to-set-top box communication via the networked set-top boxes. Communications between set-top boxes that may be enabled include, but are not limited to, text communications, voice communications, video communications, set-top box control communications, real time gaming, and the like.
US08392941B2 Contents viewing and listening management apparatus, content viewing and listening management method, program, and contents viewing and listening management system
With a contents viewing and listening management method using a contents viewing and listening management apparatus, a viewing and listening request of a content is made for displaying a predetermined content. Information relating to users whose viewing and listening of the relevant predetermined content is restricted, and information relating to administrators who manage viewing and listening of a content by the users are managed. If restriction is set to a content relating to the viewing and listening request, a relevant user ID is obtained. Whether or not the requested is a content of which viewing and listening has been permitted by the administrator as to each of the users is determined. If the content of which the viewing and listening has been requested is not permitted, a message which requests permission for viewing and listening of the requested content is transmitted to a second terminal possessed by the administrator.
US08392940B2 Television distribution of product/service coupon codes
A device receives an advertisement, a code, an encryption key, and information associated with a product and/or service, and provides the advertisement to a set-top box (STB) for display on a television. The device receives, from the STB, a request for a promotion associated with the advertisement and an identification associated with the STB, and provides the code associated with the product and/or service to the STB for display on the television. The device receives, from a user device, a claim for the code and the identification associated with the STB, and validates the claim for the code and the identification associated with the STB based on an identification associated with the user device.
US08392934B2 VXML browser control channel
A system to allow external applications to interact with an operating VXML browser include a VXML browser operating on a processor having a VXML interpreter. A control is operably interconnected between the external application and the VXML interpreter using a communication channel. The control inserts the commands into the VXML interpreter, which are processed by the VXML browser in a conventional manner to allow the external application to interact with the operating VXML browser.
US08392933B2 Open gateway framework
An open gateway framework addresses the need for efficient modularization, extension, and adaptation of device functionality, such as gateway or set top box functionally. The open gateway framework facilitates rapid third party application development on customer electronic devices, particularly for telecommunications service providers. The open gateway framework provides: portability between different devices; rapid development based on extended platform features with a custom Application Programming Interface (API); and deployment with little or no impact on device base software.
US08392927B2 System and method for determining a partition of a consumer's resource access demands between a plurality of different classes of service
According to one embodiment, a method comprises receiving into a planning tool a representative workload for a consumer. The method further comprises determining, by the planning tool, an allocation of demand of the consumer for each of a plurality of different classes of service (COSs). According to one embodiment, a method comprises defining a plurality of classes of service (COSs) for use by a scheduler in allocating capacity of a resource pool to a consumer, wherein the COSs each specify a different priority for accessing the capacity of the resource pool. The method further comprises evaluating, by a planning tool, a representative workload of the consumer, and determining, by the planning tool, a partitioning of resource demands of the representative workload between the plurality of COSs.
US08392919B2 Runtime environment for virtualizing information technology appliances
A system for virtualizing information technology (IT) appliances can include an IT appliance hosting facilities software. The IT appliance hosting facilities software can be implemented at a layer of abstraction above a virtual machine host, which is implemented in a layer of abstraction above a hardware layer of a computing system. The IT appliance hosting facilities software can include programmatic code functioning as virtualized hardware upon which a set of IT appliance software modules are able to concurrently run. The IT appliance hosting facilities software can provide caching, application level security, and a standardized framework for running the IT appliance software modules, which are configured in conformance with the standardized framework.
US08392913B2 Method and apparatus for threaded background function support
The present invention provides a computer implemented method and apparatus for a built-in function of a shell to execute in a thread of an interactive shell process. The data processing system receives a request to execute the built-in function. The data processing system determines that the request includes a thread creating indicator. The data processing system schedules a thread to execute the built-in function, in response to a determination that the request includes the thread creating indicator, wherein the thread is controlled by the interactive shell process and shares an environment of the interactive shell process. The data processing system declares a variable based on at least one instruction of the built-in function. Finally, the data processing system may access the variable.
US08392912B2 Java application framework for use in a content delivery network (CDN)
An application deployment model for enterprise applications to enable applications to be deployed to and executed from a globally distributed computing platform, such as an Internet content delivery network (CDN). According to the invention, application developers separate their Web application into two layers: a highly distributed edge layer and a centralized origin layer. In a representative embodiment, the edge layer supports a servlet container that executes a Web tier, typically the presentation layer of a given Java-based application. Where necessary, the edge layer communicates with code running on an origin server to respond to a given request. In an alternative embodiment, the edge layer supports a more fully-provisioned application server that executes both Web tier (e.g., presentation) and Enterprise tier application (e.g., business logic) components. In either case, the inventive framework enables one or more different applications to be deployed to and executed from the edge server on behalf of one or more respective entities.
US08392911B2 Download discovery for web servers
Facilitating installation of additional functionality on a web server. The method includes at a data store, receiving a request from a client to access programmatic code units. The data store includes programmatic code units. The programmatic code units are configured to provide additional web server functionality when installed at a web server. The client is distinct and separate from the data store. The method further includes, at the data store, providing information about one or more programmatic code units to the client. Input is received from the client selecting one or more programmatic code units to be installed on a web server. The web server is separate and distinct from both the data store and the client. The one or more selected programmatic code units are sent to the web server, where after the one or more selected programmatic code units are installed on the web server.
US08392908B2 Standardized procedures for implementing software changes
A change to a tenant-independent content item identified as a target for changes as part of an update process of a core software platform provided by a multi-tenant system can be registered, and one or more customer tenants of the multi-tenant system can be analyzed to identify tenant-specific content items to which the registered change are relevant. A sequence can be established for processing a modification to the tenant-specific content item resulting from the registered change. The sequence can be based on at least one dependency of the tenant -specific content item on the tenant-independent content item affected by the registered change. Related articles and systems are also disclosed.
US08392901B2 Replacing a ROM image in a computer's ROM
In at least some embodiments, a method comprises receiving a first command from a source external to a computer to provide a copy of a read only memory (ROM) image from the computer to the external source. The method also comprises receiving a second command from the source external to the computer to replace the computer's ROM image and, without re-booting the computer, replacing the computer's ROM image with a ROM image received from the external source.
US08392895B2 Firmware extension method and firmware builder
A firmware extension method is provided, particularly adaptable for an embedded system. Firstly, a baseline firmware image is provided with a header file. Secondly, an extension firmware image is generated based on the header file, comprising one or more extended functions. Thereafter, a callback table is generated, comprising pointers pointing to entries of the extended functions in the extension firmware image. The baseline firmware image, the extension firmware image and the callback table are then merged to generate a merged firmware image.
US08392893B2 Emulation method and computer system
The computer system of the present invention emulates target instructions. The computer system includes a processing unit for branching to collective emulation coding for emulating plural of target instructions created beforehand collectively, thereby processing those instructions collectively according to the coding when those target instructions are combined so as to be processed collectively and a memory for storing the collective emulation coding.
US08392892B2 Method and apparatus for analyzing application
An application analyzing method includes extracting a variable corresponding to a particular input data item and information regarding a value of the variable by analyzing a plurality of source programs constituting an application, record information of a database used by the application, and execution control information of the application, and outputting, based on the variable and the information regarding the value of the variable extracted in the extracting, information regarding a presumed value with respect to the input data item as presumed requirement information.
US08392891B2 Technique for finding relaxed memory model vulnerabilities
A system and method capable of finding relaxed memory-model vulnerabilities in a computer program caused by running on a machine having a relaxed memory model. A relaxed memory model vulnerability in a computer program includes the presence of program executions that are not sequentially consistent. In one embodiment, non-sequentially consistent executions are detected by exploring sequentially consistent executions.
US08392878B2 In-place structure in a graphical program
System and method for including an in-place structure in a graphical program. Input including the structure in the graphical program may be received, where the structure is displayed in the graphical program. At least one graphical program node may be associated with the structure. The at least one graphical program node may be executable to manipulate at least one of a first element or a second element. The structure may specify that data memory of the first element is useable as the data memory of the second element in the graphical program. The structure may be usable by a development environment to reduce memory usage of the graphical program during execution.
US08392877B1 System and method of application development using replaceable self-contained components (RSCCS)
A method and system for creating a software application code including multiple Replaceable Self-Contained Components (RSCCs) is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes creating each RSCC by instantiating and initializing an object instance of a Replaceable Component Class (RCC) that substantially encapsulates construction code of a Self-Contained Component (SCC), creating an RSCC registration module which resides in each of a first set of RSCCs for registering each of the services provided by each of the first set of RSCCs with the service registration object, and creating an RSCC service finding module which resides in each of a second set of RSCCs for consuming each of the services provided by one of the first set of RSCCs for facilitating communication between the RSCCs in the software application code upon an event selected from the group consisting of a user event, a sensor event, a timer event, and a data/state change event.
US08392876B2 Cooperative execution of graphical data flow programs in multiple browsers
System and method for performing program-related operations over a network via a web browser. A network connection is established between a server computer and a client computer over a network. A universal resource identifier (URI) is sent from the client computer to the server computer over the network, where the URI indicates a program, e.g., a graphical program (GP), or at least a portion of a graphical program interactive development environment (GPIDE), e.g., a graphical program editor, an execution engine, a static or dynamic analyzer, and/or compiler. The at least a portion of the GPIDE is received from the server computer over the network in response to the URI, and executed in a web browser of the client computer to perform some specified functionality with respect to the GP.
US08392864B2 Method and system for model-based routing of an integrated circuit
Disclosed is a method, system, and computer program product for implementing model-based floorplanning, layout, placement, and routing. Models are used to guide the placement and routing of polygons on the IC layout based upon predictions of manufacturing variations.
US08392850B2 Information processing apparatus and method, and program for handling images
Disclosed herein is an information processing apparatus which may include list acquire means, thumbnail image acquire means, display means, selection means, and image acquire means.
US08392839B2 System and method for using partial teleportation or relocation in virtual worlds
The processing burden of rendering incident to a full teleportation operation in a virtual universe is avoided while contact with particular teleport destinations is promoted by provision of a partial teleportation facility such as a virtual kiosk as an object within a virtual universe (which may be sponsored or owned by users wishing to promote particular teleportation destinations) at which an avatar can view previously rendered images of portions of one or more teleportation destinations. Limited interaction and simulated travel within the teleportation destination can be achieved through image manipulation and updates rather than rendering. An avatar image can be displayed in connection with both the object and the teleport destination with, preferably control of only one avatar image while the other is displayed using a low resolution image. Full teleportation can be initiated automatically upon detection of a particular condition such as duration of an avatar presence at the location of the partial teleportation facility object. When full teleportation is initiated, the processing intensive rendering can be supplemented from image data representing the portion or the teleportation destination, thus hiding rendering delays and simulating seamless, instantaneous response to the full teleportation operation.
US08392838B2 Accessing virtual disk content of a virtual machine using a control virtual machine
Methods, systems, and techniques for facilitating access to content stored remotely, for example, as part of a virtual machine infrastructure or elsewhere in a networked environment, using a uniform mechanism are provided. Example embodiments provide an Enhanced Virtual Desktop Management Server/System with a Content Abstraction Layer which enables users to access their data stored as part of a virtual machine environment, or replicated otherwise on a network, using a generic API. The API can be incorporated into a web browser or other third party interface to provide access to the users' data without needing to remote a bitmap representation of a virtual desktop display. Accordingly, users can access their data, applications, and settings regardless of the type of access device and regardless of whether the corresponding virtual desktop is running in the data center, provisioned in the datacenter but running on a client device, or not running at all.
US08392829B2 Modular documentation using a playlist model
A server device receives modular topics, where each of the modular topics includes a machine-readable and machine-storable work product that includes information related to a single, stand-alone topic. The server device stores the modular topics in a content repository as a topic library. The server device receives selection of topics from the topic library to generate one or more customized pathway pages, where each of the customized pathway pages includes a plurality of links to ones of the stored modular topics. The server device enables access to the modular topics stored in the content repository via the generated one or more customized pathway pages.
US08392823B1 Systems and methods for detecting hidden text and hidden links
A system detects hidden elements in a document that includes a group of elements. The system may identify each of the elements in the document and create a structural representation of the document. The structural representation may provide an interconnection of the group of elements in the document. The system may also determine whether one or more elements of the group of elements are hidden based at least in part on locations or other attributes or properties of the one or more elements in the structural representation.
US08392818B2 Single access point for filing of converted electronic forms to multiple processing entities
Methods for efficiently publishing electronic versions of traditionally paper-based government forms and utilizing the electronic forms for web-based transactional services are disclosed. Standard paper-based government forms are automatically converted to XML format, including data fields for entry of information by customers. Multiple electronic forms are accessible to the customer at a single access point, such as a web site. At the web site, the customer selects a form for filing with any of a plurality of government agencies. When presented to the customer, the selected form is presented with some of its data fields being pre-populated according to information retrieved from a database and specific to that customer. The customer completes the form, and a back-end system integrated with the web site handles the completed form, determines the appropriate government agency for filing the form, and transmits it as a transaction to the determined government agency.
US08392812B2 Teletext decoder
A teletext decoder is provided which is suitable for decoding a packet of teletext signal to generate a teletext. The teletext decoder includes an error judgment device for judging the accuracy of a plurality of sliced bits, and correcting an error occurrence bit in the sliced bits on the basis of a plurality of sampling points and a slicer level when the plurality of sliced bits are incorrect.
US08392806B2 Method, device, and digital circuitry for providing a closed-form solution to a scaled error locator polynomial used in BCH decoding
A method of determining positions of one or more error bits is disclosed. The method includes receiving a BCH codeword at input circuitry of a decoder device, establishing a threshold number of correctable bits, and determining from the received BCH codeword and a root of an encoder polynomial, a value of each of one or more syndromes. The number of the one or more syndromes is twice a maximum number of correctable bits in the received BCH codeword. When the maximum number of correctable bits in the received BCH codeword is less than the threshold number of correctable bits, the value of each coefficient in a scaled error locator polynomial is determined by performing a non-iterative, closed-form solution on the scaled error locator polynomial. The scaled error locator polynomial is an original error locator polynomial scaled by a constant scale factor. The constant scale factor is determined according to the value of each of the one or more syndromes. Having determined the value of each coefficient in the scaled error locator polynomial, one or more roots of the scaled error locator polynomial are obtained. Each of the one or more roots indicates a position of an error bit. A BCH decoder device that can implement the method and a digital circuit that preserves operations implementing the method are also disclosed.
US08392798B2 Apparatus, system, and method for validating that correct data is read from a storage device
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for validating that correct data is read from a storage device. A hash generation module generates a hash value from a logical address of a read request for a data storage device. A read data module reads, from the data storage device, data identified by the read request and a stored hash value stored with the data. The stored hash value was generated from a logical address for data written to the data storage device. A hash check module verifies that the generated hash value matches the stored hash value read from the data storage device.
US08392780B2 Communication control method
Methods of controlling peers of a relay ARQ protocol are described. It is proposed to provide a predetermined marking in the payload section of messages of the relay ARQ protocol, such that relay peers along the relay connections can extract information from the payload section.
US08392774B2 Receiving control signals and operating separate scan paths with adaptor
Scan architectures are commonly used to test digital circuitry in integrated circuits. The present disclosure describes a method of adapting conventional scan architectures into a low power scan architecture. The low power scan architecture maintains the test time of conventional scan architectures, while requiring significantly less operational power than conventional scan architectures. The low power scan architecture is advantageous to IC/die manufacturers since it allows a larger number of circuits (such as DSP or CPU core circuits) embedded in an IC/die to be tested in parallel without consuming too much power within the IC/die. Since the low power scan architecture reduces test power consumption, it is possible to simultaneously test more die on a wafer than previously possible using conventional scan architectures. This allows wafer test times to be reduced which reduces the manufacturing cost of each die on the wafer.
US08392768B2 Memory test system with advance features for completed memory system
In a memory test system with advance features for completed memory system, the hardware components are independently configured to generate versatile test patterns for performing a programmable-loading test, a real case test, and a write-feedback test. The write-feedback test is employed to independently test a memory controller which is embedded in an integrated circuit without communicating with the external SDRAM. In the integrated circuit verification stage, the memory test system supports for analyzing and distinguishing the problems inside or outside of the integrated circuit, and testing individual write and read commands.
US08392765B2 Condition based detection of no progress state of an application
A system, and computer usable program product for condition based detection of a no progress state of an application are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A resource usage and an output of a set of applications including the application are monitored. The resource usage and the output are measured to determine a resource usage value and an output value at a first time. A present condition is detected under which the set of applications is executing. A determination is made whether the resource usage value is included in a sub-range of a resource usage scale and the output value is included in a sub-range of an output scale where the sub-range of the resource usage scale corresponds to the sub-range of the output scale for the present condition. The no progress state of the application is detected if the determination is negative.
US08392756B2 Storage apparatus and method of detecting power failure in storage apparatus
A storage apparatus has a physical storage area used by an external apparatus, a drive interface unit, a power supply unit, and a storage controller executing data write processing from the external apparatus to the storage drive and data read processing from the storage drive through the drive interface unit, and a drive control interface unit. The power supply unit inputs power supply information to the drive interface unit. Any one of the processing units acquires the power supply information of the power supply unit through a data network path to the drive interface unit for the data write processing and the data read processing, and determines whether or not a failure occurs in the power supply unit supplying the operation power to the storage drive and the drive interface unit, on the basis of the acquired power supply information.
US08392754B2 Disaster recovery production takeover
Various embodiments for disaster recovery (DR) production takeover in a computing environment by a processor device are provided. If, for a designated storage system operable in the computing environment, a takeover operation may be executed, and a DR storage system has validly replaced the designated storage system using a replacement process, a withdrawal of a DR mode of operation is performed, and ownership of at least one storage device operable in the computing environment is transferred to the DR storage system. The replacement process authorizes the DR storage system to transfer the ownership while withdrawn from the DR mode of operation.
US08392745B2 Modular integrated circuit with clock control circuit
A modular integrated circuit includes a hub module that is coupled to a plurality of spoke modules via a plurality of hub interfaces. The hub module includes a clock control circuit, coupled to the plurality of hub interfaces, that selectively supplies a plurality of clock signals to the plurality of spoke modules by receiving a clock request signal from a corresponding one of the plurality of spoke modules via the signal interface of the corresponding one of the plurality of hub interfaces, generating at least one of the plurality of clock signals in response to the clock request signal; and sending the at least one of the plurality of clock signals to the corresponding one of the plurality of spoke modules via the signal interface of the corresponding one of the plurality of hub interfaces.
US08392744B2 Clock distribution apparatus, systems, and methods
Apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed that operate to adjust power received by a clock distribution network at least partially based on operating conditions of an integrated circuit. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US08392740B2 Synchronization of converters having varying group-delays in a measurement system
An analog-to-digital-converter (ADC) timing engine may simplify the use of Delta-Sigma ADCs by compensating for the group-delay of the ADC. The compensation may render the group-delay corresponding to the ADC largely transparent to the end-user of the ADC. Therefore, multiple ADCs may be easily synchronized with each other, even if they have different group-delays, and they may further be synchronized with other types of ADCs that do not have group-delays. The data from the ADCs may also be synchronized with external events. The ADC timing engine (ATE) may be programmed with a number of parameters to set proper delays taking into account not only the group-delays corresponding to the various ADC, but delays stemming from a variety of other sources. Multiple ATEs may be synchronized with each other to ensure that data acquisition by the participating ADCs is started and/or stopped at the same point in time.
US08392735B2 Motion sensor data processing using various power management modes
Systems and methods for processing motion sensor data using various power management modes of an electronic device are provided. Power may be provided to a motion sensor during a first power mode of the device. In response to the motion sensor detecting a motion event with a magnitude exceeding a threshold, the sensor may transmit a wake up signal to a power management unit of the device. In response to receiving the wake up signal, the power management unit may switch the device to a second power mode. The device may provide power to a processor and load the processor with a motion sensing application when switching to the second power mode. During the second power mode, motion sensor data may be processed to determine that the motion event is not associated with an intentional user input and the device may return to the first power mode.
US08392734B2 Power management of computers by detecting active processes in the absence of input activity
A method of controlling power consumption in a computer uses a power management program installed on the computer to detect the identities of processes running on the computer which maintain the computer in a high power state in the absence of input activity. The program compares the identity of the or each process running on the computer with a set of identities of previously identified processes and causes the computer to adopt a low power state if the detected identity of a process, or the detected identities of all the processes, running on the computer is/are in the set of previously identified processes.
US08392730B2 Current sharing method of DC power supply and device thereof
A current sharing method and device for a DC power supply are provided, and the method includes: taking a latest detected bus current as a reference current to perform current sharing control on a local host current; calculating and timing sending time of the local host current according to the latest detected bus current, the local host current, and a preset corresponding relationship between a difference between the local host current and the bus current and the sending time of the local host current, and if no new bus current is detected within a timing time, sending the local host current as a new bus current to a bus when the timing times out. The method has small communication traffic and no master-slave relationship, and is simple to control, which reduces the difficulty of system development and improves the system reliability.
US08392726B2 Protection of memory areas
A method for loading a program, contained in at least a first memory, into a second memory accessible by an execution unit, in which the program is in a cyphered form in the first memory, a circuit for controlling the access to the second memory is configured from program initialization data, instructions of the program, and at least initialization data being decyphered to be transferred into the second memory after configuration of the circuit.
US08392725B2 Method for fast decryption of processor instructions
A processor, circuit and method provide for fast decryption of encrypted program instructions for execution by the processor. A programmable look-up coding is used to decode a field within the instructions. The decoded field for the instructions are recombined with the remaining portion of the same instructions to yield the decoded instructions. The programmable look-up coding can be programmed and controlled by a process executing at a higher privilege level than the program represented by the instructions, so that security against code-modifying attacks is enhanced.
US08392719B2 Computer readable storage medium storing software execution control program, software execution control method and software execution control system
A character string indicating a date obtained from a calendar clock is combined with a fixed-value character string held internally to generate a hash character string using a hash function. The hash character string is compared with an input character string. When there is a match, the body portion of an application software is executed. When there is no match, a process is terminated without executing the body portion of the application software.
US08392717B2 Authentication method, system, server, and client
An authentication method is disclosed herein. The method includes: by a server, using a Trigger message nonce to generate a Trigger message, and sending the generated Trigger message to a client so that the client can extract the Trigger message nonce; after determining that the Trigger message nonce is valid, using the Trigger message nonce to generate a digest, and authenticating the Trigger message generated by using the Trigger message nonce; after the authentication succeeds, sending a session request to the server indicated by the Trigger message, where the session request carries a session ID. The corresponding system, server and client are disclosed herein. The present invention makes the authentication process more secure through the client and the server based on the DS or DM protocol.
US08392716B2 Communication apparatus, digital signature issuance method and apparatus, and digital signature transmission method
An initiator shares y_ir with a responder, calculates HASH_I on the basis of y_ir, and sends HASH_I to an IKE proxy server. The initiator receives a digital signature SIG_S generated for HASH_I and the address of the initiator from the IKE proxy server and sends the digital signature SIG_S to the responder.
US08392715B2 Method and device for identifying objects or documents
The document identification method comprises: a step of marking the document with an anti-copy mark that is identical for a plurality of documents, a step of reading an anti-copy mark, a step of generating an identification mark that can vary from one document to another and according to the reading of the anti-copy mark and a step of marking said document to form said identification mark on said document. In embodiments the method comprises, in addition, a step of printing a uniform area and the step of marking the document to form the identification mark comprises a step of emitting light with a laser in the uniform area.In embodiments the method comprises, in addition, a step of invisibly marking the identification mark on said document.
US08392714B2 Secure overlay manager protection
A method for protection of data includes maintaining a control parameter indicative of a current version of the data. The data is partitioned into multiple segments. Respective signatures of the segments are computed, responsively to the control parameter, the segments and respective signatures forming respective signed input segments, which are stored in a memory. After the signed input segments are stored, a signed output segment is fetched from the memory. The signature of the signed output segment is verified responsively to the control parameter, and the data in the signed output segment is processed responsively to verifying the signature.
US08392702B2 Token-based management system for PKI personalization process
A system for token-based management of a PKI (public key infrastructure) personalization process includes a token request and management system (TRMS) configured to gather request information from a requestor; and a token personalization system (TPS) configured to personalize a hardware token such that usage of the hardware token is constrained by the request information. A method for token-based management of a PKI personalization process includes: requesting a hardware token; personalizing a hardware token such that the hardware token is confined to operation within limiting parameters; binding the hardware token to a workstation which is configured receive the hardware token and use credentials within the hardware token to request and download PKI data from a PKI server, the workstation being further configured to personalize an end user product by loading the PKI data into internal memory contained within the end user product; and monitoring usage of the hardware token and the PKI data.
US08392700B2 Apparatus and system for asymmetric security
An apparatus and system are disclosed for asymmetric security in data communications between two or more nodes. Asymmetric security within data communications refers to sending and receiving messages at different security levels. The apparatus includes a receiving module, a transmission module, and a communication module. The receiving module receives a first message at a first security level from a first node. A security level may be defined by implementation of one or more security features, including encryption, digital signatures, and/or other security features. The transmission module transmits a second message at a second security level to the first node in response to receiving the first message. The first and second messages may be communicated during a single communication session. The communication module communicates the second security level to the first node. The communication may be directly between two nodes or may occur via a broker or other intermediate node.
US08392699B2 Secure communication system for mobile devices
A comprehensive solution for providing secure mobile communication is provided. The system includes techniques for authentication and control of communication end-points; chain of trust to ensure devices are certified as authentic; contact list management; peer-to-peer encrypted voice, email, and texting communication; and a technique for bypassing an IP PBX to ensure high levels of security. The system is able to support use of commodity mobile communication devices (e.g., smart phones, laptops) over public carrier networks.
US08392698B2 System and method for providing prefixes indicative of mobility properties in a network environment
An example method includes receiving an Internet protocol (IP) address request in a network and selecting an IP address associated with a prefix that represents an IP subnet. The prefix includes a color attribute to be provided as part of a communication session that includes a plurality of packets. The prefix defines one or more properties associated with an application for the session. The prefix is communicated to a network element in a signaling plane, the prefix is configured to be used to make a routing decision for at least some of the plurality of packets. In more specific embodiments, the method can include applying one or more network policies based on the prefix associated with the IP address. The method could also include decrypting an encryption protocol in order to identify the prefix of a subsequent communication flow, and executing a routing decision based on the prefix.
US08392697B1 BIOS configuration and management
Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for providing a modular and enhanced kernel device manager. Control is passed to the kernel device manager during POST after an enhanced device initialization manager has performed device initialization. The kernel device manager configures and manages devices enumerated by the enhanced device initialization manage, and groups these devices. In some embodiments, the devices are groped as input devices, output devices, and/or storage devices. The kernel device manager also classifies the devices and links the devices with a proper class-specific kernel such as an input device kernel, and output device kernel, and/or a storage device kernel. The devices can be linked to the proper class-specific kernel via a class-specific communication pipe such as an input pipe, an output pipe, or a storage pipe.
US08392694B2 System and method for software initiated checkpoint operations
A method, system and computer program product for issuing one or more software initiated operations for creating a checkpoint of a register file and memory, and for restoring a register file and memory to the checkpointed state. At the execution of a checkpoint operation, the system returns a condition code indicating success or failure. When the condition code is set equal to one, one or more checkpoints are initiated. Contents of the register file and gated store buffer are stored each time the one or more checkpoints are initiated. When the checkpoint is created, the system notifies software when a hardware checkpoint capacity has been reached. One or more of the software checkpoint, hardware checkpoint, and handler checkpoint are utilized to provide a more precise point of restoration. During software execution, the register file and gated store buffer can be restored as defined by the one or more previous checkpoints.
US08392673B1 Data writing/reading method, a de-interleaving method, a data processing method, a memory and a memory drive apparatus
A data writing/reading method, a de-interleaving method, a data processing method, a memory, and a memory drive are provided whose costs are reduced. When a plural data interleaved in transmitter (100) are written in memory (110a) of receiver (110), the write direction is alternatively changed to row direction and column direction.
US08392672B1 Identifying unallocated memory segments
A network device that includes a first memory to store packets in segments; a second memory to store pointers associated with the first memory; a third memory to store summary bits and allocation bits, where the allocation bits correspond to the segments. The network device also includes a processor to receive a request for memory resources; determine whether a pointer is stored in the second memory, where the pointer corresponds to a segment that is available to store a packet; and send the pointer when the pointer is stored in the second memory. The processor is further to perform a search to identify other pointers when the pointer is not stored in the second memory, where performing the search includes identifying a set of allocation bits, based on an unallocated summary bit, that corresponds to the other pointers; identify another pointer, of the other pointers, based on an unallocated allocation bit of the set of allocation bits; and send the other pointer in response to the request.
US08392664B2 Network on chip
A network on chip (‘NOC’) that includes integrated processor (‘IP’) blocks, routers, memory communications controllers, and network interface controllers; each IP block adapted to a router through a memory communications controller and a network interface controller; and at least one IP block also including a computer processor and an L1, write-through data cache comprising high speed local memory on the IP block, the cache controlled by a cache controller having a cache line replacement policy, the cache controller configured to lock segments of the cache, the computer processor configured to store thread-private data in main memory off the IP block, the computer processor further configured to store thread-private data on a segment of the L1 data cache, the segment locked against replacement upon cache misses under the cache controller's replacement policy, the segment further locked against write-through to main memory.
US08392657B2 Monitoring cache usage in a distributed shared cache
An apparatus, method, and system are disclosed. In one embodiment the apparatus includes a cache memory, which a number of sets. Each of the sets in the cache memory have several cache lines. The apparatus also includes at least one process resource table. The process resource table maintains a cache line occupancy count of a number of cache lines. Specifically, the cache line occupancy count for each cache line describes the number of cache lines in the cache storing information utilized by a process running on a computer system. Additionally, the process resource table stores the occupancy count of less cache lines than the total number of cache lines in the cache memory.
US08392655B2 Apparatus for reducing accesses to levels of a storage hierarchy in a computing system
An information processing system comprises first and second levels of a storage hierarchy, wherein accessing information in the first level consumes more energy than accessing information in the second level; and a processor for writing information to the second level of storage based on energy-conserving criteria. The energy-conserving criteria comprise a set of heuristics, including system state information and user preferences.
US08392649B2 Memory storage device, controller, and method for responding to host write commands triggering data movement
A memory storage device, a memory controller thereof, and a method for responding host commands are provided. The memory storage device has a flash memory chip and a buffer memory. The present method includes receiving a write command issued by a host system and determining whether the write command causes the memory storage device to trigger a data moving procedure. If the write command does not cause the memory storage device to trigger the data moving procedure, the present method further includes sending an acknowledgement message corresponding to the write command to the host system after data corresponding to the write command is completely transferred to the buffer memory.
US08392639B2 Main electronic device for communicating within a network and method for operating a main electronic device for communicating within the network
The present invention relates to a main electronic device for communicating within a network comprising an interface for enabling communication within the network and a controller for sending polling messages via the network to logical addresses via said interface in order to request information from at least one further electronic device. The present invention further relates to a method for operating a main electronic device for communicating within a network.
US08392634B2 Programmable controller with building blocks having modules that can be combined into a single unit
A PLC of building block type includes a switch module incorporating a switch part having N-to-N switch function between serial communication lines with a plurality of lines and a plurality of device modules individually incorporating device systems with various advanced-function device module characteristics. A CPU system having CPU functions of the PLC may be incorporated in the switch module, the switch module incorporating the CPU system and the plurality of device modules being connected together into a single body in a building block structure through module-connecting mechanisms. Dedicated serial communication lines each with a single line or a plurality of lines connect between the switch module incorporating the CPU system and each of the plurality of device modules such that a star-shaped serial communication network is formed with the switch module incorporating the CPU system as a central node and each of the plurality of device modules as a peripheral node.
US08392632B2 Method and apparatus for data processing in mobile communication system
Provided is a method and an apparatus for processing data at a high speed by a UE for data communication. In the method, received data is divided into a header and payload information, which are then stored in different memories. In the method, header processing and payload data processing can be performed in parallel, and two memory devices can perform parallel processing without sharing a bus.
US08392631B1 Methods and apparatus for transmitting data streams via a heterogeneous network
Methods and apparatus that enable a community of devices having differing underlying protocols to stream media data such as video or audio data. In one exemplary embodiment, this invention enables IEEE 1394-compliant (“FireWire” enabled) devices to communicate across an Ethernet infrastructure, such as one enabled by the Ethernet AVB Standard(s). This enhances connectivity, and also supports obviating one or more physical ports within the device(s). In another embodiment, or more wireless transports are utilized.
US08392612B2 Replication server selection method
A method for a client computer to find a network address of a server computer by searching for the network address using at a backup search procedure if the address of the server computer cannot be identified using a primary search procedure. The primary and backup search procedures can be performed in parallel and multiple backup search procedures can be performed to identify the address of the server computer. Alternatively, the primary and backup search procedures can be performed in serial wherein the backup search procedure is performed only when the primary search procedure does not identify the address of the server computer.
US08392609B2 Proximity detection for media proxies
A method of detecting proximity between a media proxy and a client uses a proximity probe to query a plurality of media proxies, forcing the media proxies to respond to a proximity server. The proximity server uses an algorithm to determine which media proxy is closest to the client based on the responses. In an alternate embodiment, the same sorts of proximity probes may be used to determine if two media endpoints have a direct connection such that they may bypass a media proxy.
