Document Document Title
US08931108B2 Hardware enforced content protection for graphics processing units
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is configured to access a first memory unit according to one of an unsecure mode and a secure mode. The GPU may include a memory access controller configured to allow the GPU to read data from only an unsecure portion of the first memory unit when the GPU is in the unsecure mode, and configured to allow the GPU to write data only to a secure portion of the first memory unit when the GPU is in the secure mode.
US08931103B2 Generating security permissions
Embodiments of the invention relate to generating security permissions for applications. A static analysis on an application is carried out to determine security exceptions and to determine the application components responsible for the security exceptions. The determined security exceptions are analyzed to calculate permissions required for each component. A security policy file that includes a hierarchy of the required permissions suitable for the type of application is formatted and applied to the application to provide a security enabled application.
US08931101B2 Application-level anomaly detection
An example includes intercepting one or more activities performed by an application on a computing device. The intercepting uses an instrumentation layer separating the application from an operating system on the computing device. The one or more activities are compared with one or more anomaly detection policies in a policy configuration file to detect or not detect presence of one or more anomalies. In response to the comparison detecting presence of one or more anomalies, indication(s) of the one or more anomalies are stored. Another example includes receiving indication(s) of anomaly(ies) experienced by an application on computing device(s) and analyzing the indication(s) of the anomaly(ies) to determine whether corrective action(s) should be issued. Responsive to a determination corrective action(s) should be issued based on the analyzing, the corrective action(s) are issued to the computing device(s). Methods, program products, and apparatus are disclosed.
US08931097B2 Method, computer software, and system for providing end to end security protection of an online transaction
Techniques for categorizing programs running on an information handling system. One method includes, while a program is running on an information handling system in a manner that permits the program to infect the information handling system, calculating a first score and a second score. The first score is indicative of the likelihood that the program is malicious; the second score is indicative of the likelihood that the program is valid. This method further includes categorizing the program with respect to the likelihood of the program infecting the information handling system, including by categorizing the program as valid code based on the second score being above a threshold value, regardless of the first score.
US08931093B2 Malicious request attribution
Methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for malicious request attribution are presented. For example, according to one aspect, requests for one or more records may be received from a requesting computing device. A determination may be made that the requests are of a malicious nature. Responsive to determining that the requests are of a malicious nature, one or more requests for obtaining information about the requesting computing device may be generated, and communicated to the requesting computing device. In some embodiments, at least one of the one or more requests for obtaining information about the requesting computing device may be configured to cause the requesting computing device to fail to properly render at least a portion of a web page comprising at least one of the one or more records.
US08931085B2 Download optimization in the presence of multicast data
There is provided a method for optimizing a download of requested data to an electronic data processing unit that is currently receiving unrequested multicast data through a router included in a network. The unrequested multicast data corresponds to at least one multicast data group. Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) V2 Leave Messages are sent to the router for the at least one multicast data group. IGMP Membership Queries issued by the router for the at least one multicast data group are ignored, so as to cause the router to terminate a transmission of the unrequested multicast data to free up available bandwidth for the download of the requested data.
US08931078B2 Providing virtualized private network tunnels
Various aspects of the disclosure relate to providing a per-application policy-controlled virtual private network (VPN) tunnel. In some embodiments, tickets may be used to provide access to an enterprise resource without separate authentication of the application and, in some instances, can be used in such a manner as to provide a seamless experience to the user when reestablishing a per-application policy controlled VPN tunnel during the lifetime of the ticket. Additional aspects relate to an access gateway providing updated policy information and tickets to a mobile device. Other aspects relate to selectively wiping the tickets from a secure container of the mobile device. Yet further aspects relate to operating applications in multiple modes, such as a managed mode and an unmanaged mode, and providing authentication-related services based on one or more of the above aspects.
US08931075B2 Secure route discovery node and policing mechanism
A computer implemented method and computer program product for obtaining a secure route. A trusted host sets a node security association for a trusted host. The trusted host receives, at the trusted host, a client communication request directed to a destination host. The trusted host builds a secure route query comprising a trusted host address, a destination host address, and at least one security level, to form at least one secure route. The trusted host sends packets from the trusted host to the destination host based on the at least one secure route. The packets are responsive to the client communication request, and the packets each have a security label that matches the security level.
US08931074B2 Adaptive system behavior change on malware trigger
A hardware secured flag mechanism which is activated by trusted Anti-Malware (AM) software. Upon being activated, the information handling system takes action to reduce user exposure even if the AM software is subsequently subverted. In certain embodiments, the flag mechanism is only reset by user intervention at a BIOS or other off-line mechanism. In certain embodiments, the flag mechanism may only be reset via a signed unlock key stored on an external memory device such as a universal serial bus (USB) key.
US08931072B2 Method of gaining access to a device
The method is for activating a device. A communication device is provided that is in communication with a server unit that has a processor for generating a number series. An application device has a processor for generating a number series. The communication device is not communicating directly with the application device. The user sends a message including the identification number to the server. The server identifies a code number pointed at by a pointer and sends back the code number. The pointer steps forward in the number series at predetermined time intervals. The user enters the code number into the application device. The processor compares the code number with a number pointed at by a pointer and sends an activation signal to an activation device to activate the application device.
US08931070B2 Authentication using three-dimensional structure
A user can be authenticated via traversal of a three-dimensional structure and entry of an authentication code. For example, a user-entered authentication code can be compared to an authentication code, and a user-selected element of the structure can be compared to a destination element resulting from following an authentication path through the structure beginning at a starting element. As another example, a user-selected ordered series of elements of the structure and corresponding user-entered sub-codes can be respectively compared to an authentication ordered series of elements of the structure resulting from following ordered steps of an authentication path through the structure beginning at the starting element and to sub-codes of an authentication code.
US08931066B2 Information processing apparatus and control method
An information processing apparatus includes a processor configured to determine a location in which a terminal is located, and create a folder to which access authority is given to the terminal, the folder being associated with the location. A control method of an information processing apparatus includes determining a location in which a terminal is located, and creating, using a processor, a folder to which access authority is given to the terminal, the folder being associated with the location.
US08931058B2 Systems and methods for permission arbitrated transaction services
Systems and methods disclosed allow a permitting party to share personal information with a receiving party. The receiving party may use the information to authenticate the permitting party, assess the permitting party, determine if the permitting party is compatible with one or more other users associated with the receiving party, or validate the permitting party. The permitting party may define how much of the permitting party's personal information is shared, and/or limit the use of the information for one or more specific purposes. A requesting party may also set up criteria for the types of information it wants to review along with the intended use of the information. The systems and methods disclosed also enables permitting parties the ability to grant requesting parties access to requested information.
US08931056B2 Establishing privileges through claims of valuable assets
A service accessible by a set of entities may be provided to each entity at a different service level (e.g., with a different set of privileges) based on the privilege level of the entity. However, many users may attempt to perform malicious activities through the service, and may do so with impunity if the penalties of detection are inconsequential. Instead, privilege levels of entities may be established based on the claims of assets having identifiable value. Such claims may be established by submitting an asset identifier to the service, such as proof of a software license identified by the submission of a license key purchased at a substantial cost. The penalties of malicious activities performed by such users may include the invalidation of such asset identifiers. Establishing the privilege levels of respective entities in this manner raises the penalties, and hence the deterrence, of attempted malicious use of the service.
US08931048B2 Data system forensics system and method
A system and method for creates, maintains and monitors individuals, organizations and artifacts relating to the same over time with respect to pedigree and reputation, security and reliability. One aspect of the present invention provides for a method and a system for collecting and maintaining historical party reputation data. Another aspect of the present invention provides for a method and a system for assessing an access decision to the historical party reputation data to a person after the person's reputation has changed.
US08931027B2 Media gateway
Disclosed is a media gateway that processes AV signals offered over various channels into AV stream data and wirelessly transmits the AV stream data to a client such as PC or TV The media gateway includes: a broadcast signal receiver for selecting a broadcast signal and dividing the selected broadcast signal into video and audio signals; a video decoder for decoding the video signal into a displayable image signal; an A/D converter for digitally converting the audio signal; an encoder for encoding the digitally converted audio signal and the image signal; a data communication unit for transmitting/receiving AV stream data and a client control command to/from a data communication unit on a client side; and a main processor for controlling a tuner in the broadcast signal receiver according to a client control command conforming to HTTP standards received through the data communication unit and transmitting AV stream data obtained by encoding a broadcast signal of a channel selected by the tuner to a client side.
US08931023B2 Method and system for providing feedback based on monitoring of channels at a customer premise
An approach for providing feedback based on monitoring of channels at a customer premise is described. A digital signal representing a plurality of channels transported over a media broadcast network is received at a set-top box apparatus. A determination of whether one of the plurality of channels satisfies a predetermined criterion relating to performance of the media broadcast network is performed. A network feedback signal based on the determination is generated, at the set-top box apparatus, for transmission to a network monitoring node of the media broadcast network.
US08931017B2 Channel scanning method for digital video broadcasting satellite signal
A channel scanning method for Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite (DVB-S) signals is provided. The method includes: scanning a radio frequency (RF) signal according to a normal frequency step; when the Nth channel is detected, obtaining a difference between a low boundary of an Nth channel and a high boundary of an (N−1)th channel; and, when the difference is within a predetermined bandwidth range, scanning the RF signal between the high boundary of the (N−1)th channel and the low boundary of the Nth channel according to a narrow frequency step. The normal frequency step is greater than the narrow frequency step.
US08931006B2 Information descriptor and extended information descriptor data structures for digital television signals
According to an aspect, there is provided a digital television (DTV) data stream including program and system information protocol (PSIP) data associated with content of the DTV data stream, the PSIP data including a virtual channel table (VCT) and an event information table (EIT), the EIT comprising: a source identification field identifying a source of an associated event in a DTV data stream; an event identification field indicating an identification of the event; a start time field indicating a star time of the event; a title field indicating a title of the event; and a descriptor comprising: a descriptor tag identifying the descriptor as a genre descriptor, a descriptor length indicating a total length of the descriptor; and at least one category code for an associated event in a DTV data stream, each category code specifying genre, program type, or category information of the associated event, wherein the at least one category code specifies at least one of a set of basic categories.
US08931005B2 Information descriptor and extended information descriptor data structures for digital television signals
According to an aspect, there is provided a digital television (DTV) data stream including program and system information protocol (PSIP) data associated with content of the DTV data stream, the PSIP data including a virtual channel table (VCT) and an event information table (EIT), the EIT comprising: a source identification field identifying a source of an associated event in a DTV data stream; an event identification field indicating an identification of the event; a start time field indicating a star time of the event; a title field indicating a title of the event; and a descriptor comprising: a descriptor tag identifying the descriptor as a genre descriptor, a descriptor length indicating a total length of the descriptor; and at least one category code for an associated event in a DTV data stream, each category code specifying genre, program type, or category information of the associated event, wherein the at least one category code specifies at least one of a set of basic categories.
US08931001B2 System and method for distributing video data over an electrical power line
A non-transitory tangible computer readable medium is disclosed, containing a computer program for distributing video data over an electrical power line, the computer program including but not limited to instructions to receive first video data and second video data concurrently at a first internet protocol television client device over an electrical power line from a second and third controllable devices in response to the detecting the first event data in the first location at the first controllable device; instructions to create at a first client end user device, a client created internet protocol television channel and insert the client created channel into an existing electronic program guide for the first and second video data; and instructions to send the electronic program guide to a second client end user device for selection and display of the first and second video concurrently at a display for the second client end user device.
US08930986B2 Receiving apparatus capable of receiving digital contents and commercial messages
A receiving apparatus comprises a recorder of the received digital contents and commercial messages. Commercial message retrieved from the recorder is interposed into a digital content or between a pair of digital contents in accordance with the type of commercial message. Interposition of commercial message is controlled by internal information, such as history of actually displaying the same commercial message, or history of skipping the same commercial message. The receiving apparatus controls the repetition time of displaying the same commercial message, or decision whether or not actually displaying a specific commercial message, or the order of displaying commercial messages. Skip of commercial message is prevented unless display has been repeated over a minimum requirement, or user agrees with a compensation for the skip. Repetition of the same commercial message ceases with skip repeated over a limit. Notice of interposing commercial message or of compensation for skip is made in advance.
US08930985B2 Trigger-based transactional advertising for television
A method is performed by one or more devices within a closed distribution network to provide context-sensitive transactional advertisements. The method includes sending, to a video client, a trigger for initiating a context-specific transactional advertisement associated with a linear program segment and sending the linear program segment for presentation by the video client. The method also includes receiving, based on the trigger, a request from the video client for instructions for the context-specific transactional advertisement; determining, based on the request, contextual information for the linear program segment; and sending, to the video client and based on the contextual information, the instructions for the context-specific transactional advertisement.
US08930981B2 Television channel mapping techniques
In one embodiment, a television configuration technique includes determining a location, from a web service, of a television set using an internet protocol address of the television set or a zip code corresponding to a physical location of the television. Electronic programming guide, interactive programming guide or the like data for a plurality of service providers in the determined location are downloaded. The electronic programming guide data, interactive programming guide data or the like for one or more channels that are unique between the plurality of service providers are checked against transmitting station identifier data or system information protocol data to identify the specific service provider that the television set is connected to. A channel list for the specific service provider is then determined from the electronic programming guide or interactive programming guide corresponding to the specific service provider.
US08930976B2 Context-based automatic selection of factor for use in estimating characteristics of viewers viewing same content
A method of selecting a factor for estimating characteristics of viewers who view a same content is disclosed. This method includes: storing a multi-layered hierarchal list of attribute words expressing viewer attributes, each of which is a candidate of the factor; extracting the attribute words from the same content; generating a first vector indicative of frequencies with which the attribute words occur in the same content; for a successively-selected one of the attribute words, successively generating a second vector indicative of frequencies with which the attribute words occur in ones of sets of learned-text information which contain the successively-selected attribute word; calculating a similarity score between the vectors on a per-attribute-word basis; and selecting one of the attribute words as the factor, which is associated with subordinate attribute words on a lower layer, based on a dispersion level of the similarity scores calculated for the subordinate attribute words.
US08930975B2 Methods and systems for compensating for disabilities when presenting a media asset
Methods and systems are disclosed herein for supplementing media assets in order to compensate for a particular disability of a user. Specifically, a media guidance application determines whether or not a user can comprehend a media asset based on the particular disability of the user. Upon determining that the user cannot comprehend the media asset, the media guidance application supplements the media asset with supplemental data, which compensates for the particular disability of the user.
US08930971B1 Embedded-advertising content presented in document context
A user may activate an embedded advertisement in an embedded window in a document, such as a web page. This embedded advertisement may be associated with a domain (a granddaughter domain) that is different than the domain associated with the embedded window (a daughter domain) and the domain associated with the document (a parent domain). In older browsers, cross-domain communication may not be supported in this circumstance. This problem is solved by opening a series of windows from the granddaughter domain, each of which is associated with a candidate origin of the document. Then, access commands associated with the windows are communicated to the domain of the document. Only the access command for the window having the correct origin of the domain of the document is processed, which results in content associated with the embedded advertisement being linked at a source and presented or displayed in the embedded advertisement.
US08930961B2 Automatic mutual exclusion
An automatic mutual exclusion computer programming system is disclosed which allows a programmer to produce concurrent programming code that is synchronized by default without the need to write any synchronization code. The programmer creates asynchronous methods which are not permitted make changes to shared memory that they cannot reverse, and can execute concurrently with other asynchronous methods. Changes to shared memory are committed if no other thread has accessed shared memory while the asynchronous method executed. Changes are reversed and the asynchronous method is re-executed if another thread has made changes to shared memory. The resulting program executes in a serialized order. A blocking system method is disclosed which causes the asynchronous method to re-execute until the blocking method's predicate results in an appropriate value. A yield system call is disclosed which divides asynchronous methods into atomic fragments. When a yield method call is made, shared memory changes are committed if possible or reversed and the atomic fragment is re-executed.
US08930955B2 Controlling growth in virtual disks via utilization of previously used and free disk block space
A method, an apparatus and an article of manufacture for controlling growth in virtual disk size. The method includes limiting a guest virtual machine file in a hypervisor from allocating a new disk block as allocated space, wherein a virtual disk on a virtual machine is mapped to the guest virtual machine file, and facilitating the virtual disk to reuse a previously allocated and freed disk block for the allocated space to control growth in virtual disk size.
US08930946B1 Leasing prioritized tasks
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for leasing tasks from multiple prioritized groups. One of the methods includes separating tasks into multiple groups where each task is associated with a respective group identification. The tasks are prioritized in each of the multiple groups where each task is associated with a respective priority identification. A request is received from a worker process for a number of tasks within a group, and a number of the tasks within the group are leased to the worker process for a first time period such that the leased tasks are unavailable to other worker processes during the first time period.
US08930935B2 Composite service refactoring
A network device may include a memory to store instructions. The network device may further include a processor to execute the instructions to obtain information relating to a loosely-coupled composite service, where the loosely-coupled composite service includes a group of services. The processor may further execute the instructions to analyze the obtained information to determine one or more design recommendations, and re-factor the loosely-coupled composite service as a target composite platform based on at least one of the one or more design recommendations.
US08930932B2 In-service software patch
A method in a network device with a processor that runs multiple software threads for software that needs an update for updating the software while mitigating service disruption, the method comprising installing at least one new function, modifying at least one existing function to point to a synchronization code, wherein the synchronization code indicates whether the multiple software threads use the at least one new function or the at least one existing function, synchronizing software threads in the network device, based on the synchronization code indicating that the synchronization of the software threads is not complete, using, by the multiple software threads, the at least one existing function, and based on the synchronization code indicating that the synchronization of the software threads is complete, using, by the multiple software threads, the at least one new function, wherein the multiple software threads continually run on the network device during the synchronization.
US08930931B2 Information processing apparatus using updated firmware and system setting method
In an information processing apparatus, a first processor executes firmware and data processing instructions, a second processor conducts management of firmware updating and system settings, first and second memories store current and updated firmware, a third memory stores system settings information, and a switch changes connections of the first and second memories under control of the second processor, to connect one of the first and second memories to a bus connected to the first processor and to connect the other to the second processor. During firmware execution by the first processor, the second processor reads the system settings information from the third memory and provides it to the first processor. The first processor reflects firmware data from updated firmware in the second memory in the system settings information and the second processor stores the system settings information in which updated firmware data is reflected into the third memory.
US08930928B2 Method for modifying the assembly output of a compiler
The present invention performs manipulations on the assembly file level. As a compiler outputs an assembly file, the assembly file may be inspected and modified before it is sent to the assembler. One or more of the following modifications may be made to the assembly file: rewrite certain symbols, scramble program symbols, reorganize declarations of global variables so that their layout and default values are known prior to linking, and identify initializer and de-initializer functions in order to make them callable through central initialization and de-initialization functions, respectively.
US08930919B2 Modernization of legacy software systems based on modeled dependencies
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are described herein for migrating a non-object-oriented application to an object-oriented platform. The non-object-oriented application may be received. The non-object-oriented application may be parsed into elements of the non-object-oriented application. A design structure matrix (DSM) representation of the elements may be generated. A final object model may be generated based on the DSM representation. The final object model may be mapped to a code skeleton representation of an object-oriented development environment.
US08930908B2 Aspect and system landscape capability-driven automatic testing of software applications
In a system and a method, a sub-test catalog is retrieved from a test catalog repository. A test aspect of the sub-test catalog is compared to an aspect of a software application to be tested. A required system capability of the sub-test catalog is compared to the capabilities of a system landscape based on a determination that the sub-test catalog test aspect matches the aspect of the software application to be tested. The system landscape includes at least one system. The sub-test catalog is added to a master test catalog based on a determination that the required system capability of the sub-test catalog matches the system landscape capabilities.
US08930907B2 Concurrency software testing with probabilistic bounds on finding bugs
Described is a probabilistic concurrency testing mechanism for testing a concurrent software program that provides a probabilistic guarantee of finding any concurrent software bug at or below a bug depth (that corresponds to a complexity level for finding the bug). A scheduler/algorithm inserts priority lowering points into the code and runs the highest priority thread based upon initially randomly distributed priorities. When that thread reaches a priority lowering point, its priority is lowered to a value associated (e.g., by random distribution) with that priority lowering point, whereby a different thread now has the currently highest priority. That thread is run until its priority is similarly lowered, and so on, whereby all schedules needed to find a concurrency bug are run.
US08930898B2 Declarative commands using workflows
Declaratively implementing a command. A method includes declaring an input gesture in a declarative programming language. Declaring an input gesture includes declaring one or more user performed actions. A command name is declared in a declarative programming language. A workflow is declared in a declarative programming language. Declaring a workflow includes declaring schedulable activities that are to be performed without specific specifications of the low level algorithms that are used to accomplish the activities. In an alternative example, workflows may be declared by declaring a wrapper to wrap imperative programming commands. The declared input gestures are bound with the declared workflow through the declared command name.
US08930886B2 Identifying application resources through implicit application models
Determining a discrete application boundary. A method includes identifying one or more initial components of an application. The method further includes identifying statically and/or dynamically related components of the one or more initial components of the application. Identifying statically related components and identifying dynamically related components is performed iteratively. The method further includes identifying a discrete boundary for the application based on statically related components and dynamically related components.
US08930884B2 Efficient extraction of software dependencies from program code
Calls to stop functions are identified in a computer program file. The stop functions are functions that interact with external resources. Parameters of the calls to the stop functions that are references to the external resources are identified. An analysis is performed over the computer program file to find out possible values of the parameters of the calls.
US08930849B2 Enhanced media content tagging systems and methods
Exemplary enhanced media content tagging systems and methods are described herein. An exemplary method includes a media content tagging system recording a live transmission of media content in response to a user request that the media content be recorded, receiving, from a media content access device, tag data representative of a user-defined tag specifying a segment of the media content, optimizing the user-defined tag, and distributing the optimized user-defined tag to another media content access device for use by the another media content access device to identify and present the segment of the media content. In certain embodiments, the optimization of the user-defined tag may be based on an analysis of aggregated user-defined tags, an analysis of the media content, or a combination thereof. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.
US08930847B2 Method for displaying windows
A method for displaying a plurality of windows includes dividing a display screen into first and second display areas. The plurality of windows may be rearranged in the first and second display areas and new windows may be displayed in the first and second display areas based on prior windows displayed.
US08930844B2 Network repository of digitalized 3D object models, and networked generation of photorealistic images based upon these models
In a network-linked computer graphics image rendering system serving to render images of objects in scenes, these objects are so rendered from high-resolution 3D models and textures that are, in particular, stored and maintained on one or more server computers in one or more libraries that are secure. Using stand-in object models and textures, design professionals at client computers are able to “fine-tune” and preview designs that incorporate objects stored securely in the server's(s') models' library(ies). Yet the high-resolution, 3D, relatively expensive, and proprietary object models remain completely secure at one (i.e., centralized) or more (i.e., distributed) server computers. 2D perspective-view or stereo in-situ photorealistic images of scenes incorporating these objects are rendered at the one or more sever computers, for subsequent remote viewing at the one or more client computers.
US08930837B2 Graphical user interface for map search
Particular embodiments include a method comprising accessing location data representing a first location of a first user wherein the first location corresponds to geographic coordinates, retrieving image data defining a graphical map from a remote server based on the first location accessing a search query inputted by the first user, retrieving one or more second locations in response to the search query, where the one or more second locations correspond to geographic coordinates, and displaying a first view comprising a list of the one or more second locations overlaying at least a portion of the graphical map, wherein the graphical map includes indicators for the first location and at least one of the one or more second locations in accordance with their respective geographic coordinates.
US08930835B1 Multi-level architecture for image display
A system and method for providing the dynamic display of content and related advertisements are provided. The advertisements are displayed based on predetermined customer types. A network resource, such as Web page, can include a plurality of dynamic content modules. Depending on the available display area and additional display criteria, each dynamic content module displays a subset content and related advertisements. Each dynamic content module corresponds to an integration of multiple layers of content, such as text, graphics and image rendering information.
US08930832B2 Multimedia communication system and method
Systems and methods are disclosed for creating, editing, sharing and distributing high-quality, media-rich web-based communications. The communications are created in a layered fashion that integrates user-selected text, colors, background patterns, images, sound, music, video, or other media. The systems and methods are used to generate, edit, broadcast, and track electronic presentations, brochures, advertisements (such as banner advertisements on highly trafficked media websites), announcements, and interactive web pages, without the need for the user to understand complex programming languages.
US08930830B2 Context-aware composites of functional modules
A computer-implemented system to receive user input at a first functional module, to issue an instruction from the first functional module to change a value of a first context item in response to the user input, to receive the instruction at a context services provider, and to issue, via the context data services provider, a notification of the changed value of the first context item. The notification is received at a second functional module based on an association of the second functional module with the first context item, and first functionality of the second functional module is generated based on the notification of the changed value of the first context item.
US08930815B2 Methods, systems and computer readable media for creating a virtual agent
Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for producing a virtual agent. The virtual agent is generated. A demographic trait of a user, interacting with the virtual agent, is acquired. The virtual agent is endowed with the demographic trait, thereby enriching the virtual agent to appeal the user. Further, one or more intelligent agents are associated with the virtual agent allowing the virtual agent to accomplish specific tasking as directed by the user.
US08930812B2 System and method for embedding, editing, saving, and restoring objects within a browser window
In accordance with one embodiment, the present invention provides the ability to embed and edit rich content into a browser document. Embedded objects are not backed by installed desktop applications. Instead, in one embodiment, the embedded objects are Asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX) components that adhere to a set of design patterns, which are embedded within editable HTML documents. For example, a user composing an email message can embed a spreadsheet into the email in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The spreadsheet is implemented, in one embodiment, as an AJAX component adhering to the Ajax Linking and Embedding (ALE) design pattern. Since it is an ALE component, the embedded object is fetched across the network so that it may be instantiated and used regardless of the user's location. The user can edit, manipulate, and save the embedded object while remaining in the context of the container document.
US08930795B1 Methods for slicing dynamically modulated symbols
Reducing decision based filter error propagation by feedback from a physical coding sublayer (PCS) to a slicer. One method includes: receiving a frame comprising symbols of at least two different modulation orders that use subsets of a symbol superset; slicing the received symbols according to the highest modulation order by a slicer having slicing functions suitable for the different modulations; identifying frame boundaries and modulation information, which are modulated according to a predetermined modulation order; using the identified modulation information for determining the modulation of a nonempty set of dynamically modulated symbols in the received frame; and providing the slicer with an indication of which slicer function output to use for feeding a decision based filter.
US08930794B2 Error injection for LDPC retry validation
The present inventions are related to systems and methods for validating retry features in LDPC decoders and in systems incorporating LDPC decoders. For example, a data processing circuit is disclosed that includes a low density parity check decoder and is operable to correct errors in a data set. The data processing circuit includes at least one retry feature operable to assist in correcting the errors that are not corrected without the at least one retry feature. A retry validation circuit in the data processing circuit is operable to inject errors in the data set to trigger the at least one retry feature.
US08930791B2 Early stop method and apparatus for turbo decoding
In one embodiment, device for early stopping in turbo decoding includes a processor configured to receive a block of data to be decoded, compare hard decision bits resulting from decoding iterations and compare a minimum value of log likelihood ratio (LLR) of decoded bits against a threshold. The processor configured to match hard-decisions with previous iteration results. The processor may be configured to set an early stop rule after the matching hard-decisions with previous iteration results is matched. The processor may be configured to set an early stop rule when the minimum reliability of the output bits exceeds the threshold.
US08930790B1 Method and apparatus for identifying selected values from among a set of values
The present invention is directed toward identifying selected values from among a set of values. In accordance with an embodiment, a method of identifying two selected values from among a plurality of values comprises: partitioning the plurality of values into pairs of values; for each pair of values, using a comparator to select one of the two values to form a vector from the selected value of each pair; and applying the vector to a hardware unit that identifies first and second extreme values from among the values of the vector.
US08930788B2 LDPC decoder with fractional unsatisfied check quality metric
An apparatus includes a low density parity check decoder operable to iteratively generate messages between a plurality of check nodes and variable nodes, and to calculate a fractional quality metric for a data block as it is decoded in the low density parity check decoder based at least in part on perceived values of data in the variable nodes. The fractional unsatisfied check quality metric is a probabilistic determination of a number of unsatisfied parity checks in the low density parity check decoder.
US08930783B2 pBIST read only memory image compression
A programmable Built In Self Test (pBIST) system used to test embedded memories where a plurality of memories requiring different testing conditions are incorporated in an SOC. The pBIST Read Only Memory storing the test setup data is organized to eliminate multiple instances of test setup data for similar embedded memories.
US08930780B2 Systems and methods for non-zero syndrome based processing
The present invention is related to systems and methods for harmonizing testing and using a storage media. As an example, a data system is set forth that includes: a data decoder circuit, a data processing circuit, and a write circuit. The data decoder circuit is configured to decode a test data set to yield a result. The data processing circuit is configured to encode a user data set guided by the result to yield a codeword. The write circuit is configured to store an information set corresponding to the codeword to a storage medium.
US08930779B2 Bit-replacement technique for DRAM error correction
The disclosed embodiments provide a dynamic memory device, comprising a set of dynamic memory cells and a set of replacement dynamic memory cells. The set of replacement dynamic memory cells includes data cells which contain replacement data bits for predetermined faulty cells in the set of dynamic memory cells, and address cells which contain address bits identifying the faulty cells, wherein each data cell is associated with a group of address cells that identify an associated faulty cell in the set of dynamic memory cells. The dynamic memory device also includes a remapping circuit, which remaps a faulty cell in the set of dynamic memory cells to an associated replacement cell in the set of replacement cells.
US08930768B2 System and method of failover for an initiated SIP session
An initial SIP message is sent to establish a first SIP communication session from a first SIP device. The initial SIP message is sent via a first of a plurality of session managers to a second SIP device. After receiving the initial SIP message at the second SIP device and before ending the first SIP communication session, either the first or second SIP device sends a second SIP message. The second SIP message is sent to the first of the plurality of session managers. Either the first or second SIP devices detects that a response SIP message to the sent second SIP message was not received within a defined time period. In response to detecting that the SIP response message was not received within the defined time period, either the first or second SIP device resends the second SIP message to a second one of the plurality of session managers.
US08930767B2 Techniques for test automation in emergent systems
Certain example embodiments described herein relate to techniques for test automations in emergent systems. More particularly, certain example embodiments provide a mechanism for dynamic recognition of combinations of services/components, monitoring of their real-time usage, and automatic generation and running of tests for the combinations at appropriate times (e.g. when part of a combination is updated). The tests for individual (and, if available, combinations of) services are associated with the services using a registry. A taxonomy or ontology can be used to denote the semantics of the services, providing an array of options for assessing how and when to run tests and actions. It also is possible to detect similar combinations of services automatically. It therefore becomes possible to automate the detection and running of tests for a combination of services/components, even in emergent systems where such combinations cannot always be predicted in advance and where services/components are addable/modifiable over time.
US08930757B2 Operations management apparatus, operations management method and program
A correlation model is updated quickly in the case that monitored metrics are changed.The correlation model storing unit 112 stores a first correlation model including a correlation detected for a pair of metrics in first plural metrics. The correlation model updating unit 103, in the case that a metric is added, judges existence of a correlation for each of pairs of metrics obtained by excluding the pair of metrics in first plural metrics from pairs of metrics in second plural metrics including the added metric and the first plural metrics, and generates a second correlation model by adding the detected correlation to the first correlation model.
US08930750B2 Systems and methods for preventing data loss
For preventing data loss in storage systems, a detection is made that a storage device in a plurality of storage devices is experiencing a malfunction. The type of malfunction is determined. A SMART rebuilding technique, a normal building technique, a data migration technique, or a user data backup technique is selected to preserve the data in the storage device based on the determined type of the malfunction. The selected technique is performed on the storage device.
US08930748B2 Storage apparatus and controller
A storage apparatus includes a plurality of first storage mediums in which data is redundantly stored and a controller. The controller includes a formatting section which performs formatting in each of the plurality of first storage mediums, a detection section which detects a failure that has occurred in the plurality of first storage mediums, a control section which makes the formatting section stop the formatting at the time of the detection of the failure by the detection section and which rebuilds the data stored in the plurality of first storage mediums in which the failure has occurred in a second storage medium other than the plurality of first storage mediums, and a rebuild processing section which rebuilds the data stored in the plurality of first storage mediums in the second storage medium in accordance with instructions from the control section.
US08930744B2 Maximizing use of storage in a data replication environment
Mechanisms for controlling access to storage volumes on the secondary storage system is provided. A determination is made as to whether a first site computing device has sent a notification of a failure condition of a first site. In response to a determination that the notification of the failure condition of the first site has not been received, secondary workloads of a second site computing device are permitted to access storage volumes on the secondary storage system. In response to a determination that the notification of the failure condition of the first site has been received, a mode of operation of the second site is modified from a normal mode of operation to a failure mode of operation. In the failure mode of operation, the storage system controller of the second site blocks at least a portion of access requests from secondary workloads of the second site computing device.
US08930742B2 Clock signals for dynamic reconfiguration of communication link bundles
In at least some embodiments, an electronic device includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The electronic device also includes a serial communication link controller coupled to the processor, the serial communication link controller supporting dynamic reconfiguration of a plurality of communication link bundles. The serial communication link controller receives an input clock and generates first and second clock signals based on the input clock, the first and second clock signals having different clock rates and being provided to each of a plurality of communication link bundles.
