Document	Document Title
US09425556B1	Interconnection system and an electrical connector having resonance control Interconnection system includes a mating connector having a plurality of terminal sub-assemblies that include a signal terminal and a ground shield. The interconnection system also includes an electrical connector having a plurality of contact sub-assemblies that each include a signal contact and a resonance-control shield that. The terminal sub-assemblies of the mating connector engage corresponding contact sub-assemblies of the electrical connector when the mating and electrical connectors are mated. The signal terminals of the terminal sub-assemblies engage the signal contacts of the corresponding contact sub-assemblies. Each of the ground shields of the terminal sub-assemblies is inserted between the resonance-control shield and the signal contact of the corresponding contact sub-assembly. The ground shield and the resonance-control shield have respective broad surfaces that face each other with a capacitive gap therebetween.
US09425555B1	Plug connector A plug connector includes a lower terminal module, an upper terminal module and an insulating housing. The lower terminal module includes a lower insulator and a plurality of lower terminals integratedly molded in the lower insulator, each of the lower terminals has a lower contact portion beyond a bottom face of the lower insulator. The upper terminal module is engaged with the lower terminal module, includes an upper insulator and a plurality of upper terminals integratedly molded in the upper insulator, each of the upper terminals has an upper contact portion beyond a top face of the upper insulator. The insulating housing is integratedly molded outside the lower terminal module and the upper terminal module, each lower contact portion is exposed from a bottom face of the insulating housing, each upper contact portion is exposed from a top face of the insulating housing.
US09425548B2	Resilient coaxial connector interface and method of manufacture A resilient connector interface provided with an outer conductor contact with a plurality of outer conformable members and an inner conductor contact with a plurality of inner conformable members. The outer conformable members provided with an outer conductor coupling surface on an outer diameter and the inner conformable members provided with an inner conductor coupling surface on an inner diameter. An alignment portion is provided at a proximal end of the outer conformable member. The alignment portion may be sinuous with respect to a longitudinal axis of the outer conformable member. An elastic bias member is positioned between the outer conformable members and the inner conformable members biasing the outer conformable members outward and the inner conformable members inward. The outer conductor coupling surface and the inner conductor coupling surface may be covered with a dielectric material to form a capacitive coupling interconnection.
US09425543B2	Protective cover for a connector A protective cover for a connector is described herein. In one example, the protective cover can include an angled outer shell to envelop a connector, and a locking mechanism to prevent the angled outer shell from retracting to expose the connector. The protective cover can also include a plunger assembly coupled to a magnet, the magnet to disengage the locking mechanism to expose the connector, and a set of springs to return the angled outer shell to a locked position.
US09425540B2	Housing for a contact device The invention relates to a housing (100) for a contact device (450) which can be fitted to a cable (480), having a first housing portion (101) for receiving the contact device (450) and a second housing portion (201) which can be arranged on the first housing portion (101). The first housing portion (101) has an inlet portion (150) for the cable (480) having a cable seal (350). The inlet portion (150) of the first housing portion (101) has a recess (160) which exposes an outer part-region of the cable seal (350). The second housing portion (201) can be arranged on the first housing portion (101) in such a manner that the second housing portion (201) can be pressed onto the outer part-region of the cable seal (350) via the recess (160) of the inlet portion (150) of the first housing portion (101). The invention further relates to an arrangement comprising a housing (100), a contact device (450) and a cable (480).
US09425537B2	Systems and methods for making and using a side-loading operating room cable of an electrical stimulation system An operating room cable for electrically coupling a lead to a trial stimulator includes a trial stimulator connector electrically coupleable with the trial stimulator and a lead connector for receiving the lead. The lead connector includes a housing. A first lead aperture is defined in a second end of the housing in proximity to a first side of the housing. A first inner passage extends along an interior of the housing from the first lead aperture to the second end of the housing. A first stylet slit is defined along the first side of the housing and extends from a first end of the housing to the second end of the housing. The first stylet slit is formed between upper and lower casings of the housing. The first stylet slit is continuous with the first lead aperture and the first inner passage.
US09425524B1	Electrical connector mounted on a circuit board and having a retention section with a bearing section and a limiting section An electrical connector includes a mounting frame and a connector mounted on a circuit substrate. The mounting frame includes at least one position constraining plate, which includes at least one fixing section. The fixing section includes two spaced bending portions and an engagement section therebetween. The engagement section is engageable with a retention section of the connector. The retention section includes a bearing section engaging and bearing the engagement section and a limiting section formed on at least one side of the bearing section to limit the position of the mounting frame in a lateral direction. To assemble, the retention section of the connector is first set in alignment with the engagement section of the mounting frame and a force is applied to have them engage with each other. The bearing section provides position constraining in a longitudinal direction, while the limiting section provides position limiting in a lateral direction.
US09425514B2	Wideband antenna A wideband antenna includes a radiation element, first and second extension elements, first and second reflection elements, and a feeding element. The radiation element is symmetric to a reference direction and has a top edge, a bottom edge, a first side edge, and a second side edge. A width of the radiation element gradually increases along the reference direction. The first and second extension elements are extended toward the reference direction respectively from two ends of the top edge and are mirror-symmetric to each other with respect to the reference direction. Widths of the first and second extension elements gradually decrease along the reference direction. The first and second reflection elements are respectively opposite to the first and second side edges and are mirror-symmetric to each other with respect to the reference direction. The feeding element is electrically connected to the bottom edge and has a feeding point.
US09425505B2	Integrated phase-shifting-and-combining circuitry to support multiple antennas The disclosed embodiments generally relate to techniques for processing signals received from multiple antennas. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to a system that uses an integrated phase-shifting-and-combining circuit to process signals received from multiple antenna elements. This circuit applies a specified phase shift to the input signals, and combines the phase-shifted input signals to produce an output signal. In some embodiments, the integrated phase-shifting-and-combining circuit uses a current-steering mechanism to perform the phase-shifting-and-combining operations. This current-steering mechanism operates by converting the input signals into associated currents, and then steering each of the associated currents through multiple pathways which have different delays. Next, the currents from the multiple pathways for the associated currents are combined to produce the output signal. During this process, while steering each of the associated currents through multiple pathways to achieve different phase shifts, complementary impedance changes through the multiple pathways cause the aggregate impedance at the output to remain substantially constant.
US09425492B2	Energy source systems having devices with differential states of charge A system includes housing having a positive terminal and a negative terminal and one or more energy storage devices disposed therein. One system includes a first energy storage device that operates at a first state of charge level and a second energy storage device that operates at a second state of charge level. The second state of charge level is greater than the first state of charge level.
US09425491B2	Secondary battery A secondary battery with improved heat transmitting efficiency and coupling force between an electrode tab and a temperature protection device. The secondary battery includes an electrode assembly including a first electrode having a first electrode tab extending to one side, a second electrode having a second electrode tab extending to one side, and a separator disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, a pouch that includes a terrace part and a temperature protection device mounted on the terrace part and connected to the first electrode tab. The temperature protection device includes a first connection part connected to a first extension part, a transmission part in contact with the first electrode tab and connected to the first connection part, and a second connection part connected to the transmission part.
US09425490B2	Storage battery system A storage battery system includes: a secondary battery; a holding member comprising a flow channel of a cooling medium for cooling the secondary battery, which holds the secondary battery; a medium temperature measuring unit that measures temperatures T1 and T2 of the cooling medium at two locations in the flow channel; a battery temperature measuring unit that measures a temperature T3 of the secondary battery; and a judging unit that repetitively calculates a coefficient α and that judges a cooling performance of the secondary battery based on a variation of the coefficient α, the coefficient α being defined as (T3−T1)/(T2−T1), (T3−T2)/(T2−T1), or (T3−T2)/(T3−T1).
US09425486B2	Composition for extending life of lead acid batteries An additive is for extending the useful life-span of the lead acid batteries. The additive is a safe and environmentally harmless material in the form of an aqueous liquid or an easy-to-use capsule. A method refurbishes lead acid batteries and extends their life-span.
US09425478B2	Stacking apparatus and stacking method The stacking apparatus of the present invention includes a separator conveyance unit to convey a separator of predetermined shape in a held state, an electrode conveyance unit to convey a positive electrode of predetermined shape, and a control unit to synchronize the conveying position and conveyance speed of the separator conveyance unit with those of the electrode conveyance unit so that the separator and positive electrode overlap each other at a predetermined position. The stacking apparatus conveys the separator and positive electrode and transfers the separator onto the electrode from a downstream side of the conveying direction while gradually removing the separator from the separator conveyance unit, thereby stacking the separator on the electrode.
US09425471B2	Fuel cell system A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack, a cathode supply flow passage which is connected to the fuel cell stack and through which cathode gas flows, a cathode off-gas flow passage which is connected to the fuel cell stack and discharges cathode off-gas, a bypass flow passage which is branched off from the cathode supply flow passage and through which a part of the cathode gas flows while bypassing the fuel cell stack, a bypass valve configured to regulate a bypass flow rate in the bypass flow passage and include an atmosphere communication hole, and an anode off-gas flow passage which is connected to the fuel cell stack and discharges anode off-gas. The anode off-gas flow passage joins the bypass flow passage at a side downstream of the cathode off-gas flow passage or the bypass valve, and the bypass valve is formed with a clearance configured to leak a predetermined quantity of gas even in a fully closed state.
US09425465B2	Catalyst carrying fine metal particles and use thereof The production method according to the present invention includes a process for producing fine particles formed of a non-precious metal; a process for forming a shell of a precious metal on the respective surfaces of the fine particles of the non-precious metal; and a process for collecting a catalyst from a fluid reaction mixture. A fine metal particle-carrying catalyst prepared by such a production method includes fine non-precious metal particles as the cores thereby reducing the usage of a precious metal to achieve suppression of a cost increase. Since it includes a shell portion formed of a precious metal, it exhibits excellent catalytic activity.
US09425464B2	Carbendazim-based catalytic materials A method of preparation of M-N—C catalytic material utilizing a sacrificial support approach and using inexpensive and readily available metal precursors and carbendazim (CBDZ) as the carbon source is described.
US09425461B2	Rejuvenation of automotive fuel cells A process for rejuvenating fuel cells has been demonstrated to improve the performance of polymer exchange membrane fuel cells with platinum/ionomer electrodes. The process involves dehydrating a fuel cell and exposing at least the cathode of the fuel cell to dry gas (nitrogen, for example) at a temperature higher than the operating temperature of the fuel cell. The process may be used to prolong the operating lifetime of an automotive fuel cell.
US09425460B2	Fiber mat for battery plate reinforcement Embodiments of the invention provide batteries, electrodes, and methods of making the same. According to one embodiment, a battery may include a positive plate having a grid pasted with a lead oxide material, a negative plate having a grid pasted with a lead based material, a separator separating the positive plate and the negative plate, and an electrolyte. A nonwoven glass mat may be in contact with a surface of either or both the positive plate or the negative plate to reinforce the plate. The nonwoven glass mat may include a plurality of first coarse fibers having fiber diameters between about 6 μm and 11 μm and a plurality of second coarse fibers having fiber diameters between about 10 μm and 20 μm.
US09425456B2	Rechargeable battery cell with improved high temperature performance An alkaline, rechargeable electrochemical cell includes a pasted electrode structure in which a composition comprising a paste matrix component includes cobalt in an amount greater than 6 weight percent ranging up to 14 weight percent. The matrix may also include a rare earth such as yttrium. The composition further includes particles of nickel hydroxide dispersed in the matrix, and these particles include cobalt levels ranging from greater than 8 atomic percent up to 15 atomic percent. Cells incorporating these materials have good charging efficiency at elevated temperatures.
US09425453B2	Battery module A battery module including a plurality of battery cells arranged in a row; a plurality of bus bars connecting the plurality of battery cells in series; and a short circuit member that is mechanically connected to a first battery cell among the plurality of battery cells and that is electrically connected to a second battery cell among the plurality of battery cells.
US09425440B2	Compact battery cell having improved durability and battery pack comprising the same Disclosed herein are a battery cell including an electrode assembly configured to have a structure including cathodes, anodes, and separators respectively disposed between the cathodes and the anodes, the electrode assembly being provided with a through hole in a direction in which the electrodes are stacked, and a battery case provided at each side thereof with an opening communicating with the through hole and a battery pack including the same.
US09425436B2	Method of making organic light emitting diode array A method of making organic light emitting diode array includes following steps. A base having a number of first electrodes on a surface of the base is provided. A first organic layer is located on the surface of the base to cover the first electrodes. A template with a first patterned surface is provided, wherein the first patterned surface includes a number of grooves with different depths. The first patterned surface of the template is attached on the first organic layer and separated from each other, wherein a number of protruding structures with different heights is formed. An organic light emitting layer is deposited to cover the protruding structures. A second organic layer is located on the organic light emitting layer. A second electrode is applied to electrically connected to the second organic layer.
US09425432B2	Organic electroluminescent element and light emitting device with optical path control layer According to one embodiment, an organic electroluminescent element includes a first electrode, a second electrode provided opposite to the first electrode, an organic light emitting layer provided between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a protrusion. The protrusion is provided at least one of between the first electrode and the organic light emitting layer and between the organic light emitting layer and the second electrode.
US09425431B2	Organic electroluminescent element and light emitting device with light extraction portions According to one embodiment, an organic electroluminescent element includes a first electrode, a reflective layer provided opposite to the first electrode, an organic light emitting layer provided between the first electrode and the reflective layer, a second electrode provided between the organic light emitting layer and the reflective layer, an optical buffer layer provided between the second electrode and the reflective layer, and a plurality of light extraction portions. The plurality of light extraction portions are provided between the second electrode and the organic light emitting layer. The plurality of light extraction portions are projected from the side provided with the second electrode of the optical buffer layer into the optical buffer layer. The light extraction portions have a refractive index different from a refractive index of the optical buffer layer.
US09425429B2	Organic EL display device A bank layer includes projecting portions swollen toward in a thickness direction of a first substrate in an adhesion area. A multi-barrier includes a portion, in which a organic barrier is not disposed, on an upper side of the projecting portions. Therefore, it is possible to obtain, in the adhesion area, a portion in which a first inorganic barrier layer and a second inorganic barrier layer directly come in contact with each other. In an organic EL display device including the multi-barrier formed of an organic material and an inorganic material, it is possible to prevent two facing substrates from being separated from each other.
US09425422B2	Organic light emitting display device Disclosed is an organic light emitting display device with an enhanced light emission efficiency at high current and an enhancement in panel efficiency through prevention of a roll-off phenomenon. The organic light emitting display device includes first and second electrodes formed on a substrate facing each other. A hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, at least first and second light emitting layers, and an electron transport layer are sequentially stacked between the first and second electrodes. The first light emitting layer includes different hosts while being doped with the same dopant in different dosages. The first light emitting layer includes a first host and a second host, and the second light emitting layer includes the first host and a third host different from the second host. The first and second light emitting layers are doped with the same phosphorescent yellow-phosphorescent green dopant in the same dosage.
US09425409B2	Materials for electronic devices The present invention relates to compounds of the to the use of the compounds in electronic devices, to processes for the preparation of the compounds, and to electronic devices comprising the compounds, preferably as electron-transport materials, as hole-blocking materials, as matrix materials and/or as emitter materials.
US09425401B2	9,9′-spirobixanthene derivatives for electroluminescent devices The present invention relates to compounds suitable for use in electronic devices, and to electronic devices, especially organic electroluminescent devices, comprising these compounds.
US09425394B2	Doped oxide dielectrics for resistive random access memory cells Provided are methods of fabricating memory cells such as resistive random access memory (ReRAM) cells. A method involves forming a first layer including two high-k dielectric materials such that one material has a higher dielectric constant than the other material. In some embodiments, hafnium oxide and titanium oxide form the first layer. The higher-k material may be present at a lower concentration. In some embodiments, a concentration ratio of these two high-k materials is between about 3 and 7. The first layer may be formed using atomic layer deposition. The first layer is then annealed in an oxygen-containing environment. The method may proceed with forming a second layer including a low-k dielectric material, such as silicon oxide, and forming an electrode. After forming the electrode, the memory cell is annealed in a nitrogen containing environment. The nitrogen anneal may be performed at a higher temperature than the oxygen anneal.
US09425390B2	Select device for memory cell applications The present disclosure includes select devices and methods of using select device for memory cell applications. An example select device includes a first electrode having a particular geometry, a semiconductor material formed on the first electrode and a second electrode having the particular geometry with formed on the semiconductor material, wherein the select device is configured to snap between resistive states in response to signals that are applied to the select device.
US09425388B2	Magnetic element and method of manufacturing the same A magnetic element includes a first magnetic layer, a first non-magnetic layer on the first magnetic layer, a second magnetic layer on the first non-magnetic layer, a second non-magnetic layer on the second magnetic layer, and a third magnetic layer on the second non-magnetic layer, the third magnetic layer having a side wall layer including a material which is included in the second non-magnetic layer; wherein the material is one of Ru and Pt as a common material to the side wall layer and the second non-magnetic layer.
US09425387B1	Magnetic element with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy for high coercivity after high temperature annealing A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) is disclosed wherein a free layer has an interface with a tunnel barrier and a second interface with a metal oxide layer to promote perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) therein. A diffusion barrier is formed on a side of the metal oxide layer opposite the second interface to prevent non-magnetic metals in a hard mask or electrode from migrating to the second interface and degrading free layer PMA. A second diffusion barrier may be formed between a second electrode and a reference layer. The diffusion barrier may be a single layer of SiN, TiN, TaN, Mo, or CoFeX where X is Zr, P, B, or Ta, or is a multilayer such as CoFeX/Mo wherein CoFeX contacts the metal oxide layer and Mo adjoins a hard mask. As a result, coercivity is maintained or increased in the MTJ after annealing at 400° C. for 30 minutes.
US09425383B2	Method of manufacturing electroactive polymer transducers for sensory feedback applications A method for fabricating electroactive polymer transducers, the includes providing an electroactive polymer film comprising an elastomeric dielectric polymer, forming an array of electrodes on the film, and sandwiching the electrode array between a top and bottom array of frame components to form an array of electroactive polymer transducers.
US09425372B2	LED device, method of manufacturing the same, and light-emitting apparatus The LED device (27) has a LED bare chip (25) mounted directly on a metal contact (28), and supplies power to the bare chip and conducts heat from the bare chip via the metal contact.
US09425371B2	Light-emitting device and electronic device An object is to provide a light-emitting device having a structure in which an external connection portion can easily be connected and a method for manufacturing the light-emitting device. A light-emitting device includes a lower support 110, a base insulating film 112 over the lower support 110 which has a through-hole 130, a light-emitting element 127 over the base insulating film 112, and an upper support 122 over the light-emitting element 127. An electrode 131 is provided in the through-hole 130, and the external connection terminal 132 electrically connected to the electrode 131 is provided below the base insulating film 112. The external connection terminal 132 is electrically connected to the external connection portion 133 and functions as a terminal that inputs a signal or a power supply into the light-emitting device. This light-emitting device has a structure in which an external connection portion can easily be connected.
US09425362B2	Light emitting device A light-emitting device is disclosed, comprising a substrate; a light-emitting structure on the substrate comprising a first region and a second region; a barrier layer on the first region having a bottom surface and a sidewall, wherein an angle between the sidewall and the bottom surface is between 10°70°; and a transparent conductive layer formed on the light-emitting structure and the barrier layer; wherein a difference between a thickness of the transparent conductive layer at the sidewall on the barrier layer and a thickness of the transparent conductive layer on the second region of the light-emitting structure forms a ratio not larger than 10 %.
US09425360B2	Light emitting device package A light emitting device package is provided. The light emitting device package comprises a package body comprising a first cavity, and a second cavity connected to the first cavity; a first lead electrode, at least a portion of which is disposed within the second cavity; a second lead electrode, at least a portion of which is disposed within the first cavity; a light emitting device disposed within the second cavity; a first wire disposed within the second cavity, the first wire electrically connecting the light emitting device to the first lead electrode; and a second wire electrically connecting the light emitting device to the second lead electrode.
US09425350B2	Photocoupler and light emitting element According to one embodiment, a photocoupler includes: an input terminal; a light emitting unit; a light receiving unit and an output terminal. An input electrical signal having a prescribed voltage is input into an input terminal. The light emitting unit is connected to the input terminal, includes a light emitting element configured to emit emission light, and is configured to drive the light emitting element under a constant voltage of the input electrical signal. The light receiving unit includes a light receiving element configured to receive the emission light and convert the emission light into an electrical signal. The output terminal is insulated from the input terminal and configured to output the electrical signal in accordance with the input electrical signal.
US09425342B2	Method and system for optoelectronic receivers utilizing waveguide heterojunction phototransistors integrated in a CMOS SOI wafer A method and system for optoelectronic receivers utilizing waveguide heterojunction phototransistors (HPTs) integrated in a CMOS SOI wafer are disclosed and may include receiving optical signals via a top surface of a photonically-enabled CMOS chip; and generating electrical signals in the chip utilizing one or more HPTs that detect optical signals. The HPTs may comprise a base and a split collector, with the split collector comprising a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) layer and a germanium layer. The thickness of the germanium layer may be such that carriers in the base do not interact with defects from an interface between the SOI layer and the germanium layer. The electrical signals may be amplified by amplifiers, the outputs of which may be utilized to bias the HPTs by a feedback network. An electrode formed longitudinally in the direction of light travel through the HPTs may bias the base of the HPTs.
US09425328B2	Through silicon via including multi-material fill An apparatus includes a substrate having at least one via disposed in the substrate, wherein the substrate includes a trench having a substantially trapezoidal cross-section, the trench extending through the substrate between a lower surface of the substrate and an upper surface of the substrate, wherein the top of the trench opens to a top opening, and the bottom of the trench opens to a bottom opening, the top opening being larger than the bottom opening. The apparatus can include a mouth surrounding the top opening and extending between the upper surface and the top opening, wherein a mouth opening in the upper surface is larger than the top opening of the trench, wherein the via includes a dielectric layer disposed on an inside surface of a trench. The apparatus includes and a fill disposed in the trench, with the dielectric layer sandwiched between the fill and the substrate.
US09425302B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a source electrode portion and a drain electrode formed on a semiconductor stacked body so as to be at an interval from each other, and a gate electrode formed between the source electrode portion and the drain electrode at an interval from the source electrode portion and the drain electrode. The source electrode portion includes a first recess electrode being directly in contact with a two-dimensional electron gas layer formed in the first nitride semiconductor layer, and a surface electrode formed between the gate electrode and the first recess electrode and connected conductively to the two-dimensional electron gas layer. A source potential is applied to the surface electrode and the recess electrode, and a width of the surface electrode in a gate-source direction is 0.4 times or more a distance between a gate-side end of the surface electrode and a source-side end of the gate electrode.
US09425301B2	Sidewall passivation for HEMT devices Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) which includes a heterojunction structure arranged over a semiconductor substrate. The heterojunction structure includes a binary III/V semiconductor layer made of a first III-nitride material to act as a channel region of the e-HEMT, and a ternary III/V semiconductor layer arranged over the binary III/V semiconductor layer and made of a second III-nitride material to act as a barrier layer. Source and drain regions are arranged over the ternary III/V semiconductor layer and are spaced apart laterally from one another. A gate structure is arranged over the heterojunction structure and is arranged between the source and drain regions. The gate structure is made of a third III-nitride material. A first passivation layer is disposed about sidewalls of the gate structure and is made of a fourth III-nitride material.
US09425300B2	Semiconductor structure and method of forming the same A semiconductor structure includes a first III-V compound layer. A second III-V compound layer is over the first III-V compound layer and is different from the first III-V compound layer in composition. A carrier channel is located at an interface of the first III-V compound layer and the second III-V compound layer. A dielectric cap layer is over the second III-V compound layer and a protection layer is over the dielectric cap layer. Slanted field plates are in a combined opening in the dielectric cap layer and protection layer.
US09425296B2	Vertical tunnel field effect transistor A tunnel field transistor (TFET) device includes a fin structure that protrudes from a substrate surface. The fin structure includes a base portion proximate to the substrate surface, a top portion, and a first pair of sidewalls extending from the base portion to the top portion. The first pair of sidewalls has a length corresponding to a length of the fin structure. The fin structure also includes a first doped region having a first dopant concentration at the base portion of the fin structure. The fin structure also includes a second doped region having a second dopant concentration at the top portion of the fin structure. The TFET device further includes a gate including a first conductive structure neighboring a first sidewall of the first pair of sidewalls. A dielectric layer electrically isolates the first conductive structure from the first sidewall.
