最新美国发明专利
Document Document Title
US09282446B2 Location-aware content and location-based advertising with a mobile device
Many mobile devices such as smart phones can generate content ranging from text and audio, to images and videos that are taken with their cameras. These devices are also equipped with wireless radios and magnetometers that can be used to obtain position and orientation information. It is possible to allow the user of the mobile phone to add the position and orientation information of the mobile and date/time to the content that the mobile generates. Thus, emails, Short Message Service (SMS) messages, blog entries, audio recordings, and pictures/video that are generated with the mobile can be geotagged with the mobile's position and orientation, as well as the date and time. This information can then be used by a location-based contextual advertising server to provide more relevant on-line ads.
US09282440B2 Wireless communication device, program, and communication control method
There is provided a wireless communication device including a wireless communication section which receives, in a group for wireless communication, information indicating a state of content use or provision by another device in the group, a calculation section which calculates, based on the received information, a number of devices operating a function of providing the content in the group and a number of devices operating a function of using the content in the group, and a judgment section which judges whether to change a topology of the group based on a relationship between the number of devices operating the function of providing the content and the number of devices operating the function of using the content and on states of content provision and use by a device operating as a master unit in the group.
US09282438B2 Group call management
A method of setting up a call group for participation in a group call by a number of mobile devices in a mobile telecommunications network. The mobile telecommunications network includes a serving node in communication with the mobile devices. The method includes the serving node receiving data indicative of a group identifier from a given mobile device registered with the mobile telecommunications network. The method also includes defining a group call area using the received group identifier, and the serving node discriminating one call group registered with the telecommunications network from another call group registered with the telecommunications network based upon the defined group call area.
US09282436B2 Method and system for adaptive location determination for mobile device
An example method includes connecting to a call center by a user equipment (UE) device via a voice call and receiving a request for a current location. The device is determined to be in an outdoor environment if the signal strength of satellite signals used by a global positioning system (GPS) is greater than a threshold. The device is determined to be in an indoor environment if a beacon signal strength is greater than a further threshold. If the device is in an outdoor environment, the current location is determined using a standalone or assisted GPS method. If the device is in an indoor environment, the current location is the known location of the beacon or an assisted GPS method. If neither the signal strength of the satellite signals nor the signal strength of the beacon exceeds its respective threshold, the current location is determined as a last stored location.
US09282431B2 Location-aware caching in a balloon network
Methods and systems are disclosed herein that may help to provide location-aware caching and/or location-specific service profiles in a balloon network. An exemplary method may be carried out by a balloon that is at a location associated with the first geographic area in a balloon network that includes a plurality of defined geographic areas, and may involve: (a) determining that a location-aware cache of a balloon should be updated with user-data associated with the first geographic area; and (b) in response to determining that the location-aware cache should be updated: (i) sending a location-aware cache-update request; (ii) receiving, as a response to the location-aware cache-update request, user-data that corresponds to the first geographic area; and (iii) storing the user-data that corresponds to the first geographic area in a location-aware cache of the balloon.
US09282412B2 Seal-quality estimation for a seal for an ear canal
Measurements of body sounds in the ear canal may be used for many applications. However, reliability is dependent on the ear canal being properly sealed to allow the body sounds to achieve a detectable level. An apparatus is therefore provided for determining a seal quality indication for a seal of an ear canal. An ear canal microphone (201) provides a microphone signal to an input (203) which is coupled to a circuit (205) for generating a first signal from the microphone signal. The first signal may be the same as the microphone signal. A circuit (209) then determines the seal quality in response to the frequency spectrum for the first signal. A frequency transformer (207) may perform a frequency transformation on the first signal to generate a frequency spectrum for the first signal and. The seal quality indication may specifically be generated based on a detection of a low frequency boost.
US09282411B2 Beamforming in hearing aids
A hearing aid system includes a first microphone and a second microphone for provision of electrical input signals, a beamformer for provision of a first audio signal based at least in part on the electrical input signals, the first audio signal having a directional spatial characteristic, wherein the beamformer is configured to provide a second audio signal based at least in part on the electrical input signals, the second audio signal having a spatial characteristic that is different from the directional spatial characteristic of the first audio signal, and a mixer configured for mixing the first audio signal and the second audio signal in order to provide an output signal to be heard by a user.
US09282408B2 Processing method and processing apparatus for stereo audio output enhancement
A processing method and processing apparatus suitable for stereo audio output enhancement. The processing apparatus can include an input portion configurable to receive a set of input signals, an intermediate portion coupled to the input portion and an output portion coupled to the intermediate portion. The input portion can be configured to produce processed input signals based on the set of input signals. The intermediate portion can be configured to produce a compensated signal based on the processed input signals. The intermediate portion can also be configured to produce a first mixed signal and a second mixed signal based on the set of input signals and at least a portion of the compensated signal. The output portion can be configured to produce a set of output signals based on the first and second mixed signals.
US09282403B1 User perceived gapless playback
A computing system for selecting and providing content items to a device. The device is configured to output a first content item to a user and to detect events related to the output of the first content item and, in response, to provide a notification to a cloud service related to the event. The device is further configured to receive at least a second content item from the cloud services and to buffer the second content item while outputting the first content item.
US09282378B2 Credit-based television commercial system
Various arrangements are provided for earning and using credit. Via one or more tuners, a first commercial may be received and stored, wherein the first commercial comprises video and audio. The commercial may be output for presentation for viewing by a user of the television receiver system, wherein the first commercial is associated with a first predefined amount of credit. It may then be confirmed that the first commercial has been viewed by the user. In response to confirming that the first commercial has been viewed by the user, an account of the user may be credited with the first predefined amount of credit. This credit may be used for viewing other content, such as pay-per-view (PPV) content, services, and/or products.
US09282376B2 System and method for displaying and searching multimedia events scheduling information
Disclosed are computer implemented methods, systems, and non-transitory media for representing a plurality of time-bounded events in first and second grids. The first grid has a larger size than the second grid. The second grid represents a second set of time-bounded events in the plurality of time-bounded events. A user-movable window is presented at a first position within the second grid where it encompasses a first portion of the second grid. The time-bounded events in the first portion of the second grid are displayed as a first set of time-bounded events in the first grid. Responsive to user instructions to move a position of the window from the first position to a second position within the second grid, the window is moved to the second position where it encompasses a third set of time-bounded events. Further, the first grid is updated to display the third set of time-bounded events.
US09282371B2 Systems, methods, and media for managing an entertainment system
Systems, methods, and media for managing an entertainment system are provided. In some implementations, systems for managing an entertainment system are provided, the systems comprising: at least one hardware processor configured to: detect a first instruction; select a component of the entertainment system; determine a first state of the component; store an indication of the first state; detect a second instruction; retrieve the indication of the first state; generate a third instruction based on the indication of the first state; and transmit the third instruction to the component of the entertainment system.
US09282364B2 Systems and methods for enabling simultaneous second screen video segment replay during ongoing primary screen programming
Flat panel video display can wirelessly broadcast its identity for discovery to users of handheld devices (e.g., smartphones) interested in obtaining recorded data associated with video programming displaying on the flat panel video display. Data can also include text, audio, and identifying information needed to access related data from a remote server. An application can be downloaded and activated on smartphones that will enable it to see a list of available (discoverable) flat panel displays that allow wireless access to recorded video data associated with programming being displayed (or previously displayed and stored in a queue) on a flat panel. A flat panel of interest can be selected by the smartphone and it can access additional data (either directly from the flat panel or from a remote server once the data has been identified) and/or engage in an interactive session in association with the displayed programming or data.
US09282357B2 Media processing methods and arrangements
The present technology concerns cell phones and other portable devices, and more particularly concerns use of such devices in connection with media content (electronic and physical) and with other systems (e.g., televisions, digital video recorders, and electronic program directories). In certain arrangements, identification of audio or visual content to which the user is being exposed is determined—in part—using information about one or more other people who are known to be present with the user. Information about the user's current location, or about the user's previous activities, can also be used in inferring the identity of content to which the user is currently being exposed. A great number of other features and arrangements are also detailed.
US09282351B2 Content delivery apparatus, content delivery method, and transmitting server
The delivery of content is performed over a cable network with a high capacity, and data for control is exchanged over an IP network. A VoD channel is allocated to a bandwidth of a cable network (1) which is divided for every region beforehand, and thus the VoD channel is dynamically allocated in response to the demand for VoD streaming from an end device (11). A head end includes a broadcasting server (2), a control information server (3), a VOD server (4), a regional page server (5), and a multiplexer (6). The control information server (3) broadcasts or sends DVB-SI used to form information for enabling selection of a program, or AIT for control of a browser page. The end device (11) exchanges data for obtaining content and data for stream reproduction control with the head end over the Internet (17).
US09282342B2 Motion picture encoding apparatus and method thereof
Provided is a video encoding apparatus, including a signal separator to separate a differential image block into a first domain and a second domain, based on a boundary line included in the differential image block, the differential image block indicating a difference between an original image and a prediction image with respect to the original image, a transform encoder to perform a transform encoding with respect to the first domain using a discrete cosine transform (DCT), a quantization unit to quantize an output of the transform encoding unit in a frequency domain, a space domain quantization unit to quantize the second domain in a space domain, and an entropy encoder to perform an entropy encoding using outputs of the quantization unit and the space domain quantization unit.
US09282337B2 Media source device with digital format conversion and methods for use therewith
A media source device includes media files in either original source format or in alternative digital formats, based on a content descriptor indicated by a client device from a plurality of content descriptors generated to represent possible transcodings of the source format. In the alternative, a media source device can receive a client device report and subsequent request for a media file. The media source device can send the media file to the client device in a particular digital format based on whether the content descriptor corresponding to the media file is compatible or incompatible with the client device. The bit rate used to send the media file to the client device can be adjusted based on the available transmit bit rate.
US09282333B2 Methods and systems for masking multimedia data
Several methods and systems for masking multimedia data are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method for masking includes performing a prediction for at least one multimedia data block based on a prediction mode of a plurality of prediction modes. The at least one multimedia data block is associated with a region of interest (ROI). A residual multimedia data associated with the at least one multimedia data block is generated based on the prediction. A quantization of the residual multimedia data is performed based on a quantization parameter (QP) value. The QP value is variable such that varying the QP value controls a degree of masking of the ROI.
US09282332B2 Video encoding apparatus and video decoding apparatus
A video encoding apparatus includes: a reference vector deriving unit to derive as a reference vector a vector used when encoding a block that is near a block to be encoded and is included in a region where a field picture to be encoded is subjected to encode; a scaling unit to scale the reference vector based on a temporal distance between the field picture and a first encoded field picture specified by the reference vector and a temporal distance between the field picture and a second encoded field picture specified by a reference index and referenced by the block to be encoded in the field picture to generate a motion prediction vector; and a motion prediction vector correction unit to correct the motion prediction vector using a parity of the field picture, a parity of the first encoded field picture, and a parity of the second encoded field picture.
US09282325B2 Compact system for presenting wide field object target to test optic or system
Apparatus for evaluating optical components and systems that uses a precision compact mirror support structure to present to an optical system or electro-optical system (e.g., a camera) multiple images of at least one optical evaluation target over a wide field to allow assessment of the performance or alignment of the optical or electro-optical system over its intended field of use. The mirror support structure generates multiple images of an optical evaluation target by providing multiple folded optical paths between the target and the desired field locations of the test optic. The mirrors employed may either be parallel or at angles with respect to one another.
US09282315B2 Digital broadcast receiving method providing two-dimensional image and 3D image integration service, and digital broadcast receiving device using the same
Digital broadcast receiving method comprising receiving base and additional view video streams and stereoscopic characteristics information. The method comprising identifying a virtual channel carrying a 3D broadcast service delivering additional and base view video streams encoded using different codecs using a service type field, wherein the service type field is included in a TVCT of a PSIP in an ATSC-type digital broadcast and identifying a codec type of each of the base and the additional view video streams using a stream type field included in a PMT, wherein the stream type field is related to each of the base and the additional view video streams, and wherein a value of the stream type field indicates the codec type of each of the base and the additional view video streams. The method also comprising processing base and additional view video streams for supporting the 3D broadcast service using the TVCT.
US09282314B2 Stereoscopic video processing with separable 2D filter
A two-dimensional filter operates in accordance with a three-dimensional television signal having a basic layer, a reference processing unit layer and an enhancement layer. The two-dimensional filter generates a processed base layer reference picture from a base layer reference picture via a one-dimensional horizontal filter that horizontally filters the base layer reference picture to generate a first filtered base layer reference picture and a one-dimensional vertical filter, coupled to, but separable from, the one-dimensional horizontal filter, that vertically filters the first filtered base layer reference picture to generate a pre-processed base layer reference picture.
US09282300B2 Projector and control method
A projector includes a screen having a periodic array of color stripes for producing visible light depending on incident light, a light source that remits a light beam, a projection unit that scans an area of the screen where the color stripes are disposed, with the light beam in a direction across the color stripes, to display an image on the screen, a detector that detects the visible light from each of the color stripes as a feedback light pulse, and a controller that adjusts a start-of-emission timing of the light source based on a start-of-detection timing at which the feedback light pulse is detected by the detector and a detection period during which the feedback light pulse is detected by the detector, and controlling the light source to emit the light beam in order to apply light pulses to the color stripes within boundaries thereof.
US09282297B2 Video delivery systems using wireless cameras
Systems, apparatuses, and techniques for video delivery can include one or more of the following: a wireless camera arranged in a wearable form factor comprising a battery to provide energy, and configured to generate a video feed, and a base station in wireless communication with the wireless camera and configured to receive the video feed from the wireless camera and process the video feed, and a video portal device communicatively coupled with the base station and configured to receive the processed video feed from the base station and deliver at least a portion of the processed video feed to one or more remote clients. A base station can reserve a wireless channel for the wireless camera for a video transmission.
US09282294B2 Integrated system for media playback during startup
A system and method are provided for playing a media stream while a media system starts up. Media hardware, such as a display controller, may play media. A media driver may initialize the media hardware. A media module may receive the media stream from a media source. The media module and the display driver may start up before startup of the media system completes. The media module may provide the media stream directly or indirectly to the media hardware before and after startup of the media system completes without an interruption in playing of the media stream.
US09282286B2 Participating in an online meeting while driving
A technique enables a user to participate in an online meeting. The technique involves receiving, by processing circuitry of a vehicle, a join instruction to join the online meeting. The technique further involves performing, by the processing circuitry of the vehicle, a communications exchange with a remote online meeting server in response to the join instruction, the communications exchange establishing an online meeting session with the remote online meeting server to join the processing circuitry of the vehicle to the online meeting. The technique further involves outputting, after the online meeting session is established and by the processing circuitry of the vehicle, video of the online meeting on a display screen which is integrated with the vehicle. Along these lines, the display screen can output a static image while the vehicle is moving and moving video while the vehicle is not moving (e.g., parked).
US09282285B2 Providing user video having a virtual curtain to an online conference
A technique provides user video to an online conference. The technique involves receiving a live user video signal from a camera device. The live user video signal defines a field of view. The technique further involves automatically identifying live initial content of a presentation region within the field of view and live initial content of a privacy region (e.g., a background region) within the field of view. The technique further involves generating, as the user video signal to the online conference, a modified user video signal based on the live user video signal. The modified video signal includes (i) the live initial content of the presentation region within the field of view and (ii) modified video content in place of the live initial content of the privacy region within the field of view. Such operation effectively forms a virtual curtain in which anything in the background is hidden.
US09282283B2 Detecting patterns traced on a screen of a user device
A user terminal comprising: a network interface; a touchscreen configured to receive a pattern traced by a user; a first camera configured to capture images, wherein the user terminal is configured to transmit said captured images from the first camera to at least one further user terminal via the network interface as part of a video call; a second camera; a memory configured to store information relating to at least one pattern; a detection module configured to detect, using said stored information, one of said at least one pattern traced on an area of the touchscreen of said user terminal; and a control module configured to, in response to the detection by the detection module, switch from the first camera to the second camera so as to capture images using the second camera, the control module causing the said captured images from the second camera to be transmitted via the network interface to said at least one further user device.
US09282279B2 Quality enhancement in multimedia capturing
A method for controlling capturing of multimedia content, the method comprising: capturing multimedia content by an apparatus, said multimedia content comprising at least an audio signal and a video signal; obtaining control information based on at least either of said audio signal or video signal; controlling pre-processing of the audio signal based on the control information obtained from the video signal; and/or controlling pre-processing of the video signal based on the control information obtained from the audio signal.
US09282277B2 Storage device and controller to selectively activate a storage media
In a particular embodiment, a system includes a controller adapted to determine a data transfer rate associated with at least one data stream to be written to a storage media and to selectively activate at least one of a first memory and a second memory based on the data transfer rate to record the at least one data stream.
US09282275B2 Television and electronic apparatus
According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a housing, a heat sink in the housing, a heat pipe including a curved portion toward the heat sink, and a fan including a cutout portion accommodating the curved portion.
US09282267B2 Solid-state imaging device and camera
The solid-state imaging device includes a D/A converting circuit generating a reference voltage to be used for an A/D conversion. The D/A converting circuit includes: a voltage generating circuit generating an analog voltage according to a digital signal; a buffer circuit (a resistor ladder upper voltage supplying buffer circuit) which buffers the generated analog voltage, the buffer circuit sampling and holding a bias voltage generated inside the buffer circuit, and outputting the buffered analog voltage using the held bias voltage; an analog signal outputting unit (a resistor ladder unit) outputting the reference voltage according to the inputted digital signal, by receiving an output from the buffer circuit; and a pre-charge amplifier which charges a noise-reducing capacitor in conjunction with the sampling and holding by the buffer circuit, the noise-reducing capacitor being connected to the analog signal outputting unit.
US09282265B2 Camera devices and systems based on a single image sensor and methods for manufacturing the same
A camera device includes a single imaging sensor, a plurality of imaging objectives associated with the single imaging sensor, and a plurality of dedicated image areas within the single imaging sensor, each of the plurality of dedicated image areas corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of imaging objectives, such that images formed by each of the plurality of imaging objectives may be recorded by the single imaging sensor.
US09282260B2 Visualizing polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons within the near infrared spectrum
Microscopy techniques may be used to visualize polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons where an optical microscope is combined with an imaging device. The combination of these devices allows for images to be produced when visualized in the near infrared spectrum, such as a wavelength ranging from about 700 nm to about 2500 nm to be passed through the optical microscope.
US09282258B2 Active microwave device and detection method
Disclosed herein is a method and system for detecting potentially hazardous and/or explosive material concealed under clothing or in luggage. Through the emission, reflection, and reception of microwave radiation, a 3D image of a targeted area can be constructed. The image will show the outline of a moving person as well as any dielectric objects potentially hidden on their body. By measuring phases and amplitudes of microwaves reflected off a dielectric object, the optical path of the microwave through a hidden object can be determined, thus allowing for the creation of a 3D microwave image of a targeted area. Several emitters and receivers can be utilized at once, and video imaging can also be superimposed over the microwave image for improved detection accuracy. The invention has security and safety applications across the nation, particularly in areas of mass transit and large public events.
US09282257B2 Image apparatus and imaging method
An imaging apparatus includes an imaging element, a correction value calculating unit, and a correction unit. The imaging element images an object through a photographing lens to generate an image signal. The correction value calculating unit calculates correction values for a plurality of frequency components of the image signal, the correction values corresponding to an aperture value acquired when the object is imaged through the photographing lens. The correction unit corrects frequency characteristics of the plurality of frequency components in accordance with the correction values calculated.
US09282253B2 System and method for multiple-frame based super resolution interpolation for digital cameras
A digital camera system for super resolution image processing constructed to receive a plurality of input frames and output at least one digitally zoomed frame is provided. The digital camera system includes a motion registration module configured to generate motion information associated with the plurality of input frames, an interpolation module configured to generate a plurality of interpolated input frames based at least in part on the plurality of input frames and the motion information, a weights calculation module configured to calculate one or more weights associated with the plurality of input frames based on at least the motion information, and a weighted merging module configured to merge the plurality interpolated input frames consistent with the one or more weights to generate the at least one digitally zoomed frame.
US09282250B2 Photography apparatus, control method, program, and information processing device
A photography apparatus includes: an imaging unit configured to image a subject and acquire photographed image data; a display unit configured to perform an image display; and a control unit; wherein the control unit executes reading processing for reading out, from a storage medium which stores template information arranged to fit and display photographed image data imaged by the imaging unit into a target region within display screen data according to a predetermined display format, the template information, wherein instruction information for instructing what sort of image should be photographed as the photographed image data to be fit and displayed in the target region is correlated therewith, and instruction information display control processing for controlling the display unit so as to display the instruction information in a correlated manner with the target region, in accordance with the template information.
US09282246B2 Blur correction apparatus and image capture apparatus
Upon detecting the start of a panning operation, an adder-subtractor applies an offset from an offset change circuit to the output of an HPF (High-Pass Filter) representing the shake amount of an image capturing apparatus to decrease the shake amount. The offset value is set to be larger as the value of shake correction data output from a focal length calculation circuit is closer to the correction limit of a blur correction circuit. Upon detecting the end of the panning operation, the offset value is returned to zero. This invention provides a blur correction apparatus capable of suppressing degradation of a blur correction effect even when in a panning state.
US09282239B2 Apparatus and method for photographing portrait in portable terminal having camera
A method for photographing a portrait in an apparatus having a camera is provided. The method includes detecting a person in an image obtained by a camera in a photographing mode, determining occurrence of an error by identifying whether the detected person is located in a subject recognition area, generating an error warning including direction information so that the person moves into the subject recognition area if at least a portion of the person is out of the subject recognition area based on the determining of the occurrence of the error, and storing an image output by the camera if the person is located in the subject recognition area based on the determining of the occurrence of the error.
US09282236B2 Imaging apparatus, imaging method and imaging system
An imaging apparatus that performs focus control includes a signal conversion processing part that converts a subject image into a video signal, an image acquisition part that acquires the video signal output from the signal conversion processing part, a focusing area setting part that sets a focusing area as an evaluation value calculation area on an imaging screen acquired by the image acquisition part, an effective range selection part that obtains effective code density in an image of the focusing area with respect to each lens position while moving the lens and determines whether or not the lens position is in an effective range suitable for focusing based on the effective code density, and a focusing degree calculation part that obtains a focusing degree in the lens position when a determination that the lens position is located in the effective range is made in the effective range selection part.
US09282234B2 Focus adjustment apparatus and method, and image capturing apparatus
A focus adjustment apparatus comprises: a focus adjustment unit configured to execute focus adjustment processing by driving a focus lens based on focus evaluation values calculated respectively for periodically sensed images while scanning the focus lens within a predetermined scan range; a first processing unit configured to execute processing, an operation of which is affected by driving of the focus lens; a second processing unit configured to execute processing, an operation of which is not affected by driving of the focus lens; a determination unit configured to determine a start position of the scan range; and a control unit configured to control the first processing unit to execute the processing before the focus lens is scanned to the start position, and controls the second processing unit to execute the processing during the scan of the focus lens to the start position.
US09282233B2 Information registration system, information registration method, registration apparatus, and image pickup apparatus
A registration apparatus obtains, from an image pickup apparatus, identification information set in a lens apparatus that is attached to the image pickup apparatus. The registration apparatus pre-stores lens information including information that identifies the models of lens apparatuses and corresponding correction information, such that the lens information can be referenced by identification information. The registration apparatus displays a list of the stored lens apparatus models in a confirmation window such that the models of lens apparatuses corresponding to obtained identification information can be distinguished from the models of other lens apparatuses.
US09282230B2 Automatic tracking camera system
An automatic tracking camera system includes: an image pickup unit; a driving unit for rotating the image pickup unit in panning or tilting direction; a signal receiver for receiving an object information signal; an image signal processor for recognizing an object in an image and detecting motion of the object in the image; a controller for controlling the image pickup unit, the driving unit, and the image signal processor; and a memory for storing, for each passageway, standby positions at which the image signal processor detects the object. The controller calculates an approaching passageway and angle of the object; selects a corresponding standby position from the standby positions stored in the memory; drives the driving unit and a lens apparatus to the standby position; and controls, when the image signal processor recognizes the object, the driving unit and the lens apparatus to automatically track the object based on detected information.
US09282222B1 Electronic devices with side viewing capability
An electronic device can utilize one or more image capture elements on the sides or edges of the device to capture image information in a way that is more discrete than for conventional devices with a single camera on a back of the device. Further, the ability to utilize cameras on multiple sides of the device provides enhanced capability. Devices can utilize information such as the current orientation of a device to select one or more appropriate image capture elements to activate at a given time. The image information can be used to provide information about the user's surroundings, such as the names of people in a meeting, without making it obvious that the user is trying to determine that information.
US09282216B2 Steganographic encoding and decoding
This patent document relates generally to steganography and digital watermarking. One claim recites, a method of encoding auxiliary information in an image or video. The method includes: determining a watermark tweak for an attribute of an image or video sample to encode auxiliary information in the image or video; and altering color values of the image or video sample to effect the watermark tweak, said altering alters color values based at least in part on both: i) visibility of color value alterations, and ii) anticipated watermark detection. Of course, other claims are provided too.
US09282200B2 Methods for dynamic stylization and size editing of fonts associated with images and theme-based graphics arranged in a layout viewed through an electronic interface
A system for working with image and or text-based projects includes a server having access to a processor and a data repository, the server including a non-transitory physical medium and software running from the non-transitory physical medium, the software providing a first function for establishing a client-server connection between the server and at least one user-operated computing appliance connected to the network, a second function for initiating and maintaining an active data session between one or more users involved in working with the image and/or text-based projects through a graphics user interface (GUI), a third function for acquiring and recording current font attributes for text-based items on a page that is to be remixed, and a fourth function for calculating a best unified set of font attributes for the text-based items subject to the remixed page.
US09282199B2 Image forming apparatus, image diagnostic method, and image diagnostic system
An image forming apparatus is configured to print a predetermined test chart that corresponds to an image defect to be analyzed, and to transmit the printed test chart to an image diagnostic apparatus as scanned image data. The image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit that prints the test chart; a scanning unit that scans the test chart printed by the image forming unit and acquiring the image data; and a transmission unit that transmits the image data of the test chart scanned by the scanning unit, after changing the size of the image data corresponding to the defect.
US09282198B2 Method and apparatus for providing special call handling for valued customers of retailers
The present invention enables users of a network service to register with the network as valued shoppers, thereby allowing them to receive specialized treatment when calling registered retailers. The present invention enables retailers to register with the network, thereby allowing them to set preferred service logic for handling valued customer calls by the network.
US09282195B2 Echo canceller and echo cancellation method
An echo canceller and an echo cancellation method are provided. The echo canceller includes a self-adaptive filter, a voice signal detection portion and a path change detection portion; a far-end voice signal is propagated in an echo path through a speaker and is picked up by a microphone to form an echo signal. The self-adaptive filter is configured to receive the far-end voice signal as a training signal to simulate the echo path, and cancel the echo signal in a near-end signal. The voice signal detection portion is configured to detect a communication status, control the self-adaptive filter according to the communication status, and control startup of the path change detection portion according to the communication status. The path change detection portion is configured to detect whether a change occurs on the echo path, and control the self-adaptive filter according to whether the change occurs on the echo path.
US09282193B2 Call routing
An inbound traffic allocation module is configured to store, in a database, data received from a plurality of site-services, and to determine a route capacity based at least in part on the received data, data received from each of the site-services including data related to at least one of a health and a busyness of the site-service. A traffic manager module is configured to retrieve the data from the site-services and to provide the data to the inbound traffic allocation module. A service selection engine module is configured to receive a request to route a call, and to route the call to one of the site-services based at least in part on the route capacity associated with the site-service.
US09282183B2 Nodes and methods for monitoring of communication
A network node for a telecommunication network is provided. The network node includes a receiving unit adapted to receive a monitoring control message. The monitoring control message includes an identifier relating to a subscriber whose communication is to be monitored. A processing unit is adapted to determine one or more filter parameters for filtering communication relating to the subscriber based on the received monitoring control message. The network node also includes a sending unit adapted to send a filter parameter message indicative of the determined one or more filter parameters to a monitoring node separate from the network node for filtering of the communication relating to the subscriber in accordance with the one or more filter parameters.
US09282178B2 Method for providing call log and electronic device thereof
A method of providing a call log in an electronic device is provided. The method includes displaying a content including call identifier information, storing information corresponding to the call identifier information from the content, and using the stored information for at least one of a call log and a contact list.
US09282171B2 Context establishment in marginal grant conditions
Methods, systems, and devices are described for data transmission using header compression techniques that may include dropping all of a portion of a payload for one or more Protocol Data Units (PDUs). A wireless communications device may determine that a robust header compression (RoHC) mode is in an initialization and refresh (IR) state, indicating a full Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Protocol Data Unit (PDU), including complete header information, is to be transmitted. The wireless communications device may identify that a payload of at least part of a media frame is to be transmitted in the IR state, and drop at least part of the payload when a probability of segmenting the payload during transmission in the IR state exceeds a threshold.
US09282168B2 Methods, devices, and systems for enabling a personal cloud-computing environment with ubiquitous mobile access and source-independent, automated data aggregation
The present invention discloses methods, devices, and systems for enabling a personal cloud-computing environment with ubiquitous mobile access and source-independent, automated data aggregation. Methods include the step of: upon receiving at least one file-selection notification from at least one computing device operationally connected to the personal cloud-computing environment, determining, based on at least one file-selection notification, whether to perform a local file-access operation on at least one computing device or to perform a remote file-access operation on a remote storage element in the personal cloud-computing environment. Other methods include the steps of: utilizing a phone-network infrastructure for maintaining operational connectivity of a personal cloud, wherein the personal cloud resides in a local network, and wherein the operational connectivity includes connectivity with at least one foreign network; and providing at least one data-management capability via the phone-network infrastructure to at least one computing device operationally connected to the personal cloud.
US09282157B2 Intermediary API for providing presence data to requesting clients
Technologies are generally described for providing an intermediary API for intercepting and processing subscribing requests to a communications server. An intermediary API may intercept a subscribing request from a local or PIC client to receive presence status data from a presentity such as a bot executed on the communications server. The intermediary API may be configured to provide the presence data to a PIC client without consuming the communications server registered subscription limit. The intermediary API may employ a server-supported protocol-specific processing language or module to intercept the subscribing requests, to determine if the request is targeted for one or more bots executed on the communications server, and to determine if the request is for presence data for one or more bots. The intermediary API may determine if the request is non-terminating, and if all criteria are met, may provide presence data to the requesting client.
US09282156B2 Architecture and method of call routing based on session initiation protocol presence information
An architecture and method of call routing is provided based on session initiated protocol presence information of a callee. The method includes providing a computer infrastructure operable to: receive presence information of a callee upon detecting when the callee is within a certain proximity; and provide call routing information to at least one callee designated device based on customized rules provided by the callee and correlated to the presence information of the callee. The presence information is updated by a SIP based notification.
US09282155B2 Smart posting with data analytics and semantic analysis to improve a message posted to a social media service
Provided are techniques for smart posting with data analytics. A message is received before the message is posted to a social media service. The message is analyzed using data analytics to obtain analysis results. The obtained analysis results are compared to similar analysis results stored for at least one pre-existing message. For one or more correlations between the message and at least one pre-existing message, one or more contributing terms that have semantic meaning within a context of the social media service are determined. Based on the one or more contributing terms, one or more suggestions for improving the message are generated. The message is modified based on the one or more suggestions.
US09282139B2 Graphical user interface for facilitating access to online groups
Methods, systems, and graphical user interfaces that automatically personalize and prioritize links to online groups are disclosed. A server automatically generates a set of prioritized links to online groups based at least in part on a computer user's browsing patterns with respect to online groups and sends these links to a client for display in a navigation region in a graphical user interface.
US09282131B2 System and method for splicing media files
A method for processing media content includes receiving a request for media content and, in response, accessing a plurality of source files associated with the requested media content, wherein the source files comprise media content in one or more source formats. The method also includes generating one or more target files based on the plurality of source files. Additionally, the method includes, generating an auxiliary file associated with the target files. The auxiliary file includes a plurality of content records, each content record associated with a portion of the media content in the target. The method further includes, while generating the target files, transmitting the requested media content from the plurality of target files to a client as a seamless media transmission by reading each of the content records in the auxiliary file and transmitting to the client content corresponding to each content record.
US09282126B1 Context aware transactions performed on integrated service platforms
Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to user access to an application service that references user account information and previous user action information. One example method may include receiving, via a receiver device, user input information to access an application, the user input information including at least one action request and authorizing the user to access the application. The method may also include storing the user input information as part of a contextual history information record in a database memory, generating a response message to the selected at least one action request based on the contextual history information, and forwarding the response message to the user via a transmitter device.
US09282122B2 Method and apparatus for multi-tenancy secrets management
A service provider computing environment includes a service provider secrets policy. A service provider computing device receives tenant secrets policies from tenants. The tenants are tenants of multi-tenant assets of a service provider. The service provider computing environment determines of the tenant secrets policies satisfy the requirements of the service provider secrets policy. If the tenant secrets policies satisfy the requirements of the service provider secrets policy, the service provider computing environment allows the tenant secrets policies to be applied to tenant data or information in the multi-tenant assets.
US09282116B1 System and method for preventing DOS attacks utilizing invalid transaction statistics
A method and network traffic management device to protect a network from network based attacks is disclosed. The method comprises receiving, at a network traffic management device, a plurality of requests from a plurality of client devices for one or more resources from one or more servers. The method comprises monitoring a number of server responses including an invalid transaction message for a particular client device or a particular requested resource. The method comprises comparing a ratio of invalid transactions to valid transactions for the particular client device or requested resource to a preestablished ratio threshold value. The method comprises marking the particular client device or requested resource as suspicious when the ratio exceeds the ratio threshold value. The method comprises preventing the suspicious particular client device or requested resource from being transmitted to the one or more servers when the network traffic management device detects a network attack.