US08930736B2 Inferred electrical power consumption of computing devices
The power consumption of a computing device is inferred from the utilization rates of individual components of the computing device and a utilization-to-power-consumption transfer function that was derived by benchmarking that, or an analogous, computing device. The inferred power consumption of a computing device is aggregated to infer the power consumption of various groups and super-groups of computing devices. The historical power consumption of computing devices is inferred based on the utilization rates of individual components of the computing devices at relevant times in the past. Historical power consumption is used to derive a power consumption profile of a computing device and the inferred current power consumption of such a computing device is compared to such a power consumption profile, and to the historical power consumption, to identify deviations therefrom, which can provide proactive detection of potential hardware faults, software glitches, or other errors.
US08930734B1 Managing power states of a computing device
In general, this disclosure describes techniques for managing power consumption states of a computing device. In one example, a method includes detecting, using at least one sensor of a computing device comprising a plurality of components, at least one indication of user contact with at least one surface of the computing device, wherein the at least one indication of user contact conforms with a touch pattern. The method further includes in response to detecting the at least one indication of user contact with at least one surface of the computing device, modifying a power consumption state of the computing device, wherein which components of the computing device receive power is based on the power consumption state.
US08930733B2 Separating power domains of central processing units
A circuit includes a central processing unit (CPU), which includes a first memory block having a first power domain; and a core block signally connected to the first memory block and having a second power domain disconnected from the first power domain.
US08930728B1 System and method for selecting a power management configuration in a multi-core environment to balance current load demand and required power consumption
Some of the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method comprising generating a plurality of power profiles for a corresponding plurality of processing cores, wherein each power profile of the plurality of power profiles includes power consumptions of a corresponding processing core under various operating conditions; generating a plurality of candidate configurations, wherein each candidate configuration comprises corresponding candidate operating conditions for the plurality of processing cores; and based at least in part on the plurality of power profiles, selecting a first candidate configuration of the plurality of candidate configurations for managing the plurality of processing cores. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
US08930725B2 Server rack system for managing power supply
A server rack system for managing power supply is provided. The system includes: a first LAN switch, a plurality of servers, at least one power supply unit, and an IMM. The first LAN switch is coupled to a management network. Each of the servers has a BMC. The BMC has a management network port connected to the management network. The power supply unit supplies electric power to the server rack system and has a management network port connected to the management network. The IMM has a management network port connected to the management network, visits the BMCs through the management network to acquire a power consumption value of the servers, generates a control command according to the power consumption value of the servers, and transmits the control command through the management network to the power supply unit. The power supply unit adjusts electric power output according to the control command.
US08930723B2 System and method for multi-phase voltage regulation
In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, a multi-phase voltage regulator may comprise a plurality of phases, each phase configured to supply electrical current to one or more information handling resources electrically coupled to the voltage regulator. A controller may be electrically coupled to the plurality of phases. The controller may designate at least one of the plurality of phases as a first state phase, and designate each of the plurality of phases not designated as a first state phase as a second state phase. The controller may alternate the designation of at least two of the plurality of phases between a first state phase and a second state phase. Each first state phase may be configured to supply a first electrical current regardless of electrical current demand. Each second state phase may be configured to supply a second electrical current based on the current demand.
US08930720B2 Authentication method
According to one embodiment, an authentication method includes generating a second key by a first key, the first key being stored in a memory and being prohibited from being read from outside; generating a session key by the second key; generating first authentication information using the session key and secret identification information, the secret identification information stored in a memory and being prohibited from being read from outside; transmitting encrypted secret identification information to an external device and receiving second authentication information from the external device, the encrypted secret identification information stored in a memory and readable, the second authentication information generated based on the encrypted secret identification information; and determining whether the first authentication information and the second authentication information match.
US08930719B2 Data protection method and device
An apparatus and method for encoding and decoding additional information into a digital information in an integral manner. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and device for data protection.
US08930716B2 Address translation unit, device and method for remote direct memory access of a memory
A method for Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) of a memory of a processor. An address translation unit comprises an address translator and a signer. The address translator is configured to translate a received virtual address in a real address of the memory. The signer is configured to cryptographically sign the real address.
US08930713B2 System and method for general purpose encryption of data
Systems and methods for reducing problems and disadvantages associated with traditional approaches to encryption and decryption of data are provided. An information handling system may include a processor, a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, and an encryption accelerator communicatively coupled to the processor. The encryption accelerator may be configured to encrypt and decrypt information in accordance with a plurality of cryptographic functions, receive a command from the processor to perform an encryption or decryption task upon data associated with an input/output operation, and in response to receiving the command, encrypt or decrypt the data associated with the input/output operation based on a particular one of the plurality of cryptographic functions.
US08930712B1 Metric obfuscation system
A system for metric obfuscation may include one or more processors and memory. The one or more processors may receive a dataset comprising a plurality of metrics that relate to user demographic information and may generate a seed based at least in part on the dataset. The one or more processors may initialize a pseudorandom number generator with the seed and may generate a plurality of pseudorandom numbers using the pseudo-random number generator. The one or more processors may generate a plurality of obfuscated metrics corresponding to the plurality of metrics, wherein each of the plurality of obfuscated metrics is generated at least in part based on a corresponding metric of the plurality of metrics and a corresponding pseudorandom number of the plurality of pseudorandom numbers. The one or more processors may provide the plurality of obfuscated metrics.
US08930711B2 Critical security parameter generation and exchange system and method for smart-card memory modules
A storage device contains a smart-card device and a memory device, which is connected to a controller. The storage device may be used in the same manner as a conventional smart-card device, or it may be used to store a relatively large amount of data. The memory device may also be used to store data or instructions for use by the smart-card device. The controller includes a security engine that uses critical security parameters stored in, and received from, the smart-card device. The critical security parameters may be sent to the controller in a manner that protects them from being discovered. The critical security parameters may be encryption and/or decryption keys that may encrypt data written to the memory device and/or decrypt data read from the memory device, respectively. Data and instructions used by the smart-card device may therefore stored in the memory device in encrypted form.
US08930707B2 Near field communication (NFC) device and method for selectively securing records in a near field communication data exchange format (NDEF) message
A method and apparatus for selectively securing records in a Near Field Communication Data Exchange Format (NDEF) message in a Near Field Communication (NFC) device are provided. The method includes generating a place marker signature record by setting a URI_present field to ‘0’ and setting a signature_type field to a predefined value, wherein a combination of the URI_present field set to ‘0’ and the signature_type field set to the predefined value indicates that a signature Record Type Definition (RTD) is a place marker signature record; and placing the place marker signature record in the NDEF message, wherein a set of records following the place marker signature record are secured.
US08930706B2 Method, device and network for authenticating the position of a navigation receiver
This document describes a method of processing data which consists in detecting and storing in a device the stream of navigation messages and the physical parameters of the signals received in a receiver originating from the satellite-based or terrestrial navigation systems and its comparison with the original data transmitted by the navigation system with respect to a time reference common for all the signals. The stream recorded generates a signature which is unique for each instant and each position over the whole service area (Earth or other planet or celestial body). The result of the processing of the data for a particular point of the Earth serves to validate and authenticate the position and the time reference that are delivered by the navigation receiver as well as the quality and authenticity of the signal received.
US08930697B2 Securing digital content system and method
A system and method of encrypting digital content in a digital container and securely locking the encrypted content to a particular user and/or computer or other computing device is provided. The system uses a token-based authentication and authorization procedure and involves the use of an authentication/authorization server. This system provides a high level of encryption security equivalent to that provided by public key/asymmetric cryptography without the complexity and expense of the associated PKI infrastructure. The system enjoys the simplicity and ease of use of single key/symmetric cryptography without the risk inherent in passing unsecured hidden keys. The secured digital container when locked to a user or user's device may not open or permit access to the contents if the digital container is transferred to another user's device. The digital container provides a secure technique of distributing electronic content such as videos, text, data, photos, financial data, sales solicitations, or the like.
US08930693B2 Cluster federation and trust
An improved scalable object storage system allows multiple clusters to work together. In one embodiment, a trust and federation relationship is established between a first cluster and a second cluster. This is done by designating a first cluster as a trust root. The trust root receives contact from another cluster, and the two clusters exchange cryptographic credentials. The two clusters mutually authenticate each other based upon the credentials, and optionally relative to a third information service, and establish a service connection. Services from the remote cluster are registered as being available to the cluster designated as the trust root. Multi-cluster gateways can also be designated as the trust root, and joined clusters can be mutually untrusting. Two one-way trust and federation relationships can be set up to form a trusted bidirectional channel.
US08930690B2 Offloading packet processing for networking device virtualization
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for offloading packet processing for networking device virtualization. A host maintains rule set(s) for a virtual machine, and a physical network interface card (NIC) maintains flow table(s) for the virtual machine. The physical NIC receives and processes a network packet associated with the virtual machine. Processing the network packet includes the physical NIC comparing the network packet with the flow table(s) at the physical NIC. When the network packet matches with a flow in the flow table(s) at the physical NIC, the physical NIC performs an action on the network packet based on the matching flow. Alternatively, when the network packet does not match with a flow in the flow table(s) at the physical NIC, the physical NIC passes the network packet to the host partition for processing against the rule set(s).
US08930684B2 Adding a runtime service for firmware-based images for a device not known to an operating system
Systems, devices, and methods, including program instructions, are provided for firmware filters and patches. One method embodiment includes executing extended firmware interface (EFI) program instructions during runtime to modify a firmware implementation underlying an interface and invoking the modified firmware implementation, while the original firmware code in non-volatile memory remains unmodified. A further embodiment includes adding a runtime service in an system abstraction layer (SAL) interface and adding a subordinate runtime service that describes a device not known to a firmware image on a system but useable by a particular operating system (OS).
US08930682B2 Handling media streams in a programmable bit processor
In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a bit processor that includes an execution unit to, responsive to an instruction for access of data of a first bit width, access data of a second bit width, the second bit width having a different number of bits than the first bit width when some of the data accessed includes non-stream data. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08930680B2 Sync-ID for multiple concurrent sync dependencies in an out-of-order store queue
A method, system and process for retiring data entries held within a store queue (STQ). The STQ of a processor cache is modified to receive and process multiple synchronized groups (sync-groups). Sync groups comprise thread of execution synchronized (thread-sync) entries, all thread of execution synchronized (all-thread-sync) entries, and regular store entries (non-thread-sync and non-all-thread-sync). The task of storing data entries, from the STQ out to memory or an input/output device, is modified to increase the effectiveness of the cache. Sync-groups are created for each thread and tracked within the STQ via a synchronized identification (SID). An entry is eligible for retirement when the entry is within a currently retiring sync-group as identified by the SID.
US08930677B2 Computer operation control method, program, and system
A computer implemented control method, article of manufacture, and computer implemented system for determining whether stack allocation is possible. The method includes: allocating an object created by a method frame to a stack. The allocation is performed in response to: calling a first and second instruction in the method frame; the first instruction causes an escape of the object, and the second instruction cancels the escape of the object; the object does not escape to a thread other than a thread to which the object has escaped, at the point in time when the escape is cancelled; the first instruction has been called before the second instruction is called; and the object does not escape in accordance with an instruction other than the first instruction in the method frame, regardless of whether the object escapes in accordance with the first instruction.
US08930676B2 Master core discovering enabled cores in microprocessor comprising plural multi-core dies
A core configuration discovery method and corresponding microprocessor are provided that does not rely on off-core logic or queries by system BIOS. Reset microcode is provided in the microprocessor's cores. Upon reset, the microcode queries and/or receives from other cores configuration-revealing information and collects the configuration-revealing information to determine a composite core configuration for the microprocessor. The composite core configuration may reveal the number of enabled cores, identify the enabled cores, reveal a hierarchical coordination system of the multi-core processor, such as a nodal map of the cores for certain inter-core communication processes or restricted activities, identify various domains and domain masters within such a system, and/or identify resources, such as voltage sources, clock sources, and caches, shared by various domains of the microprocessor. The composite core configuration may be used for power state management, reconfiguration, and other purposes.
US08930669B2 Tiered data management method and system for high performance data monitoring
A method for managing memory in a system for an application, comprising: assigning a first block (i.e., a big block) of the memory to the application when the application is initiated, the first block having a first size, the first block being assigned to the application until the application is terminated; dividing the first block into second blocks (i.e., intermediate blocks), each second block having a same second size, a second block of the second blocks for containing data for one or more components of a single data structure to be accessed by one thread of the application at a time; and, dividing the second block into third blocks (i.e., small blocks), each third block having a same third size, a third block of the third blocks for containing data for a single component of the single data structure.
US08930668B2 Storage black box
Embodiments of the invention are directed to a system, method, or computer program product for providing a storage allocation to a virtual machine in response to a service request including receiving a service request including a virtual machine and storage parameters and running a policy engine to determine appropriate storage allocation to achieve storage parameters received from the requester, which may include applying a set of policy-based rules to the received storage parameters to determine one or more appropriate logical components of storage to map, to determine one or more array ports to enable, and to determine one or more network ports to enable in order to establish one or more communication channels between the operating system of the virtual machine and the provisioned component space. Component space is provisioned and a communication channel is established between the operating system to the component space based on the policy engine.
US08930651B2 Archiving system with partitions of individual archives
According to the disclosure, a unique and novel archiving system that provides one or more application layer partitions to archive data is disclosed. Embodiments include an archiving system having removable hard disk drives embedded in removable disk cartridges, referred to simply as removable disk drives. In embodiments, the removable disk drives are electrically connected to one or more drive ports that are separately addressable. The archiving system can create application layer partitions that associate the application layer partitions with one or more drive ports. Each application layer partition, in embodiments, has a separate set of controls that allow for customized storage of different data within a single archiving system.
US08930641B1 Systems and methods for providing memory controllers with scheduler bypassing capabilities
An integrated circuit may have a memory controller that interfaces between master processing modules and system memory. A scheduling module may be used to handle memory access requests received from multiple master modules. The scheduling module may arrange the received memory access requests in an order for fulfillment with system memory. A bypass module may be used to provide a low latency bypass path that allows memory access requests to bypass the scheduling module. The bypass module may include an eligibility detection module that identifies memory access requests eligible for scheduler bypassing, a port selection module that provides a low latency bypass path for the eligible memory access requests, multiplexing circuitry that selects between memory access requests provided from the low latency bypass path and from the output of the scheduling module, and a masking module that prevents redundant fulfillment of memory access requests.
US08930637B2 Arrangement
An arrangement includes a first part and a second part. The first part includes a memory controller for accessing a memory, at least one first cache memory and a first directory. The second part includes at least one second cache memory configured to request access to said memory. The first directory is configured to use a first coherency protocol for the at least one first cache memory and a second different coherency protocol for the at least one second memory.
US08930636B2 Relaxed coherency between different caches
One embodiment sets forth a technique for ensuring relaxed coherency between different caches. Two different execution units may be configured to access different caches that may store one or more cache lines corresponding to the same memory address. During time periods between memory barrier instructions relaxed coherency is maintained between the different caches. More specifically, writes to a cache line in a first cache that corresponds to a particular memory address are not necessarily propagated to a cache line in a second cache before the second cache receives a read or write request that also corresponds to the particular memory address. Therefore, the first cache and the second are not necessarily coherent during time periods of relaxed coherency. Execution of a memory barrier instruction ensures that the different caches will be coherent before a new period of relaxed coherency begins.
US08930633B2 Reducing read latency using a pool of processing cores
In a read processing storage system, using a pool of CPU cores, the CPU cores are assigned to process either write operations, read operations, and read and write operations, that are scheduled for processing. A maximum number of the CPU cores are set for processing only the read operations, thereby lowering a read latency. A minimal number of the CPU cores are allocated for processing the write operations, thereby increasing write latency. Upon reaching a throughput limit for the write operations that causes the minimal number of the plurality of CPU cores to reach a busy status, the minimal number of the plurality of CPU cores for processing the write operations is increased.
US08930623B2 Method of securing data in storage device and storage device thereof
After a file is stored in a storage device, the file is segmented into a first segment and a second segment, the latter of which is relocated to a removable security device only when the removable security device is connected to the storage device. After the removable security device is removed from the storage device, as long as the removable security device is kept by the owner of the file, the file cannot be accessible for someone other than the owner even if said someone takes the storage device. Security of the file is thus assured.
US08930620B2 Host discovery and handling of ALUA preferences and state transitions
Various systems and methods can discover asymmetric logical unit (LUN) access (ALUA) preferences and/or state transitions and use those preferences and/or state transitions to control how a host accesses a LUN in an ALUA array. One such method involves detecting a preferred controller for a LUN and then detecting that a current owner controller of the LUN is not the preferred controller. In response, the method can initiate an ownership change from the current owner controller to the preferred controller. Another method involves detecting an initial state of a first controller with respect to a LUN. The method then detects a subsequent state of the first controller with respect to the LUN subsequent to detecting the initial state. The method can then cause a computing device to access the LUN via a second controller, in response to the subsequent state not being the active optimized state.
US08930605B2 Systems and methods for docking portable electronic devices
Systems and methods for docking portable electronic devices. A master device may be docked to a slave device to control the operation of the slave device. The slave device may have a form factor different than that of the master device. For example, the slave device may be a tablet and the master device may be a handheld device such as a smart phone. The slave device may include a retention mechanism to retain the master device in a docked position with respect to the slave device. When in the docked position, the master device may be in operative communication with one or more hardware components of the slave device to control the operation thereof. The slave device may lack the ability to exploit the full functionality of the one or more hardware components of the slave device without communication with the master device.
US08930602B2 Providing adaptive bandwidth allocation for a fixed priority arbiter
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving requests from requestors in an arbiter, detecting that none of the requestors have a qualified request for at least one cycle of an arbitration round, and preventing a grant count reload of grant counters associated with the when at least one of the requestors has available grants for the arbitration round. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08930586B2 Identification of electronic devices operating within a computing system
Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and apparatuses for identification of electronic devices within a computing system. According to an aspect, a method may be implemented at an electronic device comprising an input. The method may include setting, during a startup state, the input to indicate an identity of the electronic device. Further, the method may include determining an event for changing from the startup state to an operational state. The method may also include changing from the startup state to the operational state in response to determining the event.
US08930582B2 Method and apparatus for regulating communications between multiple transmitters and receivers
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that regulates communications between a plurality of transmitters and a receiver. The system comprises a plurality of cells, wherein each cell controls communications from a transmitter in the plurality of transmitters to the receiver. A single token flows through a ring which passes through the plurality of cells, wherein the presence of the token within a cell indicates that the corresponding transmitter may communicate with the receiver.
US08930578B1 Systems and methods for sharing digital information between mobile devices of friends and family using multiple LAN-based embedded devices
A method for sharing digital information is provided. The method may include, at a first local area network (LAN)-based embedded device, inviting a second LAN-based embedded device to share digital information between the first and second LAN-based embedded devices; synchronizing the digital information between the first and second LAN-based embedded devices; and maintaining communication between the first LAN-based embedded device and the second LAN-based embedded device. Said inviting may include, at the first LAN-based embedded device: receiving an identifier of a second mobile device, and transmitting to the second mobile device a first WAN IP address and first access credential; and at the second LAN-based embedded device: receiving the first WAN IP address and first access credential from the second mobile device, and transmitting to the first LAN-based embedded device a second WAN IP address and second access credential.
US08930574B2 Voice and other media conversion in inter-operator interface
An apparatus receives a protocol invitation communication from an originating operator and targeted to a receiving operator in a communications system. The apparatus intercepts the communication and checks whether the originating operator and the receiving operator use the same protocol for the protocol invitation communication. If the receiving operator uses another protocol, the apparatus performs a conversion from the originating operator's protocol to the receiving operator's protocol and forwards the converted protocol invitation communication towards the receiving operator.
US08930573B2 Computer networks with unique identification
A computer network is described in which the data-link layer address, e.g., MAC address, of the network cards of client nodes are used to uniquely identify the nodes in the provision of network to application layer services. A link layer aware router may determine the MAC address of a client node from a data packet transmitted by the client node, and determines the services to provide to the user, e.g., a proxy redirect of the packet, based on a database of client node MAC addresses to user attributes. By determining MAC addresses, the router can also identify unregistered MAC addresses, and can forward a HTTP request by an unregistered user to a remote configuration web page for registering the user or to a security warning web page. The router may also support Network Address Translation and Domain Name System services using the MAC addresses, with a fully qualified domain name, hostname or the like being assigned to the MAC addresses.
US08930569B2 Methods and apparatus for optimum file transfers in a time-varying network emvironment
Methods and apparatus for optimum file transfers in a time-varying network environment. A method is provided for transmitting content in a data network. The method includes transmitting content at a selected transmission rate, and receiving one or more acknowledgement signals. The method also includes estimating a network delivery rate from the one or more acknowledgment signals, and adjusting the selected transmission rate of the content based on the network delivery rate.
US08930566B2 Real-time HD TV/video IP streaming to a game console
Program code enabling the streaming of HD content in real-time to a game console is stored on a storage medium remote from the game console. The game console executes software that facilitates transfer of the program code from the remote storage medium to the game console. The program code ensures that sufficient bandwidth exists on a network between the game console and a HD tuner, and enables the streaming of HD content in real-time to the game console.
US08930565B1 Method and system for providing data streams in a virtual environment
A method and system for providing content in a virtual environment. A host computer hosting a region in a virtual environment provides an event stream including a plurality of event data segments identifying activity occurring in the virtual environment to a client computer participating in the virtual environment. The host computer receives a request to provide virtual environment content including imagery data associated with the virtual environment to the client computer, and provides a content stream including a plurality of content data segments containing virtual environment content at a content stream bandwidth based on an event stream bandwidth associated with the event stream to the client computer.
US08930557B2 Data transmission with constant data rate
A method for forming data received from a data source into frames for transmission over a data link according to a protocol in which data is carried as data frames and in which once transmission of the data frame begun the entirety of the data frame must be transmitted at no less than a pre-set data rate, the method comprising: including in a frame traffic data formed from data received for transmission from the data source, and if insufficient data received for transmission from the data source is available to transmit the frame at the pre-set data rate, including in the frame padding data, the padding data being of a predetermined format distinguishable from the traffic data.
US08930552B2 Application switch system and application switch method
An application switch system includes a switch configured to control a connection between a plurality of client terminals and a plurality of servers which exist on a network, a relay unit configured to perform a protocol relay, and a controller that includes a section configured to perform a centralized control on a route table used to determine a destination in the switch, a section configured to control relay processing of the relay unit, a section configured to select one server as a connection destination from the plurality of servers, a section configured to select a route which links between one client terminal of the plurality of client terminals and the selected connection destination server, and which contains the relay unit, and set the selected route to the route table in the switch, and a section configured to set relay information used when the relay unit performs the protocol relay.
US08930548B2 Mobile link system, method and apparatus
A system is provided for communication between a mobile device and an Enterprise Network. A gateway provides an end-to-end connection between the gateway and the mobile device. A controller is adapted to interpret data from a proprietary protocol. The data is communicated between the Enterprise Network and the mobile device via the end-to-end connection.
US08930545B2 Traversal of symmetric network address translator for multiple simultaneous connections
Handling of multiple connections during NAT traversal for a node behind a symmetric NAT is disclosed. The likelihood of connection failure during symmetric NAT traversal may be reduced by serializing critical time windows after port prediction. Once a connection request has been sent for a first connection, port prediction for a subsequent connection may be delayed until a connectivity check has begun for the first connection. This process may be repeated to handle NAT traversal for multiple simultaneous connections to different nodes.
US08930542B2 Dynamically building a set of compute nodes to host the user's workload
A method, system and computer program product for dynamically building a set of compute nodes to host a user's workload. An administrative server receives workload definitions that include the types of workloads that are to be run in a cloud group as well as a number of instances of each workload the cloud group should support. These workload definitions are used to determine the virtual machine demands that the cloud group will place on the cloud environment. The administrative server further receives the demand constraints, placement constraints and license enforcement policies. The administrative server identifies a set of compute nodes to host the user's workload based on the virtual machines demands, the demand constraints, the placement constraints and the license enforcement policies. In this manner, a set of compute nodes is dynamically built for consideration in forming a cloud group without the user requiring knowledge of the cloud's composition.
US08930540B1 Determination of device usage patterns
A computer identifier is received at a first computing device. The first computing device then collects data from a second computing device. The second computing device is associated with the computer identifier. The first computing device uses the data to identify an appropriate time to schedule a task on the second computing device. The first computing device then schedules the task to be performed on the second computing device at the identified time.
US08930539B1 Method and apparatus for optimizing resource utilization within a cluster and facilitating high availability for an application
A method and apparatus for optimizing resource utilization within a cluster and facilitating high availability for an application is described. In one embodiment, the method for optimizing resource utilization within a cluster and facilitating high availability for an application includes accessing configuration information regarding virtual machine nodes within the cluster to identify an active node and at least one passive node that are associated with the application and configuring the at least one passive node to be in a suspended state, wherein a passive node of the at least one passive node is to be in a running state and the active node is to be in a suspended state upon migration of the application to the passive node of the at least one passive node.
US08930534B2 Method and system for management based end-to-end sleep limitation in an energy efficient ethernet network
A time limit may be determined for energy efficient networking (EEN) sleep intervals based on end-to-end sleep interval limitations. The time limit may be communicated to other network devices which may limit their sleep time. End-to-end sleep interval limitation information may be received via a user input, packet header information, a standardized and/or non-standardized network management protocol, AVB, SRP, RSVP and SNMP. The EEN sleep interval time limit may be determined based on a number of hops between endpoint devices. Packets may be inspected to determine a packet data type and/or end-to-end sleep interval limitation information. The time limit may be determined based on latency requirements of data streams. A time limit for a port may be determined based on sleep time limits for data streams communicated via the port. The time limits may be statically and/or dynamically configured. The network device may be configured via a network management interface.
US08930517B2 Server rack system
A server rack system is provided, which includes a rack, a rack management module, a plurality of servers, and a management network connection module. The rack management module is located in the rack and coupled to a management network line (MNL). The servers are located in the rack. Each server includes a baseboard management controller (BMC), and each BMC is used to monitor a working status of the server where the BMC is located. The management network connection module is located in the rack and coupled to the MNL to be connected to the rack management module and the BMC through the MNL. The rack management module is used to allocate an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the BMC and manage each server through the BMC corresponding to each IP address.
US08930504B2 Digital downloading jukebox system with user-tailored music management, communications, and other tools
A digital downloading jukebox system including a mechanism for delivering custom services to a recognized user, including services for creating playlists, communicating with others, accessing other features, etc. is provided. In some exemplary embodiments, after a user is recognized, the jukebox system allows users to access a special front-end via an Internet-enabled device or on an actual jukebox. Then, the user may, for example, create playlists, share songs with friends, send messages to friends, and access other value-added content. Such a system preferably learns about networks of friends, and enables managers to send similar messages to regular customers and/or others known to the system. In some exemplary embodiments, changes via a first user interface on a first device are reflected on second user interface on other properly-configured devices.
US08930503B1 Resource locator remarketing
Methods, systems, and apparatus for resource locator remarketing are presented. In one aspect, a method includes receiving visitation data from a publisher, the visitation data specifying a device identifier and a resource locator specifying a resource that was provided to a user device; identifying a content feed that includes regular expressions, each regular expression specifying matching character strings and a set of content items that are eligible to be provided to user devices corresponding to visitation data including a resource locator matching one of the regular expressions; identifying, a first matching regular expression that matches the resource locator specified by the visitation data; selecting a content item from the content items that correspond to the first matching regular expression; and providing data that causes presentation of the selected content item to the user device.
US08930502B2 Internet vehicle data logger framework that provide data controller by the user in standardized human understandable format via web services
Software applications that retrieve, log, and communicate vehicle-related data are implemented within a system that includes a plurality of vehicles, a worldwide network, at least one web server, at least one database server, and a plurality of internet-enabled back-end devices. Each vehicle has at least one internet-enabled front-end device, which is communicably coupled to the vehicle's computer system access device. The internet-enabled front-end device of each vehicle retrieves the vehicle-related data through a software application, which is also used to send the vehicle-related data to the web server. The web server collects data from each vehicle and properly organizes and stores the data on the database server. The web server and the database service implements a system software to manage and process the data from each vehicle. Once the system software processes the data, the internet-enabled back-end devices can access the data through external applications or information systems.
US08930492B2 Method and electronic device for content sharing
A content item may be identified at a first electronic device with selection for the content item to be “opened” at a second electronic device. The first electronic device may instruct that the content item be displayed or otherwise made available for further interaction at the second electronic device. A web protocol session may be established between the first electronic device and the second electronic device to allow for an instruction message from the first electronic device to the second electronic device. Upon receiving a user interface command at the first electronic device, the user interface command indicating that the content item should be displayed at the second electronic device, the instruction message is sent to the second electronic device, via the web protocol session. As a result, the content item is caused to be displayed at the second electronic device.
US08930490B2 Lifestream annotation method and system
A method and system for collecting information, enriching the collected information and linking the enriched information is provided. The system includes an application server that is accessible by users via their computer device for performing a variety of functions encompassed in a lifestream data function. Lifestreams (or lifestream data) contains notes, recordings and annotation data elements. The goal of the lifestream data functions is to ultimately enrich the individual data elements in each lifestream which then form a network of enriched lifestreams or aspects of enriched lifestreams to provide a user with: (a) a better organization of his/her data, notes, thoughts and intentions, (b) a better search or filter tool to search for data, notes, thoughts and intentions, and/or (c) a better ranking mechanism for ranking or determining relevance of data, notes, thoughts and intentions.
US08930489B2 Distributed rate limiting of handling requests
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for performing rate limiting in a horizontally distributed and scalable manner. The method includes receiving a request in a rate limiter. In turn, a sleep time can be obtained for the request based at least in part on a time value and an allotted time per request, and the request can be delayed according to the sleep time. The time value can be obtained from a distributed key value store using a key generated from the request. After this sleep time, the request can be forwarded from the rate limiter to the handling server.
US08930482B2 Communication exchanges and methods of use thereof
In some embodiments, the instant invention provides for a computer-implemented method that includes the following steps: administering, by a first specifically programmed computer system of a communications exchange, an electronic delivery of a first electronic distribution from a first sender to a first recipient, where the mediating includes: receiving from a first source of a plurality of sources, a first electronic distribution of the first sender, receiving from the first sender, a plurality of sender attributes of the first sender and a plurality of sender rules of the first sender that define how electronic distributions of the first sender to be delivered; receiving the plurality of recipient attributes of the first recipient and the plurality of recipient rules of the first recipient; matching the first electronic distribution of first sender to the first recipient; transmitting, the first electronic distribution of first sender to first channel of the first recipient.
US08930478B2 Method and system for organizing electronic messages using eye-gaze technology
Organizing messages received and transmitted over a network is described. In one aspect, a method includes tracking where a user is gazing as the user is composing an outgoing message on a first computer system. During a composition time period in which the user is composing the message, a relevance rating for one or more of a plurality of gaze areas is determined. The relevance rating of a gaze area is based on a number of times the user's gaze dwells on the displayed message associated with the gaze area after the user's gaze is directed away from the displayed message. The method further includes identifying at least one displayed message that is related to the outgoing message based on at least one of the relevance ratings, and associating an identifier for at least one of the at least one related message with the outgoing message.
US08930476B2 Instant messaging (IM) file folder transmission method and system
A method is disclosed for folder transfer based on instant messaging (IM). The method includes receiving from an IM sender a transfer request for transferring a folder-to-be-transferred. The folder-to-be-transferred may contain a plurality of files. The method also includes receiving from the IM sender folder information of the folder-to-be-transferred, determining a receiving folder corresponding to the folder-to-be-transferred on a predetermined storage location, and determining files-to-be-transferred from the plurality of files corresponding to the folder-to-be-transferred based on the folder information. Further, the method includes sequentially sending one transfer request for each of the files-to-be-transferred to the IM sender through a same network connection, receiving the files-to-be-transferred sent sequentially by the IM sender through the same network connection, and storing the received files-to-be-transferred in the receiving folder.
US08930474B2 Time-managed electronic mail messages
Systems, method sand computer program products for facilitating the automatic deletion of received emails after a user-selectable time period has elapsed are disclosed. In various embodiments, email messages contain a header field referred to as an “Expiration Time” header field that dictates the length of time the email will reside in a designated Inbox prior to its automatic deletion by an email server. The server is able to automatically delete the received email as long as the email is residing in a folder that is synched to the server. A user receiving the email has access to the Expiration Time Header field and can modify its value if desired and allowed by the sender. The user can move the retrieved email to a folder that is not synched to the server, thus preventing the email from being automatically deleted by the server.
US08930473B2 Application platform for electronic mail
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for an application platform for electronic mail. A method includes, in a network of interconnected computers, receiving a request in an email server to start up an email client, initializing an app platform client residing in the email client, receiving a request in the email server to open an email message, determining if there is an app associated with the email message, and rendering the app within the email message.
US08930471B2 Methods and systems for receiving, mapping and structuring data from disparate systems in a healthcare environment
Methods and systems for receiving, mapping and structuring data from disparate systems in a healthcare environment are described. An example computer-implemented method of receiving data input associated with different versions of healthcare message structures includes receiving first data in a first format through a single service interface. One or more fields of the first data is not supported by at least one of the different versions of the healthcare message structures. The example method also includes receiving second data in a second format through the single service interface. One or more fields of the second data is not supported by at least one of the different versions of the healthcare message structures. The single service interface enables the receipt of the first data and the second data to minimize a number of interface end points.
US08930464B1 Email content pre-caching to a local archive store
An email archive system and associated techniques are described. Archived emails may be stored locally on a user's client computer in a local archive store. The email archive system and associated techniques may interact with an email message system and an email client application.
US08930460B2 Method and system for determining and sharing a user's web presence
A method and system for determining and sharing a user's web presence have been disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer implemented method comprises providing web presence information associated with a first user from a first computer having a first software module. The web presence information is received at a second computer. The web presence information is used to dynamically inform a second user communicating with the second computer of a website that the first user is viewing.
