Document	Document Title
US09306283B2	Antenna device and method for increasing loop antenna communication range A device includes a first loop antenna and a second loop antenna. The first loop antenna includes at least three sides, wherein at least two of the sides form an acute interior angle. The second loop antenna includes at least one side that runs in a substantially parallel direction to one of the at least three sides of the first loop antenna. The first loop antenna and the second loop antenna are arranged substantially on the same plane.
US09306282B2	Antenna arrangement An apparatus for antenna arrangement isolation is described. The apparatus includes a first antenna element (for example, a CMMB TV antenna) having a first radiator component and a second antenna element (for example, a cellular antenna) having a second radiator component. A first portion of the first radiator component is adjacent to a second portion of the second radiator component. The second radiator component is configured with at least one operational frequency range. The first portion of the first radiator corresponds to at least one minimum electric field region of at least one resonant frequency of the first radiator. The at least one resonant frequency of the first radiator overlaps with the at least one operational frequency range. Methods, Apparatus and Computer readable media for providing the antenna arrangement are also described.
US09306277B2	Multi-antenna device and communication device A multi-antenna device includes a grounding plate, a first antenna and a second antenna. The first antenna includes a first feed element that is grounded to the grounding plate via a first feed point. The second antenna includes a second feed element that is grounded to the grounding plate via a second feed point. The first feed point and the second feed point are disposed such that a straight line connecting the first feed point and a center of the grounding plate and a straight line connecting the second feed point and the center of the grounding plate are substantially perpendicular to each other in a plan view.
US09306274B2	Antenna device and antenna mounting method An antenna device (10) includes: an antenna (100) including a radiating element (101) and an internal ground (103); a coaxial cable (200) whose internal conductor (204) is connected with the radiating element (101) and whose external conductor (203) is connected with the internal ground (103); and an external ground (500) connected with the external conductor (203) of the coaxial cable (200).
US09306271B1	Integration of antenna structures into balloon envelopes Methods and apparatus are disclosed for receiving and transmitting signals at a balloon. Received signals can be received at the balloon, which can include a payload and an envelope. The envelope can include at least a first antenna section and a second antenna section. Both the first and second antenna sections are configured at least to receive the received signals and convey at least the received signals to the payload. The first antenna section can include a first metallization pattern to receive a first type of signal. The second antenna section can include a second metallization pattern to receive a second type of signal, with the first metallization pattern being different from the second metallization pattern.
US09306267B2	Antenna assembly integral with metal housing and electronic device using the antenna assembly The metal housing of a miniaturized electronic device is shaped to function as a multiband antenna assembly. The antenna assembly includes a feeding terminal, a radiator connecting to the feeding terminal, and a metal element. The metal element is part of a housing of the electronic device. The metal element includes two antenna units, both of which are adjacent to and spaced from the radiator. An electronic device using the antenna assembly is also described.
US09306250B2	Battery cooling structure A protrusion 53 is shaped to protrude from a main body 51 toward a supporter non-contact part 23 so as to circumvent a supporter 30. The protrusion 53 includes a protrusion heat transfer surface 55 which is a surface on the battery heat transfer surface 20 side (i.e., an upper side Y2). A heat conduction member 40 contacts with the supporter non-contact part 23 and the protrusion heat transfer surface 55.
US09306244B2	Bidirectional interface circuit and battery management system including the same A bidirectional interface circuit includes a first current mirror circuit that copies a first reference current to generate a first current sunk from a first output terminal, a second current mirror circuit that copies a second reference current to generate a second current sunk from a second output terminal, an interception switch that is connected between the first output terminal and the second output terminal, a first comparator that outputs an upper state signal based on a comparison result of a voltage of the first output terminal and a first threshold voltage, a third current mirror circuit that copies one of a third reference current and a fourth reference current to supply a third current flowing to a third output terminal, and a second comparator that outputs a lower state signal based on a comparison result of a voltage of the second output terminal and a second threshold voltage.
US09306231B2	Back-up fuel cell electric generator comprising a compact manifold body, and methods of managing the operation thereof A fuel cell electric generator designed for back-up in the absence of network electricity supply. The generator comprises a fuel cell stack, means for supplying the stack with a first and a second reagent flow comprising, in turn, pressure reducing means, and a manifold body to communicate with the stack said first and second reagent flows and at least a flow of coolant fluid via a respective coolant loop. The manifold body comprises inside chambers for the mixing of said reagent flows with corresponding re-circulated product flows and a coolant fluid expansion chamber within which said pressure reducing means of said first and second reagent flows are positioned at least partially drowned by said coolant. Method for the start-up and shutdown of the generator, and a method for detecting the flooding of a fuel cell and a method for detecting the presence of gas leakages in the generator are also disclosed.
US09306229B2	Fuel cell system A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a fuel gas supply channel, a fuel off-gas discharge channel, an oxidant gas supply channel, an oxidant off-gas discharge channel, a first shut valve, a second shut valve, a shut valve controller, a temperature detector, a scavenging device, and an elapsed-time detector. The elapsed-time detector is configured to detect an elapsed time elapsed from a timing at which the fuel cell is shut down. The scavenging device scavenges the oxidant gas flow channel and the fuel gas flow channel in sequence if the elapsed time detected by the elapsed-time detector is within a first predetermined period of time. The scavenging device scavenges the fuel gas flow channel and the oxidant gas flow channel in sequence if the elapsed time detected by the elapsed-time detector is outside the first predetermined period of time.
US09306223B2	Electrolyte materials, thermal battery components, and thermal batteries for intermediate temperature applications A eutectic formulation of KOH and NaOH is used as an electrolyte or an electrolyte-separator. An anode, and/or a cathode can contain the eutectic formulation of KOH and NaOH. A battery can contain an electrolyte-separator, an anode, and/or a cathode with the eutectic formulation of KOH and NaOH. The electrolyte in the electrolyte-separator can have a melting point from about 170° C. to about 300° C. making it suitable for use in a thermal battery that does not require a pyrotechnic device for certain high-temperature applications.
US09306222B2	Method of assembling a battery A method of joining a substrate for a bipolar electrode of a bipolar battery to a frame for supporting the bipolar electrode for use in the bipolar battery includes the implanting of a thermoplastic material in the substrate. The substrate and the frame are then vibration welded together at a frequency in the range of 50 Hz to 1 kHz to melt the thermoplastic material. The melted thermoplastic material forms a continuous or substantially continuous loop around the substrate to join the substrate and the frame together. A bipolar battery comprising a substrate and a frame joined together by the method, and a substrate for a bipolar electrode for use in the method are also described.
US09306219B2	Binder composition for secondary battery, electrode mixture for secondary battery employing it, and secondary battery A binder composition of the present invention is for a non-aqueous secondary battery with excellent adhesion between an electrode active material and a current collector. A degree of electrode swelling with an electrolytic solution at a high temperature is small. This binder composition can be used in production of an electrode mixture for a non-aqueous secondary battery. The binder composition can comprise a binder made of a fluorinated copolymer having repeating units derived from tetrafluoroethylene and repeating units derived from propylene, and a solvent or dispersing medium, wherein the fluorinated copolymer has a weight average molecular weight of from 10,000 to 300,000.
US09306206B2	Alkaline cell having increased interfacial area An alkaline cell comprising a housing having a bottom end and a top end, and an electrode assembly disposed within the housing. The electrode assembly comprises a single first electrode and a single second electrode, a separator therebetween, and an electrolyte. The first electrode comprises a hollow outer body and at least one inner body positioned inside the outer body, the outer body and the at least one inner body being joined together inside the housing to form a single substantially homogeneous structure having an essentially uniform electrode properties. The second electrode comprises an intermediate body at least partially disposed between the outer body and the at least one inner body and electrically isolated from the outer body and the at least one inner body.
US09306201B2	Power supply unit for electric vehicle A power supply unit for an electric vehicle includes a tray and at least one battery module fixed on the tray via a strip. Each battery module includes a housing having a bottom plate mounted onto the tray, first to fourth side plates disposed on the bottom plate, a battery pack disposed in the housing and having a plurality of cells arranged along a thickness direction, and first flexible members disposed between the first side plate and the battery pack, and between the third side plate and battery pack respectively, for fastening the battery pack.
US09306200B2	Battery holding device A battery holding device is configured to hold a capacitor including at least one storage cell and includes a cell holder and a heater wire. The cell holder is provided at a side surface of at least one storage cell and has a concave-convex surface facing the at least one storage cell. The concave-convex surface has a protrusion contacting the at least one storage cell. At least a portion of the heater wire is embedded in the cell holder.
US09306191B2	Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes: a substrate; a plurality of thin film transistors on the substrate, each of the thin film transistors including an active layer, a gate electrode, and source and drain electrodes; first electrodes electrically connected to the plurality of thin film transistors, respectively, and being on respective pixels corresponding to the plurality of thin film transistors; organic layers on the first electrodes, respectively, and including light-emitting layers; auxiliary electrodes each of which is on at least a portion between adjacent organic layers of the organic layers; and a second electrode facing the first electrodes and covering the organic layers and the auxiliary electrodes.
US09306186B2	Organic electronic device and method of manufacturing the same Provided is an organic electronic device exhibiting excellent conductivity and transparency of an electrode, and low driving voltage, together with en excellent storing property and excellent lifetime. Also disclosed is an organic electronic device possessing a transparent substrate and provided thereon, a first transparent electrode, a second electrode and an organic functional layer provided between the first transparent electrode and the second electrode, wherein the first transparent electrode and the second electrode are opposed to each other, and a transparent conductive layer containing a conductive polymer and an aqueous binder is provided between the first transparent electrode and the organic functional layer.
US09306185B2	Process and materials for making contained layers and devices made with same There is provided a process for forming a contained second layer over a first layer, including the steps: forming the first layer having a first surface energy; treating the first layer with a priming layer; exposing the priming layer patternwise with radiation resulting in exposed areas and unexposed areas; developing the priming layer to effectively remove the priming layer from either the exposed areas or the unexposed areas resulting in a first layer having a pattern of priming layer, wherein the pattern of priming layer has a second surface energy that is higher than the first surface energy; and forming the second layer by liquid depositions on the pattern of priming layer on the first layer. There is also provided an organic electronic device made by the process.
US09306182B2	Organic zener diode, electronic circuit, and method for operating an organic zener diode This disclosure relates to an organic zener diode having one electrode and one counter electrode, and an organic layer arrangement formed between the electrode and the counter electrode, wherein the organic layer arrangement includes the following organic layers: an electrically n-doped charge carrier injection layer on the electrode side, made from a mixture of an organic matrix material and an n-dopant, an electrically p-doped charge carrier injection layer on the counter electrode side, made from a mixture of another organic matrix material and a p-dopant, and an electrically undoped organic intermediate layer that is arranged between the electrically n-doped charge carrier injection layer on the electrode side and the electrically p-doped charge carrier injection layer on the counter electrode side. An electronic circuit arrangement with an organic zener diode and method for operating an organic zener diode are also provided.
US09306181B2	Forming pn junction contacts by different dielectrics A carbon nanotube transistor and method of manufacturing a carbon nanotube transistor is disclosed. The carbon nanotube transistor includes a carbon nanotube on a substrate, a gate electrode deposited on the carbon nanotube, and at least one of a source electrode and a drain electrode deposited on the carbon nanotube and separated from the gate electrode by a space region. The carbon nanotube is doped at the gate electrode an in the space region to form a p-n junction.
US09306177B2	Organic light-emitting layer material, coating liquid for use in forming organic light-emitting layer with organic material, organic light-emitting device produced with coating liquid, light source apparatus with organic light-emitting device, and methods for manufacture thereof An organic light-emitting device includes an upper electrode, a lower electrode, and a light-emitting layer disposed between the upper and lower electrodes, wherein the light-emitting layer includes a host and a first dopant. The first dopant includes a pyridyltriazole derivative as an auxiliary ligand, the auxiliary ligand of the first dopant contains a functional group R1 or a functional group R2, and the first dopant is displaced toward a surface of the light emitting layer by the action of at least one of the functional groups R1 and R2, wherein the surface is on a side where the upper electrode is present, and also directed to a coating liquid for use in forming the light-emitting layer with an organic material. An organic light-emitting device is produced with the coating liquid, a light source apparatus includes the organic light-emitting device, and methods for manufacture thereof are disclosed.
US09306175B2	Organic electroluminescent device A high-efficiency, high-durability organic electroluminescent device, particularly a phosphorescent organic electroluminescent device is provided by using an organic compound of excellent characteristics that exhibits excellent hole-injecting/transporting performance and has high triplet exciton confining capability with an electron blocking ability, and that has high stability in the thin-film state and high luminous efficiency.The organic electroluminescent device includes a pair of electrodes, and a plurality of organic layers sandwiched between the pair of electrodes and including a phosphorescent light-emitting material-containing light emitting layer and a hole transport layer, wherein a compound of the following general formula (1) having a carbazole ring structure is used as a constituent material of the hole transport layer.
US09306164B1	Electrode pair fabrication using directed self assembly of diblock copolymers Structures including alternating first U-shaped electrodes and second U-shaped electrodes and contact pads interconnecting the first and the second U-shaped electrodes are provided. Each of the first U-shaped electrodes includes substantially parallel straight portions connected by a bent portion located on one end of a substrate. Each of the second U-shaped electrodes includes substantially parallel straight portions connected by a bent portion located on an opposite end of the substrate. Every adjacent straight portions of neighboring first and second U-shaped electrodes constitute an electrode pair having a sub-lithographic pitch. Each of the contact pads overlaps and contacts the bent portion of one of the first and the U-shaped electrodes.
US09306161B1	Fabrication methods of conducting bridge random access memory (CBRAM) device structures A method of forming a conductive bridging memory cell can include forming an active electrode layer above a barrier layer formed on a lower conductive layer; forming at least one ion conductor layer over an active electrode layer; incorporating conductive ions into the ion conductor layer to create a switch memory layer that changes impedance in response to an electric field; and the active electrode layer is a source of conductive ions for the ion conductor, and the barrier layer substantially prevents a movement of conductive ions therethrough.
US09306158B2	MRAM device and fabrication method thereof A method of forming and a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) device. In an embodiment, the MRAM device includes a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) disposed over a bottom electrode, the magnetic tunnel junction having a first sidewall, a top electrode disposed over the magnetic tunnel junction, and a dielectric spacer supported by the magnetic tunnel junction and extending along sidewalls of the top electrode, the dielectric spacer having a second sidewall substantially co-planar with the first sidewall of the magnetic tunnel junction.
US09306156B2	Methods of manufacturing a magnetoresistive random access memory device In a method of manufacturing an MRAM device, a first sacrificial layer, an etch stop layer, and a second sacrificial layer are sequentially formed on a substrate and then partially etched to form openings therethrough. Lower electrodes are formed to fill the openings. The first and second sacrificial layers and portions of the etch stop layer are removed to form etch stop layer patterns surrounding upper portions of sidewalls of the lower electrodes, respectively. An upper insulating layer pattern is formed between the etch stop layer patterns to partially define an air pad between the lower electrodes. A first magnetic layer, a tunnel barrier layer, a second magnetic layer, and an upper electrode layer are formed, and are etched to form a plurality of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structures. Each MTJ structure includes a sequentially stacked first magnetic layer pattern, tunnel layer pattern, and second magnetic layer pattern, and each of the MTJ structures contacts a corresponding one of the lower electrodes.
US09306154B2	Magnetic random access memory with perpendicular enhancement layer The present invention is directed to an MTJ memory element including a magnetic free layer structure which comprises one or more magnetic free layers that have a same variable magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to layer planes thereof; an insulating tunnel junction layer formed adjacent to the magnetic free layer structure; a magnetic reference layer structure comprising a first magnetic reference layer formed adjacent to the insulating tunnel junction layer and a second magnetic reference layer separated therefrom by a perpendicular enhancement layer with the first and second magnetic reference layers having a first fixed magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to layer planes thereof; an anti-ferromagnetic coupling layer formed adjacent to the second magnetic reference layer opposite the perpendicular enhancement layer; and a magnetic fixed layer comprising first and second magnetic fixed sublayers with the second magnetic fixed sublayer formed adjacent to the anti-ferromagnetic coupling layer opposite the second magnetic reference layer.
US09306148B2	Oscillator device and electronic apparatus In an electro-acoustic transducer 100 which is an oscillator device, center positions of principal surfaces of piezoelectric elements 130 that are positioned on both surfaces of an elastic member 120 are different from each other. As such, since the two piezoelectric elements 130 are disposed asymmetrically on the upper and lower sides in the electro-acoustic transducer 100, it is possible to prevent vibrations of reversed phases at the time of divided vibration in which the reversed phases overlap with each other. In other words, since it is possible to prevent the generation of sound waves due to the vibration of local reversed phases, the sound pressure level can be improved.
US09306138B2	Light emitting diode packaging structure A packaging structure of a vertical LED chip includes at least a support system, a glue cup that connects to periphery of the support system, a LED chip with light absorption substrate over the support system and packaging glue distributed in periphery of the LED chip, wherein the packaging structure also comprises a baffle that surrounds the outer side wall of the light absorption substrate. Adding of a baffle structure in the support system of the packaging structure can effectively prevent light from being absorbed by the light absorption substrate and reflect such light out of the packaging structure, thus increasing probability of light emitting and improving light intensity of the vertical LED chip.
US09306131B2	Optoelectronic semiconductor chip and method of producing an optoelectronic semiconductor chip An optoelectronic semiconductor chip having a semiconductor layer sequence includes at least one active layer that generates primary radiation; a plurality of conversion layers that at least partially absorb the primary radiation and convert the primary radiation into secondary radiation of a longer wavelength than the primary radiation; and a roughened portion that extends at least into one of the conversion layers, wherein the roughened portion has a random structure, the semiconductor layer sequence is arranged on a carrier, a top side of the semiconductor layer sequence facing away from the carrier is formed by the roughened portion, the at least one active layer is located between the carrier and the conversion layers, and the roughened portion includes a plurality of recesses free of a semiconductor material.
US09306130B2	Method of manufacturing light-emitting device A method of manufacturing a light-emitting device includes forming a wave length conversion portion on a light-emitting element. The light emitting device includes a light-emitting element which emits light of a predetermined wavelength and a wavelength conversion portion which includes a fluorescent substance which is excited by the light emitted from the light-emitting element so as to emit fluorescence of a wavelength different from the predetermined wavelength, which wavelength conversion portion is formed by including the fluorescent substance, a layered silicate mineral, and an organometallic compound. The forming the wavelength conversion portion includes forming a fluorescent substance layer on the light-emitting element using a fluorescent substance dispersion liquid including a fluorescent substance and a layered silicate mineral, applying a precursor solution including an organometallic compound on the light-emitting element, and heating the precursor solution applied on the fluorescent substance layer.
US09306128B2	Light emitting apparatus and surface light source apparatus having the same Provided are a light emitting apparatus and a surface light source apparatus having the same. The light emitting apparatus comprises a package body, a first color light emitting part in a first cavity of the package body, and a second color light emitting part in a second cavity of the package body. The package body comprises a plurality of cavities.
US09306126B2	Oxides with thin metallic layers as transparent ohmic contacts for p-type and n-type gallium nitride Transparent conductive layers usable as ohmic contacts for III-V semiconductors with work functions between 4.1 and 4.7 eV are formed by annealing layers of transparent oxide with thin (0.1-5nm) layers of conductive metal. When the layers interdiffuse during the annealing, some of the conductive metal atoms remain free to reduce resistivity and others oxidize to reduce optical absorption. Examples of the transparent oxides include indium-tin oxide, zinc oxide, and aluminum zinc oxide with up to 5 wt % Al. Examples of the metals include aluminum and titanium. The work function of the transparent conductive layer can be tuned to match the contacted semiconductor by adjusting the ratio of metal to transparent oxide.
US09306122B2	Light emitting diode and a manufacturing method thereof, a light emitting device An LED includes a first electrode, for connecting the LED to a negative electrode of a power supply and a substrate located on the first electrode in which a plurality of contact holes are formed extending through the substrate. The diameter of upper parts of the contact holes is less than the diameter of lower parts of the contact holes, and the contact holes are filled with electrode plugs connecting the first electrode to the LED die. The light emitting device includes the LED, and further includes a susceptor and an LED mounted on the susceptor. The manufacturing method includes forming successively an LED die and a second electrode on a substrate, patterning a back surface of the substrate to form inverted trapezoidal contact holes which expose the LED die, and filling the contact holes with conductive material until the back face of the substrate is covered by the conductive material.
US09306119B2	Semiconductor light-emitting element and manufacturing method thereof Provided is a semiconductor light-emitting element in which dopant interdiffusion is suppressed, the efficiency at which a carrier is infused into an active layer is improved, and there is less of a decrease in light-emitting intensity (droop) during high-current driving at a high light-emitting efficiency. The semiconductor light-emitting element composed of a GaN-based semiconductor includes an n-type semiconductor layer, an active layer formed on the n-type semiconductor layer, a first semiconductor layer formed on the active layer and having a concave/convex structure layer in the surface, and a second semiconductor structure layer doped with Mg and formed on the first semiconductor layer.
US09306105B2	Finger structures protruding from absorber layer for improved solar cell back contact Thin film photovoltaic devices that include a transparent substrate; a transparent conductive oxide layer on the transparent substrate; a n-type window layer on the transparent conductive oxide layer; a p-type absorber layer on the n-type window layer; and, a back contact on the p-type absorber layer are provided. The p-type absorber layer comprises cadmium telluride, and forms a photovoltaic junction with the n-type window layer. Generally, the p-type absorber layer defines a plurality of finger structures protruding from the p-type absorber layer into the back contact. The finger structures can have an aspect ratio of about 1 or greater and/or can have a height that is about 20% to about 200% of the thickness of the p-type absorber layer. Methods of forming such finger structures protruding from a back surface of the p-type absorber layer are also provided.
US09306098B2	Method of making photovoltaic device comprising an absorber having a surface layer A method of fabricating a photovoltaic device includes a step of forming an absorber layer above a substrate, and a step of forming a surface layer on the absorber layer. The absorber layer includes an I-III-VI2 compound, which contains a Group I element, a Group III element and a Group VI element. The surface layer includes an I-III-VI2 compound, which contains a Group I element, a Group III element and a Group VI element, and has an atomic ratio of the Group I element to the Group III element in the range of from 0.1 to 0.9.
US09306085B2	Radially arranged metal contact fingers for solar cells A solar cell includes negative metal contact fingers and positive metal contact fingers. The negative metal contact fingers are interdigitated with the positive metal contact fingers. The metal contact fingers, both positive and negative, have a radial design where they radially extend to surround at least 25% of a perimeter of a corresponding contact pad. The metal contact fingers have bend points, which collectively form a radial pattern with a center point within the contact pad. Exactly two metal contact pads merge into a single leading metal contact pad that is wider than either of the exactly two metal contact pads.
US09306082B2	System for managing and controlling photovoltaic panels The invention relates to a module for locally controlling a photovoltaic panel that includes: first and second terminals (B1, B2) for connecting in series by a single conductor (13) having homologous modules; a first terminal (A1) for connecting the photovoltaic panel, said first terminal being connected to the first terminal (B1) for connecting in series; a switcher (S) that is connected between the second terminal (B2) for connecting in series and a second terminal (A2) connecting the panel; a diode (D0) that is connected between the first and second terminals (B1, B2) for connecting in series; a converter (70) that is provided so as to supply power to the module on the basis of the voltage that is developed by the panel between the first and second terminals (A1, A2) connecting the panel; a sensor (R3) for measuring the current flowing within the single conductor (13); and a means (60, 62) for closing the switcher when the current flowing within the single conductor exceeds a threshold.
US09306081B2	Solar cell module Second wiring member includes a first wiring-member piece electrically connected to one of the solar cells of one of the adjacent solar cell strings, and a second wiring-member piece electrically connecting the first wiring-member piece to another one of the solar cell strings. First wiring-member piece includes wiring electrically connecting the solar cell and the second wiring-member piece to each other, a first insulating layer covering part of a surface of the wiring on a solar-cell side, and a second insulating layer covering part of a surface of the wiring on a side opposite from the solar cell. First portion of the wiring is exposed from the first insulating layer. Second portion of the wiring is exposed from the second insulating layer. First portion of the wiring is electrically connected to the solar cell, and the second portion of the wiring is electrically connected to the second wiring-member piece.
US09306079B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same A semiconductor device formed using an oxide semiconductor layer and having small electrical characteristic variation is provided. A highly reliable semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor layer and exhibiting stable electric characteristics is provided. Further, a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device is provided. In the semiconductor device, an oxide semiconductor layer is used for a channel formation region, a multilayer film which includes an oxide layer in which the oxide semiconductor layer is wrapped is provided, and an edge of the multilayer film has a curvature in a cross section.
US09306078B2	Stable amorphous metal oxide semiconductor A thin film semiconductor device has a semiconductor layer including a mixture of an amorphous semiconductor ionic metal oxide and an amorphous insulating covalent metal oxide. A pair of terminals is positioned in communication with the semiconductor layer and define a conductive channel, and a gate terminal is positioned in communication with the conductive channel and further positioned to control conduction of the channel. The invention further includes a method of depositing the mixture including using nitrogen during the deposition process to control the carrier concentration in the resulting semiconductor layer.
US09306076B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same A semiconductor device in which fluctuation in electric characteristics due to miniaturization is less likely to be caused is provided. The semiconductor device includes an oxide semiconductor film including a first region, a pair of second regions in contact with side surfaces of the first region, and a pair of third regions in contact with side surfaces of the pair of second regions; a gate insulating film provided over the oxide semiconductor film; and a first electrode that is over the gate insulating film and overlaps with the first region. The first region is a CAAC oxide semiconductor region. The pair of second regions and the pair of third regions are each an amorphous oxide semiconductor region containing a dopant. The dopant concentration of the pair of third regions is higher than the dopant concentration of the pair of second regions.
US09306069B2	Isolation structure of fin field effect transistor The disclosure relates to a fin field effect transistor (FinFET). An exemplary FinFET comprises a substrate comprising a major surface; a fin structure protruding from the major surface comprising a lower portion comprising a first semiconductor material having a first lattice constant; an upper portion comprising the first semiconductor material, wherein a bottom portion of the upper portion comprises a dopant with a first peak concentration; a middle portion between the lower portion and upper portion, wherein the middle portion comprises a second semiconductor material having a second lattice constant different from the first lattice constant; and an isolation structure surrounding the fin structure, wherein a portion of the isolation structure adjacent to the bottom portion of the upper portion comprises the dopant with a second peak concentration equal to or greater than the first peak concentration.
US09306066B2	Method and apparatus of stressed FIN NMOS FinFET A semiconductor fin is on a substrate, and extends in a longitudinal direction parallel to the substrate. The fin projects, in a vertical direction, to a fin top at a fin height above the substrate. An embedded fin stressor element is embedded in the fin. The fin stressor element is configured to urge a vertical compression force within the fin, parallel to the vertical direction. Optionally, the semiconductor material includes silicon, and embedded fin stressor element includes silicon dioxide.
US09306064B2	Semiconductor device and integrated apparatus comprising the same The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device and an integrated apparatus having the same. The semiconductor device includes a substrate, a buffer layer on the substrate, a compensation area which includes a p-region and a n-region on the buffer layer, and a transistor cell on the compensation area. The transistor cell includes a source region, a body region, a gate electrode and a gate dielectric formed at least between the gate electrode and the body region. The gate dielectric has a thickness in a range of 12 nm to 50 nm.
US09306057B2	Metal oxide semiconductor devices and fabrication methods A semiconductor device includes a first well and a second well implanted in a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor device further includes a raised drain structure above and in contact with the second well and separate from the gate structure. The raised drain structure includes a drain connection point above the surface of the second well.
US09306055B2	High voltage double-diffused MOS (DMOS) device and method of manufacture A method of forming an integrated DMOS transistor/EEPROM cell includes forming a first mask over a substrate, forming a drift implant in the substrate using the first mask to align the drift implant, simultaneously forming a first floating gate over the drift implant, and a second floating gate spaced apart from the drift implant, forming a second mask covering the second floating gate and covering a portion of the first floating gate, forming a base implant in the substrate using an edge of the first floating gate to self-align the base implant region, and simultaneously forming a first control gate over the first floating gate and a second control gate over the second floating gate. The first floating gate, first control gate, drift implant, and base implant form components of the DMOS transistor, and the second floating gate and second control gate form components of the EEPROM cell.
US09306052B2	Compound semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A compound semiconductor device includes: an electron transit layer; an electron supply layer over the electron transit layer; a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode at a level above the electron supply layer; and a porous electrical insulating film that covers the gate electrode, the source electrode and the drain electrode, the porous electrical insulating film containing an organic constituent, and a cavity being formed around the gate electrode in the porous electrical insulating film. A cross-linking layer is on a surface of the porous electrical insulating film at the cavity side.
US09306050B2	III-V semiconductor structures including aluminum-silicon nitride passivation A semiconductor structure includes a semiconductor layer that is passivated with an aluminum-silicon nitride layer. When the semiconductor layer in particular comprises a III-V semiconductor material such as a group III nitride semiconductor material or a gallium nitride semiconductor material, the aluminum-silicon nitride material provides a superior passivation in comparison with a silicon nitride material.
US09306032B2	Method of forming self-aligned metal gate structure in a replacement gate process using tapered interlayer dielectric A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes following steps. A substrate having at least a transistor embedded in an insulating material formed thereon is provided. The transistor includes a metal gate. Next, an etching process is performed to remove a portion of the metal gate to form a recess and to remove a portion of the insulating material to form a tapered part. After forming the recess and the tapered part of the insulating material, a hard mask layer is formed on the substrate to fill up the recess. Subsequently, the hard mask layer is planarized.
US09306019B2	Integrated circuits with nanowires and methods of manufacturing the same Integrated circuits and methods for producing the same are provided. A method for producing an integrated circuit includes forming a layered fin overlying a substrate, where the layered fin includes an SiGe layer and an Si layer. The SiGe layer and the Si layer alternate along a height of the layered fin. A dummy gate is formed overlying the substrate and the layered fin, and a source and a drain area formed in contact with the layered fin. The dummy gate is removed to expose the SiGe layer and the Si layer, and the Si layer is removed to produce an SiGe nanowire. A high K dielectric layer that encases the SiGe nanowire between the source and the drain is formed, and a replacement metal gate is formed so that the replacement metal gate encases the high K dielectric layer and the SiGe nanowire between the source and drain.
US09306018B2	Trench shielding structure for semiconductor device and method A shielding structure for a semiconductor device includes a plurality of trenches. The trenches include passivation liners and shield electrodes, which are formed therein. In one embodiment, the shielding structure is placed beneath a control pad. In another embodiment, the shielding structure is placed beneath a control runner.
US09306016B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, which comprises: providing an SOI substrate, which comprises a base layer, an insulating layer located on the base layer and a active layer located on the insulating layer; forming a gate stack on the SOI substrate; etching the active layer, the insulating layer and a part of the base layer of the SOI substrate with the gate stack as a mask, so as to form trenches on both sides of the gate stack; forming a crystal dielectric layer within the trenches, wherein the upper surface of the crystal dielectric layer is lower than the upper surface of the insulating layer and not lower than the lower surface of the insulating layer; and forming source/drain regions on the crystal dielectric layer. The present invention further provides a semiconductor device. The present invention is capable of eliminating pathway for leakage current between source/drain regions and SOI substrate at the meantime of reducing contact resistance at source/drain regions.
US09306013B2	Method of forming a gate shield in an ED-CMOS transistor and a base of a bipolar transistor using BICMOS technologies A method of fabricating a MOSFET transistor in a SiGe BICMOS technology and resulting structure having a drain-gate feedback capacitance shield formed between a gate electrode and the drain region. The shield does not overlap the gate and thereby minimizes effect on the input capacitance of the transistor. The process does not require complex or costly processing since the shield is composed of bipolar base material commonly used in SiGe BICMOS technologies.
US09306012B2	Strip-ground field plate Among other things, one or more semiconductor devices and techniques for forming such semiconductor devices are provided. The semiconductor device comprises a strip-ground field plate. The strip-ground field plate is connected to a source region of the semiconductor device and/or a ground plane. The strip-ground field plate provides a release path for a gate edge electric field. The release path directs an electrical field away from a gate region of the semiconductor device. In this way, breakdown voltage and gate charge are improved.
US09306011B2	Semiconductor device having areas with different conductivity types and different doping concentrations A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate includes a plurality of first doping regions of a first doping structure arranged at a main surface of the semiconductor substrate and a plurality of second doping regions of the first doping structure arranged at the main surface of the semiconductor substrate. The first doping regions of the plurality of first doping regions of the first doping structure include dopants of a first conductivity type with different doping concentrations. Further, the second doping regions of the plurality of second doping regions of the first doping structure include dopants of a second conductivity type with different doping concentrations. At least one first doping region of the plurality of first doping regions of the first doping structure partly overlaps at least one second doping region of the plurality of second doping regions of the first doping structure causing an overlap region arranged at the main surface.
US09306004B2	SiC devices with high blocking voltage terminated by a negative bevel A negative bevel edge termination for a Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductor device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the negative bevel edge termination includes multiple steps that approximate a smooth negative bevel edge termination at a desired slope. More specifically, in one embodiment, the negative bevel edge termination includes at least five steps, at least ten steps, or at least 15 steps. The desired slope is, in one embodiment, less than or equal to fifteen degrees. In one embodiment, the negative bevel edge termination results in a blocking voltage for the semiconductor device of at least 10 kilovolts (kV) or at least 12 kV. The semiconductor device is preferably, but not necessarily, a thyristor such as a power thyristor, a Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT), an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), a U-channel Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (UMOSFET), or a PIN diode.
US09306003B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same A semiconductor device, including: a substrate having a first semiconductor material; a second semiconductor layer on the substrate; a third semiconductor layer on the second semiconductor layer and being a device formation region; an isolation structure on both sides of the third semiconductor layer and on the substrate; and an insulating layer below the source and drain regions of the third semiconductor layer and between the isolation structure and the ends of the second semiconductor layer.
