Document	Document Title
US09406859B2	Method and arrangement for converting heat to electrical energy For directly converting heat to electrical energy, for example in a spacecraft operating in space, at least one thermoelectric generator module is arranged in an evacuated chamber so as to receive thermal radiation from a heat source through the interior vacuum within the interior of the chamber. The thermoelectric generator module converts a portion of the received heat to electrical energy and rejects a portion of the heat by thermal conduction to a thermally conducting cooling body such as the chamber wall or directly by thermal radiation to the surrounding vacuum of space.
US09406854B2	Wafer level packaging of electronic devices Aspects of the invention include an electronic device comprising a first contact point; a metal pad disposed to provide electrical connection to the first contact point; a substrate comprising a first face and a second face opposing the first face of the substrate, the first face of the substrate adjacent a face of the electronic device; and a VIA passing through the substrate from the second face of the substrate to the metal pad, the VIA exhibiting: a pass through extending through the substrate from the first face to the second face; a metal layer disposed within the pass through arranged to provide electrical connectivity to the metal pad from an area adjacent the second face of the substrate; and an electrically insulating first passivation layer disposed between the metal layer and the substrate arranged to provide electrical insulation between the substrate and the metal layer.
US09406845B2	Nitride semiconductor structure A nitride semiconductor structure including a substrate, a first type nitride semiconductor layer disposed on the substrate, an active layer disposed between the substrate and the first type nitride semiconductor layer and a second type nitride semiconductor layer disposed between the substrate and the active layer is provided. The active layer includes a first multiple quantum well structure including a plurality of first quantum well layers and a plurality of first barrier layers staggered with each other, and a second multiple quantum well structure including a plurality of second quantum well layers and a plurality of second barrier layers staggered with each other. A second type dopant is doped into at least one of the second barrier layers, and a concentration of the second dopant in the second barrier layer is higher than that of the second dopant in the second type nitride semiconductor layer.
US09406841B2	Light emitting device manufacturing method and light emitting device To improve efficiency when manufacturing a light emitting device formed using a mask to form regions corresponding to pixels on a substrate, provided is a method including, after forming a pattern on a substrate with a first light emitting material that emits light of a first spectrum, through a first opening and one or more second openings of a mask, moving the mask in a longitudinal direction of the first opening by a distance that is less than the width of the first opening in the longitudinal direction of the first opening and greater than or equal to the width of the one or more second openings in the longitudinal direction of the first opening, and then forming a pattern with a second light emitting material that emits light of a second spectrum, through the first opening and the one or more second openings of the mask.
US09406835B2	Light emitting diode with light emitting layer containing nitrogen and phosphorus Embodiments of the invention include an n-type region, a p-type region, and a light emitting layer disposed between the n-type region and the p-type region. The light emitting layer is a III-V material comprising nitrogen and phosphorus. The device also includes a graded region disposed between the light emitting layer and one of the p-type region and the n-type region. The composition of materials in the graded region is graded.
US09406832B2	Waveguide-coupled MSM-type photodiode A waveguide-coupled MSM-type photodiode of the present invention comprises a structure in which a semiconductor light-absorbing layer and an optical waveguide core layer are adjacent and optically coupled to each other, has formed metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) junctions which are arranged at an interval on the semiconductor light-absorbing layer, and is characterized in that of the MSM electrodes arranged at the interval, a voltage is set so that a reverse bias is applied to those MSM electrodes that are arranged on a light incidence side.
US09406823B2	Methods for fabricating self-aligning semiconductor hetereostructures using nanowires Methods for fabricating self-aligned heterostructures and semiconductor arrangements using silicon nanowires are described.
US09406820B2	Method for fabricating photovoltaic cells with plated contacts The disclosed technology relates generally to photovoltaic cells, and more particularly to photovoltaic cells with plated metal contacts. In one aspect, a method of fabricating a photovoltaic cell with a metal contact pattern on a surface of a semiconductor substrate includes locally smoothening portions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate by using a first laser, at predetermined locations. The method additionally includes doping the surface of the semiconductor substrate to form an emitter region. The method additionally includes forming a dielectric layer on the surface of the semiconductor substrate, and subsequently forming openings through the dielectric layer by using a second laser, thereby locally exposing the underlying surface of the semiconductor substrate at the predetermined locations. The method further includes forming metal contacts at exposed regions of the surface of the semiconductor substrate by plating.
US09406818B2	Chip package and method of manufacturing the same A method of manufacturing chip package includes providing a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of semiconductor chips. An outer spacer and a plurality of inner spacers are formed on the semiconductor wafer. A protection lid is formed and disposed on the outer spacer and the inner spacers. A plurality of cavities is formed on each of the semiconductor chips from a lower surface thereof to expose the conductive pad disposed on the upper surface of the semiconductor chip. A plurality of conductive portions is formed and fills each of the cavities and electrically connected to each of the conductive pads. A plurality of solder balls is disposed on the lower surface and electrically connected to each of the conductive portions. The semiconductor chips are separated by cutting along a plurality of cutting lines between each of the semiconductor chips.
US09406813B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing same To provide a semiconductor device with nonvolatile memory, having improved performance.A memory cell has control and memory gate electrodes on a semiconductor substrate via an insulating film and another insulating film having first, second, and third films stacked one after another in order of mention, respectively. The memory and control gate electrodes are adjacent to each other via the stacked insulating film. The second insulating film has a charge accumulation function. The first and third insulating films each have a band gap greater than that of the second insulating film. An inner angle of the second insulating film between a portion extending between the semiconductor substrate and the memory gate electrode and a portion extending between the control gate electrode and the memory gate electrode is ≧90°. An inner angle of the corner portion between the lower surface and the side surface of the memory gate electrode is <90°.
US09406811B2	Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including a charge storage layer formed on first and second insulating layers According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including a semiconductor layer with a main surface, a first insulating layer formed on the main surface of the semiconductor layer, a charge storage layer formed on the first insulating layer, a second insulating layer formed on the charge storage layer, and a control gate electrode formed on the second insulating layer. At least one inelastic scattering film that reduces energy of electrons by scattering is contained in at least one of the charge storage layer and second insulating layer.
US09406810B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof In a semiconductor device, a region where a channel is formed is protected. In a semiconductor device, a region protecting a region where a channel is formed is provided in a semiconductor layer. In a semiconductor device, a layer protecting a region where a channel is formed is provided. In a semiconductor device, a region and/or a layer protecting a region where a channel is formed have/has a low density of defect states. In a semiconductor device, a region where a channel is formed has a low density of defect states.
US09406800B2	Body-tied, strained-channel multi-gate device and methods of manufacturing same A fin-FET or other multi-gate transistor is disclosed. The transistor comprises a semiconductor substrate having a first lattice constant, and a semiconductor fin extending from the semiconductor substrate. The fin has a second lattice constant, different from the first lattice constant, and a top surface and two opposed side surfaces. The transistor also includes a gate dielectric covering at least a portion of the top surface and the two opposed side surfaces, and a gate electrode covering at least a portion of the gate dielectric. The resulting channel has a strain induced therein by the lattice mismatch between the fin and the substrate. This strain can be tuned by selection of the respective materials.
US09406796B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a second conductivity type back gate electrode formed within a body area, and electrically connected with the body area, and performs bidirectional current control in a direction from a drain area to a source area and in a direction from the source area to the drain area. A sheet resistance of the back gate electrode is lower than a sheet resistance of the body area. The source area and the back gate electrode are disposed apart from each other with a clearance sufficient for preventing a breakdown phenomenon caused between the source area and the back gate electrode when a maximum operation voltage is applied between the source area and the drain area.
US09406792B2	Semiconductor device having GaN-based layer A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes a first semiconductor layer of a first GaN based semiconductor, a second semiconductor layer of a second GaN based semiconductor having a band gap narrower than the first GaN based semiconductor, a third semiconductor layer of a third GaN based semiconductor having a band gap wider than the second GaN based semiconductor, a fourth semiconductor layer of a fourth GaN based semiconductor having a band gap narrower than the third GaN based semiconductor, a fifth semiconductor layer of a fifth GaN based semiconductor having a band gap wider than the fourth GaN based semiconductor, a gate dielectric provided directly on the third semiconductor layer, the fourth semiconductor layer, and the fifth semiconductor layer, a gate electrode provided on the gate dielectric, a source and drain electrodes provided above the fifth semiconductor layer.
US09406787B2	Semiconductor device including an IGBT as a power transistor An improvement is achieved in the performance of a semiconductor device. Over the main surface of a semiconductor substrate for the n-type base of an IGBT, an insulating layer is formed. In a trench of the insulating layer, an n-type semiconductor layer is formed over the semiconductor substrate and, on both sides of the semiconductor layer, gate electrodes are formed via gate insulating films. In an upper portion of the semiconductor layer, a p-type semiconductor region for a p-type base and an n+-type semiconductor region for an n-type emitter are formed. Under the gate electrodes, parts of the insulating layer are present. The side surfaces of the gate electrodes opposite to the side surfaces thereof facing the semiconductor layer via the gate insulating films are adjacent to the insulating layer.
US09406784B1	Method of manufacturing isolation structure and non-volatile memory with the isolation structure A method of manufacturing an isolation structure suitable for a non-volatile memory is provided. A substrate is provided. A dielectric layer, a conductive layer, and a hard mask layer are sequentially formed on the substrate. The hard mask layer and the conductive layer are patterned to form a first trench which exposes the dielectric layer. A first liner is formed on the substrate. The first liner and the dielectric layer that are exposed by the first trench are removed to expose the substrate. A spacer is formed on sidewalls of the conductive layer and the hard mask layer. The substrate is partly removed to form in a second trench with use of the conductive layer and the hard mask layer with the spacer as a mask. An isolation layer is formed in the second trench. The distance between the conductive layers is greater than the width of the second trench.
US09406775B1	Method for creating self-aligned compact contacts in an IC device meeting fabrication spacing constraints Methods for forming a self-aligned gate-cut in close proximity to a gate contact and the resulting device are disclosed. Embodiments include providing a substrate with silicon fins and a metal gate with a nitride-cap perpendicular to and over the fins, with source/drain regions, each with an oxide-cap, on the fins on opposite sides of the gate; forming parallel dielectric lines, separated from each other, perpendicular to and over the gate; forming a photoresist over the parallel dielectric lines, forming an opening in the photoresist exposing a nitride-cap between two fins; removing the exposed nitride-cap exposing an underlying metal gate; removing the exposed metal gate and a remainder of the photoresist; forming low-k dielectric lines between the parallel dielectric lines; removing sections of the parallel dielectric lines; forming perpendicular interconnects between the low-k dielectric lines; removing a remainder of the parallel dielectric lines forming trenches; and filling the trenches with metal.
US09406773B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A semiconductor device which provides compactness and enhanced drain withstand voltage. The semiconductor device includes: a gate electrode; a source electrode spaced from the gate electrode; a drain electrode located opposite to the source electrode with respect to the gate electrode in a plan view and spaced from the gate electrode; at least one field plate electrode located between the gate and drain electrodes in a plan view, provided over the semiconductor substrate through an insulating film and spaced from the gate electrode, source electrode and drain electrode; and at least one field plate contact provided in the insulating film, coupling the field plate electrode to the semiconductor substrate. The field plate electrode extends from the field plate contact at least either toward the source electrode or toward the drain electrode in a plan view.
US09406767B1	POC process flow for conformal recess fill A method of filling trenches between gates includes forming a first and a second dummy gate over a substrate, the first and second dummy gates including a sacrificial gate material and a hard mask layer; forming a first gate spacer along a sidewall of the first dummy gate and a second gate spacer along a sidewall of the second dummy gate; performing an epitaxial growth process to form a source/drain on the substrate between the first and second dummy gates; disposing a conformal liner over the first and second dummy gates and the source/drain; disposing an oxide on the conformal liner between the first and second dummy gates; recessing the oxide to a level below the hard mask layers of the first and second dummy gates to form a recessed oxide; and depositing a spacer material over the recessed oxide between the first dummy gate and the second dummy gate.
US09406763B2	Stress-reduced field-effect semiconductor device and method for forming therefor A field-effect semiconductor device is provided. The field-effect semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body with a first surface defining a vertical direction. In a vertical cross-section the field-effect semiconductor device further includes a vertical trench extending from the first surface into the semiconductor body and comprising a field electrode, a cavity at least partly surrounded by the field electrode, and an insulation structure substantially surrounding at least the field electrode. An interface between the insulation structure and the surrounding semiconductor body is under tensile stress and the cavity is filled or unfilled so as to counteract the tensile stress.
US09406762B2	Semiconductor device with junction termination extension A semiconductor device includes a substrate including silicon carbide; a drift layer disposed over the substrate including a drift region doped with a first dopant and conductivity type; and a second region, doped with a second dopant and conductivity type, adjacent to the drift region and proximal to a surface of the drift layer. The semiconductor device further includes a junction termination extension adjacent to the second region with a width and discrete regions separated in a first and second direction doped with varying concentrations of the second dopant type, and an effective doping profile of the second conductivity type of functional form that generally decreases away from the edge of the primary blocking junction. The width is less than or equal to a multiple of five times the width of the one-dimensional depletion width, and the charge tolerance of the semiconductor device is greater than 1.0×1013 per cm2.
US09406756B2	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the semiconductor device A semiconductor-device manufacturing method of the present invention includes a step of selectively implanting impurity ions into a surface of an SiC semiconductor layer and forming impurity regions and a step of activating the impurity ions by annealing the SiC semiconductor layer at a temperature of 1400° C. or more when the surface of the SiC semiconductor layer is covered with an insulating film.
US09406753B2	Semiconductor devices including superlattice depletion layer stack and related methods A semiconductor device may include an alternating stack of superlattice and bulk semiconductor layers on a substrate, with each superlattice layer including a plurality of stacked group of layers, and each group of layers of the superlattice layer including a plurality of stacked base semiconductor monolayers defining a base semiconductor portion and at least one non-semiconductor monolayer constrained within a crystal lattice of adjacent base semiconductor portions. The semiconductor device may further include spaced apart source and drain regions in an upper bulk semiconductor layer of the alternating stack of superlattice and bulk semiconductor layers, and a gate on the upper bulk semiconductor layer between the spaced apart source and drain regions.
US09406747B2	Component in the form of a wafer level package and method for manufacturing same A vertically integrated hybrid component is implemented in the form of a wafer level package including: at least two element substrates assembled one above the other; a molded upper sealing layer made of an electrically insulating casting; and an external electrical contacting of the component being implemented on the top side via at least one contact stamp which is embedded in the sealing layer so that (i) its lower end is connected to a wiring level of an element substrate and (ii) its upper end is exposed in the surface of the sealing layer.
US09406740B2	Silicon process compatible trench magnetic device A mechanism is provided for integrating an inductor into a semiconductor. A circular or other closed loop trench is formed in a substrate with sidewalls connected by a bottom surface in the substrate. A first insulator layer is deposited on the sidewalls of the trench so as to coat the sidewalls and the bottom surface. A conductor layer is deposited on the sidewalls and the bottom surface of the trench so as to coat the first insulator layer in the trench such that the conductor layer is on top of the first insulator layer in the trench. A first magnetic layer is deposited on the sidewalls and bottom surface of the trench so as to coat the first insulator layer in the trench without filling the trench. The first magnetic layer deposited on the sidewalls forms an inner closed magnetic loop and an outer closed magnetic loop within the trench.
US09406738B2	Inductive structure formed using through silicon vias An inductor for an integrated circuit can include a first turn comprising a first through silicon via (TSV) coupled to a second TSV. The inductor can include a third TSV coupled to the second TSV.
US09406737B2	Display device having particular insulating layer A display device is disclosed, which comprises: a first substrate; a first insulating layer disposed on the first substrate; a second insulating layer disposed on the first insulating layer; and a patterned metal layer disposed on the second insulating layer and comprising plural conductive lines, wherein an opening region is located between two adjacent conductive lines to expose the second insulating layer, and a thickness of the second insulating layer under the conductive lines of the patterned metal layer is larger than that exposed from the opening region.
US09406736B2	Organic light-emitting display apparatus An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes a thin film transistor including an active layer, gate, source and drain electrodes, a first insulating layer disposed between the active layer and the gate electrode, and a second insulating layer disposed between the gate electrode and the source and drain electrodes; a pad electrode including a first pad layer disposed on the same layer as the source and drain electrodes and a second pad layer disposed on the first pad layer; a third insulating layer covering the source electrode and the drain electrode and an end portion of the pad electrode; a pixel electrode including a semi-transmissive metal layer and disposed in an opening formed in the third insulating layer; and a fourth insulating layer having an opening formed in a location corresponding to an opening formed in the third insulating layer and covering the end portion of the pixel electrode.
US09406729B2	Organic light emitting diode display device and method for repairing organic light emitting diode display An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display includes a light-emitting region including an organic emission layer and a non-light-emitting region neighboring the light-emitting region. The OLED display includes a first electrode positioned at the light-emitting region and including a plurality of division regions divided according to a virtual cutting line crossing the light-emitting region, an organic emission layer positioned on the first electrode, a second electrode positioned on the organic emission layer, a driving thin film transistor connected to the first electrode, and a plurality of input terminals positioned at the non-light-emitting region and respectively connecting between each of division regions and the driving thin film transistor.
US09406711B2	Apparatus and method for backside illuminated image sensors A backside illuminated image sensor comprises a photodiode and a first transistor located in a first substrate, wherein the first transistor is electrically coupled to the photodiode. The backside illuminated image sensor further comprises a plurality of logic circuits formed in a second substrate, wherein the second substrate is stacked on the first substrate and the logic circuit are coupled to the first transistor through a plurality of bonding pads.
US09406710B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method of the same A semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. The semiconductor device includes a silicon substrate, a spacer, a doped region, and a deep trench isolation (DTI). The silicon substrate has a deep trench. The spacer is formed on an upper portion of the sidewall of the deep trench. The doped region is formed on a lower portion of the sidewall of the deep trench. The deep trench isolation is formed in the deep trench.
US09406695B2	Circuit and method for improving ESD tolerance and switching speed Embodiments of systems, methods, and apparatus for improving ESD tolerance and switching time for semiconductor devices including metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistors (FETs), and particularly to MOSFETs fabricated on semiconductor-on-insulator and silicon-on-sapphire substrates. Embodiments provide an improved FET structure having an accumulated charge sink (ACS) circuit, fast switching times, and improved ESD tolerance.
US09406694B1	Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a metal layer containing boron, a semiconductor film extending in a direction intersecting with a direction in which the metal layer extends, a charge storage film provided between the semiconductor film and the metal layer, a first dielectric film provided between the charge storage film and the metal layer, and a nitride film provided between the first dielectric film and the metal layer. The nitride film includes a first titanium nitride film provided in contact with the first dielectric film, a second titanium nitride film provided in contact with the metal layer, and an amorphous nitride film provided between the first titanium nitride film and the second titanium nitride film.
US09406693B1	Selective removal of charge-trapping layer for select gate transistors and dummy memory cells in 3D stacked memory Fabrication techniques for a three-dimensional stack memory device remove the charge-trapping material from the select gate transistors and the dummy memory cells to avoid unintentional programming which increases the threshold voltage. In one approach, a stack is formed with a different sacrificial material for the a) control gate layers of the select gate transistors and the dummy memory cells and the b) control gate layers of the data memory cells. A slit is formed to allow etchants to be introduced to selectively remove the sacrificial material and then the charge-trapping material for the select gate transistors and dummy memory cells. Subsequently, an etchant is introduced to remove the sacrificial material but not the charge-trapping material for the data memory cells. In other approaches, a protective layer is provided partway in the slit, or the slit is etched in two steps, and a common sacrificial material can be used.
US09406689B2	Logic finFET high-K/conductive gate embedded multiple time programmable flash memory A method for fabricating a multiple time programmable (MTP) device includes forming fins of a first conducting type on a substrate of a second conducting type. The method further includes forming a floating gate dielectric to partially surround the fins. The method also includes forming a floating gate on the floating gate dielectric. The method also includes forming a coupling film on the floating gate and forming a coupling gate on the coupling film.
US09406682B2	Method and structure for preventing epi merging in embedded dynamic random access memory After forming a plurality of first semiconductor fins having a first spacing in a logic device region and a plurality of second semiconductor fins having a second spacing in a memory device region, sacrificial spacers are formed on sidewalls of the plurality of the first semiconductor fins and the plurality of the second semiconductor fins to completely fill spaces between the plurality of first semiconductor fins, but only partially fill spaces between second semiconductor fins. Next, dielectric barrier layer portions are formed in gaps between the sacrificial spacers. After removal of the sacrificial spacers, an entirety of the plurality of first semiconductor fins is laterally enclosed by a corresponding pair of neighboring dielectric barrier layers, while each of the plurality of second semiconductor fins is laterally enclosed by a corresponding pair of neighboring dielectric barrier layer portions.
US09406673B2	Semiconductor component with transistor One aspect relates to a semiconductor component with a semiconductor body, a first main contact pad, a second main contact pad, a normally-on first transistor monolithically integrated in the semiconductor body and a normally-off second transistor monolithically integrated in the semiconductor body. The first transistor is a high electron mobility transistor having a first gate electrode and a first load path controllable via a first gate electrode, and the second transistor has a second gate electrode and a second load path controllable via the second gate electrode. The first load path and the second load path are electrically connected in series between the first main contact pad and the second main contact pad.
US09406669B2	Method and structure for vertical tunneling field effect transistor and planar devices The present disclosure provides one embodiment of a method of forming a tunnel field effect transistor (TFET). The method includes forming a semiconductor mesa on a semiconductor substrate; performing a first implantation to the semiconductor substrate and the semiconductor mesa to form a drain of a first type conductivity; forming a first dielectric layer on the semiconductor substrate and sidewall of the semiconductor mesa; forming a gate stack on the sidewall of the semiconductor mesa and the first dielectric layer; forming a second dielectric layer on the first dielectric layer and the gate stack; and forming, on the semiconductor mesa, a source having a second type conductivity opposite to the first type conductivity. The gate stack includes a gate dielectric and a gate electrode on the gate dielectric. The source, drain and gate stack are configured to form the TFET.
US09406657B2	Semiconductor light-emitting device A semiconductor light-emitting device has a substrate, one or more semiconductor light-emitting elements provided on the substrate, and that emit light having a peak wavelength in a 380 nm to 480 nm wavelength region, and a molded member covering the semiconductor light-emitting element, and containing a phosphor that emits visible light by being excited by the emitted light from the semiconductor light-emitting element. The molded member is formed so that index A=H/(s/n) satisfies 0.3≦A≦6, where H is the height [mm] of the molded member from the substrate, s is the square root [mm] of the contact area between the substrate and the molded member, and n is the number of the semiconductor light-emitting elements covered with the molded member.
US09406653B2	Integrated solution for solid state light sources in a process chamber Apparatus for providing pulsed or continuous energy in a process chamber, and methods of fabricated said apparatus, are provided herein. The apparatus may include a substrate having a plurality of electrical terminals disposed on one or more surfaces of the substrate, a plurality of solid state sources grown on top of the plurality of electrical terminals, the plurality of solid state sources providing pulsed or continuous energy when electrically powered, and one or more cooling channels formed in one or more areas of the substrate.
US09406649B2	Stacked multi-chip integrated circuit package A multi-chip integrated circuit (IC) package is provided which is configured to protect against failure due to warpage. The IC package may comprise a substrate, a level-one IC die and a plurality of level-two IC dies. The level-one IC die having a surface that is electrically coupled to the substrate. The plurality of level-two IC dies is stacked above the level-one IC die. The plurality of level-two IC dies may each have an active surface that is electrically coupled to the substrate. The plurality of level-two IC dies may be arranged side by side such that the active surfaces of the plurality of level-two IC dies are positioned substantially in a same plane. Relative to a single die configuration, the level-two IC dies are separated thereby inhibiting cracking, peeling and/or other potential failures due to warpage of the IC package.
US09406646B2	Electronic device and method for fabricating an electronic device An embodiment electronic device comprises a semiconductor chip including a first main face, a second main face and side faces each connecting the first main face to the second main face. A metal layer is disposed above the second main face and the side faces, the metal layer including a porous structure.
US09406642B1	Integrated circuit packaging system with insulated trace and method of manufacture thereof An integrated circuit packaging system and method of manufacture thereof includes: a substrate; a plain trace on the substrate; an insulated trace on the substrate; an insulation layer on the insulated trace, the insulation layer at least partially covers the insulated trace; and a semiconductor device over the substrate, the semiconductor device has a plain bump attached on the plain trace and an inner bump attached on the insulated trace, and the plain bump is mounted adjacent to the insulation layer.
US09406638B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof Provided are a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same. A carrier is removed after a first semiconductor die and a second semiconductor die are stacked on each other, and then a first encapsulant is formed, so that the carrier may be easily removed when compared to approaches in which a carrier is removed from a wafer having a thin thickness.
US09406630B2	Contact portion of wire and manufacturing method thereof A contact portion of wiring and a method of manufacturing the same are disclosed. A contact portion of wiring according to an embodiment includes: a substrate; a conductive layer disposed on the substrate; an interlayer insulating layer disposed on the conductive layer and having a contact hole; a metal layer disposed on the conductive layer and filling the contact hole; and a transparent electrode disposed on the interlayer insulating layer and connected to the metal layer, wherein the interlayer insulating layer includes a lower insulating layer and an upper insulating layer disposed on the lower insulating layer, the lower insulating layer is undercut at the contact hole, and the metal layer fills in the portion where the lower insulating layer is undercut.
US09406627B2	Mixed mode RC clamps A system interconnect includes a first resistor-capacitor (RC) clamp having a first RC time constant. The system interconnect also includes second RC clamps having a second RC time constant. The first and second RC clamps are arranged along the system interconnect. In addition, the first RC time constant is different from the second RC time constant.
US09406623B2	Electromagnetic shield and associated methods Semiconductor devices are described, along with methods and systems that include them. One such device includes a diffusion region in a semiconductor material, a terminal coupled to the diffusion region, and a field plate coupled to the terminal and extending from the terminal over the diffusion region to shield the diffusion region. Additional embodiments are also described.
US09406612B2	Semiconductor device having groove-shaped via-hole The semiconductor device has insulating films 40, 42 formed over a substrate 10; an interconnection 58 buried in at least a surface side of the insulating films 40, 42; insulating films 60, 62 formed on the insulating film 42 and including a hole-shaped via-hole 60 and a groove-shaped via-hole 66a having a pattern bent at a right angle; and buried conductors 70, 72a buried in the hole-shaped via-hole 60 and the groove-shaped via-hole 66a. A groove-shaped via-hole 66a is formed to have a width which is smaller than a width of the hole-shaped via-hole 66. Defective filling of the buried conductor and the cracking of the inter-layer insulating film can be prevented. Steps on the conductor plug can be reduced. Accordingly, defective contact with the upper interconnection layer and the problems taking place in forming films can be prevented.
US09406610B2	Semiconductor device having groove-shaped via-hole The semiconductor device has insulating films 40, 42 formed over a substrate 10; an interconnection 58 buried in at least a surface side of the insulating films 40, 42; insulating films 60, 62 formed on the insulating film 42 and including a hole-shaped via-hole 60 and a groove-shaped via-hole 66a having a pattern bent at a right angle; and buried conductors 70, 72a buried in the hole-shaped via-hole 60 and the groove-shaped via-hole 66a. A groove-shaped via-hole 66a is formed to have a width which is smaller than a width of the hole-shaped via-hole 66. Defective filling of the buried conductor and the cracking of the inter-layer insulating film can be prevented. Steps on the conductor plug can be reduced. Accordingly, defective contact with the upper interconnection layer and the problems taking place in forming films can be prevented.
US09406607B2	Device-manufacturing scheme for increasing the density of metal patterns in inter-layer dielectrics A method includes forming a transistor at a surface of a semiconductor substrate, wherein the step of forming the transistor comprises forming a gate electrode, and forming a source/drain region adjacent the gate electrode. First metal features are formed to include at least portions at a same level as the gate electrode. Second metal features are formed simultaneously, and are over and contacting the first metal features. A first one of the second metal features is removed and replaced with a third metal feature, wherein a second one of the second metal features is not removed. A fourth metal feature is formed directly over and contacting the gate electrode, wherein the third and the fourth metal features are formed using a same metal-filling process.
US09406596B2	Molding compound structure A device comprises a package component comprising a plurality of bumps formed on a first side of the package component, a semiconductor die mounted on the first side of the package component, a dielectric material formed over the first side of the package component, wherein four corners of the top surface of the package component are free from the dielectric material and a top package bonded on the first side of the package component, wherein the semiconductor die is located between the top package and the package component.
US09406590B2	Chip package and manufacturing method thereof A chip package is provided. The chip package comprises a semiconductor chip, an isolation layer, a redistributing metal layer, and a bonding pad. The semiconductor chip has a first conducting pad disposed on a lower surface, and a first hole corresponding to the first conducting pad. The first hole and the isolation layer extend from an upper surface to the lower surface to expose the first conducting pad. The redistributing metal layer is disposed on the isolation layer and has a redistributing metal line corresponding to the first conducting pad, the redistributing metal line is connected to the first conducting pad through the opening. The bonding pad is disposed on the isolation layer and one side of the semiconductor chip, wherein the redistributing metal line extends to the bonding pad to electrically connect the first conducting pad to the bonding pad. A method thereof is also provided.
US09406585B2	Liquid-cooled-type cooling device A liquid-cooled-type cooling device includes a casing which has a cooling-liquid inlet formed at a rear end portion of the casing and a cooling-liquid outlet formed at a front end portion of the casing. A corrugated fin for forming a plurality of flow channels through which a cooling liquid flows from the rear side toward the front side is disposed within the casing to be located between the cooling-liquid inlet and the cooling-liquid outlet. A heat-generating-body mounting region is provided on an outer surface of a top wall of the casing. Projections which come into contact with front and rear end portions of the corrugated fin to thereby position the corrugated fin in the front-rear direction are provided on an inner surface of the bottom wall of the casing at positions shifted, in the left-right direction, from an inner surface region corresponding to the heat-generating-body mounting region.
US09406583B2	COF type semiconductor package and method of manufacturing the same Provided is a chip on film (COF) type semiconductor package. The COF type semiconductor device includes a flexible film, an electrode pattern formed on the flexible film, a semiconductor device disposed on the electrode pattern, a conductive pad disposed between the electrode pattern and the semiconductor device to electrically connect the semiconductor device with the electrode pattern, and a first protective layer which seals the conductive pad and the semiconductor device and is formed on a portion of the electrode pattern and the semiconductor device. The first protective layer includes a heat conductive material for dissipating heat generated from the semiconductor device.
US09406570B2	FinFET device A method for fabricating a field effect transistor device includes removing a portion of a first semiconductor layer and a first insulator layer to expose a portion of a second semiconductor layer, wherein the second semiconductor layer is disposed on a second insulator layer, the first insulator layer is disposed on the second semiconductor layer, and the first semiconductor layer is disposed on the first insulator layer, removing portions of the first semiconductor layer to form a first fin disposed on the first insulator layer and removing portions of the second semiconductor layer to form a second fin disposed on the second insulator layer, and forming a first gate stack over a portion of the first fin and forming a second gate stack over a portion of the second fin.
US09406568B2	Semiconductor structure containing low-resistance source and drain contacts Semiconductor structures having a source contact and a drain contact that exhibit reduced contact resistance and methods of forming the same are disclosed. In one embodiment of the present application, the reduced contact resistance is provided by forming a layer of a dipole metal or metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) oxide between an epitaxial semiconductor material (providing the source region and the drain region of the device) and an overlying metal semiconductor alloy. In yet other embodiment, the reduced contact resistance is provided by increasing the area of the source region and drain region by patterning the epitaxial semiconductor material that constitutes at least an upper portion of the source region and drain region of the device.
US09406567B1	Method for fabricating multiple transistor devices on a substrate with varying threshold voltages Fabrication of a first device on a substrate is performed by exposing a first device region, removing a portion of the substrate to create a trench in the first device region, forming a screen layer with a first dopant concentration in the trench on the substrate, and forming an epitaxial channel on the screen layer having a first thickness. On or more other devices are similarly formed on the substrate independent of each other with epitaxial channels of different thicknesses than the first thickness. Devices with screen layers having the same dopant concentration but with different epitaxial channel thicknesses have different threshold voltages. Thus, a wide variety of threshold voltage devices can be formed on the same substrate. Further threshold voltage setting can be achieved through variations in the dopant concentration of the screen layers.
US09406543B2	Semiconductor power devices and methods of manufacturing the same A semiconductor power device includes a substrate, a plurality of gate electrode structures, a floating well region and a termination ring region. The substrate has a first region and a second region. A plurality of gate electrode structures is formed on the substrate, each of the gate electrode structures extends from the first region to the second region and includes a first gate electrode, a second gate electrode and a connecting portion, the first and second gate electrodes extend in a first direction, and the connecting portion connects end portions of the first and second gate electrodes to each other. The floating well region is doped with impurities between the gate electrode structures in the first region of the substrate, and the floating well region has a first impurity concentration and a first depth. The termination ring region is doped with impurities in the second region of the substrate, is spaced apart from the gate electrode structures, and has a ring shape surrounding the first region, and has the first impurity concentration and the first depth. The semiconductor power device may have a high breakdown voltage.
US09406538B2	Indexed inline substrate processing tool In some embodiments, an indexed inline substrate processing tool may include a substrate carrier having a base and pair of opposing substrate supports having respective substrate support surfaces that extend upwardly and outwardly from the base; and a plurality of modules coupled to one another in a linear arrangement, wherein each module of the plurality of modules comprises an enclosure having a first end, a second end, and a lower surface to support the substrate carrier and to provide a path for the substrate carrier to move linearly through the plurality of modules, and wherein at least one module of the plurality of modules comprises: a window disposed in a side of the enclosure; a heating lamp coupled to the side of the enclosure; a gas inlet disposed proximate a top of the enclosure; and an exhaust disposed opposite the gas inlet.
