Document	Document Title
US09226417B2	Lock mechanism of electric connection box A lock mechanism includes: a lock arm provided in a cantilever manner on an inner wall of a part compartment of a box body of an electric connection box; and a lock projection provided to the lock arm on its surface facing a part housed in the part compartment. The lock arm can be divided in a longitudinal direction into: a base end region fixed to the inner wall; upper end region located in the free end which interferes with the part and receives a pressing force for unlocking operation; and a middle region located within a predetermined distance range between the base and upper end region. The flexural rigidity of the base and upper end region is set larger than that of the middle region by providing ribs on the base and upper end region and providing no ribs on the middle region.
US09226415B1	Server casing A server casing includes a shell, a top cover, two first slide rails and two second slide rails. The shell includes two side frames. The two side frames are connected to the two sides of the shell. The top cover is movably disposed on the shell and includes an upper part. The two side parts are connected to the two sides of the upper part. Each first slide rail includes a first body part and a first extension part. The two first body parts are fixed to the two side frames of the shell. Each second slide rail includes a second body part and a second extension part. The two second body parts are fixed to the two side parts of the top cover. Each first extension part of each first slide rail are corresponding to and assembled with each second extension parts of each second slide rail.
US09226408B2	Display device A display device includes a substrate and a flexible circuit having one of its ends bonded to the substrate. The substrate comprises a pixel array. A driver integrated circuit (IC) is mounted on the flexible circuit. The flexible circuit is bonded to the substrate without protruding beyond an edge of the substrate. One end of the flexible circuit faces toward an inside of the substrate when the flexible circuit is flatly placed on or over the substrate, and the other end of the flexible circuit is bonded to the edge of the substrate.
US09226399B2	Wiring board with built-in capacitor A wiring board with built-in capacitors includes a core substrate, and a high dielectric sheet including a lower electrode layer, an upper electrode layer and a dielectric layer, the dielectric layer made of a sintered ceramic body and sandwiched between the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer, the lower electrode layer and/or the upper electrode layer being partitioned into multiple electrodes such that the high dielectric sheet has multiple capacitors. The lower electrode layer and/or the upper electrode layer is connected to a ground line and the other one of the lower electrode layer and the upper electrode layer is connected to a power line such that the capacitors are electrically connected in parallel.
US09226391B2	Substrates having voltage switchable dielectric materials Various aspects provide for incorporating a VSDM into a substrate to create an ESD-protected substrate. In some cases, a VSDM is incorporated in a manner that results in the ESD-protected substrate meeting one or more specifications (e.g., thickness, planarity, and the like) for various subsequent processes or applications. Various aspects provide for designing a substrate (e.g., a PCB) incorporating a VSDM, and adjusting one or more aspects of the substrate to design a balanced, ESD-protected substrate. Certain embodiments include molding a substrate having a VSDM layer into a first shape.
US09226388B2	Printed circuit board A printed circuit board disclosed. One embodiment of the present invention provides a printed circuit board that includes: an insulation layer having multiple layers of circuit wirings formed therein; a via formed along a perimeter of the insulation layer and configured for connecting circuit wirings formed on different layers of the insulation layer, the via being formed in such a way that an inside thereof is hollow; and an electromagnetic wave absorbing part contained in the via.
US09226380B2	Adjustable non-dissipative voltage boosting snubber network This disclosure describes a non-dissipative snubber circuit configured to boost a voltage applied to a load after the load's impedance rises rapidly. The voltage boost can thereby cause more rapid current ramping after a decrease in power delivery to the load which results from the load impedance rise. In particular, the snubber can comprise a combination of a unidirectional switch, a voltage multiplier, and a current limiter. In some cases, these components can be a diode, voltage doubler, and an inductor, respectively.
US09226369B2	Coordinated wearable lighting system A coordinated lighting system capable of affixation to a wearable garment is provided. According to more particular aspects of the invention, the system includes: a controller and a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged as a chain, at least one of the plurality of LEDs operatively connected to the controller. The controller is configured to: determine at least one of (a) a quantity of the plurality of LEDs and (b) an arrangement of the plurality of LEDs; and generate one or more lighting instructions based on the at least one of (a) the quantity of the plurality of LEDs and (b) the arrangement of the plurality of LEDs. A method for providing a coordinated lighting system is also provided.
US09226359B2	Lighting device A lighting device using an electroluminescent material, in which color mixing and dimming can be performed by a simple method, is provided. A lighting device including a first light-emitting element and a second light-emitting element which emits light having a wavelength longer than that of light emitted from the first light-emitting element and starts to emit light at a lower voltage than the first light-emitting element, is provided. The first light-emitting element and the second light-emitting element are connected in parallel, whereby a mixed color of emission colors of the first light-emitting element and the second light-emitting element is controlled by a voltage applied to the first light-emitting element and the second light-emitting element.
US09226357B2	Power supply device and lighting equipment provided with power supply device A power supply device according to one embodiment is configured to control a lighting of semiconductor light-emitting elements, wherein a dimming signal is canceled during a predetermined time period (T) from a timing immediately after power-ON, so as to light on light-emitting diodes to have a predetermined light amount, for example, a minimum light amount. After an elapse of the predetermined time period (T), cancellation of the dimming signal is released to light on the light-emitting diodes to have a light amount instructed by the dimming signal.
US09226354B2	Light-emitting diode lighting device having multiple driving stages An LED lighting device includes a slave driving stage and a master driving stage. The slave driving stage includes a first luminescent device and a first current controller for providing a constant current setting in an ON phase. The master driving stage includes a second luminescent device and a current control unit having a second current controller and a current envelope controller. The second current controller provides a current envelope in the ON phase. The current envelope controller sets a level of the current envelope according to a rectified AC voltage. The driving current is regulated by the first current controller according to the constant current setting when the constant current setting is smaller than the level of the current envelope, or by the second current controller according to the current envelope when the level of the current envelope is smaller than the constant current setting.
US09226353B2	Lighting device for semiconductor light emitting elements and illumination apparatus including same A lighting device includes a first and a second gate circuit having a first input to which a high frequency square wave signal generated from a high frequency oscillation circuit is inputted and a second input to which a first low frequency square wave signal is inputted; and a second gate circuit having a first input to which the high frequency square wave signal is inputted and a second input to which a second low frequency square wave signal is inputted. Each of the first and the second low frequency square wave signal has a frequency lower than that of the high frequency square wave signal, and the first and the second low frequency square wave signal determine whether the high frequency square wave signal is supplied, as on/off switching signals, to the first and the second switching power supply circuit, respectively.
US09226349B2	Semiconductor light source lighting circuit A semiconductor light source lighting circuit is provided with: a switching regulator that generates a drive current of a semiconductor light source using a switching element; and a control circuit that controls ON/OFF of the switching element. The control circuit is provided with: a comparator that compares the drive current and a target value; a counter that counts a digital value in a count direction determined by a comparison result of the comparator; a digital-analog converter that converts the digital value into an analog signal; and a drive circuit that controls the ON/OFF of the switching element based on the analog signal. The counter counts the digital value at a speed determined by an ON/OFF cycle of the switching element.
US09226333B2	Virtualization of control plane functions of a wireless core packet network A capability is provided for virtualizing control plane functions of a wireless core packet network (WCPN). A forwarding element (FE) is configured to provide a set of data plane functions of the WCPN. A virtual control element (VCE) is configured to provide a set of control plane functions of the WCPN. The VCE includes a set of virtual machines (VMs) where at least one of the VMs is configured to detect a condition associated with a tunnel, for a wireless terminal (WT), between the FE and a wireless access device (WAD) configured to serve the WT, and propagate, toward the FE, a message comprising a tunnel command configured to instruct the FE to at least one of install, remove, or modify a tunnel rule associated with the tunnel between the FE and the WAD. The tunnel enables the WT to access a packet data network (PDN).
US09226319B2	Pre-allocated random access identifiers Systems and methods of pre-allocating identifiers to wireless devices for use in requesting resources over a random access channel are described. A wireless communication system includes a random access channel over which wireless devices can anonymously send requests for resources. The base stations receiving and processing the anonymous requests reduces the probability of random access channel collisions and conserves the resources needed to support the anonymous requests by pre-allocating one or more identifiers to select wireless devices. The wireless devices having the pre-allocated codes can transmit a particular code over the random access channel as a request for resources that uniquely identifies the requester.
US09226318B2	Communication efficiency There is provided a method, comprising: receiving, by a target node of a wireless access network, a signal from a first source node; determining the angular sector in which the first source node is located with respect to the target node; responding to the signal by both transmitting a first message omni-directionally and transmitting a second message directionally towards the angular sector; and establishing a first resource reservation on a frequency channel at least partly on the basis of transmitting the first message and the second message, wherein the first resource reservation is for performing directional data transfer with the first source node.
US09226311B2	UWB coexistence scheme Roughly described, a first radio is configured to operate according to a first protocol and configured to use a coexistence signaling scheme with a second radio configured to operate according to a second protocol, wherein the coexistence signaling scheme is configured to allow a radio configured to operate according to the second protocol to be co-located and non-interfering with a radio configured to operate according to a protocol different to the first protocol, and wherein the first radio comprises behavioral logic for generating messages for the second radio in accordance with the coexistence signaling scheme to cause the second radio to adopt behavior suitable for coexistence with the first radio.
US09226310B2	Feedback resource mapping in wireless communications In an ad hoc network a feedback radio resource maps from a data radio resource to at least one frequency sub-band which the data resource excludes. The feedback resource is also spaced in time from the data resource by a predetermined interval. Feedback (ACK/NACK) for data received in the data resource is then sent in the feedback resource. In various embodiments the sub-band is one or more edges of the data resource channel, or edges of a component carrier. The predetermined interval may be a function of how much of the data resource is occupied by data. The data transmitting device delays sending its data by a time offset from the end of a previous transmission on that channel, or if it does not know the end time it delays until the predetermined interval plus the length of the feedback resource have lapsed. Various synchronization aspects are also disclosed.
US09226307B1	Methods and devices for scheduling transmissions in a wireless network based on contention and channel conditions Methods and systems for assigning time-division multiplexed (TDM) slots in a multi-channel TDM system are presented. Preferably, a radio access network (RAN) assigns forward link and reverse link transmissions between the RAN and one or more wireless communication devices (WCDs) to TDM slots on various wireless channels. When making these assignments, the RAN may take into account (i) the priority of data that the RAN queues for the WCDs, and (ii) the signal quality at which the WCDs can receive the various wireless channels.
US09226306B2	Switching of users between co-existence wireless systems Techniques for switching user equipments (UEs) between wireless systems are disclosed. A UE may be located within the coverage of a plurality of wireless systems and may communicate with a first wireless system among the plurality of wireless systems. The plurality of wireless systems may include a WLAN system and a cellular system and/or may be part of a small cell. Metrics of the UE for the plurality of wireless systems may be determined. The metrics may be related to one or more of efficiency, service charge, service subscription, application type, or buffer size. Whether to switch the UE from the first wireless system to another wireless system may be determined based on the metrics. In one design, switching priorities of the UE for the plurality of wireless systems may be determined based on the metrics and may be used to determine whether to switch the UE.
US09226305B2	Medium access control method The exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to at least a method including receiving an indication that a first resource allocation to a device to transmit data was insufficient and there is remaining data to transmit by the device, based at least on information associated with the first resource allocation, determining a second resource allocation for the device, and sending the second resource allocation to the device in order to enable the device to transmit the remaining data. Further, there is a method including sending an indication that a first resource allocation to a device to transmit data was insufficient and there is remaining data to transmit, and in response to the sending, receiving a second resource allocation to the device to enable the device to transmit remaining data, wherein the second resource allocation is based at least on information associated with the first resource allocation.
US09226298B2	Method and apparatus for performing direct communications in wireless communication system A method of performing direct communications in a network of a wireless communication system, the method comprising configuring a first communication device to enter a direct communication mode by transmitting a first mode configuration information according to a mode change information; and configuring a second communication device to enter the direct communication mode by transmitting a second mode configuration information according to the mode change information; wherein the first communication device and the second communication device respectively have a first radio resource control (RRC) connection and a second RRC connection with the network.
US09226293B2	Method and apparatus for transmitting control information in wireless communication system The present invention relates to a method for receiving a downlink control signal in a TDD-based wireless communication system, and to an apparatus therefor. The method comprises receiving a downlink signal via a downlink interval in a specific frame including the downlink interval, a guard interval and an uplink interval. A combination of the downlink interval, the guard interval and the uplink interval is given using configuration information on the specific subframe. When the configuration information is given such that the length of the downlink interval is larger than a specific value, detecting a first type of PDCCH is performed in the specific subframe. When the configuration information is given such that the length of the downlink interval is equal to or smaller than the specific value, detecting the first type of PDCCH is skipped in the specific subframe.
US09226288B2	Method and apparatus for supporting communications in a heterogeneous network A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in which an apparatus may determine broadcast channel scheduling information for one or more broadcasts of a payload by a broadcast channel associated with a first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein reception of the broadcast channel associated with the first base station is interfered at least in part based on one or more transmissions from a second base station, and receive the payload based on the determined broadcast channel scheduling information.
US09226285B2	Method, device and system for solving channel collision The present invention relates to a method, device and system for solving channel collision, which are applied to a Long Term Evaluation Advanced (LTE-A) system. The method includes: receiving control information transmitted by a base station; transmitting uplink data to the base station according to the control information; and receiving decoding results on the uplink data from the base station, and determining the resource location of a Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) according to the control information, thereby determining the decoding result corresponding to a User Equipment (UE) itself. The implementation of the embodiments of the present invention can avoid the problem of collision the channel resources of the PHICH determined by the UE when the LTE-A has to be compatible with the LTE.
US09226283B2	Scanning method and apparatus in wireless access system A method for scanning assigned carriers in a multicarrier system may include receiving a multicarrier advertisement message from a base station, the multicarrier advertisement message including scan reporting trigger control information of assigned secondary carriers, performing scanning for the assigned secondary carriers, and reporting the scan results to the base station when a specific metric measured by the scanning meets a condition set in the scan reporting trigger control information.
US09226282B2	Method for detecting a downlink control structure for carrier aggregation This invention relates with a method for detecting a downlink control structure for carrier aggregation in communication network in which data transmission is scheduled by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). An UE receives higher layer signaling enabling carrier aggregation for the UE. The UE reads the PDCCHs of component carriers (CCs), wherein the downlink control information (DCI) in the PDCCHs of each CC is read according to one of a plurality of predefined formats derived from the higher layer signaling.
US09226275B2	Method and apparatus for acknowledgement signaling An approach is provided for providing acknowledgement signaling. A transmission failure associated with data from a user equipment is determined. An allocation message is generated for signaling of the transmission failure to the user equipment. The allocation message provides allocation of resource for retransmission of the data.
US09226272B2	Method and apparatus for transmitting channel status information to macro base station by relay node in wireless communication system to which carrier aggregation is applied A method and apparatus for transmitting channel status information (CSI) to a macro eNB (MeNB) by a relay node (RN) in a wireless communication system to which carrier aggregation is applied are disclosed. The method includes receiving a CSI reporting request corresponding to a specific secondary component carrier (CC) from the transmitter through a primary CC, establishing a reference resource for the CSI in association with one or more secondary CCs indicated by the CSI reporting request, and transmitting CSIs of the one or more secondary CCs to the transmitter through the specific secondary CC, using the established reference resource. The reference resource is set to the nearest subframe serving as a valid downlink subframe from a reception time point of the CSI reporting request.
US09226266B2	Method for determining delay parameters for user data flow synchronization for eMBMS In order to calculate a delay parameter for synchronized data transmission in a cellular communications network, a service center transmits a message to a base station including a transmission time. Upon receipt of the message, the base station determines a time of receipt of the message. A delay parameter is then determined by the base station as the difference between the time of receipt and the time of transmission. In one embodiment, the delay parameter is transmitted back to the service center by the base station.
US09226264B2	User equipment with timer controller As a result of ISR being enabled between a portable terminal device and a network which are capable of communicating by using the communication protocols of a plurality of wireless access technologies, the portable terminal device performs position registration processing between the plurality of wireless access technologies and the portable terminal device each time a fixed period of time elapses, and the portable terminal device is able to move between the plurality of wireless access technologies that have already been registered, without conducting new position registration processing. At this time, if there is a possibility of there being a difference in ISR states (activated or not activated) between the portable terminal device and the network, the portable terminal device ignores any instructions issued by the network for ISR to be enabled in the portable terminal device.
US09226261B2	Apparatus and method for controlling whether to provide location information in broadband wireless access system A method and an apparatus for operating a server in a wireless access system are provided. The method includes receiving a request for location information of a mobile station, transmitting a measurement request message for requesting measurement data used for location determination of the mobile station, receiving a measurement response message comprising at least one of a rejection code and a rejection duration, and transmitting a notification that the request for the location information is rejected.
US09226260B2	Initiator-conditioned fine timing measurement service request Embodiments for providing initiator-conditioned fine timing measurement service request are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a range management module is arranged to initiate transmission of a fine timing measurement request message for determining a timing measurement to a responding device. Timing measurement information is received in response to the transmission of the fine timing measurement request message. The timing measurement information is received according to the condition instructions provided in the fine timing measurement request message. A timing measurement is calculated based on the timing of receiving the timing measurement information.
US09226259B2	Systems and methods for detecting and controlling transmission devices Disclosed is a system for managing wireless transmitting devices in which a wireless transmission from a transmission device is detected within or about a set area and an allowability of the transmission device to continue transmitting is based on an identification information, of the device, a location of the device and a number being called by the device.
US09226257B2	Positioning for WLANs and other wireless networks Techniques to support positioning for access points and terminals in WLANs and other wireless networks are described. In one aspect, WLAN positioning is supported with Secure User Plane Location (SUPL). A terminal obtains measurements for an access point in a WLAN and/or receives measurements made by the access point for the terminal. The terminal determines WLAN AP information for the access point and/or the terminal based on the measurements and sends the WLAN AP information to a SUPL Location Platform (SLP). The SLP determines a location estimate for the terminal based on the WLAN AP information. In another aspect, the terminal receives supported network information from the SLP. The terminal obtains network measurement information (e.g., measurements) for a radio access network and determines which particular network measurement information to send based on the supported network information. The terminal sends network measurement information permitted by the supported network information to the SLP.
US09226254B2	Communication stations and methods for transmitting on a random access channel Example communication stations and methods for transmitting on a random access channel (RACH) in wireless networks are disclosed herein. An example method for transmitting on an enhanced RACH by a device such that an initial access burst is received in a single time slot by a wireless network involves determining a timing advance, the timing advance being associated with a serving cell. The example method also involves transmitting, using the determined timing advance, the initial access burst, on the enhanced RACH, that includes at least one of an identifier or user data.
US09226250B2	System and method for timing synchronization The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for timing synchronization. Uplink synchronization is a necessary component of a UE operating in a mobile, wireless network. Reliable uplink synchronization generally requires regular uplink transmission containing reference signals. A method is provided that defines a burst period for sending the reference signals, determines an interval between the reference signals, and sends a timing instruction message that includes the burst period and the determined interval. A second method is provided that receives the timing instruction message and sends the reference signals in accordance with the timing instruction.
US09226249B2	Modified SIR values for fast power control The present invention relates to a receiver comprising a fast power control unit, said fast power control unit being arranged to continuously control a quality measure of a radio channel. The receiver is characterized in that the quality measure is a modified Signal to Interference plus noise ratio (SIR) in which the influence from self interference has been removed. The invention further relates to a method for continuously controlling a quality measure of a radio channel, wherein a modified Signal to Interference plus noise ratio (SIR) is continuously determined in which the influence from self interference has been removed.
US09226247B2	Method for terminal deciding uplink transmission power in macro cell environment comprising remote radio head (RRH), and terminal apparatus for same Disclosed is a method for a terminal deciding an uplink transmission power in a macro cell environment, comprising at least one remote radio head (RRH). The method for the terminal deciding the uplink transmission power, comprises the steps of: receiving from the base station configuration information on the base station and on a state channel information-reference signal (CSI-RS) of the at least one RRH and CSI-RS transmission power information; measuring the strength of a received signal of the CSI-RS which is received from the at least one RRH; and estimating downlink path loss that corresponds to a node that is set as a reception point or a reception RRH by using the configuration information on the CSI-RS and the CSI-RS transmission power information.
US09226246B2	Control of transmitter configuration for base station Adjusting transmitter configuration for a base station transmitter of a cell of a wireless network, involves receiving indications of received power measured at user equipments (UE) of customers over a first period of time of service operation of the cell, determining a generic change in the received power over a second period of time at chosen ones of the user equipments in an area, chosen to represent reference points within the area, and chosen based on variability in the received power. Then an adjustment is made to the transmitter configuration based on the determined generic change in the received power. Selecting which UEs to use can enable detection of finer gradations in the generic changes in the received power to be distinguished from the larger changes in individual indications of the received power. This can lead to better control of the transmitter configuration under changing conditions.
US09226242B2	Method and apparatus for economizing power consumption in wireless products Various of the disclosed embodiments concern efficiency improvements in wireless products. For example, some embodiments specify profiles for regional and custom-specified operational constraints. The profiles may be retrieved from across a network or stored locally upon the device. The profiles may specify various configuration adjustments that optimize the system's performance. For example, when possible, some embodiments may allow the system to operate at a lower power level and to thereby save energy. Various factors and conditions may be assessed in some embodiments prior to adjusting the existing power configuration.
US09226237B2	Method for channel assignments in wireless systems A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) includes circuitry configured to receive first information from a wireless network, the first information indicating a first pattern of time intervals in which the WTRU is to monitor a plurality of control channels; not monitor the plurality of control channels in time intervals outside the first pattern of time intervals; and receive second information from the wireless network, the second information indicating a second pattern of time intervals in which the WTRU is to transmit control information on a control channel.
US09226235B2	Circuit arrangement and a method for communication network search and signal power measurement A circuit arrangement is provided. The circuit arrangement may include: a processing circuit configured to receive a pre-processed signal at a first data rate during a first time period, the processing circuit further configured to perform a communications network search by processing the pre-processed signal at a first processing clock frequency during the first time period, and to perform the communications network search by processing the pre-processed signal at a second processing clock frequency during a second time period, wherein the second time period commences after the first time period, and wherein the second processing clock frequency is greater than the first processing clock frequency.
US09226231B2	Systems and methods for monitoring the size of a wireless network Systems and methods for monitoring the number of neighboring wireless devices in a wireless network are described herein. In one aspect, the method includes receiving a message from one of the neighboring wireless devices having an identifier associated with the neighboring wireless device and adding the identifier into a Bloom filter. The method may further include estimating the number of distinct strings that have been added into the Bloom filter based on the number of zeros in the Bloom filter, the number of distinct strings representing an estimate of the number of neighboring wireless devices in the wireless network.
US09226224B1	Method and system for obtaining information about Wi-Fi enabled telecommunications devices Method, system and computer program for obtaining information about telecommunications devices that transmit signals seeking available Wi-Fi connectivity. One or more Wi-Fi beacons are configured to detect probing signals from any telecommunications device in its range, a processor at each Wi-Fi beacon extracts an identifier of each telecommunications device from detected probing signals and each Wi-Fi beacon is associated with the identifier of any telecommunications devices whose probing signals have been received by that Wi-Fi beacon to thereby determine the presence and optionally position of any telecommunications devices within the range of the Wi-Fi beacon. The telecommunications devices are not involved in the method other than providing in their usual manner of operation, probing signals containing identifiers.
US09226220B2	Systems and methods for performing topology discovery in wireless networks A wireless mesh network has a plurality of nodes. One of the nodes, referred to as a “topology building node,” is configured to discover a topology of the network. In this regard, a multicast topology message is transmitted via at least one node of the network. Each node that receive such message transmits a topology multicast reply to the topology building node which adds the transmitting node to the topology if the transmitting node is not already identified by the topology. Upon adding a node to the topology, the topology building node transmits a topology multicast command to the added node thereby causing such node to transmit a multicast topology message. Accordingly, the topology eventually receives a topology multicast reply from each node of the network allowing such node to build a complete topology of the network.
US09226218B2	Signal strength guided intra-cell upstream data forwarding Intra-cell upstream data forwarding is utilized in a wireless network such as a wireless local area network. A network forwarding path is determined based on the signal strength of an access point signal received at client stations within the network, referred to as the OASS. In particular embodiments, a station that is either originating or forwarding a frame inserts its own OASS into the frame before transmitting it and a client station that receives a frame forwards it only if its own OASS exceeds the frame-enclosed OASS, illustratively by at least a predetermined amount.
US09226214B2	Method and apparatus for a terminal to select a cell in a heterogeneous network The present invention relates to a cell selection method of a terminal in a heterogeneous network, and cell selection method of a terminal in a heterogeneous network according to the present invention includes receiving a measurement restriction pattern from a base station; and selecting a cell based on the measurement restriction pattern. According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to select a cell accurately and efficiently.
US09226210B1	Use of fallback carrier load to manage fallback communication setup latency A method and system to help manage latency in setup of fallback communications, such as circuit switched fallback calls for instance, by taking into account the load on various fallback carriers. When a first network is serving a device and engages in a process to facilitate setup of a communication for the device to be served by a second, fallback network, the first network will work with the second network to determine which local carriers of the second network are least loaded, and the first network will then direct the WCD to scan those determined least-loaded carriers in particular. This process may thus help to avoid having the WCD spend time scanning local carriers of the second network that the second network is unlikely to assign in any event due to loading.
US09226206B2	Method and apparatus at the physical and link layer for mobile communications In a cellular telecommunications network, a mobile communication system to offload data traffic from base stations to small-node devices, includes a radio base station, a plurality of small-node devices, a macro-base-station-to-the-small-node-device (BS2D) communication section configured to receive a first control-plane message from the radio base station over a BS2D communication link, a small-node-device-to-user-equipment (D2UE) communication section configured to transmit user-plane data to a user equipment over a wireless D2UE communication link established responsive to the first control-plane message, and a center small-node device. The center small-node device includes a buffer section, a backhaul communication section configured to receive the user-plane traffic data from a server over a backhaul link, and is configured to manage D2UE connections between the plurality of small-node devices and the mobile station, buffer data to be transmitted in downlink and uplink for the plurality of small-node devices, and conduct a link adaptation for the D2UE connections.
US09226198B2	Method of receiving a point-to-multipoint sevice in a wireless communication system The present invention relates to a wireless communication system and user equipment providing wireless communication services, and a method of transmitting and receiving data between a terminal and a base station in an evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) that has evolved from a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and more particularly, to a method of receiving a point-to-multipoint service data, and it may be an object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of receiving the point-to-multipoint service data in a wireless communication system in order to minimize a data loss by a reception entity.
US09226197B2	Network based speed dependent load balancing A mobile device mobility state is included in device reporting to a radio access network for mobility event and load balancing purposes. Respective load conditions and respective coverage areas of a first set of devices of a first network and a second set of devices of a second network are analyzed. In addition, a mobility state of a mobile device, a first signal strength associated with the first set of devices, and a second signal strength associated with the second set of devices are also analyzed. The mobility state is a function of a movement pattern of the mobile device and a speed at which the mobile device is being moved. Network traffic of the mobile device is routed to a set of network devices selected from the first set of devices and the second set of devices, as a result of the analysis.
US09226193B2	Methods and systems for performing dynamic spectrum arbitrage based on eNodeB transition states A dynamic spectrum arbitrage (DSA) system may include a dynamic spectrum policy controller (DPC) and a dynamic spectrum controller (DSC) that together dynamically manage the allocation and use of resources (e.g., spectrum resources) across different networks. The DSC and/or DPC components may be configured to monitor a congestion state of an eNodeB, and intelligently allocate resources, manage user traffic of the eNodeBs, select target eNodeBs for handovers, determine the quality of service (QoS) levels that are to be given to wireless devices attached to the eNodeBs, and/or perform other similar operations to intelligently manage the allocation and use of resources by the various networks. The DPC and/or DSC components may be also configured to perform these and other operations based on the transitions, changes, transition rates, or rates of change in the congestion levels of the network components.
US09226172B2	VoIP processing method and apparatus of mobile terminal in mobile communication system An improved VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) processing method and apparatus reduce the processing delay of a mobile terminal in the mobile communication system. The VoIP processing apparatus includes a Radio Frequency (RF) unit configured to transmit and receive a VoIP packet, and an audio processing unit configured to process audio signals. The apparatus also includes a voice engine configured to determine, when VoIP packet processing is requested, whether a dedicated voice path for processing the VoIP packet exists and control, when the dedicated voice path exists, to process voice signal input/output using a dedicated VoIP processing interface for processing the VoIP packet. The VoIP processing method and apparatus are capable of reducing voice delay by improving the audio paths between VoIP applications and terminal platform.
US09226171B2	Method and apparatus for combined adaptive beamforming and MIMO in indoor wireless LAN A wireless local area network (WLAN) device comprising a processor, a transceiver coupled to the processor, a switching mechanism coupled to the transceiver, a beamforming antenna assembly coupled to the switching mechanism, and a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antenna assembly coupled to the switching mechanism. Included is an apparatus comprising a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions that cause the processor to calibrate a WLAN device, select an optimal antenna configuration, track the WLAN device performance, and wait for a triggering event. Also included is an adaptive antenna method comprising calibrating a WLAN device, selecting an optimal antenna configuration, tracking the WLAN device performance, and waiting for a triggering event.
US09226168B2	APN-AMBR authorization in GPRS mobile network Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node (PCRN), the method including: receiving a credit control request (CCR) message from a packet data network gateway (PGW) based upon a general radio packet service (GPRS) internet protocol connectivity access network (IP-CAN) session request; determining that an operator policy rule specifies an aggregate maximum bit rate (APN-AMBR) value; determining that the CCR message includes an APN-AMBR value; setting an APN-AMBR value for the GPRS IP-CAN session to the APN-AMBR value specified by the operator policy rule; setting a GPRS IP-CAN session maximum bit rate download/upload (MBR DL/UL) value to the lowest of the APN-AMBR value specified by the operator policy rule and a subscriber MBR DL/UL value; and sending a credit control answer (CCA) message to the PGW with the selected APN-AMBR and MBR DL/UL values.
US09226163B2	Method and apparatus for dynamic station enablement procedure in a wireless local area network system A method of dynamic station enablement procedure in a wireless local area network (WLAN) is disclosed. A method of performing an enablement procedure by a first station in a regulatory domain where a licensed device and an unlicensed device are permitted to operate together in a wireless local area network (WLAN) comprises receiving, from a second station, an enabling signal including advertisement protocol element with an advertisement protocol identification (ID) field which indicates an advertisement protocol the second station supports; and exchanging DSE (dynamic station enablement) related messages with the second station using a GAS (generic advertisement service) protocol.
US09226160B2	Radio spectrum trading Radio spectrum trading involves determining available radio spectrum and requestors desiring to lease portions of the available radio spectrum, and for allocating the available spectrum to the requestors. A pricing curve may be set based on historical information and/or requests to lease spectrum. A determination may then be made as to whether an amount of available spectrum is less than or greater than an amount spectrum being requested. If it is determined that the amount of available spectrum is less than the amount of spectrum being requested, then an auction may be conducted for the available spectrum with the initial bid being set based on the pricing curve. If the amount of available spectrum is greater than the amount of spectrum being requested, then the requests may be sorted based on predicted revenue generation and the available spectrum may be allocated in order from highest to lowest revenue generated.
US09226157B2	Cell access processing method and apparatus and communication system Embodiments of the present invention provide a cell access processing method and apparatus and a communication system. In a cell access processing method, an access request message is sent by a terminal. The access request message includes identification information of the terminal. A CSG information request message is sent to a CSG subscription information server of a roaming network. The CSG information request message includes the identification information of the terminal. A CSG information response message is sent by the CSG subscription information server according to the CSG information request message. The CSG information response message includes CSG information corresponding to the identification information of the terminal. Access control is performed on the terminal according to the CSG information.
US09226153B2	Integrated IP tunnel and authentication protocol based on expanded proxy mobile IP A gateway is preconfigured to establish an Internet Protocol (IP) tunnel with a default local mobility anchor on behalf of a mobile node. The gateway receives from the mobile node an Internet access request including a mobile identifier and authorization and authentication protocol information, and sends to the default local mobility anchor an IP tunnel request to establish an IP tunnel. The gateway receives from the default local mobility anchor a tunnel redirect message to redirect the IP tunnel from the default local mobility anchor to a serving local mobility anchor and, responsive to the tunnel redirect message, authenticates the mobile node and establishes an IP tunnel with the serving local mobility anchor through which the mobile node communicates.
US09226137B2	Method and apparatus for real-time sharing of multimedia content between wireless devices The disclosure relates to sharing real-time multimedia content. The method may include identifying an application for sharing by a first device, discovering one or more second devices by the first device, independent of a technology or a platform of the devices, applying communication protocols and creating an association between the first device and the one or more second devices, and determining multimedia capabilities of the one or more second devices. Furthermore, such an example method may include selecting at least a portion of the screen of a first device for sharing based at least on the determined multimedia capabilities of the second devices, computing application associated performance parameters based at least on a type of content and transmitting the selected portion of the screen of the first device to the one or more second devices over the wireless connection.
US09226119B2	Using sensor data to provide information for proximally-relevant group communications Methods, devices, and systems for a mobile device to perform actions associated with applications when confirmed to be within proximity of a physical location relevant to the applications, including identifying a unique identifier of a proximate wireless network access point, determining whether the unique identifier matches a predefined identifier stored on the mobile device and associated with an application, obtaining sensor data via a sensor in response to determining that the unique identifier matches the predefined identifier, processing the obtained sensor data to identify encoded information, determining whether the encoded information within the obtained sensor data is associated with the unique identifier, and performing an action based on the encoded information in response to determining that the encoded information is associated with the unique identifier. In various embodiments, the unique identifier may be a service set identifier (SSID), and the sensor data may be acoustic signals emitted from a speaker.
