Document Document Title
US09225406B2 Precoding method, transmitting device, and receiving device
A transmission scheme for transmitting a first modulated signal and a second modulated signal in the same frequency at the same time. According to the transmission scheme, a precoding weight multiplying unit multiplies a precoding weight by a baseband signal after a first mapping and a baseband signal after a second mapping and outputs the first modulated signal and the second modulated signal. In the precoding weight multiplying unit, precoding weights are regularly hopped.
US09225400B2 Method and apparatus for processing feedback in a wireless communication system
A method and apparatus for processing feedback implemented in a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprises estimating a channel matrix. The effective channel is calculated and a precoding matrix is selected. Feedback bits are generated and transmitted.
US09225396B2 Apparatus, system and method of transmit power control for wireless communication
Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, systems and/or methods of transmit power control for wireless communication. For example, an apparatus may include a controller to control a plurality of transmit powers of a plurality of directional beams formed by an antenna array to transmit a wireless communication. The controller may control the plurality of transmit powers based on at least first and second power limits, the first power limit including a power density limit corresponding to a power density of a directional beam of the plurality of directional beams, and the second power limit including a total transmit power limit corresponding to a total of the transmit powers.
US09225391B2 Wireless power transmitting apparatus and method thereof
Disclosed are a wireless power transmitting apparatus and a method thereof. The wireless power transmitting apparatus wirelessly transmits power to a wireless power receiving apparatus. The wireless power transmitting apparatus detects a wireless power transmission state between the wireless power transmitting apparatus and the wireless power receiving apparatus, and generates a control signal to control transmit power based on the detected wireless power transmission state. The wireless power transmitting apparatus generates the transmit power by using first DC power based on the control signal, and transmits the transmit power to a transmission resonance coil through a transmission induction coil unit based on an electromagnetic induction scheme.
US09225386B2 Method for placement of fingers with G-Rake advanced receiver
An electronic device includes a Rake receiver for receiving wireless signals, wherein the Rake receiver includes a predetermined number of fingers and a combiner. The Rake receiver also includes a channel detection circuit configured to identify at least one channel tap in a received signal, and a placement circuit configured to place a finger of the predetermined number of fingers at a location corresponding to the at least one identified channel tap. If all of the predetermined number of fingers are not associated with a corresponding channel tap, unplaced fingers of the predetermined number of fingers are placed at locations based on a signal-to-interference ratio estimate at an output of the combiner.
US09225385B2 Method for spreading a plurality of data symbols onto subcarriers of a carrier signal
A method for spreading a plurality of data symbols onto subcarriers of a carrier signal for a transmission in a transmission system provides a data vector, including the plurality of data symbols; and generates a spread data vector based on the provided data vector and a spreading matrix, with the spread data vector including a length, which corresponds to the number of subcarriers and with the spreading matrix being based on a spreading allocation matrix, a base spreading matrix, and a randomization matrix.
US09225383B2 System and method for implementation of a direct sequence spread spectrum transmitter
A direct sequence spread spectrum data transmitter for creating a modulated data signal comprising: a programmable-system-on-a-chip baseband modulator having only four blocks of programming logic, the four blocks of programming logic consisting of a DigBuf clock buffer block, a pseudo-random-sequence 8-bit block, an 8-bit timer block, and a serial peripheral interface slave block. A remote telemetry unit comprising the foregoing transmitter. A method for manufacturing the foregoing transmitter. A method for controlling the foregoing transmitter.
US09225382B2 Tunable filter front end architecture for non-contiguous carrier aggregation
Front end circuitry for a mobile terminal includes separate receive paths and filtering elements for different portions of each operating band. Accordingly, the filtering elements for each receive path can be designed with a smaller pass-band, thereby reducing the complexity of filtering circuitry in the front end circuitry and improving the efficiency thereof.
US09225381B2 Tunable quality factor
The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication system configured to transforming the radiating mechanism of the antenna system in such a way to support different operating modes depending on the needs. In some examples, the wireless communication system comprises an antenna structure connected to a signal process unit. The antenna structure comprises a radiating mechanism configured to transmit or receive electromagnetic radiation. A switchable operating mode element is configured to receive a signal and to dynamically vary a quality factor of the radiating element by selectively routing the signal along one of a plurality of signal paths, which respectively provide different antenna parameters to the radiating mechanism, based upon a current operating mode of the wireless communication system. By dynamically varying a quality factor of the radiating element, the wireless communication system can effectively support different operating modes.
US09225377B1 Modular electronic device case for use with tablet-shaped electronic devices
A modular electronic device case includes a jacket and a shell removably coupled to the jacket. A tablet-shaped electronic device, such as a tablet computer, may be secured in the shell and may be covered by the jacket when the shell is coupled to the jacket. The shell may be removably coupled to the jacket using magnetic coupling. Thus, the tablet-shaped electronic device, when secured in the shell, may be used with or without the jacket. The jacket may also include one or more foldable lines separating the jacket into foldable panels capable of being folded to form a stand for supporting the device in different configurations. The modular case may also include one or more additional components coupled to the jacket including, without limitation, a pocket, a backup battery, and/or a keyboard.
US09225364B1 Distortion compensation method, distortion compensation apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium
In a distortion compensation apparatus, a monitor unit monitors a power value of a transmission baseband signal. An update control unit does not allow an updating unit to execute update processing when the power value monitored by the monitor unit is lower than a first threshold, and causes the updating unit to execute the update processing when higher than the first threshold. That is, the update control unit controls execution/non-execution of the update processing by the updating unit based on the monitored power value.
US09225359B2 Configurable and low power encoder for cyclic error correction codes
A method for encoding includes receiving input data symbols to be encoded with an Error Correction Code (ECC) so as to produce a code word of the ECC including redundancy symbols. The input data symbols are applied first and second processing stages, such that the first processing stage performs a first polynomial division by a fixed-coefficient polynomial with a first degree of parallelism, and the second processing stage performs a second polynomial division by a configurable-coefficient polynomial with a second degree of parallelism that is smaller than the first degree of parallelism, so as to jointly produce the redundancy symbols.
US09225353B2 Apparatuses and methods for linear to discrete quantization conversion with reduced sampling-variation errors
Provided is an apparatus for converting a continuous-time, continuously variable signal into a sampled and quantized signal, which includes an input line for accepting an input signal, multiple processing branches coupled to the input line, and an adder coupled to outputs of the plurality of processing branches. Each of the processing branches includes a sampling/quantization circuit and a digital bandpass interpolation filter having an input coupled to an output of the sampling/quantization circuit. The digital bandpass interpolation filters in different ones of the processing branches have frequency responses that are centered at different frequencies. The digital bandpass interpolation filter in at least one of the processing branches includes: (i) a quadrature downconverter, (ii) a first lowpass filter and a second lowpass filter, (iii) a first interpolator and a second interpolator, each having an input for inputting a variable interpolant value, and (iv) a quadrature upconverter.
US09225350B1 Low noise frequency source
A frequency source for providing a desired source frequency has a direct digital synthesis circuit having a DDS output including a desired DDS frequency, a plurality of low-level spur frequencies and a plurality of high-level spur frequencies; a first clock input for the direct digital synthesis circuit; a second clock input for the direct digital synthesis circuit; a DDS filter in communication with the DDS output; and a controller. The controller selects one of the clock inputs to avoid having a high-level spur in an output of the DDS filter. The source frequency is provided at the DDS filter output.
US09225340B2 Frequency reference correction for temperature-frequency hysteresis error
Disclosed and claimed is a method of improving the effective frequency stability of a frequency reference, wherein an algorithm utilizing temperature frequency hysteresis characterization values or hysteresis model parameters, and temperature history data, is used to account for effects of temperature frequency hysteresis. Devices and manufacturing systems are also claimed.
US09225335B2 Clock signal networks for structured ASIC devices
Clock distribution circuitry for a structured ASIC device includes a deterministic portion and configurable portions. The deterministic portion employs a predetermined arrangement of conductor segments and buffers for distributing a clock signal to a plurality of predetermined locations on the device. From each predetermined location, an associated configurable portion of the clock distribution circuitry distributes the clock signal to any clock utilization circuitry needing that clock signal in a predetermined area of the structured ASIC that is served from that predetermined location.
US09225334B2 Methods, integrated circuits, apparatuses and buffers with adjustable drive strength
Buffers, integrated circuits, apparatuses, and methods for adjusting drive strength of a buffer are disclosed. In an example apparatus, the buffer includes a driver. The driver includes a pull-up circuit coupled to a supply voltage node and an output node, and also includes a pull-down circuit coupled to a reference voltage node and the output node. A drive adjust circuit is coupled to at least one of the pull-up circuit and the pull-down circuit, with the drive adjust circuit configured to receive a feedback signal and, based at least in part on the feedback signal, adjust a current conducted through the at least one of the pull-up and pull-down circuits.
US09225322B2 Apparatuses and methods for providing clock signals
Apparatuses and methods for providing clock signals are described herein. An example apparatus may include a clock generator circuit. The clock generator circuit may be configured to selectively provide first and second intermediate signals to a multiplexer in a clock path to provide an output clock signal with a first frequency when operating in a first mode and to selectively provide the first and second intermediate clock signals to the multiplexer in the clock path to provide the output clock signal with a second frequency when operating in a second mode.
US09225315B2 Digital filter having improved attenuation characteristics
A digital filter having improved attenuation characteristics is disclosed. The disclosed performs upsampling of model filter response by applying a sampling kernel scaled by a sampling constant. The disclosed filter has good attenuation characteristics with small number of taps and pass bands of the digital filter can be changed with simple parameter variation.
US09225303B1 Method and apparatus for Class AB audio amplifier output stage voltage protection
An output circuit for a class AB push-pull amplifier includes an upper cascode output stage and a lower cascode output stage. The upper cascode stage includes first and second PMOS transistors connected in series between a positive power supply node and an output node, the first PMOS transistor configured to receive a first complementary input signal. The lower cascode output stage includes first and second NMOS transistors connected in series between a negative power supply node and the output node, the first NMOS transistor configured to receive a second complementary input signal. The output circuit also includes a bias circuit configured for providing a first bias voltage to a gate node of the second NMOS transistor and a second bias voltage to a gate node of the second PMOS transistor, in which the first and the second bias voltages being substantially proportional to the output voltage.
US09225298B2 System and method for power amplifier over-voltage protection
A system for power amplifier over-voltage protection includes a power amplifier configured to receive a system voltage, a bias circuit configured to provide a bias signal to the power amplifier, and a power amplifier over-voltage circuit configured to interrupt the bias signal when the system voltage exceeds a predetermined value, while the system voltage remains coupled to the power amplifier.
US09225295B2 Distortion compensation apparatus and distortion compensation method
A distortion compensation apparatus including: a processor configured to generate a pre-distortion signal by compensating an input signal for a distortion based on a distortion compensation coefficient and a plurality of delayed signals obtained by delaying the input signal by a plurality of amounts of delay, and an amplifier configured to generate an amplified signal by amplifying the pre-distortion signal, wherein the processor calculates the distortion compensation coefficient based on the input signal, the pre-distortion signal, and the amplified signal, and calculates the plurality of amounts of delay based on the amplified signal.
US09225290B2 Radio frequency signal amplifying system
A radio frequency signal amplifying system includes an amplifier having an input terminal and an output terminal, an attenuator electrically connected to the input terminal of the amplifier, a peak power detecting module configured to apply a peak power attenuation signal to the attenuator by taking a peak power level of an input signal into consideration, and an average power detecting module configured to apply an average power attenuation signal to the attenuator by taking an average power level of an output signal from the output terminal into consideration. The attenuator is configured to generate the attenuated signal to the input terminal of the amplifier by taking the peak power attenuation signal, the average power attenuation signal, or the combination thereof into consideration.
US09225289B2 Method and apparatus for partial envelope tracking in handheld and wireless computing devices
A partial envelope tracking (PET) circuit for improving the dynamic range and the efficiency of a power amplifier amplifying high bandwidth signals is provided. The PET circuit includes a main supply path having a main valve (MV) connecting the power amplifier to a first power source; a storage capacitor connecting a junction node and the power amplifier; a supplementary supply path including a DV and a TV, each of the DV and the tracking valve connecting, in parallel between a second power source and the junction node; a supplementary current path including a GV connecting the junction node and a ground; and a valves control unit (VCU) configured to monitor an envelope tracking parameter to determine an operation mode of the circuit and a state of each of the MV, the GV, the DV, and the TV during each respective mode of operation.
US09225283B2 Motor control device for switching PWM frequency to use the same
A motor control device includes an inverter, a power device temperature obtaining unit, a motor temperature obtaining unit, a power device temperature determination level storage unit, a motor temperature determination level storage unit, a PWM frequency storage unit that stores at least two PWM frequencies including a high PWM frequency a low PWM frequency, a power device temperature determining unit that determines whether or not a temperature of a power device is equal to or higher than a power device temperature determination level, a motor temperature determining unit that determines whether or not a temperature of a motor is equal to or higher than the motor temperature determination level, and a PWM frequency selecting unit that selects a PWM frequency to be given as a command to the inverter.
US09225271B2 Semiconductor integrated circuit and motor driving apparatus
A motor driving apparatus according to an embodiment includes a brushless motor. The motor driving apparatus includes a position sensor that outputs a position detection signal in synchronization with a phase of an induced voltage of a coil of the brushless motor. The motor driving apparatus includes a semiconductor integrated circuit that controls driving of the brushless motor by supplying a pseudo sine-wave driving voltage from an energization terminal to the coil of the brushless motor based on the position detection signal and a command signal that prescribes driving of the brushless motor.
US09225270B2 Current control device of synchronous motor
A current control device of a synchronous motor comprises a provisional d-phase current command calculation unit; a voltage amplitude calculation unit calculating a magnitude of a voltage command vector in a previous sampling period; a voltage ratio calculation unit determining a voltage ratio between the magnitude of the voltage command vector and a maximum output voltage of an amplifier; a target d-phase current calculation unit obtaining a d-phase current command in the previous sampling period, and calculating a target d-phase current command from the voltage ratio and the d-phase current command; a correction value calculation unit determining a correction value by passing a difference between the provisional d-phase current command and the target d-phase current command through a low-pass filter; and an adder adding the correction value to the d-phase current command in the present sampling period to calculate a new d-phase current command.
US09225263B2 Power layer generation of inverter gate drive signals
Solid state switches of inverters are controlled by timing signals computed in power layer interface circuitry for individual inverters. Multiple inverters may be placed in parallel with common three-phase output. Common control circuitry generates timing signals or data used to reconstruct the common signals and sends these signals to the power layer interface circuitry. A processor in a power layer interface circuitry used these signals to recomputed the timing signals. Excellent synchronicity may be provided between parallel inverters that each separately reconstruct the timing signals based upon the identical received data.
US09225258B2 Backflow preventing means, power converting device, and refrigerating and air-conditioning apparatus
For example, backflow preventing means is provided, which reduces a recovery electric current occurring in the event of backflow of an electric current so as to ensure high efficiency, high reliability, etc. The backflow preventing means includes a backflow preventing element, such as a rectifying element, which is connected between an alternating-current power supply and a load and prevents the electric current from flowing backward from the load toward the alternating-current power supply; and commutating means for performing a commutation operation for causing the electric current to flow toward a different path that is connected in parallel with the backflow preventing element, whereby a conduction loss and a loss caused by the electric current can be reduced.
US09225255B2 Power supply system, comprising a converter connected to a network and a transformer connected in parallel relative to the converter to limit the homopolar current, and a drive chain comprising such a power supply system
A power supply system for supplying electrical power to a load is capable of delivering an output voltage to the load from an input voltage coming from an electric power network. The power supply system includes: at least two input terminals and at least two output terminals, the input terminals being adapted to be connected to the electric power network and the output terminals being adapted to be connected to the load, a converter capable of converting the input voltage into the output voltage, the converter being connected between the input terminals and the output terminals, and a device for limiting the homopolar current that is likely to flow between the electric power network and the load. The device for limiting the homopolar current comprises a transformer connected in parallel with respect to the converter, between the input terminals and the output terminals, the transformer having a first electromagnetic coil and a second electromagnetic coil.
US09225251B2 Duty cycle control method, power supply system and power converter using the same
A power converter includes a power module, a feedback module, and a control module. The power module is used for converting an input voltage into an output voltage. The feedback module is electrically connected with the power module for generating a feedback voltage according to the output voltage. The control module is electrically connected with the feedback module and the power module for comparing a reference duty cycle value with a duty cycle, generating a variable reference voltage according to the comparison between the reference duty cycle value and the duty cycle, comparing the variable reference voltage with the feedback voltage, and adjusting the duty cycle according to the comparison between the variable reference voltage and the feedback voltage.
US09225246B2 DC-DC buck circuit
A DC-DC Buck circuit has a DC input terminal, a DC output terminal, a ground terminal, an inductor, a capacitor, a sampling resistor, a PWM control chip and a DrMOS chip. The output of the driver pin of the PWM control chip is unrelated to the voltage between the inductor and the sampling resistor. The DC-DC Buck circuit can produce a larger output voltage while also being compatible with a DrMOS chip.
US09225242B2 Electronic control device including voltage converter
An electronic control device includes a turn-on restriction section capable of performing a restriction operation to restrict a turn-on speed of a switching element. The turn-on restriction section includes a comparator. The comparator receives a voltage of a main terminal of the switching element connected to a smoothing circuit and determines whether the voltage of the main terminal of the switching element reaches a threshold voltage. The turn-on restriction section performs the restriction operation for a predetermined time from a start of a turn-on period in which the switching element is turned on. The turn-on restriction section stops the restriction operation after the predetermined time has elapsed. The predetermined time is set to a time from the start of the turn-on period until the voltage of the main terminal of the switching element reaches the threshold voltage.
US09225240B2 Charge pump utilizing external clock signal
A method of generating a pumping voltage in an integrated circuit includes receiving an external clock signal from outside of the integrated circuit. The frequency of the received external clock signal is changed according to one or more modulation ratios, resulting in one or more respective modulated external clock signal. The external clock signal or one of the modulated external clock signals is then selected for use as a pump clock signal. The pump clock signal is used for driving the pump capacitance of a pump circuit for generating the pumping voltage.
US09225239B2 Multiple output charge pump with multiple flying capacitors
A multiple output charge pump that includes a first flying capacitor, a second flying capacitor, a first output node, a second output node, and a switching network. The first output node is configured to provide a first voltage, and the second output node is distinct from the first output node and is configured to provide a second voltage, different than the first voltage. The switching network is configured to provide a first mode of operation in which the first and second flying capacitors are connected in one of in series with one another between an input voltage and ground or in parallel with one another between the input voltage and ground, a second mode of operation in which the first and second flying capacitors are connected in parallel with one another between ground and the second output node, and a third mode of operation.
US09225237B2 Charge pump circuit comprising multiple—gate transistors and method of operating the same
The invention relates to a charge pump circuit comprising an input node for inputting a voltage to be boosted; an output node for outputting a boosted voltage; a plurality of pumping stages connected in series between the input node and the output node, each pump stage comprising at least one charge transfer transistor, wherein the at least one charge transfer transistor is a double-gate transistor comprising a first gate for turning the transistor on or off according to a first control signal applied to the first gate and a second gate for modifying the threshold voltage of the transistor according to a second control signal applied to the second gate, wherein the first and second control signals have the same phase.
US09225236B2 Method for controlling an H-bridge inverter
The invention relates to a H-bridge inverter and a method for controlling a H-bridge converter. The H-bridge inverter (1) comprises first and second DC terminals (Tdc1, Tdc2), first and second AC terminals (Tac1, Tac2), a first switch (S1), a second switch (S2), a third switch (S3) and a fourth switch (S4). The inverter further comprises a control circuit for controlling the switching of the first, second, third and fourth switches (S11, S2, S3, S4). The control circuit is configured to control the switches (S1, S2, S3, S4) in continuous mode between the following states: a first state where the first switch (S1) is turned off, the second switch (S2) is performing PWM switching, the third switch (S3) is turned off and the fourth switch (S4) is turned on; a second state where the first switch (S1) is turned off, the second switch (S2) is performing PWM switching, the third switch (S3) is turned on and the fourth switch (S4) is turned off; a third state where the first switch (S1) is turned off, the second switch (S2) is turned on, the third switch (S3) is turned off and the fourth switch (54) is performing PWM switching; and a fourth state where the first switch (S1) is turned on, the second switch (S2) is turned off, the third switch (S3) is turned off and the fourth switch (S4) is performing PWM switching.
US09225234B2 In-rush current control for charge-pump LDO
A circuit for a charge-pump low-dropout (LDO) regulator may include a comparator circuit configured to control a pass transistor based on an error signal. A pre-charge path may be provided between a supply voltage and an output node of the regulator. The pre-charge path may be configured to allow charging of an output capacitor to a pre-charge voltage during a pre-charge operation mode. The output capacitor may be coupled between the output node of the regulator and ground potential. The pass transistor may be configured to allow charging of the output capacitor during an LDO mode of operation. A charge-pump circuit may be configured to provide a current for charging the output capacitor during the LDO mode of operation.
US09225232B2 Capacitor discharge circuit and power converter
A capacitor discharge circuit and a power converter are provided. The capacitor discharge circuit includes a detection circuit and a discharge loop; the detection circuit has input ends electrically connected with input ends of an AC power supply, and an output end outputting a discharge detection signal to an input end of the discharge loop; the discharge loop is electrically connected with both ends of the capacitor that needs to be discharged and includes a switch unit and an energy consumption unit. When the AC power supply is disconnected, the discharge detection signal switches on the switch unit to conduct the discharge loop, such that the energy consumption unit discharges the capacitor that needs to be discharged. The power converter includes the capacitor discharge circuit.
US09225224B2 Dynamoelectric machine having air/liquid cooling
A dynamoelectric machine includes a stator having a laminated core and a winding system, which forms winding heads on end faces of the stator, and a rotor having a laminated core and connected to a shaft in a rotationally fixed manner. The stator and the rotor are arranged in a housing, and the shaft is supported by bearings arranged in bearing shields. The laminated core of the stator and/or rotor has axially extending cooling channels. The bearing shields form with the housing a closed interior having at least one closed inner cooling circuit. The housing has an outer jacket and an inner jacket facing the stator and arranged at a distance from the outer jacket in some sections. The outer jacket and the inner jacket combined form a cooling jacket defined by an axial extension which equals at least the axial extension of the laminated core of the stator.
US09225221B2 Stator housing assembly for a canned motor
A stator housing assembly (3) for a pump (2) having a wet-running electric motor (8) includes a stator housing (4) and a can (6), wherein the stator housing (4) and the can (6) are designed as a single component (3). The stator housing assembly (3) also includes at least one engagement element (310) for positively connecting to a pump housing (14).
US09225213B2 Electrical rotating machine
An electrical rotating machine includes: a rotating shaft; a rotor, equipped with permanent magnets, and formed to rotate with the rotating shaft, a stator disposed in opposition on an outside-diametral side and via a clearance with respect to the rotor; and anti-demagnetization conductors extending in the axial direction of the shaft, the conductors each being disposed inside the rotor, wherein: the anti-demagnetization conductors are provided in pairs of two for each of magnetic poles of the rotor; the two anti-demagnetization conductors forming a pair are electrically interconnected; and, inside the rotor, the two paired anti-demagnetization conductors are disposed at different-polarity sides of two corresponding permanent magnets in a circumferential direction of the rotor, the different-polarity sides each being more adjacent to the circumferential direction of the rotor than to an end portion of one of the two corresponding permanent magnets existing close to each other in one magnetic pole.
US09225205B2 Method of constructing core with tapered pole pieces and low-loss electrical rotating machine with said core
An electrical rotating machine having a stator or a rotor with a core that includes a plurality of tapered pole pieces is a low loss electrical machine that results in improvements such as higher output power, higher torque and higher efficiency than a machine that does not have tapered pole pieces. The stator or the rotor with tapered pole pieces may be applied to a power train in automobiles, power tools, and various appliances. The core is constructed by winding an iron-based amorphous magnetic alloy ribbon to form a cylinder-shaped core, then heating, impregnating with resin, and machining by cutting the cylinder-shaped core to form a plurality of tapered pole pieces being separated in an alternating manner by a plurality of slots. The cores having an outside diameter of 50 mm-1200 mm, a tapered angle of 10°-45°, and a slot depth of 10 mm-210 mm are advantageous.
US09225202B1 AC power control for a power supply system during AC line disturbance
System for providing AC power control is disclosed. The system includes a primary power source (e.g., AC power source or backup generator power source), a backup power source (e.g., battery in power supply unit), and a control component. The control component powers the load with the primary power source when output voltage of the primary power source is above a predetermined threshold. The control component is configured to power the load concurrently with both the primary power and the backup power if the output voltage of the primary power source falls below a predetermined threshold. The control component is also configured to disable the primary power source and power the load with only the backup power source, upon detection of a fault condition at the primary power source. Upon resolution of the fault condition, the primary power is ramped up and the backup power is simultaneous ramped down.
US09225201B2 Control unit for operating a safety system for a vehicle and method for operating such a safety system for a vehicle
In a control device and a method for operating a safety system for a vehicle, a step-up converter is fashioned as a switching converter which converts an input voltage derived from a vehicle battery voltage into a higher charge voltage at its output. In addition, at least one energy reserve storage device is provided that is charged by the charge voltage for the operation of the safety system in an autarkic mode. Between the step-up converter and the at least one energy reserve storage device there is connected a charge current source that is programmable during operation and that defines a charge current for the at least one energy reserve storage device as a function of its programming.
US09225198B2 Power monitoring and control apparatus and power monitoring and control system
A power monitoring and control apparatus and system are provided, which level charge loads of electric vehicles over an overall power system as well as make the power loads fall within the maximum contract power, in plug-in charging of the electric vehicles in individual houses. The power monitoring and control apparatus is used in charging a battery-mounted equipment from the power system through a battery charger. The apparatus compares a current value available for charging the battery-mounted equipment from the power system with a charging current value requested to the battery charger from the battery-mounted equipment, and employs as the charging current to the battery-mounted equipment a smaller one among the charging current available value and the charging request value.
US09225195B2 Wireless power receiver for increased charging efficiency
A wireless power receiver for receiving charging power from a wireless power transmitter includes a power reception unit configured to receive the charging power, a rectification unit configured to rectify charging power provided by the power reception unit, and output charging power in a form of Direct Current (DC), a charging unit configured to store charging power, and a power processing Integrated Chip (IC) configured to convert a voltage of the output rectified charging power, into at least one voltage, that an operation of the wireless power receiver requires, and output power having the at least one voltage. Accordingly, charging efficiency is increased.
US09225190B2 Implant current controlled battery charging based on temperature
A method for wirelessly charging a battery in an implantable medical device including the steps of: providing a receiver in the implantable medical device and providing a temperature sensor in the implantable medical device. The method also includes receiving, via the receiver, a wireless power signal from an external charger and converting the wireless power signal into a battery charge signal including power for recharging the battery. The method yet also includes sensing a temperature of the implantable medical device with the temperature sensor. The method further includes changing a current of the battery charge signal from a first non-zero current to a second non-zero current that is different from the first non-zero current. Changing of the current of the battery charge signal is based on the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor.
US09225188B2 Charging system
[Problem] To provide a charging system that levels the amount of grid power that is used, and that is capable of reducing power rates, even if charging has been frequently conducted without limiting the time zones in which charging is conducted. [Solution] A charging system is provided with: a storage unit that is charged by consuming grid power supplied by a power company, and that supplies the stored power through discharge; and a charging unit that charges batteries by consuming power supplied by grid power and the storage unit. Power companies set a power rate that is higher the greater the maximum value of the amount of power supplied for each unit of time is. Furthermore, at least a single charge carried out by the charging unit is carried out over two units of time, and the storage unit supplies power to the charging unit in at least one unit of time other than said two units of time.
US09225167B2 Protection element, semiconductor device, and electronic system
A protection element includes a first wiring line configured to be supplied with a signal voltage when electric current is on; a second wiring line configured to be supplied with a criterion voltage; a detection circuit connected between the first wiring line and the second wiring line, and configured to detect the signal voltage inputted onto the first wiring line; an inverter circuit including a plurality of inverters connected between the first wiring line and the second wiring line, and configured to be supplied with a reference voltage having a same level as that of the signal voltage between an odd-numbered inverter and an even-numbered inverter when electric current is on; and a protection transistor connected between the first wiring line and the second wiring line, and having a gate configured to receive output of the inverter circuit.
US09225161B2 Short circuit protection circuit and method for insulated gate bipolar transistor
An assembly includes an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), a gate driver and a short-circuit protection circuit. The gate driver is adapted to supply voltage to a gate terminal of the IGBT. The short-circuit protection circuit includes an IGBT short-circuit detector for determining whether the IGBT is short-circuited, and a supply voltage regulator for regulating the supply voltage in response to the IGBT short-circuit detector determining that the IGBT is short-circuited.
US09225156B2 Conduit spacer assembly
A conduit spacer assembly for supporting and conveying an inner conduit into an outer conduit. The conduit spacer assembly has one or more conveyance assemblies moveable along a track coupled to the outer conduit. One or more conduit spacers are suspended from the conveyance assemblies, and support the inner conduit. The conveyance assemblies may be coupled together by a strap member. A force applied to one conveyance assembly is transferred to the other conveyance assemblies via the strap member. An installation assembly having a frame structure and a track support assist with the installation of the conduit spacer assembly and the inner conduit.
US09225153B1 Multi-function wire stripping hand tool and kit and method for using the same
A multi-function wire stripping hand tool and a kit including the hand tool is disclosed. The multi-function wire stripping hand tool includes first and second members that are pivotably secured to one another. One or both of handle sections of the first and second members include a plurality of tool bits that are useable for a variety of operations. A wire stripping mechanism including wire stripping blades that are coupled to the handle sections of the first and second members along either the width or the length of the handle sections, and is configured to strip an insulating layer from a wire without damaging its core. When a wire is placed between the wire stripping blades and the handles are pivoted together, the blades engage the wire and cut the wire to a predetermined depth that is sufficient to strip the insulating layer from the wire.
US09225150B2 Spark plug
A spark plug includes an insulator including an axial hole and having an outer periphery with a tapered outer face; a metal shell having a thread portion and a tapered inner face; and a circular packing sandwiched between the tapered outer face of the insulator and the tapered inner face of the metal shell. On at least one cross section including the axis, (A/B)≧3.1, B≧0.25, and (A+B)≦2.0 are satisfied, where A represents a length of (a difference between an effective diameter of the thread portion and an inner diameter at a rear end of the tapered inner face)/2, and B represents a length of (a difference between the inner diameter at the rear end of the tapered inner face and an inner diameter at a front end of the tapered inner face)/2.
US09225148B2 Laser source assembly with thermal control and mechanically stable mounting
A laser source (340) comprises a first frame (356), a laser (358), and a first mounting assembly (360). The laser (358) generates an output beam (354) that is directed along a beam axis (354A). The first mounting assembly (360) allows the laser (358) to expand and contract relative to the first frame (356) along a first axis and along a second axis that is orthogonal to the beam axis, while maintaining alignment of the output beam (354) so the beam axis (354A) is substantially coaxial with the first axis. The first mounting assembly (360) can include a first fastener assembly (366) that couples the laser (358) to the first frame (356), and a first alignment assembly (368) that maintains alignment of the laser (358) along a first alignment axis (370) that is substantially parallel to the first axis.
US09225130B2 Connector having stiffener coated with insulative layer
An electrical connector (100) includes an insulative housing (1), a plurality of terminals (2) retained in the insulative housing (1), and a stiffener (3) affixed to the insulative housing (1). The insulative housing (1) includes a base portion (11) and a tongue portion (12) extending forwardly from the base portion (11). The tongue portion (12) defines a plurality of terminal-receiving slots (1221) and includes an upper surface (121), a bottom surface (122), a pair of side surfaces (123) and a fore-end surface (124). The stiffener (3) has a top plate (31) covering the upper surface (121) of the tongue portion (12) and an insulative layer (30) plating therein. The stiffener (3) defines an insulative region (313) against which a plurality of molds resisted in insert-molding the stiffener (3) with the insulative housing (1), said insulative region (313) coated with an insulative layer (30).
US09225121B2 Low crosstalk electrical connector
An electrical connector includes contact units and housing units for retaining the contact units. The contact unit includes an insulating body and a plurality of contacts retained therein. The housing unit includes a shielding member defining an upper end and a lower end opposite to each other, an insulating cover seated on the upper end of the shielding member, and an insulating base seated on the lower end of the shielding member. A cavity is defined between the insulating cover and the insulating base for decreasing the plastic content so as to reduce the crosstalk.
US09225120B2 Electrical connectors including electromagnetic interference (EMI) absorbing material
Examples of electrical connectors that incorporate electromagnetic interference (EMI) absorbing materials are described. In one example, an electrical connector includes a first pair of conductors, a second pair of conductors, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) absorbing material at least partially separating the first pair of conductors from the second pair of conductors. Each of the first and second pairs of conductors defines one of a differential pair or a signal conductor/ground pair. The EMI absorbing material may be configured to attenuate, primarily by absorption, an electromagnetic field generated due to transmission of electrical signals via one of the first pair and second pair of conductors to reduce the electromagnetic inference from the electromagnetic field on the other of the first pair and second pair of conductors.
US09225117B2 Modular field device connection unit
An exemplary field device connection unit includes a base plate on which a plurality of connection elements for connection of connecting lines with field devices and a plurality of module slots for receiving in each case one plug-in unit of different plug-in unit types. To avoid erroneous configurations, an identical type coding is assigned to the plug-in units of the same plug-in unit type, which identical type coding is formed by a plurality of wedge-shaped code elements which are anchored rigidly in the plug-in unit, and a plurality of wedge-shaped code elements are assigned to each module slot, which wedge-shaped code elements are mounted moveably about a rotary spindle between two opposite stops and whose wedge tips are oriented, in an initial rest position, centrally between the stops.
