Document Document Title
US08607355B2 Social network privacy using morphed communities
A system, method and program product for morphing social network data. A system is disclosed that includes: a system for splitting up M communities within a set of social network data into N split communities; a system for morphing the N split communities into P morphed communities using a cardinality key, wherein the cardinality key causes subsets of split communities to be unioned together; and a system for adding phony members into the P morphed communities.
US08607353B2 System and method for performing threat assessments using situational awareness
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for performing threat assessments. In one exemplary embodiment, the method may include generating one or more patterns of behavior corresponding to a security breach at a first company, and storing the generated one or more patterns in a pattern repository. In addition, the method may include comparing at least one of the one or more patterns with one or more standardized log files for the first company to identify one or more first log entries related to the behavior corresponding to the security breach. The method may also include processing at least one pattern of the one or more patterns with one or more standardized log files for a second company to identify log entries of the second company that indicate a possible security breach at the second company.
US08607341B2 Method and system for preserving security of sensor data and recording medium using thereof
A method and a system for preserving sensor data based on a time key, and a recording medium thereof are provided. The time key based sensor data security preserving method includes encrypting the sensor data with an encryption key obtained using a time key based polynomial derived using random numbers and a secret key which is shared by a sensor node and an application system; and decrypting the encrypted sensor data with a decryption key obtained by deriving the same polynomial as the time key based polynomial using the random numbers and the secret key. Thus, integrity and confidentiality of the sensor data can be preserved.
US08607323B2 Method for providing media communication across firewalls
The present invention supports a method for transmitting information packets across network firewalls. A trusted entity is provisioned with an address designation for a pinhole through the firewall during setup of a communication session between two communication devices. This pinhole address is used throughout the communication session between the two communication devices to transmit information packets onto and out of the communication network.Information packets addressed to the communication device inside the firewall are received by the trusted entity, which replaces address header information in the information packet with the address for the pinhole. The information packet is routed to the pinhole where it passes onto the network for routing to the communication device inside the firewall. Information packets transmitted from the network are also routed to the trusted entity for routing toward the communication device outside the firewall.
US08607320B2 Systems, methods and computer-readable media for regulating remote access to a data network
A system, which comprises an authorization controller operable for regulating establishment of user sessions over a data network; a processing subsystem operable for monitoring the user sessions and applying a walled garden policy, wherein application of the walled garden policy respectively associates each user in a certain subset of users with a respective walled garden selected from a common plurality of walled gardens; and a database for storing, in association with each said user in the certain subset of users, a respective identifier corresponding to the respectively associated walled garden. The authorization controller is further operable for responding to receipt of an access request identifying a particular user in the certain subset of users and received from a communication endpoint by (I) consulting the database to identify the walled garden respectively associated with said particular user and (II) directing the communication endpoint to said walled garden respectively associated with said particular user.
US08607316B2 Simplified authentication via application access server
A method for network access is provided. The method includes establishing a secure link between a user equipment (UE) and a wireless local area network (WLAN) when an authentication and authorization server determines that credentials provided by the UE to the authentication and authorization server allow the UE secure access to the WLAN. The method further includes establishing a secure link between the UE and an application access server via the WLAN when the application access server, using the same credentials, determines that the UE is allowed secure access to the application access server.
US08607310B2 Association of in-band and out-of-band identification credentials of a target device
An association between a system's in-band identification credentials with out-of-band identification credentials may arise by making a universal serial bus device emulation in the form of either a virtual mass storage device or a virtual network adaptor. In the case of the former, a machine readable name is decoded to determine which KVM port a target device is connected to. Such can be used to associate a system's known in-band identification credentials with decoded out-of-band identification credentials from the virtual mass storage device. In the case of the latter, the target may be searched and queried through an out-of-band path to ascertain in-band identification credentials.
US08607308B1 System and methods for facilitating privacy enforcement
A system and methods for facilitating privacy enforcement are described. Embodiments of the present invention can deliver automated compliance and/or enforcement for certain consumer privacy laws and privacy-related policies to employees and contractors of an enterprise. When input related to the use of stored customer information is received, data subsystems can be accessed by a privacy engine, which then provides decisioning to produce an enforcement action. Examples of enforcement actions can include denying access to customer information, or granting such access but filtering the information. Enforcement actions can also include updating stored tables or other data structures to maintain an appropriate privacy enforcement posture when new information is added to systems or existing information is changed.
US08607305B2 Collecting anonymous and traceable telemetry
Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to collecting anonymous and traceable telemetry. In aspects, a telemetry source may obtain a certificate or other data from an escrow certificate issuer. The certificate includes information usable by a certificate collector to verify that the certificate is valid, but does not include information usable to identify the telemetry source to the telemetry collector.
US08607304B2 System and method for policy-enabled mobile service gateway
A policy-enabled service gateway contains a gateway function and a local policy engine containing policies related to the functionality of the associated gateway function. New or updated policies may be provided to the local policy engine from a centralized policy server. The policies within the local policy engine are functionally related to the gateway function and provide for policy and/or charging enforcement associated with the gateway function. If the local policy engine does not contain a particular policy, it may request the policy from the centralized policy server. The local policy engine may choose to store the requested policy for future use.
US08607301B2 Deploying group VPNS and security groups over an end-to-end enterprise network
Group Virtual Private Networks (Group VPNS) are provided for different types of machines in a data processing network. Security groups are defined by a security policy for each member. Security policies and encryption keys are deployed to members of a security group using an IPSec network infrastructure with authentication via VPN mechanisms. The group VPNs provide a trusted IP network that can leverage and co-exist with security access control technologies, such as endpoint security that controls client network access or application security that controls user access to enterprise applications.
US08607298B2 Methods, systems, and products for automated control of devices
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for automated control of devices. A tag is received with Electronic Programming Guide data, and the tag includes control data. The tag is stripped from the Electronic Programming Guide data and communicated to a device.
US08607297B2 Remote setting of recording timers
The present invention provides a method and apparatus to have a pay television distributor set timers for the user. The timers record programs either requested by the user or by the pay television distributor.
US08607285B2 Video player
Methods, systems, and tangible computer-readable memory media are disclosed that relate to a video player configured to play a video file. During playback, the video player, in one embodiment, is configured to access metadata relating to, but separate from, the video file to dynamically display graphical content distinct from the video file. A server system may receive, from a client computer system (e.g., of the video owner), information specifying metadata for the video file. This metadata may specify the display of overlay graphics and/or navigation graphics, the overlay of audio, etc. Additionally, the metadata may specify items needed to perform a process depicted in an instructional video; upon playing the video, the video player may provide one or more purchase links for such items. In one embodiment, a server system may edit the underlying video file—e.g., to include overlay graphics.
US08607274B2 Meta channel based media system control technology
Meta-channels identify content entries and indicate an order with which to experience the content entries. The meta-channels may include a multi-source meta-channel that includes at least a first content entry that relates to first content broadcast by a first content provider at a specific time and a second content entry that relates to second content made available, over a network, by a second content provider in response to user requests. A selection of a meta-channel is received and the selection of the meta-channel is mapped to a content entry defined by the selected meta-channel. A media system is controlled to render content based on a content entry mapped to by the selected meta-channel.
US08607273B2 Recommendation comparison display
A method for consolidating and comparing recommendations in selecting TV content for viewing by compiling and displaying recommendation and rating values for the same TV content from Sony and a number of other recommendation and ratings providers. Presenting all recommendation values on a single visual display and providing the preferred Sony recommendation in the most prominent display position and font, and allowing the viewer to select the Sony recommendation value to select that content for viewing.
US08607269B2 Electronic program guide for obtaining past, current, and future programs
An electronic program guide (EPG) for facilitating obtaining copies of selected programs includes a plurality of program listings, the program listings including listings for previously broadcast programs available for downloading to a user's recording device, programs currently being broadcast available for downloading to the user's recording device, and programs which may be recorded on the user's recording device during a future broadcast of the programs. This EPG merges two models of distribution for broadcast content (e.g., EPGs) and video on demand (VOD) systems (e.g., video catalogs) to address the problem of acquiring a recording of a program that was broadcast in the past. The EPG of the present invention provides a combined, unified user interface whereby a user may easily obtain a copy of any one or more of past, current, or future programs.
US08607261B2 Apparatus for storing digital media that includes a radio frequency identification system
An apparatus for storing digital media utilizes an electrically conductive element, which is for reading stored digital media, and multiple electrically conductive resonant circuits as an antenna for radio frequency communications. Each of the resonant circuits is electrically isolated from the other resonant circuits and the electrically conductive element is electrically isolated from each of the resonant circuits. As a result, the apparatus for storing digital media has a relatively wide operating frequency range and a relatively long communications range, which allows worldwide usage in various applications. For example, an optically readable compact disk (CD) utilizes a metal layer configured as a reflective surface for reading stored digital media in the CD, an electrically conductive component that is not in contact with a radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuit (IC), and an electrically conductive component that is in contact with the RFID IC, as an antenna for the RFID IC.
US08607250B2 Visually indicating a calendar event among different time zones
A calendared event may be visually indicated. A proposed time for the calendared event can be identified and each of a plurality of event participants can be associated with the calendared event. For each of the participants, a local time of the participant that corresponds to the proposed time for the calendared event can be identified and displayed.
US08607246B2 Multiprocessor circuit using run-time task scheduling
Tasks are executed in a multiprocessing system with a master processor core (10) and a plurality of slave processor cores (12). The master processor core (10), executes a program that defines a matrix of tasks at respective positions in the matrix and a task dependency pattern applicable to a plurality of the tasks and defined relative to the positions. Each dependency pattern defines relative dependencies for a plurality of positions in the matrix, rather than using individual dependencies for individual positions. In response to the program the master processor core (10) dynamically stores definitions of current task dependency patterns in a dependency pattern memory. A hardware task scheduler computes the positions of the tasks that are ready for execution at run time from information from information about positions for which tasks have been completed and the task dependency pattern applied relative to those tasks. The tasks that have been computed to be ready for execution are assigned to the slave processor cores (12).
US08607245B2 Dynamic processor-set management
A dynamic processor-set management method provides for transferring a process from a shared processor set to a dedicated processor set when that process meets a first utilization-related criterion. The method also provides for transferring a process between from a dedicated processor set to a shared processor set when that process meets a second utilization-related criterion. The processor sets are mapped to processor cores that execute the processes.
US08607244B2 Executing multiple threads in a processor
Provided are a method, system, and program for executing multiple threads in a processor. Credits are set for a plurality of threads executed by the processor. The processor alternates among executing the threads having available credit. The processor decrements the credit for one of the threads in response to executing the thread and initiates an operation to reassign credits to the threads in response to depleting all the thread credits.
US08607237B2 Collection with local lists for a multi-processor system
A method includes providing a collection that includes a plurality of local lists. Each local list is associated with a different processor or thread in a multi-processor system. An interface to the collection is provided for adding elements to and removing elements from the collection. An add operation is performed with a first processor in the multi-processor system using the interface to add a first element to the collection. The interface is configured to cause the first element to be added to the local list associated with the first processor.
US08607235B2 Mechanism to schedule threads on OS-sequestered sequencers without operating system intervention
Method, apparatus and system embodiments to schedule OS-independent “shreds” without intervention of an operating system. For at least one embodiment, the shred is scheduled for execution by a scheduler routine rather than the operating system. A scheduler routine may run on each enabled sequencer. The schedulers may retrieve shred descriptors from a queue system. The sequencer associated with the scheduler may then execute the shred described by the descriptor. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US08607228B2 Virtualizing performance counters
Embodiments of apparatuses, methods, and systems for virtualizing performance counters are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a counter, a counter enable storage location, counter enable logic, and virtual machine control logic. The counter enable storage location is store a counter enable indicator. The counter enable logic is to enable the counter, based on the counter enable indicator. The virtual machine control logic is to transfer control of the apparatus to a guest. The virtual machine control logic includes guest state load logic to cause a guest value from a virtual machine control structure to be loaded into the counter enable storage location in connection with a transfer of control of the apparatus to a guest.
US08607227B2 Electronic device and method for burning firmware to embedded device
In a method of burning a firmware to an embedded device, a booting file is firstly created and saved in the firmware. The booting file includes a boot loader, a first kernel, a second kernel, a first initrd, a second initrd of a firmware, a rootfs, and an application program. The method burns the boot loader, the first kernel, the second kernel, the first initrd, and the second initrd in a flash memory of the embedded device. When the rootfs and the application program are recorded in a storage system of the embedded device, the method downloads the rootfs and the application program from a storage system of the embedded device, and burns the rootfs and the application program to a register of the flash memory.
US08607218B2 Updating computer files
A method of updating computer software includes identifying an orphaned computer file in a second version of computer software, the orphaned computer file having a name that does not correspond to any name of a computer file in a first version of computer software and computing symmetric divergence between the orphaned computer file and each computer file in the first version of computer software. The method also includes choosing a file from the computer files in the first version of computer software that yields a minimum value of symmetric divergence between the file and the orphaned computer file and using the file as a reference file for compressing the orphaned computer file.
US08607207B2 Graph oriented programming and execution
Graph oriented programming and execution. According to one embodiment of the invention, execution of a program includes automatically discovering and building a graph. The graph is to represent parent child relationships between combinations. Each combination is a specific method and a specific object-oriented instance. Based on a first of the combinations, other combinations are determined by iteratively discovering the child combinations for already discovered parent combinations. The graph is built of nodes coupled with links. Each of the plurality of combinations is identified by one of the nodes. Each of the parent child relationships is represented by one of the links. Execution of the program also includes executing the graph in an order indicated by the links until the root node is reached. Execution of each of the parent nodes includes executing the combination identified by that parent node to generate an output using the outputs of its child node(s).
US08607201B2 Augmenting visualization of a call stack
In one embodiment, a method comprises the steps of obtaining software architecture information for describing software architecture of the software; parsing the software architecture information to generate a set of module objects, wherein the module objects correspond to software modules of the software; obtaining a call object of the software call stack, wherein the call object corresponds to a method or function executed when the software is running; comparing an invocation interface of the module object with the call object; and associating corresponding information of the module object with the call object of the software call stack according to a comparison result.
US08607198B2 Cross-concern code coverage assessment
A method for software processing includes extracting from software code under test respective items of meta-information pertaining to elements of the software code and receiving respective quality data regarding the elements of software code. The quality data and meta-information are processed in a computer so as to assign respective metrics to the items of the meta-information responsively to the quality data regarding the elements of the software code to which the items pertain. At least some of the meta-information is presented to a user in accordance with the assigned metrics.
US08607195B2 Method and apparatus for executing software applications
Consumer electronic devices, such as e.g. high-definition movie players for removable storage media such as optical discs, may provide possibilities for advanced interactivity for the user, implemented as software applications. A question arising generally with such software applications is what the life cycle of such an application is, and who may control it. The invention provides a method for executing software applications within a playback device for audio-video data, wherein data from a first removable storage medium are read for a software application to be executed within said playback device, and the data comprise an indication defining a termination condition for the application. Based on said termination code and depending on how the medium holding the application is ejected, the application is terminated or may survive.
US08607194B2 Method and apparatus for executing software applications
Consumer electronic devices, such as e.g. high-definition movie players for removable storage media such as optical discs, may provide possibilities for advanced interactivity for the user, implemented as software applications. A question arising generally with such software applications is what the life cycle of such an application is, and who may control it. The invention provides a method for executing software applications within a playback device for audio-video data, wherein data from a first removable storage medium are read for a software application to be executed within said playback device, and the data comprise an indication defining a termination condition for the application. Based on said termination code and depending on how the medium holding the application is ejected, the application is terminated or may survive.
US08607193B2 Tracking stale comments in source code listings
Managing comments within computer software source code by detecting a change in a portion of computer software source code, identifying a comment that is associated with the portion, and providing an indication that the comment was not changed subsequent to the portion being changed.
US08607189B2 Dynamic analysis of a graphical program in a browser
System and method for performing program-related operations over a network via a web browser. A network connection is established between a server computer and a client computer over a network. A universal resource identifier (URI) is sent from the client computer to the server computer over the network, where the URI indicates a program, e.g., a graphical program (GP), or at least a portion of a graphical program interactive development environment (GPIDE), e.g., a graphical program editor, an execution engine, a static or dynamic analyzer, and/or compiler. The at least a portion of the GPIDE is received from the server computer over the network in response to the URI, and executed in a web browser of the client computer to perform some specified functionality with respect to the GP.
US08607187B2 System and method for mini-EHP development and delivery
A more tailored and flexible update schedule is provided for large enterprise software development and delivery through mini-releases. Instead of delivering update packages after a development and delivery period, e.g., 18 months, where the update packages include an update release for the entire software package, the software package may be broken down into component parts. Mini-releases may then be issued several times during the same delivery period (e.g., 18 months). Each mini-release may include a small subset of the component parts to be focused on, allowing greater flexibility, without greatly increasing code release efforts (e.g., as required by releasing the whole software suite in an update).
US08607183B2 Method of making in an integrated circuit including simplifying metal shapes
A method for simplifying metal shapes in an integrated circuit including receiving an incoming wire layout for at least one metal layer of an integrated circuit, the incoming wire layout for the at least one layer including a plurality of wires running in a preferred direction and a plurality of vias connected thereto. The method further includes segmenting each of the wires into a plurality of bricks according to a set of equally spaced parallel grid lines extending in direction which is perpendicular to the preferred direction such that each wire comprises a series of consecutive bricks with brick boundaries between consecutive bricks occurring at a grid line, defining each brick as a regular or complex brick based on at least one brick criteria, and defining brick groups based on one or more grouping criteria, wherein each group contains one or more consecutive bricks of a same wire and each brick belongs to only one group so that each wire comprises a series of one or more consecutive groups, and wherein groups containing at least one complex brick are defined as complex groups.
US08607180B2 Multi-pass routing to reduce crosstalk
An integrated circuit (IC) or a block of an IC is routed. The signals of the netlist to be routed are grouped according the signal properties. A signal property may be the time or clock used to initiate the switching of the signal. The signals of each group are routed successively. This causes the signals of later groups to be routed between the signals of previous groups thereby providing shielding between signals lines of the same group.
US08607174B2 Verification module apparatus to serve as a prototype for functionally debugging an electronic design that exceeds the capacity of a single FPGA
A plurality of FPGAs and off-chip storage devices provide a verification module for functionally debugging electronic circuit designs. Signal value compression circuits embedded in each FPGA conserve the limited number of pins available on each FPGA. Transmitting addresses to signal values previously stored in off-chip storage further reduce the bottlenecks in analyzing logic functionality distributed across multiple FPGAs.
US08607173B2 Hierarchical bottom-up clock domain crossing verification
Clock-domain crossing (CDC) verification for system on chip (SoC) integrated circuits (IC) can be time consuming and complex, especially as the size of the SoC and the complexity of the modules of which it comprises increase. A bottom-up verification process includes the replacement of a CDC verified module by an abstracted model of the module with constraints defined on the boundaries of the module. Performing the process in a hierarchic manner from bottom upwards allows for faster verification of modules higher in the hierarchy as at least portions thereof are replaced with the abstracted modules.
US08607172B2 Integrated circuits and methods of designing the same
A method of designing an integrated circuit includes deploying an active area in a first standard cell. At least one gate electrode is routed, overlapping the active area in the first standard cell. At least one metallic line structure is routed, overlapping the active area in the first standard cell. The at least one metallic line structure is substantially parallel to the gate electrode. A first power rail is routed substantially orthogonal to the at least one metallic line structure in the first standard cell. The first power rail overlaps the at least one metallic line structure. The first power rail has a flat edge that is adjacent to the at least one metallic line structure. A first connection plug is deployed at a region where the first power rail overlaps the at least one metallic line structure in the first standard cell.
US08607169B2 Intelligent defect diagnosis method
An intelligent defect diagnosis method for manufacturing fab is provided. The intelligent defect diagnosis method comprises: receiving pluralities of defect data, design layouts and fabrication data; analyzing the defect data, design layouts, and the fabrication data by a defect analysis system, wherein the analyzing step further contains the sub-steps: segmenting and grouping the design layouts into pluralities of multi-pattern group cells to construct LPG cell based pattern groups; introducing the defect data; segmenting defect image into pluralities of defect and pattern contours; mapping the defect data to each multi-pattern group cell to form the LPG based defect composite pattern group; performing coordinate conversion and pattern match between image contour and design layout for coordinate correction; fulfilling CAA with defect contour, pattern contour and design layout, and obtaining corresponding defect yield; classifying the defect type of defect data through defect image classification analysis.
US08607163B2 Preview mode for content
Media content obtained from a content source (11) comprises a plurality of content items (31) which are accessible by an interactive menu structure (60, 65). A preview presentation mode automatically presents a portion of each of a set of the content items (31) to the user in a sequence which represents a navigation path through multiple levels of the menu structure. This shows a user a preview of content items available for presentation without requiring the user to manually navigate various branches of the menu structure. The menu structure can be explored automatically, or a script (33) can specify which items are to be presented. The script (33) can be supplied by the content source (11) or can be obtained from a separate source. During the preview presentation mode information about the current item, or the current position within the menu structure, can be displayed.
US08607158B2 Content presentation in remote monitoring sessions for information technology systems
Content presentation in remote sessions by reducing processing and communication bandwidth requirements for the remote sessions in an information technology environment. Content presentation includes maintaining a session window on an electronic display screen of a remote administration console for remotely monitoring a corresponding server system via a communication link, and monitoring a display status of the session window on the display screen. Based on the display status of the session window, a quantity of refresh information for the session window is selectively transmitted from a management server to the remote administration console over the communication link for display in the session window. The refresh information includes status information for the remotely monitored server system.
US08607151B2 Method and system for debugging a graphics pipeline subunit
A method of debugging an application operable on a graphics pipeline subunit. A plurality of draw call groups is accessed. Each draw call group comprises a respective plurality of draw calls, sharing common state attributes of a prescribed state. The plurality of selectable draw call groups is displayed. In response to a user selection, a plurality of selectable draw calls associated with the selected draw call group is displayed. A plurality of selectable graphics pipeline subunits is displayed. In response to a user selection of a selected subunit, a plurality of editable state information and graphical primitives associated with a selected draw call are displayed. The plurality of editable state information may be grouped such that a portion sharing common attributes of the prescribed state are in one group. In response to a user selection, changes may be made to the selected draw call or the selected draw call group.
US08607144B2 Monitor configuration for media device
A display mode can be selected by identifying a plurality of display modes supported by a media client, wherein the plurality of display modes comprise safe display modes; generating a user interface including a test image and a plurality of commands in accordance with a selected display mode of the plurality of display modes, wherein the user interface is output to a display device; receiving user input selecting one of the plurality of commands; and configuring an operating display mode of the media client in accordance with the received user input. Configuring an operating display mode further can comprise determining that the received user input confirms the selected display mode and configuring the media client to set the selected display mode as the operating display mode. Further, generating a user interface can comprise presenting a display timer indicating a time remaining until a display mode change.
US08607131B2 Decoder, receiving apparatus, decoding method, and receiving method
Disclosed are an encoder, a transmission device, and an encoding method with which the transmission amount is reduced and a deterioration in transmission efficiency is suppressed while improving reception quality when QC-LDPC or a like block encoding is used. A puncture pattern setting unit searches for a puncture pattern for each integral multiple of the number of columns or for each divisor of the number of columns of a sub block matrix that forms a check matrix (H) of a QC-LDPC code, and a puncture unit (data reduction unit) switches the puncture pattern for each integral multiple of the number of columns or for each divisor of the number of columns of the sub block matrix that forms the check matrix of the QC-LDPC code.
US08607130B2 Computationally efficient convolutional coding with rate-matching
An error coding circuit comprises a non-systematic convolutional encoder for coding an input bit stream to produce two or more groups of parity bits, an interleaver circuit for interleaving parity bits within each group of parity bits, and a rate-matching circuit for outputting a selected number of the interleaved parity bits ordered by group to obtain a desired code rate.
US08607129B2 Efficient and scalable cyclic redundancy check circuit using Galois-field arithmetic
Embodiments of the present disclosure describe methods, apparatus, and system configurations for cyclic redundancy check circuits using Galois-field arithmetic.
US08607125B2 Basic matrix based on irregular LDPC, codec and generation method thereof
The codec includes an encoding/decoding operation module and a basic matrix storage module. In the stored basic matrix Hb, for all girths with length of 4, any column element of i, j, k or l constituting the girths in anti-clockwise or clockwise always satisfies inequality: (i−j+k−1) mod z≠0, wherein z is the extension factor. When generating the basic matrix, firstly the number of rows M, number of columns N, and weight vectors of the rows and columns are determined, an irregularly original basic matrix is constructed; then the position of ‘1’ is filled by a value chosen from set {0, 1, 2, . . . , z−1} to obtain the basic matrix Hb. The basic matrix Hb obtained by storing constitutes the desired encoder/decoder. The encoder/decoder according to the present invention can effectively eliminate error-floor phenomenon of LDPC codes and accelerate the falling speed of BER curve.
US08607124B2 System and method for setting a flash memory cell read threshold
A system, method and computer readable medium for performing a first read attempt of multiple codeword portions while using a first read threshold candidate to provide multiple first read results, wherein the multiple codeword portions are stored in multiple flash memory cells; calculating a first read threshold candidate error correction decoding based score; wherein the calculating comprises error correction decoding of the multiple first read results; performing a second read attempt of the multiple codeword portions while using a second read threshold candidate to provide multiple second read results; calculating a second read threshold candidate error correction decoding based score; wherein the calculating comprises error correction decoding of the multiple second read results; and selecting a first read threshold out of the first and second read threshold candidates based on a relationship between the first and second read threshold candidate error correction decoding based scores.
US08607121B2 Selective error detection and error correction for a memory interface
Error correction code (ECC) checkbits are generated for each write access to a memory address based on both the data to be written (the write data) and the memory address. The ECC checkbits are stored with the write data at the memory device associated with the memory address. In addition, the memory device can selectively perform error detection and correction for write accesses using the ECC checkbits. For example, the memory device can include an ECC control register that stores control information to selectively enable and disable error detection and correction for write accesses. In an embodiment, error detection and correction can be selectively enabled and disabled for different sizes of write data.
US08607118B2 Iterative decoding method and apparatus
An iterative decoding method is disclosed and includes sequentially executing a number of iterative decoding cycles in relation to a parity check equation until the parity check equation is resolved, or a maximum number N of iterative decoding cycles is reached, during execution of the number of iterative decoding cycles, storing in a data buffer minimum estimated values for a set of variable nodes corresponding to a minimum number of bit errors, and outputting the minimum estimated values stored in the data buffer as a final decoding result when the number of iterative decoding cycles reaches N.
US08607112B2 Enhanced block coding method based on small size block code
A scheme of enhanced block coding based on small size block code is provided. Such is achieved by obtaining extended basis sequences for a (32, O) code with O=1, 2, . . . 12; selecting an offset starting value that produces maximum error correction capability in each O value; and generating basis sequences for a (48, O) code based on the obtained extended basis sequences for the (32, O) code with the offset starting value selected based on the selecting step. The offset starting value could be selected as 18, which results in the largest sum of distances.
US08607103B2 Transmission/reception device, transmission device, reception device, and data transmission/reception method
A transmission/reception device includes a transmission device that divides a plurality of connection lines into a plurality of groups, determines corresponding connection lines in the plurality of groups, determines a correspondence between test pattern and the connection line, and outputs the test pattern to the plurality of connection lines based on the correspondence between the test pattern and the connection line, and a reception device that receives the test pattern from the transmission device, compares bits in a same position of the test pattern received through a corresponding connection line in the plurality of groups based on the correspondence between the test pattern and the connection line, and generates erroneous connection line information indicating an erroneous connection line as a connection line in which an error has occurred in the plurality of connection lines based on a result of the comparison.
US08607102B2 Fault management for a printing system
A printing system includes a plurality of print media processing modules which transfer print media therebetween during printing and a fault management agent associated with each of the modules for acquiring fault-related data from the respective processing module. A fault management system is in communication with the fault management agents and receives fault-related data from the fault management agents. The fault management system processes the fault related data to identify faults in the system, such as when a first of the processing modules is a cause of fault-related data acquired in a second of the processing modules. When a fault is identified, a reconfiguration agent may reconfigure the printing system to mitigate an impact of at least one of the identified faults.
US08607100B2 Motherboard testing device and testing method thereof
A motherboard testing device applied to a motherboard which includes two memory channels, and a CPU. Each of the two memory channels includes two memory slots. The motherboard testing device includes four memory modules received in the four memory slots, a switching chip, a microcontroller, and a testing module. The switching chip includes four input pins electrically connected to the four memory modules, four output pins electrically connected to the CPU, and a controlling pin electrically connected to the microcontroller. The microcontroller forms a plurality of combination modes of the memory slots by electrically combining the four memory slots, and controls the switching chip to electrically connect memory slots of each combination mode to the CPU. The testing module tests whether the CPU controls the memory modules received in the memory slots of each combination mode to work in proper working modes.
US08607090B2 Selective shorting for clock grid during a controlling portion of a clock signal
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with selective shorting are described. According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a selective shorting device connected between clock branches. The selective shorting device is configured to selectively electrically connect the clock branches to one another and to selectively electrically disconnect the clock branches from one another. The apparatus also includes a selective shorting control mechanism that controls the selective shorting device to electrically connect the clock branches during a controlling portion of a clock signal. The selective shorting control mechanism is configured to electrically disconnect the clock branches in the absence of the controlling portion.
US08607087B2 Host device of dual power supply
A host device of dual power supply includes a chassis, a motherboard disposed in the chassis, at least one storage unit electrically coupled to the motherboard, two power supplies electrically coupled to the motherboard and the storage unit for supplying power to the motherboard and the storage unit, and a control unit electrically coupled to the motherboard, the storage unit and the power supply. When a boot signal is received by the control unit, one of the power supplies provides a voltage required by the storage unit at the moment of booting and during operations that follow, and the other power supply is driven to provide a voltage required by the motherboard at the moment of booting and during operations that follow.
US08607084B2 Computer system and method for saving power consumption by placing a second computer portion into a sleep mode after completed transfering image data to a first computer portion
A computer system and a power-management method thereof are provided. The computer system has an image-reading mode, a first power-management mode and a second power-management mode, and the computer system operating in the second power-management mode consumes less power than it consumes in the first power-management mode. The computer system comprises a first portion comprising a graphics processing unit, a memory space and a display; and a second portion comprising a storage storing an image data. When the computer system operates in the image-reading mode, the image data has been transferred to the memory space from the storage, the second portion enters to the second power-management mode from the first power-management mode, and the first portion keeps in the first power-management mode, so that the graphics processing unit can display an image by the display according to the image data stored in the memory space.
US08607068B2 Method of storing data in a memory device and a processing device for processing such data
In a method of storing data in a memory device, which data comprise content to be processed in a processing device in which the memory device is installed, the method comprises the steps of writing encrypted content (Enc_Krand(flash_content) into the memory device before installing the memory device in the processing device, wherein the content was encrypted by use of a first key (Krand), and accessing the first key (Krand) and encrypting the first key (Krand) by the aid of a second key (KIC; Ke) that is dependent on the processing device after installation of the memory device in the processing device, and writing the encrypted first key (EncSym_KIC(Krand); EncAsym_Ke(Krand)) into the memory device.
US08607066B1 Content inspection using partial content signatures
Systems, methods and apparatus for a content item inspection. A plurality of portions of a content item are received in a buffer, the buffer divided into a plurality of segments. A partial signature of the content item is computed using the received portions of the content item in a most recently received segment and a partial signature computed for a preceding segment. The computed partial signature is compared against a plurality of partial signatures associated with trustworthy content items. If a matching partial signature associated with a trustworthy content item is found for the computed partial signature, the most recently received segment is allowed to be transmitted to a device that requested the content item.
US08607060B1 Method, system, and computer program product for the authentication of multiple users in a common session
A first information handling system (“IHS”) receives identification information of a first user of a second IHS. The first IHS initiates a network session in response to authenticating the identification information of the first user. Within the network session, the first IHS receives identification information of a second user of the second IHS. The first IHS authenticates the identification information of the second user.
US08607058B2 Port access control in a shared link environment
In an embodiment, a method is provided. The method of this embodiment provides detecting failure of a first device on a system to authenticate the system through a controlled port from which a service is requested; and using a second device on the system to authenticate the system through the controlled port, the second device sharing a link with the first device.
US08607056B2 Data processing apparatus and method
Generating a cryptographic key, for example using a received external key. A system to generate a cryptographic key may include a first data store which may store an authorization key. A system may include a second data store which may store a secure key and/or a public key. A system may include an access controller, which may allow access to a secure key, for example to an access request which may be accompanied by a digital signature. A system may include a key generator, which may generate a private key, for example using a received external key, a stored authorization key and/or a mapping function. A system may include an access request signal generator which may generate a digital signature and/or which may transmit an access request, for example including a generated digital signature, to an access controller to retrieve a secure key.
US08607036B2 Power management apparatus and methods
Apparatus and method for power management and especially to power management integrated circuits (PMICs). In one aspect, the invention relates to a PMIC having an internal non-volatile memory (NVM) for storing boot settings for the PMIC. The PMIC also has control circuitry for detecting whether a source of boot settings is available, such as an NVM external to the PMIC, and, if so, using any settings stored in the external source in preference to the relevant settings stored in the internal NVM. The external settings can thus override any internal settings, which is useful for fault diagnosis and/or development. In one aspect the PMIC may have programming circuitry for automatically programming boot settings from an external source into the internal NVM.