US09226112B2	Motion based service provision In one example embodiment, an end device includes a sensor configured to sense a motion of the end device; a location detector configured to detect a location of the end device; a translator configured to translate parameters of the sensed motion into a service request stored in a memory of the end device; a transmitter configured to transmit, to a service provider, the service request and the location of the end device; and a receiver configured to receive, from the service provider, an expression of a service that is associated with an object located within a predetermined range of the end device.
US09226105B2	Mutual interest location matching Architecture that enables users to define user interests, and when two or more people with matching interests (mutual) are identified in the same geographical area, the architecture actively notifies either one or both of the users (e.g., based on a given scenario). After being notified, either or both users can decide how to act (e.g., the user that wants to buy the car can call the user that wants to sell the car and then set a meeting at a suitable time). The architecture automatically creates dynamic geo-fences in association with users to perform different location-based matching scenarios. The locations of the users are continuously identified as the users move in a geographical area. When a matching interest is identified, the architecture actively notifies the users of items that might be of interest and which are currently occurring in the user vicinity.
US09226104B2	Methods and systems for disabling text messaging while driving Methods and systems are provided for disabling text messaging while driving. In one embodiment, a mobile station makes a first determination that it is moving at greater than a threshold rate. The mobile station makes a second determination that, while it is moving at greater than the threshold rate, an outgoing text message reflects more than a threshold degradation in typing proficiency. In response to making the first and second determinations, the mobile station disables a text-message-sending capability.
US09226101B1	Federated bluetooth device network with roaming capability A system includes digital media rendering devices and logic to federate the plurality of devices into a single federated rendering device for a proximate mobile device. The system accepts a request from the mobile device for rendering services by the federated rendering device via a rendering protocol.
US09226099B2	Communicating with an owner of an object without the owner's contact information A computer program product includes a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, where the program instructions are executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method of communication. The method includes a communication hub receiving a message via short range wireless communication directly from a first mobile communication device that is proximate to the communication hub at the time the message is transmitted, and the communication hub receiving the message and automatically forwarding the message via a mobile communications network to a second mobile communication device that is associated with the communication hub without the first mobile communication device identifying the second mobile communication device.
US09226082B2	Hearing aid with means for estimating the ear plug fitting A hearing aid (1) comprising a receiver (2) and at least one first microphone for transforming an acoustic signal surrounding a hearing aid user into an electrical signal, where the hearing aid comprises an ear plug part prepared for fitting tightly into the car canal (11) of a hearing aid user such that an inner volume is formed in the inner part of the ear canal between the car plug part and the car drum of the hearing aid user. The car plug part comprises a second microphone (3) arranged for transforming an acoustic signal in the volume into an electrical signal. The hearing aid comprises estimating means for estimating the effective size of the air leak between the inner volume and the surroundings based on the acoustical signal detected in said volume by said second microphone (3) from a known acoustical signal below 1000 Hz generated by the receiver. The hearing aid further comprises notification means for notifying the hearing aid user if the size range of the air leak is outside a predefined range.
US09226074B2	Surround with variations of concavity An acoustic device includes a resilient surround having a proportionately unequal distribution of half roll and inverted half roll segments. Half roll segments may be sized and located to provide additional clearance for internal components. Regions of transitional concavity may be sized and located to provide increased stiffness in one or more dimensions. Transitions between inversions of concavity may be smooth and free of localized inflexions.
US09226069B2	Transitioning multiple microphones from a first mode to a second mode An apparatus includes multiple microphones and a controller. The controller is coupled to receive a signal from each of the multiple microphones. The controller is configured to control a transition of the multiple microphones from an active mode to a dormant mode. When the multiple microphones are in the active mode, the controller is configured to perform signal processing responsive to signals received from at least two of the multiple microphones. When the multiple microphones are in the dormant mode, the controller is configured to select a microphone of the multiple microphones and to perform signal processing corresponding to the selected microphone while suspending signal processing corresponding to unselected microphones.
US09226068B2	Coordinated gain control in adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) for earspeakers A personal audio device including earspeakers, includes an adaptive noise canceling (ANC) circuit that adaptively generates an anti-noise signal for each earspeaker from at least one microphone signal that measures the ambient audio, and the anti-noise signals are combined with source audio to provide outputs for the earspeakers. The anti-noise signals cause cancellation of ambient audio sounds at the respective earspeakers. A processing circuit uses the microphone signal(s) to generate the anti-noise signals, which can be generated by adaptive filters. The processing circuit controls adaptation of the adaptive filters such that when the processing circuit detects that either of the earspeakers are off-ear, a gain applied to the anti-noise signals is reduced.
US09226066B2	Active vibration noise control device An active vibration noise control device is preferably used for canceling a vibration noise by making a speaker generate a control sound. Concretely, the active vibration noise control device includes an attenuating unit which attenuates a control signal generated by an adaptive notch filter, and provides the attenuated control signal to the speaker, when amplitude of a filter coefficient is larger than a threshold. Therefore, it is possible to suppress continuous ups and downs of the filter coefficient during an occurrence of an abnormality. Hence, it becomes possible to appropriately suppress an occurrence of a cyclic abnormal sound and an increase in the vibration noise during the occurrence of the abnormality.
US09226063B2	Method and apparatus for recognizing accessory of portable terminal A method and an apparatus for recognizing an accessory of a portable terminal are provided. The apparatus includes an interface unit in which the accessory is mounted, a power supply for supplying microphone bias power for recognizing the accessory in the interface unit, a current detector for determining an output current of the power supply, and a controller for determining whether the output current of the power supply exceeds a preset reference current when mounting of the accessory is sensed, and for recognizing a type of the accessory according to the output current of the power supply when the output current of the power supply exceeds the preset reference current. The apparatus may automatically recognize a type of an accessory connected with an interface unit to improve the convenience for a user.
US09226055B2	Bracket with sound boxes for a tablet electronic device A bracket with sound boxes for a tablet electronic device, comprises an arch-shaped connecting piece and sound boxes respectively installed on two opposite ends of the arch-shaped connecting piece. Opposite inner sides of the two sound boxes are respectively provided with a fixing holder for erecting the tablet electronic device. The bracket implements the integration of the bracket for a tablet electronic device and a sound system. When the tablet electronic device and sound system in use need to be moved, only the bracket needs to be moved, which facilitates movability and portability.
US09226048B2	Video delivery and control by overwriting video data Systems, apparatus and methods are provided for generating, delivering, processing and displaying video data to preserve the video creator's creative intent. Metadata which may be used to guide the processing and display of the video data is dynamically generated and embedded in the video data throughout a video delivery pipeline. The metadata may be written in chrominance data for black video frames, black mattes or bars framing an image, and/or in the other image areas for which luminance values are zero or below a threshold value.
US09226044B2	Method for real time distribution of dealership generated data and media originating from a retail environment A system for real time distribution of data and media is disclosed. The system may include a processor that executes instructions to authenticate an employee into an application based on login information received for the employee. The processor may enable the employee to access the application if the employee is authenticated. Once the employee is logged in, the processor may receive media content and information associated with a customer and may transmit the media content and the information to a device of a manager for approval. After the media content and the information are transmitting to the device of the manager, the processor may receive the approval of the media content and the information from the device of the manager. The processor may then proceed to interrupt currently displayed media content on a display device to display video content including the media content and the information associated with the customer.
US09226041B2	Method and device for imposing usage constraints of digital content Imposing one or more usage constraints on digital content involves communicating a digital content data item to a digital content receiver system. The digital content data item includes the digital content and a usage constraint data item different from a digital license data item, or a reference to the usage constraint data item, the use case item being indicative of the one or more usage constraints.
US09226033B2	Information processing apparatus and method for providing information According to one embodiment, an information processing apparatus receives, from a site on Internet, first messages related to a first broadcast station and posted on the site. The apparatus scores each of the received first messages based on a number of characters in each of the received first messages so as to give a higher score to first messages each with a smaller number of characters, and calculates a first evaluation value for content data being broadcast by the first broadcast station based on the scores for the received first messages. The apparatus transmits the calculated first evaluation value to a user terminal.
US09226025B2	IPTV start speed enhancement An Internet audio video device receives a command to power up from a standby mode. This causes the device to start a boot process, and while the boot process proceeds. The process determines a next content selection from a usage pattern database. The Internet audio video device is set to the retrieved settings. At completion of the boot process the audio video device is operational at the retrieved settings. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
US09226019B2	Targeted television advertisements selected on the basis of an online user profile and presented with television programs or channels related to that profile In an automatic, computer-implemented method, a selected television advertisement is presented automatically in association with a television program or channel. A relationship is identified between an online user profile and the television program or channel, and the television advertisement is selected based at least in part on information from the online user profile. The selected television advertisement is presented, in association with the television program or channel that is identified as being related to the online user profile, via a set-top box having a corresponding set-top box identifier that is associated with the online user profile.
US09226017B2	Apparatus for receiving a digital information signal comprising a first video signal producing images of a first size, and a second video signal producing images of a second size smaller than the first size An apparatus includes inputs configured to receive first and second video signals. The first video signal represents a sequence of images having a first size, and the second video signal representing a sequence of images having a second size, the second size being smaller then the first size of the images. The apparatus further includes a combiner configured to combine the first and second video signals so as to obtain a composite video signal suitable for displaying on a display unit. The combiner combines the first and second video signal while the size of the images corresponding to the second video signal remains unchanged.
US09226007B2	Cloud-enabled network-based digital video recorder This disclosure describes systems and methods related to a cloud-enabled network-based digital video recorder. In some embodiments, a request to record an asset may be received from a client device. An asset record associated with the request may be created. A first record event for generation of a manifest file may be created. A second record event for entitlement validation of an asset may be created. A third record event for quality control for the asset may be created based at least in part on the asset record. A manifest file associated with the asset may be generated based at least in part on the asset record.
US09226000B1	Content distribution system and method A content distribution system and or method can be used to align content stored in a remote source with content stored on a plurality of target units and content stored on a head end. A content distribution module can be utilized to distribute content using set logic. The content can include video, audio, graphic, or other files. Content distribution system and method can be used in an in-flight entertainment system that includes a central repository and a number of in-seat entertainment units.
US09225997B2	Method and apparatus for encoding video based on scanning order of hierarchical data units, and method and apparatus for decoding video based on scanning order of hierarchical data units A video decoding method and apparatus and a video encoding method and apparatus based on a scanning order of hierarchical data units are provided. The decoding method includes: receiving and parsing a bitstream of an encoded video; extracting from the bitstream information about a size of a maximum coding unit for decoding a picture of the encoded video, and encoding information about a coded depth and an encoding mode for coding units of the picture, wherein the size of the maximum coding unit is a maximum size of a coding unit which is a data unit for decoding the picture; and determining a hierarchical structure of the maximum coding unit and the coding units into which the picture is divided according to depths, and decoding the picture based on the coding units, by using the information about the size of the maximum coding unit and the encoding information about the coded depth and the encoded mode.
US09225995B2	Method and apparatus for motion vector determination in video encoding or decoding Provided are motion vector determining method and apparatus for determining a motion vector via motion vector prediction.The motion vector determining method involves determining a candidate motion vector list comprising motion vectors of a plurality of candidate blocks referred so as to predict a motion vector of a current block, when a reference image of a first candidate block from among the plurality of candidate blocks is different from a reference image of the current block, determining whether or not to use a motion vector of the first candidate block from the candidate motion vector list, based on whether each of the reference image of the current block and the reference image of the first candidate block is a short-term reference image or a long-term reference image, and determining the motion vector of the current block by using a candidate motion vector selected from among the motion vectors comprised in the candidate motion vector list.
US09225993B2	Moving picture encoding apparatus, moving picture decoding apparatus, moving picture encoding method, moving picture decoding method, moving picture encoding program, and moving picture decoding program An object of the present invention is to increase efficiency of information compression in coding and decoding. A moving picture encoding apparatus 10 of the present invention has a motion vector predicting part for performing, based on a temporal relation among adjacent reference frame images 703a, 703b, 703c referred to for detecting motion vectors of adjacent blocks adjacent to a coding target block, a target reference frame image 702 referred to for detecting a motion vector of the target block, and a target frame image 701 being the frame image of the coding target, or based on time information thereof, a correction of scaling the motion vectors 751a, 751b, 751c of the adjacent blocks on the basis of the target reference frame image 702; and a determination of an optimum predicted motion vector based on the motion vectors of the adjacent blocks; and thereby predicting the optimum predicted motion vector after the correction.
US09225991B2	Adaptive color space transform coding An encoder system may include an analyzer that analyzes a current image area in an input video to select a transform. A selectable residue transformer, controlled by the analyzer, may perform the selectable transform on a residue image generated from the current image area and a predicted current image area, to generate a transformed residue image. An encoder may encode the transformed residue image to generate output data. The analyzer controls the encoder to encode information to identify the selectable transform and to indicate that the selectable transform for the current image area is different from a transform of a previous image area of the input video. A decoder system may include components appropriate for decoding the output data from the encoder system.
US09225987B2	Method and apparatus for encoding video and method and apparatus for decoding video by considering skip and split order A method of encoding a video includes: splitting a picture into a maximum coding unit; for the maximum coding unit, determining coding units having a tree structure including coding units of coded depths and determining encoding modes for the coding units of the coded depths by performing encoding based on coding units according to depths, the coding units according to depths obtained by hierarchically splitting the maximum coding unit as a depth deepens; and outputting information about a maximum coding unit size and, for the maximum coding unit, information indicating an order of split information and skip mode information which is selectively determined for the coding units according to depths, information about the encoding modes for the coding units of the coded depths including the split information and the skip mode information which are arranged according to the order, and encoded video data.
US09225986B2	Low-complexity intra prediction for video coding The present invention provides a unique intra prediction process which improves the efficiency of video coding. H.264/AVC uses reference pixels in a horizontal boundary located immediately above a target block to be predicted and reference pixels in a vertical boundary located immediately left of the target block. In the present invention, at least some of one of an array of horizontal boundary pixels and an array of vertical boundary pixels are retrieved. Then, the retrieved pixels are added to the other boundary pixels to extend the array thereof. Intra prediction is performed, based solely on the extended array of boundary pixels.
US09225983B2	Rate-distortion-complexity optimization of video encoding guided by video description length A system and method provide a video description length (VDL) guided constant quality video encoding strategy with bitrate constraint and a video coding system for optimizing encoding bitrate, distortion and complexity of an input video. The method obtains an overall VDL, temporal VDL and spatial VDL of the input video and compares the overall VDL, temporal VDL and spatial VDL of the input video with a reference VDL, temporal VDL and spatial VDL. Based on the comparison, the method adjusts the encoding bitrate, the overall encoding complexity, temporal encoding complexity and spatial encoding complexity of the input video and encodes the input video with the adjusted encoding bitrate, overall encoding complexity, temporal encoding complexity and spatial encoding complexity of the input video.
US09225959B2	Method and apparatus for recovering depth value of depth image A method and apparatus for processing a depth image determines a number of mods (NoM) for corresponding pixels in a plurality of depth images. The corresponding pixels may represent a same three-dimensional (3D) point. The NoM may be determined to be a value for minimizing a Markov random field (MRF) energy. A depth value for one depth image may be recovered, and a depth value for another depth image may be updated using the recovered depth value.
US09225955B2	Method and apparatus for processing of media data The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing of media data (3), as well as to corresponding management of the processed media data (3). Proceeding from a state of the art that makes it possible to provide media data with additional product and advertising information with regard to selected objects, a system is proposed, within the scope of the invention, which allows processing of media data (3) with current product and advertising information called up in real time, in contrast to the state of the art. This is made possible in that an XML file (4) is generated for a media file to be processed accordingly, in which file the data are compiled not statically, but rather dynamically, for example in the form of links. Furthermore, the system offers dynamic management of the system-related data in the form of tables that are dynamically connected with one another.
US09225954B2	Recording medium for storing information for still picture, recording and/or reproducing method and apparatus therefor A recordable and/or rewriteable recording medium for storing still picture data, and recording and/or reproducing method and apparatus therefor. The recording medium stores still picture group information for grouping a plurality of still pictures in order to manage the still picture at a group level, and stores audio group information for grouping additional audio data added to the still picture data after the still picture data are recorded. Therefore, large-capacity still picture data and additional audio data added thereto can be recorded using a minimum amount of management information. Further, during reproduction, data can be displayed and edited in units of the respective still pictures. Also, it is possible to cope with after-recording of the audio data.
US09225952B2	Color space appearance model video processor A method of color processing determines whether a pixel color is within at least one range of predetermined colors corresponding to a viewer expected color. If so, the method altering the pixel color to better approximate the viewer expected color. For detection of skin tones determining whether the pixel color is within a range of predetermined colors includes discounting an illuminant of the pixel color. The viewer expected colors are preferably skin tone, grass green and sky blue. The saturation level of grass green and sky blue are enhanced and that of skin tones are suppressed. The saturation s is limited based upon lightness J and hue h to convert to an allowable RGB color format range.
US09225950B2	Device and method for user interaction Disclosed are a device for user interaction with a combined projector and camera and a method and a device for user interaction for recognizing an actual object to augment relevant information on a surface or a periphery of the actual object. The device for user interaction, includes: at least one projector-camera pair in which a projector and a camera are paired; a motor mounted in the projector-camera pair and configured to control a location and a direction of the projector-camera pair; and a body including a computer capable of including a wireless network and configured to provide connection with an external device, and a projection space and a photographing space of the projector-camera pair overlap each other.
US09225949B2	Sensory unit for a 3-dimensional display The invention relates to a sensor unit for a display system adapted for generating three dimensional images by combining at least first sub-images for a first eye and second sub-images for a second eye. The sensor unit includes a detector and is adapted to individually detect irradiation properties of the radiation used for the displaying of said first sub-images and/or of the radiation used for the displaying of said second sub-images.
US09225933B2	Playback device, television receiver, apparatus selection method, program and recording medium A television (1) including a function of a call using Internet Protocol (IP) includes: a communicating section to transmit and receive a call signal over an IP communication network; an incoming call destination identifying section (11) to identify a user who is designated as an incoming call destination; a judging section to detect a person who is present around the television (1); and a communication control section (13) to transfer the call signal to a mobile phone (4) of the user in a case where a plurality of persons containing the user has been detected. This offers a television capable of a call and ensuring the privacy of the call.
US09225927B2	Automatic gain control circuit An automatic gain control (AGC) circuit based on a cascade of a step automatic gain control unit and a second automatic gain control unit connected to adjust their gain in a synchronized manner to result in a combined impulsive gain variation. Hereby it is possible, e.g. to use a step automatic gain control unit instead of a continuous automatic gain control unit in an RF part of a TV tuner without resulting in visual artifacts—this applies both for digital and analog TV tuners. According to a preferred embodiment, the synchronization between the two automatic gain control units may be achieved by the first automatic gain control unit generating a control signal upon gain adjustment, this control signal serving to speed up a loop bandwidth controlling gain change of the second automatic gain control unit. In another embodiment, the control signal generated by the first automatic gain control unit is used to control a gain step of the second automatic gain control unit. In addition, the invention provides a tuner with an automatic gain control unit as mentioned, and a device, e.g. a TV or a hard disc recorder with such tuner.
US09225925B2	Phone based television remote control A phone that interacts with a television system. At least one module may be adapted to receive a user input identifying a video selection. At least one module may also be adapted to display video information corresponding to the video selection. At least one module may further be adapted to transmit a control signal adapted to cause the display of video information corresponding to the video selection on the television system. The phone may, for example, be adapted to receive television system setting information and provide for user control of various television system settings. Also for example, the phone may be adapted to receive media guide information, present such information to a user, provide for user selection of a media element, and transmit a control signal adapted to cause delivery of the selected media element from a multimedia source to the television system.
US09225921B2	Method and apparatus for buffering analog information Generally, an integrated circuit, an apparatus and a method for buffering analog information capture first analog information with a capture element and store at least portions of the analog information in a first passive variable resistance memory element coupled to the capture element and in a second passive variable resistance memory element. The portions of the analog information stored in the first passive variable resistance memory element and in the second passive variable resistance memory element may be the same or may be different.
US09225916B2	System and method for enhancing video images in a conferencing environment A method is provided in one example and includes receiving image data for a field of view associated with a display. The image data is used to generate a plurality of red green blue (RGB) frames. The method also includes emitting infrared energy onto the field of view in order to generate a plurality of infrared frames, the plurality of RGB frames and the plurality of infrared frames are generated by a single camera. The plurality of RGB frames can be combined with the plurality of infrared frames in order to generate a video data stream. In a more particular embodiment, the emitting of the infrared energy is synchronized with the camera such that the infrared energy is emitted onto the field of view at one half of an existing frame rate of the camera.
US09225914B2	Infrared imaging system An infrared imaging sensor compatible with 2nd Generation Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) Horizontal Technology Integration (HTI) B-Kit based sensors. In one example, the infrared imaging sensor includes a set of refractive opto-mechanical modules, including an afocal optical module, a receiver assembly, and backward- and forward-compatible electronics modules. The afocal optical module is configured to provide a plurality of different fields of view for the infrared imaging sensor. In one example, the sensor is configured for MWIR and LWIR imagery.
US09225907B2	Image capturing apparatus and method for controlling the same In an image capturing apparatus, a generation unit performs image processing to generate a synchronizing signal for an image sensor, an image generation unit generates image data using an electric signal obtained from the image sensor, and a display control unit reads out the image data stored in a storage unit and displays it on a display unit. The generation unit controls a phase of the synchronizing signal such that the display processing starts when the image processing for a predetermined volume of image data is finished if a frame period (first period) of the image sensor is shorter than a frame period (second period) of the display control unit, and that a predetermined volume of unprocessed image data is left in the storage unit when the image processing for one frame is finished if the first period is not shorter than the second period.
US09225904B2	Image capture method and image capture system thereof With the aid of separating data paths for generating preview frames, for generating video frames, and for generating encoded camera frames of an image fetching system in a concurrent and mutually-independent manner, the image fetching system is free from introducing unnecessary shutter lags.
US09225903B2	Image blur correction apparatus, method of correcting image blur, and imaging apparatus A lens unit 20 including an imaging optical system 31 and an imaging unit 33 to generate an image signal of an imaged image is supported rotatably in a yawing direction and in a pitching direction. Based on a shake which is applied to the lens unit 20 and is detected by a shake detection unit 61, a barycentric position of the lens unit 20 which position is calculated by a barycentric position calculation unit 62, and a position of the lens unit 20 which position is detected by a position detection unit 46, a driving operation by a drive unit 45 to perform rotation driving of the lens unit 20 in the yawing direction and in the pitching direction is controlled and image blur correction of the imaged image is performed. Even when the barycentric position of the lens unit varies due to a focus adjusting operation, a zooming operation, or the like, it becomes possible to perform optimal image blur correction and to improve performance in image blur correction.
US09225898B2	Image pickup apparatus, image processing system, image pickup system, image processing method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium An image pickup apparatus (100) generates a second image based on a first image obtained via an image pickup optical system, and includes an image obtaining unit (101) configured to obtain the first image, a storage unit (106) configured to store a plurality of pieces of correction information calculated for each of groups divided based on information of a deteriorated image generated by applying each of a plurality of deterioration functions to a reference image and on the plurality of deterioration functions, and an image correcting unit (105) configured to generate the second image based on the first image by using correction information selected from among the plurality of pieces of correction information depending on information of the first image and the deterioration function based on shooting condition information.
US09225896B2	Mobile terminal device, storage medium, and display control method A mobile terminal device includes a display module which displays a screen; a photographing module which is configured to face substantially the same direction as the screen; a determining module which determines, based on an image photographed by the photographing module, whether a state of a user facing the screen coincides with a predetermined determination condition indicating that the user has difficulty in browsing the screen; and a display changing module which changes a current display manner of the screen to a display manner that enhances visibility of characters displayed on the screen, as compared with the current display manner, based on a determination result by the determining module that the state of the user coincides with the determination condition.
US09225892B2	Exchangeable lens and camera body An exchangeable lens includes: a mount unit at which a camera body is detachably engaged; a plurality of drive target members, conditions of which change as a drive force is applied thereto; an initialization unit that executes initialization processing for each of the plurality of drive target members; an initialization status transmission unit that transmits initialization statuses, each indicating a status of the initialization processing executed for one of the drive target members, to the camera body via a first transmission path over predetermined first cycles; and a drive condition transmission unit that transmits a drive condition of at least one drive target member among the plurality of drive target members to the camera body via a second transmission path different from the first transmission path over predetermined second cycles different from the predetermined first cycles.
US09225888B2	Image capturing array system and fingerprint identification device An image capturing array system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, at least two image lens units and at least one image sensor disposed on an image plane of each of the image lens units. Each of the image lens units includes at least one lens element with refractive power, an object-side surface and an image-side surface of the lens element are aspheric, and an object is relatively stationary with respect to the in lens units during an image capturing process.
US09225884B2	Apparatus for use in association with a vehicle An apparatus for use in association with a vehicle having a windshield, includes a module and a camera assembly disposed in the module. The camera assembly includes an image sensor and a camera lens. The camera lens has a first end portion disposed adjacent to the image sensor and a second end portion spaced from the image sensor. A polarizer lens is disposed adjacent to the second end portion of the camera lens.
US09225881B2	Digital camera with adjustable sensor The present invention relates to digital cameras and in particular to positioning of image sensors in digital cameras. By providing a digital camera comprising a lens system, at least one image sensor which is attached to a sensor disc and an axle to which the sensor disc is attached and wherein the axle is configured to allow manipulation thereof for adjusting the tilt of the at least one image sensor, a simple solution is provided, enabling adjustment of the image sensor position in the digital camera.
US09225878B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program An apparatus includes an image-forming unit configured to form an image, a measuring unit configured to measure the image, a control unit configured to control execution of single-color calibration to correct reproduction characteristics of a single-color formed by the image-forming unit based on a measuring result of a single-color image formed with a single-color recording agent, and execution of multi-color calibration to correct reproduction characteristics of a multi-color formed by the image-forming unit based on a measuring result of a multi-color image formed with a plurality of color recording agents, and an evaluation unit configured to evaluate single-color reproduction characteristics with reference to a target value usable to evaluate the single-color reproduction characteristics by measuring the single-color image after execution of the single-color calibration. The control unit is configured to correct reproduction characteristics of a multi-color by performing the multi-color calibration after the evaluation unit has completed the evaluation.
US09225873B2	Information processing system, information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program A multifunction peripheral (MFP) for displaying a screen including a list of a part of folders included in a plurality of folders determines to, based on a file stored in a same folder as a folder storing the plurality of folders, display index keys for enabling display of folders corresponding to a specified character out of the plurality of folders (S1002), and displays a screen including the index keys on a display unit.
US09225846B2	Method for activating a SIM card and obtaining balance in real-time A method for activating a SIM card and obtaining balance in real-time, comprising the following steps: the user obtains a SIM card and inserts the SIM card in a mobile communication device; after starting the device, it interface automatically displays the prompting message for registration and activation, and the user completes the registration and activates the SIM card. In the meantime, a preset application program is installed on the SIM card mobile communication device, and the user forms operating record by starting the preset application program. After receiving the operating record, a remote server matches the balance to be obtained and sends the instruction to the telecommunication provider. The docking server firstly verifies the identity validity of service provider, then adjusts the balance of SIM card in real-time and feeds back the balance to the remote server and the remote server feeds back the balance to the user.
US09225844B2	Modem signaling using a multitone prefix over a voice channel of a wireless communication system A system and method of communicating data between a vehicle and call center via a voice channel of a wireless communication system. The method carried out by the system includes the steps of: establishing a voice channel connection between a vehicle telematics unit and call center via a wireless cellular network; generating a modem signaling carrier comprising a prefix followed by a single frequency tone; sending the modem signaling carrier over the voice channel connection using an EVRC-B vocoder; establishing a data communication session over the voice channel connection in response to the modem signaling carrier; and thereafter carrying out data communications between the vehicle telematics unit and call center during the data communication session.
US09225836B2	Methods and systems for voice and video messaging Methods and systems for voice and video messaging are provided here. In some embodiments a method for voice and video messaging may include establishing a telecommunication session with a calling device associated with a first user in response to an indication that a call request from the calling device directed to a called identifier associated with a second user failed, providing to the calling device an option to leave a video message and an option to leave an audio message, receiving a selection from the calling device indicating the selection of the option to leave a video message, disconnecting the established telecommunication session, and receiving a video message from the calling device.
US09225831B2	Mobile terminal having auto answering function and auto answering method for use in the mobile terminal A method for an auto answering function for use in a mobile terminal of a user including receiving an incoming call from a calling party, answering the incoming call when the mobile terminal is in an auto answering mode, providing a first audio output to the calling party when the calling party is identified as a target user, and receiving a first response input from the calling party after providing the first audio output. The method further includes modifying information of a first application of a plurality of applications based on the first response input, wherein the first application is identified based on content of the first response input.
US09225829B2	Method and system for providing communication party related information Method of sharing contact lists, address books, buddy list between users that subscribe to a social networking service via voice calls, data calls, (SMS/MMS) or instant messages/chat. Alledged goal is to provide an improved mechanism of providing communication party related information similar to caller ID for voice calls, the information being more than the telephone number. Only example given of this information is number, name, relationship and degree of seperation.
US09225826B2	Method, apparatus and system for compatibility with VDSL2 legacy customer premises equipment Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for compatibility with a VDSL2 legacy customer premises equipment, including: selecting tones in preset locations from tones of a legacy line as training tones; controlling the training tones not to transmit data and modulating a pilot sequence on the training tones; calculating and feeding back clipped errors on a Vectored line; and calculating coefficients, for the training tones, of crosstalk of the legacy line in the Vectored line according to the pilot sequence and the clipped errors. The embodiments of the present invention further provide an apparatus and a system for compatibility with a VDSL2 legacy customer premises equipment.
US09225825B2	Method and apparatus for line testing A method of testing a communication line includes applying a voltage as a function of time on the communication line and measuring at least a first current and a second current flowing via the communication line. The second current is measured at a different point in time than the first current. The method includes deciding whether a given terminal element is connected to the communication line based on the first current and the second current.
US09225824B2	Mobile device having a touch-lock state and method for operating the mobile device A mobile device with a touch panel and a touch-lock operating method thereof are provided. The mobile device preferably includes an RF communication unit for supporting communication services; a touch panel for sensing input touches; a display unit for displaying a screen, where the screen includes at least one of a preset image, text, and map; and a controller for setting a touch-lock in the touch panel according to a preset condition. The controller also controls the display unit to display at least one of a text and image or at least one particular icon corresponding to the information reception event that occurs, based on the RF communication unit, in the touch-lock state. A portion of the display screen can be locked, or only certain predetermined touch functions permitted.
US09225823B2	Portable electronic devices and methods for downloading applications based on presence of the portable electronic device in a defined geographical region Methods, portable electronic devices and servers are provided for downloading applications to the portable electronic device from the server based on a geographical location of the portable electronic device. One or more applications are stored at the server. The one or more applications have an associated region and duration. A current position of the portable electronic device is determined. Ones of the stored applications are downloaded from the server to the portable electronic device if the current position of the portable electronic device is within the associated region.
US09225821B2	Maximizing information gain for continuous events The embodiments provide a system for maximizing information gain for messages. The system may include an information processing unit configured to receive a plurality of messages having a plurality of attributes, and an integrated optimizer configured to receive an information gain model representing information gain of the plurality of messages and output a message schedule for displaying at least a subset of the plurality of messages on a display terminal including calculating a significance and display time for each of the plurality of messages using the information gain model and the plurality of attributes such that the information gain is substantially maximized. The calculated significance may determine which of the plurality of messages are included in the message schedule and the display time may provide a time period for which each message of the subset is displayed.
US09225820B2	Methods and apparatus for searching a message store Methods and apparatus for searching a message store on a portable device are described herein. The methods allow a plurality of possible search criteria to be generated and displayed. One or more of the possible search criteria may be selected and added to a search string that is used to search the message store.
US09225819B2	Character analysis engine in mobile computing device for facilitating interactive voice response operations A system and a method are disclosed for facilitating sending of DTMF (dual-tone multi-frequency) signals to a destination after connecting to a system by placing a phone call. An entry associated with an application running on a mobile computing device is automatically scanned to detect a telephone number and any string of characters associated with the telephone number. The mobile computing device presents one or more candidate strings of characters that are associated with the telephone number. A user may select the strings of characters to send the DTMF signals after connecting to a destination telephone system. By automatically extracting and displaying the string of characters associated with the telephone number, the user's manual operation associated with accomplishing a task on a remote telephone system is minimized.
US09225810B2	Terminal device, information processing method, program, and storage medium A terminal device that includes an operation surface; an input detection unit that detects an indicator and determines at least one of a position of the indicator contacting the operation surface and a distance of the indicator from the operation surface in a vertical direction; an operation determination unit that determines information about an operation input by movement information of the indicator detected by the input detection unit; and a control unit that performs predetermined control when a first operation which is an operation performed to move the indicator in a vertical direction away from the operation surface is detected by the operation determination unit.
US09225804B2	Method and apparatus for accessing an enterprise resource planning system via a mobile device A method and apparatus for accessing an enterprise resource planning system via a mobile device is described. In one embodiment, the method includes parsing data from a host application access application into at least one object in an application-specific format, converting the data into an intermediate format that is compatible with a mobile device and communicating the converted data to the mobile device.
US09225801B1	Multi-tenant networking Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer programs encoded on computer-readable media are disclosed for binding a process to a wildcard address and a port on a plurality of nodes of a cluster. A process receives a first request for a first address of a first volume that is sent to the port and a first address associated with a first virtual local area network that is not the wildcard address. The process determines the first address, a name of the first VLAN, and a first node that contains information regarding the first volume. The process determines an address of the first node that is part of the first VLAN. The address of the first node is returned. The process receives another request for a second address of a second volume that is sent to the port and a second address associated with another VLAN that is not the wildcard address.
US09225798B2	Remote access to a customer home network A wireless application server may receive, from a wireless device, information identifying an application residing on a network device in a home network. The wireless application server may further cause a connection to be established to the application and transfer traffic between the application and the wireless device.
