| Document | Document Title |
|---|---|
| US08955159B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing system, information processing method, and program
An information processing apparatus including: a data processing unit which performs copy processing for recording recorded data of a first medium in a second medium, wherein the data processing unit performs processing for referencing copy restriction information received from a management server, comparing the copy restriction information with apparatus setting information set in a memory of the information processing apparatus, determining whether or not the copy processing is permitted in accordance with the comparison result, and copying recorded data of the first medium to the second medium under the condition it is determined that the copy processing is permitted. |
| US08955150B2 |
Apparatus and method for managing digital rights using virtualization technique
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for managing digital rights using virtualization technique, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for enabling a user to access a desired text file in an independent area through a virtual machine corresponding to a licensed right for accessing the text file. The present invention comprises a virtual machine (VM) management unit for controlling a user access authorization function for accessing the text file in the area to which the virtualization technique is applied. |
| US08955147B2 |
Mobile device privacy application
A device is configured to determine that the device is to activate a privacy mode, obscure information displayed by a display of the device, detect a user interaction with a first portion of the display, the first portion being less than an entirety of the display, and reveal first information obscured by the first portion of the display, without revealing information obscured by a remaining portion of the display, the first portion and the remaining portion comprising the entirety of the display. |
| US08955143B1 |
Use of decoy data in a data store
Disclosed are various embodiments for identifying a table of non-decoy data matching a set of criteria. Decoy data is inserted into the table of non-decoy data. The decoy data is detected in a result comprising the decoy data, the result generated in response to an access of the data store. An alarm is generated based at least upon the result. |
| US08955142B2 |
Secure execution of unsecured apps on a device
Devices are pre-deployed with an app security mechanism to ensure that apps that are downloaded onto the device do not cause data loss, data leakage, or other harm to the device. A user can start using the device and downloading apps in a conventional or typical manner and be assured that security measures are being taken to minimize potential harm for unsecured and secured apps. An app security enforcement layer or engine operates with, for example, a Type 2 hypervisor on the device, and ensures that any calls by the apps to the operating system of the device are generally safe. Measures such as enhancing or modifying the call, obfuscating the call, or terminating the app may be taken to protect the operating system. These actions are taken based on a policy that may be either interpreted or compiled by the enforcement engine with respect to app execution. The security measures are generally transparent to the user of the device. |
| US08955140B2 |
Systems, methods, and computer program products for collecting and reporting sensor data in a communication network
A system for collecting and reporting sensor data in a communication network includes a microprocessor coupled to a memory and an electronic storage device. The microprocessor receives sensor data from sensors, and stores the sensor data for each sensor in the electronic storage device. The microprocessor also receives, via the communication network, a data reporting instruction defining a data reporting technique corresponding to the sensor data associated with one or more of the sensors. The data reporting instruction is stored in the electronic storage device, and the microprocessor transmits, to a trust mediator over the communication network, at least a portion of the sensor data based on the data reporting instruction. The trust mediator maintains an acceptable level of security for data throughout the communication network by adjusting security safeguards based on the sensor data. |
| US08955132B2 |
Emulation for malware detection
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of performing emulation of at least part of a program using an emulated computer system implemented on a computer system. The method includes, during execution of the program within the emulated computer system, when the program attempts to access a unit of data, copying the unit of data from a memory of the computer system into an emulated memory, and allowing the program to access the unit of data within emulated computer system. A unit of data may be a memory page. |
| US08955125B2 |
Snoop echo response extractor
A mechanism is provided for identifying a snooping device in a network environment. A snoop echo response extractor generates an echo request packet with a bogus MAC address that will only be received by a snooping device. The snoop echo response extractor also uses an IP address that will cause the snooping device to respond to the echo request. |
| US08955124B2 |
Apparatus, system and method for detecting malicious code
Provided are an apparatus, system and method for detecting malicious code inserted into a normal process in disguise. The apparatus includes a malicious code detection module for extracting information on a thread generated by a process running on a computer system to identify code related to the thread, preliminarily determining whether or not the identified code is malicious and extracting the code preliminarily determined to be malicious; and a forcible malicious code termination module for finally determining the code as malicious code based on an analysis result of behavior of the extracted code executed in a virtual environment and forcibly terminating execution of the code. |
| US08955110B1 |
IP jamming systems utilizing virtual dispersive networking
An unmanned aerial system includes: a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles, each unmanned aerial vehicle comprising, or having secured thereto, electronic components having software loaded thereon configured to spawn a virtual machine that virtualizes network capabilities of the electronic components; and an electronic device having software loaded thereon configured to spawn a virtual machine that virtualizes network capabilities of the respective electronic device. Each of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles is configured for air-to-air electronic communications over a connection with other of the unmanned aerial vehicles, the connection being associated with a virtual machine spawned at the electronic components associated with that respective unmanned aerial vehicle that virtualizes network capabilities of the electronic components. Each of the plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles is configured for air-to-ground communications over a connection with the electronic device, the connection being associated with a virtual machine spawned at the electronic components associated with that respective unmanned aerial vehicle that virtualizes network capabilities of the electronic components. A method for IP jamming utilizing a plurality of electronic devices each having software loaded thereon configured to spawn a virtual machine that virtualizes network capabilities of that respective electronic device, the method includes: communicating from a first electronic device, utilizing virtual dispersive routing, networking information for a network attack to a plurality of other electronic devices; commencing, by the plurality of other electronic devices, a network attack using received networking information; communicating, to each of the plurality of other electronic devices, instructions to modify the network attack; and adapting, in response to received instructions to modify the network attack, by one or more of the plurality of other electronic devices, operations forming part of the commenced network attack. |
| US08955100B2 |
Routing device having integrated MPLS-aware firewall
An MPLS-aware firewall allows firewall security policies to be applied to MPLS traffic. The firewall, which may be integrated within a routing device, can be configured into multiple virtual security systems. The routing device provides a user interface by which a user specifies one or more zones to be recognized by the integrated firewall when applying stateful firewall services to the packets. The user interface allows the user to define different zones and policies for different ones of the virtual security systems. In addition, the user interface supports a syntax that allows the user to define the zones for the firewall by specifying the customer VPNs as interfaces associated with the zones. The routing device generates mapping information for the integrated firewall to map the customer VPNs to specific MPLS labels for the MPLS tunnels carrying the customer's traffic. |
| US08955094B2 |
User session management for web applications
Methods, systems, and products are provided for user session management for web applications. Embodiments include identifying, by a web application, a user session directive and sending, from the web application to a proxy web security component, an instruction to implement the user session directive. Typical embodiments also include receiving, by the proxy web security component, the instruction to implement the user session directive and implementing, by the proxy web security component, the user session directive. |
| US08955089B2 |
“Push” keep-alive mechanism for SIP user agents located behind NATS/firewalls
A user equipment (UE) and method is provided having one or more components configured to receive a non-session initiation protocol (SIP) notification from a SIP entity and in response to send a ping request to the SIP entity, the one or more components further configured to receive a SIP request from the SIP entity. A network component and method is also provided that include one or more components configured to send a non-session initiation protocol (SIP) notification to a user equipment (UE) and to receive a ping request from the UE and further to send a SIP request to the UE. |
| US08955083B2 |
Method and arrangement for secure user authentication based on a biometric data detection device
An arrangement for secure user authentication includes a computer or telecommunication terminal with a smartcard and a device. The smartcard is adapted to securely store biometric information relating to at least one user and the device is adapted to detect biometric data of users. The smartcard and the device include a radio interface for communicating together and a module for exchanging biometric information between each other. In this way, tampering of the transferred biometric information is difficult. In order to increase the security, one or more of the following measures may be used: a secure communication channel between the device and the smartcard, a direct (preferably short range) communication channel between the device and the smartcard and encryption and decryption of biometric information transferred between the device and the smartcard. |
| US08955082B2 |
Authenticating using cloud authentication
An authentication mechanism in a local area network may use a cloud authentication mechanism to allow or deny authentication requests. A user may gain access within a local area network by entering a cloud identification and password, which may be verified by a cloud authentication mechanism. If the authentication is successful from the cloud authentication mechanism, the user identification and password are stored locally for subsequent authentication requests. In some embodiments, the cloud password may be periodically flushed so that subsequent requests may be passed to the cloud authentication mechanism. The authentication mechanism may be used in both domain and workgroup local area networks, and may operate in parallel with other users who may have local area network or client credentials which may not be authenticated from the cloud. |
| US08955071B2 |
Controlled password modification method
A method which controls modification of passwords. An end user designates, in advance, a universe of social media contacts such as friends on social media web sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Contacts so identified are used as a set of potential identity verifiers. In order to enable a reset or modification of an account password, a subset of the universe is required to assert that they have verified the identity of the user requesting to reset a password. Such verification can be accomplished by varying means by those to whom an inquiry has been directed. |
| US08955069B1 |
Event-based biometric authentication using mobile device
Event-based biometric authentication is provided using a mobile device of a user. A user attempting to access a protected resource is authenticated by receiving a request to access the protected resource; collecting biometric information from the user in response to the request using a mobile device of the user; performing biometric authentication of the user using the collected biometric information; and granting access to the protected resource based on the biometric authentication. The authentication optionally comprises an event-based authentication. The mobile device does not have to contain token generating material. |
| US08955054B2 |
Method and apparatus for providing simultaneous support for multiple master keys at an access point in a wireless communication system
The described apparatus and methods include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point having a wireless wide area network (WWAN) backhaul connection to provide a gateway between a LAN and a WAN. In one example, the access point may be a cellular telephone. Here, a processor in the access point is configured to generate a plurality of master keys, such that a plurality of access terminals may each utilize a respective one of the master keys to access the LAN. Further, the processor is configured to enable control of an allocation of resources to at least one of the access terminals. |
| US08955048B2 |
Conference data management
Tools are provided for conducting a conference/meeting and/or obtaining, managing and archiving conference/meeting data. For example, a conference application can be provided through a network to a registrant or participant of the conference. The conference application allows the registrant or participant to access conference data (such as presentation slides, conference materials, other posted content, etc.), save comments, files, other content, etc., make revisions to the conference data, and share data with other registrants or participants of the conference. |
| US08955038B2 |
Methods and systems for controlling access to computing resources based on known security vulnerabilities
Methods and systems are provided for fine tuning access control by remote, endpoint systems to host systems. Multiple conditions/states of one or both of the endpoint and host systems are monitored, collected and fed to an analysis engine. Using one or more of many different flexible, adaptable models and algorithms, an analysis engine analyzes the status of the conditions and makes decisions in accordance with pre-established policies and rules regarding the security of the endpoint and host system. Based upon the conditions, the policies, and the analytical results, actions are initiated regarding security and access matters. In one described embodiment of the invention, the monitored conditions include software vulnerabilities. |
| US08955037B2 |
Access management architecture
An access management system architecture is provided. In one embodiment, the architecture comprises modular and decoupled components, which allow composability of heterogeneous solutions. |
| US08955033B2 |
Systems and methods for HTTP callouts for policies
A method of identifying an action of a policy in association with communications between a client and one or more servers includes determining, by an intermediary, a policy action based on using a callout based policy. In one aspect, an intermediary receives communications between a client and one or more servers. The intermediary identifies a policy for the communications, the policy specifying a request and a server to communicate the request. Responsive to the policy, the intermediary transmits the request to the server. Based on the server response to the request, the intermediary determines an action of the policy. In another aspect, a system for the present method includes an intermediary and a policy engine for identifying a policy to specify a request and a destination server. Responsive to a server response to the request, the intermediary determines an action of the policy. |
| US08955031B2 |
System and method for generating coded video sequences from still media
The invention provides a system and method that transforms a set of still/motion media (i.e., a series of related or unrelated still frames, web-pages rendered as images, or video clips) or other multimedia, into a video stream that is suitable for delivery over a display medium, such as TV, cable TV, computer displays, wireless display devices, etc. The video data stream may be presented and displayed in real time or stored and later presented through a set-top box, for example. Because these media are transformed into coded video streams (e.g. MPEG-2, MPEG-4, etc.), a user can watch them on a display screen without the need to connect to the Internet through a service provider. The user may request and interact with the desired media through a simple telephone interface, for example. Moreover, several wireless and cable-based services can be developed on the top of this system. In one possible embodiment, the system for generating a coded video sequence may include an input unit that receives the multimedia input and extracts image data, and derives the virtual camera scripts and coding hints from the image data, a video sequence generator that generates a video sequence based on the extracted image data and the derived virtual camera scripts and coding hints, and a video encoder that encodes the generated video sequence using the coding hints and outputs the coded video sequence to an output device. The system may also provide customized video sequence generation services to subscribers. |
| US08955026B1 |
System and method for extending a breakout in a broadcasting environment
Disclosed herein is a system and method for extending a breakout in a broadcasting environment. In one example, a method involves: (i) receiving a traffic log including traffic log entries, each corresponding to a VC and a start time; (ii) operating in a traffic log mode comprising; (iii) receiving a breakout-mode request; (iv) responsive to receiving the breakout-mode request, (a) terminating operation of the traffic log mode, (b) generating a simulation log, and (c) operating in a first breakout mode; (v) receiving a breakout-extension request; (vi) responsive to receiving the breakout-extension request, terminating operation of the first breakout-mode, and operating in a custom log mode; and (vii) responsive to all the VCs indicated in the generated custom log being sent to the air-chain system, terminating operation of the custom log mode, and operating in a second breakout mode. |
| US08955021B1 |
Providing extrinsic data for video content
Disclosed are various embodiments for providing extrinsic data relevant to a video content feature. A request for a video content feature is obtained from a client. The video content feature and relevant extrinsic data is sent to the client in response to the request. The extrinsic data indicates cast members who perform in the video content feature, a division of the video content feature into scenes, and a corresponding subset of the cast members who perform in each of the scenes. |
| US08955020B2 |
Transcoding and data rights management in a mobile video network with STB as a hub
A home entertainment system that employs DRM (Data Rights Management) data protected multimedia programs and rights management component (RMC), with corresponding hardware and software systems incorporated in to home entertainment systems, to protect rights of the media program providers and the users. The system employs STB (Set Top Box) as a hub. The rights management component is incorporated in to the set top box (STB Circuitry), as well as some of the media devices. Three operational scenarios are envisaged regarding the home entertainment system. The first operational scenario involves a remote media source and the media device interaction via STB Circuitry; where as the STB Circuitry performs the duty of a mediator. The second operational scenario involves remote media source and the media device interaction via STB Circuitry, where as the STB Circuitry having rights to reissue licenses to media players. The third operational scenario involves local media sources incorporating the RMC and interacting with the STB Circuitry to decrypt and transcode the multimedia programs. Further, the STB Circuitry interacts with a remote billing server via the communication network regarding presentation rights, to interact with a user regarding the presentation rights, and to arrange for payment for the presentation rights. |
| US08955006B2 |
Entertainment content purchase via advertising viewing credit
The purchase of entertainment content online via advertising credits is disclosed herein. One disclosed embodiment comprises providing an advertising content item to a user over a network, and awarding an amount of advertising viewing credit to the user based upon the advertising content item provided to the user. Next, a request is received from the user to view an entertainment content item. In response, the entertainment content item is provided to the user, and at least a portion of the advertising viewing credit is deducted in exchange for providing the entertainment content item. |
| US08955005B2 |
Viewer behavior tracking using pattern matching and character recognition
A method for tracking user behavior includes providing multiple frames from a source to an electronic device, automatically capturing one of the multiple frames viewed on a display device connected to the electronic device based on an event, matching a pattern of the captured frame with a frame template by searching a plurality of frame templates, using the matched frame template to extract information from the captured frame, and storing the extracted information for tracking user behavior. |
| US08955003B2 |
Apparatus, systems and methods for a media device pre-operation
Systems and methods are operable to perform pre-operations at a media device in anticipation of an occurrence of a user action. An exemplary embodiment receives an in-use signal from an electronic device that is remotely proximate to the media device, wherein the received in-use signal corresponds to a user interaction with the electronic device; and performs the pre-operation at the media device. The pre-operation is performed prior to receiving an initial user action configured to operate at least one of the media device and a media presentation device coupled to the media device. |
| US08955002B2 |
Tracking and responding to distracting events
A distraction monitoring system may monitor a user's consumption of content, such as video content, and identify times at which the user is distracted from the content. The identified times may then be presented with a timeline for the video program, and the user may be permitted to view the distractions that occurred during the viewing of the video program. The user may select a distraction, and the video content may be played back from a corresponding playback point. |
| US08954996B2 |
Profiling the system providing performance statistics in real time
A system for providing performance statistics of applications in real time includes a first application that obtains current performance data of at least one second application in real time, utilizes the current performance data to determine a list of functions and the number of events occurred during the execution of each function, presents the resulting data to a user, and periodically refreshes the presented data using up-to-date performance data of the second application. |
| US08954992B2 |
Distributed and scaled-out network switch and packet processing
Embodiments of the invention relate to scaled-out and distributed network packet processors and switch central cores. One embodiment relates to a system including multiple central core processing devices, wherein each central core processing device includes: a virtual central core interface for establishing scaled-out and distributed virtual communication connections with the central core processing devices and a packet processor interface manager connected with multiple packet processing interfaces. Multiple packet processors each include: a packet processor thread manager for managing and processing packets received by central core processing devices and multiple central core processing interfaces for providing connectivity between the packet processors and the plurality of central core processing devices. The packet processing interfaces and the central core processing interfaces provide scaled-out and distributed connectivity of the packet processors to one or more central core processing devices. |
| US08954989B1 |
Flexible, event-driven JavaScript server architecture
A script server architecture is disclosed herein. The script server architecture includes a core comprising means for creating a DOM node in a HTML document, a framework written in JavaScript, the framework comprising a plurality of registered event handlers for performing the business logic of the script server architecture and means for modifying the DOM of a HTML document, and means for bridging the core and the framework. |
| US08954985B2 |
Dependency management in task scheduling
A task is marked as dependent upon a preceding task. The task that is attempted to be taken for execution from a head of a pending task queue that is marked is deferred. The deferred task is removed from the pending task queue and placed in a deferred task queue. The deferred task is reinserted back into the pending task queue for execution upon determining that the preceding tasks are completed. |
| US08954978B1 |
Reputation-based mediation of virtual control planes
Control planes of virtual resource providers may be customized in a secure, stable and efficient manner with virtual control planes. Control planes may be modularized. Control plane modules may be supplied with data from standardized sensors, and required to generate standardized resource configuration requests responsive to solicitations with specified response latencies. Custom control plane modules may be selected to replace or complement default control plane modules. Financial and computational costs associated with control plane modules may be tracked. Competing resource configurations may be mediated by a control plane supervisor. Such mediation may be based on control plane module reputation scores. Reputation scores may be based on customer feedback ratings and/or measured performance with respect to module goals. Mediated configuration parameter values may be based on a combination of competing configuration parameter values weighted according to reputation. Contribution of individual modules to goal achievement may be tracked and rewarded accordingly. |
| US08954975B2 |
Task scheduling method for real time operating system
The present invention relates to a task scheduling method for a real time operating system (RTOS) mounted to an embedded system, and more particularly, to a task scheduling method which allows a programmer to make a CPU reservation for a task. The task scheduling method for a real time operating system, includes: at a scheduling time point, determining whether or not a highest priority of tasks present in a ready queue is a predetermined value K; if the highest priority is determined to be K, applying a reservation based scheduler to perform a scheduling; and if the highest priority is determined not to be K, applying a priority based scheduler to perform a scheduling; the tasks present in the ready queue, the priority of which is K, contains idle CPU reservation allocation information received as a factor when the tasks the priority of which is K are created. |
| US08954960B2 |
Thin client system and method of implementing thin client system
In a net boot type thin client system, bottle necks concentrate on specific steps in a previously downloading method and an on-demand downloading method so as to hinder high-speed operation. Specifically, a previously file acquiring section for acquiring a file before the OS operates, an on-demand file acquiring section for acquiring a file while the OS operates, and a file determining section for determining whether or not a file is used in a high frequency. A high use-frequency file is downloaded before an OS operates and a low use-frequency file is downloaded while the OS operates. |
| US08954949B2 |
Smart patch delivery system
Software fix packs and/or APAR's are maintained at a server for use on a requesting computer system. The requesting computer system makes a request for a specific APAR, which is identified by a version number, from the server. The server determines, by examining the requesting computer's request, whether the requesting computer system has all required software dependencies for the requested APAR. When it is determined what the requesting computer systems needs, the server bundles the requested APAR and any required software dependencies, not already on the requesting computer system, for shipment to the requesting computer system. |
| US08954943B2 |
Analyze and reduce number of data reordering operations in SIMD code
A method for analyzing data reordering operations in Single Issue Multiple Data source code and generating executable code therefrom is provided. Input is received. One or more data reordering operations in the input are identified and each data reordering operation in the input is abstracted into a corresponding virtual shuffle operation so that each virtual shuffle operation forms part of an expression tree. One or more virtual shuffle trees are collapsed by combining virtual shuffle operations within at least one of the one or more virtual shuffle trees to form one or more combined virtual shuffle operations, wherein each virtual shuffle tree is a subtree of the expression tree that only contains virtual shuffle operations. Then code is generated for the one or more combined virtual shuffle operations. |
| US08954924B2 |
Dynamic update of modularized programs in a continuation-based runtime
A framework for aggregating updates for individual modules into an update for a containing module is disclosed. The containing module may be an entire program or workflow, for example. The updates may include changes to the contract of a module. Embodiments of the invention further provide a framework for detecting when changes to an inner module are incompatible with changes to the containing module. |
| US08954917B1 |
Method and system for performing fast electrical analysis and simulation of an electronic design for power gates
A system, method, and computer program product is disclosed for performing electrical analysis of a circuit design. A voltage-based approach is described for performing two-stage transient EM-IR drop analysis of an electronic design. A two-stage approach is performed in some embodiments, in which the first stage operates by calculating the voltage at certain interface nodes. In the second stage, simulation is performed to simulate the circuit to concurrently obtain the current at the interface nodes. In some embodiments, multiple adjacent devices as identified as interface devices for purposes of the analysis. One situation where it may be useful to analyze a larger portion of the circuitry in this way where the analysis is being performed on a netlist having a power gate. |
| US08954902B2 |
Method and apparatus improving gate oxide reliability by controlling accumulated charge
A method and apparatus are disclosed for use in improving the gate oxide reliability of semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) metal-oxide-silicon field effect transistor (MOSFET) devices using accumulated charge control (ACC) techniques. The method and apparatus are adapted to remove, reduce, or otherwise control accumulated charge in SOI MOSFETs, thereby yielding improvements in FET performance characteristics. In one embodiment, a circuit comprises a MOSFET, operating in an accumulated charge regime, and means for controlling the accumulated charge, operatively coupled to the SOI MOSFET. A first determination is made of the effects of an uncontrolled accumulated charge on time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) of the gate oxide of the SOI MOSFET. A second determination is made of the effects of a controlled accumulated charge on TDDB of the gate oxide of the SOI MOSFET. The SOI MOSFET is adapted to have a selected average time-to-breakdown, responsive to the first and second determinations, and the circuit is operated using techniques for accumulated charge control operatively coupled to the SOI MOSFET. In one embodiment, the accumulated charge control techniques include using an accumulated charge sink operatively coupled to the SOI MOSFET body. |
| US08954887B1 |
Long press interface interactions
A computer-implemented user interface method includes displaying one or more display elements in a graphical user interface, including elements that correspond to pop up controls, receiving a selection of one of the one or more display elements, determining whether the selected element corresponds to a pop up control, and displaying the selected element in a highlighted format upon receiving the selection if the element corresponds to a pop up control, and displaying a pop up control after displaying the element in a highlighted format if the selection persists for a long press period. |
| US08954860B1 |
Method and apparatus for generating and displaying tourist maps
A computer-implemented method and system may modify categories for points of interest (POIs) for display on a map at a client computing device based on a bias value corresponding to a classification of a user. A system may receive interaction events from client computing devices. The interaction events may each include an indication of a user interaction with a POI displayed on a digital map at a client computing device and each POI may include a category and a default zoom level. Using a user's location data, the system and method may classify the user based on the user's familiarity with an area surrounding the interaction event POI and assign a numerical bias to POIs that include the category of each interaction event POI. Subsequent requests for mapping data may then return categories of POIs according to the type of user sending the request based on the bias value. |
| US08954858B2 |
Launching service applications using a virtual network management system
A network service administration system including a plurality of service objects, a plurality of address objects; and a service configuration application for a multifunction appliance running on a client computer coupled to the appliance via a network. The service configuration application includes an interface allowing subscribers to configure at least a subset of application content services provided by the appliance and including a rule set implementing rules in ones of said application content services in said subset based on changes to configurations of any other of said application content services. Each of said service objects may comprise an individual network service definition. |
| US08954850B2 |
Computer-implemented method and systems for assisting a user in applying a business process pattern
A computer-implemented method for assisting a user in applying a business process pattern. In some embodiments, the computer-implemented method includes providing a graphical user interface (GUI) adapted for displaying a first representation of a business process and for allowing user editing of the business process. The computer-implemented method also includes receiving a user selection of a fragment of the business process as displayed in the first representation. In some embodiments, the computer-implemented method includes calling a second representation of the business process, the second representation including a hierarchy of fragments of business process, and checking whether the fragment selected by the user corresponds to one of the fragments of the second representation. The computer-implemented method may also include instantiating a business process pattern using the selected fragment if the fragment selected corresponds. The selected fragment is re-usable within the business process pattern. |
| US08954848B2 |
Morphable pad for tactile control
A system and method are disclosed for a morphable pad and display configured for tactile control. The system comprises a display for displaying a user interface comprising a layout of vehicle control features. The display is configured to highlight a portion of the layout associated with a received highlight input, and to update the layout based on a received selection input. A morphable pad is connected to the display and comprises an array of switches. Each switch is configured to receive highlight input and selection input. The switches are also configured to adjust in tactile feel to match the layout, and to reconfigure in tactile feel responsive to a change in the layout. |
| US08954838B2 |
Presenting data in a tabular format
Some embodiments provide a system for displaying cells of a table. During operation, the system can receive a sort-and-merge request for sorting the rows of the table using a sort column. Next, the system can sort the rows of the table based at least on cell values in the sort column to obtain a sorted table. The system can then merge a set of consecutive cells in a merge column of the sorted table to obtain a merged cell, wherein the set of consecutive cells are associated with the same cell value. Note that the sort column and the merge column can be the same column, or they can be different columns. Next, the system can display the merged cell and other cells in the sorted-and-merged table. Displaying a cell can involve positioning the cell's value in a visible area of the cell. |
| US08954834B1 |
System for communicating information to a mobile device using portable code widgets
A system is provided for widget to widget communication. The system includes a first device, a second device, and a communication server. The first device and/or the second device are a mobile device. The communication server provides a first widget to the first device and provides a second widget to the second device, wherein the first widget and the second widget are portable code that is installed and executed in a corresponding runtime environment without additional compilation. The first widget, when executed by the first device, communicates information that identifies content associated with the first widget and a state of the content via the first device to the communication server. The communication server communicates the information and the state to the second device. The second widget, when executed by the second device, presents at least some of the content based on the information and the state in coordination with the first widget presenting the content. |
| US08954829B2 |
Digital broadcasting system and method of processing data
A broadcast transmitter and a method of processing broadcast data in the broadcast transmitter are disclosed. The method includes randomizing broadcast service data, first encoding the randomized broadcast service data to add parity data, second encoding the first-encoded broadcast service data at a code rate of D/E, first interleaving the second-encoded broadcast service data, encoding signaling data for signaling the broadcast service data, modulating the first-interleaved broadcast service data and the encoded signaling data, and transmitting the modulated data. |
| US08954802B2 |
Method and system for providing immunity to computers
A method and system for providing immunity to a computer system wherein the system includes an immunity module, a recovery module, a maintenance module, an assessment module, and a decision module, wherein the immunity module, the recovery module, the maintenance module and the assessment module are each linked to the decision module. The maintenance module monitors the system for errors and sends an error alert message to the assessment module, which determines the severity of the error and the type of package required to fix the error. The assessment module sends a request regarding the type of package required to fix the error to the recovery module. The recovery module sends the package required to fix the error to the maintenance module, which fixes the error in the system. |
| US08954797B2 |
Reconfigurable recovery modes in high availability processors
A computer program product for performing error recovery is configured to perform a method that includes creating, by a processor, a recovery checkpoint. The processor is dynamically switched into a non-recoverable processing mode of operation based on creating the software recovery checkpoint. The non-recoverable processing mode of operation is a mode in which a subset of hardware error recovery resources are powered-down or re-purposed for instruction processing. It is determined, during the non-recoverable processing mode of operation, that a new software recovery checkpoint is required. Based on the determining that a new software recovery checkpoint is required, the processor is dynamically switched into a recoverable processing mode of operation. The recoverable processing mode of operation is a mode in which hardware error recovery resources, including at least one of the hardware error recovery resources in the subset, are purposed for hardware error recovery operations. |
| US08954791B2 |
Mirroring disk drive sectors
A recoverable error associated with a first disk drive sector is determined. Data of the first disk drive sector is duplicated to a mirrored sector in response to the recoverable error. The first disk drive sector continues to be used to store the data after the recoverable error is determined. |
| US08954783B2 |
Two-tier failover service for data disaster recovery
Technologies are described herein for providing a two-tier failover service. A request to access content by an application associated with an application identifier may be identified. A first record corresponding to the application identifier may be retrieved from a database information table. The first record may include a reference identifier, a database name of a database, and a failover value. A second record corresponding to the reference identifier may be retrieved from a server information table. The second record may include an indication of a first server computer as a primary server computer and an indication of a second server computer as a secondary server computer. A connection specification to either the first server computer or the second server computer may be generated based on the first record and the second record. |
| US08954774B2 |
Preventing starting of the current user operation to save power based on combined most recent operation time
A computer system for managing a plurality of virtual machines, the computer system including: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the processor executes a process includes: recording, on the memory, an operation history of a virtual machine that is related to a user operation in the plurality of virtual machines; determining whether the user operation is performed or not at switching of the virtual machines by referring to the operation history and comparing an operation time of the virtual machine that has operated most recently with the operation time of a control table, the control table being stored in the memory; and increasing an operation frequency of a CPU when performance of the user operation is detected. |
| US08954771B2 |
Split deep power down of I/O module
I/O logic can be separated into critical and non-critical portions, with the non-critical portions being powered down during processor idle. The I/O logic is separated into gate logic and ungated logic, where the ungated logic continues to be powered during a processor deep sleep state, and the gated logic is powered off during the deep sleep state. A power control unit can trigger the shutting down of the I/O logic. |
| US08954768B2 |
Storage system power management
A method for managing power consumed by storage systems and other devices is disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, such a method may include initially monitoring conditions (such as data traffic conditions) on a communication link between a first device and a second device. The method may further include determining whether the conditions on the communication link warrant powering down or powering up the second device. In the event the conditions warrant powering down the second device, a power-down command may be generated and transmitted from the first device to the second device. In the event the conditions warrant powering up the second device, a power-up command may be generated and transmitted from the first device to the second device. In selected embodiments, the power-up and power-down commands are one of SCSI commands and FICON commands. A corresponding apparatus, system, and computer-usable medium are also disclosed and claimed herein. |
| US08954763B2 |
Automated infrastructure management systems and methods for enabling real time energy management
Automated infrastructure management systems and methods document infrastructure elements within a facility, provide a comprehensive record of all network-connected equipment within a facility, and facilitate trouble shooting of network-connected equipment. An automated infrastructure management system includes a plurality of intelligent patch panels, each comprising a plurality of connector ports connected to individual communication channels of a network, a controller in communication with at least some of the intelligent patch panels that obtains connectivity information for the intelligent patch panel's ports, and management software in communication with the controller. The management software performs various functions including correlating the interconnection information for the intelligent patch panels with the physical location information for telecommunications in its database, applying energy management policies to a respective communication channel, providing real time physical location information for devices connected to communication channels to a network switch, and displaying real time physical location information of the devices. |
| US08954760B2 |
Authentication of solution topology
A computer implemented method is provided to verify an integrity of a solution. The computer implemented method comprises hashing, by a computer, a set of virtual machine instances in a solution topology of the solution. The computer hashes a set of connections in the solution topology. The set of connections comprising a connection between ones of the set of virtual machine instances, a connection between a first component of a first one of the set of virtual machine instances and a second component of a second one of the set of virtual machine instances, and combinations thereof. The computer hashes a set of solution-specific information, and then signs the hashes to create a first signed topology. |
| US08954759B2 |
Secure spin torque transfer magnetic random access memory (STTMRAM)
A magnetic memory device includes a main memory made of magnetic memory, the main memory and further includes a parameter area used to store parameters used to authenticate data. Further, the magnetic memory device has parameter memory that maintains a protected zone used to store protected zone parameters, and an authentication zone used to store authentication parameters, the protection zone parameters and the authentication parameters being associated with the data that requires authentication. Upon modification of any of the parameters stored in the parameter memory by a user, a corresponding location of the parameter area of the main memory is also modified. |
| US08954755B2 |
Memory address translation-based data encryption with integrated encryption engine
A method and circuit arrangement utilize an integrated encryption engine within a processing core of a multi-core processor to perform encryption operations, i.e., encryption and decryption of secure data, in connection with memory access requests that access such data. The integrated encryption engine is utilized in combination with a memory address translation data structure such as an Effective To Real Translation (ERAT) or Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) that is augmented with encryption-related page attributes to indicate whether pages of memory identified in the data structure are encrypted such that secure data associated with a memory access request in the processing core may be selectively streamed to the integrated encryption engine based upon the encryption-related page attribute for the memory page associated with the memory access request. |
| US08954753B2 |
Encrypting data in volatile memory