US09305998B2	Adhesion of ferroelectric material to underlying conductive capacitor plate Deposition of lead-zirconium-titanate (PZT) ferroelectric material over iridium metal, in the formation of a ferroelectric capacitor in an integrated circuit. The capacitor is formed by the deposition of a lower conductive plate layer having iridium metal as a top layer. The surface of the iridium metal is thermally oxidized, prior to or during the deposition of the PZT material. The resulting iridium oxide at the surface of the iridium metal is very thin, on the order of a few nanometers, which allows the deposited PZT to nucleate according to the crystalline structure of the iridium metal rather than that of iridium oxide. The iridium oxide is also of intermediate stoichiometry (IrO2-x), and reacts with the PZT material being deposited.
US09305976B2	Electronic device including memory cells having variable resistance characteristics An electronic device includes a semiconductor memory. The semiconductor memory includes a stack structure including a first electrode, a second electrode, a third electrode, an insulating layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a variable resistance layer interposed between the second electrode and the third electrode; and a selection element layer disposed over at least a part of a sidewall of the stack structure.
US09305975B2	3 dimensional semiconductor device having a lateral channel A 3D semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The method includes forming a first semiconductor layer including a common source node on a semiconductor substrate, forming a transistor region on the first semiconductor layer, wherein the transistor region includes a horizontal channel region substantially parallel to a surface of the semiconductor substrate, and source and drain regions branched from the horizontal channel region to a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the semiconductor substrate, processing the first semiconductor layer to locate the common source node corresponding to the source region, forming a gate in a space between the source region and the drain region, forming heating electrodes on the source region and the drain region, and forming resistance variable material layers on the exposed heating electrodes.
US09305960B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is provided. The method comprises a first step of forming a first hole opened to a side of a first surface of a semiconductor substrate, the semiconductor substrate including the first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a step of filling the first hole with an insulating member, a step of forming, on the first surface, an insulating film that covers the insulating member, a step of forming a second hole in the insulating film and the insulating member, a step of filing the second hole with a conductive member, a step of thinning the semiconductor substrate from the side of the second surface of the semiconductor substrate so as to expose the insulating member.
US09305954B2	Solid-state image sensor and camera utilizing light attenuating films A sensor has first pixels each including one of red, green and blue color filters, and second pixels each including one of red, green and blue color filters. In the first and second pixels including color filters of the same color, light transmittances of the light transmissive portions are different. A light transmittance of the light transmissive portion of the first pixel including the red color filter is lower than that of the light transmissive portion of the first pixel including the green color filter, and a light transmittance of the transmissive portion of the first pixel including the green color filter is lower than that of the light transmissive portion of the first pixel including the blue color filter.
US09305953B2	Imaging device and imaging system An imaging device includes a light-sensing pixel region; a first pixel region; a second pixel region; a first wiring layer disposed above the light-sensing pixel region; and a second wiring layer disposed above the topmost wiring layer of the wiring layer disposed above the light-sensing pixel region, above the second pixel region. The first pixel region is disposed between the light-sensing pixel region and the second pixel region, adjacent to the light-sensing pixel region and the second pixel region, wherein the first pixel region overlaps, in plan view, a first shielding portion included in the first wiring layer. The second pixel region overlaps, in plan view, a second shielding portion included in the second wiring layer. An electroconductive pattern is formed at the first wiring layer at a position overlapping the second pixel region in plan view.
US09305951B2	Pixel structure of CMOS image sensor and manufacturing method thereof A pixel structure of a CMOS image sensor pixel structure and a manufacturing method thereof. The structure comprises a photosensitive element (37) and a multi-layer structure of a standard CMOS device arranged on the silicon substrate (31). A deep groove (38) having a light-transmitting space therein is formed above the photosensitive element, a side wall of the deep groove is surrounded by a light reflection shielding layer (39) continuously arranged in a longitudinal direction to reflect the light incident on the light reflection shielding layer. The side wall of the deep groove is surrounded by metal interconnects, vias, contact holes and polysilicon in annular configurations, thus the incident light on the deep grove is substantially completely reflected, which avoids the optical crosstalk and effectively improves the optical resolution and sensitivity of the pixel and the performance and reliability of the chip.
US09305935B2	Multi-level contact to a 3D memory array and method of making A method of making multi-level contacts. The method includes providing an in-process multilevel device including at least one device region and at least one contact region. The contact region includes a plurality of electrically conductive layers configured in a step pattern. The method also includes forming a conformal etch stop layer over the plurality of electrically conductive layers, forming a first electrically insulating layer over the etch stop layer, forming a conformal sacrificial layer over the first electrically insulating layer and forming a second electrically insulating layer over the sacrificial layer. The method also includes etching a plurality of contact openings through the etch stop layer, the first electrically insulating layer, the sacrificial layer and the second electrically insulating layer in the contact region to the plurality of electrically conductive layers.
US09305931B2	Zero cost NVM cell using high voltage devices in analog process A non-volatile memory cell and array structure is disclosed situated within a high voltage region of an integrated circuit. The cell utilizes capacitive coupling based on an overlap between a gate and a drift region to impart a programming voltage. Programming is effectuated using a drain extension which can act to inject hot electrons. The cell can be operated as a one-time programmable (OTP) or multiple-time programmable (MTP) device. The fabrication of the cell relies on processing steps associated with high voltage devices, thus avoiding the need for additional masks, manufacturing steps, etc.
US09305930B2	Finfet crosspoint flash memory A flash memory device in a dual fin single floating gate configuration is provided. Semiconductor fins are formed on a stack of a back gate conductor layer and a back gate dielectric layer. Pairs of semiconductor fins are formed in an array environment such that shallow trench isolation structures can be formed along the lengthwise direction of the semiconductor fins within the array. After formation of tunneling dielectrics on the sidewalls of the semiconductor fins, a floating gate electrode is formed between each pair of proximally located semiconductor fins by deposition of a conformal conductive material layer and an isotropic etch. A control gate dielectric and a control gate electrode are formed by deposition and patterning of a dielectric layer and a conductive material layer.
US09305928B2	Semiconductor devices having a silicon-germanium channel layer and methods of forming the same Semiconductor devices having a silicon-germanium channel layer and methods of forming the semiconductor devices are provided. The methods may include forming a silicon-germanium channel layer on a substrate in a peripheral circuit region and sequentially forming a first insulating layer and a second insulating layer on the silicon-germanium channel layer. The methods may also include forming a conductive layer on the substrate, which includes a cell array region and the peripheral circuit region, and patterning the conductive layer to form a conductive line in the cell array region and a gate electrode in the peripheral circuit region. The first insulating layer may be formed at a first temperature and the second insulating layer may be formed at a second temperature higher than the first temperature.
US09305924B2	Semiconductor device having gate electrode embedded in gate trench Disclosed herein is a device that includes: a substrate having a gate trench; a gate electrode embedded in the gate trench with an intervention of a gate insulation film; and an embedded insulation film embedded in the gate trench. The substrate includes a first impurity diffusion region in contact with the embedded insulation film and a second impurity diffusion region in contact with the gate insulation film. The gate trench including a first trench portion extending in a first direction and second and third trench portions branching from the first trench portion and extending in a second direction that crosses the first direction. The gate electrode including first, second and third electrode portions embedded in the first, second and third trench portions of the gate trench, respectively. The first impurity diffusion region being sandwiched between the second and third electrode portions.
US09305920B2	High voltage metal-oxide-metal (HV-MOM) device, HV-MOM layout and method of making the HV-MOM device A high voltage metal-oxide-metal (HV-MOM) device includes a substrate, a deep well in the substrate and at least one high voltage well in the substrate over the deep well. The HV-MOM device further includes a dielectric layer over each high voltage well of the at least one high voltage well and a gate structure over the dielectric layer. The HV-MOM device further includes an inter-layer dielectric (ILD) layer over the substrate, the ILD layer surrounding the gate structure. The HV-MOM device further includes a first inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer over the ILD layer and a first metal feature in the first IMD layer, wherein the first metal feature is part of a MOM capacitor.
US09305919B2	Semiconductor devices including cell-type power decoupling capacitors A semiconductor device includes an internal circuit and a cell-type power decoupling capacitor. The cell-type power decoupling capacitor is formed on a semiconductor substrate using a stack cell capacitor process. The cell-type power decoupling capacitor stabilizes a supply voltage to provide the stabilized supply voltage to the internal circuit. Accordingly, the semiconductor device including the cell-type power decoupling capacitor may be insensitive to power noise and may occupy a small area on a chip.
US09305906B2	Semiconductor light emitting device In a semiconductor light emitting device, a light emitting structure includes a first-conductivity type semiconductor layer, an active layer, and a second-conductivity type semiconductor layer, which are sequentially formed on a conductive substrate. A second-conductivity type electrode includes a conductive via and an electrical connection part. The conductive via passes through the first-conductivity type semiconductor layer and the active layer, and is connected to the inside of the second-conductivity type semiconductor layer. The electrical connection part extends from the conductive via and is exposed to the outside of the light emitting structure. An insulator electrically separates the second-conductivity type electrode from the conductive substrate, the first-conductivity type semiconductor layer, and the active layer. A passivation layer is formed to cover at least a side surface of the active layer in the light emitting structure. An uneven structure is formed on a path of light emitted from the active layer.
US09305905B2	Apparatuses and related methods for staggering power-up of a stack of semiconductor dies An apparatus including semiconductor dies in a stack. The semiconductor dies are configured to power-up in a staggered manner. Methods for powering up an electronic device include detecting a power-up event with the semiconductor dies in the stack, and responsive to the power-up event, powering up a first semiconductor die in the stack at a first time, and powering up a second semiconductor die in the stack at a second time that is different from the first time.
US09305902B1	Chip package and method for forming the same A semiconductor device includes a plurality of conductors for connecting another semiconductor device. Each conductor connects to a chip select pad within the semiconductor device through an upper vertical connection formed through an insulation layer formed on a substrate or connected to a straight vertical connection formed through the substrate and the insulation layer. The semiconductor device further includes a plurality of lower vertical connections formed through the substrate and correspondingly connecting to the chip select pads and a chip select terminal. The chip select terminal electrically connects to the die circuit of the semiconductor device while the chip select pads are electrically isolated from the die circuit. The lower vertical connections and the straight vertical connection can be arranged in two dimensions.
US09305900B2	Semiconductor device and memory device A semiconductor device includes a substrate, a controller chip, and memory chips. Wiring is formed on the substrate. The controller chip has a rectangular surface area, and is mounted on the substrate. The memory chips have quadrangular surface areas, and are superposed on the substrate on a first major side of the controller chip. The first major side defines a first direction and a first controller terminal block is formed along a first minor side thereof orthogonal to the first direction, and a second controller terminal block is formed along a second major side opposite to the first major side.
US09305899B2	Method of fabricating semiconductor package A method of fabricating a semiconductor package includes providing a wafer which includes an upper area having through silicon vias (TSVs) and a lower area not having the TSVs; mounting a semiconductor chip on the upper area of the wafer; forming a passivation layer to a predetermined thickness to cover the semiconductor chip; exposing the TSVs by removing the lower area of the wafer in a state where no support is attached to the wafer; and exposing a top surface of the semiconductor chip by partially removing the passivation layer.
US09305898B2	Semiconductor device with combined power and ground ring structure A semiconductor device includes a lead frame, and an integrated circuit die. The lead frame has a flag for supporting the die and leads that surround that flag and die. The lead frame also has ground ring that surrounds the flag and die. First bond wires electrically connect the die to the lead frame leads. An insulating layer is disposed on the ground ring, and a power layer is disposed on the insulating layer. The semiconductor device further includes second bond wires that connect the die to the ground ring and third bond wires that connect the die to the power layer.
US09305897B2	Semiconductor package and method of mounting semiconductor die to opposite sides of TSV substrate A semiconductor device includes a wafer level substrate having a plurality of first conductive vias formed through the wafer level substrate. A first semiconductor die is mounted to the wafer level substrate. A first surface of the first semiconductor die includes contact pads oriented toward a first surface of the wafer level substrate. A first encapsulant is deposited over the first semiconductor die. A second semiconductor die is mounted to the wafer level substrate. A first surface of the second semiconductor die includes contact pads oriented toward a second surface of the wafer level substrate opposite the first surface of the wafer level substrate. A second encapsulant is deposited over the second semiconductor die. A plurality of bumps is formed over the plurality of first conductive vias. A second conductive via can be formed through the first encapsulant and connected to the first conductive via. The semiconductor packages are stackable.
US09305896B2	No flow underfill or wafer level underfill and solder columns A preassembly semiconductor device comprises chip soldering structures on a semiconductor chip and substrate soldering structures on a substrate corresponding to the chip soldering structures. The substrate soldering structures extend toward the chip soldering structures for forming solder connections with the chip soldering structures. The chip and the substrate are in preassembly positions relative to one another. The height of the substrate soldering structures is greater than the height of the chip soldering structures. A pre-applied underfill is contiguous with the substrate and is sufficiently thick so as to extend substantially no further than the full height of the substrate soldering structures. In another embodiment the height of the chip soldering structures is greater than the height of the substrate soldering structures and the pre-applied underfill is contiguous with the semiconductor chip and sufficiently thick so as to extend substantially no further than the full height of the chip soldering structures. A process comprises manufacturing semiconductor assemblies from these devices by soldering the chip and the substrate to one another
US09305895B2	Substrates having ball lands, semiconductor packages including the same, and methods of fabricating semiconductor packages including the same A package substrate includes a core layer having a first surface and a second surface which are opposite to each other, a ball land pad disposed on the first surface of the core layer, an opening that penetrates the core layer to expose the ball land pad, and a dummy ball land disposed on the second surface of the core layer to surround the opening. The dummy ball land includes at least one sub-pattern and at least one vent hole. Related semiconductor packages and related methods are also provided.
US09305891B2	Semiconductor integrated circuit with TSV bumps A semiconductor integrated circuit is provided. In the semiconductor integrated circuit, each of ESD protection circuitries is disposed between two of TSV bumps arrayed in a matrix, the two being arranged adjacent to each other. First main power lines are disposed to overlap P-channel ESD protection elements. Second main power lines are disposed to overlap N-channel ESD protection elements. The first and second main power lines are arranged orthogonally to each other.
US09305877B1	3D package with through substrate vias A package, comprising a substrate having electrical devices disposed at a first side of the substrate, vias extending from the first side of the substrate to a second side of the substrate opposite the first side and metallization layers disposed on the first side of the substrate. Contact pads are disposed over the first metallization layers and a protection layer is disposed over the contact pads. Post-passivation interconnects are disposed over the protection layer and extend to the contact pads through openings in the protection layer. Connectors are disposed on the PPIs and a molding compound extends over the PPIs and around the connectors.
US09305876B2	Device including a semiconductor chip and wires A device includes a carrier, a first semiconductor chip arranged over the carrier and a first electrically conductive element arranged over the carrier. The device further includes a first wire electrically coupled to the first electrically conductive element and a second wire electrically coupled to the first electrically conductive element and to the first semiconductor chip. The first electrically conductive element is configured to forward an electrical signal between the first wire and the second wire.
US09305873B1	Integrated circuit packaging system with electrical interface and method of manufacture thereof A method of manufacture of an integrated circuit packaging system includes: forming an isolated contact having a contact protrusion, the contact protrusion having a lower protrusion surface, an upper protrusion surface, and a protrusion sidewall; forming a die paddle, adjacent to the isolated contact, having a die paddle protrusion, the die paddle protrusion having a lower die protrusion surface, an upper die protrusion surface, and a die protrusion sidewall; depositing a contact pad on the contact protrusion; depositing a die paddle pad on the die paddle protrusion; coupling an integrated circuit die to the contact protrusion; and molding an encapsulation on the integrated circuit die.
US09305871B2	High pin count, small packages having heat-dissipating pad A plastic package for high power has a pair of oblong metal pins exposed from a surface of the plastic, the pins straddling a corner of the package; each pin has a long axis, the long axes of the pair forming a non-orthogonal angle. Package further includes a chip assembly pad, acting as a thermal spreader and semiconductor chip.
US09305870B2	Power semiconductor device and preparation method thereof A preparation method for a power semiconductor device includes: providing a lead frame containing a plurality of chip mounting units, one side edge of a die paddle of each chip mounting unit is bent and extended upwardly and one lead connects to the bent side edge of the die paddle and extends in an opposite direction from the die paddle; attaching a semiconductor chip to the top surface of the die paddle; forming metal bumps on each electrode at the front of the semiconductor chip with a top end of each metal bump protruding out of a plane of the top surface of the lead; heating the metal bump and pressing a top end of each metal bump by a pressing plate forming a flat top end surface that is flush with the top surface of the lead; and cutting the lead frame to separate individual chip mounting units.
US09305864B2	Through silicon via (TSV) isolation structures for noise reduction in 3D integrated circuit Through silicon via (TSV) isolation structures are provided and suppress electrical noise such as may be propagated through a semiconductor substrate when caused by a signal carrying active TSV such as used in 3D integrated circuit packaging. The isolation TSV structures are surrounded by an oxide liner and surrounding dopant impurity regions. The surrounding dopant impurity regions may be P-type dopant impurity regions that are coupled to ground or N-type dopant impurity regions that may advantageously be coupled to VDD. The TSV isolation structure is advantageously disposed between an active, signal carrying TSV and active semiconductor devices and the TSV isolation structures may be formed in an array that isolates an active, signal carrying TSV structure from active semiconductor devices.
US09305861B2	Method and system for electrically coupling a chip to chip package A chip and a chip package can transmit information to each other by using a set of converters capable of communicating with each other through the emission and reception of electromagnetic signals. Both the chip and the chip package have at least one such converter physically disposed on them. Each converter is able to (1) convert received electromagnetic signals into electronic signals, which it then may relay to leads on the device on which it is disposed; and (2) receive electronic signals from leads on the device on which it is disposed and convert them into corresponding electromagnetic signals, which it may transmit to a corresponding converter on the other device. Not having a direct physical connection between the chip and the chip package decreases the inductive and capacitive effects commonly experienced with physical bonds.
US09305852B1	Silicon package for embedded electronic system having stacked semiconductor chips An electronic system comprises a first chip (101) of single-crystalline semiconductor including a first electronic device embedded in a second chip (102) of single-crystalline semiconductor shaped as a container having a slab (104) bordered by ridges (103), and including a second electronic device. The nested chips are assembled in a container of low-grade silicon shaped as a slab 130 bordered by retaining walls 131 and including conductive traces and terminals. The first electronic device is connected to the second electronic device by attaching the first chip onto the slab of the second chip; and the first and second electronic devices are connected to the container by embedding the second chip in the container, wherein the nested first and second chips operate as an electronic system and the container operates as the package of the system. For first and second devices as field effect transistors, the system is a power block.
US09305851B2	Systems and methods for chemical mechanical planarization with fluorescence detection Systems and methods are provided for performing chemical-mechanical planarization on an article. An example system for performing chemical-mechanical planarization on an article includes a polishing head configured to perform a chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) on an article, a polishing pad configured to support the article, a light source configured to emit an incident light, a polishing fluid including a plurality of emitter particles capable of emitting a fluorescent light in response to the incident light, a fluorescence light detector configured to detect the fluorescent light, and at least one processor configured to control the polishing head based on the detected fluorescent light.
US09305849B1	Method of making a three dimensional NAND device A monolithic three dimensional NAND string includes a semiconductor channel, an end part of the semiconductor channel extending substantially perpendicular to a major surface of a substrate, a plurality of control gate electrodes extending substantially parallel to the major surface of the substrate, a charge storage material layer located between the plurality of control gate electrodes and the semiconductor channel, a tunnel dielectric located between the charge storage material layer and the semiconductor channel, and a blocking dielectric containing a plurality of clam-shaped portions each having two horizontal portions connected by a vertical portion. Each of the plurality of control gate electrodes are located at least partially in an opening in the clam-shaped blocking dielectric, and a plurality of discrete cover oxide segments embedded in part of a thickness of the charge storage material layer and located between the blocking dielectric and the charge storage material layer.
US09305838B2	BEOL interconnect with carbon nanotubes An integrated circuit with BEOL interconnects may comprise: a substrate including a semiconductor device; a first layer of dielectric over the surface of the substrate, the first layer of dielectric including a filled via for making electrical contact to the semiconductor device; and a second layer of dielectric on the first layer of dielectric, the second layer of dielectric including a trench running perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the filled via, the trench being filled with an interconnect line, the interconnect line comprising cross-linked carbon nanotubes and being physically and electrically connected to the filled via. Cross-linked CNTs are grown on catalyst particles on the bottom of the trench using growth conditions including a partial pressure of precursor gas greater than the transition partial pressure at which carbon nanotube growth transitions from a parallel carbon nanotube growth mode to a cross-linked carbon nanotube growth mode.
US09305834B1	Methods for fabricating integrated circuits using designs of integrated circuits adapted to directed self-assembly fabrication to form via and contact structures Methods for fabricating integrated circuits using directed self-assembly to form via and contact holes are disclosed. An exemplary method includes determining a natural, hexagonal separation distance L0 between cylinders formed in a block copolymer (BCP) material during directed self-assembly (DSA) and determining an integrated circuit feature pitch PA according to the following formula: PA=L0(sqrt(3)/2)n, wherein n is a positive integer. The method further includes generating an integrated circuit layout design better accommodating the natural formation arrangement of polymeric cylinders, wherein integrated circuit features are spaced in accordance with the integrated circuit feature pitch PA and wherein via or contact structures are physically and electrically connected to the integrated circuit features and fabricating the integrated circuit features and the via or contact structures on a semiconductor work-in-process (WIP) in accordance with the integrated circuit layout design, wherein the via or contact structures are fabricated utilizing DSA with BCP material.
US09305832B2	Dimension-controlled via formation processing Methods are provided for dimension-controlled via formation over a circuit structure, including over multiple adjacent conductive structures. The method(s) includes, for instance, providing a patterned multi-layer stack structure above the circuit structure, the stack structure including at least one layer, and a pattern transfer layer above the at least one layer, the pattern transfer layer being patterned with at least one via opening; providing a sidewall spacer layer within the at least one via opening to form at least one dimension-controlled via opening; and etching through the at least one layer of the stack structure using the at least one dimension-controlled via opening to facilitate providing the via(s) over the circuit structure. In one implementation, the stack structure includes a trench-opening within a patterned hard mask layer disposed between a dielectric layer and a planarization layer, and the via(s) is partially self-aligned to the trench.
US09305829B2	Semiconductor package with an indented portion and manufacturing method thereof A semiconductor package includes a substrate, at least one electronic device, a lead frame, and a molded portion. The substrate has at least one indented portion formed as a groove therein. The electronic device is mounted on one surface of the substrate. The lead frame is bonded to the substrate and electrically connected to the electronic device. The molded portion seals the lead frame and the electronic device and includes at least one through hole extending the indented portion.
US09305826B2	Semiconductor substrate for photonic and electronic structures and method of manufacture A method of forming a substrate with isolation areas suitable for integration of electronic and photonic devices is provided. A common reticle and photolithographic technique is used to fabricate a mask defining openings for etching first and second trench isolation areas in a substrate, with the openings for the second trench isolation areas being wider than the openings for the first trench isolation areas. The first and second trench isolation areas are etched in the substrate through the mask. The second trench isolation areas are further etched to the deeper than the first trench isolation areas. The trench isolation areas are filled with oxide material. Electrical devices can be formed on the substrate and electrically isolated by the first trench isolation areas and photonic devices can be formed over the second trench isolation areas and be optically isolated from the substrate.
US09305819B2	Substrate processing system A first transfer apparatus unloads and transfers substrates from a cassette. A first accommodating unit accommodates the substrates. First substrate processing units divided into at least two groups and arranged in a height direction performs a process to the substrates. Second accommodating units respectively corresponding to the groups are arranged to be parallel with the first accommodating unit in the height direction. Second transfer apparatuses respectively corresponding to the groups unload and transfer the substrates from the second accommodating units corresponding to the same groups into the first substrate processing units of the same groups. Second substrate processing units respectively corresponding to the groups are arranged to be parallel with the first and second accommodating units in the height direction. A delivery apparatus delivers the substrates between the first and second accommodating units and transfers the substrates between the first accommodating unit and the second substrate processing units.
US09305816B2	Methods and devices for securing and transporting singulated die in high volume manufacturing A method includes identifying a wafer position for a plurality of die on a wafer, storing the wafer position for each of the plurality of die in a database, dicing the wafer into a plurality of singulated die, positioning each of the singulated die in a die position location on a tray, and storing the die position on the tray for each of the singulated die in the database. The database includes information including the wafer position associated with each die position. The tray is transported to a processing tool, and at least one of the plurality of singulated die is removed from the die position on the tray and processed in the processing tool. The processed singulated die is replaced in the same defined location on the tray that the singulated die was positioned in prior to the processing. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09305810B2	Method and apparatus for fast gas exchange, fast gas switching, and programmable gas delivery Embodiments of the invention relate to a gas delivery system. The gas delivery system includes a fast gas exchange module in fluid communication with one or more gas panels and a process chamber. The fast gas exchange module has first and second sets of flow controllers and each of first and second sets of flow controllers has multiple flow controllers. The flow controller is configured such that each of the flow controllers in the first and second sets of the flow controllers is independently operated to selectively open to divert gas to the process chamber or an exhaust. The first and second sets of flow controllers are operated for synchronized switching of gases in a pre-determined timed sequence of flow controller actuation. The invention enables fast switch of resultant gas flow in the process chamber while having individual flow controller operated at lower switching speed to provide longer service life.
US09305807B2	Fabrication method for microelectronic components and microchip inks used in electrostatic assembly Charge-encoded chiplets are produced using a sacrificial metal mask and associated fabrication techniques and materials that are compatible with typical semiconductor fabrication processes to provide each chiplet with two different (i.e., positive and negative) charge polarity regions generated by associated patterned charge-inducing material structures. A first charge-inducing material having a positive charge polarity is formed on a silicon wafer over previously-fabricated integrated circuits, then a sacrificial metal mask is patterned only over a portion of the charge-inducing material structure, and a second charge-inducing material structure (e.g., a self-assembling octadecyltrichlorosilane monolayer) is deposited having a negative charge polarity. The sacrificial metal mask is then removed to expose the masked portion of the first charge-inducing material structure, thereby providing the chiplet with both a positive charge polarity region and a negative charge polarity region.
US09305792B2	Texture-etchant composition for crystalline silicon wafer and method for texture-etching (1) Disclosed herein is an etching composition for texturing a crystalline silicon wafer, comprising, based on a total amount of the composition: (A) 0.1 to 20 wt % of an alkaline compound; (B) 0.1 to 50 wt % of a cyclic compound having a boiling point of 100° C. or more; (C) 0.00001 to 10 wt % of a silica-containing compound; and (D) residual water. The etching composition can maximize the absorbance of light of the surface of a crystalline silicon wafer.
US09305790B2	Device and method for knife coating an ink based on copper and indium The device for knife coating a layer of ink based on copper and indium on a substrate includes a supply tank of an ink, said tank collaborating with a coating knife. In addition, the device includes means that allow the ink, the substrate and the coating knife to be kept at different and increasing respective temperatures.
US09305782B2	Pitch reduction technology using alternating spacer depositions during the formation of a semiconductor device and systems including same A method for patterning a layer increases the density of features formed over an initial patterning layer using a series of self-aligned spacers. A layer to be etched is provided, then an initial sacrificial patterning layer, for example formed using optical lithography, is formed over the layer to be etched. Depending on the embodiment, the patterning layer may be trimmed, then a series of spacer layers formed and etched. The number of spacer layers and their target dimensions depends on the desired increase in feature density. An in-process semiconductor device and electronic system is also described.
US09305778B2	Controlled manufacturing method of metal oxide semiconductor and metal oxide semiconductor structure having controlled growth crystallographic plane A method of controlling a growth crystallographic plane of a metal oxide semiconductor having a wurtzite crystal structure by using a thermal chemical vapor deposition method includes controlling a growth crystallographic plane by allowing the metal oxide semiconductor to grow in a non-polar direction by using a source material including a thermal decomposition material that reduces a surface energy of a polar plane of the metal oxide semiconductor.
US09305773B2	Semiconductor device, nitride semiconductor wafer, and method for forming nitride semiconductor layer According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a functional layer of a nitride semiconductor. The functional layer is provided on a nitride semiconductor layer including a first stacked multilayer structure provided on a substrate. The first stacked multilayer structure includes a first lower layer, a first intermediate layer, and a first upper layer. The first lower layer contains Si with a first concentration and has a first thickness. The first intermediate layer is provided on the first lower layer to be in contact with the first lower layer, contains Si with a second concentration lower than the first concentration, and has a second thickness thicker than the first thickness. The first upper layer is provided on the first intermediate layer to be in contact with the first intermediate layer, contains Si with a third concentration lower than the second concentration, and has a third thickness.
US09305767B2	Liquid processing apparatus, liquid processing method and storage medium There is provided a liquid processing apparatus including a rotation unit configured to hold the target substrate and rotate the target substrate around a vertical axis; a processing solution supply nozzle configured to supply the processing solution to the surface of the target substrate being rotated; a first gas supply unit configured to form a downward flow of a first gas that flows over the entire surface of the target substrate and is introduced into a cup in order to form a processing atmosphere suitable for a liquid process to be performed; and a second gas supply unit configured to form a downward flow of a second gas different from the first gas in a region outside the downward flow of the first gas. The first gas supply unit and the second gas supply unit are provided at a ceiling portion of the housing serving as the processing space.
US09305750B2	Adjusting current ratios in inductively coupled plasma processing systems A plasma processing system for generating plasma to process at least a wafer. The plasma processing system may include a first coil for conducting a first current for sustaining at least a first portion of the plasma. The plasma processing system may also include a second coil for conducting a second current for sustaining at least a second portion of the plasma. The plasma processing system may also include a power source for powering the first current and the second current. The plasma processing system may also include a parallel circuit for adjusting one of the amperage of the first current and the amperage of the second current. The parallel circuit may be electrically coupled between the power source and at least one of the first coil and the second coil. The parallel circuit may include an inductor and a variable capacitor electrically connected in parallel to each other.
US09305728B2	Electromagnetic actuating apparatus, in particular for camshaft adjustment of an internal combustion engine An electromagnetic actuating apparatus with a first armature arrangement axially displaced between a rest and actuating position and connected to a first actuating element. A pole core is brought into magnetic operative connection with the first armature arrangement. An axially oriented coil unit is energized, influencing the magnetic connection between the first pole core and the first armature arrangement, and a second armature arrangement is connected to a second actuating element and axially displaced between a rest and actuating position. A second pole core can be brought into magnetic operative connection with second armature arrangement, its pole core oriented axially to first pole core influencing its magnetic operative connection with second armature arrangement. A permanent magnet unit, the magnet axis is oriented radially and stationary, generates magnetic operative connection both between the first pole core and first armature arrangement and between the second pole core and second armature arrangement.
US09305727B2	Systems, methods, and apparatuses for controlling the power supply of a vacuum cleaner motor Applicant has created systems, methods, and apparatuses for controlling the power supply of a vacuum cleaner motor. The systems and apparatuses include pressure taps to detect a pressure differential within a vacuum cleaner, a float that adjusts depending on an amount of liquid stored, and a power switch that toggles based on the pressure differential created by the position of the float. Alternatively, the float can be replaced by an air chamber so that the pressure differential is created by liquid rising above the volume of air trapped in the chamber. The method can include interrupting the current supplied to an electrical circuit of a power switch based upon a pressure differential created within the vacuum. By controlling the power supply to a vacuum cleaner motor based on a pressure differential created by the amount of liquid stored within the vacuum cleaner, the vacuum cleaner can automatically disable the vacuum cleaner's motor as the vacuum approaches its maximum liquid capacity.
US09305724B2	Circuit breaker A circuit breaker includes: a first arc-extinguishing chamber and a second arc-extinguishing chamber that interrupt a current by opening contact points and extinguish an arc during the current is being interrupted; and a connection unit that connects the first arc-extinguishing chamber and the second arc-extinguishing chamber to each other. The first arc-extinguishing chamber and the second arc-extinguishing chamber are connected to the connection unit in such a manner that shaft lines of the arc-extinguishing chambers form an angle of substantially 90 degrees. The first arc-extinguishing chamber is arranged on a side of the connection unit in such a manner that the shaft line thereof is substantially horizontal, and the second arc-extinguishing chamber is arranged on an upper side of the connection unit in such a manner that the shaft line thereof is substantially vertical.
US09305718B2	Electromagnetic relay An electromagnetic relay, includes: a first movable contact that comes in contact with a first fixed contact; a second movable contact that comes in contact with a second fixed contact; a first elastic body that biases the first movable contact; a second elastic body that biases the second movable contact; a pressing member that presses the first elastic body and contacts the first movable contact to the first fixed contact, presses the second elastic body and contacts the second movable contact to the second fixed contact; wherein the pressing member contacts the second movable contact to the second fixed contact before contacting the first movable contact to the first fixed contact.
US09305706B2	Fractional order capacitor Disclosed is a fractional order capacitor comprising a dielectric nanocomposite layer of thickness t, comprising a first side, and a second side opposite the first side, a first electrode layer coupled to the first side of the dielectric nanocomposite layer, a second electrode layer coupled to the second side of the dielectric nanocomposite layer, a complex impedance phase angle dependent on at least a material weight percentage of filler material in a dielectric nanocomposite layer.
US09305703B2	Systems for producing precision magnetic coil windings A wire disposing assembly having a support, an axial traverser sub-assembly, a support arm, and a linear stage is provided. The support is configured to receive a plurality of turns of a wire, where the support is configured to rotate. The axial traverser sub-assembly is operatively coupled to the support. Further, a rate of motion of the axial traverser sub-assembly is coupled to a speed of rotation of the support. The support arm includes a resin unit configured to dispose resin on at least a portion of the wire, and a wire disposing device configured to guide a portion of the wire being disposed on a surface of the support. The linear stage is operatively coupled to the support arm.