US09282114B1 Generation of alerts in an event management system based upon risk
Embodiments relate to the generation of alerts in an event management system based upon risk. When an event device associated with the event management system, presents a logon page to a client device, the event device includes a beacon as part of the page to monitor and collect web device profile characteristics related to the client device. In response to a logon attempt by the client device, an event management device receives a notification regarding logon attempt and a risk assessment associated with the web device profile characteristics of the client device. Based upon a correlation of the notification and the corresponding risk assessment, the event management device can generate an alert, such as a SIEM alert, and can include an indication of priority, whether relatively low or high, and/or a confidence factor, whether or not the alert can be suppressed as part of the alert.
US09282111B1 Application-based network traffic redirection for cloud security service
A cloud security service is made available to endpoint computers. Network traffic from originating application programs running on endpoint computers are redirected to the cloud security service based on characteristics of the originating application programs. Network traffic from an originating application program may be redirected to the cloud security service by way of a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel or generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunnel between an endpoint computer and a cloud computing system hosting the cloud security service, for example. Network traffic from an originating application program may also be routed from an endpoint computer to a gateway system, and then redirected from the gateway system to the cloud computing system. The cloud security service may drop or forward network packets of the network traffic depending on a result of scanning the network packets.
US09282101B2 Multimedia message service method and system
Disclosed is a method of sharing multimedia contents, by a server, including storing the multimedia contents, receiving an establishment request configured to establish one of a plurality of access modes for the multimedia contents from a first terminal, establishing an access mode according to the establishment request for the multimedia contents, receiving an access request for the multimedia contents stored in the server from at least one second terminal, determining whether the at least one second terminal is allowed to access the multimedia message based on the access mode, and transmitting the multimedia contents, wherein the access mode includes at least one of a private mode for access by only the first terminal, a restricted mode for access by the at least one second terminal, and a public mode for access by all terminals.
US09282098B1 Proxy server-based network site account management
Disclosed are various embodiments for network site account management using a proxy server. A first request for a secured resource on a network site is received from a client. It is determined whether stored account information is available for the secured resource. A second request for the secured resource is generated based at least in part on the stored account information in response to determining that the stored account information is available for the secured resource. The second request is sent to a server corresponding to the network site. The secured resource is received from the server, and the secured resource is sent to the client.
US09282095B2 Security and privacy enhancements for security devices
A tamper-resistant security device, such as a subscriber identity module or equivalent, has an AKA (Authentication and Key Agreement) module for performing an AKA process with a security key stored in the device, as well as means for external communication. The tamper-resistant security device includes an application that cooperates with the AKA module and an internal interface for communications between the AKA module and the application. The application cooperating with the AKA module is preferably a security and/or privacy enhancing application. For increased security, the security device may also detect whether it is operated in its normal secure environment or a foreign less secure environment and set access rights to resident files or commands that could expose the AKA process or corresponding parameters accordingly.
US09282092B1 Systems and methods for determining trust when interacting with online resources
Systems and methods for determining trust when interacting with online resources are described, including requesting a secure connection with an online resource; receiving a certificate from the online resource, wherein the certificate is signed by a chain of at least one certificate authority (CA) with the last CA in the chain being a root CA; determining that the root CA is an entity root CA without determining whether the root CA is a third-party root CA, wherein the entity root CA is associated with an entity certificate issued to an entity and the entity is associated with a score; determining whether the score is equal to or greater than a threshold; and, if the score is equal to or greater than the threshold, establishing the secure connection with the online resource.
US09282086B2 Methods and systems for secured authentication of applications on a network
A secured communication network can include a server including an authentication backend, the authentication backend configured to communicate with an authentication front end of a communication device. A server applet can be associated with the authentication backend. The server applet can authenticate an access right associated with the communication device and establish a security level for the communication with the communication device based on information received from the authentication front end.
US09282075B2 Collaborative composition of multimedia communications
Provided are methods and systems for providing personalized communications. An exemplary method can comprise determining an interest level in contributing to a media message for a recipient. The method can comprise selecting, based on the interest level, a plurality of contributors from a network of members associated with a recipient. The method can also comprise receiving at least two messages in one or more formats from the plurality of contributors. The method can further comprise combining the at least two messages into a media message. The method can comprise providing the media message to a recipient.
US09282070B2 Dynamic delay in undo functionality based on email message characteristics
A system and machine-implemented method for calculating a dynamic delay for an email message, the method including receiving an indication of an email message being created by a user, identifying one or more characteristics of the email message in response to receiving the indication, determining an impact associated with the email message based on one or more of the identified one or more characteristics of the email message or one or more behavioral information regarding the user sending the email message, determining a customized delay for the email message based on the determined impact, the delay comprising a length of time and delivering the email message to one or more recipients of the email message after the length of time has elapsed.
US09282065B2 Relay unit
A relay unit includes a main-system switch and a sub-system switch that are connected to each other via an inter-system line, that are connected to a main-system line and a sub-system line, and that relays a frame; and control sections that control a relay operation of the main-system switch and the sub-system switch. The control sections store information on a number of connections of relay units and information on a connection priority, and select a control aspect of the relay operation of at least one of the main-system switch and the sub-system switch according to the number of connections and the connection priority.
US09282063B2 Cell processing method and device for switch fabric chip
A cell processing method and device for a Switch Fabric (SF) chip are disclosed, which belong to the field of communications. The SF chip includes a unicast route table, which is multiplexed in two working modes and is looked up according to a unicast cell, and a multicast route table, which is multiplexed in the two working modes and is looked up according to a multicast cell. The cell processing method for an SF chip includes: the SF chip receives a cell and an input link number corresponding to the cell from an upstream apparatus and extracts a destination Identifier (ID) of the cell; the SF chip looks up a route table according to a working mode of the SF chip, the destination ID and the input link number to determine a first bitmap corresponding to the cell; and the SF chip performs load balancing on the first bitmap to obtain a second bitmap and outputs the cell to a downstream apparatus according to the second bitmap. With the technical solutions of the disclosure, the SF chip in a cascade switching system can adapt to different working modes.
US09282057B2 Flexible stacking port
A stackable device having a plurality of data ports, wherein each of the data ports is capable of operating as a regular data port or a stacking port. A first set of one or more of the data ports is specified as a first flexible stacking port, and a second set of one or more of the data ports is specified as a second flexible stacking port. Each flexible stacking port can be individually configured to operate as an actual stacking port, if required by the configuration of an associated stack. If a flexible stacking port is not configured to operate as an actual stacking port, then the data port(s) included in the flexible stacking port are available to operate as regular data port(s).
US09282056B2 Metrics and forwarding actions on logical switch partitions in a distributed network switch
Techniques are provided for providing access control lists in a distributed network switch. The distributed network switch made of switch units is divided into logical switch partitions, or logical networks. Physical ports of the switch units are partitioned into logical ports, where each logical port is associated with a logical switch partition. A control point of the distributed network switch manages and assigns a service tag (S-Tag) used to identify which logical port ingress and egress frames are associated with. To generate metrics and other forwarding actions for a given logical switch partition, the control point sets up access control list (ACLs) targeting the logical port associated with the S-Tags associated with the given logical switch partition.
US09282055B2 System and method for initializing and maintaining a series of virtual local area networks contained in a clustered computer system
A system and method for sharing network resources; the system comprising at least one network switch, at least one computing device comprising at least one network connection and at least one storage device containing software capable of initializing and maintaining: (i) a management local area network (MLAN) comprising a virtual or physical firewall; and (ii) a plurality of client virtual local area networks (VLANs), wherein each client VLAN comprises a virtual firewall and a plurality of network resources.
US09282054B2 Determining an active management uplink
A method and system for determining an active management uplink including adjusting a bridge priority value, based on connectivity conditions, to lower the value of a bridge ID stored in a memory region of a network module. The method and system to also identify a network module as a root network module if it has a lower bridge ID than all other stacked network modules. The bridge ID of a network module may be based on the bridge priority value and a MAC address stored in a memory region of the network module. The system and method to also enable the management uplink port of the root network module to actively manage data between the management network and other stacked network modules.
US09282047B2 Batching communication events
Approaches for aggregating data prior to a transmission of the data to an external system are disclosed. The method includes receiving a data bag. The data bag including data packets destined to be transmitted to an external system. A timer even is then attached to the received data bag and the received data bag is temporarily stored in a data store. The timer event associated with the received data bag is then overridden based on the timer event associated with another data bag in the data store.
US09282033B2 Intelligent handling of virtual machine mobility in large data center environments
At a physical device in a network configured to host a virtual switch and one or more virtual machines, a packet is received at the virtual switch from a source virtual machine that is directly attached to that virtual switch. A destination Media Access Control (MAC) address is identified from the packet indicating a destination virtual machine for the packet. In response to determining that the destination MAC address of the packet is not present in a database of MAC addresses accessible by the virtual switch, the destination MAC address of the packet is replaced with a shared MAC address associated with a plurality of physical switches in the network.
US09282029B2 System and method for transmitting an emergency message over an integrated wireless network
An emergency message system provides a system and method for generating and transmitting emergency messages. In one embodiment, the emergency message system employs a transceiver network with a plurality transceivers coupled to monitoring devices residing at a plurality of customer premises. Control room operators receive an emergency message from an identifiable transceiver. The transceiver, identified by an identification code, indicates a location and the nature of the emergency condition so that the control operators may request appropriate emergency assistance.
US09282010B2 Network management system
A technique for communicating in a network management system is disclosed. The technique includes transferring information from an application server to a gateway that processes the information, transferring the gateway processed information from the gateway to a plurality of adapters associated with the gateway that process the gateway processed information, and transferring the adapter processed information from one of the adapters to a client.
US09282009B2 Reservation of resources and deployment of applications using an integrated development environment
Systems and methods to reserve resources is provided. In exemplary embodiments, a selection of a profile from a user is received. A dynamic graphical user interface is generated, using one or more processors. The dynamic graphical user interface allows the user to configure a topology based on the selected profile. The dynamic graphical user interface provides input fields in which the user may select a resource. An indication of the selected applicable topology property for configuring the topology is received. A topology is automatically generating based in part on the selected applicable topology property.
US09282008B2 Systems and methods for monitoring system performance and availability
A prognostics module includes a systems analysis module and a determination module. The systems analysis module is configured to obtain operational information corresponding to a system-wide operation of a multi-element system. The multi-element system includes multiple elements communicatively coupled by at least one common communication link. The determination module is configured to determine a future health of at least one of the multiple elements of the multi-element system using the operational information corresponding to the system-wide operation of the multi-element system.
US09282005B1 IT infrastructure policy breach investigation interface
In a large network, it can be difficult to pinpoint and track down the causes of breaches of established policies. A policy compliance server allows traversal of notifications according to breaches, organizes the breaches (vulnerabilities and violation) according to severity and recurrence, and identifies related rules, network entities and configuration changes, which may be related to the breach. An integrated graphical user interface (GUI) provides efficient, timely traversal and analysis of rule breaches across the network to allow quick, efficient identification of the underlying cause or condition of the rule breach. A discoverer gathers configuration data including notifications of changes, alerts, and conditions in the network that are pertinent to the rule breaches. A compliance engine evaluates the configuration data against the rules to identify breaches. Therefore, the compliance engine identifies breaches (rule violations and vulnerabilities) across the network to be addressed for compliance with the policies in effect in the network.
US09282001B2 Policy based utility networking
In various embodiments, a policy-based residential networked meter can be an energy switch router device (ESRD) that provides policy-based advanced metering, load control and shaping, energy services delivery and accounting, and secure web services interfaces and internetworking communications. The ESRD can be integrated and inter-related with advanced policy-based sensory, metrology, monitoring, control, recording, classification, prioritization, security, routing, and switching functions. The ESRD may be used to sense, measure, meter, and control electrical service flows to the utility service point at the customer premise, and may be configured and managed with one or more policy-based networking methods.
US09281992B2 Method and system for identifying storage device
The disclosure provides a method for identifying a storage device, which includes: obtaining, by a master control server, disk information of a storage device through a storage server; determining, by the master control server, that there is a storage device matching a device identifier according to the disk information, and entering a monitoring state; otherwise, creating a device identifier for the storage device and entering the monitoring state. The disclosure also provides a system for identifying a storage device. Through the method and the system, the storage devices are uniformly identified so as to facilitate unified management of the storage devices.
US09281990B2 Ethernet UDP checksum compensation
In the methods and devices of the present disclosure, a dummy compensation word is added to the data packet such that the UDP checksum value need not be modified from any previous value, regardless of changes to the UDP payload. Because the UDP checksum value is not modified in embodiments of the present disclosure, there is no delay waiting for a UDP checksum value to be calculated and no need for additional buffers to store the data packet contents because of UDP checksum calculations. The dummy compensation word is calculated so that the unmodified value maintained in the checksum is the checksum for the data packet including the dummy compensation word. By placing the compensation word in the data packet after the last word in the UDP payload, there is no, or very minimal, processing delay and data packet buffering hardware is significantly reduced.
US09281987B2 Digital transmission apparatus and method and digital reception apparatus
A digital transmission apparatus and a method thereof and a digital reception apparatus are provided. A frame body processor converts incoming data and outputs a frame body, a system information generator generates system information, which is necessary for processing the data at a reception apparatus, by using a different processing method from the frame body processing method of the frame body processor, a frame generator multiplexes data of the frame body, a header of the frame, and the system information, thereby generating a frame, and a signal processor up-coverts a signal of the frame and transmits the signal to the reception apparatus.
US09281986B2 Transmission apparatus, reception apparatus, and relay apparatus
A transmission apparatus included in a communication system together with a reception apparatus and configured to multiplex data from M (M is a natural number equal to or larger than 2) channels and transmit the data to the reception apparatus. The transmission apparatus includes M timing offset units configured to respectively receive inputs of the data from the different channels and insert designated timing offset values in the input data, a multiplexing unit configured to multiplex the M data subjected to the timing offset and output a multiplexed signal, and a timing-offset calculating unit configured to calculate different timing offset values for the respective M timing offset units and output the calculated timing offset values to the respective timing offset units.
US09281984B2 Application of sequence hopping and orthogonal covering codes to uplink reference signals
Methods and apparatuses are provided for transmitting and receiving references signals. A method includes receiving a first cell specific parameter; receiving a second UE specific parameter; receiving a CSI; acquiring a first reference signal for a PUSCH, based on the second parameter and the CSI; acquiring a second reference signal for a PUCCH, based on the first parameter; and transmitting at least one of the first reference signal and the second reference signal. Group sequence hopping is not applied to acquire the first reference signal, if the first parameter indicates that the group sequence hopping is enabled and the second parameter indicates that the group sequence hopping is disabled. The group sequence hopping is applied to acquire the second reference signal, if the first parameter indicates that the group sequence hopping is enabled and the second parameter indicates that the group sequence hopping is disabled.
US09281983B2 Application of sequence hopping and orthogonal covering codes to uplink reference signals
Methods and apparatuses are provided for transmitting and receiving references signals. A method includes receiving a first parameter, which is a cell specific parameter; receiving a second parameter, which is a UE specific parameter; receiving a cyclic shift indicator (CSI) indicating a cyclic shift for a sequence and an orthogonal covering code; acquiring the reference signal for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), based on the CSI and the second parameter; and transmitting the reference signal on the PUSCH. Group sequence hopping is not applied to acquire the reference signal, if the first parameter indicates that the group sequence hopping is enabled and the second parameter indicates that the group sequence hopping is disabled. The first parameter includes a group hopping enabled parameter, and the group sequence hopping includes hopping among different groups.
US09281969B2 Configurable multi-dimensional driver and receiver
Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a configurable multi-mode driver and receiver. An embodiment of a communication system includes a communication channel, and a first device and a second device coupled with the communication channel. The first device includes a driver apparatus to drive data signals on the communication channel, the driver apparatus including circuits to receive and drive the data signals, where the circuits are configurable for termination resistance of the driver circuit apparatus, and each of the plurality of circuits is comprised of one or more circuit units, the circuit units being configurable for equalization control of the driver apparatus. The second device includes a receiver to receive data signals from the communication channel as an input. Either the first device or the second device includes configurable circuit elements to provide signal reflection control for the system.
US09281963B2 Method and system for email search
A method and system for performing email search, the said method comprising of enabling the user to find relations between emails and build network relations and to further retrieve groups based on the relations (and intersections of relations) as per the user's choice; the system comprising of giving and having the user select predetermined options for a search with a further ability to “drill-down” the results with the aid of filters to view further mails/results, and being also able to search on search results and also provide for storing user searches.
US09281953B1 Systems and methods for routing multicast packets
Method and system for a network device are provided. The device includes a port for receiving a multicast packet and a multicast data structure for maintaining information regarding a multicast group to which the multicast packet is to be sent. When the port is a part of a link aggregation group (LAG), then any port that is a member of the LAG is removed from the multicast group such that the multicast packet is not sent to any member of the LAG.
US09281951B2 Any-to any multicasting in a tunnel based virtual private network
Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with any-to-any multicasting in a tunnel based virtual private network (VPN) are described. One example method includes calculating a resolved address for an unknown reverse path forwarding (RPF) neighbor in an any-to-any multicasting route. The resolved address is calculated using next hop resolution protocol (NHRP) resolution. The address is to be resolved based on control plane traffic. The NHRP address resolution is not to affect unicast routing. The example method may also include establishing the any-to-any multicasting route. Since the multicasting route is any-to-any (e.g., spoke-to-spoke), the multicasting route is not required to include a hub in the logical hub-and-spoke network.
US09281946B2 Authentication system for gaming machines
Disclosed is a system and method that uses digital signature technology to authenticate the contents of one or more manifests located on a storage device. Each manifest contains a list of file records, where each record contains the name of a file stored on the storage device, and a SHA1 hash value derived from the contents of the file. At boot time, the gaming machine first authenticates the contents of the manifest and then verifies the contents of the files using the SHA1 value stored in the manifest. Files are verified using the SHA1, as they are needed, during the boot up of the operating system and throughout normal operation. This method reduces the boot time of the gaming machine and eliminates the need to check digital signatures for each individual file or over the entire contents of a non-secure media.
US09281941B2 Homomorphic evaluation including key switching, modulus switching, and dynamic noise management
Homomorphic evaluations of functions are performed. The functions include operation(s). Variants of key switching and modulus switching are described and are performed prior to or after the operation(s). A key switching transformation converts a ciphertext with respect to a first secret key and a first modulus to a ciphertext with respect to a second secret key and a second modulus. A key switching transformation converts a first version of a ciphertext with respect to a first secret key and with some number r bits of precision to a second version of the selected ciphertext with respect to a second keys and with some other number r′ bits of precision. The ciphertexts may be operated on as polynomials represented using evaluation representation, which has benefits for multiplication and automorphism. Further, ciphertexts are associated with an estimate of noise, which is used to determine when to perform modulus switching on the ciphertexts.
US09281934B2 Clock and data recovery with high jitter tolerance and fast phase locking
Systems and methods for recovering clock and data from a data input signal are disclosed that sample a plurality of clock phase signals with the data input signal to determine a timing relationship between the data input signal and the clock phase signals and use the determined to timing relationship to select one of the clock phase signals to use for sampling the data input signal to produce recovered data. The CDR can include a glitch suppression module to suppress glitches on the clock output signal that could be caused by large instantaneous jitter on the data input signal. A clock and data recovery circuit (CDR) using these methods can quickly lock to a new data input signal and can reliably receive data when there is large instantaneous timing jitter on the data input signal.
US09281933B2 Method of signaling control information in wireless communication system with multiple frequency blocks
A method for performing communication in a user equipment of a wireless communication system comprises receiving a control region through a specific frequency block of a plurality of frequency blocks, the control region including a plurality of control channels; identifying a first control channel for the user equipment in the control region; and performing an operation in accordance with information included in the first control channel, wherein the specific frequency block through which the first control channel is transmitted is changed according to a certain pattern with the lapse of time.
US09281911B1 Method of multiple lane distribution (MLD) deskew
The present invention discloses a method of detecting and correcting skew across a plurality of transmitting lanes. Through the use of an N framer system, including a frame start signal and a frame synchronization signal, skew can be detected and corrected by writing data from a plurality of framers into offsetting bit locations of a plurality of buffers. The present invention also provides a method of transmitting data in a multiple lane distribution (MLD) transmission system.
US09281903B2 Method and arrangement for adaptive dispersion compensation
A received optical signal is coherently demodulated and converted into electrical complex samples (p(n); (px(n), py(n)), which are dispersion compensated in a compensation filter (11). A control circuit (12, 13, 14, 15) calculates comparison values (R1, R2) from corrected samples q(n) and an estimated error value (εMIN).A plurality of compensation function (T(M)) is applied according to a predetermined dispersion (CD) range and after a second iteration is the compensation filter (11) set to an optimum compensation function (T(M)).
US09281900B2 Wavelength-tunable burst-mode receiver
An apparatus, e.g. an optical receiver, includes an optical front end and a processor. The optical front end is configured to coherently receive an input optical signal and convert the input optical signal to a digital-electrical data stream. The processor is configured to recover a data stream from the digital-electrical data stream. The processor is further configured to compare a correlation pattern of the recovered data stream with a pre-determined correlation pattern. The processor is further configured to determine, from the comparison, coefficients of a filter configured to recover data encoded on the input digital-electrical data stream.
US09281894B2 Apparatus and method for generating visible signal according to amount of data transmission in visible light communication system
A method and apparatus for generating a visible signal to enable a user to confirm the amount of data transmission in Visible Light Communication (VLC) are provided. The apparatus previously acquires amount information of data which is to transmit or receive, and acquires the ratio of the amount of data transmitted to a receiving-side VLC device from a transmitting VLC device or the amount of data transmitted from the transmitting-side VLC device received by the receiving VLC device to the total amount of data. The apparatus determines a visible light output pattern corresponding to the data ratio and generates visible light of the determined output pattern.
US09281893B2 In-service monitoring of a fiberoptic network
An optical fiber breakage point may be located by coupling to the optical fiber an out-of-band optical test signal modulated at a periodic modulation pattern. A distance to the breakage point may be determined from a difference between modulation patterns of transmitted and received test signals.
US09281890B2 System and method for conveying aeronautical radio voice and signaling over a satellite IP network
Systems and methods for conveying aeronautical radio voice and signaling over a satellite IP network are described. According to disclosed embodiments, a remote very high frequency (VHF) transceiver is connected with a central location where Air Traffic Control is exercised. The system implements an end-to-end path employing satellite communications to transmit radio voice and signaling. A method is also provided that enables radio call setup and voice transport so as to allow aircraft pilots and flight controllers to communicate.
US09281888B1 Quadrature signal generator, beamforming arrangement, communication device and base station
A quadrature signal generator comprises a resistor-capacitor, RC, polyphase filter and an inductor compensation arrangement. The inductor compensation arrangement comprises a first inductor connected between the first and the third output terminals, and a second inductor connected between the second and fourth output terminals. The first and second inductors are arranged to compensate for a capacitive load on the output terminals when in use. A beamforming arrangement, a communication device and a base station are also disclosed.
US09281886B2 Method and apparatus for transmitting uplink signals using multi-antenna
A method and apparatus for allowing a UE to transmit uplink signals using a MIMO scheme are disclosed. In order to maintain good Peak power to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) or Cubic Metric (CM) properties when the UE transmits uplink signals using the MIMO scheme, the UE uses a precoding scheme based on a precoding matrix established in a manner that one layer is transmitted to each antenna in specific rank transmission.
US09281884B2 Reordering of a beamforming matrix
Apparatuses, methods and systems for beamforming are disclosed. One embodiment of a method includes generating a beamforming matrix, including obtaining a channel matrix of a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) between a multiple antenna transmitter and a receiver, determining an initial beamforming matrix based on a singular value decomposition of the channel matrix, generating a final beamforming matrix comprising re-ordering columns of the initial beamforming matrix for at least one sub-carrier of a multi-carrier signal based on a signal characteristic, processing a plurality of multi-carrier signals using the final beamforming matrix, and transmitting the processed plurality of multi-carrier signals through a plurality of transmit chains.
US09281881B2 4TX codebook enhancement in LTE
Channel state information (CSI) feedback in a wireless communication system is disclosed. A precoding matrix is generated for multi-antenna transmission based on precoding matrix indicator (PMI) feedback, wherein the PMI indicates a choice of precoding matrix derived from a matrix multiplication of two matrices from a first codebook and a second codebook. In one embodiment, the first codebook comprises at least a first precoding matrix constructed with a first group of adjacent Discrete-Fourier-Transform (DFT) vectors. In another embodiment, the first codebook comprises at least a second precoding matrix constructed with a second group of uniformly distributed non-adjacent DFT vectors. In yet another embodiment, the first codebook comprises at least a first precoding matrix and a second precoding matrix, where said first precoding matrix is constructed with a first group of adjacent DFT vectors, and said second precoding matrix is constructed with a second group of uniformly distributed non-adjacent DFT vectors.
US09281875B2 System and method for automatically optimizing wireless power
A system transfers energy wirelessly from a source to a sink as an EM near-field according to parameters. The source includes a receive RF chain, and a receive controller. The sink includes a transmit RF chain, and a receive controller. The receive controller measures the energy received as feedback information, which is transmitted to the sink. Then, the transmit controller dynamically varies the parameters to optimized the energy received at the sink.
US09281868B2 Power line communications zoning device
A power line communications (PLC) network zoning device may include a housing, a power cord extending from the housing, and a plurality of power outlets mounted on the housing, the plurality of power outlets coupled to internal power lines within the housing. An isolation device disposed within the housing may transmit electrical power from the power cord to the internal power lines while isolating PLC communications traffic on the internal power lines from PLC communications traffic on the power cord. A bypass device internal to the housing may selectively transfer PLC communications traffic between the internal power lines and the power cord bypassing the isolation device.
US09281865B2 Efficient network discovery in frequency hopping networks
In one embodiment, a device in a frequency hopping communication network transmits responsive beacon messages based on adaptive types of responsive beacon message transmission based on a number of received beacon requests within a given time period: the number below a threshold results in synchronized unicast messages; the number above the threshold results in unsynchronized broadcast messages. In another embodiment, the device suppresses unsolicited beacon message transmission based on a density-aware redundancy count of other unsolicited beacon message transmissions from neighboring devices. In another embodiment, the device may transmit unsolicited beacon messages according to an adaptive interval based on stability of the network. In another embodiment, the device may suppress transmission of a beacon request to join the communication network based on a density-aware redundancy count of other beacon requests from neighboring devices, and transmits beacon requests at an adaptive interval that increases in response to each unanswered beacon request.
US09281858B2 Co-molded multi-layered protective case for mobile device
A protective case for a mobile device having a multi-layered construction is disclosed. The multi-layered construction includes three layers that are co-molded to one another and is capable of being lightweight and low-profile, yet provide a high level of impact protection. The first layer generally forms the external back face surface of the case, the third layer generally forms the perimeter bumper of the case and the second layer forms the internal liner of the case and includes an elevated pattern of walls upon which the back face of the mobile device rest upon. The first layer is comprised of material that has a hardness greater than the other two layers. The third layer is comprised of a material that has a hardness that is greater than the second layer. The layers are configured to interact with one another so that they are capable of distributing and absorbing impact forces to mitigate damage to the mobile device.
US09281853B2 Integrated circuit for communication
The present invention provides an integrated circuit for communication, e.g., for mobile radio-frequency (RF) telecommunication, including a resonator, a main amplifier, a matching circuit, a blocker detector, a mixer circuit, and a translation filter. The resonator provides conversion from single-end to differential, and filtering function for rejecting blockers at harmonics of local oscillation signal. The blocker detector detects occurrence of blocker; according to whether blocker exists, the main amplifier amplifies differential signal of the resonator by different gains, and the mixer circuit mixes amplified signal with different numbers of mixers. The translation filter contributes to rejection of blockers closed to in-band by providing a first pass band which is translated to a second pass band by the mixer circuit. The matching circuit provides impedance match.
US09281848B2 Method for encoding data in bursts
A process of encoding information data in a sequence of bursts ( . . . , Bi−2, Bi−1, Bi, Bi+1, . . . ), each burst comprising a block of information symbols and a block of redundancy symbols. The block of redundancy symbols (Ri) of the current burst (Bi) of the sequence is generated by calculating a sum of a series of coding values relating to a series of bursts (Bi−2, Bi−1), each coding value of the series of coding values being obtained by a respective coding function applied to the block of information symbols of the corresponding burst of the series of bursts.
US09281838B1 Common copy compression
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods, and computer storage media directed to hosting a plurality of copies of a digital content. A common component and one or more individual components from one or more copies of the digital content are generated. As such, the common component and the one or more individual components are stored, such that each individual component in conjunction with the common component represents a separate copy of the digital content. In some implementations, a compression ratio may be customized for determining the sizing of the common component and individual component.
US09281833B2 Analog-to-digital converter with power supply-based reference
A measurement circuit is provided for measuring the resistance of a variable resistance element biased with an external voltage supply. The measurement circuit includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a reference generator connected with the ADC. The ADC is operative to receive a reference voltage and a first voltage developed across the variable resistance element, and to generate a digital output signal indicative of a relationship between the first voltage and the reference voltage. The reference generator is operative to generate the reference voltage as a function of the external voltage supply.
US09281832B1 Circuits and methods for bandwidth estimation optimization of analog to digital converters
A bandwidth estimator circuit for an analog to digital converter. The bandwidth estimator computes a bandwidth estimate of an analog signal and includes: an amplitude averaging block configured to determine an average change in amplitude of N samples, a delta time block configured to determine a minimum time difference; a peak voltage block configured to determine the maximum magnitude; a peak to root mean square block configured to determine a ratio of a peak voltage to the root mean square of the magnitude; a bandwidth estimator block configured to compute a product of a ratio of the average change in amplitude to the minimum time difference, multiplied by a ratio of the peak voltage to the root mean square, squared, to the peak voltage multiplied by a constant; and a parameter adjustment circuit configured to modify sampler parameters controlling an analog signal sampling rate. Methods are described.
US09281823B2 Single insertion trimming of highly accurate reference oscillators
A highly integrated monolithic self-compensated oscillator (SCO) with high frequency stability versus temperature variations is described, together with a cost effective single insertion point trimming (SPT) algorithm. The SPT is utilized to adjust the phase and frequency of the SCO to meet frequency stability versus temperature and frequency accuracy requirements for a reference clock. The techniques used in the SPT algorithm provide a robust, fast and low testing cost for the SCO. Moreover, the concepts and techniques utilized in the SCO SPT can be used effectively for any temperature compensated oscillator (TCO) including TCXO, MEMS, FBAR and RC oscillators. Additionally, the described SPT algorithm is capable of measuring the temperature sensitivity of any oscillator, estimating suitable temperature compensation parameters and adjusting the oscillator frequency to the required value simultaneously.
US09281810B2 Current mode logic circuit with multiple frequency modes
A device comprising a clock circuit, a control circuit, and a current mode logic (CML) circuit is disclosed. The clock circuit provides a first differential clock signal and the control circuit generates a control signal based at least in part on the frequency of the first differential clock signal. The CML circuit generates a second differential clock signal based at least in part on the first differential clock signal. The CML circuit operates in one of a plurality of different frequency modes based at least in part on the control signal and includes a number of variable resistors that are responsive to the control signal.
US09281809B1 Nonlinear transmission line extraction systems
A dielectric-based nonlinear transmission line (NLTL) coupled to an adjacent waveguide. Energy in an input pulse to the nonlinear transmission line is concentrated into an electromagnetic shock or a series of soliton-like oscillations by the nonlinear properties of the NLTL. Energy from the electromagnetic shock or the soliton-like oscillations are transferred into the waveguide. A plate of the NLTL coupled to the waveguide can include an aperture or a series of apertures. Energy from the electromagnetic shock or the soliton-like oscillations can then be transferred into waveguide via an aperture or apertures in such a way that forward and/or backward guided electromagnetic waves are generated in the waveguide. The waveguide can contain at a nonlinear magnetic material, a dielectric material, a slow wave structure, or a metamaterial. The NLTL can include nonlinear dielectric elements such as a periodic array interspersed with linear dielectric elements.
US09281808B2 Variable voltage level translator
An integrated circuit including a processor configured to operate off a supply voltage being applied at one of a plurality of external pins; and internal input/output circuitry configured to select between the supply voltage and at least one other supply voltage being applied at another of the plurality of external pins.
US09281802B2 System and method for a switchable capacitance
In accordance with an embodiment, a switchable capacitance circuit includes a plurality of capacitance-switch cells that each has a first semiconductor switching circuit and a capacitance circuit having a first terminal coupled to the first semiconductor switching circuit. A resistance of the first semiconductor switching circuit of a first switch-capacitance cell of the plurality of capacitance-switch cells is within a first tolerance of a resistance of the first semiconductor switching circuit of a second capacitance-switch cell of the plurality of capacitance-switch cells, and a capacitance of the capacitance circuit of the first capacitance-switch cell is within a second tolerance of a capacitance of the capacitance circuit of the second capacitance-switch cell.
US09281800B2 Resonator filter device having narrow pass-band
A filter device for filtering signals via a pass-band includes series resonators connected in series between an input terminal and an output terminal, each of the series resonators having a corresponding parallel resonance frequency Fp and series resonance frequency Fs, and shunt resonators respectively connected between at least one of the series resonators and a ground voltage, each of the shunt resonators having a corresponding parallel resonance frequency Fp and series resonance frequency Fs. At least one series resonator has a corresponding series resonance frequency Fs outside the pass-band of the filter device, and at least one other series resonator has a corresponding series resonance frequency Fs inside the pass-band, and/or at least one shunt resonator has a corresponding parallel resonance frequency Fp outside the pass-band of the filter device, and at least one other shunt resonator has a corresponding parallel resonance frequency Fp inside the pass-band.