US08607033B2 Sequentially packing mask selected bits from plural words in circularly coupled register pair for transferring filled register bits to memory
An apparatus having a first circuit and a second circuit is disclosed. The first circuit may be configured to generate a plurality of packed items by extracting-and-packing a plurality of input data words based on a bit mask. The second circuit may be configured to (i) receive the packed items from the first circuit, (ii) sequentially buffer the packed items in a plurality of registers, at least one of the packed items crossing a boundary between a current one of the registers and a next one of the registers, and (iii) write the packed items in the current register to a memory in response to the current register becoming full.
US08607026B2 Translation lookaside buffer
A translation lookaside buffer (TLB) is disclosed formed using RAM and synthesisable logic circuits. The TLB provides logic within the synthesisable logic for pairing down a number of memory locations that must be searched to find a translation to a physical address from a received virtual address. The logic provides a hashing circuit for hashing the received virtual address and uses the hashed virtual address to index the RAM to locate a line within the RAM that provides the translation.
US08607025B2 Data structure for enforcing consistent per-physical page cacheability attributes
A data structure for enforcing consistent per-physical page cacheability attributes is disclosed. The data structure is used with a method for enforcing consistent per-physical page cacheability attributes, which maintains memory coherency within a processor addressing memory, such as by comparing a desired cacheability attribute of a physical page address in a PTE against an authoritative table that indicates the current cacheability status. This comparison can be made at the time the PTE is inserted into a TLB. When the comparison detects a mismatch between the desired cacheability attribute of the page and the page's current cacheability status, corrective action can be taken to transition the page into the desired cacheability state.
US08607022B2 Processing quality-of-service (QoS) information of memory transactions
Systems and methods for processing quality-of-service (QoS) information of memory transactions are described. In an embodiment, a method comprises receiving identification information and quality-of-service information corresponding to a first or original memory transaction transmitted from a hardware subsystem to a memory, receiving a given memory transaction from a processor complex that does not support quality-of-service encoding, determining whether the given memory transaction matches the original memory transaction, and appending the stored quality-of-service information to the given memory transaction in response to the given memory transaction matching the original memory transaction. In some embodiments, a system may be implemented as a system-on-a-chip (SoC). Devices suitable for using these systems include, for example, desktop and laptop computers, tablets, network appliances, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, e-book readers, televisions, and game consoles.
US08607020B2 Shared memory partition data processing system with hypervisor managed paging
Hypervisor managed memory paging is provided in a data processing system having multiple logical partitions. The data processing system includes a shared memory pool defined within physical memory. The shared memory pool includes a volume of physical memory with dynamically adjustable sub-volumes or sets of physical pages associated with the multiple logical partitions. Each sub-volume or set is associated with a particular logical partition and includes mapped logical memory pages for that logical partition. A hypervisor memory manager interfaces the multiple logical partitions and the shared memory pool, and manages access to logical memory pages within the shared memory pool. The hypervisor memory manager further manages page-out and page-in of logical memory pages from the shared memory pool to one or more external paging devices. This page-out and page-in managing by the hypervisor memory manager is transparent to the multiple logical partitions.
US08607011B2 Method and system for generating consistent snapshots for a group of data objects
Snapshots that are consistent across a group of data objects are generated. The snapshots are initiated by a coordinator, which transmits a sequence of commands to each storage node hosting a data object within a group of data objects. The first command prepares a data object for a snapshot. After a data object has been successfully prepared, an acknowledgment is sent to the coordinator. Once all appropriate acknowledgments are received, the coordinator sends a command to confirm that a snapshot has been created for each data object in the respective group. After receiving this confirmation, the coordinator takes action to confirm or record the successful completion of the group-consistent snapshot.
US08607009B2 Concurrent virtual machine snapshots and restore
Various mechanisms are disclosed herein for the saving and restoring of virtual machine environment state. For example, virtual machine state can be either be saved or (multiple) snapshots can be taken of the virtual machine state. In the latter case, virtual processors can be allowed to run while the memory of the virtual machine state is being saved. In either case, virtual devices associated with the virtual machine environment can be quiesced such that these devices can prepare themselves to be saved. Once such virtual devices and memory are saved, they can also be restored. For example, restoration of memory can occur while virtual processors are running at the same time. And, moreover, restoration can occur in batches of pages, thus optimizing the response time for restoring saved data.
US08607004B2 Distributed symmetric multiprocessing computing architecture
Example embodiments of the present invention includes systems and methods for implementing a scalable symmetric multiprocessing (shared memory) computer architecture using a network of homogeneous multi-core servers. The level of processor and memory performance achieved is suitable for running applications that currently require cache coherent shared memory mainframes and supercomputers. The architecture combines new operating system extensions with a high-speed network that supports remote direct memory access to achieve an effective global distributed shared memory. A distributed thread model allows a process running in a head node to fork threads in other (worker) nodes that run in the same global address space. Thread synchronization is supported by a distributed mutex implementation. A transactional memory model allows a multi-threaded program to maintain global memory page consistency across the distributed architecture. A distributed file access implementation supports non-contentious file I/O for threads. These and other functions provide a symmetric multiprocessing programming model consistent with standards such as Portable Operating System Interface for Unix (POSIX).
US08606995B2 Portable alarm configuration/update tool
A stand-alone portable alarm update tool includes a memory interface for receiving a computer readable memory; a serial port for interconnection to a security alarm panel, by way of a complementary port; a processor; and processor readable memory in communication with the processor, storing software adapting the processor to upload and download configuration files from a removable memory received by the memory port, to the alarm panel, by way of the serial port. Conveniently, the tool may be packaged in a hand-held casing, and which may also house a battery. In this way, the tool may be readily transported by an installer, without being unnecessary heavy or bulky.
US08606994B2 Method for adapting performance sensitive operations to various levels of machine loads
A redundant array of independent disk (RAID) stack executes a first memory access routine and a second memory access routine having different access timing characteristics. The RAID stack determines a number of cache misses for the execution of each of the first and second memory access routines. The RAID stack selects one of the first and second memory access routines based on the number of cache misses for further memory accesses.
US08606992B2 Dynamically switching command types to a mass storage drive
A method, device, and system are disclosed. In one embodiment method begins by receiving a first new mass storage disk access request. The method then determines the total number of access requests to the mass storage disk received in a window of time. If the total number of requests received over the period of time is greater than or equal to a request threshold number then a request frequency counter is decremented. Otherwise, the counter is incremented. The method continues by generating a legacy advanced technology attachment (ATA)-type command for the first new access request when the counter is greater than or equal to a counter threshold number. Otherwise, the method generates a native command queue (NCQ)-type command for the first new access request.
US08606989B2 Methods and apparatus for burst data transfers between double data rate (DDR) memories and embedded processors during training
Methods and apparatus are provided for burst transfers of data between DDR memories and embedded processors during training of the PHY interface in an embedded system. An embedded system comprises an embedded processor having at least one cache controller; a memory, wherein the memory has an atomic memory access that comprises a plurality of clock edges; and a memory controller having a physical interface to convert digital signals between the embedded processor and the memory, wherein the cache controller executes a training process to determine a delay through the physical interface for each of the plurality of clock edges using a burst transfer of data. The burst transfer comprises reading a data pattern from the memory and storing the data pattern in one or more registers in the embedded processor.
US08606981B2 Combination electronic device dock and dissinfector
Disclosed is a disinfecting docking station for at least one portable electronic device, such as a medical technician's tablet computer, that has at least one recharging connector. An enclosure is adapted to receive the at least one portable electronic device therein through an openable side that includes a selectively closable door. Each electronic device is exposed to a disinfecting wavelength of light, such as UV light, to disinfect the surface of the device. The enclosure includes supports that minimally contact each device so that the device will be substantially exposed to the UV light. A control circuit monitors the exposure time and level, and is programmable to activate the UV light based on pre-set criteria. The enclosures may be stacked and provide power and network connectivity to each device while docked therein.
US08606979B2 Distributed administration of a lock for an operational group of compute nodes in a hierarchical tree structured network
Distributed administration of a lock for an operational group of compute nodes in a hierarchical tree structured network including assigning the root node of the operational group to send acknowledgments for lock requests, the root lock administration module comprising a module of automated computing machinery; receiving a lock request assigned to a particular node from a child node; determining whether another request from another child is directly ahead in an acknowledgement queue; if a request from another child is directly ahead in the acknowledgement queue, putting the lock request for the particular node in the acknowledgement queue until the lock request directly ahead in the acknowledgement queue is satisfied and when the lock request ahead in the queue is satisfied, sending the particular node for whom the lock request is assigned a message acknowledging the particular node has the lock; and if a request from another child is not directly ahead in a queue, sending to the particular node for whom the lock request is assigned a message acknowledging that the particular node has the lock.
US08606975B2 Managing interrupts in a virtualized input/output device supporting multiple hosts and functions
Methods and apparatus are provided for managing interrupts within a virtualizable communication device. Through virtualization, one port of the device may be able to support multiple hosts (e.g., computers) and multiple functions operating on each host. Any number of interrupt resources may be allocated to the supported functions, and may include receive/transmit DMAs, receive/transmit mailboxes, errors, and so on. Resources may migrate from one function to another, such as when a function requests additional resources. Each function's set of allocated resources is isolated from other functions' resources so that their interrupts may be managed and reported in a non-blocking manner. If an interrupt cannot be immediately reported to a destination host/function, the interrupt may be delayed, retried, cancelled or otherwise handled in a way that avoids blocking interrupts to other hosts and functions.
US08606956B2 Method and system for access point congestion detection and reduction
A method and system for detecting and reducing data transfer congestion in a wireless access point includes determining a round-trip-time value for an internet control message protocol (ICMP) packet transmitted from a source computing device to a first computing device of a plurality of computing devices via the wireless access point. A data rate for data transmissions from the source computing device is increased to a value no greater than a peak data rate value if the round-trip-time is less than a first threshold value. The data rate is decreased if the round-trip-time value is greater than a second threshold value. Additionally, the peak data rate value may also be decreased if the round-trip-time value is greater than the second threshold value.
US08606954B1 Progressive download of media content over different wireless access networks
A wireless communication device comprises a processing system and a communication transceiver. The communication transceiver is configured to receive a first portion of a media file transmitted from a media gateway over a first wireless network via progressive download, and perform a handoff to a second wireless network. The processing system is configured to determine a content received ratio of the media file that indicates the first portion of the media file received by the wireless communication device, and generate a request for a second portion of the media file. The communication transceiver is configured to transfer the request for the second portion of the media file for delivery to the media gateway over the second wireless network, wherein the request for the second portion of the media file includes the content received ratio, and receive the second portion of the media file transmitted from the media gateway over the second wireless network via progressive download.
US08606948B2 Cloud-based device interaction
A logically centralized system or service, such as a cloud-based content management service, enables intelligent communication between disparate devices. Such communication enables content such as applications and data to be synchronized between various devices, where the synchronization takes into account the capabilities of each device to provide versions and/or formats of that content that are appropriate for each device. A user purchasing an additional device, for example, can have various applications and other content automatically installed or copied over to the additional device, but with versions or formats that take advantage of, and are appropriate for, the capabilities of that additional device. Further, the intelligent communication via a logically centralized service can enable such devices to interact even though those devices might utilize different protocols and/or formats, and might otherwise not be able to communicate or have ever have been tested together.
US08606947B2 Heuristics processing
The invention provides a mechanism for a transaction coordinator to indicate to a transaction participant that it supports a heuristic outcome, where a course of action has occurred which means that the transaction participant is unable to honor a transactional prior commitment to the transaction coordinator. The mechanism is such that a transaction participant that is incapable of communicating a heuristic outcome may ignore any such indication. A transaction participant may be incapable because it does not understand the concept of a heuristic outcome at all or because it does not have the ability to inform the transaction coordinator that a heuristic outcome has occurred.
US08606943B2 Method for processing application commands from physical channels using a portable electronic device and corresponding device and system
The invention relates to a method for processing at least two application commands from at least two physical communication channels respectively using a portable electronic device. The method includes receiving each application command from one of the physical communication channels, determining a priority level associated with each application command, comparing priority levels and identifying the application command with the highest priority among the application commands and processing of the application command with highest priority. The invention also relates to the portable electronic device and an electronic system including a host device cooperating with such a portable electronic device.
US08606941B2 Relay server and relay communication system
In a relay communication system, when receiving an operation instruction of a resource from a client terminal stored in an account information registration unit, a relay server relays the operation instruction to a client terminal capable of operating the resource based on relay group information if the resource is operable by another client terminal.
US08606940B2 DHCP address conflict detection/enforcement
The present invention resolves IP address conflicts in a network with DHCP or other address assignment protocol when some host on the network uses a conflicting static IP address to an IP address assigned to another host. The preferred method involves offering a given IP address to a host/node through the address assignment protocol while also detecting any other host/node using the offered IP address on a given VLAN using address resolution protocol. If another host/node is using the IP address, the offending host/node may be blocked on that VLAN for a set amount of time.
US08606932B2 End-to-end address transfer
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of facilitating the end-to-end transfer of a URI between a plurality of SIP entities. The method comprising generating a SIP message and including the URI to be transferred in a Contact header of the message and including in the Contact header a parameter indicating to a back-to-back user agent that this URI is not to be changed or replaced.
US08606928B2 Diverse network relative addressing resolution
A requesting entity can submit a query to an industrial control configuration to determine a location for a module. A distributed directory can be employed to discover an absolute location of the module, which can be provided to the requesting entity. This discovery can occur in real-time such that an answer can be given with a relatively high degree of certainty. In addition to providing the absolute address in the answer, a path on how to reach the module can be provided. The path can be optimized in order to allow quicker response time and to manage system resources.
US08606912B1 Statistics overlay
A publisher web page is rendered at a client device from a publisher and the client device issues a request for traffic statistics data related to traffic content in the web page. The client device receives the traffic statistics data and overlays the traffic statistics data on the web page, e.g., proximate to the related traffic content in the web page.
US08606903B2 Cooperative packet routing for wireless sensor networks
A cooperative packet routing for wireless sensor networks is described. In one aspect, a transient sensor node in a wireless sensor network receives a packet from a source node, wherein the packet is targeted for receipt by a base station. The transient sensor node, responsive to receiving the packet, estimates how much operational energy remains in the sensor node. If the determined amount of energy meets a configurable threshold, the transient sensor node implements a set of cooperative packet routing operations for conditional re-transmission of the packet to the base station. The configurable threshold is set to ensure substantially optimal usage and lifetime of the sensor node in the wireless sensor network. The conditional re-transmission of the packet is based on a set of randomized packet re-transmission criteria.
US08606902B2 Device management apparatus, device management system, device management method and medium
The present invention in its first aspect provides a device management apparatus, which manages a virtual device that implements a cooperative function upon cooperating a plurality of physical devices connected via a network, comprising an acquisition unit adapted to acquire statuses from the physical devices that implement the cooperative function of the virtual device; and a display unit adapted to display whether or not the virtual device is usable, based on the statuses of the physical devices that implement the cooperative function of the virtual device acquired by the acquisition unit.
US08606899B1 Systems and methods for dynamic session license control
A method for controlling session access within a network license zone (NLZ) includes receiving periodically, by the first network node, a first network access message from a second network node within the NLZ. The first network access message includes a number of active sessions enumerated by service type currently processed by the second network node. The method further includes determining, by the first network node, a first summation of active sessions within the NLZ based in part on the first network access message and a number of active sessions currently processed by the first network node. The method further includes enforcing, by the first network node, a total number of active sessions within NLZ. The first network node is configured to reject new session requests received at the first network node when the total number of active sessions within the NLZ exceeds a predetermined number of active sessions.
US08606897B2 Systems and methods for exporting usage history data as input to a management platform of a target cloud-based network
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for exporting usage history data as input to a management platform of a target cloud-based network. A usage export service can be abstracted and provided external to a host cloud-based network, which can capture the usage history of software or resources by one or more users in the host cloud-based network. Those user(s) or others may wish to export some or all of the usage history to a target cloud or clouds, to perform management or configuration actions in the target cloud(s). The selective subset of the usage history can be transmitted to the cloud management system of the target cloud-based network. The selective subset can be used for management actions in the target cloud(s), such as for instance, to instantiate or configure a set of virtual machines for failover or re-clouding purposes, or to aggregate usage history from the host and target cloud(s).
US08606892B2 Deployment and updating of applications and drivers on a client device using an extensible markup language (XML) configuration file
The deployment and updating of applications and drivers on a client device having a write-filter is described. A first deployment extensible markup language (XML) configuration file is obtained for deploying a first application or driver at the client device. A first application or driver is deployed on the client device based on the first deployment XML configuration file, while the write-filter of the client device is disabled. The write-filter is enablable to prohibit a file stored on the client device with the write-filter enabled from persisting across a reboot of the device. Following the deployment, automatic updating is performed by determining whether an autoupdate is available, obtaining a second deployment XML configuration file for updating the first application or driver, and updating the first application or driver based on the second deployment XML configuration file, while the write-filter is disabled. The automatic updating may be repeated.
US08606887B2 Method and apparatus for verification of dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) release message
An apparatus and method for verification of a DHCPRELEASE message comprising extracting a IP address from the ciaddr field of the DHCPRELEASE message, determining a tunnel-associated IP address, comparing the IP address and the tunnel-associated IP address to determine if there is a match, and releasing the IP address if there is a match, and wherein the tunnel-associated IP address is the IP address associated with the tunnel from which the server receives the DHCPRELEASE message.
US08606881B2 Bookmark beacon system and method
A bookmark beacon system comprises a computer network, a wireless network configured to enable a wireless device to access the computer network, and a bookmark beacon that transmits a bookmark data packet to the wireless device. The bookmark data packet includes a resource address that enables the wireless device to retrieve information stored on the computer network.
US08606878B2 Systems and methods for de-populating cloud data store
Embodiments relate to systems and methods for de-populating a cloud data store. In aspects, data from premise or other sources can be stored in a set of host storage clouds. A network administrator, owner, or other user can initiate the extraction of the set of cloud-populated data, and migrate that data to a set of step-down data stores, such as on-premise databases, servers, and/or other stores. A staging engine hosted in a cloud data distribution service can manage the discovery, reading-out, and delivery of the set of cloud-populated data to the set of step-down data stores. The staging engine can configure high-bandwidth data connections to the distribution service from the host storage clouds, and/or to the target step-down data stores from the data distribution service. A set of de-population commands can specify the connections, target data locations, file or directory formats, and/or other parameters to be used to re-locate the cloud-populated data.
US08606877B2 Java virtual machine having integrated transaction management system
A computing system comprises a plurality of computing nodes and is configured such that each computing node includes a processor configured to execute JAVA computer program instructions. The computing nodes cooperate to form a cluster, wherein the JAVA computer program instructions being executed by the plurality of computing nodes collectively accomplish a fully transactional application. Each application data object partition is associated with one of the computing nodes as a primary node for application data objects of that partition and further associated with at least one of the computing nodes as at least one secondary node for application data objects of that partition. Messages relative to an application data object are provided to the primary node for the application data object as well as to the at least one secondary node for that application data object, for updates. The particular application object is readable at any of the primary node and the at least one secondary node for that particular application data object.
US08606873B2 Methods and apparatus for securely advertising identification and/or discovery information
Methods and apparatus related to a peer to peer wireless communications system supporting secure advertisement of identification and/or discovery information e.g., upper layer discovery information, are described. Air interface timing and/or other information received from a third device, e.g., a beacon or GPS transmitter is incorporated in the computation of identification/discovery information which is communicated from a first device to a second device. The second device stores some identification/discovery credentials corresponding to the first device, which have been communicated out of band from the first device to the second device. Upon receipt of a identifier from a first device, the second device determines if the stored information corresponds to the device that transmitted the identifier. Various embodiments facilitate secure advertisement of identification and/or discovery information and discovery, e.g., selective discovery by trusted peers.
US08606867B2 Removing or correcting email recipients from an email chain
An email server receives an email. The email has a list of email addresses that includes the sender email address and the recipient addresses. The email is then sent to the recipients. An indication associated with one of the email addresses, such as the email address is invalid, the email address is for an incorrect recipient, the recipient does not want to receive responses to the email, and the like, is received. In response to the indication, responses to the email are filtered by not sending the response to an email address in the list of email addresses.Other features allow the recipient to identify a correct recipient of email. Also, if an email address was sent with an invalid address, based on a non-delivery report, the invalid address can be removed from responses to the email. The above systems can also be implemented between domains and with peer-to-peer clients.
US08606861B2 Method, apparatus, and computer program product for reducing session related message size
An apparatus for reducing session related message size includes a processing element. The processing element may be configured to determine a domain-wide unique identifier and generate a message including a first field for identifying a message sequence associated with the message and a second field including a tag. The second field including the tag may be associated with an identifier of a source or recipient of the message. At least one of the first and second fields may be without data. The processing element may be further configured to include, in the message, a third field comprising at least the domain-wide unique identifier. The third field may be associated with data otherwise intended for the first and second fields.
US08606860B2 System and method for providing filtering email messages
A method for filtering email messages for a user, includes (a) obtaining from the user a first set of email addresses over which the user asserts authority and a second set of email addresses from which email messages are to be accepted; (b) obtaining from the email messages the sender and recipient email addresses; and (c) filtering the email messages directed to any one of the email addresses in the first set of email addresses according to the second set of email addresses. In one implementation, accepted email addresses are generalized from the second set of email addresses. Once a user's email address is accepted, email from email addresses owned by the same sender are automatically accepted.
US08606856B2 Digital media asset identification system and method
The present invention provides a system and method for identifying and transferring digital media assets within a system through the use of identification data. The identification data is applied to each transferred copy and includes data specific to the customer and digital media asset. To facilitate transfers and ease of use the digital media assets can be made DRM-free.
US08606852B2 Server side processing of user interactions with a web browser
A method includes receiving input at a computer. The input is associated with an application frame of a client-side web browser. The method includes encoding control characteristics of the input as at least a portion of a request to a server-side web application. The method includes sending the request to the server-side web application and receiving an executable response from the server-side web application at a mediator frame of the client-side web browser. The method also includes executing the executable response via the mediator frame to update at least a portion of the application frame of the client-side browser.
US08606849B2 Techniques for timing optimization in wireless networks that utilize a universal services interface
An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising a mobile station (MS) operable to communicate with an application service provider (ASP) in a wireless network, the wireless network including a USI proxy in the line of a data path from the MS to the ASP and performs stateful content inspection of all packets passing through the US proxy; and wherein when the USI proxy intercepts an ASP request message, it appends the USI context to the ASP request message if not already present in the message and in order to fetch the USI context of the MS, a USI proxy sends the USI context request to a USI server and the USI server sends a USI context response back to the USI proxy which contains the USI context for the MS.
US08606846B2 Accelerating peer-to-peer content distribution
The acceleration of peer-to-peer downloads of content files wherein a tracker performs a condition based peer selection that is dynamically adjustable. A further feature relates to the use of enhanced message scheme for communications. One embodiment is a system in a swarm having at least one origin seed capable of at least initially storing the content files with at least one tracker maintaining a list of peers wherein the tracker uses at least one dynamically adjusting peer selection algorithm to generate a condition based peer-list and provides the condition based peer-list to a requesting peer.
US08606839B2 Interleaved method for parallel implementation of the fast fourier transform
A method for computing a fast Fourier transform (FFT) in a parallel processing structure uses an interleaved computation process. In particular, the interleaved FFT computation process intertwines the output of two different shifted Fourier matrices to obtain a Fourier transform of an input vector. Next, an even-odd extension process is applied to the transformed input vector, whereupon various terms are grouped in a computational tree. As such, the resulting segmentation of the computation allows the fast Fourier transform to be computed in a parallel manner.
US08606838B1 Method and apparatus for configurable sample rate conversion in teleoperated devices
Disclosed is an efficient and configurable apparatus and method for sample rate conversion using interpolation. The apparatus and method employ a configuration file to change the conversion coefficients, sampling rate, and interpolation algorithm without having to recompile control software and/or reprogram the controlled device. In some embodiments, the interpolation employs polynomial interpolation, which may include Lagrange interpolation. In some embodiments, the interpolation method is selected to minimize the loop delay in teleoperation applications.
US08606823B1 Selecting an item from a cache based on a rank-order of the item
A system that facilitates selecting an item from a cache based on a rank-order of the item picks a first item and a second item from the cache. Next, the system compares a rank-order of the first item with a rank-order of the second item. If the rank-order of the first item exceeds the rank-order of the second item, the system designates the first item as a winner of a first contest. However, if the rank-order of the first item is less than the rank-order of the second item, the system designates the second item as the winner of the first contest. Finally, the system selects the winner of the first contest as a selected item.
US08606819B2 Automated content scheduler and displayer
A method for providing content via a communications network on a user's computer, obtained from a plurality of resources in an organized arrangement is provided. The method includes creating a show structure of nodes, each node identifying a resource from a plurality of accessible resources, at least some of which are network accessible resources. Without requiring user input, a plurality of the network accessible resources, identified by a corresponding node, are automatically accessed. Content corresponding to each of the accessed resources is automatically presented through the user's computer in accordance with the show structure. Advertisement content is presented to the user in connection with the automatic presentation of the content through the user's computer.
US08606817B2 Database access unblocker
Embodiments of the invention provide for a centralized system for database access management. In specific embodiments, the centralized system provides for granting users temporal access to databases for a prescribed period of time, such that upon expiration of the time period the user is automatically blocked (i.e., added back to the blacklist) from accessing the database. Moreover, as a result of centralized management, reporting and auditing of actions related to database access management are greatly improved in that all actions are recorded and a historical database of such actions is available to system users. In addition, the centralized system provides for automatic notification to predetermined stakeholders based on occurrence of predetermined system actions, such as blocking a user from database access, unblocking a user from database access (i.e., granting access) or the like.
US08606814B2 Business intelligence OLAP provider model and architecture
According to some embodiments, a system, method, means and computer program code is provided including identifying a provider interface, the provider interface configured to map data items from a provider data model to a system data model, identifying a set of capabilities of the provider data model, transmitting data from the information provider to the business information system through the provider interface, and communicating the set of capabilities of the provider data model to the business information system.
US08606801B2 Calendar-based suggestion of a travel option
Calendar-based suggestion of travel options involves suggesting a travel option based on events stored in a calendar of a user. For example, a user in San Francisco may be scheduled for a business trip to New York, and the user's calendar may show a dinner reservation in San Francisco on Saturday, September 3 and business meeting in New York on Monday, September 5. A suggestion machine accesses calendar data of the user and travel data for several available travel options (e.g., flights from San Francisco to New York). Based on the accessed calendar data and travel data, the suggestion machine determines that one or more travel options (e.g., a flight on Sunday, September 4) are compatible with the dinner reservation and the business meeting on the user's calendar. The suggestion machine presents these compatible travel options to the user.
US08606800B2 Comparative web search system
A system and method for a comparative web search engines, search result summarization, web snippet processing, comparison analysis, information visualization, meta-clustering, and quantitative evaluation of web snippet quality are disclosed. The present application extends the capabilities of web searching and informational retrieval by providing a succinct comparative summary of search results at either the object or thematic levels.
US08606792B1 Scoring authors of posts
In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products. A score for each of a plurality of authors of posts submitted to a server system is determined. The score for each individual author in the plurality is based on a score of one or more authors in the plurality that have requested to subscribe to a stream of posts that the individual author submits to the server system. A particular post submitted by a particular author in the plurality is received at the server system and from a computing device. A score is assigned to the particular post based on a score of the particular author. The particular post is transmitted from the server system to computing devices that are associated with authors who have requested to subscribe to posts by the particular author.
US08606786B2 Determining a similarity measure between queries
A system described herein includes a receiver component that receives a dataset that is stored in a computer-readable medium of a computing device, wherein the dataset includes a plurality of queries issued by users to a search engine and a plurality of search results selected by the users upon issuing the plurality of queries. A distribution determiner component determines click distributions over the search results selected by the users with respect to the plurality of queries. A labeler component labels at least two queries in the plurality of queries as being substantially similar to one another based at least in part upon the click distributions over the search results selected by the users with respect to the plurality of queries.
US08606780B2 Image re-rank based on image annotations
Search queries for images are received from users. An original order of responsive images to the query is determined. Duplicate images and words associated with the duplicate images are identified for each of the responsive images. Common words associated with the duplicate images are identified. The responsive images are annotated with the common words and an annotated order is determined. A re-ranked order is determined based on the original order and the annotated order. Responsive images are presented to the user in the re-ranked order.
US08606777B1 Re-ranking a search result in view of social reputation
A search result is re-ranked/re-ordered in view of a social reputation of a user who will view the search result, where the search result comprises an ordered sequence of identifications of a plurality of network-accessible documents that match a search query. The re-ranking comprises changing an order of at least one of the identified plurality of network-accessible documents within the ordered sequence. The search result is then rendered, as re-ranked, for the user.
US08606774B1 Methods and systems for 3D shape retrieval
Systems and methods for 3D shape retrieval are described herein. An embodiment includes obtaining a query 3D model, determining a similarity between the query 3D model and one or more 3D models based on a plurality of features of the query 3D model and corresponding features of the one or more 3D models, retrieving one or more similar 3D models based on the determining step and ranking the one or more similar 3D models based on the similarity. The embodiment further includes computing a feature distance between the query 3D model and the one or more 3D models for each feature, from a first set of features, associated with the query 3D model and the one or more 3D models and evaluating a first composite distance function using each feature distance. Another embodiment includes constructing a retrieval structure using each of the one or more 3D models for each feature associated with the one or more 3D models and searching the retrieval structure, for each feature, to determine 3D models similar to the query 3D model.
US08606770B2 User-directed product recommendations
A facility for generating item recommendations is described. In one embodiment, the facility displays a plurality of item indications each indicating an item. The facility then receives user input selecting one or more of the displayed item indications, and selects as seed items the items indicated by the selected item indications. The facility then uses the selected seed items to generate a list of recommended items, and displays the generated list of recommended items.
US08606763B2 Method and system for compression of files for storage and operation on compressed files
Systems and methods for creating, reading, and writing compressed files for use with a file access storage. The compressed data of a raw file are packed into a plurality of compressed units and stored as compressed files. One or more corresponding compressed units may be read and/or updated with no need for restoring the entire file while maintaining a de-fragmented structure of the compressed file.
US08606752B1 Method and system of restoring items to a database while maintaining referential integrity
A system and method for restoring list items to a database while maintaining the referential integrity of the list items. Before requested list items are restored to a database, a dependencies tablemetadata is read to determine the links between list items of the database. A map is created, and the links between list items are stored in the map. When the requested list items are restored to the database, the requested items and any dependent items are identified from the map and restored to the database. By restoring the dependent items of the selected item to be restored, referential integrity of the database is maintained.
US08606751B1 System and method for backup by inode number
This disclosure is describes a system and method for organizing and storing backup data by inode number. Data objects on a file system may be streamed to a backup client that identifies the inode numbers for each streamed data object before streaming the objects to storage. The inode numbers are parsed to create one or more inode directories that can be browsed during a recovery process. In this fashion, the file system can be quickly backed up without requiring the backup client to determine the file system's directory hierarchy.
US08606749B1 Administering workload groups
A request is received at a computer programmed as a database system. The request is a request selected from the group consisting of a query and a utility. A business concept is associated with the request. The business concept is a business concept selected from the group consisting of “who” information defining the source of the request, “what” information defining the processing to be performed by the request, “where” information defining a database object that the request will affect. The computer maps the received request to a database feature setting by mapping the business concept associated with the request to a workload. The workload is defined by a workload definition including a workload classification attribute that maps to the business concept of the request, a workload throttling attribute that defines conditions under which requests assigned to the workload are throttled. Submission of the request to the database system for processing is delayed based on the workload definition.
US08606741B2 Automated filling of conditional probability data in a decision support apparatus that uses a Bayesian belief network
A computer implemented method is provided to expand a limited amount of input to conditional probability data filling a Bayesian Belief network based decision support apparatus. The conditional probability data defines conditional probabilities of states of a particular network node as a function of vectors of state values of a set of parent nodes of the particular network node in the Bayesian Belief network. The computer implemented method comprises receiving elicited conditional probability data that defines the conditional probabilities of the state values of the particular network node for a subset of all possible vectors of combinations of state values of the parent nodes. Conditional probability data defining the conditional probabilities of the state values of the particular network node for further possible vectors of state values of the parent nodes is interpolated from the elicited conditional probability data. The influence factors are determined.
US08606736B2 Technique for solving optimization problem
A method for solving an optimization problem includes: causing a cylindrical algebraic decomposition (CAD) processing unit to carry out a projection processing for a first expression that appears in a quantifier elimination problem equivalent to the optimization problem including objective functions and to generate second expressions that are projection factors of the first expression; calculating plural sets of values of the objective functions by generating plural value sets of variables in the objective functions and substituting the generated plural value sets of the variables into the objective functions; extracting points including non-dominated solutions in a space mapped by the objective functions, from plural points corresponding to the plural sets of values; calculating, for each second expression, an evaluation value concerning a distance between a corresponding second expression and each of the extracted points; and identifying a second expression whose evaluation value is minimum.
US08606734B2 System and method for automating exploration or production of subterranean resource
A method and system for automating exploration and production of subterranean resources, using data collected from exploration and production activities, including drilling rig data and/or the like is described. The method and system include the use of a knowledge representation containing representation of uncertainty in the exploration and production operations.
US08606730B1 Scaling machine learning using approximate counting
A system may track statistics for a number of features using an approximate counting technique by: subjecting each feature to multiple, different hash functions to generate multiple, different hash values, where each of the hash values may identify a particular location in a memory, and storing statistics for each feature at the particular locations identified by the hash values. The system may generate rules for a model based on the tracked statistics.