US08392608B1 Using virtual networking devices to manage network configuration
Techniques are described for providing managed virtual computer networks that may have a configured logical network topology with one or more virtual networking devices, with corresponding networking functionality provided for communications between multiple computing nodes of the virtual computer network by emulating functionality that would be provided by the networking devices if they were physically present. In some situations, the emulating of networking device functionality includes receiving routing communications directed to the networking devices and using included routing information to update the configured network topology for the managed computer network. In addition, the techniques may further include supporting interactions with devices that are external to the virtual computer network, including remote physical networking devices that are part of a remote computer network configured to interoperate with the virtual computer network, and/or specialized network devices that are accessible via a substrate network on which the virtual computer network is overlaid.
US08392587B2 Federated management framework for credential data
Federated management framework for credential data. The framework permits credential-using applications to provide user interface panels and associated semantics to manage the credentials that are relevant to each application. This framework is suitable for use in a multi-application environment where credentials are shared among each the applications. With this framework, each management user interface associated with one of the applications can have the credentials appear in the interface. Furthermore, the framework can detect when one application's management user interface attempts a modification to a credential that will affect another application that has an interest that credential.
US08392584B2 System and method for searching for session ID in wireless mobile IP communication system
A system and a method for performing session setup in a wireless communication system that uses a Mobile Internet Protocol (MIP) are provided. In the method, when at least one Mobile Node (MN) requests registration, a Network Access Identifier (NAI) of the MN is determined. A session Identification (ID) is assigned to the NAI of the MN. The session ID assigned to the NAI is inserted into an Identification Low field forming a registration request field of a message requesting registration of the MN. The message is transmitted to a Home Agent (HA) of the MN. A Foreign Agent (FA) can more easily search for an MN corresponding to a registration reply message provided from the HA, and memory consumption and a time delay that occurs due to a hash method may be reduced.
US08392580B2 Methods and systems for facilitating transfer of sessions between user devices
Methods and systems for facilitating transfer of an active session from a first device to a second device associated with the same user. A network server is configured to enable the switching or swapping of an active session from one device to another device, where both devices are associated with a common user address. The switching or swapping is implemented with no or minimal effect on the active session or awareness of the remote party. The device switch may be performed in relation to any active session, including VoIP, video conferencing, or other media sessions.
US08392579B2 Apparatus and method for transmitting data through a network
A transmitting apparatus comprises a plurality of communication sessions and a transport manager. The transport manager is configured to establish and manage network sockets for communicating between the transmitting apparatus and a network. The transport manager is configured to receive a plurality of session requests respectively corresponding with a plurality of applications that produce data, each of the session requests identifying a respective set of receiving units and a respective transport protocol. The transport manager is configured to select, in response to each one of the session requests, at least one of the sessions to service a corresponding one of the applications. The transport manager is further configured to establish a network socket for each of the selected sessions, wherein the transport manager configures the network socket to communicate, with the set of receiving units identified by the corresponding session request, via the transport protocol identified by the corresponding session request.
US08392578B1 Method and apparatus for controlling access to a website
A method and apparatus delays users from accessing a service via the world wide web in an orderly manner without maintaining a queue. When a user requests the service, if the service is busy, a web server does not allow access to the service: instead it configures the user's web browser via a script or applet to periodically retry requesting the service. A timestamp designating a time the user requested the service or other similar time is provided to the user and a count of timestamps issued in different periods are maintained by the web server. The web server periodically determines a cutoff timestamp corresponding to an available capacity of the apparatus using the count of timestamps it maintains. When the user retries requesting the service, the browser provides to the web server the timestamp it received from the server. If the timestamp provided is less than or equal to the cutoff timestamp, the user is allowed access to the service, otherwise, the users browser is instructed to retry at a specified interval.
US08392577B2 Reduction of message flow between bus-connected consumers and producers
A system, method, and computer readable medium for reducing message flow on a message bus are disclosed. The method includes determining if at least one logical operator in a plurality of logical operators requires processing on a given physical processing node in a group of physical nodes. The logical operator is pinned to the given physical processing node. The pinning prevents any subsequent reassignment of the logical operator to another physical processing node. Each logical operator in the plurality of logical operators is assigned to an initial physical processing node in the group of physical processing nodes on a message bus. A determination is made as to whether at least one logical operating in the plurality of logical operators needs to be reassigned to a different physical processing node. The at least one logical operator is reassigned to the different physical processing node.
US08392575B1 Clustered device dispersion in a multi-tenant environment
Host machines and other devices performing synchronized operations can be dispersed across multiple racks in a data center to provide additional buffer capacity and to reduce the likelihood of congestion. The level of dispersion can depend on factors such as the level of oversubscription, as it can be undesirable in a highly connected network to push excessive host traffic into the aggregation fabric. As oversubscription levels increase, the amount of dispersion can be reduced and two or more host machines can be clustered on a given rack, or otherwise connected through the same edge switch. By clustering a portion of the machines, some of the host traffic can be redirected by the respective edge switch without entering the aggregation fabric. When provisioning hosts for a customer, application, or synchronized operation, for example, the levels of clustering and dispersion can be balanced to minimize the likelihood for congestion throughout the network.
US08392566B1 Computer executable services
A method comprises determining available hardware, determining computer executable services based in part on the available hardware, displaying a catalog of the computer executable services, receiving a selection of at least one service of the computer executable services, and instantiating the at least one service on the at least one server. The available hardware comprises at least one server.
US08392561B1 Wireless internet product system
Low resource internet devices such as consumer electronics products connect to web service by means of a proxy method where the connected device does not need to maintain the expensive and fragile web service interface itself, but rather uses simple low level protocols to communicate through a gateway that executes software to translate a low level proprietary wireless protocol to a proprietary low level internet protocol that can pass through a firewall to proxy servers that translate the low level protocols thus presenting an interface that makes the internet device appear to have a full web service interface to enable communication between the internet devices and the web server.
US08392555B2 Push-back mechanism for pub/sub brokers
A method and system for controlling message throughput rates of clients connected to a broker device in a publish/subscribe network are disclosed. The broker device determines a maximum allowable message throughput for each client connected to the broker device. If a message-producing rate of a client exceeds the maximum allowable message throughput of the client, the broker device sends a negative acknowledgement (NACK) packet to the client and messages from the client are not accepted at the broker device. The NACK packet includes a maximum allowable message throughput of the client, so the client can adjust its message-producing rate based on the maximum allowable message throughput of the client. The present invention can be applied to a publish/subscribe network as well as a TCP/IP network.
US08392554B2 System and method of remotely locating a lost mobile communication device
A system and method of locating a lost wireless communication device is provided. A remote server is contacted to indicate that the wireless communication device is lost. A lost device policy setting is then activated in a database coupled to the remote server, the lost device policy setting indicating that the wireless communication device is lost. In response to activation of the lost device policy setting, a remote location command is then transmitted from the remote server to the wireless communication device via a wireless network. The remote location command is subsequently received at the lost wireless communication device, which processes the remote location command such that a user of the wireless communication device can locate the device.
US08392543B1 Synchronization of content change across multiple devices
A method, system, and medium are provided for a global synchronization system (GSS). The GSS includes a global synchronization server and a network storage device. Content sources can be retrieved directly from the remote source, or optionally uplinked onto the network storage device. The content sources and user devices are defined, as well as the relationships of one endpoint to another, according to subscriber specifications, provided by the global synchronization system. The subscriber specifications are managed by the global synchronization server to provide synchronization of changes and updates to content sources and devices.
US08392536B2 Centralized feed manager
A method delivering content from a plurality of sources to a plurality of end servers through a central manager is provided. The method includes receiving the content from the plurality of sources at the central manager, formatting the content to a form usable by the plurality of end servers, creating a transaction generic to the plurality of end servers where the transaction includes a reference to a set of instructions for storing the formatted content, sending the transaction to an end server in the plurality of end servers, and calling the reference to execute the set of instructions where the set of instructions store the formatted content into the memory of the end server.
US08392530B1 Media streaming in a multi-tier client-server architecture
Systems, methods, and computer program products permit communication between servers in a server system utilizing a proxy stream communicating over a connection between the servers. A first request for content is received, at a server, and a connection is created with at least one upstream server. At the server a name associated with the content at the upstream server is identified. A second request for the content is transmitted to the at least one upstream server, where the second request identifies the name. The content is then received at the downstream server.
US08392529B2 Fast file server methods and systems
The invention provides, in one aspect, an improved system for data access comprising a file server that is coupled to a client device or application executing thereon via one or more networks. The server comprises static storage that is organized in one or more directories, each containing, zero, one or more files. The server also comprises a file system operable, in cooperation with a file system on the client device, to provide authorized applications executing on the client device access to those directories and/or files. Fast file server (FFS) software or other functionality executing on or in connection with the server responds to requests received from the client by transferring requested data to the client device over multiple network pathways. That data can comprise, for example, directory trees, files (or portions thereof), and so forth.
US08392519B2 Mechanism for managing sequential emails
A mechanism is disclosed for generating a composite email for an email conversation. The composite email includes content automatically extracted from a plurality of the emails in the email conversation, and may be generated in response to a user accessing just one of the emails in the email conversation. A mechanism is also disclosed for discovering and recovering lost emails in an email conversation. A mechanism is further disclosed for automatically moving emails from one container to another after an email has been read. These and other advantageous email generating, manipulation, and organization mechanisms are disclosed herein.
US08392508B2 Selectively controlling information flow in a collaborative environment
Selectively controlling information flow in a collaborative environment implemented by at least one server device includes: receiving in the at least one server device, from a first user of the collaborative environment, a pipeline condition corresponding to a target recipient and a release condition corresponding to the target recipient; and preventing the target recipient, with the at least one server device, from accessing information satisfying the pipeline condition posted by the first user to the collaborative environment until the release condition has been satisfied.
US08392506B2 Networked gaming system including a location monitor and dispatcher using personal data keys
A networked gaming system is disclosed that includes location detection and dispatcher servers operative together with one or more wireless personal digital (PDK) devices communicating with receiver/decoders (RDCs) for tracking and communicating with casino employees and patrons throughout the casino. An employee and patron tracking system in a casino is disclosed wherein beverage and other service staff are properly assigned, dispatched to the right patron or location and can be located and tracked throughout various transactions.
US08392502B2 System and method for effecting conference calling
A system for effecting conference calling in a telecommunication network includes: (a) a plurality of subscriber units coupled with the telecommunication network; and (b) a conference control unit coupled with the telecommunication network. The conference control unit responds to a request message from a requesting subscriber unit to effect coupling of a conference-set of subscriber units in a conference calling configuration. The conference control unit controls inclusion in the conference-set by respective subscriber units. The system may provide that the conference control unit provides and controls conferencing services for the conference-set of subscriber units.
US08392499B2 System and method for relating aborted client accesses of data to quality of service provided by a server in a client-server network
A system and method are provided for relating aborted client accesses of server information to the quality of service provided to clients by a server in a client-server network. According to one embodiment, a method comprises determining performance data for at least one aborted client access of information from a server in a client-server network, and using the performance data to determine whether the aborted client access(es) relate to the quality of service provided to a client by the server.
US08392492B2 Sine/cosine value generation apparatus
An apparatus for generating sine/cosine values of an input phase is disclosed. The apparatus includes a phase projector, an LUT-arithmetic unit, a temp sine/cosine generator and a sine/cosine value generator. The phase projector maps the input phase angle into an octant phase and determines an octant index indicating which octant the input phase angle actually locates and a flag indicating whether or not the input phase happens to be pi/4, 3*pi/4, 5*pi/4 or 7*pi/4. The LUT-arithmetic unit receives the octant phase for provision of its corresponding sine/cosine values. The temp sine/cosine generator receives the corresponding sine/cosine values of the octant phase for provision of temp sine/cosine values based on the flag. The sine/cosine value generator selectively swaps and inverts the temp sine/cosine values as the sine/cosine values of the input phase based on a swap index derived from the octant index.
US08392491B2 Shift calculator
A shift calculator including a first shifter includes a right shifter configured to perform a right shift of 0 to 3 bits and a left shifter configured to perform a left shift of 0 to 3 bits, on input data of which a data width is N bits, in accordance with left/right selection signals, based on a shift amount of 3 bits or smaller out of an input shift amount, a rotator configured to perform a right rotate shift of 0 to N−4 bits or a left rotate shift of 0 to N−4 bits, on output data from said first shifter, in accordance with said left/right selection signals, based on a shift amount of 4 bits or greater out of the input shift amount, and a mask unit configured to perform mask processing in 4-bit increments on output data from said rotator based on mask signals.
US08392482B1 Versioning of database partition maps
System and methods for managing versions of partition maps in a distributed data store are disclosed. A relational database may use partition maps to indicate the location of data in a particular partition, or in a replica thereof. These partition maps may be versioned using a two-stage mechanism in which partition map updates are communicated to all nodes, or to affected nodes only, and in which operation may continue without waiting for acknowledgment of their application to each node. The system may handle minor partition changes differently than major partition changes. For example, if a replica of a partition is promoted to be a primary copy due to hardware or network failures, partition map changes may only be propagated to nodes in the same replica group. For major partition changes (e.g., splits, moves, mergers, added partitions, or size change), a new partition map may be made available to all nodes.
US08392479B1 Method and apparatus for optimizing storage space allocation for computer data
A method and apparatus for optimizing storage space allocations, using at least one processor, for computer data in distributed file systems is described. In one embodiment, the method includes processing input/output activity that is associated with computer data to determine a current state of at least one file in a distributed file system, at flush time, combining various storage space allocation decisions applied over at least one network protocol to determine a plurality of file system operations that define storage space, based on the current state of the at least one file, for the computer data and executing the plurality of file system operations on the computer data stored in the storage space.
US08392478B2 Method and system for efficiently reading a partitioned directory incident to a serialized process
A method of reading data from a partitioned directory incident to a serialized process. A first read and an offset value are received. A first data block in a modeled fully partitioned directory is identified based on the offset value and a predetermined number of entries associated with a buffer. It is determined whether the first data block in the fully partitioned directory is present in the actual partitioned directory. Zeros are written in the buffer if the first data block in the fully partitioned directory is not present in the actual partitioned directory otherwise the first data block associated with the actual partitioned directory is written to the buffer. A second data block is similarly read by a second read operation and written. The second data block is associated with a second subdirectory, selected based on a horizontal node traversal at a node level of said first subdirectory.
US08392473B2 Fast hierarchical enrichment
A method of generating computer instructions for creating instances of a hierarchical data format from a flat record stream, the flat record stream containing data in a flat format and containing at least some data redundancy. The method uses a computing device having at least a processor, a memory, a display device and an input device. The method includes allowing a developer to use the input device to create a graphical representation of the hierarchical data format, and allowing a developer to use the input device to create a graphical representation of a mapping between the flat format and the hierarchical format. The method further includes generating, at the processor, computer instructions which when executed on a computer cause the computer to create from the flat record stream instances of the hierarchical format, wherein the instances of the hierarchical format remove the data redundancy.
US08392468B2 Media information search apparatus and media information search method
In order to perform reliable acquisition of album names and song titles while a CD is played back, compressed in MP3 format and filtered, the TOC information of the CD is read out by a CD playback section of a playback/dubbing apparatus. This information is then sent from a system controller to a TOC album relevant information database via a network server and a network communication and corresponding album names and song titles are then acquired. In the case in which corresponding contents information cannot be acquired at the database, the system controller reads out copyright information (ISRC code) of the CD using the CD playback section, searches databases of homepages for music companies or sales companies via the network server and the network communication based on this information, and acquires album names and song titles.
US08392467B1 Directing searches on tree data structures
A computer-implemented method to access a data structure including a tree data structure in a computing environment. The method includes generating the data structure in the computing environment. The tree data structure includes a plurality of nodes, a node in the plurality of nodes embodying a plurality of fields, and at least one child link and at least one next link, the at least one child link and the at least one next link being used to link two or more nodes in the plurality of nodes. The method further includes accessing contents of the data structure with an access command in the computing environment. The access command includes a reference to at least one node of the tree data structure and a user-defined argument.
US08392458B2 Information apparatus and method of controlling the same
Appropriate control is performed for data blocks and data block groups in a file.A file system having various functions provides an upper program with an interface for changing size, storage position and processing method in each function of extents being data block management units in a file. The file system can improve the effects aimed by the respective functions by implementing the extent configuration and processing optimized for the various functions of the file system, based on the instruction from the upper program.
US08392453B2 Nonstandard text entry
A computer-implemented method of providing text entry assistance data comprises receiving at a computer information indicative of predictive textual outcomes, generating dictionary data from the received information; and providing the dictionary data to a text entry device remote from the computer. The received information may relate to search requests made by a plurality of remote searchers, and the received information may be indicative of search term popularity.
US08392452B2 Method and apparatus for callback supplementation of media program metadata
A method and apparatus for obtaining media program metadata is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of receiving a media program callback message in a content delivery system from a client device displaying a webpage retrieved from a host server, the media program embedded in the retrieved webpage, the callback message comprising a callback address to the webpage, and storing the address as metadata associated with the media program in the database.
US08392433B2 Self-indexer and self indexing system
An improved self-indexer comprising a find function that caches a last found position and occurrence count of a symbol on each node level of a word-based wavelet tree for a particular symbol lookup and only uses a select function to call on data to the right of the position.
US08392428B1 Method and system for hash fragment representation
A method for writing data to persistent storage. The method include receiving a first write request including a key and a value, hashing the key to obtain a hashed key, obtaining a hash table depth (d), obtaining d bits from the hashed key, and making a first determination that a hash frag associated with the d bits from the hashed key exists. In response to the first determination, obtaining the hash frag, making a second determination that there is available space to store a hash frag entry in the hash frag, storing the hash frag entry in the hash frag to obtain an updated hash frag, where the hash frag entry includes the hashed key and value information for the value, and storing the updated hash frag in the persistent storage.
US08392427B1 LSH-based retrieval using sub-sampling
A set of reference videos is indexed to a reference index in order to facilitate matching of video content. An indexing module receives a set of reference fingerprints representing a set of reference videos and identifies keys contained in the reference fingerprints. Reference identifiers for the reference videos are stored in bins of the reference index associated with the identified keys. The bins in the reference index are sub-sampled to limit the number of reference identifiers stored in a given bin.
US08392420B2 Managing access to digital identity information
A basic architecture for managing digital identity information in a network such as the World Wide Web is provided. A user of the architecture can organize his or her information into one or more profiles which reflect the nature of different relationships between the user and other entities, and grant or deny each entity access to a given profile. Various enhancements which may be provided through the architecture are also described, including tools for filtering email, controlling access to user web pages, locating other users and making one's own location known, browsing or mailing anonymously, filling in web forms automatically with information already provided once by hand, logging in automatically, securely logging in to multiple sites with a single password and doing so from any machine on the network, and other enhancements.
US08392418B2 Method and apparatus for predicting object properties and events using similarity-based information retrieval and model
Method and apparatus for predicting properties of a target object comprise application of a search manager for analyzing parameters of a plurality of databases for a plurality of objects, the databases comprising an electrical, electromagnetic, acoustic spectral database (ESD), a micro-body assemblage database (MAD) and a database of image data whereby the databases store data objects containing identifying features, source information and information on site properties and context including time and frequency varying data. The method comprises application of multivariate statistical analysis and principal component analysis in combination with content-based image retrieval for providing two-dimensional attributes of three dimensional objects, for example, via preferential image segmentation using a tree of shapes and to predict further properties of objects by means of k-means clustering and related methods. By way of example, one of a process failure event, an intrusion event and a fire event and residual objects may be predicted and located and qualified such that, for example, properties of the residual objects may be qualified, for example, via black body radiation and micro-body databases including charcoal assemblages.
US08392412B2 Technique for confirmation of dominancy relationship
A method includes: classifying sampling points (SPs) into ranks so as to satisfy a condition such as a condition that no SP belonging to a certain rank is dominated by another SP belonging to a rank higher than the certain rank; determining, in ascending order from a lowest rank, whether a first SP belonging to a first rank dominates a second SP belonging to a second rank higher than the first rank. When the first SP dominates, while changing the rank from a rank immediately lower than the first rank to the lowest rank, the first SP and SPs dominating the first SP and included in a first set of the first SP are added to a dominating source set of the second SP, and the first SP and SPs in the first set are excluded from SPs for which the determining is executed with respect to the second SP.
US08392406B1 Determining a height-balanced histogram incrementally
A table-level histogram is maintained incrementally without requiring rescanning of the entire table when new data values are added to the table. A table has multiple partitions of data values. A histogram for data values of the partitions is generated. When a new partition of data values is added to the table, a histogram for only the new partition is generated. To generate a histogram for the entire table, the histograms for the previously generated and newly added partitions are used without needing to refer to the underlying data. A similar approach is applicable when modifying data values in a partition.
US08392398B2 Query optimization over graph data streams
A method for executing a query on a graph data stream. The graph stream comprises data representing edges that connect vertices of a graph. The method comprises constructing a plurality of synopsis data structures based on at least a subset of the graph data stream. Each vertex connected to an edge represented within the subset of the graph data stream is assigned to a synopsis data structure such that each synopsis data structure represents a corresponding section of the graph. The method further comprises mapping each received edge represented within the graph data stream onto the synopsis data structure which corresponds to the section of the graph which includes that edge, and using the plurality of synopsis data structures to execute the query on the graph data stream.
US08392395B2 Determining advertising placement on preprocessed content
Relationships are determined by disambiguation for preprocessing content. A first canonical identifier associated with a first element that can be represented in content in a plurality of forms is defined. A second canonical identifier associated with a second element that can be represented in content in a plurality of forms is defined. A first content available over a network is retrieved. An entity name element associated with the first content is identified. The entity name element being able to represent the first element and the second element. The entity name element is associated with the first element or the second element based on context associated with the first content.
US08392387B2 Asynchronous deletion of a range of messages processed by a parallel database replication apply process
Mechanisms are provided for replicating transactions at a source database node on a target database node of the data processing system. A transaction message, for a transaction, is stored in a receive queue data structure of the target database node. An agent thread applies a change to data of the target database node based on a specification of the change in the transaction message. An identifier of the transaction message is stored in a done message data structure of the target database node and the identifier of the transaction message is also stored in a prune queue data structure of the target database node. A prune thread determines if a contiguous range of identifiers of transaction messages equal to or greater than a predetermined batch size is present in the prune queue data structure. If so, then a range of transaction messages is deleted from the done message data structure.
US08392385B2 Flexible event data content management for relevant event and alert analysis within a distributed processing system
Methods, systems, and computer program products for flexible event data content management for relevant event and alert analysis within a distributed processing system are provided. Embodiments include receiving, by an interface connector, a raw event from a component of the distributed processing system; analyzing, by the interface connector, custom data within the raw event to determine a location to store the custom data, the custom data in a first data format; storing, by the interface connector, extended data within the raw event in a common event data format, the extended data indicating the location of the custom data; receiving, by an event analyzer, the event; and determining whether there are custom customer rules that need the custom data; and if there are such custom customer rules, retrieving the custom data based on the extended data from the event; and applying the custom customer rules to the extended data; if there are no such custom customer rules, applying the base rules to a base portion of the event.
US08392384B1 Method and system of deduplication-based fingerprint index caching
A system, method, and medium for dynamically scaling the size of a fingerprint index in a deduplication storage system. Fingerprints are stored as entries in a fingerprint index, and the fingerprint index is scaled to fit into an in-memory cache to enable fast accesses to the index. A persistent copy of the full fingerprint index is stored on a non-volatile memory. The cached fingerprint index uses binary sampling to categorize half of the fingerprint entries as samples and protected, and the other half of the entries as non-samples and replaceable. When a search of the cached index results in a hit on a sample entry, all of the non-sample entries associated with the same container are copied from the persistent index to the cached index.
US08392383B2 System and method for recording files of data
A method for recording files of data is disclosed. A file identifier indicative of a file is received. The file identifier is compared to a file conversion value. The file conversion value is determined to be a static file or a dynamic file. Static files are saved as the conversion value and dynamic files are saved as a unique identifier.
US08392381B2 Systems and methods for reservoir sampling of streaming data and stream joins
Algorithms and concepts for maintaining uniform random samples of streaming data and stream joins. These algorithms and concepts are used in systems and methods, such as wireless sensor networks and methods for implementing such networks, that generate and handle such streaming data and/or stream joins. The algorithms and concepts directed to streaming data allow one or more sample reservoirs to change size during sampling. When multiple reservoirs are maintained, some of the algorithms and concepts periodically reallocate memory among the multiple reservoirs to effectively utilize limited memory. The algorithms and concepts directed to stream joins allow reservoir sampling to proceed as a function of the probability of a join sampling operation. In memory limited situations wherein memory contains the sample reservoir and a join buffer, some of the stream join algorithms and concepts progressively increase the size of the sampling reservoir and reallocate memory from the join buffer to the reservoir.
US08392377B2 Method for performing a fine-grained undo operation in an interactive editor
A method and system for restoring, to a previous state, a single object whose state was modified in a group editing action wherein a plurality of objects, including the single object, were modified as a group. Prior to execution of the group editing action, restorative information, necessary to restore each of the objects to its state prior to being modified by the group editing action, is stored in a data structure. After execution of the group editing action, group edit restorative information indicating the state, after the execution of the group editing action, of each of the objects that were modified by the group editing action is stored in another data structure. The single object is restored to its previous state in accordance with the group edit restorative information corresponding to the single object, in response to an indication that one of the plurality of objects is to be restored to its previous state.
US08392376B2 System and method for scalable reference management in a deduplication based storage system
A system and method for managing a resource reclamation reference list at a coarse level. A storage device is configured to store a plurality of storage objects in a plurality of storage containers, each of said storage containers being configured to store a plurality of said storage objects. A storage container reference list is maintained, wherein for each of the storage containers the storage container reference list identifies which files of a plurality of files reference a storage object within a given storage container. In response to detecting deletion of a given file that references an object within a particular storage container of the storage containers, a server is configured to update the storage container reference list by removing from the storage container reference list an identification of the given file. A reference list associating segment objects with files that reference those segment objects may not be updated response to the deletion.
US08392375B2 Perpetual archival of data
The claimed subject matter relates to a network-accessible, online data archival service with a data store for archiving data for clients of the archival service. The archival service can include an architecture that can facilitate perpetual sustainability and accessibility of data by conforming to a model. In particular, the model can describe or define a minimum set of extensible or pluggable components or modules needed to facilitate and guarantee sustainability of and accessibility to the data in perpetuity.
US08392371B2 System and method for identifying and mitigating redundancies in stored data
In an example of an embodiment of the invention, a repeating pattern is identified within stored data comprising a plurality of data files, each data file comprising at least a header section and a data section stored in an unknown format. At least one occurrence of the repeating pattern is identified as a header section of a respective data file, and a data section of the respective data file is identified based, at least in part, on a location of the at least one occurrence of the repeating pattern. The identified data section of the respective data file is backed up. Systems are also disclosed.
US08392370B1 Managing data on data storage systems
A method is used in managing data on data storage systems. Rules are defined for candidate data unit selection. The rules are automatically executed on a primary data storage system to examine data units on the primary data storage system. The rules are applied to the data units. A data unit is identified that matches the rules and the identified data unit is migrated. The identified data unit is copied from the primary storage system to a secondary storage system. The identified data unit on the primary storage system is replaced with metadata. the data storage space in the primary storage system corresponding to the identified data unit is freed up.
US08392367B2 Map updating system
A map updating system that stores map data and a priority sequence table, acquires first update data and second update data of the map data according to the priority sequence table, and updates the map data based on the first update data and second update data according to the priority sequence table.
US08392365B2 Identifying corrupted data on calendars with client intent
Identification of corrupted event data may be provided. Calendar events, such as appointments and meetings, may be created and copied to a plurality of attendee calendars. Changes to the event may be logged and, if the change results from a user interaction with a user interface, a user intent identifier may be associated with the log entry. Other changes that do not result from direct user interaction may not be associated with the user intent identifier. Event corruption detection may identify out-of-sync properties between two calendar events associated with the same meeting and, if the out-of-sync property is not associated with the user intent identifier, the properties may be updated to match each other.
US08392359B2 Trend analysis based upon derived state tables
A computer readable storage medium includes executable instructions to analyze a query associated with a report to identify query clauses. The query is applied against a data source that does not have a specified time dimension. An optimized audit log is formed from an existing audit log to store data changes of interest at the data source and temporal values associated with the data changes, where each data change corresponds to a query clause. A state table is constructed to specify the state of each query clause. Records in the optimized audit log are processed by temporal value to produce updated state tables. Transition tables are derived from the updated state tables to associate temporal values with data changes at the data source that impact a result produced by the query. Trend data is then supplied from the transition tables.
US08392356B2 Efficient transformation of information between a source schema and a target schema
A method is described for relaying information from a first body of information defined by a source schema to a second body of information defined by a target schema. The method involves mapping content associated with one or more source schema fields from the first body of information to a third body of information defined by an intermediate schema. The method further involves executing one or more transformation functions that use the content and are identified by the intermediate schema. The method further involves mapping one or more results of the executing from the third body of information to the second body of information.
US08392353B2 Computerized knowledge representation system with flexible user entry fields
Methods for constructing and maintaining knowledge representation systems (KRS) are disclosed. The KRS is initially organized and populated using knowledge engineers. After initial organization, scientific domain experts digest and structure source texts for direct entry into the KRS using templates. These templates constrain both the form and content of the digested information, allowing it to be entered directly into the KRS. The methods disclosed herein permit the construction and maintenance of a much larger KRS than could be constructed and maintained using known methods. Fact type specific fact templates are completed, accepting predefined fact types found in predetermined information sources. Fact template may comprise a user interface that constrains user entry to one of a predetermined set of valid entries. The user interface may include a user field that permits entry of new information not included in the predetermined set of valid user entries.
US08392350B2 System and method for assigning pieces of content to time-slots samples for measuring effects of the assigned content
Systems and methods provide for assigning pieces of content to time-slots samples for measuring effects of the assigned content. Systems and methods provide for receiving pair-wise content relatedness data that identifies each piece of content as experimental content or control content relative to other pieces of content, and algorithmically assigning experimental or control content pieces to time-slot samples using the content relatedness data, wherein additional content pieces assigned to a particular time-slot sample exclude non-identical related experimental content pieces defined relative to an experimental content piece previously assigned to the particular time-slot sample.
US08392345B2 Cross channel optimization systems and methods
The inventive subject matter is generally directed to a cross channel optimization system, methods, and related software which provide for the conducting of experiments and/or optimization of digital content across a plurality of external content systems to user of the external content systems.
US08392343B2 Estimating probabilities of events in sponsored search using adaptive models
A machine-learning method for estimating probability of a click event in online advertising systems by computing and comparing an aggregated predictive model (a global model) and one or more data-wise sliced predictive models (local models). The method comprises receiving training data having a plurality of features stored in a feature set and constructing a global predictive model that estimates the probability of a click event for the processed feature set. Then, partitioning the global predictive model into one or more data-wise sliced training sets for training a local model from each of the data-wise slices, and then determining whether a particular local model estimates probability of click event for the feature set better than the global model. A given feature set may be collected from historical data, and may comprise a feature vector for a plurality of query-advertisement pairs and a corresponding indicator that represents a click on the advertisement.
US08392334B2 System and method for providing a score for a used vehicle
One embodiment of the system and method described herein provides a score generator system that generates an automated vehicle specific valuation of a used car based on the physical and historical attributes of that vehicle. This score may indicate the likelihood that the vehicle will be on the road in a specific period of time. The score may give an absolute percentage of such likelihood or it may give a value relative to all other used vehicles in a database, all other used vehicles of the same make/model/year, or a certain subset of the vehicles in a database. In one embodiment, the score generator system includes a data link module for linking vehicle data and filter module for applying a multi-level filters that process the linked vehicle data.
US08392329B2 Method and apparatus for facilitating purchase transactions across a network
A local computer system that records information to facilitate a purchase transaction across a network. In one embodiment, the local system operates by receiving a request for billing information relating to a purchase transaction from a remote computer system. The local system then retrieves the billing information from its local store, and sends the billing information to a remote system. After the remote system completes the purchase transaction, the local system receives confirmation information from the remote system. The local system then records this confirmation information in the local store which enables a user of the local system to subsequently look up the confirmation information based on a purchase transaction identifier. Methods associated with the local computer system are also disclosed.
US08392328B2 Methods and apparatus for funding transactions using debit cards issued by one institution and funds from accounts at other institutions
Methods, apparatus, and systems for funding transactions disclosed herein may operate to: receive, for a transaction, a request to debit a first amount from a primary funding source; determine that a second amount of funds available from the primary funding source is less than the first amount requested for the transaction; compare a maximum backup funding amount with a total amount debited from a backup funding source to fund previous transactions associated with the primary funding source, with the maximum backup funding amount being previously set as an amount available from the backup funding source; and to provide an indication that at least part of a difference between the first amount and the second amount can be drawn from the backup funding source based on determining that the total amount has not reached the maximum backup funding amount.
US08392322B2 Transformation of a multi-leg security definition for calculation of implied orders in an electronic trading system
An electronic trading system utilizes a Match Engine that receives orders, stores them internally, calculates tradable combinations and advertises the availability of real and implied orders in the form of market data. New tradable items defined as combinations of other tradable items may be included in the calculation of tradable combinations. A technique is disclosed for transforming a combination or strategy contract with an arbitrary number of buy and sell legs with an arbitrary volume ratio for each leg into a form that can be used for rapid implied order calculations.
