Document Document Title
US09258935B2 Board processing apparatus
Provided is a board processing apparatus which includes a head unit for performing a predetermined operation for a board, and a moving device for moving the head unit in a uniaxial direction, wherein the moving device includes a guide rail and a sliding member that is moved along the guide rail. The head unit is fixed to the sliding member in such a manner that at least a portion of the head unit protrudes outwardly from an edge face of the sliding member oriented in a moving direction thereof.
US09258932B2 Data center thermal management
Historical high-spatial-resolution temperature data and dynamic temperature sensor measurement data may be used to predict temperature. A first formulation may be derived based on the historical high-spatial-resolution temperature data for determining a temperature at any point in 3-dimensional space. The dynamic temperature sensor measurement data may be calibrated based on the historical high-spatial-resolution temperature data at a corresponding historical time. Sensor temperature data at a plurality of sensor locations may be predicted for a future time based on the calibrated dynamic temperature sensor measurement data. A three-dimensional temperature spatial distribution associated with the future time may be generated based on the forecasted sensor temperature data and the first formulation. The three-dimensional temperature spatial distribution associated with the future time may be projected to a two-dimensional temperature distribution, and temperature in the future time for a selected space location may be forecasted dynamically based on said two-dimensional temperature distribution.
US09258930B2 Expandable data center with side modules
Enlarging a computing room includes moving a movable wall of a computing room away from one or more other walls of the computing room such that a gap is created in an expansion zone between the movable wall and the other walls. Side modules are coupled in the gaps between the movable wall and the other walls such that the side modules, the movable wall, and the other walls define an enlarged computing room that includes the expansion zone.
US09258924B2 Heat dissipation device for electronic ballast
An electronic ballast is provided with an elongated housing; a heat sink module disposed in the housing and including a channel extending from one end to an other end; a plurality of power semiconductor modules disposed on both sides of the heat sink module respectively; an inlet assembly disposed at one end of the heat sink module proximate to a first panel at one end of the housing; an outlet assembly disposed at the other end of the heat sink module proximate to a second panel at an other end of the housing; and a fan disposed between the other end of the heat sink module and the second panel. Only a small portion of heat is dissipated by surface areas of the housing. Thus, the housing can be made compact to save space.
US09258914B2 Hinge assembly
In one embodiment chassis for an electronic device comprises a first section and a second section and an assembly to connect a first section of the chassis to a second section of the chassis, comprising a hinge assembly to be coupled between the first section of the chassis and the second section of the chassis to allow rotation of the second section of the chassis with respect to the first section of the chassis, and a translation assembly to be coupled to the hinge assembly of the chassis for the electronic device to allow translation of the second section of the chassis with respect to the first section of the chassis, wherein rotation of the hinge assembly activates the translation assembly. Other embodiments may be described.
US09258912B2 Display device
A display device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the display device includes a display panel, a housing which houses the display panel and a frame which is disposed under the housing and comprises a first bottom portion. The first bottom portion includes a first bottom surface which is an upper surface thereof and a first base surface which is a lower surface thereof, and the frame includes a groove recessed from the first bottom surface.
US09258908B2 Substrate structure having component-disposing area and manufacturing process thereof
A substrate structure having a component-disposing area and a process thereof are provided. The substrate structure having a component-disposing area includes a core layer, a first dielectric-layer, a laser-resistant metallic-pattern and a second dielectric-layer. The core layer includes a first surface, a component-disposing area and a patterned metallic-layer disposed on the first surface and including multiple pads, and the pads are located within the component-disposing area. The first dielectric-layer is disposed on the core layer and includes multiple openings to respectively expose the pads. The laser-resistant metallic-pattern is disposed on the first dielectric-layer and surrounds a projection area of the first dielectric-layer which the component-disposing area is orthogonally projected on. The second dielectric-layer is disposed on the first dielectric-layer and covers the laser-resistant metallic-pattern, the second dielectric-layer includes a component-disposing cavity corresponding to the projection area, penetrating through the second dielectric-layer and communicated with the openings to expose the pads.
US09258897B2 Wiring board and method for manufacturing the same
A wiring board has a laminated structure having a recessed portion on a first-surface side of the laminated structure and a solder resist layer on a second-surface side of the laminated structure on the opposite side of the first-surface side. The laminated structure has a first-surface side pad formed in the bottom of the recessed portion and a second-surface side pad formed on the second-surface side of the laminated structure, the solder resist layer has a first opening portion and a second opening portion formed in the solder resist layer, the first opening portion is exposing the second-surface side pad, the second opening portion is formed on a back face of the recessed portion, and the back face of the recessed portion does not include the second-surface side pad.
US09258895B1 Electronic device socket with an integrated decoupling capacitor and heat sink
An electronic device socket includes an insulating circuit board having a plurality of electrical terminals mounted therein, a decoupling capacitor mounted on the circuit board and a heat sink body. Each electrical terminal has a female upper end which can receive a lead of an electronic device, and a male lower end which can be received in a printed circuit board or another socket. The decoupling capacitor is electrically connected between the designated voltage and ground terminals. The heat conducting body has an upper surface configured to receive an electronic device in thermally conductive relation, and a lower surface having a recessed cavity configured to receive the circuit board. The heat conducting body has vias corresponding to the electrical terminals. The circuit board is received within the recessed cavity wherein the female upper ends of the electrical terminals are aligned with vias and receive the leads of an electronic device.
US09258879B2 Heat radiating substrate and method of manufacturing the same
Disclosed herein is a heat radiating substrate including: a heat radiating plate having a step formed so that one side and the other side thereof have thicknesses different from each other; a conductor pattern layer formed over the heat radiating plate and including a mounting pad on which a control device and a power device are mounted and a circuit pattern; and an insulating layer formed between the heat radiating plate and the conductor pattern layer.
US09258878B2 Isolation of thermal ground for multiple heat-generating devices on a substrate
Embodiments of a mechanism of thermal isolation for multiple heat-generating devices on a substrate are described. In one aspect, a substrate is configured for a plurality of heat-generating devices to be disposed thereon. The substrate comprises an electrically-conductive layer that is electrically coupled to the heat-generating devices when the heat-generating devices are disposed on the substrate. The electrically-conductive layer is configured to thermally isolate the heat-generating devices such that there is no thermal coupling through the electrically-conductive layer amongst the heat-generating devices.
US09258877B2 Patterned transparent conductive film based on random grid
The present invention discloses a patterned transparent conductive film based on the random grid, wherein the surface of the conductive film can be divided into a conductive region and an insulating region, with the conductive region having the grid made of metal. The grid of the conductive region, composed of the grid line of the conductive region, is a random grid having an irregular shape, and can avoid periodic shielding generated by the opaque metal grid lines and the periodic pixel unit of LCD. The patterned transparent conductive film provided by the present invention is composed of the irregular random grid, and therefore will not generate the Moire stripe. Besides, finally by naked eyes observation, the conductive region and the insulating region have exactly the same or close transmittance, and therefore will not generate the grayscale contrast.
US09258861B2 Apparatus for driving multi-color LED strings
An apparatus comprises red, green and blue LED strings each having a corresponding switching circuit. Each LED string is divided into a plurality of LED segments. The three LED strings are connected in parallel or in series. Each LED string may be connected in series with a respective current source or share a common current source. A controller controls each switching circuit so that the number of LED segments connected in series in the red, green or blue LED string can be respectively controlled according to a color setting signal and the voltage level of an input voltage. A first control method is provided for controlling the apparatus having a constant input voltage and a second control method is provided for controlling the apparatus having a periodically time-varying input voltage.
US09258859B2 Semiconductor device and power supply device
A power supply topology is used in which a transistor is provided on the side of an output node of a rectifying circuit. An inductor is provided on the side of a reference node, a resistor is inserted between the transistor and the inductor, and one end of the resistor is coupled to a ground power supply voltage of a PFC circuit. The PFC circuit includes a square circuit which squares a result of multiplication of an input voltage detection signal and feedback information (output voltage of an error amplifier circuit). The PFC circuit drives on the transistor when a detection voltage developed at the resistor reaches zero, and drives off the transistor when the detection signal reaches an output signal of the square circuit.
US09258858B2 Active capacitor circuit
The present invention relates to an active capacitor circuit (40) for use in a driver device for driving a load (22), in particular an LED unit comprising one or more LEDs (23). Further, the present invention relates to a driver device comprising such an active capacitor circuit. The proposed active capacitor circuit comprises coupling terminals (41, 42) for providing a drive voltage (vD) and/or drive current (iD) for driving a load (22) to be coupled between said coupling terminals (41, 42), an output power stage (50) coupled between said coupling terminals (41, 42) for converting said periodic current (iA) into said drive current (iD), a low frequency capacitor (46) coupled between a capacitor output terminal (48) of said output power stage (50) and a coupling terminal (42), and a control unit (60) for controlling said output power stage (50) by use of a control signal (Sd) obtained from a feedback of the drive voltage (vD), a capacitor voltage (vC) across said low frequency capacitor (46) and/or a capacitor current (iC) through said low frequency capacitor (46).
US09258855B1 Highly efficient LED lighting fixture
A highly efficient LED lighting fixture includes a plurality of LEDs and a power converter and control circuit. The power converter circuit is a non-isolated power converter circuit. A heat sink is thermally coupled to a circuit board that carries the power converter, and an AC powered fan directs air over the heat sink to remove heat from the circuit board. The LED lighting fixture has an efficacy of at least 70 lm/w.
US09258853B2 Light-emitting device, electronic device, lighting device, and method for manufacturing the light-emitting device
A light-emitting device in which deterioration of an organic EL element due to impurities such as moisture or oxygen is suppressed is provided. The light-emitting device includes a first substrate and a second substrate facing each other, a light-emitting element provided over the first substrate, a first sealant provided so as to surround the light-emitting element, and a second sealant provided so as to surround the first sealant. One of the first sealant and the second sealant is a glass layer and the other is a resin layer. A dry agent is provided in a first space surrounded by the first sealant, the second sealant, the first substrate, and the second substrate, or in the resin layer. The light-emitting element is included in a second space surrounded by the first sealant, the first substrate, and the second substrate.
US09258851B2 Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program
An information processing apparatus includes: a supplied electric power value accepting unit accepting a supplied electric power value, which is a difference between an electric power value of microwaves incident on a microwave irradiation apparatus and an electric power value of microwaves reflected by the microwave irradiation apparatus; a temperature accepting unit; an electric energy calculating unit calculating an electric energy corresponding to a microwave irradiation time, using the supplied electric power value; a temperature change calculating unit calculating a temperature change corresponding to the microwave irradiation time, using the accepted temperature; a judging unit, using the electric energy, the temperature change, and a relational expression for associating the electric energy and the temperature change, judging whether the relational expression is satisfied within a tolerable range; and an output unit outputting occurrence of an abnormality, when it is judged that the relational expression is not satisfied within the tolerable range.
US09258846B2 Automatic quality of service based resource allocation
A system can provide quality-of-service based network resource allocation and utilization in a dynamic network environment. A system may determine a current quality level of current media data presented to a user by a remote system in communication with the first system. The system may determine if it can provide subsequent media data to the remote system at a higher quality level than the current quality level. As one example, the system may identify a network connection with the remote system that supports providing the subsequent media data at the higher quality level to the remote system. The system may then obtain the subsequent media data at the higher quality level and send the subsequent media data at the higher quality level to the remote system.
US09258845B2 Cellular docking station
A system for communicating with the user of a cellular telephone via the cellular mobile radio (CMR) system and the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A communications interface appends the telephone exchange number of an outgoing communication to include an identifier unique to the communications interface. The outgoing communication is transmitted by the cellular telephone to the CMR system, which recognizes and verifies the outgoing communication as originating with the communications interface. Accordingly, the origination of the outgoing communication from a communications interface is documented prior to forwarding the outgoing communication to its intended recipient via the PSTN. Communications incoming to a communications interface are authenticated as such, and a record as to this is created, prior to forwarding the incoming communication to the cellular telephone.
US09258840B2 Method and system of managing voice call and IP media sessions in a wireless network environment
A method and system for managing voice call and IP media sessions in a wireless communication environment are provided. The method includes determining whether a User Equipment (UE) is simultaneously performing a voice call session and at least one Internet Protocol (IP) media session over a first network cell associated with a first Radio Access Technology (RAT); continuing, if the UE is simultaneously performing the voice call session and the at least one IP media session, the voice call session over the first network cell and routing data streams associated with the at least one IP media session to the UE over a second network cell associated with a second RAT; and detaching, if the UE is not simultaneously performing the voice call session and the at least one IP media session, the UE from the first network cell associated with the first RAT.
US09258839B2 Other network component receiving RRC configuration information from eNB
In order to re-establish a suspended RRC connection, the mobile device (101) in one example sends a connection re-establishment request message to the RAN (102) to have the suspended RRC connection re-established. The RAN node may need to attempt to retrieve the RRC connection data (either from memory or if from another network element if stored elsewhere/if the RRC connection was suspended by another RAN node) and verifies whether the RRC connection is valid. When verified, the mobile device (101) receives, in response to the message, a connection re-establishment command message from the RAN (102). In response to the message, the mobile device (101) re-establishes the RRC connection with the RAN (102), using the stored RRC connection information, and sends a connection re-establishment complete message to the RAN (102). The mobile device (101) and RAN (102) may then resume user plane data communication with each other.
US09258837B2 Discovery in device-to-device communication
A method in a base station comprising a memory storing one or more service types and a radio interface that communicates with a device. The method includes arranging a service scheduling by assigning at least one time slot to a service type and transmitting information on said service scheduling to a device.
US09258833B2 LTE/Wi-Fi coexistence
A method for communication in a wireless device (24) includes establishing a first connection with a base station (BS-28) of a long-range wireless data network, and a second connection on a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). A time interval (96) is selected in the wireless device for communicating over the second connection. In preparation for the selected time interval, the BS is caused to refrain from scheduling data transmission from the wireless device to the BS over the first connection during the time interval, by reporting to the BS prior to the time interval that no data is pending for transmission from the wireless device. The wireless device communicates over the second connection on the WLAN during the time interval.
US09258830B2 Method and device for random access in mobile communication system
The present invention relates to a method for a terminal to execute a random access in a mobile communication system, and comprises the steps of: transmitting a random access preamble using a resource determined according to a random access setting for the terminal; and receiving a random access response including uplink approval information from a base station as a response to the preamble transmission, wherein the random access setting is determined by a group corresponding to the terminal from a first random access setting for a first terminal group or a second random access setting for a second terminal group, and a resource reserved for the second terminal group according to the second random access setting is used for transmission of the random access preamble or transmission of uplink data.
US09258829B1 System and method for collision rate reduction in MIMO narrowband power line communications
A PLC network system and method operative with OFDM for generating MIMO frames with suitable preamble portions configured to provide backward compatibility with legacy PLC devices and facilitate different receiver tasks such as frame detection and symbol timing, channel estimation and automatic gain control (AGC), including robust preamble detection in the presence of impulsive noise and frequency-selective channels of the PLC network. To reduce collisions in a network, a MIMO PLC transmitter device may selectively perturb legacy FCH data so as to ensure a maximum back-off time by a legacy PLC receiver.
US09258818B2 Carrier allocation in wireless network
This document presents a communication scheme for use in a wireless network utilizing a fragmented frequency spectrum and supporting dynamic radio carrier allocation. At least two radio carriers on non-contiguous frequency channels are allocated for use in communication with a network element of the wireless network, and one of the allocated radio carriers is commonly used by all client stations communicating with the network element.
US09258815B2 Wireless communication control channel apparatus and method
An apparatus and method for control channel transmission in a wireless network are disclosed. A disclosure is provided with at least one resource block (RB) including a first control channel element associated with a first antenna port (AP) and a second control channel element associated with a second AP. The first and second control channel elements might be used for transmission of a single control channel, and a first reference signal sequence associated with one of the first AP and the second AP is selected for transmission of the single control channel based on a control channel element index value, such that a resource element of the at least one RB can be detected to decode the first control channel element and the second control channel element.
US09258808B2 Methods for transmitting and receiving of control channel in wireless communication systems
A method of transmitting and receiving a control channel in a wireless communication system is provided. A base station allocates a data channel to a radio resource, adds start position information of the data channel into a payload of a control channel, and performs signaling for indication information on the start position information added into the payload of the control channel to a terminal. Accordingly, the legacy system and the enhanced system can efficiently transmit a control channel.
US09258806B2 Power control for simultaneous transmission of ACK/NACK and channel-state information in carrier aggregation systems
Channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK information for multiple carriers are simultaneously transmitted using a PUCCH Format 3 structure, where the hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits and CSI bits are separately encoded and interleaved. In an example method, a power control offset parameter is calculated as a linear combination of at least a number N, representing a number of channel-state information bits and a number M, representing a number of hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits. The method continues with the calculating of a power level for a transmission on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), using the power control offset parameter. In some embodiments, encoded channel-state information and hybrid-ARQ ACK/NACK bits are then transmitted according to the calculated power level. In some embodiments, the linear combination is of the form aN+bM+c, where a, b, and c are non-zero constants.
US09258804B2 Mobile station apparatus including flashing and releasing circuitry and wireless communication system using same
In a mobile station that performs communication with a base station device via a plurality of cells, the plurality of cells are grouped into a first group constituted by cells having an uplink transmission timing that is the same as that of one primary cell and a second group constituted by one or more cells having an uplink transmission timing that is different from that of the primary cell. The uplink transmission timings are each managed using a corresponding transmission timing timer for each of the groups. In a case where a transmission timing timer for the first group has expired, the mobile station stops all uplink transmissions in the plurality of cells. In a case where a transmission timing timer for the second group has expired, the mobile station stops uplink transmissions in the cells constituting the second group for which the transmission timing timer has expired.
US09258803B2 Method and apparatus for allocating and transmitting time and frequency resource for resource request indicator
Method and apparatus are provided to allocate a time and frequency resource of a resource request indicator (RRI) and to transmit an RRI. Codes are allocated for an RRI and other (such as non-RRI) uplink control signaling. The RRI and other uplink control signaling can be multiplexed in the same time and frequency resource, such as through multiplexing in a code division manner.
US09258795B2 AIS ship's transceiver
The invention relates to an Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship's transceiver for sending and receiving AIS radio signals, wherein the position can be taken as a basis and/or adjacent ships can be taken as a basis for activating or deactivating the emission of AIS radio signals of a second AIS radio signal type for satellite-assisted monitoring.
US09258789B2 Method for the reduction of pilot power transmission in mobile communication systems
The innovation relates to a system and/or methodology for the reduction of pilot power transmission in mobile communication systems. More specifically, the innovation relates to varying the transmit power of a pilot signal to increase the power available to other services, such as customer voice and data communication. In addition, reducing the transmit power of the pilot signal can reduce or militate against interference with the pilot signals of neighboring or nearby cells.
US09258777B2 Method, apparatus, and network management system for acquiring an energy efficiency parameter of a network with overlaid coverage
The present invention provides a method, an apparatus, and a network management system for acquiring an energy efficiency parameter of a network with overlaid coverage, and a radio access network device and a communication system. The network management system can acquire, via the radio access network device, the performance measurement parameter of the target cell in the energy efficiency measurement area and the energy consumption value of the radio access network device to which the target cell in the energy efficiency measurement area belongs, then the network management system further acquires the energy efficiency parameter of the energy efficiency measurement area in the network with overlaid coverage, so as to help an operator with accurately learning about the actual gain brought by the cell energy saving use case.
US09258776B2 Method and apparatus for controlling a small cell on or off procedure for capacity enhancement
The present invention provides methods and apparatuses for supporting or controlling a small cell on or off procedure. One of the embodiment of the present application, the method comprises steps of receiving, by the MSC from a Source Small Cell (SSC), a cell indication message including a cell state change indication parameter indicating whether the SSC is to be off and a cell off timer parameter indicating a time duration for a cell off process; transmitting, by the MSC to the SSC, a cell off request message in order to accommodate an user equipment (UE) serviced from the SSC based on the cell state change indication parameter; and receiving, by the MSC from the SSC, an aggregated UE context transfer message requesting to perform a radio resource control (RRC) connection switching from the SSC to the MSC during a time duration indicated by the cell off timer parameter.
US09258772B2 Apparatus for performing a cell selection in a wireless communication system and method thereof
The present invention relates to a method of performing a cell selection by a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. The present invention includes receiving a plurality of priority information, wherein each of the plurality of priority information includes an identifier, determining priority information having an identifier matched with an identifier stored in the UE, and performing the cell selection based on the determined priority information.
US09258758B2 Method and apparatus for providing long distance service for roaming mobile telephones
When a roaming telephone user in a visited network dials a long-distance number, he is transferred to a substitute telephone number which is local to that network and belongs to a service center which can route his call efficiently and cost effectively. Typically, the visited network contacts the user's home network for permission to complete the long-distance call. When that happens, the home network obtains the substitute number from a database on a telephone number server, based upon the location of the visited network, and responds to the visited network, instructing it to forward the user's call to the substitute telephone number. When the service center receives the roaming user's telephone call, it contacts the telephone number server and obtains the original long-distance number, which is stored in the database in association with the substitute telephone number. The service center is then able to route the roaming users call efficiently and cost-effectively by making use of its base of service providers.
US09258755B1 Use of packet data duplication to manage access network connections
As a communication device receives packet data via a first access network, the communication detects that packet data arriving via a second access network is duplicative of the packet data that the communication device is receiving via the first access network. In response to detecting such duplication, the communication device discontinues being served by the first access network and continues with communication via the second access network.
US09258754B2 Apparatus and method for multimode device handover
Systems and methods of operating multimode 3G/4G communications devices in an overlapping 3G/4G coverage area (e.g., WiMAX or LTE/CDMA EvDO) include determining if a number associated with temporarily-disabled sectors of an available sector set of the multimode device while the device is operational with a 3G base station is at least equal to a threshold number. If the number is at least equal to the threshold number, a scan for a sector in the 4G network to handover the operation of the multimode device from the 3G base station associated with the 3G coverage to a 4G base station associated with the 4G coverage is initiated. A scan for a fixed period of time for a new available sector in the 3G network to be added in the available sector set may be initiated; and, if a new available sector is added to the sector set, it may be redetermined if the number associated with the temporarily-disabled sectors is at least equal to the threshold number, before initiating the scan for a sector in the 4G network.
US09258737B2 Device and method for simultaneously transmitting data in multi-network
A receiving device includes: a communication unit to receive a plurality of partial data divided from data to be transmitted through two or more connection networks; an information confirming unit to confirm (i) transmission order information and (ii) network transmission order information indicating related to a transmission order assigned to of the specific partial data among the plurality of partial data to be transmitted through a the specific connection network designated among the two or more connection networks; and the control unit to determine whether non-received partial data are lost based on at least one of the transmission order information and the network transmission order information.
US09258730B2 Wireless surveillance camera system and wireless surveillance camera device
To enable configuration and control of a camera at the same time while providing a certain band and low-delay communication for video and/or voice data, a wireless surveillance camera device includes: a signal processing unit that applies signal processing to the video and/or voice data; and a configuration unit that acquires configuration information data related to video parameters and/or wireless parameters in the device, wherein data communication of the video and/or voice data is performed for a wireless base station based on a polling system, and data communication of the configuration information data is performed for the wireless base station based on a carrier sense system.
US09258709B2 Mobile terminal and controlling method thereof
A mobile terminal and controlling method therein are disclosed, by which a memo can be written and utilized conveniently in a state that an access to the mobile terminal is restricted in part. The present invention includes entering a lock screen for restricting at least one partial function of the mobile terminal, writing a memo on the lock screen in response to an input of a 1st command, and if user authentication is performed in response to an input of a 2nd command, coping with an event occurring until cancellation of the display of the lock screen using the memo.
US09258700B2 Systems and methods for utilizing IMS data security mechanisms in a circuit switched network
Aspects of the present invention provide a mechanism to utilize IMS media security mechanisms in a CS network and, thereby, provide end-to-end media security in the case where the media traffic travels across both a CS network and a PS network.
US09258698B2 Automatic multimedia upload for publishing data and multimedia content
Disclosed herein is a method and system for utilizing a digital data capture device in conjunction with a Bluetooth (BT) enabled mobile device for publishing data and multimedia content on one or more websites automatically or with minimal user intervention. A client application is provided on the BT enabled mobile device. In the absence of inbuilt BT capability, a BT communication device is provided on the digital data capture device. The BT communication device is paired with the BT enabled mobile device to establish a connection. The client application detects capture of data and multimedia content on the digital data capture device and initiates transfer of the captured data, multimedia content, and associated files. The digital data capture device transfers the captured data, multimedia content, and the associated files to the client application. The client application automatically publishes the transferred data and multimedia content on one or more websites.
US09258694B2 Method, apparatus, and computer program product for wireless device discovery process
Method, apparatus, and computer program product example embodiments enhance wireless communications device discovery processes. In an example embodiment, a method includes detecting a wireless device discovery message at an apparatus, and in response to detecting the wireless device discovery message, temporarily tuning, by the apparatus, device discovery parameters to increase a rate of detecting wireless device discovery messages.
US09258691B2 Merchant server programmed for user acquisition within a repeat payment computer system
A repeat payment computer system includes a merchant server and mobile billing operator server that are programmed for user acquisition through carrier billing and subsequent conversion to credit card billing. An advantage of the process is that the user does not have to enter credit card information for the default billing cycles to occur. The user only enters a phone number and password. Fewer barriers are provided for the user to become a regular repeat customer of the merchant server. The fees associated with mobile billing according to the default billing cycles have to be paid by the merchant server and may be too high in the long run. The merchant server can avoid the high fees associated with carrier billing by switching the user to billing according to the credit card information provided. The user is typically switched after the user has already become a regular customer.
US09258682B2 Server apparatus, server control program, and server client system
A server-client system includes a client terminal having a telephone function, and a server apparatus on a network. The terminal displays telephone number display screen data received form the server apparatus, and transmits, to the server apparatus, designation information indicating a telephone number position in the display screen, which is designated by a user. The server apparatus transmits designated telephone number outgoing call data to the terminal based on the designation information. The terminal makes an outgoing call in accordance with the telephone number outgoing call data received from the server apparatus.
US09258680B2 Location-transmitting device for determining location of a wireless communication device
A location-transmitting device autonomously transmits a signal containing location data for the location-transmitting device to any nearby wireless communication device. The wireless communication device may then transmit said location data to a third party, such as an E-911 dispatch center or a provider of a commercial location-based service.
US09258679B1 Modifying a history of geographic locations of a computing device
Methods and systems for modifying a location history of a computing device are described. An example method may include receiving sensor data collected by one or more sensors of a computing device, and receiving a history of geographic locations of the computing device determined based on the sensor data collected by the computing device and additional data from one or more sources. The method may also include receiving updated additional data from the one or more sources, and reprocessing at least a portion of the sensor data with the updated additional data to determine one or more updates to the history of geographic locations of the computing device. The method may further include modifying the history of geographic locations of the computing device based on the one or more updates to provide an updated history of geographic locations of the computing device.
US09258674B2 Tracking device and tracking device control method
A tracking device and a tracking device control method with intelligent safe-zone demarcation are provided. The tracking device includes a positioning module, a long-range transceiver and a microcontroller. The microcontroller is configured to operate the long-range transceiver to regularly transmit position information of the tracking device to a server during a data-collection period for behavior analysis of a tracked object equipped with the tracking device and for safe-zone demarcation of the tracking device. The safe-zone demarcation is adaptive to habitual behaviors of the tracked object, and the habitual behaviors are obtained from the behavior analysis.
US09258671B2 Host controller interface and messaging method for ANT applications
A system and method using ANT and/or ANT+ protocols for one or more ANT and/or ANT+ applications. The system can include a Bluetooth interface and a Host Controller Interface (HCI) that are configured to process incoming and outgoing ANT and/or ANT+ messages from/to one or more ANT and/or ANT+ enabled devices. The ANT and/or ANT+ messages can be communicated to one or more ANT and/or ANT+ enabled devices utilizing a Bluetooth transceiver. The Bluetooth interface and the HCI can be configured to wrap one or more ANT and/or ANT+ messages with a header and/or to remove a header from one or more wrapped ANT and/or ANT+ messages. The header can be an HCI compatible header.
US09258668B2 Mobile application framework extensibiilty
In an example embodiment, extending an application distributed to a plurality of devices may be accomplied by receiving one or more configuration files. Then the configuration files on a platform server. Then the application may be distributed to the plurality of devices, the application containing code performing one or more calls to the one or more configuration files. Then an update to the one or more configuration files may be received. Then the update to the one or more configuration files may be stored on the platform, thereby altering the application distributed to the plurality of devices without recompiling the application.
US09258666B2 State migration of edge-of-network applications
A system and method that externalizes mobile device state migration (i.e., checkpointing) without being dependent upon any particular Edge Application (EdgeApp) proxy server or cellular network base station. In this manner, the Edge Application (EdgeApp) proxy server does not have to be aware of a migration process, yet will enable state information to be provided to other EdgeApp proxy/server nodes at the edge of the network (cell tower).
US09258665B2 Apparatus, systems and methods for controllable sound regions in a media room
Systems and methods are operable to present audio content of a received media content stream in a plurality of user controllable spot focused sound regions. An exemplary embodiment receives an audio content stream comprising at least a first audio channel and a second audio channel; multiplies the first audio channel into a plurality of first audio channels, multiplies the second audio channel into a plurality of second audio channels; communicates a first one of the multiplied plurality of first audio channels and a first one of the multiplied plurality of second audio channels to a first audio sound region controller; and communicates a second one of the multiplied plurality of first audio channels and a second one of the multiplied plurality of second audio channels to a second audio sound region controller.
US09258662B2 Condenser microphone and manufacturing method thereof
A condenser microphone comprises a substrate, a vibratile diaphragm and a back plate. The substrate has an opening. The diaphragm is disposed corresponding to the substrate and covers the opening, and has a plurality of protrusions. The back plate is coupled to the diaphragm and has a plurality of through holes, at least some of which are corresponding to the protrusions respectively. An interval is formed between the diaphragm and the back plate, and when the diaphragm vibrates, the protrusions move into or further near the through holes.
US09258661B2 Automated gain matching for multiple microphones
A method includes receiving, at a processor, a first data frame at a first time from a first microphone. The method also includes receiving a second data frame at the first time from a second microphone. The method further includes calculating a power ratio of the first microphone and the second microphone based on the first data frame and the second data frame in response to determining that the first data frame and the second data frame are noise data frames.
US09258647B2 Obtaining a spatial audio signal based on microphone distances and time delays
Examples disclose a method to receive a first audio signal at a first microphone positioned at an actual distance from a second microphone. Additionally, the examples disclose the method is further to receive a second audio signal at the second microphone, the second audio signal is associated with an actual time delay relative to the first audio signal. Also, the examples disclose the method is also to determine a virtual time delay corresponding to a virtual distance that is different from the actual distance and to obtain a spatial audio signal based the distances and the time delays.
US09258645B2 Adaptive phase discovery
In an adaptive phase discovery system a first audio signal is received via a first microphone and a second signal is received via a second microphone. Corresponding audio frames of the first and second signals are each transformed into the frequency domain and a plurality of frequency sub-bands are generated. A phase is determined for each frequency sub-band in each signal. Instantaneous phase differences are determined between the signals at each of the frequency sub-bands. Lower frequency instantaneous phase differences are filtered over time to determine current phase differences at lower frequencies. When SNR is high in lower frequency sub-bands, lower frequency sub-band phase differences are tracked to the higher frequency sub-bands. The tracked higher frequency phase differences are filtered over time to determine phase differences for the current frame. The phase differences may be used to rotate phases in each sub-band and sum signals and/or to reject off-axis signals.
US09258644B2 Method and apparatus for microphone beamforming
In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes a camera system and an optimization system. The optimization system is configured to communicate with the camera system. At least one microphone is connected to the optimization system. The optimization system is configured to adjust a beamform of the at least one microphone based, at least in part, on camera focus information of the camera system.
US09258630B2 Coaxial audio speaker using single audio source
A disclosed coaxial audio speaker may include a treble sound unit and a bass sound unit co-axially surrounding the treble sound unit. The bass sound unit may be in form of a single magnetic gap mechanism and have a magnetic-conductive base. The magnetic-conductive base may be with an auxiliary magnetic adjoining space and a coil movement space adjacent to the auxiliary magnetic adjoining space. A magnet, a vibrating vocal tone diaphragm along with a wiring board may be disposed within the coil movement space. A bass vibration audio source point and a treble vibration audio source point may be at the same horizontal level. Therefore, the size of the audio speaker may be reduced. And the broader electricity adjustability may be achieved as the bass vibration audio source point and the treble vibration audio source point may be horizontally aligned.
US09258628B2 Method and apparatus for transferring WDM signals between different wavelength division multiplexed optical communications systems in an optically transparent manner
In a WDM optical communication system that includes a plurality of nodes interconnected by communication links, a node is provided which includes an optical coupling arrangement having at least one input port for receiving a WDM signal and a plurality of output ports for selectively receiving one or more wavelength components of the WDM optical signal. The optical coupling arrangement is adaptable to reconfigure its operational state to (i) selectively direct any one of the wavelength components received on the input port to any of the output ports independently of any other of the wavelength components and (ii) selectively direct any combination of two or more of the wavelength components from the input port to at least two of the output ports that serve as WDM output ports. At least one optical WDM interface is optically coupled to a first of the WDM output ports. The optical WDM interface is adapted to receive, at different times, a transponder and a transmission link through which a WDM signal can be communicated. At least one transponder is coupled to a second of the WDM output ports.
US09258624B2 Mixed format media transmission systems and methods
Systems and methods for operating cameras are described. An image signal received from an image sensor can be processed as a plurality of video signals representative of the image signal. An encoder may combine baseband and digital video signals in an output signal for transmission over a cable. The video signals may include substantially isochronous baseband and digital video signals. The baseband video signal can comprise a standard definition analog video signal and the digital video signal may be frequency modulated before combining with the baseband video signal and/or transmitting wirelessly. The digital video signal may be a compressed high definition digital video signal. A decoder demodulates an upstream signal to obtain a control signal for controlling the position and orientation of the camera and content of the baseband and digital video signals.