US09425293B1	Stacked nanowires with multi-threshold voltage solution for pFETs A threshold voltage tuning approach for forming a stacked nanowire gate-all around pFET is provided. In the present application, selective condensation (i.e., oxidation) is used to provide a threshold voltage shift in silicon germanium alloy nanowires. The threshold voltage shift is well controlled because both underlying parameters which govern the final germanium content, i.e., nanowire width and amount of condensation, are well controlled by the selective condensation process. The present application can address the problem of width quantization in stacked nanowire FETs by offering various device options.
US09425287B2	Reducing variation by using combination epitaxy growth A method for forming a semiconductor structure includes forming a gate stack over a semiconductor substrate in a wafer; forming a recess in the semiconductor substrate and adjacent the gate stack; and performing a selective epitaxial growth to grow a semiconductor material in the recess to form an epitaxy region. The step of performing the selective epitaxial growth includes performing a first growth stage with a first growth-to-etching (E/G) ratio of process gases used in the first growth stage; and performing a second growth stage with a second E/G ratio of process gases used in the second growth stage different from the first E/G ratio.
US09425285B2	Fabricating method of semiconductor device A semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the semiconductor device are provided. The semiconductor device includes a substrate, a gate structure over the substrate, a source/drain regions adjacent to the pair of spacers in the substrate, an etch stop layer next to the gate structure and overlying the substrate, a contact plug extending into the source/drain region and partially overlapping the gate structure, a protective layer over the etch stop layer overlying the substrate and covering the etch stop layer next to the gate structure without the contact plug, and an interlayer dielectric layer over the protective layer. The contact plug has no contact-to-gate short issue to the gate structure.
US09425277B2	Method for depinning the Fermi level of a semiconductor at an electrical junction and devices incorporating such junctions An electrical device in which an interface layer comprising arsenic is disposed between and in contact with a conductor and a semiconductor. In some cases, the interface layer may be a monolayer of arsenic.
US09425276B2	High electron mobility transistors The present disclosure relates to a donor layer of bi-layer AlGaN and associated method of fabrication within a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) configured to provide low-resistance ohmic source and drain contacts to reduce power consumption, while maintaining a high-mobility of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) within a channel of the HEMT. The donor layer of bi-layer AlGaN comprises a mobility-enhancing layer of AlzGa(1-z)N, a resistance-reducing layer of AlxGa(1-x)N disposed over the mobility-enhancing layer, wherein the ohmic source and drain contacts connect to the HEMT. A channel layer of GaN is disposed beneath the mobility-enhancing layer, wherein a 2DEG resides, forming the channel of the HEMT.
US09425268B2	Compound semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A compound semiconductor device includes: a compound semiconductor layered structure; a gate electrode formed above the compound semiconductor layered structure; a first protective insulating film that covers a surface of the compound semiconductor layered structure and is made of silicon nitride as a material; a second protective insulating film that covers the gate electrode on the first protective insulating film and is made of silicon oxide as a material; and a third protective insulating film that contains silicon oxynitride and is formed between the first protective insulating film and the second protective insulating film.
US09425267B2	Transistor with charge enhanced field plate structure and method Transistors and methods of fabricating are described herein. These transistors include a field plate (108) and a charged dielectric layer (106) overlapping at least a portion of a gate electrode (102). The field plate (108) and charged dielectric layer (106) provide the ability to modulate the electric field or capacitance in the transistor. For example, the charged dielectric layer (106) provides the ability to control the capacitance between the gate electrode (102) and field plate (108). Modulating such capacitances or the electric field in transistors can facilitate improved performance. For example, controlling gate electrode (102) to field plate (108) capacitance can be used to improve device linearity and/or breakdown voltage. Such control over gate electrode (102) to field plate (108) capacitance or electric fields provides for high speed and/or high voltage transistor operation.
US09425264B2	Method for growing an epitaxial film on a phosphorous-doped silicon wafer A method includes: a backside-oxidation-film-formation step in which an oxidation film is formed on a backside of a silicon wafer; a backside-oxidation-film-removal step in which the oxidation film provided at an outer periphery of the silicon wafer is removed; an argon-annealing step in which the silicon wafer after the backside-oxidation-film-removal step is subjected to a heat treatment in an argon gas atmosphere at a temperature in a range from 1200 to 1220 degrees C. for 60 minutes or more and 120 minutes or less; and an epitaxial-film-formation step in which an epitaxial film is formed on a surface of the silicon wafer after the argon-annealing step.
US09425262B2	Configuration of portions of a power device within a silicon carbide crystal In one general aspect, an apparatus can include a silicon carbide (SiC) crystal having a top surface aligned along a plane and the SiC crystal having an off-orientation direction. The apparatus including a semiconductor device defined within the SiC crystal. The semiconductor device having an outer perimeter where the outer perimeter has a first side aligned along the off-orientation direction and a second side aligned along a direction non-parallel to the off-orientation direction. The first side of the outer perimeter of the semiconductor device having a length longer than the second side of the outer perimeter of the semiconductor device.
US09425261B2	Silicon-carbide semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same A silicon carbide semiconductor device that reduces an influence of an off-angle of a silicon carbide substrate on characteristics of the semiconductor device and achieves improved operational stability and reduced resistance. In a trench-gate silicon carbide MOSFET semiconductor device, a high-concentration well region is formed in a well region, and a distance from a first sidewall surface of a trench of the silicon carbide semiconductor to the high-concentration well region is smaller than a distance from a second sidewall surface of the trench to the high-concentration well region, the second sidewall surface facing the first sidewall surface of the trench through the gate electrode.
US09425259B1	Semiconductor device having a fin Provided is a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a fin disposed on a substrate along a first direction. A sacrificial layer is disposed on the fin. An active layer is disposed on the sacrificial layer. A gate insulating layer and a gate electrode are disposed along a second direction intersecting the first direction. The gate insulating layer covers substantially entire top, side and bottom surfaces of the active layer. A source or drain region is disposed on at least one side of the gate electrode on the substrate. A first concentration of germanium in a first region and a second region of the active layer is higher than a second concentration of germanium in a third region disposed between the first region and the second region.
US09425258B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device and a method of making the same. The device includes a semiconductor substrate having an AlGaN layer on a GaN layer. The device also includes first contact and a second contact. The average thickness of the AlGaN layer varies between the first contact and the second contact, for modulating the density of an electron gas in the GaN layer between the first contact and the second contact.
US09425254B1	Hybrid integrated nanotube and nanostructure substrate systems and methods Systems and methods for providing a hybrid integrated nanostructure and nanotube substrate system are disclosed. The system includes a substrate having a plurality of nanostructures formed thereon. Interconnected to the substrate, directly or through nanostructures, are nanotubes. The nanostructures can extend for a greater distance from the surface of the substrate than the nanotubes, providing a robust structure. In addition, the structure can be highly emissive and absorptive hybrid surface.
US09425252B1	Process for single diffusion break with simplified process A method of forming a SDB including a protective layer or bilayer and the resulting device are provided. Embodiments include forming a SDB of oxide in a Si substrate; forming a nitride layer over the Si substrate; forming a photoresist over the SDB and a portion of the nitride layer; removing the nitride layer on opposite sides of the photoresist down to the Si substrate, leaving a portion of the nitride layer only under the photoresist; forming a gate above the SBD and the portion of the nitride layer.
US09425251B2	Thin film transistor substrate and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display having the same A thin film transistor substrate and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display are disclosed. In one aspect, the OLED includes a thin film transistor substrate. The thin film transistor substrate includes a substrate, a source electrode formed over the substrate, a drain electrode formed over the substrate and spaced apart from the source electrode, an oxide semiconductor layer, and a gate electrode. The oxide semiconductor layer includes a source area at least partially overlapping the source electrode, a drain area at least partially overlapping the drain electrode, and a channel area formed between the source area and the drain area. The gate electrode, which is insulated from the oxide semiconductor layer, has a first width at a first end thereof, a second width at a second end opposite to the first end thereof and the first width is different from the second width.
US09425250B2	Transistor with wurtzite channel A device includes a source region, a drain region, and a wurtzite semiconductor between the source region and the drain region. A source-drain direction is parallel to a [01-10] direction or a [−2110] direction of the wurtzite semiconductor. The device further includes a gate dielectric over the wurtzite semiconductor, and a gate electrode over the gate dielectric.
US09425249B2	Coincident site lattice-matched growth of semiconductors on substrates using compliant buffer layers A method of producing semiconductor materials and devices that incorporate the semiconductor materials are provided. In particular, a method is provided of producing a semiconductor material, such as a III-V semiconductor, on a silicon substrate using a compliant buffer layer, and devices such as photovoltaic cells that incorporate the semiconductor materials. The compliant buffer material and semiconductor materials may be deposited using coincident site lattice-matching epitaxy, resulting in a close degree of lattice matching between the substrate material and deposited material for a wide variety of material compositions. The coincident site lattice matching epitaxial process, as well as the use of a ductile buffer material, reduce the internal stresses and associated crystal defects within the deposited semiconductor materials fabricated using the disclosed method. As a result, the semiconductor devices provided herein possess enhanced performance characteristics due to a relatively low density of crystal defects.
US09425247B2	Metal-insulator-metal capacitor with current leakage protection A metal insulator metal (MIM) capacitor includes a top electrode, a first via contacting a first surface of the top electrode, a bottom electrode, a second via contacting a second surface of the bottom electrode, and an insulator between the top electrode and the bottom electrode. One of the top and the bottom electrodes includes a first part and a second part. The first part has a first edge and a second edge opposing the first edge. The second part shares the second edge with the first part. At least a portion of the first edge contacts the respective via, and a first one of the first and the second edges is longer than a second one of the first and the second edges.
US09425242B2	Organic light emitting diode display An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display includes: a substrate; a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer separated from each other on a same surface of the substrate, a first insulating layer on the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode respectively overlapping the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, a second insulating layer on the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode; a first storage electrode overlapping the first gate electrode on the second insulating layer, a third insulating layer on the first storage electrode, and a second storage electrode overlapping the first storage electrode on the third insulating layer.
US09425239B2	Vertical transistor for resistive memory The present disclosure relates to a memory on semiconductor substrate, comprising: at least one data line, at least one selection line, at least one reference line, at least one memory cell comprising a select transistor having a control gate connected to the selection line, a first conduction terminal connected to a variable impedance element, the select transistor and the variable impedance element coupling the reference line to the data line, the select transistor comprising an embedded vertical gate produced in a trench formed in the substrate, and a channel region opposite a first face of the trench, between a first deep doped region and a second doped region on the surface of the substrate coupled to the variable impedance element.
US09425227B1	Imaging sensor using infrared-pass filter for green deduction An imaging sensor is provided. The imaging sensor includes: a filter array used for extracting a specified color component of an incident light; and photoelectric elements for receiving the incident light via the filter array. The filter array includes: a green filter for extracting a green component; a red filter for extracting a red component; a blue filter for extracting a blue component; and a first infrared filter for extracting a first infrared component for the green component. The first infrared filter is implemented by the green filter and an infrared high-pass filter of a specific wavelength.
US09425226B2	Imaging device An imaging device which is capable of taking images with high quality and can be manufactured at low cost is provided. A first circuit includes a first transistor and a second transistor and a second circuit includes a third transistor and a photodiode. The first transistor and the third transistor are each an n-channel transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer as an active layer, and the second transistor is a p-channel transistor including an active region in a silicon substrate. The photodiode is provided in the silicon substrate. A region in which the first transistor and the second transistor overlap each other with an insulating layer positioned therebetween is provided. A region in which the third transistor and the photodiode overlap each other with the insulating layer positioned therebetween is provided.
US09425222B2	Display device and method of manufacturing the same A display device includes pixels. At least one of the pixels includes a pixel area, a first non-pixel area disposed adjacent to the pixel area and extending in a first direction, and a second non-pixel area extending in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The pixel including a pixel area includes a pixel electrode disposed in the pixel area, a color filter extending in the second direction, and a shielding electrode extending in the second direction and disposed on the color filter in the second non-pixel area. A capping layer is disposed on the color filter. The capping layer covers the shielding electrode in an area except for a crossing area where the first and second non-pixel areas cross each other. A black matrix is disposed on the capping layer and the shielding electrode in the first non-pixel area.
US09425220B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device having a high aperture ratio, including a capacitor with increased capacitance, and consuming low power is provided. The semiconductor device includes pixels defined by x (x is an integer of 2 or more) scan lines and y (y is an integer of 1 or more) signal lines, and each of the pixels includes a transistor, and a capacitor. The transistor includes a semiconductor film having a light-transmitting property. The capacitor includes a dielectric film between a pair of electrodes. In the capacitor between an (m−1)-th (m is an integer of 2 or more and x or less) scan line and an m-th scan line, a semiconductor film on the same surface as the semiconductor film having a light-transmitting property of the transistor serves as one of the pair of electrodes and is electrically connected to the (m−1)-th scan line.
US09425212B2	Isolated and bulk semiconductor devices formed on a same bulk substrate Isolated and bulk semiconductor devices formed on a same bulk substrate and methods to form such devices are described. For example, a semiconductor structure includes a first semiconductor device having a first semiconductor body disposed on a bulk substrate. The first semiconductor body has an uppermost surface with a first horizontal plane. The semiconductor structure also includes a second semiconductor device having a second semiconductor body disposed on an isolation pedestal. The isolation pedestal is disposed on the bulk substrate. The second semiconductor body has an uppermost surface with a second horizontal plane. The first and second horizontal planes are co-planar.
US09425211B2	Semiconductor memory device and method for manufacturing same According to one embodiment, the stacked body includes a plurality of stacked units and a first intermediate layer. Each of the stacked units includes a plurality of electrode layers and a plurality of insulating layers. Each of the insulating layers is provided between the electrode layers. The first intermediate layer is provided between the stacked units. The first intermediate layer is made of a material different from the electrode layers and the insulating layers. The plurality of columnar portions includes a channel body extending in a stacking direction of the stacked body to pierce the stacked body, and a charge storage film provided between the channel body and the electrode layers.
US09425194B2	Transistor devices with high-k insulation layers An integrated circuit product includes first and second transistors positioned in and above first and second active regions. The first transistor has a first gate length and a first gate material stack that includes a first gate dielectric layer having a first thickness and at least one layer of metal positioned above the first gate dielectric layer, the first gate dielectric layer including a layer of a first high-k insulating material and a layer of a second high-k insulating material positioned on the layer of the first high-k insulating material. The second transistor has a second gate length and a second gate material stack that includes a second gate dielectric layer having a second thickness positioned above the second active region and at least one layer of metal positioned above the second gate dielectric layer, the second gate dielectric layer including a layer of the second high-k insulating material.
US09425189B1	Compact FDSOI device with Bulex contact extending through buried insulating layer adjacent gate structure for back-bias The present disclosure provides a semiconductor device including an SOI substrate comprising an active semiconductor layer disposed on a buried insulating material layer, which is in turn formed on a base semiconductor material. The semiconductor device further includes a gate structure formed on the active semiconductor layer, source/drain regions provided at opposing sides of the gate structure, and a contact structure having contact elements for contacting the source/drain regions. Herein, the contact elements are disposed at opposing sides of the gate structure and are in alignment therewith. Furthermore, one of the contact elements extends through the buried insulating material layer and is in electrical contact with the base semiconductor material.
US09425188B2	Active ESD protection circuit with blocking diode An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection integrated circuit (IC) includes a substrate having a semiconductor surface, a high power supply rail (VDD) and a low power supply rail (VSS) on the semiconductor surface. A trigger circuit including at least one trigger input and at least one trigger output is coupled between VDD and VSS. An active shunt including at least a large MOSFET is coupled between VDD and VSS. The trigger output is coupled to a gate electrode of the large MOSFET, and at least one diode or diode connected transistor (blocking diode) is coupled between VDD and the trigger circuit, within the trigger circuit or between the trigger output and gate electrode.
US09425185B2	Self-healing electrostatic discharge power clamp Circuits and methods of fabricating circuits that provide electrostatic discharge protection, as well as methods of protecting an integrated circuit from electrostatic discharge. The protection circuit may include a power clamp device, a timing circuit including a resistor and a capacitor that is coupled with the resistor at a node, and a power clamp device coupled with the timing circuit at the node. The capacitor includes a plurality of capacitor elements. The protection circuit further includes a plurality of electronic fuses. Each electronic fuse is coupled with a respective one of the capacitor elements. A field effect transistor may be coupled in parallel with the resistor of the timing circuit, and may be used to bypass the resistor to provide a programming current to any electronic fuse coupled with a capacitor element of abnormally low impedance.
US09425177B2	Method of manufacturing semiconductor device including grinding semiconductor wafer A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to one embodiment includes: preparing a semiconductor water which is partitioned into a plurality of first semiconductor chips, the plurality of first semiconductor chips including a first group of first semiconductor chips and a second group of first semiconductor chips; providing a second semiconductor chip over at least one of first semiconductor chips of the first group; providing a sealer on the first semiconductor chips of the second group; and grinding one face of the semiconductor wafer which is on the opposite side from a face on which the second semiconductor chip and the sealer are provided.
US09425175B2	Methods for performing extended wafer-level packaging (eWLP) and eWLP devices made by the methods Embedded Wafer-Level Packaging (eWLP) devices, packages and assemblies and methods of making them are provided. The eWLP methods allow back side electrical and/or thermal connections to be easily and economically made at the eWLP wafer level without having to use thru-mold vias (TMVs) or thru-silicon vias (TSVs) to make such connections. In order to create TMVs, processes such as reactive ion etching or laser drilling followed metallization are needed, which present difficulties and increase costs. In addition, the eWLP methods allow electrical and optical interfaces to be easily and economically formed on the front side and/or on the back side of the eWLP wafer, which allows the eWLP methods to be used to form optoelectronic devices having a variety of useful configurations.
US09425174B1	Integrated circuit package with solderless interconnection structure An integrated circuit package may include an integrated circuit die and a package substrate having a conductive pad. A conductive pillar is formed on a front surface of the integrated circuit die and directly contacts the conductive pad. Prior to contacting the conductive pad directly, the conductive pillar may be positioned adjacent to the conductive pad such that it is aligned to the conductive pad. The integrated circuit package further includes an interconnect structure that is formed in the package substrate. The interconnect structure may include conductive traces that are electrically connected to the conductive pad and the conductive pillar. An additional integrated circuit die may be mounted on the package substrate. The additional integrated circuit die may couple to the integrated circuit die through the interconnect structure.
US09425160B1	Wafer-level package device with solder bump reinforcement Wafer-level package (semiconductor) devices are described that have a reinforcement layer formed on an adhesion layer and/or a semiconductor substrate and covering at least a portion of at least one solder bump. Additionally, the reinforcement layer may cover at least a portion of a semiconductor device (e.g., a die) mounted on the semiconductor substrate. In an implementation, the wafer-level package (semiconductor) device may include an integrated circuit chip with an attached die, where the integrated circuit chip has at least one solder bump formed thereon with a reinforcement layer formed on a surface of the integrated circuit chip, where the reinforcement layer embeds the die and covers a portion of the at least one solder bump.
US09425158B2	Rigid-flex module and manufacturing method Rigid-flex-type circuit-board structure and manufacturing method, in which a flexible membrane (20) and a sacrificial-material piece (16) are attached to an insulator membrane (12) in the location of the flexible zone (13). An insulator layer (1), which encloses within itself a sacrificial-material piece (16) is manufactured on the surface of the conductor membrane (12). The flexible zone (13) is formed in such a way that an opening (9) is made in the insulator layer (1), through which the sacrificial-material piece (16) is removed. The flexible zone comprises at least part of the flexible membrane (20) as well as conductors (22), which are manufactured by patterning the insulator membrane (12) at a suitable stage in the method.
US09425146B2	Semiconductor structure and method for making same One or more embodiments relate to a method for making a semiconductor structure, comprising: providing a workpiece; forming a barrier layer over the workpiece; forming a separation layer over the barrier layer; forming a conductive layer over the separation layer; and wet etching the conductive layer.
US09425145B2	Oversized contacts and vias in layout defined by linearly constrained topology A rectangular-shaped interlevel connection layout structure is defined to electrically connect a first layout structure in a first chip level with a second layout structure in a second chip level. The rectangular-shaped interlevel connection layout structure is defined by an as-drawn cross-section having at least one dimension larger than a corresponding dimension of either the first layout structure, the second layout structure, or both the first and second layout structures. A dimension of the rectangular-shaped interlevel connection layout structure can exceed a normal maximum size in one direction in exchange for a reduced size in another direction. The rectangular-shaped interlevel connection layout structure can be placed in accordance with a gridpoint of a virtual grid defined by two perpendicular sets of virtual lines. Also, the first and/or second layout structures can be spatially oriented and/or placed in accordance with one or both of the two perpendicular sets of virtual lines.
US09425135B2	Electrode body, wiring substrate, and semiconductor device An electrode body is provided as an electrode body capable of appropriately reducing a load when silicon wafer direct bonding is performed. The electrode body 1 includes a base member 10 that has a predetermined thickness; and an electrode portion 20 that is formed on one surface of the base member in a thickness direction thereof. The electrode portion 20 includes a basic bump 21 formed in a substantially columnar shape to protrude on the base member 10 and a fragile bump 22 formed independently from the basic bump to form a metallic bond with the basic bump 21.
US09425134B2	Chip package A chip package is provided. The chip package includes a chip having an upper surface, a lower surface and a sidewall. The chip includes a sensing region or device region and a signal pad region adjacent to the upper surface. A shallow recess structure is located outside of the signal pad region and extends from the upper surface toward the lower surface along the sidewall. The shallow recess structure has at least a first recess and a second recess under the first recess. A redistribution layer is electrically connected to the signal pad region and extends into the shallow recess structure. A first end of a wire is located in the shallow recess structure and is electrically connected to the redistribution layer. A second end of the wire is used for external electrical connection. A method for forming the chip package is also provided.
US09425126B2	Dummy structure for chip-on-wafer-on-substrate Apparatus, and methods of manufacture thereof, in which metal is deposited into openings, thus forming a plurality of metal pads, a plurality of through-silicon-vias (TSVs), a plurality of metal lines, a plurality of first dummy structures, and a plurality of second dummy structures. Ones of the plurality of first dummy structures each have a first width that is at least about three times greater than a second width of each of the plurality of metal lines, and ones of the plurality of second dummy structures each have a third width that is at least about five times greater than the second width of each of the plurality of metal lines.
US09425104B2	Complementary metal oxide semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same Provided are a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) device and a method of manufacturing the same. In the CMOS device, a buffer layer is disposed on a silicon substrate, and a first layer including a group III-V material is disposed on the buffer layer. A second layer including a group IV material is disposed on the buffer layer or the silicon substrate while being spaced apart from the first layer.
US09425099B2	Epitaxial channel with a counter-halo implant to improve analog gain Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an implant that improves long-channel transistor performance with little to no impact on short-channel transistor performance. To mitigate DIBL, both long-channel and short-channel transistors on a substrate are subjected to a halo implant. While the halo implant improves short-channel transistor performance, it degrades long-channel transistor performance. Therefore, a counter-halo implant is performed on the long-channel transistors only to restore their performance. To achieve this, the counter-halo implant is performed at an angle that introduces dopant impurities near the source/drain regions of the long-channel transistors to counteract the effects of the halo implant, while the counter-halo implant is simultaneously shadowed from reaching the channel of the short-channel transistors.
US09425095B2	Distributed metal routing A system and method for a distributed metal routing is disclosed. An embodiment comprises a metal_0 layer with a metal_1 layer overlying the metal_0 layer. The metal_1 layer comprises separate parallel lines, with lines having different signals being distributed across the metal_1 layer. Such a layout decreases the parasitic resistance within the metal_0 layer as it decreases the distance current travels. Additionally, the distributed layout in metal_1 allows connections to be made to a metal_2 layer without the need for a hammer head connection of vias.
US09425091B2	Method for forming semiconductor structure One or more techniques or systems for forming a semiconductor structure having a gap are provided herein. In some embodiments, a gap is formed between a first etch stop layer (ESL) and an ESL seal region. For example, the gap is formed by removing a portion of a low-k (LK) dielectric region above an oxide region and removing the oxide region. In some embodiments, the oxide region below the LK dielectric region facilitates removal of the LK dielectric region, at least because the oxide region enhances a bottom etch rate of a bottom of the LK dielectric region such that the bottom etch rate is similar to a wall etch rate of a wall of the LK dielectric region.