Provided are a computer program product, system, and method to allocate blocks of memory in a memory device having a plurality of blocks. An unencrypted memory allocation function requests allocation of unencrypted blocks in the memory device. An encrypted memory allocation function requests allocation of encrypted blocks in the memory device. An unencrypted Input/Output (I/O) request performs an I/O operation against the unencrypted blocks in the memory device. An encrypted I/O request function performs an I/O operation against the encrypted blocks in the memory device. An operating system uses an encryption key associated with the encrypted blocks to encrypt or decrypt data in the encrypted blocks to perform the encrypted I/O operation in response to processing the encrypted I/O request functions, wherein the unencrypted and encrypted memory allocation functions and unencrypted and encrypted I/O request functions comprise different functions in a library of functions available to the application. |
| US08954751B2 |
Secure memory control parameters in table look aside buffer data fields and support memory array
Techniques and apparatus for utilizing bits in a translation look aside buffer (TLB) table to identify and access security parameters to be used in securely accessing data are provided. Any type of bits in the TLB may be used, such as excess bits in a translated address, excess attribute bits, or special purpose bits added specifically for security purposes. In some cases, the security parameters may include an index into a key table for use in retrieving a set of one or more keys to use for encryption and/or decryption. |
| US08954743B2 |
System and method for watermarking content for tracking media consumption
In a system and method of watermarking content for tracking media consumption, the method may include creating, by a computer processor, at least one copy of a mezzanine asset for distribution to at least one user, the mezzanine asset being watermarked with a watermark identifier, and the at least one copy including a copy of the watermark identifier. |
| US08954733B2 |
Embedded extrinsic source for digital certificate validation
A computer uses the information included within a digital certificate to obtain a current date and time value from a trusted extrinsic trusted source and the computer compares the obtained current date and time value to a validity period included in the digital certificate to determine if the digital certificate is expired. The information included within the digital certificate specifying an extrinsic source for the current date and time value can be included in an extension of the digital certificate, and the information can specify a plurality of extrinsic sources. |
| US08954728B1 |
Generation of exfiltration-resilient cryptographic keys
Improved techniques are provided for the generation of exfiltration-resilient cryptographic keys. A method is provided for generating exfiltration-resilient cryptographic keys for authentication and/or digital signing. A set of authentication information sk[i] is stored in a device associated with a user and a set of public keys pk[i] are provided to a verifier corresponding to the set of authentication information sk[i], where sk[i] is mapped to pk[i] using a hash function. The device obtains a challenge from the verifier comprising a sequence C of k indices. A response is provided to the verifier comprising elements of the set of authentication information sk[i] corresponding to the k indices. The set of authentication information sk optionally has a size that satisfies one or more leakage-resilient criteria. |
| US08954724B2 |
Anonymization of data within a streams environment
Streams applications may decrypt encrypted data even though the decrypted data is not used by an operator. Operator properties are defined to permit decryption of data within the operator based on a number of criteria. By limiting the number of operators that decrypt encrypted data, the anonymous nature of the data is further preserved. Operator properties also indicate whether an operator should send encrypted or decrypted data to a downstream operator. |
| US08954719B2 |
Method for remote provisioning of electronic devices by overlaying an initial image with an updated image
There is provided a method and system to automatically provide software and/or firmware updates to the electronic devices, particularly mobile devices used by consumers such as portable health-care data interchange devices. There is also provided a method and system of updating software in electronic devices without requiring a wired data interface to affect changes. There is also provided a method and system for tracking the configuration of electronic devices that are sold to and configured by particular consumers, especially consumers/patients using electronic devices related to health care. Further, there are also provided a methods and systems for integrating the purchase, and ordering, and software configuration of electronic devices. |
| US08954718B1 |
Caching system and methods thereof for initializing virtual machines
Method and system for initializing a plurality of virtual machines sharing a physical storage unit managed by a storage system for storing a boot image used for initializing the plurality of virtual machines are provided. A data structure is maintained by a virtual machine monitor that manages the plurality of virtual machines. The data structure includes a file block number for accessing a boot image that can be used for initializing the plurality of virtual machines and a unique signature for the physical storage unit storing the boot image and a memory address of a cache memory where the boot image is stored after it is obtained from the storage system. The plurality of virtual machines is initialized using the boot image from the cached memory without having to obtain the boot image for each individual virtual machine except for a first virtual machine. |
| US08954712B2 |
Computer system including an all-to-all communication network of processors connected using electrical and optical links
Node Interconnect architectures to implement a high performance supercomputer are provided. For example, a node interconnect architecture for connecting a multitude of nodes (or processors) of a supercomputer is implemented using an all-to-all electrical and optical connection network which provides two independent communication paths between any two processors of the supercomputer, wherein a communication path includes at most two electrical links and one optical link. |
| US08954705B2 |
Memory space management method and memory controller and memory storage device and memory storage using the same
A memory space management method adapted to a rewritable non-volatile memory module having a plurality of physical blocks is provided. In the memory space management method, a first area and a second area are configured. An authentication information is received from a host system, and whether the authentication information matches a predetermined authentication information is determined. If the authentication information does not match the predetermined authentication information, a counting value is updated. If the counting value matches a predetermined number, a first procedure is executed. In the first procedure, a third area is configured, wherein the capacity of the third area is a sum of the capacity of the first area and at least a portion of the capacity of the second area. The third area is provided to the host system to be accessed. Thereby, the memory space of the rewritable non-volatile memory module is effectively used. |
| US08954696B2 |
Secure memory management system and method
The present invention describes a system and a method for securely loading digital information from an external storage device in a non-trusted environment into a memory module in a trusted environment within a data processing system. A master mode and a service mode are described, the master mode being when the secure loading is requested by a secure processor residing within the trusted environment and the service mode being when the loading is requested by an element which is external to the trusted environment i.e. in the non-trusted environment. The system comprises at least one storage device, one memory module and at least one first processor, and further comprises a memory access controller module connected between the processor and the memory module, and a secure memory management module connected to the processor, the memory module, the storage device and the memory access controller. Requests for data made by either the first processor or the external element are passed to the secure memory management module, which loads the data from the storage device to the memory module and configures the memory access controller such that the processor will have access to the data. |
| US08954686B2 |
Physical memory capping for use in virtualization
A method of implementing virtualization involves an improved approach to resource management. A virtualizing subsystem is capable of creating separate environments that logically isolate applications from each other. Some of the separate environments share physical resources including physical memory. When a separate environment is configured, properties for the separate environment are defined. Configuring a separate environment may include specifying a physical memory usage cap for the separate environment. A global resource capping background service enforces physical memory caps on any separate environments that have specified physical memory caps. |
| US08954679B2 |
Management of cached data based on user engagement
A social data aggregator generates entries of action data describing actions taken by users. A portion of the entries are stored in an action cache to expedite retrieval. To store more recent or relevant entries in the action cache, entries are removed from the action cache based on engagement scores associated with the entries. An engagement score indicates a likelihood of a user requesting content interacting with a notification based on an entry. Entries having the lowest engagement scores or having engagement scores below a threshold are removed from the action cache. |
| US08954678B2 |
Automatic pattern-based operand prefetching
Embodiments relate to automatic pattern-based operand prefetching. An aspect includes receiving, by prefetch logic in a processor, an operand cache miss from a pipeline of the processor. Another aspect includes determining that an entry in a history table corresponding to the operand cache miss exists based on an instruction address of the operand cache miss. Yet another aspect includes, based on determining that the entry corresponding to the operand cache miss exists in the history table, issuing a prefetch instruction for a second operand based on the determined entry in the history table, and writing the determined entry into a miss buffer. |
| US08954677B1 |
System and method for managing an object cache
In order to optimize efficiency of deserialization, a serialization cache is maintained at an object server. The serialization cache is maintained in conjunction with an object cache and stores serialized forms of objects cached within the object cache. When an inbound request is received, a serialized object received in the request is compared to the serialization cache. If the serialized byte stream is present in the serialization cache, then the equivalent object is retrieved from the object cache, thereby avoiding deserialization of the received serialized object. If the serialized byte stream is not present in the serialization cache, then the serialized byte stream is deserialized, the deserialized object is cached in the object cache, and the serialized object is cached in the serialization cache. |
| US08954676B2 |
Cache with scratch pad memory structure and processor including the cache
Disclosed are a cache with a scratch pad memory (SPM) structure and a processor including the same. The cache with a scratch pad memory structure includes: a block memory configured to include at least one block area in which instruction codes read from an external memory are stored; a tag memory configured to store an external memory address corresponding to indexes of the instruction codes stored in the block memory; and a tag controller configured to process a request from a fetch unit for the instruction codes, wherein a part of the block areas is set as a SPM area according to cache setting input from a cache setting unit. According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the time to read instruction codes from the external memory and realize power saving by operating the cache as the scratch pad memory. |
| US08954671B2 |
Tiered storage device providing for migration of prioritized application specific data responsive to frequently referenced data
Data is placed in tiered storage with a suitable granularity according to application characteristics. The storage apparatus comprises a controller for managing storage areas, provided by storage media of a plurality of types of varying performance, as pools, and for assigning the storage areas in page units to a virtual volume from any tiered storage among a plurality of types of tiered storage which the pool comprises in response to a data write request from the host computer, wherein, for specific data which is managed by the host computer, the controller specifies an area with a high referencing frequency among the specific data on the basis of organization information of the specific data, and moves this area to another of the tiered storage with a higher performance than an already assigned tiered storage. |
| US08954668B2 |
Writing of data of a first block size in a raid array that stores and mirrors data in a second block size
Data that is to be written is received, wherein the data is indicated in one or more blocks of a first block size. Each of the one or more blocks of the first block size is written in consecutive blocks of a second block size that is larger in size than the first block size, wherein each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size stores only one block of the first block size, and wherein each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size has empty space remaining, subsequent to the writing of each of the one or more blocks of the first block size. Filler data is written in the empty space remaining in each of the consecutive blocks of the second block size. |
| US08954667B2 |
Data migration in a dispersed storage network
A method begins by processing module determining data to migrate, wherein the data is stored as a plurality of sets of encoded data slices in a first set of dispersed storage (DS) units. The method continues with the processing module retrieving at least a read threshold number of encoded data slices for each set of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices and dispersed storage error decoding the at least the read threshold number of encoded data slices in accordance with error coding dispersal storage function parameters to reproduce the data. The method continues with the processing module dispersed storage error encoding the data in accordance with second error coding dispersal storage function parameters to produce a plurality of sets of second encoded data slices and sending at least a write threshold number of second encoded data slices to a second set of DS units for storage therein. |
| US08954659B2 |
Storage system having a plurality of flash packages
A storage system 100, which has a plurality of flash packages 230, has a function for minimizing the imbalance of the number of deletions of each block inside the flash package 230 and a block-unit capacity virtualization function, and efficiently manifests lessening of the imbalance of the number of deletions and reduction in the data storage capacity for the entire storage system 100 by having functions for calculating the number of deletions and the data occupancy of each flash package 230, and for transferring data between the flash packages 230 on the basis of the values of these number of deletions and data occupancy. |
| US08954653B1 |
Mechanisms for efficient management of system data in data storage systems
A data storage system configured to efficiently manage system data, efficiently organize system data, and reduce system data redundancy is disclosed. In one embodiment, the data storage system can maintain memory allocation information configured to track defective allocation units. Memory allocation information can be further configured to provide information for locating the memory allocation units or memory locations in physical memory. Separate information that indicates locations of the data allocation units or memory locations and/or records defective memory locations may not be needed. Hence, redundancy can be reduced, efficiency can be increased, and improved performance can be attained. |
| US08954652B2 |
Method and controller for identifying a unit in a solid state memory device for writing data to
In a method for identifying a unit in a solid state memory device for writing data to a tier structure is maintained the tier structure comprising at least two tiers for assigning units available for writing data to. In response to receiving a request for writing data it is determined if a unit for writing data to is available in a first tier of the at least two tiers. In response to determining that a unit is available for writing data to in the first tier this unit is identified for writing data to, and in response to determining that no unit is available for writing the data to in the first tier it is determined if a unit is available for writing data to in a second tier of the at least two tiers subject to a priority of the write request. |
| US08954646B2 |
Method for managing a plurality of blocks of a flash memory, and associated memory device and controller thereof
A method for managing a plurality of blocks of a Flash memory includes: recording/updating linking information regarding a logical block address, wherein the linking information includes a plurality of physical block addresses linking to the logical block address, and each physical block address represents a block of the plurality of blocks; and when a block represented by a physical block address of the plurality of physical block addresses has no valid page, selectively erasing the block and removing the physical block address from the linking information, wherein when a number of blocks that are within blocks represented by the physical block addresses and have no valid page reaches a predetermined value, erasing all of the blocks that have no valid page and removing physical block addresses thereof from the linking information. |
| US08954643B2 |
Scheduled peripheral component interconnect arbiter
Systems and methods are described for arbitrating access of a communication bus. In one embodiment, a method includes performing steps on one or more processors. The steps include: receiving an access request from a device of the communication bus; evaluating a bus schedule to determine an importance of the device based on the access request; and selectively granting access of the communication bus to the device based on the importance of the device. |
| US08954642B2 |
Signal transfer circuit for offsetting signal delay
A signal transfer circuit comprising a control signal transfer unit configured to output an access request output signal and a memory address output signal to the arbiter after timings of the access request input signal of the access request and the memory address input signal input from the bus master have been adjusted, and output an access permission output signal, and a data signal transfer unit configured to output each data output signal to the corresponding bus master or the arbiter after a timing of each data input signal of the access request input from the arbiter or the bus master is adjusted, and output a data validity period output signal to the bus master after a timing of a data validity period input signal indicating a period in which each data is valid in the access request input from the arbiter is adjusted. |
| US08954638B2 |
Selective reporting of touch data
A graphical user interface is rendered on a display screen of a touch screen device. The display screen includes a display area for rendering images, and the graphical user interface of the application is rendered in a portion of the display area. Digital touch data is generated in response to user interactions with a touch-sensitive surface of the touch screen device. A module of an operating system residing on the touch screen device is used to convert the digital touch data into OS touch events. The OS touch events and application location information are received at a system hook. The application location information identifies the portion of the display area of the touch screen device in which the graphical user interface of the application is rendered. The system hook filters the OS touch events based on the application location information and provides the filtered OS touch events to the application. |
| US08954636B2 |
Home gateway and method for adapting USB modem
A home gateway for adapting a Universal Serial Bus (USB) modem includes a system drive module; a wide area network (WAN) connection management module; a drive adaption module, which determines the mode of the USB modem, adapts a drive of an application layer interface of the USB modem and transmits a drive adaption complete message to an application adaption module; and the application adaption module, which selects a corresponding initialization process, initializes an application layer of the USB modem, transmits an initialization complete message to the WAN connection management module and performs a network connection via the WAN interface management module. A method for adapting the USB modem is also disclosed. The home gateway and method can reduce the economic burden of users, and facilitate the popularization of home gateway products and a wireless net surfing service via the USB modem. |
| US08954629B2 |
Adapter and debugging method using the same
A debugging method comprises the steps of: detecting a connecting condition between the target apparatus and the adapter, detecting a connecting condition between the host apparatus and the adapter, comparing a version of BIOS code stored in a firmware of the target apparatus with a version of a transferred firmware of the adapter, comparing a version of debug software stored in a firmware of the host apparatus with the version of the transferred firmware of the adapter, sending debugging commands of the host apparatus to the target apparatus via the adapter, and sending debugging codes of the target apparatus to the host apparatus via the adapter. |
| US08954628B2 |
Portable device and peripheral extension dock
An electronic device includes a housing, a connector port and a switching device. The connector port receives a peripheral device. The processor is electrically connected to the connector port and includes a detection pin and a 1-wire pin. The switching device is coupled between the connector port and the processor to selectively connect the connector port to one of the detection pin or the 1-wire pin. When the peripheral device is inserted into the connector port, the processor controls the switching device to connect the connector port to the detection pin to determine whether the connected peripheral device is a 1-wire device. When the processor determines that the connected peripheral device is a 1-wire device, the processor controls the switching device to connect the connector port to the 1-wire pin and the processor executes 1-wire communication with the peripheral device via the 1-wire pin. |
| US08954624B2 |
Method and system for securing input from an external device to a host
The pureness of a connection between an external device and a host computer can be inspected or monitored to determine the status: connected or disconnected. When it is determined that a disconnection state is entered, an indication can be sent to the host and, in parallel, the data transportation from and/or to the external device may be manipulated. In some embodiments an exemplary connection protector device (CPD) may be added to the connection in between the external device and the host. The CPD can have two connectors one for the host and one for the cable of the external device. The CPD can be adapted to identify any disconnection in the connection with the host and/or the connection with the external device on the other side of the CPD. |
| US08954623B2 |
Universal Serial Bus devices supporting super speed and non-super speed connections for communication with a host device and methods using the same
Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices supporting super speed and non-super speed connections for communication with a host device includes a plurality of endpoints (EPs), a non-super speed connection port, a super speed connection port and a configuration unit. The non-super speed connection port and the super speed connection port are connected to the host device. The configuration unit is arranged for dividing the EPs to first and second groups of EPs according to a bandwidth requirement, determining whether a super speed connection with the host device is successfully established and configuring the first group of EPs to operate at a super speed and configuring the second group of EPs to operate at a non-super speed when the super speed connection with the host device is successfully established such that the USB device communicates with the host device at both the super speed and the non-super speed. |
| US08954619B1 |
Memory module communication control
Methods and systems for memory module communication control are disclosed. A method includes receiving a message associated with a memory module in communication with a controller via a bus including a clock line. Further, the method includes determining whether the bus is idle. The method also includes communicating a signal via the clock line regarding the message associated with the memory module in response to determining that the bus is idle. |
| US08954618B2 |
Method for activating card within a communication network
A method for activating a card within a communication network, making it possible to minimize the power consumption cost of putting the card into effect. The method consists of seeking out, and activating as a priority, cards which are located in already-activated receptacles. A receptacle may be a tray or cabinet in a predetermined search range corresponding to one or more nodes of said communication network. |
| US08954615B1 |
System, method and article of manufacture for monitoring, controlling and improving storage media system performance based on temperature ranges
An apparent load is determined based on assigning weightings to commands based on various factors including, but not limited to, the limitations of the underlying storage media device(s), where the command queue fullness is viewed from that perspective rather than simply the number of commands outstanding in a storage media device. Also disclosed is the use of a positive bias and a negative bias to artificially influence the apparent load where such a positive bias and/or negative bias may be used to influence temperature ranges associated with storage media devices. |
| US08954612B2 |
Enterprise smart grid and demand management platform and methods for application development and management
A computer-implemented platform server and method is provided for energy management operations in a Smart Grid environment. The platform server includes an application module configured to operate any of a plurality of Smart Grid Applications. A consumer-side module is configured for bi-directional communication with a plurality of consumer-side intelligent appliances. An Operations Technology (OT) module is configured for communication with an electrical grid Energy Management System (EMS). A translation module is coupled to, and configured to translate data received from, the application, consumer-side, and OT modules, so that the platform is configured to selectively receive, translate, and transmit data from and among any of said application, consumer-side, and OT modules, to facilitate automated energy management operations in a Smart Grid environment. |
| US08954598B2 |
Control of content delivery in broadcast/multicast networks
The invention relates to techniques for controlling a delivery of streaming content in a point-to-multipoint (‘PTM’) enabled network (100). A method aspect of such a technique comprises the steps of sending one or more adjustment instructions for achieving a buffer overlap in content buffers (132-136) of a plurality of terminal devices (102-106) each receiving content via a point-to-point (‘PTP’) distribution (116-120), and initiating, following the sending of the adjustment instructions, a PTM distribution (142) for at least some of the plurality of terminal devices. |
| US08954592B1 |
Determining computing-related resources to use based on client-specified constraints
Techniques for facilitating a client's control over use of computing-related resources on the client's behalf. In some situations, a client's control is based on specifying a group of one or more resource usage constraints with a client resource constraint manager service, which provides information about the client-specified constraints to one or more other remote network services with which the client interacts. Those remote services then use that constraint information to determine whether and how to use computing-related resources on the client's behalf. For example, the resource usage constraints specified by a client may relate to one or more particular geographical areas and/or to one or more measures of relative proximity between computing-related resources (e.g., between multiple instances of a single type of computing-related resource provided by a single service, or between multiple distinct types of computing-related resources provided by multiple unaffiliated services). |
| US08954587B2 |
Mechanism for facilitating dynamic load balancing at application servers in an on-demand services environment
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for facilitating dynamic load balancing at application servers in an on-demand services environment. In one embodiment and by way of example, a method includes polling a plurality of application servers for status, receiving status from each of the plurality of application servers, assigning a priority level to each of the plurality of application servers based on its corresponding status, and facilitating load balancing at the plurality of application servers based on their corresponding priority levels. |
| US08954584B1 |
Policy engine for automating management of scalable distributed persistent applications in a grid
There are provided mechanisms and methods for automating management of Scalable Distributed Persistent Applications (SDPA) in a grid computing environment. These mechanisms and methods make it possible for physical and operating system resources in the grid to be dynamically allocated and/or de-allocated based upon the results of monitoring performance and monitoring usage of physical and operating system resources. |
| US08954582B2 |
Managing fate-sharing in shared-media communication networks
In one embodiment, a management device receives one or more fate-sharing reports locally generated by one or more corresponding reporting nodes in a shared-media communication network, the fate-sharing reports indicating a degree of localized fate-sharing between one or more pairs of nodes local to the corresponding reporting nodes. The management device may then determine, globally from aggregating the fate-sharing reports, one or more fate-sharing groups indicating sets of nodes having a global degree of fate-sharing within the communication network. As such, the management device may then advertise the fate-sharing groups within the communication network, wherein nodes of the communication network are configured to select a plurality of next-hops that minimizes fate-sharing between the plurality of next-hops. |
| US08954572B2 |
Monitoring system
A monitoring system comprising a plurality of computers (PC1, PC2) in a network, a plurality of monitoring devices (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12) and a plurality of drivers (GDS) configured for the monitoring devices (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12), each driver (GDS) communicating with the network through a designated channel, each channel configured to be run on any of a plurality of the computers (PC1, PC2) in the network, wherein there is assigned to each channel a predefined order of priority in which an active computer (PC1, PC2) of the network is selected for running the channel and wherein the order of priority assigned to each channel varies between channels and wherein, in use, when the highest priority available computer (PC1, PC2) for any given channel is inactive, the given channel switches to the next highest priority available computer (PC1, PC2) which is active. |
| US08954567B1 |
Predicting mediaplan traffic
Methods, systems, and apparatus for predicting traffic data, including a method comprising: receiving data indicative of traffic data for a mediaplan during first and second time spans, the data representing numbers of unique entities that have interacted with a location during the first and second time spans; and using a function to predict third traffic data during the third time span. The function, when the arbitrary third time span does not exceed the first and second time spans, uses an exponential that includes a difference of dot products using natural logs of combinations of the time spans and first and second traffic data, divided by a difference of natural logs of the first and second time spans. Otherwise, the function uses a difference of dot products using combinations of the time spans and the first and second traffic data, divided by a difference of the first and second time spans. |
| US08954561B2 |
System and method of displaying search results based on density
A system and method is provided of generating a map. In one aspect, the map is selected based on a location provided by a user and listings are selected based on their proximity to the location, whether they match a query provided by the user, and the number of matching listings within regions of the map. |
| US08954557B2 |
Assigning server categories to server nodes in a heterogeneous cluster
A cluster management system dynamically assigns a category to a server node based on the server node's attributes. The system can detect a change in value of a server attribute of a first server node. Then, in response to detecting the change in value of the server attribute, the system identifies a plurality of server attributes for the first server node, and dynamically assigns to the first server node a category that matches the server attributes. Further, the system can add the server node to a server pool that has a matching category with the server node. |
| US08954550B2 |
Service dependency discovery in enterprise networks
The claimed subject matter provides systems and/or techniques that identify service dependencies in enterprise networks. The system can include devices that, based on received network data packets, identify packets with common five tuples, aggregate the identified packets to form transactions associated with individual hosts, and determine delay distributions between one or more services solicited from or in response to the individual hosts. Based on the delay distributions, the system differentiates between dependent service pairs and independent service pairs and thereafter assembles and outputs dependency graphs that include dependency relationships between services from the perspective of a client-side and a server-side. |
| US08954547B2 |
Method and system for updating the telecommunication network service access conditions of a telecommunication device
A system is provided for updating the conditions under which a telecommunication device accesses services provided by a telecommunication network. The system includes a network access point through which the device accesses the network, and a database, wherein the system authenticates the device via the access point on the basis of authentication data transferred by the device as well as the database storing the profile associated with the authentication data. The access point controls the conditions under which the device accesses the network services once the device has been authenticated and on the basis of the device profile. The system generates a second authentication command for the device via the access point following an alteration of the profiled associated with the authentication data. |
| US08954544B2 |
Cloud-based virtual machines and offices
Cloud-based virtual machines and offices are provided herein. Methods may include establishing a cloud-based virtual office, by providing selections, corresponding to backups of servers of a computing network, to a user interface, establishing a cloud gateway for the virtual office, virtualizing a backup for each server using a virtualization program to create the cloud-based virtual office that includes virtual server machines networked with one another via the cloud gateway, and providing a workload to the cloud-based virtual office. |
| US08954534B2 |
Host-based intelligent results related to a character stream
Information may be presented to a user by using a first application to receive a character stream of one or more noncompletion characters. The noncompletion characters indicate that additional characters may be received. The character stream is exchanged with a host that analyzes the character stream to generate results that are responsive to the user's predicted interest. Results are received and displayed so that the user may select one of the results to launch a code segment related to the selected result. |
| US08954530B2 |
Intelligent results related to a character stream
Information may be presented to a user by using a first application to receive a character stream of one or more noncompletion characters. The noncompletion characters indicate that additional characters may be received. The character stream is exchanged with a host that analyzes the character stream to generate results that are responsive to the user's predicted interest. Results are received and displayed so that the user may select one of the results to launch a code segment related to the selected result. |
| US08954516B2 |
Method and filter system for storing information about messages coming in via a serial data bus of a communication network in a user of the network
A method and a filter system for storing information about messages coming in via a serial data bus of a communication network in a communication module of a user connected to the data bus, which are filtered using a filter system. In order to be able to implement a particularly simple and efficient storage of information about incoming messages even in the event of a great number of filter criteria, the invention provides for the filter system to include a list, which as list elements has one or multiple filter elements, which contain storage control information, and for a check to be performed on the basis of the storage control information as to whether information about an incoming message is to be stored, and information about an incoming message is stored if the check has determined that the information is to be stored. |
| US08954515B2 |
Method and apparatus for reducing application update traffic in cellular networks
An application proxy is disposed between a user device and an application server. The application server supports an application that is available on the user device. The user device registers with the application proxy for the application. The user device is prevented from transmitting application update request messages to the application server. The application proxy transmits application update request messages to the application server on behalf of the user device. The application proxy receives application update response messages from the application server. The application proxy determines, based on the application update response messages from the application server, whether to send an application update notification message toward the user device. In this manner, application update traffic normally transmitted via the network between the user device and the application proxy is reduced. The application update request and response messages may be polling messages, keep-alive messages, and the like. |
| US08954509B1 |
System and method for broadcasting data over a computer network
A system and method for broadcasting data in the form of instant messages over a computer network. The broadcast system 100 preferably includes a messaging manager 200, an integration engine 300, a subscription manager 400, a scheduler 500, and a broadcast engine 600. The messaging manager 200 interfaces with all other components and provides a multi-threaded, run-time engine that coordinates the integration, triggering, scheduling, and message delivery activities for scalable broadcast applications. The integration engine 300 provides a system for “exposing” Web services and “consuming” external data streams. The subscription manager 400 includes an event watcher, which monitors the state of the external environment it interacts with, and an event dispatcher, which collects event subscriptions and ensures the instant delivery of events to all subscribers by way of the broadcast engine. The scheduler 500 allows users to customize the system 100 in order to schedule outgoing messages through the broadcast engine. The broadcast engine 600 enhances the inherent limitations of current IM technology by providing a multi-threaded broadcasting engine capable of sending volumes of messages from one server to literally thousands of IM clients concurrently over different private and public networks in one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many formats. |
| US08954506B2 |
Forming content distribution group based on prior communications
Systems and methods for the forming of user device groups are presented. In one example, logical relationship information between a first user and other users are recorded. Communications between the first users and other users are monitored, and content is received from the first user, the content having associated metadata. A first group to add the first user to is determined based on the logical relationship information, the communications, the content, and the metadata. |
| US08954492B1 |
Methods for inlining content externally referenced in a web page prior to providing the web page to a requestor and devices thereof
A method, computer readable medium, and application delivery controller apparatus for content inlining includes obtaining content from one or more servers as requested by one or more clients, obtaining external content from the one or more servers as referenced by one or more external references included in the requested content, modifying the requested content to include at least one of the external content, and servicing the client request by communicating the modified requested content. |
| US08954482B2 |
Managing data flows in graph-based computations
Processing data elements associated with a hierarchy that includes multiple levels includes: forming multiple flows of data elements, with each flow being associated with a level of the hierarchy; and including within at least some of the flows hierarchical structure information associated with a level of the hierarchy. For at least one of the levels, two or more and fewer than all of the flows include hierarchical structure information associated with that level. |
| US08954480B2 |
End-to-end interoperability and workflows from building architecture design to one or more simulations
An end-to-end interoperability and workflows from building architecture design to one or more simulations, in one aspect, may comprise establishing a BIM enablement platform architecture. A data model defines data entities and entity relationships for enabling the interoperability and workflows. A data definition language may be implemented that defines and creates a table schema of a database associated with the data model. Data management services and/or application programming interfaces may be implemented for interacting with the data model. Web services may also be provided for interacting with the data model via the Web. A user interface may be implemented that communicates with users and uses the BIM enablement platform architecture, the data model, the data definition language, data management services and application programming interfaces to provide functions to the users to perform work related to building information management. |
| US08954479B2 |
End-to-end interoperability and workflows from building architecture design to one or more simulations
An end-to-end interoperability and workflows from building architecture design to one or more simulations, in one aspect, may comprise establishing a BIM enablement platform architecture. A data model defines data entities and entity relationships for enabling the interoperability and workflows. A data definition language may be implemented that defines and creates a table schema of a database associated with the data model. Data management services and/or application programming interfaces may be implemented for interacting with the data model. Web services may also be provided for interacting with the data model via the Web. A user interface may be implemented that communicates with users and uses the BIM enablement platform architecture, the data model, the data definition language, data management services and application programming interfaces to provide functions to the users to perform work related to building information management. |
| US08954478B2 |
Systems, methods, and media for managing RAM resources for in-memory NoSQL databases
In some embodiments, systems for managing an in-memory NoSQL database are provided, the systems comprising a hardware processor that is configured to: receive a dataset; split the dataset into a plurality of parts of the dataset; and storing each of the plurality of parts of the dataset in a separate one of plurality of 32-bit software architecture in-memory NoSQL databases. |
| US08954475B2 |
Deep cloning of objects using binary format
Techniques are described herein that are capable of deep cloning (a.k.a. deep copying) objects using a binary format. A deep clone of a designated object includes references to other objects (and potentially copies of the other objects) included in the designated object. A binary representation of each object in an object graph is generated to provide a binary clone of the object graph. Objects created by a dynamic language engine are called dynamic language objects. Objects created by a host (e.g., that hosts the dynamic language engine) are called host objects. Each host object is associated with an intermediate representation thereof via a property bag that describes properties of that host object. Each intermediate representation is understandable by the dynamic language engine. A binary representation of each dynamic language object and each host object may be generated in accordance with the binary format to provide the binary clone. |
| US08954468B2 |
Extracting a meaningful frequent itemset
An efficient extraction of a meaningful frequent itemsets. The present invention discloses a system that includes a decision unit that decides a new itemset that becomes an investigation target in the same sequence as searching an itemset tree in a depth-first manner and in descending order. The present invention further discloses a frequent occurrence determining unit that registers the frequency of occurrence of the new itemset in a table if the frequency of occurrence is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold. The present invention includes a correlation determining unit that determines whether there is a correlation between each item in the new itemset and a subset of remaining items that were removed from the new itemset. The present invention discloses a registration unit that registers the new itemset in a set of meaningful frequent itemsets if the determination is positive for all items of the new itemset. |
| US08954455B2 |
Saved queries in a social networking system
A user saves a structured query defining connections between two or more objects maintained by a social networking system. The social networking system finds objects matching the structured query, either by periodically performing searches for new objects or by analyzing objects as they are added or modified. The user creating the saved query can subsequently view the matching objects. |
| US08954447B1 |
Annotation-based content rankings
Techniques for ranking electronic content items include analyzing annotations made in the content items. Specifically, the number of annotations and the number of people making the annotations can be analyzed to produce a popularity ranking of different content items. |
| US08954436B2 |
Monitoring content repositories, identifying misclassified content objects, and suggesting reclassification
Provided are a computer implemented method, computer program product, and system for organizing content objects in an enterprise content management system. Auditing of the content objects is performed to identify one or more content objects that are to be re-classified. A content object is selected. A first category associated with the content object is obtained. A relevancy score is obtained for the first category. A list of candidate categories and relevancy scores for each of the candidate categories are obtained. In response to determining that the first category does not correspond to a candidate category or that the relevancy score does not exceed a threshold, the content object is identified as improperly categorized, and the candidate categories that have associated relevancy scores that exceed the threshold are provided in an audit report. |