US08930456B2 Method and system of suggesting contacts through the display of public posts within a social networking service
A system and method for displaying public posts within a social networking service. In one aspect, a method includes determining a plurality of suggested contacts associated with a user of the social networking service, with each suggested contact of the plurality of suggested contacts being associated with a plurality of public posts. For each suggested contact associated with the plurality of public posts, the method includes ranking the plurality of public posts for the suggested contact and selecting one or more public posts from the plurality of public posts for the suggested contact based on the ranking. The method further includes providing for the display of the selected one or more public posts along with a corresponding confirmation interface component allowing acceptance of the suggested contact as a contact of the user. Machine-readable media are also provided.
US08930453B2 Social networking relevance index
A system and method are provided for organizing a listing of activities on a social networking website, including present each user of the plurality of users an organized representation of activities, the representation of activities sorted by how relevant each activity is to the particular user.
US08930451B2 Multicast/unicast admission control method, device and system
A multicast/unicast admission control method, a multicast/unicast admission control device, and a multicast/unicast admission control system are provided. In the method, through centralized resource control of a resource and admission control subsystem (RACS), sharing of multicast/unicast resources is realized. The RACS allocates and authorizes resources to an access node (AN), the AN manages the obtained multicast resources under the authorization, and the resource allocation is adjusted through interaction when the multicast resources of the AN or the resources of the RACS are not sufficient.
US08930432B2 Floating point execution unit with fixed point functionality
A floating point execution unit is capable of selectively repurposing one or more adders in an exponent path of the floating point execution unit to perform fixed point addition operations, thereby providing fixed point functionality in the floating point execution unit.
US08930430B2 Chromatic dispersion estimator and method for estimating a chromatic dispersion
A chromatic dispersion estimator for estimating a chromatic dispersion in an input signal block comprises a transformer for transforming the input signal block into a transformed signal block in frequency domain, a chromatic dispersion compensator for compensating a certain chromatic dispersion in the transformed signal block to obtain a compensated transformed signal block, an inverse transformer for inversely transforming the compensated transformed signal block into time domain to obtain an output signal, an adaptive filter for filtering the output signal to obtain a filtered signal, and a determiner for determining upon the basis of the filtered signal whether the certain chromatic dispersion corresponds to the chromatic dispersion in the input signal block.
US08930411B2 Method and system for GIS enabled land management system
A improved tract-based lease data management systems is described that allow for rendering maps of database entities with reduced data entry. The invention includes methods for linking, unlinking, detecting invalidating changes, and rebuilding database entity geographical representations.
US08930410B2 Query transformation for masking data within database objects
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system processes a database query, and comprises a computer system including at least one processor. The system identifies one or more expressions within the database query utilizing a database object with value masking. Masking requirements are determined for each identified expression and the database object utilized by that identified expression is replicated to provide masked and actual versions of that database object in response to the masking requirements for that expression including masked values and actual values of that database object. The value masking of the database object is applied to the identified expressions within the database query based on the determined masking requirements to produce search results with masked values for the database query. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for processing a database query in substantially the same manner described above.
US08930407B2 Incremental clustering of indexed XML data
In a data storage and retrieval system wherein data is stored and retrieved in pages, said data comprising connected nodes arranged such that each page stores only complete nodes, said connected nodes being connected via a plurality of overlapping tree structures, a method of minimizing page retrieval in the face of changing relationships between nodes comprising: selecting at least two of said overlapping tree structures; incrementally adjusting a page node structure dynamically based on real time workload, separately according to each selected tree structure, to form modified partitions for each tree structure, each modified partition being so as to minimize page faults; for each modified partition calculating a modification gain to indicate which partition has provided a greater minimization of page faults; and selecting the tree structure and modified partition corresponding to the best modification gain.
US08930406B2 System and method for the automated notification of compatibility between real-time network participants
The present invention is a method and system for using predetermined preferences/characteristics to ascertain personal compatibility between network or chat room participants based upon profile information. When the system determines that these preferences are favorable for interpersonal compatibility, the system will automatically notify or page the participants so as to facilitate their introduction. Further functionality, aside from the compatibility based upon profile information, includes e-mail and other electronic notification of personal compatibility as well as geographic compatibility.
US08930402B1 Systems and methods for automatic collection of data over a network
In one of many possible embodiments, an automatic data collection system is provided. The exemplary system includes a data collection subsystem communicatively coupled to at least one networked device via a network. The data collection subsystem is configured to receive a request for data stored on the networked device and to automatically collect an unaltered replication of the requested data from the networked device via the network. The unaltered replication of the requested data includes an unaltered replication of metadata associated with the requested data.
US08930401B2 Accessing and providing access to computer files over a computer network
Methods, systems and computer program products are provided that may relate to controlling access to or accessing computer files over a computer network. A file server may execute on a first computer system and a client may execute on a second computer system. The client may be configured to send a first communication to the file server relating to a first computer file stored on the first computer system. The first communication may include first access control data associated with the first computer file. The file server may be configured to receive the first communication and extract the first access control data from the first communication. The file server may then store the extracted first access control data in extended attributes of the first computer file on the first computer system.
US08930398B1 System and method for improving a resume according to a job description
The present invention relates to a system and method for improving a resume according to a job description, including generating a first user profile signature based on a first user profile element associated with a user, generating a first job description signature based on a first job description element associated with a job description; and comparing the first user profile signature with the first job description signature to determine a first score indicating a strength of a match between the first user profile element and the job description.
US08930391B2 Progressive spatial searching using augmented structures
A location associated with a user of a computing device and a prefix portion of an input string may be received as one or more successive characters of the input string are provided by the user via the computing device. A list of suggested items may be obtained based on a function of respective recommendation indicators and proximities of the items to the location in response to receiving the prefix portion, and based on partially traversing a character string search structure having a plurality of non-terminal nodes augmented with bound indicators associated with spatial regions. The list of suggested items and descriptive information associated with each suggested item may be returned to the user, in response to receiving the prefix portion, for rendering an image illustrating indicators associated with the list in a manner relative to the location, as the user provides each successive character of the input string.
US08930389B2 Mutual search and alert between structured and unstructured data stores
An approach is provided that search unstructured data sources with a search engine using initial search terms. Search hits received from the search engine are gathered and possible search terms are retrieved from the search hits. Entities are extracted from the search hits where the entities correspond to the extracted terms. The extracted entities and terms that are extracted are used to query structured data sources, such as tables in a relational database. Query results are then received from the queries performed on the structured data sources. These query results are used to further search the unstructured data sources to again receive search hits from which terms and entities are extracted. Search hits and the extracted entities are stored in a results data store for analysis.
US08930385B2 Relevance estimation and actions based thereon
Computer-based systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. In a social network embodiment, information regarding a first user is obtained and formed into a first dataset. Conceptual spaces are selected for the first user, and the first user's location is determined in the spaces. Distances between the first user and other users and their datasets are computed in the selected conceptual spaces. Actions are taken based on the distances, such as including or excluding the other users from a friends list of the first user.
US08930378B2 Labeling samples in a similarity graph
Particular embodiments of a social-networking system maintain one or more data stores storing a social graph comprising user nodes, concept nodes, and edges connecting the nodes. Particular embodiments may determine a confidence score with respect to a user node and a concept node, wherein the confidence score is based at least in part on affinity scores associated with the edges along a sequence of nodes between the user node and the concept node in the social graph. The confidence score may be based on an overall probability that a random walk starting at the user node will end at the concept node. This overall probability may be determined by calculating, for each edge in the random walk, the probability of taking that edge during the random walk, based on the affinity score associated with that edge.
US08930369B2 Information processing apparatus, message classifying method and non-transitory medium for associating series of transactions
A tied server includes a first storage unit that stores appearance patterns of messages having a transaction identifier to identify a transaction. The tied server also includes a second storage unit that stores messages executed on the transaction DB server having the transaction ID by the application server and communicated between an application server and a DB server. The tied server classifies the messages stored in the second storage unit with respect to each transaction based on the appearance patterns of the messages stored in the first storage unit.
US08930361B2 Method and apparatus for cleaning data sets for a search process
An approach is provided for cleaning data sets for a search process. The cleanup platform determines one or more reference documents associated with at least one region. Next, the cleanup platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of the one or more reference documents to determine a frequency distribution of one or more candidate stop words with respect to the at least one region. Then, the cleanup platform causes, at least in part, selection of one or more stop words applicable to the at least one region from the one or more candidate stop words based, at least in part, on one or more frequency distribution criteria. Additionally, the cleanup platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of at least one data set associated with a search process to generate at least one enhanced data set by filtering the one or more stop words from the at least one data set.
US08930351B1 Grouping of users
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for grouping of users. In one aspect, a method includes selecting a current user group for a search session based on search results selected by a user during the search session. The method also includes obtaining a plurality of search results responsive to a query submitted by the user during the search session wherein each of the search results has a respective score. The method also includes determining that a search result in the plurality of search results is one in which users associated with the current user group select as a selected search result a percentage of time more often or less often than a general population of users that is larger than a number of users associated with the current user group. The method also includes in response to determining, modifying an order of the plurality of search results by modifying the respective score of the search result based on the percentage. The method also includes providing the modified plurality of search results in response to the query.
US08930347B2 Intermediate result set caching for a database system
A method for storing intermediate result sets in a database is provided. An access plan for a single query for accessing data stored in the database system is received. An intermediate result set is generated during execution of the access plan. A value of an intermediate result set rating of the intermediate result set is determined during execution of the access plan at runtime of the query for determining if the intermediate result set, generated during the execution of the access plan, is to be stored. Based on determining that the value of the intermediate result set rating meets a predefined criterion, the determined intermediate result set is stored for a longer period of time than the runtime of the query as a stored intermediate result set.
US08930326B2 Generating and utilizing a data fingerprint to enable analysis of previously available data
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system analyzes data in response to detecting occurrence of an event, and includes a computer system including at least one processor. The system maps fields between the data and a fingerprint definition identifying relevant fields of the data to produce a fingerprint for the data. The data is deleted after occurrence of the event. The produced fingerprint is stored in a data repository, and retrieved in response to detection of the event occurrence after the data has been deleted. The system analyzes the retrieved fingerprint to evaluate an impact of the event on corresponding deleted data. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for analyzing data in response to detecting occurrence of an event in substantially the same manner described above.
US08930317B2 Throttling to reduce synchronizations of excessively changing data
Embodiments of the invention determine if a user preference or other piece of data is being synchronized too frequently. If the user preference is being synchronized too frequently, synchronization of the user preference is throttled to prevent it from synchronizing for some number of synchronization cycles. If the user preference rarely changes, the user preference is rewarded by throttling it less often.
US08930315B2 Using a data protection server to backup and restore data on virtual servers
A virtual machine may be discovered through a directory service or via an agent that is installed on the host operating system that is running the virtual machine. If the agent is installed on the virtual machine, the agent monitors changes to a set of protected volumes on the virtual machine. If the agent is installed on the host, the agent monitors changes to the protected volumes, which may contain one or more virtual servers on the host. Periodically, these changes from the host or the virtual server are sent to a data protection server. The data protection server updates its replicas of protected volumes with the sent changes. Versions of files on a data protection server corresponding to a volume of a virtual server may be restored to the virtual machine, to another machine, or may be viewed from the data protection server.
US08930312B1 System and method for splitting a replicated data partition
A system that implements a data storage service may store data on behalf of storage service clients. The system may maintain data in multiple replicas of partitions that are stored on respective computing nodes in the system. The system may split a data partition into two new partitions, and may split the replica group that stored the original partitions into two new replica groups, each storing one of the new partitions. To split the replica group, the master replica may propagate membership changes to the other members of the replica group for adding members to the original replica group and for splitting the expanded replica group into two new replica groups. Subsequent to the split, replicas may attempt to become the master for the original replica group or for a new replica group. If an attempt to become master replica for the original replica group succeeds, the split may fail.
US08930310B2 Proxy server for distributing aircraft software parts
A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for managing aircraft software parts. In one advantageous embodiment, a method includes retrieving a set of aircraft software parts and metadata about the set of aircraft software parts from a library in an aircraft network data processing system to form a set of retrieved aircraft software parts. The set of aircraft software parts is stored in a file system. Metadata is stored in a database. The set of aircraft software parts and the metadata is sent to an onboard electronic distribution system, a communications link between an on ground component interface, and the onboard electronic distribution system. Status information about activity on the communications link is maintained.
US08930301B2 Systems and methods for content response prediction
Techniques for predicting a user response to content are described. According to various embodiments, a configuration file is accessed, where the configuration file includes a user-specification of raw data accessible via external data sources and raw data encoding rules. In some embodiments, the raw data includes raw member data associated with a particular member and raw content data associated with a particular content item. Thereafter, source modules encode the raw data from the external data sources into feature vectors, based on the raw data encoding rules. An assembler module assembles one or more of the feature vectors into an assembled feature vector, based on user-specified assembly rules included in the configuration file. A prediction module performs a prediction modeling process based on the assembled feature vector and a prediction model, to predict a likelihood of the particular member performing a particular user action on the particular content item.
US08930300B2 Systems, methods, and apparatuses for classifying user activity using temporal combining in a mobile device
Components, methods, and apparatuses are provided for determining activity likelihood function values for an activity classification for two or more past epochs based, at least in part, on signals from one or more sensors of a mobile device. A method may comprise, for each of a plurality of activity classifications, determining activity likelihood function values for each of the plurality of activity classifications for two or more past epochs. The activity likelihood function values may be based on signals from one or more sensors of a mobile device. The method may also include combining the activity likelihood function values to determine a likelihood function for an activity classification at a present epoch. The method may also include inferring a present activity of a user co-located with the mobile device to be one of the activity classifications based on the determined likelihood functions for the activity classifications at the present epoch.
US08930291B1 Cortical neuromorphic network, system and method
A cortical neuromorphic network, system and method employ a plurality of neuromorphic nodes arranged in a network layer. The cortical neuromorphic network includes a neuromorphic node of the network layer in which the neuromorphic node includes a spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) synapse and a neuromorphic neuron. The neuromorphic node is configured to receive a feedforward spike signal from selected ones of a plurality of input neurons of an input layer and to provide an output spike signal as a recurrent spike signal to the neuromorphic nodes of the network layer. A combination of the recurrent and feedforward spike signals is an excitatory spike signal of the neuromorphic node. The cortical neuromorphic system includes the neuromorphic nodes configured to operate according to a cycle and time slots of synaptic time multiplexing. The method includes receiving and weighting the excitatory spike signal using the STDP synapse and producing the output spike signal.
US08930290B2 Adaptive cognitive support system
Some embodiments perform a method for managing a person's daily goals based on the person's recent performance in completing certain of the daily goals. The method can include evaluating, by one or more processors, scheduling information associated with the person; evaluating a first set of activity information indicating the person's capabilities; generating goals and tasks based on the scheduling information and the activity information; presenting, on a display device, a first content identifying a first group of the tasks to complete as part of achieving one of the goals; receiving a second set of activity information indicating the person's capabilities in completing the first group of the tasks; modifying the goals based on the second set of activity information; presenting a second content indicating a second group of tasks to complete as part of achieving one of the modified goals.
US08930289B2 Estimation of predictive accuracy gains from added features
Various technologies described herein pertain to estimating predictive accuracy gain of a potential feature added to a set of features, wherein an existing predictor is trained on the set of features. Outputs of the existing predictor for instances in a dataset can be retrieved from a data store. Moreover, a predictive accuracy gain estimate of a potential feature added to the set of features can be measured as a function of the outputs of the existing predictor for the instances in the dataset. The predictive accuracy gain estimate can be measured without training an updated predictor on the set of features augmented by the potential feature.
US08930282B2 Content generation revenue sharing
Techniques are described that facilitate generating useful content based on user interactions, such as by providing an answer-providing service that facilitates interactions between users who supply questions and users who supply responses to the questions of other users, as well as using the generated content in various ways. In some situations, users are compensated for participating in interactions with the answer-providing service in various ways, including by sharing a portion of an ongoing revenue stream generated from an answer to a question with users who provided responses that are used as part of the answer. In some situations, the sharing of an ongoing revenue stream related to an answer may be split between the users who provided the responses for the answer in various manners, including based on assessed levels of expertise of those users.
US08930266B2 Techniques for progressive purchasing
Techniques for progressive purchasing of a device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for progressive purchasing of a device includes receiving information indicating a payment for a device from a customer, determining a payment pattern by the customer based on a recorded customer payment history and the received information, identifying a functionality to be enabled in the device based on the determined payment pattern, and enabling the identified functionality. The identified functionality is selected from a plurality of functionalities associated with the device.
US08930264B1 Methods, software programs, and systems for managing one or more liabilities
The present invention relates to various methods, software programs, and systems for managing one or more liabilities. More particularly, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to methods, software programs, and systems for managing debt in the form of at least one credit issued by a borrower.
US08930263B1 Credit data analysis
A computer system receives credit information relating to a consumer and a number of high scorers, and determines credit score factors associated with the consumer and the high scorers. The system may construct flippable score factor displays comprising consumer specific information specific to a credit category that may be reversed to display explanatory text regarding how that credit category affects their credit report. The score factor display may include a comparison between the consumer's scores and the high scorers' scores in a number of categories. Scores of high scorers may be periodically refreshed. Additionally, the group of high scorers may be limited according to a particular demographic, such as a geographic location, that may be selectable by a user.
US08930256B2 Keyboard trading system
The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing customized keyboards for receiving user inputs, and view regions for displaying information for users in useful arrangements. Such keyboards include keys that are pre-programmed to reflect the issues present in each trading pane of the view regions. Using such keys, a user may direct the trading application to quickly and efficiently switch between multiple issues, and place, manipulate or cancel orders on them. The keyboard may also be designed such that multiple keys may be disabled, replaced or mapped to perform different functions.
US08930254B2 Financial methodology to valuate and predict the news impact of major events on financial instruments
According to some embodiments, an event having an association with a financial instrument may be identified. The event may then be classified into at least one of a plurality of predefined event classes, each predefined event class being associated with a set of similar events. Media data associated with media coverage of the event may be retrieved and data elements may be extracted from the media data, wherein the data elements include at least one quantified communication parameter including at least one of a short term media coverage volume, a publication weight, a tonal balance, and an impact of available photographs. A prediction of the upcoming media coverage of the event may be generated, including a predicted volume and tonality of the upcoming media coverage, wherein said prediction is generated using a modeling computer system, a numerical model, said extracted data elements, and information about said predefined event class.
US08930246B2 Dynamic comparison text functionality
A system is provided comprising a plurality of listings, a plurality of labels associated with at least some of the listings. Additionally, a plurality of form inputs are provided, each associated with one of the labels, wherein selection of a form input causes a transition of the associated label from a first state to a second state. The system further includes a link that is made active upon the transition, thereby associating an action with a label wherein a first description is displayed in the first state and a second description is displayed in the second state.
US08930238B2 Pervasive symbiotic advertising system and methods therefor
An advertising system and methods, including an ad service that one of generates, presents and receives information pertaining to an ad presentation, an ad presentation output device that outputs the ad presentation at a presentation location, a user response receiver at the ad service that receives a user response transmitted from a mobile device based on the ad presentation at the presentation location, an ad service transmitter that transmits an executable object to a target device specified in the user response, wherein the target device includes a memory and a processor for executing the executable object to provide a service to the user on the target device, wherein the service is modified based on information one of accessed and determined by the executable object on the target device.
US08930237B2 Using web-mining to enrich directory service databases and soliciting service subscriptions
A system and method are provided for augmenting information on business directory databases and communicating with businesses is disclosed. Using the enriched business directory database and Web mining technology, customized email message are sent inviting businesses to enter their enriched business information into the directory or even subscribe to other paid services provided by the directory service.
US08930228B1 Interactive systems and methods for insurance-related activities
Systems and methods for performing insurance related activities are provided. Software can be implemented to provide an application that includes an interactive interface for use by insurance professionals in managing clients, marketing insurance, and storing information. The application can include multiple layers directed to particular stages of the insurance-client relationship. Aggregation services can also be incorporated into the application. Interactive insurance-and-client specific display pages can be incorporated to aid in understanding a client's current insurance information and to generate presentations. “Value” calculators may be implemented to illustrate a comparison of a client's current level of protection to a client's current financial state. Interactive tools for evaluating a customer's financial condition during retirement and how life insurance affects a customer's financial condition are also provided.
US08930224B2 Personalized management and comparison of medical condition and outcome based on profiles of community patients
The invention can be directed toward a method for personalized management and comparison of medical condition and outcome based on patient profiles of a community of patients. The method can include the steps of providing a database of patient profiles, providing a user interface for inputting a query of the database from a user, generating a query result including one or more matching patient profiles from the database, and displaying the query result as a correlation medical condition parameters of the user with a medical outcome.
US08930222B2 Method and system for managing patient healthcare
Methods and systems are provided for managing patient healthcare, which include creating a patient profile for a patient, screening and assessing the patient with respect to a disease and updating the patient profile, determining a health management status of the patient with respect to the disease based on a comparison of the updated patient profile to at least one predefined criterion regarding progression of the disease, and providing a recommended action based upon the health management status and updated patient profile.
US08930219B2 Treatment analysis systems and methods
A dental treatment planning system includes an input form to receive one or more dental patient inputs; and an engine adapted to receive the dental patient data from the input form and validating the dental patient data in a predetermined sequence.
US08930216B1 Method and apparatus for assessing credit for healthcare patients
According to one example embodiment, there is provided a method and an apparatus to evaluate the credit of a healthcare patient. The example embodiment provides methods and computer systems programmed to use multiple variables that are known about a patient prior to a service being rendered to segment the patient population into finer grained groupings. These finer grained groupings allow financial factors, such as a credit score, to be a more accurate predictor. Also, according to another example embodiment, the model is not a generic model for all patients, but the variables and their parameters are specific to a particular healthcare organization's or facility's patient population. This creates a custom model that further enhances its predictiveness.
US08930208B2 Methods and systems for detecting a bioactive agent effect
Methods, computer program products, and systems are described that include accepting at least one indication of bioactive agent use by an individual and/or presenting an indication of an artificial sensory experience programmed to detect at least one effect of the bioactive agent at least partly based on the at least one indication of the bioactive agent.
US08930207B2 Medical product dispensing systems and methods
Methods and systems for transferring restricted distribution medical products to an over-the-counter general sales environment are provided. Methods and systems of dispensing non-prescription, behind-the-counter medical products from a vending machine in a general sales location are also provided. In some embodiments, methods and systems are provided for dispensing a medical product from a vending machine in a general sales location based, at least in part, on biometric data collected from the purchaser and, in some instances, based on self-selection and/or de-selection criteria, is provided. Further, methods and systems of switching prescription medical products to non-prescription, over-the-counter medical products are provided.
US08930206B2 Medical care administration system and method
A medical care administration system that continuously provides accurate identifications of what medical care orders are due for administration in a medical care facility. The system uses a services oriented architecture to provide an interface with a pharmacy. The architecture provides message formats and respective data definitions in a web services descriptive language. Thus, data relating to medical care orders may be stored in a relational database in normative format of definitions that is independent of known pharmacy codes and definitions. With the system, all written orders are sent to a pharmacy by facsimile copy and returned to the care facility in electronic form for comparison with the written order. The system further provides a user interface that leads a person through an administration process and simplifies creation of an electronic administration record.
US08930193B2 Scripting support for data identifiers, voice recognition and voice input in a telnet session
Methods of adding data identifiers and speech/voice recognition functionality are disclosed. A telnet client runs one or more scripts that add data identifiers to data fields in a telnet session. The input data is inserted in the corresponding fields based on data identifiers. Scripts run only on the telnet client without modifications to the server applications. Further disclosed are methods for providing speech recognition and voice functionality to telnet clients. Portions of input data are converted to voice and played to the user. A user also may provide input to certain fields of the telnet session by using his voice. Scripts running on the telnet client convert the user's voice into text and is inserted to corresponding fields.
US08930188B2 Error concealment method and apparatus for audio signal and decoding method and apparatus for audio signal using the same
An error concealment method and apparatus for an audio signal and a decoding method and apparatus for an audio signal using the error concealment method and apparatus. The error concealment method includes selecting one of an error concealment in a frequency domain and an error concealment in a time domain as an error concealment scheme for a current frame based on a predetermined criteria when an error occurs in the current frame, selecting one of a repetition scheme and an interpolation scheme in the frequency domain as the error concealment scheme for the current frame based on a predetermined criteria when the error concealment in the frequency domain is selected, and concealing the error of the current frame using the selected scheme.
US08930176B2 Interactive multilingual word-alignment techniques
Techniques for interactively presenting word-alignments of multilingual translations and automatically improving those translations based upon user feedback are described herein. With one or more implementations of the techniques described herein, a word-alignment user-interface (UI) concurrently displays a pair of bilingual sentences, where one is a translation of the other, and interactively highlights linked (i.e., “word-aligned”) words and phrases of the pair. Other implementations of the techniques described herein offer an option for a user to provide feedback about the existing word-alignments or realign the words or phrases. In still other described implementations, word-alignment is automatically improved based upon that user feedback.
US08930175B1 Method and apparatus for performing timing analysis that accounts for rise/fall skew
A method for designing a system on a target device includes performing timing analysis at an intermediate node on a data path from a source to a destination to determine whether rise and fall skew of components on the data path could result in data not being sampled at the destination.
US08930166B1 Method and apparatus for efficient extraction of information from signals
A method and device for extracting information from data representing a signal is disclosed. A set of data comprising a plurality of measurements of the signal generated at a first sampling rate is received from a sensor. A subset of the plurality of measurements is selected. A plurality of feature variables, each of which corresponds to a particular feature in a set of features that may be present in the signal are determined by deriving an underdetermined system of equations based on a selected basis function, the subset of the plurality of measurements, and the plurality of feature variables and corresponding features. The underdetermined system of equations is solved to determine a value for each feature variable using a non-linear optimization technique to minimize an L1 norm of the set of features. Feature information is stored in a storage medium.
US08930159B2 Semiconductor circuit, semiconductor device, line break detection method, and computer readable medium storing line break detection program
When line break detection of signal line Ln is carried out, potential smaller than signal line Ln−1 having lower potential than signal line Ln is supplied to signal line Ln, and potentials of signal line Ln and signal line Ln−1 are compared. If potential of signal line Lc>signal line Li, it is detected no line break, and if signal line Lcsignal line Li, it is detected that a line break exists.
US08930157B2 Temperature compensated digital pressure transducer
A digital pressure transducer includes a sensor, a memory component and a microprocessor. A correction algorithm and set of correction coefficients are provided and stored in the memory. An application applies the correction coefficients to convert digitized values to pressure values. The transducer may include a read/write port adapted to communicate with a computer terminal; and at least one read-only port adapted to communicate with a host device. A method of calibrating a digital pressure transducer includes storing a correction algorithm and correction coefficients in the digital pressure transducer separate from a host device.
US08930152B2 Whole structure contactless power consumption sensing
A contactless current and power consumption sensor can be safely mounted on a circuit breaker box of a structure, so as to sense the current flow and/or power consumed in the structure. Because the sensor can be mounted on a surface of the circuit breaker box without the need to access energized conductors inside the box, an unskilled person can readily install the sensor to monitor total instantaneous current flow and thus, determine the power consumed by energized devices in the structure on a continuing basis. The output from the sensor can be supplied to a readout or can be conveyed by a wired or wireless link to a computing device disposed at a remote location, where the data can be stored or viewed on a display. By integrating the power consumed over time, the energy usage by the energized devices in a structure can also be determined.
US08930146B2 Apparatus state detector, method for detecting apparatus state, apparatus state detection server and apparatus state detection system; living persons' anomaly detector, living persons' anomaly detection system and method for detecting living persons' anomaly, and apparatus-state database maintenance server
An apparatus state detector and its associates are provided to save time and effort for learning combinations of operation states of all apparatuses at home and commit fewer estimation errors even when an unknown apparatus starts operating. The apparatus state detector includes measuring means that measures a physical quantity of an environment in which an apparatus is placed, feature-quantity calculation means that calculates a feature quantity of the measured value measured by the measuring means, storage means that stores in advance the feature quantity of each apparatus and an apparatus state associated with the feature quantity in a reference-apparatus entry dictionary, and apparatus-state detection means that searches the reference-apparatus entry dictionary for a feature quantity by using a feature quantity calculated by the feature-quantity calculation means as a search key and detects an apparatus state based on the apparatus state associated with the retrieved feature quantity.
US08930145B2 Light focusing continuous wave photoacoustic spectroscopy and its applications to patient monitoring
The present disclosure describes systems and methods that use spatial modulation to focus continuous wave light into a localized region of interest such as an individual blood vessel. In certain embodiments, intensity modulation techniques, such as linear frequency modulation, are used in conjunction with spatial modulation to achieve more precise measurements through otherwise scattering medium. The focused beam of continuous wave light is capable of penetrating several centimeters of tissue to deliver measurements and images associated with individual blood vessels and other discrete vascular components.
US08930144B2 Method and apparatus for measuring data for injury analysis
An apparatus as provided for measuring acceleration of a person's head or other object. The apparatus comprises a sensor for sensing acceleration and a controller for controlling recording of data resulting from the sensed acceleration due to an explosive force. The controller is adapted to determine whether or not to enable recording of the data based on the sensed acceleration. A data receiver is provided to receive the sensed acceleration data from the sensing means, and requires electrical power to enable data to be received thereby. The controller controls electrical power to the receiver so that if the sensed acceleration reaches or exceeds a predetermined value, electrical power to the data receiver is enabled. The recorded acceleration data may be used for injury analysis.
US08930143B2 Resolution enhancement for subterranean well distributed optical measurements
Enhancing resolution of distributed optical measurements along a wellbore can include acquiring optical signals during an acquisition time period, thereby producing a convolved profile along the wellbore, and deconvolving the profile using a first function corresponding to the acquisition time period, thereby determining a second function. Another method of enhancing resolution of distributed temperature measurements along a wellbore can include acquiring optical backscatter signals during at least first and second acquisition time periods, thereby producing respective first and second convolved temperature profiles along the wellbore; deconvolving the first temperature profile using a first function corresponding to the first time period, thereby determining a second function; and deconvolving the second temperature profile using the second function, thereby determining the first function corresponding to the second time period.
US08930142B2 Route selection system, method and program
A method for obtaining a many-to-many route searching process with a reasonable amount of computation. The method includes preparing a graph expressing road segments as edges and route intersections as nodes, the weight of each road segment being approximated by a monotonically increased piecewise linear function, searching the graph for the shortest routes, establishing the obtained routes as a set of routes to be processed, solving an objective function so as to minimize the maximum value obtained by dividing the required time from each departure point to each destination point by the shortest required time with respect to the set of a plurality of departure points and destination points, and removing those routes whose minimum cost is greater than or equal to that of the current best solution, and any unused routes added in the previous iteration, while repeating the solving of the objective function.
US08930140B2 Trailer target placement assist system and method
A vehicle trailer backup assist system and method includes a hitch angle detection apparatus and a target monitor controller. The target monitor controller processes images acquired of the trailer towed by a towing vehicle to assist with placement of a target on the trailer. The target monitor controller also monitors the target and provides feedback to the user as to proper positioning of the target on the trailer. A target move detection routine detects movement of a target by processing the pixels of the image to determine if a new trailer has been connected. Further, a trailer connection monitoring routine monitors for a changed trailer based on loss of the hitch angle or target for a predetermined time period.
US08930137B2 Method and apparatus for locating mobile receivers using a wide area reference network for propagating ephemeris
A method and apparatus for distribution and delivery of global positioning system (GPS) satellite telemetry data using a communication link between a central site and a mobile GPS receiver. The central site is coupled to a network of reference satellite receivers that send telemetry data from all satellites to the central site. The mobile GPS receiver uses the delivered telemetry data to aid its acquisition of the GPS satellite signal. The availability of the satellite telemetry data enhances the mobile receiver's signal reception sensitivity.
US08930127B2 Localization method for mobile robots based on landmarks
A method for estimating the location and orientation of a mobile robot with respect to landmarks whose positions are given using a sensor for measuring bearings of the landmarks with respect to the robot, where bias errors are present. The method comprises using the sensor to obtain bearings the landmarks. The location and orientation of the robot with respect to the landmarks is estimated, based on the measured bearings, and bias errors associated with the measured bearings are corrected to obtain corrected bearings. A correction function is used to finds the minimal sum of squared errors between measured bearings and the corrected bearings. The location and the orientation of the robot is determined to be where the sum of squared errors between measured bearings and the corrected bearings is minimal.
US08930125B2 Consistent range calculation in hybrid vehicles with hybrid and pure battery electric propulsion
A system and method for determining fuel consumption and travel range of an electric hybrid vehicle, such as an electric hybrid fuel cell vehicle. The method includes converting the output current of a battery to a virtual consumed fuel consumption flow value and then adding the virtual consumed fuel consumption flow value to an actual consumed fuel value to get a total consumed fuel value that is then divided by the travelled distance of the vehicle to get the fuel consumption of the vehicle. The method also includes converting the SOC of the battery to a virtual available fuel value and then adding the virtual available fuel value to an actual available fuel value to get a total available fuel value that is then divided by the fuel consumption to get the travel range of the vehicle.
US08930124B1 Dynamic speed limit generation
A method and system for generating a dynamic speed limit is provided. The method includes dynamically receiving, from vehicles currently in motion on a roadway, a dynamically changing data stream comprising data comprising parameters associated with the vehicles. Speed limits, recommended lane assignments, and velocity ranges for the vehicles are dynamically defined. The speed limits, the recommended lane assignments, and the velocity ranges are transmitted to and presented by each associated vehicle.