US09281799B2 Flip chip type saw band reject filter design
A method and system for providing a surface acoustic wave band reject filter are disclosed. According to one aspect, a surface acoustic wave band reject filter includes a substrate having electrode bars and bonding pads formed on the substrate. The filter further includes at least one die having a side facing the substrate. A plurality of surface acoustic wave resonators are formed on the at least one die formed on the substrate. Solder balls formed on a side of the at least one die facing the substrate are positioned to engage bonding pads on the substrate. The plurality of surface acoustic wave resonators collectively exhibit a band reject filter response.
US09281796B2 Polyphase filter for mm-wave frequencies featuring symmetric layout
A two-stage, passive, RC polyphase filter for mm-wave quadrature LO generation is presented. The filter features an innovative, symmetrical layout structure, which is more robust to parasitics than the conventional layout. Layout parasitics which become important at mm-wave frequencies are identified and a compensated. Impedance variations and transfer functions are evaluated considering these dominant parasitics. More than 15 dB improvement in image rejection ratio is achieved in comparison with conventional layouts. Using the inventive techniques more than 35 dB of image rejection ratio over a bandwidth of 6 GHz is demonstrated in an outphasing transmitter at 60 GHz in 40 nm CMOS.
US09281795B2 Acoustic signal processing apparatus
An acoustic signal's high frequency component extracted by an HPF 13 is multiplied in a multiplier 16 by the first coefficient to control the level of the high frequency component. The first coefficient is generated by a coefficient generation portion 21 in accordance with the full band level of an output signal. A low frequency component extracted by an LPF 15 is multiplied in a multiplier 17 by the second coefficient to control the level of the low frequency component. The second coefficient is generated by a coefficient generation portion 24 in accordance with the level of the output signal's low frequency component extracted by an LP filter 22. The level control of the low frequency component of the output signal and the level control of the high frequency component of the output signal are done separately, resulting in the loudness control which is suitable for the characteristic of the acoustic signal.
US09281788B2 All digital zero-voltage switching
Power efficiency is an important design requirement of power amplifiers. To improve power efficiency, a solution proposed in this present disclosure includes an all-digital zero-voltage switching apparatus for directly driving a switching power amplifier through a desired current pulse shape. The apparatus includes a digital engine and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The digital engine processes baseband data and generates a digital output. The digital output of the digital engine drives the DAC to generate a digitally controlled current output having that desired current pulse shape. The digitally controlled current output is used to directly drive the switch power amplifier to improve power efficiency. The digitally controlled current output comprising digitally generated current pulses is controlled accurately by the digital engine and the DAC, and thus allows the switching power amplifier to operate optimally with higher power efficiency than conventional power amplifiers.
US09281782B2 Transmitter and signal processing method
The switching frequency in an envelope amplifier is set below that of a transmission RF signal. A transmitter according to the present invention includes a transmission amplifier (3) that amplifies an input signal and generates an output signal, a voltage control amplifier (6) that controls a power supply voltage of the transmission amplifier (3), and an envelope calculation unit (4) that calculates an approximate envelope signal that is an envelope signal of the input signal and is sampled at a lower frequency than the input signal. The voltage control amplifier (6) controls the power supply voltage of the transmission amplifier (3) based on the approximate envelope signal.
US09281780B2 Resistance correction circuit, resistance correction method, and semiconductor device
Disclosed is a semiconductor device that suppresses stress-induced resistance value changes. The semiconductor device includes a resistance correction circuit. The resistance correction circuit includes a first resistor whose stress-resistance value relationship is a first relationship, a second resistor whose stress-resistance value relationship is a second relationship, and a correction section that controls the resistance value of a correction target resistor. The correction section detects the difference between the resistance value of the first resistor and the resistance value of the second resistor and corrects, in accordance with the result of detection, the resistance value of the correction target resistor.
US09281774B2 Motor control system
A motor control system includes: a power supply; a converter; an inverter; an alternating-current motor; and a control unit that drives the motor in any one of sinusoidal PWM control, overmodulation control and rectangular wave control through operation control of the converter and the inverter. The control unit starts step-up operation of the converter when a current vector of motor current of the motor on a d-q coordinate plane becomes a current phase corresponding to motor torque, at which a system loss is equal between before and after starting the step-up operation, while the control unit supplies the direct-current voltage, supplied from the power supply, to the inverter without stepping up the direct-current voltage by the converter and performs the rectangular wave control of the motor in a state where the current phase is an optimal current phase.
US09281771B2 Drive controller, image pickup apparatus, drive control method, and storage medium
A drive controller includes a stepping motor capable of performing micro-step drive of a predetermined number of divisions by using an excitation current having a sine waveform, and a control unit configured to calculate a first drive pulse of the stepping motor to perform the micro-step drive, and the control unit is configured to change the first drive pulse to a second drive pulse depending on a ratio of a step phase of a predetermined phase region included in a range of the micro-step drive when performing the micro-step drive with the first drive pulse in a wobbling operation.
US09281770B2 Precision-fastening handheld cordless power tools
Cordless power tools include a pistol housing having an upper portion that merges into a downwardly extending handle, a DC motor residing in the upper portion of the housing, the DC motor having a rotor that drives an output shaft; a torque transducer on board the tool in communication with the output shaft; and a dynamic motor control circuit residing in the housing in communication with the motor and torque transducer. The dynamic motor control circuit includes a Kelvin resistor in communication with the motor for measuring motor current and digital hall switches in communication with the motor for measuring motor speed. The motor current can vary by at least 100 A during operation.
US09281767B2 Motor driving apparatus
Disclosed herein is a motor driving apparatus including: an actuator for converting electric energy into rotary motion; a monitoring unit for monitoring a state of the actuator; a control unit for generating a control signal based on an output voltage of the monitoring unit; and a driving signal generation unit for generating a driving signal for the actuator based on the control signal. The control unit may determine whether the monitoring unit normally operates, based on an output voltage of the monitoring unit.
US09281765B2 Motor deceleration method and motor driving system using the same
A motor deceleration method for a motor driving system is provided. The motor driving system outputs a driving signal containing a voltage value, a current value and a frequency value for driving a motor. When a deceleration of the motor is launched, the descent speeds of the voltage value and the frequency value are controlled according to a preset deceleration time period. Then, a voltage compensation value is generated according to a result of comparing the current value with a preset current level, and the voltage value is increased according to the voltage compensation value, so that the current value is increased to the preset current level. According to a frequency compensation value, the current value is increased to and maintained at the preset current level. Finally, the rotating speed of the motor is gradually decreased to a preset speed.
US09281760B2 Power module and three-level power converter using the same
A first pair including a highest-outer-side switching element and a switching element that operates as a neutral clamp diode on a higher potential side, a second pair including a lowest-outer-side switching element and a switching element that operates as a neutral clamp diode on a lower potential side, and a third pair including a higher-inner-side switching element and a lower-inner-side switching element are respectively configured from power modules that are two-element-inclusive power modules, a power conversion circuit portion being configured from the first pair, the second pair, and the third pair.
US09281756B2 Power flow controller with a fractionally rated back-to-back converter
A power flow controller with a fractionally rated back-to-back (BTB) converter is provided. The power flow controller provide dynamic control of both active and reactive power of a power system. The power flow controller inserts a voltage with controllable magnitude and phase between two AC sources at the same frequency; thereby effecting control of active and reactive power flows between the two AC sources. A transformer may be augmented with a fractionally rated bi-directional Back to Back (BTB) converter. The fractionally rated BTB converter comprises a transformer side converter (TSC), a direct-current (DC) link, and a line side converter (LSC). By controlling the switches of the BTB converter, the effective phase angle between the two AC source voltages may be regulated, and the amplitude of the voltage inserted by the power flow controller may be adjusted with respect to the AC source voltages.
US09281751B2 Power converter with primary-side feedback control and voltage control method thereof
A voltage control method for a power converter includes: acquiring a current of a first primary side winding of a transformer circuit of the power converter; integrating the acquired current to obtain an average voltage; comparing the average voltage with a reflected voltage associated with a current of a secondary side winding of the transformer circuit; and adjusting a duty cycle of a switch of the power converter based on an obtained comparison result for adjustment of an output voltage of the power converter.
US09281744B2 System and method for a programmable voltage source
In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a charge pump includes providing a first programmable voltage to a plurality of clock generators having outputs coupled to first nodes of corresponding groups of charge pump capacitors, and selecting a second node of one capacitor from one of the corresponding groups of charge pump capacitors. The clock generators produce a plurality of clock signals having amplitudes proportional to the first programmable voltage.
US09281743B1 Charge pump power supply with output voltage sensing using residual charge on a flying capacitor
A regulated charge pump power supply is implemented with a QP regulation loop providing QP clocking to control pumping operation based on sensing output voltage using residual charge on a flying capacitor Cfly. Cfly is used not only in normal charge pumping operation as an active charge shuttle element, but also to determine/measure output voltage VOUT. Voltage sensing using measured residual charge on Cfly is accomplished by introducing a sample phase into the normal charge pumping operation—after the pump phase and before the charge phase. In the sample phase, VOUT is determined (sampled) based on the residual charge on Cfly corresponding to (Vsense=VOUT−VIN). During the sample phase, the Cfly bottom plate is connected to ground, and the Cfly top plate is sampled (such as with a sense capacitor), with the sample phase completed prior to initiating a charge phase (by connecting the Cfly top plate to VIN).
US09281737B2 Voltage converter
A voltage converter such as a DC-DC buck regulator includes a driver circuit that enables charge stored on the parasitic capacitance of a transistor switch to be transferred to a load capacitor. Hence, stored charge can be harvested for use by a load, thereby increasing efficiency of the regulator.
US09281736B2 Virtual ellipse motor
A virtual ellipse electric motor and methods are presented. A fulcrum bears a nutating dynamic load, and a wobble plate is rotationally coupled to the fulcrum and nutates around the fulcrum. The wobble plate includes an inner pericyclic gear and an outer pericyclic gear, and a stationary gear meshes with the outer pericyclic gear and provides leverage to the wobble plate. The rotational output plate meshes with the inner pericyclic gear and rotates in response to rotation of the wobble plate. The stator includes an electromagnet and electromagnetically attracts a first side of the wobble plate such that a second side of the wobble plate is leveraged against the stationary gear and the rotational output plate.
US09281729B2 Motor unit
A rotation detector provided in a motor unit according to an embodiment includes a first support and a second support, a pair of magnetic field generator, at least one magnetic field detector, and a first magnetic member and a second magnetic member. The pair of magnetic field generator is provided on the first support in a manner facing the second support, and has opposite polarities. The magnetic field detector is formed by winding a coil around a magnetic element whose magnetized direction changes in the longitudinal direction, and is provided on the second support in such a manner that a longitudinal-direction side of the magnetic element faces the first support. Each of the first magnetic member and the second magnetic member is made of a magnetic material, and covers a longitudinal-direction end of the magnetic field detector facing the first support.
US09281719B2 High-frequency power device, power transmission device, and power transfer system
A power transfer system includes a power transmission device and a power reception device which are capacitively coupled to allow electrical conduction therethrough in the manner of alternating current. The power transmission device includes an active electrode, a passive electrode, a step-up transformer, and a high-frequency voltage generating circuit. The power reception device includes an active electrode, a passive electrode, and a load circuit. A divider for voltage division based on load capacitances (C1 and C2) is provided between the active electrode and the passive electrode. The active electrode and the passive electrode have respective equivalent capacitances to ground (Ca and Cp) relative to the ground potential. A ground leakage current Ig is minimized by adjusting the values of the respective capacitances in an equivalent circuit so as to satisfy the relationship: C2/C1=Cp/Ca.
US09281717B2 Form factor swappable DC battery back-up
In accordance with the present disclosure, a system and method for providing a battery back-up unit (BBU) for a rack-level power infrastructure is described. The system may include a chassis sized to fit within a commodity power supply unit (PSU) slot in a power distribution unit (PDU). A battery may be disposed within the chassis, and at least one power module coupled to the battery. The system may also include a power module controller coupled to the at least one power module, and a form-factor connector coupled to the power module controller and the at least one power module.
US09281716B2 Generator controller configured for preventing automatic transfer switch from supplying power to the selected load
A power management system may include a generator controller. The generator controller may (i) operate the generator; and (ii) prohibit a transfer switch from supplying first or second power to an output of the transfer switch. In some systems, the first power may be primary power (e.g., from a primary power source such as a utility) while the second power is secondary power (e.g., from a secondary power source such as a generator). In other systems, the second power may be primary power while the first power is secondary power, or both the first and second power may be secondary power.
US09281715B2 Paralelling of two transfer switches
A backup power management system connectable to a primary power source and a secondary power source, and a method of operating the same. The system includes an enclosed housing that receives a control system including first and second controllers that are connected to a first transfer switch contactor and a second transfer switch contactor within the housing. Both the primary power source and a secondary power source are broken into two separate output supplies. The two separate output supplies from the primary power source and the secondary power source are each provided to one of the first and second transfer switch contactors. The control system sends signals to the first and second transfer switch contactors to control the movement of the contactors between first and second positions. The power management system can also include a load management controller to control the load on the secondary power source.
US09281714B2 Uninterruptible power system, method of controlling power supply, and recording medium having power supply control program stored therein
An uninterruptible power system includes a plurality of uninterruptible power units connected in parallel to input power. One uninterruptible power unit includes a rechargeable battery, a charging circuit that supplies a charging current to the rechargeable battery, and an output circuit that outputs power supplied from the rechargeable battery as output power. The uninterruptible power system includes a path switching unit in which switching of a path for power received among the charging circuit, the rechargeable battery and the output circuit in the plurality of uninterruptible power units is performed, and a control unit that controls the path switching unit so that switching of the path is performed according to states of the uninterruptible power units.
US09281712B2 Electrical power conditioning unit and system
An electrical power conditioning for an electrical power conditioning system comprises a first terminal for connecting either an electrical power generator or a battery; a second terminal for connecting either a battery or an electrical power generator, respectively; a third terminal for connecting a power bus; characterized in that it further comprises: a reactive structure connected between said second terminal and the ground, formed by a serial connection of a first inductor, a capacitor and a second inductor, first and second nodes being provided between the first inductor and the capacitor, and between the capacitor and the second inductor, respectively; at least one output switching structure for connecting the third terminal to the first and second nodes through respective first and second switches and a third in-series inductor; and at least one input switching structure for connecting the first terminal to at least the first node through a third switch.
US09281710B2 Bypass control wireless charging device
A bypass control wireless charging device includes a logic control unit electrically connected to a wireless transmission unit, a full-bridge inverter, a buck-boost unit, a discharging switch unit and a back current prevention unit, wherein the discharging switch unit electrically connected to a battery, and a inlet terminal of the back current prevention unit electrically connected to a charging terminal, when the charging terminal electrically connected to an external power, the back current prevention unit turned on by the logic control unit to turned off the discharging switch unit and the input voltage of the external power boosted by buck-boost unit and converted DC to AC by the full-bridge inverter. The coil of the wireless transmission unit provided the emission electricity with AC induction to achieve the purpose of wireless charging for the electronics while received the emission electricity of the wireless transmission unit.
US09281704B2 Method of controlling a load current, load current control device, and mobile device having the same
A method of controlling a load current is provided. By the method, a battery voltage control operation is begun when a battery voltage becomes lower than a first threshold value, whether a gradient of the battery voltage is a positive gradient or a negative gradient is determined at an interval of a reference or, alternatively, predetermined control time, the load current is controlled based on the gradient of the battery voltage at an interval of the reference or, alternatively, predetermined control time, and the battery voltage control operation is finished when the battery voltage becomes higher than a second threshold value.
US09281698B2 Battery pack
A battery pack having a battery management system is disclosed. In some embodiments, the battery pack includes a battery management system, which includes a detector detecting a voltage and a current of each of the battery cells, a current monitor receiving current information detected by the detector, and a controller receiving voltage and current information from the detector and current information from the current monitor, and calculating capacities of the battery cells based on the receive information.
US09281697B2 Capacitively coupled cell balancer with a common AC bus
This invention concerns a capacitively coupled cell balancer with a common AC bus. It comprises either a half or full bridge connected to each cell of a set of N cells, which are either floating or connected in series. The midpoints of each half bridge and the full bridges are coupled through coupling capacitors to a common AC bus.
US09281691B2 Detection for four pair powered devices
A twin power sourcing equipment constituted of: a first power sourcing equipment; and a second power sourcing equipment arranged for connection to a powered device over respective power paths; the first and second power sourcing equipments arranged to: simultaneously perform detection of the powered device; and in the event that at least one of the first and second power sourcing equipments detects the presence of the powered device, alternately perform detection of the powered device to detect a signature impedance; and in the event that each of the alternate detection is indicative of the presence of the signature impedance, provide power to the powered device simultaneously by the first and second power sourcing equipment. Power is not provided to the powered device in the event that the simultaneous detection is indicative of the absence of the powered device on each of the first path and the second path.
US09281689B2 Load phase balancing at multiple tiers of a multi-tier hierarchical intelligent power distribution grid
The subject specification comprises enhanced power system balance control for a multi-tier hierarchical electrical distribution network (EDN). The EDN comprises a specified number of distribution network node controller (DNNC) components employed to desirably control power system balance, data communications, and power distribution between respective tiers of the EDN to facilitate efficient power distribution. In each tier, a power system balance component (PSBC), associated with a DNNC component, can monitor power system balance, such as load phase balance, associated with multi-phase power distribution for its tier, and detect power system imbalances in that tier. A power balance correction action can be identified and executed (e.g., automatically) in response to the detected power system imbalance to rectify the imbalance, wherein the correction action can include dynamic switching of loads between phases and/or filtering of the power signal.
US09281686B2 State estimation for cooperative electrical grids
Aspects of state estimation for cooperative electrical grids are disclosed. State estimation of a local electrical grid can be based on a local grid model and local electrical grid information. The local state estimation can reflect interactions and interconnections with other electrical grids by determining state estimation solution information based on the local grid model, local electrical grid information, and remote state estimator solution information associated with the other electrical grid. As such, a local state estimator can be configured to receive and employ remote state estimator solution information. This can be in addition to the more conventional technique or receiving a remote grid model and remote electrical grid information to estimate the conditions of the remote electrical grid. Further, state estimation solution information can be incremental to further reduce the amount of information to be transferred and the time needed to accomplish transmission of the information.
US09281683B1 Electrostatic discharge protection and method in power supply
The switched mode power supply and method has respective AC circuit and DC circuit portions, each having their own respective grounds. To each of these respective grounds an attachment point providing an energy pathway to ground is defined. A spark gap structure, coupled between the attachment points, substantially inhibits the flow of direct current between the attachment points while providing a static electricity energy path between the attachment points. The spark gap structures may be implemented by circuit board traces, by electronic circuit component leads, by spaced apart structures such as heat sinks or by other discharging components. In this way the power supply does not need to rely on an earth ground in order to protect against damage due to electrostatic discharge.
US09281676B2 Adjustment device for cable management arm
An adjustment device for a cable management arm includes a first support member, a second support member, and a positioning member. The first support member has a plurality of holes. The second support member is movably connected to the first support member and has a through hole. The positioning member is fixed to the second support member and has a positioning portion and a resilient section connected to the positioning portion. When in use, the positioning portion partially extends through the through hole, selectively extends through one of the holes, and then is positioned by a force of the resilient section, such that the extension-length of the second support member relative to the first support member is adjusted.
US09281675B2 Systems and methods for cable deployment of downhole equipment
Systems and methods for cable deployment of downhole equipment, wherein the conductors of a power cable bear the load of the downhole equipment and jewelry, as well as the cable itself. The power cable includes a set of elongated conductors, an upper coupling and a lower coupling. The upper support coupling suspends each of the conductors from the support structure and electrically couples the conductors to a power source. The lower coupling suspends the downhole electrical equipment from the conductors and electrically couples the conductors to the downhole equipment. One embodiment uses 7075 T-6 aluminum conductors to provide a length of at least 10,000 feet, a yield stress of at least 50,000 psi and a resistance of less than 0.2 ohm/kf. The aluminum conductors are homogeneous and are non-reactive with hydrogen sulfide, so no lead sheathing is required.
US09281673B2 Deformable busbar assembly and bus bar installation method
A bus bar assembly includes a deformable bus bar including a bus bar positive terminal flange, a bus bar negative terminal flange spaced-apart from the bus bar positive terminal flange and a flange connecting portion connecting the bus bar positive terminal flange and the bus bar negative terminal flange. A deformable bus bar frame includes a bus bar frame positive terminal flange carried by the bus bar positive terminal flange of the deformable bus bar and a bus bar frame negative terminal flange carried by the bus bar negative terminal flange of the deformable bus bar. A method of installing a deformable bus bar on positive and negative terminals of a battery cell is also disclosed.
US09281670B2 Corrugated tube provided with passage maintenance member, and wire harness
A passage restricting member is attached to a corrugated tube. This corrugated tube includes a corrugated tube, a passage maintenance member, and an attachment member. The passage maintenance member is die-molded so as to maintain a shape in which at least a portion is curved in the longitudinal direction, and the transverse cross-section is arc shaped. The passage maintenance member has an opening penetrating to the internal peripheral side and the external peripheral side. The attachment member has an internal peripheral engaging part engaging with an internal peripheral portion of a slit in the corrugated tube, an external peripheral engaging part engaging with an external peripheral portion of the opening in the passage maintenance member, and a connecting part for connecting the internal peripheral engaging part and the external peripheral engaging part while disposed in the slit and the opening.
US09281669B2 Cord managment system
A cord management system that stores and protects cords in an untangled state while the cord is not in use by the user. In some embodiments, the cord management system may include a stationary clasp, a slidable clasp, and a flexible body member that stretches over a user's cord and subsequently encapsulates the cord for storage upon the cavity's relaxation. The cord management system may provide the user with a quick and convenient, two-handed single motion, means to store and protect their cords and prevents the cord from becoming entangled. The cord management system can be an after-market product and retrofitted to a user's pre-existing cords or can be an integral design of cord. The cord management system resides at the end of the cord in a compressed manner that allows the full functionality of the cord without causing unwanted/unsupported weight on the cord.
US09281665B2 Device for mounting a switch or the like on a mounting plate
A device for mounting a switch or the like on a mounting plate having a front side, a back side as well as a mounting hole. The switch has a housing with a housing upper side and at least one fixing projection insertable into the mounting hole from the back side of the mounting plate. Moreover, both a support to support the fixing projection against the front side of the mounting plate and counter-supporting elements to support the housing upper side against the back side of the mounting plate are provided. The counter-supporting elements are springs.
US09281663B2 General aviation igniter cable assembly
An improved general aviation igniter cable assembly includes either a single or double coil spring. The double coil spring has inner and outer portions. The outer portion has first and second ends. The first end rotatably engages the cylindrical recess in the ferrule. The outer portion surrounds the first end of the grommet with the second end bearing against the retainer. The distal end of the inner portion is located within the outer portion and bears against the first end of the grommet to put pressure on the spark plug contact button. For the magneto end of the cable, a sealing grommet fits slidably over an insulating sleeve of the cable and seals against a magneto plate when a surrounding threaded nut is tightened into a collar of the magneto plate and the plate is attached to a magneto, providing an airtight seal to the magneto plate and the magneto.
US09281662B2 Spark plug
A spark plug including an insulator having an axial hole, a center electrode held at one end side and a terminal electrode held at the other end side of the axial hole, an electrical connection portion electrically connecting the center electrode and the terminal electrode inside the axial hole, wherein the electrical connection portion includes a conductor including a ceramic phase and a metal wire having a spiral structure portion, wherein the metal wire has a wire diameter of 0.1 mm or greater and 0.5 mm or smaller, and wherein the spiral structure portion of the metal wire is configured such that an outer diameter thereof is 1.0 mm or greater and 3 mm or smaller, a pitch thereof is 0.3 mm or greater and 1 mm or smaller, and a height thereof is 8 mm or greater and 30 mm or smaller.
US09281653B2 Intelligent laser interlock system
Systems and methods are disclosed for shutting down a laser system in an intelligent and flexible manner. An intelligent laser interlock system includes both hardwired components, and intelligent components configured to execute computing instructions. The hardwired components and the intelligent components are configured to shutdown the laser system to one or more alternative shutdown states in response to one or more interlock signals.
US09281651B2 Laser resonator with parasitic mode suppression
The resonator includes a lasing medium having a thickness, a first mirror disposed at a first end of the lasing medium and a second mirror disposed at a second end of the lasing medium. The first and second mirror cooperate to fold an intra-cavity laser beam along a plurality of paths through the lasing medium, thereby defining a boundary of a superfluous region within the resonator, wherein the intra-cavity laser beam does not pass through the superfluous region. The first mirror and the second mirror form a laser resonator for a parasitic laser mode, a portion of which is located within the superfluous region. A parasitic mode suppressor is located within the superfluous region of the resonator.
US09281642B1 Connector in which grounding boards are combined with assembly tongue plate
The present disclosure is to provide a connector which is compatible to USB Type-C standard and includes an assembly tongue plate, two grounding boards and a metal casing. The assembly tongue plate includes a first terminal block made of plastic and having a plurality of first connection terminals disposed therein, a second terminal block made of plastic and having a plurality of second connection terminals disposed therein, and a metal separating plate being assembled between a bottom surface of the first terminal block and a top surface of the second terminal block. The two grounding boards can be fastened with each other to enclose outer edges of the first terminal block and second terminal block when the metal separating plate is assembled between the first terminal block and second terminal block, so as for allowing the assembly tongue plate to be easily and quickly assembled into the metal casing.
US09281637B2 Mini coax cable connector
A cable connector comprising a connector body, a compression member operably connected to a second end of the connector body, the compression member including a compression portion having a forward facing surface, wherein the compression portion protrudes from an inner surface of the compression member, wherein, when the compression member is slidably axially compressed within the connector body, the compression portion of the compression member compresses an inner sleeve into crimping engagement with a coaxial cable is provided. An associated method is also provided.
US09281634B2 USB receptacle
A USB receptacle is mateable along a predetermined direction with a special USB plug comprising an identifiable portion. The USB receptacle comprises a holding member and a detector. The holding member includes a body portion having a plate-like shape extending in the predetermined direction. The detector is held by a side portion of the body portion. The detector has a contact portion. The contact portion does not overlap the body portion at all in a vertical direction perpendicular to the predetermined direction. When the USB receptacle and the special USB plug are mated with each other, the identifiable portion of the special USB plug is connected to the contact portion of the detector.
US09281632B2 Communication jack having layered plug interface contacts
A communication jack, system using the jack, and method of fabricating the jack are disclosed. The jack includes a cavity configured to accept a communication plug to form a communication connector. The jack includes a plurality of plug interface contacts that extend into the cavity such that a plug inserted into the cavity makes electrical contact with the plug interface contacts at plug/jack interfaces of the plug interface contacts. One or more of the plug interface contacts is formed from multiple conductive layers. The conductive layers are movable relative to each other at at least one end. A dielectric layer or flexible printed circuit board may be disposed between the conductive layers.
US09281630B2 Electrical connector systems
An electrical connector that includes a housing configured to be coupled to a mating connector. The connector has signal contacts held in signal contact openings. The signal contacts are arranged in arrays of quad groups. Each of the quad group has a set of four contacts arranged in row pairs and column pairs. The signal contacts of each quad group are configured to carry relational signals with each other signal contact in the quad group. Each signal contact is configured to electrically couple to a signal contact of the mating connector. The connector also includes ground shields held in corresponding ground shield openings. The ground shields have walls surrounding a corresponding quad group of signal contacts and provides electrical shielding from adjacent quad groups of signal contacts. The ground shields have mating ends for mating with corresponding ground contacts of the mating connector.
US09281624B2 Electrical connector with signal pathways and a system having the same
Electrical connector including a connector body having a mating side configured to interface with an electrical component. The electrical connector also includes signal pathways extending through the connector body. The signal pathways are arranged to form pairs of signal pathways. The electrical connector also includes an impedance-control assembly having a plurality of dielectric bodies supported by the connector body. The dielectric bodies surround respective pairs of signal pathways. The dielectric bodies include a dielectric medium and gas bubbles distributed in the dielectric medium. The dielectric medium has a predetermined dielectric constant. The at least one of the gas bubbles or gas-filled particles are sized and distributed in the dielectric medium to achieve a target dielectric constant of the dielectric bodies.
US09281619B2 Vibration resistant connector system with connector position assurance device
A connector that is configured to be inserted within a cavity of a shroud defined by a mating connector along a longitudinal axis, including a connector body which defines a first resilient member and a first wedge member that is configured to urge the first resilient member into compressive contact with the shroud of the mating connector along a vertical or longitudinal axis. The connector may include a plurality of pairs of resilient members and wedge members to provide compressive contact along more than one axis. The wedge members may be incorporated into a connector position assurance device (CPA).
US09281609B2 Waterproof connector connection structure
A first connector is fluid-tightly fitted with a second connector through an opening of a mounting wall. The first connector includes a cylindrical spacer fitted into the opening, and a housing having a support part and a housing body. The support part is mounted to a first surface of the mounting wall while being able to be displaced along a plane perpendicular to a connector fitting direction of the first and second connectors. The housing body has a leading end which is inserted in the opening with a clearance. A first ring-shaped seal member is interposed between the opening and the spacer, a second ring-shaped seal member is interposed between the spacer and the support part in the connector fitting direction, and a third ring-shaped seal member is interposed between the second connector and the leading end.
US09281601B2 Pin terminal
A pin terminal (PT) is such that a cap (30) made of synthetic resin is attached to a tip part of a terminal main body (10) made of metal and in the form of a round pin. An attachment hole (21) including an uninterrupted and continuous peripheral wall over the entire circumference is perforated on the tip surface of the terminal main body (10), whereas a press-fitting portion (35) to be press-fitted into the attachment hole (21) is formed to project on the rear surface of the cap (30). An internal thread (23) is formed on the peripheral surface of the attachment hole (21), and a ridge portion (24) of this internal thread (23) constitutes a biting protrusion. The tip of the pin terminal (PT) is structured to form a smooth and tapered guiding portion (40).
US09281584B2 Connector
A connector reduced in height without reducing contact reliability. A contact of the connector includes a first spring portion that supports a contact portion, a second spring portion that supports a connection portion, and an integral connection portion that integrally connects the first spring portion and the second spring portion. The first spring portion and the second spring portion are arranged on an imaginary straight line that extends through the contact portion and is parallel to a connection direction, and the integral connection portion is made away from the imaginary straight line in a direction orthogonal to the connection direction.
US09281582B2 Receptacle of electrical connector
A receptacle for an electrical connector includes a metal housing body, a plastic main body positioned in the metal housing body, and flat terminals. The plastic main body incorporates with the metal housing body to form an accommodating space for being plugged into by a plug. First and second tongue parts disposed on the plastic main body are respectively close to upper and lower sides of the metal housing body. Each flat terminal includes a fixing part, a contacting part formed in a flat shape, and a soldering part. The contacting parts are respectively disposed on first and second tongue parts and respectively are exposed to the accommodating space in downward and upward directions. A tongue of a plastic body of the receptacle, i.e. first and second tongue parts, and the flat terminals are thus minimally damaged, to prevent the expensive cost of repairing a damaged receptacle.
US09281581B2 Wiring module for a battery module that has detection terminal for detecting state of electric cells
A wiring module includes first detection terminals for detecting a state of electric cells, and a resin protector that retains the first detection terminals. The first detection terminals each include a first plate-shaped portion having a plate shape, and a first electric wire connecting portion continuous with the first plate-shaped portion and connected to a terminal portion of an electric wire W. The first plate-shaped portion is provided with projecting pieces for discriminating the front and back sides of the corresponding first detection terminal.
US09281579B2 Electrical connectors having leadframes
An electrical connector includes a contact module having a leadframe and a dielectric frame surrounding the leadframe. The leadframe has signal conductors having transition contacts encased in the dielectric frame. The transition contacts are coplanar such that the transition contacts are arranged within a contact plane of the leadframe. The signal conductors have mating contacts extending from the corresponding transition contacts. Each of the mating contacts have a mating interface configured to be electrically connected to a corresponding mating contact of a mating connector. The mating contacts are arranged in pairs with the corresponding mating interfaces aligned in rows along corresponding row axes. Each of the pairs of mating contacts are arranged in different rows.
US09281578B2 Connecting apparatus for power cable
The cables are configured to supply electric power from an inverter to a motor. The cables include a connector and plural terminals fixed to the connector. A housing of the connector includes a first rib, provided between the adjacent terminals, connecting mutually facing surfaces of the housing. The terminal block is attached to an enclosure of the inverter or motor. The terminal block includes plural retaining walls, each of which encloses and retains a nut. The terminal block includes a second rib connecting adjacent retaining walls. One of the first and second ribs includes a recess. The connector is connected to the terminal block when each of the terminals is fastened to the terminal block with a bolt and the nut. The other of the first and second ribs is disposed in the recess and the ribs intersect when the connector is connected to the terminal block.
US09281577B2 Control signal routing apparatus
A disclosed control signal routing apparatus includes a substrate, a routing connector having multiple electrical terminals and multiple portions, and multiple electrical conductors on or in the substrate. The terminals are arranged within a housing cavity. The conductors connect terminals of different portions of the routing connector. Each portion of the routing connector is adapted to receive a plug connector and includes two or more terminals. Another embodiment of the apparatus includes the substrate, multiple routing connectors, and a first and second set of conductor(s) on or in the substrate. Each routing connector includes a first, a second, and a third terminals, and two portions each adapted to receive a plug connector. The first set of conductor(s) connects the first terminals of routing connectors and sequential next routing connectors. The second set of conductor(s) connects third terminals of routing connectors to second terminals of sequential next routing connectors.