| US08954429B2 |
Methods, systems, and computer program products for integrated world wide web query classification
Implementing query classification includes receiving a core term from a search query responsive to execution of a first module. The first module searches a table for the core term and yields a first result. The query classification also includes receiving a second result from the search query responsive to execution of a second module. The second module searches an index of terms that are mapped to documents and corresponding categories in the index. The second result is indicative of one of the corresponding categories in the index based on a probability score. Upon determining the first result is a category associated with the core term in the table, the query classification also includes calculating a weighted average for the first result and the second result. The calculation yields a third result. The query classification further includes transmitting the third result to a computer device that generated the query. |
| US08954428B2 |
Generating visualizations of a display group of tags representing content instances in objects satisfying a search criteria
Provided is a method for rendering search results. A search request is received having a search criteria to perform with respect to objects having content instances. A determination is made of the objects having qualifying content instances that satisfy the search criteria, an attribute value of the qualifying content instances for a specified attribute, and appearance settings for the qualifying content instances based on the determined attribute values. The appearance settings vary based on the attribute values. Tags are generated indicating the content instances and appearance settings for the content instances. A visualization of the tags in a display group are generated to provide visualization of the qualifying content instances in the objects according to the appearance settings, wherein visualizations of the tags is varied based on the determined appearance settings. |
| US08954425B2 |
Snippet extraction and ranking
Described herein is a technology that facilitates efficient automated mining of topic-related aspects of user-generated content based on automated analysis of the user-generated content. Locations are automatically learned based on dividing documents into document segments, and decomposing the segments into local topics and global topics. Techniques are described that facilitate automatically extracting snippets. These techniques include, for example, computer annotating travelogues with learned tags and images, performing topic learning to obtain an interest model, performing location matching based on the interest model, calculating geographic and semantic relevance scores, ranking snippets based on the geographic and semantic relevance scores, and searching snippets with a “location+context term” query. |
| US08954424B2 |
Determining relevancy and desirability of terms
A system and method to sort search results based upon a desirability value is illustrated. This desirability value may be based upon the difference between a demand value and a supply value. Demand may be based upon user activity such as click-throughs, purchases, price, or location. Supply may be based upon a supply of keywords that may be the number of times a word is used in search or item title. The system and method may include receiving a search query, associating a first numerical value with a keyword that is a part of the search query, tracking user activity associated with the keyword, associating a second numerical value with the keyword based upon the user activity, finding a difference value between the first and second numerical values, associating this difference value with the keyword, sorting keywords based upon the difference values, and returning the search results of the sorting. |
| US08954422B2 |
Query suggestion for E-commerce sites
Providing query suggestions using a query log including a number of user sessions that comprise training data including a sequence of a plurality of sets of queries. Some of the sets of queries include query transitions followed by a purchase related event. The query log is cleaned and normalized. Query log stationary scores and transition scores of at least some of the plurality of sets is generated. A set of query suggestions is built and similarity scores are computed for at least some of the set of query suggestions to determine whether individual ones of the at least some of the set of query suggestions meet a predetermined assurance level. Those that meet the level are included as elements of the set of query suggestions that meet the predetermined assurance level. That set of query suggestions are mixed and ranked in accordance with a user behavior sought to be optimized. |
| US08954415B2 |
Web discovery method for assessing ingredients for regulatory compliance
A regulatory information retrieval system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises building ingredient data for manufacturing businesses. Then, those ingredients are compared with regulatory requirements. Relevant requirements are identified regarding permitted usage are extracted and converted to a guideline document. The guideline document can be viewed in a variety of ways, such as a detailed view, or an overview of repositories searched. The guidelines may then be converted to a file format that can be imported by other business applications. |
| US08954402B2 |
Character string generation method, article of manufacture and system
A method, article of manufacture, and system for enabling context surrounding a search result to be displayed succinctly. The method includes searching a document set configured as a frequency ordered suffix tree to obtain a frequency ordered context tree. Applying dynamic programming to the frequency ordered context tree to retrieve a set (C) of context strings (c) having n1 elements of context strings (c). Defining an area covered by a character string (s) in the entire set of context strings C {c1, . . . , cn1} as the product of (1) the number (n2) of context strings (c) having s as a prefix and (2) the length of character string (s). Obtaining a set of character strings (S) that maximizes the sum of areas. In addition, dynamic programming can include a pruning process such that if an upper limit does not reach a maximum value, the search in progress is abandoned. |
| US08954392B2 |
Efficient de-duping using deep packet inspection
The efficiency of data de-duplication may be improved by storing related file data in a single container, or in multiple linked containers, of a history. Additionally, the efficiency of data de-duplication may be improved when shorter hash tables are used to reference historical data in a history. Shorter hash tables may be achieved by storing fewer than all the hash values obtained for a given amount of historical data. Further, the efficiency of data de-duplication may be improved by comparing related incoming file data with historical data from a container without hashing/chunking the remaining file data upon matching an earlier chunk of the incoming file data to the container. |
| US08954385B2 |
Efficient recovery of transactional data stores
Approaches for recovering a node of a distributed transactional system. When a recovering node is being brought on-line, a copy of at least a portion of a first data store maintained by an existing node is created without ceasing to process transactions against the first data store at the existing node. The recovering node creates a second data store based on the copy of the first data store. While the recovering node creates the second data store, the recovering node stores committed transaction data received from a plurality of nodes. The committed transaction data describes transactions committed against data stores maintained by the sender of the committed transaction data. The recovering node may thereafter replay, against the second data store, any transactions identified by the committed transaction data that are associated with a global transaction number that is more recent than is a reference commit number. |
| US08954376B2 |
Detecting transcoding tables in extract-transform-load processes
Techniques are disclosed for identifying transcoding tables in an Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) process, by identifying, by operation of one or more computer processors, records passing through an operator configured to replace values in the records with values from at least one table linked to the operator before being sent to an output table, wherein the operator specifies an operation for extracting, transforming, or loading data stored in one or more source systems into storage by a target system, and evaluating at least a first table linked to the operator to determine whether the first table is a transcoding table by assigning a score to the first table, wherein the score is indicative of the likelihood that the first table is a transcoding table, wherein a transcoding table is used to harmonize values from a plurality of tables in the one or more source systems to a table in the target. |
| US08954373B2 |
Monitoring device for management of insulin delivery
Monitoring system and method for use with diabetic treatment management. The system includes: a communication interface configured to permit access to stored raw log data, obtained over a certain time, being indicative of glucose measurements, meals consumed and insulin delivery; and a control unit including an unsupervised learning controller configured to receive and process said raw log data and determine at least one global insulin pump setting of basal rate, correction factor, carbohydrate ratio and insulin activity curve parameters. The system may include a processing unit including a first processor for processing measured data indicative of blood glucose level and generating first processed data, a second processor including at least one fuzzy logic module which receives input parameters corresponding to the measured data, the first processed data and a reference data, and processes the data to produce a qualitative output parameter to determine whether any treatment parameter should be modified. |
| US08954372B2 |
System and methods for using presence data to estimate affect and communication preference for use in a presence system
Exemplary embodiments described herein are directed to systems and methods that estimate a user's affect and communication preferences from presence data. The exemplary embodiments use a small set of features derived from a user's recent high level presence states. Exemplary embodiments also use features from broader classes of presence data. Utilizing features from a combination of presence data and recent presence states may provide improvement over estimates that users are able to make themselves. The exemplary embodiments further consider cost, burden on the user, and privacy issues in estimating affect and communication preferences. |
| US08954368B2 |
Translating paralinguistic indicators
Paralinguistic indicators are translated at a paralinguistic translation server by receiving from a source a first set of data related to a first paralinguistic indicator that is configured to enable non-verbal communications between a source and a destination. The source is one of an instant messaging system and a virtual world system and the destination is one of the textual instant messaging system and a virtual world system but differs from the source. The first set of data related to the first paralinguistic indicator is translated into a second set of data related to a second paralinguistic indicator, such that the second paralinguistic indicator that is at least partially synonymous to the non-verbal communications associated with the first paralinguistic indicator. The second set of data related to the second paralinguistic indicator is transmitted to the destination. |
| US08954367B2 |
System, method and computer program product for interfacing software engines
A system, method and computer program product for interfacing a decision engine and a marketing engine in order to provide vendor-related data in response to decision-related data is disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the system and method may include providing a decision engine on a user-accessible network; interfacing a marketing engine with the decision engine on the network; receiving a plurality of user inputs with the decision engine; processing decision-related data with the decision engine in accordance with the plurality of user inputs; sharing the decision-related data with the marketing engine; processing the decision-related data with the marketing engine; and transmitting vendor-related data via the network. |
| US08954366B2 |
Service to recommend opening an information object based on task similarity
The present description is directed to a technique to store one or more tasks, each task including one or more knowledge actions (KAs) that includes an action of one of a plurality of KA types being performed, determine a degree of similarity between each of one or more of the stored tasks and a current task, identify one of the stored tasks that most closely matches the current task based on the degree of similarity for each of the one or more stored tasks, identify one or more information objects that were open for the identified stored task, identify one or more information objects that are currently open for the current task, determine an additional information object that was open for the identified stored task but is not currently open for the current task, and provide a recommendation to a user to open the additional information object. |
| US08954364B2 |
Hierarchical contexts to drive live sensor applications
A method for operating a sensor based application includes receiving a context hierarchy for the sensor based application, the context hierarchy comprising a plurality of contexts, wherein each of the contexts is assigned a level of interest and a priority, reading the context hierarchy and discovering at least one sensor associated with each of the plurality of contexts, and reading at least one value of each of the sensors, and applying the values. |
| US08954359B2 |
Deriving predictions from data using information extraction and machine learning
Systems and methods are provided for deriving a prediction from existing data by utilizing information extraction and machine learning, wherein both approaches can be optimized independently from each other. Optionally, deductive reasoning may also be combined with information extraction and machine learning and may as well be optimized independently from the other two functionalities. The two or three functionalities may utilize at least one set of data and may (at least partially) process various sets of data. The combined approach may produce significantly improved results, and may be implemented in various technical fields, applications and use cases involving, e.g., data mining or processing of huge amounts of data. The disclosed systems and methods may be applicable for all kinds of technical systems, e.g., medical, genetic research, or industry and automation systems. |
| US08954358B1 |
Cluster-based video classification
A classifier training system trains unified classifiers for categorizing videos representing different categories of a category graph. The unified classifiers unify the outputs of a number of separate initial classifiers trained from disparate subsets of a training set of media items. The training process takes into account the relationships that exist between the various categories of the category graph by relating scores associated with related categories, thus enhancing the accuracy of the unified classifiers. |
| US08954350B2 |
Order supporting apparatus, control method for an order supporting apparatus, order supporting system, and computer readable storage medium
An order supporting apparatus connected to a monitoring apparatus over a network, the monitoring apparatus determining a supply status of devices in the network and sends supply shortage information regarding at least one of the devices determined to have a supply shortage to the order supporting apparatus. In particular, the order supporting apparatus includes a device information storage part that stores device information describing whether each device is monitored as a monitoring target, and maintenance contract information of each device, and a determination part that determines, based on the device information, whether each device is subject to the maintenance contract when the order supporting apparatus receives the supply shortage information. Further, the determination part deselects, in the device information, a device as the monitoring target when the device is determined to have a supply shortage by the monitoring apparatus. |
| US08954349B2 |
Ordering system and ancillary service control through text messaging
A system allows control of an ancillary server function through a text messaging protocol. The text message allows a connected user to obtain goods or services through a network controller that selectively routes a self-addressed text message to a remote networked server that instantiates the server function based on content in the text message. The self-addressed electronic message (e.g., SMS message) is interpreted by a network component as needing invocation of a specified ordering service and, accordingly, is routed to a server that is tasked with administering, for example, order and delivery of a product or access to an account. The server, upon receipt of the self-addressed electronic message, may interact with the buyer using messaging to confirm the scope of the order and to fullfil the order. The system augments cellular phone functionality with a mechanism for placing orders using a looped text-yourself approach that engenders trust with users. |
| US08954346B1 |
Serving form ads with a video
Serving form ads with videos is disclosed, including: receiving from a client device a request including a set of parameters associated with a video; and determining a form ad to be displayed with the video based at least in part on the set of parameters. |
| US08954345B2 |
Method and system for advertising using a mobile communication device
A method for providing advertisements on mobile communication devices includes identifying at least one URL link to which it is desired to add an advertising functionality and adding the advertising functionality to the at least one URL link. Upon the addition of the advertising functionality to the at least one URL link, selection of the at least one URL link results in opening both a primary first web page directly associated with the at least one URL link clicked by the user and a secondary second web page. |
| US08954344B2 |
Methods of offline fare collection for open-loop and hybrid card systems
Interconnected methods of card-based fare collection at computer-based service access validation terminals are disclosed. The first method is characterized by periodically propagating to the validation terminals card transaction data originated at other validation terminals. This method is most pertinent to the public transit fare systems utilizing open-loop payment cards and vehicle-installed terminals. The second method is characterized by actualizing the validation terminals' data by way of data broadcasting or multicasting. This method makes the first method practical and improves performance of open-loop and closed-loop card systems implementing offline validations. |
| US08954343B2 |
Person-to-person matching system
An improved system for matching individuals seeking personal relationships includes: (a) a plurality of personality categories into which an individual may be categorized, (b) a plurality of psychology-based, personality traits, (c) a plurality of preferences on various subjects that an individual may have, (d) a plurality of images for consideration by an individual, each of the images configured such that an individual who would chose to be associated with an image can be assessed to possess one of the plurality of personality traits and preferences, (e) a user interface for presenting the plurality of images and allowing an individual to identify with which of these the individual elects to be associated, and (f) an algorithm configured to utilize these elected associations to categorize this individual into one of the personality categories and to ascribe to the individual a specific set of preferences in various subject areas. |
| US08954336B2 |
Server for medical device
One aspect of the present invention is a server for communicating with a medical device. The server comprises a web browser process for communicating with a remote device and a pump interface process for communicating with a medical device. Another aspect of the present invention is a medical device. The medical device comprises memory configured to store data and a programmable circuit in electrical communication with the memory. The programmable circuit is programmed with a web server for communicating data with a remote device. Another aspect of the invention is a server for communicating with a medical device. The server comprises memory for storing data and a programmable circuit in electrical communication with the memory. The programmable circuit programmed with an interface for communicating with a medical device. |
| US08954335B2 |
Speech translation system, control device, and control method
Appropriate processing results or appropriate apparatuses can be selected with a control device that selects the most probable speech recognition result by using speech recognition scores received with speech recognition results from two or more speech recognition apparatuses; sends the selected speech recognition result to two or more translation apparatuses respectively; selects the most probable translation result by using translation scores received with translation results from the two or more translation apparatuses; sends the selected translation result to two or more speech synthesis apparatuses respectively; receives a speech synthesis processing result including a speech synthesis result and a speech synthesis score from each of the two or more speech synthesis apparatuses; selects the most probable speech synthesis result by using the scores; and sends the selected speech synthesis result to a second terminal apparatus. |
| US08954324B2 |
Multiple microphone voice activity detector
Voice activity detection using multiple microphones can be based on a relationship between an energy at each of a speech reference microphone and a noise reference microphone. The energy output from each of the speech reference microphone and the noise reference microphone can be determined. A speech to noise energy ratio can be determined and compared to a predetermined voice activity threshold. In another embodiment, the absolute value of the autocorrelation of the speech and noise reference signals are determined and a ratio based on autocorrelation values is determined. Ratios that exceed the predetermined threshold can indicate the presence of a voice signal. The speech and noise energies or autocorrelations can be determined using a weighted average or over a discrete frame size. |
| US08954323B2 |
Method for processing multichannel acoustic signal, system thereof, and program
A method for processing multichannel acoustic signals, whereby input signals of a plurality of channels including the voices of a plurality of speaking persons are processed. The method is characterized by comprising: calculating the first feature quantity of the input signals of the multichannels for each channel; calculating similarity of the first feature quantity of each channel between the channels; selecting channels having high similarity; separating signals using the input signals of the selected channels; inputting the input signals of the channels having low similarity and the signals after the signal separation; and detecting a voice section of each speaking person or each channel. |
| US08954318B2 |
Method of and system for using conversation state information in a conversational interaction system
A method of using conversation state information in a conversational interaction system is disclosed. A method of inferring a change of a conversation session during continuous user interaction with an interactive content providing system includes receiving input from the user including linguistic elements intended by the user to identify an item, associating a linguistic element of the input with a first conversation session, and providing a response based on the input. The method also includes receiving additional input from the user and inferring whether or not the additional input from the user is related to the linguistic element associated with the conversation session. If related, the method provides a response based on the additional input and the linguistic element associated with the first conversation session. Otherwise, the method provides a response based on the second input without regard for the linguistic element associated with the first conversation session. |
| US08954316B2 |
Systems and methods for categorizing and moderating user-generated content in an online environment
Exemplary embodiments provide systems, devices and methods for computer-based categorization and moderation of user-generated content for publication of the content in an online environment. Exemplary embodiments automatically determine a probability value indicating that the user-generated content is either a positive example or a negative example of one or more unsuitable categories. If the user-generated content is determined to be a positive example of any of the unsuitable categories to a predefined degree of certainty, exemplary embodiments may automatically exclude the content from publication in the online environment. |
| US08954311B2 |
Arrangements for extending configuration management in large IT environments to track changes proactively
Methods and arrangements for tracking changes in an information technology environment. Configuration dependencies are learned in a production environment, and a model of the production environment is built. Events on a target system in the production environment are subscribed to. Events are received and correlated with the model to generate an enhanced model, and the enhanced model is thereupon employed to predict configuration errors. |
| US08954305B2 |
Circuit simulation apparatus and circuit simulation method
A circuit simulation apparatus acquires wiring connection information indicating connection data in an electric circuit, selects a component constituting the circuit based on the wiring connection information, performs a setting of replacing the selected component with each resistor having different resistance values, generates at least one of netlists using the acquired wiring connection information and at least one of the set resistance values, calculates a value of an equivalent power source and a value of an internal resistance thereof for a part of the circuit using the acquired wiring connection information and at least one of the generated netlists, and calculates a resistance value of the selected component and a power consumption for the resistance value using the value of the equivalent power source and the value of the internal resistance. |
| US08954303B2 |
System and method for generating a geostatistical model of a geological volume of interest that is constrained by a process-based model of the geological volume of interest
A process-based model of a geological volume of interest is generated. The process-based model is conditioned with conditioning information associated with the geological volume of interest. Statistics are generated from the process-based model that represent parameters of the geological volume of interest locally. These statistics are used to constrain one or more geostatistical models of the geological volume of interest. |
| US08954294B2 |
Measuring device and measuring method for continuous physical quantity
The invention discloses a measuring device and a measuring method for a continuous physical quantity. The measuring device comprises a timing unit for outputting a time base and a time scale; a sampling unit for sampling the continuous physical quantity under control of the time base and at time intervals that meet the Nyquist sampling theorem, and outputting a sampling value; a decision unit for deciding whether the sampling value turns into a transient state from a steady state or turns into the steady state from the transient state; a calculating unit for calculating a steady state value for the sampling value of the sampling unit in the steady state; and an output unit for outputting the start time of the steady state and the steady state value X, and the start time and the sampling value of the transient state according to the result of decision and the time scale. The invention may not only avoid the aliasing and but also reduce the output data volume. |
| US08954279B2 |
Human-like global positioning system (GPS) directions
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, from a user, a request for a route from a first geolocation to a second geolocation; and calculating the route from the first geolocation to the second geolocation. The route includes one or more segments and a set of navigation instructions of the segments. The method also includes accessing a data store for one or more pre-determined paths determined at least in part by previous location data of the user. Each pre-determined path comprising an abbreviated navigation instruction. The method also includes identifying one or more pre-determined paths that coincide with one or more of the segments; modifying the set of navigation instructions by replacing the navigation instructions of the coinciding segments with the abbreviated navigation instruction of each identified pre-determined path; and providing, to the user, the modified set of navigation instructions. |
| US08954276B1 |
System and method for managing indoor geolocation conversions
The present technology proposes techniques for managing indoor geolocation conversions based on a user's intent in an indoor location. An advertiser may determine the intent of a user of a mobile device and transmit advertisements to the mobile device related to the determined intent. The intent may be determined based on events that include a location of the mobile device, network browsing history, and a transaction made using the mobile device. The advertisement may provide the user with directions to an item based on location information from the mobile device. The advertisements may also load balance geolocation conversions in order to manage a number of users at a particular location. |
| US08954273B2 |
Navigation system, particularly for a motor vehicle
A navigation system, in particular for a motor vehicle, for determining a route to a destination, wherein the navigation system includes an input device for alphanumeric input of the destination and a display for displaying changing information and includes a processing unit for displaying potential destinations in a representation of a map by means of the display during input of the destination. |
| US08954268B1 |
Using location-based logic to adjust building automation schedules
An apparatus for adjusting scheduled events in an automation system of a building at a predetermined location includes a location module, an arrival time module, and a regulator module. The location module determines a current location of a user in response to a triggering event. The arrival time module calculates an estimated time of arrival of the user at a residence. The regulator module adjusts a characteristic of a scheduled event in the automation system in response to comparing the estimated time of arrival of the user to a time of the scheduled event in the automation system. |
| US08954265B2 |
Method of resolving a location from data representative thereof
The invention provides a method of resolving a location in a second digital map from an ordered list of location reference points determined from a first digital map. The method involves identifying candidate lines and nodes in the second digital map, and using curvature, height and gradient information associated with the location reference points to identify the most likely candidate nodes or lines in the second digital map corresponding to the nodes represented by the location reference points and to lines emanating from or incident at the node in the first digital map. The method involves carrying out a route search between the most likely identified candidate node or line identified for one location reference point, and the corresponding node or line associated with the next reference point in the list, and repeating this step for consecutive pairs of reference points until the final location reference point is reached. |
| US08954242B2 |
Wheel loader and control method of wheel loader
A wheel loader includes a vehicle body frame, an engine, a working unit including a boom and a bucket, a cab accommodating therein an operator seat, a boom operating member an operating member that switches forward/rearward travelling, a first sensor configured and arranged to detect that the operating member is located in a neutral position, and a second sensor configured and arranged to detect that the boom has been operated. An engine control unit is configured to limit a maximum rotation speed of the engine to a predetermined rotation speed when the operating member for switching of forward/rearward travelling is located in the neutral position and the boom operating member has been operated. |
| US08954239B2 |
Device and method for controlling a seat actuator in a vehicle such as an aircraft
The invention relates to a control device for controlling an actuator for moving a mobile element of a seat in a vehicle. The control device comprises: a measuring device for determining a reference parameter relating to a passenger in the seat and/or to the state of the vehicle, and power-limiting means for defining a maximum limit for the power generated by the actuator in accordance with said parameter. The invention further relates to a seat or aircraft comprising the aforementioned device, and to a control method using said device. |
| US08954231B1 |
Method, apparatus and computer-readable recording media for providing application connector using template-based UI
The present invention relates to a method for providing an application connector using a template-based user interface. The method includes steps of: (a) classifying information entered from multiple applications of at least one mobile terminal connected with a template of a vehicle head unit into either common information or specialized information; (b) deciding the common information and the specialized information to be provided to the template by matching multiple pieces of the common information entered from the multiple applications with a matching algorithm and filtering multiple pieces of the specialized information entered therefrom with a filtering module; and (c) providing the matched common information and the filtered specialized information through the template. |
| US08954222B2 |
Method and system for retrieving diagnostic information
A system, method, and apparatus for retrieving trouble codes from a motor vehicle and retrieving only relevant diagnostic information relative to the returned codes from one or more remote diagnostic libraries. An electronic diagnostic library contains generalized diagnostic vehicle information tagged with trouble code identification ID's at a first location, and a diagnostic tool at a second location requests only relevant diagnostic information from the electronic library that is tagged with trouble code identification ID's corresponding to the retrieved trouble codes. The diagnostic tool receives the specific diagnostic vehicle information at the first location and may store the specific vehicle information locally prior to displaying an index to the information to a repair technician. |
| US08954220B2 |
Battery condition monitoring device
A battery condition monitoring device has a control section for monitoring conditions of a high voltage battery on the basis of detection signals detected and transmitted by monitoring ICs. The control section has a main control section and a sub control section. When the main control section is in an abnormal condition, the sub control section detects the conditions of the high voltage battery, and instructs SMRs to turn on and off an electrical connection between the high voltage battery and a vehicle driving electric motor. The SMRs are arranged on connection lines through which the high voltage battery is connected to the vehicle driving electric motor. |
| US08954219B2 |
Installed in vehicle for monitoring target section in the vehicle
In a device installed in a vehicle for monitoring a target section in the vehicle, an executing unit executes a specific process for addressing an abnormality in the target section, and an instructing unit instructs the executing unit to execute the specific process when an abnormality occurs in the target section. A determining unit determines when the specific process is required to be checked. A checking unit instructs the executing unit to execute the specific process independently of whether an abnormality occurs in the target section each time it is determined that the specific process is required to be checked, thus checking whether an abnormality occurs in the specific process. |
| US08954208B2 |
Aerodynamic coefficient estimation device and control surface failure/damage detection device
A highly reliable aerodynamic coefficient estimate can be computed, and computation of this aerodynamic coefficient estimate enables accurate detection of control surface failure/damage while reducing a discomfort for passengers. A deflection angle command signal generation means (5) generates a deflection angle command signal for estimating an aerodynamic coefficient indicating the aerodynamic characteristics of an airframe. A kinetic state quantity acquisition means (6) acquires a kinetic state quantity of the airframe that is obtained as a result of a control surface provided on the airframe being moved based on the deflection angle command signal. A candidate value calculation means (7) calculates candidate values for estimating the aerodynamic coefficient from the kinetic state quantity using two or more different estimations. An aerodynamic coefficient estimate determination means (8) determines an aerodynamic coefficient estimate based on the candidate values. |
| US08954196B2 |
Reactor temperature control using probability distribution
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to temperature control of a reactor using probability distribution of temperature measurements. In one embodiment, a method of controlling a temperature of a chemical reaction includes injecting a reactant stream into a reactor and through a catalyst bed of the reactor. The reactant stream includes a hydrocarbon and oxygen. Injection of the reactant stream into the catalyst bed causes an exothermic chemical reaction. The method further includes circulating a coolant through the reactor, thereby removing heat from the catalyst bed. The method further includes measuring temperature at a plurality of locations in the catalyst bed. The method further includes calculating a fraction of the catalyst bed greater than a predetermined maximum temperature limit using a probability distribution generated using the temperature measurements. |
| US08954193B2 |
Lawn care robot
A robot lawnmower includes a body and a drive system carried by the body and configured to maneuver the robot across a lawn. The robot also includes a grass cutter and a swath edge detector, both carried by the body. The swath edge detector is configured to detect a swath edge between cut and uncut grass while the drive system maneuvers the robot across the lawn while following a detected swath edge. The swath edge detector includes a calibrator that monitors uncut grass for calibration of the swath edge detector. In some examples, the calibrator comprises a second swath edge detector. |
| US08954187B1 |
Social network and safety features for process control systems
A system for improving process awareness, safety, security, efficiency, and other aspects of industrial and non-industrial processes for participants associated with the processes. The system includes a control device associated with the process, and for each participant, a mobile client device and participant profile. The system improves safety, security, and efficiency by the control device enabling remote monitoring of participants and the process, implementing participant profile limitations, and authorizing participants to remotely monitor and control aspects of the process. The control device incorporates social network features to validate compliance and/or consent of all designated participants in order for control aspects of the process to be enabled. A participant's use of the mobile client device to collect, distribute, view, and interact with data and the process, including visual/video feeds of the process and/or participants, enables real-time interaction with the process and participants regardless of physical proximity of the participant to the process or other participants. The mobile client devices include a GUI for displaying visual feeds and participant interacting with the control device, process, participant profile, and other participants. |
| US08954180B2 |
Manufacturing process and apparatus having an interchangeable machine tool head with integrated control
A modular manufacturing system and methods of using are provided. The modular manufacturing system includes a plurality of manufacturing heads that perform different manufacturing processes. These heads may include multi-axial machining heads, fiber placement heads including fiber tow and fiber tape lay-up heads. The heads are fixably attachable to a single positioning system that can manipulate the various heads along a plurality of different degrees of freedom relative to a tool or material blank. |
| US08954174B2 |
Method and device to process digital media streams
A digital processing circuit for processing media data includes a data path arranged to transmit at least media data along the data path between a plurality of processing modules connected serially. The data is transmitted directly from the output of a first module to an input of a second module of the plurality by sequential clocking signals. A routing controller controls transmission of data from the first of the plurality of processing modules to any target processing module selected from the plurality of modules by providing an identification for the target processing module in a signal provided on the datapath. |
| US08954168B2 |
Implantable device lead including a distal electrode assembly with a coiled component
A medical device lead includes an insulative body having a proximal region with a proximal end, and a distal region with a distal end. The medical device lead also includes a connector coupled to the proximal end of the insulative body of the lead to electrically and mechanically connect the lead to an implantable pulse generator. The medical device lead further includes a conductor extending through the insulative body with a proximal end electrically connected to the connector. A distal electrode assembly at a distal end of the insulative body includes a proximal portion electrically coupled to a distal end of the conductor, a distal portion, and an intermediate portion. The intermediate portion comprises a coiled element electrically connecting the proximal portion and distal portion. |
| US08954157B2 |
Implantable package to facilitate inspection
The present invention is a non-destructive method of inspecting a bond, particularly a braze bond, in a hermetic package. The invention involves a unique hermetic package design adapted for ultrasonic inspection and a method of inspecting the package. This package and non-destructive inspection process are particularly useful in implantable neural stimulators such as visual prostheses. |
| US08954156B2 |
Methods and apparatuses for configuring artificial retina devices
Methods and apparatuses for configuring an implantable device to interface with retina cells are described. The device may comprise an array of pixel units capable of stimulating the retina cells are described. The pixel units may operate in a mode of operation selected from a plurality of modes including a normal mode and a calibration mode. A control circuitry of the device may be configured to switch the mode of operation for the pixel units. In one embodiment, the pixel units may be configured to receive light for stimulating the retina cells during the normal mode to enable perception of the light. During the calibration mode, the pixel units may be configured to adjust amount of stimulation to the retina cells. |
| US08954151B2 |
RF resistant feedthrough assembly and electrical stimulation systems containing the assembly
A control module for an electrical stimulation system includes a casing having an electrically-conductive portion; an electronic subassembly disposed in the casing; and a header portion coupled to the casing and including a connector for a lead or lead extension. The control module also includes a feedthrough assembly coupling the casing to the header portion. The feedthrough assembly includes a non-conductive ceramic block; conductive feedthrough pins passing through the ceramic block and electrically coupling the connector to the electronic subassembly disposed in the casing; a metal flange disposed around, and attached to, the ceramic block, and a non-conductive spacer attached to the metal flange and to the casing to raise the ceramic block above, and away from, the casing. Other control modules include a ceramic block that has a rim portion that raises the plate portion, through which the feedthrough pins pass, of the block away from the casing. |
| US08954148B2 |
Key fob controller for an implantable neurostimulator
Devices, systems, and methods incorporate the most-used functions of a electrical stimulator's controller into a small, thin pocket controller that is not only comfortable to carry in a pocket, but can also be attached to a key ring, lanyard, or other such carrying device for ease of daily use. A separate patient controller charger is used to charge and control the implanted medical device. |
| US08954144B2 |
Hybrid clustered neural interface system
An apparatus comprises a flexible substrate. The flexible substrate includes a first substrate surface, a surface electrode array that includes a plurality of electrodes disposed on the first substrate surface, one or more flexible neural probes substantially orthogonal to the first substrate surface and insertable into biological tissue, and a penetrating electrode array that includes a plurality of electrodes formed on the one or more flexible neural probes, wherein electrodes of the surface electrode array and the penetrating electrode array are configured to one or both of receive a neural signal from a neural signal source and provide electrical stimulation energy to a neural stimulation target. |
| US08954134B2 |
Light-guided transluminal catheter
Generally, the present invention is directed to a light-guided catheter for direct visualization of placement through the skin. An embodiment of the invention includes a method for transcutaneous viewing and guiding of intracorporeal catheters into a body that comprises inserting a catheter into the body having at least one lumen and internally illuminating the catheter with light capable of propagating through the blood and tissue to an external viewer outside of the body. The illumination may be point source, continuous, single or multi wavelength. A method of treatment of blood conditions is also disclosed using direct placement of a photo treatment source in the blood stream. |
| US08954132B2 |
Methods and systems for guiding an emission to a target
Disclosed are methods and systems for guiding emissions to a target. The methods and systems utilize, in part, Markerless Tracking software to detect a beam of energy, such as a laser, toward a target such as a tissue that is the subject of a medical procedure. |
| US08954125B2 |
Low-loss superconducting devices
Low-loss superconducting devices and methods for fabricating low loss superconducting devices. For example, superconducting devices, such as superconducting resonator devices, are formed with a (200)-oriented texture titanium nitride (TiN) layer to provide high Q, low loss resonator structures particularly suitable for application to radio-frequency (RF) and/or microwave superconducting resonators, such as coplanar waveguide superconducting resonators. In one aspect, a method of forming a superconducting device includes forming a silicon nitride (SiN) seed layer on a substrate, and forming a (200)-oriented texture titanium nitride (TiN) layer on the SiN seed layer. |
| US08954122B2 |
Electronic device case with antenna
A case for a mobile electronic device is provided. The case includes a shell, a case antenna, a transmission line, and a near-field coupling device. The shell encases at least a portion of the mobile electronic device. The case antenna is attached to the shell. The transmission line is also attached to the shell and electrically interconnects to the case antenna. The near-field coupling device has a feed port electrically interconnected to the transmission line and is configured to near-field couple to a native antenna of the mobile electronic device to capture an electromagnetic signal generated by the native antenna of the mobile electronic device. The near-field coupling device is also configured to conduct the captured electromagnetic signal from the feed port of the near-field coupling device to the case antenna through the transmission line. |