US09225793B2	Aggregating sensor data In particular embodiments, a method includes accessing sensor data from sensor nodes in a sensor network and aggregating the sensor data for communication to an indexer in the sensor network. The aggregation of the sensor data includes deduplicating the sensor data; validating the sensor data; formatting the sensor; generating metadata for the sensor data; and time-stamping the sensor data. The metadata identifies one or more pre-determined attributes of the sensor data. The method also includes communicating the aggregated sensor data to the indexer in the sensor network. The indexer is configured to index the aggregated sensor data according to a multi-dimensional array for querying of the aggregated sensor data along with other aggregated sensor data. One or more first ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional array include time and one or more second ones of the dimensions of the multi-dimensional include one or more of the pre-determined sensor-data attributes.
US09225792B2	System and method for caching mobile services database objects A method and system for updating a mobile services database by caching some or all of relevant portions thereof, identifying and optionally prioritize those data objects that need updating, and periodically update only those data objects in response to a triggering event.
US09225786B1	Intelligence marketplace system and method An apparatus and method for creating and using a multitude of information artifacts to rapidly share intelligence data, trigger actions and generate income. The information artifacts are designed in such a way that they can be easily updated, shared, analyzed, consumed and combined, for example, in order to create further enriched information artifacts providing higher levels of insight and alternative or additional income potential.
US09225781B2	Apparatus and method for generating virtual sensor in sensor network A virtual sensor generation apparatus of a sensor network sets a communication connection to a sensor node at a periphery of a smart device, generates a logical sensor corresponding to a physical sensor that is connected to the sensor node, generates a virtual sensor with the logical sensor, and provides an application service to a user using the virtual sensor.
US09225773B2	Entertainment system with sourceless selection of networked and non-networked media content A content selection interface for a media system including at least a first network interface for finding and accessing media content remote from said media system and at least one content source integral or electrically connected to said media system. The media system interface may have a single media content selector actuable by a user and means responsive to the media content selector for selecting plural media content items from among the network and local media content sources, the media content selector presenting to the user plural media content items represented as successive positions in a linearly arrayed sequence without the user having to manifest an explicit change between network and non-network sources from position to position.
US09225770B2	Cloud computing secure data storage Method and implementations for providing a secure data storage service in a cloud computing environment are generally disclosed. The method comprises: partitioning a data resource into data particles, assigning logic groups to the data particles, assigning physical storage groups to the data particles, and/or storing each physical storage group at corresponding storage resource, receiving a request for the data resource, determining whether the request for the data resource is valid, and if the request is valid, transmitting the data particles of the data resource to the client. The method enables improved security for accessing data, and also improves the user experience in cloud computing environments.
US09225765B2	Onboard electronic distribution system A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer program product for transferring information with an aircraft. A connection is established between an onboard electronic distribution system executing in an aircraft data processing system in the aircraft and an on ground component. Responsive to a request for a command from the on ground component, the command for execution is identified. The identified command is sent to the onboard electronic distribution system from an on ground component. A transaction identifier is assigned to the command. A transaction associated with the command is maintained on the onboard electronic distribution system and the on ground component using the transaction identifier. An uplink is initiated by the on ground component. An aircraft software part is sent to the onboard electronic distribution system from the on ground component to perform the uplink. A status of a transfer of the aircraft software part on ground component is stored.
US09225762B2	Method and apparatus for network based adaptive streaming A method and apparatus for streaming Over-the-Top (OTT) content on a network to subscribers is described. A digital video transport stream of an item of the OTT content is obtained via unicast streaming methods of a resolution and bit rate selected from an available set of different resolutions and bit rates for the digital video transport stream. The digital video transport stream of the selected resolution and bit rate is transmitted in the form of an IP multicast over the network to subscribers. Bandwidth utilization of the network is monitored so that switching of the bit rate to a different bit rate for the digital video transport stream can be controlled to provide adaptive rate control of the IP multicast.
US09225759B2	User equipment and method for discontinuous reception (DRX) mode in wireless communication networks Embodiments of user equipment (UE) and method for discontinuous reception (DRX) mode in wireless communication are generally described herein. In some of these embodiments, the UE may operate to determine a value for a DRX parameter based at least in part on information associated with an application running on the UE. The UE may send a message to an enhanced node-B (eNB). The message may include at least one of the value for the DRX parameter and the information associated with the application. The eNB may determine values for DRX parameters that the UE may use in DRX mode.
US09225749B2	System and method for providing multi-media services to communication devices over a communications network A method of processing multi-media service requests received at a multi-media services provider computer system, including a processor coupled to a media gateway controller and to a media server. The method includes receiving a message from a SIP INVITE-enabled communication device at the media gateway controller. The message is processed at the media gateway controller for generating an instruction message with unique indicators, which is communicated to the media server in a SIP INVITE format. The media server processes the instruction message to provide media services and collect user-information from the communication device. The media server processes the user-information and generates a first message in an HTTP form POST format with unique indicators, which includes the user-information and which can be processed at the processor. In this manner, the multi-media services provider computer system is compatible with the SIP INVITE-enabled device.
US09225742B2	Managed real-time communications between user devices Managed real-time communications between user devices may be provided. Upon receiving a request to instantiate a communication connection from an application, a secure session may be established between the application and a remote application. Input from a user of the application may be received, subjected to at least one management policy, and transmitted to the remote application.
US09225741B1	Detection and prevention of unwanted content on cloud-hosted services The problem of abuse of privileges at cloud-hosted service sites is addressed by associating each user, preferably across multiple cloud-hosted service sites, with an individual “suspiciousness” score that may vary over time as additional user actions are detected and evaluated. Knowledge of the user is employed to better analyze the appropriateness or acceptability of user actions on the site.
US09225740B1	Framework for iterative analysis of mobile software applications A method is described that includes operations for receiving an application, identifying a region of interest of the application based on rules or analysis of the application, and determining specific stimuli that will cause one or more state transitions within the application to reach the region of interest. Thereafter, the stimuli is applied to the application. One or more behaviors of the application are monitored by a central intelligence engine during virtual execution of the application in response to the applied stimuli to determine whether the one or more behaviors identify that the region of interest corresponds to improperly behaving code.
US09225737B2	Detecting the introduction of alien content A computer-implemented method for identifying abnormal computer behavior includes receiving, at a computer server subsystem, data that characterizes subsets of particular document object models for web pages rendered by particular client computers; identifying clusters from the data that characterize the subsets of the particular document object models; and using the clusters to identify alien content on the particular client computers, wherein the alien content comprises content in the document object models that is not the result of content that is the basis of the document object model served.
US09225733B1	Preventing computer worms from attacking a private computer network through a virtual private network connection A system for preventing a computer worm from attacking a private computer network through a virtual private network (VPN) connection includes a client computer and a VPN server. The client computer detects connection attempts to the VPN server. The client computer consults application rules to determine whether an application program running in the client computer and connecting to the VPN server is specifically authorized to connect to the VPN server. The client computer can receive the application rule automatically from the VPN server or manually from a user.
US09225728B2	Method and device for anonymous entity identification The present invention discloses a method for anonymous entity identification, which comprises the following steps: an entity A transmits an RA and an IGA to an entity B; the entity B returns an RB, an IGB and a TokenBA to the entity A; the entity A sends an RA′, the RB, the IGA and the IGB to a credible third-party TP; the credible third-party TP checks the validity of a first group and a second group according to the IGA and the IGB; the credible third-party TP returns an RESGA, an RESGB, and a TokenTA to the entity A, or returns the RESGA, the RESGA, a TokenTA1 and a TokenTA2 to the entity A; and the entity A performs a verification after receiving them; the entity A sends a TokenAB to the entity B; and the entity B performs the verification after receiving it. In the present invention, there is no need to send the identity information of the entity to be identified to an opposite terminal, so that anonymous identity identification is realized.
US09225726B2	Methods for supporting user equipment accessing local IP services and apparatus therefor Methods and apparatus are provided for supporting Local IP Access (LIPA) services to a User Equipment (UE). A network node receives a request for accessing a PDN which is identified by an APN of a service access point, from the UE. The network node determines whether the UE is permitted to access LIPA services via a CSG base station based on LIPA accessibility information. The network node determines whether requirements for connecting the UE to the LIPA services are met based on the LIPA accessibility information and device capabilities of a serving base station of the UE, when the UE is permitted to access the LIPA services. The LIPA services are activated for the UE, when the requirements for connecting the UE to the LIPA services are met.
US09225723B2	Systems and methods for automatic discovery of systems and accounts In various embodiments, a method comprises scanning a directory structure to generate a scan result comprising a plurality of discovered systems, identifying one or more accounts associated with at least one of the plurality of discovered systems, configuring a security appliance to change one or more old passwords to one or more new passwords for the one or more accounts, and changing, with the configured security appliance, the one or more old passwords to the one or more new passwords.
US09225716B2	Multiple authentication mechanisms for accessing service center supporting a variety of products According to one embodiment, a login page is displayed on a mobile device for logging onto a support center. In response to selecting a first login option, the user is requested to speak a predetermined phrase to a microphone of the mobile device and a first voice stream is captured using a voice recorder of the mobile device. The first voice stream is transmitted to the support center for authentication based on the voice. In response to selecting a second login option, a password is obtained and is transmitted to the support center to for authentication based on the password. Upon having been successfully authenticated by the support center based on at least one of the first and second login options, a communication session is established with a support agent of the support center for support services of a product associated with the user.
US09225711B1	Transferring an authenticated session between security contexts Methods and apparatuses are described for transferring an authenticated session between security contexts. A mobile device establishes a first authenticated session between a native application and a server computing device via a communications network and requests transfer of the first authenticated session to a browser application. The mobile device receives session transfer parameters from a first Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) authentication system associated with the first authenticated session after transfer is requested, the session transfer parameters including a web address and a SAML security identifier. The mobile device directs the browser application to a second SAML authentication system using the session transfer parameters to initialize the browser application and validates the SAML identifier at the SAML authentication system to generate an authentication credential. The mobile device authenticates the browser application to the server computing device using the authentication credential and redirects the browser application to the server computing device.
US09225709B2	Methods and systems for distributing cryptographic data to trusted recipients A method for distributing cryptographic data to trusted recipients includes receiving, by an access control management system, from a first client device, information associated with an encrypted data object, the information including an identification of a platform for generating an integrity measurement digitally signed by a root of trust. The access control management system receives, from a second client device, a request for the information associated with the encrypted data object. The access control management system verifies that the second client device includes the platform for generating the integrity measurement digitally signed by the root of trust. The access control management system determines, based on the verification of the second client device, not to authenticate the second client device. The access control management system sends, to the second client device, the received information associated with the encrypted data object, responsive to the determination.
US09225707B1	Cloud computing and integrated cloud drive A method includes receiving, by an orchestrator component from a client computer, a request to activate an application in a cloud. The orchestrator component is a part of a cloud computing infrastructure hosted on a network connected to the client computer. The request to activate the application includes user credentials for access to user accounts including a user account with a cloud storage that stores a file for the user. The method further includes sending, by the orchestrator component to an application VM executing an instance of the application in the cloud, the user credentials specifically for access by the application VM to the user's account with the cloud storage drive. The method additionally includes using the user credentials to access the file stored in the cloud storage as and when needed for processing the file by the instance of the application executing in the application VM in the cloud.
US09225705B2	Method and system for providing a service for a mobile device and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium An online service providing system, a method, a server, and a mobile device thereof, and a computer program product are provided. The method includes sending a verification link corresponding to a user account that is not verified; after receiving a verification request corresponding to the verification link, determining whether a device identification sent by the mobile device that has logged in the user account is received; when receiving the device identification, confirming whether the user account is verified according to the device identification; after confirming that the user account is verified, when receiving a service request sent by a terminal device logging the user account into a service website, determining a homepage of the service website according to the device identification, and providing the online service corresponding to the mobile device to the terminal device through the service website.
US09225704B1	Unified management of third-party accounts Disclosed are various embodiments for management of third-party accounts for users in an organization. It is determined whether a user in an organization is to be provided with managed access to a third-party network site. An account may be managed for the user with the third-party network site in response when the user is to be provided with managed access to the third-party network site. A security credential is stored for the managed account. A client computing device associated with the user is configured to authenticate with the third-party network site using the security credential. The user may be restricted from accessing the security credential.
US09225694B1	Mobile application secure data exchange Techniques are described for secure data exchange using a mobile application on a mobile communications device. Such data exchange can be used in a variety of industries including healthcare and finance. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09225674B2	Integration of collaboration systems in an instant messaging application A user of an instant messaging application may interact with instant messaging contacts in other collaboration applications (e.g., e-mail, calendar applications, etc.). IM conversations may relate to information in the collaboration applications. For example, an employee may send an e-mail containing marketing data to his manager and wishes to discuss the data further. The employee sends an IM to the manager referencing the data. The manager should read the e-mail before responding, but the manager may not know that she received the e-mail. Information from a plurality of collaboration applications can be integrated into an instant messaging application. A collaboration integration unit can collect and associate information from the collaboration applications with instant messaging contacts and provide suggestions based on the information. In the previous example, the manager's instant messaging application collects information from an e-mail application and indicates that she has an unread e-mail from the employee.
US09225670B2	System and method for storage and retrieval of neighboring switch tokens A system and method for storage and retrieval of neighboring switch tokens includes a switch including one or more processors, memory storing a first token, and a first port configured to couple the switch to a second switch. The one or more processors are configured to send a first token storage request to the second switch, send a first token retrieval request to the second switch requesting the information associated with the first token, and receive a first retrieved token message from the second switch. The first token storage request includes information associated with the first token. The first retrieved token message includes first information associated with the first token.
US09225669B2	Packet switch and method of use The present invention relates to a packet switch and a packet switching method. An example embodiment of the present invention comprises at least three network ports, at least one instrument port, a mux-switch, a packet switch fabric, and an address table. The embodiment updates the address table to include the source address of each ingress packet of each network port and associate the source address with that network port. The mux-switch routes the ingress packet traffic of each network port according to the identity of the network port so that at least a copy of the packet traffic of one of the network ports is routed to an instrument port. The packet switch fabric routes the packets from the instrument ports to the network ports according the destination address of the packet and the identity of the network port that is associated with the destination address as recorded in the address table.
US09225668B2	Priority driven channel allocation for packet transferring A method comprising advertising to a second node a total allocation of storage space of a buffer, wherein the total allocation is less than the capacity of the buffer, wherein the total allocation is partitioned into a plurality of allocations, wherein each of the plurality of allocations is advertised as being dedicated to a different packet type, and wherein a credit status for each packet type is used to manage the plurality of allocations, receiving a packet of a first packet type from the second node, and storing the packet to the buffer, wherein the space in the buffer occupied by the first packet type exceeds the advertised space for the first packet type due to the packet.
US09225659B2	Method and apparatus for scheduling a heterogeneous communication flow A method and apparatus are provided for scheduling a heterogeneous communication flow. A heterogeneous flow is a flow comprising packets with varying classes or levels of service, which may correspond to different priorities, qualities of service or other service characteristics. When a packet is ready for scheduling, it is queued in order in a flow queue that corresponds to the communication flow. The flow queue then migrates among class queues that correspond to the class or level of service of the packet at the head of the flow queue. Thus, after the head packet is scheduled, the flow queue may be dequeued from its current class queue and requeued at the tail of another class queue. If the subsequent packet has the same classification, it may be requeued at the tail of the class queue or may remain in place for another servicing round.
US09225657B2	Multimedia distribution in a heterogeneous network The efficiency of real-time distribution of multimedia content over a heterogeneous network is optimized by locally, rather than centrally, adapting the content to conform to the capabilities limitations of the network. Multimedia content travels from a central location along the network backbone. When received by each of a system of dispersed media servers, that media server adapts the content by compensating for any QoS limitations of the downstream network segments. For example, the backbone of the communications network may consist of a satellite uplink. The dispersed media servers receive and replicate the content as required for distribution to unicast segments downstream rather than doing so at the source of the content, and thus multiple streams of identical content need not be carried on the backbone. Each dispersed server is programmed to optimize the transmission to conform to the transmission parameters of each adjacent and downstream segment of the network.
US09225656B2	Quality of service in a heterogeneous network A network device provides priority map storage configured to store one or more mapping data structures for mapping multiple priorities of a first priority scheme to multiple priorities of a second priority scheme. In addition, mapping logic of the network devices is coupled to the priority map storage and configured to translate a first priority of a first frame of the first priority scheme to a second priority of the second priority scheme and to assign the second priority to a second frame carrying payload of the first frame in preparation of transmission of the second frame in accordance with the second priority scheme.
US09225637B2	Border gateway broker, network and method A device-implemented network with domains each having nodes, the nodes of each of the domains sharing network information with one another according to an intra-domain communication policy. An inter-domain protocol is configured to control communication between at least one of the nodes of one of the domains and at least one of the nodes of a different one of the domains. A broker is configured to be communicatively coupled to the nodes and configured to control communication according to the inter-domain protocol and to which all of the nodes of each of the plurality of domains are configured to send the network information.
US09225630B2	Method and multi-homed equipment for establishing a multipath connection According to the invention, the method for establishing a multipath connection across multiple communication paths between a first and a second multi-homed equipments within a least one communication network, both equipments being able to support a multipath protocol, wherein said method comprises the successive steps of: sending, from the first equipment, main connection establishment requests across at least two communication paths between said first and second equipments; receiving, from the second equipment, at least one acknowledgement message across one of said communication paths; and determining, at the first equipment, as a main communication path, the communication path whereby the first one of said at least one acknowledgement message from the second equipment has been received by the first equipment, in order to establish the main connection of said multipath connection across said main communication path.
US09225613B2	Method for accessing content in networks and a corresponding system A method for accessing content in networks, preferably in wide area networks, includes: determining a resource for content by a resource identifier; sending a DNS-query for resolving an IP-address for a host identifier specified as a part of the resource identifier by a client; determining a preferred hosting server hosting the content according to the resource identifier; sending a DNS-response including the IP-address of the determined hosting server to the client; accessing the content from the determined hosting server by the client by providing at least one hosting server identifier or one IP-address corresponding to the resource identifier to a sorting server; sorting the at least one hosting server identifier or IP-address by the sorting server according to client specific information or according to network guiding information provided by the client, determining a preferred hosting server according to the sorted at least one hosting server identifier or IP-address.
US09225612B2	Generic multiservice network centre for creating and orchestrating network applications and services The present invention relates to a digital telecommunications system for creating, integrating, grouping, managing, deploying, activating and orchestrating mobile, fixed, IP, converged and next generation services and networks. Said system is called MULTI-SERVICE NETWORK CENTER (10), and includes at least one application and service orchestration server module (15), referred to as Network Browser (15), at least one administration module (13), at least network gateway module (18), at least one integration gateway module (14) and at least one database and profiling module (19). Said system includes means to be integrated to at least one core telecommunications network and means for introducing and/or management of services of complex control into said core network and in at least one of the elements thereof. Said system further includes means for opening said core network and at least one of the core network elements to at least one service, wherein said at least one service is an own service, an operator service, a third-party service, an Internet service, or any other service. Moreover, said system includes means for opening said core network and at least one element of said core network to at least one other digital network.
US09225606B2	Method for clustering devices in machine-to-machine networks to minimize collisions Nodes in a network are clustered by first determining, in each node, a cluster head capability (CHC). The CHC is broadcasting, directly or indirectly, until all nodes have received the CHCs. Each node nominates, one or more candidate cluster heads based on the CHCs, and then, in each node, at least one cluster head is selected from the candidate cluster head nodes based on maximal CHCs.
US09225604B2	Mapping requirements to a system topology in a networked computing environment Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for mapping requirements (e.g., functional and/or non-functional requirements) to components and/or policies of a system topology in a networked computing environment (e.g., a cloud computing environment). In a typical embodiment, a set of functional requirements is mapped to a set of components. A set of dependencies between the set of functional requirements is then indentified so that a set of interrelationships between the set of components may be identified. A set of non-functional requirements is then mapped to a set of policies that are then applied to the set of components. Based on the set of components, the set of interrelationships, and the set of policies, a system topology is generated. Upon implementation of the system topology, runtime metrics may be collected as feedback that is utilized for refinement of the system topology, as well as a system topology deployed in the future.
US09225590B2	Graceful restart (GR) methods and devices This disclosure provides methods and devices for Graceful Restart (GR) in a network with multiple GR Restarters that include a first GR Restarter and at least one second GR Restarter corresponding to the first GR Restarter. After receiving routes from all normal neighbor network devices of the first GR Restarter, the first GR Restarter performs route selection to determine first selected routes, and sends the first selected routes to the at least one second GR Restarter. After receiving routes from the at least one second GR Restarter, the first GR Restarter performs route selection to determine second selected routes, updating a local Forwarding Information Base (FIB) at the first GR Restarter with the second selected routes, and sends the second selected routes to all neighbor network devices of the first GR Restarter. The first GR Restarter directly connects with the at least one second GR Restarter corresponding to the first GR Restarter.
US09225584B1	Alternative network address port translation An apparatus includes a plurality of network devices to transmit frames of data. Each of the network devices is associated with one or more predetermined transport-layer port numbers that are not associated with any others of the network devices. All of the network devices are associated with a single common predetermined internet protocol (IP) address. Each of the frames of data includes the common predetermined IP address as a source IP address and a respective one of the predetermined transport-layer port numbers as a source transport-layer port number. A switch includes a plurality of first interfaces, each in communication with one of the network devices, to receive the frames of data from the network devices, a second interface to transmit the frames of data from the apparatus, and a forwarding engine to transfer the frames of data from the second interfaces to the first interface.
US09225579B2	Renewing registrations for a plurality of client applications that are associated with the same host server via an explicit piggybacking scheme In an embodiment, a server registers first and seconds client applications on the same client device. The first client application on a client device obtains, from the server or some other source, application-to-application communicative information for facilitating communication between the first and second client applications. Based on the application-to-application communicative information, the first client application configures a given registration request message that includes (i) a request for renewing the first client application's registration with the server, and (ii) a request for renewing the second client application's registration with the same server, and transmits the given registration request message to the server. The server renews the registrations for the first and second client applications in response to the given registration request message.
US09225577B2	Exciter and quadrature error correction method According to one embodiment, an exciter comprises a sine wave generator, a filter, a digital/analog converter, and a quadrature modulator. The sine wave generator generates a first sine wave and a second sine wave while changing a frequency in a predetermined step at a preset time interval. The filter sets one of stored filter coefficients and performs filter processing for the first sine wave and the second sine wave. The digital/analog converter converts the first sine wave and the second sine wave after the filter processing into a first analog signal and a second analog signal, respectively. The quadrature modulator quadrature-modulates the first analog signal and the second analog signal.
US09225576B1	Resilient channel and broadcast modulation Methods, systems, and apparatuses can provide a plurality of RF channels and outputs using digital modulation and combining. In various examples, generation of digital IQ packetized data in combination with digital switching can increase the number of RF modulated channels, optimize broadcast transmission and/or provide transmission resiliency.
US09225572B2	Method of transmitting reference signal and transmitter using the same A method and apparatus of transmitting a reference signal in a wireless communication system is provided. A reference signal sequence is generated by using a pseudo-random sequence. A portion or entirety of the reference signal sequence is mapped to at least one resource block and is transmitted. The pseudo-random sequence is generated by a gold sequence generator which is initialized with initial values obtained by using cell identifier. The reference signal provides low PAPR and high cross correlation characteristic.
US09225571B2	Method for transmitting preamble for legacy support A method for transmitting a preamble for legacy support is provided. In a communication system for supporting at least one of a first system corresponding to a legacy system and a second system which corresponds to an evolved system and supports two or more scalable bandwidths, a method for transmitting a preamble for the second system is provided. A preamble sequence is generated on the basis of a smallest bandwidth of the two or more scalable bandwidths, the generated preamble sequence is mapped to a resource zone to have a repetition factor which is relatively prime to a repetition factor of a repetition factor of a preamble for the first system, and the preamble sequence mapped to the resource zone is transmitted as the preamble for the second system.
US09225558B2	Method for receiving a signal, which is transmitted over a pair of wires and receiver A method for receiving a signal, which is transmitted over a pair of wires is measuring a differential mode (DM) signal and is measuring a common mode (DM) signal and using both DM and CM to restore the original signal. A corresponding receiver (1) comprises a CM receiving path (3), a DM receiving path (2) and a digital signal processor (22) to combine CM and DM signals. With this method and receiver (1) the coverage of networks, which are slightly unbalanced, can be enhanced, especially in cases where the CM signal is less attenuated than the DM signal.
US09225557B2	Radio communication system and receiving apparatus A radio communication system includes a multiple number of transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus including a multiple number of receive antennas, in which the transmitting apparatus generates a reference signal that is obtained by adding a different time shift to a known signal between the transmitting apparatus and the receiving apparatus, multiplexes a data signal with the reference signal and transmits the resultant signal. The receiving apparatus separates reference signals multiplexed on the signals received from the multiple transmitting apparatus, and estimates channel information from the reference signals, which have been transmitted through common frequencies in part or whole of the signal spectra. Then, the data signal is decoded based on the estimated channel information.
US09225556B2	Multiplexed packet local area networking using an Ethernet physical layer device Multiplexed packet local area networking using an Ethernet physical layer device. In one embodiment, a network device having dual port Ethernet physical layer devices can be configured to receive a packet on a first Ethernet port. The network device can extract first packet data that is destined for the network device from the data section of the packet and insert second packet data that is destined for the gateway node into the packet to produce a modified packet. The modified packet is then transmitted by the network device over a second Ethernet port.
US09225547B2	Apparatus, method, and medium for controlling transmission of data A data processing apparatus can reduce an occupancy rate of a ring bus by suppressing occurrence of a stall packet, and can change a processing sequence. In the data processing apparatus, a buffer is provided in each communication unit connecting the ring bus and the associated processing unit. Transfer of data from the communication unit to the processing unit is controlled by an enable signal. Consequently, occurrence of a stall packet is suppressed. Accordingly, frequency of occurrence of a deadlock state is reduced by decreasing the occupancy rate of the ring bus.
US09225546B2	Method and device for operating a slave A method for operating a first slave which is connected to a master and to at least one further slave includes sending, with the master, in each case at least one forward telegram in a forward direction and at least one reverse telegram in a reverse direction via the bus line to the first slave and the at least one further slave. The method further includes deactivating a buffer memory of the first slave in order to stop a forwarding of forward telegrams and reverse telegrams up to a reactivation time when the forward telegram and the reverse telegram are received within a predetermined time window. The first slave is in an annularly closed bus line.
US09225530B2	Secure crypto-processor certification The subject disclosure is directed towards certifying cryptographic data for a crypto-processor outside of a controlled environment. The crypto-processor and a certifying entity maintain shared secret data for the purpose of verifying security of cryptographic key generation by the crypto-processor's firmware. In order to certify new cryptographic keys, the crypto-processor uses the shared secret data to verify the crypto-processor's firmware/hardware to the certifying entity. By protecting the shared secret data from exposure to compromised firmware, the shared secret data may be used to compute another secret conveying to the certifying entity whether the firmware can be trusted or not.
US09225529B1	Encrypted virtual machines in a cloud A method, system, and computer program product for intercepting communication between a virtual machine and an encrypted replication data stored on a storage medium and redirecting the communication to a remote replication appliance and using a key stored on the remote replication appliance to enable the virtual machine to facilitate communication with the encrypted replication data stored on the storage medium, wherein facilitating communication enables the virtual machine to interact with the encrypted replication data as unencrypted data.
US09225527B1	Hidden plug-in storage drive for data integrity A secure (e.g., protected) storage drive for use with an associated computer device is disclosed. The secure storage drive allows access only when properly authenticated to the computer device attempting to access the secure storage drive. Additionally, other levels of authentication may be required prior to allowing access. For example, access may only be allowed if both the computer device and a user authenticated to the computer device are recognized by the secure storage drive. If access to the secure storage drive is not permitted, then the secure storage drive may remain hidden and not accessible to the operating system of the computer device. Accordingly, if hidden, no command of the operating system of the computer device can access, alter, or erase data on the secure storage drive.
US09225515B2	Shared portal context session The present disclosure involves systems, software, and computer implemented methods for sharing session state between portal application portlets associated with different domains. One example method includes setting a cookie for use in a portal environment. The cookie is encrypted with a key and stores at least a portion of a session state associated with a current portal session. The encrypted cookie is provided for storage at a client associated with the portal session. Execution of a portal application is initiated within the portal environment. The portal application is provided with a copy of the encrypted cookie. A copy of the key is provided to the portal application. The provided copy of the key is used to decrypt the cookie at the portal application. The session state stored in the cookie is used to set at least a portion of the session state of the portal application.
US09225511B1	Systems for determining website secure certificate status via partner browser plugin Systems of the present inventions allow for determining website secure certificate status via a partner browser plugin. An exemplary system may comprise a server communicatively coupled to a network hosting a first website configured to receive a request for a plugin from a partner. The plugin may be configured to determine the secure certificate status of a second website browsed in a browser on the partner's computing device. The system further may comprise a plugin request processing module, perhaps running on the server, configured to receive a request for the plugin from the partner, code the plugin with a unique identifier identifying the partner, and transmit the coded plugin to the partner. A status receipt module, perhaps also running on the server, may be configured to receive, from the plugin, the second website's uniform resource locator and secure certificate status, and the partner's unique identifier. The status receipt module also may be configured to store the received data in a database running on the server.
US09225504B2	Circuit and method for clock data recovery and circuit and method for analyzing equalized signal A clock data recovery method samples an input signal according to a reference clock to generate a plurality of sampling results. A first and a second sampling clocks are generated according to the reference clock. A phase difference between the two sampling clocks is larger than zero and less than half an UI and each UI corresponds to an input data. Successive UIs of the input signal are sampled according to the first and the second sampling clocks to generate a first and a second sampling results in each UI. The two sampling results are compared to generate a comparison result. An adjusting signal is generated according to the comparison result and the input data. The first and the second sampling clocks are adjusted according to the adjusting signal such that the sampling results of each UI substantially correspond to a peak value at the UI of the input signal.
US09225502B2	Method and network node for determining channel state information in an upcoming time slot A method and a network node (110, 111) for determining first channel state information in an upcoming time slot for use by a first radio network node (111) when determining a set of radio transmission parameters for a transmission between the first radio network node (111) and a second radio network node (121) are provided. The net work node (110, 111) receives (201) second channel state information for said upcoming time slot. Furthermore, the network node (110, 111) determines (207) third channel state information for said upcoming time slot. The second and third channel state information are at least partly non-overlapping with each other. Next, the network node (110, 111) determines (208) the first channel state information, for said upcoming time slot, based on the second channel state information and the third channel state information.
US09225500B2	Microwave backhaul system having a dual channel over a single interconnect A microwave backhaul architecture having a dual channel over a single interconnect is provided. The backhaul architecture includes an indoor communication unit and an outdoor communication unit (ODU), which may include an N-Plexer configured to perform decouple one or more transmitted signals from one or more received signals. The ODU also includes an RF module, an analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog converter (ADC/DAC) and a digital signal processor (DSP) configured to process received data in the digital domain such that errors may be detected and/or corrected. Further, the backhaul architecture is configured to allow two transmission channels and two receipt channels to coexist on the single interconnect. The single interconnect may be implemented such that the two transmission and receipt Channels may support communication at a highest possible baud rate. Thus, the single interconnect allows for data to be communicated to the ODU over two communication channels, without having to add an additional interconnect.
US09225493B2	Multimode wireless systems and methods The present disclosure includes systems and methods for operating a wireless communication system in multiple modes. The system is configured in a first mode when a transmission interference in a receiver of a wireless device is below a first threshold. The system is configured in one or more intermediate modes when the transmission interference is above the first threshold and below a second threshold. The system is configured in a second mode when the transmission interference is above the second threshold. The one or more intermediate modes activate interference management processes and the wireless device transmits data and receives data simultaneously. In some embodiments, transmission interference may be based on an SINR measurement.
US09225490B2	Method and apparatus for configuring resource elements for the provision of channel state information reference signals Methods, apparatus and computer program products define additional resource elements of a physical resource block (PRB) to be allocated for the provision of channel state information reference signals in a manner that does not create issues relating to backwards compatibility for legacy mobile terminals. A method may include receiving a definition of a plurality of resource elements of a PRB to be allocated for provision of channel state information reference signals. At least some of the plurality of resource elements of the PRB that are allocated for the provision of channel state information reference signals correspond in position to resource elements of the PRB that are interpreted by a different type of mobile terminal to be muted. The method also causes channel state information reference signals to be received via the plurality of resource elements of the PRB that are allocated for the provision of channel state information reference signals.
US09225482B2	Method and system for MIMO transmission in a distributed transceiver network A transmitting device comprises a plurality of distributed transceivers, a baseband processor and a network management engine. Data streams are generated at baseband by the baseband processor. Diversity coding such as space-time coding may be performed over the generated data streams in the baseband. The transmitting device concurrently transmits each of the coded streams in a same radio frequency (RF) band to a receiving device over the entire distributed transceivers through associated antennas. When needed, the network management engine may identify one or more auxiliary devices providing available transceivers and antenna beamformers to the transmitting device for sharing. Beam patterns and antenna orientations may be determined for associated antennas of the available transceivers for the transmitting device. Each of the coded data streams in the same radio frequency band may be transmitted to the receiving device over the entire available transceivers for the transmitting device through the associated antennas.
US09225469B2	Blind transport format detection depending on the conditions of reception of the signal A method for determining a length of a message block of k bits from a length candidate set, comprising steps of: —Selecting (401) a length candidate (N) among the set; —Decoding (402) a received frame to form a decoded sequence that includes a message of a length equal to the length candidate (N), by a Viterbi decoder; —Calculating (402) a Viterbi variable (S(N)) for this candidate (N), —Comparing (403) the Viterbi variable with a threshold (Δ), —Repeating the selecting (401), decoding (402) and calculating (402) steps if said Viterbi variable (S(N)) is greater than the threshold (Δ) and if there exists an unselected length candidate among the set; —If the Viterbi variable is greater than a best value (Sbest), updating this best value to the Viterbi variable and updating a best length (Nend) to this candidate; —Wherein the threshold (Δ) is initially set to a value determined according to the conditions of reception of the receiver.