US09425086B2	Method of controlling contact hole profile for metal fill-in A method of eliminating overhang in a contact hole formed in a contact film stack is described. A liner layer is overlaid on the contact film stack, the liner also coating the contact hole. A portion of the liner is removed to expose the overhang, and the exposed overhang is removed. The liner is also used to fill-in a bowing profile of the contact hole, thereby rendering sidewalls of the contact hole smooth and straight suitable for metal fill-in while suppressing piping defects.
US09425083B2	Handle substrate, composite substrate for semiconductor, and semiconductor circuit board and method for manufacturing the same It is provided a handle substrate of a composite substrate for a semiconductor. The handle substrate is composed of a translucent polycrystalline alumina. A purity of alumina of the translucent polycrystalline alumina is 99.9% or higher, an average of a total forward light transmittance of the translucent polycrystalline alumina is 60% or higher in a wavelength range of 200 to 400 nm, and an average of a linear light transmittance of the translucent polycrystalline alumina is 15% or lower in a wavelength range of 200 to 400 nm.
US09425073B2	Depression filling method and processing apparatus A depression filling method for filling a depression of a workpiece including a semiconductor substrate and an insulating film formed on the semiconductor substrate is provided. The depression penetrating the insulating film is configured so as to extend to the semiconductor substrate. The method includes: forming a thin film of a semiconductor material along a wall surface that defines the depression; annealing the workpiece to cause the semiconductor material of the thin film to move toward a bottom of the depression and to form an epitaxial region corresponding to crystals of the semiconductor substrate; and etching the thin film.
US09425053B2	Block mask litho on high aspect ratio topography with minimal semiconductor material damage A trilayer stack that can be used as a block mask for forming patterning features in semiconductor structures with high aspect ratio topography is provided. The trilayer stack includes an organic planarization (OPL) layer, a titanium-containing antireflective coating (TiARC) layer on the OPL layer and a photoresist layer on the TiARC layer. Employing a combination of an OPL having a high etch rate and a TiARC layer that can be easily removed by a mild chemical etchant solution in the trilayer stack can significantly minimize substrate damage during lithographic patterning processes.
US09425051B2	Method for producing a silicon-germanium film with variable germanium content The substrate is provided with a first semiconducting area partially covered by a first masking pattern to define a protected surface and an open surface. A continuous layer of silicon-germanium is deposited in non-selective manner on the first semiconducting area and on the first gate pattern. The continuous silicon-germanium layer forms an interface with the first semiconducting area. A diffusion/condensation annealing is performed to make the germanium atoms diffuse from the silicon-germanium layer to the open surface of the first semiconducting area. The masking pattern is a gate stack of the transistor or is used to define the shape of the gate stack in an electrically insulating layer so as to form a self-aligned gate stack with the source and drain areas.
US09425046B1	Method for surface roughness reduction after silicon germanium thin film deposition Techniques for processing silicon germanium (SiGe) thin films to reduce surface roughness thereof are provided herein. In an aspect, a method is disclosed that includes depositing a silicon germanium (SiGe) material upon a surface of a substrate at or below about 450 degrees Celsius, the substrate having a plurality of CMOS devices therein and forming, from the deposited SiGe material, a SiGe material film, wherein the SiGe material film has a jagged surface comprising projections and indentations extended along a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate. The method further includes performing a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process to the jagged surface of the SiGe material, and reducing variations between the projections and the indentions along the direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate, and transforming the jagged surface of the SiGe material into a relatively smooth surface, compared to the jagged surface.
US09425044B2	Composite spacer for silicon nanocrystal memory storage Some embodiments relate to a memory device comprising a charge-trapping layer disposed between a control gate and a select gate. A capping structure is disposed over an upper surface of the control gate, and a composite spacer is disposed on a source-facing sidewall surface of the control gate. The capping structure and the composite spacer prevent damage to the control gate during one more etch processes used for contact formation to the memory device. To further limit or prevent the select gate sidewall etching, some embodiments provide for an additional liner oxide layer disposed along the drain-facing sidewall surface of the select gate. The liner oxide layer is configured as an etch stop layer to prevent etching of the select gate during the one or more etch processes. As a result, the one or more etch processes leave the control gate and select gate substantially intact.
US09425043B2	High mobility power metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors High mobility P-channel power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a power MOSFET is fabricated such that the holes flow in an inversion/accumulation channel, which is along the (110) crystalline plane, or equivalents, and the current flow is in the [110] direction, or equivalents, when a negative potential is applied to the gate with respect to the source. The enhanced channel mobility of holes leads to a reduction of the channel portion of the on-state resistance, thereby advantageously reducing total “on” resistance of the device.
US09425037B2	Silicon polishing compositions with improved PSD performance The invention relates to a chemical-mechanical polishing composition comprising silica, one or more tetraalkylammonium salts, one or more bicarbonate salts, one or more alkali metal hydroxides, one or more aminophosphonic acids, one or more rate accelerator compounds, one or more polysaccharides, and water. The polishing composition reduces surface roughness and PSD of polished substrates. The invention further relates to a method of chemically-mechanically polishing a substrate, especially a silicon substrate, using the polishing composition described herein.
US09425036B2	Light source device and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including the same Provided are a light source device and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including the same. The light source device includes a light-emitting lamp. The light source device includes a laser generator configured to generate and direct a laser beam to the light-emitting lamp. The light source device includes a recycling optical element configured to redirect the laser beam to the light-emitting lamp. The recycling optical element includes a first recycling optical modulator configured to change the phase of the laser beam.
US09425032B2	Optimizing drag field voltages in a collision cell for multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) tandem mass spectrometry A collision cell has a plurality of rod electrodes arranged in opposed pairs around an axial centerline and a plurality of drag vanes arranged in the interstitial spaces between the rod electrodes. Operating the collision cell includes, applying a rod offset voltage to the rod electrodes, and varying an offset voltage applied to the drag vanes to identify a vane offset voltage with a maximum intensity for the transition. The method further includes varying a drag field by adjusting the voltages applied to drag vane terminals in opposite directions to identify a drag field value with a cross talk below a cross talk threshold, varying the vane offset voltage by adjusting the voltages applied to the drag vane terminals to maximize the intensity of the transition while preserving the drag field, and operating the collision cell at the vane offset voltage and drag field to monitor the transition.
US09425031B2	Method and system for providing a modifier to a curtain gas for a differential mobility spectrometer A system including a differential mobility spectrometer is described as is a method of operating the system including the differential mobility spectrometer. The method and system involve a) providing ions to the differential mobility spectrometer; b) providing a drift gas to an inlet of the differential mobility spectrometer; c) adjusting a meter to define a selected volumetric flow rate for supplying a modifier liquid to the drift gas; and, d) supplying an actual volumetric flow rate of the modifier liquid to the drift gas, wherein the actual volumetric flow rate is within a percentage deviation from the selected volumetric flow rate.
US09425018B2	Fuse unit A fuse unit includes a unit body and an auxiliary fuse unit. The unit body includes a bus bar provided with a power supply connector, first output connectors and second output connectors and fusible members, and an insulation protector provided on the periphery of the bus bar. The auxiliary fuse unit includes an auxiliary bus bar provided with an auxiliary power supply connector and an auxiliary output connector and is detachably installed to the unit body.
US09425016B2	Electronic part and electronic control unit A main body of an electronic part has multiple electrodes, to which multiple terminals are respectively connected. The terminals include a normal terminal and a fuse terminal, each of which extends from lands formed in a printed board so as to hold the main body at a position above and separated from a board surface of the printed board. The fuse terminal has multiple leg portions divided by slits. A first leg portion forms an electrical path portion having a cut-off portion, a width of which is smaller than that of other portions of the electrical path portion. A second leg portion has a first supporting leg and a second supporting leg, which are arranged at both sides of the first leg portion. Each of the supporting legs is connected to each of dummy lands formed in the printed board.
US09425010B2	Fuse for a motor vehicle power line Circuit breaker for motor vehicle power lines, having a first planar connection flap, a second connection flap and a connection portion which electrically connects the connection flaps and which forms a desired breaking location. A particularly simple production with low material use can be achieved by the connection flaps and the electrical connection portion closing an explosion chamber of a pyrotechnical igniter in such a manner that the desired breaking location bursts owing to the gas pressure of the pyrotechnical igniter brought about in the event of actuation.
US09425009B2	Electronic control device including interrupt wire An electronic control device includes a substrate, a plurality of component-mounted wires disposed on the substrate, a plurality of electronic components mounted on the respective component-mounted wires, a common wire disposed on the substrate and coupled with each of the electronic components, an interrupt wire coupled between one of the component-mounted wires and the common wire, a connection wire via which the interrupt wire is coupled with one of the common wire and the one of the component-mounted wires, and a solder disposed between each of the electronic components and a corresponding one of the component-mounted wires and having a lower melting point than the interrupt wire. The interrupt wire is configured to melt in accordance with heat generated by an overcurrent so as to interrupt a coupling between the one of the component-mounted wires and the common wire.
US09425006B2	Switch assembly, a switching device comprising a switch assembly, a switchgear comprising a switching device and a method for cooling A switch assembly including a vacuum switch mounted to an at least partly electrically conductive housing, and a holder for a vacuum bottle. The housing includes at least one gas entry opening at a lower end of the housing and at least one gas exit opening at an upper end of the housing, and a first free heat convection path between the openings to provide cooling. A second free heat convection path may be provided in a free space between the holder and vacuum bottle. A switching device for connecting the vacuum switch to a second electric conductor. An electric power distribution switchgear, encapsulating at least one three-phase module including a switching device.
US09424993B2	Systems and methods for a thin film capacitor having a composite high-K thin film stack Systems and methods are provided for fabricating a thin film capacitor involving depositing an electrode layer of conductive material on top of a substrate material, depositing a first layer of ferroelectric material on top of the substrate material using a metal organic deposition or chemical solution deposition process, depositing a second layer of ferroelectric material on top of the first layer using a high temperature sputter process and depositing a metal interconnect layer to provide electric connections to layers of the capacitor.
US09424992B2	Complimentary metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors and method of manufacture A high density capacitor and low density capacitor simultaneously formed on a single wafer and a method of manufacture is provided. The method includes depositing a bottom plate on a dielectric material; depositing a low-k dielectric on the bottom plate; depositing a high-k dielectric on the low-k dielectric and the bottom plate; depositing a top plate on the high-k dielectric; and etching a portion of the bottom plate and the high-k dielectric to form a first metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor having a dielectric stack with a first thickness and a second MIM capacitor having a dielectric stack with a second thickness different than the first thickness.
US09424990B2	Multilayered ceramic capacitor and board for mounting the same A multilayered ceramic capacitor including a ceramic body including a dielectric layer and having first and second main surfaces, first and second end surfaces, and first and second side surfaces; a first internal electrode having a first lead part; a second internal electrode having a second lead part; a first external electrode electrically connected to the first lead part and extending from the side surface having the first lead part exposed thereto, to at least one of the first and second main surfaces; a second external electrode electrically connected to the second lead part and extending from the side surface having the second lead part exposed thereto, to at least one of the first and second main surfaces; and an insulating layer covering the first and second external electrodes disposed on the first and second side surfaces.
US09424989B2	Embedded multilayer ceramic electronic component and printed circuit board having the same An embedded multilayer ceramic electronic component includes a ceramic body including a dielectric layer and having first and second main surfaces, first and second side surfaces, and first and second end surfaces, first and second internal electrodes, and first and second external electrodes, wherein the first external electrode includes a first base electrode electrically connected to the first internal electrode, a first intermediate layer, and a first terminal electrode, the second external electrode includes a second base electrode electrically connected to the second internal electrode, a second intermediate layer, and a second terminal electrode, the first and second base electrodes include a first conductive metal and glass, and the first and second terminal electrodes are formed of a second conductive metal.
US09424987B2	Three-phase/two-phase rotary transformer including a scott connection A three-phase/two-phase rotary transformer, includes a first single-phase rotary transformer and a second single-phase rotary transformer, the first transformer including a first body defining a first slot, a first coil in the first slot, a second body defining a second slot, and a second coil in the second slot, the second transformer including a third body defining a third slot, a third coil in the third slot, a fourth body defining a fourth slot, and a fourth coil in the fourth slot, wherein one terminal of the first coil is connected to the midpoint of the third coil, the first body, the first coil, the third body, and the third coil forming a three-phase portion of the transformer, the second body, the second coil, the fourth body, and said fourth coil forming a two-phase portion of the transformer.
US09424982B2	Transformer A transformer 10 comprises a bobbin 20. A cylinder portion 28 of the bobbin 20 is provided with a first winding part 35 where a first wire 37 is wound and a second winding part 36 where a second wire 38 is wound at a position different from the first winding part 35 in an axial direction. At an outer circumference of the cylinder portion 28 located between the first winding part 35 and the second winding part 36, an insulating partition collar 30 is formed. On the first winding part 35, a winding partition collar 33, separating in respective sections S1, S2, is formed. On the winding partition collar 33, at least one communication groove 33a, communicating the sections S1, S2 adjacent to each other is formed. The first wire 37 is α-wound around the first winding part 35.
US09424978B2	Magnetically shielded three phase rotary transformer having three magnetic cores A three-phase transformer including a primary portion and a secondary portion, the primary portion including a first body made of ferromagnetic material and primary coils, the secondary portion including a second body made of ferromagnetic material and secondary coils, the first body defining a first annular slot of axis A and a second annular slot of axis A, the primary coils including a first toroidal coil of axis A in the first slot, a second toroidal coil of axis A in the second slot, and one or more third toroidal coils connected in series, the third coils being wound around one of the legs, and passing via slots in the leg.
US09424965B2	Electrical conductors and methods of manufacturing electrical conductors An electrical conductor includes a base substrate of at least one of copper, copper alloy, nickel or nickel alloy and a layered structure applied to the base substrate. The layered structure includes a foil and a graphene layer deposited on the foil. The layered structure is applied to the base substrate after the graphene layer is deposited on the foil. A method of manufacturing the electrical conductor includes providing a base substrate, providing a foil, depositing a graphene layer on the foil to define a layered structure, and depositing the layered structure on the base substrate.
US09424959B2	Conductive full vulcanized thermoplastic elastomer and its preparation method The invention provides a conductive full vulcanized thermoplastic elastomer and its preparation method, and relates to the technical field of full vulcanized thermoplastic elastomer. The full vulcanized thermoplastic elastomer is obtained by melt-blending components including rubber particles having crosslinking structure with mean particle diameter of 0.02 to 1 μm, carbon nanotubes as conductive fillers and thermoplastic plastics once, wherein the weight ratio of the rubber particles and the thermoplastic plastics is from 30:70 to 75:25 and the content of conductive fillers is from 0.3 to 10 weight parts based on the total weight of rubber particles and thermoplastic plastics of 100 weight parts. The resulting conductive full vulcanized thermoplastic elastomers have low content of conductive fillers and excellent combination performances. It can be prepared by conventional rubber processing methods and can be used to produce electronic production equipment, means, electronic instrument, instrument housing and decorative materials of clean production workshop having static resistance, electro magnetic interference resistance and clean requirement.
US09424958B2	Multiple focal spot X-ray radiation filtering For the generation of multiple-energy X-ray radiation, an X-ray tube (10) for generating multiple-energy X-ray radiation includes an anode (12) and a filter (14). At least a first (16) and a second focal spot position (18) are offset from each other in an offset direction (20) transverse to an X-ray radiation projection direction. The filter includes a first plurality (22) of first portions (24) with first filtering characteristics for X-ray radiation and a second plurality (26) of second portions (28) with second filtering characteristics for X-ray radiation. The filter is a directional filter adapted in a such a way that at least a first X-ray beam (30) emanating from the first focal spot position at least partly passes through the filter unit via the first portions, and a second X-ray beam (32) emanating from the second focal spot position passes obliquely through the first and the second portions when passing through the filter unit.
US09424953B2	Semiconductor memory device including repair circuit A data transfer unit includes a page buffer to latch data of a normal bit line connected to a normal memory cell, a second page buffer to latch data of a parity bit line connected to a parity memory cell, and a third page buffer that is first replaced when the first page buffer is defective or when the second page buffer is defective. ECC Bus_1 is connected to the first, second, and third page buffers, respectively, and Data Bus_1 is connected to the first and third page buffers.
US09424952B1	Circuits, methods, and media for detecting and countering aging degradation in memory cells Circuits for estimating threshold voltages of transistors in memory device bitcells are provided. The circuits use a multiplexer, a sensor switch network, a power switch network, and an NMOS device configured as a sensor to couple a desired one the transistors in the bitcells and the NMOS device to each other, to a test voltage, and to ground. A sensor voltage node can then be measured, and based on the resulting measurement, a threshold voltage for the transistor estimate.
US09424939B2	Non-volatile memory apparatus and erasing method thereof The invention provides a non-volatile memory apparatus and an erasing method thereof. The non-volatile memory apparatus includes a plurality of memory sectors and a control voltage provider. The memory sectors disposed in a same well, wherein, each of the memory sectors includes a plurality of memory cells for respectively receiving a plurality of control line signals. The control voltage provider provides the control line signals to the memory cells of each of the first memory sectors. When an erasing operation is operated, one of the memory sectors is selected for erasing and the control voltage provider provides the control line signals of the selected memory sector with an erase control voltage and provides the control line signals of the un-selected memory sectors with a un-erase control voltage, voltage levels of the erase control voltage and the un-erase control voltage are different.
US09424928B2	Nonvolatile memory device including multi-plane A nonvolatile memory device includes a memory cell array including cell strings stacked in a direction orthogonal to a substrate and including a first substring group and a second substring group dividing the cell strings, and an address decoder connected to memory cells of the cell strings via a plurality of word lines and configured to provide operating voltages to the memory cells, wherein the address decoder is disposed between the first substring group and second substring group.
US09424927B2	Memory system, control system and method of predicting lifetime A memory system according to an embodiment may have an integration unit and a prediction unit. The integration unit may detect substrate current flowing through a substrate of a non-volatile memory when the non-volatile memory with a memory cell which has binary or multivalued being the binary or more is written/erased. The integration unit may records an integration value of the detected substrate current into a storage. The prediction unit may predict a lifetime of the non-volatile memory based on the integration value which is recorded on the storage.
US09424923B2	Semiconductor storage device A semiconductor storage device with a novel structure, which can retain stored data even when power is not supplied (i.e., is non-volatile) and has no limitation on the number of write cycles. The semiconductor storage device includes a memory cell array in which a plurality of memory cells are arranged in matrix, a decoder configured to select a memory cell to operate among the plurality of memory cells in accordance with a control signal, and a control circuit configured to select whether to output the control signal to the decoder. In each of the plurality of memory cells, data is held by turning off a selection transistor whose channel region is formed with an oxide semiconductor.
US09424919B2	Semiconductor storage device According to one embodiment, provided is a semiconductor storage device that includes a control circuit to control the voltage that is applied to the memory cell. The control circuit is configured to execute a reset operation that applies a reset voltage of a first polarity to a selected memory cell that is connected to a selected first wire and a selected second wire during a reset operation. The control circuit is configured to execute a cancel operation that applies a cancel voltage of a second polarity that is opposite to the first polarity to an unselected memory cell and at the same time can execute a verify operation that reads out the state of the selected memory cell by applying a readout voltage of the second polarity to the selected memory cell. The cancel voltage and the readout voltage are the same voltage value.
US09424915B2	Non-volatile semiconductor memory device A non-volatile semiconductor memory device includes a cell array layer including a first wire, a memory cell, and a second wire, and a control circuit. When performing set operation for setting the memory cell to a low resistance state, until a resistance value of the memory cell becomes lower than a predetermined resistance value, the control circuit repeating: applying a first voltage for setting to the memory cell; and a verify read verifying that the resistance value of the memory cell has become lower than the predetermined resistance value. After the verify read, the control circuit applies a second voltage having a different polarity from the first voltage to the memory cell before applying the first voltage that follows.
US09424912B2	Static ram A static RAM includes: a plurality of memory cells provided at intersections of bit line pairs and word lines; a write driver connected between a high potential power source line and a drive line; a column switch including a first transistor pair which connects one of the plurality of bit line pairs to the write driver; and a boost circuit which boosts the drive line to a negative potential, wherein the boost circuit includes: a capacitive element one terminal of which is connected to the drive line, and to the other terminal of which a boost signal is applied; and a boost control transistor connected between the drive line and a reference potential power source line, the boost signal is applied to a gate of the boost control transistor, and the threshold value of the boost control transistor is lower than the threshold value of the first transistor pair.
US09424911B2	Method and apparatus for screening memory cells for disturb failures Embodiments include a method comprising: receiving a first voltage; and while testing a memory cell: modifying the first voltage to generate a second voltage that is different from the first voltage; and performing a first read operation on the memory cell, based on applying (i) the second voltage to an array of transistors of the memory cell and (ii) the first voltage to the memory cell.
US09424908B2	Differential vector storage for dynamic random access memory A storage device stores data in groups of memory cells using vectors corresponding to voltage code codewords, each codeword having k entries. Entries have values selected from a set of at least three entry values and 2n distinct inputs can be encoded into k-entry codewords for some n>k. A vector storage element comprising k cells can store an k electrical quantities (voltage, current, etc.) corresponding to a codeword. The voltage code is such that, for at least one position of a vector, there are at least three vectors having distinct entry values at that position and, for at least a subset of the possible codewords, the sum of the entry values over the positions of each vector is constant from vector to vector in that subset. The storage device might be an integrated circuit device, a discrete memory device, or a device having embedded memory.
US09424904B2	Magnetic memory devices including oxide multiferroic material A magnetic memory device is provided. The magnetic memory device includes a plurality of variable resistance devices connected to a word line, and a plurality of bit lines, each of which provides an electrical pathway between a corresponding one of the variable resistance devices and a read and write circuit. Each of the variable resistance devices includes a free layer and a pinned layer spaced apart from each other and having a tunnel barrier interposed therebetween, an assistant layer spaced apart from the tunnel barrier and having the free layer interposed therebetween, and an exchange coupling layer arranged between the free layer and the assistant layer. The exchange coupling layer has an electric polarization, which results from its ferroelectric property, and having a direction that can be changed by a voltage applied to the corresponding one of the bit lines.
US09424900B2	Area-efficient process-and-temperature-adaptive self-time scheme for performance and power improvement In certain embodiments, a method and apparatus for adjusting the timing of a sense-amplifier read operation in an SRAM integrated memory circuit to overcome process-and-temperature variations are disclosed. A charge-injection pull-up transistor is provided to adjust the rate at which a signal line (e.g., a tracking bit line (TBL) and/or a clock signal (e.g., GCLKB)) transitions from one voltage level to another voltage level. A process-and-temperature-dependent bias circuit is provided to control the charge-injection pull-up transistor. The bias circuit causes the charge-injection pull-up transistor to adjust the discharge rate or transition rate of the signal line to compensate for timing delays caused by process or temperature variations.
US09424899B2	Apparatuses and methods for providing active and inactive clock signals to a command path circuit Apparatuses and methods for providing active and inactive clock signals to a command path circuit are described. An example method includes providing an active clock signal to a command path for a first portion of a command cycle for a command of back-to-back commands. The command path decodes the command and provides an output command signal responsive to the clock signal. The method further includes providing an inactive clock signal to the command path for a second portion of the command cycle for the command of the back-to-back commands.
US09424890B2	Semiconductor device and driving method thereof A semiconductor device capable of inhibiting incorrect data readout is provided. In a memory cell including a first transistor, a second transistor, and a third transistor, the potential of a fourth wiring is set to GND when data is written, and the potential is set to VDD when data is read out, for example. Note that the potential of a third wiring is set to GND when data is written and when data is read out, for example. When data is read out, the first transistor is off, so that a first capacitor and a fourth capacitor are connected in series. The potential of a second electrode of the second capacitor increases in this state, and thus part of charges accumulated in the second capacitor transfers to the first capacitor, so that the potential of a node increases.
US09424883B2	Method and apparatus for editing a video and/or audio program The present invention provides a method and apparatus for editing an audio/video program. The method comprises the steps of acquiring the description information of two program segments of the program, the program segments being in sequence in playing order, the description information comprising the ending description information of the previous program segment and the start point information of the subsequent program segment, generating a guiding information to guide the ending point information to the start point information according to the description information and playing order of the program segments and updating the description information of the program according to the guiding information. With this invention, excessively detailed application editing work and an expense of high buffering cost may be avoided in editing compact disc program.