US08606720B1 Secure storage of payment information on client devices
An online electronic wallet system and method provide secure storage and transmission of payment instrument information for use in completing online purchases initiated from a client device. A payment instrument's verification code is stored in an encrypted form in local storage on a client device and retrieved and re-encrypted along with other payment instrument information stored on the system using a merchant-specific key. An API library is used to integrate the online electronic wallet system with a registered merchant's purchase flow, including the ability to ensure receipt of an electronic receipt prior to communicating payment instrument information to a merchant server.
US08606719B2 System for management of alternatively priced transactions on network
A system and method thereof, comprising means for: communicating through at least one computer network interface with each of (i) a plurality of providers of accountable resources, and (ii) a plurality of registrars which register clients, each client having access to accountable resources of providers, and maintain client-associated accounts therewith; generating a token verifying that a client is authenticated by a registrar; logging accountable transactions identifying a client-associated account and a transaction valuation, maintained by the registrar; and periodically accounting for the logged accountable transactions between respective registrars and respective providers; wherein a valuation of the accountable transaction is dependent at least on information conveyed in the token.
US08606711B2 POS payment terminal and a method of direct debit payment transaction using a mobile communication device, such as a mobile phone
A payment terminal using a mobile communication device (4), such as a mobile phone, is located on a removable memory card (1), e.g. type microSD card, which is adjusted in such a way so it can be inserted into an additional hardware slot, e.g. memory slot. A payment POS terminal application runs on a removable memory card (1), which contains at least one payment card. The payment card's unit (7) with the card's payment application is located in the secured part of the memory, separately from the terminal's configuration data unit (6). The configuration data of the terminal's selected identity and the payment card's data are located in the separate parts of the secure element or in completely independent secure elements or they can also be localized in the Sales Device of the merchant and there e.g. within the ICC card (29) or SAM card (42).
US08606706B2 Systems, methods and computer program products for standardization of payment requests to facilitate comprehensive payment hub processing
Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for conducting comprehensive payment processing of all payment requests regardless of the payment request channel. Payment requests are transformed from the initial format to a standardized format, which allows for the occurrence of further comprehensive payment processing, referred to herein as payment hub processing. Once the payment request has undergone necessary payment hub processing, the request undergoes further transformation/conversion from the standardized format to a target clearing format. In one embodiment of the invention, the processing hub provides for determining the clearing or remittance channel based on payment routing rules, which may take into account cost, time, risk and any other payment factors.
US08606700B2 Systems and methods for secure and transparent cardless transactions
Systems, methods, and apparatus for handling and/or authorizing payment requests by a consumer for a transaction are provided. Payment information can be sent directly from a consumer to a non-merchant, thereby allowing no new entities to obtain the payment information. Transaction identifiers can be used to facilitate communications among the entities. The payment information can be sent to the non-merchant via a merchant application with a submit payment button directed to the non-merchant so little or no deviations from standard practices are required.
US08606689B2 System and method for dynamically regulating order entry in an electronic trading environment
A system and method are provided for trading a trading strategy defined for at least one tradeable object in an electronic trading environment. More specifically, one example method includes using a first pay-up tick value to determine a first acceptable price level for an order associated with the trading strategy, automatically modifying the first pay-up tick to a second pay-up tick value in response to detecting a predefined condition, and using the second pay-up tick value to determine a second acceptable price level for the order associated with the trading strategy.
US08606686B1 System and method for gathering and performing complex analyses on power data from multiple remote sources
The invention encompasses data analytics, and more specifically, encompasses the efficient gathering and management of data, and the execution of data analysis solutions on complex power and pricing.
US08606677B2 Differential commission and electronic order matching process for the distribution of primary market fixed income securities
An apparatus and process (collectively the “system”) for conducting and managing the primary offering of fixed income securities, specifically, but not exclusively, fixed rate municipal bonds at different prices for like maturities over electronic networks, particularly, but not exclusively, the Internet, is disclosed. A differential commission method for the distribution of primary market fixed income securities, including the steps of: (a) purchasing from an issuer, by an underwriter, at least one fixed income security on the primary market; (b) offering the at least one fixed income security to at least one investor; (c) setting, by a first offerer, a price, including a commission, for the at least one fixed income security; (d) setting, by a subsequent offerer, a different price, including a different commission, for the at least one fixed income security; and (e) purchasing, by the at least one investor, the at least one fixed income security. The system includes the steps of: (1) building and maintaining an inquiry database; (2) building and maintaining a syndicate inputs database; (3) comparing the inquiry database with the syndicate inputs database; and (4) identifying matches between the data in the inquiry database and the syndicate inputs database.
US08606674B1 Income analysis tools for wealth management
Enhanced processes, methods, tools, strategies, and techniques are provided for more effectively and efficiently processing, managing, analyzing, and communicating wealth related data and other financial information within a computing environment. In various embodiments, the analysis tools provided herein have been designed to correspond visually with a mental model employed by many clients in managing their wealth.
US08606672B2 Method and system for analyzing investment information
An information processing apparatus and associated method for analyzing investment information. An input unit receives a financial request and one or more investment variables relating to the financial indicator and a description vector unit generates at least two vectors containing the one or more investment variables based on the financial request. A description vector similarity unit then calculates a similarity value by comparing the at least two vectors and an investment analysis unit analyzes the similarity value and the financial request, and determines investment advice based on results of the analysis.
US08606670B2 Integrated communication solution
Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, systems, and machine-readable media for integrating communications between multiple systems and/or processes related to different aspects of financial transactions of a consumer. Generally speaking, an integrated communications engine can be communicatively coupled with and adapted to manage communications between a plurality of routines or processes to manage interactions with a consumer throughout a lifecycle of a financial relationship with the consumer. According to one embodiment, the integrated communications engine can further comprise a rules engine. The rules engine can be adapted to monitor the plurality of routines, determine whether a condition specified in a rule is satisfied, and in response to determining that the condition is satisfied, trigger an action by one or more of the routines of the plurality of routines based on the rule.
US08606662B2 Methods and systems for managing co-brand proprietary financial transaction processing
A method and system for processing a financial transaction using a co-brand proprietary payment card through a multi-party payment card interchange network is provided. The method includes storing within a database a list of merchants participating in a co-brand program with the interchange network, receiving an authorization request for the transaction involving the co-brand payment card wherein the authorization request includes a merchant identifier, determining whether the transaction originated at one of the participating merchants by comparing the received merchant identifier to the list of participating merchants stored within the database, manipulating the authorization request to include a private label identifier when the transaction is determined to have originated at one of the participating merchants, and transmitting an authorization response from the interchange network to the acquirer. The authorization response includes the private label identifier and designates the transaction for processing as a private label transaction.
US08606649B2 Display of anomymous purchase information over the internet
The invention is characterized as a data processing architecture and method for multi-stage processing of buyers' purchase information documents where information of actual purchases are delivered to a server on the Internet and users of the system are able to view aggregated information of actual purchases, purchase dates, and store locations of anonymous buyers.
US08606646B2 System and method for selling products and services via a network of at least three computer systems
A system and method allows one or more users to purchase an offering of goods or services using at least three computer systems, by one user making a proposal for the two to jointly consume the offering, and the other user accepting the proposal.
US08606642B2 Remote and/or virtual mall shopping experience
A computer-implemented method of enabling remote and/or a virtual shopping of an actual retail store is disclosed. Software provides a means of creating custom, electronic shopping mall configurations that may include a plurality of participating retail stores, each of which may be selected from a list of participating retailers. The mall's stores and walkways may be selectable to launch a remote/virtual shopping experience. Navigation is by moving a cursor to browse for desired merchandise. Remote shopping is achieved through the use of a plurality of cameras at participating stores to provide live streaming images of store merchandise for remote shopping, or a series of recorded images that permit virtual shopping. All images may be embedded with merchandise information. Holding the cursor over a merchandise image may reveal embedded information. Views obstructed by a live shopper in the live streaming image may be supplanted by the beginning-of-day stored images.
US08606641B2 Secure instant message-based sales
A server device may conduct an electronic sales transaction with a user device using instant message (IM)-based protocols, where the electronic sales transaction may include both: form-based IM communications that permit a form-based user interface (UI) to be displayed, on the user device, via which information regarding a user, of the user device, is received in a manner that is not accessible to an agent associated with the server device, and text-based IM communications that permit text-based IMs, between the agent associated with the server device and the user of the user device, to be displayed on the user device. The server device may further receive, via the form-based UI, a form-based IM that includes an order for one or more products or services associated with the electronic sales transaction.
US08606634B2 Providing advertising in a virtual world
Technologies are described herein for providing advertising in a virtual world. An inventory list identifying a plurality of virtual objects is provided. A selection of one or more virtual objects from the inventory is received. An advertisement list identifying a plurality of advertisements is further provided. A selection of one or more advertisements from the advertisement list is further received. The selection of advertisements is placed on the selection of virtual objects in the virtual world.
US08606620B2 Systems and methods for forecasting using an attenuated forecast function
A characteristic forecasting system is disclosed. The characteristic forecasting system may have a memory module and a processor. The memory module may store instructions, that, when executed, enable the processor to generate a forecast function that represents forecasted characteristics of a target item and includes one or more continuous functions and one or more attenuating functions. Each of the attenuating functions may attenuate forecast values generated by the continuous functions at periodic time intervals. The processor may also be enabled to forecast the characteristics of the target item using the forecast function.
US08606610B2 Business process simulation testing for bank branches using avatars
Method and systems for testing services are described which use a virtual world. Observational data is extracted from the virtual world and input to the service. The output of the service is observed and/or may be fed back into the virtual world and its effects observed in the virtual world.
US08606596B1 Medication waste and data collection system
A medication waste and data collection system is provided for use in tracking medication containers, related medication preparation and transfer procedures, medication administration and medication waste disposal. An amount of disposed medication can be reconciled with an amount of medication administered and/or initially prepared. Related apparatus, systems, methods and articles are also described.
US08606590B2 Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing personalized, just-in-time information services
Exemplary embodiments relate to methods, systems, and computer program products for providing personalized information services. Methods include generating an instance of personalized information including time-sensitive elements, and outputting the personalized information onto a medium that is affixable to a subject with which the personalized information is associated.
US08606580B2 Speech data process unit and speech data process unit control program for speech recognition
To provide a data process unit and data process unit control program that are suitable for generating acoustic models for unspecified speakers taking distribution of diversifying feature parameters into consideration under such specific conditions as the type of speaker, speech lexicons, speech styles, and speech environment and that are suitable for providing acoustic models intended for unspecified speakers and adapted to speech of a specific person. The data process unit comprises a data classification section, data storing section, pattern model generating section, data control section, mathematical distance calculating section, pattern model converting section, pattern model display section, region dividing section, division changing section, region selecting section, and specific pattern model generating section.
US08606567B2 Signal encoding apparatus, signal decoding apparatus, signal processing system, signal encoding process method, signal decoding process method, and program
Provided is a signal encoding apparatus including: an encoding unit which encodes a quantization value of a frequency spectrum in an input signal through a plurality of encoding algorithms; an amplitude change amount calculation unit which calculates, for each of a plurality of subbands of the frequency spectrum, an amplitude change amount with respect to the frequency spectrum based on a spectrum envelope of the frequency spectrum; and an encoding selection unit which selects, for each subband, the encoding algorithm according to a degree of deflection of an occurrence probability distribution of the quantization value in the amplitude change amount among the plurality of the encoding algorithms.
US08606565B2 Related-word registration device, information processing device, related-word registration method, program for related-word registration device, and recording medium
A related-word candidate group (12b) obtained by extracting candidates of a related word on the basis of a predetermined condition from a search query log (12a) is generated (S1 to S4), a search query of a search word entered by the user is received (S10), a partial character string is generated from a character string of the search word (S13), on the basis of the partial character strings, a candidate character string is extracted from the related-word candidate group (S14), a suitability score of the candidate character string is calculated (S16), the candidate character strings are ranked in order of the scores (S17), a reference line L1 of a suitability score for the ranking is generated on the basis of the suitability score and the ranking (S18), a candidate character string whose suitability score is apart from the reference line by a preset threshold or larger is extracted as a registration character string to be registered as a related word (S19), and the extracted registration character string and the search word are registered as related words into the related-word DB 12c (S20).
US08606560B2 Automatic simultaneous interpertation system
An interpretation system that includes an optical or audio acquisition device for acquiring a sentence written or spoke in a source language and an audio restoration device for generating, from an input signal acquired by the acquisition device, a source sentence that is a transcription of the sentence in the source language. The interpretation system further includes a translation device for generating, from the source sentence, a target sentence that is a translation of the source sentence in a target language, and a speech synthesis device for generating, from the target sentence, an output audio signal reproduced by the audio restoration device. The interpretation system includes a smoothing device for calling the recognition, translation and speech synthesis devices in order to produce in real time an interpretation in the target language of the sentence in the source language.
US08606550B2 Autoeconometrics modeling method
A method and system allowing the ability to automatically and systematically run thousands and even millions of combinations and permutations of regression, forecasting and econometric trials to determine the best-fitting predictive model.
US08606545B2 Apparatus, system, and method for memory configuration analysis
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for memory configuration analysis. A classification module 402 determines 1000 an overall performance of an array 706 of memory devices 500 in a computer memory 104, wherein overall performance has a substantially inverse relationship with a highest quantity of members of a subset of the array and a substantially direct relationship with an individual performance capability of the members. A counting module 404 takes a count 1110 of members of the array 706 whose individual performance capability varies 1108 in a selected direction from the overall performance of the array 706. A comparison module 406 takes a selected action such as issuing a memory configuration warning 1114 if the count crosses a predetermined threshold 1112 comprising a predetermined percentage for comparison with the count, as qualified by the individual performance capability, divided by an unqualified count of members of the array 706.
US08606543B2 Method to detect angle sensor performance degradation through dither monitoring
A method for detecting angle sensor performance degradation in a flow angle measurement device in moving platform, such as aircraft and watercraft, as well as stationary platforms. Sensor dither in a flow angle measurement device is used to detect operational performance degradation of the sensor as a result of dynamic response changes caused by damaged or degraded mechanical components.
US08606542B2 Method and system for monitoring and documenting installation of rock reinforcement bolt
A system for monitoring and documenting the installation of at least one rock reinforcement bolt in a tunnel or a mine, wherein bolt installation related information is stored and related to the identity of the bolt is distinguished by means (S1, S2, S3, 4) for registering of at least one bolt installation related parameter and means for storing the corresponding installation parameter data in a related memory (M), and means (S4, 4) for registering the installation position and means for storing the corresponding installation position data in a related memory (M). The invention also concerns a method.
US08606533B2 Battery gas-gauge circuit and method thereof
A battery gas-gauge circuit and method thereof are provided. The battery gas-gauge circuit includes a sensing resistor, a voltage-to-current conversion circuit, a subtractor, a comparator, a logic circuit and a power-management unit. In the voltage-to-current conversion circuit, two conversion circuits thereof obtain two voltage signals according to the two ends of the sensing resistor, respectively, and convert the two voltage signals to two current signals correspondingly. The subtractor generates a current difference signal according to the two current signals. The comparator outputs a comparison signal according to the current difference signal and a current dead-band. The logic circuit outputs a logic signal according to the comparison signal and a predetermined signal. The power-management unit determines battery power according to the logic signal.
US08606525B2 Determining useful life of a fluid using inventory information
A method for determining the remaining time a fluid in a container can be used. The method includes: determining the amount of fluid in the container; and determining the remaining time based on the amount of fluid in the container. Preferably, the step of determining the remaining time is calculated by using the determined amount of fluid and a predetermined first correlation of remaining time vs. amount of fluid in the container. In a preferred embodiment, the fluid is a reagent in a reagent pack used in a diagnostic analyzer. A method for measuring the presence or concentration of an analyte in a sample on an automated diagnostic analyzer includes: providing a reagent storage container on the analyzer; providing a measurement station for taking a measurement of the sample; determining the amount of reagent remaining in a reagent storage container; calculating the remaining time of the reagent by using the determined amount of reagent and a predetermined first correlation of remaining time vs. amount of fluid in the container; if the time the reagent has been in the reagent container is greater than the remaining time, then discarding the reagent, otherwise adding reagent to the sample; and taking a measurement of the sample to determine the presence or concentration of the analyte.
US08606520B2 System and method for detecting volumetric soil water content
The present invention relates to a method that obtains emissivity or reflectivity based on ratios of the brightness temperature measured by a satellite and the land surface temperature, calculates two reflectivity using polarizing features of a microwave according to surface characteristics, and measures a volumetric soil water content of a land surface considering that water has different physical characteristics from those of soil. In particular, it may be possible to measure volumetric soil water contents on territories of other countries as well as regions which have many limitations and troubles in direct measurement of the volumetric soil water contents. Accordingly, valuable materials in terms of nation economy may be produced together with substantial contribution to industrial fields that have direct effects on agriculture and disaster prevention.
US08606514B2 Transportation routing
A computer-implemented method of providing personalized route information involves gathering a plurality of past location indicators over time for a wireless client device, determining a future driving objective using the plurality of previously-gathered location indicators, obtaining real-time traffic data for an area proximate to the determined driving objective, and generating a suggested route for the driving objective using the near real-time traffic data.
US08606509B2 Software based driving directions
A method for electronically generating driving directions without text entry. The method including: indicating a starting address or starting location on a map without text entry; indicating an ending address or ending location on a map without text entry; and generating driving directions based on the indicated starting address or starting location and ending address or ending location.
US08606508B2 System and method for sending air traffic data to users for display
A computer-implemented system and method for the processing and presentation of aviation information is disclosed. At plurality of flight information is received over a digital network and is stored in at least a database. The database includes aviation information. Upon receiving a user request, a server retrieves a result set from the database and transmits it to the requesting user. Subsequently, updates as to a flight identified in the request are transmitted at a selected rate, which may be modified automatically based on one flight characteristic, for subsequent display. In one form, the results may be presented to the user in the form of digital map having aircraft images.
US08606500B2 Method and device for demonstrating features of a vehicle navigation system
A demonstration method and module for demonstrating various features of a vehicle navigation system without activating the system at a back-end facility, such as a remote call center. The demonstration module comes with a variety of pre-established navigation demonstrations, each of which is designed for a particular geographic area. The demonstration module obtains a vehicle position reading from the vehicle navigation system, and then utilizes this reading to select the most appropriate demonstration experience for that area. The selected navigation demonstration is then played through one or more output devices in the vehicle, such as speakers and a graphical display. This enables a prospective customer to experience a local or familiar navigation demonstration, without taking the steps and incurring the expenses associated with activating the vehicle navigation system at the call center.
US08606496B2 Laser ranging, tracking and designation using 3-D focal planes
The present invention tracks or locates small moving objects, or generates a 3-D frame of data by using 3-D focal plane arrays with low laser energy and few mechanically moving parts. The invention may be used to determine the direction of a laser designating a target, for target tracking, used as a 3-D movie/video camera or used to provide data for autonomous navigation.
US08606494B2 Map generation apparatus, map generation method and computer readable medium
A map generation apparatus includes an acquisition unit, a classification unit, a tentative map generation unit and a map generation unit. The acquisition unit acquires information which is a target of an analysis process. The classification unit classifies the acquired information into a plurality of types. The tentative map generation unit selects the types provided by the classifying one by one as a type in question to generate tentative map information of the information belonging to the type in question, based on (i) the information belonging to the type in question and (ii) representative information that represents at least one type other than the type in question. The map generation unit generates a map image based on the tentative map information generated for the respective types.
US08606491B2 Methods and systems for managing air traffic
Methods and systems suitable for negotiating air traffic trajectory modification requests received from multiple aircraft that each has trajectory parameters. The methods include transmitting from at least a first aircraft a first trajectory modification request to alter the altitude, speed and/or lateral route thereof. A first conflict assessment is then performed to determine if the first trajectory modification request poses a conflict with the altitudes, speeds and lateral routes of other aircraft. If a conflict is not identified, the first trajectory modification request is granted and the first aircraft is notified of the first trajectory modification request being granted. Alternatively, if a conflict is identified, the first trajectory modification request is not granted and the first aircraft is notified thereof. If the first trajectory modification request was not granted, the first trajectory modification request is placed in a queue, which is periodically processed to perform subsequent conflict assessments.
US08606483B2 Road grade coordinated engine control systems
An engine control system of a vehicle includes a road grade module and a predictive control module. The road grade module detects a grade of a road that is ahead of the vehicle. The predictive control module detects that a first cylinder of an engine of the vehicle is deactivated while a second cylinder of the engine is activated. The predictive control module activates the first cylinder based on the grade.
US08606476B2 Closed-loop clutch control using a filtered piston position signal
A vehicle includes an engine, transmission, and controller. The transmission includes a clutch pack, a clutch piston, and a position sensor. The sensor measures a changing magnetic field with respect to the piston, and encodes the measured magnetic field as a raw position signal. The controller receives the raw position signal and processes the raw position signal through a signal processing module to generate a filtered signal attenuating signal noise in the position signal. The controller determines a commanded position of the piston, and calculates separate proportional (P), derivative (D), and integral (I) control terms using the commanded position and filtered position signal. The controller also calculates a feed-forward control term using the commanded position, and a required flow rate for actuating the clutch pack as a function of the PID terms and the feed-forward commanded position term. The controller actuates the clutch pack using the commanded flow rate.
US08606475B2 Shift range switching apparatus, parking lock apparatus and engagement switching apparatus for use in vehicle
The shift range switching apparatus includes a switching mechanism driven to switch a shift range of an automatic transmission, a drive section which drives the switching mechanism, an operating member operated to switch the shift range, a control section to control the drive section such that the shift range is switched in accordance with a switching operation by a vehicle driver, an abnormality detection section configured to cause the drive section to drive the switching mechanism when a predetermined abnormality detection condition is satisfied indicating that the vehicle driver is unlikely to operate the operating member, a driving state detection section to detect a driving state of the drive section after the abnormality detection section causes the drive section to drive, and an abnormality determination section to determine whether the drive section is abnormal in accordance with a detection result by the driving state detection section.
US08606474B2 Continuous variable transmission system
A method and system for controlling a continuously variable transmission (CVT). In one embodiment, the method includes receiving vehicle operation data. The method also includes controlling engine and transmission operations based on the vehicle operation data, fuel efficiency data, and CVT efficiency data.
US08606473B2 Electrically assisted variable-K control
A vehicle includes a transmission, a motor configured to provide a motor torque to the transmission, and an engine configured to provide an engine torque to the transmission. A torque converter is operably disposed between the transmission and the motor, the engine, or both. The torque converter is configured to at least partially transfer at least one of the motor torque and the engine torque to the transmission in accordance with a plurality of k-factors. The torque converter includes a clutch configured to at least partially engage to change the effective k-factor applied by the torque converter. A control processor is configured to blend the plurality of k-factors and at least partially engage the clutch based on the blended k-factor.
US08606471B2 Method and a system for operating a working machine
A method and a system for operating a working machine provided with a hydraulic system and an operator control adapted to command actuation of the hydraulic system is provided. The system includes a first control unit and a second control unit for moving an implement on the working machine and/or for steering the working machine. The method includes receiving first information regarding a status of the operator control, and determining at least one hydraulic system control information based on the first information and sending the determined hydraulic system control information to a second control unit which is adapted to control the hydraulic system accordingly.
US08606469B2 Method and device for controlling an agricultural working machine
A method for controlling an agricultural working machine includes the step of assigning a route planning system (7) to the agricultural working machine (2) for generating driving routes (8) in a territory (1). The route planning system (7) subdivides the territory (1) into a worked territory (13) and a remaining territory area (14), and at least one parameter (17) of the agricultural working machine (2) is adapted as a function of the shape of the worked territory (13) and/or the remaining territory area (14). In this manner it is ensured that the working method of the agricultural working machine (2) or its working attachments (6) is adaptable to the shape of the particular territory (13, 14) to ensure economically efficient use of the agricultural working machine (2). A device for controlling an agricultural working machine also is provided.
US08606461B2 System and method for monitoring tire status
A vehicle electronic control unit includes a power input port, which receives electric power from a vehicle battery, and a power output port, which provides electric power to a vehicle electronic device including an antenna. The electronic device receives data transmissions from a vehicle sensor. The power output port provides substantially uninterrupted electric power from the vehicle battery to the vehicle electronic device. A communication port is electrically connected to a vehicle communication bus. The communication port receives data transmissions from the vehicle electronic device via the communication port. An electronic component, electrically connected to the communication port, is initially in a first state when a vehicle ignition is off. The electronic component, while in a second state and while the vehicle ignition is off, receives additional data transmissions from the vehicle electronic device indicating statuses of respective vehicle sensors.
US08606447B2 Method and apparatus to operate a powertrain system including an electric machine having a disconnected high-voltage battery
A powertrain system includes an electric motor/generator unit. Upon detecting an open high-voltage switch associated with a high-voltage DC electrical bus, low-voltage electrical power is employed to energize the high-voltage DC electrical bus, control parameters are adjusted to operate the electric motor/generator unit in a fault tolerant electric generation mode, an internal combustion engine is operated to spin the electric motor/generator unit, and the electric motor/generator unit is operated in the fault tolerant electric generation mode.
US08606446B2 Control system of hybrid vehicle
A control system of a hybrid vehicle, includes: an engine; a motor capable of driving the engine; an oil pump for supplying a lubricant oil to a lubrication requiring portion of the engine; and an engine lubrication controller configured to make the following operations in a case that a stop state of the engine continues for more than or equal to a certain period: when a vehicle stop condition that a driver has no intention of travel is established, supplying, by the oil pump, the lubricant oil to the lubrication requiring portion of the engine, and rotating the engine by the motor without igniting the engine, thereby implementing an engine lubrication control.
US08606441B2 Vehicular control device, method of controlling a vehicle, and a storage medium having stored therein a program that implements the method
An ECU executes a program including the steps of: setting a creep torque reflection ratio; if brake is applied and the vehicle is currently stopped, updating the creep torque reflection ratio to 0; if brake is not applied and despite that the brake fluid's pressure is larger than a hydraulic pressure value, determining that brake hold control is currently exerted, and reducing the creep torque reflection ratio, as based on a map having the brake fluid's pressure as a parameter, to update the creep torque reflection ratio.
US08606435B2 Method and a system for estimating a trajectory of a moving body
A hybrid simulation method uses a simulator tool feeding kinematics commands to a movement simulator on which a moving body is mounted and to a target representative of an objective to be reached by the moving body, and on detection of an event representative of overshooting or changing a first designated objective for this moving body, the method includes a positioning stage associated with a second designated objective for the moving body, including comparing positions executed by the movement simulator in response to transition kinematics commands with a first predetermined setpoint position and activating a first marker if a position substantially the same as the first setpoint position is detected; comparing positions executed by the target in response to transition kinematics commands with a second predetermined setpoint position and activating a second marker if a position substantially the same as the second setpoint position is detected; when the first and second markers are activated, a step of evaluating a difference between the current kinematics command supplied to the movement simulator and the target by the digital simulator tool; and, if this difference is below a particular threshold, a piloting stage including applying corrective terms linked to the setpoint positions to the kinematics commands coming from the simulator tool before they are fed to the movement simulator and to the target.
US08606434B2 Regulator device for helicopters
A regulator device used on helicopters carrying an external load suspended from the helicopter by a supporting cable aids in controlling the flight of the helicopter by measuring the oscillating the movement of the external load, converting the detected variables for the oscillating movement to a geodetic coordinate system, generating a closed loop control signals as a function of the variables, and applying the closed loop control signals to open loop control signals which control the flight of the helicopter.
US08606428B2 Cooling fan control system
In order to adequately but not excessively or unnecessarily cool heat generating electrical components and decrease the noise produced by fans used to cool the heat generating electrical components in an electrical hardware system, an environmental controller controls the speeds of the fans using at least two temperature sensors. In one example, a first temperature sensor measures a hotspot component temperature and generates a hotspot component temperature value, and a second temperature sensor measures an air inlet temperature and generates an air inlet temperature value. The environmental controller controls the speeds of the fans based on the difference between the measured hotspot component temperature value and a target hotspot component temperature value calculated based on the measured air inlet temperature value and a predefined function.
US08606425B2 Adjustable UPS protection
An uninterruptable power supply (UPS) designed to switch power inputs between an alternating current mode and a battery mode by adjusting the amplitude and/or frequency windows of the input voltage so that the uninterruptible power supply accepts the unstable voltage and/or frequency. This prevents the uninterruptible power supply to switch back to the battery mode during a transfer time between the battery mode and the AC mode. The uninterruptable power supply includes a control circuit. The control circuit modifies the monitored value and/or actual amplitude and/or the frequency window when unstable amplitude and/or an unstable frequency are detected at the input terminal of the input voltage.
US08606422B2 Application of phasor measurement units (PMU) for controlled system separation
This invention relates to a PMU-based controlled system separation method to protect against a catastrophic blackout. The method includes the steps of performing an offline analysis of an electrical transmission network to partition generators into a number of coherent groups, performing online monitoring of the transmission network to determine a separation interface and frequencies and damping ratios of dominant inter-area modes, and estimating the risk of system separation to perform real-time control.
US08606398B2 Compliant end of arm tooling for a robot
A robot (12) is used to pick parts from a bin (40 in FIG. 1). The robot has a compliant apparatus (42) and one or more tools are connected to the apparatus to perform the picking. The compliant apparatus has mechanisms for monitoring and/or controlling its compliance. The compliant apparatus can have various embodiments. Force sensing can be used during removal of grasped parts from the bin to determine the force exerted on the picking tool (s). The signal indicative of the exerted force can be used by the robot controller to determine the weight of the parts that may be held by the picking tool(s). The robot has one or more devices (FIG. 16, 17) which can be the picking tool to stir the parts in the bin.
US08606394B2 Robot and conveying system
A robot includes an arm member, a rotary actuator that swings the arm member, a hand member provided at an end of the arm member, a joint member that connects the arm member and the hand member to each other such that the arm member and the hand member are rotatable with respect to each other, a linear actuator that supports and linearly moves the rotary actuator, and a controller that operates the rotary actuator and the linear actuator in association with each other to linearly move the hand member in a forward-backward direction.
US08606391B2 Virtual machine tool for representing actions of machining units and generating operating data from user input
It is proposed that an interaction unit which allows a manual interaction is associated with a visualization unit, that a function selection unit which allows an association of a function of a machine tool with this manual interaction is associated with the visualization unit, and that a function data generator unit is provided that generates operating data which correspond to the manual interaction, while taking the associated function into account, and transmits these operating data to a visualization controller in order to represent, on the visualization unit, using visualization elements, the function specified by the manual interaction.
US08606386B2 Multi-agent system for distributed manufacturing scheduling with Genetic Algorithms and Tabu Search
Computerized scheduling methods and computerized scheduling systems according to exemplary embodiments. A computerized scheduling method may be stored in a memory and executed on one or more processors. The method may include defining a main multi-machine scheduling problem as a plurality of single machine scheduling problems; independently solving the plurality of single machine scheduling problems thereby calculating a plurality of near optimal single machine scheduling problem solutions; integrating the plurality of near optimal single machine scheduling problem solutions into a main multi-machine scheduling problem solution; and outputting the main multi-machine scheduling problem solution.
US08606384B2 Method for deriving animation parameters and animation display device
Method for deriving at least one animation parameter from audio data, said animation parameters being descriptive of the mood of said audio data, comprising the following steps: determining a current mood model for said audio data; calculating at least one distance measure for at least one reference mood model, wherein said distance measure represents the distance between said current mood model and the respective reference mood model; setting of at least one animation parameter depending on said distance measure.
US08606377B2 Preventing disruptive computer events during medical procedures
A computer-implemented system for process control has two operating modes: normal mode and active procedure mode, with automatic transition between them. In normal mode, the operating system, firewall and anti-virus are fully operational. When entering a time-critical phase of a process, a process control application signals the operating system and utilities, whereupon transition to active procedure mode automatically occurs, in which access by the system services and by other applications to the resources of the computer is selectively limited in favor of the process control application. Upon completion of the procedure, the system automatically returns to normal mode.
US08606374B2 Thermodynamic modeling for enclosures
Systems and methods for modeling the behavior of an enclosure for use by a control system of an HVAC system are described. A model for the enclosure that describes the behavior of the enclosure for use by the control system is updated based on a weather forecast data. The weather forecast data can include predictions more than 24 hours in the future, and can include predictions such as temperature, humidity and/or dew point, solar output, precipitation. The model for the enclosure can also be updated based on additional information and data such as historical weather data such as temperature, humidity, wind, solar output and precipitation, occupancy data, such as predicted and/or detected occupancy data, calendar data, and data from the one or more weather condition sensors that sense current parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, and/or solar output. The model for the enclosure can be updated based also on an enclosure model stored in a database, and/or on enclosure information from a user. The model can be updated based on active testing of the enclosure which can be performed automatically or in response to user input. The testing can include heating and/or cooling the enclosure at times when the enclosure is not likely to be occupied.
US08606371B2 Uterine electrical stimulation system and method
Some embodiments of the invention provide a system and method for treating insufficient uterine contractions after labor and delivery. The system includes a control module and a current source controlled by the control module to produce stimulating current at a frequency greater than or equal to about 5.0 Hertz. The system also includes one or more stimulation electrodes to provide the stimulating current to the patient in order for the patient to produce tonic uterine contractions.
US08606370B2 Connection element for conduction coil
One aspect is a medical electrode system including a conduction coil and a stimulation electrode. The stimulation electrode encompasses a base body having a top area and an end area. The system is characterized in that the conduction coil encompasses a connection element. The connection element is thermally shrink-fitted onto the end area.
US08606367B2 Insertion tool for paddle-style electrode
The present disclosure describes various embodiments of an insertion tool that affords steerability of the paddle-style electrode during implantation without causing damage to the insulation and/or the contacts of the paddle-style electrode. One embodiment is described as having a “pin fork” configuration; another a “shovel” configuration; and yet another has tabs or a lumen on the paddle-style electrode for facilitating the insertion of a stylet. The various embodiments for the insertion tool allow for adjustments of the paddle-style electrode in both the medial/lateral and inferior/superior directions allowing the surgeon to steer the paddle-style electrode to the desired stimulation site within the epidural space of the spinal column.