US09406537B2	Cover opening/closing apparatus, thermal processing apparatus using the same, and cover opening/closing method Provided is a cover opening/closing apparatus which includes: a wafer conveyance port having an opening edge and configured to be opened/closed by an opening/closing door; and a cover removal apparatus installed on the opening/closing door and configured to remove a cover of a FOUP which is formed with a substrate outlet having a opening edge. When the cover removal apparatus removes the cover of the FOUP, the opening edge of the substrate outlet is closely contacted with the opening edge of the wafer conveyance port. The cover removal apparatus includes: a latch key which is engaged with the cover of the FOUP, a driving unit configured to drive the latch key, and an accommodation unit configured to accommodate the driving unit. The cover opening/closing apparatus further includes an exhaust system configured to exhaust a space within the accommodation unit.
US09406536B1	Method and system for manufacturing semiconductor epitaxy structure A system for manufacturing semiconductor epitaxy structure includes a deposition apparatus, a curvature monitor system and a control unit. The deposition apparatus is configured for sequentially depositing a buffer layer, a first epitaxy layer, an insertion layer, a second epitaxy layer on a substrate. The curvature monitor system is configured for monitoring a curvature value of the semiconductor epitaxy structure. The control unit is configured for controlling the deposition apparatus to stop depositing the buffer layer, the first epitaxy layer, the insertion layer and the second epitaxy layer according to the curvature value of the semiconductor epitaxy structure measured by the curvature monitor system. The above-mentioned system for manufacturing semiconductor epitaxy structure is able to effectively control the strain of the semiconductor epitaxy structure during growth. A method for manufacturing semiconductor epitaxy structure is also disclosed.
US09406532B2	Interposer having molded low CTE dielectric A method for making an interconnection component is disclosed, including forming a plurality of metal posts extending away from a reference surface. Each post is formed having a pair of opposed end surface and an edge surface extending therebetween. A dielectric layer is formed contacting the edge surfaces and filling spaces between adjacent ones of the posts. The dielectric layer has first and second opposed surfaces adjacent the first and second end surfaces. The dielectric layer has a coefficient of thermal expansion of less than 8 ppm/° C. The interconnection component is completed such that it has no interconnects between the first and second end surfaces of the posts that extend in a lateral direction. First and second pluralities of wettable contacts are adjacent the first and second opposed surfaces. The wettable contacts are usable to bond the interconnection component to a microelectronic element or a circuit panel.
US09406528B2	Silicon single crystal wafer, manufacturing method thereof and method of detecting defects A silicon single crystal wafer is provided. The silicon single crystal wafer includes an IDP which is divided into an NiG region and an NIDP region, wherein the IDP region is a region where a Cu based defect is not detected, the NiG region is a region where an Ni based defect is detected and the NIPD region is a region where an Ni based defect is not detected.
US09406526B2	Method for patterning contact openings on a substrate Techniques herein include methods for patterning substrates including methods for patterning contact openings. Using techniques herein, slot contacts and other openings can be created having a selectable width between approximately 1-30 nanometers or less. Methods include creating trench widths defined by diffusion lengths of photo acid as part of a double patterning scheme. These trenches can then be filled and a separate mask can then be used to isolate segments of trenches. The segments can then be extruded resulting in slot contact openings which are ready to be metallized. These slot contacts have a length defined by lithographic exposure techniques and a width defined by photo acid diffusion lengths.
US09406516B2	High-K metal gate process for lowering junction leakage and interface traps in NMOS transistor A method for fabricating semiconductor device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a substrate; forming an interfacial layer on the substrate; forming a high-k dielectric layer on the interfacial layer; forming a first bottom barrier metal (BBM) layer on the high-k dielectric layer; performing a thermal treatment; removing the first BBM layer; and forming a second BBM layer on the high-k dielectric layer.
US09406506B2	Lattice matched aspect ratio trapping to reduce defects in III-V layer directly grown on silicon A structure having application to electronic devices includes a III-V layer having high crystal quality and a low defect density on a lattice mismatched substrate. Trenches are formed in a layer of III-V semiconductor material grown on a substrate having a different lattice constant. Dielectric material is deposited within the trenches, forming dielectric regions. A portion of the layer of III-V material is removed, leaving new trenches defined by the dielectric regions. A new layer of III-V semiconductor material having reduced defect density is grown on the remaining portion of the originally deposited III-V semiconductor layer and within the trenches defined by the dielectric regions.
US09406501B2	Apparatus and method for cleaning substrate Provided are an apparatus and a method of cleaning a substrate. The apparatus includes a substrate supporting unit supporting a substrate, a container surrounding the substrate supporting unit and collecting an organic solvent scattered from the substrate, and a fluid supplying unit provided on one side of the container and spraying a liquid organic solvent with bubbles to the substrate. The fluid supplying unit includes a nozzle head ejecting the organic solvent to the substrate, an organic solvent supplying line supplying the organic solvent from an organic solvent storage tank to the nozzle head, and a bubble providing element provided on the organic solvent supplying line and providing bubbles to the liquid organic solvent.
US09406493B2	Electrostatic mass spectrometer with encoded frequent pulses A method, apparatus and algorithms are disclosed for operating an open electrostatic trap (E-trap) or a multi-pass TOF mass spectrometer with an extended flight path. A string of start pulses with non equal time intervals is employed for triggering ion packet injection into the analyzer, a long spectrum is acquired to accept ions from the entire string and a true spectrum is reconstructed by eliminating or accounting overlapping signals at the data analysis stage while using logical analysis of peak groups. The method is particularly useful for tandem mass spectrometry wherein spectra are sparse. The method improves the duty cycle, the dynamic range and the space charge throughput of the analyzer and of the detector, so as the response time of the E-trap analyzer. It allows flight extension without degrading E-trap sensitivity.
US09406488B2	Enhanced photoelectron sources using electron bombardment A method of achieving heightened quantum efficiencies and extended photocathode lifetimes is provided that includes using an electron beam bombardment to activate color centers in a CsBr film of a photocathode, and using a laser source for pumping electrons in the color centers of the photocathode.
US09406487B2	Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) source One embodiment is directed to a plasma source comprising a body in which a cavity is formed and at least two self-contained magnetron assemblies disposed within the cavity. The magnetron assemblies are mutually electrically isolated from each other and from the body. In one implementation of such an embodiment, the self-contained magnetron assemblies comprise closed-drift magnetron assemblies. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09406483B1	Method and device for characterizing an electron beam using an X-ray detector with a patterned aperture resolver and patterned aperture modulator A device for detecting X-rays radiated out of a substrate surface, said device comprising at least one X-ray detector, a resolver grating and a modulator grating, said resolver grating with at least one opening facing towards said X-ray detector is arranged in front of said X-ray detector. Said modulator grating is provided between said resolver grating and said substrate at a predetermined distance from said resolver grating and said substrate, where said modulator grating having a plurality of openings in at least a first direction, wherein said x-rays from said surface is spatially modulated with said modulator grating and resolver grating.
US09406475B2	Multi-pole switch-fuse arrangement for busbar systems The present invention relates to a multi-pole switch-fuse arrangement having at least two switch-fuse units into which one fuse link each can be inserted. The switch-fuse arrangement comprises a switching device for closing and breaking the circuits of all switch-fuse units, the switch-fuse arrangement comprising a switching lever, a housing, a drive rod, and a lever mechanism device for actuating a drive rod.
US09406474B2	Circuit breaker heaters and translational magnetic systems A thermal-magnetic trip unit is provided for a circuit breaker. The thermal-magnetic trip unit includes a heater and a translational magnetic system coupled to the heater. The heater includes a first portion, a second portion, and a third disposed between the first portion and the second portion. The first portion has a first surface disposed in a first plane, and the second portion has a second surface disposed in a second plane that is substantially parallel to the first plane. The first surface is separated by a first predetermined distance from the second surface. The third portion has a third surface disposed in a third plane that is substantially perpendicular to the first plane. The third surface has a first predetermined length and is separated by a second predetermined distance from the second surface. Numerous other aspects are provided.
US09406470B2	Tri-stable flexure mechanism Embodiments of a tri-stable flexure mechanism are described where a resilient component is present that serves as both a structural component in the kinematic chain of the mechanism and as energy storing component of the mechanism. The resilient component maintains a movable arm and an input link in either a first stable state or a second stable state when the ends of the resilient component are held in place so that the resilient component has a state of high elastic strain energy. In a third stable state, where the resilient component is in a relaxed state of lower elastic strain energy, the mechanism may be in a tripped state distinct from the closed and open states.
US09406460B2	Push switch A push switch of the present invention includes a case in which a concave portion is formed. The push switch of the present invention includes a movable member formed so as to be convex upward and arranged in the concave portion. The push switch of the present invention includes a protecting sheet provided above the movable member so as to cover the concave portion, the protecting sheet having an adhesive formed on a lower surface thereof. The push switch of the present invention is provided with an intermediate sheet between a lower surface of the adhesive and an upper surface of the movable member.
US09406450B2	Energy storage devices with at least one porous polycrystalline substrate In one embodiment, a structure for a energy storage device may include at one polycrystalline substrate. The grain size may be designed to be at least a size at which phonon scattering begins to dominate over grain boundary scattering in the polycrystalline substrate. The structure also includes a porous structure containing multiple channels within the polycrystalline substrate.
US09406449B2	Supercapacitor devices formed by depositing metal oxide materials onto carbon substrates Supercapacitors have composite electrodes that include a porous carbonaceous material such as graphene onto which a metal oxide pseudocapacitor material is deposited in the form of nano-scale particles or a nano-scale film. The composite electrodes exhibit excellent specific capacitance, even at high scan rates.
US09406446B2	Dye-sensitized solar cell, method of producing the same, and dye-sensitized solar cell module Provided are a dye-sensitized solar cell wherein a counter electrode composed of a stable counter electrode conductive layer and a catalyst layer is formed on a porous insulation layer, and a dye-sensitized solar cell module wherein the dye-sensitized solar cell is utilized. A dye-sensitized solar cell includes a supporting body made of a light-transmissive material, and a laminate wherein a conductive layer, a photoelectric conversion layer having a porous semiconductor layer with a dye adsorbed therein, a porous insulation layer, a counter electrode conductive layer, and a catalyst layer are laminated in the order presented. The photoelectric conversion layer and the porous insulation lay are filled with a carrier transport material.
US09406443B2	Ceramic electronic component In a ceramic electronic component, when a distance between a first end surface and an edge of a portion of a first baked electrode layer disposed on a second principal surface in a length direction is A, a distance between the first end surface and an effective region in the length direction is B, and a distance between the first end surface and an edge of a portion of a first resin-containing electrode layer disposed on the second principal surface in the length direction is C, A
US09406440B2	Dielectric ceramic and laminated ceramic capacitor A laminated ceramic capacitor which has a long high temperature load life, small variations in life, large capacitance, high electrical insulation property, and favorable capacitance temperature characteristics, even when high strength electric field is applied while reducing the thickness of dielectric ceramic layers uses a dielectric ceramic represented by the formula: 100(Ba1-xCax)mTiO3+aMgO+bVO5/2+cReO3/2+dMnO+eSiO2 where Re being at least one of Y, La, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb), 0.05≦x≦0.15, 0.01≦a≦0.1, 0.05≦b≦0.5, 1.0≦c≦5.0, 0.1≦d≦1.0, 0.5≦e≦2.5, and 0.990≦m≦1.030.
US09406434B2	Distribution transformer for voltage regulation of local distribution networks The invention relates to a distribution transformer having a tap-changing device for no-break switching between different winding taps of a distribution transformer. The general inventive concept consists in actuating both the selector contact unit and the switching means for no-break load switching by means of a common motor drive without interposition of an energy store.
US09406430B2	Reactor A reactor using a composite magnetic core in which a ferrite core and a soft magnetic metal core are combined. The reactor is composed of a pair of yoke portion magnetic portions composed of a ferrite core, winding portion core(s) disposed between the opposite planes of the yoke portion cores, and coil(s) wound around the winding portion core(s). The winding portion core(s) is/are made of a soft magnetic metal core, and the cross sectional area of the part for winding the coil of the winding portion core is substantially constant. When the cross sectional area of the part for winding the coil of the winding portion core is set as S1, and the area of the parts opposite to the yoke portion cores in the winding portion core(s) is set as S2, the area ratio S2/S1 is set to be 1.3 to 4.0.
US09406405B2	Fusion energy device with internal ion source An improved fusion reactor design with provision for supplying plasma fuel inside a model reactor without consuming additional power in the process. Embodiments provide free choice of useful fuels from the full range of fusible isotopes. Other embodiments provide means of selectively extracting up-scattered electrons from the plasma, followed by replacing them with electrons of corrected energy. Computer simulations show fusion reactors constructed with these inventive improvements will demonstrate increased net-power compared to other fusion reactors of similar size. The Specification of the invention leads immediately to staged reactor development, starting from small-scale model-reactors, moving on to larger and larger scale models, culminating with commercial power plants.
US09406395B1	Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a first memory cell and a controller. The controller controls a write operation. The write operation includes a first program to write data into the first memory cell, and a first verification to verify the first program. when a power voltage has become lower than a first voltage during the execution of the first verification for the first memory cell, the controller executes a second verification to verify the first program for the first memory cell.
US09406393B2	Nonvolatile memory devices and program verification methods using one verification voltage to verify memory cells having different target states A program verification method is for a nonvolatile memory device which programs a plurality of memory cells. The program verification method includes applying a plurality of verification voltages, and determining whether programming of memory cells, having different target threshold voltage distributions, from among the plurality of memory cells is completed based on one of the plurality of verification voltages.
US09406388B2	Memory area protection system and methods In one embodiment, a non-volatile memory device includes a plurality of protection bits denoting that an area of memory in the device must be protected from being erased or programmed. The memory device further includes a majority logic circuit for determining the logic state of the majority of the plurality of protection bits. Another embodiment includes a pattern generator for generating the logic levels to be stored in the plurality of protection bits.
US09406387B2	Charge redistribution during erase in charge trapping memory Techniques are provided to accelerate the redistribution of the holes in connection with an erase operation, so that there will be a reduced amount of redistribution of the holes after programming. As a result, short-term charge loss after programming is reduced. In one aspect, a positive control gate voltage is applied to a set of memory cells after erase and before programming. The positive control gate voltage has a relatively low amplitude and a long duration, compared to a programming voltage. The positive control gate voltage can be adjusted based on the erase depth of the memory cells and factors such as a count of program-erase cycles, a count of erase-verify iterations, sensing of a position of the lower tail, and a cross-sectional width of a vertical pillar of a memory hole.
US09406384B2	Matching semiconductor circuits Devices, circuitry, and methods for improving matching between semiconductor circuits are shown and described. Measuring a difference in matching between semiconductor circuits may be performed with a test current generator and test current measurement circuit, and adjusting a threshold voltage of a semiconductor component of at least one circuit until the difference between the circuits is at a desired difference may be performed with a program circuit.
US09406383B2	Non-volatile memory device and method of programming the same A non-volatile memory device includes a first word line, a second word line, first memory cells, second memory cells, and an address decoder. The second word line is adjacent to the first word line. The first memory cells are connected to the first word line. The second memory cells are connected to the second word line. The second memory cells are connected to the first memory cells, respectively. The address decoder applies a first voltage to the first word line and applies a second voltage to the second word line in an over program period of the first memory cells. The first voltage is higher than a program voltage of the first and second memory cells. The second voltage is lower than a pass voltage of the first and second memory cells.
US09406381B2	TCAM search unit including a distributor TCAM and DRAM and a method for dividing a database of TCAM rules A search unit including a distributor TCAM and a DRAM search unit and a method to divide a database of TCAM rules is disclosed. The method includes selecting a rule having multiple “don't care” values and selecting a bit of the rule having a “don't care” value, generating two distributor rules based on the selected rule, associating rules of the database which match each of the distributor rules with the distributor rule they match to create subset databases, and repeating the steps of selecting, generating and associating until the average number of rules in each subset database is at or below a predefined amount. A DRAM storage unit has a section for each subset database, where each section is pointed to by a different distributor rule. A DRAM search unit matches an input key to one of the rules in the section pointed to by the matched distributor rule.
US09406379B2	Resistive random access memory with non-linear current-voltage relationship Providing for fabrication, construction, and/or assembly of a resistive random access memory (RRAM) cell is described herein. The RRAM cell can exhibit a non-linear current-voltage relationship. When arranged in a memory array architecture, these cells can significantly mitigate sneak path issues associated with conventional RRAM arrays.
US09406375B1	Write address synchronization in 2 read/1write SRAM arrays An aspect relates to a memory array that includes at least a first and a second six transistor static random access memory cell, and first and second address decoders. The first address decoder comprises a first latch, the second address decoder a second latch. First and second address data paths provide first and second address data to the at least two address decoders. The first latch is electrically conductive connected to the first data path and the second latch is electrically conductive connected to the second data path. The first latch is further electrically conductive connectable to the second data path via a first multiplexer. The first multiplexer and the at least two latches are configured to be selectively operated in a first write mode for a write access or in a read mode for a read access to the memory array.
US09406367B2	Method and apparatus for MRAM sense reference trimming A trimming process for setting a reference current used in operating an MRAM module comprising an operational MRAM cell coupled to a bit line, multiple reference MRAM cells coupled to a reference bit line, and a sense amplifier coupled to the bit line and the reference bit line is disclosed in some embodiments. The process includes applying a bit line reference voltage to the reference bit line to provide a reference cell current formed by a sum of respective currents through the plurality of reference MRAM cells. The reference cell current is detected. A determination is made as to whether the detected reference cell current differs from a target reference cell current. The bit line reference voltage is varied, or a sensing ratio of the sense amplifier is varied, if it is determined that the detected reference cell current differs from the target reference cell current.
US09406359B2	Memory devices, memory systems, and related operating methods A method of operating a memory system including memory cells commonly connected to a first signal line in a memory cell array includes; dividing the memory cells according to cell regions, and independently performing read operations on memory cells disposed in each cell region using a read reference selected from a plurality of read references and respectively corresponding to each cell region.
US09406353B2	Sense amplifiers, memories, and apparatuses and methods for sensing a data state of a memory cell Sense amplifiers, memories, and apparatuses and methods for sensing a data state of a memory cell are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a differential amplifier configured to amplify a voltage difference between voltages applied to first and second amplifier input nodes to provide an output. The example apparatus further includes first and second capacitances coupled to the first and second amplifier input nodes. A switch block coupled to the first and second capacitances is configured to couple during a first phase a reference input node to the first and second capacitances and to the first amplifier input node. The switch block is further configured to couple during the first phase an output of the amplifier to the second amplifier input node to establish a compensation condition. During a second phase, the switch block couples its input nodes to the first and second capacitances.
US09406344B2	Optical information recording/reproduction device, and optical information recording/reproduction method Provided are an optical information recording/reproduction device and an optical information recording/reproduction method with which retry data during verify error detection can be efficiently recorded. In the optical information recording/reproduction device for recording data on an optical information recording media and reproducing data from an optical information recording medium, if verify error data is detected at a first cure unit region on the optical information recording medium, verify error retry data is recorded at a second cure unit region which is different to the first cure unit region.
US09406335B2	Monitoring of residual encrypted data to improve erase performance on a magnetic medium In one embodiment, a system includes a processor and logic integrated with and/or executable by the processor, the logic being configured to: determine a physical position on a magnetic medium that corresponds to an end of an encrypted data set; store an indicator of the physical position on the magnetic medium and/or a memory coupled thereto; and cause obscuring of an unencrypted data set positioned after the physical position without overwriting the encrypted data set. In another embodiment, a computer program product includes a computer readable storage medium and program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable and/or executable by the processor to cause the processor to: read an indicator of a physical position on a magnetic medium that corresponds to an end of an encrypted data set; and cause obscuring of an unencrypted data set positioned after the physical position without overwriting the encrypted data set.
US09406331B1	Method for making ultra-narrow read sensor and read transducer device resulting therefrom Disclosed are methods for making ultra-narrow track width (TW) read sensors, and read transducers incorporating such sensors. The methods utilize side-wall line patterning techniques to prepare ultra-narrow mill masks that can be used to prepare the ultra-narrow read sensors.
US09406322B2	Graded side shield gap reader Embodiments of the present invention generally include magnetoresistive heads, such as read heads, having a sensor structure and side shields disposed adjacent to the sensor structure. The distance between the side shields and the sensor structure increase in a direction from an ABS in the off-track direction. The magnetoresistive heads may include tapered surfaces on the side shields or sensor structure, or may include stepped surfaces on the side shields or sensor structure.
US09406310B2	Vehicle voice interface system calibration method A vehicle voice interface system calibration method comprising electronically convolving voice command data with voice impulse response data, electronically convolving audio system output data with feedback impulse response data, and calibrating the vehicle voice interface system. The voice command data is electronically convolved with voice impulse response data representing a voice acoustic signal path between an artificial mouth simulator and a first microphone, to simulate a voice acoustic transfer function pertaining to the passenger compartment. The audio system output data is convolved with feedback impulse response data representing a feedback acoustic signal path between a vehicle audio system output and a second microphone, to simulate a feedback acoustic transfer function pertaining to the passenger compartment. The voice interface system is calibrated to recognize voice commands represented by the voice command data based on the simulated voice and feedback acoustic transfer functions.
US09406306B2	Signal processing apparatus and method, and program A method, system, and computer program product for processing an encoded audio signal is described. In one exemplary embodiment, the system receives an encoded low-frequency range signal and encoded energy information used to frequency shift the encoded low-frequency range signal. The low-frequency range signal is decoded and an energy depression of the decoded signal is smoothed. The smoothed low-frequency range signal is frequency shifted to generate a high-frequency range signal. The low-frequency range signal and high-frequency range signal are then combined and outputted.
US09406296B2	Two way automatic universal transcription telephone A two-way automatic transcription telephone, which can operate over analog and/or digital networks and, during a telephone call, is able to automatically transcribe in real time incoming voice signals and/or outgoing voice signals of the telephone into associated text that can be displayed on a display of the telephone. The incoming and outgoing voice signals are transcribed based on settings received by the telephone via its input keyboard or touch screen input.
US09406295B2	Apparatus and method for voice based user enrollment with video assistance Embodiments of apparatus and methods for voice based user enrollment with video assistance are described. In embodiments, an apparatus may include a face recognition module to identify a user from a first plurality of images and a lip motion detection module to detect the lip motion of the user from a second plurality of images. The apparatus may also include a recording module to activate a recording of the user. The apparatus may further include a user enrollment module, coupled with the recording module and the lip motion detection module, to establish a speaker model of the user based at least in part on the recording and the lip motion of the user. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09406280B2	Image display device, image display system, and method of controlling image display device A projector capable of outputting an image to an electronic apparatus is provided, wherein the image is obtained by drawing a picture corresponding to a coordinate input from an electronic apparatus having a touch panel, or a coordinate input from an indicating body on an input image. The projector includes a video signal acquisition section adapted to obtain a first image, a first coordinate data acquisition section adapted to obtain first coordinate data from a tablet terminal having a touch panel, an image data acquisition section adapted to obtain image data representing a second image obtained by drawing a picture, which corresponds to the first coordinate data, on the first image, and an image data output section adapted to output the image data, which is obtained by the image data acquisition section, to the tablet terminal.
US09406279B2	Source driver IC chip A source driver IC chip, designed to prevent flicker in images displayed on a display panel while suppressing power consumption and heat generation, includes: a reference gradation voltage generating part (220) configured to generate a reference gradation voltage based on a first or second gamma characteristic of the display panel, using first and second power supply voltages (VH) and (VL) inputted through first and second external terminals (PA2, PA3); and a third external terminal (PA4) for externally outputting said reference gradation voltage. The source driver IC chip further includes first and second gradation voltage generating parts configured to generate first and second gradation voltages respectively, using a reference gradation voltage based on a first gamma characteristic inputted through a fourth external terminal and a reference gradation voltage having a second gamma characteristic inputted through a fifth external terminal respectively.
US09406275B2	Image processing device and image processing method The device includes a hue compensator converting hue of input signals having a first color gamut representing image data to hue conversion signals, a gamut converter outputting the input signals as gamut conversion signals having a second color gamut to display the input signals on an image display device representing the second color gamut, a blend coefficient setter that sets a blend coefficient defining a synthesis ratio of the hue conversion signals and the gamut conversion signals based on saturation obtained from the input signals, and a color synthesizer that generates synthesized image signals by synthesizing the hue conversion signals and the gamut conversion signals at a ratio according to the blend coefficient. The gamut converter performs conversion such that a value of each component of the hue conversion signals is from 0 to 1 when a value of each component of the input signals is from 0 to 1.
US09406271B2	Liquid crystal display device with gate-in-panel structure An LCD device with a GIP structure is disclosed. The LCD device includes: a liquid crystal display panel with an active area used to display images; a gate driving circuit formed on a side edge of the liquid crystal display panel and configured to apply scan signals to the active area; a start pulse line configured to transfer a start pulse to the gate driving circuit; and a static electricity preventer disposed on the start pulse line adjacent to the gate driving circuit and configured to prevent static electricity from being induced in the start pulse line.
US09406269B2	System and method for pulse width modulating a scrolling color display A method of organizing and ordering pulse width modulation image data is disclosed, so that it may be displayed on the pixels of a scrolling color display. The method includes a method of formatting received image data into a different form suitable for driving a pulse width modulated display and a method of distributing image data across a series of different image modulation segments to minimize flicker and gray scale errors. The method includes means for reducing lateral field effects between adjacent pixels in different data states.
US09406268B2	Method for driving information processing device and program and information processing device In order to reduce the frequency of rewriting pixels, gray scales of image signals input to a plurality of pixels provided in a display portion are checked before displaying each image. Specifically, in the case where image signals having medium gray scale levels are input to many of the plurality of pixels, display is performed by normal driving (for example, driving in which rewriting pixels is performed at a frequency higher than or equal to 60 times per second); otherwise, display is performed by driving with a small number of frequencies of rewriting pixels (for example, driving in which rewriting pixels is performed at a frequency lower than or equal to once per second). With this method, an information processing device which can reduce users' eye strain and perform eye-friendly display can be provided.
US09406265B2	Display apparatus and method of driving the display apparatus A display apparatus having an edge determiner configured to determine an edge area of the moving object based on moving direction and moving speed corresponding to the moving vector. The display apparatus also includes a gamma output controller configured to output normal high data of a high gamma curve and normal low data of a low gamma curve as gamma data of input data corresponding to a remaining area except for the edge area, and to output enhanced high data of the high gamma curve and enhanced low data of the low gamma curve as gamma data of input data corresponding to the edge area, in both time division method and space division method based on a spatiotemporal sequential pattern.
US09406258B2	Display device and electronic equipment A display device is disclosed. The display device includes: a pixel array unit and a driving unit which drives the pixel array unit. The pixel array unit includes rows of first scanning lines and second scanning lines, columns of signals, pixels in a matrix state arranged at portions where the scanning lines and the signal lines cross each other and power supply lines and ground lines supplying power to respective pixels. The driving unit includes a first scanner performing line-sequential scanning to pixels by each row by supplying a first control signal to each first scanning line sequentially, a second scanner supplying a second control signal to each second scanning line sequentially so as to correspond to the line-sequential scanning and a signal selector supplying a video signal to rows of signal lines so as to correspond to the line-sequential scanning.
US09406254B2	Display device and driving method thereof A display device includes a timing controller and a data driver. The timing controller to output a first control value including information on low gray scale values, a second control value including information on high gray scale values, and a third control value including information on subfields, corresponding to input data. The data driver to control the gray scale value of a pixel in a plurality of subfields in one frame based on the first, second and third control values. The pixel is driven in an analog manner when the gray scale value based on whether the first or second control value is output, and is driven in a digital manner when the gray scale value corresponds to an emission time during a predetermined subfield among the plurality of subfields.
US09406252B2	Adaptive multi-standard video coder supporting adaptive standard selection and mid-stream switch-over Adaptive multi-standard video coder supporting adaptive standard selection and mid-stream switch-over. Automatic or semi-automatic selection and reselection between various respective communication protocols or standards (e.g., or profiles of such protocols or standards, subsets of such protocols or standards, etc.) may be made based on any of a number of local and/or remote considerations. For example, characteristics associated with one or more other devices, communication links, communication networks, etc. within a communication system may direct the automatic or semiautomatic selection and reselection between such communication protocols or standards (e.g., or profiles thereof, or subsets thereof, etc.). Also, characteristics associated with local operating conditions (e.g., available processing resources, available memory, etc.) this may be used in accordance with making such selection and reselection. Moreover, consideration may be made with respect to which communication protocol/standard provides relative benefit over others based on a given communication systems present capabilities and conditions.
US09406250B2	Display panel and method of detecting defects thereof A display panel includes a first substrate, a plurality of pixel units, a plurality of first signal lines, a first testing line and a second testing line. The first signal lines are disposed on a peripheral area and electrically connected to corresponding pixel units. The first signal lines include a plurality of first sets of signal lines and a plurality of second sets of signal lines alternatively arranged. The first and second sets of signal lines are formed on different layers. The first testing line is electrically connected to the first sets of signal lines. The second testing line is electrically connected to the second sets of signal lines.
US09406245B2	Patient medicine identity display A patient medication identity display is provided that a matrix of medication slides for displaying a patient's medications in a manner so as to eliminate confusion and avoid preventable prescription errors and consequent harm to patients.
US09406242B2	Skill judging device, skill judging method and storage medium Every time a performance action is played with a performance appliance, a state of each performance action is detected. A degree of variations of the states of the performance actions is detected by using a variations sensor and a degree of skill of the performance action is judged and notified based on the result detected by the variations sensor.
US09406240B2	Interactive educational system An interactive educational system for elementary school age children is provided. There is a base module having a housing that has an outer configuration and may take a variety of shapes. The housing includes retaining sockets used to retain arms, legs, or other accessories or to the system. The base module includes a transceiver, a group of one or more sensors and effectors, control circuitry that operates the system, and a power supply which powers the module. Data from the sensors and effectors is displayed on the video display and passed wireless to a smart device hosting an interactive application. The base module has a wireless transceiver for receiving control data from the smart device and sending sensor/effector data and base module state information to the smart device. The sensor group includes various sensors such as a temperature sensor, a light sensor and an accelerometer.
US09406237B2	Unmanned aerial vehicle authorization and geofence envelope determination Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for unmanned aerial vehicle authorization and geofence envelope determination. One of the methods includes determining, by an electronic system in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), an estimated fuel remaining in the UAV. An estimated fuel consumption of the UAV is determined. Estimated information associated with wind affecting the UAV is determined using information obtained from sensors included in the UAV. Estimated flights times remaining for a current path, and one or more alternative flight paths, are determined using the determined estimated fuel remaining, determined estimated fuel consumption, determined information associated wind, and information describing each flight path. In response to the electronic system determining that the estimated fuel remaining, after completion of the current flight path, would be below a first threshold, an alternative flight path is selected.
US09406227B1	Portable traffic control signage apparatus and methods Traffic signs that facilitate portability are disclosed. In certain embodiments, they are designed to be lighter and have fewer steps involved in their set up, preferably involving only one person. The design of certain embodiments also allows multiple signs to be transported together, and facilitates air flow through the signs.
US09406223B2	System and method to facilitate configuration of a controlling device A system and method wherein geographic data is used to configure a controlling device to control operations of a target device and/or to configure the controlling device to control tuning operations of a target device. The system additionally provides for the harmonization of controlling device configurations made on the controlling device and/or a remote computer.
US09406220B2	Telemetry system with tracking receiver devices A wireless power transmission system includes, a transmit antenna which in operation produces a wireless field, an amplifier coupled to the transmit antenna, a load sensing circuit coupled to the amplifier and a controller coupled to the load sensing circuit. A monitoring device has one or more sensors and a unique user ID. The one or more sensors acquire user information selected from of at least one of, a user's activities, behaviors and habit information. The monitoring device includes an ID circuitry. A communication interface receives information about the unique user ID when the load sensing circuit indicates the monitoring device is within the wireless field. The indication is created using at least a change in power consumption.
US09406211B2	Wearable posture regulation system and method to regulate posture A wearable posture monitoring and feedback system and related method configured to monitor and provide feedback regarding a user's posture while operating and viewing a portable electronic device includes: a wearable frame configured to be fit on or about a head of the user; a sensor mounted on the wearable frame configured to monitor at least a head position of the user; and a transmitter configured to transmit data related to at least the head position wirelessly from the sensor to a receiver on or in the portable electronic device. The system is configured to (1) provide feedback to the user based on the data from the sensor; and (2) send a signal to alter an output provided to the user by the portable electronic device based on the data from the sensor.
US09406209B2	Container having composite weldable panel with embedded devices A container includes a plurality of weldable hybrid composite panels. Each panel includes a four sided composite panel element, wherein each of the four sides defines a side edge and the composite panel element is formed of fibrous reinforcement layers encased in a resin matrix. Weldable metallic elongated edge elements extend along and are either fixed to the side edges of an outside surface of the panel element or extend from a periphery of the panel element, such that each of the weldable elongated edge elements has a profile that is the same as a profile of its respective side edge. The weldable elongated edge elements are structured to enable the composite panel to be welded at its peripheral edges. The container also includes a plurality of metal rails attached together and defining a rectangular parallelepiped frame having six sides. At least one of the plurality of weldable hybrid composite panels is welded at its edge elements to the rails of each of the six sides of the frame or to an adjacent one of the plurality of weldable hybrid composite panels.
US09406208B2	Mobile cash transport system with tampering triggered ink deployment A device designed to transport paper currency in a protected fashion. While being transported, the device monitors for tampering or break-in attempts and subsequently generates warning notifications, devalues currency with indelible ink, or sounds an alarm depending on configuration and the type of tampering detected. Further, techniques are described for transferring indelible ink efficiently and reliably to a cash compartment area of the transport case.