US09424877B2	Variable stopwrite threshold A method according to one embodiment includes determining whether a current position error signal sample exceeds a stopwrite threshold, disabling writing in response to determining that the current position error signal sample exceeds the stopwrite threshold, and enabling writing in response to determining that the current position error signal sample does not exceed the stopwrite threshold.
US09424876B2	Systems and methods for sync mark mis-detection protection The present inventions are related to systems and methods for data processing, and more particularly to systems and methods for detecting patterns in a data stream. As an example, a data processing system is discussed that includes a sync mark detection circuit and a sync quality output circuit. The sync mark detection circuit is operable to identify a predefined pattern in a received data set, where identification of the predefined pattern results is asserting a sync found output, and where a preamble pattern precedes the predefined pattern in the received data set. The sync quality output circuit is operable to provide a sync mark quality metric indicating a similarity between the preamble pattern and the received data set within a region preceding the predefined pattern.
US09424874B2	Information recording medium and method for reproducing the same An information recording medium (10) including a first region (11) in which medium identification information has been recorded, a data region (13), and a second region (12) which is positioned between the first region (11) and the data region (13) and in which control information has been recorded, in which an area of the first region (11) is greater than an area of the second region (12) in size.
US09424872B1	Imprint template for patterned recording media Provided herein is an apparatus including a rectangular array of rectangular protrusions in a first region corresponding to a data region; and a hexagonal array of circular protrusions in a second region corresponding to a servo region, wherein a first global protrusion density for the first region is greater than a second global protrusion density for the second region. Also provided herein is a method including forming a first template; forming a second template; and cross-imprinting the first template and the second template to form a third template corresponding to the foregoing apparatus.
US09424868B1	Data storage device employing spindle motor driving profile during seek to improve power performance A data storage device is disclosed comprising a spindle motor configured to rotate a disk, wherein the spindle motor comprises a plurality of windings, and a head actuated over the disk. The windings of the spindle motor are commutated based on a commutation sequence while applying a periodic driving voltage to each winding. During a seek operation to seek the head a seek length, an amplitude of the periodic driving voltage is adjusted according to a driving profile corresponding to the seek length, wherein the driving profile compensates for a power disturbance during the seek operation.
US09424867B2	Excitation of a near-field transducer using combined transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes A method involves receiving light from a light source at a fundamental transverse electric (TE00) mode or a fundamental transverse magnetic (TM00) mode. A waveguide polarization multiplexes the light to a combined mode that includes the TM00 mode and a first higher-order transverse electric (TE10) mode. A near-field transducer is excited via the light at the combined mode.
US09424862B2	Apparatuses, methods and systems for a digital conversation management platform The APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A DIGITAL CONVERSATION MANAGEMENT PLATFORM (“DCM-Platform”) transforms digital dialog from consumers, client demands and, Internet search inputs via DCM-Platform components into tradable digital assets, and client needs based artificial intelligence campaign plan outputs. In one implementation, The DCM-Platform may capture and examine conversations between individuals and artificial intelligence conversation agents. These agents may be viewed as assets. One can measure the value and performance of these agents by assessing their performance and ability to generate revenue from prolonging conversations and/or ability to effect sales through conversations with individuals.
US09424860B2	Mixer with adaptive post-filtering A noise reduction system includes multiple transducers that generate time domain signals. A transforming device transforms the time domain signals into frequency domain signals. A signal mixing device mixes the frequency domain signals according to a mixing ratio. Frequency domain signals are rotated in phase to generate phase rotated signals. A post-processing device attenuates portions of the output based on coherence levels of the signals.
US09424857B2	Encoding method and apparatus, and decoding method and apparatus An encoding method of an encoder is provided. The encoder generates first MDCT coefficients by transforming an input signal, and generates MDCT indices by quantizing the first MDCT coefficients. The encoder generates second MDCT coefficients by dequantizing the MDCT indices, and calculates MDCT residual coefficients using differences between the first MDCT coefficients and the second MDCT coefficients. The encoder generates a residual index by encoding the MDCT residual coefficients, and generates gain indices corresponding to gains from the first MDCT coefficients and the second MDCT coefficients.
US09424846B2	Segment-based speaker verification using dynamically generated phrases Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for verifying an identity of a user. The methods, systems, and apparatus include actions of receiving a request for a verification phrase for verifying an identity of a user. Additional actions include, in response to receiving the request for the verification phrase for verifying the identity of the user, identifying subwords to be included in the verification phrase and in response to identifying the subwords to be included in the verification phrase, obtaining a candidate phrase that includes at least some of the identified subwords as the verification phrase. Further actions include providing the verification phrase as a response to the request for the verification phrase for verifying the identity of the user.
US09424845B2	Speaker verification in a health monitoring system A method for verifying that a person is registered to use a telemedical device includes identifying an unprompted trigger phrase in words spoken by a person and received by the telemedical device. The telemedical device prompts the person to state a name of a registered user and optionally prompts the person to state health tips for the person. The telemedical device verifies that the person is the registered user using utterance data generated from the unprompted trigger phrase, name of the registered user, and health tips.
US09424841B2	Hotword detection on multiple devices Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for hotword detection on multiple devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of receiving, by a computing device, audio data that corresponds to an utterance. The actions further include determining a likelihood that the utterance includes a hotword. The actions further include determining a loudness score for the audio data. The actions further include based on the loudness score, determining an amount of delay time. The actions further include, after the amount of delay time has elapsed, transmitting a signal that indicates that the computing device will initiate speech recognition processing on the audio data.
US09424836B2	Privacy-sensitive speech model creation via aggregation of multiple user models Techniques disclosed herein include systems and methods for privacy-sensitive training data collection for updating acoustic models of speech recognition systems. In one embodiment, the system locally creates adaptation data from raw audio data. Such adaptation can include derived statistics and/or acoustic model update parameters. The derived statistics and/or updated acoustic model data can then be sent to a speech recognition server or third-party entity. Since the audio data and transcriptions are already processed, the statistics or acoustic model data is devoid of any information that could be human-readable or machine readable such as to enable reconstruction of audio data. Thus, such converted data sent to a server does not include personal or confidential information. Third-party servers can then continually update speech models without storing personal and confidential utterances of users.
US09424835B2	Statistical unit selection language models based on acoustic fingerprinting Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for providing statistical unit selection language modeling based on acoustic fingerprinting. The methods, systems and apparatus include the actions of obtaining a unit database of acoustic units and, for each acoustic unit, linguistic data corresponding to the acoustic unit; obtaining stored data associating each acoustic unit with (i) a corresponding acoustic fingerprint and (ii) a probability of the linguistic data corresponding to the acoustic unit occurring in a text corpus; determining that the unit database of acoustic units has been updated to include one or more new acoustic units; for each new acoustic unit in the updated unit database: generating an acoustic fingerprint for the new acoustic unit; identifying an acoustic unit that (i) has an acoustic fingerprint that is indicated as similar to the fingerprint of the new acoustic unit, and (ii) has a stored associated probability.
US09424824B2	System and method for sound augmentation of acoustic musical instruments A sound capture device is affixed to an acoustic instrument to capture the natural sound output of the instrument. The captured sound signal is routed to an electronic sound augmentation system that is configured to augment the captured sound with spatial sound effects such as reverb, echo, delay, etc. The processed and augmented sound is then reproduced via a vibrating driver that has been affixed to the body of the acoustic instrument. This creates a situation where the body of the musical instrument, responding to a series of vibrations produced by the vibrating driver, acts as a speaker component, reproducing a rich augmented sound output that comprises the sum of the sound produced by the original sound production capabilities of the acoustical instrument plus the added augmented or enhanced sound effects.
US09424813B2	Interactive flyer system An interactive flyer system is disclosed. The system includes a flyer image tiler for creating a flyer image tile set, the set including multiple copies of a flyer image segmented into a plurality of flyer image tiles with each copy representing the flyer image at one of a plurality of zoom levels, wherein a copy of the multiple copies is configured to fit within a viewport having a resolution, and a flyer image tile store for storing the flyer image tile set. There is also disclosed a method for displaying the interactive digital flyer.
US09424812B2	Method and electronic apparatus for achieving translation of a screen display interface A method and an electronic apparatus for achieving translation of a screen display interface are provided. The method comprises: sensing a first operation action of a user on a sensing screen; generating a first operation instruction when the first operation action is sensed; determining whether the first operation instructions belongs to a translation instruction that is preset for translating the display interface; if determining the first operation instruction belongs to the translation instruction, translating the screen display interface to a preset region by a preset distance towards a direction of an action region according to the first operation instruction for displaying, where the action region is a position region mapping the first operation action to the sensing screen. In this way, the present disclosure can allow a user to operate the full screen of a large sensing screen with a single bond.
US09424811B2	Digital collage creation kit A digital collage creation kit is provided. The digital collage creation kit may include a digital photo cutter, a digital stamper, and a digital transforming tool. The digital photo cutter, the digital stamper, and the digital transforming tool may be configured to interact with a touch-screen surface of a computing device executing the digital collage creation kit application. Upon executing the digital collage creation kit application by the computing device, the digital collage creation kit may generate a digital collage creation environment, in which a digital collage may be created based on input received from one or more of the digital photo cutter, the digital stamper, and the digital transforming tool.
US09424803B2	Liquid crystal display panel and method of driving the same A liquid-crystal display (LCD) panel is disclosed. The LCD panel includes a plurality of pixel units arranged in a matrix, each pixel unit including at least two adjacent pixel sub-units. The LCD panel also includes a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of data lines, each pixel sub-unit being connected to one scan line and to one data line. The LCD panel also includes a driving circuit connected with the scan lines and the data lines, where the driving circuit is configured to drive each of the pixel sub-units via the scan lines and the data lines.
US09424801B2	Display control device, non-transitory computer readable medium storing display control program, and color value data structure Provided is a display control device causing a display unit to display plural color charts constituting a color sample used when obtaining color reproduction characteristics of the display unit, which densely include a color in which all values of two color components are set to be a minimum value or a maximum value of the values of the respective color components, in colors in which a value of one color component out of plural color components in a color space of the display unit is set to be a minimum value or a maximum value of the value of the color component.
US09424797B1	Driving electro-optic displays The technology described in this document may be embodied in a method for controlling a display element. The method includes setting a first drive voltage configured to drive a first terminal of the display element such that the first drive voltage is set to a higher value than a second drive voltage configured to drive a second terminal of the display element. The first and second drive voltages can be configured to cause the display element to present a first display state. The method also includes performing adjustments to the first drive voltage and the second drive voltage such that the first drive voltage is less than the second drive voltage. The adjustments are configured in accordance with whether the display element is to present a second display state different from the first display state.
US09424796B2	Circuit for eliminating shut down image sticking and array substrate comprising the circuit The present disclosure relates to a field of display technique, and particularly to a circuit and an array substrate for eliminating shutting-down image sticking, which may eliminate the image sticking generated after a display apparatus is shut down. The circuit comprises a charging module and a discharging module; the discharging module is connected with a first voltage terminal, and is used for storing charges under a control of a first voltage signal input from the first voltage terminal; the discharging module is connected with the charging module and a second voltage terminal, and is used for providing the charges stored by the charging module to gate lines under a control of a second voltage signal input from the second voltage terminal.
US09424786B2	Liquid crystal display device A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate including gate lines and a storage capacitance line, a first source line and a second source line, a main pixel electrode which has a strip shape, a sub-pixel electrode which is continuous with the main pixel electrode and has a strip shape extending toward the first source line and the second source line, and a first alignment film, a second substrate including second main common electrodes extending on both sides of the main pixel electrode, second sub-common electrodes which are continuous with the second main common electrodes and extend on both sides of the sub-pixel electrode, and a second alignment film, and a liquid crystal layer held between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US09424785B2	Electric optical apparatus, driving method thereof and electronic device An electric optical apparatus including a display section in which an electric optical material is pinched between a pair of substrates and a plurality of pixels is arranged, wherein the display section is provided with a scanning line, a data line and a power-supply line that are connected to each of the pixels, and each of the pixels is provided with a pixel electrode, a driving transistor that is connected between the pixel electrode and the power-supply line, a capacitance for modulation that is connected between a gate of the driving transistor and the data line, a maintenance capacitance that connects one side electrode to the gate of the driving transistor, and a transistor for correction that is connected to a diode and in which one side terminal thereof is connected to the gate of the driving transistor.
US09424778B2	Drive circuit, driving method, display unit, and electronic apparatus A drive section driving a plurality of pixel circuits by line-sequential scanning is provided. On a plurality of the pixel circuits belonging to one horizontal line, the above-described drive section performs a first preparation drive based on a first voltage in a first preparation period, then performs a second preparation drive based on the first voltage in a second preparation period, and performs writing of luminance information in a subsequent writing period. The second preparation period ends at a timing out of the first preparation periods of other horizontal lines.
US09424772B2	High resolution low power consumption OLED display with extended lifetime Arrangements of pixel components that allow driving three or less of four or more sub-pixels to emit an original color signal are disclosed. A first projection of the original color signal may be projected onto the two sub-pixel's color space. The first projection may then be projected onto a second projection corresponding to the color space of a third pixel. The third pixel may be driven based on the second projection only two of the remaining at least three sub-pixels may be driven based on the third pixel being driven.
US09424761B2	Medical simulation system and method with configurable anatomy model manufacturing Simulation systems and methods may enable medical training. A manufacturing unit may receive data from a configuration unit indicating identification and manufacturing parameters for an anatomy model. A data processing unit may receive data from the configuration unit identifying the anatomy model, and data from a calibration unit indicating a position and/or orientation of a position and orientation sensor relative to the anatomy model. The data processing unit may also receive data from the position and orientation sensor indicating a position and/or orientation of the anatomy model. The data processing unit may generate a virtual image using the data from the position and orientation sensor, the data from the calibration unit, and the data from the configuration unit. The data processing unit may render the virtual image to a display.
US09424756B2	Visual flight rules approach to airports A method includes receiving visual flight rules (VFR) data and determining a suggested path of approach for an aircraft based on the VFR data. The suggested path of approach may correspond to a flight path of the aircraft to a runway of an airport. The method includes highlighting a representation of the suggested path of approach at a display device.
US09424752B1	Methods and systems for performing fleet planning based on coarse estimates of regions Example methods and systems for performing fleet planning based on coarse estimates of regions is provided. A method may include receiving information indicative of a sequence of coverage requirements for a region over a period of time. For one or more time intervals of the period of time, the method may include dividing the region over which vehicles of the plurality of vehicles may traverse into a plurality of sub-regions such that for each subsequent time interval a size of a given sub-region increases. The method includes at each of the one or more time intervals of the period of time, determining vehicles of the plurality of vehicles that can reach a given landmark in a given sub-region by an end of the one or more time intervals, and based on the sequence of coverage requirements, generating a fleet plan for the time intervals based on the determined vehicles.
US09424740B2	Monitoring system and method A system for monitoring an area is provided. The system comprises a plurality of stationary sensors that can sense events and comprise a wireless output signal broadcast capability for transmitting output signals from the stationary sensors by a wireless communication protocol. The system further comprises gateway units connected to a wired backbone network and configured to transmit information relating to the output signals of the stationary sensors by a wired communication protocol, and a base station connected to the wired backbone network configured to receive the information transmitted by the gateway units on the wired communication protocol and to time-stamp the events signaled by the stationary sensors. The monitored area comprises sub-areas, and a group of stationary sensors are assigned to each of the sub-areas and to a gateway unit for directly receiving the output signals from the group of stationary sensors.
US09424735B2	Method and apparatus for hand disinfection quality control Method and apparatus for hand disinfection quality control comprising the steps of providing hand disinfection medium comprising light reflecting particles responsive to light mostly outside the visible spectral range of light, applying the hand disinfection medium comprising the light reflecting particles in a prescribed manner for a prescribed time, illuminating the disinfected hands with a light source providing light in a spectral range for activating the reflecting particles. The method further comprises providing digital images of the hands from both sides, determining the concentration of reflecting particles, comparing determined concentration values with a predetermined threshold value corresponding to acceptable hand cleanness, and determining whether the quality of disinfection is acceptable or not according to the result of comparison. In the method according to the invention for each person individual threshold value is stored, and the concentration value determined during measuring is compared with the individual threshold value.
US09424733B2	Protection device The invention relates to a device for securing objects against unauthorized removal. To this aim, the device (26) comprises an alarm electronics unit (1) having a motion sensor (3), an environmental brightness sensor (4), and an alarm signal transmitter (5). The alarm electronics unit (1) is designed so that the ambient brightness sensor (4) is activated by the detection of a movement. However, alarm release occurs only if the ambient brightness measured at the ambient brightness sensor (4) exceeds a predetermined brightness threshold, and the movement last continuously for a predetermined time span. The alarm activation occurs only if the ambient brightness falls below a predetermined darkness threshold and the movement continues to persist.
US09424732B2	Detached accessory notification One embodiment provides a method comprising: associating, using a processor, an accessory with an information handling device; detecting, using a processor, a trigger event associated with the information handling device; determining, using a processor, the accessory is no longer within a predetermined proximity to the information handling device; and providing, using a processor, a notification to a user. Other aspects are described and claimed.
US09424730B2	Device for providing directional guidance while swimming The present invention is generally directed to a device that provides haptic, auditory and/or visual indications representing a swimmer's deviation from an intended path. Visual indications can be displayed on one or more lenses of the swimmer's goggles. In this way, the swimmer can receive continuous guidance to swim in a desired direction without lifting his head to sight. The device can be configured as a base unit that can be worn on the head and an eyepiece that is attached to a lens of the swimmer's goggles. The eyepiece can include one or more LEDs for displaying the visual indications based on information received from the base unit.
US09424727B2	Baby sleeping position reminder A device and method to remind parents to regularly alternate the head position of a sleeping baby in order to prevent or minimize positional plagiocephaly. The device comprises a display area displaying a plurality of suggested head positions and at least one user-selectable indicator for selecting a first one of said plurality of suggested head positions. The user-selectable indicator is coupled with a source of illumination for maintaining visual indication of said first head position until the user manually selects a second head position or the device is turned off. The device further comprises a processor coupled with memory configured to store the user-selected head position which is visually indicated upon deactivation of said source illumination. The processor can then be configured to cause said source of illumination to blink indicating the user-selected head position stored in said memory upon the device being powered on.
US09424724B2	Single turn magnetic drive loop for electronic article surveillance A single turn loop electronic article surveillance (EAS) gate. The gate includes a closed magnetic core, a multi-turn primary winding wound around the core, and a secondary loop passing through the core once. The secondary loop is a self-supporting single turn loop, and the secondary loop is a transmit loop that generates a magnetic drive field for the article detection gate system.
US09424719B2	Gaming system and method for sudoku-based game A gaming system and method for administering a Sudoku-based game is provided that includes at least one engine for randomly generating a Sudoku puzzle, at least one first module for modifying the generated Sudoku puzzle into a game puzzle, at least one second module for permuting the game puzzle for each player, and at least one system for providing a game puzzle to each player and administering a gaming game from the game puzzle provided to each player.
US09424717B2	Methods and systems for providing a parlay card sweepstakes opportunity A parlay card sweepstakes opportunity is presented to a player via a web site hosted by a computer system. The parlay card sweepstakes opportunity may include one or more player-selectable parameters for the selection of previously generated pre-populated parlay cards associated with the sweepstakes opportunity. The pre-populated parlay cards may be stored in a data store that is accessed upon receiving a parameter selection from the player. The pre-populated parlay cards include a plurality of events as well as predicted outcomes for these events. A particular pre-populated parlay card may be selected from the plurality of previously generated pre-populated parlay cards and presented to the player via the web site. Actual outcome information regarding events included in the pre-populated parlay card may then be received and a prize may be presented to the player based a combined actual outcome of the plurality of events included on the pre-populated parlay card.
US09424714B2	Casino game with next round multipliers A player plays a first round of a casino slot machine game. If the player achieves a winning outcome on the first round of play, the payouts for the next round of play of the casino game will be increased. The amount of the increase is based on the category of the winning outcome on the first round of play. Each subsequent round of play continues to have increased payouts if the player continues to achieve winning outcomes. When the player has a losing outcome, the payouts revert to the base level. An extra wager may be required from the player to activate this feature during the play of the casino game.
US09424705B1	Money handling apparatus A money handling apparatus is constituted by a mechanical processing unit configured to mechanically process money, and a manually-handled money storage unit for storing money by a manual handling. The mechanical processing unit includes an inlet for receiving money, a recognition and counting unit configured to recognize and count the money that has been received in the inlet, a mechanically-processed money storage unit configured to store the money, an outlet to which the money fed from the mechanically-processed money storage unit is discharged, and a money transport unit configured to connect these units and portions. The manually-handled money storage unit is not connected to the money transport unit of the mechanical processing unit, and has a structure in which money to be manually managed can be directly stored therein by hand and the stored money can be directly taken out therefrom by hand.
US09424703B2	System to classify an item of value A handling apparatus comprising an offset sampling module and a digital processing module is described herein. The offset sampling module is configured to provide a sampled signal by sampling at least one signal at a sampling frequency that is offset from a fundamental frequency of the signal by an offset factor; and the digital processing module configured to convert the sampled signal into a frequency domain signal. The handling apparatus further includes an authentication module to determine at least one characteristic property based at least on the frequency domain signal; and to classify the inserted item of value based on the determination.
US09424697B2	Apparatus, method and article for a power storage device compartment A network of collection, charging and distribution machines collect, charge and distribute portable electrical energy storage devices (e.g., batteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors). To allow easy and convenient access to empty portable electrical energy storage device compartments within the vehicles, if the vehicle comes within the vicinity of a collection, charging and distribution machine or other authorized external device such as a key fob or other wireless device of a user, an empty portable electrical energy storage device compartment that is closed or locked, is unlocked, unlatched or opened automatically. Also, if the portable electrical energy storage device compartment is in another desired state to have the compartment unlocked, such as having a portable electrical energy storage device in the compartment that has a charge level below a particular threshold, the compartment will likewise be unlocked, unlatched or opened automatically.
US09424696B2	Virtual trainer for in vehicle driver coaching and to collect metrics to improve driver performance A method of providing visual feedback to a driver based on data collected during vehicle operation. A processor at the vehicle analyzes vehicle data, and determines when predetermined threshold values have been reached for particular parameters. Whenever such a threshold is reached, a visual alert is presented to the driver. Certain parameters have at least two threshold values. When a first threshold value is reached, an alert is presented to the driver, but no data is recorded or reported. When a second threshold value is reached, another alert is presented to the driver, and data is recorded for reporting to a driver manager or supervisor. The tiered threshold approach provides a warning to a driver, such that if they correct the behavior triggering the warning, their supervisor is never notified of that behavior. However, if the behavior escalates, and the second threshold is breached, the behavior is recorded.
US09424693B2	Maintenance planning optimization for repairable items based on prognostics and health monitoring data Maintenance interventions are planned using RUL (Remaining Useful Life) estimations obtained from a PHM (Prognostics and Health Monitoring) system as well as estimations of spare parts availability. PHM information is used to verify whether spare parts will be available when the next failures are expected to occur, and expected RUL of a component or system based on a set of measurements collected from the aircraft systems can be used to schedule repair times that do not conflict with other repairs to avoid wait time and maximize repair shop capacity utilization.
US09424692B2	Systems and methods for transit industry vehicle hardware-agnostic communication Systems and methods for hardware-agnostic communication between one or more mobile data terminals and one or more vehicle logic units, where a vehicle logic unit can communicate with one or more inputs from a transit industry vehicle and create an abstraction interface capable of being processed by multiple mobile data terminal hardware platforms—meaning that each vehicle logic unit can communicate with multiple mobile data terminals, and each mobile data terminal can communicate with multiple vehicle logic units.
US09424691B2	Parking meter communications for remote payment with updated display A parking meter receives data indicative of a remote payment being completed and displays an amount of time purchased by the remote payment for a parking session. The parking meter determines an amount of time remaining in the parking session and powers down at least a portion of a meter communication subsystem subsequent to receiving the data indicative of the remote payment being completed. The parking meter wakes up the powered down portion of the communication subsystem upon determining that the amount of time remaining is below a threshold time, and can receive an indication of additional time being paid for remotely, and can update the displayed time remaining to reflect the additional time.
US09424688B2	Method for displaying a virtual world in which the avatar of a user of a virtual-reality service evolves The invention pertains to a method for displaying a virtual world in which the avatar of a user of a virtual reality service evolves, said method being operative to use a standard mode for displaying said virtual world, to identify objects visible to the avatar within the displayed virtual world, and, for at least one of said identified objects, to determine whether a relationship exists within the virtual reality service's social network between said object and the user, and if so, to determine a display mode to apply to said object depending on said relationship, the display of said object being altered by applying said determined mood.
