Document	Document Title
US08393903B1	Virtual world aptitude and interest assessment system and method An aptitude and interest assessment tool identifies one or more sectors for which a user may have a special interest, talent or aptitude. An interactive session is presented to a user. The interactive session provides a virtual world. A user interacts with the virtual world. Some or all of the user's interactions in the virtual world is stored in a storage device. The user's aptitude or interest in a profession or activity is assessed by an assessment module that receives data from the storage device and processes the received data to make a user assessment. A report providing the user assessment is created by a report creator.
US08393893B2	Rotary furnace burner In order to provide a rotary-furnace burner in which the quantity fraction of cost-effective particulate secondary fuels to be used as energy carriers can be increased and the configuration of the burner flame can be influenced, even during the operation of the burner, it is proposed, according to the invention, to arrange an expansion chamber open towards the burner mouth and having a widened cross section, as compared with the tube or individual tubes in the burner in front of the issue of the tube or tubes for blowing out the secondary fuels, and to make the axial length and the volume of the expansion chamber variable, during the operation of the burner, by means of the axial displacement of the secondary-fuel tubes, so that the particulate secondary fuel particles blown out at the burner mouth with a considerably reduced velocity do not fly past the burner flame, but, instead, burn out in the flame.
US08393885B2	Processing apparatus A processing apparatus for transferring a relief pattern on a mold to a resist on a substrate through a compression of the mold against the resist, includes a supplier for supplying the resist between the substrate and the mold, and a recovery unit for recovering the resist.
US08393877B2	Portable liquid pump A portable hand held controllable and directable liquid pumping device including a vortex pump head (1) fitted to a first end (2) of an elongate flexible drive shaft (3) and a pump drive (4) fitted to a second end (5) of the flexible drive shaft in which the pump drive includes a substantially rigid elongate housing (6) for a portion of the drive shaft and the elongate housing includes a first handle (7) at or near the first end (8) remote from the pump drive.
US08393858B2	Turbine shroud support coupling assembly A coupling assembly for a turbine shroud is provided. The coupling assembly comprises a rotatable positioning block having a first surface, and a biasing spring having a second surface, the second surface generally facing the first surface, and the biasing spring adapted to exert a force toward the positioning block when compressed.
US08393857B2	Variable vane actuation system A variable vane actuation system is disclosed herein. The variable vane actuation system includes a first vane having a first vane axis. The variable vane actuation system also includes an actuator operably engaged with the first vane to selectively pivot the first vane about the first vane axis. The variable vane actuation system also includes a ring member operably connected with the first vane. The ring member is disposed for pivoting movement about a centerline axis transverse to the first vane axis. The variable vane actuation system also includes a second vane having a second vane axis spaced from the first vane axis about the centerline axis. The second vane is operably connected with the ring member. Forces moving the second vane are generated by the actuator and transmitted first through the first vane and then through the ring member before being applied to the second vane.
US08393850B2	Inflatable wind turbine A wind turbine has an impeller surrounded by a turbine shroud and/or an ejector shroud, wherein the turbine shroud and/or the ejector shroud include inflatable portions and/or flexible inflatable portions. In some embodiments, the turbine shroud and/or the ejector shroud include internal rib members whose shape or length can be changed to alter the characteristics of the wind turbine.
US08393849B2	Method and system for adjusting a position of an object According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for adjusting a position of an object to compensate for tilt includes providing a rotatable base supporting an object and directing the object relative to the base such that the position of the object is controlled relative to a first axis. The object is stabilized along a second axis. The object is positioned relative to the base using at least one bearing arm. The at least one bearing arm movably couples the object to the base at a first position relative to a third axis and a fourth axis. The at least one bearing arm includes a first portion and a second portion, which are coincident with the third axis and fourth axis, respectively. The object is adjusted to a second position using the at least one bearing arms to maintain the first axis when a tilt angle of the base is detected.
US08393843B2	Printed product binding method The invention relates to a method for replacing a rejected book on a binding line.
US08393842B2	Strip of metallic fasteners adhered to each other A strip of metallic fasteners in which a plurality of metallic fastener materials are aligned and adhered to each other, wherein a coating agent for adhering adjacent metallic fastener materials to each other includes 100 parts by weight of an acid group-containing styrene-butadiene base rubber and 10 to 100 parts by weight of a resin having a softening point of 120° C. or more, both being dissolved by an organic solvent. The strip of metallic fasteners are adhered to each other by a coating that does not contain a halogen compound. The strip of metallic fasteners has improved blocking resistance.
US08393837B1	Deck and ramp system for semis/tractors A deck and ramp system for allowing a motorcycle to be secured behind the cab or sleeper of a semi/tractor featuring a deck platform and two attachable ramps. The deck platform is attached to the frame behind the cab or sleeper such that it is accessible from the passenger side or driver side of the semi. The two ramps attach at an angle with respect to the deck platform. Channels are disposed in the ramps and deck platform and allow a motorcycle to be easily rolled up the ramps and onto the deck platform. One or more securing means are disposed on the deck platform so as to secure the motorcycle.
US08393836B2	Machine tool with camera An exemplary machine tool includes a main body, a transmission, a spindle, a fixture, a cutter, a driving device, and a camera. The transmission is coupled to the main body. The spindle is coupled to the transmission. The fixture is coupled to the spindle and holds a workpiece. The cutter and the driving device are coupled to the main body. The cutter is opposite to the spindle and configured for processing the workpiece. The camera is coupled to the driving device and is configured for capturing images of the cutter and the workpiece.
US08393831B2	Indexable drill and drill body An indexable drill includes an insert attachment seat and a chip discharging groove formed so as to extend from a leading end surface to a trailing end side of the drill in the direction of the axis of rotation and through which chips generated by the cutting insert are discharged, and in that a wall surface defining the chip discharging groove at least partly includes a smoothed surface with a surface roughness of at most 0.5 μm in terms of arithmetic average roughness Ra, the wall surface of the chip discharging groove is partly formed on a thinned wall portion thinned by the central edge attachment seat and the outer peripheral edge attachment seat, and a crossing portion between the first wall surface and the second wall surface in the thinned wall portion is rounded.
US08393828B1	Boring machine steering system with force multiplier A boring machine includes a steering head which is located behind a cutter head. The steering head has a plurality of steering openings spaced around its periphery. A steering component is mounted adjacent to each steering opening, and each steering component includes a steering paddle that is pivotally mounted with respect to the steering head so as to pivot about a paddle pivot axis. Each steering component also includes a linear actuator and a force multiplier. The linear actuator operates to direct an actuating force along a line that is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the steering head, and it cooperates with the force multiplier and the steering paddle so that upon operation of the linear actuator, a pivot force which is the product of the actuating force and a multiplier factor greater than one causes the steering paddle to pivot about the pivot axis.
US08393826B1	Apparatus for transferring linear loads Apparatus for transferring a linear load through a high-speed rotating member includes a linear actuator containing an axially translatable cylinder rod. A mounting adapter fixed against axial and rotary movement is rigidly affixed to an actuator cylinder containing the cylinder rod. An elongate guide sleeve, fixed to the mounting adapter, extends axially from the adapter to accommodate an axially translatable thrust bearing affixed to one end of the cylinder rod. The guide sleeve contains a linear slot for accommodating a guide pin affixed to the thrust bearing housing, and transversely movable within the linear slot to prevent rotation of both bearing housing and cylinder rod components.
US08393823B2	Manhole cover security and removal A manhole cover includes a security device, preferably located beneath an upper surface thereof. A cover removing apparatus includes a magnetic element to hold the cover, when a pin of the apparatus is engaged with the security device of the cover. A push force, which may be applied through a port in the upper surface of the cover, for example, by the pin member, can deform, and thereby unlock, a spring-loaded locking member of the security device. The security device may further include at least one elongate member, which is caused to move from a first position to a second position, by the push force, in order to disengage the cover from a manhole, so that the cover may be removed from the manhole.
US08393821B2	Single screw activated double axle locking mechanism According to the present invention, there is provided a clamping device for locking two elements, e.g. rotatable shafts, having a substantially circular cross-section. The clamping device comprises a central holding part having two partly curved sections being adapted to at least partly encircle and hold the elements, which curved sections are inversely curved. Further, the clamping device comprises an upper holding part having a partly curved section arranged being adapted to at least partly encircle and hold a first element and a lower holding part having a partly curved section being adapted to at least partly encircle and hold a second element. The central, upper and lower holding parts are adapted to co-operate to lock the elements when pressed together by means of a tightening element. The curved sections are inversely curved in relation to each other and form together with the substantially rectangular section a substantially S-shaped central part. The invention according to the present invention is capable of locking the two elements, e.g. two rotatable spindles or shafts, firmly and accurate, i.e. without any substantial tension or torsion, by means of a single tightening element, for example, a screw.
US08393816B1	Marking and indicating means for emergency personnel A glow-in-the-dark marking pen that is intended for use for marking structures during search and rescue operations, particularly during a fire, is herein disclosed. The glow-in-the-dark properties of the ink are activated by breaking an inner glass tube contained within the plastic marker body and shaking it. The cap is removed and the pen can be used upon various surfaces as needed. The glow-in-the-dark ability of the ink allows others to see writing in diminished lighting environments, such as emergency personnel who wish to alert other personnel that a room of a structure is being checked or has been checked.
US08393801B2	Outer ring of tapered roller bearing and tapered roller bearing An outer ring has a tapered tubular portion having a tapered raceway surface, a small diameter side extension portion that extends radially outward from a small diameter side edge of the tapered tubular portion, and a large diameter side extension portion that extends from a large diameter side edge of the tapered tubular portion in a direction away from the axis of the outer ring. The small diameter side extension portion and the large diameter side extension portion are larger in thickness than the tapered tubular portion.
US08393798B2	Bearing device for a wheel A bearing device for a wheel has minimized circumferential play and allows a hub ring and an outer joint member of a constant velocity universal joint to be connected with excellent workability. Axially extending projections are formed on either one of the outer diameter surface of a shaft of the outer joint member and the inner diameter surface of a hole of the hub ring, and the projections are axially press fitted into the other. Recesses fitted in an intimate contact manner onto the projections are formed in the other. Thus, a recess/projection fitting structure is formed. In the structure, the entire fitting/contact portions of the projections and the recesses are in intimate contact with each other. Further, a shaft come-out prevention structure is provided between the shaft of the outer joint member and the inner diameter surface of the hub ring.
US08393797B2	Clock wheel pivot bearing Repairs of clocks with worn wheel pivots may be made with a ball bearing pivot wheel support system. The system may utilize a standard sized ball bearing and a bushing in frictional engagement with an inner race of the ball bearing. The bushing may be bored to provide frictional engagement with the pivot wheel so that the pivot wheel may rotate without relative motion between the wheel pivot and the bushing.
US08393792B2	Bearing device In a bearing device 1, annular recesses 3a and 6a that house a thrust bearing 7 are formed in side surfaces of a housing 3 and a cap 6, a rotation preventing protrusion 12b is provided in an outer periphery of a lower side half-split thrust bearing 12 in the thrust bearing 7, and a rotation preventing groove 6b into which the rotation preventing protrusion 12b fits is formed in the annular recess 6a formed in the cap 6.
US08393787B2	Method for sensing a fluid in a compressor shell Two vertically offset thermistors for sensing a fluid such as oil and refrigerant in a compressor shell are monitored by a method that takes into account rapidly changing conditions within the shell. The system can determine the fluid's sump temperature, high/low liquid levels, and can determine whether the thermistors are sensing the fluid as a liquid, gas, or a mixture of the two, such as a foam or mist of liquid and gas. For greater accuracy, thermistor readings can be dithered and filtered to provide temperature or voltage values having more significant digits than the readings originally processed through a limited-bit A/D converter. For faster response, limited microprocessor time is conserved by sampling thermistor readings at strategic periods that enable the microprocessor to identify certain conditions and temperatures via simple delta-temperature ratios and undemanding equations rather than resorting to exponential functions or lookup tables to determine time constants.
US08393786B2	Superconducting transition edge sensors and methods for design and manufacture thereof Methods for forming sensors using transition edge sensors (TES) and sensors therefrom are described. The method includes forming a plurality of sensor arrays includes at least one TES device. The TES device includes a TES device body, a first superconducting lead contacting a first portion of the TES device body, and a second superconducting lead contacting of a second portion of the TES device body, where the first and second superconducting leads separated on the TES device body by a lead spacing. The lead spacing can be selected to be different for at least two of the plurality of sensor arrays. The method also includes determining a transition temperature for each of the plurality of sensor arrays and generating a signal responsive to detecting a change in the electrical characteristics of one of the plurality of sensor arrays meeting a transition temperature criterion.
US08393782B2	Motionless mixing device having primary and secondary feed ports A high efficiency mixing device for mixing first and second fluids within a conduit. A biscuit element is positioned at the upstream end of the conduit having a longitudinal axis that coincides with the longitudinal axis of the conduit. The biscuit element is provided with a plurality of openings including a central opening positioned along the longitudinal axis and a plurality of additional openings spaced proximate to the central opening. The openings are provided with primary mixing elements which induce a rotational angular velocity to a first fluid passing therethrough of the same rotational sign. Second fluid feed ports are positioned within each of the openings for introducing a second fluid to the first fluid as the first fluid passes through the openings and into the conduit. Secondary and tertiary mixing elements are optionally located downstream of the biscuit element to enhance the mixing of the first and second fluids.
US08393774B2	Luminaire kit and method It is provided a luminaire kit of parts (100) for assembling a luminaire. The luminaire kit of parts (100) comprises light sources (107a-b) and light out-coupling devices (105a-b), The luminaire kit of parts (100) further comprises a light guiding element (101), the light guiding element (101) being configured to receive at least a subset of the light sources (107a-b) and at least a subset of the light out-coupling devices (105a-b) into a first type of 5 openings (103a-c) and a second type of openings (104a-b) respectively. It is also provided a method for assembling a luminaire.
US08393773B2	Light-guide lights providing a substantially monochromatic beam A light-guide light is described that is capable of providing a substantially monochromatic beam of light, and is suitable for use as a signal lamp in an automotive vehicle. The light (1) comprises a housing defining a light-guiding optical cavity (4) having first and second major faces (5, 6), and a light source (11) arranged to direct light into the cavity from one side. The light source may be an array of light emitting diodes providing substantially monochromatic light. The first major face (5) comprises an interference film (for example, a multilayer polymeric film) that, for light at the design wavelength, substantially transmits light that is incident on the film over a limited angular range and substantially reflects light that is incident at other angles. The second major face (6) comprises a scattering reflective material having a reflectance of at least 85%, for example a highly-efficient reflective material provided with a suitable textured pattern.
US08393770B2	Lighting device A lighting device comprises a power circuit unit 23 that includes a plurality of power terminals 25 supplied with power from a power source, a plurality of harnesses 29 that supply power supplied to the power circuit unit to a discharge lamp, a terminal housing 43 that is made of a resin material, and includes a harness holding portion 48, one ends of the plurality of harnesses being disposed in the harness holding portion and a part of the plurality of harnesses being held in the harness holding portion, and a plurality of welding terminals 28 that includes portions disposed in the terminal housing and portions protruding outward from the terminal housing. One end portions of the plurality of welding terminals are connected to one end portions of the electric wires of the harnesses, respectively, and the other end portions of the plurality of welding terminals are connected to the power terminals of the power circuit unit by welding, respectively. Accordingly, the workability of a connecting piece for connection with a power circuit unit is improved and good connection of harnesses can be secured.
US08393761B2	Lighting device A lighting device with an extended, non-punctiform light source, a reflector which conically surrounds the light source, and a lens for concentrating the emitted light is characterized by the fact that the lens is mounted so as to be capable of moving along an optical axis of the lighting device within a predetermined range of movement in such a way that the focal point of the lens in the direction of emission can be shifted at least into an area behind the notional apex of the reflector.
US08393760B2	Fluorescent light emission enhancer light-cone A fluorescent light emission enhancer light-cone for insertion into the central aperture of the fluorescent light bulb and subsequent expansion into a cone which helps increases the light intensity of the fluorescent light bulb by emitting outside almost half of light emission from the fluorescent light bulb that is lost inside between its loped tubes.
US08393759B2	LED lamp capable of adjusting a beam spread thereof An LED lamp capable of adjusting a beam spread thereof mainly comprises an adjusting module disposed between a seated body and a cover unit. The adjusting module includes a holder connecting to the seated body, a motivating member traveling within an aperture of the cover unit, an engaging member propping the motivating member against the holder, and a lens disposed on the engaging member. Thereby, rotating the motivating member triggers the engaging member to either move protrudently outward or draw back inward with respect to the cover unit. Accordingly, a beam angle of LED members disposed on a circuit unit of the lamp holder is able to be increasingly condensed or spread, then promoting the luminaire efficiency of the present invention.
US08393755B2	LED light device with changeable features An LED light device with changeable function includes at least one LED install within a housing-unit, the housing-unit being arranged to enable change in the orientation, position, or viewing angle of any LED to allow the light device to emit light beams in a desired direction. The LED light device may have an extendable and foldable changing function to become a universal unit to fit all kinds of space, including indoors and outdoors.
US08393751B2	Flash light with adjustable light arrangement A flash light includes a housing having a front end and a rear end to define a fixed length from the front to rear end. The housing further has a light cavity and a power cavity for receiving power source. The light arrangement includes a lens disposed at the front end of the housing, a light source disposed within the light cavity, and a light adjustor movably coupling with the housing to selectively adjust a distance between the lens and the light source along a longitudinal axis direction of the housing for adjusting the illumination angles of the light beam without altering the fixed length of the housing. The flash light is adapted for selectively adjusting illumination angles to provide variety of light patterns.
US08393743B2	Sealing with foam cartridge A rear-view mirror with foam-backed door seal is presented that fills the space between mirror base and vehicle with a foam in a simple way upon its being mounted to a vehicle.
US08393737B2	Light engine using common building blocks A light engine combines light of first, second, and third color ranges using three pentagonal prism elements. Each prism has first and second diagonal surfaces. Each first diagonal surface has a first dichroic treatment and each second diagonal surface has a second dichroic treatment. The prisms are arranged with the first diagonal surface of the first prism juxtaposed with one diagonal surface of the third prism and with the second diagonal surface of the second prism juxtaposed with the other diagonal surface of the third prism. A first light beam of the first color is reflected at a right angle by the first diagonal surfaces, and a second light beam is reflected at a right angle by the second diagonal surfaces. A third light beam of the third color passes unreflected through the surfaces to produce a combined light beam or common output light path.
US08393736B2	Ophthalmic imaging apparatus, imaging unit, inspection apparatus, and method of producing ophthalmic imaging apparatus A method of producing an ophthalmic imaging apparatus includes the steps of producing an imaging unit configured to capture an image of an image subject in visible light and infrared light; adjusting the color tone of the imaging unit using a color-tone adjustment unit having a first optical member configured to absorb infrared light; and connecting the adjusted imaging unit and an optical system having a second optical member whose characteristic is the same as a characteristic of the first optical member and configured to capture an optical image of an eye to be examined.
US08393722B2	Set of cartridges and printer A set of cartridges includes a first cartridge including a first tank, wherein a liquid level in the first tank is at a first position when an amount of liquid stored in the first tank is a predetermined amount, and a second cartridge including a second tank, wherein a liquid level in the second tank is at a second position which is below the first position when an amount of liquid stored in the second tank is the predetermined amount. The first cartridge is configured such that a light-blocking portion moves out of a detection region when the liquid level in the first tank lowers and reaches the first position, and the second cartridge is configured such that a light-blocking portion moves out of the detection region when the liquid level in the second tank lowers and reaches the second position.
US08393712B2	Chevron ejection chips for micro-fluid applications A micro-fluid ejection head has multiple ejection chips joined adjacently to create a lengthy array across a media to-be-imaged. The chips have fluid firing elements arranged along multiple fluid vias skewed variously to enable seamless stitching of fluid ejections. The firing elements are energized to eject fluid and individual ones are spaced according to colors or fluid types. Overlapping firing elements serve redundancy efforts during imaging for reliable print quality. Variable chips sizes and shapes, including chevrons, are disclosed as are relationships between differently colored fluid vias. Skew angles range variously each with noted advantages. Singulating chips from larger wafers provide still further embodiments as does increased usage of the wafer.
US08393710B2	Parallel ink jet printing device and relative manufacturing The printing device is ink jet, parallel or serial-parallel type and comprises a plurality of ejection modules each of which with ejection chambers suitable for containing ink and with associated relative heating elements for ink ejection control. The device includes a support and a nozzle plate common to the modules, and in which the support includes a base plate of rigid material that defines through its thickness a feeding duct for the ink which, in use, is substantially parallel to the line of printing (X axis) and the ejection modules are fixed side by side on the base plate and with the ejection chambers arranged in a line in the same direction (X axis), is a hydraulic, tight connection with the feeding duct. The nozzle plate is fixed on the ejection modules constituting an upper, hydraulically tight, closing surface, for the chambers and comprises a plurality of ejection nozzles in a line, in turn in hydraulic connection with corresponding cells of the modules.
US08393706B2	Conveying apparatus, recording apparatus, and conveying method A conveying apparatus includes a holding part that holds a recording medium in the form of a roll and rotates, a clamping unit that clamps the recording medium downstream from the holding part along a conveying route, a regulating member that regulates a position of a side end of the recording medium in a width direction intersecting the conveying direction between the holding part and the clamping unit in the conveying route, a drive unit that rotatably drives the holding part in a forward direction to unwind the recording medium and a reverse direction to rewind the recording medium, and a controller that controls a drive state of the drive unit. The controller controls the drive unit so that, after the holding part is driven forward, the holding part is driven in reverse.
US08393699B2	Capacitive load driving circuit, liquid ejection device, and printing apparatus A capacitive load driving circuit that drives an electrical load having a capacitive component, includes: a first power supply generating a first voltage; a second power supply generating a second voltage different from the first voltage; a plurality of charge storage elements charged by the first power supply; a first connection unit that connects the plurality of charge storage elements to the electrical load by switching connections among the charge storage elements; and a second connection unit that connects the second power supply to the electrical load.
US08393698B2	Image forming apparatus and foam application device A disclosed image forming apparatus comprises an image forming unit configured to form an image on a to-be-recorded medium, and a foam application unit configured to apply foam of at least one of a liquid and a gel to the to-be-recorded medium or an intermediate member. The intermediate member is configured to apply the foam to the to-be-recorded medium. The foam application unit includes a storage unit configured to store the foam and spread the foam in a width direction of the to-be-recorded medium or the intermediate member, an applicator configured to apply the foam to the to-be-recorded medium or the intermediate member, and a transport unit configured to transport the foam from the storage unit to the applicator.
US08393696B2	Method and device for controlling the mass of an ink droplet An inkjet printing system controls an ink droplet mass by regulating a pressure in an ink reservoir. The printing system includes an ink reservoir, an air pressure device, an ink ejection device, and a controller. The ink reservoir is configured to contain a supply of ink and an air space above the supply of ink. The air pressure device is fluidly coupled to the air space above the supply of ink. The ink ejection device is fluidly coupled to the ink reservoir to receive ink from the supply of ink and to eject ink droplets onto an image receiving surface. The controller is coupled to the air pressure device and is configured to activate the air pressure device selectively to change a mass of the ink droplets ejected by the ink ejection device.
US08393692B2	Sliding mechanism A sliding mechanism includes an outer rail, an inner rail, a middle rail and a latching assembly. The middle rail has a resisting portion and is slidably mounted to the outer rail and the inner rail is slidably mounted to the middle rail. The latching assembly includes a first protrusion, a second protrusion, a third protrusion, a first roller and a second roller, a latching slot and a stopping surface. When the inner rail slides relative to the middle rail, the first protrusion resists the first roller so the middle rail sliding with the inner rail; and then the first roller slides along the third protrusion to release the first roller from the first protrusion. The second roller then slides in the latching slot until the resisting portion resists the stopping surface; and then the first roller slides along the first protrusion so the inner rail further extends relative to the middle rail.
US08393689B2	Autobraking interlock for an aircraft electric brake system An electric autobrake interlock system for an aircraft includes an autobrake power interlock mechanism that prevents inadvertent (uncommanded) application of brakes. The autobrake power interlock removes operating power from the brake actuators whenever the autobrake actuation data does not indicate a legitimate autobrake application condition. The interlock processing occurs in parallel with the autobrake command processing such that even if an inadvertent autobrake command is generated, the brake actuators will be unable to act upon the inadvertent autobrake command. In this regard, the brake actuators are unable to apply brakes automatically unless the following two actions happen concurrently: the operating power is provided to enable the electric brake actuators and autobrake actuation control is commanded in response to the legitimate autobrake application condition.
US08393679B2	System for engaging multi-component carseat A system for locking together the base and passenger seat of a multi-part carseat. The system includes a base and a passenger seat. The base has an upper surface that receives a passenger seat, front and rear ends, opposed sides extending between the ends, and two spaced apart locking points positioned toward the rear end of the base and two spaced apart locking points positioned toward the front end of the base. The passenger seat is dimensioned to be received by the upper surface of the base and includes four locking elements that are respectively positioned and configured for releasable engagement with a respective one of the four locking points of the base. An actuator releases the locking engagement between the locking elements of the seat and the locking points of the base.
US08393674B2	Infant child restraint system An infant car seat having an outer shell, a protective layer, and a padded fabric cover covering the protective layer is disclosed. The protective layer is preferably made of a polymer, such as expanded polystyrene, and includes a plurality of crush ribs. The spacing of these crush ribs is varied in accordance with the size of the infant. The spacing of these crush ribs determines the stiffness of the layer. In other words, closer spaced ribs offer more resistance to compression, and are therefore stiffer. Ribs that are spaced further apart offer less resistance to compression, and are therefore softer. By varying the spacing of the ribs, the stiffness of the protective layer varies in accordance with the infant's size. Alternatively, or additionally, the width of the crush ribs can be varied to achieve a similar result.
US08393673B2	Front vehicle-body structure of vehicle Part of a front side frame is configured to be deformed so as to bend outwardly, in a vehicle width direction, by a collision load in a vehicle frontal collision. A sub frame provided at a lower portion of a front vehicle body is joined to the front side frame via a reinforcement. A front portion of the reinforcement is located at a position which corresponds to a bending portion of the front side frame which is to be deformed so as to bend outwardly, in the vehicle width direction, by the collision load in the vehicle frontal collision. Accordingly, the bending of the front side frame at its bending portion when the collision load acts in the vehicle frontal collision can be promoted, so that the collision load against passengers can be decreased securely.
US08393671B2	Steering support frame The present invention provides a steering support frame composed of a deck cross member and fastening brackets attached to right and left ends of the deck cross member, and structured by fastening the fastening brackets to respective fitting parts provided in right and left vehicle body frames so as to bridge the deck cross member between the right and left vehicle body frames. To connect the deck cross member and the fastening brackets, one of the ends of the deck cross member is welded to both of a body plate and a surface contact plate of the fastening bracket on a driver seat side, and the other end of the deck cross member is welded only to a body plate of the fastening bracket on a passenger seat side, whereby the deck cross member has a strength difference between the driver seat and passenger seat sides.
US08393663B2	Automobile glove compartment An automobile glove compartment includes: a storage space (1) built into a dashboard and accessible through a main opening (2); a movable door (3); a tray (4) placed inside the storage space, the tray being slidable between a first position a), wherein the tray is stored in the storage space, and a second position b), wherein the tray is partially outside the storage space; and first tray-guiding elements (5), the first tray-guiding elements (5) each including a guiding element (10) projecting out from one of the respective side wall (7a, 7b) of the drawer (4), the guiding element (10) being insertable into a groove (11) built into one of the side walls (8a, 8b) of the glove compartment and slidable along the groove. The groove has a curved or angular shape enabling the sloping of the tray (4) towards the user when the tray (4) is partially outside the storage space.
US08393659B2	Material handling system A material handling system for engaging and lifting transformer coils. Four leg assemblies are provided around a transformer. The leg assemblies have extensible plates which extend underneath the transformer. The leg assemblies are secured by chains to an overhead cruciform spacer which is coupled to a crane or other device. The leg assemblies may be bound together by straps to prevent movement of the leg assemblies relative to one another. For smaller or larger transformers, a lesser or greater number of leg assemblies may be used.
US08393658B2	Device for protecting doors A protecting device for a vehicle is disclosed. The protection device has an elongated member having a longitudinal axis, a plurality of generally flat profiles along one side of the member, at least one magnet positioned in at least one of the generally flat profiles, and an extendible tether attached to the member. At least one concavity extends between the generally flat profiles along the longitudinal axis.
US08393656B2	Modular bumper system A modular reconfigurable bumper system for an off road vehicle includes a center base mountable to the front of the vehicle. The center base has ends, a top face, and a front face. A pair of first mounting locations having associated mounting holes are located on the front face of the center base adjacent its ends and a pair of second mounting locations having associated mounting holes are located on the top face adjacent the ends of the center base. A pair of third mounting locations are located on the ends of the center base. A plurality of optional accessories including end plates, end extenders, an overrider, a prerunner, a stinger, and D-rings are selectively mountable to the center base, all via the first, second, and third mounting locations. The system also includes a rear bumper assembly mountable to the back of the vehicle and having a hinged spare tire carrier and D-rings selectively attachable to the rear bumper via common fourth mounting locations.
US08393644B2	Seat belt pretensioner A seat belt pretensioner for a belt retractor includes a member that rotates relative to a frame of the belt retractor in response to a vehicle condition to rotate a spool of the belt retractor relative to the frame. A drive device rotates the member in response to the vehicle condition. The drive device applies a first torque to the member during a first stage of rotation of the member and the spool and applies a second torque greater than the first torque during a second stage of rotation of the member and the spool. A flexible drive member rotates the member relative to the frame. The flexible drive member extends around an axis of the member more than 360° after activation of the pretensioner.
US08393642B2	Rear structure of vehicle A seat is arranged in front of a back door. An airbag is configured to inflate into a space between the seat and the back door in a rear collision of a vehicle. Herein, when a lower frame portion of a headrest support structure body receives a rearward load in the rear collision of the vehicle, an upper frame portion of the headrest support structure body is moved forwardly around a rotational point of connecting members which pivotally connect an upper portion of the headrest support structure body to the vehicle-body side wall. Accordingly, a headrest attached to the upper frame portion is moved forwardly so that the space between the headrest and the back door can be expanded longitudinally and the passenger's head portion can be supported securely.
US08393640B2	Gas generator for motor vehicle safety airbag The invention relates to a pyrotechnic gas generator (10) for a car airbag (12), the generator including a pyrotechnic charge and a pyrotechnic initiator (28) situated in a combustion chamber (14) and suitable for being actuated by a first detection system (30) for detecting an imminent collision state and/or by a second detection system (32) for detecting an actual collision state. The pyrotechnic gas generator of the invention further includes a gas flow passage (16, 18) between said combustion chamber (14) and said airbag (12), and at least one valve (34) suitable for being moved from a first position in which it defines a first flow section to a second position in which it defines a second flow section greater than said first flow section, or vice versa. In particular, the valve (34) is arranged in such a manner as to define a greater flow section when the pyrotechnic initiator (28) is actuated by the first detection system (30).
US08393636B2	Wrap-around airbag device An airbag device for a vehicle including at least one airbag housing interface chamber that attaches to an airbag housing; at least one airbag cushion chamber downstream of the at least one interface chamber; an elbow that fluidly connects the housing interface chamber with the cushion chamber and configured so that it controllably regulates gas flow into the at least one airbag cushion chamber; the elbow having an internal configuration, which includes at least one opening that permits back and forth gas flow between the elbow and the at least one airbag cushion chamber, and which controls the directional deployment of the airbag cushion chamber so that upon deployment the downstream end of the cushion chamber exits an airbag housing outwardly in a first direction and then in at least one second direction, so that the direction of deployment of the cushion chamber changes in direction to thereby wrap at least partially around a structure of a vehicle of the vehicle and at least temporarily interpose the cushion chamber between any occupant and the vehicle structure.
US08393631B1	Automatic engaging and disengaging hitch assembly A hitch assembly is provided that includes a body and a latch member that is movable relative to the body between an open position and a closed position for securing a hitch pin to the body. A locking pin is movable between a disengaged position and an engaged position for retaining the latch member in the closed position. An unlocking member is mounted to the latch member for movement between a retracted position and an extending position for preventing the locking pin from moving from the disengaged position to the engaged position.
US08393619B2	Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus includes a body frame, an image forming unit and a transporting unit. The transporting unit includes a transporting tray, a side guide, a plate, a skew roller and an urging member. The transporting tray is configured to support the recording medium which is being transported. The side guide is configured to abut with an end of the recording medium in a width direction. The plate is facing the transporting tray. The skew roller is rotatably supported by the plate and is configured to skew the recording medium toward the side guide. The urging member is configured to urge a portion of the plate toward the transporting tray.
US08393615B1	Document position-limiting mechanism A document position-limiting mechanism includes a first paper guide plate, a second paper guide plate, a connecting wheel and a switching module. The first paper guide plate and the second paper guide plate are used for guiding a document on a paper input tray to be fed into an automatic document feeder. Through the connecting wheel, the first paper guide plate and the second paper guide plate are movable on the paper input tray. By means of the switching module, two operating modes of the document position-limiting mechanism can selected by the user in order to meet the requirements of different users.
US08393606B2	Printing device with detachable stapling device The present invention discloses a printing device with a detachable stapling device including a printing device housing, a connecting frame and a stapling device. The connecting frame has a locating post and a fixing hook and is connected with the stapling device. The position of the connecting frame can be adjusted by the locating post of the connecting frame, and the connecting frame can be assembled on the printing device housing or detached from the printing device housing by the fixing hook.