| US08954119B2 |
Mobile device
A moisture-proofing mobile device which is formed with a variously colored silicon skin, through dual injection molding, integrally over a region that includes an engagement part of the bottom casing with the top casing, clamping screw holes, and a battery mounting part, which may selectively include an antenna part, a camera part or a button part is provided. In accordance with the disclosed embodiments, there is no concern about malfunction or trouble of the mobile device even when the mobile device is used in a humid place, such as a kitchen, a bathroom, a swimming pool or a waterside, and the mobile device may provide a smooth and excellent grip feeling of a non-slip property, and may exhibit an improved impact resistance. |
| US08954117B2 |
External processing accessory for mobile device
Accessories for mobile devices. Embodiments include an external protective case and/or holster for mobile electronic devices, where the external protective case/holster incorporates a battery pack, a payment processing device, television signal receiver, and/or a modular multi-input/output device. |
| US08954105B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving data and control information through an uplink in a wireless communication system
Disclosed is a method and an apparatus for multiplexing and transmitting data and uplink control information, and receiving the data and control information in a wireless communication system. In the system multiplexing an uplink packet data channel and a control channel, a transport format of the control channel for transmission of the control information is changed according to the transport format of the data channel. The disclosed method and apparatus can control the quantity of resources for the control channel in the case of transmitting high speed data, and thus can the efficiency of the data channel resources. |
| US08954104B2 |
Synchronization of PICO-nodes in a heterogeneous cellular network deployment
A high-power point (110) and one or more low-power points (120) transmit signals associated with the same cell-identifier in a heterogeneous cell deployment. Coverage areas corresponding to the low-power points (120) fall at least partly within the coverage area for the high-power point, so that mobile stations (130) within range of a low-power point are also within range of the high-power point (110). A low-power point (120) measures timing or frequency, or both, of one or more signals received at the low-power point (120) from the high-power point (110), and adjusts the timing or frequency, or both, of a transmission from the low-power point (120) to a mobile station (130), to align the transmission with signals received by the mobile station (130) from the high-power point (110). |
| US08954102B2 |
System and method for determining and delivering appropriate multimedia content to data communication devices
Provided herein are exemplary techniques for determining and delivering, appropriate multimedia content comprising a combination of text, images, sounds, rich-text, animation, video, etc. to personal data communication devices (107), such as wireless cell-phones or wireless PDA's, based upon device specific information such as the network protocol used by the device, the network provider, the device capabilities (110), the current state of the device, user specified settings, etc. An application server (109) contains an interpreter capable of executing a set of instructions to manage the delivery and receipt of appropriate multimedia and simple text content to and from personal communication devices (107). Appropriate content (104) is sent to the personal data communication device (107) based on the network protocol used by the device, the network provider, the device capabilities, the current state of the device and user specified settings under the control of the interpreter. A plurality of device capability input handlers (108) controlled by the interpreter is used to capture the device capability of the personal data communication device (107). |
| US08954099B2 |
Layout design of proximity sensors to enable shortcuts
A mobile platform includes a plurality of proximity sensors coupled to a housing including on the sides, front and back of the housing. Signals from the proximity sensors are analyzed to determine configuration of the proximity sensors that are activated. The configuration may be a sequence of proximity sensors that are activated, e.g., when a gesture is detected, or the locations of the proximity sensors that are activated when the mobile platform is held in different manners. Mobile platform applications associated with the configuration are determined and automatically launched. For example, the applications may include a camera application or short message service (SMS) application, as well as controlling telephony operations, controlling a music player, and providing status information. Information from an orientation sensor and/or ambient light detector may also be used to assist in determining the applications to be launched. |
| US08954087B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing communication services via television white spaces
Disclosed herein are an apparatus and method for providing communication services. The apparatus includes a location information acquisition unit, a radio station information acquisition unit, and an offloading unit. The location information acquisition unit acquires information about the current location of the user terminal by sending a location information request message to the user terminal. The radio station information acquisition unit requests information about a white space radio station from which the user terminal can receive the communication services by sending the information about the current location of the user terminal to a white space server, and acquires, from the white space server, information about an available white space radio station. The offloading unit sends the information about the available white space radio station to the user terminal, and also sends information about the user terminal to the available white space radio station. |
| US08954086B2 |
Method of performing a measurement procedure in LTE-A (long-term evolution advanced) system
The invention disclosed herein relates to a wireless communication system and a user equipment (UE) providing wireless communication services, and more particularly, to a method of effectively performing the measurement of a plurality of frequencies while reducing the measurement load of the UE in the carrier aggregation technology for increasing data transmission speed using a plurality of frequencies in an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (E-UMTS), a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and a LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system that have evolved from a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). |
| US08954085B2 |
Base station and method in mobile communication system
A base station allocates a radio resource to a scheduling-target user based on a scheduling metric which is calculated for each of scheduling-target users and calculates the amount of available data for each user. When the radio resource is allocated to the scheduling-target user, the amount of data (Dassign) to be communicated using the allocated radio resource is subtracted from the amount of available data (Davailable) for the user. The amount of available data (Davailable) for each user within a cell is updated (min((Davailable+Dref), Dref)) to be less than or equal to a reference data amount in each control period (TAMBR). The scheduling-target user is selected based on the amount of available data for each user. |
| US08954076B2 |
Cooperative communication between terminals in wireless communication system supporting multi-radio access technology
Disclosed is a method for executing communication in a wireless communication system supporting multi-radio access technology, through cooperation between a first terminal requesting terminal cooperation and a second terminal accepting terminal cooperation. The method comprises: a step for the first terminal to transmit to a base station resource allocation request information on the uplink transmission of the second terminal; a step for the second terminal to receive from the base station a first uplink grant (UL grant) as a response to the resource allocation request information; a step for the first terminal to transmit data to the second terminal; and a step for the second terminal to transmit to the base station the data received from the first terminal using the resource allocated by the first UL grant. |
| US08954073B2 |
Telecommunication method and apparatus thereof
The invention relates to a telecommunication method in a base station of a mobile communication system, the mobile communication system comprising a plurality of base stations, a communication link being established between the base station and a user equipment, the method comprising the following steps performed by the base station: selecting one of the plurality of base stations as a target base station for a handover of the user equipment; transmitting a handover request to the target base station; receiving a handover request acknowledgement from the target base station, the handover request acknowledgment being indicative of at least one physical resource of the target base station; and transmitting a handover command to the user equipment via the communication link using the at least one physical resource. The handover command being descriptive of information required for accessing the target base station. |
| US08954071B2 |
Method for considering the subscriber type in mobility and radio resource management decisions in a radio access network
A mobile system where generic information is defined which is applicable per the UE in order to convey subscription related information from the core network to the radio access network which can be used to steer the user to an appropriate cell or for any other Radio Resource Management (RRM) related procedure/decision. It is proposed to define an information element (herein referred as “subscriber type”) which allows an indication or pointer to a set of rules which are locally defined in involved nodes (e.g. CN SGSN, MSC, routers etc) and describe the “handling rules” to be applied in the RAN for each user of the mobile system independently. |
| US08954065B2 |
Method of communicating data based on an unlicensed band in a wireless communication system
A method for communicating data based on an unlicensed band in a wireless communication system comprising a first type network entity and a second type network entity which is different. The first type network entity comprises a cellular base station and the second type network entity comprises a Femto-cell base station. In the method, a cellular base station identifies at least one Femto-cell base station incurring interference and instructs the identified base station to operate on an unlicensed band. The technical features can be used to improve the performance of the wireless network, and/or to reduce the effect of interference. |
| US08954056B2 |
Wireless communication system, relay station, user equipment, and wireless communication method
A wireless communication system includes a base station, a user equipment, and a relay station that relays a wireless signal sent and received between the base station and the user equipment. The relay station includes a first processor that executes reconnection processing with the base station, every time a plurality of time durations with respect to certain timing elapse, for a call corresponding to each time duration, and a transmitter that, if a reconnection with the base station is not made until a predetermined time elapses after a start of the reconnection processing for the call corresponding to the each time duration, sends a message for notifying a call disconnection of the corresponding call in response to the lapse of the predetermined time. The user equipment includes a receiver, and a second processor that executes call disconnection processing on the corresponding call in response to the message being received. |
| US08954046B2 |
Private labeled mobile applications
Currently technology encourages use of mobile applications, which executes programs on mobile devices that formerly only operated on personal computers. These mobile applications, “mobile apps” typically run on smart phone style devices such as iPhone, Android based and Blackberry based phones. Many mobile applications are service oriented and are sold or provided to the end user by the Dealer of these products and services. These applications are typically branded in the name of the manufacturer or provider of these products or services, using the manufacturer's graphic theme and logos. In many cases, the Dealer of the products or services would prefer that the mobile application they provide to their customer base be branded with their company's name, color themes and logos. Unfortunately, it is very expensive and cumbersome to generate custom mobile applications that are branded in the image and name of the Dealer. |
| US08954040B2 |
Mobile video dating service
A method includes sending media clips provided by date candidates to a device of a seeker for viewing by the seeker, receiving a selection of a candidate from the seeker device, sending a media clip provided by the seeker to a device of the selected candidate for playing and facilitating a call between the seeker and the candidate if the candidate agrees. |
| US08954034B2 |
Hash key generation apparatus and method for multiple cards communication system
A mobile station is provided. The mobile station has a plurality of removable user identification modules, key generation logic, and hash logic. The plurality of removable user identification modules are each configured to store unique corresponding information associated with a corresponding plurality of cellular subscriptions. The key generation logic is configured generate a hash key. The hash logic is coupled to the key generation logic, and is configured to employ the hash key to determine parameters and attributes for continuing communication with a base station, where each of the parameters and attributes are determined to maximize use of common hardware and software within the mobile station to concurrently provide for communications in support of the corresponding plurality of cellular subscriptions. |
| US08954030B1 |
Safety feature to disable an electronic device when a wireless implantable medical device (IMD) is proximate
A communication pathway is established between an implanted medical device (IMD) and a proximate electronic device. Performance of one or more functions by the electronic device is known to have a potential to cause at least one adverse effect on the implanted medical device. The implanted medical device can wirelessly conveying a message over the communication pathway to the electronic device detailing an existence of the implanted medical device (IMD) within wireless communication range of the electronic device and detailing a safety requirement or operational data specific to the implanted medical device. The conveyance of the message from the implanted medical device can place the proximate electronic device on notice to minimize the adverse effects on the implanted medical device resulting from executing the one or more functions. |
| US08954027B2 |
In-vehicle apparatus
An in-vehicle apparatus for performing a short range communication with a road side apparatus, which performs a hybrid communication including a broadcast communication and a point-to-point communication, is disclosed. The in-vehicle apparatus includes a communication unit and a retry count determination unit that determines whether a count of failure to establish the communication in an activation channel in the communication unit reaches a preset retry count. The in-vehicle apparatus re-selects a communication frequency when the retry count determination unit determines that the count of failure to establish the communication in the activation channel reaches the preset retry count. |
| US08954009B2 |
Autonomous femto node carrier frequency selection
For each nth carrier frequency bandwidth of a set of N carrier frequency bandwidths there is determined interference (in which n is an index and N is an integer greater than one). For each nth carrier frequency bandwidth, there is determined a number of cells operating on the nth carrier frequency bandwidth. The number of carrier frequency bandwidths available for selection is reduced to less than N by excluding from consideration at least one carrier frequency bandwidth based on the determined number of cells operating thereon. From the reduced number is selected a carrier frequency bandwidth for use by a host femto cell. In various specific embodiments: the carrier frequency bandwidth excluded from consideration has a maximum number of cells operating thereon; and/or closed subscriber group cells having path loss exceeding a threshold are excluded from the per carrier count; and/or only femto cells are included in the per carrier count. |
| US08954004B1 |
Systems and methods for accessing websites using smartphones
An end user navigates to a website using a web browser running in a personal computer. A web application in the personal computer retrieves a uniform resource locator (URL) of the website and wirelessly transmits the URL to a smartphone that is proximate to and in wireless communication with the personal computer by near field communication (NFC). A smartphone app in the smartphone retrieves a password of the end user based on the URL of the website, and wirelessly transmits the password to the personal computer by NFC. In the personal computer, the web application uses the password to login to the website. The password may be automatically entered into a corresponding input field of a login webpage. |
| US08953985B2 |
Charging member and image forming apparatus
A blade-like charging member for charging a surface of an image bearing member by contacting the image bearing member and by being supplied with a voltage. The blade-like charging member includes a charging portion for effecting electric discharge to the surface of the image bearing member, and a non-charging portion not effecting the electric discharge to the surface of the image bearing member. The non-charging portion is capable of contacting the image bearing member while maintaining an electrically dischargeable gap between the charging portion and the image bearing member. At least a part of the non-charging portion is made of a material having a higher resistance than that of the charging portion so as to prevent electric discharge between the non-charging portion and the surface of the image bearing member. |
| US08953983B2 |
Image forming apparatus and transport device
Disclosed is an image forming apparatus including an image forming apparatus member, a toner image forming unit including a housing that accommodates at least one of a toner image retainer to retain a toner image and a toner retainer to supply a toner to the toner image retainer, and a recording medium transport unit including a transport belt, having an endless shape, that is openably and closably mounted to the image forming apparatus member and transports a recording medium with being wound between a pair of support rollers provided along a transport direction of the recording medium, and a regulation member that faces the transport belt to regulate a posture of the recording medium, wherein when the recording medium transport unit is closed with respect to the image forming apparatus member, the regulation member is positioned to come into contact with the housing. |
| US08953977B2 |
Developer container provided with cap for covering filling port
A developer container includes: a casing having a filling port and a cap for covering the filling port. The filling port is defined by a cylindrical through-hole having an inner peripheral surface, and a protruding portion protruding radially inward from the inner peripheral surface. The cap is attached to the casing in a first direction. The cap includes: a main body portion in a tubular shape having an outer peripheral surface; and a flange portion protruding radially outward from the outer peripheral surface in annular fashion. The flange portion is positioned downstream of the main body portion in the first direction and configured to be in contact with the inner peripheral surface. The protruding portion is positioned upstream of the flange portion in the first direction upon attachment of the cap to the casing. |
| US08953976B2 |
Developing device, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge
A developing device including a developer bearing member rotatable while bearing developer on a surface thereof, a rotary body having a rotary shaft, a casing that contains the developer supplied to the surface of the developer bearing member to accommodate at least a portion of the rotary body, a rotary gear having a rotary shaft parallel to the rotary shaft of the rotary body and disposed outside a lateral wall of the casing to support an end of the rotary shaft of the rotary body, and a stationary shaft member fixed to the lateral wall of the casing to rotatably support the rotary gear. An axial center of the stationary shaft member is collinear with an axial center of the rotary shaft of the rotary body. |
| US08953973B2 |
Image forming apparatus with cleaning blade
An image forming apparatus includes: a rotatable image bearing member; a toner image forming portion; a transfer member; a cleaning blade, provided downstream of the transfer member and upstream of the toner image forming portion with respect to a rotational direction of the image bearing member; a discharging member, provided downstream of the cleaning blade and upstream of the toner image forming portion with respect to the rotational direction; and a thin plate-like member provided downstream of the discharging member and upstream of the toner image forming portion with respect to the rotational direction. An end of the thin plate-like member is contacted to a surface of the image bearing member toward an upstream side with respect to the rotational direction. |
| US08953969B2 |
Image forming apparatus having suction duct for sucking developer not used in development
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a developing unit, and a developer sucking section. A relationship 0≦X≦R+kRW (where k=10 to 12) is established, when X (m) is a distance from a center of a transport pole to a position where a straight line crosses a rotating section, R (m) is a chain standing length of developer on the transport pole, W (m/s) is a peripheral velocity of the developing unit, and k is a coefficient. The transport pole is adjacent to a development pole and is situated downstream of the development pole in a direction of rotation of the rotating section. The straight line is situated at a downstream side in the direction of rotation of the rotating section and connects a center of rotation of the developing unit and an end of the developer sucking section. |
| US08953966B2 |
Fixing device and image forming apparatus
A fixing device includes a fixing member including a heating unit, and a pressure member, the heating unit includes a sub-heater having a heat generating portion in a region smaller than a minimum paper width, a main heater having a heat generating portion at outside of the sub-heater, a first temperature detector to detect a temperature of the fixing member at the heat generating portion of the main heater, and a second temperature detector to detect the temperature at the heat generating portion of the sub-heater. The main heater and the sub-heater can be switched selectively, and the initial duty ratio at the start of PID temperature control by the sub-heater is determined in accordance with a difference between temperatures detected by the respective temperature detectors at the start of PID temperature control and a target temperature so that the temperature is not overshooting and dropped. |
| US08953964B2 |
Image forming apparatus and method of controlling fusing temperature of the same
An image forming apparatus having two or more different rated voltages, the image forming apparatus including a voltage detecting unit, which detects a voltage level of alternating current (AC) power supplied from outside of the image forming apparatus; a control unit, which outputs a control signal according to the detected voltage level; a fusion driving circuit, which controls a number of waveforms and phase of the AC power according to the control signal and outputs the controlled AC power as fusing power; and a fuser including a heat generating body having a negative temperature coefficient (NTC) characteristic, which receives the fusing power and generates resistance heat; and a heating member, which is heated by the heat generated by the resistance heat generating body and fuses an image formed on a printing medium. |
| US08953935B2 |
Illumination arrangement for an image field delimitation frame of a mixed-image viewfinder camera
In an illumination arrangement (1) for an image field delimiting frame (2) of a mixed-image viewfinder camera having an observation beam path (9) and a viewfinder beam path (3), the illumination arrangement is arranged in the viewfinder beam path (3) in the direction of light upstream of the image field delimiting frame (2), the illumination is formed by an active light source (14, 14′) and the viewfinder beam path (3) is mechanically delimited (16, 22) within the illumination apparatus (1) with respect to the light source (14, 14′). |
| US08953928B2 |
Bookmarks in recorded video
In general, in one aspect, the disclosure describes a video recording system including a user interface to enable a user to enter commands. A bookmark manager is to generate bookmarks corresponding to locations in the videos being recorded based on bookmark commands received, to assign end points for the bookmarks, and to generate a program based on selection of one or more of the recorded videos and selection of at least a subset of the bookmarks associated with the one or more recorded videos. A video record/playback manager is to control recording of the videos and the associated bookmarks and to present the program by playing the at least a subset of the associated bookmarks for the one or more of the recorded videos. Playback of each of the at least a subset of the associated bookmarks is to end at the assigned endpoint. |
| US08953927B2 |
Data processing system, apparatus and method for processing information, recording and playback apparatus, and computer program
A recording/playback apparatus including first and second recorders is connected to an information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus transfers a first data stream file and a first management file used for managing the first stream file to the recording/playback apparatus. The first recorder records a second stream file and a second management file used for managing the second stream file thereon using a predetermined directory structure. The second recorder records the first stream file and the first management file transferred from the information processing apparatus thereon using the directory structure. After transferring the first stream file and the first management file to the second recorder, the information processing apparatus additionally records or updates the second stream file and the second management file respectively corresponding to the first stream file and the first management file on the first recorder based on the first stream file and the first management file. |
| US08953925B2 |
Optical waveguide
The present invention relates to an optical waveguide containing: a core formed by curing (A) a fluorine-containing polyarylene prepolymer having a crosslinkable functional group; and a cladding formed by curing (I) a curable composition containing (B) a compound having a molecular weight of 140 to 5,000, having a crosslinkable functional group and having no fluorine atom, and (A) a fluorine-containing polyarylene prepolymer. |
| US08953919B2 |
Datacommunications modules, cable-connector assemblies and components therefor
A telecommunications module includes: (a) an enclosure having a housing member with a floor and opposed side walls that each has a post that extends inwardly and an upper lip with an outwardly-facing slot; a bezel with a main body and a pair of rearwardly-extending projections, each having an aperture that receives a respective post of the housing side walls, the main body being positioned adjacent a forward edge of the housing floor; and a cover having a ceiling, a rear wall and opposed side walls, each having at least one inwardly-extending finger received in a slot of one of the housing member side walls, the rear wall being positioned adjacent a rear edge of the housing floor; (b) an MPO adapter; (c) a plurality of optical fibers attached to the MPO adapter; and (d) a plurality of caps mounted in the bezels and attached to respective optical fibers. |
| US08953918B2 |
Near field transducer for focused optical power delivery
An apparatus includes a channel waveguide, a ridge waveguide including a ridge and having a bottom surface, a coupler between the channel waveguide and the ridge waveguide, the coupler including an opening configured to transmit light from the channel waveguide to the ridge waveguide, wherein the opening has a first segment having a first width and a second segment having a second width different from the first width, and a protrusion extending from the ridge beyond the plane of the bottom surface. |
| US08953915B2 |
Electric cable with strain sensor and monitoring system and method for detecting strain in at least one electric cable
An electric cable includes a strain sensor longitudinally extending along the cable and including a strain optical fiber arranged within a bending neutral region surrounding and including a bending neutral longitudinal axis of the electric cable, and at least two longitudinal structural elements, at least one of the at least two longitudinal structural elements being a core including an electrical conductor, wherein the strain sensor is embedded in a strain-transferring filler mechanically coupling at least one of the at least two longitudinal structural elements with the strain sensor. With the disclosed cable construction, the strain experienced by the at least one of the at least two longitudinal structural elements is transferred to the strain sensor at least in a strained condition. In the preferred embodiments, the electric cable is a heavy-duty cable. |
| US08953913B2 |
Integrated optical circuit with an off-center groove
An integrated optical circuit includes a substrate having an input face, an output face, a lower face and an upper face, an optical waveguide extending between a first end located on the input face of the substrate and a second waveguide end located on the output face of the substrate. The integrated optical circuit further includes at least one off-center groove, the off-center groove extending from the lower face to the inside of the substrate, the at least one off-center groove being located at a non-zero distance d from the median plane, the off-center groove replacing a central groove and the at least one off-center groove being capable of attenuating the non-guided optical beam transmitted by the substrate between the first end and the second end. |
| US08953903B2 |
Method of multi-frame image noise reduction
A method of multi-frame image noise reduction suitable for an image-capturing device includes following steps: obtaining a current frame and multiple reference frames; defining a mask and a target point in the mask; judging whether the target point pixel of the current frame is on an edge according to an edge map of the frame; when the pixel is on the edge, using the pixels in the reference frames on the edge to calculate a replacement result; when the target point pixel is not on the edge, using the pixels in the reference frames surrounding the target point to calculate a replacement result; after that, generating a pixel corresponding to the position of the target point in an output image according to the replacement result; further, moving the mask and going back to judge whether the pixel of the target point of the current frame is on the edge. |
| US08953899B2 |
Method and system for rendering an image from a light-field camera
A method for rendering an image from a light-field camera, which generates a raw light-field image, includes: generating feature data, which includes feature elements associated with position information and obtained based on the raw light-field image and a preset threshold condition; generating a raw focused image from the raw light-field image; obtaining a virtual focus position that is designated on the raw focused image; and refocusing the raw focused image according to the virtual focus position by updating pixel values of pixels of the raw focused image that correspond respectively in position to the feature elements of the feature data, so as to generate a refocused image. |
| US08953890B2 |
Usage of visual reader as an input provider in portals
The present disclosure involves computer-implemented methods, software, and systems for providing information to a business application using captured image information. A computer-implemented method includes receiving, using at least one computer, image information, wherein the image information contains business object identifying data, analyzing the received image information to retrieve the business object identifying data, identifying at least one business object corresponding to the retrieved business object identifying data, retrieving business object information associated with the identified at least one business object from a memory, and transmitting the retrieved business object information to at least one business application. |
| US08953884B2 |
Detecting objects in images using color histograms
Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for detecting objects in images using color histograms are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein include determining differences between bin values of a first color histogram corresponding to an object and respective adjusted bin values of a second color histogram corresponding to a first subregion of an image. Such disclosed example methods also include determining a first metric based on the differences. Such disclosed example methods further include comparing the first metric to a threshold to determine whether the first subregion of the image corresponds to a first possible location of the object in the image. |
| US08953878B2 |
Image compressor, image processing system, and method for compressing image
According to one embodiment, it is provided that an image compressor includes an image data controller, first to third encoders and an encoded data generator. The image data controller extracts first to third pixels. The first encoder encodes a target first pixel and generates a first encoded pixel. The second encoder encodes a target second pixel and generates a second encoded pixel. The third encoder encodes a target third pixel and generates a third encoded pixel. The encoded data generator combines the first to third encoded pixels and generates encoded data. |
| US08953875B2 |
Multiscale modulus filter bank and applications to pattern detection, clustering, classification and registration
A digital filter bank having a number J≧1 of stages is disclosed. For each integer j such that 1≦j≦J, the j-th stage includes a plurality of filtering units (20, 21) each receiving an input signal of the j-th stage. These filtering units include a low-pass filtering unit (20) using real filtering coefficients and at least one band-pass filtering unit (21) using complex filtering coefficients. Following each band-pass filtering unit of the j-th stage, a respective modulus processing unit (25) generates a processed real signal as a function of squared moduli of complex output values of the band-pass filtering unit. The input signal of the first stage is a digital signal supplied to the digital filter bank, while for 1 |
| US08953874B2 |
Conversion of monoscopic visual content using image-depth database
An image converter compiles three-dimensional content into a data store, identifies a number of stereo image pairs from the three-dimensional content, computes a depth map for each of the stereo image pairs from the three-dimensional content, and partitions the stereo image pairs in the data store into multiple categories. The image converter determines a depth cue for each of the categories based on the depth map for each of the stereo image pairs in each category. The image converter computes a depth map for a category associated with a two-dimensional input image based on the determined depth cue and renders a three-dimensional output image from the two-dimensional input image using the depth map for the category. |
| US08953865B2 |
Medical image processing device and medical image processing method
Provided is, for example, a medical image display device which automatically create and display an image suitable for radiographic image interpretation of interosseous tissue or a 3-dimensional image of a vertebral body separated one by one with high precision. A medical image processing device (1) creates a first conversion image (in step (S1)), extracts a first intervertebral disc region from the first conversion image (in step (S2)), and specifies two coordinates (P1, P2) from among the pixels included in the first intervertebral disc region (in step (S3)). Next, the medical image processing device (1) creates a second conversion image (in step (S4)), extracts a second intervertebral disc region (in step (S5)), and specifies two coordinates (Q1, Q2) from the second intervertebral disc region (in step (S6)). Next, the medical image processing device (1) calculates a reference curved surface including at least four feature points of the coordinates (P1, P2, Q1, Q2) on a per intervertebral disc basis and, based on the reference curved surface, creates a display image (in step (S7)), and displays the display image (in step (S8)). |
| US08953861B2 |
Generating an estimate of patient radiation dose from medical imaging scans
Patient radiation exposure during computerized tomography (CT) scans is estimated. More specifically, efficient approaches for generating a suitable patient model which may be used for estimating the radiation dose absorbed by a patient receiving a CT scan, for estimating a patient dose by interpolating the results of multiple simulations, and for a service provider to host a dose estimation service made available to multiple CT scan providers. |
| US08953859B2 |
Viewing three dimensional digital slides
Systems and methods for providing a view of a digital slide image. In an embodiment, a digital slide image file is accessed. The digital slide image file may comprise a plurality of first image planes representing an image of at least a portion of a slide specimen at varying focal depths. Then, a three-dimensional object is constructed from the digital slide image file. The three-dimensional image object comprises a plurality of second image planes that are derived from one or more of the first image planes and may comprise at least one image plane that has been interpolated from one or more of the first image planes. In addition, a two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional view of the three-dimensional object may be generated. |
| US08953857B2 |
Similar case searching apparatus and similar case searching method
A similar case searching apparatus comprising: a weight determining unit which determines the weight to each of feature quantities extracted from an interpretation target image, based on predetermined two-data correlation information defining the correlation between the feature quantity and one of at least one image interpretation item and a disease name both included in an image interpretation report of a medical image included in a case data item registered in a case database, such that the weight is larger as the correlation is higher; and a similar case searching unit which searches for a similar case data item including a similar image, by weighting, using the weight, each image feature quantity in a first set extracted from the interpretation target image and a corresponding one of the image feature quantities in a second set extracted from the medical image, and comparing the weighted first set and the weighted second set. |
| US08953856B2 |
Method and system for registering a medical image
A method for registering a medical image with a model mapping a skeletal structure. The method comprises receiving a medical image depicting a plurality of bones, providing a statistical model mapping a reference skeletal structure having a plurality of reference anatomical elements, and registering medical image with the statistical model according to at least one constraint defined by the plurality of reference anatomical elements. |
| US08953847B2 |
Method and apparatus for solving position and orientation from correlated point features in images
A method and apparatus for determining a position and attitude of at least one camera by calculating and extracting estimated rotation and translation values from an estimated fundamental matrix based on information from at least a first and second 2D image. Variable substitution is utilized to strengthen derivatives and provide a more rapid convergence. A solution is provided for solving position and orientation from correlated point features in images using a method that solves for both rotation and translation simultaneously. |
| US08953844B2 |
System for fast, probabilistic skeletal tracking
A system and method are disclosed for recognizing and tracking a user's skeletal joints with a NUI system. The system includes one or more experts for proposing one or more skeletal hypotheses each representing a user pose within a given frame. Each expert is generally computationally inexpensive. The system further includes an arbiter for resolving the skeletal hypotheses from the experts into a best state estimate for a given frame. The arbiter may score the various skeletal hypotheses based on different methodologies. The one or more skeletal hypotheses resulting in the highest score may be returned as the state estimate for a given frame. It may happen that the experts and arbiter are unable to resolve a single state estimate with a high degree of confidence for a given frame. It is a further goal of the present system to capture any such uncertainty as a factor in how a state estimate is to be used. |
| US08953843B1 |
Selecting objects in a sequence of images
The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method including detecting positions of objects of a specific type within an ordered sequence of images. The method includes estimating one or more intermediate positions of one or more intermediate instances of an object in one or more intermediate images within the ordered sequence of images between an initial image and a subsequent image based on an initial position of an initial instance of the object in the initial image and a subsequent position of a subsequent instance of the object in the subsequent image. The method includes providing a list of the objects for presentation. The method includes receiving a selection of the object from the list. The method includes performing an operation on the initial instance, the intermediate instances, and the subsequent instance of the object. |
| US08953838B2 |
Detecting ground geographic features in images based on invariant components
Systems, devices, features, and methods for detecting geographic features in images, such as, for example, to develop a navigation database are disclosed. For example, a method of detecting a path marking from collected images includes collecting a plurality of images of geographic areas along a path. An image of the plurality of images is selected. Components that represent an object on the path in the selected image are determined. In one embodiment, the determined components are independent or invariant to scale of the object. The determined components are compared to reference components in a data library. If the determined components substantially meet a matching threshold with the reference components, the object in the selected image is identified to be a path marking corresponding to the reference components in the data library. |
| US08953837B2 |
System and method for performing an automatic and self-guided medical examination
A method for performing one or more medical examinations of a patient using a diagnostics device, wherein for at least one medical examination of the medical examinations, the method comprising: providing reference data indicative of a desired spatial disposition of the device with respect to the patient's body for performing the medical examination; operating the device for acquiring navigation enabling data; determining a spatial disposition of the device with respect to the desired spatial disposition, utilizing the acquired navigation enabling data and the reference data; calculating a required movement correction from the determined spatial disposition to the desired spatial disposition, for acquiring medical data of the patient in accordance with the at least one medical examination; providing a user with maneuvering instructions to navigate the device to the desired spatial disposition in accordance with the calculated route; and acquiring the medical data upon arrival to the desired spatial disposition. |
| US08953828B2 |
Hearing aid retainer accessory
A hearing aid retainer accessory for use with a hearing aid that comprises a battery compartment to be fitted with a battery drawer, wherein the hearing aid retainer accessory comprises a retainer portion with a connection section that is adapted to be engaged with a hearing aid via a battery drawer. |
| US08953817B2 |
System and method for producing a directional output signal
A system and method of producing a directional output signal is described including the steps of: detecting sounds at the left and rights sides of a person's head to produce left and right signals; determining the similarity of the signals; modifying the signals based on their similarity; and combining the modified left and right signals to produce an output signal. |
| US08953815B2 |
Battery receiving mechanism for noise cancellation headphone
Housings on the right/left of the noise cancellation headphone, where a speaker unit is incorporated, are connected to each other with a headband, and a battery receiving portion is provided on a side surface of at least one of the right and left housings. The battery receiving mechanism includes: a battery receiving portion provided in the side surface of the housing; a battery lid opening and closing the battery receiving portion; and a flexible connecting member preventing the battery lid from dropping off from the housing in a state where the battery lid opens the battery receiving portion. The housing and the battery lid each include an engagement part which engages with each other by pushing in the battery lid in a direction intersecting with the side surface of the housing, and the battery lid occupies a part of the side surface of the housing. |
| US08953811B1 |
Full digest of an audio file for identifying duplicates
Systems and methods are provided herein relating to audio matching. A compact digest can be generated based on sets of triples, where triples are groupings of three interest points that meet threshold criteria. The compact digest can be used in identifying a potential audio match. A full digest can then be used in verifying the potential match. By using a compact digest to perform audio matching, the audio matching system can be scaled to encompass millions or billions of reference audio samples while still using the full digest to maintain accuracy. |
| US08953803B2 |
Circuit switched mobile telephony in fixed wireless access
A fixed wireless terminal (29) comprises interfaces (32, 34) and a controller (40), e.g., a Generic Access Network Controller (GANC). The controller (40) is configured to interwork Generic Access Network (GAN) signaling employed between the mobile wireless terminal (29) and the fixed wireless terminal (30) with circuit switched signaling employed between the fixed wireless terminal and the radio access network (22). The interworking enables the controller (40) to provide a circuit switched mobile telephony core network service to the mobile wireless terminal (30). |
| US08953797B2 |
Configuring audiovisual systems
A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for configuring audiovisual equipment. An image captured by an imaging sensor of a camera may comprise an encoded pattern that includes information that can unlock a feature or function of a camera or other audiovisual equipment the information is extracted from the encoded pattern using an image processor of the camera, or communicatively coupled to the camera. The information may comprise encrypted information which may be decrypted using a unique identifier of the camera. The information may be transmitted to downstream audiovisual equipment and may be used to unlock features and functions of other devices. The other devices may include another camera. |
| US08953796B2 |
Techniques for accessing features of a hardware adapter
