Document Document Title
US08949677B1 Detecting anomalies in time series data
Disclosed are various embodiments for detecting anomalies in time series data. At least one anomaly is detected in a time series that is derived from a corresponding metric observed from a computing system. The time series is non-stationary time series or heteroskedastic. The detected anomaly is correlated with at least one of a plurality of external events affecting the computing system. A magnitude is assigned to the detected anomaly. The detected one anomaly, the assigned magnitude, and the correlated at least one external event are reported to a client device.
US08949662B2 Logical partitioning of a physical device
In one embodiment, an indication of a fault condition is received relating to a first service running on a physical device in a computer network. The first service is associated with a first virtual device context defined on the physical device. Then, the first service is disabled without affecting operation of a second service on the physical device. The second service is associated with a second virtual device context defined on the physical device. In another embodiment, a first virtual device context is created on a physical device in a computer network. Then, a second virtual device context is created on the physical device. The first virtual device context may then be managed independently of the second virtual device context such that resources assigned to a virtual device context are managed without affecting management of another virtual device context.
US08949659B2 Scheduling workloads based on detected hardware errors
Scheduling workloads based on detected hardware errors is provided. In response to determining that a hardware error is detected, it is determined whether the hardware error is a cache error. In response to determining that the hardware error is a cache error, it is determined whether execution of a workload on a processor is changing contents of a cache associated with the cache error more than a threshold value. In response to determining that the execution of the workload on the processor is changing the contents of the cache associated with the cache error more than the threshold value, it is determined whether the cache associated with the cache error is private to a core in the processor. In response to determining that the cache associated with the cache error is private to a core, the execution of the workload is scheduled on a different core of the processor.
US08949652B2 Glitchless programmable clock shaper
In one embodiment, a microprocessor includes one or more processing cores. At least one processing core includes a clock shaping circuit that is configured to receive a clock input signal. The clock shaping circuit includes rising edge skew logic that is configured to selectively delay a rising edge of the clock input signal and falling edge skew logic that is configured to selectively delay a falling edge of the clock input signal independent of adjustment of the rising edge.
US08949636B2 Power efficient flow control model for USB asynchronous transfers
Embodiments comprising a memory and a USB host controller coupled to the memory. The power efficiency of a USB during asynchronous transfers is increased by limiting usage of an asynchronous schedule stored in the memory when servicing a scheduled asynchronous transfer endpoint. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08949634B2 Storage device connected to a superior device and method of supplying power to the storage device
An OOB sequence monitoring unit detects that an OOB sequence carried out between a base device as a superior device and a connection I/F which operates even if an extension device is in a standby state has proceeded to a given stage. Based on the detection by the OOB sequence monitoring unit, a power supply control unit instructs a starting power supply unit to supply power. When the extension device starts, the OOB sequence is carried out between the extension device and the connection I/F of another extension device in the same manner. As a result, extension devices are started in decreasing order from the extension device closest to the superior device.
US08949628B2 Power-allocation interface
Management of battery resources of an electronic device are disclosed. The electronic device has a battery, a display in communication with the battery, multiple subsystems in communication with the battery, and a user interface in communication with the subsystems. On the display is presented an indication of usage of the battery resources by the subsystems in executing functions by the device. With the interface, a user directive is received to reallocate the usage of the battery resources. The usage of the battery resources are thus reallocated in accordance with the user directive.
US08949627B2 System and method for powering an information handling system through a display cable
A display provides power to an information handling system through a display cable. The display cable includes a power wire and an auxiliary channel. The display and information handling system communicate through the auxiliary channel to coordinate power transfer from the display to the information handling system, such as in the form of a trickle charge to a battery integrated in the information handling system.
US08949625B2 Systems for structured encryption using embedded information in data strings
A data processing system is provided that includes applications, databases, encryption engines, and decryption engines. Encryption and decryption engines may be used to perform format-preserving encryption on data strings stored in a database. Encryption and decryption engines may include embedded-format-preserving encryption and decryption engines. Embedded-format-preserving encryption engines may be used to encrypt data strings and embed information in data strings. Information corresponding to a format-preserving encryption operation of a data string may be embedded in an associated data string. The associated data string may be encrypted before or after embedding the information in the associated data string. The embedded information may include key management data that corresponds to a managed encryption key that was used to encrypt the data string.
US08949604B2 System and method for issuing an authentication key for authenticating a user in a CPNS environment
The present invention relates to a system and method for issuing an authentication key for authenticating a user in a CPNS environment. The system comprises a user terminal, a gateway and a CPNS device. The user terminal is equipped with a short-range wireless communication function, requests the gateway to register terminal information including an ID and password, encrypts the terminal information including the ID and password using the password, transmits an authentication request signal including the encrypted terminal information to the gateway, and receives an authentication key generated by a CPNS device. The CPNS device stores the terminal information, performs user authentication by decrypting the encrypted terminal information in response to the authentication request, generates an authentication key for the CPNS when a user is authenticated, encrypts the generated authentication key using the password, and transmits the encrypted authentication key to the user terminal through the gateway.
US08949601B2 Communication system for providing the delivery of e-mail message
A communication system comprising a sender unit, a recipient unit and a control unit, wherein the sender unit is adapted to generate an electronic message, to send the electronic message directly to the recipient unit, and to send a sending information message to the control unit indicating that the sender unit has sent the electronic message to the recipient unit, wherein the recipient unit is adapted to receive the electronic message directly from the sender unit and to send a receipt information message to the control unit, the receipt information message indicating that a user of the recipient unit has received the electronic message.
US08949595B2 Mutual authentication apparatus and method in downloadable conditional access system
A mutual authentication method in a Downloadable Conditional Access System (DCAS) is provided. The mutual authentication method may receive authentication-related information about authentication between an authentication unit and a security module (SM) from a Trusted Authority (TA), generate an authentication session key using the authentication-related information, transmit the authentication session key by the authentication unit to the SM through a Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS), and control a Conditional Access System (CAS) software to be downloaded to the SM from the authentication unit, when the authentication is completed by the authentication session key.
US08949594B2 System and method for enabling a scalable public-key infrastructure on a smart grid network
A method for enabling a scalable public-key infrastructure (PKI) comprises invoking a process of receiving a message for a device, identifying an association ID for the device, retrieving encrypted association keys stored on the server for communicating with the device, the encrypted association keys encrypted using a wrapping key stored on a Hardware Security Module (HSM). The method further comprises sending the message and the encrypted association keys to the HSM, unwrapping, by the HSM, the encrypted association keys to create unwrapped association keys, cryptographically processing the message to generate a processed message, deleting the unwrapped association keys, sending the processed message to the device, and invoking, concurrently and by a second application, the process.
US08949587B2 Method for dynamic loading of operating systems on bootable devices
A method for booting is provided. A devices manager of a host operating system residing on a host machine (or a boot loader) disables resources of one or more bootable devices having resource conflicts. The device manager enables resources required by one of the one or more bootable device. The device manager initiates booting of the one of the one or more bootable device. If the one of the one or more bootable device fails to boot, the failed bootable device is identified as unavailable for booting.
US08949586B2 System and method for authenticating computer system boot instructions during booting by using a public key associated with a processor and a monitoring device
Various systems, processes, and products may be used to authenticate computer system boot instructions. In particular implementations, a system, process, and product for authenticating computer system boot instructions may include the ability to determine, according to pre-boot computer system instructions, whether a public key associated with the boot instructions is authentic using a public key associated with a central processing unit. The system, process, and product may also include the ability to determine, if the public key associated with boot instructions is authentic, whether the boot instructions are authentic using the public key associated with boot instructions. The system, process, and product may further include the ability to launch the boot instructions if the boot instructions are authentic.
US08949585B2 In-place conversion of virtual machine state
One embodiment of the present invention includes a method of making a bootable image for a computer, wherein the bootable image corresponds to a first virtual machine but is bootable on a target machine, the method comprising: (a) instantiating the first virtual machine within a virtualization system and executing computations thereof, the computations operating upon an encapsulation of virtual machine state for the instantiated virtual machine; and (b) introducing into the encapsulation, a boot loader that defines at least one transformation to be performed on the encapsulation to allow the target machine to boot from the virtual machine state.
US08949574B2 Low power, hash-content addressable memory architecture
A method is comprised of inputting a comparand word to a plurality of hash circuits, each hash circuit being responsive to a different portion of the comparand word. The hash circuits output a hash signal which is used to enable or precharge portions of a CAM. The comparand word is also input to the CAM. The CAM compares the comparand word in the precharged portions of the CAM and outputs information responsive to the comparing step. When used to process Internet addresses, the information output may be port information or an index from which port information may be located. A circuit is also disclosed as is a method of initializing the circuit.
US08949567B2 Cross-point resistive-based memory architecture
A plurality of addressable memory tiles each comprise one or more cross-point arrays. Each array comprises a plurality of non-volatile resistance-change memory cells. A controller is configured to couple to the array and to a host system. The controller is configured to perform receiving, from the host system, one or more data objects each having a size equal to a predetermined logical block size, and storing the one or more data objects in a corresponding integer number of one or more of the memory tiles.
US08949559B2 Storage system and performance management method of storage system
It is an object to use a storage region in an efficient manner and maintain a performance of a storage system. A volume group GR11 includes reference volumes 1411, 1413, and 1415 and source volumes 1412, 1414, 1416, and 1417 that derive from the reference volumes. Each of the volumes stores only the difference data from a volume that is a parent thereof. A volume that is a cause of a problem is moved or copied from a pool of the moment 1410 to other pool 1420. A configuration of a volume group is modified.
US08949553B2 System and method for retention of historical data in storage resources
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include receiving a read command. The method may also include determining if the read command is a command to read current data or historical data for a given logical address. The method may additionally include reading data stored on a storage resource at a historical physical address defined by a historical data offset associated with the given logical address in response to determining that the read command is a command to read historical data. The method may further include communicating the data stored at the historical physical address as a response to the read command.
US08949551B2 Memory protection unit (MPU) having a shared portion and method of operation
In a disclosed embodiment, a data processing system comprises a memory protection unit (MPU); and a plurality of region descriptors associated with the MPU. Each region descriptor is associated with one of multiple subsets of the region descriptors and includes an address range, protection settings, and attributes for a respective region of memory. The subsets include data-only region descriptors, instruction-only region descriptors, and shared region descriptors. The shared region descriptors are used to access memory regions for data and instruction memory requests.
US08949549B2 Management of ownership control and data movement in shared-memory systems
A method to exchange data in a shared memory system includes the use of a buffer in communication with a producer processor and a consumer processor. The cache data is temporarily stored in the buffer. The method includes for the consumer and the producer to indicate intent to acquire ownership of the buffer. In response to the indication of intent, the producer, consumer, buffer are prepared for the access. If the consumer intends to acquire the buffer, the producer places the cache data into the buffer. If the producer intends to acquire the buffer, the consumer removes the cache data from the buffer. The access to the buffer, however, is delayed until the producer, consumer, and the buffer are prepared.
US08949548B2 System and method of sharing memory by arbitrating through an internal data bus
One or more methods and systems of sharing an external memory between functional modules of an integrated circuit chip are presented. The invention provides a system and method of reducing the amount of off-chip memory utilized by one or more integrated circuit chips. In one embodiment, a method for sharing an off-chip memory among one or more on-chip functional modules comprises arbitrating the communication of data between one or more on-chip functional modules and the off-chip memory. In one embodiment, the arbitration is facilitated by using an internal data bus that is controlled by a bus arbiter control unit. In one embodiment, a system for sharing an off-chip memory between functional modules of an integrated circuit comprises a security processing module, a media access controller module, a data interface, and a data bus.
US08949543B2 Filtering obsolete read requests in networked client-server architecture
Read messages are issued by a client for data stored in a storage system of the networked client-server architecture. A client agent mediates between the client and the storage system. A sequence identification (ID) value is conveyed by each of the read requests sent from the client agent to the storage system. The read requests, which are related to a specific data segment, that are being read sequentially by an execution thread in the client are assigned with an identical unique sequence ID value. A read request having the sequence ID value that is less recent than a most recent sequence ID value already seen by the storage system are discarded.
US08949541B2 Techniques for evicting dirty data from a cache using a notification sorter and count thresholds
A method for cleaning dirty data in an intermediate cache is disclosed. A dirty data notification, including a memory address and a data class, is transmitted by a level 2 (L2) cache to frame buffer logic when dirty data is stored in the L2 cache. The data classes may include evict first, evict normal and evict last. In one embodiment, data belonging to the evict first data class is raster operations data with little reuse potential. The frame buffer logic uses a notification sorter to organize dirty data notifications, where an entry in the notification sorter stores the DRAM bank page number, a first count of cache lines that have resident dirty data and a second count of cache lines that have resident evict_first dirty data associated with that DRAM bank. The frame buffer logic transmits dirty data associated with an entry when the first count reaches a threshold.
US08949539B2 Conditional load and store in a shared memory
A method, system and computer program product for implementing load-reserve and store-conditional instructions in a multi-processor computing system. The computing system includes a multitude of processor units and a shared memory cache, and each of the processor units has access to the memory cache. In one embodiment, the method comprises providing the memory cache with a series of reservation registers, and storing in these registers addresses reserved in the memory cache for the processor units as a result of issuing load-reserve requests. In this embodiment, when one of the processor units makes a request to store data in the memory cache using a store-conditional request, the reservation registers are checked to determine if an address in the memory cache is reserved for that processor unit. If an address in the memory cache is reserved for that processor, the data are stored at this address.
US08949537B2 Storage control apparatus and method for detecting write completion of data
A processor transmits, to a communication control module, at least one write request packet with which at least one data block element configuring a data block is respectively associated, and updates a first counter to a value corresponding to the number of the transmitted write request packets. The communication control module writes a data block element associated with the write request packet to a cache memory, updates a third counter to a value corresponding to the number of the transmitted data block elements, and reflects the third counter to a second counter. The processor determines that the data block is written to the cache memory when the second counter reaches the first counter after all write request packets are transmitted.
US08949534B2 Multi-CPU system and computing system having the same
A multi-CPU data processing system, comprising: a multi-CPU processor, comprising: a first CPU configured with at least a first core, a first cache, and a first cache controller configured to access the first cache; and a second CPU configured with at least a second core, and a second cache controller configured to access a second cache, wherein the first cache is configured from a shared portion of the second cache.
US08949531B2 Automated space management for server flash cache
Techniques for automatically allocating space in a flash storage-based cache are provided. In one embodiment, a computer system collects I/O trace logs for a plurality of virtual machines or a plurality of virtual disks and determines cache utility models for the plurality of virtual machines or the plurality of virtual disks based on the I/O trace logs. The cache utility model for each virtual machine or each virtual disk defines an expected utility of allocating space in the flash storage-based cache to the virtual machine or the virtual disk over a range of different cache allocation sizes. The computer system then calculates target cache allocation sizes for the plurality of virtual machines or the plurality of virtual disks based on the cache utility models and allocates space in the flash storage-based cache based on the target cache allocation sizes.
US08949530B2 Dynamic index selection in a hardware cache
Systems and methods are disclosed for improving the performance of cache memory in a computer system by dynamically selecting an index for caching main memory while an application is running. A disclosed example of a memory system includes a cache including a data array, a primary tag array, and at least one secondary tag array. A currently selected index is used to index data bits to the data array and tag bits to the primary tag array. The performance of at least one candidate index is evaluated by indexing tag bits to the secondary tag array, without caching any data using the candidate index while the candidate index is under evaluation. If the candidate index has a better hit rate than the currently selected index, the memory system switches to using the candidate index to cache data.
US08949526B1 Reserving storage space in data storage systems
A method is used in reserving storage space in data storage systems. A set of logical units (LUs) predefined as file based storage hardware specific LUs are reserved in a restricted access storage space of a block based storage system. The restricted access storage space is accessed by a file based storage system for storing information required for initializing the file based storage system. The file based storage system is initialized using the information stored in the file based storage hardware specific LUs.
US08949521B1 Actuator prepositioning for disk drive
A target location for an actuator of a disk drive is determined for prepositioning the actuator before receiving a command from a host. The target location is determined based on at least one of a characteristic of the disk drive, recent command activity of the host, and information provided by the host. The actuator is moved toward the target location to preposition the actuator.
US08949512B2 Trim token journaling
Systems and methods are disclosed for trim token journaling. A device can monitor the order in which trim commands and write commands are applied to an indirection system stored in a volatile memory of the device. In some embodiments, the device can directly write to a page of an NVM with a trim token that indicates that a LBA range stored in the page has been trimmed. In other embodiments, a device can add pending trim commands to a trim buffer stored in the volatile memory. Then, when the trim buffer reaches a pre-determined threshold or a particular trigger is detected, trim tokens associated with all of the trim commands stored in the trim buffer can be written to the NVM. Using these approaches, the same sequence of events that was applied to the indirection system during run-time can be applied during device boot-up.
US08949511B2 Nonvolatile semiconductor storage system
A nonvolatile semiconductor storage system has multiple nonvolatile semiconductor storage media, a control circuit having a media interface group (one or more interface devices) coupled to the multiple nonvolatile semiconductor storage media, and multiple switches. The media interface group and the multiple switches are coupled via data buses, and each switch and each of two or more nonvolatile chips are coupled via a data bus. The switch is configured so as to switch a coupling between a data bus coupled to the media interface group and a data bus coupled to any of multiple nonvolatile chips that are coupled to this switch. The control circuit partitions write-target data into multiple data elements, switches a coupling by controlling the multiple switches, and distributively sends the multiple data elements to multiple nonvolatile chips.
US08949508B2 Non-volatile temporary data handling
Systems and methods are provided for handling temporary data that is stored in a non-volatile memory, such as NAND flash memory. The temporary data may include hibernation data or any other data needed for only one boot cycle of an electronic device. When storing the temporary data in one or more pages of the non-volatile memory, the electronic device can store a temporary marker as part of the metadata in at least one of the pages. This way, on the next bootup of the electronic device, the electronic device can use the temporary marker to determine that the associated page contains unneeded data. The electronic device can therefore invalidate the page and omit the page from its metadata tables.
US08949507B2 Method for performing block management, and associated memory device and controller thereof
A method for performing block management is provided. The method is applied to a controller of a Flash memory having multiple channels. The Flash memory includes a plurality of blocks respectively corresponding to the channels. The method includes: temporarily storing at least one index of at least one good block that is not grouped into any meta block into a spare good block table, where the good block is a block that is not determined as a bad block within the plurality of blocks; and when it is detected that a specific block corresponding to a specific channel within blocks currently grouped into meta blocks is a bad block, dynamically updating the spare good block table for use of block management. In particular, when needed, the good block is utilized for replacing a block grouped into a meta block. An associated memory device and a controller thereof are also provided.
US08949505B2 Techniques for dynamic disk personalization
Techniques for dynamic disk personalization are provided. A virtual image that is used to create an instance of a virtual machine (VM) is altered so that disk access operations are intercepted within the VM and redirected to a service that is external to the VM. The external service manages a personalized storage for a principal, the personalized storage used to personalize the virtual image without altering the virtual image.
US08949499B2 Using a PCI standard hot plug controller to modify the hierarchy of a distributed switch
The standard hot-plug controller (SHPC) specification may be used to generate PCI messages in a distributed switch to disconnect and/or connect virtual hierarchies of an endpoint from hosts that are connected based on multi-root input/output virtualization (MR-IOV). A management controller may instruct a SHPC to generate a PCI packet that specifies a particular virtual hierarchy to disconnect from a particular host. An upstream port connected to the host and the SHPC receives the PCI packet and uses a header that identifies the virtual endpoint in the packet to index into a routing table to identify a downstream port in the distributed switch that is connected to the endpoint. Once the PCI packet traverses the switch and arrives at the downstream port, the downstream port changes routing logic which logically disconnects the host from the specified virtual hierarchy.
US08949497B2 Method and apparatus for interleaving bursts of high-speed serial interconnect link training with bus data transactions
In an apparatus according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a communications link comprises a first device and a second device communicating with each other via the communications link at a plurality of different speeds. However, prior to communicating via the communications link for the first time at a second speed, the first device and second device complete a first training cycle at the second speed. Further, during this first training cycle for the second speed, the first training cycle for the second speed will pause before the first training cycle at the second speed completes, and the first device and second device communicate at a first speed for a period of time before returning to the paused first training cycle at the second speed. When the paused first training cycle for the second speed continues, the first training cycle for the second speed will continue where it had paused.
US08949496B2 Double-buffer insertion count stored in a device attached to a physical layer medium
One exemplary embodiment is directed to a connector assembly. The connector assembly comprises a port having a media interface configured to interface with a storage device interface of a connector. The connector is attached to a segment of physical communication media. The connector also includes a storage device. The connector assembly also comprises a programmable processor configured to execute software that stores information to the storage device using a plurality of redundant storage operations by which a plurality of copies of the information is sequentially stored in the storage device.
US08949492B2 Apparatus including buffer allocation management and related methods
Memory system controllers can include hardware masters, first buffers, and a switch coupled to the hardware masters and to the first buffers. The switch can include second buffers and a buffer allocation management (BAM) circuit. The BAM circuit can include a buffer tag pool. The buffer tag pool can include tags, each identifying a respective first buffer or a respective second buffer. The BAM circuit can be configured to allocate a tag to a hardware master in response to an allocation request from the hardware masters. The BAM circuit can be configured to prioritize allocation of a tag identifying a second buffer over a tag identifying a first buffer.
US08949478B2 Intelligent serial interface
An intelligent serial interface circuit in accordance with one embodiment of the invention can include a first communication interface circuit for enabling a first communication protocol. The intelligent serial interface circuit can also include a second communication interface circuit for enabling a second communication protocol. Furthermore, the intelligent serial interface circuit can include a detector circuit coupled to the first communication interface circuit and the second communication interface circuit. The detector circuit can be for automatically detecting a factor that indicates automatically enabling the first communication interface circuit and automatically disabling the second communication interface circuit. The detector circuit can be for detecting a coupling of a pin of the first communication interface circuit that is not used by the second communication interface circuit.
US08949477B2 Accessory device architecture
An accessory device architecture is described. In one or more implementations, data is received from an accessory device at an intermediate processor of a computing device, the data usable to enumerate functionality of the accessory device for operation as part of a computing device that includes the intermediate processor. The data is passed by the intermediate processor to an operating system executed on processor of the computing device to enumerate the functionality of the accessory device as part of the intermediate processor.
US08949471B2 TCP/UDP acceleration
A method for accelerating TCP/UDP packet switching. The method involves determining whether exception processing is necessary; if not, the packet is forwarded to a special stack for expedited processing. Packets requiring exception processing are forwarded to the conventional stack.
US08949462B1 Removing personal identifiable information from client event information
Event information with respect to events that occur at a client is identified. At a client and/or a proxy, personal identifiable information (PII) from the event information is removed to produce event data. The event data is transmitted to a server.
US08949459B1 Methods and apparatus for distributed backbone internet DDOS mitigation via transit providers
Methods and apparatus for distributed Internet backbone DDOS (distributed denial of service) mitigation via transit providers. A provider network may include a data center and a remote point of presence (RPOP) linked to the data center by private backbone links. The data center may include servers, a traffic analyzer and a routing information generator. The traffic analyzer determines a target address to which a pattern of traffic matching a profile is detected. The routing information generator may generate new routing information for the target address that avoids the use of the backbone, and provide the information to an IP transit provider. The IP transit provider propagates the new routing information to the RPOP, which directs subsequent traffic to the target address over a path that excludes the backbone.
US08949451B2 Combined broadcast and unicast delivery
Described herein are techniques for facilitating combined broadcast and unicast delivery of content. According to various embodiments, a media stream from a content provider may be received at a unicast server and at a broadcast server. The media stream may comprise a plurality of media stream fragments. A relative delay may be introduced into the media stream at the broadcast server such that media stream fragments transmitted from the broadcast server are delayed relative to media stream fragments transmitted from the unicast server. The media stream fragments may be transmitted to a user device. The user device may be operable to switch between receiving the media stream fragments from the unicast server and the broadcast server.
US08949450B2 Using multiple media players to insert data items into a media stream of a streaming media
Playback of a tagged audio stream at a user's computer can be controlled using a first media player. When the first media player detects a tag in the tagged audio stream, it mutes the volume of the first media player, and transfers playback control to a second media player operating at the same computer. The second media player controls playback of untagged media content, and in response to detecting completion of the untagged media content, returns playback control to the first media player. In this way, multiple media players in a client device can control the playback of audio content and the insertion of spots into that content.
US08949441B2 System and method for optimizing media resource for IMS SCIM/service brokering
In accordance with various embodiments, systems and methods that improve communication with a media server are provided. Such a system can include a plurality of applications, executing on one or more application servers. The system can also include a media server which is operable to play announcements requested by the plurality of applications to one or more parties in a call; and a SCIM. The SCIM is operable to buffer requests from the plurality of applications to play the announcements. When an application in a chain of applications requests that an announcement be played to a party, the SCIM can buffer the request, communicate with each remaining application in the chain of applications and buffer any requests to play an additional announcement to the party, open a connection to the media server, and instruct the media server to play each announcement associated with each buffered request.
US08949437B2 Method for updating connection profile in content delivery service
A method for updating a connection profile in a content delivery service by a dynamic content delivery (DCD) terminal, comprises: receiving, from a server, a connection profile update message including a connection profile; transmitting, to the server, a connection profile update confirmation message in response to the reception; transmitting, to the server, a session deactivation request message based on the connection profile; and transmitting, to another server, a session activation request message base on the connection profile.
US08949436B2 System and method for controlling peer-to-peer connections
The present invention relates to a system and method for controlling peer-to-peer connections in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) streaming application for individual Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks over a localized overlay. The system may include a tracker local to a first ISP network configured to select edge peers among local peers of the first ISP network. The selected edge peers have external connections to peers outside the first ISP network in order to transfer sub-streams to or from the first ISP network, and the local peers not selected as edge peers have internal connections to other local peers within the first ISP network to transfer the sub-streams over the localized overlay.
US08949411B2 Determining whether a device is inside a network
A network address of a computing device is obtained, and an unencrypted request is sent to a resource access manager of a particular network. If both a response is received from the resource access manager and the computing device has a network address within a desired range of network addresses, then a determination is made that the computing device is inside the particular network. Otherwise, a determination is made that the computing device is outside the particular network.
US08949410B2 Server load balancer scaling for virtual servers
Techniques are provided herein for receiving information at a device in a network indicating a load level for one or more server load balancers that are configured to manage network traffic load for a plurality of servers. The information represents an aggregate load across the plurality of servers. A determination is made as to whether the load level for one or more of the server load balancers exceeds a predetermined threshold. In response to determining that the load level for one or more of the server load balancers exceeds the predetermined threshold, an additional load balancer is activated that is configured to manage network traffic load for the plurality of servers. In response to determining that the load level for one or more of the server load balancers does not exceed the predetermined threshold, an additional load balancer is deactivated that was configured to manage network traffic load for the plurality of servers.
US08949396B2 Computer-readable storage medium having display control program stored therein, display control device, and display control system
A game apparatus 3A includes: a registration information storage section 171 that stores pieces of individual information about game apparatuses 3 registered as communication partners, with which the game apparatus 3A communicates, and pieces of distinguishing information, about the game apparatuses 3, associated with the pieces of individual information; a connection determination section 101 that determines whether a game apparatus 3B, corresponding to one of the stored pieces of individual information, is connected to a server device 8; a first acquisition section 103 that acquires, when the game apparatus 3B is connected to the server device 8, a piece of individual information about a game apparatus 3C communicating with the game apparatus 3B; and a communication state display section 104 that visibly displays, based on the pieces of individual information, communication states of the game apparatus 3B and the game apparatus 3C associated with each other.
US08949393B2 Self-service application for a service management system and method of operation thereof
A service management system and method. In one embodiment, the service management system includes: (1) a service description repository configured to contain service descriptions that define services in terms of a set of end points that assume roles in the services and (2) a self-service application configured to collect ones of the end points mapped into roles pertaining to one of the services from a corresponding one of the service descriptions, collect key/value pairs on the ones of the end points pertaining to an issue with respect to the one of the services, evaluate the key/value pairs using optimal values and, if a predefined condition regarding the issue is met, attempt to employ the key/value pairs to address the issue.
US08949380B2 Method and system for distributing images to client systems
A method and system for distributing images for display by client systems. A distribution system includes an image server system that is connected to image client systems via a communications link, such as the Internet. The image server system is responsible for providing image packages to the image client systems and for collecting information from the image client systems. Each image client system periodically sends a heartbeat communication to the image server system. Upon receiving a heartbeat communication, the image server system determines the state of the image client system that sent the heartbeat communication and responds appropriately. The response may include instructions for the image client system to retrieve new images, to retrieve software updates, to send usage data, and so on.
US08949376B2 System and method for transfering data to and from a standalone video playback device
A server system transfers data via a network to and from one or more “smart” media players. The server system can be used, for example, to facilitate saving and retrieving media player settings, such as user preferences. The server system can also be used, for example, to facilitate a user sharing his or her favorite scene from a movie with other users.
US08949372B2 Transmission apparatus and transmission method
A request message containing a first description defining a portion to be extracted from multimedia data and a second description defining a scheme for extracting the portion is received from a data reception apparatus. The portion defined by the first description is extracted as partial data from the multimedia data. A coefficient corresponding to the scheme defined by the second description is acquired. Whether a value corresponding to the acquired coefficient is larger than a threshold is determined. If the value is larger than the threshold, the partial data is compressed, and compressed data obtained by the compression is transmitted to the data reception apparatus. If the value is equal to or smaller than the threshold, the partial data is transmitted to the data reception apparatus.
US08949369B2 Two-tier architecture for remote access service
Remote access service is provided between two or more computers on a network to facilitate a variety of activities, including desktop sharing, web-meetings, and web-conferences. A first computer sends its connection information to a server. The server stores the connection information for the first computer. A second computer may make a request to the server to remotely access the first computer. The server sends to the second computer the connection information it has stored for the first computer. The second computer uses the connection information for the first computer to send to the first computer connection information for the second computer via direct network connection. From this point on, the first computer and the second computer exchange data for remote access via a direct network connection, independently of the server.
US08949368B2 Method for cache object aggregation
A system including a first user agent configured to transmit request data corresponding to a requested web page, wherein the request data includes a request data header, and an optimization server configured to receive the request data, to determine whether the request header data matches a classification of a grouping that identifies cached content data, wherein the grouping is configured based on similarities between a first content data and a second content data; and to transmit the cached content data to the user based on the determination.
US08949358B2 Method and system for building an entity profile from email address and name information
An entity-profiling system obtains an electronic identifier for a target entity, such as an email address at which the target entity can be reached, and parses the electronic identifier to determine a name for the target entity. The system also parses the electronic identifier to determine a domain with which the target entity is associated. The system then obtains one or more Internet web pages associated with the target entity based on the entity's name and the domain, and generates a profile for the target entity based on the obtained Internet web pages.
US08949342B2 Messaging system
A method of selecting a recipient of a message on the basis of data identifying access to previously transmitted messages, wherein each said message includes content data for display within a display area of a receiving terminal and control data including data indicative of a user selectable portion within the display area. The method includes receiving content data having one of a plurality of different types for use in creating said message, accessing tracking data corresponding to a previously transmitted message containing content data of a given type, the tracking data being indicative of selection of said user selectable portion upon display thereof at said receiving terminal, and selecting a recipient of the message on the basis of the received content data and the tracking data.
US08949340B2 Systems and methods for organizing content for mobile media services
In embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods for organizing content for media services may comprise organizing content from a plurality of data sources having information relevant to a channel, transforming the content into short messages suitable for delivery to a user via at least two of SMS, MMS, WAP, e-mail, and the Internet, and managing a script of such messages, wherein the next short message in a series is based on a user response to a prior short message in the series. User engagement may be facilitated by developing locally produced, personalized channels for delivery of relevant content. The mobile platform may enable building mobile-oriented communities around original content. Content may be local, authentic, relevant, insider, original, aggregated, a multi-modal mash-up, and the like.
US08949338B2 Peer-to-peer trading platform
A computer-implemented method and system is disclosed in which a network-based interaction environment includes a plurality of peer-to-peer nodes being able to communicate directly with each other using a peer-to-peer protocol and a peer-to-peer client application, and a first peer-to-peer client application to maintain persistent item information on at least one peer-to-peer node of the plurality of peer-to-peer nodes, the persistent information being related to an item being offered by a first user of the first peer-to-peer client application.
US08949328B2 Performing collective operations in a distributed processing system
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for performing collective operations on a hybrid distributed processing system that includes a plurality of compute nodes and a plurality of tasks, each task is assigned a unique rank, and each compute node is coupled for data communications by at least two different networking topologies. At least one of the two networking topologies is a tiered tree topology having a root task and at least two child tasks and the at least two child tasks are peers of one another in the same tier. Embodiments include for each task, sending at least a portion of data corresponding to the task to all child tasks of the task through the tree topology; and sending at least a portion of the data corresponding to the task to all peers of the task at the same tier in the tree topology through the second topology.
US08949326B1 Routing work to resources in a web-based social network
An exemplary method for routing work to resources in a web-based social network comprises determining a type of work in a work request from a service, determining at least one relevant capability for servicing the work request based on the type of work, determining, from a plurality of social networks, at least one resource in a social network having the relevant capability, and enabling the service to route work related to the work request to the at least one resource.
US08949324B2 Image display system, display apparatus, and display method
According to some aspects, an image display apparatus is provided comprising a display apparatus comprising a display section and a controller. The controller may be configured to display a map image via the display section, set location specification information based on an input specifying a position on the map image, and transmit the location specification information to a server apparatus, receive image data transmitted from the server apparatus in response to the transmission of location specification information to the server apparatus, the received image data having been obtained by photographing by an imaging section of an imaging apparatus configured to be worn on a head of a user, and the received image data having been transmitted to the server apparatus from the imaging apparatus in addition to additional data comprising location information detected at a time when the image data was photographed.