US08393602B2	Coil spring with irregular cross section A coil spring with irregular cross section according to the present invention is made by subjecting a coil wire having an irregular cross section to a fatigue-strength improving treatment including a shot peening treatment after coiling the coil wire into a spring configuration, and the coil spring with irregular cross section has a vertical cross sectional profile whose coil inner-peripheral-side section is expressed by following Equation (1) and Equation (2) in a polar coordinate system and orthogonal coordinate system: x=(LR−Δb)cosnxr θ+Δb (1) y=SR sinnyr θ (2) wherein θ is a deflection angle in said polar coordinate system; and 0°≦θ<90°, 270°≦θ<360°, 0.7≦nxr≦0.9, 0.8≦nyr≦1.0, and 0.1SR≦Δb≦0.3SR; in said Equation (1) and Equation (2). In accordance with the present invention, it is possible to provide a coil spring with irregular cross section that exhibits more uniform and higher fatigue strength along a cross-sectional peripheral direction of the coil wire.
US08393591B2	Seat slide apparatus for vehicle A seat slide apparatus for a vehicle includes a first rail, a second rail, a lock member, a plurality of engagement bores including a rear end engagement bore, a front end portion of the rear end engagement bore being further positioned in a forward direction than a rear end of the second rail in a state where the second rail is positioned at a foremost position, a rear end portion of the rear end engagement bore being exposed to a rear of the rear end of the second rail, a memory member, a holding member holding the memory member to move integrally with the second rail or holding the memory member to engage with one of the engagement bores, and an auxiliary bracket restricting a movement of the memory member that engages with the front end portion of the rear end engagement bore towards the rear end portion thereof.
US08393581B2	Collapsible structures Structures and methods are disclosed regarding deployable structures with expandable longerons adjustably coupled with supporting structures such that an angle between the supporting structures can be adjusted. Such structures can include and/or be used for solar arrays, bridges, support structures, and more. These structures can be easily transported to a new location and deployed from the stowed configuration into a larger functional structure. In some embodiments these structures can use one or more longerons that can have two resting states: deployed and rolled.
US08393580B2	Modular externally accessible batteries for an aircraft An aircraft comprises an airframe, an electric propulsion system, a number of battery pods, and an engagement system. The number of battery pods has a physical connector system. The engagement system is attached to the airframe and is capable of engaging the physical connector system to connect the number of battery pods to the airframe.
US08393579B2	System for disconnecting a fuel transfer boom System (10) for disconnecting the nozzle (1) of a boom from a receptacle (2) to which the nozzle (1) is connected for fuel transfer, comprising latches (3) which are situated in the nozzle (1) and engage with latch-pins (5) arranged in the said receptacle (2), characterized in that the system (10) comprises a receptacle disconnection system (20) which operates the latch-pins (5) of the receptacle (2) and a nozzle disconnection system (30) which operates the latches (3) of the nozzle (1) such that, when an operator performs normal disconnection of the nozzle (1), the system (10) sends a first signal (21) to the receptacle (2) so that its latch-pins (5) are retracted in order to release the latches (3) of the nozzle (1) and, in parallel, sends a second signal (31) to the nozzle (1) so that the latches (3) of the nozzle (1) are retracted and release the said nozzle (1).
US08393577B2	Decompression device for an aircraft A decompression device for an aircraft includes a cabin lining element, which has a first aperture for discharging exhaust air in normal operation of the aircraft and a second aperture for discharging a decompression air flow. The device also includes an unlockable closure element, which is fixable in a closing position in such a way that the second aperture is closed for air flow, and which after unlocking, can take a releasing position so that the second aperture is opened for air flow. The device also includes a locking device designed to fix the closure element in normal operation of the aircraft in the closing position, and is designed in the case of decompression to release the fixing of the closure element, so that the closure element can take the releasing position.
US08393574B2	Composite leg structure for a lightweight aircraft seat assembly A lightweight leg assembly for an aircraft seat assembly includes a leg frame comprising at least one leg attachment bracket and a main frame member carried by the at least one leg attachment bracket and comprising a thermoplastic material. At least one track fitting may be carried by the leg frame. A method of fabricating a leg assembly for an aircraft seat assembly is also disclosed.
US08393571B2	Hydraulic fluid control apparatus Upgrading existing aircraft braking systems to accommodate replacement of existing brake units employing sintered friction materials with brake units employing carbon-carbon composite friction materials is often desirable. However, when upgrading the braking systems it is necessary to ensure that the integrity of the existing airframe is not compromised by the use of the new brake assemblies employing the carbon-carbon composite friction materials. Consequently, the present invention replaces existing pressure control valves of existing braking systems with an electronic control unit (126) coupled to a pressure control servovalve (128), thereby ensuring proper application of hydraulic pressure to brake assemblies (122). An advantage of this invention is that the pressure profile of the hydraulic fluid is controllable and hence the integrity of the airframe is maintained.
US08393566B2	Air inlet for a vehicle The invention relates to an air inlet for a vehicle comprising an opening with an opening contour in an outer skin of the vehicle; at least one bottom element; one or several walls between the opening contour and the bottom element; and an air guide channel with a longitudinal axis, wherein the bottom element extends from the outer skin of the vehicle to an interior region of the vehicle underneath a border edge of the opening, and the air guide channel adjoins from between the bottom element and the border edge, wherein at least one transition region between the opening contour and the walls at least in some regions comprises an essentially convex-shaped profile that essentially extends parallel to the air guide channel. The air inlet according to the invention is in a position to remove air from a flow boundary layer and to provide said air to air-consuming systems.
US08393565B2	Method of feeding energy to actuators associated with an aircraft undercarriage The invention relates to a method of feeding energy to actuators associated with the undercarriages forming the landing gear of an aircraft, the aircraft comprising: a main power supply that operates independently of rotation of wheels carried by the landing gear; and a local power supply comprising one or more local generators, each driven by rotation of a wheel carried by an undercarriage; the method of the invention comprising the following steps: in a nominal mode of operation, powering said actuators by the local power supply; and in an additional mode of operation, when the delivery of energy by the local power supply is not sufficient, providing additional energy or all of the energy required by said actuators by means of the main power supply.
US08393563B2	Handheld tobacco grinder with windows A grinder used to grind material, such as tobacco leaves and other dried fruit and herbs, having windows or plastic covered openings that provide visual access to the interior of the compartment in which the finely grinded material is collected. These windows or plastic covered openings allow the user to visually determine whether sufficient material has been grinded without the burdensome task of repeatedly opening and closing the compartment. Furthermore, the grinder of the present invention is designed to allow the windows or openings to be covered and sealed by a single clear plastic part that is injection molded directly onto the sidewalls of the grinder.
US08393545B1	Cards deployed with inactivated products for activation A payment card is provided with a display. A card may be provided to a user with a number of inactivated products. The products may be assigned to the user at card issuance. A user may then activate these products online or via phone. Accordingly, a user may be provided with a cross-selling platform for new products. Discounts, fee waivers, and/or value may be added to an account when an inactivated product is activated.
US08393544B2	Intelligent identification of multimedia content for synchronization An intelligent synchronization tool ensures access to desired content in a manner that automatically keeps the content current on the portable media device. A variation threshold or user-specified degree of content variation may be introduced among content downloaded to a user's mobile device to prevent the user from becoming bored. Furthermore, intelligent synchronization may automatically populate the portable media device with popular content to save a user time and/or use passive monitoring techniques to ascertain a user's preferences for subsequent population.
US08393542B2	Method and apparatus for reading stacked bar code information A method and an apparatus for reading stacked bar code information are provided which make it possible to shorten the processing time for reading the stacked bar code information. A plurality of conversion processes are disclosed for creating line width matrixes through measurement of the line width of bars and spaces of one column of the image data, by using each of a plurality of threshold values. A cluster number according to a line width matrix calculated through one of the plurality of conversion processes is then compared to a theoretical value of a cluster number of each row.
US08393537B2	Methods, systems and computer program products for electronic identification card creation and transfer during real time communications A method for creating an electronic identification card during a real time communications session including: presenting a user with an option to enter personal information; receiving a command from the user to send the electronic identification card including the personal information during the real time communications session; recording the personal information for the electronic identification card with a data entry method; and sending the electronic identification card to a device involved in the real time communications session.
US08393535B1	ID theft-reducing device to virtualize ID/transaction cards One embodiment of a device to virtualize a multitude of identification and transaction cards comprises a programmable card, approximately the size of a standard banking card, slidably detachable from a control unit that programs the programmable card. The device includes a microcontroller (26) and user interface to enable a user to access and manipulate data and graphics from the identification and transaction cards. The customized data and graphics can be transferred to the programmable card via a write/read head in a hinged magnetic stripe programmer slot (17) that activates when adjusted to a vertical position. The programmable card communicates compatibly with various transaction readers, including those for magnetic stripe, bar code, and RFID. The device includes security features, including a biosensor (12) to authorize activation of the device, and a visible, audible, and palpable alert to warn in real time of unauthorized use of data stored in the device.
US08393518B2	Mobile manufacturing platform A mobile manufacturing platform is provided. The mobile manufacturing platform has a base, a cutting platform, and a welding platform. Additionally the mobile manufacturing platform has a rail system capable of moving the stock material in X, Y, Z coordinates around the platform. Stock material can be manufactured into a final desired piece at a building site by being cut on the cutting platform and then welded on the welding platform. A finishing station for painting and other finishing may also be added. The mobile manufacturing platform can be moved from building site to building site or wherever on-site manufacturing is preferred.
US08393511B2	Pneumatic tool A pneumatic tool includes a tool body, a nose part for ejecting a nail, which is provided in a lower part of the tool body, an air chamber for storing compressed air, which is provided in the tool body, an air supply pipe for supplying the compressed air from an air supply source to the air chamber, an air duster, an air duster pipeline connected to an air outlet of the air duster, and an air duster valve for controlling supply of the compressed air to the air duster pipeline.
US08393507B2	Vehicle article carrier A vehicle article carrier apparatus for supporting articles above an outer body surface of a vehicle that has a pair of support rails fixedly secured to the outer body surface. Each support rail may have at least one structural feature in a wall portion thereof. At least one cross bar having a pair of end supports may be supported on the support rails. At least one of the end supports may have a pivotally mounted locking lever and a pivotally mounted locking member operatively coupled together. The locking member may have an element adapted to engage the at least one structural feature in the support rail. Structure associated with each of the locking lever, a housing of the end support, and the locking member cooperate to prevent the locking lever from being moved into a seated position in a recess of the housing if the end support is not aligned with the structural feature in the support rail.
US08393506B2	Bicycle support assembly for use with a load carrier for vehicles The present invention relates to a support assembly (1) for securing a bicycle to a load carrier for vehicles, comprising a bar (2), which is provided at both ends with a gripping means (3, 4) for mounting the support assembly between a substantially fixed frame of the load carrier and the bicycle, a common tensioning means (5), when tightened forcing together said gripping means (3, 4). The main feature of the invention is that a first gripping means (3) for attachment to the frame of the load carrier comprises an openable annular clamp (8), which extends substantially completely around the frame, and an attachment fitting (9) which is fixedly attached to the clamp for attachment to the tensioning means (5), the opening of the clamp (8) being arranged adjacent said attachment fitting (9) and the clamp (8) has two mutually adapted clamping jaws (10, 11), which are arranged on either side of the opening and which upon tightening of the tensioning means (5) are pressed against one another to tighten the clamp (8) together around the frame.
US08393499B1	Multipurpose dispenser organizer A multipurpose dispenser having a container body adapted to removably retain a plurality of product containers within the container body is disclosed. The dispenser includes a plurality of dispensing devices coupled to the container body. The dispensing devices are adapted for dispensing products from the product containers removably retained within the container body. The dispensing devices include dispensing actuators and nozzles. The dispensing actuators activate dispensing of products through the nozzles for use of the products.
US08393493B1	Drink cooler with cold storage A drink cooler with cold storage that includes an inner wall disposed circumferentially around a central cavity, the central cavity configured to releasably receive a cylindrical storage shaft slidingly insertable to, and retracable from, the central cavity, wherein items stored inside the storage shaft are kept cool by means of a chilled solution (such as ice water) stored within, and dispensible from, an interior cavity disposed between the inner wall and an insulated outer wall.
US08393471B2	Packing insert for disc-shaped objects A described packing insert for disc-shaped objects has a ring and a deformable contacting portion supported by the ring and extending from a circumference of the ring. The contacting portion has one or more solid portions extending from the circumference. The solid portions define a plurality of radially arranged members separated by a plurality of void regions, where the solid portions extend radially from a circumference of the ring.
US08393469B2	Reclosable consumable product package assembly The present invention provides a reclosable consumable product package for retaining an array of products until the products are desired to be removed. The package includes a container packet formed of a planar extent roll for retaining and enclosing the array of products. A cover with adhesive attached thereto defined by an openable flap overlies the packet. The packet is scored along its surface in such a way that opening of the flap causes the packet to open along the scoring to expose the product for dispensing.
US08393464B2	Multifunctional case for portable electronic device background A multifunctional case includes a base, a cover, and a foldable connecting area connecting the base to the cover, the base defines a receiving space in a front surface for receiving a flat-type electronic device. The cover is substantially the same size as the base and includes a first plate portion, a foldable second plate portion connected to the first plate portion, two foldable third plate portions connected to two sides of the first plate portion, and two foldable fourth plate portions connected to two sides of the second portion. The third plate portions are respectively connected to the fourth plate portions. The cover is foldable relative to the base, the connecting area, and the first through fourth plate portions can cooperatively fold to support the base in a slanted position so that the electronic device is supported in a slanted position.
US08393457B2	Handrail for an escalator or a moving walkway A handrail, used in particular for escalators or moving walkways, has a plurality of individual grip elements arranged in a series along the length of the handrail loop. Each grip element has an oval or elliptical outer shell, cover layer or casing that is at least partially transparent. An illumination unit is situated in the interior the shell, cover layer or casing.
US08393452B2	One way clutch In a one way clutch shipped and transported in a sub-assembly state in which one of inner ring and outer ring is assembled in a later stage. The retainer has pockets radially passing therethrough at predetermined intervals and columns between the adjacent pockets. The circumferential length of each column is so designed as to cause the biasing members, each having a spring force that allows reduction of drug, to exert a biasing force that is so strong that the torque transmission members are prevented by biasing by the biasing members from being dislocated in the sub-assembly state. The circumferential width of an engagement projection of a block bearing is smaller than that of a groove in one of the rings. When a torque greater than a predetermined level is input, the retainer shifts by a distance equal to a gap between the engagement projection and an end of the groove.
US08393442B2	High gain asymmetry brake An asymmetry brake includes a housing, a shaft, a pilot brake, a primary brake, and a ball ramp assembly. The shaft of the asymmetry brake is rotatable relative to the housing about an axis of rotation. The primary brake is movably connected with the shaft. The pilot brake is configured to selectively engage the housing to generate a triggering torque. The triggering torque is transferred through the ball ramp assembly to the primary brake, which in response engages the housing to generate a braking torque on the shaft. The disposition of the ball ramp assembly between the pilot brake and the primary brake allows the ball ramp assembly to return to an operative non-separated condition when the pilot brake is disengaged from the housing. The return of the ball ramp assembly to the operative non-separated condition allows the primary brake to disengage from the housing which releases the shaft to rotate.
US08393441B2	Spreader spring A brake assembly comprising: at least one brake spring that includes: a first arm; a second arm, the first arm and the second arm forming a first arm plane; and a body portion between and connecting to the first arm and the second arm, the body portion forming a body plane, the body plane being at an angle relative to the first arm plane; wherein the at least one brake spring is between and in communication with a pressure plate of at least two brake pads.
US08393433B2	Exhaust structure of motorcycle An exhaust pipe connected to an exhaust port of an engine and an expansion chamber is disposed in the vicinity of the engine. A main tube is provided that extends rearwardly from a head pipe disposed at the front side of a main body. An engine having a cylinder extending upwardly from a crankcase is disposed under the main tube with an exhaust port open at the front side of the cylinder. A first exhaust pipe is provided that is connected to the exhaust port. A down tube is disposed on the center line in the left-right direction of the main body. The exhaust port disposed behind the down tube is deviatingly open at one side from the center line. The first exhaust pipe extends forward from one side of the down tube, and to the other side of the down tube, subsequently turns, and extends again to one side.
US08393428B2	Vehicle with engine output control A vehicle includes a front seat and a rear seat that is changeable between an installed state in which the passenger can be seated and a retracted state in which the passenger is not seated and the rear seat is retracted. The vehicle includes an output control unit controlling the output of an engine, and a detection device for detecting the installed state of the rear seat. When the detection device detects the installed state of the rear seat, the output control unit regulates the output of the engine as compared with the output when the detection device does not detect the installed state of the rear seat.
US08393426B2	Vehicle structure of a hybrid vehicle A vehicle structure of a hybrid vehicle that contributes to compactly structuring the vehicle body, which is provided with: a battery disposed at the lower side in a vehicle up-down direction of a rear seat so as to overlap with the rear seat in plan view; and a fuel tank including a shallow profile portion that is disposed at the lower side of the battery such that a portion thereof overlaps with a floor face of the battery in plan view, and a deep profile portion that is made thicker in the vehicle up-down direction than the shallow profile portion and that is disposed at the rear side of the battery such that at least a portion thereof overlaps with a rear face of the battery in elevational view.
US08393421B2	Hull robot drive system A hull robot includes a robot body, at least one drive module for maneuvering the robot about the hull, an on-board power source, and a motive subsystem for the drive module powered by the on-board power source. A plurality of permanent magnet elements are associated with the drive module and each are switchable between a non-shunted state when adjacent the hull and a shunted state when not adjacent the hull.
US08393413B2	Closed loop control bore hole drilling system A steerable bore hole drilling tool and method of drilling bore holes. The steerable bore hole drilling tool comprise means for mechanically decoupling the sensor unit from the tool body. The method comprises a step of mechanically decoupling the sensor unit form the tool body.
US08393411B2	Method for controlling loss of drilling fluid Methods for drilling and treating for lost returns continuously while drilling are provided. High fluid loss drilling fluid is used, along with particulate material that forms an immobile mass in hydraulic fractures to prevent their growth. The particulate material may be selected based on the predicted size of a hydraulic fracture, based on particle size to minimize fines, based on specific gravity to attain high solids content for a selected fluid density, and/or based on permeability of the particles to attain a high spurt loss.
US08393400B2	Metal-to-metal seal with wiper element and wellhead system incorporating same A wellhead or Christmas tree seal assembly that forms a metal-to-metal seal between inner and outer wellhead or Christmas tree members. U-shaped metal seals having legs that face in opposite directions, are bonded to a wiping element. During installation of the seal assembly, the ends of the seal legs seal against the wellhead members and the wiping element compensates for defects on the surfaces of the wellhead members. The wiping element can be of an elastomer, metallic, or intercalated graphite material.
US08393386B2	Subsurface safety valve and method of actuation A downhole valve apparatus including a force transmitter configured to move in an axial direction and a valve actuator configured to move in an axial direction. The valve actuator is independently movable relative to the force transmitter and physically isolated from the force transmitter. A first magnetic assembly is disposed at the force transmitter. A second magnetic assembly is disposed at the valve actuator. The first and second magnetic assemblies are configured to repel one another and cause the force transmitter to move the valve actuator when the force transmitter is moved toward the valve actuator.
US08393378B2	Group control method for controlling motor-driven screens as a group, automatic motor control for implementing the method, and home automation installations including such automatic motor control According to the method of the invention, the movement of movable screen ends for a group of motor-driven screens to a common position is controlled in a grouped manner. The method includes a step (E150) consisting of moving the end of a screen when said end becomes the farthest from the common position after moving the end of at least one other screen to said common position.
US08393369B2	Labeling machine for labels printed on continuous film A labeling machine for labels printed on continuous film, comprising, in an intermediate position between a motorized reel and a feed roller, a tunnel provided with suction elements adapted to determine on the film in transit inside it an attraction that gives it a bent configuration, elements being provided which are adapted to control the depth of the bend, the tunnel being provided with a bottom and a lid that are adapted to align the film at a constant height.
US08393364B2	Refuelling container for fuelcell, method for refuelling, and holder for refulling container In, for example, a direct methanol type fuelcell, fuel is allowed to be injected little by little when the fuel is injected and supplied from the outside to a fuel receiving part reduced in the amount of remaining fuel on the fuelcell body side and an electromotive part can be prevented from being damaged by keeping the pressure in the fuel receiving part at a fixed level or less when the fuel is injected. Specifically, when a fuel CL filled in a refuelling container C is injected into a fuel receiving part T in several lots, a fuel injecting operation is repeated in which the volume of the refuelling container C is shrunk and reduced to supply the fuel into the fuel receiving part T in a proper amount and then the original volume of the refuelling container is restored to thereby absorb the atmospheric gas in the fuel receiving part T, which makes it possible to inject fuel continuously without any hindrance to the injection of the fuel.
US08393354B2	Self-sealing hydraulic control line coupling There is provided a hydraulic fluid control line connector including first and second couplings configured to automatically seal shut when the members are disengaged. There is further provided a method for blocking contamination or pressure transfer of hydraulic fluid control lines by securing first and second couplings to corresponding ends of a hydraulic line and automatically sealing the couplings shut when the couplings are disengaged.
US08393351B2	Dual automatic dryer and washing machine protective basin The Dual Automatic Dryer and Washing Machine Protective Basin is a drip pan sized to fit both a washer and dryer, and to contain leakage from both appliances. The position of the washer and dryer can safely be swapped, and the pan can optionally be provided with an opening directly over a floor drain, which now need not be located under the washing machine. The front wall of the basin can be sized to clear a door or pedestal drawer; alternatively, the basin can have raised spots supporting the feet of the appliance or pedestal, so as to lift doors or drawers above the front wall.
US08393350B2	Methods and apparatus for introducing additives into a fluid flow Disclosed are an apparatus and methods for introducing additives into a fluid flow. An additive vessel, with chambers for one or more additives, is attached to a primary flow fixture in a configuration that permits a diversion of part of the primary flow through the additive vessel then back to the outlet of the primary flow fixture. When the apparatus is engaged, a part of the primary flow is diverted to the additive vessel, combines with the additive, and then is re-introduced to the fluid stream, exiting the primary flow fixture.
US08393347B2	Pressure relief device having support member with recessed areas An apertured rupture disc support member (32, 90) is provided for use in a rupture disc assembly (70). A rupture disc (30, 30a) comprising one or more embossed segments (80) that are complemental with the support member apertures (56) is also disclosed. The pressure relief assembly (12) is particularly suited for use in sanitary pressure relief applications.
US08393343B2	Railing mounted shade A shade assembly adapted for use with deck and balcony settings. A shade cover piece is supported to a pole. The support pole includes a hub assembly for horizontally varying the diametric displacement of a number of stays and the shade cover and a hinge assembly for adjusting the angle of the shade cover relative to the support pole. Associated fasteners having channel and collar pieces adapted to rails, balusters and deck boards secure the support pole and shade cover to rails, balusters and/or deck boards of a deck, patio or balcony railing system. Split band collars compressively grip the support pole and rigidly anchor the support pole and cover piece to the railing. Alternative stay stops and non-marring fastener liners are also disclosed.
US08393342B2	Walking cane The present invention includes a walking cane having a handle assembly, a support assembly and foot member. The handle assembly includes first and second generally upright rigid posts. A shaft adaptable for grasping by a user's hand connects to each end of the posts. Pliable mounts dispose between the terminal ends of the shaft and each post. The mounts, biased against the shaft, permit omni-directional movement of the shaft relative to each post. The support assembly connects to the handle assembly and includes three parallel elongated rods spaced apart from one another in a triangular formation. The handle assembly can be adjusted relative to the support assembly by means of two cooperating shims. The foot member connects to the support assembly and contacts the ground. The cane provides a light-weight shaft and a shock absorbing handle assembly to assist in relieving hand, wrist and arm strains.
US08393340B2	Flexible sunshade A flexible sunshade includes an elastic element having a lower end mounted to an upper end of a pole. A hub is fixed to an upper end of the elastic element. A canopy is mounted to a plurality of ribs each having an end pivotably connected to the hub. A runner is slideably mounted to the pole. A first end of each of a plurality of stretchers is pivotably connected to the runner. A second end of each stretcher is pivotably connected to one of the ribs. When the canopy, the ribs, or the hub is subjected to a force at a non-parallel angle to a longitudinal axis of the pole, the elastic element flexes to cause the hub to flex in a direction of the force, absorbing at least a portion of the force acting on the flexible sunshade.
US08393333B2	Immobilized diluents for smoking articles Immobilized diluents in a smoking article are provided, wherein diluents can be immobilized through absorption and/or adsorption of the diluents into immobilizing materials, such as sorbents like silica gels. By immobilizing diluents, the diluents can be available for vaporization, while still being protected from migration and/or loss of the diluents in a smoking article.
US08393331B2	Electronic atomization cigarette An electronic cigarette includes a shell and a mouthpiece. The external wall of the shell has an air inlet. An atomizer and a liquid-supply are in contact with each other. The air inlet, atomizer, an aerosol passage, and a mouthpiece are sequentially interconnected.
US08393325B2	Forehead pad for a breathing mask and method for making the same A forehead pad for a breathing mask includes a substantially dimensionally stable first wall element and an elastomer second wall element coupled to the first wall element. The second wall element has a contact zone adapted to contact a surface of a user in use. The first and second wall elements define a filling-material-receiving chamber adapted to receive a filling material.
US08393324B1	Directionally efficient respirator mask The present invention provides a symmetrical face mask suitable for use with one hand that allows an operator to provide a reliable seal with the patient's face with his/her hand and arm in an anatomically favorable position for application of a user's physical strength. In general, a user may reach at an acute angle to the plane of their chest and engage the invention mask with their hand in a manner the user may shake another person's hand, i.e., with a distal portion of their radius and ulna arranged essentially vertically so that side to side motion of the hand translates to forward and rearward motion of a mask shell while a user reserves full bi-directional rotational capability of their arm for forward or rearward rotation compression of the mask shell while, at the same time, reserving full and lever-efficient, bi-directional pushing and pulling range of a user's arm for greater pressure of the mask shell to a right or left side of a user's fleshy cheek.
US08393320B2	Blower motor with flexible support sleeve A double-ended blower includes a blower motor assembly supporting opposed first and second shaft ends. The first and second shaft ends have respective first and second impellers attached thereto and enclosed within first and second volutes, respectively. The first volute is connected to an inlet and the second volute is connected to an outlet. The blower motor assembly is at least partially enclosed within a flexible sleeve, with a radially outer inter-stage gas path extending between the first and second volute, and radially inward of the flexible sleeve.
US08393283B2	Device for actuating sheets of sailing boats A device (1) for actuating sheets of sailing boats comprises a pulling element (2) for a sheet (200) and an actuator (3) connected to the pulling element (2) for causing the motion thereof. The actuator (3) comprises a screw (4) and a nut (7) engaged with each other, wherein one from the screw (4) and the nut (7) is rotated and the other translates linearly.A boom (300) of a sailing boat (100) provided with the device (1) for actuating sheets of the invention is also described.
US08393271B2	Pocket stamp The invention relates to a pocket stamp (1) comprising a housing (2) which is configured in the shape of a case (3) having two articulately connected shell-shaped housing parts (4, 5) which can be displayed from a closed position, in which they are detachably connected to one another, into an open position, in which a die plate (24) accommodated in one of the housing parts (4) and protruding over the edge thereof is present in the operating or impression position thereof, in which the other housing part (5) is offset toward the rear in relation to the die plate (24), wherein in one housing part (5) at least one detent element (10) in the form of a hook (18) is provided and in the other housing part (4) a detent element (16) in the form of a ledger (20) cooperating with the hook (18) is provided, one of the detent elements (16) being resiliently movable.
US08393268B2	Doctor blade support and tool for loosening that doctor blade support A doctor blade support (2) for a machine for printing paste by silk screen printing, includes: a doctor blade (6) of substantially square cross-section which is to come into contact with the meshes of a silk screen printing screen in order to apply the paste to an element to be printed; a first (12) and a second (14) clamping jaws suitable for clamping the doctor blade (6); at least two elements (20) for tightening the first clamping jaw (12) towards the second clamping jaw (14) in order to clamp or withdraw the doctor blade (6); characterized in that each tightening element (20) includes a resilient element (40) applying a force between the two clamping jaws (12, 14) in order to move them towards each other, and elements for regulating the deformation of the resilient element (40).
US08393263B2	Food dough extending apparatus An object is to provide a food dough extending apparatus capable of adjusting a vertical position of an extending roller unit in an obliquely vertical direction in accordance with a thickness of food dough. A food dough apparatus includes an inclined transporting unit 7 inclined and configured to transport to-be-extended food dough 9 upward, a horizontal direction transporting unit 11 configured to transport the food dough 9 transported from the inclined transporting unit 7 in a horizontal direction, and an extending roller unit 13 provided above over an area from an upper end of the inclined transporting unit 7 to the horizontal direction transporting unit 11 and configured to extend the food dough 9. The extending roller unit 13 is vertically adjustable in a direction intersecting an inclination direction of the inclined transporting unit 7 and being upwardly inclined toward the inclined transporting unit 7. The extending roller unit 13 includes dust sealing mechanisms provided between ends of the extending rollers 79 and a pair of endless members 75, the dust sealing mechanism inhibiting circulation of air between rotation regions of extending rollers 79 and traveling regions of the pair of endless members 75.
US08393254B2	Gripping device A gripping device comprising a first arm pivotally connected to a second arm. The arms form a gripping area. A linkage mechanism is used for adjusting the inwardly and outwardly movement of the gripping area, with the linkage mechanism pivotally connected to the first arm and second arm. The linkage mechanism is formed of a first linkage laterally and pivotally connected to a second linkage.
US08393242B2	Remote-controlled actuator A remote controlled actuator includes a spindle guide section (3) of an elongated configuration, a distal end member (2) fitted to a distal end of the spindle guide section (3) through a distal end member connecting unit (15) for alteration in attitude, a tool (1) rotatably provided to the distal end member (2), a tool rotating drive source (41) for rotating the tool, and an attitude altering drive source (42) for manipulating the attitude of the distal end member. The distal end member rotatably supports a spindle (13) then holding the tool (1). The spindle guide section (3) includes a rotary shaft (22) for transmitting rotation of the tool rotating drive source to the spindle and a guide hole (30a). A flexible attitude altering member (31) capable of altering the attitude of the distal end member is reciprocally movably inserted within the guide hole (30a).
US08393240B2	Instrumented control pedals for electronically shifted manual transmissions An instrumented control pedal for a vehicle includes a lever portion, a pedal portion, a position sensor and at least one pressure sensor. The lever portion may include a first end, a second end and a pivot point disposed proximate the second end. The pedal portion may be disposed proximate the first end of the lever portion and the at least one pressure sensor may be disposed on the pedal portion. The position sensor may be operable to detect the displacement of the instrumented control pedal about the pivot point and output a position signal indicating the displacement of the instrumented control pedal. When a pressure is applied to the pedal portion, the pressure sensor outputs a signal indicating pressure is being applied to the pedal portion.
US08393238B2	Dual clutch transmission A double clutch transmission with two clutches connected to a drive shaft and to one of two transmission input shafts. Fixed gears are coupled to the input shafts and engage idler gears. Several coupling devices connect the idler gears to a respective countershaft which have an output gear that couple gears of an output shaft such that forward and reverse gears can be shifted. Three dual gear planes each comprise two idler gears, each supported by a respective countershaft, and one fixed gear. In each dual gear plane, at least one idler gear wheel can be used for implementing at least two gears so that at least one winding-path gear can be shifted via a shifting device.
US08393233B2	Force meter The primary application of this force meter is measurement of fluid flow. A force on the force sensor push the force sensor away from the original position. The deviation of the force sensor is detected by a proximity sensor. An electronic unit takes the position signal from the proximity sensor as a feedback. The electronic unit generates electric current to an electromagnetic anti-torque means. The electromagnetic anti-torque means generates an anti-torque on force sensor to prevent the force sensor from moving away from the original position. A display unit measures the electric current and calculates velocity and rate of fluid before displays the results.
US08393224B2	Stress gauge having an acoustic resonant structure and sensor for at least one physical parameter using such stress gauge The invention relates to a stress gauge of the type having an acoustic resonant structure, including a piezoelectric transducer (10) connected to a holder (20), the holder (20) including opposite the piezoelectric transducer (10) an imbedded reflecting portion (40). The imbedded reflecting portion (40) reflects the volume acoustic waves generated by the piezoelectric transducer (10) when it is excited according to a harmonic mode of the structure and propagating into said holder (20), the reflecting portion (40) being arranged at a distance from the piezoelectric transducer (10) such that the integral of the stress on the propagation distance of the volume acoustic waves up to their reflection is different from zero.
US08393218B2	Ultrasonic testing method and apparatus An ultrasonic testing apparatus 100 comprises an ultrasonic probe 1 including n (n≧2) number of transducers arranged along a predetermined direction, disposed so as to face a test object P, and a transmission/reception control device 2 for selecting m (n>m≧1) number of transducers from among the n number of transducers, transmitting ultrasonic waves from the selected m number of transducers toward the test object, receiving the ultrasonic waves therefrom, and switched m number of transducers to b selected successively. If an angle that the arrangement direction of the transducers makes with the surface of the test object which ultrasonic waves enter is θ, and the effective beam width of each selected m number of transducers with respect to a target flaw is W1, the transmission/reception control device switches m number of transducers to be selected successively by a switching pitch length P satisfying the formula: P≦W1·cos θ.
US08393205B2	Inflation valve and pressure gauge with over pressure protection An inflation and pressure measurement system having over pressure protection for an attached pressure gauge. A plunger is placed within an internal cavity of a valve body where the plunger can move axially into a first and a second position. In the first position there is gaseous communication between an inflation valve and an operating port. While in the first position, a gauge port may release gas through a wiper seal. In the second position there is gaseous communication between the operating port and the gauge port. The plunger may be biased in the second position. The first and second positions may be located by a locating groove in the plunger and a locating structure passing through the valve body and contacting the locating groove. While the inflatable device can be inflated using high pressures, the pressure gauge is protected from over pressure damage. Some embodiments can inflate and monitor the pressure of multiple inflatable devices from a single position.