US09225468B1	Systems and methods for detecting data in a received multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) signal Systems and methods for detecting data in a received signal are provided. A signal that represents a set of data symbols is received. Possible bit values for a single data symbol of the set of data symbols are determined based on the received signal. Possible bit values for other data symbols of the set of data symbols are determined based on the possible bit values for the single data symbol. The determining of the possible bit values for the other data symbols includes determining a first value for each bit included in the other data symbols. The first value is determined by combining i) a first soft metric indicating a likelihood of a state of the bit given the received signal, and ii) a second soft metric representing an a priori probability (APP) for the bit. The first soft metric is not based on the APP for the bit.
US09225465B2	Method for configuring a telecommunication system The invention relates to a method for configuring a telecommunication system comprising at least one sending entity and one receiving entity between which the same link transmits several transport channels with different qualities of service. The sending entity matches the rate between the different coded transport channels with separate qualities of service, and the different coded transport channels are then multiplexed. The matching rate specific to each coded transport channel is determined from at least one first parameter representative of the expected Eb/I ratio and a second parameter representative of the capacity of the physical channel.
US09225463B2	Method and apparatus for cancelling interference A method for cancelling interference performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method includes transmitting an interference information request and Interference Cancellation (IC) scheme information to a serving Base Station (BS), receiving from the serving BS interference information determined according to the interference information request and the IC scheme information, and cancelling interference using the interference information. The IC scheme information may be transmitted when the terminal is to transmit the interference information request and an Interference to Noise power Ratio (INR) exceeds a threshold.
US09225458B2	Wavelength-selective cross-connect device having a variable number of common ports A configurable wavelength-selective cross-connect (WSXC) device having an array of optical ports in which at least some of the ports are configurable to operate as common ports or as plural ports. The configurable WSXC device includes a MEMS mirror array whose mirrors are tiltable in a manner that enables, e.g., reconfigurations of the configurable WSXC device that result in a change of the number of common ports therein. In one possible configuration, the configurable WSXC device can operate as 1×M1 wavelength-selective switch, where M1+1≦P, and P is the total number of optical ports in the array of optical ports. In another possible configuration, the configurable WSXC device can operate as a bank of n 1×M2 wavelength-selective switches, where n is a positive integer greater than one, and n(M2+1)≦P.
US09225457B2	Overlapping spectrum in optical communication An optical add-drop multiplexer including a first filter filtering a first band of wavelengths of a communication spectrum for a first communication and a second filter filtering a second band of wavelengths of the communication spectrum for a second communication. The second band of wavelengths overlaps the first band of wavelengths in an overlap band of wavelengths. The first band of wavelengths includes a first fraction of the overlap band of wavelengths for the first communication and the second band of wavelengths includes a remaining fraction the overlap band of wavelengths for the second communication.
US09225452B2	Method and apparatus for pilot multiplexing in a wireless communication system Techniques for multiplexing pilots in a wireless transmission are described. In one aspect, a transmitter station generates multiple pilot sequences for multiple transmit antennas, with each pilot sequence comprising pilot symbols sent in the time domain on a different set of subcarriers. The transmitter station further generates multiple pilot transmissions for the transmit antennas based on the pilot sequences. In another aspect, a transmitter station generates multiple pilot sequences for multiple transmit antennas based on frequency-domain code division multiplexing (FD-CDM) of a Chu sequence defined by a transmitter-specific value. The transmitter station further generates multiple pilot transmissions for the transmit antennas based on the pilot sequences. In yet another aspect, a transmitter station generates multiple pilot transmissions for multiple transmit antennas based on a first multiplexing scheme and generates multiple data transmissions based on a second multiplexing scheme that is different from the first multiplexing scheme.
US09225444B2	Method and apparatus for identification of broadcast source A user (102) hears an audio program being broadcast and can record a sample of the audio. The sample is then conveyed to an analyzing means (106) to determine to which broadcast station the user is listening. The analyzing means monitors many broadcast channels. Thus, characteristics of the audio sample and samples taken from the broadcast channels can be compared to find a match. Broadcast information pertaining to the broadcast channel from which the match was found may then be reported back to the user, combined with an advertisement of a promotion, prize notification, discount offers, and other information specific for a certain radio station for example.
US09225439B2	Method for monitoring a metric for a base station's downlink/uplink path utilizing a radio frequency scanner and the radio frequency scanner In one embodiment, the radio frequency scanner includes a detector configured to receive signals for transmission by the base station, and to detect a presence metric for each carrier expected in the received signals. A processor is configured to determine if the base station is operating improperly based on the detected presence metrics.
US09225435B2	Underwater communication system and related communicating method and devices The invention relates to an underwater communication system and method. The system comprises at least one underwater remote device comprising a processing unit and functionally connected to the processing unit first magnetoinductive communication means capable of communicating with other underwater devices using magnetic induction, and a wearable underwater monitor device comprising second magnetoinductive communication means capable of communicating with said remote device using magnetic induction. According to the invention, the remote device further comprises functionally connected to said processing unit acoustic communication means capable of transmitting acoustic signals. The invention helps to keep the monitor device small and energy efficient, still allowing for long-distance underwater communications.
US09225434B2	Semiconductor device for electrical isolation using a photocoupler and isolator to convey a signal A semiconductor device including: a filter circuit to subdivide and output the received signal as a first signal with a relatively low frequency and a second signal with a relatively high frequency; a first channel containing a photocoupler to convey the first signal output from the filter circuit; a second channel containing an isolator to convey the second signal from the filter circuit; and a signal synthesis circuit to sum and output the first signal conveyed by way of a first channel and a second signal conveyed by way of a second channel.
US09225433B1	Timing recovery for optical coherent receivers in the presence of polarization mode dispersion A receiver architecture and method performs timing recovery in the presence of differential group delay (DGD) (caused, for example, by polarization mode dispersion). A matrix-based linear transformation is applied to the polarization components of a signal received over the optical fiber channel that mitigates or eliminates the effects of the differential group delay. Timing recovery can then be performed on the transformed signal to recover a clock signal. Beneficially, the described technique can recover timing information even in half-baud DGD channels. Furthermore, latency and computational load can be minimized.
US09225430B2	Digital noise loading for optical receivers Managing performance of an optical communications network may be facilitated by digital noise loading techniques. The digital noise loading techniques may include measuring a quality of a communication signal received at a coherent optical receiver, applying digital noise to the communication signal at the coherent optical receiver, and detecting a change in the quality of the communication signal at the coherent optical receiver in response to the application of the digital noise. Based on the change in the quality of the communication signal, an operating characteristic and/or a performance margin of the coherent optical receiver may be determined, prompting or facilitating further actions such as adjusting one or more operating parameters of the optical communications network and/or triggering an alert.
US09225426B2	Advanced fiber node Circuitry of a hybrid fiber-coaxial network may comprise a first transceiver configured to connect the circuitry to an optical link, a second transceiver configured to connect the circuitry to an electrical link, a first processing path, a second processing path, and a switching circuit. In a first configuration, the switching circuit may couple the first transceiver to the second transceiver via the first processing path. In a second configuration, the switching circuit may couple the first transceiver to the second transceiver via the second processing path. The first transceiver may comprise a passive optical network (PON) transceiver and the second transceiver may comprise a data over coaxial service interface specification (DOCSIS) physical layer transceiver. The switching circuit may be configured based on the type of headend to which the circuitry is connected.
US09225425B2	System and method for dual speed passive optical networks In a dual speed passive optical network, an optical line termination (OLT) transmits a communication signal having a 10-Gb/s partition and a 2.5-Gb/s partition. The 10-Gb/s partition includes a 10 G data signal and a 2.5 G clock signal so that the PLL of a 2.5 G (legacy) optical network termination (ONT) can remain locked while a 10 G ONT is receiving data. The 2.5 G clock signal includes 1-bit spike signals of greater amplitude than the 10 G data signal.
US09225417B2	Managing alternate site switching in an optical communication system A primary optical path in an optical network is established between first and second edge nodes of the optical network for communication between the first edge node and a primary customer network site coupled to the second edge node. A backup optical path through the optical network from the first edge node to a third edge node of the optical network other than the second edge node is determined for communication between the first edge node and a backup customer network site coupled to the third edge node of the optical network. The backup customer network site is designated to back up the primary customer network site. Communications are forwarded on the primary optical path from the first edge node toward the primary customer network site via the second edge node. Upon detection of a degradation or failure of the primary customer network site, communications are forwarded on the backup optical path from the first edge node toward the backup customer network site via the third edge node.
US09225416B2	Varied signaling channels for a reverse link in a wireless communication system Signaling is efficiently sent on a configurable CDMA control segment. To send signaling, transmission parameters for the CDMA control segment for a serving sector are determined. These parameter may indicate the CDMA control segment size, the frames in which the CDMA control segment is sent, the signaling channels to be sent on the CDMA control segment, and so on. The enabled CDMA signaling channels for a terminal and the average transmission interval for each enabled CDMA signaling channel are determined. For each frame in which the CDMA control segment is sent, the signaling channels to be sent on the CDMA control segment in that frame are determined. The signaling for each signaling channel is processed (e.g., encoded, channelized, scaled, and scrambled). The processed signaling for all signaling channels is combined and mapped to a time-frequency region used for the CDMA control segment in the frame.
US09225411B2	Phased array transmission device Transmission output detectors extract transmission outputs of a plurality of transmission branches, and an inter-branch error detector detects a combined signal level of the transmission outputs of the transmission branches to obtain an error detection signal. A correction controller calculates an amplitude error between the transmission branches based on an error detection signal, and calculates a phase error between the transmission branches based on an error detection signal which is obtained by changing the phases of the transmission branches. A phase controller and an amplitude controller correct the amplitude error and the phase error.
US09225405B2	Method and apparatus using a base codebook structure for beamforming Techniques for a precoding scheme for wireless communications are described. A method and apparatus may comprise a first device for a communications system to determine a beamforming structure for a closed loop transmit beamforming scheme using channel information, one or more scaling factors and one or more integers to represent a complex vector. The beamforming structure may include a codeword, a codebook and a codeword index. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09225402B2	Random access heterogeneous MIMO network A number of techniques, which may be used together, provide distributed coordination of multiple stations so that concurrent transmissions and increased throughput are achieved on a shared radio medium. Each of the techniques provides a separate innovation that can be used alone or in combination with one or more of the other techniques.
US09225401B2	Method and apparatus of beam training for MIMO operation and multiple antenna beamforming operation The disclosed invention provides an efficient method for MIMO beam training for multiple antennas to enable spatial multiplexing MIMO operation and spatial combining in a wireless network. The invention discloses a simple and efficient beam-training algorithm and protocol for MIMO operation that operates in high SNR condition for reliable MIMO operation. In one novel aspect, the best MIMO beam combinations are determined after TX sector sweeping and RX sector sweeping. The best MIMO beam combinations are determined in such a way that no any selected TX/RX sectors come from the same TX/RX antenna/beamformer. The selection criteria includes not only signal quality, but also considers mutual interference and leakage among multiple MIMO spatial streams to improve overall MIMO performance. Simultaneous RX or TX training are also supported to reduce training time.
US09225390B2	Wireless power supplying system and adaptive adjustment method thereof It is disclosed a wireless power supplying system and an self adaptive adjustment method thereof. The method includes: a step for detecting an operating status of an electric power sending unit and determining, based on the detected operating status, whether the electric power transmitting unit satisfies a condition of a normal operation of the system and a step for determining, based on the above determination result, whether to adjust a master frequency of an oscillating circuit so that the master frequency of the oscillating circuit is between a resonance frequency of a transmitting coil and a resonance frequency of a receiving coil. The master frequency of the oscillating circuit is adjusted automatically, so that the master frequency is always close to the resonance frequency of the transmitting coil and that of the receiving coil, thereby maintaining stably the power output of the system.
US09225372B2	Near field communications (NFC) device power harvesting and power supply selection A near field RF communicator has an antenna circuit to couple with the H field of an RF magnetic field and a power supply deriver to derive a rectified auxiliary power supply from the received magnetic field. Rectification may be performed using an actively switched rectifier having a passive mode of operation. A sub regulation system is provided to regulate the auxiliary power supply to inhibit the possibility of temporally varying power requirements of the near field RF communicator or its host causing an apparent load modulation of a signal that is transmitted or received by the communicator.
US09225369B2	Filtering blocker components of a signal An apparatus includes a main amplifier configured to receive an input signal. The main amplifier is also configured to generate an output signal. The apparatus also includes an auxiliary path configured to phase-shift the input signal to generate a cancellation signal to reduce or cancel a blocker component of the output signal.
US09225366B2	Method of manufacturing a radio frequency receiver module A method of manufacturing a radio frequency receiver module includes supporting a baseband processor on a base. A feature choice for the module is determined. The feature choice includes an antenna type, an RF type, or a stack type. An optional hardware component is selectively installed or omitted on the base dependent upon the determined feature choice.
US09225354B2	Coding method, decoding method, coder, and decoder A coding method, a decoding method, a coder, and a decoder are disclosed herein. A coding method includes: obtaining the pulse distribution, on a track, of the pulses to be encoded on the track; determining a distribution identifier for identifying the pulse distribution according to the pulse distribution; and generating a coding index that includes the distribution identifier. A decoding method includes: receiving a coding index; obtaining a distribution identifier from the coding index, wherein the distribution identifier is configured to identify the pulse distribution, on a track, of the pulses to be encoded on the track; determining the pulse distribution, on a track, of all the pulses to be encoded on the track according to the distribution identifier; and reconstructing the pulse order on the track according to the pulse distribution.
US09225352B2	Signal transmission system, photoelectric conversion apparatus, and image pickup system A signal apparatus includes a plurality of pairs, each pair of which includes plural digital signal output units configured to output a digital signal, a block wiring to which output terminals of the plural digital signal output units are connected, and a buffer circuit an input terminal of which is connected to the block wiring, in which the output terminal of the buffer circuit included in one of the pairs is connected to the block wiring included in another one of the pairs.
US09225349B2	Dither-less multi-stage noise shaping fractional-N frequency synthesizer systems and methods A fractional-N divider of a frequency synthesizer is driven by a dither-less and seed-less multi-stage noise shaping (MASH) modulator to alleviate fractional spurious tones introduced by the cyclic train of division ratios from delta-sigma modulators. The MASH modulator includes at least two cascaded dither-less delta-sigma modulators where each modulator includes a first feedback loop the generates the modulator feedback signal, a second feedback loop that disrupts fractional spurious tones and a third feedback loop that provides approximately zero static error. The MASH modulator further includes a combining circuit delays at least one code sequence from at least one of the delta-sigma modulators and that combines the code sequence generated by each of the delta-sigma modulators and at least one delayed code sequence.
US09225348B2	Prediction based digital control for fractional-N PLLs Methods and systems for phase correction include determining a phase error direction and generating a prediction for the phase error based on a sigma-delta error. It is determined whether the prediction agrees with the determined phase error direction. If the prediction does not agree, a phase correction is adjusted in accordance with the predicted phase error.
US09225345B2	Charge pump calibration for dual-path phase-locked loop Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to charge pump calibration for a dual-path phase-locked loop circuit. An embodiment of an apparatus includes a phase frequency detector; an integral path including a first charge pump; a proportional path including a second charge pump; and a calibration mechanism for the first charge pump and the second charge pump, the calibration mechanism including a phase detector to detect whether a reference clock signal or a feedback clock signal is leading or lagging in phase and to generate a signal indicating which clock signal is leading or lagging, a first memory element and a second memory element to store the signal from the phase detector, a first control logic to adjust current for the first charge pump based on the value stored in the first memory element, and a second control logic to adjust current for the second charge pump based on the value stored in the second memory element.
US09225337B2	Temperature threshold circuit with hysteresis A circuit for determining a threshold indication of temperature with respect to a threshold temperature. The circuit includes a timer circuit and a temperature sensor circuit having an counter whose output has a relationship to temperature. At the end of a period determined by the timer circuit, a comparator circuit compares the count of the counter with an indication of the threshold temperature to determine a state of the threshold indication. In response to a change in state of the threshold indication, the circuit changes one of the count time or the counter output's relationship to temperature to provide a hysteresis for the threshold indication.
US09225332B1	Adjustable buffer circuit A common mode logic buffer device includes a current source configured to provide a source current. An input stage includes a first MOS transistor pair configured to generate, from the source current and based upon an input differential voltage, a differential current between two output paths. An output stage includes a second MOS transistor pair configured to generate an output differential voltage based upon an effective impedance provided for the each of the two output paths. An adjustment circuit is configured to adjust, in response to a control signal, the effective impedance of the second MOS transistor pair.
US09225329B2	Semiconductor device, driving method thereof, and electronic appliance A semiconductor device in which operation delay due to stop and restart of the supply of a power supply potential is suppressed is provided. Potentials corresponding to data held in first and second nodes while the supply of a power supply potential is continued are backed up in third and fourth nodes while the supply of the power supply potential is stopped. After the supply of the power supply potential is restarted, data are restored to the first and second nodes by utilizing a change in channel resistance of a transistor whose gate is electrically connected to the third or fourth node. Note that shoot-through current is suppressed at the time of data restoration by electrically disconnecting the power supply potential and the first or second node from each other.
US09225327B2	Burst detection for lines to remote devices In some implementations, a control device is coupled with an output, the output to be coupled with a remote device via a line, for example, in an industrial environment. A burst detector is coupled with the output to detect bursts on the line. In response to detected bursts, a switch device may couple the output with a reference potential.
US09225324B2	Circuit for generating accurate clock phase signals for high-speed SERDES Systems and methods for generating clock phase signals with accurate timing relations are disclosed. For example, four clock signals spaced by 90 degrees can be generating from differential CML clock signals. A CML to CMOS converter converts the differential CML clock signals to differential CMOS clock signals and provides duty cycle correction. Delay cells produce delayed clock signals from the differential CMOS clock signals. The differential CMOS clock signals and the delayed clock signals are logically combined to produce four quarter clock signals having active times of one-quarter clock period. Set-reset latches produce the four clock signals from the quarter clock signals. A calibration module control delays of the delay cells and controls the duty cycle correction of the CML to CMOS converter to adjust the timing relationships of the four clock signals. The four clock signals may be used, for example, in a deserializer.
US09225323B1	Signal crossing detection Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to detecting crossings such as zero crossings that can pose problems to circuit operation. In accordance with an example embodiment, two or more circuits are implemented for detecting signal crossings of an electrical signal during respective time cycles, such that at least one of the circuits is operating to detect such a crossing at all times. Each circuit undergoes a reset condition, which is controlled to ensure that at least one circuit remains operating for detecting zero crossing.
US09225313B2	Bulk acoustic wave resonator having doped piezoelectric layer with improved piezoelectric characteristics A bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator structure includes a first electrode disposed over a substrate, a piezoelectric layer disposed over the first electrode and a second electrode disposed over the first piezoelectric layer. The piezoelectric layer is formed of a piezoelectric material doped with one of erbium or yttrium at an atomic percentage of greater than three for improving piezoelectric properties of the piezoelectric layer.
US09225310B1	Audio limiter system and method A system and method for limiting amplitude of a signal, such as limiting the loudness of an audio signal. Embodiments of the present invention allow for the most aggressive limiting by using an advanced psychoacoustic model to intelligently determine the amount of limiting that can be done to the incoming signal before producing distortion that is detectable to the human ear.
US09225308B2	Apparatus and method for amplifying a transmit signal or for determining values of a delay control parameter An apparatus for amplifying a transmit signal comprises a transmit path comprising a power amplifier module to be coupled to an antenna module. The power amplifier module is configured to amplify a transmit signal. Further, the apparatus comprises an envelope tracking path comprising a variable delay module and a power supply module. The variable delay module is configured to vary a signal delay within the envelope tracking path according to a delay control parameter. Further, the apparatus comprises a delay control module configured to provide the delay control parameter based on a current characteristic transmit frequency of the transmit signal.
US09225307B2	Modification of audio responsive to proximity detection Embodiments described herein provide for detecting movement in proximity to a playback device and responsively modifying the audio that is output from one or more playback devices. According to an embodiment, a user is able to wave his or her hand over a playback device to modify the audio that is output from the playback device, one or more different playback devices, or all of the playback devices. The embodiments are particularly useful as a snooze feature, in which an alarm from a playback device (or group of playback devices) is snoozed for a time when triggered by the user's movement.
US09225301B2	Amplifier apparatus with controlled negative output impedance An audio amplifier apparatus includes an audio amplifier which receives a single audio signal and produces a plus phase audio signal and a minus phase audio signal, both dependent upon the single audio signal. The plus phase audio signal and minus phase audio signal are received by first and second inputs of a speaker, respectively. A current sensing circuit senses a level of current received by the first or second inputs of the speaker and outputs a current sensing signal dependent upon the sensed level of current. An amplifying circuit receives and amplifies the current sensing signal. A mixer circuit receives the amplified current sensing signal and an audio drive signal and produces the single audio signal dependent upon the amplified current sensing signal and the audio drive signal. The single audio signal is produced at a node in-between two resistors.
US09225296B2	Method and system for aligning signals widely spaced in frequency for wideband digital predistortion in wireless communication systems A system for time aligning widely frequency spaced signals includes a digital predistortion (DPD) processor and a power amplifier coupled to the DPD processor and operable to provide a transmit signal at a power amplifier output. The system also includes a feedback loop coupled to the power amplifier output. The feedback loop comprises an adaptive fractional delay filter, a delay estimator coupled to the adaptive fractional delay filter, and a DPD coefficient estimator coupled to the delay estimator.
US09225294B2	Amplifier with improved noise reduction An amplifier with improved noise reduction is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus includes at least one capacitor configured to receive an adjustable current and generate a corresponding ramp voltage configured to control coupling between a main amplifier output and a secondary amplifier output. The apparatus also includes at least one comparator configured to adjust the adjustable current to generate the ramp voltage with selected ramp-up or ramp-down voltage characteristics.
US09225292B2	Power control An amplification stage comprising: an input scaling block for scaling an input signal in dependence on an input scaling factor to generate a scaled version of the input signal; a power amplifier for generating an amplified version of the scaled input signal; an envelope detector for generating a signal representing the envelope of the input signal; an envelope scaling block for scaling the envelope signal in dependence on an envelope scaling factor to generate a scaled version of the envelope signal; a non-linear mapping block for generating a voltage representative of the supply voltage in dependence on the scaled envelope signal; a modulator for generating a power supply voltage for the amplifier in dependence on the voltage generated by the non-linear mapping block; and a power control block for maintaining a linear relationship between the envelope scaling factor and the input scaling factor.
US09225285B2	Photovoltaic installation with automatic disconnect device A PV installation comprises a PV array, an electrical interface connecting a utility power source to an electrical load, and a DC to AC inverter. A first set of wiring electrically connects the PV array to the inverter through a disconnect device and a second set of wiring electrically connects the inverter to the electrical interface. A control mechanism connects the disconnect device to the electrical interface so that when power from the electrical interface is removed, the PV array is electrically disconnected from the inverter. The disconnect device may be a remote disconnect device located at a position at or near the PV array, such as in the space beneath a roof supporting the PV array. A method electrically disconnects a PV array from electrical wiring at a site.
US09225278B2	Method for determining phase angle in phase shift transformer for medium voltage inverter A method for determining phase angle in phase shift transformer for medium voltage inverter is disclosed, the method including selecting an arbitrary phase shift angle and phase angle relative to a unit power cell of the first stage, determining a phase angle displacement in consideration of the phase shift angle and the number of unit power cells connected to each phase of a motor, determining a phase angle of the unit power cell at the second stage using a phase angle of the unit power cell at the first stage, and adjusting a phase angle when the determined phase angle of the unit power cell at the second stage exceeds a predetermined phase angle.
US09225275B2	Power tool with light unit A power tool including a motor, light unit, and switch unit for selectively connecting the motor and light unit to a power source. A control module includes a controller coupled to a first electronic switch to control power delivery to the motor based on a position of the switch unit, and to a second electronic switch to control power delivery to the light source based on a position of the switch unit. A timer is configured to keep the light unit illuminated for a predetermined amount of time after the switch unit has been activated or deactivated. The control module also includes a boot circuit with a semiconductor switch that continues to deliver power to the controller and to the light unit when the switch unit is deactivated subsequent to being activated, to enable the light unit to remain illuminated after the switch unit has been deactivated.
US09225273B2	Motor drive method, motor drive device, and brushless motor A method for driving a motor including a stator wound with a coil and a rotor rotatably disposed and confronting the stator, whereby the coil is energized and driven at energizing timing of which phase is determined based on an advance angle amount to rotate the rotor. At this time, it is determined whether or not a power supply voltage supplied to the motor exceeds a predetermined voltage, and when it is determined that the power supply voltage exceeds the predetermined voltage, the advance angle amount is changed to increase a current amount flowing through the coil, for energizing and driving the coil.
US09225250B2	Control circuit with current sampling mechanism for reducing current error of output of power converter and control method thereof A control circuit adjusts the output of a power converter by controlling a power switch, in which a primary side of a transformer, the power switch and a sensing resistor are connected in series to ground. The control circuit includes a peak current emulating unit, an error amplifier, a comparator, and a control signal generator. The peak current emulating unit samples sampling voltages from the sensing resistor and obtains a real current sensing voltage and an current sensing voltage using the sampling voltages. The error amplifier receives a fixed reference voltage and a DC voltage generated from the output of the power converter, and generates an error signal. The comparator receives the real current sensing voltage and the error signal and generates a transition signal. The control signal generator receives the transition signal and generates a control signal for controlling the power switch.
US09225247B2	Comparator for synchronous rectification and method of operation A boost converter includes a comparator having first and second gain stages that operate in compare and auto-zero modes. The comparator measures voltage drop across a P-channel transistor to determine when current through an inductor reaches zero. When the inductor current reaches zero, the P-channel transistor becomes inactive to prevent a reduction in efficiency caused by allowing negative inductor current to draw current from a load. The comparator is then placed in a low power state. When the comparator is not in a compare mode, the comparator can operate in an auto-zero mode to cancel offset when measuring the input of the comparator.
US09225245B2	Power supply device and method for controlling power supply A power supply device includes a coil, a first switch circuit that accumulates energy in the coil, and a plurality of second switch circuits that couple the coil to a plurality of output terminals. A first control unit generates a first control signal that controls the first switch circuit to turn on and off based on a combined value of a plurality of output voltages respectively output from the plurality of output terminals and a first reference value. A second control unit generates a second control signal that controls the plurality of second switch circuits to turn on and off in a cycle that is the same as the first control signal based on a first output voltage of the plurality of output voltages and a second reference value.
US09225238B2	Multiple level charge pump generating voltages with distinct levels and associated methods A multi level charge pump circuit may be associated with at least two power supplies, and may provide at least four levels of positive and negative voltage. The multi level charge pump may include first and second fly capacitors, and first and second tank capacitors. A plurality of PMOS transistors and NMOS transistors may allow generation of two high voltage levels and two low voltage levels for the multi level charge pump, the low voltage levels being derived from a charging of the two fly capacitors in series. This multi level charge pump may be embodied in an audio device within a platform without a dedicated SMPS circuit.
US09225231B2	Open loop ripple cancellation circuit in a DC-DC converter A direct current (DC)-DC converter, which includes an open loop ripple cancellation circuit, a switching supply, and a parallel amplifier, is disclosed. During a calibration mode, the parallel amplifier provides a parallel amplifier output current to regulate a power supply output voltage based on a calibration setpoint. The switching supply drives the parallel amplifier output current toward zero using a switching control signal, such that during the calibration mode, an estimate of a current gain is based on the switching control signal. Further, during the calibration mode, the open loop ripple cancellation circuit is disabled. During a normal operation mode, the open loop ripple cancellation circuit provides a ripple cancellation current, which is based on the estimate of the current gain.
US09225229B2	Semiconductor switch circuit A semiconductor switch circuit includes a switch between an input node and an output node that connects nodes to each other according to a control signal and a level shifter outputting the control signal at a boosted level that is greater than a power supply voltage level. The semiconductor switch circuit also includes a booster circuit to output a boosted voltage at the boosted level higher than a power supply voltage level. A control circuit is configured to control the level shifter output of the control signal to the switch. A capacitance switching circuit is included to change the capacitance of a connection between the booster circuit and the level shifter. The capacitance switching circuit can vary capacitance according to the voltage level of the booster circuit output.
US09225228B2	Method of manufacturing laminated stator core and laminated stator core manufactured by the method A method of manufacturing a laminated stator core and a laminated stator core manufactured by the method, the method capable of forming a recess 21 over one or both of (a) a lateral portion of an ear piece C of the stator core sheet A to be formed adjacent to the stator core sheet B and (b) a peripheral portion of the annular yoke piece D continuing to the lateral portion, the peripheral portion beside the ear piece C; fitting one ear piece E of the stator core sheet B with a gap in the recess 21; and thereby improving a material yield when the stator core sheets 13 are formed from the strip material 14.
US09225226B2	Electric machine having a housing secured by plastically deformed centering pins An electric machine (10), in particular for the motorized adjustment of movable parts in the motor vehicle, and method for producing an electric machine (10), comprising a housing part (16) in which a printed circuit board (20) for electrically activating the electric machine (10) is arranged, wherein at least one centering pin (44) which reaches into a centering opening (45) in the printed circuit board (20) is arranged in the housing part (16), wherein the centering pin (44) is plastically deformed at the free end (46) thereof in order to form a securing head (56).
US09225223B2	Power tool In a power tool having an electronically commutated drive motor to which stator components are assigned, which stator components have a stator core equipped with an insulating body, a positioning unit is provided on the insulating body. The positioning unit is designed to enable a positioning of a circuit board, which is assigned to the drive motor, in a predefined alignment on the insulating body.
US09225222B2	Magnetic bearing apparatus and method for varying shaft thrust load support in induction motors and other rotating machinery A permanent magnet bearing supports part of thrust loads of a vertical shaft induction motor, or the thrust loads of other types of rotation machinery regardless of shaft rotational axis orientation, in parallel with a lubricated mechanical bearing. The permanent magnet has a stationary magnet portion coupled to a bearing bracket and a rotating portion adapted for coupling to a rotor shaft. The permanent magnet bearing exerts a directional magnetic force that generates a preload support force on the rotor shaft that is selectively varied by varying air gap between the stationary and rotating magnet portions. Air gap between the magnet portions is varied with an air gap adjustment mechanism. The gap adjustment mechanism may be coupled to a control system that in some embodiments causes the permanent magnet bearing to vary the air gap based on external load applied on the motor.
US09225208B2	Internal cooling of magnetic core for electric machine A core for an electric machine includes a core component having a plurality of core teeth defining a plurality of core slots between adjacent core teeth of the plurality of core teeth. The plurality of core slots are receptive of one or more windings. A coolant flowpath through the core component is formed through at least one core tooth. The at least one core tooth has one or more coolant tube banks and one or more mixing chambers arranged in an alternating pattern along the at least one core tooth.
US09225206B2	Windmill generator A windmill generator is provided configured to produce electric current to a receiving device when flux lines of a magnetic field are crossed by a coil. The windmill generator comprises a coil frame armature around which a coil is wrapped. Rare earth magnets are disposed in proximity to the coil. A set of wings may be coupled to the coil frame armature. When motion is induced to the coil from the pushing effect of moving air pushing the set of wings, an electric field and electric current due are produced due to flux lines of the magnetic field of the magnet being crossed by the moving coil. Alternatively, the set of wings may be coupled to the at least one magnet. When motion is induced to a magnet, an electric field/electric current is produced.
US09225203B2	Method, system and computer-readable recording medium for transferring wireless power by using antennas with high orders of spherical modes The present invention relates to a system for transferring wireless power or signal. The system includes a first antenna; and a second antenna which is located from the first antenna at an arbitrary distance and arranged in an arbitrary direction in comparison with the first antenna, wherein respective spherical modes of the first antenna and the second antenna are allowed to have orders which are same as or larger than a predetermined value to thereby transfer wireless power between the first antenna and the second antenna.
US09225199B2	Variable power energy harvesting system Systems for harvesting energy from a variable output energy harvesting apparatus are disclosed. The systems include an energy harvesting apparatus for providing energy input to a switched mode power supply and a control loop for dynamically adjusting energy harvesting apparatus input to the switched mode power supply, whereby system output power is substantially optimized to the practical. Exemplary embodiments include systems for harvesting energy using solar cells in boost, buck, and buck-boost configurations.
US09225187B2	Multi-functional electrode devices for fast-charging of energy-storage devices and methods therein The present invention discloses multi-functional electrode (MFE) devices for fast-charging of energy-storage devices. MFE devices include: a multi-functional electrode (MFE) device for fast-charging of energy-storage devices, the device including: a first MFE structure for forming a suitable electrochemical half-couple, the first MFE structure having a first fast-charging component (FCC) and a first MFE assembly; a counter-electrode structure for forming a complementary electrochemical half-couple to the first MFE structure; and an internal voltage controller (IVC) for applying a bias potential to the first MFE structure and/or the counter-electrode structure, whereby the bias potential is set in accordance with the chemical nature of the first MFE structure and the counter-electrode structure. Preferably, the IVC is configured to regulate an intra-electrode potential gradient between the first FCC and the first MFE assembly, thereby controlling a charge rate from the first FCC to the first MFE assembly.
US09225157B2	Vibration resistant cable Vibration resistant cables containing a first conductor and a second conductor, each having a diameter d, are disclosed. The second conductor is twisted around the first conductor at a lay length between 3 feet and 6 feet to eliminate bagging of the vibration resistant cable during installation.
US09225146B2	Semiconductor laser device The present invention is aimed to prevent occurrence of COD and rapid degradation of light output in semiconductor laser devices. The semiconductor laser device includes a semiconductor laser element 100A and a support member 200. The semiconductor laser element 100a includes a first electrode 13, a substrate 11, and a semiconductor structure 12 having an emitting facet and a reflecting facet, a second electrode 15, and a pad 16, in this order. The semiconductor laser element 100A is connected to a support member 200 at its pad 16 side via a connecting member 300. The emitting-side end portion of the second electrode 15 is spaced apart from the emitting facet of the semiconductor structure 12, and the emitting-side end portion of the pad 16 is located at an outer side than the emitting-side end portion the second electrode 15.