US09406201B2	Presenting group wagering games and awards A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In embodiments, the operations can include monitoring wagering game play for a player account that is registered to play a group scavenger hunt game. The group scavenger hunt game may include various collectable items that group members collect to win the group scavenger hunt game. The operations can further include determining that wagering game events occur during the wagering game play, where the occurrences of the wagering game events are prerequisites for obtaining the collectable items. The operations can further include indicating on a group progress report (e.g., a website) that one of the collectable items was obtained. In some embodiments, the operations can also include awarding the player account for obtaining the item, providing trophies, or other virtual assets, for winning the group scavenger hunt game, providing benefits for holding the trophies, etc.
US09406197B2	Fueling game devices, systems, and methods A game of accuracy and method for playing the same at a fuel pump comprising one or more players dispensing fuel or energy with the object of stopping the fuel pump's metering mechanism at a predetermined value. Exemplary embodiments of the game comprise a fuel pump, a metering mechanism for measuring the quantity of fuel or energy dispensed, a controller coupled with the fuel pump for starting and stopping the flow of fuel or energy therethrough, and a processor in communication with the metering mechanism. The method of playing comprises selecting a goal outcome, one or more players dispensing fuel or energy with the object of dispensing an amount of fuel or energy that corresponds with the goal outcome, and providing the one or more players with a prize in the event the amount of fuel or energy dispensed corresponds with the goal outcome.
US09406190B2	Information aggregation games Games related to the aggregation of information are described.
US09406189B2	Simulcast pari-mutuel gaming machine with casino and lottery styled wagers for continuous play An gaming machine for and method of par-mutuel wagering that allows individuals to continuously place multiple casino and lottery styled pari-mutuel wagers on simulcast live and/or recorded pari-mutuel race events. The gaming machine includes a display screen to provide a graphic display of a plurality of pari-mutuel gaming options to a player, and a selection device operable by the player to select at least one of the pari-mutuel gaming options displayed on the screen, the selection device operable by the player to input a wager corresponding to the selected at least one pari-mutuel gaming option. The gaming machine has the ability to be linked to a network of gaming machines in pari-mutuel and/or other wagering venues.
US09406179B2	Method for processing a presence signal in a hands-free vehicle access system having capacitive sensors Method for processing a presence signal in a hands-free vehicle access system having capacitive sensors. After starting steps constituted by nominal operation, switching to low-energy consumption mode, and switching to polling of an interrogation signal at nominal frequency, this method includes: presence testing with nominal polling; requesting the identity of the electronic key, transmitted via a central unit; detecting the presence of a hand on a handle transmitted via a capacitive sensor to the central unit; and authorizing the unlocking of the vehicle. The method includes a step of reducing the frequency of signals transmitted by the antenna of the central unit so as to switch into a “slow polling” test, such that the capacitive sensors have sufficient time intervals to test the central unit for the presence of a hand during the information step. The capacitive sensors then have greater availability to signal the presence of a hand.
US09406178B2	Electromechanical lock An electromechanical lock is provided. The lock comprises an electronic circuitry means for providing a wireless interface for a communication device to proceed authentication with the communication device, and issue an open command provided that the authentication is successful; actuator means to receive the open command to set the lock in a mechanically openable state, the electronic circuitry means being configured to receive wirelessly from the communication device operating power for the electronic circuitry means and the actuator means.
US09406177B2	Fault handling in an autonomous vehicle Data is collected during operation of a vehicle. A determination is made that a confidence assessment of at least one of the data indicates at least one fault condition. A first autonomous operation affected by the fault condition is discontinued, where a second autonomous operation that is unaffected by the fault condition is continued.
US09406173B2	Maintenance information output apparatus and maintenance information output system A maintenance information output system is provided that includes an iron amount detecting device, a receiver, a maintenance information output apparatus, and a controlling portion. The iron amount detecting device is attached to a speed reducer, and detects an amount of iron in a lubricant in the speed reducer. The receiver receives data of the amount of iron detected by the iron amount detecting device. The maintenance information output apparatus has an outputting portion which outputs maintenance information of the speed reducer. The maintenance information output apparatus has a receiving portion which receives the data from the receiver. When the amount of iron is equal to or larger than a threshold value, the controlling portion causes the outputting portion to output the maintenance information.
US09406163B2	Volume rendering apparatus and method of operating same A method for medical imaging executed by an apparatus including a processor includes determining a start block of volume rendering based on respective maximum values of blocks positioned on a path of a light beam; acquiring a value of the light beam based on first sampling values acquired by sampling the start block; setting a processing order for remaining blocks positioned on the path of the light beam based on respective distances between the start block and the remaining blocks; determining whether a next block, according to the processing order, is to be processed, by comparing a maximum value of the next block with the value of the light beam; and comparing second sampling values acquired by sampling the next block with the value of the light beam and updating the value of the light beam according to a comparison result, in response to the maximum value of the next block being greater than the value of the light beam.
US09406162B2	System and method of generating a video of an avatar A method of generating an image enables animating an avatar on a device with limited processing capabilities. The method includes receiving, on a first computing device, a first image; sending, on a data interface of the first computing device, the first image to a server; receiving, on the data interface and from the server, shape data corresponding to an aspect of the first image; and generating, by a processor of the first computing device, a primary output image based at least upon the shape data and avatar data.
US09406152B2	Viewer optimized model compression Technologies may be generally described to provide viewer optimized compression of a model. In some examples, a computing device may receive a request to compress a master model for a viewer. The computing device may determine shape primitives of the master model through use of a shape primitive identification technique such as a random sample consensus (RANSAC) technique. The identified or determined shape primitives may be subtracted from the master model to determine residues of the master model. A processed model may be generated from the residues of the master model and the shape primitives. Visible subsets, visible based on a view cone of the viewer, of the residues and the shape primitives may be selected from the processed model, from which a compressed model may be generated. The processed model may then be used to generate a second view without redetermining the shape primitives.
US09406150B2	Concept for encoding data defining coded orientations representing a reorientation of an object Embodiments of the present invention provide an encoder for encoding data defining coded orientations representing a reorientation of an object based on spatio-temporal data representing a time series of orientations of the object. The encoder includes a deriver, a selector, and a coder. The deriver is configured for deriving a plurality of components describing an orientation change difference between a last coded orientation change from a second last coded orientation to a last coded orientation, and a current orientation change from the last coded orientation to a current orientation of the object. The selector is configured for selecting a component of the plurality of components describing the orientation change difference. The coder is configured for coding the current orientation of the object based on the select component of the plurality of components describing the orientation change difference, thereby defining a current coded orientation.
US09406148B2	Image processing method and apparatus, and shooting terminal An image processing method and apparatus, and a shooting terminal, where the method includes acquiring a to-be-processed image that is shot but is not image-processed; extracting shooting characteristic information of the to-be-processed image; performing image processing on the to-be-processed image according to the shooting characteristic information. In this way, after acquiring a to-be-processed image that is shot, a shooting terminal uses shooting characteristic information of the to-be-processed image as a basis of adaptive processing of the image, and performs processing on each to-be-processed image according to shooting characteristic information of each to-be-processed image, so that the quality of an image that is obtained after being processed by the shooting terminal can be adaptively improved.
US09406145B2	Mobile radar and visual tracking coordinate transformation A system for generating video data comprising a mobile radar system operating on a processor and configured to generate vertically tilted radar frame data for a plurality of vehicles. A mobile video system operating on a processor and configured to generate video data of the plurality of vehicles. A dynamic plane rotation system operating on a processor and coupled to the mobile radar system and configured to map the vertically tilted radar frame data onto a flat plane parallel to a roadway to generate mapped data.
US09406140B2	Method and apparatus for generating depth information A method and an apparatus for generating depth information are provided. A main depth map associated with one of a left image and a right image and corresponding to multiple first pixels is obtained. The left image or the right image associated with the main depth map is divided into multiple segments according to pixel information, so as to obtain a segment distribution map including the segments. Multiple invalid depth values which do not match to a reliable condition are removed from the main depth map according to the segment distribution map, so as to generate a necessary repair depth map including multiple holes. Multiple optimized depth values are respectively generated for the holes in the necessary repair depth map according to the segment distribution map, and the optimized depth values are filled into the necessary repair depth map to generate an optimized depth map.
US09406127B2	Medication identification and verification A pill identification system includes a device which is configured to collect three-dimensional image data of surfaces of one or more pills, generate geometric features of the pill(s) from the three-dimensional image data, and identify the pill(s) using the geometric features. In some embodiments, the identified pills can be verified for patient administration by comparing the identified pills to prescription information.
US09406126B2	Image processing apparatus and method, and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus An image processing apparatus includes: when a probe is moved, a shift amount correction section configured to correct an amount of shift from a first frame to a second frame being a frame at different time from the first frame; and a distortion amount calculation section configured to calculate an amount of distortion on the basis of a phase difference detected from the first frame and the second frame having been subjected to shift amount correction by the shift amount correction section.
US09406121B2	X-ray CT apparatus and image reconstruction method To generate a reconstructed image suitable to characteristics of a bilaterally symmetric site and possible to an appropriate image diagnosis, a computation device: computes a back projection phase width at a rotational center and distance between the rotational center location which is a reference location and a pixel to be reconstructed; according to the distance between the rotational center location and the pixel to be reconstructed, sets a function (f1) changing the back projection phase width; computes a back projection phase width in the pixel to be reconstructed, substituting a value of the distance between the rotational center location and a pixel to be reconstructed in the function (f1); computes a view weighting, on the basis of the back projection phase width in the post-correction pixel to be reconstructed and a slope width of a view weighting function; and reconstructs a CT image, using the view weighting.
US09406118B2	Stain image color correcting apparatus, method, and system Provided is an image processing apparatus including: a characteristic amount calculator for calculating a first characteristic amount for each pixel constituting a stained sample image; a component ratio calculator for calculating a component ratio of constituent elements in a target pixel, based on the calculation results; a reference value storage portion for storing a reference value of a second characteristic amount of each of the constituent elements; a constituent element correction coefficient calculator for calculating a constituent element correction coefficient, based on the reference value and the second characteristic amount of each of the constituent elements; a target pixel correction coefficient calculator for calculating a target pixel correction coefficient, based on the component ratio and the constituent element correction coefficient thus calculated; and a characteristic amount corrector for correcting the second characteristic amount, based on the calculation results.
US09406114B2	Composite image generation to remove obscuring objects Technologies are generally described for methods and systems effective to generate a composite image. The methods may include receiving first image data that includes object data corresponding to an object and receiving second image data that includes obscuring data. The obscuring data, if displayed on a display, may obscure at least a portion of the. The methods may also include identifying a first region that may include the object data, in the first image data. The methods may also include identifying a second region, that may include the obscuring data, in the second image data. The methods may also include replacing at least part of the second region with at least part of the first region to generate the composite image data that may include at least some of the object data. The methods may also include displaying the composite image on a display.
US09406111B2	Image display apparatus and image display method An image display apparatus that displays an image on the basis of input image signals corresponding to sub-pixels forming one pixel includes a shift-amount storing unit that stores shift amounts of display positions of the sub-pixels relative to given reference positions in a display image, an image-signal correcting unit that corrects the input image signals according to the shift amounts, and an image display unit that displays an image on the basis of the image signals corrected by the image-signal correcting unit.
US09406109B2	Aberration correction apparatus, imaging apparatus and aberration correction method An aberration correction apparatus includes an aberration information acquisition unit which acquires aberration information from an imaging lens; a spectroscopic characteristic information acquisition unit which acquires spectroscopic characteristic information of an imaging device which performs a photoelectric conversion of an optical image that is formed in the imaging lens; and an aberration information correction unit which performs a correction according to the spectroscopic characteristic information with respect to the acquired aberration information.
US09406104B2	Image processing system, method of operating image processing system, host apparatus, program, and method of making program An image processing system includes an image coding device serving as a host device that outputs image data, and an image decoding device serving as a client device and including a display part that displays an image based on image data transmitted from the image coding device. The image coding device includes an image quality controller that controls the image quality of an image displayed on the display part in accordance with an operation status A of the image processing system. When the operation status is a status under which a delay of displaying an image which is caused by transmission of image data from the image coding device to the image decoding device is allowed, the image quality controller increases the image quality of an image displayed on the display part.
US09406101B2	Technique for improving the performance of a tessellation pipeline A tessellation pipeline includes an alpha phase and a beta phase. The alpha phase includes pre-tessellation processing stages, while the beta phase includes post-tessellation processing stages. A processing unit configured to implement a processing stage in the alpha phase stores input graphics data within a buffer and then copies over that buffer with output graphics data, thereby conserving memory resources. The processing unit may also copy output graphics data directly to a level 2 (L2) cache for beta phase processing by other tessellation pipelines, thereby avoiding the need for fixed function copy-out hardware.
US09406099B2	Methods and systems for maintaining state in a virtual machine when disconnected from graphics hardware The present disclosure is directed towards methods and systems for maintaining state in a virtual machine when disconnected from graphics hardware. The virtual machine is one of a plurality of virtual machines hosted by a hypervisor executing on a computing device. A control virtual machine may be hosted by a hypervisor executing on a computing device. The control virtual machine may store state information of a graphics processing unit (GPU) of the computing device. The GPU may render an image from a first virtual machine. The control virtual machine may remove, from the first virtual machine, access to the GPU. The control virtual machine may redirect the first virtual machine to a GPU emulation program. The GPU emulation program may render the image from the first virtual machine using at least a portion of the stored state information.
US09406096B2	Method for preparing a patient for a medical treatment A method for using an electronic device having a display to prepare a patient for a medical treatment. The method includes the steps of representing a world on the display (300), wherein one or more medical objects related to the medical treatment are placed in the world; receiving an input from the patient to select the medical objects (326); selecting the medical objects; and providing feedback to the patient to indicate that the medical objects have been selected (327). The method reduces pain and anxiety when undergoing the medical treatment by familiarizing the patient with the medical objects, and by distracting the patient's attention from the treatment.
US09406095B2	Application licensing using sync providers A method, system, and computer-readable storage media for licensing an application using sync providers are provided herein. The method includes receiving a request for a license for an application from a client sync provider at a licensing service and receiving information relating to the license from a commerce partner offering the application via a commerce partner sync provider. The method also includes returning the license for the application to a client computing device, receiving information relating to a state of the license from the client sync provider, and adjusting conditions of the license according to the state of the license.
US09406094B2	Method and apparatus for delivering power using external data A control system for an energy storage system located behind a utility meter uses a unique, feedback-based, communication and control method to reliably and efficiently maximize economic return of the energy storage system. Operating parameters for the energy storage system are calculated at an external, centralized data center, and are selected to prevent electrical power demand of an electric load location from exceeding a specified set-point by discharging energy storage devices, such as DC batteries, through a bidirectional energy converter during peak demand events. The control system can operate autonomously in the case of a communications failure.
US09406093B2	Determining an image layout In one embodiment, a method includes accessing multiple image elements that have an ordered sequence. From the ordered sequence of image elements, multiple clusters of image elements are determined, where each cluster has one or more image elements arranged in a line. The image elements within each cluster are scaled to have substantially the same first dimension while maintaining their original aspect ratios and being arranged to maintain the ordered sequence. Each of the clusters has substantially the same second dimension. A cost for each cluster, based on a cost function, is determined. A graph based on the clusters that maintains the ordered sequence is accessed. The graph includes multiple paths that each represent a layout of the image elements and have a total cost based on the costs of the clusters along the path. The path with a lowest total cost is identified to determine a preferred layout.
US09406088B2	System and method for displaying market data in an electronic trading environment A trading interface is provided for displaying market data related to a tradeable object being traded at an electronic exchange. According to one example embodiment, market data related to a tradeable object is displayed in relation to a value axis, such as a price axis. As new market data is received, the displayed market data is updated and may be repositioned so that a trader can view current market conditions in a viewable portion of the interface. The interface also includes a number of market movement indicators that assist a trader in tracking market movement. These viewable references allow a trader to navigate and immediately understand the “real” direction of the market activity despite any underlying adjustment of the viewable area of the trading interface.
US09406085B1	System and methods for credit dispute processing, resolution, and reporting Systems and methods are provided for credit dispute processing, resolution, and reporting. Credit dispute resolution requests may be received, processed, and sent to a credit bureau for submission to creditors. Status of credit dispute resolutions may be reported to consumers. If a creditor's response time is longer than its average response time or if a creditor does not respond to a credit dispute resolution request within a regulatory response period, alerts and reports may be sent to consumers to provide consumers with further options.
US09406084B2	Methods for submitting a food order remotely One variation of the method for submitting a food order remotely includes: generating a graphical icon representative of a food item and a customization option for the food item selected by a customer; associating the icon with a payment option; associating the icon with a store location to fulfill the food item; displaying the icon on a display of a mobile computing device; and, in response to receiving a selection of the icon, submitting a food order including the food item, the customization option, and the payment option to the store location.
US09406082B2	Multiplexing web requests for improved performance A request multiplexing system is described herein that takes multiple asynchronous requests from a client to multiple server endpoints and multiplexes the requests at the client into a single request to a new server endpoint. The new endpoint demultiplexes the requests at the server, calls the pre-existing separate endpoints to get the correct response for each request, combines the responses into a single multiplexed response, and returns the combined response to the client. On the client side, the response data is split up and handed to the appropriate handlers. From the components' points of view and those of the endpoints on the server, the requests occur just as they originally may. However, new logic on both the client and the server has packaged and unpackaged requests and responses appropriately to accomplish without component modification what formerly involved extensive coordination between developers of various components.
US09406070B2	Apparatus and method for managing advertisement application A method and apparatus for managing an advertisement application in a mobile advertising system is provided. When an advertisement application for representing an advertisement is installed in an advertisement-receiving terminal, a registration request for the installed advertisement application is made. The advertisement-receiving terminal assigns an application Identifier (ID) to the advertisement application in response to the registration request, and stores a profile of the advertisement application in association with the assigned application ID.
US09406062B2	Authentication method and system Provide herein is a method and system capable of authenticating transactions involving at least one service provider and one or more users who are each in electronic communication. This electronic communication can be, for example, SMS, MMS, e-mail, or online account messaging. It is an aspect of certain embodiments where the transaction is an authentication and/or verification of an entity. Examples of such entities are products, actions and users.
US09406051B2	Mobile electronic device, notification control method, and storage medium storing notification program A mobile electronic device includes a display unit, a storage unit, and a control unit. The display unit displays a first screen or a second screen. The storage unit stores therein a character string in association with a condition. The control unit displays the character string on the first screen in a superimposed manner in a case where the first screen is displayed on the display unit and the condition is satisfied. The control unit does not display the character string on the second screen in the superimposed manner in a case where the second screen is displayed on the display unit and the condition is satisfied.
US09406048B2	Email system for preventing inadvertant transmission of propriety message or documents to unintended recipient A system that alerts a sender of an email message as to the addressees of the email when the email is determined to be sensitive, such as when it includes a word such a “confidential”. The user can allow the message to be sent or go back to a mail create/edit operation where the message or list of addresses can be revised. Trigger words can be stored in a table or database. The system also detects sensitive words in attachments. The sensitive words detected and their locations can be shown in a pop-up message.
US09406042B2	System and method for supplementing an image gallery with status indicators In various example embodiments, a system and method to provide status indictors on an image galley is disclosed. At least one item to be displayed in an image gallery on a client device is identified. Once identified, status information for the item is obtained. Subsequently, gallery rendering and display instructions are generated and transmitted to the client device. The rendering and display instructions include the status information and enables generation of status indicators from the status information for display over the image gallery at the client device. The rendering and display instructions may also include instructions for displaying the image gallery. The status information at the client device may be updated as status information changes.
US09406039B2	Systems and methods for collaborative construction planning Systems and methods for collaborative construction planning are provided herein. An example method includes establishing a milestone or completion event for a construction project plan, assembling the construction project plan by defining activities for the milestone or completion event. Each of the activities is associated with a team member which accomplishes a given activity, and arranging the activities in reverse chronological order starting with the milestone or completion event, according to an order of dependency of execution of activities. The method also includes displaying the construction project plan in such a way that the activities are illustrated to show the order of dependency between activities.
US09406038B2	GUI support for diagnosing and remediating problems that threaten on-time delivery of software and systems A graphical interface module may provide a set of graphical presentations comprising at least: a Likelihood of Delivery chart showing a probability distribution of predicted delivery dates; a Delivery Date Risk Trend chart showing how the completion time for the project predicted according to the Likelihood of Delivery chart has changed over time; and a Burndown chart that shows at least work-items of planned work for the project. Each of the Likelihood of Delivery chart, the Delivery Date Risk Trend chart, and the Burndown chart has a timeline axis.
US09406019B2	Normalization of predictive model scores Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for score normalization. One of the methods includes receiving initial training data, the initial training data comprising initial training records, each initial training record identifying input data as input and a category as output. The method includes generating a first trained predictive model using the initial training data and a training function. The method includes generating intermediate training records by inputting input data of the initial training records to a second trained predictive model, the second trained predictive model generated using the training function, each intermediate training record having a score. The method also includes generating a score normalization model using a score normalization training function and the intermediate training records.
US09406015B2	Transform for a neurosynaptic core circuit Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for feature extraction comprising generating synaptic connectivity information for a neurosynaptic core circuit. The core circuit comprises one or more electronic neurons, one or more electronic axons, and an interconnect fabric including a plurality of synapse devices for interconnecting the neurons with the axons. The method further comprises initializing the interconnect fabric based on the synaptic connectivity information generated, and extracting a set of features from input received via the electronic axons. The set of features extracted comprises a set of features with reduced correlation.
US09406007B2	Printing system, information processing apparatus and printing apparatus An image processing apparatus includes a communication unit configured to communicate with a printing apparatus, and a first controller configured to generate a first print job designating one of a plurality of sheet trays of the printing apparatus, and a second print job not designating any one of the plurality of sheet trays of the printing apparatus. A printing apparatus includes an image forming unit, an operation unit, and a second controller configured to determine whether a print job received from the image processing apparatus is the first print job or the second print job. When the first print job is received, the second controller controls the image forming unit to execute the first print job using the sheet tray designated by the first print job, while when the second print job is received, it is executed using a sheet tray designated through the operation unit.
US09405986B2	Apparatus and method for recognizing objects using filter information An object recognition method using filter information includes acquiring object image information including an object of interest, acquiring filter information for recognizing the object of interest from the object image information, and recognizing the object of interest using the filter information. An object recognition apparatus using filter information including an object information acquiring unit to acquire object image information comprising an object of interest, a filter information input unit to acquire filter information, an output unit to output the image information and the filter information, and a controller to recognize the object of interest in the object image information using the filter information.
US09405985B1	Leveraging character-by-character image classifiers to improve license plate state identification Methods and systems for enhancing the accuracy of license plate state identification in an ALPR (Automated License Plate Recognition) system. This is accomplished through use of individual character-by-character image-based classifiers that are trained to distinguish between the fonts for different states. At runtime, the OCR result for the license plate code can be used to determine which character in the plate would provide the highest discriminatory power for arbitrating between candidate state results. This classifier is then applied to the individual character image to provide a final selection of the estimated state/jurisdiction for the plate.
US09405972B2	Exterior hybrid photo mapping Embodiments disclosed pertain to the use of user equipment (UE) for the generation of a 3D exterior envelope of a structure based on captured images and a measurement set associated with each captured image. In some embodiments, a sequence of exterior images of a structure is captured and a corresponding measurement set comprising Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) measurements, wireless measurements (including Global Navigation Satellite (GNSS) measurements) and/or other non-wireless sensor measurements may be obtained concurrently. A closed-loop trajectory of the UE in global coordinates may be determined and a 3D structural envelope of the structure may be obtained based on the closed loop trajectory and feature points in a subset of images selected from the sequence of exterior images of the structure.
US09405950B2	External access to memory on an RFID tag In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for an RFID tag comprising a radio frequency (RF) network node and a communication facility, the RF network node comprising a data processing and controller block for digital information processing, a memory store, and a power management block for managing power requirements of the RFID tag, wherein an external computing device accesses the memory store through a communications bus.
US09405944B2	Mitigation of LF interference from adjacent vehicles also using LF approach detection system A system may include at least one antenna and a controller in communication with the antenna. The controller may be configured to establish a pattern for transmitting low frequency challenges; and instruct the first antenna to transmit the low frequency challenges based on the established pattern.
US09405942B2	Application system having an active RFID tag, a coordinator, and a reader/writer transmitting an action instruction index to the active RFID tag, and method thereof The present invention provides an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and a system and method thereof. The system includes: a coordinator, configured to uninterruptedly and repeatedly transmit a wakeup instruction on a first channel, and a reader/writer, connected to a control processor, and configured to establish communication with the active RFID tag on a second channel after the active RFID tag receives the wakeup instruction, and transmit an action instruction index to the active RFID tag; wherein the active RFID tag comprises: a receiver, configured to receive the wakeup instruction during a time period of an interception state and receive the action instruction index; a processor, configured to store a preset index-action mapping relationship, be waked up according to the wakeup instruction and search out an action instruction corresponding to the action instruction index from the index-action mapping relationship, and execute an operation in response to the action instruction.
US09405937B2	Method and apparatus for securing a dynamic binary translation system A processor and method are described for managing different privilege levels associated with different types of program code, including binary translation program code. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises entering into one of a plurality of privilege modes responsive to detecting the execution of a corresponding one of a plurality of different types of program code including native executable program code, translated executable program code, and binary translation program code. In one embodiment, the binary translation program code includes sub-components each of which are associated with a different privilege level for improved security.
US09405936B2	Code integrity protection by computing target addresses from checksums A method of obscuring software code including a plurality of basic blocks, including: calculating, by a processor, a checksum value of the current basic block and a pointer to the end of the current basic block; determining a preceding basic block for the current basic block; inserting the checksum value for the current basic block into the preceding basic block; and inserting instructions into the preceding basic block to determine a pointer to the beginning of the current basic block based upon the checksum value of the current basic block.
US09405934B2	Hiding sensitive data in plain text environment Method and system for hiding sensitive data in a plain text environment. The method may include recognizing a starting key in a plain text environment, wherein the starting key indicates to a working system that the text input subsequent to the starting key is to be hidden according to a specified hiding method; receiving subsequent plain text, the working system carrying out the hiding method on the plain text, wherein the input plain text is not displayed in the plain text environment; and recognizing an ending key, ending the hiding method and displaying subsequently input plain text in the plain text environment. The starting key and ending key may also be used to indicate to the working system that the data subsequent to the starting key is hidden according to the specified hiding method. The starting key and ending key are the same or different escape characters.
US09405930B2	User-controlled centralized privacy marketplace system A system for managing personal information of a user includes: a personal information database including personal information records of the user including data associated with the user, wherein a user is associated with a data policy including at least one permission for an accessing party to interact with a personal information record; and a data access module that receives and responds to requests from an accessing party, wherein a request may be one of: a read request specifying a personal information record to be read; and a write request specifying a personal information to be written to a personal information record to be written, wherein in response to a write request, the data access module responds with the a personal information record to be read, or updates the personal information record to be written in the personal information database, if permitted by the personal information record the privacy policy.
US09405926B2	Systems and methods for jurisdiction independent data storage in a multi-vendor cloud environment The present invention relates to a cloud based system for providing data security. The system comprises a processor which receives a data file from a user. The data file is directed to a first file location and encrypted and segmented into a plurality of data blocks. The plurality of data blocks is then assigned with a unique identifier and redirected to a plurality of cloud based storage providers. The plurality of cloud based storage providers are located in a plurality of jurisdictions. Each of the plurality of data blocks is then assigned a second file location. The unique identifier and the file locations of each of the plurality of data blocks is updated in the system.
US09405917B2	Mechanism for protecting integrated circuits from security attacks A mechanism for protecting integrated circuits (IC) from security attacks includes an IC having components that may store one or more data items and may perform a number of functions and which produce resulting events. The IC may also include a security module that may modify signals and events provided to the components such that the resulting events are modified in a non-effectual way but that causes the events to be non-deterministic relative to an event that is external to the integrated circuit when the resulting events are viewed externally to the IC. This may result in obscuring the data, and the functions from being observed from external to the IC, particularly when using an IR laser probe.
US09405915B2	Techniques for correlating vulnerabilities across an evolving codebase Methods, apparatus, and systems for characterizing vulnerabilities of an application source code are disclosed. Steps for characterizing vulnerabilities include traversing a representation of the application source code, generating a signature of a potential vulnerability of the application source code, and determining characteristics of the potential vulnerability based on a correlation between the generated signature of the potential vulnerability and previously stored signatures of potential vulnerabilities.
US09405913B2	Method for defending against cold-boot attacks on a computer in a self-service terminal A method to defend effectively against cold-boot attacks includes checking state data stored in a state memory to which the system software has access. At least two of the state data items are checked (111; 112) to determine deviations from parameters that are defined for a normal state of the computer. If deviations from the parameters are determined for at least two of the checked state data items, at least subareas of the main memory are cleared or overwritten (120); otherwise, the main memory is not cleared or overwritten (130); then, the system startup of the computer is carried out by means of the configured system software (140).
US09405912B2	Hardware rooted attestation Computing devices that perform hardware rooted attestation are described, as are methods for use therewith, wherein such devices include a system integrated TPM (e.g., a firmware-based TPM), with m boot chain components loaded and executed prior to the system integrated TPM. Between powering-up of a device and the system integrated TPM being loaded and executed, seed morphing is performed for n=0 to m. This involves an nth encryption seed (ESn) being morphed into an n+1th encryption seed (ESn+1), under control of an nth boot chain component, by extending the nth encryption seed (ESn) with a measurement of the n+1th boot chain component to thereby generate the n+1th encryption seed (ESn+1). In a similar manner, an nth identity seed (ISn) is morphed into an n+1th identity seed (ISn+1). Such techniques establish trust in the system integrated TPM despite it not being the first component loaded and executed after powering-up.
US09405905B2	Systems and methods for identifying associations between malware samples Systems and methods are disclosed for identifying associations between binary samples, such as e-mail files and their attachments or a document and an executable program associated with the document. In one implementation, the method includes receiving a plurality of binary samples, and extracting metadata from the plurality of binary samples. The metadata for a binary sample from the plurality of binary samples includes a set of attributes of the binary sample. The method further includes identifying a set of associations between the plurality of binary samples based on the extracted metadata. Each association is characterized by at least one attribute the associated binary samples have in common, and each association has a confidence level indicative of a strength of the association. The method also includes identifying associations with a confidence level that exceeds a predefined threshold.
US09405878B2	Generating a circuit description for a multi-die field-programmable gate array A method for generating a circuit description for a multi-die field-programmable gate array, FPGA, comprising a first FPGA die and at least one further FPGA die is described. The method is performed in an FPGA design tool and comprises automatically evaluating a first and a second partition of a partitioned circuit description, the partitions being associated with respective ones of the FPGA dies. At least one multiplexing element is inserted into the first partition and a corresponding de-multiplexing element is inserted into the second partition based on the automated evaluation.
US09405856B2	Task-oriented query-completion suggestions with shortcuts Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for providing task-oriented query-completion suggestions are provided. A portion of a search query is received, for instance, via a query-input region or search box presented in association with a general web search domain. As the portion of the search query is received, it is determined that the received search query portion is suggestive of a task-oriented user intent. Also determined are query-completion suggestions that are associated with the task-oriented user intent of which the search query portion is suggestive. The determined query-completion suggestions are then provided to the user. As query-completion suggestions are surfaced with input of short character sequences that are associated with task-oriented user intents, users can quickly be provided the relevant, rich content for completing their intended tasks.
US09405854B2	Event stream processing partitioning In an example embodiment, event stream processing is performed by first parsing an input query into a directed acyclic graph (DAG) including a plurality of operator nodes. Then a grouping of one or more of the operator nodes is created. One or more partitions are created, either by the user or automatically, in the DAG by forming one or more duplicates of the grouping. A splitter node is created in the DAG, the splitter node splits data from one or more event streams and distributes it among the grouping and the duplicates of the grouping. Then, the input query is resolved by processing data from one or more event streams using the DAG.
US09405842B2	Execution screen publication device, execution screen publication method, client device, and cloud computing system A content selection unit refers to a content information database, which stores content provided to a plurality of client devices and information related to provision of the content, linking the content with the information to one another, and selects, based on the information acquired by referring to the content information database, a predetermined number of content items from the content currently provided to at least one of the plurality of client devices. A user selection unit refers to the content information database and selects, for each content item selected by the content selection unit, a user who is executing the selected content. A publication unit publicizes moving images showing a screen in which the content currently executed by the user selected by the user selection unit is being executed such that the screen is viewable on a network, cyclically switching from one content item to another.
US09405841B2	Dynamic search suggestion and category specific completion Methods and systems for providing dynamic and category specific search suggestions are provided. According to one embodiment, a partial search query entered by a user can be used to determine a set of relevant search queries, which can be displayed as search suggestions within a search query suggestion window. Each query in the list can be associated with at least one specific category. According to various embodiments, the set of relevant queries and associated categories are dynamically updated as the user modifies the partial search query. Furthermore, each category is selectable by the user such that a detailed list of items associated only with the selected category can be displayed to the user.
US09405840B2	Using social signals to rank search results Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media are provided for using social signals to rank local search results. Local entity website addresses are matched with social network addresses and social network profiles are matched with local entity index records. Once it is known that a particular address or local entity index record aligns with a particular social network address or profile, interest signals associated with the social network are utilized to rank the particular address or local entity index record among other search results. In this way, the social network popularity of an entity may be taken into account in determining whether to provide information about the entity as a search result. Additionally, ranking may be improved for entities having incomplete or erroneous information available in association with a social network and for entities having a strong social network presence but a limited web presence.