US09305699B2	Transformer driver circuit with IC protection circuitry A transformer driver circuit couples to a transformer having a primary winding, a secondary winding, and a transformer tap that is connected to a first voltage source. The primary winding electrically connects at its ends to respective unipolar controllable current sinks that form part of an integrated circuit. The transformer driver circuit operates by each current sink selectively sinking current from the end of the primary winding to which it is connected so as to cause current to flow in the secondary winding in a push-pull fashion. The transformer driver circuit further includes a load electrically connected to the secondary winding and protection circuitry operative to protect the integrated circuit from input levels greater than it can withstand.
US09305697B2	Integrated transformer An integrated transformer comprising a primary coil and a secondary coil, the primary coil comprising a first subsection and a second subsection, the first subsection extending in a different plane to a plane in which the second subsection extends, the planes spaced from one another, the secondary coil comprising a first subsection and a second subsection, the first subsection extending in a different plane to a plane in which the second subsection extends, the planes spaced from one another, wherein the first subsection of the primary coil is stacked with the second subsection of the secondary coil and the second subsection of the primary coil is stacked with the first subsection of the secondary coil.
US09305694B2	Oil-immersed solenoid An oil-immersed solenoid is provided with a casing including a base, a cylinder, and a flange in an integral manner, a fixed magnetic pole, a plunger having an armature, a guide pipe, a coil unit including a bobbin around which a coil is wound, and a cover, the fixed magnetic pole is integrated with the casing, and in the state where the plunger, the guide pipe, the coil unit, and the cover are attached in the cylinder of the casing, a front end of the cylinder is swaged, thereby holding the plunger, the guide pipe, the coil unit, and the cover in the casing.
US09305692B2	Ionization by magnetic induction for natural gas A magnetic ionization device is disclosed that reduces harmful Greenhouse Gases produced by the incomplete combustion of liquid or gaseous fossil fuels and increases performance efficiency. The magnetic ionization device comprises a pair of brackets secured together around a natural gas line, and at least two permanent rare earth magnet secured to the pair of brackets. The pair of brackets each comprises an interior surface and an exterior surface, and are generally curved or C-shaped. Furthermore, the brackets comprise a recess for receiving a portion of a natural gas line. Once the permanent rare earth magnets are secured to the brackets, the brackets and magnets can be coated with plastic, powder metal, or any other suitable protective layer as is known in the art. The pair of brackets is then secured together around a natural gas line via plastic ties, nuts, bolts, and/or washers, etc.
US09305687B2	Current sensing resistor A resistor device includes a resistor plate having opposite first and second surfaces; a first metal layer including first and second portions which are disposed on the first surface of the resistor plate at opposite first and second sides, respectively; and a second metal layer including a first sensing pad, a second sensing pad, a first current pad and a second current pad, separate from one another, wherein the first sensing pad and the first current pad are disposed on the first portion of the first metal layer and the second sensing pad and the second current pad are disposed on the second portion of the first metal layer. A protective layer is preferably provided, overlying the resistor plate and the first metal layer uncovered by the second metal layer.
US09305686B2	Multilayer ceramic electronic component and manufacturing method thereof There are provided a multilayer ceramic electronic component that does not require a heat treatment under a reduction atmosphere, and a manufacturing method thereof, wherein a conductive oxide is used as a material of internal and external electrodes and conductive layers having elasticity are formed on the external electrodes. In the case of the multilayer ceramic electronic component, a firing process may be performed under an air atmosphere, such that a manufacturing process may be simplified and manufacturing costs may be reduced.
US09305668B2	Pressurized water reactor flow skirt apparatus A pressurized water reactor vessel having a flow skirt formed from a perforated cylinder structure supported in the lower reactor vessel head at the outlet of the downcomer annulus, that channels the coolant flow through flow holes in the wall of the cylinder structure. The flow skirt is supported at a plurality of circumferentially spaced locations on the lower reactor vessel head that are not equally spaced or vertically aligned with the core barrel attachment points, and the flow skirt employs a unique arrangement of hole patterns that assure a substantially balanced pressure and flow of the coolant over the entire underside of the lower core support plate.
US09305667B1	Nuclear fuel alloys or mixtures and method of making thereof Nuclear fuel alloys or mixtures and methods of making nuclear fuel mixtures are provided. Pseudo-binary actinide-M fuel mixtures form alloys and exhibit: body-centered cubic solid phases at low temperatures; high solidus temperatures; and/or minimal or no reaction or inter-diffusion with steel and other cladding materials. Methods described herein through metallurgical and thermodynamics advancements guide the selection of amounts of fuel mixture components by use of phase diagrams. Weight percentages for components of a metallic additive to an actinide fuel are selected in a solid phase region of an isothermal phase diagram taken at a temperature below an upper temperature limit for the resulting fuel mixture in reactor use. Fuel mixtures include uranium-molybdenum-tungsten, uranium-molybdenum-tantalum, molybdenum-titanium-zirconium, and uranium-molybdenum-titanium systems.
US09305666B2	Prioritized repair of data storage failures Embodiments are directed towards managing data storage that may experience a data failure. If a repair event is associated with a data storage failure, a new repair task may be generated and added to a task list. A priority value for each repair task in the task list may be determined based in part on the mean-time-to-data-loss (MTTDL) value associated with each repair task in the task list such that a lower MTTDL may indicate a higher priority value over a lower MTTDL. One or more repair tasks may be promoted to become active repair tasks based on the priority value the repair tasks such that the promoted repair tasks have a higher priority that than other repair tasks in the task list, if any. Each active repair task may be executed to repair one or more associated the storage failures.
US09305665B2	Memory system and method of controlling memory system According to one embodiment, when loading of reverse lookup information from a nonvolatile first memory to a randomly accessible second memory has failed, a controller determines whether data at a first physical address is valid or invalid by using lookup information loaded from the first memory to the second memory.
US09305660B2	Page buffer connections and determining pass/fail condition of memories Apparatus and methods for determining pass/fail condition of memories facilitate array efficiencies. In at least one embodiment, a set of common lines, one for each rank of page buffers corresponding to a page, determine the pass/fail status of all connected memory cells, and the pass/fail status results for each line can be combined to determine a pass/fail for the page of memory.
US09305659B2	Dynamic program window determination in a memory device A memory device has an array of memory cells and a controller coupled to the array of memory cells. The controller is configured to determine a program window after a portion of a particular programing operation performed on the memory device is performed and before a subsequent portion of the particular programing operation performed on the memory device is performed. The controller is configured to determine the program window responsive to an amount of program disturb experienced by a particular state of a memory cell. The controller is configured to perform the subsequent portion of the particular programing operation performed on the memory device using the determined program window.
US09305656B2	Methods applying a non-zero voltage differential across a memory cell not involved in an access operation Methods applying a non-zero voltage differential across a memory cell not involved in an access operation can facilitate improved data retention characteristics.
US09305655B2	Solving MLC NAND paired page program using reduced spatial redundancy Reduced spatial redundancy of lower bits data provides data protection for a flash memory having MLC NAND devices operated in page mode. An interrupted write operation of most significant bit pages can corrupt previously written data in lower bit pages. The lower bits redundant memory assists in restoring the data, using less than a full back up storage.
US09305652B2	Semiconductor memory device and erasing method thereof Provided is a semiconductor memory device and a method of erasing the same. The semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array including a plurality of memory cells; and a peripheral circuit unit configured to apply a pre-erase voltage, an erase voltage, and an erase operation voltage to the memory cell array so as to erase data stored in the plurality of memory cells when an erase operation is performed. The memory cell array includes a plurality of source selection transistors, the plurality of memory cells, and a plurality of drain selection transistors that are connected between a source line and a bit line. When the pre-erase voltage is applied to the source line during the erase operation, different erase operation voltages are applied to an outermost source selection transistor adjacent to the source line among the plurality of source selection transistor and the other selection transistors.
US09305646B2	Semiconductor memory device A semiconductor memory device according to an embodiment comprises a memory cell and a control circuit, the control circuit performing write of data to the memory cell. The memory cell includes a second resistance varying layer sandwiched between a first resistance varying layer and a third resistance varying layer. The second resistance varying layer has a resistance value which is smaller than that of the other resistance varying layers. The control circuit applies to the memory cell a first voltage pulse, and then applies to the memory cell a second voltage pulse that has a rise time which is shorter than that of the first voltage pulse.
US09305643B2	Solid electrolyte based memory devices and methods having adaptable read threshold levels A method can include determining at least one use characteristic for the memory cells comprising a solid electrolyte, the use characteristic corresponding to a number of times the memory cells have been programmed to at least one impedance level; and adjusting a read threshold level for the memory cells based on at least the use characteristic, the read threshold level determining data values stored in the memory cells in a read operation.
US09305640B2	Asymmetric log-likelihood ratio for flash channel Disclosed is a system and method for reading flash memory cells with dynamically adjusted probability values (e.g., log-likelihood ratios). In connection with reading bit values from flash memory cells, one or more predetermined first probability values are adjusted relative to one or more predetermined second probability values. The one or more predetermined first probability values are associated with reading one or more memory cells programmed to a first binary value, and the one or more predetermined second probability values are associated with reading one or more memory cells programmed to a second binary value. The plurality of bit values read from the plurality of non-volatile memory cells and the one or more adjusted first probability values are provided to a decoder for use in decoding the plurality of bit values.
US09305639B2	Read-detection in multi-level cell memory A method and apparatus for detecting N-symbol codewords. The method including: reading q-level memory cells to obtain a read signal having N signal components; detecting the memory cell level corresponding to each component using a first correspondence criterion dependent on reference signal levels; identifying unreliable components; detecting, for each unreliable component, the next-most-closely corresponding memory cell level according to the first correspondence criterion; defining a set of ordered codeword vectors having N symbols corresponding to respective components of the read signal ordered according to a signal level, wherein the symbol values in each ordered codeword vector correspond to one combination of detected memory cell levels; defining, for each read signal, candidate initial vectors having intersected the ordered codeword vectors and plurality of initial vectors; and detecting, if the candidate initial vectors contains a vector, the codeword corresponding to that read signal that depends on the candidate initial vectors.
US09305638B1	Operation method for memory device Operation methods for a memory device is provided. An operation method for the memory device comprises programming the memory device as described in follows. Data are provided. The data comprise a plurality of codes. Each number of the codes is counted. Then, a mapping rule is generated according to each number of the codes. In the mapping rule, each of the codes is mapped to one of a plurality of verifying voltage levels which are sequentially arranged from low to high. After that, the data are programmed into the memory device according to the mapping rule.
US09305635B2	High density memory structure A semiconductor memory comprises a plurality of sub banks each including one or more rows of memory bit cells connected to a set of local bit lines, wherein the sub banks share a same set of global bit lines for reading/writing data from/to the memory bit cells of the sub banks. The semiconductor memory chip further comprises a plurality of switch elements for each of the sub banks, wherein each of the switch elements connects the local bit line and the global bit line of a corresponding one of the memory bit cells in the sub bank for data transmission between the local bit line and the global bit line. The semiconductor memory chip further comprises a plurality of bank selection signal lines each connected to the switch elements in a corresponding one of the sub banks, wherein the bank selection signal lines carry a plurality of bank selection signals to select one of the sub banks for data transmission between the local bit lines and the global bit lines.
US09305633B2	SRAM cell and cell layout method Embodiments include an array of SRAM cells, an SRAM cell, and methods of forming the same. An embodiment is an array of static random access memory (SRAM) cells including a plurality of overlapping rectangular regions. Each of overlapping rectangular regions including an entire first SRAM cell, a portion of a second adjacent SRAM cell in a first corner region of the rectangular region, and a portion of a third adjacent SRAM cell in a second corner region of the rectangular region, the second corner region being opposite the first corner region. Embodiments also include multi-finger cell layouts.
US09305631B1	Profiling method of address access count of semiconductor device and profiling circuit using the same Provided is a profiling unit and method for profiling a number of times that an input/output address of a semiconductor device is accessed. The profiling unit includes a hash unit configured to produce at least one hash value by perform a hash operation on the input/output address, and a profiling circuit configured to profile the number of times that the input/output address is accessed by using the at least one hash value.
US09305629B2	Integrated capacitor based power distribution An embodiment provides power (having low voltage, high current, and high current density) to ultra low voltage non-CMOS based devices using a distributed capacitor that is integrated onto the same chip as the non-CMOS devices. For example, an embodiment provides a spin logic gate adjacent dielectric material and first and second plates of a capacitor. The capacitor discharges low voltage/high current to the spin logic gate using a step down switched mode power supply that charges numerous capacitors during one clock cycle (using a switching element configured in a first orientation) and discharges power from the capacitors during the opposite clock cycle (using the switching element configured in a second orientation). The capacitors discharge the current out of plane and to the spin logic devices without having to traverse long power dissipating interconnect paths. Other embodiments are described herein.
US09305628B2	Self-referenced magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and method for writing to the MRAM cell with increased reliability and reduced power consumption MRAM cell including a magnetic tunnel junction including a sense layer, a storage layer, a tunnel barrier layer and an antiferromagnetic layer exchange-coupling the storage layer such that the storage magnetization can be pinned when the antiferromagnetic layer is below a critical temperature and freely varied when the antiferromagnetic layer is heated at or above the critical temperature. The sense layer is arranged such that the sense magnetization can be switched from a first stable direction to another stable direction opposed to the first direction. The switched sense magnetization generates a sense stray field being large enough for switching the storage magnetization according to the switched sense magnetization, when the magnetic tunnel junction is heated at the writing temperature. The disclosure also relates to a method for writing to the MRAM cell with increased reliability and reduced power consumption.
US09305608B2	Memory device with reduced operating current A memory device may including a first local bit line electrically connected with a first memory cell, a first global bit line electrically connected with the first local bit line, a second local bit line electrically connected with a second memory cell, and a second global bit line electrically connected with the second local bit line. The first global bit line is primarily charged with electric charge. The first global bit line and the second global bit line share the primarily charged electric charge. The second global bit line is secondarily charged with the electric charge.
US09305606B2	High-speed wireless serial communication link for a stacked device configuration using near field coupling A memory module houses stacked memory devices and a memory controller each having a near-field interface coupled to loop antennas to communicate over-the-air data. A coil is formed on a memory device substrate or molded into a plastic mold to create near-field magnetic coupling with the stacked memory devices and the memory controller.
US09305605B2	Discrete three-dimensional vertical memory The present invention discloses a discrete three-dimensional vertical memory (3D-MV). It comprises at least a 3D-array die and at least a peripheral-circuit die. The 3D-array die comprises a plurality of vertical memory strings. At least an off-die peripheral-circuit component of the 3D-MV arrays is located on the peripheral-circuit die instead of the 3D-array die. The 3D-array die and the peripheral-circuit die have substantially different back-end-of-line (BEOL) structures.
US09305603B2	Method and apparatus for indexing a video stream Embodiments including a method and apparatus for indexing a video stream are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for indexing a video stream comprises accessing a video stream comprising a plurality of frames. For each frame, the method determines salient points computes a cross entropy value for each salient point, and sums the cross entropy values to form a frame information number. A sequence of frame information numbers for the plurality of frames in the video streams forms an index value for the video stream.
US09305591B2	Adaptive correction of symmetrical and asymmetrical saturation in magnetic recording devices A magnetic recording device includes a preprocessor, an interpolator and a slicer. The preprocessor receives at least n saturated input signals including an nth saturated input signal The preprocessor is configured to process each of the n saturated input signals to produce a corresponding nth output signal. The n output signals include an nm output signal from the nth saturated input signal. The interpolator processes the nth output signal to determine an nth interpolator output. The slicer determines an nth slicer output for the nh output signal. The nth slicer output is at one of three different levels. The preprocessor can receive and process an n +1th saturated input signal to produce an n +1th output signal that is based on a difference between the nth interpolator output and the level of the nth slicer output.
US09305589B2	Method to determine presence of rotator and method to adjust optimal gain A rotation driving system and a method to determine the presence of a rotator on a turntable are provided. The rotation driving system includes an encoder to detect rotation information of a motor, and a controller to determine whether or not a rotator is present on a turntable and also, to adjust a gain of the motor according to moment of inertia of the rotator.
US09305585B2	Recording device The present invention provides a recording device that offers a large displacement control effect. The recording device includes a recording medium 224, a motor 222 that drives the recording medium, and a recording device head M1 that records and reproduces a signal to and from the recording medium. The recording device also has a displacement control mechanism M2. The displacement control mechanism M2 includes a vibrating plate 226 that has two opposing surfaces facing the recording medium, the vibrating plate being displaced in the rotation axis direction of the recording medium; and an oscillator 232 that is positioned away from the two opposing surfaces of the vibrating plate facing the recording medium, the oscillator driving and displacing the vibrating plate.
US09305568B2	Active acoustic filter with socially determined location-based filter characteristics There is disclosed active acoustic filter systems and methods. A processor is disposed within a housing configured to interface with a user's ear. A memory stores data defining one or more locations and a respective set of location-based processing parameters associated with each of the one or more locations. A personal computing device external to the housing is coupled to the processor via a first wireless communications link. The personal computing device determines a current location of the active acoustic filter system. The processor generates digitized processed sound by processing digitized ambient sound in accordance with a set of location-based processing parameters retrieved from the memory, the retrieved set of location-based processing parameters associated with the current location of the active acoustic filter system as determined by the personal computing device.
US09305566B2	Audio signal processing apparatus A computing part computes a correlation coefficient representing a level of correlation among acoustic signals for a plurality of channels. A filtering part smoothes a time variation of the correlation coefficient computed. A center component reducer reduces a correlation component that is common in the acoustic signals by using the correlation coefficient. Then, the correlation component extracted by the reducer is reduced from each of the acoustic signals.
US09305562B2	Non main CPU/OS based operational environment A computing system is described that includes a main system bus that remains active while said computing system operates within a non main CPU/OS based operational state. The computing system also includes a controller that operates functional tasks while the computing system is within the non main CPU/OS based operational state. The computing system also includes an I/O unit coupled to the main system bus that remains active while the computing system operates within the non main CPU/OS based operational state.
US09305558B2	Multi-channel audio encoding/decoding with parametric compression/decompression and weight factors The invention includes several techniques and tools, which can be used in combination or separately. For example, an audio encoder can encode information directly using coding processes that include a windowed overlapped transform, a selective multi-channel transform, scalar quantization and entropy encoding. The audio encoder can also encode information parametrically according to a parametric compression mode that accounts for audibility of distortion according to an auditory model. A corresponding audio decoder can decode first information directly and second information according to the parametric decompression mode.
US09305552B2	Systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for transcription alignment Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for captioning a media presentation. The method includes receiving automatic speech recognition (ASR) output from a media presentation and a transcription of the media presentation. The method includes selecting via a processor a pair of anchor words in the media presentation based on the ASR output and transcription and generating captions by aligning the transcription with the ASR output between the selected pair of anchor words. The transcription can be human-generated. Selecting pairs of anchor words can be based on a similarity threshold between the ASR output and the transcription. In one variation, commonly used words on a stop list are ineligible as anchor words. The method includes outputting the media presentation with the generated captions. The presentation can be a recording of a live event.
US09305545B2	Speech recognition vocabulary integration for classifying words to identify vocabulary application group A method for vocabulary integration of speech recognition comprises converting multiple speech signals into multiple words using a processor, applying confidence scores to the multiple words, classifying the multiple words into a plurality of classifications based on classification criteria and the confidence score for each word, determining if one or more of the multiple words are unrecognized based on the plurality of classifications, classifying each unrecognized word and detecting a match for the unrecognized word based on additional classification criteria, and upon detecting a match for an unrecognized word, converting at least a portion of the multiple speech signals corresponding to the unrecognized word into words.
US09305537B2	Signal processing apparatus concealing impulse noise by autoregressive modeling A signal processing apparatus (100) comprising a noise detector (102) configured to: receive a stream of information representative of a stream of audio signal samples (112); and detect samples in the received stream of information (112) that are distorted by impulse noise in order to generate a noise detection signal (114), wherein the noise detection signal (114) also identifies preceding and succeeding samples that are undistorted. The signal processing apparatus (100) also comprises a processor (104) configured to replace distorted samples in the received stream of information with composite predicted values (426; 526) to provide a reconstructed stream of audio signal samples (116).
US09305524B2	Electronic musical instrument An electronic musical instrument capable of suppressing resonance of a soundboard and reducing a peak dip of the frequency characteristic of a musical tone to enable excellent musical sound to be obtained. The soundboard has first and second ends which extend parallel to each other. The first and second ends are secured to a predetermined part of the instrument by first screws and second screws. A vibration exciter is provided on the soundboard and driven according to a musical tone signal to vibrate the soundboard to cause the soundboard to generate a musical tone. The first and second screws are arranged along the respective first and second ends in a staggered manner such that each first screw and each first screw are not opposed to each other in symmetrical relation in a direction orthogonal to the first and second ends.
US09305519B2	Image color adjusting method and electronic device using the same An image color adjusting method and an electronic device thereof are provided. The image color adjusting method includes following steps: obtaining multiple groups of first pixel data of an image in a first color space, and performing a color space transforming process for the first pixel data to obtain multiple groups of second pixel data of the image in a CIELAB color space, wherein each of the second pixel data includes a luminance component L, a first color component a and a second color component b*; adjusting the first color component and the second color component of the second pixel data to obtain multiple groups of third pixel data, and performing a color space transforming process for the third pixel data to obtain multiple groups of fourth pixel data corresponding to the third pixel data in the first color space.
US09305516B1	Electronic device According to one embodiment, an electronic device comprises, as an example, a memory, a receiver, and a transmitter. The memory is configured to store therein first extended display identification data (EDID) and second EDID comprising a different version of the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) from the first EDID. The receiver is configured to receive a video signal from another electronic device. The transmitter is configured to send the first EDID comprising an identification bit to the another electronic device, the another electronic device being configured to respond to the identification bit when the another electronic device supports the version of the HDMI of the second EDID, and to send the second EDID to the another electronic device when the receiver has received a response corresponding to the identification bit from the another electronic device.
US09305513B1	Electrowetting display device control method A method of controlling an electrowetting display device with display elements arranged in a matrix with n rows. In examples each display element is addressable with a voltage pulse having a pulse duration longer than Tf/n, where Tf is a pre-determined frame period for addressing the n rows. In examples the pulse duration may be longer than ReCe, with Re being an electrical resistance of an electrically conductive fluid of a display element and Ce being an electrical capacitance of a capacitor of the display element.
US09305506B2	VCOM amplifier with transient assist circuit Electronic devices with a VCOM display panel are configured to provide a common voltage VCOM to a VCOM display panel backplane, referred to as a VCOM reference plane. The common voltage is supplied by a VCOM application circuit coupled to the VCOM reference plane. The VCOM application circuit includes a linear amplifier, such as a Class AB amplifier, coupled to a switched transient assist circuit configured to output the common voltage. The switched transient assist circuit stabilizes the amplifier in the presence of large transient output currents but with minimized power dissipation and heat rise in the amplifier.
US09305496B2	Electric field driving display device It is an object to provide an electric field driving display device capable of displaying a high quality image and to provide an electric field driving display device in which residual images in an outline of a pixel is prevented from occurring. An insulating film is formed over a second electrode and a plurality of first electrodes are provided over the insulating film. Each of the first electrodes is electrically connected to the second electrode. The second electrode is provided to partly overlap a region between the adjacent two first electrodes. In other words, viewing the top and the bottom of the display device, the adjacent first electrodes are provided apart from each other and the second electrode is provided to embed a space between the adjacent first electrodes.
US09305487B2	Organic light emitting diode display and method for driving display panel thereof An OLED display and a method for driving a display panel thereof are provided. The layout area of each pixel of the OLED display panel is specially designed to be a rectangle in shape, and the pixels are driven in such a manner that each two sub-pixels are taken as a unit to be driven. As such, according to the interaction manner among sub-pixels of the pixels, two sub-pixels can be viewed as one pixel to achieve more pixels within 1 inch in comparison with the conventional panels, which enables the current AMOLED driving circuit designs to be used in specific high resolution applications.
US09305485B2	Organic light emitting display and driving method thereof The present invention relates to a driving method of an organic light emitting display which is capable of displaying images at uniform luminance. A driving method of an organic light emitting display of an embodiment according to the present invention includes supplying a data signal to a pixel and, after the data signal is supplied, driving the pixel in a constant-voltage system during a first time period and in a constant-current system during a second time period.
US09305483B2	Display device including a timing controller with a self-recovery block and method for driving the same A display device and a method for driving the same are discussed. The display device includes an image processing unit, a timing controller which receives various signals through a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) connected to the image processing unit, and a display module displaying an image under the control of the timing controller. The timing controller includes a logic block for controlling the display module, and a self-recovery block which outputs a self-command signal for escaping an abnormal state when the logic block is faced with the abnormal state due to an external environment factor.
US09305476B2	Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) composition for shallow trench isolation (STI) applications and methods of making thereof Methods for removing, reducing or treating the trace metal contaminants and the smaller fine sized cerium oxide particles from cerium oxide particles, cerium oxide slurry or chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) compositions for Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) process are applied. The treated chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) compositions, or the CMP polishing compositions prepared by using the treated cerium oxide particles or the treated cerium oxide slurry are used to polish substrate that contains at least a surface comprising silicon dioxide film for STI (Shallow trench isolation) processing and applications. The reduced nano-sized particle related defects have been observed due to the reduced trace metal ion contaminants and reduced very smaller fine cerium oxide particles in the Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) CMP polishing.
US09305474B2	Motorized gift package accessory The motorized gift package accessory of the present disclosure and related inventions include a base portion, which can be attached, adhesively or otherwise, to a gift package, such as a gift box. An accessory portion is attached to the base portion and contains one or more mobile elements which can be set in motion by a small or miniature motor. User interaction with the motorized gift package accessory is required to initiate the motor which in turn effects movement of the one or more mobile elements.
US09305471B1	Display for use in managing a patient A display system for use by a caregiver team in managing a patient includes a substrate panel arranged to be suspended on a wheelchair with a clock face printed on the front surface with at least one manually movable hand to display a selected time. A first window display on the front surface is manually set a selected time period to visit the patient. A plurality of alternate operations on the patient to reduce pressure issues is printed on the rear and a selected one is indicated to the caregiver by moving a marker so that the caregiver is required by the clock time on the clock face to attend the patient, to carry out the selected action and to reset the clock time by an increment determined by the time period and so that the failure to attend the patient is immediately visible.
US09305470B2	Cu alloy film for display device and display device The present invention provides a display device which is provided with a Cu alloy film having high adhesion to an oxygen-containing insulator layer and a low electrical resistivity. The present invention relates to a Cu alloy film for a display device, said film having a stacked structure including a first layer (Y) composed of a Cu alloy containing, in total, 1.2-20 atm % of at least one element selected from among a group composed of Zn, Ni, Ti, Al, Mg, Ca, W, Nb and Mn, and a second layer (X) composed of pure Cu or a Cu alloy having Cu as a main component and an electrical resistivity lower than that of the first layer (Y). A part of or the whole first layer (Y) is directly in contact with an oxygen-containing insulator layer (27), and in the case where the first layer (Y) contains Zn or Ni, the thickness of the first layer (Y) is 10-100 nm, and in the case where the first layer (Y) does not contain Zn and Ni, the thickness of the first layer (Y) is 12-100 nm. The present invention also relates to a display device having the Cu alloy film.
US09305469B2	Method of mounting subsea antifouling signs A subsea antifouling sign and a method for mounting such a sign on a structure to be located subsea. The sign comprises a body of an antifouling material, and a first surface of the body has indicia or markings thereon. An adhesive layer or coating is provided on a second opposing surface, and a protective lining is located on the adhesive layer or coating. The method comprises removing the protective lining from the adhesive layer or coating; and attaching the subsea antifouling sign to the structure by adhering the adhesive layer or coating to a surface of the structure.
US09305464B2	Parking assistance system, method for operating a parking assistance system, computer program, computer-readable medium and motor vehicle A parking assistance system is provided for a motor vehicle, with a sensor device which is configured to measure a distance of the motor vehicle from an object and an intrinsic speed of the motor vehicle, with a warning device, which is configured to compare the measured distance with a distance threshold value and to output a warning signal if the measured distance drops below the distance threshold value. The warning device is configured to adapt the distance threshold value taking the measured intrinsic speed into account. Furthermore, a method is provided for operating a parking assistance system, a computer program, a computer-readable medium and a motor vehicle.
US09305460B1	Roadway warning light detector and method of warning a motorist A warning light detector and system to alert a motorist of warning lights is provided. The warning light detector includes a camera that takes digital images of a field of view in front of the automobile, and a detection program to detect any warning lights analyzes these digital images. A control system of the detector activates an alert feature, such as a sound and/or light, to alert the motorist of a warning light when one has been detected by the detection program.An alert feature may be a sound emitted from a speaker or light that flashes and the alert feature may be configured on the detector or be transmitted through the automobile's stereo, warning, or navigational system, for example. A detector may be a mobile device, such as a mobile phone and a warning light detector application program may be downloaded to the mobile device.
US09305447B2	Electronic article surveillance tag deactivation A method and system for producing an electromagnetic field that exhibits a strong near field that is sufficient to deactivate an electronic article surveillance, EAS, tag and a weak far field that is insufficient to deactivate the EAS tag are disclosed. According to one embodiment, two half-wavelength dipoles spaced apart by about a half-wavelength are excited by oppositely phased signals.
US09305443B2	LED security sensor A door sensor system comprising door sensor circuit and a sensor support circuit. The door sensor circuit has the anode of a first LED and the anode of a second LED coupled to a supply voltage terminal. The door sensor circuit has one or more reed switches, each with a first terminal coupled to the first LED cathode and a second terminal coupled to a sensor output terminal. The door sensor circuit has a Zener diode with a cathode coupled to the second LED cathode and an anode coupled to the sensor output terminal. The sensor support circuit is configured to generate, based on the voltage at the sensor output terminal, a first signal if the door is open, a second signal if the door is closed, and a third signal if tampering with the door sensor system is detected.
US09305437B1	Heuristics for media dispensing in automated teller machines (ATMs) According to embodiments described in the specification, a method of dispensing media from an ATM is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: at an electronic device including a processor, a memory, and a touch-sensitive display, displaying a first mix of media items for dispensing by the ATM; receiving input from the touch-sensitive display including a first mix adjustment parameter; applying a heuristic based on the received first mix adjustment parameter, and, at the ATM, dispensing a second mix of media items, the second mix responsive to the application of the heuristic.
US09305436B2	Gaming machine In a gaming machine including a symbol region where reels having symbols are arranged in predetermined arrangement. The symbols are displayed in an arranged manner in longitudinal and transverse directions. A reel control unit that independently controls movement and stop of each of the reels, such that the symbols appearing in the symbol region change and a winning determination unit that determines whether the symbols appearing on a valid line set to span the reels form a predetermined winning pattern, when each of the reels is stopped, layers are set in the symbol region, and in the gaming machine, at least one reel is disposed in each layer, a symbol group is provided in at least one specific reel arranged in a specific layer of the layers in such a manner that symbols capable of forming at least portion of the winning pattern are arranged in the symbol group.
US09305431B2	Multi-player video poker game and method thereof A method of playing a video poker game comprising: inviting a plurality of players to play a video poker game, wherein each participating player plays an individual hand dealt from a separate standard 52 card deck for that participating player; placing a wager to begin play by each participating player, wherein there is at least two participating players; dealing five cards to each participating player face up from the separate standard 52 card deck for that participating player, wherein each participating player may one of: hold, fold, or replace any of the five cards; dealing replacement cards to each participating player from the separate standard 52 card deck for that participating player for each participating player who selects to replace any of the five card dealt to that participating player; determining if any of the participating players has a winning wager by verifying if remaining five cards of each participating player matches a poker hand stated on a pay table; and paying each participating player having a winning wager from the wager placed by each participating player.
US09305424B2	System for managing an electronic gaming machine group Various embodiments are directed to gaming systems and related methods for managing one or more electronic gaming machines (EGMs). The gaming system includes a network management system capable of establishing one or more groups (or collections) of gaming machines. The groups of gaming machines may be defined according to one or more gaming machine characteristics. The grouping of the gaming machines on the casino floor allows the system to dynamically configure these different groups of gaming machines.
US09305411B2	Automatic device and vehicle pairing via detected emitted signals Methods and systems for a vehicle system that includes intercepting signals associated with a device and isolating identifiers associated with the device. The vehicle registers the device with a vehicle control system.
US09305408B2	Multiple electronic control unit diagnosing system and method for vehicle A multiple electronic control unit (ECU) diagnosing system and a method thereof for a vehicle by which a diagnosis time for an ECU can be shortened by using an Ethernet protocol and a communication gateway. The multiple ECU diagnosing system for the vehicle applies a multiple ECU diagnosing algorithm of a one-to-n method which is more efficient than a diagnosis algorithm of a one-to-one method between diagnostic equipment. ECUs for the vehicle are connected through various communication networks (K-Line, CAN, LIN, FlexRay, and MOST) by using a communication gateway transferring messages and signals between the ECUs, thus significantly shortening a diagnosis time for the ECUs and acquiring a large amount of diagnosis information at the same time.
US09305404B2	RFID vehicle tag with manually adjustable data fields An RFID tag for use in a vehicle for use in an electronic toll collecting system. The tag is capable of transmitting data to a tag interrogator indicating the occupancy status of the vehicle. In an embodiment, the tag has a user input and a visual and audible tag status indicator. The user input is used to change the occupancy status of the tag, wherein the occupancy status is a portion of a message sent by radio frequency to the interrogator when the vehicle passes through a toll area.
US09305395B2	Dental imaging apparatus The invention relates to a dental imaging apparatus which includes an x-ray imaging means and at least one color camera for photographing the face of a patient positioned at the imaging station of the apparatus, which at least one color camera is arranged to image the patient's face positioned at the patient support station from different directions, and means arranged into functional connection with said at least one color camera for creating a virtual three-dimensional texture model of the patient's face.
