Document	Document Title
US09167630B2	Tankless water heater A water heater (10) is suitable for point-of-use applications. The water heater includes a tank housing (12) and one or more electrically powered heating elements (18). A water inlet line (20) and a water outlet line (24) may be molded as a unitary structure with the tank housing. The water outlet line includes a lower port (68) and an upper port (70) for mixing water in the outlet line. The housing may be mounted such that its axis is either vertical or horizontal.
US09167628B2	Electric heating device for hot runner systems An electric heating unit for hot runner systems, and in particular for hot runner nozzles and/or hot runner manifolds includes at least one tubular or muff-like support and at least one heating layer fitted with heating conductor tracks. The heating layer is a fired foil or a fired thick-film paste and the muff-like support is able to be slipped onto a material feed pipe.
US09167624B2	Method and operation for operation between WPAN and WLAN for a network interface card A wireless network adapter may provide an absence indicator to devices in a first network to alert such devices to a time period when the wireless network adapter is not available in the first network. The wireless network adapter may operate in multiple networks, wherein the multiple networks are time division multiplexed on a same transmission channel. The absence indicator may be provided as a Notice Of Absence (NOA) Information Element (IE).
US09167622B2	Methods and a system of multiplexing multiple concurrent operational modes on a single physical transceiver by opportunistic time stealing Systems and methods are provided for enhancing the concurrency of a wireless device operating in multiple network contexts. By identifying opportunity instants that may exist within the normal exchange of information by a device having a single physical transceiver in a first network context, tasks for a second network context may be performed using the transceiver with minimal impact on performance related to the first network context and preferably in complete transparence to the first network context.
US09167621B2	Communication device with phase/angle transformation and methods for use therewith A communication device includes antennas to receive a first signal from a remote device, wherein the first signal corresponds to a first operational mode. A baseband processor selects either a first operational mode for transmitting a second signal or a second operational mode for transmitting the second signal. When the second operational mode is selected the baseband processor transforms the phase-related information corresponding to the first operational mode to transformed phase-related information corresponding to the second operational mode. The antennas transmit the second signal to the remote device in accordance with the transformed phase-related information corresponding to the second operational mode.
US09167617B2	Method for communicating in a mobile network implementing discontinuous reception The present invention relates to a method for operating a network comprising a primary station communicating with a plurality of secondary stations, the method comprising the primary station communicating with a secondary station in a discontinuous mode; the secondary station transmitting to the primary station a control message based on the current status of the secondary station; the primary station changing a parameter of the discontinuous mode based on the control message.
US09167615B2	Apparatus and method of connecting service, according to user intention A method and an apparatus for connecting a service, according to a user's intention are provided. The method includes determining at least one file to be transmitted through a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Direct connection, selecting, by device discovery, a peer terminal to receive the at least one file, transmitting, to the peer terminal, a first frame including file attribute information about the at least one file, before the Wi-Fi Direct connection is established with the peer terminal, and receiving, from the peer terminal, a second frame, including information indicating whether the Wi-Fi Direct connection to the peer terminal is accepted or rejected.
US09167609B2	Systems and methods for low-overhead wireless beacon timing Systems, methods, and devices for communicating a compressed beacon are described herein. In some aspects, a method of communicating in a wireless network includes transmitting, at an access point, a full beacon at a first multiple of a beacon interval. The method further includes transmitting a compressed beacon at each beacon interval that is not the first multiple of the beacon interval. Another method of communicating in a wireless network includes receiving, at a wireless device, a full beacon at a first multiple of a beacon interval. The method further includes receiving a compressed beacon at a beacon interval that is not the first multiple of the beacon interval.
US09167599B2	Channel structure for non-contention based windows and contention based random access requests Methods of communicating location information from a subscriber to a repeater are described. The subscriber switches from a working channel to a data revert channel, transmits a request for a periodic or one-time window to transmit an update, and determines from grant information in the response announcement the allocated window and frame before switching back to the working channel. Before the allocated time, the subscriber switches to the data revert channel, confirms whether it remains scheduled to transmit the update from a repeater announcement, and if so transmits the location update in either the current or reserved window. The announcements from the repeater contain the identity of the next window and frame and the subscriber reserved to use the window in addition to grant information. The subscribers may or may not be time-aligned and the data and data revert channels may or may not be synchronized.
US09167598B2	Base station apparatus, mobile station apparatus, radio communication method, and radio communication system A base station apparatus for performing radio communication with a mobile station apparatus, the base station apparatus includes: a group generation unit which groups a plurality of mobile station apparatuses controllable with a same control amount of transmission timing; and a transmission unit which transmits the control amount of transmission timing to the grouped plurality of mobile station apparatuses.
US09167591B2	Method and apparatus for determining optimized wireless link selection for a mobile device along a predicted path An information handling system includes a storage device for storing a spatial-temporal radio frequency profile for indicating signal quality for wireless links available at the location. The information handling system further includes an application processor that selects a predicted future path for a mobile information handling system during a future time interval. The application processor determines predicts radio quality of wireless links over the predicted future path selected for the system based on measured radio quality of service parameters for locations.
US09167589B2	Integrated circuit for transmitting and receiving reference signal in radio communication It is possible to provide a radio communication terminal device and a radio transmission method which can improve reception performance of a CQI and a reference signal. A phase table storage unit stores a phase table which correlates the amount of cyclic shift to complex coefficients {w1, w2} to be multiplied on the reference signal. A complex coefficient multiplication unit reads out a complex coefficient corresponding to the amount of cyclic shift indicated by resource allocation information, from the phase table storage unit and multiplies the read-out complex coefficient on the reference signal so as to change the phase relationship between the reference signals in a slot.
US09167585B2	Transmission mode and feedback designs to support MTC type devices in LTE A base station is configured to support communications with at least one user equipment (UE) configured for machine type communications (MTC). The base station includes processing circuitry configured to determine a transmission scheme based on a category of the at least one UE. The base station also includes a transmitter configured to transmit, using a determined transmission scheme, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in a reduced bandwidth to the at least one UE. The UE includes a receiver configured to receive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in a reduced bandwidth from at least one base station. The UE also includes processing circuitry configured to determine a transmission scheme utilized by at least one base station.
US09167583B2	Method for transmitting/receiving signal and device therefor The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a device therefor, the method comprising: setting a first cell having a first TDD UL-DL configuration and a second cell having a second TDD UL-DL configuration; receiving data through a DL subframe of the first cell; and transmitting reception response information on the data through a UL subframe of the second cell, wherein the relationship between the DL subframe and the UL subframe is determined by a parameter value set in a specific TDD UL-DL configuration, which is the TDD UL-DL configuration having the least number of DL subframes from TDD UL-DL configuration(s), in which subframes set as a DL in the first or second cell are all set as DLs.
US09167582B2	Scheduling method and device having continuity in a wireless personal area communication network The present description discloses a method for a first device to transmit data in a WPAN (wireless personal area network), comprising the steps of: transmitting, to a second device, a message requesting a transmission bandwidth for transceiving non-competitive data of a first device; receiving, from the second device, transmission bandwidth allocation information corresponding to the message requesting the transmission bandwidth; and transceiving data to/from the second device according to the transmission bandwidth allocation information, wherein the transmission bandwidth allocation information may include length, gap, and window information on the transmission bandwidth for non-competitive transception.
US09167579B2	Method and transmitter/receiver for data transmission with flexible exploitation of time and frequency diversity A method and corresponding devices for processing and transmitting information are described. A sequence of binary signals is mapped to symbols that forms a two-dimensional matrix of symbols in one of the frequency-time or time-time or time-frequency or frequency-frequency domain and which may be filtered in that domain. Selecting the diagonal elements of said matrix forms a transmit vector.
US09167575B2	Control information transmission and uplink control channel resource mapping The disclosure is related to transmitting downlink control information through a downlink control channel adopted in a data region, and transmitting uplink control information for user equipment receiving the downlink control information. Furthermore, the disclosure is related to performing a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource mapping for uplink HARQ-ACK/NACK feedback of user equipment. Herein, the uplink HARQ-ACK/NACK feedback may be performed by the user equipment in response to a downlink data channel assigned according to downlink scheduling information transmitted through the adopted downlink control channel.
US09167571B2	Base station and method for resource allocation using localized and distributed resource blocks Embodiments of a base station and method for resource allocation using localized and distributed resource blocks are generally described herein. The base station comprises processing circuitry to allocate localized resources to user stations based on receipt of channel quality information received from the user stations and to allocate distributed resource to user stations based on non-receipt of channel quality information. The base station also comprises physical layer circuitry to transmit control information on a physical channel to indicate the resources that are allocated to each scheduled user station.
US09167562B2	Method of channel resource allocation and devices in wireless networks A method of allocating channel resources from a first device to a second device in a wireless network comprises receiving channel resource allocation information from a coordinator of the wireless network to allocate the channel resources; transmitting data to the second device through the allocated channel resources; receiving channel resource request information from the second device to request the first device to allocate a part of the allocated channel resources; and deciding whether to allocate the part of the channel resources allocated from the coordinator, to the second device in accordance with the channel resource request information.
US09167560B2	Multi-band channel aggregation Multiple channels are aggregated. In an example embodiment, first data is transmitted on a first channel to a wireless device, and second data is simultaneously transmitted on a second channel to the wireless device. The first data and the second data are transmitted in a coordinated manner by aggregating the first channel and the second channel. Various example channel characteristics and combinations thereof are described. Different data allocation options for aggregated channels are described. Other alternative implementations are also presented herein.
US09167559B2	Process for enabling communication of a communication device over a spectrum In one aspect, there is disclosed a process for enabling communication of a communication device over a spectrum including the steps of: providing a communication device, detecting available analog signals, analyzing the detected analog signals, connecting to a highest energy signal, and repeating these steps.
US09167543B2	Synchronization of mobile client multicast A method includes subsequent to a client associating with a first access node and the client being communicatively coupled with a first controller through the first access node: storing information on one or more of: active broadcast sessions for the client or active multicast sessions for the client. The method further includes subsequent to the client associating with a second access node and the client being communicatively coupled with a second controller through the second access node: the second controller establishing one or more of: the active broadcast sessions for the client or the active multicast sessions for the client using the information.
US09167537B2	Methods and apparatus for DLTPC rejection in downlink windup mode Disclosed are methods and apparatus for rejecting unreliable downlink (DL) transmit power control (TPC) commands in windup mode. In one aspect, the method includes receiving by a user equipment (UE) a plurality of DLTPC commands from a base station, analyzing on one or more transmitted uplink (UL) TPC commands, detecting a windup mode based on the one or more DLTPC and ULTPC commands, and rejecting one or more DLTPC down commands in the windup mode.
US09167530B2	Power saving modes in wireless devices Various aspects of apparatus for accessing a network through a wireless access point and methods of power savings for such apparatus include scheduling a sleep state interval, entering a sleep state at the beginning of the scheduled sleep interval, and buffering data during the sleep state for transmission following the sleep state.
US09167527B2	Apparatus and method for reducing power consumption in portable terminal An apparatus and method for reducing power consumption of a portable terminal are provided. More particularly, an apparatus and method for reducing power consumption generated in an idle state in order to solve a power consumption problem in a portable terminal are provided. The apparatus includes a state determination unit which is configured independently from an application processor for controlling applications and which wakes up when entering an idle mode to allow the application processor to sleep, and thereafter determines a state of the portable terminal, and if it is determined that the portable terminal escapes from the idle mode, allows the application processor to wake up.
US09167521B2	Wireless communication method with low power consumption A wireless communication device includes a Wi-Fi module for operating in WLAN system and a Bluetooth module for operating in Bluetooth system. After entering a power-saving mode, the wireless communication device is configured to turn off the Wi-Fi module and periodically scan an operational frequency band of a network using the Bluetooth module. When detecting a radio frequency signal having the same bandwidth as the network in the operational frequency band, the wireless communication device is configured to enter a normal mode.
US09167505B2	Access management for wireless communication Provisioning and access control for communication nodes involves assigning identifiers to sets of nodes where the identifiers may be used to control access to restricted access nodes that provide certain services only to certain defined sets of nodes. In some aspects provisioning a node may involve providing a unique identifier for sets of one or more nodes such as restricted access points and access terminals that are authorized to receive service from the restricted access points. Access control may be provided by operation of a restricted access point and/or a network node. In some aspects, provisioning a node involves providing a preferred roaming list for the node. In some aspects, a node may be provisioned with a preferred roaming list through the use of a bootstrap beacon.
US09167501B2	Implementing a 3G packet core in a cloud computer with openflow data and control planes A control plane device in a cloud computing system executes a plurality of virtual machines for implementing network function virtualization (NFV). The control plane device is operable to manage implementation of a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunnel protocol (GTP) in a packet core (PC) of a third generation (3G) network having a split architecture where a control plane of the PC of the 3G network is in the cloud computing system. The control plane communicates with a data plane of the PC through a control plane protocol. The data plane is implemented in a plurality of network devices of the 3G network. The control plane device and the plurality of virtual machines are operable to communicate with other control plane devices in the cloud computing system and with the plurality of network devices of the data plane.
US09167492B2	Cell handover and activation in heterogeneous networks A scheme to identify the uplink border between two neighboring cells (10, 20) in an LTE-based heterogeneous network, especially one Macro cell (10) and another Small Cell (20). A trigger event is configured for a connected mode UE (1) such that the UE is triggered to send the measurement report about the neighboring cell (20) when the condition “neighbor is offset better than Pcell on UL” is fulfilled. Such a measurement report can be used by the current serving eNB (11) to decide whether one or more neighboring cells (20) should be activated or handed-over to, and/or whether certain information should be sent to one or more neighboring eNBs (21) so that they can start monitoring the uplink connection quality of the UE. In particular it is possible to offload at least part of the UE's uplink traffic from the serving cell (10) to a neighbor cell (20).
US09167491B2	Method and apparatus for window size selection to optimize inter rat handover A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in which a system for optimizing pilot search window size selection for inter RAT handovers is implemented. An IWS may receive a message including at least one measurement value for each 1x pilot PN in a 1x network, obtained from measurements requested by an eNB and performed by a UE. The IWS may select one or more parameters for pilot search based on the at least one measurement value for the UE to use for pilot searching in the 1x network. Further the IWS may transmit the selected one or more parameters for pilot search to the UE for pilot searching in the 1x network.
US09167487B2	Communication system including a gateway device and method thereof A communication system is described in which mobile telephones that are members of closed subscriber groups associated with home base stations are able to roam between neighbouring home node base stations in a manner that reduces load on the core network.
US09167482B2	Method and system for realizing network switching A method and system for realizing network switching, and a mobile node are provided. An LMA receives a PBU message from a second MAG, wherein the PBU message carries identifier information of the mobile node, the IP address of a first interface, and the IP address of the second MAG. The LMA checks in the stored BCE whether the identifier information of the mobile node and the IP address of the first interface exist. If the existence is checked, the LMA continually judges whether the Proxy Care-of-Address in the BCE is the same as the Proxy Care-of-Address in the PBU message. If they are different, the LMA determines that the connection of the mobile node is a switchable connection, and determines that the mobile node has the ability of address preservation, then sends the IP address of the first interface to the second MAG.
US09167479B2	Method and apparatus for queued admissions control in a wireless communication system A method and services network element are provided that provide for queued admissions control in a wireless communication system by receiving a bearer establishment request associated with a user equipment, determining that a cell where the user equipment is located is congested, in response to determining that the cell is congested, creating a bearer establishment request record (BERR) associated with the user equipment and the bearer establishment request, wherein the BERR comprises priority information associated with the BERR, and adding the BERR to a queue, wherein the queue is associated with a cell serving the user equipment, wherein the BERR is positioned in the queue based on the priority information, and wherein bearer establishment requests associated with BERRs in the queue are submitted based on a position of the BERRs in the queue.
US09167474B2	Sharing of radio resources between a backhaul link and a radio access network Systems and methods are presented for effectively sharing a plurality of radio transceiver chains between a Backhaul link and a Radio Access Network (RAN), in which there is a wireless Base Station (BS) with some number of radio transceiver chains, the system initially allocates such chains between the Backhaul link and the RAN according to some criterion, the system dynamically monitors the performance of the Backhaul link and RAN to detect any deficiencies in desired levels of performance, and the system then reallocates the radio transceiver chains between the Backhaul link and the RAN in a manner calculated to help achieve the desired levels of performance. Optionally and in various embodiments, the digital signals to and from the Backhaul link, or to and from the RAN, may be MIMO signals, MRC signals, MMSE signals, or ML signals.
US09167466B2	Enhanced measurement reporting to improve throughput when using multicarrier cells A method for measurement reporting to improve throughput when using multicarrier cells is disclosed. The method can include a wireless communication device performing a first measurement of a primary carrier and performing a second measurement of a secondary carrier. The method can further include the wireless communication device deriving a combined measurement as a function of the first measurement and the second measurement. The method can also include the wireless communication device reporting the combined measurement to a serving network.
US09167445B2	Systems and methods for measuring available bandwidth in mobile telecommunications networks A network device receives probe packets communicated by a user equipment device. The network device communicates response packets back to the user equipment device, including timestamps, and/or other information. The user equipment device may be configured to test the performance of different portions of a wireless network (i.e., determine an available bandwidth measurement throughput (ABMT) of the wireless network) by accessing different network devices (or information associated with different network devices).
US09167440B2	Mobile terminal device for positioning system based on magnetic field map and method thereof A mobile terminal device for a positioning system based on a magnetic field map and a method thereof, are provided. The mobile terminal includes a memory configured to store a magnetic field map including magnetic field values at positions. The mobile terminal further includes a magnetic field sensor configured to measure a magnetic field value at a position of the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal further includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor configured to measure an acceleration value and a gyro value of the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal further includes a processor configured to determine the position of the mobile terminal based on the magnetic field map, the magnetic field value, the acceleration value, and the gyro value.
US09167439B2	Non-intrusive in-band link cost estimation in multihop networks In a wireless multi-hop network, packet routing paths are determined for a first node device based on passive measurement of data messages over a wireless link formed between the first node device and a neighboring second node device. The first node device transmits a first data message to the second node device via the wireless link. At least one of the first node device and the second node device monitors at least one transmission performance parameter corresponding to only a selected subset of frames of the first data message. The selected subset of frames has structural similarity to selected subsets of frames of other data messages communicated and monitored by other node devices of the network. A link cost associated with the wireless link is determined based on at least one transmission performance parameter value produced as a result of the monitoring, which can be used to update the packet routing paths.
US09167437B2	Gathering data on cellular data communication characteristics A method for collecting data that can be used to characterize the performance of a wireless communications system is disclosed. The method comprises determining data characterizing a wireless data communication that occurs between an internet service provider and a data collection system. The data collection system comprises a data exchanger and a routing device through which communications can be routed between client devices and an internet via the internet service provider. The routing device includes a memory. The routing device collects the data and stores the data in the memory of the routing device. A system for collecting data is also disclosed.
US09167435B2	Apparatus for supporting layout of wireless base stations in building In the construction of a wireless network in a building, structure conditions such as the floor plan of the building and the shape of the floor, material conditions such as materials for structures, and the like have a great effect on radio wave propagation characteristics. This causes a problem that unless these pieces of information are taken into consideration, an accurate layout design of wireless base stations cannot be made. In the construction of a new wireless network in a building, a wireless network similar to structure conditions of a newly constructed building is extracted from structure conditions of past buildings in which a wireless network is constructed. The layout positions of wireless base stations used in the extracted wireless network are regarded as the layout positions of wireless base stations in the new wireless network.
US09167433B2	Method for detecting security error in mobile telecommunications system and device of mobile telecommunications According to one embodiment, a method of performing a re-establishment procedure in a mobile communication system includes: receiving at least one packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) control plane data unit; performing an integrity check on the at least one PDCP control plane data unit; identifying an integrity check failure with regard to the at least one PDCP control plane data unit; and performing a re-establishment procedure if the integrity check failure is identified to exist with regard to the at least one PDCP control plane data unit.
US09167406B2	Communication system, communication apparatus, computer-readable storage medium having stored therein communication program, and communication method An example system includes: a search communication apparatus searching for another communication apparatus; and search subject communication apparatuses searched for by the search communication apparatus. The search communication apparatus includes a search request transmission section transmitting a search request signal. The search subject communication apparatuses each includes: a search request reception section receiving the search request signal transmitted from the search communication apparatus; a search response transmission section transmitting a search response signal as response to the search request signal received by the search request reception section, to the search communication apparatus; and a search response monitoring section monitoring the search response signal transmitted from another search subject communication apparatus to the search communication apparatus. The search response transmission section transmits, as proxy response signal, to the search communication apparatus, the search response signal transmitted from the other search subject communication apparatus and monitored by the search response monitoring section.
US09167400B2	Method of using base station signal to quickly set call forwarding and mobile communication terminal The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field of communications, and discloses a method of using a base station signal to quickly set call forwarding and a mobile communication terminal. The method comprises the following steps of: A. carrying out setting of call forwarding, and saving a base station information of a wireless network where the call forwarding is set; and B. reading a call forwarding target phone number that is set, sending a call forwarding request to the wireless network, and after a confirmation is obtained from the wireless network, activating a check timer to complete the setting of call forwarding.
US09167397B2	Methods, systems, and products for processing communications Users are provided control of their communications. Should a call be processed for a user, a text message may be automatically sent as a response to the call. The user may pre-compose different text messages. The user may also compose a custom text message. Regardless, the user's text message is automatically sent as a response to the call.
US09167396B2	Method and apparatus to transmit data through tones Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for transmitting data. The method includes encoding data, by a first device, symbol-by-symbol into a first electrical signal of frequencies in a specific range, mixing, by the first device, the first electrical signal with a second electrical signal corresponding to captured voices, and transmitting, by the first device, the mixed electrical signal to a second device via a channel being configured for transmitting the captured voices.
US09167395B2	Information processing system and electronic message notification method for information processing system An information processing system and an electronic message notification method for an information processing system automatically change an incoming account for which an electronic message reception notification is made. An information processing system includes an information terminal provided with a communication function and an in-vehicle device. The information terminal receives an electronic message from the exterior in a corresponding incoming account; configures an incoming account for making a notification of the reception of an electronic message; and when an electronic message has been received by the configured incoming account, notifies the in-vehicle device. The in-vehicle device determines whether or not an electronic message has been distributed to the information terminal from a specific partner; and, if so, changes the configuration of the configuration unit so that a notification that the electronic message has been received from the specific partner is made.
US09167387B2	Electronic device, information distribution system, computer readable medium, and position dependent information providing method An electronic device that includes a schedule information detecting unit which detects a schedule according to which a user moves to a second geographical area outside a first geographical area, an information acquisition unit which acquires position dependent information in the second geographical area from a first server apparatus before moving to the second geographical area, a position dependent information storing unit, a positioning unit, an output information control unit which retrieves the position dependent information corresponding to the position of the electronic device from the position dependent information storing unit, an information quantity storing unit which stores information quantity data which indicates quantity of the information retrieved from the position dependent information storing unit, and an information quantity transmitting unit which transmits the information quantity data stored in the information quantity storing unit to a second server apparatus, when the electronic device is located outside the second geographical area.
US09167383B1	Systems and methods for optimizing message notification timing based on geographic location Systems and methods are provided for timing message notifications to be provided to mobile device users based on their respective geographic locations with respect to a targeted content area. The timing of message notifications may be controlled in order to optimize the chances of delivering targeted content to a mobile device user based on the current geographic location of the user's device relative to a targeted content area. As the particular client application may not be actively executing at a time when the user's device happen to be located within a targeted content area, a general message notification sent to the user's device, which may be displayed at any time, may increase the likelihood that the user will launch the client application when it is not already executing at the device and thereby, allow targeted content to be delivered to the user's mobile device at the appropriate time and location.
US09167380B2	Activating a mobile device based on location of mobile device in a sector of a cell A method for activating mobile device activity is disclosed. A mobile device may receive an action association to a stance, wherein the stance comprises a sector of the mobile device relative to a base, wherein a user specifies an action associated to the stance. The mobile device can receive a signal that the mobile device is present in the sector. Further, the mobile device, responsive to receiving the signal, may perform the action.
US09167377B2	Shaped load modulation in near field communications (NFC) device A method and apparatus is disclosed to compensate for overshoot and/or undershoot in a transmission sequence by shaping the transmission sequence according to a shaping envelope to lengthen its rise time and/or fall time to provide a modified transmission sequence. The shaping envelope may represent a trigonometric function, a polynomial function, a piecewise function or any other function that lengthens the rise time and/or the fall time of the transmission sequence. The modified transmission sequence adjusts an impedance of an antenna to load modulate a carrier wave that is inductively coupled to it.
US09167375B2	Device for detecting a carrying case using orientation signatures A device for detecting a carrying case using orientation signatures, and method therefor, is provided. The device includes: at least one orientation sensor; a memory storing one or more carrying-case insertion signatures; and, a processor configured to: receive output from the at least one orientation sensor as a function of time; and place the device in a carrying case mode when a time-dependent pattern in the output matches the one or more carrying-case insertion signatures.
US09167353B2	Electrically conductive membrane pump/transducer and methods to make and use same An improved electrically conductive membrane pump/transducer. The electrically conductive pump/transducer includes an array of electrically conductive membrane pumps that combine to generate a desired sound by moving a membrane (such as a membrane of PDMS), a piston, and/or by the use of pressurized airflow in the absence of such a membrane or piston. The electrically conductive membranes in the array can be, for example, graphene-polymer membranes. The electrically conductive pump can include mid-range, tweeter, and sub-woofer speakers.
US09167343B2	Condenser stereomicrophone A condenser stereomicrophone includes a mid condenser microphone unit that is connected to left and right side condenser microphone units such that the output from the mid condenser microphone unit is applied to the left and right side condenser microphone units. The left and right side condenser microphone units are connected to left and right-channel connector terminals, respectively; and the left and right-channel connector terminals are connected to the mid condenser microphone unit via corresponding power-supply resistors.
US09167339B2	Hearing damage limiting headphones A device includes an input for receiving an audio signal, a speaker to convert the audio signal into an audible sound, and a memory for storing remediation instructions and detection instructions. The device further includes a processor coupled to the input, the speaker, and the memory. The processor is configured to process the audio signal according to the detection instructions and the remediation instructions to modulate amplitude of the audio signal based on the remediation instructions.
US09167336B2	Deformable ear tip for earphone and method therefor A removable component for use with an earphone is disclosed. As an example, the removable component can be an ear tip. According to one aspect, an improved ear tip can be provided for use with a headphone. The ear tip is suitable for in-ear operation and can have a cosmetic deformable outer member. The deformable outer member can enable the ear tip to readily conform to a user's ear. The ear tip can also include an inner member to structurally support the outer member and to facilitate attachment to a headphone. Methods for forming such ear tips are also disclosed.
US09167324B2	Speaker module for portable terminal Provided is a speaker module for a portable terminal which e includes a speaker housing having an opened front surface thus defining a resonance space, a radiation pattern disposed on a back surface of the speaker housing, and connection terminals which extend from the radiation pattern to be disposed in the resonance space, such that the radiation pattern is disposed on the speaker housing and the connection terminal for providing electric connection of the radiation pattern is disposed in an inner side of the speaker housing.
US09167319B2	Optical packet switching system An optical packet switching system includes optical packet switching apparatus and an optical packet transmitting apparatus. The optical packet switching apparatus includes client optical delay units for delaying optical packet signals, network optical delay units for delaying one of the network optical packet signals, the network optical delay unit having a longer delay time than the client optical delay unit, an optical switch unit for switching the route of the inputted client optical packet signal so as to be sent out, an optical switch control unit for controlling the optical switch unit. The optical switch control unit is configured in such a manner as to detect a free time slot. The optical packet transmitting apparatus adjusts transmit timing, with which the client optical packet signal is sent out, in such a manner that the client optical packet signal is inserted into the free time slot.
US09167311B2	Variant playlist optimization A method includes identifying an initial variant playlist for a content item. The initial variant playlist lists a first plurality of bit rate streams. Client devices that receive the content item based on the initial variant playlist are identified. The method includes determining bit rate stream consumption metrics of the client devices for the content item based on the initial variant playlist, and determining an optimized variant playlist based on the initial variant playlist and the consumption metrics of the client devices for the plurality of bit rate streams. The optimized variant playlist lists a second plurality of bit rate streams and substantially optimizes video quality based on streaming resource constraints associated with the at least one client device. The method also includes providing the content item to the client devices based on the optimized variant playlist.
US09167310B2	Optimized delivery techniques Systems and methods are described that relate to on-demand compression for electronic data, such as media content, through a communication pathway. The communication pathway may be a configured to multicast media content to a plurality of end-users in a service group. In certain embodiments, the service group may comprise a service group node having a quadrature amplitude modulation device. In one exemplary method, it may be determined whether the amount of media content being transmitted meets a first utilization threshold. The determination may be based on, at least in part, by measurements taken at one or more electronic devices located throughout a network or system. If the first bandwidth utilization threshold is not met, media content may be transmitted in a first format. If the first bandwidth utilization threshold is met, at least a portion of the media content may be transmitted in a first optimized delivery technique.
US09167307B2	On-screen caller ID with video playback and storage capability Novel tools and techniques to enable video enhancements identifying the calling party of an incoming telephone call. In an aspect of some such tools, a video message from the calling party is sent to the receiving party through a communication channel in the provider network. Upon receiving an incoming telephone call at the provider network, the video message can be associated with the incoming telephone call, and routed to a video screen associated with the receiving party to show the video message for the receiving party as an indication of the incoming telephone call and identification of the calling party.
US09167294B2	Apparatus for switching television channels and method thereof An apparatus for switching television channels and a method thereof are provided. The apparatus for switching television channels includes a tuner unit, at least two video de-multiplexing modules and a switch unit. The tuner unit locks a specific frequency point in a broadcast stream, and the frequency point has at least two program channels. After the tuner unit locks the specific frequency point, each of the video de-multiplexing modules simultaneously and respectively receives the broadcast stream, and performs a de-multiplexing operation and a decoding operation to each of the program channels to generate at least two program streams. The switch unit selects and displays one of the at least two program streams corresponding to a first program channel, and when a second program channel is selected, the switch unit selects and displays the other one of the at least two program streams corresponding to the second program channel.
US09167285B2	Streaming video server with virtual file system and methods for use therewith A streaming video server generates a virtual file system that includes virtual addresses of a plurality of encrypted segments of a plurality of video programs at each of a plurality of bitrates, without storing the plurality of encrypted segments in persistent storage. A request is received from a client device to access a selected one of the plurality of video programs via a request to access the virtual file system. The plurality of encrypted segments of the selected one of the plurality of video programs are generated at a selected bitrate, in response to the request.
US09167284B2	Digital broadcasting transmission/reception system utilizing mull packet and TRS code to improve receiving performance and signal processing method thereof A digital broadcasting transmission and/or reception system having an improved reception performance and a signal-processing method thereof. A digital broadcasting transmitter comprises a TRS encoder for to TRS-encode a MPEG-2 transmission stream having null data for inserting a Known data and a TRS parity at predetermined positions, randomizer to input and randomize data stream from the TRS encoder, a null packet exchanger to replace the null data for inserting the Known data to the known data, and an encoder for encoding a data streams to which the Known data is inserted. Accordingly, the present invention detects the known data from a signal received from a reception side and uses the detected known data for synchronization and equalization and further uses the TRS parity for correcting error of the received signal, so that the digital broadcasting reception performance can be improved at poor multipath channels.
US09167282B2	Enhanced HDMI system and method A multiplexer includes a first interface configured to receive one or more HDMI or DVI signals for transmission over a respective one of an HDMI or DVI interface; a second interface configured to receive external data from a data source, the external data being intended for transmission over the HDMI or DVI interface; a data multiplexing device having inputs coupled to the first and second interfaces, and having an output, and being configured to multiplex the external data with information on one or more signal paths of the HDMI or DVI interface; and a transmitter coupled to the output of the data multiplexing device, configured to transmit the external data across the HDMI or DVI interface.
US09167275B1	Systems and methods for autonomous broadcasting Computer-implemented systems and methods provide for the autonomous broadcasting of video data, audio data, or video and audio data during an event, wherein the broadcasting can be schedule in advance and from a remote location (i.e., over a network).
US09167273B2	Video encoding apparatus and a video decoding apparatus According to one embodiment, a video encoding apparatus is a video encoding apparatus for subjecting a video image to motion compensated prediction coding, includes an acquisition module to acquire available blocks of blocks having motion vectors from encoded blocks adjacent to a to-be-encoded block and number of the available blocks, an acquisition/selection module to select one selection block from the encoded available blocks, a selection information encoder to encode selection information specifying the selection block using a code table corresponding to the number of available blocks, and an image encoder to subject the to-be-encoded block to motion compensated prediction coding using a motion vector of the selection block.
US09167267B2	Image processing device and image processing method A deblocking filter performs filtering of decoded image data obtained by decoding image data encoded for each block, so as to remove block distortion. If at least one of block sizes on adjacent sides of two adjacent blocks is extended larger than a predetermined block size, a filter setting unit sets the tap length to an extended length to increase the strength of distortion removal, or sets a filtering object pixel range to an extended range. When a macroblock having an extended size is used, the degree of smoothing is increased, and pixels including those distant from the block boundary are subjected to filtering. Consequently, even when various block sizes are employed or when blocks of extended sizes are used, images of high image quality can be achieved.