US08606361B2 Systems and methods for enhancing or affecting neural stimulation efficiency and/or efficacy
Systems and methods for enhancing or affecting neural stimulation efficiency and/or efficacy are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system and/or method may apply electromagnetic stimulation to a patient's nervous system over a first time domain according to a first set of stimulation parameters, and over a second time domain according to a second set of stimulation parameters. The first and second time domains may be sequential, simultaneous, or nested. Stimulation parameters may vary in accordance with one or more types of duty cycle, amplitude, pulse repetition frequency, pulse width, spatiotemporal, and/or polarity variations. Stimulation may be applied at subthreshold, threshold, and/or suprathreshold levels in one or more periodic, aperiodic (e.g., chaotic), and/or pseudo-random manners. In some embodiments stimulation may comprise a burst pattern having an interburst frequency corresponding to an intrinsic brainwave frequency, and regular and/or varying intraburst stimulation parameters. Stimulation signals providing reduced power consumption with at least adequate symptomatic relief may be applied prior to moderate or significant power source depletion.
US08606360B2 Systems and methods for determining volume of activation for spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation
This document discloses, among other things, systems and methods for determining volume of activation for spinal cord stimulation (“SCS”) using a finite element model (FEM) circuit to determine a FEM of an implanted electrode and a spinal cord in which the electrode is implanted, a Fourier FEM solver circuit to calculate a potential distribution in the spinal cord using information from the FEM circuit and a capacitive component of at least one of the implanted electrode and the spinal cord, and a volume of activation (VOA) circuit to predict a VOA using the potential distribution and a neuron model.
US08606350B2 Endoscope apparatus
The present invention provides an endoscope apparatus that includes a laser light source for generating excitation light, an endoscopy scope having an irradiation section for irradiating excitation light at an end portion thereof, a CCD incorporating an intensifier for detecting fluorescence generated by excitation light in a tissue, a fluorescence-image generating unit for generating a fluorescence image signal based on a fluorescence signal from the CCD incorporating an intensifier, a distance-measuring unit for generating a distance signal corresponding to the distance between the irradiation section and the tissue, and an amount-of-fluorescence calculating unit for correcting the fluorescence signal with the distance signal to calculate an amount of fluorescence not affected by changes in the distance.
US08606346B2 Intraoperative monitoring of temperature-induced tissue changes with a high-resolution digital X-ray system during thermotherapy
A method of thermally inducing and monitoring changes to localized regions of tissue by illuminating a volume of tissue with a first beam of X-rays, detecting portions of the first beam that passed through the volume, generating a first image signal from the portions of the first beam detected, applying heat to at least a localized region of tissue within the volume after the illuminating and detecting, illuminating the volume with a second beam of X-rays, detecting portions of the second beam that passed through the volume during the illuminating with the second beam, generating a second image signal from the portions of the second beam detected, and generating a difference image signal based upon a comparison of the first and second image signals. The difference image signal provides information of changes in X-ray attenuation by localized regions of tissue within the volume due to the application of heat.
US08606341B2 Twisted track interferometer for producing magic states
A twisted track interferometer (TTI) for producing magic states is disclosed. The spin of ½-vortices may be exploited to produce magic states. The disclosed “twisted track interferometer” is a “topological twist” on the conventional Pabre-Pero interferometer adapted to topological superconductors. In the disclosed TTI, the probe particles may be Josephson vortices (JVs). JVs are estimated to be light and will tunnel more easily than Abrikosov vortices. Also, the disclosed TTI does not require multiple tunneling events. Rather, the JVs are propelled down thin insulating tracks within a 2D topological p-wave superconductor by a Magnus force generated by a tunneling supercurrent across the tracks. The JVs encounter tunneling junctions as they pass into the arms of the TTI.
US08606339B2 Mobile communication terminal
[Summary][Object]An object of the present invention is to enhance operability of a mobile communication terminal to be foldable by directing a display panel outward.[Means for Settlement]A folding-type mobile communication terminal including a thin operation case 1 with an operation panel being formed, a thin display case 2 with a display panel being formed, and a movable connector 3 to connect the operation case 1 and the display case 2, in which transition can be made between a normal open state of expanding the both cases 1 and 2 by directing the operation panel and the display panel to the same direction, and a reverse close state of being folded by directing the display panel outward and opposing the main surfaces of the both cases, and having a main multifunction key 14 to be provided in the operation panel and capable of performing two or more different operation inputs corresponding to pressing portions, and a side multifunction key 26 to be provided in the end surface of the operation case 1 and capable of performing the same operations with the main multifunction key 14 to achieve the same operation inputs therewith.
US08606337B2 Method to control sleep mode, and terminal and apparatus thereof
During a listening window after a sleep window, a terminal receives a control signal that indicates existence of data corresponding to the terminal, and enters a sleep window if no data corresponding to the terminal exists.
US08606334B2 Mass deployment of communication headset systems
The present disclosure relates to devices, systems and methods for programming base units of communication headset systems with new or updated configuration parameters by a portable or handheld programming unit.
US08606331B2 Soft keyboard display method and mobile terminal
The present invention provides a soft keyboard display method and a mobile terminal, and relates to the field of mobile terminals. The method includes: processing a picture of a soft keyboard by adopting an α blending technology according to a preset transparency parameter, so that the picture of the soft keyboard presents transparency corresponding to the transparency parameter; and displaying a processed picture of the soft keyboard on a current background picture of a mobile terminal touchscreen in a suspended manner when it is detected that the soft keyboard needs to be displayed. The mobile terminal includes: a transparency processing module and a suspended displaying module. The mobile terminal includes: a touchscreen and at least one processor. The processor is coupled with the touchscreen. The processor is configured to perform the function of the soft keyboard display method.
US08606328B2 Mobile communication terminal and menu display method in the same
A mobile communication terminal according to the present invention includes: a related-function associate unit that associates an function executed by a user operation with a function executed next by the user operation after executing the executed function; a weighting set unit that sets a larger weighting value to a newer combination of the executed function and the next executed function associated by the related-function associate unit, and a next function predict function that causes the next executed function having a larger weighting value set by the weighting set unit to be preferentially displayed from among the next executed functions associated with the executed function when a function is newly selected by the user.
US08606306B2 Multiple client computing device invitations for online communication sessions
An online communication session invitation request message for an online communication session is received from an initiating client computing device. The invitation request message includes connection data of the initiating client computing device and an online communication session endpoint identifier of an intended participant of the online communication session. The session endpoint identifier is associated with a plurality of push tokens that correspond to a plurality of recipient client computing devices respectively. An invitation request message is sent in the form of a push notification message to each of the plurality of recipient client computing devices using the corresponding push tokens. Each invitation request message includes the connection data of the initiating client computing device.
US08606300B2 Efficiency of electronic message communications between mobile communication devices
A disclosure provides mobile communication devices that receive information corresponding to users associated with target mobile communication device, via a near field communication protocol. The information is stored in a storage device either within the mobile communication device or within a separate server. If it is determined that the target mobile communication device is within a predetermined distance of the mobile communication device, data entries associated with the stored information are created and retrieved, in real time. The data entries are displayed on the mobile communication device. The data entries may include personal information or email messages from prior communication sessions, which are employed in future communications between the mobile communication devices.
US08606297B1 Systems and methods for providing location-based cascading displays
Systems and methods for facilitating user interaction such as within a social network are described. In one implementation, location-based display of images and/or other information associated with other users or entities may be provided. The information may be provided in association with mapping or other positional data or information such as personal interests.
US08606292B1 Methods and systems for limiting mobile station operation in a group setting
Methods and corresponding systems are provided for limiting mobile station operation when multiple mobile stations are moving together in a group. Such group movement includes but is not limited to movement in a vehicle. According to disclosed methods, a determination is made that multiple mobile stations are moving substantially together, and in response to the determination, operation of one or more of the mobile stations is limited.
US08606289B2 Power headroom-sensitive scheduling
User equipment reports periodically or aperiodically serving cell reference signal received power and quality as well as uplink power headroom information to the serving evolved NodeB (eNB). eNB calculates a current interference level experienced by the UE from the feedback report and its own loading. Since the self-interference is not flat across frequencies, the tolerable self-interference level depends on downlink scheduling. From the calculated interference, eNB can calculate uplink allocation parameters. Sequence of scheduling decisions can be downlink allocation, determining tolerable self-interference, and uplink allocation, or in the opposite order, or the downlink and uplink allocation can be jointly determined using the available. An additional scheduling constraint can be derived for meeting the co-existence requirements, which can be determined from the power headroom report alone. Thereby interference to other user equipment or self-interference (self-desensitization) is addressed when inadequate attenuation exists while also allowing deploying full system bandwidth.
US08606288B2 Radio resource management based on parameters indicating imbalance between uplink and downlink
The present invention relates to methods and arrangements for radio base stations of a wireless communication network, enabling each radio base station to transmit parameters indicating imbalance between UL and DL to adjacent radio base stations, when it is triggered to do so. The adjacent radio base stations can then use the parameters for radio resource management decisions such as HO decisions, whenever needed.
US08606285B2 Signaling connection admission control in a wireless network
A method and apparatus are described for determining whether to admit a user equipment (UE) in response to an indicated admission delay. By using a random access procedure, a radio access network (RAN) may receive a radio resource control (RRC) connection request message from the UE that includes an establishment cause indicating the admission delay of the UE. The determination may be based on loading and not on delay. The UE may be in an idle state prior to the RAN receiving the RRC connection request message.
US08606282B2 Power control of point to multipoint physical channels
A method and apparatus are used to determine an efficient transmit power for point to multipoint (PtM) transmissions by maintaining a database at a base station which specifies which of a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) are members of each PtM group. The transmit power of each WTRU's downlink dedicated channel is adjusted to the minimum required power necessary and the PtM transmit power for each PtM group is set such that the PtM transmit power of a PtM group is equal to the greatest of a WTRU in the PtM group plus a PtM power offset.
US08606280B2 Apparatus and method for allocating resources based on error vector magnitude (EVM) in a broadband wireless communication system
A resource allocation in a broadband wireless communication system is provided. An apparatus for a base station in a broadband wireless communication system includes a manager for managing resources by dividing the resources into a plurality of regions based on a maximum supportable error vector magnitude (EVM) in a frequency axis; and an allocator for allocating resources of a region other than a first region, the region having the smallest maximum supportable EVM, to a service to which a maximum modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level is not applied.
US08606279B2 Radio network communication system and protocol using an automatic repeater
A radio frequency communications network system and protocol for allowing the dissemination of data to be shared by devices within a network. The invention is particularly useful when the devices are out of transmission range of each other. The network includes repeater devices located between the devices to manage a data transfer in the network. The invention also provides for data transfer management in the presence of collisions between conflicting data transmissions.
US08606276B2 Telecommunications apparatus and method
A telecommunications system provides mobile communications to mobile user equipment and includes an internet protocol access network and a cellular mobile radio network. The mobile user equipment activates a connection on the cellular mobile radio network using the packet switched communications channel whilst receiving a communications service via the internet protocol access network. The mobile user equipment communicates via the connection on the packet-switched channel of the cellular mobile radio network in response to a handover event from the internet protocol access network to the cellular mobile radio network. The mobile user equipment also establishes a connection on the cellular mobile radio network using the circuit switched channel in response to the handover event, continues to communicate via the connection on the packet-switched channel while the connection on the circuit-switched channel has been established, and then communicates via the connection on the circuit-switched channel once it has been established.
US08606269B2 Apparatus and method for providing identification information of small base station in wireless communication system
An apparatus and method select a segment for providing identification information of a small base station (BS) in a wireless communication system. A signal quality of each of a plurality of segments is determined. When at least one segment is not used by a macro BS, a segment of the worst signal quality is selected among the at least one segment that is not used by a macro BS. And the identification information is transmitted using the selected segment. The selected segment represents a resource for transmitting the identification information.
US08606268B2 Method and system for reducing the size of a paging zone in a broadband wireless network
A method reduces a paging zone for a mobile station in a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system includes a plurality of base stations capable of supporting a plurality of application types. A radius of the paging zone is determined. A location update for the mobile station is received. A call setup request for the mobile station is received. The call setup request is associated with an application type. The radius of the paging zone is reduced based on the application type, a speed of the mobile station and an amount of time elapsed since receiving the location update.
US08606266B1 Airborne communications network routing
A data transmission system for transmitting and receiving data comprising a first communication system configured to transmit and receive, data over a first network and a second communication system configured to transmit and receive data over a second network. The second network has a more contiguous physical coverage than the first network. The system further includes a proxy unit configured to select a routing of user data from a user device through either the first communication system or the second communication system. The proxy unit being configured to select the routing based on a user condition. The user condition may be based on a user preference, a detection of a type of user session (e.g., an SSL session), and/or a travel path of the user. A communication system is selected that provides the best network coverage, including continuity, based on the user condition.
US08606261B2 Method and system for frequency scan using a differential power metric
Described herein are methods and devices for use in telecommunication cell selection and re-selection for which there may be multiple different sizes of transmission bandwidth configurations in a telecommunications operating band. For each of a plurality of channel hypotheses, in which each channel hypothesis has a hypothetical occupied portion and a hypothetical guard band portion, a respective metric is calculated based on a power value for the hypothetical occupied portion and a power value for the hypothetical guard band portion. Based on the metrics determined for the plurality of channel hypotheses, at least one channel hypothesis is selected for further processing for cell selection or re-selection. The metric is calculated by determining a difference between the power value for the hypothetical occupied portion and the power value for the hypothetical guard band portion.
US08606258B2 System and method for integrated metrology within a femtocell access point
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a hybrid femtocell device comprising a femtocell access point and a metrology device, such as a commercial power meter. Each hybrid femtocell device is configured to connect to a backhaul network either via a local network connection or via a neighboring hybrid femtocell. A hybrid femtocell device may be advantageously installed in place of a conventional power meter to operate as both a conventional femtocell access point providing cellular coverage for a targeted location, as well as a smart power meter.
US08606253B2 Apparatus and method for setting communication service blocking mode in mobile terminal
An apparatus and method for setting and releasing a flight mode in a mobile terminal are provided in which a user of the mobile terminal is informed that the flight mode should be set or released before the flight mode is set or released in order to allow the user to determine whether to set or release the flight mode.
US08606242B2 Systems and methods to provide context information for mobile communication devices
According to some embodiments, an initiating event may be detected at a mobile communication device via a context application, and responsive to that detection, information may be searched. The searched information may be related to, for example, prior communication events associated with communication applications of the mobile device. Note that the searched information could be locally stored and/or remotely stored (e.g., at a data store of a remote CRM application). At least one result of the search may then be displayed to the user.
US08606240B1 Hybrid communications mailbox
Hybrid communications voicemail systems and methods are disclosed. A wireline telephone number may be operatively associated with a wireless telephone voicemail box such that calls placed to the wireline telephone number and subsequently routed to voicemail may be routed to the wireless telephone voicemail box. Thus, the user of both wireline and wireless telephones may check voicemail messages at a single wireless voicemail box. Parents or supervisors may check voicemail messages or converted text messages deposited for children or employees at the single wireless voicemail box. A wireless telephone user may allow calls to be routed to his/her wireless telephone from his/her wireline telephone if he/she cannot be reached at the wireline telephone or as designated by the user.
US08606239B2 Advanced voice and data operations in a dual-mode mobile data communication device
A system and method for integrating voice and data operations into a single mobile device capable of simultaneously performing data and voice actions. The mobile device working in a network capable of exchanging both cell phone calls and data items to the mobile device. By wearing an earphone or an ear-bud device the user is capable of dealing with voice conversations while working with data centric information related to the current caller. By providing a data-centric device with voice capabilities there is a new range of features that allow incoming data events to trigger outgoing voice events.
US08606237B2 Methods and apparatus of over-the-air programming of a wireless unit
Systems, methods, and apparatus for facilitating secure over-the-air (OTA) programming are presented herein. A device can store a key, which can be based on a key algorithm (K-algorithm) and an identifier associated with the device. The device can receive information such as parameter(s) and a verification number from a communications system. The verification number can be generated by using an authorization algorithm (A-algorithm) based on the parameter(s) and a K-algorithm input. The device can generate a trial verification number by using the A-algorithm with the parameter(s) and the key as trial inputs. The device can compare the verification number to the trial verification number, and in response to the verification number being at least similar to the trial verification number, the device can use the parameter(s) for programming of the device.
US08606236B2 Automatic wireless service activation in a private local wireless service
A secondary Ethernet-like wireless communication system overlapped by a dominant Ethernet-like wireless communication system, and including radio access and communication for activation, association, and authentication of a wireless device in the secondary Ethernet-like wireless communication system. An automated private service activation (APSA) port is used for accepting access and communication requests of a wireless device seeking activation, association and authentication in the secondary Ethernet-like wireless communication system. The APSA port provides an access and communication channel for radiating signals at a level exceeding a signal level of the access and communication channel only within limited spatial constraints. In addition the APSA port provides space for receiving the wireless device for activation and communication in the secondary Ethernet-like wireless communication system.
US08606235B2 Systems and methods for notification of mobile communications device use
Described are systems and methods notifying a recipient of use of a communications device. A communications device is configured to include a parameter that indicates a condition for generating a notification. A state of the communications device is determined. The state of the communications device and the condition are compared. The notification is provided from the communications device to the recipient in response to the comparison.
US08606232B2 Method and system for performing multi-stage virtual SIM provisioning and setup on mobile devices
A system and method for provisioning a mobile device with user preferences and settings. The user preferences and settings may be default preferences and settings selected by the various applications loaded onto the mobile device or previously user preferences and settings selected by a user. User selected preferences and settings may be stored in a remote server memory. The preferences and settings may be retrieved by new mobile device. The preferences and settings stored in the remote server memory may contain triggers which initiate a connection with various third party servers. In response to the trigger, various third party servers may transmit further instructions to the mobile device which allows the mobile device to complete the restoration of the user's preferences and settings.
US08606231B2 Proprietary radio control head with authentication
A combination of a radio receiver with a detachable controller that determine sends either reduced or enhanced metadata about received programming to the detachable controller based upon periodic authorization. A connection from the detachable control device to the radio receiver carries commands to the radio receiver and carries only the reduced set of metadata, such as tuned channel and tuned channel name, from the radio receiver to the controller. The controller is authorized by sending a radio identifier from the radio receiver to the control device, determination of an authentication code at the controller and communication of the determined authentication code back to the controller for validation. Upon validation, an enhanced set of metadata, including song title and artist, is sent to the controller. The enhanced metadata, the reduced metadata, or both, are optionally able to be encrypted. The radio receiver periodically performs this authorization processing.
US08606217B2 Communication control system and method for performing a transmission of data
A communication control unit for transmitting data via a transmission pathway between a tachograph and a data processing facility. The transmission pathway contains at least one partial section for a wireless transmission. The communication control unit comprises a GSM module and/or a module for wireless data transmission with the data processing device. A system, which additionally contains a tachograph and a data processing facility. The tachograph and a communication control unit associated therewith are disposed in a vehicle and said data processing facility is disposed outside said vehicle. Using the communication control unit, a method for transmitting data via a transmission pathway between a tachograph and a data processing facility is also disclosed.
US08606210B2 Polyphase harmonic rejection mixer
A polyphase harmonic rejection mixer, comprising a plurality of stages following each other; wherein a first stage is arranged to perform at least frequency conversion; and a second stage is arranged to perform at least selective weighting and combining; wherein at least two of the plurality of stages are arranged to perform at least combining. In an embodiment, the first stage (28) comprises three single-ended gain blocks (10, 12, 14), arranged to perform selective weighting, frequency conversion and combining; and a second stage (30) following the first stage (28) and arranged to perform selective weighting and combining. The second stage (30) may reduce the number of phases output by the first stage (28) and may output (32) a complex differential down converted signal. The mixer may be directly interfaced to an antenna of an LNA-less receiver without weighting in the first stage. The mixer may be included in a software-defined radio.
US08606206B1 Traveling wave beamforming network
A beamforming network includes a plurality of signal conditioning devices in signal communication with each other, wherein each of the signal conditioning devices receives an input signal, conditions the input signal by independently and selectively adjusting at least one of a time delay, a phase, and an amplitude of the input signal, and transmits an output signal to at least one of another of the signal conditioning devices, an antenna, and a load.
US08606205B2 Receiving apparatus and auto gain control method
A receiving apparatus converges a gain to a target gain even when a fish bone effect signal is included having a low power period in which signal power decreases abruptly compared to average signal power. The receiving apparatus (100) receives a signal including the fish bone effect signal having the low power period (FBE signal period) in which signal power decreases abruptly compared to average signal power. A FBE detecting section (133) detects an FBE signal period of a low power period based on a gain error corresponding to a difference between target power and average signal power of the received signal of the adjusted gain. Further, the gain error correcting section (134) selects a lower value than 1 as a convergence coefficient in the FBE signal period of a low power period, multiplies the gain error with the selected convergence coefficient and corrects the gain error.
US08606192B2 Apparatus and method for power control in mobile communication system
An apparatus and method for flexibly changing a fixed target SIR, a fixed target SIR step size, and a time to perform a TX power control request, in order to prevent a receiver apparatus from performing an excessive TX power control request upon a sudden RX channel environment change in a mobile communication system. The apparatus includes a target Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR) determiner for flexibly changing a fixed target SIR upon a sudden target SIR re-decrease, after a previous increase, by decreasing a target SIR by a large step size at an initial stage of a sudden target SIR increase and decreasing the target SIR down-step size with an approach to a normal target SIR.
US08606189B2 System and method for wideband wireless system scanning
A system and method for determining the presence of interfering signals in a wireless environment. A programmable RF card is programmed to collect a wideband signal based upon user requested signals of interest. Collected signals are analyzed and the presence of specific interfering signals is determined. The interfering signals are then tracked and reported.
US08606180B2 User interface for controlling a household electrical appliance remotely connected thereto
A user interface arranged at least to display, on a display unit or on a display panel, information relative to the operation of a household electrical appliance with which the interface is associated, the appliance presenting functional members controlled in their operation by a control unit, and an external housing provided with an aperture with its own closure door; the interface is positionable on and fastenable to the exterior of the housing of the electrical appliance, remote wire-less data communication and transmission means being associated with the control unit and with the interface to enable the data to be transmitted from the interior of the electrical appliance to the interface through the housing. A household electrical appliance with this interface is also claimed.
US08606167B2 Medium clamping device and image forming device
A medium clamping device includes a device main unit that includes: a first circularly moving body that has a surface circularly moving and harder than a recording medium; a second circularly moving body that has a surface moving circularly and harder than the recording medium passing between the both surfaces of the two circularly moving bodies; and a load applying section that applies a load to at least one of the first circularly moving body and the second circularly moving body, to sandwich the recording medium by the load with two moving bodies. The medium clamping device further includes: a support section that supports the device main unit and is secured to a fixed body; and an alleviating system that alleviates transmission of a shock from the device main unit to the fixed body and is incorporated in the support section.
US08606163B2 Fixing device and image forming apparatus
Disclosed is a fixing device for thermally fixing an unfixed image onto the recording sheet, the fixing device comprising: a fixing belt; and a meander regulation member provided adjacent to an edge of the fixing belt in a width direction thereof, and operable to prevent meandering of the fixing belt, wherein the fixing belt includes: a resistive heat layer that is tubular and generates heat when an electric current is applied thereto; and first and second electrodes that are provided circumferentially on an outer circumferential surface of the resistive heat layer, and that receive and apply the electric current to the resistive heat layer, and the first electrode is provided closer to the meander regulation member than to the second electrode, and is at a distance from the edge of the fixing belt in the width direction thereof.
US08606162B2 Fixing device and image forming apparatus in which a height difference is circumferentially provided to a pressing member
A fixing device including a fixing member to fix a toner image on a sheet by application of heat and pressure and a pressing member to press the sheet against the fixing member. The pressing member is rotatable. A height difference is circumferentially provided to the pressing member, and is tapered from an end portion toward a portion contacting an edge of a small-size sheet. The pressing member has a greater hardness than the fixing member.
US08606161B2 Image forming apparatus with induction heating type fixing unit
A fixing unit of an image forming apparatus includes a coil arranged along an outer surface of the heating member and generating a magnetic field, a first core arranged opposite the heating member with respect to the coil and forming a magnetic path, a second core so fixed between the first core and the heating member with respect to a direction in which the coil generates the magnetic field, as to form the magnetic path together with the first core, a shielding member positioned outward of the second core and shielding the magnetism in the magnetic path, and a magnetism adjusting unit moving the shielding member outward of the second core to switch the position of the shielding member between a shielding position where the shielding member shields the pass of the magnetism and a retracted position where the shielding member permits the pass of the magnetism.
US08606157B2 Image forming apparatus operable in a mode for cleaning a fixing portion
The image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion forming a toner image on a recording material, and a fixing portion heating and fixing the toner image formed on the recording material to the recording material, wherein the apparatus has a cleaning mode in which the fixing portion is cleaned, and when the cleaning mode is set, the image forming portion forms a predetermined toner image on the recording material, and the fixing portion then heats and fixes the predetermined toner image to the recording material to form a cleaning sheet which is heated and conveyed to clean the fixing portion. By the virtue of the present invention, it achieves high cleaning performance in which the fixing portion is cleaned by the cleaning sheet.
US08606147B2 Fusing device for image forming apparatus and image forming apparatus having the same
A fusing device for an image forming apparatus that heats an infused image on a printing medium by an electromagnetic induction heating method includes a heated member having a metallic layer; a plurality of main cores disposed to be spaced apart a predetermined distance from a surface of the heated member, the plurality of main cores arranged to be spaced apart a predetermined interval from each other in a length direction of the heated member; and a main coil wound to surround the plurality of main cores.
US08606129B2 Image forming system and image forming apparatus for detecting position deviation and density deviation
An image forming system is provided. The image forming system includes an image forming apparatus configured to form a mark for detecting at least one of a position deviation and a density deviation and obtains a correction amount by detecting the mark, the image forming system comprising: an identification unit configured to identify an image characteristic of an image to be printed according to at least one of a positional relationship between colors, a gradation distribution and a resolution, and a selecting unit configured to select a choice from multiple choices containing at least two choices of: only position deviation; only density deviation; and both position deviation and density deviation, according to the image characteristic identified by the identification unit, wherein the image forming apparatus is configured to form the mark for obtaining the correction amount according to the choice selected by the selecting unit.
US08606119B2 Optical channel monitor
In one example, an optical channel monitor includes a tunable filter, a deinterleaver, first and second optical receivers, and a control module. The tunable filter is configured to receive an optical signal having a plurality of channels spaced at a nominal channel spacing. The deinterleaver has an input with an input channel spacing Fi, an even output, and an odd output, the input being connected to an output of the tunable filter. The nominal channel spacing is between about one and two times the input channel spacing Fi. A −20 dB bandwidth of the tunable filter is between about two and four times the input channel spacing Fi. The first and second optical receivers are coupled to the deinterleaver even and odd outputs, respectively. The control module is coupled to the tunable filter and is configured to tune the tunable filter to a desired center frequency.
US08606117B1 Systems and methods for unobtrusively testing optical fibers
A correlation optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) system embeds an OTDR signal in a digital data signal that is to be converted into an optical signal and transmitted across an optical fiber to a remote receiver. In particular, the digital data signal is amplitude modulated with the OTDR signal, which is based on a pseudo noise (PN) sequence, such as an M-sequence. The amplitude modulation is relatively small, for example, less than about 10% of the digital data signal's peak amplitude in an effort to limit the OTDR signal's effect on communication performance. A sequence recovery element receives reflections from the optical fiber and converts the reflections to digital samples. Each digital sample from the sequence recovery element is correlated by correlators that respectively correspond to delays and, hence, locations along the optical fiber, and accumulators accumulate the correlation values from the correlators. Based on the accumulated values, the correlation OTDR system unobtrusively identifies anomaly locations along the optical fiber while payload data is being communicated across the fiber.
US08606113B2 Optical network with tunable optical light sources
In a multi-chip module (MCM), integrated circuits are coupled by optical waveguides. These integrated circuits receive optical signals from a set of tunable light sources. Moreover, a given integrated circuit includes: a transmitter that modulates at least one of the optical signals when transmitting information to at least another of the integrated circuits; and a receiver that receives at least one modulated optical signal having a given carrier wavelength associated with the given integrated circuit when receiving information from at least the other of the integrated circuits. Furthermore, control logic in the MCM provides a control signal to the set of tunable light sources to specify carrier wavelengths in the optical signals output by the set of tunable light sources, thereby defining routing of at least the one of the optical signals in the MCM during communication between at least a pair of the integrated circuits.
US08606108B2 Dispersion slope compensation and dispersion map management systems and methods
The present disclosure relates to dispersion slope compensation and dispersion map management systems and methods in an optical network utilizing a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) with a plurality of different values of dispersion compensation modules (DCMs). The DCMs form a dispersion compensation ladder at certain intermediate nodes in the optical network to provide dispersion slope compensation and dispersion map management. The reconfigurable routing structure of the ROADM enables these intermediate nodes to route individual wavelengths to any one of the DCMs as required for the particular path of the wavelength. Advantageously, the present invention removes the requirement for banded compensation at receiver nodes and allows for dispersion map management at intermediate points along a fiber route as opposed to bulk compensation at the receiver.
US08606104B2 Wavelength selective switch
A wavelength selective switch includes a substrate. On the substrate, the wavelength selective switch includes at least one input port, a dispersive element, a light converging element, a light deflecting member, an output port, and a driving mechanism which drives at least one of the dispersive element, the light condenser element, and the light deflecting member, and drive by the driving mechanism is a rotational drive around an axis perpendicular to the substrate, for the dispersive element, and is a translational drive in a direction of dispersion of wavelength with respect to the substrate, for the light condenser element or the light deflecting member.
US08606096B2 Lens barrel that moves lens unit using vibration actuator and camera system having the same
A lens barrel includes a lens holding frame that holds a lens unit that is movable in an optical axis direction, a first guide member that guides the lens holding frame in the optical axis direction, a drive shaft that extends in the optical axis direction, a slider that includes a pressure contact portion that slidably contacts the drive shaft in a longitudinal direction and a coupling portion that is coupled to the lens holding frame, a second guide member that guides the slider in the optical axis direction, a vibration element that is provided on one of the drive shaft and the slider, a drive case that holds the drive shaft and the second guide member, and a cover member that is fixed on the drive case to cover the pressure contact portion of the slider and protrude the coupling portion to an outside of the cover member.
US08606091B2 Subsurface heaters with low sulfidation rates
A system for heating a hydrocarbon containing formation includes a heater having an elongated ferromagnetic metal heater section. The heater is located in an opening in a formation. The heater section is configured to heat the hydrocarbon containing formation. The exposed ferromagnetic metal has a sulfidation rate that goes down with increasing temperature of the heater, when the heater is in a selected temperature range.
US08606090B2 Sport program chaptering
In certain implementations, a method consistent with the invention involves at a television receiver device, receiving a television program depicting a sports program, where data associated with the sports program is represented in a score graphic that is displayed on a television display overlaying images of the sports program; storing the television program depicting the sports program; analyzing the score graphic to identify a change in at least one element of data displayed in the score graphic from one video frame to a subsequent video frame; and storing a chapter mark associated with the time that the change in the element of data displayed in the score graphic occurred. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
US08606078B2 Data recording method
When recording an AV stream, and carrying out a playlist editing, to carry out the editing with an accuracy of a frame unit.An editing point of a recorded AV stream file is configured with a position of a GOP and a frame quantity of the GOP, and recorded as a management file.
US08606076B2 3D video reproduction matching the output format to the 3D processing ability of a display
A method of transmitting three dimensional video information over an interface from a playback device to a displaying device, the displaying device and the interface such that the properties of the displaying device can be queried over the interface, the method comprising determining one or more video format in which a compressed three dimensional video information is available to an input of the playback device, the three dimensional video information available either as stored on a record medium or received via a data transmission system; querying the displaying device over the interface with respect to one or more three dimensional video formats which the displaying device is able to process; selecting a best matching video format, wherein the best matching video format different from at least one available video format, the selection of the best matching video format based on the available video format and the video formats which the displaying device is able to process; processing the compressed three dimensional video information such that the three dimensional video information is transmitted over the interface in the best matching video format.
US08606072B2 Recording playback apparatus, recording-playback control method, and editing system
A recording playback apparatus includes a video-signal converter performing certain signal processing to a video signal that is externally received and outputting the resulting video signal; a recorder player storing and playing back the video signal; and a controller switching between a normal mode and an edit mode on the basis of control by an editing apparatus controlling the recording playback apparatus. In the normal mode, a video signal played back by the recorder player is supplied to a display where the video signal is displayed as an image. In the edit mode, switching between a first video signal supplied from the video-signal converter and a second video signal resulting from addition of a delay corresponding to a time necessary for the signal processing in the video-signal converter to a video signal played back by the recorder player is performed to display the resulting video signal in the display.
US08606070B2 Device and method for synchronizing different parts of a digital service
The invention relates to a reproduction device, with a device acting as a source of digital services. It also relates to a method of synchronizing two parts of a digital service in a system including a source device according to the invention and at least one reproduction device according to the invention.According to the invention, the reproduction device includes means for receiving the data forming at least a part of a digital service originating from a digital service source device, means for processing at least some of the data received, means for reproducing an output of at least a part of the digital service, the time for processing and reproducing the data introducing a delay in the output of the reproduced data. This device also includes communication means for informing the source device of the delay introduced.