US08392317B2 Facilitating electronic auction of prepayment of an invoice
Embodiments for facilitating an electronic auction of prepayment of an invoice are disclosed. One method includes a supplier and a buyer approving the invoice with definite terms. The supplier electronically submits the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to an exchange platform. The exchange platform provides an electronic auction of the invoice with proposed prepayment terms to a plurality of bidders and receiving a bid from at least one of the plurality of bidders. Payment of the invoice between the winning bidder and the supplier is electronically facilitated if a winning bid is received.
US08392312B2 Adaptive scheduling of storage operations based on utilization of a multiple client and server resources in a distributed network storage system
Scheduling operations such as asynchronous file system operations in a network storage system is accomplished by applying a bid-price online auction methodology, in which bid (willingness-to-pay) values and price (cost) values are dynamically set by storage clients and a storage server, respectively, based on utilization of computing resources. The system provides a framework for adaptively scheduling asynchronous file system operations, managing multiple key resources of the distributed file system, including network bandwidth, server I/O, server CPU, and client and server memory utilization. The system can accelerate, defer, or cancel asynchronous requests to improve application-perceived performance. Congestion pricing via online auctions can be employed to coordinate the use of system resources by clients, so clients can detect shortages and adapt their resource usage.
US08392309B2 Equity-indexed annuity for group savings programs
A Group Equity-Indexed Annuity (GEIA) with a guaranteed minimum equity related return for a set of individuals are provided. An algorithm sets a “participation rate” of a GEIA contract as well as the carrier margin, risk and opportunity for recovery. The carrier is held accountable to the participation rate produced by the model investment portfolio in the formula and subject to the guaranteed minimum. The selection of the participation rate is entirely visible to a GEIA contract-holder. A “hedge budget” is based on a formula-driven amortization process that blends old and new money. Underlying assets are also managed to a “constant” duration, such as the duration of a bond index selected by the GEIA contract-holder.
US08392301B1 Financial system for isolated economic environment
A system and method for conducting financial transactions in an isolated economic environment. The present invention includes a non-isolated financial account system based in a non-isolated environment which maintains accounts for users. A self-sufficient financial account system in the isolated economic environment maintains a representation of the account. The account in the non-isolated financial account system and the self-sufficient financial account system are synchronized using the asynchronous connection. When the asynchronous connection is not available, the self-sufficient financial account system funds the representation of the account in anticipation of a funding of the account in the non-isolated financial account system, such as a regular direct deposit of a payroll check.
US08392300B1 Method and system for transferring bill payment data
A system and method for transferring bill payment data whereby a user identifies their current financial institution and provides authentication data associated with their current online account system. The current online account system is then accessed using the user provided current online account system authentication data and data associated with a bill payment feature, and/or recurring bill payment feature, of the current online account system is obtained and/or copied, in one example using screen scraping technology. The data associated with the bill payment feature, and/or recurring bill payment feature, of the current online account system is displayed to the user and the user is provided the opportunity to select what portions of the data are to be transferred to a bill payment feature, and/or recurring bill payment feature, of the a new online account system. The selected data then transferred to the bill payment feature, and/or recurring bill payment feature, of the new online account system.
US08392296B2 Active container management system
A system for monitoring chain of custody of contents of a container includes a lock mechanism configured to lock at least one door of the container in a closed position, a housing enclosing at least a portion of the lock mechanism, and a lock circuit at least partially enclosed within the housing. The lock circuit includes a memory, a lock controller, a wireless module configured to receive information from at least one sensor associated with the container, the information regarding at least one property of the contents of the container, wherein the wireless module is configured to store the information in memory, wherein at least one of the wireless module or the sensor is powered wirelessly, and a lock controller configured to receive commands related to operation of the lock mechanism, to monitor the stored information to identify a change of state of the at least one sensor, and to generate chain of custody data to be transmitted to a remote location via the wireless module. The chain of custody data includes at least two of sensor data, an authentication code associated with the sensor, and/or an authentication code associated with the lock mechanism.
US08392289B1 Cancelling a purchasing request
In general, the subject matter described in this disclosure can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products. A server system receives, as sent by a computing device, a request to purchase a product. The request is initiated by user selection of an element provided for display by a third-party application program. The server system sends, for receipt by a transaction processing system, a charge request to charge an account of a user of the computing device for purchase of the product. The server system determines, after the charge request has been sent for receipt by the transaction processing system, to cancel the charge request. The server system sends, for receipt by the transaction processing system, a request to cancel the charge request. The server system sends, for receipt by the computing device, an indication that purchase of the product has been cancelled.
US08392287B2 System and method for generating shopping list
A shopping list generating system includes a coupon obtaining module, a keyword generator, a recipe obtaining module, and a shopping list generator. The coupon obtaining module obtains coupon information about one or more particular coupons from a coupon database. The keyword generator generates one or more keywords according to particular coupon information about the one or more particular coupons. The recipe obtaining module obtains recipe information about one or more recipes by querying the recipe database using the one or more keywords, and the shopping list generator generates a shopping list of ingredients according to the recipe information about the one or more recipes.
US08392285B2 Multi-supplier transaction and payment programmed processing approach with at least one supplier
In an example embodiment, a computer-based contract-management approach processes transactions involving at least one supplier (i.e., seller or sellers) fulfilling one or more sub-components of the transaction. Each of the suppliers (e.g., as well as other transaction parties) reference the transaction when communicating transaction information such as invoices, regardless of which sub-component of the transaction the seller is involved with. The invoices are associated with the transaction using the transaction referenced in each invoice and each supplier is accordingly paid for its performance of the sub-component of the transaction with which it is involved. From a buyer's perspective, the transaction is processed in accordance with the sub-components associated with the at least one supplier. Per each supplier, the transaction is processed generally two-dimensionally (via buyer and via suppliers), thus generally isolating (where desirable) each supplier from the sub-components of the transaction for which it is not a participant.
US08392282B2 Information processing apparatus and information processing method for recommending application programs
An information processing apparatus includes a communication section that acquires application programs from an external apparatus, a memory that stores an application program and information relevant to the application program, and an application execution section that executes the application program stored in the memory. The information processing apparatus also includes a control section that determines other application programs to be recommended, during execution of the application program by the application execution section. The other application programs to be recommended are determined based on the information relevant to the application program, which includes first relevant information and second relevant information.
US08392272B2 Method and system of online shopping via third party using blog
A system of online shopping via a sales agent includes user terminals (1); seller terminals (21); sales agent terminals (22); two web servers (3) wherein one web server (3) comprises a seller blog (31) including item description web pages (3W1), and the other web server (3) comprises a sales agent blog (32) including item web pages (3W2); an online billing platform (4); and bank terminals (5). The user terminals (1), the seller terminals (21), the sales agent terminals (22), the web servers (3), the online billing platform (4), and the bank terminals (5) are connected together via the Internet (6). Methods of online shopping via a third party (e.g., sales agent or OEM) using a blog are also provided.
US08392270B2 Sharing information on a network-based social platform
A system and method for sharing information on a network-based social platform is provided. A search request, from a first user, for an item from a network-based marketplace is received via an interface provided by a social networking website of a network-based social platform. The network-based social platform is a platform that allows the first user to communicative couple with at least a second user with whom the first user has a pre-established relationship that is stored in a user profile of the first user at the network-based social platform. A search result including at least one item available from the network-based marketplace is provided to the interface associated with the first user. A selection is received from the first user to share information concerning an item from the search result to at least the second user, and the information is shared with at least the second user.
US08392268B2 Method and system of displaying, managing and selling images in an event photography environment
A system for displaying photographs is provided. The display system includes a plurality of rotatable carousels that each possess a plurality of slots for receiving folders that hold photographs taken by an event organizer.
US08392263B2 Method and system for selecting and conveying relevant and personalized gifts using online personal gift profile
A method and system selects and conveys relevant and personalized gifts using an online personal gift profile having personal preference data. The method includes providing, by a conveying user, the identity of a receiving user. The method includes selecting, by the conveying user, a gift-class. The method includes identifying the personal gift profile of the receiving user from the identity of the receiving user and retrieving the personal preference data of the receiving user from the personal gift profile. The method includes sending the selected gift item to the receiving user's physical address.
US08392251B2 Location aware presentation of stimulus material
A system identifies the location of a user and presents location aware stimulus material to the user. Discounts, promotions, and advertising can be delivered to the user on a wireless device based on location and path information. Stimulus material on in store monitors, billboards, and displays are modified based on information about individuals near the monitors and displays. In particular embodiments, neuro-response data is collected using a portable electroencephalography (EEG) headset while a user is exposed to stimulus materials to allow the effectiveness of the stimulus material to be determined. Stimulus materials presented can also be evaluated for neuro-response effectiveness prior to presentation to users in a location aware and personalized manner.
US08392250B2 Neuro-response evaluated stimulus in virtual reality environments
A system presents stimulus materials such as products, product packages, displays, services, offerings, etc., in virtual reality environments such as market aisles, store shelves, showroom floors, etc. Sensory experiences output to the user via the virtual reality environment elicit user interactivity. User activity and responses are used to modify marketing materials and/or virtual reality environments. Neuro-response data including electroencephalography (EEG) data is collected from users in order to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing materials in virtual reality environments. In particular examples, neuro-response data is used to modify marketing materials and virtual reality environments presented to the user.
US08392248B2 Network-based systems and methods for defining and managing multi-dimensional, advertising impression inventory
A method for representing and managing an inventory of overlapping multi-dimensional items such as advertising or ad impressions. The method uses an inventory management module to generate unique segment identifiers for sets of inventory items by processing descriptions of the sets of impressions including defining criteria. The method includes processing the unique segment identifiers to create a representation of the inventory as a plurality of inventory regions, which may include non-overlapping regions that correspond to inventory items in a single set of the inventory and also include overlapping regions that correspond to inventory items in two or more of the sets (e.g., items that match two or more sets of defining criteria or attributes). Availability and selection of inventory is determined using the information on inventory regions to control effects of cannibalization, such as by implementing logically necessary allocation to only cannibalize a region on a limited or forced basis.
US08392243B2 Integrated POS computer system
A POS CS includes an additional logical control logging of transaction data, transmission of the transaction data to a central CS, identification of CIDs in transactions qualifying for marketing information, and instruction of printers for printing the marketing information for a CID during a transaction involving the CID at a terminal in the POS CS.
US08392242B1 Computer-implemented methods for compensating entities that cooperatively provide access to content on web sites
Computer systems and associated payment models are disclosed for compensating content providers, such as web site operators, that cooperatively provide user access to content. In one embodiment, when a user selects a link provided by an “originator” entity (e.g., on a web site of the originator entity) to access a “target” entity's content (e.g., content displayed on the target entity's web site), the user is charged a small transaction fee, such as 0.1 cents. A portion of this fee is paid to the originator, and a portion is paid to the target. An additional portion may be retained by a service provider that processes the link selection transaction. Embodiments are also disclosed involving different flows of monetary compensation between the user, the originator, the target, and the service provider.
US08392239B2 Forecasting demand and availability of resources of a military installation
Methods and computer systems for forecasting demand and availability of resources of a geographic region are provided. Physical, operational, traffic and construction data for a geographic region for a specified time period is utilized to compare the operational needs for at least one resource for a geographic region to the available resources to forecast demands and availability of the at least one resource for the geographic region over the specified time period and determine whether the demand for the at least one resource exceeds the availability of the at least one resource. The forecasted demand and availability of the at least one resource for the geographic region for the specified time period is stored and presented.
US08392236B2 Mobile network dynamic workflow exception handling system
An exception handling system and method are provided for dynamically recovering from a workflow exception occurring in a mobile network communication system. The system has multiple workflows and at least one mission critical item. An attack tree modeling analyses is performed to identify the mission critical item. Another operation includes writing a plurality of forward recovery rules to protect the mission critical item using a transaction datalog fragment of transaction logic. The recovery rules are enabled through an engine in communication with the mobile network communication system. The multiple workflows are monitored for indication of a system attack on any one of the multiple workflows. A new workflow is automatically generated upon detection of the system attack. The exception handling system is overlayed on the mobile network.
US08392233B2 Rolling stock scheduling apparatus and method
A rolling-stock-scheduling apparatus includes a creation unit creating a graph from an initial day to a target day, the graph including nodes representing initial-day sites, target-day sites, and first operations, the first operations being defined by a departure time, a departure site, an arrival time, and an arrival site, the graph including arcs each of which indicates nodes' connectability, a setting unit setting paths that connect second operations on each day from the initial day to the target day, an exchange unit exchanging, if there is a first car which does not exist at the target-day site on the target day, each arc so that all the cars exist at target-day sites on the target day, and an output unit outputting, if second paths on which all the cars exist at the target-day sites are found, third operations corresponding to each of the second paths as a car-operation.
US08392228B2 Computer program product and method for sales forecasting and adjusting a sales forecast
A computer program product and method for sales forecasting and adjusting a sales forecast for an enterprise in a configurable region having one or more clusters of stores. The method includes periodically receiving a sales forecast for an enterprise over a configurable period of time, periodically receiving actual sales information, sales anomalies and anticipated events within the at least one of the clusters of stores over a computer network, determining positive and negative deviations from the anticipated sales of the sales forecast based on the sales information, determining whether one or more trends are occurring or have occurred using a pre-defined mathematical expression based on the sales information, the positive and negative deviations, and the sales anomalies, adjusting the anticipated sales of the sales forecast based on the sales anomalies, the trends and the anticipated events, and outputting the adjusted sales forecast to a user. The sales forecast includes anticipated sales for a plurality of items within at least one of the clusters of stores.
US08392215B2 Method for measuring health care quality
A method is presented for measuring the recovery of a medical treatment provider's patients from a given medical condition. During treatment and recovery, a patient periodically takes a survey to report the current intensity of the signs and symptoms caused by his/her medical condition. The patient also assigns a weight to each sign/symptom, indicating the relative intensity of his/her desire to eliminate it. The product of the intensity of a sign or symptom and its corresponding weight measures the diminishment of quality of life. An outcomes measure, measurable in quality-adjusted life-years, compares a patient's predicted recovery, which is rendered by an independent source at the time the patient's diagnosis is determined, with the patient's actual recovery. Outcomes measures for a provider's patients with a given medical condition and with similar predicted recoveries are combined to produce an unbiased, risk-adjusted outcomes index that can be compared with that of other providers.
US08392213B2 Medical claims fraud prevention system including historical patient locating feature and associated methods
A medical claim fraud prevention system includes a first controller positioned at a medical facility and a second controller positioned at a patient information collection center and adapted to be in communication with a data center having historical location information relating to a patient locating device. The first controller may transmit a first signal to the second controller responsive to an occurrence of a predetermined event. The second controller may transmit an indication to the first controller in response to the first signal received from the first controller regarding the historical location of the patient locating device and whether the patient locating device was within a predetermined vicinity of the medical facility during a predetermined time period.
US08392209B1 Systems, methods, and apparatuses for barcoded service requests and responses associated with healthcare transactions
Systems, methods, and apparatuses are provided for supporting barcoded service requests and responses. The systems, methods, and apparatuses can support receiving, from a pharmacy computer, a claim request that identifies at least a patient and a prescribed product; determining, based upon the claim request, that a service request is available, the service request indicating an opportunity for one or more services to be provided by the pharmacy to the patient; storing claim information in association with a bar code, the claim information including information from the claim request, the bar code associated with the service request; automatically directing a delivery of the service request to the pharmacy, the service request including the bar code; and receiving a response to the service request, wherein the response includes the bar code, where the bar code is utilized, at least in part, to obtain at least a portion of the claim information for documentation of the one or more provided services.
US08392208B1 Method and system for health expense verification and processing
A method and system for health care expense verification and reimbursement processing includes a process for health care expense verification and reimbursement processing whereby electronic data including data representing health care expense transactions is collected. The electronic data is then analyzed and health care expense transactions that are potentially eligible for reimbursement from a health care expense account are identified. The identified health care expense transactions are then verified as eligible health care expense transactions based on the electronic data collected and/or the source of the data. Data representing the verified health care expense transactions is then electronically and automatically made available to a health care expense account program administrator for immediate reimbursement processing.
US08392202B2 Low-complexity spectral analysis/synthesis using selectable time resolution
The signal processing is based on the concept of using a time-domain aliased (12, TDA) frame as a basis for time segmentation (14) and spectral analysis (16), performing segmentation in time based on the time-domain aliased frame and performing spectral analysis based on the resulting time segments. The time resolution of the overall ?segmented? time-to-frequency transform can thus be changed by simply adapting the time segmentation to obtain a suitable number of time segments based on which spectral analysis is applied. The overall set of spectral coefficients, obtained for all the segments, provides a selectable time-frequency tiling of the original signal frame.
US08392196B2 System and method for tracking persons of interest via voiceprint
Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer readable media for tracking a person of interest. The method embodiment comprises identifying a person of interest, capturing a voiceprint of the person of interest, comparing a received voiceprint of a caller with the voiceprint of the person of interest, and tracking the caller if the voiceprint of the caller is a substantial match to the voiceprint of the person of interest.
US08392194B2 System and method for machine-based determination of speech intelligibility in an aircraft during flight operations
A method for effecting a machine-based determination of speech intelligibility in an aircraft during flight operations includes: (a) in no particular order: (1) providing a representation of a machine-based speech evaluating signal; and (2) providing a representation of in-flight noise; (b) combining the representation of a machine-based speech evaluation signal and the representation of in-flight noise to obtain a combined noise signal; and (c) employing the combined noise signal to present the machine-based determination of speech intelligibility in an aircraft during flight operations.
US08392192B2 Method and apparatus for improving transaction success rates for voice reminder applications in E-commerce
Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for improving transaction success rates for voice reminder applications in e-commerce. In one embodiment of the invention, the voice reminder applications in e-commerce utilizes a network-based text-to-speech (TTS) alert system, which can generate a purchase reminder associated with a recipient's potential purchase. The network-based text-to-speech (TTS) alert system can also deliver the purchase reminder to a recipient's voicemail and leave a transaction identifier number and a centralized or a recipient-specific call-back phone number to the recipient's voicemail. A recipient can utilize the transaction identifier number, the centralized or the recipient-specific call-back phone number, and optionally a recipient-specific password to make a phone call to retrieve the purchase reminder previously delivered to the recipient's voicemail by the network-based text-to-speech (TTS) alert system. Then, the recipient can authorize and/or complete a transaction related to the purchase reminder over the same phone call.
US08392188B1 Method and system for building a phonotactic model for domain independent speech recognition
The invention concerns a method and corresponding system for building a phonotactic model for domain independent speech recognition. The method may include recognizing phones from a user's input communication using a current phonotactic model, detecting morphemes (acoustic and/or non-acoustic) from the recognized phones, and outputting the detected morphemes for processing. The method also updates the phonotactic model with the detected morphemes and stores the new model in a database for use by the system during the next user interaction. The method may also include making task-type classification decisions based on the detected morphemes from the user's input communication.
US08392186B2 Audio synchronization for document narration with user-selected playback
Disclosed are techniques and systems to provide a narration of a text. In some aspects, the techniques and systems described herein include generating a timing file that includes elapsed time information for expected portions of text that provides an elapsed time period from a reference time in an audio recording to each portion of text in recognized portions of text.
US08392169B2 Simulating virtual optical disc recorder by using a storage device and method for the same
Generating a virtual CD recorder by using a storage device is proposed. The storage device includes a first data sector for storing auto-run data and a second data sector for storing table of content (TOC) information data. When the storage device is connected to a host, a detecting module of the host detects whether the TOC information data exists in the second sector. When the TOC information data exists or could be accessed, a reading module can read a first disc image file based on the TOC information data. A burning module can record data into a second disc image file and update the TOC information data associated with the second disc image file in the second sector.
US08392163B2 Virtual petroleum system with salt restoration functionality
A method of modeling a salt history for a geologic region containing a salt formation includes defining initial geometry of salt volume and sediment volume in three dimensions, changing geometry of the salt top and maintain the geometries of a top of the sediment and a base of the salt formation for a plurality of time steps, and for each change of geometry, conserving a volume of salt and a volume of sediment. The method includes initially constraining a geometry of the base of the salt during the changing geometry of the salt and sediment volumes, modeling geological activity in the geologic region and modifying the base of the salt formation during a time of the time steps, and modifying the volumes in accordance with the modeled geological activity.
US08392161B2 Computer based models for absorbent articles
Methods of using computer based models for simulating the physical behavior of bodily fluids with absorbent articles.
US08392160B2 Energy usage in injection molding simulations
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for determining energy indicator values for a plurality of thermoplastic materials. An energy indicator value represents expected energy requirements for performing an injection of the material in a mold cavity. An injection of each of a plurality of thermoplastic materials in a first modeled mold cavity is simulated. A respective value of a first expected energy parameter is determined for each of the plurality of thermoplastic materials based on the simulated injection of the respective thermoplastic material in the first modeled mold cavity. A respective energy indicator is determined, for each of the plurality of thermoplastic materials, based at least on the corresponding value of the first expected energy parameter. The respective energy indicator value of one or more of the plurality of thermoplastic materials is presented. In some implementations, injection of each of the plurality of thermoplastic materials is simulated in one or more other modeled mold cavity, each of the modeled mold cavities having different geometric dimensions. The respective energy indicator value can also be determined based on the simulated injection of the respective thermoplastic material in the one or more other modeled mold cavity.
US08392159B2 Computational model of the internal human pelvic environment
A computational model of the internal human pelvic environment. The model comprises meshed finite element regions corresponding to internal tissues or organs selected from the group consisting of pelvic muscles, vagina, vaginal walls, intestinal tissues, bowel tissues, bladder, bladder walls, cervix, and combinations thereof.
US08392157B2 System synthesis to meet exergy loss target value
In a method of synthesizing components to design a system meeting an exergy loss target value, one or more candidate sets of components are synthesized and an exergy loss value for each of the one or more candidate sets of components are calculated. A determination as to whether at least one of the candidate set of components meets the exergy loss target value is made and at least one candidate set of components determined to meet the exergy loss target value is identified as the set of components for use in the design of the system.
US08392147B2 Monitoring the performance of a computer
A computer implemented method monitors a computer to determine values of a plurality of activity metrics of the monitored computer. A weighted combination of functions of the determined values is calculated as a measure of performance of the monitored computer. The weighted combination may be a weighted combination of net values of the activity metrics. In one method, the net values are calculated as the determined values of the plurality of activity metrics of the monitored computer excluding contributions to the values from one or more predetermined activities. In another method, the net values are calculated as total values of the respective activity metrics from which the total values of the one or more predetermined activities are subtracted. The weighted combination may be used to control power consumption or otherwise take action in relation to the computer.
US08392146B2 Signal processing circuit for rotation detector
A signal processing circuit for a rotation detector includes a normal-rotation pulse request holding portion, a reverse-rotation pulse request holding portion, a resetting portion, and a waiting time switching portion. When an output of one of a normal-rotation pulse and a reverse-rotation pulse is finished and a waiting time elapses, the resetting portion resets an output request signal of the one of the normal-rotation pulse and the reverse-rotation pulse held by one of the pulse request holding portions. The waiting time switching portion sets the waiting time to a first waiting time when one of the pulse request holding portions holds the output request signal, and the waiting time switching portion sets the waiting time to a second waiting time longer than the first waiting time when both the pulse request holding portions hold the output request signals.
US08392142B1 Algorithmic reduction of vehicular magnetic self-noise
Removal of extraneous magnetic measurement components from magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) tends to increase its accuracy. Conventional removal accounts for anomalous magnetism manifested by the MAD vehicle (typically, unmanned), but assumes that the magnetic field applied to the MAD vehicle is the earth's magnetic field, i.e., is non-anomalous and known. In contrast, the present invention accounts not only for anomalous magnetism manifested by the MAD vehicle, but also for anomalous magnetism manifested in the MAD vehicle's vicinity, such as by a manned control vehicle. The present invention's mathematical characterization of vehicular “self-noise” due to induced and permanent magnetization is more refined, especially insofar as treating the vehicle's ambient magnetic field as an unknown (empirical) quantity, rather than a known (non-empirical) quantity. A typical inventive system for vehicular magnetic self-noise-reduced magnetic anomaly detection includes magnetic and other sensors, and a computer implementing the inventive mathematical characterization in processing the signals.
US08392140B1 System and method for calibrating a location determined by an inertial navigation unit
A method, system and inertial navigation unit are provided in order to facilitate location determination by calibrating a location determined by an inertial navigation unit. The method may receive a magnetic pulse, such as a magnetic pulse generated by a lightening strike, with a plurality of first magnetometers and with a second magnetometer co-located with the inertial navigation unit. The method may also compare a representation of the magnetic pulse received by the plurality of first magnetometers to a respective representation of the magnetic pulse received by the second magnetometer. Further, the method may correct the location determined by the inertial navigation unit as a result of the comparing of the representation of the magnetic pulse received by the plurality of first magnetometers to the respective representation of the magnetic pulse received by the second magnetometer.
US08392130B2 High voltage power line communication system using an energy harvesting power supply
A communication and control system for a high voltage power line using an energy harvesting power supply to avoid batteries in the communication components maintained at line voltage. The energy harvesting power supply utilizes scavenged backscatter power received from a transceiver maintained at ground potential or a power supply with a super-saturating magnetic flux core, such as a mu-metal core, to harvest electromagnetic field energy from the power line. The communication equipment maintained at line voltage communicates information to the transceiver maintained at ground potential by modulating backscatter energy reflected from the beam transmitted by the ground level transceiver to minimize the power requirement of the communication equipment maintained at line voltage. Response equipment includes capacitors, voltage regulator, voltage sag supporter, circuit interrupter, remote communication equipment, reporting and analysis system.
US08392129B2 Method for managing a fault event in a network for distributing electrical energy, and a corresponding electronic protection unit
A method is provided for managing a fault event in a network for distributing low-voltage or high-voltage electrical energy, which comprises at least one voltage source and a load. The method includes performing at least one step of a first procedure for detecting the existence of fault conditions in the load and performing at least one step of a second procedure for determining, on the basis of the evolution in time of the derivative of the instantaneous current in the load, the state of execution of an interruption manoeuvre started by at least one protection device adapted to interrupt locally the passage of current in the load. An electronic protection unit is also provided that is able to execute the aforesaid method.
US08392127B2 Methods and gene expression signature for assessing growth factor signaling pathway regulation status
Methods, biomarkers, and expression signatures are disclosed for assessing the regulation status of growth factor pathway signaling in a cell sample or subject. More specifically, several aspects of the invention provide a set of genes which can be used as biomarkers and gene signatures for evaluating growth factor pathway deregulation status in a sample; classifying a cell sample as having a deregulated or regulated growth factor signaling pathway; determining whether an agent modulates the growth factor signaling pathway in sample; predicting response of a subject to an agent that modulates the growth factor signaling pathway; assigning treatment to a subject; and predicting evaluating the pharmacodynamic effects of cancer therapies designed to regulate growth factor pathway signaling.
US08392116B2 Navigation device and method for predicting the destination of a trip
A navigation device and computer implemented method for predicting the destination of a trip, the method being executed by a navigation device, the method comprising the steps of: determining starting parameters, the starting parameters comprising at least the starting point, starting time and date of the trip, executing a destination prediction algorithm, the destination prediction algorithm taking the starting parameters as input and predicting a destination, wherein the destination prediction algorithm is generated by using information of a trip history; determining, upon arrival at the predicted or another destination, the actual destination.
US08392111B2 Navigation method, medium, and system
A method, medium, and system providing an updating traveling route to a user. The navigation system includes a route selecting unit to select an optimal route for an item to traverse based on calculated performance indexes of a plurality of alternative routes for the traversal, a performance index calculating unit to recalculate the performance indexes of the alternative routes during a current traversal of the selected optimal route based on received external information regarding sections of available traversals after a predetermined point in each alternative route beyond a current point of the current traversal, and a route changing unit to selectively update the optimal route during the current traversal based on the recalculated performance indexes.
US08392100B2 Method and apparatus for determining traffic data
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining traffic data. The method comprises the steps of providing statistical data relating to traffic at links of a street map, providing condition data relating to links of the street map, and determining traffic data based on the statistical data and the condition data.
US08392099B2 Method of providing detail information using multimedia based traffic and travel information message and terminal for executing the same
There is disclosed a method of providing detailed information using a multimedia based traffic and travel information message and a terminal for executing the same. A method of providing detailed information using a multimedia based traffic in accordance with this document may comprise receiving transport protocol expert group (TPEG) information, comprising a road traffic message and a multimedia based traffic and travel information message and comprised of a hierarchical structure, displaying one or more events comprised in the road traffic message, allowing a request for detailed information about any one of the events to be input, and receiving detailed information of a multimedia type from a multimedia data providing server through specific one of bearer information comprised in the multimedia based traffic and travel information message and providing the received detailed information.
US08392094B2 Control apparatus for an internal combustion engine
A control apparatus for an internal combustion engine includes: an abnormal combustion detection unit for detecting an abnormal combustion due to self-ignition occurring; a pre-ignition determination unit for detecting abnormal combustion occurrence timing based on abnormal combustion detection information to determine whether or not the abnormal combustion is the pre-ignition based on comparison between pre-ignition determination timing and the abnormal combustion occurrence timing; a heat-source pre-ignition determination unit for determining whether the pre-ignition is the heat-source pre-ignition or the compression pre-ignition based on comparison between the abnormal combustion occurrence timing set by the pre-ignition determination timing and heat-source pre-ignition determination timing; a first avoidance unit for avoiding the heat-source pre-ignition in a case where the pre-ignition is determined as the heat-source pre-ignition; and a second avoidance unit for avoiding the compression pre-ignition in a case where the pre-ignition is determined as the compression pre-ignition.
US08392090B2 Vehicle driving force control apparatus
A hybrid electronic control unit sets a target vehicle speed for constant-speed driving based on setting operation of an auto cruise switch by a driver. When the target vehicle speed is set, the required torque is set such that the vehicle speed detected by a vehicle speed sensor becomes the target vehicle speed. When the required torque is set, a constant-speed driving torque map, indicating the required torque with respect to a torque command value by accelerator operation or brake operation by the driver using the required torque, and a positive maximum torque and a negative maximum torque, which the vehicle can output, is set. Further, the required torque changes using the constant-speed driving torque map according to the torque command value. In the hybrid electronic control unit, by increasing followability of torque change when changing the vehicle speed from the constant-speed driving, controllability is improved and drivability is improved.
US08392080B2 Process for monitoring the direction of frictional drive from a vehicle transmission at near-zero vehicle speed
A process for monitoring a direction of drive from an automatic or automated vehicle transmission at near-zero vehicle speed via an engaged gear. A desired direction of drive of the transmission is determined from an engaged gear at the time the vehicle begins motion. An actual direction of drive is determined from the transmission and if different from the desired direction of drive, an error signal is produced. The process including determining the actual drive either from a sensed rotational direction of a transmission input shaft and a sensed rotational direction of a transmission output shaft or a sensed valve setting, a sensed pressure in an transmission electro-hydraulic control system or on a transmission shifting element or from a sensed direction of rotation of a transmission gearset element or from axial movement or force of a transmission constructional element.
US08392075B2 Carrier and backhoe control system and method
A power machine includes a carrier comprising a supporting frame, an operator compartment and a joystick controller disposed in the operator compartment and configured to generate movement signals in response to operator movement of the joystick controller. An attachment is detachably coupled to the power machine. A carrier control unit is disposed on the carrier and configured to receive the movement signals from the joystick controller. An attachment control unit is disposed on the attachment and configured to control movement of the attachment. A network is coupled to the carrier control unit and to the attachment control unit and is configured to carry instructions from the carrier control unit to the attachment control unit. A state selection input is disposed in the operator compartment to select one of at least two operational states including a carrier state and an attachment state. In the carrier state, the carrier control unit is configured to control operation of the carrier in response to operator movement of the joystick controller. In the attachment state, the attachment control unit is configured to control operation of the attachment in response to operator movement of the joystick controller.
US08392071B2 Occupant protection device
An occupant protection device which causes less discomfort to an occupant after danger is avoided. When danger is detected (estimated collision time t is less than t1), a seat is adjusted to set the inclination angle of a seatback within a predetermined appropriate range. After that, when the danger is avoided, the inclination angle of the seatback is adjusted a predetermined amount so that the occupant is separated from a seat belt. This eliminates situations in which the tension of the seat belt is kept increased even after the danger is avoided, and as a result, discomfort to the occupant is suppressed.
US08392068B2 Vehicle behavior control device
A vehicle behavior control device (S) determines, by using a vehicle velocity (V), a transmission function (K(s)) which is determined based on a specification of the vehicle, receives as an input a wheel turning speed (ω) obtained by differentiating a wheel turning angle (δ) of left and right front wheels (FW1, FW2) with respect to time, and outputs a target yaw moment (My). The device (S) also calculates, by using the determined target yaw moment (My), a left-wheel-side forward/backward force (FxCL) imparted to a left wheel side (left front wheel FW1 and left rear wheel RW1) of a vehicle (10) and a right-wheel-side forward/backward force (FxCR) imparted to a right wheel side (right front wheel FW2 and right rear wheel RW2) of the vehicle (10). Then, the device (S) performs control to drive brake units (14-17) and in-wheel motors (IWMfl, IWMfr, IWMrl, IWMrr) depending on a turning direction of the vehicle (10), with the left-wheel-side forward/backward force (FxCL) serving as a braking force (or driving force) and the right-wheel-side forward/backward force (FxCR) serving as a driving force (or braking force). It is thus possible to ensure directional stability and responsiveness when the vehicle turns, taking into account a frequency response characteristic of a motion state amount generated on the vehicle (10).