US09281576B2 Patch panel having cable terminating devices with wiring contacts accessible from a front face of the panel
A patch panel arrangement is disclosed having a two part cable terminating device into which a cable can enter. One part, for example, a main body has forward facing wiring contacts. The cable can pass through from the rear but has its wires terminated on the wiring contacts from the front. A front cover detachable from the main body via the front of the patch panel, exposes the front facing wiring contacts to permit wiring changes to be effected from the uncluttered front of the patch panel (rather than the crowded rear of conventional patch panels).
US09281565B2 Multi-frequency antenna
A multi-frequency antenna includes a first antenna element, a second antenna element, a connection element, a third antenna element and a shorted element. The connection element is connected between the first antenna element and a neighborhood portion of the third antenna element. A feeding point is located in or nearby a first junction between the connection element and the first antenna element or located in the connection element. The shorted element is connected between the second antenna element and the grounding plane. The shorted element extends from a second junction between the second antenna element and the third antenna element to the grounding plane. The first conductive path that extends from the feeding point to the other end of the shorted element is substantially equal to a second conductive length that extends from the feeding point to the free end of the first antenna element.
US09281562B2 Apparatus with antenna and method for wireless communication
An apparatus including a first port configured to couple to a first location on an antenna; a second port configured to couple to a second location on the antenna; a switch configured to switch between a first electrical configuration in which the first port is coupled to radio circuitry, and a second electrical configuration in which the second port is coupled to the radio circuitry; first reactive circuitry configured to impedance match the antenna with the radio circuitry at a first operational resonant frequency band; and second reactive circuitry, different to the first reactive circuitry, and configured to impedance match the antenna with the radio circuitry at a second operational resonant frequency band, different to the first operational resonant frequency band.
US09281561B2 Multi-band antenna system for satellite communications
The present invention provides an improved antenna system on moving platform that is in communication with multiple satellites for simultaneous reception of RF energy at multiple frequencies. The antenna is implemented as a multi-beam, multi-band antenna having a main reflector with multiple feed horns and a sub-reflector to reflect Ku and Ka frequency band signals directed by a focal region of the main reflector.
US09281559B2 Method for directed antenna alignment through augmented reality
A system for aligning two ground-based antennae (100, 110) or a ground-based antenna (100) and a satellite antenna (110), for use in military and civilian settings, in which a visual display is generated showing a graphical representation of the antennae including graphical representations indicating both the axis of the main lobe (102) and the approximate radiation pattern (414) of the antennae, superimposed over a live imaging of the local terrain. The alignment is achieved when the graphical representations of the main axis and radiation patterns of the two antennae align with each other.
US09281555B2 Method and monopole antenna for making uniform the radiation of said antenna, when disposed inside a radome
Method and monopole antenna for making uniform the radiation of the antenna, when disposed inside a radome. According to the invention, on the surface of the monopole antenna is formed a protruding longitudinal ridge which is disposed at least approximately opposite an area of the radiating pattern of the assembly radome (1)-monopole antenna having a reduced gain in comparison with the radiating pattern of said monopole antenna alone.
US09281554B1 Balloon with pressure mechanism to passively steer antenna
Methods and apparatus are disclosed for passively steering an antenna disposed on a balloon in a balloon network. An example balloon involves: (a) an antenna and (b) a pressure-sensitive mechanism in mechanical communication with the antenna such that a change in the balloon's altitude causes at least an element of the antenna to rotate upward or downward, a separation distance between two or more radiating elements to increase or decrease, or a separation distance between the two or more radiating elements and a reflector to increase or decrease.
US09281543B2 Square lithium secondary battery
A square lithium secondary battery includes a wound body in which a collective sheet in which a positive electrode sheet and a negative electrode sheet overlap each other with a first separator interposed therebetween is wound while a second separator is put inside the collective sheet. An active material mixture layer on one or both surfaces of at least one of the positive electrode sheet and the negative electrode sheet includes a region with a plurality of openings and a region with no opening. At least a bent portion of the collective sheet is covered with the region with the plurality of openings.
US09281541B2 Nonaqueous electrolyte for secondary battery and nonaqueous-electrolyte secondary battery employing the same
An object is to provide a nonaqueous electrolyte and a nonaqueous-electrolyte secondary battery which have excellent discharge load characteristics and are excellent in high-temperature storability, cycle characteristics, high capacity, continuous-charge characteristics, storability, gas evolution inhibition during continuous charge, high-current-density charge/discharge characteristics, discharge load characteristics, etc. The object has been accomplished with a nonaqueous electrolyte which comprises: a monofluorophosphate and/or a difluorophosphate; and further a compound having a specific chemical structure or specific properties.
US09281532B2 Remedial actions for air flow errors in a fuel cell system
A system and method for operating a fuel cell stack of a fuel cell system in a vehicle when an error in cathode air flow rate is detected. The system and method include estimating a cathode air flow rate and detecting an error in the estimated cathode air flow rate. The system and method also include utilizing high frequency resistance measurements from a high frequency resistance sensor to control a relative humidity of the fuel cell stack when the error in the estimated cathode air flow rate has been detected.
US09281506B2 Battery cell containment and venting
A battery has a casing holding plural cells and a mesh wrapped around the cells to contain pieces of an exploding cell within the casing. To prevent overpressurization of the casing from the gas emitted by an exploding cell, a pressure relief feature is provided that allows gas to pass through battery casing.
US09281501B2 Light extraction film and light emitting device using the same
The present invention provides a light extraction film including a micro-lens array film and at least one optical film. The micro-lens array film has a first surface and a second surface opposite to each other, and has a plurality of micro-lenses disposed on the first surface. The optical film covers the first surface, and the optical film includes a plurality of optical particles and a thin film layer. The optical particles are disposed in the thin film layer.
US09281481B2 Polymeric fluorescent material
The present invention relates to a polymeric fluorescent material, which comprises a novel acrylamide polymer so that it may emit fluorescence with higher efficiency and can be available especially for a white or blue light emitting material. The polymeric fluorescent material comprises a mesoporous acrylamide polymer including at least one repeating unit.
US09281468B2 Magnetic memory element
The disclosed technology generally relates to semiconductor devices, and more particularly spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STTMRAM) elements having perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). In one aspect, a magnetic element comprises a metal underlayer and a seed layer on the underlayer, the seed layer comprising alternating layers of a first metal and a second metal. The alternating layers of a first metal and a second metal are repeated n times with, 2<=n<=20. Also a spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory element is disclosed having a perpendicular magnetic orientation comprising a metal underlayer on a substrate, a seed layer on the metal underlayer; the seed layer comprising alternating layers of a first metal and a second metal, a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element with a perpendicular orientation including: a reference layer formed on the seed layer, a tunnel barrier layer formed on the reference layer, a storage layer formed on the tunnel barrier layer and a top electrode and a bottom electrode.
US09281455B2 LED packaging structure having concave lens structure at light-emitting side of LED chip
According to an LED packaging structure and packaging method thereof provided by the present disclosure, the LED may comprise a support having a cavity and at least one LED chip placed in the cavity. After the cavity is filled with a fluorescent adhesive, at least one concave lens structure may be formed at a light emitting side of the LED chip.
US09281451B2 Light emitting element and fabricating method thereof
A fabricating method of light emitting element. A substrate is provided. A plurality of first concaves and a plurality of second concaves are formed on the substrate, wherein a volume of each first concave is different from a volume of each second concave. A plurality of first light emitting diode chips and a plurality of second light emitting diode chips are provided, wherein a volume of each first light emitting diode chip is corresponding to the volume of each first concave, and a volume of each second light emitting diode chip is corresponding to the volume of each second concave. The first light emitting diode chips are moved onto the substrate such that the first light emitting diode chips go into the first concaves, and the second light emitting diode chips are moved onto the substrate such that the second light emitting diode chips go into the first concaves.
US09281446B2 Light-emitting diode and method for manufacturing same
Disclosed are a light emitting diode and a method of fabricating the same. The light emitting diode includes a GaN substrate having a plurality of through-holes; a GaN-based semiconductor stack structure placed on the substrate and including a first conductive-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second conductive-type semiconductor layer; and a first electrode electrically connected to the first conductive-type semiconductor layer via the through-holes. The light emitting diode can reduce crystal defects and prevent reduction in light emitting area.
US09281442B2 III-nitride nanowire LED with strain modified surface active region and method of making thereof
A light emitting diode (LED) device includes a semiconductor nanowire core, and an In(Al)GaN active region quantum well shell located radially around the semiconductor nanowire core. The active quantum well shell contains indium rich regions having at least 5 atomic percent higher indium content than indium poor regions in the same shell. The active region quantum well shell has a non-uniform surface profile having at least 3 peaks. Each of the at least 3 peaks is separated from an adjacent one of the at least 3 peaks by a valley, and each of the at least 3 peaks extends at least 2 nm in a radial direction away from an adjacent valley.
US09281440B2 Electroluminescence device using indirect bandgap semiconductor
This invention provides an electroluminescence device comprising an indirect bandgap semiconductor layer, such as silicon or germanium, having a local conduction-band minimum at the Γ-point in an E-k diagram for using as a light emitting layer, and a direct bandgap semiconductor layer formed by a heterojunction on the indirect bandgap semiconductor layer for using as an electron supply means transporting electrons from a Γ-valley to a Γ-valley when a forward-biased voltage is applied, wherein a light emission is occurred by recombining the electrons transported to the Γ-valley of the indirect bandgap semiconductor layer with holes located at a valance band maximum of the indirect bandgap semiconductor layer.
US09281436B2 Radio-frequency sputtering system with rotary target for fabricating solar cells
One embodiment of the present invention provides a sputtering system for large-scale fabrication of solar cells. The sputtering system includes a reaction chamber, a rotary target situated inside the reaction chamber which is capable of rotating about a longitudinal axis, and an RF power source coupled to at least one end of the rotary target to enable RF sputtering. The length of the rotary target is between 0.5 and 5 meters.
US09281434B2 Infra red detectors and a method of manufacturing infra red detectors using MOVPE
A method of forming infra red detector arrays is described, starting with the manufacture of a wafer. The wafer is formed from a GaAs or GaAs/Si substrate having CMT deposited thereon by MOVPE. The CMT deposited can include a number of layers of differing composition, the composition being controlled during the MOVPE process and being dependent on the thickness of the layer deposited. A CdTe buffer layer can aid deposition of the CMT on the substrate. Once the wafer is formed, the buffer layer, an etch stop layer and any intervening layers can be etched away leaving a wafer suitable for further processing into an infra red detector.
US09281433B2 Photo-semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
A method of manufacturing photo-semiconductor device that has a photoconductive semiconductor film provided with electrodes and formed on a second substrate, the semiconductor film being formed by epitaxial growth on a first semiconductor substrate different from the second substrate, the second substrate being also provided with electrodes, the electrodes of the second substrate and the electrodes of the photoconductive semiconductor film being held in contact with each other.
US09281427B2 Semiconductor device
An infrared photodiode that is a semiconductor device includes a substrate, a buffer layer formed of GaSb, and an absorption layer including a multiple quantum well structure. The multiple quantum well structure includes a stack of unit structures each including a plurality of component layers. Each unit structure includes a first component layer formed of InAs1-aSba where the ratio a is 0 or more and 0.05 or less, a second component layer formed of GaSb, and a third component layer formed of InSbxAs1-x where the ratio x is more than 0 and less than 1. The third component layer is disposed so as to be in contact with one main surface of the second component layer. The other main surface of the second component layer is in contact with the first component layer within the unit structure. The third component layer has a thickness of 0.1 nm or more and 0.9 nm or less.
US09281423B2 Image pickup apparatus, endoscope and image pickup apparatus manufacturing method
An image pickup apparatus includes: a cover glass portion having a function of a right angle prism; an image pickup device substrate portion including an image pickup device on a first principal surface and a back-face electrode on a second principal surface, the back-face electrode being connected to the image pickup device via a through-wiring; and a bonding layer that bonds the cover glass portion and the image pickup device substrate portion that have a same outer dimension.
US09281418B2 Capacitor
A capacitor includes an active layer, a gate insulation layer on the active layer, a gate electrode on the gate insulation layer, an interlayer insulating layer on the gate electrode, and a first electrode on the interlayer insulating layer and connected to the active layer through at least one contact hole.
US09281408B2 Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device having a structure which can prevent a decrease in electrical characteristics due to miniaturization is provided. The semiconductor device includes, over an insulating surface, a stack in which a first oxide semiconductor layer and a second oxide semiconductor layer are sequentially formed, and a third oxide semiconductor layer covering part of a surface of the stack. The third oxide semiconductor layer includes a first layer in contact with the stack and a second layer over the first layer. The first layer includes a microcrystalline layer, and the second layer includes a crystalline layer in which c-axes are aligned in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the first layer.
US09281406B2 Thin film transistor substrate, display device including the same, and fabricating method of the thin film transistor substrate
A method of fabricating a thin-film transistor substrate includes disposing an oxide semiconductor layer on an insulating substrate, performing a thermal treatment process to the oxide semiconductor layer, providing an alignment mark, a source electrode, a drain electrode, and an oxide semiconductor pattern, after the thermal treatment process, providing a gate electrode, after the thermal treatment process, and providing a pixel electrode connected to the drain electrode.
US09281396B2 Semiconductor device
A trench structure which is capable of promoting extension of a depletion layer and hardly causes thermal stress is provided. A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate. A plurality of loop trenches is formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate. Each loop trench is configured to extend so as to surround a region smaller than the region where a plurality of gate trenches is formed. Each loop trench is separated from other loop trenches. A second insulating layer is located in each loop trench. P-type fourth regions are formed in the semiconductor substrate. Each fourth region is in contact with a bottom surface of corresponding one of the loop trenches and is configured to extend along the corresponding one of the loop trenches.
US09281393B2 Super junction semiconductor device and associated fabrication method
A semiconductor device with a substrate, an epitaxy layer formed on the substrate, a plurality of deep wells formed in the epitaxy layer, a plurality of trench gate MOSFET units each of which is formed in top of the epitaxy layer between two adjacent deep well, wherein a trench gate of the trench gate MOSFET unit is shallower than half of the distance between two adjacent deep wells, which may reduce the product of on-state resistance and the gate charge of the semiconductor device.
US09281391B2 Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing semiconductor device
A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes an insulating layer formed selectively on a semiconductor layer; a lower electrode, formed on the insulating layer, having an end portion at a position spaced apart by a predetermined distance inward from a periphery of the insulating layer; a dielectric film formed on the lower electrode; an upper electrode, formed on the dielectric film, facing the lower electrode with the dielectric film interposed between the upper electrode and the lower electrode; and a passivation film, formed to cover the insulating layer, starting from the end portion of the lower electrode and extending toward the periphery of the insulating layer. The passivation film includes an insulating material having an etching selectivity with respect to the insulating layer.
US09281389B2 Semiconductor device
Disclosed herein is a semiconductor device including: a source electrode formed on one side of an N-type AlGaN layer; N-type and P-type AlGaN layers formed on the other side of the P-type AlGaN layer and formed in a direction perpendicular to the source electrode; a gate electrode formed on one side of the N-type and P-type AlGaN layers; and a drain electrode formed on the other side of the N-type and P-type AlGaN layers.
US09281385B2 Semiconducting graphene composition, and electrical device including the same
A graphene composition including a graphene monolayer and an alkali metal disposed on the graphene monolayer.
US09281383B2 Method for fabricating a semiconductor device
A method for fabricating a semiconductor device according to an embodiment, includes forming a silicon (Si) film containing carbon (C) in an upper portion thereof above a semiconductor substrate, performing element isolation of the Si film and the semiconductor substrate to make a width dimension of the Si film narrow in a first region and a width dimension of the Si film wide in a second region, after the element isolation, exposing a side face of the Si film in at least the first region, and diffusing boron (B) into the Si film from the side face of the Si film in the first region.
US09281376B2 Semiconductor structures employing strained material layers with defined impurity gradients and methods for fabricating same
Semiconductor structures and devices including strained material layers having impurity-free zones, and methods for fabricating same. Certain regions of the strained material layers are kept free of impurities that can interdiffuse from adjacent portions of the semiconductor. When impurities are present in certain regions of the strained material layers, there is degradation in device performance. By employing semiconductor structures and devices (e.g., field effect transistors or “FETs”) that have the features described, or are fabricated in accordance with the steps described, device operation is enhanced.
US09281373B2 Semiconductor device having tungsten gate electrode and method for fabricating the same
The present invention provides a semiconductor device in which the threshold voltage of NMOS and the threshold voltage of PMOS are independently controllable, and a method for fabricating the same. The method includes: forming a gate insulating film over an NMOS region and a PMOS region of a semiconductor substrate; forming a carbon-containing tungsten over the gate insulating film formed over one of the NMOS region and the PMOS region; forming a carbon-containing tungsten nitride over the gate insulating film formed over the other one of the PMOS region or the NMOS region; forming a tungsten film over the carbon-containing tungsten and the carbon-containing tungsten nitride; post-annealing the carbon-containing tungsten and the carbon-containing tungsten nitride; and etching the tungsten film, the carbon-containing tungsten, and the carbon-containing tungsten nitride, to form a gate electrode in the NMOS region and the PMOS region.
US09281369B2 Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same
A semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same are disclosed, which can form a gate electrode material only in a recess of a buried gate cell structure, improve a Gate Induced Drain Leakage (GIDL) of a gate electrode material and a junction (i.e., drain region), prevent the gate electrode material from overlapping with the junction (i.e., drain region), and adjust the depth of junction, thereby improving channel resistance. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a device isolation region defining an active region over a semiconductor substrate, burying a gate electrode material in the semiconductor substrate, forming a gate electrode pattern by etching the gate electrode material, wherein the gate electrode pattern is formed at sidewalls of the active region including a source region, and forming a capping layer in the exposed active region.
US09281363B2 Circuits using gate-all-around technology
A semiconductor structure includes a first gate-all-around (GAA) structure configured to form a first circuit and a second GAA structure configured to form a second circuit similar to the first circuit. The first GAA structure and the second GAA structure have a same of at least one of the following exemplary features: a number of GAA devices in which current flows from a first oxide definition (OD) region to a second OD region; a number of GAA devices in which current flows from the second OD region to the first OD region; a number of first OD region contact elements; a number of second OD region contact elements.
US09281350B2 Thin film transistor substrate and display
An embodiment of the invention provides a thin film transistor substrate includes: a substrate; and a plurality of transistors, wherein each of the transistors includes a gate electrode disposed on the substrate; a first diffusion barrier layer disposed on the substrate and covering an upper surface and a ring sidewall of the gate electrode; a gate insulating layer disposed on the first diffusion barrier layer; an active layer disposed on the gate insulating layer and over the gate electrode; a source electrode disposed on the substrate and electrically connected to the active layer; a drain electrode disposed on the substrate and electrically connected to the active layer; and a protective layer covering the source electrode and the drain electrode.
US09281344B2 Magnetic memory device
The magnetic memory device includes a plurality of source lines arranged in parallel in a second direction orthogonal to a first direction while extending in the first direction on a substrate, a plurality of word lines arranged in parallel in the first direction while extending in the second direction on the substrate, a plurality of bit lines arranged in parallel in the second direction while extending in the first direction on the substrate to alternate with the plurality of source lines, and a plurality of active regions arranged to extend at an oblique angle with respect to the first direction and arranged so that one memory cell is selected when one of the plurality of word lines and one of the plurality of source lines or the plurality of bit lines are selected.
US09281334B2 Pickup device structure within a device isolation region
A device includes a device isolation region formed into a semiconductor substrate, a doped pickup region formed into the device isolation region, a dummy gate structure that includes at least one structure that partially surrounds the doped pickup region, and a via connected to the doped pickup region.
US09281331B2 High dielectric constant structure for the vertical transfer gates of a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor
A vertical-gate transfer transistor of an active pixel sensor (APS) is provided. The transistor includes a semiconductor substrate, a vertical trench extending into the semiconductor substrate, a dielectric lining the vertical trench, and a vertical gate filling the lined vertical trench. The dielectric includes a dielectric constant exceeding 3.9 (i.e., the dielectric constant of silicon dioxide). A method of manufacturing the vertical-gate transfer transistor, an APS including the vertical-gate transfer transistor, a method of manufacturing the APS, and an image sensor including a plurality of the APSs are also provided.
US09281324B2 Array substrate, fabrication method thereof and display device
Embodiments of the present invention provide an array substrate and a fabrication method thereof, and a display device, the array substrate comprises gate lines, data lines, and pixel units defined by the gate lines and the data lines crossing with each other, and each pixel unit comprises a first TFT, whose gate is electrically connected with the gate line, wherein each pixel unit further comprises an auxiliary turn-on structure for forming a turn-on voltage at a channel of the first TFT when the first TFT is switched into conduction. In the embodiments of the present invention, a dual-drive voltage for the first TFT is formed by the auxiliary turn-on structure together with the gate of the first TFT, so that when the turn-on voltage provided by the gate lines is relatively low, the channel of the first TFT can also be turned on, therefore lowering power consumption.
US09281319B2 Thin film transistor and organic light-emitting display
A thin film transistor including: a substrate; an active layer formed over the substrate; a gate insulating layer formed over the active layer; a gate electrode formed over the gate insulating layer; an interlayer insulating layer formed over the gate electrode; and source and drain electrodes that contact the active layer via the interlayer insulating layer. The source and drain electrodes may have a structure including an aluminum (Al) layer, an aluminum-nickel alloy (AlNiX) layer, and an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer, which are sequentially stacked.
US09281317B2 3D non-volatile memory with metal silicide interconnect
A stacked non-volatile memory cell array include cell areas with rows of vertical columns of NAND cells, and an interconnect area, e.g., midway in the array and extending a length of the array. The interconnect area includes at least one metal silicide interconnect extending between insulation-filled slits, and does not include vertical columns of NAND cells. The metal silicide interconnect can route power and control signals from below the stack to above the stack. The metal silicide interconnect can also be formed in a peripheral region of the substrate. Contact structures can extend from a terraced portion of the interconnect to at least one upper metal layer, above the stack, to complete a conductive path from circuitry below the stack to the upper metal layer. Subarrays can be provided in a plane of the array without word line hook-up and transfer areas between the subarrays.
US09281310B2 Semiconductor device including gate structure for threshold voltage modulation in transistors and method for fabricating the same
A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming an NMOS region and a PMOS region in a substrate, forming a first stack layer including a first gate dielectric layer and a first work function layer that is disposed over the first gate dielectric layer and contains aluminum, over the PMOS region of the substrate, forming a second stack layer including a second gate dielectric layer, a threshold voltage modulation layer that is disposed over the second gate dielectric layer and contains lanthanum, and a second work function layer that is disposed over the threshold voltage modulation layer, over the NMOS region of the substrate, and annealing the first stack layer and the second stack layer, thereby forming a first dipole-interface by diffusion of the aluminum in the first gate dielectric layer and a second dipole-interface by diffusion of the lanthanum in the second gate dielectric layer, respectively.
US09281306B2 Multi-transistor exposed conductive clip for semiconductor packages
One exemplary disclosed embodiment comprises a semiconductor package including multiple transistors coupled to an exposed conductive clip. A driver integrated circuit (IC) may control the transistors to implement a buck converter. By exposing a top surface of the exposed conductive clip outside of a mold compound of the package, enhanced thermal performance is provided. Additionally, the conductive clip provides a short distance, high current carrying route between transistors of the package, providing higher electrical performance and reduced form factor compared to conventional designs with individually packaged transistors.
US09281303B2 Electrostatic discharge devices and methods of manufacture
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) devices and methods of manufacture are provided. The method includes forming a plurality of fin structures and a mesa structure from semiconductor material. The method further includes forming an epitaxial material with doped regions on the mesa structure and forming gate material over at least the plurality of fin structures. The method further includes planarizing at least the gate material such that the gate material and the epitaxial material are of a same height. The method further includes forming contacts in electrical connection with respective ones of the doped regions of the epitaxial material.
US09281301B2 Optoelectronic device and method for producing optoelectronic devices
An optoelectronic device includes an optoelectronic component that receives or generates radiation, a frame having a cavity, the optoelectronic component being arranged in said cavity, a connection carrier to which the optoelectronic component is fixed, and a cover covering the cavity and forming a radiation passage area for the radiation, wherein a beam path from the optoelectronic component to the radiation passage area is free of an encapsulation material for the optoelectronic component.
US09281297B2 Solution for reducing poor contact in info packages
A package includes a first package including a device die, a molding compound molding the device die therein, a through-via penetrating through the molding compound, and a first plurality of Redistribution Lines (RDLs) and a second plurality of RDLs on opposite sides of the molding compound. The through-via electrically couples one of the first plurality of RDLs to one of the second plurality of RDLs. The package further includes a second package bonded to the first package, a spacer disposed in a gap between the first package and the second package, and a first electrical connector and a second electrical connector on opposite sides of the spacer. The first electrical connector and the second electrically couple the first package to the second package. The spacer is spaced apart from the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector.
US09281289B2 Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same
To enhance the reliability of a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a wiring substrate having a plurality of bonding fingers (terminal) formed on a chip-mounting surface, a semiconductor chip mounted on the wiring substrate, a plurality of wires having a ball part and a stitch part respectively. The bonding fingers have a first bonding finger to which the stitch part of the first wire is coupled respectively, and the second bonding finger to which a ball part of the second wire is coupled. In addition, in plan view, the second bonding finger is arranged at a position different from the arrangement of a plurality of first bonding fingers, and the width of the second bonding finger is larger than the width of the first bonding finger.
US09281288B2 System and method for fine pitch PoP structure
A fine pitch package-on-package (PoP), and a method of forming, are provided. The PoP may be formed by placing connections, e.g., solder balls, on a first substrate having a semiconductor die attached thereto. A first reflow process is performed to elongate the solder balls. Thereafter, a second substrate having another semiconductor die attached thereto is connected to the solder balls. A second reflow process is performed to form an hourglass connection.
US09281282B2 Substrate capable of electrostatic self-protection and manufacturing method thereof
A substrate capable of electrostatic self-protection and a manufacturing method thereof, and the substrate (1) comprises: a panel area (2); and a first gate metal layer (3) and a source/drain metal layer (5) disposed on at least one side of the panel area (2). The first gate metal layer (3) and the source/drain metal layer (5) are arranged parallel to each other in a longitudinal direction and adjacent to each other; at least one tip (31) is protruded from the first gate metal layer (3) towards the source/drain metal layer (5); and/or at least one tip (31) is protruded from the source/drain metal layer (5) towards the first gate metal layer (3).
US09281278B2 Interconnects with improved TDDB
A method for forming a semiconductor device is presented. A substrate prepared with a dielectric layer formed thereon is provided. A first upper etch stop layer is formed on the dielectric layer. The first upper etch stop layer includes a first dielectric material. The dielectric layer and first upper etch stop layer are patterned to form an interconnect opening. The interconnect opening is filled with a conductive material to form an interconnect. The interconnect and first upper etch stop layer have coplanar top surfaces. A second upper etch stop layer is formed over the coplanar top surfaces. The second upper etch stop layer includes a second material having sufficient adhesion with the first material to reduce diffusion of the conductive material.
US09281274B1 Integrated circuit through-substrate via system with a buffer layer and method of manufacture thereof
An integrated circuit substrate via system, and method of manufacture therefor, includes: a substrate having a substrate via in the substrate; a buffer layer patterned over the substrate via, the buffer layer having a planar surface; and a substrate via cap patterned over the buffer layer, the substrate via cap having a planar surface based on the planar surface of the buffer layer.
US09281266B2 Stacked chip-on-board module with edge connector
A module can include a module card and first and second microelectronic elements having front surfaces facing a first surface of the module card. The module card can also have a second surface and a plurality of parallel exposed edge contacts adjacent an edge of at least one of the first and second surfaces for mating with corresponding contacts of a socket when the module is inserted in the socket. Each microelectronic element can be electrically connected to the module card. The front surface of the second microelectronic element can partially overlie a rear surface of the first microelectronic element and can be attached thereto.
US09281262B2 Semiconductor device including a structure for screening connectivity of a TSV
A semiconductor device is provided to check through silicon via (TSV) connectivity at a wafer level. The semiconductor device includes a first metal layer formed over a through silicon via (TSV), a second metal layer and a third metal layer formed at both sides of the first metal layer to be electrically coupled to the TSV, and a fourth metal layer formed over the first metal layer to be electrically coupled to the first metal layer.
US09281260B2 Semiconductor packages and methods of forming the same
In one embodiment, a method of fabricating a semiconductor package includes forming a first plurality of die openings on a laminate substrate. The laminate substrate has a front side and an opposite back side. A plurality of first dies is placed within the first plurality of die openings. An integrated spacer is formed around each die of the plurality of first dies. The integrated spacer is disposed in gaps between the laminate substrate and an outer sidewall of each die of the plurality of first dies. The integrated spacer holds the die within the laminate substrate by partially extending over a portion of a top surface of each die of the plurality of first dies. Front side contacts are formed over the front side of the laminate substrate.
US09281245B2 Latchup reduction by grown orthogonal substrates
An integrated circuit is formed by providing a heavily doped substrate of a first conductivity type, forming a lightly doped lower epitaxial layer of the first conductivity type over the substrate, implanting dopants of the first conductivity type into the lower epitaxial layer in an area for a shallow component and blocking the dopants from an area for a deep component, forming a lightly doped upper epitaxial layer over the lower epitaxial layer and activating the implanted dopants to form a heavily doped region. The shallow component is formed over the heavily doped region, and the deep component is formed outside the heavily doped region, extending through the upper epitaxial layer into the lower epitaxial layer.
US09281239B2 Biocompatible electrodes and methods of manufacturing biocompatible electrodes
A biocompatible electrode is manufactured by depositing filling metal 36 and etching back the filling metal to the surface of the surrounding insulator 30. Then, a further etch forms a recess 38 at the top of the via 32. An electrode metal 40 is then deposited and etched back to fill the recess 38 and form biocompatible electrode 42. In this way, a planar biocompatible electrode is achieved. The step of etching to form the recess may be carried out in the same CMP tool as is used to etch back the filling metal 36. A hydrogen peroxide etch may be used.
US09281238B2 Method for fabricating interlayer dielectric layer
A method for fabricating interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer is disclosed. The method includes the steps of first forming a first tensile dielectric layer on a substrate, and then forming a second tensile dielectric layer on the first tensile dielectric layer.
US09281232B2 Device having improved radiation hardness and high breakdown voltages
Radiation hardened NMOS devices suitable for application in NMOS, CMOS, or BiCMOS integrated circuits, and methods for fabricating them. A device includes a p-type silicon substrate, a field oxide surrounding a moat region on the substrate tapering through a Bird's Beak region to a gate oxide within the moat region, a heavily-doped p-type guard region underlying at least a portion of the Bird's Beak region and terminating at the inner edge of the Bird's Beak region, a gate included in the moat region, and n-type source and drain regions spaced by a gap from the inner edge of the Bird's Beak and guard regions. A variation of minor alterations to the conventional moat and n-type source/drain masks. The resulting devices have improved radiation tolerance while having a high breakdown voltage and minimal impact on circuit density.
US09281229B2 Method for thermal-slide debonding of temporary bonded semiconductor wafers
A method for debonding two temporary bonded wafers, includes providing a debonder comprising a top chuck assembly, a bottom chuck assembly, a static gantry supporting the top chuck assembly, an X-axis carriage drive supporting the bottom chuck assembly and an X-axis drive control configured to drive horizontally the X-axis carriage drive and the bottom chuck assembly from a loading zone to a process zone under the top chuck assembly and from the process zone back to the loading zone. Next, loading a wafer pair comprising a carrier wafer bonded to a device wafer via an adhesive layer upon the bottom chuck assembly at the loading zone oriented so that the unbonded surface of the device wafer is in contact with the bottom assembly. Next, driving the X-axis carriage drive and the bottom chuck assembly to the process zone under the top chuck assembly. Next, placing the unbonded surface of the carrier wafer in contact with the top chuck assembly and holding the carrier wafer by the top chuck assembly. Next, initiating horizontal motion of the X-axis carriage drive while heat is applied to the carrier wafer and while the carrier wafer is held by the top chuck assembly.
US09281210B2 Wet-process ceria compositions for polishing substrates, and methods related thereto
Disclosed are a chemical-mechanical polishing composition and a method of polishing a substrate. The polishing composition comprises low average particle size (e.g., 30 nm or less) wet-process ceria abrasive particles, at least one alcohol amine, and water, wherein said polishing composition has a pH of about 6. The polishing composition can be used, e.g., to polish any suitable substrate, such as a polysilicon wafer used in the semiconductor industry.
US09281200B2 Enhanced patterning uniformity of gate electrodes of a semiconductor device by late gate doping
When forming sophisticated semiconductor-based gate electrode structures of transistors, the pre-doping of one type of gate electrode structure may be accomplished after the actual patterning of the electrode material by using an appropriate mask or fill material for covering the active regions and using a lithography mask. In this manner, a high degree of flexibility is provided with respect to selecting an appropriate patterning regime, while at the same time a uniform and superior cross-sectional shape for any type of gate electrode structure is obtained.
US09281190B2 Local and global reduction of critical dimension (CD) asymmetry in etch processing
Local and global reduction of critical dimension (CD) asymmetry in etch processing is described. In an example, a method of etching a wafer of to form a plurality of staircase structures with reduced local and global asymmetry involves forming a photoresist layer on a plurality of micron-scale semiconductor structures. The photoresist layer is then trimmed with a high pressure and pulsed plasma etch process performed in a reverse MESA mode.
US09281186B2 Colored photovoltaic modules and methods of construction
A colored photovoltaic module and method for its production, where the module includes: a photovoltaic cell; and an appearance modifying film, encapsulant or glazing; where the appearance modifying film, encapsulant or glazing includes: a light-control film; graphic material; a phosphor; a dichroic film; nano-particles; micro-dots; metal flakes; paint; an additive material for 3-D printing, Selective Laser Augmentation (SLA) or Selective Laser Sintering (SLS); or any combination thereof.