US09167265B2	Recording medium having recorded thereon coded information using plus and/or minus rounding of images A computer-readable medium having stored thereon an image decoding program which, when executed by a computer, implements operations including: extracting motion vector information, and rounding method information from input information to be decoded; synthesizing a prediction image by performing motion compensation using the motion vector information and a reference image which is a previously decoded image; and synthesizing a decoded image by adding the prediction image to an error image; wherein a rounding method used for pixel value interpolation in performing the motion compensation for synthesizing the prediction image is one of a positive rounding method and a negative rounding method which is different from a one of a positive rounding method and a negative rounding method used for pixel value interpolation in performing the motion compensation for synthesizing a last prediction image.
US09167253B2	Derivation of the position in scan order of the last significant transform coefficient in video coding A video decoder converts a block-based LSC indicator into a scan-based LSC indicator. The block-based LSC indicator indicates coordinates of a last significant coefficient of a block of transform coefficients according to a scanning order. The scan-based LSC indicator indicates an ordinal position of the LSC according to the scanning order. The video decoder may decode, based on the scan-based LSC indicator, a significance map for the block.
US09167252B2	Quantization matrix compression in video coding A method of quantization matrix compression in a video encoder is provided that includes preprocessing a quantization matrix by performing at least one selected from down-sampling the quantization matrix and imposing 135 degree symmetry on the quantization matrix, performing zigzag scanning on the pre-processed quantization matrix to generate a one dimensional (1D) sequence, predicting the 1D sequence to generate a residual 1D sequence, and coding the residual 1D sequence using kth order exp-Golomb coding to generate a compressed quantization matrix, wherein k≧0.
US09167250B2	Method and encoding/decoding of video using common merging candidate set of asymmetric partitions The present invention provides video encoding and decoding methods using block merging, which can be applied to a high resolution video of more than HD (High Definition) resolution. A video encoding method includes partitioning a current block into a first and a second prediction unit by using asymmetric partitioning, constructing a list of common merging candidate blocks including a predetermined number of common merging candidate blocks selected from adjacent blocks of the current block, selecting at least one candidate block from among the list of common merging candidate blocks and sending information of the selected candidate block to a decoder for each of the first and the second prediction unit.
US09167238B2	3D display apparatus for use in synchronization with 3D glasses and 3D display method thereof A 3-dimensional (3D) display apparatus and a 3D display method thereof are provided. The 3D display apparatus includes: a display unit which outputs a plurality of image frames; a synchronization signal processor which generates a synchronization signal corresponding to the image frames; a controller which acquires period information of first and second sequences of the synchronization signal and determines whether the synchronization signal has been stabilized, according to change information of the period information; and a communicator which determines time information of the stabilized synchronization signal according to the determination result and transmits shutter control data, which is generated based on the time information, to 3D glasses.
US09167236B2	Field-of-view compensated polarization switch for short-throw 3D projection Generally, this disclosure concerns the angle sensitivity of polarization switch elements and the resulting impact of the ray direction on performance. More specifically, apparatus and techniques for compensating the angular sensitivity of liquid crystal (LC) polarization switches are described that enhance the performance of polarization switches. For example, a polarization switch is disclosed that transforms linearly polarized light of an initial polarization orientation that includes a first and second liquid crystal cell with a compensator located between the LC cells. The compensator layer is operable to enhance the field of view through the polarization switch. Such compensation techniques are particularly useful for short-throw projection environments.
US09167234B2	Display device A display device capable of displaying both a 3D image and a 2D image is provided. The display device includes a plurality of optical filter regions where light-blocking panels for producing binocular disparity are arranged in matrix. The light-blocking panel can select whether to transmit light emitted from a display panel in each of the plurality of optical filter regions. Thus, in the display device, some regions where binocular disparity is produced can be provided. Consequently, the display device can display both a 3D image and a 2D image.
US09167233B2	Naked-eye stereoscopic display apparatus A plurality of pixels is arrayed on a display device. On the display device, a lenticular lens is arranged in a state where a periodic direction thereof is inclined with respect to a horizontal direction. The lenticular lens divides video data of N different viewpoints into separate viewpoint directions, presents the divided video data, and creates stereoscopic vision. In the event of assigning respective pieces of pixel data of video data composed of less than N viewpoint images to the plurality of pixels and displaying the pixel data, the drive unit lowers brightness of pixel data of viewpoint images seen to overlap each other.
US09167232B2	System for converting 2D video into 3D video A 2D video to 3D video conversion system includes a video content analysis unit, a depth estimation unit, a post-processing unit, and a stereoscopic video generation unit. The video content analysis unit can analyze a 2D video datum and extract useful information including motion and color from the 2D video datum for depth estimation. The depth estimation unit is adapted for receiving the useful information, calculating motion cue and contrast cue for initial depth estimation, and generating an initial depth map. The post-processing unit is adapted for correcting the initial depth map in spatial domain and temporal domain to increase accuracy in spatial domain and depth continuity between adjacent time instances and for processing the caption in the video to generate a final depth map. The stereoscopic video generation unit is adapted for synthesizing 3D video datum from the final depth map and 2D video datum.
US09167225B2	Information processing apparatus, program, and information processing method There is provided an information processing apparatus including a display control unit causing an image for a left eye and an image for a right eye to be displayed respectively to a left eye and a right eye of an observer, the image for a left eye and the image for a right eye showing a stereoscopic image, and interchanging, depending on an amount of change occurring at a time of change of display of the stereoscopic image, images to be displayed respectively to the left eye and the right eye of the observer.
US09167224B2	Image processing device, imaging device, and image processing method The present invention includes an image acquisition device configured to acquiring multiple viewpoint images that are generated by pupil-division imaging and that are different in viewpoint, a parallax calculation device 40a for calculating a first parallax amount between viewpoint images for the multiple viewpoint images, a memory 48 in which parallax correction information indicating the relationship between the first parallax amount and the deviation amount in the parallax direction for the corresponding object images, which is a deviation amount between viewpoint images for the multiple viewpoint images and is caused by the pupil-division imaging, is stored, and a parallax correction device 40b for calculating a second parallax amount, which is an amount resulting from correcting the first parallax amount to the deviation amount in the parallax direction for the object images, based on the first parallax amount and the parallax correction information stored in the memory 48.
US09167222B2	Method and apparatus for providing and processing 3D image A method and apparatus for providing a three-dimensional (3D) image is provided. In the method, first-viewpoint image data and second-viewpoint image data that provide a 3D image are obtained. Time information that represents points of time that the first-viewpoint image data and the second-viewpoint image data are to be processed is produced, based on relation information to indicate that the first-viewpoint image data and the second-viewpoint image data are a pair of pieces of image data. The first-viewpoint image data, the second-viewpoint image data, and the time information are transmitted. The first-viewpoint image data is transmitted in a first stream, and the second-viewpoint image data is transmitted in a second stream.
US09167212B2	Image displaying apparatus, image displaying system, image displaying method and image displaying program The present disclosure provides an image displaying apparatus connected to a first camera and a second camera, on both of which pan/tilt control can be carried out, the image displaying apparatus including: an information acquisition section for acquiring information used for moving a display area over a virtual area obtained by combining a first area with a second area by making the first and second areas adjacent to each other; a control section for monitoring the position of the display area in the virtual area, requesting the first camera to carry out pan/tilt operations when the display area is positioned in the first area before and after a movement of the display area, and requesting the second camera to carry out pan/tilt operations when the display area has been moved from the first area to the boundary with the second area; and an image displaying section for displaying an image.
US09167204B2	Systems and methods for managing teleconference participant mute state In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for managing a mute state of a participant in a teleconference may include detecting, based on analysis of at least one characteristic of audio data received from a microphone associated with the participant or image data received from a camera associated with the participant, whether the participant is attempting to speak to other teleconference participants. The method may also include providing an alert to the participant in response to a detecting that the participant is attempting to speak to other conference participants while the microphone is muted.
US09167186B2	Systems and methods for managing data in an intelligent television An intelligent television can store and retrieve data about various functions of the television or associated with user behavior. The stored data streamlines the processes of providing electronic programming guide information, providing search results, providing statistics about content, providing channel information, etc. The unique set of data services in the intelligent television receive, store, manage, and retrieve the data for various of the applications or components.
US09167184B2	Solid-state image taking device and electronic apparatus A solid-state image taking device including a pixel section and a scan driving section wherein on each pixel column included in the pixel area determined in advance to serve as a pixel column having the unit pixels laid out in the scan direction, the opto-electric conversion section and the electric-charge holding section are laid out alternately and repeatedly, and on each of the pixel columns in the pixel area determined in advance, two the electric-charge holding sections of two adjacent ones of the unit pixels are laid out disproportionately toward one side of the scan direction with respect to the optical-path limiting section or the opto-electric conversion section.
US09167183B2	Imaging element and imaging apparatus employing phase difference detection pixels pairs It is an imaging element in which pixels which are photoelectric conversion elements are placed at respective square lattice positions, in which, when, in a predetermined region where pixels of the imaging element are placed, a plurality of pairs are arranged in a first line which is any one line among lines and a second line which is parallel to the first line, each pair having pair pixels which are first and second phase difference detection pixels placed adjacent to each other to detect a phase difference among the pixels of the imaging element, the pairs in the first line are placed to be spaced apart from each other by at least two pixels, and the pairs in the second line are placed at positions, which correspond to positions where the pair pixels in the first line are spaced apart from each other.
US09167182B2	Charge sensing in image sensors with output channel having multiple-gain output paths In various embodiments, image sensors include output channels enabling high-gain and/or low-gain charge read-out while minimizing charge-conversion noise.
US09167177B2	Systems and methods for creating an eternalism, an appearance of sustained three dimensional motion-direction of unlimited duration, using a finite number of images Data comprising a compressed image frame and temporal redundancy information is received. The image frame is decompressed. A plurality of bridge frames that are visually dissimilar to the image frame are generated. The image frame and the plurality of bridge frames are blended, generating a plurality of blended frames, and the plurality of blended frames are displayed.
US09167175B2	Flicker detection method and flicker detection apparatus The present invention discloses a flicker detection method and a flicker detection apparatus. The method includes: calculating the mean values of selected rows of image frames to constitute a mean value vector; calculating a differential vector between the mean value vectors of a current frame and a previous frame; calculating a DC-free difference vector; building a first square wave and a second square wave, and a third square wave and a fourth square wave; calculating a first frequency reference value; calculating a second frequency reference value; and if the difference between the first and second frequency reference values is above a threshold, then it is determined that flicker is present in the current frame; otherwise, it is determined that no flicker is present.
US09167171B2	Imaging apparatus having a synchronous shooting function A camera is provided with an imaging element, and detects a timing of blinking of light which blinks periodically at a reference timing, based on a timing of variation in luminance of an image obtained by the imaging element, wherein the image is taken by the imaging element under a condition that the light blinks periodically at the reference timing. Further, the timing of exposure of the imaging element is adjusted based on the detected timing of the blinking light, thereby synchronizing shooting operations of plural cameras with each other.
US09167170B2	Imaging device and control method There is provided an imaging device including an imaging element that acquires a captured image of a subject, a light emission unit that emits light to the subject, and a control unit that is capable of controlling a timing of exposure performed by the imaging element and a timing of light emission performed by the light emission unit. In a mode in which imaging is performed with a plurality of times of consecutive light emission by the light emission unit, the control unit controls at least one of a timing of the exposure and a timing of the light emission so that light amounts effective for exposure in each imaging are substantially the same.
US09167169B1	Image sensor apparatus and method for simultaneously capturing multiple images A system, method, and computer program product are provided for simultaneously capturing multiple images. In use, a first sample is stored based on a photodiode of an image sensor. Further, simultaneous, at least in part, with the storage of the first sample, a second sample is stored based on the photodiode of the image sensor. Next, a first value is output based on the first sample, and a second value is output based on the second sample, for generating at least one image. Finally, at least one of the first value and the second value is amplified utilizing two or more gains.
US09167166B2	Image display device, imaging apparatus mounted with image display device as finder device, and image display method An image display device includes a beam splitter that splits an incident light entering from a subject side, an imaging device that converts a first optical image generated by an one-side incident light split by the beam splitter into an electrical signal and outputs the converted electrical signal as a capture image, a synthesis image generating unit that generates an electronic information image, a display panel that displays the electronic information image, and an optical prism that emits an optical image of the electronic information image projected from the display panel to be superimposed on a second optical image generated by the other-side split incident light.
US09167163B2	Digital image processing apparatus that displays first content, generates second content based on an input signal, and generates third content related to the second content, and method of controlling the same A digital image processing apparatus and a method of controlling the same. The digital image processing apparatus includes: a display controller for displaying first content on a display unit; and an image generator for generating second content based on a photographing signal input, which may be from a user, and third content related to the second content.
US09167161B1	Camera module package with a folded substrate and laterally positioned components Systems and methods of manufacturing compact camera modules for use in electronic device are provided. The camera module includes a lens housing and a flexible substrate. An image sensor die is coupled to a first portion of the flexible substrate, and a second portion of the substrate is folded so as to position optical image stabilization components adjacent to a lateral side of the lens housing. The optical image stabilization components may be enclosed within a molded enclosure.
US09167154B2	System and apparatus for increasing quality and efficiency of film capture and methods of use thereof A system, apparatus, or method is provided for imaging and for capturing visuals to provide image manipulation options for increasing resolution of subject images. A system, apparatus or method for increasing resolution of subject images using a camera to deliver unexposed photographic emulsion or a digital image and to generate images of greater resolution by modifying digital images or modifying digital and emulsion images.
US09167149B2	Lens apparatus and imaging apparatus including the same A lens apparatus includes an imaging optical system including a movable lens unit, a drive unit configured to drive the movable lens unit, and a control unit configured to cause the movable lens unit to perform a wobbling motion in an optical axis direction by alternatively outputting to the drive unit a first drive command for driving the movable lens unit at a first driving speed and a stop command for stopping driving of the movable lens unit, and to move the movable lens unit based on contrast information obtained from an image pickup unit during the wobbling motion of the movable lens unit, wherein, at least one of before and after outputting the first drive command to the drive unit, the control unit outputs to the drive unit a second drive command for driving the movable lens unit at a second driving speed lower than the first driving speed.
US09167146B2	Method of receiving connection information from mobile communication device, computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon the method, and digital image-capturing apparatus A method of receiving, by a digital image-capturing apparatus, connection information from a mobile communication terminal is described. Connection information is received from a mobile communication terminal that is connected with the digital image-capturing apparatus via near field communication (NFC). The connection information is input to an input window for performing a communication connection with an external device. A communication connection is performed with the external device, based on the connection information. The external device comprises at least one of an access point (AP) or a server. The connection information is used in communication with the external device.
US09167143B2	Apparatus, a method, and a computer program for automatic focusing An apparatus (500) comprises: an image detector (122) for capturing an image frame (FN), a driving unit (200) for adjusting focusing of light onto said image detector (122), and a pulse generating unit (120), wherein said pulse generating unit (120) is configured to generate one or more synchronization pulses (S11, S12) based on the timing of optical exposure of a predetermined portion (TRIGLN) of said image frame (FN), and said driving unit (200) is configured to perform said adjusting based on the timing of said one or more synchronization pulses (S11, S12).
US09167136B2	Systems, methods, and computer program products for digital image capture A method including initiating video functionality of an optical image capture device, using the video functionality to capture a plurality of still images at video speed, saving the plurality of still images as a cached timeline from which a user may select a desired still image, and providing a user interface on a display screen to allow the user to select a desired still image.
US09167135B2	Image processing device, image processing method, photographic imaging apparatus, and recording device recording image processing program An image processing device includes: a motion-vector computation unit that computes a motion vector between a base image and a reference image; a motion compensation unit that performs a motion compensation to align the reference image with the base image based on the motion vector; a contrast computation unit that computes a contrast value of a target pixel of the base image based on one of the base image and the reference image; a synthetic ratio computation unit that computes a synthetic ratio between: the target pixel for a synthesis processing in the base image; and a corresponding pixel corresponding to the target pixel in the reference image processed by the motion compensation, in response to the contrast value of the target pixel; and a synthesizing unit that synthesizes the target pixel of the base image and the corresponding pixel of the reference image based on the synthetic ratio.
US09167131B2	Image recording apparatus for monitoring unauthorized copy jobs An image recording apparatus includes a controller configured to: determine whether a change of a signal from a sensor indicates a case where a recording medium is conveyed by a conveyance mechanism or a case where the recording medium is placed on a placement unit without conveying by the conveyance mechanism, based on whether the recording medium is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism; start, when the reading unit is operated to start reading the image within a first predetermined time after the signal from the sensor is changed, monitoring to determine whether the recording medium is placed on the placement unit without conveying by the conveyance mechanism; and store, when it is determined during the monitoring that the recording medium is placed on the placement unit without conveying by the conveyance mechanism, data indicating an irregularity reading in the storage unit.
US09167129B1	Method and apparatus for segmenting image into halftone and non-halftone regions A method of segmenting an image into halftone and non-halftone regions includes: processing a pixel block of a grayscale image using a thresholding algorithm and an intensity threshold to form a binary block, the pixel block including grayscale pixels with intensity values, the binary block including binary pixels with binary values; identifying a pixel group in the binary block, wherein the pixel group includes connected pixels represented by a select binary value, wherein pixels in the pixel group adjacent to pixels of the pixel block represented by another binary value are identified as boundary pixels of the pixel group; and processing the pixel group using a scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm to extract keypoints from the pixel group to form a keypoint map in conjunction with segmenting the grayscale image into halftone and non-halftone regions. An image processing device for performing the method is also provided.
US09167126B2	Image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus An image reading apparatus sets an irradiation region below a fixed reading glass when light guide members diffuse light of LEDs upward so that the irradiation region corresponding to a significantly sagged portion in a main scanning direction is wider than that corresponding to portions on both sides of the significantly sagged portion, and sets a light intensity of a plurality of LEDs corresponding to the significantly sagged portion in the main scanning direction to be larger than that of a plurality of LEDs corresponding to the portions on both sides of the significantly sagged portion. Therefore, the degradation of the illuminance corresponding to the significantly sagged portion due to the pressed fixed reading glass can be prevented, and the entire document can be read with uniform reading precision.
US09167125B2	Image reading device and recording device An image reading device includes a transparent plate and a CIS. The transparent plate has a placement area in which an original document is placed and a transport area which corresponds to a transport position of the original document by a transport device. The CIS reads an image of the original document via the transparent plate. The transport device includes an inverting path at a position on the transparent plate opposite to the placement area seen from the transport area. On a second surface side of the transparent plate, the CIS is moved among a first reading area which corresponds to the placement area of the transparent plate, a second reading area which corresponds to the transport area of the transparent plate, and a standby position defined below the inverting path of the transport device.
US09167120B2	Document policies for a document processing unit According to some embodiments, a document processing unit may receive information associated with a document to be processed. The document processing unit might comprise, for example, a printer, scanner, copier, facsimile machine, or multi-function device. The document processing unit may then automatically analyze the received information in view of at least one pre-determined document policy. The document processing unit may then automatically determine, based on the analysis, whether to apply a policy action, associated with the pre-determined document policy, to the processing of the document. For example, the document processing unit might prevent a document from printing.
US09167108B2	Electronic device, imaging device, image reproduction method, image reproduction program, recording medium with image reproduction program recorded thereupon, and image reproduction device An electronic device includes: a communication unit that performs communication with an external device; and a control unit that issues a command to the external device via the communication unit, on the basis of at least one of capacity of the external device, and capacity of the electronic device.
US09167105B2	Automatic adjustments of audio alert characteristics of an alert device using ambient noise levels The automatic adjustment of audio alert characteristics of an alert device using ambient noise levels is described. In one aspect of the invention, a machine-readable medium has executable instructions to cause a machine to perform a method to receive an audio sample of ambient noise and adjust a characteristic of the audio alert, such as, the volume level of the audio alert, based on the ambient noise level.
US09167099B2	Computational systems and methods for identifying a communications partner Methods, apparatuses, computer program products, devices and systems are described that carry out accepting at least one telephone communication from at least one member of a network; disambiguating the at least one search term including associating the at least one search term with at least one of network-participation identifier data or device-identifier data; and presenting the sender profile in association with the at least one telephone communication.
US09167096B2	Automatic delivery of visual voicemail A visual voicemail may be automatically transmitted to a receiving mobile device after the visual voicemail fails to reach the receiving mobile device during an initial delivery attempt. For example, a visual voicemail delivery system may receive an indication of an incoming voicemail, and a visual voicemail associated with the incoming voicemail may be generated. The system may maintain the delivery status of the visual voicemail. For example, if the receiving mobile device retrieves the visual voicemail from the system via a communication session, the system may mark the visual voicemail as delivered. After a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the system may determine whether the visual voicemail has been delivered to the mobile device. If the system determines that the visual voicemail has not been delivered to the mobile device, the system may automatically transmit visual voicemail to the mobile device.
US09167093B2	System and method for real-time process management A system and method for real-time process management. An attribute of a process currently performed may be related to a key performance indicator (KPI) threshold. A system may determine, in real-time, the KPI threshold was breached. An indication may be provided to, for example, a mobile device. Feedback related to an intervention of an expert may be received on the mobile device.
US09167086B1	Bluetooth headset with audio recording capabilities Wireless headsets with audio recording capabilities are disclosed. The wireless headsets with audio recording capabilities can include a microphone for receiving first audio signals generated by a user, a BLUETOOTH module for transmitting and receiving wireless radio signals, wherein the wireless radio signals received by the BLUETOOTH module comprise second audio signals. The headsets can also include an audio encoder/decoder for encoding the first audio signals received by the microphone and the second audio signals received by the BLUETOOTH module to generate data, a loudspeaker, connected to the audio encoder/decoder, for playing the second audio signals to the user, a memory unit for storing the data generated by the audio encoder, and a control unit which is coupled to the audio encoder/decoder for transferring the data to the memory unit.
US09167074B2	Mobile terminal and function control method thereof The present invention provides a mobile terminal and a function control method thereof that can appropriately set or release an operation mode in accordance with a situation of a user. A mobile terminal includes an opening/closing sensor 18 that detects whether the mobile terminal is in an opened state or a closed state, an acceleration sensor 11 that detects acceleration and a posture of the mobile terminal, and a control unit 12 that restricts an execution of a specific function in accordance with the detection result of the opening/closing sensor 18 and releases a restriction of at least a portion of the restricted specific function in accordance with the detection result of the acceleration sensor 11.
US09167073B2	Method and apparatus for accessing a contacts database and telephone services Embodiments described herein provide a method and technique for operating a computing device. An interface is displayed for enabling the computing device to control a voicemail system. The interface includes one or more display objects, wherein each display object is selectable by a user to enter a command input assigned to that display object. A selection is detected of any one of the one or more display objects, and the command input assigned to the display object is identified. A signal tone is generated corresponding to the command input. The signal input may be transmitted across a network to the voicemail system to communicate a command to the voicemail system.
US09167070B2	Widget discovery in computing devices A system and a method are disclosed for discovering widgets for computing devices. A computing device parses data to identify rich content. The computing device searches for widgets supporting the identified rich content in a remote server and retrieves a widget supporting the identified rich content. The computing device executes the widget to process the rich content.
US09167069B2	Alternate notification selection Embodiments of the invention relate to management of notifications responsive to the arrival and departure of mobile devices in a defined area. A prioritized list is shared among mobile devices in a defined area. Upon detection, mobile devices add their respective selected notifications to the prioritized list. A mobile device entering the defined area receives the prioritized list and in response to detecting a shared selected notification on the prioritized list, one of the mobile devices in the area changes its selected notification to an alternative notification. A second mobile device entering the defined area would likewise receive the prioritized list and change its selected notification to a second alternative notification responsive to a shared selected notification on the list. At such time as a device leaves the area, the list is again updated and all notifications exclusive to the device are removed from the list.
US09167067B2	Motor vehicle noise management A device and method that is configured to control the operation of a motor vehicle cabin active sound management (ASM) system that uses an ASM controller to control operation of one or more sound transducers that transmit audio signals in the cabin so as to alter vehicle powertrain-related sounds in the cabin, wherein the motor vehicle further comprises a mobile telephone system that is configured to receive incoming mobile telephone calls and transmit outgoing mobile telephone calls. The device can include a controller that is configured to receive from the mobile telephone system an indication that a mobile telephone call is incoming or an outgoing call is being initiated. After receiving the indication, the subject controller commands the ASM controller to cause operation of one or more sound transducers such that the level of vehicle powertrain-related sounds in the cabin is reduced.
US09167062B1	Holder for hand-held electronic communication device The holder for a hand-held electronic communication device comprises a base that is constructed for hand-held use, shoulder support, and surface support in a multiplicity of portrait inclination angles and landscape orientations. The holder incorporates two clamping mechanisms, one being operative for fixing its gripping part in selected positions of extension and the other desirably acting dynamically, such as by pivotal movement, for cooperatively clamping the mounted communication device in place.
US09167060B2	Mobile phone housing with tool frame A mobile phone housing with a tool frame has a main casing, a tool frame slidably mounted in the main casing, and a slider connected to the tool frame. By pushing the slider, the tool frame can be driven to protrude out of the mobile phone housing or to be stored in the mobile phone housing. The tool frame may be an eyeglasses frame for mounting glasses. The glasses mounted in the tool frame can be replaced with other glasses of different lens prescriptions or different functions according to user's need, such that the mobile phone housing with the eyeglasses frame is convenient for people with eye defects to use. Or the tool frame may be a mirror frame for mounting the mirror to allow user to look at himself in the mirror.
US09167058B2	Timestamp correction in a multi-lane communication link with skew A method, non-transitory computer readable medium and apparatus for correcting a timestamp in a multi-lane communication link with a skew are disclosed. For example, the method receives a data packet, a time stamp for the data packet and a fill level for a lane of the multi-lane communication link carrying the data packet, calculates a corrected timestamp for the data packet and replaces the time stamp for the data packet with the corrected timestamp.
US09167051B2	Transforming condition-independent output into condition-dependent output A method and apparatus for providing a network based operating system for mobile clients is disclosed. Services may be developed that can be used to support different client devices with different capabilities. The services provide output with multiple variations based on different devices, and an intermediary selects the variation best suited for the requesting device. An online software development system is provided to allow services to create, edit, test, and deploy applications at an intermediary using only a browser at the client end. Services may also be provided that can be accessed and referred to by other services, thereby facilitating the combining of different services. Services may also store and access data at an intermediary using variables and a mapping of the stored data to the variables. Data stored at the intermediary may be used to allow an end user to return to a previously accessed service.
US09167042B1	Maintaining communication channel for device notifications A first communication channel is established between a user device and a server using a cellular network. The user device receives a timeout interval for the first communication channel. The user device transmits a packet to maintain the first communication channel when the user device detects that other data is being transmitted using a second communication channel during the timeout interval.
US09167029B2	Adjusting individuals in a group corresponding to relevancy Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, computer program product, and system for managing group members. A computer identifies a collaboration activity that corresponds to a defined group, wherein the defined group includes one or more individuals, and the collaboration activity is comprised of the defined group and one or more additional individuals. The computer determines participation and contribution information that correspond to the one or more individuals of the defined group and the one or more additional individuals included in the identified collaboration activity. The computer determines relevant individuals from the identified collaboration activity by utilizing determined participation and contribution information. In response to determining the relevant individuals, the computer determines an updated group wherein the updated group includes determined relevant individuals.
US09167015B2	Method and system for caching streaming multimedia on the internet An apparatus and method to enhance existing caches in a network to better support streaming media storage and distribution. Helper machines are used inside the network to implement several methods which support streaming media including segmentation of streaming media objects into smaller units, cooperation of Helper machines, and novel placement and replacement policies for segments of media objects.
US09167009B2	Presenting data to electronic meeting participants Described are a system and method for presenting web conference contents to one or more attendees in a shared session. Metadata is aggregated that is related to one or more participant electronic devices and a presenter electronic device that communicate with each other in the web conference. A presentation parameter is determined from the metadata. A selection interface is generated from the presentation parameter. A conference setting is selected from the selection interface. A set of content is presented at the presenter electronic device and shared with the one or more participant devices according to the selected conference setting.
US09167008B2	Traffic routing across and between networks A method of routing signalling plane traffic through or out of an IP Multimedia Subsystem, IMS, network. The method comprises maintaining within user profile data stored in a subscriber database of the IMS network, routing information defining signalling plane routing profiles for a user associated with the user profile data. Said routing information is transferred from the subscriber database to a Call Session Control Function, CSCF, of the IMS network at or following registration of said user to the IMS network. The method then comprises handling a Session Initiation Protocol, SIP, request for said user at the CSCF including adding said routing information into the request and forwarding the SIP request to a next hop node, and, at said next hop node or at a further downstream node, making a routing decision for the SIP request or for related signalling on the basis of the routing information contained within the SIP request.
US09167006B1	Connection bucketing in mirroring asymmetric clustered multiprocessor systems Creating a connection between one of a first plurality of computing devices in a primary chassis and one of a second plurality of computing devices in a failover chassis. A first plurality of buckets may be associated with the primary chassis, a second plurality of buckets may be associated with the failover chassis, where the first plurality of buckets may correspond to the second plurality of buckets. One of the first plurality of computing devices may be associated with one of the first plurality of buckets, and can create a connection with attributes such that a disaggregator in the failover chassis routes the connection to one of the second plurality of computing devices, wherein the one of the second plurality of computing devices may be associated with a bucket of the second plurality of buckets that corresponds to the one of the first plurality of buckets.
US09167005B2	Method and system for supporting visitor access via a broadband gateway A method and system are provided in which a broadband gateway may enable a guest or visitor to access content available to the broadband gateway. The content may be received by the broadband gateway through one or more of a plurality of network access service providers that may provide separate physical layer access to the broadband gateway. After a visitor's device is connected to the broadband gateway, the broadband gateway may classify the device. Based on the classification, the device may be authorized to access a portion of the content received. Once the authorization process is complete, the appropriate content may be made available and transferred to the device. The authorization process may include the authentication of a device identifier and/or a user identifier. The authorized access may be time-limited, but may be renewed or enabled when a request is received within a determined period of time.
US09167000B2	Dynamic threat event management system and method According to various illustrative embodiments of the present invention, a method for a content-driven threat management system includes creating a threat detection primary object with threat mitigation data using at least one researcher of at least one of software and malicious code, encoding the threat detection primary object with threat mitigation data within an object capable of being transmitted to a personal computer system using a transmission vector update function, and transmitting the threat detection primary object with threat mitigation data to a threat agent using the transmission vector update function. The method also includes updating at least one threat function using the threat agent to update at least one threat functional description of the at least one threat function to include the threat detection primary object with threat mitigation data, and using the threat detection primary object with threat mitigation data to be capable of recognizing at least one threat event based upon the threat detection primary object with threat mitigation data.
US09166995B1	Systems and methods for using user-input information to identify computer security threats A computer-implemented method for using user-input information to identify computer security threats may include (1) detecting activity at a computing system, (2) determining whether a user provided input at the computing system when the activity occurred, (3) determining that the activity indicates a potential security threat based at least in part on whether the user provided input at the computing system when the activity occurred, and (4) performing a security action on the activity in response to the determination that the activity indicates a potential security threat. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09166986B1	Witnessing documents A server receives, from a first client device associated with a first user, a certification request including information associated with an electronic document, along with a representation of a credential associated with a second user. The server validates the representation of the credential associated with the second user. Responsive to validating the representation of the credential, the server attaches a badge to the electronic document, the badge corresponding to the credential and providing a certification that the second user has witnessed the electronic document. The server stores information corresponding to the electronic document with the attached badge.
US09166979B2	Protecting online meeting access using secure personal universal resource locators Access to online collaborative resources such as an online meeting, web conference, online chat room, an online video conference, an online audio conference, a collaboratively edited document, a collaborative browsing session, an online social networking group, or a web site is secured by providing a first user-specific URL to a first user for addressing collaborative resource; responsive to the first user accessing the first user-specific URL, granting by a computing system access to the collaborative event to the first user; and responsive to a second user accessing the first user-specific URL, preventing by a computing system access to the collaborative event to the second user. Optionally, time criteria for accessing the first user-specific URL may be used to invalidating the first user-specific URL, wherein access to the collaborative resource is disabled.
US09166978B2	Automatic resource provisioning for meeting collaboration A system for provisioning an output device, may include a processor; a memory; and a records display program. The records display program may be executed by the processor to maintain an indication of availability dates and times of one or more output devices connected to the network; to receive an output device invitation indicating a first output device to reserve at a meeting conducted over a conferencing system; to determine whether the first output device is available for reservation during a date and time period of the meeting; and to communicate to the first output device activation information indicating that the first output device is to become active at a first predetermined date and time related to the date and time period of the meeting and login information including a first credential for the first output device to use for logging into the conferencing system for the meeting.
US09166976B2	Creation and management of digital content and workflow automation via a portable identification key The present invention is directed towards a method and system for automating workflow. The method and system includes receiving data from a portable identification key communicatively coupled to a processing device to initiate automation processes. The profile information comprised in the data is accessed, the profile information including an identification of a user associated with the portable identification key. The method and system further includes retrieving one or more instructions and parameters associated with the identified user by the processing device to initiate an automated workflow session, and initiating the automated workflow session according to the one or more instructions and parameters.
US09166974B2	Captcha systems and methods Systems and methods for verifying human users through cognitive processes that computers cannot imitate are described herein. Human cognitive language processing techniques may be used to verify human users. Visual patterns and tests may be used to distinguish between humans and computers because computer-based visual recognition is fundamentally different from human visual processing. Persistent plugins and tests may be used to continuously verify human users.