US08606069B2 Playback device, playback method, and computer-readable recording medium for ensuring stable application execution in synchronism with video data playback
A playback device executes playback of video data in sync with an application program associated with the video data. The playback device includes an activating unit for activating the application program, a receiving unit for receiving from a user an input specifying a playback section associated with a piece of video data and an application program, and an activation control unit. If a first input is received from the user by the receiving unit and a second input is received within the predetermined time period from reception of the first input, the activation control unit discards the first input. If a third input is not received within the predetermined time period from reception of the second input, the activation control unit activates an application program according to the second input.
US08606066B2 Planar optical waveguide with core of low-index-of-refraction interrogation medium
An apparatus for illuminating a sample includes a planar waveguide. The planar waveguide includes a first substrate, including a first outer surface and a first inner surface, and a second substrate, including a second outer surface and a second inner surface. The first and second inner surfaces of the first and second substrates, respectively, are spaced apart from each other and partly define a volume for confining the sample therein. The apparatus also includes a light source for providing light directed toward the planar waveguide, such that the light is optically coupled to and contained within the planar waveguide between the outer surfaces of the first and second substrates, while illuminating at least a portion of the sample confined within the volume.
US08606062B2 Apparatus and method for mode control in a semi-guiding amplifier medium
In various examples, a semi-guiding optical fiber includes a core having a high aspect ratio including first and second wide surface interfaces, and first and second narrow edge interfaces. The core has a slow axis parallel to the first and second wide surface interfaces, and a refractive index. The fiber also includes first and second signal claddings positioned in contact with the first and second wide surfaces of the core, respectively. The first and second signal claddings have a spatial refractive index profile having: i) a minimum value at a longitudinal axis of the core, ii) a maximum value substantially equal to the refractive index of the core at the first and second narrow edge interfaces of the core, and iii) intermediate values gradually increasing from the minimum value to the maximum value as distance from the longitudinal axis increases along the slow axis of the fiber.
US08606059B1 Optical fiber connector with shielding member
An optical fiber connector includes a first transmission member, a second transmission member engaged with the first transmission member, and an elongated shielding member. The first transmission member includes a first body and two lenses. The first body includes an upper surface, a lower surface parallel to the upper surface, and a front surface connecting the upper surface to the lower surface. A recess is defined in the upper surface and exposed at the front surface. The first body includes a first light coupling surface and a sealing surface in the recess. The second transmission member includes a second body having a second light coupling surface facing the first light coupling surface. The shielding member is fixed on the upper surface above the recess. The shielding member cooperates with the two light receiving surfaces, and the sealing surface to form a sealed room for receiving the two lenses.
US08606057B1 Opto-electronic modules including electrically conductive connections for integration with an electronic device
Opto-electronic modules include conductive wiring and connections that can facilitate integrating the modules into an external device. Some opto-electronic modules include an opto-electronic stack that includes at least one lens and an opto-electronic element. Conductive paths can extend from the bottom to the top of the module. The conductive paths can include conductive pads on the surface of the opto-electronic element, as well as wiring at least partially embedded in a substrate and walls of a housing for the opto-electronic stack. Conductive connections can be disposed between a top surface of the substrate and the bottom surface of the walls such that the conductive connections electrically connect the second wiring to the first wiring and to the conductive pads on the surface of the opto-electronic element. The modules can be fabricated, for example, in wafer-level processes so that multiple opto-electronic modules can be manufactured at the same time.
US08606047B2 Image processing enabling decoding of encoded information embedded in source document
An image processing apparatus that receives an image from a scanner capable of optical scaling is provided by the present invention. It has an image scaling unit for performing digital scaling of a received image, and an information detecting unit for detecting encoded information from the received image. Unless the scaling factor is that suitable for optical scaling, the received image undergoes the digital scaling instead of the optical scaling. Before the received image undergoes the digital scaling, the information detecting unit detects the encoded information from the received image. The scaling using the image reading device capable of optical scaling enables more accurate analysis of the encoded information embedded in a source document.
US08606046B2 System and method for clean document reconstruction from annotated document images
A computer-implemented method and system for reconstructing a clean document from annotated document images and/or extracting annotations therefrom are provided. The method includes receiving a set of at least two annotated document images into computer memory, selecting a representative image from the set of annotated document images, performing a global alignment on each of the set of annotated document images with respect to the selected representative image, and forming a consensus document image based at least on the aligned annotated document images. A clean document based at least on the consensus document image is then formed which can be used for extracting the annotations.
US08606044B2 Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus includes a geometric position obtaining unit, an image retrieving unit, and an image rectifying unit. The geometric position obtaining unit receives a geometric transformation parameter, a block size, and a tile size, obtains a plurality of base-point coordinates of the geometric transformation parameter according to the block size and the tile size, and builds a base-point coordinate table according to the base-point coordinates. The image retrieving unit reads the base-point coordinate table, scans the base-point coordinate table according a fixed block size to generate a plurality of reference image ranges, and respectively retrieves a plurality of partial image data of a to-be-processed image data according to each of the reference image ranges. The image rectifying unit rectifies each of the partial image data according to the geometric transformation parameter.
US08606037B2 Techniques to improve contrast enhancement
An apparatus, system, method, and article for enhancing video sharpness are described. The apparatus may include a media processing node to receive an input image having a first level of contrast, and create an output image having a second level of contrast using a scaled luminance transfer function. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08606033B2 Method for providing image data
X-ray beam detectors in one model can individually differ from one another. This can lead to differences in the amount of noise in an image recorded with the aid of the respective X-ray beam detector. In the present case, a variable is derived using an empty image, which variable reproduces the amount of noise, and this variable then determines the type and extent of a filtering process. Hence the image processing is adapted to the respective individual noise behavior of the respective X-ray beam detector. This is particularly suitable if the X-ray beam detector is a flat-panel detector (100) with a scintillator (22) and photodetector elements (12).
US08606030B2 Image correction device and method
An image correction device includes a test chart, an image capturing module, an image separating module, a processing module, a first calculating module, a second calculating module, and a correction module. The image capturing module includes an image sensor for capturing an image of the test chart. The image includes two second circular black spots. The image separating module separates the image, thus obtaining a channel image. The processing module is for binarizing the channel image, thus obtaining a binary image of the channel image. The first calculating module calculates coordinates of the centers of the two second spots of the binary image. The second calculating module calculates a rotated angle of the image. The correction module inputs the rotated angle into the image sensor so that the image sensor corrects the image.
US08606028B2 Pixel bit depth conversion in image encoding and decoding
An image encoding apparatus includes a pixel bit depth increase converter to convert bit depth of each pixel of an input image to output a converted input image and output bit conversion information indicating the number of bits changed by conversion, an image encoder to encode the input converted input image to output encoded image information, and a multiplexer to multiplexes the bit conversion information and encoded image information.
US08606026B2 Image encoding device, image decoding device, image encoding method, and image decoding method based on reduced-image displacement vector
A displacement vector detection unit searches for a signal with high correlation with an encoding target block using a locally-decoded image in an already encoded block so as to calculate, using a signal with the highest correlation as a displacement prediction signal, a displacement vector. A reduced-image displacement vector detection unit searches for a signal with high correlation with the encoding target block using a signal resulting from performing reduction at least either horizontally or vertically for the locally-decoded image in an already encoded block so as to obtain, using the signal with the highest correlation as the displacement prediction signal, the displacement vector indicating the displacement in a screen between a reduced encoding target block and a reduction displacement prediction signal. Then a signal with high correlation with the encoding target block from the displacement prediction signal and the reduction displacement prediction signal is selected as a prediction signal.
US08606017B1 Method for inspecting localized image and system thereof
A plurality of points with identical geometric feature is compared with their SEM characteristic features to inspect defect in a localized image. Original design information is included in the geometric feature such that absolute compare can be performed in this inspection method. Further, this method can also be applied to the localized image with or without repeated or redundant pattern.
US08606015B2 Multilevel image analysis
Disclosed is a method of bit-mapped image analysis that comprises a whole image data representation via its component objects. The objects are assigned to different levels of complexity. The objects may be hierarchically connected by spatially-parametrical links. The method comprises preliminarily generating a classifier of image objects consisting of one or more levels differing in complexity; parsing the image into objects; attaching each object to one or more predetermined levels; establishing hierarchical links between objects of different levels; establishing links between objects within the same level; and performing an object feature analysis. Object feature analysis comprises generating and examining a hypothesis about object features and correcting the concerned object's features of the same and other levels in response to results of hypothesis examination. Object feature analysis may also comprise execution of a recursive X-Y cut within the same level.
US08606014B2 Image Processing apparatus, extracting foreground pixels for extracted continuous variable density areas according to color information
A foreground pixel block extraction process section divides input image data into a plurality of pixel blocks, and classifies each pixel block as a uniform density pixel block or foreground pixel block. By performing above process, the foreground pixel block extraction process section extracts foreground pixel blocks. A foreground color calculation process section calculates the foreground colors from the extracted foreground pixel blocks as color information. A labeling process section extracts connected foreground pixel block areas as foreground pixel areas by giving the same label to a plurality of adjacent foreground pixel blocks. From these processing results, a foreground pixel extraction process section calculates a representative color for each foreground pixel area, and extracts pixels having pixel values close to the representative color as foreground pixels.
US08606009B2 High dynamic range image generation and rendering
Techniques and tools for high dynamic range (HDR) image rendering and generation. An HDR image generating system performs motion analysis on a set of lower dynamic range (LDR) images and derives relative exposure levels for the images based on information obtained in the motion analysis. These relative exposure levels are used when integrating the LDR images to form an HDR image. An HDR image rendering system tone maps sample values in an HDR image to a respective lower dynamic range value, and calculates local contrast values. Residual signals are derived based on local contrast, and sample values for an LDR image are calculated based on the tone-mapped sample values and the residual signals. User preference information can be used during various stages of HDR image generation or rendering.
US08606007B2 Image processing apparatus and method
Provided is an image processing apparatus which includes a histogram generating unit that generates a histogram representing an appearance frequency distribution of a pixel value of an input image, and a quantization table generating unit that generates a quantization table including table information used to perform transform of a bit depth of the pixel value of the input image and table information used to allocate an effective pixel in which an appearance frequency in the histogram generated by the histogram generating unit is not zero to an index value after bit depth transform so that effective pixels are allocated to index values as equally as possible.
US08606005B2 Image processing apparatus and image-processing method for adjusting white balance of images
In an image processing apparatus, a white balance calculating unit is configured to calculate a first coordinate value that indicates a white balance of an image in a color space. A determining unit is configured to determine whether a first distance between the first coordinate value and a reference coordinate value is greater than a prescribed threshold distance. An adjustment amount setting unit is configured to set the adjustment amount to a first adjustment amount when the determining unit determines that the first distance is smaller than or equal to the prescribed threshold distance, the first adjustment amount corresponding to the first distance, the adjustment amount setting unit setting the adjustment amount to a second adjustment amount when the determining unit determines that the first distance is greater than the prescribed threshold distance, the second adjustment amount corresponding to a second distance smaller than the first distance.
US08606003B2 Image processing device, image processing method and image processing program
An image processing device and an image processing method provided herein are capable of achieving data compression with reduced image degradation even if the data is image data entered from an input device such as a scanner. The entered original image data is divided into 2×2 pixel blocks. Two-color-form compression processing and four-color holding compression processing are performed on a block-by-block basis. The compression result data which leads to a smaller one of the differences in gradation value between the original image data and the two-color-form compression difference data and between the original image data and the four-color compression difference data is output as the compression processing result of the block.
US08605996B2 Sentiment classification using out of domain data
Providing sentiment classification of out of domain data are disclosed herein. In some aspects, a source domain having a trained classifier is matched to a target domain having a target classifier. The trained classifier may include identifiers that may be used to predict the sentiment of opinion data for the source domain. The target classifier may use the identifiers of the trained classifier to determine the sentiment of opinion data for the target domain.
US08605992B2 Image completion using scene geometry
Image completion using scene geometry is described, for example, to remove marks from digital photographs or complete regions which are blank due to editing. In an embodiment an image depicting, from a viewpoint, a scene of textured objects has regions to be completed. In an example, geometry of the scene is estimated from a depth map and the geometry used to warp the image so that at least some surfaces depicted in the image are fronto-parallel to the viewpoint. An image completion process is guided using distortion applied during the warping. For example, patches used to fill the regions are selected on the basis of distortion introduced by the warping. In examples where the scene comprises regions having only planar surfaces the warping process comprises rotating the image. Where the scene comprises non-planar surfaces, geodesic distances between image elements may be scaled to flatten the non-planar surfaces.
US08605988B2 Image registration system and method
A method and system for registering two images is described. The method comprises synthesizing projections from two volumetric images to be registered, estimating a plurality of two dimensional (2D) deformable fields from the projections and generating a three dimensional (3D) deformable fields using a plurality of backprojections of the 2D deformable fields.
US08605975B2 Image reconstruction from limited or incomplete data
A system and method are provided for reconstructing images from limited or incomplete data, such as few view data or limited angle data or truncated data (including exterior and interior data) generated from divergent beams. In one aspect of the invention, the method and apparatus iteratively constrains the variation of an estimated image in order to reconstruct the image. As one example, a divergent beam maybe used to generate data (“actual data”). As discussed above, the actual data may be less than sufficient to exactly reconstruct the image by conventional techniques, such as FBP. In order to reconstruct an image, a first estimated image may be generated. Estimated data may be generated from the first estimated image, and compared with the actual data. The comparison of the estimated data with the actual data may include determining a difference between the estimated and actual data. The comparison may then be used to generate a new estimated image. For example, the first estimated image may be combined with an image generated from the difference data to generate a new estimated image. In order to generate the image for the next iteration, the variation of the new estimated image may be constrained. For example, the variation of the new estimated image may be at least partly constrained in order to lessen or reducing the total variation of the image.
US08605974B2 Apparatus for caries detection
An apparatus for obtaining an image of a tooth having at least one light source providing incident light having a first spectral range for obtaining a reflectance image from the tooth and a second spectral range for exciting a fluorescence image from the tooth. A polarizing beamsplitter in the path of the incident light from both sources directs light having a first polarization state toward the tooth and directs light from the tooth having a second polarization state along a return path toward a sensor, wherein the second polarization state is orthogonal to the first polarization state. A first lens in the return path directs image-bearing light from the tooth toward the sensor, and obtains image data from the portion of the light having the second polarization state. A long-pass filter in the return path attenuates light in the second spectral range.
US08605964B2 Marker localization using intensity-based registration of imaging modalities
Provided are methods and systems for registering image data from two imaging modalities, to produce an image having features from both imaging technologies. In particular, the methods and systems relate to intensity-based registration of the image data. The imaging modalities may be, for example, ultrasound and x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, or a pre-operative plan.
US08605955B2 Methods and apparatuses for half-face detection
Classifier chains are used to determine quickly and accurately if a window or sub-window of an image contains a right face, a left face, a full face, or does not contain a face. After acquiring a digital image, an integral image is calculated based on the acquired digital image. Left-face classifiers are applied to the integral image to determine the probability that the window contains a left face. Right-face classifiers are applied to the integral image to determine the probability that the window contains a right face. If the probability of the window containing a right face and a left face are both greater than threshold values, then it is determined that the window contains a full face. Alternatively, if only one of the probabilities exceeds a threshold value, then it may be determined that the window contains only a left face or a right face.
US08605951B2 Method for converting a digital image into a multi-dimensional geo-referenced data structure
The present invention is directed to a computer-implemented method for converting a digital image into a multi-dimensional geo-referenced data structure. The method includes pre-processing or preparing a digital image, defining a color map comprising values for the prepared digital image, defining geometry and location values for the prepared digital image, creating a data structure by assigning to each pixel in the digital image a value, based on the closest match in the color map, and an interpolated geometry and location value, based on the geometry and location values; and transmitting the data structure to an interpretation application and creating a multi-dimensional geo-referenced data structure for interpretation.
US08605940B1 Coherent image modification
A method includes receiving a selection input to define a selection mask with respect to digital data. The selection input is used to generate the selection mask with respect to the digital data. An icon is automatically associated with the selection mask, the icon being selectable to select the selection mask.
US08605928B2 Hook for a hearing aid
A hook (4) for a hearing aid (1) provides a sound passage for transmitting the sound emanating from an output transducer of the hearing aid. The hook is composed of different parts (4a, 4b, 4c) made from materials with different mechanical properties. This provides a damping means for damping mechanical vibrations. The invention further provides a hearing aid with a hook.
US08605925B2 Acoustic processing method and apparatus
A processing method and apparatus for reducing noise in an auditory prosthesis, for example a hearing aid or cochlear implant, are disclosed. The noise floor of the input sound signal is estimated, and the base output level of the output signal is moved in response, in a preferred form to substantially the estimated noise floor level, without modifying the maximum output level. This has the effect of maximising the dynamic range of the user in response to the target sound signal.
US08605923B2 Optimizing operational control of a hearing prosthesis
A method for operating a hearing prosthesis is provided. A plurality of settings are provided, each setting providing a different operating functionality for the hearing prosthesis suitable for different situations. A signal analysis is executed on input signals to the hearing prosthesis. The signal analysis monitors characteristics of a current situation to detect any change and, in the case of detecting change, classifies the current situation into one of a plurality of predefined states. The suitability of the settings is compared with the determined state. One or more optimal choice(s) of setting(s) is identified for the current situation. The one or more optimal choice(s) of setting(s) is presented to a user. The user is then allowed to make a selection from the presented choice(s) of setting(s). If a selection is received from the user, the selected setting is executed. A hearing prosthesis is also provided.
US08605921B2 Loudspeaker positions select infrastructure signal
For operating a multi-loudspeaker configuration which is audio-driven from a multi-audio-channel source system, an appropriate audio channel from the multi-audio-channel source is assigned to each loudspeaker. The loudspeakers are driven as active powered units. In particular, the method provides an overall communication structure for carrying audio data to the loudspeakers. The method locally ascertains the relative positions of various loudspeakers in the configuration. It assigns an appropriate indication to a particular loudspeaker regarding its relative position. In the particular loudspeaker, it recognizes an associated indication. It uses a recognized indication to select an audio channel appropriate to the position of the loudspeaker in question in the multi-loudspeaker configuration.
US08605917B2 Passenger control unit for an in-flight entertainment system
A hand-held passenger control unit for use by a passenger on an aircraft or any other type of vehicle is provided. The control unit may include a controller, a memory, and a display panel. The control unit may have a first and a second mode of operation. In the first mode of operation, the control unit controls its own display panel. In the second mode of operation, the control unit controls a remote video display unit that is disposed proximate to the passenger. The control unit may also have an integrated audio player, thereby permitting passengers to bring their own audio content aboard the aircraft without having to bring their own audio players.
US08605913B2 Right/left detection in hearing aids
In a hearing aid system having a first hearing aid and a second hearing aid for providing binaural hearing assistance to a user, the hearing aid for providing hearing assistance to the left ear can easily be confused with the hearing aid for providing hearing assistance to the right ear. The invention proposes a side detection device by means of which each hearing aid detects on or in which ear of the user it is currently being worn. Advantageously, the parameter settings for providing hearing assistance to both ears are stored in both hearing aids of a respective hearing aid system, with the result that following the automatic detection of the respective ear in which the respective hearing aid is currently being worn the corresponding parameter settings are also activated automatically.
US08605905B2 System and method for securing wireless transmissions
A system and method for securing wireless communications are provided. A method for transmitting a message by a transmitter includes partitioning the message into N sub-messages, where N is a positive integer value greater than or equal to two, encoding the N sub-messages into a plurality of packet groups with a first security code, encoding the plurality of packet groups into a plurality of output packets with a second security code, and transmitting the plurality of output packets.
US08605895B2 Computing the eth root of a number using a variant of the RSA algorithm (for even e's)
An Eth root unit is configured to compute an Eth root of a number A with a machine. The Eth root unit locates a value E, which is even, in a first entry of a plurality of entries of a structure. The Eth root unit is configured to read a product of the pair of prime numbers from the first entry. The Eth root unit is configured to read a second of the pair of key values in the first entry. The Eth root unit is configured to encrypt the number A using the product of the pair of prime numbers to generate an encrypted value. The Eth root unit is configured to apply a decryption operation to the encrypted value using the second of the pair of key values to generate an intermediate value. The Eth root unit is configured to compute a square root of the intermediate value.
US08605883B2 Method and equipments for establishing telecommunication
The present invention relates to a method for establishing telecommunication between at least a first and a second users within a telecommunication network comprising the following steps: receiving a request from said first user to set up a telecommunication with said second user, monitoring telecommunication activity in accordance with said request to detect a telecommunication activity of said second user with a third user different from said first user, and, in case of detection of said telecommunication activity of said second user, setting up a telecommunication between said first and second users after the end of said telecommunication activity of said second user with a third user different from said first user. The invention also relates to devices for performing the method.
US08605878B2 Redirecting and mirroring of telephonic communications
Initiating a communication is disclosed. An identifier associated with an intended destination with which the calling party desires to establish communication is received from a calling party. Communication with a compliance node is established. An identifier is provided to the compliance node. The compliance node is configured to establish with the intended destination a communication session in which the compliance node, the intended destination, and the calling party are participants.
US08605874B2 Per-session dynamic charging caps in communication networks
Communication networks and associated methods and systems are disclosed that provide per-session dynamic charging caps. For a session, the communication network includes a network element adapted to serve the session, a charging system, and a subscriber server adapted to store charging criteria defined for a party to the session. In operation, the charging system receives one or more charging request messages from the network element. Responsive to a charging request message, the charging system identifies the charging criteria defined for the party as stored in the subscriber server, and determines a dynamic charging cap for the session based on the charging criteria. A charging cap is a limited or maximum amount of time and/or money that is charged for an individual session. The charging system then limits the charging for the session based on the dynamic charging cap.
US08605864B2 Systems and methods for providing 9-1-1 services to nomadic internet telephony callers
A system for facilitating 9-1-1 service delivery to internet telephony customers is provided. The system includes a server device for receiving a 9-1-1 call from a user device via a data network, where the 9-1-1 call are based on “9-1-1” digits dialed at the user device. The server device is configured to forward the received 9-1-1 call to an operator services interface operatively connected to the server device.
US08605859B2 Multiple image collection and synthesis for personnel screening
An apparatus and method for inspecting personnel or their effects. A first and second carriage each carries a source for producing a beam of penetrating radiation incident on a given subject. A positioner provides for relative motion of each beam vis-à-vis the subject in a motion, the vertical component of which is one-way. A detector receives radiation produced by at least one of the sources after the radiation interacts with the subject.
US08605854B2 Mammography apparatus with X-ray sources arranged at different distances from the chest
A mammography apparatus has at least one x-ray source to emit x-ray radiation and an x-ray detector with a number of pixels. The mammography apparatus is designed so that the x-ray radiation is emitted into the breast tissue of a patient at a number of positions, and the x-ray radiation is detected by the x-ray detector after it has passed through the breast tissue. The positions have different distances from the shoulder-to-shoulder axis of the patient.
US08605853B2 Methods and apparatus for in-pixel filtering in focal plane arrays
Digital focal plane arrays (DFPAs) with multiple counters per unit cell can be used to convert analog signals to digital data and to filter the digital data. Exemplary DFPAs include two-dimensional arrays of unit cells, where each unit cell is coupled to a corresponding photodetector in a photodetector array. Each unit cell converts photocurrent from its photodetector to a digital pulse train that is coupled to multiple counters in the unit cell. Each counter in each unit cell can be independently controlled to filter the pulse train by counting up or down and/or by transferring data as desired. For example, a unit cell may perform in-phase/quadrature filtering of homodyne- or heterodyne-detected photocurrent with two counters: a first counter toggled between increment and decrement modes with an in-phase signal and a second counter toggled between increment and decrement modes with a quadrature signal.
US08605845B2 Adaptive phase-shifted synchronization clock generation circuit and method for generating phase-shifted synchronization clock
The present invention discloses an adaptive phase-shifted synchronization clock generation circuit and a method for generating phase-shifted synchronization clock. The adaptive phase-shifted synchronization clock generation circuit includes: a current source generating a current which flows through a node to generate a node voltage on the node; a reverse-proportional voltage generator coupled to the node for generating a voltage which is reverse-proportional to the node voltage; a ramp generator receiving a synchronization input signal and generating a ramp signal; a comparator comparing the reverse-proportional voltage to the ramp signal; and a pulse generator for generating a clock signal according to an output from the comparator.
US08605830B2 Blind carrier/timing recovery and detection of modulation scheme
Systems and methods and memory media for performing modulation type detection. An attempt is made to estimate an underlying symbol rate of a received signal. The received signal is compensated for carrier frequency offset. Two candidates for symbol timing offset are estimated from the compensated signal. The compensated signal is downsampled using each offset candidate. A set of features is computed for each of the two downsampled signals. For each downsampled signal, the set of features is compared to a corresponding set of thresholds to obtain a corresponding set of comparison results. The two sets of comparison results are used to determine the modulation type of the received signal. A second method for estimating symbol rate may be performed if the modulation type is found to be FSK.
US08605829B2 Method and apparatus for detecting a plurality of symbol blocks using a decoder
Teachings presented herein offer improved symbol block detection by including a decoder unit in a demodulation system. Utilizing a decoder unit in a demodulation system can significantly enhance symbol block detection because the decoder can produce bit likelihood values (soft bit values), and these bit likelihood values can be used to construct a set of candidate symbol values. Advantageously, this set of candidate symbol values is more likely to contain the actually transmitted symbol(s) than if the decoder unit was not used in the demodulation system.
US08605828B2 Blind mechanism for demodulating offset QPSK signals in the presence of carrier phase error
A computer-implemented system and method for blind demodulation of an offset QPSK input signal, involving repeatedly performing a set of operations, including: (a) applying a phase correction to the input signal based on an estimate of a carrier phase offset of the input signal to obtain a first modified signal; (b) shifting a quadrature component of the first modified signal by half a symbol period relative to an inphase component to obtain a second modified signal; (c) extracting a first sequence of symbols from the second modified signal, where the extraction includes estimating a symbol timing offset from the second modified signal; (d) performing hard-decision demodulation on the first sequence of symbols to obtain a second sequence of reference symbols; (e) computing a phase difference between the first sequence of symbols and second sequence of reference symbols; and (f) updating the carrier phase offset estimate using the phase difference.
US08605823B2 Communication using continuous-phase modulated signals
Embodiments of a circuit are described. In this circuit, a modulation circuit provides a first modulated electrical signal and a second modulated electrical signal, where a given modulated electrical signal, which can be either the first modulated electrical signal or the second modulated electrical signal, includes minimum-shift keying (MSK) modulated data. Moreover, a first phase-adjustment element, which is coupled to the modulation circuit, sets a relative phase between the first modulated electrical signal and the second modulated electrical signal based on a phase value of the first phase-adjustment element. Additionally, an output interface, which is coupled to the first phase-adjustment element, is coupled to one or more antenna elements which output signals. These signals include a quadrature phase-shift-keying (QPSK) signal corresponding to the first modulated electrical signal and the second modulated electrical signal.
US08605816B2 Non-contact wireless communication apparatus, method of waveform-shaping envelope curve, and mobile electronic device
A non-contact wireless communication apparatus that includes: an antenna section configured to receive a carrier wave; an envelope-curve shaping section configured to shape a falling waveform of an envelope curve of the carrier wave into a gradual falling waveform; and a demodulation section configured to extract the envelope curve shaped by the envelope-curve shaping section and perform envelope-curve detection by binarizing the envelope curve with a predetermined threshold value.
US08605814B2 Distortion-compensated RF transmitter and method therefor
An RF transmitter (10) includes an RF amplifier (28) that generates an amplified RF signal (36) including a linear RF signal (92) and a spurious baseband signal (94). The spurious baseband signal (94) interacts with bias feed networks (56, 66) to cause the RF amplifier (28) to generate an unwanted RF distortion at or near the allocated RF bandwidth. A baseband compensation signal (98) is generated and equalized in an adaptive equalizer (102) then fed to the RF amplifier (28). A feedback signal (46) is obtained from the RF amplifier (28) and used to drive the adaptive equalizer (102). A feedback loop causes the adaptive equalizer to adjust a baseband signal (24, 32) supplied to the RF amplifier (28) so that the RF distortion is minimized.
US08605809B2 Method and apparatus for using factorized precoding
According to one or more aspects, the teachings herein improve user equipment (UE) Channel State Information (CSI) feedback, by letting the precoder part of a CSI feedback report comprise factorized precoder feedback. In one or more such embodiments, the factorized precoder feedback corresponds to at least two precoder matrices, including a recommended “conversion” precoder matrix and a recommended “tuning” precoder matrix. The recommended conversion precoder matrix restricts the number of channel dimensions considered by the recommended tuning precoder matrix and, in turn, the recommended tuning precoder matrix matches the recommended precoder matrix to an effective channel that is defined in part by said recommended conversion precoder matrix.
US08605802B2 Frame structure for fast wireless communication system and apparatus for fast wireless communication using the frame
A method of configuring a frame for fast wireless communication and an apparatus for fast wireless communication are provided. The apparatus for fast wireless communication includes: a frame configuration unit configuring a frame including transmission data; a demultiplexing unit demultiplexing the transmission data included in the frame into N number of parallel streams (N: positive number greater than 2); N number of coding and modulation units connected in parallel to perform error correction coding and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with respect to each of the N number of parallel streams; and a multiplexing unit multiplexing outputs of the N number of coding and modulation units into serial streams.
US08605801B2 Pilot signal set management in a multi-carrier communication system
In a wireless communication system where different frequency bands are deployed to generate various communication zones, pilot signal set management for a plurality of pilot signals generated from an additional coverage zone is based on identifying a preselected signal set from the plurality of pilot signals and determining whether a predetermined criterion is met.
US08605799B2 Estimation of frequency offset between a base station and mobile terminal
A method and apparatus for frequency offset estimation exploits the differences in reference symbol timing for different channels to resolve ambiguities in the frequency offset estimation. Based on the initial frequency offset estimates, a hypothesis table is constructed providing hypothesized frequency offsets for each channel for a plurality of possible offset regions. An error metric for each offset region is calculated based on the difference of the hypothesized frequency offsets. The set of hypothesized frequency offsets that minimize the error metric is selected as the final frequency offset estimates.
US08605787B2 Image processing system, image processing method, and recording medium storing image processing program
Provided is an image processing system that can uniquely identify a motion vector for each pixel of an interpolation frame and accurately identify a motion vector. A motion vector candidate selection unit (301) sequentially selects predetermined motion vector candidates in an interpolation frame. A differential image generation unit (302), a binary image generation unit (303) and an area image generation unit (304) generate a differential image, a binary image and an area image, respectively, based on a selected motion vector candidate. For each pixel of the interpolation frame, a motion vector determination unit (305) identifies a motion vector candidate with which a pixel value of a pixel in the area image corresponding to the pixel is the largest as a motion vector. A pixel value determination unit (306) determines each pixel value of the interpolation frame by using the motion vector identified for each pixel, thereby generating an interpolation frame.
US08605783B2 Composite video generation
Composite video generation is described. In an embodiment, mobile video capture devices, such as mobile telephones, capture video streams of a common event. A network node receives the video streams and time-synchronizes them. Frames from each of the video streams are then stitched together to form a composite frame, and these are added to a composite video sequence. In embodiments, the composite video sequence is encoded and streamed to a user terminal over a communications network. In embodiments, the common event is a live event and the composite video sequence is generated in real-time. In some embodiments, the stitching of the video streams is performed by geometrically aligning the frames. In some embodiments, three or more mobile video capture devices provide video streams.
US08605780B2 Coding device and editing device
A coding device includes a coding unit (740) for encoding an input digital signal using code words contained in one of a plurality of variable length code word groups, and a multiplexer (701) for generating a stream by generating a parameter (such as idr_pic_id) describing specific information about the stream, encoding the parameters, and adding it to the output data from the coding unit. The length of the code words contained in any single variable length code word group is the same. The multiplexer selects one variable length code word group containing three or more code words out of the plural groups, and codes the parameter using one code word selected from the code words contained in the selected group.
US08605773B2 Apparatus and method for data communication using radio frequency
A data communication apparatus using a radio frequency and a data processing method thereof are provided. A first communication apparatus frequency shift keying and phase shift keying modulates and transmits data from a service server to a radio frequency band. A second communication apparatus modulates, demodulates, and outputs the data. The data communication apparatus using a radio frequency, includes: a data modulation module frequency shift keying and phase shift keying modulates data to a radio frequency band to generate a modulated data signal; and a data transmission module transmitting the modulated data to another communication apparatus.
US08605772B2 Transceiver system having phase and frequency detector and method thereof
A transceiver system having a phase and frequency locked architecture is described. The transceiver system includes a clock and data recovery type receiver, a frequency divider and a transmitter. The clock and data recovery type receiver receives an external signal from a host unit and extracts the external signal to generate a clock signal and a data signal. The frequency divider is used to divide the frequency of the clock signal for generating a reference clock signal. The transmitter transmits output data content based on the reference clock signal.
US08605768B2 Laser apparatus, driving method of the same and optical tomographic imaging apparatus
The present invention provides a laser apparatus capable of improving a scan speed and achieving a scan rate equal to or more than 1 MHz, and an optical tomographic imaging apparatus using the laser apparatus as a light source. The laser apparatus includes a ring resonator, the ring resonator having a structure in which a first modulator, a normal dispersion region, a second modulator and an anomalous dispersion region are arranged in this order, and in this arrangement, a gain medium is included, and being configured so that modulation with respect to the second modulator can be caused to be phase modulation by periodically superimposing phase modulation on modulation with respect to the first modulator.