US08392067B2 Power steering device
A power steering device includes an oil-hydraulic pump, an electric motor to drive the pump, an inverter, a control valve, a power cylinder to produce a steering assist, and a control unit to control the drive signal of the inverter. The control valve includes a pump port supplied with oil from the pump, a first and second cylinder ports connected to first and second cylinder chambers on sides of the piston, and a discharge port. Communication between the first cylinder port and the pump port and communication between the second cylinder port and the discharge port, and communication between the first cylinder port and the discharge port and communication between the second cylinder port and the pump port are established in steered status in the other direction. Communication among the pump port and first and second cylinder ports, and isolation of the discharge port from the pump port and first and second cylinder ports are established when the control valve is in neutral status.
US08392064B2 Systems, methods and devices for adaptive steering control of automotive vehicles
A variety of methods, systems, devices and arrangements are implemented for automated assistance for a driver. One such method relates to a synergistic combination of automation and human control for a motor vehicle traveling on a lane, thereby allowing human-based decisions to be supplement (or be supplemented by) automated decisions. Specific aspects facilitate maintenance of the vehicle on the lane. The vehicle is automatically steered towards a lateral offset within the vehicle lane. Steering input from the driver results in changes to this lateral offset. This modification of the lateral offset can be used to allow the driver to follow any trajectory parallel to the road, including trajectories where the vehicle is not centered within the lane.
US08392063B2 Systems and methods for determining an absolute rotational position of a vehicle handwheel
Systems and methods for determining an absolute rotational position of the vehicle handwheel are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a method includes determining a slope value based on the delta torque value associated with the vehicle steering system and the delta rotational position value associated with a vehicle handwheel. The method further includes setting an absolute position value indicating the absolute position of the vehicle handwheel equal to a predetermined steering travel limit of the vehicle handwheel when the slope value is within a predetermined slope range.
US08392049B2 Multi-direction vehicle control sensing
A vehicle includes a first control configured to operate the vehicle from a first operator position facing a front of the vehicle and a second control configured to operate the vehicle from a second operator position facing a rear of the vehicle. The vehicle further includes a processor configured to monitor for an operator presence in the first operator position or the second operator position and receive a vehicle operating request, wherein the operator presence is monitored independent of receiving the vehicle operating request. The processor is further configured to enable either the first control or the second control and select a vehicle operating parameter associated with the vehicle operating request, wherein the vehicle operating parameter varies according to which control is enabled.
US08392045B2 System and methods for aircraft preflight inspection
A method of inspecting an aircraft. A plurality of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles are used to perform an inspection of the aircraft, each unmanned vehicle having one or more sensors. A plurality of portions of the aircraft are assigned to the vehicles for inspection based on functional capability of each vehicle. The unmanned vehicles are configured to cooperatively use the sensors to perform the inspection.
US08392044B2 Robotic mower boundary sensing system
A robotic mower boundary sensing system includes a boundary driving circuit on a charging station transmitting an encoded signal on a boundary wire, a boundary sensor on a robotic mower and including an inductor receiving the encoded signal, and a vehicle control unit on the robotic mower receiving the encoded signal from the boundary sensor and decoding the signal and cross correlating the received signal to determine the distance of the boundary sensor from the boundary wire.
US08392033B2 System unit for a computer
A system unit for a computer comprising at least one plug-in card provided with components and a ventilator for cooling the components, wherein the system unit is also provided with a controller for setting the ventilator speed as a function of a signal of a temperature sensor. Measures are provided which, irrespective of whether the system unit is integrated in a horizontal or vertical position, such as in a switchgear cabinet, effect a good level of cooling.
US08392031B2 System and method for load forecasting
A method of load forecasting for a present day includes obtaining past observed load values of at least three earlier days and identifying a relationship between the present day's load forecast and the past observed load values including unknown weights associated with the past observed load values. The values of unknown weights are determined by comparing at least one previous day's load forecast with the observed load value of the at least one previous day. The determined weight values are then used in the relationship between the present day's load forecast and the past observed load values to forecast the present day's load.
US08392029B2 Odor blender, odor recorder, odor reproducer, and odor recording and reproducing system
An odor blender is provided in which a number of component odor gases may be increased without increasing the number of carrier gas containers while ensuring a single odor gas concentration is not reduced. The odor blender includes N odor containers, M less than N) carrier gas containers, a blend line leading to a blend part for blending the odor gases, a bypass line for discharging odor gases, and solenoid valves for switching the containers between the blend line and the bypass line. A computer sets the number of odor containers connected to the blend line at the same time to M or less, connects the same number of carrier gas containers to the bypass line as the number of odor containers connected to the blend line, and controls timing of connection of odor containers to the blend line based on a predetermined mixing ratio of the component odor gases.
US08392028B2 Distributed monitoring and control fluid handling system
A fluid handling control/monitoring system is divided into a network of modular, intelligent components. These individual components are generally specific to a certain function within the system and contain all the intelligence necessary to perform that function without external guidance. Examples of the different types of components include but are not limited to: human-machine interface (HMI), fluid control, heater control, motor control, field-bus communications and the like. While each type of board is specialized in function, it may control several items of the same nature. For instance, a heater control may be able to control several heaters on one system. Similarly, a fluid board may have the ability to receive input from more than one flow meter and then control fluid flow of more than one point. An example might be a plural component metering and dispensing system where two fluid components have to be combined in a precise mix ratio.
US08392021B2 Autonomous surface cleaning robot for wet cleaning
An autonomous floor cleaning robot includes a transport drive and control system arranged for autonomous movement of the robot over a floor for performing cleaning operations. The robot chassis carries a first cleaning zone comprising cleaning elements arranged to suction loose particulates up from the cleaning surface and a second cleaning zone comprising cleaning elements arraigned to apply a cleaning fluid onto the surface and to thereafter collect the cleaning fluid up from the surface after it has been used to clean the surface. The robot chassis carries a supply of cleaning fluid and a waste container for storing waste materials collected up from the cleaning surface.
US08392016B2 Adaptive method for manufacturing of complicated shape parts by hot isostatic pressing of powder materials with using irreversibly deformable capsules and inserts
The invention discloses adaptive method for manufacturing of parts of the similar complex shape by using hot isostatic pressing of powder materials and irreversibly deformable capsules and inserts utilized as adaptation tools. The method is based on creation of a virtual part by mathematical computer modeling of densification and shrinkage; manufacturing of a test part; determination of discrepancies between manufactured test part and virtual test part; adaptation of mathematical model by virtual iterations so that discrepancies between manufactured and virtual and parts are minimized; manufacturing of every complex shape part of the given group by using adoptive method skipping the step of manufacturing a test part.
US08392013B2 Business process automation
A method for automating a process includes the following steps: providing a user interface which graphically presents a plurality of icons to a user, wherein each icon represents an operation step having at least one input and at least one output; enabling the user to select one or more of the icons; enabling the user to form connections between the selected icons to represent data flow between the operation steps represented by the icons; and generating computer instructions for executing the operation steps corresponding to the selected icons, and in accordance with the connections, in such a way that each operation step can only be executed when data is present at all of its inputs, and cannot be executed when data is absent at any one of its inputs.
US08392007B1 Mobile device audio playback
This disclosure is directed to providing audio playback to a mobile device user. According to one aspect of this disclosure, a mobile device may be to modify audio playback in response to detecting an inclination of the mobile device (and thereby a user) with respect to a reference plane. According to another aspect of this disclosure, a mobile device may be configured to automatically identify an audible sound that may be motivational to a user, and store an indication of the audible sound in response to the identification. According to another aspect of this disclosure, a mobile device may automatically play back a previously identified motivational song in response to detection of user movement.
US08392003B2 Pre-filter for a servo control loop, and applications thereof
A method, system and computer program product to control position of an error control module in a lithography apparatus using a servo control loop is described herein. The system comprises a filter, a servo controller coupled to the filter and configured to receive a control signal and an actuator coupled to the servo controller and configured to control the position of the error control module. The filter is configured to filter the control signal by modulating the amplitude and phase of the control signal in a desired frequency range, prior to the servo control loop.
US08391995B2 Cardiac pacing using the inferior nodal extension
A device and method for providing stimulation to an inferior nodal extension of a heart. The method includes providing a lead comprising an electrode, positioning the electrode proximate an inferior nodal extension of a heart, and effecting at least one of activation, deactivation, or modulation of the electrode to provide stimulation to the inferior nodal extension.
US08391989B2 Advanced patient management for defining, identifying and using predetermined health-related events
Systems, devices and methods for defining, identifying and using health-related significant events are disclosed. One aspect is a programmable device having machine executable instructions for performing a method to assist with managing a patient's health. In various embodiments, at least one previously-defined event is detected based on a number of acquired health-related parameters. The at least one detected event is recorded with an associated time when the at least one detected significant event occurred. An action is triggered based on the at least one detected event. The at least one detected event is displayed with at least one trended health-related parameter in a single display area. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein.
US08391987B2 Implantable package to facilitate inspection
The present invention is a non-destructive method of inspecting a bond, particularly a braze bond, in a hermetic package. The invention involves a unique hermetic package design adapted for ultrasonic inspection and a method of inspecting the package. This package and non-destructive inspection process are particularly useful in implantable neural stimulators such as visual prostheses.
US08391986B2 Apparatus for managing a neurological disorder
A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a Neuro Sensing and Stimulation Device having a conductive lead for implanting in a brain of a living entity, a sensor coupled to the conductive lead for collecting data associated with one or more electrical signals detected in the conductive lead, a stimulator coupled to the conductive lead to apply one or more electrical signals thereto, and a controller. The controller can be operable to collect data associated with one or more electrical signals detected in the conductive lead, determine a stimulation sequence from the collected data, and direct the stimulator to apply on the conductive lead one or more electrical signals determined from the stimulation sequence. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
US08391981B2 Cross-band communications in an implantable device
An ambulatory monitoring device includes a sensor to monitor a physiological signal and a battery power source. The device also includes a wireless receiver adapted to monitor a first frequency band having frequencies below 1 MHz and configured to detect and receive, using less than 10 micro-amps of current from the battery power source when operating, wireless communications within the first frequency band from a remote device at least one meter away. The device further includes a wireless transmitter adapted to transmit—after receipt from the remote device of a first wireless communication within the first frequency band that includes an invitation for further communication—a second wireless communication in a second frequency band having frequencies above 10 MHz, the second wireless communication comprising data indicative of the physiological signal as sensed by the sensor.
US08391979B2 Shock reduction using absolute calibrated tissue oxygen saturation and total hemoglobin volume fraction
An implantable medical device that includes an optical sensor for providing a signal corresponding to light attenuation by a volume of blood perfused tissue, a control module coupled to the optical sensor controlling the light emitted by the optical sensor, a monitoring module receiving an optical sensor output signal and measuring light attenuation, a tissue electrode for stimulating the volume of blood perfused tissue, a pulse generator coupled to the tissue electrode for delivering electrical stimulation to the volume of blood-perfused tissue, and a processor coupled to the cardiac electrode and the monitoring module and configured to detect an arrhythmia in response to the depolarization signals, compute a tissue oxygenation measurement and control the pulse generator to deliver electrical stimulation to the volume of blood-perfused tissue in response to detecting the arrhythmia, and detect a hemodynamic status of the arrhythmia in response to at least one of a detected rate of tissue oxygenation decline and a detected rate of tissue oxygenation recovery.
US08391975B2 Telemetry of combined endocavitary atrial and ventricular signals
A method for use in an implantable medical device system, comprising: selecting a first sensing electrode operatively disposed in a first heart chamber; setting a first sensing window corresponding to cardiac electrical events occurring in a second heart chamber; enabling a first sense amplifier coupled to the first sensing electrode during the first sensing window; sensing a first signal corresponding to cardiac electrical events occurring in the second heart chamber during the first sensing window using the first sensing electrode; and transmitting the first signal from an implantable medical device to an external monitor.
US08391972B2 Safety control system for implantable neural stimulator
A neural stimulation system includes a safety control system that prevents delivery of neural stimulation pulses from causing potentially harmful effects. The neural stimulation pulses are delivered to one or more nerves to control the physiological functions regulated by the one or more nerves. Examples of such harmful effects include unintended effects in physiological functions associated with autonomic neural stimulation and nerve injuries caused by excessive delivery of the neural stimulation pulses.
US08391958B2 Method and arrangement relating to testing objects
The invention relates to an arrangement (100, 200, 500) and a method for testing a hold (120, 220, 520), such as an implant, attached to an object (130, 230, 530), such as a bone, the method comprising the steps of: bringing a member (110, 210, 510) into contact with said hold, contactlessly detecting at least one resonance frequency of said member (110, 210, 510) when it is in contact with said hold (120, 220, 510); and interpreting the detected resonance frequency in terms of the degree of attachment of the hold with respect to the object.
US08391947B2 Catheter with sheet array of electrodes
A medical device has a flexible elongated body, a handle connected to the elongated body, at least one spine connected to the elongated body, and a flexible sheet attached to the at least one spine. The flexible sheet has a plurality of electrodes thereon, wherein the flexible sheet and the plurality of electrodes define a mapping assembly for mapping electrical information in tissue, and wherein the at least one spine and the flexible sheet is movable from a collapsed configuration to a deployed configuration.
US08391944B2 Implantable medical device with adaptive signal processing and artifact cancellation
A medical device includes one or more sensors used to acquire a multi-dimensional signal. In one embodiment, principal component analysis is performed on the multi-dimensional signal to produce signal data. The principal component analysis results are used to cancel signal artifact in one embodiment. A medical device controller produces one of a therapy control and a diagnostic output in response to the signal data.
US08391940B2 Methods and systems to correct for hematocrit effects
Described and illustrated herein are exemplary methods of operating an analyte measurement system having a meter and a test strip. Such methods may be exemplarily achieved by determining a first glucose concentration by measuring a first reflectance at about a first wavelength at a testing surface of the pad; measuring a second reflectance at about a second wavelength; formulating at least one equation to correct the first glucose concentration for temperature or hematocrit effects using the second reflectance at about the second wavelength; determining a second glucose concentration using the first glucose concentration, the second reflectance at about a second wavelength; and displaying the second glucose concentration that is corrected for temperature and hematocrit effects.
US08391936B2 Magnetic levitation device
A magnetic levitation device includes at least two superconductor molded bodies with stored magnetic field configurations above a magnetic guide track. The at least two superconductor molded bodies have at least one of a stored magnetic field configuration with different vertical spacing from the guide track and a stored magnetic field configuration with different horizontal position with respect to the guide track. The at least two superconductor molded bodies are mechanically held in a position deviating from their stored position above the guide track and connected to one another. This abstract is not intended to define the invention disclosed in the specification, nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.
US08391933B2 Portable audio device having reduced sensitivity to RF interference and related methods
A portable audio device having reduced sensitivity to RF interference over a predetermined frequency range from an adjacent mobile wireless communications device may include a portable housing, a battery carried thereby, a recharging power input connected to the battery, a digital signal input, and an audio analog signal output. A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) may be carried by the portable housing and powered by the battery for converting a selected digital audio file from a memory into an analog audio signal. An audio analog amplifier may be connected between the DAC and the audio analog signal output. A first RF filter(s) may be connected to the recharging power input, and a second RF filter(s) may be connected to the audio analog signal output, both for reducing RF interference over the predetermined frequency range from the adjacent mobile wireless communications device.
US08391930B1 Method and system for using user-selected alert patterns
A user selects a ringtone or other alert pattern that can be played to provide notification of an incoming call and provisions the user-selected alert pattern into a mobile station. The mobile station is communicatively coupled to a docking station. When the mobile station receives an incoming call, the docking station plays the user-selected alert pattern through one or more audio systems associated with the docking station.
US08391915B2 Virtual cells for wireless networks
In a network having multiple wireless transmitters, a mobile device operating with the network may be assigned one or more wireless transmitters as a virtual cell. Transmissions to the mobile device may be broadcast from several cells simultaneously, so that the mobile device will receive the transmissions in any of the areas covered by the cells. When the network determines that the mobile device is moving out of one cell area and into another, the virtual cell may move as well. The virtual cell may consist of one or many areas covered by a wireless network, and may have a shape that is determined by geography, trajectory, wireless coverage, or other factors.
US08391914B2 Transmitting apparatus, communication apparatus, receiving apparatus, communication system, broadcast receiving system, control program, communication method and broadcast receiving method
There are obtained a transmitting apparatus capable of easily notifying information regarding radio waves required for an objective apparatus, a communication apparatus or a receiving apparatus capable of easily setting a frequency required at each place. a communication system or a broadcast receiving system employing the transmitting apparatus, the communication apparatus, and the receiving apparatus; and a control program, a communication method, and a broadcast receiving method to be used in the communication apparatus or the receiving apparatus. The radio wave tower 101 transmits not only radio waves for the television and the radio, but also the radio wave information 104 for communication and for reception of broadcasts by use of the radio wave information transmitting apparatus 102. For example, the portable terminal 106 first receives the radio wave information 104 in a new place and then obtains a center frequency based on the information for communication with the base station 110. This also applies to television and radio frequencies.
US08391913B2 Software-defined radio support in sequestered partitions
A software-defined radio (SDR) capability may be provided in a general purpose, many core processing system by sequestering one or more partitions running on one or more cores and instantiating a communications capability by having discrete SDR functions performed by the sequestered partitions. Each SDR module embodied in a sequestered partition may be independently upgraded without modifying the hardware of the underlying processing system. By executing SDR modules in cores not accessible by application programs and/or an operating system (OS), a better Quality of Service (QoS) may be provided for wireless communications on the general purpose, multi-core processing system. An embodiment comprises isolating a core of a many core processing system as a sequestered partition, loading a software-defined radio module onto the core, and executing the software-defined module to implement wireless communications.
US08391911B2 Transmit power control method, base station apparatus and user apparatus
Even if no uplink transmission grant is assigned from a base station, transmit power can be controlled in uplinks with accuracy to some extent. An aspect of the present invention relates to a base station apparatus for use in a radio communication system using a shared channel, comprising: a transmit power control information generation unit configured to generate transmit power control information for a user apparatus based on an uplink signal transmitted from the user apparatus; a radio resource control unit configured to transmit the generated transmit power control information together with an uplink assignment message if an uplink radio resource is assigned to the user apparatus and to supply radio resource assignment information to transmit the generated transmit power control information as independent transmit power control information if no uplink radio resource is assigned to the user apparatus.
US08391907B1 Background scan process for wireless devices
A method of operating a wireless device having a first radio interface and a second radio interface. The method includes: using the first radio interface to transfer data between i) the wireless device and ii) a first access point; and using the second radio interface to transfer data between i) the wireless device and the first access point. While continuing to use the first radio interface to transfer data between i) the wireless device and ii) the first access point: suspending the transfer of data between i) the wireless device and ii) the first access point through the second radio interface; for a predetermined time period, using the second radio interface to search for a second access point; and in response to expiration of the predetermined time period, resuming the transfer of data between i) the wireless device and ii) the first access point through the second radio interface.
US08391904B2 Method and apparatus for maintaining quality of service during regulatory domain change
Mechanisms for optimizing the selection of a new legal channel during regulatory domain changes and improving the user experience during changes in the underlying physical link having wide applicability to many wireless communications links are disclosed. Applications comprise cellular networks, WLANs, WPANs. Wireless USB, high speed channels for Bluetooth and other uses of WiMedia as well as a wide range of radio technologies that use a number of time and/or frequency-domain separation techniques to create multiple channels in a given portion of the RF spectrum where there is no global agreement on the use of the RF spectrum. Differences could pertain to permitted frequency ranges, permitted power levels, requirements to detect and/or avoid other radio technologies, indoor/outdoor use requirements, and many others. The disclosed embodiments provide a method for taking advantage of, or at least minimizing the impact of, a change in the channel link which impacts the channel characteristics such as the available bandwidth.
US08391902B2 Power management and distributed scheduling for uplink transmissions in wireless systems
To schedule uplink transmission time slots for a collection of mobile communication devices, a set of base station target interference patterns is associated with base stations. A time slot target interference pattern is assigned for each time slot and it repeats after several time slots. The time slot target interference pattern in a given time slot specifies the interference allowed by each time slot to a given base station by any single mobile. A priority index may be determined for each time slot for each mobile associated with the particular base station. The priority index may be based, in part, on a determined correlation between the time-slot target interference patterns and a potential interference profile of a mobile to which a time slot is to be allocated.
US08391901B2 System and method of controlling delivery of multimedia messages
A system and method concerned with supporting or implementing functionality to provide efficient delivery of MMS messages to a plurality of recipients. In at least one arrangement the delivery status of already transmitted MMS messages is monitored; for a plurality of messages having a delivery status indicating that the messages are undeliverable to the intended recipient, a new set of recipients is selected and MMS messages transmitted to the new set of recipients. In this way delivery of a desired quota of deliverable MMS messages is effected with greater efficiency than is possible with conventional methods.
US08391886B1 Systems and methods for providing mobile handset position to software applications
Providing information as to location of a mobile station involves receiving a mobile station location request from a requesting software application at an API gateway of a wireless communications network. The API gateway provides a network-initiated request to the wireless communications network for the location of the mobile station after determining that the requesting application is authorized to receive the location of the specified mobile station. The location of the mobile station can be determined, according to either a coarse or granular location position resolution, or accuracy, based on the request of the application and/or the conditions of the wireless communication network. Information as to location of the mobile station can be produced, and provided to the requesting software application, which can be resident on the mobile station itself or at a different location/platform.
US08391882B2 Method and system for interference management in a spectrum shared by WAN and femto cells
Devices and methods are provided for adapting to interference in a spectrum shared by a WAN macro cell and a femto cell. In particular, described herein are techniques for adapting to the presence of a jamming WAN access terminal (AT) by avoiding or selectively utilizing those bandwidth portions jammed by the WAN AT/AP. For example, the technique may involve intercepting a control message from the WAN AP to the WAN AT, and determining a spectrum resource that the WAN AT will use to communicate with the WAN AP based at least in part on information (e.g., a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier, a Media Access Control Identifier, etc.) in the control message.
US08391879B2 Methods and apparatus for supporting distributed scheduling using quality of service information in a peer to peer network
Methods and apparatus well suited to decentralized traffic scheduling in wireless peer to peer network are described. An individual wireless terminal corresponding to a peer to peer connection makes a transmitter yielding or receiver yielding decision for a traffic slot. Quality of service information is disseminated as part of the scheduling control signaling. A scheduling control signal, e.g., a traffic transmission request signal or a traffic transmission request response signal, includes a pilot portion and a quality of service information portion. The pilot facilitates the recovery of the quality of service information by a plurality of different devices which may have different channel conditions with respect to the transmitter of the scheduling control signal. The different devices may benefit from utilizing the recovered quality of service information in making a yielding decision regarding traffic signaling in a traffic segment.
US08391875B1 Method and system for extending MIMO wireless service
Disclosed herein is a method and system for extending MIMO service in a wireless communications system. The system comprises a base station, a remote system, and a host system communicatively coupled to the base station and the remote system. The base station is configured to generate, from a baseband signal, a downlink signal comprising a plurality of downlink signal streams, including at least a first downlink signal stream and a second downlink signal stream. Accordingly, the base station may include a first and a second antenna that are configured to transmit the first and second downlink signal streams, respectively. The remote system provides wireless service in a remote coverage area. Further, the remote system is configured to transmit a downlink signal as a plurality of downlink signal streams. The host system is communicatively coupled to the base station and to the remote system and configured to relay the downlink signal streams from the base station to the remote system.
US08391871B2 Method of handling proximity information transmission and related communication device
A method of handling proximity information transmission for a mobile device in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises initiating a handover procedure triggered by receiving a handover command or an radio resource control (RRC) connection re-establishment procedure, detecting a closed subscriber group (CSG) cell of a whitelist in the mobile device, wherein the whitelist provides a list of accessible CSG cells for the mobile device, and determining whether to perform the proximity information transmission according to an RRC message received from a network of the wireless communication system, wherein the RRC message includes a configuration of the proximity information transmission.
US08391868B2 Apparatus and method for updating neighbor list in a mobile communication system
An apparatus and method for updating a neighbor list in a mobile communication system are provided. The system includes a Mobile Station (MS), a second Base Station (BS), and a first BS. The MS stores first log information, performs a network entry process with the second BS, and generates and transmits second log information to the second BS. The second BS allocates a bandwidth to the MS, receives the second log information, determines if neighbor list update is required using the second log information and, if the neighbor list update is required, updates a neighbor list and transmits the updated neighbor list information to the previous BS.
US08391867B2 Base station apparatus and neighboring cell information management method
A first base station apparatus, when newly installed, extracts cells of a second base station apparatus and its coverage cells neighboring them from neighboring cell information stored therein. The first base station apparatus notifies the second base station apparatus of the cells by a notification message. The second base station apparatus updates neighboring cell information stored therein based on the notification message. The first base station apparatus also sends a notification message to a third base station apparatus so that the third base station apparatus updates neighboring cell information stored therein.
US08391861B2 Flexible sharing of measurement gaps
The present invention relates to a method, apparatuses, a system, and a computer program product for generating measurement gaps in a data transfer between a wireless terminal device and a wireless access network. A sharing indicator is signaled from the wireless access network to the wireless terminal device, and is used at the wireless terminal device to control allocation ratios of the measurement gaps to different radio access technologies.
US08391856B2 Mobile communication system and cell reselection method thereof
Provided are a mobile communication system and a cell reselection method of a mobile communication terminal. The mobile communication system includes two or more communication systems using different transmission modes and a mobile communication terminal connectable to the two or more communication systems. The mobile communication terminal measures received signal strength of a satellite communication cell when being switched to an idle mode, divides priority of a satellite communication system using the measured received signal strength and location information of the mobile communication terminal, and sets a first threshold value necessary for cell reselection of the satellite communication system.
US08391854B2 Method and apparatus for reducing link interference by a link between a user equipment component and an access network component
A method and apparatus are described for reducing link interference by a link between a user equipment component and an access network component. The user equipment component and access network component are connected by links over dedicated channels in respective directions, the link channel power in the first direction being controlled by the link channel in the second direction. A component sends a reconfiguration message to the other component to reconfigure to a common channel state in which the link channel power in the first direction is independent of the link channel in the second direction.
US08391850B2 Method for forming an audiovisual call identifier, a mobile communication device and a call identifier
Disclosed is an audiovisual call identifier including image and sound for a mobile communication device. The call identifier is shown on the display and audibly reproduced through the loudspeaker when a call is received by the communication device.
US08391845B2 System and method of presenting entities of standard applications in wireless devices
A method of presenting data entities of standard device applications in wireless devices is provided. Component-based applications are hosted on a wireless device providing an application runtime environment for hosting at least one component-based application. Component definitions are hosted for developing the component-based application. A standard data component implements a standard data component definition; the standard data component definition is embedded into the component-based application definition during development. The standard data component providing access to a standard device data entity by invoking device dependent APIs the standard data component presenting the standard device data entity as a user defined data component. The application runtime environment automatically making functionality available of the user defined data components available to standard data component.
US08391842B2 Communications system including aggregation server for determining updated metadata of e-mail messages and related methods
A communications system includes a mobile wireless communications device and an e-mail server configured to store pushed e-mail data and metadata associated therewith already pushed to the mobile wireless communications device. An aggregation server is configured to download a first set of metadata of pushed e-mail data at a first time, and generate and store a first set of hash values corresponding to the first set of metadata. The aggregation server is also configured to download a second set of metadata of pushed e-mail data at a second time after the first time, and generate and store a second set of hash values corresponding to the second set of metadata. The aggregation server is further configured to determine an updated set of metadata based upon a comparison of the first and second sets of hash values, and push the updated metadata to the mobile wireless communications device.
US08391839B2 Communication devices and method of communication
In a portable communications device, information provided by an identification means is used to establish communication between communication means and a second device, such as a point of sale machine, to ensure that the correct portable communications device is connected to the second device where there may be a large number of second devices and a large number of portable communications devices in close proximity.
US08391831B2 In-vehicle terminal for emergency notification
An emergency notification in-vehicle terminal mountable to a vehicle is disclosed. The in-vehicle terminal is configured to transmit emergency information to a center in response to detection of an occurrence of an emergency situation involving the vehicle. The in-vehicle terminal determines, in response to the detection of the occurrence of the emergency situation, whether the emergency notification in-vehicle terminal is operating by an electric power of a back-up battery. If it is determined that the emergency notification in-vehicle terminal is operating by the electric power of the back-up battery, the in-vehicle terminal transmits a minimum necessary amount of the emergency information to the center.
US08391812B2 Method and system for amplifier control
A method is disclosed wherein a power level indicating a level of transmission power from an amplifier is provided. An indication of at least one of channel, channel bandwidth, OOB spectral requirements, spectral mask requirements, EVM, modulation rate, and modulation type is also provided. A control signal for controlling one of a bias current provided to the amplifier and a matching circuit for matching an output port of at least a stage of the amplifier is generated, the control signal determined in dependence upon the power level and the at least an indication. Then the one of the bias current and the matching circuit is adjusted in accordance with the control signal.
US08391810B2 Method and system for measuring and optimizing integrated antenna performance
A method and system for wireless communication is provided and may include transmitting FM radio signals utilizing antenna configurations in a wireless device including a frequency modulation (FM) radio transmitter, an FM radio receiver, and one or more other receivers. The transmitter may be calibrated based on a signal received from a second wireless device via the other receivers. The second wireless device may include an FM radio receiver and corresponding other transmitters that may utilize other wireless protocols. The signal received at the wireless device may be generated at the second wireless device via the other transmitters. A frequency of the transmitted FM radio signals may be varied, and may be utilized adjust the antenna configurations. An impedance of the antenna configurations may be matched based on the frequency variation. A capacitive and/or inductive load for the matching of the impedance of the antenna configurations may be programmably adjusted.
US08391808B2 Method and system for estimating and compensating non-linear distortion in a transmitter using calibration
Aspects of a method and system for estimating and compensating for non-linear distortion in a transmitter using calibration are presented. Aspects of the system may include one more circuits that may enable estimation, within a single IC device, of distortion in output signals generated by a transmitter circuit. The circuitry may enable compensation of the estimated distortion by predistorting subsequent input signals. The transmitter circuit may generate subsequent output signals based on the predistorted subsequent input signals.
US08391807B2 Communication device with reduced noise speech coding
A communication device includes memory, an input interface, a processing module, and a transmitter. The processing module receives a digital signal from the input interface, wherein the digital signal includes a desired digital signal component and an undesired digital signal component. The processing module identifies one of a plurality of codebooks based on the undesired digital signal component. The processing module then identifies a codebook entry from the one of the plurality of codebooks based on the desired digital signal component to produce a selected codebook entry. The processing module then generates a coded signal based on the selected codebook entry, wherein the coded signal includes a substantially unattenuated representation of the desired digital signal component and an attenuated representation of the undesired digital signal component. The transmitter converts the coded signal into an outbound signal in accordance with a signaling protocol and transmits it.
US08391806B2 Wireless communications device with an adjustable impedance matching network and associated methods
A mobile wireless communications device includes a portable housing, a transmitter carried by the portable housing and configured to modulate an input signal, and an adjustable impedance matching network coupled downstream from the transmitter. An antenna is coupled downstream from the adjustable impedance matching network, and a non-directional coupler is coupled between the adjustable impedance matching network and the antenna. A feedback receiver is coupled to the non-directional coupler to generate a feedback signal. A controller is configured to control the adjustable impedance matching network based upon the input signal and the feedback signal.
US08391804B2 Close proximity antenna measurement and tuning
A method and apparatus for providing close proximity antenna measurement and tuning, includes a first receive-only antenna, a second antenna operable in a transmit mode, a tuning circuit coupled to the first antenna, a transmitter coupled to the second antenna, a receiver coupled to the first antenna, the receiver operable to measure a power into the first antenna delivered by a signal from the second antenna driven by the transmitter, and a processor coupled to the tuning circuit, transmitter, and receiver, the processor operable to step changes in the tuning circuit until a substantially maximum power of the signal is measured by the receiver.
US08391803B2 Device, system and method of configurable frequency signal generation
Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of configurable frequency signal generation. For example, a device may include at least one configurable local-oscillator (LO) generator to receive an input frequency signal and one or more configurable input values and to convert the input frequency signal into at least one output frequency signal according to a configurable conversion ratio, which is based on the configurable input values.
US08391802B2 Link adaptation and power control with consumed energy minimization
The invention relates to the control and adaptation of transmit parameters for wireless communication between a transmitter (TX) and at least one receiver (RX) to provide joint power and link adaptation. A basic idea of the invention is to collectively determine the transmit duration (T) and transmit power (P) of the transmitter based on minimization of a given objective function representative of total consumed energy, on both the transmitting side and the receiving side, with respect to transmit duration and/or transmit power. In effect, this means that link transmit parameters are determined based on the energy consumption on both the transmitting side and the receiving side. In addition, both transmit power and transmit duration are varied, while minimizing overall consumed energy.
US08391799B2 Mobile communication terminal performing cell search process
A mobile communication terminal includes: an antenna that performs transmission and reception of a wireless signal; a communication unit that performs communication with a base station by establishing a wireless communication line with the base station through the antenna; a memory unit that stores synchronization information of the wireless communication line established by the communication unit; a measuring unit that measures reception power level and signal quality of the wireless signal received by the antenna; and a cell search processor that detects the base station based on the synchronization information stored in the memory unit in a case where the reception power level is larger than a predetermined value and the signal quality is lower than a predetermined signal quality threshold value.
US08391798B2 Apparatus, method, and manufacture for managing scalable and traceable exchanges of content between advertisers and publishers for mobile devices
A service exchange is provided. The service exchange receives text messages (such as SMS messages), such as search queries sent by a user to the service exchange, or a text message sent from the user to another user. The service exchange determines service providers most relevant to the user, and provides the information related to the most relevant service providers to the user, including, for each relevant service provider provided to the user, a dynamically assigned, obfuscated phone number for contacting the service provider.