US08930119B2 Method for controlling the fuel supply in a cylinder of a four-stroke internal combustion engine with controlled ignition
Method for controlling the fuel supply in a cylinder of a four-stroke internal combustion engine with controlled ignition; the control method comprises the steps of: determining, prior to the exhaust phase, a first forecast (PPR-1) of the suction pressure during the suction phase; determining, prior to the exhaust phase, an initial programming of injection of fuel as a function of the desired air/fuel ratio λDES and the first forecast (PPR-1) of the suction pressure during the suction phase; determining at the end of the exhaust phase, a second forecast (PPR-2) of the suction pressure during the suction phase; and determining, at the end of the exhaust phase, a final programming of the fuel injection as a function of the desired air/fuel ratio λDES, of the second forecast (PPR-2) of the suction pressure during the suction phase and of the initial programming of the fuel injection.
US08930118B2 Engine control system
Disclosed is an engine control system which is designed to allow homogeneous-charge compression ignition combustion to be performed in an HCCI region (R) defined as an engine operating region including at least a partial-load range of an engine. In a low load zone (R1) of the HCCI region (R), a lift amount of an intake valve (11) is set to a first predetermined value, and an exhaust valve (12) is allowed to start being opened during an intake stroke at a given timing later than an opening timing of the intake valve (11). Further, in the medium load zone of the HCCI region, the lift amount of the intake valve (11) is gradually increased up to a second predetermined value greater than the first predetermined value, along with an increase in an engine load. The engine control system is capable of adequately controlling an amount of burned gas to be introduced into a cylinder, depending on the engine load to allow the HCCI combustion to be adequately performed in a wider engine load range.
US08930115B2 Efficiency-based speed control with traffic-compatible speed offsets
Vehicle apparatus includes a speed control for adjusting a vehicle powertrain of the vehicle in response to a speed setpoint. A grade estimator determines a road grade of a roadway where the vehicle is traveling. A traffic density estimator determines a density of traffic traveling on the roadway in the vicinity of the vehicle. An optimizer executes a selected control policy to periodically generate speed adjustments for applying to the speed setpoint to operate the vehicle powertrain at increased efficiency. The control policy is based on a value function providing an optimized solution for a cost model responsive to the determined road grade to generate an initial speed offset. The optimizer reduces the initial speed offset in proportion to the determined traffic density to generate the speed adjustments. The system minimizes negative impacts to overall traffic flow as well as any negative contribution to reduced fuel efficiency of surrounding traffic.
US08930107B2 Vehicle braking control device and vehicle braking control method
A brake ECU acquires the vehicle load (WW) (step S142), and sets a higher start-time criterion value (KT2) when the load (WW) is heavy than when the load (WW) is light (step S144). The brake ECU initiates auxiliary control when the period since the deceleration of the vehicle exceeded a first deceleration determination value is less than or equal to the start-time criterion value (KT2) and the G sensor value exceeds a second deceleration determination value.
US08930099B2 Control apparatus for automatic transmission
In a control apparatus for an automatic transmission, it is configured to calculate a change amount (ΔNC estimation value) of an output rotational speed of the transmission (S10); calculate an average (I phase initial average G) of the change amount of the output rotational speed over a predetermined period of an initial inertia (I) phase of shifting; calculate an average (after-shift average G) of a vehicle acceleration after the completion of the shifting, assuming that the change amount of the output rotational speed indicates the vehicle acceleration G; calculate a difference (I phase initial G) between the average of the change amount of the output rotational speed and the average of the vehicle acceleration; incrementally and decrementally correct the desired value of the transmission torque of the frictional engaging element such that the calculated difference falls within a predetermined range; and control supply of hydraulic pressure to the frictional engaging element such that it becomes the corrected desired value (S14 to S20). With this, since the vehicle acceleration at shifting is estimated and evaluated and based thereon, variation in the transmission torque of the frictional engaging element, etc., is learned, it becomes possible to fully exploit the potential of the frictional engaging element, thereby improving a feel given to the vehicle occupant(s) at shifting.
US08930097B2 Device for evaluating the transverse acceleration of an automobile vehicle and corresponding method
A device for evaluating the transverse acceleration of a motor vehicle measures the rotational speeds of two wheels of the vehicle, estimates the transverse acceleration of the vehicle from these speeds, and calculates, as a function of vehicle operating parameters, particularly of the rotational speeds of the wheels and of the transmission ratio engaged, a Boolean slip variable which is negative if the transverse estimated acceleration is relevant for detecting a bend, and which is positive if the reverse is true.
US08930093B2 Forklift truck
A forklift truck includes a truck body, a fork, a mast, tilting and lifting mechanisms, tilt and lift levers, tilting and lifting operation detectors, a lifted height detector, a load detector, an auxiliary switch, a tilt angle detector and a controller. The controller controls the lifting and tilting mechanisms based on signals from the tilting and lifting operation detectors and the auxiliary switch. The controller controls the lifting and tilting mechanisms to cause the fork to be lifted and tilted to horizontal position of the fork if a load is present on the fork, the fork is in a lower lift region where the lifted height of the fork is at or lower than a first threshold value, the lift lever is placed in operative position to lift the fork, the auxiliary switch is in operative position and the fork is not in the horizontal position of the fork.
US08930090B2 Construction equipment, method for controlling construction equipment, and program for causing computer to execute the method
A construction machine includes: a working equipment; a manipulating unit that manipulates the working equipment; and a controller that controls the working equipment. The controller includes: a rolling compaction determining unit that determines whether or not the working equipment is under a rolling compaction operation for hardening earth and sand through reciprocation; and a command output regulating unit that controls the working equipment so that a motion speed of the working equipment does not exceed a predetermined maximum value when the rolling compaction determining unit determines that the working equipment is under the rolling compaction operation.
US08930082B2 Steering method and steering system for an industrial truck
A steering method for an industrial truck includes manually steering at least one steerable wheel with a steering transducer. The at least one steerable wheel is hydraulically connected or mechanically connected with the steering transducer. An angular position of the at least one steerable wheel is detected. At least one additional steerable wheel is motor-steered as a function of the detected angular position.
US08930072B1 Managing the camera acquiring interior data
A system for managing a camera is comprises an input interface configured to detect a change in state; a processor configured to block transfer of data from an inward facing video camera; and an output interface configured to indicate that transfer of data is blocked.
US08930062B2 System and method for detecting and isolating faults in pressure sensing of flush air data system (FADS)
A system and method for detecting and isolating faults in pressure ports (2) and pressure transducers (3) of a pressure sensing system are disclosed. The system comprises a set of pressure ports (2) flushed to a nose cap (1) of a space vehicle in crucifix form. Three pressure transducers (3) are connected to each pressure port (2) through pneumatic tubes (4) for measuring surface pressure from the pressure ports (2). Separate power supplying units (7, 8, 9) are connected to the three pressure transducers (3) for powering the pressure transducers (3) at each pressure port (2). A processing unit (10) is configured to acquire voltage inputs corresponding to the measured surface pressure from the pressure transducers (3). The processing unit (10) executes one or more levels of fault checking to detect and isolate pressure transducer failures and blockage of the pressure ports (2) based on the voltage inputs. Hence, it is possible to enhance the accuracy and reliability of the pressure estimation of the FADS, cushion pressure.
US08930058B1 System and method for controlling a vehicle traveling along a path
The present invention provides an unmanned fully autonomous threat representative mobile land target for testing modern weapon systems and training personnel. The invention implements novel navigation and vehicle control algorithms which allow any predefined course to be represented spatially and temporally with continuously and smoothly varying curvatures having no discontinuities of curvature, direction, or acceleration that enable the target vehicle to traverse a predefined course with unprecedented speed, accuracy, and maneuverability without the need for communication with any remotely located station. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope of the claims.
US08930053B2 Control apparatus for hybrid vehicle
A control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle includes, as a drive power source, a hybrid system that has an engine and a motor. The control apparatus includes a control unit configured to reduce an output of the hybrid system and maintain or increase an engine rotation speed when a driver performs an accelerator operation and a brake operation simultaneously.
US08930036B2 Reconfigurable interface-based electrical architecture
An electrical network architecture including a reconfigurable interface layer, along with a corresponding reconfiguration methodology. The interface layer is comprised of reconfigurable interface devices which allow a plurality of sensors and actuators to communicate with a plurality of control units. Each sensor or actuator is connected to multiple interface devices, which in turn are connected to a bus. The control units are also connected to the bus. In the event of an interface device failure, other interface devices can be reconfigured to maintain communication between sensors, actuators and control units. In the event of a control unit failure, the interface devices can be reconfigured to route sensor and actuator message traffic to a different control unit which can handle the functions of the failed control unit. The overall number of control units can also be reduced, as each control unit has flexible access to many sensors and actuators.
US08930035B2 Procedure for supply control and storage of power provided by a renewable energy generation plant
A process for simultaneously providing capacity sale services (e.g. frequency regulation or voltage regulation), energy sale services (energy transfer from off-peak hours to peak hours), and stabilization services of a renewable plant may be provided. The process includes determining the values of energy quantity to be produced by the plant during a near future time interval. The process may also include introducing the values of energy quantity, in the control unit. Generating an hourly program of energy supply to be provided by the energy accumulator unit to the network may also be performed, depending on the values of energy to be produced, which stabilizes the power supplied by the plant to the network. Furthermore, the frequency and the voltage of the network may be regulated as well as transfers the energy between off-peak hours and peak hours, or from hours with saturation of the network to hours without saturation.
US08930003B2 Data capture bridge
A method and apparatus are provided for gathering research data indicating exposure to audio content to a user of an audio source device and an audio receiver device. The audio source device wirelessly transmits an audio signal containing the audio content. The audio receiver device receives an audio signal containing the audio content. The audio receiver device includes a speaker to output the audio content to be heard by the user. The apparatus includes a bridge device for wirelessly bridging the audio signal from the audio source device to the audio receiver device. The bridge device includes a speaker for outputting the audio content from the audio signal. The apparatus also includes a monitoring device acoustically coupled to the bridge device for monitoring the audio content output by the speaker of the bridge device, and generating research data identifying the audio content.
US08929998B2 Percutaneous placement of electrodes
This document relates to methods and materials involved in delivering therapies to target tissue (e.g., a peripheral nerve). For example, methods and materials for placing and subsequently using leads to deliver electrical and/or drug therapies to target tissues (e.g., nerves and/or arteries) are provided.
US08929993B2 Electrode arrangements for suborbital foramen medical lead
A medical lead includes a plurality of electrodes on an annular distal end portion of the lead. The electrodes may be arranged along a circle concentric with the center of a void defined by the annular portion. The annular medical lead design is well suited for application of electrical signal therapy to the suborbital nerve at its point of exit from the inferior orbital foramen in the skull.
US08929986B2 Medical device communication and charging assemblies for use with implantable signal generators, and associated systems and methods
Communication and charging assemblies for medical devices are disclosed herein. A communication and charging assembly in accordance with a particular embodiment includes a support element, with a communication antenna and a charging coil coupled to the support element. The charging coil can include wire loops having a plurality of wires and the support element can include a mounting surface shaped to match the charging coil and the communication antenna. In one embodiment, the communication and charging assembly are mounted in a header of an implantable signal generator.
US08929982B2 Ischemia detection
An implantable medical device comprises a connector connectable to an implantable oxygen sensor configured to generate a sensor signal representative of oxygen concentration in coronary sinus blood in a subject's heart. An ischemia detector is connected to the connector and configured to detect an ischemic event in the heart if the sensor signal indicates a temporary decrease in oxygen concentration in the coronary sinus blood below a normal level followed by a temporary increase in oxygen concentration in the coronary sinus blood above the normal level.
US08929974B2 System and method for examining an illuminated object
In a system and a method for examining an object containing a fluid liquid, the object is illuminated with measuring light and images are temporarily shortly subsequently recorded. The images are evaluated per pixel to determine perfusion data from a high frequency portion above 1 kHz and to determine further information about properties of the object from a low frequency portion below 100 Hz, such as a degree of oxygenation of hemoglobin, a concentration of hemoglobin or a concentration of ICG. This information determined by evaluation is displayed in a form of an image in superposition with a white light image of the object.
US08929972B2 Arterial spin labeling MRI-based correction factor for improving quantitative accuracy of blood flow and volume images
Arterial spin labeling MRI is used to provide a patient specific correction factor to correct a image provided by a non-ASL imaging modality (e.g., DSC MRI). More specifically, a first blood flow image is taken using the non-ASL imaging modality, and a corresponding second blood flow image is taken with ASL. Some or all of the voxels in the first image are selected according to a predetermined selection method. A correction factor (CF) is computed to be the ratio of second image BF to first image BF averaged over the selected voxels. Thus, CF is the average of ASL/non-ASL blood flow over the selected voxels. This correction factor is applied to all voxels of an image equally, but can differ from patient to patient. This correction can be applied to one or more non-ASL blood flow images.
US08929959B2 Method and a device for receiving data in a mobile communication device in a broadcast system
In a method for receiving data in a mobile communication device in a broadcast system in which an amount of data is transmitted; said mobile communication device comprising a battery; wherein the method comprises the step of receiving a part of said amount of data, wherein the method further comprises the step of determining said part of said amount of data based on a charge state of the battery. In this way, the mobile communication device is able to download/receive an amount of data in dependence to an actual condition experienced by said mobile communication device. A condition of the mobile communication device may, in this context be, for example, a reception condition, a power consumption condition, a battery capacity condition, or a battery charging condition.
US08929958B2 Mobile terminal and method of transmitting and receiving signal thereof
Provided are a mobile terminal and a method of transmitting and receiving signals in the mobile terminal. The method selects a modulation method and an antenna mode for optimizing energy consumption when signals are transmitted and received in consideration of a network operation mode, a channel environment, Quality of Service (QoS), and the like, and transmits and receives signals using the modulation method and antenna mode.
US08929955B2 Touch information communication terminal, touch screen information providing apparatus and touch information communication method thereof
A touch information communication method transmits notification information to the touch screen information providing apparatus by carrying the notification information, which notifies a touch communication terminal is a touch communication terminal, on a call signal in a telephone communication network; receives touch screen information and touch control information corresponding to the touch screen information from the touch screen information providing apparatus; and when a user touches a predetermined area on a screen, determines the touched area and transmits touch input information corresponding to the touched area to the touch screen information providing apparatus.
US08929950B2 Wireless communication system, remote access device, and base station device
A wireless communication system includes a base station including a determining section that determines control information indicating signal processing for each of wireless resources used for wireless communication with terminal equipment units, and remote access sections each including a first signal processing section that performs first signal processing on a first downlink signal received from the base station so as to generate a second downlink signal to be transmitted to the units via the wireless communication, and a second signal processing section that performs second signal processing on a second uplink signal received from the units via the wireless communication so as to generate a first uplink signal to be transmitted to the base station, and at least one of the first signal processing and the second signal processing being performed for each of the wireless resources based on the control information.
US08929927B1 Adjustment of communication parameters in a coverage area based on prevalence of eCSFB devices in the coverage area
Disclosed herein are methods and systems that may help to adjust, e.g., CDMA paging and access parameters in a coverage area, based on the prevalence of devices that are configured for enhanced circuit switch fallback (eCSFB) in the coverage area. For example, a base station in a radio access network (RAN) may: determine a measure of circuit switch fallback (CSFB) device prevalence in a coverage area, use the measure of CSFB-device prevalence in the coverage area as a basis for updating one or more paging parameters for communications via a paging channel defined under the first air-interface protocol; and apply the one or more updated paging parameters to communications with devices via the paging channel defined under the first air-interface protocol.
US08929914B2 Compensation of propagation delays of wireless signals
Propagation delay offsets of wireless signals are compensated. Compensation is accomplished through determination of an effective wireless signal propagation delay that accounts for signal path delay and propagation delay over the air. Such determination is based at least in part on statistical analysis of accurate location estimates of reference positions throughout a coverage sector or cell, and location estimates of the reference positions generated through time-of-flight (TOF) measurements of wireless signals. Determination of propagation or signal path delay offset also is attained iteratively based at least in part on reference location estimates and TOF location estimates. High-accuracy location estimates such as those obtained through global navigation satellite systems are employed as reference location estimates. Position of probes or wireless beacons, deployed throughout a sector or cell, also are employed as reference locations. Compensation of propagation delay offset improves accuracy of conventional TOF location estimates and radio network performance.
US08929909B2 Handover proactive association clearing support method and system
A handover proactive association clearing support method and system supports minimizing handover times for at least one netsurfing end system, and optimizing a given market satisfaction function (MSF0) potentially depending on Internet-applications for whichever underlying HO technique, by potentially establishing pre-HO for free x/yz-, netsurfing x/yz-, and/or Sxyzj-association, called “clearing” them. An HO of an Ayz is optimal if its HO-time is “basically zero” and it complies with MSF0. The technical innovation of the method and system comprises for an Ayz determining any time its optimal HOs. This permanent predetermination of optimal HOs implies assessing permanently all parameters. Thus, when an Ayz must perform an HO, these pre-HO operations of the method/system would have already identified at least one optimal HO for it to a sharedIADx and/or an Sxyzj available to it and established the resp. x/yz-, netsurfing x/yz-, and Sxyzj-associations.
US08929907B1 Method and system for management of neighbor scanning
Disclosed herein is a method and corresponding system for management of neighbor scanning in a cellular wireless communication system. A radio access network (RAN) sends, and a mobile station receives, a neighbor list update message (NLUM) containing a plurality of different neighbor lists. The mobile station then selects one of the neighbor lists based on a determined first rank-ordering of its active set members. Once the mobile station selects one of the neighbor lists, the mobile station scans the neighbors listed in the selected neighbor list in accordance with the selected neighbor list. If the mobile station detects a change in rank-ordering from the determined first rank-ordering to another rank-ordering, the mobile station may select and transition to another one of the neighbor lists and may begin to scan the neighbors listed in the selected other neighbor list in accordance with the selected other neighbor list.
US08929902B2 Method and apparatus for dynamic vehicular communications
A method, apparatus and computer program product are therefore provided according to an example embodiment to provide a cellular based ITS environment. In this regard, a method includes causing a secondary cell carrier (SCC) to be configured for a mobile terminal located in a vehicular target area. The method of this embodiment may also include causing the SCC to be activated by signaling a vehicular fast activation block (VFAB). The method of this embodiment may also include causing the SCC to deactivate based on a signal strength measurement, received from a road side unit (RSU), in an instance in which the signal strength measurement does not satisfy a predetermined threshold over a measurement period based on a timer.
US08929899B2 Long term evolution mobility network timer and retry management
Management of a network may be accomplished by adjusting timer settings and/or retry criteria. For example, communications and management from an end-to-end perspective of entities in a network may be conducted; timers and/or retry criteria may be adjusted dynamically based on network traffic load; timers and/or retry criteria may be adjusted dynamically based on overload conditions; feedback mechanisms may be implemented to allow downstream network elements to inform upstream network elements about the health status and/or load condition of the network; and/or differentiated timer and retry criteria/mechanisms may be implemented.
US08929897B2 Method and apparatus for providing improved mobility procedure
A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided in order to provide measurement reports on a more timely basis. Additionally, the method, apparatus and computer program product may provide measurement reports without first having initiated a cell reselection process. As such, the network entity, such as a radio network controller (RNC), may provide increased control in regards to the mobility procedure, such as cell redirection or handover, based at least in part upon the measurement result. From the perspective of a mobile terminal, one method includes receiving instructions to perform a cell update procedure based upon a new measurement. In response to obtaining the new measurement, the method also includes causing the cell update procedure to be triggered. In this regard, the cell update procedure includes provision of a cell update message that includes measurement results.
US08929887B2 Shared book reading
Techniques for sharing book reading experiences between users of different telecommunications devices are described herein.
US08929884B2 Communication network control system, radio communication apparatus, and communication network control method
The present invention can provide a radio communication apparatus comprising an antenna which receives a restriction signal from a radio base station, a reception circuit which decodes the restriction signal received by said antenna, and a control circuit which controls the radio communication apparatus, in which the control circuit can be adapted to select appropriately a speech outgoing/incoming scheme for performing communication with the radio base station on the basis of the restriction signal from the radio base station. As the speech outgoing/incoming scheme, a domain scheme or a speech communication scheme is used. In addition, the present invention further provides a communication network control system using the radio communication apparatus, and a communication network control method.
US08929882B2 Measurement of cells arranged in groups of different priorities
Techniques for making measurements of cells in a wireless network are disclosed. In an aspect, cells to be measured are arranged into groups with different priorities. Groups with higher priority include stronger cells, which are measured more frequently and/or with more filtering to improve measurement accuracy. In one design, a user entity determines a plurality of groups of cells to make measurements. Each group includes at least one cell, and the plurality of groups have different priorities. The user entity determines a measurement interval for each of the plurality of groups of cells, with higher priority groups having shorter measurement intervals. The user entity schedules each cell in each group for measurement at least once (e.g., once) within the measurement interval for that group. The user entity makes measurements for the plurality of groups of cells based on the measurement interval for each group.
US08929872B2 Management of paging channel monitoring
Growing demand for high-rate wireless data services is increasing the power consumption requirements of mobile devices. In particular, some smart mobile devices or smart phones are configured to allow multiple software applications to run simultaneously. Some of the applications receive and/or pull data from servers in communication with the network. The more frequently these software applications are provided with access to the data channel the greater the demand on the power supply. Accordingly, there lies a challenge to regulate transmissions to and from a mobile device without adversely impacting quality-of-service (QoS). A method of managing power while maintaining a robust quality-of-service (QoS) is provided by managing the frequency at which a paging channel or the like is monitored. Complimentary methods of changing the frequency of transmission of alerts on a paging channel or the like is also provided.
US08929871B2 Methods for reminding a user of a task associated with a communication
Methods for reminding a user of a task associated with a communication are disclosed herein. One example of the method involves reminding the user of a task associated with an incoming communication, and another example of the method involves reminding the user of a task associated with an outgoing communication.
US08929867B2 Automated electronic messaging to a person with whom another form of communication is exchanged
A method of, within an electronic messaging client that communicates using a first form of communication, receiving from a user an input identifying a tag that identifies at least one communication session corresponding to a second form of communication. The tag can be processed to identify at least one electronic messaging address associated the person with whom a communication is exchanged during the identified communication session. A recipient identifier field in the electronic messaging client can be automatically populated with the electronic messaging address. The electronic message can be communicated to the person using the electronic messaging address. The electronic messaging address also can be selected from list identifying a plurality of communication sessions corresponding to at least a second form of communication.
US08929858B1 Banded billing system for telecommunication service
A banded billing system for telecommunication service is disclosed. A carrier's billing system maintains in data storage a banded-pricing schedule that divides a continuum of minutes of use into a series of contiguous, mutually-exclusive minute-ranges and that specifies for each minutes-range a respective cost. At the end of a billing period, the billing system determines a number of minutes of telecommunication service used by a given subscriber during the billing period. The billing system then queries the banded-pricing schedule to determine which minute-range the number of minutes falls into, and to determine the cost specified by the banded-pricing schedule for that minute-range. The billing system then bills the determined cost to the subscriber, for use of the telecommunication service in the billing period.
US08929826B2 Method and node for reduced transmission activity pattern configuration
The present invention relates to a method in a network node of a wireless communication system, for configuring a pattern for a reduced transmission activity. The pattern may e.g. be a positioning reference signal muting pattern used for improving PRS reception quality of a UE. The method comprises obtaining (610) information relating to radio characteristics for a cell, and determining (620) the pattern for the reduced transmission activity in the cell based on the obtained information. The method also comprises applying (630) the determined pattern for the reduced transmission activity.
US08929820B2 Short range RF monitoring system
A wireless short range radio-frequency master device adapted to create and maintain a portable private network of wireless short range radio-frequency slave devices wherein the master device is configured to detect and register suitable slave devices for a network, and is capable of determining the proximity of any registered slave device with respect to the master device in use, the master device further being adapted to enable a user to define two or more groups of registered slave devices selected from the total number of registered slave devices and to enable a user to select a defined group of such registered slave devices as an active group, thereby forming an active portable private network of wireless short range radio frequency devices comprising the master device and selected registered slave devices within the selected group.
US08929815B2 Apparatus and method for controlling functions of a mobile phone via NFC communication with an external RF reader
Disclosed herein is an apparatus for controlling the ringtone, camera, and communication functions of a mobile terminal using a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip module and an external Radio Frequency (RF) reader. The apparatus includes an NFC chip module, a base band chip, and a USIM card. The NFC chip module is electrically connected to the base band chip of a mobile terminal, allows a command data signal, received from an external RF reader via an RF antenna, to be transmitted to the base band chip or a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card of the mobile terminal, and receives the result of terminal processing of the base band chip which operates in compliance with an external command, and transmits the result of the terminal processing to the external RF reader via the RF antenna.
US08929814B2 Detection and near-field communication device
A detection and near-field communication device for detecting the approach of a portable device integrating a near-field communication antenna for communicating with the portable device, includes: a printed circuit including: an upper face oriented toward the portable device and a lower face, a microcontroller, a near-field reader, a detection module, a near-field communication antenna, situated on a face of the printed circuit having a first surface and being linked to the near-field reader; a plurality of resonators made of copper wire windings, printed on a face of the printed circuit, covering a surface substantially identical to the first surface; the resonators including frequency adjustment elements so as to resonate at the near-field communication frequency; and the resonators generating a voltage variation across their terminals and being connected to the detection module to detect the approach of the portable device.
US08929812B2 Hybrid RF polling loop for NFC device and retry mechanism
Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of controlling a near field communications (NFC) system, including: reading a number of low power iterations N from a memory; performing N low power polls; performing a normal power poll. Further, various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of controlling a near field communications (NFC) system, including: performing a low power poll of a tag; detecting a tag; initiating a first activation of the detected tag; receiving an indication that the first activation fails; reading a number of retries N from a memory; performing a second activation.
US08929807B2 Transmission of broadcasts based on recipient location
Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for transmitting/broadcasting messages/content (e.g., audio) by routing such messages to an intended audience/recipient(s), and optionally applying audio preferences to broadcast characteristics. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention may receive a message/broadcast in a queue, and identify a set of intended recipients of the broadcast (e.g., based on the content therein). Once the intended recipients have been identified, a set of locations of the intended recipients may be determined. Based on the locations, at least one output device is selected (e.g., based on proximity of the output device(s) to the intended recipients). Thereafter, the broadcast may be transmitted to the intended recipients via the selected output device(s), while any associated audio preferences are applied. In one embodiment, if an intended recipient is listening to other content, such content may be muted and/or paused so that the transmitted broadcast may be heard.
US08929805B2 System, method, and device for radio frequency communication
A radio frequency communication system, method, and device operate in the VHF, UHF, or SHF range, where a controller controls the radio-frequency communication range provided by the VHF, UHF, or SHF radiation.
US08929804B2 Node in a wireless communication network arranged to communicate with at least one serving node
The present invention relates to a first node in a wireless communication network. The first node is arranged to communicate with at least one serving node and comprises a served antenna arrangement that is adapted to communicate with said serving node by means of at least one electrically adjustable antenna radiation lobe. The first node is arranged to evaluate communication properties for said serving node Furthermore, the first node is arranged to include antenna gain of the served antenna arrangement when performing said evaluation.
US08929801B2 Image forming device having sheet discharge guide
An image forming device including a main frame, a fixing unit, and a sheet discharge guide. The main frame is formed with a sheet discharge opening. The fixing unit includes a heat member and a pressure member providing a nip portion in cooperation with the heat member to fix a developing agent image onto a sheet at the nip portion. The sheet discharge guide provides a generally U-shaped guide surface configured to turn around the sheet discharged from the fixing unit toward the sheet discharge opening. The sheet discharge guide is displaceable toward and away from the nip portion between a non displaced state and a displaced state. The sheet discharge guide is configured to guide the sheet toward the sheet discharge opening at the non displaced state and the displaced state.
US08929791B2 Fixing device and endless belt assembly
A fixing device includes an endless flexible belt, an elongated stationary pad, a rotary pressure member, a low-friction sheet of lubricant-impregnated material, a first adhesive layer, and a second adhesive layer. The endless flexible belt is looped into a generally cylindrical configuration extending in an axial direction thereof for rotation in a rotational, circumferential direction thereof. The elongated stationary pad is stationarily disposed inside the loop of the belt. The rotary pressure member is disposed parallel to the belt. The rotary pressure member presses against the stationary pad via the belt to form a nip therebetween. The low-friction sheet of lubricant-impregnated material covers the stationary pad to supply lubricant between the stationary pad and the belt across the nip. The first adhesive layer is disposed between the low-friction sheet and the stationary pad. The second adhesive layer is disposed between the low-friction sheet and the stationary pad.
US08929784B2 Rotating body, transfer unit, and image forming apparatus
A rotating body for use in an image forming apparatus has an outer surface in which one or more grooves are formed. The one or more grooves are oriented at an angle greater than 0° and less than 90° with respect to a longitudinal direction of the rotating body.
US08929781B2 Developing device and image forming apparatus
A developing device includes a first developer carrier that carries developer on a peripheral surface thereof; a second developer carrier that carries the developer on a peripheral surface thereof; a supplying section that supplies the developer to the peripheral surface of the first developer carrier; a layer thickness regulating member that regulates a layer thickness of the developer supplied to the peripheral surface of the first developer carrier by the supplying section; a first transfer magnetic pole disposed in an interior of the first developer carrier; a second transfer magnetic pole disposed in an interior of the second developer carrier; a first downstream magnetic pole disposed in the interior of the first developer carrier; and a second downstream magnetic pole disposed in the interior of the second developer carrier.
US08929780B2 Toner container, image forming apparatus, toner container producing method and toner container recycling method
A toner container detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus, the toner container including: a cylindrical container which accommodates a toner; a cap portion which holds the cylindrical container such that the cylindrical container can rotate in a circular direction, with an end of the cylindrical container inserted in the cap portion; and a sealing member lying between the end and an inner surface of the cap portion, wherein the toner in the cylindrical container is discharged to an inside of the cap portion through an opening provided in the end and the toner in the cap portion is discharged to an outside through a toner discharge port provided in the cap portion, as the cylindrical container rotates, and wherein the cylindrical container is provided with a seal receiving surface for fixing the sealing member, and the sealing member is fixed to the seal receiving surface.
US08929779B2 Toner container and image forming apparatus in which the toner container has protrusions which interact with the image forming device
A system with a container including a protrusion, and a receiver to receive the container. The receiver includes a slide block that is movable relative to a body of the receiver, the slide block including two surfaces, a first surface, initially contacted by the protrusion of the container during insertion of the container into the receiver, having a first slope to resist movement of the container towards the receiver, and a second surface, subsequently contacted by the protrusion of the container during the insertion of the container into the receiver, having a second slope to interact with the protrusion of the container to assist movement of the container towards the receiver. This construction provides the user with a changing insertion force to indicate proper mounting of the container.
US08929777B2 Sieve device, supply unit, developing unit, image forming apparatus, and method of supplying toner particles
A sieve device is provided. The sieve device includes a sieve body and an introduction unit. The sieve body includes a cylinder, a filter, and a blade. The cylinder is adapted to be supplied with toner particles. The filter is disposed at a bottom of the cylinder. The blade is adapted to agitate the toner particles within the cylinder to allow the toner particles to pass through the filter. The blade is rotatable about a rotation axis that intersects with the filter in proximity to the filter. The introduction unit is adapted to introduce the toner particles passed through the filter outside the sieve body.
US08929766B2 Image forming apparatus sequentially outputting a sheet having been subjected to image formation processing to a paper output tray
An image forming apparatus capable of effectively cooling down a sheet having been subjected to fixing processing while preventing an apparatus from becoming larger in size and a sheet conveyance failure from occurring is provided. The image forming apparatus (10) includes a sheet conveyance path (16), a fixing device (22), a conveyance roller (26), an upper sheet guide (60), a lower sheet guide (62), and a cooling fan (40). The conveyance roller (26) is disposed downstream of a heat-treatment portion in the sheet conveyance path and configured so as to convey a sheet passing the heat-treatment portion to the paper output tray. At a position corresponding to the position of the conveyance rollers (26), the upper sheet guide (60) is provided with a ventilation portion (604) configured so as to make the cooling air from the cooling device (40) pass through. At a position opposed to the ventilation portion (604) of the upper sheet guide (60), the lower sheet guide (62) is provided with a ventilation portion (624) configured so as to make the cooling air from the cooling device (40) pass through.
US08929760B2 Transfer device with bias output device and image forming apparatus including same
A transfer device includes a rotatable image bearing member to bear a toner image on a surface thereof, a nip forming member to contact the surface of the image bearing member, and a bias output device to output a bias current to alternately form a transfer-direction electric field to transfer toner charged with a normal polarity in a toner image formed on the image bearing member to move therefrom to a recording medium and a return-direction electric field to return the toner from the recording medium to the image bearing member. A transition time T1 from a first time at which a current for forming the transfer-direction electric field reaches its maximum (It) to a second time at which a current for forming the return-direction electric field reaches its maximum (Ir) is longer than a transition time T2 from the second time to the first time.
US08929753B2 Heating control device, heating control method, and image forming apparatus
A heating control device which is capable of detecting an abnormality of an object to be heated accurately. A power-supply unit applies the electric power to the electromagnetic induction heating coil. A magnetic flux detecting unit detects a magnetic flux emitted from the electromagnetic induction heating coil across the object, and outputs a voltage corresponding to the detected magnetic flux. A changing unit changes at least one of the detected magnetic flux voltage value and an abnormality detection threshold value based on relationship between an electric power set value that defines the electric power and an input voltage inputted to the power-supply unit. A determination unit compares the detected magnetic flux voltage value changed by the changing unit to the abnormality detection threshold value, and determines an abnormality of the object when the detected magnetic flux voltage value is larger than the abnormality detection threshold value.
US08929751B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a buffer configured to temporarily store in the buffer toner supplied from a toner cartridge and to be fed to a developing unit; a magnetic reed switch configured to sense magnet variation occurring in a sensing range and sequentially output signals each indicating a result of the sensing; a toner level indicator plate disposed within the buffer to swing up and down about a fixed edge in response to a change in a level of the toner that remains in the buffer, the toner level indicator plate having a magnet on a free edge thereof, the magnet being made to reach the sensing range in a state where the toner level indicator plate has swung down.