US09305392B2	Fine-grained parallel traversal for ray tracing Techniques are disclosed for tracing a ray within a parallel processing unit. A first thread receives a ray or a ray segment for tracing and identifies a first node within an acceleration structure associated with the ray, where the first node is associated with a volume of space traversed by the ray. The thread identifies the child nodes of the first node, where each child node is associated with a different sub-volume of space, and each sub-volume is associated with a corresponding ray segment. The thread determines that two or more nodes are associated with sub-volumes of space that intersect the ray segment. The thread selects one of these nodes for processing by the first thread and another for processing by a second thread. One advantage of the disclosed technique is that the threads in a thread group perform ray tracing more efficiently in that idle time is reduced.
US09305390B2	System and method for mapping two-dimensional image data to a three-dimensional faceted model A method for mapping a two-dimensional image data onto a three-dimensional graphic model of an object includes taking a plurality of two-dimensional images of the object. Each two-dimensional image has data, such as temperature data, which is desired to be represented on the three-dimensional graphic model. The three-dimensional model of the object is viewed on a graphic user interface. The three-dimensional model has a plurality of facets, each facet being configured for selectively receiving the data from the two-dimensional images, so that the two-dimensional images are mapped onto the facets of the three-dimensional model. The three-dimensional model can then be analyzed.
US09305388B2	Bit-count texture format A system, method, and computer program product are provided for using a bit-count texture format. A rasterized coverage bit mask is received by a texture processing unit from a bit-count format texture map, the rasterized coverage bit mask is converted to a scalar value, and the scalar value is processed while the rasterized coverage bit mask is retained in the bit-count format texture map. The coverage bit mask may be converted by computing a count of samples that are covered by at least one graphics primitive according to the rasterized coverage bit mask.
US09305384B2	Hybrid image decomposition and projection Hybrid image projection systems and methods can superimpose image components of an input image. An input image can be divided into smaller regions and at least one parameter of each region can be determined. The input image can be decomposed based on the parameter of each region into multiple, less correlated, orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal image components. Each projector can display respective image components so that the images projected may be optically superimposed on a screen. The superposition of orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal image components can result in superposition of images in an existing multi-projector image systems being more insensitive to inter-projector image misalignment. Superimposing orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal images can be used to avoid visible image degradation, and provide more robust image quality in a multiple projector system implementation.
US09305380B2	Generating land cover for display by a mapping application Some embodiments provide a method for conflating geometries to a road in a map region for an electronic mapping service. The method receives a first geometry representing a road. The method receives several geometries arranged such that a gap representing the road is between the geometries. The gap is not aligned with the first geometry representing the road. The method expands the geometries toward the first geometry such that the geometries converge at the first geometry. The road geometry is for drawing over the plurality of other geometries by a client mapping application.
US09305377B2	Method and apparatus to detect and correct motion in list-mode PET data with a gated signal A PET scanner (20, 22, 24, 26) generates a plurality of time stamped lines of response (LORs). A motion detector (30) detects a motion state, such as motion phase or motion amplitude, of the subject during acquisition of each of the LORs. A sorting module (32) sorts the LORs by motion state and a reconstruction processor (36) reconstructs the LORs into high spatial, low temporal resolution images in the corresponding motion states. A motion estimator module (40) determines a motion transform which transforms the LORs into a common motion state. A reconstruction module (50) reconstructs the motion corrected LORs into a static image or dynamic images, a series of high temporal resolution, high spatial resolution images.
US09305369B2	Method and system for data compression A method and a system for data compression are provided. The method may include: obtaining scanning data to be compressed; compressing the scanning data using a first compression method and a second compression method to obtain a first compressed data and a second compressed data respectively, where a compression ratio of the first compressed data is lower than a compression ratio of the second compressed data; and determining whether the compression ratio of the first compressed data meets a predetermined compression ratio requirement, if yes, determining the first compressed data as a compression result data corresponding to the scanning data, if no, determining the second compressed data as a compression result data corresponding to the scanning data. Scanning data compressed by the method or the system can meet target compression requirements.
US09305368B2	Compression and decompression of graphics data using pixel region bit values Techniques related to graphics rendering including techniques for compression and/or decompression of graphics data by use of pixel region bit values are described.
US09305364B2	Motion estimation systems and methods A motion estimation system is disclosed. The motion estimation system may include one or more memories storing instructions, and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to receive, from a scanning device, scan data representing at least one object obtained by a scan over at least one of the plurality of sub-scanning regions, and generate, from the scan data, a sub-pointcloud for one of the sub-scanning regions. The sub-pointcloud includes a plurality of surface points of the at least one object in the sub-scanning region. The one or more processors may be further configured to execute the instructions to estimate the motion of the machine relative to the at least one object by comparing the sub-pointcloud with a reference sub-pointcloud.
US09305359B2	Image processing method, image processing apparatus, and computer program product According to an aspect of the present invention, an image processing method for extracting a pixel having a specific feature includes: extracting pixels representing an object, to which the pixel having the specific feature belongs, from a given input image based on an image feature other than color; extracting principal colors from the pixels; selecting, from a plurality of pre-trained color distribution models deposited in a repository, a color distribution model closest in distance metric, which indicates distance relative to the extracted principal colors, to the extracted principal colors by performing a search through the repository using the extracted principal colors; and segmenting the input image by categorizing pixels in the input image using the selected color distribution model.
US09305349B2	Apparatus and method for detecting lesion An apparatus and method for detecting a lesion, which enables to adaptively determine a parameter value of a lesion detection process using a feature value extracted from a received medical image and a parameter prediction model to improve accuracy in lesion detection and lesion diagnosis. The apparatus and the method include a model generator configured to generate a parameter prediction model based on pre-collected medical images, an extractor configured to extract a feature value from a received medical image, and a determiner configured to determine a parameter value of a lesion detection process using the extracted feature value and the parameter prediction model.
US09305343B2	Observation device and observation method A plurality of images is captured, and the plurality of images is integrated and displayed after one or more ROIs included in the captured images are extracted and classified. At integration, an integration method is controlled according to a classification result of the ROI.
US09305340B2	Drawing device and drawing program A reference point determinator determines, as a reference point, the center of each pixel where a sloped line is located. A candidate line generator generates candidate lines each connecting between a point in a pixel having the start point of the sloped line extracted by an endpoint extractor, and a point in a pixel having the end point of the sloped line. A candidate line selector selects a candidate line having the smallest sum total of distances between the candidate line and the reference points from the candidate lines generated by the candidate line generator. A data corrector corrects the sloped line to the candidate line selected by the candidate line selector.
US09305333B1	Display with square root of two aspect ratio An apparatus may include a housing, an electronic display region, and a controller. The electronic display region may be coupled to the housing, and may have a rectangular shape with a length and a width, the length being approximately a square root of two (√2) times longer than the width. In response to an indication that the housing and the display region have been rotated from the portrait mode to a landscape mode, the controller may be configured to display a first image and a second image, the first image having an aspect ratio defined by a second length of the first image divided by a second width of the first image, wherein the second length is different from the first length, the second width is different from the first width, the second aspect ratio is substantially equal to the first aspect ratio, and the first image being rotated by ninety degrees (90°) from the first orientation with respect to the axis.
US09305330B2	Providing images with zoomspots Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for providing images having zoomspots are provided. In embodiments, an interactive image is provided. Such an interactive image includes a zoomspot that, if selected, results in a magnified portion of the interactive image corresponding with the zoomspot. Subsequently, an indication of a selection of the zoomspot is received. In response thereto, the magnified portion of the interactive image corresponding with the zoomspot is automatically presented. The magnified portion can be presented in accordance with a predetermined location of the interactive image and a predetermined quality.
US09305325B2	Neighbor context caching in block processing pipelines Methods and apparatus for caching neighbor data in a block processing pipeline that processes blocks in knight's order with quadrow constraints. Stages of the pipeline may maintain two local buffers that contain data from neighbor blocks of a current block. A first buffer contains data from the last C blocks processed at the stage. A second buffer contains data from neighbor blocks on the last row of a previous quadrow. Data for blocks on the bottom row of a quadrow are stored to an external memory at the end of the pipeline. When a block on the top row of a quadrow is input to the pipeline, neighbor data from the bottom row of the previous quadrow is read from the external memory and passed down the pipeline, each stage storing the data in its second buffer and using the neighbor data in the second buffer when processing the block.
US09305322B2	Native application testing In one embodiment, a method includes deploying an application to a plurality of client system, providing a treatment of the application to a set of client systems by receiving a request from the client system, determining whether the client system belongs in a treat group, remotely activating the treatment, and synchronizing activation of the treatment in response to subsequent requests, and receiving exposure data from the set of client system identifying exposure of the users to the treatment.
US09305311B2	Mobile price matching of planned purchase items A method may include receiving, from users, information identifying items purchased by the users, the information including a price for each of the items, and storing the information in a database. The method may also include receiving, from a second number of users, additional information identifying items purchased by the second users, the additional information including a price for each of the items, and identifying a first item in the database that matches a second item associated with purchases by one of the second users. The method may further include determining whether the price for the second item is lower than the price for the first item stored in the database and updating the database to include the second price for the first item, in response to determining that the second price is lower than the first price.
US09305310B2	Enabling a user to verify a price change for an on-demand service A method for enabling a user to verify a price change for an on-demand service is provided. One or more processors can determine a real-time price for providing the on-demand service to the user. The one or more processors can determine when the real-time price is equal to or exceeds a threshold price. In response to a request from the user for the on-demand service when the real-time price is equal to or exceeds the threshold price, an intermediate interface can be provided that the user is to correctly respond to before a service request can be transmitted to a service system.
US09305306B2	Method and system for autonomously delivering information to drivers A method delivers information to satisfy current needs of a driver of a vehicle, by first acquiring data related to a current state of the vehicle. The current state and a predictive model are passed to a predictive procedure to determine choice probabilities for nodes in a choice tree (CT). Based on the choice probabilities, information related to the current needs to the driver are selected from a database storing commercial and non-commercial information. Then, the information is delivered to the driver, wherein the delivering is autonomous of the driver.
US09305304B2	Methods and apparatuses to select communication tracking mechanisms Methods and apparatuses to select tracking mechanisms for the performance determination of advertisements. One embodiment includes: selecting one reference type from a plurality of reference types; and determining a reference of the selected type, the reference to be embedded in an advertisement to count communication leads generated from the advertisement. In one embodiment, the advertisement is to be charged according to a performance measure based on communication leads generated from the advertisement. For example, a price for the advertisement can be specified by a party for which the advertisement is to be presented. For example, the advertisement can be charged in response to a voice communication responding to the advertisement. In one embodiment, the plurality of reference types correspond to different mechanisms to track communication leads generated from the advertisement.
US09305300B2	System and method for managing and updating information relating to economic entities Methods and systems for managing and updating information relating to economic entities using sets of unique identifiers. A universe database contains record entries. Each of the record entries is associated with a unique universe identifier. A customer database contains customer record entries. Each customer record entry is associated with a unique customer identifier. A conversion table provides a mapping between the unique universe identifiers and the unique customer identifiers. The information contained in the customer database is updated using the unique universe identifiers, unique customer identifiers and the conversion table. The unique universe identifiers and the unique customer identifiers are stable over a period of time.
US09305296B1	Method and apparatus for third party control of a device A method and apparatus for third party control of a device have been disclosed. By utilizing a third party to control a device, view and control of a device may be separated.
US09305294B2	Systems and methods for transmitting magnetic stripe data A device and method for waveform transmission of transaction card data to a merchant point-of-sale device are provided. The device includes a memory device for storing data, a processor, and a transmitter. The device is programmed to receive transaction card data that mimics data stored within a magnetic stripe associated with a transaction card, convert the transaction card data to a first data file for storage within the memory device, transmit the first data file to the transmitter, and transmit a first waveform from the transmitter to the POS device, wherein the first waveform includes changes in a magnetic field that represent the transaction card data.
US09305270B2	Synchronization of recipe structures and bill of materials including the adjustment to manufacturing requirements A system and method of synchronizing recipes and bills of materials (BOM). An approved recipe is parameterized in a planning interface. A BOM is synchronized with the parameterized recipe. The BOM is then displayed in a graphical user interface to allow a user to modify by a resolve conflict present during synchronization.
US09305265B2	Method and system for probabilistic processing of data using a bit matrix, tuples, and hash values A method for probabilistic processing of data, wherein the data is provided in form of a data set S composed of multidimensional n-tuples of the form (x1, . . . , xn), is characterized in that an n-dimensional data structure is generated by way of providing a bit matrix, providing a number K of independent hash functions Hk that are employed in order to address the bits in the matrix, and inserting the n-tuples (x1, . . . , xn) into the bit matrix by computing the hash values Hk(x) for all values x of the n-tuple for each of the number K of independent hash functions Hk, and by setting the resulting bits [Hk(x1), . . . , Hk(xn)] of the matrix. Furthermore, a respective system is disclosed.
US09305252B1	Systems and methods for RFID-enabled pressure sensing apparatus Methods, apparatuses and systems for radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled information collection are disclosed, including an enclosure, a collector coupled to the enclosure, an interrogator, a processor, and one or more RFID field sensors, each having an individual identification, disposed within the enclosure. In operation, the interrogator transmits an incident signal to the collector, causing the collector to generate an electromagnetic field within the enclosure. The electromagnetic field is affected by one or more influences. RFID sensors respond to the electromagnetic field by transmitting reflected signals containing the individual identifications of the responding RFID sensors to the interrogator. The interrogator receives the reflected signals, measures one or more returned signal strength indications (“RSSI”) of the reflected signals and sends the RSSI measurements and identification of the responding RFID sensors to the processor to determine one or more facts about the influences. Other embodiments are also described.
US09305249B2	Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and computer-readable medium for rasterizing scan line using intermediate data An image forming apparatus which divides image data into predetermined unit blocks and forms an image, the apparatus comprises: a determination unit that determines continuous block lines, that include closed regions having identical components, among a plurality of block lines included in a block; a generation unit that generates data of an intermediate language of each of the blocks using pieces of information of the plurality of block lines and the determination result obtained by the determination unit; a selection unit that selects an image forming method corresponding to the data of the intermediate language of each of the blocks, that is generated by the generation unit; and a forming unit that forms an image of the data of the intermediate language of each of the blocks, in accordance with the image forming method selected by the selection unit.
US09305242B2	Method and image processing apparatus for image visibility restoration using fisher's linear discriminant based dual dark channel prior A method and an image processing apparatus for image visibility restoration are provided. The method includes the following steps. After an incoming hazy image is received, each of the incoming pixels is classified as either belonging to a localized light region or a non-localized light region. The localized light region is partitioned into patches according to each patch size in associated with image sizes in a training data set. Localized light patches are determined based on a FLD model and a designated patch size is accordingly determined. Adaptive chromatic parameters and dual dark channel priors corresponding to the designated patch size and a small patch size are determined. The incoming hazy image is restored according to the adaptive chromatic parameters, atmospheric light and a transmission map determined based on the dual dark channel priors to produce and output a de-hazed image.
US09305241B2	Systems and methods for reducing a data set Systems and methods for reducing a point cloud data set are provided. According to aspects of the present disclosure, a method includes receiving a point of a point cloud data set, the point having three-dimensional coordinates. The point's coordinates are mapped to a location to determine whether a different point's coordinates have already been mapped to the location. The point is discarded when a different point's coordinates have been mapped to the location.
US09305240B2	Motion aligned distance calculations for image comparisons Image comparison techniques allow a quick method of recognizing and identifying faces or other objects appearing in images. A series of quick distance calculations can be performed between an unknown input image and a reference image. These calculations may include facial detection, normalization, discrete cosine transform calculations, and threshold comparisons to determine whether an image is recognized. In the case of identification uncertainty, slower but more precise motion aligned distance calculations are initiated. Motion aligned distance calculations involve generating a set of downscaled images, determining motion field and motion field-based distances between an unknown input image and reference image, best scale factors for aligning an unknown input image with reference images, and calculating affine transformation matrices to modify and align an unknown input image with reference images.
US09305239B2	Detecting and processing small text in digital media A method for recognizing small-font sized text including receiving digital media of a natural scene, the digital media having at least one frame that includes the small-font sized text; generating input maps having values that reflect local properties of corresponding regions in the at least one frame; and detecting regions of the at least one frame that contain the small-font sized text by integrating information from the input maps. The integrated information may include information located between border lines having active pixels therebetween and gaps having a high ratio of non-ink pixels located below a bottom border line and above a top border line in relation to a dominant direction of the text. The active pixels may be pixels having dense changes in character stroke directions.
US09305228B1	Processing damaged items using image data lift Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for processing damaged items using image data lift are presented. In some embodiments, a computing platform may receive image data of a deposit item. Subsequently, the computing platform may determine whether a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line of the deposit item is readable. If the MICR line is not readable, the computing platform may perform an image data lift on the image data to extract information from one or more visible fields of the deposit item. Then, the computing platform may identify a payor of the deposit item based on the extracted information and may determine whether the deposit item is an on-us item. If the deposit item is an on-us item, the computing platform may rebuild MICR information for the deposit item. Thereafter, the computing platform may process the deposit item for deposit based on the rebuilt MICR information.
US09305224B1	Method for instant recognition of traffic lights countdown image A method for instant recognition of traffic lights countdown image that can quickly scan and confirm the circular feature image of a traffic light, and retrieve the countdown image thereof by calculating the displacement ratio from the circular image, then enhance, cut and converse the countdown image to display a feature image thereof, and proceed similarity comparison with collected data to calculate the percentage of similarity. The method eventually brings out a result from the image comparisons, so as to fulfill the effectiveness of searching and instantly recognizing the countdown image of a traffic light.
US09305223B1	Vision-based indicator signal detection using spatiotemporal filtering An autonomous vehicle is configured to detect an active turn signal indicator on another vehicle. An image-capture device of the autonomous vehicle captures an image of a field of view of the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle captures the image with a short exposure to emphasize objects having brightness above a threshold. Additionally, a bounding area for a second vehicle located within the image is determined. The autonomous vehicle identifies a group of pixels within the bounding area based on a first color of the group of pixels. The autonomous vehicle also calculates an oscillation of an intensity of the group of pixels. Based on the oscillation of the intensity, the autonomous vehicle determines a likelihood that the second vehicle has a first active turn signal. Additionally, the autonomous vehicle is controlled based at least on the likelihood that the second vehicle has a first active turn signal.
US09305218B2	Methods and systems for identifying, marking, and inventorying large quantities of unique surgical instruments An apparatus for automatically identifying a surgical instrument, the apparatus comprising a capture module, an attribute database, a comparison module, and an exporting module, the capture module comprising hardware operable to capture multiple attributes of the surgical instrument, the attribute database comprising multiple stored attributes of a plurality of reference surgical instruments, the comparison module programmed to generate a comparison score for the surgical instrument, wherein the comparison module is programmed to generate the comparison score by receiving multiple attributes captured by the capture module and comparing it to the multiple attributes stored in the attribute database, and the exporting module configured to receive and export the comparison score generated by the comparison module.
US09305216B1	Context-based detection and classification of actions Actions or activities occurring within an environment may be detected, recognized and classified based on the presence or absence of objects within the environment, which may be recognized within imaging data. The states or changes in states of the objects may be tracked within the imaging data and associated with one or more actions or activities with various probabilities. By tracking the motion of objects, rather than the motion of humans or other actors, the detection and classification of actions or activities may be performed more quickly and efficiently, and may be used to determine the timing associated with one or more steps of such activities, as well as whether each of the steps of an activity has been satisfactorily performed and in an appropriate order.
US09305215B2	Apparatus, method and computer readable recording medium for analyzing video using image captured from video An apparatus for analyzing a video capture screen includes: a video frame extracting unit extracting at least one frame from a video having a plurality of frames; an extracted frame digitizing unit digitizing features of each of the at least one frame extracted by the video frame extracting unit; an image digitizing unit digitizing features of at least one collected search target image; an image comparing and searching unit comparing the search target image with the at least one frame extracted from the plurality of frames by digitized values of the collected search target image and the at least one frame; and a search result processing unit mapping related information of the collected search target image to a frame coinciding with the search target image and storing the related information in a database, when the extracted at least one frame coinciding with the search target image is present in a comparison result.
US09305210B2	Electronic apparatus and method for processing document According to one embodiment, an electronic apparatus includes a display controller, a detector and a processor. The display controller displays a document on a screen of a touch screen display, the document including one or more elements corresponding to a first layer and one or more elements corresponding to a second layer. The detector is configured to detect a position and a contact pressure of a first contact on the screen. The processor is configured to delete either a first element corresponding to the first layer or a second element corresponding to the second layer, by using the position and the contact pressure of the first contact.
US09305206B2	Method for enhancing depth maps A system for enhancing a depth map associated with a 2D image wherein a face detector analyzes the 2D image to determine a position of a face in the 2D image, the system utilizes the position to derive a depth model; and the depth model is combined with the depth map to generate an enhanced depth map.
US09305202B2	Portable device having fingerprint recognition function A portable device having fingerprint recognition function includes an image sensing unit, a microprocessor, a signal transmitting unit, a carrying member, a cleaning unit, and a housing. It is characterized that the cleaning unit removes residual fingerprint from the image sensing unit while the carrying member moves in and out of the housing. The portable device of the present invention is free from fingerprint residue and can reduce security risks.
US09305192B2	Tuneable NFC-enabled device An NFC-enabled device configured at least in part as an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit including a controller and a plurality of capacitors. The controller is operable to control one or more of the plurality of capacitors to vary an operating parameter of the NFC-enabled device.
US09305189B2	Ruggedized, compact and integrated one-way controlled interface to enforce confidentiality of a secure enclave A rugged, integrated network interface appliance for ensuring secure data transfer comprising send-only network interface circuitry comprising a microprocessor, a program memory, a first host interface, and a first serial interface; receive-only network interface circuitry comprising a microprocessor, a program memory, a second host interface, and a second serial interface; a single data link connecting the first serial interface of the send-only network interface circuitry to the second serial interface of the receive-only network interface circuitry that is configured such that the send-only network interface circuitry is configured not to receive any data from said data link, and the receive-only network interface circuitry is configured not to send any data to said data link.
US09305178B2	Brokering data access requests and responses The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for brokering data access requests and responses. Aspects of the invention include a brokering pipeline that sequentially processes data access requests and data access responses. The brokering pipeline manages access authentications, request brokering, response rewrite, cache, and hosting multiple (e.g., business) entities.
US09305177B2	Source identification for unauthorized copies of content Systems and methods for authentication generate keys from secret credentials shared between authenticating parties and authenticators. Generation of the keys may involve utilizing specialized information in the form of parameters that are used to specialize keys. Keys and/or information derived from keys held by multiple authorities may be used to generate other keys such that signatures requiring such keys and/or information can be verified without access to the keys. Keys may also be derived to form a hierarchy of keys that are distributed such that a key holder's ability to decrypt data depends on the key's position in the hierarchy relative to the position of a key used to encrypt the data. Key hierarchies may also be used to distribute key sets to content processing devices to enable the devices to decrypt content such that sources or potential sources of unauthorized content are identifiable from the decrypted content.
US09305175B2	Data communication system, device, and method A data communication device that can communicate with an external device includes a scanner, a log-in processing unit, a sending unit, and a log-out processing unit. The scanner inputs image data. The log-in processing unit enables a user to log in to the data communication device. The user who logs in to the data communication device can submit an instruction to send image data input by the scanner to the external device. The sending unit sends the image data input by the scanner to the external device. The log-out processing unit enables the user to log out of the data communication device even if sending of the image data is not completed. Even if the user logs out of the data communication device after the user has submitted the instruction and before sending of the image data is completed, the sending unit continues the sending of the image data.
US09305159B2	Secure system for allowing the execution of authorized computer program code Systems and methods for selective authorization of code modules are provided. According to one embodiment, a kernel mode driver monitors events occurring within a file system or an operating system. Responsive to observation of a trigger event performed by or initiated by an active process, in which the active process corresponds to a first code module within the file system and the event relates to a second code module within the file system, performing or bypassing a real-time authentication process on the second code module with reference to a whitelist containing content authenticators of approved code modules, which are known not to contain viruses or malicious code. The active process is allowed to load the second code module into memory when the real-time authentication process is bypassed or when it is performed and determines a content authenticator of the code module matches one of the content authenticators.
US09305153B1	User authentication There is disclosed a user authentication device for generating time-varying authentication information for authenticating a user in an authentication system. The device comprising at least one sensor for sensing at least one of a biometric measurement of the user and a characteristic of the environmental surroundings of the device.There is also disclosed an authentication system and a method for authenticating a user in an authentication system.
US09305144B2	Digital receipt for use with an interoperable keychest There is provided a system and method for a digital receipt for use with an interoperable keychest. There is provided a method for online registration of a digital receipt associated with a content, comprising performing a transaction to obtain from a first distributor the content encrypted by a title key and a first digital rights management (DRM) license usable with the first distributor to access the title key, receiving from the first distributor the digital receipt associated with the content including information relevant to the transaction, and transmitting the digital receipt to the interoperable keychest acting as a central key repository (CKR) for an online registration of the digital receipt associated with the content. Authorized media distributors may then generate new DRM licenses using the CKR, enabling interoperable content playback of the same universal file across different media distributors and clients.
US09305143B2	Broadcasting of electronic documents preserving copyright and permitting private copying A method of broadcasting electronic documents allowing the protection of copyright and private copying includes a network accessible control server taking customer orders, network accessible delivery and control servers, and equipment supporting a display for consulting the document. Each document copy is generated by the delivery server based on the document model ordered. A controller verifies digital rights in force at consultation time, and contains other digital rights acquired by the customer. Copy generation is triggered by the customer activating a URL link to the delivery server. This link was previously sent to the customer via electronic messaging by the order server, containing at least the unique identifier of the copy ordered. The copy is loaded onto the customer's equipment on completion of generation and can be consulted only after issuing a request to the control server containing the unique identifier, and the receipt of the response permitting consultation.
US09305142B1	Buffer memory protection unit Embodiments described herein include systems and methods for managing security of a storage subsystem. Certain of these embodiments involve the use of a buffer protection module configured to intelligently police requests for access to the subsystem buffer memory.
US09305136B2	Determining a layout and wiring estimation for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system of a building Devices, methods, and systems for determining a layout and wiring estimation for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system of a building are described herein. One method includes receiving information from a building information model associated with a building, receiving information from a pre-engineering tool associated with the building, and determining a layout and wiring estimation for an HVAC system of the building based, at least in part, on the information from the building information model and the information from the pre-engineering tool.
US09305132B1	Approximate calculation of 2D matrix entries via GPU Minimizing memory access by converting a given matrix computation into a set of low-order polynomials. The set of polynomials is processed using parallel computational hardware such as graphical processing units.
US09305122B1	Computationally efficient method for building quantum heterostructures A computationally efficient method for building a superlattice structure that improves an optoelectronic device performance characteristic that depends on fundamental superlattice material properties such as absorption coefficient α(ω), radiative efficiency Rsp and/or electron density n.
US09305121B2	Method and system for modeling fractures in ductile rock Method and systems for modeling fractures in quasi-brittle materials are provided. An exemplary method included generating a model that incorporates a unified creep-plasticity (UCP) representation into a constitutive model for a ductile rock. The model may be used in a finite element analysis to model hydraulic fractures in the ductile rock.
US09305116B2	Dual DFA decomposition for large scale regular expression matching An apparatus includes a data processing system for matching a first input string with a first regular expression set. The data processing system includes a processor, a memory storing a computer program, a processor configured to execute the computer program. The computer program includes instructions for performing mapping at least two related symbols of the first regular expression set to a unique symbol, generating a second input string by replacing each instance of the at least two related symbols in the first input string with the unique symbol, and operating a first state machine on the input string and a second state machine on the second input string to determine whether the first input string matches with the first regular expression set.
US09305112B2	Select pages implementing leaf nodes and internal nodes of a data set index for reuse Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for selecting pages implementing leaf nodes and internal nodes of a data set index for reuse in memory. Pages in the memory are allocated to internal nodes and leaf nodes of a tree data structure representing all or a portion of a data set index for the data set, wherein the leaf nodes include information on members of the data set. The internal nodes include one or more keys used to traverse the tree data structure to reach the leaf nodes to access the members of the data set. At least one page allocated to the leaf nodes and the internal nodes is selected based on durations during which the allocated pages have not been used. Pages allocated to the leaf nodes are selected for reuse at a higher rate than the pages allocated to the internal nodes.
US09305106B1	Open web architecture and gadget workbench for cyber situational awareness and method therefor A design and implementation of open web architecture for cyber situational awareness is disclosed herein. The architecture is user-centric, web-based and service-oriented to increase the flexibility of user dashboard and utilization of third-party provided information and web services. A method disclosed herein includes accessing a gadget workbench including a workflow to be executed by a web gadget. The method also includes interacting a data source with the workflow, interacting an analysis module with the workflow, and interacting a visualization module with the workflow. The method further includes generating the web gadget based on the data source, the analysis module and the visualization module.
US09305091B2	Anchor tag indexing in a web crawler system Provided is a method and system for indexing documents in a collection of linked documents. A link log, including one or more pairings of source documents and target documents is accessed. A sorted anchor map, containing one or more target document to source document pairings, is generated. The pairings in the sorted anchor map are ordered based on target document identifiers.
US09305085B2	Online thread retrieval using thread structure and query subjectivity Methods and arrangements for handling queries for a discussion thread. A contemplated method includes: receiving a query; automatically classifying the query as subjective, objective or neither; and upon classifying the query as subjective or objective: calculating, for discussion threads of the query, at least one of: a subjectivity score and an objectivity score; determining a degree of relevance to the query of at least one of: the discussion threads, and at least one post in the at least one discussion thread; and ranking the discussion threads based on said calculating and determining. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein.
US09305082B2	Systems, methods, and interfaces for analyzing conceptually-related portions of text A method includes analyzing a cluster of conceptually-related portions of text to develop a model and calculating a novelty measurement between a first identified conceptually-related portion of text and the model. The method further includes transmitting a second identified conceptually-related portion of text and a score associated with the novelty measurement from a server to an access device via a signal. Another method includes determining at least two corpora of conceptually-related portions of text. The method also includes calculating a common neighbors similarity measurement between the at least two corpora of conceptually-related portions of text and if the common neighbors similarity measurement exceeds a threshold, merging the at least two corpora of conceptually-related portions of text into a cluster or if the common neighbors similarity measurement does not exceed a threshold, maintaining a non-merge of the at least two corpora of conceptually-related portions of text.
US09305080B2	Accelerating queries using delayed value projection of enumerated storage A system, method, and computer program product for processing a database query are presented. Steps for identifying a table needed to resolve the query, creating an enumeration value, determining whether the enumeration value is semantically equivalent to data from a data field in the table, and using a temporary data structure to evaluate the query are disclosed.
US09305078B2	Registration of CIM agent to management agent and system A Common Information Model (CIM) agent is registered to a management agent in a computing environment by a processor device. The management agent is discovered by the CIM agent in a management domain in response to an insertion of the CIM agent into the management domain. At least one of information of the CIM agent and the discovered management agent is registered by the CIM agent. The management agent is compliant with the CIM agent. The management agent is determined by matching a management object scope, or safety strategy in a predefined strategy of the discovered management agent with a management object, or safety strategy of the CIM agent.
US09305073B1	Systems and methods for facilitation communications among customer relationship management users A method for synchronizing Customer Relationship Management data between a Software as a Service (“SaaS”) CRM provider and a mobile device. This method enables both read and write access from the mobile device whether a network connection to the SaaS provider is available or not. The method involves creating a local mobile device database to track portions or all of the SaaS provider database. In the case where a network separation occurs and the device and SaaS databases diverge, the synchronization method may be used to make the mobile device database and the SaaS database consistent and coherent again. In one embodiment, multiple local database tables are used to represent a single SaaS CRM table to facilitate synchronization, and a status indicator is used to visually and quickly convey status to the mobile user.
US09305072B2	Information storage system and data replication method thereof An exemplary information storage system of the present invention includes a plurality of information storage nodes and an administration node. The administration node determines the defined number of information storage nodes for storing the data having the identical content to each of received data. The received data belong to the defined number of categories, respectively. In a case where use of a first information storage node in the plurality of information storage nodes is interrupted, each storage node replicates the data of an identical content to data stored in the first information storage node whose category is pre-associated with a category of the data stored in the first information storage node to an information storage node selected according to a predetermined sequence.
US09305070B2	Continuous change data capture without disruption of DDL A system, method and computer-readable medium for data capture for replication are provided. A data record from a transaction log of a source database indicative of a data element change is retrieved. A DDL command is generated from the retrieved data record. Once generated, the DDL command is distributed for replication to a target database such that the source database and the target database are synchronized.
US09305063B1	Determining geographic areas of interest for a query Methods, systems, and apparatus for selecting geographic areas of interest for a query. A method includes for each query stored in search log data, determining an origin location for each occurrence of the query, determining a content location for each occurrence of the query, for each of a plurality of catchment areas, determining catchment area matches for the query based on the origin location of each occurrence of the query and the content location of the occurrence of the query, determining, for each catchment area, a catchment area score that is indicative of an interest level for the catchment area for a query, the determination based on a number of catchment area matches for the catchment area for the query and selecting, for the query and based on the catchment area scores for the catchment areas, one of the catchment areas as a selected catchment area for the query.
US09305052B2	System and method for queried patient abstract A system and method for generating a patient abstract containing data about a patient selected from the patient's medical records is presented. A medical order for a patent is analyzed and at least one term is extracted from the medical order. Based upon the extracted term, at least one medical concept related to an extracted term is identified. Then at least one medical data element related to an identified medical concept is identified. A database containing at least a portion of the patient's medical records is queried for the identified at least one medical data element, and at least a portion of a result from the query is displayed, for example, via a user interface.