US09258622B2 Method of accessing a spatio-temporal part of a video sequence of images
The invention concerns a method and a device for accessing a spatio-temporal part of a video sequence of images compressed using a coding format implementing a prediction.The method comprises the steps of: defining a target spatial region corresponding to said spatio-temporal part to access; obtaining compressed data corresponding to a selection spatial region in at least one image of the video sequence, said selection spatial region including said target spatial region; obtaining at least one item of updating information for updating the selection spatial region that is provided for selecting compressed data in a following image of the video sequence, said updating information depending on the decoding of the compressed data corresponding to said target spatial region.
US09258621B2 Method and system for multi-service reception
A multi-service antenna may comprise: a support structure, a reflector mounted to the support structure, a signal processing assembly mounted with the support structure, a first wire strung between the reflector and the support structure and/or the signal processing assembly, and circuitry for processing a first signal received as a result of electromagnetic radiation (e.g., terrestrial television and/or cellular signals) incident on the first wire. The circuitry for processing the first signal may be housed in the signal processing assembly. A second wire may also be strung between the reflector and the support structure and/or the signal processing assembly, and the circuitry may be operable to perform diversity processing of signals received via the two wires.
US09258618B2 Channelization method of digital content and audio-video server system
A channelization method of digital content and an audio-video server system are provided. A received operational behavior is packaged as an execution module, and the execution module is associated with a channel number. A correlation between the channel number and the execution module is recorded in a local channel list. Accordingly, when a switch command that contains the channel number is received, the execution module corresponding to the channel number is obtained from the local channel list, so as to perform the operational behavior to use the digital content.
US09258613B2 Method and apparatus for manipulating video content
An apparatus and method for manipulating video content that includes accessing, from a server, a list of one or more Internet Protocol television (IPTV) devices and selecting an IPTV device from the list. The server provides a content list of content that may be played on the selected IPTV device. The secondary device provides a control function and reachability (availability to communicate) of the selected IPTV device is determined by the server. The execution of the control function provided by the secondary device is independent of whether the selected IPTV device is reachable or not.
US09258611B2 Multi-source assisted content delivering system
While receiving content from a source via a first connection, a receiver determines the connection is interrupted, selects an alternative source, and continues to receive the content from the alternative source via a second connection. In some implementations, the alternative source may be a server. In implementations, the alternative source may be additional receivers configured in a peer-to-peer arrangement. In various implementations, after the receiver determines that the first connection is interrupted, the receiver may utilize the second connection until finished receiving the content, continue receiving the content utilizing the first connection once no longer interrupted, or determine that the second connection is interrupted and select an additional alternative source to continue receiving the content from via a third connection. In one or more implementations, various components of the broadcast system may assist the receiver in continuing to receive the content from the alternative source via the second connection.
US09258606B1 Using second screen devices to augment media engagement metrics
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for using second screen devices to augment media engagement metrics. In one aspect, a method includes accessing user activity data describing user activities performed by a user on a first user device during a first time period, and accessing data describing presentation of one or more content items during the first time period on second user devices. For the first user device, determining based on the user activity data, for each of a plurality of second time periods that are sub-periods of the first time period, a first level of user engagement with the first user device, and determining, based on the user activity data, for each second time period that is a sub-period of the first time period, a second level of user engagement with the one or more content items presented.
US09258588B2 Current device location advertisement distribution
In embodiments of current device location advertisement distribution, a mobile network operator receives media content from a content service and can then communicate the media content to a client device via a wireless distribution point. A device location service determines that a current location of the client device is not within a geographic region associated with the client device, and updates the current location of the client device from location data that identifies the current location of the client device. The media content can then be updated for distribution to the client device along with advertisements that correspond to an advertising locale, which includes the current location of the client device.
US09258583B2 Content rating
Disclosed are systems and methods for generating ratings for content items based on a user's consumption history. The content items may comprise various forms of media content, including, video, audio, Internet webpages, etc. When a user or consumption device accesses content items, a computing device may monitor the amount of the content items consumed by a user over one or more consumption sessions. In one embodiment, threshold values may be identified for one or more rating levels of a rating scale associated with the content items, and a rating for a content item may be generated based on the amount of the content item consumed by the user or the amount paid for the content item by the user. The computing device may calibrate or update generated ratings by measuring accuracy of the ratings and adjusting one or more threshold values associated with the content items.
US09258577B2 Meta channel media system control and advertisement technology
Media system control technology, in which an advertisement on a selected content channel being experienced by a user using a media system is detected, advertisement preferences of the user are accessed from electronic storage, and secondary content is selected based on the accessed advertisement preferences of the user. The secondary content is substituted for the advertisement on the selected content channel, and the media system is controlled to output the secondary content instead of the advertisement.
US09258569B2 Moving image processing method, program and apparatus including slice switching
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method, a program, and an apparatus for processing a moving image, allowing efficient and smooth decoding in a simple configuration without heavily depending on the functions of an OS. Herein disclosed is a method for processing a moving image using a plurality of processing units, comprising: a step of dividing a frame of the moving image into a plurality of slices, where a number of the plurality of slices is not a multiple of a number of the plurality of processing units; a processing step, assigned to each of the plurality of slices, for processing each of the plurality of slices; and a switching step for executing slice switching, which switches between the slices to be processed, in the processing step. The method according to the present invention, not limited to the processing of moving images, allows efficient and smooth decoding in a simple configuration, even if the number of slices is not an integer multiple of the number of the processing units, without heavily depending on the functions of an OS.
US09258566B1 System and method of spherical image compression
Disclosed herein is a projection-aware compression, which may be used on image data such as, for example, spherical image data. The compression may be considered to be non-uniform in a sense that the compression need not be uniformly applied, but may be applied to image data as a function of latitude information associated with the image data.
US09258565B1 Context model cache-management in a dual-pipeline CABAC architecture
A method and system are disclosed for managing cache memory in a dual-pipelined CABAC encoder. A request for a context model is received from both encoder pipelines. If the requested context model is not stored in cache, the requested context model is retrieved from a context table. At least one context model stored in cache is written to the context table. The retrieved context model is updated and written to the cache. If the requested context model is stored in cache, and if the requested context model was updated in the previous clock cycle, the requested context model is retrieved from the pipeline, updated, and written to cache. If the requested context model is not stored in cache, and if the requested contest model was not updated in the previous clock cycle, the requested context model retrieved from cache, updated, and written back to cache.
US09258564B2 Visual search system architectures based on compressed or compact feature descriptors
An embodiment of a visual search system includes at least one imaging device, each imaging device operable to capture a corresponding image, a feature extraction device coupled to each imaging device, each feature extraction device operable to generate feature descriptors from the image received from the corresponding imaging device. A descriptor encoding device is coupled to each feature extraction device and operable to generate compressed feature descriptors from the received feature descriptors. An application processor is coupled to each descriptor encoding device. The application processor is operable to process the received compressed feature descriptors to generate output information as a function of the processed compressed feature descriptors.
US09258561B2 Method for coding a sequence of digital images
A method codes a sequence of digital images, each image having the same image format and including a number of pixels with assigned pixel values. Motion parameters between first and second images are determined, where based on said motion parameters a motion compensation is performed for coding the sequence of images, where said motion parameters are included in the coded sequence of images. The motion parameters between a first image and a second image include a scalar field having scalar values for a plurality of image positions in the image format. The scalar field is determined such that gradient vectors derived from the scalar field correspond to motion vectors for the motion compensation.
US09258559B2 Reference picture list construction for multi-view and three-dimensional video coding
A video encoder generates, based on a reference picture set of a current view component, a reference picture list for the current view component. The reference picture set includes an inter-view reference picture set. The video encoder encodes the current view component based at least in part on one or more reference pictures in the reference picture list. In addition, the video encoder generates a bitstream that includes syntax elements indicating the reference picture set of the current view component. A video decoder parses, from the bitstream, syntax elements indicating the reference picture set of the current view component. The video decoder generates, based on the reference picture set, the reference picture list for the current view component. In addition, the video decoder decodes at least a portion of the current view component based on one or more reference pictures in the reference picture list.
US09258556B2 Digital signage device capable of entering diagnostic display mode
One aspect of the disclosure directs to a signage device, which include a display device, a camera, and a signage controller. The display device is configured to display media content in a display mode and display diagnostic information in a diagnostic mode. The diagnostic information includes content operational and deployment information related to the media content being displayed, and system information of the signage device. The signage controller is configured to control the camera to capture an image frame, process the captured image frame to generate information for a server system such that the server system provides the media content to the signage controller based on the generated information, display the media content on the display device in the display mode, switch the display device to the diagnostic mode in response to a diagnostic input command, and display the diagnostic information on the display device in the diagnostic mode.
US09258536B2 Imaging systems with plasmonic color filters
An image sensor integrated circuit may contain image sensor pixels. A channel for receiving a fluid with particles such as fluorescent biological samples may be formed on top of the image sensor. Light-control layers may be interposed between the fluid channel and the top of the image sensor. The light-control layers may include a color filter array, a microlens array over the color filter array, and a plasmonic color filter. The plasmonic color filter may be formed from a patterned metal layer on the color filter array or on the microlens array. The patterned metal layer may include openings that are configured to use plasmonic effects to control the colors of light that pass through the plasmonic color filter. The color filter array and the plasmonic color filter, in combination, may block light from a light source in the system while passing fluorescent light from the sample.
US09258510B2 Method of optical tracking a frame of an object and related optical tracking system
An optical tracking method disclosed in the present invention includes obtaining a continuous image set containing a reference light source during a period, and identifying an image characteristic variation of the continuous image set. The reference light source is set at a constant illuminated mode, and generates a known illumination variation during the period. The optical tracking method further includes comparing the image characteristic variation with the known illumination variation to determine whether a predetermined function is actuated. The predetermined function calculates position information of the reference light source on an image of the continuous image set.
US09258508B2 IR pairing for RF4CE remote controls
Systems, apparatus, and methods for pairing information appliance devices, such as set-top boxes and/or set-back boxes (the “set-top/back boxes”), to wireless remote control devices. The systems, apparatus, and methods allow the pairing between a set-top/back box and a remote control device to be made to be stateless, thereby facilitating the arbitration of subsequent pairings of the remote control device with one or more set-top/back boxes on a communications network, by a server computer communicably coupled to the respective set-top/back boxes over the communications network.
US09258507B2 Solid-state imaging apparatus
There is a need to provide a solid-state imaging apparatus capable of highly accurately analog-to-digital converting an analog voltage output from a pixel circuit. The solid-state imaging apparatus supplies a counter code to an integral A/D converter. The counter code CD includes 3-phase clock signals and gray signals. The clock signals each have a cycle equal to specified cycle multiplied by 8 and allow phases to shift from each other by specified cycle. The gray signals linearly increase count values at a cycle equal to specified cycle multiplied by 4. The counter code reverses only the logical level of a signal when a count value changes. A count value error can be limited to a minimum.
US09258502B2 Methods of operating depth pixel included in three-dimensional image sensor and methods of operating three-dimensional image sensor
In a method of operating a depth pixel included in a three-dimensional (3D) image sensor, a plurality of sampling values are obtained by sampling a reception light reflected by an object based on a transfer control signal having a first initial activation level. The depth pixel includes a photo detection region, a transfer gate and a floating diffusion region. The transfer control signal is applied to the transfer gate. A first final activation level of the transfer control signal is determined based on the plurality of sampling values and at least one reference value. A distance between the depth pixel and the object is calculated based on the reception light and the transfer control signal having the first final activation level.
US09258499B2 Solid-state image pickup apparatus, image pickup system, and driving method of the solid-state image pickup apparatus for converting analog signal into digital signal
An apparatus includes a pixel array in which pixels for outputting an analog signal are arranged in a matrix, vertical output lines each of which is connected to pixels in a same column, A/D conversion units, which are individually connected to the vertical output lines, for converting the analog signal into a digital signal, and a constant current supply unit for supplying a constant current to the A/D conversion units. Each of the A/D conversion units includes an integration unit for integrating the constant current, a comparison unit for comparing the integrated constant current with the analog signal and outputting a comparison signal, and a digital signal storage unit for storing a digital signal corresponding to the comparison signal. The integration unit includes an input capacitor for receiving the constant current. The comparison unit is connected to the constant current supply unit via the input capacitor.
US09258498B2 Image sensor
An image sensor includes a pixel unit and a pixel readout circuit. The pixel unit includes an image pixel array including a plurality of image pixel columns, respectively; a first reference pixel array including a plurality of first reference pixel columns; and a bias circuit, coupled to the image pixel columns for generating a plurality of column sensing signals, coupled to the first reference pixel columns for generating a plurality of first reference signals, and further for generating a first average reference voltage signal according to the plurality of first reference signals. The pixel readout circuit generates a plurality of reset values and a plurality of sampling values according to the column sensing signals and the first average reference voltage signal, wherein the plurality of reference pixel rows is less than the plurality of image pixel rows.
US09258496B2 Digital photographing apparatus and method of controlling the same
A digital photographing apparatus and a method of controlling the same. A continuous shooting speed of the digital photographing apparatus may be improved by simultaneously performing a shutter operation and a read out operation of image data. A disclosed method of controlling a digital photographing apparatus includes displaying an image signal input through an image pickup device as a live view image, performing a first operation by driving a shutter, reading data from the image pickup device, and performing a second operation by driving the shutter during a time period overlapping the reading of the data.
US09258494B2 Method and system for restricting applications for a focal plane array
Systems and methods disclosed herein include preventing use of a Focal Plane Array (“FPA”) in a thermal imaging system if used in conjunction with a weapons-related activity by disabling the FPA in response to detecting one or more shock pulse events using accelerometers coupled with the thermal imaging system. The method includes monitoring an output from the one or more of the accelerometers to determine whether a shock pulse acceleration event has been detected that exceeds a predetermined threshold. The method also includes determining that a second acceleration event associated with the accelerometers exceeds a second predetermined threshold. The method further includes disabling the thermal imaging system in response to the detected acceleration events.
US09258489B2 Image acquisition method and apparatus
A method and an apparatus for acquiring an image of a subject are provided. The method for acquiring the image of the subject includes acquiring a first preliminary image and a second preliminary image of the subject through an image sensor operatively coupled to an electronic device, determining a candidate emission time relating to an acquisition of an output image of the subject, based on a difference between state information of at least part of the first preliminary image and state information of at least part of the second preliminary image, comparing the candidate emission time with a time corresponding to a synchronization period where a plurality of lines of the image sensor simultaneously acquires the output image, and acquiring the output image of the subject based on the comparison.
US09258486B2 Optical anti-shake apparatus with switchable light path
An optical anti-shake apparatus with a switchable light path is furnished in an optical system having two light paths of different directions. The optical system also comprises a lens module, an image capturing module, an anti-shake device and a switching device. The lens module corresponds to the image capturing module in position. The switching device comprises a fixing member, a rotary member and a driving module. The rotary member is pivotal about the fixing member. The driving module is located between the rotary member and the fixing member. The anti-shake device is located on the rotary member such that the driving module can drive and rotate the rotary member together with the anti-shake device in order to perform switching operations, and thereby the light of either of the two light paths can be directed toward the lens module so as to focus at the image capturing module.
US09258483B2 Multi-purpose camera system supporting normal camera functionality and additional user input functionality
A multi-purpose camera system includes an image capture block and an image signal processing block. The image capture block is arranged for generating an image signal, wherein the image capture block has an image sensor, an optical system, and a control circuit. The image signal processing block is arranged for processing the image signal. When the multi-purpose camera system is operated in a first operation mode, the multi-purpose camera system acts as a camera for generating a captured image output; when the multi-purpose camera system is operated in a second operation mode, the multi-purpose camera system acts as part of a user input apparatus for receiving a user input; and an overall configuration of the control circuit and the image signal processing block in the first operation mode is different from an overall configuration of the control circuit and the image signal processing block in the second operation mode.
US09258480B2 Techniques to selectively capture visual media using a single interface element
Techniques to selectively capture media using a single user interface element are described. In one embodiment, an apparatus may comprise a touch controller, a visual media capture component, and a storage component. The touch controller may be operative to receive a haptic engagement signal. The visual media capture component may be operative to be configured in a capture mode based on whether a haptic disengagement signal is received by the touch controller before expiration of a first timer, the capture mode one of a photo capture mode or video capture mode, the first timer started in response to receiving the haptic engagement signal, the first timer configured to expire after a first preset duration. The storage component may be operative to store visual media captured by the visual media capture component in the configured capture mode. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09258472B2 Control apparatus, control system, command transmission method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium
A control apparatus that is connected to at least one image capturing apparatus by wireless communication transmits, by multicast or broadcast via the wireless communication, a command for instructing to start a prescribed operation to each image capturing apparatus, in response to detection of an operation for instructing to start the prescribed operation, and transmits, by unicast via the wireless communication, a command for instructing to end the prescribed operation to each image capturing apparatus, in response to detection of the operation for instructing to end the prescribed operation. Then, the control apparatus confirms a response to transmission of the command for instructing to end the prescribed operation, and retransmits, by unicast, the command to end the prescribed operation to each image capturing apparatus whose response is not confirmed.
US09258471B2 Image pickup apparatus, information distributing apparatus, information transmission method, information distribution method, and computer-readable storage medium storing control program therefor
An image pickup apparatus capable of preventing a user who uses another device from knowing the current location of a photographer based on shooting information about an image when an external apparatus distributes the image to the other device. A calculation unit calculates a distance from the shooting location of the image file to the current location of the image pickup apparatus. A distance determination unit determines whether the calculated distance is larger than a predetermined lower limit. A transmission control unit controls to transmit the image file to the external apparatus when the distance determination unit determines that the distance is larger than the lower limit, and not to transmit the image file to the external apparatus when the distance determination unit determines that the distance is not larger than the lower limit.
US09258467B2 Camera module
One or more embodiments are directed to optical module assemblies, such as a camera module assembly, and methods of forming same. One embodiment is directed to an optical module assembly that includes a substrate having a first surface. An optical device is secured to the first surface of the substrate and electrically coupled to the substrate. A molded body is located on the first surface of the substrate outward of the optical device. The molded body includes a first recess. A lens assembly is secured to the molded body over the first recess by an adhesive material located in the first recess. In some embodiments, the molded body of the optical module assembly further includes a second recess spaced apart from the first recess. A transparent material is secured to the molded body over the second recess by an adhesive material located in the second recess.
US09258455B2 Mechanism for K-only object rendering in a high-speed color controller
Embodiments of the invention disclose a method for K-only (gray/black) object rendering in a high-speed color controller of a printing system. The method includes setting a flag to indicate selection of a K-only text and barcode print preference from a user of a print system, receiving one or more objects to be printed by the print system, the one or more objects including at least one of a text object and a barcode object, determining whether an input color space for the at least one text object and barcode object should be converted to K-only black ink, and rendering the at least one of the text object and the barcode object as K-only black ink if the input color space is determined to be converted to K-only black ink.
US09258454B2 Printer optical sensing error determination
Embodiments of printer optical sensing error determination are disclosed.
US09258444B2 Displaying device having touch panel type displaying unit
An image forming apparatus, as a displaying device, displays the 2nd printing page out of a plurality of printing pages on an operation panel when the 1st to 10th images were allocated to each of the printing pages. The image forming apparatus maintains an allocation state of the 1st printing page anterior to the 2nd printing page and changes an allocation state of at least one of images corresponds to the contact points with the operation panel, when the image forming apparatus receives a gesture operation moves the contact points. The starting points of the contact points are in the 2nd printing page displayed on the operation panel.
US09258442B2 Image processing system, image processing apparatus and portable terminal configured to display an effect of performing image adjustment processing to image data in the image processing apparatus
An image processing apparatus displays a menu indicating one or more settings pertaining to image adjustment processing and a unique marker corresponding to a currently selected setting in the menu. A portable terminal detects the marker as depicted in a captured image that has been captured by an image capturing device and displays a screen indicating an effect of performing the image adjustment processing in accordance with a setting corresponding to the marker.
US09258432B2 Dynamic time based products
The system and method alters the data delivery service plan of a subscriber in response to a network degradation event that negatively affects the subscriber's plan during transportation (e.g. in flight). In response to the subscriber's request, the system and method grants the subscriber access to the in-flight network and/or data during the flight. Additionally, the system and method monitors and detects network degradation events during the flight. If an event occurs that negatively affects the subscribers plan during the flight, the system and method determines a time extension for the subscriber to access the network and/or data based on the duration of the network degradation event. The system and method also modifies the subscriber's plan based on the determined time extension and notifies the subscriber about the network degradation event and plan modification. The plan modification may credit the subscriber additional time, data, and/or services.
US09258429B2 Encoder adaption in teleconferencing system
The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for encoding of signals in teleconferencing. The method involves receiving (502) signals from a plurality of nodes participating in a teleconference and analyzing (504) said signals. The method further involves appointing (506) one of the received signals as being a dominant signal and adapting (508) an encoder based on information related to the dominant signal. At least two of the received signals are mixed and then encoded (512), using the adapted encoder. The encoded mixed signal is then provided (514) to at least one of the nodes participating in the teleconference.
US09258425B2 Method and system for speaker verification
In many scenarios, speaker verification systems can be given a single-channel audio with recordings of multiple speakers. To perform accurate speaker verification, a system can isolate the speech of a speaker. In one embodiment, a method, and corresponding system, of speaker verification includes extracting a target speaker's speech, using a known speaker voiceprint, from an audio recording that includes the target speaker's speech and the known speaker's speech. The known speaker voiceprint can correspond to the known speaker. Extracting the target speaker's speech can include determining portions of the audio recording where the known speaker voiceprint matches the known speaker's speech above a particular threshold, and extracting the target speaker's speech from other portions of the audio recording. In this manner, speaker verification is performed on the target speaker's speech without interference from the known speaker's speech and allows for a more accurate verification.
US09258420B2 Software-based operator switchboard
A system and computer program product for providing a software-based operator switchboard for a phone system provide improved functionality, with greater simplicity, than conventional techniques. A telecommunications system may comprise an operator switchboard computer system displaying and receiving input with a graphical user interface indicating an operation to be performed by an end-user device, generating a first message in a first message format based on the received input, and transmitting the message to a server computer system, and a server computer system receiving the first message from the first computer system, translating the first message from the first message format to form at least one second message in a second message format, and transmitting the second message to perform the operation to be performed by at least one end-user device. Messages may also be transmitted from end-user devices to the server computer system, translated, and transmitted to the operator switchboard computer system.
US09258407B2 Portable electronic device having plurality of speakers and microphones
A portable electronic device includes a display unit, a first audio unit, a second audio unit, a first sensing unit, a second sensing unit, and a controlling unit. The first audio unit includes a first speaker and a first microphone. The second audio unit includes a second speaker and a second microphone. The first sensing unit senses an orientation of the portable electronic device. The second sensing unit senses whether a user is close to one of the first speaker and the second speaker. The controlling unit triggers one of the first audio unit and the second audio unit to output and input audio signals according to the orientation of the portable electronic device and turns off the display unit when the user is close to the one of the first speaker and the second speaker.
US09258402B2 System and method for controlling mobile devices
Systems and methods displaying information from a mobile device are described herein. One embodiment of this disclosure provides a method of controlling a mobile device without a native touch screen display. The mobile device is coupled to an external touch-screen device. The method comprises receiving input via a touch screen display. The method further comprises mapping the input to one or more keypad events. The method further comprises transmitting to at least one application the one or more keypad events.
US09258400B2 Mobile communication terminal for receiving voice calls while navigation service is running, and method therefor
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal for receiving a voice call while navigation service is running, and to a method therefor. According to the present invention, the mobile communication terminal for receiving a voice call while navigation service is running includes: a navigation unit supporting a navigation service; a controller providing, when an incoming call is received while the navigation service is being provided, call connection state information on the incoming call; and a display unit displaying a route guidance image corresponding to the navigation service and displaying a call reception window which provides the call connection state information to a preset area in the route guidance image.
US09258390B2 Reducing network latency
A method of transmitting data for use at a data processing system and network interface device, the data processing system being coupled to a network by the network interface device, the method comprising: forming a message template in accordance with a predetermined set of network protocols, the message template including at least in part one or more protocol headers; forming an application layer message in one or more parts; updating the message template with the parts of the application layer message; processing the message template in accordance with the predetermined set of network protocols so as to complete the protocol headers; and causing the network interface device to transmit the completed message over the network.
US09258388B2 Framework of an efficient congestion exposure audit function
A method of operating a packet dropper in a congestion exposure-enabled network, wherein sending hosts and receiving hosts communicate with each other by sending flows of packets over network paths via intermediate routers, which, upon detecting congestion, mark packets of the flows as congestion packets, wherein congestion is indicated to the sending hosts by way of a congestion feedback mechanism, and wherein the sending hosts, upon receiving congestion indications, declare a subset of the packets they send as congestion response packets, thereby producing either conformant flows or non-conformant flows, depending on whether the amount of congestion response packets is balanced with the indicated congestion level or not, is characterized in that the packet dropper carries out in succession a series of traffic analyzing steps for identifying the non-conformant flows. Furthermore, a corresponding packet dropper for use in a congestion exposure-enabled network is described.
US09258377B2 Publish information on website
The present disclosure provides an example method, device, and system for publishing information to various websites. Publishing Information is collected from a corresponding registration server based on registration information. The publishing information includes the receiving terminal registration information. The publishing information is sent to a corresponding website according to the receiving terminal registration information. The receiving terminal registration information corresponds to a server domain address of the corresponding website. The present techniques reduce redundant posting steps at the websites and improve the efficiency of posting.
US09258373B2 System and method for generating three-dimensional geofeeds, orientation-based geofeeds, and geofeeds based on ambient conditions based on content provided by social media content providers
A system and method for generating a geofeed based on one or more geofeed parameters including altitude parameters, ambient condition parameters, and orientation parameters is provided. A geofeed includes a collection of content, aggregated from various content providers, that is relevant to one or more geographically definable locations. The generated content may include, for example, video, audio, images, text, hyperlinks, and/or other content that may be relevant to a geographically definable location. The content providers may include, for example, social media platforms, online knowledge databases, individual content creators, and/or other providers that can distribute content that may be relevant to a geographically definable location. The system may filter content into the geofeed and/or out of the geofeed based on one or more geofeed parameters and/or display the geofeed comprising the filtered content.
US09258372B2 Wireless router system and method
A wireless router employing a technique to couple a plurality of host services or host systems and a plurality of wireless networks. A method to route data items between a plurality of mobile devices and a plurality of host systems through a common wireless router. A point-to-point communication connection is preferably established between a first host system and a common wireless router, a mobile network message at a mobile device is generated, the mobile network is transmitted via a wireless network to the common wireless router which in turn routes a data item component of the mobile network message to the appropriate host service.
US09258359B2 Wide area aggregated communications
Methods, systems, and techniques for federating operations, in an optimized way using wide area networks are provided. Example systems provide an API for generating and handling federated requests as an aggregation. In one example Wide Area Network Aggregation System, WANAS provides an API, a connection manager, and connection iterators to manage inter-site connections and requests, and inter-pod requests and messaging. These components cooperate to distribute a task across multiple physically disparate sites using a representative connection to the site and fan out of requests to other pods within the site.
US09258358B2 Parallel computing system and control method of parallel computing system
A parallel computing system includes: each computing node including: a first channel receiving data which a preceding node transfers, and transferring received data to a subsequent node; a second channel receiving data which a preceding node transfers, and transferring received data to a subsequent node; and a computational processor receiving data which the first or second channel has received, and transferring processed data to a subsequent node; an input-output node including: a third channel receiving data which the first channel or the computational processor of a preceding node transfers; a fourth channel receiving data which the first channel or the computational processor of a preceding computing node transfers, and transferring the received data to the second channel of a subsequent computing node; and an input-output processor receiving data which the third channel has received, and transferring inputted and outputted data to the first channel of a subsequent computing node.
US09258354B2 Progressive multimedia synchronization
There is disclosed means for uploading/downloading images to/from a remote server and for viewing the same. The uploading/downloading of the images to/from the remote server is parallel instead of serial. This means that the images, instead of being transferred as a sequential stream of bytes, instead are arranged in scans of image data in such a way that the uploaded/downloaded images can be browsed early albeit at a lower quality than if the entire image data is considered. As in the serial case, it is possible to interrupt the uploading/downloading process at any time, and still browse the received image data. Likewise it is possible to re-start the uploading/downloading process in the future.
US09258352B2 Method for transmission in a multi-destination network
The invention relates to a method for transmission of messages from a sender node to multiple destination nodes in a network in which:The same message is sent from the sender node to multiple destination nodes, and the destination node of a message returns an acknowledgment message to the sender node after receiving the message it comprises a step of the distribution, by the sender node, of the destination nodes into at least two groups of destination nodes according to a predetermined distribution criterion taking into account the to and fro travel time between the sending of the message and the receiving of the acknowledgment message from the destination node, and a step of sending of messages to destination nodes in the same group with a latency period between the sending of two successive messages to the same destination nodes of the same group, the latency periods, each specific to a group and defining the throughput rate of the group being different from one group to another.
US09258343B2 Streaming data downloading method and computer readable recording medium thereof
A streaming data downloading method is illustrated, which is adaptive to a video player downloading a video file from a video server via Internet. The method includes dividing the video file into a plurality of time sections by the video player, sending several downloading requests to the video server for simultaneously downloading data corresponding to different time sections based on the number of the downloading requests. Therefore, data of the video file may be downloaded efficiently and waiting time for users may be drastically reduced.
US09258335B1 Connection-aggregation proxy service
A connection-aggregation proxy service disclosed in various embodiments receives connection requests from a plurality of local initiating services, where the connection requests are not targeted at the connection-aggregation proxy service. The connection-aggregation proxy service establishes connections with the local initiating services, receives packets over those connections, and transmits the packets across the same connection when the packets are for the same external target. A local connection-aggregation proxy service in one example executes on the same physical computing device as the local initiating services. A gateway connection-aggregation proxy service in another example resides at a network edge between the local initiating services and the external target that the network local initiating services are requesting. In yet another example, a central connection-aggregation proxy service establishes a connection with multiple local connection-proxy aggregation services and acts as an upstream aggregator for the connections from those local connection-aggregation proxy services.
US09258333B2 Method for recovering content streamed into chunk
The present invention concerns an adaptive streaming method, at a client device, for receiving content split into chunks corresponding to a content duration, the chunks being encoded at a server into at least a first and a second formats, the first format corresponding to a better content rendering quality level than the second format, a chunk being received during a chunk reception period. According to the invention, the method comprises the steps of measuring the available bandwidth between the client and the server for the next chunk reception period, requesting the server to send a chunk encoded at a format so that the chunk can be received during the next chunk reception period, and if some bandwidth is available for the next chunk reception period, requesting the server to send a part of a chunk encoded at a second format, the chunk having been received encoded at the first format.
US09258327B2 Multi-network virus immunization
An apparatus, device, methods, computer program product, and system are described that determine a virus associated with a communications network, and distribute an anti-viral agent onto the communications network using a bypass network, the bypass network configured to provide transmission of the anti-viral agent with at least one of a higher transmission speed, a higher transmission reliability, a higher transmission security, and/or a physically-separate transmission path, relative to transmission of the virus on the communications network.
US09258326B2 API for auxiliary interface
Embodiments of the present invention include a primary access interface where messages are in an auxiliary interface area, where a user can see/hear the message without having to log in (that is, when they normally would have to have logged in to access the message). Included in various embodiments are types of messages output, emergency messages, advertising messages and conditions for outputting messages. Also provided is allowing for user input through an auxiliary interface triggering services or features normally requiring login (before they can be used). What is further provided is an application programming interface for independent or third party applications. What is also provided is an advertising server system integrated with a front-end interface.
US09258312B1 Distributed policy enforcement with verification mode
User-specified policies may be efficiently implemented and enforced with a distributed set of policy enforcement components. User-specified policies may be transformed into a normal form. Sets of normal form policies may be optimized. The optimized policies may be indexed and/or divided and provided to the distributed set of policy enforcement components. The distributed policy enforcement may have a sandbox mode and/or verification mode enabling policy configuration verification. With appropriate authorization, substitute data may be used in verification mode to evaluate requests with respect to policies. Evaluation results, relevant policies, and decision data utilized during request evaluation may be collected, filtered and reported at a variety of levels of detail. Originating user-specified policies may be tracked during the policy normalization process to enable reference to user-specified policies in verification mode reports.
US09258309B2 Method and system for operating a wireless access point for providing access to a network
A method is described for operating a single network adapter for use on two different sub-networks of the same type, and a corresponding apparatus. The method comprises setting up a first network address and routing table in the network adapter for use in the first sub-network; setting up a second network address and routing table in the network adapter for use in the second sub-network; receiving data for one of the first and second sub networks, and re-transmitting the data to the other of the first and second sub-network, using the network addresses and routing tables.
US09258307B2 Decentralized electronic transfer system
An exemplary technique is provided for use in a decentralized electronic transfer system. A first digital code that represents a first transaction is generated from a first user's secure repository to the first user's unsecure repository. The first digital code is sent to a secure storage memory related to the unsecure repository to be stored in an area of the memory. A processor related to the unsecure repository generates a second digital code that represents a second transaction from the unsecure repository to the second user's repository. The processor retrieves the first digital code stored in the secure storage memory and publishes the retrieved digital code to validate the first transaction. In addition, the processor publishes the second digital code to validate the second transaction.
US09258270B2 Selecting between domain name system servers of a plurality of networks
A method and computer for managing domain name system services for a plurality of networks is disclosed. A computer identifies information for the plurality of networks to which a client device is connected. The computer receives a request to identify an internet protocol address for a domain name or vice-versa. In response to the request, the computer selects a particular set of domain name system servers of a particular network in the plurality of networks based on the information for the plurality of networks and a set of rules for selecting the particular set of domain name system servers when identifying the internet protocol address for the domain name. The computer then sends the request to identify the internet protocol address for the domain name to a domain name system server in the particular set of domain name system servers.
US09258269B1 Methods and systems for managing delivery of email to local recipients using local reputations
A computer-implemented method for managing delivery of email to local recipients. The computer-implemented method may include establishing a local reputation for an email sender address. The method may include storing a domain-name-system record associated with the local reputation on a domain-name system. The domain-name system may be mail-transfer agent agnostic. The method may also include identifying one or more emails sent from the email sender address to one or more local recipients. The method may include forming a spam verdict for each of the one or more emails by analyzing contents of each of the one or more emails. The method may additionally include updating the local reputation for the email sender address based on the one or more spam verdicts.