US08949322B2 Systems, computer program products, and methods for generating custom web pages for mobile device
A system generating a web page portal customized for a particular requesting mobile device is disclosed. The system includes an information store having multiple groups, each associated with device qualifications, web-design characteristics, and device identifications. The system also includes a custom web page development database (CWDD) including a plurality of web page component modules storing forms of web page components, and a custom web page development server (CWDS). The CWDS (i) receives an incoming request for a web page from the particular requesting mobile device, (ii) identifies a device type, and (iv) determines an applicable group. The CWDS also (v) obtains web-design characteristics from the applicable group, (vi) accesses the CWDD and obtains applicable web page components based on the web-design characteristics obtained from the applicable group of the information store, and (vii) generates the custom web page portal using the applicable web page components obtained from the CWDD.
US08949321B2 Method for creating image and or text-based projects through an electronic interface from a mobile application
A system for creating and editing image and or text-based projects from a mobile computing appliance includes a server connected to a network, the server having access to least one processor and a data repository, the server including a non-transitory physical medium, and software running from the non-transitory physical medium, the software providing a first function for establishing a client server connection between the server and at least one user-operated computing appliance connected to the network, a second function for providing a mobile application including an image selection component, a project previewing component, and a project ordering component to the mobile computing appliance, and a third function for enabling initiation of and maintenance of an active data session between one or more users involved in project creation and or in project editing through the mobile application.
US08949320B2 Managing a distributed cache for virtual machines
Clients may display desktop environments to provide users with access to virtual machines (VMs). Graphical objects that displayed in the desktop environments are stored in caches in multiple clients. A host that hosts a VM may track or manage the graphical objects that are in the caches of the multiple clients. The host may instruct a first client to obtain a graphical object from a second client that is near the first client, instead of providing the graphical object to the first client directly.
US08949306B2 Apparatus connected to network and method for requesting another apparatus to perform processing via network
A second apparatus, which is connected to a first apparatus and a third apparatus via a network, transmits a signal to the third apparatus for preventing the third apparatus from stopping an operation in a case where the second apparatus requests the first apparatus to perform processing including an access to the third apparatus.
US08949305B1 Distributed dynamic system configuration
Reliably making configuration changes to distributed systems, including receiving commands for multiple configuration changes, subdividing configuration changes into separate tasks, and performing those tasks at each node. A configuration element receives sets of configuration change commands, acknowledging them so the user need not wait before issuing additional commands. Tasks are determined, each including consistent changes to system configuration, and each including single-device tasklets. Each particular tasklet might be assigned to a particular single device, or to any single device in the system. Next tasks are performed when tasklets are complete. If tasklets are not timely performed due to nodes which are relatively unresponsive, those nodes are marked “failed.” When a failed node returns to responsiveness, it marks itself “recovering.” When a recovering node catches up, it marks itself “operational.” Updates by failed or recovering nodes are skipped while synchronizing with operational nodes.
US08949304B2 Method and apparatus for accelerating the expiration of resource records in a local cache
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates reconfirmation of resource records in a cache. The system starts by retrieving the resource record at a client and attempting to establish communication using the data in that resource record. In the event that communication is not successful, the system responds by issuing one or more queries for the resource record in question. The system then waits for a response to the query. If the response to the query is not received in a predetermined amount of time, the system invalidates the resource record. The response from the device is a multicast response, thereby allowing other clients to update corresponding resource records in their local caches without querying the device, and thus saving network bandwidth.
US08949302B2 Digital front end for oversampled low-IF or zero-IF multimode receivers
A digital radio signal is processed by converting an analog signal to a digital signal, decimating the digital signal using a CIC filter and supplying the decimated digital signal directly to an asynchronous sample rate converter (ASRC). The decimated signal is resampled in the ASRC and the ASRC output is supplied directly to a droop compensation filter to compensate the output of the ASRC. By carefully choosing the response of the CIC filter and the resample rate of the ASRC, aliased artifacts in the pass band can be kept below a threshold magnitude without the need for a channelization filter.
US08949298B1 Computing floating-point polynomials in an integrated circuit device
Polynomial circuitry for calculating a polynomial having terms including powers of an input variable, where the input variable has a mantissa and an exponent, and the circuitry has a number of bits of precision, includes multiplier circuitry that calculates a common power of the input variable factored out of terms of the polynomial having powers of the variable greater than 1. The polynomial circuitry further includes, for each respective remaining term of the polynomial that contributes to the number of bits of precision: (1) a coefficient memory loaded with a plurality of instances of a coefficient for the respective term, each instance being shifted by a different number of bits, (2) address circuitry for selecting one of the instances of the coefficient based on the exponent, and (3) circuitry for combining the selected instance of the coefficient with a corresponding power of the input variable to compute the respective term.
US08949296B2 Method for controlling file request access
A mirror file number corresponding to a file being requested is transmitted to a host OS. A determination is made as to whether or not caching is performed in the host OS, and reading of the data of the mirror file number is requested to a block device if it is determined that the data of the mirror file number that was transmitted is not cached. The block device acquires the memory address where the corresponding actual contents are stored, corresponding to the sector number, acquires the sequence number corresponding to the contents, changes the acquired sequence number, and reads the data of the acquired memory address. The read data is converted to data with a modified sequence number attached, and the data is provided to the host OS. If it is determined that the data is cached in the host OS, the cached data is provided.
US08949289B2 System and method for multilingual transcription service with automated notification services
A system and method for generating and managing a secure, multi-user project database.
US08949285B2 Systems and methods for handling performance monitoring data
The present disclosure provides systems and methods for handling performance monitoring (PM) data in a database in a manner that supports different PM data sets from different network element (NE) device types in an integrated manner. The present invention defines a single database structure that can be utilized to store, handle, retrieve, etc. PM counters from multiple NEs including NEs of different types, e.g. SONET/SDH NE, DWDM NE, optical switch, Ethernet switch, etc. The single database enables an efficient mechanism to handle PM data in a uniform way across a network with different device types.
US08949270B2 Methods and systems for processing social media data
Methods and systems are provided for processing social media data. The method includes receiving a request from a user for social media analytics of social media data; sending the social media data to a first analytics provider and a second analytics provider; receiving first analytics data from the first data analytics provider and second analytics data from the second analytics provider; storing the first analytics data and the second analytics data in a database; and presenting the first analytics data and the second analytics data to the user.
US08949267B2 Information processing device, information processing method, and recording medium that has recorded information processing program
An appropriate search is carried out even with images including a complicated layout structure, decorated characters, and so on. An image search device 10 is provided with an image database 11 to store an image as a search target, a character string region extraction unit 13 to extract a character string region including a character string in the image, a character candidate recognition unit 14 to specify a plurality of character candidates through execution of character recognition from the image, for each of characters forming the character string in the character string region, a character candidate storage unit 15 to store the plurality of character candidates in the sequence of the character string in correspondence with the image as the specifying origin of the character candidates, a search keyword input unit 17 to input a search keyword, a search unit 18 to perform a search to determine whether each of characters forming the search keyword matches any of the plurality of character candidates for the character string, and an output unit 19 to output the result of the search.
US08949266B2 Multiple web-based content category searching in mobile search application
In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for multiple web-based content category searching for web content on a mobile communication facility comprising capturing speech presented by a user using a resident capture facility on the mobile communication facility; transmitting at least a portion of the captured speech as data through a wireless communication facility to a speech recognition facility; generating speech-to-text results for the captured speech utilizing the speech recognition facility; and transmitting the text results and a plurality of formatting rules specifying how search text may be used to form a query for a search capability on the mobile communications facility, wherein each formatting rule is associated with a category of content to be searched.
US08949259B2 Systems, methods, software, and interfaces for analyzing, mapping, and depicting search results in a topical space
The present inventor devised, among other things, information retrieval systems, methods, software, and related interfaces that help users assess and if necessary bolster the quality of their manual selections from search results. One exemplary system receives a set of documents selected from search results for an input query, identifies key subjects in the selected documents, and outputs a graphic, such as a pie chart, that shows not only how well these selected documents relate to the query, but also whether there are gaps in the topical scope of the selected documents related to the input query.
US08949253B1 Low-overhead image search result generation
A device may be configured to identify a plurality of images that are similar to a query image; generate a plurality of sets of rankings of the identified images based on a plurality of image attributes; compare the generated plurality of sets of rankings of the identified images to a reference set of rankings of images; select, based on the comparing, a particular set of rankings; and rank a plurality of images that are associated with another query image, based on an attribute associated with the selected particular set of rankings.
US08949251B2 System for and method of identifying closely matching textual identifiers, such as domain names
Methods and systems provide tracking or logging requests to resolve non-existent domain (NXDomains) and organizing the NXDomains to support searching of the domain names including ranking the NXDomains based on popularity, e.g, number of hits or potential traffic based on the number of requests made for the NXDomain. NXDomain logs may be organized so that it supports searching by creating an inverted index including n-grams of the NXDomains. Searching includes identifying a target substring in one or more of the indexes, selecting those matching NXDomains satisfying some threshold criteria, and displaying the NXDomains in a selected order such as by demand or popularity associated with, for example, a selected geographical location from which resolution requests targeting respective NXDomains originate.
US08949249B2 Techniques to find percentiles in a distributed computing environment
Techniques to search for data elements in a distributed computing environment are described. An apparatus may comprise a processor and a memory unit communicatively coupled to the processor. The memory unit may store a correlation module that when executed by the processor is operative to determine a target rank position at a target percentile rank within a total data set. The correlation module may determine a target data item at the target rank position for the total data set using candidate data items at candidate rank positions for each of multiple sorted data subsets of the total data set, and correlation values associated with each of the candidate data items. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08949244B2 Using chronology as the primary system interface for files, their related meta-data, and their related files
Methods, Apparatuses, and Storage Medium associated with chronology based file management are disclosed herein. In embodiments, a method may include receiving a selection of a plurality of files or the plurality of files, and generating association data selectively associating the plurality of files with a plurality of events scheduled in a calendar of a user or time periods of the user. The method may further include storing the association data to facilitate subsequent selectively retrieval of the plurality of files in response to retrieval requests for files associated with selected ones of the plurality of events scheduled in the calendar of the user or the time periods of the user. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08949238B2 Information processing device, method, and computer program product
An information processing device, method and computer program product use a candidate attribute area identification portion configured to receive information associated with a cluster including at least one data item. The candidate attribute area identification portion identifies at least one named attribute area for each of the at least one data item. A relatedness assessment portion assesses a relatedness between the cluster and each of the at least one named attribute area. A cluster name generation portion generates a cluster name based on the assessed relatedness, wherein said cluster name includes at least a part of one of the at least one named attribute area.
US08949233B2 Adaptive knowledge platform
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including medium-encoded computer program products, for providing an adaptive knowledge platform. In one or more aspects, a system can include a knowledge management component to acquire, classify and disseminate information of a dataset; a human-computer interaction component to visualize multiple perspectives of the dataset and to model user interactions with the multiple perspectives; and an adaptivity component to modify one or more of the multiple perspectives of the dataset based on a user-interaction model.
US08949231B2 Methods and systems for selecting and presenting content based on activity level spikes associated with the content
A method of selecting and presenting content based on detecting an increased level of activity associated with the content is presented. The method includes providing a set of content items with associated descriptive terms. The method includes receiving user search input for identifying desired content items and, in response to the input entered by the user, presenting a subset of content items to the user. The method further includes receiving actions from the user selecting content items from the subset and analyzing the descriptive terms associated with the selected content items to detect an increased level of activity for descriptive terms associated with the content items selected by the users. The method includes, in response to receiving subsequent user search input, selecting and ordering a collection of content items based on promoting the ranking of content items associated with descriptive terms that have an increased level of recent activity.
US08949223B2 Dynamic language translation of web site content
A method, system and computer program product for providing translated web content is disclosed. The method includes receiving a request from a user on a web site, the web site having a first web content in a first language, wherein the request calls for a second web content in a second language. The method further includes dividing the first web content into a plurality of translatable components and generating a unique identifier for each translatable component. The method further includes identifying a plurality of translated components of the second web content using the unique identifier of each of the plurality of translatable components of the first web content and putting the plurality of translated components of the second web content to preserve a format that corresponds to the first web content. The method further includes providing the second web content in response to the request that was received.
US08949218B2 Techniques for join processing on column partitioned tables
Techniques for processing joins on column partitioned tables are provided. A join operation having a column partitioned table within a query is decomposed into a two-step process. The first process performs the join condition on the column portioned table with optional filtering conditions and a non-column partitioned table and spools the resulting columns to a spooled table. The spooled table is then rowid joined back to the column partitioned table to acquire remaining columns not present in the spooled table. Both the first and second steps can be separately resolved for costs when determining a query execution plan.
US08949217B2 Server bookmarks
A system receives, at a server, an action request from a client associated with bookmarks, where the bookmarks identify user designated documents. The system accesses bookmark records stored at the server based on the action request and acting on the bookmark records in a manner specified by the action request.
US08949216B2 Determining characteristic parameters for web pages
A computer receives a search request, wherein the search request contains one or more parameters that allow a search to be performed. Responsive to the search request, the computer identifies a plurality of web pages connected by a plurality of links. The computer determines the number of links in the longest path that connects at least a portion of the plurality of web pages, wherein the longest path includes a sequence of at least two web pages of the plurality of web pages connected by a link of the plurality of links. The computer determines the number of links included in a web page of the plurality of web pages.
US08949214B1 Mashup platform
Delivering a page that includes a plurality of modules is disclosed. A query is received. Subject type concepts associated with the query are determined. Candidate modules that correspond to the associated concepts are found. A plurality of modules is selected from the candidate modules to be delivered on a page.
US08949204B2 Efficient development of a rule-based system using crowd-sourcing
Described herein are methods, systems, apparatuses and products for efficient development of a rule-based system. An aspect provides a method including accessing data records; converting said data records to an intermediate form; utilizing intermediate forms to compute similarity scores for said data records; and selecting as an example to be provided for rule making at least one record of said data records having a maximum dissimilarity score indicative of dissimilarity to already considered examples.
US08949201B1 Self-removal of enterprise app data
Self-removal of enterprise application data (e.g., managed application data) is disclosed. It may be determined that a data removal condition has been satisfied. Based at least in part on the determination, data removal information may be generated for a plurality of applications including a managed set of mobile applications. The data removal information may be provided to at least a first application included in the plurality of applications. The first application may provide the data removal information to a data storage location accessible to at least a second application upon a data removal-related event.
US08949200B2 Methods for address book synchronization and subscription status notification
The various disclosed techniques and equipment relate to synchronizing a subscriber's address books located in a portal and in the subscriber's mobile station, determining the subscription status of a directory number of another party with whom the subscriber intends to communicate, and/or for enabling the subscriber to make a referral to another party who might not be a qualified subscriber.
US08949199B2 Systems and methods for de-duplication in storage systems
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a storage system may include a storage array comprising one or more storage resources, a processor communicatively coupled to the storage array, and a de-duplication module comprising instructions embodied on a computer-readable medium communicatively coupled to the processor. The de-duplication module may be configured to, when read and executed by the processor: generate a fingerprint for an item of data stored on the storage array; identify a partition for the fingerprint; associate the partition with a hardware instance selected from a plurality of hardware instances, wherein each particular hardware instance comprises one or more information handling resources; and query the selected hardware instance to determine if the fingerprint exists on the hardware instance.
US08949198B2 Systems and methods for building a universal multimedia learner
A unified framework to understand multimedia signals utilizes the loosely annotated multimedia data on the Web, analysis it in various signal domains, such as text, image, audio and combinations thereof, and builds an association graph called the “Multimedia Brain,” which basically comprises visual signals, audio signals, text phrases and the like that capture a multitude of objects, experiences and their attributes and the links among them that capture similar intent or functional and contextual relationships.
US08949194B1 Active records management
Automated detection and management of electronic records is disclosed. An electronic content is detected. It is determined through automated processing of the electronic content that a records management policy applies to the electronic content. It is ensured through automated processing that the electronic content is stored as required by the records management policy.
US08949192B2 Technique of controlling access to database
A method of controlling access to a database includes autonomously archiving data within a database from a first storage device into a second storage device, according to an archive condition; the archive condition being input in conjunction with the data and being associated with the data; accepting an input of an access command to the database; determining whether data to be accessed in response to the access command input has already been archived in the second storage device based on the access command and the archive condition; and accessing data included in the database or data archived in the second storage device according to the access command based on the determination.
US08949190B2 Point-in-time database recovery using log holes
A first plurality of log segments are generated in a data storage application. The log segments are sequentially positioned within a log area and at least one of the log segments contains log hole information identifying a portion of log to skip during replay of the log. Thereafter, a portion of log segments are replayed up to a specified position while skipping at least one portion of the log prior to the specified position that is identified by the at least one log hole. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US08949189B2 Managing storage of individually accessible data units
Managing data by: receiving a group of individually accessible data units, each data unit identified by a key value, with key values determined such that the key value identifying a first data unit received before a second data unit occurs earlier in a sort order than the key value identifying the second data unit; and processing the data units for storage in a data storage system. The processing includes: storing blocks of data, the blocks being generated by combining a plurality of the data units; providing an index with entries that enable location, based on a provided key value, of a block that includes a data unit corresponding to the provided key value; and generating one or more screening data structures associated with the blocks for determining, based on a given key value, whether to search the stored blocks for a data unit corresponding to the given key value.
US08949188B2 Efficient backup and restore of a cluster aware virtual input/output server (VIOS) within a VIOS cluster
In a Virtual Input/Output (I/O) Server (VIOS) partition within a data processing system that comprises cluster-aware VIOSes, a method includes: performing, via a backup/restore utility of a cluster aware (CA) operating system (OS) executing on a processor resource of the first VIOS partition, a backup operation on the first VIOS partition, which creates a first configuration backup file having configuration information about the hardware, logical and virtual devices of the VIOS partition; storing the configuration backup file within local storage; and responsive to receipt of a VIOS restore command: retrieving the configuration backup file from the local storage; and restoring the configuration of the hardware, logical and virtual devices of the first VIOS to a state that existed at a time at which the backup operation creating the configuration backup file was performed.
US08949182B2 Continuous and asynchronous replication of a consistent dataset
Embodiments of the invention relate to creating and maintaining consistent data sets in a shared pool of configurable computer resources to support disaster recovery support. Data from an application is stored in local data storage and replicated to another data storage. A consistency point of the data is created in both of the data storage, with the consistency point representing an identical data set at a point-in-time. Based upon the created consistency points, a consistent set of application data may be requested to support a read operation for a migrated application.
US08949173B2 Pay zone prediction
Implementations of pay zone prediction are described. More particularly, apparatus and techniques described herein allow a user to predict pay zones in wells. By accurately predicting pay zones, the user can perforate an existing well at predefined well depths to access hydrocarbon bearing strata while avoiding other undesirable strata (such as water bearing strata). For example, in one possible implementation, well data and syntactic data from a first set of one or more existing wells can be used to create one or more syntactic models. These syntactic models can then be used with water cut and well data from the one or more existing wells to create a pay zone prediction model which can be used with wells outside of the first set of existing wells.
US08949167B2 Method and device for the quality analysis of system models
A device (100) for the quality analysis of system models (10, 12) has a testing tool (1) that is designed to receive a plurality of system models (10, 12) from a plurality of modeling tools (11, 13), convert it into a unified data model (2) and check it for quality with the aid of unified quality rules (3).
US08949165B2 Procedure, apparatus, system, and computer program for network planning
A method, apparatus, system, and computer program, for operating a network planning tool. The method includes recognizing at least one predetermined criteria being satisfied or triggered, and learning at least one network attribute, to be used in subsequent network planning. Various types of network attributes can be learned, such as, e.g., network element parameters, site parameters, link parameters, demand parameters, optical parameters, general parameters, and networking parameters. Example attributes may specify, e.g., a maximum number of add/drop channels, at least one alarm threshold, a maximum number of sites per network ring, a maximum number of add/drop sites per ring, and a maximum ring circumference. Others can specify a maximum light path distance, a routing tendency, at least one grooming node, or the like.
US08949148B2 Goods receipt preparation
Methods and systems for receiving shipping documents, correlating information in the shipping documents with purchase-order information in a database to produce expected delivery manifests, then directing a transport to a processing facility to unload items which are verified against the delivery manifest. Software to support these systems is also described and claimed.
US08949146B2 Method for purchasing tickets using a mobile communication device
A method for using a mobile communication device to purchase a ticket for an event. The method comprises locating an event of interest to a user through the mobile communication device, displaying a seating map of a venue in which the event of interest is being held, the seating map being displayed on the mobile communication device, receiving user input selecting an available seat on the seating map, issuing an electronic ticket to the user for the seat, and storing the electronic ticket on the mobile communication device.
US08949137B2 Managing patient consent in a master patient index
A system and method for managing patient consent. A data access manager includes a controller, a lookup module, a clinical authorization engine, a logging/auditing unit, a user profile engine, a report module and a user interface engine. The controller manages the core functions and the transmission of data between the data access manager components. The lookup module enables a user to query patient data. The clinical authorization engine authorizes access to patient data. The logging/auditing unit logs and monitors user activity. The user profile engine accesses and updates user profile information. The patient profile engine accesses and updates patient profile information. The report module generates reports related to the user activity. The user interface engine generates user interfaces for displaying the user profiles and patient information data.
US08949133B2 Information retrieving apparatus
An information retrieving apparatus is provided which has excellent usability using voice inputs. Search queries input by a user via a touch panel or the like are used as voice recognition vocabulary. Further, the search queries are edited by use of morpheme information and/or other information in a database, thereby providing such voice recognition vocabulary that can be easily uttered by the user.
US08949129B2 Neural translator
A method and apparatus are provided for processing a set of communicated signals associated with a set of muscles, such as the muscles near the larynx of the person, or any other muscles the person use to achieve a desired response. The method includes the steps of attaching a single integrated sensor, for example, near the throat of the person proximate to the larynx and detecting an electrical signal through the sensor. The method further includes the steps of extracting features from the detected electrical signal and continuously transforming them into speech sounds without the need for further modulation. The method also includes comparing the extracted features to a set of prototype features and selecting a prototype feature of the set of prototype features providing a smallest relative difference.
US08949120B1 Adaptive noise cancelation
Systems and methods for controlling adaptivity of noise cancellation are presented. One or more audio signals are received by one or more corresponding microphones. The one or more signals may be decomposed into frequency sub-bands. Noise cancellation consistent with identified adaptation constraints is performed on the one or more audio signals. The one or more audio signals may then be reconstructed from the frequency sub-bands and outputted via an output device.
US08949118B2 System and method for robust estimation and tracking the fundamental frequency of pseudo periodic signals in the presence of noise
Method and system for tracking fundamental frequencies of pseudo-periodic signals in the presence of noise that include receiving a time-frequency representation of signals measured in a predefined environment; estimating and tracking a fundamental frequency of a respective pseudo-periodic signal at each time frame of the time-frequency representation by tracking detections of harmonious frequencies in the time-frequency representation over time; and outputting each respective estimated fundamental frequency associated with the pseudo-periodic signal of each respective time frame.
US08949117B2 Encoding device, decoding device and methods therefor
Disclosed is an encoding device, wherein the energy information of a given layer is efficiently encoded using a scalable encoding method in which the band to be encoded is selected in each layer, and the quality of decoded signals can be enhanced. An encoding device (101) is equipped with: a second layer encoding unit (205) which generates a second layer encoded information included in which is the first band information of said band; a second layer decoding unit (206) which generates a first decoding signal by using the second layer encoded information; an adding unit (207) which generates a second input signal by using the first decoding signal; and a third layer encoding unit (208) which generates a third layer encoded information included in which is a second band information obtained by selecting a second band to be quantized in the second input signal, and a corrected gain (energy information).
US08949114B2 Method and arrangement for estimating the quality degradation of a processed signal
An objective quality assessment method for obtaining an improved estimate of a perceptual quality degradation of a processed signal, and an arrangement for executing such a method, is provided, which is executed on a processed signal and an associate reference signal. Both signals are split up into associated frame-pairs after which either all or selected frame-pairs are processed further, by creating a reference residual signal and a processed residual signal for each frame-pair, calculating separate ratios of p-norms on both residual signals, and by calculating and storing a per-frame quality estimate on the basis of the ratios of p-norms for each selected frame-pair. An objective per-signal quality estimate that is proportional to the perceptual quality degradation is then provided by aggregating the calculated per-frame-pair quality estimates.
US08949110B2 System and method for extracting categories of data
Lines of data that are from a historical document, such as a digitized city directory, have information extracted and stored in searchable data fields. Words and phrases within the lines of data are identified and tagged. Rendering rules are applied to the tagged words and phrases to extract names, addresses, occupations, spouse information and other data, and store that data in the searchable fields.
US08949103B2 Program code simulator
A system and method for facilitating simulation of a computer program. A program representation is generated from a computer program. A simulation of the program is performed. Simulation may include applying heuristics to determine program flow for selected instructions, such as a branch instruction or a loop instruction. Simulation may also include creating imaginary objects as surrogates for real objects, when program code to create real objects is restricted, or fields of the objects are unavailable or uncertain, or for other reasons. Data descriptive of the simulation is inserted into the program representation. A visualizer may retrieve the program representation and generate a visualization that shows sequence flows resulting from the simulation.
US08949100B1 System, method, and computer program product for simulating a mixed signal circuit design
The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for simulating an analog and mixed-signal circuit design having a digital circuit segment connected to an analog circuit segment at a connection point. The method may include inserting a bidirectional interface element at the connection point located between the digital circuit segment and the analog circuit segment. The method may further include splitting the digital circuit segment into a plurality of transistor network models to provide for bidirectional transfer of data between the analog circuit segment and the digital circuit segment.
US08949094B2 Thermal deflection analysis
An optimization wizard substantially automates the task of calculating thermal deflection analysis of a part. The optimization wizard requests a user to provide a mesh model representing the part and provide part definitions, such as the part's stiffness, expansion coefficient, etc. In addition, the wizard requests the user to provide boundary conditions by modifying normality of any elements in the mesh model and by fixing conditions of one or more nodes in all direction or in a one sliding direction. An initial and a final temperature may also be provided by the user. The optimization wizard receives the user inputs and generates an executable file describing the relationships and effects each input has on the part's deflection under the provided thermal conditions. The executable file is provided to a solver to determine the part's thermal deflection under the provided conditions.
US08949091B2 Method and system for thermal management by quantitative determination of cooling characteristics of data center
The invention provides a method and system for quantitative determination of cooling characteristics of a data center by calculating thermal influence indices. The invention further provides a method and system for providing effective thermal management in a data center using quantitative determination of cooling characteristics of a data center.
US08949089B1 System and apparatus for accessing a multiphysics modeling system via a design system user interface
Systems and methods for controlling settings of a design system include receiving, via a communications interface, identifying data associated with a multiphysics modeling system. Instructions are transmitted via the communication interface or another interface. The instructions include model settings related to a multiphysics model at least partially residing in the multiphysics modeling system. Model results are received that are at least partially derived from the transmitted model settings. At least a portion of the received model results are displayed in a graphical user interface associated with the design system.
US08949084B2 Determining a next value of a system-simulation parameter in response to a representation of a plot having the parameter as a dimension
An embodiment of an apparatus includes a simulator, generator, and determiner. The simulator is configured to simulate a system and to propagate at least one state of the simulated system through time in response to a value of a parameter, and the generator is configured to generate a representation of a region of a plot having dimensions that respectively correspond at least to the parameter and to a characteristic of a state of the simulated system. And the determiner is configured to determine a next value of the parameter in response to the representation of the region.
US08949078B2 Filter modules for aperture-coded, multiplexed imaging systems
A method for designing the spatial partition of a filter module used in an aperture-multiplexed imaging system. The filter module is spatially partitioned into filter cells, and the spatial partition is designed by considering data captured at the sensor in light of an application-specific performance metric.
US08949071B2 Circularity measuring apparatus and measurement value correcting method for circularity measuring method
According to the present invention, a center deviation amount, which is an amount of deviation (distance) between the center line of a reference measurement target and the detection point is calculated using the reference measurement target having a known diameter, and a measurement value of a diameter of an arbitrary measurement target is corrected using the center deviation amount. Therefore, an accurate diameter value can be calculated even in the case of a measurement target having a diameter value different from the diameter value of the reference measurement target.
US08949068B2 Rotation angle detection device and electric power steering apparatus using same
A rotation angle detection device uses a control unit to acquire output signals Vx1, Vx2, Vy1, Vy2 that are from four half-bridges, from the four half-bridges. The control unit calculates a rotation angle θ of a detection target based on the acquired output signals Vx1, Vx2, Vy1, Vy2. The control unit checks whether a mean value fixation abnormality is caused to any one of the four output signals Vx1, Vx2, Vy1, Vy2, based on calculation values C1 or C4 that are derived/yielded from the four output signals Vx1, Vx2, Vy1, Vy2. The mean value fixation abnormality caused to the output signals Vx1, Vx2, Vy1, Vy2 that yielded the calculation values C1 and C4 is appropriately determined.
US08949060B2 Inspection method
In order to set an inspection area in an inspection apparatus for inspecting a board, a plurality of measurement areas are set on a board, and then reference data and measurement data of at least one adjacent measurement area that is adjacent to a target measurement area for inspecting a measurement target, among the measurement areas, are acquired. Thereafter, at least one feature object is extracted from the adjacent measurement area. Then, a distortion degree is acquired by comparing reference data and measurement data corresponding to the feature object with each other, and thereafter the distortion degree is compensated for, to set an inspection area in the target measurement area. Thus, a conversion relation between the reference data and the measurement data may be correctly acquired, and an inspection area, in which distortion is compensated for, may be correctly set.
US08949055B2 Measurement device, particularly energy counter and method for recognition of manipulations
A measurement device, which communicates data to at least one system, and which has the capability of identifying measurement data returned by the system via the data communication as its own, and the capability to rule out manipulation of measurement values without use of a public or non-personal key. The measurement device includes at least an encryption and/or signature encoder that supplies information including a validity and reliability identifier for inspecting the integrity of the data, and compiles said information into a current data set and transfers it to at least said communication interface for transfer, and at least an encryption and/or signature decoder that inspects data sets returned via the communication interface using one or more keys in memory for integrity of data content and identification of the measurement device and, upon successful inspection of this data, supplies said data for further processing, evaluating or displaying.
US08949054B2 Compensation of simple fiber optic faraday effect sensors
A monitoring system for detecting earth faults in an electrical power supply grid providing a power signal includes a plurality of monitoring devices, each of the monitoring devices including a detector for detecting the level of harmonics in the power signal, wherein the level of harmonics is detected in a specific frequency range. Each of the monitoring devices further includes a memory for storing a harmonics reference value, a processor for comparing the detected level of harmonics with the reference level, and a communication device for transmitting an alarm if the detected level of harmonics is above the reference level for a specific period of time. Each of the detectors includes an optical sensor for detecting the harmonics by use of the Faraday effect.
US08949045B2 Method for determining characteristic values, particularly of parameters, of a centrifugal pump aggregate driven by an electric motor and integrated in a system
A method for determining characteristic values of an electrometrically driven centrifugal pump assembly with a speed controller, said assembly being integrated in an installation, includes determining characteristic values by way of electrical variables of the motor and of the pressure produced by the pump, with which one successively runs to at least two different operating points of the pump. Delivery rates are determined in the installation at the run-to operating points, and the characteristic values are determined based on the delivery rates.
US08949042B1 AUV pipeline inspection using magnetic tomography
The present invention discloses an autonomous magnetic tomography method (MTM) and device for magnetographic identification and magnetographic analysis of mechanical flaws and defects along structures located deep in the sea or otherwise located underwater and further underground. The invention optimizes the inspection and maintenance processes of extended metallic constructions, e.g., pipelines. The device is based on the inverse magnetostrictive effect (i.e., the Villari effect)—the variation of a material's magnetic susceptibility under applied mechanical stress. The changes in magnetic susceptibility result in distribution of a magnetic field gradient along a structure's surface area, thus providing information about the presence and the value of the magnetic field anomaly at a given and precise location on the structure. The device and method is capable of autonomous and offline operation underwater at depths up to 1,500 meters below sea level.
US08949039B2 Prediction apparatus, prediction system, image forming apparatus, medium transporter, and computer readable medium
A prediction apparatus includes: an acquisition unit that acquires an operation amount and a non-operation amount of a transporting unit that transports a medium; and a prediction unit that predicts a timing at which a transporting capability value changing with degradation of the transporting unit arrives at a threshold value using the operation amount and the non-operation amount of the transporting unit acquired by the acquisition unit based on (i) a relational expression between the operation amount of the transporting unit and the transporting capability value of the transporting unit and (ii) a relational expression between the non-operation amount of the transporting unit and the transporting capability value of the transporting unit.
US08949033B2 Method for quantification of neurotoxin
The present invention relates to a method for quantitatively measuring the muscular relaxing activity of a neurotoxin. Specifically, based on an extent of the activity of muscular relaxation of a neurotoxin from bacteria of Clostridium, the present invention relates to a method for quantification of the efficacy (potential and/or diffusion reaction) of a neurotoxin comprising the following steps of: (a) administering a neurotoxin to the hind leg muscle of one of hind legs of a non-human mammal; (b) applying electric stimulus to said non-human mammal; (c) measuring a compound muscle action potential (CMAP) by contraction of said hind leg muscle to which the neurotoxin is administered and/or of the hind leg muscle of the other hind leg to which the neurotoxin is not administered; and (d) taking amplitude data from the compound muscle action potential (CMAP) obtained by the measurement in step (c) and analyzing an extent of a decrease in amplitude to thereby quantify the efficacy of the muscular relaxing activity by the neurotoxin. In contrast to the mouse LD50 currently used as a potential unit of a botulinum toxin which is measurable at a level of only several units, the quantification method of the efficacy of a neurotoxin of the present invention allows for measurement at a level of as low as 0.01 to 1 unit and hence is a method with a high sensitivity, reproducibility and accuracy.
US08949025B2 GNSS positioning using pressure sensors
Systems, methods and devices for improving the accuracy of GNSS data are provided. Specifically, embodiments of the invention can advantageously use sensor input to improve the accuracy of position fixes. The use of physical sensors in navigation systems is deemed particularly advantageous, especially where altitude data derived from the pressure sensor is calibrated with and/or blended with GNSS altitude data.