US09424685B2	Unified rasterization and ray tracing rendering environments A graphics processor architecture provides for scan conversion and ray tracing approaches to visible surface determination as concurrent and separate processes. Surfaces can be identified for shading by scan conversion and ray tracing. Data produced by each can be normalized, so that instances of shaders, being executed on a unified shading computation resource, can shade surfaces originating from both ray tracing and rasterization. Such resource also may execute geometry shaders. The shaders can emit rays to be tested for intersection by the ray tracing process. Such shaders can complete, without waiting for those emitted rays to complete. Where scan conversion operates on tiles of 2-D screen pixels, the ray tracing can be tile aware, and controlled to prioritize testing of rays based on scan conversion status. Ray population can be controlled by feedback to any of scan conversion, and shading.
US09424678B1	Method for teleconferencing using 3-D avatar A method for implementing teleconferences when at least one participant receives 3-D data. A data rendering device presents data in a 3-D format or in pseudo 3-D format. A 3-D image is formed on a user computer system. The 3-D presentation is calculated by a local computer system. A block of user avatars is formed on the local computer system for all teleconference participants (including a local participant). The participant avatar includes a kinetic model (joints, muscles, body parts, etc.). The avatar includes a participant's behavior model (gestures, fingers, mimics, etc). The avatar also includes an avatar skin. The avatar skin includes a stable (unchangeable) part of the participant containing face and visible body parts, as well as modifiable parts (e.g., clothes, shoes, accessories, etc.).
US09424677B2	Efficient method of producing an animated sequence of images A computer-based method of generating an animated sequence of images eliminates inefficiencies associated with a lighting process. The method begins with the provision of a frame for the animation sequence. The frame includes at least one asset, which may be a character, background, or other object. The frame is rendered to thereby produce a set of images each based upon a different lighting condition. The frame is then composited during which a subset of the images are selected from the set and then adjusted. Settings such as intensity and color balance are adjusted for each of the subset of images.
US09424672B2	Method and apparatus for processing and aligning data point clouds An approach is provided to efficiently and accurately process and align of one or more portions of a plurality of data point clouds. A processing platform may cause a segmentation of at least one first geo-registered point cloud and at least one second geo-registered point cloud based, at least in part, on an application of a ground surface threshold to one or more respective points in the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud. The processing platform may further cause a processing and/or facilitating a processing of the one or more respective points that are above the ground surface threshold to determine a horizontal offset for a horizontal alignment of the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud. The processing platform may also cause a processing and/or facilitating a processing of the one or more respective points that are below the ground surface threshold to determine a vertical offset for a vertical alignment of the at least one first geo-registered point cloud and the at least one second geo-registered point cloud.
US09424666B2	Medical imaging apparatus and method of reconstructing medical image A method of reconstructing a tomographic image in a medical imaging apparatus includes: acquiring a first image of an object and a second image of the object corresponding to an image to be reconstructed; determining, in the first image, a reference region corresponding to a unit region in the second image; and updating data in the unit region based on data contained in the reference region. Thus, a medical image having both high spatial resolution and high temporal resolution is reconstructed to have substantially reduced artifacts.
US09424664B2	Image processing apparatus An image processing apparatus that generates contour information of an image object included in input image data and compresses image data using the contour information includes a smoothing processing part that performs a smoothing process on the input image data; a contour extraction part that extracts the contour information of the image object included in the image data on which the smoothing process is performed; and a contour correction part that corrects the contour information extracted by the contour extraction part.
US09424649B1	Moving body position estimation device and moving body position estimation method An evaluation value calculation unit is configured to compare an edge image and virtual image for each particle, assigns a higher evaluation value if there are more overlapping edges between the images, and assigns a higher evaluation value if there are more edges that are not overlapping edges and for which an edge-to-edge distance, which is the distance between an edge in the edge image and an edge in the virtual image, is less than or equal to a prescribed value. A position and orientation estimation unit is configured to estimate the position of a vehicle based on the evaluation value for each particle.
US09424638B2	Apparatus and method for analyzing medical image An apparatus for analyzing a medical image includes an image receiving unit configured to receive two or more medical images from a medical device; a image registration unit configured to register the two or more received medical images; an overlapped area detecting unit configured to detect overlapped areas in the two or more registered medical images; and a lesion analyzing unit configured to analyze lesions in the two or more registered medical images by employing different analysis techniques in the detected overlapped areas.
US09424634B2	Machine vision system for identifying and sorting projectiles and other objects A machine vision system for automatically identifying and inspecting objects is disclosed, including composable vision-based recognition modules and a decision algorithm to perform the final determination on object type and quality. This vision system has been used to develop a Projectile Identification System and an Automated Tactical Ammunition Classification System. The technology can be used to create numerous other inspection and automated identification systems.
US09424631B2	Device and method for calculating dynamic variation of object There is provided a device for calculating dynamic variation of an object, comprising: an enhancement processing unit that adjusts brightness of a pixel determined to indicate a particle dispersed in the object in at least two (2) images generated for the object at different time points; and a calculating unit that calculates dynamic variation of the object based on correlation of the different two (2) images processed by the enhancement processing unit. Herein, the enhancement processing unit sets brightness of a pixel having brightness with a threshold value or higher for each of the images to reference brightness higher than the threshold value.
US09424614B2	Updating distribution management system model responsive to real-time asset identification and location inputs Models of a distribution network grid are automatically updated in response to real-time location data of uniquely identified temporary devices. Current geographical coordinates are determined within a distance tolerance that is selected as a function of a type of device indicated by the identity indicia. The geographical information system model is updated with a location of a unique identity of the device at the determined current geographical coordinates within the distance tolerance if unique identity of the device not already present within the geographical information system model, or if it is present and a displacement distance from the determined current geographical coordinates of the temporary device to existing geographic coordinates that are stored in the geographical information system model in association with the unique device identity exceeds a specified distance margin.
US09424607B2	Systems and methods for insurance based upon status of vehicle software A vehicle may be configured to determine a characteristic of a software program operating on the vehicle. The characteristic may be provided to an insurer, and the insurer may determine a property of an insurance policy based on the characteristic. The characteristic may be, for example, a feature, a setting, and/or a version of the software program. The insurer may indicate to a vehicle operator and/or owner how changing the characteristic may affect the property of the insurance policy. The insurance policy may be formalized and agreed to by the insurer and/or the insured. The vehicle may also or instead save pre-collision status data, such adjustable parameters, internal variables, dynamic decisions, and/or identification of a software program, when a collision is detected. The pre-collision status data may be used to diagnose problems with the software program, determine fault, and/or determine future properties of insurance policies.
US09424605B2	Creation of customized transactional cards Methods, systems, and products create credit cards, debit cards, and other transactional cards. An image is received and provided on a transactional card. Account information is retrieved and associated with the transactional card. A machine-readable element is also provided on the transactional card and includes the account information.
US09424602B2	Order receiving system and order receiving method The present invention provides an order receiving system includes an order receiving unit that receives an order for an item from a customer terminal; an information obtaining unit that obtains reference information for determining a condition for starting preparation for provision of the item; a start condition setting unit that sets the condition for starting preparation for provision of the item whose order has been received by the order receiving unit, based on a content of the order and the reference information; and a condition determining unit that determines, after receiving the order for the item by the order receiving unit, whether the condition determined by the start condition setting unit is satisfied. When the condition determining unit determines that the condition is satisfied, the transmitting unit of the wireless center module transmits a preparation start instruction signal to the wireless headset.
US09424594B2	System for targeting location-based communications Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods and computer program products for providing targeted location-based communications. An exemplary apparatus is configured to receive an encoded signal, decode the encoded signal such that embedded data is retrieved, send the embedded data a remote server; and receive a message based at least partially on sending the embedded data. Another exemplary apparatus is configured to provide the encoded signal by receiving data input, receiving a host signal, embedding the data input within the host signal such that an encoded signal is generated, and transmitting the encoded signal. A third exemplary apparatus is configured to provide the targeted communications by storing one or more messages associated with an entity, receiving data, selecting at least one of the one or more messages based at least partially on the data received, and sending the at least one of the one or more messages selected.
US09424591B2	Method and system for providing interactive advertisement customization A system and method may include providing a media stream via a network, the media stream comprising one or more advertisement content segments, identifying aggregate information associated with a viewer, assigning the one or more advertisement content segments to one or more categories and a category score associated with the one or more categories, filtering the one or more advertisement content segments based at least in part on the one or more categories, the category score associated with the one or more categories and the aggregate information associated with the viewer, and outputting the filtered one or more advertisement content segments to the viewer.
US09424583B2	Differential trials in augmented reality Techniques for displaying virtual objects on devices in differential situations are provided. Augmented reality authoring ensures that users have a consistent experience with virtual objects, including augmented reality images, by delivering the same versions of the virtual objects to devices that are close in terms, for instance, of at least distance and/or time. Devices that are not sufficiently close may receive different versions of the virtual object, thus ensuring that the users of devices that are sufficiently near each other do not experience different versions of the virtual object.
US09424579B2	System for group supervision A system includes one or more computer systems configured to receive a plurality of information streams from a corresponding plurality of client systems that have a defined geographic position, analyze the information feeds, generate messages based on the analysis of the information feeds, generate positional information associated with the messages, and generate a set of informational depictions of the generated messages, with the informational depictions of the messages when rendered on a display device are rendered in juxtaposition with representations of the client systems according to the generated positional information.
US09424573B2	Batch settlement transactions system and method Systems and methods for performing settlement of token access transactions are provided. In one embodiment, the invention provides for batch processing bank card transactions, including receiving transaction records for a plurality of bank card transactions, wherein at least some of the transaction records include encrypted token information; determining whether the transaction records contain encrypted token information; decrypting the encrypted token information for a transaction record that is determined to have encrypted token information; and providing clear text token information obtained by decrypting the encrypted token information for a transaction record for transaction settlement.
US09424568B2	Financial-transaction notifications To facilitate conducting a financial transaction via wireless communication between a portable electronic device (such as a smartphone) and another electronic device (such as a point-of-sale terminal), the portable electronic device may, after a final command is received from the other electronic device, determine a unique transaction identifier for the financial transaction. In particular, the final command may be specific to a payment applet, stored in a secure element in the portable electronic device, which conducts the financial transaction. The secure element may generate the unique transaction identifier based on financial-account information associated with the payment applet, which is communicated to the other electronic device. Moreover, the financial-account information may specify a financial account that is used to pay for the financial transaction. Next, the secure element may provide, to a processor in the portable electronic device, an end message for the financial transaction with the unique transaction identifier.
US09424564B2	Interoperable systems and methods for peer-to-peer service orchestration Systems and methods are described for performing policy-managed, peer-to-peer service orchestration in a manner that supports the formation of self-organizing service networks that enable rich media experiences. In one embodiment, services are distributed across peer-to-peer communicating nodes, and each node provides message routing and orchestration using a message pump and workflow collator. Distributed policy management of service interfaces helps to provide trust and security, supporting commercial exchange of value. Peer-to-peer messaging and workflow collation allow services to be dynamically created from a heterogeneous set of primitive services. The shared resources are services of many different types, using different service interface bindings beyond those typically supported in a web service deployments built on UDDI, SOAP, and WSDL. In a preferred embodiment, a media services framework is provided that enables nodes to find one another, interact, exchange value, and cooperate across tiers of networks from WANs to PANs.
US09424557B2	Electronic mail data processing device and method for processing electronic mail data A communication unit connects an e-mail data transfer protocol to transfer e-mail data item via near-field wireless communications with an external device. A retrieval unit retrieves the e-mail data item transferred from the external device when the protocol is connected. A storage unit stores the retrieved e-mail data item. A control unit causes the external device to transfer the e-mail data item in each indication unit of the indication device thereby to cause the storage unit to store the retrieved e-mail data item, when the protocol is connected, and even when a user does not implement a browsing operation of an e-mail list. The control unit further causes an indication device to indicate the e-mail list of the stored e-mail data item when the user implements the browsing operation.
US09424555B2	Virtual conferencing system The present invention provides a virtual conferencing system including a wearable information device to be worn by a user; an environmental information capturing device that captures environmental information; a virtual simulation device that receives the environmental information captured by the environmental information capturing device, calculates simulation conferencing scenes by an intelligence algorithm, and transmits the simulation conferencing scenes to the wearable information device as the user's feedbacks.
US09424551B2	Secure inter-module communication mechanism Methods, apparatuses, and systems directed to facilitating secure, structured interactions between code modules executing within the context of a document processed by a user agent, such as a browser client, that implements a domain security model. In a particular implementation, a module connector script or object loaded into a base document discovers listener modules and sender modules corresponding to different origins or domains, and passes information between them. In this manner, a listener module may consume and use information from a sender module located on the same page simply by having an end-user add both modules to a web page without having to explicitly define any form of interconnection. For example, a photo module may access a user account at a remote photo sharing site, and provide one or more photos to a module that renders the photographs in a slide show.
US09424537B2	System and method for item-based economy in a virtual world There is provided a system and method for an item-based economy in a virtual world. There is provided a server for providing an item exchange for a virtual world lacking a common currency for item valuation, comprising a processor configured to receive a request from a client having an inventory to initiate the item exchange, present a user interface on a display of the client for the item exchange, receive a selection of either a second quantity of second items or a third quantity of third items for the item exchange from the client, remove from the inventory of the client a first quantity of tradable items defined by a first exchange value or a second exchange value based on the selection, and add the second quantity of second items or the third quantity of the third items to the inventory of the client based on the selection.
US09424531B2	Machine learning system for assessing heart valves and surrounding cardiovascular tracts A machine learning system for evaluating at least one characteristic of a heart valve, an inflow tract, an outflow tract or a combination thereof may include a training mode and a production mode. The training mode may be configured to train a computer and construct a transformation function to predict an unknown anatomical characteristic and/or an unknown physiological characteristic of a heart valve, inflow tract and/or outflow tract, using a known anatomical characteristic and/or a known physiological characteristic the heart valve, inflow tract and/or outflow tract. The production mode may be configured to use the transformation function to predict the unknown anatomical characteristic and/or the unknown physiological characteristic of the heart valve, inflow tract and/or outflow tract, based on the known anatomical characteristic and/or the known physiological characteristic of the heart valve, inflow tract and/or outflow tract.
US09424522B2	Information processing systems, reasoning modules, and reasoning system design methods Information processing systems, reasoning modules, and reasoning system design methods are described. According to one aspect, an information processing system includes working memory comprising a semantic graph which comprises a plurality of abstractions, wherein the abstractions individually include an individual which is defined according to an ontology and a reasoning system comprising a plurality of reasoning modules which are configured to process different abstractions of the semantic graph, wherein a first of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a first classification type of the ontology and a second of the reasoning modules is configured to process a plurality of abstractions which include individuals of a second classification type of the ontology, wherein the first and second classification types are different.
US09424520B1	Semantic database driven form validation Embodiments of the present invention provide a means for validating electronic forms using one or more semantic databases. The invention includes processing an electronic form into individual elements and generating entities for the individual elements. The closest matching ontology is found for each entity and the pairings are grouped into a general formal ontology tree. The entities in the general formal ontology tree are traversed using generated rules. This analysis yields validation results that are combined with the original form to create an annotated form.
US09424513B2	Methods and apparatus for neural component memory transfer of a referenced pattern by including neurons to output a pattern substantially the same as the referenced pattern Aspects of the present disclosure support techniques for neural component memory transfer. A pattern in a plurality of afferent neuron outputs can be first referenced with one or more referencing neurons. One or more first relational aspects can be matched, with one or more first relational aspect neurons, between the referenced pattern and an output of the one or more referencing neurons. The referenced pattern can be transferred to one or more transferee neurons by inducing the plurality of afferent neurons to output a pattern substantially the same as the referenced pattern by the one or more referencing neurons.
US09424511B2	Methods and apparatus for unsupervised neural component replay by referencing a pattern in neuron outputs Aspects of the present disclosure support techniques for unsupervised neural component replay. A pattern in a plurality of afferent neuron outputs can be first referenced with one or more referencing neurons. One or more relational aspects can be matched, with one or more relational aspect neurons, between the pattern and an output of the one or more referencing neurons. One or more of the plurality of afferent neurons can be induced to output a pattern that is substantially the same as the referenced pattern by the one or more referencing neurons.
US09424510B2	Adaptive fuzzy rule controlling system for software defined storage system for controlling performance parameter An adaptive fuzzy rule controlling system for a software defined storage (SDS) system to control performance parameters in a storage node is disclosed. The system includes: a traffic monitoring module, for acquiring observed values of performance parameters in the storage node; an adaptive neural fuzzy inference module, for learning a dynamic relationship between configurations of a plurality of storage devices in the storage node and the performance parameters during a period of time, and outputting fuzzy rules which is built according to the dynamic relationship; a traffic forecasting module, for providing forecasted values of the performance parameters in a particular point in time in the future; and a fuzzy rule control module, for arranging the configuration of the storage devices in the storage node in the particular point in time in the future according to the fuzzy rules and the forecasted values.
US09424506B2	E-document comprising an electromagnetic interference element A laminated structure for an E-document, comprising a first support layer defining at least two flat flaps connected by at least one fold line, the first flap supporting an antenna and a microcircuit device enabling contactless data exchange, the second flap supporting an electromagnetic interference element arranged in relation to the microcircuit device so as to be able to oppose contactless reading and/or writing of the microcircuit device in at least one folded configuration of the structure, the structure having at least one heat-activated or pressure-sensitive adhesive layer making it possible to receive the microcircuit device and/or the antenna and/or the electromagnetic interference element at least in part in its thickness, and/or the flaps having at least one layer of an adhesive and/or a fibrous layer and/or a polymer layer having a different thickness for each of the flaps.
US09424504B2	Combining a QR code and an image A QR code is combined with a base image, preserving useful functionalities of both the base image and the QR code. For example, the base image remains clearly visible and recognizable by humans; the transparent QR code remains readable by scanners; machine image search can distinguish the base image from the combined image; and faces of the combined image are usable by machine face recognition programs. A QR code is generated with transparencies for different regions. An inner portion and outer shell portion for each module each may have different transparencies. Inner portion size relative to outer shell size is selectively adjustable. The generated QR code image may be combined with a given base image such as a face or company logo using the transparency values of the QR code image to make the two images appear as overlaid on one another with varying degrees of transparency.
US09424503B2	Structurally encoded component and method of manufacturing structurally encoded component A structurally encoded component stores identification data and comprises a readable body. The readable body comprises at least one detectable element and indicia as a plurality of detectable elements disposed within the structurally encoded component. The indicia are discernible by at least one of x-ray, fluoroscopy, computed tomography, electromagnetic radiation, ultrasound, positron emission tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging.
US09424498B2	Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and recording medium for conversion of vendor-specific print data An information processing apparatus for generating drawing data by using a print job including print data and setting information, includes a description detection unit detecting a characteristic description included in the print data; a conversion unit converting the print data, the characteristic description, and the setting information into an instruction group; and one or more drawing data generation units generating the drawing data by executing the instruction group.
US09424492B2	Weighting scheme for pooling image descriptors A method for generating an image representation includes generating a set of embedded descriptors, comprising, for each of a set of patches of an image, extracting a patch descriptor which is representative of the pixels in the patch and embedding the patch descriptor in a multidimensional space to form an embedded descriptor. An image representation is generated by aggregating the set of embedded descriptors. In the aggregation, each descriptor is weighted with a respective weight in a set of weights, the set of weights being computed based on the patch descriptors for the image. Information based on the image representation is output. At least one of the extracting of the patch descriptors, embedding the patch descriptors, and generating the image representation is performed with a computer processor.
US09424490B2	System and method for classifying pixels Embodiments are disclosed that relate to processing image pixels. For example, one disclosed embodiment provides a system for classifying pixels comprising retrieval logic; a pixel storage allocation including a plurality of pixel slots, each pixel slot being associated individually with a pixel, where the retrieval logic is configured to cause the pixels to be allocated into the pixel slots in an input sequence; pipelined processing logic configured to output, for each of the pixels, classification information associated with the pixel; and scheduling logic configured to control dispatches from the pixel slots to the pipelined processing logic, where the scheduling logic and pipelined processing logic are configured to act in concert to generate the classification information for the pixels in an output sequence that differs from and is independent of the input sequence.
US09424489B2	Automated feature analysis, comparison, and anomaly detection Novel methods and systems for automated data analysis are disclosed. Data can be automatically analyzed to determine features in different applications, such as visual field analysis and comparisons. Anomalies between groups of objects may be detected through clustering of objects.
US09424480B2	Object identification using optical code reading and object recognition An object identification system comprises an optical code reader that scans an optical code of an object and decodes a portion of the optical code. Using the decoded portion of the optical code, a database filter unit generates a filtered subset of feature models from a set of feature models of known objects stored in a database. An image capture device captures an image of the object, and a feature detector unit detects visual features in the image. A comparison unit compares the detected visual features to the filtered subset of feature models to identify a match between the object and a known object.
US09424479B2	Systems and methods for resizing an image In some instances, an image may have dimensions that do not correspond to a slot to display the image. For example, an image content item may have dimensions that do not correspond to a content item slot. The image may be resized using seam carving to add or remove pixels of the image. A saliency map for the image may be used having saliency scores for each pixel of the image. Evaluation metrics may be used before, during, and after, seam carving to determine whether salient content is affected by the seam carving. In some instances, a seam cost threshold value may be used for adaptive step size during the seam carving. The resized image may then be outputted, such as for an image content item to be served with a resource.
US09424474B2	Method for determining the length of a queue Method for determining the length of a queue of objects in a predefined region having at least one entrance and at least one exit, in the course of which errors in the acquisition of objects entering or exiting the region are corrected during the determination of the length of the queue. In a first step, a specific entry signature E of each object entering the predefined region through the at least one entrance is determined with the aid of at least one first image sensor. Thereafter, the specific entry signature E is stored in an entry list of a calculation unit, each entry signature E being provided with an index value i reflecting the temporal sequence of the entries. In addition, a value L reflecting the length of the queue of the objects is increased by one. Furthermore, a specific exit signature A of an object exiting the predefined region through the at least one exit is determined with the aid of at least one second image sensor, the specific exit signature A being stored in an exit list of a calculation unit as exit signature A0 with index value j=0. The index value of exit signatures Aj already present in the exit list is respectively increased by one, and exit signatures Aj which have an index value j that is greater than a predeterminable value M are deleted from the exit list. Subsequently, similarity values Cn for −N≦n≦+N are calculated with the aid of the calculation unit, N being a predeterminable value which defines a specific number N of entry signatures of objects which, before or after the object with the entry signature EL which next exits the predefined region on the basis of the length of the queue L, will exit or have already exited the predefined region. In the process, similarity metrics Umn are respectively calculated between an exit signature Am and an entry signature EL+m+n, M running from 0 to M, and added to Cn. The value L is decremented by the value one. Subsequently, the similarity values Cn are compared with the similarity value C0. The value L is corrected by adding the index value x given the presence of a value Cx with index value n=x that indicates a higher similarity than the similarity value C0.
US09424473B2	Identifying scene boundaries using group sparsity analysis A method for identifying a set of key video frames from a video sequence comprising extracting feature vectors for each video frame and applying a group sparsity algorithm to represent the feature vector for a particular video frame as a group sparse combination of the feature vectors for the other video frames. Weighting coefficients associated with the group sparse combination are analyzed to determine video frame clusters of temporally-contiguous, similar video frames. The video sequence is segmented into scenes by identifying scene boundaries based on the determined video frame clusters.
US09424472B2	Augmented reality information system In various example embodiments, a system and method for providing information in an augmented reality display are provided. In example embodiments, a continuous stream of image data captured by a client device is received. An object within the continuous stream of image data is identified. Based on an identification of the object from the continuous stream of image data, a search for information related to the object is performed. A result is determined by filtering the information related to the object. The result is formatted to be displayed over a real-time image of the object on the client device.
US09424469B2	Differing region detection system and differing region detection method The present invention enables detection of a local differing region between images. Inter-image difference information indicating a difference in feature amounts for each subregion between first and second images is generated based on a first feature amount vector that is a set of feature amounts respectively corresponding to a plurality of subregions in the first image and a second feature amount vector that is a set of feature amounts respectively corresponding to a plurality of subregions in the second image, a differing region that is an image region that differs between the first and second images is detected based on differences in the respective subregions indicated by the inter-image difference information, and detection information that indicates a result of the detection is outputted.