US09225144B2	Walk-off compensator with tilt function Techniques and structure are disclosed for implementing a spatial walk-off compensation mechanism having an integral tilt function. In some embodiments, the mechanism may comprise a tilt-ball mount having an integrated walk-off compensation medium. In some embodiments, the mechanism may be configured to receive an output beam from a non-linear converter (e.g., optical parametric oscillator or OPO) implementing a non-linear medium comprising a bi-refringent material (e.g., zinc germanium phosphide, or ZnGeP2; cadmium silicon phosphide, or CdSiP2). In some embodiments, the walk-off compensation medium may comprise the same material and/or have the same cut as the non-linear medium. In some embodiments, the mechanism may be manually and/or mechanically adjusted/repositioned to reduce beam walk-off and/or to more precisely direct the beam. In some embodiments, the mechanism may be implemented in mid-infrared (MIR) applications. Numerous configurations and variations will be apparent in light of this disclosure.
US09225138B2	Laser light source The present invention relates to a laser light source capable of suppressing variation in propagation state of randomly-polarized laser light. In the laser light source, an isolator including a Faraday rotation crystal having a positive thermooptic constant, and a nonlinear optical crystal having a negative thermooptic constant are arranged in order along a traveling direction of laser light. The nonlinear optical crystal is arranged in a state off normal incidence of incident light so that a propagation axis of light propagating in the crystal is parallel to an optic axis of the crystal.
US09225134B2	Penetration and assembly structure for flexible circuit board with hinge assembly Disclosed is a penetration and assembly structure for a flexible circuit board with a hinge assembly. With a pre-folding line formed on a pre-prepared flexible circuit board serving as a center line, a connection section of the flexible circuit board is folded to a terminal distribution section, and then, the connection section and an extended sheet are wound up in a direction towards the terminal distribution section to form the connection section into a rolled body with the extended sheet wrapped around the rolled body to provide an effect of protection. The rolled body is then inserted through a bore of a hinge assembly so that after the rolled body completely passes through the bore of the hinge assembly, the extension section of the flexible circuit board is located in the bore of the hinge assembly and the first end and the second end are respectively set at opposite ends of the bore of the hinge assembly. In other applications, a reinforcement plate is included to reinforce the terminal distribution section of the flexible circuit board.
US09225133B2	Quick-mount ballasts Quick-mount ballasts including a body and a receiver. The body includes a first protrusion, a connecting portion distal the first protrusion, the connecting portion containing a primary plurality of electrical contacts, and a second protrusion proximate the connecting portion. The receiver includes a guide, a wire trap proximate the guide, a receiving portion distal the guide, the receiving portion containing a secondary plurality of electrical contacts, and a retainer proximate the receiving portion.
US09225125B2	Connector and switch A connector includes a terminal to be connected to a terminal of another connector, a fixed contact, a movable contact provided on one end of a movable plate, a card being in contact with the movable plate, a slide portion, a button that contacts with the card and is pushed down according to a movement of the slide portion, and a spring connected to the button and generates force in a direction of separating a contact between the fixed contact and the movable contact. One of the fixed contact and the movable contact is connected to the terminal. The button is pushed down and the card moves to move the movable plate to cause the movable contact to contact with the fixed contact when the slide portion moves in one direction, and the movable contact is separated from the fixed contact when the slide portion moves in another direction.
US09225123B2	USB receptacle A USB receptacle mateable with a USB plug along a mating direction is disclosed. The USB receptacle comprises a holder member made of insulator, a shell made of conductor, and a detection pin made of conductor which is separated and is different from the shell. The detection pin is made of resiliently-deformable material and is held by the holder member so as not to be in direct contact with the shell. The detection pin includes a first contact portion and a second contact portion. The first contact portion and the second contact portion pinch a part of a plug shell of the USB plug when the USB receptacle is mated with the USB plug. Under a condition where the USB receptacle is not mated with the USB plug, the first contact portion and the second contact portion meet an inequality of “(b−a)
US09225122B1	Connector assembly having conductive holder members A connector assembly includes a contact module having a conductive holder and a frame assembly held by the conductive holder. The conductive holder includes first and second holder members electrically connected to one another and having a chamber divided into a plurality of channels by first and second tabs. The first tabs have posts extending therefrom and the second tabs having holes receiving the posts with tab segments on opposite sides of the associated holes. Each hole has a bridge extending across the hole between the tab segments that blocks electrical radiation across the hole between the adjacent channels. The frame assembly includes a dielectric frame received in the holder members including a plurality of contacts and frame members supporting the contacts routed through corresponding channels. The first and second tabs are disposed between corresponding frame members and the bridges are disposed between corresponding frame members.
US09225114B2	Radial electrical connector resistant to fluids A wet-connect can include a radial array of contacts that are electrically isolated from each other. The wet-connect can include a male connector and a female connector. The contacts are placed at spaced distances from each other around the outside diameter of the male connector and the inside diameter of the female connector. Because the contacts are spaced around the radius of the connectors, the length of the wet-connect does not have to depend upon the number of contacts provided by the wet-connect. This in turn can reduce the length of the wet-connect, making the wet-connect less susceptible to breakage or misalignment and/or allowing the wet-connect to be manufactured using less material.
US09225111B2	Joint connector and joint terminal A joint connector includes a housing that includes terminal chambers. At least two neighboring joint terminals are housed in terminal chambers neighboring among the terminal chambers, respectively. Each of the neighboring joint terminals includes a wire-crimping portion, a terminal body housed in a terminal chamber among the plurality of terminal chambers, and a pair of first and second contact portions, respectively. The first contact portion of one of the neighboring joint terminals is electrically contacted with the second contact portion of another of the neighboring joint terminals. A pair of spring tabs is formed on both sidewalls of the terminal body and contacts with opposed inner surfaces of the terminal chamber, respectively, by an elastic restoration behavior. According to the joint connector, an increase of a contact resistance to be generated by vibrations and temperature variations can be sufficiently restricted.
US09225109B2	Connector A connector mateable with a mating connector having a locked portion. The connector comprises a lock member, a position detection mechanism, a lock maintenance member and a state detection mechanism. The lock member has a lock portion. The lock member is selectively positionable at a lock position or an unlock position. When the lock member is positioned at the lock position, the lock portion locks the locked portion to lock the mating of the connector with the mating connector. When the lock member is positioned at the unlock position, the connector is removable from the mating connector. The position detection mechanism detects whether the lock member is positioned at the lock position or the unlock position. The lock maintenance member is selectively takable a maintenance state or a permission state. The state detection mechanism detects whether the lock maintenance member is under the maintenance state or the permission state.
US09225107B2	Electrical connection having a bushing or a conductor configured to absorb limited torque An electrical connection for an electrical component or electrically heatable honeycomb body, in an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine includes an electrical conductor passing through a metallic jacket of the exhaust system, a bushing and an insulating layer and having an outer connection section with circular cross section. The connection section has a contact surface for connection to a supply line connection piece. The bushing and/or electrical conductor near the bushing can absorb torques up to 3.6, 4.5 or 7 Nm per cm2 of contact surface acting on the connection section and/or an internal or external thread in circumferential direction, by shaping the electrical conductor near the bushing or using structures and/or changes to the cross section or a form-locking construction of the electrical conductor and the bushing. Damage to electrical exhaust components due to external torques, disassembly and maintenance can thus be avoided.
US09225106B2	Environmentally sealed contact An electrical contact includes a contact body having a mating portion and a barrel portion configured for receiving an electrical conductor. The barrel portion includes a wall defining a bore having a closed end and open end, and the bore includes a core receiver portion for receiving the core of an electrical conductor and a plug receiver portion adjacent the closed end of the bore. A hole is formed in the barrel portion proximate the closed end of the bore and extending into the plug receiver portion of the bore through the wall. A plug has a body portion configured to be inserted into the bore and to engage the plug receiver portion of the bore. The plug is disposed in the end of the plug receiver portion and is further configured to seal the plug receiving portion of the bore and the hole from the rest of the bore.
US09225105B2	Waterproof ear jack socket and method of manufacturing the same A waterproof ear jack socket includes: an upper socket having at least one slit formed such that a first portion of a contact terminal passes through one surface of the upper socket to be exposed to the outside; a lower socket having a recess for engaging a second portion of the contact terminal on one surface thereof facing the upper socket, the lower socket being coupled to the upper socket to form a plug insertion hole into which an ear jack plug is inserted; and a waterproof cover attached to an outer circumference of a socket body formed by coupling the upper socket and the lower socket.
US09225098B2	Splice box A splice box includes: a housing including chambers each partitioned with each of partition walls, and slits each provided at each of the partition walls; and a splice terminals each including a terminal body portion inserted into and thereby received in each of the chambers, a pair of contact portions made to protrude from respective sides of the terminal body portion and arranged at the slits. A first contact portion and a second contact portion of each pair of adjacent splice terminals contact each other. Each of the chambers is provided with a pair of elastic portions so contacting side wall portions on respective sides of the terminal body portion as to have elastic deformation, and each of the elastic portions has a deformation portion formed by a part of the partition wall and a contact protrusion portion protruding from the deformation portion to the chamber side.
US09225087B2	Computer component connector A computer component mounting assembly includes a carrier to support a hard drive and a data connector. The carrier is configured to slidably receive the hard drive along a first axis. The data connector includes a first connector configured to mate to pins of the hard drive, a second connector configured to mate to a SATA data connector, and a flexible cable connecting the two. The first connector includes an alignment feature to engage a corresponding alignment feature on the hard drive. The first connector is coupled to the carrier and slidable in a plane perpendicular to the first axis, and the first connector is configured such that when carrier receives the hard drive and the alignment feature engages the corresponding alignment feature the first connector moves in the plane perpendicular to the first axis to provide alignment of the first connector to the pins of the hard drive.
US09225081B2	Clamping unit of an electrical connection terminal A clamping unit of an electrical connection terminal includes a busbar, a clamping spring for clamping a conductor to the busbar, and a pin contact-making element for making contact with a pin contact. The pin contact-making element has a spring arm which is arranged substantially parallel to the busbar and which is connected to the bus bar with a connecting piece.
US09225079B2	Surface mount keyhole connectors An SMT electrical keyhole connector includes a flat mounting portion for surface mounting on a PCB and two spaced contact portions each provided with an aperture in a shape of a keyhole that defines a longitudinal insertion axis and includes an upstream open region dimensioned to receive with clearance an insulated conductor having a metallic conductor generally having a diameter d1 surrounded by an outer insulation coating generally defining a diameter d2 and a downstream elongated slot formed by parallel opposing edges spaced from each other a distance h less than d1. Cutting edges cut or strip insulation off an insulated conductor. A retainer prevents a stripped conductor from moving upstream back into the open region to insure positive contact with the conductive wire or wires after the conductor is urged downstream into and is fully seated within the elongated slot.
US09225076B2	Connection element for an electrical conductor A connection element for an electrical conductor contains a first section to be connected to another component, and a second section having a front surface to be welded to an electrical conductor. The front surface has a three-dimensional form raised in a central region in relation to an edge region surrounding the central region. The connection element is hollow in the region of the front surface.
US09225063B2	Multi-band antenna Methods and systems for extending a bandwidth of a multi-band antenna of a user device are described. A multi-band antenna includes a single radio frequency (RF) input coupled to a first loop antenna, the first loop antenna configured to provide a first resonant mode. The multi-band antenna also includes a second antenna parasitically coupled to the first loop antenna to provide additional resonant modes of the multi-band antenna. The second antenna is a T-monopole antenna with a base coupled to the ground plane, a first arm extending out from a first side of the base, a second arm extending out from a second side of the base and a folded arm extending back towards the second side of the base from a distal end of the second arm.
US09225060B2	System and method for impedance matching in antennas A system for use with a transmitter and an antenna includes a radio frequency power detection portion, a tunable matching network, and a phase lock loop. The tunable matching network has a modifiable impedance to account for impedance mismatch between the transmitter and the antenna. The phase lock loop tunes the tunable matching network to modify the modifiable impedance.
US09225047B2	Fuel cell device A fuel cell includes a fuel cell, auxiliaries, a storage battery, an auxiliary power switching unit and a controlling device. The fuel cell is connected to a system power supply. The auxiliaries are coupled to the fuel cell. The auxiliary power switching unit switches power supplies to at least one of the auxiliaries from the storage battery. When the fuel cell device that is not operating starts operation at a time of power failure of the system power supply, the controlling device determines whether or not each of the auxiliaries need power for startup of the fuel cell and prompts the auxiliary power switching unit to supply the power from the storage battery to one or more auxiliaries for which the controlling device has determined a power demand for the startup.
US09225044B2	Vehicle A vehicle having a battery mounted thereon is provided. The battery includes a cell group having a plurality of cells, each of the cells including an electrolytic solution and a power-generating element within a case of cylindrical shape, and a holding member holding each of the cells in a diameter direction of the cell, wherein the cell group is placed in an area inside an edge of the holding member when viewed from a height direction of the vehicle. Each of the cells can be arranged to extend in the height direction of the vehicle. The holding member may be a heat dissipation plate allowing heat exchange between the cells.
US09225033B2	Fuel cell stack compression system having integrated vehicle mounts A fuel cell system having compression retention features that functions dually to provide compression retention and to provide structural sealing and vehicle mounting capability, eliminating the bulk of an additional structural enclosure while retaining the balance of plant simplicity associated with the use of structural enclosures. The fuel cell system has fuel cells disposed between a dry end unit plate and a wet end unit plate and a compression retention system with a pair of opposing end caps and a pair of opposing side panels such that wet end unit plate is fixedly secured to the opposing end caps and the dry end unit plate is adjustably secured to the opposing end caps. Methods for eliminating the effect of stack height variance and balance of plant tolerances on fuel cell system installation are also provided.
US09225031B2	System for energy generation or storage on an electrochemical basis A system for energy generation or storage on an electrochemical basis includes at least one flow cell, each flow cell including two half-cells through which differently charged electrolyte liquids (21, 22) flow and which are separated by a membrane, at least one electrode being disposed in each of these half-cells, and a tank for each of the electrolyte liquids. A common gas volume (23) connecting the tanks is provided, and at least one catalyst (24) for reducing a positive reaction partner of then redox pair in contact with the positive electrolyte liquid (22) and also with the common gas volume (23) is disposed in the tank for the positive electrolyte liquid (22).
US09225030B1	Mixed proton and carbonate ion conductor The present disclosure relates to a solid oxide fuel cell. The solid oxide fuel cell includes an electrolyte comprising a mixed proton and carbonate ion conductor. The mixed proton and carbonate ion conductor includes a proton conducting ceramic impregnated with impregnated with a molten carbonate.
US09225024B2	Highly sinterable lanthanum strontium titanate interconnects through doping An interconnect material is formed by combining a lanthanum-doped strontium titanate with an aliovalent transition metal to form a precursor composition and sintering the precursor composition to form the interconnect material. The aliovalent transition metal can be an electron-acceptor dopant, such as manganese, cobalt, nickel or iron, or the aliovalent transition metal can be an electron-donor dopant, such as niobium or tungsten. A solid oxide fuel cell, or a strontium titanate varistor, or a strontium titanate capacitor can include the interconnect material that includes a lanthanum-doped strontium titanate that is further doped with an aliovalent transition metal.
US09225016B2	Hydrogen absorbing alloy, negative pole, and nickel—hydrogen secondary battery A hydrogen storage alloy wherein elution of Co, Mn, Al, and the like elements into an alkaline electrolyte is inhibited, an anode for a nickel-hydrogen rechargeable battery employing the alloy, and a nickel-hydrogen rechargeable battery having the anode.
US09225011B2	Doped carbon-sulfur species nanocomposite cathode for Li—S batteries We report a heteroatom-doped carbon framework that acts both as conductive network and polysulfide immobilizer for lithium-sulfur cathodes. The doped carbon forms chemical bonding with elemental sulfur and/or sulfur compound. This can significantly inhibit the diffusion of lithium polysulfides in the electrolyte, leading to high capacity retention and high coulombic efficiency.
US09225008B2	Secondary battery A porosity X of a positive electrode mixture layer 223 of a secondary battery 100 is 30(%)≦X. A mass ratio α of a positive electrode active material 610 in the positive electrode mixture layer 223 is 0.84≦α≦0.925 and a mass ratio β of a conductive material 620 in the positive electrode mixture layer 223 is 0.06≦β≦0.12. In the secondary battery 100, an index Y worked out from an expression below is 30 (mL/100 g)≦Y≦89 (mL/100 g). The index Y is given by the expression below, Y=A×α+B×β; where A is a DBP absorption number (mL/100 g) in the positive electrode active material 610; α is the mass ratio of the positive electrode active material 610 in the positive electrode mixture layer 223; B is a DBP absorption number (mL/100 g) of the conductive material 620; and β is the mass ratio of the conductive material 620 in the positive electrode mixture layer 223.
US09225007B2	Positive electrode active material The present invention provides a positive electrode active material. The positive electrode active material is represented by the following formula (I) and has a BET specific surface area of larger than 5 m2/g and not larger than 15 m2/g: LixM1yM31-yO2 (I) wherein M1 is at least one transition metal element selected from Group 5 elements and Group 6 elements of the Periodic Table, M3 is at least one transition metal element other than M1 and selected from among transition metal elements excluding Fe, x is not less than 0.9 and not more than 1.3, and y is more than 0 and less than 1.
US09225002B2	Rechargeable battery having fuse unit A rechargeable battery includes: an electrode assembly including first and second electrodes; a case containing the electrode assembly; a cap plate covering an opening of the case; a first terminal protruding outside of the case and electrically coupled to the first electrode; a second terminal protruding outside of the case and electrically coupled to the second electrode; a current collector including first and second fuse units, and electrically coupled to the first electrode, wherein the first fuse unit and the second fuse unit each have a cross-sectional area smaller than a cross-sectional area of an adjacent region and are spaced from each other; and a connector coupled to the current collector between the first fuse unit and the second fuse unit, and adapted to electrically couple the cap plate and the current collector, wherein a resistance of the connector is less than that of the first terminal.
US09225001B2	Prismatic secondary battery A groove is formed in a ring shape and a ring-shaped convexity is formed on the periphery of a through-hole of a positive electrode terminal plate. An upper end side of a crimping part of a positive electrode exterior terminal is inserted through the through-hole of the positive electrode terminal plate and crimped, and welded spots are formed by irradiation with high-energy beams between a distal end side of the crimping part and the convexity. The mechanical and electrical connection of an exterior terminal and a terminal plate to the crimping part through welding with high-energy beams makes it possible to provide a prismatic secondary battery of enhanced reliability in which cracking is less likely to occur in the welded spots, the coupling strength between the exterior terminal and the terminal plate is increased, and fluctuations in the internal resistance are curbed.
US09224997B2	Battery pack and handheld power tool having a battery pack The invention relates to a battery pack comprising at least one battery cell and a housing for accommodating the at least one battery cell. It is proposed that the housing is designed as at least double-walled having at least one inner sheath and one outer sheath. According to the invention, an intermediate volume is enclosed between the at least one inner sheath and the outer sheath. The intermediate volume is able to absorb a pressure wave from an internal volume containing the battery cells.
US09224987B2	Device for manufacturing organic light-emitting display panel and method of manufacturing organic light-emitting display panel using the same A device for manufacturing an organic light-emitting display panel and a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display panel by using the same. A device for manufacturing an organic light-emitting display panel includes a plurality of chambers; a deposition unit configured to form a transfer layer on a film supplied into the plurality of chambers in a roll-to-roll process; and a laser thermal transfer device configured to transfer a pattern of the transfer layer formed on the film onto a substrate that is supplied into a chamber of the plurality of chambers.
US09224984B2	Optical films for reducing color shift and organic light-emitting display apparatuses employing the same Optical films, and organic-light-emitting display apparatuses, include a high refractive index pattern layer including a first surface and a second surface facing each other. The first surface includes a pattern having grooves. The grooves each have a curved surface and a depth greater than a width. The high refractive index pattern layer is formed of a material having a refractive index greater than 1. Further included is a low refractive index pattern layer formed of a material having a refractive index smaller than that of the material constituting the high refractive index pattern layer. The low refractive index pattern layer includes a filling material for filling grooves. A tilt angle, θ, of each groove satisfies the following condition, 15°≦θ≦75°.
US09224970B2	Organic light emitting diode, organic light emitting display panel including the organic light emitting diode and method of manufacturing the organic light emitting display panel An organic light emitting diode includes a first electrode layer, a first common layer disposed on the first electrode layer, an organic light emitting layer disposed on the first common layer, a second common layer disposed on the organic light emitting layer, and a second electrode layer disposed on the second common layer. The organic light emitting layer and the first common layer have the same directional property. Since an injection/transportation of charge at an interface of the first common layer and the organic light emitting layer becomes smooth, charges are not accumulated at the interface. Thus, life of the organic light emitting diode is extended.
US09224969B2	Organic light-emitting diode and flat display device including the same An organic light-emitting diode including a first electrode; a second electrode facing the first electrode; an emission layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode; a first hole transport layer including a first hole transporting compound; a second hole transport layer including a second hole transporting compound, the first and second hole transport layers being interposed between the first electrode and the emission layer; an electron transport layer interposed between the emission layer and the second electrode; a first mixing layer interposed between the first electrode and the first hole transport layer, contacting the first hole transport layer, and including the first hole transporting compound and a first cyano group-containing compound; and a second mixing layer interposed between the first electrode and the second hole transport layer, contacting the second hole transport layer, and including the second hole transporting compound and a second cyano group-containing compound.
US09224959B2	Method for producing a pi-electron conjugated compound A leaving substituent-containing compound including a partial structure represented by the following General Formula (I): where a pair of X1 and X2 or a pair of Y1 and Y2 each represent a hydrogen atom; the other pair each represent a group selected from the group consisting of a halogen atom and a substituted or unsubstituted acyloxy group having one or more carbon atoms; a pair of the acyloxy groups represented by the pair of X1 and X2 or the pair of Y1 and Y2 may be identical or different, or may be bonded together to form a ring; R1 to R4 each represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent; and Q1 and Q2 each represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom or a monovalent organic group, and may be bonded together to form a ring.
US09224957B1	Method for measuring offset of sub-pixel in OLED manufacturing process The present disclosure provides a method for measuring an offset of a sub-pixel in an OLED manufacturing process, including: depositing OLED material onto a display unit in a substrate through a hollow portion of a mask, the display unit including an effective region and a peripheral measuring region at periphery of the effective region, the OLED material forming a plurality of effective sub-pixels within the effective region and forming a plurality of dummy sub-pixels within the peripheral measuring region; and using UV light to excite at least a portion of the dummy sub-pixels of the OLED material to emit light, and measuring the offset of the dummy sub-pixel with respect to a predetermined position of a corresponding light emitting unit located on the substrate.
US09224953B2	Method and apparatus for manufacturing organic el device Provided are a method and an apparatus for manufacturing an organic EL device, which makes it possible to manufacture organic EL devices capable of suppressing quality degradation. The method for manufacturing an organic EL device, in which constituent layers of an organic EL element are formed by deposition over a substrate in the form of a strip, while the substrate is being moved in the longitudinal direction, includes a constituent layer-forming step of performing deposition over one surface of the substrate, while the substrate is being moved in the longitudinal direction, sequentially in first and second deposition units arranged along the moving direction of the substrate by discharging a vaporized material from an evaporation source. The constituent layer-forming step includes a plurality of upward deposition steps and a direction changing step.
US09224950B2	Methods, systems, and apparatus for improving thin film resistor reliability Provided are resistive random access memory (ReRAM) cells and methods of fabricating thereof. The ReRAM cells may include a first layer operable as a bottom electrode. The ReRAM cells may also include a second layer operable as a variable resistance layer configured to switch between at least a first resistive state and a second resistive state. The ReRAM cells may further include a third layer formed over the second layer. The third layer may have a substantially constant electrical resistivity. Moreover, the third layer may include a ternary metal-silicon nitride having a ratio of metal to silicon that is between about 1:1 and 1:4. Furthermore, the ternary metal-silicon nitride may include a metal that has an atomic weight that is greater than 90. The ReRAM cells may further include a fourth layer operable as a top electrode.
US09224945B2	Resistive memory devices Electronic apparatus, systems, and methods can include a resistive memory cell having a structured as an operably variable resistance region between two electrodes and a metallic barrier disposed in a region between the dielectric and one of the two electrodes. The metallic barrier can have a structure and a material composition to provide oxygen diffusivity above a first threshold during program or erase operations of the resistive memory cell and oxygen diffusivity below a second threshold during a retention state of the resistive memory cell. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.
US09224933B2	Light emitting device package and package for mounting light emitting device A package for mounting a light emitting device thereon. The package includes a substrate, a light emitting device mounting part including a wiring formed on one surface of the substrate, the wiring including two areas that are arranged facing each other and being separated a predetermined interval apart from each other in a plan view, first and second through-wirings that penetrate the substrate and are provided on the two areas, respectively, each of the first and second through-wirings including one end electrically connected to the light emitting device mounting part and another end exposed from another surface of the substrate. A part of each of the first and second through-wirings includes a maximum part having a plan-view shape that is larger than a plan-view shape of the one end of each of the first and second through-wirings.
US09224929B2	Optical semiconductor device and manufacturing method therefor A manufacturing method for an optical semiconductor device, including disposing a semiconductor element that has a polarization dependent gain or polarization dependent loss between optical waveguide modes differing in the direction of polarization, positioning a lens at one end face side of the semiconductor element based on an optical coupling loss between the lens and the semiconductor element, and repositioning the lens based on the polarization dependent gain or the polarization dependent loss of the semiconductor element.
US09224919B2	Semiconductor light emitting device According to one embodiment, the second insulating film is provided between the first interconnect portion and the second interconnect portion, and at an outer periphery of a side face of the semiconductor layer. The optical layer is provided on the first side and on the second insulating film at the outer periphery. The optical layer is transmissive with respect to light emitted from the light emitting layer. A plurality of protrusions and a plurality of recesses are provided at the first side. Peaks of the protrusions are positioned closer to the second side than an end on the second insulating film side of the optical layer at the outer periphery.
US09224904B1	Composite substrates of silicon and ceramic Composite substrates include a silicon layer disposed on a ceramic layer. Different thermal expansion coefficient for the composite substrates can be achieved by changing the thermal expansion coefficient of the ceramic layer. Composite substrates can include two layers of silicon sandwiching a layer of ceramic.
US09224901B1	Scintillator and semiconductor based materials incorporating radioactive materials Scintillator and semiconductor based materials incorporating radioactive materials and their method of manufacture are disclosed. The disclosed materials are integrated with energy conversion devices and structures to provide nuclear battery assemblies which exhibit increased power densities.
US09224891B2	Photodetection device The invention relates to a photodetector for infrared light radiation having a given wavelength (λ), including a stack of layers consisting of: a continuous layer (11) of a partially absorbent semiconductor material, which constitutes the photodetection area; a spacer layer (12) of a material that is transparent to said wavelength and has an index ne; and a structured metal mirror (13), the distance (g) between the top of said mirror and the semiconductor layer being less than (λ)/ne and the mirror surface having a profile corresponding to the periodic repetition, according to period (P), of a basic pattern defined by the alternating series of raised surfaces (131, 132) and slots (133, 134) having the widths (L1, L2) and (L3, L4), respectively, the widths (L1) to (L4) being such that none are equal to zero, and that the sum thereof is equal to P and at least L1≠L2 or L3≠L4.
US09224881B2	Layers for increasing performance in image sensors An imaging device includes a semiconductor substrate having a photosensitive element for accumulating charge in response to incident image light. The semiconductor substrate includes a light-receiving surface positioned to receive the image light. The imaging device also includes a negative charge layer and a charge sinking layer. The negative charge layer is disposed proximate to the light-receiving surface of the semiconductor substrate to induce holes in an accumulation zone in the semiconductor substrate along the light-receiving surface. The charge sinking layer is disposed proximate to the negative charge layer and is configured to conserve or increase an amount of negative charge in the negative charge layer. The negative charge layer is disposed between the semiconductor substrate and the charge sinking layer.
US09224878B2	High work function, manufacturable top electrode Provided are MIM DRAM capacitors and methods of forming thereof. A MIM DRAM capacitor may include an electrode layer formed from a high work function material (e.g., greater than about 5.0 eV). This layer may be used to reduce the leakage current through the capacitor. The capacitor may also include another electrode layer having a high conductivity base portion and a conductive metal oxide portion. The conductive metal oxide portion serves to promote the growth of the high k phase of the dielectric layer.
US09224874B2	Semiconductor storage device A semiconductor storage device according to the present embodiment includes a semiconductor substrate. A tunnel insulating film is provided on the semiconductor substrate. A charge accumulation layer is provided on the tunnel insulating film. An intermediate dielectric film is provided on the charge accumulation layer. A control gate electrode is formed on the intermediate dielectric film. The intermediate dielectric film includes a laminated film of silicon oxide films of multiple layers and silicon nitride films of at least one layer, and a silicon oxynitride film provided between adjacent ones of the silicon oxide films and the silicon nitride films.
US09224867B2	Thin film transistor array panel and method of manufacturing the same In a thin film transistor array panel and a method of manufacturing the same, a thin passivation layer is positioned between a first field generating electrode and a second field generating electrode. The thin passivation layer overlaps the first and second field generating electrodes. The thin passivation layer includes a transparent photosensitive organic material. When forming the first field generating electrode, the passivation layer is used as a photosensitive film. Accordingly, the passivation layer and the first field generating electrode may be formed using a same single photo-mask. Accordingly, the manufacturing cost of the thin film transistor array panel may be reduced.
US09224861B2	Semiconductor device with notched gate A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a body region disposed in the semiconductor substrate and having a first conductivity type, a source region disposed in the semiconductor substrate adjacent the body region and having a second conductivity type, a drain region disposed in the semiconductor substrate, having the second conductivity type, and spaced from the source region to define a conduction path, a gate structure supported by the semiconductor substrate, configured to control formation of a channel in the conduction path during operation, and having a side adjacent the source region that comprises a notch, the notch defining a notch area, and a notch region disposed in the semiconductor substrate in the notch area and having the first conductivity type.
US09224856B2	LDMOS transistors for CMOS technologies and an associated production method In a semiconductor component or device, a lateral power effect transistor is produced as an LDMOS transistor in such a way that, in combination with a trench isolation region (12) and the heavily doped feed guiding region (28, 28A), an improved potential profile is achieved in the drain drift region (8) of the transistor. For this purpose, in advantageous embodiments, it is possible to use standard implantation processes of CMOS technology, without additional method steps being required.
US09224854B2	Trench gate trench field plate vertical MOSFET A semiconductor device having a vertical drain extended MOS transistor may be formed by forming deep trench structures to define vertical drift regions of the transistor, so that each vertical drift region is bounded on at least two opposite sides by the deep trench structures. The deep trench structures are spaced so as to form RESURF regions for the drift region. Trench gates are formed in trenches in the substrate over the vertical drift regions. The body regions are located in the substrate over the vertical drift regions.
US09224850B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same In one embodiment, a first main terminal region of a first conductivity type and a second main terminal region of a second conductivity type, which is an opposite conductivity type of the first conductivity type, formed in the semiconductor substrate so as to sandwich a gate electrode, a diffusion layer of the second conductivity type coming in contact with the first and second element isolation insulator films and having an upper surface in a position deeper than lower surfaces of the first and second main terminal regions, a first well region of the first conductivity type formed between the first main terminal region and the diffusion layer, and a second well region of the first conductivity type formed between the second main terminal region and the diffusion layer. The second well region has a impurity concentration higher than that of the first well region.
US09224848B2	Compound semiconductor device and manufacturing method of the same An AlGaN/GaN.HEMT includes, a compound semiconductor lamination structure; a p-type semiconductor layer formed on the compound semiconductor lamination structure; and a gate electrode formed on the p-type semiconductor layer, in which Mg being an inert element of p-GaN is introduced into both sides of the gate electrode at the p-type semiconductor layer, and introduced portions of Mg are inactivated.
US09224841B2	Semiconductor fins on a trench isolation region in a bulk semiconductor substrate and a method of forming the semiconductor fins Disclosed are semiconductor structures with monocrystalline semiconductor fins, which are above a trench isolation region in a semiconductor substrate and which can be incorporated into semiconductor device(s). Also disclosed are methods of forming such structures by forming sidewall spacers on opposing sides of mandrels on a dielectric cap layer. Between adjacent mandrels, an opening is formed that extends vertically through the dielectric cap layer and through multiple monocrystalline semiconductor layers into a semiconductor substrate. A portion of the opening within the substrate is expanded to form a trench. This trench undercuts the semiconductor layers and extends laterally below adjacent sidewall spacers on either side of the opening. The trench is then filled with an isolation layer, thereby forming a trench isolation region, and a sidewall image transfer process is performed using the sidewall spacers to form a pair of monocrystalline semiconductor fins above the trench isolation region.
US09224826B2	Multiple thickness gate dielectrics for replacement gate field effect transistors After removal of the disposable gate structures to form gate cavities in a planarization dielectric layer, a silicon oxide layer is conformally deposited on silicon-oxide-based gate dielectric portions in the gate cavities. A portion of the silicon oxide layer can be nitridated to form a silicon oxynitride layer. A patterned masking material layer can be employed to physically expose a semiconductor surface from a first-type gate cavity. The silicon oxide layer can be removed while preserving an underlying silicon-oxide-based gate dielectric portion in a second-type gate cavity. A stack of a silicon oxynitride layer and an underlying silicon-oxide-based gate dielectric can be protected by a patterned masking material layer in a third-type gate cavity during removal of the silicon oxide layer in the second-type gate cavity. A high dielectric constant gate dielectric layer can be formed in the gate cavities to provide gate dielectrics of different types.
US09224825B2	Semiconductor device The semiconductor device of the present invention includes a semiconductor region made of a material to which conductive impurities are added, an insulating film formed on a surface of the semiconductor region, and an electroconductive gate electrode formed on the insulating film. The gate electrode is made of a material whose Fermi level is closer to a Fermi level of the semiconductor region than a Fermi level of Si in at least a portion contiguous to the insulating film.