US08949024B2 Vehicle localization using surface penetrating radar
Described are a method and a system for localization of a vehicle. The method includes the acquisition of SPR images of a subsurface region along a vehicle track. Acquired SPR images are compared to SPR images previously acquired for a subsurface region that at least partially overlaps the subsurface region along the vehicle track. In some embodiments, the comparison includes an image correlation procedure. Location data for the vehicle are determined based in part on location data for the SPR images previously acquired for the second subsurface region. Location data can be used to guide the vehicle along a desired path. The relatively static nature of features in the subsurface region provides the method with advantages over other sensor-based navigation systems that may be adversely affected by weather conditions, dynamic features and time-varying illumination. The method can be used in a variety of applications, including self-driving automobiles and autonomous platforms.
US08949022B1 Cloud based activity monitor for human powered vehicle
A device is provided. The device is an electronic device configured to attach to a human-powered vehicle. The electronic device is further configured to perform actions. The actions include producing position coordinates based on global positioning system data and coupling to a network via a wireless connection. The actions include relaying the position coordinates to the network via the wireless connection. In some embodiments the electronic device is integrated with a bicycle.
US08949020B2 Map-matching apparatus using planar data of road, and method for same
A map matching apparatus and method are provided. The map matching apparatus comprises a location determining unit configured to determine whether a GPS receipt location is located within planar data for a road, and a map matching unit configured to perform map matching on the GPS receipt location depending on whether the GPS receipt location is located within the planar data.
US08949015B2 Apparatus and method for preventing collision between vessels
Disclosed herein are an apparatus and method for preventing a collision between vessels. The apparatus includes a position information processing unit, an expected collision route calculation unit, an escape route calculation unit, and a control unit. The position information processing unit collects information about the position of a reference vessel using a mobile terminal and receives information about a counterpart vessel from a user. The expected collision route calculation unit calculates an expected collision route based on the information. The escape route calculation unit calculates escape routes if the possibility of a collision is above a set value. The control unit provides the escape routes, compares changes in actually measured positions of the vessels with the escape routes, and manages navigation on the results of the comparison between changes in the actually measured positions of the vessels and the escape routes.
US08949007B2 Start-up possibility determining apparatus and start-up possibility determining method
A start-up possibility determining apparatus that determines an engine-start-up possibility by driving a starter motor by power accumulated in a secondary battery includes a dynamic internal resistance measuring unit that measures an internal resistance of the secondary battery while the engine is being started up by the starter motor, a static internal resistance measuring unit that measures an internal resistance of the secondary battery when the engine is stopped, and a determining unit that determines an engine start-up possibility by the secondary battery, based on a value obtained by a product of a ratio between a first static internal resistance before or after the past engine start-up and a second static internal resistance within a predetermined time since a current time point and the dynamic internal resistance measured by the dynamic internal resistance measuring unit at the time of the engine start-up in the past.
US08949006B2 Knock control apparatus for internal combustion engine
A knock control apparatus for internal combustion engine includes: a knock signal normalization unit that normalizes a knock signal extracted from an output signal of a knock sensor; a knock determination threshold setting unit that sets a knock determination threshold on the basis of the normalized knock signal; a knock intensity computation unit that calculates knock intensity on the basis of the normalized knock signal and the set knock determination threshold; a knock determination unit that determines a presence or absence of a knock on the basis of the calculated knock intensity; and a knock correction amount computation unit that calculates a knock correction amount to correct the calculated knock intensity in a case where an occurrence of a knock is determined. The knock signal normalization unit normalizes a standard deviation of the knock signal by dividing the knock signal by an average value of the knock signal.
US08949004B2 Control system for internal combustion engine
A control system for an internal combustion engine where when the engine is decelerating the amount of intake air supplied to a combustion chamber is controlled. A target auxiliary intake air amount SAIRCMD necessary for preventing misfiring of the engine by supplying only an auxiliary intake air amount to a combustion chamber and a target intake air amount GAIRCMD which is a target value of the amount of intake air supplied to the combustion chamber are calculated according to the state NE, AP of the engine. When the engine is decelerating, and misfires, misfire avoidance control is executed controlling an auxiliary intake air amount control valve to be more opened such that the auxiliary intake air amount becomes the target auxiliary intake air amount SAIRCMD and a throttle valve to be more closed such that the amount of intake air supplied to the combustion chamber becomes the target intake air amount GAIRCMD.
US08949001B2 Control apparatus and control method for internal combustion engine
A control apparatus for an internal combustion engine is configured to execute an air-fuel ratio control based on an output of an air-fuel ratio detector provided in an exhaust passage through which exhaust gas from a plurality of cylinders flows. The control apparatus includes an abnormal lean deviation detection portion configured to detect whether an abnormal lean deviation is occurring in at least one specific cylinder among the plurality of cylinders, the exhaust gas from the at least one specific cylinder influencing the air-fuel ratio detector more strongly than the exhaust gas from each of a rest of the plurality of cylinders; and an enriching control portion configured to execute an enriching control for the at least one specific cylinder when the abnormal lean deviation detection portion detects that the abnormal lean deviation is occurring in the at least one specific cylinder.
US08949000B2 Control device and control method for internal combustion engine
A control device for an internal combustion engine performs rich control when a fuel cutoff operation is terminated and fuel supply to a combustion chamber is restarted, and the engine includes a plurality of the combustion chambers and a fuel supply cycle is repeated. The control device includes a controller configured to set a first moment and a second moment such that the fuel supply cycle which includes the first moment is different from the fuel supply cycle which includes the second moment, the first moment being a moment at which the rich control is started in a first combustion chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers, and the second moment being a moment at which the rich control is started in a second combustion chamber of the plurality of combustion chambers that is different from the first combustion chamber.
US08948997B2 Control device for internal combustion engine
In the case where a constraint condition related to an internal combustion engine is satisfied when a control amount of each of the control objects 35d, 52 is controlled in accordance with the operation amount determined based on initial target values TPcom and TRegr of respective control objects of an internal combustion engine 10, the control amount of each of the control objects is controlled in accordance with the operation amount determined based on the initial target values. In the case where the constraint condition is not satisfied, the initial target values are repeatedly corrected in accordance with a predetermined rule so as to satisfy the constraint condition, and the control amount of each of the control objects is controlled in accordance with the operation amount determined based on the corrected initial target values.
US08948994B2 Electromechanical braking system for an aircraft
The invention relates to an aircraft braking system having brakes with electromechanical braking actuators (103) adapted to press selectively against associated stacks of disks in order to generate a braking torque on associated wheels of the aircraft; at least one control module (130) receiving braking setpoints and responding by generating a braking command (121); and at least one power module (120) responding to the braking command by delivering AC power to the motors of actuators connected to the power module so that the motors develop a braking force corresponding to the braking setpoints. According to the invention, the control module includes a digital processor stage (131) and an analog processor unit (135).
US08948993B2 Method and system for controlling the behavior of an occupant of a vehicle
A method of controlling the behavior of an occupant of a vehicle (20) includes sensing an auxiliary mode of the vehicle (20) and comparing a first vehicle operation mode to a predetermined threshold to determine a first incident. The method proceeds by actuating a resistive device (24) in response to the first incident to apply a resistance to an operational input by an occupant of the vehicle (20). The method is characterized by monitoring a precursory auxiliary mode event of the vehicle (20) subsequent to the first incident and prior to a presence of the auxiliary mode, and de-actuating the resistive device (24) in response to the precursory auxiliary mode event to remove the applied resistance.
US08948990B2 Parking assist control apparatus and control method
A parking assist control apparatus includes an obstacle detector that detects an obstacle around a vehicle; a parking operation assist unit that executes a parking operation assist for preventing a close approach between the obstacle and the vehicle when judges that a distance of the obstacle to the vehicle becomes equal-to or shorter-than a predetermined control start distance; a parking start judgment unit that judges a parking operation; a parking progress judgment unit that judges a parking progress degree during the parking operation judged by the parking start judgment unit; and a parking progress computing unit that reduces an assist control amount by the parking operation assist unit according to the parking progress degree judged by the parking progress judgment unit. According to the parking assist control apparatus, the parking operation assist for the obstacle around the vehicle can be executed more adequately.
US08948982B2 Open loop machine motor speed control based on downhill slope determination
A manner of managing operation of a machine is described for preventing damage/wear to movable machine components arising from operation of the machine/parts at excessive speed while the machine is traveling down a steep incline. The managing of the machine operation includes determining a downhill slope value in a machine direction of travel and then establishing a maximum commanded transmission output speed in accordance with the determined downhill slope value. Thereafter a maximum commanded gear ratio is established, for a transmission having a variable gear ratio, based upon the maximum commanded transmission output speed and a current engine speed. A controller compares the maximum commanded variable gear ratio to an operator requested gear ratio, and a target gear ratio is established for the variable gear ratio of the transmission based upon a minimum of the compared commanded variable gear ratio and the operator requested gear ratio.
US08948980B2 Seeding machine for planting multiple seed varieties
A seeding machine, such as a row crop planter, is described which is adapted to switch between two or more seed varieties as the machine traverses a field. The control system uses a programmed quantity of seed representing a number of seeds in the seed meter that need to be substantially consumed once the flow of a first seed variety is stopped before introducing a second seed variety to minimize seed mixing. The seed quantity can be determined by a calibration process or published from the manufacturer or third parties. The seed quantity can also be part of a seeding prescription that includes assignment of where each seed variety is to be planted in a field. The seed quantity and the distance traveled to empty the meter can be used to optimize the planting operation including the machine direction which can also be part of the prescription.
US08948979B2 Variable-speed irrigation system
An irrigation system is disclosed that is configured to maintain a near straight alignment. In an implementation, an irrigation system includes multiple interconnected spans which are supported by multiple tower structures. Each tower structure includes a variable-speed drive unit for selectively driving a tower structure at a selected speed. The irrigation system also includes multiple sensors that are each associated with a corresponding span to determine an alignment of the corresponding span with respect to adjacent spans. Each of the sensors is in communication with a corresponding variable-drive control unit. Each of the variable-drive control units are configured to control the selected speed of a corresponding variable-speed drive unit to maintain the interconnected spans in a substantially linear orientation with respect to adjacent ones of the plurality of interconnected spans along a generally longitudinally oriented axis (e.g., maintain alignment of the spans with respect to each other).
US08948973B2 Method of controlling a servo motor in an electric vehicular steering system
A method comprising the steps: a manually applied driver steering moment is detected; a requested superposition moment is detected; the driver steering and superposition moments are combined to form an intermediate moment from which an assistance moment is generated by means of a predefined, non-linear amplification function; starting from detected values of the driver steering and superposition moments, a modified superposition moment compensating for friction in the electric steering system at least in part is determined such that the amount of the modified superposition moment is larger than the amount of the superposition moment at least for some pairs of variates comprised of driver steering and superposition moments; the assistance and modified superposition moments are combined to form a motor moment from which a corresponding input signal for a servo motor is established; the servo motor is controlled with the established input signal to provide the motor moment.
US08948972B2 Vehicle controlling system and method
A vehicle controlling method which includes detecting an engagement of a vehicle tire with a rumble strip of a road, and performing first and second vehicle controls. The first vehicle control includes operating a controller to control movement of the vehicle after the vehicle tire has disengaged from the rumble strip to bring the vehicle tire back into engagement with the rumble strip. The second vehicle control includes operating the controller to continue to control movement of the vehicle to maintain the vehicle tire in engagement with the rumble strip after the vehicle tire has been brought back into engagement with the rumble strip.
US08948968B2 Surface vehicle vertical trajectory planning
An active suspension system for a vehicle including elements for developing and executing a trajectory plan responsive to the path on which the vehicle is traveling. The system may include a location system for locating the vehicle, and a system for retrieving a road profile corresponding to the vehicle location.
US08948953B2 Vehicle travel controlling apparatus
In a vehicle travel controlling apparatus including an automatic travel controlling ECU that controls a vehicle in a predetermined travel state by cooperation control of a vehicle driving amount and a vehicle braking amount, the automatic travel controlling ECU is provided with an automatic travel termination controlling unit. The automatic travel termination controlling unit obtains a brake fluid pressure during the cooperation control according to the vehicle driving amount during the cooperation control and a gradient of a road surface on which a vehicle is travelling. When the brake fluid pressure corresponding to a braking operation of a driver is more than the brake fluid pressure during the cooperation control, the automatic travel termination controlling unit terminates the cooperation control to switch operation to a braking operation according to the brake fluid pressure corresponding to the braking operation.
US08948950B2 Drive control apparatus of hybrid vehicle
In a drive control apparatus (1) of a hybrid vehicle, a provisional target engine power calculator (17D) of a controller (17) compares provisional target engine power which is calculated from a target drive power and a target charge/discharge power with a target engine power lower limit value and, when the provisional target engine power is smaller than the target engine power lower limit value, sets the target engine power lower limit value to the provisional target engine power.
US08948949B2 Drive control apparatus for providing drive control to a hybrid electric vehicle, and hybrid electric vehicle
A torque applied to a one-way clutch when a first motor generator and second motor generator are operated in a motor generator drive mode is restrained or prevented from becoming excessively high by setting a first motor generator sharing ratio in response to a driving torque target for the vehicle, by controlling operation of the first motor generator in response to a first motor generator first sharing ratio when vehicle vibrations due to cogging torque are likely to take place, and by reducing the torque from the first motor generator when the driving torque target is large. Torque applied to the one-way clutch which otherwise would become excessively high immediately after engine shutdown, is restrained or prevented by reducing the torque from the first motor generator in response to a second motor generator second sharing ratio when engine downtime is short.
US08948941B2 Railway vehicle vibration damping device
A railway vehicle vibration damping device having at least two vibration suppression force generating sources interposed between a bogie and a vehicle body of a railway vehicle extracts from a transverse direction velocity of the vehicle body a frequency component at or above a frequency of a centrifugal acceleration of the vehicle body, and calculates a high frequency vibration suppression force on the basis thereof. When the railway vehicle travels in a curve section, at least a part of the vibration suppression force generating sources is caused to output the high frequency vibration suppression force, and the remaining vibration suppression force generating sources are caused to function as passive dampers. As a result, passenger comfort in the railway vehicle during travel in a curve section is improved.
US08948938B2 Fully parametrizable electronic alerts and procedures management system, intended for an aircraft
An alerts and procedures management system for an aircraft comprises a software kernel aboard the aircraft and a parameterization tool for the software kernel, which comprises a conversion module for converting a configuration file describing an operational need of the system into a database of binary parameters which is able to parameterize the software kernel. The software kernel comprises at least four elementary cells: a first cell for acquiring aircraft signals, a second cell for characterizing state variables of the aircraft, a third cell for computing at least one separate event, a fourth cell for scheduling the separate events for communication with the crew; each of the cells comprising a software engine parameterizable by the database.
US08948932B2 Unmanned vehicle route management system
According to one embodiment, a route management system for an unmanned vehicle includes a network node in communication with an unmanned vehicle control system and an unmanned vehicle. The network node is operable to transmit a number of initial waypoints to the unmanned vehicle, transmit one or more in-flight waypoints to the unmanned vehicle after the unmanned vehicle has arrived at a corresponding one or more of the initial waypoints, and replace the one or more of the initial waypoints with the one or more in-flight waypoints in the unmanned vehicle such that the total quantity waypoints stored in the unmanned vehicle does not exceed a specified quantity.
US08948930B2 Method and system for operating a vehicle by monitoring the head orientation and/or viewing direction of an operator by means of a camera device of a mobile control device
A method for autonomously controlling a movement of a vehicle includes detecting a respective actual position of the vehicle in temporal succession; recording in temporal succession with a first camera device of a mobile control device images of an operator located outside the vehicle, the mobile control device being held by the operator; determining with an analysis device an actual head orientation and/or a viewing direction of the operator based on the recorded images; and interrupting or terminating the autonomously controlled movement of the vehicle in response to at least one of two instances, a first instance in which the actual head orientation and/or viewing direction of the operator cannot be detected, a second instance in which the head orientation and/or viewing direction of the operator deviates for longer than a predeterminable time period and/or by a predeterminable angle from the actual position of the vehicle.
US08948929B2 Vehicle management and control for safe driving and collision avoidance
The disclosure is related to a method of managing and controlling vehicles for safe driving. In the method, at least one virtual zone may be defined based on information collected from a plurality of vehicles in motion and related servers in real time. Vehicles may be grouped into at least one vehicle groups according to a predetermined similarity condition based on the collected information. An abnormal driving pattern model may be generated based on a driving pattern of each vehicle in each vehicle group. At least one area of a virtual zone may be designated as a spot when at least one vehicle having a driving pattern matched with the abnormal driving pattern model in the at least one area. Safe driving information may be transmitted to at least one vehicle having driving patterns matched with attributes of the spot among vehicles entering each virtual zone.
US08948926B2 System for controlling vehicle parameters
A system is provided which is capable of controlling one or more parameters of a vehicle, such as vehicle speed or engine RPM. The system involves communication between a transmitter and a controller. The transmitter has memory containing information that corresponds to a vehicle parameter setting. The information is operatively transmitted from the transmitter to the controller. Once the controller receives the information, the vehicle parameter setting is identified by the controller. When the setting is identified, the controller may adjust at least one mechanism on the vehicle so as modify the vehicle parameter accordingly. One scenario in which the parameter modification is generally provided is if the controller determines that the vehicle parameter is exceeding the identified setting, which corresponds to the vehicle being operated at a level higher than that intended for the vehicle operator.
US08948922B2 Method for identifying operating conditions of a domestic appliance
In a method for identifying operating conditions of a domestic appliance, a temperature of an operating agent of the domestic appliance and/or of a component of the domestic appliance is detected by a temperature sensor. The ambient temperature is detected by the temperature sensor before the programming mode, in an initialization phase. At least one reference temperature value is defined that represents a critical value for the programming mode of the domestic appliance in respect of reliable and/or efficient operation. The programming mode is prevented from beginning as a function of the comparison of the measured ambient temperature with at least one reference temperature value. The programming mode is prevented from beginning until the ambient temperature has reached a value that is in an acceptable range in comparison with the reference temperature value.
US08948913B2 Method and apparatus for navigating robot
A method of navigating a robot includes creating a robot navigation map using a map database required for navigation of the robot; and creating a path on which no obstacle is located in the map database using the created robot navigation map. Further, the method of navigating the robot includes primarily controlling the robot so that the robot travels along the created path; and secondarily controlling the robot so that the robot avoids an obstacle on the path.
US08948895B2 System and method for engaging a person in the presence of ambient audio
A computerized method for engaging a user of a mobile computer system, The mobile computer system may be connectible to a server over a wide area network. An audio signal of ambient audio is autonomously sampled in the vicinity of the mobile computer system to capture one or more audio samples of the audio signal. The multiple samples of the audio signal are autonomously sampled without requiring any interaction from the user, thus avoiding an input from the user to capture each of the samples. The audio sample may be processed to extract an audio signature of the audio sample. The audio signature may be compared with multiple previously stored reference audio signatures. Upon matching the audio signature with at least one reference audio signature a matched reference audio signature may be produced.
US08948893B2 Audio media mood visualization method and system
An audio media visualization method and system. The method includes receiving by a computing processor, mood description data describing different human emotions/moods. The computer processor an audio file comprising audio data and generates a mood descriptor file comprising portions of the audio data associated with specified descriptions of the mood description data. The computer processor receives a mood tag library file comprising mood tags mapped to animated and/or still objects representing various emotions/moods and associates each animated and/or still object with an associated description. The computer processor synchronizes the animated and/or still objects with the portions of said audio data and presents the animated and/or still objects synchronized with the portions of said audio data.
US08948881B2 Method for producing implantable electrode coatings with a plurality of morphologies
An implantable electrode comprising a substrate supporting microscopic surface structures such as columnar titanium nitride and further having nanoscopic surface structures on titanium nitride deposited on the exposed surface of the microscopic columnar structures is described. This is done through physical vapor deposition (PVD) and is based upon a relatively abrupt change in the surface mobility of the depositing material with a consequential variation in nucleation site density and surface mobility. At low mobility, there are increased nucleation sites and the condensation features are more numerous and finer. As mobility of the deposited species increases, the nucleation sites in the condensate film become fewer with coarser features. Consequently, the change from a relatively coarse microscopic surface structure to a relatively fine nanoscopic surface structure is accomplished by abruptly changing the total gas pressure in the processing chamber within a relatively short period of time of about ten seconds, or less.
US08948877B2 Cochlear implant stimulation with low frequency channel privilege
A system and method for activating stimulation electrodes in cochlear implant electrode is described. A preprocessor filter bank is configured to process an input acoustic audio signal to generate band pass signals that each represent an associated band of audio frequencies. An information extractor is configured to extract stimulation signal information from the band pass signals based on assigning the band pass signals to corresponding electrode stimulation groups that each contain one or more stimulation electrodes, and generates a set of stimulation event signals for each electrode stimulation group that define electrode stimulation timings and amplitudes. A pulse selector is configured to select a set of electrode stimulation signals from the stimulation event signals based on a pulse weighting function that uses channel-specific weighting factors favoring lower frequencies for activating the stimulation electrodes to stimulate neighboring audio nerve tissue.
US08948872B2 Stimulation patch with active adhesion
System and methods for adhering a patch of stimulation electrode(s) to blood vessels to stimulate a target site on the blood vessel are described. In one embodiment, the system includes an adhesion patch and at least one electrode. The adhesion patch includes an active adhesion mechanism that may produce an adhesive force sufficiently strong to adhere the adhesion patch to the exterior of the blood vessel and to operationally position the at least one electrode for use in electrically stimulating a target site of the blood vessel. The adhesion patch may also include a release mechanism that is configured for a user to disengage the patch from the exterior of the blood vessel without significant trauma to the blood vessel. After being released, the adhesion patch may be re-adhered to a different target site of the blood vessel and stimulate the different target site.
US08948868B2 Methods and apparatus for manually suspending intrathoracic impedance fluid status measurements
The capability to suspend a patient alert relating to a monitored physiologic parameters addresses a need to selectively shut off a patient-alert signal or signals during the time a patient is being treated for an excursion in the parameter. Of course, in general a signal call attention to a patient's a potentially deleterious status or condition for which they should seek medical attention. Once a chronically-implanted monitoring device has detected or provided information about the parameter relative to a desired value, trend, or range and a clinician has been notified and intervened the alert signal is temporarily disabled for a predetermined period. That is, once the notification occurs and alert has served its purpose, the alert mechanism is selectively deactivated while the patient ostensibly begins to gradually correct the monitored physiologic parameter under a caregiver's direction and control. After which time, the alert will reactivate.
US08948866B2 Configuration of pacing output channels
During auto-threshold, autocapture, or other evoked response sensing, post-pace artifact is reduced by using a smaller coupling capacitor value than what is used when not in such an evoked response sensing configuration. This can be accomplished by borrowing another capacitor for use as the coupling capacitor. The borrowed capacitor can be a backup pacing capacitor from the same or a different pacing channel. The borrowed capacitor can also be a coupling capacitor from a different pacing channel.
US08948860B2 Field-deployable concussion detector
A method and apparatus for providing an on-site diagnosis of a subject to determine the presence and/or severity of a concussion is provided. The method includes placing an electrode set coupled to a handheld base unit on the subject's head, acquiring brain electrical signals from the subject through the electrode set, processing the acquired brain electrical signals using a signal processing algorithm stored in a memory of the base unit, determining the presence and/or severity of a concussion from the processed signals, indicating the presence and/or severity of a concussion on the handheld base unit, and determining a course of treatment for the subject based on the indication.
US08948858B2 Method and apparatus for identifying potentially misclassified arrhythmic episodes
An implantable cardiac device is configured to classify cardiac arrhythmias using a plurality of arrhythmia discrimination algorithms. Data is provided that is associated with a plurality of cardiac arrhythmic episodes for which a cardiac electrical therapy was delivered or withheld by the implantable medical device based on the plurality of arrhythmia discrimination algorithms. A metric for each of the arrhythmic episodes is computed. The metric defines a measure by which the implantable cardiac device properly classified the arrhythmia. Potentially misclassified arrhythmic episodes of the plurality of cardiac arrhythmic episodes for which cardiac electrical therapy was inappropriately delivered or withheld are algorithmically identified using the metric.
US08948855B2 Detecting and validating a detection of a state change from a template of heart rate derivative shape or heart beat wave complex
Methods, systems, and apparatus for detecting and/or validating a detection of a state change by matching the shape of one or more of an cardiac data series, a heart rate variability data series, or at least a portion of a heart beat complex, derived from cardiac data, to an appropriate template.
US08948853B2 Cardiac mapping with catheter shape information
A non-contact cardiac mapping method is disclosed that includes: (i) inserting a catheter into a heart cavity having an endocardium surface, the catheter including multiple, spatially distributed electrodes; (ii) measuring signals at the catheter electrodes in response to electrical activity in the heart cavity with the catheter spaced from the endocardium surface; and (iii) determining physiological information at multiple locations of the endocardium surface based on the measured signals and positions of the electrodes with respect to the endocardium surface. Related systems and computer programs are also disclosed.
US08948850B2 Non-contact thermometer sensing a carotid artery
Methods and apparatus are provided which in some implementations a non-contact thermometer determines a temperature of a subject from a carotid source point of the subject.
US08948843B2 Probe for an implantable medical device
The invention relates to a probe (10) for an implantable medical device. The probe has a distal end (2) and a proximal end (3), and the probe (10) moreover comprises an electrode (1) at the distal end. The electrode is connected to a wire (5) extending from the electrode to the proximal end of the probe, where the resistivity of the wire is non-uniform along the length of the wire. The wire may have high resistivity at the distal end of the probe and low resistivity wires elsewhere. The high resistivity wires reduce the peak current density in the tissue of an implanted device, and thus prevents destructive heating and/or undesired stimulation of tissue during MRI examination. This highly contributes to MR safety which is a highly desired feature for these implantable electrical stimulation devices.
US08948838B2 Switch probe for multiple electrode measurement of impedance
The present invention provides impedance data having an improved spatial resolution, both with regard to depth and lateral extension, which enables a detection of diseased skin conditions, such a malignant melanoma, at an early stage. Specifically, the present invention is implemented in a probe, medical devices and medical systems including such a probe, and methods using such a probe for measuring electrical impedance of tissue of a subject. A switching circuit is arranged for selectively activate electrode pairs of the probe in accordance with a predetermined activation scheme, the predetermined activation scheme including to activate adjacent electrodes in a successive manner, to gradually scan tissue of the subject at a first tissue depth so as to obtain a sequence of impedance signals from the tissue depth.
US08948837B2 Electroanatomical mapping
This invention relates to the determination and/or representation of physiological information relating to a heart surface.
US08948831B2 Transmission system with a superconducting cable
A transmission system is provided with a superconductive cable having three phase conductors and a cryostat, surrounding the phase conductors, and encasing a hollow space, for conducting a cooling agent. For the three phase conductors, a common neutral conductor is provided, being made of electrically normally conducting material, carried out as insulating round conductor and placed outside the cryostat and next to it. The cryostat is made of a circumferentially enclosed, thermally insulated sheath.
US08948829B2 Oxide superconducting bulk magnet member
An oxide superconducting bulk magnet member includes a plurality of bulk sections that have outer circumferences with outer circumferential dimensions different from each other and are disposed in a manner such that among the outer circumferences, an outer circumference in which the outer circumferential dimension is relatively large surrounds a small outer circumference; and interposed sections that are disposed between a pair of the bulk sections that are adjacent to each other, wherein a gap is formed between the bulk sections adjacent to each other, each of the bulk sections is an oxide bulk in which an RE2BaCuO5 phase is dispersed within an REBa2Cu3O7-x phase, and a bulk section having the smallest outer circumferential dimension among the bulk sections has a columnar shape or a ring shape, and bulk sections other than the bulk section having the smallest outer circumferential dimension have a ring shape.
US08948825B2 Portable terminal device
A portable terminal device includes: a converting portion converting one of sound and an electrical signal into the other thereof; and a chassis defining: an opening; a passageway portion communicating the opening and the converting portion with each other; and a retainer portion retaining water that has entered the passageway portion, divaricated from the passageway portion, and the converting portion being arranged within the chassis apart from an axis of the opening.
US08948822B2 Coordinating power management functions in a multi-media device
In general, this disclosure relates to techniques for dynamically determining configuration information (e.g., for processing video data) and coordinating execution of power management functions based upon an available amount of power for execution of a multi-media service. One example method includes the following features: obtaining an amount of available power for execution of a service requiring multi-media resources within a multi-media device; determining, based upon the amount of available power, configuration information for execution of one or more power management functions in one or more multi-media resources of the multi-media device; and coordinating the execution of the one or more power management functions in the one or more multi-media resources based upon the configuration information in order to manage power utilization within the multi-media device.
US08948815B2 Method and system for the configuration of a mobile station baseband circuit for an acoustic accessory
A method and system for the configuration of a mobile station baseband circuit for an acoustic accessory having an identifier, the method comprising the steps of: determining whether the mobile device recognizes the identifier of the acoustic device; and configuring the baseband circuit with a DSP filter response and CODEC acoustic gain parameters for the acoustic device if the mobile device recognizes the identifier of the acoustic device. The system comprising: an identifier for each of the plurality of acoustic devices; a local memory in the mobile station storing a frequency (filter) response and gain parameters for at least one of the plurality of acoustic devices and for mapping them to the identifier; and a digital signal processor to re-shape an acoustic frequency response and adjust an audio gain of a baseband circuit for the mobile station based on the stored frequency response and gain parameters.
US08948811B2 Communication terminal device
[Object]To provide a communication terminal device capable of performing an image registration correlating with address book information with an easy operation.[Constitution]A mobile phone includes: a camera module 24 for shooting a subject; a memory 105 for storing address book information including telephone numbers; a numeric key portion 11 for an input; and a CPU 100 for extracting the address book information relating to information input by the numeric key portion 11 from the memory 105 and for storing an image shot by the camera module 24 by correlating the image with the address book information in the memory 105 at the same time. When the subject is shot by the camera module 24 after the information is input by the numeric key portion 11, the CPU 100 correlates the image with the extracted address book information and stores them in the memory 105.
US08948810B2 Mobile device and method for switching communication sessions between alternative network resources
Systems, methods and a mobile device for using policy defined by the operator to control the interfaces on which data is sent and received by the device are provided. The policy can be dynamically updated by the operator, by pushing new policy to the device for implementation. The policy can define that the device should switch certain data between two or more available interfaces at certain times, or when certain data may be sent or received over a particular interface. The device may receive new policy from the operator in order to help with the operator's own operational objectives, such as traffic shaping or other traffic limitation to ease congestion or enforce service agreements. A policy implementing corresponding traffic limitation or shaping on the air interface between the mobile device and network base stations can be sent to the mobile device so as to reduce signaling congestion on the air-interface.
US08948809B2 Signature based connectivity prediction for portable electronic devices
Methods of predicting future connectivity of a portable electronic device is described along with systems and devices for implementing the methods. The method includes receiving an indication of a plurality of radio scenes detected at the portable electronic device at different reference times. Each of the plurality of radio scenes identifies transmitters and associated signal strength of signals received by the portable electronic device at the respective reference time. One or more connectivity predictions can be retrieved from a corpus of pairs of a composite signature vector and associated connectivity information. Each of the one or more connectivity predictions can be retrieved based on a similarity between the associated respective composite signature vector and a query composite signature vector. A future connectivity prediction of the portable electronic device can be provided based on the one or more retrieved connectivity predictions.
US08948802B1 Conditional wireless communication channel for a wireless communication device
A method of operating a wireless communication device comprises storing initial data in a first wireless channel table that associates a geographic identifier, a network availability signal, and a first wireless communication channel. New data is received that associates the geographic identifier, the network availability signal, and a second wireless communication channel. The initial data is compared to the new data to determine that the first wireless communication channel in the initial data changed to the second wireless communication channel associated in the new data. A conditional statement is generated that directs the wireless communication device to utilize the first wireless communication channel for the geographic identifier if a performance metric of the second wireless communication channel fails to meet a performance standard. The conditional statement is stored along with the new data that associates the geographic identifier, the network availability signal, and the second wireless communication channel in a second wireless channel table.
US08948801B2 Systems and methods for provisioning and allocating a commoditized spectrum object
A provisioning engine provisions spectrum into an allocable spectrum object. The provisioning engine includes an interface configured to receive inputs of available spectrum information and a plurality of provisioning parameters. The plurality of provisioning parameters include at least one signal strength limit, and may include at least first and second signal strength limits that may be boundary strength limit and an allocation strength limit. A controller is configured to execute a spectrum provisioning application that is stored in a memory and, by execution of the spectrum provisioning application, the provisioning engine is configured to generate an allocable spectrum object in accordance with the provisioning parameters. Spectrum encompassed within the spectrum object is allocable by an allocation engine to spectrum users in accordance with the provisioning parameters. An allocation engine in turn allocates spectrum encompassed within the provisioned spectrum object in accordance with the provisioning parameters.
US08948799B1 Channel quality indicator apparatus and method
A method and apparatus are provided for a wireless communication system including a base station and at least one user equipment. A Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) table can be generated so that only an index corresponding to the measured CQI needs to be fed back to the base station. The CQI tables proposed herein may be suitable to different channel statistics, different Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) mode and may be optimized based on either performance or implementation complexity. Multiple CQI tables may be formed into one compound CQI table. The CQI tables may be stored at both a base station and user equipment. The base station can select a CQI table from the set of tables. The base station signals the selection of the CQI table to the user equipment and the user equipment feeds back indices from the selected CQI table to the base station.
US08948796B2 Mobile device message scheduler for reducing congestion
A method, device and system are provided for scheduling the delivery of messages from a wireless device in order to reduce congestion on the wireless network used by the wireless device. A message scheduler application operating on the wireless device intercepts messages being sent from at least one application running on the wireless device to a device layer for transmission, where intercepted messages are collected and held in a message queue for later transmission. The message scheduler monitors operation of the wireless device to detect the establishment of a communication connection, such as a voice call or packet data session, and causes the messages in the message queue to be transmitted from the wireless device utilizing logical channels assigned to the wireless device when setting up the communication connection that are different from the traffic channel assigned for the communication connection to transmit voice or data content.