US09405839B2	Requesting web pages and content rating information A method and an apparatus request web pages and content rating information thereof have been disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a request from a user for a web page, retrieving content rating of the web page in response to the request, and fetching the web page substantially simultaneously with the retrieving of the content rating in response to the request. Other embodiments have been claimed and described.
US09405823B2	Spoken document retrieval using multiple speech transcription indices A method and system are provided of spoken document retrieval using multiple search transcription indices. The method includes receiving a query input formed of one or more query terms and determining a type of a query term, wherein a type includes a term in a speech recognition vocabulary or a term not in a speech recognition vocabulary. One or more indices of search transcriptions are selected for searching the query term based on the type of the query term. The one or more indices are generated using different speech transcription methods. The results for the query term are scored by the one or more indices and the results of the one or more indices for the query term are merged. The results of the one or more query terms are then merged to provide the results for the query.
US09405822B2	Queries of a topic-based-source-specific search system Approaches for facilitating queries of a topic-based-source-specific search system are disclosed. In certain implementations, an input relating to a query may be received. Suggested ones of predefined sources and suggested ones of information items of the predefined sources may be determined based on the input. A set of suggestions including a group of suggestions relating to the suggested sources and a group of suggestions relating to the suggested information items may be provided for presentation on a user interface. In some implementations, metadata that indicates first, second, or other attributes relating to the predefined sources or the information items may be stored in association with the predefined sources or the information items. A second input relating to the query may be received responsive to providing the set of suggestions. A presentation of a comparison between the first attribute and the second attribute may be provided based on the second input.
US09405821B1	Systems and methods for data mining automation Aspects described herein disclose an apparatus that includes a data store, where the data store stores a database, and a communication module for receiving input from a user and displaying output to the user. The apparatus further includes a processor configured to receive from the communication module a query, where the query includes a first function and a plurality of column labels. The processor is also configured to parse the query to identify the first function and a plurality of columns in the database corresponding to the plurality of column labels. The processor is further configured to apply the first function to the database to obtain a result for the query, which includes applying the first function to at least one column in the plurality of columns to dynamically create a first temporary column. The processor is further configured to send the result to the communication module.
US09405818B2	Cohort selection with privacy protection Assembling a cohort includes: receiving genetic characteristic information pertaining to a desired genetic characteristic; using the genetic characteristic information to search a data storage comprising information of previously genotyped individuals to derive a candidate group having the desired genetic characteristic; and assembling the cohort based at least in part on the candidate group.
US09405813B1	Media device knowledge base A media content distribution service identifies a type of media device sending a request to the service over a network and to dynamically adapt content requested by the media device based on the identification. A request sent by a media device may, for example, identify a media content item a user desires to view at the media device, specify a search query for media content items, or otherwise request interaction with the service. According an embodiment, a media content distribution service may use information known about an identified media device type to dynamically adapt media content or other requested resources for display by the media device. By dynamically adapting media content and other resources based on an identified media device type, the media content distribution service may provide access to the services that is compatible with a wide range of media devices having varying device specifications and capabilities.
US09405795B2	Stream data processing server and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a stream data processing program A stream data processing server for processing stream data comprising a stream data processing module for cutting the plurality of pieces of data that are included within a processing range as a target out of the stream data by using a sliding window, and executing analyzing processing for the cut out plurality of pieces of data, the stream data processing module having an approximate expression; the approximate expression calculating module being configured to: determine one of the time stamps of the cut out plurality of pieces of data as a time origin; modify the time stamps of the cut out plurality of pieces of data to relative time values in relation to the determined time origin; and use the modified time stamps and the values of the plurality of pieces of data to calculate the approximate expression.
US09405788B2	Mass delete restriction in a database In an approach for limiting mass deletions from database tables, a computer receives a deletion request corresponding to data in a database table. The computer determines whether the database table includes a restriction of a mass deletion. Responsive to determining the database table includes a restriction of a mass deletion of data from a database table, the computer determines whether the quantity of data in the deletion request exceeds the restriction of a mass deletion. Responsive to determining the quantity of data in the deletion request exceeds the restriction of a mass deletion, the computer prevents execution of the deletion request.
US09405771B2	Associating metadata with images in a personal image collection Various technologies pertaining to assigning metadata to images in a personal image collection of a user based upon images and associated metadata assigned thereto that are accessible to the user by way of a social network application are described. An account of the user in a social network application is accessed to retrieve images and metadata that is accessible to the user. A face recognition algorithm is trained based upon the retrieved images and metadata, and the trained face recognition algorithm is executed over the personal image collection of the user, where the personal image collection of the user is external to the social network application.
US09405770B2	Three dimensional navigation among photos An exemplary method for navigating among photos includes determining, using one or more computing devices, visual characteristics of a person depicted in a first image associated with a first location. These visual characteristics of the person are detected in a second image associated with a second location. Using the one or more computing devices, a series of intermediate images are identified based on the first location and the second location. Each intermediate image is associated with a location. The series of intermediate images and the second image are provided. Images of an intermediate destination from the series of intermediate images are selected based on a density of images at the intermediate destination. A 3D reconstruction of the intermediate destination is then generated based on the selected images. Thereafter, a visual presentation of images traversing through the 3D reconstruction of the intermediate destination to the second image is prepared for display.
US09405769B2	Searching for devices in an information technology environment with aid of maps Systems, apparatuses and methods are provided for a user of a terminal to locate a device, with aid of a digital map. In addition, the user is provided with a user interface to add a device to a map.
US09405757B2	File storage system, apparatus, and file access method Embodiments of the present invention provide a file storage system, an apparatus, and a file access method. The system includes a storage management apparatus and an adapter, where the storage management apparatus is configured to receive an operation instruction sent by a user interface apparatus and send a invoking command to the adapter according to the operation instruction, and the adapter controls, according to the invoking command, a public cloud storage system to perform a file storage or read operation and return a operation result. The technical solutions of the present invention are implemented based on existing public cloud storage and cloud computing technologies and have advantages of low construction complexity and ease of implementation.
US09405754B1	System and method for product optimization A method includes maintaining product sales information according to a data model. The data model includes a consumer-demographics naming convention, a retail-provider-type naming convention, and a product-naming convention. The maintaining includes indexing the product sales information by consumer-demographics information, by retail-provider-type information, and by product-categorization information. The method further includes receiving raw sales information and translating the raw sales information into the data model. In addition the method includes storing the translated raw sales information as part of the product sales information. Furthermore, the method includes receiving a request for aggregation of at least a portion of the product sales information. The request specifies an intersection of the product-categorization information, the consumer-demographic information, and the retail-provider-type information. The method also includes, responsive to the request, aggregating the at least a portion of the product sales information.
US09405751B2	Database for mixed media document system A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content and/or web link as a second medium). In one particular embodiment, the MMR system includes a content-based retrieval database configured with an index table to represent two-dimensional geometric relationships between objects extracted from a printed document in a way that allows look-up using a text-based index. A ranked set of document, page and location hypotheses can be computed given data from the index table. The techniques effectively transform features detected in an image patch into textual terms (or other searchable features) that represent both the features themselves and the geometric relationship between them. A storage facility can be used to store additional characteristics about each document image patch.
US09405736B1	Method and system for automatically downloading and storing markup language documents into a folder based data structure The present invention is directed to a system and method for processing a markup language file having one or more portions. Specifically, the system downloads a first markup language file using the hyper text transfer protocol and references the first markup language file by its uniform resource location or by a name of a local file on a system on which a user is operating. The first markup language is parsed for one or more portions of the first markup language file. Each portion of the first markup language file is stored into a directory structure containing folders, subfolders, and files complying with the structure of the first markup language file.
US09405733B1	System and method for analyzing and categorizing text A system and method are provided for analyzing elements of text for comparative purposes. Text is provided to the system in an electronic format readable by the system. The system divides the text data into scenes, which may then be compared against a range of various values across a database of scenes from different texts. Data from one text can be used to identify other texts with similar styles, or identify texts with different styles, and to rank those differences on a spectrum. The system may use data from one text to identify other texts that a user may like, and present information about the text to the user in various forms.
US09405721B2	Apparatuses and methods for performing a databus inversion operation Apparatuses and methods for performing a data bus inversion operation (DBI) are described. An example apparatus includes a DBI circuit configured to, in parallel, determine preliminary DBI bits based on a block of data. Individual preliminary DBI bits are associated with respective sub-blocks of the block of data. The DBI circuit is further configured to serially determine DBI bits based on the preliminary DBI bits. Individual ones of the DBI bits are associated with respective ones of the sub-blocks. The DBI circuit is further configured to invert bits of individual sub-blocks responsive to the respective associated DBI bits having a particular logical value to provide DBI data. The apparatus further includes data outputs configured to serially output sub-blocks of the DBI data and the DBI bits.
US09405711B2	On-chip traffic prioritization in memory According to one embodiment, a method for traffic prioritization in a memory device includes sending a memory access request including a priority value from a processing element in the memory device to a crossbar interconnect in the memory device. The memory access request is routed through the crossbar interconnect to a memory controller in the memory device associated with the memory access request. The memory access request is received at the memory controller. The priority value of the memory access request is compared to priority values of a plurality of memory access requests stored in a queue of the memory controller to determine a highest priority memory access request. A next memory access request is performed by the memory controller based on the highest priority memory access request.
US09405707B2	Secure replay protected storage Embodiments of the invention create an underlying infrastructure in a flash memory device (e.g., a serial peripheral interface (SPI) flash memory device) such that it may be protected against user attacks—e.g., replacing the SPI flash memory device or a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack to modify the SPI flash memory contents on the fly. In the prior art, monotonic counters cannot be stored in SPI flash memory devices because said devices do not provide replay protection for the counters. A user may also remove the flash memory device and reprogram it. Host platforms alone cannot protect against such hardware attacks.Embodiments of the invention enable secure standard storage flash memory devices such as SPI flash memory devices to achieve replay protection for securely stored data. Embodiments of the invention utilize flash memory controllers, flash memory devices, unique device keys and HMAC key logic to create secure execution environments for various components.
US09405703B2	Translation lookaside buffer The described embodiments include a translation lookaside buffer (“TLB”) that is used for performing virtual address to physical address translations when making memory accesses in a memory in a computing device. In the described embodiments, the TLB includes a hierarchy of tables that are each used for performing virtual address to physical address translations based on the arrangement of pages of memory in corresponding regions of the memory. When performing a virtual address to physical address translation, the described embodiments perform a lookup in each of the tables in parallel for the virtual address to physical address translation and use a physical address that is returned from a lowest table in the hierarchy as the translation.
US09405697B2	Memory management method and apparatus A method for managing memory using a virtual memory manager includes receiving a memory allocation request, allocating memory of a physical address space in response to the memory allocation request, mapping an address value of the memory allocated in the physical address space to consecutive primary virtual address space, and mapping the address value of the primary virtual address space to one of a first and second secondary virtual address spaces to process a new memory allocation request in a situation where memory a fragmentation occurs. Other embodiments are also disclosed. The methods and apparatuses of the present disclosure are capable of moving active memory blocks of the fragmented virtual memory space to another virtual memory space to resolve the memory fragmentation even when a memory fragmentation occurs.
US09405692B2	Data processing performance enhancement in a distributed file system Systems and methods of data processing performance enhancement are disclosed. One embodiment includes, invoking operating system calls to optimize cache management by an I/O component; wherein, the operating system calls are invoked to perform one or more of; proactive triggering of readaheads for sequential read requests of a disk; purging data out of buffer cache after writing to the disk or performing sequential reads from the desk; and/or eliminating a delay between when a write is performed and when written data from the write is flushed to the disk from the buffer cache.
US09405691B2	Locating cached data in a multi-core processor Techniques described herein are generally related to managing cached memory addresses in a multi-core processor device that has a plurality of cores and a plurality of caches. Communication between the plurality of caches of and a main memory may be monitored. One or more memory addresses cached by the plurality of cores may be identified based on the monitored communications. A probabilistic memory address distribution table of the locations of the one or more memory addresses cached by the plurality of core may be generated and location of a given memory address can be predicted based upon the probabilistic memory address distribution table.
US09405688B2	Method, apparatus, system for handling address conflicts in a distributed memory fabric architecture Method, apparatus and system for handling address conflicts in distributed memory fabrics. Memory access requests originating from caching agents and Input/Output (I/O) agents in a computer system are serviced concurrently through use of a distributed memory fabric architecture employing parallel pipelines while maintaining memory coherency for cachelines associated with the caching agents and enforcing memory access ordering for memory access requests originating from I/O agents.
US09405687B2	Method, apparatus and system for handling cache misses in a processor In an embodiment, a processor includes one or more cores, and a distributed caching home agent (including portions associated with each core). Each portion includes a cache controller to receive a read request for data and, responsive to the data not being present in a cache memory associated with the cache controller, to issue a memory request to a memory controller to request the data in parallel with communication of the memory request to a home agent, where the home agent is to receive the memory request from the cache controller and to reserve an entry for the memory request. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09405686B2	Cache allocation system and method using a sampled cache utility curve in constant space Cache utility curves are determined for different software entities depending on how frequently their storage access requests lead to cache hits or cache misses. Although possible, not all access requests need be tested, but rather only a sampled subset, determined by whether a hash value of each current storage location identifier (such as an address or block number) meets one or more sampling criteria. The sampling rate is adaptively changed so as to hold the number of location identifiers needed to be stored to compute the cache utility curves to within a set maximum limit.
US09405684B1	System and method for cache management A method, computer program product, and computing system for processing, on a host, a read request for a portion of a data file stored on a backend storage system. The portion of the data file is obtained from the backend storage system. The portion of the data file is divided into a plurality of file chunks based, at least in part, upon a file type. Each of the plurality of file chunks is compared to other file chunks stored within a frontend cache system associated with the host to identify unique file chunks within the plurality of file chunks. The unique file chunks are stored within the frontend cache system.
US09405679B2	Determining a location of a memory device in a solid state device A solid state device has a controller. The controller is configured to perform a first division operation that divides a received logical block address that indicates a physical memory block in a memory device of a plurality of memory devices in the solid state device by a number of logical block addresses per page of the physical memory block to obtain a result of the first division operation, configured to perform a second division operation that divides the obtained result of the first division operation by a number of memory devices in the plurality of memory devices, and configured to determine a location of the memory device of the plurality of memory devices within the solid state device from a location in a memory device table, the location in the memory device table identified by
US09405676B2	Devices and methods for operating a solid state drive The present disclosure includes methods and devices for operating a solid state drive. One method embodiment includes receiving an indication of a desired number of write input/output operations (IOPs) per unit time performed by the solid state drive. The method can also include managing the number of write IOPs performed by the solid state drive at least partially based on the desired number of write IOPs per unit time, a number of spare blocks in the solid state drive, and a desired operational life for the solid state drive.
US09405671B2	Process execution control based on the internal states of flash memories and power supply circuit information Disclosed is a nonvolatile storage system including: a memory block having a plurality of flash memories; a flash memory power supply circuit outside of the memory block; and a flash memory controller. The flash memory power supply circuit has a plurality of types of power supply circuits for process execution, the power supply circuits for process execution generating and supplying power at a plurality of voltage levels needed to execute processes in the flash memories. The flash memory controller monitors changes of the internal states of the flash memories by communicating with the flash memories, thereby controlling the power supply circuits for process execution and the flash memories.
US09405670B2	Wear leveling method and apparatus The present invention discloses a wear leveling method; the method determines a pool mask for each physical block based on an erase number of each physical block. For different erase numbers, masks of the physical blocks are determined as cool pool mask CPM, normal pool mask NPM or hot pool mask HPM. When the pool mask of one physical block is changed from NPM to HPM, data of any physical block of which the pool mask is CPM is copied to the physical block of which the pool mask is HPM, and the physical block of which the pool mask is CPM is recycled as a garbage block. The present invention discloses a wear leveling apparatus, the method and apparatus can reduce additional wear caused by the wear leveling.
US09405662B2	Process for displaying test coverage data during code reviews Provided are methods and systems for monitoring code changes sent for review during the code review process, and performing test coverage calculations on the code changes to generate corresponding test coverage data. A code coverage service monitors code changes input to a code review system and automatically performs test coverage calculations on any code change determined to have significantly evolved as a result of the code review process. The code coverage service provides a notification of the resulting test coverage data (e.g., test coverage number) to various users and/or systems associated with the code change, including the code reviewer, the author of the code, the code review system, other notification systems, and/or any combination thereof. The test coverage data can be utilized in a comprehensive assessment of the code health of the relevant code involved.
US09405658B1	Method and apparatus for debugging applications in development environments A method for debugging applications in a development environment. The method may include terminating a thread when a breakpoint is encountered when debugging an application. The method may also include saving input and outputs from an external server invocation.
US09405655B2	System and method for running a validation process for an information handling system during a factory process An information handling system includes a memory and a processor. The memory to store a script and an exemption list for a validation process, and the script and the exemption list are received from a server. The processor is in communication with the memory, and configured to send a validation process pass indicator in response to a validation process error file being empty; in response to the validation process error file not being empty: to read a line of the validation process error file, to determine whether an error on the line of the validation process error file is found in an exemption list, and to add the error to an error log in response the error not being found in the exemption list; and to send the validation process pass indication in response to the error log being empty, otherwise sending a validation process fail indication.
US09405648B2	Built-in self-test circuit and semiconductor device including the same A built-in self-test circuit includes a command storage unit that stores commands inputted from an external device, an input/output control unit that controls the command storage unit to sequentially store the commands and sequentially output stored commands as internal commands in a test operation, and a command decoder unit that decodes the internal commands outputted from the command storage unit and outputs a test command.
US09405642B2	Providing virtual machine migration reliability using an intermediary storage device Systems and methods for live migration of a virtual machine are provided. A migration manager can send a request to a source host machine to migrate a virtual machine to a first destination host machine. The migration manager can determine that the migration of the virtual machine from the source host machine to the first destination host machine has failed. The migration manager can identify an intermediary storage device used during the migration to store a state of the virtual machine. The migration manager identifies a second destination host machine for the virtual machine migration. The migration manager causes the second destination host machine to obtain the state of the virtual machine from the intermediary storage device to migrate the virtual machine to the second destination host machine.
US09405640B2	Flexible failover policies in high availability computing systems A system for implementing a failover policy includes a cluster infrastructure for managing a plurality of nodes, a high availability infrastructure for providing group and cluster membership services, and a high availability script execution component operative to receive a failover script and at least one failover attribute and operative to produce a failover domain. In addition, a method for determining a target node for a failover comprises executing a failover script that produces a failover domain, the failover domain having an ordered list of nodes, receiving a failover attribute and based on the failover attribute and failover domain, selecting a node upon which to locate a resource.
US09405636B2	Recovering step and batch-based processes A method of recovering batch-based processes may include providing an interface for receiving processes recoverability information. The recoverability information may include (i) information describing a mutual exclusivity of data affected by a process, (ii) information describing sub-processes associated with the process, and/or (iii) information describing scope cleanup procedures associated with the process. The method may also include receiving the recoverability information through the interface, and receiving an indication that the process experienced an error while being executed on a client system. The method may additionally include providing the process recoverability information to make a recoverability determination for the process.
US09405633B1	System and method for dynamic transparent consistent application-replication of multi-process multi-threaded applications A system, method, and computer readable medium for consistent and transparent replication of multi process multi threaded applications. The computer readable medium includes computer-executable instructions for execution by a processing system. Primary applications runs on primary hosts and one or more replicated instances of each primary application run on one or more backup hosts. Replica consistency between primary application and its replicas is provided by imposing the execution ordering of the primary on all its replicas. The execution ordering on a primary is captured by intercepting calls to the operating system and libraries, sending replication messages to its replicas, and using interception on the replicas to enforce said captured primary execution order. Replication consistency is provided without requiring modifications to the application, operating system or libraries.
US09405632B2	Data mining systems and methods for heterogeneous data sources Systems and methods integrate disparate backup devices with a unified interface. In certain examples, a management console manages data from various backup devices, while retaining such data in its native format. The management console can display a hierarchical view of the client devices and/or their data and can further provide utilities for processing the various data formats. A data structure including fields for storing both metadata common to the client device data and value-added metadata can be used to mine or process the data of the disparate client devices. The unified single platform and interface reduces the need for multiple data management products and/or customized data utilities for each individual client device and provides a single pane of glass view into data management operations. Integrating the various types of storage formats and media allows a user to retain existing storage infrastructures and further facilitates scaling to meet long-term management needs.
US09405625B2	Optimizing and enhancing performance for parity based storage A mechanism is provided for optimizing and enhancing performance for parity based storage, particularly redundant array of independent disk (RAID) storage. The mechanism optimizes a repetitive pattern write command for performance for storage configurations that require parity calculations. The mechanism eliminates the need for laborious parity calculations that are resource intensive and add to IO latency. For repetitive write commands that span across the full stripe of a RAID5 or similar volume, the mechanism calculates parity by looking at the pattern and the number of columns in the volume. The mechanism may avoid the XOR operation altogether for repetitive pattern write commands. The mechanism may enhance secure delete operations that use repetitive pattern write commands by eliminating data reliability operations like parity generation and writing altogether.
US09405621B2	Green eMMC device (GeD) controller with DRAM data persistence, data-type splitting, meta-page grouping, and diversion of temp files for enhanced flash endurance A controller for a Super Enhanced Endurance Device (SEED) or Solid-State Drive (SSD) increases flash endurance using a DRAM buffer. Host accesses to flash are intercepted by the controller and categorized as data types of paging files, temporary files, meta-data, and user data files, using address ranges and file extensions read from meta-data tables. Paging files and temporary files are optionally written to flash. Full-page and partial-page data are grouped into multi-page meta-pages by data type in the DRAM before storage by lower-level flash devices such as eMMC, UFS, or iSSD. Caches in the DRAM buffer for storing each data type are managed and flushed to the flash devices by the controller. Write dates are stored for pages or blocks for management functions. A spare/swap area in DRAM reduces flash wear. Reference voltages are adjusted when error correction fails.
US09405613B2	Receiving an update module by accessing a network site Fault of a particular module in an electronic device is detected. In response to detecting the fault, an update module is retrieved from a network site over a network to update the particular module, where the network stack is independent of a network stack associated with an operating system in the electronic device.
US09405611B1	Computing device with recovery mode Methods and apparatus for implementing a recovery mode procedure for a computing device are disclosed. An example method includes determining, by a computing device, that a recovery mode procedure is to be executed on the computing device. The example method further includes, determining whether a trusted recovery image is accessible to the computing device and, in the event the trusted recovery image is accessible to the computing device, executing the recovery mode procedure to repair or replace a current image of the computing device using the trusted recovery image. In the event the trusted recovery image is not accessible to the computing device, the example method includes, providing instructions for obtaining the trusted recovery image, determining the obtained trusted recovery image is accessible to the computing device and executing the recovery mode procedure to repair or replace the current image of the computing device using the obtained trusted recovery image.
US09405606B2	Clustered filesystems for mix of trusted and untrusted nodes A cluster of computer system nodes share direct read/write access to storage devices via a storage area network using a cluster filesystem. At least one trusted metadata server assigns a mandatory access control label as an extended attribute of each filesystem object regardless of whether required by a client node accessing the filesystem object. The mandatory access control label indicates the sensitivity and integrity of the filesystem object and is used by the trusted metadata server(s) to control access to the filesystem object by all client nodes.
US09405601B2	In-vehicle apparatus and program An ASL is associated with an APP module having as a communication target an existing APP SW-C(1). A buffer part accumulates data to the existing APP SW-C(1) and data from the existing APP SW-C(1). A communication processing part transmits the data to the existing APP SW-C(1) accumulated in the buffer part to the existing APP SW-C(1), receives data transmitted from the existing APP SW-C(1), and stores the received data in the buffer part. An API processing part receives as input from the APP module data to the existing APP SW-C(1), stores the data received as input in the buffer part, receives as input from the buffer part data from the existing APP SW-C(1), and outputs the data received as input to the APP module.
US09405599B2	Methods and apparatus to detect uninstallation of an on-device meter Example methods and apparatus to detect uninstallation of an on-device meter are disclosed. An example method includes identifying, at a second application on a mobile device, a first notification that the first application is to be uninstalled. A prompt is displayed asking whether the second application is to be uninstalled in response to the first notification. An uninstallation notification is transmitted to a remote data collector, the uninstallation notification including an identifier to identify at least one of the mobile device associated with the uninstallation or a user of the mobile device.
US09405598B2	Retrospective event processing pattern language and execution model extension A novel and useful method, system and framework for extending event processing pattern language to include constructs and patterns in the language to support historical patterns and associated retrospective event processing that enable a user to define patterns that consist of both on-line streaming and historical (retrospective) patterns. This enables entire functions to be expressed in a single pattern language and also enables event processing optimization whereby function processing is mapped to a plurality of event processing agents (EPAs). The EPAs in turn are assigned to a physical processor and to threads within the processor.
US09405594B2	Method and apparatus for controlling access to resources in remote user interface service A method is provided for controlling access to a resource of a Remote User Interface (RUI) server in an RUI client of an RUI system. The method includes sending a request for an RUI page for controlling the resource to the RUI server and receiving the RUI page, generating a connection to a Mutual Exclusion (MUTEX) of the RUI server, which corresponds to the resource, using the received RUT page, and sending a request for MUTEX locking for restricting access to the resource to the RUI server.
US09405593B2	Scaling of application resources in a multi-tenant platform-as-a-service environment in a cloud computing system Implementations provide for scaling of application resources in a multi-tenant Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) environment in a cloud computing system. A method of the disclosure includes monitoring a load measurement of containers associated with an application executed on virtual machines (VMs) in a multi-tenant PaaS system, comparing the load measurement with a criteria, and when the load measurement exceeds the criteria, causing resources to be added to execute functionality of the application in the VMs of the multi-tenant PaaS system.
US09405592B2	Workload balancing to handle skews for big data analytics Data partitions are assigned to reducer tasks using a cost-based and workload balancing approach. At least one of the initial data partitions remains unassigned in an unassigned partitions pool. Each reducer while working on its assigned partitions makes dynamic run-time decisions as to whether to: reassign a partition to another reducer, accept a partition from another reducer, select a partition from the unassigned partitions pool, and/or reassign a partition back to the unassigned partitions pool.
US09405590B2	Method, apparatus, and system for issuing partition balancing subtask A method, an apparatus, and a system are provided for issuing a partition balancing subtask, which are applied to a controller. After receiving a second partition balancing task, the controller generates a second partition balancing subtask set, where the second partition balancing subtask set includes at least one partition balancing subtask, and each partition balancing subtask records a migration partition, a node to which the migration partition belongs, and a destination node; searches a current partition balancing subtask set, and deletes a repeated partition balancing subtask between the second partition balancing subtask set and the current partition balancing subtask set; and issues remaining partition balancing subtasks after the repeated partition balancing subtask is deleted to the destination node recorded in each partition balancing subtask.
US09405589B2	System and method of optimization of in-memory data grid placement A method, system, and program product for optimizing distribution and availability of data partitions is disclosed. Placement logic is run for data partition distribution which optimizes a configuration of a memory data grid. A performance impact of adding new members to the memory data grid is provided. Replication of data partitions in the memory data grid is minimized. Optimum data partition distribution in the memory data grid is determined.
US09405586B2	Method of dynamic load-balancing within a PC-based computing system employing a multiple GPU-based graphics pipeline architecture supporting multiple modes of GPU parallelization A hub mechanism for use in a multiple graphics processing unit (GPU) system includes a hub routing unit positioned on a bus between a controller unit and multiple GPUs. The hub mechanism is used for routing data and commands over a graphic pipeline between a user interface and one or more display units. The hub mechanism also includes a hub driver for issuing commands for controlling the hub routing unit.
US09405585B2	Management of heterogeneous workloads Systems and methods for managing a system of heterogeneous workloads are provided. Work that enters the system is separated into a plurality of heterogeneous workloads. A plurality of high-level quality of service goals is gathered. At least one of the plurality of high-level quality of service goals corresponds to each of the plurality of heterogeneous workloads. A plurality of control functions are determined that are provided by virtualizations on one or more containers in which one or more of the plurality of heterogeneous workloads run. An expected utility of a plurality of settings of at least one of the plurality of control functions is determined in response to the plurality of high-level quality of service goals. At least one of the plurality of control functions is exercised in response to the expected utility to effect changes in the behavior of the system.
US09405584B2	System and method for high-performance, low-power data center interconnect fabric with addressing and unicast routing A system and method are provided that support a routing using a tree-like or graph topology that supports multiple links per node, where each link is designated as an Up, Down, or Lateral link, or both, within the topology. The system may use a segmented MAC architecture which may have a method of re-purposing MAC IP addresses for inside MACs and outside MACs, and leveraging what would normally be the physical signaling for the MAC to feed into the switch.
US09405579B2	Seamless extension of local computing power Machines, systems and methods for remotely provisioning computing power over a communications network are provided. The method may comprise selecting one or more tasks being executed on a first computing system to be migrated for execution on a second computing system connected to the first computing system by way of a communications network; determining a first point of execution reached during the execution of at least a selected task on the first computing system prior to the selected task being migrated for execution to the second computing system; migrating the selected task to the second computing system, wherein the second computing system continues to execute the selected task from the first point of execution; and monitoring the connection between the first computing system and the second computing system so that in response to detecting a disconnection, execution of the selected task continues seamlessly.
US09405577B2	Realizing jumps in an executing process instance A method for realizing jumps in an executing process instance can be provided. The method can include suspending an executing process instance, determining a current wavefront for the process instance and computing both a positive wavefront difference for a jump target relative to the current wavefront and also a negative wavefront difference for the jump target relative to the current wavefront. The method also can include removing activities from consideration in the process instance and also adding activities for consideration in the process instance both according to the computed positive wavefront difference and the negative wavefront difference, creating missing links for the added activities, and resuming executing of the process instance at the jump target.
US09405573B2	System and method for process run-time prediction Various embodiments provide process run-time prediction for processes running on server computers. In one embodiment, process run-time of a process is determined by building a database with a history of users, command lines and runtime associated with each command line, and comparing the process with stored records of completed processes in the database. In some embodiments, in response to a determination that the time interval of a process is likely to intersect a planned maintenance period on a server computer, a maintenance notification can be sent to a user of the process and therefore allow the affected process to be migrated to unaffected server computer(s).
US09405562B2	Set top box application in a concurrent dual environment A set top box or like device utilizing virtualization techniques to isolate secure device resources from an untrusted software framework incorporated in the device. In one implementation, a first virtual machine container is provided for secure execution of a traditional set top box application, while a second virtual machine container is utilized to host a software framework or untrusted portions of a software framework. A secure access client/server interface is provided to support interactions between the first and second virtual machine containers. The software framework may comprise, for example, an Android framework supported by an underlying Linux operating system environment and isolated in a Linux resource container. Virtual container constructs in various embodiments may employ varying levels of hardware sandboxing, including use of dedicated processing resources in multi-processor environments. In further embodiments, the software framework may be partitioned into trusted and untrusted portions that are executed in separate virtual containers.
US09405560B2	Method and apparatus for controlling alarm operation in a terminal According to one embodiment, a method and apparatus for controlling an alarm operation in a terminal, by which a plurality of alarms are terminated in the terminal. The method includes setting at least one of multiple alarm groups, each alarm group including multiple alarms, in which the setting of the at least one alarm groups includes automatically setting termination of the plurality of alarms associated with the alarm group to correspond to termination of the alarm group.
US09405556B2	Dynamic addition and removal of operating system components Systems, computer program products and computer program products for facilitating the dynamic addition and removal of operating system components on computing devices based on application or user interaction over time are disclosed. Such systems, computer program products and computer program products provide one or more API intercept layers, a rules engine and a hydrate engine that facilitates the ability to dynamically rehydrate or hydrate operating system components. In an embodiment, a minimal (or core) operating system image on a computing device is deployed. Then, required components may be dynamically added (i.e., “streamed” or “rehydrated”) from storage, a server or cloud service as required by an executing application program on the computing device. In another embodiment, a totally complete operating system image is deployed on a computing device. Then, unused components may be dynamically removed (i.e., “dehydrated”) from the computing device over time based on application or user interaction.
US09405552B2	Method, device and system for controlling execution of an instruction sequence in a data stream accelerator Techniques and mechanisms for controlling execution of an instruction sequence in a data stream processing engine. In an embodiment, a control unit of the data stream processing engine detects that execution of a first instruction in an instruction sequence has ended. In another embodiment, the control unit determines information regarding a next instruction of the instruction sequence which is to be executed. Control signals may be sent from the control unit to form a data path set for execution of the next instruction in the instruction sequence.
US09405547B2	Register allocation for rotation based alias protection register A system may comprise an optimizer/scheduler to schedule on a set of instructions, compute a data dependence, a checking constraint and/or an anti-checking constraint for the set of scheduled instructions, and allocate alias registers for the set of scheduled instructions based on the data dependence, the checking constraint and/or the anti-checking constraint. In one embodiment, the optimizer is to release unused registers to reduce the alias registers used to protect the scheduled instructions. The optimizer is further to insert a dummy instruction after a fused instruction to break cycles in the checking and anti-checking constraints.
US09405538B2	Functional unit having tree structure to support vector sorting algorithm and other algorithms An apparatus is described having a functional unit of an instruction execution pipeline. The functional unit has a plurality of compare-and-exchange circuits coupled to network circuitry to implement a vector sorting tree for a vector sorting instruction. Each of the compare-and-exchange circuits has a respective comparison circuit that compares a pair of inputs. Each of the compare-and-exchange circuits have a same sided first output for presenting a higher of the two inputs and a same sided second output for presenting a lower of the two inputs, said comparison circuit to also support said functional unit's execution of a prefix min and/or prefix add instruction.