US08929736B2 Regenerators placement mechanism for wavelength switched optical networks
The method of placing regenerators along a trail connecting a source network node with a destination network node of an automatically switched optical network first identifies N tentative regeneration sites and n+1 optical paths along the trail. Wavelengths are assigned to each optical path, and the performance of the trail is assessed based on regenerator placement data and wavelength assignment data.
US08929734B2 Multiplexer/demultiplexer and multiplexing/demultiplexing method
In order to realize a multiplexer/demultiplexer in which utilization efficiency of a frequency is high, wavelength characteristics of a transmission band is flat, the cost is low, the size is small, and a wavelength and a band are variable, the multiplexer/demultiplexer includes: first light branching means for branching inputted light into plurality of pieces of light and outputting the branched pieces of light; a plurality of light wavelength separating means for separating and outputting light outputted from the first light branching means for each of predetermined frequency bands; and an optical coupling means for making outputs having frequency bands different from each other among outputs from the light wavelength separating means gather and be outputted.
US08929730B2 Differential eye diagrams
Changes in a signal are detected. The signal is repeatedly sampled in a synchronous manner during a predetermined interval to generate a captured eye diagram. At least one of a positive differential eye diagram or a negative differential eye diagram is generated from the captured eye diagram and a baseline eye diagram. The at least one positive or negative differential eye diagram is analyzed to determine whether a change in signal conditions is present.
US08929728B2 Method and system for implementing automatic protection switching for transmission equipment
A method for realizing an automatic protection switching of a transmission device is provided, and the method includes that: according to a received automatic protection switching trigger condition and information of each line sub-card, which are transmitted by a cross sub-card via a Time Division Multiplexing Fabric to Framer Interface (TFI5) frame, a control sub-card determines to execute protection switching, and sends a protection switching command to the cross sub-card; and the cross sub-card completes the protection switching action. A system for realizing an automatic protection switching of a transmission device is also provided. According to the technical solution of the present invention, the automatic protection switching of the transmission device in an Optical Transport Network (OTN) is achieved conveniently.
US08929727B2 Image pickup apparatus and controlling method therefor
An image pickup apparatus that is capable of reducing variation in the color temperature of a subject in a taken image and capable of shooting a more suitable image. The image pickup apparatus can shoot with emitting a light emitting unit. A color temperature acquisition unit acquires information about a color temperature of a light illuminating a subject. An emission control unit controls emission of the light emitting unit. The emission control unit determines emission light amount of the light emitting unit based on a color temperature difference between a color temperature of an illumination light of the light emitting unit and a color temperature based on the information acquired by the color temperature information acquisition unit.
US08929724B1 High efficiency oven and method of use
A high efficiency oven is disclosed. An exemplary high efficiency oven includes two or more infrared heating elements selected to generate different wavelengths in an oven cavity, a temperature sensor, and a system controller.
US08929723B2 Recording apparatus, imaging and recording apparatus, recording method, and program
Disclosed herein is a recording apparatus including: an input section configured to input data to be recorded; and a recording control section configured to reserve a recording region beforehand on recording media by updating file management information about the recording media to which the data is to be recorded, the recording control section being further configured such that when the data input through the input section has reached a predetermined data amount, the recording control section records the input data to the reserved region.
US08929716B2 Information processing device, information processing method, and program
The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program, whereby playback of PG and TextST images can be controlled from a BD-J application. There are defined a mono PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image that is a mono image serving as a 2D image, a stereo PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image that is a stereo image serving as a 3D image, and a PG/TextST stream for offset of a PG/TextST image that is a mono image to be used fro generating a stereo image along with an offset value for giving disparity to the mono image, as a PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image. An stream selecting API selects a mono PG/TextST stream, a stereo PG/TextST stream, or a PG/TextST stream for offset. The present invention may be applied to a BD player configured to play a BD, or the like.
US08929715B2 Information processing device, information processing method, and program
The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program, whereby playback of PG and TextST images can be controlled from a BD-J application. There are defined a mono PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image that is a mono image serving as a 2D image, a stereo PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image that is a stereo image serving as a 3D image, and a PG/TextST stream for offset of a PG/TextST image that is a mono image to be used for generating a stereo image along with an offset value for giving disparity to the mono image, as a PG/TextST stream of a PG/TextST image. An stream selecting API selects a mono PG/TextST stream, a stereo PG/TextST stream, or a PG/TextST stream for offset. The present invention may be applied to a BD player configured to play a BD, or the like.
US08929707B2 Multi-port adapter block
An adapter block constructed to mount to more than one mounting configuration of a telecommunications panel. The adapter block including a housing constructed to slide mount to a panel, and pivot mount to a panel from either a front or a rear of the panel. The housing including flexible levers that provide a snap-fit connection to secure the adapter block relative to the panel in each of the mounting configurations. The adapter block providing access to cable terminations of the block in each of the mounting configurations.
US08929702B2 Modular opto-electrical cable unit
A modular cable unit for oilfield wireline includes multiple cable modules. The cable modules are interchangeable to achieve a modular cable unit with desired telemetry and electrical properties to suit a specific application. The cable modules can be an optical fiber module, a power cable or an opto-electrical module assembly. The cable modules that make up the modular cable unit are preferably arranged in a triad configuration defining a substantially triangular tangent periphery and are surrounded by a polymeric casing having a circular periphery. The triad configuration of the modular cable unit contributes to an improved mechanical strength. A floating-tube type optical fiber element with improved mechanical strength is also disclosed.
US08929695B1 N port fiber optical switch
An N port fiber optical switch includes a movable housing having a perimeter and N corners; a plurality N of optical fibers positioned within the housing and inside the perimeter; and a plurality N of actuators, wherein each actuator is positioned on a corresponding corner such that when selectively activated one or more of the actuators urges the movable housing and the plurality of optical fibers to a selected switch position. The switch provides short switching times and high power handling while allowing for a large number of ports and provides the capability of interfacing with and switching between a variable number of ports.
US08929694B2 Composite processors
In one example, a composite processor includes a circuit board, a first processor element package, and a second processor element package. The circuit board has an optical link and an electrical link. The first processor element package includes a substrate with an integrated circuit, a sub-wavelength grating optical coupler, and an electrical coupler coupled to the electrical link of the circuit board. The second processor element package includes a substrate with an integrated circuit, a sub-wavelength grating optical coupler, and an electrical coupler coupled to the electrical link of the circuit board. The sub-wavelength grating optical coupler of the first processor element package, the optical link of the circuit board, and the sub-wavelength grating optical coupler of the second processor element package collectively define an optical communications path between the substrate of the first processor element package and the substrate of the second processor element package.
US08929688B2 Remapping methods to reduce distortions in images
The present invention provides software, methods, and systems for characterizing an actual scan pattern of a scanning beam device. The characterization of the actual scan pattern may be used in an image remapping method and/or a drive signal remapping method to reduce distortions in an image.
US08929684B2 Image display apparatus and control method thereof
When an area in a first image is specified, an amounts of characteristics of image data included in the area and a neighboring area are detected and it is determined based on the amount of the characteristics whether or not a notification display indicating that the area is likely not to be a target area needs to be presented. If it is determined that the notification display needs to be displayed, a notification image that enables the area to be identified is generated for the first image and is combined with a second image to generate a composite image and the composite image is displayed on a display unit. On the other hand, if it is determined that the specified area is likely to be a target area, the second image based on the image data included in the area is displayed over the full screen of the display unit.
US08929683B2 Techniques for registering and warping image stacks
A set of images is processed to modify and register the images to a reference image in preparation for blending the images to create a high-dynamic range image. To modify and register a source image to a reference image, a processing unit generates correspondence information for the source image based on a global correspondence algorithm, generates a warped source image based on the correspondence information, estimates one or more color transfer functions for the source image, and fills the holes in the warped source image. The holes in the warped source image are filled based on either a rigid transformation of a corresponding region of the source image or a transformation of the reference image based on the color transfer functions.
US08929680B2 Method, apparatus and system for identifying distracting elements in an image
A method of identifying a distracting element in an image (e.g., 1100), is disclosed. A visual attention map (e.g., 1120) is determined for the image (1100), the visual attention map (1120) representing one or more regions of the image, at least one of the regions corresponding to at least a portion of a subject of the image. A salient region map (e.g., 1110) is determined for the image (1100), the salient region map comprising a distribution of visual attraction values defining one or more further regions of the image (1100), the one or more further regions being categorized as salient. An intersection between the visual attention map (1120) and the salient region map (1110) is determined to identify a distracting element in the image (1100). The distracting element corresponds to at least one of the salient regions.
US08929661B2 System and method for measuring camber on a surface
The disclosed embodiment relates to methods for measuring camber on a surface. The method preferably comprises receiving, by a computing device, a plurality of images of a surface, identifying, by a computing device, a key image of the surface from the plurality of images, extracting, by a computing device, a portion of the key image including the surface, and analyzing, by a computing device, the extracted portion of the key image to thereby determine the camber on the surface. The disclosed embodiment also relates to a system and computer-readable code that can be used to implement the exemplary methods.
US08929659B2 Adaptively assessing object relevance based on dynamic user properties
Provided are techniques for assessing object relevance. One or more user usage patterns are retrieved. Object properties of one or more objects are retrieved. The one or more user usage patterns are compared against the object properties of the one or more objects to compute one or more interaction scores that represent a value of how an object interacts with a user based on a current context of the user. Object importance is assigned to each of the one or more objects based on the one or more interaction scores.
US08929654B2 Spectral image processing
A substantially rectangular spectral representation is synthesized, which is adapted to produce either (a) image capture device sensor outputs if applied to an image capture device or (b) color values if applied to corresponding analysis functions. Spectral expansion, which can be used in various image processing methods, is achieved with the synthesized spectral representation.
US08929642B2 Three-dimensional scanner and robot system
A three-dimensional scanner according to one aspect of the embodiments includes an irradiation unit, an imaging unit, a position detecting unit, and a scanning-region determining unit. The irradiation unit emits a slit-shaped light beam while changing an irradiation position with respect to a measuring object. The imaging unit sequentially captures images of the measuring object irradiated with the light beam. The position detecting unit detects a position of the light beam in an image captured by the imaging unit by scanning the image. The scanning-region determining unit determines a scanning region in an image as a scanning target by the position detecting unit based on a position of the light beam in an image captured by the imaging unit before the image as a scanning target.
US08929641B2 System and method for determining the orientation of a unit dose package
A method and system are provided for determining an orientation of a unit dose package, such as by determining whether the cavity that houses the medication is facing upwards or downwards. As a result of the determination of the orientation of the unit dose package, a method and system may also be provided for selectively picking a unit dose package, thereby enabling automated restocking of singulated unit dose packages by taking into account the orientation of the unit dose packages.
US08929636B2 Method and system for image segmentation
Method and system is disclosed for image segmentation. The method includes acquiring a digital image, constructing a graph from the digital image, calculating a plurality of cost functions, constructing an electrical network based upon the constructed graph and the plurality of calculated cost functions, simulating the electrical network using fixed-point linearization, and segmenting the image using the simulated electrical network to produce segmented layers. Simulation may be executed in parallel to achieve desirable computational efficiencies.
US08929634B2 Parametric images based on dynamic behavior over time
An embodiment for analyzing a body-part of a patient is proposed. A corresponding data-processing method includes the steps of providing a sequence of input images representing the body-part over an analysis period, each input image including a set of input values each one being indicative of a response to an interrogation signal of a corresponding location of the body-part at a corresponding acquisition instant included in the analysis period, associating an analysis function of time with each one of a set of selected locations, the analysis function modeling a trend of the input values of the selected location in the sequence of input images, and providing a reference function of time for the analysis functions; in an embodiment, the data-processing method further includes comparing the analysis function of each selected location with the reference function to determine a polarity trend representing a trend over the analysis period of a polarity of a divergence between the analysis function of the selected location and the reference function, and creating a parametric image including a parametric value for each selected location, the parametric value being indicative of the polarity trend of the selected location.
US08929622B2 Method and apparatus for in vitro analysis of the physical response of blood-vessels to vaso-active agents
A method includes determining, with a computing device, one or more of a hue value, a saturation value, and an intensity value of a pixel in a region of interest of an image of a blood vessel sample. A physical response of the blood vessel sample to a vaso-active agent is determined based at least in part on one or more of the hue value, the saturation value, and the intensity value.
US08929619B2 System and method of image reconstruction with dual line scanner using line counts
A fingerprint scanning and image reconstruction system and method including a fingerprint scanner providing a first scan line and a second scan line separated by a line separation distance in a scanning direction. The system includes an image reconstruction module accumulating scan lines including at least the first scan line and the second scan line over a time period t. The image reconstruction module a value for decimation (t) necessary to produce a selected y axis resolution in the scanning direction based at least in part on (line count(t)/line separation distance)*a selected y resolution, where line count(t) is the number of lines accumulated in time t, and decimation(t) indicates of whether the line count(t) is greater than or less than the number of lines accumulated as a function of the time period t that will result in a selected reconstructed image y resolution in the scanning direction.
US08929618B2 Fake-finger determination device
Fingerprint images that are required for fake-finger determination can be acquired with a single input operation, and the user-friendliness and the determination accuracy of a fake-finger are improved. This device has moving means for moving a sensor surface, on which a finger as a determination object is placed, relatively to the finger, sensing means for acquiring fingerprint images of the finger before and after the sensor surface is moved, derivation means for obtaining a deformation level of the fingerprint before and after the sensor surface is moved based on two types of fingerprint images obtained by the sensing means, storage means for storing a deformation threshold related to the deformation level of the fingerprint to determine whether the finger on the sensor surface is a real finger or a fake-finger, and determination means for determining whether the finger placed on the sensor surface is a real finger or a fake-finger based on comparison results of the deformation level of the fingerprint obtained by the derivation means and the deformation threshold.
US08929617B2 Method for identifying an unknown fingerprint by generating a numeric representation through interleaving digits
A method for searching a database comprising data related to a plurality of fingerprints. In step 301, two or more feature points in an image of an unknown fingerprint are identified. A plurality of properties are generated in step 302. The plurality of properties are based on the two or more feature points. In step 303, a number comprising a plurality of digits, e.g. binary digits, is assigned to each of the plurality of properties. In a subsequent step, step 304, a numeric representation of said fingerprint is generated based on the assigned numbers. The numeric representation is generated by interleaving the plurality of digits, such that the digits of the numeric representation are arranged in an interleaved or intertwined manner within the numeric representation. In step 305, the numeric representation is used as a search argument when searching the database. The invention also relates to an apparatus and computer program product.
US08929600B2 Action recognition based on depth maps
A plurality of depth maps corresponding to respective depth measurements determined over a respective plurality of time frames may be obtained. A plurality of skeleton representations respectively corresponding to the respective time frames may be obtained. Each skeleton representation may include joints associated with an observed entity. Local feature descriptors corresponding to the respective time frames may be determined, based on the depth maps and the joints associated with the skeleton representations. An activity recognition associated with the observed entity may be determined, based on the obtained skeleton representations and the determined local feature descriptors.
US08929593B2 Method and device for recognition of information applied on packages
Embodiments describe a system and method for reading the information on bundled packages wrapped in transparent film. The film can obscure information on the outside of the packages making the automated identification and tracking of the packages difficult. Embodiments described herein provide a system and method for capturing the unique information regardless of the obscuring effects of packaging films. A camera that is insensitive to UV light captures visible light emitted by labels after the labels are irradiated by UV light. The light emission induces greater contrast overcoming any distortion that might have occurred due to the transparent packaging film.
US08929588B2 Object tracking
Methods, devices, and systems for object tracking are described herein. One or more method embodiments include receiving an initial set of track points associated with a trajectory of an object, compressing the initial set of track points into a plurality of track segments, each track segment having a start track point and an end track point, and storing the plurality of track segments to represent the trajectory of the object.
US08929583B2 Multi-function vibration actuator
A multifunction oscillatory actuator which performs acoustic reproduction by an acoustic reproduction section includes a diaphragm having a voice coil attached thereto and performs the occurrence of somesthetic oscillation by a magnetic circuit section having a magnet attached thereto, and in which the acoustic reproduction section and the magnetic circuit section are attached to a housing having a cylindrical shape, such that the magnetic circuit section is supported on an inner wall of the housing by a frame-shaped suspension.
US08929580B2 Sound generation system, sound recording system, sound generation method, sound recording method, sound adjusting method, sound adjusting program, sound field adjusting system, speaker stand, furniture, speaker cabinet, and speaker device
Provided are a sound generation system and a sound recording system, which are placed in a room to adjust sound. A columnar body is disposed around a sound source to adjust how much sound of a low-tone range, as well as of a middle- and high-tone range, is absorbed and diffused. Moreover, a columnar body is disposed around a recording device to adjust how much sound of a low-tone range, as well as of a middle- and high-tone range, is absorbed and diffused. The columnar bodies may be made of a combination of different diameters and/or lengths. The arrangement distances may be random. With the columnar body disposed at the most appropriate location, it is possible to adjust sound in a wide band.
US08929578B2 Loudspeaker and electronic devices incorporating same
The invention provides, in some aspects, electronic devices with improved radiators (or “passive drivers”) comprising an elastomerically mounted mass in order to improve sound reproduction fidelity. The mass comprises a component of the device not normally used for such purpose—e.g., a battery—thereby, permitting size reductions while, at the same time, enhancing audio fidelity
US08929574B2 Hearing aid and a method of detecting and attenuating transients
A hearing aid has means (15) for detecting fast transients in the input signal and means (16, 12, 13) for attenuating the detected transients prior to presenting the signal with the attenuated transients to a user. Detection is performed by measuring the peak difference of the signal upstream of a band split filter bank (11) and comparing the peak difference against at least one peak difference limit. Then, if a transient is detected, a state machine (20) analyzes the peak level and the absolute average level of the signal and engages a gain calculator (12) to follow either the peak level or the absolute average level of the input signal for at least the duration of the transient in order to attenuate the transient. The engagement of the gain calculator (12) is performed in each frequency band dependent of the detected transient. The invention further provides a method for detecting fast transients.
US08929554B2 Secure multi-party communication with quantum key distribution managed by trusted authority
Techniques and tools for implementing protocols for secure multi-party communication after quantum key distribution (“QKD”) are described herein. In example implementations, a trusted authority facilitates secure communication between multiple user devices. The trusted authority distributes different quantum keys by QKD under trust relationships with different users. The trusted authority determines combination keys using the quantum keys and makes the combination keys available for distribution (e.g., for non-secret distribution over a public channel). The combination keys facilitate secure communication between two user devices even in the absence of QKD between the two user devices. With the protocols, benefits of QKD are extended to multi-party communication scenarios. In addition, the protocols can retain benefit of QKD even when a trusted authority is offline or a large group seeks to establish secure communication within the group.
US08929543B2 Enhanced key management for SRNS relocation
A method comprises maintaining, in a first node serving a mobile terminal over a connection protected by at least one first key, said first key and information about the key management capabilities of the mobile terminal. Upon relocation of the mobile terminal to a second node the method includes: if, and only if, said key management capabilities indicate an enhanced key management capability supported by the mobile terminal, modifying, by said first node, the first key, thereby creating a second key, sending, from the first node to the second node, the second key, and transmitting to the second node the information about the key management capabilities of the mobile terminal.
US08929542B2 Cryptographic processing system, key generation device, key delegation device, encryption device, decryption device, cryptographic processing method, and cryptographic processing program
It is an object of this invention to implement a predicate encryption scheme with delegation capability. A cryptographic process is performed using dual vector spaces (dual distortion vector spaces) of a space V and a space V* paired through a pairing operation. An encryption device generates as a cipher vector a vector of the space V, the cipher vector being a vector in which transmission information is embedded. Using a predetermined vector of the space V* as a key vector, a decryption device performs the pairing operation on the cipher vector generated by the encryption device and the key vector to decrypt the cipher vector and to extract information concerning the transmission information. In particular, the encryption device and the decryption device perform the cryptographic process without using some dimensions of the space V and the space V*.
US08929541B2 Information processing apparatus, server apparatus, and computer program product
In an embodiment, an information processing apparatus is connected to external apparatuses. The information processing apparatus includes: a device key storage unit configured to store a device key; a shared key storage unit configured to store one or more shared keys shared by the external apparatuses; a key generating unit configured to generate a media key from the device key and media key blocks; and an updating unit configured to generate the shared keys as generated shared keys, which is updated, based upon the media key and the shared keys stored in the shared key storage unit, and to store the generated shared keys into the shared key storage unit.
US08929536B2 Multi-channel pivoting
An method of pivoting a customer among synchronous and asynchronous communications channels during a communication session.
US08929531B2 Apparatus and method for providing incoming and outgoing call information in a mobile communication terminal
A method and a mobile communication device are provided for providing information. Phone numbers in an address book are stored in a memory of the mobile communication device. A display unit of the mobile communication device displays call history information for a phone number. It is determined whether the phone number is in the address book. A menu is displayed on the display unit, the menu having either a first option for editing information associated with the phone number or a second option for adding the phone number to the address book based on whether the phone number is in the address book.
US08929530B1 Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for expedited access to conference calls
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for admitting conferees into a conference call. Methods to achieve the foregoing can comprise: transmitting an admission request from a user of a communications device to a server for admission to a conference call, the admission request including a unique identifier; storing data unique to the communications device in a data store; relaying the unique identifier from the server to the data store; comparing the unique identifier with the data unique to the communications device; and, when the unique identifier and the previously stored data match, connecting the user directly to the conference call which includes bypassing entry of at least one conference pass code by the user.
US08929519B2 Analyzing speech application performance
A method of analyzing speech application performance can include determining a call path for each of a plurality of calls from a log of an interactive voice response system having a speech application. Each call path can be defined by an ordered set of dialog nodes of the speech application. A number of occurrences of at least one selected type of event for the dialog nodes of the plurality of calls can be counted. At least one call path from the plurality of call paths can be indicated according, at least in part, to the number of occurrences of the selected type of event within the at least one indicated call path.
US08929513B2 Compact radiation generator
A voltage rectifier circuit for a radiation generator is provided. The voltage rectifier circuit comprises at least one ring shaped first printed circuit board and at least one ring shaped second printed circuit board coupled to each other using a plurality of connectors and wherein each of the first and second printed circuit boards comprise, a first terminal, a second terminal, and a third terminal. The first terminal and second terminal are connected via an external diode assemble, and the first and third terminal are connected by a capacitor assembly embedded between them.
US08929511B2 Mobile X-ray unit
One embodiment of the present disclosure is directed to a mobile X-ray unit. The mobile X-ray unit may include a base for accommodating a control unit configured to control an X-ray applicator and a power supply configured to supply power to the X-ray applicator. The mobile X-ray unit may further include an articulated arm associated with the base. The arm may be configured to support the X-ray applicator. The X-ray applicator may have an X-ray tube for emitting an X-ray beam for irradiating an object. The mobile X-ray unit may further include a phantom-based dosimetry system configured to perform a dosimetry check of the X-ray beam.
US08929509B2 Four-sided imaging system and method for detection of contraband
The present invention provides a four-sided scanning system for vehicles that uses a combination of backscatter and transmission based X-ray imaging to achieve material discrimination. In one embodiment, the system is designed as a mobile, drive-through system, which can be folded and stowed in a truck and can be conveniently deployed at any place when required.
US08929499B2 System timing margin improvement of high speed I/O interconnect links by using fine training of phase interpolator
Methods and apparatus for improving system timing margin of high speed I/O (input/output) interconnect links by using fine training of a phase interpolator are described. In some embodiments, I/O links use forward clock architecture to send data from transmit driver to receiver logic. Moreover, at the receiver side, Phase Interpolator (PI) logic may be used to place the sampling clock at the center of the valid data window or eye. In an embodiment, a Digital Eye Width Monitor (DEWM) logic may be used to measure data eye width in real time. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US08929493B2 Mixed rank downlink compound multi-user interference alignment scheme
A method, system and device are provided to enable one or more users to receive mixed-rank data from two transmitters by using an indexed list of linearly independent, predetermined vectors νref={vref1, . . . , vrefM} and channel knowledge H1, H2 from first and second transmitters to compute equivalent channel matrix information Hieq based on the assigned or determined rank of the receiver. With this information, each transmitter selects Li receivers and constructs a transmitted signal by applying a selected precoding matrix to the mixed rank data, thereby eliminating interference to the rest of the receivers in the network so that a receiver can receive transmitted signals from both transmitters.
US08929491B2 Interference cancellation method with multiple data layer MIMO transmission
A method and apparatus are provided for cancelling interferences of a received MIMO RF signal. The method includes: receiving a signal y; an initial step of obtaining, from the received signal y, at least one data representative of the received signal, called decoded data; computing the decoded data as a function of at least one predetermined criterion, delivering feedback data and a feedback decision; and, as a function of the feedback decision, at least one iteration of the following steps: constructing a set of feedback symbols from the feedback data; obtaining, from the set of feedback symbols, at least one data representative of a feedback decoded signal, called feedback decoded data; computing the at least one feedback decoded data as a function of the at least one predetermined criterion, delivering the feedback data.
US08929489B2 Method of reducing the glare of a receiver within a system, in particular a geolocation system
A method of reducing the glare of at least one receiver within a system, in particular a geolocation system, the system including: at least one first emitter emitting at least a first signal modulated by a first code, at least a second emitter emitting at least one second signal modulated by a second code, which is repetitive and potentially variable, and a third signal out of phase with respect to the second signal, the third signal being modulated by the second code delayed by a first delay, and the receiver, the latter being configured so as to detect signals emitted by the first and second emitters and implementing, for the tracking of the first signal, a local signal.
US08929488B2 Technique for processing encoded information in a wireless communication network
A technique for processing information in a wireless communication network is described. In a method in accordance with the technique, a signal encoded with a convolution code is received. The encoded signal comprises information and a check value. The encoded signal is decoded using a Viterbi algorithm to derive the information and the check value. The decoding includes computing a Viterbi state metric. A reliability parameter is then determined based on the Viterbi state metric. The information is selectively processed depending on both the check value and the reliability parameter.
US08929484B2 Communications transmitter having high-efficiency combination modulator
A communications transmitter includes a baseband processor configured to generate amplitude, angle, in-phase and quadrature baseband signals and a combination modulator that is configurable to modulate in the polar domain and, alternatively, in the quadrature domain. The combination modulator includes a quadrature modulator and a separate and distinct angle modulator that is configured to serve as a local oscillator for the quadrature modulator. In one embodiment of the invention the combination modulator is configured to modulate in the quadrature domain when the transmitter is operating according to a first communications condition (e.g., first transmit power level or first modulation scheme) and is configured to modulate in the polar domain when the transmitter is operating according to a second communications condition (e.g., second transmit power level or second modulation scheme).
US08929483B1 Multi-channel digital linearization
Digital baseband channel signals are received and up-sampled to a common sampling rate. The digital baseband channel signals are filtered using low pass filters. Complex frequency shifting is performed of the filtered digital baseband channel signals based on the associated different channel frequencies to obtain digital channel signals, which are combined to generate a digital wideband multi-channel signal that is a digital representation of an analog wideband multi-channel signal that is based on combining analog channel signals that correspond to the analog baseband channel signals. A non-linear pre-distortion of the digital wideband multi-channel signal is performed, the non-linear pre-distortion adding at least one of a gain and a phase shift to the digital wideband multi-channel signal such that the digital channel signals included within the digital wideband multi-channel signal are compensated for a non-linear distortion effected on the analog wideband multi-channel signal by a high-power amplifier.
US08929473B2 Combining baseband processing and radio frequency beam steering in wireless communication systems
A method and apparatus enable combined baseband (BB) and radio frequency (RF) processing of signals. The method includes receiving, by a receiver, channel estimation information for a channel between a transmitter and the receiver. The method includes identifying a plurality of paths in the channel based on the channel estimation information. The method includes calculating an RF precoding matrix for precoding one or more signals to be transmitted on each of the identified paths. The RF precoding matrix includes a phase shift for each of the identified paths. Additionally, the method includes calculating a BB precoding matrix for precoding the one or more signals by a BB precoding unit associated with the transmitter.
US08929469B2 Signal processing-system using singularity, and its information memory medium
The signal processing-system using singularity is provided which is excellent in determination of the original signal against the degradation environment of an operating condition and robust to the signal degradation of noise, can generate the signal suitable to regeneration of the original signal, and has regeneration means to regenerate the original signal, wherein the system comprises: an original signal converter of the signal processing-system which converts the original signal contained in the inputted signal into the signal containing singular points by using the specific function, the converter outputting the signal containing singular points; an original signal regenerator which converts the incoming signals containing singular points into signals having singular points by the specific signal processing, the regenerator extracting the undesired-signal component from the signals having singular points; and a regenerator which regenerates the original signal by carrying out the operation of the generated undesired-signal and the above-mentioned signal-containing-singular-points, and outputs the regenerated signal.
US08929456B2 Video coding using compressive measurements
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for video coding using compressive measurements. The method includes receiving video data including frames, and determining at least one temporal structure based on a series of consecutive frames in the video data. The temporal structure includes a sub-block of video data from each frame in the series. The method further includes obtaining a measurement matrix, and generating a set of measurements by applying the measurement matrix to the at least one temporal structure. The measurement matrix includes an assigned pattern of pixel values and the set of measurements is coded data representing the at least one temporal structure.
US08929453B2 Motion vector calculation method
When a block (MB22) of which motion vector is referred to in the direct mode contains a plurality of motion vectors, 2 motion vectors MV23 and MV24, which are used for inter picture prediction of a current picture (P23) to be coded, are determined by scaling a value obtained from averaging the plurality of motion vectors or selecting one of the plurality of the motion vectors.
US08929452B2 Image processing apparatus, image capturing apparatus, and computer program
An image processing section includes: a repetitive pattern detection section for detecting whether a repetitive pattern is present in at least one of first and second frames; a motion vector calculation section for calculating a motion vector by performing a matching operation between the first and second frames within a search range determined based on a detection result from the repetitive pattern detection section; and an interpolation image generating section for generating an interpolation frame in accordance with a calculation result of the motion vector.
US08929437B2 Image coding method, image coding apparatus, image decoding method, image decoding apparatus, and image coding and decoding apparatus
The image coding method for coding an input image includes: converting, into a bin string, an offset value used in an offset process to be applied to a pixel value of a reconstructed image corresponding to the input image; and performing bypass arithmetic coding on the bin string using a fixed probability.
US08929433B2 Systems, methods, and apparatus for improving display of compressed video data
Presented herein are system(s), method(s), and apparatus for improving the display of compressed video data. In one embodiment, there is presented a method for encoding video data. The method comprises estimating a displayed intensity of a video source displayed on a predetermined display device; estimating a displayed intensity of the reconstruction of the video source displayed on a predetermined display device; and correcting the video source as a function of the estimated displayed intensity of the video source on the predetermined display device and the estimated displayed intensity of the reconstruction of the video source on the predetermined display device.
US08929430B2 Electro-magnetic interference reduction for switched signal systems
In one embodiment, a method receives a pulse width modulation signal. A value that is a function of the pulse width modulation signal is determined. The value is used to modulate a switching frequency of the pulse width modulation signal to generate a modulated pulse width modulation signal. The applied value reduces electro-magnetic interference from tones in the modulated pulse width modulation signal.
US08929428B2 Feed-forward equalization in a receiver
Embodiments are directed to feed-forward equalization. In some embodiments, a first circuit is configured to receive a signal transmitted over a channel as a differential pair, and a second circuit is configured to mirror the signal as at least a pre-cursor component comprising a first transistor of a first type of technology, a cursor component comprising a second transistor of a second type of technology, and a post-cursor component comprising a third transistor of the first type of technology.
US08929425B2 Modbus repeater with self-adaptive baud rate and self-adaptive baud rate system and method
Disclosed are a self-adaptive baud rate system and method. The method includes: a) receiving first data and second data; b) judging whether or not a falling edge of a start bit in a synchronization code of the first data and second data is detected; c) if the falling edge is not detected, then return to step b); and if the falling edge is detected, then a first counting is started from a rising edge after the start bit based on a reference clock, and stopped at the next falling edge, and a first count value is obtained; and a second counting is started from the falling edge where the first counting was stopped, and stopped at the next rising edge, and a second count value is obtained; and d) acquiring a baud rate according to the relationships among the first count value and the second count value and a first threshold. By way of using a CPLD to detect the baud rate and encoding format of a Modbus data frame remotely according to the present application, there is no need to manually set the baud rate and encoding format locally. The function of remote auto-detection of the baud rate and encoding format can be achieved by the present application, and the materials and assembly costs of the rotary encoder are omitted.
US08929420B2 Method and apparatus for frequency assignment in a frequency hopping mode of a wireless communication system
A frequency allocation method and apparatus using a mirroring-assisted frequency hopping pattern is provided for retransmission in a wireless communication system operating in a frequency hopping mode. A frequency mapping method for a wireless communication system operating in a frequency hopping mode includes determining whether or not mirroring is used in accordance with a number of packet transmissions; mapping a frequency resource for a packet transmission based on a result of the determination; and receiving a packet using the mapped frequency resource.
US08929418B2 Semiconductor laser
A semiconductor laser is provided with one or more rear ports and one front port and with a multi-mode interference optical waveguide that has an active layer (light emitting layer) in all regions in plan view. The front port corresponds to an imaging point at which fundamental mode light forms an image in the active layer (light emitting layer) perpendicular to the waveguide direction of the multi-mode interference optical waveguide, and in plan view the front port is disposed along a central line, off center with respect to a central line, along the waveguide direction of the multi-mode interference optical waveguide.