US09258266B2 Host detection by top of rack switch devices in data center environments
Techniques are provided for detecting and identifying host devices in a network. At a switch device, a packet is received from a server that is interfaced with a switch device and is configured to host a virtual machine that is a source of the packet. A Media Access Control (MAC) address or an Internet Protocol (IP) address is identified. The MAC address and IP address are associated with the virtual machine. In response to identifying the MAC or IP addresses, the switch device determines whether a binding between the IP and MAC addresses of the virtual machine is present in a database of addresses accessible by the switch device. If the association is not present, based on the fields obtained from the packet header, a request message is sent to the virtual machine to resolve the association between the IP address and the MAC address of the virtual machine.
US09258261B1 System and method for detecting unwanted content
A system and method for detecting unwanted electronic content, such as spam. As a user operates an application to send messages, several metrics are tracked to allow the system to analyze her activity. Illustrative metrics may include, but are not limited to, block count (e.g., how many other users have blocked her), block rate (e.g., the rate at which other users block her), peer symmetry (e.g., percentage of her messages that are to other users that have her in their address book), message uniqueness (e.g., how unique her messages are from each other), peer uniqueness (e.g., how unique the addressees of her messages are), and message rate (e.g., the rate at which she sends messages). Periodically, metrics may be compared to corresponding thresholds. Depending on whether a threshold is crossed, and which threshold is crossed, she may be banned from using the application or placed on a watch list.
US09258259B2 Retrieval of offline instant messages
Retrieving messages stored in a mail server and pending to be retrieved by a user is disclosed. A summary of the messages stored in the mail server and pending to be retrieved by the user is received at a terminal device of the user, each message associated with a unique identifier. At least one of the messages to be retrieved from the mail server is selected on the basis of the summary of messages. From the unique identifier associated with the at least one message an identifier valid for retrieval of the at least one message is determined, and a retrieval request with the identifier valid for retrieval is sent to the mail server. Upon receiving the retrieval request with the at least one identifier valid for retrieving the at least one of the stored messages, the mail server sends the at least one message towards the terminal device.
US09258253B2 System and method for flexible switching fabric
A system and method for a flexible switching fabric includes a network switching device. The network switching device includes a plurality of connectors configured to couple the network switching device to other network devices, one or more front panel cards, each front panel card including one or more first ports and configured to forward network packets between the first ports, one or more fabric cards, each fabric card including one or more second ports and configured to forward network packets between the second ports, and a port multiplexing unit configured to flexibly couple the connectors to the one or more first ports and the one or more second ports to the one or more first ports. The flexible coupling between the one or more first ports and the connectors and the one or more second ports is determined based on a desired configuration for the network switching device.
US09258251B2 Resource and admission control method
The present invention provides a resource and admission control method applied to nomadicity and wholesale scenarios, which clarifies an interaction process between a PD-FE of a NGN home operator/NGN retail service provider and a PE-FE of a NGN home operator/NGN retail service provider, puts forward a resource request process, resource modification process and resource release process of the resource and admission control method applied to the nomadicity and wholesale scenarios, and solves problems existing in the related art.
US09258249B2 Resource access throttling
Techniques for resource access throttling are described. In implementations, access to a network resource can be controlled based on a variety of factors, such as a type of user requesting access to the network resource. For example, consider a scenario where an online content store is preparing to launch. To prevent resources associated with the online content store from being overwhelmed by the number of requests for access when the store is launched, techniques can be implemented to throttle the number of requests that are granted. For instance, requests for access can be throttled based on different user types.
US09258248B2 Energy-efficient network device with coordinated scheduling and processor rate control
A network device of a communication network is configured to implement coordinated scheduling and processor rate control. In one aspect, packets are received in the network device and scheduled for processing from one or more queues of that device. An operating rate of a processor of the network device is controlled based at least in part on at least one of an arrival rate of the packets and a number of the packets stored in the one or more queues. As one example of processor rate control based on packet arrival rate, the operating rate of the processor may be controlled by accumulating a designated number of the received packets, determining an average arrival rate of the accumulated packets, and setting the operating rate of the processor based on the average arrival rate.
US09258240B2 Available bandwidth estimating device
An available bandwidth estimating device 300 is equipped with: a transmission rate acquiring part 301 configured to acquire a transmission rate, which is the amount of data transmitted by a transmitting device per unit time to a receiving device connected so as to be capable of communicating via a communication network; and an available bandwidth estimating part 302 configured to estimate the available bandwidth based on a mathematical model constructed by representing a relation between an available bandwidth, which is a communication bandwidth available in a communication path between the transmitting device and the receiving device, and the transmission rate by a dynamic model including a mobile body movable in a preset moving direction and an elastic body transforming in the moving direction by a movement amount of the mobile body having moved in the moving direction, and based on the acquired transmission rate.
US09258227B2 Next hop chaining for forwarding data in a network switching device
A route for a data unit through a network may be defined based on a number of next hops. Exemplary embodiments described herein may implement a router forwarding table as a chained list of references to next hops. In one implementation, a device includes a forwarding table that includes: a first table configured to store, for each of a plurality of routes for data units in a network, a chain of links to next hops for the routes; and a second table configured to store the next hops. The device also includes a forwarding engine configured to assemble the next hops for the data units based on using the chain of links in the first table to retrieve the next hops in the second table and to forward the data units in the network based on the assembled next hops.
US09258226B2 Systems and methods for dual network address translation
Included are systems and methods for providing dual network address translation. Accordingly, some embodiments include translating, via a processor at a network operations center (NOC), a public source address and a public destination address to and from assigned unique private addresses for data to be communicated across a wide area network, while including gateway functions to manage an application with an imbedded IP address. Some embodiments include communicating, via the processor at the NOC, the data to a ReNAT virtual private network (VPN) with packets wrapped in a private ReNAT defined protocol that includes the public source address and the public destination address. Still some embodiments include mapping, via the processor at the NOC, a unique private address in the data to customer defined private IP addresses.
US09258225B2 System and method for efficient matching of regular expression patterns across multiple packets
A system and method for efficient matching regular expression patterns across multiple packets. A deep packet inspection system can be embodied in a switch ASIC using a flow tracker and a signature matching engine. The flow tracker can be positioned in an ingress portion of the switch ASIC at a location where packets in a bi-direction flow can be observed and recorded. The flow tracker generates a signature match request that is forwarded to a signature matching engine in an auxiliary pipeline. The signature matching engine is enabled to perform cross-packet signature matching using signature matching state machines and reports the signature matching results to the flow tracker using a response packet that is sent to the ingress pipeline.
US09258221B2 System and method for rapid protection of RSVP based LSP
Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a network node in a resource reservation protocol (RSVP) based label switch path (LSP) network, the method including: receiving a message to establish a LSP; receiving a resv message; initiating the establishment of a backup path; determining that the establishment of the backup path failed; setting a backup timer; and initiating the establishment of a backup path upon the expiration of the backup timer.
US09258220B2 Communication system, node, control server, communication method and program
A packet contains an array of processing operations that are to be performed by a node. Each node in a data forwarding network performs the processing it has to perform in accordance with the array of the processing operations contained in the packet.
US09258211B1 Extending VPLS support for CE lag multi-homing
Techniques are described for forwarding packets in a VPLS using multi-homing PE routers configured in an “active-active” link topology. As described herein, a PE router receives a packet from a multi-homed VPLS customer site, and processes the packet to determine a portion of a MAC domain to which the packet corresponds. When the packet is determined to correspond to a portion associated with the PE router, the PE router forwards the packet to the destination in accordance with forwarding protocols executing on the PE router. When the packet is determined to correspond to a portion associated with a second PE router, the PE router forwards the packet to the second PE router via a pseudowire that is external to the VPLS domain, and the second PE router forwards the packet to the destination in accordance with forwarding protocols executing on the second PE router.
US09258208B2 Multiple path availability between walkable clusters
In one embodiment, a method comprises creating, in a computing network, a hierarchal routing topology for reaching a destination, the hierarchal routing topology comprising a single parent supernode providing reachability to the destination, and a plurality of child supernodes, each child supernode comprising one or more exit network devices each providing a corresponding link to the parent supernode; receiving, in one of the child supernodes, a data packet for delivery to the destination; causing the data packet to traverse along any available data link in the one child supernode independent of any routing topology established by network devices in the one child supernode, until the data packet reaches one of the exit network devices; and the one exit network device forwarding the data packet to the parent supernode, via the corresponding link, for delivery to the destination.
US09258204B2 Method and apparatus for deciding network coding method based on link utilization
A method and apparatus for deciding a network coding method based on link utilization are disclosed herein. The method may include a step of setting up an output link utilization reference value of a network intermediate node, a step of calculating an average utilization of output links for each network intermediate node, a step of deciding a network coding method in accordance with the average utilization of the output link for each network intermediate node, a step of consistently updating the average utilization of the output link for each network intermediate node, and a step of changing the network coding method, when a value of the average utilization value is changed.
US09258198B2 Dynamic generation of policy enforcement rules and actions from policy attachment semantics
At least one defined service policy to be enforced by a policy enforcement point (PEP) is obtained. The obtained at least one defined service policy is parsed to identify at least one set of enforceable policy provisions and the at least one set of enforceable policy provisions is identified. Each set of enforceable policy provisions includes a policy subject, a policy domain, and at least one assertion as the enforceable policy provisions within the at least one defined service policy. At least one runtime processing rule including at least one processing action usable by the PEP is created to enforce the policy subject, the policy domain, and the at least one assertion of each identified at least one set of enforceable policy provisions.
US09258197B2 Prioritizing service requests
Disclosed are various embodiments for prioritizing service requests. A load associated with a service is determined. A request destined for processing by the service is received. One or more client-specified parameters are determined from the request. The client-specified parameters include one or more of: a droppability parameter indicating whether the request is droppable, or a deadline parameter indicating a deadline for completion of processing of the request. When the load meets a threshold, a prioritization is assigned to the request based at least in part on the client-specified parameter.
US09258192B2 Multi-chassis topology discovery using in-band signaling
A multi-chassis network device may automatically detect whether cables connected between chassis devices are correctly inserted. The device may insert, into a first data stream output from a first port of the device, control information identifying the first port. The device may receive, from a second data stream received by the first port of the device, second control information identifying a second port, at another device connected to the device via a cable. The device may determine, based on the second control information, whether the connection of the first port to the second port, via the cable, is valid and cause, when the connection of the first port to the second port is determined to not be valid, the device to output an indication that the connection is not valid or to reconfigure the device to make the connection of the first port to the second port valid.
US09258188B2 Data collection system having EIR terminal interface node
A network accessible node facilitates management of a fleet of portable communication devices (EIR terminal), including portable data terminals and/or barcode readers, by directing performance of software upgrade and/or configuration update actions by one or more members of the fleet of EIR terminals. The node can be configured for use in managing the reprogramming of the one or more EIR terminals. In one embodiment, the node can be disposed in a common local facility and connected to a common local area network with the at least one EIR terminal.
US09258187B2 System and method for optimizing and digitally correcting errors on a computer system
A method for optimizing a computer system, the method comprising the steps of receiving at least one key corresponding to at least one attribute of at least one configurable computer system; accessing an electronic key database stored in a memory that includes computer configuration information; comparing the received keys with entries in the key database; generating recommendations where the recommendations include commands selected from the group consisting of deleting, Disabling, suspending, changing process priority, and delaying the execution of the attribute corresponding to the key received from the configurable computer system; and transmitting the recommendations to the configurable computer system based upon the comparison of the received keys with entries in the key database.
US09258182B2 Apparatus and methods for accessing a data network
A packet data network gateway, P-GW, is located in a second network for supporting control plane data in a wireless communications system that additionally comprises a first network having a first P-GW operably couplable to the P-GW, and a serving gateway, S-GW. The P-GW comprises a processor arranged to: monitor and build terminal device context information for a plurality of terminal devices being served with user plane data by the second network; and determine an operational status of at least one of: the backhaul link, first P-GW. In response to the processor determining that at least one of: the backhaul link, first P-GW, is unavailable, the processor is arranged to perform at least one of: terminate signalling between the first network and at least one of a mobility management entity, MME, the S-GW; defer signalling between the first network and at least one of the MME, the S-GW; perform at least some functionality of the first P-GW.
US09258179B2 Failure recovery in an IP multimedia subsystem network
A method is provided for facilitating recovery from the failure of a P-CSCF within an IP multimedia Subsystem network. A gateway, such as a GGSN, monitors signals arriving at the gateway from the P-CSCF and provides an indication if the monitored signals become unacceptable, for example because of an interruption in the signals. The gateway responds by signalling the unavailability of the P-CSCF to user equipment, which was associated with the P-CSCF during a previous registration with the IMS network. In response, for example, the user equipment affected by the failure may request re-registration with the IMS network using a different available P-CSCF.
US09258177B2 Storing a data stream in a set of storage devices
A set of storage devices coordinates selection of dispersed storage error encoding parameters for storing a stream of data and coordinates selection of encoded data storage devices and redundancy encoded data storage devices of the set of storage devices. The encoded data storage devices coordinates storage of a decode threshold amount of encoded data of the stream of data in accordance with the dispersed storage error encoding parameters. The encoded data storage devices send information regarding the decode threshold amount of encoded data to the redundancy encoded data storage devices. The redundancy encoded data storage devices generates redundancy encoded data based on the information regarding the decode threshold amount of encoded data and in accordance with the dispersed storage error encoding parameters. The redundancy encoded data storage devices store the redundancy encoded data to provide error encoded reliable storage of the stream of data.
US09258172B2 Calling an unready terminal
A voice or video call is to be established between a caller and a callee based on a call flow that involves a call establishment request and a corresponding call acceptance response. A first call establishment request is sent to a called terminal (of the callee) that is unready to accept the call upon receiving this first call establishment request. Once the called terminal is ready to accept the call, instead of the call acceptance response, a reverse call establishment request for the call is received back from the called terminal. The reverse call establishment request is automatically accepted on behalf of the caller on condition that the reverse call establishment request was received back from the called terminal within a certain time limit. If so, the call is accepted by sending an instance of the call acceptance response to called terminal.
US09258171B2 Method and system for an OS virtualization-aware network interface card
Aspects of a method and system for an operating system (OS) virtualization-aware network interface card (NIC) are provided. A NIC may provide direct I/O capabilities for each of a plurality of concurrent guest operating systems (GOSs) in a host system. The NIC may comprise a GOS queue for each of the GOSs, where each GOS queue may comprise a transmit (TX) queue, a receive (RX) queue, and an event queue. The NIC may communicate data with a GOS via a corresponding TX queue and RX queue. The NIC may notify a GOS of events such as down link, up link, packet transmission, and packet reception via the corresponding event queue. The NIC may also support unicast, broadcast, and/or multicast communication between GOSs. The NIC may also validate a buffered address when the address corresponds to one of the GOSs operating in the host system.
US09258164B2 Apparatus for transmitting and receiving a signal and method of transmitting and receiving a signal
A method for transmitting and receiving a signal and an apparatus for transmitting and receiving a signal are disclosed. The method for receiving the signal includes receiving (S210) the signal in a first frequency band, identifying (S220) a first pilot signal including, a cyclic prefix obtained by frequency-shifting a firstportion of an useful portion of the first pilot signal and a cyclic suffix obtained by frequency-shifting a second portion of the useful portion of the first pilot signal from the received signal, demodulating (S220) a signal frame including a physical layer pipe (PLP) to which a service stream is converted, by an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme, using information set in the first pilot signal, parsing (S230) the signal frame and obtaining the PLP and obtaining (S240) the service stream from the PLP.
US09258157B2 Method and system for mapping bit sequences
A method of mapping a plurality of different bit sequences to a plurality of different signal points in a constellation, the number of bit sequences being greater than the number of signal points. The method includes, for a device in a telecommunication network, the acts of: determining, for each signal point in the constellation, a number of bit sequences to be mapped to each signal point, the numbers of bit sequences being distributed according to a discrete Gaussian distribution among the constellation, selecting in the plurality of bit sequences, for each signal point in the constellation, a set including the determined number of bit sequences (u) that minimize the maximal Hamming distance among the selected sets.
US09258147B2 Multi-frame data processing apparatus and method using frame disassembly
A multi-frame data processing apparatus and method using frame disassembly is provided. The multi-frame data apparatus includes a data communication unit, a frame processing unit, and a data processing unit. The data communication unit receives a transmission signal from a Line Adaptation Unit (LAU). The frame processing unit disassembles each frame of the transmission signal and acquires information data that is included in the transmission signal. The data processing unit transfers the information data to an Algorithm Processing Unit (APU), and acquires processed information data that is obtained by processing the information data via the APU based on a corresponding algorithm.
US09258141B2 Supplemental mobile communication device
Systems and methods provide a supplemental mobile communication device that allows use of a host communication device with a network different from that associated with the host device, e.g., a network of a different service provider or that is otherwise restricted to the host device. The system may include a supplemental mobile communication device having a transmitter selectively communicating with a plurality of host devices associated with a different wireless network. The system may further include a processor configured to compare a service plan associated with the supplemental mobile communication device with a service plan associated with the host device, and selectively route communications initiated by a user interface of the host device through one of the first and second communication networks based upon at least the comparison of the first and second service plans.
US09258138B2 Unidirectional coding for bidirectional data bus radio frequency interference mitigation
An integrated circuit chip can include an interference mitigator. The interference mitigator can be to modify encoding to generate a cancellation pattern for optimum cancellation of radio frequency interference (RFI) at the effective mid-point of the data bus. The interference mitigator can also be to transmit the generated cancellation pattern across the data bus to cancel the radio frequency interference.
US09258131B2 Method and apparatus for controlling operations of devices based on information regarding power consumption of the devices
A method of controlling operations of a participating controlled device in a network that includes a control device and the participating controlled device, the method including: receiving operation limiting information from the participating controlled device, the operation limiting information including combinations of allowed operations from among a plurality of operations that the participating controlled device is capable of performing, and power consumption levels that are relative amounts of power consumption of the combinations of allowed operations; setting a power consumption level corresponding to the participating controlled device, from among the power consumption levels, based on information regarding time-based price and the operation limiting information; and controlling the operations of the participating controlled device based on the set power consumption level.
US09258130B2 Apparatus and method for anonymity-based authentication and key agreement capable of providing communication message binding property
Disclosed herein are an apparatus and method for anonymity-based authentication and key agreement capable of providing a communication message binding property. The apparatus includes a signature verification unit and a binding checking unit. The signature verification unit receives a plurality of messages, each carrying a signature including link information of a sender, and verifies the signature of each of the plurality of messages. The binding checking unit, if it is determined by the signature verification unit that the signature is valid, determines whether the plurality of messages has been sent by an identical sender based on the link information of the signature.
US09258113B2 Username based key exchange
A method and apparatus for an system and process for sharing a secret over an unsecured channel in conjunction with an authentication system. A client computes a message authentication code based on a hashed password value and a first random string received from the server. The client sends a response to the server that includes authentication data including a second random string. Both the client and server concatenate the first random string, second random string and username. Theses values are processed to generate as a shared master secret to further generate shared secrets or keys to establish a secured communication channel between the client and server. The secured communication can be based on stateless messaging where the decryption key associated with the message is identified by the message authentication code, which is placed within the message.
US09258110B2 Phase detector
A phase detector device having a modulo N operator coupled with an adder is disclosed. Furthermore, clock recovery devices using such a phase detector device are discussed.
US09258104B2 Pattern indicator signal for new DMRS pattern
A small cell station communicates with user equipment utilizing a reduced overhead demodulation reference signal (DMRS) pattern when good channel conditions are detected. An indicator field is used to identify whether a reduced overhead DMRS pattern is being transmitted. If appropriate, the reduced overhead DMRS pattern is generated and transmitted by the small cell station and received and used by the user equipment as indicated by the indicator field.
US09258101B2 Method and apparatus for allocating OFDM subcarriers for next codeword pointers or other signaling messages
An apparatus for communication. A headend supports a plurality of customer premises equipment (CPEs) in a cable service network. An NCP carrier selector selects at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) subcarrier taken from a radio frequency (RF) spectrum available for broadcasting signals over the cable service network using a plurality of profiles, wherein each selected OFDM subcarrier comprises a corresponding bit loading for each supported profile that meets or exceeds a minimum number of bits used for delivering next codeword pointer (NCP) messages that is acceptable for each of a plurality of profiles used in the plurality of CPEs for receiving signals over the cable service network. A profile generator generates an NCP profile identifying one or more selected OFDM subcarriers, wherein the NCP profile indicates which OFDM subcarriers within the RF spectrum are usable to carry NCP messages, and an associated bit loading for each selected subcarrier.
US09258099B2 System and method for user cooperation protocol for interference alignment in wireless networks
Embodiments are provided herein for implementing a user cooperation protocol for interference alignment (IA) in wireless local area network (WLAN) or a Wi-Fi hotspot. The embodiments allow collecting knowledge of the channels from user stations (STAs) and sending this information to the corresponding access points (APs) in the network. This information is then used by the APs to pre-code their signals such as to remove interfering signals to non-intended STAs. An AP transmits to the STAs a group identifier (GrpID) indicating an order of STAs for transmitting channel state information (CSI) and an AP index indicating an order of STA groups of the APs for transmitting the CSI. When a STA detects a CSI transmission from another STA preceding the STA in the order of transmission as indicated by the AP index and GrpID, the STA transmits its CSI.
US09258097B2 Configuring new paths in a wireless deterministic network
In one embodiment, a first node in a wireless deterministic network communicates to a second node configuration information identifying a destination-facing path portion of a particular one-way path traversing from a source node to a destination node within the wireless deterministic network. The destination-facing portion includes a path traversing from the second node over one or more additional nodes to the destination node over which to forward packets received over a first portion of the particular one-way path from the source node to the second node. The configuration information includes a particular time slot for the second node to receive packets being sent over the particular one-way path. In one embodiment, the first node receives from the second node an acknowledgement message in the particular time slot that the destination-facing portion of the particular one-way path was configured and activated.
US09258095B2 Uplink demodulation reference signal design for MIMO transmission
A base station capable of communicating with a plurality of subscriber stations is provided. The base station transmits control information and data to at least one of the plurality of subscriber stations in a subframe using a subset of antenna ports corresponding to a subset of antenna port numbers. The base station maps reference signals corresponding to the subset of antenna ports according to a transmission rank R. The base station indicates, via a cyclic shift indicator (CSI) field in an uplink grant, an assigned resource index corresponding to the mapped reference signal. The CSI field includes a cyclic shift and an orthogonal cover code (OCC) index. The subscriber station uses a resource mapping table to identify the assigned resource index based on the transmission rank, cyclic shift and OCC index.
US09258088B2 Method of performing buffer status reporting and communication device thereof
A method of performing buffer status reporting for a mobile device capable of UL MIMO and/or capable of receiving and transmitting on a plurality of component carriers in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises generating at least a MAC subheader, generating at least two MAC control elements for jointly indicating buffer status of at least a logical channel group in the mobile device, and generating a MAC PDU including the at least a MAC subheader and the at least two MAC control elements for the buffer status reporting.
US09258082B2 Network system configured for resolving forward error correction during a data mode
Apparatus, systems, and methods for resolving a forward error correction (FEC) protocol include requesting, by a network node element during an auto-negotiation period between the node element and a link partner, to resolve at least one FEC mode during a data mode period, wherein auto-negotiation period occurs before the data mode period. At least one channel quality parameter of at least one channel of a communication link between the network node element and the link partner are determined by the network node element during the data mode period. The network node determines, during the data mode period, whether to enable or disable at least one FEC mode for use by the network node element based on, at least in part, the at least one channel quality parameter.
US09258069B2 Non-contiguous carrier aggregation
A method of operating a user equipment for measuring non-contiguous carriers comprises: changing a position of a local oscillator to be in the middle of the non-contiguous carriers; measuring the carriers simultaneously; estimating a power level of an interferer in a gap in the non-contiguous carriers which creates image interference; and compensating the measurement dependent on the interferer power level and an image rejection factor.
US09258065B2 Coherent transponder with enhanced frequency locking
The present document relates to an optical communication system. In particular, the present document relates to the alignment of the laser frequency at a transmitter of the optical communication system and the local oscillator frequency at a coherent receiver of the optical communication system. A coherent optical receiver (222) is described. The receiver (222) comprises a reception unit adapted to convert a received optical signal at a carrier frequency into a digital signal using a local oscillator, referred to as LO, having an LO frequency; a spectral analysis unit adapted to estimate a degree of asymmetry of a spectrum of the received optical signal, based on the digital signal; and a transmission unit adapted to transmit an indication of the degree of asymmetry to a near-end transponder (210) comprising a transmitter (211) of the received optical signal.
US09258061B2 Individual information in lower and upper optical sidebands
This disclosure is directed to an optical transmitter arrangement 100 and a method therein producing a first RF-signal UA1 comprising a first set of data A1 carried by a subcarrier fC1, and a second RF-signal UB1 comprising a second set of data B1 carried by the subcarrier fC1. Further producing a first transform signal H(UA1) being a Hilbert Transform of the first RF-signal UA1, and a second transform signal −H(UB1) being a Hilbert Transform of the second RF-signal UB1. In addition, modulating the optical carrier fopt with the first RF-signal UA1 and the first transform signal H(UA1), and forming a first sideband SB1 comprising the first set of data A1 at one side of the frequency f0 of the optical carrier fopt. In addition, modulating the optical carrier fopt with the second RF-signal UB1 and the second transform signal −H(UB1), and forming a second sideband SB2 comprising the second set of data B1 at the other side of the frequency f0 of the optical carrier fopt.
US09258055B2 Wireless earpiece and wireless microphone to service multiple audio streams
A wireless microphone and wireless earpiece each may exchange radio frequency (RF) signals with a base unit and render content contained within the exchanged RF signals to a user. This wireless earpiece further includes a wireless interface, a processor, a speaker, a user interface, and an authentication module. The wireless interface allows the earpiece to wirelessly communicate with the base unit. The processor recovers communications exchanged with the base unit that the speaker then renders audible. A user interface coupled to the processor may alert the user to any additional incoming audio communications. Having received the alert, the user may select between the communications. The authentication module allows the wireless earpiece and microphone to pair and register with the base unit.
US09258046B2 Efficient beacon transmission and reception
A control point, such as a laptop, phone, wireless access point, or other device, transmits beacons to receiving stations in a wireless network. The control point may reduce power and bandwidth consumption by transmitting beacons with smaller payloads and/or less frequently to sectors with no associated stations. The stations, which may include laptops, phones, or other devices may reduce power consumption be powering on their antennas when beacons may be transmitted to their sectors.
US09258039B2 Devices for sending and receiving quantization quality feedback
A wireless communication device for sending quantization quality feedback is described. The wireless communication device includes a receiver that receives a signal. The wireless communication device also includes channel estimation circuitry coupled to the receiver. The channel estimation circuitry generates a channel estimate based on the signal. The wireless communication device also includes feedback determination circuitry coupled to the channel estimation circuitry. The feedback determination circuitry generates quantization quality feedback based on the channel estimate. The wireless communication device also includes a transmitter coupled to the feedback determination circuitry. The transmitter transmits the quantization quality feedback.
US09258038B2 Method and apparatus for transmitting reference signal in multi-antenna system
A method for transmitting a reference signal in a multi-antenna system is provided. The method includes: selecting at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in a subframe containing a plurality of OFDM symbols; allocating a channel quality indication reference signal (CQI RS) capable of measuring a channel state for each of a plurality of antennas to the selected at least one OFDM symbol; and transmitting the CQI RS, wherein the CQI RS is allocated to an OFDM symbol which does not overlap with an OFDM symbol to which a common reference signal to be transmitted to all user equipments in a cell or a dedicated reference signal to be transmitted to a specific user equipment in the cell is allocated.
US09258035B2 Multi-mode communication ingestible event markers and systems, and methods of using the same
A device including an integrated circuit, a partial power source, including first and second materials associated with the integrated circuit is disclosed. The first and second materials are configured to provide a voltage potential difference when in contact with a conductive fluid to power up the device. A signal amplification element secured around the integrated circuit relative to the first and second materials is configured to facilitate extension of a current flow path between the first and second materials. A modulator is configured to control conductance between the first and second materials to generate a detectable signal that is partially defined by the current flow extending through the conductive fluid. A communication module is coupled to the partial power source and is configured to communicate with a receiver and an antenna electrically coupled to the communication module, which uses the antenna to communicate with the receiver.
US09258028B2 Spectacle-type wireless communicator
A glasses-type radio communication device (1) to be worn on the head of a user includes: left and right eyepiece parts (11), temples (14), an antenna (100) for carrying out a radio communication, hinges (17) each provided for folding each of the temples (14) towards a corresponding one of the eyepiece parts (11), while one of the temples (14) being folded towards a corresponding one of the eyepiece parts (11), the temple (14) having a shape in which the temple curves so as to be away from the antenna (100) provided in an outer edge region along an outer edge of the eyepiece part (11).
US09258024B2 SIM card connector and mobile terminal
An SIM card connector and a mobile terminal are disclosed. The SIM card connector comprises a card holder as well as a power supply terminal, a first terminal and a second terminal disposed within the card holder. When the SIM card is plugged, the power supply terminal connects with a power supply contact of the SIM card earlier than the first terminal, and the first terminal connects with the power supply contact earlier than the second terminal. The mobile terminal comprises an interruption detection module, a power supply management module and an SIM card connector. The power supply management module is configured to stop supplying power to the power supply terminal when it is determined that a signal received by the power supply management module changes from a second control signal into a first control signal.
US09258022B2 Wide bandwidth digital predistortion system with reduced sampling rate
A digital predistortion linearization method is provided for increasing the instantaneous or operational bandwidth for RF power amplifiers employed in wideband communication systems. Embodiments of the present invention provide a method of increasing DPD linearization bandwidth using a feedback filter integrated into existing digital platforms for multi-channel wideband wireless transmitters. An embodiment of the present invention utilizes a DPD feedback signal in conjunction with a low power band-pass filter in the DPD feedback path.
US09258020B2 Scalable mapping with integrated summing of samples for multiple streams in a radio interface frame
An apparatus includes a first circuit, a second circuit, and a third circuit. The first circuit may be configured to buffer a plurality of antenna carrier sample streams. The second circuit is coupled to the first circuit and may be configured to generate message data through pipelined processing and mapping of the antenna carrier samples. The third circuit is coupled to the second circuit and may be configured to generate a master frame in response to the processed and mapped message data.
US09258007B2 Scale of photoelectric encoder including base member having roughened surface and manufacturing method of scale
A scale of a photoelectric encoder includes a base member and gratings on the base member. The gratings can be formed on the surface of the base member by plating and arranged at a prescribed pitch on the base member. The surface of the base member is a roughened surface which is roughened by sandblasting or with a chemical. The gratings are light absorptive gratings or light reflective metal gratings.
US09257997B2 Analog loop filter systems, apparatus, and methods
Described herein is a distributed analog loop filter that can be employed in a phase locked loop or a delay locked loop. A circuit block of the distributed analog loop filter includes at least two parallel equivalent circuit elements. The parallel equivalent circuit elements each have an input line. The input lines for each of the parallel equivalent circuit elements are activated sequentially, one after the other. The parallel equivalent circuit elements have sequentially produced outputs that are also activated sequentially, one after another. The parallel equivalent circuit elements extend the tuning range of distributed analog filter while reducing noise associated with the distributed analog filter.
US09257987B1 Partial reconfiguration using configuration transaction layer packets
Systems and methods for implementing partial reconfiguration on an integrated circuit (IC) are provided. During runtime, certain configuration changes may be implemented. The embodiments described herein allow for partial reconfiguration updates to be driven via an independent pathway, reducing complex arbitration, freeing additional application memory resources, and enabling customized partial reconfiguration logic.
US09257984B2 Multi-threshold circuitry based on silicon-on-insulator technology
Multiple threshold voltage circuitry based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology is disclosed which utilizes N-wells and/or P-wells underneath the insulator in SOI FETs. The well under a FET is biased to influence the threshold voltage of the FET. A PFET and an NFET share a common buried P-well or N-well. Various types of logic can be fabricated in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology using multiple threshold voltage FETs. Embodiments provide circuits including the advantageous properties of both low-leakage transistors and high-speed transistors.
US09257979B2 Embedded JFETs for high voltage applications
A device includes a buried well region and a first HVW region of the first conductivity, and an insulation region over the first HVW region. A drain region of the first conductivity type is disposed on a first side of the insulation region and in a top surface region of the first HVW region. A first well region and a second well region of a second conductivity type opposite the first conductivity type are on the second side of the insulation region. A second HVW region of the first conductivity type is disposed between the first and the second well regions, wherein the second HVW region is connected to the buried well region. A source region of the first conductivity type is in a top surface region of the second HVW region, wherein the source region, the drain region, and the buried well region form a JFET.
US09257968B2 Duty cycle correction circuit and operation method thereof
A duty cycle correction circuit includes a clock adjustment unit configured to adjust a duty ratio of an input clock signal in response to a duty control signal and generate an output clock signal, a tracking type setting unit configured to generate an tracking type selection signal for setting a first or second tracking type based on a duty locking state of the output clock signal, and a control signal generation unit configured to generate the duty control signal, into which the first or second tracking type is incorporated, in response to the tracking type selection signal and the output clock signal.
US09257964B2 Low frequency oscillator for burst-mode dimming control for CCFL driver system
Oscillator system and method thereof. The oscillator system includes a first voltage-to-current converter configured to receive a first voltage and generate a first current based on at least information associated with the first voltage, and a second voltage-to-current converter configured to receive a second voltage and generate a second current based on at least information associated with the second voltage. Additionally, the oscillator system further includes a current-mode N-bit digital-to-analog converter configured to receive at least the second current and a first clock signal and to generate a third current based on at least information associated with the second current and the first clock signal. N is a first integer. The first clock signal is associated with a first clock frequency corresponding to a first clock period. Moreover, the oscillator system further includes a current comparator coupled to the first voltage-to-current converter and the current-mode N-bit digital-to-analog converter.