US08948793B1 System and method for automated remote messaging to wireless mobile devices
A computerized appointment confirmation system for communication with a mobile device comprising a database comprising data regarding an appointment and a server configured to communicate with an MMS server, the MMS server configured to send an MMS message to the mobile device and receive an MMS response message, receive a communication from the MMS server indicating receipt of the MMS response message by the MMS server, communicate with an SMS server if no MMS response message is received from the mobile device within a predetermined time period, the SMS server configured to send an SMS message to the mobile device and receive an SMS response message, update the database to indicate whether confirmation data was received by the MMS or SMS server from the mobile device, and store in the database data indicating whether an MMS response message or SMS response message was received by the mobile device.
US08948792B2 Moving body and system for managing inventory information of moving body
An object is to easily manage inventory information of an moving body such as a work machine at each physical distribution center substantially in real time, and an moving body 1 is provided with a positional information obtaining unit 22 for obtaining positional information of the moving body 1 at a predetermined timing, an operating state information obtaining unit 23 for obtaining operating state information of the moving body 1, and an inventory information output controller 24 for transmitting management information 37 which identifies the moving body 1, area information 35 which indicates an area in which the moving body 1 is located, and stay period information 38 in which this stays in the area to a management device 2 as the inventory information when the moving body 1 is located in any of one or more areas set in advance based on the positional information.
US08948788B2 Motion-controlled views on mobile computing devices
A computer-implemented visual navigation method includes providing from a wireless mobile device, over a public wireless network to a server located remotely from the wireless mobile device, information identifying a geographic location. The method also includes receiving in response, from the server, image data of digital images captured from an location at the geographic location, displaying the image data to a user of the mobile device as an image of an image space around the geographic locations, and panning the image within the image space automatically in response to user motion of the wireless mobile device.
US08948787B2 Configuration of telephony services for phone based on user location
Telephony features for a phone are configured based on the location of a user of the phone. A system receives location data corresponding to a location of the phone. An operational mode is selected from stored operational modes based on the location data. The operational mode of the user phone is set to the selected mode. In one mode, a reply message is provided to the caller that is associated with the location of the phone.
US08948784B2 Monitoring geospatial context of a mobile device
Systems, methods and interfaces are disclosed for managing communications associated with a mobile communication device. Mobile communication devices process environmental inputs and transmit mobile communication device context information to a communication management system. The context information may, for example, reflect the motion and/or geographic location of the mobile device, and may reflect the risk associated with using the device to handle a call or other communications session. The communication management system uses the context information, optionally in combination with communication device profiles, to determine how to manage incoming and/or ongoing calls or other communication sessions. Mobile device users may also be inhibited from initiating communication sessions.
US08948782B2 Proximity determination based on distance ratios
Systems and methods of determining proximity of a mobile device to a target location are described herein. A method as described herein includes identifying a signal sent by the mobile device and received by respective ones of a set of receivers including at least a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein the first receiver and second receiver are positioned collinearly to the target location; determining a first signal-quality metric observed at the first receiver and a second signal-quality metric observed at the second receiver with respect to the signal; computing a ratio associated with distances from the mobile device to the first receiver and the second receiver, respectively, based on the first signal-quality metric and the second signal-quality metric; and determining whether the mobile device is within a proximity region defined in relation to the target location based on the ratio.
US08948781B2 Controlling operational states of a location sensing system of a mobile device
Methods, systems and apparatuses for controlling a location sensing system of a mobile device are disclosed. One method includes collecting location related information of the mobile device. The method further includes controllably setting the mobile device to operate in one of a high-power state, a low-power state, or a transitional state based on the collected location related information, wherein a satellite-based positioning system receiver of the mobile device generates location information in the transitional state and in the on-state, and the satellite-based positioning system receiver does not generate location information in the low-power state. When operating in the transitional state, the mobile device repeatedly checks the collected location related information and transitions to the low-power state or the high-power state based on the collected location related information.
US08948778B2 Delayed radio resource signaling in a mobile radio network
An implementation of a system, device and method for communicating location data of a mobile station, enhancing location data, optimally communicating Assistance Data, and/or reducing rebids of Measure Position Request messages in a wireless network.
US08948772B2 Apparatus and method for requesting uplink radio resources
An example apparatus is provided that may provide for transmission of a first scheduling request and increment an alert counter upon transmitting the request. The apparatus may then determine if uplink resources have been received and, if not, provide for transmission of a second scheduling request. The apparatus may increment the alert counter in response to transmitting the second scheduling request. The apparatus may also provide for transmission of an indication that the alert counter has reached an alert counter threshold, in response to which, the apparatus may receive dummy uplink resources that may cause the alert counter to reset.
US08948770B2 Cluster head assisted method for converting user terminal from D2D communication to cellular communication
The present invention discloses a cluster head assisted method for converting a user terminal from device-to-device (D2D) communication to cellular communication. When quality of a D2D link between a user terminal and a cluster head is lower than a predetermined threshold, if the user terminal has to leave the cluster but still expects to continue an original the service, the user terminal performs cell search and random access, and establishes a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a target base station of a cellular network. Switching from D2D communication to cellular communication is implemented with the assistance of the cluster head, and a communication manner after the switching is provided. The present invention implements mobile switching from D2D communication in distributed cluster communication to cellular communication, which can reduce route search delay and save wireless resources.
US08948769B2 Method and arrangement for adapting power of reference signals
A method and an arrangement in a radio network node for adapting transmission power of resource elements for demodulation reference signals, referred to as “reference elements” are provided. The radio network node is configured for multiple-input multiple-output transmission, referred to as “MIMO transmission”, to a user equipment. The MIMO transmission comprises at least three layers. Two consecutive subcarriers of a resource block carry at least three reference elements. A first subcarrier of the resource block carries data elements. The radio network node adapts transmission power of said at least three reference elements such that an average transmission power, over said two consecutive subcarriers, of said at least three reference elements is equal to a transmission power, for the first subcarrier, of the data elements for said at least three layers. The radio network node uses the adapted transmission power to transmit, to the user equipment, said at least three reference elements.
US08948760B2 Mobile terminal, motion/stillness determination method, and program
A mobile terminal determines whether the mobile terminal is moving or stationary. The mobile terminal includes a motion acceleration detection unit that detects motion acceleration based on acceleration information of the mobile terminal, a serving cell information retrieving unit that retrieves information representing a serving cell, a serving cell information switching determination unit that determines whether the serving cell is switched, based on the information representing the serving cell, and a motion/stillness determination unit that determines, when the serving cell is determined to be switched, whether the mobile terminal is moved, based on whether the motion acceleration is detected.
US08948758B2 Method and apparatus for frequency access restriction in cellular communications
A Network node provides information to a base station indicating a list of forbidden frequencies from which the base station may or may not offer services. The base station checks the received list of forbidden frequencies when considering whether to provide service to user equipments from a new tracking area or a certain access technology. The base station may also transmit a list of allowed frequencies or the list of forbidden frequencies to user equipments to be used thereof. By introducing the possibility to set an amount of frequencies as forbidden in the area and access restriction information of user equipments, operators would be able to offer services like home base station in a simple way to customers.
US08948757B2 Methods and apparatus for RF handoff in a multi-frequency network
Methods and apparatus for RF handoff in a multi-frequency network. A method includes detecting a mobility event associated with a detection of a new wide area operating infrastructure (WOI), updating a current WOI identifier to a new WOI identifier, acquiring control channel information associated with the new WOI identifier, determining if an active registered flow list has been updated based on the control channel information, and performing an acquisition procedure to acquire one or more registered flows if it is determined that the active registered flow list has been updated. Another method includes detecting a mobility event associated with a detection of a new local area operating infrastructure (LOI), updating a current LOI identifier to a new LOI identifier, acquiring control channel information, determining if an active registered flow list has been updated, and performing an acquisition procedure to acquire one or more registered flows.
US08948752B2 System and method of providing IMS services to users on originating non IMS devices and other devices that do not have a previous relationship with the user
Disclosed are a network-based device, method and computer readable medium for operating an IMS to provide IMS services to originating sessions from a device upon which the user is not registered. The method includes receiving communication from a user on a device upon which the user is not registered at a 2-stage dialing server, authenticating the user, determining a Public User ID (PUID) for the user, receiving an identification of a called party from the user, arranging for IMS services to be provided to the user on the device, sending an INVITE signal from the 2-stage dialing server on behalf of the user PUID to the called party and setting up the media connection from the device to the device associated with the called party.
US08948750B1 LTE roaming APN adaptation
A method for providing roaming profiles to a VPMN includes receiving, at a HPMN, an authentication request to authorize a mobile station in the VPMN. The HPMN transmits, to the VPMN, an authorization answer in response to the authentication request. Once the VPMN determines that the mobile station is authorized to operate in the VPMN, the HPMN receives a visited profile request for the mobile station. The request is transmitted from the VPMN to the HPMN. The HPMN retrieves a home profile for the mobile station in the HPMN. A device in the HPMN modifies, based on an agreement between the VPMN and HPMN and other policies, the home profile to a visited profile. The modification occurs in the same, or in a different, device as the device from which the home profile was retrieved. The visited profile is transmitted to the VPMN in response to the request.
US08948749B2 System and method to facilitate acquisition of access point base stations
Devices and methods are provided for facilitating selection and acquisition of an access point (AP) base station via implementation of a system selection file that may include a preferred roaming list (PRL), a public land mobile network (PLMN) database, or the like. The selection attempts may be limited to specific preferred systems, such as, for example, the AP base station. The system selection file includes identification parameters of the preferred systems. In one embodiment, the identification parameters include at least one of a system identifier (SID) and a network identifier (NID) for a given one of the systems.
US08948744B2 Spatio-temporal random voting scheme for cognitive networks
A spatio-temporal random voting scheme is provided that incorporates location distribution, spatial randomness, and temporal randomness in the collection of information from a plurality of sensing devices within the cognitive network. The region is divided into a plurality of sectors, where each sector is a portion of the region. A subset of sectors is selected from the plurality of sectors in the region to provide spatial randomness. A device is randomly selected from each sector in the subset of sectors to provide additional spatial randomness to the information collection process. Temporal randomness may be introduced by randomly selecting a timeslot within a sensing window period in which devices are to scan a frequency spectrum band to determine if a signal energy above a threshold is detected. Sensing reports are then collected from the selected sensing devices and used to determine whether the frequency spectrum band is available or in use.
US08948743B2 Method and system for implementing local call local switch
A method for implementing local call local switch (LCLS) is provided in the present invention, and the method includes that: a mobile switching center (MSC) at a calling side receives a call establishment request of a calling user, and a MSC at a calling side transmits the local reference to a base station system (BSS) at the calling side and a MSC at the called side; the MSC at the called side transmits the received local reference to the BSS at the called side; and a BSS judges whether the local switch can be triggered according to the received local reference, and executes the local switch when determining that the local switch can be triggered. The present invention also provides a system for implementing LCLS. With the method and system provided by the present invention, the problem of unsuccessful local switch resulted by the BSS connecting multiple MSCs is solved.
US08948740B2 Mobile terminal for small cell configuration and maintenance
The claimed subject matter is directed to defining a framework that enables wireless communicability between base stations for maintenance and configuration purposes, even while disconnected from an operator network, and/or deployed in the field. Embodiments are particularly applicable in the cases of small-cell base transceiver stations deployed in inconvenient, secluded, elevated and/or difficult to reach locations. The small cell base transceiver station is operable to communicate wirelessly to wireless terminals and mobile computing devices by emulating select functionality from dedicated components in an operator network.
US08948736B2 Method of managing at least one wireless communications interface of a terminal, and a terminal
The management method of the invention comprises: an obtaining step (E10) of obtaining information (CId) representative of the geographical location of the terminal; a searching step (E20) of searching in a database of the terminal for at least one identifier of a wireless communications interface of the terminal that is associated with said information; and if such an associated identifier is found, an automatic activation step (E50) of activating the wireless communications interface corresponding to said at least one identifier.
US08948730B2 Observation platform for using structured communications
Observation platform for using structured communications. A signal from a first communication device is received at a second communication device associated with a computer system, wherein a first characteristic of the signal corresponds to an audible source and a second characteristic of the signal corresponds to information indicative of a geographic position of the first communication device. A first user associated with the first communication device is recognized at the computer system. Context information for the signal is derived at the computer system associated with the second communication device. A copy of at least one characteristic of the signal is stored in a storage medium, wherein the copy of at least one characteristic of the signal is available for developing performance metrics. The signal is relayed to a destination derived from the context information.
US08948722B2 Method and arrangement for grace period control associated with a service level in a cellular communications system
A method in a telecom node for controlling a grace period associated with a licensed capacity usage in the telecom node is provided. The telecom node is comprised in a cellular telephone network. The licensed capacity usage is associated with a capacity license limit. The telecom node measures (201) over a specific amount of time, the capacity usage in the telecom node overshooting the capacity license limit. When the measured capacity usage exceeds a preset value of an allowed capacity usage overshoot, the telecom node triggers (202) a grace period of the licensed capacity usage at the expiry of the specific amount of time. During the grace period capacity usage overshoot is allowed. Upon expiry of said grace period the licensed capacity usage is enforced according to the capacity license limit unless the licensed capacity usage is increased.
US08948717B2 RF peak detection scheme using baseband circuits
A receiver includes an antenna configured to receive a set of RF signals, and a low-noise amplifier (LNA) coupled to the antenna and amplify the set of RF signals to generate a set of amplified signals. The receiver further includes a down-conversion mixer configured to down convert the set of amplified signals to baseband frequencies. The receiver further includes a low-pass filter configured to filter from the set of amplified signals to baseband frequencies an out-of-band signal. The receiver further includes a high-pass filter configured to reverse the filtering of the low-pass filter. The receiver further includes a peak detector configured to determine whether the LNA is operating at saturation; and an automatic-gain controller configured to decrease a gain of the LNA based on the determination of the peak detector.
US08948710B2 Receiving device and semiconductor integrated circuit
In a receiving device, an oscillating section generates a local oscillating signal for performing frequency conversion of one reception target channel of channels in broadcasting in a first frequency band and channels in broadcasting in a second frequency band; a first receiving section generates a channel signal based on the local oscillating signal and a high-frequency signal in the first frequency band when the reception target channel is a channel in the first frequency band, and does not perform the generation when the reception target channel is a channel in the second frequency band; and second receiving section generates a channel signal based on the local oscillating signal and a high-frequency signal in the second frequency band when the reception target channel is a channel in the second frequency band, and does not perform the generation when the reception target channel is a channel in the first frequency band.
US08948704B2 Scope of channel quality reporting region in a multi-carrier system
Systems and methodologies are described that effectuate or facilitate multichannel feedback in multichannel wireless communication environments. In accordance with various aspects set forth herein, systems and/or methods are provided that construct a carrier set, classifies a carrier as belonging to the carrier set, utilizes the carrier as representative of all carriers included in the carrier set to measure a channel quality of the carrier, and transmits a CQI based at least in part of the channel quality of the carrier, wherein the broadcast CQI is representative of all carriers included in the carrier set.
US08948696B2 Modulation circuit and semiconductor device including the same
An object of the present invention is to reduce the power consumption of a modulation circuit. The modulation circuit includes a load, a diode, and a transistor. An anode of the diode is electrically connected to one terminal of an antenna via the load; a cathode of the diode is electrically connected to one of a source and a drain of the transistor; the other of the source and the drain of the transistor is electrically connected to the other terminal of the antenna; and the transistor is controlled to be turned on or off in accordance with a signal input to a gate of the transistor.
US08948692B2 Graphic notification feedback for indicating inductive coupling amongst devices
A computing device is operated to detect a signal generated from an inductive signal interface. The detected signal may be generated by the device's inductive signal interface being in operational proximity to an inductive signal interface of another device. A notification feedback is generated that confirms an event related to the first and second computing device inductively signaling one another.
US08948687B2 System and method for determining and controlling gain margin in an RF repeater
An apparatus for repeating signals includes a receive antenna for capturing a receive signal, processing circuitry for processing the receive signal to form a repeated signal, and a transmit antenna for transmitting the repeated signal. The processing circuitry includes gain circuitry for gain in the repeated signal and decorrelation circuitry configured for modifying the repeated signal with respect to the receive signal to thereby decorrelate the repeated signal from the receive signal. The processing circuitry further comprises circuitry configured for calculating a gain margin for the apparatus utilizing the decorrelated receive and repeated signals.
US08948685B2 Mobile wireless communications device using wired headset as an antenna and related methods
A mobile wireless communications device may include a housing, and circuitry carried by the housing. The circuitry may include a wireless transceiver, a wireless broadcast receiver, audio circuitry coupled to the wireless transceiver and the wireless broadcast receiver, a wired headset jack, and a reference voltage device line, and at least one wired headset device line coupled between the audio circuitry and the wired headset jack. The reference voltage device line may be also coupled to the wireless broadcast receiver so that a corresponding reference voltage headset line of a wired headset serves as an antenna for the wireless broadcast receiver. The reference voltage line may be switchable to one or more connectors at the headset jack.
US08948683B2 Multi-mode phy-level wireless security
A method for communication includes, in a transmitter that transmits one or more data streams to respective target receivers and one or more jamming streams for preventing the data streams from being decoded by eavesdropping receivers, holding a definition of at least first and second transmission modes having respective, different first and second levels of security in preventing the data streams from being decoded by the eavesdropping receivers. One of the first and second transmission modes is selected for transmitting a data stream to a target receiver, by evaluating a selection criterion. The data stream and the jamming streams are transmitted via an antenna array using the selected transmission mode.
US08948682B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: a sheet feed unit that feeds a sheet to an image forming unit forming a toner image on the sheet; a fixing unit that fixes the toner image formed in the image forming unit to the sheet; and a control unit that controls the sheet feed unit, when starting duplex image formation for forming both sides of the sheet after an one-side image formation, the control unit retards a timing to cause the sheet feed unit to start the sheet feed operation as the number of sheet with an image formed on one side thereof in the one-side image formation is greater.
US08948681B2 Image forming apparatus and length measuring device
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit forming an image on a recording sheet; a transport unit transporting the recording sheet; a support surface supporting the recording sheet; a rotating member having an outer peripheral surface pressed against the support surface and rotationally following the recording sheet when the recording sheet passes through between the support surface and the outer peripheral surface; an ascertaining unit ascertaining a length of the recording sheet on the basis of an amount of rotation of the rotating member; and a restricting unit restricting a movement of the rotating member that moves toward the support surface after the recording sheet passes through between the support surface and the outer peripheral surface, the restricting unit preventing the outer peripheral surface, which comes into contact with the recording sheet, and the support surface from coming into contact with each other.
US08948679B2 Sheet conveyance device and image forming apparatus including same
A sheet conveyance device for conveying a recording medium includes a fixed roller, a movable roller, an urging member, and a shock absorber, and an image forming apparatus including the sheet conveyance device. The position of the fixed roller is fixed. The movable roller is disposed opposite the fixed roller to contact the fixed roller, thereby defining a nip. The urging member urges the movable member to contact the fixed roller in the absence of the recording medium in the nip and allows the movable member to separate from the fixed roller by an amount corresponding to a thickness of a recording medium when the recording medium enters the nip. The shock absorber absorbs displacement energy generated when the urging member urges the movable roller to contact the fixed roller again after the recording medium passes through the nip.
US08948664B2 Developing device conveying assembly for image forming apparatus and image forming apparatus having the same
A developing device of an image forming apparatus to convey a developing agent, the developing device including a housing having a developing agent accommodating compartment disposed therein, a first rotation member and a second rotation member that are disposed inside the developing agent accommodating compartment, a plurality of developing agent convey members that rotate around the first rotation member and the second rotation member being arranged along a shaft direction of the first rotation member, and at least one torque limiter coupled to between the first rotation member and at least one of the plurality of developing agent convey members, the at least one torque limiter to allow at least one of the plurality of developing agent convey members to perform a relative rotation with respect to the first rotation member when a load is applied to the plurality of developing agent convey members is varied.
US08948640B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes: a fixing device: having a heating member, a rotating member, and a temperature sensor; a sheet feeding unit; and a control device configured to perform a sheet feed control: in which the feeding timing is set to a first timing if the temperature gradient of the heating member for a predetermined period is larger than a first threshold value; and in which the feeding timing is set to a second timing later than the first timing if the temperature gradient of the heating member for the predetermined period is equal to or less than the first threshold value, and wherein, in the sheet feed control, the control device changes the first threshold value to a smaller value as the temperature of the heating member at the print-instruction receiving time increase.
US08948635B2 System for charging a photoreceptor
A system for charging a photoreceptor (3) includes a first corona charging unit (2) a first corona electrode (4), a first shell electrode (6), and a first high voltage power supply (22). The shell electrode is connected through a resistor to ground and the high voltage power supply is connected to the first corona electrode. A second corona charging unit (10) has a second corona electrode (12), and a first grid electrode (14) connected to a second shell electrode (16). A first corona current from the first high voltage power supply to the first corona electrode and a return current from the first shell electrode to ground is sensed and a voltage on the high voltage power supply is adjusted to maintain a constant difference. The first corona charging unit charges the photoreceptor to at least 63% of the desired voltage.
US08948629B2 Image forming apparatus and image forming method
An image forming apparatus includes image carrier carrying latent image, developer carrier supplying developer on the image carrier, transfer part transferring the developer on the image carrier, cleaning blade removing attachment that attaches to a surface of the image carrier, internal environment detection part detecting an internal environmental temperature in the apparatus, developer disposal control part controlling disposal of developer from the developer carrier to the image carrier, and voltage control part controlling an applied voltage to the transfer part. Wherein, the developer disposal control part determines an absolute value of the applied voltage larger, which is applied to the transfer part during disposing the developer, where the internal environment temperature is high, and the voltage control part controls the applied voltage to the transfer part based on the absolute value of the voltage decided by the developer disposal control part.
US08948624B2 Fixing device and image forming apparatus provided with fixing device
A fixing device includes a fixing roller, a single heating member that heats the fixing roller, a pressure roller, a first temperature detecting element that detects the temperature of the contact region, of the fixing roller, that comes into contact with the recording paper transported, and a second temperature detecting element that detects the temperature of the noncontact region of the fixing roller. The fixing device carries out energization control of the heating member based on the temperature detected by the first temperature detecting element and stops energization control of the heating member when the temperature detected by the second temperature detecting element reaches a prescribed temperature.
US08948620B2 Image forming system and latent image carrier replacement time detection method
An image forming system includes an image forming apparatus, a physical property detector, a data storage device, and a latent image carrier replacement time detector. The image forming apparatus includes a replaceable latent image carrier, forms a latent image on a surface of the latent image carrier, develops the latent image into a visible image, and transfers the visible image onto a recording medium. The physical property detector detects predetermined physical properties of the image forming apparatus in a continuous manner or an intermittent manner. The data storage device stores, as a specific physical property, data on at least one of the detected physical properties, which changes before and after replacement of the latent image carrier. The latent image carrier replacement time detector detects, on the basis of changes over time of the stored specific physical property, a latent image carrier replacement time.
US08948618B2 Jam detection and removal in an image forming apparatus system
A print system is provided which can execute, in a case that a jam occurs in a sheet processing apparatus, recovery processing of a job in which the jam occurred without wasting a sheet that has been already used in a subsequent job.
US08948617B2 Cartridge provided with pivotable member for new product detection
A cartridge includes: a casing for accommodating developer; a rotatable body rotatably provided at the casing; a pivot member; and a biasing member. The rotatable body is rotatable about a rotational axis, the rotatable body having an outer circumference defining a rotational path during rotation. The pivot member is disposed at the rotatable body at a position offset from the rotational axis and is pivotable about a pivot fulcrum extending in a direction parallel to a tangential direction of the rotational path. The pivot member being pivotably movable between an erect position in which the pivot member erects to form a first angle relative to the rotatable body and a collapsed position in which the pivot member pivots toward the rotatable body to form a second angle smaller than the first angle relative to the rotational body. The biasing member biases the pivot member toward the erect position.
US08948615B2 Optical receiver and communication system
There is provided an optical receiver including a variable-ratio splitter to split an input signal light into a plurality of signal lights, based on a variable ratio, a plurality of photo detectors to receive the plurality of signal lights respectively, an operation circuit to output a reception electrical signal, based on a reception processing on one of the plurality of signal lights, a calculation circuit to calculate a total power of the plurality of signal lights received by the plurality of photo detectors, and an output unit to output a signal regarding the total power.
US08948613B2 Intensity noise reduction methods and apparatus for interferometric sensing and imaging systems
In part, aspects of the invention relate to methods, apparatus, and systems for intensity and/or pattern line noise reduction in a data collection system such as an optical coherence tomography system that uses an electromagnetic radiation source and interferometric principles. In one embodiment, the noise is intensity noise or line pattern noise and the source is a laser such as a swept laser. One or more attenuators responsive to one or more control signals can be used in conjunction with an analog or digital feedback network in one embodiment.
US08948606B2 Semiconductor optical amplifier
A semiconductor optical amplifier includes an n-type semiconductor layer, a p-type semiconductor layer an active layer provided between the n-type semiconductor layer and the p-type semiconductor layer, the active layer transmitting an optical signal and a current-injection part that injects current into the active layer via the n-type semiconductor layer and the p-type semiconductor layer, the active layer including a first active layer that includes AlGaInAs, and a second active layer that includes GaInAsP, the second active layer provided closer to an output side than the first active layer, and the first active layer and the second active layer being butt-jointed.
US08948605B2 Reflective semiconductor optical amplifier for optical networks
The present document relates to passive optical networks (PON). More particularly but not exclusively, it relates to the use of a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier (RSOA) for amplifying signals in a Gigabit PON (GPON) or WDM-PON. An apparatus configured to amplify light at different wavelengths in an optical network is described. The apparatus comprises a first active material configured to amplify light at a first wavelength and a second active material configured to amplify light at a second wavelength. Furthermore, the apparatus comprises a first reflector which separates the first and second active materials and which is configured to reflect light at the first wavelength and which is configured to be substantially transparent to light at the second wavelength. In addition, the apparatus comprises a second reflector adjacent the second active material opposite to the first reflector which is configured to reflect light at the second wavelength.
US08948598B2 System and method for increasing upstream capacity in an optical network
A method for communicating in a passive optical network (PON), includes receiving traffic from a plurality of optical network units (ONUs) transmitting in an upstream transmission channel, wherein each of the ONUs may transmit at any wavelength within a wavelength band associated with the upstream transmission channel. The method also includes dividing the upstream transmission channel into a plurality of sub-channels, that each include a subset of the wavelength band associated with the upstream transmission channel. The method further includes determining the identity of each of the plurality of ONUs transmitting in each of the sub-channels, assigning a plurality of ONUs transmitting in the upstream transmission channel to each of at least two of the sub-channels based on the determination of the ONUs transmitting in that sub-channel, and allocating transmission timeslots for time-shared transmission by the ONUs in one or more of the sub-channels.
US08948587B2 Use of dying gasp to locate faults in communications networks
Novel tools and techniques that can be used to detect network impairment, including but not limited to impairment of optical fiber networks. In an aspect, such tools and techniques can be deployed at relatively low cost, allowing pervasive deployment throughout a network. In another aspect, such tools and techniques can take advantage of a “dying gasp,” in which a network element detects a sudden drop in received optical (or electrical) power, resolution, etc. at short time scales and sends a notification across the network before the connection is completely compromised. In yet another aspect, some tools can include a supervisory function to analyze aspects of the dying gasp with the goal to determine network segments associated with an impairment and an estimate of the location of an impairment within the network.
US08948578B2 Inhaler component
The invention relates to an inhaler component for the formation of a vapor-air mixture and/or a condensation aerosol by evaporation of a liquid material and optionally the condensation of the formed vapor, comprising: a housing, an electric heating element for the evaporation of a portion of the liquid material; a wick with a capillary structure, said wick forming a compound structure with the heating element and automatically supplying the heating element with the liquid material; a carrier plate, preferably a printed circuit board, which carries the compound structure and on which the heating element is electrically contacted; and a capillary gap, formed at least in part by the carrier plate, for automatically supplying liquid material to the compound structure in that an end section of the wick protrudes into the capillary gap. To improve the supply of liquid material to the compound structure, it is proposed that both the front side and the rear side of the carrier plate, at least in some sections, should form the boundary walls of the capillary gap.
US08948564B1 Spline lamp with opposing light source orientation
Optical and thermal splines are integrated in the external envelope of a non-planar lamp allowing the optical output of discrete light sources such as LEDs to be distributed for uniform output and the achievement of desired light distributions such as omnidirectional output. Opposing orientation of light sources is utilized to create integrated optical and thermal splines for improved thermal and optical performance.
US08948562B2 Replication of patterned thin-film structures for use in plasmonics and metamaterials
The present invention provides templating methods for replicating patterned metal films from a template substrate such as for use in plasmonic devices and metamaterials. Advantageously, the template substrate is reusable and can provide plural copies of the structure of the template substrate. Because high-quality substrates that are inherently smooth and flat are available, patterned metal films in accordance with the present invention can advantageously provide surfaces that replicate the surface characteristics of the template substrate both in the patterned regions and in the unpatterned regions.
US08948560B1 Elevating numerical aperture of optical systems
An optical material can be formed by creating extremely small voids or gas-filled bubbles in a polymeric material, such as a thermoplastic or a fluoropolymer. The voids or gas-filled bubbles can reduce the refractive index of the optical material substantially below the polymeric material's refractive index. Dimensionally, the voids or gas-filled bubbles can be smaller than the wavelength of light that is intended to interact with the optical material, thereby avoiding undue scattering loss. The voids or gas-filled bubbles can be formed via adding particles of gas-generating material to the polymeric material and heating the resulting composition. The voids or gas-filled bubbles can form as the heat causes the polymeric material to melt and the particles to generate gas. The optical material can be utilized as a cladding to provide a high numerical aperture optical fiber, for example.
US08948555B1 Skew waveguide directional coupler
Embodiments of the invention describe a skew directional coupler for a plurality of waveguides. Said coupler includes a first waveguide on a first plane and a second waveguide on a second plane separate from the first plane. In embodiments of the invention, the first waveguide is disposed on top of the second waveguide to form an overlapping region of a segment of the first waveguide and a segment of the second waveguide, wherein an optical axis of the segment of the first waveguide is horizontally skew to an optical axis of the segment of the second waveguide, and wherein light is to be passively transmitted between the first and second waveguide segments via mode hybridization.
US08948552B2 Light source using laser diodes
A light source includes a base, a first bonding layer, at least two laser diodes, a second bonding layer, a substrate, and a planar waveguide. The laser diodes are fixed to and are electrically connected to the base using the first bonding layer, and each of the laser diodes includes a side surface for emitting light. The substrate is fixed to the base using the second bonding layer. The waveguide is formed on the substrate and includes an output section including an output end and at least two input branches branching off from an end of the output section opposite to the output end. Each of the input branches includes an input end opposite to the output section and aligning with a respective one of the side surfaces of the at least two laser diodes.
US08948546B2 Optical frequency shifter and optical modulator using the same
An object of the present invention is to provide a temperature-independent optical frequency shifter for generating sub-carriers with a miniaturizable configuration, as well as to provide an all-optical OFDM modulator using the same that is compact, has low temperature dependence, and is even compatible with different frequency grids. Provided is an optical frequency shifter and an optical modulator using the same, the optical frequency shifter comprises one input optical port, a 1-input, 2-output optical coupler optically connected thereto, two Mach-Zehnder modulation units individually optically connected to the two outputs thereof, a 2-input, 2-output optical coupler optically connected to the individual outputs thereof, and two output optical ports optically connected to the outputs thereof, wherein the two Mach-Zehnder modulation units are driven by periodic waveforms at the same frequency whose phases differ from each other by (2p+1)π/2 (p: integer).
US08948543B2 Exposure condition decision support system and method
A console of an X-ray imaging system functions as a query receiver and a retrieval section to support decision on an exposure condition. The query receiver receives a retrieval query such as an exposed body portion and an exposure direction. The retrieval section refers to an exposure date of image files having the same patient ID number, and calculates an exposure interval between a pair of prior and subsequent image files the exposure dates of which are the nearest to each other. The exposure interval is compared with a threshold value. If the exposure interval is less than the threshold value, neither image file is assigned as a model image file. If the exposure interval is the threshold value or more, the subsequent image file is assigned as the model image file. The retrieval section retrieves the image file matching the retrieval query out of the model image files.
US08948540B2 Optimized orthonormal system and method for reducing dimensionality of hyperspectral images
A method for reducing dimensionality of hyperspectral images includes receiving a hyperspectral image having a plurality of pixels. The method may further include establishing an orthonormal basis vector set comprising a plurality of mutually orthogonal normalized members. Each of the mutually orthogonal normalized members may be associated with one of the plurality of pixels of the hyperspectral image. The method may further include decomposing the hyperspectral image into a reduced dimensionality image, utilizing calculations performed while establishing said orthonormal basis vector set. A system configured to perform the method may also be provided.
US08948538B2 Removal of image artifacts from sensor dust
Removal of the effects of dust or other impurities on image data is described. In one example, a model of artifact formation from sensor dust is determined. From the model of artifact formation, contextual information in the image and a color consistency constraint may be applied on the dust to remove the dust artifacts. Artifacts may also be removed from multiple images from the same or different cameras or camera settings.
US08948527B2 Recording medium having recorded thereon coded information using plus and/or minus rounding of images
Medium having image decoding program effecting: extracting motion vector information, quantized DCT coefficients, and rounding method information; dequantizing quantized DCT coefficients to DCT coefficients; performing inverse DCT conversion on the DCT coefficients to an error image; synthesizing a prediction image of a currently decoded image via motion compensation using motion vector information, rounding method information, and a previously-decoded reference image; and adding the prediction and error images to a decoded image; wherein motion compensation is performed with half-pixel accuracy and uses bilinear interpolation to calculate intensity values of chrominance or luminance where no pixels exist in the reference image, using a positive or negative rounding method; wherein interpolation is performed using a rounding method specified by one-bit rounding method information included in a header section of coded information of the current image; wherein the rounding method specifies one of two values specifying a positive or negative rounding method.