US08929411B1 Quantum dot detection
An apparatus comprises a laser system and a light sensor system. The laser system is associated with a housing and configured to generate a first laser beam and direct the first laser beam toward a surface of an object in which the surface has a plurality of quantum dots. The first laser beam is configured to cause the plurality of quantum dots to generate light. The laser system is further configured to generate a second laser beam and direct the second laser beam toward the light generated by the plurality of quantum dots. The second laser beam is configured to amplify a portion of the light generated by the plurality of quantum dots. The light sensor system is associated with the housing and configured to detect the portion of the light to form data.
US08929410B2 Ultraviolet laser device
An ultraviolet laser device comprises a laser beam output unit that outputs infra-red laser beams, and a wavelength conversion unit that wavelength converts the infra-red laser beams. The laser beam output unit comprises a first laser beam output unit that outputs a first infra-red laser beam whose wavelength is 1900-2000 nm, and a second laser beam output unit that outputs a second infra-red laser beam whose wavelength is 1000-1100 nm. The wavelength conversion unit comprises a first element series that the first infra-red light beam is incident upon and propagated through, and a second element series that the laser light propagated through the first element series and the second infra-red laser beam are incident upon, combined in, and propagated through, and constructed so that ultraviolet laser light is outputted, due to the first and second infra-red laser beams being wavelength converted by optical wavelength conversion elements.
US08929408B1 Multi comb generation with a mode locked laser cavity
Apparatus, systems, and methods of generating multi combs can be used in a variety of applications. In various embodiments, an etalon can be disposed in the laser cavity of a mode-locked laser to adjust frequency combs. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US08929407B2 VCSEL pumped fiber optic gain systems
Optical pump modules comprising VCSEL and VCSEL array devices provide high optical power for configuring fiber optic gain systems such as fiber laser and fiber amplifier particularly suited for high power operation. Pump modules may be constructed using two reflector or three reflector VCSEL devices optionally integrated with microlens arrays and other optical components, to couple high power pump beams to an optical fiber output port, particularly suited to couple light to an inner cladding of a double-clad fiber suitable for a high power gain element. Multiple-pumps may be combined to increase pump power in a modular fashion without significant distortion to signal, particularly for short pulse operation. The pump modules may be operated in CW, QCW and pulse modes to configure fiber lasers and amplifiers using single end, dual end, and regenerative optical pumping modes.
US08929404B2 Reception apparatus and method, program and reception system
Disclosed herein is a reception apparatus, including: a reception section configured to receive an OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexed) signal obtained by modulating a common packet sequence configured from a packet common to a plurality of streams and a data packet sequence configured from packets individually unique to the plural streams; a buffer configured to accumulate packets of the common packet sequence and the data packet sequence obtained by demodulating the received OFDM signal; a retaining section configured to retain correction information for correcting out-of-synchronism between the common packet sequence and the data packet sequence obtained from particular packets of the common packet sequence and the data packet sequence upon reading out of the packets accumulated in the buffer; and a correction section configured to correct the out-of-synchronism of the packet which suffers from the out-of-synchronism of the packets based on the correction information retained in the retaining section.
US08929402B1 Systems and methods for compressing packet data by predicting subsequent data
A system, method, and computer program for compressing packet data is provided. In exemplary embodiments, one or more prefix arrays may be generated for retrieved data, and used as the basis for predicting subsequent data. The packet data may be compressed based, at least partially, on the predicted subsequent data. Accordingly, the compressed packet data may be transferred over a communication network.
US08929401B2 Physical layer signalling for digital broadcast system
The present invention relates to a physical layer signalling in a digital broadcast network. In particular, for a digital broadcast network supporting a configuration with a plurality of physical layer pipes, a type indicator is signalled on physical layer for a pipe, the type indicator indicates the format of the input stream which may specify a transport stream, a generic stream or an IP stream. In addition, per physical layer pipe application of header and/or content compression to the user packet headers of the input stream is signalled. Another physical layer parameters are advantageously provided or extended in order to increase the flexibility and efficiency of the layer 1 signalling.
US08929396B2 Ethernet media access control organization specific extension
An apparatus comprising a data framer configured to frame a Media Access Control (MAC) control message for transmission, the MAC control message comprising an organization specific identifier (OUI) and at least one type-length-value (TLV) comprising a type field, a length field, and a value field, wherein a format of the TLV is specified by the OUI, and wherein the value field comprises information related to operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) features of a network. Also included is an apparatus comprising at least one component configured to implement a method comprising compiling an OAM message comprising a plurality of organization-specific TLVs and an organization unique identifier (OUI) that indicates an organization responsible for the format of the TLV, and transmitting the OAM message.
US08929394B2 End-to-end service quality for latency-intensive internet protocol (IP) applications in a heterogeneous, multi-vendor environment
Apparatus and methods are provided for delivering end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. According to one embodiment, a portion of available bandwidth between a first and second network device is reserved as a Quality of Service (QoS) resource pool for real-time communication sessions among users of a first and second user community. The first network device is communicatively coupled with a packet network and associated with the first user community. The second network device is communicatively coupled with the packet network and associated with the second user community. End-to-end application QoS is provided between the first and second user communities by selectively admitting real-time communication sessions between the first user community and the second user community based upon currently available resources associated with the QoS resource pool and multiplexing the real-time communication sessions over a reservation protocol session between the first and second network devices.
US08929390B2 Methods and apparatuses for channel estimation in wireless networks
In a method for estimating a channel at a receiver in a wireless communications network, the receiver obtains channel model parameters for a received signal based on raw channel estimates for the received signal, where each raw channel estimate corresponds to an antenna at the receiver. The receiver combines, for each of a plurality of contiguous subcarriers in the wireless communications network, the channel model parameters to generate a first plurality of combined channel model parameters. The receiver then chooses a first set of indices corresponding to combined channel model parameters from among the first plurality of combined channel model parameters having magnitudes passing a combined channel model parameter threshold. The receiver then estimates the channel in a sparse domain based on the first set of indices.
US08929388B2 Systems and methods for resource allocation serving communication requirements and fairness
An allocation technique is operable to allocate communication resources in multi-hop networks under the joint consideration of communication requirements and fairness. Embodiments operate to provide allocation of time slot resources in TDMA based multi-hop wireless networks under the joint consideration of QoS and fairness. Embodiments operate with respect to information regarding maximal common slot set flow contention. An iterative process is applied with respect to the information regarding maximal common slot set flow contention to allocate communication resources providing a balance between meeting communication requirements and fairness. According to embodiments, an inter-graph process iteratively selects a maximal common slot set for which resource allocation with respect to various flows is to be performed and an intra-graph process assigns communication resources in the maximal common slot set providing a balancing between meeting communication requirements (e.g., QoS) and providing fairness. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claim and described.
US08929382B2 Method, device, and computer program product for detecting and encoding states for accurate measurement
A method, device, and program for determining states in a flow of packets are provided. A flow of transmitted packets is received. When the difference between the sequence number of the arriving packet and the next expected sequence number is equal to zero and when the TTL number of the arriving packet is equal to the TTL number of the previous packet, there is a stable state beginning with the first of the consecutively received packets. If a difference between the sequence number of an arriving packet and a next expected sequence number is greater than 1, or TTL of the arriving packet is not equal to the TTL number of the previous packet, there is a not stable state. Time between end of one stable state and start of the next stable state is the hole, and the states and holes correlate to events for analysis of the network.
US08929379B2 High-speed CLD-based internal packet routing
A method of routing internal network traffic within a computing system comprises receiving a network packet at a configurable logic device (CLD), parsing the network packet to obtain a destination address, searching a predetermined range of a routing table wherein each row of the routing table specifies a range of possible destination addresses and routing information, identifying a matching row of the routing table wherein the destination address falls within the range of possible destination addresses of the matching row, and routing the packet according to the routing information.
US08929373B2 Sending packets with expanded headers
In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to method for receiving a packet in a first agent, where the packet includes a first packet header with an expanded header indicator. Based on this indicator, the agent can determine if the packet includes one or more additional packet headers. If so, the agent can next determining if it supports information in the additional packet header based on a header identifier of the additional header. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08929370B2 Mechanism for efficiently transmitting tunnel keep-alive messages
A method, apparatus and computer program product for efficiently transmitting tunnel keep-alive messages is presented. A tunnel keep-alive trigger message is provided from a control processor of a multi-processor network switching device to at least one forwarding engine of the network switching device. The at least one of the forwarding engines produces a tunnel keep-alive packet as a result of receiving the tunnel keep-alive trigger message from the control processor. The at least one forwarding engine forwards the tunnel keep-alive packet on all tunnels the forwarding engine is servicing.
US08929367B2 Methods and apparatus to dynamically control connectivity within virtual private networks
Methods and apparatus to dynamically control connectivity within VPNs are disclosed. A disclosed example route server to control connectivity within a VPN comprises a memory to implement a database, a border gateway protocol (BGP) engine to process BGP advertisements, a network interface to receive a first BGP advertisement, which a first route target (RT) associated with the first PE router, from a first provider edge (PE) router associated with the VPN, and an intra-VPN connectivity controller to, in response to the first BGP advertisement, query the database to determine whether the first PE router is to be communicatively coupled to a second PE router of the VPN and when the first and second PE routers of the VPN are to be communicatively coupled, direct the BGP engine to form a second BGP advertisement that includes a second RT associated with the second PE router based on the first BGP advertisement.
US08929365B2 Efficient, fault-tolerant multicast networks via network coding
Fault-tolerant multicast networks via network coding comprises a digital signal operator that combines data signals multicast from multiple sources and transmits the combined data signal via a link to the next or destination node. In one aspect, the digital signal operator includes an exclusive-OR operator that performs a Boolean exclusive-OR function on the received bit streams of the multicast data from the plurality of sources.
US08929364B2 Supporting BGP based IP-VPN in a routed network
A new type of Provider Edge (PE) device is used to support BGP-based IP-VPNs. Each VRF instance in a PE device is associated with a dedicated IP address (Service IP address). Each service IP address is dedicated to a VRF in a PE device. The service IP address is distributed by BGP for VPN route association. Customer/VRF IP packets can be sent to a VRF instance in the egress PE device using service IP header encapsulation (with IP Destination Address=Service IP address of egress PE's VRF & IP Source Address=Service IP address of ingress PE's VRF). This obviates the need for explicit tunnels in the core.
US08929360B2 Systems, methods, media, and means for hiding network topology
Systems, methods, media, and means for hiding network topology are provided. In some embodiments, methods for hiding network topology are provided, the methods including: receiving a message including topology information from a sender; removing at least part of the topology information; associating the removed topology information with an identifier; saving the topology information; sending the message to a receiver; receiving a response from the receiver; retrieving the removed topology information based on the identifier; inserting the removed topology information into the response; and sending the response to the sender.
US08929358B2 Call flow system and method for use in a legacy telecommunication system
A method of operating a network server, such as a mobile application gateway, connect devices on a cellular or carrier network with individual networks, such as enterprise voice and data networks or residential networks. The effects of the present invention are far reaching in terms of transferring effective call control from the cellular network into the control of the individual network, such as the enterprise, and enabling new business models for the purchase of cellular service from a public cellular carrier by an enterprise.
US08929347B2 Scheduling ahead for improving data transmission in case of measurement
An approach is provided for scheduling communication resources to minimize the effects of a measurement gap. The timing between a resource allocation grant for a communication link, corresponding data transmission, and associated error control transmissions is delayed to avoid transmitting data to or receiving data from a user equipment during a measurement gap.
US08929345B2 Method and system for managing devices in a wireless network
According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for managing devices in a wireless network includes defining, by a managing device, assignment rules for geographic areas in the wireless network. The method also includes retrieving, by the managing device, device parameters from a device, the device located in a selected geographic area. The method further includes determining, by the managing device, the selected geographic area of the device by comparing the device parameters with the assignment rules. The method further includes displaying, by the managing device, the device in the selected geographic area.
US08929340B2 Method of changing a zone in a broadband wireless access system
The present invention relates to a broadband wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method of performing a zone change more promptly in a base station where an advanced terminal operates in a mix mode. A method for an advanced terminal (AMS) to perform a zone change in an advanced base station (mix mode ABS), which operates in a mix mode of a broadband wireless access system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: receiving a ranging response message (RNG-RSP) including system information on an advanced terminal supporting zone (MZone) from a legacy zone (LZone) of the advanced base station; and performing ranging in the advanced terminal supporting zone by using the system information.
US08929323B2 Operation of terminal for multi-antenna transmission
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and an apparatus for enabling a terminal to transmit a signal in a wireless communication system. According to one embodiment, a signal transmission method includes: receiving configuration information for multi-antenna transmission from a base station; configuring a multi-antenna transmission mode in accordance with the received configuration information; and transmitting an uplink channel having a plurality of symbols to the base station through multiple antennas.
US08929319B2 Updating scheduling request resources
In some implementations, a method implemented in an eNodeB (eNB) base station for single carrier frequency division multiple access SC-FDMA within a wireless system includes assigning to a user equipment a plurality of uplink scheduling request resources each comprising a plurality of subcarriers. It is determined that change in scheduling request resource used by the UE should be made. Upon determining that a change in scheduling request resource should be made, a command is transmitted to the UE instructing the UE to transmit scheduling requests on another of the plurality of assigned scheduling request resources.
US08929308B2 Method and apparatus of transmitting ACK/NACK
The present invention is directed to a wireless communication system. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method of transmitting an ACK/NACK (Acknowledgement/Negative-ACK) signal at a user equipment in the wireless communication system, the method includes receiving a first downlink control channel from a base station; receiving scheduling information through a second downlink control channel from the base station; deciding an uplink resource index for transmitting an ACK/NACK signal associated with the scheduling by considering the first control channel when the first control channel has a predetermined format; and transmitting the ACK/NACK signal to the base station by using an uplink resource indicated by the uplink resource index.
US08929287B1 Multiple virtual machine consoles in a single interface
Multiple virtual machine consoles run in a single user interlace as an integrated unit. Multiple virtual machines are grouped into a logical configuration, and console of each virtual machine in the configuration is displayed a single user interface, such as a browser window. Users are provided with integrated access through the single user interface to the available input/output functions and local resources for each displayed virtual machine console.
US08929286B2 Communication appartus, communication method, computer program, and communication system
Even when the lengths of data items to be transmitted to users are not the same, the frames multiplexed at the same time finally have the same frame length and are transmitted.Even when the lengths of frames for the users are not the same at the time when a transmission request is received from a higher layer, a communication apparatus reconfigures at least two of the frames having short lengths into a frame having a long length through Aggregation so that the frames finally have the same frame length and transmits the frames at the same time in a multiplexed manner. On the transmitter side, the transmission power used per destination communication station can be increased due to a decrease in the total number of multiplexed frames. On the receiver side, an unstable AGC operation can be prevented.
US08929271B2 Method of transmitting/receiving control message in a mobile communication system providing multimedia broadcast/multicast service
A method and apparatus are provided for providing a multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) to a user equipment (UE) by a base station in a mobile communication system. The method includes transmitting, to the UE, a first message including information about a scheduling period and an offset indicating a start point of the scheduling period; transmitting, to the UE, a second message including information about at least one MBMS in the scheduling period, based on the information about the scheduling period and the offset; and transmitting, to the UE, data of the at least one MBMS via an MBMS radio bearer (RB) established for the at least one MBMS. The information about the at least one MBMS includes identification of the at least one MBMS.
US08929267B2 Method and device for operating in idle mode using identifier type
A method and device for operating in an idle mode for Machine To Machine (M2M) communication are provided. A M2M device receives a paging message indicating a resource allocation for a ranging request. The M2M device monitors assignment information including the resource allocation for the ranging request. Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the assignment information are masked with a part of a M2M identifier. The assignment information includes an identifier type indicating that the M2M identifier is a fixed M2M deregistration identifier (FMDID) or a deregistration identifier (DID).
US08929264B2 Transmitting-receiving apparatus
In one embodiment, receiving a first radio frequency (RF) signal from a first node, generating a first digital data set by decoding the first received RF signal, determining whether a first address in the first digital data set is associated with at least one of a first radio network or a second radio network by comparing the first address to a first set of addresses associated with the first radio network and a second set of addresses associated with the second radio network, appending a first status to the first digital data set indicating that the first address is associated with the first or second radio network, and transmitting an interrupt signal and the first digital data set to a microcontroller for evaluation by the microcontroller in response to determining that the first address is associated with at least one of the first or second radio network.
US08929261B2 Resource selection for transmission of multiple ACK/NACK on PUCCH channel
In a method of operating a communication network (20) a time division duplex (TDD) frame (F) of information is communicated over a radio interface (32) between a wireless terminal (30) and a base station node (28). The method comprises the wireless terminal (30) receiving plural downlink (DL) subframes of the frame and, in response thereto, configuring a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) channel to comprise up to four acknowledgements by using only two PUCCH channel resources and using PUCCH format 1a or PUCCH format 1b. In an example embodiment a PUCCH channel resource is specified by a sequence utilized for transmission of at least part of the PUCCH channel and a cyclical shift applied to the sequence. The two sequences of the respective two PUCCH resources are orthogonal, and the cyclical shift of the two PUCCH resources can be in a frequency domain, a time domain, or both the frequency domain and the time domain.
US08929260B2 Communication module
A communication module includes: a plurality of receiving filters that are connected between an antenna terminal and a receiving terminal and have a receive band different from each other; and a passive circuit that is commonly connected to at least two of the plurality of receiving filters and makes a receive band of one of said at least two of the plurality of receiving filters suppressed when making another receive band of said at least two of the plurality of receiving filters transitable, wherein receiving terminals of said at least two of the plurality of receiving filters are commonalized through the passive circuit.
US08929253B2 Virtual switching ports on high-bandwidth links
Method and apparatus for managing traffic of a switch include logically partitioning a physical port of the switch into a plurality of virtual ports. One or more virtual output queues are uniquely associated with each virtual port. Switching resources of the switch are assigned to each of the virtual ports. A source virtual port is derived from a frame arriving at the physical port. The frame is placed in a given one of the one or more virtual output queues uniquely associated with the source virtual port derived from the frame. A destination virtual port for the frame is determined. The frame is transferred from the virtual output queue in which the frame is placed to an egress queue associated with the destination virtual port and forwarded from the egress queue to a destination physical port of the switch.
US08929216B2 Packet scheduling method and apparatus based on fair bandwidth allocation
A packet scheduling method and apparatus which allows multiple flows that require data transmission to the same output port of a network device such as a router to fairly share bandwidth. The packet scheduling method includes calculating an expected time of arrival of a (k+1)-th packet subsequent to a currently input k-th packet of individual flows by use of bandwidth allocated fairly to each of the flows and a length of the k-th packet; in response to the arrival of the (k+1)-th packet, comparing the expected time of arrival of the (k+1)-th packet to an actual time of arrival of the (k+1)-th packet; and scheduling the (k+1)-th packet of each flow according to the comparison result.
US08929213B2 Buffer occupancy based random sampling for congestion management
A method for buffer occupancy based congestion management includes receiving, by a computing device, a data stream including a plurality of packets from a plurality of sources and storing the packets in a buffer that includes multiple storage units. The method also includes determining if the buffer is congested, responsive to determining that the buffer is congested randomly selecting an occupied unit of the buffer and determining the source of the packet stored in the occupied unit of the buffer and sending a congestion notification message to the source of the packet stored in the occupied unit of the buffer.
US08929211B2 Hot-swapping network port functionality
Methods and apparatus for swapping functionality modes of a network data link are disclosed. An example method includes, in a network device, supporting a plurality of active network data links that includes a given network data link, where the given network data link is operated in accordance with a first mode of functionality. The example method further includes, while the other network data links of the plurality remain active: (i) placing the given network data link in a quiescent state; (ii) allocating, in a data port of the given network data link, cell buffer space in accordance with a second mode of functionality; (iii) programming a memory management unit (MMU) of the network switch device in accordance with the second mode of functionality for the given network data link; (iv) allocating, in an egress port (EP) of the network switch device, cell buffer space in accordance with the second mode of functionality for the given network data link; (v) bringing the given network data link out of the quiescent state; and (vi) operating the given network data link in accordance with the second mode of functionality.
US08929201B2 Method and apparatus of performing protection switching on networks
A protection switching unit and a method of performing protection switching of the protection switching unit are provided. The method includes steps of detecting a fault that has occurred at a working path of a network; opening a first switch that is connected to the working path and closing a second switch that is connected to the protection path of the network; and maintaining a connection state of the first switch and the working path and a connection state of the second switch and the protection path, when a fault that has occurred at the working path is restored.
US08929200B2 Communication device, communication system, and communication method
A communication device includes: a plurality of ports configured to transmit and receive frames to and from another device; a switching unit configured to transfer the frames to another port based on identification information of the frames; a plurality of reception processing units configured to individually receive the frames transferred from the switching unit; a duplication processing unit configured to duplicate the frames, individually assign the identification information indicating a corresponding port to a plurality of duplicated frames and output the plurality of duplicated frames to the switching unit; and a control unit configured to perform control in accordance with control information included in one duplicated frame of the plurality of duplicated frames.
US08929194B2 Sequence generation and transmission method based on time and frequency domain transmission unit
A method for generating/transmitting a transmission-unit symbol sequence is disclosed. In the case of transmission information, the information is modulated in time and frequency domains on the basis of a predetermined transmission unit (e.g., a transmission time interval TTI or slot), simultaneous transmission of the information is made, and then a transmission unit symbol is generated/transmitted. A transmission sequence is masked in each symbol contained in one transmission unit. Symbol-unit circular shift (cyclic shift) is applied to the masked result, so that transmission efficiency increases. A control signal transmission method for supporting a variety of formats and a signal transmission method based on a prime-length sequence are also provided.
US08929193B2 Networks adaptive transmission methods for multiple user wireless networks
An exemplary wireless communication network that includes a base that communicates with remote units located in a cell of the network. The base concatenates information symbols with a preamble corresponding to a destination remote unit. One or more remote units communicating with the base each concatenates information symbols with a preamble corresponding to that remote unit. An adaptive receiver system for a base unit rapidly adapts optimal despreading weights for reproducing information symbols transmitted from multiple remote units. A transmitter system for a base unit concatenates information symbols with a preamble associated with a remote unit in the cell. An adaptive receiver system for a remote unit in a communication network rapidly adapts optimal weights for reproducing a signal transmitted to it by a specific base unit in the network.
US08929181B2 Near-field transducer
An apparatus includes a waveguide core having an elongated edge parallel to a substrate plane of the apparatus. An output end of the waveguide core faces a media-facing surface of the apparatus. A plate-like portion of a plasmonic material has a major surface facing the elongated edge of the waveguide core, and the major surface has a narrowed output end facing the media-facing surface. An elongated ridge of the plasmonic material is disposed on at least part of the plate-like portion between an input end and the narrowed output end.
US08929175B2 Method of marine time-lapse seismic surveying
A method of marine time-lapse seismic surveying of a subsurface formation, comprises providing a baseline survey, providing a monitor survey that includes information about changes in the subsurface relative to the baseline survey, recording a repeat survey so closely in time to one of either the baseline survey or the monitor survey that changes in the subsurface can be ignored but under different near-surface conditions from said one survey, computing a short-time survey difference between the repeat signals and signals comprising said one of either the baseline survey or the monitor survey, computing a monitor survey difference, matching the short-time survey difference and the monitor survey difference to derive a matched noise survey difference, subtracting the matched noise survey difference from the monitor survey difference, and outputting a noise suppressed survey difference based on the result of the subtraction.
US08929172B2 Pipe register circuit and semiconductor memory apparatus having the same
A pipe register circuit includes an address storage section configured to temporarily and sequentially store address signals input from an external in correspondence with a read command signal input together with the address signals, and an address output control section configured to generate an address output control signal for allowing the address signals stored in the address storage section to be output in correspondence with CAS latency, and output the address output control signal to the address storage section.
US08929171B2 Voltage supply controller, nonvolatile memory device and memory system
A nonvolatile memory device includes a voltage supply controller (VSC) detecting a level of a power supply voltage and generating a first internal voltage in response thereto. The VSC provides the first internal voltage at a level equal to an external high voltage when a power supply voltage is normally supplied, but provides the first internal voltage at a level lower than the external high voltage when a power supply voltage is abnormally supplied.
US08929167B2 MRAM self-repair with BIST logic
Memory self-repair circuitry includes a memory cell array on a chip, and built-in self test (BIST) circuitry on the chip coupled to the memory cell array. The BIST circuitry is configured to perform a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) write operation to write addresses of failed memory cells in the memory cell array to a failed address sector also in the memory cell array. The memory self-repair circuitry also includes first select circuitry coupled between the BIST circuitry and the memory cell array. The first select circuitry is configured to selectively couple an output of the BIST circuitry and an input to the memory cell array.
US08929157B2 Power efficient, single-ended termination using on-die voltage supply
Circuitry to provide a supply voltage. A voltage regulator is coupled to receive a target reference signal. The voltage regulator generates a supply voltage (Vtt) and is coupled to receive the supply voltage as an input signal. An upper limit comparator receives an upper limit voltage signal that is higher than the target reference voltage signal and the supply voltage to generate a “too high” signal when the supply voltage exceeds an upper threshold. A lower limit comparator receives a lower limit voltage signal that is lower than the target reference voltage signal and the supply voltage to generate a “too low” signal when the supply voltage is below a lower threshold. A pull up current source is coupled to pull the supply voltage up in response to the too low signal. A pull down current source is coupled to pull the supply voltage down in response to the too high signal.
US08929150B2 Nonvolatile memory apparatus capable of determining an application time of a program voltage applied to a selected word line
A nonvolatile memory apparatus includes: a memory cell area including a plurality of memory cells connected to a word line and a bit line; a program time controller configured to determine a program voltage application time for a selected word line, as the selected word line is selected in response to a program command and an address signal; and a controller configured to apply a program voltage to the selected word line according to the program voltage application time determined by the program time controller.
US08929143B2 Flash memory module for realizing high reliability
A flash memory module may include a plurality of flash memory chips. The memory chips may include one or more blocks. Each block may be a unit of erasing data. A flash controller may be coupled to the plurality of flash memory chips. The flash controller may program data to block and erase data from a block. The flash controller may manage a recent programming time for each of the plurality of blocks. The flash controller may erase data stored in a block for which an elapsed programming time is larger than a first value.
US08929137B2 Operating method of memory having redundancy circuitry
In a method of operating a memory circuit, which includes a plurality of memory arrays each coupled with a corresponding input/output (IO) interface and a redundancy memory page a failing address of a failing bit cell is determined. The failing address is located in a memory page of one of the memory arrays. The method further includes repairing the failing bit cell by replacing the memory page with the redundancy memory page.
US08929132B2 Write driver circuit and method for writing to a spin-torque MRAM
A write driver for writing to a spin-torque magnetoresistive random access memory (ST-MRAM) minimizes sub-threshold leakage of the unselected (off) word line select transistors in the selected column. An effective metal resistance in the bit line and/or source line is reduced and power supply noise immunity is increased. Write driver bias signals are isolated from global bias signals, and a first voltage is applied at one end of a bit line using one of a first NMOS-follower circuit or a first PMOS-follower circuit. A second voltage is applied at opposite ends of a source line using, respectively, second and third PMOS-follower circuits, or second and third NMOS-follower circuits.
US08929125B2 Apparatus and methods for forming a memory cell using charge monitoring
Apparatuses and methods of forming a memory cell is described. In one such method, a forming charge applied to a memory cell, such as a Resistive RAM (RRAM) memory cell, is monitored to determine the progress of the forming the cell. If the cell is consuming charge too slowly, a higher voltage can be applied. If the cell is consuming charge too quickly, a lower voltage can be applied. The charge may be monitored by charging a capacitor to a certain level, then monitoring the discharge rate of the capacitor though the cell. The monitoring may use comparators to measure the charge. The monitoring may also use an analog to digital converter to perform the monitoring.
US08929122B2 Circuit and system of using a junction diode as program selector for resistive devices
Junction diodes fabricated in standard CMOS logic technologies can be used as program selectors for a programmable resistive device, such as electrical fuse, contact/via fuse, anti-fuse, or emerging nonvolatile memory such as MRAM, PCM, CBRAM, or RRAM. The diode can be constructed by P+ and N+ active regions on an N well as the P and N terminals of the diode. By applying a high voltage to the P terminal of a diode and switching the N terminal of a diode to a low voltage for proper duration of time, a current flows through a resistive element in series with the program selector may change the resistance state. The P+ active region of the diode can be isolated from the N+ active region in the N well by using dummy MOS gate, SBL, or STI isolations. If the resistive element is an interconnect fuse based on CMOS gate material, the resistive element can be coupled to the P+ active region by an abutted contact such that the element, active region, and metal can be connected in a single rectangular contact.
US08929118B2 Stacked memory device having inter-chip connection unit, memory system including the same, and method of compensating for delay time of transmission line
A stacked semiconductor memory device is provided which includes a first memory chip including a first transmission line, a second transmission line, and a logic circuit configured to execute a logic operation on a first signal of the first transmission line and a second signal of the second transmission line. The stacked semiconductor memory device further includes a second memory chip stacked over the first memory chip, an inter-chip connection unit electrically coupled between the second memory chip and the first transmission line of the first memory chip, and a dummy inter-chip connection unit electrically coupled to the second transmission line of the first memory chip and electrically isolated from the second memory chip.
US08929117B2 Multi-chip package and memory system
A multi-chip package includes a first group of memory chips that includes a first memory chip and a second memory chip, a second group of memory chips that includes at least one memory chip, a first internal wiring system that couples the first memory chip and the second memory chip to a first terminal configured to receive a chip-enable signal, a second internal wiring system that couples the at least one memory chip to a second terminal configured to receive the chip-enable signal. The first memory chip and the second memory chip each include a chip address memory region configured to store an address associated with the memory chip, and an address rewrite module configured to rewrite the address associated with the memory chip and stored in the chip address memory region in response to an external operation.
US08929102B2 Sample and hold buffer
This relates to sampling a feedback signal representative of an output of a power converter. The sampling is performed using a buffer sampling circuit having three sample and hold stages coupled in series to sense and store the feedback signal. The first stage is coupled to sample and hold the feedback signal on a capacitor. If the output diode is conducting, the sampled signal is transferred to the second stage. If the output diode is conducting, the first stage will sample the feedback signal and the sampled signal will be transferred to be sampled and held by the second stage. When the output diode stops conducting, the sampled voltage held by the second stage is transferred to the third stage. The third stage stores the sampled voltage on a capacitor. As such, the controller may sample the feedback signal near the end of the output diode conduction time.
US08929091B2 Method of manufacturing a printed circuit board (PCB)
A method of manufacturing a printed circuit board (PCB) having an embedded bare chip includes attaching a tape to one side of an insulated substrate having a penetration hole formed therein, and attaching the bare chip onto the tape inside the penetration hole such that electrode pads of the bare chip face the tape; filling up the penetration hole with a filler, and removing the tape; laminating a metal layer onto a surface of the filler and the insulated substrate from which the tape is removed; and forming electrode bumps by removing portions of the metal layer. The forming of electrode bumps further includes simultaneously removing portions of the metal layer and forming an circuit pattern on one side of the insulated substrate. The circuit pattern is formed directly on the upper side of the insulated substrate and the electrode bumps are formed on the surface of the electrode pads.
US08929089B2 Electronic circuit module component and method of manufacturing electronic circuit module component
An electronic circuit module component includes an electronic component, a substrate, a first resin, a second resin, a metal layer, and an opening. The electronic component is mounted on the substrate. The first resin has pores and is in contact with at least a part of the electronic component. The second resin covers a surface of the first resin and has porosity which is lower than that of the first resin. The metal layer covers the first resin and the second resin and is electrically connected to a ground of the substrate. The opening is provided in the metal layer and allows a part of the first resin to be exposed to an outside at least of the metal layer.
US08929085B2 Flexible electronic devices
Flexible electronic devices may be provided. A flexible electronic device may include a flexible display, a flexible housing and one or more flexible internal components configured to allow the flexible electronic device to be deformed. Flexible displays may include flexible display layers, flexible touch-sensitive layers, and flexible display cover layers. The flexible housing may be a multi-stable flexible housing having one or more stable positions. The flexible housing may include a configurable support structure that, when engaged, provides a rigid support structure for the flexible housing. The flexible internal components may include flexible batteries, flexible printed circuits or other flexible components. A flexible battery may include flexible and rigid portions or may include a lubricious separator layer that provides flexibility for the flexible battery. A flexible printed circuit may include flexible and rigid portions or openings that allow some rigid portions to flex with respect to other rigid portions.
US08929084B2 Modular core engine (CE) radio architecture
A compact radio core engine (CE) module uniquely small in size and power consumption, in which only two circuit boards provide all the modem and transceiver functions needed for modern military radios. A modem circuit board has modem devices and a first connector mounted on the board, and a radio frequency (RF) circuit board has RF devices and a second connector mounted on the board. A module frame has an interior wall, and a side wall about the periphery of the interior wall. The modem and the RF circuit boards are positioned on opposite sides of the interior wall, and the connectors on the two boards mate with one another through an opening in the interior wall to exchange operating data and signals between the devices on the boards. The modem circuit board is seated entirely within a recess formed by the interior and the side walls of the frame.
US08929076B2 Heat-dissipation structure and electronic device using the same
A heat-dissipation structure includes a first carbon nanotube layer and a metal mesh layer. The first carbon nanotube layer and the metal mesh layer are stacked on each other. The first carbon nanotube layer includes at least one first carbon nanotube paper. An electronic device applying the heat-dissipation structure is also disclosed.