US09281180B2 Method for producing gallium trichloride gas and method for producing nitride semiconductor crystal
According to the invention, there is provided a method for producing a gallium trichloride gas, the method including: a first step of reacting a metallic gallium and a chlorine gas to produce a gallium monochloride gas; and a second step of reacting the produced gallium monochloride gas and a chlorine gas to produce a gallium trichloride gas.
US09281179B2 Methods of fabricating semiconductor devices
Provided is a method of fabricating a semiconductor device. The method includes: preparing a substrate with an etching target, and etching the etching target through a plasma-free etching process that uses an etching gas including one of interhalogen compound, F2, XeF2 and combinations thereof.
US09281177B2 Methods and apparatus for cleaning semiconductor wafers
An apparatus for cleaning a surface of wafer or substrate includes a plate being positioned with a gap to surface of the wafer or substrate, and the plate being rotated around an axis vertical to surface of wafer or substrate. The rotating plate surface facing surface of the wafer or substrate has grooves, regular patterns, and irregular patterns to enhance the cleaning efficiency. Another embodiment further includes an ultra sonic or mega sonic transducer vibrating the rotating plate during cleaning process.
US09281174B2 System and method for rapid evaporative ionization of liquid phase samples
According to some embodiments, systems and methods for rapid evaporation of liquid phase samples are provided. The method includes directing liquid samples to a thermal evaporation ionizing device, thermally evaporating the liquid samples to create gaseous molecular ions, and directing the gaseous molecular ions to an ion analyzer to analyze and provide information regarding the chemical composition of the liquid samples.
US09281172B2 Closed loop ion guide with pseudo-potential well
A closed-loop ion guide is disclosed comprising a plurality of electrodes having apertures through which ions are transmitted in use. Ions are injected into the closed-loop ion guide and may make several circuits of the closed-loop ion guide before being ejected from the ion guide. In a mode of operation the ion guide may be arranged to separate ions temporally according to their ion mobility.
US09281158B2 X-ray emitting target and X-ray emitting device
An X-ray emitting target including a diamond substrate, a first layer disposed on the diamond substrate and including a first metal, and a second layer disposed on the first layer and including a second metal whose atomic number is 42 or more and which has a thermal conductivity higher than that of the first metal. Carbide of the first metal is present at a boundary between the diamond substrate and the first layer. The target is prevented from overheating, so that output variation due to rising temperature is suppressed. Thus it is possible to emit stable and high output X-rays.
US09281149B2 Arc shield
A circuit breaker includes a shielding component having an external portion which defines a space external to the circuit breaker housing and covers a vent in the circuit breaker housing to direct gasses and debris from the vent to an outlet. The external portion also prevents insertion of the circuit breaker into a breaker box closer than the distances defining the space. This can have the advantage of preventing arcing from the breaker contacts to the breaker box. The external portion may also prevent insertion of the circuit breaker into a breaker box such that a vent in the circuit breaker housing is blocked. In some implementations, the shielding component contains an internal portion which extends into the circuit breaker housing and is disposed to impede debris generated by contact arcing, or other debris, from entering the mechanism of the circuit breaker.
US09281143B2 Limit switch
The invention relates to a limit switch comprising: a body (1) produced along a main axis (X) and containing a switching device, a head (2) that is removable and orientable with respect to the body (1) so that it can adopt several distinct angular positions about the main axis (X), said head (2) comprising actuating means arranged to act on the switching device, fixing means for fixing the limit switch to a support (S), the fixing means being arranged on the head (2) of the limit switch, the head (2) having at least two separate bearing planes, said fixing means being arranged to fix the head so that it bears against the support via one or other of its two bearing planes.
US09281142B2 Keyboard device
A keyboard device capable of suppressing noise that occurs upon release of the key is provided. The key is formed with a protrusion and a hammer is formed with a sliding surface. Moreover, the hammer is provided with contact portions that come into contact with a side surface of the protrusion when the key is pressed to the bottom in a key-pressing direction. Thus, when the key is released, the contact between the side surface of the protrusion and the contact portions prevents the key from rotating before the hammer, thereby preventing the protrusion from departing from the sliding surface and suppressing the generation of noise that occurs when the protrusion falls on (hits) the sliding surface.
US09281140B2 Lighted switch
The invention is directed to a switch comprising an LED for indicating when a connected electrical device is activated or not. In certain examples, the electrical device is a water pump. In certain examples, the invention is drawn to a circuit comprising a switch, a logic circuit, an electrical device, and an LED subcircuit, whereby the electrical device is turned on by closing the switch, and whereby the LED functions as an indicator light remaining on while the electrical device remains on, and turning off when the electrical device is turned off.
US09281131B2 Electrolyte-comprising polymer nanofibers fabricated by electrospinning method and high performance dye-sensitized solar cells device using same
A polymer electrolyte including a polymer fiber having a nanoscale diameter, wherein the polymer fiber is fabricated by an electrospinning method and a solar cell device exhibiting high energy conversion efficiency using the same. The solid-state electrolyte comprising such nanosized polymer fiber does not need a sealing agent and further simplifies the entire process compared to a conventional dye-sensitized solar cell using liquid electrolytes. Specifically, the energy conversion efficiency of the present dye-sensitized solar cell is significantly superior to that of a dye-sensitized solar cell using a polymer film electrolyte fabricated by a spin coating method. Further, the present dye-sensitized solar cell device can be obtained by using a scattering layer and compensating the surface effect.
US09281125B2 Dielectric ceramic, multi-layer ceramic capacitor and method of manufacturing the same
A dielectric ceramic is formed with sintered grains constituting the dielectric have an average grain size of 0.2 to 1.0 μm and an oxygen defect concentration of 0.2 to 0.5%. An acceptor element is added to the dielectric ceramic by no more than 0.5 mol per 100 mol of the primary component of BaTiO3. The oxygen defect concentration is temporarily increased by reduction and sintering, after which the oxygen defect concentration is reduced through the subsequent re-oxidization process. Crystal strain generated in the re-oxidization process increases the dielectric constant.
US09281123B2 Metalized film capacitor
A metalized film capacitor includes metalized films, each of which is formed of an insulating film made of dielectric, and a vapor deposited metal electrode formed on an upper surface of the insulating film. An end of the vapor deposited metal electrode extends together with an end of the insulating film, and both the ends are connected to an electrode terminal. The vapor deposited metal electrode of the metalized film includes a center region and a low resistance section that is made of Al—Zn—Mg alloy. The low resistance section is disposed at an end of the electrode and is thicker than the center region. This metalized film capacitor has high humidity resistance.
US09281113B2 Laminated coil component, and method of manufacturing the laminated coil component
A laminated coil component includes a magnetic body part made of a ferrite material and a coil conductor wound into a coil shape and embedded in the magnetic body part to form a component base. The component base is divided into a first region near the coil conductor and a second region other than the first region. The grain size ratio of the average crystal grain size of the magnetic body part in the first region to the average crystal grain size of the magnetic body part in the second region is 0.9 or less. The molar content of CuO in the ferrite raw material is set to 0.2 to 4 mol %. In a method laminated coil component, the coil is formed from a conductive paste including Ag, and firing the laminated body is performed by setting the oxygen concentration is 0.1 volume % or less as a firing atmosphere.
US09281111B2 Electromagnetic actuator
There is provided an electromagnetic actuator which can secure a sufficient thrust force at least at a certain level over a wide range of displacement. The electromagnetic actuator 1 having a point of amplified displacement includes: a displacement amplification mechanism 1A made of a magnetic material and having two surfaces 2as, 2bs that form a gap 5 therebetween; and a coil 6 provided in the displacement amplification mechanism 1A. A magnetic flux is generated by passing an electric current through the coil 6, thereby generating an attraction force between the surfaces 2as, 2bs. The attraction force displaces the point of amplified displacement.
US09281110B2 External-magnet-type magnetic circuit
An external-magnet-type magnetic circuit includes an iron core and at least one composite magnet coaxially mounted around the iron core. The composite magnet has two magnetic poles with field directions thereof substantially perpendicular to each other, wherein one of the magnetic poles has the field direction thereof pointing to the iron core, and a magnetism-guiding plate being deposited on the other magnetic pole of the composite magnet and being separated from the iron core by a magnetic gap. Thereby, the composite magnet provides high magnetic flux density in relatively small volume, without the additional use of any magnetism-guiding yokes, and thus is particularly suitable for small-size amplifiers where it helps to improve acoustic sensitivity and acoustic output performance.
US09281103B2 Polymer locally comprising conductive areas
A method for producing a conductive area in a polymer material comprises: providing a polymer layer comprising conductive particles with a density such that the polymer layer is insulating, heating the polymer material to a temperature higher than or equal to the glass transition temperature of the polymer material, compressing a portion of the polymer layer using a stamp, in order to obtain a density of conductive particles such that the portion becomes conductive, and removing the stamp from the polymer layer.
US09281097B2 Anisotropic conductive film, composition for the same, and apparatus including the same
An anisotropic conductive film includes a binder part, a curing part, an initiator, and conductive particles, wherein the binder part includes at least one of a nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) resin and a urethane resin, the anisotropic conductive film has a halogen ion content of more than 0 ppm to about 100 ppm.
US09281094B2 Method of forming copper film on Mo/SUS flexible substrate
This invention relates to a method of forming a copper film on a Mo/SUS flexible substrate, which enables the copper film to be uniformly formed on the Mo/SUS flexible substrate in a short period of time by applying current and in which the copper film becomes thicker in proportion to an increase in a concentration of a copper precursor aqueous solution or in a current density.
US09281090B2 Packaging for transporting and/or storing radioactive material
Packaging for transporting radioactive material (1) comprising a radiation protection structure (4) comprising a shielding portion (5) defining a cavity (2) to house the radioactive material and a portion (7) having the effect of distancing the radioactive material from the outside of the packaging. The distancing-effect portion (7) directly encloses the shielding portion (5). The protection structure (4) has a thickness e associated with a segment (S) connecting a point (B) on the outer surface of the packaging to the center of gravity (G) of the cavity (2). It satisfies for any point (B): e=e1+e2 and 0.05
US09281079B2 Dynamic hard error detection
An apparatus for detecting hard errors in a circuit includes a storage device and a processing circuit. The storage has stored therein test data and normal data. The processing circuit includes combinational logic in series with at least one set of input latches and at least one set of output latches. The apparatus includes a test control module configured to control the processing circuit to halt a flow of normal data through the processing circuit and run the test data through the processing circuit while subjecting the processing circuit to a stress condition.
US09281074B2 One time programmable memory cell capable of reducing leakage current and preventing slow bit response
The present invention provides a one time programmable (OTP) memory cell including a select gate transistor, a following gate transistor, and an antifuse varactor. The select gate transistor has a first gate terminal, a first drain terminal, a first source terminal, and two first source/drain extension areas respectively coupled to the first drain terminal and the first source terminal. The following gate transistor has a second gate terminal, a second drain terminal, a second source terminal coupled to the first drain terminal, and two second source/drain extension areas respectively coupled to the second drain terminal and the second source terminal. The antifuse varactor has a third gate terminal, a third drain terminal, a third source terminal coupled to the second drain terminal, and a third source/drain extension area coupled with the third drain terminal and the third source terminal for shorting the third drain terminal and the third source terminal.
US09281071B2 Semiconductor memory device
In general, according to one embodiment, a semiconductor memory device includes a first transistor, a plurality of memory cells and a controller. One end of the first transistor is electrically connected to a first power supply. The plurality of memory cells are electrically connected between other end of the first transistor and a second power supply. The controller is configured to apply a first voltage to a gate of the first transistor when reading data from a selected memory cell. The controller is configured to make the first voltage progressively-increasing.
US09281066B2 Dynamically configurable MLC state assignment
Memory devices facilitating a data conditioning scheme for multilevel memory cells. For example, one such memory device is capable of inverting the lower page bit values of a complete page of MLC memory cells when a count of the lower page data values is equal to or greater than a particular value or a comparison of current levels compared with a reference current level is equal to or exceeds some threshold condition.
US09281065B2 Low-power nonvolatile memory cells with select gates
Technologies are generally described for low-power nonvolatile memory cells configured with select gates. A nonvolatile memory cell may have a transistor body, a select gate and a floating gate both coupled to the body, and a control gate coupled to the floating gate. Charge stored on the floating gate may indicate the data stored on the memory cell, and the control gate may be configured to adjust the charge stored on the floating gate. The select gate may be used to adjust the state of the transistor body to facilitate the adjustment of charge on the floating gate, and may also be used to render the memory cell unresponsive to the control gate.
US09281061B2 Methods and apparatuses having a voltage generator with an adjustable voltage drop for representing a voltage drop of a memory cell and/or a current mirror circuit and replica circuit
Apparatus and methods utilize a replica circuit to generate a voltage for programming of a memory cell, such as a memory cell of a phase-change memory (PCM). Current passing through a circuit including the memory cell to be programmed is mirrored in a scaled or unscaled manner, and provided as an input to the replica circuit. The replica circuit represents voltage drops that should be encountered when programming the memory cell. An input voltage is also provided to the replica circuit, which affects the voltage drop within the replica circuit that represents the voltage drop of the cell. The voltage drop across the replica circuit can then be mirrored and provided to bias the circuit including the memory cell.
US09281057B1 Phase hysteretic magnetic Josephson junction memory cell
One embodiment describes a memory cell. The memory cell includes a phase hysteretic magnetic Josephson junction (PHMJJ) that is configured to store one of a first binary logic state corresponding to a binary logic-1 state and a second binary logic state corresponding to a binary logic-0 state in response to a write current that is provided to the memory cell and to generate a superconducting phase based on the stored digital state. The memory cell also includes a superconducting read-select device that is configured to implement a read operation in response to a read current that is provided to the memory cell. The memory cell further includes at least one Josephson junction configured to provide an output based on the superconducting phase of the PHMJJ during the read operation, the output corresponding to the stored digital state.
US09281056B2 Static random access memory and method of using the same
A static random access memory (SRAM) including a bit cell, wherein the bit cell includes at least two p-type pass gates. The SRAM further includes a bit line connected to the bit cell, and a bit line bar connected to the bit cell. The SRAM further includes a pre-discharge circuit connected to the bit line and to the bit line bar, wherein the pre-discharge circuit includes at least two n-type transistors. The SRAM further includes cross-coupled transistors connected to the bit line and to the bit line bar, wherein each transistor of the cross-coupled transistors is an n-type transistor. The SRAM further includes a write multiplexer connected to the bit line and to the bit line bar, wherein the write multiplexer includes two p-type transistors.
US09281053B2 Memory system and an apparatus
A memory system (1) comprising a control logic (2) adapted to receive a number n of write requests (WRs) from input ports and to receive a read request (RR) from an output port within a clock cycle of a clock signal (CLK) applied to said memory system (1), wherein n is a natural number; and n+1 memory banks (4) of a shared memory (3) adapted to store data, wherein the control logic (2) is adapted to control a memory bank occupancy level MBOL of each memory bank (4) such that the differences between memory bank occupancy levels MBOLs of the memory banks (4) are minimized.
US09281044B2 Apparatuses having a ferroelectric field-effect transistor memory array and related method
An apparatus comprises field-effect transistor (FET) structures stacked horizontally and vertically in a three-dimensional memory array architecture, gates extending vertically and spaced horizontally between the plurality of FET structures, and a ferroelectric material separating the FET structures and the gates. Individual ferroelectric FETs (FeFETs) are formed at intersections of the FET structures, the gates, and the ferroelectric material. Another apparatus comprises a plurality of bit lines and word lines. Each bit line has at least two sides that are coupled with a ferroelectric material such that each bit line is shared by neighboring gates to faun a plurality of FeFETs. A method of operating a memory array comprises applying a combination of voltages to a plurality of word lines and digit lines for a desired operation for a plurality of FeFET memory cells, at least one digit line having plurality of FeFET memory cells accessible by neighboring gates.
US09281041B1 Delay-based read system for a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) bit
In one example, the disclosure is directed to a memory system comprising a control module. The memory system further includes a first circuit and a second circuit that each receives a control signal from the control module. Each circuit includes a resistor (MRAM element or a fixed resistor) and a capacitor situated between the resistor and a reference voltage. The first circuit is configured to output a data signal after the first capacitor is charged. The second circuit is configured to output a reference signal after the second capacitor is charged. The memory system further includes an arbiter configured to receive the data signal from the first circuit and the reference signal from the second circuit, determine whether the data signal arrived before the reference signal, and determine whether the MRAM is in a high or low state based on whether the data signal or the reference signal arrived first.
US09281040B2 Spin transfer torque magnetic memory device
A spin transfer torque magnetic memory device is disclosed. In one aspect, the spin transfer torque magnetic memory device comprises a first layered structure stacked in a vertical direction and comprising alternating topological insulator layers and insulator layers. The memory device additionally includes a second layered structure stacked in the vertical direction and comprising alternating topological insulator layers and insulator layers. The memory device further includes a magnetic material interposing the first and second layered structures in a horizontal direction different from the vertical direction such that the magnetic material is in contact with a first side surface of the first layered structure and in contact with a first side surface of the second layered structure. Additionally, the magnetic material is configured to have a magnetization direction that can change in response to a current flowing through the magnetic material.
US09281034B2 Data strobe generation
In an embodiment, a method of generating strobe signals includes generating a first strobe signal in a first mode by operating a multiplexer with a clock signal to select between a first input signal and a second input signal, the first input signal having a static first signal level and the second input signal corresponding to a control signal. In a second mode, the method includes generating a second strobe signal by operating the multiplexer with the clock signal to select between the first input signal and the second input signal, the first input signal corresponding to the control signal inverted and delayed and the second input signal having a static second signal level.
US09281032B2 Memory timing circuit
A memory circuit including a memory cell configured to provide a charge, voltage, or current to an associated bit-line; a sense amplifier configured to sense the charge, voltage, or current on the bit-line; a word-line circuit configured to control a word-line of the memory cell; and a tracking circuit configured to track one or more conditions of the memory circuit and provide a timing control signal at an output operative to adaptively control the word-line circuit.
US09281031B2 Method and apparatus for read assist to compensate for weak bit
A memory assist apparatus includes a detection circuit and a compensation circuit. The detection circuit is configured to provide a detection signal indicating whether a bit line configured to provide read access to a data bit stored at a memory bit cell has a voltage below a predetermined threshold. The compensation circuit is configured to pull down the voltage of the bit line if the detection signal indicates that the voltage of the bit line is below the predetermined threshold.
US09281023B2 Single ended sensing circuits for signal lines
Disclosed are single-ended sensing circuits. Each of the sensing circuits comprises at least a sense amplifier connected to a sense node, an isolation field effect transistor (FET) connected in series between the sense node and a signal line node, and a pre-charged device connected to the sense node. In order to achieve a relatively fast pre-charge of both the sense and signal line nodes and to also achieve a relatively fast and accurate sense of the sense node, the single-ended circuits further incorporate a variable reference voltage generator connected to the gate of the isolation FET for selectively applying different reference voltages to the gate during pre-charging and sensing operations, respectively, and/or a second pre-charge device connected to the signal line node for facilitating pre-charging of that signal line node.
US09281021B2 Method and apparatus for reduced read latency for consecutive read operations of memory of an integrated circuit
An integrated circuit with memory can operate with reduced latency between consecutive operations such as read operations. At a first time, a first operation command is finished on a memory array on an integrated circuit. At a second time, a second operation command is begun on the memory array. A regulated output voltage from the charge pump is coupled to word lines in the memory array. From the first time to the second time, a regulated output voltage is maintained at about a word line operation voltage such as a read voltage.
US09281020B2 Storage medium and accessing system utilizing the same
A storage medium communicating with a memory controller sent a read command is disclosed. The storage medium includes a plurality of memory units. Each memory unit includes at least sixteen memory cells coupled to a word line and a plurality of bit lines. A controlling unit receives first address information according to the read command and generates a row read signal and a column read signal according to the first address information. A row decoding unit activates the word line according to the row read signal. A column decoding unit activates the bit lines according to the column read signal to output a plurality of storing bits stored in the sixteen memory cells. A read-out unit processes the storing bits to generate a plurality of reading bits. The controlling unit outputs the reading bits to the memory controller in serial.
US09281018B2 Semiconductor memory
Semiconductor memories are provided. The Semiconductor memory includes a plurality of sense amplifiers, plurality sets of master data line segments and a plurality of memory segments. The plurality sets of master data line segments are arranged in a column direction. Each memory segment includes a plurality of memory cells, and is coupled to a set of corresponding master data line segments via a corresponding sense amplifier. Adjacent sets of corresponding master data line segments are coupled together. When accessing memory data, the memory data are transferred by the adjacent sets of corresponding master data line segments which are coupled together.
US09281011B2 System and methods for encoding live multimedia content with synchronized audio data
Systems and methods for encoding live multimedia content with audio data synchronized with other streams of data, including video data, in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, an encoding system includes multimedia content storage configured to store live multimedia content including audio data and video data, a processor, and a multimedia encoder, wherein the multimedia encoder configures the processor to receive live multimedia content, generate a timeline using the video data, compute a first time window, align the audio data to the video data using the audio data samples and the timeline, measure a synchronization value of the aligned audio data to the video data using the timeline, realign the audio data to the video data when the synchronization value exceeds a threshold value using the timeline, and multiplex the audio data and video data into a container file.
US09281003B2 Devices including near field transducer and adhesion layers
A device including a near field transducer (NFT); a write pole; at least one dielectric material positioned between the NFT and the write pole; and an adhesion layer positioned between the NFT and the at least one dielectric material.
US09281001B2 Methods and systems relating to light sources for use in industrial processes
System and methods are disclosed in connection with a reaction at or below the surface of a work object, in the context of a fluid flow fostering the reaction. In some example embodiments, the reaction is fostered by (1) creating fluid flow of an inerting fluid over a surface during exposure of the surface to a predetermined type of light, (2) creating fluid flow comprising a reactive species that reacts with another species at or below the work surface in a predetermined manner and/or (3) creating a fluid flow comprising a catalytic species that catalyzes a reaction in a predetermined manner, e.g., during exposure of the surface to a predetermined type of light. In some example embodiments, a light source is employed that comprises a solid-state light source, e.g., a dense array of solid-state light sources. In at least one of such example embodiments, the reaction is a photoreaction associated with the light source.
US09280996B2 All-optical magnetic recording system using FeMnPt media
An “all optical switching” (AOS) magnetic recording system, i.e., one that does not require a magnetic field to reverse the magnetization in the magnetic recording media, uses a FeMnPt L10 alloy as the magnetic media. A FeMnPt alloy, with appropriate amounts of Mn, will have high magneto-crystalline anisotropy, but also ferrimagnetic spin alignment for triggering AOS. The combination of high magneto-crystalline anisotropy and ferrimagnetic spin configuration enables the FeMnPt media to function as magnetic media whose magnetization can be switched solely by polarized laser pulses. The FeMnPt media for may be a single layer with or without any segregants. Alternatively, the FeMnPt media may be a multilayered recording layer comprising alternating layers of FePt and MnPt L10 ordered alloys. The segregant-free embodiments of the FeMnPt material may be patterned to form bit-patterned-media (BPM).
US09280990B1 Method for fabricating a magnetic writer using multiple etches
A method and system provide a magnetic transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS) location. The method includes forming a trench in the intermediate layer using a plurality of etches. A first etch substantially provides a first portion of the trench having a first sidewall angle. The second etch substantially provides a second portion of the trench having a second sidewall angle. The second sidewall angle is greater than the first sidewall angle. The second portion of the trench includes the ABS location. The method also includes providing a main pole in the trench. The main pole has a plurality of sidewalls. The sidewalls having the first sidewall angle in the first portion of the trench and the second sidewall angle in the second portion of the trench.
US09280988B1 Tape head surface with non-uniform cross-width edge profiles
A tape head having offset transducer spans between adjacent modules of the tape head that serves to maintain the balance between debris removal and reduced magnetic layer/recording device spacing on the one hand and reduced tape/tape head friction on the other hand. In one aspect, opposite edges of each module are relatively sharper adjacent the transducer span and relatively rounded (e.g., less sharp) away from the transducer span. The sharp edges reduce magnetic spacing loss and scrape debris off of the tape while the rounded edges reduce or eliminate contact between the tape and the head in regions where no transducer spans are present and thus where no tape writing or reading would be taking place.
US09280975B2 Frame error concealment method and apparatus, and audio decoding method and apparatus
Disclosed are a frame error concealment method and apparatus and an audio decoding method and apparatus. The frame error concealment (FEC) method includes: selecting an FEC mode based on at least one of a state of at least one frame and a phase matching flag, with regard to a time domain signal generated after time-frequency inverse transform processing; and performing corresponding time domain error concealment processing on the current frame based on the selected FEC mode, wherein the current frame is an error frame or the current frame is a normal frame when the previous frame is an error frame.
US09280974B2 Audio decoding device, audio decoding method, audio decoding program, audio encoding device, audio encoding method, and audio encoding program
In an audio decoding device of an embodiment, a plurality of decoding units execute different audio decoding schemes, respectively, to generate audio signals from coded sequences. An extraction unit extracts long-term encoding scheme information from a stream. The stream has a plurality of frames each including a coded sequence of an audio signal. The long-term encoding scheme information is a unit information for multiple frames and indicates that a common audio encoding scheme was used to generate coded sequences of the multiple frames. According to the extracted long-term encoding scheme information, a selection unit selects, from the plurality of decoding units, a decoding unit to be used commonly to decode the coded sequences of the multiple frames.
US09280965B2 Method for determining a noise reference signal for noise compensation and/or noise reduction
The invention provides a method for determining a noise reference signal for noise compensation and/or noise reduction. A first audio signal on a first signal path and a second audio signal on a second signal path are received. The first audio signal is filtered using a first adaptive filter to obtain a first filtered audio signal. The second audio signal is filtered using a second adaptive filter to obtain a second filtered audio signal. The first and the second filtered audio signal are combined to obtain the noise reference signal. The first and the second adaptive filter are adapted such as to minimize a wanted signal component in the noise reference signal.
US09280962B1 Sound preview device and program
Provided is a sound preview device including, in an electronic musical instrument which includes a keyboard 2 and an operation button 1 to perform tone selection or a sound setting and in which tone selection or a sound setting corresponding to a key is performed in advance by pressing the operation button 1 while pressing one of the keys in the keyboard 2, a changed state recognizing unit 3 that recognizes from a pressed key a changed state of tone selection or a sound setting determined corresponding to the key in advance, a phrase storing unit 4 in which phrases of sounds by which an influence of the changed state is easily known are stored in plural numbers according to the changed state, and a sound emitting unit 5 that emits a phrase corresponding to the changed state.
US09280961B2 Audio signal analysis for downbeats
Apparatus for audio processing comprises: a beat tracking module for identifying beat time instants in an audio signal and a downbeat identifier for identifying downbeats occurring at beat time instants, each downbeat corresponding to the start of a musical bar or measure. A pattern identifier identifies two or more adjacent bars or measures containing musical characteristics which repeat within the audio signal, the pattern identifier being configured to: generate for each downbeat a plurality of scores using respective analysis methods for indicating different characteristics within the audio signal at the downbeat; combine the scores for each downbeat; and identify based on the combined scores non-adjacent downbeats that correspond to the start of a musical pattern.
US09280958B2 Adaptor for drum
An adaptor for coupling to a drum having a drum head, shell, and rim, the rim having an outer diameter and configured to interface with a ring coupled to the drum head to hold the drum head in place on the shell, includes a monolithic body having a clip portion and an interface, the clip portion configured to extend around an outer section of the rim between a top surface of the drum head and a bottom portion of the rim, the clip portion having a clip end and the ring having an outer diameter, wherein the clip end is configured to extend to a position that is inward of the outer diameter of the ring when the clip portion is coupled to the drum; and wherein a substantial portion of the interface is configured to extend radially from the rim when the clip portion is coupled to the drum.
US09280952B2 Selective display of OCR'ed text and corresponding images from publications on a client device
Text is extracted from a source image of a publication using an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process. A document is generated containing text segments of the extracted text. The document includes a control module that responds to user interactions with the displayed document. Responsive to a user selection of a displayed text segment, a corresponding image segment from the source image containing the text is retrieved and rendered in place of the selected text segment. The user can select again to toggle the display back to the text segment. Each text segment can be tagged with a garbage score indicating its quality. If the garbage score of a text segment exceeds a threshold value, the corresponding image segment can be automatically displayed instead.
US09280950B2 Display device, method for driving display device, and electronic apparatus
A display device includes an illumination unit that delivers a first light, a second light and a third light. The display also includes a driving circuit that supplies a pixel with a first data signal for displaying a first image by illuminating the first light, the driving circuit supplying the pixel with a second data signal for displaying a second image by illuminating the second light, the driving circuit supplying the pixel with a third data signal for displaying a third image by illuminating the third light.
US09280937B2 Method for driving liquid crystal display device
A low-resolution image is displayed at high resolution and power consumption is reduced. Resolution is made higher by super-resolution processing. Then, display is performed with the luminance of a backlight controlled by local dimming after the super-resolution processing. By controlling the luminance of the backlight, power consumption can be reduced. Further, by performing the local dimming after the super-resolution processing, accurate display can be performed.
US09280931B2 Semiconductor device
A semiconductor device that is less influenced by variations in characteristics between transistors or variations in a load, and is efficient even for normally-on transistors is provided. The semiconductor device includes at least a transistor, two wirings, three switches, and two capacitors. A first switch controls conduction between a first wiring and each of a first electrode of a first capacitor and a first electrode of a second capacitor. A second electrode of the first capacitor is connected to a gate of the transistor. A second switch controls conduction between the gate and a second wiring. A second electrode of the second capacitor is connected to one of a source and a drain of the transistor. A third switch controls conduction between the one of the source and the drain and each of the first electrode of the first capacitor and the first electrode of the second capacitor.
US09280928B2 Apparatus and method for driving LED display
An apparatus for driving LED display includes a plurality of phase locked loop circuits. Each of the phase locked loop circuits includes a divider configured to receive the voltage controlled output signal and generate the feedback signal, a memory configured to generate a modulation profile codes and a sigma delta block. The divider receives a randomized numbers so as to change a dividing ratio over a modulation period. The sigma delta block includes at least one sigma delta modulator and at least one gain block. The sigma delta block is configured to receive the modulation profile codes and generate the randomized numbers to the divider. Each of the at least one gain block is configured to generate a value that is multiplied to at least one of the at least one sigma delta modulator so as to change a spread spectrum modulation depth.
US09280922B1 Flag-blowing flagpole assembly
A flag-blowing flagpole assembly creates the appearance that a flag is blowing in a breeze while also emitting audible sounds. The assembly includes a pole and a flag coupled to the pole. A motor is positioned within an interior of the pole. A plurality of fan blades is coupled to the motor. The fan blades are mechanically coupled to the motor wherein actuation of the motor causes the fan blades to rotate such that the fan blades direct a flow of air into the interior of the pole. A plurality of outlet holes is positioned in the pole. The flag is positionable adjacent the outlet holes wherein the outlet holes permit the air generated from the fan blades to flow from the interior of the pole through the outlet holes onto the flag.
US09280920B2 Status indicating retractable connection label assembly
The label assembly is comprised of a flexible body with a front and back surface and includes a proximal end and a distal end. The distal end of the flexible body is affixed to the electronic device. A label is attached to the front surface of the flexible body and includes a visual representation of a connection of the electronic device that corresponds to an actual connection of the electronic device as well as an identification mark associated with the visual representation of the connection. The flexible body of the label assembly includes a status indicator displaying a status based on electrical signals associated with the actual connection of the electronic device, and the flexible body includes an electrical connector connecting the status indicator of the flexible body and the electrical signals associated with the actual connection of the electronic device.
US09280911B2 Context-aware training systems, apparatuses, and methods
A context-aware training system senses sensing a user action that may expose the user's computer to a cybersecurity threat. The system selects training action from a collection of available training actions and causes the training action to be selected to the user.
US09280906B2 Prompting a user for input during a synchronous presentation of audio content and textual content
A selective synchronization service may facilitate the synchronous presentation of corresponding audio content and textual content. Corresponding words in companion items of audio and textual content may be selected for synchronous presentation. A corresponding word may be selected for synchronous audible and textual presentation according to any of a number of criteria. Further, a corresponding word may be selected for a modified synchronous presentation, in which the audible and/or textual presentation of the corresponding word is modified. Alternately, a corresponding word may be selected for an audible presentation without a textual presentation, or a textual presentation without an audible presentation.
US09280897B2 Emergency traffic management system
Embodiments include an emergency traffic management system includes a traffic management center configured to receive traffic information, a traffic signal controller in communication with the traffic management center, and roadside equipment in communication with the traffic signal controller. The roadside equipment includes a transceiver configured to communicate with one or more mobile devices via a wireless communications channel, a memory device configured to store emergency information, a processor configured to provide the emergency information to the one or more mobile devices via the transceiver, and a power supply configured to provide power to the processor and the transceiver.
US09280895B2 System and method for detecting traffic violations on restricted roadways
A system and method automatically detect traffic violations on roadways or portions thereof that are restricted for use only by permitted vehicles. The system comprises a controller, a vehicle sensor, and a camera. The vehicle sensor detects vehicle movement on a restricted roadway. Data from the camera and the vehicle sensor are analyzed by the controller to detect a vehicle traveling on the restricted roadway, to gather static vehicle information to determine whether the detected vehicle is permitted to use the restricted roadway, and to determine whether movements of the detected vehicle on the restricted roadway constitute a violation of traffic rules in effect on the roadway. The method captures at least one image of a vehicle on a region of the roadway, detects a vehicle in the region, collects vehicle movement information, and detects a violation of traffic rules in effect using at least the collected vehicle movement information.