US09424467B2	Gaze tracking and recognition with image location An image of a person is captured. A left eye image is located in the image. A right eye image is located in the image. A first quantity of left eye white pixels and a second quantity of left eye white pixels in the left eye image locate are determined. A left eye image ratio of the first quantity of left eye white pixels to the second quantity of left eye white pixels is calculated. A first quantity of right eye white pixels and a second quantity of right eye white pixels in the right eye image is calculated. A right eye image ratio of the first quantity of right eye white pixels to the second quantity of right eye white pixels is calculated. A gaze direction of the person is determined based upon an average ratio.
US09424466B2	Shoe image retrieval apparatus and method using matching pair Provided are a shoe image retrieval apparatus and method using a matching pair, which can accurately retrieve image information corresponding to an inputted image from the database and provide the retrieved image information, by normalizing a correspondence relation in consideration of geometric image transformation about the matching pair and allowing a similar image to be retrieved by applying the normalized correspondence relation. It is possible to detect optimum geometric image transformation from a matching pair between the inputted shoe image and the image stored in the database and simultaneously retrieve a plurality of objects in the inputted shoe image based on the detected geometric image transformation, thereby providing an efficient shoe retrieval service.
US09424460B2	Tumor plus adjacent benign signature (TABS) for quantitative histomorphometry Methods, apparatus, and other embodiments associated with predicting prostate cancer (CaP) progression using tumor cell morphology features and benign region graph features are described. One example apparatus includes a set of logics that acquires an image of a region of tissue, detects and segments cells in the image, extracts a set of morphological features from cells in a first region in the image, constructs a graph of a localized cellular network in a second region of the image, extracts a set of graph features from the graph, generates a set of tumor plus adjacent features signature (TABS) features from the sets of graph features and the set of morphological features, and calculates the probability that the image is a progressor or non-progressor based, at least in part, on the set of TABS features. The first region may concern cancerous cells and the second region may concern benign cells.
US09424455B2	Vehicle information inspecting apparatus A vehicle information inspecting apparatus installed on a vehicle body moving line for moving a vehicle body on which a vehicle identification number (VIN) is carved and a barcode is attached, and for recognizing and inspecting the barcode and the VIN, includes: an installation frame installed on the vehicle body moving line in a workplace, a first moving unit installed in an upper portion of the installation frame and allowing a moving block to move in a vehicle width direction of the vehicle body, a second moving unit installed at one side of the moving block and allowing a moving rod to move in upward and downward directions on the installation frame, and a measure module photographing and recognizing the barcode or the VIN and installed on a lower end of the moving rod so as to transmit the recognized VIN or the recognized barcode to a controller.
US09424450B2	Apparatus and method for identifying and localizing objects An apparatus (10) for identifying and localizing objects (22) is provided having a position determination device (14) for determining object positions and having an RFID reading device (12) for receiving an RFID signal from an RFID transponder (24) and for reading RFID information from the RFID signal. The apparatus (10) has an RFID localization device (18) for determining transponder positions with the aid of the RFID signal and has an association device (20) which is configured to associate objects (22) and RFID transponders (24) with one another with reference to the object positions and the transponder positions.
US09424445B2	Card reader having discriminator contact A card reader for a point-of-sale system that is configured to accept both magnetic strip-type and integrated circuit (IC) chip-type payment cards. The card reader is a component of a point-of-sale system including a portable computing device in communication with the card reader that is configured to present a first graphical user interface (GUI) when a magnetic stripe-type card is detected and a second GUI when an IC chip-type card is detected in the card reader. The card reader comprises a slot configured to receive the payment card, a magnetic reading device and an IC chip reading device. The card reader also includes a discriminator contact disposed within the slot that is configured to conduct across a surface of a metal pad of the IC chip-type card prior to the CI chip reading device making contact with the IC chip.
US09424443B2	Method and apparatus for securing computer mass storage data In general, embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses for securely storing computer system data. Embodiments of the invention encrypt and decrypt SATA data transparently to software layers. That makes it unnecessary to make any software modifications to the file system, device drivers, operating system, or application. Encryption key management is performed either remotely on a centralized Remote Management System or locally. Embodiments of the invention implement background disk backups using snapshots. Additional security features that are included in embodiments of the invention include virus scanning, a virtual/network drive, a RAM drive and a port selector that provides prioritized and/or background access to SATA mass storage to a secure subsystem.
US09424440B2	Page substitution verification preparation A system and method are disclosed for rendering published documents tamper evident. Embodiments render classes of documents tamper evident with cryptographic level security or detect tampering, where such security was previously unavailable, for example, documents printed using common printers without special paper or ink. Embodiments enable proving the date of document content without the need for expensive third party archival, including documents held, since their creation, entirely in secrecy or in untrustworthy environments, such as on easily-altered, publicly-accessible internet sites. Embodiments can extend, by many years, the useful life of currently-trusted integrity verification algorithms, such as hash functions, even when applied to binary executable files. Embodiments can efficiently identify whether multiple document versions are substantially similar, even if they are not identical, thus potentially reducing storage space requirements.
US09424436B2	Over network operation restriction enforcement The enforcement of operation restriction on a file system entity over a network. The file system entity exists on a server (which could be a single machine, a cluster of servers, or a cloud computing environment). The server facilitates setting up of a session over a network with a client. As part of this facilitation, the server receives from the client a locale of the client. Upon subsequent receipt from the client of a request to perform an operation on the file system entity, the client consults supplemental data to determine whether the requested operation is permitted on the file system entity. The supplemental data may comprise at least one of the locality information or operation expiry data.
US09424433B2	Data storage management A method of data storage management. A server receives a data upload request from a remote client, the upload request including information identifying the data to be uploaded. The server determines that a duplicate of the data is stored at a data storage device. The server receives proof of possession information derived by the client from the data using additional information known to the server. On the basis of the received information, the server determines whether to allow the client or a user associated with the client to subsequently access the duplicate data stored at the data storage device.
US09424424B2	Client based local malware detection method A method for detecting malware in a user terminal device that has been infected by malware via a browser running on the user terminal device, according to which upon detecting a predetermined a triggering event on the user terminal, a security application installed on the terminal automatically activates a transparent browser to navigate to one or more predetermined URLs. Then the security application checks the code of an inspected webpage that has been received immediately after it is opened by the transparent browser and rechecks the code after being at least partially processed by the transparent browser. If a change the code is detected, an alert is issued, indicating that the terminal has been infected by malware.
US09424423B2	Static security analysis using a hybrid representation of string values Methods for creating a hybrid string representations include receiving string information as input; parsing the string information to produce one or more string components; determining string components that may be represented concretely by comparing the one or more components to a set of known concretizations; abstracting all string components that could not be represented concretely; and creating a hybrid string representation that includes at least one concrete string component and at least one abstracted string component.
US09424416B1	Accessing applications from secured states A computing device can enable a user to navigate to an application or other digital object directly from a lock screen of the device. A user can specify a credential, such as a short code, that is associated with a specific application. If the credential is recognized, the device can be unlocked and the corresponding application displayed. The user can then be granted full or partial access to functionality and/or data of the device, as may depend at least in part upon the type of credential or a level of access specified for the credential. The credential can be based at least in part upon, or independent of, a general unlock credential for the device. In some embodiments, the user can be able to specify the amount and/or type of access to be granted under a credential, such as access only to utilize the corresponding application.
US09424412B1	Authenticating customers using biometrics Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for authenticating customers using biometrics are presented. In some embodiments, a computing platform may receive, from an interactive voice response server, an inbound call notification associated with a telephone call received from a mobile device. Subsequently, the computing platform may determine a device identifier of the mobile device and a customer identifier corresponding to a user of the mobile device. The computing platform then may load a customer authentication profile. Subsequently, the computing platform may generate a biometric authentication prompt for authenticating the user of the mobile device and may cause the biometric authentication prompt to be sent to the mobile device. Thereafter, the computing platform may receive, from the mobile device, a validation message. In response to receiving the validation message, the computing platform may generate an authentication message. Subsequently, the computing platform may send the authentication message to the interactive voice response server.
US09424408B2	Utilizing location information to minimize user interaction required for authentication on a device A system and a method are disclosed for authenticating a user of a mobile computing device. Information is received describing the location of the mobile computing device. The information can include the current location of the device or a current type of user activity associated with a location. A current timeout length is determined based on this information. If the mobile computing device has remained idle for a time period equal to the current timeout length, the user of the mobile computing device is authenticated.
US09424398B1	Workflows for defining a sequence for an analytical instrument Methods, systems and GUIs for defining a sequence of analyzes for an analytical instrument using a workflow are described. A method includes receiving user inputs including workflow parameters for defining the sequence, and automatically defining the sequence for the analytical instrument based on the workflow parameters, including creating rules for the sequence. The rules are persistent for subsequent use of the sequence. The rules are defined by the user, e.g., an administrator, who creates or edits the workflow. The administrator can leave some choices available to operators who run the workflow, or can lock selections down.
US09424390B2	Computer aided modeling A simplified mechanism to generate, using data of a model, one or more pour units, a pour unit indicating one or more objects and/or one or more object parts that are intended to be manufacture by a pour, is provided. In the mechanism, a connectivity graph is created for one or more objects modeling a continuous cast product. Then it is checked whether or not the pour break splits the graph into two or more separate graphs. If it splits, two pour units are created on the basis of the two or more separate graphs.
US09424386B2	Generating place and route abstracts Generating place and route abstracts, including: for each of a plurality of cells, generating a wire diagram; for each generated wire diagram, generating, in dependence upon a cell architecture layout, a cell architecture description; for each cell architecture description: generating, in dependence upon the wire diagrams and the cell architecture descriptions, a blockage map specifying locations where the placement of cells or routing structures is prohibited; and generating, in dependence upon the blockage maps and one or more design rules, a library exchange format (‘LEF’) abstract.
US09424385B1	SRAM cell layout structure and devices therefrom A method for modifying a design of an integrated circuit includes obtaining design layout data for the integrated circuit and selecting at least one SRAM cell in the integrated circuit to utilize enhanced body effect (EBE) transistors comprising a substantially undoped channel layer and a highly doped screening region beneath the channel layer. The method also includes extracting, from the design layout, NMOS active area patterns and PMOS active area patterns associated with the SRAM cell to define an EBE NMOS active area layout and a EBE PMOS active area layout. The method further includes adjusting the EBE NMOS active area layout to reduce a width of at least pull-down devices in the SRAM cell and altering a gate layer layout in the design layout data such that a length of pull-up devices in the at least one SRAM and a length of the pull-down devices are substantially equal.
US09424382B1	Method and apparatus for providing fault tolerance through compilation diversity A method for designing a system on a target device includes synthesizing a logic representation of a processing channel from a description of the processing channel in hardware description language (HDL) according to a first set of constraints. A logic representation for a redundant processing channel is synthesized from the description of the processing channel in HDL according to a second set of constraints. The processing channel and the redundant processing channel are placed and routed.
US09424381B2	Contributor-based power modeling of microprocessor components A method for generating a power model for a device includes identifying a device-level set of power contributors for a given state of the device, wherein each power contributor in the device-level set of power contributors contributes to power dissipation when the device is in the given state, and generating the power model for the device based on the device-level set of power contributors, wherein the power model is independent of process, voltage, and temperature.
US09424378B2	Simulation using coupling constraints Methods for model simulation and corresponding systems and computer-readable mediums. A method includes receiving a simulation model in the data processing system, the simulation model including at least one master joint connected to at least one slave joint by a coupling, the master joint having a rigid body master attachment and the slave joint having a rigid body slave attachment. The method includes identifying a master axis of the master attachment and a slave axis of the slave attachment. The method includes making a motor determination as to whether the master axis or the slave axis has a motor and making a cross-base determination. The method includes making a constraint determination of which bodies to constrain based on the motor determination and the cross-base determination, storing constraints according to the constraint determination, and executing the simulation model according to the constraint determination.
US09424375B2	Method and system of using standardized structural components A method and system disclosed herein provides generating an architectural diagram describing an architectural layout of a building, wherein one or more walls of the building are designated as standardized structural walls, automatically positioning each of the standardized structural walls to a geometric grid, and mapping (or “placing”), using a computer, one or more of a plurality of standardized structural components, including standardized panels, standardized columns, and standardized trusses to coordinates of the geometric grid.
US09424370B2	System and method for spatial partitioning of CAD models A method and related CAD system and computer readable medium. A method includes loading an object model in a CAD system, the object model including a plurality of parts each of which may contain one or more shapes which in turn are composed of multiple polygons. The method includes adding the shapes to a spatial tree, the shapes each corresponding to at least one cell, each cell corresponding to a spatial region of the object model. The method also includes, for each cell that is too complex to process within a memory space of the CAD system, subdividing the cell into a plurality of subcells using a first subdivision process. The method also includes subdividing each cell into a plurality of subcells using a multi-threaded subdivision process, and combining the subcells into the spatial tree.
US09424357B1	Predictive page loading based on text entry and search term suggestions Disclosed are various embodiments for predictive page loading. Text entered by a user into a search query form is captured. If an evaluation of the size of the captured text or identity of characters in the captured text in accordance with a confidence criteria indicates that the confidence criteria is met, a speculative search query is provided to a server. The speculative search query includes a selected suggested search term. A received plurality of speculative search results is rendered in a hidden portion of a browser window. In response to receiving a user instruction to execute a committed search query that includes the at least one selected suggested search term, at least a portion of the received plurality of speculative search results is rendered in a visible portion of the browser window.
US09424356B2	Updating a search index using reported browser history data Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are provided for updating a search index with new uniform resource locators (URLs) and spiking URLs with increased user interest. History data, provided from browser applications residing on users' computers that indicate URLs accessed by the users, is parsed to identify new/previously unknown URLs. The history data also indicates URLs in which there is increased interest based on a number of recent hits as compared to an average number of hits determined over time. Author postings of new URLs to social networking sites and a quality rating of the authors may also be used to identify and filter new URLs. Search indexes are updated with the new and spiking URL data. As such, lag time between posting of new URLs and spiking of URL interest and inclusion of this data in a search index is greatly decreased.
US09424348B1	Sensor-driven audio playback modification Sensor data generated by one or more sensors associated with a digital content playback device can be used to identify that a modification to a current audio content item being supplied to a user by the digital content playback device is indicated. The current audio content item can be modified accordingly. Methods, systems, articles of manufacture and the like are also described.
US09424345B1	Contextual content distribution Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for distributing content based on context are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes identifying, in a single resource, multiple different content item slots that are available for presentation of multiple different content items. A determination is made that a first content item slot is located in a first portion of the single resource, and that a second content item slot is located in a second different portion of the resource. A first content item is selected for presentation in the first content item slot based on terms that correspond to a first topic of the first portion of the resource. A second content item is selected for presentation in the second content item slot based on terms that correspond to a second topic of the second portion of the resource.
US09424329B2	Optimizing data synchronization between mobile clients and database systems Mechanisms and methods are provided for optimizing data synchronization between clients and database systems. These mechanisms and methods provide optimizations for synchronization requests, by either breaking a synchronization request into multiple smaller requests, or by executing different code routines for differing client types, or by pre-caching data that a user is anticipated to want at a future point. Such optimization techniques can enable clients with varying capacities (e.g., mobile client vs. full desktop client) to optimally utilize their respective device capabilities.
US09424317B2	Ranking algorithm for search queries In various embodiments, a method of prioritizing search results in an electronic environment is disclosed. The method includes selecting a plurality of equivalent keywords responsive to a search query from an end-user, determining a rank of each of the plurality of equivalent keywords, selecting a plurality of most highly ranked keywords from the plurality of equivalent keywords, and preparing a response including the plurality of most highly ranked keywords.
US09424312B2	Method for processing stream data and system thereof A network interface receives stream data and a processor processes the stream data. The processor: constructs an operator graph comprising information regarding a plurality of operators for processing the stream data based on a query; assigns an operator execution order to the plurality of operators based on an inter-operator input and output relation, with respect to all of the operators on the operator graph; extracts a set of the operators that maintains the stream data assigned with a time stamp, a time of which is earlier than or equal to a reference time, in an input queue; and executes processing of the stream data assigned with the time stamp, having the earliest time, in the operator assigned a minimum operator graph execution order among the operators and maintaining the stream data assigned with the time stamp having the earliest time, among the extracted set of the operators.
US09424311B2	Query routing based on complexity class determination A computer implemented method, computer system, and computer program product performs a query on a relational database. When a query is received, a corresponding complexity class is determined for the query. The query is routed to a corresponding query processor based on the corresponding complexity class determined for the submitted query. The query is executed on the corresponding query processor according to a determined execution plan.
US09424310B2	System and method for executing queries There is provided a computer-implemented method of executing a query plan against a database. An exemplary method comprises accessing a first subset of rows of a database table using a direct access method for an index. The query plan may comprise the direct access method. The exemplary method also comprises determining a processing cost of accessing the first subset of rows. The exemplary method further comprises modifying the direct access method for the index in response to determining that the processing cost exceeds a specified threshold. Additionally, the exemplary method comprises accessing a second subset of rows of the database table using the modified direct access method.
US09424306B2	Incident tracking systems and methods Various embodiments of the present invention are related to incident tracking systems and methods. A method allows for receiving input that specifies an incident at a facility, defining a search area adjacent to a position of the incident, and displaying one or more other incidents that occurred at the facility within the search area. A further method allows for dynamically plotting, each time a search area is changed on a map of a facility and an associated date range is indicated, positions on the map within the search area so as to indicate where incidents have occurred at the facility within the date range. Another method allows for receiving input that specifies a name of a person associated with an incident at a facility, and automatically flagging the person as being of interest if the person has been involved in one or more other incidents at the facility.
US09424301B2	System and method for negotiated takeover of storage objects A system and method of negotiated takeover of storage objects includes one or more processors, a storage controller, and memory coupled to the one or more processors. The memory stores a data structure that includes information about a plurality of storage objects manageable by the storage controller. The storage controller is configured to assume, one by one, current ownership of a first subset of the storage objects and assume, concurrently, current ownership of a second subset of the storage objects. The first subset of storage objects and the second subset of storage objects are currently owned by a second storage server coupled to the storage server. In some embodiments, current ownership of the first subset of storage objects is transferred by iteratively detecting a particular storage object from the first subset of the storage objects whose current ownership can be assumed and bringing the particular storage object online.
US09424295B2	Systems and methods for tables of contents To address problems related to use and formation of tables of contents, the present inventors, devised among other things, an exemplary table-of-contents (TOC) data structure and related systems and methods. One exemplary method entails associating a node from one TOC with a node of another TOC and then assigning a unique identifier to the associated pair of nodes. The unique identifier can then be used to logically define another TOC that includes portions of the two original Tics. Another exemplary method entails tagging or associating nodes of a TOC with one or more view labels. (Identifiers for node relationships rather than the nodes themselves are tagged with the labels in some embodiments.)
US09424284B2	Mapping neural dynamics of a neural model on to a coarsely grained look-up table Embodiments of the invention relate to mapping neural dynamics of a neural model on to a lookup table. One embodiment comprises defining a phase plane for a neural model. The phase plane represents neural dynamics of the neural model. The phase plane is coarsely sampled to obtain state transition information for multiple neuronal states. The state transition information is mapped on to a lookup table.
US09424283B2	Social files Disclosed are systems, apparatus, methods, and computer readable media for creating and sharing social files in a feed system. In one embodiment, a request is received to perform an action related to a social file. The social file may provide access to a first document file within a social networking system. The first document file may be capable of being displayed on a display device. A determination may be made as to whether the requested action complies with a permission configuration record associated with the social file. The permission configuration record may identify one or more user accounts permitted to access the social file.
US09424279B2	Presenting image search results A system and computer-implemented method is provided for organizing multiple user submitted results responsive to an image query. A plurality of content submissions may be received from a variety of submitting users, each content submission including an image and an associated label. An image query may provide an image of an object as a request to identify the object. In response to receiving the image query, one or more results of the plurality of content submissions may be identified. A similarity between the labels for each of the one or more results may be determined and used to group the one or more results. Grouped results may be ranked and sorted for accurate and concise presentation to a querying user.
US09424276B2	Efficient state change support for hierarchical data models in a virtualized system Methods, systems and computer readable media for efficient state change support for hierarchical data models in a virtualized system are described. In some implementations, the method can include determining a system status including a system-level bit masked word having a plurality of bits, each bit corresponding to a status of a different hierarchical level of the system, and receiving a change notification. The method can also include querying an entity at a lower hierarchy level if a cascaded state change is identified for that entity. The method can further include continuing to query one or more entities in successively lower hierarchy levels so long as a cascaded state change is identified for a corresponding entity in a lower hierarchy level. The method can also include determining the current status for one or more entities having a changed status. Identifying a cascaded state change can include performing a logical exclusive OR operation on a previous status bit masked word and a current status bit masked word of an entity.
US09424273B2	System and method for asynchronous use of a network-based file system A system and method for utilizing a network-based file system from a client terminal. In examples described herein, an input command is processed on a client terminal for use of the network-based file system. A task is initiated in response to the input command. The performance of the task includes concatenating multiple file system operations associated with the input command and communicating the multiple file system operations to the network-based file system as a single communication. One or more replies to the one or more file system operations are asynchronously processed.
US09424267B2	Compression and deduplication layered driver A method, apparatus, and system for interposed file system driver is provided, which provides a logical file system on top of an existing base file system. One such interposed file system driver is a compression and deduplication layered driver (“COLD driver”). File system operations are intercepted from the operating system through the COLD driver, which is provided as an upper-level operating system driver that operates on top of an existing base file system. By processing file data through various modules, the existing base file system can be extended as a logical file system with compression, deduplication, indexing, and other functionality. The COLD driver can be implemented without requiring modifications to existing base file system structures or base file system drivers. Server deployments may thus leverage the additional file system functionality provided by the COLD driver without having to migrate to another file system.
US09424264B2	Hierarchical tags with community-based ratings A method for generating and maintaining hierarchical tags with community-based ratings is provided. Tags for media streams are organized into a hierarchical format. Users may select tags from the hierarchical tag database that describes a particular multimedia content. If the user is unable to locate a desired tag, the user may submit a new tag. Upon submission of the new tag, a librarian approves the tag before storing and placing the tag in the hierarchical tag database. Users are also able to rate the quality of the association between the tag and the multimedia content. If a tag is rated low, the tag may be removed from the hierarchical tag database. If the tag is rated highly, display of the tag in a list of tags becomes more prominent.
US09424263B1	Multi-tiered filesystem A multi-tiered filesystem integrates multiple types of storage devices into a contiguous filesystem storage space having regions associated with two or more tiers of storage.
US09424260B2	Techniques for data assignment from an external distributed file system to a database management system Techniques for data assignment from an external distributed file system (DFS) to a database management system (DBMS) are provided. Data blocks from the DFS are represented as first nodes and access module processors of the DBMS are represented as second nodes. A graph is produced with the first and second nodes. Assignments are made for the first nodes to the second nodes based on evaluation of the graph to integrate the DFS with the DBMS.
US09424257B1	Compiler and operating system adapted for generating programs for decoding communication packets utilizing a protocol stack A method for operating a data processing system to extract information from a record is disclosed. The method includes defining a plurality of ALTERNATIVE statements. Each ALTERNATIVE statement includes a label that identifies that ALTERNATIVE statement, a Signature that defines a test that is to be performed on a field in the data record defined by a first window, and a NEXT statement that defines a different ALTERNATIVE statement and a second window for testing by that different ALTERNATIVE statement. In one aspect of the invention, the test includes a regular expression that is to match the field. The method defines a SCHEMA statement that defines a plurality of fields within the record. One of the defined fields includes an offset defining a location in the record, a field name, and a field length. The offset and/or the field length are computed by the data processing system.
US09424256B2	Method and apparatus for performing type-aware change tracking in a document One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates performing type-aware change tracking in a document. During operation, the system receives from a user a command which changes a content of an object in the document. In response to the command, the system determines a type of the object. Next, the system modifies the content of the object according to the type of the object. The system then creates a history of the modification. Finally, the system displays the history of the modification to the user.
US09424252B2	Information providing device, information providing method, and computer program An information providing device: saves a posted document and respective electronic files of a translation thereof in one or more other languages, in association with one another; issues a code image including a two-dimensional code created by encoding a two-dimensional code character string for identifying the electronic file associated with the same identification information; receives, from a user terminal device that accesses the electronic file by decoding the two-dimensional code from the document on which the code image is printed, character code data indicating the language set in the user terminal device, and transmits the electronic file of the translation translated into the language indicated by the character code data to the user terminal device together with information that indicates the posting place of the document, thereby providing the translation and the information that indicates the posting place of the document.