US08393200B2	Device and method for measuring mechanical properties of materials The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for measuring mechanical properties of materials using an indenter which has a predetermined geometry, a device for generating force permitting the indenter to penetrate into a material sample surface of an object of measurement, and a device for measuring the penetration depth, wherein, arranged between a force application portion on which the device for generating force is applied and a shaft with an indenter tip facing towards the material surface of the object of measurement, the indenter has at least one micro-mechanical motion actuator by which at least one radial deflection of the shaft with respect to the force absorption portion of the indenter is capable of being activated or detected.
US08393180B1	Method of manufacturing a fiberglass mat In the description and drawings a method of forming a fiberglass mat is disclosed. A drum is rotated, a molten fiberglass material is fed through at least one orifice of a furnace while rotating the drum, and the relative position of the orifice with respect to a location on the drum is altered while rotating the drum and feeding the molten fiber glass material through the orifice to build up a fiberglass matt along a traverse length.
US08393178B2	Thermal control of the bead portion of a glass ribbon Methods and apparatus for controlling the stress in, and the shape of, the glass ribbon (15) formed in a downdraw glass manufacturing process (e.g., the fusion downdraw process) are provided. In certain embodiments, the control is achieved by cooling the bead portions (21a, 21b) of the ribbon (15) at a rate which provides a heat flux Q″b at the thickest part of the bead (23a, 23b) which is given by Q″b=Q″q+ΔQ″, where (i) Q″q is the heat flux at a transverse position adjacent to the bead portion (21a, 21b) at which the ribbon's thickness equals 1.05*tcenter, where tcenter is the final thickness at the ribbon's center line (17), and (ii) ΔQ″≧(tb/tq−1)Q″q+10 kilowatts/meter2, where tb is the thickness of the thickest part of the bead portion. The cooling can take place along the entire length of the ribbon (15) or at selected locations, e.g., in the portion (50) of the draw which includes the glass transition temperature region (31) or the portion (60) of the draw where individual glass sheets (13) are cut from the ribbon (15).
US08393176B2	Downdraw method for producing glass sheet The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a glass sheet, the method including: running down molten glass along both side surfaces of a molded body; joining and integrating the molten glass just under a lower edge part of the molded body; and drawing downward and molding an integrated sheet-shaped glass ribbon, in which a guide member which contacts to an end in a width direction of a joined molten glass is provided, and a relative position and/or a relative angle between the guide member and a lower edge of the molded body is/are adjusted.
US08393175B2	Methods for extracting strengthened glass substrates from glass sheets Methods for extracting strengthened glass substrates from glass sheets are described herein. In one embodiment, the method for extracting strengthened glass substrates from glass sheets comprises forming a plurality of channel segments in the glass sheet. The plurality of channel segments may extend through the thickness of the glass sheet and are separated by remnant glass webs connecting the glass substrate to the glass sheet. The plurality of channel segments extend around a perimeter of the glass substrate. Thereafter, the glass sheet is strengthened by ion-exchange. The glass substrate is then separated from the glass sheet by severing the glass substrate from the remnant glass webs.
US08393167B2	Apparatus and method for identifying a filter assembly A water dispensing system for a refrigerator comprising a refrigeration compartment includes a manifold assembly, a monitoring device coupled to the manifold assembly and including at least one sensor, and a filter assembly including a filter housing removably mounted to the manifold assembly. The filter assembly is configured to be compatible with a plurality of suitable filter media. At least two indicators are in signal communication with the at least one sensor when the filter housing is mounted onto the manifold assembly. A controller is operatively coupled to the monitoring device. The controller is configured to identify the filter assembly and the filter medium based on a signal received from the at least one sensor and operate the water dispensing system based on the identification of the filter assembly and the filter medium.
US08393165B2	Service method and service device for a liquid cooling system of an aircraft The present invention discloses a service method and a service device (50) for a liquid cooling system (1) of an aircraft, the service device (50) being adapted to send at least one instruction to a liquid cooling control device (10) of the liquid cooling system (1). A plurality of service lines (52, 54, 56, 58, 62) are then connected between the service device (50) and the to liquid cooling system (1). The entire liquid cooling system (1) or a sub-system (12) can then be filled, emptied, deaerated and checked in respect of a leakage. Further, it is possible to set the fill level of a reservoir (8) and to service a fill-level sensor (99) of the reservoir (8).
US08393162B2	Temperature control system for seat of vehicles A temperature control system includes an air duct, an air-blowing device, a seat back temperature control unit, and a seat cushion temperature control unit. The air-blowing device urges air to flow through the air duct. The seat back temperature control unit and the seat cushion temperature control unit performs heat exchanges between air flowing in the air duct and air supplied to a seat back and air supplied to a seat cushion, respectively. The air duct forms a single air passage passing by the seat back temperature control unit and the seat cushion temperature control unit so that the air flowing in the air duct undergoes heat exchange with one of the seat back temperature control unit and the seat cushion temperature control unit and then undergoes heat exchange with the other.
US08393157B2	Swozzle design for gas turbine combustor Disclosed is a fuel nozzle for a combustor of a gas turbine engine includes a nozzle inlet, a combustion area and a swirler disposed between the nozzle inlet and combustion area. The swirler includes a plurality of swirler vanes, each swirler vane capable of creating a pressure difference in fluid flow through the swirler between a pressure side and suction side of the swirler vane. The swirler further includes at least one through airflow hole located in at least one swirler vane of the plurality of swirler vanes. The at least one through airflow hole is capable of utilizing the pressure difference between the pressure side and suction side to promote fluid flow through the at least one airflow hole. Also disclosed is a method for operating a combustor.
US08393156B2	Variable performance valve of a fuel nozzle for a turbine engine A variable performance valve for use in a fuel nozzle is presented. The valve includes a spring, an inner spool having a port, an outer sleeve, and an orifice, which in a fuel nozzle application may be a calibration orifice. In a low flow condition, the inlet to downstream pressure is the spring force divided by the area on which the pressure acts. At low flow the orifice does not cause any appreciable pressure drop. As the flow increases, a pressure drop develops across the orifice. Since the pressure drop across the valve cannot be greater than the spring force divided by valve area, the valve is forced to open to compensate. As flow is increased, the valve will stroke completely open and the pressure drop at the port becomes negligible and the pressure drop across the orifice is nearly 100% of the pressure drop across the valve.
US08393153B2	Method, device, and system for converting energy To convert energy, firstly a non-gaseous carrier medium is converted into a gaseous carrier medium by the introduction of thermal energy, so that the gaseous carrier medium rises and gains potential energy. Then the gaseous carrier medium is converted back at a specified height into a non-gaseous carrier medium. The potential energy of the recovered non-gaseous carrier medium can then be converted into another desired energy form.
US08393150B2	System and method for operating a variable displacement hydraulic pump A control for a variable displacement pump disposed in a hydraulic system obtains a requested signal from a manual control device and provides a command signal to a valve operating to adjust a displacement setting of the variable displacement pump. The control provides the command signal based on the requested signal, and scales the requested signal based on a sensed or calculated load of the system.
US08393149B2	Wind powered energy amplification system and method The present invention is comprised of a wind powered energy amplification method and systems for capturing wind power and harvesting tangentially amplified energy. The harvested tangentially amplified energy is converted, processed and stored for use for generating continuous, on demand and stand by electricity to supply electricity. The present invention is further comprised of methods and systems for extracting, processing and storing water and carbon dioxide to supply water and supply carbon dioxide.
US08393139B2	Device with secondary jets reducing the noise generated by an aircraft jet engine An aircraft jet engine including a wall centered about a longitudinal axis and surrounding a stream of gas ejected at a downstream end of the wall in the direction of the axis, primary ducts distributed at the periphery of the downstream end of the wall configured on command each to eject a jet of primary fluid to interact with the ejected stream of gas, the primary ducts of each pair converging towards one another near the downstream end of the wall so that the primary jets ejected form two sides of a triangle that meet at the vertex thereof in a view projected onto a plane perpendicular to a transverse plane, and secondary ducts each associated with each pair of primary ducts and configured on command to eject a jet of secondary fluid directed into the triangle formed by the primary jets.
US08393136B1	Concave deck flexible hitch cutter A rotary mower has a concave cutting deck. The deck comprises three curved plates welded to two longitudinal supports. Concavity is provided in the longitudinal and transverse directions. The lift frame assembly comprises swiveling linkages that allow rotation of the deck with respect to a three point hitch. The lift frame assembly further comprises a pivot brace on the top of the frame for further rotation of the deck.
US08393131B2	Device for the assembly of pocket spring strings The device for the assembly of pocket spring strings includes a rack, on which a drum having receptacles for pocket spring strings is rotatably supported. An operator manually places the pocket spring strings into the receptacles and rotates, or initiates the rotation of, the drum about a predetermined angle, for example 60°. Now, the operator places a further pocket spring string into the subsequent receptacle , and at the same time an adhesive is applied to the advanced pocket spring string. Following a further rotational movement of the drum, the next pocket spring string is inserted, an adhesive is applied to the previously inserted pocket spring string, and at the same time the pocket spring string to which the adhesive was applied and which is now located in front of the assembly device is ejected.
US08393119B2	Smart isolation base for sensitive structures such as nuclear power plants against earthquake disturbances An isolation base system for sensitive structures such as nuclear power plant modules is suggested. The proposed isolation system considers a base supported on specially designed hollow spherical balls and equipped with 3 linear hydraulic actuators to restrict the lateral motion of the base and provide a stable base under normal conditions. The actuators are released when an earthquake signal is detected to allow the base to oscillate freely during the earthquake attack. The hydraulic actuators are reactivated after shock wave ends to compress the springs and restore the base to its original position.
US08393118B2	Friction damping bolt connection for a wind tower lattice structure A wind turbine lattice tower structure includes a plurality of structural members connected together to define an open lattice tower, with the structural members including vertical leg members and diagonal braces extending between the vertical leg members. Pairs of the diagonal braces form cross braces having an intersection point therebetween. A damping bolt connection assembly is provides at the intersection point of the cross braces and is configured to attach the cross braces together at the intersection point while providing for relative movement of each individual cross brace along a defined longitudinal section of the other respective cross brace.
US08393114B2	Device with a carriage for holding panels, carriage, rail and separation element The device used to hold a separation element includes a carriage with a carriage body and at least one wheel which rolls on a running surface of a rail. The carriage is releasably connected to a mounting element which is connected to the separation element. The mounting element which is mounted laterally on an upper edge of the separation element includes a guide profile provided with a first guide surface which holds a lower and an upper flange element of the carriage body inserted therein which can be displaced along the first guide surface extending inclined by a first angle relative to the upper edge of the separation element and can be locked in an appropriate position by means of locking elements.
US08393109B2	Combination red dot sight and range indicator apparatus A combination red dot sight (reflex sight) and electronic range indicator displayed in a sighting element. The sighting element is housed in a body which includes lens elements and a light source for the red dot sight as well as an optical display for the range indicator. A processor for the red dot sight and the range indicator are housed in a frame. A user interface includes indicia for varying the intensity of the light source for the red dot sight as well as activate the range indicator. Alternately, the range indicator may be activated by a button positioned remotely, such as on the firearm or bow and may be wired to the range indicator circuit or communicate via wireless transmission. An emitting lens and a receiving lens are optically connected via a range finding circuit to the processor.
US08393103B2	Firearm having a debris shield The present invention provides for a firearm having a receiver defining a bore with the receiver extending along a longitudinal axis. The receiver defines an ejection port transverse to the longitudinal axis with the bore defining an inner surface. The firearm further includes a bolt carrier disposed in the bore and moveable relative to the receiver along the longitudinal axis between a firing position and a rearward position. The firearm also includes a shield longitudinally affixed to the bolt carrier and movable with the bolt carrier as a unit between the firing and rearward positions along the longitudinal axis with the shield blocking the ejection port when in the firing position and the shield sliding along the inner surface away from the ejection port when moving to the rearward position in conjunction with the bolt carrier.
US08393102B2	Magazine repair system for firearm The present invention provides for a firearm including a buttstock defining a first bore extending along a longitudinal axis and a receiver coupled to the buttstock. The receiver defines a second bore extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis and in fluid communication with the first bore. The receiver also defines an ejection port transverse to the longitudinal axis. The firearm further includes a bolt carrier disposed in the second bore and movable relative to the receiver along the longitudinal axis between a firing position and a rearward position. The firearm also includes an expulsion device at least partially disposed in the buttstock for flowing air through the first and second bores and out the ejection port as the bolt carrier moves between the firing and rearward positions.
US08393100B1	Holiday display A holiday display preferably includes a drive unit, at least one object mount, a transport line and an idler pulley device. The drive unit preferably includes a drive motor and a system controller. The drive unit is retained above the ground in one location and the idler pulley device is retained above the ground in another location. A drive pulley is mounted to a drive shaft of the drive motor. The system controller controls the rotation of the drive motor. Both ends of the transport line are secured to the object mount to form a transport loop. One end of the transport loop is retained on the drive pulley and the other end is retained on the idler pulley. The system controller also includes a distance input device for setting a travel distance of the object mount between the drive and idle pulleys.
US08393096B2	Plow for use with a motorized wheelchair A snowplow and mounting assembly having a mounting frame for use with a motorized wheelchair wherein the mounting frame has one side with a V-shape or other shape snowplow facing away from the wheelchair and has another side that faces the wheelchair and is adapted to cooperate with the wheelchair in use to plow snow. A particular snowplow and mounting assembly has a mounting frame for pressed engagement with the tip wheels of a wheelchair; a snowplow blade disposed on one side of the frame; first and second push wheel brackets disposed on the other side of the frame for contacting the first and second tip wheels of the motorized wheelchair; and at least one handle disposed on the frame adapted to be operated by user of the wheelchair.
US08393094B1	Snow removal assembly and method A snow removal assembly includes a covering that is positionable on a ground surface. The covering includes a plurality of panels that are slidably coupled together to allow a combined length of the panels to be selectively lengthened or retracted. The covering is lengthened to a selected length and placed on the ground surface. The covering may then be moved to remove any snow which falls on the covering to leave an exposed ground surface.
US08393089B2	Measuring method and apparatus A flexible and non-elastic cord is provided. The cord may have a first plurality of markings, spaced apart by a uniform first distance, and a second plurality of markings, spaced apart by a uniform second distance. The uniform first distance may be substantially larger than the uniform second distance. Each of the first plurality of markings may be colored a first color. Each of the second plurality of markings may be colored a second color which is different from the first color. Each of the first plurality of markings and each of the second plurality of markings may be a straight line. The uniform first distance may be sixteen inches and the uniform second distance may be twelve inches. The cord may be placed next to a winding path to be measured, so that the cord follows the winding path, and the winding path may be measured using the cord.
US08393085B2	Device and method for controlling deflection of lamp Controlling a deflection of an irradiation direction of a vehicle lamp based on a detected steering angle includes calculating a target angle of the irradiation direction of the vehicle lamp based on the steering angle and calculating a difference angle between the target angle and a current deflection angle of the irradiation direction of the vehicle lamp. A new deflection angle is calculated and includes setting the new deflection angle to the target angle if the difference angle is equal to or smaller than a given limit angle, and setting the new deflection angle to an angle obtained by adding or subtracting the limit angle to or from the current deflection angle if the difference angle is larger than the given limit angle. Deflection of the irradiation direction of the lamp is controlled based on the deflection angle.
US08393082B2	Rotary electric shaver A rotary electric shaver including cutter units, each having an outer cutter and an inner cutter rotating in resilient contact with the inner surface of the outer cutter, further including a shaver head which is pivotably provided on the shaver main body; an outer cutter frame attached to the shaver head to support the outer cutters in a depressible fashion; a main drive shaft for transmitting, via a first universal joint, the rotation of a motor housed in the shaver main body to a driving mechanism provided inside the shaver head; inner cutter drive shafts provided in the shaver head and rotationally driven by the driving mechanism; and second universal joints for transmitting the rotation of the inner cutter drive shafts to the inner cutters; and in this shaver the first universal joint being disposed near the pivotal center of the shaver head.
US08393079B2	Handling spine fin coils, winders, reels, shapers and/or processing spine fin and transition tube splicing and rework A method of salvaging a scrap partially completed spine fin coil by initially placing the partially completed coil on a reel. Connecting an end of a straight tube that is helically wrapped with a spine fin strip to an end of the partially completed coil while said partially completed coil is on the reel, rotate the reel after completing the connection until the partially completed spine fin coil is complete.
US08393078B2	Method of manufacturing circuit board In a method of manufacturing a circuit board, a conductive paste is filled in a first hole formed on a first prepreg having both sides to which a first protective film is caused to stick so that a first circuit board is manufactured. A fiber piece housing paste obtained by mixing a fiber piece is recovered to obtain a recovery paste; filtration is carried out through a filter; a solvent or the like is added; and a viscosity, a composition ratio or the like is adjusted so that a reuse paste is fabricated. The reuse paste is filled in a second hole formed on a second prepreg having both sides to which a second protective film is caused to stick.
US08393071B2	Method for manufacturing an oscillator device An oscillator device manufacturing method includes: placing an oscillator provided with electrodes on a convex pedestal provided on an assembly table; arranging, on the assembly table, a frame member including an opening surrounded by a frame thereof and provided with electrode pads on the frame such that the opening is positioned at the pedestal; connecting the electrode pads to the electrodes of the oscillator placed on the pedestal via wires, while the frame member is arranged on the assembly table; removing the frame member from the assembly table together with the oscillator after the connecting, and bonding the frame member connected to the oscillator to a substrate. By using the method, the oscillator device including the oscillator suspended in air above the substrate can be efficiently manufactured. In stead of using the frame member, a frame body in which frame members are arrayed can be employed.
US08393070B2	Method and production line for laminate assembly The production line according to the present invention is provided with a pressurization measurement apparatus adjacent to a press-working apparatus, a temporary laminate assembly worked and laminated by a press in the press-working apparatus is sent to the pressurization measurement apparatus, and a laminate assembly is produced by being pressurized and being subjected to regular caulking by a hydraulic servo press of the pressurization measurement apparatus. At this time, the lamination height of a regularly caulked laminate assembly is measured by a linear scale secured at the pressurization measurement apparatus. The main controller of a control apparatus inputs data of the measured lamination height, and adds and subtracts the set number of thin plates to be laminated of a laminate assembly by controlling the laminating means of the press-working apparatus so that the measurement lamination height is matched to the set lamination height using the measured lamination height, the preset lamination height, the height dimension tolerance, and the tolerance for judging the number of thin plates.
US08393068B2	Method and apparatus for assembling composite structures Method and apparatus for mechanically-joining components to assemble a composite structure. A first component and a second component may be provided. At least one of the first and second components may comprise a composite component. A hole may be formed in each of the first and second components. A metallic sleeve may be placed in the holes in the first and second components such that the metallic sleeve is in contact with the first and second components, and a composite rivet may be placed in the metallic sleeve. Heat and a deforming force may be applied to the composite rivet to join the first and second components to form an assembled composite structure.
US08393059B2	Locking mechanism A locking mechanism for joining an elongate member to an assembly may include a frame, clamp, actuator and link between the clamp and actuator. Stop surfaces on the clamp and actuator cooperate to secure the elongate member. A pin and the force transmitted by a compression spring may further be provided for additional security. The link between the clamp and actuator retracts the clamp permitting the elongate member to be detached from the assembly.
US08393054B2	Door operator A door operator includes a first component having a right-hand thread, a second component having a left-hand thread, and a plug-in or rotatable coupling having two complementary threads. The first and second compartments are interconnected to each other by the coupling when the right-hand thread of the first compartment and the left-hand thread of the second compartment engage the respective complementary threads of the coupling.
US08393053B2	Self-orienting caster for furniture A self-orienting caster for pieces of furniture and the like, comprising at least one wheel which is supported so that it can rotate about a horizontal axis by a supporting structure which has a vertical cylindrical recess which is open upward and is axially offset with respect to said horizontal axis and constitutes said seat in which a pivot for the pivoting of the caster can rotate, the pivot being insertable in a receptacle of the piece of furniture onto which the caster is to be fitted, the supporting structure comprising two mutually opposite annular flanges, which form respective circular and coaxial holes, a tubular body whose opposite ends are rigidly coupled to the inner edges of the holes and form externally, between the flanges, a rolling track for a supporting bearing for the wheel, respective extensions being monolithically rigidly coupled to the flanges and being mutually associable so as to form the seat which is designed to receive the pivot for the pivoting of the wheel.
US08393048B2	Method for cleaning two filters of a suction device for cleaning purposes and suction device for performing the method A method for cleaning first and second filters of a suction device for cleaning purposes is provided. The suction device has a dirt collection container with a suction inlet. The dirt collection container is subjected to negative pressure via first and second suction lines, respectively, following the first and second filters. First and second closing valves close first and second external air inlets, respectively, into the first and second suction lines. For cleaning the filters, the closing valves are opened, subjecting the filters to external air on the clean space side. The dirt collection container is subjected to negative pressure via the first suction line and first filter by a first suction unit and via the second suction line and second filter by a second suction unit. The suction lines are sealed off relative to each other on the clean space side at least during the cleaning of the filters.
US08393038B2	Angular travel restraint for wraparound brush A car wash brush comprising a motor and a rotatable vertically-depending brush shaft is provided with a spherical bearing which allows universal swivel movement of the brush shaft away from a normal, essentially vertical orientation. To limit the degree of swivel permitted, a plate with three angularly spaced bumpers is attached to the top of the swivel bearing and a C-shaped stop plate is arranged on a brush mount over the bumpers in fixed spaced relationship to the bearing seat such that excessive swivel motion brings one or more of the bumpers into contact with the under surface of the C-shaped plate. The bearing support structure is attached to a swing arm by means of an extra pivot which provides a breakaway function. An alarm and/or event recorder is provided to trigger an inspection in the event the breakaway function is brought into play.
US08393037B2	Electric toothbrush A three-axis acceleration sensor is mounted to a body of an electric toothbrush. A CPU detects the three-dimensional attitude of the body based on an output from the acceleration sensor and, based on the attitude of the toothbrush, estimates which portion is being brushed. Then, the CPU measures by using a timer a brushing time of the portion being brushed. Results of brushing for each portion are evaluated and outputted based on the measured brushing time.
US08393036B2	Apparatus for cleaning an immersed surface with gyration by means of a nosing-up action Detailed is an apparatus for cleaning a surface which is immersed in a liquid including a body, guiding members defining at least one axle, a filtration chamber, at least one electric drive motor, a control unit which is configured to control each drive motor in at least one direction at a speed selected from: at least a first speed at which the apparatus is in a first movement position in accordance with a first predetermined trajectory, at least a second more rapid speed at which the apparatus is in a second nosed-up movement position in accordance with a second predetermined trajectory which is different from the first trajectory.
US08393032B2	Submerged surface cleaning apparatus with angled pumping impeller Detailed is a device for cleaning an immersed surface including a body and members for driving the body over the immersed surface, a filtration chamber which is provided in the body and which has: a liquid inlet located at the base of the body; a liquid outlet arranged opposite the base of the body; a hydraulic circuit for flow of liquid between this liquid inlet and this liquid outlet through a filtering device; a liquid pumping device including a pumping motor which has a rotating drive shaft which is coupled to a pumping propeller which is interposed in the hydraulic circuit, wherein the liquid outlet is longitudinally offset from the liquid inlet and the pumping propeller has an inclined rotation axis which forms, with the longitudinal direction, an angle which is not equal to zero and which is different from 90°.
US08393031B2	Apparatus for cleaning a submerged surface with removable filtration device Detailed is a device for cleaning an immersed surface including a body and members for driving the body over the immersed surface; a filtration chamber which is provided in the body and which has: a liquid inlet; a liquid outlet; a hydraulic circuit for flow of liquid between the inlet and the outlet through a filtering device, wherein the filtering device includes a first filtering shell which extends towards the rear of the body, from a front opening; a second shell which is fitted to the first shell at the front thereof, these shells being able to be fitted together so as to form an integral filtering casing; in which case the second shell closes the front opening of the first shell, with the exception of a liquid inlet passage; the two shells being able to be separated from each other by disengaging the front opening of the first shell which acts as an opening for emptying this shell.
US08393028B2	Method of manufacturing footwear having sipes A method of manufacturing footwear including the steps of positioning a sole member on a first portion of a cutting assembly; heating a second portion of the cutting assembly, the second portion including a cutting die; pressing the heated cutting die into the sole member to form a plurality of sipes in the sole member; and removing the cutting die from the sole member.
US08393027B2	Spinal support pivot pillow There is provided a spinal support pivot pillow including: (1) a central-cylindrical neck support roll having two ends; and (2) two generally circular head support cushions vertically connected at each of the two ends, the neck support contoured to support a head and a neck in a supine position, and the head support cushions contoured to support the head and the neck in a side posture position. The present invention may also be used with a corresponding pillow case which can be contoured to the pillow.
US08393026B2	Hospital bed A patient support apparatus includes a deck, a plurality of side rails, a control panel, and a plurality of subsystems, such as a bed exit system that detects when a patient may exit from the support apparatus, or a lifting mechanism to raise and lower the deck. A controller is in communication with the control panel and is adapted to monitor conditions regarding the side rails and/or the other subsystems. At least one lamp is also provided on the patient support apparatus that is adapted to be illuminated in a first manner when a plurality of monitored conditions remain in a desired state, and in a second manner when at least one of the plurality of monitored conditions changes to an undesired state.
US08393025B2	Bed covering system A bed covering system is disclosed comprising an upper sheet and a lower sheet wherein the lower sheet fits on a mattress in a removable manner. The upper sheet is connected to the lower sheet through expandable flaps of material. A zipper runs between the sides of the upper and lower sheets such that when it is zipped, the upper sheet is pulled tightly against the lower sheet but when it is unzipped the upper sheet is allowed to move away from the lower sheet to the extent of the expandable flaps or material.
US08393015B2	Garment weights A device to hold a garment in place, particularly the event of a gust of air, comprising an attachment member, a connecting member, and a weight, which can be worn either on the inside or outside surface of the garment. In operation the device attaches to a garment and pulls the garment vertically in accordance with gravity.
US08397297B2	Method and apparatus for removing harmful software Systems and methods for protecting from harmful software on a computer are disclosed. The systems and methods may include observing potentially harmful software on the computer at runtime, determining that at least part of the potentially harmful software is harmful software and removing effects of the harmful software from the computer based on at least the observing and the determining, despite attempts by the harmful software to resist the removing.
US08397292B2	Method and device for online secure logging-on The invention discloses a method for an online secure logging-on, comprises steps of: determining a correlation between at least one of processes and a logging-on operation; sorting the at least one of processes to two classes, that is, processes related to the logging-on operation and processes unrelated to the logging-on operation; running at least one of the processes related to the logging-on operation, when the logging-on operation is performed and a number of the processes related to the logging-on operation is one or more; and suspending at least one of the 1o processes unrelated to the logging-on operation, when the logging-on operation is performed and a number of the processes unrelated to the logging-on operation is one or more. The scheme of the present invention utilizes a real-time protection, needs less monitoring on the operating system and is easy to guarantee the stability. Since most processes of the operating system are suspended, the protection is more reliable. Corresponding to the method, the present invention also provides a device for an online secure logging-on.
US08397290B2	Granting least privilege access for computing processes Embodiments provide a security infrastructure that may be configured to run on top of an existing operating system to control what resources can be accessed by an applications and what APIs an application can call. Security decisions are made by taking into account both the current thread's identity and the current thread's call chain context to enable minimal privilege by default. The current thread context is captured and a copy of it is created to be used to perform security checks asynchronously. Every thread in the system has an associated identity. To obtain access to a particular resource, all the callers on the current thread are analyzed to make sure that each caller and thread has access to that resource. Only when each caller and thread has access to that resource is the caller given access to that resource.
US08397286B2	Bidirectional gateway with enhanced security level A bidirectional gateway with enhanced security level between a high-security communication network and a low-security communication network. The return pathway from the low-security network to the high-security network comprises a low-speed link. The physical layer of the low-speed link differs from the physical layers involved in the high-security network and the low-security network. The low-speed link having a linking layer according to a protocol differing from the protocols used on the linking layers used on the high-security network and the low-security network. The linking layer of the low-speed link has an authentication protocol to guarantee the data's origin.
US08397283B2	User role mapping in web applications Roles and policies are used to provide display and access to data in a flexible manner. Users and/or web applications can be mapped to user roles that dictate which displays or other application resources are available to the user or application. Roles are assigned to web applications individually, allowing for user roles to be used without requiring an independent mapping of users to roles. In some cases, application roles can be centrally managed, so that presentation systems also avoid the need for an independent mapping of user or application roles.
US08397282B2	Dynamically adaptive network firewalls and method, system and computer program product implementing same A system, method, and computer program product for controlling data through a firewall which may be dynamically configurable. The method may comprise defining at least one node, wherein the at least one node is associated with two or more network interfaces; associating a set of firewall rules with the at least one node; receiving a packet at a first node of the at least one node; and accepting or denying the packet based on the set of firewall rules. The firewall rules include dynamic chains of rules having defined places where firewall rules may be dynamically inserted into or deleted from the firewall while the firewall is operating on one or more machines connected to network segments where the nodes reside.
US08397281B2	Service assisted secret provisioning A method for providing a secret that is provisioned to a first device to a second device includes generating a One-Time Password at the first device using the secret and obtaining an identifier of the secret. The method also includes providing the One-Time Password and the identifier to the second device and sending the One-Time Password and the identifier to a remote provisioning service. The method also includes verifying that the One-Time Password corresponds to the secret, and sending to the second device an encrypted secret and a decryption key for decrypting the encrypted secret. The encrypted secret and the decryption key may be sent using different communications methods. The method also includes decrypting the encrypted secret using the decryption key to provide the secret and storing the secret at the second device.
US08397278B2	Configuring interfaces of a switch using templates Configuring an interface of a switch includes sending an authentication request requesting authentication for an endpoint from a switch to an authentication server. The switch comprises interfaces and is operable to access templates, where a template is operable to generate one or more interface commands for an interface. An instruction is received from the authentication server. The instruction instructs the switch to apply an identified template to an interface, where the identified template is identified by the authentication server as associated with the endpoint. The identified template is applied to configure the interface according to the instruction.
US08397268B2	Video transmission system with timing based on a global clock and methods for use therewith A network module receives network global positioning system (GPS) signals and that transmits a video signal to a remote device that includes time stamps that are based on the network GPS signals. The network module receives a device parameter from the remote device that indicates that local GPS signals are available to the remote device. The network module reduces a frequency of the time stamps when the device parameter indicates that local GPS signals are available to the remote device.
US08397257B1	Systems and methods for using an interactive television program guide to access fantasy sports contests Systems and methods for using an interactive television program guide application to access fantasy sports contests are presented. In some embodiments of the present invention, the interactive television program guide application may display information indicating to a user that one or more programs is related to a fantasy sports contest. In some embodiments of the present invention, the application may provide to the user a schedule of programs related to one or more fantasy sports contests in which the user participates. The application may provide additional features to fantasy sports contestants including automatic recording of programs related to a user's fantasy sports contest, playback of highlight video clips for events that affect a user's fantasy sports contest standing, and targeted advertisements for fantasy sports contests.
US08397246B2	Browsing or searching user interfaces and other aspects This description relates to systems, methods and software architectures for providing previews of files, such as previews of content of the files without launching the applications which created those files. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a first call, through a first API to obtain a preview of content of a file, the first call being made by a first application program and being received by a preview generator daemon, and generating a request to obtain a first plug-in from a set of plug-ins, the first plug-in being configured to process a file type of the file to produce content in a format which can be displayed by the first application program. Other methods, systems, computer readable media and software architectures are disclosed.
US08397243B2	On-vehicle relay connection unit It is possible to reduce the memory capacity of a buffer of relay connection unit and reduce the time required for deciding a message to be transmitted. A relay connection unit is arranged between bushes to which electronic control units are connected and relays a message transmitted and received between the electronic control units belonging to different bushes. The relay connection unit includes: a buffer which temporarily stores message in the order to receptions; a storage unit which stores the priority set for each of the message; and a processing unit which extracts N message in the order of the receptions from the buffer, reads the priorities of the respective messages extracted from the storage unit, compares the priorities of the N messages, and transmits the message having the highest priority.
US08397240B2	Method to dynamically provision additional computer resources to handle peak database workloads A method to handle peak database workloads may include requesting resources, receiving virtual-machine information in response to the requesting, allocating first and second portions of a workload according to the virtual-machine information, processing the first portion on a virtual machine to generate a first result, creating a cloned virtual machine with a virtualization layer, and cloning with the virtualization layer a storage allocated to the virtual machine to create a cloned storage.
US08397239B2	Virtual computer systems and computer virtualization programs Disclosed are a virtual computer system and method, wherein computer resources are automatically and optimally allocated to logical partitions according to loads to be accomplished by operating systems in the logical partitions and setting information based on a knowledge of workloads that run on the operating systems. Load measuring modules are installed on the operating systems in order to measure the loads to be accomplished by the operating systems. A manager designates the knowledge concerning the workloads on the operating systems through a user interface. An adaptive control module determines the allocation rations of the computer resources relative to the logical partitions according to the loads and the settings, and issues an allocation varying instruction to a hypervisor so as to thus instruct variation of allocations.
US08397233B2	Systems and methods for preserving the order of data A device includes an input processing unit and an output processing unit. The input processing unit dispatches first data to one of a group of processing engines, records an identity of the one processing engine in a location in a first memory, reserves one or more corresponding locations in a second memory, causes the first data to be processed by the one processing engine, and stores the processed first data in one of the locations in the second memory. The output processing unit receives second data, assigns an entry address corresponding to a location in an output memory to the second data, transfers the second data and the entry address to one of a group of second processing engines, causes the second data to be processed by the second processing engine, and stores the processed second data to the location in the output memory.
US08397232B2	Virtual machine system employing virtual batteries and a virtual battery manager managing a virtual battery for running a virtual machine A virtual machine system includes a virtual battery manager, a discharge calculator, and a discharger. The virtual battery manager manages a virtual battery for running a virtual machine. The virtual battery holds electric energy used by the virtual machine. The virtual battery is capable of discharging and being charged. The discharge calculator calculates a discharged amount of the virtual battery by calculating energy consumption of the virtual machine with reference to a consumption policy and a consumption allocation table when a resource quota for the virtual machine satisfies a predefined condition for discharging. The consumption policy defines a maximum amount of total energy consumption of the plurality of virtual machines. The consumption allocation table contains an allocated ratio of energy consumption for each of the plurality of virtual machines. The discharger decreases a battery level of the virtual battery.