US09166972B2	Shared information distributing device, holding device, certificate authority device, and system A distributing device for generating private information correctly even if shared information is destroyed or tampered with. A shared information distributing device for use in a system for managing private information by a secret sharing method, including: segmenting unit that segments private information into a first through an nth pieces of shared information; first distribution unit that distributes the n pieces of shared information to n holding devices on a one-to-one basis; and second distribution unit that distributes the n pieces of shared information to the n holding devices so that each holding device holds an ith piece of shared information distributed by the first distribution unit, as well as a pieces of shared information being different from the ith piece of shared information in ordinal position among n pieces of shared information, “i” being an integer in a range from 1 to n.
US09166970B1	Dynamic framework for certificate application configuration A script hosting server receives a script from an authenticated source, associates the script with a certificate profile for digital certificates based on input from the authenticated source, receives user enrollment information for the certificate profile from the authenticated source, receives a script request of a client device, the script request identifying the certificate profile and a user of the client device, determines whether the user is enrolled in the certificate profile based on the user enrollment information, and, upon determining that the user is enrolled, providing the scripts to the client device.
US09166963B2	Distributed security architecture A distributed security architecture may include: a mobile anti-tamper hardware policy enforcement point configured to control communication behaviors of a mobile or stationary client by enforcing communication policies within a policy decision point; an anti-tamper hardware policy decision point encapsulated within the anti-tamper hardware policy enforcement point; a policy exchange channel for policy distribution modes configured to distribute and/or update communication and routing security policies to the client; a context manager configured to handle system-wide status change update signaling; and an authentication manager configured to provide clients with registration and credential/role assignments based on access policies. The distributed security architecture may be configured to provide open system interconnection layer 3.5 policy-based secure routing, and open system interconnection layer 2 policy-based mandatory access control address filtering to provide secure communication and computing for layers 4, 5, 6, and 7.
US09166961B1	Social networking behavior-based identity system Disclosed are various embodiments for a social networking behavior-based identity system that employs social networking data that a user has elected to share through an opt-in procedure. First social networking data is stored in association with a user identity. An assertion of the user identity is received from a client after the first social networking data is stored. Second social networking data is received in response to receiving the assertion of the user identity. An identity confidence level as to whether the user identity belongs to a user at the client is generated based at least in part on a comparison of the second social networking data with the first social networking data.
US09166952B2	Security device bank and a system including the and SD security device bank In some embodiments, a system includes a trusted network, an untrusted network, on-board equipment on-board a moving object, one or more first security devices on-board the moving object and communicatively connecting the on-board equipment and the untrusted network, and a security device bank communicatively connecting the trusted network and the untrusted network. The security device bank includes a common bus or the local network and one or more second security devices connected to the common bus or the local network.
US09166950B2	System and method for responding to aggressive behavior associated with wireless devices An embodiment of the invention describes a wireless device comprising a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) further comprising a memory for storing program code for performing a plurality of operations, and a processor for processing the program code to execute the plurality of operations, the operations including receiving over-the-air instructions via a wireless network from a control center to create a rules set in the SIM, wherein the rules set defines an acceptable behavior of the wireless device, monitoring requests from a wireless modem of the wireless device for access files stored in the SIM, detecting an aggressive behavior of the wireless device based on the rules set, and blocking the wireless modem from generating traffic in the wireless network.
US09166948B2	Method, system and apparatus for keeping session table alive in net address translation apparatus Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method for keeping a session table alive in a Network Address Translation (NAT) apparatus, includes creating a hello session table by an Access Border Gateway Function (A_BGF) apparatus, creating a hello message by the A_BGF apparatus according to the hello session table, sending the hello message by the A_BGF apparatus to the NAT apparatus, receiving the hello message by the NAT apparatus, and updating a session table corresponding to the hello message by the NAT apparatus. Embodiments of the disclosure also provide a system and apparatus for keeping a session table alive in an NAT apparatus. Application of the embodiments of the disclosure keeps the session table alive in the NAT apparatus of an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) ensures an unblocked registration path and prevents the user conversation being interrupted due to an aged session table of the NAT apparatus.
US09166940B2	E-mail forwarding tunnel capturing or tagging An email forward tagging system including means for selecting on a sender's email client a receiver's email address; means for displaying to the sender's email client a tagging function; means for selecting on the sender's email client the tagging function; means for sending, via a common email system protocol, an email from a email-sending server to a first email-receiving server; means for receiving, via the common email system protocol, the email at the first receiver's email server from the email-sending server; means for sending the received email in the form of one of a forward email and a reply email to a second email-receiving server connected to the network; and means for automatically forwarding the one of the forward email and the reply email to the sender's email address when the sender's email address is omitted from the one of said forward email and said reply email.
US09166938B2	System and method for improved notifications Systems and methods for sending/receiving improved in-browser notification messages are provided. The notification messages are overlaid on HTTP traffic on port 80 for IP addresses provisioned to receive the notification messages from various sources, including weather, emergency broadcast, and police stations. A load balancer within the end-to-end system allows HTTP traffic on port 80 to be forked from non HTTP traffic on port 80 to selectively insert notification messages. The notifications are inserted by an internet content adoption protocol (ICAP) server in communication with other devices within the system.
US09166933B2	Memory control apparatus, information processing apparatus, and memory control method A memory control apparatus that controls writing and reading of data to/from a memory. The memory control apparatus includes: a sequence control unit that receives a packet sequence including a write packet including a write request of data and a read packet including a read request of the data, and changes an arrangement of the write packet and the read packet included in the packet sequence so that a first predetermined number of write packets are arranged successively and a second predetermined number of read packets are arranged successively; and a command output unit that receives the packet sequence from the sequence control unit, and outputs a write command according to the write packet and an a read command according to the read packet to the memory, in accordance with an order of arrangement of the write packet and the read packet.
US09166926B2	Method and arrangement for suppressing duplicate network resources A duplicate suppression protocol is introduced in order to suppress duplicate entries from appearing in a list of available network resources. With the duplicate suppression protocol of the present invention, a computer that wishes to query for network resources also asks for duplicate suppression information from the responding network resources. The duplicate suppression information for a particular network resource specifies identifiers associated with that network resource for various protocols. Thus, if a particular network resource responds to more than one network resource request from a single requesting entity, that requesting entity will be able to locate duplicate network resource information. Thus, a single unified list of network resources available for various different protocols may be presented with all duplicate network resources removed.
US09166924B2	Packet scheduling method and apparatus considering virtual port In a scheduling apparatus, a packet start time with respect to an input packet is calculated, and a slot corresponding to the packet start time is selected from a scheduler including a plurality of slots. Whether to store the packet in the selected slot in consideration of the number of packets stored in the selected slot and the number of packets corresponding to virtual ports corresponding to the input packet is determined, and here, the virtual port is an output port of a switch device which is connected to the outside and does not have a scheduling function.
US09166913B1	Systems and methods for balancing max-min fairness and throughput objectives in traffic engineering Systems and methods are provided for allocating resources of a network among a plurality of traffic demands to optimize fairness and throughput. Fairness constraints and traffic commodity importance can be specified to control allocation.
US09166912B2	Translating network forwarding plane models into target implementation using sub models and hints A routing controller in a communication network may be responsible for issuing routing rules to forwarding devices in the network. Exemplary embodiments allow forwarding functionality to be implemented by the forwarding devices in a device-specific manner. The routing controller may specify a routing rule to be implemented by the forwarding device, and may provide a default or suggested implementation of the function in the specification of the rule. If the forwarding device does not have a predetermined implementation of the function that is specific to the routing device, the forwarding device may use the default implementation provided by the routing controller. However, if the forwarding device does have a predetermined implementation of the function, the forwarding device may override the implementation described in the specification and use the predetermined implementation instead.
US09166908B2	Assisted intelligent routing for minimalistic connected object networks In one embodiment, a distributed intelligence agent (DIA) collects local state information from a plurality of minimalistic connected objects (MCOs) in a computer network, the local state information for each MCO comprising a corresponding neighbor list and a selected next-hop for the respective MCO, where one or more of the MCOs are configured to select their next-hop without any self-optimization. The DIA may then analyze a current routing topology, which is the combined result of the selected next-hops, in comparison to a computed optimal routing topology, and (optionally) in light of required service level agreement (SLA), to determine whether to optimize the current routing topology. In response to determining that the current routing topology should be optimized, the DIA may transmit a unicast routing instruction to one or more individual MCOs to instruct those individual MCOs how to optimize the current routing topology, accordingly.
US09166901B2	Determining liveness of protocols and interfaces The liveness of routing protocols can be determined using a mechanism to aggregate liveness information for the protocols. The ability of an interface to send and receive packets and the forwarding capability of an interface can also be determined using this mechanism. Since liveness information for multiple protocols, the liveness of interfaces, the forwarding capability of interfaces, or both, may be aggregated in a message, the message can be sent more often than could individual messages for each of the multiple protocols. This allows fast detection of failures, and sending connectivity messages for the individual protocols, such as neighbor “hellos,” to be sent less often.
US09166896B2	Session-based server transaction storm controls A transaction storm detection engine is configured to receive a series of transactions in a data stream for an authenticated network session. The detection engine determines whether the transactions form a transaction storm. In response to determining that the transactions are a transaction storm, metrics associated with the transaction storm are presented. One or more actions may be specified to be applied in a subsequently detected transaction storm.
US09166890B2	Maintaining application performances upon transfer between cloud services Technologies are presented for tracking of used resources and ensuring a similar level of computing resources to be provided at a new cloud-based service provider for a migrating application, even if the new service provider has a different mix of resources. Computing resources in use by the migrating application and a level of used computing power may be identified. Each of the computing resources may be assigned a score according to an associated service level. An overall score generated as a weighted combination of the individual scores according to their influence on application processing and networking status may be used for comparison of service levels between an existing service provider and the new service provider to ensure the migrating application receives a similar performance level. Additionally, the individual and overall scores may be employed by the new service provider to properly allocate its resources to provide similar performance level.
US09166888B1	Configuration data Measures for use in generating path configuration data for an optical network. A least cost path calculation process is performed on a network graph representation of the optical network to generate path configuration data for the optical network. Performing the least cost path calculation process comprises performing a network graph expansion process on the network graph representation of the optical network to obtain an expanded network graph representation of the optical network. Performing the network graph expansion process comprises determining data identifying the possible expansion paths to each optical node, the cost of each path and the available wavelengths for each path, grouping together wavelength and path data for paths of equal cost, and at one or more nodes, identifying a subset of one or more wavelengths and performing a wavelength pruning operation.
US09166885B2	Lawful identification of unknown terminals The present invention relates to methods and arrangements to establish an identity of a target T. The method comprises the following steps:—Collecting geographical location points A, B, C, D indicating presence of the target.—Interrogating at least one mobile network to fetch lists of identities of users located in defined areas C1-C3, each area covering a collected geographical location point.—Crosschecking between the fetched lists.—Identifying a single identity that is common to the fetched lists.
US09166884B2	Network location service A method is provided for a network location service in which one or more packet forwarding devices in the network collect and maintain location data for the devices/users currently connected to a network. The data is maintained locally in each packet forwarding device and may be provided on demand to a network/business application, such as emergency 911 services or a location-based security or personalization system. The location data is provided in real-time or near real-time using an in-band channel communication and/or over the Internet using a standard transport protocol, such as HTTP/S and SOAP web services.
US09166882B1	Remote browsing session management A browsing process is directed to the generation and management of a browse session at a network computing provider. A client computing device requests a remote browse session instance at a network computing provider. The browse session instance may correspond to requested network content. The network computing provider determines one or more browse configurations. Different browse configurations can be determined for separate portions of the requested network content. The browse configurations may identify a communication protocol and various processing actions. The network computing provider retrieves the requested content through an instantiated network browse session instance, and performs a first set of processing actions to generate a processing result. The processing result may be provided to the client computing device for display, including performing a second set of processing actions on the processing result at the client computing device.
US09166881B1	Methods and apparatus for adaptive bandwidth-based communication management An apparatus, includes a user interface module configured to send a signal to display an interface of a self-service application used by a user to communicate with a host device via a network. The apparatus also includes a bandwidth analysis module operatively coupled to the user interface module. The bandwidth analysis module is configured to calculate a bandwidth associated with communication with the host device via the network. The bandwidth analysis module is also configured to receive, from the host device, a bandwidth criterion associated with at least one network communication mode used for communication with the host device. The user interface module is configured to reduce or eliminate an availability of the at least one network communication mode to the self-service application when the bandwidth fails to meet the bandwidth criterion.
US09166878B1	Network management configuration for retrieving and aggregating status information from resources distributed across a network In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a network management module configured to execute at a network device operatively coupled to a switch fabric. The switch fabric may have a distributed control plane. The network management module is configured to receive a request regarding status information for a certain set of network resources identified with a virtual or logical identifier. The network management module is configured to generate and send a corresponding query for status information to a set of physical elements that encompass and may be larger than the certain set of network resources and collect responses to that query. The network management module is configured to construct a response to the request from the status information in the collected responses to the query. The constructed response includes only information related to the original request.
US09166869B2	Management of distributed network switching cluster Management of a network may be provided by moving management functions from each switch in a network cluster into a locally controlled server. The management functions may be organized into an Ethernet distributed fabric switching protocol (E-DFP) based management plane. Control functions of each switch may also be organized into a control plane. The management plane and control plane of the network may be moved from each switch and integrated into the server. Efficiency in network switching may be provided by releasing the switches of their management and control responsibilities and centralizing these responsibilities to the server. In some embodiments, the server may be outside the cluster.
US09166866B2	Hydration and dehydration with placeholders Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to file system placeholders. In aspects, placeholders may be used by a client to represent remote file system objects. The placeholders may include metadata and may also include none, some, or all of the content of the represented remote file system objects. In conjunction with placeholders and based on one or more factors, a client may hydrate or dehydrate file system objects of the client to follow user directives, inferred user intent, and storage policies of the client.
US09166864B1	Adaptive streaming for legacy media frameworks This disclosure relates to adaptive streaming for legacy media frameworks. A streaming component includes a reception component that receives a first set of header data associated with an audio stream, and a second set of header data associated with a video stream. A parsing component synthesizes a third set of header data using the first set of header data and the second set of header data based on a set of header criteria for a legacy media framework, and provides the third set of header data to the legacy media framework. A download component acquires respective sets of data from the audio stream and the video stream, and an adaption component provides sets of data to the legacy media framework based on a set of streaming criteria for the legacy media framework.
US09166858B2	Method for modulating an OQAM type multi-carrier signal, and corresponding computer program and modulator A modulator and modulation method are provided, which output an OQAM multi-carrier signal. The method implements a step of transforming, from the frequency domain to the time domain, a set of M symbols of real data so as to output M transformed symbols. The complete transformation includes the following sub-steps: applying a partial Fourier transform to the set of M symbols of real data, outputting a first subset of C transformed symbols, where C is strictly less than M; and obtaining, from the first subset, a second subset of (M-C) transformed symbols that is complementary to the first subset.
US09166857B2	Systems and methods for fast and precise frequency estimation Systems and methods are provided for fast and precise estimation of frequency with relatively minimal sampling and relatively high tolerance to noise.
US09166856B2	System and method for initial ranging in wireless communication systems A system and method for initial ranging in wireless communication systems is provided. A plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) blocks are received by an OFDMA base station transceiver from a plurality of remote user devices in wireless communication with the base station. A ranging subchannel is extracted from the OFDM blocks. The number of active codes in the ranging subchannel is determined, active codes are identified, and carrier frequency offsets (CFOs) are estimated for each active code. Timing delays and power levels for each active code are then estimated. The estimated CFOs, timing delays, and power levels are broadcasted by the base station to the remote user devices, so that the user devices can utilize same to adjust transmission parameters to optimize power levels and synchronize communication with the base station.
US09166850B2	Data retransmission request device, a data transmitter, and a data retransmission method for multi-tone systems In a multi-tone data transmission system, data are modulated on a set of M tones for being transmitted between a transmitter and a receiver. The data retransmission request device in such system is adapted to request retransmission of a data transmission unit that is hierarchically modulated at a particular hierarchical level and that is modulated on a particular group of N tones, N being a positive integer value greater than one and smaller than or equal to M.
US09166840B2	Method of transmitting data samples with reduced bandwidth Methods and apparatus are disclosed for compressing and decompressing data to reduce bandwidth requirements in transmissions of predistorted signals between a processing node and a remote transmitting node of a power amplifier with digital predistortion (PA-DPD) system. In the processing node, predistorted signals are decomposed into a high-dynamic range signal of a first sample rate and a low-dynamic range signal of a second sample rate greater than the first sample rate. Samples of both signals are combined to generate a compressed signal for transmission to the remote transmitting node, which decompresses the compressed signal to restore the predistorted signal.
US09166834B2	Method and system for corrupt symbol handling for providing high reliability sequences For corrupt symbol handling for providing high reliability sequences, an inter-symbol correlated (ISC) signal is received. During sequence estimation when demodulating the received ISC signal, partial response samples in the ISC may be processed utilizing an erasure mechanism. The partial response samples are spread (e.g. interleaved) over time during modulation by a modulator. A determination is made as to whether to utilize self erasure or external erasure to process the spread partial response samples. The determination may be based on whether or not events of low SNR for corresponding ones of the partial response samples are identified. The external erasure may be utilized for processing the corresponding ones of the partial response samples when the events of low SNR are identified and the self erasure is utilized when the events of low SNR are not identifiable. Erasure results maybe fed back to the modulator.
US09166830B2	Systems and methods utilizing adaptive envelope tracking A communication system utilizing adaptive envelope tracking includes a transmit path, a feedback receiver, a parameter component and an envelope tracking component. The transmit path is configured to generate a transmit signal. The feedback receiver is configured to generate a feedback signal from the transmit signal. The parameter component is configured to generate linearity parameters from the feedback signal and the baseband signal. The envelope tracking component is configured to generate a supply control signal having time delay adjustments.
US09166825B2	Routing information generating apparatus, routing information generating method and routing information generating program Network connecting sections of an own station deliver routing information notified from a relay section on the same base to network connecting sections of other stations of own networks. If new routing information is present in routing information received from the network connecting sections of the other stations, the network connecting sections of the own station notify the relay section on the same base of the routing information. The relay section updates, based on the routing information notified from the network connecting sections on the same base, routing information held by the relay section.
US09166824B2	Telecommunications system and method A telecommunications system provides a facility for mobile communications to a mobile node. A core network and a radio network are arranged to communicate the internet packets in accordance with a current configuration of routing and communications resources of at least one of the core network and the radio network. The mobile node is operable to generate a packet data connection activation request. The request is adapted to include a service level identifier representing a priority to be afforded to communicating internet packets to or from the mobile node with respect to the internet packets received from other mobile nodes. The core network is operable to adapt the current configuration of routing and communications resources of at least one of the core network and the radio network following a change of location of the mobile node with a relative priority determined in accordance with the service level identifier.
US09166810B2	Information communication device of obtaining information by demodulating a bright line pattern included in an image An information communication method includes: setting an exposure time of an image sensor so that, in an image obtained by capturing a subject by the image sensor, a bright line corresponding to an exposure line included in the image sensor appears according to a change in luminance of the subject; capturing the subject that changes in luminance by the image sensor with the set exposure time, to obtain the image including the bright line; and obtaining information by demodulating data specified by a pattern of the bright line included in the obtained image.
US09166806B2	Shared communication space invitations A computer-implemented method of providing invitations to a shared communication space, performed by a server system, includes providing the shared communication space, which includes content associated with a set of characteristics, and identifying a user, in accordance with a set of characteristics associated with the user and the set of characteristics associated with the content in the shared communication space. The method further includes sending to the identified user a invitation to participate in the shared communication space, and upon acceptance of the invitation by the user, enabling access by the user to the shared communication space by the user and enabling the user to exchange information with other participants in the shared communication space via the shared communication space.
US09166804B2	Packet transmission control device, packet transmission control method, and program There is provided a packet transmission control device including a packet interval adjustment unit that adjusts packet intervals of a plurality of packets, a packet replication unit that replicates the plurality of packets whose packet intervals are adjusted by the packet interval adjustment unit to generate a plurality of packet groups, and a destination assignment unit that assigns different destination information pieces to the respective plurality of packet groups generated by the packet replication unit.
US09166799B2	IMS security for femtocells A mobile station can be authenticated by, for example, sending a challenge to a mobile station, and receiving a first authentication response from the mobile station through a wireless link, the first authentication response being generated based on the challenge and an authentication key stored at the mobile station. A second authentication response is generated based on the first authentication response. The second authentication response is provided to an IMS network for authenticating the mobile station to enable the mobile station to access the IMS network. In some examples, an authentication response of the mobile station is carried in an SIP message sent from the femtocell to a server that can authenticate the mobile station or forward the authentication response to another server that can authenticate the mobile station. Authentication of the mobile station can be performed as an integrated part of or separate from a registration process.
US09166797B2	Secured compartment for transactions Systems and methods that establish a secured compartment that manages sensitive user transactions/information on a user's machine. The secured compartment qualifies user interaction with the machine, and separates such qualified interaction from other user activity on the machine. A user is switched to such secured compartment upon occurrence of a predetermined event, such as in form of: an explicit request (e.g., a secure attention sequence); an implicit request (e.g., inference of user activities); and presence of a peripheral device that is bound to the secured compartment (e.g., a USB)—wherein such actions typically cannot be generated by an application running outside the secured compartment.
US09166792B2	Data management device, power usage calculation system, data management method, and computer program product According to an embodiment, a data management device includes a receiver; a first calculator; a second calculator; and a transmitter. The receiver is configured to receive at least one piece of encrypted data obtained by encrypting a piece of data and at least one message authentication code for the piece of encrypted data. The first calculator is configured to aggregate pieces of encrypted data received to calculate aggregated encrypted data corresponding to a sum of the pieces of data encrypted. The second calculator is configured to sum up message authentication codes received to calculate a total value of the message authentication codes for the aggregated encrypted data. The transmitter is configured to transmit the aggregated encrypted data and the total value of the message authentication codes.
US09166786B2	Personal portable secured network access system Authenticating a customer for access to a content server. The customer is biometrically authenticated to a secure terminal based on information stored in a secure personal storage device belonging to the customer. The customer is allowed access to the secure terminal after a successful authentication. The customer is authenticated to the content server based on account credentials stored on the secure personal storage device issued by the content server.
US09166785B2	Cryptography processing device and cryptography processing method A device that uses homomorphic encryption is disclosed. The device includes a public key data generator configured to generate public key data, and a secret key data generator configured to generate secret key data that includes, as a secret key, an integer that is an element of a matrix obtained as a product of the first public key matrix element and an inverse matrix of the secret key matrix and that is not a multiple of the plain text space size.
US09166782B2	Dynamic distributed key system and method for identity management, authentication servers, data security and preventing man-in-the-middle attacks A distributed key encryption system and method is provided in which a key storage server provides a session key to the source and destination computers by encrypting the session key with unique distributed private keys that are associated with the respective source and destination computers by unique private key identifiers The destination computer then decrypts the encrypted session key using it's distributed private key and then decrypts the communication using the decrypted session key.
US09166777B2	Method and system for user authentication for computing devices utilizing PKI and other user credentials A system and method for user authentication utilizing PKI credentials and user credentials on an electronic device comprising a mobile communication device, smart phone, a computer or other computing device.
US09166769B2	Data transmission method and data restoration method Disclosed are a data transmission method and a data restoration method. The data transmission method includes forming a plurality of transmission preparatory packets by dividing data to be transmitted by the predetermined number (n) of bits, forming transition inducing packets different from the transmission preparatory packets while having the predetermined number (n) of bits, forming transition included data packets by performing a logical operation on the transition inducing packet and each of the transmission preparatory packets, and transmitting the transition included data packets and the transition inducing packet.
US09166767B2	Apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving control information in a broadband wireless communication system using half frequency division duplex An apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving control information in a broadband wireless communication system using Half Frequency Division Duplex (H-FDD) are provided. An operation of a Mobile Station (MS) includes, in the case of a frame at which control information is not transmitted, performing uplink communication at a front end of the frame and, in the case of a frame at which the control information is transmitted, performing downlink communication at a front end of the frame.
US09166766B2	System and method for full duplex cancellation Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for enabling improved cancellation of self-interference in full-duplex communications, or the transmitting and receiving of communications in a single frequency band without requiring time, frequency, or code divisions. The system estimates the signal strength and phase of a self-interference signal, generates a cancellation signal based on this estimate, then uses the cancellation signal to suppress the self-interference before sampling received analog signal. After applying the cancellation signal, the system samples and digitizes the remaining analog signal. The digitized signal is then subjected to additional digital cancellation, allowing for extraction of the desired signal.
US09166762B2	System and method for combined MAC level message with CQI channel control message for channel feedback report In one or more embodiments, a system and method of managing network channel quality in a wireless communications network includes reporting a channel quality measurement from the particular user to a base station (BS) over an available CQICH, and determining a MCS based, at least in part, upon the channel quality measurement. If a threshold network CQICH capacity is reached during a subsequent data frame such that a CQICH is no longer available, MAC level messages are generated between the BS and the particular user to trigger reporting of signal quality information to the BS by the particular user. After the next CQICH cycle commences and if a CQICH is still unavailable, the signal quality information is continued to be provided via MAC level messages. Otherwise, a CQICH is reallocated for a particular user and channel quality measurement reporting is transitioned back to the CQICH.
US09166759B2	Method and device for transmitting control information in wireless communication system A method for transmitting control information in a wireless communication system includes: determining a link adaptation method of a user group according to quality of channels of each user in the user group; generating first control information according to common control information of all users in the user group and the link adaptation method corresponding to the user group, and transmitting the first control information to each user in the user group; obtaining contents of second control information according to particular control information of each user in the user group; performing link adaptation process for the contents of the second control information according to the link adaptation method corresponding to the user group, generating the second control information, and transmitting the second control information to each user in the user group. Corresponding to the above-described method, a method for receiving control information in a wireless communication system and corresponding devices are also disclosed.
US09166757B2	Method and apparatus for transmitting SRS in LTE TDD system A method and apparatus are provided for transmitting and receiving an uplink Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). The method includes receiving index information for a sounding reference signal (SRS); determining an SRS offset and an SRS period, based on the index information; and transmitting the SRS, based on the SRS offset and the SRS period. If the index information includes an integer from 0 to 9, the SRS is transmitted twice in a period of 5 ms. If the index information includes an integer from 10 to 644, the SRS period is selected among 5 ms, 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, 160 ms, and 320 ms.
US09166753B2	Method for providing control information associated with fractional frequency reuse The present invention relates to a method for providing control information in a mobile communication system. More specifically, the invention relates to a method for providing control information through a network in mobile communication. The method comprises: a step for configuring the information associated with plural frequency resource groups and the power levels thereof in the control information of preset data format, wherein the plural frequency resource groups are for application of FFR (Fractional Frequency Reuse), and a step for transmitting the control information to at least one terminal.
US09166747B2	Method and device for a hybrid automatic repeat request in a multi-carrier system A method of performing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) in a carrier aggregation system is provided. The method includes: monitoring a downlink (DL) grant for initial DL data transmission in a first DL component carrier (CC); receiving initial DL data through a second DL CC indicated by the DL grant; decoding the initial DL data; transmitting a not-acknowledgment (NACK) signal when decoding of the initial DL data fails; monitoring a DL grant for retransmission of the DL data in the first DL CC; and receiving DL data retransmitted through the second DL CC, wherein the second DL CC is any one of a plurality of DL CCs having a predetermined link relation with the first DL CC, and the DL grant for the initial transmission includes a carrier indication field indicating the second DL CC and resource allocation information for the initially transmitted DL data.
US09166744B2	Apparatus and method for transmitting channel quality indicator and acknowledgement signals in SC-FDMA communication systems A method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving information symbols in a communication system are provided. A method includes determining a channel quality indicator (CQI); determining two acknowledgement bits in response to data reception; generating a first symbol based on the CQI; generating a second symbol based on the two acknowledgement bits; and transmitting the first symbol and the second symbol. A first code is applied to the second symbol, if the two acknowledgement bits have a first value, a second code is applied to the second symbol, if the two acknowledgement bits have a second value, a third code is applied to the second symbol, if the two acknowledgement bits have a third value, and a fourth code is applied to the second symbol, if the two acknowledgement bits have a fourth value.
US09166736B2	Communication apparatus and communication method Provided is a multicarrier communication apparatus by which information quantity of CQI reporting can be reduced. In the apparatus, each CQI is recorded in a CQI table section (122) by being classified into a plurality of CQI groups by following a certain rule. A CQI selecting section (123) estimates fluctuation range and variance of reception qualities of the entire resource block to be reported, based on an SINR value outputted from a quality level calculating section (121). Then, based on the estimated values, the CQI selecting section selects a suitable CQI group in a first step, selects a suitable CQI value from among the CQIs included in the selected CQI group in a second step, and outputs the ID of the selected CQI group and the selected CQI value to a CQI generating section (124). Based on such information, the CQI generating section (124) generates a CQI frame to be transmitted to a base station.
US09166735B2	Correction data Correction data units for data packets of a data stream are generated. A correction data unit is based on a set of the data packets of the stream. The stream is transmitted over a lossy communication channel. A performance measure to be optimized is selected, which relates to the recovery of lost data packets of the stream. A coding requirement is determined. For the generation of the correction data units, it is determined, within the constraints of the coding requirement and based on previously generated correction data units, which of the data packets in the stream to include in the set on which the generation of the correction data unit is to be based to thereby optimize the selected performance measure. A generated correction data unit is generated based on a respective set of the data packets of the stream. The generated correction data units are included in the stream.
US09166729B2	Enhanced demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) design A method in a mobile communication terminal includes receiving a Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) signal, which includes at least a precoded transmission that is addressed to the terminal and which includes one or more Demodulation Reference Signals (DM-RS). Control information, which indicates one or more scrambling sequences and one or more orthogonalization sequences used in producing the DM-RS, is received in the mobile communication terminal. The control information is provided in a format that does not permit signaling of every possible scrambling sequence and orthogonalization sequence selection. The control information is interpreted in the mobile communication terminal so as to identify the scrambling sequences and orthogonalization sequences used in producing the DM-RS, and the DM-RS are demodulated using the identified scrambling sequences and orthogonalization sequences.
US09166728B2	Nonbinary LDPC coded modulation without bandwidth expansion for high-speed optical transmission Systems and methods for data transport, comprising encoding one or more streams of input data using nonbinary low density parity check (NB-LDPC) encoders, corresponding to orthogonal polarization states. Receiving one or more streams of input data using a buffer coupled to the encoders, the data written to the buffer bR bits at a time, where R is the code rate. Generating one or more signals using a 2b-ary mapper implemented as a look-up table (LUT) to store coordinates of a corresponding signal constellation, the 2b-ary mapper configured to assign bits of one or more signals to a signal constellation and to associate the bits of the signals with signal constellation points, wherein the constellation is expanded to avoid bandwidth expansion due to coding, generating substantial net coding gains within a same bandwidth. Modulating nonbinary LDPC-coded data streams using in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) modulators and multiplexing the data streams using polarization beam combiner.
US09166727B2	Optical communication system, optical network management apparatus and optical network management method An optical communication system includes a plurality of wavelength selective switches arranged on an optical network; and an optical network management apparatus configured to manage and control the optical network. In response to a path establishing request, the optical network management apparatus determines power consumption of each path that satisfies the path establishing request in the optical network based upon a wavelength being used at a connection port of each of the wavelength selective switches, selects a route based upon the determined power consumption of each of the path, and sets the selected route in the optical network.
US09166724B2	Optical network and optical path setup method An optical network includes: an optical switch; a plurality of optical interface devices provided respectively for a plurality of servers and connected to the optical switch; and a manager to manage communication traffic of the plurality of servers. Each of the optical interface devices includes a fixed-wavelength optical transmitter and a wavelength tunable optical transmitter. A first optical path is set up via the optical switch by using the fixed-wavelength optical transmitters of the plurality of optical interface devices. The manager identifies first and second optical interface devices from among the plurality of optical interface devices in accordance with the communication traffic of the plurality of servers. A second optical path is set up between the first and second optical interface devices via the optical switch by using the wavelength tunable optical transmitters of the first and second optical interface devices.
US09166717B2	Uplink synchronization maintenance principles in wireless networks A cell within cellular network includes user equipments (UEs) that transmit data to a base station (eNB). Over a period of time, not all of the UEs will have data to transmit. The UEs are tracked as a scheduled portion and an unscheduled portion, wherein a UE is included in the scheduled portion in response to receiving a scheduling request from the UE. Synchronization is maintained between the eNB and each UE in the scheduled portion by sending a timing adjustment (TA) command if needed. Synchronization is maintained between the eNB and each UE in the unscheduled portion by allocating a periodic reference signal (sync-RS) to each UE in the unscheduled portion and by sending a respective timing adjustment (TA) command if needed to each respective UE in the unscheduled portion in response to a respective sync-RS received from each UE in the unscheduled portion.
US09166712B2	Method and apparatus for multiplexing audio program channels from one or more received broadcast streams to provide a playlist style listening experience to users Methods and apparatuses provide personalized radio by outputting selected songs from multiple channels from one or more source streams. Users can specify favorite channels for building their personal playlists, or multiple default playlist channels can be provided by genre or other criteria. User like/dislike inputs via the radio receiver generate filter data used to search all channels for matches or block songs from playback. Filter data can also be based on virtual DJ recommendations. Channel searching for matches involves monitoring real-time song and artist labels or other metadata for all channels carried in a separate data channel. Personalization can also be provided by using filter data to select content from a mixed channel comprising content from a selected group of channels. Connectivity options and web interfaces are provided to facilitate transfer and sharing of customization parameters for personalized radio configuration.