US08929064B2 Carrier, host, and method of assembling the host
A carrier includes main body, a conductive elastic element, and a handle. The main body is adapted to carrying an electronic device and has a cavity. The conductive elastic element is disposed in the cavity. The handle is pivotally coupled to the main body. When the handle locks the main body to be located in a lock position, the handle exerts force on the conductive elastic element such that the conductive elastic element protrudes outside the main body through the cavity. When the handle does not lock the main body and exert force on the conductive elastic element to be located at a release position, the conductive elastic element is located inside the main body where it does not interfere with an outside device. This allows convenient insertion and removal of the carrier relative to a cage. Accordingly, the conductive elastic element is not damaged easily.
US08929061B2 Keyboard lift mechanism for lifting and descending a keyboard and portable electronic device using the same
A keyboard lift mechanism includes a sliding block, a link bar, a hinge assembly, a driving member and a resilient member. The sliding block is slidably disposed inside a lower casing. Both ends of the link bar are pivoted to a keyboard and the sliding block, respectively. The driving member is coupled to the hinge assembly. The resilient member abuts against the lower casing and the sliding block. The resilient member and the driving member drive the sliding block to move in a first direction when the upper casing rotates in a first rotating direction, such that the link bar is driven to rotate the keyboard to a containing position, and drive the sliding block to move in a second direction when the upper casing rotates in a second rotating direction, such that the link bar is driven to rotate the keyboard to an opening position.
US08929058B2 Fastening device, housing, and electronic device
A fastening device includes a head and a shank. The shank has opposite ends, one end of the shank is connected to the head, and the other end of the shank defines an operating part. The operating part is capable of cooperating with a disassembling tool to enable the fastening device to rotate with respect to the longitudinal axis of the shank.
US08929057B2 Cover mechanism for casing
It is disclosed an apparatus comprising a casing for a portable electronic device. The casing comprises: an opening configured to accommodate a signal connector; at least one magnet configured to provide magnetic interaction; a cap configured to cover the opening in a closed position and to expose the opening in an open position; and a seal arranged to seal the opening when the cap is in a closed position. The cap is fixed to the closed position through the magnetic interaction between the casing and the cap as provided by said at least one magnet.
US08929054B2 Use of organic and organometallic high dielectric constant material for improved energy storage devices and associated methods
A dielectric material is provided. The dielectric material includes at least one layer of a substantially continuous phase material. The material is selected from the group consisting of an organic, organometallic, or combination thereof in which the substantially continuous phase material has delocalized electrons.
US08929042B2 Surge protective device with contoller
A surge protective device is disclosed that may include a comparator to determine when a line voltage of a line is above a threshold. The device may include a switch to couple a clamping device to the line voltage when the comparator determines the line voltage is above a threshold, wherein the clamping device shunts current from the line. The switch may include a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) or a thyristor and the clamping device may include a selenium surge suppression device.
US08929040B2 ESD protection device for SST transmitter
Aspects of the invention provide for an ESD protection device for an SST transmitter. In one embodiment, the ESD protection device includes: a primary ESD protection structure at an output of the SST transmitter; and an additional protection ESD structure in parallel with a slice of the SST transmitter, the additional ESD protection structure including: a first device in parallel with a pull-up transistor network within the slice; and a second device in parallel with a pull-down transistor network within the slice.
US08929015B2 Data writing method and program for tape drive
One embodiment includes a method for writing data to a tape in a tape drive while data successively accumulated in the buffer of a file system is transferred to the tape drive. The method includes detecting a wrap turn when data is being written to the tape; allocating buffer space including a storage capacity exceeding the amount of data to be stored in the buffer during the wrap turn; successively accumulating write data in the buffer space instead of the buffer during the wrap turn; resuming the accumulation of write data in the buffer after the wrap turn has been completed; and releasing the buffer space after the write data accumulated in the buffer space has been transferred to the tape drive.
US08929006B2 Pivotally connected structure allowing lens replacement and lens angle adjustment
The present invention is to provide a pivotally connected structure, which includes a positioning frame having one end threadedly connectable with a front side of a camera lens; a pivotally connecting frame having one end pivotally connectable with the other end of the positioning frame, and provided therein with a receiving space which is configured for receiving a lens (e.g., protective lens, ND filter, or polarizer); and an engaging frame having one end provided with a pressing ring and having an outer periphery formed with a second curved surface which is pivotally connectable with a first curved surface provided within the other end of the pivotally connecting frame; such that the pressing ring presses against the periphery of the lens and thereby positions the lens in the receiving space, and the angle of the lens with respect to the camera lens can be adjusted by rotating the pivotally connecting frame.
US08929004B2 Lens barrel
A lens barrel includes lens groups, lens retaining frames retaining the lens groups, respectively, between a collapsed state and a photographic state are moved toward an object side, a movable cylinder retaining the plurality of lens retaining frames therewithin, and a driving mechanism to move the lens retaining frames. The driving mechanism includes a main guide shaft parallel to the photographic axis and supports a retractable lens retaining frame retaining a retractable lens group movably along and rotatably about the main guide shaft, a lead screw disposed in parallel with the main guide shaft and to be driven to rotate, a screw member to be screwed on the lead screw by coming into contact with the lead screw in directions perpendicular to the lead screw to be moved along the lead screw by a rotation of the lead screw, and a cam structure connecting the retractable lens retaining frame with the screw member to convert a movement of the screw member along the lead screw into a rotary motion of the retractable lens retaining frame about the main guide shaft and a linear motion of the retractable lens retaining frame along the main guide shaft.
US08928997B2 Lens barrel and image pickup apparatus
A lens barrel includes a cam ring configured to be rotatably driven, a lens holding cylinder provided on an outer circumference of the cam ring and configured to hold a lens, and a barrier cylinder configured to hold a lens barrier, the barrier cylinder includes a cylinder portion, a first protrusion which extends from the cylinder portion toward an image plane side, and a cam engagement portion which is engaged with a cam groove of the cam ring, the lens holding cylinder includes a cylinder portion and a second protrusion which extends from the cylinder portion toward the image plane side, and the second protrusion of the lens holding cylinder is arranged so as to overlap with the cam engagement portion of the barrier cylinder in a radial direction orthogonal to an optical axis direction.
US08928989B2 Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus equipped with zoom lens
A zoom lens includes, a first lens unit of a positive refractive power, a second lens unit of a negative refractive power, a reflective element, and a rear lens group including two or more lens units and an aperture stop, in which the first lens unit, the second lens unit, and two or more lens units of the rear lens group are moved while the reflective element is stationary during zooming, wherein movement amounts M1 and M2 of the first and second lens units during zooming, a movement amount Ms of the aperture stop, and focal lengths fw and ft of the entire zoom lens at the wide-angle end and the telephoto end, respectively, lateral magnifications β2w and β2t of the second lens unit, a distance LSw from the first lens surface to the aperture stop at the wide-angle end are appropriately set.
US08928984B2 Image display apparatus
An image display apparatus includes an image forming device, a collimating optical system, and an optical device. The optical device includes a light guide plate, a first deflecting member that deflects light incident on the light guide plate, and a second deflecting member that deflects the light, which propagates in the light guide plate by total reflection, a plurality of times. The first and second deflecting members are provided in the light guide plate. Light having one wavelength emitted from at least one pixel satisfies the following condition: 2t·sin θ−2≦WY≦2t·sin θ+2 where an axial direction of the light guide plate is the Y-direction, WY prepresents the width in the Y-direction of the light incident on the light guide plate, t represents the thickness of the light guide plate, and θ represents the total reflection angle.
US08928983B2 Display apparatus, moving body, and method for mounting display apparatus
According to one embodiment, a display apparatus projects a light flux including image information toward one eye. The apparatus includes an image formation unit and a projection unit. The image formation unit is configured to emit the light flux. The projection unit includes a projection region limiting unit and a semi-transmissive reflective unit. The projection region limiting unit is configured to limit a width of the light flux emitted from the image formation unit. The semi-transmissive reflective unit is configured to reflect the light flux emitted from the projection region limiting unit. A distance between the semi-transmissive reflective unit and an imaging plane of the light flux is not more than 250 mm.
US08928979B2 Method for structuring a non-metal omnidirectional multilayer mirror
A method for structuring an omnidirectional non-metal mirror for any predetermined wavelength or range of wavelengths. The mirror having at least two layers of different non-metal materials, with an elementary matrix associated to each layer, including physical parameters of the layer and parameters of the light passing through the layer.
US08928978B2 Film element
The invention concerns a film element having a replication layer (43), wherein an optically active surface structure (27) is shaped in a first surface of the replication layer. The surface structure is formed in at least a first region of the film element (35) by a first diffractive surface relief (46) comprising a plurality of successive elements following a first envelope curve (47), wherein the elements respectively comprise an element surface (48) arranged substantially parallel to a base surface and at least one flank adjoining the adjacent element surface or surfaces, the element surfaces (48) of adjacent elements are spaced in a direction perpendicular to the base plane, with a first optical spacing or a plurality of the first optical spacing, wherein the first optical spacing is between 150 nm and 800 nm, preferably between 150 nm and 400 nm. The first envelope curve (47) has a spatial frequency of between 100 L/mm and 2000 L/mm and an optical depth of more than 450 nm and the relief shape and the spatial frequency of the envelope curve (47) are so selected that the incident light is diffracted into one or more first directions to represent a first item of information, the color value of which is further determined by the first optical spacing.
US08928974B2 Inverted microscope
Provided is an inverted microscope 1 comprising an objective optical system 2 that collects light from a specimen A; an image-forming optical system 3 that images the light from the specimen A that has been collected by the objective optical system 2 to form an intermediate image; a relay optical system 6 that relays the intermediate image B of the specimen A formed by the image-forming optical system 3; a binocular lens barrel 5 that splits the light from the relay optical system 6; a pair of ocular optical systems 4 that image, in a magnified manner, the intermediate images that have been split by the binocular lens barrel 5 on eyes E of an observer as virtual images; wherein the following conditional expressions are satisfied: K=(Fntl/Ftl)×βRL  (1), Fne=Fe×K  (2), and 0.3
US08928967B2 Method and device for modulating light
Improvements in an interferometric modulator that has a cavity defined by two walls.
US08928958B2 Image reading device including an optical unit for reading a document image, image forming apparatus therewith, and optical unit for reading a document image
An image reading device has an optical unit and a rail portion formed of sheet metal. The optical unit is scanned in the sub scanning direction to read an image on a document on a contact glass. The rail portion slidably supports the optical unit. The optical unit has a sliding portion which slides on the rail portion while making contact therewith, and at least one pair of gripping portions which grip the rail portion. The surface of the sliding portion has a substantially arc-shaped cross section. The rail portion has two inclined surfaces that make contact with the substantially arc-shaped surface at two points.
US08928938B2 Image forming apparatus, image forming method and recording medium
Provided is an image forming apparatus including an image forming section for forming a test image including a plurality of patterns in which at least one pattern is more easily affected by a variation factor for density than another pattern, an accepting section for accepting an amount of adjustment for density, and an adjusting section for adjusting density of an image to be formed by the image forming section based on the amount of adjustment for density accepted by the accepting section.
US08928935B2 Color accuracy check
A system and method for color accuracy checking is discussed. In one embodiment, areas within a document are selected for color-checking. A confirmation is made that a second printing of the document has color values which deviate within tolerances from color values of a first printing of the document within each of the selected areas.
US08928916B2 Display device, portable terminal, control method for display device, and program product
A display device which performs previewing of print data for printing an image on a tape including: a division data generating unit for dividing the print data into N parts and thus generates N division data (where N is an integer that is greater than or equal to 1); and a previewing unit for loading a target division data including a target area of the previewing, of the N division data, into a work area and sequentially reads out the division data from the work area, thus performing the previewing; wherein the division data generating unit decides a value of the N in accordance with a tape width of the tape and a tape length in the case where the print data is printed.
US08928914B2 Image processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium
An image processing apparatus that processes a variable data printing (VDP) job having a plurality of records includes a formation unit configured to form status management data for managing a processing status of a reusable object contained in the VDP job, an assignment unit configured to assign the record of the VDP job to a free CPU core based on the status management data, and a waiting unit configured to wait for the end of processing of all CPU cores that is performing the parallel processing.
US08928912B2 Printing control device, image forming system and computer readable medium storing program
A printing control device includes units that: distribute received image data page by page, perform image processing for converting the image data distributed by page into print data, and control output in accordance with a plurality of image output sections, and control the output processing of each of the plurality of the image output sections based on the print data generated by the image processing, when aggregate printing where images of a plurality of pages are merged into one image is executed. The image data is distributed so that the image data is subjected to the image processing by a single image processing unit. The plurality of the output control units generate print data in a plurality of pages by combining the plurality of page print data transferred from the image processing units, and transmit the generated print data to the image output sections corresponding to the output control units.
US08928911B2 Fulfillment utilizing selected negotiation attributes
In one embodiment, a fulfillment request is received. A solution set comprising a plurality of fulfillment solutions is determined. The solution set, including values for fulfillment solutions according to a plurality of negotiation attributes, is presented. Selection of a negotiation attribute to be prioritized is invited. The solution set is redetermined according to a selected negotiation attribute. A redetermined solution set is presented. The fulfillment request is fulfilled according to a solution selected from the redetermined solution set.
US08928908B2 Multifunction peripheral (MFP) and a method for restricting use thereof
A multifunction peripheral (MFP) and a method for restricting the use of the same. A user ID and a password are registered according to a user's input, accessible functions are set according to the registered user, and even the authenticated user is restricted to using only the set functions. Therefore, use of the MFP and specific functions of the MFP can be restricted according to the particular registered user.
US08928887B2 Characteristic parameters of cells and tissue from quantitative phase imaging
Methods mapping a characteristic parameter of a specimen, such as a scattering mean free path and a scattering anisotropy factor, based on a quantitative phase shift measurement. The methods have steps of using spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) to determine a quantitative phase shift as a function of position in a sample, and applying a generalized scatter-phase transformation to derive at least one of a scattering mean free path (MFP), a scattering anisotropy factor, and a thickness-independent parameter as a function of position in the sample. In some cases, the sample may be a slice of tissue or a cell.
US08928885B1 Gas detection system using semiconductor laser with feedback compensation by gas reference cavity
A gas detection system using a semiconductor laser with a reference gas cavity compensation is provided, said system comprising a first light source emitting a first beam of a first wavelength as a detection beam; a second light source emitting a second beam of a second wavelength, which is different from the first wavelength, as a reference beam; a first wavelength division multiplexer connected with said first light source and said second light source; a broadband coupler connected with said first wavelength division multiplexer; a reference gas chamber, which is introduced with reference gas of the same composition as that of the gas to be detected and of a known concentration; a detection gas chamber, which is introduced with the gas to be detected.
US08928883B1 Optical device for detection of an agent
In certain embodiments, a system for detecting an agent includes a resonator device configured to receive an agent. The resonator device is also configured to transmit light received from a light source, the transmitted light having an altered peak wavelength due to the presence of the received agent. The system further includes a filter device configured to filter the transmitted light having the altered peak wavelength such that the transmitted light having the altered peak wavelength does not reach one or more detectors of a detector array configured to receive transmitted light not filtered by the filter device. The system further includes a processing system operable to determine that the one or more detectors of the detector array are not generating a signal, the absence of the signal being generated by the one or more detectors of the detector array indicating the presence of the agent.
US08928882B2 Measurement apparatus, exposure apparatus, and device fabrication method
The present invention provides a measurement apparatus which measures a position of a second object relative to a first object, the apparatus including a first measurement unit which includes a diffraction grating provided on the first object, and a first head and a second head provided on the second object, and is configured to measure the position of the second object relative to the first object by the first head or the second head, and a processing unit configured to perform a process of obtaining the position of the second object relative to the first object.
US08928881B2 Cytometer with automatic continuous alignment correction
A system and method for performing flow cytometry is disclosed wherein the alignment of the light source with respect to the sensing region of the fluid stream is continuously controlled using a feedback control loop. An imaging apparatus is provided that images the system along the optical axis, between the field stop and the sensing region. In an embodiment, the cytometer includes a field stop having an H-shaped aperture and light diverters over the ends of the aperture that divert a portion of the light to peripheral detectors.
US08928868B2 Optical fiber line characteristic analysis apparatus and analysis method thereof
A test pulse is generated from a first and a second test light beam pulse with different wavelengths, with a predetermined time difference applied between the first and the second test light beam pulse. A circulator inputs the test pulse to a trunk fiber of a measurement target fiber line. A reflected light is extracted which is output from an input end of the trunk fiber. A filter extracts stimulated Brillouin backscattered light. A receiver receives and converts the scattered light into an electrical signal. A processing device carries out the signal to determine in which of N branched fibers the stimulated Brillouin scattered light is generated, while varying a time difference between the first and the second test pulse.
US08928867B2 Spectroscopy using nanopore cavities
A system for assisting in spectrally characterizing or detecting a sample using radiation at a predetermined wavelength or in a predetermined wavelength range is disclosed. In one aspect, the system includes a substrate having a nanopore for excitation of plasmons. The nanopore provides a window through the substrate, wherein a smallest window opening of the window has an average length (L) and an average width (W) both being substantially smaller than 2 μm. The nanopore supports highly confined surface plasmon polaritons and at specific wavelengths resonances are observed, when the conditions for a standing wave are fulfilled. This leads to strong field enhancements and enables single molecule spectroscopy.
US08928862B2 Device and method for non-contacting measurement of a distance and/or profile
The invention relates to a device (1) for non-contacting measuring of a distance and/or a profile of a measured object (9), a light source (2) generating an illuminating light beam for illuminating the measured object (9), and a detector (11) being provided for detecting the reflected portion of the illuminating light beam at the measured object (9), characterized with regard to a potentially robust and nevertheless compact sensor construction in that a first optic (13) and a second optic are disposed in the beam path of the illuminating light beam, wherein the illuminating light beam can first be expanded in an expansion plane parallel to the diffusion direction by means of the first optic (13), and then made nearly parallel by means of the second optic. In a particularly preferable embodiment, the second optic is formed by a Fresnel lens (5). A corresponding method is disclosed.
US08928860B2 Lithographic apparatus having a chuck with a visco-elastic damping layer
A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam, a support constructed to support a patterning device, the patterning device being capable of imparting the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam, a substrate table constructed to hold a substrate, a projection system configured to project the patterned radiation beam onto a target portion of the substrate, a chuck configured to hold and position an object, for example, the patterning device onto the support or the substrate onto the substrate table, the chuck including a base and a constraining layer. A damping layer including a viscoelastic material is provided between the base and the constraining layer.
US08928857B2 Lithographic apparatus and method of operating the apparatus
A lithographic apparatus comprising a projection system, and a liquid confinement structure configured to at least partly confine immersion liquid to an immersion space defined by the projection system, the liquid confinement structure and a substrate and/or substrate table is disclosed wherein a measure is taken to reduce the effect of droplets and/or a liquid film on the last element of the projection system.
US08928849B2 Input device and method of manufacturing input device
A method of manufacturing an input device includes a step of bonding a translucent first optical adhesive layer to one surface of a first transparent base so that a part of first lead electrodes is exposed to the outside; a step of disposing a FPC so that a predetermined gap is formed between the FPC and the first optical adhesive layer in plan view, and electrically connecting the FPC to the first lead electrodes exposed to one surface of the first transparent base; a step of bonding a surface member, which forms an input surface, to the first transparent base with the first optical adhesive layer interposed therebetween; and a step of sealing the exposed lead electrodes by injecting a resin into a space between the first transparent base and the surface member facing each other.
US08928846B2 Liquid crystal display device having dielectric film over and in contact with wall-like structures
An object is to provide a liquid crystal display device a driving voltage of which is reduced, which is formed using a liquid crystal material exhibiting a blue phase, and which enables higher contrast. In a liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal layer exhibiting a blue phase, a first wall-like structure body is formed over a first electrode layer (pixel electrode layer), a second wall-like structure body is provided over a second electrode layer (common electrode layer), and a dielectric film covers them. The dielectric film is an insulator having a higher dielectric constant than the first wall-like structure body, the second wall-like structure body, and a liquid crystal material used for the liquid crystal layer, and is provided so as to protrude in the liquid crystal layer.
US08928842B2 Curing device and method for curing frame of liquid crystal panel
Provided is a curing device and a method for curing a frame of a liquid crystal panel, including a platform, having a working surface for placing the liquid crystal panel thereon, a back surface corresponding to the working surface, and a plurality of through holes formed through the working surface and the back surface; and an illumination unit, comprising at least one light source disposed corresponding to the working surface and/or the back surface for providing an ultraviolet light to irradiate the working surface and the back surface of the platform, wherein the ultraviolet light passes through the through holes, and an irradiated area of the ultraviolet light is larger than an area of the platform, such that it reduces the curing time of the frame and improves the appearance of around mura of the LCD.
US08928839B2 Display device comprising first and second light guide plates having recessed patterns and flat surfaces that face each other to form first and second empty spaces wherein the second empty space is narrower than the first empty space
A display device includes a liquid crystal display panel that varies a phase of polarized light via liquid crystal molecules, wherein second recessed patterns of a second light guide plate are directly faced with first recessed patterns of a first light guide plate to form a first empty space, and wherein first flat surfaces of the first light guide plate are directly faced with second flat surfaces of the second light guide plate to form a second empty space narrower than the first empty space.
US08928834B2 Printed circuit board and liquid crystal display module
A printed circuit board (PCB) and an LCD (liquid crystal display) module are disclosed. The PCB comprises at least one magnetic hole and at least one magnetic element, and the at least one magnetic element is fixedly disposed in the at least one magnetic hole. The LCD module comprises a backplate and a PCB. The PCB is fixed to the backplate by means of at least one magnetic element, and comprises at least one magnetic hole and the at least one magnetic element fixedly disposed in the at least one magnetic hole. The PCB and the LCD module of the present disclosure can improve the efficiency of fixing and assembling the PCB of the LCD module, make it convenient to re-process and assemble the LCD module and reduce the complexity of the backplate structure. Thereby, the production efficiency is greatly improved.
US08928833B2 Backlight module and LCD device
The present invention discloses a backlight module and an LCD device, comprising: a backplane and an LGP; the edge(s) of the LGP is provided with lug boss(es), each lug boss is provided with a positioning hole, and the backplane is provided with rivet(s) for matching with the positioning hole; a buffer structure is arranged between the rivet and the wall of the positioning hole. In the present invention, because the edge(s) of the LGP is provided with lug boss(es), each lug boss is provided with a positioning hole, the arrangement of the positioning hole does not influence the light guide area of the LGP; meanwhile, because a layer of buffer structure is arranged between the positioning hole and the rivet, the rupture of the part with concentrated stress in the positioning hole during collision is avoided. In addition, when the LGP is expanded with heat, the buffer structure can also avoid the extrusion damage caused by direct extrusion between the LGP and the rivet; when the LGP is contracted with cold, the gap between the LGP and the rivet is increased so that shake is easily caused. The gap between the LGP and the rivet is automatically filled by a buffer part through the elastic regulation of the buffer part. Thus, the shake collision of the LGP is avoided.
US08928829B2 Display device
A display device comprising a first substrate, a second substrate opposite to the first substrate and a pixel array is disclosed. The pixel array is disposed on the first substrate and comprises a plurality of pixels. Each pixel comprises a first conductive layer, a semiconductor layer, an electrode layer and a scan line. The first conductive layer is on the first substrate for receiving pixel data signals to the pixels. The electrode layer is disposed between the first and the second substrates. The semiconductor layer is between the first conductive layer and the electrode layer, and has first and second ends. The first end is directly connected to the first conductive layer, and the second end is electrically connected to the electrode layer. The scan line is on the semiconductor layer for receiving a plurality of scan signals to the pixels.
US08928827B2 Liquid crystal display
An embodiment of this invention provides a liquid crystal display, which comprises a thin-film transistor substrate, an upper substrate, and a liquid crystal between the two substrates. The thin-film transistor substrate comprises data lines, gate lines, and a pixel array defined by the data lines and gate lines, characterized in that each data line connects to two columns of pixel, and another one or two columns of pixel are interposed between the connected two columns of pixel.
US08928824B2 Liquid crystal lens unit and stereoscopic display
A polarizer film is used for converting polarized light from a backlight module into light along a first direction. Multiple electrodes are disposed on a transparent substrate. Each electrode extends along a second direction different from the first direction. An alignment of liquid crystal molecules varies according to voltage applied on the electrodes. A retard unit is disposed between the transparent substrate and the polarizer film and used for converting the polarized light into light along a third direction different from the first and second direction. A polarization direction of the emitted light is perpendicular to an alignment of an electrode layer. In this way, an optical axis of the liquid crystal molecules matches the polarization direction of the light from the retard unit when voltage is not applied. So, the maximal lens power is attained with decreasing the cost resulted from the decreased thickness of the liquid crystal layer.
US08928821B2 TV and audio processing method thereof
A television (TV) includes an audio signal processing unit which processes a audio signal, a display unit which displays an audio quality setting state, a determination unit which determines if an event for checking audio quality has occurred, and a control unit which controls the display unit to display an audio quality setting state showing improved audio quality if the event has occurred.
US08928814B2 Method and apparatus for detecting motion vector
Provided is a motion vector detecting apparatus capable of detecting a motion vector based on each of front and rear frames as a starting point while restraining an increase of a circuit scale. A starting pixel generation unit generates starting pixel data based on pixel data in a frame f0 or a frame f1. A search range pixel generation unit generates search range pixel data based on pixel data in the frame f1 or the frame f0. Switches alternately switch the frames f0 and f1 at every line. A motion vector selection unit generates alternately a motion vector based on the frame f0 as a starting point and a motion vector based on the frame f1 as a starting point. A correlation comparing unit selects one motion vector having higher correlation between the motion vectors.
US08928812B2 Ambient light effects based on video via home automation
A system for controlling ambient light effects comprises a receiving device including at least one processor programmed to parse incoming video content to detect at least one portion of the incoming video content and determine at least one ambient light effect to be associated with the portion of the video content. The system further comprises a home automation controller in communication with the processor and at least one lighting device in communication with the receiving device and the home automation controller. The processor of the receiving device is programmed to send a command to the home automation controller specifying the ambient light effect determined by the processor to be associated with the portion of the video content. The lighting device generates the ambient light effect specified in the command when the portion of the video content is displayed to a user.
US08928806B2 Video interpolation method and apparatus with smooth fallback interpolation mode
Evolution of a scene represented in a video sequence of input frames is analyzed. Output pixels of an output frame having a time position intermediate between time positions of the input frames are computed by combining respective input pixels of the input frames. At least three interpolation modes are provided for computing the output pixels, including (i) a first mode in which the combined input pixels for an output pixel are selected based on a position of the output pixel in the output frame and a default interpolation vector, (ii) a second mode in which the combined input pixels are selected based on the output pixel position and at least one first interpolation vector determined for the output pixel when analyzing scene evolution, and (iii) a third mode in which the combined input pixels are selected based on the output pixel position and at least one second interpolation vector that is intermediate between the default interpolation vector and a respective first interpolation vector determined for the output pixel when analyzing scene evolution.
US08928803B2 Solid state apparatus
A solid state apparatus comprising, a printed circuit board having a first and a second surface that are opposite surfaces, a semiconductor chip for imaging arranged on the first surface, a sealing resin arranged to cover the printed circuit board and the semiconductor chip, and a translucent member arranged on the sealing resin, the solid state apparatus having a first region located inward of an outer edge of the semiconductor chip, and a second region located outward of the outer edge, the printed circuit board comprising, on the first surface, a first terminal electrically connected to the semiconductor chip, and comprising, on the second surface, a second terminal electrically connected to the first terminal within the printed circuit board, the second terminal being arranged in the first region.
US08928802B2 Method and apparatus for producing high dynamic range (HDR) pictures, and exposure apparatuses for use therein
The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for producing dynamic range increase (DRI) or a high dynamic range (HDR) pictures, in which differently exposed individual images are combined by image processing to form an HDR or DRI picture. In order to also allow moving objects to be recorded more easily, and to overcome the restrictions relating to lack of mobility of a recording device, the exposure can be carried out by laser radiation containing wavelengths at different intensities.
US08928800B2 Imaging device
An imaging device comprises a lens barrel including an optical system that collects light from a predetermined viewing area and that defines an optical axis; an imaging unit that receives the light collected by the optical system and generates image data, the image data defining a main image that includes a determined sub area; a ring-shaped operation ring that is provided on an outer circumference of the lens barrel and that is manually rotatable about the optical axis of the optical system; and an area change unit that changes at least one of (A) a size of the determined sub area, or (B) a position of the determined sub area, responsive to a manual operation of the operation ring.
US08928796B2 Systems, devices, and/or methods for managing images
Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, machine, device, manufacture, circuit, composition of matter, and/or user interface adapted for and/or resulting from, and/or a method and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can comprise and/or relate to, managing one or more images, such as those related to an optical system.
US08928791B2 Method for driving image pickup apparatus
A signal for focus detection is generated by a first operation, in which a signal of at least one photoelectric conversion element included in a photoelectric conversion unit is read to an input node of an amplification unit and the signal is supplied to a common output line by the amplification unit and signals for forming an image are generated by a second operation, in which a signal of another photoelectric conversion element included in the same photoelectric conversion unit as that including the at least one photoelectric conversion element from which the signal has been read in the first operation is read to the input node of the amplification unit while holding the signal read in the first operation using the amplification unit and the signals are supplied to the common output line by the amplification unit.
US08928782B2 Image processing device and image capture device
A first distortion correction unit generates one first output pixel based on two input pixels that are adjacent in a first direction out of a plurality of input pixels included in image data pieces of a captured frame. A second distortion correction unit generates one second output pixel based on two first output pixels that are adjacent in a second direction different from the first direction. The second distortion correction unit successively reads two first output pixels adjacent in the second direction from a storage unit based on input coordinates, which correspond to coordinate values of second output pixels, and generates the one second output pixel by applying linear interpolation processing to the read two first output pixels based on interpolation coefficient.
US08928781B2 Response function determination by rank minimization
A response function of a device may be determined using rank minimization to transform a problem of determining a response function of the device into a framework of a rank minimization problem. A function is identified that minimizes a rank of an observation matrix which includes data of observations obtained by the device. This transformation may be used to determine a response function of the device under various conditions and to determine response functions of different devices in a unified framework.
US08928766B2 Anti-shake device for a lens module
An anti-shake device furnished between a lens module and an image sensor. An optical path is defined along the lens module and image sensor. The anti-shake device comprises a base plate, at least one piezoelectric member and a circuit member. The base plate is located in the optical path and has a surface facing the lens module, wherein a first axial direction and a second axial direction are defined on the surface. The piezoelectric member is located on the base plate and contacts with the lens module. The circuit member located on the base plate comprises a control module for controlling the piezoelectric member to drive the lens module moving alone the first and second axial directions in order to adjust the deviation caused by shaking.
US08928752B2 Recording device with pre-start signal storage capability
A surveillance system uses a flash or other memory to store multiple data streams, each of which includes pre-start signal and post-start signal data. An area of the memory is preferably utilized as a circular buffer, in which a second data stream can be recorded without overwriting a first data stream. Buffers can have sufficient to capacity to capture up to an hour or more of image frames. All suitable methods and apparatus for initiating start and stop signals are contemplated, including for example using a button, toggle or other switch, a verbal or other human interface, and using motion, sound, light or other sensors. It is also contemplated that embodiments can include an interface for altering or otherwise designating a pre-signal size of the recently used segment. Cameras according to present invention can be mounted in any desired manner, including for example in camera boxes, on eyeglasses, and on automobiles or other vehicle.
US08928748B2 Digital photographing apparatus, method of controlling the same and recording medium having recorded thereon computer program to implement the method
A digital photographing apparatus is provided that is capable of effectively distinguishing a background region and a motion region. Also provided is a method of controlling the digital photographing apparatus, and a recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program to implement the method. The digital photographing apparatus includes an imaging device generating data from light incident thereto, a first difference image data obtaining unit obtaining first difference image data regarding a first difference image, which represents a difference between a reference image and a current frame image, a second difference image data obtaining unit obtaining second difference image data regarding a second difference image, which represents a difference between the current frame image and a previous frame image, and a motion region determining unit determining a motion region in the current frame image, by using the first difference image data and the second difference image data.
US08928743B2 Radio signal transmitter, stereoscopic image glasses, and image display system
A radio signal transmitter receives, from an image display device (i) synchronizing signals for switching between displaying a right-eye image and displaying a left-eye image on the image display device and (ii) liquid crystal shutter control data indicating which image is displayed, and transmits the synchronizing signals and the liquid crystal shutter control data to stereoscopic image glasses. The radio signal transmitter includes: a period detecting section that detects a period of each of the synchronizing signals; and a period data storage section in which the period is stored as period data. The radio signal transmitter is configured such that the period data in the period data storage section is updated every time the period of each of the synchronizing signals is detected. This makes it possible to provide a radio signal transmitter, stereoscopic image glasses, and an image display system that achieve a reduction in power consumption.
US08928728B2 Systems, methods, and media for controlling a presentation of data images in a video stream
Systems for controlling a presentation of data images in a video stream, comprising: at least one processor programmed to: transmit a video bit stream representing a plurality of images to a plurality of receivers using common transmission parameters; determine that a transmission link to one of the plurality of receivers is degraded; select one of the plurality of images for transmission to the one of the plurality of receivers; select degraded-link transmission parameters for transmission of the one of the plurality of images on the degraded transmission link, wherein the degraded-link transmission parameters are different from the common transmission parameters; transmit the one of the plurality of images to the one of the plurality of receivers using the degraded-link transmission parameters; and continue to transmit the video bit stream to at least one other of the plurality of receivers using the common transmission parameters.
US08928727B1 Sharing input device data in a multiway video conference provided in an online social network
The subject technology discloses configurations for receiving input device data via an unreliable data channel from a first computing device in which the input device data includes keyboard data, mouse input data and/or touch and gesture data from the first computing device. The subject technology determines a host client computing device among one or more second computing devices in a multiway video conference for receiving the input device data. Further, the subject technology transmits the input device data via a second unreliable data channel to the determined host client computing device, where the input device data is transmitted on a separate data channel from any video or audio data transmitted to the host client computing device.