US08397224B2	Methods and system for executing a program in multiple execution environments A system and methods are disclosed for executing a technical computing program in parallel in multiple execution environments. A program is invoked for execution in a first execution environment and from the invocation the program is executed in the first execution environment and one or more additional execution environments to provide for parallel execution of the program. New constructs in a technical computing programming language are disclosed for parallel programming of a technical computing program for execution in multiple execution environments. It is also further disclosed a system and method for changing the mode of operation of an execution environment from a sequential mode to a parallel mode of operation and vice-versa.
US08397219B2	Method and apparatus for tracking enregistered memory locations Described is a system that tracks enregistered memory locations. The system receives program object code that enregisters a memory location (e.g., a set of data at a given memory address) and executes the program code using a thread. Enregistering memory locations involves using additional registers to cache frequently used memory locations while the object code is executing, these additional registers being available on an architecture on which the program executes, but generally not available on an architecture for which the object code was generated. After enregistering the memory location, the system uses a table that identifies enregistered memory locations to track the associated memory address and a thread identifier for the thread. The system checks this table during memory accesses to ensure that other threads attempting to access an enregistered memory location receive a current value for the enregistered memory location.
US08397218B2	Step granularity selection in a software debugger A debugger allows a programmer to select the granularity of a line step function. Using a debugger step statement, the programmer can specify line step, statement step, or automatic selection. When the user specifies line step in the debugger statement, the debugger functions in true line step mode, where a line of source code is executed for each step. When the user specifies statement step in the debugger statement, the debugger functions in statement step mode, where a statement is executed for each step. When the user specifies automatic selection in the debugger statement, the program is analyzed, and a decision regarding whether to use line step or statement step is made based on the characteristics of the program and based on user-specified selection criteria. In this manner the function of the debugger when line stepping can vary according to the programmer's needs.
US08397207B2	Logical structure design surface Embodiments are provided for displaying components for visually designing logical structures or macros. In one embodiment, a logical surface component is displayed which may include a design surface. The design surface may be utilized to display data which make up one or more macros. The design surface may be selected for receiving macro data. The received data, which represents a macro design, may then be displayed in the design surface on a display device. In another embodiment, controls for navigating within logical surface components utilized for designing macros may be displayed on a display device. A logical surface component which includes a hierarchical grouping of macro actions may be displayed. One more actions may be selected and an instruction may be received in a visual interface to move selected actions among the hierarchical grouping. In response to receiving the move instruction, the selected actions which were moved may be displayed.
US08397200B2	Efficient continuous grading flow for test coverage analysis A system for performing efficient continuous grading flow for test coverage analysis. The system provides for continuous test coverage grading. The continuous grading flow analyzes individual tests upon completion without requiring an entire set of tests to finish. As a result, the grading process at the end of the regression run is no longer necessary, disk space and memory requirements are dramatically reduced, and partial results are produced as the grading of individual tests complete, allowing engineers to track progress and make real-time decisions based on the intermediate results. The resource requirements of our continuous flow scale linearly with the number of tests rather than exponentially as with traditional approaches.
US08397197B1	Integrated circuit module time delay budgeting A circuit analysis tool is provided, enabled as computer software instructions, for budgeting time delays between integrated circuit (IC) modules. The instructions accept a command enabling an IC floor-plan including a first module and a second module. The first module includes a first circuit element having a signal output interface, and an output port. The second module includes an input port, and a second circuit element having a signal input interface. A command is accepted defining a maximum delay value, and a first delay value is estimated between the first circuit element signal output interface and the first module output port. A second delay value is estimated between the second circuit element signal input interface and the second module input port, and a third delay value is estimated between the first module output port and the second module input port. The first, second, and third delay values are summed, creating a time budget estimate. The time budget estimate is approved if it is less than the maximum delay value.
US08397196B2	Intelligent dummy metal fill process for integrated circuits A computer-executed method for designing dummy metal object locations in an integrated circuit design. The method comprises the steps of: a) receiving an integrated circuit design as input; b) finding areas of the integrated circuit design that do not meet a minimum metal density requirement; c) finding areas of the integrated circuit design having a critical timing path; d) blocking empty routing tracks that are adjacent to critical nets of the critical timing paths located in step (c), for prospective dummy metal object placement for the areas commonly located in both of steps (b) and (c); and e) placing a minimum number of dummy metal objects in empty tracks such that the minimum metal density requirement is met for the areas that were found in step (b), but were not blocked in step (d).
US08397191B1	Determining failure rate from circuit design layouts In one embodiment, a method is provided for determining a level of resilience of a circuit to single event upsets based on a layout of a circuit design. A set of locations in the layout of the circuit design is selected. A respective maximum level of linear energy transfer (LET) that is tolerable for each location in the selected set is determined. For each determined maximum level of LET, cross-section values at locations having the maximum level of LET are summed to determine a respective total cross-section value for the maximum level of LET. For each determined maximum level of LET, the total cross-section value is divided by the determined maximum level of LET to produce respective intermediate values. The respective intermediate values are summed to determine a level of resilience.
US08397183B2	Generation of asymmetric circuit devices A method, system and computer program product are disclosed for creating the appropriate block level shapes to manufacture asymmetric field effect transistors (FETs). In one embodiment, the method comprises obtaining an integrated circuit design having an active region level (RX) and a gate region level (PC), each of the RX and PC levels having a multitude of shapes representing semiconductor regions; and defining a new level SD having a multitude of SD level shapes from the RX and the PC level shapes. This method further comprises identifying which ones of the new shapes are source regions and which ones are drain regions; determining which ones of the source regions are pointing up and which ones are pointing down; and copying the shapes of source regions that are pointing up and the shapes of the source regions that are pointing down onto additional, defined levels.
US08397180B2	Scrolling browser with previewing area A method of browsing an ordered set of items on a display device is disclosed. The method displays the ordered set of items as ordered subsets (301-308) of the items, the subsets being arranged in parallel, each subset comprising a corresponding number (310, 311, 312) of a plurality of the items. The method selects one item (310) from one subset (305) as a focus item. The method then spatially separates the items preceding and the items following the focus item in the ordered set and displays the focus item in a different relative spatial arrangement (702) compared to the remaining displayed items.
US08397176B2	Dockable drop-down dialogs A user interface dialog is provided. The user interface dialog comprises tear-off functionality for being torn-off from a drop-down selection, and docking functionality for docking onto a docker.
US08397174B2	Order receiving apparatus and order receiving method An order receiving apparatus includes: a receiving unit configured to receive selection of a task other than an order task related to an order of a menu item; and a display control unit configured to display an order input screen including an area in which an operation image for operating execution of the order task is displayed and an area in which an operation image for operating execution of the task, the selection of which is received, is displayed.
US08397173B2	Methods and apparatus using a service to launch and/or monitor data formatting processes In one embodiment, a method of operating a number of data formatters 1) blocks execution of a tester's test processes that generate test results, the test results pertaining to test of at least one device under test (DUT); 2) launches a number of data formatters, operable to format the test results, while execution of the test processes is blocked; and 3) upon determining that the number of data formatters has successfully launched, removing the block. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US08397168B2	Interfacing with a spatial virtual communication environment A spatial layout of zones of a virtual area in a network communication environment is displayed. A user can have a respective presence in each of one or more of the zones. Navigation controls and interaction controls are presented. The navigation controls enable the user to specify where to establish a presence in the virtual area. The interaction controls enable the user to manage interactions with one or more other communicants in the network communication environment. A respective presence of the user is established in each of one or more of the zones on response to input received via the navigation controls. Respective graphical representations of the communicants are depicted in each of the zones where the communicants respectively have presence.
US08397167B2	System and method for a remote console preview of a server A device and a method for a remote console preview of a remote server are disclosed. A preview image corresponding to a remote console image of the remote server is displayed. The preview image is updated at a predetermined time interval. A first selection of the preview image is received, and a remote console session of the remote server is initiated in response to receiving the first selection of the preview image.
US08397164B2	Apparatus and method for loading media in a digital cinema system An apparatus and method for loading media in a digital cinema system is described. Specifically, the digital cinema system has a received storage medium and a local storage medium. A user is prompted to present the received storage medium. Responsive to the user specifying the received storage medium, a list of image programs is displayed. Responsive to the user specifying the image program, a list of audio programs is displayed. Responsive to the user specifying the audio program, how much storage space is required to store the selected image program and audio program on the local storage medium is determined. If the storage space required on the local storage medium is insufficient to load the selected image and audio programs, a warning indicative of insufficient storage space is displayed. Each selected program is then authenticated.
US08397158B1	System and method for partial parsing of XML documents and modification thereof Modifying a partially parsed Extensible Markup Language (XML) document. A stop node in an XML document is marked using at least one stop XPath expression. The XML document is then parsed till the stop node identified by the at least one stop XPath expression. Modifications to the XML document are specified in a modification script, including at least one modification instruction. A modification instruction includes a context node XPath expression which identifies a context nodeset requiring modifications, and the actual modification content. Sequence of event tokens corresponding to the parsed XML document are then stored. Further, the XML document is modified according to the modification script.
US08397149B2	Methods for obtaining a set of path metrics and equalizer for a receiver for digital data This invention relates to methods for obtaining a bin number of path metrics. When performing such methods, a histogram is provided, which comprises a bin number of values, a maximum value and a tail region left or right of the maximum value. A bin number of path metrics is obtained from said values. According to an embodiment a local extremum is removed from said tail region. According to another embodiment the tail region is forced to be convex. According to a further embodiment a maximum metric difference between neighboring metrics is ensured.
US08397132B2	Memory device An exemplary memory device has at least one memory chip that stores data and error correcting information. An error detecting circuit in the memory chip performs a calculation on the data and error correcting information to obtain error detection information indicating the locations of bit errors in the data. The uncorrected data and the error detection information are output from the memory chip. The uncorrected data and error detection information may also be output from the memory device, or the memory device may include a memory controller chip with an error correcting circuit that uses the error detection information to correct the bit errors and outputs corrected data from the memory device.
US08397128B1	Data load into an asset management system Asset data is loaded or entered into an asset management system using a Web service or a manual load, or both. The asset data may be discovered using a third-party asset discovery application. As a first loading option, an inbound asynchronous Web service is used to process the discovered data. As a second loading option, exposed tables are used for loading discovered data and processing through a run control. These entry points provide for additional data validation and error handling of invalid data. They provide ways for data to enter the asset management system and can also streamline the data integration, the reconciliation processes, and additionally automatically address or fix specific exceptions.
US08397123B2	Recursive realization of polynomial permutation interleaving Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate automatically generating interleaved addresses during turbo decoding. An efficient recursive technique can be employed in which layers of nested loops enable the computation of a polynomial and a modular function given interleaved parameters “a” and “b” from a look up table. With the recursive technique, interleaved addresses can be generated, one interleaved address per clock cycle which can maintain turbo decoding performance.
US08397113B2	Method and system for identifying power defects using test pattern switching activity A method and system for identifying power defects using test pattern switching activity is disclosed. In one embodiment, a plurality of test patterns is applied to a circuit under test, and failure test patterns are identified from the plurality of test patterns by comparing the test result with the predicted test result. A switching activity count is obtained for each of the plurality of test patterns. Based on the switching activity count, ranks for each of the plurality of test patterns are provided. A correlation analysis is performed between the failure test patterns and the ranks of the switching activities. When there is a high correlation between the failure test pattern and the ranks of the switching activities, it is determined that the circuit likely contains a power defect. A power defect analysis is performed under the presence of the high correlation.
US08397112B2	Test chain testability in a system for testing tri-state functionality An embodiment of the invention provides system for detecting faults on a test chain. A circuit provides a test signal to an input of a test chain. The test chain includes a plurality of buffers connected in series. A register receives a logical value representing the output of the test chain. The register sends the logical value representing the output of the test chain to test circuitry where the value is observed.
US08397106B2	Detecting no progress state of an application A method, system, and computer usable program product for detecting a no progress state of an application are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A resource usage and an output of a set of applications are monitored. The resource usage and the output are measured to determine a resource usage value and an output value at a given time. 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. The no progress state of the application is detected if the determination is negative
US08397104B2	Creation of test plans Test plan to be utilized in a testing phase may be generated based on an initial test plan. A functional coverage model may be derived from the initial test plan. Modifications to the test plan may be automatically determined based on predetermined rules and parameters. Restrictions over possible combinations of values may be determined based on analysis of uncovered test activities in the initial test plan. Restrictions may be determined based on values of test activities in the initial test plan. Restrictions and modifications determined according to the disclosed subject matter may be indicated to a user for confirmation thereof.
US08397080B2	Scalable segment-based data de-duplication system and method for incremental backups A system in accordance with exemplary embodiments may provide a scalable segment-based data de-duplication for incremental backups. In the system, a master device on a secondary-storage node side may receive at least incremental changes, fingerprints, mapping entities, and distribute de-duplication functionality to at least a slave device, and performs data de-duplication on said plurality of segments via a way to cluster a plurality of fingerprints in a data locality unit called container for the incremental changes, varied sampling rates of a plurality of segments by having a fixed sampling rate for stable segments and by assigning a lower sampling rate for a plurality of unstable target files of de-duplication, and a per-segment summary structure to avoid unnecessary I/Os involved in de-duplication.
US08397073B1	Managing secure content in a content delivery network A system, method, and computer readable medium for managing secure content by CDN service providers are provided. A network storage provider stores one or more resources on behalf of a content provider. A CDN service provider obtains client computing device requests for secure content. Based on processing first signature information, the CDN service provider determines whether the secure content is available to the client computing device. If the CDN service provider does not maintain the requested content, the CDN service provider transmits a request to the network storage provider. Based on second signature information and an identifier associated with the CDN service provider, the network storage provider processes the request based policy information associated with the identifier.
US08397072B2	Computer-implemented method and system for embedding ancillary information into the header of a digitally signed executable A computer-implemented method and system for embedding ancillary information into the header of a digitally signed executable are disclosed. The method and system include identifying a digital signature block and a digital signature size block in a digitally signed file header, modifying a digital signature size value in the digital signature size block, the modified value corresponding to the size of the digital signature block plus the length of an ancillary data block plus a pre-determined pad, storing the modified digital signature size in the digital signature size block, and appending the ancillary data block to the end of the digital signature block.
US08397068B2	Generic file protection format A file may contain an unencrypted and an encrypted portion. The unencrypted portion may contain a layout section that may point to a published license, metadata, and a contents section, where the contents section is in the encrypted portion. The encrypted portion may contain the contents section which may act as a directory for one or more included files that may be compressed and stored in the encrypted portion. When the file is opened by a receiver, the receiver may read the published license and communicate with a security server to establish access rights and receive at least one key for decrypting at least a portion of the encrypted portion of the file. The receiver may then gain access to the included files.
US08397065B2	Secure content based routing in mobile ad hoc networks Methods and systems for information dissemination in mobile ad hoc networks founded on Content Based Routing. The method comprises encoding, via an encoding logic within the source node, a plurality of information categories associated with the content in a header of the packet, encrypting the packet with an encryption key unique to the plurality of information categories, with the encrypted packet having a unique dissemination group identity in its header, and disseminating the encrypted packet to nodes that have subscribed to the data based on the dissemination group identity. The system comprises a host within the source node, an identity generator to generate the dissemination group identity for the content, an encryption unit for encrypting the content, and a routing unit to disseminate the content to the dissemination mesh based on established subscriptions.
US08397058B1	System and method for communication between smart cards A method and system which provides communication between a first portable device and a second portable device. The first portable device stores a first sequence number and a first key, and the second portable device stores a second sequence number and a second key. Verification is performed using the first and second keys. The first sequence number is compared to the second sequence number. If the second sequence number is newer than the first sequence number, the first sequence number is set to have a value of the second sequence number if the verification succeeds. If the first sequence number is newer than the second sequence number, the second sequence number is set to have a value of the first sequence number if verification succeeds.
US08397054B2	Multi-phased computational reconfiguration Problem solution speed may be increased by dynamically changing processing device computational hardware configuration in concert with respective mathematical phases of an algorithm to match accuracy demands at various phases of computation. Smaller but faster hardware structures may be increased in size using real-time partial or full reconfiguration of a processing device to apply the smallest and fastest possible computational structure for the needed accuracy during each of multiple computational phases.
US08397048B2	Memory leak detection during dynamic memory allocation A method to detect memory leaks during dynamic memory allocation comprises generating statistical information regarding allocated chunks in a memory heap during a dynamic memory allocation process, with the statistical information including same-sized chunk information related to the number of allocated chunks being identical in size. The statistical information is monitored to identify a potential memory leak based at least in part on the same-sized chunk information, in response to which an alert signal is generated.
US08397045B2	Memory management device, memory management method, and memory management program One or more embodiments provide a technique of improving the conventional thread-local garbage collection (GC) so as to avoid fragmentation. A memory management device having a plurality of processors implementing transactional memory includes a write barrier processing unit which, when performing write barrier in response to initiation of a pointer write operation, registers an object that is located outside of a local area and that has a pointer pointing to an object located in the local area in a write log so as to set it as a target of conflict detection, and a garbage collector which, provided that no conflict is detected, copies a live shared object in the local area to the outside of the local area and collects any unwanted object irrespective of whether it is shared or not.
US08397039B2	Storage systems and methods Systems and methods for backup test restore are presented. In one embodiment a backup restore test method includes performing a backup process; performing a test restore virtual environment creation process, the test restore virtual environment including a plurality of virtual machines; and performing a test of the backup on the test restore virtual environment. The backup process can include backing up information associated with an application; identifying prerequisites associated with running the application; and backing up information associated with the prerequisites. The test restore virtual environment creation process can include gathering information identifying the prerequisites associated with the application; creating the plurality of virtual machines, wherein the plurality of virtual machines includes virtual machines corresponding to physical machines the application and perquisites run on; and bringing up the plurality of virtual machines utilizing the information from the backup process.
US08397038B2	Initializing file data blocks A method and system is provided for initializing files such as, for example and without limitation, pre-allocated files or raw device mapping (RDM) files, by delaying initializing file blocks. In accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, file blocks are associated with corresponding indicators to track un-initialized blocks.
US08397037B2	Automatic association of reference data with primary process data based on time and shared identifier A method and system for automatically associating primary process data with reference data. The primary process data may include image, video, audio, text, search data, and the like. The reference data may include location, temperature, pressure, and the like. A primary process data processor device, such as a digital camera, is used to acquire the primary process data with time information, but without any reference data. A reference data collector device, such as a cellular telephone, is used to acquire the reference data with time information. The primary process data and the reference data are uploaded to a server and each are associated with a shared identifier, such as a user ID. Of the content and reference data associated with the shared ID, the server determines which primary process data and reference data were acquired near the same time, and automatically associates the reference data with the primary process data.
US08397036B2	Memory control device and semiconductor processing apparatus The present invention provides a memory control device and a semiconductor processing apparatus which can be flexibly made adapted to a plurality of kinds of semiconductor memories. An SDRAM controller has: a register unit to which a command to be issued and a minimum interval (wait time) between issue of the command and issue of the next command are written by a CPU; and a command issuing unit that stops issue of the next command until the minimum interval written in the register elapses since issue of the command written in the register. Therefore, by changing software for the CPU, the SDRAM controller can be flexibly adapted to a plurality of kinds of SDRAMs.
US08397031B2	Apparatus, processor and method of cache coherency control An apparatus includes a plurality of processors each of which includes a cache memory, and a controller which suspends a request of at least one of the processors during a predetermined period when a processor fetches a data from a main memory to the cache memory, wherein the controller suspends the request of at least one of the processors except the processor which fetches the data from the main memory to the cache memory.
US08397028B2	Index entry eviction Systems, methods embodied on computer-readable media, and other embodiments associated with index entry eviction are described. One example method includes selecting an index entry for eviction from a bucket of index entries based on a time value, a utility value, and a precedence value. A precedence value may be a value associated with an index entry that is static over time. Additionally, results of a function that compares two precedence values may be static over time. The example method may also include providing an index entry identifier that identifies the index entry.
US08397005B2	Masked register write method and apparatus A hardware device register is written without transferring the register content from the hardware device to a host device over an interface bus for modification. The hardware device receives an address identifying the target register included in the hardware device and bit information associated with a write operation involving the target register from the host device over the interface bus. The address is stored in a first register included in the hardware device and dedicated for supporting write operations. The bit information is stored in a second register included in the hardware device and also dedicated for supporting write operations. The target register is accessed based on the address stored in the first register dedicated for supporting write operations and one or more bits of the target register are written based on the bit information without first transferring the register content to the host device over the interface bus.
US08397004B2	Keyboard, mouse, and video (KVM) session capture system that stores and can playback portions of live KVM session via forensic capture module Keyboard, mouse and video (KVM) capture session architecture that includes command center forensics. That is, redirector hardware (HW) and a command center forensics (CCF) appliance. The redirector HW includes a computer interface module (CIM) with a computer readable encoded media. The CIM is configured to record at least one KVM session. The computer readable encoded media is configured to instruct sending an identical copy of the recorded at least one KVM session to the CCF appliance. The CCF appliance being configured to store and playback the identical copy.
US08397003B2	CPU connection circuit, data processing apparatus, arithmetic processing device, portable communication terminal using these modules and data transfer There are provided a CPU connection circuit and a method by two CPUs by alternately conducting a changeover between two buffers disposed there between to prevent an event that data processing cannot be fully executed by the CPU on the receiving side. There is included a memory controller which monitors whether or not an amount of data stored by a CCPU 1 in either one of buffers 301 and 302 reaches a predetermined threshold value; when the amount of data stored by the CCPU 1 in the buffer 301, 302 reaches the threshold value, the memory controller requests an ACPU 2 to acquire the data stored in the buffer and changes the storage destination of data from the CCPU to the other one of the buffers; the threshold value is a value more than a unit quantity of data which the CCPU 1 sends to the buffer 301, 302.
US08397002B2	Disk array apparatus A disk array apparatus using an SAS can transfer data without lowering a transfer efficiency of data even if rates of a plurality of physical links connected to a controller and storage device are different. A plurality of HDDs are connected to a controller through an expander. Data are transferred from the controller to the expander and then to HDD. In this connection, the controller and the expander transfers a set of transfer data in a plurality of the HDD-side physical links. The controller-side physical link integrates the transfer data, and multiplexes them to transfer. A plurality of HDDs-side physical links separates the transfer data to transfer in parallel.
US08397001B2	Techniques for data storage configuration Described are techniques for storage configuration. Defined are one or more initiator groups each including one or more initiator ports, one or more target groups each including one or more target ports, and one or more storage groups each including one or more devices. A masking view is created where the masking view includes a first of the initiator groups, a first of the target groups, and a first of the storage groups. The masking view indicates which devices of the first storage group are accessible using one or more paths. Each of the one or more paths is specified using an initiator port from the first initiator group and a target port from the first target group.
US08396992B2	System and method for virtualizing the peripherals in a terminal device to enable remote management via removable portable media with processing capability Systems and methods for virtualizing the peripherals in a wireless device to enable remote management via removable portable media with processing capability are described. One aspect may include a system for virtualizing a peripheral device of a wireless device from a media device, the system comprising a media device, including a first memory; a processor coupled to said first memory; and a virtualization device controller interface remote layer adapted to run on said processor and first memory, wherein said virtualization device controller interface remote layer is adapted to communicate with a peripheral device of the wireless device.
US08396988B2	Method and system for survival of data plane through a total control plane failure A system and method for retaining routes in a control plane learned by an inter-domain routing protocol in the event of a connectivity failure between routers. Routers are classified as either route reflectors or originators. A connectivity failure between two routers is determined. A determination is then made whether to propagate a withdrawal of learned routes based on whether the connectivity failure occurred between a route reflector and an originator, two originators, or two route reflectors. A withdrawal of learned routes is propagated to neighboring routers if the connectivity failure occurred between two originators, or between a route reflector and an originator that is inaccessible via an intra-domain routing protocol. No withdrawal of learned routes is propagated if the connectivity failure occurred between two route reflectors, or between a route reflector and an originator that is accessible via an intra-domain routing protocol.
US08396981B1	Gateway for connecting storage clients and storage servers The invention provides a networking system, network system gateway, and method for managing the transfer of data between networks interconnected through the gateway. The gateway manages the communication paths and commands used in transferring data, as well as the logins associated with each network. The gateway further provides the ability to buffer data in order to accommodate latencies within the networks. Additionally, the gateway provides the ability to pipeline data across the networks.
US08396978B2	Proxy response apparatus, proxy response method in proxy response apparatus, and communication system A proxy response apparatus, including: a storage unit which establishes connection with a mobile terminal by TCP and stores message information included in a packet obtained from the mobile terminal; a response processing unit which receives a packet from an external apparatus, and responds whether message information included in the receive packet is effective or not to the message information stored in the storage unit; and a TCP processing unit which transmits a packet including a response message to the external apparatus without establishing radio connection with the mobile terminal, when the TCP processing unit inputs the response indicating effective from the response processing unit.
US08396968B2	Information processor and resource scheduling method The information processor is provided with a receiving unit that receives a request including a period in which the resource is used, a usage status and a cession requirement, a work process storage that stores a pre-cession usage status, a post-cession usage status and a calculating condition, a work time arithmetic expression storage that stores an arithmetic expression of work time, a concession plan preparing unit that determines whether or not it is written to a cession requirement, calculates work time based upon the calculating condition and a specified post-cession usage status and an arithmetic expression, and calculates the capacity of the available resource with which the concession destination user is conceded based upon the calculated work time, the usage period included in the request and the usage period included in the request, and a concession managing unit that makes the resource of the capacity calculated.
US08396958B1	Computer-automated logbook of condition-based data for machinery management Multiple personal computers are each situated aboard its own ship and are each communicatively connected to an electronic depository of information for purposes of effecting real time management of engines and other shipboard machinery. Information is electronically communicated back and forth between each onboard computer and the electronic depository, such as via File Transfer Protocol (FTP), e-mail or compact disk (CD). The electronic depository takes information from all of the onboard computers, and each onboard computer records information including that which is entered therein by a user and that which derives from the electronic depository. Each onboard computer executes import and export routines for communicating with the electronic depository, and executes start-up routines for displaying user-interactive formal screens that are individually tailored for the user's input and viewing of particular types of information, such as involving maintenance, repair, logistics, inspection and/or operation of the machinery.
US08396942B2	Web browser operation method and operation apparatus There is provided a web browser operation method and operation apparatus capable of preferably setting an access restriction function for restricting access of a web browser to be used by an unspecified number of users. First, content acquired from a web server is displayed on a display based on a format described in the content. An operation tool for performing operations related to processing of the content is also displayed on the screen. When an operation instruction is inputted by a user with the use of the operation tool, processing related to the displayed content is performed based on the operation instruction. In this case, restrictions are set on operation instructions by the user among operation instructions, and selection by the user of tool portions corresponding to the set restrictions, among tool portions which can be specified by the operation tool, are set as disabled.
US08396932B2	Apparatus and method for efficiently managing data in a social networking service An apparatus, method, and machine-readable medium are described for managing data within a friend service. In one embodiment, a key/value data store can be used to provide an efficient and highly-scalable friend service database. Various techniques can be used to ensure data consistency between friend service data records. For example, in one embodiment, operations are detected which require updates to a plurality of related friend state records. A key may be generated to represent each of the operations and then used to create an entry in a write-ahead log database. In one embodiment, each entry in the write-ahead log database may specify the operation to be performed on the friend state records. If the plurality of friend state records are successfully updated, then the entry in the write-ahead log database may be deleted. However, if the plurality of friend state records are not successfully completed, then the entry is not deleted from the write-ahead log database. The friend state records associated with old entries in the write-ahead log database are checked for consistency and inconsistent records are repaired. In addition, optimistic locking techniques may be used in one embodiment to improve performance of the friend service database.
US08396928B2	Methods and systems for handling electronic message content for electronic communications devices Methods and systems for handling electronic message content for electronic communications device are presented. An exemplary method for handling electronic message content for an electronic communications device includes receiving an electronic message that includes default message content at the communications device, and determining at the communications device whether alternate message content is available for the received message. Additionally, the method includes: if alternate message content is available, automatically transmitting a request from the communications device to an alternate content provider for the alternate message content in accordance with data extracted from the received message; receiving the alternate message content at the communications device; and automatically providing the received alternate message content instead of the default message content, in response to a user using the communications device to open the received message for which the alternate message content is available.
US08396926B1	Message challenge response A system and method are disclosed for registering a email sender for the purpose of sending an email message to an email receiver including receiving a challenge message wherein the challenge message includes a machine answerable question; processing the challenge message to determine that it is a challenge message sent for the purpose of authorizing delivery of the email message; analyzing the question to determine a valid response to the challenge message; and sending the valid response that includes the answer wherein a nontrivial amount of resources are required to send the valid response.
US08396922B2	Promoting interoperability of presence-based systems through the use of ubiquitous online identities A client system is configured to submit a request to a first instant messaging system for access to the first instant messaging service The request includes an online identity that is currently being used to access a second instant messaging service associated with the second instant messaging system. The second instant messaging system is configured to send a message to the first instant messaging system that indicates the online identity is currently being used to access a second instant messaging service associated with the second instant messaging system. The first instant messaging system maintains a profile that is updated to indicate that the online identity is currently being used to access the first instant messaging service and, in response to the message, the profile is also updated to indicate that the online identity is currently begin used to access the second instant messaging service.
US08396921B2	Cached and server views with automatic caching and smooth scrolling On a client computer, customer relationship management software is integrated into a messaging application that includes a user interface. Customer relationship management (CRM) information is received from a server computer. An automatic determination is made as to whether the received CRM information is to be cached on the client computer. When it is determined that the CRM information is to be cached on the client computer, the CRM information is cached in a cache on the client computer. When at least some of the CRM information is cached on the client computer, the cached CRM information is displayed as a view on the client computer. The display of the CRM information is integrated into the user interface of the messaging application program.
US08396910B2	Efficient compression and handling of model library waveforms A system and method for waveform compression includes preprocessing a collection of waveforms representing cell and/or interconnect response waveforms and constructing a representative waveform basis using linear algebra to create basis waveforms for a larger set of waveforms. The collection waveforms are represented as linear combination coefficients of an adaptive subset of the basis waveforms to compress an amount of stored information needed to reproduce the collection of waveforms. The representation of coefficients may be further compressed by, e.g., analytic representation.
US08396909B1	Electronic file management hierarchical structure Based on received data descriptive of an event, a hierarchical data structure is constructed comprising structural elements associated with components of an event. A file folder hierarchy corresponding to the hierarchical data structure is created. User interfaces facilitate user access to files and folders in the hierarchies. Certain documents may be designated as documents of record and access to those documents is limited to processes that will not modify the original electronic document, thereby preserving it. Facilities for creating working copies of documents of records and associating them within the hierarchies are provided. A scanning information sheet that may have an electronically readable data imprint containing information about a document to be scanned is described for facilitating the migration of paper documents into an electronic file management system.
US08396906B2	Metadata structure for storing and playing stereoscopic data, and method for storing stereoscopic content file using this metadata Provided is a metadata structure for storing and re-producing stereoscopic data and a method for storing a stereoscopic content file based on the metadata structure. The stereoscopic content file storing method includes storing streams of the stereoscopic contents; and, when the stereoscopic content has more than two elementary streams, storing information for dividing the elementary streams into a main track and a supplementary track.
US08396905B2	System and method for improved garbage collection operations in a deduplicated store by tracking temporal relationships among copies Systems and methods are disclosed for performing garbage collection to identify content segments no longer referenced in a deduplicating storage system in which redundant mark operations in a mark-and-sweep technique are avoided. An organized arrangement of hash structures is created for each data object, wherein each structure includes a hash signature for a corresponding content segment and is associated with a reference to the corresponding content segment, and the logical organization of the arrangement represents the logical organization of the content segments as they are represented within the data object. Additionally, for each data object, temporal states are maintained over time. Garbage collection iterates over the temporal structures and, for each temporal structure, marks the garbage collection state for the associated content segments for only the content segments that have changed relative to an immediately prior temporal state of the data object.
US08396902B2	Method and apparatus for modifying a scheduling database A mobile electronic communications device and a method for modifying a scheduling database are provided. The scheduling database can be modified via the mobile electronic communications device in communication with a proximate electronic device comprising a display device, when the mobile electronic communications device is engaging in an oral communications session with a second communications device. Time slot data associated with an available time slot is retrieved from the scheduling database, via the mobile electronic communications device. The time slot data associated with the available time slot is transmitted, via the mobile electronic communications device, to the proximate electronic device to cause the proximate electronic device to display the time slot data associated with the available time slot at the display device. Input data is received at the mobile electronic communications device. If the input data is representative of a command to update the scheduling database, updating, via the mobile electronic communications device, an entry of the scheduling database based on the time slot data associated with the available time slot displayed at the display device.
US08396900B1	System and method for editing an item list in electronic content In various embodiments, a computerized method includes creating a first item of a list having at least two items that form a portion of electronic content. The computerized method can include creating a second item of the list within the electronic content, as well as converting the second item to a separate paragraph below the first item, wherein the separate paragraph is part of the first item. The computerized method may include creating another item of the list below the separate paragraph, wherein a continuity is maintained between the first item and the another item of the list. The computerized method includes storing the electronic content in a machine-readable medium.
US08396898B2	Method for providing or operating a framework for the realization of independently developed programs A method for providing a framework to provide a basis for the realization of independently developed programs. The framework comprises at least one database table specification, each said database table specification being centrally provided and comprising a list of table fields, any selection of which can be selected by a program developer to derive an application specific database table including selected table fields taken from said database table specification and optionally one or more further application specific table fields. The framework automatically creates a basic database table and a program developer only concerns himself with said application specific database table and not with said basic database table. The method involves the use of inclusive and selective inheritance of database tables resulting in great flexibility and substantial benefits in practice.