US08948526B2 Method and apparatus for encoding binary image using adaptive template and method and apparatus for decoding the same
Provided are binary image encoding and decoding methods and binary image encoding and decoding apparatuses using an adaptive template. The binary image encoding method includes: applying a window having a predetermined size and shape to a predetermined number of previous pixels and peripheral pixels of the previous pixels, and acquiring correlations between the previous pixels and the peripheral pixels within the window; determining relative locations having high correlation with the previous pixels within the window based on the acquired correlations; generating a template based on the determined relative locations; and performing binary arithmetic encoding on a current pixel by using the generated template.
US08948520B2 Image categorization based on comparisons between images
In an example embodiment, a method is provided for image categorization. Here, images are displayed. In turn, a user input that describes a characteristic shared between the images from a comparison between the images is received. The user input may then be classified into categorization data.
US08948513B2 Blurring based content recognizer
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for identifying regions of interest in an image and identifying a barcode in a degraded image are provided. A region of interest is identified by pre-processing an image, generating a binary image based on a metric calculated on the pre-processed image, and analyzing regions of the image identified using connected components and other analysis. A barcode is identified by searching a population of barcodes, degrading ideal image intensity profiles of candidate barcodes, and comparing the degraded ideal image intensity profiles to an image intensity profile of the degraded image.
US08948508B2 System and method of adaptive color correction for pill recognition in digital images
A system and method for correcting colors in an image in order to identify pills. The system includes a surface that includes a background upon which pills are positioned and a border of known color adjacent to the background. The system also includes a digital camera and a processor. The processor is used to receive and process the image, use target objects on the surface to identify areas of the image that correspond to the known characteristics and features of the surface, perform image diagnostics to determine if the image can be used, and correct image color based on comparison of identified areas of the image that correspond with the known characteristics and features of the surface. Various graphical displays or cues can assist a user in obtaining a usable image.
US08948504B2 Device and machine readable medium for determining image hue
The present invention provides a device and a machine readable storage medium for determining image hue, which relate to the field of image processing. The device is configured to perform: obtaining color information of a part or all of pixels of an image including hue values, brightness values and saturation values; determining a pixel whose hue value needs to be compared according to the obtained color information, and comparing the pixel, whose hue value needs to be compared, with hue values of preset multiple candidate colors, determining a closest candidate color, and accumulating a weight value of the pixel whose hue value needs to be compared to a weight value of the closest candidate color; and using hue of a candidate color with the highest weight value as hue of the image. The machine readable storage medium can cause a processor to perform the steps above.
US08948502B2 Image processing method, and image processor
Included are (a) performing processes on second training data items stored in a training database to generate third training data items each obtained through a corresponding one of the processes, (b) selecting, from among the third training data items generated in step (a), a selection data item having a highest similarity to a feature data item of the input image, (c) generating a high-frequency data item by: determining (i) the second training data item used in generating the selection data item and (ii) a first process performed on the second training data item to generate the selection data item; and performing the first process on the first training data item that is paired with the determined second training data item; and (d) generating an output image by adding an image indicated by the high-frequency data item to the input image.
US08948501B1 Three-dimensional (3D) object detection and multi-agent behavior recognition using 3D motion data
The present invention relates to an object detection and behavior recognition system using three-dimensional motion data. The system receives three-dimensional (3D) motion data of a scene from at least one sensor, such as a LIDAR sensor. An object is identified in the 3D motion data. Thereafter, an object track is extracted, the object track being indicative of object motion in the scene over time. Through Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) or other comparison techniques, the object track is compared to a database to identify the behavior of the object based on its object track.
US08948499B1 Method for online learning and recognition of visual behaviors
Described is a system for object and behavior recognition which utilizes a collection of modules which, when integrated, can automatically recognize, learn, and adapt to simple and complex visual behaviors. An object recognition module utilizes a cooperative swarm algorithm to classify an object in a domain. A graph-based object representation module is configured to use a graphical model to represent a spatial organization of the object within the domain. Additionally, a reasoning and recognition engine module consists of two sub-modules: a knowledge sub-module and a behavior recognition sub-module. The knowledge sub-module utilizes a Bayesian network, while the behavior recognition sub-module consists of layers of adaptive resonance theory clustering networks and a layer of a sustained temporal order recurrent temporal order network. The described invention has applications in video forensics, data mining, and intelligent video archiving.
US08948498B1 Systems and methods to transform a colored point cloud to a 3D textured mesh
Examples disclose a method and system to transform a colored point cloud to a 3D textured mesh. The method may be executable to identify a location on a 2D image of an object, identify a location on a 3D image of the object, and determine a color associated with the location on the 2D image. Determining a color may include receiving data associated with a simulation of a plurality of rays cast on the 3D image, identifying a color of the location on the 3D image associated with the received data, identifying a confidence level associated with the identified color of the location on the 3D image, and associating the identified color of the location on the 3D image with the location on the 2D image.
US08948493B2 Method and electronic device for object recognition, and method for acquiring depth information of an object
A method for recognizing an object from two original images, includes the steps of accessing the two original images, reducing resolutions of the two original images so as to generate two resolution-reduced images, respectively, calculating a plurality of shift amounts, each of which is between two corresponding pixels in pixel blocks that have similar content and that are respectively in the two resolution-reduced images and generating a low-level depth image based on the shift amounts, determining an object area of the low-level depth image containing the object therein, and obtaining a sub-image, from one of the original images, corresponding to the object area of the low-level depth image, thereby recognizing the object based on the sub-image.
US08948484B2 Method and system for automatic view planning for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging acquisition
A method and system for automated view planning for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition is disclosed. The method and system automatically generate a full scan prescription using a single 3D MRI volume. The left ventricle (LV) is segmented in the 3D MRI volume. Cardiac landmarks are detected in the automatically prescribed slices. A full scan prescription, including a short axis stack and 2-chamber, 3-chamber, and 4-chamber views, is automatically generated based on cardiac anchors provided by the segmented left ventricle and the detected cardiac landmarks in the 3D MRI volume.
US08948477B2 Derivation method of discrimination threshold of nail apparatus melanoma
An derivation method of a nail apparatus melanoma discrimination threshold includes a first step of assuming a color image of longitudinal melanonychia as three-dimensional vectors each composed of RGB parameter values of each pixel and finding an angle between each of the three-dimensional vectors and a reference vector, a second step of finding a probability of occurrence according to a frequency distribution of the angles found in the first step, and a third step of finding, according to the probability of occurrence found in the second step, a threshold for a parameter to discriminate whether the longitudinal melanonychia is malignant or benign.
US08948471B2 Image registration of multiple medical imaging modalities using a multiple degree-of-freedom-encoded fiducial device
Disclosed is a system and method for registering images from two medical imaging modalities in a six-degree-of-freedom coordinate space, for the purpose of providing real time registered imagery for optimization of medical procedures. The system and method uses fiducial that is visible to the first imager and in a fixed position and orientation relative to the second imager. The first imager may be an X-ray device such as a C-arm fluoroscope, and the second imager may be a Transrectal Ultrasound (TRUS) device.
US08948463B2 Method for analyzing seismic data
A method for analyzing seismic data by generating a post-migration common image gather in a dip angle domain from measured seismic data; detecting concave features related to reflection events in the common image gather and apexes; filtering out part of the concave features in the common image gather in a vicinity of the detected apexes; applying a hybrid Radon transform to the filtered common image gather to separate residues of the concave features from other image features related to diffraction events; and applying an inverse hybrid Radon transform to an image containing the separated features related to diffraction events to obtain a transformed common image gather in the dip angle domain.
US08948458B2 Stationary target detection by exploiting changes in background model
A computer-implemented method for processing one or more video frames may include obtaining one or more video frames; generating one or more blobs using the one or more video frames; classifying the one or more blobs to produce one or more classified blobs, wherein the one or more classified blobs include one or more of a stationary target, a moving target, a target insertion, a target removal, or a local change; and constructing a list of detected targets based on the one or more classified blobs.
US08948456B2 Augmented reality virtual automotive X-ray having service information
A tool for providing a user with information on a particular object related to a position and an orientation of the tool with respect to the object includes an image capturing device configured to capture an image of the object. The tool further includes a position and orientation sensor configured to determine the position of the tool with respect to the object, a processor configured to determine from the image the type of object, a display configured to display the image of the object, the display further configured to display additional information in addition to the image of the object in response to the determination of the type of object, and the processor further configured to determine a change in one of the position and the orientation of the sensor and the tool and further configured to modify the display.
US08948455B2 Travel path estimation apparatus and program
A characteristic point extraction section acquires an image captured by an image capture device and extracts characteristic points from the captured image, a vehicle lane boundary point selection section selects vehicle lane boundary points that indicate vehicle lanes from the extracted characteristic points, a distribution determination section determines the distribution of the vehicle lane boundary points, a system noise setting section sets each system noise based on the distribution of vehicle lane boundary points, and a travel path parameter estimation section stably predicts travel path parameters based on the vehicle lane boundary points, past estimation results, and the system noise that has been set.
US08948436B2 Loudspeaker system
The present invention comprises a loudspeaker system that includes a loudspeaker and a detachable mount. In one or more embodiments, the loudspeaker and mount include electrical connectors that are engaged when the loudspeaker is attached to the mount. In one or more embodiments, the loudspeaker and mount comprise mating mounting structures that support the loudspeaker on the mount when the mounting structure of the loudspeaker is engaged with the mounting structure of the mount. In one or more embodiments, mating electrical connectors are incorporated in the mounting structures such that engaging the mounting structures simultaneously engages the electrical connectors. In one or more embodiments, the loudspeaker comprises a locking mechanism that positively retains the loudspeaker on the mount. In one or more embodiments, the locking mechanism is hidden behind a flexible grill of the loudspeaker such that pressing on a corresponding location on the grill releases the locking mechanism allowing the loudspeaker to be detached from the mount. In one or more embodiments, the mount is configured to be mountable to a standard US or European electrical wiring box. In one or more embodiments, the mating mounting structures are configured to be engageable with a reduced amount of travel. In one or more embodiments, multiple configurations of the mount are provided that allow the loudspeaker to be mounted with a variety of orientations with respect to the mounting surface.
US08948433B2 Narrow-angle directional microphone
Provided is a narrow-angle directional microphone in which a microphone unit is attached to an acoustic tube, the acoustic tube is accommodated a microphone case and which prevents the rattling of components provided in the microphone case and has high mechanical strength. A narrow-angle directional microphone 1 includes a microphone unit 2, an acoustic tube 3 that has an opening formed in a circumferential wall along an axis direction and a rear end to which the microphone unit is connected, a cylindrical microphone case 4 that accommodates the acoustic tube, and fixing means 3a, 4a, 10, and 20a that fix the acoustic tube in the microphone case, with stress being applied to the acoustic tube in the microphone case in the axis direction from the leading end side of the acoustic tube using the rear end of the acoustic tube as a fulcrum.
US08948430B2 Hearing aid with an elongate member
A hearing aid includes a housing for accommodation of a signal processor for processing an audio signal into a processed audio signal compensating a hearing loss, and a receiver that is connected to an output of the signal processor for converting the processed audio signal into a sound signal, wherein the housing extends through a central part of an earpiece part, and is coupled to the earpiece part, the earpiece part configured to be placed in an ear canal of a user.
US08948424B2 Hearing device and method for operating a hearing device with two-stage transformation
A filter bank with a sufficiently high resolution for amplification and noise reduction and with the lowest possible computational complexity is provided for a hearing device and, in particular, for a hearing aid. Two-stage frequency transformation with little latency is therefore proposed for hearing aids. Some of the processing, for example the amplification, is carried out after high stopband attenuation in the first stage. An increased frequency resolution is achieved in a second stage before the back-transformation in the first stage, which is favorable for noise reduction, for example.
US08948421B2 Ribbon microphone circuit
A ribbon microphone circuit includes a ribbon microphone unit; a step-up transformer; buffer amplifier circuits connected to a secondary winding of the step-up transformer; an external power supply circuit as a power source for driving the buffer amplifier circuits; and a switch circuit including photo-relays having lights that are turned on while the external power source is being supplied and having contacts operating depending on states of the respective lights, wherein signals output from the ribbon microphone unit are sent through the buffer amplifier circuits while the external power source is being supplied, and sent without passing through the buffer amplifier circuits while the external power source is being not supplied.
US08948419B2 Microphone with backplate having specially shaped through-holes
A MEMS microphone has 1) a backplate with a backplate interior surface and a plurality of through-holes, and 2) a diaphragm spaced from the backplate. The diaphragm is movably coupled with the backplate to form a variable capacitor. At least two of the through-holes have an inner dimensional shape (on the backplate interior surface) with a plurality of convex portions and a plurality of concave portions.
US08948414B2 Providing audible signals to a driver
A method for providing audible signals (such as speech) to a driver of a vehicle which appear to originate from a virtual sound source in front of the driver, so that it will feel normal for the driver to respond interactively by speaking without turning the head to the source of the audible signal. The driver's head position is estimated according to data provided by sensors in the driver's seat, and this position data, together with acoustical characteristics of the vehicle interior, is used to derive a transfer function for filtering electrical audible signals to the loudspeakers to simulate a virtual sound source in front of the driver.
US08948409B2 Audio headset with active noise control of the non-adaptive type for listening to an audio music source and/or for “hands-free” telephony functions
The headset comprises two earpieces each having a transducer for playing back the sound of an audio signal and received in an acoustic cavity defined by a shell having an ear-surrounding cushion. The active noise control comprises, in parallel, a feedforward bandpass filter receiving the signal from an external microphone, a feedback bandpass filter receiving as input an error signal delivered by an internal microphone, and a stabilizer bandpass filter locally increasing the phase of the transfer function of the feedback filter in an instability zone, in particular a waterbed effect zone around 1 kHz. A summing circuit delivers a weighting linear combination of the signal delivered by these filters together with the audio signal to be played back. Control is non-adaptive, with the parameters of the filters being static.
US08948407B2 Bandlimiting anti-noise in personal audio devices having adaptive noise cancellation (ANC)
A personal audio device, such as a wireless telephone, includes noise canceling circuit that adaptively generates an anti-noise signal from a reference microphone signal and injects the anti-noise signal into the speaker or other transducer output to cause cancellation of ambient audio sounds. An error microphone may also be provided proximate the speaker to measure the output of the transducer in order to control the adaptation of the anti-noise signal and to estimate an electro-acoustical path from the noise canceling circuit through the transducer. A processing circuit that performs the adaptive noise canceling (ANC) function also either adjusts the frequency response of the anti-noise signal with respect to the reference microphone signal, and/or by adjusting the response of the adaptive filter independent of the adaptation provided by the reference microphone signal.
US08948400B2 Host device
the host device being configured to receive, from a key issuer who issued the medium device key (Kmd_i) and the medium device key certificate, a host device key (Khd_i) and a host device certificate (Certhost), the host device being configured to execute authentication with the information recording device using the host device key (Khd_i) and the host device certificate (Certhost), the host device being configured to receive second controller identification information (IDcntr) from the information recording device, the second controller identification information being generated by executing a one-way function calculation based on the controller key (Kc) and the first controller identification information (IDcu), and the host device being configured to decrypt the encrypted content data stored in the information recording device, in response to reception of the second controller identification information (IDcntr) from the information recording device.
US08948399B2 Dynamic key management
Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to receive a public key associated with a public/private key pair at a key distribution handler, after a new workload and an associated key agent are created within a network of nodes. The associated key agent may be used to generate the key pair. Additional activity may include distributing, by the key distribution handler, the public key to other key agents associated with permitted workloads operating in the network. The public key may be used to overwrite or delete prior public keys for an authenticated workload identity associated with the new workload. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US08948391B2 Secure communication method
A first computing device receives over a telecommunications network from a second computing device a verification message encrypted using a public key. The verification message is generated by the second computing device when initiating a call to the first computing device. The first computing device transmits to a wireless router via a wireless local area network (WLAN) created by the wireless router, the encrypted verification message. The first computing device receives from the wireless router over the WLAN, a decrypted verification message decrypted from the encrypted message by the wireless device using a private key associated with the public key. The first computing device transmits over the telecommunications network to the second computing device, the decrypted verification message. If the second computing device determines that the decrypted verification message corresponds to the encrypted verification message, the second computing device allows the call to the first computing device to proceed.
US08948390B2 Securely joining a secure wireless communications network
Securely joining a secure wireless communications network is described, for example, where a printer or other device is securely added to a home wireless network. In various embodiments, a temporary wireless network is established between a new joiner device and a second wireless communications device which is already a member of a secure home wireless network. In an example, the temporary wireless network is set up using a secret key known to the new joiner device and the second wireless communications device by virtue of physical proximity. In various examples, the secure, temporary wireless network is used to transfer credentials of the secure home network to the new joiner device which then joins the home network. In an example the temporary wireless network is cancelled once the new joiner device becomes a member of the secure home (or other) wireless network.
US08948389B2 Wireless network connection method, wireless network apparatus and wireless network access point (AP) applying the method
A wireless network connection method includes the following steps: a wireless network access point (AP) that receives apparatus identification information of a wireless network apparatus through a wireless network. The wireless network AP generates a temporary encryption key according to the apparatus identification information and AP identification information of the wireless network AP. The wireless network AP encrypts a network transmission key according to the temporary encryption key to generate an encrypted key. The AP identification information and the encrypted key are transmitted to the wireless network apparatus. The wireless network apparatus generates the temporary encryption key according to the apparatus identification information and the received AP identification information. The wireless network apparatus decrypts the encrypted key according to the temporary encryption key to generate the network transmission key. The wireless network apparatus establishes a security connection with the wireless network AP according to the network transmission key.
US08948383B2 Printing system, printing method, terminal, and computer-readable storage medium for computer program
A printing system is provided with a terminal sending print data; a printer performing printing based on the print data; and a transfer device transferring the print data to the printer responding to a request from the printer. The terminal includes a transmission portion configured to, when communication with the transfer device is possible, send the print data to the transfer device, and configured to, when the communication is impossible, send the print data in association with a command for authentication print to the printer without via the transfer device. The printer includes a requesting portion configured to, when user authentication of a user of the terminal is successful, request the print data from the transfer device, and a printing portion configured to, when the user authentication is successful, perform the printing based on the print data received from the transfer device or the terminal.
US08948380B2 Communication apparatus, control method of communication apparatus, computer program, and storage medium
The security level is enhanced without impairing user operability when executing an automatic communication parameter setting processing. A communication apparatus which configures a network serves as a providing apparatus which provides communication parameters to a receiving apparatus which receives the provided communication parameters. At this time, whether or not an encryption key, which is included in the communication parameters, is generated randomly is determined based on the participation status of the communication apparatus in the network.
US08948378B2 Method and device for rekeying in a radio network link layer encryption system
Disclosed is a method of rekeying radios for link layer encryption (LLE) in a radio network using a bifurcated crypto period. During a first portion of a first LLE crypto period during which a first LLE key (LEK) is used to LLE encrypt communications between a base station and mobile stations operating within a corresponding coverage area of the base station, a radio network communications device prevents individual ones of the mobile stations from requesting a second LEK to be used during a second LLE crypto period after the first LLE crypto period. During a second portion of the first LLE crypto period, the radio network communications device allows individual ones of the mobile stations to request the second LEK. A mobile station configured to operate in accordance with the bifurcated crypto period, and provide information regarding keys in its possession via an authentication response ISP, is also disclosed.
US08948371B2 System and method for managing hold times during automated call processing
A system and method for managing hold times during automated call processing is provided. A call is received from a caller and assigned to a call session. Data is obtained from the caller and evaluated for caller attributes related to the call session. Hold times are identified during the call session. Response content is customized for at least one of the hold times using the caller attributes. The customized response content is provided to the caller during that hold time.
US08948370B2 System and method for telephone call routing using a relational routing matrix
A system, method, apparatus, means, and computer program code is provided wherein a telephone call is received. A telephone call routing matrix is accessed, from a relational database platform, to select a service representative for the received telephone call. It may then be arranged for the received telephone call to be routed in accordance with the selected service representative.
US08948365B2 Systems and methods for providing answering services
The present invention includes a method and system for the management and routing of telecommunications information on data and telephone lines. In one exemplary embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a flexible system whereby business information is correlated to a user's telephone number is provided. In another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides an on-line answering service in which the identification information of the called party can be maintained during call forwarding and/or diversion. In another exemplary embodiment, the identification information of the user called can be detected by the answering system. In addition, in another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides answering services access to information about the called party as well as the calling party in order to facilitate the answering services' responses on behalf of their users.
US08948362B1 Increasing the likelihood that a conference call will occur
Methods and products are provided for facilitating a conference call. One embodiment includes receiving an incoming call from a participant who is to participate in the conference call but who does not have authority to start the call, identifying a chairperson who does have authority to start the conference call, and automatically notifying the chairperson that the participant is waiting for the conference call to begin.
US08948356B2 System and method for routing communications
A system and method that includes receiving a communication request of an account, the communication request including communication properties; identifying at least two routing options of a route priority list, the routing options capable of completing the communication request and identified according to a priority heuristic; generating a communication cost from the communication properties; and upon receipt of the routing response and the communication cost response, executing a communication with a routing option of the routing priority list and committing a cost of the communication to the account.
US08948349B2 Communication apparatus and control method thereof
In a communication apparatus including a base unit provided with an answering machine function and a cordless handset wirelessly connected to the base unit, a wireless unit that communications with a setting unit that sets the answering machine function and the cordless handset requests the setting unit to set the answering machine function, if the wireless unit receives a command to set the answering machine function from the cordless handset while a communication control unit that detects an incoming call on an outside line is detecting an incoming call on an outside line.
US08948348B2 Method for testing elevator emergency phones and elevator emergency communication system
A method is provided for testing an elevator emergency phone, which emergency phone is either VoIP compliant and connected to a WAN or is connected with a mobile connection module for operation in a mobile network. In the method, the phone is periodically initiated to be registered in the corresponding communication network. The registration attempt is monitored by a reporting device. The status data of the registration attempt is communicated by the reporting device to a monitoring center, which itself is connected to the communication network, which monitoring center takes necessary action when either a registration attempt is not being executed within a set time period or if the result of at least one registration attempt has been communicated as failed.
US08948337B2 Computed tomography image reconstruction
Approaches for performing computed tomographic image reconstruction are described. In one embodiment, a full or almost full scan of scan data is acquired and a plurality of image reconstructions are performed based on the scan data, wherein the plurality of image reconstructions result in a corresponding plurality of image volumes wherein the image reconstructions use different view weighting functions. Further, the present approaches provide for combining the plurality of image volumes together to produce a final image volume.
US08948319B2 Joint demodulation of a desired signal and an interfering signal based on a carrier-to-interference ratio estimate
A technique includes jointly demodulating a desired signal and an interfering signal of a received signal in response to a carrier-to-interference ratio estimate for the received signal being below a threshold level. The jointly demodulating is based on first channel impulse response coefficients associated with the desired signal and second channel impulse response coefficients associated with the interfering signal. The technique includes determining the first channel impulse response coefficients based on a first cross-correlation function between the received signal and a training sequence of the desired signal and determining the second channel impulse response coefficients based on a second cross-correlation function between the received signal and a training sequence of the interfering signal. The second channel impulse response coefficients are determined based on a time difference between a time value of a peak in the first cross-correlation function and a time value of a peak in the second cross-correlation function.
US08948313B2 Method and apparatus for adjusting a symbol decision threshold at a receiver in a communication network
A method and apparatus for adjusting a symbol decision threshold at a receiver in a communication network enables the receiver to be adapted to more correctly receive symbols as transmitted by a transmitter. In one embodiment, a received bit imbalance is detected by a receiver prior to error correction and after error correction to determine whether an error component of the received signal contains larger numbers of ones or larger numbers of zeros. Where the transmitter scrambles the signal prior to transmission, the receiver will also scramble the signal after error correction and prior to counting the number of zeros or ones. Any imbalance between the number of transmitted and received ones or zeros is used as feedback to adjust threshold values used by detectors to fine tune the manner in which the receiver interprets incoming signals.
US08948305B2 Transmission method, transmission apparatus, reception method and reception apparatus
All data symbols used in data transmission of a modulated signal are precoded by hopping between precoding matrices so that the precoding matrix used to precode each data symbol and the precoding matrices used to precode data symbols that are adjacent to the data symbol in the frequency domain and the time domain all differ. A modulated signal with such data symbols arranged therein is transmitted.
US08948304B2 Apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving data in a communication or broadcasting system using linear block code
Provided is a method for transmitting data in a communication or broadcasting system using a linear block code by generating a codeword by encoding input information data bits, interleaving the codeword; outputting modulation signal-constituting bits by bit-mapping the interleaved codeword using a bit-mapping table predetermined depending on a modulation scheme and a coding rate, outputting a modulation signal by modulating the modulation signal-constituting bits and transmitting the modulation signal via a transmit antenna.
US08948302B2 OFDM pre-equalizing
For example in case of an OFDM multicarrier transmission system the transmission characteristics of subcarriers of a multicarrier transmission system using a plurality of antenna elements (3, 3′) can be adjusted. Particularly the power and the phase of the subcarriers can be adapted. To this object the subcarrier frequency channel (2, 2′) characteristics of the multicarrier transmission are detected (11, 11′) at the side of the transmitter (3). The power of each subcarrier is then distributed by a weighting unit (14, 14′). The subcarriers can be further pre-equalized (1, 1′) by dividing the subcarrier signal respectively by the sum of the squared magnitude of the frequency channel characteristics of all subcarrier signals or a frequency characteristic of the selected antenna element (3, 3′).
US08948292B1 Phase angle mapping for phase modulation
In determining an angle for a phase modulation scheme, a key is generated from a prescribed set of bits contained in a symbol. The symbols have an in-phase (I) data word and a quadrature phase (Q) data word that identify coordinates of the symbols in a complex number plane. An angle is retrieved from a memory table from a storage location identified by the key. Each angle in the memory table is established in accordance with constraints under which the memory table was populated so as to be mapped to a phase angle identifying other coordinates in the complex number plane that are within a specified neighborhood about the coordinates of each of the symbols. A signal is generated to convey the symbols as phase differentials at each sample time between a reference phase and the phase angle.
US08948291B2 Methods and systems for programmable digital down-conversion
A radio communication apparatus operable over a wide range of frequencies including a signal processing device is provided. The device performs an analog to digital conversion at a predetermined sample rate independent of a selected frequency band within the wide range of frequencies to generate a digital signal, and digitally processes the digital signal to output a data signal at baseband associated with the selected frequency band.
US08948289B2 Method and device for codebook generation and downlink signal transmission in a wireless communication system supporting multiple antennas
The present invention relates to a method in which a base station transmits a downlink signal using 8 antennas may comprise the steps of: mapping a downlink signal to N (1≦N≦4) layers; precoding the signal mapped to the N layers, by using a specific precoding matrix selected from a pre-stored codebook; subjecting the precoded signal to processing for OFDM symbol generation; and transmitting OFDM symbols through 8 antennas. The pre-stored codebook may comprise precoding matrices for the respective ranks corresponding to N, the pre-stored codebook may consist of 16 codebook indexes, and a portion of the precoding matrices for high ranks in the 16 codebook indexes may be generated from the precoding matrices for low ranks.
US08948279B2 Interrogator and interrogation system employing the same
A control and processing system for use with an interrogator and an interrogation system employing the same. In one embodiment, the control and processing system includes a correlation subsystem having a correlator that correlates a reference code with a reply code from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and provides a correlation signal therefrom. The control and processing system also includes a decision subsystem that verifies a presence of the RFID tag as a function of the correlation signal.
US08948278B2 Telecommunication signaling using nonlinear functions
One exemplary embodiment can describe a method for communicating. The method for communicating can include a step for identifying characteristics of a communications channel, a step for identifying a set of nonlinear functions used to generate waveforms, a step for assigning a unique numeric code to each waveform, a step for transmitting a numeric sequence as a series of waveforms, a step for receiving the series of waveforms, and a step for decoding the series of waveforms.
US08948277B2 Digital retro-directive communication system and method thereof
The present invention relates to a digital retro-directive system and method thereof for receiving incoming signals from a transmitting source by means of at least two antennas and transmitting outgoing signals back, substantially simultaneously, towards said transmitting source through said at least two antennas irrespective of the location of one antenna with respect to another and without calculating phase differences between said outgoing signals.
US08948272B2 Joint source-channel decoding with source sequence augmentation
Methods and systems for augmenting a source message by suitably-chosen bits and/or sequences of bits for the purpose of enhancing decoding or synchronization performance. Properties of the source message can be used to select and optimize synchronization sequences, including their length and placement within the source message. Various message attributes, such as message or segment weight, symbol counts, and others, including their combinations, may be encoded into the synchronization sequence to further improve decoding performance in the presence of errors. These methods and systems can be employed for standalone source decoding of noisy bit streams, as well as iterative joint source-channel decoding. They may further be combined with other methods whether or not known in the art, such as CRC and forward error correction, to achieve the desired performance complexity trade-off.
US08948264B2 Method and apparatus for multi-view video encoding using chrominance compensation and method and apparatus for multi-view video decoding using chrominance compensation
Methods and apparatuses for efficiently coding and decoding multi-view video are provided. A method of decoding multi-view video includes: interpreting a first picture type indicating whether a current picture of the multi-view video is a reference video type for inter prediction; interpreting a block type indicating a method of determining a motion vector of a current block of the current picture; interpreting a chrominance compensation value of the current block based on at least one of the interpreted first picture type and the interpreted block type; and performing chrominance compensation on the current block by using the interpreted chrominance compensation value.
US08948262B2 Method and apparatus for using frame rate up conversion techniques in scalable video coding
A method for encoding a video stream includes partitioning the video stream into a main layer having a plurality of main layer frames, and an interpolated layer having a plurality of interpolated layer frames; interpolating a frame rate up conversion (FRUC) frame; and encoding the plurality of main layer frames in the interpolated layer with the assistance of the main FRUC frame. A video encoder implementing the method is also described.
US08948258B2 Video coding with large macroblocks
Techniques are described for encoding and decoding digital video data using macroblocks that are larger than the macroblocks prescribed by conventional video encoding and decoding standards. For example, the techniques include encoding and decoding a video stream using macroblocks comprising greater than 16×16 pixels. In one example, an apparatus includes a video encoder configured to encode a coded unit comprising a plurality of video blocks, wherein at least one of the plurality of video blocks comprises a size of more than 16×16 pixels and to generate syntax information for the coded unit that includes a maximum size value, wherein the maximum size value indicates a size of a largest one of the plurality of video blocks in the coded unit. The syntax information may also include a minimum size value. In this manner, the encoder may indicate to a decoder the proper syntax decoder to apply to the coded unit.
US08948257B2 Image encoding method, image decoding method, image encoding apparatus, image decoding apparatus, and program
A technique for improving a compression rate without needing new determination information (encoding flag information) is provided. For compression of each area to be encoded, based on a skip mode (a process which does not compress information of the area to be encoded, but copies previous information of the area to be encoded), it is determined whether an existing predicted image generated by an existing encoding standard is used, or an interpolation predicted image newly generated by executing move searching between decoded images is used.
US08948256B2 Reference picture list management syntax for multiple view video coding
A picture reference list ordering process is defined for a multiview coder for coding moving pictures, where the picture list has the coding order of reference pictures used to code a picture specified in relationship to whether a picture to be coded is associated with a view. The ordering of the picture list will therefore change the coding order of the reference pictures in the picture reference list depending on the temporal relationships the reference pictures have with the picture to be coded and views associated with the reference picture.
US08948254B2 Video signal transmitting device, video signal transmitting method, video signal receiving device, and video signal receiving method
ObjectTo transmit well a video signal of a desired bit rate within a transfer bit rate of a transfer path.Solving MeansA control unit 111 controls the operation of data compression units 121-1 through 121-n and switch unit 122. When the bit rate BR of a non-compressed video signal output from a codec 117 is within the transfer bit rate BR2 of an HDMI transfer path, the control unit 111 supplies the non-compressed video signal output from the codec 117 to the HDMI transmitting unit 102 as a video signal to be transmitted. On the other hand, when the bit rate BR1 is greater than the bit rate BR2, the control unit 111 selects a compression method that can be handled on the receiving side performs compression processing so that the bit rate BR1 becomes lower than the bit rate BR2, and supplies the compression video signal to the HDMI transmitting unit 102 as a video signal to be transmitted. Also, the control unit 111 transmits compression information (control information of the switch unit 122 and data compression units 121-1 through 121-n).
US08948249B2 Encoder-aided segmentation for adaptive streaming
In one embodiment, a method for encoding content includes receiving source content and encoding the source content into a plurality of content streams. The encoding includes aligning the plurality of content streams at Group of Pictures (GOP) boundaries. The encoding further includes embedding, in each content stream, metadata identifying segmentation points within the content stream, where the segmentation points correspond to one or more of the GOP boundaries.
US08948242B2 Encoding device and method and multimedia apparatus including the encoding device
An encoding device and method of using a bit rate control method which accurately predicts a target bit amount, provides excellent quality, and is applicable to a real-time environment through a simple mechanism, and a multimedia apparatus including the encoding device. The encoding device includes a group-of-pictures (GOP)-based bit assigning unit for assigning a GOP-based bit amount targetGOP, a macroblock-based bit assigning unit for assigning a macroblock-based bit amount for all macroblocks included in the GOP, a quantizing device for checking a current buffer state, determining a quantization parameter (QP) by using an alternating current (AC) coefficient obtained by transforming a macroblock if a buffer occupancy rate is lower than a predetermined limit rate, and performing quantization by using the determined QP, and a variable length coding (VLC) unit for performing VLC.