US08928726B2 Videoconferencing system with context sensitive wake features
System and method involving user interfaces and remote control devices. These user interfaces may be particularly useful for providing an intuitive and user friendly interaction between a user and a device or application using a display, e.g., at a “10 foot” interaction level. The user interfaces may be specifically designed for interaction using a simple remote control device having a limited number of inputs. For example, the simple remote control may include directional inputs (e.g., up, down, left, right), a confirmation input (e.g., ok), and possibly a mute input. The user interface may be customized based on current user activity or other contexts (e.g., based on current or previous states), the user logging in (e.g., using a communication device), etc. Additionally, the user interface may allow the user to adjust cameras whose video are not currently displayed, rejoin previously left videoconferences, and/or any of a variety of desirable actions.
US08928722B2 Optical scanning device and image forming apparatus comprising the same
An optical scanning device includes a housing, a laser light source outputting a laser light, a polygon mirror arranged in an arrangement space and deflecting the laser light to scan a predetermined object with the laser light while rotating, a polygon motor rotating the polygon mirror, a control board arranged in the arrangement space and controlling the polygon motor, and a flow-control member arranged in the arrangement space and guiding an airflow generated by a rotation of the polygon mirror to an outside of the arrangement space to circulate the airflow within the housing.
US08928711B2 Apparatus, system and method for automated detection of signaling in a print head
The present invention is and includes an apparatus, system and method for providing an automated detection of thermal history control signal scheme and an automated switching circuit to select a converter circuit that changes one type of thermal history control signals from a thermal printer to another type for receipt by the driver ICs on a thermal printhead.
US08928707B2 Liquid crystal display device and driving method thereof
The present invention involves in an LCD device, which comprises a scan driving module, a data driving module, pixels, data lines, shift register modules and scan lines, the scan lines include type 1 scan lines, each of which is connected with the scan driving module and the pixel for controlling charging time of the pixel according to a first scan signal and type 2 scan lines, each of which is connected with the shift register module and the pixel for controlling driving time for sub-pixels of the pixel. The present invention further involves in an LCD device driving method. The LCD device and the driving method of the present invention can realize reverse scanning without increasing device costs, thereby solving a technical problem that a current LCD device fails to maintain proper driving effects when utilizing reverse scan driving.
US08928703B2 Pixel structure
A pixel structure is provided. The pixel structure includes a first pixel unit, a second pixel unit and a discharge unit. The first pixel unit includes a first active device and a first pixel electrode. The second pixel unit includes a second active device and a second pixel electrode. Gates of the first active device and the second active device are electrically connected to a scan line. Drains of the first active device and the second active device are electrically connected to a data line. The first pixel electrode is electrically connected to a source of the first active device. The second pixel electrode is electrically connected to a source of the second active device. The discharge unit is configured to set that a voltage of the second pixel electrode is smaller than a threshold voltage according to a driving signal received by a driving line.
US08928701B2 Display apparatus and method of driving the same
A backlight driving circuit for a display apparatus includes a receiver, a signal modulation detector and a driver. The receiver receives a clock signal and a brightness data signal by a serial transmission and in response to an enable signal. The brightness data signal is synchronized with the clock signal and includes brightness information. The signal modulation detector detects a modulation of the brightness data signal, based on at least one of the clock signal and the enable signal, and outputs a control signal based on a detected result thereof. The driver receives the brightness data signal, in synchronization with the clock signal, selects one of the brightness data signal and a predetermined reference brightness data signal in response to the control signal, generates a driving voltage using the selected brightness data signal, and provides the driving voltage to the backlight unit to control the brightness of the backlight unit.
US08928698B2 Compression of road features in map tiles
Road information is compressed for map tiles of a map containing a network of roads. The map can have different sets of tiles for each zoom level. For a given zoom level, road segments can be grouped based on the class of the roads (e.g., interstate highway, state highway, divided highway, side street, etc.). The road segments of a particular class can be combined into paths, and a representative segment can be chosen for each path. The features of the representative segment can be used in displaying the corresponding path, thereby reducing the size used to store the path in a map tile. This reduce-size map tile can be transmitted more efficiently due to the smaller size.
US08928697B2 Display apparatus, object display method, and program for displaying objects corresponding to characters
There is provided a display apparatus including a relation score calculation unit calculating a relation score indicating closeness of a relation between characters based on a common appearance relation using segment metadata indicating a segment in a moving image where each of the characters appears, and an object display unit displaying an object corresponding to each of the characters appearing in the moving image. Further, the object display unit displays a pair of objects corresponding to a pair of characters with a high relation score to be closely positioned to each other, and displays a pair of objects corresponding to a pair of characters with a low relation score to be positioned far from each other.
US08928689B2 Pixel data conversion apparatus and method for display with delta panel arrangement
A pixel data conversion method for display with delta panel arrangement converts an input video signal into a temporary video signal which is a first RGB signal with 640 horizontal resolution in a strip panel arrangement and converts the temporary video signal into an output video signal which is a RGB signal with 320 horizontal resolution in the delta panel arrangement. Each line of the output video signal has 960 pixels. A pixel size ratio is defined as a ratio of a pixel size of the delta panel to a pixel size of the strip panel. The 320 horizontal resolution is obtained by dividing the 640 horizontal resolution by the pixel size ratio and then by three.
US08928680B1 Method and system for sharing a buffer between a graphics processing unit and a media encoder
A program module executing in a first process space of a mobile computing device receives a buffer request from a graphics driver running in a second process space of the mobile computing device, wherein the second process space is isolated from the first process space. The program module assigns a buffer to the graphics driver to store image data processed by a graphical processing unit (GPU) controlled by the graphics driver. The program module receives a release of the buffer from the graphics driver. The program module assigns the buffer to a media encoder driver for a hardware media encoder to encode the image data in the buffer into a file.
US08928672B2 Real-time automatic concatenation of 3D animation sequences
Systems and methods for generating and concatenating 3D character animations are described including systems in which recommendations are made by the animation system concerning motions that smoothly transition when concatenated. One embodiment includes a server system connected to a communication network and configured to communicate with a user device that is also connected to the communication network. In addition, the server system is configured to generate a user interface that is accessible via the communication network, the server system is configured to receive high level descriptions of desired sequences of motion via the user interface, the server system is configured to generate synthetic motion data based on the high level descriptions and to concatenate the synthetic motion data, the server system is configured to stream the concatenated synthetic motion data to a rendering engine on the user device, and the user device is configured to render a 3D character animated using the streamed synthetic motion data.
US08928671B2 Recording and analyzing data on a 3D avatar
In particular embodiments, a method includes generating a 3D display of an avatar of a person, where the avatar can receive inputs identifying a type of a physiological event, a location of the physiological event in or on a person's body in three spatial dimensions, a time range of the physiological event, a quality of the physiological event, and rendering the physiological event on the avatar based on the inputs.
US08928662B2 Apparatus, method, and system for demonstrating a lighting solution by image rendering
A user interface is provided whereby a user may generate a virtual target area representative of an actual target area, regardless of whether the actual target area has been constructed. Having a generated virtual target area, the user—via the user interface—may generate virtual representations of light to project onto the virtual target area. The virtual representations of light correspond to photometric data from actual light sources. In this manner, the user renders a real-time image representative of what an actual target area would look like illuminated with an actual lighting system. This, in essence, permits a user to evaluate the effectiveness of a lighting system in real time without committing to the purchase of a lighting system.
US08928658B2 Photon mapping on graphics hardware using kd-trees
Described is a technology by which a GPU-based photon mapping mechanism/algorithm uses a kd-tree to render arbitrary dynamic scenes. For each frame, the mechanism emits and traces a set of photons into the scene. When a photon hits a surface, it can either be reflected, transmitted, or absorbed based on the surface material. Once photon tracing is done, a kd-tree is built for the stored photons. To estimate the radiance value at an arbitrary surface point, the k-nearest photons are located and filtered. The photon tracing and photon kd-tree construction, as well as the radiance estimation using k-nearest neighbor (KNN) searches are performed on graphics hardware, e.g., a GPU. In one example, only caustic photons are traced, whereby a photon is terminated and stored once it hits a diffuse surface.
US08928656B2 Volume rendering using N-pass sampling
A system and method for increasing resolution of an object and increasing rendering speed by rendering with a lesser density for non-object regions. The system and method includes sampling a plurality of first rays in a first density through a volume, each first ray being in a separate section, if a sampling value difference of at least two first rays is above a first threshold, sampling a plurality of second rays in a second density, the second rays being in a first section of the separate sections, the first section being for one of the at least two first rays, and if a sampling value difference between a first one of the second rays and another ray is above a second threshold, sampling a plurality of third rays in a second section spatially different than the first section, the sampling of the third rays being at the second spatial density and the second section being a neighboring section to the first section.
US08928654B2 Methods, systems, devices and associated processing logic for generating stereoscopic images and video
The present invention includes methods, systems, devices and associated processing logic for generating stereoscopic 3-Dimensional images and/or video from 2-Dimensional images or video. There may be provided a stereoscopic 3D generating system to extrapolate and render 2D complementary images and or video from a first 2D image and/or video. The complementary images and/or video, when combined with the first image or video, or a second complementary image or video, form a stereoscopic image of the scene captured in the first image or video. The stereoscopic 3D generation system may generate a complementary image or images, such that when a viewer views the first image or a second complementary image (shifted in the other direction from the first complementary image) with one eye and the complementary image with the other eye, an illusion of depth in the image is created (e.g. a stereoscopic 3D image).
US08928649B2 Display medium and display apparatus
The present invention provides a display medium including a pair of substrates; pixel electrodes disposed on one of the pair of substrates; a common electrode disposed on the other substrate of the pair of substrates; and a display layer, the common electrode includes two or more common electrode layers containing a first common electrode layer and a second common electrode layer which being disposed across a gap in a thickness direction, and electrical voltages thereof being controlled independently of each other, the first common electrode layer containing at least one electrode unit and at least one non-electrode area corresponding to a disposition of the pixel electrodes, and the second common electrode layer containing at least one second electrode unit, the at least one second electrode layer completely overlapping with at least the at least one non-electrode area of the first common electrode layer in a thickness direction.
US08928639B2 Display device and driving method thereof
The present invention relates to a display device capable of reducing power consumption and preventing flicker, as well as a driving method thereof. An exemplary display device includes: a display panel configured for display of a still image and a motion picture; a signal controller programmed to transmit control signals for driving the display panel; and a graphic processing unit transmitting input image data to the signal controller. The signal controller includes a frame memory storing the input image data, and the display panel is driven at a first frequency when the motion picture is displayed and alternatingly driven at the first frequency and a second frequency when the still image is displayed, the second frequency being lower than the first frequency.
US08928638B2 Display device
A display device and method for manufacturing same are provided. The display device including a plurality of unit pixels disposed in the matrix on a substrate, each of the unit pixels has a thin film transistor at a place other than the center of the pixel, and unit pixels in a first row and unit pixels in a second row adjacent to the first row are arranged so that they are symmetric with respect to a first virtual plane orthogonal to a main surface of the substrate.
US08928630B2 Mobile device and method for processing an acoustic signal
A mobile device and method for processing an acoustic signal are provided. The mobile device may calculate a position of an inputted touch and recognize a character from the calculated position. The mobile device may perform a function corresponding to the recognized character, or display the position of the touch.
US08928629B2 Self-adjusting photosensitive touch circuit and display device thereof
The present invention relates to a self-adjusting photosensitive touch circuit, which includes a light-sensing component, a variable capacitor and a switch component. The light-sensing component is for sensing a touch status and receives a first control signal. The light-sensing component is enabled by a level of the first control signal. The variable capacitor is electrically coupled to the light-sensing component. A capacitance of the variable capacitor is altered along with a voltage difference between two terminals of the variable capacitor. The switch component is electrically coupled to the variable capacitor, and receives a second control signal. The switch component is enabled by a level of the second control signal. Therefore, a range of the gate voltage difference of the light-sensing component can be increased, so as to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of the light-sensing component. Moreover, the present invention also relates to a display device thereof.
US08928625B2 Retroreflector for use in touch screen applications and position sensing systems
A touch screen system and prismatic film includes a retroreflective substrate having a plurality of retroreflective elements having triangular cube corners. A metallized layer is disposed over at least a portion of the retroreflective elements. In one embodiment, the prismatic film includes two colored substrates mounted over the retroreflective elements. In another embodiment, a single substrate is mounted over the retroreflective elements. It is often desired that a color of the substrate(s) be chosen that is highly transparent in the infrared spectrum, but is also non-transparent in the visible light spectrum, giving the prismatic film a dark appearance. The prismatic film includes a plurality of retroreflective elements having triangular cube corners with a cant in a range between about 4 degrees in a face more parallel direction to 18 degrees in an edge more parallel direction and a cube depth between about 0.002 and 0.008 inches or with a cant of about 5.5 to 22 degrees in an edge more parallel direction and a cube depth between about 0.0005 and 0.004 inches, or with a cant of about 8 to 35 degrees in a face more parallel direction and a cube depth between 0.001 and 0.012 inches.
US08928619B1 Flexible touch sensitive display device and control method thereof
Disclosed is a control method of a flexible display device, the method including sensing a state of the flexible display device, detecting touch input at a first position of the flexible display device, correcting position information, regarding the touch input detected at the first position, to a second position when the flexible display device is in a flat state, and correcting position information, regarding the touch input detected at the first position, to a third position when the flexible display device is in a first bent state, a distance between the first position and the third position being less than a distance between the first position and the second position.
US08928617B2 Simultaneous sensing arrangement
Multi-touch touch-sensing devices and methods are described herein. The touch sensing devices can include multiple sense points, each located at a crossing of a drive line and a sense line. In some embodiments, multiple drive lines may be simultaneously or nearly simultaneously stimulated with drive signals having unique characteristics, such as phase or frequency. A sense signal can occur on each sense line that can be related to the drive signals by an amount of touch present at sense points corresponding to the stimulated drive lines and the sense line. By using processing techniques based on the unique drive signals, an amount of touch corresponding to each sense point can be extracted from the sense signal. The touch sensing methods and devices can be incorporated into interfaces for a variety of electronic devices such as a desktop, tablet, notebook, and handheld computers, personal digital assistants, media players, and mobile telephones.
US08928613B2 Touch control system for touch panel
A touch control system for a touch panel includes a touch panel receiving pressures or electric signals on a surface thereof; a touch track for an image on a display screen being defined; a logic unit generating different actions corresponding to the touch tracks so that an image on a screen changes based on the actions from the logic unit; an image processor receiving instructions about the actions from the logic unit so that the image on the display screen will act based on the instructions; and wherein the logic unit divides an image on the display screen into an image moving area and an image size change area when an initial point of the touch track is at the image moving area, the image moves. When the initial point of the touch track is at the image size change area, the size of the image is changed.
US08928612B2 Mobile terminal and control method thereof
A mobile terminal capable of moving a page displayed on a display unit according to a touch input, and a control method thereof are provided. The mobile terminal including a display unit formed to allow for a touch input, includes a sensing unit configured to sense an object touched on the display unit and monitor a first movement of the object, and a controller configured to move a page displayed on the display unit according to a first ongoing direction, in response to a second movement of the object continued from the first movement, when the first movement corresponds to the first ongoing direction of the first movement and moves, while satisfying a pre-set reference within a reference region including a start point of the first movement.
US08928608B2 Touch screen, touch system and method for positioning a touch object in touch system
A touch screen, a touch system and a method for positioning a touch object in a touch system are disclosed. The touch screen comprises an infrared pair tube array, wherein said infrared pair tube array is disposed on an edge of said touch screen. By introducing the infrared pair tube array, the touch screen of the present invention eliminates invalid touch areas in the existing touch screen and avoids false touch points in multipoint positioning.
US08928600B2 Transaction terminal
A transaction terminal which includes a projector instead of a liquid crystal display. The transaction terminal includes a projector for projecting images of transaction screens on a surface during a transaction, an input device for recording operator selections in the transaction screens during the transaction, and a computer for generating the images of the transaction screens, for displaying the screens via the projector, and for processing the operator selections during the transaction.
US08928592B2 Method and apparatus for alphabet input
A method and apparatus for inputting letters by combining basic elements obtained by separating and symbolizing strokes of letters, so as to provide excellent letter intuitiveness and recognition. According to the present invention, a letter may be input by pressing one of or sequentially pressing two of keys to which basic elements , , , , , , , , , , and obtained by separating and symbolizing strokes of letters are assigned, and letters may be rapidly and conveniently input by minimizing key pressing paths.
US08928589B2 Virtual keyboards and methods of providing the same
The present disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for providing virtual keyboards. In one aspect, a system includes a camera, a display, a video feature extraction module and a gesture pattern matching module. The camera captures a sequence of images containing a finger of a user, and the display displays each image combined with a virtual keyboard having a plurality of virtual keys. The video feature extraction module detects motion of the finger in the sequence of images relative to virtual sensors of the virtual keys, and determines sensor actuation data based on the detected motion relative to the virtual sensors. The gesture pattern matching module uses the sensor actuation data to recognize a gesture.
US08928587B1 Automatic device login based on wearable sensor fusion
A user may have a device that contains the user's identity. Rather than log into a second device that user may make use of the fact that the user is already logged into a device as disclosed herein. The user may perform a gesture that may be observed or sensed by one or more sensors on a first device and a second device that contains the user's identity. A correlation between the sensor data may be performed and, if the correlation value exceeds a threshold value, a portion of the user's identity may be shared with the first device.
US08928585B2 Eye tracking control of vehicle entertainment systems
An in-flight entertainment system includes a video display unit facing a user seat. The video display unit includes a display surface that displays images to a user who is seated on the user seat. A light emitter illuminates eyes of the user. A camera outputs a video signal containing reflections from the illuminated eyes. A processor processes the video signal to determine a viewing location on the display surface at which the eyes are directed, and controls at least one function for how images are displayed on the display surface responsive to the determined viewing location.
US08928583B2 Image display control apparatus including image shooting unit
An image display control apparatus includes a CPU performing face recognition within an image shot by a camera and detecting a gaze direction from a recognized face. The CPU then changes the image to a processed image at a predetermined rate in the case where at least one of the gazes of detected faces is directed to the displayed image.
US08928582B2 Method for adaptive interaction with a legacy software application
Methods are disclosed to support adaptive interaction with legacy software applications, without a need for rewriting those applications. The methods are for use with an interactive electronic system including a processor, a display, and an input device with user-manipulated controls. When the legacy application is executed, a supplemental software program, such as a plugin, is also executed and is utilized in order to identify currently relevant interactive features of the legacy application during execution. Functionality is dynamically assigned to the various user-manipulated controls based on the identified features. In one embodiment, detection of objects (particularly the user's hands) proximate to the input controls is also employed in determining the assignment of functionality and/or in displaying a visual representation to the user of the available interactive choices. In another embodiment, the user-manipulated input controls are dynamically and physically reconfigured under control of the processor based on the identified features.
US08928576B2 Electrophoretic display device, driving method thereof, and electronic apparatus
The electrophoretic display device in which an electrophoretic element is interposed between a pair of substrates includes a first electrode and a second electrode that are formed in each pixel on one substrate, and an opposing electrode that is formed on another substrate, and faces the first electrode and the second electrode through the electrophoretic element. Here, a gradation is displayed due to a difference in potential between the first electrode and the second electrode.
US08928574B2 Liquid crystal display device
Provided is a liquid crystal display device wherein it is possible to specifically prevent the pseudo contouring of an area in which an image having a large motion vector is displayed, such as a telop area. A telop area (R1) (an example of a component image area) in which the motion vector is set in advance and which has a magnitude greater than or equal to a predetermined magnitude is detected. The intermittent lighting timing of an illumination portion is controlled in a manner such that the turn-off period having a predetermined length is set between the point in which the detected telop area (R1) writes a video signal to a liquid crystal element and the point in which the liquid crystal element responds.
US08928572B2 Liquid crystal display device and method for driving the same
A liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal panel, a gate driver configured to supply gate signals to gate lines on the liquid crystal panel, a data driver configured to supply data voltages to data lines on the liquid crystal panel, and a partial controller configured to control the gate driver to intercept a part of the gate signals to be supplied to the gate lines.
US08928571B2 Driving method including charge sharing and related liquid crystal display device
A driving method for a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device is used for reducing power consumption of the LCD device. The driving method includes determining a driving approach of the LCD device, and performing corresponding charge sharing on a plurality of data channels according to the driving approach. The driving approach of the LCD device is determined according to a latch data (LD) signal and a polarity signal.
US08928555B2 Privacy display
A display device can include a housing, a processor, and a display assembly. The processor can be arranged within the housing. The display assembly can be operably coupled to the processor and arranged within the housing. The display assembly can include a first display, a privacy filter, and a second display. The first display can output a first portion of the display. The second display can output a second portion of the display. The privacy filter and the first and second displays can be arranged such that the first portion of the display assembly is filtered by the privacy filter to be viewable in a first viewable arc. The second portion of the display assembly can be viewable in a second viewable arc that is different than the first viewable arc. The first and second displays can be LCD's.
US08928551B2 Multiple displays for a portable electronic device and a method of use
A multiple display system having at least two mechanical arrangements such that in one of the at least two arrangements one of the multiple displays is stowed, out of the way mechanically and visually, when only a first display is in use; and one of the other of the at least two arrangements wherein the other of the multiple displays is substantially coplanar and adjacent to the one screen when both screens are in use. The other display in the one of the other of the at least two arrangements also runs the graphical user interface of an application, permitting the multiple display system to offer at least two programs running simultaneously, each with its own visual user-interface operating on its own display.
US08928537B2 Multiband antenna
A multiband antenna (200) comprising a substrate (202) and at least one conductive plate (204) on the substrate (202). The at least one conductive plate (204) defines a first conductive region (206), a second conductive region (208) and a third conductive region (210). The first, second and third conductive regions (206, 208, 210) are configured so as to define a first gap (212) between the first conductive region (206) and the second conductive region (208); and a second gap (214) between the second conductive region (208) and the third conductive region (210). The multiband antenna also comprises a feeding port (230) comprising a signal terminal (230a). The signal terminal (230a) is configured to couple the second conductive region (208) to a first connecting element for conducting transmit or receive signals.
US08928530B2 Enhanced metamaterial antenna structures
A wireless device having an antenna structure incorporates a conductive structure to extend an effective length of at least one component of the antenna structure. The enhanced 3-D conductive structure is applicable to a variety of antenna types, including, but not limited to, a CRLH structured antenna.
US08928514B1 Harmonic time domain interleave to extend oscilloscope bandwidth and sample rate
A harmonic time interleave (HTI) system can include a sample clock to provide a reference signal, a summing component to receive the reference signal and a second input, a splitter component to receive an input signal, and delay blocks to each receive an output from the splitter. The HTI system can also include digitizing components to receive the reference signal from the sample clock and an output from each of the mixing components, and a poly-phase filter matrix block to receive an output from each of the digitizing components. The HTI system can also include an interleave reconstruction block to receive an output from the poly-phase filter matrix block and interleave time domain signal samples from each digitizer to create a reconstructed waveform.
US08928508B2 ADC calibration
An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) including a plurality of comparators connected to the ADC. The ADC further includes a first pair of terminals and a second pair of terminals connected to each of the plurality of comparators. The ADC further includes a first pair of switches coupled to each of the first pair of terminals and a second pair of switches coupled to each of the second pair of terminals, where the first and second pair of switches are configured to alternate a corresponding comparator between normal operation and a calibration configuration. Comparators other than the corresponding comparator are configured for normal operation if the corresponding comparator is configured to be calibrated.
US08928503B2 Data encoding methods, data decoding methods, data reconstruction methods, data encoding devices, data decoding devices, and data reconstruction devices
In an embodiment, a data encoding method may be provided. The data encoding method may include: inputting data to be encoded; determining a polynomial so that an evaluation of the polynomial at a sum of a first supporting point of the polynomial and a second supporting point of the polynomial corresponds to the sum of an evaluation of the polynomial at the first supporting point and an evaluation of the polynomial at the second supporting point, wherein coefficients of the polynomial are determined based on the data to be encoded; and generating a plurality of encoded data items by evaluating the polynomial at a plurality of supporting points.
US08928494B2 Parking method and system
A parking system including a database having (a) a number of parking spaces in a zone, (b) a ratio having a number of vehicles using a certain parking service from a pre-defined general population divided by a number of vehicles of the pre-defined general population, and (c) a number of vehicles using the parking service and which are currently parking in the zone, and a calculator configured to calculate from the database an estimation of available parking spaces within the zone, thereby enabling a user to obtain information regarding availability of parking spaces in given locations, compared with other locations.
US08928485B2 Charged corpuscular ray apparatus
The present invention relates to the acquisition of tilted series images of a minute sample in a short time.The present invention relates to: measuring in advance the relation between an amount of focus shift and a degree of coincidence at the time of acquiring tilted series images; calculating backwards a focus shift from the degree of coincidence on the basis of this relation; correcting the focus shift by controlling a stage, an objective lens, and the like; and thus acquiring the tilted series images. In addition, the present invention relates to: acquiring a reference image in advance at the time of photographing the tilted series images; obtaining the correlation between an acquired image and the reference image; and performing, if the degree of coincidence is equal to or smaller than a set value, processing such as the transmission of a warning message and the stop of an image acquisition sequence. According to the present invention, it becomes possible to perform focusing at the time of photographing the tilted series images at high speed, so that the length of time for photographing the tilted series images can be shortened. In addition, an image inappropriate for three-dimensional reconstruction can be removed. This makes it possible to enhance the throughput of failure analysis of a semiconductor and an advanced material.
US08928469B2 Automatic fueling notification
A system that notifies the operator, during refueling, when the fuel tank of a vehicle has been filled to contain a predetermined amount. The predetermined amount may include but is not limited to a full condition, an amount that is calculated to satisfy a specific trip, etc. The system may include one or more fuel sensors that can detect conditions of the fuel delivery system, such as the quantity of fuel residing in the tank. The system further includes a controller and an output device. During a refill event, the controller receives the data from the one or more sensors, processes the data, and causes the output device to notify the operator when the tank is filled with the predetermined amount of fuel. The notification can be audible, such as the horn honking, visual, such as lights flashing, or tactile, such as the vehicle seat vibrates.
US08928466B2 Semiconductor device
A protection circuit is designed to operate when the level of a DC power supply potential which is generated in a rectifier circuit is equal to or greater than a predetermined level (a reference level), so as to decrease the level of the generated DC power supply potential. On the other hand, the protection circuit is designed not to operate when the DC power supply potential which is generated in the rectifier circuit is equal to or less than the predetermined level (the reference level), so as to use the generated DC power supply potential without change. A transistor of the protection circuit includes an oxide semiconductor layer, which enables a reduction in the off-state current of the transistor and a reduction in power consumption of the protection circuit.
US08928465B2 Aftermarket module arrangement and method for communicating over a vehicle bus
An aftermarket module arrangement for installation into a vehicle having a vehicle bus and an electric power source is disclosed herein. The arrangement includes, but is not limited to, a module configured to communicatively couple with the vehicle bus and to electrically couple with the electric power source via a first electric power line, and further configured to engage in power line communications over the first electric power line. The arrangement further includes an aftermarket module configured to electrically couple with the electric power source over a second electric power line and to engage in power line communications over the second electric power line. The aftermarket module is further configured to communicatively couple with the module via power line communications and to communicate over the vehicle bus through the module.
US08928457B2 Smart interlock system and working method thereof
A smart interlock system and a working method thereof. The smart interlock system includes a lock (1), an unlocking device (2) and a logic generator (3). The logic generator (3) comprises a logic generation module and a logic communication module. The logic generation module generates identity identification logic and state identification logic of the lock, and the two kinds of logic are sent to the unlocking device (2) through the logic communication module. The lock (1) comprises a lock tongue (102), a lock head (106) and an identity and state converting module (104). The unlocking device (2) comprises an unlocking module for starting the lock head to move, an identity identifying module (201) and a communication module. The identity identifying module (201) of the unlocking device identifies the identity of the lock, receives an identity label information which is transferred from the identity and state converting module (104) of the lock, recognizes the state of the lock tongue (102), and judges whether to unlock the lock or not according to the identity identification logic and state identification logic of the lock which are received from the logic generator (3). The smart interlock system works flexibly and enables electric anti-misoperation to be reliable and intelligent.
US08928455B2 Key fob with protected biometric sensor
A key fob includes a biometric sensor including a fingerprint area sensor having a surface for receiving a finger, and a controller includes at least one processor configured to authenticate a user of the key fob based on biometric information obtained with the biometric sensor and stored biometric information for an individual. The key fob includes a RF transmitter for communicating stored transaction information to a reader upon authentication of the user and a housing. The housing includes a base for supporting the biometric sensor and a cover sleeve slidably engaged with the base to allow for extension from and retraction into the sleeve by the base, thereby permitting selective exposure of the fingerprint area sensor under user actuation.
US08928440B2 Linear solenoid
One axial end of a through-hole of a bearing portion of a first stationary core located on a movable core side has a peripheral edge placed at a corresponding axial position. The corresponding axial position of the peripheral edge may be the same as an axial position of an axial end surface of a radially outer part of the first stationary core or is on an axial side of the axial end surface, which is axially opposite from the movable core. A bottom portion of a yoke may have a hole, which receives at least a part of a second stationary core. A stopper made of a resin material may be placed on a side of the bottom portion of the yoke, which is opposite from the second stationary core in the axial direction. A shaft may be abuttable against the stopper.
US08928432B2 Surface acoustic wave resonator, surface acoustic wave oscillator, and electronic apparatus
A surface acoustic wave resonator includes: an IDT which is disposed on a quartz substrate with Euler angles of (−1°≦φ≦1°, 117°≦θ≦142°, 42.79°≦|ψ|≦49.57°), which is made of Al or alloy including Al as a main component and which excites a surface acoustic wave in an upper mode of a stop band; and an inter-electrode-finger groove which is formed by recessing the quartz substrate between electrode fingers which form the IDT. Here, the following expression is satisfied: 0.01λ≦G  (1), where λ represents a wavelength of the surface acoustic wave and G represents a depth of the inter-electrode-finger groove. The depth G of the inter-electrode-finger groove and a line occupancy η of the IDT satisfy the following expression: - 2.5 × G λ + 0.675 ≦ η ≦ - 2.5 × G λ + 0.775 ( 5 ) and a number of pairs N of the electrode fingers in the IDT is in the range of the following expression: 160≦N≦220  (19).
US08928431B2 Wideband analog lowpass filter
A low pass filter includes an RF input terminal, an RF output terminal, a plurality of inductors coupled in series between the RF input and output terminals, at least one electrically tunable capacitor coupled between ground and a node of one of the inductors. At least one of the inductors includes a winding, and a resistance and a capacitance coupled in series across a portion of the winding to enhance the out of band rejection of the low pass filter.
US08928426B2 Reducing coupling coefficient variation by using capacitors
A coupler is presented that has high-directivity and low coupling coefficient variation. The coupler includes a first trace associated with a first port and a second port. The first port is configured substantially as an input port and the second port is configured substantially as an output port. The coupler further includes a second trace associated with a third port and a fourth port. The third port is configured substantially as a coupled port and the fourth port is configured substantially as an isolated port. In addition, the coupler includes a first capacitor configured to introduce a discontinuity to induce a mismatch in the coupler.
US08928425B1 Common mode detector for a communication system
A circuit for a wireline system is disclosed. In an embodiment, the circuit includes a twisted pair channel. The twisted pair channel delivers a differential signal that includes a converter mode component. The circuit includes at least one transformer coupled to the twisted pair channel and a transceiver coupled to the at least one transformer. The circuit further includes a common mode detection coupled to the transceiver for detecting a common mode component. In an embodiment, the circuit detects the common mode component. Accordingly, with common mode component detection capability, the common mode component of the differential can be analyzed for characterization purposes as well as for potential improvement in the system performance signal.
US08928418B2 Compensating for process variation in integrated circuit fabrication
Systems and methods for reducing process sensitivity in integrated circuit (“IC”) fabrication. An integrated circuit structure is provided that includes a first integrated circuit device having at least one parameter influenced by process variation in a first manner. The integrated circuit structure further includes a second integrated device having the least one parameter influenced by the process variation in a second manner. The first manner is opposite of the second manner. The second integrated device is configured to offset or reduce the influence of the process variation on the at least one parameter in the first integrated circuit device.
US08928417B2 High-linearity phase frequency detector
A phase frequency detector realizes a highly linear conversion from noise-shaped ΣΔ modulation into charge quantities without degradation of phase-locked loop (PLL) phase noise. The phase frequency detector may feature a construction of an Up signal output and a Down signal output, in which the Up signal rises when a divided VCO input rises, an Up signal falls when the divided VCO input falls, a Down signal rises when the divided VCO input rises, and a Down signal falls when a reference input rises. A mode selection input may be utilized for a fast lock-up PLL.
US08928412B2 Precise current source circuit for bias supply of RF MMIC gain block amplifier application
A current source circuit includes a first transistor Q1, a second transistor Q2, a first resistor R1, and a second resistor R2. The first transistor Q1 has a first terminal (collector) coupled with the supply voltage (VCC), a second terminal (base) coupled with the first resistor R1, and a third terminal (emitter) coupled with the second resistor R2. The second transistor Q2 has a first terminal coupled with the second terminal of the first transistor Q1, a second terminal coupled with the third terminal of the first transistor Q1, and a third terminal coupled with the filtering circuit 39. The first resistor R1 is coupled between the supply voltage and a second terminal of the first transistor Q1. The second resistor R2 is coupled between a third terminal of the first transistor Q1 and the filtering circuit 39.