A technique for accessing features of a hardware adapter includes reading a first key from a hardware adapter and attempting to decrypt the first key with a second key. In response to the second key successfully decrypting the first key: encrypted code from the hardware adapter is read; the encrypted code is decrypted with the decrypted first key to generate unencrypted code; and a default code in an executable flash sector of the hardware adapter is over-written with the unencrypted code. In this case, the unencrypted code facilitates access to at least one feature of the hardware adapter that is customer specific. In response to the second key not successfully decrypting the first key, the default code in the executable flash sector of the hardware adapter is not over-written. In this case, the default code facilitates access to one or more features that are not customer specific. |
| US08953787B2 |
Strengthened public key protocol
A method of determining the integrity of a message exchanged between a pair of correspondents. The message is secured by embodying the message in a function of a public key derived from a private key selected by one of the correspondents. The method comprises first obtaining the public key. The public key is then subjected to at least one mathematical test to determine whether the public key satisfies predefined mathematical characteristics. Messages utilizing the public key are accepted if the public key satisfies the predefined mathematical characteristics. |
| US08953785B2 |
Instruction set for SKEIN256 SHA3 algorithm on a 128-bit processor
According to one embodiment, a processor includes an instruction decoder to receive a first instruction to perform first SKEIN256 MIX-PERMUTE operations, the first instruction having a first operand associated with a first storage location to store a plurality of odd words, a second operand associated with a second storage location to store a plurality of even words, and a third operand. The processor further includes a first execution unit coupled to the instruction decoder, in response to the first instruction, to perform multiple rounds of the first SKEIN256 MIX-PERMUTE operations based on the odd words and even words using a first rotate value obtained from a third storage location indicated by the third operand, and to store new odd words in the first storage location indicated by the first operand. |
| US08953778B2 |
Real-time intelligent mute interactive features
A system and method including selecting a mute feature in a first communication session of a first user with a second user using a verbal command by the first user, where the mute feature suspends an audible signal of the first user in the first communication session. |
| US08953772B2 |
Agent conferenced IVR
A system engages a live agent in a multi-party call type arrangement with the user and an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) unit when the user has difficulty with the IVR. The agent is provided with information about the IVR process being executed and the user's input. When the agent is introduced into the call, the agent does not take over the IVR session, but the agent helps direct the user to provide the correct input(s) to the IVR session. Once the issue is corrected, the agent can remove themself from the customer/IVR dialog. As a consequence: the user continues their self-service transactions in the IVR, and the user is better educated on how to navigate the IVR in the future. Further, agent resources are spared from further interaction with the user, and the user is less likely to have a negative opinion of the IVR. |
| US08953771B2 |
Method and apparatus to provide cryptographic identity assertion for the PSTN
The present application provides an authentication scheme that allows a device to provide additional authentication of a Publicly Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) identity assertion made in a PSTN call by also sending an Internet Protocol (IP) communication. The device sends the IP communication generally in parallel with the PSTN call. The IP communication includes a network identity assertion, which optionally may be authenticated using a cryptographically secure technique. The network identity assertion, being more difficult to falsify, provides additional authentication of the PSTN identity assertion. |
| US08953769B2 |
Calling party controlled ringback tones
A computer readable medium stores a program for a calling party controlled ringback tone service. The service enables a calling party to control ringback tones, even overriding called party selected ringback tones. The service can operate in a wireless or wireline network, such as a voice over IP (VoIP) network or time division multiplexed (TDM) network. The calling party can be periodically billed for the ringback tone control service, as well as the ringback tones. The subscriber can configure the service via the web. |
| US08953766B1 |
Familiarization augmentation system and technology (FAST) dialer
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, to a method and an apparatus that would allow callers to time-share telephone, telecommunication or communication lines in order to truthfully vary the telephone line from which they are calling parties through the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN). The system would allow customers to manage the identity of their calls in ways that would maximize the probability that a called party would answer. |
| US08953760B2 |
Method in a communication system
A method and arrangement are disclosed in a Vector Control Entity for enabling a fair bit rate distribution among lines of similar priority in a vectoring group, when applying partial vectoring in a DSL communication system. The method comprises calculating a rate balancing metric, RBM, for each line i within a priority group A, indicative of the ratio between the bit rate of a line i with a current vectoring resource allocation, and the estimated bit rate of line i assuming approximately no crosstalk within the vectoring group. The method further comprises allocating partial-vectoring resources to the line/s within the group A, based on the calculated RBMs, such as to reduce the difference in RBM between the lines. The method further comprises calculating an updated RBM for any line within the group A subjected to changes in vectoring resource allocation. The method may be iterated until certain criteria are fulfilled. The arrangement is adapted to enable the performance of the above described method. |
| US08953749B2 |
Lifestyle multimedia security system
A method is disclosed for remote monitoring of a premises, comprising the steps of operatively coupling a geographically remote client to a security system server which is capable of authenticating a user of the remote client, operatively coupling the remote client to a security gateway which is capable of managing the monitoring of the premises, activating a signal at the premises for notifying an occupant at the premises that remote monitoring is occurring, and transferring information between the security gateway and the remote client. The transfer of information between the security gateway and the remote client is controlled by the user of the remote client. The security gateway may be operably coupled to at least one camera at the premises and to at least one audio station at the premises. |
| US08953747B2 |
Shielding electrode for an X-ray generator
An x-ray generator includes a voltage source and a voltage divider network coupled thereto, a housing, and an insulator carried within the housing. An emitter cathode is carried within the housing and emits electrons and undesirable conductive particles. In addition, there is a shielding electrode carried within the housing downstream of the emitter cathode and coupled to the voltage divider network. A target is carried within the housing downstream of the at least one shielding electrode. The voltage divider is configured so that the emitter cathode and the shielding electrode have a voltage difference therebetween such that an electric field generated in the housing accelerates electrons emitted by the emitter cathode to toward the target. The shielding electrode is shaped to capture the undesirable conductive particles emitted by the emitter cathode that would otherwise strike the insulator. |
| US08953736B2 |
Exposure boost zone for boiling water reactor nuclear bundles
Disclosed are a fuel rod and a fuel bundle using the fuel rod. The fuel rod may include first enriched uranium in a boost zone of the fuel rod, wherein the boost zone may be arranged directly at a bottom of the fuel rod. The fuel rod may also include second enriched uranium in a second zone of the fuel rod, wherein the second zone is arranged over the boost zone. The fuel rod may also include natural uranium in a third zone of the fuel rod, wherein the third zone is arranged over the second zone. In this fuel rod, a percent of enrichment of the enriched uranium in the boost zone is at least one percent. |
| US08953728B2 |
System for processing data streams
A system for processing data streams or signals includes a wave-front multiplexer configured to process first and second input signals into first and second output signals each carrying information associated with the first and second input signals, a first processing unit configured to process a third input signal carrying information associated with the first output signal into a third output signal, a second processing unit configured to process a fourth input signal carrying information associated with the second output signal into a fourth output signal, and a wave-front demultiplexer configured to process fifth and sixth input signals into fifth and sixth output signals each carrying information associated with the fifth and sixth input signals. The fifth input signal carries information associated with the third output signal, and the sixth input signal carries information associated with the fourth output signal. |
| US08953726B2 |
Antenna selection technique for fast diversity
A fast diversity technique using either an EESM or a capacity computation can determine antenna selection in a wireless communication device. A fast Fourier transform (FFT) for the EESM/capacity computation can be performed with consecutive samples of a single symbol period of a short training field (STF) of a packet received by each antenna. The effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for each antenna can be calculated using the results of the EESM or capacity computation. The antenna with the highest effective SNR is selected. |
| US08953703B2 |
Interleaving method and deinterleaving method
Bit permutation to bits of a codeword is performed such that: at least one spatial-multiplexing block is made up of bits from B/2 different cyclic-blocks; each constellation word of the at least one spatial-multiplexing block is made up of bits from Bt/2 different cyclic blocks, Bt being the number of bits of the constellation word; and each of the bit pairs of the constellation word is made up of bits from a common one of the Bt/2 different cyclic blocks. |
| US08953700B2 |
Method for transmitting signal in multiple node system
Provided is a signal transmission method of a multi-node system employing a plurality of nodes and a base station that can control each of the plurality of nodes. The method includes: transmitting per-node transmission information to a user equipment; transmitting at least one stream to the user equipment by applying a precoding matrix determined for each node in at least one node among the plurality of nodes; and receiving per-node feedback information from the user equipment, wherein the per-node feedback information includes information on a precoding matrix applicable to a node which transmits the at least one stream. |
| US08953697B2 |
Channel estimation in a wireless communication system
An estimator (111) is configured to estimate an initial representation of the channel based on the reference signal. A first transformer (112) is configured to transform the initial channel representation into a first domain suitable for suppression of a first type of disturbance. A first suppressor (113) is configured to perform suppression of the first type of disturbance in the first domain for obtaining a first suppressed channel representation. A second transformer (114) is configured to transform the first suppressed channel representation into a second domain suitable for suppression of a second type of disturbance. A second suppressor (115) is configured to perform suppression of the second type of disturbance in the second domain for obtaining a second suppressed channel representation. The first type of disturbance includes one of inter-channel interference and noise, and the second type of disturbance includes the other one of inter-channel interference and noise. |
| US08953696B2 |
Signal decoding systems
We describe an ultra wideband (UWB) orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) modified dual carrier modulation (MDCM) decoder comprising: first and second inputs to input first and second signals for first and second OFDM carriers; third and fourth inputs for respective third and fourth signals comprising channel quality estimates for the OFDM carriers; a set of integer arithmetic units coupled to said first, second, third and fourth inputs to form a set of intermediate terms; a first set of adders to form first and second sets of combinations of said intermediate terms, one for each MDCM coded bit value; a compare-select stage to select a first and second minimum valued said combination of said intermediate terms from said first and second set; and a subtracter to determine a log likelihood ratio (LLR) value for said bit from said first and second minimum valued combinations. |
| US08953695B2 |
Transmitter, transmission method, receiver, reception method, program, and integrated circuit
A transmitter 100 includes an L1 signaling data coder 111. In the L1 signaling data coder 111, an L1 signaling data generator 1021 converts transmission parameters into L1-pre signaling data and L1-post signaling data and outputs the L1-pre signaling data and the L1-post signaling data, an energy dispersion unit 121 performs energy dispersion on the L1-pre signaling data and the L1-post signaling data in order, and an L1 error correction coder 1022 performs error correction coding, based on BCH coding and LDPC coding, on the energy-dispersed L1-pre signaling data. This allows for randomization of a large bias in mapping data of the L1-pre signaling data and the L1-post signaling data, thus solving the problem of concentration of power in a specific sample within P2 symbols. |
| US08953694B2 |
Communication apparatus and control method therefor
Regarding an apparatus capable of transmitting data using a high-rate transmission channel having narrow directivity and a low-rate transmission channel having wide directivity, data is not correctly sent in some cases because a communication path for the high-rate transmission channel is easily interrupted. In contrast, it is not possible to realize sending of high-quality data using the low-rate transmission channel. The same data is simultaneously transmitted using the high-rate transmission channel and the low-rate transmission channel. The data that has been received using the high-rate transmission channel or the data that has been received using the low-rate transmission channel is selected in accordance with a state of reception using the high-rate transmission channel. |
| US08953693B2 |
Method and apparatus for variable accuracy inter-picture timing specification for digital video encoding with reduced requirements for division operations
A method and apparatus for performing motion estimation in a digital video system is disclosed. Specifically, the present invention discloses a system that quickly calculates estimated motion vectors in a very efficient manner. In one embodiment, a first multiplicand is determined by multiplying a first display time difference between a first video picture and a second video picture by a power of two scale value. This step scales up a numerator for a ratio. Next, the system determines a scaled ratio by dividing that scaled numerator by a second first display time difference between said second video picture and a third video picture. The scaled ratio is then stored calculating motion vector estimations. By storing the scaled ratio, all the estimated motion vectors can be calculated quickly with good precision since the scaled ratio saves significant bits and reducing the scale is performed by simple shifts. |
| US08953692B2 |
Image coding method and image decoding method
An image coding method for improving coding efficiency by using more appropriate probability information is provided. The image coding method includes: a first coding step of coding a first set of blocks included in a first region sequentially based on first probability information; and a second coding step of coding a second set of blocks included in a second region sequentially based on second probability information. In the first coding step, the first probability information is updated depending on data of a target block to be coded, after coding the target block and before coding a next target block. In the second coding step, the second probability information is updated depending on the first probability information updated in the first coding step, before coding the first target block. |
| US08953688B2 |
In loop contrast enhancement for improved motion estimation
A motion estimation method is provided, including providing first image data, providing second image data, block-matching a source block of the first image data with target blocks of the second image data to determine a motion vector corresponding to the position of the target block that most accords with the source block, and applying a contrast enhancement on source blocks and/or target blocks to improve block-matching. A motion estimation device and video device are also provided. |
| US08953683B2 |
Method and apparatus for encoding intra prediction information
A method for encoding an intra prediction mode according to the present invention selects an intra prediction mode for a current block, determines the number of valid MPM candidates by checking the validity of MPM candidates of the current block, and if the number of valid MPM candidates is less than a previously set number, adds additional intra prediction modes as MPM candidates. MPM candidates can be adaptively added on the basis of the directionality of valid MPM candidates. Additionally, during the encoding of residual intra prediction modes, residual intra prediction modes are realigned on the basis of the directionality of valid MPM candidates. Accordingly, the present invention minimizes the information for encoding the intra prediction mode of the current block by adding MPM candidates or realigning the residual intra prediction modes on the basis of the directionality of valid MPM candidates. |
| US08953678B2 |
Moving picture coding apparatus
A moving picture coding apparatus divides a picture into basic blocks and generates a prediction image of a block to be predicted in a basic block by using adjacent pixels in reference pixel blocks adjacent to the block to be predicted as reference pixels to perform predictive coding of a moving picture. When some of the reference pixels are not available, pixel values of the reference pixels that are not available are calculated based on pixels in the reference pixel blocks. The prediction image of the block to be predicted is generated by using the calculated pixel values instead of the reference pixels that are not available. |
| US08953675B2 |
Tile-based system and method for compressing video
A system and method are described below for encoding interactive low-latency video using interframe coding. For example, one embodiment of a computer-implemented method for performing video compression comprises: logically subdividing each of a sequence of images into a plurality of tiles, each of the tiles having a defined position within each of the sequence of images, the defined position remaining the same between successive images; encoding one of the tiles at a first defined position in a first image of the sequence of images using a first compression format and encoding the reminder of the tiles in the first image using the second compression format; and encoding one of the tiles at a second defined position in a second image of the sequence of images using the first compression format and encoding the reminder of the tiles in the first image using the second compression format; wherein the second compression format is dependent on previously-encoded tiles encoded according to the first compression format and/or the second compression format. |
| US08953670B1 |
Digital power encoder for direct digital-RF transmitter
A transmitter includes a first digital up-converter for converting data to an intermediate frequency (IF) signal, a pulse width modulator (PWM) for encoding the IF signal to an IF pulse train, a second digital up-converter for converting the IF pulse train to a radio frequency (RF) pulse train, a power amplifier for amplifying the RF pulse train; and a filter for reconstructing a RF analog signal from the amplified RF pulse train. |
| US08953656B2 |
III-nitride semiconductor laser device and method for fabricating III-nitride semiconductor laser device
A Group III nitride semiconductor laser device includes a laser structure including a support substrate with a semipolar primary surface of a hexagonal Group III nitride semiconductor, and a semiconductor region thereon, and an electrode, provided on the semiconductor region, extending in a direction of a waveguide axis in the laser device. The c-axis of the nitride semiconductor is inclined at an angle ALPHA relative to a normal axis to the semipolar surface toward the waveguide axis direction. The laser structure includes first and second fractured faces intersecting with the waveguide axis. A laser cavity of the laser device includes the first and second fractured faces extending from edges of first and second faces. The first fractured face includes a step provided at an end face of an InGaN layer of the semiconductor region and extending in a direction from one side face to the other of the laser device. |
| US08953654B2 |
Semiconductor laser driving circuit and semiconductor laser device including the same
A semiconductor laser driving circuit supplies a drive current to a semiconductor laser diode connected to an output terminal based on an input signal inputted thereto through an input terminal, thereby controlling the semiconductor laser diode. The semiconductor laser driving circuit includes a first supply portion supplying a bias current, and a first supply signal having a frequency component whose frequency is equal to or lower than a first frequency of the input signal, and a second supply portion supplying a second supply signal having a frequency component whose frequency is higher than a second frequency of the input signal. |
| US08953649B2 |
Grating external-cavity semiconductor laser and quasi-synchronous method thereof
A method for quasi-synchronous tuning of wavelength or frequency of grating external-cavity semiconductor laser and a corresponding semiconductor laser are provided. A grating or mirror is rotated around a quasi-synchronous tuning point (Pq) as rotation center, so as to achieve the frequency selections by grating and resonance cavity in quasi-synchronous tuning, wherein the angle of the line between the quasi-synchronous tuning point (Pq) and a conventional synchronous tuning point (P0) with respect to the direction of light incident on the grating is determined according to the angle difference between the incidence angle and diffraction angle of light on the grating. According to present invention, approximately synchronous tuning of laser is achieved with a simple and flexible design. |
| US08953647B1 |
High-power laser using thulium-doped fiber amplifier and frequency quadrupling for blue output
An apparatus, method and associated fiber-laser architectures for high-power pulsed operation and pumping wavelength-conversion devices. Some embodiments generate blue laser light by frequency quadrupling infrared (IR) light from Tm-doped gain fiber using non-linear wavelength conversion. Some embodiments use a fiber MOPA configuration to amplify a seed signal from a semiconductor laser or ring fiber laser. Some embodiments use the frequency-quadrupled blue light for underwater communications, imaging, and/or object and anomaly detection. Some embodiments amplitude modulate the IR seed signal to encode communication data sent to or from a submarine once the modulated light has its wavelength quartered. Other embodiments transmit blue-light pulses in a scanned pattern and detect scattered light to measure distances to objects in a raster-scanned underwater volume, which in turn are used to generate a data structure representing a three-dimensional rendition of the underwater scene being imaged for viewing by a person or for other software analysis. |
| US08953645B2 |
Communication system, communication apparatus and time synchronization method
A communication system that is constituted by a plurality of communication apparatuses, and performs time synchronization using a time synchronization frame, wherein one of the communication apparatuses is set as a starting point node, at least one of the communication apparatuses is set as a terminal point node, the starting point node generates a time synchronization frame in an outward-route direction and transmits the generated time synchronization frame in the outward-route direction, the terminal point node generates a time synchronization frame in a return-route direction and transmits the generated time synchronization frame in the return-route direction, and an intermediate node relays a received time synchronization frame when receiving a time synchronization frame transmitted in an outward-route direction and a return-route direction. |
| US08953640B2 |
Transmitting system and method of processing digital broadcast signal in transmitting system
A transmitting system and a method of transmitting digital broadcast signal are disclosed. The method of transmitting digital broadcast signal includes FEC encoding mobile data to build data frames, dividing the data frames into a plurality of data portions, converting one of the data portions into a plurality of SCCC blocks, performing convolutional coding on mobile data, mapping the SCCC blocks to data blocks and extended data blocks, forming a data group, forming a fixed number of mobile data packets and a first scalable number of mobile data packets, multiplexing the fixed number of mobile data packets, the first scalable number of mobile data packets and a second scalable number of main data packets. |
| US08953632B2 |
Pilot pattern design for a STTD scheme in an OFDM system
A transmitting device for transmitting data symbols and pilot symbols in an OFDM transmission system; the device comprising symbol generating means for generating said data symbols and said pilot symbols, means for transmitting said data symbols and pilot symbols respectively by using a plurality of subcarriers of said OFDM transmission system, wherein said symbol generating means is designed to selectively generate a first type pilot symbol and a second type pilot symbol being orthogonal to said first type pilot symbol so that a pilot symbol pattern in the frequency dimension comprises at least said first type pilot symbol to be transmitted by using a predefined subcarrier and second type pilot symbol to be transmitted by using other predefined subcarrier, and wherein said pilot symbol pattern has a different pattern from a succeeding pilot symbol pattern in time dimension. |
| US08953628B2 |
Processor with packet ordering device
A processor includes a plurality of processor cores, a networking output, and a packet ordering device. The packet ordering device determines an ordering for packets that are processed by the processor cores. The packets are released to the networking output in a determined order. |
| US08953619B2 |
Dynamic optimization of a multicast tree hierarchy for a distributed switch
A distributed switch may include a hierarchy with one or more levels of surrogate sub-switches (and surrogate bridge elements) that enable the distributed switch to scale bandwidth based on the size of the membership of a multicast group. Moreover, each surrogate may optimize the hierarchy according to one or more optimization criteria. For example, each surrogate in the hierarchy may have the necessary information to ensure that if the next surrogate in the hierarchy is unavailable, the data may be routed to a backup surrogate. The selected hierarchy may be further optimized by skipping surrogates (or a surrogate level) such that the data intended for a skipped surrogate is sent to a surrogate in a lower-level of the hierarchy. This may better utilize the connection interfaces in the transmitting sub-switches and eliminate any unnecessary surrogate-to-surrogate transfers. |
| US08953610B2 |
Method and system for transit between two IPV6 nodes of a utility network connected VIA an IPV4 network using encapsulation technique
One example embodiment provides a method and system where a node in an IPv6 utility network communicates with an IPv6 destination node through and IPv4 network. IPv6 utility nodes are reachable through at least one access point. IPv6 packets to be transmitted between an IPv6 access point an and an IPv6 destination node through a IPv4 communications network are encapsulated in IPv4 packets for transmission through the IPv4 communications network. Packets received after transmission through the IPv4 communications network at the destination node are extracted to retrieve the IPv6 packet. |
| US08953608B1 |
Method and system for frame aggregation
Method and system for aggregating frames at a network device coupled to computing system is provided. The network device includes an aggregator module that is configured to determine that a frame received by the device meets a first level eligibility criterion for aggregation, where the frame meets the first level eligibility criterion when the frame is a data frame for the I/O exchange identified as a large I/O operation; and a frame header meets an eligibility criterion. When the frame does not meet the first level eligibility criterion and an active aggregation exists for the exchange, then a previous aggregation data unit with an appended header and the received frame are sent to a transport layer for further processing. When the frame meets the first level eligibility criterion, the aggregator module checks a data structure maintained by the network device to determine that an aggregation flow exists for the exchange. |
| US08953596B2 |
Conserving network capacity by releasing QoS resources
A broadband service is provided by allocating air interface resources in a wireless network that conforms to the 1xEV-DO standard. The air interface resources are characterized by various quality of service (QoS) parameters, such as bandwidth, packet priority and error rate. Packetized information is transmitted in data flows between a base station and cell phones. A particular QoS level is reserved for each of the data flows that support the broadband service. An operating system on a cell phone monitors one data flow as well as another data flow in the opposite direction. When the base station runs out of an air interface resource, the base station suspends the QoS reservation of a data flow. The operating system determines that the QoS reservation in one direction has been suspended and sends an unsolicited message to the base station releasing the QoS reservation in the opposite direction, thereby conserving network resources. |
| US08953595B2 |
Route-optimised mulitcast traffic for a mobile network node
A method of communicating traffic from a source to a group (G) of nodes including a Network Node (MNN) in a network using one or more multicast protocols. The network also comprises a Router (MR) for forwarding traffic between the network and the Internet and a Multicast Signalling Gateway (MSG) co-located with the Router (MR) and translating on an interface signalling messages of a multicast routing protocol (MRP) into messages of a group membership protocol (GMP). In the case of mobile networks, the interface is preferably an egress interface of the Mobile Router (MR). The Multicast Signalling Gateway (MSG) preferably translates multicast packets together with unicast source addresses and multicast destination addresses of multicast packets between IPv4 and IPv6 protocols. |
| US08953594B2 |
Systems and methods for increasing preambles
Systems and methods for increasing preambles are provided. In some aspects, an electronic device configured for use as a node in a home network is provided. The electronic device includes a preamble generator configured to generate an outbound preamble for a data signal. The electronic device also includes a preamble increasing circuit configured to increase a size of the outbound preamble based on a switching signal. |
| US08953592B2 |
Network address translation for application of subscriber-aware services
In general, techniques are described for informing services nodes of private network address information in order to apply subscriber-aware services with the services node. In some examples, a services node includes an Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) interface to receive a AAA message, wherein the AAA message has been extended from a AAA protocol to specify a private network address of a subscriber device authenticated to an access network by the AAA server and assigned the private network address that is not routable external to the access network. A mapping module associates the public network address of subscriber data traffic with the private network address received by the AAA message. One or more service modules select one or more of a plurality of subscriber policies using the associated private network address and apply services to the subscriber data traffic in accordance with the selected subscriber policies. |
| US08953578B2 |
Method and system for contention avoidance in multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output wireless networks
Wireless medium reservation for simultaneous transmission of multiple downlink spatial streams to multiple receiver wireless stations during a multi-user transmit opportunity over a wireless medium, is provided. Such a reservation includes reserving a transmission period for simultaneously transmitting data from a transmitting station to multiple intended receiving stations on multiple downlink spatial streams over a wireless communication medium. Reserving the transmission period includes transmitting a request-to-send (RTS) frame to the multiple receiving stations, the RTS frame including a receiver address (RA) field comprising compressed addresses for the multiple receiving stations. |
| US08953577B2 |
Communication apparatus, method and system
If a network having the same SSID as but a different BSSID from those of a network that has been established by a first communication apparatus is detected, the network established by the first communication apparatus is terminated and the first communication apparatus participates in the detected network. This makes it possible for the first communication apparatus and another communication apparatus to participate in the same network. |
| US08953570B2 |
Radio frequency identification system and related operating methods
A method of operating a radio frequency identification (RFID) system is provided. The method interrogates RFID tags with an RFID reader and provides at least some of the collected tag data to a mobile device that is unable to communicate with RFID tags using the over-the-air interface. In some situations, the RFID system obtains the current location of the mobile device and determines the location of a target tag relative to the current location of the mobile device. Locating the target tag in this manner involves the interrogation of a reference tag located at the mobile device, along with the target tag, using one RFID reader. The position of the target tag relative to the reference tag is calculated in response to the tag response signals obtained from the target and reference tags. Moreover, location of the target tag can be independently determined relative to the location of a mobile reader, by using a reference tag attached to a fixed reader or to the mobile reader. |
| US08953569B2 |
Wireless mobile communication device with autonomous Wi-Fi control based on location of 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 location sensor. 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 location sensor determines that the wireless mobile communication device is near a Wi-Fi access point. 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 location sensor senses that the wireless mobile communication device is near a Wi-Fi access point. |
| US08953568B2 |
Roaming method and apparatus for terminals in wireless local area network
A roaming method and a data transmission system for a portable terminal in a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) are provided. The method includes transitioning to an active mode, by a control unit in a standby mode in response to a request from a WLAN module during roaming from a first Access Point (AP) to a second AP, and performing authentication in conjunction with a server, by the control unit in the active mode. As a result, when a portable terminal roams in a WLAN, the network connection is not disrupted. |
| US08953562B2 |
Method of using uplink reference signals for access grant requests
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for using uplink reference signals for access grant requests. The method includes determining that at least one mobile unit is requesting access to at least one uplink channel based on information indicative of a change in a masking sequence applied to at least one reference signal. Another embodiment of the present invention includes providing a first reference signal modulated by a first masking sequence to indicate a request for access to at least one uplink channel. |
| US08953560B2 |
Apparatus and method for providing voice call continuity using different networks in wireless communication system
An apparatus and a method for providing call continuity in a wireless communication system are provided. The apparatus includes a first communication unit for setting a call with a counterpart terminal in a first network, a second communication unit for setting a call with the counterpart terminal in a second network while the call is set in the first network, and a control unit for terminating the call of the first network after the call setup is completed in the second network. |
| US08953559B2 |
Method and apparatus for supporting network-based flow mobility
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for supporting location registration and mobility for each service flow in relation to a Mobile Node (MN) having a plurality of wired/wireless network interfaces in a wired/wireless integrated network environment. A method includes receiving a location registration message from a specific Handover Control Agent (HCA) connected to an MN, determining a movement of a flow, configured in another HCA to which the MN is connected, based on predetermined static flow binding information or a network status, sending a location registration Ack. message, comprising information on a HCA in which the flow is configured and to which a Corresponding Node (CN) is connected, to the specific HCA, and sending a location notification message, comprising information on the specific HCA to which the flow will be moved and to which the CN is connected, to the HCA. |
| US08953553B2 |
Method of switching a periodic/aperiodic transmission of a channel estimation reference signal, and apparatus and method for a transmitting/receiving channel estimation reference signal using the same
A method for switching between periodic transmission and aperiodic transmission of a channel estimation reference signal for scheduling resources in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system and an apparatus to transmit/receive the reference signal using the same. To schedule periodic and aperiodic transmission of the channel estimation reference signal, a predetermined type of transmission indicator is used, the transmission indicator including one or more bits of a periodic/aperiodic identification indicator. According to the present embodiment, when periodic and aperiodic transmission of the channel estimation reference signal is mixedly performed, interference between user equipment or between cells can be minimized, and a transmission efficiency of the reference signal can be enhanced. |
| US08953550B2 |
Channel configuration in a wireless network
A base station transmits a message comprising configuration parameters of first radio resources of a control channel. The first radio resources comprise one or more sets of resource blocks in a subset of subframes in a plurality of subframes. The base station transmits scheduling information on the control channel for a packet transmitted on an uplink data channel. The base station transmits a positive or negative acknowledgement on second radio resources of a feedback channel for the received packet. The second radio resources start from the first OFDM symbol of a second subframe. |
| US08953541B2 |
Method, user equipment, base station, and system for detecting sharing of timing advance value
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, user equipment, base station, and system for detecting sharing of a timing advance value, relate to the field of communications technologies, and solve a problem in the prior art that a normal service cannot be provided because a TA value cannot be shared between different uplink CCs. According to the embodiments of the present invention, the user equipment may determine, through a time offset between synchronization of downlink component carriers corresponding to uplink component carriers, that a too large time offset indicates that a same TA value cannot be shared; the base station may calculate a TA value directly through a dedicated preamble sequence, and then compares the TA value with a TA value of one of the component carriers, where a too large difference between the TA values indicates that a same TA value cannot be shared. |
| US08953535B2 |
Method and apparatus for transceiving data via a contention-based physical uplink data channel
Disclosed are a method and apparatus for transceiving data via a contention based physical uplink data channel. A terminal apparatus, which transmits data via a contention based physical uplink data channel, comprises: a transmitter which transmits data via a contention based physical uplink data channel and scheduling request information via a scheduling request channel simultaneously or consecutively to a base station; a receiver which receives a physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) or an uplink (UL) grant message from the base station; and a processor which decodes the physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) or the uplink (UL) grant message to determine whether an ACK signal or a NACK signal is indicated. Here, the scheduling request channel can be a specific channel allocated to the terminal apparatus so as to discriminate the terminal from other terminal apparatuses. |
| US08953532B2 |
Method and apparatus for uplink control signaling
A system, a device and a method for allocating A/N resources are disclosed. In one embodiment the method comprises indicating an acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement (A/N) channel of a user equipment in a first cell, the A/N channel according to a first value and a second value, wherein the first value is determined by a physical layer parameter, wherein the second value is indicated by a high layer signaling, and wherein the A/N channel corresponds to a downlink transmission of a second cell. |
| US08953529B2 |
Method, system and device for high speed uplink packet access scheduling
A method, apparatus and computer program product comprises determining a rise-over-thermal (RoT) budget associated with a cell within a communication network for user equipment served by the cell, determining a number of user equipment served by the cell to receive a minimum-grant of an uplink channel, determining a high-grant for allocation to a selected user equipment, the high-grant allowing the selected user equipment to communicate in the uplink channel of the communication network, the high-grant being based on the RoT budget, and allocating the high-grant to the selected user equipment and the minimum-grant to all other user equipment served by the cell. |
| US08953524B2 |
Access point multi-level transmission power control based on the exchange of characteristics
A first plurality of characteristics are received from a first client device relating to transmissions received by the first client device from both an access point and a second client device. A second plurality of characteristics are received from the second client device relating to transmissions received by the second client device from both the access point and the first client device. The first plurality of characteristics and the second plurality of characteristics are both assessed. Based on the assessment, a least one of a plurality of customized power levels is selected for transmissions by the access point to the first client device and the second client device. |
| US08953522B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling retransmission on uplink in a wireless communication system supporting MIMO
A method is provided for controlling retransmission by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system supporting Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology. A plurality of transport blocks is initially transmitted to a Node B. A retransmission request for at least one transport block among the plurality of transport blocks is received from the Node B. A precoding matrix for retransmission of the at least one transport block is determined based on the retransmission request for the at least one transport block. The at least one transport block is retransmitted using the determined precoding matrix. |
| US08953508B2 |
TMSI allocation device and method thereof, and network attachment and location area update methods in M2M communication
The invention provides a temporary mobile station identity TMSI allocation method, comprising steps of: notifying a mobility management entity MME device of a corresponding mobility attribute based on a type of a Machine Type Communication MTC application, wherein the mobility attribute indicates whether a mobility of the MTC application is high or low; determining, by the MME device, a mobility layer associated with the MTC application according to the mobility attribute, and then allocating a TMSI from an available address space to a MTC device applying the MTC application based on a predetermined criterion, according to the determined mobility layer. The present invention further provides corresponding MTC server, MME device, network attachment method and location area update method. |
| US08953485B2 |
Method and system facilitating communication between user equipment and external network
A wireless communication method between a first network and a second network is disclosed. The first network includes UEs such as the first UE and the second UE, a gateway device, and a core network. The disclosed method includes enabling the gateway device to learn UE-related parameters of the UEs by selectively transmitting a first request to the core network or a second request to the UEs before enabling the gateway device to receive the UE-related parameters. The method further includes broadcasting the UE-related parameters to the UEs, and enabling the gateway device to coordinate with the UEs. In doing so, the UE having the data to be transmitted may rely on another UE having the active interface for accomplishing the transmission of the data without switching operation modes of interfaces of the UE having the data to be transmitted. |
| US08953483B2 |
Method and apparatus for transmitting aperiodic sounding reference signal in wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for transmitting an aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) in a wireless communication system is provided. The method include receiving a downlink control information (DCI) format including a triggering signal for triggering a transmission of an aperiodic SRS from a base station (BS) via a physical downlink control Channel (PDCCH), blind-decoding the PDCCH in a UE-specific search space, and transmitting the aperiodic SRS triggered based on the triggering signal to the BS. |
| US08953481B2 |
Methods and systems for scheduling in a virtual MIMO communication environment
A system and method for scheduling cooperative uplink transmissions in a virtual multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless communication environment are provided. More specifically, both random and channel aware orthogonal scheduling techniques for identifying a sub-set of N mobile terminals to provide cooperative uplink transmissions for each transmit time interval are provided. |
| US08953479B2 |
System and method for license enforcement for data center monitoring applications
Methods include receiving a threshold time to live (“TTL”) value associated with a license. The methods include determining a first TTL value based on the threshold TTL value. The methods include transmitting a polling request including the first TTL value from a polling device disposed at the network location to a network device. The first TTL value decreases each time the polling request transits through a node device. The methods include receiving a polling response from the network device if the first TTL value has not decreased to a predetermined value before the polling request is received by the network device. The methods include determining that the license permits communication between a monitoring device disposed at the network location and the network device in response to receiving the polling response. |
| US08953477B2 |