US09225104B2 Connector and connector assembly provided therewith
A connector (L1) has a one-piece rubber plug (39) with wire insertion holes (45) to collectively seal wires (W) drawn out from the rear end surface of an inner housing (22) by inserting the wires into the corresponding wire insertion holes (45). The connector (L1) has wall surfaces (23, 41) for sandwiching the one-piece rubber plug (39) from front and rear in an inserting direction of the wires (W). Positioning pins (48) project substantially parallel with axial directions of the wire insertion holes (45) from the wall surface (41) on the side of the inner housing (22) toward the one-piece rubber plug (39) and to be inserted and press-fit into positioning holes 51 arranged near the wire insertion holes (45). Narrowed portions (51A) having a small hole diameter are formed at axial intermediate positions of the positioning holes (51).
US09225102B1 Interconnection system for network modules
An interconnection system for portable networking modules including a pair of male connectors on one side and a female connector and an alignment slot on an opposing side. Two or more modules can be connected in a daisy chain series by aligning a male and female connector, rotating the modules around the connectors' central axis, mating the opposing connectors, and twisting the modules into alignment. When connected, one male connector is engaged with the female connector, and the other male connector fits into the alignment slot. Twisting in the opposite direction disconnects the modules. The connectors transmit data and power between connected modules. The male connectors also receive power modules such as military radio battery packs.
US09225101B2 Horizontal T-junction block assembly
A horizontal junction block assembly (200) is disclosed having a receptacle block region (214) extending through a lateral or front surface (212) of the assembly (200). An internal wiring assembly (226) connects a horizontal terminal group (229) to a vertical male terminal set (262) which extends upwardly through a vertical junction block terminal housing (244). A vertical cable assembly (280) having a vertical cable connector (284) is connectable to the vertical male terminal set (262).
US09225095B2 Ball plunger-style connector assembly for electrical connections
A ball plunger-style lateral connector assembly for electrical connections. One embodiment has an electrically conductive connector body with an electrically conductive pin extending into the body's interior area. An electrically conductive connector plate adjacent to the body's closed end engages the pin. An insulator sleeve in the body's interior area is adjacent to the body's sidewall. An electrically conductive biasing member in the interior area engages the connector plate; the insulator sleeve is between the biasing member and the connector body. An electrically conductive ball track in the interior area is in engagement with the other end of the biasing member. An electrically conductive ball is disposed in the body's open end and is seated in the ball track. The ball rolls within ball track during use of the lateral connector.
US09225092B2 Terminal and method of forming cap of terminal
Disclosed are a terminal allowing work for attaching the cap to the insertion part to eliminate, and to provide in a short time the cap to the insertion part, and a method of forming the cap of the terminal. In a terminal, at a tip end of a tubular insertion part a resin made cap is provided, the insertion part includes an annular portion with narrower diameter than that the insertion part at a tip end thereof, the cap is disposed at the insertion part by a dipping work covering the annular portion in an inner side away from a tip end of the insertion part past the annular portion.
US09225089B2 Electrical connector
An electrical connector includes a socket housing and socket terminals. Each socket terminal includes a front terminal and a rear terminal. The front terminal contacts a plug connector inserted into the socket housing. The front terminal includes front contact-point portion that contacts the plug connector and an elastic piece that supports the front contact-point portion so as to be elastically displaceable. The rear terminal includes a rear contact-point portion and an elastic piece that supports the rear contact-point portion so as to be elastically displaceable. The rear contact-point portion contacts the plug connector after the front contact-point portion has contacted the plug connector. The front contact-point portion and the elastic piece, and the rear contact-point portion and the elastic piece are each formed so as to maintain a plate surface of a flat metal plate.
US09225088B2 Lower profile card edge connector
A card edge connector for being retained into a notch of a print circuit board includes an insulative housing defining a central slot extending along a longitudinal direction, a first wall and a second wall located on the opposite sides of the central slot and a fitting portion extending downwardly into the notch from a bottom portion of the first wall, the fitting portion defining a plurality of first terminal slots and the second wall defining a plurality of second terminal slots. A plurality of first terminals are received in the first terminal slots, and a plurality of second terminals are received in the second terminal slots. Each first terminal defines a first retaining portion received in the first terminal slot and a first soldering portion extending out of the housing forwardly, each second terminal defines a second soldering portion rearwardly extending out of the housing.
US09225073B2 Active electronically scanned array antenna for hemispherical scan coverage
An antenna architecture for hemispherically-scanning active electronically scanned arrays (AESA). The antenna architecture utilizes variable diameter disks of antenna elements configured in a conical implementation. The antenna elements are oriented such that the element boresight is normal to the surface of the conical structure. Beamforming takes place on each disk first, and them separately in combining the signals from each disk, thereby reducing complexity. The antenna optionally utilizes disks of antenna elements of the same diameter to form a cylindrical antenna, which when combined with a conical configuration create enhanced sectors while maintaining a hemispherical coverage capability. Further, use of two conical configurations can produce a fully spherical coverage capability.
US09225071B2 Antenna assembly for long-range high-speed wireless communications
Various embodiments of antenna assemblies are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the antenna assembly includes a reflector comprising a center opening, a feed-antenna subassembly situated in front of the reflector, a rear housing situated behind the reflector, and a pole-mounting bracket comprising a base plate situated between the reflector and the rear housing. The feed-antenna subassembly comprises a feed tube that houses at least one of: a transmitter circuit and a receiver circuit. The rear housing is coupled to a front side of the reflector via the center opening. The rear housing comprises a center cavity, and a back end of the feed tube is inserted in and coupled to the center cavity. The base plate is coupled to the reflector and the rear housing in such a way that decoupling between the base plate and the reflector requires a prior decoupling between the feed-antenna subassembly and the rear housing and a prior decoupling between the rear housing and the reflector.
US09225070B1 Cavity backed aperture coupled dielectrically loaded waveguide radiating element with even mode excitation and wide angle impedance matching
A radiating element for a radar array antenna is provided. The radiating element comprises a first dielectric layer including a circular waveguide arranged therein, a second dielectric layer having a feed element for the circular waveguide embedded therein, and a cross-slot aperture formed in a groundplane arranged generally between the first and second dielectric layers. The feed element may comprise first and second stripline traces for exciting each of a first and second slot defining the cross-slot aperture. Each of the first and second dielectric layers comprises layers of a laminated printed wire board arrangement.
US09225067B2 Enhanced power cable arrangement apparatus and method of reducing a common-mode interference signal
An enhanced power cable arrangement apparatus (150) comprises a tuner housing (160), a power adaptor housing (162), and a power cable (164) extending between the tuner housing (160) and the power adaptor housing (162). A reception antenna (166) is provided that extends between the tuner housing (160) and the power adaptor housing (162), the reception antenna (166) comprising a pole portion that extends substantially in parallel with and in spaced relation to the power cable (164). A first end of the reception antenna (166) for coupling to a tuner apparatus (178) is coupled to an amplifier apparatus (194) and a common-mode filter (188).
US09225062B2 Systems and methods for polling for dynamic slot reservation
Embodiments include systems and methods for allocating time to a plurality of devices in the network of a piconet controller. Embodiments comprise selectively directing a steerable antenna beam of the piconet controller to a plurality of devices in succession during a polling process to receive time allocation requests from one or more of the devices. Subsequent to the polling process, a grant procedure is performed wherein a device is granted permission to transmit in a subsequent time interval. Also during the grant process, one or more devices are instructed to receive from the device granted permission to transmit. The polling process and the grant process occur in the same superframe.
US09225061B2 Portable motorized satellite television antenna system
A portable motorized satellite television antenna system is connectable to a separate receiver. The satellite television antenna system can include an enclosure with at least a portion thereof comprising an electromagnetic wave permeable material. A reflector dish can be disposed inside of the enclosure. A low noise block converter can be disposed inside of the enclosure and configured to receive incoming satellite television signals. A first drive motor can be coupled to the satellite television antenna system such that at least one of an azimuth orientation and an elevation orientation of the dish can be adjusted. An electronic control system disposed inside of the enclosure and connected to the first drive motor to control automated aiming of the dish. The electronic control system and first drive motor can be powered solely by the separate receiver though a single conduit that spans between the satellite antenna system and the receiver.
US09225054B2 Device, system and method of communicating via a dual directional antenna
Some demonstrative embodiments include devices, systems and/or methods of wireless communication via a dual directional antenna. For example, a device may include a hinge to connect between first and second elements to allow rotating the first element between first and second rotational states with respect to the second element, and a rotatable dual directional wireless communication antenna coupled to the hinge. The dual directional wireless communication antenna may be configured to communicate wireless communication signals in a first direction, when the first element is at the first rotational state, and to communicate the wireless communication signals in a second direction, different from the first direction, when the first element is at the second rotational state.
US09225053B2 Antenna and electronic device having the same
A multi-band antenna includes a grounding portion, a main radiating portion, and a shielding wall. The main radiating portion includes a first radiating portion having a first feed end and a second radiating portion having a second feed end. The first and second radiating portions are structurally symmetrical. The main radiating portion and the shielding wall are arranged on opposite sides of the grounding portion.
US09225043B2 Rechargeable battery
Technologies are generally described for a battery, a method for implementing a battery and a rechargeable battery system. In some examples, the rechargeable battery system includes a battery. The battery may include a first electrode including a tantalum component, a vanadium component and a boron component. The battery may further include a second electrode and an electrical insulator between the first and the second electrode. The battery system may include a housing, where the housing includes the first electrode, and where the housing is effective to communicate light and oxygen to the first electrode. A sensor may be disposed so as to be effective to detect a reaction of tantalum and oxygen in the housing and generate a reaction signal in response. A processor may be in electrical communication with the sensor and effective to receive the reaction signal and generate an indication based on the reaction signal.
US09225039B2 Electrolytic solution, secondary battery, battery pack, electric vehicle, electric power storage system, electric power tool, and electronic apparatus
A secondary battery includes: a cathode; an anode; and an electrolytic solution. The electrolytic solution includes an unsaturated cyclic ester carbonate and one or more selected from a group configured of aromatic compounds, dinitrile compounds, sulfinyl compounds, and lithium salts.
US09225036B2 Additive for electrochemical element to improve safety
Disclosed herein is an additive for improvement in safety of an electrochemical device, including an inner core and an outer coating layer, wherein the inner core is formed using a volume-expandable material fused at more than a predetermined temperature while the outer coating layer is formed using a conductive material with higher conductivity than that of the inner core and covers an outer face of the inner core. The disclosed additive rapidly increases resistance of the electrochemical device before ignition/explosion of the device caused by temperature rise, thereby effectively preventing ignition/explosion of the electrochemical device without deterioration in performance of the electrochemical device.
US09225035B1 Low profile battery module and improved thermal interface
An arrangement of a battery module and a method for making this module are presented. An embodiment is comprised of a plurality of Lithium-ion pouch type unit cells stacked in a linear array. A lightweight frame structure compresses the unit cells and the cells are encapsulated with thermally conductive epoxy. A method of assembly constrains the unit cells during encapsulation such that a thin wall of epoxy is achieved, reducing the thermal resistance of the side walls. A slotted flat panel is placed over the unit cells and the cell tabs protrude through the panel. An arrangement of slotted bus bars reside on the flat panel and the cell tabs are bent at right angles in a manner that allows the tabs to be attached to the bus bars by a soldering or similar means. In an embodiment of the battery module, the flat panel contains battery management circuitry.
US09225032B2 Fuel cell
A fuel cell includes a cell unit. The cell unit includes a first separator, a second separator, and an electrolyte-electrode assembly. The electrolyte-electrode assembly is sandwiched between the first separator and the second separator in a stacking direction. The outer periphery of the electrolyte-electrode assembly is integrally provided with frame members composed of a polymer material. Fluid communication holes are provided as through holes in the stacking direction in each of the frame members. The seal member is sandwiched between the frame members that are adjacent to each other in the stacking direction. The first and second separators each have two plates with an identical outer shape. Each of the frame members has a rib projecting in a thickness direction of the frame member, at least around one of an outermost periphery of the frame member and the fluid communication holes.
US09225022B2 Positive active material for lithium secondary battery and lithium secondary battery
The positive active material is a positive active material for a lithium secondary battery, including a lithium transition metal compound that has an olivine crystal structure and contains at least Ni, Fe, and Mn as transition metal elements, wherein when the sum of mole atoms of Ni, Fe, and Mn of transition metal elements contained in the lithium transition metal compound is expressed as 1, and the mole atomic ratios of Ni, Fe, and Mn are represented by a, b, and c (a+b+c=1, a>0, b>0, c>0), respectively, the following is satisfied: 0.85≦c≦0.92 and 0.3≦a/(a+b)≦0.9.
US09225020B2 Positive electrode active substance for lithium ion batteries, positive electrode for lithium ion batteries, and lithium ion battery
The present invention provides a positive electrode active material for a lithium ion battery which has high capacity and good rate characteristics. The positive electrode active material has a layer structure represented by the compositional formula: Liα(NiβMe1-β)Oγ, wherein Me represents at least one type selected from the group consisting of Mn, Co, Al, Mg, Cr, Ti, Fe, Nb, Cu and Zr, x denotes a number from 0.9 to 1.2, y denotes a number from 0.5 to 0.65, and z denotes a number of 1.9 or more. The positive electrode active material is selected by measuring the coordinates of the lattice constant a and compositional ratio (Li/M) and selecting materials within the region enclosed by three lines given by the equations: y=−20.186x+59.079, y=35x−99.393, and y=−32.946x+95.78, wherein the x-axis represents a lattice constant a and the y-axis represents a compositional ratio (Li/M) of Li to M.
US09225014B2 Battery, negative electrode active material, and electric tool
A battery is provided including a positive electrode; a negative electrode including a first negative electrode active material; and an electrolytic solution, wherein the first negative electrode active material includes a core portion having a core portion surface, wherein the core portion has a median diameter of 0.3 μm to 20 μm, and a covering portion that covers at least part of the core portion surface, wherein the covering portion comprises at least Si, O and at least of one element M1 selected from Li, carbon (C), Mg, Al, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Ge, Zr, Mo, Ag, Sn, Ba, W, Ta, Na, and K.
US09225013B2 Method for producing cathode-active material for lithium secondary battery
The present invention provides a method for producing a cathode-active material containing an olivine-type lithium metal phosphate for a lithium secondary battery which does not need washing or sintering after hydrothermal synthesis, the method including a step in which hydrothermal synthesis is carried out by using a mixture containing HMnPO4 and a lithium source as a raw material to produce an olivine-type lithium metal phosphate.
US09225004B2 Method for producing electrode plate
A coating device is arranged to a strip-shaped base sheet with coating material by holding the coating material on the surface of a coating rod and bringing the base sheet into contact with the coating material held on the coating rod, while conveying the base sheet in the longitudinal direction. The coating rod has a water-repellent section, in which the entire circumferential surface of a part of the rod in the axial direction is coated with a water-repellent material that repels the coating material, and a non-water-repellent section that is not coated with the water-repellent material and arranged adjacent to the water-repellent section. Consequently, even if the base sheet is brought into contact with the coating rod, the base sheet can be adequately provided with an uncoated portion in a part in the width direction since the coating material is repelled in the water-repellent section.
US09225003B2 Method for manufacturing storage battery electrode, storage battery electrode, storage battery, and electronic device
To provide a method for forming a storage battery electrode including an active material layer with high density in which the proportion of conductive additive is low and the proportion of the active material is high. To provide a storage battery having a higher capacity per unit volume of an electrode with the use of a storage battery electrode formed by the formation method. A method for forming a storage battery electrode includes the steps of forming a mixture including an active material, graphene oxide, and a binder; providing a mixture over a current collector; and immersing the mixture provided over the current collector in a polar solvent containing a reducer, so that the graphene oxide is reduced.
US09224996B2 Battery pack including a plurality of unit cells with a case having an insulation structure that engages with guide pins
A battery pack including a plurality of unit cells, the battery pack including: a plurality of unit cells, a case accommodating the plurality of unit cells, and a first insulation structure covering a first external surface of the case. A plurality of first guide pins project from the first external surface of the case. A plurality of first coupling holes into which the first guide pins are respectively inserted is formed in the first insulation structure.
US09224995B2 Battery powered tool and battery pack for a battery powered tool
A battery pack for powering a battery powered tool may include a housing, a plurality of cells and an electrical connection assembly. The housing may include a sidewall assembly configured to correspond to respective sidewalls of a battery compartment defined at a portion of the battery powered tool to facilitate insertion of the battery pack into the battery compartment. The sidewall assembly may form an enclosure around the plurality of cells on all sides substantially parallel to the direction of insertion. The electrical connection assembly may be disposed at a portion of the sidewall assembly to communicate the combined output to a connector disposed at a corresponding sidewall of the battery compartment. The electrical connection assembly may be arranged to engage the connector responsive to movement of the battery pack in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of insertion of the battery pack into the battery compartment.
US09224989B2 Rechargeable battery and module thereof
The rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly; a case, the case retaining the electrode assembly; a cap plate coupled to an opening of the case; and an electrode terminal coupled to the cap plate and electrically connected to the electrode assembly, wherein the electrode terminal includes a terminal fixing portion coupled to an upper surface of the cap plate, the terminal fixing portion including a guide portion, a terminal portion coupled to the terminal fixing portion, and the guide portion is configured to facilitate slidable movement of the terminal portion in a single direction.
US09224986B2 Organic light-emitting display device and method of manufacturing same
An organic light-emitting display device includes a substrate; a passivation layer disposed on the substrate; at least one color filter disposed on the passivation layer; an overcoat layer covering the at least one color filter; a first electrode disposed on the passivation layer and surrounding the overcoat layer; a second electrode facing the first electrode; and an organic layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.
US09224983B2 Substrate for surface light emitting device and method of manufacturing the substrate, surface light emitting device, lighting apparatus, and backlight including the same
A substrate for a surface light emitting device in which a transparent electrode, an organic thin film layer, and a cathode electrode are sequentially stacked, the substrate including: a transparent support substrate; and a highly refractive layer that is disposed between the support substrate and the transparent electrode and comprises at least one layer having a refractive index that is equal to or greater than a refractive index of the support substrate, wherein the highly refractive layer comprises a light diffusion unit that diffuses light incident from the transparent electrode and a planarized surface that contacts the transparent electrode. Accordingly, a Haze value of the highly refractive layer is set to be 5% or less, and a diameter of bubbles existing in the highly refractive layer is set to be 1/10th or less of a thickness of the highly refractive layer.
US09224977B2 Method of manufacturing organic electroluminescent display device
A method of manufacturing an organic electroluminescent display device of the invention includes the steps of: forming, on a mother substrate including display regions and terminal forming regions, an upper electrode in each of the display regions; and cutting the mother substrate along each border between the display regions to thereby divide the mother substrate into a plurality of individual pieces. The step of forming the upper electrode includes the step of depositing a material of the upper electrode in the display regions using a mask including a frame-shaped frame and stripe-shaped shielding portions that cover regions corresponding to the terminal forming regions. The shielding portion is fixed in a state where the shielding portion spans between facing sides of the frame and tension in one direction is applied, and extends only in the one direction inside an inner periphery of the frame in a plan view.
US09224975B2 Organic light emitting display panel and method of manufacturing the same
An organic light emitting display panel including a partition wall to prevent different organic light emitting materials from being mixed with each other between adjacent light emitting areas. The partition wall may protrude from a surface of a pixel definition layer or a first common layer. Accordingly, desired light colors are generated by organic light emitting patterns respectively disposed in the light emitting areas.
US09224974B2 Optoelectronic device with homogeneous light intensity
An optoelectronic device comprising: a first electrical supply conductor (206); a second electrical supply conductor (212) which is connected to a first electrical terminal (104); and a functional layer (208) for emitting radiation arranged between the first electrical supply conductor (206) and the second electrical supply conductor (212), the second electrical supply conductor (212) having a lateral first electrical conductivity which changes monotonically over the extent of the second electrical supply conductor (212) away from the first electrical terminal (104).
US09224966B2 Organic light-emitting device, method of manufacturing the same, and flat panel display device including the same
An organic light-emitting device including: a substrate; a first electrode; a second electrode; an emission layer between the first electrode and the second electrode; and an electron transport layer between the emission layer and the second electrode, wherein the emission layer includes a blue emission layer, the electron transport layer includes a unit that includes a first single layer including a first material, a first mixed layer on the first single layer and including the first material and a second material, a second single layer on the first mixed layer and including the second material, a second mixed layer on the second single layer and including the first and second materials, and a third single layer on the second mixed layer and including the first material, wherein the first mixed layer has a thickness that is larger than that of the second mixed layer.
US09224963B2 Stable emitters
Stable and efficient organic light-emitting diodes were prepared using tetradentate platinum-based blue and red emitters. In one example, a series of stable and efficient red phosphorescent OLEDs was fabricated employing a phenyl-pyridyl-carbazole based tetradentate cyclometalated Pt(II) complex as an emitting dopant and utilizing a commercially available host, transporting, and blocking materials. By implementing this platinum complex in electrochemically stable device architectures, long operational lifetimes were achieved with an estimated LT97 of over 600 hrs at luminance of 1000 cd/m2.
US09224956B2 Method for manufacturing organic thin-film element, apparatus for manufacturing organic thin-film element, method for forming organic film, and method for manufacturing organic EL element
A method for reducing an internal pressure of a vacuum chamber while preventing impurity contamination within the vacuum chamber as much as possible is provided. The method includes: rough pumping reducing an internal pressure of a vacuum chamber by using a roughing pump, the roughing pump being a mechanical pump that is capable of reducing the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber to be less than 15 Pa; main pumping reducing the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber by using a main pump after the rough pumping, the main pump being a non-mechanical pump. Transition from the rough pumping to the main pumping is performed when the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber is no less than 15 Pa.
US09224951B1 Current-limiting electrodes
A resistive-switching memory (ReRAM cell) has a current-limiting electrode layer that combines the functions of an embedded resistor, an outer electrode, and an intermediate electrode, reducing the thickness of the ReRAM stack and simplifying the fabrication process. The materials include compound nitrides of a transition metal and one of aluminum, boron, or silicon. In experiments with tantalum silicon nitride, peak yield in the desired resistivity range corresponded to ˜24 at % silicon and ˜32 at % nitrogen, believed to optimize the trade-off between inhibiting TaSi2 formation and minimizing nitrogen diffusion. A binary metal nitride may be formed at one or more of the interfaces between the current-limiting electrode and neighboring layers such as metal-oxide switching layers.
US09224949B2 Memristive elements that exhibit minimal sneak path current
Memristive elements are provided that include an active region disposed between a first electrode and a second electrode, the active region including two switching layers formed of a switching material capable of carrying a species of dopants and a conductive layer formed of a dopant source material. Memristive elements also are provided that include two active regions disposed between a first electrode and a second electrode, and a third electrode being disposed between and in electrical contact with both of the active regions. Each of the active regions include a switching layer formed of a switching material capable of carrying a species of dopants and a conductive layer formed of a dopant source material. Multilayer structures including the memristive elements also are provided.
US09224948B2 Resistance variable memory device with nanoparticle electrode and method of fabrication
A chalcogenide-based programmable conductor memory device and method of forming the device, wherein a nanoparticle is provided between an electrode and a chalcogenide glass region. The method of forming the nanoparticle utilizes a template over the electrode or random deposition of the nanoparticle.
US09224947B1 Resistive RAM and method of manufacturing the same
A resistive RAM and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The resistive RAM includes a first electrode, a second electrode, a transition metal oxide (TMO) layer between the first and second electrodes, an activated metal layer between the first electrode and the TMO layer, and a metal oxynitride layer formed on a surface of the activated metal layer in the gas environment containing oxygen and nitrogen elements.
US09224944B2 Magnetic memory and method of manufacturing the same
A magnetic memory according to an embodiment includes: at least one memory cell comprising a magnetoresistive element as a memory element, and first and second electrodes that energize the magnetoresistive element. The magnetoresistive element includes: a first magnetic layer having a variable magnetization direction perpendicular to a film plane; a tunnel barrier layer on the first magnetic layer; and a second magnetic layer on the tunnel barrier layer, and having a fixed magnetization direction perpendicular to the film plane. The first magnetic layer including: a first region; and a second region outside the first region so as to surround the first region, and having a smaller perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy than that of the first region. The second magnetic layer including: a third region; and a fourth region outside the third region, and having a smaller perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy than that of the third region.
US09224942B2 Memory element and memory device
There is disclosed a memory element including a layered structure including a memory layer that has a magnetization perpendicular to a film face; a magnetization-fixed layer; and an insulating layer provided between the memory layer. An electron that is spin-polarized is injected in a lamination direction of a layered structure, a magnitude of an effective diamagnetic field which the memory layer receives is smaller than a saturated magnetization amount of the memory layer, in regard to the insulating layer that comes into contact with the memory layer, and the other side layer with which the memory layer comes into contact at a side opposite to the insulating layer, at least an interface that comes into contact with the memory layer is formed of an oxide film, and the memory layer includes at least one of non-magnetic metal and oxide in addition to a Co—Fe—B magnetic layer.
US09224936B2 Thermoelectric conversion device
A thermoelectric conversion device includes: a substrate; two magnetic layers having a fixed magnetization direction with respect to the substrate; and at least one electrode including a material having a spin orbit interaction, wherein a gap (or dielectric layer of low thermal conductivity) is provided between the magnetic layers. A thickness of the gap (or dielectric layer) is of a distance within the range at that a magnetic dipole interaction is exerted, and a film thickness of the magnetic layers is of about a characteristic length determined by diffusion or the like of a magnetic excitation.
US09224935B2 Light emitting diode package
A light emitting diode (LED) package includes an LED chip, a first lead frame and a second lead frame electrically connected to the LED chip and separated by a space, and a housing disposed on the first lead frame and the second lead frame. The housing includes an external housing surrounding a cavity, the cavity exposing a first portion of the first lead frame and a first portion of the second lead frame, and an internal housing disposed in the space, the internal housing covering a top portion of the first lead frame and a top portion of the second lead frame.
US09224928B2 Light emitting element, light emitting device and electronic apparatus
The light emitting element of the embodiment includes an anode; a cathode; a visible light emitting layer provided between the anode and the cathode and emitting visible light; and a carrier trapping layer containing a thiadiazole based compound represented by the following formula (1). [In formula (1), A indicates a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group which may have a substituent, an arylamino group, or a triaryl amine, and B indicates a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group which may have a substituent, an arylamino group, or a triaryl amine, or may form a ring.]
US09224927B2 White light emitting diode and backlight module
A white light emitting diode and a backlight module are provided. The light emitting diode comprises a blue chip and an encapsulating layer having yttrium aluminum garnet phosphor powder mixed therein, wherein the dominant wavelength in a frequency spectrum of blue light emitted from the blue chip is between 448 and 462.5 nm, the peak wavelength of yellow light emitted from the yttrium aluminum garnet phosphor powder is between 550 and 575 nm, and the doped concentration of the yttrium aluminum garnet phosphor powder is 0.01% to 0.1% by weight of the encapsulating layer. Due to the red shift of the peak wavelength of the blue light emitted from the blue chip, the brightness of the white LED is enhanced (>10%).
US09224918B2 Light emitting diode with nanostructured layer and methods of making and using
A light emitting diode has a plurality of layers including at least two semiconductor layers. A first layer of the plurality of layers has a nanostructured surface which includes a quasi-periodic, anisotropic array of elongated ridge elements having a wave-ordered structure pattern, each ridge element having a wavelike cross-section and oriented substantially in a first direction.
US09224914B2 Insulating layer for planarization and definition of the active region of a nanowire device
Various embodiments include methods of fabricating a semiconductor device that include forming a plurality of nanowires on a support, wherein each nanowire comprises a first conductivity type semiconductor core and a second conductivity type semiconductor shell over the core, forming an insulating material layer over at least a portion of the plurality of nanowires such that at least a portion of the insulating material layer provides a substantially planar top surface, removing a portion of the insulating material layer to define an active region of nanowires, and forming an electrical contact over the substantially planar top surface of the insulating material layer.
US09224903B2 Method for manufacturing photoelectric converter
A method for manufacturing a photoelectric converter, comprising: forming a first buffer layer comprising a metal sulfide on a light-absorbing layer comprising a Group I-III-VI compound or a Group I-II-IV-VI compound; and contacting a surface of the first buffer layer with a first solution comprising an alkali metal compound.
US09224899B2 Light mixer for generating terahertz radiation
The invention relates to a light mixer for generating terahertz radiation, comprising a photodetector (PHD) coupled to an antenna (AT) for terahertz radiation, characterized in that the photodetector comprises a layer of photoconductive material capable of absorbing optical radiation, said layer having a thickness that is less than the absorption length of said radiation by the photoconductive material and being contained between an at least partially transparent so-called upper electrode and a reflective so-called lower electrode, said lower and upper electrodes comprising a resonant cavity for said optical radiation. The invention further relates to a terahertz radiation source comprising such a light mixer and to two laser radiation sources arranged to stack two laser radiation beams on the upper electrode of the photodetector. The invention also relates to the use of such a light mixer for generating terahertz radiation via light mixing.
US09224895B2 Photovoltaic device including semiconductor nanocrystals
A photovoltaic device includes a semiconductor nanocrystal and a charge transporting layer that includes an inorganic material. The charge transporting layer can be a hole or electron transporting layer. The inorganic material can be an inorganic semiconductor.
US09224887B2 Solar cell and solar cell module
The present invention provides a solar cell including a substrate, a first front bus, and a first rear bus. The substrate has a front surface and a rear surface. The first front bus is located on the front surface of the substrate along a first direction for collecting current generated by the substrate, and for providing a first front contact electrode. The first rear bus is located on the rear surface of the substrate along a second direction different from the first direction for collecting current generated by the substrate, and for providing a first rear contact electrode.
US09224877B2 Silicon carbide semiconductor device and method for manufacturing same
A first main surface of a silicon carbide substrate has a flat surface located in an element portion and a side wall surface located in a termination portion. The silicon carbide substrate has an impurity layer having a portion located at each of the flat surface of the first main surface and a second main surface. On the flat surface, a Schottky electrode is in contact with the impurity layer. On the second main surface, a counter electrode is in contact with the impurity layer. An insulating film covers the side wall surface. The side wall surface is inclined by not less than 50° and not more than 80° relative to a {000-1}plane. This suppresses the leakage current of a silicon carbide semiconductor device.
US09224870B2 Oxide semiconductor device
An object is to provide a semiconductor device having a structure with which parasitic capacitance between wirings can be sufficiently reduced. An oxide insulating layer serving as a channel protective layer is formed over part of an oxide semiconductor layer overlapping with a gate electrode layer. In the same step as formation of the oxide insulating layer, an oxide insulating layer covering a peripheral portion of the oxide semiconductor layer is formed. The oxide insulating layer which covers the peripheral portion of the oxide semiconductor layer is provided to increase the distance between the gate electrode layer and a wiring layer formed above or in the periphery of the gate electrode layer, whereby parasitic capacitance is reduced.
US09224862B2 High voltage semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same
A high voltage semiconductor device is provided. The device includes a semiconductor substrate having a high voltage well with a first conductivity type therein. A gate structure is disposed on the semiconductor substrate of the high voltage well. A source doped region and a drain doped region are in the high voltage well on both sides of the gate structure, respectively. A lightly doped region with the first conductivity type is between the source and drain doped regions and relatively near to the source doped region. The disclosure also presents a method for fabricating a high voltage semiconductor device.
US09224860B2 Trench-gate type semiconductor device and manufacturing method therefor
A trench-gate type semiconductor device that can prevent breakdown of a gate insulating film caused by a displacement current flowing into a protective diffusion layer at a portion of a trench underlying a gate electrode at a turn-off time and simultaneously improves a current density by narrowing a cell pitch. The semiconductor device includes a gate electrode embedded into a trench penetrating a base region. The gate electrode is disposed into a lattice shape in a planar view, and a protective diffusion layer is formed in a drift layer at the portion underlying thereof. At least one of blocks divided by the gate electrode is a protective contact region on which the trench is entirely formed. A protective contact for connecting the protective diffusion layer at a bottom portion of the trench and a source electrode is disposed on the protective contact region.
US09224859B1 High voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor device
A high voltage metal-oxide-semiconductor (HV MOS) device includes a substrate including a first conductivity type, a gate positioned on the substrate, a drain region formed in the substrate, the drain region including a second conductivity type, and a source region formed in the substrate, where the source region includes at least one first part and at least one second part, the first part includes the second conductivity type, the second part includes the first conductivity type, and the first conductivity type and the second conductivity type are complementary.
US09224858B1 Lateral double-diffused metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (LDMOSFET) with a below source isolation region and a method of forming the LDMOSFET
Disclosed are a field effect transistor (FET) (e.g., a lateral double-diffused metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (LDMOSFET)) and a method of forming the FET. In the FET, an etch stop pad is on a semiconductor substrate (e.g., a P-type silicon substrate). A semiconductor layer (e.g., a silicon layer) is also on the substrate and extends laterally over the etch stop pad. A first well region (e.g., an N-well region) extends through the semiconductor layer into the substrate such that it contains the etch stop pad. A second well region (e.g., a P-well region) is in the first well region aligned above the etch stop pad. A source region (e.g., a N-type source region) is in the second well region. A buried isolation region (e.g., a buried air-gap isolation region) is within the first well region aligned below the etch stop pad so as to limit vertical capacitor formation.