US09305050B2	Aggregator, filter and delivery system for online context dependent interaction, systems and methods A method of providing information to a user is provided. The method includes; establishing an user system interface between a client device and an information system; processing informal queries input from the client device with at least one neural network that converts the informal queries from the client device into formal queries; storing interface context in a browser of the client device, the interface context created in forming formal queries from informal queries, wherein the client device contains unique interface context in the client device's browser that is secure to the client device, the interface context aiding in the determination of future formal queries from future informal queries; searching at least one database in response to the formal queries; and providing responses to the informal queries processed by the neural network to a user through the client device.
US09305045B1	Data-temperature-based compression in a database system A database system may include a storage array including a plurality of storage devices configured to store database data. The database system may further include a processor in communication with the memory device. The processor may be further configured to determine usage frequency of the database data. The processor may be configured to select a subset of the database data for compression based on the usage frequency. The processor may be further configured to perform the compression of the selected subset of the database data. A method and computer-readable medium may also be implemented.
US09305032B2	Framework for generating programs to process beacons In one embodiment, a method receives an object model determined from a specification for processing beacons. The method determines first information for a beacon object referenced in a basefact object to determine which beacon objects are applicable for the basefact object. Second information is determined for the structured data fields referenced in the basefact object to determine which output fields map to which structured data fields and third information is determined for a set of transformations for a set of input fields in the set of composite objects for the beacon to determine how to perform transformations to transform the set of input fields to the set of output fields. The method then generates instructions for a target program to process the beacons to transform the set of input fields to the set of output fields and map the set of output fields to the structured data fields.
US09305025B2	Content selection based on image content Methods, systems, and apparatus, include computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, for determining keywords for an image that supports an overlay content item. A method includes identifying, using one or more processors, an image that is to support an overlay content item, the image being presented on a web site and including a portion that is designated as being enabled to receive and display the overlay content item; evaluating pixel data associated with the image including determining one or more labels that are associated with content included within the image; and determining one or more keywords for the image based at least in part on the one or more labels.
US09305023B2	Storing and retrieving large images via DICOM Systems, methods, and media for storing a digital image using the Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) standard. In an embodiment, a digital image at a first resolution is divided into a plurality of regions. Each of the plurality of regions is stored as a separate DICOM image file. In addition, each of the DICOM image files is associated with a DICOM series representing the digital image at the first resolution.
US09305010B1	Virtual file system providing interface between analytics platform and physical file system A virtual file system is arranged between a physical file system and an analytics platform comprising a plurality of compute nodes, and is configured to control movement of data between the analytics platform and the physical file system. For example, the virtual file system may be configured to present to the analytics platform a software application programming interface (API) through which the analytics platform accesses data stored in the physical file system. The analytics platform illustratively comprises a unified analytics platform that is configurable to support both database analytics and map-reduce analytics. In some embodiments, the physical file system comprises one or more of a Lustre file system, a Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and a General Parallel File System (GPFS), and the virtual file system comprises a parallel log-structured file system (PLFS).
US09305009B1	Synchronous replication of virtualized storage processors A technique for managing replication of VSPs (Virtualized Storage Processors) proceeds on a per-VSP basis by (i) identifying the data objects associated with a VSP, (ii) establishing a common set of replication settings across all of the data objects associated with the VSP, and (iii) replicating the VSP by replicating each of the identified data objects associated with the VSP in accordance with the common set of replication settings established across all of the data objects associated with the VSP. The technique avoids the need for administrators to separately configure and manage replication on large numbers of individual data objects and thus reduces administrative burdens.
US09305006B2	Media compression in a digital device Some embodiments of a method to automatically compress content in a digital device have been presented. In some embodiments, available data storage space in the digital device is monitored. When the available data storage space falls below a predetermined threshold, a user of the digital device is automatically asked whether the user allows compression of one or more types of content stored on the digital device in order to increase data storage space available.
US09305002B2	Method and apparatus for eventually consistent delete in a distributed data store Techniques for effective delete operations in a distributed data store with eventually consistent replicated entries include determining to delete a particular entry from the distributed data store. Each entry includes a first field that holds data that indicates a key and a second field that holds data that indicates content associated with the key and a third field that holds data that indicates a version for the content. The method also comprises causing, at least in part, actions that result in marking the particular entry as deleted without removing the particular entry, and updating a version in the third field for the particular entry.
US09304987B2	Content creation support apparatus, method and program According to one embodiment, a content creation support apparatus includes a speech synthesis unit, a speech recognition unit, an extraction unit, a detection unit, a presentation unit and a selection unit. The speech synthesis unit performs a speech synthesis on a first text. The speech recognition unit performs a speech recognition on the synthesized speech to obtain a second text. The extraction unit extracts feature values by performing a morphological analysis on each of the first and second texts. The detection unit compares a first feature value of a first difference string and a second feature value of a second difference string. The presentation unit presents correction candidate(s) according to the second feature value. The selection unit selects one of the correction candidates in accordance with an instruction from a user.
US09304985B1	Promoting content Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, and including a computer-implemented method for providing creatives. The method comprises identifying, using one or more processors, a creative for processing, the creative including a title portion and a body portion, where the body portion includes a visual uniform resource locator (URL), the visual URL comprising a visual portion and a link to a resource. The method further comprises evaluating the visual URL for inclusion in the title portion, including determining when promotion of the visual URL satisfies one or more promotion criterion, and if so, promoting the visual URL for inclusion in the title portion. The method further comprises providing the creative including the title portion with the promoted visual URL.
US09304983B2	Method and system for Xform generation and processing application integration framework The present invention is a method, system and framework for generating and processing XForms documents. Utilizing the method, system and framework of the present invention, developers need only write loosely coupled components that implement the minimal application-specific interface code, and the method, system and framework coordinates the generation and processing based on a description of the form's lifecycle. It also allows developers to reuse components created for other integrations that implemented the framework. The advantage of the method, system and framework is to significantly reduce development effort to integrate XForms with a vast number of applications, while all known solutions are specific to a single integration case.
US09304978B2	Maintenance of XML documents A system and a method of maintaining extensible markup language (XML) document includes splitting an XML document into fragments according to rules stored in a configuration file, binding each of the fragments to an object in a content management system, and providing a reference between the XML document and the fragments.
US09304977B2	Methods and apparatus for character set control, verification and reporting Systems and methods for character set control, verification and reporting are provided. In an example embodiment, a data evaluation system comprises at least one module, executing on one or more computer processors, to implement a language and character set phase in which an authorized character set comprising authorized characters is defined; a document phase including receipt of an input document, the input document comprising document characters; a detection phase including a comparison of the document characters against the authorized characters in the authorized character set to detect unauthorized characters in the input document not forming part of the authorized character set; and a reporting phase including display of the unauthorized characters to a user.
US09304974B1	Determining an effect on dissemination of information related to an event based on a dynamic confidence level associated with the event Methods and apparatus related to determining an effect on dissemination of information related to an event based on a dynamic confidence level associated with the event. For example, an event and an event confidence level of the event may be determined based on a message of a user. An effect on dissemination of information related to the event may be determined based on the confidence level. A new confidence level may be determined based on additional data associated with the event and the effect on dissemination of information may be adjusted based on the new confidence level. In some implementations, the additional data may be based on a new message that is related to the message, such as a reply to the message.
US09304971B2	Lookup table sharing for memory-based computing Methods and systems for memory-based computing include combining multiple operations into a single lookup table and combining multiple memory-based operation requests into a single read request. Operation result values are read from a multi-operation lookup table that includes result values for a first operation above a diagonal of the lookup table and includes result values for a second operation below the diagonal. Numerical inputs are used as column and row addresses in the lookup table and the requested operation determines which input corresponds to the column address and which input corresponds to the row address. Multiple operations are combined into a single request by combining respective members from each operation into respective inputs an reading an operation result value from a lookup table to produce a combined result output. The combined result output is separated into a plurality of individual result outputs corresponding to the plurality of requests.
US09304965B2	Scheduling apparatus and method for load balancing when performing multiple transcoding operations According to one embodiment, a scheduling method for load balancing in an electronic device such as a server when performing multiple transcoding operations includes performing a first transcoding operation in order to transmit at least one moving image file to a first terminal. The server receives a request from a second terminal to transmit at least one moving image file while performing the first transcoding. The server performs a second transcoding operation in order to transmit the requested moving image file to the second terminal. The server monitors output frame rates of the first transcoding operation and the second transcoding operation, to control the output frame rates.
US09304960B2	Delayed physical link activation in serial attached small computer system interface devices that utilize smart cabling Methods and structure for delayed physical link activation in systems that utilize smart cabling are provided. The system includes a Serial Attached Small Computer System Interface (SAS) device comprising a physical link and a controller. The controller is able to disable the physical link to prevent discovery from occurring along the physical link, to detect a cable attached to a physical link, to acquire cable parameters from a memory of the cable, and to configure the physical link based on the acquired cable parameters to enable communications along the cable. The controller is also able to enable the configured physical link to trigger discovery for the physical link.
US09304958B2	Device for transmitting sensor data A device for transmitting sensor data, includes a slave interface connectable to a master interface of a control device, a master interface connectable to a slave interface of a measuring device, at least one sensor interface connectable to a sensor, and a circuit configuration including a manipulation unit and protocol unit. A master-data input signal of the master interface and a sensor-data output signal are supplied to the manipulation unit, which outputs a slave-data output signal to the slave interface. At least one protocol-relevant interface signal of the slave interface or the master interface, and a sensor-data signal of the sensor interface, are supplied to the protocol unit, which generates the sensor-data output signal and, based on manipulation rules and the at least one protocol-relevant interface signal, selects when the manipulation unit outputs the master-data input signal of the master interface or the sensor-data output signal as slave-data output signal.
US09304949B2	Sensing user input at display area edge One or more sensors are disposed to sense user inputs in an active display area as well as user inputs in an extended area that is outside of the active display area. Data for user inputs, such as gestures, may include data from user inputs sensed in both the active display area and outside of the active display area. The user inputs can begin and/or end outside of the active display area.
US09304947B2	Remotely controllable electrical sockets with plugged appliance detection and identification Embodiments of the present invention provide for a remotely controllable electrical socket. Such sockets may include an electrical conductor for receiving a plug of an electrical device. The plug may be associated with a tag for receiving identifying information that corresponds to the electrical device. Exemplary sockets may further include a tag reader for obtaining identifying information from the tag, a sensor for detecting if the plug is inserted in the outlet, and a communications interface for wirelessly sending information to a computing device regarding the identifying information and whether the plug is inserted in the outlet. The communications interface may also receive operational instructions from the computing device (e.g., to turn the power to the plug/electrical device ON or OFF).
US09304944B2	Secure memory access controller A memory access circuit and a corresponding method are provided. The memory access circuit includes a crypto block in communication with a memory that encrypts data of a data block on a block basis. The memory access circuit also includes a fault injection block configured to inject faults to the data in the data block. The memory access circuit further includes a data scrambler and an address scrambler. The data scrambler is configured to scramble data in the memory by shuffling data bits within the data block in a plurality of rounds and mash the shuffled data bits with random data. The address scrambler is configured to distribute the scrambled data across the memory. A memory system including the memory access circuit is also disclosed to implement the corresponding method.
US09304940B2	Processors, methods, and systems to relax synchronization of accesses to shared memory A processor of an aspect includes a plurality of logical processors. A first logical processor of the plurality is to execute software that includes a memory access synchronization instruction that is to synchronize accesses to a memory. The processor also includes memory access synchronization relaxation logic that is to prevent the memory access synchronization instruction from synchronizing accesses to the memory when the processor is in a relaxed memory access synchronization mode.
US09304939B2	Method and multi-core communication processor for replacing data in system cache A method for replacing data in a system cache includes obtaining, by the system cache, an access statistics value corresponding to each piece of header data in the system cache, wherein the access statistics value corresponding to the header data represents a difference of the predetermined number of access times of the header data minus the number of times that the header data has been accessed by central processing units (CPUs); obtaining, by the system cache according to the access statistics value corresponding to each piece of header data, header data to be transferred; and transferring, by the system cache, the header data, which is to be transferred, to an external memory.
US09304937B2	Atomic write operations for storage devices Atomic write operations for storage devices are implemented by maintaining the data that would be overwritten in the cache until the write operation completes. After the write operation completes, including generating any related metadata, a checkpoint is created. After the checkpoint is created, the old data is discarded and the new data becomes the current data for the affected storage locations. If an interruption occurs prior to the creation of the checkpoint, the old data is recovered and any new is discarded. If an interruption occurs after the creation of the checkpoint, any remaining old data is discarded and the new data becomes the current data. Write logs that indicate the locations affected by in progress write operation are used in some implementations. If neither all of the new data nor all of the old data is recoverable, a predetermined pattern can be written into the affected locations.
US09304932B2	Instruction cache having a multi-bit way prediction mask In a particular embodiment, an apparatus includes control logic configured to selectively set bits of a multi-bit way prediction mask based on a prediction mask value. The control logic is associated with an instruction cache including a data array. A subset of line drivers of the data array is enabled responsive to the multi-bit way prediction mask. The subset of line drivers includes multiple line drivers.
US09304931B2	Providing data to a user interface for performance monitoring A method, system, and computer readable storage medium for providing data to a user interface for performance monitoring are disclosed, in which an a data definition is acquired, where the data definition is generated in response to a definition of the user interface. Data is acquired from data sources based on the data definition. The acquired data is processed based on the data definition, and the processed data is cached.
US09304930B2	HDD write buffer zone for vibration condition Technologies are described herein for temporarily writing data to a buffer zone on a recording medium of a storage device when the device is operating in a vibration condition. A vibration condition is detected in the storage device, and upon detecting the vibration condition, data of a current write operation is written to a buffer zone on a recording medium of the storage device, the buffer zone being configured with a lower areal density of storage than primary storage zones on the recording medium. At a later time, an idle condition may be detected in the device, and upon detecting the idle condition, it may be determined whether the vibration condition exists. If it is determined that the vibration condition no longer exists, the data is transferred from the buffer zone to the primary storage zones on the recording medium.
US09304925B2	Distributed data return buffer for coherence system with speculative address support The MSMC (Multicore Shared Memory Controller) described is a module designed to manage traffic between multiple processor cores, other mastering peripherals or DMA, and the EMIF (External Memory InterFace) in a multicore SoC. Each processor has an associated return buffer allowing out of order responses of memory read data and cache snoop responses to ensure maximum bandwidth at the endpoints, and all endpoints receive status messages to simplify the return queue.
US09304917B2	Flush control apparatus, flush control method and cache memory apparatus A flush control apparatus controls a Set Associative cache memory apparatus. A flush control apparatus includes: a tag memory unit associating a tag identifier identifying a tag which associates a plurality of cache lines and tag information representing whether or not the tag is valid. It also includes a line memory unit, a way specification unit and a flush unit which flushes the way specified by the way specification unit.
US09304907B2	Data management method, memory control circuit unit and memory storage apparatus A data management method is provided, and the method includes: receiving first data and identifying a first address. The method also includes: determining whether the first data is incompressible; and, if the first data is incompressible, determining whether the first address is meeting a requirement of start address. The method further includes: if the first address is not meeting the requirement of start address, storing the padding data starting from the first address, and storing the first data starting from a following address, wherein the following address is meeting the requirement of start address.
US09304906B2	Memory system, controller and control method of memory According to one embodiment, a memory system includes non-volatile memory, a block management table that stores whether data in the non-volatile memory is valid or invalid in a unit of cluster, and a controller configured to execute compaction. In the block management table, first information related to likelihood that valid data within the block is invalidated is registered for each of the blocks. The controller is configured to select a block to be a target of the compaction based on the first information and use the selected block to execute the compaction.
US09304899B1	Network interface circuitry with flexible memory addressing capabilities An integrated circuit that includes network interface circuitry is provided. The network interface circuitry may include memory for buffering incoming data and associated control circuitry for loading the incoming data into and retrieving data from memory. The memory may be organized into multiple individually addressable memory blocks. The control circuitry may include read and write barrel shifters, a controller for providing read and write address signals, write address circuitry for controlling the write barrel shifter and for generating write address bits, and read address circuitry for controlling the read barrel shifter and for generating read address bits. The read and write circuitry may each include division and modulus arithmetic circuits for processing the address signals received from the controller and may include control logic for generating the read and write address bits that are used to address each of the multiple memory blocks.
US09304895B1	Evolutionary technique with n-pool evolution Roughly described, a training database contains N segments of data samples. Candidate individuals identify a testing experience level, a fitness estimate, a rule set, and a testing set TSi of the data samples on which it is tested. The testing sets have fewer than all of the data segments and they are not all the same. Testing involves testing on only the individual's assigned set of data segments, updating the fitness estimates and testing experience levels, and discarding candidates through competition. If an individual reaches a predetermined maturity level of testing experience, then validating involves further testing it on samples of the testing data from a testing data segment other than those in the individual's testing set TSi. Those individuals that satisfy validation criteria are considered for deployment.
US09304886B2	Associating energy consumption with a virtual machine Associating processor and processor core energy consumption with a task such as a virtual machine is disclosed. Various events cause a trace record to be written to a trace buffer for a processor. An identifier associated with a task using a processor core of the processor is read. In addition, one or more values associated with an energy consumption of the processor core are read. In response to the event, the one or more values associated with the energy consumption of the processor core and the identifier are written to the trace buffer memory.
US09304881B2	Trace routing network Hardware emulation produces relevant and irrelevant trace data. Verification of a design under test requires knowledge of the relevant trace data. Data lines are provided to capture trace data from the hardware emulator's logic elements during emulation. The data lines connect the outputs of these logic elements to the inputs of a configurable interconnect circuit. The configurable interconnect circuit is capable of being programmed to select from a plurality of these inputs to connect a number of the data lines to a scan chain or trace data storage circuit. The configurable interconnect circuit can then selectively connect those data lines carrying relevant trace data to a trace data processing circuit. The trace data processing circuit may be a scan chain, analysis device or storage device or other suitable trace data processing device.
US09304870B2	Setting copy permissions for target data in a copy relationship Providing a computer program product, system, and method for setting copy permissions for target data in a copy relationship. Source data is copied from a first storage to a first data copy in a second storage. A request is received to copy requested data from the first data copy to a second data copy. The second copy operation is performed to copy the requested first data copy form the second storage to a second data copy in response to determining that the requested first data copy is not in the state that does not permit the copying. The request is denied in response to determining that the requested first data copy is in the state that does not permit copying.
US09304868B2	Scalable relational database replication A relational database replication system includes a client, at least one primary database, a plurality of secondary databases and replication agents which coordinate database transactions. The system provides a high level of performance, reliability, and scalability with an end result of efficient and accurate duplication of transactions between the primary and secondary databases. In one implementation, the client transmits sets of database update statements to the primary database and primary agent in parallel; the primary agent replicates the statements to at least one secondary agent. A transaction prepare and commit process is coordinated between the primary database and the primary agent, which in turn coordinates with the at least one secondary agent. Databases can be partitioned into individual smaller databases, called shards, and the system can operate in a linearly scalable manner, adding clients, databases and replication agents without requiring central coordination or components that cause bottlenecks.
US09304861B2	Unobtrusive failover in clustered network-attached storage A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for unobtrusive failover in a clustered file system. A node in the clustered file system periodically monitors publicized resource events from a cluster manager in the clustered file system for a triggering event that triggers a grace period. Responsive to detecting a triggering event, the node enters a grace period without restarting. During the grace period, the node processes a state request from a first client.
US09304855B2	Data storage device A data storage device includes a nonvolatile memory device, an error correction code unit suitable for detecting and correcting a data error read from the nonvolatile memory device in response to an operation clock, and a clock unit suitable for selectively providing the operation clock to the error correction code unit depending on whether the data is read from the nonvolatile memory device or not.
US09304849B2	Implementing enhanced error handling of a shared adapter in a virtualized system A method, system and computer program product are provided for implementing enhanced error handling for a hardware I/O adapter, such as a Single Root Input/Output Virtualization (SRIOV) adapter, in a virtualized system. The hardware I/O adapter is partitioned into multiple endpoints, with each Partitionable Endpoint (PE) corresponding to a function, and there is an adapter PE associated with the entire adapter. The endpoints are managed both independently for actions limited in scope to a single function, and as a group for actions with the scope of the adapter. An error or failure of the adapter PE freezes the adapter PE and propagates to the VF PEs associated with the adapter, causing the VF PEs to be frozen. An adapter driver and VF device drivers are informed of the error, and start recovery. The hypervisor locks out the VF device drivers at key points enabling adapter recovery to successfully complete.
US09304825B2	Processing, on multiple processors, data flows received through a single socket A data processing system supporting a network interface device and comprising: a plurality of sets of one or more data processing cores; and an operating system arranged to support at least one socket operable to accept data received from the network, the data belonging to one of a plurality of data flows; wherein the socket is configured to provide an instance of at least some of the state associated with the data flows per said set of data processing cores.
US09304819B2	Virtual deployment An embodiment relates generally to a method of providing computer services. The method includes receiving at least one user-specified requirements for a computer system instantiation and developing a configuration file base on the at least one user-specified requirements. The method also includes instantiating a virtual machine based on the configuration file and providing the virtual machine as the instantiation of the computer system for remote access.
US09304814B2	Determine variable wait time in an asynchronous call-back system based on calculated average sub-queue wait time A method includes a workload management (WLM) server that receives a first CHECK WORKLOAD command for a workload in a queue of the WLM server. It may be determined whether the workload is ready to run on a WLM client. If the workload is not ready to run, a wait time for the workload with the WLM server is dynamically estimated. The wait time is sent to the WLM client. If the workload is ready to run, then a response is sent to the WLM client that workload is ready to run.
US09304811B2	Methods and systems to identify and migrate threads among system nodes based on system performance metrics Methods and systems to identify and migrate threads among system nodes based on system performance metrics. An example method disclosed herein includes sampling a performance metric of a computer program thread, the computer program thread executing on a home node of a computer system having multiple nodes, and determining whether the performance metric exceeds a threshold value. The method also includes identifying a remote node associated with a remote memory if the threshold value is exceeded, the remote memory being accessed by the computer program thread, and identifying the computer program thread as a candidate for migration from the home node to the remote node if the threshold value is exceeded. In this way, a computer program thread that frequently accesses a remote memory can be migrated from a home node to a remote node associated with the remote memory to reduce the latency associated with memory accesses performed by the computer program thread and thereby improve system performance.
US09304808B2	Updating a workflow when a user reaches an impasse in the workflow Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for updating a workflow when a user reaches an impasse in the workflow. A workflow program processes user input at a current node in a workflow comprised of nodes and workflow paths connecting the nodes, and wherein the user provides user input to traverse through at least one workflow path to reach the current node. The workflow program processes user input at the current node to determine whether there is a next node in the workflow for the processed user input. The workflow program transmits information on the current node to an analyzer in response to determining that there is no next node in the workflow. The analyzer processes the information on the current node to determine whether there are modifications to the current node. The analyzer transmits to the workflow program an update including the determined modifications to the current node in response to determining the modification.
US09304800B1	Using virtual provisioning machines to provision devices Systems and methods are disclosed for establishing a connection between a provisioning environment having one or more virtual provisioning machines associated therewith and a set of devices located remotely from the provisioning environment, and for facilitating establishment of a provisioned state for the set of remote devices based at least in part on a provisioning state associated with the virtual provisioning machines.
US09304793B2	Master automation service A method and system is provided for managing virtual machine instances (VMs) and other computing and network infrastructure within a data center. A user designates a computing device or resource (whether physical or virtual) as a master automation object (e.g., a virtual machine instance may be designated as a virtual template for command replication). The user then establishes an association between the master object and a set of physical and/or virtual computing resources that should replicate a set of designated commands sent to the master object. An automation service then intercepts/observes commands sent to the master object and sends the intercepted/observed commands to each computing device linked to the master object.
US09304791B2	State separation for virtual applications The present invention relates to dispositioning state changes for applications. An application can be executed with different behaviors depending on the resources available to the application. The application can be executed with one behavior based on the availability of a specified resource and can be executed with another different behavior when a change in availability of the specified resource is detected. A configuration can be applied to an application based on a fist defined state for the application. Applying the configuration causes the application to execute with a first behavior. A change in available resources defines a second state for the application. The change in available resources is dispositioned (e.g., stored or discarded) in accordance with a policy based on a determine context for the second state.
US09304784B2	Positionally informative remote display selection interface A user interface presented on a local display eases user discrimination between multiple remote displays connected to a remotely controlled computer, thereby easing selection of remote display(s) for remote viewing on the local display. The user interface can incorporate information indicating physical positional orientations of remote displays relative to each other, such as whether one remote display is physically located to the left of another remote display. The icons can additionally illustrate sizes of the remote displays relative to each other. Each remote display can be represented within a particular user interface icon as a rectangle whose size and position relative to the other remote display(s) reflect that remote display's actual physical size and position relative to those other remote display(s). Different icons can show different subsets of active and inactive remote monitors, and can be selected to activate different subsets of remote monitors for presentation on the local display.
US09304769B2	Handling precompiled binaries in a hardware accelerated software transactional memory system A method and apparatus for enabling a Software Transactional Memory (STM) with precompiled binaries is herein described. Upon encountering an access operation in a transaction, an annotation field associated with a memory location referenced by the access is checked. In response to the memory location representing a previous similar access within the transaction, the access is performed without access barriers. However, if the annotation field is in a default state representing no previous access during a pendancy of the transaction, then a mode of the processor is determined. If the processor mode is in implicit mode, an access handler/barrier is asynchronously executed. Conversely, in an explicit mode, a flag is set instead of asynchronously executing the handler. In addition, during compilation convert explicit and convert implicit instructions are inserted to intelligently convert modes for precompiled and newly compiled binaries. Furthermore, new versions of newly compiled functions may be inserted to provide strong atomicity between previously and newly compiled functions.
US09304767B2	Single cycle data movement between general purpose and floating-point registers Systems and methods for providing single cycle movement of data between a floating-point register file (FRF) and a general purpose or integer register file (IRF) of a microprocessor system are provided. The system may include an integer execution unit operative to execute instructions with single cycle latency, a floating-point execution unit, a working register file (WRF), an FRF, and an IRF. To achieve the single cycle movement functionality, the integer execution unit may physically own the WRF, IRF, and FRF, and may monitor and control any dependencies between them. Thus, since the integer execution unit has direct read access to both the IRF and the FRF, data may be moved between the two register files using the single cycle operation of the integer execution unit, without the need to store and load the data from memory.
US09304760B2	Identifying software code experts A method, computer program product, and system for identifying collaborators is described. One or more software developers may be mapped to one or more software code elements. One or more expert rankings of the one or more software developers may be determined with respect to the one or more software code elements. One or more current code elements associated with an active software developer may be identified. A request for assistance from an expert may be received from the active software developer. One or more potential experts may be identified based upon, at least in part, the one or more current code elements and the one or more expert rankings.
US09304759B2	Distributed storage network for modification of a data object A method for updating software in storage units of a dispersed storage network includes determining a software updating sequence pattern, which insures that, for each set of encoded data slices, a decode threshold number of encoded data slices is accessible. The method includes taking a set of the storage units off-line for software updating in accordance with the software updating sequence pattern. The method includes, when the software has been successfully updated in the set of storage units, putting the set of storage units back on-line and taking another set of the storage units off-line in accordance with the software updating sequence pattern. The method includes, when the software has been successfully updated in the other set of storage units, putting the other set of storage units back on-line and taking yet another set of the storage units off-line for software updating in accordance with the software updating sequence pattern.
US09304758B2	Modification of terminal and service provider machines using an update server machine A system including a terminal machine and a service provider machine is modified using a service provider machine. The terminal machine includes a terminal application for displaying a prompt in a first sequence of prompts and accepting a user data entry in a first series of data entries. The service provider machine includes a provider application for receiving the user data entry. The update server machine sends a dialog module including a first and second set of updated code to the terminal machine and the service provider machine, respectively. The dialog module does not modify computer-executable instructions saved on the terminal or service provider machines. The first and second set of updated code adapts the terminal application and provider application, respectively, to use a second sequence of prompts and a second sequence of data entries.
US09304751B2	Method for loading software onto a processor unit of a subcomponent of an array consisting of a plurality of components having different subcomponents A method for loading software onto a processor unit of a subcomponent of an assembly that contains a plurality of components having different subcomponents. The assembly includes a central processor. In order to be able to carry out at least a portion of such a method automatically, subcomponent-specific structure information is selected from a stored subcomponent-specific structure information list about the component by way of stored base information about the respective component, on the basis of a component-specific structure information list about the assembly stored in the central processor, and by way of additional stored base information about the subcomponent. The selected subcomponent-specific structure information is then used to generate, via the subcomponent, a loading list which causes the software to be loaded onto the processor unit that belongs to the subcomponent.
US09304744B2	Conversational programming Methods and systems for providing rich semantic feedback to programmers by executing programs, or parts of programs, in data contexts relevant to the programmer are provided. According to one embodiment, software code associated with one or more of multiple programming building blocks is enabled to be concurrently edited and executed within a programming environment. A conversational programming agent of the programming environment receives (i) information regarding the programming building blocks and (ii) information indicative of a current situation relating to the programming building blocks. The conversational programming agent evaluates the programming building blocks based on the current situation. Then, detection of one or more logical errors in one or more of the programming building blocks is facilitated by the conversational programming agent proactively providing semantic feedback regarding those of the programming building blocks to which the current situation is relevant to the programmer based on results of the evaluation.
US09304741B2	Apparatus, method and system for random number generation Techniques and mechanisms for generating a random number. In an embodiment, a first signal is received from a first cell including a first source follower transistor. Circuit logic detects for a pulse of the first signal and, in response to the pulse, generates a signal indicating detection of a first random telegraph noise event in the first source follower transistor. In another embodiment, a first count update is performed in response to the indicated detection of the first random telegraph noise event. The first count update is one basis for generation of a number corresponding to a plurality of random telegraph noise events.
US09304736B1	Voice controlled assistant with non-verbal code entry A voice controlled assistant has a housing to hold one or more microphones, one or more speakers, and various computing components. The voice controlled assistant facilitates transactions and other functions primarily through verbal interactions with a user. In some situations, a transaction may require entry of a code, which the user may wish to enter in a non-verbal way. A control knob is rotatably mounted to the housing and non-verbal manual entry of the code may be accomplished via rotations of the control knob. In other implementations, the code may be entered through use of a companion application executing on another device separate from the voice controlled assistant.
US09304735B2	Audio content auditioning by playback device A first playback device may include a processor and data storage including program code that, when executed by the processor, causes the first playback device to: playback a first audio content in synchrony with at least one second playback device; receive a command to play back a second audio content; stop playback of the first audio content based on the received command; and after stopping playback of the first audio content, play back the second audio content for a predefined duration of time. The program code may then cause the first playback device to: (i) after playing back the second audio content, resume playback of the first audio content in synchrony with the at least one second playback device, or (ii) play back the second audio content in synchrony with the at least one second playback device.
US09304730B2	Direct communication between GPU and FPGA components A system may include a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The system may further include a bus interface that is external to the FPGA, and that is configured to transfer data directly between the GPU and the FPGA without storing the data in a memory of a central processing unit (CPU) as an intermediary operation.
US09304728B2	Generating a map of image forming devices on a mobile device In an image forming system, a map image generation portion obtains positional information of image forming apparatuses having been detected, from the image forming apparatuses having been detected, and generates a map image that indicates, by disposing device icons representing the image forming apparatuses having been detected, a distance and a direction of each image forming apparatus having been detected, relative to a present position and a present orientation of a mobile terminal apparatus, based on the present position and the present orientation of the mobile terminal apparatus and the positional information of the image forming apparatuses having been detected. An output instruction portion transmits an output instruction, to the image forming apparatus corresponding to a device icon selected from among the device icons in the map image displayed on a display device.
US09304721B2	Printing system, image forming apparatus, method of controlling the same, and storage medium An image forming apparatus capable of being connected to a network via a print server updates media data in response to a modification operation for modification of the media data, and starts a recording of the updating of the media data when the print server is in a power saving state. Then, the print server transmits to the print server, in a case where the updating of the media data has been recorded when a notification that the print server returned from the power saving state is received, the updated media data.
US09304717B2	Printer for determining whether the connectability of a USB device is suitable This disclosure discloses a printer comprising: a host communication device that performs information transmission and reception by wired or wireless communication for the functioning as a host device of a target device; and a target processing portion that performs predetermined processing in accordance with target device information acquired from said target device when said host communication device performs information transmission and reception with said target device.
US09304715B2	Apparatus and method for storing and reusing settings An apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store a setting history indicating a setting content relating to an executed processing, an acquisition unit configured to acquire a definition file, and a processing unit configured to execute the processing according to the acquired definition file. Whether the processing which has been executed in the image processing apparatus is processing based on the definition file is determined. In a case where the executed processing is the processing based on the definition file, the setting history indicating the setting content relating to the processing is not stored.
US09304713B2	Storage system and a method for allocating disk drives to redundancy array of independent disks A storage system that may include a management module; and multiple disk drives; wherein the management module is arranged to allocate disk drives of the multiple disk drives to disk drive groups, each disk drive group corresponds to at least one redundancy array of independent disks (RAID) group of data in response to at least one out of: locations of the disk drives within disk drive enclosures; and expected or actual temperatures of the disk drives.
US09304712B2	Automated word substitution for contextual language learning A contextual language learning capability is disclosed. The contextual language learning capability is configured to enable an end user to use knowledge of a first language to learn a second language. The contextual language learning capability is configured to modify source content (in which content is provided in the first language) to form modified content (including a combination of content in the first language and content in the second language). The source content is processed to replace at least a portion of the content provided in the first language with corresponding content provided in the second language, thereby producing the modified content. The modified content is presented to the end user for use in learning the second language. The replacement of a subset of the source content in the first language with corresponding content in the second language gives context to the content in the second language, thereby giving the end user an understandable context for the content provided in the second language. This increases the likelihood that the end user will be able to understand and, thus, learn, the second language.