US09166711B2	Method and system to influence a viewer to select a feed A method and apparatus for influencing a viewer to select a second feed. A shared medium is loaded beyond a loading threshold. One or more high viewership feeds being provided over the shared medium are designated preferred feeds, and one or more user devices providing low viewership feeds to viewers are designated candidate user devices. The candidate user devices are instructed to influence their respective viewers to select one of the high viewership feeds. The candidate user devices select a second feed from one or more preferred feeds, and provide information pertaining to the second feed to the viewer.
US09166709B2	Ambient signal identification A method and apparatus for identifying ambient signal data in a test signal data set. A cumulative amplitude distribution of data elements is identified in the test signal data set in order by amplitude values. The data elements comprise frequency values and corresponding amplitude values. A subset of data elements from the test signal data set is identified. The subset of data elements comprises the data elements with the amplitude values greater than a first threshold value. The data elements in the subset of data elements are identified wherein a difference between the amplitude values of adjacent data elements in the cumulative amplitude distribution of data elements is greater than a second threshold value.
US09166707B2	Transmitter, signal generation device, calibration method, and signal generation method It is intended to provide a transmitter capable of correcting signal distortion with high accuracy. Provided are a test signal generator; a frequency characteristics corrector for correcting an amplitude characteristic and a phase characteristic of a test signal; a modulator; an envelope detector; a frequency characteristics calculator for calculating frequency characteristics of an envelope signal; and a coefficients calculator for calculating, on the basis of the frequency characteristics, correction coefficients to be used for correcting the amplitude characteristic and the phase characteristic of the test signal. The test signal generator generates a test signal in which signal loci in each of at least two pairs of quadrants of first to fourth quadrants of the IQ plane are not symmetrical with each other.
US09166706B2	System and method for testing a radio frequency integrated circuit In an embodiment, a method of testing a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) includes generating high frequency test signals using the on-chip test circuit, measuring signal levels using on-chip power detectors, and controlling and monitoring the on-chip test circuit using low frequency signals. The RFIC circuit is configured to operate at high frequencies, and an on-chip test circuit that includes frequency generation circuitry configured to operate during test modes.
US09166704B1	Integrated control for silicon photonics In an example, the present invention includes an integrated system on chip device. The device is configured on a single silicon substrate member. The device has a data input/output interface provided on the substrate member. The device has an input/output block provided on the substrate member and coupled to the data input/output interface. The device has a signal processing block provided on the substrate member and coupled to the input/output block. The device has a driver module provided on the substrate member and coupled to the signal processing block. In an example, the device has a driver interface provided on the substrate member and coupled to the driver module and configured to be coupled to a silicon photonics device. The device also has an interface configured to communicate between the silicon photonics device and the control block.
US09166703B2	Equalizer for an optical transmission system An equalizer (60) processes, in the electrical domain, a signal obtained from a path of an optical transmission system. The equalizer comprises N cascaded stages (where N≧1). At least one of the stages comprises a cascade of a linear equalization element (61) and a non-linear equalization element (62). The equalizer (60) is able to compensate for both linear impairments, such as dispersion, and non-linear impairments. The cascaded linear and non-linear elements can simulate the effect of signal propagation through a fiber which has the opposite propagation parameters (e.g. attenuation, dispersion, non-linearity) to those of the propagation path experienced by a signal in the transmission system. The non-linear equalization element (62) can be a non-linear phase rotator which rotates phase of an input signal proportional to the squared modulus of the input signal amplitude. The linear equalization element (61) can comprise a digital filter, such as an Infinite Impulse Response (HR) filter or a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter.
US09166699B2	Infrared reception circuit and infrared reception method An infrared reception circuit and an infrared reception method are provided. The infrared reception circuit includes an infrared receiver for receiving infrared signals and converting the infrared signals into analog signals, an amplifier for amplifying the analog signals, an analog/digital converter for converting the amplified analog signals into digital signals, a digital filter for filtering the digital signals via respective frequency bands, a digital frequency-adjusting demodulator for demodulating the filtered digital signals into digital audio frequency signals, and a digital/analog converter for converting the digital audio frequency signals into analog audio signals. Compared with the prior art, the infrared reception circuit and the infrared reception method require far less elements that are used for receiving infrared signals and can still achieve optimal reception, thereby simplifying processes of manufacture and increasing throughput and good yield as a result.
US09166686B2	Multiple access point laser communications terminal A laser communications terminal configured for simultaneous two-way stabilized communications links to multiple ground sites. One example of such a laser communications terminal includes a plurality of laser channels, each including a channel transceiver configured to transmit and receive an optical signal, an afocal telescope optically coupled to each of the channel transceivers, a coelostat mirror pair optically coupled to the afocal telescope, and a plurality of beam steering mirrors, at least one beam steering mirror associated with each channel of the plurality of laser channels and configured to independently steer the corresponding optical signal within a field of view of the afocal telescope.
US09166677B2	Method and apparatus for associating a relay in wireless communications Methods and apparatuses are provided that facilitate associating with relays in a wireless network. A device can select whether to utilize relay assistance where present based at least in part on measuring one or more determined or projected parameters related to the relay. Where utilizing a relay results in user-plane data channel conditions above a threshold level and control channel conditions below a threshold level, a serving base station can determine whether to employ another base station to serve the device, jointly serve a relay with an additional base station, and/or the like.
US09166675B2	Frame timing synchronization in a geostationary satellite system Aspects of the invention provide a system and method to allow inroute frame timing synchronization without the aid of hub signal loopback or satellite ephemeris data. Furthermore, it allows tracking and compensating of the satellite motion to allow multiple remotes to use TDMA on the inroute frequencies, while minimizing the aperture. Two main techniques proposed are CLT and polling based approaches, which are used in combination for an optimum solution. In CLT based approach, hub transmits remote specific timing correction feedback messages on the outroute on as needed basis. In polling based approach, the remotes derive their timing based on a per-beam average delay estimate broadcast by the hub and a measured local delay specific to each outroute stream from a remote. An aspect of the invention uses triangulation method to determine satellite position. Furthermore, an aspect of the invention uses hub burst arrival method instead of polling approach.
US09166669B1	Sparse ordered iterative group decision feedback interference cancellation Data can be received characterizing a first signal received on a plurality of antennas and comprising multiple transmission signals transmitted simultaneously on at least a same resource element in an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDM) communications system. A final estimate of the multiple transmission signals can be determined from at least the received data by iteratively estimating multiple transmission signals from the first signal and feeding back selected estimated multiple transmission signals, which satisfy a criterion, to cancel components of the first signal. Data characterizing the estimated multiple transmission signals can be provided. Related apparatus, systems, techniques, and articles are also described.
US09166668B2	Apparatus and method for adding burst of single-input multiple-output mode or collaborative spatial multiplexing mode to frame in spatial multiplexing system A system and method for adding a burst of a single-input multiple-output mode or collaborative spatial multiplexing mode to a frame in a spatial multiplexing system. A base station is configured to add a burst of a single-input multiple-output mode to a frame in a spatial multiplexing system. The system and method includes backing up a pilot pattern and a number of slots allocated for connections with terminals; releasing slots allocated for a burst; resetting a pilot pattern of a collaborative spatial multiplexing mode burst of the terminals: and recalculating the number of remaining slots; comparing the number of slots that can be additionally allocated to the single-input multiple-output mode with the number of slots released in the releasing step; and determining a transmission format.
US09166660B2	Uplink multi-user multiple input multiple output beamforming As part of a beamforming training procedure, a first communication device transmits a beamforming training packet. The first device then receives a plurality of respective beamforming feedback packets from a plurality of second communication devices. The first device then uses the plurality of beamforming feedback packets to select a group of multiple communication devices from among the plurality of second communication devices, wherein the group is selected for simultaneous transmissions to the first communication device. The first device then transmits a synchronization signal to the group to prompt second communication devices in the group to simultaneously transmit to the first communication device at a particular time. The first device then receives simultaneous transmissions from the group responsive to the synchronization signal.
US09166658B2	Base station device, terminal device, and wireless communication system using the base station device and the terminal device A wireless communication system in which a base station apparatus having a plurality of transmission antennas and one or more terminal apparatuses communicate with each other is provided with at least two methods of a first feedback method and a second feedback method regarding propagation path information at the time of reception. In accordance with a communication condition between the base station apparatus and the terminal apparatus, or the function of the terminal apparatus, the terminal apparatus performs feedback by one of the two methods of the first feedback method and the second feedback method. The base station apparatus performs spatial multiplexing transmission on the basis of the propagation path information that has been fed back. Thus, in a system in which CSI is fed back for MIMO transmission, desired transmission characteristics can be efficiently obtained.
US09166653B2	NFC sensor with power sleep mode This disclosure describes systems, methods, and computer-readable media related to near field communication (NFC) sensors with power sleep mode. In some embodiments, one or more motions of a user device may be detected. The one or more motions may be analyzed to identify a pre-defined motion of a user device. A wireless sensor of the user device may be enabled in response to the identified pre-defined motion. A wireless sensor-enabled device may be determined to be within a pre-determined distance. Data may be exchanged with the wireless sensor-enabled device. The wireless sensor may be disabled upon completion of the data exchange.
US09166648B2	System and method for time adjustment in a time synchronized channel hopping network Systems and methods are provided for adjusting time in a synchronized network by a central device on the network. Each device on the network provided current time, hopping pattern, time slot duration, and an absolute slot number. Devices on the network synchronized to communicate on a repeating schedule of time slots. The central device receives an updated time and determines a time difference between the updated time and the current time. The current time is adjusted in integer multiples of the hopping pattern length up to the time difference. The absolute slot number is updated based on the number of time slots in the adjusted time difference. The updated absolute slot number is propagated to other devices on the network. In turn, these other devices may also propagate the updated absolute slot number.
US09166637B2	Impulse noise mitigation under out-of-band interference conditions An impulse noise mitigation circuit (INMC) may set a cut-off frequency of each of two high pass filters to bound a frequency bandwidth of a desired signal, wherein a first of the two filters allows frequencies higher than the frequency bandwidth of the desired signal, and a second of the two filters allows frequencies lower than the frequency bandwidth of the desired signal. The INMC may compute and store a mean magnitude separately for a first signal response of the first filter and a second signal response of the second filter. The INMC may select the first filter for impulse noise mitigation when the mean magnitude of the second filter is greater than the mean magnitude of the first filter. The INMC may select the second filter for impulse noise mitigation when the mean magnitude of the first filter is greater than the second filter.
US09166634B2	Electronic device with multiple antenna feeds and adjustable filter and matching circuitry Electronic devices may include antenna structures. The antenna structures may form an antenna having first and second feeds at different locations. A first transceiver may be coupled to the first feed using a first circuit. A second transceiver may be coupled to the second feed using a second circuit. The first and second feeds may be isolated from each other using the first and second circuits. The second circuit may have a notch filter that isolates the second feed from the first feed at operating frequencies associated with the first transceiver. The first circuit may include an adjustable component such as an adjustable capacitor. The adjustable component may be placed in different states depending on the mode of operation of the second transceiver to ensure that the first feed is isolated from the second feed.
US09166628B2	Use of parity-check coding for carrier-phase estimation in an optical transport system An optical transport system is configured to use a modulation scheme in which a phase rotation applied to a sequence of PSK or QAM constellation symbols encoding a codeword of an FEC code produces a modified sequence of PSK or QAM constellation symbols encoding a bit-word that is not a valid codeword of that FEC code. Based on this property of the modulation scheme, an optical receiver may be configured to relatively accurately recover the absolute phase of the optical carrier wave of the received modulated optical signal by applying maximum likelihood sequence estimation processing to each portion of the signal carrying a valid codeword of the FEC code. For example, for a modulation scheme employing a 2n-PSK constellation, the optical receiver may be able to recover the absolute phase of the optical carrier wave with an accuracy that is better than 360/2n degrees.
US09166623B1	Reed-solomon decoder A system and method of decoding a Reed-Solomon code using a Reed-Solomon decoder comprising an erasure location selector, multiple syndrome formers and multiple Berlekamp-Massey decoders that share a single error correction unit, and means for selecting a Berlekamp-Massey decoder output as the input to the error correction unit. The method improves the bit error rate performance of the Reed-Solomon decoder compared to known hard-decision and soft-decision Reed-Solomon decoders. The Reed-Solomon decoder also provides hardware area and power savings over more complex Reed-Solomon decoders.
US09166620B2	Method and apparatus for a memory based packet compression encoding Methods and apparatus for wireless communication in a mobile device that includes receiving a transmission data packet and detecting a string of bytes in the transmission data packet that matches a preset string of bytes saved in a memory component. Aspects of the methods and apparatus include replacing the string of bytes of the transmission data packet that has been determined to match the preset string of bytes saved in the memory component with a location pointer, wherein after replacing the string of bytes in the data packet with the location pointer, the data packet comprises the location pointer and a set of literal bytes. Aspects of the methods and apparatus also include generating a compressed transmission data packet by entropy coding the transmission data packet comprising the set of literal-bytes and the location pointer.
US09166617B1	Communication unit, digital band-pass sigma-delta modulator and method therefor A communication unit comprises a power DAC. The DAC comprises: a switched mode power amplifier (SMPA); and a digital band-pass sigma-delta modulator operably coupled to the SMPA. The sigma-delta modulator comprises an input to receive an input baseband signal; a delay; an adder module arranged to add a feedback signal with an output from the delay; and at least two feedback branches. The sigma-delta modulator is arranged to digitally oversample the input baseband signal such that a ratio of a sampling frequency employed by the sigma-delta modulator to a radio frequency (RF) output from the DAC is fixed and the sampling frequency tuned or wherein the sampling frequency is fixed and the ratio is adjusted, such that a first feedback branch in the sigma-delta modulator is formed using at least one from a group of: a zero gain, an additive inverse of a second feedback branch.
US09166609B2	AD converter and receiving apparatus It is intended to provide an AD converter capable of increasing its conversion accuracy. An AD converter is equipped with a clock generator which generates a first clock using a second clock and a comparator which includes a comparison circuit for comparing an input signal with a prescribed value in a first period of the first clock and a precharging circuit for precharging, in a second period of the first clock, an internal voltage to a prescribed value for the next comparison operation. The clock generator includes a replica circuit of the precharging circuit of the comparator. In the replica circuit of the precharging circuit, a precharging period from the start to the end of precharging is set as the second period of the first clock.
US09166608B1	Method and circuit for bandwidth mismatch estimation in an A/D converter Methods and devices herein relate to a method for estimating bandwidth mismatch in a time-interleaved A/D converter. An example method includes precharging terminals of capacitors to a first state in each channel of a plurality of channels and sampling a reference analog input voltage signal (Vref) applied via a first switchable path whereby the sampled input voltage signal is received at first terminals of the capacitors. The method further includes setting the second terminals of each channel to a second state. The method also includes applying the reference analog input voltage signal to the first terminals via a second switchable path, and thereby creating on the first terminals a non-zero settling error. The method additionally includes quantizing the settling error to obtain an estimate of the non-zero settling error. The method yet further includes comparing the estimates of the non-zero settling errors and deriving an estimation of the bandwidth mismatch.
US09166601B2	Semiconductor device incorporating a power on circuit A semiconductor device which makes it possible to reduce a wasteful standby time at power-on is provided. In this semiconductor device, a reset of an internal circuit is canceled as described below. When a data signal stored in a storage section is at “0,” the reset is canceled by bringing an internal reset signal to the “H” level when a relatively short time has passed after the rising edge of a power on reset signal. When the data signal is at “1,” the reset is canceled by bringing the internal reset signal to the “H” level when a relatively long time has passed after the rising edge of the power on reset signal. Therefore, a wasteful standby time at power-on can be reduced by writing the data signal logically equivalent to the rise time of supply voltage to the storage section.
US09166590B1	Integrated circuits with improved memory interface calibration capabilities An integrated circuit may include memory interface circuitry that interfaces with memory. The integrated circuit may include calibration circuitry and storage circuitry. The calibration circuitry may have a first configuration in which the calibration circuitry is formed from a first set of programmable logic regions that configure the calibration circuitry to generate and store calibration data at the storage circuitry. The calibration data may include strobe signal phase settings and read enable control signal timing settings. The calibration circuitry may have a second configuration in which the calibration circuitry is formed from a second set of programmable logic regions that configure the calibration circuitry to load the calibration data from the storage circuitry and to interface with the memory based on the calibration data. The calibration circuitry may occupy fewer programmable logic regions on the integrated circuit in the second configuration than in the first configuration.
US09166588B2	Semiconductor device including enhanced variability A Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, and a well formed in the semiconductor substrate. The well includes a first region having a first concentration of ions, and at least one second region having a second concentration that is less than the first concentration. First and second FETs are formed on the well. The first and second FETs have a voltage threshold mismatch with respect to one another based on the first region and the at least one second region.
US09166583B2	Buffered memory module having multi-valued on-die termination In a memory module having an integrated-circuit buffer device coupled to one or more integrated-circuit memory devices, the buffer device receives write data signals from an external control component via a set of data inputs, the write data signals indicating write data to be stored within one or more of the memory devices. Logic within the buffer device sequentially applies controllable termination impedance configurations at the data inputs based on an indication received from the control component and an internal state of the buffer device, applying a first controllable termination impedance configuration at each of the data inputs during a first internal state of the buffer device corresponding to the reception of the write data signals on the data inputs, and applying a second controllable termination impedance configuration at each of the data inputs during a second internal state of the buffer device that succeeds the first internal state.
US09166580B2	Gate signal line drive circuit and display A gate signal line drive circuit and a display using the circuit, which suppress a leak current to reduce a power consumption. A gate signal line drive circuit that supplies a high voltage in a signal high period, and supplies a low voltage in a signal low period, the gate signal line drive circuit including: a high voltage supply switching element that turns on in response to the high period, supplies a voltage of a first basic clock signal to gate signal lines; a high voltage supply off control circuit that supplies a first low voltage to a switch of the high voltage supply switching element in response to the signal low period; and a low voltage supply switching circuit that supplies a second low voltage higher than the first low voltage to the gate signal lines in response to the signal low period.
US09166579B2	Methods and apparatuses for shifting data signals to match command signal delay Methods and apparatuses for shifting data signals are disclosed herein. An apparatus may comprise a clock generation circuit, a delay path, and a driver. The clock generation circuit may be configured to receive an input clock signal and generate a plurality of clock signals based, at least in part, on the clock signal. A delay path may be coupled to the clock generation circuit and configured to receive the input clock signal and the plurality of clock signals. The delay path may be further configured to receive a data signal and delay the data signal based, at least in part, on the input clock signal and each of the plurality of clock signals. A driver may be coupled to the delay path and configured to receive the delayed data signal, and may further be configured to provide the delayed data signal to a bus.
US09166553B2	Surface acoustic wave (SAW) device package and method for fabricating same A surface acoustic wave (SAW) device package and method for packaging a SAW device provide a surface excited device having a small footprint, low cost and fabricated according to a unique manufacturing process. A substrate including a SAW active area on a first side is bonded to another similar sized substrate with a space sufficient to allow the propagation of the SAW on a top surface of the substrate. The two substrates have similar thermal expansion coefficients such that stress from the sealing process is minimized. The two substrates are sealed using either a low melting point glass or an organic compound such that conductive pathways exist through the seal allowing the internal device to access an external electrical connection.
US09166545B2	Circuit for providing a flat gain response over a selected frequency range and method of use An integrated circuit is disclosed. The integrated circuit includes an amplifier and a capacitor array coupled to the amplifier. The capacitor array is configured to be coupled in parallel to an inductor that is external to the integrated circuit, and the capacitor array and the external inductor comprise a tank circuit. The integrated circuit includes a resistor array coupled in parallel with the capacitor array. The resistor array is utilized to provide an overall frequency response of the capacitor array and resistor array that is opposite of a frequency response of the external inductor over a predetermined frequency range.
US09166544B2	Volume control apparatus with first and second controllers When the instruction for increasing the volume level is input by the user's operation and the signal representing the set value or more is output from a detector, a controller does not increase the volume levels of the first volume controller and the second volume controller. When the signal representing the set value or more is not output from the detector and the second volume level has a predetermined value, the controller increases the first volume level. When the signal representing the set value or more is not output from the detector and the second volume level is less than the predetermined value, the controller increases the second volume level.
US09166541B2	Signal processing circuit, resolver digital converter, and multipath nested mirror amplifier A signal processing circuit includes a chopper amplifier that has a differential amplifier circuit that amplifies differential input signals Vsp(t) and Vsm(t), and an adder circuit that generates an addition signal Vfil(t) by addition of the chopper output signal Vsub(t) that the chopper amplifier generates. Differential signals inputted into the differential amplifier circuit are interchanged for every first phase period and second phase period, and the adder circuit generates the addition signal by addition of the chopper output signal in the first phase period and in the second phase period.
US09166529B2	Amplifier circuit with cross wiring of direct-current signals and microwave signals Provided is an amplifier circuit with cross wiring of direct-current signals and microwave signals, which includes: two branch sub-circuits being mirrors with each other and a third capacitor The sub-circuit includes a direct-current feeding circuit and a microwave signal circuit. The direct-current feeding circuit further comprising: a transistor core drain power-up port (Vds) of a heterojunction field effect transistor (FET), a first micro-strip inductor, a first capacitor, a pair of third inductors, a pair of branched second inductors. The microwave signal circuit further comprising: A pair of third inductors, a pair of first capacitors, a pair of second capacitors, a pair of ground inductors, a pair of fourth inductors, a serially connected fifth inductor.
US09166528B2	RF power transmission, modulation, and amplification embodiments Methods and systems for vector combining power amplification are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a plurality of signals are individually amplified, then summed to form a desired time-varying complex envelope signal. Phase and/or frequency characteristics of one or more of the signals are controlled to provide the desired phase, frequency, and/or amplitude characteristics of the desired time-varying complex envelope signal. In another embodiment, a time-varying complex envelope signal is decomposed into a plurality of constant envelope constituent signals. The constituent signals are amplified equally or substantially equally, and then summed to construct an amplified version of the original time-varying envelope signal. Embodiments also perform frequency up-conversion.
US09166525B2	Solar tracker The solar tracker comprises a base (1) and a solar panel (2) having first and second opposite ends (2a, 2b). The first end (2a) can be connected to the base (1) by a first shaft (E1) and the second end (2b) can be connected to the base (1) by a second shaft (E2), such that said solar panel (2) can pivot with respect to the base (1) alternately around the first shaft (E1) and around the second shaft (E2) under the drive of a lifting mechanism. An automatic connection/disconnection device connects the second end (2b) of the solar panel (2) to the base (1) while at the same time disconnecting the first end (2a) of the solar panel (2) from the base (1), and vice versa, every time the solar panel (2) reaches a position parallel to the base (1) for inverting the inclination of the solar panel (2) with respect to the base (1).
US09166516B2	Motor drive apparatus and vehicle including the same, and method for controlling motor drive apparatus An ECU sets target value of a system voltage based on an electric power loss of a motor generator and an inverter and controls a voltage boost converter. The ECU calculates the target value of the system voltage using a function expression generated, for each operating point of the motor generator, by approximating a loss characteristic which represents change of the electric power loss with respect to change of the system voltage, by a quadratic expression or a linear expression of the system voltage.
US09166515B2	Electrically powered vehicle and method for controlling the same A converter is disposed between a first battery and a power line for transmitting power inputted to and outputted from a motor for traveling. A second battery, on the other hand, is connected to the power line with a relay being interposed therebetween. A control unit controls the relay to be turned on or off in accordance with an operating state of the motor.
US09166508B2	Synchronous power controller for a generating system based on static power converters The invention relates to a synchronous power controller for a generation system based on static power converters, said controller comprising two main blocks referred to as: block 1 (electric block) (10) and block 2 (electromechanical block) (20), electric block 1 (10) being, in turn, formed by a virtual electrical characteristic controller (11) and a virtual admittance controller (12) and the electromechanical block 2 (20) being formed by a virtual electromechanical characteristic controller (21) and an inertia and damping factor controller (22).
US09166505B1	Protection circuits for motors System and methods are provided for protecting a direct current (DC) motor. A protection system includes: a motor drive component configured to drive a DC motor, a feedback component configured to generate a feedback signal related to motion of the DC motor, and a watchdog circuit configured to output a fault signal to the motor drive component to stop the DC motor in response to the feedback signal indicating abnormal motion of the DC motor. The watchdog circuit includes a hardware watchdog timer configured to be activated in response to one or more control signals and monitor the feedback signal.
US09166503B2	Actuator control system and actuator system An actuator control system includes a controlling controller and one or more driving controllers connected to the controlling controller via a power line, wherein the controlling controller generates a serial signal that composites a power-supply voltage to be supplied to an actuator and a command signal generated in order to control driving of the actuator and transmits the generated serial signal to the driving controllers via the power line, and the driving controllers separate and retrieve the power-supply voltage and the control signal. Due to the configuration described above, the driving controllers supply a drive voltage and a drive control signal to actuators connected thereto. Accordingly, an actuator control system can be provided whose amount of installed wiring has been significantly reduced.
US09166484B2	Resonant converter Consistent with an example embodiment, a resonant converter comprises a signalling transformer that is used to transfer information between the secondary winding and primary winding of the converter whilst maintaining mains isolation between the two sides. In the embodiment, according to the disclosure, the use of a signalling transformer (in addition to a switching, or resonant, transformer) eliminates the need for an opto-coupler to transfer information and so allows for the construction of a simpler, more reliable and/or cheaper resonant converter. Other embodiments described herein may be suitable for use in dimmable LED driver applications, for example.
US09166476B2	Charge extraction circuit for voltage converter A power supply circuit that includes a voltage conversion circuit (CONV) for outputting an output voltage to an output voltage terminal, the output voltage being stepped up or stepped down from an input voltage (VIN) presented to an input voltage terminal, an output capacitor (COUT) coupled to the output voltage terminal, and a charge extraction circuit for extracting the charge of the output capacitor (COUT). Quick response to overshoot of VOUT generated by a sudden reduction in load current (ILOAD) is afforded, and overshoot is minimized.
US09166471B1	3D frequency dithering for DC-to-DC converters used in multi-mode cellular transmitters A circuit and method is disclosed that dithers a switching frequency of a DC-to-DC converter which gets modulated onto an RF carrier such that switching noise is spread over a given bandwidth that is wider than a communications measurements bandwidth. The circuit includes a switching circuitry adapted to transfer energy from a source to a load using a switching signal having a series of switching cycles and a switching frequency. Also included is a control circuitry adapted to generate a pseudo-random value near a beginning of each of the series of switching cycles to determine a maximum switching frequency value based upon the pseudo-random value. The method includes adjusting the switching frequency of the switching signal incrementally from a fixed minimum switching frequency value to the maximum frequency value and vice versa as a function of time during each of the series of switching cycles of the switching circuit.
US09166469B2	System for optimizing switching dead-time and method of making same A system for optimizing switching dead-time includes a power converter that includes a half-bridge circuit comprising a first switch coupled in series with a second switch, first and second state detection circuits respectively coupled to the first and second switches and configured to respectively detect an activation state of the first and second switches. First and second switch control circuits coupled respectively to the first and second switches are configured to respectively toggle the first and second switches between an activate state and a deactivated state. The first switch control circuit includes a first input configured to receive an activation signal from the second state detection circuit indicative of the activation state of the second switch, and the second switch control circuit includes a first input configured to receive an activation signal from the first state detection circuit indicative of the activation state of the first switch.
US09166461B2	Automotive alternator having a heat dissipating plate To provide a high-quality, high-output, and low-cost automotive alternator by suppressing heat generation through the reduction of current loss in a heat dissipating plate of a rectifier without expanding a space for placing the heat dissipating plate and reducing the cooling performance of the heat dissipating plate. An automotive alternator includes a rectifier, wherein the rectifier is configured such that a heat dissipating plate of positive pole to which the rectifier element of positive pole is mounted is disposed opposite to a heat dissipating plate of negative pole to which a plurality of rectifier elements of negative pole are mounted; wherein the heat dissipating plate of positive pole is made up of a first heat dissipating plate and a second heat dissipating plate, which are made of two different materials.
US09166460B2	Rotary electric machine Provided is a rotary electric machine including housings, a stator, a rotor, bearings, a slip ring, a power assembly, a control assembly, a rotation sensor, and a brush holder, in which a switching element mounting surface of the power assembly and a surface of the control assembly, on which a control element of a control circuit is mounted, are placed in parallel to a rotation shaft, and the rotation sensor is placed between the rear bearing and the slip ring.
US09166458B1	Pump/generator over-unity apparatus and method The pump/generator apparatus and method provides a series of pump/generator devices, having magnets in place of conventional bearings, to generate electrical energy, creating a pump/generator for flowing liquids or gases. Stator coils on the outside of the housing gather electric current. The apparatus requires initial input power from an external power source to start the pumping and provides an initial external reservoir of liquid or gas flowing into the apparatus. A hollow turbine housing receiving flowing gas or liquid, encloses a freely spinning hollow drive cylinder. A helicoidal impeller gives the drive cylinder thrust to spin. Ring magnets vertically support the helicoidal impeller allowing the drive cylinder to float freely in the pipeline. Stator coils wind around and ring the exterior side of the housing to generate electric current.
US09166455B2	Rotating electrical machine According to one embodiment, a rotating electrical machine has a vibrating-element. The vibrating-element has spring bars and circular members which cover spring bars while a part is connected to spring bars. The spring bars are connected to first stator core connection portions, which are formed so as to be spaced out in a circumferential direction from each other at two locations on a side surface of the stator core. The stator frame is connected by the second stator core connection portions, which are formed by two locations which are different from the first stator core connection portions, of the stator core. The second stator core connection portions contain a position adjacent to a node portion of a circular mode of vibration of the stator core, in which antinodes and nodes of vibration alternately appear in the circumferential direction as the vibrating-element is attached to the stator core.
US09166449B2	Rotor and motor A rotor includes a field member arranged between a first core base of a first rotor core and a second core base of a second rotor core in the axial direction. When magnetized in the axial direction, the field member causes primary claw-shaped magnetic poles to function as primary magnetic poles and secondary claw-shaped magnetic poles to function as secondary magnetic poles. The field member is formed by placing a plurality of members one over another in the axial direction.
US09166432B2	Charge circuit A charge circuit includes a current limiting circuit configured to limit a current input from an input terminal; a first transistor connected between an output terminal of the current limiting circuit and a secondary battery; a charge control circuit configured to turn the first transistor on and off to start and stop supply of a charge current to the secondary battery; a second transistor configured to output a current proportional to the charge current flowing through the first transistor; and a charge timer configured to generate clock pulses according to the current output from the second transistor. The charge control circuit is configured to turn off the first transistor to stop the supply of the charge current to the secondary battery when the number of the clock pulses reaches a predetermined number.
US09166431B2	Battery charge circuit Provided is a battery charge circuit including a charging power supply unit configured to generate an internal voltage using an external power supply; a charging unit configured to measure voltages of first to fourth batteries, output measurement signals, and selectively charge at least one among the first to fourth batteries in response to charge control signals; and a control unit configured to select charging methods corresponding to the measurement signals among a plurality of charging methods stored therein, and generate the control signals corresponding to the charging methods.
US09166429B2	USB charger using current limit A universal serial bus charger comprises a universal serial bus connector for providing a connection to a voltage source. An output voltage connector provides a charging voltage to a connected battery. A switching voltage regulator generates the charging voltage responsive to the voltage source. Control circuitry monitors an actual charging current applied to the connected battery and provides a programmed current signal enabling the actual charging current to operate at a programmed level if the actual charging current does not exceed a programmed charging current level. The control circuitry provides a charging current limit signal enabling the actual charging current to operate at a predetermined charge current limit if the actual charging current exceeds the programmed charging current level. PWM control circuitry generates switching control signals to control operation of the switching voltage regulator responsive to the control circuitry.
US09166426B2	External power supply apparatus of electric vehicle An external power supply apparatus of an electric vehicle, includes: a battery; an inverter configured to convert DC power of the battery to AC power and configured to output the AC power; a first outlet socket disposed in the electric vehicle and through which an output of the inverter is supplied; a relay connected downstream from the first outlet socket as viewed from the inverter; a charging port connected downstream from the relay as viewed from the inverter and exposed to the outside of the electric vehicle; an adapter including a second outlet socket and being to be connected to the charging port; and, when it is detected that the adapter is connected to the charging port, a controlling unit setting the relay to an ON state to allow the output of the inverter to be supplied through the charging port.
US09166424B2	Solar powered rechargeable device for use with an electronic device and method thereof A solar powered device comprising a solar radiation collection portion, wherein the solar radiation collection portion includes: a solar panel to collect solar radiation, a concentrator surrounding the solar panel to concentrate the solar radiation, and a charge controller coupled to the solar panel, a base portion, a plurality of legs, and a connection portion operably connecting the solar radiation collection portion to the base portion, the connection portion including a connection member having a first end and a second end is provided. Furthermore, an associated method is also provided.
US09166419B2	Intelligent charging and discharging system for parallel configuration of series cells with semiconductor switching A battery pack for an electric vehicle includes a first battery, a second battery, and a load arranged in parallel. A first semiconductor switching module is arranged in series with the first battery, and to selectively allow current flow from the first battery to the load and from the load to the first battery. A second semiconductor switching module is arranged in series with the second battery, and to selectively allow current flow from the second battery to the load and from the load to the second battery. A battery control module stores at least one of charge data and usage data corresponding to the first battery and the second battery, and selectively turns on and off the first semiconductor switching module and the second semiconductor switching module based on at least one of the charge data and the usage data.