US08396894B2	Integrated repository of structured and unstructured data Methods, program products, and systems implementing integrated repository of structured and unstructured data are disclosed. An integrated environment is provided for accessing, structured data (e.g., data of a relational database) and unstructured data (e.g., data stored in a text or binary file), including creating, managing, modifying, and searching the structured data and unstructured data. The integrated environment can include an integrated user interface, a set of commands and application programming interface (API), and storage for a relational database and a document repository. The integrated environment can include a database abstraction layer that allows database operations on both the structured data and the unstructured data.
US08396888B2	Location-based searching using a search area that corresponds to a geographical location of a computing device In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and programs for providing location-based information. A geographical location of a mobile computing device is received at a server system. A request for content is received at the server system and from the mobile computing device. A search area that corresponds to the geographical location is selected by the sever system. The search area is selected from among a collection of search areas that correspond to the geographical location. At least one of the search areas in the collection is geographically nested within at least one other of the search areas. A search result that is most-relevantly ranked for the selected search area is determined by the server system. Content that represents the determined search result is provided by the server system and for receipt by the mobile computing device.
US08396886B1	Continuous processing language for real-time data streams A computer software language capable of expressing registered queries that operate on one more or more data streams continuously. The language of the present invention is based on a publish/subscribe model in that queries subscribe to data streams and publish to data streams. Also, the language of the present invention can express queries that operate directly on data streams. Since queries expressed in the language of the present invention may be executed continuously and directly on data streams, the language includes a clause for specifying time-based and/or row-based windows for the input data stream. Operations are then performed on the data within such windows. In one embodiment, the language is also SQL-like and includes a clause for defining named windows (which can be used in any number of queries); a clause for detecting a pattern, and correlated database subqueries for correlating data stream data with database tables.
US08396882B2	Systems and methods for generating issue libraries within a document corpus A computer-implemented method of generating an issue library from a corpus of documents defining a citation network includes semantically linking, by a computing device, electronic documents within the corpus of documents by pairing reasons-for-citing in citing documents with cited-text-areas in cited documents and storing citation entries associated with the semantically-linked electronic documents in a citation-pairing metadata file. The method may further include searching the citation-pairing metadata file for reasons-for-citing and cited-text-areas that are semantically similar to at least one issue to thereby group similar documents and reasons-for-citing by issue, and storing information regarding groups of semantically-similar reasons-for-citing and cited-text-areas in a plurality of issue library metadata entities. Each issue library metadata entity is associated with an individual issue.
US08396880B2	Systems and methods for generating an optimized output range for a data distribution in a hierarchical database Embodiments relate to systems and methods for generating an optimized output range for a data distribution in a hierarchical database. A data store can store data in a hierarchical format, for instance, in a tree. Higher-level data, such as yearly profit, may be desired to be spread from parent nodes to lower nodes, such as nodes representing quarters. A spreading tool can insert child nodes representing quarters, months, or other at insertion point(s) represented or encoded by a set of placeholder nodes, dividing quantities appropriately. In aspects, the spreading tool can access multiple sets of spreading rules which govern the distribution of data from higher level nodes to lower level nodes. In aspects, the spreading tool can conduct multiple passes of data distribution using different sets of spreading rules, capturing the outputs expressed in the child nodes and selecting rule sets which produce a desired deviation, range, or other characteristics.
US08396875B2	Online stratified sampling for classifier evaluation To determine if a set of items belongs to a class of interest, the set of items is binned into sub-populations based on a score, ranking, or trait associated with each item. The sub-populations may be created based on the score associated with each item, such as an equal score interval, or with the distribution of the items within the overall population, such as a proportion interval. A determination is made of how may samples are needed from each sub-population in order to make an estimation regarding the entire set of items. Then a calculation of the precision and variance for each sub-population is completed and are combined to provide an overall precision and variance value for the overall population.
US08396870B2	Method and apparatus for predicting object properties and events using similarity-based information retrieval and modeling 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, a fire event and residual objects may be 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.
US08396868B2	Information processing apparatus and information processing method There is provided an information processing apparatus including a search processing section for causing a transmission/reception section to execute processing of transmitting a search request including a search condition to each of one or more information management devices, causing the transmission/reception section to execute processing of receiving, as a response to the search request and from each of the one or more information management devices via a network, content information corresponding to the search condition from among pieces of content information and management subject identification information for identifying the information management device which manages the content information, and correlating the management subject identification information with content identification information and content-related information that are included in the content information received by the transmission/reception section and causing a storage section to store the correlated management subject identification information, content identification information, and content-related information as a search result.
US08396865B1	Sharing search engine relevance data between corpora In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for providing a query to a search engine for searching a corpus of documents. A plurality of result documents are received from the search engine, each result document associated with a ranking. For a first document in the plurality, the following is performed. First, a second document in a second corpus is identified as containing content that identifies the same physical object as the first document. The second document was included in a plurality of result documents responsive to a second query of the second corpus, similar to the first query. Second, a new ranking is determined for the first document based on its ranking and relevance data associated with the second document. The relevance data is indicative of the second document's popularity as a result for the second query.
US08396862B2	Product join dynamic partition elimination for multilevel partitioning A method of searching a multilevel partitioned database includes receiving a query data from the multilevel partitioned database. At least for one level partitions are dynamically included. For some levels, partitions may also be statically included for execution of the query. The query is the executed over the partitions that are both dynamically and statically included. In one example, the cost of joining two tables in a multilevel partitioned database includes determining level partitions that can be statically included, estimating level partitions that will be dynamically considered for the join, and determining a cost as a function of the estimated statically included level partitions and estimated dynamically included level partitions.
US08396838B2	Legal compliance, electronic discovery and electronic document handling of online and offline copies of data Systems and methods of electronic document handling permit organizations to comply with legal or regulatory requirements, electronic discovery and legal hold requirements, and/or other business requirements. The systems described provide a unified approach to data management that enables compliance, legal and IT personnel to focus efforts on, e.g., a single data repository. The systems permit users to define and utilize information governance policies that help automate and systematize different compliance tasks. In some examples, organizations may push data in any third-party data format to the systems described herein. The systems may permit compliance or IT personnel to detect when a legally sensitive production file has been changed or deleted. The systems may also provide a unified dashboard user interface. From a dashboard interface, users may perform searches, participate in collaborative data management workflows, obtain data management reports, and adjust policies. Other elements and features are disclosed herein.
US08396831B2	Optimistic serializable snapshot isolation The subject disclosure relates to a concurrency control technique that ensures isolation among concurrently execution transactions optimistically in a multiversion database by applying two optional tests at the end of a read-write transaction: validating the visibility of the read set of the read-write transaction(s) and phantom detection by re-scanning and confirming no new version have appeared in the view. Depending on desired level of isolation, both, one or none of the test are applied. Each version of a data record in an applicable database can be assigned two timestamps indicating the lifetime the version. The value of a version timestamp, though assigned, may be conditional on a transaction committing.
US08396824B2	Automatic data categorization with optimally spaced semantic seed terms A method and system for automatic data categorization in response to a user query. A document set is retrieved in response to the user query. A semantic parser parses the document set and produces semantic term-groups by parsing a semantic network of nodes. A seed ranker produces a plurality of advantageously spaced semantic seeds based on the semantic term-groups. A category accumulator stores the advantageously spaced semantic seeds. The semantic network of nodes is augmented with the advantageously spaced semantic seeds.
US08396816B2	Kernel function generating method and device and data classification device Kernel functions, the number of which is set in advance, are linearly coupled to generate the most suitable Kernel function for a data classification. An element Kernel generating unit 102 generates a plurality of element Kernel functions K1-Kp by using a plurality of distance functions (distance scales) d1-dp prepared in advance.A Kernel optimizing unit 103 generates an integrated Kernel function K with which the element Kernel functions K1-Kp are linearly coupled, determines coupling coefficients to optimally separate the teacher data z, and optimizes the integrated Kernel function K.A Kernel component display unit 104 displays each of the element Kernel functions K1-Kp, its coupling coefficient, and a distance scale corresponding to each of the element kernel functions on a display device 150.
US08396814B1	Systems and methods for index-based pricing in a price management system The present invention provides a flexible pricing method for providing pricing adjustments for a product in a deal in response to price variations in selected indexes. The method comprises: designating an index for the product wherein said index has a published index value; and computing a price for said product based on said published index value. The invention also provides for periodically re-pricing deals with index-based pricing terms.
US08396805B2	Management apparatus, information processing apparatus, management method, and information processing method A management apparatus includes a registering unit configured to issue a first key corresponding to a first service in response to a request for registration with the first service from a first information processing apparatus; a storage unit configured to store an apparatus ID of the first information processing apparatus, the first key, and a second key corresponding to a second service while associating the apparatus ID, the first key, and the second key with each other; and a composite license issuing unit configured to issue a composite license including a first license and a second license, the first license including first encrypted data, which is a content key that is used to decrypt the encrypted content and that is encrypted with the first key, and the second license including second encrypted data, which is the content key that is encrypted with the second key.
US08396801B1	Method for remote review of clinical data over a vulnerable system A method for remotely reviewing medical data allows medical data to be transmitted over a vulnerable network to a physician's mobile device. The method sends data to be transmitted through a console, and a data server to reach the mobile device. The method includes separating patient's medical file into a demographics layer and a data layer, separately encrypting the demographic layer and data layer using different encryption keys, and providing servers in a communication and processing system with a decryption key for the layer processed by such server. Medical file data may be separated into more than two layers. After reviewing the data, physicians may transmit their comments from their mobile device to the requestor by going through the same system. Separately encrypting different parts of a patient medical record enables processing and communication of patient medical files by intermediary servers without risking disclosure of sensitive patient information.
US08396796B1	Method and system for establishing a healthcare network across small businesses A system and method for establishing a healthcare network across small businesses whereby two or more small businesses and one or more healthcare insurance providers are enrolled in a small business employee healthcare network. The one or more healthcare insurance providers then offer one or more healthcare insurance plans through the small business employee healthcare network at initial bid prices. Employees of the enrolled small businesses are then provided an opportunity to view the one or more healthcare insurance plan offers. Interested employees of the enrolled small businesses then opt into one or more of the one or more healthcare insurance plan offers through the small business employee healthcare network. As the number, and/or the profile, of the employees that opt into a given one of the one or more healthcare insurance plan offers increases and/or changes, and/or in response to bids from enrolled competitor healthcare insurance providers, the one or more healthcare insurance providers can change the bid prices for the one or more healthcare insurance plan offers. After a specified time period, the healthcare insurance provider having offered the lowest bid is contracted to provide the one or more healthcare insurance plans, at the lowest bid price, to the employees that opted in.
US08396792B1	Dynamically specifying a merchant identifier in an electronic financial transaction In a system where a merchant conducts transactions on behalf of more than one entity, a method is provided for dynamically selecting a merchant account name. A merchant acting on behalf of a business entity conducts a transaction with a cardholder. An acquirer receives information for processing the financial card transaction. The acquirer generates a merchant account name that identifies the entity for which the merchant is conducting the transaction. The merchant account name is specified based on transmittal information and the merchant account name is associated with the transaction.
US08396790B2	System and method for financing commercial transactions A method for financing a commercial transaction between a supplier and a buyer, including engaging a buyer receiving goods or services under terms of trade credit from a supplier of goods or services, the trade credit permitting payment for the goods or services at a future date, the buyer neutralizing a trade risk associated with paying for the goods and services; engaging a financial institution to provide capital against a commitment of the buyer to effect the payment at a future date; transferring a portion of the capital to the supplier in advance of the future date, the portion satisfying consideration for the supply of the goods or services; and distributing to the buyer a fee lower than the difference between the capital and the portion.
US08396789B1	Credit-approval decision models Embodiments of the present invention evaluate consumer spending and borrowing patterns and, based thereon, forecast changes in consumer failure to repay rates. Embodiments of the present invention then develop macroeconomic variables that reflect the forecasted changes in consumer failure to repay rates and implement those macroeconomic variables into credit-approval decision models. The implemented macroeconomic variables adjust the decision models' credit-approval thresholds to account for the forecasted changes in consumer failure to repay rates. For example, if forecasts indicate decreasing credit failure to repay rates, then macroeconomic variables are developed and implemented in decision models to reduce credit-approval thresholds, thereby reducing qualifying creditworthiness scores and making it easier to get credit. On the other hand, for example, if forecasts indicate increasing credit failure to repay rates, then macroeconomic variables are developed and implemented in decision models to increase credit-approval thresholds, thereby restricting access to credit and reducing future losses from consumer failures to repay.
US08396788B2	Cost-based deployment of components in smart item environments One or more distributions, to service execution environments, of component services associated with a composite service associated with an analysis of data generated by one or more sensors, may be determined, the composite service including an ordering of execution of the associated component services for the analysis of the data, at least one of the service execution environments located at a first network node associated with a device layer and at least one other one of the service execution environments located at a second network node associated with a middleware layer. An evaluation of each of the distributions of the component services may be determined based on a metric associating weighted values with a consumption by each distribution of respective resources associated with each of the first and second network nodes. A recommendation including one or more of the distributions may be determined based on the evaluation.
US08396784B2	System and method for displaying money management information in an electronic trading environment A system and method for displaying a plurality of profit and risk related indicators are described. A graphical interface displays and dynamically updates a plurality of profit/loss (P/L) indicators including a realized, net, and open indicator. The net and open indicators are based on a trader's net position and a current market level, while the realized indicator is based on trader's buys and sells associated with a tradeable objects. In one embodiment, the plurality of indicators are displayed in relation to a plurality of money management regions defining a maximum order quantity and a maximum net position controlling the trader's trades, so that a trader can quickly determine his current as well as potential money management parameters. The graphical interface may also display a plurality of potential risk/gain indicators in relation to a realized profit indicator so that a trader, before entering an order having a predetermined order quantity, can view a potential risk/gain in entering into a predetermined net position in view of potential market movements.
US08396773B2	Method for structuring an obligation A method for structuring an obligation. More particularly, a method for structuring an interest-bearing obligation which is convertible into stock.
US08396767B2	Displaying values specified in a number of offers for a number of offer variables with respect to price A method for displaying values specified in a number of offers for a number of offer variables with respect to price includes receiving data for multiple offers that reflects values specified in the offers for multiple offer variables and generating a display of the received data. The display includes multiple offer variable windows that are each associated with an offer variable. Each offer variable window includes an offer price axis representing a range of offer prices and an offer variable axis substantially perpendicular to the offer price axis that represents a range of values for the offer variable associated with the offer variable window. Each offer variable window includes multiple bars. Each bar represents a value specified in offer for the offer variable associated with the offer variable window and is positioned with respect to the offer price axis according to an offer price specified in the offers.
US08396766B1	Automated banking machine system and method A system and method captures image data in association with the operation of an automated banking machine. Image data associated with users and documents may be acquired, analyzed and transferred. Images may be captured responsive to programmed sequences. The sequences may be performed on a periodic basis as well as in response to inputs corresponding to alarm conditions and transactions conducted at automated banking machines or other devices. Image data may also be captured in response to image conditions including the sensing of motion or the loss of usable video from selected cameras. Image data may be stored in connection with data corresponding to circumstances associated with each triggering event. Stored image data may be searched by one or more parameters. Parameters may include data stored in association with each image, types of events causing image data to be stored, as well as other image conditions and properties.
US08396761B2	Providing product catalog software application as enterprise services Methods and apparatus, including systems and computer program products, for a services architecture design that provides enterprise services having product catalog functionality at the level of an enterprise application. The design includes a set of service operations, process components, and optionally deployment units. Suitable business objects are also described.
US08396756B1	System and method for processing product orders A method of processing a product order is disclosed. The method includes receiving a product order from a consumer and selecting a fulfiller to fulfill the product order. A system for processing a product order is also disclosed.
US08396755B2	Method of reclaiming products from a retail store A method of reclaiming products from a retail store includes passing a plurality of products through an object identification system, capturing images of the plurality of products with object sensors as the products pass through the object identification system, processing the images to identify an indicium for each product, transmitting the indicium for each product through a wireless communication network to a logic engine, sorting the plurality of products based on the indicia to produce a bundled lot of products, producing a unique identifier for the bundled lot, the unique identifier having a machine readable code, and communicating the unique identifier of the bundled lot and the indicia of the products in the bundled lot to an auctioneer for initiation of a direct-to-consumer auction for auctioning of the bundled lot directly to a group of bidders.
US08396754B2	System and method for an electronic gift key A system and method facilitating delivery of a fully-integrated physical item providing access to non-physical content is presented. The method includes enabling access to an electronic greeting card, exclusive content, promotion, and/or store credit from a remote system after a gift key is linked to a local system. The system includes a local system and a gift key facilitating access to an electronic greeting card, exclusive content, promotion, and/or store credit after linkage between the local system and the gift key. The gift key includes a decorative cover, an integrated circuit, and an antenna or physical connector. The local system is a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet computer, or a Smart TV. A gift key could be disposed along a box, a bag, a ribbon, an envelope, or a gift wrapping or configured as a sticker with an adhesive backing.
US08396749B2	Providing customer relationship management application as enterprise services Methods and apparatus, including systems and computer program products, for a services architecture design that provides enterprise services having customer relationship management functionality at the level of an enterprise application. The design includes a set of service operations, process components, and optionally deployment units. Suitable business objects are also described.
US08396747B2	Identity theft and fraud protection system and method A system and method for preventing personal identity theft when making online and offline purchases requires a purchaser to first subscribe and become a member user by registering and providing relevant personal identity information. Once registered, the member is assigned a user name and a password. The subscribing member's personal identity information is then encrypted and stored at one or more highly secure locations. The ID protection system obtains a controlled use card (CUC) through a CUC issuer on behalf of the member for use to make each purchase transaction. The CUC is anonymous with respect to user (member) identity and may be a purchase-specific single-use card or a multiple-use stored value card with no traceable connection to any other financial account. When the member makes a secure online purchase, the system software enters anonymous information (i.e. not revealing the member's real name, email address, billing information, etc.) on the merchant's order placement screen, except in instances where the member's real identity information is required (e.g. airline tickets). The merchant receives the completed checkout screen, obtains credit approval through a credit card association, and sends the shipping information to a shipper which independently obtains the correct shipping name and address from the ID protection system prior to shipping the purchased product(s).
US08396744B2	Effective virtual reality environments for presentation of marketing materials Effective virtual reality environments including in-store virtual reality environments such as supermarket aisles, store shelves, cooler displays, etc. are generated using frameworks and customer layout information. Marketing materials are integrated with the virtual reality environment while introducing imperfections and/or other cues of realism to create a virtual reality environment representation. Imperfections may include misaligned marketing materials, product label blemishes, packages placed slightly askew, etc. Sensory experiences output to the user via the virtual reality environment representation elicit interactivity with a user and user movements, motions, and responses are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing materials and/or the virtual reality environment representations.
US08396741B2	Mining interactions to manage customer experience throughout a customer service lifecycle A customer experience is improved through data mining and text mining technologies and that derive insights about a customer by analyzing interactions between the customer and a customer service agent. One or more numerical measurements of customer satisfaction are derived and recommended actions are provided to an agent to enhance the customer experience throughout a customer service lifecycle.
US08396737B2	Website analysis combining quantitative and qualitative data Systems, methods, media, and other embodiments associated with predicting website user satisfaction based on current actions analyzed in light of combined quantitative and qualitative data are described. One example system embodiment includes logic for acquiring both quantitative website usage data and qualitative website satisfaction data. The example system also includes logic for creating a satisfaction categorization data from the quantitative website usage data and the qualitative website satisfaction data.
US08396736B2	Systems and methods for providing documentation having succinct communication with scalability Systems and methods for defining and documenting processes, procedures, standards and policies that are succinct and usable, and that are scalable to the complexity of the process and to abilities of the individual user. Steps of a particular process and a relationship of one or more of the steps are identified. Graphical representations of the steps and the relationship as a lean process are provided, wherein the lean process enhances and increases communication and minimizes documentation for providing the graphical representations, and wherein the representations comprise key process elements for the particular process, wherein the key process elements consist of one or more inputs, outputs, activities, process context, entry criteria, exit criteria, purposes, process flow, and roles, and wherein the representation is on a single page if a receiver of the non-verbal communication is an expert audience. If a receiver of the non-verbal communication is an intermediate audience, the non-verbal communication further comprises a process description table having the identified process steps that correspond to the representation of key process elements, wherein the process description table provides guidance and lessons learned relating to the particular process; and if a receiver of the non-verbal communication is a beginner audience, the non-verbal communication further comprises the process description table and training relating to the particular process.
US08396734B2	Conflict resolution mechanism for managing calendar events with a mobile communication device The present invention discloses a method for handling scheduling conflicts. The method can include a step of conveying scheduled events to a mobile communication device. Times associated with the events can be analyzed to determine potential conflicts. A set of previously established conflict resolution rules can be applied to the potential conflicts. Recommendations for resolving the potential conflicts can be generated based upon the applied rules. A notification of the potential conflicts and the generated recommendations can be presented to a user of the mobile device through an interface of the mobile communication device. The notifications and recommendations can occur a sufficient time before the potentially conflicting events occur to permit anticipatory actions to be taken to alleviate the conflicts before their occurrence.
US08396732B1	System and method for integrated workforce and analytics Systems and methods of integrating workforce management and contacts analysis are disclosed. An exemplary method comprises receiving content data derived from classification of a plurality of recorded agent contacts. The contact content data is correlated with past time period. The method also comprises identifying at least one pattern in the contact content data. The pattern is based on the contact classifications. The method also comprises receiving historical workload data from a contact router, and generating a workload forecast based on the historical workload data and the identified pattern.
US08396730B2	System and method for resource allocation and management To improve the scheduling and tasking of resources, the present disclosure describes an improved planning system and method for the allocation and management of resources. The planning system uses a branch and bound approach of tasking resources using a heuristic to expedite arrival at a deterministic solution. For each possible functional mode of the resources, an upper bound is determined. The upper bounds are employed in an objective function for the branch and bound process to determine the functional mode in which to place the resources and to determine movement paths for the resources, all in an environment where a hostile force may attempt to destroy the resources.
US08396727B2	Assigning and managing patron reservations for distributed services using wireless personal communication devices A system and method for assigning and managing patron reservations to one or more of a plurality of attractions receive reservation requests at personal communication devices (PCDs). Reservation requests are transmitted to a computer associated with the selected attraction, which determines a proposed reservation time based on information describing the attraction, the patron, previously-made reservations maintained in a virtual queue, and the current state of a physical queue associated with the attraction. Proposed reservation time is transmitted to the PCD for confirmation or rejection by the patron. Confirmed reservations are entered in the virtual queue. Patrons are alerted by the PCD when their reservation time is approaching.
US08396718B2	Determining whether a response from a participant is contradictory in an objective manner If a response is with a threshold of the predicted response, then the contradictory response is classified as being independent and it is not truly contradictory. If a response is beyond a threshold, the response is classified as not being independent and is likely worthy of further investigation.
US08396715B2	Confidence threshold tuning An expected dialog-turn (ED) value is estimated for evaluating a speech application. Parameters such as a confidence threshold setting can be adjusted based on the expected dialog-turn value. In a particular example, recognition results and corresponding confidence scores are used to estimate the expected dialog-turn value. The recognition results can be associated with a possible outcome for the speech application and a cost for the possible outcome can be used to estimate the expected dialog-turn value.
US08396712B2	Method and system to generate finite state grammars using sample phrases A method and system for generating a finite state grammar is provided. The method comprises receiving user input of at least two sample phrases; analyzing the sample phrases to determine common words that occur in each of the sample phrases and optional words that occur in only some of the sample phrases; creating a mathematical expression representing the sample phrases, the expression including each word found in the sample phrases and an indication of whether a word is a common word or an optional word; displaying the mathematical expression to a user; allowing the user to alter the mathematical expression; generating a finite state grammar corresponding to the altered mathematical expression; and displaying the finite state grammar to the user.
US08396699B2	Modeling subsurface processes on unstructured grid Embodiments of the invention involve forming a prismatic grid and solving a convection-diffusion problem using the prismatic grid and mixed finite element analysis. The prismatic grid may be formed by providing a triangular mesh on a plane of a model. The mesh is then coarsened to make cells that are less desirable larger. The coarsened grid is then projected to form the prismatic grid. Each cell of the grid is then assigned a plurality of degrees of freedom. Mixed finite element analysis of the grid produces a matrix, which is then solved to yield a solution to the convention-diffusion problem.
US08396698B2	Method for the simulation of the haptic of an interaction of a guided object with a virtual three-dimensional object The object of the instant invention is a method for simulating the haptics of an interaction of an object guided by a user, hereinafter referred to as tool, with a virtual three-dimensional object, in particular the scanning of the surface of the simulated object and/or the penetration of the guided object into the simulated object, under material removal, if applicable.
US08396688B2	Systems and methods for impulse noise characterization Impulse noise from nearby or intense electrical sources can disrupt communications over digital subscriber lines (DSL). The characterization of the nature, timing and length of impulse noise sources present on a DSL loop is a critical first step in mitigating the effect of impulse noise on DSL communications. DSL standards provide histograms for impulse length and inter-arrival time of impulses. These histograms can be used to derive the nature, maximum frequency and other statistics related to impulse noise on a DSL line.
US08396684B2	Method and system for motion tracking A method and a system for motion tracking, capable of tracking a trajectory of a movable object by an architecture having at least three accelerometers arranged in a predefined structure. The trajectory, displacement and rotational angle of the movable object are determined by ways of extrapolation, numerical calibration and vector transformation according to the acceleration signals detected by the at least three accelerometers.
US08396679B2	Secondary cell degradation state judgment system A secondary cell degradation state judgment system which includes: operation information measurement means (5) measuring operations information on a secondary cell (3) such as a temperature, an elapse time, a discharge depth, and a discharge capacitance of the secondary cell; degradation value calculation means (7) which calculates degradation values (15) respectively corresponding to the measurement values according to the measurement values; degradation accumulation value storage means (8) which stores degradation accumulation values (14) accumulated for each of the calculated degradation values; main accumulation value selection means (9) which selects the greatest degradation value as a main accumulation value (16) from the degradation accumulation values; and overall degradation value calculation means (10) which calculates an overall degradation value (18) according to the selected main accumulation value and a degradation value corresponding to the degradation accumulation values which have not been selected as the main accumulation value.
US08396677B2	Method for monitoring the shaft current and/or the insulation of the shaft of electric machines and device for performing the method A method is disclosed for monitoring shaft current (Iw) and/or insulation of the shaft of an electrodynamic machine, wherein susceptibility to interference can be reduced. A shaft voltage (Uw) and associated shaft current (Iw) are measured, and a relationship is determined from measurement results for the shaft voltage (Uw) and the shaft current (Iw) for the electrodynamic machine. The shaft voltage (Uw) can be monitored to monitor the shaft current (Iw), the shaft current (Iw) being deduced from the monitored shaft voltage (Uw) based on a determined relationship between the shaft voltage (Uw) and the associated shaft current (Iw).
US08396672B2	Food content detector A system may include utensil means for portioning a foodstuff into a first portion and a second portion, a means for detecting a first portion size for the first portion with the utensil means, a means for detecting a second portion size for the second portion with the utensil means, and a means for determining a cumulative amount of portioned foodstuff based upon the first portion size and the second portion size.
US08396671B2	Cluster modeling, and learning cluster specific parameters of an adaptive double threading model Cluster models are described herein. By way of example, a system for predicting binding information relating to a binding of a protein and a ligand can include a trained binding model and a prediction component. The trained binding model can include a probability distribution and a hidden variable that represents a cluster of protein sequences, and/or a set of hidden variables representing learned supertypes. The prediction component can be configured to predict the binding information by employing information about the protein's sequence, the ligand's sequence and the trained binding model.
US08396670B2	Process, system and method for improving the determination of digestive effects upon an ingestable substance The present invention generally relates to processes, computer programs and systems, methods of making such and methods of using such for improving the determination of one or more digestive effects upon an ingestable substance. The underlying data used in this determination may originate from either an in vitro or in vivo analysis. The processes may be either partially or fully manual or automated, and combinations thereof.
US08396661B2	Using relative position data in a mobile computing device A mobile computing device comprises a relative position determination circuit, a position determination circuit, and a processing circuit. The relative position determination circuit is configured to provide relative position data from a first position of the mobile computing device to a second position of the mobile computing device. The position determination circuit is configured to provide position data representing the second geographic position of the mobile computing device. The processing circuit is configured to generate position data for the first position based on the relative position data and the position data.
US08396655B2	Motor vehicle control system A control system for a motor vehicle includes: (a) at least one driving data sensor for acquiring driving data characterizing a driving state of the motor vehicle; (b) at least one camera for capturing images of the surroundings; (c) an accident recorder that can record the images of the surroundings in a buffer; and (d) an electronic controller for controlling the driving data sensor, the camera, and the accident recorder. The electronic controller is programmed to trigger an autonomous braking action of the motor vehicle based on driving data and/or images of the surroundings.
US08396652B2	Map data providing method A map data providing method for providing map data to be used in a navigation system includes: dividing an area over which the map data are available into a plurality of blocks by using each of a plurality of division patterns set so that blocks resulting from divisions with the plurality of division patterns are not identical to one another; generating map data in correspondence to each of the blocks resulting from the divisions achieved with the plurality of division patterns; and providing the map data corresponding to the individual blocks resulting from the divisions achieved with the plurality of division patterns to a user so as to allow the user to freely select map data corresponding to any block.
US08396651B2	Traffic data services without navigation systems A non-navigation data system for providing traffic data service in a mobile environment can include a data decoder for decoding a digital data stream from a digital audio radio transmission source, location determining means (such as GPS or cellular location determining schemes) for determining a current location of a mobile receiver receiving the digital data stream, a display for displaying traffic data corresponding to the current location, and a plurality of static maps wherein the traffic data corresponding to the current location is overlaid at least over a portion of the static maps.
US08396649B2	Method and apparatus for reconstructing in-cylinder pressure and correcting for signal decay A method comprises steps for reconstructing in-cylinder pressure data from a vibration signal collected from a vibration sensor mounted on an engine component where it can generate a signal with a high signal-to-noise ratio, and correcting the vibration signal for errors introduced by vibration signal charge decay and sensor sensitivity. The correction factors are determined as a function of estimated motoring pressure and the measured vibration signal itself with each of these being associated with the same engine cycle. Accordingly, the method corrects for charge decay and changes in sensor sensitivity responsive to different engine conditions to allow greater accuracy in the reconstructed in-cylinder pressure data. An apparatus is also disclosed for practicing the disclosed method, comprising a vibration sensor, a data acquisition unit for receiving the vibration signal, a computer processing unit for processing the acquired signal and a controller for controlling the engine operation based on the reconstructed in-cylinder pressure.
US08396647B2	Control apparatus and method of controlling internal combustion engine mounted on vehicle When an engine shifts to idle operation in a process of stopping an automobile, a target engine speed of an engine idle speed control is reduced and a threshold engine speed of an engine speed reduction prevention control is also reduced accordingly, provided that the automobile is traveling on a road surface with low friction coefficient.
US08396646B2	Internal EGR control device for internal combustion engine There is provided an internal EGR control device for an internal combustion engine, which, even when a change in the actual valve timing of exhaust valves is caused by aging, is capable of properly controlling an internal EGR amount while compensating for an adverse influence caused by the change, and thereby properly controlling the temperature within the cylinder. The internal EGR control device 1 sets a target internal EGR amount EGRINCMD which serves a target of the internal EGR amount, according to detected operating conditions, NE and PMCMD, of the engine 3, and calculates internal energy QACT possessed by burned gases, which is determined according to the amount and temperature of the burned gases. Further, the target internal EGR amount EGRINCMD is corrected according to the calculated internal energy, and the valve-closing timing of the exhaust valve 9 is calculated according to the corrected internal EGR amount EGRIN. Further, the variable valve mechanism 60 is controlled based on the calculated valve-closing timing of the exhaust valve 9.
US08396641B2	Inter-vehicle distance control device A preceding vehicle speed estimation unit estimates a preceding vehicle speed after a predetermined period of time based on a preceding vehicle speed and an acceleration of the preceding vehicle, and an ACC target vehicle speed setting unit sets a target vehicle speed for the vehicle following based on an inter-vehicle distance between the vehicle and preceding vehicle and the preceding vehicle speed after a predetermined period of time. Then, during the stop maintaining control, an ACC resetting acceptability determination unit compares the target vehicle speed and a reference threshold. When the target vehicle speed is greater than the reference threshold, it is determined to accept ACC resetting in response to the driver's input operation, and, when the target vehicle speed is equal to or less than the reference threshold, it is determined not to accept ACC resetting.
US08396628B2	Power on demand steering wheel angle sensor A power on-demand steering angle sensor coupled to a steering wheel and a controller comprising a switch, coupled to the sensor and the controller. The switch is activated upon motion of the steering wheel or steering shaft. The switch, when closed, connects a power supply, such as a vehicle battery, to the sensor and the controller so that a new steering angle may be sensed and stored. After a predetermined period of time, the controller sends a signal to open the switch and disconnect the power supply.
US08396627B2	Method for operating a vehicle In a method for operating a vehicle with wheel suspensions which each have a characteristic curve, the characteristic curve generates a relation between the weight of the vehicle, applied to each wheel suspension, and the respective height of the vehicle at the wheel suspension point. At least two height sensors detect the height at the wheel suspensions, a reference height is associated with the height sensors and represents a pre-defined loading state of the vehicle. The method provides: detecting the height, determining the forces applied to the vehicle, determining the acceleration of the vehicle on the basis of the forces applied to the vehicle, determining an estimated value for the mass of the vehicle from the forces and the acceleration of the vehicle, and determining values representing the reference heights from at least the estimated value for the mass of the vehicle, the characteristic curves of the wheel suspensions, and the detected heights.
US08396626B2	Vehicular manipulation input apparatus A vehicular manipulation input apparatus includes, as a pair arranged at different positions, a first manipulation section to execute a first control and a second manipulation section to execute a second control, the second control including a denial of the first control such as suspension, release, nullification, regress, or replacement of the first control with a previous control prior to the first control. A second manipulation direction of second manipulation section is orthogonal to a first manipulation direction of the first manipulation section; alternatively, the second manipulation direction has a directional component opposite the first manipulation direction of the first manipulation section.