US09424249B1	Encoding text units Disclosed are various embodiments for a text module that receives, in at least one computing device, an encoded text block, the encoded text block comprising user generated text. A set of signals is identified in the encoded text block, each signal specifying a respective text unit, each text unit corresponding to a respective series of characters in the user generated text. The text module may render the user generated text and each series of characters in the user generated text. A text selection of a subset of one of the series of characters is initially prevented. The text module receives a selection of the text unit corresponding to the one of the series of characters, the selection of the text unit triggering a text selection of one of the series of characters.
US09424248B2	Preventing frustration in online chat communication Monitoring an internet chat in which a text transcript is generated by at least two chat participants, by: (i) performing a simple check on the text transcript for existence of a potential frustration precondition; and (ii) on condition that a frustration precondition is found, performing text analytics type analysis on the text transcript to determine whether potential frustration is evidenced by the text transcript. If it is determined that potential frustration is evidenced by the chat transcript then responsive action is taken to prevent and/or stem the frustration.
US09424244B2	Data filtering based on a cell entry A method for data filtering includes displaying a cell set comprising data of a common data type on a display device. At least one cell contains a cell entry, displaying a filter icon within at least one cell of the cell set, and applying a filter to the cell set in response to selection of the filter icon by a user.
US09424242B2	Data capture and analysis A computer-implemented method, system and computer program product for automated data entry performs a data recognition function on a document to recognize data from a plurality of fields including information entered by a user into at least one field, identifies at least one field that has an issue with recognized data from the field, compiles at least one correction page formatted to resolve the issue for each identified field of the document after completion of the correction page by the user, prints each correction page, and performs a data recognition function on each correction page, including information entered by the user in each field of each correction page, to resolve the issue for each identified field of the document.
US09424240B2	Annotations for electronic content Embodiments are described for capturing, displaying, and navigating annotations in an electronic document. In some embodiments, a selection of an object in the electronic document is received, and an annotation associated with the selected object is received. The annotation is maintained in a list of annotations. The annotation can also be displayed. In some embodiments, a selection of the annotation is received and in response to the selection of the annotation being received, a user may be navigated to a location of the selected object in the electronic document.
US09424237B2	Flexible analytics-driven webpage design and optimization In an approach for selecting a version of a webpage to present to a user, a processor receives a request to access a webpage from a device, wherein the webpage includes a plurality of versions of the webpage. A processor receives information about the device. A processor determines a version of the webpage to present, based on the information about the device and a predefined goal associated with the webpage. A processor causes the version of the webpage to be presented.
US09424234B2	Methods and apparatus for automatically creating variations of original content based on searching for alternative content objects based on characteristics of the original content Methods and apparatus for various embodiments of an Automated Creative Content Generation (ACCG) system provide different methods for automating the creative generation of customized variations of original content productions. The original content productions may include images and/or text. Various methods are presented by which the ACCG system begins with an original content production, searches for alternative content, potentially modifies the alternative content, and automatically creates one or more content variations that include the alternative content.
US09424230B2	Converting a data placement between memory banks and an array processing section In an array processing section, using data strings entered from input ports, a plurality of data processor elements execute predetermined operations while transferring data to each other, and output data strings of results of the operations from a plurality of output ports. A first data string converter converts data strings stored in a plurality of data storages of a data storage group into a placement suitable for the operations in the array processing section, and enters the converted data strings into the input ports of the array processing section. A second data string converter converts the data strings output from output ports of the array processing section into a placement to be stored in the plurality of data storages of the data storage group.
US09424225B2	Driver interface functions to interface client function drivers In embodiments of driver interface functions to interface client function drivers, a set of serial communication protocol driver interfaces are exposed by a core driver stack, and the serial communication protocol driver interfaces include driver interface functions to interface with client function drivers that correspond to client devices configured for data communication in accordance with the serial communication protocol. A client function driver can check for the availability of a driver interface function before interfacing with the core driver stack via the serial communication protocol driver interfaces. A contract version identifier can also be received from the client function driver via an extension of the driver interface functions, where the contract version identifier indicates a set of operation rules by which the client function driver interfaces with the core driver stack.
US09424224B2	PCIe tunneling through SAS Systems and methods presented herein provide for tunneling PCIe data through a SAS domain. a data system includes a SAS expander, a PCIe target device coupled to the expander, and a SAS controller communicatively coupled to a host system and the expander. The controller is operable to open a connection with the expander via the SAS protocol, and to transport packet data between the target device and the host system through the connection via the PCIe protocol. For example, the controller and the expander may be operable to buffer packets of data in the connection. The controller may issue a number of the data packets to be transferred in the connection. Then, the issued number of data packets are transported between the target device and the host system through the connection via the PCIe protocol.
US09424223B2	Tightly coupled multiprocessor system The tightly coupled multiprocessor system includes a plurality of main processors. The main processors are connected via an inter-processor interface. Each of the main processors includes at least one pair of an expansion slot for installing a coprocessor and an expansion slot for installing an external interface card.
US09424220B2	Method and apparatus for setting working mode of multi-processor system A method for setting a working mode of a multi-processor system includes: detecting, after a current board is inserted into a slot of the backplane, whether an associated board exists on the backplane; detecting, if the associated board exists, whether the associated board is in an independent working state; powering on the current board according to a slave working mode if the associated board is not in an independent working state, so as to work coordinately with the associated board; detecting, within a predetermined detection time if the associated board does not exist, whether a board is inserted into another slot of the backplane except the slot of the master board; and powering on the current board according to a master working mode if it is detected that the board is inserted, so as to work coordinately with the board in the other slot.
US09424214B2	Network interface controller with direct connection to host memory A network interface device for a host computer includes a network interface, configured to transmit and receive data packets to and from a network. Packet processing logic transfers data to and from the data packets transmitted and received via the network interface by direct memory access (DMA) from and to a system memory of the host computer. A memory controller includes a first memory interface configured to be connected to the system memory and a second memory interface, configured to be connected to a host complex of the host computer. Switching logic alternately couples the first memory interface to the packet processing logic in a DMA configuration and to the second memory interface in a pass-through configuration.
US09424212B2	Operating system-managed interrupt steering in multiprocessor systems An operating system is provided in which an interrupt router dynamically steers each interrupt to one or more processors within set of processors based on overall load information from the set of processors. An interrupt source is assigned to a processor based on the load imposed by the interrupt source and the target overall load for the processor. For example, each processor can maintain information about each interrupt it processes over time. The operating system receives this historical load information to determine an expected load for interrupts of a given type from a given device, an overall load on the system, and a target load for each processor. Given a set of interrupt sources, their expected loads, and target load for each processor, each interrupt source can be assigned dynamically to a processor during runtime of the system. On a regular basis, these assignments can be changed given current operating conditions of the system.
US09424208B2	System for controlling association of microphone and speakers A method includes steps determining individual ones of speakers and microphones connected to a first computerized appliance by execution of a software routine, determining individual ones of computer applications executable on the first or a second computerized appliance, and capable of audio input and output, and associating the speakers and microphones with the computer applications such that audio output from individual applications is provided to associated speakers only and audio input from individual microphones is provided to associated applications only.
US09424205B2	System and method for SATA virtualization and domain protection A hardware SATA virtualization system without the need for backend and frontend drivers and native device drivers is disclosed. A lightweight SATA virtualization handler can run on a specialized co-processor and manage requests enqueued by individual guest devices or virtual machines (VMs). The lightweight SATA virtualization handler can also perform the scheduling or queuing of the requests based on performance optimizations to reduce seek time as well as based on the priority of the requests. The specialized co-processor can communicate to an integrated SATA controller through an advanced host controller interface (“AHCI”) data structure that is built by the coprocessor and has commands from one or more VMs. Guest devices or guest operating systems can build associated AHCI data structures in memory, which may be on-chip memory or DDR memory.
US09424199B2	Virtual input/output memory management unit within a guest virtual machine A virtual input/output memory management unit (IOMMU) is configured to provide a firewall around memory requests associated with an input/output (I/O) device. The virtual IOMMU uses data structures including a guest page table, a host page table and a general control register (i.e., GCR3) table. The guest page table is implemented in hardware to support the speed requirements of the virtual IOMMU. The GCR3 table is indexed using a virtual DeviceID parameter stored in a device table.
US09424197B2	Hard disk drive with optional cache memory A computer system includes a hard disk drive, a processor coupled to the hard disk drive, and a cache interface coupled to the processor and detachably connectable to a cache memory. The processor is adapted, subsequent to an initial interrogation of the cache interface, to determine whether the cache memory is connected to the cache interface by inspecting an indication of the presence or the absence of the cache memory, the indication being stored in a register in the processor or in a memory associated with the processor such that the inspecting avoids repeat interrogation of the cache interface, to communicate with the cache memory and the hard disk drive such that the processor has access to the cache memory when the cache memory is connected to the cache interface, and to communicate with the hard disk drive when the cache memory is disconnected from the cache interface.
US09424195B2	Dynamic remapping of cache lines A method of managing cache memory includes accessing a cache memory at a primary index that corresponds to an address specified in an access request. A determination is made that accessing the cache memory at the primary index does not result in a cache hit on a cache line with an error-free status. In response to this determination, the primary index is mapped to a secondary index and data for the address is written to a cache line at the secondary index.
US09424185B1	Method and system for garbage collection of data storage systems A garbage collector of a storage system traverses a namespace of a file system of the storage system to identify segments that are alive in a breadth-first manner. The namespace includes information identifying files that are represented by segments arranged in a plurality of levels in a hierarchy, where an upper level segment includes one or more references to one or more lower level segments, and at least one segment is referenced by multiple files. All live segments of an upper level are identified before any of live segments of a lower level are identified. Upon all live segments of all levels have been identified, the live segments are copied from their original storage locations to a new storage location, and a storage space associated with the original storage locations is reclaimed.
US09424181B2	Address mapping for solid state devices Technologies are generally described for systems, devices and methods relating to swapping bits in memory addresses in solid state devices. In some examples, a bit swap module may receive a first memory address. The first memory address may include a first bit value at a first position of the first memory address and/or a second bit value at a second position of the first memory address. The bit swap module may swap the first bit value with the second bit value to produce a second memory address. The second memory address may be sent to a memory controller. In some examples, the first memory address may relate to a first package of memory and the second memory address may relate to a second package of memory.
US09424172B1	Web services comparison tool A method for testing web services includes obtaining, by a new version of a service deployed on a network framework, a request and an old response to the request generated by an old version of the service, generating, by the new version of the service, a new response to the request, and generating, by a comparison tool built into the network framework and accessible to the new version of the service, a comparison of the old response and the new response.
US09424169B1	Method of integrating heterogeneous test automation frameworks Techniques for testing heterogeneous software components are described herein. In response to a test procedure, a main test framework (MTF) identifies one or more test cases associated the sequence of testing operations. The MTF delegates at least one testing operation to a first subordinated test framework (STF) by invoking an MTF-to-STF (MTF/STF) adaptor, where the first STF corresponds to a test operation of a specific functionality. The MTF/STF adaptor launches the first STF by passing a first set of parameters received from the MTF to a first format compatible with the first STF, where the first STF is configured to perform a first sequence of testing operations for a first functionality. In response to a first test result from the first STF, the MTF/STF adaptor converts the first test result in second format compatible with the MTF and returns the converted first test result back to the MTF.
US09424166B2	Routing debug messages An integrated circuit chip device comprising: system circuitry; debugging circuitry configured to debug the system circuitry, the debugging circuitry being segmented into zones; wherein the debugging circuitry comprises an interconnect fabric configured to route debug messages through a zone from a zone entry node of the interconnect fabric to a zone exit node of the interconnect fabric; and wherein the debugging circuitry is configured to, on receiving a debug message at a zone entry node that is shorter than a specified length, modify the debug message to form a modified debug message by increasing the length of the debug message to the specified length.
US09424163B2	Exception and debugging behaviors for JavaScript debugging using just my code Just My Code debugging allows developers to work on problems within their own code without noise from libraries, plugins and other unrelated code. Typical debugger behaviors may be modified based upon the identification or characterization of JavaScript code as “My Code,” “Library Code,” or “Unrelated Code.” The debugger behaviors that may be modified depending upon the code's characterization include, for example, first-chance exception handling, unhandled exception handling, the behavior of the debugger at explicit user breakpoints, the behavior when a user directs the debugger to break upon the next statement, and the behavior of the debugger when the user executes a stepping gesture. The debugger's visualizes core elements of the program state, such as the call stack, depending upon the identification or characterization of the code.
US09424161B2	Trace capture device with common structure and related trace capture method A trace capture device includes a processing system, a trace capture control unit and a bus unit. The processing system includes at least one function block arranged to generate first data, second data, and correlation information corresponding to the first data. The trace capture control unit is arranged to receive the first data and correlation information corresponding to the first data from the processing system, and generate third data according to the first data and the correlation information. The bus unit is coupled to the processing system, the trace capture control unit and a data link interface. The bus unit is arranged to use the data link interface to transmit information derived from the second data in a first mode, and reuse the first data link interface to transmit information derived from the third data in a second mode.
US09424160B2	Detection of data flow bottlenecks and disruptions based on operator timing profiles in a parallel processing environment Data flow disruptions over a series of data processing operators can be detected by a computer system that generates a profile for data flow at an operator. The profile can include data input, processing, and output wait times. Using the profile, the system can detect potential flow disruptions. If the potential disruption satisfies a rule, it is considered a data flow disruption and a recommendation associated with the satisfied rule is identified. The recommendation and the operator identity is displayed.
US09424148B2	Automatic failover in modular chassis systems Systems and methods for automatic failover in modular chassis systems. In some embodiments, a modular chassis includes a chassis management controller and a plurality of server blades. A first of the plurality of server blades may be configured to detect an internal fault to and to transmit a corresponding alert message to the chassis management controller via a midplane connection. Moreover, the chassis management controller may be configured to initiate a migration procedure to transfer one or more workloads from the first server blade to a second of the plurality of server blades.
US09424147B2	System and method for supporting memory allocation control with push-back in a distributed data grid A system and method can support memory allocation control in a distributed data grid. The system can designate a process, such as a logical process, to handle a request that is received from a client for storing data in a data storage using an elastic data structure with one or more journal files. Then, a resource manager associated with the data storage can suspend the process when the elastic data structure appears to be logically full. Furthermore, the resource manager can resume the suspended process associated with the client, after the resource manager has reclaimed sufficient memory from the elastic data structure.
US09424145B2	Ensuring the same completion status for transactions after recovery in a synchronous replication environment Disclosed in some examples is a method, the method including detecting that an RDMS is recovering from a failure; sending a request for a last committed transaction on a replication component to the replication component; receiving, from the replication component, the last committed transaction which identifies a transaction that was the last committed transaction at a replication component at a time of RDMS failure; determining that a transaction log on the RDMS includes a transaction that had not yet been replicated at the time of RDMS failure which was committed on the transaction log subsequent to the last committed transaction received from the replication component; and based on that determination rolling back the transaction that had not yet been replicated at the time of RDMS failure.
US09424144B2	Virtual machine migration to minimize packet loss in virtualized network Methods and apparatus are provided for controlling live migration of a virtual machine from a first host to a second host in a data center. A virtual machine manager may distribute to at least one host in a virtual network an updated mapping policy that maps a customer address of the virtual machine to a provider address of the migrated virtual machine. The updated mapping policy enables hosts in the virtual network to communicate with the migrated virtual machine. The updated mapping policy can be a shadow policy. The shadow policy is transmitted to hosts in the virtual network by the virtual machine manager before live migration of the virtual machine completes and is maintained by recipient hosts in an inactive state until triggered. The virtual machine manager notifies hosts in the virtual network to activate the shadow policy when live migration completes.
US09424141B2	Hard disk data recovery method, apparatus, and system This invention discloses a hard disk data recovery method, apparatus, and system. The method includes: recording a logical block address corresponding to erroneous data if an error is discovered when data is read from the hard disk; performing a recovery operation for data at a first physical block address corresponding to the logical block address according to a preset algorithm to obtain recovered data; and sending an instruction of writing the recovered data into the logical block address to the hard disk so that the hard disk writes the recovered data into the logical block address according to the instruction, where the logical block address corresponds to a remapped second physical block address. Therefore, the method repairs an erroneous sector or a bad block of the hard disk quickly and improves efficiency of repairing the erroneous sector of the hard disk or the bad block of the hard disk.
US09424132B2	Adjusting dispersed storage network traffic due to rebuilding A method begins by a dispersed storage (DS) processing module of a dispersed storage network (DSN) monitoring network traffic within the DSN. When the network traffic compares unfavorably to a desired network traffic function, the method continues with the DS processing module reducing a portion of the network traffic due to rebuilding flagged encoded data slices by at least one of changing rebuilding criteria for the flagged encoded data slices and changing rebuilding network traffic protocols.
US09424131B2	Spatially decoupled redundancy schemes for a solid state drive (SSD) An apparatus comprising a memory and a controller. The memory may be configured to process a plurality of read/write operations. The memory may comprise a plurality of memory modules each having a size less than a total size of the memory. The controller may be configured to write user data using a redundancy scheme. Information about the redundancy is (i) stored in a location separate from the data and (ii) used to recover potentially corrupted user data.
US09424126B2	Memory controller According to one embodiment, a memory controller according to the embodiments includes an encoder that sequentially calculates parity based on data; a parity buffer that stores completed parity and intermediate parity based on data less than a predetermined size; a write processing unit that writes data and completed parity on a non-volatile memory; a decoder; and a controller that performs a decoding process based on the data read from the non-volatile memory and the intermediate parity in the parity buffer, when receiving a read request to inputted data in a stage in which the a number of inputted data to the encoder is less than the predetermined size.
US09424124B2	Error-tolerant memories Methods and apparatuses relating to error-tolerant memories are provided. In one example embodiment, output signals from at least three memory devices are supplied to an error correction device. The error correction device outputs a corrected data value in such a manner that, when the read data values match, this data value is output and, in at least one state in which the data values do not match, a previously output data value is retained.
US09424118B2	Change message broadcast error detection A hardware device detects change messages broadcast within a system. The system includes the hardware device, one or more controller devices, one or more expander devices, and one or more target devices interconnected among one another. The hardware device determines whether the change messages were broadcast within the system every first period of time or less for at least a second period of time, the first period of time less than the second period of time. In response to determining that the change messages were broadcast within the system every first period of time or less for at least the second period of time, the hardware devices signals that an error has been detected.
US09424108B2	Launching and managing unattended application programs Provided are techniques for launching and managing an unattended application program. The application program is launched in background mode. In response to determining that an exit command has been received, an exit command indicator is set to indicate that the exit command has been received and a notification is sent to wake up a blocked main thread of the launched application program.
US09424105B2	Preempting tasks at a preemption point of a kernel service routine based on current execution mode An apparatus for dynamically controlling a preemption section includes a preemption manager configured to monitor whether a system context has changed, and if the system context has changed, set a current preemptive mode according to the changed system context to dynamically control a preemption section of a kernel. Therefore, even when an application requiring real-time processing, such as a health-care application, co-exists with a normal application, optimal performance may be ensured.
US09424096B2	Task allocation in a computer network Server computers send requests over a network for an allocation of server tasks and processing tasks, the processing task requests having an associated expiration time. The plurality of server computers process received server tasks provided to the server computers in response to the requests, and process processing tasks within the expiration time in response to the requests for processing tasks. The server computers perform the allocated processing tasks only if there are no pending server tasks.
US09424095B2	Method and system for controlling the processing of requests for web resources A system, method and computer program product for controlling the processing of requests for web page resources from a web server are provided. The method comprises monitoring a run level of the web server; receiving requests for one or more web page resources; determining a priority of received requests based on a run level value associated with a requested resource and the run level of the web server; and processing the requests by the web server according to the determined priority. In dependence on the current load on the web server, requests for low priority resources can be given a low processing priority, with processing capability focussed on requests for higher priority web resources.
US09424093B2	Process scheduler employing adaptive partitioning of process threads A system includes a processor and memory storage units storing software code. The software code comprises code for a scheduling system and for generating a plurality of adaptive partitions that are each associated with one or more process threads and that each have a corresponding processor budget. The code also is executable to, when the system is under a normal load, allocate the processor to one of the threads that is in a ready state and has the highest priority among the process threads that are in a ready state. The code is also executable to, when the system is in overload, allocate the processor to one of the process threads that is in a ready state and has the highest priority among the process threads that are in a ready state and for which the adaptive partition that the process thread is associated with has available guaranteed processor budget.
US09424091B2	Deploying software in a multi-instance node A system for deploying big data software in a multi-instance node. The optimal CPU memory and core configuration for a single instance database is determined. After determining an optimal core-memory ratio for a single instance execution, the software is deployed in multi-instance mode on single machine by applying the optimal core-memory ratio for each of the instances. The multi-instance database may then be deployed and data may be loaded in parallel for the instances.
US09424089B2	Hardware acceleration of web applications In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method for enabling hardware acceleration of web applications is provided, comprising: parsing a web page using a scripting engine, wherein the web page necessitates running a web application; accessing one or more Application Program Interfaces (APIs) that provide parallelization, and distribute tasks of the web application among multiple cores of a multi-core central processing unit (CPU) or graphical processing unit (GPU), wherein the accessing uses a compute context class that, when instantiated, creates a compute context object that acts as a bridge between the scripting engine and the one or more APIs; and creating one or more kernels to operate on the multiple cores.
US09424086B2	Support of non-trivial scheduling policies along with topological properties A system comprises a scheduling unit for scheduling jobs to resources, and a library unit comprising a machine map of the system and a global status map of interconnections of resources. A monitoring unit generates status information signals for the resources. The library unit receives the signals and determines a free map of resources to execute the job to be scheduled, the free map indicating the interconnection of resources to which the job in a current scheduling cycle can be scheduled and determined by removing from the machine map resources which fall within the global status map and re-introducing resources in the global status map which the scheduling unit has indicated the job being scheduled can be scheduled to. The monitoring unit dispatches a job to the resources in the free map which match the resource mapping requirements of the job and fall within the free map.
US09424083B2	Managing metadata for a distributed processing system with manager agents and worker agents Methods, systems, and apparatus are described for managing metadata for a distributed processing system. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a computation specification that includes a set of grains that specifies an initial state for a computation that is to be performed by a distributed processing system, wherein each grain comprises metadata that specifies a portion of the initial state for the computation; storing a grain hierarchy that represents a state for the computation based on a grain type associated with each grain, the grain hierarchy comprising subscription grains for subscriptions for the grain hierarchy, each subscription corresponding to one or more grains included in the grain hierarchy, and each subscription specifying one or more actions to be performed by the hub device; and performing, during performance of the computation, at least one of the actions specified by at least one of the subscriptions.
US09424081B2	Managing callback operations in emulated environments Examples of the disclosure enable callback operations, such as interrupts, Asynchronous Procedure Calls (APCs), and Deferred Procedure Calls (DPCs), to be efficiently managed. In some examples, an emulated thread includes a request for a callback operation. When the request is detected, the emulated thread and/or a cooperating thread associated with the callback operation is executed based on an execution mode associated with the callback operation. Examples of the disclosure manage callback operations while efficiently managing system resources, including processor load, by providing at least one cooperating thread that consumes little or no processing power until the callback operation is ready to be executed.
US09424074B1	Method for learning backup policies for large-scale distributed computing Aspects of the disclosure relate to learning the most useful backup tasks when processing a job in a distributed computing application. For example, training data may be generated by running a job and running backup tasks for some of the tasks for that job. List of features may be generated for each backup task at different times. A representative list of features may be labeled according to the backup tasks usefulness to the job. The lists and usefulness labels may be used to generate a model of usefulness. The model may then be used to evaluate the usefulness of the tasks for the next job. This information may then be used to schedule backup tasks for execution. In addition, lists of features for these backup tasks may be generated and then used to update the model in a continuous learning loop.
US09424070B2	Combining scalability across multiple resources in a transaction processing system having global serializability There is disclosed a method and system for processing transactions requested by an application in a distributed computer system. The computer system includes at least one resource comprising a plurality of storage areas each with an associated resource manager, or a plurality of resources each comprising at least one storage area with an associated resource manager, the storage areas holding the same tables as each other. There is also provided a transaction manager that is linked, by way of either a network or a local application programming interface (API), to each of the resource managers, the transaction manager being configured to coordinate transaction prepare and commit cycles. The application requests operations on the resource by way of an interface; and a dispatch function directs transactions from the application to the appropriate storage areas on the basis of the content of the tables in the resource managers, in such a way that any given transaction is routed only to the storage areas containing entries upon which the transaction operates, allowing another transaction operating on different entries to be routed concurrently in parallel to other storage areas. A safe timestamp manager is provided to allocate new timestamps for committing transactions when such transactions access more than one resource storage area at the same time.