US09405537B2	Apparatus and method of execution unit for calculating multiple rounds of a skein hashing algorithm An apparatus is described that includes an execution unit within an instruction pipeline. The execution unit has multiple stages of a circuit that includes a) and b) as follows. a) a first logic circuitry section having multiple mix logic sections each having: i) a first input to receive a first quad word and a second input to receive a second quad word; ii) an adder having a pair of inputs that are respectively coupled to the first and second inputs; iii) a rotator having a respective input coupled to the second input; iv) an XOR gate having a first input coupled to an output of the adder and a second input coupled to an output of the rotator. b) permute logic circuitry having inputs coupled to the respective adder and XOR gate outputs of the multiple mix logic sections.
US09405535B2	Floating point execution unit for calculating packed sum of absolute differences A circuit arrangement provides support for packed sum of absolute difference operations in a floating point execution unit, e.g., a scalar or vector floating point execution unit. Existing adders in a floating point execution unit may be utilized along with minimal additional logic in the floating point execution unit to support efficient execution of a fixed point packed sum of absolute differences instruction within the floating point execution unit, often eliminating the need for a separate vector fixed point execution unit in a processor architecture, and thereby leading to less logic and circuit area, lower power consumption and lower cost.
US09405534B2	Compound complex instruction set computer (CCISC) processor architecture A processor system includes a multichannel memory operable to store data values and a program memory operable to store Compound CISC (CCISC) instructions. The processor system also includes a processor operable to execute a computer program assembled with at least a portion of the compound CCISC instructions, to retrieve a CCISC instruction from the program memory, to access at least two data values in the multichannel memory based on the executed computer program, and to operate on the at least two data values in the multichannel memory based on the CCISC instruction. The processor retrieves the CCISC instruction, accesses the at least two data values, and operates on the at least two data values during a same clock cycle.
US09405530B2	System and method for supporting patching in a multitenant application server environment In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for supporting patching in a multi-tenant application server environment. The system can associate one or more partitions with a tenant, for use by that tenant, wherein a partition is a runtime and administrative subdivision or slice of a domain. A patching process can take advantage of high-availability features provided by an application server clustering environment, to apply patches in a controlled, rolling restart, which maintains a domain's ability to operate without interruption, or with zero downtime. The process can be used to automate complex or long running tasks, including preserving an unpatched or prior version of an application server, application, or other software component for possible rollback, or providing automatic reversion in the event of an unrecoverable error.
US09405513B2	Systems and methods for graphically developing rules for transforming models between description notations Systems and methods are graphically developing rules for transforming models between different description notations. The transformation rules may be used to transform a model in a source description notation to a new model in a target description notation. In one embodiment, graphical constructs are provided including symbols in the source description notation and the target description notation. The constructs for the source description notation are arranged in a source pattern, and the constructs for the target description notation are arranged in a target pattern, according to user instructions. The source and target patterns are sent to a transformation engine and subsequently accessed to provide at least one transformation rule utilized by the transformation engine.
US09405506B2	Method of operating system on chip and apparatuses including the same A method of operating a system on chip (SoC), an integrated circuit including the SoC, and a system including the same are provided. The method includes: delaying a data strobe signal; obtaining a setup margin and a hold margin by adjusting a delay of the delayed data strobe signal; and determining a data valid window using the obtained setup margin and the obtained hold margin.
US09405505B2	Control device for executing control program including floating point operation command for controlling machine and method of converting floating point parameter in control program A control device includes: a first conversion unit that converts floating point data generated by an operation of a floating point operation command into a numeric string in first format; and a second conversion unit that converts the numeric string in first format into a numeric string in second format. A character string data generation unit generates a character string data including the numeric strings in first format and in second format and outputs the character string data to an external device or an external storage medium.
US09405488B1	System and method for storage management A method, computer program product, and computing system for receiving, on an active storage processor from a passive storage processor, a join request indicator. The join request indicator indicates that the passive storage processor wants to transition to an active status. The active storage processor and the passive storage processor are both coupled to a data array. A status change indicator is provided from the active storage processor to the passive storage processor, wherein the status change indicator indicates that the passive-to-active transition of the passive storage processor has been initiated. A first data array status indicator is received on the active storage processor from the passive storage processor, wherein the first data array status indicator indicates the status of the data array as seen by the passive storage processor. A second data array status indicator is generated on the active storage processor, wherein the second data array status indicator indicates the status of the data array as seen by the active storage processor.
US09405475B2	Multi-interface memory with access control Subject matter disclosed herein relates to a memory device, and more particularly to a multi-channel memory device and methods of selecting one or more channels of same.
US09405472B2	Tracking ownership of memory in a data processing system through use of a memory monitor Ownership of a memory unit in a data processing system is tracked by assigning an identifier to each software component in the data processing system that can acquire ownership of the memory unit. An ownership variable is updated with the identifier of the software component that acquires ownership of the memory unit whenever the memory unit is acquired.
US09405465B2	Resizing predictive keyboard Systems and methods for keypad button resizing are disclosed. In some implementations, a keypad including multiple characters is displayed on a display of a touchscreen device. A selection of one of the multiple characters on the keypad is received. For each character in the multiple characters on the keypad, a likelihood value that the character is a next character to be typed is predicted and a button size for the character is selected based on the predicted likelihood value. The keypad is modified based on the selected button size for each character. The modified keypad is displayed on the display of the touchscreen device.
US09405464B2	Method for presenting different keypad configurations for data input and a portable device utilizing same A method for displaying different keypad configurations to allow input data using a touch screen with an appropriate keypad configuration is provided. The method comprises: displaying a plurality of identifiers respectively representing keypad configurations whose input modes are different from each other; and displaying a keypad configuration corresponding to a selected identifier when a touch event, which selects one of the displayed plurality of identifiers, is generated.
US09405446B1	Efficient and interactive presentation of item images Systems and methods are provided for generating and updating an efficient configuration for display of item images, in order to present the contents of a collection of item images to a user in a space-efficient and visually pleasing manner. For example, an initial configuration can be generated including thin slices of each image. The thin slices can be symmetrically cropped versions of the corresponding image designed to still convey a high degree of detail about the depicted item. When a user interacts with the thin slices, for example, by hovering a cursor or through a touch event, the initial configuration can be updated to gradually expand slices and contract full size images based on the user input.
US09405445B2	Apparatus and methods for routing An electronic navigational system may automatically develop nautical routes, may retrieve previously-developed nautical routes, or may combine previously developed route(s) or route segment(s) with an automatically developed route or route segment(s).
US09405433B1	Editing element attributes of a design within the user interface view, and applications thereof Systems, methods and articles of manufacture for editing element attributes of a design within a user interface view are described herein. Embodiments of the present invention relate to reducing or eliminating the effort a user must put forth in editing attributes of a user specified element in moving from the user specified element in a main document window of the user interface to the far end of the main document window and then combing within a dense menu displaying every attribute for every element supported by the user interface. Further embodiments allow a user to easily filter through the dense menu displaying every attribute for every element to find the attributes that are specific to the element selected and do so without having to go to the dense menu displayed on the far side of the main document window. In one embodiment, this is achieved by displaying only the attributes specific to the user selected element in a user interactive palette where the user interactive palette is displayed in close proximity to the user selected element in the main document window. Each time a user selects an element a different user interactive palette will appear displaying the attributes specific to the user selected element and in close proximity to that element.
US09405431B2	Generating position information employing an imager An application control approach using generated position information of a control device and adapted for use with a display, such as a monitor or TV, is disclosed. The control device may be conveniently held by a user. An imager is employed to image the control device to detect reference fields and generate position information. This information is used by the control device to control an application.
US09405430B2	Menu tree visualization and navigation A method and program that improves the efficiency of menu tree visualization and navigation in graphical user interfaces. Menu items are displayed as call-out shaped objects each made up of a call-out bubble and its leading arm. The leading arm connects the call-out bubble with the higher level menu item, the context-menu reference point or any other reference point on the user-interface screen. Menu lists are displayed as sets of similar-sized call-out shapes, which can be arranged in a variety of ways. A menu item can be selected by selecting either the leading arm or the call-out bubble of a call-out shape. The selection of a menu item through the selection of its leading arm significantly reduces the distance over which the pointer has to be moved for menu tree navigation. This is because the leading arm of each of the call-out shapes in any menu item list is close to the pointer's position immediately following the preceding selection process.
US09405425B1	Swappable content items Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, for presenting content associated with a landing page. A method includes: receiving a request for content to be published along with third party content in a resource; identifying a content item responsive to the request, the content item including a link to a landing page and an indicator for designating the content item as a swappable content item, wherein a swappable content item enables navigation away from the resource to the landing page without losing state of the resource, the content item being configured to monitor interactions of the user and inhibit a direct loading of a landing page in favor of a simultaneous presentation of the content of the landing page in a container having an overlay that includes the resource; and providing the content item including the indicator responsive to the request.
US09405424B2	Method and system for distributing and displaying graphical items A subset of graphical display items, in a set of graphical display items stored in the one or more electronic storage devices, that have not previously been viewed by a user is determined. A graphical display item is selected from a subset of graphical display items. The graphical display item may be selected according to an order, or selected randomly. An initial display item and the selected graphical display item are electronically transmitted to a user computing device. The initial display item and the selected graphical display item are configured such that the selected graphical display item is displayed on a display device of the user computing device in response to the user selecting the initial display item when the initial display item is displayed on the display device.
US09405422B2	Conductive sheet, manufacturing method of conductive sheet, and touch panel The conductive sheet includes a support and a conductive portion which is disposed on the support and composed of thin conductive wires containing metal silver and gelatin, in which gelatin is substantially not contained between the thin conductive wires on the support, and a volume ratio (A/B) of a volume A of the metal silver to a volume B of the gelatin in the thin conductive wires is 0.3 to 10.0. In the conductive sheet, the occurrence of ion migration between thin conductive wires is further inhibited. A manufacturing method of the conductive sheet and a touch panel including the conductive sheet are also provided.
US09405420B2	Method for controlling a touch panel having button electrodes and sensing electrodes in a same conductive layer A method for controlling a touch panel is disclosed. A first driving signal is applied to the driving electrodes to obtain a number of first electrical signals corresponding to a number of conductive stripes of touch panel. The first electrical signals are converted into a number of first digital signals by digital analog conversion with a first factor. A second driving signal is applied to a number of driving electrodes to obtain a number of second electrical signals corresponding to a number of button electrodes of the touch panel. The second electrical signals are converted into a number of second digital signals by digital analog conversion with a second factor. The second factor is smaller than the first factor.
US09405418B2	Touch device A touch device includes a first conducting layer, a second conducting layer, and a resistance reduction layer. The first conducting layer is insulated to the second conducting layer to form a touch sensing structure. The resistance reduction layer is coupled to the first conducting layer. A combination of the resistance reduction layer and the first conducting layer has a resistance that is less than an intrinsic resistance of the first conducting layer.
US09405416B2	Touch screen driving device including multiplexer with cross-coupled switches A touch screen driving device includes a touch screen including Tx channels, Rx channels, and sensor nodes formed at crossings of the Tx channels and the Rx channels, a Tx driving circuit supplying a Tx driving pulse to the Tx channels, sensing units sampling voltages of the sensor nodes supplied through the Rx channels, a multiplexer (mux) array including mux switches, each of which is cross-coupled with output terminals of the sensing units adjacent to each mux switch, an analog-to-digital converter converting an analog sampling signal received from the mux array into digital data, an average unit which averages the digital data and removes noise included in the digital data, and a touch controller which analyzes the digital data, in which the noise is removed, using a touch recognition algorithm and outputs touch data including coordinate information of a touch position.
US09405408B2	Trace pattern for touch-sensing application One embodiment of a capacitive sensor array comprises a plurality of row sensor elements including a first row sensor element, a plurality of column sensor elements including a first column sensor element, and a plurality of unit cells, wherein a first unit cell contains an intersection between the first row sensor element and the first column sensor element, and wherein a ratio between 1) a boundary length between the first row sensor element and the first column sensor element within the first unit cell and 2) a perimeter of the first unit cell is greater than √{square root over (2)}/2.
US09405405B2	Optical projection and image sensing apparatus An optical projection and image sensing apparatus including a light source, a light valve, a first lens set, a sensing module, and a beam splitter is provided. The light valve is used to convert an illumination light from the light source to an image light beam. The first lens set is used to project the image light to display an image on a screen, and the sensing module is used to sense a sensing light from the image on the screen. The beam splitter is disposed on the optical paths of the image light and the sensing light from the image on the screen. One of the sensing module and the light valve is disposed on the optical path of the sensing light passing through the beam splitter, and the other is disposed on optical path of the sensing light reflected by the beam splitter.
US09405402B2	Systems and methods for parallax compensation An electronic device may include a touch screen electronic display configured to offset and/or shift the contact locations of touch implements and/or displayed content based on one or more calculated parallax values. The parallax values may be associated with the viewing angle of an operator relative to the display of the electronic device. In various embodiments, the parallax value(s) may be calculated using three-dimensional location sensors, an angle of inclination of a touch implement, and/or one or more displayed calibration objects. Parallax values may be utilized to remap contact locations by a touch implement, shift and/or offset displayed content, and/or perform other transformations as described herein. A stereoscopically displayed content may be offset such that a default display plane is coplanar with a touch surface rather than a display surface. Contacts by a finger may be remapped using portions of the contact region and/or a centroid of the contact region.
US09405400B1	Method and apparatus of providing and customizing data input touch screen interface to multiple users A method and apparatus of interpreting a user's touch at a touch screen interface device is disclosed. One example may include instructing the user to draw a certain figure on the touch screen interface device, and detecting the user's touch on the touch screen interface device. Further operations may include identifying the user's touch as a plurality of coordinates within a predefined area designated as the user's interface device, and comparing touch strength pressure measurements of the user's touch coordinates with touch strength pressure measurement threshold values stored in a memory of a computing device. Additional operations may also include adjusting the touch strength pressure measurement threshold values based on the touch strength pressure measurements of the user's touch coordinates.
US09405394B2	Application operation evaluating apparatus and application operation evaluating method An application operation evaluating apparatus, includes a detecting unit that detects pressing force obtained by a plurality of sensors provided at an application target surface in accordance with an application operation to the application target surface; an estimating unit that estimates a pressed position of the application operation on the application target surface based on pressing forces respectively applied to the sensors obtained by the detecting unit; a load distribution generating unit that generates load distribution in accordance with the application operation based on the pressing force obtained by the detecting unit and the pressed position obtained by the estimating unit; and a display unit that displays the load distribution obtained by the load distribution generating unit on a screen.
US09405387B2	Cursor control apparatus and cursor control method thereof A cursor control apparatus and a cursor control method thereof are provided. Adjust a position of a cursor on a second axial direction according to a DPI ratio on a first axial direction of display units with different DPI values, so as to make the cursor move smoothly between the display units with different DPI values, in which the first axial direction is perpendicular to the second axial direction, and the display units with different DPI values are arranged along the first axial direction.
US09405386B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and information processing system An information processing apparatus includes: an operating information obtaining unit which receives, from a remote control, button-press information indicating that an enter button has been pressed; a display control unit which displays, on a display screen, one or more objects each associated with an executable function, and a pointer at a position designated by the remote control; and an executing unit which executes a function associated with a first object out of the objects when the operating information obtaining unit receives the button-press information during a period that starts when a predetermined first period lapses from a first time point at which the pointer enters a region of the first object, and ends when a predetermined second period lapses from a second time point at which the pointer deviates from the region.
US09405384B2	Computer system and control method for same A computer system, including data-processing equipment and a freely movable input device, wherein the input device contains at least one position change sensor from which information can be sent to the data-processing equipment and wherein the data-processing equipment can also capture information about the absolute position of the input device. Information about the absolute position of the input device can be captured by the data-processing equipment as a result of the fact that the data-processing equipment is in data communication with a light-sensitive, position-sensitive input surface and the input device emits a light beam, the point of incidence of which on the input surface can be detected by the latter.
US09405378B2	Gesture control system capable of interacting with 3D images A gesture control system capable of interacting with three-dimensional (3D) images comprises a 3D image display device, a gesture recognition device, and a data processing unit. The 3D image display device displays a 3D image. The gesture recognition device captures a hand(s) and finger(s) image of a user and then calculates a hand(s) and finger(s) coordinate. The hand(s) and finger(s) coordinate is transmitted to the data processing unit and is matched with an image 3-dimensional spatial coordinate for being output via the 3D image display device in order to achieve advantages of interacting with 3D images.
US09405377B2	Trainable sensor-based gesture recognition In many computing scenarios, a device comprises at least one sensor, and is configured to recognize a gesture performed by a user according to the sensor output of the sensor, and to perform a particular action upon recognizing the gesture. However, many devices are preconfigured with such gestures, and the recognition is specific to the sensors of the device, and is not specific to the manner in which a particular user performs the gesture. Presented herein are techniques for enabling a device to recognize a new gesture by monitoring the sensor output of any sensors provided by the device while the user performs the gesture, optionally requesting repeated gesture performances until reaching a recognition confidence. Once trained to recognize the gesture according to the sensor outputs of the particular sensors of the device, the device may subsequently recognize the gesture performed by the user and execute an associated action.
US09405365B2	Systems and methods for identifying gaze tracking scene reference locations A system is provided for identifying reference locations within the environment of a device wearer. The system includes a scene camera mounted on eyewear or headwear coupled to a processing unit. The system may recognize objects with known geometries that occur naturally within the wearer's environment or objects that have been intentionally placed at known locations within the wearer's environment. One or more light sources may be mounted on the headwear that illuminate reflective surfaces at selected times and wavelengths to help identify scene reference locations and glints projected from known locations onto the surface of the eye. The processing unit may control light sources to adjust illumination levels in order to help identify reference locations within the environment and corresponding glints on the surface of the eye. Objects may be identified substantially continuously within video images from scene cameras to provide a continuous data stream of reference locations.
US09405358B2	Reducing power consumption of uncore circuitry of a processor In one embodiment, a multi-core processor includes multiple cores and an uncore, where the uncore includes various logic units including a cache memory, a router, and a power control unit (PCU). The PCU can clock gate at least one of the logic units and the cache memory when the multi-core processor is in a low power state to thus reduce dynamic power consumption.
US09405357B2	Distribution of power gating controls for hierarchical power domains An integrated circuit device includes a first module disposed within a first power domain, a second module disposed in a second power domain that is a sub-domain of the first power domain, first power gating logic, and second power gating logic. The first power gating logic generates a first virtual power supply for the first module. The second power gating logic is powered by the first virtual power supply for generating a second virtual power supply for the second power domain.
US09405353B2	Method and apparatus for controlling central processing unit The present invention discloses a method for controlling a central processing unit CPU. A usage and a working frequency of a working CPU is obtained. When the usage is greater than a usage threshold, it is determined whether the working frequency is smaller than a first frequency. The working frequency as the first frequency is determined when the working frequency is smaller than the first frequency. The first frequency is smaller than a maximum frequency of the CPU.
US09405351B2	Performing frequency coordination in a multiprocessor system In an embodiment, a processor includes a core to execute instructions, uncore logic coupled to the core, and a power controller to control a power consumption level. The power controller is configured to determine an activity level of the processor and responsive to this level, to generate a request for communication to a second processor coupled to the processor to request frequency coordination between the processors. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09405350B2	Memory control device, semiconductor device, and system board According to an embodiment, a memory control device controls a memory from/to which data are read/written by a processor. The memory control device includes a clock switcher and a control signal switcher. The clock receives as input a first clock and a second clock at a higher frequency than the first clock, supplies the first clock to the memory until the second clock becomes stable, and supplies the second clock after the second clock has become stable. The a control signal switcher starts supplying, to the memory, a first control signal for initializing the memory to a state allowing reading/writing of data by the processor while the first clock is being supplied to the memory, and supplies, to the memory, a second control signal according to the reading/writing of data by the processor, after the second clock is supplied to the memory and the memory is initialized.
US09405347B2	Power-saving operating system for virtual environment Principles for enabling power management techniques for virtual machines. In a virtual machine environment, a physical computer system may maintain management facilities to direct and control one or more virtual machines executing thereon. In some techniques described herein, the management facilities may be adapted to place a virtual processor in an idle state in response to commands from a guest operating system. One or more signaling mechanisms may be supported such that the guest operating system will command the management facilities to place virtual processors in the idle state.
US09405343B2	Social messaging user interface Hubs for social interaction via electronic devices are described. In one aspect, a data processing device includes a display screen displaying a social interaction hub, the social interaction hub including a collection of records. Each record includes a counterparty identifier identifying a counterparty of a past social interaction event, a mode indicium identifying a mode by which the past social interaction event with the counterparty occurred, and a collection of mode indicia each identifying a mode by which a future, outgoing social interaction event with the counterparty can occur. The counterparty identifier, the mode indicium, and the collection of mode indicia are associated with one another in the records of the social interaction hub.
US09405339B1	Power controller A closed-loop controller of an apparatus in an example operates a set of switches to dynamically configure power rails to an industry-standard socket.
US09405333B1	Method and system for rugged tablet PC based modular data acquisition A Method and system to produce a rugged modular data acquisition tablet computer comprised of a rugged tablet PC that uses a fluid ingress resistant interface plate to attach a data acquisition chassis that accepts attachably detachable expansion modules that provide data acquisition and customized computing functionality.
US09405326B2	Connecting device, electronic equipment and notebook computer with connecting device The present invention provides a connecting device and electronic equipment with the connecting device. The connecting device includes a first fixed component; a mobile component mounted on the first fixed component; a rotational component connected to the first fixed component by the mobile component, wherein the rotational component could move horizontally with respect to the first fixed component by the mobile component; and a second fixed component connected to the rotational component, wherein the second fixed component could rotate with respect to the first fixed component by the rotational component. The connecting device could achieve the two operations of moving horizontally and rotating synchronously.
US09405325B2	Portable terminal A portable terminal having a first body, a second body and a hinge module connecting the second body to the first body such that the second body is movable relative to the first body is provided. The hinge module includes a first frame rotatably connected to the first body and a second frame connected to the first frame to support at least one portion of the second body in a supporting state, the second frame being connected to the second body such that the second frame is rotatable relative to the second body in order to allow the second body to rotate in the supporting state.
US09405316B2	Touch screen assembly The present invention relates to a touch screen panel and a touch screen assembly including the touch screen panel, the touch screen panel including a substrate; a transparent electrode layer formed on the substrate and defined by a touch area; a plurality of conductive wires electrically connected to the transparent electrode layer; and an insulation film stacked on an upper surface of the transparent electrode layer, wherein each of the plurality of conductive wires is electrically connected to a conductive line inside the insulation film, and the conductive line is extended to an outside of the insulation film and exposed therefrom, whereby a PCB and conductive wires can be improved in electrical reliability.
US09405313B2	Semiconductor devices and semiconductor systems including the same The semiconductor device includes a command generator, an information signal storage unit, a termination signal generator and a code generator. The command generator generates a mode register write command signal, a start command signal and a termination command signal from external command signals. The information signal storage unit extracts information signals from the external command signals to store the information signals and output the information signals. The termination signal generator generates a termination signal in response to the information signals. The code generator generates code signals to control a timing of a control signal.
US09405311B1	Bias-temperature induced damage mitigation circuit A circuit that regulates electrical current flow through an integrated circuit involves a sequencing circuit connected to a clock signal generator, the sequencing circuit configured to, responsive to receiving a clock signal from the clock signal generator, generate a set of sequencing signals that includes a first switching signal, a second switching signal, and a disable signal. The circuit also involves a switching circuit connected to the sequencing circuit, the switching circuit configured to receive the first switching signal and the second switching signal and a current mirror connected to the switching circuit and the sequencing circuit, the current mirror configured to receive an activation signal from a current control logic circuit and to receive the disable signal.
US09405303B2	Power stealing for a wireless-enabled thermostat Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of apparatus, systems and methods for power stealing for a wireless-enabled thermostat. In an exemplary embodiment, a wireless-enabled thermostat generally includes a control having a wireless network interface that intermittently connects the thermostat in a wireless network in accordance with a duty cycle, the duty cycle having a connect time in which the thermostat is connected in the wireless network and a sleep time in which the thermostat is not connected in the wireless network. A power stealing circuit of the thermostat steals power through an “on-mode” load of a climate control system to charge a capacitor or other energy storage device to provide the power for the wireless network interface. The control adjusts at least the sleep time in accordance with a time for charging the capacitor or other energy storage device to a threshold voltage.
US09405297B2	System and method for pressure control in a network A system and a method for controlling the pressure of a fluid in a distribution network. The network includes at least one pump station having a number of pumps that are configured to pressurize the fluid from a supply line; means for determining at least one flow value (Q) of at least a part of the distribution network and a control unit for controlling the activity and/or speed of the pump(s) of the pump station according to a predefined pump curve defining the relationship between the pressure and the flow of the fluid pressurized by the pump station. The control unit is configured to change the pump curve automatically according to at least one determined flow value (Q).
US09405290B1	Model for optical dispersion of high-K dielectrics including defects Methods and systems for determining band structure characteristics of high-k dielectric films deposited over a substrate based on spectral response data are presented. High throughput spectrometers are utilized to quickly measure semiconductor wafers early in the manufacturing process. Optical models of semiconductor structures capable of accurate characterization of defects in high-K dielectric layers and embedded nanostructures are presented. In one example, the optical dispersion model includes a Cody-Lorentz model augmented by one or more oscillator functions sensitive to one or more defects of the unfinished, multi-layer semiconductor wafer. These models quickly and accurately represent experimental results in a physically meaningful manner. The model parameter values can be subsequently used to gain insight and control over a manufacturing process.
US09405283B1	Sensor sentinel computing device Technologies pertaining to authenticating data output by sensors in an industrial environment are described herein. A sensor sentinel computing device receives time-series data from a sensor by way of a wireline connection. The sensor sentinel computing device generates a validation signal that is a function of the time-series signal. The sensor sentinel computing device then transmits the validation signal to a programmable logic controller in the industrial environment.
US09405280B2	Network system Provided is a component for a network system, which includes a control part and a power consumer unit. The control part recognizes energy information or additional information except for the energy information. The power consumer unit is controlled to maintain a target value, and is repeatedly turned on or off. An on-period or off-period of the power consumer unit is varied depending on information recognized by the control part.
US09405279B2	Method and system for controller transition A method for transition of control from a first controller to a second controller includes communicatively coupling the first controller and the second controller, such that at least one input signal received by one controller is mutually provided to the other controller and such that at least one output signal generated by one controller is mutually provided to the respective other controller. The method includes disconnecting at least one output line from the first controller, connecting the at least one output line to the second controller, and supplying an output signal to the at least one output line. The method includes, before disconnecting at least one output line from the first controller, supplying a logical high signal to the output line by an external voltage source if the first output signal is a logical high signal or if the output line is at a logical high state during normal operation.
US09405278B2	Method for operating a safety control device A safety control device for safely controlling a hazardous installation has a first and a second calculation unit and an output unit for driving at least one actuator. The control device acquires an input signal and determines a floating point value depending on the input signal. The first and second calculation units each determine an input interval as a function of the floating point value. The first and second calculation units each further determine a result interval as a function of the input interval by applying a first calculation algorithm to the input interval. The first calculation algorithm is based on interval arithmetic. The result intervals from the first and second calculation units are compared and an output value is determined as a function of the result intervals. An output signal is determined as a function of the output value. The output signal drives the at least one actuator.
US09405274B2	Time piece capable of displaying two time zones Device (300; 200) for displaying the time, comprising a time-display member (A1, A2) and a switchover mechanism (100) allowing the time-display member to switch between a first time zone and a second time zone. This switchover mechanism comprises: a first heart piece (3) capable of rotating; a first lever (1) having a first end (1a) designed to collaborate with the first heart piece (3) with a view to causing the display member (A1, A2) to indicate the time in the first time zone; a second lever (2; 42) designed to cause the display member (A1, A2) to indicate the time of the second time zone; a two-position selector member (5) collaborating with the first lever (1), and a control member (P) allowing selection of the first or the second time zone for display. The two-position selector member (5) is designed to collaborate directly with a second end (1b) of the first lever (1).
US09405271B2	Cleaning device and image forming apparatus incorporating same A cleaning device includes a cleaner, a plurality of cleaning sub-units, a sub-unit holder, a detachable transmission assembly, and a plurality of joint couplers. The cleaner scrapes off adhered material from a surface of a cleaning target while contacting the surface of the cleaning target. The cleaning sub-units each includes a holder to hold the cleaner and a drive-receive rotator to receive a driving force. The sub-unit holder holds the cleaning sub-units. The detachable transmission assembly includes a driving-force receive rotator to receive a driving force from an external unit and a plurality of drive transmission rotators to transmit the driving force received by the driving-force receive rotator to the drive-receive rotators of the cleaning sub-units. The joint couplers mounted on the drive-receive rotators and the drive transmission rotators couple the drive-receive rotators with the drive transmission rotators in a rotation axial direction.
US09405269B2	Image forming apparatus with a guide member for a transfer belt An image forming apparatus is provided, including a plurality of rollers; an endless belt mountable to the plurality of rollers from a proximal side of the image forming apparatus in an axial direction of the plurality of rollers; a first side plate to support one end of the plurality of rollers at the proximal side of the image forming apparatus in the axial direction; and a plurality of guide members, disposed at a more proximal side than the first side plate in the axial direction, to guide the belt to be mounted to the plurality of rollers with the guide members contacting the belt.
US09405268B2	Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus may include a pressing assembly provided adjacent to the developing device and configured to restrict a movement of the developing device. The pressing assembly may include a rotating shaft formed to extend in a first direction and an operating unit provided at an end of the rotating shaft to be rotated along with the rotating shaft and configured to restrict the movement of the developing device in the first direction. Due to such a structure, the developing device may come into close contact in the installing direction, and also the developing roller of the developing device and the photoreceptor may come into contact with each other.
US09405262B2	Image forming apparatus eliminating static electricity from photoconductor surface An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming units that charge a surface of a photoconductor to form an image, a static eliminator that outputs static elimination light to eliminate a charge remaining on the photoconductor after image formation by the image forming unit, and a controller that controls the image forming unit and the static eliminator. The static eliminator includes a light source that emits the static elimination light, a light guide unit that guides the static elimination light from the light source to the photoconductors, and outputs the guided static elimination light to surface of the photoconductors, and a light shield unit provided inside the light guide unit, or between the light guide unit and the photoconductors in an optical path between the light source and the surface of each of the photoconductors, and configured to transmit or block the static elimination light.
US09405261B2	Method and apparatus for detecting phase of input power A phase detector includes an alternating current input unit to which input power is applied; a zero cross generator that outputs a zero cross signal at a zero cross point of the input power by using a photo coupler; and a zero cross detector that converts the zero cross signal to a pulse signal and detects the phase of the input power based on the pulse signal. A compensation capacitor is connected in parallel at a first side of the photo coupler.
US09405257B2	Printing control apparatus that controls printing order A printing apparatus includes an input unit, a specifying unit, a storing unit, a printing unit, a receiving unit, and a control unit. The specifying unit specifies a number of sheets for printing image data pieces of a plurality of pages. The receiving unit receives a binding process execution instruction. When the sheets are printed in the reverse order and the printed sheets are bound, the printing unit had started the reverse order printing after all the image data pieces were stored. When (i) the sheets are to be printed in the reverse order and the binding process is set to be executed and (ii) it is determined, while the storing unit is storing the image data pieces, that the specified number of sheets exceeds the number of sheets that can be bound, the printing unit starts printing in the page order before all the image data pieces are stored.
US09405256B2	Roll sheet image forming apparatus A roll sheet image forming apparatus includes an introduction opening and a guide plate. Instead of a continuous sheet held in an apparatus main body, a continuous sheet for option feeding provided at an outside is introduced into the apparatus main body through the introduction opening. The guide plate is for splicing a lead sheet and a continuous sheet. When feeding the continuous sheet, a feeding unit is pulled out from the apparatus main body, a lead sheet is set to be conveyable towards an image forming unit, the feeding unit is again accommodated in the apparatus main body, a front end of the continuous sheet is placed on the guide plate, a rear end of the lead sheet is placed on the guide plate through the introduction opening, the rear end and the front end are spliced by a bonding member and then the feeding unit operates.
US09405250B2	Fixing device capable of minimizing damage of endless rotary body and image forming apparatus incorporating same A fixing device includes at least one heater disposed opposite an inner circumferential surface of an endless rotary body to heat the endless rotary body and a shield interposed between the endless rotary body and the at least one heater to shield the endless rotary body from heat radiated from the at least one heater. A first size recording medium passes over a first passage region of the endless rotary body and a second size recording medium passes over a second passage region of the endless rotary body. The shield includes a notch disposed opposite a lateral end of the second passage region of the endless rotary body in an axial direction thereof. The lateral end of the second passage region overlaps a non-passage region of the endless rotary body in the axial direction thereof where the first size recording medium does not pass.
US09405247B2	Fixing device and image forming apparatus A fixing device includes a heater, a first endless belt, a first back up member, and a second back up member. The first endless belt provides a nip region upon contacting with the heater, and is movable in a first direction. The first back up member provides a first position where the first back up member nips the first endless belt in cooperation with the heater. The first endless belt and the heater provide a first contact pressure at the first position. The second back up member is positioned downstream of the first back up member in the first direction, and provides a second position where the second back up member nips the first endless belt in cooperation with the heater. The first endless belt and the heater provide a second contact pressure at the second position; the first contact pressure is higher than the second contact pressure.
US09405238B2	Urging roller, cleaning device and image heating device An urging roller for urging a cleaning web to a rotatable member of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a shaft; an elastic layer provided on a peripheral surface of the shaft; a wire wound on a peripheral surface of the elastic layer; and a toner parting layer coating a peripheral surface of the elastic layer with the wire.