US09224852B2 Corner layout for high voltage semiconductor devices
A corner layout for a semiconductor device that maximizes the breakdown voltage is disclosed. The device includes first and second subsets of the striped cell arrays. The ends of each striped cell in the first array is spaced a uniform distance from the nearest termination device structure. In the second subset, the ends of striped cells proximate a corner of the active cell region are configured to maximize breakdown voltage by spacing the ends of each striped cell a non-uniform distance from the nearest termination device structure. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
US09224851B2 Planarized semiconductor particles positioned on a substrate
A device and method of fabricating a device in the form of an array of planarized particles of single crystal silicon or poly crystal silicon wherein the planar surfaces of the particles is used to fabricate an array of electronic devices. This is particularly useful in the manufacture of large displays where single crystal high speed devices are required. The planar surfaces of the array of devices are coplanar when the array is fabricated on a planar substrate.
US09224849B2 Transistors with wrapped-around gates and methods for forming the same
A device includes a substrate, a semiconductor strip over the substrate, a gate dielectric wrapping around the semiconductor strip, and a gate electrode wrapping around the gate dielectric. A dielectric region is overlapped by the semiconductor strip. The semiconductor strip and the dielectric region are spaced apart from each other by a bottom portion of the gate dielectric and a bottom portion of the gate electrode.
US09224844B2 Semiconductor device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, a first semiconductor layer, a first semiconductor region, a second semiconductor region, and an insulating layer. The first semiconductor layer is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode, and contacts the first electrode. The first semiconductor region is provided between the first semiconductor layer and the second electrode, and contacts the second electrode. The second semiconductor region is provided between the first semiconductor region and the second electrode, and contacts the second electrode. An impurity concentration of the second semiconductor region is higher than an impurity concentration of the first semiconductor region. An insulating layer has one end contacting the second electrode and the other end positioned in the first semiconductor layer. The insulating layer extends along the second electrode in a first direction from the first electrode towards the second electrode.
US09224827B2 High voltage resistor
Provided is a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a resistor and a voltage protection device. The resistor has a spiral shape. The resistor has a first portion and a second portion. The voltage protection device includes a first doped region that is electrically coupled to the first portion of the resistor. The voltage protection device includes a second doped region that is electrically coupled to the second portion of the resistor. The first and second doped regions have opposite doping polarities.
US09224820B2 Oxide semiconductor sputtering target, method of manufacturing thin-film transistors using the same, and thin film transistor manufactured using the same
An oxide semiconductor sputtering target which is used for depositing a thin film having high electron mobility and high operational reliability, a method of manufacturing thin-film transistors (TFTs) using the same, and a TFT manufactured using the same. The oxide semiconductor sputtering target is used in a sputtering process for depositing an active layer on a TFT. The oxide semiconductor sputtering target is made of a material based on a composition including indium (In), tin (Sn), gallium (Ga) and oxygen (O). The method includes the step of depositing an active layer using the above-described oxide semiconductor sputtering target. The thin-film transistor may be used in a display device, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light-emitting display (OLED).
US09224814B2 Process design to improve transistor variations and performance
The present disclosure relates to a method of forming a transistor device having a carbon implantation region that provides for a low variation of voltage threshold, and an associated apparatus. The method is performed by forming a well region within a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate is selectively etched to form a recess within the well region. After formation of the recess, a carbon implantation is selectively performed to form a carbon implantation region within the semiconductor substrate at a position underlying the recess. An epitaxial growth is then performed to form one or more epitaxial layers within the recess at a position overlying the carbon implantation region. Source and drain regions are subsequently formed within the semiconductor substrate such that a channel region, comprising the one or more epitaxial layers, separates the source/drains from one another.
US09224813B2 Cylindrical-shaped nanotube field effect transistor
A cylindrical-shaped nanotube FET may be manufactured on silicon (Si) substrates as a ring etched into a gate stack and filled with semiconductor material. An inner gate electrode couples to a region of the gate stack inside the inner circumference of the ring. An outer gate electrode couples to a region of the gate stack outside the outer circumference of the ring. The multi-gate cylindrical-shaped nanotube FET operates in volume inversion for ring widths below 15 nanometers. The cylindrical-shaped nanotube FET demonstrates better short channel effect (SCE) mitigation and higher performance (Ion/Ioff) than conventional transistor devices. The cylindrical-shaped nanotube FET may also be manufactured with higher yields and cheaper costs than conventional transistors.
US09224803B2 Formation of a high aspect ratio contact hole
A small contact hole having a large aspect ratio is formed by employing a stop layer with a trench formed therein. A relatively large contact hole is formed above the trench, and the small contact hole is formed below the trench, using properties of the trench and the stop layer to limit the size of the small contact hole.
US09224791B2 Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention discloses an organic light-emitting display apparatus including: a display substrate including pixel areas and a non-pixel area; a sealing substrate disposed facing the display substrate; a spacer disposed in the non-pixel area of the display substrate, between the display substrate and the sealing substrate, and configured to maintain an interval between the display substrate and the sealing substrate; and a metal layer disposed under the spacer.
US09224786B2 Semiconductor storage device
A memory includes a semiconductor substrate. Magnetic tunnel junction elements are provided above the semiconductor substrate. Each of the magnetic tunnel junction elements stores data by a change in a resistance state, and the data is rewritable by a current. Cell transistors are provided on the semiconductor substrate. Each of the cell transistors is in a conductive state when the current is applied to the corresponding magnetic tunnel junction element. Gate electrodes are included in the respective cell transistors. Each of the gate electrodes controls the conductive state of the corresponding cell transistor. In active areas, the cell transistors are provided, and the active areas extend in an extending direction of intersecting the gate electrodes at an angle of (90−a tan(1/3)) degrees.
US09224778B2 Solid-state image sensor and electronic device
There is provided a solid-state image sensor including a semiconductor substrate in which a plurality of pixels are arranged, and a wiring layer stacked on the semiconductor substrate and formed in such a manner that a plurality of conductor layers having a plurality of wirings are buried in an insulation film. In the wiring layer, wirings connected to the pixels are formed of two conductor layers.
US09224777B2 Solid-state image pickup device and method for manufacturing solid-state image pickup device
A method for manufacturing a solid-state image pickup device that includes a substrate including a photoelectric conversion unit and a waveguide arranged on the substrate, the waveguide corresponding to the photoelectric conversion unit and including a core and a cladding, includes a first step and a second step, in which in the first step and the second step, a member to be formed into the core is formed in an opening in the cladding by high-density plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and in which after the first step, in the second step, the member to be formed into the core is formed by the high-density plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition under conditions in which the ratio of a radio-frequency power on the back face side of the substrate to a radio-frequency power on the front face side of the substrate is higher than that in the first step.
US09224773B2 Metal shielding layer in backside illumination image sensor chips and methods for forming the same
A device includes a semiconductor substrate having a front side and a backside. A photo-sensitive device is disposed at a surface of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the photo-sensitive device is configured to receive a light signal from the backside of the semiconductor substrate, and convert the light signal to an electrical signal. An amorphous-like adhesion layer is disposed on the backside of the semiconductor substrate. The amorphous-like adhesion layer includes a compound of nitrogen and a metal. A metal shielding layer is disposed on the backside of the semiconductor substrate and contacting the amorphous-like adhesion layer.
US09224770B2 Image sensor device and method
A system and method for reducing cross-talk between photosensitive diodes is provided. In an embodiment a first color filter is formed over a first photosensitive diode and a second color filter is formed over a second photosensitive diode, and a gap is formed between the first color filter and the second color filter. The gap will serve to reflect light that otherwise would have crossed from the first color filter to the second color filter, thereby reducing cross-talk between the first photosensitive diode and the second photosensitive diode. A reflective grid may also be formed between the first photosensitive diode and the second photosensitive diode in order to assist in the reflection and further reduce the amount of cross-talk.
US09224762B1 Array substrate and display device
An array substrate and a display device incorporating the array substrate are disclosed. The array substrate comprises a first material layer located on a thin film transistor, the first material layer having a first via hole; a conductive interlayer located on the first material layer, the conductive interlayer being electrically connected with the drain of the thin film transistor through the first via hole; and a second material layer located on the conductive interlayer, the second material layer having a second via hole staggered with the first via hole. A pixel electrode is located on the second material layer. The conductive interlayer is electrically connected with the pixel electrode through the second via hole, so as to form a storage capacitance with a common electrode. The array substrate has an increased storage capacitance and provides the display device with improved display stability, pixel opening ratio, and display quality.
US09224760B2 Array substrate and fabrication method thereof, and display device
Embodiments of the invention provide an array substrate, a fabrication method thereof, and a display device. The array substrate includes a first conductive pattern connecting with a low level potential, a second conductive pattern provided in a same layer as a STV signal line, and an insulating layer provided between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern. The first conductive pattern, the insulating layer and the second conductive pattern have an overlapping region so as to form a storage capacitor. A conductive tip toward the second conductive pattern is formed at a position of the STV signal line that corresponds to the second conductive pattern.
US09224759B2 Pixel array substrate structure, method of manufacturing pixel array substrate structure, display device, and electronic apparatus
A pixel array substrate structure includes: first and second planarizing films sequentially stacked on a substrate where a circuit unit is formed; and a relay wire formed between the first and second planarizing films, in which the relay wire electrically connects a first contact portion formed on the first planarizing film and connected to the circuit unit with a second contact portion formed at a position different from the first contact portion when seen from above, on the second planarizing film.
US09224758B2 Semiconductor device
A highly reliable semiconductor device that includes a transistor including an oxide semiconductor, which can display a high-definition image and can be manufactured with a high yield. The semiconductor device includes a pixel portion including a plurality of pixels, a gate signal line driver circuit portion, and a source signal line driver circuit portion including a first circuit that controls timing of sampling video signals and a second circuit that samples the video signals in accordance with the timing and then inputs the sampled video signals to the pixels. The second circuit includes a plurality of transistors in each of which an oxide semiconductor stacked layer is used as a channel formation region, the first circuit and the second circuit are electrically connected to each other by a wiring, and the wiring is electrically connected to gates of at least two transistors of the plurality of transistors.
US09224754B2 Stress in trigate devices using complimentary gate fill materials
Embodiments relate to an improved tri-gate device having gate metal fills, providing compressive or tensile stress upon at least a portion of the tri-gate transistor, thereby increasing the carrier mobility and operating frequency. Embodiments also contemplate method for use of the improved tri-gate device.
US09224753B2 Semiconductor memory device and method of fabricating the same
Provided are a semiconductor memory device and a fabricating method thereof. The device includes a stack including vertical channel structures that penetrate insulating patterns and gate electrodes that are alternately and repeatedly stacked on each other. Each of the gate electrodes includes first and second gate conductive layers. In a first region between an outer side of the stack and the vertical channel structures, the first gate conductive layer is adjacent to the vertical channel structures and includes a truncated end portion, the second gate conductive layer has a portion adjacent to the vertical channel structures and covered by a corresponding one of the first gate conductive layer and an opposite portion that is not covered with the first gate conductive layer. In a second region between the vertical channel structures, the first gate conductive layer may be extended to continuously cover surfaces of the second gate conductive layer.
US09224749B1 Method for filling polysilicon gate in semiconductor devices, and semiconductor devices
Present example embodiments relate generally to semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating a semiconductor device comprising forming an insulating base layer over a surface of a substrate. The method further comprises forming a multilayer over the insulating base layer, the multilayer having conducting and insulating layers. The method further comprises etching a pattern in the multilayer and forming a charge storage layer over the patterned multilayer. The method further comprises forming a protective silicon layer over the charge storage layer, followed by performing a heat treatment process.
US09224738B1 Methods of forming an array of gated devices
A method of forming an array of gated devices includes forming trenches between walls that longitudinally extend in rows and project elevationally from a substrate. The walls comprise semiconductor material. Gate dielectric is formed within the trenches laterally over side surfaces of the walls and conductive gate material is formed within the trenches laterally over side surfaces of the gate dielectric. Side surfaces of an elevationally inner portion of the gate material within the trenches are laterally covered with masking material and side surfaces of an elevationally inner portion of the gate material within the trenches are laterally uncovered by the masking material. The elevationally outer portion of the gate material that is laterally uncovered by the masking material is removed while the side surfaces of the elevationally inner portion of the gate material are laterally covered by the masking material to form gate lines within the trenches laterally over elevationally inner portions of the walls.
US09224736B1 Structure and method for SRAM FinFET device
The present disclosure provides an embodiment of a fin-like field-effect transistor (FinFET) device. The device includes a first fin structure disposed over an n-type FinFET (NFET) region of a substrate. The first fin structure includes a silicon (Si) layer, a silicon germanium oxide (SiGeO) layer disposed over the silicon layer and a germanium (Ge) feature disposed over the SiGeO layer. The device also includes a second fin structure over the substrate in a p-type FinFET (PFET) region. The second fin structure includes the silicon (Si) layer, a recessed silicon germanium oxide (SiGeO) layer disposed over the silicon layer, an epitaxial silicon germanium (SiGe) layer disposed over the recessed SiGeO layer and the germanium (Ge) feature disposed over the epitaxial SiGe layer.
US09224731B2 Chip resistor and electronic equipment having resistance circuit network
[Theme] A compact and refined chip resistor, with which a plurality of types of required resistance values can be accommodated readily with the same design structure, was desired.[Solution Means] A chip resistor 10 is arranged to have a resistor network 14 on a substrate. The resistor network 14 includes a plurality of resistor bodies R arrayed in a matrix and having an equal resistance value. A plurality of types of resistance units are respectively arranged by one or a plurality of the resistor bodies R being connected electrically. The plurality of types of resistance units are connected in a predetermined mode using connection conductor films C and fuse films F. By selectively fusing a fuse film F, a resistance unit can be electrically incorporated into the resistor network 14 or electrically separated from the resistor network to make the resistance value of the resistor network 14 the required resistance value.
US09224723B2 Semiconductor device
Provided is a semiconductor device including a plurality of pillar columns, each of the plurality of pillar columns including a plurality of pillars arranged in one direction to be offset from each other, wherein an mth pillar and an (m+1)th pillar, among the plurality of pillars included in each pillar column, are aligned with each other (m is an integer of 0 or more).
US09224720B2 Light-emitting device including light-emitting diode element that is mounted on outer portion of electrode
In an aspect of the present invention, a light-emitting device includes a substrate; a first electrode and a second electrode arranged on an upper surface of the substrate with a gap between the first electrode and the second electrode, the gap being positioned at a central portion of the upper surface of the substrate; a first light-emitting diode element electrically mounted on the first electrode; and a second light-emitting diode element electrically mounted on the second electrode, wherein the first electrode includes a first inner portion and a first outer portion that are two equal area portions divided at a center line of the first electrode, and the first light-emitting diode element is mounted on the first outer portion of the first electrode, and wherein the second electrode includes a second inner portion and a second outer portion that are two equal area portions divided at a center line of the second electrode, and the second light-emitting diode element is mounted on the second outer portion of the second electrode.
US09224702B2 Three-dimension (3D) integrated circuit (IC) package
A three-dimension (3D) integrated circuit (IC) package is disclosed. The 3D IC package has a package substrate having a surface. At least one integrated circuit (IC) chip with or without suppressing a transient voltage and at least one transient voltage suppressor (TVS) chip are arranged on the surface of the substrate and electrically connected with each other. The IC chip is independent from the TVS chip. The IC chip and the TVS chip stacked on each other are arranged on the package substrate. Alternatively, the IC chip and the TVS chip are together arranged on an interposer formed on the package substrate.
US09224700B2 Package of environmental sensitive element
A package of an environmental sensitive element including a flexible substrate, an environmental sensitive element, at least one flexible sacrificial layer and a packaging structure is provided. The environmental sensitive element is disposed on the flexible substrate. The flexible sacrificial layer is disposed on the environmental sensitive element, wherein the environmental sensitive element includes a plurality of first thin films and the flexible sacrificial layer includes a plurality of second thin films. The bonding strength between two adjacent second thin films is equal to or lower than the bonding strength between two adjacent first thin films. Further, the packaging structure covers the environmental sensitive element and the flexible sacrificial layer.
US09224695B2 Chip arrangement and a method for manufacturing a chip arrangement
In various embodiments a chip arrangement is provided, wherein the chip arrangement may include a chip and at least one foil attached to at least one side of the chip.
US09224690B2 Semiconductor device having groove-shaped via-hole
The semiconductor device has insulating films 40, 42 formed over a substrate 10; an interconnection 58 buried in at least a surface side of the insulating films 40, 42; insulating films 60, 62 formed on the insulating film 42 and including a hole-shaped via-hole 60 and a groove-shaped via-hole 66a having a pattern bent at a right angle; and buried conductors 70, 72a buried in the hole-shaped via-hole 60 and the groove-shaped via-hole 66a. A groove-shaped via-hole 66a is formed to have a width which is smaller than a width of the hole-shaped via-hole 66. Defective filling of the buried conductor and the cracking of the inter-layer insulating film can be prevented. Steps on the conductor plug can be reduced. Accordingly, defective contact with the upper interconnection layer and the problems taking place in forming films can be prevented.
US09224683B2 Method of fabricating packaging substrate having a through-holed interposer
A through-holed interposer is provided, including a board body, a conductive gel formed in the board body, and a circuit redistribution structure disposed on the board body. The conductive gel has one end protruding from a surface of the board body, and an area of the protruded end of the conductive gel that is in contact with other structures (e.g., packaging substrates or circuit structures) is increased, thereby strengthening the bonding of the conductive gel and reliability of the interposer.
US09224676B1 Integrated circuit package and method of making the same
Packages for an integrated circuit die and methods and leadframes for making such packages are disclosed. The package includes a die, a die pad, peripheral metal contacts, bond wires, and an encapsulant. The die pad and contacts are located at a lower surface of the package. The die pad and the contacts have side surfaces which include reentrant portions and asperities to engage the encapsulant.A method of making a package includes providing a metal leadframe having a die pad in a rectangular frame. Tabs extend from the frame toward the die pad. The die pad and tabs have side surfaces with reentrant portions and asperities. A die is attached to the die pad. The die is electrically connected to the tabs. An encapsulant is applied to the upper and side surfaces of the leadframe. Finally, the leadframe is cut in situ so that the die pad and tabs are severed from the frame, the sides of the package are formed, and the package is severed from the leadframe.
US09224675B1 Automatic capacitance tuning for robust middle of the line contact and silicide applications
A method includes forming a first metal liner conformally along a sidewall and a bottom of a contact opening. A second metal liner is formed above and in direct contact with the first metal liner, a grain size of the first metal liner is larger than a grain size of the second metal liner. A barrier layer is formed above and in direct contact with the second metal liner and the contact opening is filled with a conductive material to form a middle-of-the-line contact.
US09224669B2 Method and structure for wafer level packaging with large contact area
A method to provide a wafer level package with increasing contact pad area comprising the steps of forming a first packaging layer on wafer top surface, grinding the wafer back surface and etch through holes, depositing a metal to fill the through holes and covering wafer backside, cutting through the wafer from wafer backside forming a plurality of grooves separating each chip then depositing a second packaging layer filling the grooves and covering the wafer back metal, reducing the first packaging layer thickness to expose the second packaging layer filling the grooves and forming a plurality of contact pads overlaying the first packaging layer thereafter cutting through the second packaging layer in the grooves to form individual package.
US09224655B2 Methods of removing gate cap layers in CMOS applications
One illustrative method disclosed herein includes the steps of forming a masking layer that covers a P-type transistor and exposes at least a gate cap layer of an N-type transistor, performing a first etching process through the masking layer to remove a portion of the gate cap of the N-type transistor so as to thereby define a reduced thickness gate cap layer for the N-type transistor, removing the masking layer, and performing a common second etching process on the P-type transistor and the N-type transistor that removes a gate cap layer of the P-type transistor and the reduced thickness gate cap of the N-type transistor.
US09224651B2 Method for plating a semiconductor package lead
A method of forming a packaged semiconductor device includes loading an array of package sites in position for saw singulation, saw singulating the array of package sites, and performing a non-electrolytic plating operation on exposed lead tips of individual packages from the array of package sites as the array of package sites is saw singulated.
US09224645B2 Silicon carbide semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same
A silicon carbide semiconductor device includes: a silicon carbide layer, a reaction layer which is in contact with the silicon carbide layer, a conductive oxidation layer which is in contact with the reaction layer, and an electrode layer which is formed over the reaction layer with the conductive oxidation layer interposed therebetween. A thickness of the conductive oxidation layer falls within a range of 0.3 nm to 2.25 nm.
US09224640B2 Method to improve fine Cu line reliability in an integrated circuit device
Structure and methods for forming a semiconductor structure. The semiconductor structure includes a plurality of layers comprising at least one copper interconnect layer. The copper interconnect layer provides an electrical conduit between one of physically adjacent layers in the semiconductor structure and an integrated circuit in the semiconductor structure and an electronic device. A plurality of studs is positioned within the at least one copper interconnect layer. The studs are spaced apart by a distance less than or equal to a Blech length of the at least one copper interconnect layer. The Blech length is a length below which damage due to electromigration of metal atoms within the at least one copper interconnect layer does not occur. The plurality of studs comprises copper atom diffusion barriers.
US09224636B2 Methods of forming through silicon via openings
A method includes forming an opening in a substrate, and the opening completely extends through the substrate. A recast material is formed on sidewalls of the substrate exposed by the opening. A first chemical is applied in the opening to remove the recast material, wherein a residue of the first chemical remains on portions of the sidewalls after the applying of the first chemical. Moreover, A second chemical is applied in the opening to remove the residue of the first chemical, and the second chemical is different from the first chemical.
US09224635B2 Connections for memory electrode lines
Subject matter disclosed herein may relate to word line electrodes and/or digit line electrodes in a cross-point array memory device. One or more word line electrodes may be configured to form a socket area to provide connection points to drivers and/or other circuitry that may be located within a footprint of an array of memory cells.
US09224630B2 Method for producing a wafer provided with chips
A method for producing a product wafer having chips thereon, comprising the steps of: processing the first side of the product wafer bonding the product wafer with its first side onto a first rigid carrier wafer with a first intermediate layer consisting of one first adhesion layer applied at least on the edge side, processing a second side of the product wafer, bonding of the product wafer with its second side on a second rigid carrier wafer with a second intermediate layer consisting of one second adhesion layer applied at least on the edge side, characterized in that the first intermediate layer and the second intermediate layer are made different such that the first carrier wafer can be separated selectively before the second carrier wafer.
US09224626B2 Composite substrate for layered heaters
A method of forming a heater assembly for use in semiconductor processing includes thermally securing a heater substrate to an application substrate; and applying a layered heater to the heater substrate after the heater substrate is secured to the application substrate. The application of the layered heater includes applying a first dielectric layer onto the heater substrate, applying a resistive heating layer onto the first dielectric layer, and applying a second dielectric layer onto the resistive heating layer. The heater substrate defines a material having a coefficient of thermal expansion that is matched to a coefficient of thermal expansion of at least one of the first dielectric layer and a coefficient of thermal expansion of the resistive heating layer.
US09224622B2 Semiconductor device, method of manufacturing the device, and liquid crystal display
In order to shield the light incident from the chip side surface or chip rear surface of a semiconductor chip that forms an LCD driver, a light-shielding film is formed over the chip side surface and chip rear surface of the semiconductor chip itself, not using a light-shielding tape that is a component separate from the semiconductor chip. Accordingly, the light-shielding tape as a separate component is not used, and hence the trouble that the light-shielding tape may protrude from the surface of a glass substrate whose thickness has been made small can be solved. As a result, the thinning of a liquid crystal display, and the subsequent thinning of the mobile phone in which the liquid crystal display is mounted can be promoted.
US09224621B2 Encapsulation process and associated device
The invention relates to an encapsulation process for an electronic component (2). The component (2) is connected to an electrical contact track composed of a metal layer (101).The process according to the invention comprises the following steps: deposition of a titanium nitride layer (102) directly on at least part of the electrical contact track (101); and deposition of an aluminum oxide layer (4) by atomic layer deposition, such that the encapsulation layer (4) directly covers the titanium nitride layer (102). The process according to the invention enables electrical contact through the encapsulation layer (4).The invention also relates to an electronic device obtained using such a process.
US09224618B2 Method to increase mask selectivity in ultra-high aspect ratio etches
A method for etching features in an etch layer in a plasma processing chamber is provided. An etch gas is flowed into the plasma processing chamber. A top outer electrode is maintained at a temperature of at least 150° C. during the etching of the features. The etch gas is formed into a plasma, which etches the etch layer.
US09224615B2 Noble gas bombardment to reduce scallops in bosch etching
A method of etching a trench in a substrate is provided. The method repeatedly alternates between using a fluorine-based plasma to etch a trench, which has trench sidewalls, into a selected region of the substrate; and using a fluorocarbon plasma to deposit a liner on the trench sidewalls. The liner, when formed and subsequently etched, has an exposed sidewall surface that includes scalloped recesses. The trench, which includes the scalloped recesses, is then bombarded with a molecular beam where the molecules are directed on an axis parallel to the trench sidewalls to reduce the scalloped recesses.
US09224612B2 Vapor deposition apparatus, method of forming thin film by using vapor deposition apparatus, and method of manufacturing organic light emitting display apparatus
A vapor deposition apparatus for depositing a thin film on a substrate includes a cover having an accommodation portion and a communicated portion, which communicated portion is connected to the accommodation portion and faces a direction of the substrate, and includes a body in the accommodation portion, which body includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is disposed at a first location of the body and connected to a first injection portion for injecting a first material onto the substrate, the second portion is disposed at a second location of the body and connected to a second injection portion for injecting a second material onto the substrate, and the body rotates in at least one direction so that the first portion and the second portion are alternately connected to each other with respect to the communicated portion.
US09224607B2 Dual epitaxy region integration
A semiconductor device includes a first device region and second device region of opposite polarity. Each device region includes at least a transistor device and associated epitaxy. A high-k barrier is formed to overlay the first device region epitaxy only. The high-k barrier may include a substantially horizontal portion formed upon a top surface of the first device region epitaxy and a substantially vertical portion formed upon an outer surface of the first device region epitaxy. The substantially vertical portion may partially isolate the first device region from the second device region.
US09224605B2 Forming alternative material fins with reduced defect density by performing an implantation/anneal defect generation process
One method disclosed includes removing at least a portion of a fin to thereby define a fin trench in a layer of insulating material, forming a substantially defect-free first layer of semiconductor material in the fin trench, forming a second layer of semiconductor material on an as-formed upper surface of the first layer of semiconductor material, forming an implant region at the interface between the first layer of semiconductor material and the substrate, performing an anneal process to induce defect formation in at least the first layer of semiconductor material, forming a third layer of semiconductor material on the second layer of semiconductor material, forming a layer of channel semiconductor material on the third layer of semiconductor material, and forming a gate structure around at least a portion of the channel semiconductor material.
US09224604B2 Device and method for forming sharp extension region with controllable junction depth and lateral overlap
A method for forming a semiconductor device includes forming a gate stack on a monocrystalline substrate. A surface of the substrate adjacent to the gate stack and below a portion of the gate stack is amorphorized. The surface is etched to selectively remove a thickness of amorphorized portions to form undercuts below the gate stack. A layer is epitaxially grown in the thickness and the undercuts to form an extension region for the semiconductor device. Devices are also provided.
US09224603B2 Method of fabricating power transistor with protected channel
A transistor includes a substrate, a well formed in the substrate, a drain including a first impurity region implanted in the well, a source including a second impurity region implanted in the well and spaced apart from the first impurity region, a channel for current flow from the drain to the source, and a gate to control a depletion region between the source and the drain. The channel has an intrinsic breakdown voltage, and the well, drain and source are configured to provide an extrinsic breakdown voltage lower than the intrinsic breakdown voltage and such that breakdown occurs in a breakdown region in the well located outside the channel and adjacent the drain or the source.
US09224600B2 Method of manufacturing part of a thin-film device using an ink comprising a material precursor
A method for the manufacture of at least part of a thin-film device including forming one or more indentations in a substrate, preferably a plastic substrate, an indentation having sidewalls and a base; filling at least one of the one or more indentations with a first ink, the first ink having a first material precursor, preferably a first metal-, semiconductor-, or a metal-oxide precursor; and, annealing at least a portion of the first ink such that a surface of the base inside the indentation is dewetted and a narrowed first structure of the first material inside of the indentation is formed.
US09224599B2 P-type metal oxide semiconductor material and method for fabricating the same
A P-type metal oxide semiconductor material is provided. The P-type metal oxide semiconductor material has a formula of In(1−3)Ga(1−b)Zn(1+a+b)O4, wherein 0≦a≦0.1, 0≦b≦0.1, and 0
US09224589B2 Method for eliminating contact bridge in contact hole process
A method for eliminating contact bridge in a contact hole process is disclosed, wherein a cleaning menu comprising a multi-step adaptive protective thin film deposition process is provided, so that a stack adaptive protective thin film is formed on the sidewall of the chamber of the HDP CVD equipment. The stack adaptive protective thin film has good adhesivity, compactness and uniformity to protect the sidewall of the chamber of the HDP CVD equipment from being damaged by the plasma, and avoid the generation of defect particles, thereby improving the HDP CVD technical yield and eliminating the contact bridge phenomenon in the contact hole process.
US09224587B2 Apparatus and method for thermal assisted desorption ionization systems
The present invention is directed to a method and device to desorb an analyte using heat to allow desorption of the analyte molecules, where the desorbed analyte molecules are ionized with ambient temperature ionizing species. In various embodiments of the invention a current is passed through a mesh upon which the analyte molecules are present. The current heats the mesh and results in desorption of the analyte molecules which then interact with gas phase metastable neutral molecules or atoms to form analyte ions characteristic of the analyte molecules.
US09224584B2 Sputtering target assembly
Provided is a sputtering target assembly comprising two or more sputtering target-backing plate bonded bodies B aligned in the width direction, wherein the sputtering target-backing plate bonded bodies B each include a cylindrical target having a diameter of 100 mm or more and a length of 1000 mm or more and composed of three or more target pieces A being divided such that the dividing lines lie in the circumferential direction and being bonded or placed onto a cylindrical or columnar backing plate, wherein the bonded bodies B are arranged to form the sputtering target assembly in such a manner that the dividing lines between the three target pieces of one bonded body B are not present at the same positions of the dividing lines between fractional target pieces of adjacent another bonded body B. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sputtering target assembly that can reduce defects due to occurrence of particles originated from the piece-bonding area.
US09224579B2 Adjustable non-dissipative voltage boosting snubber network for achieving large boost voltages
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.
US09224576B2 Particle-optical systems and arrangements and particle-optical components for such systems and arrangements
A particle-optical arrangement comprises a charged-particle source for generating a beam of charged particles; a multi-aperture plate arranged in a beam path of the beam of charged particles, wherein the multi-aperture plate has a plurality of apertures formed therein in a predetermined first array pattern, wherein a plurality of charged-particle beamlets is formed from the beam of charged particles downstream of the multi-aperture plate, and wherein a plurality of beam spots is formed in an image plane of the apparatus by the plurality of beamlets, the plurality of beam spots being arranged in a second array pattern; and a particle-optical element for manipulating the beam of charged particles and/or the plurality of beamlets; wherein the first array pattern has a first pattern regularity in a first direction, and the second array pattern has a second pattern regularity in a second direction electron-optically corresponding to the first direction, and wherein the second regularity is higher than the first regularity.
US09224562B2 Electromagnetic relay
An electromagnetic relay, in particular a motor vehicle relay, contains a magnet yoke, a relay coil, a hinged armature which is pivotable about an axis of rotation and on which a moving contact, as working or switchover contact, is retained relative to at least one fixed contact. A piezo actuator is provided, which keeps the working or switchover contact closed when the relay coil is de-energized as a result of the actuation of the piezo actuator.
US09224559B2 Unidirectionally switching DC contactor
Disclosed is a unidirectionally switching direct-current contactor, having a double break having two contact points, which each have a fixed contact and a movable contact, wherein the movable contacts are arranged on a contact bridge and wherein a switch arc is formed at each of the contact points when the contact points open, and including an arc quenching device and having at least one blowing device for blowing at least one of the switch arcs from the corresponding contact point. The contactor includes a jumper plate arranged adjacently to the movable contact of the first contact point, wherein the contact bridge and the jumper plate are electrically insulated from each other and the jumper plate is connected potentially to the fixed contact of the second contact point.
US09224554B2 Anti-tilt and rotation techniques for a touchsurface assembly having translating keys
The key assembly comprises a keycap having a touchsurface for receiving a press force that moves the keycap from an unpressed position toward a pressed position. The keycap has first and second ramp contacting features comprising first and second angular protrusions. The first and second angular protrusions have first and second protrusion angles relative to first and second side portions of the keycap (respectively). The key assembly also has a base having first and second ramps that contact the first and second ramp contacting features and guide the keycap in the press direction and the second direction as the keycap moves from the unpressed position toward the pressed position. The base has first and second angular features configured to contact the first and second angular protrusions of the first and second ramp contacting features (respectively) to resist rotation of the keycap as the keycap moves toward the pressed position.
US09224552B2 Keyboard
An exemplary keyboard includes a keyboard shell; a supporting panel arranged to the keyboard shell and having a plurality of elastomer holes therein; a plurality of keycaps arranged on the lastomer holes; a plurality of keycap supports between the supporting panel and the corresponding keycaps; a plurality of elastomers being exposed out of the supporting panel; and an FPC sheet arranged under the supporting panel, and a key signal pads substrate arranged under the FPC sheet; the FPC sheet comprises a key signal pads layer with a plurality of upper key signal pads corresponding to the plurality of elastomers holes and a insulative layer with a plurality of connecting holes under the key signal pads layer; lower key signal pads corresponding to the upper key signal pads are arranged on the key signal pads substrate, the lower key signal pads opposite to the upper key signal pads.