US08948237B2 Adaptive offset adjustment algorithm
An apparatus and method is disclosed to compensate for one or more offsets in a communications signal. A communications receiver may carry out an offset adjustment algorithm to compensate for the one or more offsets. An initial search procedure determines one or more signal metric maps for one or more selected offset adjustment corrections from the one or more offset adjustment corrections. The offset adjustment algorithm determines one or more optimal points for one or more selected offset adjustment correction based upon the one or more signal maps. The adaptive offset algorithm adjusts each of the one or more selected offset adjustment corrections to their respective optimal points and/or each of one or more non-selected offset adjustment corrections to a corresponding one of a plurality of possible offset corrections to provide one or more adjusted offset adjustment corrections. A tracking mode procedure optimizes the one or more adjusted offset adjustment corrections.
US08948236B2 Radio terminal device, radio base station device, radio ranging system, and radio ranging method
Disclosed are a radio terminal device and the like, which achieve an improvement in the accuracy of ranging between a UWB reader and a UWB tag regardless of whether an active method or a semi-passive method. In a terminal (300), a timing control unit (340) outputs, to a transmission amplifier (350), a control signal for performing on-off control such that on the basis of the reception timing of a pulse signal transmitted from a base station (200) and a representative value of a circuit delay time required from when a reception pulse signal is received until a transmission pulse signal generated in response to a detection signal of the reception pulse signal is transmitted, the transmission amplifier (350) amplifies a reradiation pulse generated in response to a detection signal of the pulse signal transmitted from the base station (200); and a re-reradiation pulse generated in response to a detection signal of the reradiation pulse.
US08948234B2 Communication apparatus and communication method
When a changer changes a communication parameter based on a channel characteristic, a selector selects a switch data sequence corresponding to the changed communication parameter. A serial-parallel converter performs a serial-parallel conversion on a switch data sequence. An IFFT unit performs an IFFT. A transmitter synthesizes a calculation result from the IFFT unit to generate data symbol, and generates a transmission frame based on the data symbol. The transmitter then transmits the transmission frame to a second apparatus. A receiver receives a transmission frame from the second apparatus to generate data symbol. An FFT unit performs an FFT on the data symbol to generate a parallel signal. If a correlator determines that a notification of the change in the communication parameter has been correctly transmitted based on an autocorrelation analysis of the parallel signal, a communication apparatus starts communication using the changed communication parameter.
US08948229B2 Dynamic hopping sequence computation in channel hopping communication networks
In one embodiment, a device in a channel hopping communication network independently maintains a slot counter, and computes a channel identification (ID) based on a function having inputs of i) a unique feature of the device, ii) a current slot of the slot counter, and iii) a set of possible channel IDs. Accordingly, the device configures its radio to receive on the computed channel ID for the respective current slot. In another embodiment, the device may determine, for a neighbor device, a current neighbor slot and unique neighbor feature, and correspondingly computes a neighbor channel ID based on the function using the unique neighbor feature, the current neighbor slot, and the set of possible channel IDs. As such, the device configures its radio to transmit on the computed neighbor channel ID for the respective current neighbor slot.
US08948224B2 Semiconductor laser device and method of fabricating the same
The inventive concept provides semiconductor laser devices and methods of fabricating the same. According to the method, a silicon-crystalline germanium layer for emitting a laser may be formed in a selected region by a selective epitaxial growth (SEG) method. Thus, surface roughness of both ends of a Fabry Perot cavity formed of the silicon-crystalline germanium layer may be reduced or minimized, and a cutting process and a polishing process may be omitted in the method of fabricating the semiconductor laser device.
US08948223B2 Laser device
The present invention provides a light source for light circuits on a silicon platform. A vertical laser cavity is formed by a gain region arranged between a first mirror structure and a second mirror structure, both acting as mirrors, by forming a grating region including an active material in a silicon layer in a semiconductor structure or wafer structure. A waveguide for receiving light from the region of the mirrors is formed within or to be connected to the region of the mirrors, and functions as an output coupler for the VCL. Thereby, vertical lasing modes are coupled to lateral in-plane modes of the in-plane waveguide formed in the silicon layer, and light can be provided to e.g. photonic circuits on a SOI or CMOS substrate in the silicon.
US08948221B2 External cavity wideband tunable laser with dual laser gain media coupled by a thin film filter including
The invention relates to an external cavity wideband tunable laser with dual laser gain media coupled by a thin film filter. The laser comprises: a first laser gain medium, a first laser cavity end mirror arranged on the first laser gain medium, a first intracavity collimating lens, an active optical phase modulator, a tunable acousto-optic filter, an intracavity reflection mirror, an etalon and a total reflection mirror, which are all arranged sequentially inside the laser cavity. The laser further comprises a second laser gain medium, a second laser cavity end mirror arranged on the second laser gain medium, a second intracavity collimating lens, a thin film optical filter for coupling the output light beams emitted from the first laser gain medium and the second laser gain medium, a radio frequency signal source, pumping sources for the two laser gain media, an active optical phase modulator drive source and a laser drive control circuit. The invention expands the output spectrum range of a single tunable laser and is capable of covering C and L spectrum bands. The laser has reliable performance with stable output and compact size, low cost for volume production and easy installation.
US08948213B2 Jitter buffer
Method, transmitter and computer program product for transmitting data of a real-time communication event from the transmitter to a jitter buffer of a receiver. The method comprises jointly determining (i) at least one processing parameter describing how data is to be processed for transmission from the transmitter to the jitter buffer, and (ii) jitter buffer control information for indicating to the receiver how to control a state of the jitter buffer. The jitter buffer control information is transmitted to the receiver. Data is processed for transmission from the transmitter to the jitter buffer in accordance with the determined at least one processing parameter. The processed data is transmitted from the transmitter to the jitter buffer of the receiver.
US08948211B2 Performance evaluation of a communications network using jitter parameter values
The present invention relates to a method of operating a communications network, comprising the steps of: receiving a plurality of packets from a network node; determining a first parameter based on the time period between the reception of a packet and the reception of the subsequent packet; determining a second parameter based on the variation of the first parameter; and determining the performance of the communications network in accordance with the ratio of the second parameter to the first parameter.
US08948208B2 Conveying information through phase offset on PSS relative to DL-RS
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate conveying information utilizing a constant phase offset on Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS). In general, the subject innovation can employ a fixed set of beams and phases in which a PSS and a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) can be transmitted with the fixed set of beams and phases. Furthermore, the phase offset for PSS and SSS can be the same such that legacy user equipment is unaffected or aware of such transmissions.
US08948205B2 Method and apparatus for mapping and de-mapping in an optical transport network
The embodiments of the present invention disclose method and apparatus for mapping and de-mapping in an optical transport network, where the mapping method includes: constructing an Optical Channel Data Tributary Unit (ODTU) according to an amount M of time slots of a High Order Optical Channel Payload Unit (HO OPU) to be occupied by a Low Order Optical Channel Data Unit (LO ODU); mapping the LO ODU to a payload area of the ODTU in a M-byte granularity; encapsulating overhead information to the overhead area of the ODTU; and multiplexing the ODTU, which has been mapped the LO ODU and encapsulated with the overhead information, to the HO OPU, so as to provide a high-efficient and universal mode for mapping the LO ODU to the HO OPU.
US08948202B2 Method and an apparatus for transmitting messages in home network system
Relating to a home network system and a home entertainment system, a method and an apparatus for transmitting packets in a home network system and a home entertainment system are disclosed. Additionally, a method for identifying devices to which the packets are to be transmitted and an apparatus for supporting the same are also disclosed herein. According to an embodiment, a method for transmitting a packet in a high definition base transmission (hereinafter referred to as HDBaseT) system includes the steps of receiving data from a source device in a transmission adaptor, converting the received data from the transmission adaptor to a downstream packet, in order to transmit the converted downstream packet to a receiving adaptor through an HDBaseT network, and transmitting the converted downstream packet to the receiving adaptor. At this point, the downstream packet may include a hierarchical identifier for identifying HDBaseT entities to which the downstream packet is to be transmitted.
US08948197B2 System and method for communicating optical signals via communication cable medium
A data communication system is disclosed including a cable medium and modulator adapted to carry data and power between a high speed data source and a high speed data sink. Relatively high speed data (e.g. the TMDS data of an HDMI interface) may be carried on optical waveguides in the cable medium. Relatively low-speed data (e.g., DDC data and clock, and CEC of an HDMI interface) may be carried on a separate set of optical waveguides or wire mediums. The optical waveguides allow for substantially less signal distortion of the high-speed data, thereby allowing the cable medium to achieve much higher lengths without significantly affecting the high-speed signaling.
US08948191B2 Intelligent traffic quota management
A network element acts as a gateway to a data network for a subscriber end station. The network element includes control plane operable to communicate with a first network processing unit (NPU) and a second NPU, which are operable to communicate with the subscriber end station. The control plane includes a quota management module, which determines a quota amount to be assigned to the first NPU and the second NPU. The quota management module assigns a portion of the quota amount to the first NPU and another portion of the quota amount to the second NPU. The quota management module may determine to change the distribution of an unconsumed quota amount between the first NPU and the second NPU, determine the unconsumed quota amount, and assign a portion of the unconsumed quota amount to the first NPU and another portion of the unconsumed quota amount to the second NPU.
US08948184B2 Embedded system development platform
A modular development platform is described which enables creation of reliable, compact, physically robust and power efficient embedded device prototypes. The platform consists of a base module which holds a processor and one or more peripheral modules each having an interface element. The base module and the peripheral modules may be electrically and/or physically connected together. The base module communicates with peripheral modules using packets of data with an addressing portion which identifies the peripheral module that is the intended recipient of the data packet.
US08948182B1 Method and system for verification
Aspects of the disclosure provide a method. The method includes receiving a first processed transaction unit output from an egress port of a first design of a switching device. The first processed transaction unit corresponds to a transaction unit that enters the first design by an ingress port. The method further includes extracting a property in the first processed transaction unit, determining the ingress port based on stored property-ingress port association information, identifying a memory element configured to store processed transaction units output from a second design of the switching device based on the ingress port and the egress port, and comparing the first processed transaction unit with a second processed transaction unit from the memory element.
US08948177B2 Policy based routing
According to an example, a method for policy based routing may include receiving a data packet, and generating a weight table including an index corresponding to a weight based distribution of a plurality of redirect hosts. The method may further include generating a hash table including an index corresponding to a random distribution of the weight based distribution, using an IP address of the data packet to determine a corresponding index value in the hash table index, determining an availability status of a redirect host of the plurality of redirect hosts corresponding to the index value, and routing, by a processor, the data packet to the redirect host if the availability status is determined to be available.
US08948169B2 Mechanism for E-VPN interoperability with VPLS
In one embodiment, a network device in a set of network devices obtains a pseudowire label for a Provider Edge (PE) device, where the pseudowire label corresponds to a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) on the PE device. In addition, the network device obtains a set of one or more MAC addresses reachable via the PE device, wherein the set of network devices support Ethernet Virtual Private Network (E-VPN) and are in the same redundancy group such that the set of network devices are coupled to the same customer edge device. The network device stores the pseudowire label in association with the set of one or more MAC addresses. The network device uses the pseudowire label to encapsulate traffic associated with the VLAN that is received from the customer edge device and destined to the set of MAC addresses reachable via the PE device.
US08948159B2 Transmitter, receiver, mobile communication system and synchronization channel
A transmitter includes an amplitude adjustment unit multiplying an amplitude adjustment sequence value for adjusting amplitude with a synchronization channel transmitted from a base station for establishing synchronization with a mobile station.
US08948157B2 Method and apparatus for distributed synchronization in femtocell networks
Aspects disclosed herein relate to facilitating synchronizing frequency and/or timing of a wireless network. In an example, with a femto node configured to receive one or more signals from one or more anchor sources, determine that at least one of the one or more signals are received at least at a threshold signal quality, determine whether a difference in a local frequency and/or a local timing is within a threshold difference to a signal frequency and/or a signal timing determined based on the at least one of the one or more signals, and advertise an anchor status where the difference is within the threshold difference.
US08948151B2 Methods and apparatuses for providing services to a dual mode GPRS/WLAN or UMTS/WLAN WTRU
Methods and network nodes are described. A network node receives an attach request message from a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) via a cellular radio access network (RAN). The attach request message includes a mobile station (MS) radio access capability information element (IE), and the MS radio access capability IE includes a field that indicates whether the WTRU is capable of receiving services from a core network via a non-cellular wireless access network. The network node provides services from the core network to the WTRU.
US08948146B2 Femtocell, femtocell gateway and access rejection method thereof
A femtocell, a femtocell gateway and an access rejection method thereof are provided. A wireless network system comprises a wireless device, a plurality of the femtocells, the femtocell gateway and a core network server. The wireless device has a Subscriber Identification and the core network server stores a Closed Subscribers Group Identification of the femtocells. The femtocell gateway receives an access rejection message corresponding to the Subscriber Identification of the wireless device from the core network server, and transmits the access rejection message to the femtocells. Each femtocell records the Subscriber Identification in a rejection list thereof, and it is capable of adding/deleting Subscriber Identifications in its rejection list. When each femtocell receives the Subscriber Identification of the wireless device again and determines that the Subscriber Identification has been recorded in the rejection list thereof, each femtocell immediately terminates a wireless connection from the wireless device.
US08948145B2 Wireless mobile communication device with autonomous Wi-Fi control based on usage of battery in device
A wireless mobile communication device may include a Wi-Fi data communication system, an operational condition detection system, and a Wi-Fi activation system. The operational condition detection system may include a battery use detector. The operational condition detection system may be configured to detect an operational condition of the wireless mobile communication device, other than actuation of a user-operated control, including when the battery use detector detects that the wireless mobile communication device is not operating on battery power or is operating while the battery is being charged. The Wi-Fi activation system may be configured to autonomously turn power on to the Wi-Fi data communication system upon detection of an operational condition of the wireless mobile communication device by the operational condition detection system, other than actuation of a user-operated control, including when the battery use detector detects that the wireless mobile communication device is not operating on battery power or is operating while the battery is being charged.
US08948141B2 Method and device for maintaining the performance quality of a communication system in the presence of narrow band interference
A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for receiving a mitigation strategy for reducing interference caused by at least one narrow band interferer detected in a wide frequency band according to an average wideband power level, an adaptive threshold, or both, creating a message according to the mitigation strategy to transmit to at least one communication device transmitting wireless signals that are associated with the at least one narrow band interferer, and transmitting the mitigation message to the at least one communication device to cause the at least one communication device to adjust operations of a wireless transmitter of the at least one communication device. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US08948128B2 Method and apparatus for handover by changing zones in a wireless communication system
A method for a terminal to perform a handover including transmitting a ranging request message, containing a field requesting a zone change from a first type of terminal support zone to a second type of terminal support zone of the second type of target base station, to the second type of target base station via the first type of terminal support zone; receiving a ranging response message, containing a field indicating the omission of a capability negotiation message in the event of network reentry, from the second type of target base station via the first type of terminal support zone; and transmitting a second type of capability request message to the second type of target base station via the second type of terminal support zone.
US08948124B2 Wireless system
The capacity of a cellular wireless system is increased by operation of base stations or base station sectors arranged to re-use radio resource elements that are used by neighboring base stations or base station sectors, in conjunction with operation of relay stations, which are similarly arranged to re-use radio resource elements used by neighboring relay stations, and where the radio resource elements re-used by the relay stations are different to those used by the base stations. The relay stations provide coverage, particularly in the areas at the boundaries between the areas of coverage of base stations that suffer from interference between signals transmitted from the respective base stations. In addition, the relay stations generally increase the average available carrier to interference ratio compared with a system in which base stations alone are deployed. The scheme for the allocation of radio resource elements ensures in particular that interference is avoided between signals transmitted from a base station and signals transmitted from a relay station in radio resource elements allocated to control data.
US08948122B2 Method of transmitting data by utilizing resources in hybrid automatic request operations
A method of transmitting at least one sub-packet in a wireless communication system is disclosed. More specifically, the method includes transmitting at least one sub-packet based on combination of resources from multiple domains, wherein the combination of resources indicate whether to maintain or change the resource arrangement for subsequent transmission.
US08948112B2 Mobile communication system, base station apparatus, mobile station apparatus, mobile communication method, and integrated circuit
Provided are a mobile communication system and a mobile communication method in which a base station apparatus and a mobile station apparatus can efficiently transmit control information in case of communication is conducted by using a wide frequency band constructed by a plurality of component carriers. The mobile communication system in which the base station apparatus and the mobile station apparatus communicate by using the plurality of component carriers, wherein the base station apparatus allocates resources to the mobile station apparatus for transmitting HARQ control information, and the mobile station apparatus uses the allocated resources to transmit to the base station apparatus the HARQ control information for a physical downlink control channel and/or a physical downlink shared channel which are transmitted on a plurality of downlink component carriers, and also a scheduling request for requesting the allocation of uplink data transmission.
US08948109B2 Method and a base station for controlling downlink transmission power, and a method and a user equipment for receiving a PDSCH
A ratio of data transmission power of a layer per RE to RS transmission power of the layer per RE is predefined according to rank. A BS determines downlink transmission power for a PDSCH according to the predefined rank and a UE assumes that the PDSCH and UE-specific RS(s) for the PDSCH is transmitted with power satisfying the ratio.
US08948108B2 Resource reservation in multiple accesses
The present invention relates to a method for enabling resource allocation for a service data flow between a user equipment (14) and a gateway in a multiple access environment. The method comprises the steps of:—A resource reservation device (10,19) receives reservation instructions from a policy control node (13). The reservation instructions require dedicated access resources to be reserved for the service data flow.—The resource reservation device (10,19) reports the result of the resource reservation required by the reservation instructions to the policy control node (13). What particularly characterize the method are the steps of:—The resource reservation device (10,19) requests reservation of the resources required by the reservation instructions in a plurality of accesses (11,12).—The resource reservation device (10,19) reports the selected single access (11,12) that enables the requested resources to the policy control node (13). This is reported when the access (11,12) is selected.
US08948106B2 Controlling telecommunications channel switching
A node (26) of a radio access network (24) and method of operating such node controls transitions between radio resource control states for a wireless terminal (30). In an example embodiment and mode the method comprises: (1) upon completion of a data activity, making a prediction of a data transmission parameter; (2) making an assessment regarding probable accuracy of the prediction; and (3) using the assessment to make a determination whether or not to implement a radio resource control state switch (the “state switch”). The data transmission parameter may be a different parameter in respective differing example embodiments. In one example embodiment and mode the data transmission parameter comprises inter-arrival time between bursts of data activity. In another example embodiment and mode the data transmission parameter comprises burst size of a burst of data activity.
US08948098B2 Frame transmission method using precoding for supporting MU-MIMO, and base station supporting the frame transmission method
Disclosed is a frame transmission method using precoding for supporting MU-MIMO, which facilitates to reduce overhead of a downlink frame in a wireless communication system of FDD method, and a base station supporting that method. The frame transmission method comprises calculating a precoding matrix of a present frame based on channel state information (CSI) of each mobile station and a precoding matrix of a prior frame; precoding a dedicated pilot and downlink data to be transmitted to the mobile station by the use of precoding matrix of the present frame; and transmitting a downlink frame including the precoded dedicated pilot and precoded downlink data to the corresponding mobile station.
US08948094B2 Method and apparatus for optimizing downlink transmission in a wireless communication network
A method and apparatus for optimizing downlink transmission in a wireless communication network (100) includes determining (502) a distance of each of a plurality of remote devices (102-114) from a network node (120) and allocating (506) downlink symbols of a frame (300) for the downlink transmission based on the determined distance of each of the plurality of remote devices. Earlier downlink symbols of the frame are allocated to at least one remote device of the plurality of remote devices positioned more distant from the network node in comparison to at least other remote device positioned less distant from the network node.
US08948067B2 Wireless controller grids for process control and other systems and related apparatus and method
A system includes a plurality of wireless nodes including multiple controller nodes. Each controller node is configured to execute at least one of multiple control algorithms for controlling at least a portion of a process. Each control algorithm is associated with one or more sensor nodes and/or actuator nodes. At least one wireless node is configured to distribute the control algorithms amongst the controller nodes. At least one wireless node may be configured to redistribute the control algorithms amongst the controller nodes in response to one or more triggering events. A triggering event could include a new controller node being added to the system, and at least one wireless node could be configured to redistribute the control algorithms amongst the controller nodes including the new controller node. Redistribution of control algorithms can change a physical location where at least one control algorithm is executed without interrupting control of the process.
US08948059B2 Conference endpoint controlling audio volume of a remote device
Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and devices for improved audio, video, and data conferencing. The present invention provides a conferencing system comprising a plurality of endpoints communicating data including audio data and control data according to a communication protocol. A local conference endpoint may control or be controlled by a remote conference endpoint. Data comprising control signals may be exchanged between the local endpoint and remote endpoint via various communication protocols. In other embodiments, the present invention provides for improved bridge architecture for controlling functions of conference endpoints including controlling functions of the bridge.
US08948048B2 Method and apparatus for characterizing infrastructure of a cellular network
A method and apparatus for characterizing an infrastructure of a wireless network are disclosed. For example, the method obtains a first data set from a server log, and obtains a second data set from a plurality of wireless endpoint device. The method characterizes a parameter of the infrastructure of the wireless network using the first data set and the second data set and optimizes a network resource of the wireless network based on the parameter.
US08948037B1 Checksum trailer in timing protocols
In a method for processing data packets in accordance with a timing protocol, a data packet that includes i) a checksum and ii) a timestamp is received. The timestamp is modified to generate a modified timestamp and a checksum trailer value is determined to maintain correctness of the checksum in the data packet having the modified timestamp. Additionally, at least a portion of a field of the data packet is set to the checksum trailer value, where the field is defined by the timing protocol for use other than a checksum trailer.
US08948034B2 Method and system for the detection, transmission and analysis of safety-related signals
The invention relates to a method and a system for detecting, transmitting, and analyzing at least one safety-related signal (S1 . . . Sn), wherein the at least one safety-related signal (S1 . . . Sn) is detected using at least one detection unit (EE1 . . . EEn) and is transmitted to at least one analyzing unit (AE1 . . . AE4) via a radio system (FS). In order to simplify the detection of safety-related signals and improve the transmission thereof via a faulty radio path, at least two safety-related signals (S1, S2) are independently detected and transmitted to the analyzing unit (AE1 . . . AE4) via the radio system (FS) so as to allow a dangerous action to be carried out, and an output signal (FRS) for allowing a dangerous action to be carried out is generated by logically combining the received safety-related signals (S1 . . . Sn).
US08948030B2 Transmitting node B load status information in a self organising network
The application relates to wireless transmission of load status information for load balancing among Home Node Bs (HNB) or Local Area Node Bs (LNB) for which an X2 interface is not available. In particular, an LNB may pretend to be a user equipment with a specific predefined user equipment ID value. A neighboring LNB which receives a data packet with this user equipment ID value knows that the data packet contains load information monitored, by a neighboring LNB.
US08948028B2 Reporting of timing information to support downlink data transmission
Techniques for reporting timing information to facilitate data transmission on a downlink are described. A user equipment (UE) may receive signals from a plurality of cells available for data transmission to the UE. Each cell may have a different propagation delay to the UE. The UE may determine timing information based on the received signals and may report the timing information to one or more of the cells. The timing information may include a receive time of each cell at the UE. The UE may receive a data transmission from at least one cell, which can be selected from the plurality of cells, based on the timing information. The at least one cell may provide a coordinated or a non-coordinated data transmission. A coordinated transmission mode may be determined based on the timing information and can include, for example, a joint transmission, a coordinated beamforming, or a coordinated silencing.
US08948025B2 Remotely configurable device agent for packet routing
A method performed by a first client-side device agent, instantiated on a hardware device that is configured to connect to a data-handling network via associated device circuitry, comprising receiving configuration data in the form of non-executable data, configuring the first client-side device agent such that the first client-side device agent has a first configuration specifying a first application on the hardware device, monitoring substantially in real-time a flow of packets between the of applications and a server-side device, selecting packets based on their association with the application, modifying or appending packet header information for the selected packets, and transmitting modified or appended packets configured such that they are routed based on the modified or appended packet header information.
US08948018B2 Integrated ethernet over coaxial cable, STB, and physical layer test and monitoring
In a method of testing a residential broadband communication network, a residential gateway or set top box (STB) performs one or more single-ended parametric tests of the residential network that runs therebetween. The residential gateway or STB also performs one or more single-ended reflectometry tests of the residential network that runs therebetween. The residential gateway and the STB perform one or more dual-ended tests of the residential network that runs therebetween. The residential gateway dispatches the results of the foregoing tests to either: a device on the residential network, a device of another network that supplies broadband services to the residential network, or an intelligent device coupled to the residential gateway.
US08948017B2 Method and apparatus for transmitting management information in wireless local area network system
A method of transmitting management information in wireless local area network system is provided, The method includes transmitting, to a station, a frame including a BSS load in-formation element, the BSS load element including a multi user(MU) multiple input multiple output(MIMO) capable STA count field and a spatial stream utility field, wherein the MUMIMO capable STA count field indicates the total number of STAs with MU reception capability currently associated with the candidate BSS and the Spatial Stream Utility field indicates under utilized spatial streams for busy time of wireless medium.
US08948011B2 Pseudo-relative mode WRED/tail drop mechanism
A buffer memory can be configured to temporarily store data in a number of queues. A processor can be configured to measure a fullness of the buffer memory. The processor can be configured to adjust thresholds and drop profiles based on a measured global resource usage for a weighted random early detection (WRED) technique with less resources than a conventional.
US08948005B1 Topology determination for an optical network
Techniques are described for determining the topology of an optical network. A computing device receives a message on a data communication network after a first device in an optical network receives an optical pulse pattern on an optical fiber in the optical network. The computing device generates topology data using the message. The topology data indicates that a second device is physically connected in the optical network to the first device when the received optical pulse pattern matches an optical pulse pattern sent by the second device.
US08948002B2 Method and device for preventing repeated refreshing of address table of Ethernet ring network node
A method and a device for preventing repeated refreshing of an address table of an Ethernet ring network node are provided. After a state of a port of the Ethernet ring network node is changed to a blocked state, it is determined that whether the Ethernet ring network node is an RPL neighbor node and whether the blockage is triggered by an RPL Blocked protocol frame. If so, the Ethernet ring network node stores refreshed record information corresponding to its two ports on the ring. The problem that an RPL neighbor node refreshes an address table repeatedly in the scenario of switchback of an Ethernet ring network can be effectively solved via the aforementioned method and device, thereby reducing flow broadcast during protection switching of the Ethernet ring network and improving the switching efficiency.
US08948001B2 Service plane triggered fast reroute protection
Techniques are described for detecting failure or degradation of a service enabling technology function independent from an operational state of a service node hosting the service enabling technology function. For example, a service node may provide one or more service enabling technology functions, and service engineered paths may be traffic-engineered through a network to service node network devices that host a service enabling technology function. A monitor component at the service layer of the service node can detect failure or degradation of one or more service enabling technology functions provided by the service node. The monitor component reports detection of failure or degradation to a fault detection network protocol in a forwarding plane of the service node. The fault detection network protocol communicates with an ingress router of a service engineered path to trigger fast reroute by the ingress of traffic flows to bypass the affected service enabling technology function.
US08947996B2 Offset modulation orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and multi-access transmission method with cyclic prefix (CP)
The present invention provides an Offset Modulation Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and multi-access transmission method with a Cyclic Prefix (CP), including a generating method of the sent signal in the sending terminal and a processing method of the received signal in the receiving terminal, the method includes: in the sending terminal, performing generalized discrete Fourier Transform on real-value digital baseband modulated symbols and obtaining the frequency-domain signal; performing conjugate symmetric extension, frequency-domain filtering, sub-carrier mapping on the frequency-domain signal; performing Inverse Fast Fourier Transform on the frequency-domain signal after sub-carrier mapping; inserting a CP and obtaining the time-domain sent signal; in the receiving terminal, including: removing the CP, performing Fast Fourier Transform on CP removed symbols and obtaining the frequency-domain received signal; and based on multiple user joint frequency-domain equalization performing iterative detection decoding on the frequency-domain received signal. The present invention can obtain the low-signal envelope volatility in the condition of remaining spectrum efficiency, and adopting iterative received signal processing method based on multiple user joint frequency-domain equalization ensures the transmission reliability with low-complexity.
US08947982B2 Method and apparatus for setting alarm in portable terminal
A method and apparatus for setting an alarm in a portable terminal are provided. The method includes receiving a message for requesting the setting of the alarm from a peer terminal, confirming a right of the peer terminal to set an alarm, determining, if the peer terminal has the right to set the alarm, an alarm generation time according to a transmission time of the alarm setting request message, and setting the alarm for the alarm generation time.
US08947969B2 Secondary memory units and systems including the same
A secondary memory unit includes a first substrate that has a non-volatile memory unit mounted thereon that is configured to receive power from an external power supply. A second substrate has an energy storage and supply medium mounted thereon. An energy transfer medium is provided that electrically connects the first substrate and the second substrate. The energy storage and supply medium is configured to supply an operating power to the non-volatile memory unit when power from the external power supply to the non-volatile memory unit is cut off.
US08947966B2 Power gated memory device with power state indication
A memory device comprises one or more power gates and state signaling circuitry. Each of the one or more power gates is configurable such that a respective portion of the memory device is powered down. The state signaling circuitry is operative to produce a power state output signal indicative of when the one or more power gates are configured such that the memory device is fully powered up.
US08947965B2 Techniques for providing a direct injection semiconductor memory device
Techniques for providing a direct injection semiconductor memory device are disclosed. In one exemplary embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a direct injection semiconductor memory device including a plurality of memory cells arranged in an array of rows and columns. At least one of the plurality of memory cells may include a first region coupled to a respective bit line of the array, a second region coupled to a respective source line of the array, a body region spaced apart from and capacitively coupled to a respective word line of the array, wherein the body region may be electrically floating and disposed between the first region and the second region, and a third region coupled to a respective carrier injection line of the array, wherein the respective carrier injection line may be one of a plurality of carrier injection lines in the array that are coupled to each other.
US08947953B2 Bit cell internal voltage control
Among other things, techniques for facilitating a write operation to a bit cell are provided. A pulse generator initializes lowering of an internal voltage level associated with a bit cell that is to be written to by a write operation. In this way, the bit cell is placed into a writeable voltage state, such that a potential of the bit cell can be overcome by the write operation. A voltage detector sends a reset signal to the pulse generator based upon the pulse generator lowering the internal voltage level past a reset trigger level. Responsive to receiving the reset signal, the pulse generator initializes charging of the internal voltage level to an original voltage level. In this way, the lowering of the internal voltage level is controlled so that one or more other bit cells are not affected (e.g., suffer data retention failure) by the relatively lower internal voltage level.
US08947951B2 Semiconductor memory devices
A semiconductor memory device includes at least one memory cell connected to an internal voltage line that receives a cell power supply voltage and a write assist circuit connected to the internal voltage line. The write assist circuit lowers a level of the cell power supply voltage to a target level during a first period of a write operation on the memory cell and maintains the level of the cell power supply voltage at the target level during a second period of the write operation based on a write assist control signal. The second period succeeds the first period.
US08947945B2 Memory card for storing and transmitting data
A memory card includes a control chip, a buffer, a NAND gate, and an inverter. The memory card has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. A first group of conductive pins is located on the first surface, and connected to the buffer through a first channel. A second group of conductive pins is located on the second surface, and connected to the buffer through a second channel. An order of pins of the first group of conductive pins located on the first surface from left to right is the same as an order of pins of the second group of conductive pins located on the second. The buffer is electrically connected to the control chip. Data can be transmitted between the first group of conductive pins or the second group of conductive pins and the control chip through the buffer.
US08947938B2 Two-transistor non-volatile memory cell and related program and read methods
A memory device includes an N-channel transistor and a P-channel transistor. A word line is electrically connected to a drain terminal of the N-channel transistor, and a source terminal of the P-channel transistor. A first bit line is electrically connected to a source terminal of the N-channel transistor. A second bit line is electrically connected to a drain terminal of the P-channel transistor. Gate terminals of the N-channel transistor and the P-channel transistor are electrically connected and floating.
US08947937B1 Host-managed logical mass storage device using magnetic random access memory (MRAM)
A mass storage device includes a storage media with magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices and a NAND flash interface and NAND flash memory devices that are coupled to the MRAM devices. The storage media has partitions (Logical Units (LUNs)) made of a combination of MRAM and NAND flash memory and further includes a controller with a host interface and a NAND flash interface coupled to the MRAM and NAND flash memory devices through a flash interface. A host is coupled to the controller through the host interface and the storage media communicates attributes to the host, an attribute being associated with one of the partitions, where the host uses the partition based on their attributes to optimize its performance.
US08947932B2 High-performance one-transistor floating-body DRAM cell device
Provided is a one-transistor (1T) floating-body DRAM cell device including a substrate; a gate stack which is formed on the substrate; a control electrode which is disposed on the substrate and of which some or entire portion is surrounded by the gate stack; a semiconductor layer which is formed on the gate stack; a source and a drain which are formed in the surface of the semiconductor layer and of which lower surfaces are not in contact with the gate stack; a gate insulating layer which is formed on the semiconductor layer; and a gate electrode which is formed on the gate insulating layer, wherein the remaining portion of the semiconductor layer excluding the source and the drain is configured as a floating body. The miniaturization characteristic and performance of a MOS-based DRAM cell device can be improved, and a memory capacity can be increased.
US08947921B2 Multilevel magnetic element
The present disclosure concerns a multilevel magnetic element comprising a first tunnel barrier layer between a soft ferromagnetic layer having a magnetization that can be freely aligned and a first hard ferromagnetic layer having a magnetization that is fixed at a first high temperature threshold and freely alignable at a first low temperature threshold. The magnetic element further comprises a second tunnel barrier layer and a second hard ferromagnetic layer having a magnetization that is fixed at a second high temperature threshold and freely alignable at a first low temperature threshold; the soft ferromagnetic layer being comprised between the first and second tunnel barrier layers. The magnetic element disclosed herein allows for writing four distinct levels using only a single current line.