US08391783B2 Communication apparatus
The communication apparatus includes a capacitive coupling electrode which is capacitively coupled with an adjacent conductor or an adjacent dielectric and which operates the conductor or the dielectric as an antenna element for electromagnetic waves of a predetermined frequency, and a matching circuit which is connected to the capacitive coupling electrode and which matches impedance of the conductor or the dielectric to be operated as the antenna element for the electromagnetic waves of the predetermined frequency when the conductor or the dielectric is adjacent and capacitively coupled therewith.
US08391782B2 Wireless transmission of signals
A system for wireless transmission of signals is provided. The system includes a mobile operator unit that is operable to transmit signals; and a base unit of a safety-critical device that is operable to receive signals from the mobile operator unit. The mobile operator unit is operable to categorize the signals to be transmitted as safety-relevant control signals and non-critical communication signals. Only the safety-relevant control signals are checked for error-free transmission. The non-critical communication signals are transmitted without error safety checking.
US08391779B2 Repeater and method for processing signal, and method for converting frequency thereof
A repeater converts a frequency of a received signal based on a local oscillating frequency and transmits a transmitting signal of a frequency that is different from the frequency of the received signal. Here, the local oscillating frequency includes a local oscillating error that may be different in a plurality of repeaters. Accordingly, the repeater cancels the local oscillating frequency error itself in a frequency conversion so that transmitting frequencies between the plurality of repeaters may be identical.
US08391774B2 System and methods for enhancing the experience of spectators attending a live sporting event, with automated video stream switching functions
A handheld electronic device for use at a venue hosting a live sporting event, having a receiver for receiving a wireless RF transmission conveying a plurality of video streams derived from video cameras filming the live sporting event, a display and a user interface for selecting a video stream among the plurality of video streams to be displayed on the display. The handheld electronic device is capable to acquire a locked mode of operation and an unlocked mode of operation, in the locked mode of operation the handheld electronic device being precluded from displaying the video streams to a spectator, in the unlocked mode of operation the handheld electronic device being enabled to display the video streams to the spectator, the handheld electronic device capable to acquire the unlocked mode of operation in response to reception of authentication data wirelessly transmitted to the handheld electronic device.
US08391772B2 GPS aided open loop coherent focusing
Precision surgical jamming of a target located at a distance uses GPS to coherently focus the jamming energy transmitted from a plurality of nodes. One of the nodes is designated as a master node and the remaining nodes are designated as auxiliary nodes. Each node tracks the carrier phases of satellite signals transmitted by a plurality of GPS satellites relative to a carrier phase of a reference oscillator in the respective node. The master node provides the tracked phase measurements along with its position information to all of the auxiliary nodes. The auxiliary nodes determine the phase offset of its reference oscillator relative to the reference oscillator of the master node based on the transmitted data. The transmit phase of a jammer transmitter in each of the nodes is then aligned to the phase of the reference oscillator to transmit a coherent focused beam to a distant target.
US08391768B2 Configuration for cleaning a photosensitive unit and a tandem photosensitive unit
A photosensitive unit includes: a photosensitive member that carries a developer image on a surface thereof; a primary roller, which contacts the surface of the photosensitive member, and which captures a foreign substance on the surface of the photosensitive member; a pair of primary bearing members that rotatably support axial end portions of the primary roller; a pair of pressing members that press the pair of primary bearing members toward the photosensitive member; and a pair of guide members that guide the pair of primary bearing members in a pressing direction in which the pair of pressing members press the pair of primary bearing members.
US08391763B2 Belt driving apparatus, and image forming apparatus having belt driving apparatus
A belt driving apparatus includes a first rotatable belt member; a first supporting member rotatably supporting the first belt member; a first steering roller, rotatably supporting the first belt member; a first controller for controlling movement of an end of the first steering roller; a second rotatable belt member contacted to the first belt member; a second supporting member rotatably supporting the second belt member; a second steering roller, rotatably supporting the second belt member; and a second controller for controlling movement of an end of the second steering roller.
US08391761B2 Fixing device and image forming apparatus including fixing device
A fixing device of belt fixing type is provided. A heat generating member that is a heat generating source for heating a fixing belt has a heat generating layer composed of a resistance heat generating element that generates heat due to being energized. The resistance heat generating element includes a paper passing region heating section and a detecting section provided on an end portion in an axial direction of the heat generating member and electrically connected in parallel with the paper passing region heating section. Furthermore, in a vicinity of the detecting section, an overheat preventing element that suppresses energization to the resistance heat generating element when temperature of the detecting section reaches a predetermined value, is provided.
US08391760B2 Belt member and image forming apparatus
The endless belt member which is rotationally moved as being tensioned by a plurality of tension members and which bears a toner image includes at least a base layer, a surface layer arranged on the outer circumference of the base layer, and a rib restricting movement of the belt member in the width direction intersecting to a rotational direction of the belt member, and the surface layer is harder than that of the base layer and an edge of the surface layer in the width direction of the belt is arranged at the inner side in the width direction from the rib.
US08391754B2 Cartridge alignment member for aligning with a developer unit in an electrophotographic image forming device
An alignment member is externally disposed on a toner cartridge for alignment with a developer unit in an electrophotographic image forming device. In one embodiment of the invention, the alignment member includes a first portion to properly align the developer unit relative to the toner cartridge and a second portion to maintain the proper alignment of the developer unit. The alignment ensures proper installation of the toner cartridge into the image forming device and prevents undesirable spill of toner.
US08391752B2 Developer unit for an image forming apparatus
A developer unit for an image forming apparatus is provided. The developer unit includes a developer device with a developer agent carrier and a developer agent supplier, and a developer agent container, which contains the developer agent and is arranged in a lower position with respect to the developer device. The developer agent container is formed to have a fitting wall, which is curved inward at a position to be adjacent to the developer device. The fitting wall is formed to have a feeding opening and a collecting opening. The developer unit is further provided with a first conveyer, which is rotated about a rotation axis to sweep an inner surface of the developer agent container and convey the developer agent toward the feeding opening, and a second conveyer, which is arranged along the developer agent supplier and conveys the developer agent toward the collecting opening.
US08391748B2 Cartridge, assembling method for cartridge, and disassembling method for cartridge
A cartridge is detachably mountable to the main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The cartridge comprises a developer accommodating portion for accommodating a developer, and a developing roller for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an electrophotographic photosensitive drum with the developer. A rotational force receiving member is provided for receiving a rotational force for rotating the developing roller. A side cover is provided with an elastic member and an inclination regulating portion for regulating an inclination of the rotational force receiving member. The side cover is mounted to a cartridge frame by the fastening member, with the rotational force receiving member being mounted to the cartridge frame integrally with the side cover.
US08391746B2 Apparatus housing and image forming apparatus using the same
An apparatus housing includes: a housing frame that contains an image forming element therein; and an exterior cover fixed to an exterior of the housing frame, wherein the exterior cover has a specified-color exterior cover different in lightness from the housing frame, the specified-color exterior cover has a plurality of cover members that are adjacent to each other and disposed on at least one surface of the housing frame, and a blind portion for blinding the surface of the housing frame with a color whose lightness is more similar to that of the specified-color exterior cover than the housing frame is provided at an adjacent area between the plurality of cover members so that the surface of the housing frame is not exposed through a gap between the plurality of cover members, and wherein the blind portion is provided to at least one of the plurality of cover members, and the blind portion extends to cover the entire adjacent area of the other cover members.
US08391738B2 Image heating apparatus executing a correction mode when the detected amounts of slack at different ends of a recording material are different
An image heating apparatus includes: a first heater, having a nip through which a sheet passes, for heating toner image on the sheet; a second heater, having a nip through which the sheet passes, capable of heating the toner image on the sheet having passed through the first heater; a changer for changing the feeding speed of the sheet of the second image heater; two detectors for detecting the amount of slack of the sheet at one and the other ends of the sheet when the sheet is nipped by both of the nips; an adjuster adjusting the distance between the first and second heaters at the one and the other ends; and a portion for executing a correction mode when the amounts of slack detected by the detectors are different from each other, so that after the adjuster reduces the distance, the feeding speed is controlled.
US08391729B2 Unit installable in apparatus including a consumable container and a chip and method of managing the same
A unit installable in an apparatus and a method of managing a unit installed in an apparatus are provided. The unit includes a container for a consumable, and a chip mounted to the container. The chip includes a first memory to store data that is accessible and decodable by the apparatus to authenticate the unit. The chip includes a second memory to store recycling prevention information.
US08391720B2 Apparatus for visible light communication providing intuitive information and method using the same
There is disclosed a visible light communication technology capable of intuitively recognizing a transmission speed, an alignment status, a communication status, or a transmission rate. A visible light communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a light source selecting unit selecting at least one light source of a plurality of light sources generating lights having different wavelengths by considering intuitive information distinguished depending on a wavelength in a visible light band; and a visible light communication unit performing visible light communication by at least one selected light source to allow the intuitive information to be recognized by a color corresponding to at least one selected light source. Accordingly, a user using the visible light communication can intuitively know an optimal communication status or transmission speed.
US08391718B2 Passive optical communication network system extendable with codec modules
In a passive optical communication network system, an optical signal OCDM-coded is transmitted from an OLT to a first port of a circulator, which in turn transfers the signal from its second port to one end of a first SSFBG. The first SSFBG then decodes the signal of one channel to output the decoded signal from its one end to the second port of the circulator, which in turn transmits the decoded signal from its third port to an ONU. When the ONU transmits an optical signal to the third port of the circulator, the circulator transfers the signal from its fourth port to one end of a second SSFBG, which in turn encodes the signal to output the encoded signal from its one end to the fourth port of the circulator. The circulator then transmits the encoded signal from its first port to the OLT.
US08391716B2 Signal transmission method for peer-to-peer optical network and system thereof
A signal transmission system for a peer-to-peer optical network. The system includes an optical line terminal, an optical distribution node, and a plurality of optical network units. The optical network unit and the optical distribution node are connected in a tree distribution having an ordered relation. The optical line terminal transmits optic signals via the optical distribution node to a first ordered optical network unit, to allow the first ordered optical network unit to process the optic signals and to generate combined optic signals, which are transmitted to a next ordered optical network unit via the optical distribution node. The above steps are iterated, until a last ordered optical network unit transmits combined optic signals to the optical line terminal via the optical distribution node.
US08391714B2 Optical broadcast systems and methods
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to optical broadcast systems. The nodes of the system can be any combination of cores, caches, input/output devices, and memory, or any other information processing, transmitting, or storing device. The optical broadcast system includes an optical broadcast bus. Any node of the system in optical communication with the broadcast bus can broadcast information in optical signals to all other nodes in optical communication with the broadcast bus.
US08391710B2 Optical sensor system, optical sensor device and bus segment for connecting the device to a bus of the system
An optical sensor system comprises one or more optical sensor devices, a master device and an electrical bus connecting the sensor devices to the master device. The bus comprises a signal daisy chain for the transmission of synchronization events. The sensor devices are adapted to detect a synchronization event at a signal input terminal, to time an optical activity based on this synchronization event and to provide at a signal output terminal a synchronization event delayed by an offset time with respect to the detected synchronization event. A property of the synchronization events provided by the sensor devices is indicative of an output value of the respective sensor device, corresponding to a state of an optical section to which the sensor is sensitive. Diodes are connected between the signal output terminals of the sensor devices and a signal line of the bus, which is connected to a signal input terminal of the master device, so that the latter receives the synchronization events from the sensor devices. The master device comprises means for extracting the output values of the sensor devices from these synchronization events. A sensor device for such a system comprises an enclosure of cuboid outer shape adapted to be mounted to a mounting rail so that the longitudinal direction of the rail is perpendicular to lateral sides of the enclosure. An electrical connector with the signal input and output terminals and with power supply terminals is arranged at a side connecting the lateral sides of the enclosure. Bus segments are provided for connecting the sensor devices to the system bus.
US08391709B2 MxN wavelength selective switch
A wavelength selective switch (WSS) based on an array of MEMS mirrors tiltable in 1-dimension about only one axis exhibits “hitting” or unwanted port connections during switching. Two WSS's can be cascaded to create M×N switching functionality in a hitless manner by the inclusion of block ports at specified positions in one or both of the WSS's. Greater use efficiency of ports can be achieved if quasi-hitless performance is acceptable.
US08391702B2 Reduced pre-flash for LED flash based camera devices
A mobile device comprising a processor, a camera module, and a flash configured to generate at least one of a reduced pre-flash, a standard pre-flash and a flash. The processor, in response to receiving an image capture request, is configured to receive a brightness value and determine a flash status based on a flash setting with the flash status being one of an off mode, on mode, and auto mode. In the event the flash status is one of the on mode and auto mode, determine whether there is sufficient light to capture an image based at least in part on a comparison of the brightness value and a flash threshold. In the event the brightness value is greater than the flash threshold, cause the flash to generate a shortened pre-flash and obtain only a white balance measurement and an auto-exposure measurement during the shortened pre-flash.
US08391683B2 Information recording medium, information recording method, information playback method, information recording apparatus, and information playback apparatus
To relatively simplify the apparatus arrangement while supporting many variations of streams to be processed, management information of a disc includes option support information that designates a combination of a base format and one or more options. An apparatus using this disc can specify predetermined types of decode formats on the basis of the contents of this option support information.
US08391673B2 Method, system, and apparatus to derive content related to a multimedia stream and dynamically combine and display the stream with the related content
A method, system, and apparatus are disclosed. In one embodiment method includes receiving multimedia data from a source device. Then the method determines one or more pieces of content information from the received multimedia data through a content awareness algorithm. Next, the method searches one or more data repositories for relational information associated with the content information. Then the method retrieves any found relational information from the one or more data repositories. Finally, the method displays the retrieved relational information alongside the multimedia data on a display device.
US08391664B2 Fiber optic connector holder
A fiber optic connector holder including a housing with at least one cavity for receiving a fiber optic connector with a dust cap in place about a terminal end of the connector. The housing may be integrally molded with retaining structures for releasably engaging the fiber optic connector and releasable catches for mounting the housing at a mount location. The presence of a fiber optic connector within a cavity of the housing may prevent the removal of the housing from a mounting location.
US08391660B2 Broadband or mid-infrared fiber light sources
A broadband light source includes one or more laser diodes that are capable of generating a pump signal having a wavelength shorter than 2.5 microns, a pulse width of at least 100 picoseconds and a pump optical spectral width. The light source also includes one or more optical amplifiers that are coupled to the pump signal and are capable of amplifying the pump signal to a peak power of at least 500 W. The light source further includes a first fiber that is coupled to the one or more optical amplifiers. The first fiber including an anomalous group-velocity dispersion regime and a modulational instability mechanism that operates to modulate the pump signal. The light source also includes a nonlinear element that is coupled to the first fiber that is capable of broadening the pump optical spectral width to at least 100 nm through a nonlinear effect in the nonlinear element.
US08391651B2 Optical waveguide device
An optical waveguide device having multiple functions or high performance, to improve the productivity of products, and to provide an optical waveguide device capable of suppressing deterioration of an operating characteristic of the optical waveguide device, including a thin plate 1 having a thickness of 20 μm or less, and at least an optical waveguide 2 formed in the thin plate. The thin plate is bonded and fixed to a supporting substrate 5 with an adhesive 4 interposed therebetween, and a film having a higher refractive index than the thin plate is provided on a surface of the thin plate bonded and fixed to the supporting substrate so as to be in contact with a part of the optical waveguide.
US08391650B2 Method and apparatus of image processing to detect edges
An edge detection filter comprising an array of filter coefficients having an odd number of rows and columns, a first set of zero coefficients extending along a direction traversing the array through a center position to form a first and second side, a second set of positive coefficients extending away from the direction on the first side, and a third set of negative coefficients extending away from the direction on the second side.
US08391644B2 Image processing apparatus, image processing method, storage medium storing image processing program, and electronic device
An image processing apparatus for performing registration processing on a plurality of images by calculating a motion vector between the plurality of images includes a motion vector measurement region setting unit that sets a plurality of motion vector measurement regions for measuring the motion vector, a motion vector calculation unit that calculates motion vectors of the plurality of motion vector measurement regions, a motion vector reliability calculation unit that calculates a reliability of the motion vectors of the plurality of motion vector measurement regions on the basis of information relating to a local magnification of an optical system used to obtain the images, and a motion vector integration processing unit that determines an inter-image motion vector by integrating the motion vectors of the plurality of motion vector measurement regions in accordance with the reliability of the motion vectors.
US08391643B2 Image registration method
The present invention provides a method of registering image data for a series of images acquired over a period of time. The images may be acquired from a medical imaging device, such as an MRI scanner. The method allows image-by-image registration to a partially compressed dataset in which motion artifacts are suppressed in a series of target images generated to resemble the original dynamic data. The registration process is refined with each iteration of the process. The method uses Principal Component Analysis which allows accurate registration to be performed without the need to make any assumptions about pharmacokinetic model parameters, which not only avoids the problems of accurate model-fitting but permits the use of much larger target areas of the dataset.
US08391640B1 Method and apparatus for aligning and unwarping distorted images
A method and apparatus for aligning and unwarping distorted images in which an initial unwarping function is applied to the coordinates of feature points of a set of input component images to generate substantially rectilinear feature points. The substantially rectilinear feature points are then used to estimate focal lengths, centers, and relative rotations for pairs of the input images. A global nonlinear optimization is applied to the initial unwarping function(s) and the relative rotations to generate optimized unwarping functions and rotations for the component images. The optimized unwarping functions and rotations may then be used to render a panoramic image, generally in the form of a spherical projection, from the input component images.
US08391636B2 Image processing apparatus and method
A broadcast display apparatus and an image processing and outputting method thereof. An image processing and outputting method includes determining whether there is noise on an edge of an original image, and performing image processing for the noise. Accordingly, undesired signals inserted on an edge of an image can be effectively removed.
US08391634B1 Illumination estimation for images
An image comprising varying illumination is selected. Instances of a repeating pattern in the image is determined. Illumination values for pixels at locations within instances of the repeating pattern are calculated responsive to pixel intensities of pixels at corresponding locations in other instances of the repeating pattern. The varying illumination is removed form the image responsive to the illumination values.
US08391623B2 Image processing apparatus and image processing method for determining motion vectors
An image processing apparatus includes a motion vector detection unit configured to detect a motion vector at a predetermined space position of a frame at a predetermined time from an input image of a plurality of temporally different frames and obtain a reliability of the motion vector; a motion vector evaluation unit configured to obtain, at each space position, an evaluation value of the motion vector at the space position that is within a predetermined range including a subject space position that is a space position of interest, on the basis of the reliability at the space position and a distance from the subject space position; and a motion vector correction unit configured to correct the motion vector at the subject space position on the basis of the evaluation value and the motion vector at the space position of the predetermined range.
US08391621B2 Image processing device and image reproducing device
An image processing device includes: an encoding unit that performs an encoding operation for encoding moving images; and a control unit that controls the encoding unit so as to perform the encoding operation on a plurality of still images that are captured in a continuous shooting mode.
US08391615B2 Image recognition algorithm, method of identifying a target image using same, and method of selecting data for transmission to a portable electronic device
An image recognition algorithm includes a keypoints-based comparison and a region-based color comparison. A method of identifying a target image using the algorithm includes: receiving an input at a processing device, the input including data related to the target image; performing a retrieving step including retrieving an image from an image database, and, until the image is either accepted or rejected, designating the image as a candidate image; performing an image recognition step including using the processing device to perform an image recognition algorithm on the target and candidate images in order to obtain an image recognition algorithm output; and performing a comparison step including: if the image recognition algorithm output is within a pre-selected range, accepting the candidate image as the target image; and if the image recognition algorithm output is not within the pre-selected range, rejecting the candidate image and repeating the retrieving, image recognition, and comparison steps.
US08391612B2 Edge detection with adaptive threshold
Systems and methods are provided for detecting edges in an image. In an example method, the image is smoothed using a filter. A gradient magnitude and angle are determined for each pixel of the image. A non-maximum suppression is performed on the resulting image data. A double threshold with an upper and a lower threshold are applied to the resulting image data to determine the edges in the image. The upper and the lower thresholds are calculated automatically using a distribution of intensity values of the image. In example systems, an image is acquired by a camera, or other image acquisition units. An image processing unit is configured to detect the edges in the image using an adaptive threshold edge detection method.
US08391611B2 Methods, systems and computer program products for identifying descriptors for an image
Methods for automatically providing descriptors for images to a user include providing an image descriptor database having a plurality of image feature vectors, each of the plurality of image feature vectors having an associated descriptor. A specificity value is assigned to each of the descriptors such that the specificity value comprises an estimation of a degree of description specificity. A first image feature vector is determined for a first image, and the first image feature vector is compared with the plurality of image vectors in the image descriptor database. One or more descriptors for the first image vector is identified based on the comparison of the first image feature vector with the plurality of image vectors and the specificity value of the corresponding descriptor.
US08391609B2 Method of massive parallel pattern matching against a progressively-exhaustive knowledge base of patterns
A method of pattern and image recognition and identification includes building a data store of known patterns or images having known attributes and comparing those patterns to unknown patterns. The data store and comparison processing may be distributed across processors. A digital pattern recognition engine on each of the processors has the ability to compare a known pattern from the data store and an unknown pattern and compare the two patterns to determine whether the patterns constitute a match based on match criteria. If the comparison indicates a match, the match may be communicated to the data store and added as a known pattern with detected attributes to the data store. If the comparison does not indicate a match, the pattern may be flagged, transmitted to manual recognition, or further processed using character thresholding or cutting or slicing the pattern.
US08391608B2 Method and apparatus for analyzing body fluids
A system and method for analyzing a specimen containing particles that can be difficult to differentiate. The system and method determines a first collective count of a selected group of particles in the specimen, treats at least a portion of the specimen to alter a subgroup of the selected group of particles, determines a second collective count of any of the selected group of particles in the treated portion of the specimen, and subtracts the second collective count from the first collective count to determine a differentiation count for the subgroup of particles altered by the treating of the specimen. The system and method is described with the example of determining concentrations of red and white blood cells in a specimen (e.g. spinal fluid), using auto-particle recognition techniques, without attempting to distinguish and count red versus white blood cells co-existing in the same specimen portion.
US08391605B2 Method and apparatus for performing model-based OPC for pattern decomposed features
A method for decomposing a target circuit pattern containing features to be imaged into multiple patterns. The process includes the steps of separating the features to be printed into a first pattern and a second pattern; performing a first optical proximity correction process on the first pattern and the second pattern; determining an imaging performance of the first pattern and the second pattern; determining a first error between the first pattern and the imaging performance of the first pattern, and a second error between the second pattern and the imaging performance of said second pattern; utilizing the first error to adjust the first pattern to generate a modified first pattern; utilizing the second error to adjust the second pattern to generate a modified second pattern; and applying a second optical proximity correction process to the modified first pattern and the modified second pattern.
US08391602B2 Character recognition
Systems and methods for character recognition by performing lateral view-based analysis on the character data and generating a feature vector based on the lateral view-based analysis.
US08391599B1 Systems and methods for adaptive binarization of an image
A system for processing an image for binarization comprises at least one subsystem that breaks the image into multiple sub-images, at least one subsystem that generates a histogram for each sub-image, and at least one subsystem that determines optimal thresholding values for image binarization by statistical analysis of the histogram for each sub-image.
US08391597B2 Image capturing apparatus, method for capturing image, and program
An image capturing apparatus includes an imaging device, a face region specifying unit that specifies a face region including an image of at least a part of a face in an image obtained by using the imaging device, a face region brightness computing unit that computes a brightness level of the face region, a background region brightness computing unit that computes a brightness level of a background region including at least a part of the image excluding the face region, and an image capturing control unit that determines an image capturing configuration in accordance with the brightness levels of the face region and the background region and performs an image capturing process in accordance with the determined image capturing configuration.
US08391593B2 Image processing methods and systems
Systems and methods according to the present invention provide techniques to automatically crop an image to a desired size. Automating the cropping process, while at the same time providing a high quality, cropped image, can be accomplished by employing a comprehensive approach that includes one or more of contextual cropping (e.g., basing cropping decisions on elements within the image to be cropped itself), training the cropping mechanism (e.g., using previously cropped versions of the same image or related images) and multiple operational modes (e.g., selecting one of a plurality of different cropping techniques for cropping a particular image).
US08391573B2 Method and apparatus for motion correcting medical images
A method for reducing, in an image, motion related imaging artifacts includes obtaining a four-dimensional (4D) image dataset of a region of interest, sorting the 4D image dataset into a plurality of gates, generating an image of the region of interest using the plurality of gates, quantifying a selected feature using at least one metric, selecting a reference gate from the plurality of gates based on the quantification of the feature, and registering one or more of the plurality of gates to the reference gate to generate an image of the selected feature. A system and non-transitory computer readable medium configure to implement the method are also described herein.
US08391566B2 Method of identifying a person by his iris
A method of identifying a person by his iris through determining an interior limit and using a predefined exterior limit to form an analysis zone. A code associated with the analysis zone is generated and compared with a previously generated reference code. If there is no match another predefined exterior limit is used. The process repeats as long as predefined exterior limits exist or until a positive match is made.
US08391558B2 Method for the adaptive determination of a threshold value for the identification of vehicle lights using a camera system
A method for determining at least one threshold value S for distinguishing, in the dark, between reflectors and vehicle lights that are recorded as light spots by a camera sensor oriented towards the surroundings of a vehicle. The camera sensor records a series of images of the surroundings of the vehicle. At least one light spot in the series of images is tracked. When the tracking of a light spot is completed, at least one parameter (for example the maximum intensity Imax of the light spot in the entire series of images, or the lifetime τ of the light spot) is determined from measured values, for example from the intensity of the light spot in each image. The threshold value S is then adapted to the determined parameter/s. The determined parameter value of the light spot is included in a frequency distribution of the parameter values from previously tracked light spots. A new threshold value for distinguishing between vehicle lights and reflectors is determined from the updated frequency distribution of the parameter values. After temporal filtering a new threshold value for distinguishing between reflectors and vehicle lights is fixed.
US08391553B2 Systems and methods for using an evidence grid to eliminate ambiguities in an interferometric radar
A system includes an Interferometric radar that transmits a first detection signal over a first spatial region and a second detection signal over a second spatial region. The second region has a first sub-region in common with the first region. The system further includes a processing device that assigns a first occupancy value to a first cell in an evidence grid. The first cell represents the first sub-region, and the first occupancy value characterizes whether an object has been detected by the first detection signal as being present in the first sub-region. The processing device calculates, based on the first and second detection signals, the probability that the first occupancy value accurately characterizes the presence of the object in the first sub-region, and generates a data representation of the first sub-region based on the probability calculation.
US08391549B2 Methods and systems for processing data using product-law symmetry detection
Systems and devices for processing image or other data using product-law symmetry are described. In one implementation, an image or other collection of data has a number of samples each having an associated intensity, luminance, magnitude or other value. A sub-set of the samples is selected, and a product is computed of at least a first value associated with a first sample in the sub-set and a second value associated with a second sample in the sub-set that is different from the first sample. The resulting product can be used to provide an output, such as an enhanced image or an indication that a target is present within the sub-set of samples. In image processing applications, the product may be based upon data obtained from single or multiple images to exploit target symmetry and to distribute the effects of random noise, thereby improving target identification or otherwise enhancing the image.
US08391547B2 Method and apparatus for detecting objects of interest in soccer video by color
A method is disclosed for detecting and locating players in soccer video frames without errors caused by artifacts by a shape analysis-based approach to identify the players and the ball from roughly extracted foregrounds obtained by color segmentation and connected component analysis, by performing a Euclidean distance transform to extract skeletons for every foreground blob, by performing a shape analysis to remove false alarms (non-players and non-ball), and then by performing skeleton pruning and a reverse Euclidean distance transform to cut-off the artifacts primarily caused by playing field lines.
US08391543B1 Method and apparatus for preventing data leakage faciliated by steganography
A method and apparatus for preventing data leakage facilitated by steganography is provided. In one embodiment, the method for preventing data leakage caused by steganography without perceptual quality degradation comprises processing content being transmitted from a computer, wherein the content comprises steganographic data; and before the transmission, modifying the steganographic data to corrupt hidden information within the content without perceptual quality degradation.
US08391540B2 Bending wave acoustic device and method of making thereof
An acoustic device and method of making said acoustic device. The acoustic device comprises a diaphragm having resonant bending wave modes in the operating frequency range, and a plurality of electromechanical transducers coupled to the diaphragm. The positioning and mechanical impedance of the transducers are such that at least a selected number of the resonant bending wave modes are balanced so that the net transverse modal velocity over the area of the diaphragm tends to zero with the balancing of the resonant bending wave modes being achieved substantially by the positioning and mechanical impedance of the transducers. The parameters of the diaphragm may be such that there are a plurality of nodal grouped locations at or around which the nodal lines of a selected number of resonant modes are clustered. Each transducer may be mounted at one of the plurality of nodal grouped locations.
US08391537B2 Damper and loudspeaker using the same
A damper includes a paper matrix and a plurality of carbon nanotubes dispersed in the paper matrix. A loudspeaker includes a magnetic circuit, a bobbin, a voice coil, a damper, and a diaphragm. The magnetic circuit defines a magnetic gap. The bobbin is located in the magnetic gap. The voice coil is wounded on the bobbin. The damper is fixed to the bobbin and includes a paper matrix and a plurality of carbon nanotubes dispersed in the paper matrix. The diaphragm includes an inner rim fixed to the bobbin and mechanically held by the damper.
US08391520B2 Flat speaker unit and speaker device therewith
A reliable flat speaker unit and a speaker device with the same are provided herein. A conductive electrode of a vibrating membrane of the speaker unit is disposed on both utmost sides of the speaker unit to isolate the speaker unit from environmental moisture, which can significantly improve the reliance of the speaker device. A barrier layer can optionally be disposed on the external side of the conductive electrode to further isolating the speaker unit from moisture, which can improve the reliance and the lifetime of the speaker device. In an embodiment, at least a getter is disposed inside the flat speaker unit to absorb moisture therein. The speaker unit at least includes a electret vibrating membrane with a conductive electrode, a plurality of supporting members, and a electrode structure with a plurality of holes.
US08391517B2 Optical microphone packaging
An optical microphone that may include a first substrate with one or more acoustic entry ports and a die over the one or more acoustic entry ports. The die may include a sensing structure for detecting acoustic vibrations received via the acoustic entry port(s) and may form a first cavity between the first substrate and the sensing structure. The microphone may include a light source within the first cavity, which may transmit laser light. The optical microphone may include photo detector(s) within the first cavity. The one or more photodetectors may be configured to receive the laser light after reflection from the sensing diaphragm to measure the acoustic vibrations of the sensing diaphragm. The microphone may also include a circuit and a lid, where the die, light source, photo detectors, and circuit are comprised within the cavity of the microphone. The circuit may perform signal processing signals from the photodetector(s).
US08391509B2 Audio-separating apparatus and operation method thereof
This present invention discloses an audio-separating apparatus and operation method thereof. The audio-separating apparatus applies both blind source separation and noise reduction mechanisms. The audio-separating apparatus only uses one microphone to record mixed sound signals. After applying the noise reduction mechanism, noise reduced signals and the mixed sound signals are used as the inputs of the blind source separation. The method may avoid the spatial aliasing effect caused by using a microphone array to record the mixed sound signals. Besides, speech segment losses caused by processing the noise reduction will be effectively recovered, which may help the hearing impaired recognize target speech signals.
US08391505B2 Reverberation suppressing apparatus and reverberation suppressing method
A reverberation suppressing apparatus separating sound source signals based on input signals output from microphones collecting the plurality of sound source signals, includes a sound signal output unit generating sound signals and outputting the generated sound signals, a sound acquiring unit acquiring the input signals from microphones, a first evaluation function calculation unit calculating a separation matrix, the input signals, and the sound source signals, and calculating a first evaluation function, a reverberation component suppressing unit calculating an optimal separation matrix, and suppressing a reverberation component by separating the sound source signals other than the generated sound signals, and a separation matrix updating unit dividing a step-size function, approximating each segment to a linear function, calculating step sizes based on the approximated linear functions, and repeatedly updating the separation matrix so that the degree of separation of the sound source signals exceeds the predetermined value.
US08391504B1 Method and system for artificial reverberation employing dispersive delays
The present invention relates to audio signal processing, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for emulating and controlling various features of mechanical spring reverberation in a digital audio processing system. According to certain aspects of the invention, such an emulation is performed so as to enhance or alter the characteristics of a digitally stored or processed audio signal in substantially the same manner as a mechanical spring reverberation system. In one example embodiment, the propagation of energy through a mechanical spring is simulated using dispersive waveguides, wherein left-going and right-going waves are separately processed, and the effects of dispersion and attenuation commuted to the waveguide ends. According to additional aspects, many spring reverberators contain spring elements arranged in parallel, with no coupling between springs. Accordingly, in another embodiment of the present invention, such reverberators are modeled using a set of waveguide structures, arranged in parallel, and tuned to simulate the dispersion and attenuation of the torsional propagation modes of each of the individual spring elements. According to further aspects, reverberators occasionally have spring elements comprised of spring segments connected in series. Accordingly, in yet another embodiment of the invention, such arrangements are emulated using dispersive waveguide structures with scattering junctions between modeled spring segments. According to still other embodiments of the invention, both longitudinal and torsional waves are simulated so as to produce a widening over time of successive arrivals at the simulated pick-up, to thereby account for the difference in propagation speed between the torsional and longitudinal modes.