US09405233B2	Sliding member with a base material for contacting a member to be slid, process cartridge having the sliding member, and image forming apparatus having the sliding member A sliding member includes a base material including a contact area which contacts with a member to be slid, wherein a Young's modulus E1 with respect to the thickness of the contact area from a surface of the contact area is from 10 MPa to 200,000 MPa and a thickness T of the contact area is from 10 nm to 500 nm.
US09405214B2	Image forming apparatus for determining a target bias voltage value There is provided an image forming apparatus including: a forming section having an image holding member and an developing portion, and configured to apply a developing bias voltage to the developing portion to develop an electrostatic latent image on the image holding member; a sensor configured to detect a mark formed by the forming section; a storage; and a controller configured to perform: forming first and second marks, obtaining the densities of the first and second marks, obtaining a slope, and determining a target bias voltage value, and storing the target bias voltage value in the storage.
US09405213B2	Optical-writing-head positioner and image forming apparatus incorporating same An optical-writing-head positioner includes a spacer disposed between a latent image bearer to bear a latent image and an optical writing head to expose the latent image bearer to light to form a latent image on a surface of the latent image bearer. The spacer positions the optical writing head with respect to the latent image bearer. The spacer includes plural contact faces with the latent image bearer in an axial direction of the latent image bearer. The plural contact faces include a contact face having an arc with a radius of curvature equal to or less than a radius of the latent image bearer and one of the a contact face having an arc with a radius of curvature greater than the radius of the latent image bearer and a flat contact face to contact the surface of the latent image bearer.
US09405201B2	Lithography process using directed self assembly A method includes forming a patterned hard mask layer, with a trench formed in the patterned hard mask layer, dispensing a Bulk Co-Polymer (BCP) coating in the trench, wherein the BCP coating comprises a mix of a first material and a second material different from the first material. The method further includes treating the BCP coating with a chemical to form a first plurality of strips of the first material and a second plurality of strips of the second material, with the first plurality of strips and the second plurality of strips allocated in an alternating layout. The second plurality of strips is selectively etched, and the first plurality of strips is left in the trench.
US09405200B2	Resist composition and method of forming resist pattern A method of forming a resist pattern, including: a step (1) in which a resist film is formed by coating a resist composition including a base component (A) that exhibits increased solubility in an alkali developing solution, a photo-base generator component (C) that generates a base upon exposure, an acid supply component (Z) and a compound (F) containing at least one selected from the group consisting of a fluorine atom and a silicon atom and containing no acid decomposable group which exhibits increased polarity by the action of acid on a substrate; a step (2) in which the resist film is subjected to exposure; a step (3) in which baking is conducted after the step (2); and a step (4) in which the resist film is subjected to an alkali development, thereby forming a negative-tone resist pattern, and a resist composition used in the step (1).
US09405187B2	Salt, acid generator and resist composition The present invention is a salt represented by the formula (I) wherein R1 and R2 independently represent a fluorine atom or a C1 to C6 perfluoroalkyl group; L1 represents a C1 to C17 divalent saturated hydrocarbon group, a —CH2— contained in the saturated hydrocarbon group may be replaced by —O— or —CO—; ring W1 represents a C2 to C36 heterocycle; R3 represents a hydrogen atom or a C1 to C12 hydrocarbon group, a —CH2— contained in the hydrocarbon group may be replaced by —O— or —CO—; R4 in each occurrence independently represent a C1 to C6 hydrocarbon group, a —CH2— contained in the hydrocarbon group may be replaced by —O— or —CO—; m represents an integer of 0 to 6; and Z+ represents an organic cation.
US09405179B2	Projector A projector that outputs a first picture and a second picture alternately, wherein a control section performs first control and second control, controls a discharge lamp driving section. In the first control and the second control, the absolute value of a drive current is relatively small in a first period and relatively large in a second period. In the first control, the energy provided to a first electrode in the second period is greater than the energy provided to the second electrode in the second period. In the second control, the energy provided to the second electrode in the second period is greater than the energy provided to the first electrode in the second period.
US09405174B2	Portable image storage device with integrated projector A portable device for the storage and display of digital images, using an integrated projector for image display. The device itself might be a camera, smart phone or other portable or handheld electronic device capable of capture or storage of digital images. The integrated projector would allow projection of images at a larger size on an external surface than an internal display would permit. Certain embodiments of the device might also include image capture hardware, in addition to image storage, along with image editing or manipulation software. Method of display of digital images using a portable device with integrated projector is also disclosed.
US09405169B2	Frequency-converted light source A light source includes a light emitting element configured to emit a non-diffraction limited input light beam, a nonlinear frequency conversion (NLFC) component that exhibits walkoff and performs second harmonic generation whereby at least a portion of an output beam outputted by the NLFC component has twice a frequency of the input beam, and an optical component positioned to receive the input light beam and configured to converge the non-diffraction limited input beam into the NLFC component. The light emitting element emits the input light beam having a beam quality factor in at least one plane of the input beam that is greater than 2 (M2>2). Furthermore, the light emitting element is a laser diode including AlyInxGa1-x-yN (0≦x≦1, 0≦y≦1) semiconductor materials, and one dimension of an emission region of the laser diode is at least 5 μm.
US09405167B2	Liquid-crystal lens and liquid-crystal lens-cell An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid-crystal lens having excellent imaging performance. A liquid-crystal lens (1) according to the present invention includes a first liquid-crystal layer (11), a second liquid-crystal layer (12), a third liquid-crystal layer (13), and a fourth liquid-crystal layer (14) which are arranged in this order along an optical axis (C). The first liquid-crystal layer (11) and the second liquid-crystal layer (12) are 90° different in alignment direction from each other in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis (C). The first liquid-crystal layer (11) and the fourth liquid-crystal layer (14) are 180° different in alignment direction from each other in the plane perpendicular to the optical axis (C). The second liquid-crystal layer (12) and the third liquid-crystal layer (13) are 180° different in alignment direction from each other in the plane perpendicular to the optical axis (C).
US09405160B2	Active matrix substrate and liquid crystal display device An active matrix substrate includes a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix; and a source wiring running in a column direction, wherein the source wiring includes a first side portion running along one side in a column direction of at least one pixel electrode of the plurality of pixel electrodes, a crossing portion running across the pixel electrode, and a second side portion running along another side in the column direction of the pixel electrode, the first side portion and the second side portion are connected to each other via the crossing portion, and at least one crossing portion is provided on each of at least two pixel electrodes aligned in the column direction out of the plurality of pixel electrodes.
US09405157B2	Liquid crystal display A liquid crystal display, including a lower panel electrode including at least one lower panel unit electrode, an upper panel electrode including at least one upper panel unit electrode facing the at least one lower panel unit electrode, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the lower panel electrode and the upper panel electrode, wherein the lower panel unit electrode includes a stem part forming borders between a plurality of sub-regions; a center pattern including a plurality of straight line sides respectively disposed at the plurality of sub-regions, and a plurality of fine branch parts extending out from the center pattern, the stem part includes a horizontal stem part and a vertical stem part, and angles that the horizontal stem part and the vertical stem part form with the respective straight line sides of the center pattern are different from each other.
US09405149B2	Direct backlight module The present invention provides a direct backlight module, which includes a backplane, a plurality of LED light bars retained on the backplane, a plurality of light guide plates arranged alternate with respect to the LED light bars, and a diffusion plate mounted on the backplane. The direct backlight module includes the light guide plates that are arranged between the LED light bars to improve utilization rate of light energy of the LED light bars so as to reduce the number of LED lights included in the LED light bars to thereby reduce the manufacturing cost. Further, the arrangement of the light guide plates effectively shortens the light mixing distance and enhances homogeneity of light illumination and also reduces the thickness of backlight module to thereby facilitate thinning of a liquid crystal display device.
US09405147B2	Light emitting device and backlight module including same A light emitting device includes a light source and a light diverging unit including a first light diverging part and a second light diverging part including a bottom surface and a first light emitting surface connected by a side surface. The bottom surface defines a first receiving space for receiving the light source, the first light emitting surface defines a second receiving space communicating with the first receiving space, and the second receiving space comprises a first connecting surface. The second light diverging part is inserted into the second receiving space, and comprises a second light emitting surface and a second connecting surface. The second connecting surface fully contacts the first connecting surface, the second light emitting surface smoothly connects to the first light emitting surface. A refraction index of the first light diverging part is smaller than that of the second light diverging part.
US09405135B2	Shutter eyewear Apparatuses and methods of shuttering glasses are disclosed. One apparatus includes a first lens operable to blank for a first blocking time, a second lens operable to blank for a second blocking time, and a controller for controllably setting at least one of the first blocking time and the second blocking time.
US09405133B2	Brandable shutter eyewear apparatus A shutter eyewear apparatus 10, comprises an orbital frame 12, the orbital frame 12 itself comprising a left orbital aspect 12L and a right orbital aspect 12R, multiple strut members 14 within the orbital aspects, a left wing and right wing, the wings 16 having a width of at least 12 mm at any point along a length of the wings 16, a word element 48 lengthwise along at least one wing, and a franchise logo element. Preferably the wings are approximately 23 mm wide at a folding break 34 of the wings, and preferably the franchise logo element is provided about a neck 28 of at least one wing.
US09405131B2	Method and apparatus for providing variations of a lower-lid contact surface and under-lid support structures of a translating multifocal contact lens The present invention discloses a translating multifocal contact Lens including one or both of a lower-lid contact surface and an under-lid support structure. More specifically, a translating multifocal contact Lens whereby a lower-lid contact surface may include multiple geometric variations and Blend Zones, and an under-lid support structure that may be designed based upon one or more various techniques including one or more of a function-driven technique, a uniform axial thickness technique, a uniform radial thickness technique, and a MES technique.
US09405130B2	Beveling wheel, method for forming a beveled lens for use with eyeglasses and a beveled lens The present invention relates to a beveling wheel and method for forming a beveled lens with the beveling wheel for use with eyeglasses. One embodiment includes a prescription lens for use on an eyeglass frame having a receiving channel. The receiving channel includes a channel bottom and opposed interior wall surfaces having a first angle therebetween. The prescription plastic lens includes a prescription lens body generally defined by a peripheral edge having a bevel extending away from the edge to a vertex. The bevel has a distal portion with a second angle. The bevel is receivable within the receiving channel. At least a portion of the vertex of the bevel has an interference fit with the receiving channel bottom when held within the eyeglass frame. The first angle is greater than the second angle.
US09405129B2	Structure of eyeglass frame Provided is an eyeglass frame with a symmetrical structure. The eyeglass frame includes an earpiece frame, a main body, a hinge, and a support frame. The earpiece frame has a bar-shaped structure in which a width and an angle thereof vary according to the length thereof to be placed on the ear of a user. The main body is connected to the earpiece frame through a hinge, serves as a pivot that pivots on the hinge, and has an inner circumference of a closed curve receiving a lens. The hinge allows the earpiece frame to be inwardly folded toward the main body through pivoting of a predetermined angle. The support frame is disposed under the main body along an outer circumference of the main body and is spaced from the main body by a predetermined interval.
US09405127B2	Planar waveguide faraday rotator A planar core and a cladding disposed on opposite sides of thereof. In the best mode, the rotator includes a very low Numerical Aperture (NA) planar waveguide. The cladding is birefringent and the refractive index and birefringence thereof are optimized to provide equal mode propagation velocities for both TE and TM modes for at least one transverse mode. The refractive index and birefringence of the cladding are optimized to provide equal mode propagation velocities for both TE and TM modes for a wide range of transverse modes.
US09405125B2	Image display apparatus An image display apparatus capable of ensuring a wide view range is provided. The image display apparatus includes: an image display panel; a backlight located on a back surface side of the image display panel; prisms located between the image display panel and the backlight and configured to deflect incident light; a liquid crystal layer located between the image display panel and the backlight and configured to change a deflection direction of emitted light by changing a refractive index thereof according to a voltage applied thereto; a position detection section configured to detect a position of a user; and a control section configured to control the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer, on the basis of information of the position of the user detected by the position detection section.
US09405124B2	Methods and apparatus for light field projection In exemplary implementations of this invention, light from a light field projector is transmitted through an angle-expanding screen to create a glasses-free, 3D display. The display can be horizontal-only parallax or full parallax. In the former case, a vertical diffuser may positioned in the optical stack. The angle-expanding screen may comprise two planar arrays of optical elements (e.g., lenslets or lenticules) separated from each other by the sum of their focal distances. Alternatively, a light field projector may project light rays through a focusing lens onto a diffuse, transmissive screen. In this alternative approach, the light field projector may comprise two spatial light modulators (SLMs). A focused image of the first SLM, and a slightly blurred image of the second SLM, are optically combined on the diffuser, creating a combined image that has a higher spatial resolution and a higher dynamic range than either of two SLMs.
US09405114B2	Camera module for endoscope A camera module consists of an image sensor, an objective lens system, and a lens drive mechanism. The objective lens system includes a taking lens and a prism having a reflection surface inclined at an angle of 45° to an optical axis of the taking lens, to reflect incident light toward the image sensor on a circuit board, which is positioned in parallel to the optical axis of the taking lens. The lens drive mechanism includes a motor and a rotary shaft driven by the motor. The motor is positioned behind the prism, and a drive shaft of the motor is coupled to the rotary shaft through a power transmission mechanism. The rotary shaft is positioned on one radial side of the taking lens and is coupled to a movable lens element of the taking lens such that the movable lens element is moved in the axial direction by rotary motion of the rotary shaft.
US09405086B2	Organizer tray, fiber-routing assembly, and electro-optical module Organizer tray including a base wall and a receiving wall that is coupled to the base wall. The base and receiving walls extend parallel to each other along a lateral axis. The receiving wall extends away from the base wall along an elevation axis that is perpendicular to the lateral axis such that the base and receiving walls define a circuit channel. The receiving wall has a curved shape. The base and receiving walls are shaped to hold a flex circuit assembly within the circuit channel, in which the flex circuit assembly includes a fiber-routing substrate and corresponding segments of optical fibers that extend within the fiber-routing substrate. The base and receiving walls are configured to hold the fiber-routing substrate such that the fiber-routing substrate satisfies a bend radius of the optical fibers.
US09405080B2	Indicating communications components via illumination A cable connection system (100, 200, 300) includes a coupling housing (110, 210, 310) defining at least a first port (112, 212, 312); a printed circuit board (120, 220, 320) coupled to the coupling housing; and a communications component (130, 230, 330, 360, 400, 500, 550) sized to be received at the first port of the coupling housing. The printed circuit board (120, 220, 320) includes a light source (125, 225, 325). At least an indication section (135, 235, 335, 365, 450, 515) of the communications component (130, 230, 330, 360, 400, 500, 550) includes (e.g., is formed from or is coated with) a light transmissible material. The indication section (135, 235, 335, 365, 450, 515) is aligned with the light source (125, 225, 325) when the communications component (130, 230, 330, 360) is received at the first port of the coupling housing so that light emitted from the light source (125, 225, 325) illuminates the indication section of the communications component (130, 230, 330, 360, 400, 500).
US09405079B2	Connector with interface protection An assembly includes a first cable assembly with a first housing having a first mating face and a retention member. A first ferrule has a plurality of first optical fibers positioned therein. A first beam expanding element is generally aligned with each first optical fiber, and each first beam expanding element expands an optical beam generally to a beam diameter. A second cable assembly including a second housing with a second mating face. A second ferrule has a plurality of second optical fibers positioned therein. A second beam expanding element is generally aligned with each second optical fiber, and each second beam expanding element expands an optical beam generally to the beam diameter. A second retention member interacts with the first retention member to retain the first cable assembly to the second cable assembly.
US09405077B2	Optical connector Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed toward techniques and configurations for an apparatus with an optical connector. In one embodiment, the apparatus may include an optical connector having a cage to receive an optical fiber cable to connect the apparatus with another apparatus. The cage may include first and second sides and a face that mates the first and second sides. The face may comprise an optical interface to optically connect tips of the optical fiber cable and the other apparatus. The cage may further include a cavity having a first portion formed substantially in the face to receive the optical interface, and a second portion that extends into one of the first or second sides to provide an opening to enable application of an adhesive material to the tips of the cable, to fixably connect the tips with the optical interface. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.
US09405070B1	Optical buffer with a signal-switching capability We disclose an optical buffer having a plurality of optical ports. In some embodiments, an optical signal to be stored may be injected into the buffer through any one of the optical ports and then may be ejected from the buffer, after being stored therein for a selectable amount of time, through any one of the optical ports as well. This feature advantageously enables the optical buffer to also function as an optical switch or router. In an example embodiment, the optical buffer comprises two optical recirculation loops, each of which can store the optical signal by causing it to circulate therein. The buffer is configured to compensate optical losses incurred by the optical signal during this circulation by transferring the optical signal from one loop to the other through an optical amplifier. Due to the latter feature, the optical buffer may be able to store an optical signal, with an acceptable OSNR, for a significantly longer time than certain conventional optical buffers.
US09405062B2	High-bandwidth, radiation-resistant multimode optical fiber A multimode optical fiber includes a central core and an outer cladding (e.g., an outer optical cladding). Typically, the optical fiber's central core is a depressed, central core having an alpha-index profile (i.e., a graded-index profile), an outer radius r1, and a maximum refractive index difference Δn1 with respect to the outer cladding. The central core's alpha-index profile has a minimum refractive index at the central core's outer radius r1 that corresponds to a refractive index difference Δnend with respect to the outer cladding. Exemplary optical-fiber embodiments may include an inner cladding having an outer radius r2 and a width w2. Exemplary optical-fiber embodiments may include a buried trench having a width w3 and an outer radius r3. Furthermore, exemplary optical-fiber embodiments may include an intermediate cladding having an outer radius r4 and a width w4.
US09405058B2	Liquid crystal display apparatus Disclosed is an LCD apparatus having a reduced size and weight. The LCD apparatus includes a bottom chassis having a bottom surface and first to fourth sidewalls. The sidewall of the bottom chassis includes a supporting member for preventing a light guiding plate from being moved and a fixing boss for fixing an optical sheet. The bottom chassis includes a lamp insertion portion for receiving a lamp unit, which is disposed on the third and fourth sidewalls of the bottom chassis. The bottom chassis receives a reflecting plate, the light guiding plate and the optical sheet. A mold frame is coupled to the bottom chassis to fix the reflecting plate, the light guiding plate and the optical sheet to the bottom chassis. A display unit disposed on the mold frame is fixed to the mold frame by a top chassis coupled to the mold frame. Accordingly, a bottom mold frame for receiving a backlight assembly is removed, so that it is able to reduce a cost of the LCD apparatus and a weight thereof.
US09405056B2	Backlight assembly and display apparatus having the same A display apparatus with at least two light guide plates, each including a light incident surface and a light exiting surface, the light guide plates being spaced apart from each other so as to form a gap therebetween. The display apparatus also has a light source disposed adjacent to at least one side portion of the light guide plates to emit light to the light incident surface, a display panel positioned to receive light from the light exiting surfaces to facilitate display of an image, and a diffusion member. The diffusion member covers the gap, so as to diffuse light directed toward the display panel.
US09405053B2	LED module An LED module, includes a heat sink, an LEDs mounted on a side of the heat sink and a light guide plate spaced from the LED light source. A flexible light guiding tube is disposed between the light guide plate and the LED light source. The flexible light guiding tube has an first end. A bore diameter of the outmost end of the first end is larger than or equal to a diameter of a top end of the LED light source. The outmost end covers the top end of the LEDs therein. Compared to the prior art, The LED module of the present disclosure has high luminous efficiency and good thermal performance.
US09405051B2	Backlight assembly and display device having the same A backlight assembly includes a light source, a circuit board on which the light source is disposed, a light guide plate in which light emitted from the light source is incident on one surface and is emitted to the other surface, a bottom case configured to accommodate the light guide plate, and a wavelength conversion unit between the light source and the light guide plate. The wavelength conversion unit includes a frame having an opening, the rectangular frame including a top frame, a bottom frame and side frames extending substantially perpendicular to the top frame and the bottom frame, and connecting the top frame and the bottom frame.
US09405050B2	Thin polarizing film, optical laminate with thin polarizing film, and production method for thin polarizing film The present invention provides a thin polarizing film which has only a small environmental load and has excellent optical characteristics.The thin polarizing film is produced by forming a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin layer on a thermoplastic resin substrate. The thin polarizing film has a thickness of 10 μm or less, a single axis transmittance of 42.0% or more, a polarization degree of 99.95% or more, and an iodine content of 17.6 grams per 400×700 square millimeters or less, which is measured by an ion chromatography method.
US09405047B2	Electrochromic polyelectrolyte gel medium having improved creep resistance and associated electrochromic device An electrochromic device including a first substantially transparent substrate having an electrically conductive material associated therewith; a second substrate having an electrically conductive material associated therewith; and an electrochromic medium contained within a chamber positioned between the first and second substrates which includes: at least one solvent; at least one anodic electroactive material; at least one cathodic electroactive material; wherein at least one of the anodic and cathodic electroactive materials is electrochromic; and a creep resistant crosslinked polyelectrolyte gel matrix.
US09405039B2	Ground engaging member accumulation determination A sensor to be mounted to an implement senses a region proximate a flow by ground engaging member of the implement. A electronics receives signals from the sensor and identifies accumulation on the grounding engaging member based upon the signals. The electronics outputs signals based upon the identified accumulation.
US09405030B2	Seismic cable with adjustable buoyancy A method and apparatus for a seismic cable is described. In one embodiment, a method for performing a seismic survey in a water column is described. The method comprises providing a length of flexible cable from a cable storage device disposed on a vessel to a cable handling device adjacent the cable storage device. The flexible cable comprises a specific gravity that is greater than a specific gravity of water in the water column. The method further comprises routing the flexible cable to pass adjacent a workstation disposed on the vessel, deploying a free end of the flexible cable into the water column, attaching at least one of a plurality of seismic sensor units to the cable as the cable passes the workstation, and controlling the motion of the vessel and the rotational speed of the cable handling device to allow the flexible cable to rest on the bottom of the water column.
US09405024B2	Method to improve the time resolution of digital silicon photomultipliers A radiation detector module for use in a time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET) scanner generates a trigger signal indicative of a detected radiation event. A timing circuit including a first time-to-digital converter (TDC) and a second TDC is configured to output a corrected timestamp for the detected radiation event based on a first timestamp determined by the first TDC and a second timestamp determined by the second TDC. The first TDC is synchronized to a first reference clock signal and the second TDC is synchronized to a second reference clock signal, the first and second reference clock signals being asynchronous.
US09405023B2	Method and apparatus for interfacing with an array of photodetectors A multichannel application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for interfacing with an array of photodetectors in a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging system includes a front end circuit configured to be coupled to the photodetectors and to receive discrete analog signals therefrom. The ASIC further includes a time discriminating circuit operably coupled to the front end circuit and configured to generate a hit signal based on a combination of the discrete analog signals, and an energy discriminating circuit operably coupled to the front end circuit and configured to generate a summed energy output signal based on each of the discrete analog signals and summed row and column output signals based on each of the discrete analog signals. The summed energy output signal represents an energy level of the detected radiation in the array of photodetectors, and the summed row and column output signals represent a location of the detected radiation.
US09405022B2	X-ray detector The invention relates to a matrix device for measuring characteristics of an X-ray beam. The device includes a first set of detection cells of a size different from the cells of at least one second set of detection cells. Each cell corresponds to an ionization chamber including a detection electrode. The detection electrodes of all the cells have the same effective surface for collecting charges.
US09405020B2	Scintillator panel manufacturing method, scintillator panel, and radiation detector Provided is a method of manufacturing a scintillator panel configured to convert radiation into scintillation light, the method including a first process of forming a plurality of convex sections that protrude from a rear surface toward a front surface of the substrate in a predetermined direction and concave section defined by the convex sections on the front surface of the substrate having the front surface and the rear surface, a second process of forming first scintillator units respectively extending from the convex sections of the substrate in the predetermined direction through crystal growth of a columnar crystal of a scintillator material, and a third process of radiating a laser beam to contact portions of the first scintillator units extending from the adjacent convex sections and separating the first scintillator units extending from the adjacent convex sections by scanning the concave section with the laser beam.
US09405018B2	Radiographic apparatus for detecting photons with offset correction A detection apparatus for detecting photons, such as used in radiographic imaging systems includes a detection unit that generates detection signal pulses having a detection signal pulse height being indicative of the energy of the detected photons, a detection values generation unit that generates energy-resolved detection values depending on the detection signal pulses and a signal pulse generation unit that generates artificial signal pulses having a predefined artificial signal pulse height and a predefined generated rate. The detection values generation unit determines an observed rate of the artificial signal pulses having an artificial signal pulse height being larger than a predefined threshold as observed by the detection values generation unit and determines an offset of the detection signal pulses depending on the determined observed rate. This allows reliably determining the offset of the detection signal pulses, which can be used for correcting the finally generated detection values.
US09405012B2	Advanced global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) positioning using precise satellite information A method is provided for estimating parameters useful to determine the position of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver or a change in the position thereof. The method includes the steps of: obtaining at least one GNSS signal received at the GNSS receiver from each of a plurality of GNSS satellites; obtaining, from at least one network node, precise satellite information on: (i) the orbit or position of at least one of the plurality of GNSS satellites, and (ii) a clock offset of at least one of the plurality of GNSS satellites; identifying, among the obtained GNSS signals, a subset of at least one GNSS signal possibly affected by a cycle slip, the identified subset being hereinafter referred to as cycle-slip affected subset; and estimating parameters useful to determine the position of the GNSS receiver or a change in the position of the GNSS receiver using at least some of the obtained GNSS signals which are not in the cycle-slip affected subset, and the precise satellite information.
US09405011B2	Navigation system configured to integrate motion sensing device inputs A navigation system can comprise a microprocessor, a memory, a navigational signal receiver configured to receive a radio signal from at least one external system, a motion sensing device, and a navigation program executable by the microprocessor. The navigational signal receiver can be communicatively coupled to the microprocessor via a communication port. The navigation program can be configured to receive messages from the navigational signal receiver by communicating to the driver of the communication port. The communication port driver can adjust the current position based on the data returned by the motion sensing device.
US09405002B2	Optical radar device An optical radar device for scanning an object that reduces the effects of stray light is provided. The optical radar device has a light source, a light scanning section, a light path change section, a light receiver, and an opposite phase signal adder. The opposite phase signal adder adds an opposite phase signal to the output signal from the light receiver. A rise timing of the opposite phase signal is delayed by a predetermined time relative to an output timing of the pulse light, and the opposite phase signal has an opposite phase with respect to a phase of the reflected light.
US09405000B2	Positioning method and positioning system based on light intensity A positioning method and a positioning system based on light intensity are provided. The positioning system comprises a lighting system, a sense feedback device and a positioning module. The lighting system comprises at least three point light sources and sequentially adjusts luminance of these point light sources to light up a target. The sense feedback device is disposed on the target and used to collect light intensity information of the light projected on the target by the lighting system. The positioning module calculates a distance between the target and each of the point light sources based on the light intensity information and calculates a positioning location of the target based on the locations of the point light sources and the distances between the target and the point light sources.
US09404999B2	Localization system and localization method A localization system includes: n+1 number of luminescent devices, where n is an integer greater than or equal to one; and a position measurement device moving in each direction of n number of axes, wherein the luminescent device includes a luminescent unit, the luminescent unit emitting a light for measurement having an intensity that varies at a predetermined time cycle, the luminescent unit also emitting a light for identification including an information representing a position of the luminescent device, the luminescent unit emitting the light for measurement and the light for identification in synchrony with a phase of those emitted by another luminescent device; and the position measurement device includes a light reception unit, a position obtaining unit, a phase computation unit, a standard luminescent device selection unit, a phase difference computation unit, and a position computation unit.
US09404994B2	System and method for object tracking anti-jitter filtering Object tracking anti-jitter filtering systems and methods. A plurality of raw location points for a tracking tag attached to a tracked object is received. The raw location points are stored within a raw location points buffer. Raw location points within an averaging window are averaged to generate an averaged location point. The averaged location point is stored within an averaged location points buffer for use within the object tracking system.
US09404993B2	System and methods for information collection and processing for location estimation in MIMO wireless networks Disclosed herein, one embodiment of the disclosure is directed to a system, apparatus, and method for location estimation in the presence of multipath/non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions. Various methods have been contemplated to detect the level of multipath/NLOS propagation between two devices. A SNR variation method determines how the SNR of each chain/stream is varying over a time window in order to detect the chain/stream with least local scattering or multipath. A measure of coherence SNR is defined to measure the level of multipath/NLOS per-chain/stream. Moreover, since per-subcarrier SNR information is available at the one or both nodes, the coherence methods can be used on a per-subcarrier basis to detect multipath/NLOS for the entire channel, for the specific spatial stream or for the specific frequencies occupied by the subcarriers. Furthermore, a coherence bandwidth estimation method uses the SNR variation over subcarriers to detect the coherence bandwidth of the spatial stream. The amount of multipath/NLOS is inversely proportional to the coherence bandwidth.
US09404991B2	Autonomously calibrated magnetic field sensor Magnetic field sensor including a magnetic field sensing circuit (2) comprising a reference magnetic field generator (8) and a magnetic field sensing cell (6), and a signal processing circuit (4) connected to the output of the magnetic field sensing cell and comprising a demodulator circuit and a gain correction feedback circuit (30, 28, 47) for correcting error fluctuations in the transfer characteristic of the magnetic field sensor. The sensor further comprises a reference current generator (3) configured to generate a reference current I ref, the reference current generator connected to the magnetic field sensing circuit (2) configured for generating the reference magnetic field B ref and to the gain correction feedback circuit configured for providing a reference signal (yref) to which an output signal of the demodulator circuit may be compared.
US09404989B2	Method for calibrating a measuring device for inspecting surfaces on the basis of Barkhausen noises for a specified component geometry A method for enhancing inspection of components of specific geometry based on Barkhausen noises. The method includes specifying a first calibration curve that is independent of the component geometry, which describes the relationship between surface hardness values and measured Barkhausen noise signals. A first noise signal is determined by the measuring device for a reference component having the specified geometry and a first hardness value. A second noise signal is determined for a second reference component, having the specified geometry and a second hardness value lower than the first. A second calibration curve is determined, in which the first calibration curve is fitted to the first noise signal at the first hardness value and to the second noise signal at the second hardness value, such that using the second calibration curve, the measured noise signal of a component having the specified geometry relates with a surface hardness value.
US09404988B2	Self-calibrating magnetic field monitor A self-calibrating magnetic field monitor is disclosed. In one embodiment, a magnetic field sensor repeatedly generates an electronic signal related to the magnetic field. In addition, a calibration module generates a relative baseline signal based on an average value of the electronic signals for a given time period. A comparator compares the electronic signal with the relative baseline signal and generating an output signal if a difference in the comparing is greater than or equal to a threshold.
US09404982B2	MRT-RF push pull power modules A circuit arrangement including a plurality of amplifier stages to amplify an electrical RF signal for a magnetic resonance tomography device is provided. The plurality of amplifier stages is arranged on at least one circuit board. A circuit board of the at least one circuit board surrounds a cooling pipe.
US09404979B2	Power supply unit testing system A system for testing a PSU includes an input control module, a voltage regulating module, and a load adjusting module. The input control module includes a microcontroller and a plurality of key switches connected to the microcontroller. The microcontroller is configured to receive input instruction from the plurality of key switches and output a control signal according to the input instruction. The voltage regulating module is configured to receive the control signal and generate an output voltage with a voltage value associated with the control signal. The load adjusting module includes a motor coupled to the output voltage of the voltage regulating module. The motor is rotatable in opposite direction to adjust an output current of the PSU. A rotating speed of the motor is in direct proportion to the voltage value of the output voltage.
US09404968B1	System and methods for debug connectivity discovery An integrated circuit device such as a programmable integrated circuit may include interface circuits and associated identification circuits. The identification circuits may be coupled to shared mixer circuitry that performs a logic function on mixer input signals received from the identification circuits of that integrated circuit to produce a mixer output signal. Debug computing equipment may be used to test integrated circuits having mixer circuitry. The debug computing equipment may have interfaces that receive connections to interface circuits of the integrated circuits. The debug computing equipment may communicate with the mixer circuitry of the integrated circuits through each of the connected interface circuits to identify groups of interfaces that are connected to different devices. For each device, the debug computing equipment may select an interface from the corresponding group of interfaces and perform test debug operations over the selected interface.
US09404967B2	Mixing of low speed and high speed clocks to improve test precision of a digital integrated circuit Implementations of the present disclosure involve an apparatus and/or method for mixing high speed and low speed clock signals during structural testing of a digital integrated circuit to improve the test precision and efficiency. In particular, the apparatus and/or method allow for a testing device to perform stuck-bit testing of the circuit by releasing one or more clock cycles of a low speed clock signal. Further, without having to reset the testing of the circuit, at-speed testing of the circuit may be conducted by the testing device. In one embodiment, at-speed testing occurs by activating a mode signal associated with the circuit design that instructs one or more clock cycles from an internal clock signal to the circuit to be released. The testing device may return to stuck-bit testing at a low speed clock signal, or continue with at-speed testing using the high speed internal clock signal.
US09404958B2	Dielectric strength voltage testing method for electronics device A first X capacitor is connected between one of a plurality of hot line sections of a hot line that is located at an output side of a first relay as viewed from a commercial alternating-current power supply, and one of a plurality of neutral line sections of a neutral line that is located at an input side of a second relay as viewed from the commercial alternating-current power supply. A second X capacitor is connected between one of the hot line sections that is located at the output side of the first relay as viewed from the commercial alternating-current power supply, and one of the neutral line sections that is located at an output side of the second relay as viewed from the commercial alternating-current power supply.
US09404951B2	Method of discrimination of a device as powerable through a LAN line and device for estimating electric parameters of a LAN line PDs that can be supplied through the LAN line are discriminated from PDs that cannot be so supplied as a function of the resistance of the supply line and of the voltage drop caused by nonlinear elements in series therewith. The values of these two parameters are estimated by applying two distinct voltages to the supply terminals of the LAN line and sensing the relative steady-state currents absorbed by the power supply line, and by processing voltage and current values for estimating the resistance of the line and the voltage drop caused by nonlinear elements connected in series therewith.