US09224546B2 Brake drive controlling device for promptly switching state of brake from released state to fastened state
A diode includes an anode connected to the other ends of brake coils, and a cathode connected to one end of a smoothing capacitor. A diode includes an anode connected to the other end of the smoothing capacitor, and a cathode connected to one ends of the brake coils. By providing the diodes, energy stored in the brake coils, when at least one of an NPN type transistor and an NPN type transistor is in an on-state, is returned to the smoothing capacitor when the NPN type transistors are in an off-states.
US09224545B2 Electric contactor with flywheel drive and method of switching an electric contactor on and/or off
Disclosed is an electric contactor, in particular to be used in roadways, with the stator and an armature, the armature being connected with a contact region and being movable, during a switching-on operation and/or a switching-off operation of the contactor, from a first to a second position, the contact region being connected in at least one of these positions with a counter-contact region for closing an electric circuit, wherein a pushing device is connected with the armature which is rotational relative to the armature, wherein the pushing device at least temporarily pushes the armature supportively in the movement from the first to the second position of the switching-on and/or switching-off operation.
US09224538B2 Solid electrolytic capacitor element, method for producing same, and tool for producing said solid electrolytic capacitor element
A method of manufacturing a solid electrolytic capacitor element including the steps of forming a semiconductor layer on a dielectric layer formed on surfaces of a plurality of anode bodies at one time. A step of forming a semiconductor layer includes repeating an electrolytic polymerization operation several times by applying a current from a power-feeding terminal that comes into contact with each anode body. Further, at least one of the electrolytic polymerization operations continuously applies a current while changing the amount of current between the range of 5 to 200 μA per power-feeding terminal. Also disclosed is a jig for electrolytic polymerization for forming the semiconductor layer including a plurality of power supply circuits (i) capable of continuously changing the amount of current between a lower limit and an upper limit; and a power-feeding terminals (ii).
US09224532B2 Rolled-up inductor structure for a radiofrequency integrated circuit (RFIC)
A rolled-up inductor structure for a radiofrequency integrated circuit (RFIC) comprises a multilayer sheet in a rolled configuration comprising multiple turns about a longitudinal axis. The multilayer sheet comprises a conductive pattern layer on a strain-relieved layer, and the conductive pattern layer comprises at least one conductive strip having a length extending in a rolling direction. The at least one conductive strip thereby wraps around the longitudinal axis in the rolled configuration. The conductive pattern layer may also comprise two conductive feed lines connected to the conductive strip for passage of electrical current therethrough. The conductive strip serves as an inductor cell of the rolled-up inductor structure.
US09224524B2 Cable termination device
A cable termination device includes a housing and an insertion opening for a cable in order to terminate the cable end so that it is safe to touch. The housing includes a sealing cap and a screw-on unit cooperating therewith. The insertion opening for receiving at least one cable end is provided on the screw-on unit, and the sealing cap has a rounded design toward the outer end.
US09224521B2 Halogen-free polymer resin composition and polymer resin material made by using said composition
The present arrangement is directed to a polymer resin composition having polyvinyl acetate resin having 60 to 80% by weight of vinyl acetate group as a base resin. The composition has the following components based on 100 parts by weight of the base resin: 10 to 15 parts by weight of ethylene resin having a polar group or its copolymer resin; 29 to 40 parts by weight of ether-type polyurethane resin; 140 to 171 parts by weight of aluminum hydrate; 15 to 55 parts by weight of magnesium hydrate and flame retardant aid; 3 to 5 parts by weight of antioxidant; 10 to 15 parts by weight of plasticizer; and 4 to 0.5 parts by weight of crosslinking agent.
US09224514B2 Cathode active material for lithium ion battery, cathode for lithium ion battery, and lithium ion battery
There is provided a cathode active material for a lithium ion battery having good battery properties. The cathode active material for a lithium ion battery is represented by a composition formula: LixNi1−yMyO2+αwherein M is one or more selected from Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, Al, Bi, Sn, Mg, Ca, B, and Zr; 0.9≦x≦1.2; 00.1, and has a moisture content measured by Karl Fischer titration at 300° C. of 1100 ppm or lower.
US09224502B1 Techniques for detection and treating memory hole to local interconnect marginality defects
Techniques are presented for the determination and handling of defects in non-volatile arrays, particularly those having a 3D or BiCS type of arrangement where NAND strings run in a vertical direction relative to the substrate. In such an arrangement, the NAND strings are formed along memory holes and connected to global bit lines, and are separated into blocks or sub-blocks by vertical local interconnects, such as for source lines, and connected to a corresponding global line. To determine defects, an AC stress can be applied between the interconnects and the bit lines/NAND strings, after which a defect determination operation can be performed. This technique can also be implemented at the system level by having the controller instruct the memory to perform it as part of an adaptive defect determination operation.
US09224498B2 Shift register unit, gate driving device for display and liquid crystal display
A shift register unit includes an input module for inputting a second clock signal or a third clock signal, and for inputting a frame starting signal, a first clock signal, a low voltage signal, a reset signal as well as a first signal and a second signal transmitted from a next neighboring shift register unit; a processing module for generating a gate driving signal and allowing a level of at least one of first junctions formed by at least two TFTs to be maintained at low level in a frame interval during which the second clock signal or the third clock signal inputted from the input module is maintained at low level; and an output module for transmitting the gate driving signal generated by the processing module.
US09224494B2 Erase speed adjustment for endurance of non-volatile storage
Techniques are disclosed herein for erasing non-volatile storage. The erase has two or more phases. The first phase includes erasing a group of non-volatile storage elements at a first speed until the group of non-volatile storage elements pass a first verify level. The second phase is performed after the group of non-volatile storage elements pass the first verify level. The second phase includes erasing the group of non-volatile storage elements at a second speed that is less than the first speed until the group of non-volatile storage elements pass a second verify level that is lower than the first verify level. Erasing at the first speed results in a fast erase without significant risk of over-erasing the storage elements. Erasing at the second speed during the second phase prevents or reduces over-erasure which could damage the storage elements.
US09224493B2 Nonvolatile memory device and read method thereof
A nonvolatile memory device has improved reliability by compensating a threshold voltage of a flash memory cell. A nonvolatile memory device includes a memory cell array and a voltage generator for supplying a select read voltage to a select word line and an unselect read voltage to unselected word lines when a read operation is performed, and supplying a verify voltage to a select word line and the unselect read voltage to unselected word lines when a program operation is performed. The voltage generator supplies a first unselect read voltage to at least one between an upper word line and a lower word line adjacent to the select word line when the program operation is performed, and supplies a second unselected read voltage to at least one between the upper word line and the lower word line adjacent to the select word line when the read operation is performed.
US09224490B1 Voltage switch circuit
A voltage switch circuit includes plural transistors, a first control circuit and a second control circuit. The first transistor has a source terminal connected to a first voltage source and a gate terminal connected to a node b1. The second transistor has a source terminal connected to a drain terminal of the first transistor, a gate terminal receiving an enabling signal and a drain terminal connected to a node b2. The third transistor has a source terminal connected to the node b2, a gate terminal connected to a second voltage source and a drain terminal connected to an output terminal. The first control circuit is connected to the node b1. The second control circuit is connected to the output terminal.
US09224488B2 Semiconductor memory device
According to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes the following structure. A memory cell array includes memory cells arranged at positions where bit lines and word lines cross are arranged on a semiconductor substrate. A sense amplifier reads data stored in the memory cell. The hookup region includes a transfer transistor arranged between the memory cell array and the sense amplifier. One end of a current path of the transfer transistor is connected to a first interconnect formed between the semiconductor substrate and the bit line. The other end of the current path is connected to the sense amplifier. A guard ring region is arranged between the memory cell array and the hookup region. A contact plug is arranged to overlap the guard ring region.
US09224485B2 Nonvolatile memory device and method of programming the same minimizing disturbance from adjacent cells
A nonvolatile memory device and a method of programming the same. The nonvolatile memory device includes a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells and a program control logic circuit controlling the memory cell array. The program control logic circuit programs a first memory cell so that the threshold voltage of the first memory cell corresponding to data of erasure state is higher than the threshold voltage of a second memory cell corresponding to data of program state, in the memory cell array. The nonvolatile memory device controlled in this manner can provide higher reliability.
US09224473B1 Word line repair for 3D vertical channel memory
A memory device includes a plurality of stacks of conductive strips alternating with insulating strips, including at least a bottom plane of conductive strips, a plurality of intermediate planes of conductive strips, a top plane of conductive strips, and an additional intermediate plane. A plurality of vertical structures is arranged orthogonally to the plurality of stacks. Memory elements are disposed in interface regions at cross-points between side surfaces of the plurality of stacks and the plurality of vertical structures. A stack of linking elements is connected to conductive strips in respective intermediate planes and to the additional intermediate plane. Decoding circuitry is coupled to the plurality of intermediate planes and the additional intermediate plane, and is configured to replace an intermediate plane indicated to be defective with the additional intermediate plane.
US09224471B2 Stabilization of resistive memory
The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods including stabilization of resistive memory. A number of embodiments include applying a programming signal to a resistive memory cell, wherein the programming signal includes a first portion having a first polarity and a second portion having a second polarity, wherein the second polarity is opposite the first polarity.
US09224460B2 Solid memory
Recording and erasing of data in PRAM have hitherto been performed based on a change in physical characteristics caused by primary phase-transformation of a crystalline state and an amorphous state of a chalcogen compound including Te which serves as a recording material. Since, however, a recording thin film is formed of a polycrystal but not a single crystal, a variation in resistance values occurs and a change in volume caused upon phase-transition has placed a limit on the number of times of readout of the record. In one embodiment, the above problem is solved by preparing a solid memory having a superlattice structure with a thin film containing Sb and a thin film containing Te. The solid memory can realize the number of times of repeated recording and erasing of 1015.
US09224458B2 Bipolar switching memory cell with built-in “on” state rectifying current-voltage characteristics
A memory array is disclosed having bipolar current-voltage (IV) resistive random access memory cells with built-in “on” state rectifying IV characteristics. In one embodiment, a bipolar switching resistive random access memory cell may have a metal/solid electrolyte/semiconductor stack that forms a Schottky diode when switched to the “on” state. In another embodiment, a bipolar switching resistive random access memory cell may have a metal/solid electrolyte/tunnel barrier/electrode stack that forms a metal-insulator-metal device when switched to the “on” state. Methods of operating the memory array are also disclosed.
US09224454B2 Multi-channel physical interfaces and methods for static random access memory devices
An integrated circuit (IC) device can include a static random access memory (SRAM) section comprising a plurality of memory banks; and an interface comprising physical connections for more than eight memory channels, the connections for each memory channel including an address section including connections for SRAM control inputs and a complete address to access the memory banks, and a data section including data inputs and outputs (data IOs) to transfer data for one memory bank.
US09224452B2 Heterogeneous memory systems, and related methods and computer-readable media for supporting heterogeneous memory access requests in processor-based systems
Heterogeneous memory systems, and related methods and computer-readable media for supporting heterogeneous memory access requests in processor-based systems are disclosed. A heterogeneous memory system is comprised of a plurality of homogeneous memories that can be accessed for a given memory access request. Each homogeneous memory has particular power and performance characteristics. In this regard, a memory access request can be advantageously routed to one of the homogeneous memories in the heterogeneous memory system based on the memory access request, and power and/or performance considerations. The heterogeneous memory access request policies may be predefined or determined dynamically based on key operational parameters, such as read/write type, frequency of page hits, and memory traffic, as non-limiting examples. In this manner, memory access request times can be optimized to be reduced without the need to make tradeoffs associated with only having one memory type available for storage.
US09224448B2 Nano-electro-mechanical based memory
A non-volatile memory arrangement comprising a plurality of cells is disclosed. In one aspect, each cell comprises a memory element and a read selector in series. Further, the memory element is a nano-electro-mechanical switch comprising an anchor, a beam fixed to the anchor, a first and second control gate, for controlling the position of the beam, a first output node against which the beam can be positioned. The cell also comprises a read selector comprising a first selector terminal, a second selector terminal, the first selector terminal connected to the first output node. The first respectively second control gates of switches of a same word are connected together by a first respectively second write word line serving as control gate.
US09224446B2 Multi-port memory circuit, accessing method and compiler
A memory circuit includes first and second word lines, a plurality of memory cells and a timing controller. Each memory cell includes a first access port and a second access port. The first access port is coupled to the first word line and configured to be enabled by a first word line signal on the first word line. The second access port is coupled to the second word line and configured to be enabled by a second word line signal on the second word line. The timing controller is configured to receive a timing select signal and to control a time delay between the first word line signal and the second word line signal to be different in response to different first and second states of the timing select signal.
US09224445B2 Semiconductor memory apparatus with main memory blocks and redundant memory blocks sharing a common global data line
A semiconductor memory apparatus includes: a memory area including a plurality of memory banks having main memory areas configured to transmit and receive data to and from the outside through a plurality of global data lines, respectively, and one or more redundancy memory areas configured to use any one of the global data lines as a common global data line; and a controller configured to control data to be transmitted and received through the common global data line, as a redundancy program mode, a redundancy read mode, or a redundancy erase mode is enabled.
US09224444B1 Method and apparatus for VT invariant SDRAM write leveling and fast rank switching
A method, non-transitory computer readable medium and apparatus for synchronizing a clock signal data path, a write strobe signal data path and a write data signal data path are disclosed. The method determines an amount of phase shift between the clock signal data path and the write strobe signal data path and between the clock signal data path and the write data signal data path, gates a clock signal to generate strobe clock signals that are phase shifted by at least one phase shift, applies a fine phase shift to the strobe clock signals where the strobe clock signals have an overall phase shift that is approximately equal to the amount of phase shift, and synchronizes a launch of the clock signal data path, the write strobe signal data path, and the write data signal data path using the strobe clock signals with the overall phase shift.
US09224441B2 Nonvolatile memory device using variable resistive element and memory system having the same
A nonvolatile memory device, which has an improved read reliability through a refresh operation, and a memory system, are provided. The nonvolatile memory device includes a resistive memory cell, a reference resistor corresponding to the resistive memory cell, a reference sense amplifier electrically connected to the reference resistor and configured to change a transition time of an output value of the reference resistor, and a refresh request signal generator configured to output the refresh request signal for the resistive memory cell when the transition time of an output value of the reference resistor is in a preset refresh requiring period.
US09224424B2 Data recording/reproducing device, archive system, and recording control method
A data recording/reproducing device for recording data on a recordable area of a recording medium in an arbitrary recording unit, includes a control unit that controls the operation of the data recording/reproducing device. The control unit designates a recording unit where data on the recordable area is not recorded as a non-use area, determines whether data has been recorded, or unrecorded in the recording unit on the recordable area, determines the recording unit designated as the non-use area to have been recorded, and records data in the recording unit determined to be unrecorded when data is recorded on the recording medium, under the control.
US09224423B1 Re-writing of initial sectors in a storage device
Technologies are described herein for rewriting the initial sectors of a data track on a recording medium of a storage device in order to reduce the occurrence of initial sector weak writes and/or adjacent track erasure. Upon receiving a write command at the storage device, a plurality of sequential segments on the recording media targeted by the write command is determined. The plurality of sequential segments is written to the recording medium, and then data is rewritten to an initial segment of the plurality of sequential segments.
US09224417B2 Casing for receiving an extractible hard drive and including a rocking cam for extracting said hard drive
A casing is provided which includes a housing for receiving an extractable element and an extractor member mounted in the vicinity of the housing. The extractor member includes a tilting cam having a bearing end extending into the housing and an actuation end co-operating with a slidable lever having a drivable first end and a second end provided with a recess having the actuation end of the cam passing therethrough. The actuation end of the tilting cam includes a rear edge provided with an indentation and resilient return means holding said rear edge pressed against a rear end of the recess so that the rear end of the recess drops into the indentation at the end of insertion of the extractable element.
US09224412B2 Perpendicular magnetic recording disk with template layer formed of a blend of nanoparticles
A continuous-media perpendicular magnetic recording disk has a granular recording layer (RL) with controlled grain pitch distribution and controlled long range ordering of the grains. The disk includes a substrate with a template layer for the RL that comprises a blend of at least two different sized nanoparticles. The nanoparticles have a nanoparticle core with attached polymer ligands. The nanoparticle cores protrude above the surface of the template layer to provide a nonplanar surface topology. The blend of two sizes of nanoparticles causes the RL to have low grain pitch distribution and a disruption of long range ordering so that there are no large magnetic rafts. One of the nanoparticles types has a diameter greater than 105% of the diameter of the other nanoparticle type and is present in the total blend of nanoparticles of between about 5% and 35% or between about 55% and 90%.
US09224411B1 Magnetic layers having granular exchange tuning layer
An apparatus includes a first magnetic layer including a plurality of grains. The first magnetic layer has a first anisotropy value. The apparatus also includes a second magnetic layer including a plurality of grains. The second magnetic layer has a second anisotropy value that is different than the first anisotropy value. The apparatus also includes an exchange tuning layer including a plurality of grains and located between the first and second magnetic layers. The exchange tuning layer has stronger inter-granular exchange coupling than the first and second magnetic layers. The exchange tuning layer has an anisotropy value less than the first and second anisotropy values.
US09224410B1 Suspension having microactuator grounded to opposite side of metal support layer
In a dual stage actuated suspension, the conductive adhesive that forms the ground connection bridge from the ground electrode of the PZT microactuator to the grounded stainless steel layer of the flexure, extends from the ground electrode of the PZT around an edge of the stainless steel layer and to a side of the stainless steel layer that is opposite the side of the stainless steel layer to which the PZT is mounted. An aperture in the load beam allows a stream of hot air during the epoxy cure step to be directed directly onto the conductive epoxy ground connection bridge, thus allowing that conductive epoxy ground connection to be reliably and completely cured.
US09224409B2 Tolerance ring with grouped waves
A tolerance ring can include a generally cylindrical body having a sidewall. The sidewall can include a first unformed section and a gap in the first unformed section. The gap can extend along an entire length of the body to establish a split in the body. The sidewall can also include a second unformed section opposite the first unformed section, a first wave bank flanking the first unformed section with the gap, and a second wave bank flanking the first unformed section with the gap. The wave banks can be equally spaced around a circumference of the body of the tolerance ring and the body of the tolerance ring can be symmetrical about a center axis that extends from a center of the tolerance ring and bisects the gap in the first unformed section.
US09224406B2 Technique for estimating particular audio component
Candidate frequencies per unit segment of an audio signal are identified. First processing section identifies an estimated train that is a time series of candidate frequencies, each selected for a different one of the segments, arranged over a plurality of the unit segments and that has a high likelihood of corresponding to a time series of fundamental frequencies of a target component. Second processing section identifies a state train of states, each indicative of one of sound-generating and non-sound-generating states of the target component in a different one of the segments, arranged over the unit segments. Frequency information which designates, as a fundamental frequency of the target component, a candidate frequency corresponding to the unit segment in the estimated train is generated for each unit segment corresponding to the sound-generating state. Frequency information indicative of no sound generation is generated for each unit segment corresponding to the non-sound-generating state.
US09224402B2 Wideband speech parameterization for high quality synthesis, transformation and quantization
A method for speech parameterization and coding of a continuous speech signal. The method comprises dividing said speech signal into a plurality of speech frames, and for each one of the plurality of speech frames, modeling said speech frame by a first harmonic modeling to produce a plurality of harmonic model parameters, reconstructing an estimated frame signal from the plurality of harmonic model parameters, subtracting the estimated frame signal from the speech frame to produce a harmonic model residual, performing at least one second harmonic modeling analysis on the first harmonic model residual to determine at least one set of second harmonic model components, removing the at least one set of second harmonic model components from the first harmonic model residual to produce a harmonically-filtered residual signal, and processing the harmonically-filtered residual signal with analysis by synthesis techniques to produce vectors of codebook indices and corresponding gains.
US09224398B2 Compressed sampling audio apparatus
Apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code, the at least one memory and the computer code configured to with the at least one processor cause the apparatus to at least perform: transforming an audio signal into a sparse domain signal, the sparse domain signal representing the audio signal; transforming the sparse domain signal into a measurement domain signal; determining a sampling pattern dependent on the measurement domain signal; and measuring the measurement domain signal dependent on the sampling pattern.
US09224396B2 Enhanced context awareness for speech recognition
A method comprising establishing a call connection (200) between at least a first and a second terminal; monitoring (202), by at least the first terminal, a conversation during the call in order to detect (204) at least one predetermined context-related keyword repeated in at least the first and the second terminal; and in response to detecting (210) at least one repeated predetermined context-related keyword, providing an indication (212, 214, 216) about the detected context-related keyword to a user of at least the first terminal, said indication enabling opening an application linked to said context-related keyword.
US09224386B1 Discriminative language model training using a confusion matrix
Features are disclosed for discriminative training of speech recognition language models. A confusion matrix can be generated from acoustic model training data for use in discriminative training. The confusion matrix can include probabilities for the substitution, insertion, and/or deletion of some or all subword units of a language. Probabilities can be calculated based on the presence or absence of subword units in a processed acoustic model training data audio recording when compared to a correct transcription of the recording. The probabilities can be used to generate erroneous transcriptions in language model training corpora, and the language model can be trained to distinguish the erroneous transcriptions from the correct transcriptions.
US09224385B1 Unified recognition of speech and music
Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for unified recognition of speech and music. One method includes an operation for starting an audio recognition mode by a computing device while receiving an audio stream. Segments of the audio stream are analyzed as the audio stream is received, where the analysis includes simultaneous checking for speech and music. Further, the method includes an operation for determining a first confidence score for speech and a second confidence score for music. As the audio stream is received, additional segments are analyzed until the end of the audio stream or until the first and second confidence scores indicate that the audio stream has been identified as speech or music. Further, results are presented on a display based on the identification of the audio stream, including text entered if the audio stream was speech or song information if the audio stream was music.
US09224380B2 Audio device, and methods for designing and making the audio devices
An audio device is provided with a plurality of Helmholtz resonators. Whereas a cross-sectional area of a neck and a volume of a cavity communicating with the neck are same between at least two of the Helmholtz resonators, a ratio of minimum and maximum values of distances between a center of gravity of the cross section of the neck and individual points defining an outer periphery of the cross section is different between said at least two of the Helmholtz resonators.
US09224379B2 Acoustic decorative material
An acoustic decorative sheet includes a film layer, a glass cloth layer, and an adhesive layer separating the film layer from the glass cloth layer. The adhesive layer is adhered to the film layer and the glass cloth layer. The film layer and the adhesive layer have a plurality of micro bores disposed there through. The micro bores have a diameter in a range from 20 to 500 micrometers and number from 2 to 700 microbores per cm2. An acoustic assembly includes the acoustic decorative sheet, a substrate; and an air gap at least partially separating the acoustic decorative sheet from the substrate.
US09224375B1 Musical modification effects
Systems, including methods and apparatus, for applying audio effects to a non-ambient signal, based at least in part on information received in an ambient audio signal. Exemplary effects that can be applied using the present teachings include generation of harmony notes, pitch-correction of melody notes, and tempo-based effects that rely on beat detection.
US09224373B2 Musical notation systems for guitar fretboard, visual displays thereof, and uses thereof
There are provided visual displays for graphically showing on a visual representation of a guitar fretboard a location relationship between a given chord and its chord tones as well as for graphically showing on a visual representation of a guitar fretboard a location relationship between a given position and its scale tones. The present disclosure also relates to a method for visually expressing, on a visual representation of a guitar fretboard, the location relationship between a given chord, its chord tones and its scale tones, in a given key; a music notation method for representing a location relationship between a given chord, its chord tones and the scale tones of the scale to which said given chord belong, on a visual representation of at least a portion of a guitar fretboard; and visual display for expressing musical harmonic functions.
US09224364B2 Apparatus and method for interacting with handheld carrier hosting media content
Improved techniques for interacting with one or more handheld carriers hosting media content are disclosed. The handheld carrier hosting media content may be sensed, and at least a portion of the media content may be integrated into operation of a media activity provided by a computing device, upon recognizing the media activity and the media content. The media activity provided by the computing device may involve creating or editing an electronic document. The integration of the media content into operation of the media activity may involve insertion or importation of the media content into the electronic document.
US09224361B2 Method, device and system for compensating brightness of a liquid crystal module
A method for compensating the brightness of a liquid crystal module involves acquiring an image of a liquid crystal module to obtain the acquired image. The acquired image of the liquid crystal module is compared with a standard image to find a dark region. The compensation coefficient of each pixel in the dark region is calculated. In a display control circuit of the liquid crystal module, the calculated compensation coefficient of pixels is stored for compensating the backlight unit corresponding to pixels in dark region.
US09224353B2 Liquid crystal monitor using DC-DC converter
A liquid crystal monitor includes a first voltage conversion circuit (e.g. a DC/DC converter), which converts an external DC voltage into a first internal DC voltage supplied to CPU circuitry, and a second voltage conversion circuit, which converts the external DC voltage into a second internal DC voltage for driving a backlight of a liquid crystal panel. The external DC voltage is set proximate to a center value between the first internal DC voltage and the second internal DC voltage. This allows the liquid crystal monitor to be equipped with a battery unit producing a single external DC voltage, thus reducing weight compared to a conventional liquid crystal monitor.
US09224351B1 Digitally controlled voltage generator
A digitally controlled voltage generator is disclosed for use in applications requiring fine resolution voltage control, such as generating a common voltage for a liquid crystal display. A constant resistance digital to analog converter (DAC) is configured to provide appropriate voltage steps by tuning bias resistors to generate desirable reference voltages for the DAC. The bias resistors are configured to be tuned after placement and routing steps in an integrated circuit design.
US09224350B2 Liquid crystal display device and driving method of liquid crystal display device
In one frame period, a field period in which an image signal is input to pixels in odd-numbered rows and a field period in which an image signal is input to pixels in even-numbered rows are alternately provided. Hues of light transmitted to a pixel portion from a light supply portion are different between two sequential field periods. Further, in a plurality of field periods in one frame period, hues of light transmitted to the pixel portion from the light supply portion are different among a plurality of field periods in which image signals are input to the pixels in the odd-numbered rows, and/or those are different among a plurality of field periods in which image signals are input to the pixels in the even-numbered rows.
US09224349B2 Display device and driving method thereof
A disclosed display device includes a display panel with data lines and gate lines, the gate lines including odd-numbered gate lines and even-numbered gate lines. The display device also includes a timing controller to generate a gate output enable signal, and a gate output enable signal division circuit to extract odd-numbered high logic periods of the gate output enable signal to output a first gate output enable signal and to extract even-numbered high logic periods of the gate output enable signal to output a second gate output enable signal. The display device further includes a gate driver to supply a first gate pulse to an odd-numbered gate line in response to the first gate output enable signal and a second gate pulse to an even-numbered gate line in response to the second output enable signal.
US09224348B2 Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display is disclosed. The liquid crystal display includes a data driving circuit, that converts digital video data into positive and negative data voltages, supplies the positive and negative data voltages to data lines of a liquid crystal display panel, and causes the data voltages supplied to the same data line to have the same polarity during one frame period, and a gate driving circuit sequentially supplying a gate pulse to gate lines of the liquid crystal display panel. Subpixels of the liquid crystal display panel include first and second subpixels positioned adjacent to each other in a horizontal direction. Each of the first and second subpixels is successively charged to the data voltages of two colors.
US09224340B2 Predictive power control in a flat panel display
A Predictive Power Control (PPC) device within a TCON Bias IC that addresses an overdesign inefficiency and enables a low cost solution. A PPC block utilizes the next frame image data and interacts with a pulse width modulation (PWM) control block of internal regulators to proactively prepare the output voltages of a power regulator for the power requirements in one or more future frames, for example.
US09224339B2 Liquid crystal display device
A liquid crystal display device comprising a backlight and a pixel portion including first to 2n-th scan lines, wherein, in a first case of expressing a color image, first pixels controlled by the first to n-th scan lines are configured to express a first image using at least one of first to third hues supplied in a first rotating order, and second pixels controlled by the (n+1)-th to 2n-th scan lines are configured to express a second image using at least one of the first to third hues supplied in a second rotating order, wherein, in a second case of expressing a monochrome image, the first and second pixels controlled by the first to 2n-th scan lines are configured to express the monochrome image by external light reflected by the reflective pixel electrode, and wherein the first rotating order is different from the second rotating order.
US09224330B2 Display device for reducing dynamic false contour
A display device includes a display panel and a timing controller. The display panel includes a plurality of pixels, and the timing controller determines a driving method that includes a first sub-frame arrangement method and a second sub-frame arrangement method. An arrangement of weight values of a plurality of sub-frames of the second sub-frame arrangement method is given in an opposite order from an arrangement of weight values of a plurality of sub-frames of the first sub-frame arrangement method. The timing controller applies the first sub-frame arrangement method to a first pixel among the pixels, and applies the second sub-frame arrangement method to a second pixel that is disposed next to the first pixel.
US09224323B2 Systems and methods for increasing spatial or temporal resolution for dual modulated display systems
Dual modulation display systems comprising a first modulation layer and a second modulation layer are disclosed, such that the first modulation layer and the second modulation layer are offset by a desired distance. In one embodiment, the offset distance may be an actual spatial offset distance in one, two or a preferred direction. In another embodiment, the offset distance may be a rotational offset between the two layers. In yet another embodiment, the offset may be a temporal offset between the images appearing on the first modulation layer and the second modulation layer. In yet another embodiment, the offset may be a combination of spatial, rotational and/or temporal offsets. The display system may comprise a controller capable of mapping input image data onto the first and second modulation layers via intermediate signals and the intermediate signals may be some function of the offset.
US09224321B2 Projector for performing trapezoidal distortion correction and method of controlling projector
A projector includes a deformation ratio calculating unit that calculates a first deformation ratio on a reference point set in a first image when performing a correction process with respect to a first image data, a deformation ratio determination unit that determines a second deformation ratio of the first image based on the first deformation ratio calculated by the deformation ratio calculation unit, a synthesis image generation unit that generates synthesis image data indicating a synthesis image which is generated by synthesizing a second image indicated by second image data and the first image with a size changed based on the second deformation ratio, a correction unit that performs a correction process with respect to the synthesis image data, and a projection unit that projects the synthesis image based on the synthesis image data which is subjected to the correction process.
US09224320B2 Projection display providing additional modulation and related methods
A projection display system includes a spatial modulator that is controlled to compensate for flare in a lens of the projector. The spatial modulator increases achievable intra-frame contrast and facilitates increased peak luminance without unacceptable black levels. Some embodiments provide 3D projection systems in which the spatial modulator is combined with a polarization control panel.
US09224319B2 Method for automatically altering a theme associated with a room or similar space
A method for changing a theme associated with a given space (e.g., restaurant). A wall system includes a wall panel having multiple themes depicted thereon or multiple wall panels each having a theme depicted thereon. Using a series of winches, chain drives, cables and pulleys or the like, the wall panels are moved to change the theme of the space. A ceiling system includes two ceiling panels movable via a series of winches, chain drives, cables and pulleys. Once separated the ceiling panels expose a theme different than that depicted while closed. Audio and/or visual cues may be provided to alert patrons to a theme change.
US09224306B2 Soil behavior simulator for agricultural implement blades
A soil behavior simulator is provided that includes a particle recirculation system configured to flow particulate material along an agricultural implement blade, and a drive unit configured to drive the agricultural implement blade in rotation.
US09224304B2 Computing method and system with detached sensor in a network environment
One embodiment includes a computer-implemented method and system in a network environment using at least a display and a detached sensor. Another embodiment includes a computer-implemented system helping a user learn using a detached imaging sensor. In yet another embodiment, a computer-implemented system monitors automatically more than once a user's behavior while the user is working on materials. Through monitoring the user's voluntary or involuntary behavior, the system determines what to present by the display. The presentation could include providing rewards, punishments, stimulation, and other materials. The system can also react by asking the user a question. Based on the user's response, the system may change to more appropriate materials, or different presentation styles.
US09224295B2 Automated system for preventing vehicle bunching
The present invention contemplates a distributed automatic control system for preventing the vehicle bunching. Information of vehicle locations is automatically detected and used to determine the positions and velocities of vehicles along a route. Vehicles pass predetermined points, such as stations, along the route. Information about whether the vehicle skipped the station, arrived at the station, or departed from the station, is automatically calculated based on the position and velocity information. This information is distributed among the vehicles that belong to the same route. An in-vehicle controller dynamically calculates holding times at each station and displays the information to the driver so that buses do not get too close to one another, thereby preventing bunching while maintaining appropriate speeds of the vehicles.
US09224293B2 Apparatus and system for monitoring and managing traffic flow
An apparatus and system for monitoring and managing traffic flow. The system includes a plurality of remote sensor devices arranged in a plurality of vehicles, a plurality of remote communication hub devices operatively arranged along one or more roadways and in communication with the plurality of remote sensor devices, a central server, a network interface in communication with the central server and the plurality of remote communication hub devices over a network, and a shared database in communication with the central server. The central server is configured to receive traffic data from the plurality of remote sensor devices over the network, update traffic data in the shared database, periodically calculate an optimal traffic flow for one or more of vehicles traveling along the one or more roadways based on the updated traffic data, and transmit timing adjustments over the network to one or more traffic light intersections based on the optimal traffic flow calculations. The network interface is configured to send and receive traffic data. The traffic data includes vehicle location information and network traffic congestion information.