US09224824B2	Display device substrate and display device equipped with same This thin film transistor substrate is provided with: a drain electrode that is formed on an insulating film, and comprises copper; an interlayer insulating film formed on the drain electrode; and a pixel electrode that is formed in the contact hole, which is formed in the insulating film and the interlayer insulating film, and on the interlayer insulating film, and is electrically connected to the drain electrode via the contact hole. In a plan view of the contact hole, the drain electrode is formed inside part of the contact hole in such a manner that part of the drain electrode and part of the outer periphery of the contact hole are overlapping, and part of the pixel electrode and the drain electrode are electrically connected.
US09224816B2	Silicon carbide semiconductor device A silicon carbide semiconductor device includes a silicon carbide layer, an element region including a semiconductor element portion formed in the silicon carbide layer, a JTE region (first electric field relaxing region), an insulating film disposed on a first main surface and covering the JTE region, and a pad electrode electrically connected to the JTE region. The pad electrode includes an extension portion extending from an end of the JTE region close to the element region in a peripheral direction from the element region toward the JTE region, the extension portion being disposed on the insulating film. The extension portion overlies at least a portion of the JTE region.
US09224810B2	CMOS nanowire structure Complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor nanowire structures are described. For example, a semiconductor structure includes a first semiconductor device. The first semiconductor device includes a first nanowire disposed above a substrate. The first nanowire has a mid-point a first distance above the substrate and includes a discrete channel region and source and drain regions on either side of the discrete channel region. A first gate electrode stack completely surrounds the discrete channel region of the first nanowire. The semiconductor structure also includes a second semiconductor device. The second semiconductor device includes a second nanowire disposed above the substrate. The second nanowire has a mid-point a second distance above the substrate and includes a discrete channel region and source and drain regions on either side of the discrete channel region. The first distance is different from the second distance. A second gate electrode stack completely surrounds the discrete channel region of the second nanowire.
US09224798B2	Capacitor forming methods A capacitor forming method includes forming an electrically conductive support material over a substrate, forming an opening through at least the support material to the substrate, and, after forming the opening, forming a capacitor structure contacting the substrate and the support material in the opening. The support material contains at least 25 at % carbon. Another capacitor forming method includes forming a support material over a substrate, forming an opening through at least the support material to the substrate, and, after forming the opening, forming a capacitor structure contacting the substrate and the support material in the opening. The support material contains at least 20 at % carbon. The support material has a thickness and the opening has an aspect ratio 20:1 or greater within the thickness of the support material.
US09224783B2	Plasma densification of dielectrics for improved dielectric loss tangent Defects in hydrogenated amorphous silicon are reduced by low-energy ion treatments and optional annealing. The treatments leave strongly-bonded hydrogen and other passivants in place, but increase the mobility of loosely-bonded and interstitially trapped hydrogen that would otherwise form unwanted two-level systems (TLS). The mobilized hydrogen atoms may be attracted to unused passivation sites or recombined into H2 gas and diffuse out of the deposited layer. The treatments also increase the density of the material. The optional anneal may partially crystallize the layer, further densify the layer, or both. The reduced number of defects and the increased crystallinity reduce the loss tangent of amorphous silicon dielectrics for superconducting microwave devices.
US09224782B2	Imaging systems with reference pixels for image flare mitigation Imaging devices may include processing circuitry, a lens, and an array of image sensor pixels and reference pixels. The array may receive direct image light and stray light from the lens. The image sensor pixels may include clear color filter elements and the reference pixels may include opaque color filter elements. The opaque color filter elements may block direct image light from being captured by the reference pixels. The image sensor pixels may generate pixel values in response to the direct image light and the stray light whereas the reference pixels may generate reference pixel values in response to the stray light. The processing circuitry may mitigate stray light effects such as local flare and veiling glare within the imaging system by adjusting the pixel values based on the reference pixel values. The imaging system may be calibrated in a calibration system for generating stray light calibration data.
US09224781B2	Structure of dielectric grid for a semiconductor device An image sensor device and a method for manufacturing the image sensor device are provided. An image sensor device includes a pixel region and a non-pixel region in a substrate. In the pixel region there is a plurality of sensor elements. The non-pixel region is adjacent to the pixel region and has no sensor element. Dielectric grids are disposed in the pixel region with a first dielectric trench between two adjacent dielectric grids. The first dielectric trench aligns to a respective sensor element. Second dielectric trenches are disposed in the non-pixel region.
US09224779B2	Imaging apparatus with sensor chip and separate signal processing chips An imaging apparatus includes a sensor chip, a substrate, upper and lower signal processing chips and connection boards. The sensor chip has pad electrodes to which electrical signals to be supplied to a pixel array are input. The substrate has first wiring patterns connected to signal lines, to which signals of the pixel array are output, and second wiring patterns connected to pad electrodes. The upper and lower signal processing chips have pad electrodes to which signals processed by signal processing circuits are output. The connection boards have FPC wiring electrically connected to the pad electrodes and FPC wiring electrically connected to the second wiring patterns formed on the substrate.
US09224775B2	Back side illumination image sensor with low dark current An integrated circuit includes a back side illuminated image sensor formed by a substrate supporting at least one pixel, an interconnect part situated above a front side of the substrate and an anti-reflective layer situated above a back side of the substrate. The anti-reflective layer may be formed of a silicon nitride layer. An additional layer is situated above the anti-reflective layer. The additional layer is formed of one of amorphous silicon nitride or hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride, in which the ratio of the number of silicon atoms per cubic centimeter to the number of nitrogen atoms per cubic centimeter is greater than 0.7.
US09224771B2	Imaging apparatus using control electrode to perform focal point detection with phase difference detection type An imaging apparatus includes a plurality of pixels, a signal holding unit, first and second control electrodes. Each of the plurality of pixels includes a photoelectric conversion unit, and an amplification element to amplify signals based on signal charges generated by the photoelectric conversion unit, in which the plurality of pixels output signals for performing a phase contrast detection type of focal point detection. The signal holding unit is in an electrical pathway between an output node of the photoelectric conversion unit and an input node of the amplification element, in which signals for performing the phase contrast detection type of focal point detection are held. The first control electrode is configured to transfer a signal of the photoelectric conversion unit to the signal holding unit. The second control electrode is configured to transfer a signal for performing the phase difference detection type of focal point detection.
US09224768B2	Pin diode structure having surface charge suppression A semiconductor structure having: a silicon structure; and a plurality of laterally spaced PiN diodes formed in the silicon structure; and a surface of the silicon structure configured to reduce reverse bias leakage current through the PiN diodes. In one embodiment, a gate electrode structures is disposed on a surface of the silicon structure, the gate electrode structure having portions disposed between adjacent pairs of the diodes, the gate structure being biased to prevent leakage current through the diodes.
US09224765B2	Fabricating method of array structure An array structure, which includes a TFT, a passivation layer, a pixel electrode, a first connecting layer and a first spacer is provided. The TFT includes a gate, a source and a drain. The passivation layer overlays the TFT. The pixel electrode is located on the passivation layer. The first connecting layer is located on the pixel electrode and electrically connected to the pixel electrode and the drain. The first spacer is located on the first connecting layer.
US09224755B2	Flexible active matrix display High resolution active matrix structures are fabricated using techniques applicable to flexible substrates. A backplane layer including active semiconductor devices is formed using a semiconductor-on-insulator substrate. The substrate is thinned using a layer transfer technique or chemical/mechanical processing. Driver transistors are formed on the semiconductor layer of the substrate along with additional circuits that provide other functions such as computing or sensing. Contacts to passive devices such as organic light emitting diodes may be provided by heavily doped regions formed in the handle layer of the substrate and then isolated. A gate dielectric layer may be formed on the semiconductor layer, which functions as a channel layer, or the insulator layer of the substrate may be employed as a gate dielectric layer.
US09224751B2	Three-dimensional (3D) semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes interlayer dielectrics stacked and spaced apart from each other, a channel layer passing through the interlayer dielectrics, line pattern regions each surrounding a sidewall of the channel layer to be disposed between the interlayer dielectrics, a barrier pattern formed along a surface of each of the line pattern regions and the sidewall of the channel layer, a reaction preventing pattern formed on the barrier pattern along a surface of a first region of each of the line pattern regions, the first region being adjacent to the channel layer, a protection pattern filled in the first region on the reaction preventing pattern, and a first metal layer filled in a second region of each of the line pattern regions.
US09224747B2	Vertical NAND device with shared word line steps A memory device includes a memory cell array having a first side and a second side and a stepped word line contact region located between the first side and the second side of the memory array. A first word line stair pattern is located in the stepped word line contact region adjacent to the first side of the memory array and a second word line stair pattern located in the stepped word line contact region adjacent to the second side of the memory array. A peripheral device region located in the stepped word line contact region between the first and the second word line stair patterns.
US09224742B2	Method for providing electrical connections to spaced conductive lines An integrated circuit and a method of formation provide a contact area formed at an angled end of at least one linearly extending conductive line. In an embodiment, conductive lines with contact landing pads are formed by patterning lines in a mask material, cutting at least one of the material lines to form an angle relative to the extending direction of the material lines, forming extensions from the angled end faces of the mask material, and patterning an underlying conductor by etching using said material lines and extension as a mask. In another embodiment, at least one conductive line is cut at an angle relative to the extending direction of the conductive line to produce an angled end face, and an electrical contact landing pad is formed in contact with the angled end face.
US09224729B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes: a first well provided in a semiconductor substrate; a second well provided in the semiconductor substrate, so as to be isolated from the first well; a Schottky barrier diode formed in the first well; and a PN junction diode formed in the second well, with an impurity concentration of the PN junction thereof set higher than an impurity concentration of the Schottky junction of the Schottky barrier diode, and being connected antiparallel with the Schottky barrier diode.
US09224728B2	Embedded protection against spurious electrical events Various disclosed aspects provide for protecting components (e.g., integrated circuits) from spurious electrical overvoltage events, such as electrostatic discharge. Embedded components with voltage switchable dielectric materials may protect circuits against electrostatic discharge.
US09224726B2	Electrostatic discharge protection circuit, equipment and method An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit for protecting one or more devices in an electronic circuit from an ESD current which enters the electronic circuit through one or more input/output pins, the protection circuit comprising: a voltage clamp circuit connectable to the or each pin, for diverting the ESD current from the or each device; and a current sensor circuit connected between the input/output pins and the voltage clamp circuit and connected to the one or more devices, the current sensor circuit for sensing the ESD current and for switching off the or each device when the sensed current exceeds a threshold value, wherein when a current flows in the current mirror circuits above a threshold value the device is caused to switch off.
US09224722B2	Semiconductor apparatus capable of detecting whether pad and bump are stacked A semiconductor apparatus may include a semiconductor chip, and the semiconductor chip may include a first pad, a second pad, and a bump. The first pad may be configured to receive a signal from an external device, and the second pad may include first and second metal layers electrically isolated from each other. The bump may be stacked over the second pad, and may be configured to receive a signal from a controller chip.
US09224719B2	Light emitting semiconductor A light emitting semiconductor element includes at least two electrically conductive units, at least a light emitting semiconductor die and a light transmitting layer. A groove is located between the two electrically conductive units. The light emitting semiconductor die is cross over the electrically conductive units. The light transmitting layer covers the light emitting semiconductor and partially fills within the groove for linking the electrically conductive units.
US09224714B2	Semiconductor device having a through-substrate via Semiconductor devices are described that include a via that extends only partially through the substrate. Through-substrate vias (TSV) furnish electrical interconnectivity to electronic components formed in the substrates. In implementations, the semiconductor devices are fabricated by first bonding a semiconductor wafer to a carrier wafer with an adhesive material. The semiconductor wafer includes an etch stop disposed within the wafer (e.g., between a first surface a second surface of the wafer). One or more vias are formed through the wafer. The vias extend from the second surface to the etch stop.
US09224713B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof In one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor chip and a second semiconductor chip stacked on the first semiconductor chip. The first and second semiconductor chips are electrically connected via first bump connection parts. Stopper projections and bonding projections are provided at least one of the first and second semiconductor chips. The stopper projections are in contact with the other of the first and second semiconductor chips in an unbonded state. The bonding projections are bonded to the first and second semiconductor chips.
US09224711B2	Method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having multiple heat sinks A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided, the method including: mounting a first element on a wiring substrate, placing a first heat sink on the first element with a metal material interposed between the first heat sink and the first element, attaching the first heat sink to the first element via the metal material by heating and melting the metal material, and mounting a second element on the wiring substrate after the steps of attaching the first heat sink to the first element.
US09224705B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a substrate having a plurality of electrodes and a plurality of leads that are connected to the electrodes and a semiconductor element that is mounted on the substrate. The semiconductor element has a rectangular shape including a long side, a short side, and a corner portion, and has bumps connected to the electrodes. An underfill is filled between the substrate and the semiconductor element and extends on the substrate around the semiconductor element. An overcoat covers the leads on the substrate. At least one of the plurality of leads that is connected to the electrode corresponding to the bump arranged nearest to the corner portion along the long side of the semiconductor element has at least two successive bent portions that are bent in the same direction and is laid out toward the short side of the semiconductor element in a plan view.
US09224704B2	Process for realizing a connecting structure The present invention relates to a process for realizing a connecting structure in a semiconductor substrate, and the semiconductor substrate realized accordingly. The semiconductor substrate has at least a first surface, and is foreseen for a 3D integration with a second substrate along the first surface, wherein the 3D integration is subject to a lateral misalignment in at least one dimension having a misalignment value. This process includes growing a diffusion barrier structure for preventing diffusion of elements out of a conductive layer into the rest of the semiconductor substrate, wherein a first end surface, being the most outward surface of the diffusion barrier structure and being substantially parallel to the first surface, along a direction perpendicular to the first surface and going from the substrate toward the first surface, of the diffusion barrier structure can have a length, in the direction of the lateral misalignment, the length being dependent on the misalignment value, wherein the length of the diffusion barrier structure is chosen such that in a 3D integrated structure a diffusion of elements out of a conductive layer of the second substrate is prevented in the integrated state.
US09224701B2	Protection of an integrated circuit against attacks An integrated circuit, including: a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type; a plurality of regions of the first conductivity type vertically extending from the surface of the substrate, each of the regions being laterally delimited all along its periphery by a region of the second conductivity type; and a device for detecting a variation of the substrate resistance between each region of the first conductivity type and an area for biasing the substrate to a reference voltage.
US09224699B2	Method of manufacturing semiconductor package having magnetic shield unit A method of manufacturing a semiconductor package having a magnetic shield function is provided. The method includes forming cracks in a lattice structure on an active surface in which electrode terminals are formed; grinding a back surface of a wafer facing the active surface, bonding a tape on the active surface of the wafer, expanding the tape such that the wafer on the tape is divided as semiconductor chips, forming a shield layer on surfaces of the semiconductor chips and the tape, cutting the shield layer between the semiconductor chips and individualizing as each of the semiconductor chips which has a first shield pattern formed on back surface and sides, bonding the semiconductor chips on a substrate, and forming a second shield pattern on each of the active surfaces of the semiconductor chips, wherein the semiconductor chips and the substrate are physically and electrically connected by a bonding wire.
US09224697B1	Multi-die integrated circuits implemented using spacer dies An integrated circuit includes an interposer die having a surface, a first die mechanically and electrically attached to the surface of the interposer die, and a second die only mechanically attached to the surface of the interposer die using a die attach adhesive.
US09224696B2	Integrated semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same An integrated semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same are provided wherein the integrated semiconductor device comprises a substrate a first stress-inducing layer, a second stress-inducing layer and an integrated circuit layer. The first stress-inducing layer covers on the substrate. The second stress-inducing layer partially covers on the first stress-inducing layer. The integrated circuit layer is bonded over the substrate.
US09224693B2	Semiconductor device and method of forming TMV and TSV in WLCSP using same carrier A semiconductor device has a semiconductor die mounted over a carrier. An encapsulant is deposited over the semiconductor die and carrier. An insulating layer is formed over the semiconductor die and encapsulant. A plurality of first vias is formed through the insulating layer and semiconductor die while mounted to the carrier. A plurality of second vias is formed through the insulating layer and encapsulant in the same direction as the first vias while the semiconductor die is mounted to the carrier. An electrically conductive material is deposited in the first vias to form conductive TSV and in the second vias to form conductive TMV. A first interconnect structure is formed over the insulating layer and electrically connected to the TSV and TMV. The carrier is removed. A second interconnect structure is formed over the semiconductor die and encapsulant and electrically connected to the TSV and TMV.
US09224692B2	Semiconductor device having a nanotube layer and method for forming A method of forming a semiconductor device includes forming a first conductive layer over the substrate. A dielectric layer, having a first opening, is formed over the first conductive layer. A seed layer is deposited over the first dielectric layer and in the first opening. A layer is formed of conductive nanotubes from the seed layer over the first dielectric layer and over the first opening. A second dielectric is formed over the layer of conductive nanotubes. An opening is formed in the second dielectric layer over the first opening. Conductive material is deposited in the second opening.
US09224691B2	Semiconductor device contact structures Semiconductor contact structures extend through a dielectric material and provide contact to multiple different subjacent materials including a silicide material and a non-silicide material such as doped silicon. The contact structures includes a lower composite layer formed using a multi-step ionized metal plasma (IMP) deposition operation. A lower IMP film is formed at a high AC bias power followed by the formation of an upper IMP film at a lower AC bias power. The composite layer may be formed of titanium. A further layer is formed as a liner over the composite layer and the liner layer may advantageously be formed using CVD and may be TiN. A conductive plug material such as tungsten or copper fills the contact openings.
US09224686B1	Single damascene interconnect structure A single damascene interconnect structure which includes a first layer of a first dielectric material having a first filled opening that has a sidewall layer which includes a compound of a metal, O, and Si such that the metal is Mn, Ti and Al, and with Cu filling the first filled opening. The compound is in direct contact with the first dielectric material. Also included is a second layer that includes a second dielectric material having a second filled opening that has a barrier layer of a refractory material with Cu filling the second filled opening. The first layer is adjacent to the second layer and the first filled opening is aligned with the second filled opening so that one of the first and second filled openings is a via and the other of the first and second filled openings is a trench.
US09224678B2	Method and apparatus for connecting packages onto printed circuit boards Methods and apparatus are disclosed for attaching the integrated circuit (IC) packages to printed circuit boards (PCBs) to form smooth solder joints. A polymer flux may be provided in the process to mount an IC package to a PCB. The polymer flux may be provided on connectors of the IC package, or provided on PCB contact pad and/or pre-solder of the PCB. When the IC package is mounted onto the PCB, the polymer flux may cover a part of the connector, and may extend to cover a surface of the molding compound on the IC package. The polymer flux may completely cover the connector as well. The polymer flux delivers a fluxing component that facilitates smooth solder joint formation as well as a polymer component that offers added device protection by encapsulating individual connectors. The polymer component may be an epoxy.
US09224674B2	Packaged semiconductor die with bumpless die-package interface for bumpless build-up layer (BBUL) packages A packaged semiconductor die with a bumpless die-package interface and methods of fabrication are described. For example, a semiconductor package includes a substrate having a land side with a lowermost layer of conductive vias. A semiconductor die is embedded in the substrate and has an uppermost layer of conductive lines, one of which is coupled directly to a conductive via of the lowermost layer of conductive vias of the substrate. In another example, a semiconductor package includes a substrate having a land side with a lowermost layer of conductive vias. A semiconductor die is embedded in the substrate and has an uppermost layer of conductive lines with a layer of conductive vias disposed thereon. At least one of the conductive lines is coupled directly to a conductive via of the semiconductor die which is coupled directly to a conductive via of the lowermost layer of conductive vias of the substrate.
US09224673B2	Packages for semiconductor devices, packaged semiconductor devices, and methods of cooling packaged semiconductor devices Packages for semiconductor devices, packaged semiconductor devices, and methods of cooling packaged semiconductor devices are disclosed. In some embodiments, a package for a semiconductor device includes a substrate including a semiconductor device mounting region, a cover coupled to a perimeter of the substrate, and members disposed between the substrate and the cover. The package includes partitions, with each partition being disposed between two adjacent members. The package includes a fluid inlet port coupled to the cover, and a fluid outlet port coupled to one of the partitions.
US09224668B2	Semiconductor HEMT device with stoichiometric silicon nitride layer A semiconductor device includes: a compound semiconductor stack structure including a plurality of compound semiconductor layers stacked over a semiconductor substrate; and a first insulating film covering the surface of the compound semiconductor stack structure, the first insulating film being a silicon nitride film including, on the top side, a first region containing nitrogen element in excess of the stoichiometric ratio.
US09224667B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof It is an object of the present invention to provide a peeling method that causes no damage to a layer to be peeled and to allow not only a layer to be peeled with a small surface area but also a layer to be peeled with a large surface area to be peeled entirely. Further, it is also an object of the present invention to bond a layer to be peeled to various base materials to provide a lighter semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof. Particularly, it is an object to bond various elements typified by a TFT, (a thin film diode, a photoelectric conversion element comprising a PIN junction of silicon, or a silicon resistance element) to a flexible film to provide a lighter semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof.
US09224666B2	Circuit arrangement for a thermally conductive chip assembly and a manufacturing method The circuit arrangement according to the invention provides a substrate (10), a connecting element (18) and a chip (16). The substrate (10) provides at least a partial metallisation (11) on its surface. The connecting element (18) is applied to the metallisation (11). The chip (16) is applied to the connecting element (18). The connecting element (18) provides an electrically non-conductive glass layer (14), which is applied directly to the metallisation (11), and an adhesive layer (15) between the chip (16) and the glass layer (14).
US09224664B2	Bio-implantable hermetic integrated ultra high density device An implantable bio-compatible integrated circuit device and methods for manufacture thereof are disclosed herein. The device includes a substrate having a recess. An input/output device including at least one bio-compatible electrical contact is coupled to the substrate in the recess. A layer of hermetic bio-compatible, hermetic insulator material is deposited on a portion of the input/output device. An encapsulating layer of bio-compatible material encapsulates at least a portion of the implantable device, including the input/output device. At least one bio-compatible electrical contact of the input/output device is then exposed. The encapsulating layer and the layer of bio-compatible, hermetic insulator material form a hermetic seal around the at least one exposed bio-compatible electrical contact.
US09224663B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor element in the form of a flat plate that has opposed first and second surfaces, an insulating layer that covers control wiring located on the first surface side of the semiconductor element, a metal block that is bonded to the first surface side of the semiconductor element via a solder layer, and a protective film that is formed between the metal block and the insulating layer, the protective film having a hardness equal to or greater than a hardness of the metal block. When viewed from the first surface side, the protective film is formed in an area at least including a position where an edge portion of the metal block and the control wiring cross each other.
US09224662B2	Semiconductor apparatus A semiconductor apparatus is disclosed, which includes a semiconductor element provided on a plane; a sealing resin that seals the semiconductor element; a terminal that is electrically connected to the semiconductor element and includes a part that projects from a predetermined surface of the sealing resin; and a concave portion that is recessed toward a side of the semiconductor element from the predetermined surface, when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the plane. A side of the concave portion on the side of the semiconductor element includes a rounded shape, when viewed in the direction perpendicular to the plane.
US09224661B2	Film thickness metrology Methods for determining a target thickness of a conformal film with reduced uncertainty, and an integrated circuit (IC) chip having a conformal film of the target thickness are provided. In an embodiment, a first critical dimension of a structure disposed on a wafer is measured. Said structure has at least one vertical surface. A first conformal film is deposited over the structure covering each of a horizontal and the vertical surface of the structure. A second critical dimension of the covered structure is then measured. The target thickness of the conformal film is determined based on difference between the first CD measured on the structure and the second CD measured on the covered structure.
US09224656B2	Method of CMOS manufacturing utilizing multi-layer epitaxial hardmask films for improved gate spacer control An integrated circuit containing PMOS transistors may be formed by forming a dual layer hard mask. A first layer of the hard mask is carbon-containing silicon nitride formed using a hydrocarbon reagent. A second layer of the hard mask is chlorine-containing silicon nitride formed on the first layer using a chlorinated silane reagent. After SiGe epitaxial source/drain regions are formed, the hard mask is removed using a wet etch which removes the second layer at a rate at least three times faster than the first layer.
US09224648B2	Through-wafer interconnection A through-wafer interconnect and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed. The method starts with a conductive wafer to form a patterned trench by removing material of the conductive wafer. The patterned trench extends in depth from the front side to the backside of the wafer, and has an annular opening generally dividing the conductive wafer into an inner portion and an outer portion whereby the inner portion of the conductive wafer is insulated from the outer portion and serves as a through-wafer conductor. A dielectric material is formed or added into the patterned trench mechanical to support and electrically insulate the through-wafer conductor. Multiple conductors can be formed in an array.
US09224646B2	Method for fabricating semiconductor package Disclosed is a method for fabricating a semiconductor package, including providing a package unit having an insulating layer and at least a semiconductor element embedded into the insulating layer, wherein the semiconductor element is exposed from the insulting layer and a plurality of recessed portions formed in the insulating layer; and electrically connecting a redistribution structure to the semiconductor element. The formation of the recessed portions release the stress of the insulating layer and prevent warpage of the insulating layer from taking place.
US09224643B2	Structure and method for tunable interconnect scheme The present disclosure provides one embodiment of a method to form an interconnect structure. The method includes forming a first dielectric material layer on a substrate; patterning the first dielectric material layer to form a plurality of vias therein; forming a metal layer on the first dielectric layer and the substrate, wherein the metal layer fills in the plurality of vias; and etching the metal layer such that portions of the metal layer above the first dielectric material layer are patterned to form a plurality of metal lines, aligned with plurality of vias, respectively.
US09224642B2	Conductive via structures for routing porosity and low via resistance, and processes of making An integrated circuit structure includes a first conductive layer (MET4) including a first forked conductive structure (310), an insulating layer (320, ILD45) substantially disposed over the first forked conductive structure (310), a plurality of conductive vias (331-334) through the insulating layer (ILD45) and electrically connecting with the first forked conductive structure (310), and a second conductive layer (MET5) including a second forked conductive structure (340) substantially disposed over at least a portion of the insulating layer (ILD45) and generally perpendicular to the first forked conductive structure (310), the plurality of conductive vias (331-334) electrically connecting with the second forked conductive structure (340). Other structures, devices, and processes are also disclosed.
US09224638B2	Integrated circuits with metal-titanium oxide contacts and fabrication methods Devices and methods for forming semiconductor devices with metal-titanium oxide contacts are provided. One intermediate semiconductor device includes, for instance: a substrate, at least one field-effect transistor disposed on the substrate, a first contact region positioned over at least a first portion of the at least one field-effect transistor between a spacer and an interlayer dielectric, and a second contact region positioned over at least a second portion of the at least one field-effect transistor between a spacer and an interlayer dielectric. One method includes, for instance: obtaining an intermediate semiconductor device and forming at least one contact on the intermediate semiconductor device.
US09224637B1	Bi-level dry etching scheme for transistor contacts Contact holes of different depths for source, drain, and gate connections are formed by common etch steps using a relatively low etch rate material over the gate electrode and a relatively high etch rate material over the source and drain terminals to provide similar etch times for all three holes so that risk of over-etching is reduced.
US09224631B2	Multiple bonding layers for thin-wafer handling Multiple bonding layer schemes that temporarily join semiconductor substrates are provided. In the inventive bonding scheme, at least one of the layers is directly in contact with the semiconductor substrate and at least two layers within the scheme are in direct contact with one another. The present invention provides several processing options as the different layers within the multilayer structure perform specific functions. More importantly, it will improve performance of the thin-wafer handling solution by providing higher thermal stability, greater compatibility with harsh backside processing steps, protection of bumps on the front side of the wafer by encapsulation, lower stress in the debonding step, and fewer defects on the front side.
US09224624B2	Liquid processing method A liquid processing method is provided for performing a liquid process on a front surface of a substrate by using a processing solution and then performing a rinse process on the front surface of the substrate by using a rinse solution having a temperature lower than a temperature of the processing solution. The method includes performing an intermediate process between the liquid process and the rinse process, for adjusting a temperature of the front surface of the substrate to a temperature higher than the temperature of the rinse solution and lower than the temperature of the processing solution. In the intermediate process, an intermediate processing solution having a temperature higher than the temperature of the rinse solution and lower than the temperature of the processing solution is supplied only to a rear surface of the substrate.
US09224610B2	Integrated circuits having improved high-K dielectric layers and methods for fabrication of same Integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits are provided. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a method for fabricating an integrated circuit includes exposing a portion of a surface of a semiconductor substrate between a first spacer and a second spacer. The method further includes selectively forming a dielectric layer on the portion of the surface. A metal gate is formed over the dielectric layer and between the first spacer and the second spacer. The metal gate contacts the first spacer and the second spacer.
US09224609B2	Method for manufacturing semiconductor device using oxide semiconductor A semiconductor device for high power application in which a novel semiconductor material having high mass productivity is provided. An oxide semiconductor film is formed, and then, first heat treatment is performed on the exposed oxide semiconductor film in order to reduce impurities such as moisture or hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor film. Next, in order to further reduce impurities such as moisture or hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor film, oxygen is added to the oxide semiconductor film by an ion implantation method, an ion doping method, or the like, and after that, second heat treatment is performed on the exposed oxide semiconductor film.
US09224590B2	Finger biometric sensor including sliding motion and static positioning based biometric data generation and related methods A finger biometric sensor may include an array of finger biometric sensing pixels, and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry may be capable of acquiring finger biometric data from the array of finger biometric sensing pixels and generating image data from the finger biometric data. The image data may be generated based upon at least a finger sliding motion when a finger is slid adjacent the array of finger biometric sensing pixels, and a finger static positioning when the finger is statically positioned adjacent the array of finger biometric sensing pixels. The processing circuitry may also be capable of determining a match between the image data and enrolled image data.
US09224582B2	Apparatus and method for depositing electrically conductive pasting material A method and apparatus are described for reducing particle contamination in a plasma processing chamber. In one embodiment, a pasting disk is provided which includes a disk-shaped base of high-resistivity material that has an electrically conductive pasting material layer applied to a top surface of the base so that the pasting material layer partially covers the top surface of the base. The pasting disk is sputter etched to deposit conductive pasting material over a wide area on the interior surfaces of a plasma processing chamber while minimizing deposition on dielectric components that are used to optimize the sputter etch process during substrate processing.
US09224581B2	Parallel plate reactor for uniform thin film deposition with reduced tool foot-print A capacitive-coupled parallel plate plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition reactor includes a gas distribution unit that is integrated in an RF electrode and is formed with a gas outlet. The parallel plate reactor is configured so that layers with high thickness homogeneity and quality can be produced. The capacitively coupled parallel plate plasma enhanced vapor deposition reactor has gas distribution unit with a multiple-stage showerhead constructed in such a way that it provides an independent adjustment of gas distribution and gas emission profile of the gas distribution unit.
US09224580B2	Plasma generator An arrangement for generating plasma, the arrangement comprising a primary plasma source (1) comprising a primary source chamber (15) and a first coil (4) for generating plasma in the primary source chamber, a secondary plasma source (25) comprising a secondary source chamber (16) and a second coil (26) for enhancing plasma generated by the primary plasma source and/or generating plasma in the secondary source chamber generating plasma in the primary source chamber, a hollow guiding body (11) arranged for guiding at least a portion of the plasma generated by the primary plasma source to the secondary plasma source, and an outlet (14) for emitting at least a portion of the plasma generated by the arrangement.
US09224567B2	Resin molded product A resin molded product comprises a fiber to which a metal heating element is attached, a first attaching part that standing upright on a main body of the resin molded product to attach and fix one part of the metal heating element, a second attaching part standing upright on the main body correspondingly to the first attaching part to attach and fix the other part of the metal heating element, and a rib extended continuously and integrally from the first attaching part to the second attaching part and standing upright on the main body, wherein a gate position is provided in the vicinity of the first attaching part on a straight line connecting the first attaching part to the second attaching part in a back side of the resin molded product to set an orientation of the fiber formed in the rib in the extending direction of the rib.
US09224560B2	Circuit breaker position adjustment system A system for adjusting the position of a circuit breaker is provided. The system allows for translation of the circuit breaker with respect to a support base and interfacing mechanisms, such as those that serve to switch the circuit breaker between its operative states. Adjustment is afforded by an adjustment plate fitted to the support base and that moves with the circuit breaker. Slots through the support base allow for movement of the plate and circuit breaker. A threaded member allows for continuous movement of the plate and circuit breaker for accurate positioning.
US09224558B2	Polarity independent switching device for carrying and disconnecting direct current A polarity-independent switching device for carrying and disconnecting high DC currents has a gastight, encapsulated, electrically insulating housing which can be filled with an insulating gas, and at least one pair of contacts disposed in the housing and made up of a fixed contact and a mobile contact. The two contacts are in contact with each other in a switched-on state of the switching device and are not in contact in a switch-off state of the switching device. An arc driver arrangement is included which generates a magnetic field at least in the region of the pair of contacts, as well as a first arc routing arrangement with which an arc produced between the contacts is guided in a first current direction to a quenching area arranged at a distance from the contacts.
US09224553B2	Keyswitch having a slidable translation mechanism A keyswitch structure includes a keycap having a vertical connection member and a vertical-horizontal-translation mechanism, a baseplate having a vertical connection member, a slidable part having a vertical-horizontal-translation mechanism, and a restoring member. The vertical connection members are engaged for constraining the keycap to move relative to the baseplate substantially along a Z axis. The vertical-horizontal-translation mechanisms are engaged, so that the slidable part can perform a motion in response to a movement of the keycap toward the baseplate along the Z axis upon a pressing operation. The motion includes a displacement in a first direction. When the pressing operation is discontinued, a horizontal restoring force by the restoring member enables the slidable part to perform a motion that includes a displacement in a second direction to move the keycap away from the baseplate along the Z axis. The second direction is opposite to the first direction.