US08605749B2 Frame-merging apparatus and method
A frame-merging method is adapted for a network that includes mesh and terminal units, in which any two units capable of communication form a communication pair, and one of the units operates as a key unit to transmit pending frames according to the frame-merging method. The frame-merging method includes: determining whether the key unit is a mesh or a terminal unit; for the communication pair recorded in each pending frame, selecting a suitable scheme from a plurality of frame-merging schemes, and extracting at least one of the pending frames from among the pending frames for use as part or all of a priority frame set; and comparing a total size of all frames included in the priority frame set with a suitable frame size, so as to determine whether the key unit is to send an aggregated frame. A frame-merging apparatus is also disclosed.
US08605748B2 Communication method
Disclosed are a base station and a mobile station which communicate with each other using a frame comprising one or more downlink subframes and one or more uplink subframes. The base station transmits a data burst in a subframe corresponding to a downlink subframe index of a frame corresponding to a first frame index. The mobile station transmits a feedback for the data burst in a subframe corresponding to an uplink subframe index of a frame corresponding to a second frame index. The second frame index and the uplink subframe index are determined by a parameter value. The parameter value is determined by a difference between radio signal processing time and the number of the one or more uplink subframes.
US08605736B2 Method, system and apparatus for heterogeneous addressing mapping
A method for heterogeneous addressing mapping is provided according to the embodiments of the present invention. The method includes: assigning, by an Interworking Function entity (IWF), a first identification or a first address to a Diameter protocol node; mapping a received Diameter protocol message sent from the Diameter protocol node into a Mobile Application Part (MAP) protocol message, and sending the mapped MAP protocol message to an MAP protocol node using the first address assigned by the IWF as a source address or using the first identification assigned by the IWF as a source identification. The present invention also provides a system and an apparatus for heterogeneous addressing mapping. According to the embodiments of the present invention, when the Diameter node is communicating with the MAP node via the Interworking Function entity, the method for mapping the node identification for each other as well as the addressing relationship corresponding to each identification are provided. Thus, the problems that the communication with each other cannot be realized due to different identification addressing approaches are solved.
US08605734B2 OpenFlow communication system and OpenFlow communication method
An OpenFlow switch controls transmission and reception of a packet according to a flow entry. Each of the flow entries contains a matching condition showing a communication flow of the packet and an action showing processing on the packet. An OpenFlow controller generates a registration flow entry which is stored in a flow table of a specific OpenFlow switch arranged on a route of the communication flow. An encapsulated packet is generated by relating the registration flow entry and an ordinary packet. The specific OpenFlow switch extracts the registration flow entry from the encapsulated packet in response to the reception of the encapsulated packet to produce a new flow entry and executes the action shown in the new flow entry.
US08605712B1 Method and apparatus for distributing video with offload engine
A method and apparatus for enabling video distribution with a transport layer protocol offload engine are disclosed. The present invention provides a transport layer protocol offload engine-enabled NIC card with capabilities to classify the received packets, process transport layer protocols, and process the video packets directly on the NIC card.
US08605694B2 Method for cluster based data transmission in wireless sensor networks
The present invention relates to a method for cluster based data in wireless sensor networks. The method includes: selecting any one of border nodes positioned at the edge of a cluster as a temporary cluster head as a temporary cluster head when a target is sensed in the cluster; bugging data of the temporary cluster head by border nodes in other adjacent cluster which do not sense the target to temporarily change the border node selected as the temporary cluster head to a cluster head of each of the border nodes; when the target is sensed by at least one of the border nodes, collecting data from each of the border nodes by the temporary cluster head to transferring the collected data to an actual cluster head of the temporary cluster head; and aggregating the collected data by actual cluster head of the temporary cluster head.
US08605685B2 Determining UE interference during handover in enhanced inter-cell interference coordination
A method of wireless communication determines a UE interference condition during handover. A target cell receives information that indicates an interference condition of a user equipment (UE). Prior to completing handover, the target cell determines an expected UE interference condition that will arise after completing the handover of the UE at a target base station. The information can be determined based on a message from the UE. The UE message may indicate which cell is the strongest, indicate the interference condition at both the source and target cells, or only provide a measurement of the strongest cell. Based on the UE measurements, the target eNodeB may schedule the UE on resources based on the expected interference condition at the UE that may arise after the handover.
US08605683B2 Pre-emptive access network switching
An access network connection controller is disclosed for ordering a mobile terminal to switch from a connection to a first access network to a connection to a second access network in order to ensure that a good connection to the mobile terminal is maintained when the mobile terminal enters an area in which connection to the first access network may be restricted and the second access network may be beneficial. The access network connection controller is operable to receive movement information representative of the movement of the mobile terminal connected to a first access network; to determine from the movement information whether the mobile terminal is approaching a restricted area wherein connection to a second access network may be beneficial and to generate a command ordering the switching of the connection mobile terminal from the first access network to the second access network before the mobile terminal enters the restricted area. By ordering a mobile terminal to switch its connection to another access network in advance of the mobile terminal entering an area in which connection to the mobile terminal from its current access network may be restricted, good connection to the mobile terminal is ensured at all times and the user of the mobile terminal does not experience any degradation in performance.
US08605678B2 Anticipatory hand-off setup between networks
A system and method for performing anticipatory hand-off setup between communication networks. Various aspects of the present invention may, for example and without limitation, provide a system and method for performing anticipatory hand-off setup between communication networks. For example and without limitation, prior to a determination to perform a hand-off of a mobile communication device from a first communication network to a second communication network, a determination may be made that hand-off setup information should be communicated with the second communication network. For example, such a determination may be made in anticipation of a hand-off that may or may not happen. Such hand-off setup information may then be communicated with the second communication network. Such communicated setup information may then, for example, be utilized to at least partially prepare for performing the anticipated hand-off.
US08605673B2 Method, apparatus and system for allocating downlink power
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, an apparatus and a system for allocating downlink power, which can solve the problem of downlink power allocation under a Coordinated Multi-Point transmitting (CoMP) environment and in a carrier aggregation (CA) technology. The method includes: calculating a power allocation according to measurement parameters which are of a reference signal and are reported by a terminal, and according to the number of physical resources within a measured bandwidth corresponding to each aggregate waveband, and an energy allocated to each resource block on the reference signal corresponding to the each aggregate waveband, where the number of physical resources and the energy are sent by a secondary evolved NodeB (eNB), sending the calculated power allocation to the secondary eNB, and sending to a user equipment (UE) energy information that corresponds to the reference signal corresponding to the each aggregate waveband of the secondary eNB. The present invention is applicable to downlink power allocation.
US08605661B2 Method and system for implementing a single weight spatial multiplexing (SM) MIMO system
Certain aspects of the method may comprise generating at least one control signal that may be utilized to control at least a first of a plurality of received spatially multiplexed communication signals. An amplitude and/or phase of the first received spatially multiplexed communication signal may be adjusted via the generated control signal so that the amplitude and/or phase of the first received spatially multiplexed communication signal may be equivalent to an amplitude and/or phase of a second received spatially multiplexed communication signal. The amplitude of the first received spatially multiplexed communication signal is adjusted within the processing path used to process the first received spatially multiplexed communication signal.
US08605647B2 Shared risk group handling within a media gateway
A media gateway controller (MGC) is described herein that implements a shared risk group package to control and prevent a media gateway (MG) from establishing redundant links like a primary link and a secondary link that use resources that share the same risk of failure. Essentially, the MGC uses the shared risk group package to control which resources like ephemeral terminations are used by the MG to establish the primary link and the secondary link such that if any of the resources associated with the primary link fail then the secondary link remains operational within the MG and if any of the resources associated with the secondary link fail then the primary link remains operational within the MG.
US08605643B2 Apparatus and method for retransmitting of data in a wireless communication system using relay
An apparatus and method for retransmitting data in a wireless communication system are provided. The method includes transmitting data to at least one lower node, temporarily storing the data transmitted to the lower node, if ACKnowledgement (ACK) information of a relay link is not received for a predetermined time after data transmission or if the ACK information of the relay link is received from a lower Relay Station (RS), identifying if error occurrence information of an access link is received from the lower RS, and, if the ACK information of the access link is received from the lower RS, recognizing that data transmission to a Mobile Station (MS) succeeds.
US08605640B2 Network aware content pre-delivery over a radio access network
Efficient delivery of subscription content over a wireless network is described herein. In one implementation a device may receive load information regarding network traffic load at radio interfaces for a cellular network. The device may maintain subscription information relating to subscribers that have subscribed to receive content items and to availability of the content items. The device may determine whether a quantity of mobile devices, that are attached to the base station and are associated with subscribers that have subscribed to the first content item, is above a threshold. Finally, the device may transmit, when it is determined that the quantity of mobile devices is above the threshold, the first content item to the quantity of mobile devices as a multicast transmission over a radio interface associated with the base station.
US08605639B2 Broadcast receiving apparatus and data processing method
To facilitate selection of broadcast data which was multiplexed on broadcast programs and was broadcast. A mobile terminal device has a digital broadcast receiving means for receiving broadcast data which was multiplexed on broadcast programs and was broadcast further has a controlling means for setting the mobile terminal device to a state so as to utilize the usable data when selecting, then instructing execution of viewing history data linked with usable data by an operating means.
US08605634B2 Apparatus for controlling power of wireless device and method thereof
A method of controlling the power consumption of a wireless station is disclosed. The present invention includes waking-up a coordinator in a sleep state, entering an awake state and if a signal for turning on a peripheral station is received in the awake state, transmitting an awake message to the peripheral station via a beacon signal during a beacon timeslot. Accordingly, the power consumption of a coordinator in a WPAN network may be reduced, power control by a peripheral station may be facilitated, and inefficient operation and management of the network may be prevented.
US08605628B2 Utilizing betweenness to determine forwarding state in a routed network
A set of critical nodes or links is identified on the network through which most of the shortest paths on the network occur. Each node compares their distance to end points on the network with a distance between the end points and each of the distinct critical nodes. Where the distance between the end points and the critical nodes is shorter than the distance between the end points and the node, the node is not on the shortest path and does not install forwarding state. Where the distance between the end points and the critical node is larger than or equal to the distance between the end points and the node, the node may be on the shortest path between the pair of end nodes and installs forwarding state. Installation of forwarding state may cause packet duplication, but determining forwarding state is dramatically simplified.
US08605625B2 Methods and apparatus for peer discovery in a communications system
Methods and apparatus supporting enhanced discovery operations in peer to peer networks are described. Peer discovery, based on direct peer to peer discovery between two mobile nodes can be somewhat limited, e.g., due to power limitations, processing power, and/or channel conditions. An access point, e.g., base station, monitors for and receives peer discovery signals conveying a set of identifiers from a wireless communications device. The access point retransmits at least one identifier in the set in a wireless peer to peer communications channel. Thus the access point effectively extends the peer discovery range for wireless communications devices utilizing the peer to peer network. Wireless communications devices can monitor for and recover the rebroadcast peer discovery signals from access points. Thus, via access point signaling a wireless communications device can be made situationally aware of other devices of interest which would be otherwise outside its discovery detection range.
US08605620B2 System for transmitting high quality speech signals on a voice over internet protocol network
The VoIP quality speech process is activated when a subscriber accesses a speech quality sensitive resource or in response to an activation of the feature by the subscriber, or when it is determined that the originating subscriber terminal device requires the transmission of high quality speech signals. A transmit buffer, associated with the port circuit that serves the originating device, stores a predetermined number of packets as they are transmitted from the originating device. In the case of lost or damaged packets, the VoIP quality speech system activates the transmit buffer to retransmit the missing or damaged packet to the destination device. Intelligent buffer management is provided, where the destination device can regulate the size of the transmit buffer as well as the size of its jitter buffer.
US08605616B2 Mobile station apparatus, base station apparatus, management method in a mobile station apparatus, processing section and communication system
Provided are a communication system, a base station apparatus, a mobile station apparatus, and a communication method which can effectively manage measurement information held by a base station apparatus and a mobile station apparatus in a system comprising a plurality of component carriers. The mobile station apparatus is used in a mobile communication system configured by a base station apparatus and a mobile station apparatus. For a plurality of cells with the cell having different frequency, a reference cell with respect to an object to be measured is defined as a measurement reference cell when executing a measurement. The mobile station apparatus specifies one or more of the measurement reference cell for the object to be measured and executes a measurement of the object to be measured for the specified one or more of the measurement reference cell.
US08605613B2 Mobile hardware and network environment simulation
The present technology provides an ability to simulate the performance of mobile content in a more realistic testing environment than previously available. Specifically, the present technology can mimic the fluctuations in network states that mobile devices typically experience. As the mobile content is tested using the simulated network states, the present technology can record the performance of the mobile content and create a log of the performance. Further, the present technology can also analyze the mobile content performance log and recommend various optimizations to increase the performance of the content.
US08605612B2 Method and apparatus for extracting QoS parameters in mobile device
Provided are a method and an apparatus for extracting QoS parameters in a mobile device. In the method, all packets received from a terminal device are monitored, and SIP packets are filtered. When a real-time service application is executed on the terminal device, and an SIP request packet or an SIP response packet is filtered and input, QoS parameters are extracted from the SIP request packet or the SIP response packet. The extracted QoS parameters are incorporated into a wireless link data resource request and transmitted to a wireless network device. When a response to the wireless link data resource request is received, an uplink filter value for a new resource is extracted and added to a packet monitoring list.
US08605596B2 Medium access for de-centralized wireless network
A method of wireless medium access for establishing a decentralized wireless network, the method comprising broadcasting of beacon frames by each of a plurality of devices; listening, at each device, for beacon frames of other devices; identifying, at each device, other devices who's beacon frames have been heard; and forming the decentralised wireless network as at least two dynamic networks, each dynamic network being centered around one of the devices and having said other devices who's beacon frames have been heard by said one device as network members.
US08605594B2 Method and arrangements for dynamic resource reservation
Embodiments of the present invention relate to network nodes and methods that allow for improved QoS control in a telecommunications network by providing combined reservation of transport resources and processing resources for a traffic flow. The amount of transport resources and the amount of processing resources required in connection with a traffic flow can be signaled in a signaling message from a sender node to a receiver node to enable reservation of appropriate amounts of processing resources as well as transport resources.
US08605591B2 System and method for optimizing packet routing in a mesh network
A method is provided in one example and includes receiving a first packet and a second packet that propagate in a mesh network and evaluating hop count metrics associated with the first packet and the second packet (e.g., evaluate the number of hops traversed in the mesh network, hop characteristics, etc.). The first packet is sent to a first queue, the second packet is sent to a second queue. The first queue is associated with a first hop count detected in the first packet, and the second queue is associated with a second hop count detected in the second packet. A buffer overflow condition can be identified. The method further includes discarding the second packet based on the second hop count being less than the first hop count. Discarding of the second packet may be performed in response to any type of congestion parameter detected in the mesh network.
US08605589B2 Dynamic classification and grouping of network traffic for service application
Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, are described for applying service based on classification and grouping of traffic flows. The method includes receiving a traffic flow, and matching the traffic flow to classification groups. The matching includes determining a first event associated with the traffic flow, comparing attributes of the first event with entry criteria of the classification groups, and assigning the first event to one or more classification groups where the first event meets the entry criteria of the one or more classification groups. The method includes identifying one or more service definitions for the traffic flow based on the classification groups assigned to the traffic flow, reconciling the one or more service definitions for the traffic flow, and providing a service to the traffic flow based on the reconciled service definitions.
US08605588B2 Packet drop analysis for flows of data
In one embodiment, a method includes determining that a packet has been dropped for a flow of packets between a source and destination. This may be determined at a network device that is forwarding the packets. Information related to a possible cause for the packet being dropped is then determined. For example, a context as to why the packet is dropped may be determined. The context is then associated with information for the flow and is useful to perform a packet drop analysis for the flow. For example, a source and destination for the flow is recorded along with the possible cause of the packet drop. This information may be stored and sent to an aggregation device. The aggregation device may then analyze the entry, possibly along with other entries from this network device or other network devices, and determine any troubleshooting information for the packet drops.
US08605579B2 Method and apparatus for flow control of data in a mesh network
Flows admitted to a mesh node may be controlled through contention access parameters. The admitting node may determine a desired transmission opportunity duration, and a transmission opportunity frequency. Furthermore, the node may achieve the flow rate and delay bound requirements of the admitted flow based at least in part upon the desired transmission opportunity duration, and the transmission opportunity frequency. The data rate and the access frequency of the admitted node may be monitored at the physical access level. The flow rate requirement may be accomplished based at least in part upon an adjustment to the transmission opportunity duration. The delay bound requirement may be accomplished at least in part upon manipulation of the contention access parameters. The transmission opportunity duration and the access parameters may be determined by the upstream admitting nodes, which may reduce congestion near mesh portals, and accomplish increased data transfer.
US08605576B2 Communication network system, data transmission method, and node apparatus
A communication network system includes a processor, and a plurality of node apparatuses using a protocol to establish paths therebetween, wherein the processor determines each of the node apparatuses to be a packet source or a packet destination, and operates to detect an occurrence of failure in two paths being established between the packet source and the packet destination in the communication network system, and wherein the processor transmits packet data including user data through one of the two paths, and when one of the node apparatuses detects an occurrence of a failure in one of the two paths, the processor changes the path to the other path.
US08605564B2 Audio mixing method and audio mixing apparatus capable of processing and/or mixing audio inputs individually
An audio mixing method includes: performing an audio processing operation upon a first audio input derived from at least one decoded audio input to generate a processed audio output, and generating a mixed audio signal by mixing at least a second audio input and the processed audio output. An audio mixing apparatus includes an audio processing circuit and an audio mixing circuit. The audio processing circuit is utilized for performing an audio processing operation upon a first audio input derived from at least one decoded audio input and accordingly generating a processed audio output. The audio mixing circuit is coupled to the audio processing circuit, and utilized for generating a mixed audio signal by mixing at least a second audio input and the processed audio output.
US08605562B2 Apparatus and method for recording micro-hologram
An apparatus and method for recording a micro-hologram are provided. The micro-hologram recording apparatus includes a first light source configured to emit a first light, the first light being coherent, a first optical system configured to divide the first light into a signal beam and a reference beam, and supply the signal beam and the reference beam to a location on a hologram recording medium, a second light source configured to emit a second light, the second light being incoherent and not interfering with the signal beam and the reference beam, and a second optical system configured to supply the second light to the same location as the signal beam and the reference beam on the hologram recording medium.
US08605557B2 Optical pickup
An optical pickup which excels in assembly workability and which can increase the drive force generated in a focusing coil is provided. The optical pickup has an objective lens, a lens holder holding the objective lens, and a first and a second focusing coil wound around the lens holder. The first focusing coil includes an upper part wound about a central axis extending in parallel with an optical axis of the objective lens and a lower part connected to the upper part. The second focusing coil includes an upper part wound, in a wiring system separate from the first focusing coil, about a central axis extending in parallel with the optical axis of the objective lens and a lower part connected to the upper part.
US08605554B2 Laser power management for super-RENS optical recording media
Methods for operating an apparatus for reading from or writing to a Super-RENS optical recording medium, an apparatus for reading from Super-RENS optical recording media using such methods, and a Super-RENS optical recording medium suitable for such methods are described. The super-RENS optical recording medium has location information that is readable without super-RENS effect. The location information is provided as low-frequency information. For locating a position on the super-RENS optical recording medium, a reading light beam with a power below a power necessary for achieving a super-RENS effect is generated and the location information is retrieved from the super-RENS optical recording medium.
US08605539B2 Hardware-based data eye training for high speed links
Hardware-based methods and apparatus are provided for training high speed data links used in data transfer applications. A data valid window is calibrated on one or more high speed links by determining an offset delay value for at least one datapath using a finite state machine, wherein the offset delay value is based on a maximum offset delay value and a minimum offset delay value for the at least one datapath; and delaying a read data strobe signal based upon a base delay and the offset delay value for the at least one datapath. The offset delay value can be, for example, an average of the maximum offset delay and the minimum offset delay. The received pattern can be a predefined pattern or a programmable pattern. In addition, the received pattern can cover single-bit transitions and/or multi-bit transitions.
US08605533B2 Apparatus and method for protecting data in flash memory
An apparatus for securely protecting data in a flash memory upon power off is disclosed. In the apparatus, a power detector monitors a voltage output from a power supply unit, and outputs a power fail signal when the voltage drops by a predetermined reference voltage or more. A Programmable Logic Device (PLD) outputs a Write Protect (WP) signal for performing write protection on the flash memory upon receiving the power fail signal from the power detector. A WP controller outputs the WP signal output from the PLD to the flash memory, according to a Ready/Busy (R/B) state of the flash memory.
US08605530B2 Sense amplifier using reference signal through standard MOS and DRAM capacitor
A memory circuit includes a first memory cell node capacitor, a first memory cell node transistor, a second memory cell node having a second memory cell node capacitor and a second memory cell node transistor, and a pre-charging circuit for pre-charging the first and second memory cell nodes to first and second voltage levels, respectively. The circuit includes a reference memory cell having first and second reference cell transistors with an equalizing transistor between, and a sense amplifier that detects a potential difference between reference bit lines from the reference memory cell and the first or second memory cell node, respectively. The reference cell transistors and equalizing transistor perform a first voltage equalization of the memory cell nodes at a predetermined voltage and a second voltage equalization of the memory cell nodes based on first or second reference signals respectively input to the first or second reference cell transistor.
US08605523B2 Tracking capacitive loads
A time delay is determined to cover a timing of a memory cell in a memory macro having a tracking circuit. Based on the time delay, a capacitance corresponding to the time delay is determined. A capacitor having the determined capacitance is utilized. The capacitor is coupled to a first data line of a tracking cell of the tracking circuit. A first transition of the first data line causes a first transition of a second data line of the memory cell.
US08605520B2 Replaceable, precise-tracking reference lines for memory products
Systems and methods to improve reliability of sensing operations of semiconductor memory arrays requiring reading references such as MRAM or any type of phase change memory (PCM), and to improve yield of the memory arrays have been achieved. The memory array is divided into multiple parts, such as sections or segments. Reference word lines or reference bit lines or both are deployed in each of the multiple parts. Thus, the distance between an accessed line and the correspondent reference line is reduced, and hence the parasitic parameter tracking capability is enhanced significantly. Additionally spare reference word lines or spare reference bit lines can be deployed in each of the multiple parts.
US08605516B2 Ultra-low-power variation-tolerant radiation-hardened cache design
A random access memory (RAM) cell provides a control section and a storage section coupled to the storage section. The storage section includes complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors and the storage section is read by precharging the control section to a virtual drain voltage.
US08605515B2 Memory devices and their operation with different sets of logical erase blocks
Methods of operating memory devices include storing data of a first type in a first set of logical erase blocks and storing data of a second type in a second set of logical erase blocks. The logical erase blocks of the first set of logical erase blocks each have a first size the logical erase blocks of the second set of logical erase blocks each have a second size different than the first size.
US08605510B2 Flash memory device and method of verifying the same including a compensated erase verify voltage
Provided are a flash memory device and a method of verifying the same. The flash memory device includes: a memory cell for storing data; a sense amplifier for reading information of the memory cell; a load current input device for providing a load current to the sense amplifier; and a control circuit for controlling the load current input device to provide a load current during a memory cell reading operation, verifying the memory cell by using a program verify voltage if the memory cell is a programmed memory cell, and verifying the memory cell by using a compensated erase verify voltage if the memory cell is an erased memory cell.
US08605509B2 Data line management in a memory device
Methods for programming a memory device, memory devices configured to perform the disclosed programming methods, and memory systems having a memory device configured to perform the disclosed programming methods are provided. According to at least one such method, multiple pages of memory cells are inhibited during a programming operation such that memory cells enabled for programming are separated by two or more inhibited memory cells of the same row of memory cells regardless of the intended pattern of data states to be programmed into that row of memory cells.
US08605506B2 Three dimensional stacked nonvolatile semiconductor memory
A three dimensional stacked nonvolatile semiconductor memory according to an example of the present invention includes a memory cell array comprised of first and second blocks disposed side by side in a first direction, and a driver disposed on one end of the memory cell array in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. First select gate lines in the first block and first select gate lines in the second block are connected to the driver after they are commonly connected in one end in the second direction of the memory cell array in a relation of one to one.
US08605504B2 Memory system
According to the embodiments, a memory system includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory and a writing-loop-count monitoring unit that monitors a loop count of an applied voltage to the nonvolatile semiconductor memory required for data writing of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory as a writing loop count. Moreover, the memory system includes a management table for managing the writing loop count in block unit that is a unit of data erasing and a life managing unit that determines a degraded state of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory based on the management table.
US08605502B1 Systems and methods of updating read voltages
A method includes, in a data storage device that includes a non-volatile memory, reading first data values from memory elements of the non-volatile memory using a set of reference voltages that includes a first reference voltage, and determining a first error count associated with the first reference voltage. The method includes reading second data values from the group of memory elements using a set of modified reference voltages that includes a modified first reference voltage, and determining a modified error count associated with the modified first reference voltage. The method includes updating the set of reference voltages to include the first reference voltage or the modified first reference voltage based on a comparison of the error count to the modified error count.
US08605500B2 Multilevel nonvolatile semiconductor memory system
According to one embodiment, a system includes a memory, a controller which controls an operation of the memory in a data program, and data bus which connects the memory to the controller. The memory comprises a memory cell array with memory cells which have a bit assignment to 2x (x is an integer number of 3 or more) threshold distributions, each memory cell storing x bits, and a control circuit which controls the data program of x bits to the memory cells. The controller comprises a first step generating y bit (y is an integer number and y
US08605496B2 Semiconductor memory device for writing data to multiple cells simultaneously and refresh method thereof
A semiconductor memory device includes a read/write bit line configured to supply a cell driving voltage. A selecting unit is connected to the read/write bit line and is controlled by a word line. A plurality of cells are connected between the selecting unit and a source line, and the cells are configured to read and write data according to a cell driving voltage. Each switching element of a plurality of switching elements are connected in parallel with a single cell of the plurality of cells, and the plurality of switching elements are controlled selectively by a plurality of bit lines.
US08605495B2 Isolation device free memory
An integrated circuit memory is based on isolation device free memory cells. The memory cells are passively coupled to bit lines and word lines. The memory cells include an anti-fuse element and an element of phase change material in series. A rupture filament through the anti-fuse layer acts as an electrode for the phase change element. Control circuitry is configured to apply bias arrangements for operation of the memory cells, including a first write bias arrangement to induce a volume of the higher resistivity phase in the phase change material establishing a first threshold for the selected memory cell below a read threshold, a second write bias arrangement to induce a larger volume of the higher resistivity phase in phase change material establishing a second threshold for the selected memory cell above the read threshold, and a read bias arrangement to apply the read threshold to the selected memory cell.
US08605491B2 Multiple-port SRAM device
A static random access memory (SRAM) cell having a dedicated read port separated from a write port comprises a first and a second bit-line placed in parallel forming a complimentary bit-line pair for the dedicated read port, a first and second metal line adjacently flanking in both side of and in parallel to the first bit-line, the first and second metal line being formed in the same metal layer as the first bit-line and having a first and second predetermined distance to the first bit-line, respectively, and a third and fourth metal line adjacently flanking in both side of and in parallel to the second bit-line, the third and fourth metal line being formed in the same metal layer as the second bit-line and having a third and fourth predetermined distance to the second bit-line, respectively, wherein the first predetermined distance is equal to the third distance and the second predetermined distance is equal to the fourth distance for keeping the first and second bit-lines having balanced capacitance loading.
US08605490B2 Non-volatile SRAM cell that incorporates phase-change memory into a CMOS process
A SRAM cell having two cross-coupled inverters formed by CMOS technology and first and second chalcogenic elements integrated with the SRAM cell to add nonvolatile properties to the storage cell. The PCM resistors are programmed to the SET state and the RESET state, and upon power-up the SRAM cell takes on the data contained in the PCM cells.
US08605483B2 Memristive device and methods of making and using the same
A memristive device is disclosed herein. The device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and an active region disposed between the first and second electrodes. At least two mobile species are present in the active region. Each of the at least two mobile species is configured to define a separate state variable of the memristive device.
US08605474B2 Semiconductor memory device, method of controlling read preamble signal thereof, and data transmission system
A semiconductor memory device, includes a clock terminal provided to receive a clock signal, a data terminal provided to transfer a data therethrough in synchronization with the clock signal, a strobe terminal provided to be related in the data terminal and to transfer a strobe signal therethrough, a command terminal provided to receive a command that communicates the data with an outside thereof, and an address terminal provided to be supplied an information specifying a length of a preamble of the strobe signal from an outside of the semiconductor memory device, prior to communicating the data.
US08605470B2 Power converter performing soft switching
A power converter converts DC power supplied from a first DC power supply and a second DC power supply into AC power and supplies the AC power to a load. The power converter includes a protection circuit for allowing a charging current, which is possibly to flow from the first DC power supply and the second DC power supply to a first snubber capacitor or a second snubber capacitor, to flow to another current path, when a voltage applied to the first snubber capacitor becomes a predetermined value or more or when a voltage applied to the second snubber capacitor becomes a predetermined value or more.
US08605449B2 Electronic control unit
An electronic control unit, has a casing accommodating a printed circuit board. The casing has a molded plastic intermediate structure having a frame. Two electrically conductive members are partially embedded in the intermediate structure during the course of molding and are connected to the printed circuit board forming output terminals of the control unit. Two flexible conductors, provided with corresponding electrically insulating coverings, connect the control unit to an apparatus to be controlled. Each conductor has an end permanently connected to a respective one of the conductive members and the connection between the conductors and the conductive members are covered and sealed in a fluid-tight way by an electrically insulating material.
US08605446B2 Electronic apparatus
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a housing, a board in the housing, a pad on the board, and a component. The pad includes a first portion and a second portion. The second portion includes a protrusion toward the first portion. The component includes a first electrode connected to the first portion and a second electrode connected to the second portion.
US08605443B2 Vibration absorbing device and server with the same
A vibration absorbing device includes a main board having a pole, a first retaining board fixed to the main board, a second retaining board fixed to the first retaining board opposite to the main board, a loading board including a main body and a flange protruding from the main body, an elastic element located between the pole and the main body. A sliding groove and a compartment are both defined between the first retaining board and the second retaining board, the flange is located but slidable in the sliding groove, the main body is located in the compartment. The loading board can slide in the sliding groove in compliance with shocks or vibration, while the elastic element deforms and releases to absorb the motion of the loading board.
US08605433B2 Electronic device
An electronic device is provided, which includes a display, a housing and a supporting structure. The display is disposed in the housing and a side of the housing opposite to the display has a storeroom. The supporting structure is disposed at the storeroom and has a flexible sheet, a first supporting-part and a second supporting-part. One end of the flexible sheet is fixed to the storeroom, the first supporting-part and the second supporting-part are respectively disposed at the flexible sheet, and the second supporting-part is bent relatively to the first supporting-part through the flexible sheet so as to provide the housing with a supporting force.
US08605429B2 All in one computer
An all in one computer includes an enclosure and a support module attached to the enclosure. The support module includes a leg stand rotatably attached to a rear panel of the enclosure about an axis perpendicular to the rear panel. The leg stand includes a shorter base and a longer base. An operation opening is defined in the leg stand and located adjacent to the longer base. The leg stand is rotatable between a first position where the longer base faces downward to support the enclosure, and a second position where the longer base faces upwards for facilitating using the operation opening to carry the all in one computer.
US08605426B2 Heat dissipation in computing device
A computing device is disclosed. The computing device includes a shock mount assembly that is configured to provide impact absorption to sensitive components such as a display and an optical disk drive. The computing device also includes an enclosureless optical disk drive that is housed by an enclosure and other structures of the computing device. The computing device further includes a heat transfer system that removes heat from a heat producing element of the computing device. The heat transfer system is configured to thermally couple the heat producing element to a structural member of the computing device so as to sink heat through the structural member, which generally has a large surface area for dissipating the heat.
US08605418B2 Two-axis hinge and mobile device
A two-axis hinge unit is provided with a first rotating shaft that rotates so as to open in the vertical direction from a folded state with a first casing and a second casing overlapping and a second rotating shaft that rotates so as to open in the horizontal direction from a folded state with the first casing and the second casing overlapping, and is provided with a restriction member positioned between the first rotating shaft and the second rotating shaft that, when one of the rotating shafts is in a predetermined rotational position, is pressed by this one rotating shaft and engages with the other rotating shaft, thereby restricting rotation of that other rotating shaft.
US08605414B2 Disaster resistant server enclosure with cold thermal storage device and server cooling device
A disaster resistant server enclosure is provided. A fire resistant outer enclosure is provided, and may be made of gypsum. A water resistant, thermally conductive container is mounted within the outer enclosure. A server is mounted within the water resistant container. A cold thermal storage device, such as a block of ice, is also mounted within an insulating cover inside said outer enclosure. When a fire is sensed outside the outer enclosure, an actuator thermally connects the cold thermal storage device to the water resistant container to cool the server during the fire.
US08605413B2 Electronic device housing and manufacturing method thereof
An electronic device housing includes a bottom housing, a support plate, a display panel, and a side frame. The support frame is welded in the bottom housing. The display panel is positioned on the support plate. The side frame is connected to a top edge of the bottom housing, such that the display panel is sandwiched between the support plate and the side frame. A manufacturing method for an electronic device housing is also provided.
US08605410B2 Thin-film capacitor and manufacturing method thereof
To provide a thin-film capacitor capable of improving the stability of electric connection between an internal electrode layer and a connection electrode. The thin-film capacitor comprises: two or more dielectric layers deposited above a base electrode; an internal electrode layer being deposited between the dielectric layers and having a projecting portion which projects from the dielectric layer when seen from a laminating direction; and a connection electrode electrically connected to the internal electrode layer via at least a part of a surface and an end face of the internal electrode layer included in the projecting portion, wherein a ratio L/t between a projection amount L of the projecting portion of the internal electrode layer with respect to the dielectric layer and a thickness t of the internal electrode layer is 0.5 to 120.