US09166416B2	Method for balancing cells in batteries Adjacent battery cells connected in devices are balanced by closing a first circuit to charge an energy storage device from a first battery cell and thereafter simultaneously opening the first isolated switch and closing a second isolated switch to cause the energy storage device to charge a second battery cell. A circuit includes an isolated switch that operates simultaneously to balance battery cells connected in series, and a battery system balances battery modules connected in series, the battery module including battery cells connected in series. The battery cells and modules can be balanced by hierarchical balancing of modules of the battery pack and component cells of the modules.
US09166414B2	Battery pack and method of controlling the same A battery pack including a plurality of battery cell groups including a first battery cell group and a second battery cell group, a first switch that is connected to the first battery cell group, a second switch that is connected to the second battery cell group, and a controller configured to selectively control charging and discharging operations of the first battery cell group and the second battery cell group using the first switch and the second switch.
US09166413B2	Wireless power supplying system Disclosed herein is a wireless power supplying system, including a power transmission device adapted to transmit power supplied thereto, a repeater device adapted to repeat the transmission power of the power transmission device, and a power reception device adapted to receive the power repeated by said repeater device.
US09166407B2	Implementing substation automation load transfer function A process of implementing, or engineering, topology-dependent functions based on a formal description of the Substation Automation system, includes performing a topology analysis of the current single line state. A topology interpreting implementation replacing complex topology analysis logics can include the project specific static single line topology and the connection to the real process state data. All information can be delivered in an IEC 61850 conforming SCD file. The interface description for controlling and monitoring the load transfer application can be generated automatically from the SCD file.
US09166397B2	Electronic control device including interrupt wire An electronic control device includes a substrate, a plurality of component-mounted wires, a plurality of electronic components, a common wire, an interrupt wire and a protective layer. The component-mounted wires and the common wire are disposed on the substrate. The electronic components are mounted on the respective component-mounted wires and are coupled with the common wire. The interrupt wire is coupled between one component-mounted wire and the common wire, and is configured to melt in accordance with heat generated by an overcurrent to interrupt a coupling between the component-mounted wire and the common wire. The protective layer covers a surface of the substrate including the interrupt wire and defines an opening portion so that at least a portion of the interrupt wire is exposed.
US09166393B2	Driver circuit and television set using the same A driver circuit includes: a first transistor connected between a line of first voltage and an output terminal; a first overcurrent detector configured to output a first signal when overcurrent flows into the first transistor; a first control unit configured to turn on and off the first transistor at a predetermined period and turn off the first transistor when the first signal is output from the first overcurrent detector; and a counter configured to count the number of times by which the first signal is output from the first overcurrent detector within a predetermined time interval, and to output a shut-down signal to stop an operation of the driver circuit as a value of the count reaches a predetermined value of equal to or more than 2.
US09166387B2	Wire harness attachment structure An object is to mount a harness protector on a circular-sectional-shaped reinforcing member stably in a space-saving manner. A protector into which a wiring harness is inserted is arranged on a top portion of a circular-sectional-shaped horizontal reinforcing member at a vehicle side along a longitudinal direction of the reinforcing member. A curved bottom surface formed on a bottom of the protector is engaged with a curved top surface of the reinforcing member. A locking clamp projected from the bottom is engaged with a hole of the reinforcing member. A notch portion communicated with the curved bottom surface and a bracket positioned at an upper side of the notch portion are provided on a sidewall of the protector. A receiving bracket of the reinforcing member is engaged with the notch portion, and the bracket is screwed and fixed to the receiving bracket. A bottom surface of a ground terminal is exposed in a bottom surface of the bracket, and the bottom surface of the ground terminal abuts on the conductive receiving bracket at the same time as the bracket is screwed and fixed.
US09166377B2	Spark plug for internal combustion engine The spark plug for an internal combustion engine has a cylindrical housing, a center electrode held inside the housing, a ground electrode connected to the housing and forming a spark discharge gap between itself and the center electrode, and, an end projection projected from the end portion of the housing toward the head end side of the spark plug. The center electrode and ground electrode are arranged so that most of the spark discharge gap is disposed over the open areas and the electrode area in which the end projection is arranged.
US09166376B2	Spark plug A spark plug includes a tubular insulator and a tubular metal shell secured to an outer peripheral surface of the insulator by crimping. The tubular metal shell includes: an inner peripheral surface where powder for sealing is filled between the outer peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface; a tool engagement portion overhanging in a polygonal shape; and a crimped lid disposed at an end portion of the metal shell coupled to the tool engagement portion, the end portion being bent toward the outer peripheral surface of the insulator by crimping. A relationship between a length L and a thickness t satisfies 2.50≦L/t≦3.10, the length L being a length along a shape of the crimped lid from the tool engagement portion to the insulator in a planar surface that passes through the axis, the thickness t being a thickness at an intermediate portion of the crimped lid.
US09166360B2	Laser light source apparatus The fundamental wave light emitted from a semiconductor laser is converted in wavelength by a wavelength conversion element and emitted therefrom. A lighting circuit lights the semiconductor laser, and a temperature control unit 21b controls the amount of electric power supply to a heater so that the temperature of the wavelength conversion element turns into temperature at which the wavelength conversion efficiency thereof becomes optimal. When a state where the amount of electric power supply of the heater is lower limit or below continues for a predetermined period or longer, the hang-up suppressing unit 21c, or when duration time in a state where the temperature of the wavelength conversion element is higher than the control target temperature becomes higher than a constant value, laser lighting current is decreased by a preset amount, thereby recovery from a high temperature hang-up state performed.
US09166358B2	Systems and methods for lasing from a molecular gas Systems and methods for lasing molecular gases, and systems and methods of detecting molecular species are provided. The systems and methods can include the use of an excitation laser tuned to a wavelength associated with oxygen or nitrogen. The lasing can occur in both the forward and reverse directions relative to the excitation laser beam. Reverse lasing can provide a laser beam that propagates back toward the excitation laser source, and can provide a method for remote sampling of molecular species contained in the air. For example, systems and methods of detecting a molecular species of interest can be achieved by using the properties of the backward or forward propagating air laser to indicate a change in a pulse from the source of laser pulses caused by a modulation laser tuned to interact with the molecular species of interest.
US09166357B1	Fiber laser system and method A fiber laser system includes at least one optical fiber with a core and a cladding and is operative at a first wavelength larger than 2000 nm. The operative first wavelength is preferably chosen to maximize transmission through the atmosphere. At least one optical pumping system includes one or more pumping fiber lasers also doped with thulium for pumping the optical fiber. The pumping system is operative at a second, shorter wavelength close to the first wavelength for low quantum defect pumping. The core of the optical fiber is doped with thulium at a doping concentration greater than one weight % to reduce absorption losses in the core.
US09166351B1	Power adapting device A power adapting device has a connecting seat, at least two conductive strips, and an adapter. The connecting seat has a mounting portion with two slots. The at least two conductive strips are mounted in the connecting seat. Each of the at least two conductive strips has a positioning sheet, a conductive sheet obliquely protruding upward from the positioning sheet, an arced sheet protruding down from the positioning sheet, and an engaging sheet protruding down from the arced sheet. The engaging sheet has a semispherical contact. The adapter is electrically connected to the conductive sheets of the at least two conductive strips. With different power adapting devices of different standards using in cooperation with a charger, the charger can comply with different electrical socket standards via the power adapting devices.
US09166337B2	Externally latching I/O housing Embodiments of the invention generally include apparatus for providing a positive locked connection for I/O devices to computing devices. In one embodiment, an external latching apparatus for an Input/Output (I/O) connection is provided. The external latching apparatus includes a main body and at least one latch. The main body includes a first surface configured to abut to an I/O card bracket and a second surface, parallel and spaced apart from the first surface. The at least one latch extends from the main body beyond the first surface. A plurality of parallel slots are formed in the second surface. Each slot is open on a bottom side of the body and is configured to receive a cable of an I/O cable assembly.
US09166330B2	Thermoplastic gel sealants Provided according to embodiments of the invention are thermoplastic gel compositions that include a block copolymer; a hydrocarbon tackifier resin; and a hydrocarbon oil. Further, in some embodiments, such compositions may include at least one antioxidant. Also provided are connectors that include a composition according to an embodiment of the invention.
US09166318B2	Apparatus for electrically connecting a flexible circuit to a receiver An electrical connector assembly combination includes a receptacle with a plurality of electrical contacts, and a connector device with housing configured to accept and retaining a terminal end of a flexible assembly comprising one or more flexible electrical conductors. The terminal end of the flexible assembly includes one or more electrical contacts. The connector device is capable of being reversibly coupled and interlocked with the receptacle such that each of the electrical contacts in the receptacle is electrically connected to a corresponding contact at the terminal end of the flexible assembly in a secure, removable and non-permanent manner.
US09166315B1	Straddle mount connector and pluggable transceiver module having the same Straddle mount connector including first and second plug members each having a member housing and electrical contacts held by the member housing. Each of the member housings has a base portion and a mating segment that projects away from the base portion to a distal edge. Each of the mating segments has an inner plug side and an outer plug side that face in respective opposite directions. The mating segments of the first and second plug members are coupled to each other along the inner plug sides and form a common straddle plug that is configured to be inserted in a mating direction into an edge connector. The common straddle plug projects away from a board edge of the circuit board in the mating direction. The electrical contacts of the first and second plug members extend along the outer plug sides of the corresponding mating segments for communicatively engaging the edge connector.
US09166311B2	Fixing bracket for fixing a signal connector to a printed circuit board A fixing bracket for signal connector adapted to fix a signal connector to a circuit board is provided. The fixing bracket includes a base, a fixing member protruding from a bottom surface of the base and at least two engaging sets protruding from a top surface of the base. The fixing member is adapted to pass through and interfere with the circuit board. Each engaging set includes a first restricting surface and a second restricting surface which are adjacent to each other and perpendicular to the top surface, and a third restricting surface parallel to the top surface. The two first restricting surfaces, the two second restricting surfaces and the two third restricting surfaces of the two engaging sets are used for respectively contacting two first surfaces, two second surfaces and two third surfaces of the signal connector so as to fix the signal connector.
US09166307B2	Enhanced continuity coaxial connectors with socketed nut An axially compressible F-connector for conventional installation tools for interconnection with coaxial cable includes a rigid nut with a rear skirt forming a socket. A rigid, tubular post penetrates the nut and engages coaxial cable. An internal, slidable sleeve has a plug portion that is adapted to engage and seat within the socket. A tubular end cap completes the assembly. The tubular post coaxially extends through the connector, physically connecting the nut and coaxial cable it engages. However, grounding is insured by portions of the cable sheath that are sandwiched within the socket between the sleeve plug and the nut skirt by sealing O-rings affixed to the sleeve plug.
US09166302B2	Wideband electromagnetic cloaking systems Arrangement of resonators in an aperiodic configurations are described, which can be used for electromagnetic cloaking of objects. The overall assembly of resonators, as structures, do not all repeat periodically and at least some of the resonators are spaced such that their phase centers are separated by more than a wavelength. The arrangements can include resonators of several different sizes and/or geometries arranged so that each size or geometry corresponds to a moderate or high “Q” response that resonates within a specific frequency range, and that arrangement within that specific grouping of akin elements is periodic in the overall structure. The relative spacing and arrangement of groupings can be defined by self similarity and origin symmetry. Fractal based scatters are described. Further described are bondary condition layer structures that can activate and deactive cloaking/lensing structures.
US09166300B2	Slot antenna A slot antenna includes a dielectric substrate, a conductor surface provided on one of surfaces of the dielectric substrate, a slot formed by making a cut in the conductor surface, one end of the cut forming an opened end on an edge of the conductor surface, and a stub formed inside the slot, the stub being connected to one of opposing sides of the slot by using a connection part, in which the stub is formed in such a manner that a length of the connection part becomes longer than a distance between a side opposing to the side connected to the connection part and the stub.
US09166296B2	Loop-type antenna An antenna interacting with a signal having a frequency is provided. The antenna includes a radiation element having a hollow portion having an angle corner related to the frequency, and including a first inner edge; a second inner edge, wherein the angle corner is formed by the first inner edge and the second inner edge; a third inner edge connected to the second inner edge; a first outer edge; and a second outer edge, wherein the first outer edge and the second outer edge form a first included angle.
US09166293B2	Antenna and the method for adjusting the operation bandwidth thereof A method for adjusting an operation bandwidth of an antenna is provided. The antenna includes a radiation element, and the radiation element includes a first adjusting portion having a first width and a second adjusting portion having a second width. The method includes steps of seeking an operation frequency of the antenna; and adjusting the operation bandwidth of the antenna by adjusting the second width based on the operation frequency.
US09166290B2	Dual-polarized optically controlled microwave antenna An optically controlled microwave antenna that reduces the optical power consumed by the antenna and to enable polarimetric detection an optically controlled microwave antenna comprises an antenna array and a feed for illuminating said antenna array with and/or receiving microwave radiation. The antenna array comprises a plurality of antenna elements each including a waveguide, two optically controllable semiconductor elements arranged within the waveguide in front of the light transmissive portion of the second end portion, a controllable light source arranged at or close to the light transmissive portion of the second end portion for projecting a controlled light beam onto said semiconductor element for controlling its material properties, and a septum arranged within the waveguide in front of the light transmissive portion of the second end portion and separating said waveguide into two waveguide portions.
US09166281B2	Offset PCB lightning connector accessory device A Lightning connector compatible accessory device includes circuitry that is completely enveloped by a mobile device when the accessory device is inserted in a Lightning connector. The accessory device may include a microUSB connector on one end of a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board may be offset in a housing.
US09166280B2	Antenna device for smartphones and wireless terminals A portable accessory for preventing death grip of a hand-held apparatus and improving radio wave transmission and reception of the hand-held apparatus. The portable accessory includes an inductive signal amplifying circuit including: a radio transmission/radio unit that transmits or receives radio waves; a capacitive coupled unit that is capacitively coupled with an antenna mounted in the hand-held apparatus; and an impedance matching unit that connects the radio wave transmission/reception unit and the capacitive coupled unit and transmits radio waves.
US09166275B2	Window pane having an antenna A motor vehicle window pane with antenna mount is described. The motor vehicle window pane with antenna mount has an opening in a composite pane made of an outer pane, an intermediate layer, and an inner pane. An adhesive is disposed on the outer pane on a top in a region around the opening. A mounting plate is fixed on the adhesive. An antenna housing is disposed on the mounting plate and has a rod-shaped antenna mount within the opening and below a recess.
US09166270B2	Balun with integrated decoupling as ground shield An apparatus is provided. Transmission line cells are formed in a first region. A first metallization layer is formed over the transmission line cells within a portion of the first region. At least a portion of the first metallization layer is electrically coupled to the plurality of transmission line cells. A second metallization layer is formed over the first metallization layer with an interconnect portion, and overlay portion, and a first balun. The interconnect portion at least partially extends into the first region, and the overlay portion is within the first region. The first balun winding is electrically coupled to the overlay portion and partially extends into a second region. The first region partially surrounds the second region. A third metallization layer is formed over the second metallization layer having a second balun winding within the second region, where the second winding is generally coaxial with the first balun winding.
US09166267B2	Modular ferrite switch for constructing switch networks Systems and methods for a modular ferrite switch for constructing switch networks are provided. In one implementation, a circulator redundancy network comprises multiple inputs; multiple outputs; and multiple circulator modules that connect the inputs to the outputs. A circulator module includes at least one module input connected to at least one input; at least one module output, where the number of module outputs equals the number of module inputs; multiple interconnection ports, configured to connect the circulator module to other circulator modules; and multiple circulators that route received signals between the at least one input, the at least one output, and the interconnection ports. Further, multiple interconnects connect the plurality of circulator modules to one another at the interconnection ports; and a circulator switch controller controls the direction of circulation for the plurality of circulators.
US09166260B2	Battery module A battery module including a plurality of battery cells; and a barrier including a body portion, and a partition wall protruding from a first side of the body portion, first adjacent battery cells of the plurality of battery cells being arranged at the first side of the body portion, the partition wall extending between the first adjacent battery cells.
US09166249B2	Fluoride ion battery compositions A lithium-free, anion based charge transport electrochemical system that uses fluoride ion transporting electrolytes, including ionic liquids, with and without various additives to improve performance, is described. The fluoride ion transporting electrolyte can be wholly or partly an ionic liquid that is typically liquid at temperatures less than 200 degrees Celsius. In other embodiments, electrolytes that remain liquid at less than 100 degrees Celsius are useful.
US09166240B2	Hot box design with a multi-stream heat exchanger and single air control A fuel cell stack module includes a plurality of fuel cell stacks, an anode tail gas oxidizer (ATO) which is located in a heat transfer relationship with the plurality of fuel cell stacks, a base supporting the plurality of fuel cell stacks and the ATO, and at least one heat exchanger located in the base. An ATO exhaust stream and an anode exhaust stream from the fuel cell stacks heat the stack fuel and air inlet streams in a multi-stream heat exchanger.
US09166234B2	Fuel cell system Disclosed is a fuel cell system in which a hydrogen distribution system is configured in a compact size. High-pressure hydrogen gas from a hydrogen tank is decompressed in an injector and is then supplied to a cell stack manifold. A portion of a high-pressure supply system on the upstream side of the injector is formed as a first within-end-plate flow passage, and a portion of a low-pressure supply system on the downstream side of the injector is formed as a second within-end-plate flow passage. The second within-end-plate flow passage is a recess portion or a groove formed in the end plate and is formed as an open channel flow passage.
US09166220B2	Negative active material for rechargeable lithium battery, method of preparing the same and rechargeable lithium battery including the same According to an embodiment of the present invention, a negative active material for a rechargeable lithium battery includes silicon oxide particles represented by SiOx (where 0
US09166216B2	Rechargeable battery and module thereof A rechargeable battery, and a module thereof, including a case accommodating an electrode assembly therein; a cap plate covering an opening of the case and having terminal holes; and electrode terminals installed in the terminal holes and electrically connected to the electrode assembly, the electrode terminals being protruded from lateral surfaces of the case adjacent the opening.
US09166213B2	Battery cell assembly and method for manufacturing the battery cell assembly A battery cell assembly is provided. The battery cell assembly includes a battery cell housing having first and second side members coupled together defining an interior region, and a battery cell disposed within the interior region. The battery cell assembly further includes a cable carrier assembly coupled to the battery cell housing. The cable carrier assembly includes a carrier member having a first aperture extending therethrough. The carrier member is disposed between first and second end portions of the first and second side members, respectively, and extends outwardly from the battery cell housing. The cable carrier assembly further includes a first cable fixedly held by the carrier member.
US09166211B2	Cover member with a plurality of bus bars connecting a plurality of batteries and power source having the same A cover member is attached to a bus bar module. The bus bar module includes: a plurality of bus bars respectively connecting batteries adjacent to each other of a battery assembly composed of a plurality of batteries overlapped with each other; a main body to which the bus bars are attached, and overlapped with the battery assembly; a plurality of positioning projections and a plurality of locking portions provided on the main body. The cover member includes: a plurality of cover portions arranged in parallel to an overlapping direction X of the batteries, and covering the bus bars; and a plurality of elastically deforming portions movably connecting the cover portions adjacent to each other. Each of the cover portions includes: a positioning hole into which the positioning projection is inserted; and a lock receiving portion with which the locking portion is locked.
US09166210B2	Case for secondary battery and method of manufacturing case A case for a secondary battery and a method of manufacturing the case. The case has improved hardness and insulating properties and can be colored or patterned according to customers' preferences without having to perform an additional painting process, and a method of manufacturing the case. The case includes a body configured to accommodate an electrode assembly and formed of a conductive material; an oxide film formed on the body; and a colored sealing layer formed on the oxide film.
US09166208B2	Rechargeable battery A rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly including a first electrode plate, a second electrode plate, and a separator between the first and second electrode plates; a first collector plate and a second collector plate electrically coupled to the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, respectively; a case accommodating the electrode assembly and the first and second collector plates; and a cap assembly coupled to the case, wherein the cap assembly comprises a cap plate sealing the case, and wherein a reinforcing protrusion part is on the cap plate extending along a length of the cap plate.
US09166204B2	Organic light-emitting diode and method of fabricating the same An organic light-emitting diode includes an anode on a substrate; a first hole transporting layer on the anode; a second hole transporting layer on the first hole transporting layer and corresponding to the red and green pixel areas; a first emitting material pattern of a first thickness on the second hole transporting layer and corresponding to the red pixel area; a second emitting material pattern of a second thickness on the second hole transporting layer and corresponding to the green pixel area; a third emitting material pattern of a third thickness on the first hole transporting layer and corresponding to the blue pixel area; an electron transporting layer on the first, second and third emitting material patterns; and a cathode on the electron transporting layer, wherein the second thickness is less than the first thickness and greater than the third thickness.
US09166203B2	Method of a fabricating display substrate and method of fabricating a display device using the same A method of fabricating a display substrate includes forming a gate electrode on a substrate, forming a gate insulating layer to cover the gate electrode, forming an active layer on the gate insulating layer, forming a metal layer on the active layer, forming a first mask pattern on the metal layer to face a first region of the active layer, forming a second mask pattern on the metal layer to face a second region and a third region of the active layer, etching the metal layer and the active layer using the first and second mask patterns as an etch mask to form a metal pattern and an active pattern, removing the first mask pattern, and etching the metal pattern using the second mask pattern as an etch mask to form a source electrode and a drain electrode.
US09166189B2	Fabrication method for organic light emitting device and organic light emitting device fabricated by the same method An organic light emitting device includes a cathode made of metal, at least one organic material layer including a light emitting layer, and an anode in the sequentially layered form. The organic light emitting device also includes a thin metal film that is interposed between the cathode and the organic material layer.
US09166188B1	Organic light emitting diode device An OLED device includes: a first insulator sheet; a light-emitting stack stacked with the first insulator sheet and including a transparent anode layer, a cathode layer, and a functional layer; a metallic mesh stacked with the anode layer in a vertical direction, the metallic mesh contacting the anode layer and being covered by the anode layer; a second insulator sheet stacked with the cathode layer in the vertical direction; a plurality of cathode-connecting vias extending through the second insulator sheet; and a cathode-connecting metallic layer stacked with the second insulator sheet in the vertical direction and connected electrically to the cathode layer through the cathode-connecting vias.
US09166186B2	Methods of forming organic light emitting structures and methods of manufacturing organic light emitting display devices In a method of forming an organic light emitting structure, a plurality of first electrodes spaced apart from each other is formed on a lower substrate. A first organic layer covering the first electrodes is formed on the lower substrate. A preliminary pixel defining layer is formed on the first organic layer. The preliminary pixel defining layer includes a photosensitive material, and is selectively exposed to light so that the preliminary pixel defining layer and a portion of the first organic layer beneath the preliminary pixel defining layer are transformed into a pixel defining layer and a first organic layer pattern, respectively. An emitting layer is formed on the first organic layer exposed by the pixel defining layer. A second organic layer is formed on the emitting layer. A second electrode is formed on the second organic layer.
US09166174B2	Deuterated compounds for luminescent applications This invention relates to deuterated compounds that are useful in electroluminescent applications. It also relates to electronic devices in which the active layer includes such a deuterated compound.
US09166161B2	Phase change memory cell with large electrode contact area A phase change memory cell and a method for fabricating the phase change memory cell. The phase change memory cell includes a bottom electrode and a first non-conductive layer. The first non-conductive layer defines a first well, a first electrically conductive liner lines the first well, and the first well is filled with a phase change material in the phase change memory cell. A second non-conductive layer is deposited above the first non-conductive layer. A second well is defined by the second non-conductive layer and positioned directly above the first well. A second electrically conductive liner lines at least one wall of the second well such that the second electrically conductive liner is not in physical contact with the first electrically conductive liner. Furthermore, the phase change material is deposited in the second well.
US09166152B2	Diffusionless transformations in MTJ stacks A method and system provide a magnetic junction usable in a magnetic device. The magnetic junction includes a plurality of magnetic layers including a nonmagnetic spacer layer. The magnetic junction also includes at least one diffusionless transformation layer. The magnetic junction is configured to be switchable between a plurality of stable magnetic states when a write current is passed through the magnetic junction.
US09166142B2	Manufacturing method of piezoelectric film element, piezoelectric film element and piezoelectric device A manufacturing method of a piezoelectric film element includes forming a piezoelectric film including a lead-free alkali niobate based compound having a perovskite structure represented by a compositional formula of (K1-XNaX)NbO3 on a substrate, and dry-etching the piezoelectric film by using a low-pressure plasma including a fluorine system reactive gas.
US09166141B2	Process of manufacturing a piezopolymer transducer with matching layer Matching layers improve the performance of ultrasonic transducers. Such layers have traditionally required significant effort and expense to be added to ultrasonic transducers. The present invention discloses a method of producing ultrasonic transducers with a matching layer, specifically for ultrasonic transducers utilizing piezopolymer transducer materials. Rather than the conventional method of forming the piezopolymer on a substrate and then attaching a matching layer through which the transducer emits its ultrasound energy, we teach depositing the piezopolymer on a substrate that also serves as a matching layer through which the ultrasound is emitted. We also teach depositing an additional shield layer for reducing electromagnetic interference. Methods of how to select materials and modify their ultrasonic characteristics are also discussed.
US09166135B2	Optical/electrical transducer using semiconductor nanowire wicking structure in a thermal conductivity and phase transition heat transfer mechanism An optical/electrical transducer device has housing, formed of a thermally conductive section and an optically transmissive member. The section and member are connected together to form a seal for a vapor tight chamber. Pressure within the chamber configures a working fluid to absorb heat during operation of the device, to vaporize at a relatively hot location as it absorbs heat, to transfer heat to and condense at a relatively cold location, and to return as a liquid to the relatively hot location. The transducer device also includes a wicking structure mounted within the chamber to facilitate flow of condensed liquid of the working fluid from the cold location to the hot location. At least a portion of the wicking structure comprises semiconductor nanowires, configured as part of an optical/electrical transducer within the chamber for emitting light through and/or driven by light received via the transmissive member.
US09166133B2	Substrate for LED, LED module, and LED bulb LED substrate of the present invention includes: translucent substrate body-in which an LED chip is disposed on a front face; and heat dissipation path provided in substrate body to dissipate heat generated in the LED chip. Substrate body includes a through hole that penetrates through the substrate body from the front face on which the LED chip is provided to a back face. Heat dissipation path includes: heat transfer path section provided in the through hole; and heat dissipation pattern section provided on the back face of substrate body, and connected to heat transfer path section. Thus, LED substrate having superior heat dissipation is realized.
US09166128B2	Light-emitting assembly and method for manufacturing the same A light-emitting assembly and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. The light-emitting assembly includes a circuit board with a light-emitting element and a plurality of optical microstructures disposed thereon. The optical microstructures adjacent to the light-emitting element absorb or guide a portion of light emitted from the light-emitting element.
US09166126B2	Conformally coated light emitting devices and methods for providing the same Methods are disclosed including applying a conformal coating to multiple light emitters. The conformal coating forms in gap areas between adjacent ones of the light emitters. The plurality of light emitters are separated into individual light emitters. The individual light emitters include the conformal coating that extends to a space corresponding to respective gap areas. Light emitting structures are disclosed including a semiconductor light emitting diode (LED) having an active region and a conformal coating including a first portion and a second portion, the first portion corresponding to at least one surface of the LED and the second portion extending from the first portion.
US09166125B2	Comprehensive light-emitting diode device and lighting-module A comprehensive light-emitting diode device including a translucent substrate, a light-emitting diode chip, a reflective layer, a first wavelength conversion layer, and a second wavelength conversion layer. The translucent substrate includes a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The light-emitting diode chip is disposed on the first surface. The reflective layer is disposed on the first surface. The light-emitting diode chip is surrounded by the reflective layer. The first wavelength conversion layer is disposed on the first surface. The light-emitting diode chip and the reflective layer are covered by the first wavelength conversion layer.
US09166099B2	Graphene light-emitting device and method of manufacturing the same A graphene light-emitting device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The graphene light-emitting device includes a p-type graphene doped with a p-type dopant; an n-type graphene doped with an n-type dopant; and an active graphene that is disposed between the type graphene and the n-type graphene and emits light, wherein the p-type graphene, the n-type graphene, and the active graphene are horizontally disposed.
US09166097B2	Thin film transistor substrate and manufacturing method thereof, display An embodiment of the invention provides a thin film transistor substrate includes: a substrate; a plurality of transistors on the substrate, wherein each of the transistors includes: a light-blocking layer on the substrate; an active layer on the light-blocking layer; a gate insulating layer on the substrate and covering the active layer; a gate electrode on the gate insulating layer and over the active layer; a source electrode on the substrate and electrically connected to the active layer; and a drain electrode on the substrate and electrically connected to the active layer.
US09166083B2	Reducing thermal gradients to improve thermopile performance With infrared (IR) sensors, repeatability and accuracy can become an issue when there are thermal gradients between the sensor and an underlying printed circuit board (PCB). Conventionally, a large thermal mass is included in the sensor packaging to reduce the effect from such thermal gradients, but this increase costs and size of the sensor. Here, however, a PCB is provided that includes an isothermal cage included therein that generally ensures that the temperature of the underlying PCB and sensor are about the same by including structural features (namely, the isothermal cage) that generally ensure that the thermal time constant for a path from a heat source to the thermopile (which is within the sensor) is approximately the same as thermal time constants for paths through the PCB.
US09166082B2	Solar cell A solar cell includes a substrate of a first conductive type, an emitter region of a second conductive type opposite the first conductive type and which forms a p-n junction along with the substrate, an anti-reflection layer positioned on the emitter region, a front electrode part electrically connected to the emitter region, and a back electrode part electrically connected to the substrate. The substrate includes a first area formed of single crystal silicon and a second area formed of polycrystalline silicon. A thickness of the anti-reflection layer positioned in the first area is less than a thickness of the anti-reflection layer positioned in the second area.
US09166079B2	Method of forming contacts for a back-contact solar cell Methods of forming contacts for solar cells are described. In one embodiment, a method includes forming a silicon layer above a substrate, forming and patterning a solid-state p-type dopant source on the silicon layer, forming an n-type dopant source layer over exposed regions of the silicon layer and over a plurality of regions of the solid-state p-type dopant source, and heating the substrate to provide a plurality of n-type doped silicon regions among a plurality of p-type doped silicon regions.
US09166077B2	Thin film solar cell Disclosed is a thin-film solar cell which has a high photoelectric conversion efficiency and is provided with a substrate (1), a backside surface electrode layer (2) formed on the substrate (1), a p-type light-absorbing layer (3) formed on the backside surface electrode layer (2), and an n-type transparent conductive film (5) formed on the p-type light-absorbing layer (3). Voids (6) are formed at the interface of the backside surface electrode layer (2) and the p-type light-absorbing layer (3).
US09166058B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device To provide a method by which a semiconductor device including a thin film transistor with excellent electric characteristics and high reliability is manufactured with a small number of steps. After a channel protective layer is formed over an oxide semiconductor film containing In, Ga, and Zn, a film having n-type conductivity and a conductive film are formed, and a resist mask is formed over the conductive film. The conductive film, the film having n-type conductivity, and the oxide semiconductor film containing In, Ga, and Zn are etched using the channel protective layer and gate insulating films as etching stoppers with the resist mask, so that source and drain electrode layers, a buffer layer, and a semiconductor layer are formed.
US09166056B2	Thin-film semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same In a thin-film semiconductor device, a semiconductor layer has a bandgap energy of 1.6 eV or less, an insulating layer formed above the semiconductor layer includes: a first insulating layer region placed outside of a first contact opening and above one end of a gate electrode; a second insulating layer region placed outside of a second contact opening and above the other end of the gate electrode which opposes the one end; and a third insulating layer region being rectangular and placed between the first contact opening and the second contact opening.
US09166050B2	Transistor and method for forming the same Various embodiments provide transistors and methods for forming the same. In an exemplary method, a substrate can be provided. A gate structure can be formed on the substrate. A stress layer can be formed in the substrate on both sides of the gate structure. Barrier ions can be doped in the stress layer to form a barrier layer in the stress layer. The barrier layer can have a preset distance from a surface of the stress layer. An electrical contact layer can be formed using a portion of the stress layer on the barrier layer by a salicide process. The electrical contact layer can contain a first metal element. The first metal element can have a resistivity lower than a resistivity of a silicidation metal. The barrier layer can prevent atoms of the first metal element from diffusing to a bottom of the stress layer.
US09166046B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing A semiconductor device includes a gate structure, and a source region and a drain region on opposite sides of the gate structure. The source region comprises a first region of a first conductivity type, and a second region of a second conductivity type, the second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type. The first region is arranged between the second region and the gate structure. The second region comprises at least one projection protruding into the first region and toward the gate structure.
US09166044B2	Raised epitaxial LDD in MuGFETs Embodiments include Multiple Gate Field-Effect Transistors (MuGFETs) and methods of forming them. In an embodiment, a structure includes a substrate, a fin, masking dielectric layer portions, and a raised epitaxial lightly doped source/drain (LDD) region. The substrate includes the fin. The masking dielectric layer portions are along sidewalls of the fin. An upper portion of the fin protrudes from the masking dielectric layer portions. A first spacer is along a sidewall of a gate structure over a channel region of the fin. A second spacer is along the first spacer. The raised epitaxial LDD region is on the upper portion of the fin, and the raised epitaxial LDD region adjoins a sidewall of the first spacer and is disposed under the second spacer. The raised epitaxial LDD region extends from the upper portion of the fin in at least two laterally opposed directions and a vertical direction.