US09257963B1 Impedance tuners with rotating probes
A new slide-screw impedance tuner structure uses rotating metallic probes. This ensures high resolution in the area where the gap between center conductor and probe is small (high GAMMA), a smooth increase of proximity between probe and center conductor (basic anti-corona form) and the possibility to compensate for the negative phase slope at higher GAMMA, native to traditional slide screw tuners. Additionally the new structure simplifies the tuner mechanics by eliminating the need for a precise vertical axis.
US09257959B2 Resonator element, resonator, oscillator, electronic apparatus, sensor, and moving object
A resonator element includes a quartz crystal substrate having a base, a pair of vibration arms extending from the base, and a support arm located between the vibration arms and extending from the base in the direction in which the vibration arms extend. Each of the vibration arms has an arm portion and a hammer head provided at the front end of the arm portion. The arm portion has a pair of principal surfaces and a groove that has a bottom and opens through each of the principal surfaces. In the invention, the width of each of bank-shaped portions of each of the principal surfaces that are disposed side by side on opposite sides of the groove along the width direction of the vibration arm perpendicular to the longitudinal direction thereof is set at 6 μm or smaller.
US09257951B2 Differential amplifier
An amplifier for amplifying a differential audio signal, having common-mode rejection and digital gain control, includes a current source (401) which supplies a constant level of current to a first current path (I1) and a second current path (I2), and input stage (403) which modulates the current in the current paths in response to a differential input signal, and an output stage (405) which produces an output signal by amplifying the difference in current between the current paths, a degree of feedback provided to the input stage by a feedback stage (402) that modulates the current in the current paths in response to the output signal, and the degree of modulation by the feedback stage is determined by the attenuation provided by at least one multiplying digital-to-analog converter (407) located therein.
US09257949B2 Linear amplifier
The invention relates to a “push-pull” amplifier, comprising an input (12) and an output (14), which includes: a main amplification branch comprising two amplification transistors (18, 20) connected in opposite series between two supply voltages (V+, V−), the amplifier output (14) being connected between the two transistors (18, 20), and a control circuit (22, 24) for each amplification transistor (18, 20) connected to the input (12) to each receive as an input the signal to be amplified. The main amplification branch comprises, between each transistor (18, 20) and the output (14), a member having a nonlinear response (38, 40) and means (30, 32) for introducing at the input of the control circuit (22, 24) of each transistor (18, 20), a nonlinear compensating signal suitable for bringing about the circulation of a minimum current in the member having a nonlinear response (38, 40).
US09257941B2 Adaptive biasing scheme for an amplifier
There is provided a bias arrangement for an amplifier adapted to amplify a varying input signal, the arrangement comprising a control circuit arranged to adaptively vary a bias current to the amplifier in dependence on an envelope of the varying input signal.
US09257939B1 Quadrature LC VCO with passive coupling and phase combining network
A circuit and method for generating a signal is disclosed. The circuit includes a set of wide tuning LC tanks, a set of core transistors cross coupled to the set of wide tuning LC tanks, and a combining network coupled to the set of wide tuning LC tanks and the set of core transistors. The combining network further includes a set of inputs connected to the set of wide tuning LC tanks and the set of core transistors, a set of coupling transistors connected to the set of inputs, a set of source inductors connected to the set of coupling transistors, a coupling capacitor connected to the set of source inductors, a load resistor connected to the coupling capacitor. The combining network combines the set of inputs and the signal is delivered to the load resistor as a fourth order harmonic.
US09257921B2 Lithography apparatus and method of manufacturing article
The present invention provides a lithography apparatus for forming a pattern on a substrate, including a motor configured to drive a table for holding the substrate in accordance with a driving profile, a setting unit configured to set one of a normal mode and a power saving mode as an operation mode of the motor, and a controller configured to change the driving profile when the power saving mode is set, such that an amount of generated heat of the motor caused by driving of the table is smaller than that in the normal mode, and the number of substrates to be processed by the lithography apparatus per unit time is satisfied.
US09257917B1 Efficient power conversion apparatuses, methods and systems
The EFFICIENT POWER CONVERSION APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS include circuits for efficiently converting electrical energy to mechanical energy and vice-versa, such as within a multitude of ElectroActive Polymer (EAP) transducers. Embodiment may support a multitude of EAP transducers while also being capable of directing the movement of energy between electrical and mechanical forms in either direction. In another aspect, an efficient mode of transferring mechanical energy is discussed, via one or more strained and paired elastic transducers coupled to a potential energy reservoir.
US09257914B2 Active rectification control
A method of active rectification control of an active rectifier includes detecting a phase angle and a frequency of a voltage input of the active rectifier; regulating a DC output voltage of the active rectifier with d-q components of a pole voltage; and aligning a reference current input of the active rectifier to the d-q components of the pole voltage.
US09257900B2 Signal peak detector and detection method, and control IC and method for a PFC converter
A control integrated circuit for a power factor correction converter has a pin for detecting an alternating-current information and a direct-current information of an input signal. The control integrated circuit comprises a signal peak detector for detecting a peak value of the input signal to the pin to obtain the direct-current information of the input signal. Since the alternating-current information and the direct-current information of the input signal can be obtained through the same pin, the pin count of the control integrated circuit can be decreased.
US09257899B1 Charge pump circuit and phase lock loop circuit having the same
A charge pump circuit and a phase lock loop circuit (PLL) having the same are provided. A main voltage divider and an assistant voltage divider configured in the charge pump circuit generate a voltage division within a predetermined time of activating the charge pump circuit. Therefore, when the charge pump circuit initiates operating, a voltage of a control end of a main switch set configured in the charge pump circuit is set to be the voltage division. The voltage of the control end is gradually decreased from the voltage division to a stable voltage according to a first current and a second current flowing through the main switch set. Accordingly, it can decrease the time from initiating operation of the pump circuit to stabilizing the voltage of the control end, thereby it can increase the working efficiency of the PLL.
US09257892B2 Method and device for current driven electric energy conversion
Device comprising an electric power converter circuit for converting electric energy. The converter circuit comprises a switch arrangement with two or more controllable electric switches connected in a switching configuration and controlled so as to provide a current drive of electric energy from an associated electric source connected to a set of input terminals. This is obtained by the two or more electric switches being connected and controlled to short-circuit the input terminals during a part of a switching period. Further, a low pass filter with a capacitor and an inductor are provided to low pass the output from the switch arrangement and designed such that a high impedance at a frequency range below the switching frequency is obtained, seen from the output terminals. Switches implemented by normally-on-devices are preferred, e.g. in the form of a JFET. The converter circuit may be in different configurations such as half bridge buck, full bridge buck, half bridge boost, or full bridge boost. A current driven conversion is advantageous for high efficient energy conversion from current sources such as solar cells or where a voltage source is connected through long cables, e.g. powerline cables for long distance transmission of electric energy. In many applications the total size of filter components (capacitors and inductors) can be reduced compared to voltage driven topologies. One application is an audio amplifier arranged to drive a loudspeaker.
US09257884B2 Cooling system and geared motor
A cooling system for a geared motor, and a geared motor having electric motors and a gear unit as well as an adapter which is disposed between the electric motors and the gear unit, the electric motors having ducts for a coolant, in particular, a coolant, especially a cooling liquid, being able to flow through each of the motors which, in particular, are liquid-cooled, the streams of coolant emerging from the ducts being brought together and being fed at least proportionally by a first distributor to the gear unit in order to lubricate and cool the toothing parts of the gear unit.
US09257875B2 Stator of segmented conductor type electric rotary machine and fabrication method thereof
One embodiment provides a stator of a segmented conductor type electric rotary machine including an annular stator core and coil. On at least one axial end portion of the stator core, the coils are disposed to form a coil end so that plural spanning portions of the coils are arranged continuously in a circumferential direction and so that circumferentially adjacent ones of the spanning portions partially overlap each other as seen in an axial direction. An apex portion of the spanning portion is twisted so that an intersecting state is formed as seen in a radial direction within a range where the spanning portion is exposed as seen in the axial direction.
US09257870B2 Battery energy storage, battery energy storage system, method, computer program and computer program product
A battery energy storage arranged to be connected to a capacitor link, which is connected in parallel to a power converter. The battery energy storage includes a battery module and a direct current energy source connected in series with a voltage source converter. The voltage source converter is adapted to insert a positive voltage when the voltage of the battery module falls below a first threshold value, and to insert a negative voltage when the voltage of the battery module exceeds a second threshold value. The direct current energy source is adapted to be either charged or discharged during the voltage insertion by the voltage source converter. The disclosure also provides a battery energy storage system including such battery energy storage.
US09257863B2 Charge and discharge control device and charge and discharge control method
A charge and discharge control device includes: a coordination unit which generates coordination information for calculating an output value which each storage battery is caused to output, based on a bus voltage value and a target voltage value; a string output calculating unit which calculates, based on the coordination information, an output target value indicating the output value which the storage battery is caused to output to maintain the bus voltage value at the target voltage value; and a control unit which causes, among the storage batteries, a storage battery corresponding to the calculated output target value to output an output having a magnitude indicated by the calculated output target value, wherein the coordination unit generates the coordination information to avoid simultaneous presence of a storage battery that outputs an output in a charge direction and a storage battery that outputs an output in a discharge direction.
US09257849B2 Electrical quantity adjusting apparatus, electrical quantity adjusting method, electrical quantity adjusting program and power supply system
According to one embodiment, an electrical quantity adjusting apparatus connected to an electrical facility includes a memory unit that stores a target level which is a target electrical quantity, a presenting level deciding unit that decides a presenting level to an exterior, the presenting level being an electrical quantity relating to the electrical facility and corresponding to at least a part at the target level, a presenting level output unit that outputs the presenting level decided by the presenting level deciding unit to the exterior via a communication network, a presenting level receiving unit that receives a presenting level from the exterior via the communication network, and an adjusting unit that adjusts the electrical quantity relating to the electrical facility based on the target level, the presenting level decided by the presenting level deciding unit, and the presenting level received by the presenting level receiving unit.
US09257847B2 Photovoltaic system with managed output
Photovoltaic systems with managed output and methods for managing variability of output from photovoltaic systems are described. A system includes a photovoltaic module configured to receive and convert solar energy to DC power. The system also includes a sensor configured to detect a future change in solar energy to be received by the photovoltaic module. The system further includes a power conditioning unit coupled with the photovoltaic module and the sensor.
US09257844B2 Arrangement and method for reactive power compensation
An arrangement and a method for reactive power compensation in connection with a power transmission line. The arrangement includes at least one transformer and at least one reactive power compensator connected to the low-voltage side of the transformer and at least one adapter reactor, the adapter reactor being connected in series with the transformer so that the reactive power compensator is connected to the power transmission line via the transformer and the adapter reactor.
US09257839B2 Systems and methods for managing multiple power domains
A system includes a voltage converter configured to provide a first output voltage at a first output terminal, wherein the first output voltage is from a first group comprising a first high regulation voltage, a first low regulation voltage, and a battery voltage. A first plurality of circuits has power supply terminals coupled to the first output terminal. A power control circuit uses information about operational states of the plurality of circuits to direct the voltage converter to provide the first output voltage from the first group appropriate for the operational states of the first plurality of circuits.
US09257836B2 Suppression of transients in communications across an isolation barrier
Common mode transient immunity for an isolation system is improved by using a common transient suppression circuit coupled to a receive circuit to suppress transients in signals received by the receive circuit that were transmitted from a transmit side of the isolation barrier using optical, magnetic, inductive, or other mechanisms.
US09257831B2 Electrical circuit for cutting off an electric power supply comprising transistors and fuses having redundant logic
The invention relates to an electric circuit suitable for cutting off an electric power supply of an electric device, the circuit including an electrical device and a supply voltage source of the electrical device, also having as inputs at least two discrete electrical signals, the values of which condition the cutting off of the electric power supply of the device, the electric circuit being characterized in that same includes: at least two modules for cutting of the electric power supply connected between the voltage source and the electrical device, each module tar cutting off the electric power supply being controlled in accordance with the values of the discrete electrical signals; and at least two modules for comparing discrete electrical signals in parallel, in which at least one of the modules for cutting off the electric power supply is controlled by the outputs of the modules for comparing discrete signals.
US09257827B2 Electrical power system phase and ground protection using an adaptive quadrilateral characteristic
A quadrilateral distance module may be used to detect faults in an electrical power system. A resistive coverage of the quadrilateral distance module may be defined by an adaptive resistance blinder. The adaptive resistance blinder may be adapted to certain power system conditions, such as forward load flow and/or reverse load flow. A forward adaptive resistance blinder may be calculated in parallel with a reverse adaptive resistance blinder. The forward adaptive resistance blinder may use a polarizing quantity adapted for forward load flow conditions, and the reverse adaptive resistance blinder may use a polarizing quantity adapted for reverse load flow conditions. Fault detection may be performed by comparing both the forward and reverse adaptive resistance blinders to power system stimulus and detecting a fault when the stimulus satisfy either blinder.
US09257825B2 Power electronics interconnection for electric motor drives
The bus bar includes a first bus bar layer formed of a first generally uniform thickness of a first bus bar conductor; a first dielectric layer overlying a top surface of the first bus bar layer; and a second bus bar layer formed of a second generally uniform thickness of a second bus bar conductor overlying a top surface of the first dielectric layer and the top surface of the first bus bar layer wherein: the first bus bar layer includes a first via for receipt of a first electrical lead of an electrical component and a second via for receipt of a second electrical lead of the electrical component and wherein: the first dielectric layer and the second bus bar layer each include a via aligned with the first via wherein the first electrical lead is extendable from beneath the first bus bar layer through the first dielectric layer and through the second bus bar layer.
US09257823B2 Low voltage power receptacle for modular electrical systems
A low voltage power receptacle assembly is provided for use in a modular electrical system. The receptacle assembly includes a housing that defines an internal cavity for receiving a circuit board assembly that transforms a line voltage input to a lower voltage output. The housing may define a plurality of contact-receiving portions in spaced arrangement, and has at least two electrical contacts disposed in respective contact-receiving portions. A low voltage power receptacle is in communication with the circuit assembly and provides user-access to the low voltage output. Optionally, the size of the housing may be varied to suit a particular application, and a spacer may be used inside the cavity to ensure proper positioning of the low voltage power receptacle.
US09257808B1 Integrated wire harness batch production with double buffer assembly systems and methods
Automated wire harness production systems and methods that rapidly present individual circuits to an assembler operating a wire harness layout board. Automatic wire indexing, sorting, and delivery systems transfer circuits into, and retrieve circuits from, a transportable programmable, automated, indexed storage system equipped with an array of individual circuit tubes, and a script-controlled assembly system sends visual, aural, and other cues to help an assembler populate and configure a wire harness layout board with connector blocks and turn posts, and guides the assembler in building, testing, reworking, and delivering the corresponding batch of wire harnesses.
US09257803B2 Power strip holder
A combination storage receptacle and power strip/surge protector holder includes an enclosure perimeter defining an aperture for receiving objects, and a power strip mounted to the enclosure perimeter for reducing the clutter of wiring of power strips.
US09257799B2 Vehicle electronic connector hub
A console assembly includes a console housing with a storage compartment having a member in a wall that is rotatable between a plurality of positions. The member includes an electronic port for connecting an electronic device that is accessible from within the compartment when the member is rotated to a first position and accessible from outside the compartment when the member is rotated to a second position. A second port may be added to the member such that the member can rotate to an intermediate position where one port is accessible from within the compartment while the second port on the member is simultaneously accessible from the outside of the compartment.
US09257798B2 Socket having overheating destructive limiting element
A socket having an overheating destructive limiting element includes a housing, a live wire conductive plate, a neutral wire conductive plate, at least one live wire terminal, at least one neutral wire terminal, and at least one limiting element. The live wire terminal includes a live wire contact portion in contact with the live wire conductive plate. The neutral wire terminal includes a neutral wire contact portion in contact with the neutral wire conductive plate. The limiting element is an insulating body, and is placed at contact parts of the live wire conductive plate and the live wire contact portion, and/or at contact parts of the neutral wire conductive plate and the neutral wire contact portion. When an operating temperature becomes excessively high, the limiting element becomes deformed and destructed to form a turn-off position.
US09257796B1 Electrical connector for high-speed transmission using twisted-pair cable
An electrical connector for a shielded, twisted-pair cable comprises a conductive isolator body, multiple conductive contacts, inner and outer insulators, and inner and outer ferrules. The isolator provides electrical shielding and isolation for the contacts and untwisted portions of the wires connected to the contacts. The inner and outer insulators prevent contact between the contacts and between the contacts and the isolator, an outer shell, or a connector insert. The inner ferrule maintains electrical contact between the isolator and the shielding sheath of the cable. The outer ferrule retains the inner ferrule in place and can establish continuity between the isolator and the outer shell or connector insert.
US09257793B2 High frequency electrical connector
An electrical connector includes a body, two rows of terminals, and a grounding sheet. The body has a base and a tongue extending forwards from the base. The two rows of terminals are disposed in the tongue. At least one row of terminals includes a differential signal terminal pair and a grounding terminal that are disposed neighboring to each other. The grounding sheet is disposed in the tongue and located between the two rows of terminals. The grounding sheet has an open slot located between the differential signal terminal pair and the grounding terminal that are in the same row.
US09257781B2 Tight-sealing embodiment of a plug
A plug is provided for producing an electrical connection with a plug module, such as a wiring harness plug for creating an electrical connection with a control device in a motor vehicle. The plug includes a plug body that has a multiplicity of channels for accommodating electrical lines; a mat seal that has a multiplicity of channels for guiding electrical lines accommodated in the channels of the plug body and that is situated on the at least one laterally circumferential radial seal in order to seal the plug; and a pressure plate that has a multiplicity of channels for guiding electrical lines accommodated in the channels of the plug body.
US09257779B2 Intermediate connection electrical connector
An intermediate connection electrical connector includes a plurality of blades and a supporting member for supporting the blades arranged in an arrangement direction. The supporting member includes a surrounding wall portion for surrounding the blades and a regulating portion for positioning the blades. The surrounding wall portion includes a side wall portion and an edge wall portion. The side wall portion is at least partially formed of an electromagnetic wave absorbing material. The regulating portion is disposed inside the surrounding wall portion to define a blade accommodating space for accommodating the blades.
US09257770B2 Electrical connector with a plurality of contacts recived in a plurality of slots in a plurality of elastic bodies integrally formed with an insulating body
An electrical connector for connecting a first electronic element and a second electronic element, includes an insulating body, multiple elastic bodies integrally formed with the insulating body, and multiple conductors. Each of the elastic bodies has a receiving slot, and each conductor is received in a corresponding receiving slot in an inclined manner. The receiving slot has a first urging portion and a second urging portion respectively providing an inclined upward elastic counterforce and an inclined downward elastic counterforce against the conductor, so that the conductor has a large normal force. Multiple stopping portions of the receiving slot and multiple shoulder portions of the conductor are in clearance fit, so that the conductor can be displaced vertically in the receiving slot when receiving a force.
US09257766B2 Circuit board connecting device
A circuit board connecting device comprising a first connector which having a first fixing metallic member attached to a first housing, a second connector having a second fixing metallic member attached to a second housing, and holding means operative to prevent the second housing from being undesirably separated from the first housing under a condition in which the first and second housings are coupled with each other, wherein end portions of a resilient movable holding member provided on the first connector to be movable in a predetermined direction are supported respectively by the first fixing metallic member to engage respectively with portions of the second fixing metallic member for holding the second housing when the second housing is coupled with the first housing, so that the end portions of the resilient movable holding member and the portions of the second fixing metallic member constitute the holding means.
US09257763B2 Hybrid interconnect
A connector for connection to terminals of an integrated circuit. The connector consists of a dielectric substrate having a first side and a second side. The connector has wire bond terminals which are attached to the first side of the substrate and configured to receive wire bonds connected to a first set of the terminals of the integrated circuit. The connector also has solder bump terminals, attached to the second side of the substrate so as to be insulated from the wire bond terminals, the solder bump terminals being configured to be coupled via solder balls with a second set of the terminals of the integrated circuit.
US09257750B2 Electronic device with multiband antenna
An electronic device may have an antenna for providing coverage in wireless communications bands of interest. The wireless communications bands may include first, second, third, and fourth communications bands. The antenna may have an antenna resonating element with first, second, and third arms and may have an antenna ground. The antenna ground may be formed form metal housing structures and other conductive structures in the electronic device. The first arm may be configured to exhibit an antenna resonance in the first and third communications bands. The second arm may be configured to exhibit an antenna resonance in the second communications band. The third arm may be configured to exhibit an antenna resonance in the fourth communications band. The third arm may be located between the first arm and the ground. A diagonal crossover path may pass over a return path and may couple the second and third arms.
US09257747B2 Vivaldi-monopole antenna
A Vivaldi-Monopole antenna is a small form ultra-wideband antenna configured for low frequency operation in modern wireless devices. The Vivaldi-Monopole antenna comprises a tapered-slot element and a monopole element, wherein current modes of each element are combined to yield a functional and small form ultra-wideband antenna configured for low frequency resonances.
US09257746B2 Phased-array transceiver for millimeter-wave frequencies
A phased-array receiver that may be effectively implemented on a silicon substrate. A receiver includes multiple radio frequency (RF) front-ends, each configured to receive a signal with a given delay relative to the others such that the gain of the received signal is highest in a given direction. The receiver also includes a power combination network configured to accept an RF signal from each of the RF front-ends and to pass a combined RF signal to a down-conversion element, where the power distribution network includes a combination of active and passive components. Each RF front-end includes a phase shifter configured to delay the signal in accordance with the given direction and a variable amplifier configured to adjust the gain of the signal.
US09257736B1 Broadband spiral transmission line power splitter
The present invention features a broadband radio frequency (RF) device in the form of a power splitter. A broadband spiral transmission line power divider is used to divide power into two powers with a constant phase difference between the two divided powers. The power divider produces large bandwidths.
US09257719B1 Electrolyte additives for lithium-ion batteries
This invention employs a diamine electrolyte additive that enhances performance of lithium-ion batteries both at high and low temperatures, thereby minimizing the conventional performance gap across a wide temperature range, such as −30° C. to 60° C. At low temperatures, diamine additives can enhances cycling kinetics. At high temperatures, diamine additives can minimize capacity fading. In some variations, a lithium-ion battery electrolyte composition comprises a non-aqueous solvent, a lithium salt soluble in the non-aqueous solvent, and a diamine additive having the formula H2N—R—NH2, wherein R is an organic group such as (—CH2—)n, n=2-12.
US09257715B2 Cylindrical secondary battery
The present invention provides a cylindrical secondary electrode including a first electrode plate, a second electrode plate, a separator interposed between the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate, and a case having a space for receiving the electrode assembly, wherein the cylindrical secondary electrode may include a core element having a space at the center thereof and having a tubular shape with a circular cross section, which is inserted into a space at the center of an electrode assembly and has at least one slit including a bent portion.
US09257712B2 Fuel cell system and operation method thereof
In a fuel cell system of the present invention, a reformed gas generated in a reformer (R1) being activated is supplied to a fuel cell stack (F1), and an off-gas discharged from the fuel cell stack (F1) is supplied to a heat supply device (B2) provided for a reformer (R2) being deactivated. By activating at least one reformer (Rn), all of a plurality of reformers (Rn) can be warmed-up. Therefore, energy consumption in a standby state can be suppressed, and the fuel cell system can be started-up quickly in emergencies. The reformed gas may be supplied to the heat supply device (B2) instead of the off-gas.
US09257703B2 Electrode binder composition for nonaqueous electrolyte battery, electrode for nonaqueous electrolyte battery, and nonaqueous electrolyte battery
Provided is a binder composition for electrodes that has high stability in the form of a liquid composition dissolved or dispersed in a solvent and can improve cycle property of a non-aqueous electrolyte battery. The binder composition used is a binder composition including a polymer A containing 80% by weight or more and 99.9% by weight or less of a repeating unit derived from a monomer including a nitrile group and 0.1% by weight or more and 20% by weight or less of a repeating unit derived from an ethylenically unsaturated compound, wherein a weight-average molecular weight of the polymer A is 500,000 to 2,000,000, and a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) of the polymer A is 13 or smaller.
US09257700B2 Electrode, nonaqueous electrolyte battery and battery pack
According to one embodiment, an electrode includes a current collector and an active material-including layer. The active material-including layer includes a first layer and a second layer. The first layer is provided on a surface of the current collector and includes lithium titanium oxide having a spinel structure. The second layer is provided on the first layer and includes a monoclinic β-type titanium composite oxide.
US09257694B2 Rechargeable battery having a lead tab with injection material
A rechargeable battery including an electrode assembly that performs a charge and discharge operation; a case that houses the electrode assembly; a cap plate coupled to an opening of the case; an electrode terminal installed in the cap plate; and a lead tab that connects the electrode assembly to the electrode terminal, wherein the lead tab includes a current collecting connection portion that is connected to the electrode assembly; a terminal connection portion that is bent from the current collecting connection portion to be connected to the electrode terminal; and an injection material that embeds the terminal connection portion in which a fuse is formed, and wherein the injection material includes an exposing hole therein, the exposing hole exposing at least one side of the fuse.
US09257692B2 Flat-type battery
Disclosed is a flat battery which includes power generating element 18 accommodated in an inner space formed by sealing outer peripheral edges of package members 16 and 17, collector 11a, 13a connected to an electrode plate of power generating element 18 and an electrode tab 14, 15 taken out from the outer peripheral edges of package members 16 and 17. Electrode tab 14, 15 has conducting portion 151 overlapping and joined to collector 11a, 13a and stress relieving portion 152 formed of a material having higher elasticity than that of conducting portion 151. It is thus possible to prevent the occurrence of wrinkles in collector 11a, 13a or electrode tab 14, 15 and separations in weld joints due to a difference in expansion/contraction rate between collector 11a, 13a and electrode tab 14, 15.
US09257688B2 Battery pack having an inner frame and an outer frame
A battery pack including a bare cell, the bare cell having a pair of first side portions opposite to each other, a pair of second side portions opposite to each other, and a pair of plane portions opposite to each other, the second side portions and the plane portions being connected to ends of the first side portions; a protection circuit module electrically connected to the bare cell; an inner frame between the bare cell and the protection circuit module, the inner frame accommodating the bare cell and exposing one side portion of the pair of first side portions; and an outer frame, the outer frame accommodating the bare cell, the protection circuit module, and the inner frame and exposing the pair of plane portions.
US09257686B2 Secondary battery
A secondary battery including a case; an electrode assembly and electrolyte accommodated in the case; an electrode terminal electrically connected to the electrode assembly, the electrode terminal including a terminal body; a cap plate sealing the case, the terminal body penetrating through the cap plate; and a seal gasket surrounding a lower portion of the terminal body, wherein the electrode terminal includes a laterally protruding part on a portion of the terminal body protruding outside the case, and the seal gasket is in close contact with a lower end of the protruding part.
US09257669B2 Display panel and method for fabrication thereof
A display panel is provided. The display panel includes a substrate, a pixel array, a peripheral circuit, and a protective layer. The substrate includes a display region and a non-display region. The pixel array is located in the display region of the substrate. The peripheral circuit is located in the non-display region. The protective layer is located in the display region and the non-display region. The peripheral circuit and the pixel array are covered by the protective layer. The protective layer in the non-display region has a plurality of openings, which expose the substrate. The apertures of the openings is between 1 μm and 1 mm, and the spacing between the openings is 10 μm and 1 cm.
US09257667B2 Organic light-emitting display apparatus, method of manufacturing the same, and mask that is used for the manufacturing
An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a substrate including a display area and a peripheral area surrounding the display area, a plurality of pixels being disposed in the display area, a plurality of first electrodes in the display area, a plurality of stripe-shaped second electrodes in the display area, the second electrodes extending in a first direction and being spaced apart from each other in a second direction crossing the first direction, and each of the plurality of the second electrodes having an uneven thickness along a third direction inside the display area, an intermediate layer between corresponding first and second electrodes, the intermediate layer having a light-emitting layer, and a connection wiring in the peripheral area, the connection wiring electrically connecting the plurality of the second electrodes with each other.
US09257665B2 Lifetime OLED display
Light emitting devices including sub-pixels having different numbers of emissive layers are provided. At least one sub-pixel of a first color may include a single emissive layer, and at least one sub-pixel of a second color may include multiple emissive layers disposed in a vertical stack. Light emitting devices in which different voltages are applied to each sub-pixel or group of sub-pixels are also provided. In some configurations, the voltage to be applied to a sub-pixel may be selected based upon the number of emissive layers in the sub-pixel.
US09257657B2 Light emitting device and electronic appliance using the same
The light emitting element includes a first electrode and a second electrode, between which a light emitting layer, a hole transporting layer provide in contact with the light emitting layer, an electron transporting layer provided in contact with the light emitting layer, and a mixed layer provided between the electron transporting layer and the second electrode. The mixed layer includes an electron transporting substance and a substance showing an electron donating property with respect to the electron transporting substance. The light emitting layer includes an organometallic complex represented in General Formula (1) and a host. R1 and R2 each represent an electron-withdrawing substituent group. R3 and R4 each represent any of hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms. L represents any of a monoanionic ligand having a beta-diketone structure, a monoanionic bidentate chelating ligand having a carboxyl group, or a monoanionic bidentate chelating ligand having a phenolic hydroxyl group.
US09257651B2 Organic electroluminescence element and method for manufacturing organic electroluminescence element
Disclosed are: an organic electroluminescent element which has high power efficiency, excellent resistance to luminance decrease due to continuous operation and excellent storage stability at high temperatures, while being reduced in chromatically change of color developing light; and a method for manufacturing the organic electroluminescent element. Specifically disclosed is an organic electroluminescent element that has a positive electrode and a negative electrode on a supporting substrate, while comprising an organic layer, which contains at least one light-emitting layer, between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. The organic electroluminescent element is characterized in that at least one layer in the organic layer contains a crown ether compound and a compound having a dibenzofuran skeleton.
US09257646B2 Methods of forming memory cells having regions containing one or both of carbon and boron
Some embodiments include a memory cell having a first electrode, and an intermediate material over and directly against the first electrode. The intermediate material includes stabilizing species corresponding to one or both of carbon and boron. The memory cell also has a switching material over and directly against the intermediate material, an ion reservoir material over the switching material, and a second electrode over the ion reservoir material. Some embodiments include methods of forming memory cells.
US09257640B2 Memory device and method for manufacturing the same
A memory device according to an embodiment includes an ion metal layer, an opposing electrode, and a resistance change layer. The ion metal layer contains a first metal and a second metal. The resistance change layer is disposed between the ion metal layer and the opposing electrode. The first metal is able to move repeatedly through an interior of the resistance change layer. The concentration of the first metal in a central portion of the ion metal layer is higher than the concentration of the first metal in an end portion of the ion metal layer.
US09257638B2 Method to etch non-volatile metal materials
A method for etching a stack with an Ru containing layer disposed below a hardmask and above a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack with pinned layer is provided. The hardmask is etched with a dry etch. The Ru containing layer is etched, where the etching uses hypochlorite and/or O3 based chemistries. The MTJ stack is etched. The MTJ stack is capped with dielectric materials. The pinned layer is etched following the MTJ capping.
US09257626B2 Light emitting device package
A light emitting device package is disclosed. The light emitting device package includes a package body, a heat radiating member disposed in the package body, a light emitting device disposed on the heat radiating member, a bonding member disposed between the light emitting device and the heat radiating member, and a bonding member fixing layer disposed around the bonding member, wherein the bonding member fixing layer has at least one through region.
US09257617B2 Wavelength converted light emitting device
Embodiments of the invention include a semiconductor structure including a light emitting layer. The semiconductor structure is attached to a support such that the semiconductor structure and the support are mechanically self-supporting. A wavelength converting material extends over the sides of the semiconductor structure and the support. In some embodiments, a thickness of the wavelength converting material on a side of the semiconductor structure is at least 25% of a thickness of the wavelength converting material over a top of the semiconductor structure.
US09257601B2 Light emitting diodes and substrates
A thin layer substrate has a plurality of micron sized electrically conductive whisker components which are arranged in parallel and extending from one surface of the substrate to another surface to provide electrically conductive paths through the substrate. Such a substrate may be usable for micron sized LEDs.
US09257599B2 Semiconductor light emitting device including hole injection layer
According to example embodiments, a semiconductor light emitting device includes a first semiconductor layer, a pit enlarging layer on the first semiconductor layer, an active layer on the pit enlarging layer, a hole injection layer, and a second semiconductor layer on the hole injection layer. The first semiconductor layer is doped a first conductive type. An upper surface of the pit enlarging layer and side surfaces of the active layer define pits having sloped surfaces on the dislocations. The pits are reverse pyramidal spaces. The hole injection layer is on a top surface of the active layer and the sloped surfaces of the pits. The second semiconductor layer doped a second conductive type that is different than the first conductive type.
US09257596B2 Light-emitting diode chip
A light-emitting diode chip comprising:—a semiconductor body (1) having a plurality of active regions (2), wherein—at least one of the active regions (2) has at least two subregions (21 . . . 28),—the active region (2) has at least one barrier region (3) arranged between two adjacent subregions (21 . . . 28) of said at least two subregions (21 . . . 28),—the at least two subregions (21 . . . 28) emit light of mutually different colour during operation of the light-emitting diode chip,—in at least one of the subregions (21 . . . 28) the emission of light is generated electrically, and—the barrier region (3) is configured to hinder a thermally activated redistribution of charge carriers between the two adjacent subregions (21 . . . 28), is specified.
US09257587B2 Suspension and absorber structure for bolometer
A semiconductor device includes a substrate having an upper surface that defines a sensing region. A fixed beam structure is supported at a first level above the sensing region. The fixed beam structure includes fixed beam supports that extend upwardly from the upper surface of the substrate to position the fixed beam structure at the first level above the sensing region. An absorber structure is supported above the fixed beam structure at a second level above the sensing region. The absorber structure includes a pillar support that extends upwardly from the fixed beam structure to position the absorber structure at the second level above the sensing region.
US09257586B2 Monolithic multiple solar cells
A monolithic multiple solar cell includes at least three partial cells, with a semiconductor mirror placed between two partial cells. The aim of the invention is to improve the radiation stability of said solar cell. For this purpose, the semiconductor mirror has a high degree of reflection in at least one part of a spectral absorption area of the partial cell which is arranged above the semiconductor mirror and a high degree of transmission within the spectral absorption range of the partial cell arranged below the semiconductor mirror.