US09224287B2 Door ajar detection and recovery for a wireless door sensor
A refrigerated container system is described that includes a wireless personal area network (WPAN) including a plurality of wireless sensor nodes and a coordinator node through which the sensors provide sensor data to a controller for the refrigerated container system. The wireless sensors and the coordinator incorporate a variety of features that ensure efficient utilization of battery life by preventing unintended pairing of sensors with other WPANs and excessive sensor signal processing arising from door chatter. Finally, pairing is performed without pressing a button on the wireless door sensor. Instead, the sensor's magnetic reed switch is enlisted to detect swiping of a magnet by a user to enter a pairing mode.
US09224278B2 Automated method and system for detecting the presence of a lit cigarette
An automated method and system for detecting the presence of a smoking product utilizing a near infrared video-processing unit in real time. One or more near infrared (NIR) video capturing units can be configured to capture a video feed. The video feed can be processed by the video-processing unit in order to detect a smoking product (e.g., a lit cigarette) within a field of view of the video capturing unit. A near infrared video sequence can be read and analyzed for the presence of a “hot spot” of a predetermined size based on pixel color information. In some cases, the motion of the hot spot can be tracked in response to the detection of the hot spot. An alarm signal can also be triggered in some cases, if the pattern of motion is consistent with that of a cigarette being smoked.
US09224276B2 Writing underlay that generates awakening effect
Power of concentration of a person at a study time usually declines with the passage of time. However, a practical and concrete method of actively providing a stimulus that makes the person less drowsy, that is, a device that realizes provision of a local exercise stimulus that vibrates a part of a human body, has not been developed. The invention provides an underlay that is used as a stationery product and that generates an awakening effect, the underlay having plural shapes of protrusions and indentations at an upper surface side of the underlay.
US09224275B2 Media processing method using multiple processing units for performing multiple processes
A media processing method comprising receiving, by a first connection unit, a command sent from a host computer; and detecting, by an external device control unit, a process that can be executed by an external processing device. One or more controlling operations are performed by a control unit based on the command received by the first connection unit. Such control entails (i) executing a first process by a first processing unit, or (ii) executing a second process by a second processing unit when the external processing device cannot execute the command, the second process being different than the first process, or (iii) transmitting the command by a second connection unit to the external processing device when the external processing device can execute the command.
US09224274B1 System and method for financial services device usage
A system and method is provided to enable a financial services device, such as, for example, an ATM or financial services kiosk, to support a variety of card types. The card may be used for login purposes. The financial services device according to exemplary embodiments may be capable of supporting both magnetic strip only cards and EMV type cards. A card is inserted into a card reader, the card type is determined, and the card is removed. When an EMV card is recognized, the financial services may request the card be reinserted into the card reader whereupon it is clamped and held for the duration of interaction with the financial services device.
US09224269B2 Computer-implemented methods and computer systems for enabling personalized game betting and lottery playing
In some embodiments, the instant invention provides for a computer-implemented method, performed by a specifically programmed computer system, that that includes: displaying choices to be selected to define a personalized betting game; receiving selected choices, identifying: i) an event, ii) a plurality of markets, and iii) a plurality of potential outcomes; establishing a personalized data structure representative of data relationships among the selected choices, hereby resulting in a personalized betting game of a user; automatically updating the at least one first personalized data structure based, at least in part, on real-time changes; receiving an entry payment from the user to play the at least one first personalized betting game; determining an actual outcome of the personalized betting game; and determining a reward to be distributed to the user.
US09224258B2 Image reading device
An image reading device having a conveying unit for conveying an irradiated member that has a hologram area in a conveying direction; a first light source for applying light to an irradiated part in the hologram area; and a second light source separated from the first light source along the conveying direction and applying light to an irradiated part in the hologram area when the hologram area is conveyed by a prescribed distance. An irradiation angle at which the irradiated part is irradiated with the light of the first light source is made to be different from an irradiation angle at which the irradiated part is irradiated with the light of the second light source when the hologram part is conveyed by the prescribed distance. Lights reflected by the hologram area are respectively received to detect an electric signal of the hologram area of the irradiated member.
US09224257B2 Payment authorized lock system and methods of making and using the same
A payment authorized door and/or gate lock system that controls access to a given area through the processing, storage and recollection of data input through a touchscreen user interface.
US09224254B2 Display apparatus
An apparatus comprises a display, a communication device, and a controller. The communication device performs communication with a remote control system. The system comprises a control head, a shift actuator, and a throttle actuator. The head designates a shift position and a throttle opening. The shift actuator drives a shift mechanism in accordance with the shift position. The throttle actuator drives the throttle mechanism in accordance with the throttle opening. The communication device receives at least one of the shift position, the throttle opening and ID data of malfunction in the system. The controller causes the display to display the shift position, the throttle opening, or the type or cause of the malfunction.
US09224245B2 Mesh animation
In one aspect, in general, parallel image and depth maps are acquired of a subject using a three-dimensional camera on a common and dense set of pixel locations. A two-dimensional mesh animation is determined based on motion tracking in the acquired images. The two-dimensional mesh animation is then combined with the depth maps for form three-dimensional mesh animation suitable for rendering.
US09224244B2 Parameterized graphical representation of buildings
The invention relates to generating a three-dimensional (3D) graphical representation of a building. The method comprises establishing appearance control data comprising information on parameterized architectural features of the building and on building blocks which are fragments indicative of the building, and retrieving template data from a database based on references in the appearance control data, wherein the template data relates to a prefabricated graphical representation of the building blocks. The method further comprises, for each building block, calculating a 3D graphical representation of the building block based on the respective template data and the appearance control data, and combining the 3D graphical representations of the building blocks based on the appearance control data to generate the 3D graphical representation of the building.
US09224237B2 Simulating three-dimensional views using planes of content
Approaches enable image content (e.g., still or video content) to be displayed in such a way that the image content will appear, to a viewer, to include portions with different locations in physical space, with the relative positioning of those portions being determined at least in part upon a current relative position and/or orientation of the viewer with respect to the device, as well as changes in that relative position and/or orientation. For example, image content can be grouped or otherwise contained or assigned to different planes, levels, or other such groupings of content. The planes of content can enable image content included within those planes to be displayed to provide a viewer with an appearance or view of the content that appears to be positioned and/or displayed in 3D space. As that viewing angle changes, the content can be re-rendered or otherwise updated to display the image content from a perspective that reflects the change in viewing angle.
US09224234B2 System and method for generating product visualizations
This disclosure includes a method for electronically generating a single image for product visualization. The method comprises receiving a selection of a first variation of a first consumer product layer with a first depth attribute from a plurality of variations of the first consumer product layer, each variation comprising at least one surface. The method further includes receiving a selection of a second variation of a second consumer product layer with a second depth attribute from a plurality of variations of the second consumer product layer, each variation comprising at least one surface. The method also includes layering the first variation of the first consumer product layer in the single image based at least on the first depth attribute; and layering the second variation of the second consumer product layer in the single image based at least on the second depth attribute. Related systems and apparatuses are also disclosed.
US09224226B2 Image display device for direct drawing apparatus, and recording medium
An image display device for direct drawing apparatus for performing direct drawing comprising: an acquisition part for acquiring design data in a vector format describing the pattern; a specified parameter setting part for setting a specified parameter to be used for RIP development of the design data; a processing area setting part for setting a processing area of the design data to be subjected to RIP development; a display RIP development part for performing RIP development of a portion of the design data, which corresponds to the processing area, by using the specified parameter, to thereby obtain a specified image; and a display part for visibly displaying the specified image, wherein the RIP development performed by the display RIP development part is a display RIP development in which the amount of processed data is smaller than that in drawing RIP development for the direct drawing.
US09224211B2 Method and system for motion detection in an image
Embodiments for moving object detection in an image are disclosed. These include detecting a moving object in an input image by selecting video frames that are visually similar to the input image, generating a model motion image by estimating motion for each selected video frame, and detecting, using the model motion image, a moving object in the input image based on differences between the model motion image and the input image.
US09224207B2 Segmentation co-clustering
An approach to segmentation or clustering of a set of elements combines separate procedures and uses training data for those procedures on labeled data. This approach is applied to elements being components of an image of text (e.g., printed or handwritten). In some examples, the elements are connected sets of pixels. In images of text, the clusters can correspond to individual lines. The approach provides improved clustering performance as compared to any one of the procedures taken alone.
US09224197B2 Method and apparatus for implementing optical roll scanning to identify defects in roll components used in an image production device
A system and method are provided for employing a unique optical roll scanning technique, scheme or process for detecting and identifying periodic surface defects associated with rolls usable in image production devices. An apparatus is provided for mounting the roll to implement an inspection technique that facilitates forming an image of a surface of the roll by rotating the roll through an entire cycle above a full width scanner device. The formed image of the surface of the scanned roll is filtered and analyzed particularly by applying a Fourier analysis technique, and/or by subjecting the filtered image data to a series of fast Fourier transforms (FFTs), potentially including 2D FFTs. The analysis process allows detected periodic defects in the formed image of the surface of the roll under analysis to be characterized by a magnitude of a response in a spatial frequency domain.
US09224196B2 System and method for authentication
Described are methods and systems for determining authenticity. For example, the method may include providing an object of authentication, capturing characteristic data from the object of authentication, deriving authentication data from the characteristic data of the object of authentication, and comparing the authentication data with an electronic database comprising reference authentication data to provide an authenticity score for the object of authentication. The reference authentication data may correspond to one or more reference objects of authentication other than the object of authentication.
US09224194B2 Joint video deblurring and stabilization
Joint video deblurring and stabilization techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a deblurring and stabilization module is configured to jointly deblur and stabilize a video by grouping video frames into spatial-neighboring frame clusters, and building local mesh homographies for video frames in each spatial-neighboring frame cluster.
US09224188B2 Image processing device, method and program
A three-dimensional moving image and an ultrasonic moving image showing a body part making periodic motion are obtained, and, from the moving images, a characteristic part having a shape that changes with the periodic motion is extracted. Phases of the periodic motion captured in the moving images are obtained. For at least one of the moving images, the phases are obtained based on the shape of the extracted characteristic part. For each phase, the positions of the characteristic part shown in the three-dimensional moving image and the ultrasonic moving image are associated with each other based on the extracted characteristic part and the obtained phases. Comparison images are generated by aligning, for each phase, the positions of the characteristic part shown in the three-dimensional moving image and the ultrasonic moving image with each other based on the associated positions of the characteristic part and the phases, and displayed.
US09224184B2 Methods and arrangements for identifying objects
The present disclosure relates generally to digital watermarking and grocery/retail store checkout. One claim recites a system comprising: a 2D camera for capturing imagery of packaged items, the packaged items including digital watermarking printed on product packaging; one or more processors programmed for: prioritizing at least some image areas from within at least one captured imagery frame for digital watermark detection based on: i) area brightness, and on ii) area frame location; and detecting digital watermarks from one or more image areas prioritized from the prioritizing image areas, in which the detecting digital watermarks analyzes image areas in order of prioritization. Of course, other features, combinations and claims are also provided.
US09224180B2 Remotely-executed medical diagnosis and therapy including emergency automation
Devices, systems, methods, and software for providing remote medical diagnosis and therapy to a subject comprising: a module for conducting telecommunications with a telemedicalist; a module for applying a diagnostic or a therapeutic analysis; an apparatus for dispensing one or more medical items from an inventory of medical items, the inventory of medical items risk profiled to a subject, a population, a venue, or a situation; and optionally, a biosensor apparatus.
US09224175B2 Collecting naturally expressed affective responses for training an emotional response predictor utilizing voting on content
Described herein are systems, methods, and computer program products for collecting naturally expressed affective responses for training an emotional response predictor utilizing voting on content. In one embodiment, a label generator is configured to receive a vote, provided by a user, on a segment of content consumed by the user. The label generator determines whether the user consumed the segment during a duration that is shorter than a predetermined threshold, and utilizes the vote to generate a label related to an emotional response to the segment. A training module receives the label and measurement of an affective response of the user taken, at least in part, during a period that starts at most 30 seconds before the vote is provided, and trains the emotional response predictor with the measurement and the label.
US09224168B2 Tuning product policy using observed evidence of customer behavior
A computer adapted for pay-as-you go or other metered use has a policy for determined what measurements to take to detect fraud as well as steps to take when fraud is found. To optimize between good performance and sufficient tests to reduce the risk of fraud, a policy is developed based on observation of the users behavior, using data taken at the computer, data from a payment processor or both. After analysis, an updated policy is securely loaded at the computer to determine what, and how often to measure for suspected fraud.
US09224162B2 Billing gateway charge method and system
The billing gateway charge method and system are disclosed. A charge is processed by receiving a charge API call from a merchant server, detecting a select carrier server from a plurality of servers, transmitting a charge request to the select carrier server, and returning a charge result callback notification to the merchant server. If the charge request fails, the merchant server can submit a new request and an indication of acceptance and failure of the charge request is returned to the merchant server based on the new requests provided that the new request has a new request-id. A continue method allows for managing consumer opt-in in order to complete a transaction. Once the transaction is completed, a refund request from the merchant server can be processed by transmission to the carrier server.
US09224154B2 System and method for administering a loyalty program and processing payments
The present invention is directed to a system and method for administration of a customer loyalty program at a point of sale terminal. The system, in one embodiment, contains a database of customer records for the loyalty program where each customer record contains information about a customer's payment device and information about a customer's mobile device. The system may locate a customer record in a database based on payment device or mobile device information captured at the point of sale terminal and apply any applicable loyalty program discounts. The system may then forward the payment device information to a third-party payment processor for payment processing. The system may print out a receipt at the point of sale terminal indicating any discounts and containing a promotional message. The system may also send a promotional message to the customer's mobile device using the mobile device information stored in the customer's record.
US09224152B2 System and method for intent mining
A method for intent mining is provided. The method includes performing a preliminary search of a constrained source using one or more seed phrases to generate multiple preliminary search results representing different ways of expressing a desired intent. The method also includes identifying each of the plurality of preliminary search results that have expressed the desired intent to generate a plurality of intent results. The method also includes producing multiple action search strings around one or more action verbs in each of the multiple intent results. The method further includes applying each of the multiple action search strings on one or more non-constrained sources to generate multiple action search results.
US09224141B1 Encoding a magnetic stripe of a card with data of multiple cards
A method and apparatus for encoding a magnetic stripe area of a magnetic stripe card with account data from multiple cards are disclosed. The magnetic stripe card (“the card”) can be associated with account data from multiple cards, such as account data from a driver's license and from various payment cards, such as a credit card, a debit card, and a pre-paid gift card. Location information indicating the location of the card can be obtained, and account data for the multiple cards associated with the card can be selected based on a criterion, such as based on the location information. The card includes a magnetic stripe emulator, and the emulator is encoded with account data of the multiple cards, such that with a single swipe of the card through a card reader, the card reader can read the account data of the multiple cards from the magnetic stripe area.
US09224140B2 Near field communication activation and authorization
A method of activation and authorization of a near field communication (NFC) enabled device comprising: receiving login information from an NFC enabled device; sending packet data via a network in response to receiving the login information from the NFC enabled device; and receiving corresponding data from the NFC enabled device in response to the sending of the packet data, the sending of the packet data and the receiving of the corresponding code facilitates the activation and authorization of the NFC enabled device, and the subsequent activation of the NFC device via a NFC link without further authorization of the NFC enabled device, is described herein.
US09224138B2 POS control system, control method of a POS control system, and printing device
A POS control system 1 has a POS terminal 8 that transmits print control data; a printer 12 including a print unit 41, a print control unit 29 that controls the print unit 41 based on the print control data, and a print data communication unit 26 that transmits the print control data by a first WebSocket connection CT1; and a print data process unit 51 that executes a process based on the received print control data.
US09224137B1 System for an automated dispensing and retrieval kiosk for recorded media
A system for an automated dispensing and retrieval kiosk for recorded media includes a kiosk having a plurality of vertical racks arranged in a circular formation, each vertical rack configured for storing a plurality of recorded media. A customer interface allows a customer to select or return a recorded media. A robotic element delivers the selected recorded media from the vertical racks to a media output, at the customer interface. The element also delivers a returned recorded media from a media input at the customer interface to the vertical racks. A computer controls operation of the kiosk, and an internet interface connects the kiosk to the Internet. The kiosk may communicate with a central server and/or other kiosks of a group, to locate a requested recorded media within a kiosk of the group. Once located within the group, the requested media may be reserved for customer pick-up.
US09224135B2 Method and apparatus for adaptive configuration for translation of business messages
A method of adapting a message translation system includes receiving a message from a sender; selecting a configuration set from a stored plurality of configuration sets based on at least two of: information regarding the sender of the message, information regarding a recipient of the message, and information regarding the message type; processing the message in accordance with information derived from the selected configuration set; identifying an issue with the processing of the message in accordance with information derived from the selected configuration set; determining a resolution for the identified issue with the processing of the message in accordance with information derived from the selected configuration set; updating the selected configuration set based upon the determined resolution; reprocessing the message in accordance with information derived from the updated configuration set; and transmitting the message reprocessed in accordance with information derived from the updated configuration set to a recipient.
US09224133B2 Method for establishing interpersonal communication and system
A method includes determining a set of individuals available to participate in a chat event, and determining a pairing of individuals from the first set including a first individual and a second individual, the pairing based on matching criterion. The method also includes providing an invitation to the first individual and to the second individual, establishing communication between the first individual and the second individual in response to an acceptance of the first invitation by the first individual or in response to an acceptance of the first invitation by the second individual.
US09224131B2 System and method for facilitating collaboration in a shared email repository
The present invention facilitates collaboration on electronic messages. Methods are provided in which an electronic message is stored and presented to users. A user is allowed to perform an action on the electronic message and the action is recorded. Additionally, the record is associated with the electronic message. The users are notified of the action.
US09224130B2 Talent profile infographic
A system and method for example method for displaying enterprise data via a user interface display. An example method includes providing a first user option to select enterprise data to be displayed, yielding selected data in response thereto; employing a capsule to present a visualization or infographic characterizing at least a portion of the selected data; and providing a second user option to flip or rotate the capsule, thereby displaying additional enterprise data that is related to or representative of the selected data or portion thereof. In a specific embodiment, the first user option includes a slider bar that enables a user to specify a time frame to filter the enterprise data.
US09224125B2 Radio frequency identification system for tracking and managing materials in a manufacturing process
A process management system uses a radio frequency identification (RFID) detection system in the form of, for example, a phased array antenna based RFID detection system to track and manage material storage and flow in a manufacturing process or plant. The process management system operates in conjunction with the various machines that implement manufacturing stages or steps of the manufacturing process to assure that the correct materials and processing procedures are used at or on the various production machines of the process to produce a particular product as defined by a job number or job order. The process management system is thereby able to increase the efficiencies of the plant and to increase the quality of the plant production by reducing or eliminating waste, manufacturing errors and shipping errors in the production facility.
US09224115B2 Information technology energy wastage management system
Various technologies related to managing energy wastage management in the information technology (IT) domain are described. Implementation of the described features can lead to considerable energy savings for organizations having significant information technology hardware. Attendance information from various sources can be incorporated into the system. Power state information from a lightweight client running at nodes can also be incorporated. Wastage results can be generated and provided to encourage reduction of wastage. Enforcement of wastage policies can also be implemented. Monitoring can be done on an individual, department, or campus-wide level. Management can be accomplished in many cases without having to invest in specialized sensors or other costly infrastructure.
US09224112B2 Leveraging enterprise content
A method and system for leveraging content is provided. The method includes receiving, data associated with a subscriber and registering the subscriber with an ECM computing system. Devices belonging to the subscriber are connected to the ECM computing system and metadata associated with content retrieved from the devices is generated. The content in the devices are classified into formal content and informal content. Multiple searches for additional content are monitored and multifaceted search results associated with the formal content and the informal content are generated and presented to the subscriber. The subscriber has an option to request informal content on additional end user devices from respective end users based on metadata presented by search results.
US09224111B2 Message queue based product asset management auditing system
A server detects a product asset management operation and generates an event message corresponding to the product asset management operation. The event message includes data describing the product asset management operation. The server sends the event message to one or more message queues. One or more listeners that are associated to the one or more message queues can obtain the event message to perform an auditing action that indicates to a user an occurrence of the product asset management operation.
US09224110B2 Sub-problem optimization of supply chain planning problems
A system and method is disclosed for optimizing supply chain planning problems associated with a supply chain network. The system includes a supply chain planner coupled with one or more supply chain entities. The supply chain planner determines a supply chain plan for managing the flow of one or more items through the supply chain network.
US09224106B2 Computationally efficient whole tissue classifier for histology slides
Systems and methods are disclosed for classifying histological tissues or specimens with two phases. In a first phase, the method includes providing off-line training using a processor during which one or more classifiers are trained based on examples, including: finding a split of features into sets of increasing computational cost, assigning a computational cost to each set; training for each set of features a classifier using training examples; training for each classifier, a utility function that scores a usefulness of extracting the next feature set for a given tissue unit using the training examples. In a second phase, the method includes applying the classifiers to an unknown tissue sample with extracting the first set of features for all tissue units; deciding for which tissue unit to extract the next set of features by finding the tissue unit for which a score: S=U−h*C is maximized, where U is a utility function, C is a cost of acquiring the feature and h is a weighting parameter; iterating until a stopping criterion is met or no more feature can be computed; and issuing a tissue-level decision based on a current state.
US09224101B1 Incremental model training for advertisement targeting using real-time streaming data and model redistribution
Incremental model training for advertisement targeting is performed using streaming data. A model for targeting advertisements of an advertising campaign is initialized. A data stream including data corresponding to converters and data corresponding to non-converters is received. The model is then applied to the data corresponding to the converter and data corresponding to the non-converter (or other ratio of converter to non-converters) to obtain a predicted score for each. The predicted score is compared to the observed score (e.g., an observed score of 1 for a converter, and 0 for a non-converter). The difference between the predicted and observed scores is computed, and the model is incrementally updated based on this difference. Models can optionally be built separately on multiple modeling servers that are geographically dispersed in order to support bidding on advertising opportunities in a real-time bidding environment.
US09224097B2 Nonlinear classification of data
The present invention relates to a method for nonlinear classification of high dimensional data by means of boosting, whereby a target class with significant intra-class variation is classified against a large background class, where the boosting algorithm produces a strong classifier, the strong classifier being a linear combination of weak classifiers. The present invention specifically teaches that weak classifiers classifiers h1, h2, that individually more often than not generate a positive on instances within the target class and a negative on instances outside of the target class, but that never generate a positive simultaneously on one and the same target instance, are categorized as a group of anti-correlated classifiers, and that the occurrence of anti-correlated classifiers from the same group will generate a negative.
US09224095B2 System and methods for generating optimal post times for social networking sites
A system and methods are disclosed for determining the ideal times for a person, software client, or other entity to post a message to a social networking site. An ideal time is a time when the post will have a maximum impact, where impact is some measure of success as defined by the posting entity. To determine the ideal times, the posting patterns of individual users are aggregated in a weighted fashion, taking into consideration both the entity's desired impact and the likelihood that the user will be online and able to view the post within a specified time frame.
US09224088B2 Methods, systems, and computer program products for simulating a scenario by updating events over a time window including the past, present, and future
A scenario is simulated by providing an agent that is an object in the scenario, providing a time window for the scenario that spans the farthest reachable past time and the farthest reachable future time with respect to a present time for the agent and/or at least one player that interacts with the simulated scenario, providing at least one event that represents a change in at least one attribute of the agent, and updating a state of the scenario by applying the at least one event to the agent within the time window.
US09224087B2 Secure identification of a product
In a method for marking a product first a product identification (12) is generated (S1) and applied (S5) onto the product (21). Subsequently the product identification (26) applied onto the product (21) is captured (S6) and stored (S8, S9) in a product database (11). Here in particular also an independent authentication feature (22) is designated (S3, S5) and applied (S6) together with the product identification (26) onto the product (21) and stored (S8, S9) in the product database (11).
US09224085B2 Electronic passport
An electronic passport in the form of a booklet, bearing a plurality of sheets sewn there among at the respective longitudinal center lines is described. The electronic passport has a cover sheet and a data sheet. The cover sheet has a layer made of fabric, an electronic inlay and an internal flyleaf layer and embedding an electronic data storage means provided with an antenna for radio transmission. The data sheet is made by a first and a second layer of plastic material. The data sheet defines a data page bearing identification data of a subject and a connecting page made fixed with the cover sheet, and also comprises an intermediate layer of flexible material extending at the center line of sewing.
US09224079B2 Image processing apparatus configured to perform pixel dithering based on dithering table and pass information
An image processing apparatus includes a dithering unit that retains a dithering table; a gray-scale value input unit that inputs, to the dithering unit, a gray-scale value of each pixel constituting image data of a predetermined color; and a pass information input unit that inputs, to the dithering unit, pass information indicating whether printing is a first pass to perform printing on a recording medium yet to be printed or a second pass to perform reprinting on the same surface of the recording medium already subjected to printing. The dithering unit performs dithering on each pixel based on the dithering table, the gray-scale value, and the pass information.
US09224078B2 Image forming apparatus, method, and computer-readable storage medium for forming images on recording media such as paper having different sizes
An image forming apparatus is provided with a storage unit for storing setting information including at least a size of a substitute recording medium, and a processing unit for executing a print instruction by automatically changing a size of a recording medium to be used to the size of the substitute recording medium based on the setting information stored in the storage means, when the size of the recording medium specified by the print instruction is not available.
US09224073B2 Data processor saving data indicating progress status of printing process retrievable by client
A data processor and a host device are bi-directionally communicably connected to each other. The data processor includes a process-executing unit and a progress-status-saving unit. The process-executing unit executes a prescribed process when a process-requested file is written in a prescribed folder. The progress-status-saving unit saves progress status data indicating a progress status of the prescribed process so that the progress status data is retrievable by the host device.
US09224071B2 Unsupervised object class discovery via bottom up multiple class learning
Techniques for unsupervised object class discovery via bottom-up multiple class learning are described. These techniques may include receiving multiple images containing one or more object classes. The multiple images may be analyzed to extract top saliency instances and least saliency instances. These saliency instances may be clustered to generate and/or update statistical models. The statistical models may be used to discover the one or more object classes. In some instances, the statistical models may be used to discover object classes of novel images.
US09224064B2 Electronic device, electronic device operating method, and computer readable recording medium recording the method
A method for operating an electronic device is provided. The method includes detecting a plurality of feature points in at least a partial region in a digital image, selecting at least two feature points from the detected plurality of feature points, determining whether there is a probability that an object existing in at least one of a plurality of reference images exists in the digital image, by using at least a portion of the at least two feature points, and determining a pose of the object after the probability that the object exists in the digital image is determined.
US09224058B2 Data augmentation method and system for improved automatic license plate recognition
Methods, systems, and processor-readable media for data augmentation utilized in an automatic license plate recognition engine. A machine-readable code can be associated with an automatic license plate recognition engine. The machine-readable code can be configured to define parameters that drive processing within the automatic license plate recognition engine to produce recognition results thereof and enhance a machine readability of a license plate recognized and analyzed via the automatic license plate recognition engine.
US09224053B1 Combining multiple estimates of an environment into a consolidated estimate for an autonomous vehicle
A vehicle is provided that may combine multiple estimates of an environment into a consolidated estimate. The vehicle may receive first data indicative of the region of interest in an environment from a sensor of the vehicle. The first data may include a first accuracy value and a first estimate of the region of interest. The vehicle may also receive second data indicative of the region of interest in the environment, and the second data may include a second accuracy value and a second estimate of the region of interest. Based on the first data and the second data, the vehicle may combine the first estimate of the region of interest and the second estimate of the region of interest.
US09224042B2 Cross-sensor iris matching
Methods, devices, and systems for cross-sensor iris matching are described herein. One method includes capturing a first image of an iris using a first sensor, capturing a second image of an iris using a second sensor, and determining whether the iris in the first image matches the iris in the second image based on characteristics of the first sensor and the second sensor and image quality of the first image and the second image.
US09224038B2 Partial overlap and delayed stroke input recognition
An optimal recognition for handwritten input based on receiving a touch input from a user may be selected by applying both a delayed stroke recognizer as well as an overlapping recognizer to the handwritten input. A score may be generated for both the delayed stroke recognition as well as the overlapping recognition and the recognition corresponding to the highest score may be presented as the overall recognition.
US09224032B2 Methods for analyzing absorbent articles
A method for analyzing an absorbent article may include providing a three-dimensional computed tomography data set comprising a mannequin image and an article image. The article image may be constructed from projections collected while the absorbent article is fitted to a mannequin. An outer surface of the mannequin image may be identified. A desired distance may be provided. A volumetric demarcation may be spaced the desired distance away from the outer surface of the mannequin image. An image volume may be disposed between the outer surface of the mannequin image and the volumetric demarcation. A relevant portion of the article image may be enhanced using a processor. The relevant portion of the article image may be coincident with the image volume.
US09224029B2 Electronic device switchable to a user-interface unlocked mode based upon a pattern of input motions and related methods
An electronic device may include a finger biometric sensor, a display, and a processor coupled to the finger biometric sensor and the display. The processor may be switchable between a user-interface locked mode and a user-interface unlocked mode. The processor may be capable of determining a pattern of input motions on the finger biometric sensor and displaying an image on the display corresponding to the pattern of input motions. The processor may also be capable of switching between the user-interface locked mode and the user-interface unlocked mode when the pattern of input motions matches a stored pattern representing a user unlock code.
US09224027B2 Hand-mounted indicia-reading device with finger motion triggering
A wearable indicia reader is worn on the back of a user's hand such that the act of pointing the user's index finger is sufficient to align the indicia reader and trigger the indicia-reading process. Triggering is achieved by sensing the user's finger in an image or by breaking a light path in a photogate.
US09224024B2 Invariant design image capture device
An indicia reading terminal for reading of a decodable indicia is provided wherein the indicia reading terminal includes an image sensor integrated circuit comprising an image sensor having a plurality of pixels; a memory for storing image data, and a unit for processing the image data for attempting to decode decodable indicia represented in the image data; and an optical system, including a lens assembly and at least a first aperture and a second aperture, the second aperture being smaller than the first aperture. The lens assembly comprises one or more lens elements. The first aperture is disposed in the lens assembly, and the second aperture is disposed at a distal end of the optical system, adjacent to the lens assembly.
US09224023B2 Apparatus operative for capture of image data
There is set forth an apparatus for capturing image data. In one embodiment, an apparatus is operative for capture of a first frame of image data and a second frame of image data. In one embodiment, an apparatus is operative for processing the first frame of image data and the second frame of image data.
US09224011B2 Embedded system, information processing unit, and image forming apparatus
An embedded system includes a nonvolatile memory, a control section, and a firmware update section. The nonvolatile memory stores firmware and a public key in a normal area, and stores a hash value concerning the public key in an access restricted area. The control section reads and executes the firmware from the nonvolatile memory. The firmware update section receives new firmware in which the hash value is encrypted and given as an electronic signature, and updates the firmware to the new firmware. The firmware update section is configured to: read the public key from the nonvolatile memory to calculate the hash value concerning the public key; when the hash value is identical to the hash value stored in the nonvolatile memory, calculate a hash value of the new firmware; decrypt the electronic signature with the public key to restore the hash value; and when these hash values are identical to each other, update the firmware.
US09223992B2 System and method for evaluating a reverse query
Real-time techniques for determining all access requests to an attribute-based access control policy which evaluate to a given decision, “permit” or “deny”. The policy is enforced to control access to one or more resources in a computer network. In one embodiment, a method includes: (i) receiving a reverse query and a set of admissible access requests, each of which includes one or more attributes in the policy and values of these; (ii) extracting attributes to which all access requests in the set assign identical values; (iii) reducing the ABAC policy by substituting values for the extracted attributes; (iv) caching the policy as a simplified policy; (v) translating the simplified policy and the given decision into a satisfiable logic proposition; (vi) deriving all solutions satisfying the proposition; and (vi) extracting, based on the solutions, all access requests from the set for which the policy yields the given decision.
US09223981B2 Apparatus for processing with a secure system manager
Method and apparatus for secure processing. The method includes detecting communication among secure and non-secure data entities, prohibiting execution of non-secure executable instructions on secure data entities unless the non-secure executable instructions are recorded in a permitted instruction record, and prohibiting execution of non-secure executable instructions if the non-secure executable instructions are recorded in a prohibited instruction record. The apparatus includes a processor, at least one non-secure data entity, and secure data entities including: a communication monitor adapted to detect communication among secure and non-secure data entities; a permitted instruction record; a first prohibitor adapted to prohibit execution of non-secure executable instructions on secure data entities unless the non-secure executable instructions are recorded in the permitted instruction record; a prohibited instruction record; and a second prohibitor adapted to prohibit execution of non-secure executable instructions if the non-secure executable instructions are recorded in the prohibited instruction record.
US09223979B2 Detection of return oriented programming attacks
In one embodiment, a processor includes at least one execution unit and Return Oriented Programming (ROP) detection logic. The ROP detection logic may determine a ROP metric based on a plurality of control transfer events. The ROP detection logic may also determine whether the ROP metric exceeds a threshold. The ROP detection logic may also, in response to a determination that the ROP metric exceeds the threshold, provide a ROP attack notification.
US09223970B2 Evaluating application integrity
Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for evaluating application integrity are presented. In one or more embodiments, an application store, which may be provided by one or more computing devices, may analyze one or more aspects of an application. Subsequently, the application store may determine, based on the one or more analyzed aspects of the application, an integrity score for the application. Based on the integrity score, the application store may determine whether to publish the application in the application store. In response to determining to publish the application in the application store, the application store then may publish the application in the application store. Alternatively, in response to determining not to publish the application in the application store, the application store may generate a notification indicating that the application has an insufficient integrity score.