US09166042B2	High voltage MOSFET diode reverse recovery by minimizing P-body charges This invention discloses a method for manufacturing a semiconductor power device in a semiconductor substrate comprises an active cell area and a termination area. The method comprises the steps of a) growing and patterning a field oxide layer in the termination area and also in the active cell area on a top surface of the semiconductor substrate b) depositing and patterning a polysilicon layer on the top surface of the semiconductor substrate at a gap distance away from the field oxide layer; c) performing a blank body dopant implant to form body dopant regions in the semiconductor substrate substantially aligned with the gap area followed by diffusing the body dopant regions into body regions in the semiconductor substrate; d) implanting high concentration body-dopant regions encompassed in and having a higher dopant concentration than the body regions e) applying a source mask to implant source regions having a conductivity opposite to the body region with the source regions encompassed in the body regions and surrounded by the high concentration body-dopant regions; and f) etching contact trenches into the source, body contact, and body regions.
US09166036B2	Power MOSFET, an IGBT, and a power diode Super-junction MOSFETs by trench fill system requires void-free filling epitaxial growth. This may require alignment of plane orientations of trenches in a given direction. Particularly, when column layout at chip corner part is bilaterally asymmetrical with a diagonal line between chip corners, equipotential lines in a blocking state are curved at corner parts due to column asymmetry at chip corner. This tends to cause points where equipotential lines become dense, which may cause breakdown voltage reduction. In the present invention, in power type semiconductor active elements such as power MOSFETs, a ring-shaped field plate is disposed in chip peripheral regions around an active cell region, etc., assuming a nearly rectangular shape. The field plate has an ohmic-contact part in at least a part of the portion along the side of the rectangle. However, in the portion corresponding to the corner part of the rectangle, an ohmic-contact part is not disposed.
US09166034B2	Semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same A semiconductor device, and a method of fabricating the same, include a substrate including two-dimensionally arranged active portions, device isolation patterns extending along sidewalls of the active portions, each of the device isolation patterns including first and second device isolation patterns, gate patterns extending across the active portions and the device isolation patterns, each of the gate patterns including a gate insulating layer, a gate line and a gate capping pattern, and ohmic patterns on the active portions, respectively. Top surfaces of the first device isolation pattern and the gate insulating layer may be lower than those of the second device isolation pattern and the gate capping pattern, respectively, and the ohmic patterns may include an extending portion on the first insulating layer.
US09166029B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: forming, in element regions of a semiconductor wafer, electrodes and a insulator on peripheral part of the electrodes so that a height of the insulator is higher than that of the electrodes; forming, on the front face of the semiconductor wafer, a groove for surrounding a periphery of the electrodes with the insulator being sandwiched between the electrodes and the groove, the groove being formed so that a height of the groove is lower than that of the insulator and the groove extends to an outer circumferential edge of the semiconductor wafer; bonding adhesives onto the electrodes in the element regions so that a height of the adhesives is higher than that of the insulator, and bonding, onto the adhesives, a base material for covering the front face of the semiconductor wafer; and processing a rear face of the semiconductor wafer.
US09166013B2	Nonvolatile memory device and method for fabricating the same A nonvolatile memory device having a plurality of unit cells, each of the plurality of unit cells includes a first transistor suitable for having a fixed threshold voltage, and a second transistor suitable for coupling to the first transistor in parallel and having a variable threshold voltage.
US09166003B2	Layout configuration for memory cell array A layout configuration for a memory cell array includes at least a comb-like doped region having a first conductivity type and a fishbone-shaped doped region having a second conductivity type. The second conductivity type and the first conductivity type are complementary. Furthermore, the comb-like doped region and the fishbone-shaped doped region are interdigitated.
US09166002B2	N-doped single crystal diamond substrates and methods therefor The disclosure relates to the formation of n-doped single crystal diamond (SCD). In general, a SCD substrate is preferentially anisotropically etched to provide one or more recesses in the SCD substrate, where the recesses are defined by (1 1 1) surface sidewalls resulting from the preferential anisotropic etching process. The recesses generally have a pyramidal shape. N-type doped SCD (e.g., using a phosphorous dopant) is then deposited into the preferentially anisotropically etched recesses. When the SCD substrate is a p-type diamond (e.g., using a boron dopant), the resulting structure can be used as a p-n junction, for example for use in various power electronic apparatus such as diodes, etc.
US09166001B2	Vertical structure and method of forming semiconductor device According to an exemplary embodiment, a method of forming a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes: providing a vertical structure over a substrate; forming an etch stop layer over the vertical structure; forming an oxide layer over the etch stop layer; performing chemical mechanical polishing on the oxide layer and stopping on the etch stop layer; etching back the oxide layer and the etch stop layer to expose a sidewall of the vertical structure and to form an isolation layer; oxidizing the sidewall of the vertical structure and doping oxygen into the isolation layer by using a cluster oxygen doping treatment.
US09165994B1	Organic light emitting display An organic light emitting display includes a display panel including subpixels and a driver for driving the display panel. The display panel includes a reflection reduction layer, which is formed on an internal surface or an external surface of a substrate and is positioned correspondingly to a non-opening area defined in the substrate.
US09165988B2	Organic light-emitting display apparatus having dual insulating parts An organic light-emitting display apparatus is disclosed. The organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a substrate; a thin film transistor (TFT) formed on the substrate and including an active layer, a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode; a first insulating layer formed on the TFT; a pixel electrode; a second insulating layer formed on the first insulating layer; and an opposite electrode formed on the intermediate layer.
US09165984B2	OLEDs for use in NVIS capable devices A device is provided with a first OLED having a peak wavelength in the range 500-600 nm and a second OLED having a peak wavelength in the range 400-500 nm. Less than 2% of the light emitted by the first OLED has a wavelength of 650 nm or longer and less than 2% of the light emitted by the second OLED has a wavelength of 650 nm or longer.
US09165982B2	Optical films for reducing color shift and organic light-emitting display apparatuses employing the same Optical films, and organic light-emitting display apparatuses employing the same, include a high refractive index pattern layer including a first surface and a second surface facing each other, wherein the first surface includes a pattern having a plurality of grooves. The plurality of grooves each have a curved surface and a depth greater than a width thereof. The high refractive index pattern layer is formed of a material having a refractive index greater than 1. The optical films, and the organic light-emitting display apparatuses, further include a low refractive index pattern layer formed of a material having a refractive index smaller than the refractive index of the material constituting the high refractive index pattern layer. The low refractive index pattern layer includes a filling material for filling the plurality of grooves.
US09165980B2	Organic light-emitting device and of preparing the same An organic light emitting diode (OLED) and a method of manufacturing the same. An auxiliary layer comprising a high density metallic compound and an emission layer are formed by a laser induced thermal imaging (LITI) process. The LITI process reduces manufacturing costs and time by eliminating the need for a mask patterning process. The metallic compound has a density of 2 g/cm3 or greater to promote adhesion and improve interfacial planarization. This results in improved luminance uniformity (i.e. luminance mura) between pixels within an OLED display device.
US09165968B2	3D-stacked backside illuminated image sensor and method of making the same A stacked image sensor and method for making the same are provided. The stacked image sensor includes an upper chip with a pixel array thereon. The second chip includes a plurality of column circuits and row circuits associated with the columns and rows of the pixel array and disposed in respective column circuit and row circuit regions that are arranged in multiple groups. Inter-chip bonding pads are formed on each of the chips. The inter-chip bonding pads on the second chip are arranged linearly and are contained within the column circuit regions and row circuit regions in one embodiment. In other embodiments, the inter-chip bonding pads are staggered with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the rows and columns of the pixel array include multiple signal lines and the corresponding column circuit regions and row circuit regions also include multiple inter-chip bonding pads.
US09165952B2	Light emitting device, driving method of light emitting device and electronic device By controlling the luminance of light emitting element not by means of a voltage to be impressed to the TFT but by means of controlling a current that flows to the TFT in a signal line drive circuit, the current that flows to the light emitting element is held to a desired value without depending on the characteristics of the TFT. Further, a voltage of inverted bias is impressed to the light emitting element every predetermined period. Since a multiplier effect is given by the two configurations described above, it is possible to prevent the luminance from deteriorating due to a deterioration of the organic luminescent layer, and further, it is possible to maintain the current that flows to the light emitting element to a desired value without depending on the characteristics of the TFT.
US09165949B1	Array substrate, its manufacturing method, and display device The present invention provides an array substrate, its manufacturing method, and a display device. The array substrate comprises a gate metal layer, a gate insulating layer, a source/drain metal layer, first common electrode lines arranged on an identical layer to the gate metal layer, a first via hole arranged in the gate insulating layer and corresponding to the first common electrode line, a source/drain metal filling part arranged within the first via hole, a second via hole in communication with the first via hole, and a transparent connection part. The first common electrode lines are, by means of the transparent connection part and the source/drain metal filling part, in electrical connection with each other through the second via hole. According to the present invention, it is able to reduce the depth of the via holes in the array substrate, and improve the uneven diffusion of an alignment layer.
US09165945B1	Method for fabricating semiconductor structures including transistor channels having different strain states, and related semiconductor structures Methods of fabricating a semiconductor structure include implanting ion into a second region of a strained semiconductor layer on a multi-layer substrate to amorphize a portion of crystalline semiconductor material in the second region of the strained semiconductor layer without amorphizing a first region of the strained semiconductor layer. The amorphous region is recrystallized, and elements are diffused within the semiconductor layer to enrich a concentration of the diffused elements in a portion of the second region of the strained semiconductor layer and alter a strain state therein relative to a strain state of the first region of the strained semiconductor layer. A first plurality of transistor channel structures are formed that each comprise a portion of the first region of the semiconductor layer, and a second plurality of transistor channel structures are formed that each comprise a portion of the second region of the semiconductor layer.
US09165942B2	Programmable logic device An object of the present invention is to provide a programmable logic device which has short start-up time after supply of power is stopped, is highly integrated, and operates with low power. In a programmable logic device including an input/output block, a plurality of logic blocks each including a logic element, and a wiring connecting the plurality of logic blocks, the logic element has a configuration memory for holding configuration data and a look-up table including a selection circuit. The configuration memory includes a plurality of memory elements each of which includes a transistor whose channel region is in an oxide semiconductor film and an arithmetic circuit provided between the transistor and the selection circuit. Configuration data is selectively changed and output by the selection circuit in accordance with an input signal.
US09165941B2	Semiconductor memory devices and methods for fabricating the same A semiconductor memory device includes a substrate having a cell region and a peripheral region, a gate stack including a plurality of insulating layers and a plurality of gates alternately stacked on the cell region of the substrate, a stress buffer layer on the gate stack, a vertical channel that extends vertically through the gate stack and is electrically connected to the substrate, a memory layer wrapped around the vertical channel. A bit line electrically connected to the vertical channel may be provided on the gate stack. In a method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the buffer stress layer is formed directly on an upper insulating layer of a stack whose shape is altered to form the gate stack to inhibit warping of the substrate during fabrication of the device.
US09165940B2	Three dimensional NAND device with silicide containing floating gates and method of making thereof A method of making a monolithic three dimensional NAND string, including providing a stack of alternating first material layers and second material layers different from the first material layer over a substrate, the stack comprising at least one opening containing a charge storage material comprising a silicide layer, a tunnel dielectric on the charge storage material in the at least one opening, and a semiconductor channel on the tunnel dielectric in the at least one opening, selectively removing the second material layers without removing the first material layers from the stack and forming control gates between the first material layers.
US09165936B2	Dummy end-gate based anti-fuse device for finFET technologies An anti-fuse device for fin field-effect transistor (finFET) technology includes a dummy gate, an electrically conductive contact, and a diffusion contact. The dummy gate is formed over an end-corner of a fin. The electrically conductive contact is disposed on a portion of the dummy gate and can be used as a first electrode of the device. The diffusion contact is disposed over the fin and can be used as a second electrode of the device.
US09165935B2	Semiconductor devices and methods for manufacturing the same A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate including first trenches defining outer sidewalls of a pair of active pillars and a second trench defining opposing inner sidewalls of the pair of active pillars. The second trench may have a bottom surface located at a higher level than bottom surface of the first trench. Auxiliary conductive lines may be disposed in the first trenches to cover and cross the outer sidewalls of the pair of active pillars. A pair of main conductive lines may be disposed in a pair of recessed regions that are laterally recessed from lower portions of the inner sidewalls of the active pillars into the pair of active pillars. A common impurity region may be disposed in the semiconductor substrate under the second trench. Upper impurity regions may be disposed in upper portions of the active pillars.
US09165934B2	Semiconductor devices including insulating extension patterns between adjacent landing pads and methods of fabricating the same A semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of pattern structures respectively including a bit line and insulating spacers on sidewalls thereof protruding from a substrate. A plurality of insulating extension patterns are provided on opposing sidewalls of the pattern structures, and respectively extend from upper portions of the opposing sidewalls toward the substrate along the insulating spacers such that lower portions of the opposing sidewalls are free of the extension patterns. A plurality of buried contact patterns are provided on the substrate between the lower portions of the opposing sidewalls of adjacent pattern structures. Related fabrication methods are also discussed.
US09165931B1	Apparatus for field-programmable gate array with configurable architecture and associated methods An integrated circuit (IC) includes a substrate that is common to the IC and variants of the IC. The IC also includes a first set of interconnect layers fabricated above the substrate. The first set of interconnect layers is used to couple programmable interconnect of the IC to a first circuit in the substrate. The IC further includes a second set of interconnect layers fabricated above the substrate. The second set of interconnect layers is used to differentiate features of the IC from variants of the IC by selectively coupling the programmable interconnect to a second circuit in the substrate.
US09165924B2	Vertical channel type nonvolatile memory device and method for fabricating the same A method for fabricating a vertical channel type nonvolatile memory device includes: alternately forming a plurality of sacrificial layers and a plurality of interlayer dielectric layers over a semiconductor substrate; etching the sacrificial layers and the interlayer dielectric layers to form a plurality of first openings for channel each of which exposes the substrate; filling the first openings to form a plurality of channels protruding from the semiconductor substrate; etching the sacrificial layers and the interlayer dielectric layers to form second openings for removal of the sacrificial layers between the channels; exposing side walls of the channels by removing the sacrificial layers exposed by the second openings; and forming a tunnel insulation layer, a charge trap layer, a charge blocking layer, and a conductive layer for gate electrode on the exposed sidewalls of the channels.
US09165910B2	Microelectronic die packages with metal leads, including metal leads for stacked die packages, and associated systems and methods Microelectronic die packages, stacked systems of die packages, and methods of manufacturing them are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a system of stacked packages includes a first die package having a bottom side, a first dielectric casing, and first metal leads; a second die package having a top side attached to the bottom side of the first package, a dielectric casing with a lateral side, and second metal leads aligned with and projecting towards the first metal leads and including an exterior surface and an interior surface region that generally faces the lateral side; and metal solder connectors coupling individual first leads to individual second leads. In a further embodiment, the individual second leads have an “L” shape and physically contact corresponding individual first leads. In another embodiment, the individual second leads have a “C” shape and include a tiered portion that projects towards the lateral side of the second casing.
US09165905B2	Method for connecting a plurality of unpackaged substrates A plurality of unpackaged substrates connected to one another is disclosed. The stepped structures on and/or in a first main area of a first substrate include a plurality of integrated circuits. The stepped structures run between the integrated circuits. The first conductor tracks extend from at least some contact connections of the respective integrated circuits as far as the stepped structures. The first substrate is connected on the side of the first main area to a further substrate. The first substrate is severed from a second main area opposite to the first main area such that the first substrate is divided into a plurality of substrate pieces. Each substrate piece has one of the integrated circuits. The first conductor tracks are accessible in interspaces between the substrate pieces. The second conductor tracks are formed from the second main area. At least some of the second conductor tracks lead from the second main area over side walls of the substrate pieces as far as the first conductor tracks.
US09165897B2	Semiconductor package having unified semiconductor chips A semiconductor package includes one or more semiconductor stack structures mounted on a package board. The semiconductor stack structures include sequentially stacked first to fourth semiconductor devices. Each of the first to fourth semiconductor devices includes a first unit semiconductor chip and a second unit semiconductor chip. The first unit semiconductor chip and the second unit semiconductor chip are unitary. A method for fabricating the semiconductor package includes forming pairs of unit semiconductor chips on a wafer, forming a scribe lane between the pairs of unit semiconductor chips, separating the pairs of unit semiconductor chips into semiconductor devices, each of the semiconductor devices having a corresponding one pair of unit semiconductor chips.
US09165889B2	Alignment mark definer An alignment mark definer is configured to provide a geometrical definition for an actual alignment structure to be formed at a temporary surface of a substrate based on a desired appearance of the alignment mark and on an expected alteration of an appearance of the actual alignment structure caused by a deposition material deposited on the temporary surface and the actual alignment structure.
US09165881B2	Semiconductor device having capacitor capable of reducing additional processes and its manufacture method A first capacitor recess and a wiring trench are formed through an interlayer insulating film. A lower electrode fills the first capacitor recess, and a first wiring fills the wiring trench. An etching stopper film and a via layer insulating film are disposed over the interlayer insulating film. A first via hole extends through the via layer insulating film and etching stopper film and reaches the first wiring, and a first plug fills the first via hole. A second capacitor recess is formed through the via layer insulating film, the second capacitor recess at least partially overlapping the lower electrode, as viewed in plan. The upper electrode covers the bottom and side surfaces of the second capacitor recess. A capacitor is constituted of the upper electrode, etching stopper film and lower electrode. A second wring connected to the first plug is formed over the via layer insulating film.
US09165880B2	Process control methods for CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) and other polishing methods used to form semiconductor devices A method for controlling device feature sizes produced by polishing operations such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is provided. The method includes instituting process controls to control the processing operations used in combination to produce features of a metal layer with a desired thickness, based on the thickness of the previous metal layer or layers. A target thickness for first and second metal layers is established. After the first metal layer is produced and the difference between the first metal target thickness and the actual first metal thickness is determined, the target thickness for the second metal features is adjusted. Once the target thickness for the second metal features is adjusted, each of the processing operations used to produce the second metal layer is controlled in combination to produce the second metal features with the adjusted target thickness.
US09165870B2	Semiconductor storage device and manufacturing method thereof According to the embodiment, a semiconductor storage device includes an organic substrate, a semiconductor memory chip, a lead frame, and a resin mold section. The lead frame includes an adhering portion. The organic substrate is singulated to have a shape in which a portion in which the organic substrate does not overlap with the placing portion is larger than a portion in which the organic substrate overlaps with the placing portion, in plan view. The lead frame further includes a first extending portion in the adhering portion that extends to a surface different from a surface of the resin mold section on a side of an insertion direction.
US09165867B1	Semiconductor device with lead frame contact solder balls and related methods A semiconductor device may include an integrated circuit (IC), and lead frame contact areas adjacent the IC. Each lead frame contact area may have an opening therein. The semiconductor device may include bond wires, each bond wire coupling a respective lead frame contact area with the IC. The semiconductor device may also include encapsulation material surrounding the IC, the lead frame contact areas, and the bond wires. Solder balls are within the respective opening.
US09165853B2	Closed loop temperature controlled circuit to improve device stability An integrated circuit is provided having an active circuit. A heating element is adjacent to the active circuit and configured to heat the active circuit. A temperature sensor is also adjacent to the active circuit and configured to measure a temperature of the active circuit. A temperature controller is coupled to the active circuit and configured to receive a temperature signal from the temperature sensor. The temperature controller operates the heating element to heat the active circuit to maintain the temperature of the active circuit in a selected temperature range.
US09165850B2	Compensating for warpage of a flip chip package by varying heights of a redistribution layer on an integrated circuit chip Structures and methods of making a flip chip package that employ polyimide pads of varying heights at a radial distance from a center of an integrated circuit (IC) chip for a flip chip package. The polyimide pads may be formed under electrical connectors, which connect the IC chip to a chip carrier of the flip chip package, so that electrical connectors formed on polyimide pads of greater height are disposed at a greater radial distance from the center of the IC chip, while electrical connectors formed on polyimide pads of a lesser height are disposed more proximately to the center of the IC chip. Electrical connectors of a greater relative height to the IC chip's surface may compensate for a gap, produced by heat-induced warpage during the making of the flip chip package, that separates the electrical connectors on the IC chip from flip chip attaches on the chip carrier.
US09165849B2	Electronic device An electronic device is provided wherein the characteristics thereof are prevented from deteriorating. The electronic device (1) is provided with: a chip component (2) having an electronic element (22); a wiring board (3) on which the chip component (2) is mounted with a space therebetween, the space for containing the electronic element (22); a resin layer (4) provided from the surface of the chip component (2) to the surface of the wiring board (3) so as to surround the space; and an inorganic insulating layer (5), which is provided at the resin layer (4) and is positioned at the side of the space. Since entry of water vapor into the space can be reduced not only by means of the resin layer (4) but also by means of the inorganic insulating layer (5), the electronic device (1) having high airtight sealing performance can be provided.
US09165847B2	Semiconductor device including a material to absorb thermal energy A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip and a first material including molecules that are configured to absorb thermal energy by reversibly changing a spatial molecular structure of the molecules.
US09165845B2	Semiconductor device Provided is a semiconductor device having a pad on a semiconductor chip, a first passivation film formed over the semiconductor chip and having an opening portion on the pad of a probe region and a coupling region, a second passivation film formed over the pad and the first passivation film and having an opening portion on the pad of the coupling region, and a rewiring layer formed over the coupling region and the second passivation film and electrically coupled to the pad. The pad of the probe region placed on the periphery side of the semiconductor chip relative to the coupling region has a probe mark and the rewiring layer extends from the coupling region to the center side of the semiconductor chip. The present invention provides a technology capable of achieving size reduction, particularly pitch narrowing, of a semiconductor device.
US09165839B2	Plasma protection diode for a HEMT device The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a silicon substrate. A first III-V compound layer is disposed over the silicon substrate. A second III-V compound layer is disposed over the first III-V compound layer. The semiconductor device includes a transistor disposed over the first III-V compound layer and partially in the second III-V compound layer. The semiconductor device includes a diode disposed in the silicon substrate. The semiconductor device includes a via coupled to the diode and extending through at least the first III-V compound layer. The via is electrically coupled to the transistor or disposed adjacent to the transistor.
US09165833B2	Method of forming a semiconductor die In one embodiment, semiconductor die having non-rectangular shapes and die having various different shapes are formed and singulated from a semiconductor wafer.
US09165829B2	Double sided NMOS/PMOS structure and methods of forming the same A chip includes a dielectric layer having a top surface and a bottom surface, a first semiconductor layer overlying and bonded to the top surface of the dielectric layer, and a first Metal Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) transistor of a first conductivity type. The first MOS transistor includes a first gate dielectric overlying and contacting the first semiconductor layer, and a first gate electrode overlying the first gate dielectric. A second semiconductor layer is underlying and bonded to the bottom surface of the dielectric layer. A second MOS transistor of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type includes a second gate dielectric underlying and contacting the second semiconductor layer, and a second gate electrode underlying the second gate dielectric.
US09165828B2	Semiconductor device comprising a fuse structure and a method for manufacturing such semiconductor device A semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate, an anorganic isolation layer on the semiconductor substrate and a metallization layer on the anorganic isolation layer. The metallization layer comprises a fuse structure. At least in an area of the fuse structure the metallization layer and the anorganic isolation layer have a common interface.
US09165827B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing semiconductor device The semiconductor device includes a capacitor including a plurality of interconnection layers stacked over each other, the plurality of interconnection layers each including a plurality of electrode patterns extended in a first direction, a plurality of via parts provided between the plurality of interconnection layers and electrically interconnecting the plurality of the electrode patterns between the interconnection layers adjacent to each other, and an insulating films formed between the plurality of interconnection layers and the plurality of via parts. Each of the plurality of via parts is laid out, offset from a center of the electrode pattern in a second direction intersecting the first direction, and the plurality of electrode patterns has a larger line width at parts where the via parts are connected to, and a distance between the electrode patterns and the adjacent electrode patterns is reduced at the parts.
US09165822B2	Semiconductor devices and methods of forming same A semiconductor device structure and methods of forming the same are disclosed. An embodiment is a method of forming a semiconductor device, the method comprising forming a first conductive line over a substrate, and conformally forming a first dielectric layer over a top surface and a sidewall of the first conductive line, the first dielectric layer having a first porosity percentage and a first carbon concentration. The method further comprises forming a second dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer, the second dielectric layer having a second porosity percentage and a second carbon concentration, the second porosity percentage being different from the first porosity percentage, and the second carbon concentration being less than the first carbon concentration.
US09165819B2	High linearity SOI wafer for low-distortion circuit applications According to a method herein, a first side of a substrate is implanted with a first material to change a crystalline structure of the first side of the substrate from a first crystalline state to a second crystalline state, after the first material is implanted. A second material is deposited on the first side of the substrate, after the first material is implanted. A first side of an insulator layer is bonded to the second material on the first side of the substrate. Integrated circuit devices are formed on a second side of the insulator layer, opposite the first side of the insulator layer, after the insulator layer is bonded to the second material. The integrated circuit devices are thermally annealed. The first material maintains the second crystalline state of the first side of the substrate during the annealing.
US09165818B2	Method for forming insulating film [Problem] To provide a method capable of forming an insulating film having homogeneous and high bulk density and less suffering defects.[Means for solving] A substrate surface is coated with a silicon dioxide dispersion containing silicon dioxide fine particles, a polymer, a surfactant and a dispersion medium; and then further coated with a polysilazane composition; and thereafter heated to form an insulating film.
US09165812B2	Cooled tape frame lift and low contact shadow ring for plasma heat isolation Methods of and apparatuses for dicing semiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits, are described. In an example, a tape frame lift assembly for a plasma processing chamber includes a capture single ring having an upper surface for supporting a tape frame of a substrate support and for cooling the tape frame. The tape frame lift assembly also includes one or more capture lift arms for moving the capture single ring to and from transfer and processing positions. The tape frame assembly also includes one or more captured lift plate portions, one captured lift plate portion corresponding to one capture lift arm, the one or more captured lift plate portions for coupling the one or more capture lift arms to the capture single ring.
US09165790B2	Packaging substrate, method for manufacturing same, and chip packaging body having same A packaging substrate includes a base layer, a first wiring layer, a second wiring layer, a first solder mask layer, a second solder mask layer and copper portions. The first second wiring layers are arranged on opposite sides of the base layer. The first solder mask layer covers the first wiring layer, and defines plenty of first openings. The first wiring layer exposed through the first openings serves as first contact pads. The second solder mask layer covers the second wiring layer. The second solder mask layer defines plenty of second openings. The second wiring layer exposed through the second openings serves as second contact pads. The copper portions are formed on the second contact pads. The copper portions protrude beyond the second solder mask layer. This disclosure further relates to a method of manufacturing the packaging substrate and a chip packaging body.
US09165788B2	Post-deposition soft annealing The methods and apparatus disclosed herein concern a process that may be referred to as a “soft anneal.” A soft anneal provides various benefits. Fundamentally, it reduces the internal stress in one or more silicon layers of a work piece. Typically, though not necessarily, the internal stress is a compressive stress. A particularly beneficial application of a soft anneal is in reduction of internal stress in a stack containing two or more layers of silicon. Often, the internal stress of a layer or group of layers in a stack is manifest as wafer bow. The soft anneal process can be used to reduce compressive bow in stacks containing silicon. The soft anneal process may be performed without causing the silicon in the stack to become activated.
US09165778B2	Systems and methods for chemical mechanical planarization with photoluminescence quenching Systems and methods are provided for performing chemical-mechanical planarization on an article. An example system for performing chemical-mechanical planarization includes: a polishing pad configured to support an article for chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP), wherein the article includes a CMP stop material, a polishing head configured to perform chemical-mechanical planarization on the article, a light source configured to provide an incident light, a polishing fluid including a plurality of luminescent particles capable of emitting a fluorescent light in response to the incident light, a fluorescence detector configured to detect the intensity of the fluorescent light, and at least one processor coupled to the fluorescent detector and the polishing head, wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the polishing head based on the detected fluorescent light.
US09165777B2	Polishing agent and method for polishing substrate using the polishing agent Disclosed is a polishing agent comprising: water; tetravalent metal hydroxide particles; and an additive, wherein the additive contains at least one of a cationic polymer and a cationic polysaccharide. The present invention can provide a polishing agent which is capable of polishing an insulating film at a high speed with less polishing flaws, and having a high polishing rate ratio of a silicon oxide film and a stopper film, in the CMP technology of flattening insulating film. The present invention can also provide a polishing agent set for storing the polishing agent, and a method for polishing a substrate using this polishing agent.
US09165757B2	Stroboscopic device with flash discharge tube having conductive film on outer periphery A stroboscopic device includes a flash discharge tube with a conductive film on its outer periphery, a conductive reflector into which the flash discharge tube is inserted, and a heat-resistant conductive medium laminated on a part of the conductive film of the flash discharge tube. The reflector is electrically connected to the conductive film of the flash discharge tube via the conductive medium. This achieves the stroboscopic device with long service life and high reliability by preventing or suppressing occurrence of spark.
US09165756B2	Ultraviolet discharge lamp apparatuses with one or more reflectors Apparatuses are disclosed which include a discharge lamp configured to emit ultraviolet light, a power circuit configured to operate the discharge lamp, and a reflector system configured to redirect ultraviolet light emitted from the discharge lamp. In some embodiments, the apparatuses include a support structure containing the power circuit and supporting the discharge lamp. In some of such embodiments, the reflector system is configured to redirect ultraviolet light propagating away from the support structure to a region exterior to the apparatus and which is between approximately 2 feet and approximately 4 feet from a floor of a room in which the apparatus is arranged. In other embodiments, the reflector system may be additionally or alternatively configured to redirect ultraviolet light propagating away from the support structure to encircle an exterior surface of the apparatus. In any case, the reflector system may, in some embodiments, include a repositionable reflector.
US09165751B1	Sample atomization with reduced clogging for analytical instruments An aerosol is produced by flowing a liquid sample through a gas-assisted nebulizer. The liquid exits from an outlet into a coaxial flow of gas. The outlet includes a sharp edge that inhibits or prevents accumulation of precipitates from the liquid, thereby reducing or eliminating clogging, which is particularly useful for a samples containing high concentrations of dissolved particles. The aerosol may be introduced into a plasma such that molecules are broken into atoms. The atomization may be followed by an analysis such as by optical emission spectrometry or mass spectrometry.
US09165749B2	Arc source and magnet configuration The invention relates to an arc source with a target (1) having a target front face (2) for the vacuum vaporization of the target material, a target backside with a cooling plate (4), a central target region (Z) as well as a target margin. The arc source further comprises a magnet configuration (8, 9) with an inner magnet system (8) and/or an outer magnet system (9) for the generation of a magnetic field in the proximity of the target front face. At least one of the magnet systems (8) is herein radially poled and effects alone or in connection with the particular other magnet system that the field lines of the magnetic field extend here substantially parallel to the target front face (2).
US09165742B1	Inspection site preparation Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to an electron beam imaging/inspection apparatus having an electron source device to direct flood electrons on a sample immediately before image acquisition or inspection. The apparatus comprises a first device configured to charge a sample in a first mode, wherein the first device includes an electron source configured to provide a flood beam of charged particles to a first area of the sample. The apparatus also comprises a second device configured to generate a primary beam of electrons and characterize an interaction between the primary beam and a second area of the sample within the first area in a second mode. The apparatus is configured to switch from the first mode to the second mode less than 1 second.
US09165695B2	Copper alloy wire and method for producing the same The zirconium content of the alloy composition of a copper alloy wire is 3.0 to 7.0 atomic percent; and the copper alloy wire includes copper matrix phases and composite phases composed of copper-zirconium compound phases and copper phases. The copper matrix phases and the composite phases form a matrix phase-composite phase fibrous structure and are arranged alternately parallel to an axial direction as viewed in a cross-section parallel to the axial direction and including a central axis. The copper-zirconium compound phases and the copper phases in the composite phases also form a composite phase inner fibrous structure and are arranged alternately parallel to the axial direction at a phase pitch of 50 nm or less as viewed in the above cross-section. This double fibrous structure presumably makes the copper alloy wire densely fibrous to provide a strengthening mechanism similar to the rule of mixture for fiber-reinforced composite materials.
US09165693B2	Multi-electrode cooling arrangement The invention relates to a collimator electrode, comprising an electrode body (81) that is provided with a central electrode aperture (82), wherein the electrode body defines an electrode height between two opposite main surfaces, and wherein the electrode body accommodates a cooling conduit (105) inside the electrode body for transferring a cooling liquid (102). The electrode body preferably has a disk shape or an oblate ring shape.The invention further relates to a collimator electrode stack for use in a charged particle beam generator, comprising a first collimator electrode and a second collimator electrode that are each provided with a cooling conduit (105) for transferring the cooling liquid (102), and a connecting conduit (110) for a liquid connection between the cooling conduits of the first and second collimator electrodes.
US09165688B2	Apparatuses, systems, devices, and methods of replacing at least partially non-functional portions of memory Subject matter disclosed herein relates to determining that a portion of a memory is at least partially non-functional, replacing the portion of at least partially non-functional memory; and adjusting an error detection and/or correction process responsive to determining that the portion of the memory is at least partially non-functional and/or replacing the portion of at least partially non-functional memory.