US09280893B2 Communication systems and methods to broadcast audio or control to a remotely located device
This disclosure enables a respective user to show support to a person of interest. One configuration includes a network (e.g., phone network, Internet, etc.) configured to receive input from a respective user (e.g., family member, friend, etc.) and control a remotely located device. The remote device can be located at any suitable locations such as a gravesite of a deceased party, a hospital room in which a disabled patient resides, etc. Via input from a respective user, the respective user can control different functions of a remote target device such as audibly communicate one or more messages in a vicinity of the gravesite, control a remote device such as light source (such as a candle, light emitting diode, etc.), etc.
US09280891B2 Automatic intrusion detector threshold controlling systems and methods
A system for automatically controlling intrusion thresholds of intrusion detectors deployed in a premises, the system including intrusion detector output receiving functionality operative to receive at least one output from at least a first intrusion detector deployed in the premises, intrusion detector output comparison functionality operative to compare the at least one output from the at least a first intrusion detector with at least one of a multiplicity of premises intrusion detection patterns, and intrusion detector threshold controlling functionality operative, in response to ascertaining that the at least one output from the at least a first intrusion detector matches at least one of the multiplicity of premises intrusion detection patterns, to automatically tune a threshold of at least a second intrusion detector deployed in the premises.
US09280880B1 Method and system for generating alternative identification payment cards
A method for generating alternative identification payment cards includes: storing, in a database, a plurality of payment account numbers, wherein each payment account number is associated with a payment account; generating, by a processing device, an alternative identification number for each payment account number of the plurality of payment account numbers, wherein the alternative identification number includes at least a program identifier, a unique identifier, and a check value; generating, by the processing device, a data file including each payment account number of the plurality of payment account numbers and the generated alternative identification number for each respective payment account number; and transmitting, by a transmitting device, the generated data file for printing a plurality of payment cards.
US09280877B2 Method of gaming, a game controller and a gaming system
A method of gaming comprising: awarding a plurality of game rounds in response to occurrence of a trigger event; and conducting at least two of the plurality of game rounds concurrently in separate display areas.
US09280876B2 Game live auction system and method of operation
A method for conducting a raffle comprising reading an item identifier from an identification tag affixed to an item at an equipment management system, prior to an event related to the item. The raffle notification data is then transmitted to users after the event has occurred. A plurality of raffle ticket purchase requests are then received from the plurality of devices and are processed. The raffle tickets are then delivered to the plurality of devices, such as in electronic form. One of the raffle tickets is then selected, and winning notification data is transmitted to the associated device. The winner can authenticate the winning item by reading the identification tag affixed to the item after the event at the equipment management system.
US09280875B2 Virtual playing chips in a multiuser online game network
In various embodiments, virtual currency is used within a multiplayer online game in a restricted manner.
US09280873B2 Gaming device and method for providing player selection of modifiers to game components
In one embodiment, the gaming device and method disclosed herein provides a player one or more modifiers to apply to different components or characteristics of a game. In one such embodiment, the gaming device enables a player to selectively apply or associate a plurality of modifiers to a single game component or apply the plurality of modifiers across the plurality of game components. For each game component with at least one applied modifier, the gaming device disclosed herein modifies said game component based on each applied modifier. The gaming device generates any awards based on any modified game components and any unmodified game components and provides any generated awards to the player.
US09280867B2 Systems and methods for adjusting 3D gaming images for mobile gaming
A mobile gaming device may be a player's own personal tablet, smartphone, PDA, etc., with an application program installed via the internet for carrying out a remote gaming session. All gaming functions are carried out by a stationary gaming terminal communicating with the mobile device, such as by using WiFi. The mobile device operates as a user interface. For 3D images, the original format may be adjusted for the mobile device.
US09280862B2 Charging station and method for securing a charging process of an electric vehicle
Method for securing a charging process of a vehicle (30) at a charging station (2), comprising outputting a random or pseudorandom first release code to a user on the charging-station side, releasing the charging current on the charging-station side, receiving a second release code that is input by a user on the charging-station side, comparing the first release code with the second release code on the charging station-side, and interrupting the charging current on the charging-station side in the event of a positive comparison result.
US09280859B2 Enhanced vehicle onboard diagnostic system and method
The invention includes methods and devices for an improved onboard vehicle diagnostic system. The methods and devices provide for more detailed information and presentation of diagnostic and vehicle performance data for a user. In one example, real time diagnostic and trip system performance data is gathered and displayed relative to time for improved understanding of vehicle performance and operation by a user.
US09280852B2 Augmented reality virtual guide system
A system, method, and computer program product for automatically combining computer-generated imagery with real-world imagery in a portable electronic device by retrieving, manipulating, and sharing relevant stored videos, preferably in real time. A video is captured with a hand-held device and stored. Metadata including the camera's physical location and orientation is appended to a data stream, along with user input. The server analyzes the data stream and further annotates the metadata, producing a searchable library of videos and metadata. Later, when a camera user generates a new data stream, the linked server analyzes it, identifies relevant material from the library, retrieves the material and tagged information, adjusts it for proper orientation, then renders and superimposes it onto the current camera view so the user views an augmented reality.
US09280849B2 Augmented reality interface for video tagging and sharing
A system, method, and computer program product for automatically combining computer-generated imagery with real-world imagery in a portable electronic device by retrieving, manipulating, and sharing relevant stored videos, preferably in real time. A video is captured with a hand-held device and stored. Metadata including the camera's physical location and orientation is appended to a data stream, along with user input. The server analyzes the data stream and further annotates the metadata, producing a searchable library of videos and metadata. Later, when a camera user generates a new data stream, the linked server analyzes it, identifies relevant material from the library, retrieves the material and tagged information, adjusts it for proper orientation, then renders and superimposes it onto the current camera view so the user views an augmented reality.
US09280842B2 Data display apparatus, method and program, and data structure and recording medium
When plural datasets each composed of a set of numerical value data respectively corresponding to plural values on a variable axis common to the datasets are displayed on a display screen, they are displayed in a display mode of a graph mode or a table mode in such a manner that they are vertically arranged with a horizontal axis representing the variable axis coinciding with each other. An input of instruction for switching the display mode for at least one of plural partial display areas in which the datasets are displayed is received. The partial display area for which the input of instruction has been received is set so that its height becomes a height for the switched display mode stored in advance in such a manner to be linked with the partial display area. The set partial display area is displayed in the switched display mode.
US09280837B2 Angiographic image acquisition system and method with automatic shutter adaptation for yielding a reduced field of view covering a segmented target structure or lesion for decreasing X-radiation dose in minimally invasive X-ray-guided interventions
The present invention refers to an angiographic image acquisition system and method which can beneficially be used in the scope of minimally invasive image-guided interventions. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for graphically visualizing a pre-interventionally virtual 3D representation of a patient's coronary artery tree's vessel segments in a region of interest of a patient's cardiovascular system to be three-dimensionally reconstructed. Optionally, this 3D representation can then be fused with an intraoperatively acquired fluoroscopic 2D live image of an interventional tool. According to the present invention, said method comprises the steps of subjecting the image data set of the 3D representation associated with the precalculated optimal viewing angle to a 3D segmentation algorithm (S4) in order to find the contours of a target structure or lesion to be examined and interventionally treated within a region of interest and automatically adjusting (S5) a collimator wedge position and/or aperture of a shutter mechanism used for collimating an X-ray beam emitted by an X-ray source of a C-arm-based 3D rotational angiography device or rotational gantry-based CT imaging system to which the patient is exposed during an image-guided radiographic examination procedure based on data obtained as a result of said segmentation which indicate the contour and size of said target structure or lesion. The aim is to reduce the region of interest to a field of view that covers said target structure or lesion together with a user-definable portion of the surrounding vasculature.
US09280833B2 Topology determination for non-overlapping camera network
Image-matching tracks the movements of the objects from initial camera scenes to ending camera scenes in non-overlapping cameras. Paths are defined through scenes for pairings of initial and ending cameras by different respective scene entry and exit points. For each of said camera pairings a combination path having a highest total number of tracked movements relative to all other combinations of one path through the initial and ending camera scene is chosen, and the scene exit point of the selected path through the initial camera and the scene entry point of the selected path into the ending camera define a path connection of the initial camera scene to the ending camera scene.
US09280823B2 Invisible bifurcation detection within vessel tree images
An image registration system an endoscope (12) and an endoscope controller (22). In operation, the endoscope (12) generates an intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of a vessel tree within an anatomical region including a plurality of branches of the vessel tree visible within the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) as an indication of a furcation of the vessel tree invisible within the intra-operative endoscopic image (14). The endoscope controller (22) image registers the intra-operative operative endoscopic image (14) of the vessel tree to a pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the vessel tree. The image registration includes an image matching of a graphical representation of the furcation of the vessel tree as indicated by the branches of the vessel tree visible within the intra-operative endoscopic image (14) of the vessel tree to a graphical representation of the furcation of the vessel tree visible within the pre-operative three-dimensional image (44) of the vessel tree.
US09280818B2 Medical report writing support system, medical report writing unit, and medical image observation unit
According to one embodiment, a medical report writing support system comprises an analyzing unit which analyzes a difference regarding at least one of a change in key images between a first report and a second report regarding a predetermined patient and a change in hyperlinks, and acquires an analyzed result, and a difference information generation unit which generates difference information based on the analyzed result.
US09280812B2 Gas visualization arrangements, devices, and methods
Gas visualization in an image depicting a scene, for an example embodiment comprises capturing a first IR image depicting the scene at a first time instance and a second IR image depicting the scene at a second time instance; performing image processing operations on image data derived from said first IR image and from said second IR image, to generate a collection of data representing the location of gas in one of the first or second IR images; and generating a third image by adjusting pixel values in an image depicting the scene, dependent on pixel values of said collection of data. According to various embodiments, there is further provided further processing of the collection of data, and/or gas detection, before generation of the third image with adjusted pixel values.
US09280811B2 Multi-scale large radius edge-preserving low-pass filtering
A method of large-radius edge-preserving low-pass filtering a digital signal having data points, including computing weighted averages of a signal layer at vertices in at least two grids, the vertices in each grid being a different subset of the data points such that in each grid an amount of the vertices is less than an amount of the data points; and producing, for each of the data points, a large-radius edge-preserving low-pass filtered signal based on the weighted averages of the signal layer at vertices in the at least two grids neighboring the data point.
US09280809B2 Image display apparatus and image adjustment method of image display apparatus
An image display apparatus includes an OSD processing section that displays a test pattern, which includes a plurality of index lines arranged in one of horizontal and vertical directions with respect to a pixel area of a liquid crystal light valve at regular intervals, in the pixel area, an input operation section that sets at least one of the plurality of index lines as a reference index line, and adjusts the intervals of the index lines of the test pattern so as to increase or decrease as a distance from the reference index line increases with respect to the direction of the arrangement of the index lines taking the reference index line as a reference, and an image correction section that corrects linearity of the image based on the intervals of the index lines adjusted by the input operation section.
US09280807B2 Degradation restoration system, degradation restoration method and program
For each pixel of an input image, a direction toward which variation in pixel value between the relevant pixel and its peripheral pixels is largest and an amount of the variation in pixel value are computed, where a direction unit vector that indicates the direction toward which the variation is largest and a variation vector that represents the amount of the largest variation in the pixel value are computed. For each pixel, a regularization strength is computed utilizing the direction unit vector, the variation vector, and a regularization strength computing formula so that the larger the amount of the variation in pixel value toward a direction indicated by the direction unit vector, the less the regularization strength. An optimization function is determined based on the input image and the regularization strength for each pixel thereof and assigns a value for each pixel, by which the determined optimization function has the minimum value, to the corresponding pixel of a restored image to be generated.
US09280805B2 Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and memory device in which image processing program is stored
Provided is an image processing apparatus including an edge identifying portion that generates an edge image in which an edge is identified at each pixel in an input image; a mask-image generating portion that distinguishes an edge direction at a pixel of interest in the input image, that calculates a difference between pixel values of pixels that are positioned perpendicular to the edge direction and that are positioned symmetrically to each other, with the pixel of interest located at a center thereof, and that generates a mask image in which a pixel value of the pixel of interest is increased as that difference decreases; an enhancement-filter image generating portion that generates an enhancement-filter image by multiplying pixel values of pixels of the edge image by pixel values of the mask image; and a combining portion that generates an output image by combining the input image and the enhancement-filter image.
US09280801B2 Method of searching for pixels in a matrix and circuit implementing the method
A pixel matrix is arranged in line of pixels. Each pixel is either in a first state or in a second state. The matrix mainly contains pixels in the second state. Each line of pixels is tested in order to determine whether it contains or not a pixel in a first state. The result from this test for each line is sent into a receiver. The lines including at least one pixel in the first state are more accurately analyzed in order to determine the position of this or these pixel in the line.
US09280798B2 Method and system for facilitating the review of electronic documents
A method and system is provided for facilitating the review of electronic documents such as patent, trademark and design documents. Example embodiments of methods provide a business context for performing the review, a role within the business context together with the event that is the reason for the review to be requested.
US09280795B2 Dynamically creating a social networking check-in location
In a method for creating a social networking check-in location for social networking applications, a computer receives a geographic location for each user computing device in a plurality of user computing devices. The computer determines a portion of the plurality of user computing devices that exhibit an area density exceeding a threshold. The area density is defined as a number of user computing devices per unit area. The computer receives two or more social networking messages from the portion of the plurality of user computing devices. The computer determines a common subject between the two or more social networking messages. The computer creates a social networking check-in location.
US09280772B2 Security token for mobile near field communication transactions
Devices, systems, and methods are disclosed which relate to an NFC-enabled security token that is removably coupled to a mobile device. The security token may be provisioned with the information by the mobile device, then decoupled from the mobile device and used to authenticate the user or perform a transaction at a POS terminal equipped with an NFC reader. The security token includes logic for user-controlled restrictions on allowable purchases, such as payment limits, timeouts, vendor identifiers, allowed purchases, and location-based restrictions. The security token is further equipped with “self-destruct” security features, such as deactivating itself or erasing any sensitive information upon being unable to contact the mobile device for a specified duration, or being subject to an unauthorized or restricted transaction, until such time as it is re-coupled to the mobile device.
US09280767B2 System and method for linking point of sale devices within a virtual network
A system and method for interconnecting multiple point of sale devices creating a mesh-like network structure which reduces connectivity costs while providing greater reliability due to multiple network paths is disclosed. By linking point of sale devices within a virtual network, the need for individual connections to a point of sale controller is eliminated and alternative network paths are provided, thereby ensuring maximum up-time and optimal connection speeds.
US09280761B2 Systems and methods for improved interactive content sharing in video communication systems
Systems and methods for interactively sharing and annotating visual information over a communication network between at least a first and a second endpoint are disclosed. The system includes a display coupled to the first endpoint and a user interaction device coupled to the first endpoint and associated with the display, wherein the first endpoint is configured to: receive visual information from, and transmit visual information to, at least the second endpoint over the communication network; show visual information received from at least the second endpoint on the display; obtain a copy of the visual information shown on the display when instructed by the user interaction device; add an annotation, if any, as indicated by the user interaction device; and transmit the annotated copy to the second endpoint.
US09280759B2 Method and system for displaying plural notifications from plural sources
A system for displaying at least one notification from at least one source includes a processor configured to access the at least one notification from the at least one source, the at least one notification comprising content and geographical information. The processor is further configured to display the notification on a map based on the geographical information of the notification. A method for displaying at least one notification from at least one source is also provided.
US09280753B2 Translating a language in a crowdsourced environment
Program code on one or more computers receives a request from a first end-user to join a crowdsourced network of language translators (crowdsourced network). The program code determines the first end-user is a registered member of the crowdsourced network. The program code adds the first end-user as a language translator within the crowdsourced network. The program code receives from a second end-user a request for language translation service to translate plain text from the second end-user. The program code selects one of the language translators from the crowdsourced network who is qualified to perform the language translation service requested. The program code generates an interactive chat session to connect the language translator selected with the second end-user, wherein the language translator selected translates the plain text, via the interactive chat session that allows plain text to be translated at least more frequently than on an hourly basis.
US09280749B1 Determining an attribute of an online user using user device data
A computer-implemented method for determining an attribute for an online user of a candidate computing device is provided. The method implemented uses a host computing device. The method includes identifying a first set of model data including device data from a plurality of model computing devices including location data and access data, and a plurality of categories for an attribute of a population segment including an online user. Each category defines a segment of the attribute. The method further includes training a classification model by the host computing device with at least the first set of model data and the plurality of categories. The method also includes identifying device data associated with the candidate computing device. The method further includes applying the device data of the candidate computing device to the classification model to determine a category of the plurality of categories for the online user.
US09280738B2 Identification tag and attachment
An identification tag for attaching to a tool to automatically identify the tool, including, a base with a small footprint for attaching to the tool on one end of the base, an identification attachment with a larger footprint that is attached to the tool by the base at a second end of the base. Wherein the identification attachment includes, an encasement that is connected to the second end of the base, an identification circuit that fits into the encasement, a cover to seal the encasement, and wherein the identification circuit accepts communication queries and transmits identification information related to the tool wirelessly from within the encasement.
US09280735B2 Data processing apparatus that processes information based on data processing in connection with user information
An image formation apparatus configured to execute print processing, includes an information storage configured to store print-limit information and notification-destination information set for each user. The print-limit information includes at least one of a print condition and a limit on a printable amount. A user-information acquisition unit is configured to acquire print-instructing-user information, which is information on a print-instructing user instructing a print-executing user to execute printing. An information-acquisition unit is configured to acquire, from the information storage, the print-limit information and the notification-destination information corresponding to the print-instructing-user information acquired by the user-information acquisition unit, and a notification unit is configured to notify the print-instructing user of a result of print control by the print controller, based on the notification-destination information acquired by the information-acquisition unit.
US09280734B2 Image forming apparatus that performs highly-accurate calibration, calibration program, and calibration system
An image forming apparatus includes a print device, a tone correction unit, a peripheral light quantity drop detecting unit, and a color value correction unit. The tone correction unit corrects a tone characteristic of the print device based on color values of a plurality of color patches of each of a reference chart and a test chart in an image. The image is generated by simultaneously taking a reference sheet and a test sheet by an imaging device. The reference chart is drawn on the reference sheet. The test chart is printed on the test sheet by the print device. The peripheral light quantity drop detecting unit detects the amount of the peripheral light quantity drop in each of the patches based on the positions and luminances of the plurality of reference regions in the image and the positions of the patches in the image.
US09280728B2 Image forming apparatus, control method, and program
While calibration is being executed in an image forming apparatus, it is not possible to execute printing until the calibration is completed, and therefore, usability of a user is poor. An image forming apparatus including Media Direct Print function to print data stored in a portable storage medium. The image forming apparatus includes a connection detection unit configured to detect connection of the portable storage medium and a control unit configured to control calibration from being executed in response to the connection detection unit detecting the connection of the portable storage medium.
US09280715B2 Biometric database collaborator
A biometric database corroborator is disclosed. In one embodiment, a biometric digital representation receiver receives a biometric digital representation representative of an individual. A biometric information gatherer collects biometric data from a first biometric database and at least a second different biometric database. A biometric comparator compares the biometric digital representation representative of the individual with the biometric data gathered from the first biometric database and at least the second different biometric database, the biometric comparator utilizing a predefined match percentage threshold to determine a match. A result provider provides a result from the biometric comparator in a tangible user output.
US09280702B2 Image processing device and image processing method
An image processing device includes a processor; and a memory which stores a plurality of instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute: obtaining a first image in which a user is included, a second image which is imaged in an imaging condition different from that of the first image, a third image which is continuously imaged at a different point of time from that of the first image, and in the same imaging condition as that of the first image, and a fourth image which is continuously imaged at a different point of time from that of the second image, and in the same imaging condition as that of the second image; extracting a first feature amount of a user which is included in the first image, a second feature amount of the user which is included in the second image, a third feature amount.
US09280701B2 Grouping face images using statistic distribution estimate
A computer-implemented method for sorting face images of different individuals into different groups includes obtaining face images comprising faces of unknown individuals by a computer processor; calculating similarity functions between pairs of face images by the computer processor; joining face images that have values of the similarity functions above a predetermined threshold into a hypothetical face group, wherein the face images in the hypothetical face group hypothetically belong to a same person; conducting non-negative matrix factorization on values of the similarity functions in the hypothetical face group to test truthfulness of the hypothetical face group; and identifying the hypothetical face group as a true face group if a percentage of the associated similarity functions being true is above a threshold based on the non-negative matrix factorization.
US09280697B2 Authentication device including template validation and related methods
An authentication device may include a housing and a finger sensor carried by the housing and including first processing circuitry and a finger sensing area coupled thereto. The first processing circuitry may be configured to generate finger image data based upon a finger positioned adjacent the finger sensing area, and generate and store a first template based upon the finger image data. The authentication device may include second processing circuitry carried by the housing and configured to obtain the finger image data from the first processing circuitry. The second processing circuitry may be configured to generate a second template based upon the finger image data. The first processing circuitry may further be configured to obtain the second template from second processing circuitry, and validate the second template against the first template.
US09280694B2 Decoding machine-readable optical codes with aesthetic component
Techniques are provided for decoding machine-readable optical codes that have an aesthetic component that is integrated into the codes themselves. In this manner, the machine-readable optical codes can be designed to be aesthetically pleasing and/or can convey information to human viewers, and can even be disguised so that they do not appear to be machine-readable optical codes at all. Such information can be (but need not be) distinct from the information encoded for reading by a machine, even when the information is integrated into the code itself. The techniques described herein can be applied to any type of machine-readable optical code.
US09280687B2 Pre-boot authentication using a cryptographic processor
An apparatus for cryptographic pre-boot authentication includes a cryptographic processor configured to perform cryptographic operations. The cryptographic processor includes a portion dedicated to the boot interface. The apparatus also includes a storage device storing machine readable code and a processor executing the machine readable code. The machine readable code includes a storage module storing a first cryptographic key on the cryptographic processor. The machine readable code further includes an encryption module encrypting an electronic message with a second cryptographic key. The machine readable code also includes a decryption module decrypting the electronic message with the first cryptographic key where an authorized user is granted access to a device upon successful decryption of the electronic message.
US09280678B2 Secure cloud storage distribution and aggregation
Methods and systems for vendor independent and secure cloud storage distribution and aggregation are provided. According to one embodiment, an application programming interface (API) is provided by a cloud storage gateway device logically interposed between third-party cloud storage platforms and users of an enterprise. The API facilitates storing of files, issuing of search requests against the files and retrieval of content of the files. A file storage policy is assigned to each user, which defines access rights, storage diversity requirements and a type of encryption to be applied to files. Responsive to receiving a request to store a file, (i) searchable encrypted data is created relating to content and/or metadata of the file based on the assigned file storage policy; and (ii) the searchable encrypted data is distributed among the third-party cloud storage platforms based on the storage diversity requirements defined by the assigned file storage policy.
US09280677B1 Secure native application messaging with a browser application
A system for securely mediating messages between a native application and a browser application on a computing device includes running the browser application and a browser process that controls access by the browser-based application to the native resource. The browser process may use a data file distributed with the native application to allow or deny communications between the browser-based application and the native application. When communications are allowed the browser-based application accesses the native resource via the native application. In one implementation, the browser process may initiate a native messaging host and send communication requests to the native messaging host. The data file may be downloaded with the native application or separately from the native application from a site that distributes the native application or a site controlled by the developer of the native application. The data file identifies browser-based applications allowed to communicate with the native application.
US09280674B2 Information processing apparatus and method of controlling same
An information processing apparatus includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to receive an instruction to transfer a first application to an execution environment, detect a second application that shares a resource with the first application, the resource being information used upon executing the first application and the second application, provide information for causing a user to determine whether to prohibit transferring the second application to the execution environment when the second application is detected, and invalidate a state in which the second application shares the resource with the first application when instruction to prohibit transferring the second application to the execution environment is received.
US09280664B2 Apparatus and method for blocking activity of malware
An apparatus and method for blocking the activity of malware are disclosed. The apparatus for blocking the activity of malware includes a storage unit, a posting unit, and a control unit. The storage unit stores an automatic execution permission list and a set security level. The posting unit posts a predetermined control time immediately after user terminal booting and a predetermined control time immediately after user login. The control unit permits or blocks the execution of an execution attempt file for the predetermined control time immediately after the booting and the predetermined control time immediately after the user login based on the automatic execution permission list and the set security level.
US09280661B2 System administrator behavior analysis
A network computer system is protected from malicious attacks by its own system administrators by a large number of addressable and assignable smart-agents that are individually allocated to independently follow and represent those system administrators, the jobs those system administrated are assigned to work on, and the system resource tasks that such system administrators can employ in furtherance of the completion of a particular job.
US09280656B2 Device and method for providing security channel interface
A security channel interface providing device is provided. The device includes a sensor unit that comprises at least two sensors configured to sense a motion of a user, and a control unit that determines whether or not at least two sensing values sensed by the sensors satisfy a security channel interface activation condition, and activates or inactivates a security channel interface according to a result of the determination. When the security channel interface is activated, the control unit provides a security channel to the user.
US09280654B1 Battery authentication circuit
Various embodiments of modular battery authentication circuits are described. The various modular battery authentication circuits are intended to be utilized with electrically powered devices that do not comprise existing battery authentication capabilities. In one embodiment, a modular battery authentication adapter is described. The adapter comprises a housing in which a modular battery authentication circuit resides. One end of the adapter is positioned within a power input port of a device and a modular battery is positioned within the opposing end of the adapter. The authentication circuit within the adapter communicates with the modular battery to determine its authenticity before allowing the battery to power the device. A modular battery comprising an internal authentication circuit is also described. The modular battery is designed to interact with firmware stored within the device to determine whether the modular battery meets certain operational criteria.
US09280650B2 Authenticate a fingerprint image
A computing machine including a sensor to capture a fingerprint image from a user and generate a password in response to the user accessing the sensor, a component to create a package of the fingerprint image and the password, and a processor to authenticate the fingerprint image from the package before decrypting an encryption of the password if a request for the password has been received before a predefined time has elapsed.
US09280648B2 Conditional biometric access in a gaming environment
The present application provides methods and corresponding systems for accessing services in a gaming or other environment based on conditional biometric identity verification. In one aspect, this includes the step or steps of determining a location of a gaming device having a display and at least one biometric sensor associated therewith; prompting a user of the gaming device for at least one item of physical biometric data with the biometric sensor based at least on the location of the gaming device; receiving the at least one item of physical biometric data; and enabling at least one service on the gaming device based on a match between the at least one item of physical biometric data received and at least one authenticated item of physical biometric data associated with the user.
US09280647B2 Methods, systems, and products for identity verification
Methods, systems, and products verify identity of a person. A signature, representing the presence of a device, is acquired. The signature is compared to a reference signature. When the signature favorably compares to the reference signature, then the identity of a user associated with the device is verified.
US09280642B2 Method of managing clinical testing apparatus, clinical testing system, and maintenance management apparatus
A management system connected with a clinical testing apparatus is disclosed. The system acquires, from the clinical testing apparatus, a parameter that varies according to deterioration of the unit at a plurality of points of time, stores the parameters and/or analysis results that are obtained by analyzing the parameters, and provides a screen data for showing the stored parameters and/or the stored analysis results in a time-series format. A method for managing a clinical testing apparatus and a clinical testing system for the method are also disclosed.
US09280637B2 Multi-action button for mobile devices
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for providing a multi-action button for mobile devices are provided. Alerts are received and multi-action buttons are determined corresponding to the alerts and clinicians associated with mobile devices. The multi-action buttons are displayed on the mobile devices.
US09280630B1 Modified standard cells to address fast paths
Circuitry including a logic circuitry portion and a delay circuitry portion, with the circuitry having the following features: (i) the logic circuitry is designed to receive a set of input signals including a first input signal and a second input signal; and (ii) the delay circuitry portion includes a transistor connected so that the first input signal gates the second input signal. In some embodiments, the first and second input signals are chosen because it is expected that the second input signal will arrive at the circuitry before the first input signal so that the gating of the second signal by the first signal will cause the logic circuitry portion to receive the first and second signals at substantially the same time. Also, circuitry where a first output signal from a logic circuitry portion is gated by a second output signal.
US09280627B1 GUI based verification at multiple abstraction levels
A system and method that implement an object-oriented model for requirements of a hardware design in order to verify the design. The object-oriented model abstractly captures the design topology, capability, control, and status of the design. An object-oriented model or definition of a hardware design is based on one or more specifications or standards implemented with the design. With the object-oriented model, a system and method for storing and displaying data captured during a test run is implemented. Graphical displays are defined to show run information for abstract objects of the design. Predefined graphical displays may be altered to accommodate the features of the object-oriented model and new graphical displays may be defined for objects in the model.
US09280626B2 Efficiently determining Boolean satisfiability with lazy constraints
A mechanism is provided for efficiently determining Boolean satisfiability (SAT) using lazy constraints. A determination is made as to whether a SAT problem is satisfied without constraints in a list of constraints. Responsive to the SAT problem being satisfied without constraints, a set of variable assignments that are determined in satisfying the SAT problem without constraints are fixed. For each constraint in the list of constraints, a determination is made as to whether the SAT problem with the constraint results in the set of variable assignments remaining constant. Responsive to the SAT problem with the constraint resulting in the set of variable assignments remaining constant, the constraint is added to a list of non-affecting constraints and a satisfied result is returned.
US09280624B2 System and method for efficient statistical timing analysis of cycle time independent tests
A method and a system performing selected timing comparisons in a digital electronic design includes propagating from signal sources to timing comparisons of one or multiple signal labels. The signal label includes signal source identifiers and signal path cycle adjust information. Timing comparisons are determined in which signal label values at each input of the timing comparison are required to compute the selected timing comparisons. The propagation back from the timing comparisons are needed signal labels, followed by the propagation and computing timing data from the signal source applied to the propagated signal labels corresponding to the required signal labels.
US09280621B1 Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for analyzing a multi-fabric electronic design and displaying analysis results for the multi-fabric electronic design spanning and displaying simulation results across multiple design fabrics
Disclosed are techniques to analyze multi-fabric designs. These techniques generate a cross-fabric analysis model by at least identifying first design data in a first design fabric of a multi-fabric electronic design using a first session of a first electronic design automation (EDA) tool, update the cross-fabric simulation model by at least identifying second design data in a second design fabric using a second session of a second EDA tool, and determine analysis results for the multi-fabric electronic design using at least the cross-fabric simulation model. Analysis results may be determined using parasitic, electrical, or performance information. Various EDA tools access their respective native design data in their respective domains or design fabrics and have no access to or visibility of non-native design data while these techniques automatically cross the boundaries between multiple design fabrics to accomplish the tasks of analyzing multi-fabric electronic designs or displaying analysis results therefor.
US09280620B2 Method and system for probabilistic fatigue crack life estimation
A probabilistic estimation of fatigue crack life of a component is provided. A plurality of representations of the component is defined from material property scatter data and flaw-size scatter data, wherein each representation is defined by one possible material condition and flaw-size condition associated with the component. For each representation, a component location is selected and a determination is made whether said individual representation fails after a given number of cycles N, based on the calculation of a crack growth in the selected location. The crack growth is calculated on the basis of the material condition and the flaw-size condition in the selected location. Failure of the individual representation is determined if the crack growth is determined to be unstable. The sum total of the number of the representations that failed after N cycles is determined. A probability of failure of the component after N cycles is then determined.
US09280614B1 Methods, systems, and apparatus for clock topology planning with reduced power consumption
In one embodiment of the invention, a method of physical clock topology planning for designing integrated circuits is disclosed. The method includes reading an initial placed netlist of an integrated circuit design and a floorplan of the integrated circuit design, analyzing the integrated circuit design to determine potential enable signals to gate clock signals that clock the plurality of flip flops to reduce power consumption; simultaneously optimizing and placing the clock enable logic gates to gate clock signals to the plurality of flip flops; and minimizing timing variation of the clock signals to the plurality of flip flops.
US09280605B2 Systems and methods for itinerary messaging service
Messages are targeted to travelers based on travel itineraries. Targeting may also be based on real-time travel status information. The targeted messages communicate their purpose and priority to respective travelers within the context of the travel itineraries. A disclosed method includes accessing a travel itinerary database including a plurality of travel itineraries. Each travel itinerary is associated with a traveler and defines itinerary segments of a corresponding travel schedule. A message is associated with a set of targeting rules used to identify a subset of itineraries in the travel itinerary database. The targeting rules may be used with real-time travel status information to identify the subset of itineraries.
US09280602B2 Search techniques for rich internet applications
A computing device includes one or more rich internet application (RIA) client engines. Each RIA client engine includes a corresponding private RIA storage area. The computing device also includes a per-RIA public storage area for each RIA. The per-RIA public storage area including a subset of data items in the private RIA storage area of the corresponding RIA client engine. A search engine of the computing device may search the data items in the one or more per-RIA public storage areas and link to content in the private RIA storage area of the corresponding RIA client engine at a given data item matching a search request.
US09280600B2 Method and system for decompression-free inspection of shared dictionary compressed traffic over HTTP
A system and a method for decompression-free inspection of compressed data are provided herein. The method includes the following stages: obtaining a dictionary file comprising a string of symbols, each associated with a respective index; obtaining at least one delta file associated with said dictionary file, wherein said delta file comprises a sequence of instructions that include at least one copy instruction pointing to an index within said dictionary and a length of a copy substring to be copied; scanning said dictionary using a pattern matching algorithm associated with a plurality of patterns and implemented as a Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA), to yield DFA execution data; scanning said at least one delta file, using said pattern matching algorithm, wherein said DFA execution data is used to skip at least part of the scanning of the copy substrings for at least one of the copy instructions.
US09280598B2 Systems and methods for sound recognition
Systems and methods for recognizing sounds are provided herein. User input relating to one or more sounds is received from a computing device. Instructions, which are stored in memory, are executed by a processor to discriminate the one or more sounds, extract music features from the one or more sounds, analyze the music features using one or more databases, and obtain information regarding the music features based on the analysis. Further, information regarding the music features of the one or more sounds may be transmitted to display on the computing device.