US09257583B2 Solar cell
A solar cell including a substrate 1, a nanopillar 11 having diameter D1 connected to the substrate 1, and a nanopillar 12 having diameter D2 connected to the substrate 1 is characterized in that D2 is greater than D1 in order to realize a solar cell having, as the surface structure, a nanopillar array structure with which it is possible to prevent reflection within the broad wavelength region of solar light. A nanopillar array structure 21 formed from two types of nanopillars having different diameters has a point of minimum reflectivity of a nanopillar array structure formed from the nanopillar 11 having diameter D1 and a point of minimum reflectivity of a nanopillar array structure formed from the nanopillar 12 having diameter D2 and therefore, is capable of preventing reflection within the broad wavelength region of solar light.
US09257582B2 Photodetectors and photovoltaics based on semiconductor nanocrystals
A composite material is described. The composite material comprises semiconductor nanocrystals, and organic molecules that passivate the surfaces of the semiconductor nanocrystals. One or more properties of the organic molecules facilitate the transfer of charge between the semiconductor nanocrystals. A semiconductor material is described that comprises p-type semiconductor material including semiconductor nanocrystals. At least one property of the semiconductor material results in a mobility of electrons in the semiconductor material being greater than or equal to a mobility of holes. A semiconductor material is described that comprises n-type semiconductor material including semiconductor nanocrystals. At least one property of the semiconductor material results in a mobility of holes in the semiconductor material being greater than or equal to a mobility of electrons.
US09257580B2 Textured transparent plate and method of manufacturing such a plate
A monolithic transparent plate including, on at least one of its faces, at least one region textured by a plurality of geometric features in relief relative to a general plane of the face, each feature having a cross section, parallel to the general plane, which diminishes with distance from the face, from a base to a peak of the feature. The area of the zones of the textured region for which the inclination angle relative to the general plane is less than 30° C. represents less than 35% of the total area of the textured region.
US09257576B2 Amino acid generator and polysiloxane composition containing the same
A coating film forming composition includes an amino acid generator including a protecting group that is eliminated to generate an amino acid. A coating film forming composition includes a component (A): the amino acid generator; a component (B): a hydrolyzable silane, a hydrolysis product thereof, a hydrolysis-condensation product thereof, or a mixture thereof; and a component (C): a solvent.
US09257574B2 Diode and method of manufacturing diode
A diode includes a first semiconductor layer configured by a compound semiconductor containing impurities of a first conductivity type; a high dislocation density region; a second semiconductor layer which is laminated on the first semiconductor layer, which is lower in a concentration of impurities in a region of a side of an interface with the first semiconductor layer than that of the first semiconductor layer, and which has an opening in which a portion which corresponds to the high dislocation density region is removed; an insulating film pattern which is provided to cover an inner wall of the opening; an electrode which is provided so as to cover the insulating film pattern and to contact the second semiconductor layer; and an opposing electrode which is provided to interpose the first semiconductor layer, the second semiconductor layer and the insulating film pattern between the electrode and the opposing electrode.
US09257573B2 Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same
A semiconductor device is provided. The semiconductor includes a plurality of interlayer insulating layers and a plurality of gate electrodes alternately stacked in a first direction on a substrate. The plurality of interlayer insulating layers and the plurality of gate electrodes constitute a side surface extended in the first direction. A gate dielectric layer is disposed on the side surface. A channel pattern is disposed on the gate dielectric layer. The gate dielectric layer includes a protective pattern, a charge trap layer, and a tunneling layer. The protective pattern includes a portion disposed on a corresponding gate electrode of the plurality of gate electrodes. The charge trap layer is disposed on the protective pattern. The tunneling layer is disposed between the charge trap layer and the channel pattern. The protective pattern is denser than the charge trap layer.
US09257564B2 Thin film transistor and method of fabricating same
A thin film transistor (TFT) includes a gate, a drain, a source, an insulating layer, a metal oxide layer, and an etch stopper layer. The metal oxide layer includes a source area, a drain area, and a channel area. The source is electrically coupled to the source area and the drain is electrically coupled to the drain area. Oxygen ions are implanted into the channel area via a surface treatment process to make an oxygen concentration of the channel area be greater than an oxygen concentration of each of the source area and the drain area.
US09257557B2 Semiconductor structure with self-aligned wells and multiple channel materials
Embodiments of the present invention provide a semiconductor structure having a strain relaxed buffer, and method of fabrication. A strain relaxed buffer is disposed on a semiconductor substrate. A silicon region and silicon germanium region are disposed adjacent to each other on the strain relaxed buffer. An additional region of silicon or silicon germanium provides quantum well isolation.
US09257555B1 Semiconductor structure
A semiconductor structure is provided. The semiconductor structure comprises a doped substrate, a gate structure, a source, a drain and a field doped region. The source and the drain are in the doped substrate on opposing sides of the gate structure respectively. The field doped region has a conductivity type opposite to a conductivity type of the source and the drain. The field doped region is extended from the source to be beyond a first gate sidewall of the gate structure but not reach a second gate sidewall of the gate structure opposing to the first gate sidewall.
US09257554B2 Split gate embedded memory technology and method of manufacturing thereof
Semiconductor devices and methods for forming a semiconductor device are disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate prepared with a memory cell region. A first gate structure is formed on the memory cell region. An isolation layer is formed on the substrate and over the first gate structure. A second gate structure is formed adjacent to and separated from the first gate structure by the isolation layer. The first and second gate structures are processed to form at least one split gate structure with first and second adjacent gates. Asymmetrical source and drain regions are provided adjacent to first and second sides of the split gate structure.
US09257550B2 Integrated electronic device and method for manufacturing thereof
An embodiment of an integrated electronic device formed in a body of semiconductor material, which includes: a substrate of a first semiconductor material, the first semiconductor material having a first bandgap; a first epitaxial region of a second semiconductor material and having a first type of conductivity, which overlies the substrate and defines a first surface, the second semiconductor material having a second bandgap wider than the first bandgap; and a second epitaxial region of the first semiconductor material, which overlies, and is in direct contact with, the first epitaxial region. The first epitaxial region includes a first buffer layer, which overlies the substrate, and a drift layer, which overlies the first buffer layer and defines the first surface, the first buffer layer and the drift layer having different doping levels.
US09257545B2 Stacked nanowire device with variable number of nanowire channels
A method of forming a semiconductor structure including forming a stack of layers on a top surface of a substrate, the stack of layers including alternating layers of a semiconductor material and a sacrificial material, where a bottommost layer of the stack of layers is a top semiconductor layer of the substrate, patterning a plurality of material stacks from the stack of layers, each material stack including an alternating stack of a plurality of nanowire channels and a plurality of sacrificial spacers, the plurality of nanowire channels including the semiconductor material, and the plurality of sacrificial spacers including the sacrificial material, and removing at least one of the plurality of nanowire channels from at least one of the plurality of material stacks without removing one or more of the plurality of nanowire channels from an adjacent material stack.
US09257541B2 High-breakdown-voltage power semiconductor device having a diode
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having one main surface in which an anode of a diode is formed. At a distance from the outer periphery of the anode, a guard ring is formed to surround the anode. The anode includes a p+-type diffusion region, a p−-type region, and an anode electrode. The p−-type region is formed as a region of relatively high electrical resistance sandwiched between the p+-type diffusion regions.
US09257540B2 Magnetic field effect transistor
A magnetic field effect transistor is presented. A magnetic field effect transistor comprises a current control part and a magnetic field applying part. A current control part comprises multiple electrodes and a current flowing material region located between multiple electrodes and in which the amount of current flowing between the electrodes is changed, and a magnetic field applying part applying a magnetic field generating from a magnetization state, which changes according to external input, of a pre-set material. By controlling current by using magnetic fields, high speed operation is possible as charging time is not required, and calculation results may be stored without external power supply because magnetic field is supplied by altering magnetization state of a material according to external input.
US09257532B2 Method for forming a semiconductor device with a trench and an isolation
A method for forming a semiconductor device. One embodiment provides a semiconductor substrate having a trench with a sidewall isolation. The sidewall isolation is removed in a portion of the trench. A gate dielectric is formed on the laid open sidewall. A gate electrode is formed adjacent to the date dielectric. The upper surface of the gate electrode is located at a depth d1 below the surface of the semiconductor substrate. The gate oxide is removed above the gate electrode. An isolation is formed simultaneously on the gate electrode and the semiconductor substrate such that the absolute value of height difference d2 between the isolation over the gate electrode and the isolation over the semiconductor substrate is smaller than the depth d1.
US09257529B2 Method of forming self-aligned contacts using a replacement metal gate process in a semiconductor device
Techniques disclosed herein provide a gate pitch scaling solution for creating source/drain contacts in a replacement metal gate fabrication scheme. Such techniques provide a self-aligned contact process that protects gate electrodes from shorts due to etching from misaligned patterns. Techniques herein provide a dual layer cap formed by making a semi conformal material deposition over a non-planar topography of RMG formation structures, and using selective etching and planarization to yield a dual layer protective cap that does not excessively increase an aspect ratio.
US09257527B2 Nanowire transistor structures with merged source/drain regions using auxiliary pillars
A nanowire transistor structure is fabricated by using auxiliary epitaxial nucleation source/drain fin structures. The fin structures include semiconductor layers integral with nanowires that extend between the fin structures. Gate structures are formed between the fin structures such that the nanowires extend through the gate conductors. Following spacer formation and nanowire chop, source/drain regions are grown epitaxially between the gate structures.
US09257519B2 Semiconductor device including graded gate stack, related method and design structure
A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a substrate; and a gate structure disposed directly on the substrate, the gate structure including: a graded region with a varied material concentration profile; and a metal layer disposed on the graded region.
US09257498B1 Process to improve performance for metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors
Some embodiments relate to a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor, which includes a capacitor a capacitor bottom metal (CBM) electrode, a high k dielectric layer arranged over the CBM electrode, and a capacitor top metal (CTM) electrode arranged over the high k dielectric layer. In some embodiments, the MIM capacitor comprises CTM protective sidewall regions, which extend along vertical sidewall surfaces of the CTM electrode, and protect the CTM electrode from leakage, premature voltage breakdown, or burn out, due to metallic residue or etch damage formed on the sidewalls during one or more etch process(es) used to form the CTM electrode. In some embodiments, the MIM capacitor comprises CBM protective sidewall regions, which extend along vertical sidewall surfaces of the CBM electrode. In some embodiments, the MIM capacitor comprises both CBM and CTM protective sidewall regions.
US09257494B2 Organic light-emitting display apparatus
An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a thin film transistor including an active layer, gate, source and drain electrodes, a first insulating layer disposed between the active layer and the gate electrode, and a second insulating layer disposed between the gate electrode and the source and drain electrodes; a pad electrode including a first pad layer disposed on the same layer as the source and drain electrodes and a second pad layer disposed on the first pad layer; a third insulating layer covering the source electrode and the drain electrode and an end portion of the pad electrode; a pixel electrode including a semi-transmissive metal layer and disposed in an opening formed in the third insulating layer; and a fourth insulating layer having an opening formed in a location corresponding to an opening formed in the third insulating layer and covering the end portion of the pixel electrode.
US09257489B2 Electronic appliance and light-emitting device
An EL element having a novel structure is provided, which is suitable for AC drive. A light-emitting element of the invention is provided with material layers (material layers each having approximately symmetric I-V characteristics with respect to the zero point in a graph having the abscissa axis showing current values and the ordinate axis showing voltage values) between a first electrode and a layer including an organic compound and between the layer including the organic compound and a second electrode respectively. Specifically, each of the material layers is a composite layer including a metal oxide and an organic compound.
US09257480B2 Method of manufacturing photodiode detectors
A radiation detector assembly including an organic photodetector that generate charge in response to an incident radiation, a thin film transistor array including a plurality of pixels. The plurality of pixels may produce electric signals corresponding to the charge generated by the organic photodetector. The radiation detector assembly also includes a spacer disposed on the thin film transistor array. The spacer surrounds one or more pixels and may confine the organic photodetector within the surrounded one or more pixels such that the surrounded one or more pixels are electrically isolated from a neighboring pixel.
US09257476B2 Grids 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 disposed on the front side of the semiconductor substrate, and a first and a second grid line parallel to each other. The first and the second grid lines are on the backside of, and overlying, the semiconductor substrate. The device further includes an adhesion layer, a metal oxide layer over the adhesion layer, and a high-refractive index layer over the metal layer. The adhesion layer, the metal oxide layer, and the high-refractive index layer are substantially conformal, and extend on top surfaces and sidewalls of the first and the second grid lines.
US09257469B2 Color imaging device
An imaging apparatus 10 according to one implementation of the present invention includes: a plurality of photodetectors 5a and 5b; a transparent layer 2 provided at the side of a light-receiving surface 15a, 15b of the photodetectors 5a and 5b; a plurality of spectroscopic portions 3 provided between a light-entering surface 2a of the transparent layer 2 and the photodetectors 5a and 5b; and a plurality of high refractive index transparent members 6 provided closer to the photodetectors 5a and 5b than are the spectroscopic portions 3. The high refractive index transparent members 6 have a higher refractive index than does the transparent layer 2.
US09257466B2 Solid state imaging device and method for manufacturing solid state imaging device
Certain embodiments provide a solid state imaging device including a plurality of pixels. Each of the pixels has a semiconductor layer which has a charge accumulating layer at a front surface thereof and a filter layer provided above a rear surface of the semiconductor layer. Transmissive wavelength bands of the filter layers included in the pixels are different from each other, and thicknesses which a plurality of the semiconductor layers included in the pixels and including a plurality of the charge accumulating layers have are different from each other.
US09257465B2 Solid-state imaging device and electronic apparatus with increased length of amplifying portion
A solid-state imaging device includes pixels each of which has a photoelectric conversion portion that senses light and converts the sensed light into a charge; and an amplifying portion which is shared by a predetermined number of the pixels, amplifies the generated charge in the photoelectric conversion portion, and outputs a level of signal corresponding to the charge, wherein the a predetermined number of the pixels which share the amplifying portion are arranged in a first direction extending along a signal line via which the amplifying portion outputs the signal, and wherein a length of an area where the amplifying portion is formed along a second direction substantially intersecting the first direction is set to be equal to or more than a length of one pixel and to be less than a length of two pixels in the second direction.
US09257462B2 CMOS image sensor for increasing conversion gain
In one embodiment, the image sensor includes a first photodiode configured to convert an optical signal into a photocharge, a sensing node configured to store the photocharge of the first photodiode, and a circuit configured to selectively output an electrical signal corresponding to the photocharge at the sensing node on an output line. The circuit is connected to at least a first conductive contact, and the output line is disposed between the sensing node and the first conductive contact.
US09257458B2 Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof
A method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device including a TFT substrate with display and peripheral regions. The display region has pixels each having a pixel electrode and a TFT. A counter substrate opposes the TFT substrate and has a color filter formed at a position corresponding to a position at which the pixel electrode is formed above the TFT substrate. The method includes coating, outside of the display region of the TFT substrate, a second alignment film in the shape of a frame, and coating, in the display region, a first alignment film that dries more slowly than the second alignment film. The first and second alignment films are in contact, and the second alignment film is thicker than the first alignment film.
US09257456B2 Method of forming a metal pattern and method of manufacturing a display substrate
A method of forming a metal pattern includes disposing a gate metal layer on a substrate; disposing a photoresist layer on the gate metal layer; etching portions of the photoresist layer to form a first photo pattern; etching portions of the gate metal layer to form a gate pattern including a gate electrode, in which the gate metal layer is patterned using the first photo pattern as a mask; ashing an end portion of the first photo pattern to form a second photo pattern; disposing a first gate insulating layer over the substrate and the second photo pattern; removing the second photo pattern and a portion of the first gate insulating layer disposed over the second photo pattern; and disposing a second insulating layer over the gate pattern and the remaining portions of the first gate insulating layer.
US09257455B2 Gate drive circuit having reduced size, display substrate having the same, and method of manufacturing the display substrate
A gate drive circuit includes plural stages connected together one after each other. Each of the plural stages includes a circuit transistor, a capacitor part, a first connection part and a second connection part. The circuit transistor outputs the gate signal through a source electrode in response to a control signal applied through a gate electrode. The capacitor part includes a first electrode, a second electrode formed on the first electrode, and a third electrode formed on the second electrode. The first connection part electrically connects the gate electrode of the circuit transistor and the second electrode of the capacitor part. The second connection part electrically connects the source electrode of the circuit transistor and the first electrode of the capacitor part. Thus, an integrated size of a gate drive circuit may be decreased, and a reliability of a gate drive circuit may be enhanced.
US09257449B2 Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
An object is to provide a semiconductor device with a novel structure. A semiconductor device includes a first transistor including a silicon region, a first gate insulating layer, a first gate electrode, and a first source electrode and a first drain electrode, a first insulating layer, a second insulating layer, a third insulating layer, and a second transistor, which includes an oxide semiconductor layer over the third insulating layer, a second source electrode and a second drain electrode, a second gate insulating layer, and a second gate electrode, and a fourth insulating layer and a fifth insulating layer. A first electrode passes through the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer to be electrically connected to the silicon region, and a second electrode passes through the third insulating layer, the fourth insulating layer and the fifth insulating layer to be electrically connected to the first electrode.
US09257446B2 Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing same
To provide a semiconductor device having a nonvolatile memory improved in characteristics. In the semiconductor device, a nonvolatile memory has a high-k insulating film (high dielectric constant film) between a control gate electrode portion and a memory gate electrode portion and a transistor of a peripheral circuit region has a high-k/metal configuration. The high-k insulating film arranged between the control gate electrode portion and the memory gate electrode portion relaxes an electric field intensity at the end portion (corner portion) of the memory gate electrode portion on the side of the control gate electrode portion. This results in reduction in uneven distribution of charges in a charge accumulation portion (silicon nitride film) and improvement in erase accuracy.
US09257436B2 Semiconductor device with buried gates and fabrication method thereof
A semiconductor device includes a substrate having a cell region and a peripheral region, a buried gate formed over the substrate of the cell region, a peripheral gate formed over the substrate of the peripheral region and comprising a conductive layer, an inter-layer dielectric layer that covers the substrate, and a peripheral bit line formed inside the inter-layer dielectric layer and contacting the conductive layer.
US09257431B2 Memory cell with independently-sized electrode
Memory cell architectures and methods of forming the same are provided. An example memory cell can include a switch element and a memory element. A middle electrode is formed between the memory element and the switch element. An outside electrode is formed adjacent the switch element or the memory element at a location other than between the memory element and the switch element. A lateral dimension of the middle electrode is different than a lateral dimension of the outside electrode.
US09257429B2 N-channel and P-channel end-to-end finFET cell architecture with relaxed gate pitch
A finFET block architecture uses end-to-end finFET blocks in which the fin lengths are at least twice the contact pitch, whereby there is enough space for interlayer connectors to be placed on the proximal end and the distal end of a given semiconductor fin, and on the gate element on the given semiconductor fin. A first set of semiconductor fins having a first conductivity type and a second set of semiconductor fins having a second conductivity type can be aligned end-to-end. Interlayer connectors can be aligned over corresponding semiconductor fins which connect to gate elements.
US09257426B2 Integrated high-k/metal gate in CMOS process flow
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate that has a first-type active region and a second-type active region, a dielectric layer over the semiconductor substrate, a first metal layer having a first work function formed over the dielectric layer, the first metal layer being at least partially removed from over the second-type active region, a second metal layer over the first metal layer in the first-type active region and over the dielectric layer in the second-type active region, the second metal layer having a second work function, and a third metal layer over the second metal layer in the first-type active region and over the second metal layer in the second-type active region.
US09257425B2 Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof
A first well in a first conductivity type which is formed at a first region and is electrically connected to a first power supply line, a second well in a second conductivity type being an opposite conductivity type of the first conductivity type which is formed at a second region and is electrically connected to a second power supply line, a third well in the second conductivity type which is integrally formed with the second well at a third region adjacent to the second region, a fourth well in the first conductivity type integrally formed with the first well at a fourth region adjacent to the first region, a fifth well in the first conductivity type which is formed at the third region to be shallower than the third well, and a sixth well in the second conductivity type which is formed at the fourth region to be shallower than the fourth well, are included.
US09257422B2 Signal processing circuit and method for driving signal processing circuit
A memory element capable of operating at high speed and reducing power consumption and a signal processing circuit including the memory element are provided. As a writing transistor, a transistor which is formed using an oxide semiconductor and has significantly high off-state resistance is used. In a memory element in which a source of the writing transistor is connected to an input terminal of an inverter, a control terminal of a transfer gate, or the like, the threshold voltage of the writing transistor is lower than a low-level potential. The highest potential of a gate of the writing transistor can be a high-level potential. When the potential of data is the high-level potential, there is no potential difference between a channel and the gate; thus, even when the writing transistor is subsequently turned off, a potential on the source side hardly changes.
US09257419B2 Leadframe-based system-in-packages having sidewall-mounted surface mount devices and methods for the production thereof
Embodiments of a method for fabricating System-in-Packages (SiPs) are provided, as are embodiments of a SiP. In one embodiment, the method includes producing a first package including a first molded package body having a sidewall. A first leadframe is embedded within the first molded package body and having a first leadframe lead exposed through the sidewall. In certain implementations, a semiconductor die may also be encapsulated within the first molded package body. A Surface Mount Device (SMD) is mounted to the sidewall of the first molded package body such that a first terminal of the SMD is in ohmic contact with the first leadframe lead exposed through the sidewall.
US09257408B2 Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A soldering portion (4) and a Ni plating mark (5) are simultaneously forming by plating on a wiring pattern (2) of an insulating substrate (1). A semiconductor chip (6) is mounted on the insulating substrate (1). A position of the insulating substrate (1) is recognized by the Ni plating mark (5) and a wire (7) is bonded to the semiconductor chip (6). An electrode (8) is joined to the soldering portion (4) by solder (9). The insulating substrate (1), the semiconductor chip (6), the wire (7), and the electrode (8) are encapsulated in an encapsulation material (13).
US09257406B2 On-chip interconnects with reduced capacitance and method of fabrication thereof
An electronics interconnection system is provided with reduced capacitance between a signal line and the surrounding dielectric material. By using a non-homogenous dielectric, the effective dielectric loss of the material is reduced. This reduction results in less power loss from the signal line to the dielectric material, which reduces the number of buffers needed on the signal line. This increases the speed of the signal, and reduces the power consumed by the interconnection system. The fabrication techniques provided are advantageous because they can be fabricated using today's standard IC fabrication techniques.
US09257405B2 Multi-solder techniques and configurations for integrated circuit package assembly
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed towards multi-solder techniques and configurations for integrated circuit (IC) package assembly. In one embodiment, a method includes depositing a plurality of solder balls on a plurality of pads of a package substrate, the plurality of solder balls corresponding with the plurality of pads and performing a solder reflow process to form a solder joint between the plurality of solder balls and the plurality of pads. Individual solder balls of the plurality of solder balls include a first solder material and a second solder material, the first solder material having a liquidus temperature that is greater than a peak temperature of the solder reflow process and the second solder material having a liquidus temperature that is less than the peak temperature of the solder reflow process. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09257404B2 Semiconductor device, having through electrodes, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic apparatus
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate and a through electrode provided in a through hole formed in the semiconductor substrate. The through electrode partially protrudes from a back surface of the semiconductor substrate, which is opposite to an active surface thereof. The through electrode includes a resin core and a conductive film covering at least a part of the resin core.
US09257389B2 Semiconductor device having metal interconnections
A method of forming a metal interconnection of semiconductor device is provided. The method includes forming a low-k dielectric layer including an opening; forming a barrier metal pattern conformally covering a bottom surface and an inner sidewall of the opening; forming a metal pattern exposing a part of the inner sidewall of the barrier metal pattern in the opening; forming a metal capping layer on the top surfaces of the metal pattern and the low-k dielectric layer using a selective chemical vapor deposition process, wherein the thickness of the metal capping layer on the metal pattern is greater than the thickness of the metal capping layer on the low-k dielectric layer; and forming a metal capping pattern covering the top surface of the metal pattern by planarizing the metal capping layer down to the top surface of the low-k dielectric layer.
US09257376B2 Semiconductor package and method of manufacturing the same
There are provided a semiconductor package and a method of manufacturing the same. The semiconductor package according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a substrate having a first device mounted thereon; a first lead frame formed on the substrate; a second lead frame formed to be spaced apart from the substrate; a post formed on the substrate and formed between the first lead frame and the second lead frame; and a molding part formed to surround the substrate and formed to protrude portions of the first and second lead frames, wherein the post includes a body part bonded to the substrate and a protruding part protruded to an exterior of the molding part.
US09257373B2 Electronic component device
A wiring board includes a wiring forming region in which a plurality of wiring layers are stacked while sandwiching insulating layers, an outer periphery region which is arranged around the wiring forming region and in which a reinforcing pattern is formed in the same layer as each of the wiring layers. An area ratio of the reinforcing pattern to the outer periphery region and an area ratio of the wiring layer to the wiring forming region are substantially the same in each of the layers, and the reinforcing patterns exist without a gap in the outer periphery region when the wiring board is viewed in planar perspective.
US09257372B2 Surface mount package for a semiconductor integrated device, related assembly and manufacturing process
A surface mount package of a semiconductor device, has: an encapsulation, housing at least one die including semiconductor material; and electrical contact leads, protruding from the encapsulation to be electrically coupled to contact pads of a circuit board; the encapsulation has a main face designed to face a top surface of the circuit board, which is provided with coupling features designed for mechanical coupling to the circuit board to increase a resonant frequency of the mounted package. The coupling features envisage at least a first coupling recess defined within the encapsulation starting from the main face, designed to be engaged by a corresponding coupling element fixed to the circuit board, thereby restricting movements of the mounted package.
US09257369B2 Semiconductor device having a base film and manufacturing method for same
The present invention is directed to a semiconductor device including a semiconductor substrate, a through hole penetrating the semiconductor substrate, a base film covering the through hole, a conductive layer disposed on the base film, an insulating film formed on the side wall of the through hole, and a conductive material embedded in the through hole via the insulating film, in which the base film has a stepped portion formed by an opening pattern that selectively exposes the conductive layer therethrough into the through hole, and in which the conductive material is connected electrically to the conductive layer through the opening pattern.
US09257368B2 Microelectric package utilizing multiple bumpless build-up structures and through-silicon vias
A microelectronic package having a first bumpless build-up layer structure adjacent an active surface and sides of a microelectronic device and a second bumpless build-up layer structure adjacent a back surface of the microelectronic device, wherein conductive routes are formed through the first bumpless build-up layer from the microelectronic device active surface to conductive routes in the second bumpless build-up layer structure and wherein through-silicon vias adjacent the microelectronic device back surface and extending into the microelectronic device are electrically connected to the second bumpless build-up layer structure conductive routes.
US09257361B2 In-situ thermoelectric cooling
Methods and structures for thermoelectric cooling of 3D semiconductor structures are disclosed. Thermoelectric vias (TEVs) to form a thermoelectric cooling structure. The TEVs are formed with an etch process similar to that used in forming electrically active through-silicon vias (TSVs). However, the etched cavities are filled with materials that exhibit the thermoelectric effect, instead of a conductive metal as with a traditional electrically active TSV. The thermoelectric materials are arranged such that when a voltage is applied to them, the thermoelectric cooling structure carries heat away from the interior of the structure from the junction where the thermoelectric materials are electrically connected.
US09257360B2 Backplane for display device, and display device including the same
A backplane for a display device and the display device are disclosed. In one aspect, the backplane includes a substrate, an active layer formed over the substrate including a channel region, a source region contacting a first side of the channel region, and a drain region contacting a second side of the channel region. The backplane further includes a gate electrode formed adjacent to the channel region, a source electrode electrically connected to the source region, and a drain electrode electrically connected to the drain region. The active layer includes a plurality of heat radiation pins that extend in a direction of the thickness of the active layer.
US09257354B2 Wiring substrate, light emitting device, and method for manufacturing wiring substrate
A wiring substrate includes a substrate, a first insulating layer formed on the substrate, wiring patterns formed on a first surface of the first insulating layer, and a second insulating layer formed on the first surface of the first insulating layer. The second insulating layer covers the wiring patterns and includes a first opening that partially exposes adjacent wiring patterns as a pad. A projection is formed in an outer portion of the substrate located outward from where the first opening is arranged. The projection rises in a thickness direction of the substrate.
US09257352B2 Semiconductor test wafer and methods for use thereof
A test wafer is disclosed with a first side configured to have integrated circuits formed thereon and a second side with a test structure formed thereon. The test wafer can include electrical test structures embedded in the second side of the wafer. An electrical test of the test wafer can be performed after handling by a tool used in a wafer manufacturing process to determine if the tool caused a defect on the second side of the wafer. The test structure can include a blanket layer disposed on the second side of the wafer. The test wafer can then be exposed to a wet etch and inspected thereafter for the presence of an ingress path caused from the etch chemistry. The presence of an ingress path is an indication that the tool used prior to the wet etch caused a defect in the wafer.
US09257344B2 FinFETs with different fin height and EPI height setting
An integrated circuit structure includes a first semiconductor strip, first isolation regions on opposite sides of the first semiconductor strip, and a first epitaxy strip overlapping the first semiconductor strip. A top portion of the first epitaxy strip is over a first top surface of the first isolation regions. The structure further includes a second semiconductor strip, wherein the first and the second semiconductor strips are formed of the same semiconductor material. Second isolation regions are on opposite sides of the second semiconductor strip. A second epitaxy strip overlaps the second semiconductor strip. A top portion of the second epitaxy strip is over a second top surface of the second isolation regions. The first epitaxy strip and the second epitaxy strip are formed of different semiconductor materials. A bottom surface of the first epitaxy strip is lower than a bottom surface of the second epitaxy strip.
US09257343B2 Method for fabricating fin field effect transistors
A method of fabricating a Fin field effect transistor (FinFET) includes providing a substrate having a first fin and a second fin extending above a substrate top surface, wherein the first fin has a top surface and sidewalls and the second fin has a top surface and sidewalls. The method includes forming an insulation layer between the first and second fins. The method includes forming a first gate dielectric having a first thickness covering the top surface and sidewalls of the first fin using a plasma doping process. The method includes forming a second gate dielectric covering the top surface and sidewalls of the second fin having a second thickness less than the first thickness. The method includes forming a conductive gate strip traversing over both the first gate dielectric and the second gate dielectric.
US09257334B2 Double self-aligned via patterning
A method including forming a penta-layer hardmask above a substrate, the penta-layer hardmask comprising a first hardmask layer above a second hardmask layer; forming a trench pattern in the first hardmask layer; transferring a first via bar pattern from a first photo-resist layer above the penta-layer hardmask into the second hardmask layer resulting in a first via pattern, the first via pattern in the second hardmask layer overlapping the trench pattern and being self-aligned on two sides by the trench pattern in the first hardmask layer; and transferring the first via pattern from the second hardmask layer into the substrate resulting in a self-aligned via opening, the self-aligned via opening being self-aligned on all sides by the first via pattern in the second hardmask layer.
US09257327B2 Methods of forming a Field Effect Transistor, including forming a region providing enhanced oxidation
Methods of forming a Field Effect Transistor (FET) are provided. The methods may include forming a region that provides enhanced oxidation under a fin-shaped FET (FinFET) body.
US09257320B2 Wafer carrier purge apparatuses, automated mechanical handling systems including the same, and methods of handling a wafer carrier during integrated circuit fabrication
A wafer carrier purge apparatus, an automated mechanical handling system, and a method of handling a wafer carrier during integrated circuit fabrication are provided. The wafer carrier purge apparatus includes a purge plate adapted for insertion into a carrier storage position. The purge plate includes a gas port and a gas nozzle in fluid communication with the gas port. The gas port receives a gas flow. The gas nozzle is adapted to contact an inlet port of a wafer carrier. The purge plate further includes a vacuum port and a vacuum nozzle in fluid communication with the vacuum port, spaced from the gas nozzle. The vacuum nozzle is adapted to capture gas that escapes from the wafer carrier through an outlet port of the wafer carrier. The purge plate is separate and removable from the carrier storage position.
US09257319B2 Parallel single substrate processing system with alignment features on a process section frame
A system for fluid processing substrate surfaces arrayed in a fluid having a process section with a frame having a plurality of process elements to process the substrate surfaces without contacting the substrate surfaces and a substrate holder assembly having a number of substrate holders and configured for transporting substrates as a unit. The substrate holder assembly and each of the substrate holders are configured for removable coupling to the process section frame, each substrate holder configured to hold at least one of the substrates. The process section frame has alignment features disposed so that, on coupling of the substrate holder assembly with the process section frame, the alignment features interface with each substrate holder of the substrate holder assembly and locate each substrate holder in repeatable alignment, at corresponding coupling of each substrate holder and the process section frame, with respect to a predetermined feature of the process section.
US09257318B2 Operation method for vacuum processing apparatus
A method for operating a vacuum processing apparatus, the vacuum processing apparatus including: a plurality of cassette stands on which a cassette capable of housing a plurality of wafers therein can be placed; a plurality of vacuum processing vessels each having a processing chamber arranged therein, wherein the wafer is arranged and processed in the processing chamber; and at least one transport robot transporting the wafer on a transport path between either one of the plurality of cassettes and the plurality of vacuum processing vessels, the vacuum processing apparatus sequentially transporting in a predetermined transport order the plurality of wafers from either one of the plurality of cassettes to a predetermined one of the plurality of vacuum processing vessels and processing the plurality of wafers. The method includes a number determining step, a remaining-time determining step and a transport order skip step.
US09257317B2 Overhead hoist transport system
The present invention provides an overhead hoist transport system, which includes a rail, a stocker disposed under the rails, wherein the stocker can move along the direction of the rail, and a cleaning station, disposed on the rail to clean the stocker directly when the stocker is moving.
US09257312B2 Metal oxide thin film substrate, method of fabricating the same, photovoltaic cell and OLED including the same
A metal oxide thin film substrate which can increase light trapping efficiency and light extraction efficiency, a method of fabricating the same and a photovoltaic cell and organic light-emitting device (OLED) including the same. The metal oxide thin film substrate includes a base substrate, and a metal oxide thin film formed on the base substrate. The metal oxide thin film has voids which are formed inside the metal oxide thin film to scatter light.