US09165686B2	Test mediation device, system for testing memory device and method for testing memory device A system for testing a memory device includes a memory device configured to include a plurality of memory cells, receive a test information having a first frequency, access memory cells corresponding to an address included in the test information, and activate a fail signal if fail occurs in the memory cells corresponding to the address, a test device configured to generate a test information having a second frequency different from the first frequency, and a test mediation device configured to generate the test information having the first frequency and the address based on the test information having the second frequency and the fall signal and store the address corresponding to the fail memory cells in response to the fail signal as a fail address.
US09165682B2	Techniques for controlling recycling of blocks of memory In operation, respective lifetime expectancy scores are calculated for each of a plurality of blocks of a memory based on a respective count percentage of free space of each of the blocks. The blocks are recycled based on at least some of the life expectancy scores. A total amount of the blocks that are re-written is minimized while equalizing lifetime expectancy score variation between the blocks.
US09165677B2	Method and apparatus for memory fault tolerance A plurality of data lines and a plurality of bit lines may be used to write to and/or read from an array of memory cells. A switching element may select among different mappings between the plurality of data lines and the plurality of bit lines. The array may, for example, consist of N memory cells, the plurality of bit lines may consist of N bit lines, and the plurality of data lines may consist of N data lines, where N is an integer greater than 1. For a write operation in which a data block is to be written to the array, a configuration of the switching element may be controlled based, at least in part, on how sensitive the data block is to a faulty memory cell among the array of memory cells.
US09165671B2	Semiconductor memory device and method of operating the same The semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells, a peripheral circuit unit configured to perform a program voltage applying operation, a first verifying operation, and a detrap voltage applying operation with respect to the plurality of memory cells, and a control logic unit configured to issue at least one command to the peripheral circuit unit to determine whether to perform the detrap voltage applying operation based on a result of the first verifying operation performed following the performance of the program voltage applying operation.
US09165668B1	Data retention monitoring using temperature history in solid state drives Systems and methods for data retention manager in a solid state storage system utilizing temperature measurement mechanisms are disclosed. Background data scanning can provide an efficient way to monitor data health and can be used to determine whether data refreshing is needed or to prevent data retention from degrading beyond error correction capabilities. In certain embodiments, data scanning may be performed as a background process regularly, for example, every month. However, effects of temperature on data retention may not be adequately accounted for using such methods. Certain embodiments disclosed herein provide a numerical integral method for taking account the system temperature by using the acceleration factor for data retention. Embodiments disclosed herein may provide for accurate handling of data retention in view of complex device temperature history.
US09165666B2	Charge pump apparatus, a memory integrated circuit and methods of power supply A power supply, and a method of controlling the power supply, in which more or less power capacity of the power supply is activated depending on the state of a digital data signal on a data bus. The power supply has a control circuit which detects the number of “zero” bits present on the data bus, and responsively activates one or more of a plurality of power supply circuits such as charge pump circuits. The outputs of the charge pump circuits are mutually connected to a driver adapted to program memory cells of a flash memory circuit. A charge pump apparatus and a memory integrated circuit are also described.
US09165661B2	Systems and methods for switching between voltages Systems and methods for switching between voltages are provided. One system includes an output, first and second switches coupled to the output. The system also includes a first transmission gate coupled to the first switch and a second transmission gate coupled to the second switch. One method includes receiving, at the first transmission gate, a first pair of complementary voltages and receiving, at the second transmission gate, a second pair of complementary voltages. The method further includes selecting the smallest voltage amongst both pairs of complementary voltages and outputting a third pair of complementary voltages. In one method, the first pair of complementary voltages includes a first negative voltage and a positive voltage, the second pair of complementary voltages includes a second negative voltage and the positive voltage, and the third pair of complementary voltages includes the smaller of the first and second negative voltages and the positive voltage.
US09165660B2	Non-volatile memory devices and related operating methods Non-volatile memory devices and related methods are provided. The non-volatile memory devices include a memory cell array having a plurality of cell strings, each cell string including: a plurality of memory cells stacked in a direction perpendicular to a substrate, a ground selection transistor between the plurality of memory cells and the substrate, and a string selection transistor between the plurality of memory cells and a bit line; an address decoder coupled to the plurality of memory cells in the plurality of cell strings through word lines, to the string selection transistors in the plurality of cell strings through string selection lines, and to the ground selection transistors in the plurality of cell strings through a ground selection line; a read/write circuit coupled to the string selection transistors in the plurality of cell strings through the bit lines; and control logic configured to adjust a substrate voltage applied to the substrate such that threshold voltages of the ground selection transistors are higher than a predetermined level during read operations for at least one of the plurality of memory cells in the plurality of cell strings.
US09165657B2	Operating method of memory system including NAND flash memory, variable resistance memory and controller An operating method is for a memory system which includes a NAND flash memory, a resistance variable memory, and a controller controlling the NAND flash memory and the resistance variable memory. The operating method includes receiving data, programming the received data in the NAND flash memory when the received data is at least a super page of data, programming the received data in the resistance variable memory when the received data is not a super page of data, and programming data accumulated in the resistance variable memory in the NAND flash memory when the accumulated data is a super page of data. A super page of data is an entirety of data that is programmable in memory cells connected to a same word line of the NAND flash memory.
US09165644B2	Method of operating a resistive memory device with a ramp-up/ramp-down program/erase pulse In one embodiment, a method of operating a resistive switching device includes applying a signal comprising a pulse on a first terminal of a two terminal resistive switching device having the first terminal and a second terminal. The resistive switching device has a first state and a second state. The pulse includes a first ramp from a first voltage to a second voltage over a first time period. The first time period is at least 0.1 times a total time period of the pulse.
US09165642B2	Low voltage dual supply memory cell with two word lines and activation circuitry A memory cell includes a latch having a true data node and a complement data node, a true bitline, a complement bitline, a first access transistor coupled between the true bitline and the true data node, and a second access transistor coupled between the complement bitline and the complement data node. A wordline driver circuit includes a true wordline coupled to control the first access transistor and a complement wordline coupled to control the second access transistor. The wordline driver generates control signals on the true and complement wordlines to access the memory cell by: actuating the first access transistor while the second access transistor is not actuated and then actuating the second access transistor while the first access transistor is not actuated. The bitlines and wordlines are supplied from different sets of power supply voltages, with the bitline high supply voltage being less than the wordline high supply voltage.
US09165636B2	Memory management unit for managing a state of memory, image processing device, and integrated circuit A memory management unit manages a state of a memory which is to be accessed by bank interleaving. The memory includes p banks (where p is an integer of 2 or greater). The memory management unit includes a control unit that dynamically determines a bank to be accessed from among the p banks. When predetermined conditions for a reserving state of the memory are satisfied and there is any unused bank in the p banks, the control unit performs power consumption reduction to control the memory to cause power consumption of the unused bank(s) to be less than power consumption of other banks in the p banks except the unused bank(s).
US09165627B2	Spin torque transfer memory cell structures and methods Spin Torque Transfer (STT) memory cell structures and methods are described herein. One or more STT memory cell structures comprise an annular STT stack including a nonmagnetic material between a first ferromagnetic material and a second ferromagnetic material and a soft magnetic material surrounding at least a portion of the annular STT stack.
US09165620B2	Memory system and operating method thereof A memory system includes one or more memory chips, and a repair information storage chip including a nonvolatile memory configured to store a repair information of the one or more memory chips, wherein during an initial operation of the memory system, the repair information stored in the repair information storage chip is transmitted to the one or more memory chips.
US09165617B2	Memory controller with staggered request signal output A memory controller having a time-staggered request signal output. A first timing signal is generated while a second timing signal is generated having a first phase difference relative to the first timing signal. An address value is transmitted in response to the first timing signal and a control value is transmitted in response to the second timing signal, the address value and control value constituting portions of a first memory access request.
US09165615B2	Coded differential intersymbol interference reduction Encoder and decoder circuits that encode and decode a series of data words to/from a series of code words. The data words include L symbols. The code words include M symbols, where M is larger than L. A set of tightly coupled M links to convey respective symbols in each of the series of code words. The code words are selected such that between every two consecutive code words in a series of code words, an equal number of transitions from low to high and high to low occur on a subset of the M-links.
US09165610B1	Non-volatile memory cell arrays and methods of fabricating semiconductor devices Disclosed herein are memory cell arrays, semiconductor devices, and methods for fabricating semiconductor devices. In one embodiment, a memory cell array includes first, second, third, and fourth memory cells each having a first transistor and a second transistor. First and second word-lines are coupled with the gates of the first transistors of the first and second memory cells. The second and a third word-line are coupled with the gates of the second transistors of the third and fourth memory cells.
US09165605B1	System and method for personal floating video Systems and methods for providing a user with a floating video of a subject are provided. The systems and methods generate a floating video by removing background pixels of a primary video using a background image/video, where the user records the primary video and the background image/video. The floating video may be generated on a recording device of the user and/or a remote server. Further, the user and/or the remote server may host the floating video.
US09165604B2	Alternative advertising in prerecorded media Presenting viewers with an alternative brief version of a recorded advertisement when they choose to fast-forward through or skip (or any other trick play event) the recorded advertisement. The alternative advertisement may be displayed instead of or in conjunction with the recorded advertisement (i.e., fast-forwarding advertisement is displayed in one portion of the screen (i.e., background or portion of a split screen) and the alternative brief version is displayed in another portion). The alternative brief version of the advertisement (trick play advertisement) may be a marketing message that is a static screen presenting a logo or a portion of the recorded advertisement, or may be a condensed version of the actual advertisement. The trick play advertisements may be targeted. An alternate or entirely unrelated advertisement can also be displayed as the trick play advertisement.
US09165594B2	Spindle motor and disk drive apparatus A spindle motor includes a stationary portion with a shaft, a circular plate portion, a wall portion, and a plate portion. The plate portion has a flat plate portion and an annular convex portion. The sleeve includes an annular portion, an outer side cylindrical portion, and an inner side cylindrical portion. The inner side cylindrical portion and an upper radial dynamic pressure groove array are superimposed in a radial direction. The upper radial dynamic pressure groove array includes a plurality of upper spiral grooves that is inclined in one direction with respect to an axial direction and a plurality of lower spiral grooves that is inclined in another direction opposite to the one direction. A lower end of the upper spiral grooves is positioned farther on an upper side than an upper surface of the annular portion.
US09165582B1	Thermal assisted magnetic recording head utilizing uncoupled light A thermal assisted magnetic recording head has a magnetic head slider having an air bearing surface that is opposite to a magnetic recording medium, a core that can propagate laser light as propagating light, a plasmon generator that includes a generator front end surface facing the air bearing surface, and a main pole facing the air bearing surface, and a laser light generator that supplies the laser light to the core. The plasmon generator generates near-field light (NF light) at the generator front end surface to heat the magnetic recording medium. The main pole includes a main pole end surface that faces the air bearing surface and that is positioned in the vicinity of the generator front end surface, and emits a magnetic flux to the magnetic recording medium from the main pole end surface. At least a portion of the laser light that is not coupled with the plasmon generator thermally deforms the air bearing surface so that a part of the air bearing surface positioned closer to the leading side than the generator front end surface and the main pole end surface in the down track direction protrudes toward the magnetic recording medium.
US09165576B2	Devices including a gas barrier layer Devices that include a near field transducer (NFT); a gas barrier layer positioned on at least a portion of the NFT; and a wear resistance layer positioned on at least a portion of the gas barrier layer wherein the gas barrier layer includes tantalum oxide (TaO), titanium oxide (TiO), chromium oxide (CrO), silicon oxide (SiO), aluminum oxide (AlO), titanium oxide (TiO), zirconium oxide (ZrO), yttrium oxide (YO), magnesium oxide (MgO), beryllium oxide (BeO), niobium oxide (NbO), hafnium oxide (HfO), vanadium oxide (VO), strontium oxide (SrO), or combinations thereof; silicon nitride (SiN), aluminum nitride (Al), boron nitride (BN), titanium nitride (TiN), zirconium nitride (ZrN), niobioum nitride (NbN), hafnium nitride (HfN), chromium nitride (CrN), or combinations thereof silicon carbide (SiC), titanium carbide (TiC), zirconium carbide (ZrC), niobioum carbide (NbC), chromium carbide (CrC), vanadium carbide (VC), boron carbide (BC), or combinations thereof or combinations thereof.
US09165573B1	Method for controlling camber on air bearing surface of a slider A method of a parting a slider from a slider bar is disclosed. The method includes receiving a slider bar comprising a plurality of sliders and having an air bearing surface (ABS) side and a back side opposite to the ABS side and parting at least one slider from the slider bar with a cutter, wherein the cutter enters the slider bar at least in part on the backside and exits the slider bar at least in part on the ABS side and the ABS side is facing away from the cutting direction by a predetermined acute angle.
US09165572B2	Head gimbals assembly, method for manufacturing thermal-assisted magnetic recording and manufacturing equipment of thermal-assisted magnetic recording Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a HAMR head. The HAMR head includes an anti-reflecting (AR) coating on a side opposite (e.g., a flex side) of the air bearing surface (ABS). The anti-reflective coating may include one or more anti-reflective layers. The anti-reflective coating reduces the amount of light reflected back towards a light source unit. A shading layer may be disposed on the anti-reflective coating and may function as a contact electrode as well as reducing stray light escaping from the laser, thus reducing the amount of stray light reaching the ABS.
US09165567B2	Systems, methods, and apparatus for speech feature detection Implementations and applications are disclosed for detection of a transition in a voice activity state of an audio signal, based on a change in energy that is consistent in time across a range of frequencies of the signal. For example, such detection may be based on a time derivative of energy for each of a number of different frequency components of the signal.
US09165562B1	Processing audio signals with adaptive time or frequency resolution In one aspect, an audio processing apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes an audio decoder, a filterbank, and a processor. The audio decoder decodes an encoded audio signal to obtain a time-domain audio signal, the encoded audio signal including a plurality of spectral components. The filterbank splits the time-domain audio signal to obtain a plurality of complex-valued subband samples in a first frequency region. The processor generates a plurality of subband samples in a second frequency region based at least in part on the complex-valued subband samples in the first frequency region, adaptively groups at least some of the plurality of subband samples in the second frequency region with an adaptive time resolution or an adaptive frequency resolution, and determines a spectral profile of at least some of the subband samples in the second frequency region based on the groups.
US09165559B2	Method and apparatus for frequency domain watermark processing a multi-channel audio signal in real-time Digital audio signal watermarking in real-time is difficult in an environment that has limited processing power. According to the invention, the channels in a data block-based audio multi-channel signal are prioritized with respect to watermarking importance, whereby the channel priority can change for different input signal data blocks. For a current input signal block, the most important channel is watermarked and the required processing time is determined. If this required processing time is shorter than a predefined application-dependent threshold, the next most important channel is marked and the additionally required processing time is determined, and so on. Due to the block-based nature of the audio watermarking including block overlap/add and due to the sensitivity of the resulting audio quality against blocking artifacts, several problems are solved in order to lead to acceptable performance and quality.
US09165557B2	Voice recognizing apparatus, voice recognizing method, and program for recognizing voice In a voice recognizing apparatus, a voice recognizing method, and a program for recognizing voice are provided to carry out voice recognition with high precision. When a call receiving unit in which a plurality of telephone numbers for receiving are assigned to respective contents of calls receives a call from a caller, a calling voice signal input device inputs a calling voice signal of the call, and a receiving telephone number input device inputs the receiving telephone number of the call. A voice correction device then carries out voice correction processing for the calling voice signal in accordance with the receiving telephone number and a voice recognizing device executes voice recognition processing for the calling voice signal in accordance with the receiving telephone number.
US09165552B2	Ultrasonic imaging apparatus and method of controlling delay The present invention enables ultrasonic propagation time values after correction of refraction to be calculated in parallel for each receive channel, by using a recurrence relation in the depth direction. Moreover, accumulation of errors can be avoided by using an accurate propagation time value obtained in advance at a reference depth to correct the propagation time value each time the reference depth is reached. For this error correction, the recurrence relation to calculate the propagation time value can be an approximate expression. For example, the propagation time value can be calculated using the inclination of reference propagation time values between reference depths. In an actual circuit, received signals are sequentially stored in a memory, and a receive beam is formed by calculating an address position corresponding to the propagation time value of the ultrasonic wave, and adding the received signals stored in the calculated addresses.
US09165549B2	Audio noise cancelling A noise canceling system comprises a microphone (103) for generating a captured signal representing sound in an audio environment and a sound transducer (101) for radiating a sound canceling audio signal in the audio environment. A feedback path (105, 107, 109, 111, 113) exists from the microphone (103) to the sound transducer (101) and comprises a feedback filter (109). A tone processor (119) determines a tone component characteristic for a tone component of a feedback signal of the feedback path (105, 107, 109, 111, 113) and an adaptation processor (121) adapts the feedback path in response to the tone component characteristic. The invention allows detection of the onset of instability and dynamic compensation to mitigate or prevent such instability. Accordingly increased design freedom for the feedback filter is achieved resulting in improved noise cancellation.
US09165538B2	Image generation A method of generating an image comprises receiving a signal over a USB interface comprising encoded display data for one or more rectangular group of pixel tiles within an image and position data for the or each group of pixel tiles. The coefficients are obtained from the encoded display data, maybe by converting variable bit length fields into AC coefficients and an inverse Haar transform performed on them to generate pixel data for each rectangular group of pixel tiles. A frame buffer, which may be part of the display, is then updated with the generated pixel data ready for output to the display device. Copy protection may also be incorporated using AES negotiated over HDPC.
US09165536B2	Systems and methods for projecting composite images Embodiments of the present invention comprise electronic projection systems and methods. One embodiment of the present invention comprises a method of creating composite images with a projection system comprising as first projector and at least a second projector, comprising generating a correspondence map of pixels for images by determining offsets between pixels from at least a second image from the second projector and corresponding pixels from a first image from the first projector, receiving a source image, warping the source image based at least in part on the correspondence map to produce a warped image, and displaying the source image by the first projector and displaying the warped image by the second projector to create a composite image.
US09165533B2	Display rotation management Display rotation management is described. A device may include sensors disposed within a housing that produce an output usable to determine an orientation of a display device disposed on a surface of the housing. A rotation manager module disposed within the housing may process the output of the sensors to determine the orientation of the display device. The rotation manager module may calculate an average orientation of the display device over a time interval and a variance of the orientation. Based on the variance of the orientation in relation to a threshold amount, the rotation manager module can set a screen orientation of the display device.
US09165532B2	Display device Each of image-signal-line drive circuits includes a timing controller that generates a control signal controlling itself and other image-signal-line drive circuit, and a master/slave selection circuit that sets itself as a master mode image-signal-line drive circuit or a slave mode image-signal-line drive circuit based on a selection signal to be given from outside. From among the plurality of image-signal-line drive circuits, the master mode image-signal-line drive circuit gives the control signal to the slave mode image-signal-line drive circuit.
US09165531B2	System for detecting display driver error when failing to receive a synchronization signal and method thereof A system performs a method for detecting display driver error. The method includes sending a first command signal to a display driver to operate according to a first operating state that includes the display driver sending a synchronization signal, and monitoring for the synchronization signal during a first time period after sending the first command signal. The method further includes sending a second command signal to the display driver to operate according to a second operating state that includes the display driver withholding sending the synchronization signal, and monitoring for the synchronization signal during a second time period after sending the second command signal. In addition, the method includes detecting a display driver error based on results of the monitoring during at least one of the first or the second time periods.
US09165527B2	System for display of images using extended greyscale bit-depth on standard display devices A system enhances reduced resolution grey scale luminance data for display on a monitor. An interface receives a pixel grey scale luminance value represented by a first number of bits exceeding a display monitor input bit length. A data processor indicates a difference comprising the number of bits. In response to the difference, the data processor derives R, G, B pixel luminance values by adjusting one or more of the R, G, B pixel luminance values to provide corrected R, G, B pixel luminance values representing the grey scale luminance value and at least one of the corrected R, G, B pixel luminance values is different from remaining ones of R, G, B pixel luminance values. The data processor outputs the corrected R, G, B pixel luminance values for display on R, G, B channels of the monitor.
US09165525B2	Display device and method for driving same In an intermittent drive mode of a display device in which driving and pausing of the driving are repeated, an image identification section identifies an input image as a still image or a moving image. In a case where the moving image is identified, a drive/pause control section generates a drive/pause control signal with a period ratio in accordance with the moving image. A timing control section generates a driver control signal so that intermittent driving is carried out. Then, a source driver and a gate driver drives a display section so that the drive period and the pause period are repeated with a predetermined period ratio, so that the input image is displayed. The drive/pause control section sets a time ratio between the drive period and the pause period to be variable for each of the moving image and the still image.
US09165524B2	Display device and driving method thereof A display device prevents breakage due to overheating of a data driver and a signal controller. The display device includes a display panel including a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of data lines and pixels connected to the gate lines and the data lines. A gate driver supplies a gate signal to the gate lines. A data driver supplies a data signal to the data lines. A signal controller controls the gate signal and the data signal. The signal controller includes a data converter converting a gray value of image data when a difference in the gray value of the image data of two adjacent pixels connected to the same data line among the plurality of data lines is greater than or equal to a first threshold value.
US09165523B2	Driver circuit for image lines of a display device with arrangement to improve multi-level grayscale display A driver circuit including a DA converting circuit that converts video data input from the outside to a grayscale voltage; an amplifying circuit that amplifies the grayscale voltage; and a switch circuit that selects the grayscale voltage output from the amplifying circuit and a predetermined voltage as a voltage that is output to the image line. When video data indicating a minimum grayscale, the switch circuit outputs the predetermined voltage to the image line, and when video data indicating a grayscale other than the minimum grayscale is input, the switch circuit outputs the grayscale voltage output from the amplifying circuit to the image line. The predetermined voltage allows a voltage of the pixel electrode and a voltage of the counter electrode after passage of the writing of the image voltage to be coincident with each other.
US09165514B2	Display apparatus and backlight unit A display apparatus is provided. The display apparatus includes: a display panel; and a backlight unit which provides the display panel with backlight. The backlight unit includes: a converter which converts a voltage of a received power and outputs an output power, a plurality of light source modules which receives the output power from the converter, and a control unit which determines powering conditions to operate the plurality of the light source modules in a specific state for each of the plurality of light source modules, and controls the converter sequentially based on the determined powering conditions.
US09165497B2	Display device, integrated circuit, and control method There is provided a display device including a temporal direction control unit that causes a gain used to control a video signal to respond to an input video signal at high speed when the input video signal sharply increases, and causes the gain to respond to the input video signal at low speed when the input video signal gently increases.
US09165496B1	Flat display device with alternating white image driving periods A flat display device including a display panel. The display panel includes a unit pixel, the unit pixel having a red sub-pixel, a green sub-pixel, a blue sub-pixel, and a white sub-pixel. The flat display device further includes a panel driving unit to drive the flat panel in a first driving period and a second driving period in an alternating manner to display a white image on the unit pixel. The panel driving unit generates first white unit data, to enable two of the red, green, and blue sub-pixels and the white sub-pixel to be driven in the first driving period. The panel driving unit generates second white unit data, to enable three of the sub-pixels, which include the sub-pixel not driven in the first driving period, to be driven in the second driving period.
US09165494B2	Signal conversion circuit and multi-primary color liquid crystal display device comprising same A signal conversion circuit (20) is used for a multiple-primary color liquid crystal display device (100) which performs color display using four primary colors of red displayed by a red-sub pixel (R), green displayed by green-sub pixel (G), blue displayed by blue-sub pixel (B), and yellow displayed by yellow-sub pixel (Ye), and converts an input three-primary color video signal into a multiple-primary color video signal corresponding to four primary colors. The signal conversion circuit (20) performs signal conversion such that a gray scale level of the yellow-sub pixel (Ye) is higher than a gray scale level of the green-sub pixel (G) in at least some cases from among cases in which a red gray-scale level r, a green gray-scale level g, and a blue gray-scale level b which are displayed by the three-primary color video signal satisfy a relationship of r>g>b.
US09165493B2	Color correction of electronic displays utilizing gain control A video-rendering chip performs gain correction on received display input, based on a display temperature, to produce output values that are shown on the display. The video-rendering chip includes multipliers, a microprocessor, and a memory. The microprocessor receives a display temperature from a sensor, determines gain correction coefficients that correspond to the display temperature, and provides the correction coefficients to the multipliers. The multipliers then multiply the display input by the correction coefficients to produce the output values. The microprocessor may determine the correction coefficients utilizing a lookup table or a correction coefficient formula stored in the memory. The microprocessor may receive an updated display temperature periodically and may determine new correction coefficients that correspond to the updated display temperature. The microprocessor may receive updated display temperatures at fixed periods or at varying periods based on the previous display temperature.
US09165484B2	Multi-symbol indication apparatus A multi-symbol indication apparatus, may include a plurality of light sources, each of the light sources emitting light of a single color, a plurality of filter units, each of the filter units installed above the light sources with different height each other and reflecting light of the single color corresponding to the relevant light source, wherein a symbol may be carved on each of the filter units, and a display cover installed above the filter units.
US09165474B1	System and method for limiting computer usage The present invention involves a system and method for limiting access to computers by an individual; and a system and method for rewarding an individual with computer access.
US09165471B1	System and method for determining aircraft payloads to enhance profitability A method for managing aircraft operations includes determining, via a trajectory predictor, an expected fuel usage for a flight along a desired route, and determining, via at least one processor, an available cargo capacity for the flight along the desired route based at least in part on the expected fuel usage. In addition, the method includes determining, via the at least one processor and the trajectory predictor, a passenger ticket price, a cargo price, and a fuel quantity based at least in part on an available seating capacity, an expected passenger demand, the available cargo capacity, and an expected cargo demand to enhance profitability of a flight network. The method also includes outputting the passenger ticket price, the cargo price, and the fuel quantity to a user interface, to a storage device, and/or to a network.
US09165455B1	Aberration engine An aberration engine that collects data sensed by a monitoring system that monitors a property of a user and aggregates the collected data over a period of a time. The aberration engine detects, within the aggregated data, patterns of recurring events and, based on detecting the patterns of recurring events within the aggregated data, takes action related to the monitoring system based on the detected patterns of recurring events within the aggregated data.
US09165450B1	Vehicle with movement sensor A vehicle comprises at least one wheel supporting the vehicle and an engine. At least one axially rotating member operatively connects the engine with the wheel such that the wheel moves responsive to operation of the engine. At least one tag is disposed on the axially rotating member. At least one sensor is disposed on the vehicle so that the sensor can detect movement of the tag. A computer disposed on the vehicle is operatively connected with the sensor. The sensor sends a signal to the computer when the sensor detects movement of the tag. Means on the vehicle provides an operator of the vehicle with feedback indicative of movement of the vehicle.
US09165438B2	Display processing system, display processing method, and program A display processing system including: a state display unit which displays, for a plurality of parameters each having an upper limit value, a state value of each parameter for a predetermined period of time with respect to the upper limit value; a determination unit which determines, for each of the parameters, whether the state value is close to the upper limit value or not; a warning display unit which displays a warning to a user with regard to a parameter of which the state value is determined by the determination unit to be close to the upper limit value; and a countermeasure display unit which displays, for each of the parameters, a countermeasure for improving the state when the state value is close to the upper limit value.
US09165436B2	Gaming device having a designated activator symbol therein and method thereof Embodiments of the present invention relate to a slot machine gaming device providing players additional opportunities to obtain awards in a game. In one embodiment, a game comprises: a plurality of reels, each of the reels including a plurality of symbol positions; a first plurality of symbols at the plurality of symbol positions on the reel, the first plurality of symbols comprising at least one predetermined activator symbol; a second plurality of symbols activated by the activator symbol, the second plurality of symbols replacing a subset of the first plurality of symbols, the second plurality of symbols comprising a plurality of replicator symbols, wherein each replicator symbol includes at least two of the same symbols at one of the symbol positions; at least one predetermined winning symbol combination of a plurality of winning symbol combinations; and an award associated with the predetermined winning symbol combination.
US09165434B2	Slot machine systems, methods, and apparatus Systems, methods and/or apparatus for slot machine eye-strain reduction are disclosed. Systems, methods and/or apparatus for slot machine back lighting are further provided. Systems, methods and/or apparatus for a slot machine back lighting effect are also disclosed. Systems, methods and/or apparatus for reel line lights are disclosed. Systems, methods and/or apparatus for reel tilt and motion detection are disclosed. Systems, methods and/or apparatus for reel wins display for an electromechanical slot machine and/or gaming machine viewing window configurable lines are disclosed. Systems, methods and/or apparatus for a configurable shelf system for an electromechanical slot machine are disclosed. Systems, methods, and apparatus are also disclosed for reel tilt minimization. Systems, methods and/or apparatus for slot machine controlled lighting. Further embodiments of the present disclosure can provide slot machine reel stop systems, methods, and apparatus useful for electromechanical slot machines.
US09165433B2	Gaming system, gaming device, and method for providing a cascading symbol game including shifting symbols according to directional indicators The disclosed gaming system displays an arrangement of symbols including a plurality of symbol positions. For a play of the game, the gaming system displays a randomly generated symbol in each symbol position. One or more of the symbols are displayed as associated with a directional indicator indicating a shift direction for that symbol. If any winning symbol combination is displayed, the gaming system shifts at least one symbol within the symbol matrix according to the directional indicator associated with that symbol, such as by shifting the symbol as designated distance in the shift direction indicated by the symbol's directional indicator. In one embodiment, the gaming system removes one or more symbols in the shift path of a shifting symbol. In one embodiment, the gaming system generates and displays new symbols in the then-empty symbol positions of the symbol matrix and repeats the determination, shifting, and generation.
US09165431B2	Gaming system player terminal adapted for hot swapping between remote live table games Table game tournament systems can include player terminal(s), electronic gaming table(s), and/or a remote server. A player terminal can have an outer housing, a controller located therewithin or thereabout, input and output component(s), and a communications interface to an outside gaming network having other functionally similar gaming device(s), gaming table(s), and a remote server. The controller and/or server can facilitate providing tournament information to a player, which information can include whether the player would qualify for the next tournament round, who is the most serious opponent to the player, and/or the chip difference therebetween. A terminal can also facilitate asynchronous and individually paced tournament play, switching between different tournament tables on demand, and play of other non-tournament table games thereat simultaneously with the play of the table game tournament. Portable computing devices can be used as player terminals and can permit players to play in actual or practice play-along modes.
US09165419B2	Slot machine bonus game providing awards for manual dexterity A slot machine method, apparatus, and computer readable storage to implement a bonus round for a slot machine game that allows players to use manual dexterity in order to earn prizes in a bonus round. Moving elements can be selected (e.g., shot, touched, etc.) and if successfully selected, the player can earn a bonus award. Bonus awards can accumulate until the bonus round is over. The bonus round can end when either a predefined time is over or the player selects a termination element.
US09165391B2	Receipts scanner and financial organizer A portable device is configured to obtain an image of a document, the document being of no predefined format and containing numerical data. The numerical data is extracted and automatically organized into a report in a predefined or customized format and stored into a database. The database is accessible and searchable by a user to obtain either the numerical data of the image or the report.
US09165389B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program An image processing apparatus includes a layer separating unit configured to separate an input frame image data item into a moving subject layer and a background layer and a combining processing unit configured to generate a combined image data item by performing an image combining process using the input frame image data item. In the image combining process, top priority is given to a moving subject layer of the latest input frame image data item, a second priority is given to a moving subject layer of a frame image data item associated with a previously performed combining process, and a layer-image combining process is performed for a partial area of an existing combined image data item.
US09165384B2	Dual-energy tomographic imaging system The invention relates to an imaging system (30) for imaging an object. A projection data providing unit (31) provides acquired spectral projection data of an object comprising at least two components, and a reconstruction unit (10) iteratively reconstructs at least two final component images of the object by performing several iteration steps, in which at least two intermediate component images are updated based on the acquired spectral projection data and a penalty term, which is indicative of the correlated noise between the at least two intermediate component images. Since the at least two intermediate component images are updated based on the acquired spectral projection data and a penalty term, which is indicative of the correlated noise, correlated noise is penalized during the iterative reconstruction. The finally resulting component images of the object are therefore less corrupted by correlated noise and have an improved image quality.
US09165383B1	Point cloud visualization using bi-modal color schemes based on 4D lidar datasets A system is provided for alerting a crew in an airborne platform. The system includes a module for receiving point cloud data from a LIDAR system, including range data between the LIDAR system and multiple points in the point cloud. The system also includes a module for placing the multiple points into first and second zones, wherein the first zone has range data of points in the point cloud located within a first distance from the airborne platform, and the second zone has range data of points located further than the first distance. The first distance is predetermined by an operational environment of the airborne platform. The system further includes a color module for coloring the points in the first zone with a first color composition and coloring the points in the second zone with a second color composition. A color display is provided for displaying the colored points in the first and second zones.
US09165380B2	Image encoding method using binary partition tree An image encoding method using a Binary Partition Tree (BPT) includes performing the BPT on a reference frame, detecting blocks, each having a difference in a pixel value exceeding a threshold value in a current frame, based on a result of the BPT of the reference frame, and performing the BPT of the current frame on the detected blocks. In accordance with the present invention, block partition is not applied to all frames, but a partial partition method based on a difference between the pixel values of a reference frame and a current frame to be encoded is provided. Accordingly, the encoding speed within the P frame or the B frame can be improved. Furthermore, the PSNR of a corresponding frame can be maintained within a specific range of the PSNR of a reference frame, and a compression effect can be improved.