US08396621B2	Method for determining the service intervals for a motor vehicle The invention relates to a method for determining service intervals for a motor vehicle fitted with an exhaust gas treatment system, the treatment consisting in selective catalytic reduction, in a catalytic converter, of the exhaust gases, using a reducing agent injected into the exhaust line, the method comprising the following steps, performed upon vehicle start-up: —the step of determining an initial value for the distance still to be covered before the next service, —the step of determining an actual distance covered since the last start, —the step of determining a quantity of reducing agent consumed since the last start, —the step of determining, as a function of this consumed quantity of reducing agent, a vehicle driving harshness factor, —the step of correcting the actual distance covered on the basis of the harshness factor, in order to obtain a weighted distance covered, and —the step of updating, on the basis of this weighted distance covered, an updated value of the distance still to be covered before the next service.
US08396618B2	System and method for controlling drivetrain torque and hill holding of a hybrid vehicle A system and method for controlling torque in a hybrid electric vehicle. The system provides a regenerative braking torque with an electrical machine when a level of braking torque indicated by actuation of a brake control device exceeds a level of traction torque indicated by actuation of an acceleration control device. The regenerative braking torque is supplemented by a friction braking system when the braking torque requested by a vehicle operator exceeds a maximum regenerative braking capacity of the electrical machine.
US08396611B2	Autonomous behaviors for a remote vehicle A method for enhancing operational efficiency of a remote vehicle using a diagnostic behavior. The method comprises inputting and analyzing data received from a plurality of sensors to determine the existence of deviations from normal operation of the remote vehicle, updating parameters in a reference mobility model based on deviations from normal operation, and revising strategies to achieve an operational goal of the remote vehicle to accommodate deviations from normal operation. An embedded simulation and training system for a remote vehicle. The system comprises a software architecture installed on the operator control unit and including software routines and drivers capable of carrying out mission simulations and training.
US08396609B2	Control of cells, modules and a pack comprised of hybridized electrochemistries A power management apparatus for a hybridized energy device includes a hybridized energy device including a plurality of units. The units include electrical energy storage and/or gathering cells, in series or in parallel to form a module. A plurality of the modules in series or in parallel form a pack. The power management apparatus also includes a central management apparatus (CMA) interconnecting a plurality of module management apparatus (MMAs) by means of either wired or wireless connections and a plurality of MMAs. Each MMA interconnects with a plurality of unit management apparatuses by means of either wireless or wired communication circuits. The power management apparatus further includes a plurality of units management apparatuses (UMAs), each wired, connected with, or deposited on a unit. Furthermore, the power management apparatus includes a rechargeable battery power source for a CMA, a plurality of MMAs, and a plurality of UMAs.
US08396605B2	System for simulating heat and power supply facility A system, for simulating a heat and power supply facility, that is capable of easily constructing a heat and power supply facility, and that performs a simulation so as to approximate operating conditions including a load factor to an actual situation, by approximating, to a high accuracy, any item included in a total combined energy to a target value.
US08396603B2	Irrigation controller with integrated wire tracker The present invention is directed to an irrigation controller, method and software program product for generating wire tracker signal transmission across a control wire. The irrigation controller includes a valve actuation control module selectively coupled to each of a plurality of control wires and generating a valve actuation control signal thereon. The valve actuation control signal is a continuous control voltage over a plurality of control signal periods for selectively energizing the selected irrigation valve. Also integrated in the irrigation controller is a wire tracker transmitter module for selectively coupling to each of a plurality of control wires and generating a transmission signal that can be received at a mobile receiver.
US08396597B2	Distributed robotic guidance The different illustrative embodiments provide an apparatus that includes a computer system, a number of structured light generators, and a number of mobile robotic devices. The computer system is configured to generate a path plan. The number of structured light generators is configured to project the path plan. The number of mobile robotic devices is configured to detect and follow the path plan.
US08396596B2	Robot with load sensor A robot includes an arm including a plurality of joints, arm members that form the arm, each arm member supporting a load, actuators that drive the joints and that are supported by the arm members, a load sensor embedded in at least one of the arm members to measure the load applied to the at least one of the arm members, a controller that controls movements of the actuators on the basis of a result of the measurement performed by the load sensor, and a wire hole through which a sensor line extend from a space inside the at least one of the arm members to a space inside the arm, the sensor line connecting the load sensor to the controller.
US08396593B2	Gait generating device of legged mobile robot A gait generating device of a legged mobile robot uses virtual surfaces to approximate a plurality of surfaces to be contacted in an operating environment of a robot, and determines the provisional values of the required virtual surface translational forces to be applied from the virtual surfaces to the robot in order to implement a translational motion of a desired motion of the entire robot. Further, to implement a rotational motion of the desired motion of the entire robot, the gait generating device determines moment compensation amounts to be combined with the provisional values of the required virtual surface translational forces and then determines the desired external forces to be applied from the surfaces to be contacted to the robot and the desired external force action points on the basis of the combinations of the provisional values of the required virtual surface translational forces and the moment compensation amounts.
US08396589B2	Electronic device for the sale of intangible products in vending machines An electronic device for the sale of intangible products through vending machines that includes an interface to communicate with external peripherals through the MDB protocol, an interface to communicate with external peripherals through the RS232 standard, an interface to communicate with external peripherals through the DEX protocol, an interface to communicate with users, a communications system which enables it to act as part of a network and communicate with a central system, and a controller, which articulates the communication among the above-mentioned components, so as to enable a central system to perform diverse actions on a vending machine.
US08396584B2	Library apparatus A library apparatus includes a robot in operation that performs transfer between the record medium storage shelf and the input-output device, a robot on standby that stands by at a predetermined position as a reserve of the robot in operation; and a control device that controls operations of two of the robot in operation and the robot on standby. The information record medium has a bar code for identification. The robot in operation and the robot on standby individually include a read unit which has an imaging device to optically read the bar code of the information record medium. The robot on standby further includes an air spray unit which blows air to the imaging device of the robot in operation which moves relatively to a predetermined position and attitude.
US08396565B2	Automatic therapy adjustments A medical device detects a previously defined event, and controls delivery of therapy to a patient according to therapy information associated with the previously defined event. In exemplary embodiments, the medical device enters a learning mode in response to a command received from a user, e.g., the patient or a clinician. In such embodiments, the medical device defines the event, collects the therapy information, and associates the therapy information with the defined event while operating in the learning mode. In some embodiments, the medical device defines the event based on the output of a sensor that indicates a physiological parameter of the patient during the learning mode. The sensor may be an accelerometer, which generates an output that reflects motion and/or posture of the patient. The medical device may collect therapy information by recording therapy changes made by the user during the learning mode.
US08396561B2	Visual prosthesis and methods of creating visual perceptions A visual prosthesis and methods of allowing a subject to view visual information from an artificial source are provided. The visual prosthesis has one or more electrodes operative to deliver electrical signals to a lateral geniculate nucleus of a mammal, a power supply operative to provide power to the electrodes, a visual information translator operatively connected to the electrode array, and a visual sensor operatively connected to the visual information translator. The visual prosthesis is operative to translate visual information into an electrical signal and transmit the electrical signal to electrodes to stimulate brain activity to recognize visual information.
US08396550B2	Optimal cardiac pacing with Q learning A cardiac pacemaker control system constituted of: a means for receiving input from a hemodynamic sensor; an adaptive control system in communication with the means for receiving input from the hemodynamic sensor; and an interface arranged to provide cardiac stimulation responsive to the adaptive control system; the adaptive control system comprising a learning module operative to converge to patient specific cardiac pacing stimulation timing using a machine learning scheme in cooperation with a probabilistic replacement scheme, the probabilistic replacement scheme arranged to replace inputs from the hemodynamic sensor with online calculated values.
US08396543B2	Storage of data for evaluation of lead integrity In general, the disclosure describes techniques for storing data corresponding to sensed high-rate non-sustained episodes that occur close in time to detection of a lead integrity condition. A method comprises detecting a first high-rate non-sustained episode, activating a data storage operation for storing data associated with high rate non-sustained episodes in response to detecting the first episode, and storing data associated with the first episode in an episode log in response to activating the data storage operation. Another method comprises detecting a lead integrity condition, and activating a data storage operation for storing data associated with high rate non-sustained episodes in response to detecting the condition.
US08396537B2	Method and system to measure ECG and respiration A method for monitoring the respiration rate of a patient includes attaching a plurality of electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes and a pressure sensor to a patient, producing a first respiration signal based on variations detected in signals provided by the ECG electrodes attached to the patient, and producing a second respiration signal based on pressure variations detected in the pressure sensor secured to the patient. The method also includes selecting at least one of the first respiration signal and the second respiration signal based on respective signal qualities and producing a respiration rate from the selected signal. The method also includes providing indicia of the respiration rate. The method may also include displaying ECG signals with the indicia of the respiration rate.
US08396532B2	MRI-guided devices and MRI-guided interventional systems that can track and generate dynamic visualizations of the devices in near real time An MRI-guided medical device includes an elongated sheath, an elongated dilator, and an elongated needle. The sheath has a distal end, an opposite proximal end, and a central lumen extending between the proximal and distal ends. The sheath comprises MRI-compatible material and includes a tracking member located adjacent to the sheath distal end that is visible in an MRI image. The dilator comprises MRI-compatible material and is movably disposed within the sheath lumen. A distal end of the dilator is configured to extend outwardly from the sheath distal end and dilator includes at least one tracking member that is visible in an MRI image. The needle is movably disposed within the dilator lumen and is movable between stored and operative positions relative to the dilator. An RF shield may be coaxially disposed within the elongated sheath so as to surround a portion of the sheath central lumen.
US08396530B1	Method for biosensor usage with pressure compensation A biosensor is described which can obtain physiological data from an individual. The biosensor may collect electrodermal activity, skin temperature, and other information. The biosensor may be attached to the body through the use of a garment which may be fastened in multiple locations on the human body. The biosensor includes compensation for electrodermal activity measurements based on the amount of pressure applied to the electrodes that are in contact with the skin. As pressure is increased the electrodermal activity values typically increase. By compensating for the influence that pressure changes have on electrodermal activity, more accurate analysis of physiology and therefore mental state analysis may be performed.
US08396521B2	Antenna cover and operating section for portable terminal device Disclosed herein is a portable terminal device including an antenna, a casing, and an operation unit. The casing at least part of which is formed from a metallic material is disposed so that the antenna is exposed. The operation unit is formed from a resin material and mounted to the casing so as to cover the exposed antenna.
US08396516B2	Single-antenna vehicle transponder with a power-save function Embodiments of the present invention relates to a vehicle transponder comprising an active radio unit, an antenna, a wake-up unit and a power directing means which has a first port, a second port and a third port, where the power directing means is arranged to direct power from the first port to the second port and/or the third port. The antenna is connected to the first port and the second port is connected to the radio unit. Furthermore, the third port is connected both to a power detection port at the radio unit and to the wake-up unit, such that during a first mode of operation, a part of a signal that is transmitted from the radio unit to the antenna is coupled from the second port to the third port and further fed to the power detection port.
US08396512B1	Enhanced virtual termination target mechanism A method and system is disclosed for enhanced setpoint adjustment during extended frame decoding. In accordance with an example embodiment, upon determining that a frame transmission from an access terminal has not been successfully decoded during a nominal frame period, a base station will commence an extended decoding interval. The base station will also determine a transition point time that is within a range of times from the beginning to the end of the extended frame decoding interval. The determination of the transition point time will be based on the nominal setpoint in place during the preceding nominal frame period. Upon reaching the transition point time, the base station will increase the current (nominal) setpoint. Accordingly, the setpoint for the access terminal may be increased at a point in time that precedes the completion of the extended decoding interval.
US08396509B2	Signal transmission path selection circuit and method, and electronic device employing the circuit An electronic device includes a central processing unit, a USB connector, a USB switch, and an audio path selector. The USB switch has a data transmission path and an audio signal transmission path for signal transmission between the central processing unit and the USB connector. The USB switch selects the data transmission path for data transmission according to a first selection signal from the central processing unit, and selects the audio signal transmission path for audio signal transmission according to a second selection signal from the central processing unit. The audio path selector interconnects the central processing unit and the USB switch, and has a first audio path for output of audio signals from the central processing unit to the audio signal transmission path, and a second audio path for output of audio signals from the audio signal transmission path to the central processing unit.
US08396508B2	Method and system for a mobile receiver architecture for European band cellular and broadcasting In a video processing system, a method and system for a mobile receiver architecture for European (EU) Band cellular and broadcasting are provided. Receive channels may be processed in at least one radio frequency front end (RFFE) in a mobile terminal and may comprise at least one of a VHF/UHF broadcast channel and EU band cellular channels capable of carrying voice and data. The cellular channels may be WCDMA 2100 MHz, GSM 1800 or 900 MHz. A single cellular/broadcast radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) may be utilized for processing the receive channels. In another embodiment, a cellular band RFIC may process the EU band cellular channels and a broadcast RFIC may process the broadcast channel. Moreover, a first RFIC may process the WCDMA channel, a second RFIC may process the GSM channels, and a broadcast RFIC may process the broadcast channel.
US08396507B2	System and method for indicating expected communication speed in a wireless communication device A wireless communication network includes a number of users communicating via wireless communication devices. The network determines a current condition of the network, including factors such as the number of users coupled to a particular portion of the wireless communication network. The current conditions are used to access data in a data storage structure to determine an expected communication speed based on the current network conditions. The expected communication speed for each wireless communication device is transmitted to the wireless communication device and shown on the display. The display of expected communication speed may take various forms, such as a numeric display, graphical display, color display, or an alphabetic display. The network dynamically monitors changes in the current conditions and recalculates the expected communication speed as appropriate.
US08396497B2	Communication device and method for controlling communication device When an instruction operation given by a user to start communication parameter setting is detected, an operation mode of a communication device is determined. According to the determined operation mode, it is determined whether to provide a communication parameter through another communication device operating in a base station mode, or provide a communication parameter directly by the communication device.
US08396495B2	Method and system of charging for short message value-added service, data center for short message service The present invention relates to the short message VAS field and discloses a method and a system for charging for short message VAS, and a data center for SMS. The method includes: obtaining a short message that carries VAS subscription information; resolving the VAS to be triggered according to the short message that carries the VAS subscription information, and generating a charging message; and sending the charging message to an intelligent network for charging. The system includes: an SMSC, a data center for SMS, and an intelligent network. The data center for SMS includes: a short message receiving module, a charging message generating module, and a charging message sending module. Through the technical solution under the present invention, the PPS user is refunded for the services triggered unsuccessfully, and the service process is simplified.
US08396487B2	Location acquiring system and location information acquiring method There are provided a location acquiring system that allows acquiring of location information that keeps track of the movement of a mobile communication terminal to be searched for, with the transmission and reception of signals for acquiring the location information being suppressed, and a location information acquiring method. A session establishment unit 124 of an application unit 12 in a management server 10 establishes a session between a location acquiring request terminal 20 and a to-be-searched terminal 30 for continuously transmitting the location information of the to-be-searched terminal 30 to the location acquiring request terminal 20, when an information transmission and reception unit 11 receives location information acquiring request information for making a request of acquiring location information of the to-be-searched terminal 30 from the location acquiring request terminal 20.
US08396485B2	Beacon-based geofencing A mobile device can monitor a current location using a multi-tier approach. A baseband subsystem can monitor a coarse location of the mobile device using various course location parameters, such as a mobile country code (MCC), a location area code (LAC), or a cell identifier (cell ID), as the mobile device moves closer to the geographic region. Upon determining that the mobile device is in a cell that intersects the geographic region, the baseband subsystem can transfer the monitoring to the application subsystem. The task can be performed when the application subsystem determines that the mobile device is currently located in the geographic region. A beacon network can provide more accurate estimates of mobile device location and advertise location based services available to the mobile device.
US08396484B2	Methods and apparatus for providing location data with variable validity and quality Methods, systems and computer program products for determining a location of a device based on location information are described. In some implementations, location assist information may be requested so as to determine a location of sufficient quality to satisfy a requesting application. Upon receiving the location assist information, empherides from one or more visible sources may be requested. The location assist information may be used to determine the location of the device until the device has received and decoded the empherides.
US08396481B2	Method of determining an access mode of cell in a wireless communication system The present invention relates to a wireless communication system and UE providing wireless communication services, and a method of determining the operation mode of a base station, that is, the connection mode (access mode) of a cell, based on which UE's connection is allowed by a base station in an evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) that has evolved from a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and it may be an object of the present invention to provide a process of determining the connection mode of a cell by checking the existence of a subscriber group identity if it is determined that the connection mode of a cell is not allowed for one or more UEs belonging to a particular subscriber group.
US08396471B2	Mobile switching centre handover Retaining contact data for a subscriber to a mobile communication network may be provided by a method and apparatus components therefor that allow for storing contact data for subscribers to a mobile network located within an area served by a mobile switching center, receiving confirmation at the mobile switching center (MSC) that a subscriber has left the area, updating the contact data to identify that the subscriber has left the area, and retaining at least part of the contact data, the retained part of the contact data containing call forwarding details for the subscriber.
US08396466B2	Content synchronization between electronic devices A method is provided for transferring content between a first mobile device (10) and a second mobile device (20). The method includes: internally storing the content on the first mobile device (10) using a first data representation for the internally stored content on the first mobile device (10); establishing a common syntax and associated semantics for describing the content; creating a first external manifest (16) on the first mobile device (10) from the internally stored content on the first mobile (10), the first external manifest (16) employing the common syntax and associated semantics to describe the content; transferring the content from the first external manifest (16) to a second external manifest (26) created on the second mobile device (20), the second external manifest (26) also using the common syntax and associated semantic to describe the content; and, internally storing the content on the second mobile device (20) using a second data representation for the internally stored content on the second mobile device (20).
US08396464B2	Method and apparatus for software update of terminals in a mobile communication system A method of updating software of terminals in a mobile broadcast system is provided. The method includes creating an update command for terminals of a particular model, the update command including update information; and broadcasting the created update command. The update information includes software version information and at least one of terminal manufacturer information and terminal model information. Further, the method may further include, before broadcasting the created update command, forcibly requiring terminals subscribe to an update service; and creating and broadcasting an update file for terminals of the particular model from among the forcibly subscribed terminals. The software of the terminals may be firmware.
US08396457B2	Portable communication apparatus and method of controlling the same A portable communication apparatus and a method of controlling the portable communication apparatus are disclosed. The method comprises, in response to a triggering event, detecting electronic devices within a detection range of the portable communication apparatus and, for each detected electronic device, performing a look-up operation in a database of electronic devices and users thereof for determining a user of the electronic device. A corresponding computer program product and a corresponding computer-readable medium are also disclosed.
US08396456B2	Visual voicemail management A voicemail message management system and method are provided. A list of voicemail messages is displayed on a screen such as a cellular telephone screen. Indicators specify whether messages are new, urgent, saved, not yet heard, and the like. Other attributes can also be displayed, including for example indications as to source of a message, message duration, date/time, caller, urgent or private, and the like. These indicators provide guidance to the user for selecting which messages he or she would like to hear at a given time. The user can listen to messages, delete them, move them, categorize them, and perform other operations in any order the user chooses.
US08396452B1	Proximity login and logoff A computer-implemented method for providing secure access to a computer is disclosed according to one aspect of the subject technology. The method comprises detecting a presence of a mobile device at the computer, and logging a user into the computer upon detecting the presence of the mobile device. The method also comprises detecting when the mobile device has moved away from the computer, and logging the user off of the computer upon detecting that the mobile device has moved away from the computer.
US08396449B2	Method and system for emergency call placement An emergency response system includes a restraint control module (RCM), a global positioning system module (GPSM), at least one output, at least one input, an SPDJB, and a vehicle associated computing system (VACS) in communication with the RCM, the GPSM, the at least one output, the at least one input and the SPDJB. Upon detection of an emergency event, the RCM requests that the VACS place an emergency call. Upon receiving a request from the RCM, the VACS queries the GPSM to obtain vehicle coordinates, informs the occupant of the onset of the call, and instructs a wireless device in communication with the VACS to place an emergency call. The VACS is operable to determine when an emergency call is connected. Once the emergency call is connected, the VACS relays a message indicating connection to the RCM, and contacts the SPDJB to contacts the Smart Power Distribution Junction Box (SPDJB).
US08396436B2	System and method for closed loop power control calibration A system for calibrating a closed power control loop includes an adder configured to inject a test signal into an adjustable element, a first peak detector configured to determine an amplitude of the injected test signal, a second peak detector configured to determine an amplitude of a return test signal, a comparator configured to determine the difference between the injected test signal and the return test signal, and a calibration engine configured to adjust the adjustable element so that the return test signal is offset from the injected test signal by a predetermined amount.
US08396424B2	Method and apparatus for performing role management of short-range wireless connections A first wireless device is operable to perform role management of short-range wireless connections with other wireless devices over short-range wireless links that utilize a short-range wireless protocol, such as the Bluetooth protocol. According to one embodiment, the first wireless device accepts a request from a second wireless device to establish a connection over a short-range wireless link such that the first wireless device temporarily performs a slave role with respect to the connection. Responsive to establishing the connection, the first wireless device initiates a disconnect of the connection and then communicates a new request to the second wireless device to establish a new connection. Upon receiving an acceptance of the new request from the second wireless device, the first wireless device establishes the new connection over the short-range wireless link such that the first device performs a master role with respect to the new connection.
US08396422B2	Communication control device, method of determining communication control device, and storage medium for performing the method A device and method for controlling communication among a plurality of communication devices, the device and method including causing each of one or more candidate devices to which control rights of a network are transferable, from among the plurality of communication devices, to transmit a pseudo information signal, counting, for each of the one or more candidate devices, the number of communication devices from the plurality of communication devices having responded to the pseudo information signal, and determining a candidate device to which to transfer control rights of the network based on the number of communication devices from the plurality of communication devices having responded to the pseudo information signal.
US08396416B2	Radio system and a method for relaying radio signals The present invention provides a radio system and a method for relaying radio signals. The radio system and the method provide a calibration of transmit radio signals in which no dedicated calibration signal generator is required for calibrating the radio system. The radio system comprises at least one transmit path, a calibration unit at the least one link. A coupled transmit signal is extracted from the transmit paths and selectively forwarded as a feedback signal to a feedback signal demodulator. The feedback signal demodulator generates a base band feedback signal adapted for updating phase and amplitude changes applied a calibrated payload signal.
US08396409B2	Printing apparatus A printing apparatus including one or more feeding units includes: a sheet size determining unit which determines a sheet size of a sheet, on which print data are printed, in predetermined order; a print control unit which stores a designated size, which is the sheet size determined by the sheet size determining unit, in a storage unit; a feeding unit selector which selects the feeding unit on the basis of the designated size; and a process selection information storing unit which stores process selection information used to designate a process executed by the print control unit.
US08396397B2	Method and printing apparatus to print a continuous printing substrate with controlled liquid film quantity given changing print speed In a method and printing apparatus to print a continuous printing substrate, a liquid film with toner and courier fluid is transported to a charge image carrier to develop charge images into toner images. Transport pairs are used comprising rotating transport members in the transport of the liquid film to the charge image carrier and from the charge image carrier to the printing substrate. Given a changing print speed of the printing apparatus at least one of the respective transport pairs is adjusted to provide a respective separation of the transport members from one another so that a substantially same quantity of the liquid film is always conveyed by the respective transport pair.
US08396385B2	Toner-density calculating method, reflective optical sensor, and image forming apparatus In a reflective optical sensor in an image forming apparatus, an output from each N number of light-receiving elements (N≧3), obtained when M number of light-emitting elements (M≧3) included in a light-emitting unit emit detecting light, is separated into an amount of specularly reflected light and an amount of diffusely reflected light. The toner density of a pattern, which is formed on a supporting member in the image forming apparatus, is calculated based on a sum of the amounts of specularly reflected light and a sum of the amounts of diffusely reflected light.
US08396381B2	Methods and apparatuses for applying respective EP engine settings to different zones within a page of media Generally, an imaging device is capable of applying respective EP engine settings to different zones within a page of media. In an example embodiment, a method includes printing in first and second zones on a page of media using first and second EP engine settings that are respectively associated with the first and second zones. The imaging device prints in the first zone on the page of media based on a first EP engine setting that is associated with the first zone. The imaging device switches from the first zone on the page of media to the second zone on the page of media responsive to a size indicator. The imaging device prints in the second zone on the page of media based on a second EP engine setting that is associated with the second zone.
US08396369B1	Method and system for propagating upstream cable modem signals and RF return video control signals over the same optical network A method and system can propagate upstream cable modem signals and radio-frequency (RF) return video control signals over the same passive optical network (PON). The method and system can include various combinations of hardware and software to support this operation. Three exemplary embodiments of optical network terminals (ONT) of a DPON system improve performance of the system by ensuring that, in the event the upstream transmitters of two ONTs are turned on simultaneously, they will not interfere with each other. The system is designed such that in a situation of competing transmissions, the one which is received and processed by the head end out of two competing transmissions originating from a set top box and a cable modem, will be the one originating from the cable modem, which may use the DOCSIS cable modem protocol.
US08396367B2	High frequency optical processing This invention concerns a high frequency optical processor suitable for time-division demultiplexing and channel dropping data signals at bit rates of 80-160 Gb/s and beyond, and for carving high frequency pulse streams with low duty cycle from an unmodulated laser source. In further aspects the invention concerns methods for using the high frequency optical processor. In particular the invention comprises a high frequency optical processor, comprising a Mach-Zehnder amplitude modulator (MZM) embedded in a fiber mirror loop in which the loop input and output are joined by a polarization maintaining coupler.
US08396363B1	Tone hopped lock-in system A lock-in ratio measurement system including a plurality of channels. Each of the channels generates and transmits a radiation signal modulated by a sequence of tones. The sequence of tones for each channel being unique in time to that respective channel. Each respective modulated signal is absorbed/reflected from a target or medium and received. Each channel computes a lock-in value based on the received modulation signal. The lock-in values are used to compute ratios between the channels for characterizing a target or medium.
US08396360B2	Communicating information The present invention relates to the communication of information where the information is introduced at a plurality of spaced apart locations onto an optical waveguide. The following steps are performed: (i) transmitting test signals onto the waveguide, components of the test signals being returned in a distributed manner along the waveguide; (ii) receiving first component signals returned from beyond a first location at which information is introduced; (iii) receiving second component signals returned from beyond a second location at which information is introduced, the second component signals being returned through the first location; and, (iv) processing the second component signals using the first component signals to distinguish information introduced at the second location from information introduced at the first location.
US08396355B2	Heater A heater comprising a radiative heating element disposed beneath a housing, in a recess formed therein; the recess having a heat reflective surface for reflecting heat radiation from the radiative heating element in a downwards direction. A heat deflecting member is located between the heating element and the reflective surface of the housing to prevent heat emitted from heating element from directly reaching the reflective surface.
US08396341B2	Optical filters based on polymer asymmetric bragg couplers and its method of fabrication The present invention discloses a method for fabricating an optical filter based on polymer asymmetric bragg couplers using holographic interference techniques, soft lithography, and micro molding, which comprises following steps: prepare a UV polymer with gratings; coating photo-resister film on the UV polymer, and exposed by UV light to obtain a photo-resister mold with two grooves each having gratings; coating diluted PDMS film on the photo-resister mold, and baking the PDMS film to obtain a PDMS mold having two waveguides with gratings; placing glass substrate over the PDMS mold to form a first tunnel; injecting a precure UV polymer into the first tunnel to from a cladding layer with two grooves having gratings pattern at its bottom; placing glass slide over the cladding layer and injecting a mixed UV polymer into the grooves to form waveguide cores; placing a second glass substrate over the cladding layer, and injecting UV polymer to form an upper cladding layer laminated with the cladding layer to obtain the optical filter based on polymer asymmetric bragg couplers.
US08396340B2	Optical fiber and method for fabricating the same An optical fiber includes: a core (1) having an outer diameter (D1) of greater than or equal to 8.2 μm and less than or equal to 10.2 μm; a first cladding (2) surrounding the core (1) and having an outer diameter (D2) of greater than or equal to 30 μm and less than or equal to 45 μm; a second cladding (3) surrounding the first cladding (2) and having a thickness (T) of greater than or equal to 7.4 μm; and a support layer (4) surrounding the second cladding (3). The relative refractive index difference which is the ratio of the difference between the refractive index of the support layer (4) and that of the second cladding (3) to the refractive index of the support layer (4) is greater than or equal to 0.5%.
US08396339B2	Optical device, and virtual image display device A virtual image display device with an optical waveguide to guide, by internal total reflection, parallel pencil groups meeting a condition of internal total reflection, a first reflection volume hologram grating to diffract and reflect the parallel pencil groups incident upon the optical waveguide from outside and traveling in different directions as they are so as to meet the condition of internal total reflection inside the optical waveguide and a second reflection volume hologram grating to project the parallel pencil groups guided by internal total reflection inside the optical waveguide as they are from the optical waveguide by diffraction and reflection thereof so as to depart from the condition of internal total reflection inside the optical waveguide.
US08396336B2	Optical phase modulator and optical phase modulating device An optical phase modulator includes a main Mach-Zehnder interferometer having first and second main optical waveguide path arms, whose initial phase difference in the used wavelength is π, a first sub Mach-Zehnder interferometer having first and second sub optical waveguide path arms that are formed in the first main optical waveguide path arm, whose initial phase difference in the used wavelength is 0, and a second sub Mach-Zehnder interferometer having third and fourth sub optical waveguide path arms that are formed in the second main optical waveguide path arm, and whose initial phase difference in the used wavelength is 0. Of each of the main optical waveguide path arms and the sub optical waveguide path arms, at least the portions where high-frequency electrodes are formed are constructed using semiconductor waveguide paths, and reduce the effects of frequency chirping caused by an orthogonal component due to light absorption in the semiconductor.
US08396334B2	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 and the adhesive is provided on a surface of the thin plate bonded and fixed to the supporting substrate so as to be in contact with at least a part of the optical waveguide. Preferably, the thin plate is formed of a material having a nonlinear optical effect or an electro-optical effect.
US08396329B2	System and method for object measurement A technique is provided for measuring an object based on multiple views. The technique includes registering each of the plurality of images and a first model of the object with one another and reconstructing a second model of the object based on the plurality of images and the first model registered with one another.
US08396324B2	Image processing method and apparatus for correcting distortion caused by air particles as in fog Provided are a method and apparatus for processing an image. The method includes receiving a first luminance image of an image including airlight, which is a type of light that occurs in a foggy environment, and generating an airtight map based on a ratio between an average luminance of the first luminance image, and a standard deviation; and removing the airtight by subtracting the airtight map from the first luminance image and outputting a second luminance image. According to the present invention, airlight components may be effectively removed.
US08396323B2	Method and apparatus for measuring blockiness in video images The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for processing images, in particular for determining the degree of blockiness in coded images. The invention comprises apparatus and methods for determining a degree of blockiness by performing the steps of: for each of a plurality of pixels determining a vertical gradient measure in dependence upon the values of said pixel and neighbouring pixels; comparing said vertical gradient measure with a vertical gradient threshold and defining said pixel as a potential horizontal boundary in dependence thereon determining a horizontal gradient measure in dependence upon the values of said pixel and neighbouring pixels; comparing said horizontal gradient measure with a horizontal gradient threshold and defining said pixel as a potential vertical boundary in dependence thereon; and determining said blocking artefact measure in dependence upon the vertical gradient measure of pixels defined as a potential horizontal boundary and upon the horizontal gradient measure of pixels defined as a potential vertical boundary. Method and apparatus for generating a quality measure in dependence upon the measure of blockiness are also provided.
US08396312B2	Vision-based compression Systems and methods provide vision-based image compression. In one implementation, inpainting is the vision-based technique selected to augment a conventional signal-processing-based technique. For some regions of a source image, an exemplary system efficiently extracts and organizes structural edge information instead of compressing the regions. In one implementation, the system applies binary curve fitting to capture the edge information. A structure-aware inpainter in the decoder can then restore the regions via the edge information, which occupies very little data space or minimal bandwidth in a bitstream that is transmitted from encoder to decoder. Key visual components of the image can still be conventionally compressed. Extracting edge information for some regions instead of compressing them considerably increases overall image compression.
US08396311B2	Image encoding apparatus, image encoding method, and image encoding program An image encoding apparatus, an image encoding method, and an image encoding program capable of minimizing image degradation, controlling a code amount in units smaller than a picture, and ensuring that encoding of the picture is completed within a certain time period is provided. A symbol number estimating device estimates the total bin number of a plurality of macro blocks constituting a picture. An entropy encoding selector outputs the entropy encoding mode selecting signal to an entropy encoder using the inputted bin number, in order to select one of a CABAC device or a VLC device. A CPU performs image encoding by executing a control program stored in a program storing portion.
US08396310B1	Basis learning for sparse image representation and classification and low data rate compression A computerized method for transforming a signal representative of image information, the signal being a sparse signal, includes obtaining the signal. The method further includes using the signal to learn a dictionary of basis functions that represent at least part of the signal. The method further includes using the learned dictionary of basis functions to transform the signal.
US08396307B2	Image processing system, image processing method and program There is provided an image processing system and an image processing method able to suppress block distortion in the case of decoding image data encoded in unit of blocks. A controlling unit selects a filtering content to be applied to the block image data based on the encoding types of the block image data to be filtered, and a filtering unit applies filtering to the block image data to be processed according to the filtering content selected by the controlling unit.
US08396306B2	Method for processing a digital image An image representation format for representing a digital image comprises: image information stored as a bitstream representing sequential image blocks, each block comprising one or more components, each component comprising one or more data units and each data unit being represented as a Huffman-coded stream of coefficients of basis functions, wherein a zeroth order coefficient is represented as a difference to the previous zeroth order coefficient of the corresponding component, and a block information table, which comprises: indicators to the first coefficient of a specified order of each image block in said bitstream, information indicating the number of bits in the bitstream between adjacent coefficients of said specified order of the image block, and the zeroth order coefficient of at least the first data unit of each component, said zeroth order coefficient being represented in a non-differential form.