US09224539B2	Solid electrolytic capacitor and method for manufacturing the same A solid electrolytic capacitor includes an anode body, a dielectric coating formed to cover the anode body, a first solid electrolyte layer formed to cover the dielectric coating, a second solid electrolyte layer made of a conductive polymer and formed to cover a relatively thin portion of the first solid electrolyte layer, and a cathode layer formed to cover the first solid electrolyte layer and the second solid electrolyte layer.
US09224536B2	Variable capacitance device A variable capacitance device that achieves a desired capacitance even when factors causing varied capacitances are generated is configured such that a capacitance detection pulse signal is applied from a capacitance detection signal generation unit to a driving capacitor and a reference capacitor of a MEMS mechanical unit. The device voltage of the driving capacitor based on the capacitance detection signal and a driving voltage is applied to the inverting input terminal of a comparator. The device voltage of the reference capacitor based on the capacitance detection signal and the driving voltage is applied to the non-inverting input terminal of the comparator. The comparator generates a comparison output signal including “Hi” and “Low” values from the difference between these device voltages, and applies the output signal to a driving voltage generation unit. The driving voltage generation unit increases or decreases the driving voltage based on the comparison output signal.
US09224535B2	High power electrical distribution system A high power electrical distribution system for distribution high power to at least one consumer arranged on a rotatable element. The distribution system includes at least one high frequency alternating current HFAC generator configured to generate HFAC. A rotary power transformer is connected to the at least one HFAC generator. The rotary power transformer includes a stationary part and a rotatable part and is configured to receive HFAC from the at least one HFAC generator and to couple HFAC electrical energy from the stationary part to the rotatable part. At least one high power distribution bus is located on the rotatable element and is configured to receive HFAC from the rotary power transformer and to distribute HFAC to the at least one consumer.
US09224522B2	Holdout devices and cover assemblies and methods incorporating the same A cover assembly for covering an elongate substrate includes a holdout device and a resilient, elastically radially expanded sleeve member. The holdout device includes a core having an axially extending slit defined therein and defining a core passage to receive the substrate, and a designated target region. The sleeve member defines an axially extending sleeve passage. The sleeve member is mounted on the core such that the core is disposed in the sleeve passage and the sleeve member exerts a radially compressive recovery force on the core. When the substrate is disposed in the core passage and a radially directed release force is applied to the target region, the core will reduce in circumference and collapse around the substrate under the recovery force of the sleeve member to a collapsed position.
US09224516B2	Battery tab and packaging frame design Improved battery packaging and constructions for batteries, particularly thin, flat-profile packaged batteries are provided. The battery packaging constructions may eliminate the need for soldering by providing current collector tabs coated by electrically conductive adhesive tape such as z-axis conductive tape and may provide support for current collector tabs and a regular battery perimeter by providing supportive battery packaging and/or frame materials. Better fabrication results, particularly when the batteries are used in smart cards, RFID tags, and medical devices.
US09224513B2	Zinc oxide sintered compact tablet and manufacturing method thereof Provided is a zinc oxide sintered compact tablet enabling a transparent conductive film having no pinholes defects to be stably obtained during vacuum deposition film formation by suppressing the occurrence of the splashing phenomenon. A zinc oxide sintered compact tablet having hexagonal crystal structure, wherein when the integrated intensity of surface (103) and surface (110) found through X-ray diffraction analysis using CuKα radiation is taken to be I(103) and I(110) respectively, the orientation of the uniaxially pressed surface that is expressed by I(103)/(I(103)+I(110)) is 0.48 or more is obtained by performing pressurized formation of a granulated powder composed of a zinc oxide powder or a powder mixture of zinc oxide and an added element as a dopant and having a percentage of donut shaped secondary particles of 50% or more, sintering at normal pressure and a temperature of 800° C. to 1300° C., and further performing reduction treatment by maintaining the normal pressure sintered compact in a vacuum at a pressure of 1×10−3 Pa or more and at a temperature of 800° C. to 1300° C. for no less than 1 minute and no longer than 10 minutes.
US09224510B2	Handling system for a container for nuclear fuel assembly A handling system including a tool for lifting the container, wherein the lifting tool includes a lifting carrier to be suspended and a member for gripping the container comprising removable devices for fastening the container onto the gripping member.According to one aspect of the invention, the gripping member is mounted so that it may rotate on the lifting carrier about a substantially horizontal rotation axis when the lifting carrier is suspended.
US09224505B2	Rotating high density fusion reactor for aneutronic and neutronic fusion A fusion device produces fusion of neutral atoms and ions in an “aneutronic fusion” manner without neutrons as products utilizes strong ion-neutral coupling at high neutral densities. Ions and neutrals rotate together in a cylindrical chamber due to frequent collisions. High magnetic forces make the attainment of high rotation energy possible; the magnetic field in a medium can be set at very high values because of the absence of magnetic charges. The repeated acceleration by strong magnetic forces in the azimuthal direction makes possible very high ion velocity. Fusion takes place mainly between neutral particles. This approach can be applied to fusion with neutrons as well. Conventional fusion schemes and neutron sources can be realized using the principles described above in the generation of neutrals of high energies and densities.
US09224495B2	Nonvolatile memory device and method detecting defective word line The inventive concept relates to a nonvolatile memory device and a method of detecting a defective word line. The method includes executing a defective word line detection operation using a program/erase voltage applied to a selected word line, wherein the defective word line detection operation determines whether or not the selected word line is defective in relation to respective word line voltage responses for the first and second segments during execution of the program/erase operation.
US09224481B2	Semiconductor storage device A semiconductor storage device restraining the variation in threshold voltage of a memory unit is provided. The steps of the programming method for a flash memory include: setting a bit line to a program voltage or a program-protection voltage; applying a program pulse to the selected page; and verifying the programming of the selected page. Also, the steps further include: when the verification result indicates that there is a failed-shift memory cell which was passed previously but is failed presently, setting the voltage of the bit line of the failed shift memory to a mitigation voltage for mitigating the voltage of the next program pulse.
US09224478B2	Temperature-based adaptive erase or program parallelism A method includes, in one implementation, performing a memory operation to place memory cells of a memory array to a first logic state using a voltage of a charge pump. A portion of the operation is performed on the memory cells using the voltage of the charge pump. A temperature of the memory array is compared to a threshold. If the temperature is above a reference level, a load on the charge pump is reduced by providing the voltage to only a reduced number of memory cells.
US09224477B2	Apparatuses and methods for coupling load current to a common source Apparatuses and methods are disclosed, including an apparatus with a string of charge storage devices coupled to a common source, a first switch coupled between the string of charge storage devices and a load current source, and a second switch coupled between the load current source and the common source. Additional apparatuses and methods are described.
US09224469B2	Semiconductor memory device and memory system A semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment includes a memory cell array and a control circuit. The memory cell array includes first lines and second lines intersecting each other, a third line commonly connecting to the first lines, memory cells disposed at intersections of the first lines and the second lines, respectively. The control circuit is configured to execute a state determining operation detecting a voltage of the third line, and adjust a voltage applied to the first lines and the second lines during a resetting operation or a setting operation based on a result of the state determining operation. The resetting operation raises a resistance value of the variable resistance element. The setting operation lowers the resistance value of the variable resistance element.
US09224464B2	Memory circuit and related method A device includes a memory bit cell, a first current source, and a current comparator electrically connected to the memory bit cell and the first current source. A first transistor has a first terminal electrically connected to a first voltage supply node, a control terminal electrically connected to a controller, and a second terminal electrically connected to the memory bit cell and the current comparator. A sense amplifier is electrically connected to the current comparator and a reference current generator.
US09224463B2	Compact volatile/non-volatile memory cell A memory device includes at least one memory cell having a first transistor coupled between a first storage node and a first supply voltage; a second transistor coupled between a second storage node and the first supply voltage and a single resistance switching element. Control terminals of the first and second transistors are coupled to the second and first storage nodes respectively. The single resistive switching element is coupled in series with the first transistor and is programmable to have one of first and second resistances. The first storage node is coupled to a first access line via a third transistor connected to said first storage node, and the second storage node is coupled to a second access line via a fourth transistor connected to the second storage node.
US09224457B2	Non-volatile storage with temperature compensation based on neighbor state information Data is programmed into and read from a set of target memory cells. When reading the data, temperature compensation is provided. The temperature compensation is based on temperature information and the state of one or more neighbor memory cells. In one embodiment, when data is read from set of target memory cells, the system senses the current temperature and determines the differences in temperature between the current temperature and the temperature at the time the data was programmed. If the difference in temperature is greater than a threshold, then the process of reading the data includes providing temperature compensation based on temperature information and neighbor state information. In one alternative, the decision to provide the temperature compensation can be triggered by conditions other than a temperature differential.
US09224456B2	Setting operating parameters for memory cells based on wordline address and cycle information Disclosed is an apparatus and method for adjusting operating parameters in a storage device. A controller in a solid state drive monitors current operating conditions of the drive's flash memory, and when the flash memory has been subjected to a predetermined number of program/erase cycles one or more stored bias values are retrieved from a storage location based on the wordline(s) associated with a current memory operation. Parameters of the memory operation are then adjusted based on the retrieved bias values, and the memory operation is performed using the adjusted parameters.
US09224455B1	Method and apparatus for bit-line sensing gates on an SRAM cell A circuit for providing additional current in a memory cell without a higher supply voltage is provided. Embodiments include a circuit having a six transistor static random access memory (SRAM) cell including a first inverter and second cross-coupled to a second inverter; a first transistor having a first source coupled to a first bit-line, a first drain coupled to the first inverter, and a first gate coupled to a word-line; a second transistor having a second source coupled to the second inverter, a second drain coupled to a second bit-line, and a second gate coupled to the word-line; and a plurality of bit-line sensing transistors coupled to the first transistor and to the second transistor.
US09224450B2	Reference voltage modification in a memory device A method and apparatus for modifying a reference voltage between refreshes in a memory device are disclosed. The memory array may include a plurality of memory cells. The memory device may also include a sense amplifier. The sense amplifier may be configured to read data from the plurality of memory cells using a reference voltage. The memory device may also include a sense amplifier reference voltage modification circuit. The sense amplifier reference voltage modification circuit may be configured to detect a triggering event and modify the reference voltage in response to detecting a triggering event.
US09224447B2	General structure for computational random access memory (CRAM) A cell array includes a logic connection line, a plurality of bit selection lines, and a plurality of cells. Each cell includes a memory element connected to a respective bit selection line and a logic switching element that selectively connects the memory element to the logic connection line. When logic switching elements of multiple separate cells connect their respective memory elements to the logic connection line, the memory elements connected to the logic connection line operate as a logic device with an output of the logic device stored in one of the memory elements.
US09224437B2	Gated-feedback sense amplifier for single-ended local bit-line memories A single-ended input sense amplifier uses a pass device to couple the input local bit-line to a global bit-line evaluation node. The sense amplifier also includes a pair of cross-coupled inverters, a first inverter of which has an input that coupled directly to the global bit-line evaluation node. The output of the second inverter is selectively coupled to the global bit-line evaluation node in response to a control signal, so that when the pass device is active, the local bit line charges or discharges the global bit-line evaluation node without being affected substantially by a state of the output of the second inverter. When the control signal is in the other state, the cross-coupled inverter forms a latch. An internal output control circuit of the second inverter interrupts the feedback provided by the second inverter in response to the control signal.
US09224436B2	Apparatuses including a memory array with separate global read and write lines and/or sense amplifier region column select line and related methods Apparatuses and methods for memory arrays with separate global read and write lines and/or sense amplifier region column select lines are disclosed. An example apparatus includes first and second memory sections, and further includes a sense amplifier region. A memory section includes a word line extending in a first direction and a digit line extending in a second direction, and the sense amplifier region is disposed between the first and second memory sections. The sense amplifier region includes a sense amplifier coupled to the digit line, a local input/output (LIO) line, a column select circuit coupled to the sense amplifier, and a column select line. The column select line extends in the first direction and is configured to provide a column select signal to the column select circuit. Capacitance of a LIO line may be reduced by coupling fewer sense amplifiers of a group to the LIO line.
US09224420B1	Syncmark detection failure recovery system An apparatus for finding a syncmark in a data sector includes a syncmark detection circuit, decoder, fragment information table and syncmark recovery circuit. The syncmark detection circuit is operable to detect a syncmark in each of a number of fragments of the data sector and to compute a syncmark quality for each of the syncmarks. The decoder is operable to apply a data decoding algorithm to encoded data for the data sector. The encoded data has start points identified by the syncmark in each of the fragments. The fragment information table stores the syncmark quality for each of the syncmarks. The syncmark recovery sweeps the start points over search ranges for selected fragments for which the syncmark detection circuit failed to detect the syncmark and which have a lower syncmark quality than others of the fragments.
US09224416B2	Near field transducers including nitride materials An apparatus that includes a near field transducer, the near field transducer including an electrically conductive nitride.
US09224413B2	Magnetic recording medium and method of manufacturing the same According to one embodiment, a magnetic recording medium including a substrate and a magnetic recording layer formed on the substrate and including a plurality of projections is obtained. The array of the plurality of projections includes a plurality of domains in which the projections are regularly arranged, and a boundary region between the domains, in which the projections are irregularly arranged. The boundary region is formed along a perpendicular bisector of a line connecting the barycenters of adjacent projections.
US09224408B1	Suspension with spring bias acting on conductive adhesive bond for improved reliability In an electrical connection to an electrical component in a disk drive suspension, an electrical lead is adhered to a component using conductive adhesive and is also mechanically pressed up against the component using a bias mechanism. The bias mechanism may be a spring finger that is welded to the suspension, or it may be a stainless steel finger that is formed integrally with the trace gimbal assembly. The resulting bias force that presses the contact against the component surface reduces the small failure rate that can occur when the conductive adhesive separates from the component's surface as a result of stress such as induced by thermal cycling.
US09224407B2	Varying write pole side shield gap A magnetic element can be configured with a write pole that continuously extends from an air bearing surface along a plane orthogonal to the air bearing surface. A magnetic shield can be separated from the write pole by a first gap distance on the air bearing surface throughout a tip portion of the write pole and by a second gap distance distal the air bearing surface along the plane orthogonal to the air bearing surface along a body portion of the write pole with the first and second gap distances measured parallel to the air bearing surface and the second gap distance being greater than the first gap distance.
US09224405B2	Voice activity detection/silence suppression system A Voice Activity Detection/Silence Suppression (VAD/SS) system is connected to a channel of a transmission pipe. The channel provides a pathway for the transmission of energy. A method for operating a VAD/SS system includes detecting the energy on the channel, and activating or suppressing activation of the VAD/SS system depending upon the nature of the energy detected on the channel.
US09224400B2	Downmix limiting The invention relates to downmixing techniques by which output audio signals are obtained from input audio signals partitioned into subgroups. A variable common gain limiting factor is applied to all downmix coefficients that govern the contributions from the input signals in a subgroup. While preserving the proportions between signal values within a subgroup, the invention makes it possible to limit the gain of different input signal subgroups to different extents, so that relatively more perceptible signals can be limited relatively less. It then becomes possible to achieve a consistent dialogue level while transitioning in a less perceptible fashion between signal portions with and without gain limiting. Embodiments of the invention include a method, a mixing system and a computer-program product.
US09224394B2	Service oriented speech recognition for in-vehicle automated interaction and in-vehicle user interfaces requiring minimal cognitive driver processing for same A system and method for implementing a server-based speech recognition system for multi-modal automated interaction in a vehicle includes receiving, by a vehicle driver, audio prompts by an on-board human-to-machine interface and a response with speech to complete tasks such as creating and sending text messages, web browsing, navigation, etc. This service-oriented architecture is utilized to call upon specialized speech recognizers in an adaptive fashion. The human-to-machine interface enables completion of a text input task while driving a vehicle in a way that minimizes the frequency of the driver's visual and mechanical interactions with the interface, thereby eliminating unsafe distractions during driving conditions. After the initial prompting, the typing task is followed by a computerized verbalization of the text. Subsequent interface steps can be visual in nature, or involve only sound.
US09224393B2	Noise estimation for use with noise reduction and echo cancellation in personal communication A method comprises processing M subband communication signals and N target-cancelled signals in each subband with a set of beamformer coefficients to obtain an inverse target-cancelled covariance matrix of order N in each band; using a target absence signal to obtain an initial estimate of the noise power in a beamformer output signal averaged over recent frames with target absence in each subband; multiplying the initial noise estimate with a noise correction factor to obtain a refined estimate of the power of the beamformer output noise signal component in each subband; processing the refined estimate with the magnitude of the beamformer output to obtain a postfilter gain value in each subband; processing the beamformer output signal with the postfilter gain value to obtain a postfilter output signal in each subband; and processing the postfilter output subband signals to obtain an enhanced beamformed output signal.
US09224383B2	Unsupervised language model adaptation for automated speech scoring Systems and methods are provided for generating a transcript of a speech sample response to a test question. The speech sample response to the test question is provided to a language model, where the language model is configured to perform an automated speech recognition function. The language model is adapted to the test question to improve the automated speech recognition function by providing to the language model automated speech recognition data related to the test question, Internet data related to the test question, or human-generated transcript data related to the test question. The transcript of the speech sample is generated using the adapted language model.
US09224381B2	Audio signal processing apparatus and audio signal processing system An audio signal processing apparatus does not drive a drive unit in a period during which an audio signal used for noise reduction processing is acquired, or does not stop a recording operation until the audio signal used for noise reduction processing is acquired.
US09224377B2	Computerized percussion instrument A computerized musical percussion instrument is disclosed.Markers carried by the musician are observed by an imager to produce a series of two dimensional images over the time of the performance.A processor receives the images and distinguishes between markers (e.g. left hand, right hand) by comparing the position and size of unidentified markers in the current image to the position and size of identified markers in preceding images.The processor analyzes each markers' movements and detects a drum hit when a marker undergoes a sharp reversal of its motion direction after reaching sufficient speed. The processor determines which drum the musician intends to hit by comparing the position and size of the marker at the instant of the hit to the position and size attributes of each drum. The processor outputs an audio signal for each hit, corresponding to the drum hit, with a volume determined by marker speed.
US09224376B1	Electric violin An electric violin comprises a head, a body and a bowstring module; the head is attached to the body via a connecting rod. The head includes a display screen and several string-buttons mounted at a side of the display screen. Each string-button is corresponding in position with one line of string-related instructions. The body includes a main CPU module, a data storage device, an audio circuit, a sound amplifier and a speaker therein. The body includes a control button and a bowstring-holding mechanism. The bowstring-holding mechanism includes a mounting groove in the body and a signal interface mounted in the bottom of the mounting groove. The bowstring module includes a base and a playing element; the playing element and the connection terminal are mounted on the base; the base is attached to the mounting groove by snap joint; and the connection terminal is connected with the signal interface.
US09224372B1	Cymbal mounting assembly A cymbal mounting assembly that has housing with a constant diameter through hole. A mounting rod of a music stand is to be conducted through the through hole with therebeing a loose fit between the mounting rod and the housing. A cymbal is loosely mounted on the housing so it can freely pivot or rock. The assembly includes a tightening nut with a friction feature included to adjust the amount of clamping force being applied to the cymbal. This friction feature prevents unauthorized adjusting of the rocking or pivoting motion (action) of the cymbal and this preselected amount of action by the drummer is maintained between playing locations and is only changed when the drummer decides to do so.
US09224371B1	Three-in-one drum A three-in-one drum includes a drum chamber, a drum skin and pressing rings. A beating tray is vertically and adjustably disposed in the drum chamber and covered with a cushion. The bottom of the beating tray has a microphone vibrator connected to a loudspeaker box. When the adjusting rod is rotated clockwise, the beating tray rises and the cushion is close to the drum skin. The drum skin does not ground when being beaten, this is the mute drum function. An beating trigger connected with an electronic sound source sends electronic signal to perform the electric drum function. The microphone vibrator amplifies the audio frequency signal to perform the audio amplification function. When the adjusting rod is rotated counter clockwise, the beating tray is lowered and the cushion is located away from the drum skin which sounds when being beaten to perform the raw sound drum function.
US09224368B2	Merging three-dimensional models of varying resolution Systems and methods for merging three-dimensional models, such as a three-dimensional range sensor-based model and a three-dimensional camera-based model, are provided. According to aspects of the present disclosure, an enhanced volumetric merging technique can be used to merge the three-dimensional models. A plurality of voxels can be constructed for a three-dimensional space. A first distance field can be propagated based on the range sensor-based model in an extended margin between the range sensor-based model and a range sensor viewpoint. A second distance field can be propagated based on the camera-based model for voxels in the extended margin. A cumulative distance field can be determined based at least in part on the first field and the second distance field. The merged three-dimensional model can be constructed from the cumulative distance field using, for instance, a suitable meshing algorithm.
US09224356B2	Digital to-analog-conversion circuit and data driver for display device DAC includes a decoder that receives N number of reference voltages and an n-bit digital signal (n 4) to select first to third voltages, and an operational amplifier to output (first voltage+second voltage+2 third voltage)/4 voltage. The operational amplifier is able to output, for respective 2^n combinations of the n-bit digital signal, voltage levels from an Ath level, as a base level, to an (A−1+2^n)th level. The N number of reference voltages include Ath level, (A+4)th level, (A−4+2^n) and (A+2^n), and an at most {−4+2^(n−2)} reference voltages obtained by decimating a pre-set at least one reference voltage from {−3+2^(n−2)} reference voltages that are other than the four number of reference voltages from the {1+2^(n−2)} reference voltages corresponding to the voltage levels spaced each other at an interval of 4 levels from the Ath level. N is not less than 4 and not more than 2^(n−2).
US09224355B2	Interactive system and method for operating a plurality of flexible displays to implement interactive operation A method for operating a plurality of flexible displays to implement an interactive operation among the plurality of flexible displays is provided. The method is used between the plurality of flexible displays and a system control platform. Each flexible display is configured with a plurality of light sensors and a plurality of sensors and a processor. The method includes: quantifying, by each light sensor, a external luminosity value received by each flexible display; quantifying, by each sensor, a sensor-measuring value received by each flexible display; generating and transmitting, by the processor coupled to the light sensors and the sensors, luminosity information and sensor information according to the external luminosity values and the sensor-measuring values; and receiving, by the information platform, the luminosity information and the sensor information, and implements the interactive operation among the plurality of flexible displays between the plurality of flexible displays according to the sensor information.
US09224354B2	Liquid crystal display device and a pixel driving method thereof A pixel driving method of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, the LCD device comprising a first stage pixel, a second stage pixel, a first transistor, a second transistor, a third transistor, a first scan line, a second scan line, a plurality of data lines, a main pixel electrode, a sub pixel electrode, and a share capacitance, and the pixel driving method comprising the following steps: A step of driving the first scan line during the first driving period to charge the main pixel electrode and the sub pixel electrode of the first stage pixel, a step of ceasing to drive the first scan line during the second driving period to reduce voltages of the main pixel electrode and the sub pixel electrode of the first stage pixel, a step of driving the second scan line during the third driving period to turn on the third transistor of the first stage pixel, and a step of ceasing to drive the second scan line during the fourth driving period and pulling down the voltages of the main pixel electrode and the sub pixel electrode of the first stage pixel by implementing the share capacitance, which is connected with the third transistor during the third and the fourth driving period.
US09224336B2	Display device of active matrix type A display device of active matrix type allows reducing display brightness non-uniformity that is caused by initial variation and fluctuation over time in a driving transistor for emissive elements in pixel circuits. The display device includes pixel circuits, a measurement circuit and a gradation voltage supplying circuit. Each pixel circuit includes the driving transistor and an input circuit. The measurement circuit includes a constant current supplying circuit for generating and supplying one or more constant currents to the input circuit of the pixel circuits in a time division manner. The measurement circuit A/D-converts output voltages of the constant current supplying circuit and calculates data relating to electron mobility and threshold value of the driving transistor. The gradation voltage supplying circuit supplies to the pixel circuits a corrected gradation voltage, which is data corrected on the basis of data calculated from the measurement circuit.
US09224329B2	Organic light emitting diode display device and method for driving the same An OLED display device is provided. The OLED display device includes a first transistor connected to a data line and a first node; a second transistor connected to the first node and a second node; a third transistor connected to a reference voltage terminal and a third node; a fourth transistor connected to an initialization voltage terminal and the second node; a fifth transistor connected to the reference voltage terminal and the second node; a driving transistor; and an OLED connected to a low-level power supply voltage terminal and the second node. The driving transistor has a source connected to the second node, a gate connected to the third node, and a drain connected to a high-level power supply voltage terminal.
US09224327B2	Power supply device, display apparatus having the same, and power supply method A display apparatus includes an OLED panel receiving an input of a video signal and a plurality of driving power levels for RGB colors and displaying an image, a video signal providing unit providing the video signal to the OLED panel, and a power supply supplying the plurality of driving power levels to the OLED panel unit and performing individual feedback control for each of the plurality of driving power levels.
US09224324B2	Cascode driver circuit This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus for providing a cascode driver circuit for providing positive and negative polarities of two or more voltages at an output node. The voltages provided by the cascode driver circuit can be used to provide voltages to various interconnects and terminals of the display apparatus. The cascode driver circuit includes a first circuit for providing a positive polarity of two or more voltages to an output node via a first set of cascode transistors and a second circuit for providing negative polarities of the two or more voltages via a second set of cascode transistors. The driver circuit includes body-effect mitigation circuitry for reducing the impact of body-effect on the performance of the driver circuit. The driver circuit also includes circuitry for reducing substrate leakage current.
US09224322B2	Visually passing data through video A method and a system involve the insertion of digital data into a number of video frames of a video stream, such that the video frames contain both video content and the inserted digital data. The video, including the inserted digital data is then visually conveyed to and received by an augmented reality device without the use of a network connection. In the augmented reality device, the digital data is detected, processed and used to provide computer-generated data and/or information. The computer-generated data and/or information is then presented on a display associated with the augmented reality device or otherwise reproduced through the augmented reality device, where the computer-generated data and/or information supplements the video content so as to enhance the viewing experience of the augmented reality device user.
US09224316B2	Wall plaque with decorative graphic and methods of making the same Implementations of the present invention provide systems, apparatus, and methods for precisely placing a graphic in a desired position between a face panel and a rear panel. In particular, implementations of the present invention comprise wall plaques having graphics that are printed directly to the back surface of face panels. Printing a graphic directly to the back surface of a face panel may help to ensure that the graphic is flat on the back surface of the face panel and is not misaligned. In addition, printing a graphic directly to the back surface of a face panel may help to eliminate the possibility that the graphic will be wrinkled, torn, or otherwise damaged prior to being laminated on the back surface of a face panel. Implementations of the present invention may also make the manufacturing process more efficient both in terms of cost and time.
US09224308B2	Foldable flight simulator The subject invention provides a flight simulator, having a folded state and an unfolded state, having a chassis, an inner display and support that may be stowed or deployed, and an outer display and support that may be stowed or deployed.
US09224305B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and non-transitory computer readable medium storing information processing program An information processing apparatus includes a sound recognition unit that recognizes a sound of a moving image including a captured document, a detecting unit that detects a word which appears in both a recognition result of the sound recognition unit and a word extracted from the captured document in the moving image, an extracting unit that extracts an occurrence time of the word detected by the detecting unit in the moving image and a position of the word in the document, a display unit that displays the word extracted by the extracting unit on the document in a different manner from that in which another word is displayed, a designating unit that designates the word displayed by the display unit on the basis of an operation of an operator, and a reproducing unit that reproduces the moving image from the occurrence time of the word designated by the designating unit.
US09224302B1	Four dimensional flight management with time control system and related method A four dimensional time controlled flight management system (4DFMS) and related method generate an initial descent profile for an aircraft in flight. The initial descent profile is planned in compliance with a 1) a published arrival procedure at an airport, 2) a fuel-efficient optimized profile descent (OPD), and a required time of arrival (RTA) constraint at a metering waypoint on the published arrival. The 4DFMS maintains awareness of the changing wind conditions during cruise mode and descent mode of operation and triggers a replan of the descent profile should compliance fall outside of a 95% confidence level at a six second compliance requirement in the descent mode. The system continuously generates a total time error at the metering waypoint by projecting estimated time of arrivals at active waypoints to determine accurate altitude, airspeed, and time compliance at the metering waypoint.
US09224290B1	Presence-based device operation Data indicative of user proximity to one or more devices is provided to a server. Based on the proximity data, the server may modify content distribution to, or the behavior of, the one or more devices. In one implementation, determination that no user is proximate to the device may result in pausing or stopping streaming of content to the server.
US09224289B2	System and method of determining occupant location using connected devices A vehicle computing system enabling one or more processors to establish a communication connection with at least one of a plurality of handheld computing devices within a vehicle while enabling and determining infotainment control based on the location of the handheld device in the vehicle. The system may determine if the at least one of a plurality of handheld computing devices is a driver or non-driver handheld computing device based on a detected location of the communication connection. The system may determine that the at least one of a plurality of handheld computing devices is a non-driver handheld computing device based on the detected location, therefore enabling infotainment control from the non-driver handheld device. The system may determine that the at least one of a plurality of handheld computing devices is a driver handheld computing device based on the detected location, therefore limiting infotainment control from the driver handheld device.
US09224286B2	Security system health monitoring An apparatus and method for determining at least one operational condition of a premises based system including at least one premises device. The apparatus includes a processor configured to perform a diagnostic procedure. The diagnostic procedure includes determining operational data of the premises based system, the operational data indicating at least one of a premises device and the apparatus is operating outside a failure range and performing predictive analysis based at least in part on the received operational data. The predictive analysis indicates whether the at least one of premises device and apparatus is likely to operate within the failure range within a predefined period of time. The diagnostic procedure includes causing a notification alert to be transmitted to at least one of a user interface device and remote monitoring center based on the predictive analysis.
US09224283B2	Substrate processing apparatus, alarm management method of substrate processing apparatus, and storage medium A substrate processing apparatus is provided with: a detection unit that detects a factor for which interlock is applied to one or more of a plurality of modules and outputs a detection signal; interlocking management unit that, based on the detection signal output from the detecting units, applies interlock to the module to be interlocked if the factor has been occurred; and an alarm management unit that determines parent-child relationships between a parent alarm indicating that the factor for which interlock is applied has been detected, and child alarms each indicating that interlock has been applied to each module, and causes a display unit to display in a grouped manner the parent alarm and the child alarm or alarms having the parent-child relationship.
US09224266B2	Gaming system having multiple gaming machines which provide bonus awards A gaming system including a central server linked to a plurality of gaming machines and a plurality of bonus awards. The central server monitors wagers on the gaming machines. Based at least in part on the wagers the central server determines when bonus events will occur and which gaming machine(s) will provide the bonus awards. In one embodiment, the central server determines which gaming machine will provide a primary bonus award and any secondary bonus awards. In one embodiment, the number of secondary bonus awards is determined based on the number of active gaming machines. The selected gaming machine then determines a component of or the amount of the bonus award to be provided to the gaming machine selected by the central server.
US09224264B2	Multiple currency bill acceptor Provided is a multi-currency bill acceptor that can easily convert an existing cashless system into a multi-currency cashless system at low cost. In the case of reading a ticket, the multi-currency bill acceptor converts information on the ticket into data in a ticket format readable by a game controller and sends it to the game controller; in the case of reading a bill, it sends information on the bill to the game controller in a form of data converted into a ticket format.
US09224262B2	System and method of selecting interactive media used to reveal outcomes of real world wagers The invention relates to systems and methods of selecting and placing real-world wagers responsive to one or more wager triggers, obtaining outcomes of the real-world wagers, and revealing the outcomes of the real-world wagers through select interactive media to give an appearance that the outcomes of the real-world wagers resulted from user interactions with the interactive media even though the outcomes resulted from the real-world wagers and were determined before the user interactions. The system may select a given interactive media application (or interactive media) to reveal a value (e.g., a payout) based on various factors to customize which application or media is used to provide a given reveal.
US09224260B2	Method of apparatus for communicating information about networked gaming machines to prospective players On a network of electronic gaming machines, data regarding the performance of the machines or the players of the machines is collected and processed to make predictions of future jackpots and recommendations of games to play. The predictions and recommendations are delivered via at least one virtual persona that communicates with players or potential players via displays in a casino or on a web browser, via smartphone. Players can conduct conversations with the persona using cellular telephone, text messaging, or other types of Internet communications.
US09224253B2	External diagnosis device, vehicle diagnosis system and vehicle diagnosis method In an external diagnosis device, a vehicle diagnosis method and a vehicle diagnosis system, when an IGSW is on, power is supplied from a vehicle-mounted power supply to the external diagnosis device, and a capacitor provided on the external diagnosis device is charged, and when the IGSW is turned off, the power supply from the vehicle-mounted power supply to the external diagnosis device is stopped, and power is supplied from the capacitor to the external diagnosis device.
US09224243B2	Image enhancement using a multi-dimensional model A method and apparatus for enhancing an image capture of a geographic area is presented. The enhancement involves determining an estimated pose within a model that is related to an image using orientation and location data associated with the image. An alternate pose within the three dimensional model may be selected based on the estimated pose. A virtual image of the three dimensional model may be generated as a function of the alternate pose. The image and the virtual image may be combined to create a stereoscopic image.
US09224242B2	Automated three dimensional mapping method An automated three dimensional mapping method estimating three dimensional models taking advantage of a plurality of images. Positions and attitudes for at least one camera are recorded when images are taken. The at least one camera is geometrically calibrated to indicate the direction of each pixel of an image. A stereo disparity is calculated for a plurality of image pairs covering a same scene position setting a disparity and a certainty measure estimate for each stereo disparity. The different stereo disparity estimates are weighted together to form a 3D model. The stereo disparity estimates are reweighted automatically and adaptively based on the estimated 3D model.