US09304711B2	Latency reduction in read operations from data storage in a host device An apparatus includes a memory and a processor. The processor is configured to send to a storage device a request from an application to retrieve data from the storage device, so as to cause the data to be transferred from the storage device to the memory, to send to the application an acknowledgement that the requested data is available in the memory before the data has been fully transferred from the storage device to the memory, and, when the fetched data is ready in the memory, to provide the data to the application.
US09304701B1	NVMHCI attached hybrid data storage A hybrid data storage device includes a solid-state memory device, a disc-type memory device and a hybrid data storage device controller in communication with the solid-state memory device and the disc-type memory device. The hybrid data storage device controller is configured to receive Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI) commands from a host and use logic to make decisions for the optimization and efficient performance of the solid-state memory device and the disc-type memory device.
US09304700B2	Method and system for remotely controlling a storage shelf of a storage system System and method for remotely performing a power cycle operation for a storage shelf of a storage server using a control path independent of a data path used for processing I/O requests is provided. The storage server maintains a data structure for storing information regarding a state of a plurality of power latches that are used to control power for the storage shelf having an alternate control path module for receiving control commands via the control path. Depending on the state of the plurality of power latches, the storage server sends one or more commands to the alternate control path module to turn off power to the storage shelf during a power cycle operation. When the power shelf is powered off, the storage server waits for a certain duration and then sends one or more power on commands to the alternate control path module to power on the storage shelf.
US09304699B1	Managing token states across multiple storage processors of a data storage array A technique manages token states across multiple storage processors (SPs) of a data storage array. The technique involves using a token, by a first SP, to identify particular data stored on the array. The technique further involves updating, by the first SP, a first SP-controlled set of token state information for the token, the first SP-controlled set of token state information including (i) a first token state which indicates whether the token is “idle” or “busy” from a perspective of the first SP and (ii) a second token state which indicates whether the token is “idle” or “busy” from a perspective of a second SP. The technique further involves expiring, by the first SP, the token in response to the first SP-controlled set of token state information indicating that the token has remained “idle” for at least a predefined amount of time.
US09304698B2	Common contiguous memory region optimized virtual machine migration within a workgroup Embodiments relate to an apparatus that includes at least one processing device and a storage device. The storage device has instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the apparatus to scan a memory associated with the apparatus for strings of data and to update a first data structure based on the scan. The instructions, when executed, also cause the apparatus to transmit a representation of the first data structure to one or more peer processors of the apparatus included in a work group. The instructions, when executed, also cause the apparatus to receive a representation of a second data structure associated with at least one of the one or more peer processors of the apparatus. The instructions, when executed, further cause the apparatus to update the first data structure based on the received representation of the second data structure.
US09304694B2	Scheduling of reactive I/O operations in a storage environment A system and method for effectively scheduling read and write operations among a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A computer system comprises client computers and data storage arrays coupled to one another via a network. A data storage array utilizes solid-state drives and Flash memory cells for data storage. A storage controller within a data storage array comprises an I/O scheduler. The characteristics of corresponding storage devices are used to schedule I/O requests to the storage devices in order to maintain relatively consistent response times at predicted times. Should a device exhibit an unscheduled behavior which may be indicative of the device being in an unknown state, the scheduler may schedule one or more reactive operations on the device configured to cause the device to enter a known state.
US09304688B2	Writing multiple files simultaneously to a tape media In one embodiment, a method includes storing data received from at least two data sources in a buffer, writing the data from the at least two data sources to regions in a first wrap of a tape on a data-source basis in a first predetermined order, and writing the data from the at least two data sources to regions in the second wrap in a second predetermined order, the second predetermined order being a reverse order relative to the first predetermined order.
US09304682B2	Creation and manipulation of canvases based on ink strokes A canvas in an inking application is created and manipulated based on ink strokes. An ink stroke outside a presented canvas, even outside a user interface of the inking application, is recorded and the presented canvas enlarged to cover the recorded ink stroke. If the ink stroke begins on a command area such as a canvas size control icon, the command associated with the area is executed. If the ink stroke begins in a typed text area, lines are frozen and separated responsive to the first stroke. A new canvas is presented between the separated lines. A size of the new canvas is adjusted based on ink entry or a size of the first ink stroke.
US09304674B1	Depth-based display navigation A system for navigating content may be responsive to movement of a hand by a user toward and away from a display surface. The content may be visually arranged and presented as a stack of visual panes. Moving the hand away from the display surface causes the panes to move upwardly through the stack. Moving the hand toward the display surface causes the panes to move downwardly through the stack. When moving upward, the otherwise topmost pane is deactivated and hidden. Upon reaching the top of the stack, a pane is activated and displayed in full.
US09304671B2	Printing apparatus and controller therefor A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, said computer program configured to control a controller to: output, to a display driver, data for causing the display driver to drive a display of a printing apparatus to display, in a first area of the display, a plurality of images including a first image, wherein the plurality of images are representative of a plurality of respective different types of label data field, and to display a second image representative of the appearance of a label medium occupying a second area of the display that is different from the first area; and in response to receiving, from a selector, information comprising data representative of an operation of the selector by a user to select the first image and data representative of a position within the second area, output, to the display driver, data for causing the display driver to drive the display to display a revised version of the second image representative of the appearance of the label medium; wherein the revised version of the second image comprises a label data field of the type of label data field of which the first image is representative, and wherein the label data field comprised in the revised version of the second image is located at a location determined in dependence on said position within the second area.
US09304662B2	User interface virtualization techniques User interface virtualization describes a technique for providing a user with access to one computing device from another computing device, while translating the ergonomics of one computer's user interface style into the ergonomics of the other's. An agent running on a remote desktop exchanges metadata and input events with a corresponding client running on a client device that accepts a “touch and swipe” style input. The agent running on the remote desktop may use an interface interaction API or software framework to programmatically manipulate the user interface of the remote desktop and act as a proxy for the corresponding client. The client constructs and displays native graphical user interface elements at the client device that are virtual representations of a corresponding user interface element at the remote desktop, including file dialogs, clipboards, start menus, and task switchers.
US09304661B2	Method of displaying image An information-processing device includes: a first display controller that causes a display to display multiple first images in a predetermined arrangement; a second display controller that, upon receipt of a first operation for one of the multiple first images, changes at least part of an arrangement of the multiple first images from the predetermined arrangement, and causes a second image associated with the first image, for which the first operation was received, to be displayed on the display so as not to overlap the multiple first images; and an execution unit that, upon receipt of a second operation for the second image while the second image is displayed, executes a process in accordance with the second operation.
US09304656B2	Systems and method for object selection on presence sensitive devices Certain implementations of the disclosed technology may include systems and methods for object selection on presence-sensitive devices. According to an example implementation, a method is provided for outputting, by a computing device and for display, a view containing a first selectable object and a second selectable object; initiating a gesture selection mode in response to receipt of a selection gesture; receiving respective indications of a swipe gesture sequence; outputting, for display, an indication that the first and second selectable objects are selected in response to determining that a first portion of the swipe gesture sequence encircled the first and second selectable objects; and outputting, for display, an indication that the first selectable object is selected and the second selectable object is unselected in response to determining that a second portion of the swipe gesture sequence encircled the first selectable object and did not encircle the second selectable object.
US09304645B2	Manufacturing method of touch module A manufacturing method of touch module includes steps of: providing a substrate and disposing a shield layer on the substrate, a section of the substrate where the shield layer is positioned being defined as a non-touch section, a section of the substrate, which is free from the shield layer being defined as a touch section; printing multiple touch electrodes on the touch section and the non-touch section of the substrate by means of printing process; disposing an insulation layer on the touch electrodes of the non-touch section, the insulation layer being formed with multiple electrical connection holes on the touch electrodes; disposing a lead layer with multiple metal leads on the insulation layer to pass through the electrical connection holes to electrically connect with the touch electrodes; and disposing a protection layer on the touch electrodes and the lead layer.
US09304644B2	Touch sensing system and method for operating a touch sensing system A touch sensing system comprises a signal generator (Tx), which is configured to provide an AC signal, a signal receiver (Rx), which is configured to perform a signal detection, a first transmitter node (T1), which is connected to the signal generator (Tx) in a switchable fashion, a second transmitter node (T2), which is connected to the first transmitter node (T1) in a switchable fashion and to a reference potential terminal (GND) in a switchable fashion, a first receiver node (R1), which is connected to the signal receiver (Rx) in a switchable fashion and to the first transmitter node (T1) in a switchable fashion, a second receiver node (R2), which is connected to the first receiver node (R1) in a switchable fashion and to the reference potential terminal (GND) in a switchable fashion, a first electrode (E1), which is connected to the second transmitter node (T2) in a switchable fashion, a second electrode (E2), which is connected to the second receiver node (R2) in a switchable fashion, and a capacitance measurement circuit (CMC). The capacitance measurement circuit (CMC) is coupled to the first transmitter node (T1) and/or the second transmitter node (T2), coupled to the first receiver node (R1) and/or the second receiver node (R2), and configured to measure respective capacitance values at the first transmitter node (T1) or the second transmitter node (T2) and at the first receiver node (R1) or the second receiver node (R2).
US09304634B2	Touch panel and fabrication method thereof The present disclosure relates to a touch panel, and more particularly, to a kind of touch panel which actualizes various touch response functions on a same surface and a fabrication method thereof. The touch panel includes an upper cover substrate, a first electrode array, a patterned mask layer, and at least a second electrode array. The upper cover substrate includes a display area and a peripheral area surrounding the display area. The first electrode array is disposed corresponding to the display area. The patterned mask layer is disposed corresponding to the peripheral area. At least a second electrode array is disposed corresponding to a first patterned area of the patterned mask layer. A fabricating method for the touch panel is also provided.
US09304633B2	Device and method for detecting touch screen The invention discloses a full screen driven detection. A driving signal is simultaneously provided to all first conductive strips arranged in parallel in a first direction in a touch screen, and mutual capacitive signals are detected from all second conductive strips arranged in parallel in a second direction. The mutual capacitive signals can be used for determining whether an external conductive object coupled to the ground is touching or approaching the touch screen or not even if water or other conductive object not coupled to ground is on the touch screen. When the driving signal is simultaneously provided to all conductive strips arranged in the first direction, the driven signal is also simultaneously provided to a plurality of guarding conductive strips. The guarding conductive strips, the first conductive strips and the second conductive strips are exposed and separated from each other.
US09304632B2	Touch panel and manufacturing method thereof The present disclosure provides a manufacturing method of a touch panel that comprises of: simultaneously baking a sensing electrode layer and a protective layer that covers the sensing electrode layer. The present disclosure solves the issue of the sensing electrode layer being easily oxidized or corroded when baked alone. The present disclosure also simplifies the manufacturing process of the touch panel. The present disclosure also provides a touch panel on the basis of the manufacturing method.
US09304629B2	Radial transducer for acoustic wave touch sensor Radial transducers are provided for acoustic touch sensors. Different radial transducer arrangements may allow for locating multiple simultaneous touches without ambiguity, in some embodiments without a bezel. Instead of transmitting acoustic waves along a line to be reflected at multiple points, surface acoustic waves are transmitted in a radial wave pattern. Surface acoustic waves are transmitted along different angles spread out over at least part of the touch region. Various techniques may be used to generate the radial wave pattern, such as a convex wedge of a wedge transducer, interference patterns, a curved piezoelectric element, a curved reflector, a curved edge of the substrate, a curved grating, or one or more lenses. These devices for controlling the spread of the surface acoustic waves may alternatively be used for control of the surface acoustic rays for transmission along a single line or just along two lines (e.g., X and Y axes).
US09304627B2	Display device and display control system The display device includes: a display panel; and a surface light source section. A transmittance of light transmitted from a front surface of a prism sheet of the surface light source section is lowest when an incident angle thereof is a determined angle. An angle distribution conversion sheet of the surface light source section has a conversion region that causes light incident on a front surface thereof at the determined incident angle to be emitted from a back surface thereof at an emission angle of not larger than 40° or not smaller than 60°, in a cross-sectional view in a direction perpendicular to an extension direction of prisms. When light is applied to the front surface of the angle distribution conversion sheet at the determined incident angle and in the direction in a front view, 20% or more of the light passes through the conversion region.
US09304624B2	Embedded authentication systems in an electronic device An electronic device with a display and a fingerprint sensor may authenticate a user for a respective function. While access to one or more resources of the device is restricted, the device displays an irregular arrangement of shapes on the touch-sensitive display. The device receives input based on the displayed irregular arrangement of the shapes. In accordance with a determination that the input meets input pattern criteria, the device provides access to the one or more restricted resources. In accordance with a determination that the input does not meet the input pattern criteria, the devices forgoes providing access to the one or more restricted resources of the device.
US09304607B2	Pointer positioning method of handheld pointer device A pointer positioning method of a handheld pointer device, which includes capturing a first image frame containing a reference point to compute a first pointing coordinate according to the image position of the reference point in the first image frame; generating a cursor parameter of a cursor according to the first pointing coordinate; when the handheld pointer device enters a pointer-lock mode, records the first pointing coordinate and positions the cursor at the first pointing coordinate on a display apparatus; when the handheld pointer device exits the pointer-lock mode, captures a second image frame to compute a second pointing coordinate according to the image position of the reference point in the second image frame to obtain a displacement vector between the first and the second pointing coordinates; generating the cursor parameter and controlling the movement of the cursor according to the displacement vector and the first pointing coordinate.
US09304598B2	Mobile terminal and method for generating control command using marker attached to finger A mobile terminal 200 generating a control command using a marker attached to a finger includes a camera 210 configured to receive a target image including a finger region, a fingertip region detection module 220 configured to detect a finger region in the target image using an image processing technique, and a fingertip region in the finger region, a marker region detection module 230 configured to detect a color marker region attached to the finger in the target image using a color detection technique, a control module 240 configured to operate the fingertip region detection module or the marker region detection module, based on an input from a user, and a coordinate calculation module 250 configured to calculate three-dimensional coordinate values using the fingertip region or the color marker region.
US09304589B2	Haptic solenoid and haptic solenoid mounting structure A haptic solenoid comprises a fixed member and a movable member that supports the fixed member with an elastic member, wherein the fixed member is fastened to a mounting device, and the movable member is linked to a vibrated body to transmit vibration by the movable member to the vibrated body. The fixed member includes a reference hole as a reference point for fastening to the mounting device using a screw. The movable member includes first adjustment holes that are larger than the first mounting holes provided on the vibrated body.
US09304587B2	Force sensing mouse A force sensing input device (such as a force sensing mouse) includes at least one force sensor and at least one top portion movably connected to at least one bottom portion. When a force is applied to the top portion, the top portion exerts pressure on the force sensor. The force sensor obtains force data based upon the pressure. The amount of force applied to the top portion, within a range of force amounts, is determined from at least the force data. In this way, a broader range of inputs may be receivable from the force sensing input device as compared to input devices that merely detect whether or not a button or similar element has been pushed.
US09304585B2	Substitutional reality system control device, substitutional reality system, substitutional reality system control method, and computer-readable non-transitory recording medium A control device comprises a past video image acquirer acquiring a past video image captured at a given location, a live video image acquirer acquiring a live video image captured at the given location, and a video image switcher switching the video image displayed by a head-mounted display at the given location between the past video image and live video image.
US09304584B2	System, apparatus, and method for identifying related content based on eye movements An apparatus, system, and method for identifying related content based on eye movements are disclosed. The system, apparatus, and method display content to a user concurrently in two or more windows, identify areas in each of the windows where a user's eyes focus, extract keywords from the areas where the user's eyes focus in each of the windows, search a communications network for related content using the keywords, and notify the user of the related content by displaying it concurrently with the two or more windows. The keywords are extracted from one or more locations in the two or more windows in which the user's eyes pause for a predetermined amount of time or, when the user's eyes pause on an image, from at least one of the text adjacent to and the metadata associated with that image.
US09304583B2	Movement recognition as input mechanism The detection of relative motion or orientation between a user and a computing device can be used to control aspects of the device. For example, the computing device can include an imaging element and software for locating positions, shapes, separations, and/or other aspects of a user's facial features relative to the device, such that an orientation of the device relative to the user can be determined. A user then can provide input to the device by performing actions such as tilting the device, moving the user's head, making a facial expression, or otherwise altering an orientation of at least one aspect of the user with respect to the device. Such an approach can be used in addition to, or as an alternative to, conventional input devices such as keypads and touch screens.
US09304582B1	Object-based color detection and correction A system may utilize a projector, a camera, and a depth sensor to produce images within the environment of a user and to detect and respond to user actions. Depth data from the depth sensor may be analyzed to detect and identify items within the environment. A coordinate transformation may then be used to identify corresponding color values from camera data, which can in turn be analyzed to determine the colors of detected items. A similar coordinate transformation may be used to identify color values of a projected image that correspond to the detected items. In some cases, camera color values corresponding to an item may be corrected based on the corresponding color values of a projected image. In other cases, projected color values corresponding to an item may be corrected based on the corresponding camera color values.
US09304579B2	Fast-wake memory control A memory controller is transitioned to a low-power mode in which an active-mode resource required to transmit memory access commands to a memory device at a first command-signaling frequency is disabled. The memory controller transmits a first memory access command to the memory device using an alternative signaling resource during a transitional interval in which the active-mode resource is re-enabled.
US09304562B2	Server rack system and power management method applicable thereto A server rack system including a plurality of power supply units, a monitoring circuit, a rack management controller (RMC), and a plurality of server nodes is provided. The monitoring circuit is for monitoring the power supply units. The RMC is for monitoring the power supply units. When the monitoring circuit and/or the RMC finds that at least one of the power supply units failed to output a normal voltage, an operation status of the server nodes is lowered or at least one of the server nodes is forcibly shut down.
US09304559B2	Communication device, control method for communication device, and storage medium A communication device includes a main control part configured to receive and process an image signal; a first network control part configured to convert data input from an external device into the image signal and provide the main control part with the image signal; a sub control part configured to detect a power-on command; and a second network control part configured to control communications with the external device via a network to provide the first network control part with data input from the external device. Power supplies to the main control part, the sub control part, the first network control part and the second network control part are independently controlled.
US09304556B2	Hard drive tray device A hard drive tray device applied in a server is provided. The server includes a housing. The hard drive tray device includes a rail member and a tray. The rail member is disposed at the inner wall of the housing. The tray is slidably engaged with the rail member so as to slide between an expanded position and a closed position relative to the housing. The tray includes a base for carrying two storage devices. The base has a hollow portion. The storage devices are respectively located at two sides of the hollow portion. When the tray slides to the expanded position, one of the storage devices and at least a part of the hollow portion are located outside the housing.
US09304554B2	Signal transmission device A signal transmission device disclosed in the present invention includes a casing, a first connector and a second connector. The connectors are disposed inside the casing. The first connector includes a first conductive terminal and a bridging component. The first conductive terminal is electrically connected to a socket of a first portable electronic device. The bridging component includes a conductive portion electrically connected to the first conductive terminal and a non-conductive portion. The second connector includes a conductive piece and a second conductive terminal. An end of the conductive piece contacts the conductive portion or the non-conductive portion according to position variation of the second connector. The second conductive terminal is electrically connected to the conductive piece, and can protrude from a hole on the casing when the conductive piece contacts the conductive portion, so as to insert into a socket of a second portable electronic device.
US09304553B2	Convertible computing apparatus A computing apparatus includes a first body having a keyboard, a second body having a display, and a support of which one end portion is connected to the first body through at least one first hinge unit and the other end portion is connected to the second body through at least one second hinge unit disposed in parallel to the first hinge unit. The first hinge unit is disposed to be spaced away from a rear end portion of the first body so that when the second body and the support are simultaneously rotated in a direction in which the second body and the support are spaced away from the first body, a rear end portion of the second body interferes with the rear end portion of the first body and the second body is rotated in a direction in which the second body is spaced away from the support.
US09304549B2	Hinge mechanism for rotatable component attachment A hinge mechanism for rotatable component attachment is described. In at least some implementations, the hinge mechanism enables a support component to be adjustably attached to an apparatus, such as a computing device. For example, the hinge mechanism can be employed to rotatably attach a kickstand to a mobile computing device. The kickstand can be rotated via the hinge mechanism to various positions to provide support for different orientations of the computing device. For example, the kickstand can be positioned to support the computing device in a typing orientation such that input can be provided via an associated input device. As another example, the kickstand can be positioned to enable viewing and/or interaction with the computing device, such as in a portrait viewing orientation.
US09304539B2	Display apparatus A display apparatus includes a display panel to display an image, and a variable member to vary a shape of the display panel such that the display panel transforms from at least a first state to a second state, the display panel is bent in the second state. At least one portion of the display panel has a different curvature than another portion of the display panel in the second state.
US09304535B2	Baud rate phase detector with no error latches Phase detectors and timing recovery techniques that do not require error latches nor oversampling of the received input data are disclosed. The phase detection method includes separating an input signal into N consecutive data bits; comparing at least two consecutive data bits within the N consecutive data bits; estimating a data bit value for each of the N consecutive data bits; and determining a phase difference based on a data bit pattern formed by the data bit values of the N consecutive data bits and the comparison of the at least two consecutive data bits within the N consecutive data bits.
US09304533B2	Electronic circuit device with electromagnetic clock signal conveyed along cooling fluid conduit network Electronic circuit device (ECD) and method for conveying clock signal in an ECD. The ECD includes: a cooling fluid conduit network (CFCN) including at least one conduit adapted for conveying an electromagnetic signal, wherein the CFCN is arranged in thermal communication with a first set of one or more components of the ECD and is in signal communication with a second set, and wherein the CFCN is configured to convey both a cooling fluid in the at least one conduit and an electromagnetic signal via the at least one conduit; a clock signal injection unit configured to inject an electromagnetic clock signal (ECS) at an input location of the CFCN; and a clock signal collection unit configured to collect at an output location of the CFCN, an ECS for one or more components of the second set, wherein the ECS is conveyed via a conduit of the CFCN.
US09304522B2	Systems and methods for dynamic AC line voltage regulation with energy saving tracking Systems and methods for dynamic AC line voltage regulation are provided. A simple and cost-effective method for achieving AC line voltage regulation in AC systems including split-phase systems, of which the voltage for each voltage line may be regulated over a specified range, is provided. Buck and boost regulation is achieved for lowering or increasing the line voltage, respectively, with reference to the incoming grid voltage. Systems for dynamic AC line voltage regulation may comprise an AC/AC converter which uses fractionally rated switches and magnetics that handle only a fraction of the load current, resulting in lower costs. The use of an AC snubber further provides safe and robust switching of the main switching devices by eliminating failure prone switching sequences that are dependent on accurate assessment of voltage and/or current polarity for AC or bi-directional switches.
US09304519B2	Transmission-line coupled closed-cycle heat transfer device Described embodiments include a device, a method, and a system. A described device includes a closed-cycle heat transfer device. The device includes a hollow member configured to be thermally coupled with and to be disposed substantially parallel to a length of a live transmission line of an overhead power transmission system. The power transmission system is configured to transport electric power from one place to another. The device includes a working fluid contained within the hollow member and tuned to transport heat received from the live transmission line to a heat removal structure. The device includes the heat removal structure configured to dissipate the transported heat.
US09304517B2	Flow control device A flow control device is capable of performing accurate flow control over a wide range of temperatures by using a housing made of resin with superior chemical resistance. The flow control device includes: a housing made of resin; a diaphragm which is supported in the housing so as to split the housing into a gas chamber side to which gas is introduced and a fluid chamber side through which fluid passes, and is activated by the differential pressure between the gas chamber side and the fluid chamber side; and a valve body which operates in integration with the diaphragm to regulate the flow of the fluid introduced into the fluid chamber side. The gas chamber side includes a holding member which holds the diaphragm between itself and an opposing surface of the fluid chamber side opposite to the diaphragm, the holding member being screwed to the inner peripheral wall of the gas chamber side through a screw part.
US09304515B2	Regional operation modes for autonomous vehicles A computer receives data detailing operation of a plurality of at least partially manually operated automobiles. The computer determines one or more trends in the operation of the plurality of at least partially manually operated automobiles, based at least in part on the data detailing the operation of the plurality of manually operated vehicles. The computer generates one or more operational rules, based, at least in part, on the one or more trends. The computer transmits the one or more operational rules to one or more at least semi-autonomous vehicles.
US09304514B2	Method and device for guiding an aircraft during a low level flight A calculation unit configured to define a safety corridor, whose width is increased compared with a nominal width, at least by one width of an escape trajectory with a spiral climb of the aircraft, wherein the safety corridor that is thus defined by the calculation unit is used by a construction unit for forming a flight trajectory for a low level flight of an aircraft.
US09304505B2	Method of forming a cut-path A method of forming a cut path that includes the steps of selecting a first image line and a second closed image line surrounding an enclosed area, Overlying the second closed image line on the first image line and identifying a pair of intersections between the first image line and the second closed image line, and making a determination to turn one of right or left at both of the intersections of the pair of intersections to add portions of the second closed image line lying between the intersections with portions of the first image line to form a cut-path.
US09304502B2	Method and device for calibrating a positioner system having an electronically commutated servomotor A method for calibrating a positioner system that has an electronically commutated servomotor and a counterforce-loaded actuator coupled thereto includes actuating the servomotor such that a first motor magnetic field of a first strength is generated and determining a first position specification for the position of the actuator aligned to the first motor magnetic field. The servomotor is actuated such that a second motor magnetic field of a second strength is generated and a second position specification for the position of the actuator aligned to the second motor magnetic field is determined. Based on the first and the second position specifications, a position specification which indicates a position of the actuator under the assumption that the actuator is not loaded with a counterforce is determined. The determined position is allocated to a rotor position which corresponds to the direction of the first and second motor magnetic field.
US09304500B2	System for building management of electricity via network control of point-of-use devices A system for monitoring and controlling electricity usage in a building includes a system control unit and an enhanced wiring device in wireless communication with the system control unit. The enhanced wiring device is hard-wired into the building electrical infrastructure, and is selected from the group consisting of an electrical outlet receptacle and an electrical power switch. The enhanced wiring device further includes a sensor for monitoring a stimulus parameter in a room of the building, a processor, at least one memory coupled to the processor, and program instructions stored on the at least one memory for execution by the processor to evaluate and communicate data from the sensor. The enhanced wiring device further includes an antenna for transmitting the sensor data to the system control unit, and a user interface connected to the system control unit adapted to configure and monitor data from the enhanced wiring device.
US09304497B2	Interference-free multifunctional metronome for rhythm conducting The present invention provides an interference-free multifunctional metronome for rhythm conducting, comprising a bottom plate, a control switch with a plug and a controller of a stepping motor, with a drive of the stepping motor, a DC switch power supply I, a stepping motor, a transmission mechanism, a driving mechanism and a pedal being provided on the bottom plate; the control switch with a plug is connected to the controller of the stepping motor through a circuit; the controller of the stepping motor is connected to the drive of the stepping motor and the DC switch power supply I through circuits, respectively; the drive of the stepping motor is connected to the DC switch power supply I and the stepping motor through circuits, respectively; the output shaft of the stepping motor is connected to the transmission mechanism; the transmission mechanism is connected to the driving mechanism; and, the driving mechanism is connected to the pedal through a connector. With the interference-free multifunctional metronome for rhythm conducting provided by the present invention, a music learner can master the rhythm better and more quickly, and the creation of music can be facilitated greatly, and more importantly, no adverse impact will be caused to users after long-term use.
US09304486B2	Image forming apparatus having waste toner container that stores toner removed from intermediate transfer belt An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a chassis having a first opening on a first side, a cover, movable between an open position and a closed position, a plurality of photosensitive members, an intermediate transfer belt, a plurality of primary transfer members, a secondary transfer roller, a first feed roller, a cleaner device, a waste toner container, which is removably installed in the chassis through the first opening and settled in a position opposite from the plurality of photosensitive members across the intermediate transfer belt, to store residual toner collected by the cleaner device, a connector, a first feeding path, a second feeding path, and a second feed roller. The second feed roller is rotatably supported by the cover and movable along with the cover to yield the first opening to the waste toner container when the cover is in the open position.
US09304478B2	Power supply apparatus and image forming apparatus The power supply apparatus includes a first capacitor and a second capacitor that insulate a primary side and a secondary side of the power supply apparatus from each other. The power supply apparatus further includes an inductor, a first switch element connected to the inductor and to the first capacitor, and a second switch element connected to the inductor and to the second capacitor. The power supply apparatus controls the first switch element and the second switch element so that, when the first switch element is turned on, the second switch element is turned on.
US09304477B2	Image forming apparatus including a cable having a curved area Provided is an image forming apparatus including a casing body, an exposure portion in a rod shape that has a connector and exposes a target object, a first support portion that supports the exposure portion over a longitudinal direction of the exposure portion and is removed from the casing body by being moved in the longitudinal direction, and a cable that is connected to the exposure portion via the connector, transmits power to the exposure portion, has a curved area that is a part of the cable in a curved state, and is in contact with the first support portion in a part of the curved area, in a state where the first support portion is accommodated in the casing body.
US09304472B2	Image forming apparatus having a changing section for changing the width of a transfer section An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer belt that is stretched by multiple rollers, the intermediate transfer belt transporting a toner image on an outer peripheral surface, a second transfer member that performs second transfer, the second transfer transferring the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt to a recording medium, an opposed member that abuts against an inner peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt, the opposed member being opposed to the second transfer member, and a changing section that changes a width of contact between the intermediate transfer belt and the second transfer member at a second transfer position, on a basis of paper attribute information of the recording medium, the second transfer position being a position where the second transfer member abuts against the opposed member with the intermediate transfer belt being sandwiched between the second transfer member and the opposed member.
US09304470B2	Image forming apparatus and image forming method An image forming apparatus is provided which shortens the time for image formation, thereby improving the convenience. To achieve this, the control part of the image forming apparatus has a job data acquisition part and a conveyance speed control part. The job data acquisition part acquires job data from an operation panel part, a document reading part, an external terminal, or the like. The conveyance speed control part measures the temperature of a temperature sensor at the time of initial start-up operation of conveying a recording sheet, and at the time when the recording sheet has reached a registration roller pair, respectively. Further, the conveyance speed control part selects whether or not to wait for a prescribed waiting time and whether or not to reduce the fixing speed below a normal speed, according to a condition corresponding to the respective measured temperatures.
US09304469B2	Information processing device and program An information processing device includes an ink distribution amount computation unit that computes an i-th (where i is an integer greater than or equal to one) ink distribution amount distributed to an i-th recording job which is performed by a recording apparatus according to an i-th ink distribution ratio obtained from division of an i-th total consumption amount cumulative total by an i-th recording consumption amount cumulative total.
US09304468B2	Image forming apparatus, image forming system, and image formation control method A memory section 1013, an image forming section 150, a control section 101, and a density detecting section 220 to detect a density of an image are disposed. when performing density adjustment by forming a density patch on a sheet with the image forming section, receiving the density detection result of the density patch, and adjusting the image forming section based on the density detection result such that a highest density with the toner coincides with a target density, a target density-compliant sheet profile which is a sheet profile including sheet setting for a sheet used at the time of determining the target density and the target density are memorized in the memory section; and the image forming section is adjusted based on the target density-compliant sheet profile and the target density such that the highest density coincides with the target density.
US09304466B2	Image forming apparatus In an image forming apparatus, a first abnormality detection portion detects an abnormality in a fixing portion based on a change rate of a temperature detected by a temperature detecting portion and a first reference change rate that is set in advance. A first temperature control portion performs a temperature control of a heat source by a first feedback control method based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting portion. A second temperature control portion performs a temperature control of the heat source by a second feedback control method based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting portion, the second feedback control method being smaller in temperature change rate than the first feedback control method. A detection prohibiting portion prohibits the abnormality detection by the first abnormality detection portion during the temperature control performed by the second temperature control portion.
US09304464B2	Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus includes a detection unit, a determination unit, and a control unit. The detection unit detects a length of a conveyed recording medium. The determination unit determines the number of recording media conveyable in double-sided image formation, on the basis of a result of detection by the detection unit. The control unit controls, on the basis of a result of determination by the determination unit, the order in which image forming operations are performed when the double-sided image formation is performed on a plurality of recording media.
US09304459B2	Fixing device having stably positioned nip plate A fixing device for thermally fixing a developing agent image to a sheet includes: a flexible tubular member defining an axis extending in an axial direction; a heater; a nip plate configured to be in sliding contact with the tubular member and having an engaging portion; a backup member configured to nip the flexible tubular member in cooperation with the nip plate; and a stay configured to support the nip plate and having an end portion in the axial direction. The stay includes: a support portion configured to support the nip plate; a plurality of hook portions provided at the end portion to support the nip plate; and a protruding portion protruding toward the backup member and configured to engage the engaging portion such that the nip plate is restricted from moving in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the backup member confronts the nip plate.
US09304451B1	Heating transport device, fixing device, and image forming apparatus Provided is a heating transport device, including a heating transport roll around which a recording medium to which a toner image is transferred is wound, and that transports the recording medium while heating the toner image to a temperature higher than or equal to a melting temperature of toner, and a cooling roll that forms a nip with the heating transport roll, transports the recording medium, and cools the recording medium such that the temperature of the recording medium is lower than or equal to a heat deformation temperature of the recording medium at a position at which the recording medium separates from the heating transport roll.
US09304446B2	Developing device having developer layer regulation A developing device includes a developer carrying member for carrying a developer comprising a toner and a carrier, a magnet provided inside the developer carrying member, a developing chamber for feeding the developer to the developer carrying member, and a feeding member rotatably provided in the developing chamber for feeding the developer in the developing chamber. A non-magnetic blade member regulates an amount of the developer to be coated on said developer carrying member, and a route forming portion forms a route for feeding a developer in the developing chamber. The magnet is opposed to a region inside of the developer carrying member from a downstream end of an opposing portion to the blade member with the rotational direction of said developer carrying member so as to attract the developer on the region.