US08396299B2	Vanishing point detecting system, vanishing point detecting method, and vanishing point detecting program Disclosed is a vanishing point detecting system that includes a straight line detecting unit, a vanishing point detecting unit, and a vanishing point outputting unit. In the vanishing point detecting unit, a vanishing point is detected with one evaluation index of vanishing point plausibility being whether or not angles of plural straight lines passing through a point in question or a vicinity thereof are sparsely distributed over a relatively wide range.
US08396294B2	Image processing device, image processing method, and program and recording medium thereof In an electronic document of drawing descriptions of a page image and a character, it is desired that although a font data necessary for drawing the character is held in the electronic document, the size of the electronic document is minimized. Furthermore, it is desired to ensure visibility at the time of highlighting of search. There is generated an electronic document in which a document image, a plurality of character codes obtained by executing a character recognition processing with respect to the document image, and a plurality of kinds of glyph data to be utilized in common with respect to the plurality of character codes when drawing characters corresponding to the plurality of character codes are stored. The plurality of kinds of glyph data are selectively used when characters corresponding to the character codes are drawn. It is desirable that the glyph data be the one in a simple form.
US08396290B1	Saturation varying color space A first color component of a pixel or scene entity is modified using a color correction curve defined at least partly by a second color component of this pixel or entity. Each pixel or entity has its own separate color correction curve, independent of the color correction curves of other pixels or entities. The saturation value of a pixel or scene entity may be modified based on its luminance value. The luminance value determines a saturation gamma function curve, mapping the original saturation value of a pixel or entity to a new saturation value. The unilluminated color of a pixel in a scene being rendered may also be taken into account. This output color may be stored in the appropriate pixel of an image or combined with colors from other portions of the scene being rendered.
US08396281B2	Apparatus and method for inspecting substrate internal defects A method for inspecting substrate internal defects is disclosed. The method provides at least one light source disposed on a lateral side of a substrate and configured to emit a light beam to the lateral side for correspondingly penetrating the substrate. The method also provides an image capturing module for retrieving an image of the upper surface, wherein an incident angle of the light beam to the respective lateral side is limited within a first predetermined angle to allow the light beam to have a total reflection in the substrate. Thus, the light beam is blocked by internal defects when transmitting within the substrate to generate bright spots to be detected by the image capturing module for locating the defect position. The method provides a better image definition of internal defects images. The present invention further provides an apparatus based on the method for inspecting substrate internal defects.
US08396277B2	Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus In an MRI apparatus, an executing unit executes an image taking sequence according to a parallel imaging method so as to collect MR signals by using a plurality of RF coils; a reconstructing unit reconstructs an MR image from the MR signals; an unfolding processing unit performs an unfolding process to unfold aliasing that has occurred in the MR image, by using sensitivity distribution data indicating a spatial sensitivity distribution of the RF coils; a judging unit judges whether the unfolded image includes one or more pixels of which the pixel values are abnormal; and when the judgment result is in the affirmative, a correcting unit corrects the sensitivity distribution data so that the pixel values of the pixels become closer to a normal value. After the sensitivity distribution data has been corrected, the unfolding processing unit performs the unfolding process again by using the corrected sensitivity distribution data.
US08396275B2	X-ray CT system and method for creating tomographic recordings with two x-ray energy spectra An x-ray CT system and a method are disclosed for creating tomographic recordings with the aid of an x-ray CT system, with two emitter/detector arrangements operating with an angular offset on a gantry with at least two different x-ray energy spectra. In at least one embodiment, at least one first recording is reconstructed from detector data from two quarter rotations with different x-ray energy spectra and at least one second recording is created from detector data of a scan of at least one of the emitter/detector arrangements over a half rotation. According to at least one embodiment of the invention, the recordings are subjected to high-pass filtering or low-pass filtering in respect of their spatial frequencies and then the filtered recordings are combined to give a resulting recording.
US08396264B2	Face matching device, electronic device, face matching device control method, and face matching device control program A face matching device (1) of the present invention includes: a target image obtaining section (101) for obtaining a target face image capturing time, that is, the time of capturing a target face image; and a matching use image selecting section (104) for selecting, on the basis of (i) the target face image capturing time obtained by the target image obtaining section (101) and (ii) a reference face image capturing time stored in a reference image database (121), a reference face image for use in matching. With the arrangement, it is possible to carry out accurate matching with respect to a desired face image among a plurality of images including face images which show respective persons of various ages.
US08396263B2	Method, apparatus and computer program product for providing face pose estimation A method for providing face pose estimation for face detection may include utilizing a selected portion of classifiers in detectors to determine coarse pose information for a candidate face in an image, determining fine pose information for the candidate face based at least in part on the determined coarse pose information, and employing another portion of the classifiers in the detectors to perform face detection based at least in part on the fine pose information to determine whether the candidate face corresponds to a face. An apparatus and computer program product corresponding to the method are also provided.
US08396255B2	System for and method of processing laser scan samples and digital photographic images relating to building facades A computer arrangement is disclosed, including a processor that can communicate with a memory. The memory stores a computer program that can be run by the processor, and stores a set of laser scan samples including a sub-set of laser scan samples relating to a façade of a building and stores location data as to each laser scan sample. The memory also stores a picture of the same façade including location data as to pixels of the picture. The picture includes data as to a wall of the façade and data as to texture elements in the wall. In at least one embodiment, the processor automatically identifies the wall and the texture elements in the picture while using the laser scan samples.
US08396251B2	Method for determining the position of an object from a digital image Method for determining the position of an object point in a scene from a digital image thereof acquired through an optical system is presented. The image comprises a set of image points corresponding to object points and the position of the object points are determined by means of predetermined vectors associated with the image points. The predetermined vector represents the inverted direction of a light ray in the object space that will produce this image point through the optical system comprising all distortion effects of the optical system.
US08396250B2	Network surveillance system A method for estimating the activity topology of a set of sensed data windows is described. Each of the sensed data windows related to a corresponding sensed region. The method includes the steps of determining a subset of sensed data windows that are not connected; and excluding the subset of sensed data windows from the set of sensed data windows. In one embodiment, the sensed data windows corresponding to image windows such as would be provided by a visual surveillance system.
US08396249B1	Robot control based on saliency and invariant spatial representations using hierarchical spatial working memory A method and apparatus for controlling robots based on prioritized targets extracted from fused visual and auditory saliency maps. The fused visual and auditory saliency map may extend beyond the immediate visual range of the robot yet the methods herein allow the robot to maintain an awareness of targets outside the immediate visual range. The fused saliency map may be derived in a bottom-up or top-down approach and may be feature based or object based.
US08396248B2	Sequential stereo imaging for estimating trajectory and monitoring target position A method for determining a position of a target includes obtaining a first image of the target, obtaining a second image of the target, wherein the first and the second images have different image planes and are generated at different times, processing the first and second images to determine whether the target in the first image corresponds spatially with the target in the second image, and determining the position of the target based on a result of the act of processing. Systems and computer products for performing the method are also described.
US08396247B2	Recognizing actions of animate objects in video A system that facilitates automatically determining an action of an animate object is described herein. The system includes a receiver component that receives video data that includes images of an animate object. The system additionally includes a determiner component that accesses a data store that includes an action graph and automatically determines an action undertaken by the animate object in the received video data based at least in part upon the action graph. The action graph comprises a plurality of nodes that are representative of multiple possible postures of the animate object. At least one node in the action graph is shared amongst multiple actions represented in the action graph.
US08396246B2	Tagging images with labels An image to be shared with other users based on input from a first user is received. A second user is identified from a tag of the image, and information is provided, based at least in part on the tag, to one or both of the first user and the second user. Additionally, after editing of an image a determination can be made as to whether a region of the image having an associated tag has been affected by the editing. The tag associated with the region is altered if the region has been affected by the editing, otherwise the tag associated with the region is left unaltered. Furthermore, the tag can include a first portion storing data identifying a region of the image to which the tag corresponds, and a second portion storing data identifying a person shown in the region.
US08396236B2	Method for compensating for a feedback signal, and hearing device Feedback in a hearing device and, more particularly, in a hearing aid should be compensated for before it becomes audible. To this end, a method is proposed for compensating for a feedback signal in a hearing device with an input-transducer apparatus, a signal-processing apparatus and an output-transducer apparatus, in which method a feedback signal is compensated for, which feedback signal is fed back to the input-transducer apparatus from the output-transducer apparatus or the signal-processing apparatus. More particularly, a probability of having a plurality of notches, equally spaced apart from one another, in the spectrum of an input signal is established, which input signal originates directly from the input-transducer apparatus or which is a difference signal between the signal directly from the input-transducer apparatus and a compensation signal serving for compensation. The compensation is modified or the signal-processing apparatus is amplified as a function of this established probability.
US08396230B2	Speech enhancement device and method for the same A speech enhancement device and a method for the same are included. The device includes a down-converter, a speech enhancement processor, and an up-converter. The method includes steps of down-converting audio signals to generate down-converted audio signals; performing speech enhancement on the down-converted audio signals to generate speech-enhanced audio signals; and up-converting the speech enhancement audio signals to generate up-converted audio signals.
US08396227B2	Method of determining the harmonic and anharmonic portions of a response signal of a device A method of determining the harmonic and anharmonic portions of a response signal (RS) of a device (2), e.g. an electro-acoustic or electric device, comprises the steps of supplying an input signal (IS) to the device (2) causing the device (2) to respond with a response signal (RS), wherein the input signal (IS) is a sinusoidal signal having a continuously increasing or decreasing frequency (f), capturing the response signal (RS), transforming the captured response signal (RS) from the time space into the phase space and analyzing the phase space transformed response signal (TRS) in respect of its harmonic and/or anharmonic portions or establishing reference functions when defining the input signal (IS) and analyzing the response signal (RS) by Fourier transformations carried out by numerical integrations of the reference functions.
US08396225B2	Active noise control using bass management and a method for an automatic equalization of sound pressure levels A method for an automatic equalization of sound pressure levels in at least one listening location, where the sound pressure is generated by a first and at least a second loudspeaker, comprising supplying an audio signal of a programmable frequency to each loudspeaker, where the audio signal supplied to the second loudspeaker is phase-shifted by a programmable phase shift relative to the audio signal supplied to the first loudspeaker, and where the phase shifts of the audio signals supplied to the other loudspeakers thereby are initially zero or constant; measuring the sound pressure level at each listening location for different phase shifts and for different frequencies; providing a cost function dependent on the sound pressure level; and searching a frequency dependent optimal phase shift that yields an extremum of the cost function, thus obtaining a phase function representing the optimal phase shift as a function of frequency.
US08396220B2	System and method of mobile content sharing and delivery in an integrated network environment A system and method of mobile content sharing and delivery in an integrated network environment, comprising; a first mobile terminal serving as information provider, a home server, and a second mobile terminal serving as information receiver. The information of said first mobile terminal is transmitted to said second mobile terminal through said home server, and that information can be stored in said home server for direct downloading of file by said second mobile terminal in an asynchronous transmission manner; when said first mobile terminal moves and switches to another network environment, said second mobile terminal still can request and download said information through said home server. A double key protection scheme is further provided in safeguarding secure transaction of information.
US08396217B2	Broadcast receiving apparatus and channel changing method thereof In a broadcast receiving apparatus and a channel changing method in a broadcast receiving apparatus, broadcast data corresponding to a selected broadcast program, included in a channel broadcast signal received as a result of broadcast program selection, is descrambled based on previously stored descrambling control information, thereby shortening scrambling time and reducing channel change time in the broadcast receiving apparatus.
US08396205B1	Systems and methods of supervising contacts Methods and apparatus for automatically prioritizing contacts in a contact handling system for the purpose of monitoring are disclosed. The method can include a plurality of contacts, each contact being associated with a particular agent and a particular customer. The method can include comparing an attribute associated with each contact to a priority factor. The method can include assigning each contact a supervision priority based on the comparison of the attribute of each contact to the priority factor associated with the attribute. The method can include presenting a first contact of the plurality of contacts to a supervisor at a supervisor workstation based on the priority assigned each contact. The method can include displaying a representation of the first contact at a display associated with the supervisor workstation.
US08396198B2	Methods and apparatus for authorization and/or routing of outdial communication services Methods and apparatus for authorization and routing of outdial communication services are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein comprises receiving a request to authorize an outdial communication service call initiated by a message center, and accessing an authorization table to determine whether the outdial communication service call is authorized, the authorization table to correlate input criteria associated with the request to an authorization result for the outdial communication service call, the input criteria comprising a first criterion indicating whether the outdial communication service call is for a real-time outdial service initiated in response to an indial communication service received at the message center, or for a non-real-time outdial service initiated by an application server associated with the message center.
US08396195B2	Methods, systems, and products for dynamically-changing IVR architectures Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for dynamically changing an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Responses to a menu of prompts are monitored. A presentation order of the menu of prompts is automatically updated according to a set of rules. The set of rules describe qualifications for dynamically changing the menu of prompts.
US08396191B2	Anti-social protocol for emergency dispatch Systems and methods are provided to guide an emergency dispatcher in responding to emergency calls involving a hate crime or other anti-social behavior. The systems and methods can include an emergency police dispatch protocol configured to facilitate uniform and consistent gathering of information about an incident being reported. The emergency police dispatch protocol includes one or more dispatch protocols configured for particular incidents or emergency situations, such as to aid the dispatcher in processing calls relating to anti-social behavior. The emergency police dispatch protocol presents a pre-scripted interrogation, including preprogrammed inquiries for a dispatcher to ask the caller. The pre-scripted interrogation of the dispatch protocol facilitates uniform and consistent gathering of information relating to hate crimes and other anti-social behavior. The information gathered can be stored and/or processed to determine a determinant value corresponding to an appropriate emergency dispatch response.
US08396189B2	Photoneutron conversion target and photoneutron—X ray source A photoneutron-x ray source includes a photoneutron conversion target, which outputs both photoneutrons and x-rays simultaneously. The photoneutron-x ray source includes an x-ray generator for generating an x-ray main beam that is applied to the photoneutron conversion target. The photoneutron conversion target generates photoneutrons upon the application of the x-ray main beam to the photoneutron conversion target. The photoneutron conversion target has a body that defines a passageway extending through the body and that is structured such that a first x-ray beam of the x-ray main beam can pass through the passageway without any reaction with the body, while a second x-ray beam of the x-ray main beam can enter the body and react with the body to emit the photoneutrons.
US08396186B2	Dental x-ray photographing device A dental x-ray photographing device includes a rotating means (3) for rotating an arm (2) which supports an x-ray source (11) and an x-ray imaging means (12), a sliding means (4) for linearly moving the x-ray imaging means (12). The dental x-ray photographing device obtains a first set of projection images which goes through a first region by moving the x-ray imaging means (12) to a first detection position, obtains a second set of projection images which goes through a second region by moving the x-ray imaging means (12) to a second detection position, and paste the first set of projection images and the second set of projection images together. An origin-position detecting means (5) for detecting an origin position of the x-ray imaging means (12) includes an optical sensor (52) that detects a position of an end (51a) of a light blocking plate that linearly moves together with the x-ray imaging means (12), and detects a time point at which the end (51a) of the light blocking plate passes the optical sensor (52) in the forward direction as the origin position. According to such a configuration, it becomes possible to obtain a highly precise and large FOV using the x-ray imaging means that has a narrow photo receiving surface.
US08396181B2	Method and apparatus for generating nuclear fusion using crystalline materials Gently heating a pyroelectric crystal in a deuterated atmosphere can generate fusion under desktop conditions. The electrostatic field of the crystal is used to generate and accelerate a deuteron beam (>100 keV and >4 nA), which, upon striking a deuterated target, produces a neutron flux over 400 times the background level. The presence of neutrons within the target is confirmed by pulse shape analysis and proton recoil spectroscopy. Several elements of the system may be modified, including the configuration of the crystal or crystals, the composition of the surrounding environment and the target, the use of multiple probe tips, and the composition of the probe tip.
US08396180B2	High jitter tolerant phase comparator Aspects of the disclosure provide a method and an apparatus for clock and data recovery. The method and apparatus can increase jitter tolerance, and can provide recovered data with reduced jitter amplitude. The method for recovering data transmitted over a channel can include detecting a phase of a data transition within a full unit interval that includes an active zone and an inactive zone that are set based on a jitter characteristic for the channel, generating a phase directive when the phase of the data transition is located within the active zone, and adjusting a data sampling phase based on the phase directive, so that the data transmitted over the channel is sampled at a data transition edge free location.
US08396178B1	Distributing clock associated with a wired data connection over wireless interfaces using frequency correction at the transmitter side A clock extractor extracts clock frequency f2, from a wired data connection feeding the transmitter with data clocked at the clock frequency f2. A clock error estimator estimates clock frequency error between the clock frequency f2 and a clock frequency f1 derived from a local clock of the transmitter. Clock adder adds the clock frequency error to the clock frequency f1, resulting in a synthesized clock frequency f2. A modulator uses the synthesized clock frequency f2, to modulate a data stream into a modulated signal.
US08396165B2	Multicarrier-signal receiving apparatus and multicarrier-signal transmitting apparatus A multicarrier-signal receiving apparatus includes: a Fourier-transformer that performs a Fourier transform, on reception signals to extract subcarriers; a channel estimator that performs channel estimation on one of the extracted subcarriers using channel estimation symbols included in a subcarrier group to which the one of the extracted subcarriers belongs, the subcarrier group including subcarriers to which an identical phase rotation is added upon transmission; and a channel compensator that performs channel compensation on data symbols included in the one of the extracted subcarriers using a result of the channel estimation performed by the channel estimator on the one of the extracted subcarriers.
US08396160B2	Method and apparatus for transmitting signals Disclosed herein is a method for transmitting signals in a wireless communication system, including joint coding one or more signals, separating the joint coded signal by a number of a plurality of channel aggregation used for transmission, respectively allocating the separated signals to the plurality of the channel aggregation, and transmitting the signals, such that a receiver smoothly performs decoding.
US08396155B2	Advanced method for decoding in the MIMO system and apparatus for implementing thereof A mobile station is capable of detecting a signal in the wireless communication systems using the Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO). The mobile station includes an apparatus that determines a vector of signals received by several receiving antennas. The apparatus estimates a channel between transmitting antenna and receiving antenna; forms a channel matrix; establishes, based on the channel state data, an order for detecting symbols transmitted by different transmitting antennas; calculates weight coefficients for detecting the symbols in the MIMO system; detects the symbols serially in the established order on the basis of the received signal vector; calculates the Euclidean distance between the detected symbols and the symbol constellation points; determines values of the Logarithmic Likelihood Ratio (LLR) for estimating the soft output bit probability, and forms a group of the most probable candidate symbols from the points of the symbol constellation.
US08396151B2	Timing tracking in a multiple receive antenna system Apparatus and methods for determining timing tracking in a multiple antenna wireless system are disclosed. Timing tracking is obtained, in particular, by determining at least two channel density profiles for signals respectively received by at least two antennas of multiple receive antenna wireless device. The channel density profiles are then combined, such as by summing, to form a composite channel density profile. The composite is, in turn, used by a timing tracking algorithm to determine a timing decision for setting the timing tracking in a transceiver device used in the multiple antenna wireless system. Use of a composite density profile affords the system increased resistance to channel dynamics such as fading, birth and death, which reduces degradation due to mistiming caused by such channel dynamics.
US08396146B2	Wireless communication modem A wireless communication modem (2) receives data (10) sent from a host device (4) in a nonprocedural manner, then subjects the received data (10) to protocol conversion, and transmits the converted data to a server (8) via a wireless communication network (6). The wireless communication modem (2) has an on-request transmission mode in which the data (10) is transmitted to the server (8) only when a connection from the server (8) to the wireless communication modem (2) is established.
US08396143B2	Apparatus and method for pilot transmission in a wireless communication system An apparatus and method for pilot transmission in a wireless communication system are provided. The method includes generating a precode and a postcode for coordinated beamforming using channel information of one or more streams for transmitting signals to one or more receive ends, selecting one or more streams to be allocated pilots, updating the precode according to a reference point for representing an effective channel of non-selected streams orthogonal to an effective channel of the selected streams, and precoding signals transmitted through the streams.
US08396138B2	System and method for controlling wireless network access information in using removable external modem Disclosed are a system and a method for controlling wireless network access information in using a removable external modem. These relates to a case where a removable external modem among devices for a wireless access server (e.g. WiMAX) is connected with a host customer electronics (CE) device so as to be used. Particularly, in a case where the removable external modem, which has no information for accessing a specific network, e.g. operator Lock, a roaming list, a credential, operator ID, etc., when it is introduced, receives network access information through initial access, registration, and provisioning step, and is connected to other device to be used, the modem can be directly connected to a network of an existing registered network communication provider without a separate supplementary registration or a provisioning step.
US08396124B2	Method of predicting motion and texture data A method for generating for at least one block of pixels of a picture of a sequence of interlaced pictures at least one motion predictor and at least one texture predictor from motion data, respectively texture data, associated with the pictures of a sequence of low resolution progressive pictures is disclosed.
US08396121B2	System and method for implementing efficient decoded buffer management in multi-view video coding A system and method for encoding a first picture sequence and a second picture sequence into coded pictures, with the first picture sequence and the second picture sequence being different, and with at least one coded picture of the second picture sequence being predicted from at least one picture in the first picture sequence. According to various embodiments of the present invention, signal element is encoded into a coded picture of the second picture sequence. The signal element indicates whether a picture in the first picture sequence is used for prediction of the coded picture of the second picture sequence.
US08396108B2	Transmitting/receiving system and method of processing broadcast signal in transmitting/receiving system A receiving system and method of processing a broadcast signal is provided. The receiving system includes a signal receiving unit, a known sequence detector, a channel equalizer, a block decoder, and an error correction unit and receives a broadcast signal including mobile service data and a data group including multiple known data sequences. The known sequence detector detects the multiple known data sequences. The channel equalizer repetitively updates equalization coefficients and filters up to a pre-determined number of iterations based upon the detected known data sequences and converges the equalization coefficient. The channel equalizer interpolates or extrapolates using the converged equalization coefficients and channel-equalizes the mobile service data. The block decoder performs turbo-decoding in block units on the channel-equalized mobile service data. The error correction unit performs error correction decoding on the decoded mobile service data to correct errors in the mobile service data.
US08396099B2	Multi-carrier receiver, multi-carrier transmitter and multi-carrier transceiver system A multi-carrier receiver, multi-carrier transmitter and a multi-carrier transceiver system are provided. The multi-carrier receiver includes at least a first processing unit, a routed switch and a second processing unit. The first processing unit has M first processing paths, performs intensity processing to at least one RF signal for outputting sub-carrier signals. The routed switch has M input terminals and N output terminals, where the M input terminals are respectively coupled to the M first processing paths and receive the sub-carrier signals. The routed switch connects each input terminal to at least one output terminal or none of the output terminals according to a control signal. The second processing unit has N second processing paths respectively coupled to the N output terminals for demodulating the sub-carrier signals and performing an analog-to-digital conversion to the demodulated signals for generating digital signals, where M and N are greater than 0.
US08396096B2	Communication receiver with multiplexing of received signal, for receive space diversity A communication receiver implements receive space diversity to combine or select signals received from a same source on at least two spatially separated antennas in which the signals may vary in their fading characteristics at a given time. The receiver includes a RF processing module for down-converting and multiplexing the signals and a baseband processing module for converting the signals into digital signals, generating code sequences, producing despreaded and demultiplexed in-phase signals, and retrieving data initially contained within the received signals.
US08396088B2	Digital broadcasting system and method of processing data A digital broadcasting system and a method of processing data are disclosed. The method of processing data of a transmitting system includes generating signaling information including service-related transmission parameters of mobile service data, packetizing the generated signaling information to a predetermined data packet format, primarily multiplexing the packetized signaling information and a mobile service data packet including the mobile service data, and secondarily multiplexing the primarily multiplexed data packets and a main service data packet including main service data, thereby transmitting the secondarily multiplexed data packets to at least one transmitter located in a remote site.
US08396081B2	Communication terminal and base station communication method using MAC control information priorities and SRB priorities A communication terminal adjusts the transmission timing of data transmitted to a base station so that the base station can receive the data within a predetermined delay time. The communication terminal includes a reception section 701 for receiving priority of MAC control information transmitted from the base station, a priority control section 703 for defining the relationship between the priority of the MAC control information and priority assigned to DRB and SRB, and a transmission message generation section 704 for controlling so as to transmit information having a high priority early in accordance with the relationship between the priorities defined by the priority control section 703. According to the communication terminal, a comparison is made between the priority of the MAC control information and the priority assigned to the DRB and the SRB, whereby it is made possible to control what information is to be transmitted as desired.
US08396075B2	Method for implementing an open charging (OC) middleware platform and gateway system The art of present discloses a method and system for enabling mobile network operators to collect charging information from various other network elements; and indeed, is intended to exploit the resiliency of open network architecture and lessen the requisite dependency on proprietary network elements services and billing systems. The Open Charging (OC) middleware platform and gateway system interacts with proprietary network elements and effectually creates a unifying, enabling layer in mobile networks. Indeed, the art is directed at permitting mobile subscriber access to, among others, third party content and services with the simplicity and convenience of such charges appearing on either mobile phone bill, or decremented from said mobile subscriber's pre-paid account.
US08396068B2	Method for transmitting data in wireless communication system A method for transmitting data in a wireless communication system is provided. The method includes: transmitting first data through a radio resource allocated in a unit of a default transmission time interval (TTI) including at least one sub-frame in a frame including a plurality of sub-frames consisting of a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; and transmitting second data through a radio resource allocated in a unit of a modified TTI obtained by changing the number of sub-frames included in the default TTI in the frame.
US08396062B2	System for switching between communication devices, switching method, and switching program A switching system in which a unique additional address is used for each session, and session information is transferred as it is without rewriting the session information when a communication device such as a server is switched, a switching method, and a switching program are disclosed. The switching system comprises a switching device (210) for selecting an address for each session from a first communication device, attaching the address to a packet from the first communication device in place of a destination address of the packet, and sending the packet, a dispatcher (240) for setting up a session with the first communication device, selecting a server to deal with the request from the first communication device, and transferring the set up session to a second communication device, and servers (250-1, . . . , 250-n) for taking over the session transferred by the dispatcher and dealing with the request from the first communication device.
US08396059B1	Automated discovery/rediscovery of server to network connectivity In one embodiment, an apparatus obtains a switch port identifier mapping for each of the plurality of ports of a network device, wherein the switch port identifier mapping indicates a port identifier of one of the plurality of ports of the network device and a switch port identifier of a switch port to which the one of the plurality of ports is connected. The apparatus obtains a set of switch information for each of a plurality of switches, the set of switch information including a set of switch port identifiers associated with the corresponding one of the plurality of switches. The apparatus ascertains for each one of the plurality of ports, a corresponding one of the plurality of switches and a port of the one of the plurality of switches to which the one of the plurality of ports is connected.
US08396054B2	Systems and methods to facilitate searches of communication references Methods and apparatuses to facilitate searches of communication references for real time communication connections. One embodiment includes: one or more web servers to assign a communication reference to an advisor for distribution by the advisor in one or more documents, to associate at least one keyword with the communication reference, to receive from the advisor a bid price on the keyword associated with the communication reference, and to present the communication reference selected based at least in part on the bid price in response to a search related to the keyword; a session border controller to interface with a packet switched network; and one or more telecommunication servers to determine contact information of the advisor based on the communication reference used by a customer to request a communication connection to the advisor, and to connect the customer to the advisor for real time communications using the determined contact information.
US08396050B2	Techniques for femto cell synchronization in wireless networks Techniques are disclosed that provide for femto base stations to become synchronized with other base stations in a wireless network. For instance, a macro base station may instruct a mobile station to engage in a synchronization operation that synchronizes one or more timings (e.g., OFDM timings) of a femto base station with one or more corresponding timings of the macro base station. This may involve the mobile station having timing references of the macro base station. Further, this may involve the mobile station performing scanning operations and/or handover ranging operations with the femto base station. The mobile device may determine timing offsets between the femto BS and the macro BS. These offsets may be sent to the macro base station or to the femto base station. Also, the femto base station may adopt timings employed by the mobile station. The macro base station or a femto base station may direct a femto base station to achieve synchronization either directly with timing adjustment offset, or with a list of already synchronized femto base station as synchronization reference.
US08396043B2	Digital broadcast system for transmitting/receiving digital broadcast data, and data processing method for use in the same The present invention is directed to a digital broadcast system and a data processing method. A broadcast signal in which mobile service data and main service data are multiplexed is transmitted and received. Then, in a broadcasting receiver, the program table information describing channel information and event information of the mobile service data according to an identifier of an ensemble in which the mobile service data are multiplexed, in the received broadcast signal. And the mobile service data is outputted by using the parsed program table information.
US08396036B2	Handover processing method, and access point and mobile terminal for use in the method A technology is disclosed for providing a handover processing method, and an access point and a mobile terminal used in the method, in which the handover processing method can prevent processing of a HO in a layer 2 and an HO in a layer 3 from occurring at same time simultaneously, and shorten waiting time caused by the HO. The technology includes a step of providing, by the access point, strength information held by the access point itself, the strength information that is information whether to promote a handover processing in the layer 3 or not to promote the handover processing in the layer 3, and a step of receiving, by the mobile node, the provided strength information, deciding whether to perform the handover in the layer 3 based on the received strength information, and performing the handover processing in the layer 3 based on the decision.
US08396029B2	Techniques to manage channel prediction A system, apparatus, method and article to manage channel prediction for a wireless communication system are described. The apparatus may include a media access control processor to perform channel prediction, and a transceiver to communicate information using the channel prediction. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08396027B2	Communication control system, communication system and communication control method When communication is performed on communication equipment that is connected to a communication control system to which a mobile communication terminal is connected, and is included in a private network, the communication is performed with reduced traffic. A communication control system 2 includes: a communication request transfer portion 21, which can connect to a mobile communication network N1 and a private network N2, and transfers a communication path creation request transmitted from a mobile communication terminal 10 to create a communication path specifying a device to become a transfer destination included in the mobile communication network N1; an information transmission request reception portion 22, which receives from the mobile communication terminal 10 an information transmission request, including an address of a transmission destination included in the private network N2 and transfer destination designation information designating a transfer destination included in the mobile communication network N1; a transfer destination changing portion 23, which changes the transfer destination designation information to the device to become the transfer destination included in the private network N2; and an information transmission request transmission portion 26, which transmits the information transmission request to the changed transfer destination.
US08396021B2	Gaming console wireless protocol for peripheral devices Methods of wireless communication between a gaming console and a wireless accessory using a protocol. The protocol is used in a TDMA frequency hopping spread spectrum system to enable simultaneous communication of voice and data between a plurality of wireless accessories and the gaming console. The protocol provides specific time slots for upstream and downstream transmissions, as well as a retransmission time slots to enable a robust environment with minimal latency.
US08396017B2	Apparatus and method for filtering broadcast message An apparatus and a method for filtering a broadcast message in a wireless network access equipment is discussed. The method includes searching for a registered communication terminal that should respond to a received broadcast message; checking whether the received broadcast message forwarding to the searched communication terminal requires a response; and transmitting a response instead to the communication terminal when the received broadcast message requires a response.
US08396010B2	Self-configuration of a forwarding table in an access node The present invention relates to an access node (2a, 2b) comprising: a forwarding mean (31) adapted to forward data traffic according to a forwarding table (32) that comprises one-to-one associations between destination hardware addresses and respective egress interfaces, a forwarding configuration means (33) adapted to configure forwarding entries into the forwarding table, a capturing means (34) adapted to capture auto-configuration messages exchanged between an auto-configuration server (4) and subscriber devices for assigning network addresses thereto. An access node according to the invention is characterized in that the forwarding configuration means is coupled to the capturing means, and is further adapted to synchronize the configuration of a particular forwarding entry related to a particular hardware address (MAC@1) of a particular subscriber device (1) with the lease of a particular network address (IP@1) to the particular subscriber device.The present invention also relates to a method for self-configuring a forwarding table (32) in an access node (2a, 2b).
US08395998B2	ATM cell transfer apparatus with hardware structure for OAM cell generation An ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) cell transfer apparatus includes an input interface, a switch block, and an OAM cell processing hardware block having a memory unit. The input interface receives an SDH/SONET signal on each of a plurality of first transfer paths to output an input OAM cell corresponding to the SDH/SONET signal to one of a plurality of input ports of the switch block corresponding to the first transfer path for the SDH/SONET signal to be transferred. The switch block receives the input OAM (operation and maintenance) cell from the corresponding input port as an OAM input port to output to the OAM cell processing hardware block together with a port number of the OAM input port, and receives at least one output OAM cell from the OAM cell processing hardware block to output to at least one of the plurality of output ports based on the received output OAM cell. The OAM cell processing hardware block reads out the at least one output OAM cell corresponding to the input OAM cell from the memory unit based on the input OAM cell and the port number supplied from the switch block, and outputs the at least one output OAM cell to the switch block.
US08395992B2	Method and system for negotiating multiple data rate transitions on an ethernet link An Ethernet network may comprise multi-rate link partners coupled via an Ethernet link wherein a pattern, over time, of offered data rates may be determined. Link partners may establish a communication policy for modifying transmission rates to mimic offered data rates and may vary rates accordingly. The communication control policy may be communicated between nodes via one or more of physical layer control characters, an out of band channel and higher layer protocol packets. An established communication policy may improve energy efficiency and may be dynamically modified, for example, based on link utilization. In this regard, data rates may be symmetrical or asymmetrical with respect to direction of transmission. Moreover, data rates may comprise the offered data rate plus additional bandwidth for head room and may comprise one or more of a full rate, an intermediate rate and/or a rate of zero. Rate transitions may be synchronized among network nodes.
US08395984B2	Multilevel data structure A method of performing writable optical recording of a medium to form multilevel oriented nano-structures therein, comprises steps of providing a disc-shaped, writable recording medium having a planar surface; and encoding data/information in the medium by forming a plurality of multilevel nano-structured pits in the surface by scanning with a focused spot of optical energy to form at least one data track therein, including scanning the optical spot in a cross-track direction while rotating the disc about a central axis.