US09224241B2	System for producing digital holographic content Disclosed is a system for producing a digital holographic (DH) content, which includes: a 3D image information acquiring unit configured to acquire 3D information on real and virtual objects; a computer-generated hologram (CGH) processing unit configured to generate the digital holographic content by mathematical modeling from the 3D information acquired from the 3D image information acquiring unit; a DH content editing unit configured to edit the generated digital holographic content; a DH image restoring unit configured to visualize the generated digital holographic content in a 3D image; and a digital holographic content process managing unit configured to manage a parameter and a processing time of each functioning unit so as to process each processing process of each of the 3D image information acquiring unit, the computer-generated hologram processing unit, the digital holographic content editing unit, and the digital hologram image restoring unit.
US09224239B2	Look-based selection for rendering a computer-generated animation A system and method for computing a rendered image of a computer-generated object in a computer-generated scene. A dependency graph is accessed, the dependency graph including a plurality of interconnected nodes including a look-selector node. An asset is accessed at an input to the look-selector node. The asset includes a plurality of looks for the computer-generated object, each look of the plurality of looks corresponding to a different visual appearance of the computer-generated object. At the look-selector node, an active look is selected from the plurality of looks. The active look is passed to a next node of the dependency graph. The rendered image of the computer-generated object is computed having a visual appearance that corresponds to the active look.
US09224229B2	Process and apparatus for data registration A process of bringing first and second data sets into registration/conformity with each other. A plurality of candidate data sets are provided, each being a differently shifted or distorted form of a reference data set. Each of the first and second data sets and the reference data set being a representation of a particular physical object. The process compares respectively the first and second data sets with each of the candidate data sets and in dependence on the comparisons to determine respective first and second transformations that bring into registration or conformity with each other the reference data set and a particular candidate data set out of the plurality of candidate data sets which provides a best match with the respective first and second data sets, and brings the first and second data sets into registration/conformity with each other in dependence on the first and second transformations.
US09224227B2	Tile shader for screen space, a method of rendering and a graphics processing unit employing the tile shader A tile shader for screen space of a graphics pipeline, a method of rendering graphics and a graphics processing unit are disclosed. In one embodiment, the tile shader includes: (1) an input interface configured to receive a tile of pixels for processing and (2) a tile processor configured to perform tile-level processing of the pixels.
US09224224B2	Methods and systems for predictive clinical planning and design and integrated execution services Systems and methods for predictive clinical planning, design, and integrated execution services are provided. The system may comprise a database, a web server, an application server, and a client.The system may be used to develop a strategic map of a proposed clinical plan, wherein the clinical plan may include a draft launch label attribute, one or more strategies, and a schema; linking the clinical plan and schema to one or more trials; subsequently linking the trials to one or more objectives and measures; subsequently linking none, one, or a plurality of objectives to none, one, or a plurality of measures; identifying patient criteria and enrolling patients from one or more investigator sites located in one or more countries; and integrating the clinical plan with a clinical plan execution application.
US09224219B2	Systems and methods for presenting a free-form drawing Systems and method for presenting a free-form drawing are described. In some aspects, a first point, a second point, and a third point from an input curve in the free-form drawing are received. A first quadratic Bezier curve is determined, where a control point of the first quadratic Bezier curve includes the second point and endpoints of the first quadratic Bezier curve include the first point and the third point. A first portion of the first quadratic Bezier curve is provided for display, where endpoints of the first portion of the first quadratic Bezier curve include the first point and a second terminal point, and where the first portion of the first quadratic Bezier curve does not include the third point.
US09224215B2	Apparatus and method for encoding/decoding images for intra-prediction A method of decoding an image includes the steps of restoring a residual value by performing inverse quantization and inverse transform on the residual value by entropy decoding a received bit stream, generating a prediction unit by performing intra prediction selectively using one of a plurality of prediction modes on a prediction unit split by conducting at least one of asymmetric partitioning and geometrical partitioning, and restoring an image by adding the residual value to the prediction unit. It may be possible to enhance encoding efficiency of high-resolution images having a resolution of HD or higher by performing intra prediction on the asymmetric partitioning and/or geometrical partitioning.
US09224209B2	Image processing device and method, recording medium and program There is provided an image processing device including a motion vector detection portion that performs comparison of a substantially spherical photographic subject such that, among a plurality of captured images including the photographic subject, an image as a processing target and another image as a comparison target are compared using each of the plurality of captured images as the processing target, and which detects a motion vector of a whole three-dimensional spherical model with respect to the processing target, a motion compensation portion that performs motion compensation on the processing target, based on the motion vector of each of the plurality of captured images that is detected by the motion vector detection portion, and a synthesis portion that synthesizes each of the captured images that are obtained as a result of the motion compensation performed by the motion compensation portion.
US09224208B2	Image-based surface tracking A method of image-tracking by using an image capturing device (12). The method comprises: performing an image-capture of a scene (54) by using an image capturing device; and tracking movement (62) of the image capturing device (12) by analyzing a set of images by using an image processing algorithm (64).
US09224203B2	Medical image information system and medical image processing server A medical image information system of an embodiment includes: a terminal device and a medical image processing server connected via a network, wherein the medical image processing server includes a medical image storage unit in which a medical image is stored, and an image processing unit that generates, from the medical image, a display screen and display screen information based on a request from the terminal device to transmit to the terminal device, and the image processing unit includes a speed-lowering determination unit that determines, based on either related information of a medical image or connection status of the terminal device or both, a setting item pertaining to a wait process for lowering a transmission timing of a result of image processing, and a speed-lowering processing unit that carries out a wait process for lowering a transmission timing of the display image based on the setting item.
US09224202B2	Device and method for extracting information from characteristic signals A device and a method for extracting information from detected characteristic signals are provided. A data stream (26) derivable from electromagnetic radiation (20) emitted or reflected by an object (10) is received. The data stream (26) includes a continuous or discrete characteristic signal (68) including physiological information (30) indicative of desired object motion to be detected and utilized so as to extract at least one at least partially periodic vital signal of interest. A plurality of characteristic index elements (60) can be derived from the data stream (26) through a dimensional reduction (66). The plurality of characteristic index elements (60) includes a directional motion component (70) associated with a disturbance-reduced index element (40) having a determined orientation substantially aligned with a reference motion direction (41) indicative of the desired object motion. Consequently, dimensional reduced data can be utilized for detecting the vital signal of interest.
US09224199B2	Pathological diagnosis assisting apparatus, pathological diagnosis assisting method and non-transitory computer readable medium storing pathological diagnosis assisting program A pathological diagnosis assisting apparatus according to the present invention includes an image classification unit configured to classify at least one type of a specific substance, a tissue area extraction unit configured to extract a tissue area in the image of the sample, an image dividing unit configured to divide the tissue area into a plurality of sections, a specific substance occupancy rate calculation unit configured to, calculate an occupancy rate of the at least one type of the specific substance in each of the plurality of sections, and a diagnosis assisting information providing unit configured to determine an intermediate value of the occupancy rate of the specific substance from the calculated occupancy rates of the plurality of sections and to provide the intermediate value as the diagnosis assisting information.
US09224198B2	Analysis of the digital image of the surface of a tyre and processing of non-measurement points In a method for processing an image of a surface of a tire, a 3D digital image of the surface is captured, and each pixel of the captured image is assigned a grey level value proportional to an elevation of a corresponding point with respect to the surface. The pixels are placed in rows and columns. A search is made for zones of the surface that include pixels having a grey-level value lower than a given threshold. Boundaries of an encompassing box that includes one or more of the zones are determined. Inside the encompassing box, a grey-level value equal to a mean grey-level value of a set of reference pixels (Kij, si) positioned in a zone situated in immediate proximity to a pixel under consideration is assigned to each of the pixels whose grey-level value is lower than the given threshold.
US09224189B2	Method and apparatus for combining panoramic image The disclosure discloses a method and an apparatus for combining panoramic image. The method includes: obtaining multiple original images of the same scene, performing folding change and coordinates transformation to the multiple original images, and determining an overlapping area of the multiple original images; establishing a mathematical model of the multiple original images, aligning the overlapping area of the multiple original images, and transforming the multiple original images to a coordinate system of a reference image; obtaining the space transformation relationship among/between the multiple original images according to the coordinate system of the reference image, selecting an appropriate image combining strategy, and completing the combining of the images. The solution can realize obtaining scene picture with large field of view without reducing image resolution.
US09224187B2	Wavefront order to scan order synchronization Blocks of pixels from a video frame may be encoded in a block processing pipeline using wavefront ordering, e.g. according to knight's order. Each of the encoded blocks may be written to a particular one of multiple buffers such that the blocks written to each of the buffers represent consecutive blocks of the frame in scan order. Stitching information may be written to the buffers at the end of each row. A stitcher may read the rows from the buffers in order and generate a scan order output stream for the frame. The stitcher component may read the stitching information at the end of each row and apply the stitching information to one or more blocks at the beginning of a next row to stitch the next row to the previous row. Stitching may involve modifying pixel(s) of the blocks and/or modifying metadata for the blocks.
US09224181B2	Systems and methods for visualizing patient and telepresence device statistics in a healthcare network Disclosed herein are various embodiments of systems and methods for visualizing, analyzing, and managing telepresence devices operating in a telepresence network of healthcare facilities. A user may selectively view a global view of all telepresence devices, telepresence devices within a particular region, the details of a particular telepresence device, and/or the details of a particular healthcare facility. At one viewing level, a user may view a plan view map of a healthcare facility and visualize the navigational history of a telepresence device. At another viewing level, a user may view a plan view map of a healthcare facility and visualize telemetry data of a patient associated with a selected room. At another viewing level, a user may selectively view various graphical representations of telepresence device statistics and usage information with respect to health ratings for each of a plurality of patients.
US09224179B2	Method and system for report generation including extensible data A method of extending a user interface to include additional data fields is provided. A first response is received at a first application. The first response indicates a selection of an add button associated with addition of a data field to a first window associated with a user interface of a second application. A second window is presented to a user of the first application. A second response is received at the first application. The second response includes a name for the data field entered by the user using the presented second window and a data type of the data field. A position of the data field is identified on the first window. The received name, the received data type, and the identified position for the data field are stored. The data field is presented in the first window at the stored position using the stored name when a second user executes the second application.
US09224172B2	Customizable content for distribution in social networks Particular embodiments of the present invention are related to customizing content based on a social context associated with the viewer of the content. The social context may include information regarding the viewer's friends or contacts in a social network, and information regarding the interaction of such friends or contacts with the customizable content.
US09224165B2	Deploying multiple E-commerce systems in a single computing platform A method, system, architecture and apparatus for deploying multiple e-commerce systems in a single computing platform. In accordance with the present invention, an e-commerce systems architecture can include an instantiable owning business logic component derived from an abstract business definition and one or more instantiable business element components configured for aggregation under the control of a business facility instance. The business facility instance can include a coupling to an instance of the owning business logic component. Finally, the architecture can include an instantiable partner business component derived from the abstract business definition. In particular, the instantiable partner business component can include a configuration for limited access to selected ones of the instantiable business element components aggregated under the control of the business facility instance.
US09224157B2	Method and apparatus for presenting content in response to user inputs using dynamic intelligent profiling Different users may receive different information in response to a selection of the same link that is displayed on a website, mobile site or in the real world. The content delivered to a particular user may be dependent on the time of the selection, the geographic location of the user, a weather condition at the geographical location, personal information associated with the user, a number of previous selections of the link by prior individuals, and any combination of the these or other variables, which may be determined by an originator of the link or another party. Dynamic intelligent profiling platforms may be established for determining content or destinations to be presented to customer devices interacting with any of a variety of touchpoints, based on the real-world conditions of each customer.
US09224153B2	Recently viewed items display area A most recently viewed item is displayed in a display element, which is positioned next to at least one other element on a web page. The display element is expanded so that the element covers the at least one other element on the web page and so that at least one other recently viewed item appears in the display element. The display element is contracted so that only the most recently viewed item appears in the display element and so that the at least one other element on the web page is visible.
US09224150B2	Identifying highly valued recommendations of users in a media recommendation network A system and method are provided for discovering new friends using recommendation paths in a media recommendation network. In general, media items are recommended among users in a media recommendation network. Use of media items by the users is monitored. If the use of a media item by a user exceeds a threshold, a determination is made as to whether the media item was recommended to the user. If so, that recommendation is identified as a highly valued recommendation for that user. Thereafter, when the user desires to identify new friends from which to receive recommendations and to which to send recommendations, a recommendation path for the highly valued recommendation is identified. Users in the recommendation path that are not already friends of the user are identified as potential new friends for the user.
US09224147B2	Customer service management system The customer is given the option to access customer service through the Internet. A web site provides several convenient alternatives for scheduling a voice session with a customer service agent instead of waiting on the phone. Users are encouraged to search a Selection-Oriented-Knowledge-Base (SOKB) that helps the user's thinking process by displaying a sequence of intuitively recognizable multimedia menu selections that eventually lead to what the user has in mind and provide appropriate answers. The SOKB is based upon a Selection-On-Vertex network that provides the infrastructure to expand the level of knowledge of the SOKB by automatically capturing knowledge gained through experience. Customer service agents are seamlessly integrated into the SOKB by a NEED HELP request button that the user can click if difficulties are encountered during the search. A Help Requests Predictor enables customer service agents to respond within seconds to NEED HELP requests initiated by users.
US09224143B2	System and method for checkless cash advance settlement Methods, devices, and systems for conducting a checkless cash access settlement are provided. In one embodiment, a cash advance method includes the following: a customer initiates a cash access transaction with a financial card via a cash access system; the customer receives authorization or denial; the customer provides identification and the financial card to a cashier or attendant; the cashier or attendant validates the customer's identity, retrieves the transaction information, and completes the cash advance application; the application prints a non-negotiable instrument, such as a transaction receipt; the customer signs the receipt confirming the transaction with a physical receipt or electronic capture; the receipt image is stored electronically for subsequent transmittal to a central server; the transaction information, including the receipt image if applicable, is recorded on the central server; and the central server generates an ACH file and electronically transmits the ACH file to a designated financial institution.
US09224142B2	Card reader with power efficient architecture that includes a power supply and a wake up circuit These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in a card reader with a read head positioned in a housing. The read head is configured to be coupled to a mobile device and has a slot for swiping a magnetic stripe of a card. The read head reads data on the magnetic stripe and produces a raw magnetic signal indicative of data stored on the magnetic stripe. A power supply is coupled to wake-up electronics and a microcontroller. An output jack is adapted to be inserted in a port of the mobile device and deliver an output jack signal to the mobile device.
US09224136B1	Systems and methods for remote deposit of checks Remote deposit of checks can be facilitated by a financial institution. A customer's general purpose computer and image capture device may be leveraged to capture an image of a check and deliver the image to financial institution electronics. Additional data for the transaction may be collected as necessary. The transaction can be automatically accomplished utilizing the images and data thus acquired.
US09224126B2	Collaborative decision making Techniques for collaborative decision making are presented. A collaborative decision making process is referred to as a buzz. A principal creates and defines the policies for the buzz as well as the criteria for participants of the buzz. The buzz is launched for online collaboration and is managed according to the policies. Actions and decisions are logged and recorded during the buzz.
US09224114B2	Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for generating a report indicating job availability Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for generating a report indicating job availability. According to embodiments, a method for generating a report indicating job availability is provided. According to the method, a selected assignment group is displayed. A number of status messages received by a technician in the selected assignment group is displayed. The status messages indicate that no jobs are available for the technician. An amount of lost time associated with the technician in the selected assignment group is determined. The lost time includes a difference between a time at which the technician received one of the status messages and a time at which the technician is dispatched to a next job. The amount of lost time associated with the technician in the selected assignment group is displayed.
US09224109B2	Filtered peer-to-peer business communication in a distributed computer environment A method for filtered peer-to-peer business communication in a distributed computer environment includes accessing offers associated with one or more offerors and requests associated with one or more requestors, each offer and each request including a set of filter components. Filter components of offers are compared with corresponding filter components of requests to determine whether one or more offers match one or more requests. A match is determined between an offer and a request if the filter components of the offer match the corresponding filter components of the request. In response, at least a matching portion of the offer and request is replicated and communicated to both the offeror associated with the offer and the requestor associated with the request to provide filtered peer-to-peer communication between the offeror and requestor.
US09224108B2	Method and apparatus for evaluating component costs in a communication network A method and apparatus for calculating a cost index in a communication network. In one embodiment, a plurality of first cost factors associated with a first set of network elements is obtained. Subsequently, a plurality of second cost factors associated with a second set of network elements is obtained. A first cost index is then determined based on the plurality of first cost factors associated with the first set of network elements. Similarly, a second cost index is determined based on the plurality of second cost factors associated with the second set of network elements. Afterwards, the first cost index is compared to the second cost index to determine a point in time when a service provider should minimize new investment in the first set of network elements.
US09224103B1	Automatic annotation for training and evaluation of semantic analysis engines Implementations include systems and methods generate data for training or evaluating semantic analysis engines. For example, a method may include receiving documents from a corpus that includes an authoritative set of documents from an authoritative source. Each document in the authoritative set may be associated with an entity. A second set of documents from the corpus that do not overlap with the first set may include at least one link to a document in the authoritative set, the at least one link being associated with anchor text. For each document in the second set, the method may include identifying entity mentions in the document based on the anchor text. The method may include associating the entity mention with the entity in a graph-structured knowledge base or associating entity types with the entity mention. The method may also include training a semantic analysis engine using the identified entity mentions and associations.
US09224102B2	Apparatus and method for analysing events from sensor data by optimisation The present invention relates to sensor signal analysis. It relates particularly, but not exclusively, to methods, systems and devices for monitoring and processing the sensor signals to determine automatically characteristics of events represented by the sensor signals. The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, related to methods, systems and devices for monitoring moisture in absorbent articles such as diapers, incontinence garments, dressings and pads resulting from wetness events caused by, for example, urinary and/or faecal incontinence. In an embodiment, the invention includes a method for processing sensor signals representing an event in an absorbent article. The method comprises: receiving sensor signals from a sensor representing one or more events in an absorbent article; and processing the sensor signals to determine a characteristic of at least one event in the absorbent article. One such characteristic can include the volume of a voiding event such as a urinary incontinence event. In another embodiment, the method includes carrying out a learning phase including the steps of: receiving sensor signals representing one or more events in each of one or more absorbent articles; receiving observation data indicative of a cumulative characteristic of the one or more events in each absorbent article; and identifying an optimal mathematical model describing a relationship between the sensor signals and the observation data. Such events can include urinary incontinence events occurring in absorbent articles such as diapers. Observation data can be measured cumulative volume of a cycle of voiding events occurring in a diaper.
US09224098B2	Sensitivity analysis tool for multi-parameter selection Methods, software, products and systems used to support decision making in complex multidimensional problem environments. Methods, software, products and systems to prioritize solutions for selection based upon selection criteria and available data regarding the possible solutions. The methods achieve a robust approach to determine the sensitivity of a selection to a multi-parameter profile of selection criteria and the importance of such criteria.
US09224092B2	Detecting disallowed combinations of data within a processing element Techniques are described for detecting disallowed combinations of data within a processing element. Embodiments of the invention may generally receive data to be processed using the processing element and determine whether the received data and a current working state violate one or more rules describing disallowed combinations of data. If a disallowed combination is detected, embodiments of the invention may handle the processing of the received data in an alternate way that prevents disallowed combinations of data within the processing element.
US09224077B2	Control apparatus, image forming apparatus, image forming system, control method, and computer-readable medium A control apparatus includes an operation section, a correction section, and a controller. The operation section performs an operation for forming an image having a predetermined density. The correction section corrects a value of the density. In a case where an image formation condition is switched from a first image formation condition to a second image formation condition, when image formation under the second image formation condition is to be performed on at least a predetermined number of recording media or to be performed for at least a predetermined period, the controller performs control so that the correction section executes a process of correcting the value. When the image formation is not to be performed on at least the predetermined number of recording media or not to be performed for at least the predetermined period, the controller performs control so that the correction section does not execute the process.
US09224072B2	System and method for generating a user interface from a printer description Systems, methods, and machine-readable media for generating a user interface from a printer description file are discussed. The system comprising an interface module, an option module, and an interface generation module. The interface module may be configured to receive a printer description file comprising a plurality of printer options for a remote printer and the option module may be configured to select a subset of the plurality of printer options for the remote printer based on a list of prioritized printer options. The interface generation module may be configured to generate rendering code based on the subset of the plurality of printer options for the remote printer, the rendering code to enable a computing device to generate a user interface for the remote printer. The rendering code may be transmitted to a computing device in response to receiving, from the computing device, a print request for the remote printer.
US09224070B1	System for three-dimensional object recognition and foreground extraction The present invention describes a system for recognizing objects from color images by detecting features of interest, classifying them according to previous objects' features that the system has been trained on, and finally drawing a boundary around them to separate each object from others in the image. Furthermore, local feature detection algorithms are applied to color images, outliers are removed, and resulting feature descriptors are clustered to achieve effective object recognition. Additionally, the present invention describes a system for extracting foreground objects and the correct rejection of the background from an image of a scene. Importantly, the present invention allows for changes to the camera viewpoint or lighting between training and test time. The system uses a supervised-learning algorithm and produces blobs of foreground objects that a recognition algorithm can then use for object detection/recognition.
US09224055B2	Exterior environment recognition device An exterior environment recognition device includes: a specific object detection unit to detect a specific object on the basis of a color image; a data retaining unit to associate and retain the specific object and a luminance range indicating the color of the specific object; and a transparency reduction determination unit to compare a luminance of the color image of the specific object and a luminance range associated with the specific object, and to determine a reduction in transparency of a transparent body located in an image-capturing direction of the onboard camera.
US09224050B2	Vehicle localization in open-pit mining using GPS and monocular camera Described herein is a method and system for vehicle localization in an open pit mining environment having intermittent or incomplete GPS coverage. The system comprises GPS receivers associated with the vehicles and providing GPS measurements when available, as well as one or more cameras 50,55 overlooking the mine region 10. The cameras 50,55 are at a known location and are used for generating a sequence of images in a field of view with predetermined calibration in a fixed coordinate system. The system further comprises a vehicle recognition processor 120 for analyzing individual images from the camera to identify and locate within an image a vehicle in the mine region, as well as a vehicle tracking processor 130 for analyzing a sequence of images from the camera to track the identified vehicle location in the sequence of images. A data fusion processor 160 is coupled to receive GPS measurements, when available, from the vehicle GPS receivers, to fuse the received GPS measurement and corresponding vehicle image location, and to output a vehicle localization output 125.
US09224041B2	Table of contents extraction based on textual similarity and formal aspects An initial organizational table for a document is determined based on textual similarity between entries of the organizational table and target text fragments and not taking into account text formatting. A classifier is trained to identify text fragment pairs consisting of entries of the organizational table and corresponding target text fragments based at least in part on text formatting features. The training employs a training set of examples annotated based on the initial organizational table. The initial organizational table is updated using the trained classifier.
US09224040B2	Method for object recognition and describing structure of graphical objects The invention involves a method for processing of machine-readable forms or documents of non-fixed format. The method makes use of, for example, a structural description of characteristics of document elements, a description of a logical structure of the document, and methods of searching for document elements by using the structural description. A structural description of the spatial and parametric characteristics of document elements and the logical connections between elements may include a hierarchical logical structure of the elements, specification of an algorithm of determining the search constraints, specification of characteristics of every searched element, and specification of a set of parameters for a compound element identified on the basis of the aggregate of its components. The method of describing the logical structure of a document and methods of searching for elements of a document may be based on the use of the structural description.
US09224039B2	Contextualization of machine indeterminable information based on machine determinable information A system for contextualizing machine indeterminable information based on machine determinable information may include a memory, an interface, and a processor. The memory may store an electronic document image which may include information determinable by a machine and information indeterminable by a machine. The processor may be operative to receive, via the interface, the electronic document image. The processor may determine the machine determinable information of the electronic document image and may identify the machine indeterminable information of the electronic document image. The processor may contextualize the machine indeterminable information based on the machine determinable information. The processor may present the contextualized machine indeterminable information to the user to facilitate interpretation thereof. In response thereto, the processor may receive, via the interface, data representative of a user determination associated with the machine indeterminable information.
US09224037B2	Apparatus and method for controlling presentation of information toward human object A human object recognition unit recognizes a human object included in a captured image data. A degree-of-interest estimation unit estimates a degree of interest of the human object in acquiring information, based on a recognition result obtained by the human object recognition unit. An information acquisition unit acquires information as a target to be presented to the human object. An information editing unit generates information to be presented to the human object from the information acquired by the information acquisition unit, based on the degree of interest estimated by the degree-of-interest estimation unit. An information display unit outputs the information generated by the information editing unit.
US09224034B2	Face searching and detection in a digital image acquisition device A method of detecting a face in an image includes performing face detection within a first window of the image at a first location. A confidence level is obtained from the face detection indicating a probability of the image including a face at or in the vicinity of the first location. Face detection is then performed within a second window at a second location, wherein the second location is determined based on the confidence level.
US09224026B2	Automatic system and method for tracking and decoding barcode by portable devices A system and method for automatic tracking and decoding barcode image on the standard EAN-13 through portable, or mobile, devices makes it possible to track the barcode in any position and orientation it is in and decode it automatically in real time. To make the tracking and decoding of barcodes, methods are applied on the captured image, seeking the guidance and location of the barcode.
US09224019B2	Electromagnetic interference device identification system and method A system and method for device identification includes a receiver adapted to detect an electromagnetic radiation interference signal emitted by a device and a microprocessor operatively connected to the receiver. The microprocessor may identify at least one device characteristic parameter of the electromagnetic radiation signal. The system includes memory for storing at least one constant or predicted future characteristic value associated with the device and the microprocessor may compare the detected characteristic parameter to the at least one constant or predicted future characteristic value to identify and recognize the device that emitted the electromagnetic radiation signal.
US09224016B2	Automatic gain control and baseband preintegration to reduce computation requirements at lower data rates A method for processing baseband signals according to one embodiment includes receiving I and Q baseband signals; and selectively reducing an amount of samples of the baseband signals to be processed in a correlator, wherein the reduction rate is based on a data rate of the baseband signals. A preintegrator module according to one embodiment includes an automatic gain control section for performing automatic gain control on I and Q baseband signals; a first preintegrator coupled to an output of the automatic gain control section, the first preintegrator being for selectively reducing an amount of samples in the I baseband signal based on a data rate of the I baseband signal; and a second preintegrator coupled to an output of the automatic gain control section, the second preintegrator being for selectively reducing an amount of samples in the Q baseband signal based on a data rate of the Q baseband signal. Additional systems and methods are also presented.
US09224014B2	Hard disk drive sanitizer system and method A hard disk drive (HDD) sanitizer system comprises an electronic device having a basic input/output system (BIOS), the BIOS comprising a sanitizer routine executable for sanitizing a HDD.
US09224010B2	Secure document creation from potentially unsecure source templates An illustrative embodiment of a computer-implemented method for generating secured documents using a source template is disclosed, in which a computer system receives the source template; converts the source template into a secured template comprising user-modifiable extension points, wherein the secured template is not user-modifiable outside of the user-modifiable extension points; receives a user input comprising one or more user-indicated modifications at one or more of the user-modifiable extension points; modifies the secured template into a custom document with modifications to the one or more user-modifiable extension points in accordance with the one or more user-indicated modifications; and transforms the custom document into a secured custom document that comprises the modifications to the one or more user-modifiable extension points and that is in a format that is executable using a source schema associated with the source template.
US09224006B1	System and method of secure data access Disclosed are systems, methods and a computer readable medium for providing multi-level data access security. An example method includes performing an analysis of hardware and software of a user's computer system in order to mitigate the risk of unauthorized data access; receiving a user's request for data access from an application on the user's computer system, wherein the request contains a query for retrieving data; modifying the user's request for data access for possible risk mitigation based on results of the hardware and software analysis; authenticating a user sending the request for data access and redirecting the request for data access in case of successful authentication; identifying user's clearance level; retrieving query result from data storage based on user's clearance level and user's query; applying access control policies to query result for modifying query result in order to exclude from query result information requiring suppression; and transmitting final query result to the user's computer system.
US09223997B2	Detecting and breaking CAPTCHA automation scripts and preventing image scraping A security device may receive a request from a client device and intended for a server device. The security device may identify the request as being associated with a malicious activity. The malicious activity may include one or more undesirable tasks directed to the server device. The security device may generate a challenge-response test based on identifying the request as being associated with the malicious activity. The challenge-response test may be generated using one or more construction techniques. The security device may provide the challenge-response test to the client device. The security device may receive, from the client device, a proposed solution to the challenge-response test. The security device may identify the proposed solution as being generated using an optical character recognition (OCR) program. The security device may protect the server device from the client device based on identifying the solution as being generated using an OCR program.
US09223996B2	Protection of memory areas A method for loading a program, contained in at least a first memory, into a second memory accessible by an execution unit, in which the program is in a cyphered form in the first memory, a circuit for controlling the access to the second memory is configured from program initialization data, instructions of the program, and at least initialization data being decyphered to be transferred into the second memory after configuration of the circuit.
US09223987B2	Confidential information identifying method, information processing apparatus, and program An information processing apparatus includes a clustering unit configured to read messages from a log and to classify the read messages into clusters according to similarities of the messages; a variable portion finding unit configured to find a portion variable between messages; an attribute determination unit configured to estimate and determine a confidential attribute of the variable portion by using predefined rule; and an attribute estimation unit configured to, in a case where there is a portion whose confidential attribute is undeterminable by using the rules, estimate the confidential attribute of the portion having the undeterminable confidential attribute with use of either a correspondence between appearance locations in the messages, or a co-appearance relation of a portion having a determined confidential attribute and the portion having the undeterminable confidential attribute.
US09223984B2	After-the-fact configuration of static analysis tools able to reduce user burden A method includes mapping, based on a first mapping from possible security findings to possible configuration-related sources of imprecision, actual security findings from a static analysis of a program to corresponding configuration-related sources of imprecision, the mapping of the actual security findings creating a second mapping. A user is requested to configure selected ones of the configuration-related sources of imprecision from the second mapping. Responsive to a user updating configuration corresponding to the selected ones of the configuration-related sources of imprecision, security analysis results are updated for the static analysis of the program at least by determining whether one or more security findings from the security analysis results are no longer considered to be vulnerable based on the updated configuration by the user. The updated security analysis results are output. Apparatus and program products are also disclosed.
US09223982B2	Continuation of trust for platform boot firmware This disclosure is directed to continuation of trust for platform boot firmware. A device may comprise a processing module and a memory module including read-only memory (ROM) on which is stored platform boot firmware. On activation, the processing module may load the platform boot firmware. The platform boot firmware may cause the processing module to first load a trusted pre-verifier file to load and verify the signature of a hash table loaded from the platform boot firmware. The processing module may then load firmware program files from the platform boot firmware, calculate a hash for each file, and verify whether each program hash is in the hash table. Firmware program files with hashes in the hash table may be allowed to execute. If any firmware program file hash is not in the hash table, the processing module may perform platform specific security actions to prevent the device from being compromised.
US09223980B1	Systems and methods for indicating malware statuses of electronic messages The disclosed computer-implemented method for indicating malware statuses of electronic messages may include (1) determining that a user is attempting to distribute an electronic message, (2) scanning the electronic message to determine a malware status of the electronic message, (3) before distributing the electronic message, including, with the electronic message, an indication of the malware status of the electronic message, and (4) after including the indication of the malware status with the electronic message, distributing the electronic message to a recipient system, where the recipient system uses the malware status included with the electronic message to determine the malware status of the electronic message. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09223974B2	Anti-viral compiler In one general embodiment, a computer program product for compiling code includes a computer readable storage medium having computer readable code stored/encoded thereon. The computer readable code is readable/executable by a processor to: receive computer readable code to compile, the code including one or more functions, each function including one or more call functions; and build a stack frame for one of the call functions in the code. The stack frame includes: a return address sequence, logic configured to define local variables, logic configured to define a first guard variable and a second guard variable, logic configured to compare the first guard variable to the second guard variable, logic configured to execute the return address sequence when the first and second guard variables match, and logic configured to abort prior to executing the return address sequence when the first and second guard variables do not match.
US09223958B2	Accessory authentication for electronic devices Improved techniques to control utilization of accessory devices with electronic devices are disclosed. The improved techniques can use cryptographic approaches to authenticate electronic devices, namely, electronic devices that interconnect and communicate with one another. One aspect pertains to techniques for authenticating an electronic device, such as an accessory device. Another aspect pertains to provisioning software features (e.g., functions) by or for an electronic device (e.g., a host device). Different electronic devices can, for example, be provisioned differently depending on different degrees or levels of authentication, or depending on manufacturer or product basis. Still another aspect pertains to using an accessory (or adapter) to convert a peripheral device (e.g., USB device) into a host device (e.g., USB host). The improved techniques are particularly well suited for electronic devices, such as media devices, that can receive accessory devices. One example of a media device is a media player, such as a hand-held media player (e.g., music player), that can present (e.g., play) media items (or media assets).
US09223953B2	Enabling secure transactions between spoken web sites A system and computer program product for enabling a secure transaction with a remote site that uses voice interaction include authenticating a remote site to enable a secure transaction, wherein authenticating the remote site comprises using a dynamically generated audio signal.
US09223951B2	User authentication based on other applications The present invention includes a system for authenticating a second action based on a first action, wherein the system is configured to: receive a first request to execute a first action associated with a first application; determine that execution of the first action requires user authentication; request one or more authentication credentials from the user; receive a first authentication credential associated with the first action; validate the first authentication credential, thereby resulting in a successful validation of the received first authentication credential; in response to the successful validation, execute the first action; receive a second request to execute a second action associated with a second application; determine that execution of the second action requires user authentication; use the successful validation of the first authentication credential to validate a second authentication credential so that the second action may be executed.
US09223943B2	Method for scalable access control decisions Content access may be provided and processed by assigning responsibility for obtaining entitlement data to the client's browser. Thus, in one example, the client may be configured to synchronize and coordinate data lookups associated with a content request, rather than relying on the server to do so. The network architecture may use a mediator design pattern, in which the client's browser acts as the mediator (i.e., middleman) between a content server and an entitlement data server. Accordingly, synchronous calls between server-side services might not be required. Instead, data necessary for the content server to process a client request for access to protected content may be received in the incoming request from the client's browser.

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