US08605408B2 Power semiconductor device for igniter
A power semiconductor device for an igniter comprises: a first semiconductor switching device; and an integrated circuit, wherein the integrated circuit includes: a second semiconductor switching device connected in parallel with the first semiconductor switching device and having a smaller current capacity than a current capacity of the first semiconductor switching device; a delay circuit delaying a control input signal so that the second semiconductor switching device is energized prior to the first semiconductor switching device; a third semiconductor switching device including a thyristor structure connected to a high voltage side main terminal of the second semiconductor switching device and being made conductive by a part of a main current flowing through the energized second semiconductor switching device; and a first excess voltage detection circuit stopping the first semiconductor switching device when voltage on the high voltage side main terminal is equal to or more than a predetermined voltage.
US08605407B2 Low maintenance AC gas flow driven static neutralizer and method
A low maintenance AC gas-flow driven static neutralizer, comprising at least one emitter and at least one reference electrode; a power supply having an output electrically coupled to the emitter(s) and a reference terminal electrically coupled to the reference electrode(s) with the power supply disposed to produce an output waveform that creates ions by corona discharge and to produce an electrical field when this output waveform is applied to the emitter(s); a gas flow source disposed to produce a gas flow across a first region that includes these generated ions and the emitter(s), the gas flow including a flow velocity; and wherein, during a first time duration, the output waveform decreases an electrical force created by the electrical field, enabling the gas flow to carry away from the emitter(s) a contamination particle that may be located within a second region surrounding the emitter(s), and to minimize a likelihood of the contamination particle from accumulating on the emitter(s). The first region may include the second region.
US08605405B2 Method and circuit for increasing the speed of electromechanical output on a protective relay
A method of increasing speed of an electro-mechanical relay provides an electro-mechanical relay having a coil and at least one contact. A first resistor and a second resistor are each in series with the coil, with the second resistor being in parallel with a first switch. A voltage is provided to the first switch, with the first switch being ON, thereby shorting out the second resistor and providing a first current through the first resistor and to the coil, to move the contact to a closed position. After a certain amount of time, the first switch is turned OFF so that a second current is provided through the first and second resistors and to the coil, maintaining the contact in the closed position.
US08605401B2 Systems and methods for securing a programmable device against an over-voltage attack
Systems and methods are disclosed for securing a programmable integrated circuit device against an over-voltage attack. Generally, programmable devices, such as FPGAs, contain volatile memory registers that may store sensitive information. To prevent tampering and/or reverse engineering of such a programmable device, an over-voltage detection circuit may be employed to disable the device and/or erase the sensitive information stored on the device when an over-voltage attack is suspected. In particular, once the over-voltage detection circuit detects that the voltage applied to the programmable device exceeds a trigger voltage, it may cause logic circuitry to erase the sensitive information stored on the device. Desirably, the over-voltage detection circuit includes components arranged in such a way as to render current consumption negligible when the voltage applied to the programmable device, e.g., by a battery, remains below the trigger voltage.
US08605399B2 Load driving device
A load driving device according to an aspect of the present invention may includes an output transistor and a load connected in series between first and second power supply lines, a protection transistor connected between a gate of the output transistor and the second power supply line, the protection transistor turning on the output transistor when a polarity of a power supply connected between the first and second power supply lines is reversed, and a resistor arranged on a line, which supplies a voltage to a back gate of the protection transistor.
US08605395B1 Dual plug adapter and household high current apparatus
The adapter is a circuit that allows the combination of two plugs on a standard duplex receptacle to be connected to a single electrical load. Each plug's hot and neutral outputs are controlled by a single throw electrical switch that is actuated by it's control input being transversely wired in parallel to the other plug. This arrangement doubles the connection's surface contact area since four prongs are used instead of two, thereby lowering the electrical resistance and increasing the current capacity. It has circuit protective devices wired in series between the hot output of each plug and the input of it's corresponding electrical switch. The circuit will not power up if a short, open or miss wired condition is encountered.
US08605390B2 Head gimbal assembly having plurality of terminals and disk drive with the same
According to one embodiment, a head gimbal assembly includes a suspension, a head, and a conductor trace on the suspension, including one end portion electrically connected to the head and the other end portion includes a terminal area. The conductor trace includes a thin metal plate, a base insulating layer on the thin metal plate, a trace pattern on the base insulating layer, including a plurality of conductors and a plurality of first and second connection terminals continuous with the conductors, and a cover insulating layer on the base insulating layer, configured to cover the trace pattern. The terminal area includes an opening including two opposite side edges, the first connection terminals extend into the opening from one of the side edges thereof, and the second connection terminals extend into the opening from the other side edge thereof.
US08605384B1 Disk drive performing lifetime logging of microactuator sensitivity
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head, a disk surface, and a voice coil motor (VCM) and a microactuator operable to actuate the head over the disk surface. A sensitivity of the microactuator is periodically measured over a lifetime of the microactuator. Each measured sensitivity is stored in a timeline log, wherein the timeline log represents a degradation curve of the microactuator over the lifetime of the microactuator.
US08605371B2 Miniature zoom lens
A Miniature zoom lens, in particular for use in mobile telephones, in which the zoom lens, as viewed from the object plane, has the following in the stated sequence: at least one negative first optical lens group, at least one negative second optical lens group, at least one positive third optical lens group, and at least one positive fourth optical lens group. The second, third, and fourth optical lens groups are configured in such a way that focusing is achieved solely by displacement of the fourth optical lens group, and during the focusing the positions of the second and third lens groups remain unchanged.
US08605370B2 Imaging lens, optical apparatus equipped therewith, and method for manufacturing imaging lens
An imaging lens, an optical apparatus equipped therewith, and a method for manufacturing the imaging lens are disclosed. An imaging lens consists of, in order from an object, a front group having negative power, and a rear group including a sub-lens group having negative power. At least a portion of the sub-lens group is movable in a direction including a component substantially perpendicular to an optical axis. The sub-lens group includes, in order from the object, a first negative component having negative power, a second negative component having negative power and a positive component having positive power. The shape of an air lens formed by the first negative component and the second negative component is a double convex shape. An antireflection coating is applied on at least one optical surface of the front group, and the antireflection coating including at least one layer formed by use of a wet process.
US08605369B2 Projection lens system with high resolution and compact size
A projection lens system includes, in order from the magnified side to the reduced side thereof, a first lens group with negative refractive power, and a second lens group with a positive refracting power. The first lens group includes a first lens having a negative refracting power. The projection lens system satisfies the following condition: 4.5<|F1|/F<6; wherein F1 is the effective focal length of the first lens; F is the effective focal length of the projection lens system.
US08605363B2 Internal focusing lens
An internal focusing lens includes sequentially from an object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power; a second lens group having a negative refractive power; and a third lens group having a positive refractive power. During focusing, the second lens group is moved along the optical axis and, the first lens group and the third lens group are fixed. The internal focusing lens satisfies a conditional expression (1) 0.31
US08605362B2 Zoom lens system, optical apparatus and method for manufacturing zoom lens system
A zoom lens system includes, in order from an object side: a first lens group having positive refractive power; a second lens group having negative refractive power; a third lens group having positive refractive power; a fourth lens group having negative refractive power; and a fifth lens group having positive refractive power. Upon zooming from a wide-angle end state to a telephoto end state, a position of the first lens group is fixed. At least a portion of any one of the lens groups is moved in a direction including a component perpendicular to an optical axis, and a given conditional expression is satisfied, thereby providing a zoom lens system capable of excellently suppressing variation in aberrations upon zooming and upon correcting an image blur, an optical apparatus including the zoom lens system, and a method for manufacturing the zoom lens system.
US08605354B2 Color display devices
The present invention is directed to a color display comprising an electrophoretic fluid comprising two types of pigment particles of contrasting colors and carrying opposite charge polarities dispersed in a clear and colorless solvent, wherein said electrophoretic fluid is sandwiched between a common electrode and a plurality of colored sub-pixel electrodes or colored pixel electrodes.
US08605350B2 Tunable photovoltaic electrochromic device and module
A tunable photovoltaic electrochromic (PV-EC) device and module are provided. The device includes a transparent substrate, a thin film solar cell on the transparent substrate, a transparent conductive layer located on the transparent substrate beside the thin film solar cell, an EC material covering an exposed surface of the transparent conductive layer and the thin film solar cell, a switching apparatus, and a charge-discharge device coupled to the switching apparatus. The transparent conductive layer and a cathode layer of the thin film solar cell respectively serve as the anode and the cathode of the EC material simultaneously. The switching apparatus is electrically connected to the transparent conductive layer and electrically connected to the anode layer and the cathode layer of the thin film solar cell. The switching apparatus enters a control mode through a switch control signal.
US08605338B2 User feedback via see through platen overlay
A printing system and apparatus assembly that incorporates a transparent platen for supporting and scanning a first image therethrough. The transparent platen includes a translucent display layer having an array of light devices that comprise organic light emitting diodes. A user interface of the system is coupled to the transparent platen with a processor. Based on input and/or data provided at the user interface, an image is displayed through the platen with the display layer.
US08605332B2 Image processing method and apparatus
An image processing method (300) for converting an original image (601) into a final, pixelated image (610) suitable for printing on a printer arranged to print two-tone images and capable of printing partial area exposed pixels, comprises antialiasing (301) the original image (601) into an intermediate pixelated image (605) comprising greyscale pixels having assigned greyscale values. The method comprises the further-step, of translating (302) the intermediate image (605) into the final, pixelated image (610) by translating the assigned greyscale values into partial exposure values indicative of the amount of desired pixel area for a corresponding pixel or pixels in the final image.
US08605329B2 CMYK color conversion using iterative coordinate revision
Systems and methods for color conversion from one CMYK color space to another CMYK color space. The system receives a color defined by a first coordinate in the first CMYK color space. The system converts the color to a second coordinate for the second CMYK color space, and determines a location in a perceptual color space for each of the first coordinate and the second coordinate. The system further identifies a distance between the locations in the perceptual color space, and reduces the distance in the perceptual color space between the two locations by iteratively revising the second coordinate in the second CMYK color space while holding the black level of the second coordinate constant.
US08605328B2 Image processing system and image processing method
An image processing system includes an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus that are connected via a network. The information processing apparatus receives inputs designating scan setting and a layout method, and transmits the scan setting and the layout method to the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus reads an original document according to the scan setting, outputs image data, extracts a content from the image data according to the layout method, and transmits the content to the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus determines, according to the layout method, a layout of the content on a page, arranges the content on the page according to the layout, and generates the drawing data. The image forming apparatus forms an image on a sheet of paper corresponding to the page according to drawing data.
US08605327B2 Image forming apparatus and color correcting method thereof, and host apparatus to correct the color of an output image using the same
An image forming apparatus and a color correction method, and a host apparatus to correct the color of an output image using the color correction method. The image forming apparatus can include a table correction unit to correct the color conversion table based on monitor information, and a color conversion unit to convert the input image into the output image using the corrected color conversion table. Accordingly, the color of a displayed image can match that of a print output regardless of the status of the display apparatus.
US08605326B2 Print control apparatus, printing apparatus, print control method and computer readable medium storing program for controlling parallel print processing
A print control apparatus includes: plural drawing processing units capable of drawing processing on print information having plural print basic colors; an analysis unit that analyzes information contents of the print information; and a selection unit that selects whether the drawing processing on the print information is performed by the drawing processing units in parallel by a predetermined unit of information amount or in parallel by each of the plural print basic colors, based on a result of analysis by the analysis unit.
US08605320B2 Method for setting storage time for print jobs and memory management in printing apparatus
A printing apparatus includes: a receiving section which receives a print data from the external apparatus; a storage section in which the print data received by the receiving section is stored; an input section which receives from a user a print instruction for printing based on the print data stored in the storage section; a print section which performs the printing of the image on the recording medium based on the print data stored in the storage section in a case that the input section receives the print instruction from the user; and a controller which controls the storage section and which calculates and sets for the print data stored in the storage section a storage time-period within which the print data is storable in the storage section.
US08605303B2 Content-aware image quality defect detection in printed documents
A method has been developed for detecting defects in printed images. The method includes operating a printer to print a first printed image and a second image, where the second image is a duplicate of the first printed image. The method further includes generating image data that correspond to the first printed image and the second printed image, and identifying image defects using differences between the image data generated for the first image and the image data generated for the second image.
US08605301B2 Image processing apparatus, image processing system, and computer program product
An image processing apparatus includes a reading unit, an acquiring unit, a transmission control unit, and a printing control unit. The reading unit reads images of multiple pages of originals. The acquiring unit acquires device information from connected child devices. The transmission control unit determines a child device which takes charge of part of a printing process of the read images and images to be transmitted to the child device based on the acquired device information, and transmits the determined images to the determined child device. The printing control unit determines printing order according to the acquired device information, and transmits an instruction to print the images in the determined printing order to the child device.
US08605300B2 Image forming apparatus with turnable image reading part and suspending mechanism
Am MFP (100) is provided with: a casing (22) which is turnably supported at a turning support point (25) to an apparatus main body (40) and which stores an image reading part (20) capable of optically reading a document; and an outer cover (23) which is turnably supported at a turning support point (21) to the apparatus main body (40) and which has a top surface (23a) opposing a bottom surface (66) of the casing (22) and a bottom surface (23b) covering image forming means, and is provided with a suspending mechanism that opens and closes the outer cover (23) in conjunction with opening and closing operation of the casing (22), and the turning support point (21) of the outer cover (23) is arranged with a distance from the turning support point (25) of the casing (22) toward a turning end of the casing (22).
US08605288B2 Optical system for creating interference between photons
An optical system including: a photon source; first directing elements configured to direct photons to follow a first path through the optical system; second directing elements configured to direct photons to follow a second path through the optical system, wherein the second path is the reverse of the first path, photons travelling through the first path having a different polarization to those travelling through the second path; and a mechanism varying the relative phase shift between photons following the first path and photons following the second path.
US08605282B2 Method and apparatus for high precision spectroscopy
The invention provides spectroscopy apparatuses and methods allowing precise overlapping between circularly polarized pump beam and a counter propagating linearly polarized probe beams in a sample which presents unique advantages for precision spectroscopy. In general, the apparatus comprises a phase retarding element with which by double pass by retro reflection of an incident beam turn linearly polarized light to circular and vice versa. This unique configuration enable to design a compact and miniature apparatus which may be applied for measuring polarization spectroscopy, nonlinear optical rotation and coherent population trapping phenomena with certain advantages resulting from the unique optical arrangement. The design of the apparatus further facilitates integration and scaling to produce arrays of units which may be particularly useful for magnetometry applications. Other important applications of the invention include laser frequency stabilization and atomic clocks.
US08605268B2 Multi-channel sensor for measuring colorants of prints
A sensor used for determining area coverages of each colorant in a printed image is provided. The sensor includes a plurality of sensing elements for determining area coverages of each colorant in a printed image that includes a plurality of colorants including a black colorant. One of the sensing elements is an infrared sensing element configured to measure infrared reflection, and the others of the sensing elements are each configured to detect a visible color.
US08605264B2 Apparatus and method for quantifying residual stress of a birefringent material
An apparatus for quantifying residual stress of a birefringent material comprises a light source generating light; a vertical polarizer converting a beam of light into a beam with vertical polarization; a standard material being mounted in front of the vertical polarizer; a horizontal polarizer converting a beam of light into a beam with horizontal polarization; an applied force unit applying different forces to the standard material; a spectrometer being mounted in front of the horizontal polarizer and recording intensity of light passing through the horizontal polarizer and transmittance of the standard material and a processing module being connected to the spectrometer, deriving a stress formula from the applied forces and transmittances of the standard material and obtaining a stress distribution of the birefringent material. A method for quantifying residual stress of a birefringent material is also disclosed.
US08605262B2 Time shifted PN codes for CW LiDAR, radar, and sonar
A continuous wave Light Detection and Ranging (CW LiDAR) system utilizes two or more laser frequencies and time or range shifted pseudorandom noise (PN) codes to discriminate between the laser frequencies. The performance of these codes can be improved by subtracting out the bias before processing. The CW LiDAR system may be mounted to an artificial satellite orbiting the earth, and the relative strength of the return signal for each frequency can be utilized to determine the concentration of selected gases or other substances in the atmosphere.
US08605259B2 Range finder
A laser range finder 100 includes: a light source 10 emitting light from a linear light-emitting portion 10a with making a divergent angle of the light larger in a transversal direction of the light-emitting portion 10a than in a longitudinal direction thereof; an objective lens 30 projecting the light onto a target object and converging reflection light; a partial reflection member 20 disposed between the light source and the objective lens and having a partial reflection surface 21 composed of a transmitting area 21a transmitting light emitted from the light source and receiving areas 21b reflecting reflection light; and a photodetector 40 detecting the reflection light reflected by the receiving areas; wherein the light source and the partial reflection member are disposed with making the longitudinal direction of the light-emitting portion 10a disposed substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the transmitting area 21a as seen along an optical axis.
US08605257B2 Projection system with compensation of intensity variations and compensation element therefor
In a projection objective for imaging a pattern arranged in the object plane of the projection objective into the image plane of the projection objective, at least one optical component is provided which has a substrate in which at least one substrate surface is covered with an interference layer system having a great spatial modulation of the reflectance and/or of the transmittance over a usable cross section of the optical component, the modulation being adapted to a spatial transmission distribution of the remaining components of the projection objective in such a way that an intensity distribution of the radiation that is measured in a pupil surface has a substantially reduced spatial modulation in comparison with a projection objective without the interference layer system.
US08605256B2 Multi-photon exposure system
An exposure system includes a light source emitting a beam along an optical axis that is capable of inducing a multi-photon reaction in a resin. The exposure system further includes a resin undergoing multiphoton reaction, as well as an automated system including a monitor that measures at least one property of the beam selected from power, pulse length, shape, divergence, or position in a plane normal to the optical axis. The monitor generates at least one signal indicative of the property of the beam, and a sub-system adjusts the beam in response to the signal from the monitor.
US08605255B2 Imaging optical system and projection exposure system including the same
An imaging optical system has a plurality of mirrors. These image an object field in an object plane into an image field in an image plane. In the imaging optical system, the ratio of a maximum angle of incidence of imaging light) on reflection surfaces of the mirrors and an image-side numerical aperture of the imaging optical system is less than 33.8°. This can result in an imaging optical system which offers good conditions for a reflective coating of the mirror, with which a low reflection loss can be achieved for imaging light when passing through the imaging optical system, in particular even at wavelengths in the EUV range of less than 10 nm.
US08605253B2 Lithographic projection objective
Projection objectives, related systems and components, and methods are disclosed. The methods include providing a projection objective of a lithography projection exposure apparatus, where the projection objective includes a plurality of optical elements between an object plane of the projection objective and an image plane of the projection objective, and the plurality of optical elements includes a first optical element having a refractive power and being disposed in the projection objective at a first location. The methods also include removing the first optical element from the projection objective, and inserting a first spare optical element into the projection objective at the first location, where the removing and inserting steps are performed at a location of use of the lithography projection exposure apparatus in a lithography process.
US08605248B2 Exposure method and lithography system
In the case where the previous process (X) and the previous process (Y) are different in step 310, only a distortion amount in an X-axis direction is extracted from image distortion data of the previous process (X) in Step 316 and only a distortion amount in a Y-axis direction is extracted from image distortion data of the previous process (Y) in Step 318, and then in Step 320, image distortion data is created by synthesizing the extracted distortion amounts, and the synthesized image distortion data is used for subsequent adjustment of projected images. With this operation, the distortion of projected images can be adjusted per axis and accordingly overlay exposure with high accuracy can be realized.
US08605237B2 Color filter and liquid crystal display device, and exposure mask
A color filter which is able to form a liquid crystal display device that has few variation in display caused due to difference in exposure illuminance among exposure heads and/or misalignment in pattern position, and that is excellent in display quality, and an exposure mask used for producing the color filter are provided. A color filter 1 includes: a substrate 2; black matrixes 3 provided on the substrate 2; and a plurality of colored layers 4 which partially overlap the black matrixes 3 in at least a first direction. The widths of overlap portions 5 in which the black matrixes 3 and the colored layers 4 overlap each other in the first direction are varied over the entirety of a display area, and the degree of the variation is uniformly distributed over the entirety of the display area. As a result, even if the sizes of the overlap portions 5 are partially varied due to misalignment in position of the exposure heads and/or change of exposure condition, the partial variation is blended into the variation of the widths distributed over the entirety of the display area, so that a varied state can be prevented from becoming conspicuous as a whole.
US08605235B2 Display device and method of measuring surface structure thereof
A display device and a method of measuring a surface structure of the same are provided. The display device includes first and second substrates, first and second patterned light-shielding layers, and first and second pixel units. The first patterned light-shielding layer disposed on a surface of the first substrate includes first openings. The second patterned light-shielding layer disposed on the surface of the first substrate in the first patterned light-shielding layer includes second openings. The first pixel unit includes first and second protrusions. The first protrusion correspondingly covers the first openings and a portion of the first patterned light-shielding layer. The second protrusion is disposed in the first and second patterned light-shielding layers. The second pixel unit includes a third protrusion correspondingly covering the second openings and a portion of the second patterned light-shielding layer, wherein sizes of the second openings are smaller than sizes of the first openings.
US08605222B2 Receiver device, tuner, and television receiver
A receiver device is provided singly capable of applying demodulator circuits with differing frequency characteristics with respective signals of desired frequencies for the demodulator circuits. The receiver device in accordance with the present invention switches between a mode in which a digital signal having a frequency suitable for various signal processes is supplied to a DA converter and a mode in which a digital signal for which the IF frequency is about 30 MHz to 60 MHz is supplied to the DA converter, by using a switch and a wire.
US08605218B2 Home audio video display device (AVDD) as sensor monitor
An audio video display device (AVDD) system includes a display, a processor controlling the display, and a computer readable storage medium accessible to the processor and programmed with instructions. The instructions cause the processor to establish communication with at least one sensor. The instructions then cause the processor to receive information from the sensor conforming to an application programming interface (API) provided by a manufacturer of the AVDD to an entity affiliated with the sensor, or sent from the AVDD to the sensor. Thereafter, the instructions cause the processor to present the information from the sensor on the display in accordance with the API.
US08605213B2 Camera module
The present disclosure relates to a camera module including a fixture; a moving part centrally coupled with a lens and arranged to move relative to the fixture; three or more magnets arranged at a periphery of the moving part; and three or more coils arranged from an inner surface of the fixture to areas opposite to the three or more magnets, where each of the coils independently receives a control signal so that the moving part moves to a height direction and tilted relative to a central axis of the moving part, whereby a lens can be axially moved and tilted at the same time using arrangement of a single set of coils and magnets.
US08605212B2 Solid-state image sensing device having a reduced size and method for fabricating the same
A solid-state image sensing element (1) has a main face provided with an imaging region (1a) in which unit pixels containing photoelectric conversion elements are formed in matrix. Peripheral circuit elements (3, 4) are configured to control imaging operation of the solid-state image sensing element (1) or to perform signal processing of an image output of the solid-state image sensing element (1). The imaging region (1a) is covered with a transparent material (2). The peripheral circuit elements (3, 4) are mounted to a region of the main face of the solid-state image sensing element (1) except for the imaging region (1a) such that main faces of the peripheral circuit elements (3, 4) face the main face of the solid-state image sensing element (1).
US08605209B2 Hurricane damage recording camera system
A storm damage monitoring system, including: a low-lux video camera, a digital video recording device, and a power storage container, disposed on a guided slide. Further included is a sealable housing that includes an optical window on one side and a sealing cap disposable on an opposite side, the sealing cap removable to receive the guided slide inside the housing. The optical window and the camera are positioned and arranged for the camera to capture images through the optical window when the guided slide is received by the housing. Further included is a mounting plate, a first and a second anchoring strap, a first and a second U-bolt for securing the sealable housing to the mounting plate, a stabilizer chain, and a location tracking device disposed in the housing. The camera and digital video recording device are configured to run autonomously upon sealing inside the housing.
US08605205B2 Display as lighting for photos or video
A system and method are disclosed for using one or more displays as a lighting source to illuminate a field of view captured by an image capture device. An image capture engine may be provided for ensuring synchronization of the one or more displays with the image capture device so that the one or more displays may be illuminated concurrently with capturing the image by the image capture device. In one example, the image capture engine flashes the display to white light for capture of a single frame of image data.
US08605203B2 Auto-focusing camera module and imaging method using same
An auto-focusing camera module includes a lens module, an image sensor, a color separation unit, a main processor unit, an image processing unit and an OIS unit. The lens module captures an image of object. The image sensor senses the image captured by the lens module. The color separation unit separates the image into red, green and blue colors. The main processor unit calculates MTF values of the image and determines a shooting mode of the auto-focusing camera. The image processing unit processes the image according to the MTF values to compensate for blurring of the image caused by being out of focus. The driving unit drives the lens module to focus the image on the image sensor according to MTF values. The OIS unit detects shaking before shooting and drives the lens module to compensate for the detected shaking.
US08605200B2 Optical apparatus and image-pickup system
An optical apparatus includes a calculator that calculates a position of a focus lens for focusing on a subject, a setter that sets a permissible movable range of the focus lens, and a controller that sets, when the position of the focus lens calculated by the calculator is within the permissible movable range, the position to a target position to which the focus lens is moved. The setter redefines the permissible movable range based on position information showing one of the target position and a position of the focus lens after a movement of the focus lens toward the target position. The optical apparatus suppresses a focusing operation for a subject for which an operator does not intend to perform focusing.
US08605198B2 Imaging device
An imaging device for an imaging apparatus adapted to image an object through an image formation lens includes: a light receiving section having a plurality of light receiving elements; a microlens section having a plurality of microlenses respectively provided corresponding to a plurality of the light receiving elements to make the corresponding light receiving elements receive an object light beam that passed through the image formation lens; a control section adapted to control shapes of the plurality of the microlenses so as to control pupil regions in an exit pupil of the image formation lens that pass a light beam that should be received by each of the plurality of the light receiving elements; and an image signal generation section adapted to generate an image signal of an image of the object based on imaging signals of the plurality of the light receiving elements.
US08605197B2 Imaging apparatus
An imaging apparatus, including: an image formation lens having focal lengths different in every region; a light receiving section having light receiving elements; optical elements corresponding to a plurality of the light receiving elements to make the corresponding light receiving elements receive an object light beam that passed through predetermined pupil regions in an exit pupil of the image formation lens; and an image generation section, wherein in the case of selecting, for generation of the image of the object, any one of the pupil regions in the exit pupil through which an object light beam passes, the image generation section selects, based on an object distance and focal lengths each corresponding to a plurality of the pupil regions of the exit pupil, at least one of the pupil regions through which an object light beam that forms an image at a position of the light receiving section passes.
US08605191B2 Imaging device
An imaging device includes: an image sensor that captures a subject image at predetermined intervals and outputs image data sequentially; and a file generation unit that records a plurality of pieces of moving image data with different pixel decimation factors from the image data, which are moving image data being generated from the image data as a common source, and information indicating a correspondence relation between a reproduction time of moving image data and moving image data to be reproduced and displayed.
US08605186B2 Video format conversion without a flicker for the solid imaging apparatus
In an imaging apparatus which subjects signal electric charges of photodiodes of IT-CCD for interlaced scanning of 1080 effective scanning lines to vertical pixel addition to be read out as image signals, at least one of vertical transfer at the last horizontal period and horizontal transfer at half period in reading of pixels is stopped while fixing pairs of vertical pixels to be subjected to vertical pixel addition to be read out as image signals of progressive scanning of 540 effective scanning lines from the CCD and the read-out image signals of 540 effective scanning lines are subjected to scanning line conversion of 3 to 4 to be converted into image signals of progressive scanning of 720 effective scanning lines, the image signals of progressive scanning of 720 effective scanning lines being outputted.
US08605175B2 Solid-state image capturing device including a photochromic film having a variable light transmittance, and electronic device including the solid-state image capturing device
A solid-state image capturing device includes: a semiconductor substrate having a photosensitive surface including a matrix of pixels as respective photoelectric converters; and a photochromic film disposed in a light path through which light is applied to each of the photoelectric converters, the photochromic film being made of a photochromic material having a light transmittance variable depending on the intensity of applied light in a predetermined wavelength range; wherein the light transmittance has a half-value period shorter than one frame during which pixel signals generated by the pixels are read from all the pixels.
US08605171B2 Image processing apparatus, imaging apparatus, image processing method and storage medium storing image processing program
An image processing apparatus for displaying a live view image obtained by implementing special effect processing on an image data on a monitor comprises an image processing unit that implements a plurality of types of special effect processing on the image data to generate a plurality of sets of special effect image data corresponding respectively to the plurality of types of special effect processing, and a control unit that displays the plurality of sets of special effect image data on the monitor while switching the plurality of sets of special effect image data automatically in time series.
US08605166B2 Photographing apparatus, photographing method and recording medium
The photographing apparatus includes an image pickup unit that generates a raw image; a feature extractor that extracts a feature image containing at least one feature part from the raw image; an image processor that performs image processing of the raw image according to a first scene information and that performs image processing of the feature image according to a second scene information; a quantizer that performs discrete cosine transform and quantization of a raw-processed image obtained by performing image processing of the raw image and a feature-processed image obtained by performing image processing of the feature image; a difference data generator that generates difference data indicating a difference between image data obtained by processing the raw-processed image in the quantizer and feature image data obtained by processing the feature-processed image in the quantizer on a feature image data basis; and an image compressor.
US08605165B2 Apparatus and method for assisting monitoring of medication adherence
A system and method for positioning a pill to be ingested by a user in a field of view of an image acquisition camera. The method includes the steps of determining a desired location of the mouth of a user in a field of view of an image acquisition camera, determining a current position of a pill to be ingested by the user in the field of view of the image acquisition apparatus, and indicating on a display a movement to be made by the user to move the pill towards mouth of the user.
US08605164B2 Image processing apparatus, control method therefor, and storage medium
An image processing apparatus that enables a demosaicing process to be accurately carried out on a color image signal. With respect to a color mosaic image signal related to each pixel generated by photoelectrical conversion of an optical image reflecting a subject image, an interpolation process is carried out in which signals of missing colors in the each pixel are interpolated using image signals related to pixels in predetermined directions around the each pixel. The interpolation process is carried out in each of a plurality of predetermined directions. Color image signals in the predetermined directions subjected to the interpolation process are evaluated, and based on an evaluation result, a color image signal to be outputted as an interpolation process result is generated. The color image signals in the respective predetermined directions subjected to the interpolation process are evaluated with respect to homogeneity and signal intensity.
US08605163B2 Image processing method, image processing apparatus, image pickup apparatus, and storage medium capable of suppressing generation of false color caused by image restoration
An image processing method comprises obtaining a color input image obtained by taking an image using an optical system 101, calculating an amount of characteristics relating to a color of a pixel in the input image as a first calculating step (S4), performing an image restoration process for the input image using an image restoration filter selected or made based on aberration information of the optical system (S5), calculating an amount of characteristics relating to a color of a pixel of a restored image obtained by the image restoration process as a second calculating step (S6), and correcting a signal value of a specific pixel in the restored image in accordance with the amount of characteristics of the specific pixel in the restored image calculated by the second calculating step and the amount of characteristics of a specific pixel of the input image calculated by the first calculating step (S8).
US08605158B2 Image pickup control apparatus, image pickup control method and computer readable medium for changing an image pickup mode
An image pickup control apparatus, includes: a trigger acceptance section adapted to accept a predetermined trigger input as a changeover input from an automatic image pickup mode to a request responding image pickup mode; and a request responding image pickup control section adapted to establish, when the trigger input is accepted by the trigger acceptance section while an image pickup apparatus is carrying out still picture image pickup operation with an image pickup visual field of the image pickup apparatus changed in the automatic image pickup mode, the request responding image pickup mode and control the image pickup apparatus to execute a process for determining an image pickup visual field in accordance with an image pickup request and then execute still picture image pickup operation after the determination of the image pickup visual field.
US08605155B2 Video surveillance system
Viewing a three dimensional area from numerous camera angles at different exposures using intensity and chromaticity data at the different exposures to create a pixel model for each pixel. A current image is compared with the background model to find pixels that have changed from their pixel model. These novel pixels are processed using contiguous region detection and grouped into foreground figures. For each camera, software extracts features from each foreground figure. A central processor maintains an object model for each foreground figure. A graphical user interface displays the relative location of foreground figures in a world model. The location and identification of the foreground figures is checked against a table of permissions so as to selectively generate an alert. If a figure leaves or is about the leave a cell, the invention accounts for its approximate position and notifies adjacent cells of the expected arrival of the foreground figure.
US08605151B2 Methods and systems for operating a video surveillance system
Methods and systems for a video surveillance system are provided. The system includes a plurality of network buses, a plurality of surveillance sensors, control devices, and sensor data storage devices and a keypad controller communicatively coupled to the at least one network bus. The keypad controller includes a plurality of interchangeable control modules communicatively coupled to said keypad controller that matingly engage a complementary portion of said keypad controller. The keypad controller further includes a processor configured to decode codec independent video streams, said processor further comprising a module configured to receive and transmit streaming video data to a network, a synchronous memory interface, and a plurality of universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UARTs). The keypad controller also includes a universal serial bus (USB) interface.