US09223966B1 Systems and methods for replicating computing system environments
The disclosed computer-implemented method for replicating computing system environments may include (1) identifying each application installed on a plurality of computing systems, (2) creating, within a virtual machine image, virtual containers that store each application installed on the plurality of computing systems, (3) determining that a potentially malicious file is directed to a target computing system within the plurality of computing systems, (4) identifying each application installed on the target computing system, (5) in response to determining that the file is directed to the target computing system, replicating a configuration of the target computing system within the virtual machine image by, for each application installed on the target computing system, activating a virtual container that stores the application, and (6) determining how the file would affect the target computing system by sending the file to the virtual machine image and analyzing how the file impacts the virtual machine image.
US09223965B2 Secure generation and management of a virtual card on a mobile device
A method, system, and/or computer program product securely generates and/or manages a virtual card on a mobile device. The mobile device receives a protected application, which initially cannot be accessed by an operating system for execution by a processor. The mobile device also receives a security object, which is used to convert the received protected application into an executable application that can be utilized by the operating system for execution by the processor. The executable application is then executed by the processor to act as a virtual card, which provides a functionality of a predefined physical electronic or magnetic-stripe card.
US09223962B1 Micro-virtual machine forensics and detection
The execution of a process within a VM may be monitored, and when a trigger event occurs, additional monitoring is initiated, including storing behavior data describing the real-time events taking place inside the VM. This behavior data may then be compared to information about the expected behavior of that type of process in order to determine whether malware has compromised the VM.
US09223961B1 Systems and methods for performing security analyses of applications configured for cloud-based platforms
A computer-implemented method for performing security analyses of applications configured for cloud-based platforms may include 1) identifying an online platform that hosts an online service and that is capable of hosting a plurality of third-party applications integrated with the online service and configured to operate on the online platform, 2) identifying at least one third-party application that is integrated with the online service and configured to operate on the online platform, 3) identifying metadata describing at least one characteristic of the third-party application, and 4) performing a security analysis of the third-party application based at least in part on the metadata. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US09223957B2 Image forming apparatus, image processing apparatus and image delivery system
An image forming apparatus connected to plural authentication servers includes an acquiring unit configured to acquire user identifying information identifying a user and a password; a selecting unit configured to select server identifying information identifying two or more of the plural authentication servers; an authentication process unit configured to transmit the user identifying information and the password to the two or more authentication servers identified by the selected server identifying information, and acquire an authentication result from the two or more authentication servers. The authentication process unit determines that authentication is successful upon reception of the authentication result indicating successful authentication by at least one of the two or more authentication servers. The image forming apparatus further includes a process unit configured to process image data upon determination of successful authentication by the authentication process unit.
US09223952B2 Allowing varied device access based on different levels of unlocking mechanisms
Systems and methods may provide for receiving runtime input from one or more unlock interfaces of a device and selecting a level of access with regard to the device from a plurality of levels of access based on the runtime input. The selected level of access may have an associated security policy, wherein an authentication of the runtime input may be conducted based on the associated security policy. In one example, one or more cryptographic keys are used to place the device in an unlocked state with regard to the selected level of access if the authentication is successful. If the authentication is unsuccessful, on the other hand, the device may be maintained in a locked state with regard to the selected level of access.
US09223946B1 Specification and configuration of management intent
A method, and a corresponding system, provide for configuring nodes in a computer system according to a user's intent. The computer system includes one or more nodes. The method includes receiving a configuration command from a user, including an identification of one or more of the nodes to be configured; determining available programs for configuring the one or more nodes; determining requirements for applying the available programs to the one or more nodes and displaying the requirements to the user for selection; receiving user selections from the displayed requirements; and executing the requirements to configure the one or more nodes.
US09223938B2 Location bound secure domains
A method, apparatus, and electronic device with secure operation based on geography are disclosed. A positioning mechanism 404 may determine a geographic location of the apparatus or electronic device. A processor 104 may identify a secure domain for a virtual machine application. The processor 104 may determine an availability of an application programming interface for the virtual machine application based on the geographic location.
US09223937B2 Method and apparatus for extending an authentication timeout period
A method and apparatus for extending an authentication timeout period for an electronic device includes a primary processor of the electronic device initiating an authentication timeout period at a timeout initiation time and putting the primary processor into a sleep mode. The method also includes awakening the primary processor from the sleep mode at an expiration time, upon expiration of the authentication timeout period, and determining whether an authentication timeout extending input was detected by an adjunct processor of the electronic device at an input detection time that occurred during the authentication timeout period. The method further includes extending the authentication timeout period to expire at an extended expiration time, which is based on the input detection time, when the authentication timeout extending input was detected by the adjunct processor or locking the electronic device when the authentication timeout extending input was not detected by the adjunct processor.
US09223936B2 Fatigue indices and uses thereof
Example embodiments may relate to a system, method, apparatus, and computer readable media configured for monitoring a user performing an athletic movement and/or exercise and generating a fatigue value. Fatigue values may be determined for different groups. In one embodiment, a first value is determined for a muscle fatigue value and a second value is determined for a respiratory value. In another embodiment, a first value may pertain to a first muscle group and a second value may pertain to a second muscle group. A fatigue index may be created from values obtained during an athletic movement and/or a workout session. In further embodiments, a cumulative fatigue index may be determined. A cumulative fatigue index may consider values obtained during several workout sessions. Further, data obtained outside of workout sessions may be considered in determinations relating to fatigue values and/or indices.
US09223923B2 Implementing enhanced physical design quality using historical placement analytics
A method and apparatus are provided for implementing enhanced physical design quality using historical placement analytics in a design of an integrated gate. Mathematical data analysis is performed to determine placement trends in order to seed an initial placement of subsequent physical design placement processes. A placement seed is generated for a subsequent placement process.
US09223922B2 Semiconductor device design method
A method of generating a netlist comprises extracting a first capacitance value between the first set of electrical components inside a defined region using a first extraction technique. The method additionally comprises extracting a second capacitance value between a second set of electrical components comprising at least one electrical component outside the defined region using a second extraction technique different from the first extraction technique. The method also comprises generating the netlist including the first capacitance value and the second capacitance value. The first extraction technique is capable of extracting capacitance values between electrical components arranged in a first quantity of directions with respect to one another and the second extraction technique is capable of extracting capacitance values between electrical components arranged in a second quantity of directions with respect to one another. The first quantity of directions is greater than the second quantity of directions.
US09223919B2 System and method of electromigration mitigation in stacked IC designs
A computer implemented method comprises accessing a 3D-IC model stored in a tangible, non-transitory machine readable medium, processing the model in a computer processor to generate a temperature map containing temperatures at a plurality of points of the 3D-IC under the operating condition; identifying an electromigration (EM) rating factor, and calculating and outputting from the processor data representing a temperature-dependent EM current constraint at each point.
US09223914B2 Automated method to determine composite material constituent properties
According to an aspect, a method includes: receiving, at a machine comprising a processor and a memory, composite material properties for a composite material to be simulated; receiving, at the machine, a composite microstructure for the composite material to be simulated; and obtaining, using the processor and the memory, a set of adjusted material properties for one or more constituents of the composite material, for use in simulating the composite material, by processing the composite material properties and the composite microstructure using fixed constituent property constraints.
US09223913B2 Method for the acoustic analysis of a body and a system for the execution of such a method
A system and method for the acoustic analysis of a body, in particular a fuselage structure of an aircraft, is provided including: inputting data for geometry, material, boundary conditions and acoustic parameters of the body, generating a body idealized in terms of its structural mechanics, and a cavity simulating the interior of the body, on the basis of the data inputted as a numerical body model, inputting the geometry of the body with a pattern of nodes and the generation of finite elements, stimulating an acoustic loading case by subjecting the body model to at least one sound pressure wave at a defined frequency, analyzing the effect of the sound pressure wave on the body model, and outputting a sound reduction index (R) for the body with reference to that frequency.
US09223905B2 Systems and methods for predicting fluid dynamics in a data center
A system and method for predicting airflow within a data center using a potential flow technique is provided. In one aspect, a method includes automatically generating an unstructured grid, the unstructured grid comprising a plurality of unstructured grid cells, each unstructured grid cell having a size, dividing a representation of the data center into the plurality of unstructured grid cells, determining airflow velocity values for each of the plurality of unstructured grid cells using airflow velocity potentials, determining a temperature value for each one of the plurality of the unstructured grid cells using the airflow velocity values, determining a concentration value for each of the plurality of the unstructured grid cells using the airflow velocity values, and calculating a comparison result indicating whether the concentration values, the airflow velocity values and the temperature values for the plurality of the unstructured grid cells satisfy convergence criteria.
US09223902B1 Architectures for content identification
A user can capture various types of information concurrently using multiple sensors of an electronic device. This “scene” data can be provided to a service for processing, which is able to identify various types of potential matches and aggregate information to be returned to the client device. In at least some embodiments, matching information can be sent with the results such that the electronic device can match an element in the scene the next time that element is encountered, without having to contact the service again. In some embodiments, an attempt can be made to predict elements that the user might attempt to identify, and one or more corpora of data can be sent to the electronic device such that the client device can perform any matching on the device for elements in those corpora.
US09223894B2 Method for producing at least a portion of a data visualization layout on a display of a device provided with at least a smart card, method for codifying a plurality of HTML instructions and corresponding system
A method for generating at least one portion of a data display layout on a display of a device equipped with at least one smart card may include generating a code sequence to define at least one portion of the data display layout and to store the code sequence in the at least one smart card. Each code of the code sequence may have a first portion including a first numerical code, and a second portion including a second numerical code. The first numerical code may correspond to a coded primitive action suitable to produce at least one part of the display layout. The second numerical code may correspond to a coded item of data correlated with a respective primitive action. The method may further include processing the code sequence to generate, on the device display at least one part of the display layout with the items of data in predefined positions of the layout.
US09223889B2 Age appropriate filtering
An approach is provided in which a web page management system receives web page content requested by a browser, and parses the web page content according to one or more assessment categories. The web page management system analyzes the parsed web page content and generates content characterization results in response to the analysis. In turn, by comparing the content characterization results to knowledge base entries, the web page management system generates an “age level content ranking” of the web page content and performs an action on the web page content based upon the age level content ranking.
US09223880B2 Evaluation of web pages
A web page evaluation technique includes obtaining a plurality of web pages with the same or approximately the same content. Further, a plurality of generation times and a plurality of first evaluation values that correspond to respective ones of the plurality of web pages are determined. A web page among the plurality of web pages that has the earliest generation time is identified. A second evaluation value of the identified web page is determined according to the plurality of first evaluation values. The second evaluation value can be used to indicate a ranking of the identified web page.
US09223870B2 Decoration of search results by third-party content providers
An ecosystem that enables content providers to decorate search results with interactive content. The searching user can then interact with the content and view the content without leaving the search results page. The content provider sends content and metadata to a content enrichment enabler that transforms the content into an enriched content, and receives back from the enrichment enabler a location identifier which includes information that identifies the provider and the location of the enriched content. The content provider then embeds the identifier in each of the content provider webpages for which such content has been produced. The identifier is indexed by a search engine to identify the interactive content and source thereof for surfacing on a search results page. The search result is decorated with an indicator that the user recognizes as the availability of the enriched content, and uses to access the content via the web page.
US09223866B2 Tagged favorites from social network site for use in search request on a separate site
A tag is received from a member of a social network site. The tag is associated with a favorite of the member. Tag data obtained from the tag is provided to a second site that hosts a searching service. The second site determines the relevancy of the tag data relative to a new search request received by a user on the second site.
US09223858B1 System and method to determine quality of a document screening process
Legal document processing (review/summarization/analysis) is a complex and intellectually intensive process. The quality process required for accomplishing this task needs to ensure acceptable levels of accuracy to the customer along with speed and efficiency. Defining of Error Codes, measurement of Error Codes and the related analysis, calibration of results and the analysis of deviations and similarities and the sampling strategy associated with unit selection are critical in ensuring a high acceptable quality level. A system and method of searching through documents in order to find documents relevant to a defined inquity, whereby the number of irrelevant documents produced and number of relevant documents overlooked is minimized. A system and method of using scoring and quality evaluations for a given search project are described.
US09223855B1 Method and system for training athletes based on athletic signatures and a classification thereof
A method for training athletes is disclosed. The method comprises: maintaining a classification for signatures generated based on movement data associated with athletes; wherein the movement data is stored in a database; associating guidance with each signature in the classification; and assigning a signature from the database to at least some athletes in the database.
US09223845B2 Mobile hadoop clusters
Techniques for mobile clusters for collecting telemetry data and processing analytic tasks, are disclosed herein. The mobile cluster includes a processor, a plurality of data nodes and an analysis module. The data nodes receive and store a snapshot of at least a portion of data stored in a main Hadoop storage cluster and real-time acquired data received from a data capturing device. The analysis module is operatively coupled to the processor to process analytic tasks based on the snapshot and the real-time acquired data when the storage cluster is not connected to the main storage cluster.
US09223841B2 System and method for providing high availability data
A computer-implemented data processing system and method writes a first plurality of copies of a data set at a first plurality of hosts and reads a second plurality of copies of the data set at a second plurality of hosts. The first and second pluralities of copies may be overlapping and the first and second pluralities of hosts may be overlapping. A hashing function may be used to select the first and second pluralities of hosts. Version histories for each of the first copies of the data set may also be written at the first plurality of hosts and read at the second plurality of hosts. The version histories for the second copies of the data set may be compared and causal between the second copies of the data set may be evaluated based on the version histories for the second copies of the data set.
US09223839B2 Supervisor history view wizard
An approach for selecting points of archived history data for viewing. The approach may relate to a user interface workflow of selecting points. Site controllers may be configured using control entity definitions, history extensions, point group naming and template features of a supervisor. The supervisor may provide for selection of groups or categories of sites and controllers within selected sites using selection boxes. This may permit a user to quickly refine site selection by, for example, filtering by group, site category, and a refined site list box. Once a site, the controllers and desired point groups and other appropriate items have been selected, the user may proceed to view historical data for the selected sites and controller points.
US09223833B2 Method for in-loop human validation of disambiguated features
Methods for providing in-loop validation of disambiguated features are disclosed. The disclosed methods may include disambiguating features in unstructured text that may use co-occurring features derived from both the source document and a large document corpus. The disambiguating systems may include multiple modules, including a linking on-the-fly module for linking the derived features from the source document to the co-occurring features of an existing knowledge base. The system for disambiguating features may allow identifying unique entities from a knowledge base that includes entities with a unique set of co-occurring features, which in turn may allow for increased precision in knowledge discovery and search results, employing advanced analytical methods over a massive corpus, employing a combination of entities, co-occurring entities, topic IDs, and other derived features. The disclosed method may use validation to provide input to the system for disambiguating features.
US09223832B2 Insight determination and explanation in multi-dimensional data sets
Techniques are disclosed for determining reasons underlying insights gleaned from multi-dimensional data. In one embodiment, a contingency table is accessed that represents multiple dimensions of the data, in order to identify one or more insights. One or more dimensions, other than the represented dimensions, are evaluated to identify one or more reasons underlying a first insight of the one or more insights, and the one or more reasons are output.
US09223828B2 Data flow graph optimization using adaptive rule chaining
A query is received and an initial data flow graph comprising a plurality of nodes is generated for executing the query. The initial data flow graph is optimized using a model optimizer that accesses at least one of a plurality of patterns to identify a matching pattern and executes at least one optimization rule associated with a matching pattern. Execution of the query is then initiated using the optimized data flow graph. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09223826B2 Pushing suggested search queries to mobile devices
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an indication of a location of a mobile-client system of a user, determining an intent of the user based on the location of the user, generating one or more suggested queries based on the determined intent of the user; and transmitting a notification to the mobile-client system of the user that includes one or more of the suggested queries.
US09223818B2 Taxonomy based database partitioning
In one aspect of the invention, a memory is described for facilitating splitting data by taxonomy. The memory is accessed by an application program, and includes one or more top-level categories, where each top-level category comprises a subset of the items; and also includes a category group corresponding to at least one of the top-level categories and the subset of the items belonging to the top-level categories.
US09223815B2 Method, apparatus, and program for supporting creation and management of metadata for correcting problem in dynamic web application
Method to support creation and management of metadata for correcting a problem in a dynamic web application. A support apparatus includes a metadata creation section, a block extraction section, a similar-block search section, and a metadata generalizing section. In response to correction of a problem by a corrector, the support apparatus implements methods to create metadata including the details of the correction and application conditions, that is, a global variable group and cookie information that identify the state of the web application in which the problem has occurred, extracts another block to which the created metadata is applicable from an operation log by using a semantic block including the location of the problem as a clue, and generalizes the application conditions of the created metadata by converting them to a key-value pair structure by using the other block and by extracting a common portion therefrom.
US09223812B2 Adaptive scheduled periodic caching
A system, a method, and a computer program product for adaptive scheduled periodic caching are disclosed. A data stream is received. The data stream contains a plurality of versions of data arranged in a plurality of data clusters. Each data cluster includes an anchor version having a plurality of versions of data dependent on the anchor version. A size of each anchor version of each data cluster is determined. A number of versions of data dependent on each anchor version is also determined. For each anchor version, a ratio of the determined number of dependent versions of data to the determined size of each anchor is computed. At least one anchor version for storing in a memory location is selected based on the computed ratio.
US09223811B2 Creation and expiration of backup objects in block-level incremental-forever backup systems
Embodiments of the present invention provide a scalable, efficient way to backup data in a block-level incremental-forever backup system such that backup and expiration of data can be achieved at the granularity of a single backup version, without having to read or move data that is stored in backup storage.
US09223805B2 Durability implementation plan in an in-memory database system
A database durability implementation records only committed transactions in a log file. A pair of log files and a pair of snapshot files are maintained. When a snapshot of the database is completed, the ‘current’ log becomes the ‘prior’ log and the other log becomes the ‘current’ log. After the next snapshot is completed, the prior log and prior snapshot may be deleted. Transactions that are not committed are not recorded in the current log, thereby avoiding the need to undo aborted transactions. If a given change is reflected in a completed snapshot, it does not appear in either of the logs; if the change is not yet reflected in a completed snapshot, it is guaranteed to be stored in one of the logs. During recovery, the system assesses both snapshots. The most recent of the completed snapshots is used, and the corresponding log(s) is (are) applied.
US09223804B2 Determining capacity of search structures
A system for storing target images for object recognition predicts a querying performance for the target image if the target image were included in a search tree of a database. The search tree has a universal search tree structure that is fixed so that it does not change with the addition of new target images. The target image is selected for inclusion or exclusion in the search tree based on the based on the querying performance, wherein the fixed tree structure of the search tree does not change if inclusion of the target image is selected.
US09223803B2 Creating and organizing events in an activity stream
A system and method for creating and organizing events includes an activity stream application that captures, searches and collaborates on one or more events. The events include unstructured data comprising text, digital ink, an audio clip and an image. The activity stream application receives user input and generates a new event and combines related events into the same activity. The activity stream application receives a search query and searches for events that are relevant to the search query. In one embodiment, the search query includes contextual information that includes at least one of at a similar time, at a similar location, in a similar situation and a relatedness of event attributes.
US09223794B2 Method and apparatus for content-aware and adaptive deduplication
A method, a system, an apparatus, and a computer readable medium for transmission of data across a network are disclosed. The method includes receiving a data stream, analyzing the received data stream to determine a starting location and an ending location of each zone within the received data stream, based on the starting and ending locations, generating a zone stamp identifying the zone, the zone stamp includes a sequence of contiguous characters representing at least a portion of data in the zone, wherein the order of characters in the zone stamp corresponds to the order of data in the zone, comparing the zone stamp with another zone stamp of another zone in any data stream received, determining whether the zone is substantially similar to another zone by detecting that the zone stamp is substantially similar to another zone stamp, delta-compressing zones within any data stream received that have been determined to have substantially similar zone stamps, thereby deduplicating zones having substantially similar zone stamps within any data stream received, and transmitting the deduplicated zones across the network from one storage location to another storage location.
US09223792B1 Augmenting metadata collection for stored data analytics
Implementations are provided herein relating to augmenting metadata collection within a storage platform. The storage platform can be audited to determine the types of metadata currently being gathered within the storage platform, and the schedule for when that information is gathered. The storage platform can receive a request to generate metadata, compare the requested information with the previously generated and/or scheduled generation of metadata. Rather than redundantly gathering the same metadata via multiple requests, known metadata or scheduled retrieval of known metadata can be used to process portions of the metadata request, and any metadata that was not previously generated can then be separately generated. In this sense, the metadata collection within a storage platform can be augmented to gather additional metadata requested outside the storage platform in an efficient matter that does not unnecessarily increase scanning activity within the storage platform.
US09223789B1 Range retrievals from archived data objects according to a predefined hash tree schema
Ranges of data stored within archived data may be retrieved according to a predefined hash tree schema. A retrieval request for a range of one or more data chunks of an archived data object stored in archival data store may be retrieved. In response, the requested range of the archived data object may be determined to be tree-hash aligned. In response to determining that the requested range is tree-hash aligned, a retrieval job may be initiated to obtain the range of one or more data chunks and to stage the one or more data chunks for download. A download request may for one or more of the obtained and staged data chunks, and if determined to be tree-hash aligned, a tree hash root node may be sent to the requesting client in addition to the requested data.
US09223768B2 Document management apparatus and document management method
The file size of a binder document in a document management server that manages a version of a binder document is reduced. When updating a binder document, it is determined whether an original document included in the binder document of a past version includes a same document as an original document included in the binder document of a new version. If it is determined that the original document includes the same document, reference information regarding the same document in the binder document of the past version is stored as information corresponding to the original document of the new version. On the other hand, if it is determined that the original document does not include the same document, an entity file of the original document is stored as information corresponding to the original document of the new version.
US09223764B2 Assistive technology for the visually impaired
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for generating accessible documents. In one embodiment, an initial document in a print format is obtained. The print format of the initial document is identified as one of a plurality of print formats. A parser corresponding to the one of the plurality of print formats is applied such that the initial document is parsed according to the print format of the initial document. An intermediate document that conforms to an intermediate format is generated based upon results obtained from applying the parser. A template for converting the intermediate document into an accessible document is obtained. The template is then such that an accessible document corresponding to the initial document is generated, wherein the accessible document includes a plurality of tags that designate an order of a plurality of regions of the accessible document.
US09223759B2 Systems and methods for providing electronic document services
A system facilitates the procurement of one or more document services for a document directly from a document preparation software application used to create the document. The system activates a graphical user interface within the document preparation software application, contacts a server to identify available document services, and configures the graphical user interface based on the available document services. The system detects selection of one of the available document services and provides the document from the document preparation software application to one or more service providers for performance of the selected document service.
US09223750B2 Dynamic tag generating apparatus and dynamic tag generating method thereof for use in display apparatus
A dynamic tag generating apparatus and a dynamic tag generating method thereof are provided. The dynamic tag generating apparatus is disposed in a display apparatus, and the display apparatus is connected to a server. The dynamic tag generating apparatus receives tag update information from the server through the display apparatus, and updates a tag content of the display apparatus according to the tag update information. The dynamic tag generating apparatus provides the tag content to a tag analyzing apparatus so that the tag analyzing apparatus analyzes the tag content.
US09223746B2 Data card and method for internet access of data card
The present invention provides a data card and a method for Internet access of the data card. The method for Internet access of the data card includes: after the data card is connected to a host, mapping the data card into an Internet access device by using an Ethernet interface protocol; obtaining, by the data card, dial-up information, and dialing by using the dial-up information to request to connect to a network; and performing, by the Internet access device, communication between the host and the network. By using the technical solutions provided by embodiments of the present invention, fast Internet access may be implemented without installing a driver.
US09223744B1 Scheduled service periods in wireless mesh networks
A method, apparatus and computer program product in which a computer system functions as a mesh point (MP) and provides scheduled service periods in wireless mesh networks is presented. The MP enters a light sleep mode. The MP determines peers of itself and determines beacons for the peers of itself. The MP then enters an Awake state for the beacons of its peers.
US09223743B1 Multiplier operable to perform a variety of operations
Methods and apparatus are provided for implementing circuitry operable to perform barrel shifting, multiplication, and rotation operations in hard coded logic on a programmable chip. A hard coded multiplier is augmented using multiplexer circuitry, a logical operation, and a bypassable 2^N functional block. Based on control signals, the multiplexer circuitry can be used to select a rotation, multiplication, or barrel shifted output. Multiplexer control signals also provide sign information associated with operands passed to the multiplier. A single augmented multiplier can perform barrel shifting, rotation, or multiplication operations. Inputs of a multiplier can also be selectively grounded to allow the multiplier to perform logic operations.
US09223737B1 Computer interconnect isolation
Methods and systems are provided routing access requests produced by a function to a physical sharing machine on a computer interconnect fabric. Access requests are routed through a switch that includes an NTB, the NTB using an address-lookup table to ensure that access requests made by multiple physical sharing machines are appropriately isolated from one another.
US09223735B2 Providing a consolidated sideband communication channel between devices
In an embodiment, the present invention includes a protocol stack having a transaction layer and a link layer. In addition a first physical (PHY) unit is coupled to the protocol stack to provide communication between a processor and a device coupled to the processor via a physical link, where the first PHY unit is of a low power communication protocol and includes a first physical unit circuit. In turn, a second PHY unit is coupled to the protocol stack to provide communication between the processor and the device via a sideband channel coupled between the multicore processor and the device separate from the physical link, where the second PHY unit includes a second physical unit circuit. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09223733B2 Bidi extension for connected devices
Bidirectional (bidi) extension techniques for USB and/or other similar busses/connections are described in which an interface is provided to enable bidirectional communication with connected devices. The interface may be implemented as an operating system component to handle bidi communication for devices from multiple different independent hardware vendors (IHVs). Device drivers for different devices can be configured to include extension files in accordance with an established schema for bidi communication. The extension files describe supported bidi attributes, capabilities of the device, and how to make calls into the device. The interface operates to detect the extension files and set-up a corresponding device for bidi communication. Applications then interact through the interface to access, retrieve, and set configuration and status data for connected devices. The use of extension files enable creation of architecture independent devices drivers that can be used across different platforms with substantially no changes.
US09223720B2 Systems and methods for rapidly generating suitable pairs of hash functions
A lookup circuit evaluates hash functions that map keys to addresses in lookup tables. The circuit includes multiple hash function sub-circuits, each of which applies a respective hash function to an input key, producing a hash value. Candidate pairs of hash functions to be implemented by the hash function sub-circuits (or hash function bit matrices thereof) may be generated and tested for suitability in hashing a particular collection of keys. Each hash function bit matrix may be generated according to heuristics chosen to improve the likelihood that it will be suitable for use in a pair, and may be tested against previously generated hash function bit matrices contained in one or more pools (each of which may contain matrices generated using different heuristics) to identify suitable pairs. The hash function bit matrices may be represented in the pools in a tabulated form, which may reduce the suitability testing time.
US09223709B1 Thread-aware cache memory management
A cache management unit manages allocation and configuration of a cache memory that is utilized by a multi-threaded processor. In some implementations, the cache management unit is configured to determine a number of active threads being executed by the multi-threaded processor, assign a separate cache unit to each active thread when the number of active threads is equal to a maximum number of active threads supported by the multi-threaded processor, and assign more than one cache unit to an active thread when the number of active threads is less than the maximum number of active threads.
US09223708B2 System, method, and computer program product for utilizing a data pointer table pre-fetcher
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for utilizing a data pointer table pre-fetcher. In use, an assembly of a data pointer table within a main memory is identified. Additionally, the data pointer table is pre-fetched from the main memory. Further, data is sampled from the pre-fetched data pointer table. Further still, the sampled data is stored within a data pointer table cache.
US09223693B2 Memory system having an unequal number of memory die on different control channels
A flash memory system having unequal number of memory die and method for operation are disclosed. The memory system includes a plurality of flash memory die distributed unevenly among different control lines, such that there are an unequal number of die between control lines. A total physical capacity of the plurality of flash memory die is greater than a total logical capacity such that the memory system is over provisioned with physical capacity. A logical address splitter directs data received from a host system and associated with host logical block addresses such that each control line only receives data associated with predetermined host logical block address ranges and directs the data such that a ratio of physical capacity to logical capacity is equal among each of the control lines, regardless of the different number of die and associated different physical capacity per control line.
US09223691B2 Data storage device and method for flash block management
A data storage includes a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory comprises a spare block pool and a data block pool, wherein the spare block pool comprises a plurality of spare blocks, and the data block pool comprises a plurality of data blocks, wherein the spare blocks with erase counts higher than a hot threshold are determined as hot spare blocks, and a hot spare block count indicates a total number of the hot spare blocks. The controller receives target data from the host, writes the target data to a current data block, determines whether a current programming page is the first page of the current data block, determines whether the hot spare block count is greater than zero when the current programming page is the first page, and sets data move information for a wear-leveling process when the hot spare block count is greater than zero.
US09223689B2 Apparatus and method for managing memory
Provided is a memory management method, and an apparatus to perform the method, which achieves a shortened user waiting time in consideration of system performance. The method includes acquiring a deallocation unit used to deallocate an allocated memory area according to at least one attribute, and deallocating the allocated memory area using the deallocation unit.
US09223681B2 Automated debug trace specification
Debugging a debug target software by: (i) generating a first log file set, including at least one log file, based upon how the computer hardware set executes the instructions of the computer software set; (ii) responsive to a first error in the execution of the computer software set, examining at least a portion of the first log file set; and (iii) creating, based at least in part upon the examination of the first log file set, augmented logging instructions for generating augmented logging information, which is helpful for debugging.
US09223669B2 Self-expanding test automation method
A method for automatically testing an apparatus controlled by software based on pilot test case file comprising user input sequence data recorded manually and the time stamp of the input. In the process of automated testing, these pre-recorded user inputs are replay with same input sequence but with either the same time interval between two subsequent inputs recorded prior; or with a random time interval autonomously generated in a range set by the test configuration. During the process of replaying user input, a separate plural numbers of background tasks are executed in parallel with random execution delays to generate varying system load and execution timing to simulate the apparatus' unpredictable real operation scenarios. The user input and new random time interval between each user input are recorded at replay as a new expanded test record file for later test result trace and failure analysis.
US09223668B2 Method and apparatus to trigger and trace on-chip system fabric transactions within the primary scalable fabric
A fabric trace hook is disclosed to enable debugging operations of agents operating in a peer-to-peer integrated on-chip system fabric. The fabric trace hook, embedded within the IOSF, includes programmable triggering and capturing logic, timestamp capability, and a security feature to disallow tracing of proprietary transactions. The fabric trace hook may operate in a lossy or lossless mode.
US09223667B2 Method for identifying root cause failure in a multi-parameter self learning machine application model
A method for identifying root cause failure in a multi-parameter self learning machine application model is presented. At least one multi-function sensor having the capability to measure at least one of a voltage and current of the machine application model is provided. The method includes measuring voltages and currents of a multi-phase load with the multi-function sensors in a passive manor and calculating at least one of a time-varying variable KW, PF, kVAr, or Z out of the measured voltages and currents. The method further provides calculating a first, second or third order derivative of the time-varying variable and classifying segments of at least one of the time-varying variables depending on a state. Then, a step of choosing at least one of the variables and learning their normal behavior is undertaken. Finally, normal behavior is compared to a pattern difference and a root-cause meaning to the pattern difference is identified.
US09223657B2 Self-rescue method and device for damaged file system
The present application discloses a self-rescue method and device for a damaged file system. The method includes: a fault warning message is sent to a background server when it is found during boot of a device that a file system is damaged; the device receives an acknowledgement message from the background server, wherein the acknowledgement message contains a path and file name of a backup version selected by the background server according to a product type; and the device downloads a version file and reboots from the version file. The device, when finding during the boot that the file system is damaged, implements network communications between the foreground and the background prior to switching to a large version, in order to acquire a version from the background server actively and reload it, so that the damaged file system is self-repaired automatically without manual interference.
US09223651B2 Data processing system and method for recording and reproducing holographic optical information
Provided is a data processing system for recording holographic optical information. The data processing system includes, a data interface constructing a data page by using data transmitted from a host information device, a memory storing data transmitted from the data interface, an encoder ECC-encoding data that is stored in the memory, and a modulator modulating the encoded data so as to record optical information. Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently transmit data when recording and reproducing holographic optical information.
US09223645B2 Storage apparatus and method for controlling storage apparatus
Provided is a storage apparatus and a method for controlling the storage apparatus which are capable of achieving both enhancement of data transfer processing efficiency and enhancement of apparatus availability. A storage apparatus including a storage medium for providing an external apparatus with a data storage area has a processing unit including a plurality of processors and a shared memory for storing programs executed by the processors and is configured such that the processors receive data I/O requests and store the data I/O requests in the shared memory as storage medium control information for the storage medium. The storage medium controller executes data processing of writing or reading target data for the corresponding data I/O processing request to or from the storage medium on the basis of the storage medium control information transmitted from the external apparatus. The data transfer controller executes data transfer processing between the processing unit and the storage medium controller in accordance with a predetermined communication method. When the storage medium controller transmits a data transfer request to the data transfer controller and the data transfer controller transfers the data transfer request from the storage medium controller to the processing unit, the data transfer controller sends the storage medium controller data including predetermined error information stipulated for the communication method when determining that the processing unit does not execute the data transfer processing normally, and the storage medium controller determines that a failure has occurred to the processor which is the target of the data transfer request transmitted to the data transfer controller when receiving the predetermined error information.
US09223641B2 Multicore processor system, communication control method, and communication computer product
A multicore processor system is configured to cause among multiple cores, a second core to acquire from a first core that executes a first process, an execution request for a second process and a remaining period from a time of execution of the execution request until an estimated time of completion of the first process; and give notification of a result of the second process from the second core to the first core after an estimated completion time of the first process obtained by adding the remaining period to a start time of the second process.