US09404946B2	Electronic apparatus detecting power supply voltage using different levels An electronic apparatus includes a first voltage detection circuit which detects when a voltage, becomes higher than a first level after the voltage starts to be supplied to a peripheral circuit, and detects when the voltage becomes lower than a second level after a supply of the voltage to the peripheral circuit starts to be interrupted, and a second voltage detection circuit which detects when the voltage becomes lower than a reference level while the peripheral circuit operates. The second level is lower than the reference level.
US09404941B2	Contact probe and probe unit A contact probe includes a conductive first plunger including, on a same axis, a distal end portion, a flange portion, a boss portion, and a base end portion, a conductive second plunger including, on the same axis, a second distal end portion and a boss portion, and a coil spring including a coarsely wound portion formed by winding at a predetermined pitch with an inner diameter equal to or larger than a diameter of the boss portion of the first plunger and a tightly wound portion formed by tightly winding with an inner diameter substantially equal to a diameter of the boss portion of the second plunger, so that the first plunger and the second plunger are connected to each other on the same axis.
US09404940B1	Compensating probing tip optimized adapters for use with specific electrical test probes An adapter as disclosed herein includes at least one transmission path providing an electrical connection between the probing end and the head connection end. The adapter includes a flexible tab-board adapter associated with the probing end of the transmission path, the flexible tab-board adapter for contacting at least one signal testing point. The adapter may further include at least one compensating network positioned substantially near the probing end, the at least one compensating network configured to compensate for parasitics of the adapter.
US09404931B2	Measurement of cytoskeletal proteins and uses thereof in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy The present invention relates to monitoring patients for an inflammatory condition or infection (preferably wound infection) by testing an extracellular fluid such as a wound fluid for an elevated level of: (i) vimentin; (ii) a vimentin breakdown product; or (iii) a marker indicative of the presence of vimentin. The present invention provides methods of diagnosis and prognosis, wound dressings, devices (e.g. biosensors) and kits for use in such methods.
US09404930B2	Antibody to human IL-1 beta The present invention relates to anti-IL-1 beta binding members and in particular to monovalent high potency IL-1 beta-binding antibody fragments being highly stable and soluble. Such binding members may be used in the treatment of inflammatory and other diseases as well as in diagnostics. Also provided are related nucleic acids, vectors, cells, and compositions.
US09404925B2	Cancer antigen and use thereof An object of the present invention to provide: a human pancreatic cancer antigen and/or a human colon cancer antigen that can be applied to the diagnosis and/or treatment of various types of cancers or tumors including pancreatic cancer and colon cancer as representative examples; a gene encoding the same; an anti-cancer vaccine using the same; or the like. The present invention provides a cancer antigen comprising a protein having the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1; a peptide comprising a portion of said protein and having immune-stimulating activity; an anti-cancer vaccine comprising said peptide; a DNA having the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2, or its complementary sequence or a part or full length of these sequence; an anti-cancer vaccine comprising said DNA; and use thereof.
US09404913B2	Micropores and methods of making and using thereof Disclosed herein are methods of making micropores of a desired height and/or width between two isotropic wet etched features in a substrate which comprises single-level isotropic wet etching the two features using an etchant and a mask distance that is less than 2× a set etch depth. Also disclosed herein are methods using the micropores and microfluidic devices comprising the micropores.
US09404906B2	Underwater vehicle and sensor Described herein is an underwater vehicle having a vehicle body with a buoyancy controller adapted to vary the buoyancy of the vehicle in order to control motion of the vehicle through an underwater environment. The vehicle further includes a sampling system and a sensor arrangement. The sampling system is adapted to sequentially sample fluid from the underwater environment at specified sampling times resulting in a sample sequence, each sample associated with a sample time and a fluid flow rate. The sensor arrangement includes a plurality of molecule sensors adapted to sense organic molecules in each respective sample of the sample sequence.
US09404903B2	Method for pipeline inspection A method for pipeline inspection is provided. The method includes carrying out an inspection run in which a pipeline inspection apparatus travels inside a pipeline, wherein sensors on the apparatus are configured to conduct an in-line inspection of wall material along a length of the pipeline. The method includes initiating a first inspection mode to produce a primary inspection data set, wherein the first inspection mode comprises an inspection of the pipeline wall material upstream and downstream of a location of a dented region in the pipeline, selectively initiating a second inspection mode to produce a secondary inspection data set, wherein the second inspection mode includes an inspection of the pipeline wall material in the dented region in the length of the pipeline, and combining the primary and the secondary inspection data sets to provide a direct assessment for the presence of cracks and/or corrosion in wall material along the pipeline.
US09404899B1	Methods and apparatus for acoustic inspection of containers Methods and apparatus for an acoustic source for directing acoustic energy to ensonify a container, a sensor to detect acoustic energy from the acoustic source affected by an object in the container without contacting the container, and a processing module to process the detected acoustic energy from the sensor to identify the object in the container.
US09404885B2	Amperometric gas sensor An amperometric gas sensor for determining oxygen content in a gas mixture includes a solid-state electrolyte. A first electrode configured as a cathode and a second electrode configured as an anode are disposed on the solid-state electrolyte and exposed to the gas mixture. The cathode is in contact with the gas mixture without any interposed diffusion barrier and has a design such that a flow of oxygen molecules from the gas mixture to a three-phase boundary between the solid-state electrolyte, the cathode and the gas mixture is limited in a defined manner. A voltage source configured to apply a DC voltage between the electrodes. A measuring device is configured to measure a limiting current flowing between the electrodes as a measure of the oxygen content in the gas mixture.
US09404880B1	Sensor and method of manufacturing sensor The sensor includes a first graphene film that is provided on the insulating layer so as to be located in a flow path of a liquid containing the detection target substance, the first graphene film having a first edge that is parallel with a first direction that is along the flow path and a first edge that is parallel with a second direction that is different from the first direction, and the first graphene film having the shape of a band that extends in the second direction. The sensor includes a first electrode that is electrically connected to the first edge of the first graphene film that is parallel with the first direction. The sensor includes a second electrode that is electrically connected to a second edge of the first graphene film that is opposed to the first edge that is parallel with the first direction.
US09404876B2	Automatic isothermal titration microcalorimeter apparatus and method of use Automated isothermal titration micro calorimetry (ITC) system comprising a micro calorimeter with a sample cell and a reference cell, the sample cell is accessible via a sample cell stem and the reference cell is accessible via a reference cell stem. The system further comprises an automatic pipette assembly comprising a syringe with a titration needle arranged to be inserted into the sample cell for supplying titrant, the pipette assembly comprises an activator for driving a plunger in the syringe, a pipette translation unit supporting the pipette assembly and being arranged to place pipette in position for titration, washing and filling operations, a wash station for the titrant needle, and a cell preparation unit arranged to perform operations for replacing the sample liquid in the sample cell when the pipette is placed in another position than the position for titration.
US09404872B1	Selectably configurable multiple mode spectroscopic ellipsometry The present invention may include an illumination source configured to illuminate a surface of a sample, a detector configured to detect at least a portion of light reflected from the surface of the sample, a selectably configurable optical system comprising: a rotatable polarizing element disposed in the illumination arm of the optical system, an analyzing element disposed in the collection arm of the optical system, and a rotatable-translatable compensator element disposed in the collection arm of the optical system, and a control system communicatively configured to selectably configure the optical system in the a rotating compensator (RCSE) mode, a rotating polarizer (RPSE) mode, or a rotating polarizer and compensator (RPRC) mode.
US09404868B2	Measuring device, measuring system, measuring method, control program, and recording medium A measuring device (9) of the present invention includes a detector control module (31) for obtaining, from a scanning mechanism including an excitation light source (4) for emitting excitation light and a detector (8) for receiving fluorescence generated from the measurement target upon irradiation with the excitation light, measurement data of the fluorescence, a position information obtaining module (32) for obtaining, from a driving mechanism for controlling relative positions of the scanning mechanism and the measurement target, information of a position where the measurement target is irradiated with the excitation light when the measurement data is obtained, and a fluorescence characteristic management module (33) for preparing fluorescence characteristic data including the measurement data and the position information.
US09404856B2	Optical refractive index measuring system based on speckle correlation An optical detection system for measuring a refractive index of a liquid analyte comprising a light transmitting assembly fiber, which includes a single-mode fiber, an optical fiber sensing module and a multi-mode fiber. The optical detection system is configured to emit a coherent light beam to one end of the assembly fiber; and a detector is configured to capture a specklegram from an exit end of the assembly fiber. When the optical detection system is in operation, the optical fiber sensing module is configured to be submerged into the liquid analyte. By analyzing the correlation between the specklegram corresponding to the liquid analyte and the reference specklegram, the refractive index of the liquid analyte can be obtained.
US09404853B1	Terahertz spectrometer with phase modulation A highly advantageous terahertz spectrometer with phase modulation and associated method are disclosed which utilize a second harmonic for generating an error signal to control a phase modulator to at least reduce nulls of an interference pattern.
US09404852B2	Analyte monitoring systems and methods A reagentless whole-blood analyte detection system that is capable of being deployed near a patient has a source capable of emitting a beam of radiation that includes a spectral band. The whole-blood system also has a detector in an optical path of the beam. The whole-blood system also has a housing that is configured to house the source and the detector. The whole-blood system also has a sample element that is situated in the optical path of the beam. The sample element has a sample cell and a sample cell wall that does not eliminate transmittance of the beam of radiation in the spectral band.
US09404848B2	Apparatuses and methods for testing adhesion of a seal to a surface One example of the disclosure relates to an apparatus for testing adhesion of a seal to a surface. The apparatus includes a first member and a second member movable relative to the first member. The second member includes a seal-contact member. The apparatus also includes means for biasing the first member and the second member relative to each other with a biasing force and an indicator on one of the first member or the second member.
US09404847B2	Methods for mitigating fouling of process equipment Methods for determining the fouling propensity of a hydrocarbon stream and for reducing fouling are provided. In one method, the fouling propensity of a hydrocarbon stream is determined by obtaining a parameter indicative of the fouling propensity by a regression of a series of temperature measurements data for the hydrocarbon stream exiting a test unit. In another method, an effective minimal amount of an antifoulant is added to a hydrocarbon stream to reduce fouling, where the amount of the antifoulant is determined based on the fouling propensity of the hydrocarbon stream.
US09404841B2	Microelectromechanical transducer and test system A microelectromechanical transducer and test system is disclosed. One embodiment includes a body, a probe moveable relative to the body, and a micromachined comb drive. The micromachined comb drive includes a plurality of sensing capacitors forming a differential capacitive displacement sensor, each sensing capacitor comprising a plurality of comb capacitors and each configured to provide capacitance levels which, together, are representative of a position of the probe.
US09404840B2	Portable gravel impact damage simulator An improved device for simulating gravel impact damage on panels, such as protected and unprotected areas of painted vehicle panels, is disclosed. The gravel impact damage simulator includes an enclosure, a gravel inlet port having an extension spout, a motor-driven rotatable impeller below the inlet port, a downwardly angled baffle between the inlet port and the impeller, and a test panel slot through which a test panel may be inserted into the enclosure. During operation, gravel is introduced through the extension spout and inlet port. The gravel drops into the angled baffle, where it is directed toward the rotating impeller. The rotating impeller strikes the gravel and projects it toward the test panel.
US09404836B2	Method and device for carbonyl detection and quantitation Fluorescence chromophores such as phenylene diamine derivatives can undergo oxidative coupling and polymerization to form optical, colorimetric and fluorogenic, multimers and polymers. The presence of carbonyl containing moieties such as aldehydes and ketones under favorable environmental conditions can initiate, catalyze, accelerate and modulate this reaction which in turn provides a mechanism for the detection and quantitation of such moieties. Selected phenylene diamine derivatives can be used for the detection and quantitation of aldehyde and ketones via measurement of the reaction and the associated spectroscopic transformation. In particular, the use of meta-phenylene diamine (mPDA) and related compounds for aldehyde detection and quantitation is described. The method provides a convenient means for monitoring aldehyde and ketone levels without use of separation steps. The method is applicable to kinetic and quasi-endpoint detection assay formats.
US09404835B2	Microfluidic bubble logic devices Fluid-based no-moving part logic devices are constructed from complex sequences of micro- and nanofluidic channels, on-demand bubble/droplet modulators and generators for programming the devices, and micro- and nanofluidic droplet/bubble memory elements for storage and retrieval of biological or chemical elements. The input sequence of bubbles/droplets encodes information, with the output being another sequence of bubbles/droplets or on-chip chemical synthesis. For performing a set of reactions/tasks or process control, the modulators can be used to program the device by producing a precisely timed sequence of bubbles/droplets, resulting in a cascade of logic operations within the micro- or nanofluidic channel sequence, utilizing the generated droplets/bubbles as a control. The devices are based on the principle of minimum energy interfaces formed between the two fluid phases enclosed inside precise channel geometries. Various devices, including logic gates, non-volatile bistable memory, ring oscillators, bubble synchronizers, analysis chips, sample collectors, and printers have been designed.
US09404828B2	Leak test method and leak test apparatus A leak test method includes: reducing first pressure in an inspection space in a work and second pressure in a space in a master chamber; humidifying the inspection space in the work; and detecting a change in differential pressure between the inspection space in the work and the space in the master chamber, while the inspection space in the work is in a water-vapor saturated state. Also, in this leak test method, a leak in the inspection space in the work is detected from the change in the differential pressure.
US09404816B1	Multifunctional load test device A multifunctional load test device includes a drive, a motor to be tested, a load motor and an inverter. The drive is electrically connected to civil power. The motor to be tested is electrically connected to the drive and powered by the drive and controllably drivable by the drive. The load motor is drivable by the motor to be tested to produce counter electromotive force. The inverter is electrically connected to the load motor to rectify the counter electromotive force into power identical to civil power.
US09404815B2	Superheat sensor having external temperature sensor A superheat sensor includes a housing, a pressure sensor mounted within the housing, and a processor. A fluid passageway connects the pressure sensor to a source of superheat fluid. An external temperature sensor is located outside the housing of the superheat sensor and is electrically connected to the processor. The external temperature sensor is also electronically connected to a component of a fluid system to which the superheat sensor is attached and is configured to provide one of an internal temperature of the component, an external temperature of the component, and a temperature of fluid in the component.
US09404813B2	Systems and methods for determining patient temperature A temperature probe includes a shaft having a distal end, a proximal end, and a tip disposed at the distal end. The probe also includes an infrared sensor configured to measure a temperature of a structure disposed proximate the shaft. The probe further includes a temperature sensor disposed distal to the infrared sensor. The temperature sensor is configured to measure a body cavity temperature of a patient.
US09404803B2	Light measurement device with identifiable detection elements A light measurement device comprising an optical sensor that includes a tunable interference filter and a detecting section detecting light passed through the tunable filter, a storing section that stores a first correlation data and a second correlation data, and a CPU that obtains amount of the light by controlling the optical sensor based on the first correlation data and a second correlation data.
US09404799B2	Tandem dispersive range monochromator Aspects of a tandem dispersive range monochromator are described herein. In one embodiment, the monochromator includes a light source that provides broadband light, a tandem diffraction grating including a first diffraction grating and a second diffraction grating, a grating drive motor that rotates the tandem diffraction grating to provide dispersed wavelengths of light, a detector that detects a portion of the dispersed wavelengths of light, and processing circuitry that controls a grating drive motor to regulate an angular velocity of the tandem grating based on an angular orientation of the tandem diffraction grating. By using a tandem diffraction grating having different dispersive surfaces, measurements of relatively high precision and quality may be taken throughout a wider spectral range. In another aspect, the processing circuitry controls a sample drive motor to vary an angle of incidence of the dispersed wavelengths of light onto a sample for evaluation.
US09404797B2	Plasmonic spectroscopic sensor and cuvette therefor A spectroscopic measurement system, which may utilize multiple plasmonic filters associated with a cuvette to monitor different wavelengths of light. The spectroscopic measurement system may measure absorbance and or fluorescence, and may have built-in low cost CMOS image sensor(s). Reagents and samples may be introduced to the cuvette from a fluidics manifold. Multiple sets of combined cuvettes, image sensors and plasmonic filters may utilize a single fluidics manifold for reagent and sample distribution.
US09404794B2	Ambient light compensation circuit for analyte measurement systems A blood analyte measurement system is configured to receive a test strip. An LED proximate to the test strip is used to illuminate the test strip and, in conjunction with a photodiode, to determine its type. A compensation circuit of the measurement system insures that ambient light does not cause interference with the LED illumination to prevent saturation of the photodiode.
US09404791B2	Lateral, angular and torsional vibration monitoring of rotordynamic systems Exemplary embodiments provide a surface of a rotating element with both a phase reference mark and a plurality of additional marks. A proximity probe detects the passage of both the phase reference mark and the plurality of additional marks as they rotate through a detection zone. Both a phase reference signal and a vibration reference signal are generated, which signals are used to calculate lateral and angular (and optionally torsional) vibration of the rotating elements.
US09404788B2	System of verifying operation of electromagnetic flow meter A system of verifying an operation of an electromagnetic flow meter, includes a plurality of comparing modules configured to compare a plurality of parameters respectively obtained from modules of the electromagnetic flow meter with threshold values respectively, to output compared results, and a determining module configured to determine in real time an operation state of a block in the electromagnetic flow meter based on at least one of the compared results output from the plurality of comparing modules.
US09404785B2	Retractable assembly for immersion-, flow- and attachment-measuring systems A tool and a retractable assembly for measuring at least one measured variable of a medium in a containment, comprising: an essentially cylindrical housing; an immersion tube, which is movable axially in the housing between a service position run out from the medium and a process position run into the medium; and an engagement apparatus secured on the housing; wherein a movable piston is provided in the engagement apparatus and at least a first position and a second position of the piston are provided. The engagement apparatus holds the immersion tube in the service position when the piston is located in the first position, especially when no energy supply is present, and the engagement apparatus holds the immersion tube in an intermediate position between the service position and the process position and prevents further movement of the immersion tube in the direction of the medium when the piston is located in the second position.
US09404776B2	System and method for tailoring polarity transitions of magnetic structures A system and method for tailoring a polarity transition of a magnetic structure is provided that involves printing one or more reinforcing maxels alongside one side or both sides of a polarity transition boundary between a first polarity region of the magnetic structure having a first polarity and a second polarity region of the magnetic structure having a second polarity, where printing reinforcing maxels alongside the polarity transition boundary improves the magnetic field characteristics of the polarity transition.
US09404774B2	Instrument panel assembly with variable length pointer An instrument panel assembly for displaying vehicle information includes a pointer and a magnetic device. The pointer is operable to move about an axis to point at indicia defined by the assembly. The pointer is also operable to vary a length of the pointer in response to a magnetic field proximate to the pointer. The magnetic is device configured to cooperate with the pointer to vary the length of the pointer.
US09404773B2	Apparatus and method for inspecting pipelines Apparatus and method for inspecting pipeline are provided. The pipeline inspecting apparatus moving along an external circumferential surface of a pipeline to inspect the pipeline, includes: a main frame having an arc shape having an opened portion to surround the pipeline; a main movement unit that is movably installed on the main frame, wherein the main movement unit is movably installed along a length direction of the pipeline while being in contact with the external circumferential surface of the pipeline; an auxiliary frame that has an arc shape having an opened portion to surround the pipeline and is separated from the main frame to face the main frame; an auxiliary frame adjusting unit that movably connects the auxiliary frame to the main movement unit in a circumferential direction of the pipeline; and a sensor adjusting unit that is fixed to the auxiliary frame, wherein a sensor for inspecting a state of the pipeline is installed.
US09404771B2	Optical sensor An optical sensor (10) comprises an optical cavity defined by a dielectric body and responsive to one or more physical environmental conditions, and a waveguide (70) having a terminal end spaced apart from the optical cavity such that light is optically coupled from the terminal end of the waveguide (70) to the optical cavity. The waveguide (70) is arranged such that, in use, it is maintained at a first temperature that would not damage the optical coupling to the optical cavity when the dielectric body is maintained at a second temperature sufficient to damage the optical coupling to the optical cavity.
US09404767B2	Methods and systems for performing charting tasks A method for accessing information on an electronic version of an navigation information display is described. The method includes displaying navigation information on a display of a device, the device incorporating a touch screen, sensing a user touch on the touch screen, determining, by the device, a location on the touch screen where the user touch has occurred, correlating the location on the touch screen where the user touch has occurred with a location on the navigation information display, and displaying a magnified area of a portion of the navigation information proximate the location on the touch screen where the user touch occurred.
US09404762B2	Navigation apparatus and navigation method A navigation apparatus includes: a current-position information acquisition section obtaining measured current-position information; a camera section obtaining a captured image of a subject; a direction detection section detecting a direction when obtaining the captured image by the camera section; from characteristic-point information related to multiple predetermined characteristic points stored in a storage section, a characteristic-point information extraction section extracting the characteristic-point information related to the characteristic points located in the vicinity of the current position and in a range shown in the direction; and a control section displaying the captured image on a display section, wherein the control section displays a predetermined direction line indicating a distance from the current position on the captured image, obtains a distance and a direction from the current position to the characteristic point, and displays the characteristic-point information at a position corresponding to the distance and the direction on the captured image.
US09404753B2	Navigating on images Systems, devices, features, and methods for navigating on images are disclosed. For example, one method includes identifying a point selected on an initial image. An image component, such as a pixel, of the initial image corresponding to the identified point is determined. The image component of the initial image represents an origin. A route from the origin to a destination is generated, and the destination corresponds to another image component, such as another pixel.
US09404743B2	Method for validating measurement data A method is provided for validating measurement data, such as data obtained from a scanning electron microscope using in a semiconductor fabrication facility. The method includes applying a signal on a material feature by using a source in a measurement tool having a tool setting parameter, collecting a response signal from the material feature by using a detector in the measurement tool to obtain the measurement data, calculating a simulated response signal by a smart, and validating the measurement data by comparing the collected response signal with the simulated response signal. The system also includes a design database having a design feature, a measurement tool collecting a response signal, and a smart review engine configured to connect the measurement tool and the design database. The smart engine generates a simulated response signal using the design feature and a measurement tool setting parameter so that the measurement is validated by comparing a collected response signal and a simulated response signal.
US09404737B2	Dynamic autofocus method and system for assay imager Method of detecting surface features of a microarray. The method includes providing a microarray to an optical scanner, wherein the microarray includes a surface having features. The method also includes carrying out a scanning process using the optical scanner, wherein the scanning process includes: (i) acquiring images of sequential regions on the surface, wherein a defocus spread is applied to the optical scanner during the acquiring, (ii) determining a focus score for the images, (iii) adjusting the optical scanner to a different defocus spread based on the focus score, and (iv) repeating (i) through (iii) at the different defocus spread, thereby acquiring images of further sequential regions on the surface. The method also includes analyzing the images to distinguish different target molecules at the features of the microarray. The images that are analyzed were acquired at the defocus spread and at the different defocus spread during the scanning process.
US09404731B2	Miniature optical elements for fiber-optic beam shaping In part, the invention relates to optical caps having at least one lensed surface configured to redirect and focus light outside of the cap. The cap is placed over an optical fiber. Optical radiation travels through the fiber and interacts with the optical surface or optical surfaces of the cap, resulting in a beam that is either focused at a distance outside of the cap or substantially collimated. The optical elements such as the elongate caps described herein can be used with various data collection modalities such optical coherence tomography. In part, the invention relates to a lens assembly that includes a micro-lens; a beam director in optical communication with the micro-lens; and a substantially transparent film or cover. The substantially transparent film is capable of bi-directionally transmitting light, and generating a controlled amount of backscatter. The film can surround a portion of the beam director.
US09404726B2	Profile gauge A profile gauge contains: a body, a holding plate, a plurality of slidable measuring members, and a locking assembly. The body is formed in an elongated plate shape and includes an accommodating chamber defined thereon and two ruling portions parallelly arranged on two sides of the accommodating chamber, wherein each ruling portion has a graduation for measuring a distance between two points of a profile curve line of an object. The holding plate is rectangular and includes an insertion extending outwardly from a first end thereof and an extension extending outwardly from a second end thereof. Each slidable measuring member includes a fixed thickness and an elongated aperture defined thereon, wherein a width of the elongated aperture is more than a width between the two sides of the holding plate. The locking assembly is fixed on the extension to limit a slidable movement of each slidable measuring member.
US09404724B2	Digital displacement measuring instrument A digital displacement measuring instrument includes: a body; a spindle; an encoder; a display; a speed information detector that detects a moving speed of the spindle; a judging unit that judges whether or not the spindle is stopped based on the moving speed detected by the speed information detector and, when the judging unit judges that the spindle is stopped, judges whether or not the moving speed of the spindle just before the spindle is stopped exceeds a predetermined threshold; and a notifying unit that notifies a judgment result provided by the judging unit.
US09404716B2	Hybrid slat armor In an embodiment, a hybrid slat armor configured for protecting a body against a threat having an anticipated impact direction. The hybrid slat armor comprises a plurality of slat units, each extending along a first longitudinal direction, the units being spaced apart along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Each slat unit has a strike end configured for facing the anticipated impact direction, a rear end opposite the strike end, a top set of piercing elements and a bottom set of piercing elements. The piercing elements of each set are successively arranged along the longitudinal direction of the slat unit at the strike end thereof and are spaced apart in the longitudinal direction; The piecing elements of the top set are spaced from the piercing elements of the bottom set in the second longitudinal direction to a distance which is considerably smaller than that between adjacent slat-units.
US09404714B2	Modular rail system and firearm with modular rail system An upper receiver for a weapon, the upper receiver having a plurality channels each being oriented in a first direction and wherein each of the plurality of channels intersect an elongated channel extending in a second direction; a modular rail having a pair of securement features configured to be slidably received within a pair of the plurality of channels such that modular rail can slide in the pair of the plurality of channels in the first direction until the pair of features can slide within the elongated channel in the second direction.
US09404713B2	Gun sight for use with superelevating weapon A gun sight for use with a weapon configured for super elevation is disclosed herein. The gun sight includes, but is not limited to, an imaging system that is configured for rotation. The gun sight further includes a drive mechanism that associated with the imaging system and that is configured to rotate the imaging system. The gun sight further includes a gyroscope associated with one of the weapon and the imaging system. The gun sight still further includes a processor that is communicatively coupled with the drive mechanism and the gyroscope. The processor is configured to control the drive mechanism to rotate the imaging system in a manner that causes the imaging system to maintain an initial angular orientation based on information provided by the gyroscope when the weapon is superelevated.
US09404701B2	Trigger assembly A trigger assembly for activating a firing mechanism. The trigger assembly includes a trigger having a sear arm with a first sear surface, and a firing element including a body portion with a second sear surface and an engagement portion for engagement with the firing mechanism, for activating the firing mechanism. The trigger assembly also includes a captured roller positioned for engagement with the first end second sear surfaces. The trigger is pivotable between a load position, in which the captured roller is held between the first and second sear surfaces, and a release position, in which the second sear surface is disengaged from the captured roller and the firing element is released. The firing element is pivotable between a first position, in which the firing element is held by the captured roller, and a second position, in which the firing element is disengaged from the captured roller.
US09404700B1	Enhanced trigger control connector A firearm enhanced trigger control connector. A torso has a guide angle positioned at a first predetermined angle. The guide angle contains a trigger bar of a firearm. The torso further has a first connector leg extending therefrom at a second predetermined angle. The first connector leg has a disconnector tab at a third predetermined angle. Extending from the first connector leg is a control tab. The torso further has a second connector leg that removably fits within a trigger housing of the firearm.
US09404697B2	Bullet loader and method of use A bullet loader method and apparatus that enables a user to easily load bullets into a gun magazine. The gun magazine is inserted into the apparatus magazine opening. Bullets are individually loaded into the bullet loader with a grooved cam, so that the individual bullets rest in the groove. The cam is rotated so that the bullet travels within the groove(s) of the cam and pushed with a cog attached to the end of the groove into the magazine. The bullet is pushed into the magazine with both a downward and inward force to overcome the spring resistance of the magazine.
US09404695B2	Gas systems for firearms Provided in one aspect is an annular gas ring within or adjacent a barrel to increase the efficient transfer of pressurized gas to one or more gas ports, which may communicate the high-pressure gas to a piston to cycle the action of the firearm. Provided in another aspect are gas ports may adjacent the chamber, which may communicate pressurized gas from near the chamber to distally-extending gas tubes that communicate the pressurized gas to a distally located piston to cycle the action. A modular gas system is provided comprising a coupler that couples a barrel with a chamber and forms there-between an annular gas ring with ports that communicate pressurized gas to separate longitudinally-extending cylindrical gas tubes that feed into a gas block that supports the barrel and forms the cylinder for the piston.
US09404682B2	Refrigerator with temperature control An insulated icemaking compartment is provided in the fresh food compartment of a bottom mount refrigerator. The icemaking compartment may be integrally formed with the liner of the fresh food compartment, or alternatively, may be modular for installation anywhere in the fresh food compartment. A removable bin assembly with a front cover normally seals the icemaking compartment to maintain the temperature in the compartment. A cold air duct formed in the rear wall of the refrigerator supplies cold air from the freezer compartment to the icemaking compartment. A return air duct directs a portion of the air from the icemaking compartment back to the freezer compartment. An air vent in the icemaking compartment directs another portion of air into the fresh food compartment. A control system provides for controlling refrigerator functions in a manner that promotes energy efficiency.
US09404679B2	Cooling system and cooling method A cooling system includes; an evaporator evaporating a refrigerant by heat exchange with room air; a water-cooled condenser being arranged above the evaporator and condensing the refrigerant by heat exchange with cold water; a cold-water flow control valve controlling the flow rate of the cold water supplied to the water-cooled condenser; a refrigerant cooling tower being arranged above the evaporator and condensing the refrigerant by heat exchange with outside air; a blower being arranged at the refrigerant cooling tower and blowing the outside air; a refrigerant-temperature detector detecting the temperature of the refrigerant condensed by the water-cooled condenser and/or the refrigerant cooling tower; and a controller changing at least one of the opening in the cold-water flow control valve and the rotational speed of a motor in the blower according to the temperature.
US09404669B2	Application of electric heat coil in fan unit An electric heat coil assembly for use adjacent a heat exchanger assembly in a fan coil unit is provided including at least one electric heat coil. A mount plate supports the at least one electric heat coil such that the at least one electric heat coil extends from the mount plate. The mount plate includes an edge configured to connect to the heat exchanger assembly. At least one relay is coupled to the at least one electric heat coil. The at least one relay selectively applies power to the electric heat coil.
US09404667B2	Determining power stealing capability of a climate control system controller Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of systems and methods for determining a power stealing capability of a climate control system controller. In an exemplary embodiment, a controller for use in a climate control system generally includes a capacitor chargeable by current flowing through an off-mode load of the climate control system. A voltage detect circuit detects a voltage across the capacitor. The controller includes a timer for determining a charge time of the capacitor from a first specific voltage to a second specific voltage based on input from the voltage detect circuit. The controller determines a resistance of the off-mode load based on the charge time and, based on the determined resistance, determines a level of current for power stealing through the off-mode load.
US09404649B2	Electric steam generation A pressurized boiler (1) for a steam generator appliance comprises an evaporation chamber (78), an electric heater (60) in good thermal contact with a wall (70) of the evaporation chamber (78), a water inlet (77) arranged in a cover (72) of the evaporation chamber (78) separate from said wall (70), and a pump in fluid communication with the water inlet (77) arranged to supply water to the evaporation chamber (78) through the water inlet (77).
US09404631B2	Light emitting apparatus and automotive lamp A light emitting apparatus includes LED chips and a light condenser condensing the light emitted from the LED chips. The light condenser has a first opening functioning as an incident part through which the light emitted from the LED chips enters, a side surface function as a reflector that reflects the light having entered through the first opening, and a second opening functioning as an emission part that emits the light reflected by the side surface. A phosphor layer, which converts the wavelength of the light emitted from the LED chips and emits the wavelength-converted light, is formed in the first opening. The light condenser is arranged such that the phosphor layer is located on the light emission surfaces of the LED chips.
US09404629B2	Pattern-projecting light-output system A light-output system (1), for forming a controllable pattern (10) of illuminated spots (11a-b) in a distant projection plane (3). The light-output system (1) comprises a plurality of individually controllable light-output devices (6a-c) arranged in an array (5) of light-output devices with a light-output device pitch (PLS), and an optical system (7) arranged between the array (5) of light-output devices and the projection plane (3). The optical system (1) is configured to project light emitted by the array (5) of light-output devices in the projection plane (5) as a projected array of illuminated spots (11a-c) having a projection pitch (Pspot) that is larger than the light-output device pitch (PLS). Using this light-output system, practically all of the luminous power output by the light-output devices is used for projecting the light patterns.
US09404626B2	Illuminating apparatus Disclosed is an illuminating apparatus including a housing including a lower plate and a side plate and a light emitting module including a substrate disposed on the lower plate and a plurality of light sources disposed on the substrate to be spaced apart from each other, wherein a height of the side plate is determined as a value obtained by dividing a separation distance between adjacent ones of the light sources by a value obtained by multiplying a tangent value of a max intensity angle of each of the light sources by a luminance compensation factor.
US09404622B2	Filling port structure for pressure fluid A first fluid channel of a first body has a first inner diameter part and a second inner diameter part in an order that an inner diameter becomes smaller from a side where a nozzle is inserted. A second body has a second fluid channel capable of communicating with the first fluid channel and further has a first outer diameter part and a second outer diameter part which are inserted in the second inner diameter part in an order that an outer diameter becomes larger from the first fluid channel side. When the tip part of the second body is inserted in the first fluid channel, a wall surface provided at an end of the second inner diameter part along an axial direction, an end surface of the tip part of the second body and an inner circumferential surface of the second inner diameter part form a sealing groove.