US08605142B2 Multi-eye image pickup device
A digital camera has two imaging units. In a single photography mode, upon a half press of the shutter release button, imaging units carry out preliminary photography at magnifications different from each other. A face detecting section detects persons' faces from a preliminary image captured by each imaging unit. A face comparing section compares the faces between the two preliminary images. A face evaluating section calculates a face evaluation value of each face, and determines ranking of the faces in each preliminary image based on the face evaluation values. Moreover, in consideration of the ranking of the faces determined in the telephoto preliminary image out of the two preliminary images, the face evaluating section corrects the face evaluation values and ranking of the faces in the wide-angle preliminary image. In each imaging unit, photographic conditions for actual photography are determined with giving high priority to the higher-ranked image.
US08605117B2 Method and apparatus for providing content
A method and apparatus for providing content to user that is moving. The method includes obtaining movement information or bio-information about a user, processing content based on the movement information or the bio-information, and outputting the processed content.
US08605115B2 Recommendations for object use in virtual environment
Techniques are disclosed for helping users determine the “best” places to use and acquire inventory objects within a virtual environment, as well as to notify users of useful inventory items when an avatar is at a particular location in the virtual environment. An object index may be used to store data describing attributes of virtual objects, and a user index may be used to store data describing interactions users engage in with virtual objects.
US08605106B2 Projector and color improvement method of the projector
A method improves color of projected images using a projector. The method calculates a first improvement factor, a second improvement factor and a third improvement factor, divides an original image into a red picture, a green picture and a blue picture. The method multiplies a pixel value of each pixel point of the red picture by the first improvement factor to obtain an improved red picture, multiplies a pixel value of each pixel point of the green picture by the second improvement factor to obtain an improved green picture, and multiplies a pixel value of each pixel point of the red picture by the third improvement factor to obtain an improved blue picture. The method combines the improved red, green and blue pictures to generate a combined image, and projects the combined image on a projection area to obtain the projected image having similar color to the original image.
US08605105B2 Image processing apparatus and method for enhancing depth perception
An image processing apparatus and a method for enhancing depth are disclosed. The image processing apparatus may classify an input image into a foreground layer, a middle layer, a background layer, may calculate a representative color of each of the classified layers, and perform rendering of a color stereoscopy of the middle layer and a color stereoscopy of the background layer based on the representative color and a lightness of the background layer, thereby enhancing a stereoscopic effect and a depth. Also, a color temperature of the foreground layer and a color temperature of the middle layer are controlled based on the representative color and the background layer, to generate a difference in depth between the middle layer and the foreground layer, thereby representing an image having a more enhanced depth.
US08605104B1 Threshold-based lossy reduction color compression
One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for compressing color data. Color data for a tile including multiple samples is compressed based on an equality comparison and a threshold comparison based on a programmable threshold value. The equality comparison is performed on a first portion of the color data that includes at least exponent and sign fields of floating point format values or high order bits of integer format values. The threshold comparison is performed on a second portion of the color data that includes mantissa fields of floating point format values or low order bits of integer format values. The equality comparison and threshold comparison are used to select either computed averages of the pixel components or the original color data as the output color data for the tile. When the threshold is set to zero, only tiles that can be compressed without loss are compressed.
US08605103B2 Image quality configuration apparatus, system and method
A method includes detecting one of an application access or a file type access, and configuring, in response to detecting the application or file type access, automatically without user interaction, a display system in an image quality configuration for the application or the file type where the image quality configuration is based on providing best image quality with respect to the application or the file type. Configuring the display system in an image quality configuration, may involve determining that a profile associated with the application or associated with the file type is stored in memory, and configuring the display system according to the profile. The method may adjust at least one anti-aliasing parameter or at least one anisotropic filter parameter. The method may monitor an operating system to obtain an indication that an application has been accessed or that a file type has been accessed.
US08605094B1 Graphical display of locations
Methods, systems, and apparatuses are disclosed which include receiving an indication of a first future date from a user, determining that one or more friends of the user in a social network are associated with one or more future locations including a second future date that matches the first future date, displaying a geographic map including a friend representation corresponding to each of the one or more future locations where the one or more friend of the user are going to be physically present, the friend representation including a number of friends of the user that are physically present at the respective future location on the first future date, receiving, from the user, an indication at one of the friend representations, and displaying a list including at least one of one or more friends associated with the future location and one or more events associated with the future location.
US08605081B2 Converting 3D data to hogel data
Methods and systems for rendering hogels, including notifying one or more rendering nodes that all rendering is complete in response to determining that each of the one or more rendering nodes completes rendering of corresponding one or more subsets of hogel data from 3D data, the rendering nodes being configured to convert the 3D data to the one or more subsets of hogel data.
US08605077B2 Display device
TFTs 10 and 15 and the organic EL device 17 are provided between a power line Vp and a common cathode Vcom, and a capacitor 16 and a TFT 11 are provided between a gate of the TFT 10 and a data line Sj. A TFT 12 is provided between the gate and a drain of the TFT 10, a TFT 13 is provided between an anode terminal of the organic EL device 17 and the common cathode Vcom, and a TFT 14 is provided between one electrode of the capacitor 16 and the power line Vp. Gates of the TFTs 11 to 13 are connected to a scanning line Gi, and gates of the TFTs 14 and 15 are connected to a scanning line Ei. When writing, a high potential is supplied to the scanning line Gi, and a low potential is supplied to the scanning line Ei a little after this. While the high potentials are supplied to the two scanning lines, the data line Sj is controlled to be in a high impedance state. In this manner, a pixel circuit configured by N-type transistors is driven using two types of scanning lines.
US08605074B2 Method and apparatus for supplying power to a display apparatus
An apparatus for supplying a power voltage to a pixel unit of a display apparatus includes a first power supplying unit for applying the power voltage to the pixel unit during a normal mode, a second power supplying unit for applying the power voltage to the pixel unit during a low power display mode, and a leakage current blocking unit for blocking a leakage current path from the second power supplying unit to the first power supplying unit during the low power display mode.
US08605071B2 Apparatus for generating over-drive values applied to LCD display and method thereof
An over-drive value generating apparatus applied to an LCD display includes a pixel value converting unit, a gain generating unit and a calculation unit. The pixel value converting unit generates a converted pixel according to a current pixel of a current image and a corresponding pixel of a previous image. The gain generating unit generates a gain according to a position of the current pixel. The calculation unit generates an output pixel according to the current pixel, the converted pixel and the gain.
US08605070B2 Operational amplifier and display panel driving device
An operational amplifier includes an output circuit and a differential circuit. The output circuit outputs a voltage in a voltage range determined either from a highest voltage that is an upper limit of a predetermined power source range, or from a lowest voltage that is a lower limit of the predetermined power source range, to an intermediate voltage that is a voltage between the highest voltage and the lowest voltage. The differential circuit includes a first MOS transistor to which a driving signal for driving a display panel is input and a second MOS transistor to which a given input signal is input. The first MOS transistor and the second MOS transistor are connected in parallel, and a differential input-permissible-range of the differential circuit is wider than the voltage range of the output circuit.
US08605069B2 Image display device
An image display device includes switches directly connected a constant current source to a self-luminous element to be able to detect a characteristic of the self-luminous element, generate a coordinates and convert information of the characteristic and coordinates into a system communication signal, transferring an input with a temperature variation to a system side.
US08605061B2 Touch panel input stylus
A touch panel input stylus comprises a casing, a lens, a shading member, and a light emitting element. The lens, the shading member, and the light emitting element are received in the casing. The shading member defines a stepped through aperture. The stepped through aperture includes a light through hole and a receiving hole having a greater diameter than the light through hole. A longitudinal positioning structure is provided in the receiving hole. The light emitting element is received and fixed in the receiving hole firmly by the longitudinal positioning structure. The longitudinal positioning structure is deformable. The light emitted from the light emitting element passes through the light through hole and then travels through the lens.
US08605055B2 Capacitive touch panel
The present invention relates to a touch panel. A capacitive touch panel, in which a location of a touch is sensed based on a variation in capacitance which is generated in an electrode upon a touch, includes one or more electrodes each configured to have an uniform resistance component in one direction on a substrate, and to pass a reference signal therethrough from a first side portion thereof to a second side portion thereof; and a location detection unit configured to apply the reference signal to the first side portion of the electrode, to receive a reference signal, altered by a resistance and a capacitance formed in the electrode upon a touch while passing through the electrode, via the second side portion of the electrode, and to determine a location of the touch by comparing the reference signal and the received altered reference signal.
US08605050B2 Conductor pattern structure of capacitive touch panel
Disclosed is a conductor pattern structure of a capacitive touch panel. First-axis conductor assemblies and second-axis conductor assemblies are formed on a surface of a substrate. Each first-axis conductor assembly includes a plurality of first-axis conductor cells that are interconnected by first-axis conduction lines. Each second-axis conductor assembly includes a plurality of second-axis conductor cells that are interconnected by second-axis conduction lines. At least part of each first-axis conduction lines is conductive in horizontal direction and insulating in vertical direction and each of the second-axis conduction lines respectively intersects with the at least part of corresponding first-axis conduction lines.
US08605048B2 Method and apparatus for controlling multimedia contents in realtime fashion
The present invention discloses a method for controlling in realtime fashion multimedia contents on a second screen at a TX side from a first screen at a RX side. The method comprising: detecting at least one touch signal via the first screen, and converting the at least one touch signal into touch data associated with a first position information defining a virtual operation on the first screen corresponding to an actual operation on the second screen, the first position information being with respect to a first coordinate system of the first screen; transmitting the touch data of the RX side to the TX side via the network communication, and calculating at the TX side a second position information with respect to a second coordinate system of the second screen based on the first position information; and performing the actual operation at the second screen based on the second position information.
US08605043B2 Touch display system and control method thereof
A control method is applied to a touch display system. The touch display system includes a display module, a touch module, and a programmable circuit. The programmable circuit is electrically connected between the touch module and the display module for executing the control method. The method includes: the touch module providing a first sense area; detecting whether the first sense area being touched or not; the display module displaying an boot image when the first sense area being touched; providing a second sense area after the boot image being displayed; detecting whether the second sense area being touched or not; and the display module displaying an on-screen display menu when the second sense area being touched, wherein the on-screen display menu includes a power item and a plurality of function items.
US08605040B2 Input device and display device with input function
Provided is a resistance film type input device including: a first light transmission substrate and a second light transmission substrate which face each other; a first light transmission planar electrode formed on the surface of the first light transmission substrate, which faces the second light transmission substrate, in an input region, and first band-shaped electrodes having a sheet resistance value lower than that of the first planar electrode and electrically connected along both ends which face each other in a first direction of the first planar electrode; and a second light transmission planar electrode formed on the surface of the second light transmission substrate, which faces the first light transmission substrate, in the input region, and second band-shaped electrodes having a sheet resistance value lower than that of the second planar electrode and electrically connected along both ends which face each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction of the second planar electrode, wherein a plurality of openings is formed in at least one of the first planar electrode and the second planar electrode, and wherein island patterns formed of the same light transmission conductive film as the planar electrodes are formed at the inside of the openings.
US08605031B2 Driving apparatus of backlight module and driving method thereof
A driving apparatus of a backlight module and a driving method thereof are provided. The driving method includes following steps. An image signal is received. A first grayscale mean of a current frame and a second grayscale mean of a previous frame are calculated according to the image signal. A first difference between the first grayscale mean and the second grayscale mean is calculated. A first duty corresponding to the current frame and a second duty corresponding to the previous frame are calculated according to the image signal. When the first difference is smaller than or equal to a backlight flicker threshold, a backlight control signal is generated according to the second duty and a first regulation value. When the first difference is greater than the backlight flicker threshold, the backlight control signal is generated according to the second duty and a second regulation value.
US08605028B2 Scanning signal line drive circuit, shift register and display device
There is provided a display device capable of preventing a malfunction and a display defect due to an off-leak from occurring even when a circuit in a shift register is configured utilizing thin film transistors of relatively large off-leaks. In at least one embodiment, each of bistable circuits that constitute the shift register includes: a thin film transistor for increasing a potential of an output terminal based on a first clock; a thin film transistor for decreasing the potential of the output terminal; a thin film transistor for increasing a potential of a range netA connected to a gate terminal of the thin film transistor based on a start signal; thin film transistors for decreasing the potential of the range netA; a capacitor for increasing the potential of a range netB connected to a gate terminal of the thin film transistor; and a thin film transistor for decreasing the potential of the range netB.
US08605022B2 Image displaying method for display device
An exemplary image displaying method for a display device includes steps of: providing display data to pixels of the display device for displaying images; taking a special amount of frame of images as an image group, making polarities of a same pixel being of adjacent two frame of images in the image group and using a same polarity inversion in the adjacent two frame of images be different from each other, and making polarities of a same pixel being of the last frame of image in a former one of adjacent two image groups and of the first frame of image in a latter one of the adjacent two image groups and using the same polarity inversion in the last and first frame of images be the same with each other.
US08605002B2 Antenna device including helical antenna
In an antenna device, a first helical part of a first antenna and a second helical part of a second antenna is disposed in a dielectric body on a ground plane. Each helical part is helically wound up in a direction perpendicular to the ground plane and includes a plurality of one-turn portions. Each one-turn portion of the first helical part has a peripheral length of M times a wavelength λ of use, where M is a positive natural number. One of the one-turn portions of the second helical part closest to the ground plane has a peripheral length Ks that is N times the wavelength λ of use, where N is a positive natural number greater than M. One of the one-turn portions of the second helical part farthest away from the ground plane has a peripheral length Ke, and (M·λ)
US08605001B2 Radome equipment
Radome equipment that includes an antenna device, and a radome that protects the antenna device by housing the antenna device therein and that transmits electric power necessary for communication, in which: a matching layer made of a single-layer dielectric is attached to an inner surface of the radome; and the matching layer has a thickness that is set to a value that minimizes reflection based on an impedance estimated from an interface between the matching layer and the radome before the matching layer of the radome is attached, a characteristic impedance of a medium of the matching layer, a wavelength in the matching layer, and a characteristic impedance of a medium of a space in which the radome is disposed.
US08605000B2 Antenna mounting structure of electronic device
An antenna mounting structure of an electronic device includes a casing and an antenna in the casing. The antenna includes a signal receiving portion and a first securing member connecting the signal receiving portion. The first securing member defines a through hole. The casing includes a first pin, a first catch near the first pin, and a first rib extending from the first pin. The first pin extends through the through hole of the first securing member of the antenna. The first rib supports the first securing member. The first catch fixedly clasps the first securing member on the first pin and the first rib.
US08604990B1 Ridged waveguide slot array
A ridged waveguide slot array includes a waveguide slot body and a ridged waveguide section attached to the waveguide slot body. The waveguide slot body includes one or more walls having a plurality of slots disposed thereon. The ridged waveguide section includes two spaced apart opposing ridges disposed on the one or more walls of the waveguide slot body, and extends along the longitudinal axis of the waveguide slot body.
US08604977B2 Real-time markup of maps with user-generated content
User-generated content that is associated with a geographic location is uploaded to existing networked services or directly to a digital map updating service. Distinct digital map updating services can be assigned to defined geographic areas, such that they are only notified of, or poll for, new user-generated content within their defined geographic areas. Utilizing the geographic location associated with such user-generated content, the digital map updating service identifies one or more digital map “tiles”, which are updated to include new user-generated content and capable applications on client devices can be notified directly of such new user-generated content if they are accessing the relevant tiles. Additionally, data mining can be performed and deductions of events from data mining can be indicated in the digital map in the same manner.
US08604975B2 Calibration apparatus and method
There is provided an apparatus for calibrating a multi-beam satellite system comprising a beam forming network providing a plurality of signal paths, the apparatus comprising a calibration processor for determining the phase and amplitude shift of a test path relative to a reference path, the calibration processor being configured to determine the phase and amplitude shifts of the test path relative to the reference path for at least two calibration tones of at least two different frequencies to allow a phase and amplitude offset of the test path for a signal of any frequency within an operational frequency range of the multi-beam satellite system to be calculated.
US08604970B1 Systems and methods for generating data in a digital radio altimeter and detecting transient radio altitude information
Present novel and non-trivial systems and methods for generating data in a digital radio altimeter system and detecting transient radio altitude (“RA”) information are disclosed. Preliminary RA data is generated by a preliminary spectrum analyzer by analyzing spectrum data (e.g., frequency spectrum data) within a first range, where the spectrum data is representative of RA information. Final RA data is generated by a final spectrum analyzer by analyzing the spectrum data within a second range, where the second range is based upon the preliminary RA data and final RA data previously-generated and fed through a feedback data generator. The final RA data may be provided as source data to one or more user units. One user unit may be a transient RA detector which detects transient RA information based upon the preliminary RA data and the final RA data.
US08604960B2 Oversampled data processing circuit with multiple detectors
Various embodiments of the present invention provide apparatuses and methods for processing data in an oversampled data processing circuit with multiple detectors. For example, an apparatus for processing data is disclosed that includes a first analog to digital converter operable to sample a continuous signal at a first sampling phase to yield a first digital output, a second analog to digital converter operable to sample the continuous signal at a second sampling phase to yield a second digital output, wherein the second sampling phase is different from the first sampling phase, a first detector operable to process the first digital output to yield a first detector output, and a second detector operable to process the second digital output and the first detector output to yield a detected output.
US08604956B2 Resonator and oversampling A/D converter
Two resistive elements and a capacitive element are coupled between a first node and each of an inverting input terminal of an operational amplifier, an output terminal of the operational amplifier, and a common node. A resistive element and a capacitive element are coupled between the first node and a signal input terminal. Two capacitive elements and a resistive element are coupled between a second node and each of the inverting input terminal, the output terminal, and the common node. Two capacitive elements are coupled between the second node and each of the signal input terminal, and the common node.
US08604953B2 Calibrating timing, gain and bandwidth mismatch in interleaved ADCs
A method and a corresponding device for calibrating an interleaved analog-to-digital converter (ADC) involve injecting a randomly determined amount of dither into at least one of a flash component and a multiplying digital-to-analog converter (MDAC) in a selected channel in the ADC. A correlation procedure is performed to estimate, based on an overall ADC output, a gain experienced by the injected dither after propagating through the channel. The injection and the correlation procedure are repeated on at least one additional channel to estimate a gain for each at least one additional channel. The estimated gains of the selected channel and the at least one additional channel are then compared to determine a degree of mismatch between the selected channel and each at least one additional channel. At least one channel is calibrated as a function of the determined degree of mismatch.
US08604952B2 Multiplier-free algorithms for sample-time and gain mismatch error estimation in a two-channel time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter
Techniques for the estimation of sample-time and gain mismatch errors in a two-channel time interleaved analog to digital converter that are devoid of any multiplication operation. In a sample-time mismatch error evaluation, the signs and the absolute values from the two ADCs are used to provide an estimate of the sample-time mismatch error. In a gain error estimation algorithm, the absolute values of the outputs from the two ADCs are subtracted and accumulated. The errors can then be corrected, in a preferred embodiment, using suitable adaptive sample time and gain correction techniques.
US08604947B2 Variable length coding method and variable length decoding method
An image coding apparatus provides a run-length encoding unit RLE1 that subjects quantized coefficients which are obtained by quantizing frequency components of an image signal to a variable length coding process by using a run value Run that indicates the number of successive zero coefficients and a level value Lev that indicates a value of a non-zero coefficient following the zero coefficients. The run-length encoding unit RLE1 includes a reordering unit Lreodr for reordering level values Lev; a variable length coder LVLC for coding reordered level values ROLev by using a code table that is selected according to the value of a quantization parameter QP; a reordering unit Rreodr for reordering run values Run from high frequency component of the quantized coefficients to low frequency component; and a variable length coder RVLC for coding reordered run values RORun by using a code table that is selected according to the number of already-processed run values.
US08604946B2 Data processing device and data processing method
A decoder reads an instruction for information specifying a bit sequence storage area, information indicating a first bit range, and information indicating a second bit range that is contiguous with the first bit range, then outputs a decoded signal in response to the information so read, and a bit manipulation circuit generates and outputs an output sequence based on a bit sequence stored in the bit sequence storage area by inserting uniform predetermined values between a first bit range and a second bit range in accordance with the decoded signal output from the decoder.
US08604945B2 Apparatus and method for channel encoding in a communication/broadcasting system
An encoding apparatus and method in a communication/broadcasting system are provided. When an encoding symbol is generated using at least one source symbol from among total source symbols to be encoded, encoding symbols are generated by using each of the total source symbols with a uniform probability before repeatedly using any of the total source symbols.
US08604943B2 Systems and methods for monitoring location of freight carried by a vehicle
A system for providing location information of a vehicle includes a communications interface and a correlation logic that correlates location information of a communications device to location of the vehicle. The communications interface communicates electronic signals including: a first signal including data representing a request for the location of the vehicle, a second signal transmitted to a location information provider corresponding to a party or device other than the communications device including data representing a request for location information of the communications device, a third signal received from the location information provider corresponding to the party or device other than the communications device including data representing the location information of the communications device, and a fourth signal including data representing the location of the vehicle.
US08604939B2 Electronic balance
An electronic balance for clearly indicating the degree of precision to a target weight value is provided. A signal converter (2) converts an electronic signal outputted from a weight detecting circuit (1) into a digital signal. A computing section (3) converts the digital signal into a measured weight value Wx, reads a target weight value Wd (=W0±ΔW) determined by a target center value W0 and a tolerance ±ΔW inputted from a weight setting unit (5) through an interface (4), compares the measured weight value Wx and the target weight value Wd to obtain a difference, and transmits a signal for flashing or turning on the character display corresponding to the difference and the measured weight value Wx to a display unit (6) and transmits a sound signal to a buzzer (7).
US08604938B2 User interface cable clamp-on device
In an illustrative embodiment, a system comprises an A/V switcher that is configured to monitor a presence of an A/V signal in a cable and transmit data regarding said A/V signal presence. A cable clamp-on device is coupled to the cable and includes at least one indicator for displaying said A/V signal presence, and a transceiver configured to receive the data regarding said A/V signal presence.
US08604937B2 Telematics unit and method for controlling telematics unit for a vehicle
A telematics unit is provided for a vehicle having a power unit, along with a method for controlling a telematics unit for a vehicle. The telematics unit includes a voltage sensor, a global positioning system unit, and a processor. The voltage sensor senses a measure of a voltage of the power unit. The global positioning system unit obtains position data as to a position of the vehicle. The processor is coupled to the voltage sensor and the global positioning system unit. The processor is configured to determine whether the voltage for the power unit has decreased using the sensed measure of the voltage, determine whether the vehicle is moving using the position data, and command the telematics unit to an off mode if the voltage has decreased and the vehicle is not moving.
US08604935B2 Safety sensor device
A safety sensor device for an appliance detects burning conditions and shuts off power to the appliance. The device includes a sensor unit positioned near an exhaust of the appliance, and a relay unit connected along a power supply path to the appliance. The relay and sensor units are linked. The sensor unit includes a sensor for monitoring exhaust air from the appliance. The relay unit includes a circuit that electrically connects the appliance with a power source while in an ON state and electrically disconnects the appliance from the power source while in an OFF state, the circuit being responsive to the sensor unit to transition from the ON state to the OFF state if the sensor detects burning conditions.
US08604932B2 Driver fatigue monitoring system and method
Method and system for monitoring a vehicle driver includes an optical imaging system that obtains images of the driver, and a processor coupled to the optical imaging system and arranged to analyze the images obtained by the optical imaging system to locate a head of the driver in the images and monitor the driver's head or a part thereof over time. The processor also determines, based on the monitoring of the driver's head or part thereof, whether the driver has lost the ability to operate the vehicle. A reactive component is affected by the processor's determination that the driver has lost the ability to operate the vehicle, and requires action by the driver to indicate regaining of the ability to operate the vehicle or exerting control over the vehicle to slow the vehicle and bring it to a stop.
US08604930B2 Sensor device
There is provided a mobile communication device. An exemplary mobile communication device comprises an input unit, a display and a processing unit being connected with a subscriber identity module and with an adapter module, wherein the adapter module is in communication with at least one sensor capturing biological and/or medical data of the user of the mobile communication device.
US08604925B2 Simplex personal and asset tracker
An asset locator device including (a) a wireless receiver capable of receiving an identifier signal transmitted from a short range wireless transmitter device; (b) a wireless transmitter capable of transmitting a message to a space based network; (c) a positioning system capable of determining the location of the locator device; (d) a vibration sensor; and (e) a controller. The controller instructs the asset locator to: (i) attempt to detect the identifier signal from the transmitter device if the vibration sensor senses vibration; and (ii) transmit a signal, including an asset location, to the space based network if: (1) the identifier signal is not detected; and (2) location fixes from the positioning system indicate a location change of the asset.
US08604924B2 Wireless tracking and monitoring system
The invention relates to a wireless tracking and monitoring system having at least one mobile unit and at least one central unit, wherein each mobile unit has at least one first communication component for communication with the central unit, wherein each mobile unit has at least one sensor, and wherein position finding can be carried out via a position finding system by at least one of the sensors. In this case, each mobile unit has a second communication component for communication with the central unit or with a target unit, and wherein the first and the second communication components of the mobile unit can be operated at the same time.
US08604923B1 Telemetric health monitoring devices and system
A wrist watch receives local measurements and remote instructions and provides reports of measurements to remote processors for review by physicians. Chest straps, pressure cuffs and onboard sensors provide information. The wrist watch, chest strap and cuff are inductively charged. Wrist watches, straps, cuffs, sensors and chargers are distributed with no or low costs to encourage use. Patient's health and public health are assessed economically without time and cost consuming travel and office visits.
US08604918B2 System and method for detecting a vehicle in the vicinity by using wireless communication
The present invention provides a system and a method for detecting whether one more vehicles are in the vicinity of a first vehicle using wireless communication. More specifically, a plurality of transmitters generate a wireless signal and plurality of receivers receive the wireless signal generated in a nearby vehicle. A first unit calculates a distance to the nearby vehicle according to a strength of the received wireless signal. A second estimation unit estimates a location of the nearby vehicle by using a distance between the plurality of the wireless signal receiving units and the calculated distance to the nearby vehicle. A third unit estimates a driving speed of the nearby vehicle based on a travel distance per a unit time of the nearby vehicle by using the location of the nearby vehicle. Subsequently, a fourth unit estimates a driving direction of the nearby vehicle by using the location of the nearby vehicle.
US08604917B2 Hospital bed having user input to enable and suspend remote monitoring of alert conditions
A hospital bed has a bed frame and communication circuitry operable to transmit bed status data to a network of a healthcare facility and to receive messages from the network. The messages include information indicating whether bed status conditions are being monitored by a remote computer of the network for generation of alert messages to at least one caregiver in response to alert conditions being indicated by the bed status data. The bed has at least one user input that is used locally at the bed to enable and suspend monitoring of the bed status conditions by the remote computer.
US08604915B2 Smart power sockets, boards, and plugs
An approach is provided where a smart socket receives a request over a power line and generates a request based on the received request. The second request is transmitted over a power cord connecting the smart power socket to a device. A response is received from the device and a power setting is identified therefrom. The smart socket regulates electrical current flowing from the smart power socket to the device using the identified setting. In a related approach, the device receives a power down request over a power cord from a smart power socket. The device determines whether power is still needed at the device in order to perform one or more device operations. The device then returns a response to the smart power socket, with the response indicating whether power is still needed at the device.
US08604908B1 Article storage system with closely-coupled, article-specific display
Logic is included in a piece of active storage furniture such that the active storage furniture integrates articles stored thereby into a representation of information about those articles. The logic includes (i) sensors to identify individual articles stored by the furniture and respective locations of the articles and (ii) display elements capable of incorporating selected individual ones of the articles as separate and individual components of a collective representation of information about the selected articles. In response to queries about the articles, the articles themselves are integrated into a representation of information about the articles. For example, a wine rack includes RFID and LEDs in each of a number of storage cells or cubbies and illuminates each cubby according to information about the wine stored in the cubby in response to a query for such information (e.g., show me all wine color-coded by region).
US08604906B1 Method and system for secret fingerprint scanning and reporting
Disclosed is a method, system, and device for secret fingerprint scanning and reporting. When a portable communication device has been lost or stolen, an entity may transmit a fingerprint scan-report trigger message to the device. In response to receipt of the fingerprint scan-report trigger message, the device then automatically invokes an integrated fingerprint scanner to scan a fingerprint of a user of the device and to report the resulting fingerprint data to a remote destination. Optimally, the scanning and reporting are done without notification to a user of the device. The method, system, and device may thereby help to identify the user of the device and to potentially recover the device.
US08604904B2 Portable device
A portable device has an opening formed in one case of a dual structure, a partitioning member for partitioning the opening, a projection formed on the partitioning member so as to project to a front surface side of the case, and at least two push buttons attached from a back surface side of the case to partitions partitioned by the partitioning member. The push button has a substantially flat plate-shaped push button portion, and a locking portion formed at an outer edge of the push button portion. The locking portion contacts an outer edge of the opening to prevent slip-out of the push button when the push button is attached to the partition from the back surface side of the case.
US08604901B2 Ensuring the provenance of passengers at a transportation facility
The provenance of passengers intending to depart on a vehicle from a transportation facility, is ensured by providing biometric reading devices at both a check-in station and a departure area station of the facility. The name and/or other information concerning a passenger arriving at the facility is also entered for assessment into a background check system. A biometric template of the passenger is acquired by the reading device at the check-in station and forwarded to the departure area station. When the passenger appears at the latter station, a second biometric template is acquired by the reading device there. The second template is compared with each of a number of templates that were forwarded from the check-in station. If no match exists, or if the background check system returns an unsatisfactory assessment, the passenger is refused boarding onto the vehicle.
US08604900B2 Magnetic wheel
Magnetic circuit that has (a) a source of magnetic flux which includes an electromagnet or one or more permanent magnets, (b) at least two oppositely polarizable pole extension bodies associated with the magnetic flux source, the bodies being disc, wheel, roller or similarly shaped with an outer circumferential surface and held rotatable about respective axes of rotation, and (c) a ferromagnetic counter body which is arranged to cooperate with the pole extension bodies such as to provide an external flux path for the magnetic flux when in magnetic proximity or contact with the circumferential surface of the pole extension bodies, which is characterized in that the magnetic flux source is held stationary relative to the rotatable pole extension bodies.
US08604896B2 Left-handed resonator and left-handed filter using the same
A left-handed resonator according to the present invention includes: a series body in which an inductor component and a capacitor component are connected in series; and a parallel body in which an inductor component and a capacitor component are connected in parallel, wherein one end of the series body and one end of the parallel body are connected, the other end of the parallel body is grounded, and the other end of the series body is grounded. With this configuration, a −1-order mode is excited using only one unit cell including the series body and the parallel body, so that dimensions of the left-handed resonator can be miniaturized.
US08604895B2 Filter and method for filtering the switching noise in a pulse-width-modulated transmit signal
Analogue filter for filtering out a high-frequency switching noise in a pulse-width-modulated transmit signal, which is fed into a line by a line driver by means of a transformer, wherein at least one capacitor is connected in parallel to a secondary winding of the transformer and, together with a stray inductivity of the transformer, forms the analogue filter.
US08604890B2 Method and circuit for increasing the resolution of a digitally controlled oscillator
A method and a circuit for increasing a resolution of a digitally controlled oscillator include controlling the oscillator so that an output signal of the oscillator varies between semi-periods having a first frequency and semi-periods having a second frequency. The method and circuit further include applying the output signal of the oscillator as an input to a divider to obtain a divided signal. A frequency of at least one semi-period of the divided signal is a function of both an oscillator semi-period having the first frequency and an oscillator semi-period having the second frequency.
US08604881B2 Efficiency improvement of doherty power amplifier using supply switching and digitally controlled gate bias modulation of peaking amplifier
An apparatus for amplifying a signal is provided. The apparatus includes a carrier transistor, a peaking transistor, a controller, and a power supply switching unit, wherein the controller controls the power supply switching unit to switch between two or more power supplies and wherein the power supply switching unit provides power from one of the two or more power supplies to the peaking transistor.
US08604874B2 Enhanced transformer output demultiplexing method (ETODEM)
An asymmetrical transformer output demultiplexing (ATODEM) circuit is disclosed. The ATODEM circuit of the present disclosure includes N input windings, wherein N is a natural number. Each of the N input windings have input terminals that couple to output terminals of N PAs. The ATODEM further includes M output ports wherein M is a natural number, each of the M output ports having N series coupled windings coupled between a load terminal and a return terminal. The physical attributes of the N input windings, and the N series coupled windings of the M output ports are asymmetrical such that in an Nth operation mode an Nth PA first-load line impedance matches an output impedance of an Nth PA coupled to the input terminals.
US08604873B2 Ground partitioned power amplifier for stable operation
Achievement of robust stability of a power amplifier (PA) that allows the sharing of the ground between the driver stages and the output stage is shown. A controlled amount of negative feedback is used to neutralize the local positive feedback that results from the driver-to-output stage ground sharing in the signal path, for example, a radio frequency (RF) signal path. The solution keeps a strong drive and a good performance of the PA. Exemplary embodiments are shown for the PA positive feedback neutralization. A first embodiment uses a ground signal divider while another embodiment uses a ground signal divider weighting technique.
US08604871B2 High gain amplifier method using low-valued resistances
This invention discloses circuit and methods of a NAND-based 2T-string NOR flash cell structure as a building block for a fast random-read NOR flash memory. The key concept of this new set of bias conditions in cell array improves over the critical concern of punch-through issue when cell is migrating to the more advanced technology node of next generation. The invention adopts a novel preferable symmetrical 2T-string NOR flash cell. Each NAND or NAND like cell of this 2T-string NOR cell is to store 2 bits and is preferable to be made of N-channel device. The cell is preferable to use Fowler-Nordheim Tunneling scheme for both erase and program operations- The invention is to provide a novel 2T-string NOR flash cell structure made of N-channel device offering most flexible erase sizes in unit of byte, page, sector, block and chip with the least program and erase disturbances.