US09280594B2 Uniform storage and search of events derived from machine data from different sources
Methods and apparatus consistent with the invention provide the ability to organize and build understandings of machine data generated by a variety of information-processing environments. Machine data is a product of information-processing systems (e.g., activity logs, configuration files, messages, database records) and represents the evidence of particular events that have taken place and been recorded in raw data format. In one embodiment, machine data is turned into a machine data web by organizing machine data into events and then linking events together.
US09280593B1 Centroid detection for clustering
A method of categorizing data points is described which, when combined with a clustering algorithm, provides groupings of data points that have an improved confidence interval. The method can be used to find an optimal number of groupings for a dataset, which in turn allows a user to categorize a group of data points for processing. In some examples, a dataset containing a number of data points may be accessed. Additionally, in some aspects, groupings of data points within the dataset may be grouped based at least in part on similarities between the data. Further, a number of groupings of data points may be adjusted so that the distance between the data points within one or more groupings of data points may fit within a confidence level.
US09280591B1 Efficient replication of system transactions for read-only nodes of a distributed database
A distributed database system may efficiently replicate system transactions one or more read-only nodes. An update to a distributed database may be received. One or more system transactions may be performed to apply the update. For each system transaction, one or more change notifications may be generated which indicate changes to be applied in order to perform the system transaction. A particular one of the change notifications may be identified as the last change to be applied in order to complete the system transaction. The change notifications may be sent to one or more read-only nodes. The read-only nodes may process read requests for the distributed database system. The identified change notification may indicate to the read-only nodes the last change to be applied prior to presenting a state of the database that includes the system transaction when servicing read requests.
US09280579B2 Hierarchy of servers for query processing of column chunks in a distributed column chunk data store
An improved system and method for query processing in a distributed column chunk data store is provided. A distributed column chunk data store may be provided by multiple storage servers operably coupled to a network. A storage server provided may include a database engine for partitioning a data table into the column chunks for distributing across multiple storage servers, a storage shared memory for storing the column chunks during processing of semantic operations performed on the column chunks, and a storage services manager for striping column chunks of a partitioned data table across multiple storage servers. Query processing may be performed by storage servers or query processing servers operably coupled by a network to storage servers in the column chunk data store. To do so, a hierarchy of servers may be dynamically determined to process execution steps of a query transformed for distributed processing.
US09280574B2 Relative classification of data objects
Systems and methods for use in presenting a plurality of data nodes that include one or more data sets and one or more data objects, wherein each data set includes zero or more data objects and zero or more other data sets. The method includes determining, by a computing device, a data node of interest from the plurality of data nodes, wherein the data node of interest is included in one or more data sets. The computing device depicts the data node of interest as a primary node and depicts at least one of the data sets that includes the data node of interest as a secondary node that is subordinate to the primary node. The computing device also depicts an edge between the primary node and the secondary node.
US09280566B2 System and method for visual role engineering
The system and method of visual role engineering uses a visual assessment tool to identify clusters of users and to define roles. A “cluster image” is generated that visually depicts the cluster tendencies of users and permissions. An operator of the visual assessment tool can visually identify clusters of users with the same permissions. The operator may select a cluster representing a subset of users, define a role for the subset of users, and assign permissions to the role. The process may be repeated in an iterative fashion until it is determined that no more roles are needed.
US09280551B2 De-duplication deployment planning
Assignment of files to a de-duplication domain. Address space of data files is divided into multiple containers. For each of the containers, a file metadata scan is performed to obtain file system metadata, which is aggregated and summarized in a content feature summary. A content feature summary prediction measurement is measured between containers from the generated content feature summary, and files from each container are assigned to a de-duplication domain based upon the content similarity predication measurement.
US09280549B2 Compressing tuples in a streaming application
A method, system, and computer program product to process data in a streaming application are disclosed. The method, system, and computer program product may include receiving a stream of tuples to be processed by a plurality of processing elements operating on a plurality of compute nodes. The method, system, and computer program product may determine whether a first processing element has additional processing capacity. In some embodiments, the method, system, and computer program product determine whether a second processing element, which receives its input from the first processing element, also has additional processing capacity. The method, system, and computer program product may employ compression at the first processing element if one of the first and the second processing element has additional processing capacity.
US09280548B2 Storage manager
A method may include identifying a media file to be retrieved from storage, transmitting a request for information identifying a location of the media file and identifying the location of the media file. The method may also include forwarding the identified location, transmitting a request for the media file and receiving the request for the media file. The method may further include creating a copy of the media file, storing a first virtual location corresponding to a location of the copy and forwarding a message indicating that the identified media file is available for processing.
US09280544B2 Methods, systems, and computer program products for automatically associating data with a resource as metadata based on a characteristic of the resource
Methods, systems, and computer program products for automatically associating data with a resource as metadata based on a characteristic of the resource are disclosed. According to one method, a metadata association rule is defined for a metadata associator. The metadata association rule specifies a data value to be associated with a resource as metadata based on a characteristic of the resource. A user interface is provided for associating at least one resource with a metadata associator. In response to a resource being associated with the metadata associator via a user interface, the data value is associated with the resource as metadata based on the metadata association rule. The specified data value may be defined prior to the resource being associated with the metadata and independently of both the resource and a file system with which the resource is associated.
US09280539B2 System and method for translating speech, and non-transitory computer readable medium thereof
A first speech input device captures a speech of a first language. A first speech output device outputs another speech of the first language. A second speech input device captures a speech of a second language. A second speech output device outputs another speech of the second language. In a speech recognition/translation server, a first speech recognition device receives a first utterance speech of the first language from the first speech input device, and recognizes the first utterance speech. A first machine translation device consecutively translates the first language of the recognition result into the second language without waiting completion of the first utterance speech. A first speech synthesis device generates a second speech of the translation result. A first output adjustment device outputs the first utterance speech and the second speech to the second speech output device by adjusting a volume of the first utterance speech to be smaller than a volume of the second speech.
US09280538B2 Sentence hiding and displaying system and method
Provided herein is a sentence hiding and displaying system comprising: an image creating interface receiving an input of information on an original image, a plurality of sentences corresponding to the original image, and a language that needs to be hidden; an image creator configured to determine a sentence that needs to be hidden based on the plurality of sentences and the language that needs to be hidden, and to create on the original image an image where the sentence that needs to be hidden is hidden; a sentence display interface configured to receive an input of information on a language selected by a user; and a sentence extractor and displayer configured to parse a sentence expressed in the selected language of among sentences that need to be hidden based on the hidden image and the selected language, and to display the sentence expressed in the selected language.
US09280527B2 Method and system for directly mapping web services interfaces and Java interfaces
A method and system for directly mapping web services interfaces and Java interfaces. In one embodiment, default mapping information is identified, the default mapping information having default interface mapping information and default schema to Java mapping information. The default mapping information is then update and a mapping descriptor having the updated mapping information is generated. The updated information contains updated interface mapping information and updated schema to Java mapping information.
US09280521B2 Drawing support apparatus, supporting method and drawing support program
Disclosed is a drawing support apparatus or the like that realizes a reduction of an execution frequency of a re-drawing processing performed for treating a drawing inconvenience caused by drawing timing in a Web browser.The drawing support apparatus includes the analysis unit and the calculation unit. The analysis unit calculates a drawing inconvenience occurrence probability, based on a drawing request order information representing a drawing request order given from an out side or an external apparatus which monitors a drawing request for a browser, for each of the drawing request order. And the drawing result indication unit indicates the drawing inconvenience occurrence probability calculated by the analysis unit.
US09280520B2 Systems and methods for semantic information retrieval
A semantic tagging method may add context to a sentence in order to increase search efficiency. Regardless of an author's writing style, translating semantic concepts into tags may increase search efficiency. Automatic semantic tagging of documents may allow semantic search and reasoning. Text for semantic tagging may include an email, a website chat room, an internet forum, or a text message. Additional texts may include aggregating general consensus of an emailed topic across multiple emails, whether in the same email chain or separate emails. To increase search efficiency, the analysis of prior communications within the body of text may comprise analyzing structured contextual information to facilitate with homophora resolution. The structured contextual information may include at least one of a sender email address, one or more recipient email addresses, a subject field, a message date and time stamp, and an attachment title.
US09280516B2 Method and system to validate wired sensors
The present invention provides a method and system using wireless sensors to validate wired sensors used in applications where the requirements on the reliability of wired sensors are stringent. A computing means periodically collects measurements for each variable from the wired and wireless sensors and compares them against an expected value. The expected value is a weighted average of all the measurements for a variable, in which the weight assigned to the measurement from each sensor is determined according to both its reliability and accuracy. As such, measurements are compared with the corresponding expected value for a particular variable. If the difference between a measurement and its corresponding expected value is found to be unacceptable, the validation computer will generate a corresponding alert. Application examples include 1) validating wired sensors used in safety shutdown systems for industrial facilities and 2) validating wired sensors used to monitor storage tanks.
US09280514B1 Optimizing testability of network devices using markup language based output
An apparatus and method for managing and maintaining a network device are disclosed. A process performed by a router, for example, is able to generate configuration data in accordance with network configuration of the router and store the data in a memory. A converter generates human-readable representation of requested status in accordance with configuration data. For example, command line interface (“CLI”) show output is generated by the converter for displaying system status. In one embodiment, a second converter is used to convert the configuration data to markup language configuration output such as extensible markup language (“XML”) based CLI output. A script, in one aspect, is able to run test cases to verify network configuration in light of the markup language configuration output.
US09280507B2 High performance interconnect physical layer
A reset of a synchronization counter is synchronized to an external deterministic signal. Entry into the link transmitting state is further synchronized with the deterministic signal. A target latency is identified for a serial data link. A data sequence is received synchronized with a synchronization counter associated with the data link. Target latency can be maintained using the data sequence.
US09280503B2 Round robin arbiter handling slow transaction sources and preventing block
In an embodiment, an arbiter may implement a deficit-weighted round-robin scheme having a delayed weight-reload mechanism. The delay may be greater than or equal to a ratio of the fabric clock to a slower clock associated with one or more sources that have no transactions but that have unconsumed weights (or another measure of difference in transaction rate). If a transaction is provided from the one or more sources during the delay, the reload of the weights may be prevented. In some embodiments, the arbiter may be augmented to improve usage of the bandwidth on an interface in which some transactions may be limited for a period of time. The arbiter may implement a first pointer that performs round robin arbitration. If the first pointer is indicating a source whose transaction is temporarily blocked, a second pointer may search forward from the current position of the main pointer to locate a non-blocked transaction.
US09280496B2 Formal verification of arbiters
A computer-implement method, computerized apparatus and computer program product for formal verification of an arbiter design. The method comprising: performing formal verification of an arbiter design, wherein the arbiter design is based on an original arbiter design comprising a fairness logic and an arbitration logic, wherein the arbiter design comprising the arbitration logic and a portion of the fairness logic; and wherein the formal verification is performed with respect to a multi-dimensional Complete Random Sequence (CRS) having two or more dimensions.
US09280495B2 Conversion device, peripheral device and programmable logic controller
An A/D conversion device includes an input-data storage unit storing therein a plurality of digital values obtained after A/D conversion so that each of the digital values is positioned at a fixed address according to a delay amount, a coefficient-data storage unit, a coefficient-data computation unit that, when a digital-filter process performing request is inputted, calculates an order and a filter coefficient based on a filter characteristic set beforehand, arranges calculated filter coefficients in order of delay amount, respectively, and stores the filter coefficients in the coefficient-data storage unit so that each filter coefficient is positioned at a fixed address according to the corresponding delay amount, and a digital-filter computation unit respectively reading a digital value from the input-data storage unit and a filter coefficient from the coefficient-data storage unit for each delay amount and performing a filter computation based on the read values for each delay amount.
US09280490B2 Secure computing
Techniques and logic are presented for encrypting and decrypting programs and related data within a multi-processor system to prevent tampering. The decryption and encryption may be performed either between a system bus and a processor's individual L1 cache memory or between a processor's instruction and execution unit and their respective L1 caches. The logic may include one or more linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs) that may be used for generation of unique sequential address related codes to perform the decryption of instructions and transformation logic that may be used for generation of equivalent offset address related codes to perform decryption and encryption of data. The logic may also be programmable and may be used for test purposes.
US09280487B2 Methods and apparatus for data processing using data compression, linked lists and de-duplication techniques
Data processing methods and apparatus for efficiently storing and retrieving data, e.g., blocks of data, to and from memory. The data processing includes, e.g., techniques such as using linked lists and/or tables for tracking duplicate data blocks received for storage, the use of lossless data compression, and de-duplication based on comparing hash values, compressed data block sizes, and/or bit by bit comparisons of the block of data to be stored and previously stored blocks of data.
US09280479B1 Multi-level store merging in a cache and memory hierarchy
A memory system having increased throughput is disclosed. Specifically, the memory system includes a first level write combining queue that reduces the number of data transfers between a level one cache and a level two cache. In addition, a second level write merging buffer can further reduce the number of data transfers within the memory system. The first level write combining queue receives data from the level one cache. The second level write merging buffer receives data from the first level write combining queue. The level two cache receives data from both the first level write combining queue and the second level write merging buffer. Specifically, the first level write combining queue combines multiple store transactions from the load store units to associated addresses. In addition, the second level write merging buffer merges data from the first level write combining queue.
US09280472B1 Caching data in a high performance zone of a data storage system
A combination of a host system and a storage system is disclosed that facilitates improved responsiveness of the host system to user requests. In one embodiment, the host system includes a cache management module, a partitioning module, and a driver. The cache management module determines write data to cache to a dedicated zone of a hard disk media of the storage system. The partitioning module partitions the hard disk media into one partition including the dedicated zone and another partition not including the dedicated zone. The driver transmits storage access commands to the storage system to cache data in and retrieve cached data from the one partition. Thereby, the host system can access the write data from the hard disk media more quickly than if the write data were cached in and accessed from another zone of the hard disk media.
US09280458B2 Reclaiming memory pages in a computing system hosting a set of virtual machines
A technique reclaims memory pages in a virtualization platform. The technique involves receiving, by a virtual machine of the virtualization platform, an inflate command which directs a balloon driver of the virtual machine to inflate. The technique further involves issuing, by the virtual machine and in response to the inflate command, a sweep request to a hypervisor. The sweep request directs the hypervisor to (i) perform a scan of memory pages allocated to the virtual machine for a predetermined pattern of characters, (ii) de-allocate memory pages having the predetermined pattern of characters from the virtual machine (e.g., zeroed pages), the de-allocated memory pages including super pages and regular pages, and (iii) update a list of memory page mappings to reflect the de-allocated memory pages. The technique further involves completing balloon driver inflation after the list of memory page mappings is updated.
US09280454B1 Method and system for re-ordering bits in a memory system
A method and system for re-ordering bits in a memory system is disclosed. The memory system includes a system on a chip (SoC) coupled to a plurality of memory chips. Each of the memory chips including a memory array, multipurpose registers (MPRs) coupled to the memory array; and a data bus coupled between the SoC and the memory array. The method and system comprise utilizing the MPRs within each of the plurality of memory chips to determine bit ordering within each byte lane of memory array of the associated memory chip. The method and system further includes providing the determined bit ordering to the SoC.
US09280450B2 Method and apparatus for producing regulatory-compliant software
A method for producing regulatory-compliant software includes validating a software application and freezing the validated software application in a validation portal, proving-in an infrastructure on which the software application operates, and providing evidence of operational change management for a regulatory agency, which evidence comprises documentation that satisfies the agency's compliance rules. A regulatory-compliant software package is also described.
US09280448B2 Controlling operation of a run-time instrumentation facility from a lesser-privileged state
Aspects relate to enabling and disabling execution of a run-time instrumentation facility. An instruction for execution by the processor in a lesser privileged state is fetched by the processor. It is determined, by the processor, that the run-time instrumentation facility permits execution of the instruction in the lesser-privileged state and that controls associated with the run-time instrumentation facility are valid. The run-time instrumentation facility is disabled based on the instruction being a run-time instrumentation facility off (RIOFF) instruction. The disabling includes updating a bit in a program status word (PSW) of the processor to indicate that run-time instrumentation data should not be captured by the processor. The run-time instrumentation facility is enabled based on the instruction being a run-time instrumentation facility on (RION) instruction. The enabling includes updating the bit in the PSW to indicate that run-time instrumentation data should be captured by the processor.
US09280446B2 Method for finding all valid interprocedural execution paths on COBOL in polynomial time
Disclosed are methods for finding all valid paths in a COBOL program. These methods are performed in polynomial time, allowing them to be scaled to accommodate large COBOL programs. As the methods find all valid paths in COBOL program code, by traversing and marking the nodes of the program upon being traversed. Accordingly, all usable and reachable code is indicated and marked. This increases safety when working with the code, as removal or alteration of such valid code is indicated, and thus, made unlikely.
US09280443B2 Dashboard performance analyzer
Described herein is a technology for a dashboard used for visualizing data. In some implementations, a dashboard with one or more dashboard item is provided. Performance of the dashboard is evaluated to determine a load time of the dashboard. Possible suggestions for improving performance of the dashboard are provided if performance issues are determined from evaluating performance of the dashboard.
US09280441B2 Detection and correction of race conditions in workflows
A race condition in a workflow representation is detected and corrected. First and second contracts are retrieved for respective first and second analytics of the workflow representation, wherein the contracts specify input types and output types of their analytics. Both contracts include information required to execute their respective analytics by a workflow executor. It is determined that the output type of the first analytic matches the input type of the second analytic based on a comparison of the first contract and the second contract, and that the workflow representation does not include a directed edge connecting the first analytic to the second analytic. The inclusion of a directed edge in the workflow representation connecting the first analytic to the second analytic will correct the race condition in the workflow representation.
US09280428B2 Method for designing a hyper-visor cluster that does not require a shared storage device
A system for storing and processing information comprises a plurality of nodes, each node comprising: a local information storage medium; a data connection configured to connect to at least one linked client; and a processor configured to process information in the local information storage medium and send processed information to the at least one linked client, and a secondary shared storage medium connected to the plurality of nodes via a shared data connection and configured to store information copied from the local information storage medium of each of the plurality of nodes, wherein each of the nodes in the plurality of nodes is configured, in the event of failure of a failed one of the plurality of nodes, to connect to the at least one linked client corresponding to the failed one of the plurality of nodes.
US09280423B1 Mounting block level backup images
Approaches to enable a block level backup image to be mounted by the operating system even in cases where the operating system does not have native support for the interfaces to access the backup image. The mounting of the backup image exposes the file system on the backup image and allows the user to perform granular file level recovery (FLR) when restoring data from the backup image. The mounting of the image and enabling data to be read from the image is performed by loading a kernel mode driver and a user mode data feeder application onto the computing device. These two components interact with one another to enable input/output (I/O) operations to be performed on the backup image.
US09280412B2 Memory with error correction configured to prevent overcorrection
A non-volatile memory array storing data and ECCs includes error correcting logic. A data set can be read by performing iterations including sensing data using a read bias, and producing an indication of errors in the sensed data. A first iteration uses a first read bias. In each iteration, if the indication in a current iteration is less than a threshold, then the data is output from the selected cells sensed in the present iteration. If the indication in the current iteration exceeds the threshold, then another iteration is performed using a moved read bias, unless the indication in the current iteration shows an increase in errors relative to a previous iteration, in which case then sensed data from the previous iteration is output. Double buffering logic can be used to store sensed data during a current and a previous iteration.
US09280408B2 System and method for subscribing for internet protocol multimedia subsystems (IMS) services registration status
A system and method that allows mobile device applications to receive changes in registration status from application services that are accessed via an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Applications on a mobile device subscribe to receive notifications of changes in registration status for requested services. When a change to the registration status of a service occurs, a notification message is transmitted to the application on the mobile device. Notifications of changes in status are thereby received by each application on a per-application-service basis. In some embodiments, when a request to register with an application service fails, the corresponding notification message includes a reason for the failure. In some embodiments, notification messages are originated by a registration manager that operates in the IMS and transmitted to an IMS client operating on a mobile device. In some embodiments, notification messages are originated by each application service and transmitted directly to subscribed applications.
US09280397B2 Using buffered stores or monitoring to filter redundant transactional accesses and mechanisms for mapping data to buffered metadata
A method and apparatus for accelerating a Software Transactional Memory (STM) system is herein described. A data object and metadata for the data object may each be associated with a filter, such as a hardware monitor or ephemerally held filter information. The filter is in a first, default state when no access, such as a read, from the data object has occurred during a pendancy of a transaction. Upon encountering a first access to the metadata, such as a first read, access barrier operations, such as logging of the metadata; setting a read monitor; or updating ephemeral filter information with an ephemeral/buffered store operation, are performed. Upon a subsequent/redundant access to the metadata, such as a second read, access barrier operations are elided to accelerate the subsequent access based on the filter being set to the second state to indicate a previous access occurred. Additionally, mapping of data objects to ephemeral information may be provided by software, such as through a pointer to the ephemeral information associated with the data object; an offset from a base address of the data object to the ephemeral information included associated with the data object; an index into a segment containing the ephemeral information associated with the data object; mapping the data object to the ephemeral information utilizing address arithmetic; and a hash that maps the data object to ephemeral information.
US09280385B2 Optimally provisioning and merging shared resources to maximize resource availability
A shared resource system, a method of managing resources on the system and computer program products therefor. A resource consolidation unit causes identification of identical memory segments on host computers. The resource consolidation unit may be in one or more host computers. Each identical memory segment is associated with multiple instances of resources provisioned on at least two host computers. The resource consolidation unit causes provisioned resources to be migrated for at least one instance from one of the two hosts to another. On the other host computer the migrated resources share respective identical memory segments with resources already provisioned on the other host.
US09280382B1 Parallel processing of multidimensional arrays
A device receives a command to initiate parallel processing. The command includes an operator associated with an operation that is to be performed in connection with the parallel processing, and a reference to a multidimensional array to which the operator is to be applied. The operator is represented by a symbol, and the multidimensional array includes at least three dimensions. The command also includes an indication of one or more dimensions by which the multidimensional array is to be partitioned. The device partitions the multidimensional array, along the one or more dimensions, to divide the multidimensional array into multiple blocks, each of the multiple blocks representing a subset of the multidimensional array. The device controls application of the operator to the multiple blocks to cause the operator to be applied in parallel to at least two blocks of the multiple blocks.
US09280380B2 Management of I/O reqeusts in virtual machine migration
Management of input/output (I/O) requests in virtual machine (VM) migration is provided. More specifically, tracking of I/O requests associated with a VM selected for migration from an origin host machine to a destination host machine may be provided. A data record providing a listing of tracked I/O requests may be generated and stored. When a determination is made that a migrated VM is ready for operation at the destination host machine, processing of I/O requests associated with the migrated VM may be canceled on the origin host machine. The stored data record providing the listing of tracked I/O requests may then be retrieved when the migrated VM is resumed at the destination host machine to determine the completion status of the I/O requests canceled on the origin host machine and complete processing of the same on the destination host machine.
US09280377B2 Application with multiple operation modes
A method and system for operating an application with multiple modes are described. A plurality of applications may be presented to a user on a mobile device and one of the displayed applications may be selected. The selected application may have one or more contexts that are determined based on one or more operational parameters. For example, a context for the selected application may be that the application is configured to access an enterprise account. Based on the context, the selected application may be run on the mobile device in one of a plurality of operations modes. The operation modes may comprise managed, unmanaged, and partially managed modes, among others.
US09280376B2 System and method for resizing a virtual desktop infrastructure using virtual desktop infrastructure monitoring tools
A method includes launching a virtual machine based upon an image on a virtualization host, associating the virtual machine with a user, monitoring a metric of the virtual machine that measures usage of a resource of the virtual machine, determining that the metric has exceeded a threshold more than an allowable number of times in a time period, determining an additional amount of the resource to increase in the virtual machine, updating the image to include the additional amount of the resource, launching a second virtual machine based upon the updated image, and associating the second virtual machine with the user.
US09280375B1 Dynamically adjustable virtual machine
A system including a collection of local data processing devices and a collection of remote data processing devices. At least one local data processing device executes instructions configuring the at least one local data processing device to implement a resource manager, a virtual machine, and a virtual machine manager. The resource manager associates application threads of a software application executing on a data processing device with local processors. The virtual machine includes a plurality of virtual processors, and each virtual processor emulates a data processing device. The virtual machine associates local processors with virtual processors. Finally, the virtual machine manager associates at least one virtual processor with a local data processing device and at least one virtual processor with a remote data processing device.
US09280373B1 Data transfer guide
Techniques to create and use a data transfer guide are disclosed. In various embodiments, at least a portion of application code comprising an application is executed in a virtual machine execution environment. An interaction between the application code executing in the virtual machine execution environment with a data entity included in a set of production data is observed programmatically. A data that represents the data entity is included in a data transfer guide at least in part programmatically.
US09280365B2 Systems and methods for managing configuration data at disconnected remote devices
Described herein are systems and methods for managing configuration data. These are particularly directed towards the management of configuration data in disconnected remote devices of a host system. For example, this may be an access control environment having one or more connected access control devices (i.e. devices in communication with a central server), and one or more disconnected access control devices (i.e. devices operating without communication with the central server), the latter being regarded as disconnected remote devices. In overview, the present systems and methods make use of a versioning protocol to allow the reliable distribution of configuration data at the disconnected remote devices, this protocol operating to best ensure the propagation of the most current configuration data.
US09280364B2 Apparatus and method for selective loading in mobile communication terminal
An apparatus and a method for enhancing memory utilization by compressing unused programs and their system files are provided. The method for generating a profile for a selective loading of a terminal includes receiving a selection of at least one application program that is to be activated, identifying that there is at least one application program to be activated among present deactivated application programs and to be deactivated among present activated application programs, compressing other application programs and system files related to the other application programs than at least one application program to be activated and generating a profile comprising a list of at least one application program to be activated.
US09280358B1 Configuring a computer for using mobile devices as input and output devices
A method determines mobile devices for connection to a computer that has an operating system for a user session. Then, the method configures device drivers to enable communication between the operating system and the mobile devices. The operating system is configured to use a first mobile device as a first type of input/output (I/O) device and the operating system is configured to use a second mobile device as a second type of input/output (I/O) device. Also, the method processes communications between the mobile devices and the operating system via the device drivers for the user session. A first type of communication is between the first mobile device and the operating system via the first device driver to use the first mobile device as the first type of I/O device and a second type of communication is between the second mobile device and the operating system via the second device driver to use the second mobile device as the second type of I/O device.
US09280354B1 Interval timer
Methods and systems for implementing multi-rate programs and in particular for implementing interval timers for multi-rate programs are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method of executing an interval timer is performed by one or more computer processors. The method comprises starting the interval timer, wherein starting the interval timer includes starting a stop-watch and setting a value of a Boolean flag to false. Further, the method comprises setting the value of the Boolean flag to true when the stop-watch reaches a preset time-interval value. The method also comprises, whenever the interval timer is invoked, returning the value of the Boolean flag and, if the returned value of the Boolean flag is true, restarting the stop-watch and setting the value of the Boolean flag to false. In some embodiments, the method further comprises stopping the stop-watch when the stop-watch reaches the preset time-interval value.
US09280349B2 Decode time instruction optimization for load reserve and store conditional sequences
A technique is provided for replacing an atomic sequence. A processing circuit receives the atomic sequence. The processing circuit detects the atomic sequence. The processing circuit generates an internal atomic operation to replace the atomic sequence.
US09280346B2 Run-time instrumentation reporting
Embodiments of the invention relate to run-time instrumentation reporting. An instruction stream is executed by a processor. Run-time instrumentation information of the executing instruction stream is captured by the processor. Run-time instrumentation records are created based on the captured run-time instrumentation information. A run-time instrumentation sample point of the executing instruction stream on the processor is detected. A reporting group is stored in a run-time instrumentation program buffer. The storing is based on the detecting and the storing includes: determining a current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer, the determining based on instruction accessible run-time instrumentation controls; and storing the reporting group into the run-time instrumentation program buffer based on an origin address and the current address of the run-time instrumentation program buffer, the reporting group including the created run-time instrumentation records.
US09280341B2 Data processing device
A data processing device has an instruction decoder, a control logic unit, and ALU. The instruction decoder decodes instruction codes of an arithmetic instruction. The control logic unit detects the effective data width of operation data to be processed according to the decode result from the instruction decoder and determines the number of cycles for the instruction execution corresponding to the effective, data width. The ALU executes the instruction with the number of cycles of the instruction execution determined by the control logic unit.
US09280339B1 Class replacer during application installation
This disclosure describes systems, methods, and computer-readable media related to online advertisement campaign recommendations. An archive file may be received from a server. The archive file may include one or more compiled code files and a manifest file. The archive file may be unpackaged. The one or more compiled code files may be optimized based at least in part on the manifest file. The optimizing the one or more compiled code files may include identifying a first sequence of bytes and a second sequence of bytes from one or more sources; formatting the second sequence of bytes based at least in part on one or more rules; searching the one or more compiled code files to identify one or more sequence of bytes matching the first sequence of bytes; and replacing the identified one or more sequence of bytes with the formatted second sequence of bytes. The optimized compiled code files may be stored.
US09280337B2 Secured distribution of software updates
In some embodiments, a system includes a signature server comprising a signature unit to receive an update to a software application. The signature server also includes a first machine-readable medium to store a mapping between an identification of the software application and an address of a location of a private key. The system includes a cryptographic device coupled to an external port of the signature server. The cryptographic device includes a second machine-readable medium to store the private key. The cryptographic device also includes a cryptographic unit to generate a signature of the update based on the private key.
US09280331B2 Hash-based change tracking for software make tools
A request handler may receive a request for a make operation for generating executable code from a plurality of source files and associated dependences there between, the source files and associated dependences having been previously utilized to generate a previous version of the executable code. A hash comparator may then determine, for a selected source file, that a current hash value corresponding to current content of the selected source file is different from a previous hash value corresponding to previous content of the selected source file during the previous utilization, whereupon the hash comparator may proceed to initiate execution of the make operation using the current content of the selected source file, based on the difference between the current hash value and the previous hash value.
US09280318B2 Managing lifecycle of objects
A method for managing the lifecycle of an object, where the lifecycle involves a plurality of states of the object, at least one transition between the plurality of states and at least one role who has authority to execute the at least one transition. At least one of the plurality of states, the at least one transition and the at least one role is mapped to Web Ontology Language (OWL) elements. The role related control information is obtained using the reasoning ability of OWL itself according to the above mapping. Furthermore, the lifecycle is managed according to the above role related control information. Using the principles of the present invention, the access control information of roles can be embedded into the lifecycle description and therefore the lifecycle management can be realized easily.
US09280312B2 Smartpad—power management
A multi-display device is adapted to be dockable or otherwise associatable with an additional device. In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the multi-display device is dockable with a smartpad. The exemplary smartpad can include a screen, a touch sensitive display, a configurable area, a gesture capture region(s) and a camera. The smartpad can also include a port adapted to receive the device. The exemplary smartpad is able to cooperate with the device such that information displayable on the device is also displayable on the smartpad. Furthermore, any one or more of the functions on the device are extendable to the smartpad, with the smartpad capable of acting as an input/output interface or extension of the smartpad. Therefore, for example, information from one or more of the displays on the multi-screen device is displayable on the smartpad.
US09280304B2 Method and system for configuring network printers
A print control system includes one or more first printers each having a print unit that can print on print media, a second printer that communicates with the first printers via a first network and has a print unit that can print on print media, and a print control server that connects to the second printer through a second network. The control print server sends, to the second printer, configuration control data containing attribute information that can be used to identify one of the first printers. The second printer forwards the configuration control data to the identified first printer and the identified first printer executes a configuration process in response to the configuration control data.
US09280286B2 Managing GUI control auto-advancing
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for preventing unintentional GUI control advances. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for preventing unintentional graphical user interface (GUI) control advancing associated with an auto-advance feature can be provided. The method can include defining a threshold time period, selecting a GUI control in a GUI for which auto-advancement is enabled, receiving complete input for the selected GUI control, and suppressing a manual directive to advance to a next ordered GUI control in the GUI responsive to the manual directive being received within the threshold time period between the receipt of the complete input and the manual directive.
US09280274B2 Information processing device, display control method, program and information storage medium
An information processing device for allowing a user to immediately understand that a beginning or end element object is displayed on a screen is provided. The device includes a display unit for displaying a portion of a display object, in which a plurality of element objects are arranged, in a display area, a first scrolling unit for scrolling the display object in a first direction in response to an operation of a user, a second scrolling unit for scrolling the display object in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction, and a determination unit for determining whether or not to scroll the display object in the second direction based on a position of the display area and a position corresponding to the plurality of element objects.
US09280268B2 Identifying equivalent javascript events
Identifying equivalent JavaScript events includes receiving source code containing two JavaScript events for equivalency analysis, extracting an HTML element containing an event from each JavaScript event and analyzing the extracted HTML elements. Responsive to a determination that the HTML elements are of a same type according to equivalency criteria B, and responsive to a determination that the HTML elements have a same number of attributes according to equivalency criteria C, a determination is made whether JavaScript function calls of each JavaScript event are similar according to equivalency criteria A. Responsive to a determination that the JavaScript function calls are similar according to equivalency criteria A, and responsive to a determination that the other attributes of the HTML elements satisfy equivalency criteria D, the JavaScript events are identified as equivalent.
US09280266B2 Apparatus and method for displaying information as background of user interface
Apparatus and method for displaying information as a background of a user interface. In order to display the information as the background of a user interface, information such as user interest information may be received from a user. Based on the received information, contents may be retrieved. Then, the background of the user interface may be formed with at least one image. Each image of the at least one image may represent a respective one of the retrieved contents. The user interface having the background formed with the at least one image may be displayed.