US09404620B2	Reducing pressure spikes during hydrogen dispensing A method for lessening an initial pressure spike in a receiving tank caused by high pressure residual H2-containing gas contained between a control valve and a block valve when dispensing the residual H2-containing gas into the receiving tank. The block valve is briefly closed before the pressure in the transfer line decreases below a set pressure, thereby lessening the pressure spike in the receiving tank.
US09404611B2	Quick coupling for pipes/hoses with locking feature The invention relates to a coupling comprising a first (3, 3′) and a second (5,5′) coupling part being adapted for coupling together and uncoupling along a centre axis (CL) extending through the coupling (1), an outer surface (7) of the first coupling part (3, 3′) comprising at least a recessed helical slot (9), an inner surface (11) of the second coupling part (5, 5′) having at least one projection (13, 13′, 13″) extending inwards for engagement with the said slot (9). The second coupling part (5, 5′) comprises a lock socket arrangement (17, 19) being displaceable relatively to its rear portion (15) along a centre line (CL) and having an inwards projecting portion (23, 23′, 23″), at least one lock body (25, 25′, 25″) arranged in the second coupling part (5, 5) being movably arranged relatively to the lock socket arrangement (17, 19) and by means of retention means (27, 27′) being connected to the rear portion (15), the outer surface (7) comprising a collar (29) for receiving the lock body (25, 25′, 25″) affected by the projecting portion (23, 23′, 23″) at the said coupling together.
US09404607B2	Aftercooler pipe support assembly A support assembly for a pipe arrangement includes a bracket, a clamp configured to couple to the pipe arrangement, and linkage assemblies coupled to the bracket and the clamp. The linkage assemblies include a rod, a first connector coupled to the rod at a first end and coupled to the bracket by a first locking assembly at a second end, and a second connector coupled to the rod at a first end and coupled to the clamp by a second locking assembly at a second end. The first connector is configured to rotate relative to the bracket about the first locking assembly and the second connector is configured to rotate relative to the clamp about the second locking assembly to allow movement of the clamp relative to the bracket in a first plane. A tightening assembly is adjustable to move the clamp relative to the bracket in a second plane.
US09404596B2	Multifunctional check valve device A multifunctional check valve device contains: a base, an elastic member, and a locking member. The base includes a peripheral rib, an accommodating chamber, a column, a stopping face, a connecting orifice, a plurality of through orifices, a first outlet, and a positioning groove. The elastic member includes a fixing loop for retaining with the connecting orifice and a closing disc for corresponding to a second outlet of a pull-out faucet. An outer diameter of the closing disc is greater than an inner diameter of the closing disc, so the closing disc closes an inner face of an exit. The closing disc has a retaining tab for retaining with the positioning groove. The hollow locking member includes inner threads for screwing with outer threads of the pull-out faucet and accommodates the base. The hollow locking member also includes a third outlet for aligning with the first outlet of the base.
US09404585B2	Fluid circulation valve A fluid circulation valve has a body delimiting an internal duct and a flap mounted pivotally on a spindle separating the flap into a first part and a second part. The flap is able to pivot between an open position allowing the fluid to pass into the duct, and a closed position which prevents the passage and for which the second part of the flap comes to rest against a seal which extends facing this second part, and which further seals the body of the valve. The seal has pressure-lowering means downstream of the second part of the flap so as to increase the force for clamping the second part against the seal.
US09404581B1	Joint seal system An integral multilayer joint seal system. Layers of foam, layered co-planar to the adjacent surface, are interspersed with a barrier layer. The foam layers may be uncompressed or partially compressed at the time of joint formation and may be composed of open or closed, or hybrid, cell foam. The foam may be impregnated with a fire retardant or may be composed of a fire retardant material, if desired. The barrier may have a tensile strength greater than the adjacent foam and may be different in dimensions from the layers of foam. The joint may have an elastomer, such as silicone, at its top and/or bottom, and may even include an elastomer layer within or about the barrier.
US09404574B2	Transmission device and method for operating a transmission device A transmission device has at least one electro-hydraulic transmission control unit and a method of operating the transmission device having a plurality of gear wheel that can be engaged and disengaged from a force flow by fluidically actuated shifting elements. A piston space of a first shifting element, delimited by a second functional surface of the actuating piston of the first shifting element, is made separate from a piston space of a second shifting element, delimited by the first functional surface of the actuating piston, and an area of the second shifting element, that carries an actuating pressure, or an area of the first shifting element, that carries an actuating pressure, is, or can be, connected to the piston space delimited by the second functional surface of the actuating piston of the first shifting element.
US09404570B2	Control method for an automated gearbox of an automotive vehicle, system for controlling such a gearbox and automotive vehicle equipped with such a system A method is provided for controlling an automated gearbox of an automotive vehicle that is adapted to work in a first automatic mode and at least one second driver initiated mode which is different from the first mode. This method includes monitoring the vehicle driving behavior is monitored, analyzing the vehicle driving behavior is and determining it to be satisfactory or non satisfactory and, when the driver requests switch of the automatic gearbox from the first mode to the second mode, the switch order is followed only if the vehicle driving behavior is determined to be satisfactory, and/or, when the automated gearbox is in a second driver initiated mode, causing a switch of the gearbox to a first automatic mode if the vehicle driving behavior is determined to be non-satisfactory. The system includes an arrangement to automatically perform these steps.
US09404569B2	Procedure for operating a transmission device, particularly a 9-speed-transmission A method for operating a 9-speed transmission which changes operating states by actuating shift elements. At least one of the shift elements is a form-locking shift element, which disengages to implement a defined transmission operating state during which the power flow, between transmission input and output shafts, is present or interrupted. A sensor is associated with the locking shift element. An operating state of the locking shift element can be determined by the sensor. Upon a request to disengage the locking shift element, a disengagement control signal is generated and the locking shift element is actuated in the disengagement direction, depending on the disengagement control signal. The transmission is shifted to a safe operating state, in which at least the transmission output shaft can rotate, when an engaged operating state of the locking shift element is determined by the sensor even though a disengagement control signal was generated.
US09404550B2	Rotary damper A rotary damper includes: a shaft capable of rotating about a central axis; a pair of side panels that support the shaft rotatably; a case provided between the pair of side panels such that an operating chamber is defined in an interior thereof; a vane provided on the shaft such that a tip end thereof slides against an inner periphery of the case, thereby dividing the operating chamber into a first chamber and a second chamber; and a damping valve provided in the shaft to apply resistance to a flow of a fluid traveling between the first chamber and the second chamber.
US09404541B2	Mating connection for connecting two components in a non-rotatable way and method A method for producing a plug connector and to a plug connector for rotationally connecting a first component to a second component, for example, in a clutch assembly, where the first component includes at least one connecting element, where the connecting element protrudes through an opening of the second component, where the connecting element has an end piece above the second component, where a cross-section of the end piece is wider than a cross-section of the opening, where the widening of the end piece is produced by means of a rolling method.
US09404538B2	Slip-free rolling bearing A slip-free rolling bearing (1) is provided, in the outer ring (3) of which there is formed an encircling groove (7). The rolling bodies (2) of this rolling bearing are surrounded, in the manner of an envelope circle, by a central ring (8) and are in physical contact therewith. To ensure permanent drive of the rolling bodies, the central ring is inserted into the groove so as to be radially free but is fixed rotationally fixedly in said groove, wherein a radial depth of the groove is greater than a thickness of the central ring. The rotational fixing of the central ring in the groove of the outer ring is effected by a spring element.
US09404535B2	Sliding bearing assembly A sliding bearing assembly for joints of construction equipment can be provided, in which production cost is reduced by decreasing the used amount of Cu and sulfides having high fixability to a matrix are dispersed. The sliding bearing assembly for joints of construction equipment, includes at least a shaft and a bush made of an iron-based sintered material which functions as a sliding bearing, in which the bush has the overall composition of, by mass %, 0.1 to 10% of Cu, 0.2 to 1.2% of C, 0.03 to 0.9% of Mn, 0.36 to 1.68% of S, and the balance of Fe and inevitable impurities, a metal structure has pores dispersed in a matrix mainly including a martensite structure and sulfide particles precipitated and dispersed, and the sulfide particles are dispersed at 1 to 7 volume % in the matrix.
US09404522B2	Auxiliary wheel, unassisted lifting jack and apparatus for unlocking and locking self-locking device of auxiliary wheel Disclosed is an auxiliary wheel comprising a wheel hub and a tire. The auxiliary wheel is fixedly mounted on a wheel of an automotive vehicle in a manner that the auxiliary wheel and the wheel have a common rotary axis. The auxiliary wheel may further comprise one or more locking components located on the wheel hub, and the locking component is used to fix the auxiliary wheel on the wheel hub of the wheel, so that the auxiliary wheel is driven by the wheel hub of the wheel. The present invention further relates to an unassisted lifting jack used when the auxiliary wheel is mounted. The unassisted lifting jack comprises a climbing block and a supporting block connected in a rotary way, the climbing block and the supporting block have a common supporting bottom, and the climbing block has a slope provided to the auxiliary wheel for climbing.
US09404517B2	Latching apparatus and also medical imaging apparatus with the latching apparatus A latching apparatus for housing cladding of a medical imaging device is provided. The latching apparatus has at least one first cladding component, a second cladding component and at least one latching unit. The at least one latching unit is disposed entirely on the first cladding component for a latching connection with the at least one second cladding component.
US09404516B1	System for estimating a sensor output A system for determining an estimated output from a variable displacement hydraulic pump includes a prime mover, and torque, pressure, and displacement sensors. A controller determines the output torque from the prime mover, determines an input torque to the variable displacement hydraulic pump based upon the output torque, determines an output from one of the pressure sensor and the displacement sensor, and determines an inertia torque loss based upon the angular acceleration of the prime mover. The controller further determines a failure of another of the pressure sensor and the displacement sensor and determines an estimated output from the another of the pressure sensor and the displacement sensor based upon the input torque to the variable displacement hydraulic pump, the output from the one of the pressure sensor and the displacement sensor, and the inertia torque loss.
US09404515B2	Valve positioner having bypass component and control value comprised thereof A valve positioner that can maintain operation of the control valve despite failures in one or more components. The valve positioner may reduce downtime by allowing in-situ repair to occur on the valve positioner. The valve positioner may incorporate a by-pass component, which can utilize control input signals (e.g., a 4-20 mA signal) to energize one or more components (e.g., a current-to-pressure converter) to cause the control valve to modulate fluid flow without the digital microprocessor and/or related components.
US09404507B2	Inner cowl structure for aircraft turbine engine An inner cowl structure for circumscribing at least a portion of a jet engine extending from an aircraft includes an apron configured to mount directly to the engine independent of the pylon and overly an upper portion of the jet engine, and an inner body configured to circumscribe a portion of the jet engine not circumscribed by the apron.
US09404505B2	Fluid pump with a rotor The invention relates to a fluid pump, in particular to a liquid pump having a rotor with at last one rotor blade for conveying the fluid, the rotor being variable with respect to its diameter between a first, compressed state and a second expanded state. In order to produce a simple compressibility and expandability of the rotor of the pump, it is provided according to the invention that at least one rotor blade is deformable between a first state which it assumes in the compressed state of the rotor and a second state which it assumes in the expanded state of the rotor by means of a fluid counterpressure during a rotation of the rotor during pump operation.
US09404500B2	Control algorithm of variable speed pumping system A pumping system includes a pump for moving water. In one aspect, this is in connection with performance of an operation. The system includes a variable speed motor operatively connected to drive the pump. A value indicative of flow rate of water is determined and the motor is controlled to adjust the flow rate indicative value toward a constant. A value indicative of flow pressure is determined and the motor is controlled to adjust the flow pressure indicative value toward a constant. A selection is made between flow rate control and flow pressure control. In another aspect, the pump is controlled to perform a first operation, and is operated to perform a second water operation. Control of operation of the pump to perform the first water operation is altered in response to operation of the pump to perform the second operation.
US09404488B2	Pressurized oil delivery system for a reciprocating air compressor A pressurized oil delivery system for a reciprocating air compressor includes an oil pump having an inlet port connected to an oil pickup tube and an outlet port connected to a filter inlet tube and a user interface panel mounted to a crankcase of the air compressor. The filter inlet tube may be connected to an oil filter assembly supported on an exterior face of the user interface panel. A pressure regulating valve may be provided in line in the filter inlet tube upstream of the oil filter assembly. An oil fill port may be located on the user interface panel. An oil level indicator may be connected to an oil level indicator tube passing through and supported by the user interface panel. An oil pressure measurement port may be provided on the user interface panel.
US09404482B2	Operation control device for limiting the amount a positive displacement pump over-or undershoots a target operating parameter value, pump system and method for operating such An operational control device is disclosed for a positive-displacement pump having a motor, means for actuating the motor, state sensor means for detecting an actual operating parameter (e.g., pressure) of the pump, and operating mode means for controlling an operating mode of the pump. A first actuating mode of the operating mode means is set by the actuating means below a first operating-parameter threshold value (P1). This mode brings about a constantly rising pump pressure in the direction of an operating-parameter setpoint value (Pset) in a variable manner, which is dependent on a detected change in the operating parameter over a predefined time interval. A second actuating mode is set as normal operation to the operating-parameter setpoint value by the actuating means above the first operating-parameter threshold value. P1 is fixed or is calculated as a fraction of the operating-parameter setpoint value and/or a pump parameter correlated therewith.
US09404477B2	Proportional moving air power transmission and energy collection and control system A proportional moving air power transmission and energy collection and control system includes a fixed vertical spindle, a vertical rotational hub and a plurality of wings being supported around the vertical hub in 360°. Each of the wings has a blunt leading end and a pointy trailing end and defining an outer surface and an inner surface. In a fully opened position, the trailing end of each wing is moved away from the vertical hub to a diameter of the wing assembly to drive the vertical hub to rotate. In a fully closed position, the wings are overlapped with each other end-to-end to form a hollow cylinder-like structure to furl, such that the diameter of the wing assembly is minimized for facing the wind at all direction.
US09404466B2	Method for evaluating an engine starting system An internal combustion engine employs a starting system. A method for evaluating the starting system includes determining a cranking resistance ratio between a starter and a battery of the starting system during engine cranking. The cranking resistance ratio is normalized based upon an operating temperature of the starting system, and the starting system is evaluated based upon the normalized cranking resistance ratio.
US09404465B2	Starting battery for an internal combustion engine A starting battery for use with an electric starting system includes a starter motor and a battery receiver. The starting battery includes a lithium-ion battery cell, two voltage output terminals, and an enable terminal. The voltage output terminals of the starting battery are configured to connect to two voltage output terminals of the battery receiver to complete a circuit between the lithium-ion battery cell and the starter motor when the starting battery is attached to the battery receiver. The enable terminal of the starting battery is configured to connect to an enable terminal of the battery receiver to receive an enable signal to the starting battery to allow the starting battery to provide power to the starter motor to start an internal combustion engine.
US09404464B2	Controlled engine shutdown method and engine shutdown prediction for exhaust system durability A controlled engine shutdown method is disclosed that includes monitoring exhaust system temperature, monitoring operator shutdown commands, and delaying engine shutdown based on exhaust system temperature. The method can include inhibiting any process that affects exhaust temperatures, for example DPF regeneration. The method can use a shutdown timer, allow operator override of the shutdown delay, and display a delay notification message. The method can also include predicting when an engine shutdown is expected, and delaying or aborting any process that would affect exhaust temperatures when an engine shutdown is predicted. Predicting can include monitoring various machine states, determining an average activity interval for the machine, determining a geographic shutdown area, determining a shutdown time of day and/or monitoring a machine fluid level.
US09404461B2	Method and system for engine starting A method and a system for improving operation of an automatically started engine are described. In one example, engine speed is adjusted to a sole run-up speed and, held at the desired engine run-up speed for a desired period, before being ramped to an idle speed.
US09404452B2	Combustion engine powered working machine A portable, hand-held, combustion engine powered working machine, e.g. a power cutter, chain saw or trimmer, comprising: a tool unit including a working tool; a machine unit (104) including an internal combustion engine (204) with a crankshaft (304); an assembly for supplying cleaned air and fuel to the engine, having an upstream air inlet; a fan housing (404) located in an outer end of said tool unit and having an air inlet for ambient air; a fan wheel (302) arranged in the fan housing (404); the fan wheel (302) driven by the crankshaft (304) to supply cooling air, sucked in through the air inlet to cool the engine (204); a combustion air duct (406) having a combustion air intake opening (408) located radially outside of the fan wheel (302) leads the combustion air to the assembly for supplying cleaned air and fuel to the engine via a possible air filter (402). Special shielding elements (410, 412, 414) are used to steer away air and especially particles in the air from said combustion air intake opening (408) to provide a strong cleaning effect of the combustion air in said combustion air duct (406).
US09404451B2	Automotive air cleaner elements with attachment/insulation feature A number of variations may include an air cleaner assembly which comprises a first housing portion having at least one air inlet aperture. The air cleaner assembly may further include a second housing portion operably coupled to the first housing portion and having at least one air outlet aperture. Moreover, a filter media may be disposed between the first housing portion and the second housing portion. At least one insulator may be integrally formed with the filter media. The entire filter media including the insulator may be removable and replaceable.
US09404440B1	Common platform modular stirling radioisotope generator A radioisotope generator system may comprise a common platform convertor having two ends, and multiple heat source modules thermally coupled to each other and to the common platform convertor. A portion of the multiple heat source modules may be thermally coupled to each end of the common platform convertor. The common platform convertor may be optimized for a nominal power level.
US09404438B2	Supporting a driver of a motor vehicle in utilizing an automatic start-stop system A method and a device for supporting a driver of a motor vehicle in utilizing an automatic engine start-stop system of the motor vehicle is provided. The method includes registering and storing, for at least one operating time of the motor vehicle and for each engine stop of a total number initiated by the automatic engine start-stop system in the operating time, at least the respective time durations where k=0, 1, 2, . . . P, where Pε[0, 1, 2, . . . ]. A first ratio value that is dependent on the operating time and the added time durations determined: W 1 = ∑ k = 0 P B ⁢ ⁢ t MS , k t B . ( 1 ) The first ratio value is output and/or an output which is dependent on the first ratio value is generated and output.
US09404437B2	Engine control apparatus performing automatic engine restart for ensuring brake booster assistance after automatic engine stop On a vehicle equipped with a vacuum-assist type of brake booster utilizing the intake air pressure of the vehicle engine, an engine control apparatus automatically stops the engine under certain conditions and subsequently automatically restarts the engine if it is determined that the brake booster pressure has fallen below a predetermined value. The engine control apparatus also effects such automatic restarting if a predetermined maximum time interval has elapsed since the automatic engine stop occurred. This ensures that even when the booster pressure value cannot be reliably obtained after an automatic engine stop has occurred, the engine will be restarted before the booster pressure falls excessively.
US09404425B2	Device and a method of regulating a power plant including at least one turbine engine, and an aircraft A regulator device (10) for regulating a turbine engine (3). The regulator device (10) includes mechanical power take-off means (100) for taking off power mechanically from a gas generator (4), and an engine computer (20) controlling said engine (3) to comply with at least a first limitation (LimTET, LimT45) of a temperature (TET, T45) of the gas within the engine, and with a second limitation (LimNg) of a speed of rotation (Ng) of the gas generator (4). The engine computer (20) determines whether the speed of rotation (Ng) of the gas generator has reached said second limitation (LimNg), and whether said temperature (TET, T45) has reached said first limitation (LimTET, LimT45). An avionics computer (30) causes the mechanical power take-off means (100) to operate if the speed of rotation (Ng) of the gas generator (4) has reached said second limitation (LimNg), and if said temperature (TET, T45) has not reached said first limitation (LimTET, LimT45).
US09404423B2	Fuel staging system A fuel staging system is described which comprises a staging valve 28 operable to divide a metered fuel supply between a pilot delivery line 18 and a mains delivery line 16, and a recirculation valve 54 connected to the mains delivery line 16 and operable to permit a recirculation fuel flow to be supplied to the mains delivery line 16 when the staging valve 28 occupies a position in which substantially no fuel is delivered to the mains delivery line 16 through the staging valve 28.
US09404422B2	Gas turbine fuel injector having flow guide for receiving air flow In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a fuel injector assembly is provided for a gas turbine engine with a compressor section and a combustion section. The fuel injector assembly includes a stem defining a fuel path for fuel and a flow guide coupled to and extending along the stem. The flow guide receives an air flow. The assembly further includes a swirler apparatus coupled to the stem and configured to receive the fuel. The swirler apparatus is further coupled to the flow guide and configured to receive the air flow. The swirler apparatus is configured to mix the fuel and the air flow and direct the mixture into a combustor of the combustor assembly.
US09404421B2	Structural support bracket for gas flow path A structural support system is provided in a can annular gas turbine engine having an arrangement including a plurality of integrated exit pieces (IEPs) forming an annular chamber for delivering gases from a plurality of combustors to a first row of turbine blades. A bracket structure is connected between an IEP and an inner support structure on the engine. The bracket structure includes an axial bracket member attached to an IEP and extending axially in a forward direction. A transverse bracket member has an end attached to the inner support structure and extends circumferentially to a connection with a forward end of the axial bracket member. The transverse bracket member provides a fixed radial position for the forward end of the axial bracket member and is flexible in the axial direction to permit axial movement of the axial bracket member.
US09404413B2	Internal combustion machine, water craft, and method for operating the power supply system of a ship using an internal combustion engine The invention relates to an internal combustion machine (10), comprising a combustion engine (1) having an exhaust gas side (AGS) and a charging fluid side (LLS), and having a supercharger system (14) comprising an exhaust gas turbo charger (40) for charging the combustion engine (1), having a condenser array (41) on the charging fluid side (LLS) and a turbine arrangement (42) on the exhaust gas side (AGS), a compressor (3), the primary side (I) of which is connected to the charging fluid side (LLS), and the secondary side (II) of which is connected to the exhaust gas side (AGS). An electric machine (4) configured as a motor/generator is coupled to the combustion engine (1), wherein the electric machine (4) as a generator can be powered by the combustion engine (1), or can power the combustion engine (1) as a motor, wherein the compressor (3) can be powered directly by the electric machine (4) via a mechanical drive coupling (13).
US09404410B2	Controller for engine cooling system An internal combustion engine has a cylinder-head-passage through which an engine coolant flows toward a water jacket when a water pump is operated. The water pump is an electric water pump utilizing the electric power charged in the battery. A radiator is provided in the cylinder-head-passage. Even after the engine is shut off, the water pump is kept driven.
US09404409B2	Exhaust throttling for cabin heating Embodiments for heating a vehicle cabin are disclosed. In one example, a method for heating a vehicle cabin comprises closing an exhaust throttle while diverting at least a portion of throttled exhaust gas through an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler coupled upstream of the throttle, and transferring heat from the EGR cooler to a heater core configured to provide heat to the vehicle cabin. In this way, exhaust heat may be directly routed to the cabin heating system.
US09404407B2	Method and system for pre-ignition control Methods and systems are provided for addressing pre-ignition occurring while operating with blow-though air delivery. A variable cam timing device used to provide positive intake to exhaust valve overlap is adjusted in response to an indication of pre-ignition to transiently reduce valve overlap. Pre-ignition mitigating load limiting and enrichment applied during a blow-through mode is adjusted differently from those applied when blow-through air is not being delivered.
US09404406B2	Catalyst for use in a process for purifying exhaust gas from gasoline engines of a fuel-direct-injection type A catalyst for use in a process for purifying exhaust gas from a gasoline engine of the fuel-direct-injection type that varies, in response to changes in the air-fuel ratio, between a first exhaust-gas state featured by an air-fuel ratio in the vicinity of the stoichiometrical air-fuel ratio, and a second exhaust-gas state that forms a more oxidizing, low-temperature atmosphere and that is featured by an air-fuel ratio greater than the stoichiometrical air-fuel ratio, the catalyst being obtained by causing a noble metal and a rare-earth oxide and/or a transition metal to be carried by or to be mixed with a fire-resistant inorganic oxide.
US09404404B2	Heat exchanger for a metering unit of an SCR exhaust-gas aftertreatment device The invention relates to a heat exchanger (50) for a dosing unit of an SCR (selective catalytic reduction) exhaust gas treatment device (10), wherein an adjustable volume of a fluid can be discharged by a dosing unit into an exhaust gas system (177) of an internal combustion engine (155). The heat exchanger (50) has at least one fluid channel (52) through which air can flow, wherein said fluid channel (52) is routed around at least a subregion of an outer peripheral wall (54) of a dosing valve (34) of the dosing unit (100).In a further aspect, the invention relates to an SCR dosing unit (100) having a heat exchanger (50) according to the invention, wherein an air intake system (78) is arranged on the dosing unit (100), such that it is possible for air to be conveyed into the heat exchanger (50) during operation of the internal combustion engine (155). Finally, an exhaust gas treatment device (10) for an internal combustion engine (155) is suggested which is particularly suited for a vehicle engine, and preferably a diesel engine, and which has a dosing unit according to the invention.
US09404399B2	Exhaust valve assembly for a two-stroke engine An exhaust valve assembly has a valve actuator, a first valve part (FVP) operatively connected to the actuator, a second valve part (SVP), and at least one auxiliary valve operatively connected to the second valve part. When the actuator is in a first position, the FVP is in a fourth position, the SVP is in a seventh position and the at least one auxiliary valve is in a ninth position. When the actuator is in a second position, the FVP is in a fifth position, the SVP is in the seventh position and the at least one auxiliary valve is in the ninth position. When the actuator is in a third position, the FVP is in a sixth position, the SVP is in an eighth position and the at least one auxiliary valve is in a tenth position. The second position is intermediate the first and third positions.
US09404393B2	Combined cycle power plant A combined cycle power plant in which a gas turbine engine generates power, a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) produces steam from high energy fluids produced from the generation of power in the gas turbine engine and a steam turbine engine generates additional power from the steam produced in the HRSG. The combined cycle power plant includes a heating element fluidly interposed between the steam turbine engine and the HRSG to heat fluid output from the steam turbine engine, which is to be fed to the HRSG and a control system to control an amount the fluid output from the steam turbine engine is heated by the heating element based on differences between HRSG and ambient temperatures.
US09404388B2	Article and method for forming an article An article and a method for forming the article are disclosed. The article comprising a composition, wherein the composition comprises, by weight percent, about 13.7% to about 14.3% chromium (Cr), about 9.0% to about 10.0% cobalt (Co), about 3.5% to about 3.9% aluminum (Al), about 3.4% to about 3.8% titanium (Ti), about 4.0% to about 4.4% tungsten (W), about 1.4% to about 1.7% molybdenum (Mo), about 1.55% to about 1.75% niobium (Nb), about 0.08% to about 0.12% carbon (C), about 0.005% to about 0.040% zirconium (Zr), about 0.010% to about 0.014% boron (B), and balance nickel (Ni) and incidental impurities. The composition is substantially free of tantalum (Ta) and includes a microstructure substantially devoid of Eta phase.
US09404372B2	Pt-Al-Hf/Zr coating and method A Pt—Al—Hf/Zr aluminide coating that can be used as a bond coat for TBC and improve TBC spallation life in service at elevated temperatures is provided. The aluminide coating can include a metastable ternary or higher X—Pt/Pd—Ni phase where the phase and other elements in the alloy system are present in a NiAl β phase of the coating. The metastable phase can be present and observable in the as-deposited condition of the bond coating; e.g. in an as-CVD deposited condition of the bond coating.
US09404370B2	Exhaust-gas turbocharger component with microstructured surface An exhaust-gas turbocharger component (10) having at least one flow-conducting component surface (11) and having a discontinuity structure (12) which is formed on the component surface (11). The discontinuity structure (12) has a multiplicity of punctiform depressions (13) which are arranged separately from one another on at least one part of the component surface (11).
US09404368B2	Blade cascade and turbomachine A blade cascade for a turbomachine having a plurality of blades arranged next to one another in the peripheral direction, at least two blades having a variation for generating an asymmetric outflow in the rear area, as well as a turbomachine having an asymmetric blade cascade, which is connected upstream from another blade cascade, are disclosed.
US09404356B2	System and method for remotely controlled surface steerable drilling A system and method for surface steerable drilling are provided. In one example, the system receives feedback information from a drilling rig and calculates an estimated position of a drill bit in a formation based on the feedback information. The system compares the estimated position to a desired position along a planned path of a borehole. The system calculates multiple solutions if the comparison indicates that the estimated position is outside a defined margin of error relative to the desired position. Each solution defines a path from the estimated position to the planned path. The system calculates a cost of each solution and selects one of the solutions based at least partly on the cost. The system produces control information representing the selected solution and outputs the control information for the drilling rig.
US09404355B2	Path tracking for directional drilling as applied to attitude hold and trajectory following A method for directional control of a drilling system includes generating a set point attitude on an outer loop to establish a path to be followed by the drilling system. The set point attitude may be generated using a surface controller based on inclination and azimuth measurements made at the drilling system and a measured depth of the drilling system. A downhole inclination and azimuth hold system is used on an inner loop to control drilling along the path established by the set point attitude. The inclination and azimuth hold system processes the set point attitude to compute a toolface control input and a dogleg severity control input which are applied to the drilling system to control the drilling system to drill along the established path.
US09404353B2	Well treatment device, method, and system A down-hole treatment tool including a tool body having a bore therethrough, a treatment port orifice disposed on the body, a sliding sleeve within the bore of the body. A constant-volume annular chamber, in isolation from the inner bore and the environment outside the body, provides a debris-free environment for locking the sleeve. A dissolvable treatment port cover provides protection of the treatment port until operation of the treatment port is needed. The treatment port cover and lubrication ports enable lubrication of the sleeve and inner bore of the body without risk of contamination by debris.
US09404347B1	Apparatus and method for connecting a riser from an offshore rig to a subsea structure In one aspect, a method of connecting a riser from an offshore rig to wellhead equipment that includes a first connector is disclosed. The method, in one non-limiting embodiment, includes lowering a riser of sufficient length having a second connector at a lower end thereof adapted to connect to the first connector of the wellhead equipment, wherein the riser is in fluid communication with and is filled with the sea water; closing the riser proximate to the lower end of the riser after lowering the riser; displacing the sea water in the riser with a fluid that is heavier than the sea water to straighten the riser and the second connector; and connecting the second connector to the first connector.
US09404341B2	Release tool for a drill string inside blowout preventer Inside blowout preventer release tool body having a one-piece planar upper section and a one-piece tubular lower section. In one embodiment, the upper section includes a pair of longitudinal members defining a central open region, the longitudinal members joined at one end having a formed lifting feature configured to accept a manipulator cable or chain. The lifting feature is positioned such that when the release tool body and an inside blowout preventer connected thereto are lifted by the rig hoist using cables, chains, and the like, they are easily moved over, aligned with, and connected with a working drillpipe while minimizing possibility of slipping off the cables or chains. The lower section includes a threaded end mating with a mating end of an inside blowout preventer, a central longitudinal bore to accept a release rod, and an upper end formed to accept the lower ends of the longitudinal members of the upper section. In one embodiment, elongate slots in each longitudinal member define one or more manipulating handles for a rig worker, machine, or tool. In other embodiments a pair of generally horizontal hand holds are defined in each longitudinal member.
US09404338B2	Methods and apparatus for improved cement plug placement A method and apparatus for making real-time measurements of downhole properties during cement plug placement. A wired placement conduit is lowered downhole releasing a sensor package. The sensor package is capable of measuring downhole properties in real-time in the period while the cement plug sets.
US09404331B2	Extended duration section mill and methods of use A section mill for removing a portion of a casing in a wellbore. The section mill may include a body having a first end portion, a second end portion, and a bore formed axially therethrough. A plurality of blades may be coupled to the body. Each of the blades may have a first end portion and a second end portion. The first end portion of each blade may be coupled to the body via a hinge pin, and the second end portion of each blade may have a cutting surface formed thereon. A seat may be formed within the bore. The blades may be adapted to actuate from an inactive position to an active position in response to an impediment forming a seal against the seat.
US09404328B2	Gas injection for managed pressure drilling Injection of gas into a managed pressure drilling system to provide for operation of the drilling system in a pressure window defined by the pore pressure of a formation being drilled and a fracture pressure of the formation. The gas is injected through gas injection ports and drilling fluids are allowed to flow between the drilling annulus and the gas injection system though a plurality of flow ports that are disposed vertically below the gas injection ports in the borehole being drilled. The gas injection ports and the flow ports are configured so that when gas is flowing through the gas injection ports, the flow ports are sealed.
US09404326B2	Downhole tool for use in a drill string A downhole tool in a drill string for mitigating hazards of a blockage in an annulus of the drill string. The downhole tool can sense blockages and selectively recirculate flow from within the annulus back to surface. Further, the downhole tool is made up of segments that are selectively detachable from one another, so that the segments above the point of detachment are removable from a wellbore. The bypass assembly includes a sleeve in the downhole tool with openings in its side; when the annulus reaches a set pressure, the sleeve slides to a position so the openings register with ports formed through a side of the tool to allow bypass flow. A processor in the downhole tool senses movement of the string, and when the string is axially stationary more than a designated period of time, the processor emits signals to detach the segments.
US09404325B2	Drill bit driver The present invention is a drill bit driver including a lower spring support connected at a lower end to a base and including an outer surface, as well as an upper spring support slideably and telescopically mounted over the outer surface e of the lower spring support. The drill bit driver allows for resiliently biasing the upper spring support relative to the lower spring support. The present invention further includes a table rotably connected to the upper end of the upper spring support, so that the table rotates about a longitudinal axis, for receiving a drill bit. This drill bit driver also allows for tilting the table relative to the horizontal.

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