US08391500B2 Method and system for creating three-dimensional spatial audio
A system and method for rendering a virtual sound source using a plurality of speakers in an arbitrary arrangement includes expanding a wave field of the virtual sound source and a composite wave field generated by the plurality of speakers into multi-pole expansions, and equating the multi-pole expansions to each other to form a continuous equation. A set of constraints is applied to the continuous equation that minimize an error in a sweet spot region resulting in a linear system of equations. The linear system of equations is solved using singular-value decomposition to arrive at a pseudo-inverse representing a multi-dimensional transfer function between the virtual sound source and the plurality of speakers. The multi-dimensional transfer function is then applied to a signal of the virtual sound source to render the virtual sound source in the sweet spot region using the plurality of speakers in the arbitrary arrangement.
US08391488B2 Method and apparatus for using navigation signal information for geoencryption to enhance security
A data encryption and decryption system securely geoencrypts data using location-dependent navigation signals. To increase the entropy of the cryptographic key to guard against a brute-force attack, geoencryption is made to depend on largely time-independent characteristics of the navigation signals that are not easily spoofed, including the time difference of arrival, the envelope-to-cycle difference, the differential signal-to-noise, the signal envelope shape, and the directions of arrival of the navigation signal set.
US08391486B2 Secure key distribution using sequential weak values
A method is provided for distributing a random list of binary values between first and second parties. The method includes sending photons from the second party into an interferometer at a first beam splitter; performing a first weak measurement on photons as a first pointer result into a first time-ordered list for photons; performing a second weak measurement by the first party on photons that pass through a second beam splitter as being a second pointer result into a second time-ordered list; recording identification for first and second detectors that the photons arrive via a third beam splitter as respective first and second detector registrations for collecting in a third time-ordered list as respective first and second detection lists; determining first and second averages of the respective first and second detection lists; and comparing the averages to verify existence of a non-trivial difference that indicates secure communication status of the element's binary value.
US08391477B2 Cryptographic device having tamper resistance to power analysis attack
A randomly selected point on an elliptic curve is set as the initial value of a variable and calculation including a random point value is performed in an algorithm for calculating arbitrary scalar multiple operation on an elliptic curve when scalar multiplication and addition on an elliptic curve are defined, then a calculation value obtained as a result of including a random point is subtracted from the calculation result, whereby an intended scalar multiple operation value on an elliptic curve is determined.
US08391474B2 Electronic device
An easy to use electronic device is provided. The electronic device functions as a telephone and has a display portion, an audio input portion, an audio output portion, and operation keys. The display portion has a passive element, and the operation keys have LEDs. The direction of an image displayed by the LEDs is switchable.
US08391464B1 Customer service system, method, and software program product for responding to queries using natural language understanding
The present invention uses natural language understanding to increase the ability of a customer service system to respond to a user's query in an automated manner. A customer service system receives a query from a user and offers the user the option of having the system contact the user at a later time with an answer. If the user accepts the offer, the customer service system processes the query offline, including providing the query to a natural language understanding interpreter. The system uses the natural language understanding interpretation to determine if the user's query is in a database of frequently-asked queries. For each query in the database of frequently-asked queries, there is a predetermined response protocol. If the user's query substantially matches a query in the database, the IVR system contacts the user with an automated response in accordance with the predetermined response protocol for the query.
US08391463B1 Method and apparatus for identifying related contacts
Systems and methods for identifying related contacts in a contact center are provided. In particular, contacts that are initiated by an agent or other resource after an earlier contact has been placed on hold or while the agent or resource is in an after-contact work state are determined to be associated with the earlier contact. Accordingly, associations within contacts can be identified and recorded. Furthermore, the identification of associations between contacts can be performed without requiring explicit recognition of relationships between the content of different contacts, and without relying on an agent to make accurate reports regarding relationships between contacts.
US08391457B2 Systems and methods of timing DTMF tones for telephony control
Control and status information between a mobile device and another device can be signaled over a voice channel using DTMF tones, e.g., a pre-defined sequence of DTMF tones can signal a desired message (more generally, a feature code). Tones sent are separated from each other by a time gap (Tgap timer). If a receiving device does not receive a sequence of DTMF tones that can be matched to stored definitions of feature codes, then the receiving device generates a negative ACK. Also, if the sending device does not receive either negative or positive ACK, then sending device resends all tones of the feature code after a retry delay (Tretry timer). Rather than having the Tretry timer start when tones for a feature code start to be transmitted, the Tretry timer is started after the Tgap timer expires for the last tone of a feature code. Thus, only one timer is running (either Tgap or Tretry), rather than having multiple timers running concurrently. Race conditions between the timers are avoided.
US08391456B2 Dynamic configuration of call controls for communication peripherals
Callers of an enhanced communication system are enabled to improve their communication experience by receiving context specific call controls on their peripheral device before, during, and/or after a call. A communication application determines context specific commands and configures/reconfigures call controls on the peripheral device. The peripheral device displays the call context specific controls in different stages of operation and forwards user selection(s) to the communication application without a need to understand the commands of perform actions associated with the commands.
US08391455B2 Method and system for live collaborative tagging of audio conferences
Methods are disclosed in which participants in a communication session contribute tags—during the course of the communication session—such that the tags are visible to at least some of the participants as the communication session progresses. This creates a “live” collaborative tagging environment.Tags are contributed by some or all the participants on the communication session. The tags are displayed as they are generated. Moreover, one who declines to speak on the communication session can still actively tag. In this way, a tagger can participate and contribute in a collaborative live manner while the communication session is in progress. This approach departs from traditional “after the fact” or “note-taking” techniques in the prior art.The tags, according to some illustrative embodiments of the present invention, can be associated in a variety of ways, including but not limited to: a tag that is associated with an instance in time of the recording of the communication session; a tag that is associated with the recording as a whole; a tag that is associated with a period of time of the recording of the communication session, wherein the period of time is of a predetermined duration; a tag that is associated with a period of time of the recording of the communication session, wherein the period of time is under the control of the person contributing the tag. The tags are searchable and browsable and can be classified.
US08391453B2 Enabling incoming VoIP calls behind a network firewall
A network device is configured to receive a registration message from a private user device including a private internet protocol (IP) address associated with the private user device. A public IP address and discrete port number are assigned to the private user device and private IP address and stored in an incoming call table. The registration message is translated to include the public IP address and discrete port number. The registration message is forwarded to a proxy server for registration. An incoming call invitation message is received from a public user device, where the call invitation message is directed to the public IP address and discrete port number associated with the private user device. The call invitation message is translated to include the private IP address associated with the private user device based on the received public IP address and discrete port number and the incoming call table. The call invitation message is forwarded to the private user device.
US08391452B2 User-based authentication for realtime communications
Architecture for a communications system enabling a user to provision a telephone at a new location without network administrative pre-configuring. An input component (e.g., keypad) receives a numeric extension and PIN. The extension is a telephone extension of the user and the PIN can be administratively assigned. A location component provides location information of an enterprise communications server to the telephone based on the extension. The telephone uses the location information to send messages to the enterprise communications server. A registration component registers the telephone with the enterprise communications server based on the numeric extension. A telephony address is returned to the telephone. An authentication component authenticates the telephone based on the PIN. Upon authentication, the extension is assigned to the telephone, and telephone communications can be sent and received from that location.
US08391451B2 Voice over IP method for developing interactive voice response system
A personal Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system includes a plurality of IVR servers communicating personal IVR service node information in a network and a plurality of personal IVR service node clients coupled to the plurality of IVR servers communicating the personal IVR service node information. The plurality of personal IVR service node clients have a client-server relationship with the plurality of IVR servers. The personal IVR system further includes facilities for managing transmission of the personal IVR service node information using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.
US08391450B2 Unified and best messaging systems for communication devices
A unified messaging system which can provide messaging services for a plurality of different “message types” is disclosed. The unified messaging system can serve as a single interface to a number of messaging services provided by various messaging components which use different message types (e.g., mail server). A unified message type is implemented and presented to a user as an abstract message. In addition, the unified messaging system can automatically determine, based on a first selected feature, if one or more message types should be used. A particular message type can also be automatically selected as a “best message type” based on one or more selected options.
US08391431B2 Apparatus, and associated method, for filtering a receive signal by adaptive operation of an input noise whitening filter
Apparatus, and an associated method, for the receive part of a receiving station, such as a mobile station or other transceiver of a cellular communication system. Selection is made of filter characteristics to be exhibited by an adaptive, input noise whitening filter. A noise estimator estimates a noise component of a noise sequence. An autocorrelation estimator estimates the noise-component autocorrelation. A determination is made as to whether the autocorrelation exceeds a threshold. If so, filter characteristics are selected to cause the input noise whitening filter to operate to inject whitening noise into the received sequence.
US08391429B2 Methods for determining reconstruction weights in a MIMO system with successive interference cancellation
Certain aspects provide a method for determining decoding order and reconstruction weights for decoded streams to be cancelled in a MIMO system with successive interference cancellation, based on estimates of the channel characteristics, the received composite signal and parameters of the system.
US08391425B2 Data processing apparatus and method, receiving apparatus and method, synchronous detection apparatus and method, and computer program
A data processing apparatus includes a first correlation operation unit which performs a mutual correlation operation of a first input series and a second input series, a threshold value operation unit which calculates a threshold value based on the first input series, a first comparison unit which compares a first mutual correlation value with the threshold value, a search window setting unit which sets a search window for detecting the second input series to the first input series on the basis of the comparison result, a hard decision unit which performs binarization of the first input series, a second correlation operation unit which performs a mutual correlation operation of a first input hard decision value, and a detection position determining unit which searches for a maximum value of the mutual correlation value within the search window and determines the detection time of the maximum value.
US08391409B2 Method for transmitting an information sequence
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for applying successive multi-rank beamforming strategies (e.g., successive precoding strategies) for the design of precoders over a set of parallel channels. Successive beamforming is applied to a narrow band channel model and is also applied for finer quantization of a single beamforming vector (e.g., recursive beamforming). A first embodiment provides the optimal approach with high complexity. An alternative embodiment provides successive beamforming for near optimal precoding selection with medium complexity. A low complexity method for precoder selection is also provided wherein a channel representative matrix for the set of parallel channels is determined and successive beamforming on the calculated channel representative is applied.
US08391407B2 Data transmission device and method thereof, and data reception device and method thereof
The present invention discloses a data transmission device and method thereof, and a data reception device and method thereof. The data transmission method in the present invention includes the following steps: encoding information data to obtain mother codes; generating transmission data including the mother codes and repetition codes from the mother codes, wherein parts of the mother codes with low reliability are selected to be repetition codes according to the modulation type of the mother codes; modulating the transmission data; transmitting the modulated data.
US08391403B2 Method for transmitting signals in a digital communication system and transmitter for a digital communication system
A method is provided which improves reliability of channel estimation in a digital communication system by reducing the ambiguity in the recognition of received symbols evaluated for the channel estimation. A first plurality of bits is mapped to a modulation state according to a given Gray mapping of binary numbers to modulation states and transmitted. The plurality of bits is re-transmitted at least once, with a sub-set of bits contained in the plurality of bits inverted, and mapped to further modulation states according to the same Gray mapping. The bits to be inverted are determined in a way that the number of different vector sum results obtainable, for all combinations of bit values within the first plurality of bits, by adding vectors representing complex values of the first and further modulation states in a complex plane, is lower than the number of different modulation states within the Gray mapping.
US08391402B2 Process and device for encoding, and associated electronic system and storage medium
An encoder comprises a first and a second input, and a first and a second output, and the encoder comprises a selection block suitable for selecting a more significant bit and a less significant bit. The encoder comprises a switching block suitable for connecting the first input to the first output, and the second input to the second output, the switching block being suitable for being switched in order to connect the first input to the second output and the second input to the first output, when the selection block has selected a less significant bit and a more significant bit. A decoder, a storage medium and an electronic system is also disclosed.
US08391400B2 Control channel format indicator frequency mapping
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate selecting frequency for transmitting control channel format indicator (CCFI) data such to identify a related cell. In one example, the CCFI data can be transmitted in an initial portion of frequency (such as an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol) in a time transmit interval (TTI). The CCFI data can be spread across the initial portion of frequency and be shifted to identify the transmitting cell. Additionally, the CCFI data can be scrambled to further identify the cell. The CCFI data can also be utilized to determine structure of subsequent control and/or data channels.
US08391381B2 Systems and methods for designing a reference signal to be transmitted in a multiplexed cellular system
A method of the present invention for designing a reference signal is a method for designing a reference signal, including: setting a first set of matrices by combining a plurality of first matrices each including a plurality of sequences; dividing the first set of matrices into a plurality of subsets each including at least one first matrix, and selecting at least one sequence from each of the plurality of subsets; and combining the selected sequences so as to generate a second matrix.
US08391374B2 Method and apparatus for selective disregard of Co-channel transmissions on a medium
A method and apparatus to selectively disregard co-channel transmissions on a medium uses an automatic gain control/clear channel assessment (AGC/CCA) circuit to gather signal power information, which is used to establish receiver sensitivity thresholds. Raw and cyclical power measurements of a received signal are processed by the AGC/CCA circuit to determine whether a current received signal process should be halted, and a new signal acquisition sequence begun.
US08391370B1 Decoding video data
Decoding video data. Receive a first video stream including a first plurality of frames encoded at a first resolution, a second video stream including a second plurality of frames encoded at a second resolution and a residual bitstream encoded at a third resolution. The second plurality of frames correspond to the first plurality of frames encoded at the first resolution and the first resolution is greater than the second resolution and the third resolution is at least between the first and second resolutions. Side information determined based at least on the first plurality of frames and the second plurality of frames. The video data decoded based at least on one received frame of the first plurality of frames, at least one received frame of the second plurality of frames encoded at the second resolution, the residual bitstream encoded at the third resolution, and the side information.
US08391367B1 High performance context-adaptive video processor
An apparatus comprising a transform circuit, a first coder circuit, a second coder circuit, and a memory circuit. The transform circuit may be configured to generate (i) one or more first coefficients in response to a sample signal when in a first mode and (ii) the sample signal in response to the first coefficients when in a second mode. The first coder circuit may be configured to generate (i) a first bitstream signal in response to one or more second coefficients when in the first mode and (ii) the second coefficients in response to the first bitstream signal when in the second mode. The second coder circuit may be configured to generate (i) a second bitstream signal in response to one or more third coefficients when in the first mode and (ii) the third coefficients in response to the second bitstream signal when in the second mode. The memory circuit may be configured to store the first coefficients, the second coefficients, and the third coefficients. The memory may be configured to allow the transform circuit, the first coder circuit, and the second coder circuit to operate independently.
US08391365B2 Motion estimator and a motion estimation method
A motion estimation method includes: (A) defining one pixel in a reference image as a center of search (CS) corresponding to a target pixel set in a current image; (B) determining a center error (CE) signal; (C) defining another pixel in the reference image as a target of search (TS) with reference to the CS, one candidate search vector available for selection from a vector set, and a step size; (D) determining a target error (TE) signal; (E) determining whether to update the CS and the CE signal; (F) if determined, updating the CS, the CE signal and the vector set; (G) repeating steps (C)˜(F) using a candidate search vector selected from the vector set and the same step size until there is no candidate search vector available for selection in the vector set; (H) repeating steps (C)˜(G) using a smaller step size until a predetermined value is reached; and (I) computing a motion vector based on the target pixel set and one pixel set that includes the CS.
US08391361B2 Moving picture coding method and moving picture decoding method
A moving picture coding apparatus 1 includes a counter unit 102 which counts the number of pictures following an intra coded picture; and a motion estimation unit 101 which compares respectively only reference pictures which are the intra coded picture or the following pictures, selected from among a reference picture Ref1, a reference picture Ref2 and a reference picture Ref3 stored in memories 408˜410, with a picture signal Vin, and determines the reference picture whose inter picture differential value is smallest.
US08391358B2 Methods and system for encoding/decoding signals including scrambling spectral representation and downsampling
A method for encoding and decoding media signals, includes the operations of generating at a transmitting side multiple descriptions associated to data of the media signals through a downsampling operation performed on the data, and decoding at a receiving side the multiple descriptions for reconstructing the data by merging the multiple descriptions. The operation of generating multiple descriptions further includes the operations of obtaining a spectral representation of the data, including bands associated to different ranges, the bands being obtained by a suitable quantization operation and including at least one highly quantized band, that is subjected to a higher degree of quantization. A scrambling operation is performed on the spectral representation by moving the at least one highly quantized band to a different range, the scrambling operation being performed prior the downsampling operation. In decoding, a descrambling operation is performed before the merging operation on the multiple descriptions.
US08391350B2 Adaptation circuitry and methods for decision feedback equalizers
Decision feedback equalizer (“DFE”) circuitry bases determination of the coefficients that are used in its various taps on the algebraic sign of the current value of an error signal and prior serial data signal values output by the DFE circuitry. Use of such algebraic sign information (rather than full error signal values) greatly simplifies the circuitry needed to determine the tap coefficients. The DFE circuitry can be adaptive, i.e., such that it automatically adjusts the tap coefficients for changing serial data signal transmission conditions.
US08391348B2 Apparatus and method for detecting interference wave
An interference wave detecting apparatus includes a first Fourier transformer for frequency-converting a received signal; an extractor for extracting a known information signal from the frequency-converted received signal; an interpolator for performing interpolation to the known information signal in frequency domain, generating a first transmission path estimation signal as a frequency-domain information signal; an inverse Fourier transformer for inverse-Fourier-transforming the known information signal, generating a time-domain information signal; a waveform shaping section for shaping a waveform of the time-domain information signal; a second Fourier transformer for Fourier-transforming the shaped time-domain information signal, generating a second transmission path estimation signal as a frequency-domain information signal; and a comparing-computing section for comparing the first and second transmission path estimation signals, generating an interference wave detection result which indicates a ratio of an interference wave of the received signal.
US08391335B2 Apparatus and method for correlation in a GPS receiver
An apparatus comprising: a first code controller for controlling the storage of a first spreading code portion; a first data input controller for controlling the storage of a first set of input samples; a second data input controller for controlling the storage of a second set of input samples; a combiner arranged to combine a spreading code sample with an input sample and output the resultant combination; a summer for summing said resultant combinations; and a combination controller arranged to control which of the stored first set of input samples or the stored second set of input samples provides said input sample for combination in the combiner.
US08391333B2 Preamble detection apparatus, preamble detection method, and program
A preamble detection apparatus includes: a threshold generation unit that determines a correlation maximum value detection threshold on the basis of a correlation peak value; a determination unit that detects one of correlation results, which exceeds the correlation maximum value detection threshold, as a correlation maximum value; a detection unit that updates the correlation peak value to the detected correlation maximum value when the correlation maximum value is detected; and a control unit that sets a period, in the event a correlation peak occurs, to a first period, sets a period, centering on a position where a distance from a correlation peak position is an integer multiple of a frequency hopping cycle, to a second period, and monitors presence or absence of a correlation result that exceeds the correlation maximum value detection threshold in the first and second periods, while not applying an erroneous detection threshold to the first period.
US08391327B2 Group III nitride semiconductor element and epitaxial wafer
A primary surface 23a of a supporting base 23 of a light-emitting diode 21a tilts by an off-angle of 10 degrees or more and less than 80 degrees from the c-plane. A semiconductor stack 25a includes an active layer having an emission peak in a wavelength range from 400 nm to 550 nm. The tilt angle “A” between the (0001) plane (the reference plane SR3 shown in FIG. 5) of the GaN supporting base and the (0001) plane of a buffer layer 33a is 0.05 degree or more and 2 degrees or less. The tilt angle “B” between the (0001) plane of the GaN supporting base (the reference plane SR4 shown in FIG. 5) and the (0001) plane of a well layer 37a is 0.05 degree or more and 2 degrees or less. The tilt angles “A” and “B” are formed in respective directions opposite to each other with reference to the c-plane of the GaN supporting base.
US08391325B2 Optical device and method for fabricating optical device
An optical device including: a carrier having a first area and a second area, both edges of the second area having a wall of a step, one edge of the second area being adjacent to the first area, the first area having a first thickness, the second area having a second thickness larger than the first thickness; and a first optical component mounted on the first area of the carrier, the second area of the carrier being an absence area of a component.
US08391324B2 Intense optical high field generator in optical oscillator utilizing chirped pulse amplification
An intense optical high field generator capable of generating an intensive optical high field includes an optical amplification medium that converts optical energy for a wide band or plural bands and performs optical energy conversion into oscillating light oscillated from an optical resonator. The generator also includes: a negative dispersion element that imparts negative dispersion to a pulse light, which is the oscillating light; a mode locking unit that mode locks the optical resonator; a positive dispersion element that imparts positive dispersion on the pulse light; an optical system; and a vacuum chamber that accommodates the negative dispersion element, the mode locking unit, and the positive dispersion element 4, such that an intensive optical high field generating point takes in the pulse light from the negative dispersion element or the positive dispersion element and is formed within the vacuum chamber.
US08391323B2 Fiber laser device
A fiber laser device includes: a laser oscillator to emit laser light having a first wavelength; a first optical filter to transmit the laser light having the first wavelength; a wavelength converter to generate laser light having a second wavelength using stimulated Raman scattering caused by the laser light having the first wavelength and transmit the laser light having the first wavelength and the laser light having the second wavelength; and a second optical filter to transmit the laser light having the second wavelength and prevent transmission of laser light having the first wavelength. The laser light having the second wavelength that has passed through the second optical filter travels through an optical fiber amplifier and an output end. The first optical filter, the wavelength converter and the second optical filter are each constituted by a photonic band gap fiber.
US08391321B2 Method and system for patch panel port identification and verification
Aspects of a method and system for patch panel port identification and verification are provided. In this regard, a patch panel may transmit, over a cable that is coupled to the patch panel, a signal that identifies the port of the patch panel to which the cable is coupled. The signal may comprise a common-mode signal communicated over one or more twisted pairs of the cable. The signal may comprise one or more Ethernet frames communicated in accordance with Ethernet standards. A device coupled to the patch panel may receive the signal, recover the patch port identifier from the signal, and store the patch port identifier to memory. The patch panel identifier may comprise, for example, an alphanumeric sequence comprising numbers, letters, or a combination of numbers and letters. The device may compare the received patch port identifier to an expected value.
US08391302B1 High-performance ingress buffer for a packet switch
A packet switch includes ingress ports, each of which contains a random access memory having a storage capacity for storing data. An ingress controller of the packet switch allocates the storage capacity of each random access memory among transaction types of packets by allocating credits to each of the transactions types for the random access memory. Each ingress port accepts packets based on the transaction types of the packets and the credits of the random access memory in the ingress port. Moreover, the ingress port stores accepted packets in the random access memory of the ingress port. In further embodiments, the ingress controller dynamically reallocates the credits of the random access memory in the ingress port during operation of the packet switch.
US08391299B2 Architecture of gateway between a home network and an external network
A Home Gateway (HGW) interconnects a Home Network (HN) and an External Network (EN), and is adapted to communicate with the HN and EN at a Network layer. HGW is provided with a Service Application Programming Interface Layer (SAPI Layer) capable of performing, at an Application layer, mediator functions for supporting communication and services between the HN and EN. Devices of the HN are able to communicate with devices of EN via the HGW, and to actualize services via the HGW.
US08391298B2 Phone directory in a voice over IP telephone system
In a Voice over IP system, a user can dial numbers stored in a series of lists, which are stored in the system and displayed to the user of an IP telephone. One implementation will allow a user to scroll through a list of remote sites. When the user finds the desired site, the user is then presented with the same options as a user local to that site. All of this can be performed without the need for an operator or a printed directory. This system provides an ability for a user to scroll through a list of names and phone numbers and then call a person once their name and phone number is displayed.
US08391294B2 Method for estimating a system state in a network
A method for estimating a system state, in a decentralized network having a plurality of nodes, each node being confined for receiving and sending information, and for processing information. Each node being connected to neighboring nodes of the network. At each node the method includes: (i) maintaining a set of particles and associated weights, which represent an estimate of the system state, (ii) representing the estimated system state as a mixture of Gaussian distributions in a channel filter, and communicating the mixture to neighboring nodes, and (iii) a neighboring node receiving the mixture in a channel filter that contains a similar Gaussian representation of its own estimate of system state, and dividing the incoming mixture by the existing mixture, for updating the estimate of the system state that is maintained at the node.
US08391293B2 Transporting X.25-over-ISDN through IP, using CUGS/protocol translation
In one example embodiment, the method includes receiving an X.25 packet at a LAN interface of a network device. Further, the method includes determining whether a local CUG value is associated with the X.25 packet. The local CUG value may be replaced with a network CUG value associated with the X.25 packet. Thereafter, the X.25 packet, and the associated network CUG value, may be formatted to generate an IP packet. The formatting may include the use of at least one formatting regime including encapsulating the X.25 packet, that includes the associated network CUG value, in an XOT, or using protocol translation to translate the X.25 packet that includes the network CUG value into an equivalent IP packet. The method includes transmitting the IP packet using a WAN interface card, the WAN interface card including a primary interface, and at least one backup interface.
US08391292B2 Systems and methods for dynamically adjusting QoS parameters
A method for dynamically adjusting QoS parameters associated with a virtual circuit is disclosed. The virtual circuit includes a first end connected to a first router and a second end connected to a second router. The method includes receiving an offer message at the second router, and sending a request message to the first router. The offer message includes a first set of QoS parameters and the request message includes a second set of QoS parameters. The method further includes receiving a request confirmation message at the second router, receiving a new offer message at the second router, and sending information compliant with the second set of QoS parameters to the first router. The new offer message includes the second set of QoS parameters.
US08391281B2 Router design for 3D network-on-chip
A network-on-chip router which includes an input buffer, an input controller connected to said input buffer, an arbiter connected to said input controller, a crossbar connected to said arbiter and said input buffer, and an output buffer connected to said crossbar. The network-on-chip router minimizes propagation time of data through the router by ensuring that the propagation delay of data through an input buffer is less than the combined propagation delay of data through an input controller and arbiter.
US08391280B2 Method and system for realizing nonloss transmission of media stream after switching between open call and secret call
A method for realizing non-loss transmission of media stream after switching between the open call and the secret call, the method includes the steps: after the base station receiving the message of switching from the open call to the secret call from the communication terminal, inserting a special media frame in the media stream and transmitting it to the media gateway; the media gateway judging whether checking the special media frame according to the form of the load-bearing of the media stream's incoming and outgoing or the form of the media's coding decoding, whether detect the special media frame or not, the media gateway transmitting the media stream from the incoming to the outgoing. When the special media frame is detected, deciding to transmit directly or run an PCM adaptation process in 64 kbps/56 kbps according to the form of the coding decoding.
US08391271B2 Time synchronization for distributed mobile ad hoc networks
Time synchronization among nodes in a wireless mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is obtained using a cross layer approach. Each node maintains a routing table that contains entries corresponding to other nodes of the network that are one or more hops away from the node, and topology messages are exchanged periodically among the nodes in order to update their routing tables. A network master node is selected, and remaining nodes that are one or more hops away from the master node are defined as slave nodes. The master node includes master timing information in the topology messages it transmits. The timing information is concatenated to include a first time (T1) at which a topology message was received by the master from each of the slave nodes, and a second time (td) at which the master node transmits a topology message after receiving all the topology messages from the slave nodes.
US08391268B2 Apparatus and method for transmitting of channel quality indicator and acknowledgement signals in SC-FDMA communication systems
A method and apparatus for multiplexing positive or negative acknowledgement signals (ACK or NACK, respectively) and channel quality indication (CQI) signals from a user equipment (UE) to a serving base station (Node B) during a CQI transmission time interval (TTI) in a single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication system. The UE does not have simultaneous data transmission. The multiplexing of acknowledgement signals is implicitly achieved by the UE applying different orthogonal covers on the reference signal (RS) symbols transmitted in the CQI TTI, depending on whether the UE sends ACK or NACK. At the Node B receiver, the detection of ACK or NACK is based on the accumulated RS energy, after removing each of the possible orthogonal covers applied at the UE transmitter. For robust system performance, absence of ACK/NACK and NACK are mapped onto the same orthogonal cover.
US08391261B2 Method for generation of beacons by a base station in a wireless communications network
The invention, which relates to a method for the generation of beacons by a base station in a wireless communications network, consisting of at least one base station and at least one station, the beacons being generated repeatedly at time intervals, is based on the object of specifying a method with which the generation of the beacons can be tailored to needs, achieving a reduction of the energy demand and the emissions, and an improvement in the security. According to the invention, the object is achieved in that the generation of the beacons is started with a switching on of the base station and is ended after the expiry of a wait time tw0 in the event that no station is connected to the base station, and in that the generation of the beacons is started by a receipt of a probe request from a station of the communications network and is ended after the expiry of a wait time tw1 in the event that no station is connected to the base station.
US08391260B1 Power management systems and methods for peer-to-peer network devices
A network device of a peer-to-peer network includes a parameter monitoring module. The parameter monitoring module is configured to monitor a network device parameter of the network device. A client traffic window adjusting module is configured to adjust at least one of N client traffic window parameters based on the network device parameter. The N client traffic window parameters include at least one of: a length of a client traffic window; and a number of client traffic windows within a predetermined period. A physical layer device is configured to receive a discovery response signal from a peer-to-peer device during a period of the client traffic window.
US08391259B2 Broadcast/multicast collision free frame transmission
A protocol for collision avoidance in inter and intra basic service set broadcast/multicast communication in a wireless network is disclosed. An access point reserves a broadcast transmission time and conveys that reservation to each of its associated stations. Using a beacon or an action frame, the transmission reservation time is sent to all stations and other neighboring access points within range of the primary access point. Upon receiving the broadcast transmission time reservation, each station associated with the reserving access point and any neighboring access points set their network allocation vector thus preventing frame transmission or reception during the now reserved transmission time.
US08391255B2 Content throughput on wireless mesh networks
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an inbound data packet over a wireless link at a wireless intermediate network node. The inbound data packet indicates the packet was transmitted by a node at an edge of the mesh. The inbound data packet is associated with a low priority minimum wait interval and a low priority maximum wait interval for reducing contention on the wireless link. An outbound data packet based on the first data packet is transmitted over the wireless link after a wait time. The wait time is based on a high priority minimum wait interval and a high priority maximum wait interval for reducing contention. The low priority minimum wait interval is greater than the high priority minimum wait interval. These techniques allow long packet queues at the edge but quickly clear packets already forwarded by the mesh.
US08391237B2 Apparatus and method for obtaining information on neighbor network for vertical handover in a wireless communication system
A wireless communication system supporting Media Independent Handover (MIH) is provided. The system comprises an MIH Function (MIHF) for receiving an MIH query message requesting Layer-2 (L2) information from an MIHF of a neighbor network, and extracting the contents of the query from the MIH query message, a converter for transmitting a network specific request message which contains the contents of the query, and a point of attachment (PoA) for providing the L2 information which is requested by the network specific request message.
US08391236B2 Heterogeneous network handover-support mechanism
Methods and mechanisms enhance heterogeneous media independent handover (MIH) between different link layer technologies. Embodiments include using an MIH proxy entity, MIH capable network controller, and an MIH server. Enhancements are made to the query phase, preparation phase, execution phase and completion phase by including required information in MIH messages.
US08391235B2 Apparatus and method of handover for mobile node
Provided are an efficient handover apparatus and method in a mobile node. In the method in which a handover is performed in a mobile node which establishes a data communication through a point of attachment (PoA), the method including receiving information regarding capabilities of a new PoA; determining whether Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) prefix is available at the new PoA, based on the information regarding the capabilities of the new PoA; and generating an address which is to be used by the mobile node in a data communication with the new PoA, according to a method determined based on whether IPv6 prefix is available at the new PoA. Thus, it is possible to determine whether IPv6 prefix is available at a new point of attachment prior to receiving a router advertisement (RA) message.
US08391231B2 Method and apparatus having improved handling of state transitions
A method, in a wireless communications device, for transitioning between communication states, the wireless communications device compliant for use in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the method comprising: checking for radio bearer mapping information for the communication state being transitioned to prior to sending an update message, where the transition between communication states is not a transition from a paging state to a bidirectional communication state using shared channels; and transitioning to the state to be transitioned to using the checked radio bearer mapping information for that state and sending the update message.
US08391229B2 Method and apparatus for sequencing ZC sequences of a random access channel
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for sequencing ZC sequences of a random access channel. The method comprises: setting α as a logical index of each ZC sequence, and u as a physical index of said each ZC sequence, wherein 1≦u≦N−1, 0≦α≦N−2, and N is the length of said each ZC sequence; establishing a mapping relationship between the logical index and the physical index: u=N/2 is taken as a symmetry axis, α is mapped to u in a manner of longitudinal symmetry, and on the upper side of the symmetry axis, u monotonously decreases or increases, while on the lower side of the symmetry axis, u monotonously increases or decreases. This method ensures that the PRACHs of the UEs using different sequences in a same cell have similar coverage, thus the flexibility of cell planning is increased.
US08391224B2 Proactive load distribution for 802.111-based wireless LANs
A wireless communication system is able to balance load in a wireless network based on radio frequency (RF) utilization, signal strength, quality of signal (QoS), and other measures. The load may be dynamically moved to other wireless access points within the wireless network based on the amount of load on one or more of the access points and on the measures. As such, at different load conditions, the system can change the methods of how to determine which access point should handle a communication session. Further, the system provides methods for proactively adjusting the load in the wireless network before any one access point reaches its capacity.