US08947904B2 Data holding device and logic operation circuit using the same
A data holding device includes a loop structure unit configured to hold data using a plurality of logic gates connected in a loop shape, a nonvolatile storage unit including a plurality of ferroelectric elements, the nonvolatile storage unit configured to store the data held in the loop structure unit in a nonvolatile manner using hysteresis characteristics of the ferroelectric elements, and a circuit separation unit configured to electrically separate the loop structure unit and the nonvolatile storage unit. The ferroelectric elements of the nonvolatile storage unit are surrounded by a dummy element smaller in width than the ferroelectric elements.
US08947903B2 Memory chip with more than one type of memory cell
A semiconductor memory chip that has word lines driven by respective word line drivers and bit lines to carry signals to respective bit line amplifiers/drivers with memory cells at intersections of the word lines and bit lines memory cells. The semiconductor memory chip including various memory cell types, the type of memory cell at an intersection based on a position of the intersection among the word lines and bit lines.
US08947902B2 Semiconductor memory and method of making the same
A semiconductor memory includes a first bit cell within an integrated circuit (IC), and a second bit cell within the same IC. The first bit cell has a first layout, and the second bit cell has a second layout that differs from the first layout.
US08947893B2 Switch controller and converter including the same for prevention of damage
In a converter using a transformer, a switch controller controlling a main switch and an auxiliary switch increase a turn-on time of the auxiliary switch when a voltage of a signal corresponding to a current flowing to a primary coil of the transformer is greater than a reference voltage for a predetermined period.
US08947881B2 Housing for an on-board electronic card
A housing (1) for at least one electronic card (2), designed for the aeronautics field, of the type having a standardized width and including two lateral guides designed to work together with slides provided on the inner surfaces of an electronics bay, includes two half-shells, upper (4) and lower (5), pressed together at the lateral guides; the lower half-shell includes at least one bearing area (10) forming the housing for electronic cards; elements (19) for pressing each electronic card (2) in each corresponding housing and for pressing at least one heat sink (16) against the upper surface of at least one electronic card; the function of the body (5) is to take into account the mechanical stresses linked to the electronic cards hosted within the housing, and the function of the cover (4) is to ensure adequate thermal conductivity to allow heat produced by an electronic card in operation to be dissipated.
US08947880B2 Hot or cold aisle computer chassis
A chassis for a plurality of computers for use in a data center, the chassis at least one extensible fin, the fin either extensible perpendicularly from the front of the chassis or extensible parallel with the front of the chassis.
US08947876B2 Riser card module and electronic device having the same
A riser card module includes a frame body, a carrier plate connected to the frame body for abutment against first surfaces of positioning plates of fixing brackets of expansion cards, a riser card disposed on the frame body and having a plurality of expansion slots for insertion therein of the expansion cards, respectively, and a limiting unit rotatable relative to the carrier plate about an axial direction which is perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the carrier plate for abutment against second surfaces of the positioning plates of the fixing brackets of the expansion cards so as to restrict movement of the expansion cards relative to the riser card.
US08947875B2 Portable device
A portable device includes a first unit including a guide member with a groove; a second unit including a sliding member that slides in the groove of each guide member; and a shield member that shields a boundary portion formed when the second unit is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the first unit in an extended state. The groove of the guide member includes a curved section that makes the first unit incline at a predetermined angle with respect to the second unit. One end of the shield member is rotatably supported at an end of the second unit, and the other end is slidably engaged with the groove of the guide member.
US08947874B2 Portable computing device with a housing secured by a magnetic element and related method
Magnetic elements and attractors may be employed to secure a top case and a bottom case of a housing of a personal computing device. The magnetic elements may include a magnet that produces a magnetic field and a shunt. The shunt may direct the magnetic field through an opening to a pocket in which the magnet is received. Accordingly, flux leakage may be reduced and the bottom case may be secured to the top case. Magnetic elements and attractors may also be employed to secure a lid portion of the portable computing device to the housing thereof. These magnetic elements and attractors may be centered with respect to proximal and distal edges thereof.
US08947873B2 Immersion-cooled and conduction-cooled electronic system
A cooled electronic system and cooling method are provided, where an electronics board having a plurality of electronic components mounted to the board is cooled by an apparatus which includes an immersion-cooled electronic component section and a conduction-cooled electronic component section. The immersion-cooled section includes an enclosure at least partially surrounding and forming a compartment about multiple electronic components of the electronic components mounted to the electronics board, and a fluid disposed within the compartment. The multiple electronic components are, at least in part, immersed within the fluid to facilitate immersion-cooling of those components. The conduction-cooled electronic component section includes at least one electronic component of the electronic components mounted to the electronics board, and the at least one electronic component is indirectly liquid-cooled, at least in part, via conduction of heat from the at least one electronic component.
US08947870B2 Sliding and rotating apparatus and device having same
Disclosed is a sliding and rotating apparatus for connecting two components of a device, such as a portable electronic media player, and a device having the same. The apparatus provides has a base member, a sliding member, and a rotating member. The sliding member is coupled to the base member so as to permit sliding thereon in a first linear direction and between first and second positions, and the rotating member rotationally coupled to the sliding member. The rotating member and base member are configured such that when the sliding member is forced into the second position the rotating member is rotated in a first angular direction. The apparatus also may contain a sliding mechanism that biases the apparatus in either the first or second position.
US08947869B2 Mounting systems for display devices
Display apparatuses and mounting devices are disclosed. The display apparatuses may include a display panel for displaying visual information and a mounting device coupled with the display panel and movably coupled with a supporting base. The mounting device may comprise a panel-mount interface coupled with the display panel and a receiving device capable of being configured to be at least partially embedded into the supporting base. The panel-mount interface may be coupled with the receiving device through a coupling device comprising a joining piece and at least one of a plurality of receiving holes or at least one sliding groove. The joining piece may be movable among the plurality of the receiving holes or within the at least one sliding groove.
US08947867B2 Sliding-type electronic apparatus with strengthening force structure
A sliding-type electronic apparatus with a strengthening force structure includes a body served as a system terminal and an upper cover disposed on the body and having a surface configured with a touch screen. A sliding and cover-lifting member constituted by a sliding rail, a sliding member and a pivot shaft device is at least disposed between the body and the upper cover. In a normal state, a supporting device, together with the sliding and cover-lifting member, is horizontally and supportively placed in a preset concave chamber space of the body. The auxiliary supporting devices can be formed as an inclined auxiliary support structure on the rear surface of the upper cover when the upper cover is lifted, thereby effectively increasing the screen touch resistance to inhibit screen wobble in an operation process and to promote the support effect and operation stability of the screen.
US08947864B2 Flexible hinge and removable attachment
Fabric outer layer techniques are described. In one or more implementations, an apparatus includes, an input portion having one or more keys configured to generate signals to be processed by a computing device as inputs, a connection portion that is configured to be removable attachable to the computing device and including at least one communication contact configured to form a communicative coupling with the computing device to communicate the generated signals, a flexible hinge that is configured to flexibly and communicatively connect the connection portion to the input portion, and first and second outer fabric layers that are configured to act as an outer surface of the one or more keys of the input portion and the flexible hinge and are physically secured to the connection portion.
US08947862B2 Expansion card module
An expansion card module includes a box, a tray, a circuit board, and an interconnection device. The box is disposed in a drive bay on the front of a case of a computer. The tray is movably installed in the box and has a slide mechanism. The tray slides into or out of the box by the slide mechanism. The circuit board is disposed on the tray and has a first expansion slot. An expansion card electrically inserts into the first expansion slot of the circuit board, and the circuit board is electrically connected to the motherboard of computer through the interconnection device.
US08947858B2 Crimped leadwire for improved contact with anodes of a solid electrolytic capacitor
A capacitor containing a solid electrolytic capacitor element that includes a sintered porous anode body and an anode lead assembly is provided. The lead assembly is electrically connected to the anode body for connection to an anode termination. The lead assembly contains at least a first lead wire comprising at least one notch that is located on an embedded portion of the first lead wire. The at least one notch can be formed by crimping the lead wire prior to embedding the lead wire within the anode body. The at least one lead wire is embedded within the anode body and extends from a surface of the anode body in a longitudinal direction. The resulting geometry of the lead wire increases the points of contact between the anode body and the lead wire after post-sintering shrinkage of the anode body to improve the electrical capabilities of the solid electrolytic capacitor.
US08947857B2 Manganese oxide capacitor for use in extreme environments
A capacitor assembly for use in high voltage and high temperature environments is provided. More particularly, the capacitor assembly includes a capacitor element containing an anodically oxidized porous, sintered body that is coated with a manganese oxide solid electrolyte. To help facilitate the use of the capacitor assembly in high voltage (e.g., above about 35 volts) and high temperature (e.g., above about 175° C.) applications, the capacitor element is enclosed and hermetically sealed within a housing in the presence of a gaseous atmosphere that contains an inert gas.
US08947847B2 Methods for forming a structure having a lightning strike protection
A method for forming a structure having lightning strike protection includes receiving at least one structural layer, receiving at least one lightning strike protection strip disposed on at least one reinforcement layer, automatically applying the at least one lightning strike protection strip disposed on the at least one reinforcement layer onto the at least one structural layer, and forming the at least one structural layer, the at least one lightning strike protection strip, and the at least one reinforcement layer, into the structure. The at least one lightning strike protection strip comprises a first material, and the at least one reinforcement layer comprises a second material different from the first material. The automatically applying may include using at least one of fiber placement equipment, tape laying equipment, and similar automated equipment.
US08947844B2 Series type surge suppressor and clamping circuit
Various embodiments relate to a degrade-resistant surge suppressor that detects and suppresses surge events. The surge suppressor includes a high impedance high pass filter, one or more series inductors, and one or more capacitor banks. The capacitor bank may include a bridge rectifier circuit having two diodes and two SCRs (Silicon-Controlled Rectifiers), or a diode bridge rectifier fed by a TRIAC (Node for Alternating Current). The surge suppressor may further include a secondary trigger device to ensure proper attenuation of surge events.
US08947841B2 Protection systems for integrated circuits and methods of forming the same
Harsh electrical environments integrated circuit protection for system-level robustness and methods of forming the same are provided. In one embodiment, a protection system includes dual-polarity high blocking voltage primary and secondary protection devices each electrically connected to a pad. The primary protection device has a current handling capability greater than a current handling capability of the secondary protection devices, and the secondary protection device has a turn-on speed that is faster than a turn-on speed of the primary protection device so as to decrease pad voltage overshoot when a fast transient electrical event occurs on the pad. Additionally, the holding voltage of the primary protection device is less than a holding voltage of the secondary protection device such that once the primary protection device has been activated the primary protection device clamps the pad voltage so as to minimize a flow of high current through the secondary protection device.
US08947832B2 Bearing device and swing arm assembly for magnetic disk
A bearing device includes a shaft having an axis, plural rolling bearings arranged at axially separated positions and rotatably supporting the shaft, a first cylindrical member for supporting the rolling bearings therein and having a first screw on a part of an outer surface thereof, a second cylindrical member having a second screw engaging with the first screw on an inner surface thereof and mounted to the outer surface of the first cylindrical member by engaging the first screw with the second screw, a restricting member provided on the outer surface of the second cylindrical member for preventing relative axial movement of the second cylindrical member with respect to the first cylindrical member when a portion of the second member contacts the restricting member.
US08947830B1 Method of forming electrical connections from solder posts
A method for forming an electrical interconnection between a slider pad and a suspension pad that is adjacent to and positioned at an angle relative to the slider pad, which includes the steps of forming a solder bump on a first surface of the slider pad, reshaping the solder bump into a protrusion having an ellipsoidal shape that extends from the slider pad and contacts the suspension pad, and applying a laser to the ellipsoidal protrusion to reflow the solder bump while simultaneously applying a downward pressure to the solder bump in order to form a solder fillet between the slider pad and the suspension pad.
US08947825B2 Low cost high performance hard drive base
The present invention relates to a HDD base comprising: at least two anchor formations for anchoring at least two parts of a HDD; and a rigid member configured to retain anchor formations in a fixed position relative to each other.
US08947823B1 Method and apparatus for detecting drive head touchdown
A method of detecting head touchdown in a storage device includes monitoring storage device head contact sensor signals, and processing the monitored storage device head contact sensor signals in a digital domain. The processing may occur in a data path of the storage device, such as the read channel of the storage device. The processing may monitor for head touchdown only during other than read operations. Further, during servo read operation, the storage device head contact sensor may continue to generate signals, and the storage device head contact sensor signals may be squelched. Storage device head contact sensor signals also may be squelched during intervals before and after the servo read operation. The processing may includes accumulating a moving sum of squares of the storage device head contact sensor signals, and comparing the moving sum of squares of the storage device head contact sensor signals to a threshold.
US08947803B1 Data storage device and data erasing method
A data storage device includes a recording medium including a data region for recording data and a nonvolatile recording unit distinct from the data region. In response to a request for executing erase processing with respect to the recording medium, first time information corresponding to initiation of the erase processing in the nonvolatile recording unit is stored, the erase processing after storing the first time information is executed, and second time information corresponding to completion of the erase processing is stored in the nonvolatile recording unit.
US08947798B2 Lens cap unit
A lens cap unit includes a mounting part mounted on a fixed cylinder in which a movable lens cylinder is movably contained, at least one barrier provided on the mounting part to be movable between a closed position covering a leading end portion of the movable lens cylinder and an opened position opening the leading end portion of the movable lens cylinder, and a cam protrusion provided on the barrier. The cam protrusion engages with the movable lens cylinder at a position outside an effective diameter of the movable lens cylinder.
US08947796B2 Telecentric optical assembly
The present disclosure provides a telecentric optical assembly comprising a first portion of a telecentric optical link including a first kinematic mount having alignment structures, where the first kinematic mount can be attached to a first substrate having a first array of active optical elements; and a second portion of the telecentric optical link including a second kinematic mount having recesses configured to mate with the alignment structures, where the second kinematic mount can be attached to a second substrate having a second array of active optical elements. Additionally, the first and second kinematic mounts, when mated, can align optical beams between the first array of active optical elements and the second array of active optical elements.
US08947774B2 Catadioptric optical system and image pickup apparatus having the same
A catadioptric optical system includes a first imaging optical system that includes a catadioptric part that collects a light beam from an object to form an intermediate image of the object, and a second imaging optical system that includes a refractive part that images the intermediate image on an image plane. The first imaging optical system includes a first optical element, a second optical element, and a negative lens in an optical path between the first and second optical elements, and the first and second optical elements are disposed so that reflection parts of the first and second optical element face each other. A power φn of the negative lens, radii of curvature R1n and R2n of lens surfaces of the negative lens at an object side and an image side, respectively, and a power φ1 of the first imaging optical system are appropriately set.
US08947773B2 Catadioptric optical element and optical system including same
A catadioptric lens comprises, a first surface configured to introduce a ray within the catadioptric lens; and a second surface, with a reflective film, configured to reflect the introduced ray to the first surface; the second surface having a first reflection area and a second reflection area surrounded by the first reflection area, wherein the ray, which has been introduced from the first surface and has traveled to the first reflection area, is reflected on the first reflection area by total internal reflection, and the ray, which has been introduced from the first surface and has traveled to the second reflection area, is reflected by the reflective film.
US08947769B1 Tunable three level terahertz magnon laser generator with antenna
An apparatus for tunable generation of terahertz photons is provided. The apparatus comprises a three level magnon laser, an injection means, a terahertz antenna, and a tuning means. The terahertz antenna further comprises a magnon gain medium that supports generation of nonequilibrium magnons. The magnon gain medium is selected from the group consisting of: a ferromagnetic semiconductor; a dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS); a half-metallic ferromagnet (HMF); and a ferromagnetic conductor, with a gap in the density of states of the minority electrons around the Fermi energy.
US08947765B2 Light-emitting apparatus capable of adjusting a color of a projected light thereof
A light-emitting apparatus includes a light source to emit light, a photonic crystal to pass light of different wavelengths based on the light from the light source, and a projector to project the light passing through the photonic crystal. The photonic crystal may be electrically or mechanically controlled to pass the different wavelengths of light.
US08947756B2 Electrochromic material and electrochromic device including the same
An electrochromic material including a metal-organic framework including a metal, and an organic compound including a functional group, wherein the organic compound forms a coordination complex with the metal.
US08947755B2 Optical scanning device and image display apparatus
An optical scanning device includes a rotationally-moving mirror on which a reflection plane is provided in a rotationally-movable manner, and a sealing unit over which a light-transmissive cover is provided, a first plane of the light-transmissive cover, a second plane of the light-transmissive cover, and the reflection plane of the rotationally-moving mirror within a rotationally-moving range being non-parallel to each other, the first plane being on the opposite side to the side of the rotationally-moving mirror, the second plane being on the side of the rotationally-moving mirror.
US08947750B2 Imaging device array and image forming apparatus
According to one embodiment, an imaging device array includes a plurality of imaging devices integrally including an incidence surface that converges light in the primary scanning direction, plural reflective surfaces that reflect light from the incidence surface multiple times, and an exit surface through which light that has reflected at the plural reflective surfaces exits the array. At least one of the plural reflective surfaces is formed at the apex of a protrusion that protrudes outwardly from the surface of the array, and the light that is output from the exit surface is imaged at an image point.
US08947746B2 Image reading device
An image reading device includes a platen glass, a document feeder, a light source, a light receiving section, a first opening/closing detection sensor, a second opening/closing detection sensor, and a document size determination section. The document size determination section determines a size of an original document on the basis of a measurement result from the light receiving section. Where the first opening/closing detection sensor indicates the open state, while the second opening/closing detection sensor indicates no open state when the original document is placed on the platen glass, the document size determination section determines a size of the original document in a main scanning direction on the basis of full lighting-up determination data obtained with all of plural light emitting elements lighted up and partial lighting-up determination data obtained with some of the plural light emitting elements lighted up.
US08947743B2 Parallel rip processing for sheet images that include graphics defined by a job ticket
Systems and methods are provided for processing a logical page in parallel with graphics for the sheet that are defined in a job ticket. The system includes multiple parallel Raster Image Processors (RIPs) and a control system. The control system receives print data and a job ticket, identifies a graphic that is associated with a logical page and defined in the job ticket, and transmits the logical page to a parallel RIP for processing. The parallel RIP determines page dimensions from the logical page, transmits the page dimensions, and rasterizes the logical page. The control system determines a location for the graphic based upon the transmitted page dimensions, and directs another RIP to rasterize the graphic in order to generate a rasterized graphic in parallel with the RIP that is rasterizing the logical page.
US08947735B2 Image processing apparatus and image processing method for performing error diffusion processing for each region of an image
When the pixel of interest exists at a pixel position where reference of an error buffer is necessary, a quantization error generated in a region having undergone error diffusion processing is obtained from the error buffer. A quantization error generated in error diffusion processing in a region containing the pixel of interest is obtained from an error memory. Diffusion errors are calculated from the quantization errors using an error diffusion matrix. The value of the pixel of interest and the diffusion errors are added, and the addition value is quantized into the quantization value of the pixel of interest. The difference between the quantization value and the addition value is calculated as a quantization error to be stored in the error memory. When the pixel of interest exists at a pixel position where write in the error buffer is necessary, the quantization error is stored in the error buffer.
US08947734B1 Pulse width modulator for a printing device
A pulse width modulation technique is disclosed for use in an image forming device such as a laser printer or a photocopier. The technique implements a pacer to synthesize the frequency of a serializer circuit by stretching (or shrinking) pixel pulse train data. The pacer stretches the pixel pulse train data in accord with increment data that is based upon information about the image forming device, such as the number of bits in the pixel pulse train data, the number of bits in print engine pulse train, the target print engine frequency, and the serializer frequency. The technique can be implemented with digital circuits that provide digital test data.
US08947727B2 Image processing system, image processing method therefor, and storage medium
An image processing system comprising: a color conversion unit configured to perform color conversion from color data in a first color space into color data in a second color space by using a color profile; a correction unit configured to perform correction for the color data in the second color space by using correction data; a printing unit configured to print on a printing medium in accordance with the color data in the second color space that is corrected by the correction unit; a first changing unit configured to change the color profile; a second changing unit configured to change the correction data; and a selection unit configured to select, based on a color measurement result of a color chart for correcting a color of an image printed on the printing medium, one of processes including change of the color profile and change of the correction data.
US08947726B2 Method for image-display
A screen image displaying image-data items in list form is displayed over a predetermined time period. Then, the display color of an image-data item of the image-data items, the image-data item corresponding to predetermined classification information, is changed so that the image-data item can be differentiated from other image-data items. Consequently, a user can clearly identify the classification of the image-data items and easily find an image-data item satisfying a condition without performing a complicated operation.
US08947724B2 Image capturing unit, color measuring device, image forming device, color measuring system, and color measuring method
An image capturing unit includes a sensor section that images a predetermined range including a subject; a reference chart section that is imaged by the sensor section with the subject; and an illumination light source that illuminates the subject and the reference chart section. The illumination light source is arranged at a position where a mirror reflection region that mirror reflects light entering from the illumination light source to the sensor section is outside a region of the subject and the reference chart section.
US08947722B2 Label printer with touchscreen-formatting of characters
A label printer has a touchscreen for displaying and inputting label data, and comprising at least one input area. The label printer also has a hardware keyboard for inputting label data, and comprising at least one hardware key. The label printer also has control means arranged to control printing means for printing a label in accordance with label information. The label information is derived from a combination of label data input via the at least one hardware key of said hardware keyboard and label data input via the at least one input area of said touchscreen.
US08947712B2 Image data processing device, program, and management device that are able to manage various types of information in a centralized manner
An image data processing device may be configured to be used in a system. The system may comprise the image data processing device, a management device and a plurality of electronic devices. The image data processing device may comprise a communication unit configured to communicate with the electronic device by using the first communication scheme. The image data processing device may cause, in a case where the communication unit receives the judgment information from the electronic device, a storing unit to store the received judgment information. The image data processing device may execute the image data processing in a case where it is determined that the processor is able to execute the image data processing based on the judgment information stored by the storing unit.
US08947710B2 Image processing apparatus that performs reproduction synchronization of moving image between the same and mobile information terminal, method of controlling image processing apparatus, storage medium, and image processing system
An image processing apparatus capable of facilitating synchronization of a maintenance moving image between an image processing apparatus and a mobile information terminal, thereby making it possible to more efficiently show the moving image to a user who performs a maintenance operation. The mobile information terminal is registered as a distribution destination of the moving image. The moving image for current reproduction and display on the apparatus and information of the reproduction position of the moving image are distributed to the terminal to thereby cause the terminal to reproduce and display the moving image from the position. The position is changed based on information of a change in the reproduction position received from the terminal. When the position is changed on the image apparatus, information of a change in the position is transmitted to the terminal, to thereby cause the terminal to change the position.
US08947699B2 Image processing apparatus and control method thereof
When operation screen data sent from a Web server can be received, an image processing apparatus displays an operation screen based on the operation screen data on an operation unit. On the other hand, when operation screen data cannot be received due to a communication error, the image processing apparatus displays a substitute operation screen that allows it use of at least one of its image processing functions on the operation unit.
US08947697B2 Printing DIRECT2D-rendered items
Technology described herein is directed to converting display-rendering instructions (e.g., DIRECT2D) into print-rendering instructions (e.g., EMF, WMF, XPS, and SVG). For example, a request to print an item (e.g., document) is received, the item being displayable on an output device when display-rendering instructions are executed. A print render target is created that includes an instructions converter. The display-rendering instructions are routed to the print render target. The instructions converter maps the display-rendering instructions to the print-rendering instructions, which are usable to print the item.
US08947695B2 Information processing device, information processing method and computer-readable record medium
An information processing device equipped with a data generating unit which generates print data from original data based on setting information (information on parameters which are selected in regard to multiple setting items, respectively) comprises an object generating unit which generates an object corresponding to possible setting information and a display control unit which makes a display unit display the objects which have been generated by the object generating unit while relatively increasing display level of relevant objects (objects relevant to an application that generated the original data) compared to other objects.
US08947693B2 Server system, method for printing system, and storage medium
The server system changes a state of a printer object to a shared state to cause a second user different from a first user to be able to use the printer object upon receipt of a sharing instruction with respect to the printer registered on a print service by the first user, and deletes at least printer authentication information within the printer object in a shared state upon receipt of a deletion instruction for deleting the printer registered on the print service.
US08947689B2 Information processing apparatus having reliable display screen control within printer driver, storage medium, and control method thereof
An information processing apparatus is configured to display a consent screen when a printer driver is to be installed without using an installer even if approval has once been obtained from a user.
US08947687B2 Image forming apparatus and method of displaying option screen thereof
A method of displaying an option screen in an image forming apparatus includes determining at least one operation option corresponding each of two or more image forming functions, among image forming functions provided by the image forming apparatus; generating an option screen in which regions for setting the operation options determined with respect to the two or more image forming functions are arranged in a same screen; and displaying the generated option screen through a user interface unit.
US08947676B2 Aspheric surface measuring method, aspheric surface measuring apparatus, optical element producing apparatus and optical element
The method includes: measuring a first wavefront of a reference light on a sensor by using the sensor; calculating a second wavefront of the reference light on the sensor by using a parameter of an optical system; changing an optical system parameter in calculation such that a difference between rotationally symmetric components of the first and second wavefronts becomes smaller; calculating, by using the changed parameter, a magnification distribution of rays of the reference light between on the sensor and on a sensor conjugate surface; measuring a first ray angle distribution of the reference light by using the sensor, and measuring a second ray angle distribution of a measurement light by using the light-receiving sensor. The method calculates the profile of the measurement object aspheric surface by using the profile of the reference aspheric surface, the first and second ray angle distributions and the magnification distribution.
US08947674B2 Surface profile measuring apparatus and method
A surface profile measuring apparatus includes a reflection unit to reflect a reference beam diffracted by a first diffraction grating and cause the reflected reference beam to be incident on the first diffraction grating again, a detection unit to receive an interference beam in which the reference beam diffracted again by the first diffraction grating and a measuring beam reflected by a sample surface optically interfere with each other, and detect an interference intensity signal for each, wavelength in the interference beans, a shifting unit to shift the first diffraction grating in a direction perpendicular to a grating groove direction of the first diffraction grating, a calculation unit to calculates a phase on a basis of the interference intensity signal for each wavelength varying with a degree of shift, and a measurement unit to measure the sample surface.
US08947669B2 Optical gas detector
A gas detector including: an assembly of two coaxial parabolic reflective caps having opposite concavities, and a wafer arranged in the focal plane of the two caps, at the center of this focal plane, comprising, back-to-back: a diverging light emitter directed towards the first cap and a light receiver directed towards the second cap, wherein the two caps are distant substantially by the sum of their focal distances plus the thickness of the wafer.
US08947654B2 Flow cell assembly for liquid sample analyzer
A flow cell assembly for use in a liquid sample analyzer including a radiation source, a sensing device and a liquid sample source to supply a liquid sample includes an entrance joint member, a liquid core waveguide, a liquid sample feed tube, and an input optical fiber. The entrance joint member includes a waveguide receiving bore and a feed tube receiving bore. The liquid core waveguide is mounted in the waveguide receiving bore and defines a waveguide bore. The liquid sample feed tube is mounted in the feed tube receiving bore such that the liquid sample feed tube is in fluid communication with the waveguide bore to fluidly connect the liquid sample source to the waveguide bore. The input optical fiber is mounted in the entrance joint member to transmit radiation from the radiation source to the waveguide bore, which radiation is transmitted through the waveguide bore and the liquid sample therein to the sensing device.
US08947650B2 Refractive index measuring device and refractive index measuring method
In a refractive index measuring device (1) for measuring a refractive index of a solid sample (S), the solid sample (S) is closely attached to a prism (3) having a predetermined refractive index with a refractive index liquid (4) having a predetermined refractive index interposed therebetween. A scaled angle (light receiving member) (6) having a light receiving surface (6a) that receives first reflected light (R1), which is a part of light from a light source (2) and which is reflected by the prism (3), is provided. When the prism (3) is rotationally driven by a rotary table (rotational drive unit) (5) and an intensity of second reflected light (R2) detected by a detector (7) becomes lower than a predetermined value, the refractive index of the solid sample (S) is measured by using a position of the first reflected light (R1) on the light receiving surface (6a) of the scaled angle (6).
US08947637B2 Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method
A lithographic apparatus is provided that has a sensor at substrate level, the sensor including a radiation receiver, a transmissive plate supporting the radiation receiver, and a radiation detector, wherein the sensor is arranged to avoid loss of radiation between the radiation receiver and a final element of the radiation detector.
US08947625B2 Thin film transistor array panel and liquid crystal display device including the same
The present invention provides a panel capable of driving a liquid crystal in stable manner and improving response speed of the liquid crystal of a liquid crystal display, and the panel according to the present invention may include: a substrate; a first pixel electrode and a second pixel electrode disposed facing each other on the substrate; and a branch electrode extending from at least one of the first pixel electrode and the second pixel electrode.
US08947621B2 Liquid crystal display device comprising a front plate having a lamda/4 plate that includes a hard coat layer and method for manufacturing the same
Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device with a front plate including a step of providing, on a surface on a viewing side of a liquid crystal panel having polarizing plates on both sides, a λ/4 plate having a hard coat layer and composed of mainly a thermoplastic resin, an adhesive layer, a front plate composed of glass or acrylic, and a sealing layer containing a UV-curable tacky agent, all being stacked in this order from the viewing side; and a step of curing the sealing layer by irradiating with ultraviolet radiation from a hard coat layer side. The λ/4 plate having the hard coat layer contains 0.005 to 0.5 parts by mass of a compound which shows an absorption peak (λmax) in a wavelength range of 260 nm to 400 nm per 100 parts by mass of the thermoplastic resin composing the λ/4 plate.
US08947618B2 Blue phase liquid crystal display device
A blue phase liquid crystal display device includes a backlight module and a blue phase liquid crystal display panel. The backlight module includes a plurality of light sources. The light sources generate a plurality of primary color lights with different bands. The blue phase liquid crystal display panel includes a blue phase liquid crystal layer. The blue phase liquid crystal layer includes a plurality of blue phase liquid crystal molecules and a plurality of chiral dopants. The blue phase liquid crystal layer has a reflection band. The reflection band is located between the bands of two adjacent primary color lights.
US08947596B2 Alignment of closed captions
In embodiments, apparatuses, methods and storage media are described that are associated with alignment of closed captions. Video content (along with associated audio) may be analyzed to determine various times associated with speech in the video content. The video content may also be analyzed to determine various times associated with closed captions and/or subtitles in the video content. Likelihood values may be associated with the determined times. An alignment may be generated based on these determined times. Multiple techniques may be used, including linear interpolation, non-linear curve fitting, and/or speech recognition matching. Quality metrics may be determined for each of these techniques and then compared. An alignment for the closed captions may be selected from the potential alignments based on the quality metrics. The closed captions and/or subtitles may then be modified based on the selected alignment. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
US08947587B2 Imaging device holding structure and imaging device
A holding structure 100 for an image pickup device includes a back-incident type image pickup device 1 and a holding member 51 that holds the image pickup element 1, and the image pickup device 1 has an image pickup element 11 that performs imaging and a wiring board 12 electrically connected to the image pickup element 11. The holding member 51 is freely attachably and detachably attached to a side face 27 of the wiring board 12, at each of the opposing side faces 27a, 27a in the wiring board 12, a to-be-fitted portion 28 is formed, and the to-be-fitted portion 28 and a fitting portion 54 formed at the holding member 51 are fitted together. This relieves, even when an impact is applied to the image pickup device 1 during an inspection, delivery, etc., the impact to be applied to the wiring board 12 and the image pickup element 11 by the holding member 51 while suppressing the holding member 51 from coming off. Further, handling of the image pickup device 1 is facilitated, and an unnecessary impact to be applied to the image pickup device 1 is suppressed.
US08947584B2 Apparatus, and associated method, for a camera module of electronic device
A camera module is provided for an electronic device, such as a wireless mobile station or standalone device. The camera module includes a low F-stop lens assembly that is translatable into a desired position. An image of a subject is provided to an EDOF assembly, including a sensor assembly, and an extended-depth-of-field processor. The extended-depth-of-field processor provides for formation of a resultant, recorded image that exhibits improved depth of field characteristics.
US08947583B2 Image pickup apparatus and control method thereof
A controller configured to move a lens to reduce a defocus amount of a focus area selected from among a plurality of focus areas, wherein the controller repeats a detection of a defocus amount while moving the lens, and performs a selection of a focus area by using face position information, which is obtained and output by the first detection unit after detection of the defocus amount is repeated a plurality of times.
US08947580B2 Auto focusing apparatus and control method
The invention includes steps of setting a main area set within the frame of a photographed image signal, and a plurality of auxiliary areas each of which is smaller than the main area, selecting one or a plurality of focus detection areas from the main area and the auxiliary areas in accordance with the in-focus position of a focus lens based on the focus signals of the main area and the auxiliary areas, and controlling the focus lens to move to the in-focus position of the focus lens in the focus detection area selected in the selecting step.
US08947578B2 Apparatus and method of capturing image
An apparatus for capturing an image of a scene including an image capturing unit and a data processing unit. The image capturing unit may generate light field data and may include a first optical having at least two portions with at least two different fields of view, a sensing unit having a plurality of photosensors, and a second optical unit interposed between the first optical unit and the sensing unit. The data processing unit may perform at least one of change of view of the image and refocusing the generated light field data. The sensing unit may be configured to obtain an image with at least two magnifications corresponding to regions of the scene.
US08947577B2 Lens barrel assembly and photographing apparatus having the same
A barrel assembly includes a barrel, at least one lens group disposed in the barrel to move in an optical axis direction, an aperture disposed in the barrel that adjusts an amount of light passing through the at least one lens group; and a light adjustment unit disposed in the barrel to move in the optical axis direction and that blocks light passing through a peripheral area of the at least one lens group when the at least one lens group is in at least one part of a travel section along which the at least one lens group moves in the barrel.