US09223639B2 In place object reconstruction
Updating an implementation object is disclosed. A proxy is configured to provide access to a first implementation object that is used to manage an item of content included in a collection of managed content. The first implementation object is replaced with a second implementation object. The proxy is associated with the second implementation object.
US09223635B2 Network offering in cloud computing environment
A cloud system may create and support multiple network offerings for virtual machines in a cloud zone. Physical networks comprising sets of network elements, such as routers, gateways, firewalls, load balancers, and other network hardware, may be created and updated within a zone. Network offerings may be defined and associated, using tags or other techniques, with virtual machine networks, physical networks and/or network elements. Cloud end users may request specific network offerings when creating virtual machines, or may request to move existing virtual machines from one network offering to another. The cloud system may use the requested network offering to identify the virtual machine network, physical network, and/or network elements corresponding to the requested network offering. The cloud system may allocate a new virtual machine network and configure the network elements within the associated physical network to provide network services to the virtual machine.
US09223632B2 Cross-cloud management and troubleshooting
A cloud management system is described herein that provides the ability for an application to span two or more clouds while allowing operation, management, and troubleshooting of the distributed application as a single application. The system provides infrastructure that communicates across datacenters for execution and for centralizing knowledge of instances of an application that are running at different locations. The infrastructure provided by the system monitors both the application and connections between the clouds, with intelligence to know if issues are within the application or because of the connection between the clouds. The system coordinates management functions across multiple cloud platforms/locations. Thus, the cloud management system creates a single monitoring and troubleshooting interface and knowledge and execution fabric across multiple clouds so that applications spread across multiple clouds can be monitored, managed, and debugged more easily.
US09223630B2 Method and apparatus for energy efficient distributed and elastic load balancing
Various embodiments provide a method and apparatus of providing a load balancing configuration that adapts to the overall load and scales the power consumption with the load to improve energy efficiency and scalability. The energy efficient distributed and elastic load balancing architecture includes a collection of multi-tiered servers organized as a tree structure. The handling of incoming service requests is distributed amongst a number of the servers. Each server in the virtual load distribution tree accepts handles incoming service requests based on its own load. Once a predetermined loading on the receiving server has been reached, the receiving server passes the incoming requests to one or more of its children servers.
US09223627B2 Management of task allocation in a multi-core processing system
A system and method for management of task allocation in a multi-core processing system. A controller of the processing unit may, at an initialization stage determine a number of worker threads to be a prime number not smaller than a multiplication of the number of the processing cores and a predetermined factor, assign a worker identification number (ID) to each worker thread, wherein the worker IDs are consecutive positive integers ranging from zero to the number of workers minus one. At a processing state the controller may receive from a dispatcher of the processing system a task associated with a numeric context ID and designate the task to one of the worker threads, wherein the worker ID of the designated worker thread equals the numeric context ID of the task, modulo the number of worker threads.
US09223626B2 Task execution and management in a clustered computing environment
Machines, systems and methods for task management in a computer implemented system. The method comprises registering a task with brokers residing on one or more nodes to manage the execution of a task to completion, wherein a first broker is accompanied by a first set of worker threads co-located on the node on which the first broker is executed, wherein the first broker assigns responsibility of execution for the task to the one or more worker threads in the first set of co-located worker threads, wherein in response to a failure associated with a first worker thread in the first set, the first broker reassigns the responsibility of execution for the task to a second worker thread in the first set, wherein in response to a failure associated with the first broker, a second broker assigns responsibility of execution for the task to one or more co-located worker threads.
US09223623B2 Dynamic service resource control
The embodiments may provide a data processing apparatus for controlling service resource allocation. The data processing apparatus including a resource hints controller configured to obtain a resource control request before a task is to be executed on a virtual machine having resources allocated to a processing unit, a memory unit and a storage unit. The resource hints controller is configured to obtain a usage of the resources allocated to at least one of the processing unit, the memory unit and the storage unit of the virtual machine, and increase the resources allocated to the at least one of the processing unit, the memory unit and the storage unit in response to the resource control request based on the usage being equal to or above a threshold level.
US09223616B2 Virtual machine resource reduction for live migration optimization
A mechanism for virtual machine resource reduction for live migration optimization is disclosed. A method of the invention includes monitoring a rate of state change of a virtual machine (VM) undergoing a live migration, determining that the rate of state change of the VM exceeds a rate of state transfer of the VM during the live migration process, and adjusting one or more resources of the VM to decrease the rate of state change of the VM to be less than the rate of state transfer of the VM.
US09223615B2 Apparatus and method for thread progress tracking
Provided is a method and apparatus for measuring a progress or a performance of an application program in a computing environment using a micro-architecture. An apparatus for thread progress tracking may select a thread included in an application program, may determine, based on a predetermined criterion, whether an execution scheme for at least one instruction included in the thread corresponds to an effective execution scheme in which an execution time is uniform or a non-effective execution scheme in which a delayed cycle is included and the execution time is non-uniform, and may generate an effective progress index (EPI) by accumulating an execution time of an instruction executed by the effective execution scheme other than an instruction executed by the non-effective execution scheme.
US09223611B2 Storing and resuming application runtime state
Execution of an application is suspended and the runtime state of the application is collected and persisted. Maintenance operations may then be performed on the computer that the application was executing upon. The runtime state might also be moved to another computer. In order to resume execution of the application, the runtime state of the application is restored. Once the runtime state of the application has been restored, execution of the application may be restarted from the point at which execution was suspended. A proxy layer might also be utilized to translate requests received from the application for resources that are modified after the runtime state of the application is persisted.
US09223600B1 In-processor dynamic address redirection table for substituting instruction strings
A data processor includes a redirection dynamic address redirection table (DART) for redirecting instruction fetches from an original memory location with an original address to a target memory location with a target address.
US09223596B1 Virtual machine fast provisioning based on dynamic criterion
Disclosed herein are methods and systems for reducing the loading time of virtual machines. A virtual machine is booted on a virtual machine host. The machine continues to initialize until it has reached a ready-state. The machine is then paused on the virtual machine host. A request for the virtual machine may then be received from a client. The machine is then resumed on the virtual machine host and a notification may be sent to the client stating that the machine is ready.
US09223593B2 Efficient distribution of functional extensions to a 3D modeling software
Functional extensions are provided for use with a modeling software. The functional extensions provide functionality not otherwise provided by the modeling software. The functional extensions are received from a client device by a server and stored in a database. Thereafter, the server transmits the functional extensions to a second client device, sometimes in response to receiving a request for the functional extension from the second client device. The server may update a user profile to indicate that a functional extension was received from a user operating the client device and, additionally, may transmit the functional extension to the second client device when the server receives an indication that the user is operating the second client device.
US09223590B2 System and method for issuing commands to applications based on contextual information
A system and method for issuing commands to an application based on contextual information. A control application receives an indication that a text manipulation event has occurred in a user interface of a second application. Next, the control application queries the second application to obtain contextual information established by the second application prior to the event, the contextual information providing context to the text manipulation event that occurred in the user interface of the second application. The control application then issues one or more commands to the second application based on the contextual information providing context to the text manipulation event.
US09223562B1 Controllable deployment of software updates
The risk of inadvertent introduction of software bugs to a large number of users during a software update is minimized by controlling updates using a uniform mechanism of sending updates to seed users. A value-generating module generates a value for a computer, the value falling within a population range of values. A sampling range-generating module generates a sampling range of values as a proper subset of the population range, the probability of the random value falling within the sampling range being predetermined. An eligibility determination module determines whether the computer is eligible to receive a software update, the computer being determined eligible when the random value for the computer falls within the sampling range, and an update module provides the software update to the computer based on the eligibility determination. In some embodiments, a problem review module determines whether the update has caused a problem for computers receiving the update.
US09223557B1 Application provided browser plugin
An application may be installed on a user device. Installing the application may include receiving and storing an executable application, a plugin, and an application manifest. The application manifest may include a path corresponding to the plugin and one or more rules associated with the plugin. A webpage may be requested from the web server. The webpage may be parsed to determine that the webpage includes an instruction to use the plugin. It may be determined that the application includes the plugin. The path corresponding to the plugin may be obtained from the application manifest. The webpage may be presented using the plugin.
US09223551B1 Rendergraph compilation method and use thereof for low-latency execution
A graph is compiled that defines a data flow from input(s) to output(s) for images. The data flow includes one or more filters to be applied to the images. Compiling the graph includes forming an assemblage of kernel invocations for the data flow and forming a mapping between kernel invocations in code for the one or more filters and the assemblage of kernel invocations. For multiple ones of a number of frames of images, code in the one or more filters is executed, data is passed into the assemblage to indicate which execution path in the assemblage should be chosen from among a plurality of possible execution paths for one of the filters, wherein the data is determined using at least the mapping and the executing code, and kernel invocations in the indicated execution path are executed. Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are disclosed.
US09223550B1 Portable handling of primitives for concurrent execution
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating portable concurrency primitives. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a set of source code for a module that will execute on a plurality of different types of architectures, the set of source code including a first set of concurrency primitives, generating a second set of concurrency primitives from the first set of concurrency primitives, wherein each concurrency primitive in the second set is different than the corresponding concurrency primitive from the first set of concurrency primitives, each concurrency primitive in the second set of concurrency primitives being independent of a plurality of different types of architectures that will execute the module, and storing each concurrency primitive from the second set of concurrency primitives in a portable executable that retains the language level constructs of the first set of concurrency primitives.
US09223548B2 Method and apparatus for providing an application canvas framework
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for providing an application canvas framework which facilitates the manipulation of text and graphics within a web browser. During operation, the system receives a command from a user at a web browser to execute a web-based application. In response to the command, the system loads the web-based application which includes an application canvas framework within the web browser, wherein the application canvas framework provides a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that facilitates the manipulation of text and graphics within the web browser. Note that the application canvas framework can be browser independent and/or platform independent.
US09223546B1 Code generator tool for building software applications with reusable components
A method and computer program product for building a multiple layer object-oriented software application with reusable components. The method includes creating business classes containing a business logic for the software application, wherein the business classes are organized into hierarchies identified as namespaces, and then generating executable programming code for the software application. From there, the method may include placing the executable programming code into an at least one assembly structure for an associated layer, wherein a security token is required to access the business classes, and wherein the business classes are created to validate each security token passed by a user interface.
US09223545B2 Modified fixed-point algorithm for implementing infrared sensor radiation equation
A system including an integrated circuit chip also includes a microcontroller in the chip and an algorithm for execution by the microcontroller. The algorithm includes addition, subtraction, and multiplication operators (e.g. 25,15,20) and shift-left and shift-right operators (e.g., 48,21) configured for solving particular equations (Eqns. 1-4). Input numbers are within particular ranges to allow the shift operators to shift binary bits so each number so it fits within a register of a particular width. An IR sensor (4) may convert IR radiation (3) to produce a voltage (Vobj) representing the temperature (Tobj) of an IR emitting object (2). The algorithm (100) operates in conjunction with the microcontroller (7) to convert the voltage (Vobj) into a value representing the temperature (Tobj) of the remote object (2) without keeping track of decimal points and resolution of the numbers.
US09223533B2 Technique for information processing device and printer
An information processing device may receive, from a server, identification information for identifying an image file being stored in the server and status information indicating a print process status of the image file, display a first screen indicating these information, and send a change instruction to the server. The change instruction may be for changing status information of a designated image file into a first status indicating where a print process for an image file has not been performed. The information processing device may send print instruction information and authentication information to a printer. The print instruction information may be for causing the printer to acquire print data from the server. The authentication information may be used by the printer to acquire the print data from the server.
US09223520B2 External memory controller node
A memory controller to provide memory access services in an adaptive computing engine is provided. The controller comprises: a network interface configured to receive a memory request from a programmable network; and a memory interface configured to access a memory to fulfill the memory request from the programmable network, wherein the memory interface receives and provides data for the memory request to the network interface, the network interface configured to send data to and receive data from the programmable network.
US09223516B2 Data accessing method and apparatus for performing the same using a host logical unit (HLUN)
The present invention discloses a data accessing method and an apparatus for performing the method. Through a newly-defined host logical unit (HLUN), a unique HLUN number is given to each LUN-to-LD/Partition mapping relationship, and the HLUN is present to external hosts. Therefore, all of the hosts in the same storage system may recognize different logical units (i.e., HLUN). Hence, when processing an Input/Output (IO) request issued from any one host, a storage virtualization controller (SVC) can correctly find the corresponding LD/Partition for accessing data without identifying the identity of the host.
US09223512B2 System and method for predicting backup data volumes
A method and system for predicting the managed backup occupancy of a backup system are disclosed. The method includes determining the variables m0, x1 to xn, r and z1 to zn. Variable m0 is the current managed backup occupancy of the backup system, x1 to xn are the expected occupancies of backups taken by the backup system per predetermined time period T with retention periods of 0-1 time periods T, 1-2 time periods T, 2-3 time periods T and so on up to n time periods T respectively, r is the expected growth rate of a protected data volume of the backup system per time period T, and z1 to zn are the data volumes of existing backups that are expected to expire within each of the first to nth time periods T after the current time respectively.
US09223507B1 System, method and computer program product for fetching data between an execution of a plurality of threads
An apparatus, computer program product, and associated method/processing unit are provided for utilizing a memory subsystem including a first memory of a first memory class, and a second memory of a second memory class communicatively coupled to the first memory. In operation, data is fetched using a time between an execution of a plurality of threads.
US09223505B2 Administering inter-core communication via shared memory
Administering inter-core communication via shared memory may be carried out in a system in which each core is associated with a mailbox in a shared memory region. Such administration may include constructing a mailbox latency table describing latency of writing data from each core to each mailbox; constructing a locking latency table describing latency of each core in acquiring a lock for each of the mailboxes; identifying, from the tables, groups of a cores having mailbox and locking latency within a predefined range of acceptable latency values; and for each identified group of cores, establishing, for every pair of cores in the group of cores, a private channel, including pinning, for each private channel established for a pair of cores, one local memory segment per core.
US09223501B2 Computer system and virtual server migration control method for computer system
When migrating a virtual server between a plurality of physical servers, a pre-migration connection relationship between the virtual server and a storage area used by the virtual server is maintained after the migration of the virtual server by using a cooperative mechanism between a plurality of storage apparatuses even if the storage area used by the virtual server is migrated between the plurality of storage apparatuses. A computer system and virtual server migration control method for the computer system is described.
US09223496B2 User interface for comparing items using gestures
In an example embodiment, a method of presenting marketplace listings is provided. Search parameters are received from a user interface on an electronic device. A search on marketplace listings is then performed using the search parameters, returning marketplace results. The marketplace results are then organized into a plurality of web pages, each web page corresponding to a different marketplace result, with each page organized so that a row on any one of the web pages corresponds to the same type of product attribute as that row on any of the other of the plurality of web pages. Then one of the plurality of web pages is displayed on the electronic device. When a swipe left or swipe right gesture is received, another of the plurality of web pages is displayed.
US09223495B2 System and method for crossing navigation for use in an electronic terminal
A touch screen that is capable of receiving touch inputs from a user includes a crossing navigation input that uses two directional input to move through content within different content groups. The touch screen includes a graphical user interface that is configured to display content on the touch screen such that similar content items are in a content group. Additionally, the graphical user interface is configured to receive, through the touch screen, a first input to access different content groups and a second input to access content within the same group. The first input includes a touch input in a first direction and the second input includes a touch input in a second direction.
US09223492B2 Tear-away topology views
Enabling users to select a subset of elements represented by a rendered topology view, and in response, a new view comprising the selected elements is automatically created. Preferred embodiments render this subset view, referred to herein as a “tear-away view”, alongside the topology view from which the elements were selected, thereby enabling the user to focus on the selected elements in context of the bigger picture. An active correlation is preferably maintained between the views, such that various updates to one view are also reflected in the other view. Preferred embodiments automatically create a new data model underlying the tear-away view, and in one aspect, this data model and/or tear-away view may be persisted.
US09223491B2 Methods and apparatus to manage zones of a multi-zone media playback system
Methods and apparatus to manage zones of a playback system are disclosed. An example method includes displaying a plurality of zone icons, including a first zone icon and a second zone icon, each of the zone icons representing zone player(s) operable to play back multimedia content in a local area network, wherein the first and second zone icons are currently located in a first zone group region, and wherein the zone players associated with the first and second zone icons are members of a first zone group, the first zone group synchronously playing back a first multimedia content; receiving a first drag and drop input to select the second zone icon and drag the second zone icon from inside the first zone group region to outside the first zone region; and, based on the first drag and drop input, causing the zone player(s) associated with the second zone icon to be disassociated with the first zone group.
US09223487B2 Electronic apparatus, method of controlling the same, and related computer program
Objects are indicated on a display. A touch panel is superposed on the display. An acquiring section operates for detecting user's touches to the touch panel and acquiring positions of the user's touches to the touch panel as touch positions. A decision is made as to whether or not the distance between first and second touch positions decreases in accordance with the lapse of time. A selecting section operates for setting a rectangular area with respect to the display and selecting an object or objects contained in the rectangular area in cases where it is decided that the distance between the first and second touch positions decreases in accordance with the lapse of time. Two opposite corners of the rectangular area are respectively coincident with the first and second touch positions occurring at an initial stage of the user's touches to the touch panel.
US09223475B1 Bookmark navigation user interface
A user interface for a touch-screen display of an electronic book reader device is described. The user interface has a bookmark feature designed to facilitate navigation through bookmarked locations in digital content items, such as electronic books, in response to use input via the touch-screen display. Further, the user interface provides a split progress indicator with separate portions presented in different areas of the display. The portions of the indicator are configured to represent proportions of content that comes before and after the current location being displayed.
US09223467B1 Distributing icons so that they do not overlap certain screen areas of a mobile device
Desired portions of a background image presented on a mobile device are prioritized for viewability. The background image, which includes desired feature components, is presented on a display of the mobile device. The desired feature components are identified from the background image. A user interface that includes an indication of the desired feature components is presented on the mobile device. One or more icon images are presented in accordance with the prioritization of the desired feature components of the background image.
US09223464B2 Instant messaging activity notification
User activity is communicated in a messaging system. Communication is performed by monitoring an input region displayed to a first user of the messaging system in a client executed at a user terminal of the first user; responsive to receiving a user activated input at the input region, analyzing the input and using the analysis to match the input to a type of user activity from a predetermined set of user activities; and transmitting a message comprising data representing the type of user activity from the user terminal of the first user to a user terminal of at least one other user of the messaging system over a communications network.
US09223455B2 User preference analysis method and device
A user preference analysis method and device are provided for providing a user with customized content through preference analysis based on the user's content consumption activity. The user preference analysis method includes displaying content data on a screen of the device in response to a user input; recording content information about the content data displayed on the screen; analyzing a user preference based on the recorded content information; and storing a user preference analysis result for the content data.
US09223454B2 Touch sensor panel with in-plane backup bypass connections
Touch sensor panels (104) have 2-D periodic arrangements of electrodes (304) connected together forming a plurality of horizontal and vertical logical lines (506, 514) for measuring X-Y coordinates of a user's touch. Electrodes forming the horizontal logical lines are interleaved with electrodes forming the vertical logical lines. Each of the vertical and horizontal logical lines includes multiple tracks (502, 504, 510, 512). The tracks of each logical line are cross connected by in-plane cross connects (314, 318) formed in the same layer by the same process that is used to form the electrodes. Diamond and square electrode embodiments are described.
US09223449B2 Black image insertion for capacitive sensing
When performing capacitive sensing, a modulated signal is driven on transmitter electrodes located only within a black image of the display device. When updating a display screen based on a newly received display frame, an input device may first insert the black image on the display screen. Once the black image is displayed, the input device may use the electrodes within the area of the screen displaying the black image to track the input object using capacitive sensing (e.g., determine if the user is pressing a finger or stylus on the screen). In this manner, performing capacitive sensing affects only the pixels displaying the black image which is not perceived by the user. After performing capacitive sensing using the electrodes, the input device may replace the black image with display data from the new display frame.
US09223436B2 Full scale calibration measurement for multi-touch surfaces
Normalization of regions of a sensor panel capable of detecting multi-touch events, or a sensor panel capable of detecting multi-hover events, is disclosed to enable each sensor in the sensor panel to trigger a virtual button in a similar manner, given the same amount of touch or hover. Each sensor produces an output value proportional to the level or amount of touch or hover. However, due to processing, manufacturing and physical design differences, the sensor output values can vary from region to region or panel to panel for a given amount of touch or hover. To normalize the sensor output values across regions, gain and offset information can be obtained in advance, stored in nonvolatile memory, and later used to normalize the sensor output values so that all regions in the sensor panel can trigger virtual buttons similarly, providing a uniform “response function” at any location on the sensor panel.
US09223428B2 Touch type input device
A touch type input device includes a display capable of showing a plurality of icons. A detector detects touching of an operation surface. A controller moves operational coordinates on the display based on the detection of the detector. The controller selects one of the icons in accordance with a region in which the operational coordinates are located. Further, the controller moves the operational coordinates to a specified position in the region where the operational coordinates are located when a touch-release operation is performed indicating that the touching of the operation surface has been cancelled.
US09223422B2 Remote controller and display apparatus, control method thereof
A remote controller includes a communicator configured to perform communication with a display apparatus which provides a user interface screen, a sensor configured to sense a movement of the remote controller, and a controller configured to control so that, when a preset event occurs, motion information of the remote controller as sensed at the sensor is mapped with a reference point of a pointer provided on the user interface screen.
US09223421B2 Input device and electronic apparatus using the same
An input device includes an input-sensing unit that contains a capacitive input sensor and a sensitivity-sensing unit that contains a capacitive sensitivity sensor. The input-sensing unit senses position information obtained by touch operation of an operation body to the capacitive input sensor. The sensitivity-sensing unit senses sensitivity information obtained by touch operation of the operation body to the capacitive sensitivity sensor. The input device includes a control unit determining whether or not the output level of the position information from the input-sensing unit is adjusted based on the sensitivity information sensed by the sensitivity-sensing unit and a sensitivity-adjusting unit that adjusts an output level of the position information from the input-sensing unit based on a result of the determination of the control unit. The control unit controls the sensitivity-adjusting unit to adjust the output level of the position information received from the input-sensing unit.
US09223419B2 Cursor display device and cursor display method
A recognizing process in which an indicated first position is recognized on a display screen projected and displayed by a projector and a controlling process in which control is performed so as to display a cursor associated with the indication in a second position on the display screen are provided, and the cursor is displayed in the second position such that the cursor is displaced from the first position by a predetermined distance.
US09223416B2 Display apparatus, remote controlling apparatus and control method thereof
A remote controlling apparatus, a display apparatus and a controlling method are provided. The remote controlling apparatus for selecting one of a plurality of operating modes of an external device being operable between a pointing mode and a gesture mode, associated with the remote controlling apparatus, includes an output unit for outputting information regarding the remote controlling apparatus to the external device, a detection unit for detecting motion of the remote controlling apparatus, a motion information generating unit for generating motion information based on the detected motion of the remote controlling apparatus, an operation mode change unit for providing information regarding an operation mode, for changing the operation mode of the external device being operable between the pointing mode and the gesture mode, and wherein the information regarding the remote controlling apparatus comprise the information regarding the operating mode, and the motion information generated by the motion information generating unit.
US09223411B2 User interface with parallax animation
User interface animation techniques are described. In an implementation, an input having a velocity is detected that is directed to one or more objects in a user interface. A visual presentation is generated that is animated so a first object in the user interface moves in parallax with respect to a second object. The presentation is displayed so the first object appears to moves at a rate that corresponds to the velocity.
US09223410B1 Input for computing device
Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to inputs for computing devices. For example, an input, such as a keyboard, may include a plurality of layers, such as a base layer. The base layer may include a cutout defined at least partially by interior edges of the base layer. An antenna may be secured to a structural member of the computing device, and the antenna may receive electromagnetic radiation through the cutout in the base layer.
US09223406B2 Screen display control method of electronic device and apparatus therefor
A method and apparatus for zooming in or out and displaying a screen according a gesture of a user is provided. The method includes sensing gesture input, determining whether the gesture input corresponds to a predetermined pattern of a first semicircle or semi oval shape, and zooming in or out the image displayed on the screen and displaying a zoomed in or zoomed out image on a screen wherein the zoom ratio is in proportion to a radius of a first semicircle or a radius of a long or short axis of a first semi oval when the gesture input is the pattern of the first semicircle or semi oval shape.
US09223398B2 Flexible display apparatus and method of operating the same
Provided are a flexible display apparatus and a method of operating the same. The flexible display apparatus includes: a display unit that displays an image and is flexible; and a sensor for detecting an approach of an object to a bent space of the display unit while the display unit is bent. The flexible display apparatus may use a proximity touch as a user interface by detecting an approach of an object, by disposing a sensor in a region adjacent to a display unit or on the display unit.
US09223394B2 Rack and power control method thereof
A power control method of a rack having a plurality of nodes includes the following steps. Power information of each node is received. A total power consumption value of the plurality of nodes according to the power information is calculated. A number of power supply units to be turned on according to the total power consumption value and a maximum supplied power value of a single power supply unit is calculated. At least one primary power supply unit and at least one secondary power supply unit in pairs according to the number of power supply units to be turned on is started. The at least one primary power supply unit provides a duty voltage to the plurality of nodes, and the at least one secondary power supply unit does not provide the duty voltage to the plurality of nodes.
US09223387B2 Rescheduling active display tasks to minimize overlapping with active platform tasks
In general, in one aspect, a mobile device display includes panel electronics, a backlight driver and a rescheduler. The panel electronics is to generate images on an optical stack of the display based on input from a processing platform of the mobile device. The backlight driver is to control operation of a backlight used to illuminate the optical stack so that the user can see the images generated on the display. The rescheduler is to determine when a timing critical task of the processing platform overlaps with a non-timing critical task of the panel electronics or the backlight driver and reschedule the non-timing critical task until the timing critical task is inactive or a visual tolerance limit has been reached. The rescheduling minimizes overlap between the timing critical tasks and non-timing critical tasks and accordingly reduces power consumption without effecting performance or impacting a user's visual experience.
US09223385B2 Re-driver power management
The present disclosure provides techniques for increasing the power efficiency of re-drivers by providing a technique for a re-driver to recognize a variety of power states. A message generator may be located in a host device and may encode a signal indicating a change in a power state. The message may be transmitted to a message decoder located in a re-driver. The message decoder may decode the message and the re-driver may enter a power state in response to the decoded message.
US09223381B2 Method and apparatus to save power upon resume in multi-core system
A method is provided for resuming one or more cores of a multi-core processor that is part of an electronic device, the method comprising: grouping wakeup sources into a plurality of computing domains; receiving an interrupt associated with a wakeup source; identifying a first computing domain from the plurality that the wakeup source is part of; mapping the first computing domain to a first indication of one or more states of a first core of the processor; configuring the first core to enter the one or more states that are indicated by the first indication; and resuming the first core after the first core is configured.
US09223376B2 Managing electrical current in a portable computing device when two or more communications overlap in drawing power during a transmission
A method and system for managing electrical current within a portable computing device (“PCD”) includes assigning a priority to two or more communications supported by the PCD. A present level of a power supply for the PCD may be monitored by a communications power (“CP”) manager module. Next, the CP manager module may determine if the two or more communications may be transmitted at the present level of the power supply. If the two or more communications cannot be transmitted at the present level of the power supply, then the CP manager module may determine if a timing of at least one of the communications may be adjusted. The CP manager module may also determine a theoretical power level adjustment for at least one of the communications. The two or more communications may be transmitted with any calculated timing off sets and power level adjustments.
US09223349B2 Low-force dust seal
An electronic device may have polarizer layers, color filter layers, thin-film-transistor layers, and other display layers. A display layer may be separated from structures such as a display cover layer formed from clear glass or plastic and a touch sensor layer mounted on an inner surface of the display cover layer by an air gap. Cavities within an electronic device housing may serve as a source of dust and other contaminants. The air gap may be sealed against dust intrusion from a cavity within an electronic device using a dust sealing structure. The dust sealing structure may have a rectangular ring shape that runs around a rectangular peripheral portion of a display layer. The dust sealing structure may be formed from a tape-based structure, an elastomeric structure, a compressible foam structure, or a cured liquid structure.
US09223338B2 Display device
The instant application describes a display device including a display panel; a first component forming the front portion of the cabinet; a second component forming the rear portion of the cabinet; a metal plate comprising a first flat portion parallel to the display surface of the display panel and a second flat portion perpendicular to the first flat portion; an engaging portion provided on the first flat portion, the engaging portion being engaged with the first component; a female screw portion to which a screw penetrating the second component is inserted, and a receiving portion provided on the first component to which the engaging portion is engaged.
US09223330B2 Internal voltage generation circuit
An internal voltage generation circuit includes a comparison unit suitable for comparing a voltage level of a feedback voltage with that of a reference voltage, and generating a comparison signal and an acceleration voltage, a pull-up driving unit suitable for driving an internal voltage terminal to be pulled up in response to the comparison signal, a discharging unit suitable for discharging the internal voltage terminal in response to the acceleration voltage, and a voltage division unit suitable for dividing a voltage level of the internal voltage terminal, and generating the feedback voltage.
US09223319B2 High dilution ratio by successively preparing and diluting chemicals
A system and method for providing a plurality of diluted solutions are disclosed. Successive dilution operations are performed upon mixing vessels substantially simultaneously. Measured source volumes of a source solution are placed into the mixing vessels. First measured volumes of a liquid are added to the mixing vessels. Measured first waste volumes are dispensed from the mixing vessels. Second measured volumes of the liquid are added to the mixing vessels. Measured second waste volumes are dispensed from the mixing vessels. Third measured volumes of the liquid are added to the mixing vessels. Each vessel has an individual target dilution ratio. Measured volumes and number of dilution operations are individual to each of the mixing vessels.
US09223312B2 Carpet drift estimation using differential sensors or visual measurements
Apparatus and methods for carpet drift estimation are disclosed. In certain implementations, a robotic device includes an actuator system to move the body across a surface. A first set of sensors can sense an actuation characteristic of the actuator system. For example, the first set of sensors can include odometry sensors for sensing wheel rotations of the actuator system. A second set of sensors can sense a motion characteristic of the body. The first set of sensors may be a different type of sensor than the second set of sensors. A controller can estimate carpet drift based at least on the actuation characteristic sensed by the first set of sensors and the motion characteristic sensed by the second set of sensors.
US09223311B2 Vehicle driving support control apparatus
A vehicle driving support control apparatus receives lane line information given from a first environment recognizer and information on a target three-dimensional object given from a second environment recognizer. The apparatus estimates the visual range of a driver based on the lane line information, and estimates the driving lane based on at least either one of the lane line information and the target three-dimensional object information, and estimates the driving track of the vehicle. Based on the estimated driving lane and driving track, the apparatus estimates a deviation position where the subject vehicle will deviate from the driving lane on the basis of the driving lane and the driving track estimated. If the deviation position is beyond the visual range, the apparatus executes at least either one of notification to the driver and automatic braking in accordance with the possibility of deviation from the driving lane.
US09223310B2 Ship course obstruction warning transport
An unmanned aquatic surface vehicle for detecting and locating hazards is disclosed. The vehicle includes a propulsion system configured to impart a propulsive force to the vehicle and a steering system configured to impart a change in the direction of travel of the vehicle. A navigation system may be included to detect the location, direction, and motion of the vehicle. A hazard detection system is configured to detect and locate at least one of a subsurface, surface or above-water hazard. A communications device configured to transmit hazard data associated with a detected hazard to a remote receiver. A control station is able to control the vehicle, and receive and display information about hazards detected by the unmanned aquatic surface vehicle.
US09223308B2 Method for the computer-assisted monitoring of the functional performance of a technical system
A method for computer-assisted monitoring of the functional performance of a technical system: determining an actual functional performance for each technical component of the technical system; assigning each technical component to a component type, wherein components of identical or similar functional range are assigned to one component type; determining an additional functional performance for each component type, which describes the functional range of the hardware and/or software of a component, wherein the range, among all the available components of one component type, has the highest functional performance; determining a component-related, normalized functional performance from the actual functional performance of a given technical component and from the additional functional performance; determining a component-related, normalized functional performance from the component-related, normalized functional performances of all components of the same type; comparing the component-related, normalized functional performance to a threshold value; and generating an alarm if the threshold value is not reached.
US09223302B2 Method and system for controlling electric actuators
An object 10 includes an electric actuator system 11 and a method 12. The object 10 may be a vehicle that includes wheels 18-21. The system 11 and method 12 include microprocessor based controllers 32, 33 and 37, electric actuators 22-25, 38 and 39, and a user interface 34 with an integrated level sensor and temperature sensor. The system 11 and method 12 operate to automatically or manually move the vehicle 10 from a not level attitude to a level attitude when the vehicle 10 is parked. The system 11 and method 12 in a preferred embodiment (FIGS. 4-6) may be configured to utilize any number of substantially identical controllers and actuators. The system 11 and method 12 sense the load carried by each actuator, to assure the wheels of the vehicle are not carrying more than a desired amount of the load when the vehicle is parked.
US09223293B2 Method and system for authenticating a timepiece
A timepiece including at least dial, at least one hand mounted on the timepiece and having an upper side and a lower side facing the dial, and a security material arranged on the lower side of the at least one hand. The security material includes a medium containing one or more compounds having luminescent properties in the infrared (IR) range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
US09223292B2 Wristwatch fitted with an animation above the dial
A wristwatch including a watch case; a clock movement in said watch case and a dial. At least one part of a three-dimensional figure above the dial can be caused to move in a plane non-parallel to the dial by a shaft extending above the dial in a direction perpendicular to the dial. A device for driving the figure is arranged below the dial to control the movements of this shaft. The figure can be formed by a mechanical bird.