US09257310B2 Method of manufacturing circuit board and chip package and circuit board manufactured by using the method
Provided is a method of manufacturing a circuit board. The method includes: preparing a base substrate including a core layer and a first conductive layer that is formed on at least one surface of the core layer and includes an internal circuit pattern; forming a build-up material to cover the first conductive layer; forming in the build-up material at least one cavity through which the core layer and the first conductive layer are exposed; forming a laminated body by curing the build-up material in which the at least one cavity is formed; and forming a second conductive layer including an external circuit pattern on an outer surface of the laminated body.
US09257294B2 Methods and apparatuses for energetic neutral flux generation for processing a substrate
Apparatuses and methods for processing substrates are disclosed. A processing apparatus includes a chamber for generating a plasma therein, an electrode associated with the chamber, and a signal generator coupled to the electrode. The signal generator applies a DC pulse to the electrode with sufficient amplitude and sufficient duty cycle of an on-time and an off-time to cause events within the chamber. A plasma is generated from a gas in the chamber responsive to the amplitude of the DC pulse. Energetic ions are generated by accelerating ions of the plasma toward a substrate in the chamber in response to the amplitude of the DC pulse during the on-time. Some of the energetic ions are neutralized to energetic neutrals in response to the DC pulse during the off-time. Some of the energetic neutrals impact the substrate with sufficient energy to cause a chemical reaction on the substrate.
US09257280B2 Mitigation of asymmetrical profile in self aligned patterning etch
A method which is particularly advantageous for improving a Self-Aligned Pattern (SAP) etching process. In such a process, facets formed on a spacer layer can cause undesirable lateral etching in an underlying layer beneath the spacer layer when the underlying layer is to be etched. This detracts from the desired vertical form of the etch. The etching of the underlying layer is performed in at least two steps, with a passivation layer or protective layer formed between the etch steps, so that sidewalls of the underlying layer that was partially etched during the initial etching are protected. After the protective layer is formed, the etching of the remaining portions of the underlying layer can resume.
US09257275B2 Method of manufacturing semiconductor device, substrate processing apparatus, and recording medium
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes forming a thin film containing a predetermined element, boron, carbon, and nitrogen on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times. The cycle includes forming a first layer containing boron and a halogen group by supplying a first precursor gas containing boron and the halogen group to the substrate; and forming a second layer containing the predetermined element, boron, carbon, and nitrogen by supplying a second precursor gas containing the predetermined element and an amino group to the substrate and modifying the first layer.
US09257273B2 Charged particle beam apparatus, thin film forming method, defect correction method and device forming method
A charged particle beam apparatus is provided that enables faster semiconductor film deposition than the conventional deposition that uses silicon hydrides and halides as source gases. The charged particle beam apparatus includes a charged particle source 1, a condenser lens electrode 2, a blanking electrode 3, a scanning electrode 4, a sample stage 10 on which a sample 9 is mounted, a secondary charged particle detector 8 that detects a secondary charged particle 7 generated from the sample 9 in response to the charged particle beam irradiation, a reservoir 14 that accommodates cyclopentasilane as a source gas, and a gas gun 11 that supplies the source gas to the sample 9.
US09257271B2 Semiconductor device manufacturing method, substrate processing apparatus, and non-transitory recording medium
A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: accommodating a substrate having an oxide film formed thereon into a processing chamber; supplying a process gas to the substrate; performing a preprocessing step in which the process gas is excited in a state that a pressure within the processing chamber is kept at a first pressure and an electric potential of the substrate is kept at a first electric potential; and performing a main processing step by which the process gas is excited in a state that the pressure within the processing chamber is kept at a second pressure and the electric potential of the substrate is kept at a second electric potential, wherein the first pressure is lower than the second pressure and the first electric potential is lower than the second electric potential.
US09257270B2 Method and composition for removing resist, etch residue, and copper oxide from substrates having copper, metal hardmask and low-k dielectric material
A semiconductor processing composition and method for removing photoresist, polymeric materials, etching residues and copper oxide from a substrate comprising copper, low-k dielectric material and TiN, TiNxOy or W wherein the composition includes water, at least one halide anion selected from Cl− or Br−, and, where the metal hard mask comprises only TiN or TiNxOy, optionally at least one hydroxide source.
US09257268B2 Imaging mass spectrometer and a method of mass spectrometry
An imaging mass spectrometer comprising an energy source adapted to substantially simultaneously provide energy to multiple spots on a sample to produce ions from the sample by a desorption process; and an analyzer adapted to detect the arrival time and spot origin of ions resulting from said desorption process.
US09257262B2 Lithography apparatus, lithography method, and method of manufacturing article
A lithography apparatus for performing pattern formation on a substrate includes a stage configured to hold the substrate and be movable, an optical system configured to irradiate the substrate with an energy beam for the pattern formation, and a controller configured to set an arrangement of first and second marks for overlay inspection, which is variable with respect to a first substrate for condition setting, and control the stage and the optical system so that first processing for forming the first mark on the first substrate without the pattern formation and second processing for forming the second mark on the first substrate with the pattern formation are performed based on the set arrangement.
US09257255B2 Single-pole x-ray emitter
A single-pole x-ray emitter includes an emitter housing, in which an x-ray tube with a vacuum housing and a drive motor are arranged. A cathode that generates an electron beam, and a rotating anode that is struck by the electron beam along a focal path are arranged in the vacuum housing. The vacuum housing includes a drive-side housing wall and an anode-side housing wall, and the rotating anode is held in a torsionally rigid manner on an anode tube that is rotatably mounted on a stationary part of a rotor shaft that is coupled to the drive motor. The stationary part of the rotor shaft is joined to the anode-side housing wall of the vacuum housing via a ring-shaped fixing. The anode tube incorporates a temperature compensation element. The focal path is arranged on a side of the rotating anode that faces away from the anode-side housing wall.
US09257250B2 Magnetic relay device made using MEMS or NEMS technology
A magnetic relay device having a substrate of semiconductor material houses two through magnetic vias of electrically conductive ferromagnetic material. At least one coil is arranged underneath a first surface of the substrate in proximity of at least one between the first and second magnetic vias, and a contact structure, of ferromagnetic material, is arranged over a second surface of the substrate and is controlled by the magnetic field generated by the coil so as to switch between an open position, wherein the contact structure electrically disconnects the first and second magnetic vias, and a close position, wherein the contact structure electrically connects the first and second magnetic vias.
US09257246B2 Stepping switch with vacuum switching tubes
A tap changer with vacuum-switching tubes for controlling a transformer having taps has a selector for power-free selection of a one of the taps to be switched and a load-changeover switch for actual switching over from the connected tap to a new, pre-selected one of the taps. A first cam disk is fixed against rotation on a rotatable switch shaft, and a rocker lever arrangement has a first roller for actuating the vacuum-switching tubes. A second cam disk is also rotationally fixed on the switch shaft, and there are two further arms of U-shaped construction on the rocker lever arrangement. A lever has a free end provided with a second roller that co-operates with the second cam disk. This lever is between the further arms and mounted to be rotatable about an axis. A compression spring is provided between the lever and the further arms.
US09257237B2 Dye-sensitized solar cell module and manufacturing method for same
The present invention is a dye-sensitized solar cell module provided with a pair of mutually opposed electrodes, partitions that connect the pair of electrodes and form a plurality of cell spaces together with the pair of electrodes, and an electrolyte filled into the cell spaces, wherein one electrode of the pair of electrodes has oxide semiconductor portions that face each of the plurality of cell spaces and are loaded with a photosensitizing dye, at least one electrode of the pair of electrodes is composed of at least two layers, the thickest layer is a metal substrate having a thickness of 100 μm or less or a resin film having a thickness of 500 μm or less, and the electrode containing the metal substrate or the resin film has a bending portion that bends so as to protrude towards the opposing electrode.
US09257234B2 Multilayer ceramic capacitor and board having the same mounted thereon
A multilayer ceramic capacitor may include: an active part including a plurality of first and second internal electrodes; upper and lower cover layers; and first and second external electrodes including head parts and band parts. When a thickness of the upper or lower cover layer is defined as C, a width of a margin portion of the ceramic body in a width direction is defined as M, a cross-sectional area of the ceramic body in a width-thickness direction is defined as Ac, a cross-sectional area of the active part in a width-thickness direction in a portion thereof in which the first and second internal electrodes are overlapped with each other in a thickness direction is defined as Aa, and a width of the band part of the first or second external electrode is defined as B, 1.826≦C/M≦4.686, 0.2142≦Aa/Ac≦0.4911, and 0.5050≦C/B≦0.9094 may be satisfied.
US09257233B2 Method for manufacturing laminated ceramic capacitor
A method of manufacturing a laminated ceramic capacitor having a dielectric ceramic which contains, as its main constituent, a perovskite-type compound containing Ca and Zr and optionally containing Sr, Ba, and Ti, and further contains Si, Mn, and Al, and when the total content of Zr and Ti is regarded as 100 parts by mol, the total content (100×m) of Ca, Sr, and Ba meets 1.002≦m≦1.100 in terms of parts by mol, the Si content n meets 0.5≦n≦10 in terms of parts by mol, the Mn content u meets 0.5≦u≦10 in terms of parts by mol, and the Al content w meets 0.02≦w≦4 in terms of parts by mol, m and n satisfying −0.4≦100(m−1)−n≦3.9.
US09257227B2 Method for manufacturing rare-earth magnet
Provided is a manufacturing method of a rare-earth magnet with high coercive force, including a first step of pressing-forming powder as a rare-earth magnet material to form a compact S, the powder including a RE-Fe—B main phase MP (RE: at least one type of Nd and Pr) and a RE-X alloy (X: metal element) grain boundary phase surrounding the main phase; and second step of bringing a modifier alloy M into contact with the compact S or a rare-earth magnet precursor C obtained by hot deformation processing of the compact S, followed by heat treatment to penetrant diffuse melt of the modifier alloy M into the compact S or the rare-earth magnet precursor C to manufacture the rare-earth magnet RM, the modifier alloy including a RE-Y (Y: metal element and not including a heavy rare-earth element) alloy having a eutectic or a RE-rich hyper-eutectic composition.
US09257225B2 Methods and configurations of LC combined transformers and effective utilizations of cores therein
The LC combined transformer is a combination of capacitors, inductors and an electrically-isolated mutual inductor, i.e. conventional transformer; which in principle is a unity-coupled mutual capacitor or a cascade connection of an ideal transformer and unity-coupled mutual capacitor(s). To improve the imperfections of widely-used transformers, by employing the simplest passive-circuit design to attain a perfectly-functional match between mutual capacitors and the mutual inductor, this invention achieves optimal features of current or/and voltage transformation, and introduces a new function of waveform conversion from square to quasi-sine. The ideal current transformer herein is suitable for sinusoidal current measurements, the ideal voltage transformer herein suitable for sinusoidal voltage measurements, and they also could be upgraded to ideal transformers for both current and voltage transformations. This transformer can be designed as power transferable as well as waveform convertible, applicable in power systems or power electronics. Herein also states the design approach of integrated inductor and mutual inductor, and the use of push-pull inductor, materials being fully utilized and sizes decreased.
US09257220B2 Magnetization device and method
A magnetizer for a tissue-penetrating medical tool such as a needle, cannula, stylet, or catheter consist of a magnetic flux generator which generates a magnetic field in a tool-receiving space. The tool can be passed through or into and out of the space to magnetize it. Optionally the space can be defined by a disposable plastics tube, with a closed end, so that a defined length of the tool is magnetized. The magnetic flux generator can be a permanent magnet or electromagnet. Alternatively a conveyor belt can be used to transport a tissue-penetrating medical tool through a magnetic field generated by an electromagnet with the belt and the electromagnetic being controlled in response to an optical sensor for detecting the position of the tissue-penetrating medical tool. The device is suitable for magnetizing tools for use in surgical procedures where the tool is to be magnetically tracked.
US09257219B2 System and method for magnetization
A system and a method are described herein for magnetizing magnetic sources into a magnetizable material. In one embodiment, the method comprises: (a) providing an inductor coil having multiple layers and a hole extending through the multiple layers; (b) positioning the inductor coil next to the magnetizable material; and (c) emitting from the inductor coil a magnetic field that magnetizes an area on a surface of the magnetizable material, wherein the area on the surface of the magnetizable material that is magnetized is in a direction other than perpendicular to the magnetizable material such that there is a magnetic dipole with both a north polarity and a south polarity formed on the surface of the magnetizable material.
US09257218B2 Using magnets to position cables/flexes during system assembly
Methods and tools for positioning cables using magnets during assembly of a consumer electronic product are described. Methods described are well suited in the manufacture of portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, computer tablets and the like. Methods involve attaching magnetic components to cables and to one or more surfaces within the enclosure of the electronic devices. During assembly, the magnetic components on the cables magnetically couple with corresponding magnetic components on the surfaces within the enclosure. In this way, the cables can be secured in certain positions and out of the way during the assembly of the electronic device. In some instances, the cables can remain magnetically secured after assembly and during the operation of the electronic device. In other instances, the magnetic components are decoupled after assembly thereby releasing the cables from their secured positions during operation of the electronic device.
US09257207B2 Multi focal spot collimator
An x-ray collimator can be constructed from multiple subassemblies, which at least includes a first subassembly that reduces the leakage of x-ray radiation between adjacent apertures and a second subassembly that reduces the spill of x-ray radiation around the detector face. Each of these subassemblies has numerous apertures. In the first subassembly these apertures correspond to focal spots on an x-ray source, and in the second subassembly, these apertures are shaped such that the dimensions increase from smaller entrances to larger exits.
US09257198B2 Shift register unit, shift register, gate drive circuit and display apparatus
To provide a shift register unit, which comprises a positive control signal input terminal, a reverse control signal input terminal, a first thin film transistor, a second thin film transistor, a positive input terminal, a reverse input terminal, a pull-up module and a first reset module, a gate of the first thin film transistor is connected with the positive input terminal, a first electrode of the first thin film transistor is connected with the positive control signal input terminal, a second electrode of the first thin film transistor is connected with a pull-up node of the pull-up module, a gate of the second thin film transistor is connected with the reverse input terminal, a first electrode of the second thin film transistor is connected with the pull-up node of the pull-up module, a second electrode of the second thin film transistor is connected with the reverse control signal input terminal.
US09257188B2 Nonvolatile memory and memory system
According to one embodiment, in a nonvolatile memory, the determination unit determines whether a change process is executable or not. The change process is a process based on characteristics of the memory cell array when a first write process is performed. The change process changes at least one of a value of a write start voltage and an increase amount in a write voltage in a second write process. The second write process is a process where a write operation of writing data to upper pages of at least part of the plurality of nonvolatile memory cells and a verification operation are alternately repeated. The setting unit sets a maximum value for determining whether the second write process succeeds or fails to a first value when the change process is executable, and sets the maximum value to a second value when the change process is not executable.
US09257178B1 Devices and methods for writing to a memory cell of a memory
A method for writing to a memory cell of a memory is disclosed. The method includes generating a write voltage, generating a write current that flows from one of a bit line and a source line of the memory, generating a mirror current that mirrors the write current, generating a compliance current, generating a write detect voltage based on the mirror current and the compliance current, detecting the write detect voltage, when it is detected that the write detect voltage is less or greater than a threshold value, permitting application of the write voltage to the memory cell of the memory, and when it is detected that the write detect voltage increases or decreases to the threshold value, inhibiting the application of the write voltage to the memory cell of the memory. A device that performs the method is also disclosed.
US09257170B2 Semiconductor devices
The semiconductor device includes a pre-internal refresh signal generator and an internal refresh signal generator. The pre-internal refresh signal generator receives a first periodic signal during a refresh operation to generate a pre-internal refresh signal including pulses which are periodically created. The internal refresh signal generator receives a second periodic signal during the refresh operation to generate first and second internal refresh signals sequentially enabled by the pulses of the pre-internal refresh signal.
US09257162B2 Alternate control settings
An integrated circuit, that may be a part of an electronic system, may include a first set of storage cells to store settings and a second set of storage cells to store alternate settings. At least one control cell may also be included in the integrated circuit. The at least one control cell may indicate whether to use the settings stored in the first set of storage cells, or the alternate settings stored in the second set of storage cells, to control one or more operating parameters of the integrated circuit. Methods for using the alternate setting are also described.
US09257161B2 Mechanism for enabling full data bus utilization without increasing data granularity
A memory is disclosed comprising a first memory portion, a second memory portion, and an interface, wherein the memory portions are electrically isolated from each other and the interface is capable of receiving a row command and a column command in the time it takes to cycle the memory once. By interleaving access requests (comprising row commands and column commands) to the different portions of the memory, and by properly timing these access requests, it is possible to achieve full data bus utilization in the memory without increasing data granularity.
US09257159B2 Low power memory device
A method of operation within a memory device is disclosed. The method comprises receiving address information and corresponding enable information in association with a memory access request. The address information includes a row address that specifies a row of storage cells within a storage array of the memory device, and the enable information includes first and second enable values that correspond respectively to first and second storage locations within the row of storage cells. The method involves selectively transferring data between the first and second storage locations and sense amplifier circuitry according to states of the first and second enable values. This includes transferring data between the first storage location and the sense amplifier circuitry if the first enable value is in an enable state and transferring data between the second storage location and the sense amplifier circuitry if the second enable value is in the enable state. The states of the first and second enable values may be separately controlled.
US09257156B2 Electromagnetic wave signal processor and electromagnetic wave detector
There is provided an electromagnetic wave signal processor configured to process an input pulse signal corresponding to an electromagnetic wave, comprising a signal processing unit including: a peak detecting circuit to detect peak values of each amplitude of the input pulse signal; an AD converter to convert the peak values into digital signals; a memory device comprising memory cells each having an address assigned in accordance with each of values capable of being taken by the digital signals of the peak values, and being able to have any one of a plurality of internal states representing detection frequencies of the peak values; and a writing circuit to change the internal state in the memory cell that has the address corresponding to the value of each digital signal converted by the AD converter, so as to increment the detection frequency represented by the internal state.
US09257155B2 Integrated circuit having voltage generation circuitry for memory cell array, and method of operating and/or controlling same
A method of generating a voltage as well as an integrated circuit device (e.g., a logic device or a memory device) having a memory cell array which includes (i) a plurality of memory cells, wherein each memory cell array including (i) a plurality of memory cells, arranged in a matrix of rows and columns, and (ii) a plurality of bit lines, wherein each bit line includes a plurality of memory cells. The integrated circuit further includes voltage generation circuitry, coupled to a plurality of the bit lines, to (i) apply a first voltage to a first group of associated bit lines, and (ii) apply a second voltage to a second group of associated bit lines, and (iii) generate a third voltage by connecting the first group of associated bit lines and the second group of associated bit lines, and (iv) output the third voltage.
US09257147B2 Image processing apparatus and image processing method, and recording medium storing image processing program
A novel image processing apparatus that provides effective digitized audio while ensuring audio clarity and outputs image data adding the digitized audio is provided. The image processing apparatus includes an audio recording unit that stores audio data based on input audio in an audio storage device, a data editing unit that adds the audio data to image data, control circuitry that instructs the recording unit to record when a predetermined recording condition is satisfied, and a data output unit to output the image data in an appropriate format. For example, the control circuitry considers a condition that the scanner scans the document set on a platen as the recording condition.
US09257144B1 Shingled magnetic record hard disk drive and method for creating a logical disk from physical tracks
A system for writing data to overlapping physical tracks of a shingled magnetic record (SMR) hard disk drive (HDD) and a method for creating a logical disk from overlapping physical tracks of the SMR HDD. The system comprises a write header and a memory identifying the overlapping physical tracks which are accessible through the logical disk. The physical tracks are spaced from each other by at least the width of the write header. The method comprises mapping in a memory the logical disk to writeable tracks of the overlapping physical tracks, the writeable tracks spaced from each other by at least the width of the write header.
US09257142B2 Heat-reactive resist material, layered product for thermal lithography using the material, and method of manufacturing a mold using the material and layered product
A heat-reactive resist material of the invention is characterized in that the boiling point of the fluoride of the element is 200° C. or more. By this means, it is possible to achieve the heat-reactive resist material having high resistance to dry etching using fluorocarbons to form a pattern with the deep groove depth.
US09257141B2 Polarization conversion element
A polarization conversion element includes a phase reversal element and a polarization plane rotation element including a liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal layer has a plurality of regions disposed along circumferential direction with the intersection point of the polarization plane rotation element and the optical axis as the center with alignment directions different from each other. When electric voltage in accordance with the wavelength of linear polarization incident on the polarization plane rotation element is applied, each region rotates the polarization plane of the polarization component transmitted by each region, and thereby converts linear polarization to radial polarization. The phase reversal element reverses, among the first and the second annular portions alternately disposed along the radial direction with the optical axis as the center, the phase of light incident on the first annular portion relative to the phase of light incident on the second annular portion.
US09257138B1 Slider assembly and method of manufacturing same
A substrate assembly includes a chip coupled with a carrier, a substrate having a first surface and an opposing second surface, and a support structure mounted to the second surface of the substrate and in contact with the carrier. A method of bonding a chip and carrier assembly to a substrate includes contacting the chip and carrier assembly with the bond material and applying heat and force on the chip and carrier assembly until the support structure is mounted on the second surface of the substrate and in contact with the carrier. A substrate assembly includes a chip coupled with a carrier, a substrate having a first surface and an opposing second surface, and one of the carrier or the substrate comprising a trench having a periphery, wherein the second surface of the substrate supports the carrier along the periphery of the trench.
US09257137B2 Magnetic writer having multiple gaps with more uniform magnetic fields across the gaps
A magnetic device according to one embodiment includes a source of flux; a magnetic pole having two or more gaps; and a low reluctance path positioned towards at least one of the gaps and riot positioned towards at least one other of the gaps for affecting a magnetic field formed at the at least one of the gaps when the source of flux is generating flux. Other disclosed embodiments include devices having coil turns with a non-uniform placement in the magnetic yoke for altering a magnetic field formed at the at least one of the gaps during writing. In further embodiments, a geometry of the magnetic pole near or at one of the gaps is different than a geometry of the magnetic pole near or at another of the gaps to help equalize fields formed at the gaps when the source of flux is generating flux.
US09257118B2 Method and apparatus for performing speech keyword retrieval
A method and an apparatus are provided for retrieving keyword. The apparatus configures at least two types of language models in a model file, where each type of language model includes a recognition model and a corresponding decoding model; the apparatus extracts a speech feature from the to-be-processed speech data; performs language matching on the extracted speech feature by using recognition models in the model file one by one, and determines a recognition model based on a language matching rate; and determines a decoding model corresponding to the recognition model; decoding the extracted speech feature by using the determined decoding model, and obtains a word recognition result after the decoding; and matches a keyword in a keyword dictionary and the word recognition result, and outputs a matched keyword.
US09257117B2 Speech analytics with adaptive filtering
Contact center agents often work in close proximity to other agents. As a primary agent is engaged in a call, a neighboring agent speech may be picked up by the primary agent's microphone. Contact centers using automated speech recognition systems may monitor the agent's speech for key terms and, if detected, respond accordingly. Determining a primary agent spoke a key term, when the true speaker of the key term is a neighboring agent, may cause errors or other problems. Characterizing at least the primary agent's voice and then, once a key term is detected, determining if it was the primary agent that spoke the key term, may help to reduce the errors. Additionally, computational requirements may be reduced as non-key terms may be quickly discarded and optionally, key terms determined to not have been spoke by the primary agent, may also be discarded without further processing.
US09257112B2 Single coil parallel tapped magnetic pickup
A parallel tapped magnetic pickup for an electrical stringed musical instrument is provided. The parallel tapped magnetic pickup comprises a coil formed with at least two parallel connected wound wires. A guitar in combination with the parallel tapped pickup is additionally provided.
US09257107B1 Musical drumhead with tonal modification
A musical drum comprised of a drumshell and a drumhead, which includes a composite of tonal modifiers acting synergistically for dampening drum sounds by eliminating high frequencies and overtones. The tonal modifiers include a first tonal modifier comprised of synthetic material, a second tonal modifier bonded to the synthetic material in overlaying relation, a third tonal modifier positioned upon the second tonal modifier in overlaying relation, and a fourth tonal modifier bonded to the central portion of the third tonal modifier in overlaying relation, the combination of which cooperate to break down the various levels of harmonics to their purest form resulting in a unique sound and vibrational experience provided in a therapeutic context for the well-being of a person.
US09257106B2 Digital bass drum kick
Embodiments of a digital bass drum kick for a bass drum are provided. A digital bass drum kick includes an acoustic unit, a connection unit, and a support member. The acoustic unit has a first primary side and a second primary side. The first primary side is configured to receive impacts by a bass drum beater of a bass drum pedal. The second primary side is configured to conformably contact a drumhead of a bass drum, the acoustic unit configured to output a digital bass drum signal representative of a sound of the bass drum in response to the first primary side receiving an impact. The connection unit is configured to couple to a hoop of a bass drum. The support member is coupled between the acoustic unit and the connection unit, and is configured to elevate the acoustic unit a predefined distance from the connection unit.
US09257101B2 Method for reducing graphics rendering failures
A method and electronic device employing the method of processing a frame of graphics for display is provided that includes developing a frame in a first software frame processing stage following a first vertical blanking (VBL) heartbeat, issuing a command indicating the first stage is complete, and performing a final software frame processing stage without waiting for a subsequent VBL heartbeat. The method may alternatively include performing the final software frame processing stage regardless as to whether a target framebuffer is available, performing all but final hardware frame processing stages regardless as to whether the target framebuffer is in use, and performing the final hardware processing stage if the target framebuffer is not in use.
US09257099B2 Voltage generator and display device having the same
A display device including a voltage generator is disclosed. The voltage generator includes an analog driving voltage generator to convert a source voltage from an external source to an analog driving voltage and to output the analog driving voltage through an output terminal, a capacitor connected between the output terminal and a ground voltage node, and a discharge circuit connected between the output terminal and the ground voltage node to discharge a current at the output terminal in response to a blank synchronization signal.
US09257098B2 Apparatus and methods for displaying second content in response to user inputs
An apparatus is configured to detect one or more particular user inputs from respective one or more positions, each position associated with a respective edge region of a display; and upon detection of the one or more particular user inputs, modify at least a portion of a foreground view on the display to create a peep-hole within the foreground view in the portion, the foreground view comprising first content data associated with a foreground application and the peep-hole comprising second content data. In this way, the peep-hole may be considered to replace parts of the foreground view with second content data. Corresponding methods and computer programs are also described.
US09257096B2 Display system
The embodiments of the present invention disclose a display system comprising: a display panel; a backlight module for supplying backlight to the display panel; a drive module for driving the backlight module to emit light; and a control module for controlling the drive module to drive the backlight module to emit light, wherein the backlight module comprises first light emitting diodes and second light emitting diodes, and a spectral intensity of blue light of light emitted by the first light emitting diode is less than a spectral intensity of each of red light and green light of the light emitted by the first light emitting diode; wherein the drive module comprises a first drive unit for driving the first light emitting diodes to emit light under the control of the control module, and a second drive unit for driving the second light emitting diodes to emit light under the control of the control module.
US09257089B2 Augmented reality presentations
Technology is generally disclosed for augmented-reality presentations. In some embodiments, the technology can receive an indication of a user's sensitivity to an aspect of a presentation, receive general content relating to the presentation, receive overlay content relating to the presentation, combine the received general content and the received overlay content to create the presentation, and render the presentation. The overlay content may respond to the user's sensitivity.
US09257085B2 Electronic circuit, display device, electronic device, and method for driving electronic circuit
To control the state of an input signal and output signal of a sequential circuit in order to prevent a malfunction of an electronic circuit. An electronic circuit includes a sequential circuit and a control circuit. A first signal, a second signal, and a third signal are input to the sequential circuit as a start signal, a clock signal, and a reset signal, respectively. The sequential circuit outputs, as an output signal, a fourth signal whose state is set in accordance with the state of the inputted first signal, second signal, and third signal. The control circuit controls the state of the third signal input to the sequential circuit.
US09257075B2 Liquid crystal display apparatus and method for controlling the same
The light sources are controlled by dividing a display period of one frame into such a first subframe period that blue transmitted light is obtained from the blue subpixel and red transmitted light is obtained from the red subpixel by turning ON the light sources of the blue color and the red color and such a second subframe period that green transmitted light is obtained from the green subpixel by turning ON a light source of a green color and at least any one of a procedure in which cyan transmitted light is obtained from the blue subpixel and a procedure in which yellow transmitted light is obtained from the red subpixel is performed.
US09257073B2 Display panel driving method, display apparatus, display panel driving apparatus and electronic apparatus
A display panel driving method for controlling the total light emitting period length within a one-field period includes placing a first light emission period, a second light emission period, and a third light emission period within the one-field period, and adjusting, in a state in which a period length from a starting timing of the first light emission period to an ending timing of the third light emission period is at least 25% and at most 75% of a one-field period length, a first no-light emission period between the first light emission period and the second light emission period and a second no-light emission period between the second light emission period and the third light emission period.
US09257071B2 Semiconductor device and method for driving semiconductor device
One electrode of SW1 is connected to a first wiring, and the other electrode of the SW1 is connected to one electrode of SW2, one electrode of second capacitor, and a gate electrode of a transistor. The other electrode of the SW2 is electrically connected to one electrode of SW3 and one electrode of first capacitor. The other electrode of the SW3 is connected to the other electrode of the second capacitor and one electrode of SW4. The other electrode of the SW4 is connected to a source electrode of the transistor and one electrode of SW5. The other electrode of the SW5 is connected to the other electrode of the first capacitor, an anode electrode of a load, and one electrode of SW6. The other electrode of the SW6 is connected to a fourth wiring. A drain electrode of the transistor is connected to a second wiring.
US09257067B2 Light source driving circuit of light emitting semiconductor and backlight module
A light source driving circuit of light emitting semiconductor and a backlight module are provided. The light source driving circuit of light emitting semiconductor includes a driving control circuit and a constant current driving circuit coupled to the driving control circuit for controlling a current flowing through the light emitting semiconductor. When the driving control circuit receives a display-mode-switch signal which has an indication for switching from a present display mode to a new display mode, the driving control circuit controls the constant current driving circuit such that in the process of switching from the present display mode to the new display mode, the current flowing through the light emitting semiconductor changes gradually.
US09257057B2 Bedding product with age indicator
A mattress age indicating device (10) includes an enclosure (20) and an indicating assembly (30) contained within the enclosure (20). The age indicating device (10) may be configured to present an indication related to the mattress's age and may be coupled to the mattress (2) or other bedding or seating product.
US09257051B2 Aircraft avoidance method and drone provided with a system for implementing said method
A method enabling an aerial drone not having a TCAS system to avoid an intruder aircraft, the method including the steps of acquiring the position of the intruder aircraft in order to determine the distance between the aerial drone and the intruder aircraft, measuring the angular speed of the intruder aircraft in a horizontal plane, and determining whether the intruder aircraft is fitted with a TCAS system, and, if so, receiving a resolution advisory transmitted by the TCAS of the intruder aircraft and following a previously-determined avoidance path. The invention also provides a drone fitted with a system implementing the method.
US09257050B2 Airplane position assurance monitor
An onboard monitor that ensures the accuracy of data representing the calculated position of an airplane during final approach to a runway. This airplane position assurance monitor is a software function that uses dissimilar sources of airplane position and runway data to ensure the accuracy of the respective data from those dissimilar sources. ILS data and GPS or GPS/Baro data are the dissimilar sources of airplane position data used by this function. This function will calculate the airplane's angular deviations from the runway centerline and from the glide slope with onboard equipment and then compare those angular deviations to the ILS angular deviation information.
US09257044B2 Navigation device and method
A navigation device is disclosed including a processor; and a store containing map data. In at least one embodiment, the map data includes a temporally-variable feature and the processor is arranged, in a route planning process, to determine a status of the temporally-variable feature according to temporal information.
US09257039B2 Method for detecting time synchronization ability of real-time measuring device based on time variable
A method for detecting a time synchronization ability of the real-time measuring device based on a time variable is provided. On a premise that the real-time measuring device correctly receives time service signals, the method aims at detecting time synchronization signal application ability of the real-time measuring device, and involves a purely resistive loop comprising a value transferring device and a time controllable switch. The method, via a time synchronization performance thereof, relatively completely reflects the time synchronization signal application ability of the device within a value transfer requirement. The method is a development upon power station time synchronization time service signals and transmission accuracy detection and an improvement of power station time synchronization detection procedures. The method facilitates improving real-time analysis and monitoring abilities of a power station and a power grid to a primary device and a primary system.
US09257037B2 System and method for automatically setting up a universal remote control
A system and method for configuring a remote control to command the operation of appliances, to capture demographic data, and to provide services, such as automated warranty registration, instructions, viewing guides, etc., relevant to the appliances is provided. The system includes a database and associated server that are located remotely from the remote control and accessible via a network connection. Command codes, graphical user interface elements, and services are accessed and downloaded to the remote control, as appropriate, using data supplied to the server that identifies the appliances and/or functional capabilities of the appliances. This data can be supplied by the appliances directly or can be obtained from other sources such as barcode labels, network devices, etc.
US09257035B2 Remote control device, remote control system, and storage medium storing control program, and medium to be attached to electrical device
According to an aspect, a remote control device includes a display unit, an operation detecting unit, a reading unit, a control unit, and a code transmitting unit. The operation detecting unit detects an operation. The reading unit reads information used for remotely controlling an electrical device from the electrical device. The control unit causes the display unit to display a control screen used for remotely controlling the electrical device based on the information read by the reading unit. The code transmitting unit transmits a control code acquired based on the information read by the reading unit to the electrical device in response to an operation detected by the operation detecting unit while the control screen is displayed on the display unit.
US09257033B2 Emergency response system and method
An improved emergency response system and method includes at least one zone display structured to present a plurality of zones that convey certain information to bystanders, dispatchers, and/or emergency responders. Each zone corresponds to a different portion of the local premises, such that the zones are collectively configured to convey at least directional information pertaining to the local premises. The zone display is further configured to present at least one universal directional indicator associated with each zone. Accordingly, the information associated with the zones and directional indicators is utilized to facilitate an emergency response. The presenting of the zones can include depicting at least a portion of the premises via mapping overlay display. Further, the zone displays can depict threat level indicators corresponding to perceived circumstances of one or more zones.