US09304444B2	Cleaning unit, process cartridge and image forming apparatus A cleaning unit for an image forming apparatus includes a frame; a cleaning blade; a first seal sealing between the frame and the blade, provided by injection molding into the frame adjacent to an axial end; and a second seal between the frame and the drum, provided opposing to the free end portion adjacent to the axial end portion, and the second seal having a L-like configuration with projection extending in a direction crossing with the axial direction outwardly beyond an end surface of the blade, wherein the first seal includes a base portion provided at a position inside of the end surface and extending in the crossing direction and an extension extending from the base portion in the axial direction, the extension having a free end portion compressed by the projection to seal between the projection and the frame.
US09304440B2	Developer accommodating unit, process cartridge and electrophotographic image forming apparatus A developer accommodating unit includes: a flexible container including an opening for permitting discharge of a developer; a sealing member for forming a bonding portion between itself and the flexible container; an unsealing member; and an accommodating container. The bonding portion includes a first bonding portion extending in a longitudinal direction of the sealing member at a periphery of the opening in an upstream side of a peeling direction of the sealing member, a second bonding portion extending in the longitudinal direction at the periphery of the opening in a downstream side of the peeling direction, and a third bonding portion bonded upstream of the first bonding portion with respect to the peeling direction. When the sealing member exposes the opening, the bonding portion is peeled in the order of the third bonding portion, the first bonding portion and the second bonding portion.
US09304439B2	Developer accommodating container, developer accommodating unit, process cartridge, electrophotographic image forming apparatus A fixing portion 18c for suppressing movement of a developer bag 16 when the developer bag 16 is unsealed by moving a sealing member 19 is provided. By this, unsealing becomes easy.
US09304438B2	Developer container and image forming apparatus including the same A developer container includes a container housing for storing developer, a cylinder section projecting from the container housing and including a developer discharge port, and a rotary member for conveying the developer to the discharge port. The rotary member includes a rotary shaft rotatably supported and having a first part located in the container housing and a second part located in the cylinder section, and a resilient member projecting from the second part of the rotary shaft in a radial direction of rotation of the rotary member and facing the developer discharge port. The resilient member includes a tip end operable to protrude radially outward out of the developer discharge port after rubbing an inner surface of the cylinder section as the rotary shaft of the rotary member makes rotation.
US09304430B2	Image forming apparatus with developing unit separable from photosensitive member An image forming apparatus includes: a scanning unit configured to scan a photosensitive member with light; a developing unit configured to develop a latent image; a driving unit configured to cause the developing unit to come into contact with the photosensitive member or to be separated from the photosensitive member; and a control unit configured to let the scanning unit perform a preparation operation, in order for the scanning unit to form the latent image. The developing unit is separated from the photosensitive member while the preparation operation of the scanning unit is performed, and the control unit is configured to start, before the preparation operation of the scanning unit is completed, controlling the driving unit to bring the separated developing unit into contact with the photosensitive member.
US09304425B2	Brilliant toner, electrostatic charge image developer, and toner cartridge A brilliant toner includes toner particles containing a brilliant pigment, and toner particles containing a yellow colorant without containing the brilliant pigment, wherein a ratio of the toner particles containing the yellow colorant without containing the brilliant pigment is 50% by number or greater.
US09304415B2	Coating liquid dispensers A coating system includes a leveling element and a dispenser assembly. The leveling element extends generally transverse to a substrate advance orientation and is releasably engageable against a substrate support. The dispenser assembly includes an array of side-by-side independent liquid dispensers and an air pressure assembly to supply a common air pressure to each dispenser to cause pressurized dispensing of a coating liquid from each dispenser onto a substrate on the substrate support. The liquid dispensing occurs at least during relative movement between the dispenser assembly and the substrate support and during the relative movement, the leveling element is actuated to uniformize the coating liquid on the substrate.
US09304412B2	Movable body drive method and movable body drive system, pattern formation method and apparatus, exposure method and apparatus, device manufacturing method, and measuring method A wafer stage is moved while monitoring a position using an X interferometer and a Y interferometer, and a Z position of a Y scale arranged on the wafer stage upper surface is measured using a surface position sensor. In this case, for example, from a difference of measurement results of two surface position sensors, tilt of the Y scale in the Y-axis direction is obtained. By measuring the tilt of the entire surface of a pair of Y scales, two-dimensional unevenness data of the scales are made. By correcting the measurement results of the position surface sensor using the unevenness data, and then using the corrected measurement results, it becomes possible to drive wafer stage WST two-dimensionally with high precision.
US09304410B2	Apparatus and method of direct writing with photons beyond the diffraction limit Direct-write lithography apparatus and methods are disclosed in which a transducer image and an image of crossed interference fringe patterns are superimposed on a photoresist layer supported by a substrate. The transducer image has an exposure wavelength and contains bright spots, each corresponding to an activated pixel. The interference image has an inhibition wavelength and contains dark spots where the null points in the crossed interference fringes coincide. The dark spots are aligned with and trim the peripheries of the corresponding bright spot to form sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than would be formed in the absence of the dark spots.
US09304402B2	Light exposure apparatus and method of controlling the same The present invention relates to a method of controlling a light exposure apparatus including an exposure beam generator equipped with a prism or a bend mirror and a vacuum chamber through which light generated in the exposure beam generator passes. The method includes, generating an exposure beam; measuring a deviation of a center of the exposure beam from a reference line in the vacuum chamber; and adjusting the prism or the bend mirror in the exposure beam generator to adjust the center of the exposure beam when the center of the exposure beam is misaligned with the reference line.
US09304397B2	Method for manufacturing of organic light emitting display device Disclosed is a method of manufacturing an organic light emitting display device. The method include forming a driving thin film transistor and passivation layer on a substrate, forming a bank layer at a boundary portion between adjacent sub-pixels, on the passivation layer, laminating a first photoresist film on the bank layer, forming a first photoresist pattern by irradiating IR light on the first photoresist film in an area except a first sub-pixel, depositing a first organic emission layer in the first sub-pixel area exposed by the first photoresist pattern, removing the first photoresist pattern, laminating a second photoresist film on the bank layer, forming a second photoresist pattern by irradiating IR light on the second photoresist film in an area except a second sub-pixel, depositing a second organic emission layer in the second sub-pixel area exposed by the second photoresist pattern, and removing the second photoresist pattern.
US09304393B2	Radiation-sensitive resin composition and compound A radiation-sensitive resin composition includes a compound represented by a formula (1), and a polymer that includes a structural unit having an acid-labile group. R1 and R4 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, or the like. R2 and R3 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or the like. X1 and X2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, or the like, or X1 and X2 taken together represent —S—, —O—, —SO2—, or the like. A represents an ethanediyl group, wherein at least one hydrogen atom included in X1, X2 and A is substituted by —Y—SO3−M+. Y represents an alkanediyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, or the like. M+ represents a monovalent onium cation. In the case where —Y—SO3−M+ is present in a plurality of number, a plurality of Ys are each identical or different and a plurality of M+s are each identical or different.
US09304388B2	Three-dimensional imaging device and three-dimensional imaging method A camera processor image-processes an image for left eye captured by a left-eye image capturing unit and an image for right eye captured by a right-eye image capturing unit to generate a parallax image of the left-eye image and the right-eye image. A vertical timing adjuster adjusts timings of driving a left-eye image sensor and a right-eye image sensor using a frame synchronizing drive controller to reduce as close to zero as possible an amount of vertical displacement between a framing position of a target object image in the left-eye image and a framing position of a target object image in the right-eye image.
US09304386B1	Seal ring for pickup truck box camera in center high mount stop lamp A camera assembly includes a light assembly lens having a camera aperture and a seal ring received and held in the camera aperture. In addition, the camera assembly includes a camera having an outer housing projecting into the seal ring and a seal between the seal ring and the outer housing.
US09304378B2	Closed loop verification of rendered content An electronic display device provides closed-loop verification that specific content has been displayed by the display device. When desired digital image content is rendered as an image or video by the electronic display device, a confirmation signal is generated by one or more components of the display device to verify that the image content has been successfully displayed. The confirmation signal may include performance measurements of the one or more components of the display device and/or a signature output that is associated with a signature code embedded in the image content. The signature output uniquely identifies the digital image content.
US09304376B2	Optical redirection adapter An optical redirection adapter for an electronic device having a camera includes a housing and an optical element. The optical element is attached to the housing and positioned such that, when the adapter is attached the electronic device, the optical element is positioned in the camera's field of view. The optical element reflects light in the camera's field of view from a redirection angle that is offset from the camera's field of view. The optical redirection adapter facilitates ergonomically sound use of the camera.
US09304366B2	Liquid crystal display device An object of the present invention is to eliminate COG irregularities around a display area caused by distortion of a glass substrate generated when IC chips are connected by a COG method in a liquid crystal display device. A liquid crystal display panel configured using an opposed substrate and a TFT substrate and a backlight are accommodated using an upper frame and a lower frame. IC chips are connected to an end portion of the TFT substrate of the liquid crystal display panel via ACFs by the COG method. Protrusions formed at the upper frame are in contact with the both sides of each IC chip, and the distortion of the TFT substrate generated by the COG method is eliminated by the protrusions. The TFT substrate can be flattened by eliminating the distortion, and the COG irregularities around the display area can be suppressed.
US09304365B2	Lateral electric field type liquid crystal display device A lateral electric field type liquid crystal display device includes a pixel electrode and a common electrode made with a transparent conductive film formed on different layers on a first substrate via an insulating film. Each pixel is divided into a first region and a second region. In the first region, the pixel electrode and the common electrode formed linearly substantially in parallel to each other rotate liquid crystal molecules in the region by a lateral electric field applied between the both electrodes. In the second region, at least the electrode on a lower layer side out of the pixel electrode and the common electrode is in a plan shape, and a part where the pixel electrode and the common electrode overlap with each other forms a storage capacitance.
US09304358B2	Liquid crystal device and method of manufacturing liquid crystal device To provide a liquid crystal device and a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal device which has high durability in an environment of high temperature and high humidity, and which can be applied to optical communication device. A liquid crystal device and a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal device includes a first substrate provided with a frame shaped seal region for encapsulating a liquid crystal layer, and a second substrate provided in opposition to the first substrate, wherein a gold frame shaped structure is provided in the seal region of the first substrate so as to be crushed and deformed to form metallic bond when superimposed and joined to the second substrate, and wherein a gold film is disposed in the portion of the second substrate opposed to the gold frame shaped structure so as to form metallic bond to the gold frame shaped structure.
US09304353B2	Direct backlight module The present invention provides a direct backlight module, which includes: a backplane (2), a plurality of backlight sources (4) mounted in the backplane (2), and a diffusion board (8) mounted on the backplane (2) and located above the backlight sources (4). The backplane (2) includes a bottom board (20) and a plurality of side boards (22) perpendicularly connected to the bottom board (20). The bottom board (20) includes a plurality of detachable carrier plates (24). The backlight sources (4) are mounted on the carrier plates (24). The direct backlight module of the present invention includes a plurality of carrier plates pieced together to form a bottom board of a backplane so that in assembling the backlight module, it is possible to simultaneously mount backlight sources to the plurality of carrier plates to thereby enhance the assembling efficiency. Further, when the backlight sources of some of the carrier plates are damaged, it only needs to re-work on the individual carrier plates of which the backlight sources are damaged so as to enhance the re-working efficiency.
US09304350B2	Encapsulated polymer stabilized cholesteric texture light shutter An encapsulated polymer stabilized cholesteric texture (EPSCT) light shutter is formed from a cholesteric liquid crystal and monomer that is encapsulated into micron sized, polymer-coated droplets by either an emulsification or phase separation process. The polymer-coated droplets are disposed between transparent electrodes, where they are irradiated by ultra-violet (UV) light to polymerize the monomer.
US09304341B2	Signal panel for checking images displayed on liquid display devices A signal panel for checking images displayed on liquid crystal devices is disclosed. The signal panel includes: a power supply mainboard; a plurality of low voltage differential signaling plugs arranged on the power supply mainboard for directly engaging with the low voltage differential signaling sockets of the liquid crystal device; a plurality of low voltage differential signaling adapters arranged on the power supply mainboard for engaging with the low voltage differential signaling sockets of the liquid crystal device via the adapters; and a plurality of frequency-angle adjusting switches of the low voltage differential signals arranged on the power supply mainboard for adjusting frequency-angle parameters of the low voltage differential signals of the liquid crystal device. The signal panel can test the liquid crystal device without using connecting wires and signal generators, which effectively reduce the cost.
US09304330B2	Experiential optical device The invention provides a multi-layer experiential optical device including at least one polymeric layer having a first side and an opposing second side, and having a light-influencing property; and a low tack pressure sensitive adhesive layer applied on at least a peripheral zone of the second side of the polymeric layer. The experiential optical device is reversibly adherent to an optical lens.
US09304326B2	Lens actuator A lens actuator is disclosed in the present invention. The lens actuator includes a movable unit including a carrier defining an optical axis, a plurality of focusing coils surrounding the carrier and spaced with each other, each wound around an axis perpendicular to the optical axis, fixed on an outer surface of the carrier, a plurality of magnets each opposite to one of the focusing coils in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis direction, and a holder fixing the magnets; a plurality of shake correction coils each disposed below one of the magnets and opposite to the magnet in the optical axis direction; a base fixing the shake correction coils; and wires connecting the movable unit to the base.
US09304321B2	Three dimensional image display device and method of displaying three dimensional image A time multiplexing multi-view point three dimensional image display device includes a display panel that includes a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix form, where each pixel displays one color of a plurality of primary colors, and a view point division unit that divides the 3D image displayed by the display panel into two or more view points. The display panel includes a plurality of dots, each dot includes a set of pixels in which each pixel shows a different primary color. Each dot displays a 3D image for a view point during a frame set that includes a plurality of frames. The view point division unit moves in a row direction when the frame changes in the frame set, and at least one pixel one of the dot is selected in each frame of the frame set.
US09304319B2	Automatic focus improvement for augmented reality displays An augmented reality system provides improved focus of real and virtual objects. A see-through display device includes a variable focus lens a user looks through. A focal region adjustment unit automatically focuses the variable focus lens in a current user focal region. A microdisplay assembly attached to the see-through display device generates a virtual object for display in the user's current focal region by adjusting its focal region. The variable focus lens may also be adjusted to provide one or more zoom features. Visual enhancement of an object may also be provided to improve a user's perception of an object.
US09304299B2	Four-piece all-aspheric adapter fisheye lens A four-piece all-aspheric adapter fisheye lens includes a negative meniscus lens, a biconcave lens, a positive meniscus lens, and a biconvex lens. The biconcave lens is between the negative meniscus lens and the positive meniscus lens; the positive meniscus lens is between the biconcave lens and the biconvex lens. The negative meniscus lens, the biconcave lens, the positive meniscus lens, and the biconvex lens are coaxial and arranged with an exit pupil to cooperatively generate an image with a camera lens that has greater field of view than the camera lens alone when the exit pupil is coplanar and coaxial with an entrance pupil of the camera lens. Each of the negative meniscus lens, the biconcave lens, the positive meniscus lens, and the biconvex lens has an aspheric object-side surface and an aspheric image-side surface.
US09304295B2	Optical imaging lens assembly, image capturing device and mobile terminal An optical imaging lens assembly includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element, a fourth lens element, a fifth lens element, and a sixth lens element. The first lens element has negative refractive power. The second lens element has positive refractive power. The third lens element has refractive power. The fourth lens element with refractive power has an object-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. The fifth lens element with refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof and an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. The sixth lens element with refractive power has an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof. The optical imaging lens assembly has a total of six lens elements with refractive power.
US09304293B2	Imaging lens, imaging apparatus and mobile terminal device Imaging lens comprises, in order from the object side, a first lens block having a convex and concave surfaces oriented toward the object and image side respectively, and having a positive power, and a second lens. An aperture stop can be located on the object side of the first lens block, a peripheral portion of the image side surface of the second lens has a positive power where: 0.62
US09304290B2	Imaging lens, and electronic apparatus including the same An imaging lens includes first to fifth lens elements arranged from an object side to an image side in the given order. Through designs of surfaces of the lens elements and relevant lens parameters, a wide field of view of the imaging lens may be achieved while maintaining good optical performance.
US09304288B2	Photographing lens and photographing apparatus A photographing lens and a photographing apparatus including the photographing lens. The photographing lens includes a first lens, a second lens, a third lens, a fourth lens, and a fifth lens that are arranged sequentially from an object side. The first lens has a concave surface toward the object side and has a positive refractive power, and the second lens is formed with a meniscus shape having a concave surface toward an image side and has a negative refractive power.
US09304278B1	Traceable cable with side-emitting optical fiber and method of forming the same A traceable cable and method of forming the same. The cable includes at least one data transmission element, a jacket at least partially surrounding the at least one data transmission element, and a side-emitting optical fiber incorporated with and extending along at least a portion of the length of the cable. The side-emitting optical fiber has a core and a cladding substantially surrounding the core to define an exterior surface. The cladding has spaced apart scattering sites penetrating the exterior surface along the length of the optical fiber. The scattering sites scattering light so that the scattered light is emitted from the side-emitting optical fiber at discrete locations. When light is transmitted through the core, light scattered from the side-emitting optical fiber allows the cable to be traced along at least a portion of the length thereof.
US09304276B2	Telecommunications connection cabinet A telecommunications cabinet includes a cabinet housing; a fiber optic splitter; a plurality of spools disposed on a cable management surface; a panel oriented at a fixed angle relative to the access opening so that the panel extends laterally and rearwardly between the access opening and the cable management surface; and a plurality of adapters disposed on the panel.
US09304270B2	Monolithic optical coupling module based on total internal reflection surfaces In one aspect, an optical device comprises a monolithic optical module which includes a first total internal reflection (TIR) surface, a second TIR surface adjacent the first TIR surface, and a first optical port aligned with the first internal optical beam dividing interface. An interface between the first TIR surface and the second TIR surface forms a first internal optical beam dividing interface. An exterior surface of the first TIR surface and an exterior surface of the second TIR surface form a generally V-shaped notch on the monolithic optical module. A first optical beam entering the monolithic optical module through the first optical port and incident on the first internal optical beam dividing interface is partially reflected by the first TIR surface to travel in a first direction as a second optical beam and partially reflected by the second TIR surface to travel in a second direction as a third optical beam. The second direction is generally opposite to the first direction.
US09304267B2	Method and apparatus for optical coupling and opto-electronic conversion A method for converting an optical signal, propagating in an optical fiber, into an electrical output signal, including the following steps: providing an optical interface having opposing flat surfaces and being formed of a material having a refractive index that is substantially higher than the refractive index of the optical fiber; disposing a first of the opposing flat surfaces of the interface adjacent an output end of the optical fiber, and disposing a photodetector adjacent a second of the opposing flat surfaces of the interface; whereby the optical signal is coupled into the photodetector and converted by the photodetector into an electrical output signal.
US09304266B2	Optical communications module having an optical port that prevents relative movement from occurring between the optical port and a ferrule that is mated with the optical port A plastic optical port of an optical communications module is equipped with an adapter having an inner diameter that adjusts to the outer diameter of a ferrule when the ferrule is mated with the optical port. In the mated configuration, the adapter creates an interference fit between the optical port and the ferrule that prevents or at least reduces relative movement between the optical port and the ferrule. Preventing or at least reducing relative movement between the ferrule and the optical port ensures that the distal end of the ferrule and the distal end of the fiber stub held within the port are maintained in precise optical alignment with one another. This, in turn, ensures high optical coupling efficiency for light being coupled between the distal end of the fiber stub and the distal end of the ferrule.
US09304254B2	Substrate-type waveguide element and optical modulator Since a cross section of at least a partial segment of a first core has a step-like shape including a quadrilateral shape of a main part and a quadrilateral shape of a protruding part protruding from the main part, respective effective refractive indices of TE polarized waves in the first core and in the second core differ from each other.
US09304250B2	Light emitting unit A light emitting unit includes a light source and a light guiding member. The light guiding member includes a light incident guiding portion that is arranged to face a light emitting surface of the light source and have a light incident surface, on which light emitted from the light source is incident, is formed at one end thereof, and a plurality of branched extending light guiding portions that are branched from the light incident guiding portion and extend towards back surfaces of a plurality of display portions. The plurality of branched extending light guiding portions are so formed that, the end surfaces of the branched extending light guiding portions have larger areas in accordance with increase of the lengths in the extending directions of the branched extending light guiding portions.
US09304243B2	Illumination device having viscoelastic lightguide An illumination device, such as a backlight for electronic display devices, is disclosed. The illumination device includes a viscoelastic lightguide optically coupled to a light source, and a nanovoided polymeric layer is used in conjunction with the lightguide to manage light emitted by the light source. The viscoelastic lightguide may be a pressure sensitive adhesive.
US09304242B2	Display device A display device includes a light guide plate, at least one illuminating element, a side frame, and a display panel. The light guide plate includes a main body and at least one light-incident protrusion part. The main body has a light-emitting surface. The light-incident protrusion part is connected to the main body and has a light-incident surface. The illuminating element is arranged along the light-incident surface and is capable of emitting a light beam. The light beam enters the light guide plate from the light-incident surface and leaves the light guide plate from the light-emitting surface. The side frame is located on the light guide plate. The display panel is located between the light guide plate and the side frame. The side frame and the display panel expose the light-incident protrusion part. The side frame of the display device described herein has the small width.
US09304235B2	Microfabrication Microfabrication processes and apparatuses for fabricating microstructures on a substrate are disclosed. The substrate has a current diffraction grating pattern formed by current surface modulations over at least a portion of the substrate's surface that exhibit a substantially uniform grating linewidth over the surface portion. An immersion depth of the substrate in a fluid for patterning the substrate is gradually changed so that different points on the surface portion are immersed for different immersion times. The fluid changes the linewidth of the surface modulations at each immersed point on the surface portion by an amount determined by the immersion time of that point, thereby changing the current diffraction grating pattern to a new diffraction grating pattern formed by new surface modulations over the surface portion that exhibit a spatially varying grating linewidth that varies over the surface portion.
US09304234B2	Plasmonic dark field and fluorescence microscopy Plasmonic condensers for generating surface plasmon at an evanescent wave surface can include a substrate layer, a metal layer comprising the evanescent wave surface; and a media layer disposed between the metal layer and the substrate layer. The media layer can be active or passive and can include a source of radiation that interacts with the metal layer to create surface plasmons that are not substantially optically detectable as far field radiation until an interfering object is brought into proximity with the evanescent wave surface. When an interfering object such as a sample or specimen is brought into proximity with the evanescent wave surface, it causes coupling of at least some of the surface plasmons into propagating radiation detectable by an objective lens. Systems, methods, and the like are disclosed, as are features of a plasmonic meta-materials illuminator.
US09304232B2	Sheet for LED light cover application Disclosed herein is a sheet comprising a polymeric material; light diffusing particles disposed in the polymeric material; and a non-random surface texture on a surface of the sheet; wherein the surface texture comprises hemispherical structures, partial hemispherical structures, ellipsoidal structures, immersed spherical beads, ellipsoidal beads, “bell-shape” bump, complex lens shape structures, pyramidal structures, reversed pyramidal structures, or combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing. The sheet has excellent hiding power and transmission at the same time and is suitable for LED light cover applications. The unit structures have an aspect ratio of 0.15 to 0.5 and a pitch of greater than or equal to 100 μm.
US09304226B2	Scintillator-based neutron detector for oilfield applications Borehole logging tools and systems that include a scintillator positioned to interact with scattered source neutrons that are received from a target formation. The scintillator emits luminescence in response to interaction with the scattered neutrons. The scintillator includes an aluminofluoride host material (e.g., LiCAF). In a specific embodiment, the aluminofluoride host material is doped with europium. In a further specific embodiment, a processor distinguishes scattered neutrons from gamma rays based upon identifying a peak within an output signal from the scintillator. In yet another specific embodiment, a system includes a first scintillator and a second scintillator. The processor subtracts luminescence generated by the second scintillator from luminescence generated by the first scintillator to identify a neutron response of the first scintillator.
US09304222B2	Catenary source steering gear and method A method and a catenary seismic source steering gear for towing seismic sources underwater. The catenary gear includes plural seismic sources configured to generate seismic waves underwater; a main rope configured to span between first and second vessels; and a connecting system configured to connect the plural seismic sources to the main rope. The main rope takes a substantially catenary shape when towed by the first and second vessels underwater.
US09304217B2	Retrievable vertical hydrophone cable and method Method and retrievable vertical hydrophone cable for collecting seismic data underground. The retrievable vertical hydrophone cable includes an envelope having a first end at which a connector mechanism is provided to close the envelope; plural hydrophones distributed inside the envelope at predetermined positions; and a fluid provided inside the envelope and around the plural hydrophones. The envelope increases its volume when the fluid is pressurized through the connector mechanism.
US09304214B2	Neutron detection using a shielded gamma detector A tool having a neutron source, a gamma ray detector, and a photomultiplier tube is provided. The gamma ray detector and the photomultiplier tube are at least partially surrounded by a layer of boron. The tool is used to make measurements, and the number of prompt gamma rays emitted by the boron is determined from the measurements. The number of neutrons detected may be inferred using the determined number of prompt gamma rays. The tool may also have a layer of neutron absorbing material different from boron or a layer of heavy metal at least partially surrounding the boron. The tool may be a logging tool used to delineate a porous formation and to determine its porosity. The tool may have a plurality of gamma ray detector/photomultiplier tube pairs and those pairs may be used to determine a formation hydrogen index and/or a borehole hydrogen index.
US09304210B2	X-ray detector, method for driving the same, and X ray photographing system including the same An X-ray detector includes a panel including a plurality of photo-sensing pixels, the photo-sensing pixels being configured to detect an X-ray and to perform photoelectric conversion to output electrical signals, and a read-out integrated circuit connected to the panel, the read-out integrated circuit being configured to read out the electrical signals from the photo-sensing pixels and to generate a self-triggering signal based on the read-out electrical signals.
US09304209B2	Cross-correlation mitigation algorithms for GNSS systems using common overlay codes Methods and systems for evaluating Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals are provided. Each of a first GNSS signal received by a GNSS receiver and a second GNSS signal received by the GNSS receiver is accessed. The second GNSS signal can have temporal fluctuations weaker than temporal fluctuations in the first GNSS signal. A delay between a sequence in the first GNSS signal and a corresponding sequence signal in the second GNSS signal is estimated and compared to a threshold. Upon determining that the delay exceeds the threshold, a location is estimated using both the first GNSS signal and the second GNSS signal.
US09304207B2	GPS receiving apparatus, a method of controlling GPS receiving unit, and a controlling program A GPS receiving apparatus includes a GPS receiving unit which detects a position, a course data storing unit which stores course data representing a course, along which plural transit positions are set, a motion sensor which detects motion of a user, a moving-distance obtaining unit which obtains a moving distance of the user based on the detected user's motion, a proximity judging unit which judges based on the obtained moving distance whether the user has come close to a next transit position along the course, a GPS start-up controlling unit which makes the GPS receiving unit start up, when the proximity judging unit determines that the user has come close to the next transit position, and a GPS stop controlling unit, which brings the GPS receiving unit down, when it is determined that the user has passed through the next transit position.
US09304203B1	Methods, devices, and systems for improving dynamic range of signal receiver Methods, devices, and systems that may help improve the dynamic range of a signal receiver. The method includes (i) causing a signal emitter to emit a signal during a first period of time; (ii) receiving, at the signal receiver, a reflected signal during a second period of time, where the received reflected signal corresponds to the emitted signal, and where the second period of time begins after a beginning of the first period of time; and (iii) increasing a signal gain that is applied to the received reflected signal during a third period of time, where the third period of time begins not earlier than a beginning of the second period of time.
US09304183B2	Device for tracking adjustment and tracking adjustment method A device for tracking adjustment comprising a zoom instruction input device, a focus instruction input device, a tracking instruction input device, an image signal obtaining device, a determining device which determines whether a state is a first adjustment state in which the zoom lens is set by the zoom instruction input device at a position on a tele side and the focus lens is moved by the focus instruction input device or a second adjustment state in which the zoom lens is set by the zoom instruction input device at a position on a wide side and the tracking lens is moved by the tracking instruction input device, an area setting device, an evaluation value generating device, and a display device, wherein the determining device determines whether the state is the first adjustment state or the second adjustment state based on the image signal obtained from the camera device.
US09304175B2	Magnetoresistive sensor device and method of fabricating such magnetoresistive sensor device In order to further develop a magnetoresistive sensor device (100; 100′; 100″) comprising at least one substrate or wafer (10), in particular at least one silicon wafer, and at least one sensing element (30), in particular at least one A[nisotropic]M[agneto]R[esistive] sensing element and/or—at least one G[iant]M[agneto]R[esistive] sensing element, for example at least one multilayer G[iant]M[agneto]R[esistive] sensing element, said sensing element (30) being arranged on and/or under the substrate or wafer (10), as well as a corresponding method of fabricating such magnetoresistive sensor device (100; 100′; 100″) in such way that an external or extra bias magnetic field to preset the sensing element (10) and/or the magnetoresistive sensor device (100; 100′; 100″) can be dispensed with, it is proposed to arrange at least one magnetic layer (20t, 20b) on (20t) and/or under (20b) the substrate or wafer (10) and at least partially on (20t) and/or under (20b) the sensing element (30), said magnetic layer (20t, 20b) providing at least one bias magnetic field.
US09304172B2	Battery condition estimating method and power system The invention provides a battery condition estimating method and a power system permitting to estimate aging level or discharge ability of a battery in high precision by reducing transient changes of response voltages caused by repetitive discharges. A recovery time after a discharge is prolonged with a number of times of discharge and a relationship between the number of times of discharge and the recovery time is approximated by using an exponential function in the battery condition estimating method of the invention. A discharge pattern as shown in FIG. 1 is formed by using the recovery time obtained from this approximation and substantially constant response voltage is obtained by discharging the battery in accordance to this discharge pattern. Then, impedance during a metastable condition is calculated from the measured response voltage and the discharge current and the aging level or the discharge ability of the battery is determined from the impedance.
US09304171B2	Computer-implemented method for generating software, a battery, and a motor vehicle The disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for generating software for a battery management unit. Said method comprises at least the step of: generating a central battery configuration. In addition, the disclosure relates to a battery that can be operated using the software, and to a motor vehicle which comprises such a battery.
US09304161B2	Solar power generation system, abnormality detection method, and abnormality detection system In order to provide a system which detects and classifies abnormality in a solar battery even during power generation, an output voltage and an output current of the solar battery during power generation are detected, and a solar battery characteristic equation and a threshold value for detecting an abnormal state are calculated using the detected voltage value and current value and the measurement data of an external environment measurement unit. The kind of abnormal state of the solar battery is classified using the calculation result of the characteristic equation and the threshold value.
US09304156B2	Method for measuring capacitance and capacitive sensor unit A method measures a capacitance. According to the method, a first detection measurement for the capacitance which is to be measured is detected by a first measurement method during a first measurement phase. In this case, a second measurement phase is started when the first detection measurement satisfies a transition criterion. A second detection measurement for the capacitance which is to be measured is detected during the second measurement phase by a second measurement method which differs from the first measurement method. The second measurement method has higher measurement accuracy than the first measurement method but also greater energy expenditure.
US09304147B2	High current Kelvin connection and verification method A method and circuit for implementing high current capability Kelvin connections and measuring the resistance of the contacts and connections to verify that the conducting path is capable of carrying the high current without damage or degraded performance. Included as well is the means and circuit for efficiently dividing a high current test stimulus current into 2 paths with low losses and voltage drops.
US09304138B2	Pharmaceutical composition The present invention relates to methods and compositions for the therapeutic and diagnostic use in the treatment of diseases and disorders which are caused by or associated with neurofibrillary tangles. In particular, the invention relates to antibodies, which specifically recognize and bind to phosphorylated pathological protein tau-conformers and to methods and compositions involving said antibodies for the therapeutic and diagnostic use in the treatment of tauopathies including Alzheimer's Disease (AD).
US09304131B2	Magnetic system for particle attraction in a plurality of chambers The invention relates to a magnetic sample-processing device, particularly a sensor device (100), that comprises two electromagnets (110, 120) for generating a magnetic field (B) in a first and a second sample chamber (SC1, SC2) located adjacent to each other in an x-direction. The poles of the electromagnets are disposed below the first and the second sample chamber (SC1, SC2), respectively, next to each other in a perpendicular y-direction. Moreover, the electromagnets are individually controlled by a control unit (130). In a preferred embodiment, the distance between the electromagnets (110, 120) in x-direction is so large that magnetic cross talk can be neglected. In another embodiment, said distance is close, and the electromagnets are operated in a synchronized way.
US09304125B2	Devices and methods for observing the cell division The present invention relates to methods and devices for observing the cell division, in particular the cytokinetic ring, methods for preparing such devices, methods for studying modifications of cell division, and methods for screening compounds of interest which enhance or inhibit cell division.
US09304111B2	Systems and methods for detecting partial discharge in electrical components A system for detecting partial discharge in electrical components may include a control system that may operate a drive in an industrial automation system. The industrial automation system may include the electrical components being analyzed for partial discharge. The system may also include one or more acoustic sensors that may detect one or more acoustic waveforms generated within at least one of the electrical components. The system may also include a monitoring system that may receive the acoustic waveforms from the acoustic sensors and determine whether the one electrical component is experiencing partial discharge based on the acoustic waveforms. The monitoring system may then send a notification to the control system when the one electrical component is determined to be experiencing partial discharge, such that the notification indicates that the one electrical component is experiencing partial discharge.
US09304107B2	Detection of a metal or magnetic object A measuring device configured to detect a metal object includes two emission coils configured to produce superimposed magnetic fields. The measuring device also includes a device configured to determine a differential voltage between the emission coils. The measuring device further includes a control device configured to supply the emission coils with alternating voltages such that the value of an AC voltage component of the differential voltage, which is time synchronized with the alternating voltage, is minimized. The control device is configured to detect the metal object when the ratio of the alternating voltages does not correspond to the ratio of the impedances of the emission coils when the metal object is not there.