US09223291B2 One-piece composite impulse pin-safety roller component
The invention relates to a one-piece composite micromechanical timepiece component including a first functional level including an impulse pin made of a first material arranged to cooperate with a member, the first functional level also including an electroformed portion made of a second metallic material partially overlapping the impulse pin and a second functional level including only the electroformed portion forming a roller also arranged to cooperate with the member.
US09223284B2 Image forming apparatus, supporting member and cleaning device
An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a development device, a transferring device, a static eliminating device, a cleaning device, a separating claw and a static elimination assisting device. On the image carrier, an electrostatic latent image is formed. The development device develops the electrostatic latent image by a toner. The transferring device transfers the toner on the image carrier to a recording sheet. The static eliminating device irradiates the image carrier with a light to eliminate a remained static charge. The cleaning device removes the toner remained on the image carrier. The separating claw is arranged between the static eliminating device and image carrier to separate the recording sheet from the image carrier. The static elimination assisting device radiates a light to a light obstruction area where is not irradiated with the light emitted from the static eliminating device on the image carrier due to the separating claw.
US09223281B2 Image processing apparatus, image forming system, and computer-readable recording medium having gloss control
An image processing apparatus includes a storage unit that stores therein a type of surface effect and predetermined glossiness in association with each other, a determining unit that determines, as first glossiness, the glossiness associated with the surface effect specified by the gloss control plane data, a measurement control unit that performs control to measure second glossiness indicating actual glossiness of a printed matter that is a recording medium on which printing has been performed by a printing apparatus, a generation unit that produces, from the gloss control plane data, gloss plane data for additional printing in which a density value is set in accordance with an amount of a transparent color material necessary for achieving the first glossiness on the basis of a difference in value between the first glossiness and the second glossiness, and an output unit that outputs the gloss plane data for additional printing.
US09223280B2 Image forming apparatus
A light source is provided in the casing and emits a light beam for forming an image. A first sensor receives the light beam emitted by the light source and outputs a light reception signal. A cover opens and closes relative to the casing. A shutter prevents the first sensor from receiving the light beam when the cover is at an open position, and allows the first sensor to receive the light beam when the cover is at a closed position. A controller is configured to: execute a lighting process of lighting the light source; execute a first determining process of determining whether the light reception signal is outputted from the first sensor, in response to the lighting process; and determine that the cover is at the open position upon determination in the first determining process that no light reception signal is outputted.
US09223276B2 Printing apparatus, printing apparatus control method, and storage medium for generating new paper information
There is provided a printing apparatus in which when paper information is set for a paper holding unit, it can be determined whether to set paper information already stored in a paper brand database or generate new paper information and set the newly generated paper information for the paper holding unit.
US09223270B2 Image forming apparatus controlling toner image in forced laser beam emission state and method thereof
The forced light emission detection unit detects a forced laser beam emission state of an exposing unit when the exposing unit starts forming a latent image on a photosensitive drum. The toner transfer control unit performs the developing of the electrostatic latent image formed at a position before the electrostatic latent image on which the forced laser beam emission state is detected, and transfers the developed toner image to a sheet. The sheet re-conveyance unit makes the sheet being in a re-conveyance state using a duplex printing conveyance path. The toner re-transfer control unit reforms the electrostatic latent image formed after the position on which the force laser beam emission state is detected, performs the developing of the electrostatic latent image, and transfers the developed toner image to the sheet in the re-conveyance state.
US09223262B2 Electrostatic-type printing apparatus
An image processing apparatus comprises a heat roller configured to have a roller surface for contacting a medium on which the unfixed toner image is transferred; a press roller configured opposite to the heat roller; a guide configured along a conveyance space from an inlet arranged at the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the medium, which is conveyed and nipped by the heat roller and the press roller, to an outlet of the medium; a lever configured to be provided with a swing shaft with respect to the guide, a peeling claw arranged at the inlet side for scraping the toner off the roller surface, and a lever end positioned at the outlet side; and a swing section configured to swing and energize the lever to make the lever end protrude into the conveyance space, wherein the lever that is swung and energized by the swing section repeats the following operations: separating the peeling claw in a contacted state with the roller surface from the roller surface, and restoring the peeling claw to the contacted state.
US09223254B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus is configured to form a toner image by a toner image forming portion on an intermediate transfer belt, to transfer the toner image to a transfer and fixing belt, and to form a toner film by heating and pressurizing the toner image on the transfer and fixing belt. The transfer and fixing belt includes an elastic layer and when the toner film is pressurized to a recording medium in a body at a toner film transfer portion, the toner film is pressed to the recording medium while following surficial ruggedness of the recording medium. Because the toner image is formed by using toner particles containing a thermoplastic elastomer having crystallinity, the toner film formed of this toner image is fully resilient.
US09223241B2 Image processing apparatus and image processing method
An image processing apparatus that includes a controlling unit for controlling executions of a single color calibration which is for correcting a reproduction characteristic of a single color image, formed by an image forming unit, according to measurement of a single color image formed by the image forming unit with a single color recording material and a multi-color calibration which is for correcting a reproduction characteristic of a multi-color image, formed by the image forming unit, according to measurement of a multi-color image formed by the image forming unit with a plurality of recording materials. It is decided to execute at least one of the single color calibration and the multi-color calibration in accordance with history information of the single color calibration executed by the controlling and then the calibration which has been decided on is executed by the controlling unit.
US09223239B2 Toner resins and processes for making the same
Amorphous polyester resins and processes for making the same are disclosed herein. In particular, the process for making the resin provides resins with improved properties. The amorphous polyester resins have substantially reduced free fumaric acid as compared to that made from conventional processes. The toner resins are used to prepare toner compositions the have improved performance.
US09223229B2 Exposure device and exposure method
An exposure method and an exposure device are provided. An exemplary exposure device includes a stage, a first clamp holder, a second clamp holder, an optical projection unit, a first alignment detection unit, and/or a second alignment detection unit. The stage includes a first region and a second region. The first clamp holder is located in the first region and adapted for holding a first substrate, and the second clamp holder is located in the second region and adapted for holding a second substrate. The optical projection unit is located above the stage and adapted for exposure of the first substrate or the second substrate. The first alignment detection unit is adapted for detecting alignment marks of the first substrate. The second alignment detection unit is adapted for detecting alignment marks of the second substrate. The exposure device can accurately position the stage and improve production yield.
US09223227B2 Inspection apparatus and method, lithographic apparatus, lithographic processing cell and device manufacturing method
Asymmetry properties of a periodic target on a substrate, such as a grating on a wafer, are determined. An inspection apparatus has a broadband illumination source with illumination beams point mirrored in the pupil plane of a high numerical aperture objective lens. The substrate and target are illuminated via the objective lens from a first direction and a second direction mirror reflected with respect to the plane of the substrate. A quad wedge optical device separately redirects diffraction orders of radiation scattered from the substrate and separates diffraction orders from illumination along each of the first and second directions. For example the zeroth and first orders are separated for each incident direction. After capture in multimode fibers, spectrometers are used to measure the intensity of the separately redirected diffraction orders as a function of wavelength.
US09223219B2 Pattern forming method, actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition and resist film
Provided is a pattern forming method comprising (i) a step of forming a film from an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition, (ii) a step of exposing the film, and (iii) a step of developing the exposed film by using an organic solvent-containing developer, wherein the actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition comprises (A) a resin capable of decreasing the solubility for an organic solvent-containing developer by the action of an acid, (B) a compound capable of generating an acid upon irradiation with an actinic ray or radiation, (D) a solvent, and (G) a compound having at least either one of a fluorine atom and a silicon atom and having basicity or being capable of increasing the basicity by the action of an acid.
US09223214B2 Self-assembled structures, method of manufacture thereof and articles comprising the same
Disclosed herein is a composition comprising a graft block copolymer comprising a copolymer comprising a backbone polymer; and a first graft polymer that comprises a surface energy reducing moiety; the first graft polymer being grafted onto the backbone polymer; where the surface energy reducing moiety comprises a fluorine atom, a silicon atom, or a combination of a fluorine atom and a silicon atom; a photoacid generator; and a crosslinking agent.
US09223208B2 Actinic-ray- or radiation-sensitive resin composition and method of forming pattern using the composition
An actinic ray- or radiation-sensitive resin composition according to the present invention comprises a sulfonic acid-generating compound that is decomposed by an action of an acid to generate a sulfonic acid having a volume of 240 Å3 or more and a compound that generates the acid when exposed to actinic rays or radiation.
US09223206B2 Photosensitive resin composition and applications of the same
A photosensitive resin composition includes (A) an alkali-soluble resin, (B) a polysiloxane, (C) an ethylenically unsaturated compound, (D) a photo-initiator, (E) a solvent, (F) a black pigment, and (G) a metal chelate. The alkali-soluble resin (A) includes an unsaturated-group-containing resin (A-1) obtained by subjecting a mixture containing (i) an epoxy compound having at least two epoxy groups and (ii) a compound having at least one carboxyl group and at least one ethylenically unsaturated group to polymerization.
US09223198B2 Mask plate and manufacturing method thereof
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a mask plate and a manufacturing method thereof. The mask plate includes a mask plate body and a transmissive member, wherein the mask plate body has a transmissive part and a non-transmissive part adjacent to the transmissive part, the transmissive member is disposed corresponding to the transmissive part of the mask plate body, the absorbance of the transmissive member progressively increases in a direction away from a center region of the transmissive member to a edges region of the transmissive member close to the non-transmissive part.
US09223194B2 Illumination light beam forming device, illumination light source device and image display device
An illumination light beam forming device, including a first light source unit projecting a ring shaped light beam group, a second light source unit projecting light beams including a case the light beams being group, a combining unit for combining the light beam group projected from the first light source unit and light beams projected from the second light source unit, in which the combing unit includes a reflecting part formed to reflect one of the light beam groups, a transmitting part disposed able to transmit the other one of the light beam groups, and light beams projected from the second light source unit are disposed at an internal side of the light beam groups projected from the first light source unit when the two light beam groups are viewed from a plane including the reflecting part.
US09223188B2 Focal plane shuttering apparatus and image capture device
A focal plane shuttering apparatus includes: front and rear curtains; a first elastic member which generates biasing force to make the front curtain run in such a direction as to get the front curtain retracted from an aperture; a second elastic member which generates biasing force to make the rear curtain run in such a direction as to have the rear curtain cover the aperture; a charging member which applies biasing force to the first and second elastic members; a front curtain locking mechanism which keeps the front curtain retracted from the aperture when the charging member applies biasing force to the first elastic member; a rear curtain locking mechanism which keeps the aperture covered with the rear curtain when the charging member applies biasing force to the second elastic member; and an unlocking member interlocked with the charging member that unlocks the front and rear curtain locking mechanisms.
US09223187B2 Methods and systems for nonlinear optical wave-mixing
A system for conversion or amplification using quasi-phase matched nonlinear optical wave-mixing comprises a first radiation source for providing a pump radiation beam, a second radiation source for providing a signal radiation beam, and a bent structure for receiving the pump radiation beam and the signal radiation beam. The radiation propagation portion of the bent structure is made of a uniform nonlinear optical material and the radiation propagation portion comprises a dimension taking into account the spatial variation of the nonlinear optical susceptibility along the radiation propagation portion as experienced by radiation travelling along the bent structure for obtaining quasi-phase matched nonlinear optical wave-mixing in the radiation propagation portion. The dimension thereby is substantially inverse proportional with the linear phase mismatch for the nonlinear optical process. The system also comprises an outcoupling radiation propagation portion for coupling out an idler radiation beam generated in the bent structure.
US09223183B2 Liquid crystal display device
The TFT substrate of this liquid crystal display device has: a first gate bus line and a second gate bus line; a first data bus line; a first TFT and second TFT that are respectively connected to the first and second gate bus line and are both connected to the first data bus line; and a first pixel electrode and second pixel electrode that are respectively connected to the first TFT and the second TFT through a contact hole. The first and second gate bus line traverse the first pixel electrode and the second pixel electrode, and a black matrix has a portion that integrally covers the first TFT and the contact hole, and a portion that integrally covers the second TFT and the contact hole.
US09223181B2 Assembling a flexible display
A technique comprising: assembling together a front plane (1) comprising a first flexible substrate (4) supporting a display medium (6a) and a backplane (2) comprising a second flexible substrate (8) supporting an array of electronic elements (9) for controlling said display medium; and creating an electrically conductive connection between first and second conductive elements (5 10) on opposing faces of the frontplane and backplane by sandwiching an electrically conductive structure (3) between the frontplane and backplane in the region of the first and second conductive elements, wherein the conductive structure is at least more flexible than the least flexible one of the front plane and backplane.
US09223177B2 Acrylate compound having photoreactive group, photoreactive acrylate polymer and photo-alignment layer comprising the same
Disclosed herein are an acrylate compound having a photoreactive group, a photoreactive acrylate polymer, and a photo-alignment layer including the same that not only have excellent alignment properties and alignment rate and readiness for change in the alignment direction based on the polarization direction of radiation, but also exhibit a high solubility to organic solvents and good workability.
US09223167B2 Liquid crystal switching barrier thermal control
A polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer applied to the display screen for an electronic device is described herein. The polymer dispersed liquid crystal applied to the display screen is operable to switch between a transparent state and a translucent and/or opaque state. In the transparent state the display screen is viewable as usual. In the translucent and/or opaque state the liquid crystal prevents incident solar radiation from heating up the internal components of the device.
US09223163B2 Film, and method of producing same
Provided is a method of producing a film including: a coating step of coating, on a substrate, a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing a polymerizable liquid crystal compound, an alignment controlling agent capable of controlling alignment of the polymerizable liquid crystal compound, a polymerization initiator and coated film a solvent; and a drying step of drying, wherein the alignment controlling agent is a compound represented by formula (1) below, and the alignment controlling agent is added in 0.005 to 0.2 parts by mass relative to 100 parts by mass of the polymerizable liquid crystal compound: In general formula (1), each of L1 and L2 represents an alkylene group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms that may be substituted with a fluorine atom or the like, and n1 and n2 represents integers of 3 or more.
US09223157B2 Reflective optical limiter
An optical limiter comprises a glass backing, a glass cover, and a layer of a phase changing material placed between said glass backing and said glass cover, the phase changing material comprising a transparent matrix having embedded particles of material that changes its optical properties due to temperature induced phase change of said material. The optical properties may change from transparent to reflective, from transparent to refractive or from transparent to scattering. The phase changing material is preferably at least one material selected from the group consisting of the elements Antimony, Bismuth, Cadmium, Lead, Tin and Indium and low-melting-point alloys of two or more of these elements. Two or more layers of phase changing materials may be used in a stack configuration, with each of the phase changing materials having a unique melting temperature.
US09223156B2 Free-space laser tuning of optical microcavities
Methods and apparatuses for resonance tuning of microcavities are provided. An apparatus comprises a whispering gallery mode optical microcavity characterized by at least one resonance frequency; optical components configured to evanescently couple a probe laser beam into the microcavity; an absorber element in thermal contact with the microcavity; and optical components configured to illuminate the absorber element with a free space pump light beam, wherein the absorber element is configured to absorb energy from the free space pump light beam, thereby generating heat, and to transfer the heat to the microcavity, thereby inducing a shift in the at least one resonance frequency. The absorber element may be configured as a pillar forming an interfacial region with the microcavity at one of the ends of the pillar. The surface of the microcavity may be substantially free of a coating material.
US09223155B2 Electrically controlled optical system
The effective focal length of an optical system can be electronically controlled using switchable wave plates in conjunction with polarized light.
US09223153B2 Integrated driver and related method
A driver circuit may include a first node, and a first circuit to generate on the first node an inverted replica of an input signal during driver switching between a first supply voltage and a first reference voltage, the inverted replica having a threshold voltage value based upon a second reference voltage greater than the first supply voltage. The driver circuit may include a cascode stage to be controlled by the second reference voltage and to be coupled between a second supply voltage and the first node, a delay circuit to generate a delayed replica of the input signal, an amplifier, and a switching network to couple the control terminal of the active load transistor to one of the first reference voltage and the first node based upon the input signal.
US09223146B2 Optical apparatus and image-pickup apparatus including the same
An optical apparatus includes an image stabilizer configured to drive a first optical member in a direction perpendicular to an optical axis and to stabilize an image, a light amount adjuster that includes a plurality of blades, and is configured to change a diameter of an aperture configured to transmit a light flux, by rotating the blades, a driver configured to drive the light amount adjuster in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis, and a controller configured to control a driving amount of the driver in accordance with a driving amount of the image stabilizer. The controller drives the image stabilizer and the light amount adjuster in equal directions.
US09223134B2 Optical imperfections in a light transmissive illumination system for see-through near-eye display glasses
This disclosure concerns an interactive head-mounted eyepiece with an integrated processor for handling content for display and an integrated image source for introducing the content to an optical assembly through which the user views a surrounding environment and the displayed content, and an LED lighting system coupled to a light transmissive illumination system of the optical assembly. An optical imperfection of the illumination system directs light from the LED lighting system to uniformly irradiate a reflective image display to produce an image that is reflected through the illumination system to provide the displayed content to the user.
US09223133B2 Image reading lens, image reading device, and image forming device
An image reading lens includes a front lens group of five lenses including a positive lens and a negative lens, disposed on an object side and a rear lens group disposed on an image side, including a negative plastic lens. The image reading lens satisfies the following conditions: 0<ΣdnN/dt(N)−Σdnp/dt(P)<25 0.10
US09223130B2 Light scanner, image display device, head-mounted display, and method of manufacturing light scanner
A light scanner includes: a base part; a shaft part that swingably supports the base part around a first axis; an optical unit including a light transmission part that is supported by the base part and has light transmissivity, and a first light reflection reduction part that is provided on the light transmission part and reduces light reflection, wherein light enters the first light reflection reduction part.
US09223116B2 Super wide angle optical lens system
The present invention relates to a super wide angle optical lens system reduced in size and weight and increased in definition for various electronic devices and vehicles while capable of obtaining satisfactory optical performance, an appropriate wide field angle and exhibiting high image quality and broad image data, thereby reducing distortion of an image.
US09223095B2 Connector with interface protection
An optical fiber assembly includes a housing with a mating face and a housing axis. A ferrule has a plurality of optical fibers positioned therein. A cover is slidably mounted on the housing adjacent the mating face. A mating guide is positioned at an angle to the housing axis to guide relative movement of the housing from a first operative position at which the housing axis is spaced from the mated axis to a second operative position at which the housing axis is generally aligned with a mated axis of a mating component. An assembly of cable assemblies and a method of mating are also provided.
US09223088B2 Method for manufacturing semiconductor optical device
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor optical device includes the steps of forming a semiconductor mesa by etching a stacked semiconductor layer, the semiconductor mesa being defined by two grooves, one on each side of the semiconductor mesa; forming a first insulating film on a side surface and a top surface of the semiconductor mesa; forming a resin film on the first insulating film, the resin film filling the grooves; etching the resin film on the semiconductor mesa to form a first opening in the resin film, the first insulating film being exposed through the first opening; etching the first insulating film exposed through the first opening to expose the top surface of the semiconductor mesa; depositing an ohmic metal on the top surface of the semiconductor mesa; and depositing a second insulating film on the ohmic metal and a surface of the resin film.
US09223086B2 Wavefront synthesizer systems
Wavefront synthesizers and optical switches implemented with wavefront synthesizers are disclosed. In one aspect, a wavefront synthesizer includes a waveguide tree composed a root waveguide that branches into at least two terminus waveguides. The root waveguide is integrated with a source to inject light into the waveguide tree via the root waveguide. The synthesizer includes output couplers located at the ends of the terminus waveguides. Each output coupler outputs a wavefront associated with a portion of the light injected with at least two of the wavefronts overlapping to form at least one beam of light via constructive interference. The synthesizer also includes microring resonators disposed adjacent to the terminus waveguides. Each microring is independently tunable to apply a phase shift in the wavefront output from one of the output couplers to steer the direction of the beam and the at least two wavefronts.
US09223083B2 Multicore fiber
A multicore fiber includes a plurality of cores, a cladding that encloses the plurality of the cores, and a marker disposed in the cladding. The plurality of the cores is arranged and disposed on a linear line passed through the center of the cladding. The marker is disposed along the length direction of the cladding on a portion on which the marker does not overlap the cores in a first direction in which the plurality of the cores is arranged on the linear line and does not overlap the core in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction.
US09223079B2 Light guide plate and backlight module
A light guide plate and a backlight module are described. The light guide plate includes a main body and a plurality of stripe microstructures. The main body includes a light incidence surface, a light-emitting surface and a light reflective surface. The light-emitting surface is opposite to the light reflective surface, and the light incidence surface is connected between the light-emitting surface and the light reflective surface. The light-emitting surface includes a microstructure region adjacent to the light incidence surface. The stripe microstructures are arranged in the microstructure region, and parallel to a normal line of the light incidence surface.
US09223069B2 Polarizer and method of manufacturing the same
A polarizer includes a substrate having a first refractive index, a metal pattern disposed on the substrate, and a passivation layer disposed on the metal pattern. The metal pattern includes a plurality of protrusions having widths. The passivation layer has a second refractive index and covers at least one surface of the protrusions.
US09223063B2 Sensing method and system for fresnel lens
A sensing method and system for Fresnel lenses are disclosed, the system including a first Fresnel lens unit for sensing the signal of a target object crossing a first boundary of a sensing area, a second Fresnel lens unit for sensing the signal of a target object crossing a second boundary of the sensing area, a third Fresnel lens unit for sensing the signal of a target object crossing a third boundary of the sensing area, and a sensing unit for receiving and processing the sensed signals of the Fresnel lens units. The first and second Fresnel lens units are arranged on two sides of the third Fresnel lens unit. Furthermore, it is possible to add more Fresnel lens units above, below or around the Fresnel lens units. By monitoring the boundaries of the sensing area, the sensing method and system for the Fresnel lenses improve the insufficiency of the sensing area, reduce cost and save power consumption.
US09223059B2 Benzocyclobutene compound, organic-inorganic composite particle, cross-linked organic-inorganic composite particle, organic-inorganic composite composition, cross-linked organic-inorganic composite composition, and optical device utilizing the same
There is provided a benzocyclobutene compound represented by Formula (1) where n is an integer from 0 to 2, R1 and R2 are each independently selected from a hydrogen atom and a saturated hydrocarbon group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, and A is selected from a direct bond and a substituted or unsubstituted chain saturated divalent hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms.
US09223044B2 Method and arrangement for magnetically determining a position
A method and an arrangement for magnetically determining a position using a permanent magnet are described, wherein the vector and local gradient of the magnetic flux density of the permanent magnet are measured using a position sensor, and the position and orientation of the magnetic dipole of the permanent magnet relative to the position sensor are calculated from the measured values. A spherical permanent magnet having homogenous magnetization is used in the method and the arrangement, preventing previously present cross-sensitivity between the position and orientation determination, and allowing measurement without prior calibration.
US09223031B2 Method for timing-pick-off of undersampled pulses from radiation detectors using a photosensor-based radiation detection system applying a prototype waveform and a weighting function
A process and device for generating a prototype waveform and a weighting function. The process including obtaining waveforms generated by a detector having at least one photosensor, generating an initial estimate for the prototype waveform and the weighting function and parameterizing the prototype waveform and the weighting function and determining for each waveform an optimal amplitude and an optimal time offset of the prototype waveform. Included are steps of pairing waveforms based on the determined time offsets of the waveforms, calculating an arrival time difference for each pair of waveforms and determining a timing resolution value based on the calculated arrival time differences, determining whether the timing resolution value meets predetermined minimization criteria, and updating the set of parameters for the prototype waveform and the weighting function and repeating the determining, pairing, calculating, and determining, when the timing resolution value fails to meet the predetermined minimization criteria.
US09223030B2 Radiation detection equipment and nuclear medicine diagnosis device
Provided is radiation detection equipment including: a semiconductor radiation detector which has a semiconductor crystal made of thallium bromide; a capacitor which applies a voltage to the semiconductor radiation detector; and at least one DC power source which accumulates positive charges and negative charges in either of electrodes of the capacitor. Herein, a cathode and an anode in the semiconductor radiation detector are formed of at least one kind of a metal selected from gold, platinum and palladium. Further, the DC power source periodically reverses a voltage of accumulating the positive charges and a voltage of accumulating the negative charges in either of the electrodes of the capacitor per interval shorter than 10 min, thereby to apply the resulting voltage thereto.
US09223026B2 GNSS reference for subscribed precisions
This application discloses a GNSS reference apparatus having a vector error generator and a reference data server. The vector error generator generates one or more sequences of keyed intentional errors made confidential with confidential error keys, and then combines the sequences to generate a sequence of reference erroneous positions. The reference data server issues GNSS position-determination reference data based on the reference erroneous positions where the keyed intentional errors for at least one of the confidential sequences are reversible with confidential access to the corresponding confidential error key for determining a GNSS-based position.
US09223019B2 TCAS bearing estimation with reduced antenna elements
Systems and methods for calculating coherent bearing that allow one to reduce the number of TCAS antenna elements. In one embodiment, the bearing calculation takes into account signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) difference experienced from top and bottom antennas mounted on a vehicle.
US09223002B2 System and method for determining the position of an underwater vehicle
A system and a method are provided for determining the position of an underwater vehicle while the vehicle is operating underwater. A buoyant float stays on or near the surface of the water and is attached to the vehicle by thin tether that can include insulated wires. The vehicle moves under the water and pulls the float behind it. The float can receive a localization signal, such as a signal indicating its GPS position, and so can determine its position precisely. The position can be transmitted to the underwater vehicle over the wires located in the tether. The underwater vehicle can use sensors and/or calculations to determine the positional offset of the vehicle from the float buoy and generates its true position based on the known position of the float and the positional offset. The float can be constructed with attributes that will allow the float it operate with a greater tether length, and in turn allow the underwater vehicle to operate at greater depths. The float may also generally carry a radio system for high speed communication of signals from the vehicle while the vehicle is submerged.
US09223000B2 Magnetic resonance system, operating method and control device to generate T2-weighted images using a pulse sequence with very short echo times
In a method to control a magnetic resonance system to generate magnetic resonance exposures of an examination subject, a first magnetic resonance radio-frequency pulse with a pulse length of at most 50 μs is initially emitted in a volume region of the examination subject. At least one second magnetic resonance radio-frequency pulse, whose phase is essentially rotated by 180° relative to the first magnetic resonance radio-frequency pulse, with a pulse length of at most 50 μs, is emitted in the same volume region of the examination subject in a predetermined time interval immediately after the first magnetic resonance radio-frequency pulse. An acquisition of raw data from the volume region of the examination subject then takes place. Furthermore, a control device for operating a magnetic resonance system as well as a magnetic resonance system with such a control device to implement such a method, are described.
US09222987B2 Ambulatory infusion device with sensor testing unit
An ambulatory infusion device for infusion of a liquid drug into a patient's body over an extended period of time and methods thereof are disclosed. The device includes a sensor assembly, which produces a sensor assembly output based on an infusion characteristic of the ambulatory infusion device and based on a supply voltage/current, and a supply unit which is coupled to a sensor of the sensor assembly and generates the supply voltage/current. A sensor testing unit detects a failure of the sensor assembly, wherein the sensor testing unit is coupled to the sensor assembly and the supply unit, and the sensor testing unit carries out a sensor testing sequence. The sensor testing sequence includes controlling the supply unit so as to produce a variation of the supply voltage/current, and determining whether the variation of the supply voltage/current produces a corresponding variation of the sensor assembly output.
US09222983B2 Circuit and method for monolithic stacked integrated circuit testing
A monolithic stacked integrated circuit (IC) is provided with a known-good-layer (KGL) test circuit and a scan segment in one of its layers. The test circuit includes a plurality of inputs, outputs, and multiplexers coupled to the scan segment and to a second layer of the IC. The test circuit further includes a plurality of control elements such that scan testing of the IC may be conducted on a layer-by-layer basis.
US09222967B2 Secured detection system
The invention relates to a detection system employed for securing a start-up of an application, said system comprising at least one first detector (D2) and one second detector (D3), each detector comprising two input terminals (I1, I2) connected to its logic inputs, two output terminals (O1, O2) connected to its logic outputs and two power supply terminals (0V, +24V) connected to two electrical power supply lines. The two output terminals (O1, O2) of the first detector (D2) are connected to the two input terminals (I1, I2) of the second detector (D3) and the two output terminals (O1, O2) of the second detector (D3) are connected to control devices (K1, K2) of the application to be secured, so as to form a detection chain.
US09222961B1 Vertical probe card and method for manufacturing the same
A vertical probe card includes a bottom substrate, a top substrate, an interposer, a first set of electrically conductive polymer contacts, a second set of electrically conductive polymer contacts, a first anisotropic conductive film, and a second anisotropic conductive film. The interposer is disposed between the bottom substrate and the top substrate. The first set of electrically conductive polymer contacts is disposed on the surface of the bottom substrate opposite to the interposer. The second set of electrically conductive polymer contacts is disposed on the surface of the top substrate opposite to the interposer. The first set of electrically conductive polymer contacts are arranged differently from the second set of electrically conductive polymer contacts. The first anisotropic conductive film is disposed between the bottom substrate and the interposer, and configured to electrically connect the bottom substrate and the interposer. The second anisotropic conductive film is disposed between the interposer and the top substrate, and configured to electrically connect the interposer and the top substrate.
US09222952B2 Sample processing system, transport control system and transport control method
A sample processing system comprising: first, second and third sample processing units; first, second and third sample transport units; and a control section is disclosed. In order to transport a sample rack which is to be introduced to the first sample transport unit to a destination sample transport unit which is located downstream of a second sample transport unit, the control section initially controls the first and second transport unit to move a transport member. When the sample rack arrives at a predetermined position on the transport path of the first transport unit, the control section controls the third transport unit to move a transport member.
US09222949B2 Salvinorin immunoassay
The present invention provides an immunoassay method for detecting or determining the amount of salvinorin A, salvinorin B and/or analogues thereof in an in vitro sample, an antibody for salvinorin A, salvinorin B and/or analogues thereof and a kit for detecting the presence of or determining the amount of salvinorin A, salvinorin B and its analogues thereof in a sample.
US09222947B2 Anti-sAPPβ antibody
Provided are a monoclonal antibody capable of specifically recognizing a specific region of sAPP β or a fragment of said antibody and an assay method and an assay kit using the same, in order to accurately assay sAPPβ contained in a biological sample.
US09222943B2 Mass spectrometry-cleavable cross-linking agents to facilitate structural analysis of proteins and protein complexes, and method of using same
Novel cross-linking compounds that can be used in mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, and multi-stage tandem mass spectrometry to facilitate structural analysis of proteins and protein complexes are provided and have the formula: where X is an N-hydroxy-succinimidyl or similar heterocyclic group. Also provided is a method of mapping protein-protein interactions of protein complexes using various mass spectrometry techniques.
US09222940B2 Fused cyclooctyne compounds and their use in metal-free click reactions
The invention relates to fused cyclooctyne compounds, and to a method for their preparation. The invention also relates to a conjugate wherein a fused cyclooctyne compound according to the invention is conjugated to a label, and to the use of these conjugates in bioorthogonal labeling, imaging and/or modification, such as for example surface modification, of a target molecule. The invention further relates to a method for the modification of a target molecule, wherein a conjugate according to the invention is reacted with a compound comprising a 1,3-dipole or a 1,3-(hetero)diene.
US09222939B2 Cell division marker
This application relates to a newly identified animal cell structure, the midbody scar. This structure is a remnant of the midbody that is retained by one daughter cell following cytokinesis and persists through multiple subsequent cell cycles. The midbody scar can be useful as a marker of dividing cells or of a cell's replicative age.
US09222937B2 Method for detecting nucleosomes
The invention relates to a method for detecting and measuring the presence of mono-nucleosomes and oligo-nucleosomes and the use of such measurements for the detection and diagnosis of disease.
US09222933B2 Compounds and method of identifying, synthesizing, optimizing and profiling protein modulators
This invention relates to methods of identifying, synthesizing, optimizing and profiling compounds that are inhibitors or activators of proteins, both naturally occurring endogenous proteins as well as certain variant forms of endogenous proteins, and novel methods of identifying such variants. The method accelerates the identification and development of compounds as potential therapeutically effective drugs by simplifying the pharmaceutical discovery and creation process through improvements in hit identification, lead optimization, biological profiling, and rapid elimination of toxic compounds. Implementation results in overall cost reductions in the drug discovery process resulting from the corresponding increases in efficiency.
US09222924B1 Differential kinetic test unit
A differential kinetic test unit tests chemical reaction parameters. Reaction media is inserted into a vessel through a reactant feed conduit. A reaction outlet mechanism removes liquid and vapor reaction components from the vessel. A motor rotates a reaction shaft which extends into the reaction media within the vessel. A mixing impeller is fixed to the reaction shaft and is positioned within the reaction media. A catalyst frame positions a catalyst container holding a catalyst with the catalyst container being immersed in the reaction media. Reaction media is drawn through the catalyst and the reacted media is passed through the reaction outlet mechanism for testing of the chemical reaction parameters.
US09222922B2 Chromatography of metal complexes
A high performance liquid chromatography method to routinely and reproducibly detect and quantitate metal complexes is provided. The metal complexes used in the method of the invention can be different metal complexes, or they can be stereoisomers of the same metal complexes. The high performance liquid chromatography method of the present invention is suitable for the separation of diastereomers of the same metal complexes. Also provided is a chiral high performance liquid chromatography method to separate enantiomers of metal complexes. Superoxide dismutase mimetic compounds are also provided.