Method of receiving and transmitting message in a mobile communication system using a MTC device and apparatus for the same
A method of receiving a message by a wireless device in a mobile communication system is disclosed. The present invention comprises obtaining information of a first cycle, the first cycle including a monitoring interval and a non-monitoring interval; and monitoring at least one active occasion within the monitoring interval for receiving the message, wherein the message is repeated within the monitoring interval. |
| US08953467B2 |
Adaptive transmission modes for transparent relay
There is transmitted to a user equipment UE in a first subframe of a radio frame a downlink shared channel DSCH according to a first relay-transmission mode (e.g., mode A or A′ in the examples); then switch to a second relay-transmission mode (e.g., mode C or C′ in the examples) within the radio frame based on a channel quality of the DSCH. After switching, then transmit to the UE, in a subsequent subframe of the radio frame, the DSCH according to the second relay-transmission mode. In this embodiment the HARQ process is synchronous and non-adaptive for mode C: the eNB re-transmits packets to the UE in a predetermined fashion to be concurrent with transmission of those same packets from the relay node, as scheduled by the eNB. In this embodiment the eNB receives the UE's NACK for the data that is to be retransmitted via relay through the relay node. |
| US08953463B2 |
Channel interleaved multiplexed databus
A serial communication system includes a controller, a channel interleaved multiplexed data bus coupled to the controller, and a transceiver coupled to the channel interleaved multiplexed data bus. The channel interleaved multiplexed data bus is arranged as a two dimensional array of time domain interleaved data channels on a backplane of the communication system, the two dimensional array being based on a number of channels available on the backplane and fixed pattern sequence of data transmitted on the backplane. |
| US08953457B2 |
Method and system for a radio frequency management in a mesh network with a path distance factor
A method and system for radio frequency management (RFM) in a mesh network using a path distance factor (PDF) is disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method, comprises calculating a path distance factor (PDF) between a first mesh router and a portal. A frame is transmitted to a second mesh router, wherein the frame includes the path distance factor. |
| US08953447B2 |
Method and apparatus for controlling traffic transfer rate based on cell capacity in mobile communication system
A system that provides a content delivery service to a user in a mobile communication system is provided. The system receives, from an enhanced Node B (eNB), cell-specific capacity information that is determined based on cell-specific load state information of the eNB, determines a transfer rate for traffic to be transmitted to a User Equipment (UE) in each cell, based on the received cell-specific capacity information, and transmits the traffic to be transmitted to the UE in each cell to the eNB at the determined transfer rate. |
| US08953445B2 |
Hierarchical flow-level multi-channel communication
Embodiments herein provide systems and methods of transferring data in a communication system. An embodiment transfers data by assigning a portion of data among groups of channels coupled to a remote node, such assigning being based on the respective flows to which the portion is associated. The portion of data across is at least two channels in the assigned group of channels, and the split portions are transferred substantially simultaneously among the channels to which they are assigned. |
| US08953444B2 |
Load balancing
A method of communicating in a wireless network including receiving effective load values for sectors accessible to an access terminal of the wireless network. The effective load values represent effective loads on the sectors. The method also includes receiving pilot signal channel quality values of the sectors and selecting a serving sector, for the access terminal based on the effective load values and the pilot signal channel quality values. |
| US08953440B2 |
Dynamic bandwidth adjustment in packet transport network
A method for adjusting bandwidth in a communications network having a plurality of nodes connected over multiple links with a plurality of services running on the links includes detecting an impairment of a link wherein the impairment invokes a reduction in bandwidth available to the services running on the link, communicating information about the impairment to other nodes in the network and redistributing services between the links to limit a bandwidth required by services running on the impaired link to a value not exceeding the bandwidth available on the impaired link. |
| US08953439B1 |
Separation of control plane functions using virtual machines in network device
Techniques are described for separating control plane functions in a network device using virtual machines. The techniques include initializing multiple virtual machine instances in a control unit of a standalone router, and running different control processes for the router in each of the virtual machines. For example, in a root system domain (RSD)-protected system domain (PSD) system, a control unit of the standalone router may support a RSD virtual machine (VM) and one or more PSD VMs configured to form logical devices and execute logically separate control processes without requiring physically separate, hardware-independent routing engines to form the PSDs. Each of the RSD VM and PSD VMs includes a separate kernel, an operating system, and control processes for the logical device. When a software failure occurs in the PSD VM, the PSD VM may perform a software failover without affecting the operation of the RSD VM. |
| US08953430B2 |
Insertion of downlink demodulation reference signals into OFDM frames
A method of inserting downlink demodulation Reference Signals into Resource Blocks of slots within Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) frames at an OFDM transmitter forming part of an OFDM system, the transmitter having at least one antenna and the system having at least one transmission layer, includes the steps of: for each antenna, inserting cell-specific Reference Signals at sub-carriers indices evenly spaced by a fixed sub-carrier spacing; and selectively inserting UE-specific Reference Signals into nodes of a rectangular lattice formed from unused Resource Elements in a group of Resource Blocks of two consecutive slots, the nodes being located at the same sub-carrier indices as the cell-specific Reference Signals and further being equally spaced by a fixed number of symbol indices within the group of Resource Blocks. |
| US08953429B2 |
Optical disc device
An optical disc device includes an optical pickup unit including a semiconductor laser that shines a laser light, a light-receiving unit that receives the return light of the laser light, a high-frequency generating circuit that generates high-frequency signals, a pickup driver that generates a drive signal that drives the semiconductor laser based on the high-frequency signal, a control unit that controls the high-frequency generating circuit such that, in states in which playback of the optical disc is halted while irradiation with the laser light is being performed, the signal level of the high-frequency signal to be superimposed is set at a first signal level other than zero so as to be smaller than in states in which the playback is performed. |
| US08953427B2 |
Optical information recording medium
An optical information recording medium 10 comprises a plurality of recording layers 14 and intermediate layers 15 each provided between the recording layers 14. Each of the recording layers 14 includes a polymer binder and dye dispersed in the polymer binder, and a thickness of each recording layer is equal to or greater than 50 nm. A first interface (near-side interface 18) is formed between a recording layer 14 and an intermediate layer 15 that is adjacent to the recording layer 14 on one side of the recording layer 14 in a thickness direction of the recording layer 14, and a second interface (far-side interface 19) is formed between the recording layer 14 and an intermediate layer 15 that is adjacent to the recording layer 14 on the other side of the recording layer 14 in the thickness direction of the recording layer 14. When the dye is irradiated with a recording beam and generates heat by absorption of the recording beam, the polymer binder undergoes a change in shape by the generated heat, so that at least one of the first interface and the second interface undergoes a change in shape and sticks out toward the intermediate layer 15 to form a protrusion, whereby information is recorded in the optical information recording medium 10. |
| US08953425B1 |
NRZI processing methods and devices to correct for sync detection failures
New and useful methods and systems for detecting sync signals/patterns in streams of data are disclosed. For example, in an embodiment system for processing data includes a first module having dedicated processing circuitry configured to detect a sync signal embedded in a received stream of data and to produce an output stream of data, and second module that includes a firmware-controlled processor configured to correct sufficient errors within the received stream of data so as to allow the first module to detect the sync signal on a condition when the first module by itself is incapable of resolving the sync signal caused by the errors in the received stream of data. |
| US08953422B1 |
Near field transducer using dielectric waveguide core with fine ridge feature
An apparatus for energy assisted magnetic recording of a storage disk includes a plurality of dielectric waveguide cores disposed near an air bearing surface of a magnetic recording device. Each waveguide core has a fine ridge feature on a first surface of the waveguide core and configured to receive incident light energy from an energy source. A near field transducer (NFT) is formed at the air bearing surface for focusing light energy received from the waveguide core and transmitting the focused light energy onto the storage disk surface to generate a heating spot. The NFT includes at least one plasmonic metal element disposed above the fine ridge features of the waveguide cores to form an interface for delivering propagating surface plasmon polaritons (PSPPs) to the air bearing surface. Each fine ridge feature is configured with a width approximately equivalent to a width of the heating spot. |
| US08953419B2 |
Multitrack recorder
A multitrack recorder capable of setting one track or more to a monaural type or a stereo type has a storage unit that stores a history of track-type changing-and-setting operations and operations entailing erasure or changing of audio data stored on each track and that stores specifics of the track-type changing-and-setting operations and the audio data erased or changed along with performance of operations in association with each operation, and a change unit that changes audio data stored in each track, and a type of the track, to audio data that were stored in each track, and a type of the track, before performance of a specified operation. |
| US08953412B2 |
Method and assembly for determining landing of logging tools in a wellbore
An assembly using an onboard controller employs sensors to precisely determine the landing status of downhole logging tools. A control algorithm of the onboard controller can enable an intelligent management of the battery system and memory system of the logging tools. Sensors are used to verify landing having been reached. The sensors may include a real time clock, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and a proximity/position sensor. The sensors can send measurement signals to the controller for determining if the measurement values are within an acceptable range indicating the logging tools having landed. As a correct landing has been confirmed or verified, the controller can trigger an onset for data logging (e.g., powering up the battery system and/or memory system). A method of determining landing of a logging tool in a wellbore is disclosed. |
| US08953411B2 |
Apparatus and method for imaging a subsurface using frequency-domain elastic reverse-time migration
Provided are an apparatus and method for imaging a subsurface using frequency-domain reverse-time migration in elastic medium. The subsurface imaging method represents a frequency-domain imaging condition as convolution of measured data and a partial derivative wavefield. That is, the subsurface imaging method applies a back-propagation algorithm to represent an imaging condition as convolution of a virtual source and a back-propagated wavefield. Then, the subsurface imaging method divides a virtual source vector and the back-propagated wavefield represented by a displacement vector into P- and S-wave potentials through Helmholtz decomposition, thereby providing a new imaging condition. |
| US08953402B2 |
Semiconductor memory with sense amplifier
In an exemplary aspect, the present invention provides a semiconductor memory device including sense amplifiers that drive bit lines to which memory cells are connected, and driver transistors that supply a power supply to the sense amplifiers, wherein the sense amplifiers are arranged in rows and constitutes a first sense-amplifier row in which transistors of a first conductive type are arranged and a second sense-amplifier row in which transistors of a second conductive type are arranged, and the driver transistors constitutes at least one transistor row including a first driver transistor of the first conductive type corresponding to the first sense-amplifier row and a second driver transistor of the second conductive type corresponding to the second sense-amplifier row between the first sense-amplifier row and the second sense-amplifier row. |
| US08953399B2 |
Differential sense amplifier without dedicated pass-gate transistors
A differential sense amplifier for sensing data stored in a plurality of memory cells of a memory cell array, including a first CMOS inverter having an output connected to a first bit line and an input connected to a second bit line complementary to the first bit line, and a second CMOS inverter having an output connected to the second bit line and an input connected to the first bit line. Each CMOS inverter includes a pull-up transistor and a pull-down transistor, and the sense amplifier has a pair of pass-gate transistors arranged to connect the first and second bit lines to a first and a second global bit lines. Advantageously, the pass-gate transistors are constituted by the pull-up transistors or the pull-down transistors. |
| US08953375B2 |
Semiconductor memory device and operation method thereof
A semiconductor memory device includes an information generation unit configured to convert positions of threshold voltages of memory cells in threshold voltage distributions based on determination voltages included in an overlapping portion between the threshold voltage distributions to generate a plurality of position information codes, and an error correction unit configured to sequentially receive the plurality of position information codes and perform an error correction operation for data of the memory cells. |
| US08953372B2 |
Memory device readout using multiple sense times
A method for data storage includes storing data in a group of analog memory cells by writing respective storage values into the memory cells in the group. One or more of the memory cells in the group are read using a first readout operation that senses the memory cells with a first sense time. At least one of the memory cells in the group is read using a second readout operation that senses the memory cells with a second sense time, longer than the first sense time. The data stored in the group of memory cells is reconstructed based on readout results of the first and second readout operations. |
| US08953370B2 |
Memory cell with decoupled read/write path
A memory cell with a decoupled read/write path includes a switch comprising a first terminal connected to a first line and a second terminal connected to a second line, a resistive switching device connected between a gate of the switch and a third line, and a conductive path between the gate of the switch and the second line. |
| US08953368B2 |
Magnetic memory device having bidirectional read scheme
A data reading method of a magnetic memory device includes generating read commands, supplying a read current to a selected magnetic memory element in a first direction and in turn in a second direction under different ones of the read commands, respectively, and sensing the magnitude of the read current flowing through the selected magnetic memory element to read data stored at the selected magnetic memory element. |
| US08953367B2 |
Three-dimensional memory array and operation scheme
A system, method and computer program product for operating a three-dimensional memory array. An example array includes access transistors with first, second and gate terminals. Bit lines are coupled to the first terminals, word lines coupled to the gate terminals, and vertical lines are coupled to the second terminals. The bit, word, and vertical lines are perpendicular to one another. Memory cells are positioned along the vertical lines, including a bidirectional access device coupled in series with a memory element. The memory element is programmable to first and second states by application of first and second write voltages, opposite in polarity to one another. The array includes conductive plates parallel to the word and bit lines, and perpendicular to the vertical lines. The conductive plates are coupled to memory cells of the same height and separated by insulating layers. |
| US08953358B2 |
Memory device and method for driving memory device
A memory device in which one memory cell can operate in both a single-level cell mode and a multi-level cell mode includes a signal transmission path for a multi-level cell mode in which a multi-bit digital signal representing any of three or more states input to the memory circuit is converted by a D/A converter and stored in the memory cell and the stored data is read by converting a signal output from the memory cell into a multi-bit digital signal with an A/D converter and the multi-bit digital signal is output from the memory circuit, and a signal transmission path for a single-level cell mode in which a single-bit digital signal representing any of two states input to the memory circuit is directly stored in the memory cell and the signal stored in the memory cell is directly output from the memory cell. |
| US08953356B2 |
Semiconductor devices
A semiconductor device includes a cell region including memory cells that have a selection element and a data storage element, and a driving circuit region including a driving transistor configured to operate the selection element. The driving transistor includes active portions defined by a device isolation pattern in a substrate and a gate electrode running across the active portion along a first direction, the gate electrode including channel portions of a ring-shaped structure. The driving transistor further includes first impurity doped regions disposed in the active portions that are surrounded by channel portions, and second impurity doped regions disposed in the active portion that are separated from the first impurity doped regions by the channel portions. |
| US08953350B2 |
Photovoltaic power converters
Photovoltaic power converter systems and methods are described. In one example, a method for use in operating a solar power converter includes sampling a DC link voltage of a DC link during a first cycle of an alternating output voltage of a second stage at one instance when the alternating output voltage is crossing zero volts in a first direction. A voltage difference a voltage difference between the DC link voltage sampled during the first cycle and a DC link voltage sampled during a previous cycle when the alternating output voltage was crossing zero volts in the first direction is determined. A DC link power is estimated based at least in part on the determined voltage difference. The AC power output by the second stage in a second cycle is controlled based at least in part on the estimated DC link power. |
| US08953344B2 |
Power converter control method associated to a generator
Optimizes the operation and control of electric generators against events produced in the power grid, such as voltage dips or overvoltages, comprising the following steps: detecting that the DC bus voltage level (Vbus) (301) exceeds the maximum operating limit established in normal conditions; enabling activation permission of the chopper (201); activating the different operating states (304) of the chopper (201) according to the DC bus voltage level (Vbus) (301) and to the current entering the DC bus (Iin.bus) from the generator; detecting that the DC bus voltage level (Vbus) (301) is within the normal operating range; enabling deactivation permission of the chopper (201); deactivating the different operating states (304) of the chopper (201) according to the DC bus voltage level (Vbus) (301) and to the current entering the DC bus (Iin.bus) from the generator. |
| US08953336B2 |
Surface metal wiring structure for an IC substrate
A surface metal wiring structure for a substrate includes one or more functional μbumps formed of a first metal and an electrical test pad formed of a second metal for receiving an electrical test probe and electrically connected to the one or more functional μbumps. The surface metal wiring structure also includes a plurality of sacrificial μbumps formed of the first metal that are electrically connected to the electrical test pads, where the sacrificial μbumps are positioned closer to the electrical test pad than the one or more functional μbumps. |
| US08953323B2 |
Display device
A display device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the device includes a display panel, a printed circuit board (PCB) disposed opposite to a rear of the display panel, and supplying a driving signal to the display panel, and a substrate bracket attached to an edge of the rear of the display panel, and supporting the PCB. The substrate bracket includes a bracket main body portion facing the PCB, a bracket coupling ledge bent and extending from a top of the bracket main body portion and enclosing a top of the PCB, and a bracket hook portion protruding from a bottom of the bracket main body portion in a direction toward the PCB, and supporting a bottom of the PCB. |
| US08953320B2 |
Coolant drip facilitating partial immersion-cooling of electronic components
Cooling apparatus and methods are provided for partial immersion-cooling of multiple electronic components. The cooling apparatus includes a housing at least partially surrounding and forming a compartment about the components, and a fluid disposed within the compartment. First and second electronic components are at least partially non-immersed within the fluid, with the first component being a different type of electronic component with different configuration than the second component. A vapor condenser is provided with a vapor-condensing surface disposed within the compartment for condensing fluid vapor, and a condensate redirect structure is disposed within the compartment between the vapor condenser and the first and second components. The redirect structure is differently configured over the first electronic component compared with over the second electronic component, and provides a different pattern of condensate drip over the first component compared with over the second component. |
| US08953316B2 |
Container-based data center having greater rack density
A container includes first and second long sides parallel to the container's length. Racks are organized in rows parallel to the container's width. Each rack is receptive to installation of equipment along a height of the data rack parallel to the container's height. Openings are defined within the first and/or second long sides of the container. Heat exchangers may be installed, where each exchanger is installed on a rack to cool air exhausted by any equipment installed on this rack. Each row may include as many of the racks positioned side-to-side, length-wise, and parallel to the width of the container as can fit within the container. The racks of each row may be slidable in unison back and forth along the length of the container, between a first position at which the racks block an opening and a second position at which the racks block another opening. |
| US08953312B2 |
Electronic device and casing for electronic device
In a casing, a printed circuit board is arranged such that a first side of the printed circuit board has a first angle of α° with respect to a first side surface plate. A cooling device is arranged to have a second angle of β with respect to the first side surface plate. Accordingly, an amount of cooling air flowing in and out via an air intake port and an air discharge port may be increased. Furthermore, by reducing the angle of the change in the flow direction of the cooling air flowing over the printed circuit board, the cooling air flowing over the printed circuit board may be made to efficiently flow through an air discharge port 119a. Furthermore, the efficiency with which a heat-generating component on the printed circuit board is cooled may be improved. |
| US08953311B2 |
Electronic media distribution system
A portable media storage device is provided. The device includes persistent digital storage programmed to contain digital media content. Two or more connectors of different types can be provided for engagement with a variety of electronic reader devices. The media storage devices can be sold at retail, alongside alternative traditional formats for consumption of the same media. |
| US08953306B2 |
Plug-on neutral load center having a rotating neutral rail retained by a two-piece dielectric barrier
A load center featuring a two-piece dielectric barrier that securely retains a plug-on neutral rail and methods of assembling the same. The barrier includes a shield and a base having a protrusion that cooperates with fingers of the shield to securely retain the conductor in the load center. The shield is installed over the base and rests on hooks protruding from the base. This creates a distance between the protrusion and the fingers to allow the conductor to be inserted through a gap between the fingers along the conductor's skinny edge. The conductor rotates 90 degrees until it rests on the protrusion. The base and shield are snapped together, causing the hooks of the base to attach to the shield. At the same time, the fingers of the base move downward to rest against the conductor so that it is sandwiched securely between the protrusion and the fingers. |
| US08953304B2 |
Solid electrolytic capacitor
There is provided a high performance solid electrolytic capacitor that can be manufactured stably. The present invention provides the solid electrolytic capacitor comprising an anode foil and a cathode foil, and a separator arranged between the anode foil and the cathode foil, wherein the anode foil, the cathode foil, and the separator are wound around, so that the separator is intervened between the anode foil and the cathode foil, the anode foil has a dielectric oxide film layer, the separator comprises a solid electrolyte and a nonwoven fabric holding the solid electrolyte, the nonwoven fabric composing the separator is a laminated nonwoven fabric having at least two layers of the nonwoven fabric layers, and the laminated nonwoven fabric comprises a nonwoven fabric layer (layer I) composed of ultra fine fiber having a fiber diameter of 0.1 to 4 μm, and a nonwoven fabric layer (layer II) composed of a thermoplastic resin fiber having a fiber diameter of 6 to 30 μm. |
| US08953298B2 |
Electrostatic chuck robotic system
A workpiece transfer system has a plurality of joints having a bearing and a primary and secondary transformer coil, wherein power provided to the primary transformer coil and secondary transformer coil of each joint produces mutual inductance between the primary and secondary transformer coil of the respective joint. A first pair of arms are rotatably coupled to a blade by a first pair of the joints, wherein the primary transformer coil of each of the first pair of joints is operably coupled to the first pair of arms, and the secondary transformer coil of each of the first pair of joints is operably coupled to the blade and an electrode beneath a dielectric workpiece retaining surface of the blade. The electrode is contactlessly energized through the transformer coils of the joint and the blade can chuck and de-chuck a workpiece by reversing current directions and by voltage adjustment. |
| US08953290B2 |
Device for protecting an integrated circuit against overvoltages
A device for protecting an integrated circuit against overvoltages, the device being formed inside and on top of a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type and including: a capacitor including a well of the second conductivity type penetrating into the substrate and trenches with insulated walls formed in the well and filled with a conductive material; and a zener diode formed by the junction between the substrate and the well. |
| US08953285B2 |
Side shielded magnetoresistive (MR) read head with perpendicular magnetic free layer
A MR sensor is disclosed that has a free layer (FL) with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) which eliminates the need for an adjacent hard bias structure to stabilize free layer magnetization and minimizes shield-FL interactions. In a TMR embodiment, a seed layer, free layer, junction layer, reference layer, and pinning layer are sequentially formed on a bottom shield. After patterning, a conformal insulation layer is formed along the sensor sidewall. Thereafter, a top shield is formed on the insulation layer and includes side shields that are separated from the FL by a narrow read gap. The sensor is scalable to widths<50 nm when PMA is greater than the FL self-demag field. Effective bias field is rather insensitive to sensor aspect ratio which makes tall stripe and narrow width sensors a viable approach for high RA TMR configurations. Side shields may be extended below the seed layer plane. |
| US08953283B2 |
Magnetic head, magnetic head assembly, and magnetic recording/reproduction apparatus
According to one embodiment, a magnetic head includes a spin torque oscillator formed between a main magnetic pole and auxiliary magnetic pole. The spin torque oscillator includes a transmission-type spin transfer layer, first interlayer, oscillation layer, second interlayer, and reflection-type spin transfer layer. The transmission-type spin transfer layer includes a first perpendicular magnetization film and first interface magnetic layer. The first interface magnetic layer contains at least one element selected from Fe, Co, and Ni, and at least one element selected from Cr, V, Mn, Ti, and Sc. The reflection-type spin transfer layer includes a second perpendicular magnetization film. |
| US08953282B2 |
Magnetic head, and magnetic storage apparatus
In a Spin Torque Oscillator (STO) comprising an underlayer, a first magnetic layer disposed on the underlayer, a non-magnetic intermediate layer disposed on the first magnetic layer, and a second magnetic layer disposed on the non-magnetic intermediate layer, the non-magnetic intermediate layer is a non-magnetic alloy containing 50 at % or more of at least one kind of element selected from a first group consisting of Cu, Ag, and Au, and further at least 0.1 at % or more in total of at least one kind of element selected from a second group consisting of Cu, Ag, Au, Cr, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Ru, Os, Pd, Pt, Rh, and Ir that does not overlap with the element from the first group. |
| US08953281B1 |
Hard disk drive casing
A hard drive casing for accommodating a hard drive includes a case body and a cover body. The cover body has a base wall and a peripheral wall surrounding the base wall. The case body accommodates the hard drive therein. The peripheral wall has a handle arranged on an outer surface thereof. The cover body is adapted to cover the case body. The cover body is pivotally coupled to the case body. The cover body has a plurality of ribs arranged thereon. The ribs protrude towards the case body. The ribs and the base wall define a gap therebetween, and the gap has a width smaller than a thickness of the hard drive. |
| US08953276B1 |
Correcting position error based on reading first and second user data signals
First and second user data signals of respective first and second tracks are simultaneously read from a disk via first and second read transducers co-located on a slider. A position error of the first and second read transducers is corrected based on the first and second user data signals. |
| US08953262B2 |
Imaging lens
A five element lens system for use with an imaging sensor includes first, second, third, fourth, and fifth lens elements and an optical filter that are arranged sequentially in order from an object side to an imaging side. The lens elements are coated with an anti-reflective film. The lens system further includes an optical filter that is disposed at a distance from the imaging sensor. The lens elements are relatively positioned to each other to satisfy specific conditions. The lens elements further include thickness to diameters ratios that satisfy specific conditions. The lens system is capable of focusing images of objects located from a range of 10 cm to infinity from the lens system. |
| US08953260B2 |
Telephoto lens system
A telephoto lens system including a first lens group having a positive refractive power and including a negative lens that is disposed closest to an object side and has a meniscus shape that is convex toward the object side; a second lens group having a negative refractive power and including a single negative lens that moves along an optical axis and performs focusing; and a third lens group having a positive refractive power, wherein the first through third lens groups are disposed sequentially from the object side toward the image side, and the telephoto lens system satisfies the following condition, 0.5<|f2/f|<0.81, wherein, f2 denotes the focal length of the second lens group, and f denotes the focal length of the telephoto lens system. |
| US08953257B1 |
Image capturing lens system and image capturing device
An image capturing lens system includes five non-cemented lens elements with refractive power, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element and a fifth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has a convex object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof. The second lens element has negative refractive power. The third lens element has positive refractive power. The fourth lens element with negative refractive power has a concave object-side surface in a paraxial region thereof. The fifth lens element with refractive power has a concave image-side surface in a paraxial region thereof, wherein both of the surfaces thereof are aspheric, and at least one inflection point is formed on the image-side surface thereof. The image capturing lens system has a total of five lens elements with refractive power. |
| US08953253B2 |
Lens barrel
The present lens barrel is provided with a cylindrical moving frame and a cylindrical cam frame disposed on the inner periphery of the moving frame. The cylindrical moving frame has a first cam follower and a second cam follower. The first cam follower projects radially from the inner peripheral surface or the outer peripheral surface. The second cam follower projects radially further from the top of the first cam follower. The cylindrical cam frame is disposed on the inner periphery or the outer periphery of the moving frame, and has a first cam and a second cam on the outer peripheral surface side or the inner peripheral surface side. The first cam engages with the first cam follower, and has a cam surface only on the image plane side in the optical axis direction. The second cam is formed on the bottom surface of the first cam, and engages with the second cam follower. |
| US08953248B2 |
Gaming machine
A gaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a first display panel configured to display game images of a game, the first display panel including a screen facing downward; a plurality of first beam splitters disposed under the first display panel and inclined with respect to the screen to partially reflect the images from the first the display panel into a forward direction; a background image generator disposed rear to the first beam splitters and generating background images, the background images from the background image generator passing through the first beam splitters toward the forward direction to overlap the game images; and a controller configured to execute the game and to control the first display panel. |
| US08953247B2 |
Positioning system for head-up display
The invention relates to a positioning system for a head-up display which comprises a combiner carrier being moved between a first position and a second position; a combiner rotatbly disposed on the combiner carrier and a tilt angle of the combiner being adjusted; and a driving mechanism for alternatively driving the movement of the combiner and the tilt angle adjustment of the combiner. |
| US08953245B2 |
Lens-based optical window with intermediate real image
A selectably transmissive internally focused intermediate image lens and a lens based optical window include a number of such lenses. Each selectably transmissive internally focused intermediate image lens in a lens based optical window includes a first and second lens portion. The first lens portion receives light and focuses it into a focused image at a focal plane that is coplanar with a second side of the first portion. A second lens portion has an image side adjacent to the second side of the first lens portion and an opposite side opposite the image side. The second lens portion refracts the focused image as an image projected through its rear side. Each lens further includes a selectably transmissive shutter that is located at the internal focal plane and that is controllable to block at least a portion of light passing therethrough. |
| US08953240B2 |
Frequency-chirped semiconductor diode laser phase-locked optical system
A chirped diode laser (ChDL) is employed for seeding optical amplifiers and/or dissimilar optical paths, which simultaneously suppresses stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and enables coherent combination. The seed spectrum will appear broadband to suppress the SBS, but the well-defined chirp will have the coherence and duration to allow the active phasing of multiple amplifiers and/or dissimilar optical paths. The phasing is accomplished without optical path-length matching by interfering each amplifier output with a reference, processing the resulting signal with a phase lock loop, and using the error signal to drive an acousto-optic frequency shifter at the front end of each optical amplifier and/or optical path. |
| US08953237B2 |
Spectrum sliced photonic signal processor
A photonic signal processor providing finite impulse response filtering of an external input signal, the processor including: a photonic signal input having a predetermined wavelength range, a Bragg grating structure interconnected to the photonic signal input and having a series of localized modifications to the periodicity of the grating structure so as to provide a predetermined transmission output window within the stopband of the Bragg grating structure and predetermined wavelength range; a modulator interconnected to the grating structure for modulating the output from the grating structure in accordance with the external signal input; a delay structure for providing a wavelength variable delay to the output from the modulator; an intensity detector interconnected to the delay structure for determining and outputting the intensity of the delay structure output. |
| US08953232B2 |
Image reader
An image reader includes a moving portion, a transparent plate, a reference member, and a detecting portion. The reference member that is provided in at least one of a position that is not the manuscript contact surface in the first scanning direction and a position that is further to a side in a first direction from the transparent plate than the manuscript contact surface. The detecting portion is supported by the moving portion and includes a plurality of detecting elements, in the second scanning direction, detecting reflected light of light irradiated from a light source. A height position of the detecting portion when the reference member is on the side in the first direction is further to the side in the first direction than a height position of the detecting portion when the manuscript contact surface is on the side in the first direction. |
| US08953226B2 |
Image reading and forming apparatus comprising an open/closing detection portion wherein a sensor detects the movable member moving in the guide hole in accordance with the open/closed state of the cover
An image reading apparatus includes placement member, pressing member, and open/close detection portion. Open/close detection portion detects opening and closing of pressing member. Open/close detection portion includes movable portion, guide hole, and sensor. When pressing member is opened, movable portion moves toward one side, thereby protruding to an area between placement member and pressing member, and when pressing member is closed, movable portion moves toward the other side. Movable portion extends along movement direction thereof. Guide hole of movable portion guides movement of movable portion in movement direction. Movable portion has a plurality of groove portions extending in movement direction, and groove portions partially include guide groove. Guide hole has guide protrusion protruding from inner circumferential surface thereof toward groove portion of movable portion, so as to guide movement of movable portion. Guide protrusion is formed only at position opposing to guide groove, of groove portions of movable portion. |
| US08953215B2 |
Image forming apparatus, image forming method, non-transitory computer-readable medium, and test data
An image forming apparatus includes a document reading section and an image forming section. The document reading section reads a document image placed on a paper placement table and generates image data. The image forming section forms an image on a sheet of paper on the basis of the image data, and includes a memory that stores test data representing a test image, which is to be formed on a sheet of paper having a size larger than the size of the table, a correction-amount calculation unit that calculates correction amounts on the basis of image data representing the test image which is formed on the sheet of paper and which has been read by repeating an operation, and a correction-amount memory that stores the correction amounts. The image forming section forms, on a sheet of paper, an image corrected on the basis of the correction amounts. |
| US08953205B2 |
Data display device capable of being positioned to be viewable from one of two opposite viewing directions
According to one embodiment, this data display device has a display unit in which a rear support cover is mounted on the back surface of a rectangular display panel using a rotatably connected with a first hinge. This data display device has a main body that supports the display unit at a display angle. The main body is provided with a paper discharge unit for a built-in printer. The main body is rotatably connected to rear support cover via a second hinge. The data display device may be used in an operator mode, a first user mode in which the display unit is inclined in the direction opposite to the display angle for an operator by the second hinge, and a second user mode in which the display panel is rotated at an angle of inclination larger than the display angle for an operator by the first hinge. |
| US08953203B2 |
Image forming apparatus that changes direction of image on display based on at least coordinate information and facing direction of a capturing unit
A system including an image forming apparatus and a terminal for displaying an image acquired by a capturing unit on a display, wherein the terminal comprises: a unit which transmits a current position information, a unit which receives the distribution data in response to the transmission of the current position information, a unit which performs display control such that, when an image including the image forming apparatus is displayed on the display, a message included in distribution data distributed by the image forming apparatus and received from the server is superimposedly displayed on the image, a unit which accepts a print instruction made after the message displayed on the display is selected, and a unit which transmits print data to the image forming apparatus that distributed the distribution data containing the selected message according to the print instruction. |
| US08953202B2 |
Image forming apparatus, information processing apparatus, image forming system, and method for forming images
Image forming apparatuses are connected to a network. Each image forming apparatus communicates with remaining ones of the image forming apparatuses. An image forming section forms an image in accordance with the image information. A memory stores management information, the management information including an item of information about one of remaining ones of the plurality of image forming apparatuses. The one of remaining ones of the plurality of image forming apparatuses holds the image information therein. An information management section performs a synchronization processing in which the management information in the plurality of image forming apparatuses is updated to become identical. An image formation controlling section obtains the image information held in the one of remaining ones of the plurality of image forming apparatuses identified by the item of information, and drive the image forming section to form the image in accordance with the obtained image information. |
| US08953190B2 |
Automated method and system for holding and authenticating a device configuration change payload job
A method and system for automatically holding and authenticating a configuration change payload job. An upgrade payload file can be transmitted to a rendering device as a rendering job via a print submission protocol. The upgrade payload file can be detected by a configuration change detection and hold module configured in association with the rendering device upon receiving the rendering job. The rendering job can be automatically held at the rendering device until an authenticated user releases the rendering job. The held rendering job can be also automatically deleted after a predetermined time period. The configuration change detection and hold module can be enabled and/or disabled by the authenticated user in order to prevent an unauthorized and accidental system upgrade and configuration change. |
| US08953187B2 |
Systems and methods for print resource management
Systems and methods consistent with some embodiments presented provide methods for print resource management. In some embodiments of methods for print resource management print data comprising PDL data may be parsed to identify reusable resources in the print data. The reusable resources may be converted to a common internal format and stored. In some embodiments, reusable resources may be rendered to obtain a rendered version of the reusable resource, which may be stored. In some embodiments, the stored rendered version or a rendered form of the stored formatted version of the reusable resource may be used in a bitmap image for a page whenever the reusable resource is referenced during the creation of the bitmap image for the page. |
| US08953175B2 |
Mark position detector, imprint apparatus, and article manufacturing method
A detector for detecting a position of a mark comprises: an image sensing device; an optical system which projects the mark onto an image sensing surface of the image sensing device; a pattern located in a position between the image sensing surface and an optical element located closest to a plane on which the mark is to be located, among optical elements forming the optical system, the position being optically conjugated with the plane; and a processor which calculates a position of the mark with respect to one of a position of the pattern and a position already known from the position of the pattern, based on a moire pattern formed on the image sensing surface by the mark and the pattern. |
| US08953170B2 |
White-light interferometric measuring device
A white-light interferometric measuring device includes: a white light source that emits a white light beam; a beam splitter that reflects the white light beam; and an interference objective lens that collects the white light beam having reflected off the beam splitter in the direction of an optical axis and irradiates a measurement workpiece with the white light beam, the interference objective lens generating interference between a measurement light beam obtained by reflection of the white light beam off the measurement workpiece and a reference light beam obtained by branching of the white light beam to be converged on the measurement workpiece. Polarization correcting means that corrects the white light beam to enter the interference objective lens to circularly polarized light is arranged between the white light source and the interference objective lens. |
| US08953167B2 |
OCT system with tunable clock system for flexible data acquisition