US09165377B2	Imaging apparatus with scene analysis An imaging apparatus comprises an image-capturing element that outputs image signals representing a plurality of color components and an analyzing device that analyzes a captured photographic image based upon image signals with linearity, which are output from the image-capturing element.
US09165376B2	System, method and computer readable medium for detecting edges of a pattern A system, a non-transitory computer readable medium and a method for detecting a parameter of a pattern, the method comprises: obtaining an image of the pattern; wherein the image is generated by scanning the pattern with a charged particle beam; processing the image to provide an edge enhanced image; wherein the processing comprises computing an aggregate energy of first n spectral components of the image, wherein n exceeds two; and further processing the edge enhanced image and determining a parameter of the pattern.
US09165375B2	Automatically determining field of view overlap among multiple cameras Field of view overlap among multiple cameras are automatically determined as a function of the temporal overlap of object tracks determined within their fields-of-view. Object tracks with the highest similarity value are assigned into pairs, and portions of the assigned object track pairs having a temporally overlapping period of time are determined. Scene entry points are determined from object locations on the tracks at a beginning of the temporally overlapping period of time, and scene exit points from object locations at an ending of the temporally overlapping period of time. Boundary lines for the overlapping fields-of-view portions within the corresponding camera fields-of-view are defined as a function of the determined entry and exit points in their respective fields-of-view.
US09165370B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer-readable recording device An image processing apparatus includes a probability value calculator that calculates, based on color feature data of a pixel included in an image, respective probabilities that the pixel belongs to a specific area and a non-specific area; a weighted edge intensity calculator that calculates a weighted edge intensity between neighboring pixels based on pixel values and color feature data of the pixel included in the image and a neighboring pixel of the pixel; an energy function creator that uses the probabilities and the weighted edge intensity to create an energy function expressed by a result of an area determination of the pixel; and an area divider that divides the image into the plurality of areas based on the energy function.
US09165360B1	Methods, systems, and devices for automated analysis of medical scans The disclosure herein provides methods, systems, and devices for automated reorientation and/or analysis of medical scans and/or images. The methods, systems, and devices for automated analysis of medical scans can be configured to mark, score, grade, and/other otherwise classify medical scans that are more time-sensitive, severe, and/or the like to allow a medical professional reviewing and/or analyzing medical scans to view and/or analyze such scans more efficiently by using a common image orientation and/or taking into account knowledge of the risk of severity, time-sensitiveness, and/or other priority.
US09165352B2	Precipitation removal for vision-based parking management systems Methods and systems receive a series of images and compare at least two of the images in the series of images to locate items that are in different positions to identify moving items. Such methods and systems further calculate a measure of the moving items within the series of images. Additionally, such methods and systems perform a continuously variable image correction to remove the moving items from the images to produce a series of corrected images. This “continuously variable image correction” increases the amount of image correction for a relatively higher measure of the moving items and decreases the amount of image correction for a relatively lower measure of the moving items, and does so continuously as the measure of the moving items changes within the series of images.
US09165341B2	Method for generating super-resolution images having improved image resolution and measuring device In the case of a measuring device for recording a sequence of individual images (6, 7, 8) in a non-visible spectral range, a method for generating an SR image (11) having an image resolution that is higher than an image resolution of the individual images (6, 7, 8) is provided, wherein, for the individual images (6, 7, 8), a displacement vector field (11, 12) is determined with a calculation of the optical flow and the individual images (6, 7, 8) are segmented into segments (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25) with regard to the values of the displacement vector field (11, 12), and an optimization method is carried out for calculating the SR image (11) from the individual images (6, 7, 8) with variation parameters individually assigned to the segments (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25).
US09165338B2	Method, device and computer-readable storage medium for panoramic image completion A method for panoramic image completion is disclosed. The method includes: acquiring a panoramic image; obtaining a projected image by mapping pixels of the panoramic image onto a polar coordinate system, wherein a long side component of the pixel coordinate of the pixels is corresponding to the polar angle of the polar coordinate system and a short side component of the pixel coordinate of the pixels is corresponding to a radial coordinate of the polar coordinate system; acquiring an incomplete region of the projected image, and obtaining a completed image by completing the incomplete region; and obtaining a completed panoramic image by inverse mapping the pixels of the completed image according to the polar coordinate system. Furthermore, a device for panoramic image completion is also disclosed. The above method and device for panoramic image completion take account of the perspective curvature of the panoramic image, to improve the degree of restoration.
US09165335B2	System for providing identification and information, and for scheduling alerts A device and system for providing identification and medical information are disclosed. The device includes a readable code that contains medical biographical information of the subject, a programmable reporter element that is programmed to electronically store at least one particular event relating to the subject, and a signal producing element functionally related to the programmable reporter element. The system includes collecting and storing medical biographical information of a subject, embedding the medical biographical information in a readable code of the device, and scanning the readable code of the device worn by or in the possession of the subject using an appliance to retrieve the medical biographical information of the subject. The medical biographical information allows medical professionals to obtain the subject's medical information in order to provide medical care. Also disclosed is an integrated system for alerting subjects to upcoming events related to their continued care.
US09165334B2	Pet and people care management system A pet or human care management system and method are provided. In one embodiment, the system includes a portable electronic device carried by a care service provider to scan a care customer bar code at the location of a care visit to indicate the start and/or end of the care visit. The portable electronic device also includes a GPS component and transmits its location at a plurality of times during the care visit, such as to indicate the path of a scheduled walk. A website is employed to administrate the care management system, including scheduling walks, licensing care providers, and creating customer and care provider accounts.
US09165330B2	Management system of mining machine and management method of mining machine In a management system of the mining machine, a management device collects operation information about the dump truck via a management-side wireless communication device. Routes along which the dump truck travels are identified based on position information, included in the operation information about the dump truck, about at least four locations included in a route along which the dump truck moves to a location where the dump truck unloads a load, to a location where the dump truck loads a load, and to a location where the dump truck unloads the load again.
US09165328B2	System, method and computer program product for classification of social streams A method of labeling an unlabeled message of a social stream. The method including training a training model based on labeled messages, partitioning the training model into a plurality of class partitions, each comprising statistical information and a class label, computing a confidence for each of the class partitions based on information of an unlabeled message and the statistical information of a respective class partition, as executed by a processor in a computer system, and labeling the unlabeled message of the social stream according to respective confidences of the class partitions.
US09165326B1	System and method to adjust insurance rate based on real-time data about potential vehicle operator impairment A method includes receiving data about potential impairment of a vehicle operator, wherein the data about potential impairment is generated by: (i) a first optical sensor monitoring a vehicle operator, and (ii) a second optical sensor monitoring an environment ahead of a vehicle operated by the vehicle operator. The computer-implemented method further includes assigning a plurality of scores based on the data about potential vehicle operator impairment, wherein each of the plurality of scores corresponds to a respective impairment indicator, determining an impairment score by performing a mathematical operation on the plurality of scores, and providing the impairment score to a remote device configured to alert the vehicle operator based on the impairment score.
US09165322B2	Digital downloading jukebox system with user-tailored music management, communications, and other tools A digital downloading jukebox system including a mechanism for delivering custom services to a recognized user, including services for creating playlists, communicating with others, accessing other features, etc. is provided. In some exemplary embodiments, after a user is recognized, the jukebox system allows users to access a special front-end via the Internet or on an actual jukebox. Then, the user may, for example, create playlists, share songs with friends, send messages to friends, and access other value-added content. Other exemplary embodiments allow users to become certified, charging them for services without requiring constant inputting of coinage or credit card information. Such a system preferably learns about networks of friends, and enables managers to send similar messages to regular customers and/or others known to the system.
US09165317B2	Methods, systems, and products for managing digital content A dynamic repository (either storing digital data content or pointers to stored digital data content) works in conjunction with a plurality of interfaces to manage digital content and digital rights policies associated with one or more users. Digital rights policies are unique to each user and such policies define access to digital content in the repository. The user's digital rights policy indicates the level of access a user has to digital content in the repository (e.g., the policy could indicate that the user has authorized access to a particular file for a period of seven days). The interfaces linked with the content repository are used to access and manipulate the digital data content (based upon each user's digital rights policy) and the digital rights policies stored in the content repository. The interfaces include: (a) one or more authentication interfaces for authenticating users, (b) one or more digital rights management (DRM) interfaces allowing users to add, delete, or edit the digital rights policies, (c) one or more data access interfaces allowing users to selectively access digital data content as defined by their individual digital rights policy, (d) one or more browsing interfaces allowing users to selectively browse said digital data content, or a (e) one or more content manipulation interfaces allowing said users to add, delete, or edit said digital data content.
US09165314B2	Interactions for sharing content items in a digital magazine A digital magazine server user may identify a content item presented by the digital magazine server to save or present to other digital magazine server users by interacting with a client device presenting the content item. For example, providing a gesture to the client device identifies a content item for presentation to other digital magazine server users. The gesture may begin by the user interacting with a portion of a display device that displays a portion of the content item and continue as the user interacts with the display device along a path from the portion to an additional portion. When the gesture is completed, the user may be presented with options to present the content item to additional digital magazine server users, or the content item may be presented to other digital magazine server users.
US09165309B2	External feature integration system and method A system for providing a predetermined set of functionality to primary applications is provided. The system includes a primary application interface that receives a user identifier, primary application configuration data and an application identifier associated with one of the primary applications from a plurality of primary applications, wherein the user identifier and the application identifier for each of the primary applications are different. A feature functionality system alters one or more features to match the primary application, the feature functionality system configured to provide a feature to a user associated with the user identifier and to transfer a primary application currency amount to the primary application or to award the user a prize upon completion of the feature by the user. A billing system interface unlocks external feature functionality for a certain number of interactions or a certain time period or generates the primary application currency amount.
US09165307B2	System, method and computer program product for templated export of content Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for a templated export. In one embodiment, a method may include determining an export template responsive to a first user action, the first user action indicating a delivery endpoint. The method may further include preparing an asset for delivery to the delivery endpoint utilizing the export template. The asset may include zero or more files. The export template may include predetermined configuration and delivery parameters particular to the delivery endpoint. The prepared asset may be communicated to the delivery endpoint without any further user action.
US09165305B1	Generating models based on user behavior A system and method for generating a model based on the user's interests and activities by receiving with a logging unit user activities from heterogeneous data sources, generating a log of user activities for a content item by joining the user activities for the content item, expanding attributes of the log by at least one of content and by the user to form an expanded log and generating a user model based on the expanded log. A feature extractor extracts features from content items and assigns weights to the features. A scoring engine receives the model and the content items with their associated weighted features and scores the content items based on the user model. The scoring engine generates a stream of content based on the scored content items.
US09165301B2	Network devices for replacing an advertisement with another advertisement Techniques for replacing an advertisement in a webpage from a website with another advertisement are disclosed. A response including the webpage is intercepted in a network device deployed in an in-line fashion, preferably at a data traffic point along a network. When it is determined that the webpage includes an advertisement that is replaceable, a preferable advertisement more correlated to the interests of a user is embedded in data packets to replace those for the original advertisement. Subsequently, the preferable advertisement is served when the webpage is displayed.
US09165300B2	Generating a recommendation A method and an apparatus for communicating a recommended item to a user of a network-based transaction facility are described. The method comprises determining that the user has been unsuccessful in concluding a transaction pertaining to an item offered for sale via the network-based transaction facility, and in response to this determination, communicating information concerning a recommended item to the user over a network. The recommended item is available for purchase via the network-based transaction facility.
US09165294B2	Method for using barcodes and mobile devices to conduct payment transactions Embodiments of the invention facilitate payment transactions by integrating the image capture and image processing capabilities of certain mobile devices with the card-based payment transaction infrastructure. In some embodiments, a camera contained in a mobile device is used to capture an image of a barcode that is visible on the surface of a substrate. The barcode may represent or otherwise encode one or more of payment account data, consumer authentication data, consumer profile data, or other relevant information. In some embodiments, the captured image may be processed by the mobile device to extract the payment account data, authentication data, or other relevant data. This data may then be communicated to a data processing element that is connected to, or forms part of, a payment processing network in order to conduct the desired payment transaction.
US09165279B2	System and method for calibration and mapping of real-time location data A method of mapping the location of at least one object in three dimensional space, relative to an initial point in three dimensional space by an EIR terminal which contains a microprocessor, memory, a scanning device, a motion sensing device, and a communication interface. The method includes scanning a signal of decodable indicia located at a pre-defined area of a physical object, locating the decodable indicia within this signal, decoding the decodable indicia into a decoded message. The decoded message is an identifier for said physical object, which is then displayed. After receiving an interface command, the EIR terminal is placed in mechanical contact with the pre-defined area of the physical object and a first spatial position is stored as a point of origin in the EIR terminal.
US09165273B2	Externalizing enterprise workspaces using content plug-in The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and computer program products for externalizing an enterprise workspace to business applications. One computer-implemented method includes indicating data within an application to be included in a new module, initiating a command to create the new module using the indicated data, transmitting the command to create the new module to an external server, receiving from the external server a list of available enterprise workspaces for adding the new module, selecting at least one available enterprise workspace from the list of available enterprise workspaces, transmitting the selected enterprise workspace to the external server, and receiving a confirmation of the new module creation.
US09165272B1	System for monitoring a plurality of tagged assets on an offshore asset A system for monitoring a plurality of tagged assets on at least one offshore asset, by creating a customer profile and a library of survey set ups and storing information from independent survey set ups mounted on or proximate to the offshore asset on the administrative data storage. The system includes creating a library of tagged assets for the offshore asset using at least one independent survey set up, wherein each tagged asset has an icon with a hyperlink to a library of images. The system includes identifying placement locations on offshore assets and forming an executive dashboard for display on at least one client device, wherein a virtually positioned icon positioned on an image of the tagged assets presents a hyperlink to the library of survey set ups for that tagged asset, thereby enabling toggling from the image to the library of survey set ups.
US09165271B2	Method and system for tracking and reporting environmental impact and agricultural-producer information Various embodiments of the present disclosure include methods and systems for tracking and reporting environmental impact and agricultural-producer information. In an example embodiment, a method comprises receiving first data associated with an impact on groundwater pollution or surface water pollution, the impact on the groundwater pollution or the surface water pollution resulting from a production of an agricultural product, the first data being received from a single representative sampling location; receiving second data associated with the impact on the groundwater pollution or surface water pollution, the second data being received from at least one of a plurality of representative sampling locations; generating a benchmark percentage-based result based on the first or second data; calculating comparative data using the benchmark percentage-based result and at least some of the first or second data; and reporting the benchmark percentage-based result and the comparative data to a user.
US09165265B2	Kiosk for energy industry logistics An automated kiosk and related apparatus provide check-in and boarding services to energy sector passengers, such as helicopter passengers. Preferably, the kiosk and related apparatus can take and store a picture of the passenger, calculate and/or measure the weight of the passenger and the passenger's luggage, print luggage tags and boarding printouts, check third parties' databases (such as a no-fly list (NFL)) for approval for the passenger's flight and can transmit data to another location (server, third party employer, pilot).
US09165264B2	Reservation system, navigation device, battery charger and server Reservation system realizing more efficient reservation of charging. The reservation system comprises a navigation device and a battery charger. The navigation device generates reservation information of a charge, and sends the reservation information to the battery charger. The battery charger makes a schedule by using the reservation information, and performs charging according to the schedule. Further, the battery charger makes again a schedule according to an arrival time of a booked vehicle.
US09165262B2	Automatic generation of assent indication in a document approval function for collaborative document editing A method for generating an assent indication in a document approval and review function can include loading a document for editing in a document editor and determining a set of authors for the document. The method also can include modifying a title of the document to include an identity of at least one of the authors in the set. Finally, the method can include changing a visual appearance in the title of an identity of the assenting author responsive to one of the authors in the set assenting to a publication of the document.
US09165256B2	Efficient prediction Disclosed are a system and method for constructing and using a predictive model to generate a prediction signal, also referred to as a classification signal when the signal indicates one of a plurality of distinct classes. In various embodiments, the disclosed technique reduces a size of a predictive Support Vector Model by extracting certain values beforehand and storing only weighting values. The technique does not sacrifice generalization performance but does significantly reduce the model size and accelerate prediction performance. The described system applies to most kernel functions, whether linear or nonlinear.
US09165248B2	Using global and local catastrophes across sub-populations in parallel evolutionary computing A parallel genetic algorithm computing process tracks forward progress of a first sub-population across generations thereof. The first sub-population is one of a plurality of sub-populations that form a population of candidate solutions to an optimization problem. At a current generation of the first sub-population, it is determined that forward progress of the first sub-population fails a set of one or more forward progress criteria. In response to determining that the forward progress of the first sub-population fails the set of one or more forward progress criteria at the current generation, a local catastrophe is invoked on the current generation of the first sub-population. The first sub-population is re-populated after the local catastrophe is invoked. The first sub-population is re-established after re-populating while constraining migration to the first sub-population.
US09165247B2	Using global and local catastrophes across sub-populations in parallel evolutionary computing A parallel genetic algorithm computing process tracks forward progress of a first sub-population across generations thereof. The first sub-population is one of a plurality of sub-populations that form a population of candidate solutions to an optimization problem. At a current generation of the first sub-population, it is determined that forward progress of the first sub-population fails a set of one or more forward progress criteria. In response to determining that the forward progress of the first sub-population fails the set of one or more forward progress criteria at the current generation, a local catastrophe is invoked on the current generation of the first sub-population. The first sub-population is re-populated after the local catastrophe is invoked. The first sub-population is re-established after re-populating while constraining migration to the first sub-population.
US09165243B2	Tensor deep stacked neural network A tensor deep stacked neural (T-DSN) network for obtaining predictions for discriminative modeling problems. The T-DSN network and method use bilinear modeling with a tensor representation to map a hidden layer to the predication layer. The T-DSN network is constructed by stacking blocks of a single hidden layer tensor neural network (SHLTNN) on top of each other. The single hidden layer for each block then is separated or divided into a plurality of two or more sections. In some embodiments, the hidden layer is separated into a first hidden layer section and a second hidden layer section. These multiple sections of the hidden layer are combined using a product operator to obtain an implicit hidden layer having a single section. In some embodiments the product operator is a Khatri-Rao product. A prediction is made using the implicit hidden layer and weights, and the output prediction layer is consequently obtained.
US09165236B2	Method for manufacturing smart cards This invention relates to a smart card (1) manufacturing method that makes it possible to reduce the thickness of the said smart card and directly obtain a final 3FF or 4FF format. The smart card manufacturing method comprises steps for depositing resin forming a first protective coat (11) over the electronic element assembly with a surface greater than the required smart card format and depositing a second protective coat with a format larger than the required card format on the first protective coat. The second protective coat is fixed to the first protective coat by curing the first protective coat, and then the assembly obtained in that way is cut to the required format.
US09165232B2	Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag-to-tag autoconnect discovery, and related methods, circuits, and systems Methods, circuits, and systems are disclosed for automatically detecting connections between RFID tags. In one embodiment, a method is provided that includes periodically placing a charge on a node shared between a first RFID tag and a second RFID tag. The method also comprises sensing a voltage at the node at a time subsequent to the placing of the charge. The method also comprises automatically determining whether a connection exists between the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag based on the sensing of the voltage at the node. The first RFID tag and/or the second RFID tag may include circuitry configured to perform the method.
US09165229B2	Print control apparatus and method for printing images on a continuous sheet A print control apparatus and method for determining a sheet size specified by a first print job and a sheet size specified by a second print job, deciding on a sheet width usable by the first print job and a sheet width usable by the second print job based on determined respective sheet sizes, deciding on a sheet width of a continuous sheet to be used by the first print job and the second print job based on the decided respective sheet widths, and printing an image based on the first print job and an image based on the second print job on a continuous sheet supplied from a sheet supplying unit that supplies a continuous sheet having the decided sheet width.
US09165228B2	Printing apparatus allowing user change of operational control of job, control method thereof, and storage medium A printing apparatus includes an accepting unit configured to accept a print job, a first determination unit configured to determine whether the accepted print job is of a first type or a second type, a second determination unit configured to, if the first determination unit determines the accepted print job as the first type and if a job control code included in the accepted print job indicates hold, determine that data of the accepted print job is to be held, if the first determination unit determines that the accepted print job as the first type and if the job control code indicates print, determine that the data of the accepted print job is to be printed, and if the first determination unit determines that the accepted print job as the second type, determine that the data of the accepted print job is to be held.
US09165222B2	Forming system, apparatus and storage medium executing a job based on a preview log image and a log image is generated as a history image An image forming system includes a job executing portion, a preview executing portion, and a log image obtaining portion. The job executing portion executes a job based on an image. The preview executing portion executes displaying a preview of the image before the job is executed. The log image obtaining portion obtains a log image as a history of the image and store the log image in a storage portion. The log image obtaining portion obtains a log image of the preview.
US09165218B2	Distance-based image analysis An image analyzer (120) aggregates image samples (140) into a cluster (170) based on the image samples (140) being classified from a subset of image metrics applied to a reference sample (130). The image analyzer (120) generates an image quality output (150) by analyzing a distance (180) from the cluster (180) relative to another cluster.
US09165212B1	Person counting device, person counting system, and person counting method A person counting device according to embodiments of the present invention counts the number of persons passing through a doorway based on an imaged image in which the surroundings of the doorway are imaged. The person counting device includes a moving line acquirer that acquires a moving line for each person detected from the imaged image, a person counter that counts the persons that have passed through the doorway based on the moving line, and a display information generator that generates display information which represents the number of persons that have passed through the doorway based on the counting results of the person counter. The person counter detects an interruption of the moving line in the vicinity of the doorway, determines a similarity between the background image of the doorway and the person image, and includes a deemed counter that deems that the person has passed through the doorway.
US09165203B2	Legibility enhancement for a logo, text or other region of interest in video A video processing system enhances quality of an overlay image, such as a logo, text, game scores, or other areas forming a region of interest (ROI) in a video stream. The system separately enhances the video quality of the ROI, particularly when screen size is reduced. The data enhancement can be accomplished at decoding with metadata provided with the video data for decoding so that the ROI that can be separately enhanced from the video. In improve legibility, the ROI enhancer can increase contrast, brightness, hue, saturation, and bit density of the ROI. The ROI enhancer can operate down to a pixel-by-pixel level. The ROI enhancer may use stored reference picture templates to enhance a current ROI based on a comparison. When the ROI includes text, a minimum reduction size for the ROI relative to the remaining video can be identified so that the ROI is not reduced below human perceptibility.
US09165201B2	Systems and methods for detecting cell phone usage by a vehicle operator An embodiment generally relates to systems and methods for determining cell phone usage automatically by individuals operating vehicles. A processing module can process multi-spectral images or videos of individuals and detect different regions in the image such as face regions, hand regions, and cell phone regions. Further, the processing module can analyze the regions based on locations and numbers of skin pixels and cell phone pixels to determine if the individual is holding his or her cell phone near his or her face. Based on the analysis, it can be determined whether the individual is operating the cell phone. Further, the analysis can yield a confidence level associated with the cell phone usage.
US09165194B2	Heuristic-based approach for automatic payment gesture classification and detection A system and method for automatic classification and detection of a payment gesture are disclosed. The method includes obtaining a video stream from a camera placed above at least one region of interest, the region of interest classifying the payment gesture. A background image is generated from the obtained video stream. Motion is estimated in at least two consecutive frames from the video stream. A representation is created from the background image and the estimated motion occurring within the at least one region of interest. The payment gesture is detected based on the representation.
US09165180B2	Illumination sensitive face recognition Systems and methods for face recognition are provided. In one example, a method for face recognition includes receiving a user image and detecting a user luminance of data representing the user's face. An adaptive low pass filter is selected that corresponds to the user luminance of the user's face. The filter is applied to the user image to create a filtered user image. The filtered user image is projected to create a filtered user image representation. A filtered reference image representation that has been filtered with the same low pass filter is selected from a reference image database. The method then determines whether the filtered reference image representation matches the filtered user image representation.
US09165173B2	Security method using an imaging barcode reader A security method using an imaging barcode reader which captures image data for security purposes. An example method includes receiving an unauthorized activity signal by the barcode reader, and capturing image data by a camera in the barcode reader in response to the unauthorized activity signal.
US09165164B2	Cryptographic processing apparatus and method for storage medium Provided is a cryptographic processing apparatus for a storage medium, including: a location information conversion unit that stores a conversion result in a buffer, the conversion result obtained by performing a conversion process on location information indicating a location of data to be accessed on the storage medium; and a data cryptographic processing unit that performs cryptography processing on the data using the conversion result stored in the buffer, the cryptography processing being one of encryption and decryption.
US09165161B2	Setting options for publishing calendar Selectively shared and filtered personal information collections are provided. Personal information collections include calendars, task lists, address books, and other collections of information that may be provided by personal information manager (PIM) software. Personal information collections published on a server may be limited on a user-by-user basis as to who may access the collections. Furthermore, collections may be automatically filtered based on a rolling window of dates, reducing file size and maintaining privacy of items outside the rolling window.
US09165153B2	System and method for protecting secrets file A method for protecting a first secrets file. The method includes an n-bit generator generating a secrets file name for the secrets file and generating a decoy file names for decoy files. The secrets file includes a secret. Each of the decoy files includes decoy file contents, are a same size as the secrets file, and is associated with a modification time within a range of modification times. The modification time of the secrets file is within the range of modification times. The secrets file and decoy files are stored in a secrets directory.
US09165145B2	Efficiently segregating data from externally accessible systems Various embodiments herein include at least one of systems, methods, and software that efficiently segregate data from externally accessible systems. One such embodiment is a method performed by a first data processing system and includes receiving a call from a client of a user interaction service requesting data to populate a client application user interface. Next, a first object service obtains the requested data. The first object service is then executed to call a master data service to retrieve master data from a local database storing master data copied from master data stored by a second data processing system. Next, transaction data is retrieved via a remote service call over a network from the second data processing system. The retrieved data is then provided back to the calling user interaction service, which then transmits the data to the client application.
US09165142B1	Malware family identification using profile signatures Techniques for malware family identification using profile signatures are disclosed. In some embodiments, malware identification using profile signatures includes executing a potential malware sample in a virtual machine environment (e.g., a sandbox); and determining whether the potential malware sample is associated with a known malware family based on a profile signature. In some embodiments, the virtual machine environment is an instrumented virtual machine environment for monitoring potential malware samples during execution.
US09165139B2	System and method for creating secure applications A method for generating a secure application is described herein. The method can include the steps of obtaining a target application and decomposing the target application into original files that contain predictable instructions. One or more predictable instructions in the original files may be identified. In addition, the target application may be modified to create the secure application by binding one or more intercepts to the target application. These intercepts can enable the modification of the predictable instructions in accordance with one or more policies such that the behavior of the secure application is different from the original behavior of the target application. Modification of the target application may be conducted without access to the source code of the target application.
US09165138B2	Mitigation of function pointer overwrite attacks Methods are disclosed for improving security of computer software and preventing potential attackers from gaining control of computer software via function pointer overwrite attacks. One or more additional layers of complexity may be imposed that would have to be circumvented in order to gain execution control over portions of software. One or more function pointers can be encoded using a value that may be generated on program initialization and decoded before any dynamic function call occurs. In the event of memory corruption that affects an encoded function pointer, the value will cause the destination of the function pointer to decode to an invalid and random address and will induce an error. An application may be prevented from calling an attacker corrupted function pointer by introducing various checks around the call point at compile time that check the validity of the destination to which the function pointer points.
US09165137B2	Systems and methods for securing virtual machine computing environments Systems and methods are provided for securing data in virtual machine computing environments. A request is received for a security operation from a first virtual machine operating in a host operating system of a first device. In response to receiving the request, a first security module executes the security operation, the first security module implemented in a kernel of the host operating system. The result of the security operation is provided to the first virtual machine.
US09165134B2	Method for providing authorized access to a service application in order to use a protected resource of an end user The protected resource, typically an API, is exposed by endpoints of a plurality of administrative domains. The endpoints are previously unknown by said service application and the method further comprises: i. using an intermediate or global entity for: a) selecting one of said administrative domains based on flexible criteria (i.e. at least on the identity of said end user but also considering varying user or service preferences); and b) performing, said selected administrative domain, a secure authorization to grant access to said end user by means of an open protocol; and ii. providing, said selected administrative domain to said service application, once performed said secure authorization, direct or proxy access to said user's protected resource via the endpoint established by said intermediate entity.
US09165129B2	Keyboard as biometric authentication device Various embodiments are generally directed to use of a keyboard as a biometric authentication device. In one embodiment, for example, an apparatus comprises a processor circuit executing a sequence of instructions causing the processor circuit to receive a signal indicative of a keypress of at least one key of a keyboard communicatively coupled to the apparatus, and indicative of at least one physical characteristic associated with the keypress; compare the at least one physical characteristic to at least one stored physical characteristic associated with at least one authorized user of the apparatus; and determine if the keypress is associated with at least one authorized user of the apparatus based on the comparison. Other embodiments are described and claimed herein.
US09165126B1	Techniques for reliable network authentication Disclosed are various embodiments of techniques that may be used to improve the reliability of network authentication. A communication session is established between a server computing device and a client computing device. The communication session is established via a network using a credential for a network site. A verifier for the credential is generated, which may be used to confirm the authenticity of the credential. The verifier is provided to the client computing device via the network.
US09165120B1	Service manifests Generally described, aspects of the present disclosure relate to for managing the configuration and security policies of hosted virtual machine networks. Hosted virtual machine networks are configured in a manner such that a virtual machine manager component can establish service manifests that correspond to information required by the virtual machine network from a user/customer. The virtual machine manager component can also publish in the service manifests contractual information, such as security risk assessments, that are deemed to have been provided and accepted by the user/customer in instantiating virtual machine networks. If the processed service manifest information remains valid, a substrate network process requests or independently instantiate services or components in accordance with the configuration information and security risk information included in the processed service manifest.
US09165117B2	Method and apparatus for identifying and reporting a physiological condition of an individual utilizing physiological and contextual parameters Various methods and apparatuses for measuring a state parameter of an individual using signals based on one or more sensors are disclosed. In one embodiment, a first set of signals is used in a first function to determine how a second set of signals is used in one or more second functions to predict the state parameter. In another embodiment, first and second functions are used where the state parameter or an indicator of the state parameter may be obtained from a relationship between the first function and the second function. The state parameter may, for example, include calories consumed or calories burned by the individual. Various methods for making such apparatuses are also disclosed.
US09165114B2	Method and system for characterizing and visualizing electromagnetic tracking errors A calibration/surgical tool includes an electromagnetic sensor array of two or more electromagnetic sensors in a known geometrical configuration. Electromagnetic tracking errors are characterized by a mapping of pre-operative absolute and relative errors based on a movement of a calibrated calibration/surgical tool through a pre-operative electromagnetic field. Using statistical mapping, a desired absolute error field is measured either in the clinic as the part of daily quality control checks, or before the patient comes in or in vivo. A resulting error field may be displayed to the physician to provide clear visual feedback about measurement confidence or reliability of localization estimates of the absolute errors in electromagnetic tracking.
US09165110B2	Web-hosted engine for continuously improving the identification of safer products for administration Genetic information relating to clinically significant attributes are generated as encrypted molecular signatures, which are provided to a subscriber to be carried as a card or in another form, including for display by a subscriber's computer or smart-phone or PDA. Different features of an individual's molecular attribute profile are preferably each represented by a particular shape, and the encryption can be by changing the color, or spatial orientation of the shapes. The signature is periodically updated as new clinically significant attributes become known. The process of updating the signature and using it to obtain suitable products (which don't have an unacceptable risk of generating an adverse reaction or outcome) is also described.
US09165106B2	Layout design for electron-beam high volume manufacturing The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus to create a physical layout for electron-beam lithography, comprising defining a layout grid for a physical design, the layout grid further comprising vertical grid lines which coincide with stitching lines resulting from partitioning the physical design into a plurality of subfields. The physical design is assembled in accordance with design restrictions regarding interaction between design shapes and the layout grid. In some embodiments, the design restrictions are realized though layout restrictions. In some embodiments, the design restrictions are realized by shifting standard cells to minimize design shape interaction with the layout grid in a post-layout step. In some embodiments, the design restrictions are realized by exchanging positions between a plurality of standard cells for an exchange permutation which minimizes the number of interactions in a post-layout step. In some embodiments a routing grid is refined to rule out interactions between a subset of design constructs and the layout grid. Remaining design shape placement is then optimized along the routing grid relative to the stitching lines.
US09165104B1	Method and apparatus for identifying double patterning color-seeding violations A method for automatically performing a double patterning (DP) color-seeding check in order to discover color-seeding violations in an IC design layout. The method of some embodiments receives a layer of the IC design layout and performs an analysis on the layer of the design layout to determine several error paths. Each error path connects two color-seeding shapes that have a color-seeding violation. For each pair of shapes that has a color-seeding violation, the method of some embodiments displays a DP color-seeding violation marker on a graphical user interface (GUI) to visually assist a user to resolve the color-seeding violation.
US09165100B2	Methods and apparatus to map schematic elements into a database A method for mapping an element of an engineering schematic into a schematic element database is provided. The method electronically scans a schematic to recognize a plurality of elements visually represented in the schematic, wherein each of the plurality of elements is associated with predefined schematic element visual attributes; and maps each of the plurality of recognized elements to any one of a plurality of saved database elements, based on common visual attributes.

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