US08947568B2 Solid-state imaging device
According to one embodiment, a solid-state imaging device includes an imaging area, a vertical line drive circuit, and a control circuit. The imaging area is provided with a plurality of unit pixels arrayed like a two-dimensional matrix. Each unit pixel includes a photoelectric conversion element, a read transistor, an amplifier transistor, and a reset transistor. The vertical line drive circuit is configured to select and drive the unit pixels at a unit of row, and to set a signal storage time of the photoelectric conversion element of each driven unit pixel. The control circuit connected to the vertical line drive circuit, is configured to execute a variable control of the signal storage time at a unit of row of the unit pixel.
US08947566B2 Solid-state imaging apparatus and manufacturing method of solid-state imaging apparatus
The first face of the pad is situated between the front-side face of the second semiconductor substrate and a hypothetical plane including and being parallel to the front-side face, and a second face of the pad that is a face on the opposite side of the first face is situated between the first face and the front-side face of the second semiconductor substrate, and wherein the second face is connected to the wiring structure so that the pad is electrically connected to the circuit arranged in the front-side face of the second semiconductor substrate via the wiring structure.
US08947560B2 Image processing apparatus, image processing method, image processing program, and imaging apparatus
An image processing apparatus generates a main image as an image satisfying a main composition condition indicating a condition regarding a predetermined composition. The image processing apparatus includes: a condition determining unit that determines whether a captured image obtained through imaging of an imaging unit satisfies a preliminary composition condition which is based on the main composition condition; a processing unit that executes a process of obtaining a preliminary image as an image satisfying the preliminary composition condition in accordance with the determination result of the condition determining unit; and an image processing unit that generates the main image by processing the preliminary image obtained through the process based on the main composition condition.
US08947558B2 Digital photographing apparatus for multi-photography data and control method thereof
A method of controlling a digital photographing apparatus includes obtaining first data and second data from a single event, storing the first and second data as multi-photography data, and generating a multi-photography folder that includes a first image corresponding to the first data and a second image corresponding to the second data.
US08947557B2 Photographing apparatus and method for dynamic range adjustment and stereography
A photographing apparatus and method for dynamic range adjustment and stereography are provided. The photographing apparatus includes a first imaging device for converting a light of a subject received through a first optical system into an electric signal; a second imaging device for converting a light of the subject received through a second optical system into an electric signal; a first image signal processor for generating an image signal for live view based on the electric signal output from the first imaging device before a photographing operation of a still image; an exposure controller for controlling an exposure so as to perform a step exposure in the second imaging device before the photographing of the still image; and an exposure calculator for calculating an exposure amount in the photographing operation of the still image based on the electric signal converted in the second imaging device obtained through the step exposure.
US08947546B2 Apparatus, and associated method, for stabilizing a video sequence
An apparatus, and an associated method, for facilitating stabilization of a recorded video sequence, formed of captured image frames. Captured image frames are cropped by a frame cropper. Cropping of an image is dependent upon lighting conditions. Upon the occurrence of a low-light, lighting condition, the amount of cropping is altered. And, when acceptable lighting conditions return, the amount of cropping is again altered, all in a manner to facilitate video stabilization.
US08947544B2 Image pickup apparatus that allows for short-distance photographing
A photographing apparatus includes: a taking lens including a movable focusing lens; an image pickup portion that converts an optical image obtained via the taking lens into an image signal; a movement determining portion that determines movement of the photographing apparatus in an optical axis direction of the taking lens; and a recording portion that continuously records therein a plurality of images obtained by the image pickup portion with the focusing lens being set to a fixed position so that the taking lens is at a predetermined focused position as the photographing apparatus moves in the optical axis direction of the taking lens.
US08947541B2 Lens apparatus controllable via multiple control sources and image pickup system including the lens apparatus
A lens apparatus includes: a switch for switching between single and plural modes for using lens apparatus singularly and plurally, respectively; a communication unit to communicate with external device; a unit to set all elements to first state in single mode and set the respective elements to second or third state in plural mode; a control source output unit to output, for each state of the elements, control source information for determining a control command to drive the element; and a unit to determine a command for controlling drive of the elements based on the control source information determined by the control source output portion, wherein in the second state, control commands for corresponding elements are output to other lens apparatuses through the communication unit, and in the third state, the control source output portion outputs control source information different from that in the first and second states.
US08947530B1 Smart lock systems and methods
A lock can receive electricity from a transformer of a doorbell chime while the lock is mounted on a door. The lock can be electrically coupled to the face plate. The face plate can be electrically coupled to the strike plate of the door frame. The strike plate of the doorframe can be electrically coupled to the transformer of the doorbell chime.
US08947529B2 Methods and systems for stabilizing live video in the presence of long-term image drift
Methods and systems stabilization of a camera image for short term or ‘pole shake’ and longer term ‘pole drift’ are provided. The camera is attached to a fixed structure. The pole drift is over periods of times long enough that the imagery can change significantly between a base reference frame and the current stabilized transient frame. A multitude of mapped frames and associated information is maintained. The slowly varying camera orientation (“pole drift”) is decoupled from the rapid motion jitter (“pole shake”), and separate transformations are calculated for each. Up to three transformations may be combined together for any one input frame. The separate transformations are combined together, so that only one full-blown image transformation computation is performed for each frame. A surveillance system applies a stabilization method.
US08947525B2 Plant observation device and method
A plant observation device measures the growing state of a plant placed in a measurement area and the growth environment in the measurement area while moving within the measurement area where the plant is cultivated. The quantity of light is measured during growth environment measurement, and a light transmitting state of the measurement area is detected based on the measured quantity of light and the time of light quantity measurement. The measured growing state information and growth environment information are transmitted, together with positional information, to a server of a remote monitoring system. The growth environment in the measurement area is then optimally controlled based on the growing state information and the growth environment information.
US08947518B2 Cell observing apparatus and cell incubation method
User's time and labor required for performing manipulations with respect to cells which exist in an incubation container, are reduced. To achieve the above, a cell observing apparatus includes an observation stage supporting an incubation container that houses cells, a micro imaging optical system forming, on an imaging device for micro imaging, an image of the cell in the incubation container disposed at an observing position of the observation stage, a macro imaging optical system forming, on an imaging device for macro imaging, an image of an area wider than that captured by the micro imaging optical system in the incubation container, and a controlling unit controlling an operation of a manipulation needle that manipulates the cells in the incubation container, in which the micro imaging optical system is disposed on a side facing the macro imaging optical system with the observation stage being located therebetween.
US08947512B1 User wearable viewing devices
An apparatus includes a user wearable viewing device for assisting the user to view a representation of three dimensional content. The user wearable viewing device is assigned a unique identifier to provide a private viewing experience for the user.
US08947510B2 Functional imaging of cells with optical projection tomography
A method for 3D imaging of a biologic object (1) in an optical tomography system where a subcellular structure of a biological object (1) is labeled by introducing at least one nanoparticle-biomarker. The labeled biological object (1) is moved relatively to a microscope objective (62) to present varying angles of view and the labeled biological object (1) is illuminated with radiation having wavelengths between 150 nm and 900 nm. Radiation transmitted through the labeled biological object (1) and the microscope objective (62) within at least one wavelength bands is sensed with a color camera, or with a set of at least four monochrome cameras. A plurality of cross-sectional images of the biological object (1) from the sensed radiation is formed and reconstructed to make a 3D image of the labeled biological object (1).
US08947508B2 Image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus which employs a basic configuration including an image processing controller which processes images captured by a stereo camera and a recognition processing controller which recognizes an object based on information from the image processing controller includes a target object area specifying unit, feature amount extracting unit and smoke determining unit as functions of enabling recognition of a smoky object. The target object specifying unit specifies an area of an object which is a detection target, by canceling the influence of the background, the feature amount extracting unit extracts an image feature amount for recognizing a smoky object in a target object area and the smoke deciding unit decides whether the object in the target object area is a smoky object or an object other than the smoky object, based on the extracted image feature amount.
US08947507B2 Method of processing 3D images, and corresponding system including the formulation of missing pixels using windows of details from first and second views
The method is for processing a multiplex image, the multiplex including at least one first view intended to be viewed by a first eye of an observer and at least one second view intended to be viewed by a second eye of the observer. The two views are spatially sub-sampled according to complementary grids and mutually spatially shifted. The method includes a demultiplexing of the multiplex image so as to extract the first and the second views. And, for at least one missing pixel of the first view, there is a determination of a first window of the first view containing the location of the missing pixel and representing a first detail in the first view, a determination of a second window of the second view representing the same first detail in the second view, and a formulation of the missing pixel by using the pixels of the second window.
US08947506B2 Method and system for utilizing depth information for generating 3D maps
A mobile device, which comprises a monoscopic three-dimensional (3D) video generation device, one or more depth sensors and one or more devices operable to determine distance, may be operable to capture two-dimensional (2D) video image data and corresponding depth information of surroundings of the mobile device. The mobile device may capture distance information via the one or more devices operable to determine distance. A 3D map may be rendered by the mobile device utilizing the captured 2D video image data, the captured corresponding depth information and/or the captured distance information. The monoscopic 3D video generation device may comprise one or more image sensors. The one or more devices operable to determine distance may comprise an optical and/or electromagnetic emitting device. The 3D map may be generated by the mobile device. The 3D map may also be generated by the mobile device based on information received from a location server.
US08947504B2 Broadcast receiver and video data processing method thereof
A broadcast receiver and a method for processing video data are disclosed. The method for controlling a three dimensional (3D) video display output of a broadcast receiver includes receiving a broadcast signal including a video stream, wherein the video stream includes a plurality of video stream sections having different view points, acquiring view point information indicating corresponding view points of the video stream sections, and controlling a three dimensional (3D) video display output of the video stream according to the obtained view point information.
US08947478B2 Light scanning apparatus and image forming apparatus
A light scanning apparatus, including: a first holding member configured to hold a first light emitting element configured to emit a first light beam; a second holding member configured to hold a second light emitting element configured to emit a second light beam; a rotary polygon mirror; a first mounting portion on which the first holding member is mounted; and a second mounting portion on which the second holding member is mounted, the second mounting portion being provided adjacent to the first mounting portion, wherein the first mounting portion has a V-shape including two limbs in a cross section, and wherein one limb of the two limbs on the side of the second mounting portion is shorter than other limb of the two limbs on a side opposite to the side of the second mounting portion.
US08947477B2 Apparatus and method for mounting particles on a carrier
Method and apparatus for individually positioning and mounting particles on a target carrier according to a predefined pattern. In particular the particles are spheres of an electrically chargeable material with a diameter in the range of 10 micrometer up to one millimeter and are electrically conductive.
US08947475B2 Spatially multiplexed pulse width modulation
A process of operating a PWM display system wherein some display data bits are assigned substantially equal time weights. Display data codewords are defined for every pixel intensity value to form display data codeword tables so that there are at least as many display data codeword tables as the number of display data bits with substantially equal time weights. The display pixel is subsequently operated in a digital manner according to the display data codeword in the selected display data codeword table to display a desired pixel intensity value. The display data codeword tables are configured so that immediately adjacent display pixels are operated so that identical pixel intensity values are displayed with different temporal sequences.
US08947473B2 Micro-shutter display device
Disclosed is a display device and, more particularly, a micro-shutter display device including: a light source emitting light; a lower substrate having an optical conversion unit performing at least any one of a function of converting back light output from a light source into primary colors corresponding to sub-pixels and a function of reflecting ambient light having a primary color band corresponding to sub-pixels; a micro-shutter opening and closing a path of light output from the optical conversion unit; and a driving circuit supplying a driving signal to a movable unit electrode or a fixed counter electrode, wherein the micro-shutter includes: a shutter micro-structure comprised of a shutter blade blocking light output from the optical conversion unit and a shutter aperture allowing light output from the optical conversion unit to be transmitted therethrough; an elastic element connected to the shutter micro-structure to provide elastic restoring force when the shutter micro-structure structure is driven; a movable unit electrode configured to be connected to the shutter micro-structure; and a fixed counter electrode spaced apart by a certain interval from the movable unit electrode.
US08947470B2 Method of controlling backlight device and display apparatus using the same
In a display apparatus, a display panel is divided into dimming areas and a backlight device includes light source blocks providing light to the dimming areas. Average gray-scale values and maximum gray-scale values respectively corresponding to the dimming areas are generated based on image signals provided to the dimming areas. Whether the average gray-scale values and the maximum gray-scale values are respectively within first and second reference ranges are checked. One of at least two parameters is selected according to a checked result, and representative brightness values respectively corresponding to the dimming areas are determined using the selected parameter. Duty ratios of the light source blocks are controlled based on the representative brightness values. As a result, power consumption is reduced when applying a dimming device to the display apparatus.
US08947467B2 Display device and gamma setting method for the same
A display device receiving a video signal including grayscale data and displaying images according to the input video signal includes: a photosensor measuring illuminance of external light; a timing controller processing the data signal according to a target gamma value corresponding to the measured illuminance among a plurality of gamma values for a reference curved line representing a relationship of a lightness variation according to a change of grayscale data to be applied to the measured illuminance environment; a data driver applying the processed data signal to a plurality of pixels; and a scan driver applying a scan signal to the plurality of pixels for the data signal to be applied to the plurality of pixels. Accordingly, an image or a motion picture may be displayed with a desired grayscale without influence of external light, and the display quality may be obtained in an external light environment without increasing power consumption.
US08947464B2 Display control apparatus, display control method, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium
When changing a plurality of displayed items to a plurality of other items that are at least partially different, at least one selected item of the plurality of displayed items is identifiably displayed, and its display position is stored. After the plurality of displayed items have been changed to the plurality of other items, an item displayed at the same position as the stored display position of the selected item before the change is identifiably displayed. This improves the operability when simultaneously displaying a plurality of items.
US08947462B2 Apparatus and method for changing user interface of portable terminal
An apparatus for changing a user interface of a portable terminal, by which a user interface and an operating system are automatically changed according to folding of a folding display unit of the portable terminal, and a method for changing a user interface of a portable terminal. The apparatus includes a folding display unit and a controller for performing a control operation for changing a user interface according to a screen size of the display unit, the screen size of the display unit being varied through folding of the display unit.
US08947461B2 Display processing apparatus and display processing method
A display processing apparatus includes a first display processing unit for reducing a size of the display image displayed on the display unit and displaying the reduced image and a second display processing unit for displaying the graphical controller along an outer edge of the reduced display image or over a part of the reduced display image.
US08947458B2 Method for providing information on object within view of terminal device, terminal device for same and computer-readable recording medium
The present invention relates to a method for providing information on an object included in a visual field of a terminal in a form of augmented reality (AR) by using an image inputted to the terminal and its relating information. The method includes the steps of: (a) specifying the visual field of the terminal corresponding to the inputted image by referring to at least one piece of information on a location, a displacement and a viewing angle of the terminal; and (b) acquiring a graphic element corresponding to the object, included in the visual field of the terminal, whose identity is recognized by using a technology for matching a building image and displaying the acquired graphic element with the inputted image in the form of the augmented reality by providing the graphic element on a location of the object displayed on a screen of the terminal.
US08947456B2 Augmented reality process for sorting materials
Systems and methods for processing materials for a recycling workstream are disclosed. The system may include one or more sorting surfaces on which sortable items may be placed. Illumination sources may be provided to illuminate both the items and the sorting surface(s). A variety of sensor systems may also be provided. The outputs of the sensor systems may be supplied to a computing system for determining the composition of the items and their location on the sorting surface(s). The computing system may also control the surface(s), illumination sources, and sensor systems. Additionally, the system may include one or more augmented reality interface devices used by sorters at the sorting facility. The computing system may communicate data streams to the augmented reality interfaces to provide the users augmented reality sensations. The sensations may give the users information and instructions regarding how to sort the items into one or more sorting bins.
US08947446B2 Methods and apparatus for image processing at pixel rate
Embodiments of the present invention provide for improved timing control in 2-D image processing to maintain a constant rate of fetches and pixel outputs even when the processing operations transition to a new line or frame of pixels. A one-to-one relationship between incoming pixel rate and outgoing pixel rate is maintained without additional clock cycles or memory bandwidth as an improved timing control according to the present invention takes advantage of idle memory bandwidth by pre-fetching a new column of pixel data in a first pixel block of a next line or frame while a new column of an edge pixel block on a current line is duplicated or zeroed out. As the edge pixel block(s) on the current line are processed, the data in the first pixel block of the next line or frame become ready for computation without extra clock cycles or extra memory bandwidth.
US08947415B1 Display system and method
A display system includes a plurality of light emitting units configured to float in a fluid medium such that each light emitting unit is movable, each light emitting unit including a light emitting element configured to selectively emit light, a communication element operable to receive instruction data to control operation of the light emitting element; and a power element configured to provide power to at least the light emitting element, and an image capture element configured to receive light emitted by at least one light emitting unit and to generate image data based on the light received and a controller configured to generate the instruction data based at least on a comparison of the image data to a desired image and transmit the instruction data to the communication element to control the light emitting element such that the display system provides the desired image.
US08947414B2 Active matrix substrate and organic EL display device
The present invention provides an active matrix substrate and an organic EL display device in which reduction in the response rate of a current-driven light-emitting element is suppressed. The active matrix substrate of the present invention is an analog gradation-driving active matrix substrate, including multiple pixels each including a current-driven light-emitting element and a drive transistor. The current-driven light-emitting element includes a pixel electrode electrically coupled with the drive transistor. The drive transistor supplies a current to the current-driven light-emitting element through the pixel electrode. The multiple pixels include a first pixel and a second pixel disposed adjacent to each other. A gate electrode of the drive transistor of the first pixel is disposed between the pixel electrode of the current-driven light-emitting element of the first pixel and the pixel electrode of the current-driven light-emitting element of the second pixel in a plan view of a main face of the substrate.
US08947404B2 Stylus
A stylus may have a flat portion on a movable tip at one end for contact with a flat surface, or a stylus may have movable pins adjustable in response to contact pressure for use with a non-flat surface.
US08947402B2 Touch sensitive image display
We describe a touch sensitive image display device for projecting a touch sensitive displayed image at an acute angle onto a surface on which the device is placed. The device comprises: light sources to project two-dimensional first and second light distributions in respective first and second planes; and a multi-pixel sensor system to remotely detect touch of an area of said surface within or adjacent to the displayed image by detecting light from the first distribution to provide a detected touch signal. The multi-pixel sensor system also remotely detects presence of an object within the second light distribution to provide a detected presence signal. The device is configured to multiplex projection of the first light and second distributions. A controller has an input to receive the detected touch and detected presence signals and is configured to control the device responsive to these signals.
US08947391B1 Line spacing in mesh designs for touch sensors
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a touch sensor that includes a mesh of conductive material configured to extend across a display that includes multiple pixels that each include sub-pixels and dead space. The mesh includes multiple first and second lines of conductive material. The first lines are substantially parallel to each other, and the second lines are substantially parallel to each other. Each of the sub-pixels includes a color element separated from adjacent sub-pixels by dead space. Each of the pixels has a first pixel pitch (PPx) along a first axis and a second pixel pitch (PPy) along a second axis that is substantially perpendicular to the first axis. The first pixel pitch is a distance between corresponding features of two adjacent pixels along the first axis, and the second pixel pitch is a distance between corresponding features of two adjacent pixels along the second axis.
US08947387B2 System and method for identifying users and selecting a haptic response
A touchscreen generates two or more displays that are visible at different viewing angles, e.g., one is visible only from the driver's seat of a car and the other is visible only from the passenger seat of the car. The displays occupy overlapping areas on the display surface such that input controls for the first display may overlap with input controls for the second display. If one of the users engages the display, the user is identified, it is determined which display the user is viewing and then which input he may be supplying, and a haptic stimulus for that display may be generated.
US08947384B2 Liquid crystal display panel with embedded touchscreen components and driving method thereof
The present disclosure relates to an LCD panel and a driving method thereof for realizing the embedded touchscreen function of such a LCD panel. The LCD panel according to the present disclosure comprises: an array substrate, a color filter substrate and a layer of liquid crystal provided between the two substrates, with gate lines and data lines are formed on the array substrate to define pixel units. An embedded touchscreen component is provided on the inner side of the array substrate, comprising: a first conductive line and a second conductive line. The first conductive line and the second conductive line constitute a two-layer structure, with a semiconductor layer being provided between the first conductive line and the second conductive line within the overlapping area of the two lines.
US08947381B2 Display device
A display device according to an embodiment includes a touch panel, a plurality of detecting units, a blocking unit, and a calculating unit. The display device is incorporated in a vehicle, and the touch panel receives a pressing operation. The plurality of detecting units detect a pressure value on the touch panel.
US08947375B2 Information processing device, information processing method, and information processing program
An information processing device including an operation unit in which an operation input is possible by a touch operation on an operating surface; and a control unit that executes processing corresponding to an operation input performed via the operation unit, wherein the control unit causes, if an area of a portion that is in contact with the operating surface accompanying a touch operation is obtained and a touch operation in which the area is equal to or greater than a predetermined value is performed, restoration information for later restoring the display contents of a screen that are currently being displayed on a display unit to be stored in a memory unit, and display contents of a screen are restored, according to an operation input performed via the operation unit, based on the restoration information recorded in the memory unit.
US08947371B2 Display device with detection function
Disclosed herein is a display device, including: a display surface; a display functional layer adapted to control the display of a screen viewed from outside the display surface; a drive control section operable to perform display scanning and driving adapted to scan and drive, in the one direction, the plurality of drive electrodes, and also operable to perform, a plurality of times and for M display screens, detection scanning and driving adapted to continuously scan and drive all or part of the plurality of drive electrodes within the period of time; and a plurality of sensor lines arranged in a direction other than the one direction to be separate from each other, which produce an electrical change if an object to be detected comes in contact with or proximity to the display surface while the drive control section performs the detection scanning and driving.
US08947363B2 Adjustable keyboard and electronic device employing adjustable keyboard
A keyboard includes an upper frame, a main body, a lower frame, and an adjustment mechanism. The two frames cooperate with each other to sandwich the main body. The lower frame includes a bottom plate defining a though hole. The adjustment mechanism is configured to adjust an inclined angle of the keyboard, and includes an adjustment member, a supporting member, a driving member and a position stopper. The adjustment member is operated by a user. The supporting member protrudes from the bottom plate via the through hole to support the keyboard on a supporting surface. The driving member drives the supporting member to move along a central axis of the through hole to adjust a protruding distance of the supporting member when the adjustment member is operated. The position stopper resists the supporting member to secure the supporting member when the adjustment member is free.
US08947360B2 Set of handheld adjustable panels of ergonomic keys and mouse
A set of handheld, adjustable panels including a plurality of ergonomic keys which function as a keyboard and mouse to allow a user to easily input data to an electronic device. The handheld keyboard and mouse includes two handheld components. Each component comprises a base that fits into the user's palm, a plurality of adjustable finger panels, and an adjustable thumb portion adjacent to the finger panels. The finger panels include a plurality of keys so as to function as a keyboard, and the thumb portion also includes a plurality of keys and acts like a mouse. Each component may also include clips or straps for securing the component to the user's hand, as well as a stand for supporting the component when it is not in use. In addition, at least one of the components may include a display means.
US08947357B2 Position detecting device, information processing device, position detection method, information processing method, and computer readable medium
A position detecting device includes a device specifying unit, a motion obtaining unit, and a relative position detecting unit. The device specifying unit specifies plural information processing devices that have been brought into contact with one another. The motion obtaining unit obtains information about a motion of any one of the plural information processing devices. The relative position detecting unit detects, on the basis of a motion produced when the any one of the plural information processing devices specified by the device specifying unit is brought into contact with another of the plural information processing devices, relative positions of the plural information processing devices specified by the device specifying unit.
US08947356B2 Suspended input system
Provided herein are input devices, systems, and methods. Some of the embodiments provided herein employ magnetic levitation of a controller of the input system so as to allow various benefits to a user's experience of the input system.
US08947354B2 Portable device and method for controlling the same
A method for controlling a portable device is provided. The method includes detecting bending of the portable device and determining whether to perform motion sensing correction due to the bending; acquiring a motion sensing correction factor for performing the motion sensing correction due to the bending; performing motion sensing correction of at least one motion sensor using the motion sensing correction factor; and controlling the portable device according to the corrected motion sensing.
US08947348B2 Proximity sensor switch-controlled meter and lamp switch system
A proximity sensor switch-controlled meter and lamp switch system installed in a motor vehicle that can be a motorcycle or car is disclosed to include a meter having a micro-controller unit (MCU) and an electronic display device, a lamp switch unit installed in one handlebar (or the motorcycle) or steering wheel (of the car), and proximity sensor switches respectively mounted in the meter and the lamp switch unit for controlling the micro-controller unit (MCU) to control the display mode of an electronic display device of the meter or to switch on/off the headlamp or left/right turn signal light of the motor vehicle when the motorcycle rider or car driver touches the meter or the lamp switch unit with a finger.
US08947347B2 Controlling actions in a video game unit
Sound processing methods and apparatus are provided. A sound capture unit is configured to identify one or more sound sources. The sound capture unit generates data capable of being analyzed to determine a listening zone at which to process sound to the substantial exclusion of sounds outside the listening zone. Sound captured and processed for the listening zone may be used for interactivity with the computer program. The listening zone may be adjusted based on the location of a sound source. One or more listening zones may be pre-calibrated. The apparatus may optionally include an image capture unit configured to capture one or more image frames. The listening zone may be adjusted based on the image. A video game unit may be controlled by generating inertial, optical and/or acoustic signals with a controller and tracking a position and/or orientation of the controller using the inertial, acoustic and/or optical signal.
US08947345B2 Display device, and controller
A display device including a display unit having a plurality of pixels includes a calculation unit which accumulates the number of pixels of which display state is changed among the plurality of pixels so as to calculate the accumulated number of update pixels when a part of an image displayed on the display unit is changed, and a refresh control unit which executes a refresh operation of the display unit when the calculated accumulated number of update pixels becomes equal to or more than a defined value.
US08947343B2 Liquid crystal display capable of detecting short in LED in liquid crystal panel and driving method thereof
A liquid crystal display comprises: a liquid crystal panel; LED strings connected to an output terminal of a DC power source and providing light to the liquid crystal panel; transistors whose collector electrodes are connected to cathodes of LEDs positioned at the lowermost stages of the LED strings, and whose emitter electrodes are connected to monitor resistors; and an LED driver which has first pins respectively connected to base electrodes of the transistors to supply driving signals and second pins connected between the emitter electrodes of the transistors and monitor resistors, wherein the first pins sense voltages of the base electrodes of the transistors to detect a short in an LED, wherein the LED driver comprises driving signal supply portions for supplying the driving signal and short sensing portions for detecting the presence or absence of a short in the LED.
US08947341B2 Liquid crystal display and pixel displaying structure thereof
The present invention provides a liquid crystal display and pixel displaying structure thereof. The pixel displaying structure has a plurality of sub-pixel units. The sub-pixel units are arranged on a two-dimensional matrix arrangement and each of the sub-pixel units is divided into two rectangular partitions, and each of the partitions performs a bright mode or a dark mode, and then the bright mode and the dark mode are changed over to each other between consecutive frames of screen while two transversely-adjacent or longitudinally-adjacent partitions are a combination of a bright-mode partition and a dark-mode partition. Therefore, ladder-like bright-dark boundary line appearing during displaying oblique lines can be reduced based on the visual mixture of brightness interchanging.
US08947334B2 Liquid crystal display device including drive section for controlling timing of pixel switching elements, driving method of the same and electronic equipment
The present disclosure provides a liquid crystal display device including: for each pixel, a first switching element provided in common for a plurality of subpixels making up a pixel, the first switching element having its one end connected to a signal line; for each pixel, a plurality of second switching elements one provided for each subpixel, each of the plurality of second switching elements being connected between the pixel electrode of one of the plurality of subpixels and the other end of the first switching element; and a drive section adapted to turn ON and OFF the plurality of second switching elements in sequence during the ON period of the first switching element and turn OFF the second switching element that turns ON last in sequence first, and then turn OFF the first switching element.
US08947332B2 Liquid crystal display device having an electrostatic discharge protection circuit
A liquid crystal display device comprises a liquid crystal display panel having liquid crystal cells which are defined by a gate line and a data line and which are arranged in a matrix type, an electrostatic discharge protection circuit mounted on the liquid crystal display panel and connected to any one of the gate line and the data line, a first voltage supply line supplying the same voltage as a first gate voltage with which the gate line is supplied to the electrostatic discharge protection circuit, and a second voltage supply line supplying the same voltage as a second gate voltage with which the gate line is supplied to the electrostatic discharge protection circuit.
US08947331B2 Pixel circuit, method of driving a pixel circuit, and organic light emitting display device
A pixel circuit includes an organic light emitting diode, a first PMOS transistor coupled between a first power voltage and an anode electrode of the organic light emitting diode, a second PMOS transistor coupled between a first node and the anode electrode of the organic light emitting diode, a first capacitor coupled between a second node and the first node, a second capacitor coupled between the first power voltage and the second node, a third PMOS transistor coupled between a data line and the second node, a fourth PMOS transistor coupled between a third node and the second node, a third capacitor coupled between the third node and a gate terminal of the third PMOS transistor, and a fifth PMOS transistor coupled between the data line and the third node.
US08947330B2 Display device, picture signal processing method, and program
There is provided a display device including a display unit having pixels, each of which includes a luminescence element that individually becomes luminous depending on a current amount and a pixel circuit for controlling a current applied to the luminescence element according to a voltage signal, where the pixels are arranged in a matrix pattern. The display device includes an average luminance calculator (200) for calculating average luminance for a predetermined period of the input picture signal, and also includes a luminous time setter (202) for setting an effective duty depending on the calculated average luminance by the average luminance calculator (200), the effective duty regulating for each one frame a luminous time for which the luminescence element is luminous. The luminous time setter (202) sets the effective duty such that a luminescence amount regulated by a preset reference duty and possible maximum luminance of a picture signal.
US08947327B2 Display apparatus, driving method thereof, and electronic system
A display apparatus includes: a pixel array section including a row of scanning lines, a column of signal lines, and pixels in a matrix, each of the pixels disposed at an intersection of both of the lines; and a drive section. The drive section performs line progressive scanning on the pixels. The pixel includes a light emitting device, a sampling transistor, a driving transistor, a switching transistor, and a holding capacitor. The sampling transistor samples a video signal in the holding capacitor, the driving transistor changes the device to a luminous state, the switching transistor becomes ON in advance of the sampling of the video signal to change the light emitting device to a non-luminous state, and the sampling transistor takes in the OFF voltage from the signal line to the driving transistor, thereby preventing a penetration current from flowing from the power source toward the fixed potential.
US08947323B1 Content display methods
Methods and systems involving a graphic display in a head mounted display (HMD) are disclosed herein. An exemplary system may be configured to: (1) at a computing system associated with a head-mountable display, receive head-movement data indicative of head movement; (2) use one or more context signals to determine a first activity associated with the head-mountable device; (3) determine a head-movement interpretation scheme corresponding to the first activity; (4) apply the determined head-movement interpretation scheme to determine input data corresponding to the received head-movement data; and (5) provide the determined input data for at least one function of the head-mountable display.
US08947319B2 Antenna assembly for converged in-building network
An antenna assembly is disclosed. The antenna assembly comprises an antenna that includes a radiating element formed on the first major surface of a substrate and connection mechanism for connecting the antenna to an unsevered midspan section of adhesive backed RF distribution cable.
US08947304B2 Mobile terminal having a metal-based cover member
A mobile terminal is disclosed. The present invention includes a front case, a rear case mounted to the front case, a controller provided between the front case and the rear case, a power supply provided in the rear case and a cover member provided on the rear case, the cover member comprising an insulating layer configured to oppose the power supply and a conductive layer located on the insulating layer such that the conductive layer is externally exposed, wherein the conductive layer is electrically connected to the controller for wireless communication.
US08947297B2 Positional display elements
One aspect relates to determining a position of at least one positional display element that can be used to display at least an image portion; and displaying the at least the image portion with the at least one positional display element based at least in part on the determining the position of the at least one positional display element. Another aspect relates to determining a position of at least one positional display element, in which the position can be used to affect a visual presentation.
US08947292B2 Radar system and method for a synthetic aperture radar
A radar system for a synthetic aperture radar including an arrangement of at least one transmitter, two receivers, two antennas and signal processing means located on a platform. The platform is arranged to move over ground and arranged to transmit a known signal shape and receive signals reflected from the ground. The received signals are used to produce a synthetic aperture radar image of the ground. The synthetic aperture radar image includes a number of resolution cells. The radar system is further arranged to operate in a frequency band with a center frequency and with a wide bandwidth of at least one octave. A first antenna and a second antenna have a length of less than half the wavelength of the center frequency. The radar system is further arranged for: a radar system transfer function to be flat over the frequency band and one-sided beam forming with wideband antenna gain. Also a corresponding method.
US08947290B2 Successive approximation AD converter
A higher-order DAC and a lower-order DAC each have a plurality of capacitive elements having capacitance values weighted with a binary ratio and are configured so that a first terminal of each of the capacitive elements is connected to a common node and a second terminal thereof is connected to either a first or second voltage selectively. The higher-order DAC and the lower-order DAC are coupled by a coupling capacitor. A higher-order DAC control circuit outputs either a correction control signal or a digital signal output from a successive approximation circuit selectively to the higher-order DAC. The lower-order DAC has at least one variable capacitive element of which a first terminal is connected to the common node and a second terminal is connected to either the first or second voltage selectively depending on a higher-order bit of the digital signal output from the successive approximation circuit to the higher-order DAC.
US08947289B2 Method of producing low-power switched-capacitor amplifier, circuit and a pipeline analog-to-digital converter including the same
A switched-capacitor amplifier comprises an operational amplifier (op-amp), a first capacitor, a second capacitor, a third capacitor, a fourth capacitor and a plurality of switches connected to these capacitors. The first capacitor equals the third capacitor, the second capacitor equals the fourth capacitor, and the first capacitor is asymmetric to the second capacitor, the third capacitor is asymmetric to the fourth capacitor. A ratio of the first capacitor and the second capacitor is a function of a simulated parasitic capacitance of the switched-capacitor amplifier, a simulated DC gain of the operational amplifier, and a target gain of the switched-capacitor circuit.