An OCT system and particularly its clock system generates a k-clock signal but also generates an optical frequency reference sweep signal that, for example, indicates the start of the sweep or an absolute frequency reference associated with the sweep at least for the purposes of sampling of the interference signal and/or processing of that interference signal into the OCT images. The clock system is also tunable to allow the control or flexibility over the relationship between the scanning of the swept optical signal and the sampling of the interference signal by the data acquisition system. Specifically, the absolute frequencies of the swept optical signal at which the k-clock signals are generated can be adjusted. Also, the absolute frequency of the swept optical signal at which sampling of the interference signal is initiated can also be changed or stabilized. Moreover, optical frequency sampling interval defined by the k-clock signal can be changed under user control or simply stabilized. |
| US08953159B2 |
Surface enhanced raman spectroscopy nanodome biosensors and methods of manufacturing the same
Tubing such as clear plastic disposable tubing or glass tubing includes a photonic sensor formed in or placed within the tubing. The photonic sensors can take the form of photonic crystal sensors, distributed feedback laser sensors, and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensors, including photonic crystal enhanced SERS sensors. Detection arrangements for the sensors are described. The invention has many applications including tubing used in hospital care (e.g., urinary catheters, intravenous fluid delivery tubing, tubing used in dialysis, e.g. heparin lines or blood tubing sets), food manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, water quality monitoring, and environmental monitoring. |
| US08953157B2 |
Monolithic fiber optic sensor assembly
A remote sensor element for spectrographic measurements employs a monolithic assembly of one or two fiber optics to two optical elements separated by a supporting structure to allow the flow of gases or particulates therebetween. In a preferred embodiment, the sensor element components are fused ceramic to resist high temperatures and failure from large temperature changes. |
| US08953155B1 |
Optical inspection system and optical inspection method
Embodiments of mechanisms of an optical inspection system for inspecting an object are provided. The optical inspection system includes a light source emitting a coherent beam having a first width, and a beam expander increasing the first width to a second width. The optical inspection system also includes an polaroid module adjacent to the beam expander and polarizing the coherent beam. The object generates an inspection beam with an interference pattern by reflecting the polarized coherent beam. The optical inspection system further includes an image module capturing the inspection beam. |
| US08953154B2 |
Orientation tracking system and method
An orientation tracking system including a first tracking system subject to drift. A second tracking system is configured to provide an output for calibrating the first tracking system to reduce the drift of the first tracking system. The second tracking system includes at least one inclinometer, each inclinometer including a light source adjacent one side of the inclinometer, a light sensor adjacent an opposing side of the inclinometer, and a light obscuring material within the inclinometer for obscuring the light between the light source and light sensor to indicate an orientation of the inclinometer. |
| US08953139B2 |
Stabilization of antiferroelectric liquid crystals
Example embodiments disclosed herein relate to the stabilization of the orthoconic state in orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystal devices. According to some of the example embodiments, the stabilization may be obtained by tuning a device cell as well as material parameters. The orthoconic state may be stabilized by means of the cell surfaces, electric fields, and/or polymer-stabilization, and combinations thereof, under selected conditions. The example embodiments presented herein advances several new working modes as well as new types of applications of orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystals. |
| US08953138B2 |
Flat panel display and method of fabricating the same
In a flat panel display and a method of fabricating the same, the flat panel display includes a substrate having a pixel region and alignment mark regions. The alignment mark regions are disposed at opposite sides of the pixel region and along the pixel region. A unit pixel array is arranged on the pixel region in a matrix manner. The alignment mark regions have at least one pair of alignment marks disposed thereon in an opposing manner. The alignment mark pairs are located in correspondence with respective columns of the unit pixel array. |
| US08953134B2 |
Liquid crystal display panel
A liquid crystal display panel is provided and includes a pair of substrates facing each other with a liquid crystal layer therebetween. One of the substrates having, thereon, an upper electrode having a plurality of slits formed therein, a lower electrode facing the upper electrode with an insulating film therebetween and disposed so as to be adjacent to the substrate, and an alignment film formed so as to cover surfaces of the upper electrode and the insulating film. Each of the slits includes a linear portion disposed so as to be parallel to a liquid crystal alignment direction when no voltage is applied and two extension portions extending from both ends of the linear portion so that a distance between the two extension portions increases in a direction perpendicular to the linear portion while keeping a symmetrical shape with respect to the direction. |
| US08953130B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal display device includes an insulation film disposed over a gate line, a storage capacitance line, a source line, and first main common electrodes disposed on the insulation film. The first main common electrodes include a discontinuous part in at least one of a first intersection part at an intersection between the storage capacitance line and the first source line and a second intersection part at an intersection between the storage capacitance line and the second source line. The liquid crystal display device also includes a main pixel electrode and a sub-pixel electrode which are disposed on the insulation film. |
| US08953129B2 |
Liquid crystal device and projection-type display apparatus
In an element substrate of a liquid crystal device, in a peripheral region interposed between an image display region and a seal material, a peripheral electrode to which a potential is applied for trapping ionic impurities which is different from a common potential applied to a dummy pixel electrode or the like is formed. In the peripheral electrode, an electrode width of a first portion opposing a sealing material provided at a liquid crystal injection opening of the seal material is set to be greater than electrode widths of the other portions. |
| US08953128B2 |
Liquid crystal display and manufacturing method thereof
A liquid crystal display may include a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer comprising liquid crystal molecules that are interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, a first electrode disposed on the first substrate, an insulating layer disposed on the first electrode, a second electrode disposed on the insulating layer, a third electrode disposed on the second substrate, and an alignment layer disposed on any one of the second electrode and the third electrode. The second electrode comprises a fine slit structure, and at least one of the liquid crystal layer and the alignment layer comprises a sub-alignment substance. |
| US08953123B2 |
Liquid crystal display device
In a liquid crystal display device having a front window, light from a backlight is prevented from leaking through chamfered edges of the front window. An upper polarizing plate is formed on an opposing substrate and a light shielding material is formed abutting on an outer edge of the upper polarizing plate. Edges of the upper polarizing plate are located inward of edges of the front window. The upper polarizing plate and the front window are bonded with a boding material including an ultraviolet curable resin. The ultraviolet curable resin also lies over the light shielding material. Chamfers are formed in the front window and the ultraviolet curable resin does not adhere to the chamfers of the front window. By this structure, light from the backlight is prevented from entering the internal part of the front window through the chamfers of the front window and light leakage is prevented. |
| US08953116B2 |
Media player with machined window undercut and transparent wall disposed therein
A media player comprising a display screen is provided. The media player can include a housing having an opening and an area of reduced thickness around the opening. The media player can also include a transparent wall having a flange. Alternatively, the transparent wall may not require a flange but rather can be a flat, substantially transparent piece of material such as plexiglass or glass. The flange can be adhered to a surface of the area of reduced thickness in order to form a transparent protective cover for the display screen. |
| US08953114B2 |
Back frame and backlight system
The present invention provides a back frame of flat panel display device and a backlight system. The back frame includes primary assembling pieces, secondary assembling pieces, and a bracing piece for fixing a circuit board. The primary assembling pieces are connected through joining and use different thermally conductive materials. Further, the primary assembling piece includes a joint section that forms a reinforcement structure and a circuit board is mountable through a bracing piece. The present invention also provides a backlight system. The back frame and the backlight system of the present invention have a back frame of simple structure, reduce the expenditure of a back frame mold, facilitate heat dissipation, allow strength of the back frame to meet a desired requirement, improve fixing of circuit board, and save the material used for back frame so as to lower down the manufacturing cost of flat panel display device. |
| US08953113B2 |
Liquid crystal display and panel therefor
The present invention provides a liquid crystal display having excellent visibility.A thin film transistor array panel is provided, which includes: gate lines formed on an insulating substrate; data lines insulated from the gate lines and intersecting the gate lines; first pixel electrodes disposed on pixel areas defined by intersections of the gate lines and the data lines; first thin film transistors, each having three terminals connected to one of the gate lines, one of the data lines, and one of the first pixel electrodes; second pixel electrodes disposed on the pixel areas and capacitively coupled to the first pixel electrodes; and second thin film transistors, each having three terminals connected to a previous gate line, a storage electrode line or one of the data lines, and one of the second pixel electrodes. |
| US08953106B2 |
Display unit, barrier device, and method of driving display unit
A display unit includes: a display section; a barrier section including a plurality of liquid crystal barriers switching an open state and a closed state; and a barrier driving section driving the barrier section with one or a plurality of barrier drive signals. Each of the barrier drive signals is a signal including a first waveform portion being configured of a series of waveforms allowing the liquid crystal barriers to be held in an open state over a plurality of frames, or a second waveform portion being configured of a series of waveforms to allowing the liquid crystal barriers to be switched between an open state and a closed state, and a third waveform portion being located just before the first or second waveform portion and having an average pulse height value smaller than a maximum value of a pulse height value of the first or second waveform portion. |
| US08953092B2 |
Optical function device and image-capturing device
An optical function device includes a base material layer, a semi-transparent layer formed on a principal plane of the base material layer, the semi-transparent layer reflecting light of incident light at a ratio determined in advance and passing remaining light; and a reflection prevention layer formed on a principal plane opposite to the principal plane of the base material layer with respect to the base material layer, the reflection prevention layer preventing reflection of the light passing through the base material layer. The image-capturing device includes an optical function device, a first light receiving device for receiving transmission light from the optical function device, and a second light receiving device for receiving reflection light from the optical function device. |
| US08953087B2 |
Camera system and associated methods
A camera system may include an optics stack including two substrates, the optics stack forming an imaging system, each substrate having two surfaces that are parallel to each other and perpendicular to an optical axis of the imaging system, the optics stack including a securing region on opposing surfaces of the two substrates, the two substrates being secured together on a wafer level at their respective securing regions, at least one of the surfaces of the two substrates including a refractive surface of the imaging system, a detector substrate having an active area and a cover structure protecting at least the active area of the detector substrate, the optics stack being secured to an upper surface of the cover structure. |
| US08953083B2 |
Housing camera lens cover using GRIN technology
A mobile device having an external housing that includes a housing camera lens cover made of graded index (GRIN) material is described herein. The housing camera lens cover has one face that faces a camera lens of a camera module included in the mobile device and another face that is exposed to the exterior of the mobile device. By using the GRIN material in the housing camera lens cover, the light rays are bent by the GRIN material before the light rays reach the camera lens. This bending of the light rays reduces the optical total track length (TTL) of the camera module and also reduces high Chief Ray Angle (CRA) such that the z-height of the camera module may be reduced while maintaining the camera's imaging performance. |
| US08953079B2 |
System and method for generating 360 degree video recording using MVC
The present invention provides a system and method for combining asymmetrical camera views from a front racing and a back facing camera. Resizing and quality enhancement techniques are used to bring both front and back camera to same quality. Further, a panoramic mode of from camera and back camera are utilized to create a uniform stitching. |
| US08953072B2 |
Image taking device and camera system
An image sensor includes a plurality of pixels, a plurality of sense circuits, and a count circuit. Each sense circuit is configured to read out electrical signals from at least one pixel associated with the sense circuit in order to generate data representing whether or not photons have been received by the sense circuit. The count circuit is in communication with a sense circuit selected from the plurality of sense circuits. The count circuit is configured to provide integration results for the pixels associated with the sense circuits based on the data received from the sense circuits. |
| US08953062B2 |
Methods and apparatus for low resolution item identification
Methods and apparatus are provided for low resolution item identification. An image of an unknown item is captured and quantized to greatly lower the resolution of the image. The quantized image data of the unknown item is compared to a plurality of the quantized image data for known items. The comparison includes using a signal-to-noise ratio calculated using the quantized image data for both the unknown and known items. A match is found when the calculated signal-to-noise ratio is above a predetermined threshold value. |
| US08953057B2 |
Display apparatus with image-capturing function, image processing apparatus, image processing method, and image display system
A display apparatus with an image-capturing function includes an outputting unit configured to output an image signal to an external apparatus, an inputting unit configured to input an image signal from the external apparatus, an image-capturing unit, a display unit, an image-capture-distortion corrector configured to perform image-capture-distortion correction on an image signal captured by the image-capturing unit, a display-distortion corrector configured to perform display-distortion correction, and a controller configured to control whether or not the image-capture-distortion corrector is to perform the image-capture-distortion correction, and whether or not the display-distortion corrector is to perform the display-distortion correction. Therefore, distortion caused by the image-capturing system and display system of the display apparatus with an image-capturing function can be appropriately corrected in the overall system including the display apparatus with an image-capturing function and the external apparatus. |
| US08953043B2 |
Parking assistance device configured to generate forward guide markers
A parking assistance device with a simple configuration that flexibly guides a vehicle to a reverse start position in assisting reverse parking computes a guide route for allowing the vehicle to move forward to a reverse start position and then reverse to the parking target and the reverse start position based on the parking target with a predetermined tolerance included, generates forward guide markers constituted by a marker group including a far marker corresponding to the reverse start position and a near marker that represents an area via which the vehicle can reach the reverse start position and is located closer to the vehicle than the far marker, the forward guide markers indicating a forward route to the reverse start position by an arrangement of the marker group the width of which is increased toward the near marker from the far marker, and superimpose the markers on the surrounding image. |
| US08953042B2 |
Vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus
If an iris or a pupil is detected as being positioned in a right area, a vehicle-mounted device identifier of a vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus identifies a vehicle-mounted device group, which is disposed in an area that is on the right side of an area that is identified based on a facial direction detected by a facial direction detector. If the iris or the pupil is detected as being positioned in a left area, the vehicle-mounted device identifier identifies a vehicle-mounted device group, which is disposed in an area that is on the left side of an area that is identified based on the facial direction. If the iris or the pupil is detected as being positioned in a central area, the vehicle-mounted device identifier identifies a vehicle-mounted device group, which is disposed in an area that is identified based on the facial direction. |
| US08953011B2 |
Display device for visually-depicting fields of view of a commercial vehicle
A display device for visually depicting legally-prescribed fields of view of a commercial vehicle in a driver's cab of the commercial vehicle includes at least one display unit. The display device permanently and in real time displays at least two fields of view, which are legally-prescribed to be permanently displayed during operation of the vehicle, on the display unit in the driver's cab in a common image. |
| US08953010B2 |
Light scanning device and image forming apparatus
A light scanning includes an adjusting unit that displaces the optical member to adjust the optical axis of the laser beam. The adjusting unit includes a shaft portion, a shaft supporting portion, a turning portion, a driving portion, and a turning damping unit. The shaft portion is configured to bidirectionally move in a first direction and in a second direction while turning. The first direction is a direction where the shaft portion approaches the optical member. The second direction is a direction where the shaft portion moves away from the optical member. The shaft supporting portion supports the shaft portion, and moves the shaft portion in accordance with turning of the shaft portion. The turning portion turns the shaft portion. The driving portion turns the turning portion. The turning damping unit damps a turning force applied to the shaft portion by an external force. |
| US08953007B2 |
Optical scanner and image forming apparatus
An optical scanner includes a housing and a cover member attached to the housing. A tubular pin attachment portion is installed in a side portion of the housing. A tapping screw pin is inserted into the pin attachment portion when the housing is fastened and fixed to a fastening target with the tapping screw pin. A pin head accommodating portion formed into a tubular shape to extend in a coaxial relationship with the pin attachment portion is installed in a side portion of the cover member. The pin head accommodating portion is configured to accommodate a head portion of the tapping screw pin inserted into the pin attachment portion. |
| US08952999B2 |
Image processing device, display device, and image processing method
An image processing device supplies an image signal to a display device having pixels being composed mainly of four sub-pixels arranged two by two in a first direction and a second direction. The image processing device includes a first filter processing section adapted to perform a filter process of limiting frequency bands in the first direction and the second direction of the image signal adapted to display a first sub-pixel corresponding to white in a manner corresponding to an arrangement of both of the first sub-pixel and a second sub-pixel located in a diagonal direction with respect to the first sub-pixel, and a second filter processing section adapted to perform a filter process of limiting frequency bands in the first direction and the second direction of the image signal adapted to display the second sub-pixel in a manner corresponding to an arrangement of the first sub-pixel and the second sub-pixel. |
| US08952996B2 |
Image display system
Disclosed is an image display system for multi-viewing, including a display device for displaying right-eye images and left-eye images. A system controller is electrically connected to the display device and a light modulating device. A motion sensor, in response to a control signal from the system controller, is utilized for determining the positions of the eyes of a viewer. A processor, in response to one or more image signals from the motion sensor, provides the system controller with the positions. The light modulating device is utilized for spatially or angularly deflecting the right-eye images to the right eye of the viewer and for spatially or angularly deflecting the left-eye images to the left eye of the viewer in accordance with the positions. |
| US08952994B2 |
Information processing device, control method for information processing device, program, and information storage medium
To provide an information processing device capable of enhancing convenience of a user using the information processing device by considering a dominant hand, habit, or the like, of the user without imposing on the user a task of inputting information of the user's dominant hand, habit, the like. In a case where it is determined that a user's designated position is included in a determination area corresponding to an object, the object is moved in accordance with movement of the designated position. In a case where at least one of one object and another object moves, processing relevant to the objects is executed based on a result of collision determination executed with respect to the objects. A second processing executing unit (64) executes predetermined processing based on a positional relationship between one object or one designated position and another object or another designated position in a case in the past in which it is determined that the one designated position is included in the determination area corresponding to the one object and the other designated position is included in the determination area corresponding to the other object. |
| US08952992B2 |
Zoom processing device, zoom processing method, and computer program
Provided is a new framework to perform zoom processing of a screen displayed on a display by unit of a simple operation. A zoom processing device of this invention, includes: calculates a movement amount of a pointer which is selecting an object on the screen; and performs enlarged display of the screen including the object at a first magnification when, as a result of the calculation, the movement amount of the pointer is equal to or less than a threshold value, and performs reduced display of the screen including the object at a second magnification when, as a result of the calculation, the movement amount of the pointer is greater than a threshold value. |
| US08952986B2 |
External fixator deformity correction systems and methods
Systems and methods for planning and optimizing bone deformity correction treatments using external fixators. A computer system generates a display of a tiltable ellipse superimposed on digital medical image(s) (radiograph), the ellipse representing a ring of an external fixator attachable to the patient's bone. Based on axial and azimuthal ring rotation user input, the system calculates a 3D position of the resulting graphical representation of the ring. User input controls translation of ring(s). Strut position user input identifies 3D positions for the external fixator struts. Based on graphical input defining 3D biological rate-limiting points for treatment, the system calculates a 3D bone correction speed and/or a number of treatment days, and generates a graphical simulation of this treatment. Further, the system generates a correction plan specifying for each strut a daily sequence of strut lengths and preferred strut sizes, to minimize strut replacements. |
| US08952979B2 |
Wave fill
A method, system, apparatus, article of manufacture, and computer readable storage medium provide the ability to fill pixels of an image. An area of the image is obtained and one of the pixels is identified as an anchor pixel. Waves are created based on the anchor pixel and placed into a collection of waves waiting to be processed. Each of the waves in the collection is processed. A type of pixel in front of a current wave being processed is determined. If the pixel is fillable, the pixel is filled, the wave is advanced, and child waves are updated. If the pixel is blocking the advancement of the wave, the current wave is updated (e.g., via shrinking or splitting), and child waves are updated. Once all waves have been processed, the area of the image is displayed based on the fill. |
| US08952978B2 |
Display device, viewing angle control method, computer program storage device with viewing angle control program, and mobile terminal
A display device includes a display panel unit having predetermined viewing angle characteristics. An image data conversion unit is included that converts original image data to be displayed on the display panel unit so that a luminance difference in a low gray level region does not substantially change between before and after conversion and so that a luminance difference in a high gray level region changes in such a manner that a luminance difference obtained after conversion becomes smaller than a luminance difference obtained before conversion. A data holding unit holds predetermined oblique-view image data corresponding to the predetermined viewing angle characteristics of the display panel unit. An image combining unit combines image data obtained through conversion by the image data conversion unit with the predetermined oblique-view image data to generate composite image data. The composite image data is displayed on the display panel unit. |
| US08952974B2 |
Latency reduction in a display device
A display device may reduce the latency of the display of a digital signal by reducing the latency that the display device adds to the digital signal. After a digital signal is received by an input module, the signal is stored in a frame buffer as a plurality of pixels. A controller determines the input frame rate of the digital signal and a pixel delay. The controller monitors the frame buffer to determine when the frame buffer has stored a number of pixels greater than or equal to the pixel delay. After the frame buffer contains enough pixels, the controller initiates transmission of the pixels from the frame buffer to a display module. In certain embodiments, the controller initiates transmission of the pixels to the display module before the frame buffer has stored all pixels corresponding to the frame. |
| US08952973B2 |
Image signal processor and method of operating the same
An image signal processor includes a buffer and a buffer controller configured to divide the buffer into a plurality of slots. The buffer controller is configured to store image data necessary for image distortion correction to the buffer. The buffer controller is configured to not store image data unnecessary for image distortion correction to the buffer. |
| US08952963B1 |
Computer hardware architecture and data structures for a grid traversal unit to support incoherent ray traversal
A new hardware architecture defines an indexing and encoding method for accelerating incoherent ray traversal. Accelerating multiple ray traversal may be accomplished by organizing the rays for minimal movement of data, hiding latency due to external memory access, and performing adaptive binning. Rays may be binned into coarse grain and fine grain spatial bins, independent of direction. |
| US08952960B2 |
Method for visualizing an atrium of the heart in a patient
In a method for visualizing at least one section of a wall of an atrium of the heart in a patient after an ablation for treatment of atrial fibrillation, a volume data record of at least the treated atrium of the heart in the patient is segmented to establish voxels that are of an inner surface, an outer surface, and a volume situated between the inner and outer surfaces of the wall of the treated atrium. The at least one section of the wall of the treated atrium of the heart is visualized by volume rendering or ray casting such that only voxel values of the established voxels that lie on the inner surface in the volume or on the outer surface of the wall of the treated atrium are used. |
| US08952959B2 |
Embedding images into a surface using occlusion
A three-dimensional relief can be produced from one or more two-dimensional digital (2D) images. A height field is computed from the one or more 2D images and illumination direction information. The height field comprises a multiplicity of geometric surface elements arrayed in a 2D field corresponding to the pixels of the one or more 2D images. Each geometric surface element corresponds to a pixel of each of the digital images and has at least one height parameter representing a displacement from a surface floor. Once the height field is computed, optimizations or adjustments can optionally be made to the height field. The height field can be used to fabricate relief elements in a material, such that each relief element corresponds in shape, position in the height field, and height above the surface floor, to one of the geometric surface elements in the height field. |
| US08952954B2 |
DC-DC converter and organic light emitting display including the same
A DC-DC converter includes a first power source generator, the first power source generator including an input port and a first output port, the first power source generator being configured to receive an input power source to the input port, and being configured to generate a first power source, the first power source being output to the first output port, and a selecting unit, the selecting unit being configured to selectively transmit, to the first power source generator, one of: a feedback voltage, the feedback voltage being input from an external feedback wiring line via a feedback terminal, and a voltage of the first output port. |
| US08952945B2 |
Display and gate driver thereof
A display and a gate driver are disclosed herein, in which the gate driver includes a number of gate driving units, and each of the gate driving units includes a control circuit, a boost circuit, a driver output circuit and a voltage stabilized circuit. The control circuit is electrically connected to a previous gate driving unit and a next gate driving unit. The boost circuit is electrically connected to the control circuit for driving the next gate driving unit. The driver output circuit is electrically connected to the boost circuit and a pixel array for driving at least one scan line in the pixel array. The voltage stabilizing circuit is electrically connected to the boost circuit and the driver output circuit. |
| US08952944B2 |
Stage circuit and scan driver using the same
A stage circuit and a scan driver using the same that is capable of concurrently (e.g., simultaneously) or progressively supplying a scan signal to a plurality of scan lines. The stage circuit includes a progressive driver and a concurrent driver. |
| US08952941B2 |
Energy-efficient display apparatus with object-sensing capability
A display device capable of accurately sensing object presence at lower power consumption is presented, as well as a method of driving the display device. The display device includes a sensing circuit that detects the presence of an object by sensing radiation, and a radiation source array that provides radiation to the sensing circuit. First signals are provided to the scan lines of the sensing circuit, sequentially activating the sensors during a frame period. Second signals are provided to a radiation source array to selectively activate different portions of the radiation source array. The first and second signals are synchronized in their timing such that the portion of the radiation source array that supplies radiation to the activated sensors are turned on. |
| US08952937B2 |
Resistive touch panel display device using carbon nanotubes
A touch display device includes a touch panel, a driving and sensing circuit, a data memory, a processor and a display apparatus. The touch panel is adapted to receive a touch trace including at least one touch point. The driving and sensing circuit is adapted to detect an actual signal value Vi of the at least one touch point. The data memory is adapted to store a look up table including a plurality of position coordinates and calibrating rules f each corresponding to each of the position coordinates and can be used to convert actual signal value V0i of a basic contact area A0 to a standard signal value Vs. The processor is adapted to calculate the position coordinate and calibrate the actual signal value Vi to a calibrated signal value V′i. The display apparatus is adapted to display the touch trace. |
| US08952924B2 |
Capacitive touch panel
A capacitive touch panel including a substrate, first sensing series, second sensing series, and a first insulation layer is provided. Each first sensing series is disposed on the substrate and includes first sensing electrodes and first auxiliary electrodes. Each first auxiliary electrodes has a first connection terminal connected with one of the first sensing electrodes and a first open terminal away form the correspondingly first sensing electrode. Each second sensing series is disposed on the substrate and the first sensing series and includes second sensing electrodes. The first sensing series and the second sensing series are electrically insulated with each other. An edge of each second sensing electrode is conformed to an edge of the adjacent first sensing series. |
| US08952922B2 |
Sensing unit, sensing arrangement and sensing method for touch panel application
Two sensing units are configured as an exciter and a sensor connected to two trace lines, respectively, for mutual capacitance sensing from the capacitance units including these two trace lines. The two sensing units connect the two trace lines together to balance them to a same voltage level first, and then disconnect them from each other. Thereafter, the exciter connects the first trace line to an excitation node to induce a charge change on the second trace line, and the sensor senses the charge change to detect the variation of the mutual capacitance between the two trace lines. |
| US08952918B2 |
Display device
An embodiment of this document provides a display device comprising a panel, a touch screen panel, and a sense unit. The panel comprises subpixels placed in a display region defined in one face of a first substrate and a second substrate bonded with the first substrate. The touch screen panel is placed on the panel and configured to comprise electrode units. The sense unit is coupled to the electrode units and configured to sense a position through the electrode units. At least some of the electrode units are formed of a multi-layer with heterogeneous metals. |
| US08952915B2 |
Portable multi-touch input device
A portable input device is described. The portable input device can wirelessly send control signals to an external circuit. The control signals can derive from touch or gestures applied to a touch sensitive surface. The control signals can also include a mouse click equivalent control signal generated by mechanical manipulation of the portable input device. |
| US08952907B2 |
Touch screen and method for manufacturing a touch screen
A touch screen (13) on a display device (1), and a method for manufacturing a touch screen (13) on a display device (1). The display device (1) has an upper substrate (12) for protecting the display device (1) from the environment, the touch screen (13) comprising an electrically conductive transparent first layer (16). The first layer (16) comprises a network of electrically conductive high aspect ratio molecular structures (HARM-structures), the first layer (16) being embedded into the upper substrate (12) of the display device (1) to protect the conductive transparent first layer (16), for reducing the optical thickness of the structure between a viewer and the region of the display device (1) in which the image is formed. |
| US08952906B2 |
Apparatus and method for inputting writing information according to writing pattern
Provided are a method and apparatus for inputting handwriting in a digital electronic apparatus. Various patterns defining methods of generating pressure information according to handwriting input are stored in advance, and a user selects a pattern similar to a pattern of the user or selects a desired handwriting pattern to perform the handwriting, so that pressure information is generated according to the handwriting pattern and the handwriting is displaying with a thickness corresponding to the pressure information. Therefore, it is possible to solve a problem of monotonous handwriting input in the related art where only the position is input and the handwriting is output with the same thickness. |
| US08952903B2 |
Touch device and fabrication method thereof
A touch device is provided. The touch device, having a sensing area and a peripheral area, includes a touch-sensing layer, a shielding layer disposed at the peripheral area of and separated from the touch-sensing layer, and an insulating layer disposed between the touch-sensing layer and the shielding layer. Moreover, a fabrication method of a touch device is provided. |
| US08952902B2 |
Display and control device for a motor vehicle and method for operating the same
A display device (3) is coupled to a touch-sensitive position detection unit (5) and a control unit (6) is coupled to the display device (3) and the position detection unit (5). The control unit has an evaluation logic (8) that evaluates touched positions (9) detected by the position detection unit (5) and uses the positions to influence the control of the representation of information on the display device (3) and the calling up of functions and/or the control of systems (11) that can be operated via the display and control device (1). The evaluation logic (8) is designed to evaluate the detected touched positions (9) in a time-resolved manner. |
| US08952900B2 |
Touch screen display apparatus
A touch screen display apparatus for easily sensing the touch of a user. The touch screen display apparatus includes: a substrate; a display unit formed on the substrate; and a touch panel disposed to face the display unit, where the touch panel comprises a sealing substrate, a first electrode formed on the sealing substrate, a second electrode spaced apart from the first electrode, and a light receiving unit comprising an organic material interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. |
| US08952899B2 |
Method and apparatus to reject accidental contact on a touchpad
In one exemplary embodiment, a portable computer having a display assembly coupled to a base assembly to alternate between a closed position and an open position. Palm rest areas are formed by a touchpad disposed on the surface of the base assembly. In an alternative embodiment, a touchpad disposed on the base assembly has a width that extends substantially into the palm rests areas of the base assembly. |
| US08952888B2 |
Method and system for conveying an emotion
The present invention relates to a method for conveying an emotion to a person being exposed to multimedia information, such as a media clip, by way of tactile stimulation using a plurality of actuators arranged in a close vicinity of the person's body, the method comprising the step of providing tactile stimulation information for controlling the plurality of actuators, wherein the plurality of actuators are adapted to stimulate multiple body sites in a body region, the tactile stimulation information comprises a sequence of tactile stimulation patterns, wherein each tactile stimulation pattern controls the plurality of actuators in time and space to enable the tactile stimulation of the body region, and the tactile stimulation information is synchronized with the media clip. An advantage with the present invention is thus that emotions can be induced, or strengthened, at the right time (e.g. synchronized with a specific situation in the media clip). |
| US08952884B2 |
Suspended particle device, light control device using the same, and method for driving the same
Disclosed is a suspended particle device having a higher response speed of particles upon shutdown of the device. The suspended particle device includes a first substrate; a first electrode arranged on a surface of the first substrate; a second substrate; a second electrode arranged on a surface of the second substrate; and a suspension arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate, in which the suspension includes particles and a disperse medium, the particles are dispersed in the disperse medium, an orientation of the particles is controlled by an alternate-current voltage to be applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, and “a” which represents a frequency of an alternate-current voltage in a driving period is greater than “b” which represents a frequency of an alternate-current voltage in a shutdown period. |
| US08952881B2 |
Image display apparatus and information processing apparatus
According to one embodiment, an image display apparatus includes a liquid crystal panel, a backlight, a luminance distribution calculation unit, an error calculation unit, and an emission intensity update unit. The backlight includes a plurality of light sources which emit light. The luminance distribution calculation unit calculates a predicted value for an intensity distribution of light entering the liquid crystal panel if each of the light sources is lit with an emission intensity. The error calculation unit obtains a brightness of a display image which is realized if the each of the light sources is lit with the emission intensity, and the error calculation unit calculates an error between the obtained brightness and an ideal brightness of the display image corresponding to the input video signal. The emission intensity update unit updates the emission intensity of the each of the light sources to reduce the error. |
| US08952873B2 |
Fused polycyclic compound and organic light-emitting device using the compound
Provided are a fused polycyclic compound suitable for use mainly as a component for a blue-light-emitting device, and an organic light-emitting device using the compound. The fused polycyclic compound is represented by the general formulae (1), (2), (8) and (9). |
| US08952871B2 |
3D LCD panel, 3D LCD device and driving method
The invention provides a 3D LCD panel, a 3D LCD device, and a driving method. The 3D LCD panel includes a plurality of pixels; each pixel includes three subpixels which respectively correspond to different colors. A light emitting surface of the 3D LCD panel is crosswise provided with two different pattern retarders, and two adjacent subpixels corresponding to different colors in rows or columns are correspondingly provided with different pattern retarders. Each three adjacent subpixels covered by the same pattern retarder correspond to different colors to form one pixel. The mura width of the invention is only is only ⅓ width of the conventional mura, thereby improving the watching effect. |
| US08952867B2 |
Information processing apparatus, information processing method and recording medium
When a user makes a touch input, a touch detector receives touch inputs from two touch panels and measures the coordinates of the touch inputs. The touch detector discriminates a detection mode. When the mode is an individual detection mode, the touch detector converts the coordinates of the touch input in the coordinate system of each display panel to coordinates in the coordinate system of the corresponding display panel, and stores touch history data in a storage unit. When the mode is a combined detection mode, the touch detector converts the coordinates of the touch input in the coordinate system of one display panel to coordinates in the coordinate system of the display panel, and to coordinates in the coordinate system of the other display panel to integrate the coordinate systems into the coordinate system of a single display panel, and stores touch history data in the storage unit. |
| US08952863B2 |
Strain-tunable antenna and associated methods
An apparatus comprising an actuating substrate and an antenna in contact with the actuating substrate, the actuating substrate configured to undergo strain during actuation, wherein the strain in the actuating substrate varies the dimensions of the in-contact antenna and causes a change in the operational characteristics of the antenna. |
| US08952862B2 |
Device for coupling and fastening a radiating element of an antenna and method of assembling an antenna
The panel type antenna includes a flat conductive mount including at least one orifice, at least one radiating element including a base mounted beneath a dipole and a device for coupling and fixing the radiating element to the support. The device for coupling and fixing the radiating element, comprising a base mounted beneath a dipole, on the support with a dielectric part including a base with a dimension greater than the orifice in the support, at least one rod joined with the base and extending in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the base through the orifice of the support adapted for the insertion of the rod, at least one protuberance built into the end of the rod able to cooperate with the radiating element to hold it in place. The device includes a dielectric layer between the radiating element and the conductive mount to avoid direct contact. |
| US08952860B2 |
Antenna structures with carriers and shields
Antennas are provided for electronic devices such as portable computers. An electronic device may have a housing in which an antenna is mounted. The housing may be formed of conductive materials. A dielectric window may be mounted in the housing to allow radio-frequency signals to be transmitted from the antenna and to allow the antenna to receive radio-frequency signals. A proximity sensor adjacent to the dielectric window may be used in detecting external objects. The antenna may have an antenna resonating element that is mounted against an inner surface of a display cover glass layer. The antenna resonating element may be mounted to an upper surface of a plastic carrier. An electromagnetic shield may be mounted on a lower surface of the plastic carrier above the proximity sensor. |
| US08952851B1 |
Direct feed patch antenna
Methods and systems for radiating electromagnetic energy with a direct-feed patch antenna are described. The direct-feed patch antenna may be formed of a metal member of the user device and is grounded to the ground plane at a ground point disposed in relation to a feed location of the direct-feed patch antenna, the feed location to be directly coupled to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal. The direct-feed patch antenna is configured to radiate electromagnetic energy in response to the RF signal. |
| US08952849B2 |
Apparatus having mushroom structures
An apparatus having multiple mushroom structures is disclosed. Each of the multiple mushroom structures includes: a ground plate; a patch provided parallel to the ground plate with a separation of a distance to the ground plate, wherein a distance between a ground plate and a patch in a certain mushroom structure is different from a distance between a ground plate and a patch in a different mushroom structure. |
| US08952845B1 |
Dynamic relative internal alignment calibration