US08391218B1 Multiple routable IP addresses for a cellular router
A system for negotiating routable Internet Protocol (IP) addresses is provided. The system includes a communication device that is operable to transmit a request for a routable Internet Protocol (IP) address, and a cellular router in communication with the communication device. The routable IP address may be used to provide communication to the communication device. The cellular router is operable to receive the request for the routable IP address and negotiate an IP subnet. The IP subnet includes a plurality of routable IP addresses, which are allocated to the cellular router. The cellular router is operable to provide at least one of the plurality of routable IP addresses to the communication device.
US08391217B2 Synchronous spectrum sharing by dedicated networks using OFDM/OFDMA signaling
A system and method for synchronous spectrum sharing for a dedicated network in a wireless communication system based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) signaling is disclosed. The system and method includes detecting a frame of a broadcast waveform and extracting idle spectrum information from a subframe associated with the dedicated subchannel to the secondary user node. The system allows transmitting data from the secondary user node in unused symbol slots identified in the idle spectrum information thereby making efficient use of unused or idle spectrum. Accordingly, secondary users of the wireless communication system can dynamically form ad-hoc mesh network communications in fixed or mobile scenarios.
US08391209B2 Fast handover method and system using network-based localized mobility management
The present invention relates to a method in which a mobile node having mobility performs handover in a mobile communication system, and more particularly, to a fast handover method and system using network-based localized mobility management. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in a network access process between a mobile node and a base station, the base station sends a message allowing network access to the mobile node and a link-up message to an access router. Then, the access router sends a location registration message, which includes a mobile node identifier, a target base station identifier, a localized mobility anchor identifier, and access permission flag information, to a localized mobility anchor (LMA), and receives an acknowledgement (Ack) message including network prefix information. Accordingly, when a router advertisement (RA) message is sent to the base station, the mobile node performs duplicate address detection (DAD). Accordingly, fast handover is performed to reduce packet loss and delay that occur when the mobile node moves between networks, thereby minimizing the packet loss and delay.
US08391205B2 Mobile communication apparatus that stores packet data in a packet call establishment process
When a browser is started up by a user, a packet call establishment request unit of a cellular phone requests the start of processing for establishing a packet call, and a communication control unit executes a packet all establishment processing. A mobile communication network sends a packet call establishment response message to the cellular phone, then sends packet data. A packet date storage unit of the cellular phone stores the packet data in a memory when packet data is received before the packet call establishment response message. If the packet call establishment response message is received thereafter, the packet data storage unit reads the packet data from the memory, and deletes the packet data from the memory. The packet processing execution unit displays a screen corresponding to the packet data on the display. Thereby, instances when packet data is discarded is decreased.
US08391199B2 Flexible medium access control (MAC) for ad hoc deployed wireless networks
Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate wireless communication using resource utilization messages (RUMs), in accordance with various aspects. A RUM may be generated for a first node, such as an access point or an access terminal, to indicate that a first predetermined threshold has been met or exceeded. The RUM may be weighted to indicate a degree to which a second predetermined threshold has been exceeded. The first and/or second predetermined thresholds may be associated with various parameters associated with the node, such as latency, throughput, data rate, spectral efficiency, carrier-to-interference ratio, interference-over-thermal level, etc. The RUM may then be transmitted to one or more other nodes to indicate a level of disadvantage experienced by the first node.
US08391196B2 Dynamic power amplifier backoff using headroom information
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate mitigating effect of non-linear distortion from a power amplifier on a spectral mask margin. Power limit indications can be analyzed in scheduling mobile devices. Mobile devices with power limits can be scheduled on inner subbands. The power limits can be based at least in part on power amplifier headroom information. Other mobile devices can employ remaining portions of an allocated spectrum. Further, mobile devices can evaluate and establish a power amplifier backoff based upon the subband scheduling.
US08391192B2 Carrier switching in a multi-carrier wireless communication network
Techniques for performing carrier switching in a multi-carrier access network are described. A terminal may be assigned to a carrier among multiple carriers having different transmit power levels, e.g., by the access network during system access or handoff. The terminal may receive a switch threshold from the access network. The terminal may periodically measure the received signal strength of the assigned carrier and may compare the received signal strength against the switch threshold. The terminal may refrain from switching to a stronger carrier if the received signal strength exceeds the switch threshold and may switch to the stronger carrier if the received signal strength is below the switch threshold. This carrier switching scheme may prevent the terminal from switching to the strongest carrier when the assigned carrier can provide satisfactory performance. The access network may also switch the terminal to another carrier by sending a carrier switch message.
US08391188B2 Mobile station handoff with flex duplex channel assignment in a wireless communication network
Disclosed is a method for mobile station hard handoff from a source base station to a target base station of a Flex Duplex call in a CDMA wireless communication network that includes a step of establishing Flex Duplex capabilities of the mobile station. A next step includes sending the Flex Duplex capabilities of the mobile station to the target base station. A next step includes configuring the mobile station and the target base station for the handoff of the call using the Flex Duplex capabilities.
US08391184B2 Method of updating routing table, data transfer apparatus, and program
A method of updating a routing table includes: receiving, from an issue-source node, a write packet that includes update data for updating the routing table; attempting to recognize, based upon contents of the write packet, a partition in which the issue-source node is included; determining whether to permit updating the routing table based upon (1) whether the partition including the source node is recognized and (2) whether port information and partition information in the update data are stored in the routing table; and updating the routing table when updating is permitted.
US08391182B2 User isolation between network devices
In one embodiment, a plurality of network interfaces of a network device that are configured to communicate with other network devices in a first computer network are identified as network-to-network interfaces (NNIs). Also, one or more network interfaces of the network device that are configured to provide access to the first computer network to user devices are identified as user-to-network interfaces (UNIs). One or more NNIs of the plurality of NNIs are selected to forward traffic from the network device to an aggregation device of the first network that couples the first computer network to a second computer network. Also, one or more NNIs of the plurality of NNIs that have not been selected to forward traffic from the device to the aggregation device are designated as network-to-network interface alternates (NNI-ALTs). The one or more NNI-ALTs are treated as UNIs for user data traffic forwarding decisions.
US08391179B2 Method and device for data communication and communication system comprising such device
A method and a device for data communication between a first instance and a network are provided, wherein the first instance is connected via a first interface with the network. In the novel method, the first instance is connected with the network via at least one second interface.
US08391178B2 Route allocation apparatus and method
A route allocation apparatus includes a route calculation section and a route allocation controller. The route calculation section calculates a route between an outgoing edge node and incoming edge node within a network. The route allocation controller allocates the route to communication slots. Further, the route allocation controller calculates an expected value as an index of the number of the routes allocatable to the communication slots, selects a route allocation in which the expected value is a maximum, obtains the number of the routes allocatable to the selected communication slots after the route allocation, and updates the expected value.
US08391172B2 Communication method and communication terminal for radio communication system
A communication method for a radio communication system employing an enhanced uplink scheme includes the steps of determining a transmission power control bit for controlling transmission power of a downlink control channel; generating an uplink control signal including the transmission power control bit; and transmitting the uplink control signal to a base station. In the determining step, whether an indicator channel indicating acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement for an uplink data channel is receivable at a quality level better than a predetermined value is evaluated, and the transmission power control bit of the indicator channel is determined based on the evaluation result.
US08391169B2 Methods and apparatus for locating a mobile device in a sleep mode
Apparatus and methods are provided for locating a mobile device in a sleep mode. A method comprises transmitting a beacon signal configured to initiate transmission of a response signal from a mobile device in a sleep mode. The mobile device is associated with a first wireless access device on a first communication channel. The method further comprises receiving the response signal from the mobile device on the first communication channel and determining the physical location of the mobile device based on the response signal.
US08391168B2 Automatically discovering architectural roles of packet switching devices
Network architectural roles of packet switching devices are automatically determined by retrieving and analyzing configuration information of the packet switching devices. The retrieved configuration information typically includes operational details of the packet switching operations performed by the packet switching device, with these retrieved operational details being analyzed in order to identify one or more network architectural roles being performed by a particular packet switching device. Examples of such identified network architectural role include, but are not limited to, a customer edge device, a provider edge device, and a user-facing provider edge device. Knowing the architectural role performed by a packet switching device is useful for operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning of networks of these packet switching devices.
US08391163B2 Operating MPLS label switched paths and MPLS pseudowire in loopback mode
In one embodiment, an initiating maintenance end point (MEP) may transmit a lock message to lock a circuit traversing one or more maintenance intermediate points (MIPs) between the initiating MEP and an end MEP. The initiating MEP may then transmit an in-band packet containing a loopback request to a particular MIP along the circuit using a particular time-to-live (TTL) value in the packet to reach the particular MIP. Upon receiving the packet at the particular MIP, and in response to determining that the TTL has expired, the particular MIP inspects the packet to discover the loopback request, and correspondingly operates in a loopback mode.
US08391160B2 System and method for using multiple network addresses to establish synchronization of a device under test and test equipment controlling the test
A system and method for testing a data packet signal transceiver in which multiple network addresses (e.g., media access control, or MAC, addresses) are used to establish synchronization of the device under test and the test equipment controlling the test. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, synchronization is established using a first MAC address, following which testing is conducted using a second MAC address.
US08391157B2 Distributed flow analysis
There are disclosed apparatus, methods, and a storage medium for testing a network. A plurality of flows may be received and performance statistics for the flows may be measured and stored. At least a portion of the performance statistics may be analyzed in near real-time using a hierarchical array of processors.
US08391152B2 Networks
Data networks and nodes making up parts of data networks are arranged to derive information relating to the characterization of paths taken by data travelling between nodes in the networks. Path characterization information is fed back from a receiver of data to a provider of data, and informs nodes subsequently forwarding data of characteristics of the downstream path. Also described are routing and related controlling nodes and methods for using such path characterization information to make informed routing and other decisions when forwarding data in a data network.
US08391146B2 Base station, mobile station, mobile communication system, and method of controlling control signal transmission
A disclosed base station includes a transmission-rate determining unit for determining a transmission rate of a control channel for transmitting an upper-layer control signal, and a transmitter for allocating a predetermined bandwidth to the control channel for transmitting the upper-layer control signal according to the determined transmission rate, and transmitting the signal.
US08391145B2 Method and apparatus for improving performance in a network using a virtual queue and a switched poisson process traffic model
A method for improving network performance using a virtual queue is disclosed. The method includes measuring characteristics of a packet arrival process at a network element, establishing a virtual queue for packets arriving at the network element, and modeling the packet arrival process based on the measured characteristics and a computed performance of the virtual queue.
US08391144B1 Inter-device flow control
A network switching device comprises first and second ports. A queue communicates with the second port, stores frames for later output by the second port, and generates a congestion signal when filled above a threshold. A control module selectively sends an outgoing flow control message to the first port when the congestion signal is present, and selectively instructs the second port to assert flow control when a flow control message is received from the first port if the received flow control message designates the second port as a target.
US08391133B2 System and method for automatic reset of pre-programmed circuits in case of failures in transport networks
A network system comprises at least one input TNE (10) and one output TNE (11) interconnected by circuits in the network (20). Each TNE in the protection step comprises a traffic selector (22, 23) switchable between listening to the traffic input from a work circuit (13, 14) and listening to the traffic input from a reset circuit (18, 19) and a Split module (21, 24) allowing sending of a same traffic output either to a work circuit or to a reset circuit. Each TNE comprises in addition an agent (25, 26) termed ASTN agent commanding activation and deactivation of the reset circuit and switching of the traffic selector between work circuit and reset circuit. Each of the two ASTN agents can emit an “Activate” message to command activation of the reset circuit and signal to the other agent completed activation of the reset circuit and a “RevertRequest” message for signaling to the other agent the desire to deactivate the reset circuit previously activated, and a “Revert” message for commanding deactivation of the reset circuit after reception of a “RevertRequest” message sent to it by the other agent.
US08391113B2 Optical disc for tuple-speed recording and optical disc device for tuple-speed recording
An optical disc has a read-only system lead-in area and a recordable data area. Disc boundary information representing a boundary in a radial direction of an area on which capability of recording at a predetermined recording speed is guaranteed is recorded on the system lead-in area while being related to each tuple speed. An optical disc device, upon user's instruction of tuple-speed recording, compares the boundary information related to the instructed tuple speed with a present recording position, performs recording at the instructed tuple speed if the present recording position is on the outside of the boundary, and performs recording at a tuple speed lower than the instructed tuple speed if the present recording position is on the inside of the boundary.
US08391112B2 Optical disk apparatus, control method, and program
An optical disk apparatus driving an optical disk includes a tilt-angle adjusting unit configured to adjust a tilt angle indicating the tilt of an optical axis of laser light emitted from a pickup to detect an optimal tilt angle at which a traverse signal has the maximum amplitude and a storing unit configured to store information about the optimal tilt angle. When the optical disk has multiple recording layers on one side, the tilt-angle adjusting unit adjusts the tilt angle with respect to each of the multiple recording layers to detect the optimal tilt angle and the storing unit stores information about the optimal tilt angle with respect to each of the multiple recording layers. The tilt angle with respect to each of the multiple recording layers is controlled in accordance with the information about the optimal tilt angle with respect to each of the multiple recording layers.
US08391089B2 Method and circuit of calibrating data strobe signal in memory controller
A method for calibrating a data strobe (DQS) signal and associated circuit is provided. The calibrating method includes determining N buffers from a delay chain having M buffers to delay a predetermined phase during a first period; serially connecting the N buffers of the delay chain during a second period; and inputting the DQS signal to the N serially connected buffers to delay the DQS signal by the predetermined phase.
US08391087B2 Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device includes a bidirectional first bus arranged in common for a plurality of memory array basic units transferring write data and read data, a second bus transferring address/command, a plurality of first buffer circuits receiving addresses/command transferred to the second bus, wherein a control delay for generating the address/command and preparing write data to the first bus for write access and an output delay for outputting read data are both set to a length greater than or equal to a selection time for writing or reading of data to a memory cell of a selected area.
US08391078B2 Method and apparatus of operating a non-volatile DRAM
A non-volatile DRAM cell includes a pass-gate transistor and a cell capacitor. A read operation of the non-volatile cell begins by positively charging the cell capacitor. A cell capacitor of an associated dummy non-volatile DRAM cell is fully charged. The pass-gate transistor is activated and if the pass-gate transistor is erased it does not turn on and if it is programmed, it turns on. Charge is shared on the complementary pair of pre-charged bit lines connected to the non-volatile DRAM cell and its associated Dummy non-volatile DRAM cell. A sense amplifier detects the difference in the data state stored in the pass-gate transistor. The program and erase of the non-volatile DRAM cell is accomplished Gate-induced drain-lowering (GIDL) assisted band-to-band tunneling and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling respectively. Programming or erasing a selected row of cells does not affect the data states of the cells in the unselected rows.
US08391065B2 Semiconductor memory device reducing resistance fluctuation of data transfer line
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes first and second memory cell blocks and an interconnect rerouting unit provided therebetween. The first memory cell block includes first interconnects and second interconnects provided in each space between the first interconnects. The second memory cell block includes a plurality of third interconnects provided on lines extending from the first interconnects and a plurality of fourth interconnects provided on lines extending from the second interconnects. A width and a thickness of the second and fourth interconnects are smaller than a width and a thickness of the first and second interconnects. Each of the first to fourth interconnects is connected to one end of first to fourth cell units including memory cells. The interconnect rerouting unit connects one of the fourth interconnects to one of the first interconnects and connects one of the third interconnects to the second interconnects.
US08391059B2 Methods for operating a semiconductor device
Multi-gate metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors and methods of operating such multi-gate MOS transistors are disclosed. In one embodiment, the multi-gate MOS transistor comprises a first gate associated with a first body factor and comprising a first gate electrode for applying a first gate voltage, and a second gate associated with a second body factor greater than or equal to the first body factor and comprising a second gate electrode for applying a second gate voltage. The multi-gate MOS transistor further comprises a body of semiconductor material between the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer, where the semiconductor body comprises a first channel region located close to the first dielectric layer and a second channel region located close to the second dielectric layer. The multi-gate MOS transistor still further comprises a source region and a drain region each having a conductivity type different from a conductivity type of the body.
US08391049B2 Resistor structure for a non-volatile memory device and method
A non-volatile resistive switching memory device. The device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, a switching material in direct contact with a metal region of the second electrode, and a resistive material disposed between the second electrode and the switching material. The resistive material has an ohmic characteristic and a resistance substantially the same as an on state resistance of the switching device. The resistive material allows for a change in a resistance of the switching material upon application of voltage pulse without time delay and free of a reverse bias after the voltage pulse. The first voltage pulse causes a programming current to flow from the second electrode to the first electrode. The resistive material further causes the programming current to be no greater than a predetermined value.
US08391031B2 Solar photovoltaic power conditioning units
We describe a photovoltaic power conditioning unit comprising: both dc and ac power inputs; a dc link; at least one dc-to-dc converter coupled between dc input and dc link; and a dc-to-ac converter coupled between dc link and ac output. The dc-to-dc converter comprises: a transformer having input and output windings; an input dc-to-ac converter coupled between dc input and input winding; and an ac-to-dc converter coupled between output winding the dc link. The output winding has a winding tap between the first and second portions. The ac-to-dc converter comprises: first and second rectifiers, each connected to a respective first and second portion of the output winding, to the dc link and winding tap; and a series inductor connected to the winding tap. Rectifiers are connected to the winding tap of the output winding via the series inductor wherein the series inductor is shared between the first and second rectifiers.
US08391026B2 Method and circuit for avoiding hard switching in resonant converters
A resonant dc-dc converter converts dc input voltage to a dc output voltage. The converter includes switching, switching driving, conversion, and disabling circuits. The switching circuit receives the input voltage and generates a square wave voltage oscillating between the input voltage and a low value, at a frequency with a duty cycle. The switching driving circuit drives the switching circuit and includes a timing circuit for setting the frequency and the duty cycle. The timing circuit sets the value of the duty cycle to about 50% when the converter operates in steady state. The conversion circuit generates the output voltage from the square wave voltage based on the frequency and the duty cycle. The disabling circuit temporarily halts the timing circuit after a power on in such a way to temporarily vary the duty cycle of the square wave voltage during a period of the square wave voltage.
US08391019B2 Connection terminal and AC adapter
A connection terminal includes a frame body including first and second support parts positioned to face each other; and a third support part having first and second ends connected to an end of the first support part and an end of the second support part, respectively; first elastic contact pieces provided on the first support part on a first side from which a terminal is to be inserted and having respective first contact parts configured to contact a peripheral surface of the terminal; second elastic contact pieces provided on the second support part on the first side and having respective second contact parts configured to contact the peripheral surface of the terminal and positioned to face the first contact parts; and a third elastic contact piece provided on the frame body on a second side opposite to the first side and configured to contact an end portion of the terminal.
US08391013B2 Silicon-ceramic composite substrate
A silicon-ceramic composite substrate includes a low-temperature ceramic having at least one pre-formed ceramic layer and a silicon substrate. The low-temperature ceramic forms a carrier layer and the silicon substrate surface has a contact area with nanostructures) that completely penetrate into the low-temperature ceramic.
US08391009B2 Heat dissipating assembly
A heat dissipating assembly includes a circuit board having opposite first and second faces. The circuit board further includes a through-hole extending from the first face through the second face. A heat generating element is mounted on the first face of the circuit board and electrically coupled to the circuit board. The heat generating element includes a heat conducting portion aligned with the through-hole. A heat dissipating unit includes a base having an engaging face in contact with the second face of the circuit board. A heat conducting adhesive is filled in the through-hole. The heat conducting adhesive is engaged with the engaging face of the base and the heat conducting portion of the heat generating element. The heat generating element is directly engaged with the heat dissipating unit by the heat conducting adhesive to effectively enhance the overall heat dissipating efficiency while reducing the number of members to lower the manufacturing costs.
US08391001B2 Electronic device and sliding hinge thereof
A sliding hinge is provide, including a first member, a cover, a bottom cover movable relative to the first member, a sling plate fixed to the bottom cover, and an elastic module. The first member has a main body and a connection portion protruding therefrom, wherein the connection portion has a recess. The cover is fixed to the connection portion, wherein the cover and the first member form a space therebetween to receive the sling plate and the elastic module. The elastic module has an end received in the recess.
US08390996B2 Display device
A display device is disclosed. A display device includes a body displaying an image, and a pair of supporting shafts rotatably secured to the body, being tilted to a predetermined angle and a base member supporting the supporting shaft. The present invention relates to a display device having a tilting or height adjustment function of adjusting a viewing angle, with a simple structure and an economized production cost thereof.
US08390994B2 Electronic apparatus
In an electronic apparatus, a flexible wiring board is connected with a display unit and a cutout portion is formed at a part of a rear cover adjacent to the wiring board. A grip member is fixed on the rear cover so as to cover the cutout portion. A discharge member is electrically connected with the rear cover and provided at the cutout portion exposing its surface.
US08390987B2 High energy density storage material device using nanochannel structure
A capacitor includes a plurality of nanochannels formed in a dielectric material. A conductive film is formed over interior surfaces of the nanochannels, and a charge barrier is formed over the conductive film. An electrolytic solution is disposed in the nanochannels. An electrode is coupled to the electrolytic solution in the nanochannels to form the capacitor.
US08390980B2 Electrostatic chuck assembly
Embodiments of the present invention provide a cost effective electrostatic chuck assembly capable of operating over a wide temperature range in an ultra-high vacuum environment while minimizing thermo-mechanical stresses within the electrostatic chuck assembly. In one embodiment, the electrostatic chuck assembly includes a dielectric body having chucking electrodes which comprise a metal matrix composite material with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that is matched to the CTE of the dielectric body.
US08390977B2 Solar power inverters, including solar power inverters having surge protective devices, and associated methods
In one embodiment, a solar power inverter includes at least one component associated with conversion of direct current (DC) from one or more photovoltaic cells to alternating current (AC). The component is electrically coupleable to an electrical conductor configured to carry electrical current. The solar power inverter also includes a first surge protective device (SPD) electrically coupled to the component and electrically coupleable to the electrical conductor. The solar power inverter also includes a second SPD electrically coupled in parallel with the first SPD and electrically coupleable to the electrical conductor. As described in more detail herein, the first SPD is configured to actuate in response to a voltage surge on the electrical conductor before the second SPD.
US08390961B2 Magnetic head suspension having a support plate connected to the lower surface of the supporting part
In a magnetic head suspension according to the present invention, each of paired right and left connecting beams that are positioned on both sides of an open section, with which paired piezoelectric elements are at least partially overlapped in a plan view, in a suspension width direction and connect a proximal end section that is directly or indirectly connected to a main actuator and a distal end section to which the load bending part is connected includes proximal-side and distal-side beams. The distal-side beam is inclined with respect to the proximal-side beam in a plan view such that a connection point between the proximal-side and distal-side beams is located closer to a suspension longitudinal center line relative to a virtual line connecting the proximal end of the proximal-side beam and the distal end of the distal-side beam.
US08390959B2 Actuator with non-moving mass
An actuator for a tape drive is disclosed. The actuator has a moving mass and a non-moving mass. The non-moving mass is at least 107 grams.
US08390951B2 Vibration damping device and disc device having vibration damping device
As a measure against vibration caused by disturbance due to mass eccentricity of a disc, a conventional disc device has a means to add an auxiliary mass that passively operates. This method has no way to enhance vibration damping effect other than setting the auxiliary mass to be large, and therefore there is a problem that the device becomes large. An auxiliary mass 300 is actively driven by an auxiliary mass driving portion 360. The driving of the auxiliary mass 300 is performed by amplifying a signal corresponding to a force transmitted from a main frame portion 100 to the auxiliary mass 300. This achieves a vibration damping effect using the small auxiliary mass 300 to the same degree as that where the large auxiliary mass is mounted.
US08390949B2 Data loss prevention during a fall of a storage device
A data storage circuit includes a hard disk drive (HDD) and a fall sensor. The HDD includes a rotatable media platter operable to receive and store data; a read/write head operable to communicate with the media platter by writing data to the media platter and by reading the data from the media platter; an arm supporting the read/write head; a motor coupled to the arm and operable to move the arm to and from the media platter; a drive controller operable to control the media platter, the read/write head and the servo motor; a general purpose input/output (GPIO) terminal coupled to the drive controller; and a data interface terminal coupled to the drive controller. The fall sensor is communicatively coupled to the drive controller and is configured to send an interrupt trigger signal to the drive controller when the drive is falling. The interrupt trigger signal is sent via the GPIO terminal when the HDD is free fall sense enabled and the interrupt trigger signal is sent via the data interface terminal when the HDD is not free fall sense enabled.
US08390945B2 Lens module having nebulized portions
A lens module includes a barrel, a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, and two spacers. The first lens, the second lens, and the third lens are received in the barrel from an object side to an image side of the lens module. Each lens includes an optical portion and a non-optical portion around the optical portion. The two spacers are respectively positioned on the non-optical portions of two adjacent lenses. The non-optical portion of the second lens includes a first contact portion and two second contact portions. The first contact portion contacts an inner sidewall of the barrel. The second contact portions respectively contact the first lens and the third lens and are arranged in an acute angle with respect to an optical axis of the lens module. The non-optical portion of the second lens excluding the first contact portion and the second contact portions is nebulized.
US08390943B2 Optical system, and imaging apparatus incorporating the same
An imaging optical system has, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens group, an aperture stop, a second lens group and a third lens group. A first lens, in said third lens group, is movable along an optical axis thereby implementing focusing from a focusing-on-infinity state to a focusing-on-a-near-distance state, with satisfaction of: |f(2+3)g/f1g|<1  (1) −6.0<(R3gr+R3gf)/(R3gr−R3gf)<3.5  (2) where f(2+3)g is the combined focal length of the second lens group and the third lens group upon focusing on infinity; f1g is the focal length of the first lens group; R3gr is the axial radius of curvature of the surface of the most image side of a negative lens component of the third lens group; and R3gf is the axial radius of curvature of the surface of the most object side of said lens component of the third lens group.
US08390942B2 Optical lens module
An optical lens module is provided, including a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, and an aperture stop formed in the first lens by wafer level processing. The first lens, the second lens, and the third lens are sequentially arranged from an object side to an image side along an optical axis of the optical lens module. The first lens has a convex surface and a concave surface, respectively, on an object side and an image side. The second lens has a concave surface and a convex surface, respectively, on the object side and the image side. The third lens has a convex peripheral portion on the image side, wherein the convex peripheral portion forms a surface with a concave center on the image side, and the surface has an inflection point.
US08390941B2 Imaging lens, imaging apparatus and portable terminal device
An imaging lens is provided and includes: in order from the object side, a first lens having a positive refractive power; a second lens having a negative refractive power; a third lens having a convex surface on the image side near the optical axis and having a positive refractive power; a fourth lens having a positive refractive power near the optical axis; and a fifth lens having a negative refractive power near the optical axis. An image side surface of the fifth lens is concave near the optical axis and has a region where a negative power of the region decreases toward a periphery of the fifth lens as compared with a negative power near the optical axis.
US08390934B2 Liquid lens, and method for manufacturing same
Provided is a liquid lens capable of adjusting a focus by using an electrical signal and/or a fluid pressure. The liquid lens includes a container which has a cavity of which the side cross section has a hemispherical shape and contains an insulating liquid droplet and a conductive liquid droplet which are not mixed in the cavity and have the same density, a lower substrate which is combined with a bottom surface of the container to seal a bottom surface of the cavity, and an upper substrate which is combined with a top surface of the container to seal a top surface of the cavity, wherein the container includes an outer wall where the cavity is formed, a first electrode which is formed on an inner side surface of the outer wall and of which the one end is connected to an external power supply, a first insulating film which is laminated a surface of the first electrode and is in contact with the conductive liquid droplet and the insulating liquid droplet, and a second electrode which is laminated on a portion of a surface of the first insulating film and of which the one end is in contact with the conductive liquid droplet and of which the other end is in contact with the external power supply. Accordingly, it is possible to more efficiently adjust a focus by using a small driving voltage by improving a structure of the cavity of the container.
US08390931B2 Micro-lenses for CMOS imagers and method for manufacturing micro-lenses
A micro-lens and a method for forming the micro-lens is provided. A micro-lens includes a substrate and lens material located within the substrate, the substrate having a recessed area serving as a mold for the lens material. The recessed can be shaped such that the lens material corrects for optical aberrations. The micro-lens can be part of a micro-lens array. The recessed area can serve as a mold for lens material for the micro-lens array and can be shaped such that the micro-lens array includes arcuate, non-spherical, or non-symmetrical micro-lenses.
US08390928B2 Forming light beams and patterns with zero intensity central points
In order to produce a beam with a zero intensity axial ray or to produce a beam that when focused will produce an image of a doughnut shaped pattern with a zero intensity central point, a beam with a uniform or Gaussian profile is directed to a plurality of transparent plates, arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the beam axis, such that for at least one pair, the plates have a composition and thickness different from each other, and chosen so that the transmitted light has a has a phase difference of half a wavelength for at least three different wavelengths. An additional plate with a center on the perpendicular of the line connecting the first two plates has a composition and thickness such that the light transmitted through that additional plate has a phase difference of a quarter wavelength with respect to the light transmitted through one of the plates of said first pair of plates, at least one wavelength.
US08390924B2 Endoscope and endoscope apparatus
An endoscope includes: a first illumination optical system which emits illuminating light in a first linear polarization direction to an object from a distal end face of an insertion portion; and a first objective optical system which allows return light from the object to enter through an objective window provided in the distal end face; wherein the first illumination optical system and the first objective optical system are placed in a positional relationship such that on the distal end face, a line segment connecting an optical axis of the first illumination optical system and an optical axis of the first objective optical system is parallel or perpendicular to a polarization direction which results when the illuminating light emitted from the first illumination optical system is projected to the distal end face, and no polarizing element is provided between the object and the objective window.
US08390920B2 Laser device, laser display apparatus, laser radiating apparatus, and nonlinear optical element
A laser device, includes: a fundamental wave generating portion configured to generate a plurality of fundamental waves having wavelengths which are different from each other in at least one set thereof, the fundamental wave generating portion having a semiconductor laser having a plurality of luminous points, and a Bragg reflection structure; and a nonlinear optical element in which a poling structure adapted to pseudophase matching for the wavelengths of the plurality of fundamental waves emitted from the fundamental wave generating portion, respectively, is formed variatively along a propagating direction of the plurality of fundamental waves.
US08390910B2 Optical delay
A system for varying a delay of an optical beam has a rotatable wheel and a set of one or more prisms mounted about a circumference of the rotatable wheel. The set of one or more prisms are positioned to retroreflect the optical beam that passes approximately tangent to the rotatable wheel to cause a delay or phase shift to the beam as the rotatable wheel rotates.
US08390902B2 Image scanning apparatus and image scanning method
An image scanning apparatus, including a contact glass having an original to be scanned on; a light source including plural dotted light-emitting elements linearly arrayed in a main scanning direction and emitting scanning light to the original; a photoelectric converter photoelectrically converting reflected scanning light from the original to produce line-image data in the main scanning direction; a halation detector receiving the line-image data from the photoelectric converter and detecting whether the line-image data has halation; and a corrector receiving information whether the line-image data has halation and correcting pixel values of all pixels of the line-image data having halation into a predetermined pixel value.
US08390889B2 Image processing apparatus and method thereof
This invention provides a sample print which allows the user to easily set color adjustment parameters. To this end, upon outputting images which undergo color processing using a plurality of different parameter sets, a sample print mode of parallelly outputting a reference image and images which have different parameter sets of the image processing from the reference image, and are arranged around the reference image, and a sample print mode of parallelly outputting the reference image which is arranged at a corner of an image group including images in a specific hue direction, and images which have different parameter sets of the color processing from the reference image and are arranged between the corner and other corners, are prepared.
US08390865B2 Printers and printer systems having cellular input/output
A method includes accessing a cellularly configured printer with a cellular device; and cellularly sending the printer an indication of a resource that is to be printed by the printer, said resource comprising a network-accessible resource that does not reside on the printer and which the printer is to retrieve.
US08390860B2 Image processing apparatus, method of controlling the same, image processing system, and storage medium
An information security managing technique for use when a plurality of image processing apparatuses cooperate with each other to process a single job. In a case where a single job is cooperatively executed by a plurality of image processing apparatuses via a network, an image processing apparatus as a cooperation destination determines whether or not an image deletion level designated by an image processing apparatus as a cooperation source in the job is supported. When the image deletion level is not supported, the cooperation-destination image processing apparatus determines whether or not the job can be executed without using an HDD provided in the cooperation-destination image processing apparatus. When the job can be executed without using the HDD, the cooperation-destination image processing apparatus performs control such that the job is executed without using the HDD.
US08390859B2 Image forming device and image forming method for printing transparent developers with different particle sizes
An image forming device includes a first development unit configured to form a first image on a recording medium with a first developer, a second development unit configured to form a second image on the recording medium with at least one of a plurality of second developers that are different from the first developer, and a print control unit configured to select the at least one of the plurality of second developers for forming the second image. The second developers are transparent developers, and the second image is a transparent image.
US08390854B2 Image processing system, apparatus, control method thereof, and storage medium storing a computer program, that generate position information for designating a page of one image data into which another image data is inserted
An image processing system for electronizinq paper documents can read a large quantity of manuscripts with image processing apparatuses to generate images. The system has multi function peripherals (MFP). One of the MFPs (combination destination) can send a management table for managing image data to another MFP (transmission source), which designates an image data combination position, generates a management table for managing the image data of the transmission source MFP, generates a management table, in which the management table of the transmission source is added to the management table of the combination destination, and transfers the image data of the transmission source MFP and the management tables to the combination destination MFP, which combines the image data of the transmission source MFP and the image data of the combination destination MFP based on the management tables and the combination position.