US09304102B2	Amperometric electrochemical sensors, sensor systems and detection methods An amperometric electrochemical sensor configured to be operable in an oxidizing atmosphere and under an applied bias to exhibit enhanced reduction of oxygen molecules at the sensing electrode in the presence of one or more target gas species and a resulting measurable increase in oxygen ion flux through the cell. The sensor has an electrolyte membrane, a sensing electrode on the electrolyte membrane, and a counter electrode on the electrolyte membrane, wherein the sensing electrode includes at least one molybdate or tungstate compound. An electrochemical sensor system is also provided, along with a method of detecting the concentration of one or more of NOx and NH3 in a gas sample or stream.
US09304100B2	Miniaturised electrochemical sensor A miniaturised electrochemical sensor for detection of a component in a gas is provided. The sensor comprises a reference electrode, a counter electrode and a structure comprising a plurality of passages delineated by walls extending along the passages. A working electrode covers the walls of the structure and a layer of an ionomer covers at least part of the working electrode along the walls of the structure. The layer of ionomer is in ion conducting contact with the electrodes. The disclosure further relates to a method of fabricating a miniaturised electrochemical sensor and to a device for measuring content of NO in exhaled breath comprising such a miniaturised electrochemical sensor.
US09304090B2	Systems and methods for providing polarization compensated multi-spectral laser repair of liquid crystal display panels A system is disclosed for repairing liquid crystal display panels that include a polarizing film. The system includes a laser repair optical system, a measurement optical system, and a processor. The laser repair optical system includes a polarization unit for modifying a polarization of a laser repair beam along a laser output path that is directed toward a workpiece. The measurement optical system includes an illumination source for providing measurement illumination along a measurement illumination path, and a detector for detecting reflected measurement illumination. The processor adjusts the polarization unit responsive to the reflected measurement illumination.
US09304068B2	Cell collection apparatus, cell collecting system, and cell collecting method In order to pick up a sufficient amount of cells for a genetic test from a section of a biological tissue with a simple structure and a simple operation, provided is a cell collection apparatus comprising: a substrate which is provided to be dividable into a plurality of small pieces along a predetermined dividing line, and which has a flat surface to which a section of a biological tissue can be pasted; a sheet-shaped expandable member to which the substrate can be adhered in a detachable manner, and which is expandable in a direction along the surface; a expansion unit for expanding the expandable member in at least a region adhered with the substrate, in a direction along the surface; and a pickup unit for detaching and picking up the divided small pieces from the expandable member.
US09304060B2	Wire retention clip A wire retention clip includes a first compartment for allowing at least a first wire to pass through the compartment uninterrupted and for retaining the at least one wire to the wire retention clip. The wire retention clip also includes a second compartment that is distinct from the first compartment and contains and electronic device.
US09304057B2	Device and method for testing rigidity and non-linear relationship of coupling interface for cylindrical fitting A device and a method for testing the rigidity and non-linear relationship of the coupling interface for cylindrical fitting including an axial loading assembly which is provided along a horizontal central line within a side wall of a frame test bench and contacting with the test-piece shaft via a steel ball, a radial loading assembly downward provided along a vertical central line of top board of the frame test bench, a tip of a perpendicular loading part of the radial loading assembly extending into the outer housing of the test-piece housing fixed on an upper plane of a bottom wall of the frame test bench, with the test-piece shaft and the test-piece housing fitted and connected to each other via a coupling interface for cylindrical fitting; a plurality of displacement sensors fixed on the test-piece housing, and test heads of respective displacement sensor assembly aiming at the test-piece shaft.
US09304049B2	Temperature measuring device, electric appliance having such a temperature measuring device and method for temperature measuring A temperature measuring device for an electric appliance such as a fryer includes at least one temperature sensor in the form of an electric resistor, to which at least two different measuring voltages can be applied with cyclic switching between the measuring voltages. The temperature sensor is connected to a control, which includes a microcontroller and which is configured for applying at least two different measuring voltages to the temperature sensor.
US09304042B2	Foreign object detection system and method suitable for source resonator of wireless energy transfer system A system and method to detect a foreign object proximate to a source resonator that is part of a wireless energy transfer system. The wireless energy transfer system may be one used to wirelessly charge the batteries of an electric vehicle. Data from a visible light camera and a multiple zone temperature sensor are combined or fused to determine whether a foreign object, such a metallic object or an animal, is in the vicinity of, or in close proximity to, a source resonator. The system controls an electric current provided to the source resonator based on whether a foreign object is detected to reduce or inhibit energy emitted by the source resonator. The visible light camera may be a monochrome or color camera and the temperature sensor may be an infrared camera or a thermopile array.
US09304038B2	Linearized variable-dispersion spectrometers and related assemblies Wavenumber linear spectrometers are provided including an input configured to receive electromagnetic radiation from an external source; collimating optics configured to collimate the received electromagnetic radiation; a dispersive assembly including first and second diffractive gratings, wherein the first diffraction grating is configured in a first dispersive stage to receive the collimated electromagnetic radiation and wherein the dispersive assembly includes at least two dispersive stages configured to disperse the collimated input; and an imaging lens assembly configured to image the electromagnetic radiation dispersed by the at least two dispersive stages onto a linear detection array such that the variation in frequency spacing along the linear detection array is no greater than about 10%.
US09304031B1	Fiber optic weight management mat A weight management mat for passively and automatically monitoring weight for one or more individuals in a household. The weight management mat generally includes a housing having an upper mat and a lower mat between which is sealed a pair of perpendicular sensor arrays. Each sensor array includes fiber optic cables laid out in a grid pattern. One or more microbend inducers act to induce detectable microbends in the fiber optic cables when an individual steps on the upper mat. The change in light intensity caused by these microbends is recorded by photodetectors and processed by a microcontroller. The present invention may be utilized to identify each unique individual stepping on the present invention by the pressure map of their feet. Thus, recorded weight measurements may be tracked to aid in weight management.
US09304022B2	Flow rate measuring device To measure the propagation time of an ultrasonic signal, the flow rate measuring device of the present invention has amplifier for amplifying a received signal, reference-voltage changing part, reference-voltage setting part, and reference comparator for comparing between the received signal waveform and reference voltage. Reference-voltage changing part changes the reference voltage according to the amplification degree of the amplified waveform of the received signal in amplifier. Comparing the changed reference voltage with the received signal waveform enhances stability in calculation of the propagation time. This prevents measurement accuracy of the flow velocity and the flow rate of fluid to be measured from degradation.
US09304019B2	Rotation detection apparatus, motor control apparatus, motor driven apparatus, method of correcting rotation detection apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing correction program The rotation detection apparatus includes a rotatable member rotatable with rotation of a motor and having multiple pattern element portions in its rotational direction, a signal outputter to output a detection signal changing in response to rotation of the pattern element portions, and a memory storing correction values each provided for each of the pattern element portions and used to perform correction of an error in a relation between rotational positions of the rotatable member and the change of the detection signal. A corrector performs the correction with reference to a reference position of the rotatable member in an origin state where a driven member driven by the motor is located at its origin position and by using each of the correction values for each change of the detection signal when the rotatable member is rotated from the reference position.
US09304015B2	Slip-ring unit and method for monitoring the condition of a slip-ring unit A slip-ring unit for transmitting an electric current includes a first component group and a second component group arranged in a manner allowing rotation relative to each other. The slip-ring unit has a first track and a second track, a brush and a slip ring contacting each other over different rotational positions along one of the tracks. The first component group has a first connection terminal and an electric circuit for monitoring conditions, while the second component group has a second connection terminal The electric current is transmittable from the first connection terminal to the second connection terminal over the first track, and an electric voltage is transmittable over the second track to the circuit. The slip-ring unit is configured such that the first track and the second track are connected electrically.
US09304006B2	Journey computation with re-planning based on events in a transportation network Embodiments of the disclosure include a method for journey planning including receiving a journey planning request. The request includes an origin and a destination in a transportation network. The method also includes calculating an optimized journey plan based on the journey planning request and a route map corresponding to the transportation network and identifying a potential event in the transportation. The method further includes monitoring the transportation network for the potential event and based on detecting an execution of the potential event, calculating an improved journey plan.
US09303995B2	Gyroscopic sensor The invention relates to an gyroscopic sensor comprising a sensitive element designed to vibrate; an electrode carrier capable of carrying excitation/detection electrodes for exciting the sensitive element and for detecting the vibration of the sensitive element; and elements for supporting the electrode carrier. The supporting elements comprise a base made of a material having a density of less than 5 kg/dm3, and the square root of the ratio of Young's modulus divided by said density is greater than 9 GPa1/2.dm3/2/kg−1/2.
US09303985B2	System and method for controlling scanning planes of imaging device This patent indicates a type of system and method for controlling scanning planes of imaging device, it includes: tracer, on which a tracer coordinate system is built, is fixed on the target which is to be scanned; a tracking device, on which a tracking device coordinate system is built, is used to get the position and orientation of the tracer in the tracking device coordinate system and convert the known position and orientation of the target which is to be scanned from the tracer coordinate system to the tracking device coordinate system; an imaging device, on which an imaging device coordinate system is built, is used to scan the position and orientation of the said target to be scanned in the imaging device coordinate system to form images; a conversion module, which is preset in the tracking device or the imaging device, is used to convert the position and orientation of the target which is to be scanned from the tracking device coordinate system to the imaging device coordinate system; when the conversion module is preset in the tracking device, the tracking device transfers the position and orientation of the target which is to be scanned in the tracking device coordinate system to the imaging device. This patent has the ability to provide high efficiency, and high precision when scanning target image, it can be used at any type of image devices.
US09303981B2	Position-measuring device A position-measuring device includes a scale and a scanning unit movable relative thereto. The scale has a measuring graduation, a reference mark and area markings located on a first and on a second side of the reference mark which are configured to exert different deflection effects on a scanning beam incident thereon. An area signal detector is configured to detect, during optical scanning of the area markings, a fringe pattern in a detection plane of the area signal detector. A periodic screen grating is disposed between the scale and the area signal detector and is configured to produce the fringe pattern in the detection plane of the area signal detector such that at least two distinguishable scanning signals are generatable from the fringe pattern as a function of a position of the scanning unit relative to the reference mark.
US09303980B2	System for positioning a tool relative to a workpiece A system for positioning a tool relative to a workpiece includes a movable table for accommodating a workpiece, and executing movements in two main moving directions during processing of the workpiece, one or more planar measuring standards provided in stationary fashion about the tool and extend in the plane of the main moving directions, and scanning heads, mounted in at least three corners of the table, for detecting the position of the table relative to the measuring standards. The position of the table is determinable by the scanning heads in six degrees of freedom. In at least one of the corners, one or more scanning heads having a total of at least three measuring axes is/are provided for 3-D position detection in three independent spatial directions. Sensitivity vectors of the measuring axes for the 3-D position detection are neither parallel to the X-Z plane nor parallel to the Y-Z plane.
US09303978B2	Optical apparatus, method of scanning, lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method An apparatus measures positions of marks on a lithographic substrate. A measurement optical system comprises illumination subsystem for illuminating the mark with a spot of radiation and a detecting subsystem for detecting radiation diffracted by the mark. A tilting mirror moves the spot of radiation relative to the reference frame of the measurement optical system synchronously with a scanning motion of the mark itself, to allow more time for accurate position measurements to be acquired. The mirror tilt axis is arranged along the intersection of the mirror plane with a pupil plane of the objective lens to minimize artifacts of the scanning. The same geometrical arrangement can be used for scanning in other types of apparatus, for example a confocal microscope.
US09303977B2	Apparatus and method for measuring caliper of creped tissue paper based on a dominant frequency of the paper and a standard deviation of diffusely reflected light including identifying a caliper measurement by using the image of the paper A method includes, using at least one processing device, obtaining an image of a web of creped tissue paper and identifying a caliper measurement of the web using the image. The caliper measurement is based on a dominant frequency of the web and a standard deviation of diffusely-reflected light from the web. The dominant frequency of the web can be based on a number of crepe folds having a dominant crepe fold size that fit within a specified unit distance of the web in the image. The dominant crepe fold size can be determined using a discrete auto-covariance function of the image or a second image of the web. The standard deviation can be based on a variation of reflected light from larger crepe structures in the web.
US09303976B2	Substrate processing system and substrate processing program According to one embodiment, a substrate processing system includes a measuring unit, a data processing unit, and a processing unit. The measuring unit is configured to measure information relating to a thickness dimension of a substrate. The substrate includes a light emitting unit and a wavelength conversion unit. The wavelength conversion unit includes a phosphor. The data processing unit is configured to determine processing information relating to a thickness direction of the wavelength conversion unit based on the measured information relating to the thickness dimension of the substrate and based on information relating to a characteristic of light emitted from the light emitting unit. The processing unit is configured to perform processing of the wavelength conversion unit based on the determined processing information.
US09303975B2	Method for determining the registration of a structure on a photomask and apparatus to perform the method A method for determining a registration error of a feature on a mask, including providing a first aerial image that was captured by means of a position measuring device and includes at least the feature, simulating, from pattern specifications of the mask, a second aerial image that includes at least the feature, taking into account at least one effect that causes distortion of the first aerial image, and determining the registration error of the feature as the distance of the position of the feature in the first aerial image from the position of the feature in the second aerial image. Also provided is a method for simulating an aerial image from pattern specifications of a mask and a position measuring device for carrying out the method.
US09303968B2	Lever type measuring machine A lever-type measuring machine swinging around a supporting point includes a stylus measuring a shape of a measured object, an arm having a first end connected to the stylus and a second end connected to the supporting point, and a balancer having a first end connected to the supporting point. The balancer is formed of a material having high specific flexural rigidity. The lever-type measuring machine enables more accurate measurement.
US09303967B2	End tang structure of roll-up tape measure A structure of a tang of a roll-up tape measure includes a tang base and a tang plate formed at one side of the tang base. The tang base includes a plurality of tang coupling slots formed in one side thereof for coupling a measure ribbon and for positional adjustment of a reference point and also includes a tang hook formed at one end thereof. The tang hook includes a first hook section and a second hook section extending in opposite direction. The tang plate includes a receiving slot formed in one side thereof. The receiving slot receives and retains a magnetic element. The receiving slot includes, at one side thereof, at least one magnetic element for constraining and preventing the constraint stop from detachment.
US09303962B1	Expanding broadhead An expanding broadhead preferably includes a shank base, a razor tip, at least one expanding barb unit, a rear retention ring and a front retention ring. An arrow shaft shank extends from one end of the shank base and a tip slot formed in an opposing end to receive the razor tip. Each expanding barb unit preferably includes two barb elements that extend from a base ring. Each barb element preferably includes a lengthwise barb base, a first set of opposing barbs, a second set of opposing barbs and opposing bulges. The two lengthwise barb bases are bent to obtuse angles. The base ring of the expanding barb unit is bent into a substantially semi-circular shape. The rear retention ring is forced over the base ring to retain thereof on the base shank. The front retention ring is stretched and placed over the at least two barb elements.
US09303951B2	Method and system for aligning a point of aim with a point of impact for a projectile device A method of aligning a point of aim with a point of impact for a projectile device is disclosed. Using a superposition device coupled to the projectile device, at least three reference points are superposed within a first target area with at least three diverging beams of the superposition device. Positions for at least three of the reference points are noted. A projectile is shot from the projectile device at a second target area, while the positions of the at least three reference points are maintained, to create the point of impact. The point of aim for the projectile device is adjusted to correspond with the point of impact while the positions of the at least three reference points are maintained. A system for aligning a point of aim with a point of impact for a projectile device is also disclosed.
US09303950B2	Lockable cut-resistant case A light-weight case is provided that is cut-resistant, fire-resistant and/or water-proof and that can be easily locked and fasten to stationary objects. The exterior of the case is substantially cut-resistant, while the interior layers can be layers that are fire-resistant, water-proof, any type of padding or nylon for protecting the objects stored in the case. To protect the case from being stolen, a steel cable is threaded through a hole formed by two concentrically aligned grommets and locked to or around a stationary object. The cases include a Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitter that is able to track the location of the case if the case happens to be lost or stolen. The case can be sized and shaped to hold any type of valuable objects, such as guns, jewelry and money.
US09303947B2	Multi-purpose archery tool A multi-function archery tool includes first and second handle members, and first and second sets of jaws. The first set of jaws includes first and second jaw members movable toward each other to clamp a nock point upon moving the first and second handle members toward each other. The second set of jaws includes third and fourth jaw members movable away from each other to tighten a bowstring string loop upon moving the first and second handle members toward each other.
US09303946B2	Swivel cable guard A cable guard for a compound archery bow includes a body and a cable retaining member connected to the body by a joint. The cable retaining member may retain at least one cable of an archery bow. The body of the cable guard has a length sufficient to position the joint at least at the drawn position of at least one of the cables retained by the cable retaining member. The joint connecting the cable retaining member to the body of the cable guard permits the opening of the cable retaining member to swivel forwards towards the mounting portion. Swiveling forward, the opening of the cable retaining members brings at least one of the retained cables closer to the bowstring plane of travel of the bow to which it is mounted.
US09303944B2	Crossbow with integrated decocking device A crossbow having an integrated decocking device, including a resistance system having a fluid containing cylinder having a movable piston and located within the static portion of the stock, a shaft extending from the piston and having a terminal end, the piston being movable between a first position and a second position, and the cylinder including an orifice having a size and extending through the piston to enable fluid to travel from one side of the piston to the other and to control the movement of the piston to a desired rate; and a bowstring coupling system coupled to the resistance system and including a cable having a first portion releasably securable to the bowstring and a second portion of the cable interfacing with a location on the shaft of the resistance system.
US09303920B2	Air diverting system for a seed drying bin An air diverting system for a seed dryer bin having a duct connected to and in communication with openings in the seed bin and a fan. An airflow diverter assembly rotatably mounted within the duct and having a handle for rotating the assembly to a desired position.
US09303897B2	Compensating for sensor thermal lag A method of compensating for thermal lag in a temperature control system is performed by a controller of the temperature control system. The method includes receiving a first temperature obtained by a temperature sensing device at an end of a temperature control cycle. A second temperature obtained by the temperature sensing device is received at a pre-defined time after the end of the temperature control cycle. The method includes changing an operational set-point temperature of the temperature control system using a difference between the received temperatures.
US09303892B2	Inflatable air ducts with low height-to-width ratios Inflatable air ducts with low height-to-width ratios are disclosed. An example air duct system includes a top sheet, a bottom sheet, a first side sheet, and a second side sheet spaced apart from the first side sheet and extending between the top sheet and the bottom sheet. The top, bottom, first side, and second side sheets provide an inflatable air duct having an inflated state and a deflated state. The inflatable air duct has an inflated length greater than an inflated width. The inflated width is more than twice as great as an inflated height. The interior of the inflatable air duct defining an air passageway having a first airway, a second airway, and an intermediate airway. The intermediate airway is adjacent the first airway at a first transition area. The example air duct system also includes a second transition area between the intermediate airway and the second airway.
US09303884B2	System and method for improving the performance of desiccant dehumidification equipment for low-humidity applications A method and apparatus for energy-efficient desiccant dehumidification of air or other gases to low humidity levels is disclosed. The method and apparatus includes a desiccant rotor (wheel) having more than one dehumidification zone or sector. Separate dehumidification sectors may be used to dehumidify separate air or gas streams, or they may be used to dehumidify a single air or gas stream by passing it through more than one sector. All or a portion of the discharge air or gas from a dehumidification sector is used for all or a portion of reactivation inlet air or gas prior to heating. The desiccant wheel may include more than one reactivation sector, with separate air or gas sources for each sector. The desiccant wheel may include a purge sector between the reactivation and dehumidification sectors to improve the thermal efficiency of the dehumidification process.
US09303883B2	Dehumidifier air filter system A dehumidifier air filter system has: a dehumidifier module; a scrubber module; a dehumidifier adapter connected to the dehumidifier module; an air duct connecting the dehumidifier module to the scrubber module, and an air control window formed on the dehumidifier adapter. The air duct connects to the dehumidifier module at the dehumidifier adapter. The dehumidifier air filter system may be constructed with a front shell forming a housing for the dehumidifier apparatus within the dehumidifier module. The front shell has a front shell aperture. The front shell aperture receives the dehumidifier adapter, and the dehumidifier adapter is formed as a plate having at least two openings including: an air control window opening, and a ducting hose connector opening.
US09303875B2	Gas-turbine combustion chamber having non-symmetrical fuel nozzles The present invention relates to an annular gas-turbine combustion chamber having a radially outer and a radially inner combustion chamber wall relative to a machine axis, a combustion chamber head and a combustion chamber outlet nozzle, where the combustion chamber head includes several fuel nozzles spread over its circumference for supplying air and fuel, the latter exiting in an outlet surface of the fuel nozzles, where the respective fuel nozzle has a burner axis which is vertical to the outlet surface and where the intersections of the burner axes with the outlet surfaces define a circular burner centerline around the engine axis, characterized in that a cross-sectional area of the fuel nozzle radially outside the burner centerline is identical to a cross-sectional area radially inside the burner centerline.
US09303869B2	Gas pilot burner assembly A pilot burner assembly for easy removal of a thermo-electric or other device is disclosed. In an illustrative embodiment, a pilot burner assembly may include a bracket and a resilient clip, which together, help maintain at least some of the pilot burner components in a desired configuration.
US09303866B2	Steam generation apparatus and associated control system and methods for providing a desired injection pressure The current disclosure relates to steam generation and supply apparati and associated control systems. Particularly, the current disclosure relates to such steam generation supply apparati and associated control systems that are used for enhanced oil recovery. Certain embodiments are provided including methods and associated control systems related to the startup as well as main steam pressure header control or maintenance of a desired steam quality for such steam generation systems during normal operation.
US09303865B2	Steam generation apparatus and associated control system and methods for startup The current disclosure relates to steam generation and supply apparati and associated control systems. Particularly, the current disclosure relates to such steam generation supply apparati and associated control systems that are used for enhanced oil recovery. Certain embodiments are provided including methods and associated control systems related to the startup as well as main steam pressure header control or maintenance of a desired steam quality for such steam generation systems during normal operation.
US09303859B2	Illuminating ventilator An illuminating ventilator including a fan, a connecting frame, a lamp seat and a cover is provided. The fan has a housing and a fan wheel, wherein the housing has a first coupling portion, an inlet, an outlet and an inner space communicating with said inlet and outlet, and the fan wheel is received in the inner space. The connecting frame couples with the housing and has an opening in alignment with the inlet of the housing, wherein the connecting frame has a second coupling portion coupling with the first coupling portion of the housing. The lamp seat is mounted on one of the connecting frame and housing and has a receiving portion for receiving a lamp. The cover is coupled with the connecting frame and has a plurality of apertures communicating with the opening.
US09303854B2	Electrical rail systems with axially interleaved contact arrays An improved electrical rail system for removable and repositionable lighting or other electrical fixtures is disclosed in which electrical interface contacts are interleaved along the rail axis to provide a wide range of fixture pivoting angles around the axis and linear translation along the axis of the rail assembly. Track systems disclosed include linear electrode rails with substantially circumferential contacts configured to provide pivoting of luminaires around the rail in excess of 180 degrees to provide lighting fixture directional flexibility. Helical rail systems are also disclosed with a plurality of interleaved electrical contacts on the surface that coil around the axis of the rail providing continuous pivoting of fixtures. Embodiments include rails with axial symmetry that may be bent in directions perpendicular to the rail axis. Embodiments provide fixture functional switching through movement in a first direction followed by further movement of the fixture without functional switching.
US09303848B2	Light emitting diode lamp structure A light emitting diode (LED) lamp structure (100) of the present invention includes a housing body (102), a LED lamp module (500), and an electronic module (700, 700′). The housing body (102) includes a lamp base (200), a module base (400), a connecting ring (300) connecting the lamp base (200), and at least one clasping member (104) connecting the module base (400). The LED lamp module (500) connects the connecting ring (300) and is disposed on the lamp base (200). The electronic module (700, 700′) connects the clasping member (104) and is disposed on the module base (400). Thereby, assembling, disassembling and replacing can be achieved without any tools. Meanwhile, the entrance of moisture is also prevented, so that a life span of an electronic device is prolonged.
US09303847B2	Process for producing an LED lamp and a corresponding LED lamp A method for producing an LED lamp includes a lamp housing wherein at least one carrier circuit board equipped with LEDs is inserted into the lamp housing in such a way that at least a subregion of the lamp housing protrudes beyond the carrier circuit board with a projection, and the projection is at least partially deformed after insertion in such a way that the lamp housing is pressed with the carrier circuit board.
US09303845B2	Display apparatus A display apparatus is provided. The display apparatus may include a substrate, a light emitting device, a reflective layer, an optical sheet, and a display panel. The light emitting device may include a light emitting element mounted on the substrate and a lens disposed over the light emitting element. The reflective layer may be disposed over an upper surface of the substrate. The optical sheet may be disposed over the reflective layer, spaced apart from the light emitting device. The display panel may be disposed over an upper surface of the optical sheet. The lens may include a rounded convex upper surface having an aspherical shape, and a lower surface central part recessed upward from an undersurface of the lens.
US09303843B2	Lighting assembly A lighting assembly is generally elongate having a base and a lens, which are configured to cooperatively define a cavity for receiving a light emitting device therein. The lens includes an inner layer and an outer layer, the inner layer being configured to diffuse light from the light emitting device passing through the lens and the outer layer being configured to change the hue of light passing through the lens. The outer layer and the inner layer are configured to provide the lens with four refractive surfaces for light passing through the lens.
US09303842B2	Display apparatus A display apparatus includes a display panel that displays an image, a window member, and an adhesive layer. The window member includes a base film that has a light transmission area that exposes the image of the display panel, the light transmission area is surrounded by a blocking area, a blocking pattern on the blocking area, and a dam pattern on the blocking pattern. The adhesive layer is between the display panel and the window member.
US09303837B2	Vehicular lamp having a translucent member having a center region that servers as a lens-like direct light control portion A vehicular lamp has a light-emitting element facing a forward direction of the lamp, and a translucent member that covers the light-emitting element from a front side. The translucent member has a center region located forward of the light-emitting element that serves as a lens-like direct light control portion. The translucent member has a peripheral region surrounding the center region that serves as a reflecting light control portion in which light emitted from the light-emitting element and incident on the translucent member is internally reflected forward by a rear surface of the translucent member and emitted forward from a front surface of the translucent member. The direct light control portion is configured such that light emitted from the direct light control portion has a light intensity distribution in which light intensity is highest in a direction at a first required angle from the forward direction of the lamp.
US09303831B2	Spectrum converting device and a method for making the same A fish attracting lamp with a removable spectrum converting device includes: a positioning unit for fixing the removable spectrum converting device to the fish attracting lamp; an optical element made of light transmitting material and positioned on the positioning unit of the fish attracting lamp; and a plurality of fluorescent particles disposed in the optical element. Part of the light emitted from the fish attracting lamp passes through the optical element and will change wavelength after passing through the fluorescent particles.
US09303830B2	Light source device and endoscope apparatus comprising the same A light source device includes a first semiconductor light source, a second semiconductor light source, and a wavelength converter. The first semiconductor light source emits light in a first wavelength range. The second semiconductor light source emits light in a second wavelength range different from the first wavelength range. The wavelength converter absorbs the light in the first wavelength range to emit light in a third wavelength range different from either of the first wavelength range and the second wavelength range, and transmits the light in the second wavelength range substantially entirely.
US09303824B2	LED lighting device The present disclosure provides an LED lighting device comprising a heat dissipation body, a driver module and a lighting module. The heat dissipation body includes a base, a heat dissipation wall, heat dissipation fins and a top face. The heat dissipation wall defines a heat dissipation channel therein and is formed with first through holes. The heat dissipation fins are formed on and encircle the heat dissipation wall. The top face is formed with a first opening The driver module is disposed inside the heat dissipation body. The lighting module includes a tube body and LED light sources. The tube body has two end openings in fluid communication with each other and one of the end openings is connected to the first opening The LED light sources are arranged on the tube body and are electrically connected to the driver module.
US09303818B1	Dense storage of hydrogen and other gases in fast fabricated, hierarchically structured nanocapillary arrays through adsorption and compression by electrochemical and other means A novel high-density hydrogen and other gas storage material has been fabricated and enhanced to provide the opportunity to use hydrogen as a predominant energy source by using hierarchical and ordered nanoporous materials to provide a solution to the shortcomings of current storage technologies. These materials consist of high aspect ratio porous templates with aligned and periodic nanocapillaries that have a tunable density, diameter, and wall thickness. Not only is the disclosed process low-cost and scalable, but catalytic fabrication of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within the nanocapillaries is achieved, thereby yielding coaxial nanocapillary arrays for physical and adsorbed hydrogen storage with ultra-high gravimetric and volumetric hydrogen storage densities.
US09303813B2	Apparatus and method for cooling and lubrication A method, device, and nozzle for dispensing cooled lubricant is provided. Lubricant is supplied to the nozzle through an inner lubricant tube. Cooled compressed gas is also supplied to the nozzle through a conduit which surrounds the inner lubricant tube. Cooled compressed gas from the conduit is introduced into a nozzle gas bore in the nozzle and lubricant is introduced into a nozzle lubricant bore in the nozzle. The cooled compressed gas and the lubricant are mixed at a junction between these bores, such that the lubricant is siphoned into the junction by the cooled compressed gas. The mixture of cooled compressed gas and lubricant are then dispensed from an aperture in the nozzle, preferably as a fine atomized mist of cooled lubricant.
US09303811B1	Configurable mounting bracket for mounting rail installations In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a frame configured to hold an electronic device. A back side of the frame includes a plurality of clips which are configured to receive a mounting rail. One or more retractable levers are attached at a first portion of each clip to prevent movement of the frame along the mounting rail. The frame includes a plurality of mounting apertures that are configured to receive the electronic device based on a plurality of mounting configurations. The frame is configured to attach onto the mounting rail via the clips in various orientations selected from the plurality of mounting configurations.
US09303810B2	Supporting device for an electronic device A supporting device for an electronic device is provided. The supporting device includes a plastic card defining first and second support tabs. The first and second support tabs define a gap therebetween that is sized to hold the electronic device therein when the first support tab is at a second operational position thereof and the second support tab is at a second operational position thereof. The first support tab is adapted to contact a first side of the electronic device when the first support tab is at the second operational position thereof, and the second support tab being adapted to contact a second side of the electronic device when the second support tab is at the second operational position thereof, such that the electronic device is held at a desired operational position between the first and second support tabs.
US09303808B2	Valve, pipe and pipe component repair In some implementations, an injection system that injects sealant into a pipe, pressure component or valve while containing the pipe, pressure component or valve repair that significantly reduces or eliminates release of hazardous material from inside the pipe, pressure component valve or injection system and thus significantly reduces emission of the hazardous material from inside the pipe, pressure component or valve into the environment and protecting the repair technicians.
US09303807B1	Pipe installation transition fitting and pipe installation method A pipe installation transition fitting includes a transition fitting housing having a housing interior, a fitting attachment mechanism carried by the transition fitting housing and a pressurization port carried by the transition fitting housing and having a pressurization port opening communicating with the housing interior of the transition fitting housing.
US09303806B2	Closure assembly for pipe end A closure assembly for terminating an end of a pipe (4) has an end-cap (4) holding and having fluid-tight connection to a mutually coaxial cylindrical plug (2) and circular collar (3). The plug (2) and the collar (3) are configurable between respective engaged and disengaged configurations and mutually spaced to provide an annular space therebetween when the plug (2) and collar (3) are in their disengaged configurations. The annular space is arranged to receive an end of a pipe (1) arranged coaxially with the plug (2) and collar (3), the plug (2) and collar (3) being respectively slidable into and over the end of the pipe (1). The plug (2), when in its engaged configuration, grips the inner face of said pipe (41) and to provide a fluid tight seal and the collar (3), when in its engaged configuration, grips the outer face of the pipe (1) and to provide a fluid tight seal.
US09303802B1	RV sewage disposal hose with swiveling connector A swivel coupling is provided for a waste disposal system having a first waste disposal component and a second waste disposal component. The swivel coupling comprises a first coupling portion having a first end and a second end, the second end being configured for connection to the first waste disposal component, and a second coupling portion having a third end and a fourth end, the fourth end being configured for connection to the second waste disposal component. The first end is rotatably connected to the third end such that when the second end is connected to the first waste disposal component and the fourth end is connected to the second waste disposal component, the first and second coupling portions are rotatable relative to one other.
US09303796B2	Method of producing flow channel device, and flow channel device There is provided a method of producing a fluid channel device including laminating a plurality of polyimide films including at least one polyimide film having a port and at least one polyimide film having a channel, the polyimide films including at least one thermoplastic polyimide film; and adhering a plurality of the polyimide films by applying heat such that the ports are communicated with the channels. There is also provided the flow channel device produced by the method.
US09303794B2	Buried pipeline repair system A damaged portion of a pipeline buried in a trench is gradually lifted from the trench to expose the damaged portion above water and provide easy access to the damaged portion. Inflatable roller bags are placed under the pipeline adjacent the damaged portion; the roller bags are then inflated in a controlled manner using a computer-based control unit. A control manifold is connected to the control unit and each of the roller bags by a separate air conduit allowing controlled bag-inflation and bag-deflation process for each roller bag. Once the pipeline is repaired, the roller bags are deflated, lowering the pipeline back to its original position in the trench.
US09303792B2	Pipe block support A connector for securing a pipe or conduit to a pipe support where the pipe support has at least one channel and two rails that run parallel to the channel and where the connector has an upper pipe connector portion having a platform and a fastening means for securing the pipe to the platform; a middle portion that provides a gap between the upper portion and a lower pipe support connecting portion and where the lower pipe support connecting portion has at least two legs that are integrally formed with the upper pipe connector portion and the two feet at a bottom portion of the legs has two channels formed by the feet and legs whereby the rails of the pipe support are inserted into and secured within the channels.

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