US08395975B1	Optical read/write apparatus In one embodiment, an optical read/write apparatus includes first and second optical pickups 2a, 2b and a control section. The first optical pickup 2a includes a first lens 3a that condenses a light beam emitted from a first light source onto an optical storage medium, and a first lens actuator that can shift the first lens 3a in a track crossing section with respect to a middle position. The second optical pickup 2b includes a second lens 3b that condenses a light beam emitted from a second light source onto the optical storage medium, and a second lens actuator that can shift the second lens 3b in the track crossing section with respect to the middle position. The control section makes the lens actuators operate so that as the magnitude of shift of the first lens 3a increases, that of the second lens 3b decreases.
US08395964B2	Row address decoder and semiconductor memory device having the same A row address decoder includes a first main word line decoding unit decoding first and second row addresses to generate first to fourth main decoding signals. When a data storage test is performed, the first to fourth main decoding signals are enabled at first to fourth timings, respectively. The row address decoder also includes a second main word line decoding unit decoding third and fourth row addresses to generate fifth to eighth main decoding signals. When a data storage test is performed, the fifth to eight to main decoding signals are enabled at first to fourth timings, respectively. A main word line enable signal generating unit decodes the first to fourth main decoding signals and the fifth to eighth main decoding signals to generate first to sixteenth main word line enable signals that are enabled at different times.
US08395959B2	Storage device, control method of storage device, and control method of storage control device Memory cell regions as units of erasing operation are sectors S, and units of reading operation and/or writing operation are blocks B0 to B3 in a sector, in which a block address BA for selecting one of blocks B0 to B3 is held in block address buffer (BAB) 3. Holding operation is executed prior to reading or writing operation, and hence in subsequent reading operation or writing operation, re-input is not needed. Depending on the held block address BA, any one of selection signals YDn (n=0 to 3) is selected, and any one block is selected depending on the selection signal YDn. This state is maintained until the block address BA held in the block address buffer (BAB) 3 is rewritten, and therefore it is not required to enter or decode the block address BA on every occasion of reading and/or writing operation, so that the access operation can be executed promptly and at low current consumption.
US08395957B2	Circuit and method for controlling self-refresh operation in semiconductor memory device A self-refresh control circuit includes: a code generator configured to generate a code by counting periods of a periodic wave based on a self-refresh signal and reset when a code value of the generated code reaches a first value; a bank active signal generator configured to generate a plurality of bank active signals activated in response to different code values of the generated code, respectively, by decoding the generated code; and an address generator configured to change a row address after the plurality of the bank active signals are each activated after the reset of the code generator.
US08395948B2	Program cycle skip A non-volatile storage system includes technology for skipping programming cycles while programming a page (or other unit) of data. While programming a current subset of the page (or other unit) of data, the system will evaluate whether the next subsets of the page (or other unit) of data should be programmed into non-volatile storage elements or skipped. Subsets of the page (or other unit) of data that should not be skipped are programmed into non-volatile storage elements. Some embodiments include transferring the appropriate data to temporary latches/registers, in preparation for programming, concurrently with the evaluation of whether to program or skip the programming.
US08395940B2	Page buffer circuit, nonvolatile memory device including the page buffer circuit, and method of operating the nonvolatile memory device A page buffer circuit including a bit line selection unit configured to select the first or second bit line in response to a first control signal and couple the selected bit line to a sense node, or to selectively precharge or discharge the first and second bit lines to a first voltage level, a first latch unit configured to store program data and output the stored program data to the sense node, a second latch unit configured to store data of a low logic level in response to a reset signal and discharge a selected bit line from a precharge state to a second voltage level, and a voltage control element configured to raise a voltage level of the sense node or drop a voltage level of the sense node to a third voltage level in response to a second control signal.
US08395936B2	Using channel-to-channel coupling to compensate floating gate-to-floating gate coupling in programming of non-volatile memory In a non-volatile storage system, during a verify operation, a verify voltage of a currently-sensed target data state is applied to a selected word line. A higher, nominal bit line voltage is used for the storage elements which have the currently-sensed target data state and a verify status of pass or no pass, a target data state lower than the currently-sensed target data state and a verify status of pass or no pass, or a target data state higher than the currently-sensed target data state and a verify status of pass. A lower bit line voltage is used for the storage elements which have the target data state higher than the currently-sensed target data state and a verify status of no pass, to enhance channel-to-channel coupling, as an offset to floating gate-to-floating gate coupling which is later caused by these storage elements.
US08395932B2	Semiconductor storage device and method of fabricating the same A semiconductor storage device includes a memory cell array, a plurality of word lines, a plurality of bit lines, a first gate wiring element 3a, 3b, a second gate wiring element 3c, 3d, a first connector 5a, 5b, and a second connector 5c, 5d. Each memory cell 10 has first and second sets having a driver transistor 11, a load transistor 12, and an access transistor 13. The word lines are arranged in parallel to each other along a first direction. The bit lines are arranged in parallel to each other along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The first gate wiring element comprises a gate electrode of the first driver transistor and the first load transistor, and has a rectangular shape having straight line on opposite sides. The second gate wiring element comprises a gate electrode of the access transistor and has a rectangular shape having straight line on opposite sides.
US08395929B2	Signal margin improvement for read operations in a cross-point memory array A configuration for biasing conductive array lines in a two-terminal cross-point memory array is disclosed. The configuration includes applying a read voltage to a selected X-conductive array line while applying an un-select voltage thru a biasing element to a remaining plurality of un-selected X-conductive array lines. A plurality of Y-conductive array lines are initially biased to some voltage (e.g., 0V) and then allowed to float unbiased after a predetermined amount of time has passed, some event has occurred, or both. As one example the event that triggers the floating of the plurality of Y-conductive array lines can be the read voltage reaching a predetermined magnitude. The array can be formed BEOL and include a plurality of two-terminal memory cells with each memory cell including a memory element and optionally a non-ohmic device (NOD) that are electrically in series with each other and with the two terminals of the memory cell.
US08395926B2	Memory cell with resistance-switching layers and lateral arrangement A memory device in a 3-D read and write memory includes memory cells. Each memory cell includes a resistance-switching memory element (RSME). The RSME has first and second resistance-switching layers on either side of a conductive intermediate layer, and first and second electrodes at either end of the RSME. The layers can be provided in a lateral arrangement, such as an end-to-end, face-to-face, L-shaped or U-shaped arrangement. In a set or reset operation of the memory cell, an electric field is applied across the first and second electrodes. An ionic current flows in the resistance-switching layers, contributing to a switching mechanism. An electron flow, which does not contribute to the switching mechanism, is reduced due to scattering by the conductive intermediate layer, to avoid damage to the steering element.
US08395922B2	Semiconductor memory device According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array, a first sense amplifier circuit, and a second sense amplifier circuit. The memory cell array includes a plurality of first memory cell units, a plurality of second memory cell units, a plurality of first interconnects, and a plurality of second interconnects. The first sense amplifier circuit is connected to the plurality of first interconnects. The second sense amplifier circuit is connected to the plurality of second interconnects. Heights of upper surfaces of interconnects are equal. At least one of a width of each of the plurality of second interconnects along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and a thickness of each of the plurality of second interconnects along a third direction perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction is set smaller than each of the plurality of first interconnects, and the first sense amplifier circuit and the second sense amplifier circuit are disposed to face each other across the memory cell array.
US08395921B2	Memory system having improved signal integrity A memory system having improved signal integrity includes a printed circuit board for use in a memory device, N memory semiconductor packages mounted on the printed circuit board, a first switch mounted on the printed circuit board, a controller mounted on the printed circuit board, N first signal lines connecting the semiconductor packages to the first switch such that the semiconductor packages and the first switch are in an N-to-1 correspondence, a second signal line connecting the first switch to the controller, and N selection lines connecting the semiconductor packages to the first switch such that the semiconductor packages and the first switch are in an N-to-1 correspondence. The N selection lines connect the semiconductor packages to the controller and transmit an enable signal. N is a natural number.
US08395916B2	Switched mode power supply and method of production A switched mode power supply allowing a half bridge converter to be use alone or in combination with another converter to form a full bridge converter. A common controller may be used for either half bridge or full bridge configurations. The modular approach simplifies design for a range of power supplies and reduces costs.
US08395911B2	Circuit configuration for operating a household appliance A circuit for operating a household appliance includes a controller that controls processes of a household appliance, a switching power supply that supplies current to the controller, a pushbutton that couples the switching power supply to a supply grid, an electronic controller connected parallel to the pushbutton that is actuable by the switching power supply by a control connection, and a voltage storage connected between the control connection of the electronic controller and a reference potential.
US08395900B2	Power routing device for expansion slot of computer system A power routing device includes one or more mounting portions and one or more power routing portions. At least one of the mounting portions can be mounted in an expansion slot of a circuit board assembly. The power routing portion can route electrical power to the circuit board assembly. In one embodiment, the expansion slot is a slot for a PCI expansion card.
US08395897B2	Electrical power component attached to chassis of an electrical power apparatus There is provided an electrical power component attached to a chassis of an electrical power apparatus, including a semiconductor element constituting an electronic circuit, and cooling unit having a planar shape which cools the semiconductor element and serves as a reinforcing material for increasing strength of the chassis.
US08395891B2	Cold row encapsulation for server farm cooling system Apparatuses, methods, and systems directed to efficient cooling of data centers. Some embodiments of the invention allow encapsulation of cold rows through an enclosure and allow server fans to draw cold air from the cold row encapsulation structure to cool servers installed on the server racks. In other particular embodiments, the systems disclosed can be used to mix outside cool air into the cold row encapsulation structure to cool the servers. In some embodiments, the present invention involves using multiple cold row encapsulation structures to cool the servers installed on the racks.
US08395888B2	Information-processing apparatus A laptop computer includes: a substantially rectangular first chassis accommodating a display section; a substantially rectangular second chassis accommodating an operation control section; and a hinge mechanism coupling one side of the second chassis and one side of the first chassis. Another side parallel to the one side of the first chassis is configured so that only its widthwise central portion in parallel to the one side lays side-by-side to form a substantially flat face with another side of the second chassis when the chassis are closed together. The other side of the first chassis is configured, in a planar view, so that the more it departs from the central portion toward an edge portion in the widthwise direction, the more it comes closer to the one side of the first chassis than to the other side of the second chassis when the chassis are closed together.
US08395887B2	Cover mechanism and electronic device using same A cover mechanism is for protecting an interface of an electronic device. The cover mechanism includes a housing and a protective cover. The housing forms an extending plate. The protective cover includes a plug and a latching post. The plug is for covering the interface, and the latching post is rotatably attached to the extending plate.
US08395883B2	Trapped-key-based locking system for docking station Embodiments of the present invention provide a docking station that prevents electrical cables (e.g., from a portable power generator or other temporary power source) from even being connected to connectors in the interior of the docking station while the building's electrical system (or other electrical load) is in electrical communication with the utility. The docking station can include a cabinet with two doors that swing in different directions and a locking mechanism that regulates the opening and closing of those doors. In preferred embodiments, the locking mechanism includes a trapped-key lock. Embodiments of the present invention can be used in applications other than docking stations.
US08395881B2	Multilayer feedthrough capacitor and mounted structure of multilayer feedthrough capacitor A multilayer feedthrough capacitor has a capacitor element body of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, a signal internal electrode, a ground internal electrode, first and second signal terminal electrodes, and a first ground terminal electrode. The capacitor element body includes first and second end faces opposed in a longitudinal direction thereof, and a mounting surface perpendicular to a direction in which a plurality of insulator layers are laminated. The first signal terminal electrode and the first ground terminal electrode are arranged in proximity to each other in a first region near the first end face in the mounting surface. The second signal terminal electrode is arranged in a second region near the second end face in the mounting surface. No conductor is arranged in a third region between the first region and the second region in the longitudinal direction of the capacitor element body, in the mounting surface.
US08395879B1	Bundled capacitor composed of a plurality of capacitors A bundled capacitor with a plurality of individual capacitors is described herein. Each bundled capacitor provides an individual capacitance value. The bundled capacitor can include a housing, a cap connected to the housing, a central common terminal, a plurality of auxiliary terminals, an interrupter, an insulating spider, an insulated collective connection, a thermal fuse, a frangible electrical connection, an insulating layer, a resin disposed around the capacitors, and an expansion chamber formed between the resin and the interrupter, enabling the cap to deform when one of the capacitors overheats in the bundled capacitor.
US08395864B2	Planar slider test socket The present application is directed to a slider supporting apparatus for flying a slider of a hard disk drive in the manufacturing process to provide electrical performance characteristics. The present invention discloses an integrated design including the electrical interconnect, the gimballing mechanism, the preload mechanism and the slider supporting mechanism integrated into a single supporting structure.
US08395854B2	Imaging optical system and imaging apparatus An imaging optical system, including an imaging lens group, an image side prism having an entrance surface a reflection surface and an exit surface from which light exits toward an image pickup device, and a first shielding member shielding at least a part of a region on the entrance surface, wherein the region on the entrance surface is located from an edge line of an apex between the entrance surface and the exit surface to a position corresponding to a height h from the edge line, and when L represents a length of the exit surface, α represents an angle formed between the reflection surface and the exit surface, n represents a refractive index of a surrounding area of the image side prism, and n′ represents a refractive index of the image side prism, the height h satisfies a following condition: h=L×cos {α+sin−1(n/n′)}.
US08395844B2	Apparatus for homogenizing light and laser apparatus for producing a linear intensity distribution in a work plane An apparatus for homogenizing light, including a lens array (5, 7, 8) with a plurality of lenses (6, 9, 10) through which the light to be homogenized can pass. The apparatus has at least two different center-to-center distances of the lenses (6, 9, 10) of the lens array (5, 7, 8), wherein the center-to-center distances of the lenses (6, 9, 10) decrease or increase from the inside to the outside.
US08395843B2	TIR light valve An array of light valves switch light by enabling and disabling total internal reflection (TIR) on a surface of the light valve. The disabling of the TIR is accomplished by putting another optical element in contact with the surface and then diffusing or changing the direction of the light. The mechanical mechanism to move the optical element is a simple one in that it only moves the optical element a small distance to change the valve from a first position to a second position.
US08395840B2	Apparatus for positioning optical components in an optical device An apparatus for positioning optical components in an optical device and a microscope with such an apparatus are described, comprising a holding device having a plurality of receptacles on which the optical components can be fixed. A stepper motor comprises a motor shaft for rotating the holding device via a toothed belt and therefore positions the optical components. This allows to position optical components in the optical beam path with low noise and in a vibration-free manner.
US08395833B2	Holographic projection system with optical wave tracking and with means for correcting the holographic reconstruction A holographic projection system with a display screen and an optical wave tracking element for controlling the direction of propagation of a modulated wave uses a position controller and an eye finder. An extremely wide tracking range is realized in the projection system for simultaneous viewing of the reconstruction by multiple observers, which are situated beside one another. The reconstruction of the scene is reconstructed for each eye position of an observer such that the entire scene is visible in the visibility region in a large tracking range with minimal errors. The projection system reconstructs the scene with the help of modulated partial waves. Projection element(s) direct these partial waves with separately holographically reconstructed segments of the scene at the desired eye position through a structure of screen segments which are at least horizontally staggered on the display screen.
US08395829B2	Illuminating device, image reading device, and image forming apparatus An aspect of the present invention provides an illuminating device including point-light-sources arranged in a line, that emit light; an optical guide member formed by injection molding and one end face of the optical guide member facing the point-light-sources, that guides light emitted from the point-light-sources to a surface to be illuminated such that the light emitted from the point-light-sources is incident on the one end face and the light incident on the one end face exits from the other end face; and first pin marks formed by projection pins used when removing the optical guide member when injection molding, the first pin marks being formed on one of faces of the optical guide member facing in a thickness direction of the optical guide member at the one end face side, and being formed in positions offset from the point-light-sources in a direction along which the point-light-sources are arranged.
US08395825B2	Image scanner and method for compensating image data An image scanner and a method for compensating image data are provided. By using both the X-axis calibration gain and the Y-axis calibration gain, the processing time period for compensating image data is reduced. In addition, no initial calibration and no warm-up calibration are required.
US08395824B2	Method for determining ground line A method of determining a ground line from an input image. The method includes determining a plurality of ground line candidates from the image, determining a certain band a central-line of which is a boundary between a G region and other regions in a Ground Building Sky (GBS) map of the image, and determining the ground line of the image by selecting a ground line candidate, among the plurality of ground line candidates, having the greatest extent crossing the certain band.
US08395819B2	Image processing device, image processing method and computer readable medium An image processing device including a registration unit that registers plurality pieces of style information is provided. In the device, one object or a plurality of objects is extracted from image data. By comparing the extracted objects with objects included in the plurality pieces of style information that are registered on the registration unit, style information to be output is selected. An object which is not included in the selected style information is selected among the extracted objects as an output object. An electronic file in which the selected output object is recorded on a page description part, and the selected style information is recorded on a style description part, is output.
US08395815B2	System and method for modeling higher dimension color response What is disclosed is a novel system and method for implementing a color model function for a printer that uses a relatively large number of colorants. The model is based upon several four color printer color models that contain more complete color models by storing output data for a higher number of input color value combinations and a small number of additional measurements that characterize the response of the printer to outputs using more than four colorants. Results from more complete printer models are determined and combined with a CMYKOV printer model that stores output values for only a coarse resolution of inputs. Transitions between various regions of color space defined by the colorant model definitions are then smoothed. A higher dimension printer color model output is produced. The present method effectively determines a higher dimension color printer model output corresponding to values of an N+2 dimension color model input.
US08395799B2	Printing system, output device, data management system, control method, and program A data management system that is connected to a client terminal and an output device, comprises a request search means configured to search for a print target data request corresponding to a print ticket attached to a print request from the client terminal from among print target data requests with respect to which a response has been deferred; a corresponding document designation means configured to, in the case where the access right determination means performs access right determination with respect to data designated by the print request and determines that access is permitted, designate the data designated by the print request as print target data requested by the corresponding print target data request; and a sending means configured to send the print target data designated by the corresponding document designation means to the output device as the response to the print target data request.
US08395795B2	Systems and methods for communicating documents A system includes telephone and packet-switched network interfaces and a translator. The translator receives messages. Outgoing messages originate from a multiple-function peripheral (MFP) and are received via a transfer agent (TA). Outgoing e-mail messages include an attached file in an image file format. The translator removes and delivers the attachment in facsimile format. Incoming fax messages are attached to an e-mail message. The TA receives and relays the e-mail message to an identified MFP, which discards the e-mail message and prints the attachment. A method for processing fax messages includes associating an identifier with a MFP, receiving a fax intended for the MFP, generating an e-mail message with an attachment representing the fax and communicating the e-mail message to a transfer agent that relays the e-mail to the MFP, which discards the e-mail body and prints the attachment.
US08395794B2	System for maintaining a cache of printer-readable prioritized content A system for prioritizing a cache of print jobs associated with at least one print driver includes a workstation having a processing unit and at least one print driver having a processing unit, that interface via a network. The workstation implements a print job request for a document and determines whether a document key identifier associated with the document exists. If not, a key is created. If a printer-readable format for a document associated with the key identifier is stored in or is pre-existing in one of at least two caches, the print driver assigns a prioritization identifier to the format. The system retrieves the printer-readable format from the cache to produce a print job output. Since the cache stores the document in printer-readable format, overall printing time is reduced. The format may be moved from one cache to another depending upon priority. The corresponding method is also disclosed.
US08395792B2	Image data processing apparatus connectable to a network A control unit of an image data processing apparatus executes a program including the step (S1030) of calculating a hash value based on image data received from an image processing terminal; the step (S1070) of issuing, if the same document (image) has already been printed by a user of the same group (YES at S1040, YES at S1050 and YES at S1060), a notice to that effect to the user who requested print registration; and the step (S1090) of registering the hash value and a user ID, if continuation of registration is still requested.
US08395790B2	Image forming apparatus Image forming apparatus that forms an electrostatic latent image on a surface of a photosensitive member with a laser beam, including a generation unit configured to generate a high-speed clock and a low-speed clock mutually different in frequency, a scanning unit configured to perform scanning of the laser beam in a main scanning direction based on the low-speed clock, a detection unit configured to detect the laser beam during a scanning operation performed by the scanning unit, a first shift register unit configured to receive a detection signal from the detection unit according to the high-speed clock, and an output unit configured to receive a parallel output of the first shift register unit in synchronization with the low-speed clock and to output detection timing of the laser beam as a detection signal synchronized with the low-speed clock and a value corresponding to a shift number defined by the high-speed clock.
US08395783B2	System metrology core Projection systems and methods with mechanically decoupled metrology plates according to embodiments of the present invention can be used to characterize and compensate for misalignment and aberration in production images due to thermal and mechanical effects. Sensors on the metrology plate measure the position of the metrology plate relative to the image and to the substrate during exposure of the substrate to the production image. Data from the sensors are used to adjust the projection optics and/or substrate dynamically to correct or compensate for alignment errors and aberration-induced errors. Compared to prior art systems and methods, the projection systems and methods described herein offer greater design flexibility and relaxed constraints on mechanical stability and thermally induced expansion. In addition, decoupled metrology plates can be used to align two or more objectives simultaneously and independently.
US08395779B2	Laser surveillance system A laser surveillance system includes a housing positioned generally at or below a water line and a laser and detector mechanism positioned within the housing. The mechanism includes a laser source and a sensor. The laser source is configured to project a laser beam towards a vessel being inspected. The sensor is configured to receive a reflection of the laser beam.
US08395776B2	Ozone monitor with gas-phase ozone scrubber The present invention provides a means of greatly reducing or eliminating the interferences of UV-absorbing compounds, mercury, water vapor and particulates in the UV absorbance measurement of ozone by replacing the internal solid-phase ozone scrubber with a gas-phase scrubber. Reagent gases well suited as a gas-phase scrubber of ozone include nitric oxide and bromine atoms. Nitric oxide may be supplied by a gas cylinder or by photolysis of either N2O or NO2, both in the absence of oxygen. Bromine atoms are conveniently generated by photolysis of Br2 supplied by a permeation tube. Bromine atoms have the advantage of having a faster reaction with ozone than NO and of being catalytic in their reaction. Nitric oxide has the advantage of being generally less reactive with other components of air.
US08395760B2	Unified spectral and geospatial information model and the method and system generating it This invention relates to a product called unified spectral and geospatial information model and the method and system that generates the model. Here, the model comprises an airborne image of ground surface. The image in such a model has three-dimensional XY2 coordinates for every pixel of it and particularly multiple pixels of the image can have same XY coordinates. The XYZ coordinates of all the pixels of the image are uniquely attributed by the method and system presented in this invention. An image of the unified spectral and geospatial information model always covers a scene of ground surface. And, all objects visible in such a scene are measurable in terms of both radiometry and geometry. The unified spectral and geospatial information model can be made by the method and system of this invention with airborne imagery, GPS/IMU data, and ground surface elevation or range data.
US08395757B2	Optimized polarization illumination Disclosed concepts include a method of optimizing polarization of an illumination of a pattern to be formed in a surface of a substrate. Polarized illumination is optimized by determining an illumination intensity for at least one point on an illuminator for at least two polarization states, determining image log slope for the at least one point on the illuminator for the at least two polarization states, determining a maximum image log slope (ILS) where the ILS is near zero for the at least one point on the illuminator, and selecting an optimal polarization state corresponding to the at least two polarization states that minimizes an ILS for the at least one point on the illuminator. This may be repeated for a plurality of points on the illuminator.
US08395750B2	Liquid crystal devices There is provided a liquid crystal device that exhibits excellent response properties over a wide temperature range even when the weight percentage of the polymerizable monomer used for generating polymers is decreased. The liquid crystal device according to the present invention is a liquid crystal device which includes a first substrate and a second substrate, at least one of which has an electrode group formed thereon for driving liquid crystals; and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate, in which the liquid crystal layer contains a polymer which is eccentrically distributed on at least one substrate side among the first substrate and the second substrate.
US08395747B2	Method for repairing glass substrate, process for producing glass substrate, glass substrate, and flat panel display A method for repairing a glass substrate is a method for repairing a glass substrate (10) having a depression (60) formed in a display region (5). Into the depression (60), plural types of starting material from which a cross-linked epoxy resin or a cross-linked (meth)acrylic resin is made are put together with a photoinitiator, and the starting materials thus put are copolymerized by light irradiation and heat treatment. In the result, the depression (60) in a surface of the glass substrate (10) is repaired by a transparent resin (65) obtained through the copolymerization of the plural types of starting material. Therefore, the glass substrate (10) can be repaired at a low temperature without performing a sintering process. Further, the transparent resin (65) has a reticular structure obtained through random copolymerization of the plural types of starting material and, as such, has its optical anisotropy suppressed, thus preventing the emergence of an unintended luminescent spot or the like on a liquid crystal display panel.
US08395743B2	Liquid crystal display and manufacturing method thereof A liquid crystal display includes a substrate, a plurality of pixel electrodes formed on the substrate, a common electrode facing the pixel electrodes, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the pixel electrodes and the common electrode. The pixel electrode includes at least one oblique edge including a plurality of protruded and depressed portions.
US08395738B2	Liquid crystal display device A liquid crystal display device includes an array substrate, a counter-substrate which is disposed to be opposed to the array substrate, a liquid crystal layer which is formed of a liquid crystal material which is held between the array substrate and the counter-substrate, and a sealant which bonds the array substrate and the counter-substrate. The array substrate includes a pixel electrode having a slit, and a counter-electrode which is opposed to the pixel electrode via an interlayer insulation film. The counter-substrate has a shield electrode on an outer surface thereof. The shield electrode is disposed such that an end portion thereof along at least one side of the counter-substrate, is exposed on the outer surface of the counter-substrate.
US08395736B2	Alignment substrate for aligning liquid crystal molecules, liquid crystal display panel having the same, and method of manufacturing the alignment substrate The present invention discloses an alignment substrate that includes a base substrate and an alignment layer arranged on the base substrate. A plurality of unit pixels is defined in the base substrate. The alignment layer includes at least two sub-alignment portions dividing the unit pixel into at least two domains. Each sub-alignment portion is arranged in a different domain of the at least two domains and is aligned to have a different pretilt direction from the other sub-alignment portions.
US08395735B2	Liquid crystal display device and method of manufacturing the same A liquid crystal display (“LCD”) device includes a first substrate, a pixel electrode, a second substrate, a common electrode and an alignment layer. The first substrate includes a thin-film transistor (“TFT”) and a plurality of pixel areas disposed on the first substrate. The pixel electrode is disposed on the TFT. The second substrate is disposed opposite to the first substrate. The common electrode is disposed on the second substrate. The alignment layer includes an insulation layer and a photoalignment layer, disposed on at least one of the pixel electrode and the common electrode.
US08395721B2	Liquid crystal display device A metal frame includes a first base portion and a first wall portion rising from the first base portion at a position excluding sections of a peripheral edge portion of the first base portion. A resin frame includes a second base portion arranged so as to extend from a region on a central side of the first wall portion of the first base portion to the plurality of sections of the peripheral edge portion, and a second wall portion rising from the second base portion above the plurality of sections. A liquid crystal display panel is supported on an upper surface of the second base portion of the resin frame. A peripheral edge of the liquid crystal display panel is positioned above the first wall portion. The second wall portion of the resin frame is positioned outside the peripheral edge of the liquid crystal display panel.
US08395714B2	Scanned projection system using polymerized liquid crystal layer for speckle reduction An imaging system (200), such as a scanned laser projection system, includes one or more laser sources (201) configured to produce one or more light beams (204), and a light modulator (203) configured to produce images (206) from the light beams (204). Optional optical alignment devices (220) can be used to orient the light beams (204) into a combined light beam (205). A beam separator (221), which can be any of a birefringent wedge, compensated birefringent wedge, or a polymerized liquid crystal layer, is disposed between at least one of the laser sources (201) and the light modulator (203). The beam separator (221) is configured to receive light from the laser sources (201) and deliver two angularly separated and orthogonally polarized light beams (223) to the light modulator (203) so as to reduce speckle appearing when the images (206) are displayed on a display surface (207).
US08395709B2	3D video processing A method and apparatus for reducing motion judder in a 3D input source are disclosed. The 3D input source is separated into left and right images. Motion vectors for the left and right images are calculated. Frame rate conversion is performed on the left and right images, to produce motion compensated left and right images. The left and right images and the motion compensated left and right images are reordered for display. Alternatively, the motion estimation and motion compensation can be performed on the 3D input source, and the input image and the motion compensated image can then be separated into respective left and right images. The method and apparatus can be adapted to perform 2D to 3D conversion by extracting a 2D input source into left and right 3D images and performing motion estimation and motion compensation.
US08395706B2	Information processing system, display device, output device, information processing device, identification information acquisition method and identification information supply method A display device includes a receiving unit for receiving output data relating to a content transmitted from an information processing device, a display unit for providing a display based on the output data received by the receiving unit, a transmitting unit for transmitting a setting change request to an output device for providing an output based on the output data via the information processing device, a display generation unit for generating a setting change screen on the basis of setting information transmitted from the output device via the information processing device in response to the setting change request, and an operation detection unit for detecting a user operation. The transmitting unit transmits the contents of the setting change based on the user operation detected by the operation detection unit in the setting change screen to the output device via the information processing device.
US08395698B2	Exposure determining device and image processing apparatus In an exposure determining device, an image acquiring unit acquires a first image. The first image is picked up by an image pickup unit at a first exposure. A light-intensity detecting unit extracts areas in the first image and detects a light intensity in area. A mismatch area determining unit determines, based on the detected light intensity in each area, whether each area is a mismatch area in which an edge is estimated to be undetected due to excess or shortage of the first exposure for a corresponding one of the areas. When it is determined that one of the areas is the mismatch area, a second exposure determining unit determines a second exposure of the image pickup unit. The second exposure is matched with the light intensity in the mismatch area.
US08395694B2	Apparatus and method for blurring image background in digital image processing device Provided is a method and apparatus for blurring an image background, in which a moving image information and a focal distance information, which is matched to the moving image according to a movement distance of an AF motor, are obtained for the same object and background blurring is applied to a still image differentially, based on focal distances of the moving image and the still image. The apparatus includes a digital signal processing unit capturing a moving image and a still image of the same object, comparing focal distances of at least one frame forming the moving image with focal distances of the still image, and applying background blurring to the still image according to differences between the focal distances.
US08395680B2	Adapter apparatus connected to an image capturing apparatus and delivering video files thereof to a client apparatus, control method thereof, and computer program Video files recorded on a disk recording medium are acquired from an image capturing apparatus. First contents information indicating a list of the acquired video files is created. Based on the created first contents information, second contents information in a network advertisement format is created. Based on the first contents information and the acquired video files, video files in the network advertisement format are created. The created second contents information is advertised onto a network. Video files requested from a client terminal on the network based on the second contents information are delivered to the client terminal.
US08395679B2	Apparatus and method for color rolling suppression An apparatus and method for suppressing color rolling are provided. The apparatus includes a digital signal processor which detects first motion information on a current frame and second motion information on at least one of a plurality of neighboring frames, calculates a gain based on the first and second motion information, and applies the gain to at least one channel of the current frame.
US08395676B2	Information processing device and method estimating a posture of a subject in an image An information processing device includes: an outline extraction unit extracting an outline of a subject from a picked-up image of the subject; a characteristic amount extraction unit extracting a characteristic amount, by extracting sample points from points making up the outline, for each of the sample points; an estimation unit estimating a posture of a high degree of matching as a posture of the subject by calculating a degree of the characteristic amount extracted in the characteristic amount extraction unit being matched with each of a plurality of characteristic amounts that are prepared in advance and represent predetermined postures different from each other; and a determination unit determining accuracy of estimation by the estimation unit using a matching cost when the estimation unit carries out the estimation.
US08395675B2	Camera A camera includes: an information creation device that creates association information for associating a plurality of image files created by the first image file creation device based on a plurality of image data acquired by the image device as a set of image data and recorded in the recording medium, with each other as a set of individual image files when the camera is set to a first photography mode in which data of a plurality of image files are combined to create one integrated image file; a second image file creation device that combines a plurality of the individual image files based on the association information in response to an instruction by a user to create one integrated image file; and a second recording control device that records the integrated image file created by the second image file creation device in a recording medium.
US08395670B2	Image capturing apparatus An apparatus capable of capturing a still image in a moving image capturing mode includes an instruction unit configured to instruct still image capturing, a vibration detection unit configured to detect vibration applied to the apparatus, a control unit configured to control driving of a correction member in a driving range according to whether still image capturing or moving image capturing is performed, based on an output from the vibration detection unit, a position detection unit configured to detect a position of the correction member, and a determination unit configured to determine a reference position of a range in which the correction member is driven, wherein, if the instruction unit instructs image capturing in the moving image capturing mode, the detected position is set as the reference position.
US08395651B2	System and method for providing a token in a video environment A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving video input data associated with a video stream and identifying one or more spatial plane coordinates within the video input data. The spatial plane coordinates can be associated with a smartphone configured to operate as a token in a video presentation associated with the video stream. The method also includes receiving location information that includes accelerometer data associated with the smartphone, and identifying a location of the smartphone based on the one or more spatial plane coordinates and the location information that includes the accelerometer data. In other embodiments, the method may include providing image data associated with a representation of the token as an overlay for a resultant video stream. The location information can include orientation data that includes a direction to which the smartphone can point, and an angle of rotation associated with the smartphone.
US08395646B2	Thermal printer with energy save features A thermal printer having a thermal printhead with energy save features which is capable of high speed and high quality printing is provided. The thermal printer has an energy storage device and a thermal printhead including a substrate, a resistor layer formed on one surface of the substrate, and a thermoelectric element disposed on the other surface of the substrate opposite to where the resistor layer is formed, wherein the thermoelectric element converts heat generated by the resistor layer to electrical energy when a temperature difference between the resistor layer and an opposite side of the thermoelectric element where the resistor layer is disposed nearby becomes large enough for the thermoelectric element to convert heat into electric energy, and the electrical energy is stored in the energy storage device.

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