US09280259B2 System and method for manipulating an object in a three-dimensional desktop environment
An electronic device, method and interface for the device, for performing an action with a processor through a three-dimensional desktop environment is disclosed. A three-dimensional desktop environment is generated by a display and projected into a real space. At least one ultrasonic transducer propagates an ultrasonic pulse into the real space and receives a reflection of the ultrasonic pulse from a user object in the real space. A user action of the user object within the three-dimensional desktop environment is determined using the reflection of the ultrasonic pulse. The processor performs the action based on the determined user action.
US09280258B1 Displaying and navigating within photo placemarks in a geographic information system and applications thereof
Embodiments of the present invention relate to displaying and navigating within photo placemarks in a geographic information system. In one embodiment, a computer implemented method displays a photographic image within geographic information in a geographic information system. The photographic image is displayed at a location within the geographic information when the photographic image is located within a field of view of a virtual camera of the geographic information system. In response to a computer input event, the photographic image is displayed in greater detail.
US09280254B2 Method of synchronizing multiple views of multiple displayed documents
There is provided a method of synchronizing multiple views of multiple displayed documents. The method includes displaying a first document in a first viewing window. The method includes displaying a second document in a second viewing window. The method includes determining from the viewing windows an active window. The method includes determining for the active window a scale value and an offset value associated with the display of the associated one of the documents. The method includes redisplaying each document associated with the viewing window that is not the active window by using the determined scale and offset values.
US09280252B1 Configuring an application task list of an application based on previous selections of application tasks
An insurance application operating at a mobile computing device may request a set of recommended insurance tasks for a recommendation engine. The request may identify a user associated with the insurance application, and the recommendation engine may associate the user with a user group based on user profile attributes associated with the user. The recommendation engine may determine which tasks available for selection at the insurance application to include in the set of recommended insurance tasks based on selection trend data associated with the user group. The recommendation engine may provide the set of recommended insurance tasks to the insurance application, and the insurance application may configure an insurance task list that includes insurance tasks of the set of recommended insurance tasks.
US09280244B2 Touch unit array and a display panel having the same
A touch unit array including a plurality of first strip electrodes, a plurality of second strip electrodes, and a plurality of electrode pad units is provided. Each first strip electrode has at least one first opening. The second strip electrodes are orthogonally arranged to the plurality of first strip electrodes. Each electrode pad unit includes at least one electrode pad, and the electrode pads are respectively disposed in the plurality of first openings, wherein each electrode pad unit receives a first driving signal.
US09280242B2 Display device integrated with touch screen panel
In a display device integrated with a touch screen panel, the display device has a plurality of pixels arranged therein. First sensing electrodes are formed on an upper surface of the display device. A first dielectric layer is formed on the first sensing electrodes. Second sensing electrodes and a plurality of second dummy patterns are formed on the first dielectric layer. The second sensing electrodes are arranged in a direction intersecting the first sensing electrodes, and the plurality of second dummy patterns are formed not to overlap with the second sensing electrodes. A second dielectric layer is formed on the second sensing electrodes and the second dummy patterns. In the display device, the first sensing electrodes, the second sensing electrodes and the second dummy patterns are formed of a metal material.
US09280241B2 Touch panel and method for manufacturing
The present disclosure relates to a touch panel, and more particularly, to a touch panel having no or a reduced number of frames. The touch panel includes a substrate, a plurality of first electrodes, and second electrodes, wherein the first electrodes and the second electrodes are disposed on two opposite sides of the substrate, respectively. The first electrodes extend along an initial direction from initial positions and divert from the initial direction to terminate in first termination positions. The second electrodes extend from second initial positions and terminate in second termination positions along a second direction.
US09280235B2 Portable electronic device
A portable electronic device includes a display unit on which a pointer is displayable, and a touch panel which is arranged to overlap the display unit and is capable of detecting a distance from an indicator. The pointer moves according to a movement of the indicator, and when the distance is equal to or less than a first distance and is greater than a second distance smaller than the first distance in a predetermined region of the touch panel, a length of the movement of the pointer has a predetermined magnification to a length of the movement of the indicator.
US09280231B2 Disabling display lines during input sensing periods
Embodiments of the present invention generally provide a processing system for a display device having an integrated sensing device. The processing system includes a driver module coupled to a plurality of transmitter electrodes. Each transmitter electrode includes one or more common electrodes configured for display updating and input sensing. The driver module is configured for selecting a first display line set for display updating during a first display update period and driving the first display line set for display updating during the first display update period. The driver module is further configured for driving one or more transmitter electrodes of the plurality of transmitter electrodes for input sensing during a non-display update period and selecting a second display line set for display updating during a restart period.
US09280230B2 Apparatus and method for sensing capacitance, and touch screen apparatus
There are provided an apparatus for sensing capacitance, a method for sensing capacitance, and a touch screen apparatus. The apparatus for sensing capacitance includes; a first integration circuit unit including a first capacitor charged by a change in capacitance occurring in a sensing electrode; a comparison circuit unit comparing a level of an output signal of the first integration circuit unit with a predetermined reference level; and a noise removal unit including a plurality of switches operating according to an output of the comparison circuit unit, wherein the comparison circuit unit controls an operation of each of the plurality of switches to discharge charges charged in the first capacitor when the level of the output signal of the first integration circuit unit is higher than the reference level.
US09280224B2 Dynamic tactile interface and methods
A dynamic tactile interface includes: a substrate including a first transparent material and defining an attachment surface, an open channel opposite the attachment surface, and a fluid conduit intersecting the open channel and passing through the attachment surface; a tactile layer including a second transparent material and defining a tactile surface, a peripheral region bonded to the attachment surface opposite the tactile surface, and a deformable region adjacent the fluid conduit and disconnected from the attachment surface; a closing panel bonded to the substrate opposite the attachment surface and enclosing the open channel to define a fluid channel; a working fluid; and a displacement device configured to displace the working fluid into the fluid channel and through the fluid conduit to transition the deformable region from a retracted setting to an expanded setting.
US09280221B2 Capacitance touch panel
Disclosed is a capacitance touch panel, including a substrate, a transparent electrode formed at a partial area of a substrate, and an optical layer formed on the substrate formed with the transparent electrode in an overspreading (blanketing) way, whereby the optical layers are formed on a transparent electrode, each having a different refractive index to reduce a reflexibility of the transparent electrode and a reflexibility of a substrate, thereby improving a transparent electrode-visible phenomenon.
US09280211B2 Remote controller
A remote controller is provided. The remote controller includes an input interface and an angle sensor. The input interface is used for receiving an input of a user. The angle sensor is used for detecting a rotation angle of the remote controller. In response to a first rotation angle of the remote controller, the input interface is enabled by the remote controller. Consequently, the input interface may be triggered by the user to generate an input signal. After the input interface is enabled, if the input interface has not been triggered for a predetermined time period, the remote controller is operated in a power-saving mode. In response to a second rotation angle of the remote controller, the remote controller is operated in the power-saving mode.
US09280192B2 Programmable power supply
The present invention provides a method of programming a programmable power supply. In the method, a requesting signal is generated in a device, and the requesting signal is received in the programmable power supply. Then, an output voltage of the programmable power supply is determined in accordance with a frequency of the requesting signal. The output voltage of the programmable power supply is coupled to power a load of the device. A de-bounce operation is further provided for filtering noises of the requesting signal. The requesting signal comprises a high-state period and a low-state period. The high-state period is defined during which a level of the requesting signal is higher than a threshold. The low-state period is defined during which the level of the requesting signal is lower than the threshold. The output voltage of the programmable power supply is further determined by a period of the requesting signal.
US09280188B2 Thermal control method and thermal control system
The present invention provides a thermal control method and a thermal control system. The thermal control method comprises: detecting a temperature variance of a component of the electronic device to generate a detecting result; and determining a temperature threshold value for the integrated circuit as a throttling point according to the detecting result. The thermal control system comprises: a detecting unit, for detecting a temperature variance of a component of the electronic device to generate a detecting result; and a determining unit, for determining a temperature threshold value for the integrated circuit as a throttling point according to the detecting result.
US09280178B2 Portable electronic apparatus and expanding platform thereof
An expanding platform for a portable electronic apparatus is disclosed. The expanding platform includes a base, a moving element, an elastic element and a magnetic element. The moving element and the magnetic element are respectively and movably combined with the base. When the moving element is at an initial position, the moving element limits the movement of the magnetic element by a blocking portion. When the moving element moves to an unlocking position with respect to the base, the magnetic element disengages from the blocking portion and is attracted to move by a corresponding magnetic element of a main device combined with the base, so that the moving element is fixed at the unlocking position by the magnetic element blocking the blocking portion. After the magnetic element returns to its original position, the moving element returns to the initial position by the elastic element.
US09280161B2 Multiflex coupling
A compact, easily manufactured, axisymmetric mechanism can be configured to change the magnitude of a short-movement linear motion, or also reverse the movement direction, of an actuator for control of movable elements. The mechanism is bidirectional and reversible, functioning symmetrically, and does not contain any gears nor lead screw threads. It is constantly loaded, so that force change is achieved without mechanical backlash, introducing hysteresis. The movement conversion is generally proportional and suitable for use in actuating a fluid control valve intended for modulating the control of fluids.
US09280155B2 Aircraft ground travel traction control system and method
A traction control system and method are provided for an aircraft equipped with a ground travel drive system with drive wheels powered by onboard wheel drive means that are capable of translating torque through the aircraft drive wheels and that are automatically controllable to control traction without reliance on the aircraft's brakes to keep the aircraft moving efficiently and autonomously on the ground under a range of environmental conditions.
US09280151B2 Recipe management system and method
A recipe management system associates a selected process recipe with a recipe group and checks to see if other recipes of the recipe group have been updated since the selected recipe was last run. If another recipe of the recipe group has been run and adjustments have been made to the other recipe based on an analysis of a manufacturing or test run, the recipe management system identifies the selected recipe as requiring an update. The recipe management system sends error reports noting the discrepancy between a parameter setting changed in the test run and needing adjustment in the selected run. The recipe management system also effectuates the needed adjustments to the selected recipe before the selected recipe is allowed to be used in the manufacturing environment.
US09280140B2 Test taking pacing device and related methods
A test taking pacing device includes a presentation screen and a plurality of selectors for operating the pacing device. The pacing device is configured to operate in a watch mode and a test mode having a plurality of test mode sections. In the watch mode, the time of day is displayed on the presentation screen. In the test mode and for each test mode section, a title representing the name of a test section, a total time for completing the test section, and a countdown timer are displayed on the presentation screen. The pacing device is further configured to selectively start and pause the countdown timer in each test mode section, and to select between the various test mode sections.
US09280138B2 Image forming apparatus that uses either a heater or frictional heating to heat and dry a surface of a photoconductive drum based on the detected ambient temperature and humidity
An image forming apparatus includes a slidingly-rubbing roller abutting a surface of a photoconductive drum; a temperature detection section; a humidity detection section; and a heating control section. When the humidity detected by the humidity detection section is equal to or higher than a first threshold humidity and the temperature detected by the temperature detection section is equal to or higher than a threshold temperature, the heating control section heats and dries the surface of the photoconductive drum by a heat generator, while in a case when the humidity is equal to or higher than the first threshold humidity and the temperature is less than the threshold temperature, the heating control section polishes the surface of the photoconductive drum by the slindingly-rubbing roller with a polishing agent contained in a toner and heats and dries the drum surface by frictional heat generated from the polishing.
US09280137B2 Image forming apparatus with development contrast control
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a development device which contains developer and develops a latent image on the image bearing member as a toner image, and an acquisition portion that acquires information about a residual amount of developer contained in the development device. In addition, a main body humidity sensor detects information about atmosphere humidity of a main body of the image forming apparatus, and a main body temperature sensor detects information about temperature of a main body of the image forming apparatus. A controlling portion controls development contrast as a potential difference between a DC bias applied to the development device and an image potential on the image bearing member, according to detection results of the main body humidity sensor and the main body temperature sensor, and information obtained by the acquisition portion.
US09280130B2 Developer container, developing device, process unit, and image forming apparatus
The developer container includes a rotator that is rotated in the container body, a sequence of gears disposed outside the developer container that transmits a torque to the rotator, and a container guiding portion that fits with a main body side guiding portion and guides the developer container in a direction in which the developer container is attached to a mounting portion of an image forming device main body. A first gear included in the sequence of the gears is movable between an operating position where the first gear engages with a second gear and a retracted position where the first gear is retracted. On a surface on which the container guiding portion is disposed, a part of the container guiding portion is disposed within a projected area of the first gear being disposed at the operating position.
US09280126B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus comprises: a casing including a side wall having an opening; a drawer member configured to support a plurality of cartridges in such a manner as to allow the cartridges to be detachably attached thereto, and to be movable through the opening from an inside position in which the drawer member is located inside the casing to an outside position in which the drawer member is located outside the casing in a moving direction; and a leg portion configured to support the casing. In this image forming apparatus, the leg portion includes a portion located downstream from the opening in the moving direction of the drawer member.
US09280116B2 Image forming apparatus with forced toner supply mode
An image forming apparatus includes: an image bearing member; a developing device; a supply device which supplies toner to the developing device; a density detector which detects information about a toner density as a ratio of toner and carrier of the developer of the developing device; and a controller which interrupts an image forming operation and is capable of executing a forced supply mode of performing the toner supply to the developing device from the supply device, based on first information of at least one of detection results of the density detector and information about a toner consumption, second information about the amount of supply operation supplied by the supply device, in which the controller determines whether or not to execute the forced supply mode, and third information about an accumulated value of the amount of toner consumption after the forced supply mode executed last time.
US09280114B2 Image forming apparatus and method for controlling the same
An image forming apparatus includes a zero cross signal generator, a lower limit detector for detecting whether or not an absolute value of a peak voltage of an AC voltage is a lower limit value or lower, a determining unit to control a first up/down counter to increment by one when the absolute value of the peak voltage of the AC voltage is the lower limit value or lower in a half period and to decrement by one when the absolute value has not become the lower limit value or lower, and to determine that a to-be-recorded deviation for which information is recorded has occurred when a value of the first up/down counter becomes a predetermined lower limit reference value or higher, and a storage unit for storing deviation information indicating the deviation in a nonvolatile manner when the to-be-recorded deviation has occurred.
US09280110B2 Image formation apparatus
An image formation apparatus has a body having a pair of frames, and an image formation unit configured to form an image on a sheet, and a re-feeding path which is used when the sheet, on one surface of which an image has been formed by the image formation unit, is fed again to the image formation unit. The re-feeding path includes a first path vertically extending from a downstream side, in a sheet feed direction, of the image formation unit, a second path extending horizontally, and a curved portion connecting the first path and the second path. The pair of frames are connected with a metal plate which is formed and arranged to extend along the curved portion.
US09280107B2 Fixing device and image forming apparatus including same
A fixing device includes a rotary fixing member; a pressure roller pressed against the fixing member to form a nip in association with the fixing member; and an induction heater, as a heat source, to heat the fixing member. The induction heater includes an excitation coil to induction-heat the fixing member; a side core disposed along an outer circumference in a longitudinal direction of the excitation coil; and a plurality of arch-shaped cores disposed to cover the excitation coil in the longitudinal direction thereof. The arch-shaped cores include center portions corresponding to an inner side of the excitation coil and bent to the fixing member; and outer end portions extending in the direction leading to the side core without interfering with the excitation coil.
US09280103B2 Fuser unit
A fuser unit may include a cylindrical member, a heat generator, a nip member, and a backup member. A nip part may be defined between the cylindrical member and the backup member. The fuser unit may further include a conductive member, arranged to cover the heat generator at the inside of the cylindrical member, a temperature detection unit, a wiring, a first frame having insulation, arranged at an opposite side to the heat generator with respect to the conductive member being interposed therebetween at the inside of the cylindrical member, and which extends along the conductive member, and a second frame, arranged at an opposite side to the conductive member with respect to the first frame being interposed therebetween at the inside of the cylindrical member, and which extends along the first frame, wherein the wiring is arranged between the first frame and the second frame.
US09280102B2 Image heating apparatus and image forming apparatus
An image heating apparatus includes: a rotatable heating member; a belt unit including an endless belt configured to heat the rotatable heating member, and a supporting portion configured to rotatably support an inner surface of the belt; a holding portion configured to rotatably hold the belt unit; a detecting portion configured to detect that the belt is out of a predetermined zone with respect to a widthwise direction of the belt; a tilting portion configured to tilt the belt unit relative to the holding portion in a direction of causing the belt to return into the predetermined zone on the basis of an output of the detecting portion; and a limiting portion configured to limit tilting of the belt unit to an angle exceeding a predetermined angle range wider than an angle range in which the belt unit is capable of being tilted by the tilting portion.
US09280101B2 Image forming apparatus with lower and upper guide members
An image forming apparatus includes: a fixing portion for fixing an image formed on a recording material; and a guide member for guiding the recording material. The guide member is provided at an entrance to the fixing portion and at an end portion with respect to a direction perpendicular to a feeding direction of the recording material The guide member is moved when the guide member is pushed by the recording material.
US09280099B2 Image forming apparatus having conveying body and transfer units
An image forming apparatus includes a first transfer unit and a second transfer unit, and a control device. If a prescribed condition is satisfied, the control device sets a transfer current value for the second transfer unit so that an absolute value of a difference between the first current value and a second current value is greater than an absolute value of a difference between a third current value and a fourth current value. The first current value is set in a black-white mode, in which an image is formed by using black toner only, under the prescribed condition; the second current value is set if the prescribed condition is unsatisfied in the black-white mode; the third current value is set in a multi color mode, in which an multi-color image is formed, under the prescribed condition; and the fourth current value is set if the prescribe condition is unsatisfied in the multi color mode.
US09280098B2 Image forming apparatus
An image forming apparatus includes a switching unit that can switch polarities of potentials of an intermediate transfer member generated at a primary transfer part and a secondary transfer part in synchronization, and a control unit that executes adjustment processing in which a potential having a polarity opposite to the polarity upon the transfer is generated at least one of the primary transfer part and the secondary transfer part, in which the control unit controls the switching unit in a manner that, in a case where the adjustment processing is performed in a course of continuous image formation on a plurality of transfer materials conveyed to the secondary transfer part, a timing for generating the potential having the opposite polarity corresponds to a timing at which toner images are not transferred at both of the primary transfer part and the secondary transfer part.
US09280086B2 Image forming apparatus having developer supplying operation
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developing container, a developer supplying member, and a measuring portion for measuring a print pixel number of an image to be formed. In addition, a supplying device supplies the developer to the developer supplying member on the basis of a measured print pixel number after image formation, and a detecting device detects an amount of the developer contained in the developing container by detecting electrostatic capacity between the first electrode member and the second electrode member after the supplying operation by the supplying device.
US09280078B2 Charging device, image forming unit and image forming apparatus
A charging device includes a charging member that charges a surface of an image bearing body. The charging member includes a rotation shaft applied with a voltage, and a resilient conductive layer provided on an outer circumferential surface of the rotation shaft. The resilient conductive layer charges the surface of the image bearing body. The resilient conductive layer has a plurality of high resistance regions arranged at intervals in an axial direction of the rotation shaft.
US09280076B1 Emulsion aggregation toner comprising hybrid latex
A toner includes a core including a homogenized mixture of a first polyester latex, a styrene/acrylate latex, and a compatibilizing agent latex that includes a graft polyester-styrene/acrylate copolymer and a shell that includes a polyester latex. A process includes (1) homogenizing a mixture to form a plurality of core particles, the mixture including a first polyester latex, a styrene/acrylate latex, and a compatibilizing agent latex comprising a graft polyester-styrene/acrylate copolymer and (2) adding a shell polyester latex to the plurality of core particles to form a plurality of core-shell structures.
US09280074B2 Toner binder and resin particle
Provided is a toner binder that is excellent in heat resistant storage properties and hot offset resistance properties and also affords excellent anti-blocking properties of paper when printing continuously. The present invention is directed to a toner binder comprising a crystalline resin (A), wherein the crystalline resin (A) comprises two or more crystalline resins (a) and the endothermic peak temperature group that is composed of all of the endothermic peak temperatures of the respective two or more crystalline resins (a) has two or more different endothermic peak temperatures; and a resin particle containing the toner binder.
US09280068B2 Stage apparatus with flexible utility line, lithography apparatus, and article manufacturing method
A stage apparatus has a base; a movable portion including a stage movable relative to the base; a flexible utility line for supplying utility to the movable portion; and a cover for covering the utility line, the cover including: a housing member provided to one of the base and the movable portion, in which an opening is formed; and a sealing member provided to the other of the base and the movable portion, which is arranged opposite to a side, in which the opening is formed, of the housing member with a gap therebetween, and has a side for sealing the opening.
US09280058B2 Projection objective for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus
A projection objective of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus contains a plurality of optical elements arranged in N>−2 successive sections A1 to AN of the projection objective which are separated from one another by pupil planes or intermediate image planes. According to the invention, in order to correct a wavefront deformation, at least two optical elements each have an optically active surface locally reprocessed aspherically. A first optical element is in this case arranged in one section Aj, j=1 . . . N and a second optical element is arranged in another section Ak, k=1 . . . N, the magnitude difference |k−j| being an odd number.
US09280049B2 Pattern formation method and semiconductor device
A pattern formation method according to the present embodiment includes forming a resist film on a treatment target material. The resist film is processed into resist patterns. A cross-link film or a coating agent protecting the resist film is coated onto the resist film. A self-organizing material is applied onto the resist film having the cross-link film or the coating agent coated thereon. The self-organizing material is thermally treated to achieve phase separation. A part of the self-organizing material which has been phase-separated is removed.
US09280046B2 Method of fabricating mask
A method for fabricating an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) mask includes providing a low thermal expansion material (LTEM) layer. A reflective multiple-layer (ML) is deposited over the LTEM layer. A flowable-photosensitive-absorption-layer (FPhAL) is spin coated over the reflective ML. The FPhAL is patterned by a lithography process to form a patterned absorption layer.
US09280038B1 Interchangeable mounting platform
A platform for interchangeably mounting a payload to a base support is provided. In one aspect, the platform comprises: a support assembly configured to be releasably coupled to a payload via a first coupling and configured to control a spatial disposition of the payload; and a mounting assembly configured to be releasably coupled via a second coupling to a plurality of types of base supports selected from at least two of the following: an aerial vehicle, a handheld support, or a base adapter mounted onto a movable object.
US09280034B2 Dynamic lighting
A movie set can include light sources each producing a light corresponding to a light channel, at least one high-frame rate camera, and a controller connected to the light sources and camera to synchronize the camera and light sources. The number of light channels can be proportional to the frame rate. For example, if the filming frame rate is 120 frames per second (fps) and the playback frame rate is 24 fps, then 5 light channels can be used. In this example, for every one playback frame, 5 frames were filmed by the high frame rate camera. The controller modulates the light channels such that each of the 5 frames has different lighting characteristics. In post-production, contributions from each of the light channels can be included or excluded from the final frame. An optical flow algorithm can be used to stitch together frames with different dynamic light characteristics.
US09280033B2 Adjustable optical axis control
A device for aligning the optical axis of a camera is disclosed. The optical alignment device comprises a bracket attaching the device to a frame, the frame incorporating a camera system therein, the camera system having an optical axis projecting substantially horizontally from the camera system, a housing comprising a first part fixed to a first side of the bracket; and a second part comprising a prism refracting the optical axis of the camera system based on a power of the prism and a rotation of the prism with respect to the optical axis and a hinge between the first part and the second part, the hinge rotating the second part with respect to the first part.
US09280028B2 Electrochromic display device and method of producing the same
An electrochromic display device comprises: a first electrode substrate; a second electrode substrate; an electrochromic fluid distributed between the first and the second electrode substrate; and a dividing wall located between the first and the second electrode substrate, contacting the first and the second electrode substrate, respectively, and used for isolating the electrochromic fluid into various pixel areas. The electrochromic display device has no interference occurred between adjacent pixel areas. A method for producing such an electrochromic display device is further disclosed.
US09280026B2 Pixel structure and display panel
A pixel structure and a display panel are provided. The pixel structure uses an insulation protrusion with a drain electrode extending thereon or a single-layered conductive protrusion as an electrical connection interface between the drain electrode and a pixel electrode. The aperture ratio and resolution are increased for no contact hole is required to be formed in the passivation layer.
US09280024B2 Pixel structure
A pixel structure is provided. The pixel structure includes a scan line, a data line, an active device, a covering layer, and a reflective pixel electrode. The active device is electrically connected with the scan line and the data line. The covering layer covers the scan line, the data line, and the active device. The reflective pixel electrode is disposed on the covering layer, and electrically connected with the active device. The reflective pixel electrode includes a first region having a plurality of first protruding structures and a second region having a planar surface. The area occupied by the first region is 50% to 70% of the total area of the reflective pixel electrode, and the area occupied by the second region is 30% to 50% of the total area of the reflective pixel electrode.
US09280022B2 Liquid crystal display device
An LCD device includes first and second substrates facing each other, a sealant formed between the first and second substrates, and adhering the first substrate to the second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer formed between the first and second substrates. The liquid crystal layer includes liquid crystal and an additive having a dipole moment characteristic when an electric field is applied thereto, thus enhancing a response time of the liquid crystal.
US09280015B2 Liquid crystal display device and electronic apparatus provided therewith
A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate provided with a reflective electrode, a second substrate provided with a transparent electrode oppositely disposed to the reflective electrode, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first second substrates, a polarization plate oppositely disposed to the first substrate with an interposition of the second substrate, and an anisotropic scattering member disposed between the second substrate and the polarization plate. A main view angle direction is set as a predetermined direction intersecting a display surface. The anisotropic scattering member has a scattering center and scatters light traveling along a scattering axis direction which is a direction having a predetermined angle range centered around the scattering center. The scattering axis direction coincides with the main view angle direction.
US09280012B2 Window and display device
A window configured to be laminated on a display panel by resin, the display panel including a display area configured to display an image and a non-display area adjacent the display area includes a window main body configured to cover the display panel; a groove in a region corresponding to the non-display area of the display panel, the groove being recessed from a surface of the window main body facing the display panel; and a touch portion within the groove and configured to recognize a touch.
US09280011B2 Display device and television receiver
A liquid crystal display device is provided with: a light-emitting diode LED; a liquid crystal panel; a light guide plate having an end surface that is disposed in such a manner as to face the LED, and having edge portions that are disposed further to the outside than the ends of the liquid crystal panel; holding members comprising a frame and a chassis that hold the liquid crystal panel and the light guide plate in a form in which the liquid crystal panel and the light guide plate are sandwiched between a display surface and the opposite side thereof, and accommodating the LED therebetween; panel pressing sections provided to the frame; second screw attachment sections provided to the frame; second screw members that are attached to the second screw attachment sections, and secure the frame and chassis in an assembled state by sandwiching at least the chassis between the second screw attachment sections; and hole-like sections that are provided to the edge portions of the light guide plate, and through which either the second screw attachment sections or the second screw members are inserted.
US09280006B2 Electro-optical single crystal element, method for the preparation thereof, and systems employing the same
The present invention relates to an Electro-Optical (E-O) crystal elements, their applications and the processes for the preparation thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to the E-O crystal elements (which can be made from doped or un-doped PMN-PT, PIN-PMN-PT or PZN-PT ferroelectric crystals) showing super-high linear E-O coefficient yc, e.g., transverse effective linear E-O coefficient yTc more than 1100 pm/V and longitudinal effective linear E-O coefficient ytc up to 527 pm/V, which results in a very low half-wavelength voltage Vtx below 200V and Vtx below about 87V in a wide number of modulation, communication, laser, and industrial uses.
US09279995B2 3D display device and 3D display system
Embodiments of the present invention provide a 3D display device and a 3D display system, the 3D display device, comprising: a reflecting unit, reflecting light incident thereon; a polarization display unit, formed at a reflected light emitting side of the reflecting unit, and the polarization display unit for displaying images, converting incident natural light into polarized light and transmitting or blocking light reflected by the reflecting unit; and a polarization direction adjustment unit, formed at a reflected light emitting side of the polarization display unit, for converting the reflected light emitted from the polarization display unit into two sets of polarized light with different polarization directions.
US09279991B2 Liquid crystal optical element and image display device
According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal optical element includes: a pair of first and second substrates; a liquid crystal layer provided between the first and second substrates; first electrodes provided on the first substrate on the liquid crystal layer side and arranged along a first direction; second electrodes provided on the second substrate on the liquid crystal layer side and arranged along a second direction; and a driving unit configured to apply a voltage between the first electrodes and the second electrodes. The first electrodes are divided into electrode regions arranged along a third direction. The first electrodes included in each of the electrode regions are electrically connected to an extension line.
US09279988B2 Three dimensional image display apparatus
A three dimensional image display apparatus includes a panel unit, a receiving container and an anti-shock part. The panel unit includes a display panel and an optical panel. The optical panel sorts a left eye image and a right eye image. The receiving container surrounds a side of the panel unit. The anti-shock part is disposed between the panel unit and the receiving container, and restricts movement of the panel unit toward the receiving container.
US09279985B2 Virtual image display device
A limiting part limits displacement of an optical member partially fixed to a frame unit, and excessive stress applied on the optical member and deformation of the optical member may be prevented. That is, support strength of the optical member may be improved by supplementarily using the limiting part. Note that the optical member is partially fixed to the frame unit, and fastening parts and the number of parts are reduced and downsizing becomes easier and reduction in weight of the virtual image display device is easier. Further, the optical member is partially fixed to the frame unit, and thus, even when there is a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between the optical member and the frame unit, the expansion or the like of the optical member with respect to the frame unit is allowed and distortion, deformation, breakage of the optical member may be prevented more reliably.
US09279981B2 Light deflector, optical scanning device and image forming apparatus
A light deflector includes a fixing portion, a movable portion and a reinforcing member. The movable portion includes a mirror portion for deflecting light by swinging about a predetermined swing axis, a torsion bar fixedly supported on the fixing portion and having an axis serving as the swing axis, and a supporting body configured to support the mirror portion and fixed to the torsion bar. The supporting body includes a contact surface to be held in contact with the mirror portion and a non-contact surface opposite to the contact surface. The reinforcing member is provided only on the non-contact surface out of the contact surface and the non-contact surface of the supporting body and reinforces the supporting body and adjusts a center of gravity of the movable portion so that the center of gravity of the movable portion is located on the axis.
US09279974B2 Microscopy system and method
A microscopy system method for inspecting a retina of an eye including generating an inverted intermediate image of the retina using an opthalmoscopic lens; detecting a left image of the intermediate image from a left viewing direction and detecting a right image of the intermediate image from a right viewing direction; and displaying an inverted representation of the detected left image to a right eye of a user and displaying an inverted representation of the detected right image to a left eye of the user.
US09279958B2 Imaging lens and imaging apparatus equipped with the imaging lens
An imaging lens substantially includes six lenses, constituted by: a first lens having a negative refractive power; a second lens having a positive refractive power; a third lens having a positive refractive power; a fourth lens having a negative refractive power; a fifth lens having a positive refractive power; and a sixth lens having a negative refractive power, a concave surface toward an image side, and at least one inflection point in the surface toward the image side; provided in this order from an object side. The imaging lens satisfies a predetermined conditional formula.
US09279957B2 Imaging lens and imaging apparatus including the imaging lens
An imaging lens substantially consists of, in order from an object side, five lenses of a first lens that has a positive refractive power and has a meniscus shape which is convex toward the object side, a second lens that has a negative refractive power, a third lens that has a negative refractive power, a fourth lens that has a positive refractive power, and a fifth lens that has a negative refractive power and has an aspheric shape of which an image side surface has an extreme point. Further, the imaging lens satisfies a predetermined conditional expression.
US09279952B2 Water-blocked optical cable and process for the production thereof
An optical cable for communication includes at least one retaining element blocked with respect to the water propagation as well as a process for manufacturing such an optical cable. The optical cable includes, in addition to the retaining element, at least two transmission elements housed within the retaining element and a water swellable yarn housed within the retaining element. The water swellable yarn is selected according to the following equation: V w V TF = k V t + R ( I ) in which Vw is the volume of the water swellable yarn after swelling upon contact with water; VTF is the total free volume in the retaining element; k is a constant≧180; R is a constant≧1.4; and Vt is the free volume per each transmission element. Advantageously, the optical cable is water-blocked and the water swellable yarn does not induce microbending effects on the transmission elements.
US09279948B2 Optical communication device
An optical communication device includes a substrate, a first optical-electric element, a second optical-electric element, a planar optical waveguide and a fixing device. Both the first and the second optical-electric elements are positioned on the substrate. The first optical-electric element includes a light emitting surface. The second optical-electric element includes a light receiving surface. The planar optical waveguide includes a first reflecting surface and a second reflecting surface. The fixing device includes a fixing pole and a fixing ring. The fixing pole defines a through hole. The planar optical waveguide runs through the through hole and is coiled by the fixing ring. The fixing ring is fixed on the fixing pole. The planar optical waveguide is positioned above the first and the second optical-electric elements, with the first reflecting surface aligning with the light emitting surface, and the second reflecting surface aligning with the light receiving surface.
US09279946B2 Premolded cavity for optoelectronic device
An optoelectronic device is disclosed. The optoelectronic device may be employed as a single or multi-channel opto-coupler that electrically isolates one circuit from another circuit. The opto-coupler may include one or more premolded cavities with a light-coupling medium contained therein. Walls of the one or more premolded cavities advantageously help shape the light-coupling medium during manufacture, therefore, resulting in a light path with controlled shape and dimensions.
US09279922B2 Light reflective film and method for manufacturing the same
An exemplary light reflective film painted on a smooth reflective surface of a metal base includes a composition. The composition consists of curing agents and light reflective powders. The curing agents include acrylic monomers, acrylic urethane oligomers, polyester acrylic modified polyester oligomers and photo initiators. A method for manufacturing the light reflective film is also provided.