A method for adapting the pointing of a radar system in response to distortion of a deckhouse support structure supporting plural antenna arrays of the radar system is provided. The method comprises the steps of making repeated measurements between at least one laser tracker located within the support structure and laser targets mounted within the support structure, and comparing the current measurements with previous measurements to determine physical bias introduced into the structure. |
| US08952844B1 |
System and method for adaptively matching the frequency response of multiple channels
A method for adaptively matching the frequency response of two channels of a received signal includes the steps of receiving a main RF signal on a main antenna, sampling the main RF signal at a sample rate, delaying the sampled main RF signal by a multiple of a sample period, wherein the sample period is the inverse of the sample rate, receiving at least one other RF signal on at least one other auxiliary antenna, sampling each of the at least one other RF signal at the sample rate, filtering each of the at least one other sampled RF signal utilizing an adaptive finite impulse response (FIR) filter having at least one sub-sample-period time delay, and combining the sampled main RF signal with each of the filtered at least one other sampled RF signals. |
| US08952840B1 |
Loading a machine code API onto an 8-bit virtual machine to enable new functionality
A compact, register-based, eight-bit virtual machine is realized on a resource-constrained device such as, for example, an IR remote control device. The IR remote control device includes a script interpreter, as well as loader API functionality and API functionality to support communication over a bidirectional link. The functionality of the remote control device is customized by loading either a machine code API routine and/or a script API routine onto the remote control device via the bidirectional link. A script is loaded via the bidirectional link and is stored in program memory. Once loaded, the script is interpreted by the virtual machine, thereby calling API functionalities provided, and thereby causing the remote control device to have a desired customized function. Providing the virtual machine on all the members of a family of remote control devices allows the same script to run on any remote control device of the family. |
| US08952836B2 |
Pipeline analog-to-digital converter
A pipeline analog-to-digital converter is disclosed which includes at least one periodic unit consisting of two adjacent stages that jointly use two capacitor networks of the same structure. Each of the capacitor networks includes two identical capacitors, two switches and four terminals. On/off states of the switches and interconnection configuration of the terminals are controlled by clock signals to switch the periodic unit between four possible connection configurations. During operation of the periodic unit, when the upstream stage is in a sampling phase that involves one of the capacitor networks as well as a reference capacitor, the downstream stage uses the other of the capacitor networks to conduct residue amplification; and on the other hand, when the upstream stage is using one of the capacitor networks for residue amplification, the downstream stage relies also on this capacitor network for sampling, leaving the other of the capacitor networks idle. |
| US08952835B1 |
Background calibration of aperture center errors in analog to digital converters
A method of background calibration of aperture center errors in a data communication system is provided. In an implementation, in response to detection of a low sampler output (“0”) in between two high sampler outputs (“1”), the method includes: determining a direction of an ADC output signal at the time of the detected low output; and adjusting timing at a selected sampler based on the determined signal direction. In an example implementation, the method includes watching for bubbles in the thermometer code output, and estimating the first derivative of the signal at the time of the bubble, then estimating the sign of the errors. In an example implementation, the errors are used in a control loop to reduce the aperture center error. |
| US08952820B2 |
Enhanced dive computer functionality and associated features
An enhanced dive computer functionality providing a diver positioning system integrated into a dive computer and a modified Display Integrated Vibrating Alarm device controlled by the dive computer to allow for decompression integrated guidance and a buddy signalling device. The diver positioning system allows for automatically determining the diver's position by tracking the diver's location in three dimensions within a water column, or portion of the body of water in which the diver operates bounded by the surface and the maximum dive depth, during a dive. A modified Display Integrated Vibrating Alarm allows for guiding a diver through a controlled decompression ascent and a method for automatically warning companion or nearby divers of imminent danger of injury or death to a subject diver. |
| US08952819B2 |
Direct observation event triggering of drowsiness
A system for event triggering comprises an interface and a processor. An interface configured to receive a face tracking data and receive a sensor data. The processor configured to determine a degree of drowsiness based at least in part on the face tracking data and the sensor data; in the event that the degree of drowsiness is greater than a first threshold, capture data; and in the event that the degree of drowsiness is greater than a second threshold, provide a warning. |
| US08952817B2 |
Security package
Provided is a security package which generally comprises a casing for housing a product and a collar for locking the casing. The collar generally has a locked and unlocked configuration and comprises a first locking member having at least one male locking mechanism, and a second locking member having at least one female locking mechanism lockable to the at least one male locking mechanism. The casing generally has an open and closed configuration, and comprises a cavity shaped to substantially conform to the product. In the locked configuration the collar secures the casing in the closed configuration. The casing may comprise a first and second casing portion, and these may be integrally formed with the one or more of the first and second locking members. The collar may form a perimeter around the casing, may be adjustable, and may house a security device such as an RFID (radio-frequency identification) tag. |
| US08952800B2 |
Prevention of texting while operating a motor vehicle
A system and method includes sensors configured to measure conditions of a vehicle. A monitoring module is configured to evaluate the conditions input thereto from the sensors. The monitoring module is further configured to determine a state of a mobile device located within the vehicle. Based upon a combination of the conditions of the vehicle and the state of the mobile device, a determination of improper use of the mobile device is made. |
| US08952781B2 |
Method and apparatus for access control using dual biometric authentication
A biometrically authenticated access control in which a wireless authentication signal is provided from a primary instrumentality of access, only after a dual-stage biometric verification of the user's identity is performed. In one embodiment, an accessing device includes memory for storing a device identification code and an authentication code, along with first and second biometric templates corresponding to biometric samples from a user. In another embodiment, an accessing device includes memory for storing a device identification code and more than one authentication code, for separate users, along with first and second biometric templates corresponding to biometric samples from multiple users. In order to gain access to a secured resource, a user undergoes first and second biometric sampling to generate biometric data to be compared with the first and second biometric templates. |
| US08952779B2 |
Portable terminal, method, and program of changing user interface
A user can automatically change a user interface of a portable terminal into a user interface of an electronic appliance suitable for user's intention. A portable terminal recognizes a circumferentially existing electronic appliance based on a photographic image or a radio signal, and allows one or more applications having a user interface varying by electronic appliance to start and then be resident in a memory of the portable terminal. Then, when the portable terminal recognizes a predetermined electronic appliance, the portable terminal changes a user interface displayed on a display unit and an input unit of the portable terminal into a user interface of an application associated with the predetermined electronic appliance to enable a user to view the user interface. When a user puts the portable terminal to a predetermined direction, the portable terminal recognizes an electronic appliance existing in the direction and displays the corresponding user interface. |
| US08952765B2 |
System and methods of bimodal automatic power and frequency tuning of RF generators
A radio frequency generator includes a power control module, a frequency control module and a pulse generating module. The power control module is configured to generate a power signal indicating power levels for target states of a power amplifier. The frequency control module is configured to generate a frequency signal indicating frequencies for the target states of the power amplifier. The pulse generating module is configured to (i) supply an output signal to the power amplifier, (ii) recall at least one of a latest power level or a latest frequency for one of the target states of the power amplifier, and (iii) adjust a current power level and a current frequency of the output signal from a first state to a second state based on the power signal, the frequency signal, and at least one of the latest power level and the latest frequency of the power amplifier. |
| US08952764B2 |
High-frequency, high-speed precision digital bi-phase modulator and method for bi-phase modulation
Embodiments of digital high-speed bi-phase modulator and method for bi-phase modulation are generally described herein. In some embodiments, the digital high-speed bi-phase modulator comprises a high-speed digital divider, a high-speed digital multiplexer, and matched signal paths provided between the divider and the multiplexer. The high-speed digital divider is configured to receive a carrier signal and generate complementary output signals. The high-speed digital multiplexer is configured to switch between the complementary output signals and generate a bi-phase modulated output at a carrier frequency (fc) modulated with a bi-phase code. The bi-phase code may be provided to control inputs of the multiplexer. |
| US08952758B2 |
Amplifier using nonlinear drivers
A device includes a Doherty amplifier having a main path and a peaking path. The Doherty amplifier includes a main amplifier configured to amplify a signal received from the main path and a peaking amplifier configured to amplify a signal received from the peaking path when the signal received from the peaking path exceeds a predetermined threshold. The device includes a first driver amplifier connected to the main path of the Doherty amplifier. The first driver amplifier is configured to exhibit an amplitude and phase distortion characteristic that is an inverse of an amplitude and phase distortion characteristic of the main amplifier. The device includes a second driver amplifier connected to the peaking path of the Doherty amplifier. The second driver amplifier is configured to exhibit an amplitude and phase distortion characteristic that is an inverse of an amplitude and phase distortion characteristic of the peaking amplifier. |
| US08952756B2 |
Antenna drive apparatus
An antenna drive apparatus applying an antenna drive voltage to an antenna from an H-bridge circuit including four switching elements to drive the antenna, includes: a switching mechanism to switch between a full-bridge state in which a differential voltage between a pulse voltage and a reverse pulse voltage reversed from the pulse voltage is applied to the antenna as the antenna drive voltage, and a half-bridge state in which the pulse voltage or the reverse pulse voltage is applied to the antenna as the antenna drive voltage; and a control mechanism to control the switching mechanism so that the frequency of the full-bridge state per unit time during an initial period of driving of the antenna in a transmission period for transmitting a transmission signal by the antenna becomes higher than that during the subsequent period in the transmission period. |
| US08952754B2 |
Linearization of heterogeneous power amplifier systems
Systems and methods are provided for adaptive linearization of an amplifier system having a plurality of heterogeneous amplifier paths. An amplifier system includes a plurality of amplifier paths, each configured to provide an amplified output signal from an input signal, and a signal combiner configured to combine the amplified output signals from the plurality of amplifier paths to provide a system output, such that the system output is a non-linear function of the amplified output signals. A monitoring system is configured to sample the system output and normalize the sampled output to a signal level associated with the input signal. A signal processing component is configured to characterize the amplifier paths via an iterative adaptive linearization process, such that the system output is linear with respect to the input signal. |
| US08952748B2 |
Circuit and method for a multi-mode filter
An embodiment integrated circuit includes a first capacitive element including a first metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor and a second capacitive element coupled in parallel with the first capacitive element, where the second capacitive element includes a second MOS capacitor. Also, the integrated circuit includes a third capacitive element coupled in parallel with the first capacitive element and the second capacitive element, where the third capacitive element includes a first metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and a fourth capacitive element coupled in parallel with the first capacitive element, the second capacitive element, and the third capacitive element, where the fourth capacitive element includes a second MIM capacitor. |
| US08952742B2 |
Highly accurate true RMS power detector for cellular applications
New devices and methods capable of detecting a true Root-Mean-Square (RMS) power level of an analog input signal are disclosed. For example, an electronic circuit can include a squaring circuit that receives the analog input signal and processes the analog input signal so as to produce a squared-output of the analog input signal using an analog transfer function of the squaring circuit, and a square-root circuit that receives the squared-output and processes the squared-output using an analog transfer function of the square-root circuit so as to produce an analog RMS output signal representing the true RMS power level of the analog input signal. |
| US08952741B1 |
Level shifter
A level shifter includes an input stage circuit, a latch circuit and a transient speed-up circuit. The input stage circuit receives an input signal. The latch circuit is coupled to the input stage circuit through a first output terminal and a second output terminal, and determining steady-state levels of the first and the second output terminals according to the input signal. The transient speed-up circuit is coupled to the first and the second output terminals. When the transient speed-up circuit determines the first and the second output terminals are at the same logic level, the transient speed-up circuit accelerates the positive edge transition of the first or the second terminals. |
| US08952738B1 |
Slew rate control device using switching capacitor
Disclosed is a slew rate control device using a switching capacitor which includes a first capacitor that is connected to a target circuit operated in response to a clock signal, and controls a rising slope of a signal output from the target circuit when the clock signal is in a high state; a switch that is connected to the first capacitor in parallel, receives a reverse signal of the clock signal, as a control signal, and is turned on when the clock signal is in a low state; and a second capacitor that is connected to the switch in series, and controls a falling slope of the signal output from the target circuit when the clock signal is in the low state. |
| US08952737B2 |
Methods and systems for calibration of a delay locked loop
A method for calibrating a delay locked loop (“DLL”) having a plurality of delay segments, comprises: determining segment delay values for the delay segments; calculating a full-cycle delay value for an input signal to the DLL; adjusting one or more of the segment delay values as a function of the full-cycle delay value to generate one or more adjusted delay values; and calculating weights for the delay segments as a function of the segment delay values, the full-cycle delay, and the one or more adjusted delay values, wherein the weights are used to calibrate the DLL. |
| US08952731B2 |
Voltage controlled switching element gate drive circuit
A voltage controlled switching element gate drive circuit makes it possible to suppress an occurrence of a malfunction, while suppressing surge voltage, surge current, and switching noise, when switching in a voltage controlled switching element. A gate drive circuit that supplies a gate voltage to the gate of a voltage controlled switching element, thus driving the voltage controlled switching element, includes a high potential side switching element and low potential side switching element connected in series, first variable resistors interposed between at least the high potential side switching element and a high potential power supply or the low potential side switching element and a low potential power supply, and a control circuit that adjusts the resistance values of the first variable resistors. |
| US08952730B2 |
Driver circuit
A gate driver circuit that can supply a negative gate voltage to a high-side circuit without being additionally provided with an insulated power supply is realized. A driver circuit is configured such that a half-bridge circuit in which a first transistor and a second transistor are connected in series includes a capacitor that supplies a negative gate voltage to a high-side first transistor via a first control circuit, and a control circuit power supply that supplies a negative gate voltage to a low-side second transistor via a second control circuit, one end of the capacitor being connected to a negative voltage VEE on a negative terminal side of the control circuit power supply via a switching element, and the other end being connected to a voltage on an output terminal, wherein the switching element is controlled to be on upon a timing when the second transistor is turned on. |
| US08952725B2 |
Low voltage differential signal driving circuit and electronic device compatible with wired transmission
A low voltage differential signal driving circuit including positive and negative differential output terminals, an automatic level selector, an output level detector and a transition accelerator. The positive and negative differential output terminals provide a transmission interface with a differential output signal for transmission of a data signal. The automatic level selector outputs a reference voltage corresponding to the transmission interface. The output level detector generates a low-high (or high-low) transition acceleration control signal based on the data signal, the reference voltage, and VTXP signal at the positive differential output terminal (or VTXN signal at the negative differential output terminal). In accordance with the low-high (or high-low) transition acceleration control signal, the transition accelerator couples the positive (or negative) differential output terminal to a high voltage source and couples the negative (or positive) differential output terminal to a low voltage source to accelerate transition of the differential output signal. |
| US08952719B2 |
Memory with termination circuit
Provided is a semiconductor integrated circuit according to an exemplary aspect of the present invention including first and second transmitter-receivers that execute transmission and reception of data through a signal line. The first transmitter-receiver includes a first termination circuit that includes a first resistor and a first switch, the first resistor being provided between a first power supply terminal and the signal line, the first switch controlling a current flowing through the first resistor to be turned on and off, and a control circuit that outputs a first control signal to the first termination circuit so that the first switch is turned on when the first transmitter-receiver receives data, the first switch is turned off when the first transmitter-receiver transmits the data, and the first switch is continuously on during a first predetermined period after receiving the data when the first transmitter-receiver further receives another data after receiving the data. |
| US08952712B2 |
Tagging of functional blocks of a semiconductor component on a wafer
Methods and apparatus are disclosed to simultaneously, wirelessly test semiconductor components formed on a semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor components transmit respective outcomes of a self-contained testing operation to wireless automatic test equipment via a common communication channel. Multiple receiving antennas observe the outcomes from multiple directions in three dimensional space. The wireless automatic test equipment determines whether one or more of the semiconductor components operate as expected and, optionally, may use properties of the three dimensional space to determine a location of one or more of the semiconductor components. The wireless testing equipment may additionally determine performance of the semiconductor components by detecting infrared energy emitted, transmitted, and/or reflected by the semiconductor wafer before, during, and/or after a self-contained testing operation. |
| US08952705B2 |
System and method for examining asymetric operations
Systems and methods for transition delay measuring are presented. A transition delay measuring method can include oscillating a signal between states and tracking an indication associated with an isolated attribute of the transitions between the states. Oscillations can include asymmetric transitions between the states and the tracked isolated attribute can be a delay in completing transitions between the states in one direction or vice versa. The asymmetric transitions can include transitions between the first state and the second state that are faster than slower transitions between the second state and the first state or vice versa. The tracked indication can be utilized in analysis of the isolated transition delay characteristics. The results can be utilized in analysis of various further features and characteristics (e.g., examination of leakage current related power consumption, timing of asymmetric operation, etc.). The analysis can include examination of fabrication process and operating parameters. |
| US08952698B1 |
Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus
A magnetic resonance imaging configuration to straighten and otherwise homogenize the field lines in the imaging portion, creating improved image quality. Through use of calibrated corrective coils, magnetic field lines can be manipulated to improve uniformity and image quality. Additionally, when the apparatus is composed of non-ferromagnetic materials, field strengths can be increased to overcome limitations of Iron-based systems such as by use of superconductivity. A patient positioning apparatus allows multi-positioning of a patient within the magnetic field lines. |
| US08952678B2 |
Gap-mode waveguide
In a gap-mode waveguide embodiment, an interior gap in a tubular waveguide principally condenses a dominant gap mode near the interior gap, and an absorber dissipates electromagnetic energy away from the gap mode. In this manner, the gap mode may dissipate relatively little power in the absorber compared to other modes and propagate with lesser attenuation than all other modes. A gap mode launched into a gap-mode waveguide may provide for low-loss, low-dispersion propagation of signals over a bandwidth including a multimode range of the waveguide. Gap-mode waveguide embodiments of various forms may be used to build guided-wave circuits covering broad bandwidths extending to terahertz frequencies. |
| US08952668B2 |
Switching power supply device
A switching power supply device of a nonlinear control manner is provided, which includes: a reference voltage generation portion, for generating a reference voltage; a ripple injection portion, for using a switch voltage at one end of a switch element to generate a ripple component, and injecting the ripple component into the reference voltage to generate a ripple reference voltage; a comparator, for comparing a feedback voltage corresponding to an output voltage with the ripple reference voltage; a switching control portion, for performing on/off control on the switch element based on an output signal of the comparator; and an offset adjustment portion for generating an offset voltage corresponding to the switch voltage, and setting any of the reference voltage, the feedback voltage, and the ripple reference voltage to the offset voltage. |
| US08952663B2 |
Battery charge and discharge control apparatus and method for controlling battery charge and discharge
A master controller of a battery charge and discharge control apparatus is a device performing charge and discharge control on a group of a predetermined number of battery arrays, the battery arrays being connected together in parallel. The master controller acquires an entire charge or discharge instruction intended for the entire battery array group, starts charging or discharging each of the battery arrays at a uniform charge or discharge power value, acquires a charge or discharge status of each of the battery arrays after the beginning of the charge or discharge and compares the charge or discharge status with a predetermined charge or discharge set value for the entire battery array group, and changes the charge or discharge power value of each of the battery arrays based on a result of the comparison. |
| US08952659B2 |
Desktop charger for handheld communication device
A charger device for use with a handheld communication device, the charger device comprises a cable, a connector element and a support element affixed to the connector element. The connector element includes a connector for engagement with a port of the handheld communication device. The support element is configured to support the handheld communication device in either one of a portrait orientation and a landscape orientation, when the connector is engaged with the port of the handheld communication device. |
| US08952656B2 |
Battery charging station
A method of operating an electric vehicle charging system utilizing a plurality of charging units and charging points is disclosed. The method includes determining a rate of charge to be delivered to each vehicle and then allocating a respective portion of the total charging capacity of the charging station to each vehicle. |
| US08952644B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling motor
There are provided an apparatus and a method for controlling a motor. The apparatus includes: a comparing unit comparing a target value and an output value and calculating error values therefrom; and a controlling unit controlling the motor by selecting one of a proportional control and a proportional integral control according to an average error value calculated by averaging the error values for each section having a predetermined interval and adjusting a gain value of the selected control. |
| US08952643B2 |
Method and circuit assembly for current control in 3-phase motors
A method and circuit assembly are provided for controlling the motor current in an electric 3-phase motor, in particular in a 3-phase stepper motor, by a chopper process. For at least two of the three motor connections a respective chopper phase is cyclically activated, while a target motor current supplied for the motor connection in question is injected into the motor connection by a chopper process, while the two other motor connections are connected to each other. |
| US08952639B2 |
Apparatus and method for controlling motor
There are provided an apparatus and a method for controlling a motor. The apparatus for controlling a motor includes a signal generation unit generating a first signal indicating position information of a rotor, a counter unit sampling the first signal with a second signal different from the first signal for one period to count a sampling frequency, a memory unit storing a section counter value and an error value obtained by sampling a period immediately prior to the first signal with the second signal, and a comparison unit increasing and reducing an output signal when the sampling frequency counted by the counter unit coincides with the section counter value, wherein the comparison unit sums the sampling frequencies corresponding to error values with the sampling frequency of the first signal before the counter unit ends the sampling of one period of the first signal. |
| US08952623B2 |
Multi-channel driver equalizer
The disclosed multi-channel driver equalizer circuit matches currents in multiple strings of illumination devices at low current levels by using an analog equalizer to sequentially couple the output of a reference amplifier in series with each current source amplifier in a current limit loop of the driver equalizer circuit to correct the offsets of the current source amplifiers, resulting in the matching of string currents on average. |
| US08952621B2 |
High pressure discharge lamp lighting device, projector provided with the same, and high pressure discharge lamp lighting method
A calculation processing sub-unit controls a frequency control sub-unit and a DC-AC inverter circuit to repeat a first period and a second period. The first period continues for at least two cycles, each cycle including a first sub-period during which the current is maintained in one polarity and a second sub-period during which the current is maintained in an opposite polarity. The second sub-period is shorter than and subsequent to the first sub-period. The second period, during which the current is maintained in a constant polarity, is as long as or longer than the first sub-period. The calculation processing sub-unit controls a PWM control sub-unit and a voltage step-down circuit to maintain an absolute value of the current at a first current value during at least part of the first period, and at a second current value, greater than the first current value, during the second period. |
| US08952620B2 |
Light emitting diode driver
A driver circuit for driving light emitting diodes (LEDs). The driver circuit includes: a string of LEDs divided into n groups, the n groups of LEDs being electrically connected to each other in series, a downstream end of group m−1 being electrically connected to the upstream end of group m, where m is a positive number equal to or less than n. The driver circuit also includes a plurality of current regulating circuits, each of the current regulating circuits being coupled to the downstream end of a corresponding group at one end and coupled to the ground at the other end and including a sensor amplifier and a cascode having first and second transistors, each sensor amplifier being coupled to a different voltage source for providing a different reference voltage thereto. |
| US08952619B2 |
Low cost LED driver with integral dimming capability
A distributed system for driving strings of series-connected LEDs for backlighting, display and lighting applications includes multiple intelligent satellite LED driver ICs connected to a an interface IC via serial bus. The interface IC translates information obtained from a host microcontroller into instructions for the satellite LED driver ICs pertaining to such parameters as duty factor, current levels, phase delay and fault settings. Fault conditions in the LED driver ICs can be transmitted back to, the interface IC. An analog current sense feedback system which also links the LED driver ICs determines the supply voltage for the LED strings. |
| US08952616B2 |
Apparatus for controlling head lamp for vehicle
There is provided an apparatus for controlling a head lamp for a vehicle. A control condition determining unit determines whether a condition for controlling a head lamp is established or not based upon whether a vehicle ahead is present or not, and a distance between the vehicle ahead and the vehicle. When the control condition is determined to be established, an illumination range control unit compares a reference pattern stored and held in a reference pattern holding unit and an illumination pattern of the head lamp recognized by an illumination pattern recognition unit, and controls the illumination range of the head lamp via an actuator in order that both patterns agree with each other. |
| US08952614B2 |
Power supply device for vehicle lamp and the vehicle lamp
A vehicle lamp includes: a light source; a lamp housing that accommodates the light source inside; and a power receiving section that is provided so as to be integral with the lamp housing and is configured to receive electric power wirelessly to supply the electric power to the light source. A power supply device that supplies electric power from a battery mounted on a vehicle to a lamp disposed in the vehicle includes a power transmission section that is provided in the vehicle and configured to transmit the electric power of the battery; and a power receiving section that is provided so as to be integral with the lamp and configured to receive the electric power from the power transmission section. The power transmission section and the power receiving section are disposed to be opposed to each other and electrically coupled by electromagnetic induction. |
| US08952609B2 |
Display panel apparatus and method of fabricating display panel apparatus
A display panel apparatus has a structure which is less likely to seal a planarizing film even when an electrode plate is provided on the planarizing film, and the display panel apparatus includes: a planarizing film formed on a substrate; a pixel formed on the planarizing film and including: a lower electrode; an organic layer; and an upper electrode; an auxiliary electrode electrically insulated from the lower electrode and electrically connected to the upper electrode; a display section including a plurality of the pixels; an electrode plate electrically connected to the auxiliary electrode and arranged to cover the planarizing film outside the display section; and a power supply section electrically connected to the electrode plate, and the electrode plate has a hole exposing a part of a surface of the planarizing film. |
| US08952607B2 |
Light emitting module and lighting device
A light emitting module according to one embodiment includes a substrate; a light emitting body disposed on the substrate; and a phosphor layer having a first phosphor and a second phosphor which are excited by emitted light of the light emitting body. The first phosphor has a light emitting peak whose half-value width is 20 nm or less in a wavelength range from 610 nm to less than 650 nm, and the second phosphor has the light emitting peak in the wavelength range between a peak wavelength of a light emitting spectrum of the light emitting body and the peak wavelength of the light emitting spectrum of the first phosphor. Then, a distribution of the first phosphor in the phosphor layer has density gradient, where the density of the first phosphor increases toward at least one end of the phosphor layer in a direction perpendicular to the substrate. |
| US08952600B2 |
Circularly polarizing plate and three-dimensional image display apparatus
A circularly polarizing plate has a polarizer and two λ/4 plates (T1, T2) bonded respectively onto both sides of the polarizer so as to face each other, the circularly polarizing plate is characterized in that the in-plane retardation values Ro of the λ/4 plates (T1) and the λ/4 plates (T2) satisfy (a) to (c) below in an environment with a temperature of 23° C. and RH of 55%. (a) The in-plane retardation value Ro of the λ/4 plates (T1), when measured within the range of 450 to 650 nm, is 3.0 to 20.0 nm smaller than the in-plane retardation value Ro of the λ/4 plates (T2). (b) The in-plane retardation value Ro of the λ/4 plates (T1) (450) falls within the range of 110 to 140 nm. (c) The in-plane retardation value Ro of the λ/4 plates (T2) (650) falls within the range of 145 to 165 nm. |
| US08952596B2 |
Surface acoustic wave resonator, surface acoustic wave oscillator, and electronic instrument
A SAW resonator which, using a quartz crystal substrate with Euler angles (−1.5°≦φ≦1.5°, 117°≦θ≦142°, and 42.79°≦|105|≦49.57°, includes an IDT which excites a stop band upper end mode SAW, and grooves hollowed out of the substrate positioned between electrode fingers configuring the IDT, wherein, when the wavelength of the SAW is λ and the depth of the inter-electrode finger grooves is G, λ and G satisfy the relationship of 0.01λ≦G and wherein, when the line occupation rate of the IDT is η, the groove depth G and line occupation rate η satisfy the relationships of −2.0000×G/λ+0.7200≦η≦−2.5000×G/λ+0.7775 provided that 0.0100λ≦G≦0.0500λ, −3.5898×G/λ+0.7995≦η≦−2.5000+G/λ+0.7775 provided that 0.0500λ |
| US08952595B2 |
Micro-electro-mechanical transducers
Some examples include at least one capacitive micro-electro-mechanical transducer (cMUT). For instance, the cMUT may include a substrate, a plate, and a resilient structure therebetween. In some examples, an integrated circuit may be formed on or integrated with the plate or other portion of the cMUT. Furthermore, in some examples, two cMUTs may be arranged in a stacked configuration. For instance, one cMUT may be operable for transmission, while a second cMUT may be operable for reception. |
| US08952591B2 |
Rotor lamination shaping for minimum core loss in SRMs
An electrical machine rotor includes a flux-conducting portion and a flux-inhibiting portion. The flux-conducting portion is conducive to conveying an electromagnetic flux and has a plurality of salient rotor poles and a portion of back material. The flux-inhibiting portion is less conducive to conveying an electromagnetic flux than the flux-conducting portion and is disposed entirely outside the boundaries of the rotor poles. |
| US08952589B2 |
Rotating electrical machine
In a rotating electrical machine of axial-gap type in which a stator and a rotor are opposed to each other in arrangement and winding axis is parallel with a rotating shaft direction, the stator has an “m” protruding in the rotating shaft direction are distributed along a circumferential direction thereof, in which the winding pole is formed of a magnetic member having a plurality of teeth in a circular-arc shape in a diameter direction, and wherein the rotor is formed of a magnetic member having a plurality of teeth in a circular-arc shape in a diameter direction, and the number of the teeth of the stator and the rotor are arranged in a manner opposite to each other through air gap so as to be engaged with each other. The stator and the rotor are opposed on both sides of the rotor and the stator. |
| US08952573B2 |
Power generator and power generation system
A power generator according to the present invention includes: a power generating section (101) for outputting DC energy; an oscillator (103) for converting the DC energy into RF energy having a frequency f0; a first antenna (107) for transmitting the RF energy; a second antenna, which receives, by coupling a resonant magnetic field, at least a part of the RF energy transmitted by the first antenna (107); and an output converting section (120) for converting the RF energy supplied from the second antenna (109) into AC energy having a lower frequency than the RF energy. If the oscillator (103) has a voltage step-up ratio Voc, the output converting section (120) has a voltage step-up ratio Vtr, the first inductor (107a) of the first antenna (107) has an inductance L1, the second inductor (109a) of the second antenna (109) has an inductance L2, and the first and second antennas (107, 109) have a coupling coefficient k, the power generator satisfies (L2/L1)≧(k/(Voc×Vtr))2. |
| US08952569B2 |
Photovoltaic power generation system
A photovoltaic power generation system is discussed. The photovoltaic power generation system includes a solar cell module having a plurality of solar cell row groups, a plurality of sensing units respectively connected to the plurality of solar cell row groups, a plurality of amplification units respectively connected to the plurality of solar cell row groups, and a signal control unit that detects currents output from the solar cell row groups in response to sensing signals output from the sensing units, controls a plurality of control signals applied to the amplification units based on the decided signal states, tracks a maximum power based on a voltage and a current output from the solar cell module, and outputs the maximum power. |
| US08952563B2 |
Utility scale electric energy storage system
A potential energy storage system incorporating multiple track mounted shuttle units having motor/generator drive bogies and structure with an integral transfer mechanism for removably carrying energy storage masses from a first lower elevation storage yard to a second higher elevation storage yard employing excess energy from the electrical grid driving the motors, removing the masses in the second storage yard for energy storage, retrieving the masses and returning the masses from the second storage yard to the first storage yard recovering electrical energy through the generators. |
| US08952559B2 |
Power plant with cassette-type power unit
A hydroelectric power station has an energy unit including a turbine and a generator. The impeller of the turbine includes an impeller ring and turbine blades. The radially outer ends of the turbine blades are fixed to the inner surface of the impeller ring, and the radially inner ends of the turbine blades are free and together form a central passage. The impeller ring is surrounded by the generator and acts as a bearing therefor. |
| US08952558B2 |
Wind generating device
The present invention discloses a wind power generating device, comprising a tower column and a first wind generating set. The first wind generating set is installed at a position on the tower column near the top, and the first wind generating set generates a first torque on the tower column during rotation for power generating. At least one second wind generating set is installed at a position on the tower column below the top, the second wind generating set generates a second torque on the tower column during rotation for power generating, and the second torque at least partially counteracts with the first torque. With the wind power generating device of the present invention, a high power wind power generation is achieved and the wind power generating device operates stably. |
| US08952557B2 |
Turbine apparatus and method for energy reclamation and generation of electrical power from forced-air systems
A forced-air electric generator apparatus includes a housing positioned to receive forced-air flow from a forced-air device. A bladed rotor carried by the housing is in fluid communication with the forced air flow. A clutch engages the bladed rotor to drive a generator to produce a generated voltage when the bladed rotor is rotating above a threshold rotational velocity. |
| US08952552B2 |
Semiconductor package assembly systems and methods using DAM and trench structures
A packaging system for preventing underfill overflow includes a package substrate having a solder mask a die attach site, a solder mask dam on the solder mask proximal to the die attach site, and a trench in the solder mask proximal to the die attach site. The trench and the solder mask dam are adapted to constrain flow of an underfill material. |
| US08952549B2 |
Semiconductor packages and methods of manufacturing the same
A semiconductor package comprises a board including a board pad, a plurality of semiconductor chips mounted on the board, the semiconductor chips including chip pads. Bumps are disposed on the chip pads, respectively, and a wire is disposed between the chip pads and the bumps. The wire electrically connects the chip pads of the plurality of semiconductor chips and the board pad to each other. |
| US08952548B2 |
Apparatus and method for increasing bandwidths of stacked dies
A package structure includes a plurality of die carriers identical to each other. The respective features in each of the plurality of die carriers vertically overlap corresponding features in other ones of the plurality of die carriers. Each of the plurality of die carriers includes a plurality of through-substrate vias (TSVs) including a plurality of data buses. The plurality of die carriers is stacked and electrically connected to each other through the plurality of TSVs. The package structure further includes a plurality of device dies. Each of the plurality of device dies is bonded to one of the plurality of die carriers. Each of the plurality of data buses is configured to dedicate to data transmission of one of the plurality of device dies. |
| US08952546B2 |
Integrated circuit designed and manufactured using diagonal minimum-width patterns
An integrated circuit comprising a plurality of standard cell circuit elements is disclosed, wherein for at least one layer of the integrated circuit, a majority of minimum-width patterns are in a preferred diagonal orientation. |
| US08952539B2 |
Methods for fabrication of an air gap-containing interconnect structure
Methods for producing air gap-containing metal-insulator interconnect structures for VLSI and ULSI devices using a photo-patternable low k material as well as the air gap-containing interconnect structure that is formed are disclosed. More particularly, the methods described herein provide interconnect structures built in a photo-patternable low k material in which air gaps are defined by photolithography in the photo-patternable low k material. In the methods of the present invention, no etch step is required to form the air gaps. Since no etch step is required in forming the air gaps within the photo-patternable low k material, the methods disclosed in this invention provide highly reliable interconnect structures. |
| US08952532B2 |
Integrated circuit package with spatially varied solder resist opening dimension
An integrated circuit (IC) package stack with a first and second substrate interconnected by solder further includes solder resist openings (SRO) of mixed lateral dimension are spatially varied across an area of the substrates. In embodiments, SRO dimension is varied between at least two different diameters as a function of an estimated gap between the substrates that is dependent on location within the substrate area. In embodiments where deflection in at least one substrate reduces conformality between the substrates, a varying solder joint height is provided from a fixed volume of solder by reducing the lateral dimensioning of the SRO in regions of larger gap relative to SRO dimensions in regions of smaller gap. In embodiments, the first substrate may be any of an IC chip, package substrate, or interposer while the second substrate may be any of another IC chip, package substrate, interposer, or printed circuit board (PCB). |
| US08952526B2 |
Stackable semiconductor assembly with bump/flange heat spreader and dual build-up circuitry
A stackable semiconductor assembly includes a semiconductor device, a heat spreader, an adhesive, a plated through-hole, first build-up circuitry and second build-up circuitry. The heat spreader includes a bump and a flange. The bump defines a cavity. The semiconductor device is mounted on the bump at the cavity, electrically connected to the first build-up circuitry and thermally connected to the bump. The bump extends into an opening in the adhesive and the flange extends laterally from the bump at the cavity entrance. The first build-up circuitry and the second build-up circuitry extend beyond the semiconductor device in opposite vertical directions. The plated through-hole extends through the adhesive and provides signal routing between the first build-up circuitry and the second build-up circuitry. The heat spreader provides heat dissipation for the semiconductor device. |
| US08952514B2 |
Semiconductor package
A semiconductor package including a first package having a first semiconductor chip, a plurality of first inner leads electrically connected to the first semiconductor chip, and a plurality of first outer leads extending from the first inner leads and electrically connected to an external apparatus; and a second package having a second semiconductor chip and a plurality of second inner leads electrically connected to the second semiconductor chip, wherein an inactive surface of the first semiconductor chip and an inactive surface of the second semiconductor chip face each other, and the first inner leads contact the second inner leads to be electrically connected to each other. |
| US08952507B2 |
Wiring board and method for manufacturing wiring board
A wiring board includes a substrate having a cavity, and an electronic component accommodated in the cavity of the substrate. The substrate has a thickness which is greater than a thickness of the electronic component such that a ratio of the thickness of the substrate to the thickness of the electronic component is set in a range of 0.3 or greater and 0.7 or less. |