US09257028B2 Dual-network locator and communication system for emergency services personnel
A communications system is provided for emergency services personnel that includes a plurality of portable devices and a base station. The portable devices are configured to be carried by emergency services personnel while at an emergency site. The portable devices each have a first transceiver configured to communicate over a first network and a second transceiver configured to communicate over a second network, where the first and second networks operate independent of one another. For example, they may have at least one of different first and second carrier frequencies, protocol, channels and the like. The base station has at least one transceiver for communicating with the portable devices over at least one of the first and second networks. Optionally, the first and second networks may have different transmission characteristics, such as different transmit ranges, power levels and the like.
US09257027B2 Duct detector
There is described a duct detector and components for duct detectors. In one form the duct detector includes: a port unit and detector unit. The port unit is mountable to a duct in use so as to position one or more ports in the duct. The detector unit includes a detection region. The port unit and detector unit are reconfigurable between a close coupled configuration and a separated configuration in which the units are mountable with a variable separation between them and coupled by one or more elongate conduits to provide fluid communication between the units.
US09257026B2 Personal self-defense device
A self-defense device includes a housing structure, a spray apparatus and a sound generating mechanism. The housing structure includes an interior space accessible though an opening within a first end portion thereof. The spray apparatus is attached to a first end portion of the housing structure. The spray apparatus allows a substance configured for impairing at least one of sight and respiratory function of a person to be selectively sprayed therefrom. The sound generating mechanism within the interior space of the housing structure. Actuation of the sound generating mechanism causes a sound recognizable as that of a firearm being mechanically charged to be created thereby.
US09257022B2 Haptic effect conversion system using granular synthesis
A system is provided that converts an input, such as audio data, into one or more haptic effects. The system applies a granular synthesis algorithm to the input in order to generate a haptic signal. The system subsequently outputs the one or more haptic effects based on the generated haptic signal. The system can also shift a frequency of the input, and also filter the input, before the system applies the granular synthesis algorithm to the input.
US09257018B2 Point-of-sale system
A point-of-sale system includes a stand that supports a tablet computer. The tablet computer can run a merchant application to provide the typical functionality for a point-of-sale system. The stand can be rotatable to face either the merchant or the customer. The stand can incorporate a card reader. The tablet computer can be connected through a hub to other peripheral components, such as a controllable cash drawer, a printer and/or a bar code reader. The cash drawer can include a slidable drawer having sliding rails that are hidden from a top view of the drawer.
US09257017B2 Gaming system and method for providing a multiple dimension cascading symbols game
A gaming system including a cascading symbol game which utilizes a plurality of adjacent symbol display position grids arranged at different depths. The multiple symbol display position grids at different depths provides that one or more of the symbols of at least a first symbol display position grid at a first depth are displayed to a player while one or more of the symbols of at least a second symbol display position grid at a second depth are not displayed to the player. When one or more symbols are removed from the first symbol display position grid at the first depth, before and/or after shifting the remaining displayed symbols from the first symbol display position grid into created empty symbol display positions of the first symbol display position grid, one or more symbols from the second symbol display position grid at the second depth become exposed.
US09257011B2 Gaming machine capable of realistically informing of a payout rate
The present invention provides a gaming machine that is capable of realizing an attractive payout rate for a player. The gaming machine is adapted to suggest that a state advantageous to a player be established, by shielding a symbol that is scrolled and then displaying a shade of a specific character. In this manner, the player can play a game with a sense of expectation. After the shading has been released, a specific symbol is displayed, thereby establishing the state advantageous to the player. Therefore, the player can realize that the routine migrates to the state advantageous to the player.
US09257001B2 Integrated gaming and services system and method
An integrated gaming and services system is disclosed. The system includes a gaming terminal and a server system. The gaming terminal may include a reader system connected to the gaming terminal, the reader system configured to read identification information of a player. The gaming terminal may further include an input/output system including one or more input components that permit a player to input at least voice commands to the gaming terminal, and one or more output components that output gaming and services information to the player in response to the voice commands. The gaming terminal may additionally include a communication interface connecting the gaming terminal to a communication network. The server system communicates with the gaming terminal via the communication interface, and provides enhanced services to the player based at least on the identification information of the player.
US09256996B2 Method and system for training users related to a physical access control system
A system and method for training users of an access control system. In particular, the system and method allow for the imposition of “penalties” for improper behavior so as to balance the training of the user with the burden placed on the operators of the system reacting to violations, while allowing the users to accomplish their tasks. The system can also track the location of users or items, determine if a request to pass through a control point is proper based on various factors, and if appropriate, administer a “penalty” based on several contributing factors.
US09256987B2 Tracking head movement when wearing mobile device
Methods for tracking the head position of an end user of a head-mounted display device (HMD) relative to the HMD are described. In some embodiments, the HMD may determine an initial head tracking vector associated with an initial head position of the end user relative to the HMD, determine one or more head tracking vectors corresponding with one or more subsequent head positions of the end user relative to the HMD, track head movements of the end user over time based on the initial head tracking vector and the one or more head tracking vectors, and adjust positions of virtual objects displayed to the end user based on the head movements. In some embodiments, the resolution and/or number of virtual objects generated and displayed to the end user may be modified based on a degree of head movement of the end user relative to the HMD.
US09256986B2 Automated guidance when taking a photograph, using virtual objects overlaid on an image
There is provided an image processing device including a data acquisition unit configured to acquire a recommended angle-of-view parameter that represents a recommended angle of view for a subject in an environment that appears in an image, and a display control unit configured to overlay on the image a virtual object that guides a user so that an angle of view for capturing an image of the subject becomes closer to the recommended angle of view, using the recommended angle-of-view parameter. The recommended angle-of-view parameter is a parameter that represents a three-dimensional position and attitude of a device that captures an image of the subject at the recommended angle of view.
US09256979B2 Storage medium having stored thereon image display program, image display system, image display method, and image display apparatus
A computer-readable storage medium has stored thereon an program that is executed in a display apparatus that takes an image of a virtual three-dimensional space in which a first object and a second object are present, by a virtual camera and renders the virtual three-dimensional space. The program allows the apparatus to generate a silhouette image for representing a silhouette of the first object, in which silhouette image, gradation information changes in accordance with a distance from the second object to each part of the first object; to generate an image of the second object that is seen from the virtual camera; and to synthesize the silhouette image on the image of the second object that is seen from the virtual camera, such that the silhouette image is darker at a portion thereof corresponding to a part of the first object closer to the second object.
US09256978B2 Image processing apparatus and method
An image processing apparatus and method. The image processing method includes a data obtaining unit for obtaining volume data that contains a target image; a depth-data obtaining unit for obtaining depth data that indicates a depth to the surface of the target image from an image plane; an image processing unit for processing the volume data into a processed volume data based on the depth-data, and obtaining a rendered image based on the processed volume data; and a display unit for displaying the rendered image.
US09256974B1 3-D motion-parallax portable display software application
A video recording that includes rotation around a central point within a desired range of motion is used to generate a set of frames that is cropped by use of a centering reference and a cropping template registered to each frame by using the centering reference in each of the frames. The centering reference is an interocular distance of the photographic subject (which may be a live person or a mannequin) so that a vertical centerline established at a midpoint of the interocular distance is centered laterally by the cropping template. The images obtained can be displayed in a portable computer device to give an illusion of viewing a photographic subject as a solid 3-D object on the screen and additional product images can be merged to give the further illusion that the subject is wearing the product.
US09256971B1 Methods and apparatus for data visualization of hierarchical data structures
Methods and apparatuses for creating an output graphic using a processing device may include receiving one or more elements of a hierarchical data structure, wherein each of the one or more elements includes a value. In addition, the methods and apparatuses may include calculating a total value for the hierarchical data structure by adding the value from the one or more elements and creating relationships that associate the one more elements with the total value. The methods and apparatuses may also include generating a diagram to illustrate the total value and the relationships among the one or more elements and the total value and transmitting the diagram for presentation on a display.
US09256963B2 Skin diagnostic and image processing systems, apparatus and articles
Skin diagnostic techniques employed in conjunction with image processing techniques. For example, a user information module captures a user skin image. A graphical user interface enables selection of a skin-related application from a plurality of skin-related applications. A processor determines user skin image data from the user skin image, and identifies one or more sets of skin image data in the skin image database that correspond to the user skin image data based on one or more parameters specified by the skin-related application. The processor applies at least one image processing filter that corresponds to the one or more identified sets of skin image data from the skin image database to the user skin image to generate a simulated user skin image. An output display displays the simulated user skin image.
US09256947B2 Automatic positioning of imaging plane in ultrasonic imaging
The invention is directed to a method for ultrasonic imaging, in which two-dimensional images (10, 11) are acquired, one of which is aligned with a longitudinal direction of an interventional object (e.g. a needle) (13) to be moved towards a target area (7) within a subject of examination and the other one is intersecting the longitudinal direction of the interventional object (13) and automatically positioned dependent on the automatically determined position and orientation of the interventional object (13). Further, the invention is directed to an ultrasonic imaging device (1) adapted to conduct such a method.
US09256943B2 Projector-camera misalignment correction for structured light systems
A method of misalignment correction in a structured light device is provided that includes extracting features from a first captured image of a scene, wherein the first captured image is captured by an imaging sensor component of the structured light device, and wherein the first captured image includes a pattern projected into the scene by a projector component of the structured light device, matching the features of the first captured image to predetermined features of a pattern image corresponding to the projected pattern to generate a dataset of matching features, determining values of alignment correction parameters of an image alignment transformation model using the dataset of matching features, and applying the image alignment transformation model to a second captured image using the determined alignment correction parameter values.
US09256936B2 Method and apparatus for tracking objects in a target area of a moving organ
A method for tracking position of features of a moving organ from at least one sequence of image frames of the moving organ involves identifying at least a first feature and a second feature of the organ in a reference image frame. Positions of the first and second features in other image frames are tracked in order to learn motion patterns of the first and second features. A dynamic geometric relation between the first and second features is determined. In the event that the first feature of the organ is obscured in a given image frame, position of the first feature in the given image frame is determined using position of the second feature in the given image frame and the dynamic geometric relation between the first and second features.
US09256933B2 System for determining flow properties of a blood vessel
The invention relates to a method for providing quantitative measures of the flow property of a blood vessel. The method is based on analyzing cross-sectional images of a vessel by estimating the area of the lumen of the vessel. The method comprises steps of determining a point contained within the walls of the vessel, determining a closed path which approximates the inner circumference of the wall of the vessel, and determining the area of the closed path when the vessel is most expanding in order to get a measurement of the maximum lumen. This method may enable the clinical personnel to quickly evaluate the flow property e.g. of an inserted bypass vessel and, thereby, conclude if the surgical intervention is successful or if adjustments are required.
US09256932B1 System and method for automatically measuring the dimensions of and identifying the type of exterior siding
Methods, systems, and computer readable media are disclosed for determining a pixel-to-length ratio between a number of pixels disposed over a predetermined length of a reference object within an image of a siding sample and the predetermined length of the reference object. A first and second distance between respective first and second pairs of points within the image corresponding to respective first and second length measurements of the siding sample are determined, as well as a first and second number of pixels disposed between the first and second pair of points, respectively. Furthermore, the method, system, and computer readable medium disclose determining the first length measurement based on the pixel-to-length ratio and the first number of pixels, determining the second length measurement based on the pixel-to-length ratio and the second number of pixels, and identifying a siding product associated with the first and second length measurements.
US09256917B1 Nested zoom in windows on a touch sensitive device
Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a technique for generating nested zoom in windows on a touch sensitive device. A first portion of the user content is zooming into by touching the display screen in a proximity of the first portion using the touch input device while retaining an original zoom size of a remaining portion of the user content. A second portion of a zoomed in first portion of the user content is zooming into by touching the display screen in a proximity of the second portion using the touch input device while retaining an original zoom size of the zoomed in first portion.
US09256915B2 Graphics processing unit buffer management
The techniques are generally related to management of buffers with a management unit that resides within an integrated circuit that includes a graphics processing unit (GPU). The management unit may ensure proper access to the buffers by the programmable compute units of the GPU to allow the GPU to execute kernels on the programmable compute units in a pipeline fashion.
US09256909B2 Scientific information management method
A scientific information management system is provided. It comprises a server, and at least one content server connected to the registration server to provide networking services to a plurality of users through a network, said at least one content server comprising data comprising scientific information of experimental research projects, wherein said system comprises: —a plurality of user interfaces, at least one of them comprising means for submitting data comprising first scientific information together with a status identifying the degree of accomplishment of said project; —a data processor connected to said plurality of user interfaces, said data processor being capable of processing said data retrieved from said at least one content server to generate at least one representation of the relative position of said first scientific information compared to others scientific information and the status of said first scientific information and display said representation on the user interface.
US09256905B2 Intelligent routing of electric power
A method and system for dynamically routing electric power in real time in accordance with parameters submitted by buyers and sellers of electric power using a feedback control scheme. A control node is arranged for receiving the parameters via a wide area network and to generate a route plan based on the parameters as well as current supply and demand in a network. The control node is also connected to the transmission and distribution systems to dynamically route electric power between matched buyers and sellers to effect the route plan.
US09256897B2 Authentication and pairing of a mobile device to an external power source
A mobile device communicates with an authenticator affiliated with a recharging facility, to identify itself. To confirm that the mobile device is connected to the correct facility, the authenticator instructs the mobile device to draw electrical charge according to an identifiable pattern. Upon detecting a charge being drawn according to that pattern, the authenticator has confirmation that the identified device is connected to the facility, and permits the charging to proceed. The amount of electricity drawn during the charging procedure can be metered, and then billed to a party associated with the identified mobile device.
US09256894B2 Method and apparatus for providing predefined feedback
A method and apparatus utilized in operating a feedback forum in an online auction environment is described. Instead of allowing users of the system to enter freeform comments for and about other users, a number of predefined feedback comments are provided that relate to an auction transaction. Users leaving feedback for other users are permitted to select a comment they desire to leave for or about another user relative to a transaction. The predefined feedback comments selected by the users are associated with the users whom the comment is about, and at some time thereafter, the predefined feedback comment is displayed for viewing by other users of the system.
US09256892B2 Content selection using performance metrics
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer program product, for selecting advertisements. In one aspect, a method includes receiving publisher selections of advertisements; associating the selected advertisements with an advertisement environment in a document; generating an advertisement request code for inclusion in the document; evaluating performance metrics for the selected advertisements; and in response to determining that the selected advertisements do not meet the performance threshold, optimizing the selection of selected advertisements based on the performance metrics; substituting a selected advertisement with a candidate advertisement and causing a client device to render the candidate advertisement in the advertisement environment in the document.
US09256890B1 Framework for geolocation-based customer-to-product matching hosted in a cloud-computing environment
The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and computer program products for providing an on-demand, cloud-based platform exposing a geolocation service. One computer-implemented method includes storing, in a persistence, customer master data received as part of a customer registration process, storing, in the persistence, customer preferences received in a customer-created product preferences list, receiving geolocation updates from a customer mobile device, determining if there is a match between a particular customer preference and a product in a product catalog based on received customer preferences and the customer location based on the received geolocation updates, transmitting generated determined matches to display on a map to the customer mobile device, and transmitting online navigation data to the customer mobile device.
US09256888B2 Matching advertising to game play content
An advertisement is associated with a particular user move in a gaming environment where playing of the user move by a user results in the advertisement being displayed at the user's gaming device. With multiple users, each play of a unique user move results in a corresponding uniquely targeted advertisement being displayed at the respective gaming device of each user. User moves and associated advertisements are bound to one another based on a frequency of use of the user move in game play and the desirability of the advertiser to associate the advertisement with the user move.
US09256879B1 Method and apparatus of providing live support service in a notification system
A method and apparatus of providing notifications to a customer is disclosed. One example method of operation may include identifying a notification event associated with a customer via a customer management module and retrieving a customer preference record and determining a notification device preference for a customer Internet protocol (IP) device included in the customer preference record. The method may also include transmitting the notification event to the customer's IP device based on the notification device preference, the notification event may include a live agent support option which may be accessed in the event that the automated support options fail to satisfy the customer's questions and concerns.
US09256876B2 Real-time spend management with savings goals
A computer-implemented method, including receiving, by one or more computer systems, a withdrawal request for withdrawal of funds from one or more financial accounts; determining, by the one or more computer systems, whether a discretionary balance of the one or more financial accounts is greater than or equal to an amount of the withdrawal request, with the discretionary balance being based on an amount of funds that are available in the one or more financial accounts and a portion of the available funds allocated to a savings goal; causing an approval of the withdrawal request when the discretionary balance is greater than or equal to the amount of the withdrawal request; and sending a real time notification to a client device of a user associated with the one or more financial accounts when the discretionary balance is less than the amount of the withdrawal request with a real time opportunity for the user to reduce funds allocated to savings goals if required and thereby increasing the discretionary balance to facilitate the approval of withdrawal request.
US09256874B2 Method and system for enabling merchants to share tokens
One embodiment of the present disclosure provides a system and associated processes for sharing cardholder data (CHD) between a merchant that utilizes tokenization and a second merchant that may or may not utilize tokenization. In one embodiment, the merchant, or an employee of the merchant, can use the system and associated processes to reacquire CHD from a tokenization provider system. In one embodiment, the merchant identifies to the tokenization provider system a desire to share CHD, which is associated with a token, with a second merchant. The merchant and/or the tokenization provider system can then invite the second merchant to register with the tokenization provider system. Once registered with the tokenization provider system, the second merchant can access any CHD that the merchant associated with the second merchant.
US09256871B2 Configurable payment tokens
Methods and systems are disclosed for the generation and use of merchant-customizable token formats that define tokens that represent credit card and other payment numbers in online transactions. The tokens, which are used instead of the card numbers themselves for security, can be specified by the token format to have a certain number of characters, have certain fields reserved for major card identifiers, use encryption and/or randomization, be alphanumeric, and have other formatting. The customized tokens can be used with legacy equipment that uses longer or shorter card numbers than the standard sixteen-digit payment card number format and can be less likely to be recognized as related to card numbers by identify thieves.
US09256870B1 Methods and systems for updating expiry information of an account
A method for updating expiry information of an account is provided. Additionally, a prediction computing device for updating expiry information of an account is provided. Further, a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for updating expiry information of an account is provided.
US09256863B2 Receiving malfunctioning mobile phone and a dispensing functioning cellular telephone console
The present invention relates to a user-friendly and a user-interactive cellular mobile phone console, allowing a user to interactively replace a malfunctioning cellular mobile phone with a functioning mobile phone, whiles enabling the user to track said malfunctioning cellular mobile through its delivery cycle.
US09256853B2 Portable RFID reading terminal with visual indication of scan trace
A portable radio-frequency identifier (RFID) reading terminal can comprise a microprocessor, a memory, an RFID reading device, and a display. The portable RFID reading terminal can be configured to display a scan trace provided by a line comprising a plurality of time varying points. Each point can be defined by a projection of a radio frequency (RF) signal coverage shape of the RFID reading device onto a chosen plane at a given moment in time.
US09256850B2 Orphan token management during in-flight process system migration
A method, apparatus, and computer-readable storage media for managing orphan tokens in a business process system. The method may include a first business process system template being compared by computer to a second business process system template. The method may include predicting by computer at least one predicted orphan token that would be orphaned if the business process system is migrated to the second business process system template from the first business process system template. The method may include further generating by computer an orphan token policy file to manage orphan tokens, and modifying a migration file using the orphan token policy file.
US09256849B2 Apparatus and methods for evaluating a quality of a locate operation for underground utility
Methods and apparatus to evaluate a quality of a locate operation performed at a work site of proposed excavation following issuance of the instruction to a field-service technician. An input/output (I/O) interface receives an electronic manifest of the locate operation. The electronic manifest includes geographic information indicating a first location at which the electronic manifest was created. A distance is determined between the first location and a second location at which the locate operation was requested to be performed. One or more indications of a quality assessment of the locate operation are generated based on whether the distance is within or equal to a predefined range.
US09256840B2 Establishing business networks using a shared platform
The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and computer program products for establishing business networks based on shared usage of a common platform. One process includes receiving a set of registry data associated with a collaboration system from a first network participant executing a first application based on a first application platform. A request from a second network participant executing a second application on a compatible platform to the first application platform to access the set of registry data from the first network participant is received. Access is provided to the second network participant of a subset of data shared by the first network participant for collaboration. In some instances, providing access to the second network participant can include identifying a user associated with the second network participant to provide data access with the first network participant and assigning corresponding access authorizations to development entity instances associated with the identified user.
US09256839B2 Business object based navigation
In one embodiment the present invention relates to a method for navigating within a database containing business objects. The method includes the steps of providing a preconfigured model comprising preconfigured business object types and preconfigured associations of the business object types, identifying a reference to a business object instance within a software object and determining a primary business object type corresponding to the business object instance, providing links to at least one secondary business object type associated with the primary business object type in accordance with the preconfigured business model, and retrieving from the database at least one attribute of at least one business object instance within the secondary business object type associated to the primary business object type in accordance with the preconfigured model. In this manner, a user may more easily navigate the database.
US09256834B2 Quantum computers having partial interferometric quantum gates
A quantum computer may include topologically protected quantum gates and non-protected quantum gates, which may be applied to topological qubits. The non-protected quantum gates may be implemented with a partial interferometric device. The partial interferometric device may include a Fabry-Pérot double point contact interferometer configured to apply “partial” interferometry to a topological qubit.
US09256831B2 Match engine for detection of multi-pattern rules
Methods, systems and computer program products are disclosed for detecting patterns in a data stream that match multi-pattern rules. One embodiment of the invention provides a method of recognizing a specified group of patterns in a data stream. The method comprises identifying a rule for said specified group of patterns in the data stream, and using a first array of finite state machines to scan the data stream for at least some of the patterns in the specified group. For patterns in the specified group that are found in the data stream by the first array of finite state machines, pattern identifiers are sent to a second array of finite state machines. The second array of finite state machines determines if the specified group of patterns is in the data stream in accordance with the identified rule by, at least in part, using said pattern identifiers.
US09256830B2 Method and apparatus for identifying structural deformation
A method and apparatus for identifying deformation of a structure. Training deformation data is identified for each training case in a plurality of training cases. Training strain data is identified for each training case in the plurality of training cases. The training deformation data and the training strain data are configured for use by a heuristic model to increase an accuracy of output data generated by the heuristic model. A group of parameters for the heuristic model is adjusted using the training deformation data and the training strain data for the each training case in the plurality of training cases such that the heuristic model is trained to generate estimated deformation data for the structure based on input strain data. The estimated deformation data has a desired level of accuracy.
US09256828B2 Alarm correlation analysis method, apparatus and system
According to an alarm correlation analysis method, apparatus, and system, alarm analysis rules are grouped according to a certain policy; each alarm analysis rule group is correlated with one analysis engine, and the analysis engine performs, according to an alarm analysis rule in the alarm analysis rule group corresponding to the analysis engine, correlation analysis for an alarm that has a correlation with the alarm analysis rule group, so that multiple analysis engines implement concurrent analysis on a large quantity of alarms, thereby fully utilizing a multi-core resource, and improving efficiency of alarm correlation analysis.
US09256825B2 Emotion script generating, experiencing, and emotion interaction
An emotion script generating method includes receiving a user's emotion data, and generating emotion script using the emotion data based on a predefined template.
US09256815B1 Spectral print control based on specific spectral ranges of colorants
Certain methods and systems are described that allow the spectral control of a print output. A plurality of colorants are used where one or more colorants contain nanoparticles. Each colorants has a specified spectral range corresponding to the constituent nanoparticles. To print with these colorants a spectral separation may be used that maps an input color with associated spectral information or direct spectral information to print control data, the print control data having defined values for depositions with each combination of the colorants. The spectral separation may be constructed by characterizing a set of spectral Neugebauer primaries for the plurality of colorants.
US09256807B1 Generating labeled images
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for generating labeled images. One of the methods includes selecting a plurality of candidate videos from videos identified in a response to a search query derived from a label for an object category; selecting one or more initial frames from each of the candidate videos; detecting one or more initial images of objects in the object category in the initial frames; for each initial frame including an initial image of an object in the object category, tracking the object through surrounding frames to identify additional images of the object; and selecting one or more images from the one or more initial images and one or more additional images as database images of objects belonging to the object category.
US09256796B2 Terminal device, information processing device, object identifying method, program, and object identifying system
A device, apparatus, and method provide logic for processing information. In one implementation, a device may include an image acquisition unit configured to acquire an image, and a transmission unit configured to transmit information associated with the image to an information processing apparatus, such as a server. The server may be associated with a first feature quantity dictionary. The device also may include a receiving unit configured to receive a second feature quantity dictionary from the server in response to the transmission. The second feature quantity dictionary may include less information than the first feature quantity dictionary, and the server may generate the second feature quantity dictionary based on the image information and the first feature quantity dictionary. The device may include an identification unit configured to identify an object within the image using the second feature quantity dictionary.
US09256794B2 Systems and methods for face authentication or recognition using spectrally and/or temporally filtered flash illumination
A face authentication or recognition system embodiment includes a processing unit; a flash illumination drive circuit; a flash illumination unit having a flashlamp configured to generate a set of flash illumination pulses; a set of spectral filters configured to pass a set of spectrally filtered flash illumination pulses; a lens; an image sensor configured to receive a set of filtered flash illumination pulses reflected from a subject's face and generate a corresponding facial image dataset; and a memory or data storage device configured to store facial image datasets, enrollment datasets, and query datasets, and which includes a face authentication or recognition module. Spectrally filtered flash illumination pulses have an intensity at least approximately equal to the intensity of ambient sunlight, essentially regardless of an outdoor environment under consideration upon or proximate to the surface of the earth. Spectrally filtered flash illumination reflected from the subject's face can be readily distinguished from ambient light, regardless of the environment in which the subject's facial image was captured, providing surprisingly robust facial authentication and/or recognition performance essentially regardless of ambient lighting conditions.
US09256789B2 Estimating motion of an event captured using a digital video camera
An event aware video system (EAVS) is to capture video frames during a first time period and process events in the video frames before transferring the processed data to a central computing system. The EAVS may establish a present no-event frame from the video frames by marking the last frame as the present no-event frame if the difference between adjacent pair of video frames is less than a threshold value. The EAVS may establish an event frame, wherein a present frame captured after establishing the no-event frame is marked as the event frame if the difference between the present frame and a previous frame is greater than the threshold value. The EAVS may provide event information including motion vectors to a central computing system by performing one-dimensional search on a moving object of the event frame, wherein the motion vectors may represent displacement of objects moving within the moving object.
US09256785B2 Identifying user activities using eye tracking data, mouse events, and keystrokes
A computing device classifies user activities for a person interacting with a computer user interface using one or more user interface devices. The computing device receives eye tracking data for the person, which includes a sequence of fixations ordered temporally. Each fixation corresponds to a plurality of consecutive measured gaze points. Each fixation has a duration and location based on the corresponding gaze points. For each fixation, the computing device determines a plurality of features for the fixation, including characteristics of the fixation, context features based on preceding or subsequent fixations, and user interaction features based on information from the user interface devices during the fixation. The computing device assigns a user activity label to the fixation according to the features. The label is selected from a predefined set. The computing device then analyzes the fixations and their assigned user activity labels to make recommendations.
US09256780B1 Facilitating dynamic computations for performing intelligent body segmentations for enhanced gesture recognition on computing devices
A mechanism is described for facilitating intelligent detection of body segmentation for enhanced gesture recognition on computing devices according to one embodiment. A method of embodiments, as described herein, includes receiving an image, dividing the image into components representing regions of the image, determining orientation and a centroid relating to each component, facilitating generation of hypothesis cuts within hysteresis points, and calculating a first ratio based on an average width of the hypothesis cuts and a length of a first axis of a component. The method may further include segmenting the component at one of the hypothesis cuts to determine an intermediate cut of the component, if the first ratio is greater than a predetermined threshold. The method may further include iteratively segmenting the component to determine a final cut.
US09256775B1 Image recognition apparatus and commodity information processing apparatus
According to one embodiment, an image recognition apparatus includes an acquisition unit, an operation unit and a controller. The controller specifies a pattern area including the pattern from the image acquired by the acquisition unit, sets a pattern candidate area based on a position of a pattern area which failed to be specified, the position being accepted by the operation unit, re-sets a photography parameter for photographing the set pattern candidate area, acquires, through the acquisition unit, an image including the pattern candidate area photographed in accordance with the re-set photography parameter, specifies a pattern area from the acquired image including the pattern candidate area, and recognizes a pattern which the specified pattern area includes.
US09256767B2 Tracking system
An exemplary tracking device or system includes: a radio frequency identification (RFID) circuit disposed on a substrate; an encapsulation cap encapsulating the RFID circuit and substrate; and, an information bearing indicia (IBI) disposed on the encapsulation cap, the RFID circuit and IBI providing at least some similar information when read with a respective reading device.
US09256753B2 Method and apparatus for protecting regions of an electronic document
A method and apparatus for protecting regions of an electronic document are provided. According to the method, the entire electronic document is protected. The selection of a region within the electronic document is received along with identity of one or more users authorized to freely edit the selected region. The identified users are authorized to freely edit only the selected region of the electronic document. A request is then received to edit a region of the electronic document from a current user. In response to the request, a determination is made as to whether the current user is authorized to edit the region. If the user is not authorized to edit the region, the request is denied.
US09256750B2 Secure credential unlock using trusted execution environments
Computing devices utilizing trusted execution environments as virtual smart cards are designed to support expected credential recovery operations when a user credential, e.g., personal identification number (PIN), password, etc. has been forgotten or is unknown. A computing device generates a cryptographic key that is protected with a PIN unlock key (PUK) provided by an administrative entity. If the user PIN cannot be input to the computing device the PUK can be input to unlock the locked cryptographic key and thereby provide access to protected data. A computing device can also, or alternatively, generate a group of challenges and formulate responses thereto. The formulated responses are each used to secure a computing device cryptographic key. If the user PIN cannot be input to the computing device an entity may request a challenge. The computing device issues a challenge from the set of generated challenges. Upon receiving a valid response back, the computing device can unlock the secured computing device cryptographic key associated with the issued challenge and subsequently provide access to protected data.
US09256736B2 Method and system for monitoring webpage malicious attributes
A method for monitoring a malicious attribute of a webpage is disclosed. The method includes the following steps: acquiring webpage query requests submitted by a plurality of clients; crawling a webpage based on the webpage query requests and acquiring crawled webpage contents; counting up a referenced value of a URL based on the webpage contents; calling a predetermined detection program to detect a malicious attribute of the URL based on the a referenced value of the URL. The accuracy of detection can be improved by using the method for monitoring a malicious attribute of a webpage provided in the present disclosure. Furthermore, a system for monitoring a malicious attribute of a webpage is further disclosed.
US09256734B2 Security controlled multi-processor system
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for implementing a secure processing system having a first processor that is certified as a secure processor. The first processor only executes certified and/or secure code. An isolated second processor executes non-secure (e.g., non-certified) code within a sandbox. The boundaries of the sandbox are enforced (e.g., using a hardware boundary and/or encryption techniques) such that code executing within the sandbox cannot access secure elements of the secure processing system located outside the sandbox. The first processor manages the memory space and the applications that are permitted to run on the second processor.
US09256731B2 System, information processing apparatus, secure module, and verification method
A system includes a secure module structured to prevent information stored therein from being externally referenced; and an information processing apparatus configured to enable communication with the secure module. The information processing apparatus includes a first computer configured to execute a first verification process of verifying whether an application under execution by the information processing apparatus is in a secure state. The secure module includes a second computer, and a storage unit configured to store at least any one among a first feature amount obtained by extracting a feature of execution code of the first verification process, and execution code of an authentication process of authenticating the first verification process. The second computer is configured to execute a second verification process of verifying whether the first verification process under execution by the first computer is in a secure state, based on stored contents of the storage unit.
US09256730B2 Threat detection for return oriented programming
Techniques for detecting security exploits associated with return-oriented programming are described herein. For example, a computing device may determine that a retrieved count is indicative of malicious activity, such as return oriented programming. The computing device may retrieve the count from a processor performance counter of prediction mismatches, the prediction mismatches resulting from comparisons of a call stack of the computing device and of a shadow call stack maintained by a processor of the computing device. In response to determining that the count indicates malicious activity, the computing device may perform at least one security response action.
US09256724B2 Method and system for authorizing an action at a site
A method for authorizing a single action by a plurality of users at a site may include registering each of the users and at least one mobile communication device associated with that user with an authorization module, identifying the mobile communication device by a unique hardware identification number. The method may also include associating each of the users and the mobile communication device associated with that user with the site by the authorization module. The method may further include requesting each of the users to confirm the action by sending a confirmation request from the site to the mobile communication device associated with that user by the authorization module. The method may also include authorizing the action upon receiving confirmation from the mobile communication devices of all users that are required to authorize that action.
US09256721B2 Mobile wireless hand-held biometric capture, processing and communication system and method for biometric identification
A mobile, wireless biometric identification system includes a biometric capture device, associated software and processes which enable a commercially available wireless communication device, such as a smartphone, using a commercially established wireless communication networks, to capture a digital image of a human biometric (iris, fingerprint, etc.) for transmission via a secure connection to a central server. The capture device is designed to focus on the difficult task of capturing the highest possible quality image for encoding and comparison, while the overall system is designed to leverage the existing cellular communication network. At the server level, the server system receives the image, encodes the image to a biometric template, and compares the encoded template to a plurality of reference templates stored in a database to identify the individual. Identification data is then transmitted back to the smartphone device and displayed.
US09256711B2 Systems, computer medium and computer-implemented methods for providing health information to employees via augmented reality display
Provided are embodiments of systems, computer medium and computer-implemented methods for providing feedback of health information to an employee when the employee is engaged in their work duties. The method including receiving health data output by a set of health sensors provided on or near the employee when the employee is engaged in work duties. The health sensors comprising at least one of biometric and biomechanic sensors. The health data corresponding to biometric and/or biomechanic characteristics sensed by the set of health sensors. The method including processing the health data to identify health status information for the employee, and providing for display via an augmented reality display, augmented reality content including the health status information. The augmented reality display providing the employee with an augmented reality view including a real world view of a surrounding environment having the health status information for the employee overlaid thereon.