US08390847B2 Facsimile transferring system
A facsimile transferring system is supplied capable of preventing a paper on which facsimile data transferred from his/her work place is printed from leaving as it is at a place where the destination person does not exist. In the system, an entering/leaving room managing equipment and a facsimile apparatus are furnished at plural places respectively; and a transfer/notification processing server transfers received facsimile data to one of the facsimile apparatus on the basis of entering/leaving room management information, wherein the transfer/notification processing server includes a destination person whereabouts managing section that specifies a whereabouts place of destination person of the received facsimile data on the basis of entering/leaving room management information, and a facsimile apparatus controlling section that transfers the received facsimile data to the facsimile apparatus furnished at the whereabouts place of the destination person on the basis of a control of the destination person whereabouts managing section.
US08390829B2 Inkjet printing method using print modes selected in response to image quality scores
A method of using an inkjet printer to print an input digital image containing at least one color channel having a plurality of rows and columns of pixels sampled at a first resolution, each pixel having a code value, includes partitioning the input digital image into a set of spatially non-overlapping blocks; computing an average code value for each block responsive to the pixels in the input digital image that correspond to the block; computing an image quality score for each block responsive to the average code value for that block; determining a print mode in response to the image quality scores for the set of blocks; and printing the image on the inkjet printer using the print mode.
US08390828B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus determines if a support function key is pressed down or not. When it is determined that the support function key is pressed down, the image forming apparatus determines if the read document is a one side document or a both-side document. Then the document is read and operable operational conditions are selected based on the read document and the information about an intended use that is inputted by a user. The selected operational conditions are displayed on an operating unit for each operational condition. As a result, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus wherein the user can set a desired operational condition easily suitable for the user's intended use without omission and fail.
US08390825B2 Double seam measurement system
A system for measurement of a can seam of a can comprising a an end panel, the end panel comprising the seam, the seam comprising a circumference, a seam top, a seam bottom, a seam chuck wall part and an opposite seam wall essentially opposite the seam chuck wall part, the system comprising: a table comprising a table top; a rocker comprising an inner pin and an outer pin essentially parallel to each other, the rocker configured to allow, when the end panel of the can is facing the table top, slight pressure of the outer pin on the opposite wall forcing the chuck wall part on the inner pin, and/or slight pressure of the inner pin on the chuck wall part forcing the opposite wall on the outer pin, causing rocking movement of the pins, that settles the inner pin flush with the chuck wall part, and/or the outer pin flush with the opposite wall, respectively, such that the inner pin and outer pin are disposed at chuck wall angle; means for rotating the can, allowing the inner pin to settle flush with the chuck wall part, and the outer pin to settle on a peak point on the opposite wall, at measurement points on the circumference of the seam, and measuring means configured to be able to measure a gap between the inner pin and the outer pin at the measurement points.
US08390823B2 Method, inspection apparatus and substrate for determining an approximate structure of an object on a substrate
A system and method determine an approximate structure of an object on a substrate. This may be applied in model based metrology of microscopic structures to assess critical dimension or overlay performance of a lithographic apparatus. A scatterometer is used to determine approximate structure of an object, such as a grating on a stack, on a substrate. The wafer substrate has an upper layer and an underlying layer. The substrate has a first scatterometry target region, including the grating on a stack object. The grating on a stack is made up of the upper and underlying layers. The upper layer is patterned with a periodic grating. The substrate further has a neighboring second scatterometry target region, where the upper layer is absent. The second region has just the unpatterned underlying layers.
US08390817B2 Evanescent field modulation in a biosensor
The present invention provides an FTIR system comprising a first light source emitting light of a first wavelength, a sample volume with an adjacent sensor surface, a detector for detecting light reflected at said sensor surface. The sensor surface is illuminated by said first light source fulfilling the condition of total internal reflection and generating an evanescent field with a decay length within the sample volume. The system further comprises means for changing the decay length of the evanescent field and means for correlating the detected signals with the change of the decay length of the evanescent field.
US08390816B2 Method for attenuated total reflection far ultraviolet spectroscopy and an apparatus for measuring concentrations therewith
In far ultraviolet spectroscopy using attenuated total reflection, total reflection light is measured by using evanescent waves of total reflection light. The penetration depth thereof is equal to or larger than 150 nm in a wavelength range in the far ultraviolet range wherein the penetration depth depends on a wavelength of the far ultraviolet light, refractive index of an object to be measured, refractive index of optical material of the probe and incident angle of the far ultraviolet light at an interface between the probe and the object. The attenuated total reflection probe is made of an optical material selected so as to have the penetration depth equal to or higher than 150 nm in far ultraviolet wavelength range, and the probe makes contact with the object to be measured at the interface, and the far ultraviolet light is incident on the interface at incident angle larger than critical angle in the wavelength range so as to have the penetration depth equal to or higher than 150 nm. The total reflection light from the interface is measured, and absorbance of the object to be measured is determined.
US08390806B1 MEMS spectrometer and sensing systems therefrom
A MEMS spectrometer includes an optical substrate having a first face and a second face. A first semiconductor substrate is attached to the first face and includes a slit for passing incident light to the optical substrate, at least one integrated reflective grating, and at least one integrated detector array. A second semiconductor substrate is attached to the second face of the optical substrate and includes at least a first integrated mirror and a second integrated mirror. The first integrated mirror is positioned to receive the incident light transmitted by the optical substrate and to provide reflected light, and the integrated reflective grating, second integrated mirror and integrated detector array are positioned so that they are optically coupled to one another by the optical substrate to process the reflected light.
US08390800B2 Angle sensor, system and method employing guided-mode resonance
An angle sensor, system and method employ a guided-mode resonance. The angle sensor includes a guided-mode resonance (GMR) grating and a resonance processor. The resonance processor determines an angle of incidence of a signal incident on the GMR grating. The resonance processor uses a guided-mode resonance response of the GMR grating to the signal to determine the angle of incidence. The angle sensing system includes the GMR grating, the resonance processor and further includes an optical source that produces the signal. The method includes providing a GMR grating, detecting a guided-mode resonance produced in the GMR grating when subjected to an incident signal, and determining an angle of incidence of the incident signal from one or both of a number of and a spectral distance between guided-mode resonances present in a response of the GMR grating to the incident signal.
US08390791B2 Light detection and ranging system
A method of light detection includes emitting a pulsed light beam from a pulsed light source; splitting the pulsed light beam with a beam splitting device into at least two light beam ray sets, wherein at least one of the ray sets collide with airborne particulates, resulting in backscattered light; which is received through an aperture(s); and detecting the received backscattered light at a detector. A light detection and ranging system is also disclosed. The present invention has been described in terms of specific embodiment(s), and it is recognized that equivalents, alternatives, and modifications, aside from those expressly stated, are possible and within the scope of the appending claims.
US08390790B2 Method and apparatus for reproducing a programmable mask on a substrate
A pattern, is imaged by means of a programmable mask, on a substrate that has a photosensitive layer, illumination spots being produced on the mask by means of an illumination unit and individual pixels being produced, via an optical unit, forming a grid of pixels on the substrate corresponding to the pattern. Structure edges that are to be reproduced on the substrate are positioned optimally. To this end at least two exposure processes for the photosensitive layer are performed, the illumination spots or exposure points of which are offset from one another. Thereby, spaces in the grid of pixels of the first exposure process, which spaces are proportionate to the number of exposure processes to be effected, are filled with pixels by the subsequent exposure processes.
US08390787B2 Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A lithographic apparatus comprises an illumination system for supplying a beam of radiation, a patterning arrangement incorporating an array of individually controllable elements for imparting a pattern to the beam cross-section, a substrate table for supporting a substrate, and a projection system incorporating a microlens array for projecting the beam onto a target portion of the substrate. An error compensator is provided for supplying error correction values for compensating for the effect of positional errors in the microlens array, and a grey scale modulator is provided for supplying drive signals to controllable elements of the patterning arrangement in dependence on the error correction values in order to compensate for the effect of positional errors in the microlens array by varying the intensity of some parts of the pattern relative to other parts of the pattern.
US08390786B2 Optical imaging writer system
System and method for processing image data between adjacent imaging areas in a lithography manufacturing process are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a parallel imaging writer system which has a plurality of spatial light modulator (SLM) imaging units arranged in one or more parallel arrays, receiving a mask data pattern to be written to a substrate, processing the mask data pattern to form a plurality of partitioned mask data patterns corresponding to different areas of the substrate, identifying an overlapping region between adjacent imaging areas to be imaged by corresponding SLMs, determining a stitching path for merging the adjacent imaging areas in the overlapping region in accordance with a set of predetermined cost functions, and controlling the plurality of SLM imaging units to write the plurality of partitioned mask data patterns to the substrate in parallel using the stitching path.
US08390785B2 Collector optical system
A collector optical system is provided in which radiation is collected from a radiation source and directed to an image focus. The collector optical system includes one or more mirrors, with each mirror being symmetric about an optical axis extending through the radiation source and each mirror having at least first and second reflective surfaces. The first and second reflective surfaces have a common focus, such that radiation from the source undergoes successive grazing incidence reflections at the first and second reflective surface and wherein the common focus is transversely offset by a predetermined distance Δr with respect to the optical axis.
US08390781B2 Optical imaging writer system
System and method for applying mask data patterns to substrate in a lithography manufacturing process are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a parallel imaging writer system having a plurality of spatial light modulator (SLM) imaging units arranged in one or more parallel arrays, receiving a mask data pattern to be written to a substrate, processing the mask data pattern to form a plurality of partitioned mask data patterns corresponding to different areas of the substrate, identifying objects in an area of the substrate to be imaged by corresponding SLMs, selecting evaluation points along edges of the objects, configuring the parallel imaging writer system to image the objects using the evaluations points, and performing multiple exposures to image the objects in the area of the substrate by controlling the plurality of SLMs to write the plurality of partitioned mask data patterns in parallel.
US08390763B2 Lens array sheet, light source and liquid crystal display device
A lens array sheet includes a lens layer having a lens surface on which a plurality of lenses are formed in an array, and a light diffusion layer arranged at an opposite side to the lens surface of the lens layer, for diffusing light directing toward the lens layer, wherein the light diffusion layer has a light reflection portion, which is embedded in at least a part of a non-light focusing region of the lens layer, for reflecting light passing through the non-light focusing region and directing toward the lens layer.
US08390761B2 Display device and electronic apparatus
A display device includes a first light-emitting element which includes a second layer having the function of flowing carriers and provided between a first anode and a first layer having the function of emitting light of a first color, and a third layer having the function of emitting light of a second color and provided between the first anode and the second layer; and a second light-emitting element which includes a fifth layer having the function of suppressing a flow of carriers and provided between a second anode and a fourth layer having the function of emitting light of the first color, and a first hole injection layer provided between the second anode and the fifth layer.
US08390757B2 Backlight unit and liquid crystal display device having the same
A backlight unit with a new configuration is disclosed. The backlight unit includes: a main support formed using a mold which opens upward; a light source unit disposed on one side of the main support; a light guide plate disposed parallel to the light source unit and configured to convert dot light emitted from the light source unit into two-dimensional light; and optical sheets disposed on the light guide plate. The main support is provided with a light incident space, which allows light emitted from the light source unit to be entirely and evenly entered to the light guide plate, on its one side opposite to the light source unit.
US08390749B2 Light modulator for optical image projection
A spatial light modulator 100 comprising an array-type liquid crystal panel 115, a polarization beam splitter 120, an oblique wave plate 130 and a converging lens 135. The polarization beam splitter is orientated to direct a source light 125 towards a reflective planar surface 127 of the array-type liquid crystal panel. The oblique wave plate and converging lens are located between the polarization beam splitter and the array-type liquid crystal panel. The converging lens is configured to direct light from the reflective planar surface onto a facing surface 125 of the polarization beam splitter.
US08390744B2 System and method of displaying a video stream
The present disclosure is generally directed to a video stream processing system and to a method of displaying a video stream. In a particular embodiment, the method includes, during a first time period, displaying a first version of a received video stream while recovering a second version of the received video stream, the first version of the received video stream having a lower video display quality than the second version of the received video stream. The first time period begins no more than approximately 100 milliseconds after a detected channel change. The method also includes switching from display of the first version of the received video stream to display of the second version of the received video stream during a second time period.
US08390734B2 Digital image processing apparatus and method of controlling the digital image processing apparatus
A digital image processing apparatus that detects a moving object included in an input image, establishes a shutter speed according to an amount of movement of the moving object, and performs a capturing operation based on the established shutter speed, and a method of controlling the digital image processing apparatus are provided. The method includes: receiving an input image; detecting a moving object in the input image; measuring an amount of movement of the moving object; and establishing a shutter time for a capturing operation according to the amount of movement of the moving object and according to at least one of: an established file size of an image to be captured or an established image size of the image to be captured.
US08390727B2 Optical unit, imaging unit, imaging body, and imaging device having the imaging body
An optical unit (1) includes a first attachment/detachment portion (2) to which an imaging optical system (31) is detachably attached, an optical path division means (3), a finder optical system (6), and a second attachment/detachment portion (4). An imaging unit includes a third attachment/detachment portion (11) disposed at a position corresponding to the second attachment/detachment portion (4) and an imaging element (12, 12′). An imaging body (20, 20′) includes the optical unit (1) and imaging unit (10, 10′) which are detachably attached to each other through the second and third attachment/detachment portions (4) and (11).
US08390710B2 Image pickup system, method for driving image pickup elements, and recording medium
An image pickup system includes an image pickup element with an image pickup region in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix, and a controller configured to control reading of signals from the pixels. The controller divides a first frame period in which a first image is read from the image pickup element into a plurality of divided frame periods, including first and second divided frame periods. When the number of pixels included in the first image is larger than the number of pixels included in a second image, a second frame period required for reading all signals from the pixels included in the second image is inserted between the first and second divided frame periods. A refresh cycle of the second image is shorter than a refresh cycle of the first image.
US08390708B2 Solid state image pickup device and camera utilizing carrier holding unit and floating diffusion region
A solid state image pickup device which can prevent color mixture by using a layout of a capacitor region provided separately from a floating diffusion region and a camera using such a device are provided. A photodiode region is a rectangular region including a photodiode. A capacitor region includes a carrier holding unit and is arranged on one side of the rectangle of the photodiode region as a region having a side longer than the one side. In a MOS unit region, an output unit region including an output unit having a side longer than the other side which crosses the one side of the rectangle of the photodiode region is arranged on the other side. A gate region and the FD region are arranged between the photodiode region and the capacitor region.
US08390698B2 Image capturing apparatus, reproduction apparatus, image capturing method, and reproduction method
Provided is an image capturing apparatus (100) that can improve coding efficiency, and record a still image with a wide dynamic range and smooth moving images. The apparatus includes: an image capturing unit (110) capturing images by exposure for a first exposure time and a second exposure time longer than the first exposure time to generate a short-time exposure image and a long-time exposure image; a short-time exposure image storage unit (120) storing the short-time exposure image; a long-time exposure image storage unit (130) storing the long-time exposure image; a motion blur adding unit (140) generating a predicted image of the long-time exposure image by adding motion blur to the short-time exposure image; a subtracting unit (150) calculating a difference between the long-time exposure image and the predicted image to generate a difference image; and a coding unit (170) coding the short-time exposure image and the difference image.
US08390692B2 Image pick up apparatus and image pick up method capable of reading signal charge for image display by newly performing exposure while reading signal charge for still image by simultaneous exposure of all pixels
The present invention is an image pickup apparatus including a pixel section in which pixels each including a photoelectric conversion section are two-dimensionally arrayed, a transistor that collectively resets the photoelectric conversion sections, an exposure control section that performs control so as to perform exposure for a predetermined time after reset, a signal charge storage section that is light-shielded and stores signal charge generated by the photoelectric conversion sections, a transistor that collectively transfers signal charge from the photoelectric conversion sections to the signal storage section, and a selection transistor that reads still image signal charge for an LV pixel group before signal charge of other pixel groups, then reads signal charge for a live view generated by the LV pixel group one or more times within a time segment during which the still image signal charge of the other pixel groups is read.
US08390673B2 Method of controlling monitoring camera and apparatus for controlling monitoring camera by using the method
Provided is a method of controlling a monitoring camera that performs panning, tilting, and zooming, the method including: generating a panoramic image file by controlling the monitoring camera to perform panning and tilting; and performing a setting operation in a user setting mode while displaying a panoramic image of the panoramic image file.
US08390668B2 Systems and methods for enhancing teleconferencing collaboration
An advanced video teleconferencing system facilitates an engaging and realistic video conferencing experience. Key design elements and video, audio, and control capabilities are provided for a video conferencing experience that cannot be attained with conventional methods, which elements and capabilities include careful design of the table and room at each site, supplementary displays showing imagery in a mirrored manner, networked environmental control, an AutoDirector with keyword and gesture recognition, and audio reflection from a display or beam splitter.
US08390662B2 Exposing device having light emitting elements and image forming apparatus using the same
An exposing device includes a plurality of light emitting elements, a substrate to which the plurality of light emitting elements are mounted, an optical system that focuses lights emitted by the plurality of light emitting elements, and a holder that holds the optical system. The holder has a substrate abutting surface that abuts against the substrate. The holder includes a base material portion made of metal, and a substrate abutting portion formed integrally with the base material portion. The substrate abutting portion is made of resin having electrical insulation property. The surface abutting surface is formed on the surface abutting portion.
US08390642B2 System and method for color space setting adjustment
Disclosed are various systems and methods of color space setting adjustment. In one embodiment, a system includes an LED RGB backlight as well as a color gamut mapping engine configured to adjust a plurality of input values and output a plurality of adjusted input values to an LCD panel having a native transfer function such that the transformation of the adjusted input values to visible light displayed by the LCD panel complies with user defined color space settings.
US08390637B2 Method for frame memory access and display driver using the same
The present invention relates to a method for frame memory access and a display driver using the same. The method is a data moving method for allowing a display driver integrated circuit built in a portrait style frame memory to be used in a landscape mode. The spirit of the method is to repeatedly read data from the portrait style frame memory to the shift register, and move the data on the shift register to put the data to the correct data latch to constitute complete scan line data. Therefore, the portrait style display driver integrated circuit may drive a landscape mode display panel.
US08390635B2 Graphics accelerator
A graphics display system integrated circuit processes analog video input, digital video input, and graphics input. The system incorporates a graphics accelerator that includes memory for graphics data. The accelerator preferably includes a coprocessor for performing vector type operations on a plurality of components of one pixel of the graphics data. The accelerator also includes an expanded instruction set for storing and loading data.
US08390630B2 Avatar eye control in a multi-user animation environment
In a multi-participant modeled virtual reality environment, avatars are modeled beings that include moveable eyes creating the impression of an apparent gaze direction. Control of eye movement may be performed autonomously using software to select and prioritize targets in a visual field. Sequence and duration of apparent gaze may then be controlled using automatically determined priorities. Optionally, user preferences for object characteristics may be factored into determining priority of apparent gaze. Resulting modeled avatars are rendered on client displays to provide more lifelike and interesting avatar depictions with shifting gaze directions.
US08390613B2 Display driver integrated circuits, and systems and methods using display driver integrated circuits
Example embodiments include display driver systems having a host with an external image signal receiving unit configured to receive an external image signal and a graphic control unit configured to transmit input control signals. The systems further include a display driver integrated circuit configured to receive the input control signals, generate a screen display sync signal by using a main clock signal when the external image signal includes a moving image, and generate a screen display sync signal by using an internal clock signal when the external image signal includes a still image, the display driver integrated circuit including. Such circuits have a display driver integrated circuit control unit configured to generate a data control signal, a gradation voltage generating unit configured to generate a gradation voltage and transmit the gradation voltage, and a data driver configured to receive the gradation voltage from the gradation voltage generating unit and apply the gradation voltage to data display signal lines of an LCD panel.
US08390612B2 Source driver and operation method thereof and flat panel display
A source driver, an operation method thereof, and a flat panel display using the same are provided. The source driver includes a data channel, a switch and a switch controller. The data channel latches a pixel data according to timing of a line letch signal, and converts the latched pixel data to a driving signal for driving a display panel. The data channel decides a polarity of the driving signal according to a polarity signal. A first end of the switch is coupled to the data channel to receive the driving signal. The switch controller adjusts a pulse width of the line letch signal to obtain a control signal for controlling the switch according to the polarity signal. A pulse width of a first pulse is smaller than that of a second pulse in the control signal after the polarity signal is changed.
US08390602B2 Stylus retaining mechanism for portable electronic device
A stylus retaining mechanism is configured for retaining a stylus to a housing. The stylus includes a latching portion. The stylus retaining mechanism includes a locking assembly. The housing includes a fixing portion, an opening and a receiving chamber communicating with the opening. The receiving chamber is configured to receive a stylus, the housing including. The locking assembly is attached to the fixing portion. The locking assembly includes a locking member and an elastic member. One end of the elastic member is attached to the fixing portion, and the other end resists the locking member. The locking member includes a protrusion to engage with a latching portion of the stylus.
US08390600B2 Interactive display system with contact geometry interface
An interactive display system with a contact geometry interface is disclosed. The interactive display system may include a multi-touch display, a touch detection system configured to detect a touch input on the multi-touch display and to generate contact geometry for a contact region of the touch input, and an application programming interface executed on a processor of the interactive display system. The application programming interface may be configured to receive the contact geometry and to send the contact geometry to a requesting application program for application-level processing. Further, the application programming interface may be configured to receive from the application program a display command based on the application level-processing. The application programming interface may be configured to send the display command to the multi-touch display to adjust a display of a graphical element on the multi-touch display.
US08390596B2 Control circuit and control method for touch panel
A coordinate generating unit provisionally determines the X-coordinate of a point touched by the user based upon a first panel current and at least one of first and second panel voltages in a first state, and provisionally determines the Y-coordinate of the point touched by the user based upon at least a third panel voltage and a second panel current. When the user touches the two points, i.e., the first and second points, at the same time, the coordinate generating unit determines the coordinates of the first and second points by combining the two provisionally determined X-coordinates and the two provisionally determined Y-coordinates, based upon the magnitude relation between the first and second panel voltages.
US08390589B2 Touch screen devices employing nanostructure networks
Touch screen displays comprising at least one nanostructure-film, and fabrication methods thereof, are discussed. Nanostructure-films may comprise, for example, a network(s) of nanotubes, nanowires, nanoparticles and/or graphene flakes. Such films are preferably at least semi-transparent and relatively flexible, making them well-suited for use in a variety of touch screen applications.
US08390587B2 Capacitive touch display device and capacitive touch panel
A capacitive touch display device includes a stylus, a display panel, and a capacitive touch unit. The stylus touches the display panel by clicking to input a touch signal and contacts the capacitive touch unit at a contact area. The capacitive touch unit is disposed on the display panel and includes a plurality of first sensing series and a plurality of second sensing series. Each of the first sensing series includes a plurality of first sensing pads electrically connected to one another. A pitch between any two adjacent first sensing pads is P. The second sensing series intersect the first sensing series. The contact area contacted by the stylus has a contact width D, and the ratio of the contact width D to the pitch P between any two adjacent first sensing pads satisfies the following ratio condition: 1.4≦(D/P)≦1.6.
US08390575B2 Touch-sensitive liquid crystal display panel with built-in touch mechanism and method for driving same
An exemplary touch-sensitive liquid crystal display panel includes a first substrate (21), a second substrate (22) disposed opposite to the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer (20) interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. Scan lines (212) and data lines (213) are formed at the first substrate. The scan lines and the data lines cross each other thereby defining pixel regions. Conductive pads (203) are arranged corresponding to and electrically coupled to the scan lines. A conductive layer (280) is arranged between the second substrate and the liquid crystal layer. Conductive protrusions (202) are arranged on the conductive layer, each of the conductive protrusions is opposite to a corresponding conductive pad with a predetermined gap.
US08390572B2 Dynamically located onscreen keyboard
A touch-sensitive display surface having touch-capacitive and vibration sensors. This surface allows the user to rest their fingers on the keys of an onscreen keyboard and type as they would on a regular keyboard. As the user places their fingers on the touch screen, the system relocates the onscreen keyboard to the location where the fingers are resting. The touch sensors report the signal strength level of each key touched to a processor, but no keystroke is issued by the processor until a corresponding “tap” (i.e., vibration) is detected. When a tap is detected, the processor references the status of the touch capacitance sensors before, during, and/or immediately after the moment in time the tap occurred. The size, position, and orientation of the onscreen keyboard keys are dynamically set as determined by the user initiating a home-row definition event by resting their fingers momentarily on a virtual home-row.
US08390568B2 Display system
A display system has a display device, a display control device, and a laser emitting device. The display device has a display part that displays information on a display screen and a laser detection part having a plurality of optical sensors arranged in the vicinity of the display screen of the display part to detect a laser beam that has reached the display screen. The laser emitting device has an instruction input part that inputs an instruction with respect to the displayed information and a laser output part that outputs the laser beam including output information corresponding to the inputted instruction. The display control device has a position calculation part that calculates a position of the display screen irradiated with the laser beam based on positions of the optical sensors that have detected the laser beam, a received information acquiring part that acquires the output information included in the laser beam detected by the optical sensors and a display control part that controls a display of the information displayed on the display part, based on the position calculated by the position calculation part and the acquired output information.
US08390567B2 System and method for determining coordinates
A coordinate determining system is disclosed. The coordinate determining system comprises an image capturing module, a dividing module, a determining module, and a converting module. The image capturing module is used for capturing a plurality of images corresponding to the screen. The dividing module is used for dividing an overlapping image region of the images into a target image comprising a plurality of sub-regions. The determining module is used for determining a position of the indicating point on the target image. If the indicating point is in a target sub-region among the sub-regions and has an image coordinate relative to an original of the target sub-region, the converting module will convert the image coordinate into the screen coordinate according to a proportional parameter.
US08390559B2 Display driving apparatus, display module package, display panel module, and television set
A display driving apparatus according to an implementation of the present invention includes: a first delay circuit that generates latch control signals changing with different timings; a second delay circuit that generates falling delay signals and rising delay signals by delaying the latch control signals; a delay selection circuit that (i) selects the falling delay signals or the rising delay signals when pixel data for adjacent display output terminals have changed in different directions and (ii) selects the latch control signals when pixel data for adjacent display output terminals have changed in the same direction; and a step control circuit that drives the display output terminals with timings of the signals selected by the delay signal circuit.
US08390558B2 Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes: a liquid crystal panel including gate lines and data lines crossing to define a plurality of pixels; a timing controller for generating a gate control signal and a data control signal for driving each pixel by using signals inputted from a system and realigning pixel data from the system to output the same; a gate driver for driving the gate lines by using the gate control signal; a data driver for supplying pixel data to a corresponding data line according to the gate control signal; and a reset signal generating unit for generating a reset signal upon receiving input power from the system, and supplying the reset signal to the timing controller, wherein the reset signal generating unit includes: a first resistor connected to an input power input terminal to which input power is applied from the system; a Zener diode having a cathode connected to the first resistor and forming a first node between the cathode and the first resistor; a second resistor connected between an anode of the Zener diode and a reset signal output terminal; a third resistor connected between the reset signal output terminal and a ground; and a capacitor connected between the first node and a ground.
US08390557B2 Display panel driver for reducing heat generation within a data line driver circuit which drives the display panel driver by dot inversion
A display panel drive circuit is provided with a first display output terminal to be connected with a data line of a display panel, first and second output stages, and a control circuit. The first output stage is directly connected with the first display output terminal and configured to output a data signal with the positive polarity with respect to a standard voltage level. The second output stage is also directly connected with the first display output terminal and configured to output a data signal with the negative polarity with respect to the standard voltage level. The control circuit controls the first and second output stages so that one of the first and second output stages is selectively activated while the other of the first and second output stages is deactivated.
US08390553B2 Advanced pixel design for optimized driving
Systems, devices, and methods for reducing common voltage loading and/or enabling a simplified manner of polarity inversion in liquid crystal display (LCD) devices are provided. In accordance with one embodiment, a device may include a processor, a memory device, and a liquid crystal display having a pixel array including rows and columns of pixels. The pixels of each row of the pixel array may be configured to cause an approximately even amount of common voltage loading to be shared between one of a first plurality of common electrodes and one of a second plurality of common electrodes when the pixels of each row of the pixel array receive a scanning signal and a data signal.
US08390552B2 Display device, and circuit and method for driving the same
In one embodiment of the present application, a display is disclosed in which any defective pixel is rendered less noticeable even if a full-screen white display or suchlike is effected. In a normally-white liquid crystal display device, which transitions after power activation from non-display state through display starting state, where a full-screen blank white display is effected, to normal display state, an auxiliary electrode driver portion controls an auxiliary capacitance line voltage Vcs to be applied to auxiliary capacitance lines in accordance with the state of the liquid crystal display device in the following manner. Specifically, during the display starting state, the voltage difference between the auxiliary capacitance line voltage Vcs and a counter voltage Vcom is set at 0, such that any defective pixel is displayed in white, whereas during the normal display state, a predetermined voltage difference ΔVc is caused between the auxiliary capacitance line voltage Vcs and the counter voltage Vcom, such that any defective pixel is displayed in black. The present invention is suitable for active-matrix liquid crystal display devices.
US08390545B2 Reset circuit for display devices
The present invention relates to an active matrix display device, more particularly an electrowetting display device, comprising at least two rows of pixels and being provided with selection wires (RW) and data wires (COL) for addressing of the pixels. The pixels in each row are arranged with a respective connection (CW) to a common reset (RST) wire that is arranged to transmit a reset signal. The respective connection (CW) is arranged to be interconnected with the data wire (COL) of the pixel when the pixel is addressed. Further, the respective connection (CW) is arranged with a signal blocking element (D) for preventing a data signal of the pixel from propagating via the reset wire (RST) to pixels in the same row.
US08390543B2 Display device, driving method thereof, and electronic apparatus
A display device includes pixel array unit and a driver unit. A sampling transistor samples a signal potential to hold the signal potential in a holding capacitor. A driver transistor flows a drive current to a light emitting element in accordance with the signal potential held. A main scanner in the driver unit outputs the control signal having a shorter pulse width than the time period to the scan line to make the sampling transistor conductive during a time period while the signal line is at the signal potential, thereby adding the signal potential a correction for a mobility of the driver transistor when the signal potential is held in the holding capacitor.
US08390535B2 Stereo image display device and method
A stereo image display device includes an image display unit for displaying a parallactic image having a right-eye image and a left-eye image on a display plane, a parallactic image selecting unit for making only the right-eye image of the parallactic image reach the right eye of a viewer and making only the left-eye image of the parallactic image reach the left eye of the viewer to thereby make the viewer view a stereo image, an eye fatigue degree detecting unit for detecting the eye fatigue degree of the viewer, and an eye fatigue relaxation processing unit for carrying out eye fatigue relaxation processing for relaxing the eye fatigue of the viewer.
US08390534B2 Method and device for generating tracking configurations for augmented reality applications
A method and a device for determining tracking configurations for augmented reality applications are provided. A determination is automatically carried out based on a list of modules provided in a real environment and known tracking data of individual modules of the list in terms of an online operation at an operator of a system.
US08390531B2 Reflect array
A reflect array (1) according to the present invention includes a plurality of array elements (10) forming an array configured to control a direction of a reflected wave (scattered wave) by controlling a phase of the reflected wave; and a ground plane (30). The ground plane (30) has a structure with a frequency selective function.
US08390528B2 Electronic monitoring systems, shipment container monitoring systems and methods of monitoring a shipment in a container
A shipping container has a passive radio antenna element having internal and external antennas. A connector spanning the wall joins the two antennas. An internal communications device is disposed within the container and an external communications device is disposed external to the container. Another shipping container has a repeater element having internal and external antennas. A repeater unit spans the wall joining the two antennas. A communications device is disposed within the container and another communications device is disposed externally. RF signals are re-radiated by the antennas. Methodology includes emitting RF signals from a communication device disposed at a first location, receiving the signals through an antenna comprised by an antenna element, and re-radiating the signal from a second antenna comprised by the element, where the element spans the wall of a shipping container. The re-radiated signal is received by a second communications device disposed at a second location.
US08390526B1 Wide scan phased array antenna element
Antenna elements operable to radiate different patterns are provided. A particular apparatus includes a first antenna element having a plurality of radiating elements. Each of the radiating elements includes a first member having a first end and a second end. The first end is coupled to an antenna interface and the second end extends a length of the first member from the first end. Each of the radiating elements further includes a second member having a third end and a fourth end. The third end is electrically coupled to the first member at a point partway along the length of the first member. The fourth end extends away from the first member. When a first radiating element is radiating in the presence of a second radiating element, a null is generated in a radiation pattern of the first radiating element.
US08390524B2 Antenna device, reception device and radio wave timepiece
An antenna device including: an antenna unit having an oscillating body capable of oscillating at a predetermined natural frequency and being displaceable by an external magnetic field, and a converter for converting motion of the oscillating body to an electrical signal, when a radio wave signal having a frequency band for inducing resonance of the oscillating body comes, the oscillating body resonating with a magnetic field component of the radio wave signal, the converter converting resonance of the oscillating body to the electrical signal, and an electrical signal corresponding to the radio wave signal being outputted; a sensitivity varying section capable of varying degree of displacement of the oscillating body occurring by the external magnetic field; and a sensitivity controller for adjusting the degree of the displacement by using the sensitivity varying section in accordance with the electrical signal outputted from the antenna unit.