US09256709B2 Method for integrated circuit mask patterning
Provided is a method of transforming an integrated circuit (IC) pattern into one or more patterns suitable for subsequent processing, such as mask fabrication. The method includes receiving an IC pattern that has an arbitrary shape, and using a computer, deriving an approximation IC pattern, wherein the approximation IC pattern is in a shape that is a user-defined fabrication-friendly shape, such as a rectangle or an ellipse. The method further includes calculating a pattern approximation error between the IC pattern and the approximation IC pattern. The method further includes checking whether the pattern approximation error is less than a user-defined threshold. If it is, the method further includes outputting the approximation IC pattern for subsequent fabrication. Otherwise, the method further includes splitting the IC pattern into a plurality of subparts, and recursively transforming each of the plurality of subparts.
US09256706B2 Knowledge-based analog layout generator
A computer-implemented method for generating a layout of a design includes invoking the computer to receive a schematic representation of the design, generating a connection graph associated with the design, comparing the connection graph with a plurality of connection graphs stored in a database and selecting a layout associated with the matching connection graph in generating the layout of the design.
US09256705B2 Reducing repeater power
A method, system and computer-readable medium for reducing repeater power and crosstalk are provided. The method includes generating a model of a circuit including a plurality of original repeaters connected between at least one source and at least one sink, performing a power optimization analysis on the plurality of original repeaters to change the plurality of original repeaters to low-power repeaters based on predetermined optimization parameters, performing a crosstalk analysis on the model of the circuit including the low-power repeaters to determine whether a crosstalk timing violation exists, and changing at least one of the low-power repeaters to a higher-power repeater when it is determined that a crosstalk violation exists, and leaving the low-power repeaters in the model of the circuit when it is determined that a crosstalk violation does not exist.
US09256704B2 Efficient deployment of table lookup (TLU) in an enterprise-level scalable circuit simulation architecture
A method (and program) for conducting numerical analysis, includes defining a plurality of components in a system and a condition to be analyzed, performing a table look-up for components of the plurality of components, if a component of the plurality of components is defined in the table, acquiring a result for the condition to be analyzed based on the table information, and conducting the analysis of the system using the result based on the table information for the component.
US09256703B1 Method of detecting a scattering bar by simulation
A method of testing a scattering bar by simulation includes preparing an OPC mask model including a main pattern and a scattering bar pattern, forming a scattering bar OPC model by adjusting an image plane of the OPC mask model located at a middle portion of a photoresist layer to a top portion of the photoresist layer, simulating an exposure of the scattering bar OPC model, simulating a profile of the exposed scattering bar OPC model, and testing the simulated profile.
US09256695B1 Method and system for sharing content
A computer-implemented method, computer-readable medium and system for sharing information are disclosed. A user may associate at least one group with content uploaded to a content database. Each group may be associated with a different department within the business, a different task, a different concept, etc. A search for content may be limited to one or more of the groups, thereby increasing the relevance of the results returned to a user. Additionally, relevance of the search results may be increased by enabling users to flag content so that it is excluded from subsequent searches. Further, certain members may certify content, thereby enabling a user to conveniently determine if content is credible and/or respected by other members of the business.
US09256694B2 Named URL entry
Methods and systems allow users to enter natural language terms that describe a particular web site into an address field of a browser instead of a formal URL. The terms are evaluated to determine whether they correspond, with a high likelihood, to a particular web site. If so, this web site may be immediately accessed. If not, a list of search results based on the terms may be displayed by the browser.
US09256688B2 Ranking content items using predicted performance
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for ranking content items. In one aspect, a method includes identifying, for a content item, a bid value specifying an amount a content item provider is willing to pay for user interaction with the content item. A predicted performance measure is identified for the content item. The predicted performance measure is adjusted based on a weighting factor for the content item. The weighting factor for the content item is indicative of confidence that the predicted performance measure will match an actual performance measure for the content item and can be different than a weighting factor for another content item identified for inclusion in a ranking with the content item. A rank score is determined for the content item using the bid value and adjusted predicted performance measure. The content item is provided based on the rank score.
US09256683B2 Dynamic client interaction for search
A system for guiding a search for information is presented. The system comprises a user interface that accepts a phrase and receives at least one suggestion based at least in part on the phrase. The system also includes a phrase suggestion engine that matches the phrase with the at least one suggestion. Methods of using the system are also provided.
US09256680B2 Biasing search results toward topics of interest using embedded relevance links
Redirection (“biasing”) architecture that automates the selection of topical terms in a search query, and provides a user-selectable (e.g., clickable) interface which enables the user to quickly and easily re-formulate and execute a new query using terms that return more focused search results. The redirection of search by biasing the terms (strings) can also be performed by indicating that certain results are not interesting to the user. For example, one way using an existing search engine, is to apply a search operator (e.g., a hyphen) to indicate that certain terms must not occur in the search results (negation). Accordingly, by automatically selecting topical terms to negate, constructing a query, and embedding the negation in a link with each results page result, considerable manual and cognitive effort is saved.
US09256668B2 System and method of detecting common patterns within unstructured data elements retrieved from big data sources
A method for detection of common patterns within unstructured data elements. The method includes extracting a plurality of unstructured data elements retrieved from a plurality of big data sources; generating at least one signature for each of the plurality of unstructured data elements; identifying common patterns among the generated signatures; clustering the signatures identified to have common patterns; and correlating the generated clusters to identify associations between their respective identified common patterns.
US09256664B2 System and method for news events detection and visualization
Systems and methods are disclosed for news events detection and visualization. In accordance with one implementation, a method is provided for news events detection and visualization. The method includes, for example, obtaining a document, obtaining from the document a plurality of tokens, obtaining a document vector based on a plurality of frequencies associated with the plurality of tokens, obtaining one or more clusters of documents, each cluster associated with a plurality of documents and a cluster vector, determining a matching cluster from the one or more clusters based at least on the similarity between the document vector and the cluster vector of the matching cluster, and updating a database to associate the document with the matching cluster.
US09256660B2 Reconciliation protocol after ICR switchover during bulk sync
According to one embodiment, a method for performing reconciliation sync includes a first network device configured as an active inter-chassis redundancy (ICR) device in response to detecting a switchover request while performing a bulk sync transitioning to serving as the standby ICR device and performing a reconciliation sync while serving as the standby ICR device, the reconciliation sync comprises starting a transmission of session records that failed to be transmitted during the bulk sync to the second network device.According to one embodiment, a method for performing reconciliation sync includes a first network device configured as a standby ICR device receiving a plurality of session records from a second network device of the ICR system. The method further includes updating a global version number based on record version numbers of the received plurality of session records, and maintaining local session records based on the received plurality of session records.
US09256652B2 Systems and methods for combining media recommendations from multiple recommendation engines
Systems and methods are presented for combining media recommendations from multiple recommendation engines. In some embodiments, a recommendation system receives a first indication that a first media recommendation was generated by a first content provider, the first media recommendation being associated with a first media asset. The recommendation system receives a second indication that a second media recommendation was generated by a second content provider, and then determines whether the second media recommendation is associated with the first media asset. In response to determining that the second media recommendation is associated with the first media asset, the recommendation system generates a combined recommendation representing the first and second media recommendations.
US09256649B2 Method and system of filtering and recommending documents
Disclosed is a method and system for discovering documents using a computer and providing a small set of the most relevant documents to the attention of a human observer. Using the method, the computer obtains a seed document from the user and generates a seed document vector using term frequency-inverse corpus frequency weighting. A keyword index for a plurality of source documents can be compared with the weighted terms of the seed document vector. The comparison is then filtered to reduce the number of documents, which define an initial subset of the source documents. Initial subset vectors are generated and compared to the seed document vector to obtain a similarity value for each comparison. Based on the similarity value, the method then recommends one or more of the source documents.
US09256640B2 Streaming delay patterns in a streaming environment
The method and system receive streaming data to be processed by a plurality of processing elements comprising one or more stream operators. One embodiment is directed to a method and a system for managing processing in a streaming application. A stream operator may select a delay pattern. The stream operator may compare one or more performance factors from the delay pattern to one or more optimal performance factors. The stream operator may delay the stream of tuples using the delay pattern if the performance factors are determined by the optimal performance factors.
US09256639B2 Query optimization for SPARQL
The present invention relates to computer implemented methods and system for creating and executing an query plan for SPARQL Protocol And Query Language (SPARQL) queries. The methods and systems are designed to accept as input a query in SPARQL syntax, convert this query to semQA2 and generate a parse tree, perform filter pushdown, generate an efficient query plan potentially using a cost function, and execute this query plan against data sources complying to or modeled as Resource Description Framework (RDF). The result of these methods and of the systems implementing these methods is a set of triples contained in the data sources that comprise a solution of the SPARQL query provided.
US09256629B1 File system snapshots over thinly provisioned volume file in mapped mode
A data storage system includes storage devices and a processing subsystem executing software forming a lower-deck file system and an upper-deck file system. The lower-deck file system presents a volume file from which storage is provided to the upper-deck file system, and units of storage of the storage devices are allocable to the upper-deck file system but not reserved to it. The volume file is thinly provisioned, and additional units of storage are added dynamically to increase its allocated size in response to demand from the upper-deck file system. The lower-deck file system operates in a mapped mode in which a block address in the lower-deck file system is obtained by a generally arbitrary mapping (e.g., an Inode/IB tree) of a block address in the volume file.
US09256615B2 Personalized navigation information based on user behavior
A user device may be configured to receive information regarding a set of points of interest that have been determined based on behavior information associated with a user of the user device. The information regarding the set of points of interest may indicate geographical locations associated with one or more of the points of interest, of the set of points of interest. The user device may determine a present geographical location associated with the user device; compare the geographical locations associated with the one or more points of interest to the present geographical location associated with the user device; identify, based on the comparing, a particular point of interest, of the set of points of interest, that is within a particular distance of the present geographical location of the user device; and output, via a display device, information regarding the identified particular point of interest.
US09256614B1 File system snapshots over fully provisioned volume file in direct mode
A data storage system employs a multi-level stack including a lower-deck file system and an upper-deck file system providing a file system interface to a file system consumer. The lower-deck file system presents a volume file to provide storage to the upper-deck file system. Storage is reserved to the upper-deck file system, and the volume file is fully provisioned so an out-of-space condition is not presented to the upper-deck file system. In an initial direct operating mode a block address in the lower-deck file system is obtained by a calculation from a corresponding block address in the volume file. Snapshots of a primary volume file are created and stored in respective snapshot volume files. The lower-deck file system transitions into a mapped mode using generally arbitrary mappings of block addresses of the primary volume file and snapshot volume files to obtain corresponding block addresses in the lower-deck file system.
US09256607B2 Efficient file access in a large repository using a two-level cache
A two-level cache to facilitate resolving resource path expressions for a hierarchy of resources is described, which includes a system-wide shared cache and a session-level cache. The shared cache is organized as a hierarchy of hash tables that mirrors the structure of a repository hierarchy. A particular hash table in a shared cache includes information for the child resources of a particular resource. A database management system that manages a shared cache may control the amount of memory used by the cache by implementing a replacement policy for the cache based on one or more characteristics of the resources in the repository. The session-level cache is a single level cache in which information for target resources of resolved path expressions may be tracked. In the session-level cache, the resource information is associated with the entire path expression of the associated resource.
US09256606B2 Systems and methods of data storage management, such as dynamic data stream allocation
A system and method for choosing a stream to transfer data is described. In some cases, the system reviews running data storage operations and chooses a data stream based on the review. Additionally, the system pre-allocates disk space for data to be transferred.
US09256602B2 System and method for distributing and providing recommendations related to playable content to a user based on information extracted from one or more playback devices of the user
A system and method for distributing playable content and for recommending playable content to a user where the recommendations are generated at a wide area network content server considering information extracted from one or more playback devices of the user by means of an intelligent agent resident on a processing device. The intelligent agent functions to scan the memory devices associated with the processing device and/or other devices in communication with the processing device for the purpose of determining what playable content is resident on the memory devices so scanned. Data related to the playable content uncovered during a scan is uploaded to the wide area network content server where the data is usable by a recommendation engine to make more informed recommendations for that user.
US09256599B1 Programmatically receiving and storing transaction information in support of a database recovery engine
A system and method for restoring a database are described. The method may comprise requesting to begin receiving notifications of transactions that occur in the database. In response to the request, notifications of a plurality of transactions that occur in the database may be received, and information specifying the plurality of transactions may be stored. The method may further comprise receiving user input requesting to restore the database to a previous state. In response, the stored information may be retrieved, and a graphical user interface indicating the plurality of transactions specified by the stored information may be displayed. The method may further comprise receiving user input to the graphical user interface selecting a particular transaction of the plurality of transactions. In response, the database may be restored to a particular point in time relative to a time at which the particular transaction occurred.
US09256595B2 Calculating term similarity using a meta-model semantic network
In example embodiments, a technique is provided to determine the similarity between two terms. For example, example embodiments may store a meta-model semantic network that includes a first and second term. Further, both the first and second terms are respectively associated with model and meta-model information. A request to calculate a term similarity value is received. A term similarity value expresses a correlation between the first term and the second term. The term similarity value is then calculated based on a comparison of the model and the meta-model information associated with the first and second terms.
US09256592B1 System for detecting and correcting broken words
The positioning of elements of a broken word can be corrected by receiving an optical character recognition (OCR) conversion of a printed publication and identifying multiple parts of the broken word from the OCR conversion to place in a graphical user interface (GUI). The multiple parts can be placed in the GUI using original positioning data for the printed publication. A user can make a selection in the GUI indicating that multiple parts from the OCR conversion are of the broken word and can automatically adjust bounds of the multiple parts to form a corrected word.
US09256590B2 Formula and function generation and use in electronic spreadsheets
Spreadsheet formula and function creation and use with electronic computing devices are provided. When a user moves content (e.g., a spreadsheet cell) into a spreadsheet formula/function bar, a cell reference for the content may automatically be created and disposed in the formula/function bar, and if a user enters a math operation in a spreadsheet cell, corresponding operation sentence structure (syntax) may be automatically inserted into the formula/function bar. One or more formulas or functions may be automatically suggested as a user begins entering a formula/function. An always visible formula/function guide may be presented or displayed to provide helpful information on arguments/components of a formula/function, and help resources may be provided in a help resources interface with respect to application functionality and spreadsheet formulas/functions.
US09256588B1 Transferring content to a substantially similar location in a virtual notebook using a stylus enabled device
A device comprising a magnetic stylus, touch sensor, and reflective display provides new opportunities for content presentation and interaction. A user interface is configured to use input from the touch sensor, the stylus, and one or more magnetometers to modify content presented on the reflective display. This modification may include generating a virtual notebook comprising clippings of content.
US09256585B2 Non-transitory computer readable medium storing document creation support program, document creation support device, and document creation support method
Provided is a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a document creation support program causing a computer to function as a receiving unit that receives a defined text and edition process information having recorded therein an operation history when creating the defined text including a sentence associated with the operation, a revision range extraction unit that extracts, as a revision range, an operation history corresponding to a preset operation and a sentence associated with the operation history from the edition process information, a document feature quantity extraction unit that extracts first and second feature quantities, and a sentence example information search unit that searches for a sentence example associated with a sentence in sentence example information having a sentence example registered in advance in association with feature quantity information of the sentence example on the basis of information of the first and second feature quantities.
US09256583B2 Conversion of a presentation to Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA)
One embodiment of the present invention discloses a method, computer program product, and system for converting a Microsoft® PowerPoint® file to Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA). A document converter receiving a command from a client device to convert one or more PowerPoint slides to DITA, wherein the PowerPoint has been formatted for conversion to DITA. Starting with the first PowerPoint slide, metadata tags, PowerPoint slide and notes text, and file names of grouped images are compiled into a string parsed with DITA markup. If the next slide does not begin a new topic, then that slide's metadata tags, PowerPoint slide and notes text, and grouped image file names are compiled into a string parsed with DITA markup and appended to the previous slides string. If the next slide begins a new topic, then the string is exported to a DITA topic. This process is repeated throughout the PowerPoint presentation.
US09256578B2 Method and apparatus for measuring and recovering sparse signals
The invention provides two kinds of new compressive sensing technologies. In the first technical solution, there is proposed a permutation-based multi-dimensional sensing matrix and an iterative recovery algorithm with maximum likelihood (ML) local detection, which can fully exploit the digital nature of sparse signals. In the second technical solution, there is proposed a sparse measurement matrix which contains a permutation-based multi-dimensional measurement matrix, and an iterative recovery algorithm which fully utilizes the features of measurement symbols to design simple local recovery in each iteration. The second technical solution can achieve the linear decoding complexity and lower bound of sketch length empirically at the same time.
US09256573B2 Dynamic thread status retrieval using inter-thread communication
A circuit arrangement, method, and program product for dynamically providing a status of a hardware thread/hardware resource independent of the operation of the hardware thread/hardware resource using an inter-thread communication protocol. A master hardware thread may be configured to communicate status requests to associated slave hardware threads and/or hardware resources. Each slave hardware thread/hardware resource may be configured with hardware logic configured to automatically determine status information for the slave hardware thread/hardware resource and communicate a status response to the master hardware thread independent of the operation of the slave hardware thread/hardware resource.
US09256565B2 Central out of band management of field replaceable united of computing rack
A system for the management of rack-mounted field replaceable units (FRUs) that affords the enhanced availability and serviceability of FRUs provided by blade-based systems but in a manner that accommodates different types of FRUs (e.g., in relation to form factors, functionality, power and cooling requirements, and/or the like) installed within a rack or cabinet.
US09256562B1 Method and system for communication between a computing system and a device
Machine implemented method and system are provided. A processor for a computing device allocates an address range with an address to write to an intermediate storage location. The processor configures a device communicating with the computing device for writing information at the intermediate storage location and at a plurality of storage locations. The computing device sends the address for the intermediate storage location with data that needs to be written at one of the plurality of storage locations with an identifier identifying the one of the plurality of storage locations; and the device first writes the data at the intermediate storage location and then updates the one of the plurality of storage locations identified by the identifier.
US09256558B2 Direct memory access descriptor-based synchronization
A method includes processing descriptors to control a direct memory access (DMA) channel. The method includes synchronizing at least part of the processing, which includes processing a first descriptor of the descriptors to cause the execution to selectively pause based on a trigger value.
US09256557B2 Memory controller for selective rank or subrank access
A memory module having reduced access granularity. The memory module includes a substrate having signal lines thereon that form a control path and first and second data paths, and further includes first and second memory devices coupled in common to the control path and coupled respectively to the first and second data paths. The first and second memory devices include control circuitry to receive respective first and second memory access commands via the control path and to effect concurrent data transfer on the first and second data paths in response to the first and second memory access commands.
US09256556B2 RAM memory device capable of simultaneously accepting multiple accesses
A RAM memory device includes a selection unit that supplies the access reaching one of two interfaces to a RAM in one cycle of a clock signal in response to a control signal. The RAM memory device also includes a storage unit that stores another access that has reached the other of the two interfaces at least till the next cycle following the above-mentioned one cycle in response to the control signal. The selection unit supplies the above-mentioned another access from the storage unit to the RAM in or after the above-mentioned next cycle.
US09256552B2 Selective access to executable memory
In an embodiment, a data processing method comprises, in a computer executing a supervisor program: the supervisor program establishing a plurality of different memory access permissions comprising any combination of read, write, and execute permissions for one or more different regions of memory of a first domain; setting the memory access permissions of a first set of the regions of memory to execute only; in response to a request from a process to read or write a particular region of memory in the first set, performing one or more responsive actions that prevent the process from reading or modifying one or more instructions or one or more embedded immediate values of the particular region of memory. Embodiments provide selective access to executable memory.
US09256551B2 Embedded encryption/secure memory management unit for peripheral interface controller
In an embodiment, a peripheral interface controller may include an inline cryptographic engine which may encrypt data being sent over a peripheral interface and decrypt data received from the peripheral interface. The encryption may be transparent to the device connected to the peripheral interface that is receiving/supplying the data. In an embodiment, the peripheral interface controller is included in a system on a chip (SOC) that also includes a memory controller configured to couple to a memory. The memory may be mounted on the SOC in a chip-on-chip or package-on-package configuration. The unencrypted data may be stored in the memory for use by other parts of the SOC (e.g. processors, on-chip peripherals, etc.). The keys used for the encryption/decryption of data may remain within the SOC.
US09256550B2 Hybrid address translation
Embodiments of the invention relate to hybrid address translation. An aspect of the invention includes receiving a first address, the first address referencing a location in a first address space. The computer searches a segment lookaside buffer (SLB) for a SLB entry corresponding to the first address; the SLB entry comprising a type field and an address field and determines whether a value of the type field in the SLB entry indicates a hashed page table (HPT) search or a radix tree search. Based on determining that the value of the type field indicates the HPT search, a HPT is searched to determine a second address, the second address comprising a translation of the first address into a second address space; and based on determining that the value of the type field indicates the radix tree search, a radix tree is searched to determine the second address.
US09256545B2 Shared memory access using independent memory maps
A method includes defining a first mapping, which translates between logical addresses and physical storage locations in a memory with a first mapping unit size, for accessing the memory by a first processing unit. A second mapping is defined, which translates between the logical addresses and the physical storage locations with a second mapping unit size that is different from the first mapping unit size, for accessing the memory by a second processing unit. Data is exchanged between the first and second processing units via the memory, while accessing the memory by the first processing unit using the first mapping and by the second processing unit using the second mapping.
US09256544B2 Way preparation for accessing a cache
For a memory access at a processor, only a subset (less than all) of the ways of a cache associated with a memory address is prepared for access. The subset of ways is selected based on stored information indicating, for each memory access, which corresponding way of the cache was accessed. The subset of ways is selected and preparation of the subset of ways is initiated prior to the final determination as to which individual cache way in the subset is to be accessed.
US09256541B2 Dynamically adjusting the hardware stream prefetcher prefetch ahead distance
An apparatus for prefetching data for a processor is presented. The apparatus may include a memory, a first counter, a second counter, and a control circuit. The memory may include a table with at least one entry in which the at least one entry may include an expected address of a next memory access and a next address from which to fetch data, wherein the next address is an offset value different from the expected address. The at least one entry may also include a maximum limit for the offset value. The first counter may increment responsive to an address of a memory access matching the expected address. The second counter may increment responsive to the address of the memory access resulting in a cache miss. The control circuitry may be configured to increment the maximum value of the offset value dependent upon a value of the second counter.
US09256535B2 Conditional notification mechanism
The described embodiments comprise a computing device with a first processor core and a second processor core. In some embodiments, during operations, the first processor core receives, from the second processor core, an indication of a memory location and a flag. The first processor core then stores the flag in a first cache line in a cache in the first processor core and stores the indication of the memory location separately in a second cache line in the cache. Upon encountering a predetermined result when evaluating a condition for the indicated memory location, the first processor core updates the flag in the first cache line. Based on the update of the flag, the first processor core causes the second processor core to perform an operation.
US09256533B2 Adjustment of destage rate based on read and write response time requirements
A storage controller that includes a cache receives a command from a host, wherein a set of criteria corresponding to read and write response times for executing the command have to be satisfied. The storage controller determines ranks of a first type and ranks of a second type corresponding to a plurality of volumes coupled to the storage controller, wherein the command is to be executed with respect to the ranks of the first type. Destage rate corresponding to the ranks of the first type are adjusted to be less than a default destage rate corresponding to the ranks of the second type, wherein the set of criteria corresponding to the read and write response times for executing the command are satisfied.
US09256531B2 Memory system and SoC including linear addresss remapping logic
A system-on-chip is connected to a first memory device and a second memory device. The system-on-chip comprises a memory controller configured to control an interleaving access operation on the first and second memory devices. A modem processor is configured to provide an address for accessing the first or second memory devices. A linear address remapping logic is configured to remap an address received from the modem processor and to provide the remapped address to the memory controller. The memory controller performs a linear access operation on the first or second memory device in response to receiving the remapped address.
US09256525B2 Semiconductor memory device including a flag for selectively controlling erasing and writing of confidential information area
A semiconductor memory device includes a memory which comprises a confidential information area storing confidential information and a flag. A controller reads the flag from the memory when instructed to erase or write data in the confidential information area, determines whether the flag is set, erases or writes data in the confidential information area when the flag is clear, and abandons a process requested by an erase or write instruction when the flag is set. An authenticator uses data in the confidential information area to execute an operation for authentication. A management information area may store management information for associated pages. The flag may include a bit string and a complementary bit string to improve reliability of the flag. The confidential information area may store dummy data when the memory is used for uses other than an application with an authentication function, so no problem arises using a normal controller.
US09256519B2 Using linked data to determine package quality
Arrangements described herein relate to determining a quality of a software package. Via linked data, the software package can be linked to at least one test plan and a requirement collection. The software package can be executed in accordance with the test plan using at least one test case. At least one test result of the execution of the software package can be generated. A score can be assigned to the test result and a score can be assigned to the test based at least on the test result. Based at least on the scores assigned to the test result and the test case, a package quality score can be assigned to the software package.
US09256490B2 Storage apparatus, storage system, and data management method
The storage apparatus has a control unit that includes: an identification unit that is configured to determine that a first data element contained in the data is incorrect, when a first restoration calculation first data element, which is restored from the first data element using other data elements of the data excluding the first data element and a new redundancy code obtained from the data by a first calculation method, coincides with a second restoration calculation first data element, which is restored from the first data element using the other data elements and a new redundancy code obtained from the data by a second calculation method; and a restoration unit that is configured to correct the first data element in the storage devices that is determined to be incorrect by the identification unit, to either the first restoration calculation first data element or the second restoration calculation first data element.
US09256475B1 Method and system for handling ownership transfer in a virtualization environment
A method for handling storage in a virtualization environment including identifying a situation in which a storage controller ownership change is to occur for a virtual disk, identifying a candidate replacement owner for the virtual disk and transferring ownership of the virtual disk to the candidate replacement owner.
US09256473B1 Provision a virtual environment based on topology of virtual nodes, node dependencies and base node configuration information
A method for automatically provisioning a virtual computing environment comprising a plurality of virtual computing nodes includes provisioning a virtual base node using base configuration information that includes a base endpoint that identifies interconnectivity parameters required to communicate with the virtual base node, and storing the base endpoint in an endpoint registry. The method further includes determining that a virtual first node depends on the virtual base node, and receiving the base endpoint from the endpoint registry. Thereafter, the virtual first node is provisioned using the received base endpoint and first configuration information for the virtual first node.
US09256457B1 Interactive response system for hosted services
A system for providing an interactive response system for hosted services may include a processor and a memory. The processor may facilitate steps of receiving data streams from participant devices, such as devices participating in a multimedia conference, and transmitting, in response to receiving the data streams from the participant devices, the data streams to the other of the participant devices. The steps may further include receiving, from one of the participant devices, a request to initiate communication with an invitee device, processing the data streams to determine a language associated with the data streams, and providing, to the invitee device, a communication in the determined language. The communication provided to the invitee device may be an initial communication of an interactive response system, such as an interactive voice response system or an interactive messaging response system.
US09256447B2 Integrated application launching in heterogeneous cloud computing environment
Application programs delivered from one or more cloud computing systems (“clouds” or “CCSs”) are integrated into a desktop being delivered/hosted by another cloud (“primary” CCS). In one respect, the integration includes integration of controls for directly launching a separately hosted application program from a desktop hosted by the primary CCS, such as by selection of a start menu entry or activation of a “shortcut” icon that points to the application program. In another respect, a separately hosted application program is launched based on a user opening or accessing content (e.g. data file) that is specifically associated with the separately hosted application program but residing more locally, such as in the hosted desktop. In this aspect, the content is seamlessly redirected to the other cloud without requiring any direct network connectivity between the clouds.
US09256434B2 Generalized bit manipulation instructions for a computer processor
Methods of bit manipulation within a computer processor are disclosed. Improved flexibility in bit manipulation proves helpful in computing elementary functions critical to the performance of many programs and for other applications. In one embodiment, a unit of input data is shifted/rotated and multiple non-contiguous bit fields from the unit of input data are inserted in an output register. In another embodiment, one of two units of input data is optionally shifted or rotated, the two units of input data are partitioned into a plurality of bit fields, bitwise operations are performed on each bit field, and pairs of bit fields are combined with either an AND or an OR bitwise operation. Embodiments are also disclosed to simultaneously perform these processes on multiple units and pairs of units of input data in a Single Input, Multiple Data processing environment capable of performing logical operations on floating point data.
US09256424B1 Managing software configurations across different target software deployments
Techniques are described for recommending levels of configuration for a set of targets. According to one embodiment, an image advisor generates a set of software configuration classifications based on a set of attributes associated with a plurality of targets. The image advisor associates each respective software configuration classification in the set of software configuration classifications with one or more targets of the plurality of targets. Based on the set of software configuration classifications, the image advisor generates and provides a recommendation that identifies a recommended set of source components for one or more groups of targets in the plurality of targets. In another embodiment, the image advisor may provide a set of recommended software configuration levels that include a fewer number of software configuration levels than a set of current software configuration levels.
US09256423B2 Software product licensing based on a content space
A computer-implemented method for generating software license types, includes collecting, by a processor, a plurality of software product functions, creating, by the processor, a plurality of content space specification files that includes the plurality of software product functions, processing, by the processor, the plurality of content space specification files to generate a plurality of software license types and outputting, by the processor, the plurality of software license types.
US09256421B2 Method, device and terminal for improving running speed of application
The disclosure provides a method, a device and a terminal for improving the speed of an application relating to the computer field. The method may include collecting local data information corresponding to a missing-page interruption during execution of the application. The local data information may include a name of a file in which the local data is contained, an offset in the file and the size of the local data. The method may further include acquiring the local data corresponding to the local data information in response to receiving an instruction to improve the running speed of the application and loading the acquired local data. This may reduce the time spent by the application on accessing I/O operations. Thus, the running speed of the application may be improved by loading the acquired local data according to the local data information corresponding to the missing-page interruption while the application is running.
US09256419B2 Dynamic software updates
A method, and a corresponding system, for dynamically updating software while the software is running by automatically dividing a patch into a plurality of micro-updates using compiler analysis. The method includes providing the patch which includes updates to several variable units of the software, including functions, type definitions, and data stores. Next, an interference graph of the patch is generated by creating a node corresponding to each variable unit of the patch and creating connected components by adding edges connecting variable units having an impact expression with a non-zero intersection. The patch is divided into the micro-updates, where each micro-update corresponds to a connected component. The micro-updates are then applied to the software when the variable units of the micro-update are at a safepoint, and at least two of the micro-updates are applied at different times while the software is running.
US09256412B2 Scheduled and quarantined software deployment based on dependency analysis
A request to deploy a next version of a software component in a cloud environment is received. An analysis of a number of dependencies among software components of the cloud environment is received. Deployment of the next version of the component is scheduled based on the analysis. The next version of the software component is deployed in the cloud environment in accordance with the scheduled deployment. The next version of the software component is quarantined until a predefined criteria is satisfied. In one aspect, the predefined criteria is defined based on error rate of the next version of the software component. In a further aspect, the predefined criteria is defined based on received analysis among the components. Upon satisfying the predefined criteria, the next version of the software component is released from the quarantine.
US09256409B2 Building reusable function summaries for frequently visited methods to optimize data-flow analysis
A method includes inspecting function summaries generated during a static analysis of a program and identifying a set of function summaries for a same method that have structural similarities. The method includes replacing the set of structurally similar summaries with a coarse summary. The method further includes using the coarse summary in subsequent static analysis operations. Apparatus and program products are also disclosed.
US09256408B2 Optimizing texture commands for graphics processing unit
Aspects of this disclosure relate to a method of compiling high-level software instructions to generate low-level software instructions. In an example, the method includes identifying, with a computing device, a set of high-level (HL) control flow (CF) instructions having one or more associated texture load instructions, wherein the set of HL CF instructions comprises one or more branches. The method also includes converting, with the computing device, the identified set of HL CF instructions to low-level (LL) instructions having a predicate structure. The method also includes outputting the converted (LL) instructions having the predicate structure.
US09256403B2 Unified flow designer
An interface enables a user to select a graphical object to include in a flow. The graphical object is associated with code, and this code may relate to presenting digital content. The interface further allows a user to define a graphical relationship in the flow, such as a connection between the graphical object and another element of the flow. The interface may present the flow in a first area of a display and the digital content in a second area of the display. The code may be executed based on the graphical relationship. For example, the graphical relationship may indicate an order for executing code sections associated with the flow and data exchanged within the code sections.
US09256399B2 Breaking program execution on events
Systems and methods for breaking program execution on events are described. One of the systems includes an event subsystem for receiving the signaling events generated by one or more associated peripheral devices. The system also includes a command module which is coupled between the event subsystem and a debug module, the command module receives the signaling events from the event subsystem and in response generates break commands. The debug module of the system receives the break commands from the command module and, in response, interrupts the execution of a program of a controller.
US09256395B1 Previewing audio data associated with an item
Systems and methods are provided for previewing audio data associated with an audio book or other item. In some embodiments, following capture by a mobile computing device of an image of a graphical code included on packaging associated with an audio book, a request may be received from the mobile computing device for audio data and/or other data associated with the audio book. The request may include a uniform resource identifier generated using the graphical code from the image captured by the mobile computing device. In response to receiving the request, audio data associated with the audio book may be retrieved from a data store. The retrieved audio data may then be sent to the mobile computing device for playback by the mobile computing device.
US09256393B2 Method for remote desktop control by remote host input devices
A system for establishing a remote desktop connection between a client projector and a host computer, the client projector and the host computer being connected by a network. A private remote desktop service virtual channel is established between the host computer and the client projector. In the client projector, a processor initiates a remote desktop connection process, and completes a remote desktop connection to the host computer. The client projector receives keyboard and mouse events from the host computer across the private remote desktop service virtual channel. The keyboard or mouse events received by the client projector are injected into an operating system of the client projector. They are interpreted by a client application remote desktop connection as a valid input device event, and forwarded to the host computer to actuate a graphical user interface of a remote desktop session.