US09424064B2	Adaptor implementation for internet protocol address and port hopping A system and method of deploying a network hopping adaptor is disclosed. In some embodiments, a network hopping adaptor may be configured to manipulate network traffic so as to change at least one network characteristic of the network traffic, and at least one network interface of a machine selected from a group of machines may be configured to send the network traffic to the network hopping adaptor. The network hopping adaptor may manipulate such characteristics as an IP address, a port number, an encryption algorithm or a compression algorithm. The group of machines may be deployed as virtual machines being executed by a virtualization server, and the network hopping adaptor may be implemented on another virtual machine being executed by the virtualization server. Alternatively, or in addition, the group of machines or the network hopping adaptor may be implemented as physical machines.
US09424061B2	Bandwidth-efficient virtual machine image delivery A mechanism is provided for bandwidth-efficient virtual machine image delivery. Responsive to a request to generate a virtual machine (VM) in a node using an existing virtual machine image (VMI) file, a set of file chunks that constitute the VMI file is identified. The set of file chunks are retrieved from within a set of distributed nodes by establishing an optimized plan for retrieving the set of file chunks in a bandwidth-efficient manner. Responsive to retrieving the set of file chunks from within the distributed nodes, the set of file chunks are reassembled into the VMI file for generation of the VM.
US09424060B2	Tiered eviction of instances of executing processes In one example embodiment, an instance of a virtual machine to evict may be identified. A determination may be made within a predetermined range of probabilities, that processing on the identified instance of the virtual machine will resume within a predetermined range of time. Thus, the identified instance of the virtual machine may be softly evicted by allocating processing resources away from the identified instance of the virtual machine, receiving an instruction to resume the processing on the identified instance of the virtual machine, and restoring the processing on the identified instance of the virtual machine.
US09424052B2	Remotely emulating computing devices Disclosed are various embodiments that facilitate remote emulation of computing devices. A model of a computing device and an application that is executable in the computing device are identified. The application is executed in a hosted environment. A video signal of the application is encoded into a media stream. A user interface is encoded for rendering in a client. The user interface includes a graphical representation of the model of the computing device. A screen of the graphical representation of the model of the computing device is configured to render at least a portion of the video signal from the media stream.
US09424051B2	Method and system for modeling and naming a software class A method for modeling classes to create an application in an object-oriented programming environment based on a hierarchical rooted classification (E) and inheritance-based naming of an entity is disclosed. The method comprises in the logic classification (EB), on a first level, determining whether the entity belongs to a single-element class (EBU) or a multiple-element class (EBG) and providing a first indication therefor; on a second level, if the entity belongs to a single-element class (EBU), determining whether the entity is one of a data (I), a link (L), a role (R) and a domain (D) and providing a second indication therefor; and creating a name for the entity by aggregating the first and the second indications.
US09424047B2	System and methods for an in-vehicle computing system Embodiments are disclosed for controlling power modes of a computing system. In some embodiments, a method for an in-vehicle computing system includes, while the vehicle is shut down, operating the system in a suspend mode with volatile memory on standby, and determining whether a reboot may be completed before a next anticipated vehicle start. The method may further include, if it is determined that a reboot may be completed before the next anticipated vehicle start, performing a reboot of the system.
US09424043B1	Forward-flow selection Systems and methods for enhancing performance of programs implemented on an integrated circuit (IC) are provided. A forward-flow selector may determine a common branch for adding a data set to and removing a data set from. By selecting a common branch for adding and removing a data set, there will be a pipeline stage for data flowing into the branch. Accordingly, the embodiments described herein enhance throughput by increasing the number of datasets that may enter a branched pipeline without stalling.
US09424039B2	Instruction for implementing vector loops of iterations having an iteration dependent condition A processor is described having an instruction execution pipeline. The instruction execution pipeline includes an instruction fetch stage to fetch an instruction. The instruction identifies an input vector operand whose input elements specify one or the other of two states. The instruction execution pipeline also includes an instruction decoder to decode the instruction. The instruction execution pipeline also includes a functional unit to execute the instruction and provide a resultant output vector. The functional unit includes logic circuitry to produce an element in a specific element position of the resultant output vector by performing an operation on a value derived from a base value using a stride in response to one but not the other of the two states being present in a corresponding element position of the input vector operand.
US09424025B2	Verification of backward compatibility of software components A computer processor determines the backward compatibility of a software component. The processor identifies one or more programming interfaces that are exposed by a first version of a software component. The processor converts the attributes of the exposed programming interfaces into corresponding operations. The processor performs a backward compatibility check by comparing the operations of the first version of the software component to one or more operations of a second version of the software component. The processor determines the backward compatibility of the first version of the software component, based, at least in part, on a result of the backward compatibility check.
US09424014B2	Strength reduction compiler optimizations for operations with unknown strides An optimizing compiler includes a strength reduction mechanism that optimizes a computer program that includes operations that have an unknown stride by analyzing the instructions in the computer program in a single pass, determining whether instruction substitution is profitable for original instructions in the code, and performing instruction substitution for one or more original instructions for which instruction substitution is deemed profitable, including operations with unknown strides. The substituted instructions result in strength reduction in the computer program.
US09424008B2	API descriptions API description techniques are described for consumption by dynamically-typed languages. In one or more implementations, machine-readable data is parsed to locate descriptions of one or more application programming interfaces (APIs). The descriptions of the one or more application programming interfaces are projected into an alternate form that is different than a form of the machine-readable data.
US09424007B2	System and method for pervasive software platform-based model driven architecture transaction aware application generator In developing applications for a plurality of node types, a meta-data definition of the application can be captured into an application definition module. The meta-data definition can describe the application for the plurality of node types. A code generation module can then automatically generate the application code for the plurality of node types, including transaction aware code. The code can be compiled per node type and the packaging necessary to deploy the application to the plurality of node types can also be automatically generated.
US09424006B2	Execution optimization of mobile applications According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present invention there is provided a method for changing a program code to decrease execution time. The method comprises an action of receiving a program code, comprising function calls, with an entry and a target function. The method comprises analyzing the function calls between the entry function and the target function. A first program code is generated, comprising some of the function calls executed before the target function. A second program code is generated, comprising some of the function calls executed after the target function. The function calls executed before the target function are replaced with the first program code. The function calls executed after the target function are removed. The second program code is added to the program code to execute after the target function as a background process.
US09423994B2	Hierarchical display Systems and methods that provide a hierarchical display to a user based on a position of the user's focus are described herein. The position of the user's focus may be determined by tracking, for example, a position of the user's eyes, a position of a mouse cursor within the display, a position of an application window within the display, or a combination thereof. Based on the position of the user's focus, the display may be divided into multiple display regions, and the display regions may be ranked, such as by prioritizing a display region that the user is focusing on. Display quality (e.g., transmission rate, image resolution, degree of image compression, etc.) of the display regions may be determined based on the rank of the display regions, thereby providing higher display/image quality to regions based on what the user is actively looking at.
US09423989B2	System and method for dynamically reconfiguring one or more autonomous cells in a print shop environment A method and system for processing jobs in a print shop is provided. The print shop includes at least two autonomous cells, and each autonomous cell includes a resource for performing an operation relative to at least one of the jobs. In one approach, the number of jobs requiring an operation at each one of the two autonomous cells is monitored. When the number of jobs requiring at least one operation at each one of the two autonomous cells exceeds a selected number, a reconfiguration mode is simulated for at least one of the two autonomous cells to obtain a reconfiguration desirability value. The at least one of the two autonomous cells is reconfigured when the reconfiguration desirability value differs from a selected reference value.
US09423986B2	Communication device, and method and computer readable medium for the same A communication device including a processor configured to, when executing processor-executable instructions stored in a storage unit, perform determining a first configurable range including setting values stored in the storage unit, acquiring, from an image processing apparatus via a communication unit, a second configurable range including setting values for image processing executable by the image processing apparatus, determining whether the first configurable range is equal to the second configurable range, when determining that the first configurable range is equal to the second configurable range, transmitting an image processing instruction to perform an image processing operation according to the setting values of the first configurable range stored in the storage unit, to the image processing apparatus via the communication unit, and when determining that the first configurable range is different from the second configurable range, restricting transmission of the image processing instruction to the image processing apparatus.
US09423976B2	System and method of expedited message processing using a first-in-first-out transport mechanism A method and system are provided for processing a reply message out of order from a first-in-first-out (FIFO) storage, and processing other messages in an order as received in the FIFO storage. The system provides a second FIFO storage for storing any messages that have been retrieved from the first FIFO while searching for the reply message.
US09423974B2	Memory and access and operating method thereof An access method for a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is provided. The method includes partitioning a row address into a first portion and a second portion; providing the first portion of the row address via an address bus and a first active command via a command bus to the memory; and providing the second portion of the row address via the address bus and a second active command via the command bus to the memory after the first active command is provided. The address bus is formed by a plurality of address lines, and a quantity of the address lines is smaller than the number of bits of the row address. A corresponding electronic device is also provided.
US09423960B2	Methods of operating memory devices within a communication protocol standard timeout requirement The present disclosure includes methods and devices for logical memory blocks. One method for operating a memory device includes receiving a command to operate X pages of the memory device, X being greater than Y, and executing the command by executing multiple subcommands, each subcommand operating on a logical memory block portion of the X pages, each logical memory block including at most Y pages. T is a timeout limit, N is a number of pages comprising a block of memory, and Y is number of pages that can be operated within time T.
US09423952B2	Device, method, and storage medium storing program According to an aspect, a device includes a touch screen display and a controller. The touch screen display displays a lock screen provided with a display area in which any of a plurality of icons is displayed. The controller displays any of the icons in the display area according to a first touch gesture detected through the touch screen display while the lock screen is displayed.
US09423949B2	Number keypad Embodiments provide methods, apparatuses, and articles of manufacture for arranging keys of a number keypad based on movement of another key. In various embodiments, a contact may be detected, and a key associated with the contact moved to a second location in accordance with movement of the contact. Based on the second location a second key may be arranged.
US09423942B2	Scrolling apparatus, scrolling method, and computer-readable medium A scrolling apparatus includes: a display unit which displays a content on a screen; a contact detection unit which detects contact of a finger to the screen; a proximity detection unit which detects proximity of a finger to the screen; a scrolling control unit which scrolls the content displayed on the screen in response to a contact manipulation of the finger on the screen; and a display control unit which displays, on the screen, the scrolled content. The scrolling control unit decelerates a scroll speed to a given speed if proximity of the finger to the screen is detected at or after a start of the scrolling.
US09423935B2	Terminal apparatus and GUI screen generation method A terminal apparatus operates according to manipulation by a user on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) screen. The terminal apparatus includes: a generator that generates the GUI screen, the GUI screen including an object selectable in the manipulation and a pointer for selecting the object; and a blur calculator that calculates a vertical blur amount and a horizontal blur amount of a position at which the pointer is displayed on the GUI screen. The generator changes the GUI screen in a vertical direction depending on the vertical blur amount, and changes the GUI screen in a horizontal direction depending on the horizontal blur amount.
US09423934B2	Method for displaying background screen in mobile device and mobile device adapted thereto A method for displaying a background screen in a mobile terminal is provided. The method includes resizing at least one of a plurality of background screens according to a first input, displaying at least one of the at least one resized background screen, detecting a second input, and transitioning among the resized background screens based on the detected second input, wherein the background screens respectively include an icon that may represent a grouping of a first icon and a second icon respectively displayed on one of the plurality of background screens.
US09423933B2	Item display method and apparatus that display items according to a user gesture An item display method and apparatus that provides an easier and faster way to locate a desired item on a display. The method and apparatus receive a user gesture on display screen, and display one or both of items of a first category and items of a second category according to the user gesture. Items of the first category and items of the second category are displayed in various ways according to associated user gestures.
US09423932B2	Zoom view mode for digital content including multiple regions of interest Techniques are disclosed for a zoom view mode for use with digital content including multiple regions of interest. Regions of interest may include portions of viewable digital content (e.g., panels of a comic book). In some cases, the mode may be invoked using a zoom command (e.g., double tap) to zoom in on a region of interest. After the mode has been invoked, the user may shift from one region of interest to another using a shift command (e.g., swipe), along a shift path of motion. The shift path of motion may have a non-constant speed and/or non-linear shape (e.g., arc-shaped). In some cases, the shift path of motion speed may be defined by a non-linear easing function curve. In some cases, the mode may be configured to present an entire page when first shifting to a region of interest on that page, to provide overall context to the user.
US09423929B2	Predictive scrolling A system and a method are disclosed for effectively displaying database records on a device having a display area that is small compared to the underlying data being represented. A simulated catalogue is displayed with cards associated with database records. Detailed information is presented for a record on a card obscuring information related to other records. A user is allowed to swipe on the catalogue causing simulated movement of the cards thereby displaying information associated with a database record previously obscured. The catalogue is moved with an initial velocity determined by the speed of swiping and decelerated based on a drag factor until it comes to a stop and displays information for the record reached. The ability to determine the final record displayed when the catalogue stops allows pre-fetching of the data associated with the record.
US09423926B2	Method for graphical representation of a content collection A method use on a computer having a graphical operating environment is provided for displaying the content items of a container. The method includes enumerating the items that exist within the container or folder and determining whether a graphical preview can be generated for the item. If so, the item is added to a list of candidates as preview items for the container or folder. The items are then evaluated, and a desired number are chosen for display based upon a sort criteria. Prior to being displayed, the graphical preview for each item is sized and is located on the background image. The above method results in a container having graphical or pictorial indicia of the container contents on the outside thereof. These indicia allow a computer user to more readily determine the contents of the container or folder without having to open the container or folder.
US09423925B1	Adaptive content control and display for internet media This disclosure relates to adaptive content control and display for internet media. A playback component provides for playback of media content. An input component detects user inputs during playback of the content. In response to the user inputs being detected, a menu component displays a level of a pivot menu during playback of the content. The pivot menu is displayed on top, or in front, of a portion of the content during playback, and the pivot menu can be at least partially transparent to enable consumption of the content to continue without complete obstruction.
US09423924B2	Method and system for controlling display device and computer-readable recording medium A portable device and a method for controlling a display device include receiving first display information of a first arrangement of icons displayed on a screen of the display device, displaying the first arrangement of icons on a display of a portable device based on the first display information, modifying the first arrangement of icons displayed on the display of the portable device to generate a second arrangement of icons, generating second display information based on the second arrangement of icons, and transmitting to the display device a request to display the second arrangement of icons on the display of the display device, the request comprising the second display information.
US09423922B2	Systems and methods for creating shared virtual spaces Systems and methods are provided for creating shared virtual spaces (“rooms”). A room may be created when a user first shares images with another user. A user may send a request to a content management system to share one or more images with various contacts. In response, a room is created by the content management system in which a copy of each image is stored. Images added to a room are copied to a separate “rooms” database, and “locked,” being saved in the room for a period of time, which may be indefinitely. Changes made by the user to a room via a user device may be displayed as soon as indicated, without waiting for the information to be sent to a system server or its state to be made consistent with that of the user device. Room activity notifications may be sent to members in various ways.
US09423918B2	Electrostatic capacitive touch screen panel An electrostatic capacitive touch screen panel includes a plurality of first touch electrodes divided in a first direction and a second direction crossing the first direction; a plurality of second touch electrodes disposed between first touch electrodes neighboring in the first direction and extending in the second direction; and a plurality of grounding/floating electrodes disposed between the first touch electrodes and second touch electrodes arranged in the second direction and extending in the second direction.
US09423914B2	Spatial input device A spatial input device includes a light beam scanner that emits light beams toward a spatially projected image while two-dimensionally scanning the light beams, a photodetector that detects the light beams that have been reflected by an input object within a detection range, with the detection range extending inward of the spatial input device relative to the image, and a controller that counts a scan line number indicative of a number of the light beams that have been detected by the photodetector, and detects a depth position of the input object based on the scan line number. The controller further detects the depth position of the input object based on a depth conversion table, with the depth conversion table specifying depth layer levels corresponding to scan line numbers.
US09423906B2	Drive system adaptable to a matrix scanning device The present invention is directed to a drive system adaptable to a matrix scanning device. A number of first drive circuits are disposed on a first periphery along a first direction of a substrate with each said first drive circuit being coupled to at least one column wire of the matrix scanning device. A number of second drive circuits are disposed on a second periphery along a second direction of the substrate with each said second drive circuit being coupled to at least one row wire of the matrix scanning device. A master controller controls the first drive circuits and the second drive circuits. A bus is electrically coupled to the master controller, the first drive circuits and the second drive circuits.
US09423901B2	System and method to control screen capture Various systems and methods for controlling screen captures are described herein. A system comprises a touchscreen; a display module communicatively coupled to the touchscreen, the display module to display on the touchscreen an image in a blurred state to a user; a touchscreen module communicatively coupled to the touchscreen, the touchscreen module to detect a contact point on the touchscreen resulting from the user touching the touchscreen; wherein the display module is to display the image in a focused state on the touchscreen in response to the touchscreen module detecting the contact point; wherein the touchscreen module is to detect a change in the contact point; and wherein the display module is to display the image in the blurred state in response to the touchscreen module detecting the change in the contact point.
US09423898B2	Preparation method of one glass solution touch screen A method of preparing an OGS touch screen is disclosed. The method includes forming a first film layer on a provided substrate, where the first film layer includes at least one hollow region and a protection film surrounding each hollow region. The method also includes tempering each hollow region by tempering the substrate, and removing the protection film on the substrate.
US09423893B2	Gesture detection device for detecting hovering and click There is provided a gesture detection device including two linear image sensor arrays and a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to compare sizes of pointer images in the image frames captured by the two linear image sensor arrays in the same period or different periods so as to identify a click event.
US09423892B2	Information input device The information input device includes first detecting portion, second detecting portion, first positioning portion, second positioning portion, first information acquiring portion, and second information acquiring portion. The first information acquiring portion is configured to acquire information that is written on a paper sheet overlapping with a cover sheet positioned by the first positioning portion, based on the position of the writing tool detected by the first detecting portion. The second information acquiring portion is configured to acquire information that is written on a paper sheet overlapping with a cover sheet positioned by the second positioning portion, based on the position of the writing tool detected by the second detecting portion.
US09423886B1	Sensor connectivity approaches A computing device having multiple sensors can operate in different modes, wherein each mode causes data captured by different sensors to be transmitted to a processing component for analysis. In one example, a computing device includes one or more pairs of image sensors. Each pair can be configured such that the transmit lines of the sensors are selectively connected to a host processor or other such component. When in a normal operational mode, the switch can be configured to cause data captured by a first image sensor to be transmitted to a receive input of the host processor. When image data from a second image sensor is to be analyzed, the switch can be adjusted such that the device operates in a bypass mode, such that only data from the second image sensor is received and analyzed by the host processor.
US09423881B2	Foldable keyboard with adjustable ergonomic features An input system includes a first base portion including a keying surface and a second base portion including a keying surface. For example, the input system may be a keyboard with a first keyboard segment and a second keyboard segment. A base portion manipulation mechanism couples the first base portion to the second base portion. The base portion manipulation mechanism includes a first moveable coupling that is configured to allow relative movement of the first base portion and the second base portion into at least one of a side-by-side tented orientation and a side-by-side splayed orientation. For example, the first base portion and the second base portion may be moved into an ergonomic, side-by-side, tented and splayed orientation. A second moveable coupling is configured to allow relative movement of the first base portion and the second base portion into a stacked orientation for storage and travel.
US09423862B2	Device and method for controlling a display in wireless terminal A device and method for controlling a display of a portable terminal are provided. The device includes a display unit including a first display area for displaying an execution screen of an application, and a second display area having at least one display device for displaying at least one touch button, a touch panel for sensing a touch of the first display area and a touch of the second display area, a controller for analyzing a selected application, for displaying an application screen along and an input window of the application selected, and for generating a power control signal for turning off operation of the at least one display device of the second display area, and a power controller for supplying operating power to display devices of the first display area and for turning off operation of the at least one display device of the second display area.
US09423854B2	System and method for server rack power management A server rack includes a management controller, a power mapping module coupled to the management controller, and a plurality of power receptacles. Each power receptacle is coupled to the power mapping module to provide an indication to the power mapping module of the power consumed by equipment that is plugged in to each power receptacle. The management controller is operable to determine that the power consumed by the equipment installed in the server rack is greater than a first high power threshold and throttle a first piece of equipment installed in the rack space.
US09423850B2	System and method of power control for embedded systems without advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI) A system for power control includes a power supply having a power supply line and a standby power line, a logic circuit having a first output terminal connected to the power supply and three input terminals, a processing device connected to the standby power line and the power supply line, and a power switch. The processing device includes at least one processor, a storage storing a code executable by the processor, and four input/output (I/O) interfaces. A first, second and third I/O interfaces of the processing device are electrically connected to a first, second and third input terminals of the logic circuit, and a fourth I/O interface is connected to the third I/O interface. The power switch electrically connects or disconnects the standby power line to the first I/O interface and the first input terminal. The processing device has a power on state, a power off state, and a suspend state.
US09423843B2	Processor maintaining reset-state after reset signal is suspended Systems and techniques for processor reset hold control are described. A described system includes a controller to detect a hold request based on an external reset signal and an external debug signal, and generate a hold signal based on a detection of the hold request, where the hold signal continues after the external reset signal has been discontinued; a system component that is responsive to the external reset signal; a processor that is responsive to the hold signal, where the hold signal causes the processor to enter a reset state and to maintain the reset state after the external reset signal has been discontinued; and a system manager configured to permit external access to the system component while the processor is in the reset state. The controller can be configured to discontinue the hold signal in response to a clear request.
US09423839B2	Plugboard heat dissipation system A plugboard heat dissipation system is provided. The system may include a plugboard, an enclosure, and an air supply apparatus that provides an air source for heat dissipation, a length of a first board edge on the plugboard is greater than a length of a second board edge, an output port is disposed on the first board edge, a spatial position of the second board edge is corresponding to that of the first board edge, a connecting part connected to another plugboard orthogonal to the plugboard is disposed, the output port is output out of an enclosure using a first end face of the enclosure, the connecting part is output out of the enclosure using a second end face of the enclosure. In the system, when space in which the plugboard is located is limited, the number of ports on the plugboard can be expanded.
US09423832B2	Display device using semiconductor light emitting device A display device including a wiring substrate having a first substrate layer and a second substrate layer, a conductive adhesive layer configured to cover the wiring substrate, a plurality of semiconductor light emitting devices coupled to the conductive adhesive layer and electrically connected to a first electrode and a second electrode. Further, the first electrode is disposed on the first substrate layer, and the second substrate layer has one surface facing the conductive adhesive layer and the other surface covering the first electrode, and an auxiliary electrode electrically connected to the first electrode and the second electrode are disposed on one surface of the second substrate layer.
US09423826B2	Mechanical attach and retention feature A mechanical attach and retention feature is described. An apparatus may include a cover portion that is configured to cover at least a portion of a display device of a computing device having a mobile form factor that is configured to be held by one or more hands of a user. The apparatus includes, a first mid-spine that is rotationally connected to the cover portion, a second mid-spine that is rotationally connected to the first mid-spine, and a connection portion that is rotationally connection to the second mid-spine. The connection portion is configured to form a removable physical coupling to the computing device using a projection that is configured to be disposed within a channel formed in a housing of the computing device and a protrusion disposed on the projection, the protrusion configured to be received within a cavity formed as part of the channel.
US09423825B2	Mobile computing device with expanded display size A mobile computing device comprising a display panel and a home button, the display panel being disposed on the exterior front surface and the home button being disposed on the exterior back surface of the mobile computing device. The front surface may be free of any additional user Input/Output devices apart from the display panel. The mobile computing device may further comprise an accelerometer and a phone circuit. Upon detection that the display panel faces away from a user during a phone call, displayed information on the display panel may be concealed automatically. The accelerometer may be also operable to detect shaking motions on the mobile computing device as a user command to turn on or turn off the display panel.
US09423821B2	Method and apparatus for setting a frequency of a clock signal for a bus based on a number of requests asserted to transfer data on the bus An integrated circuit includes a generator. The generator, based on a summation signal, generates a clock signal having a frequency. Multiple devices generate respective requests. Each of the requests requests transfer of data on a bus. Each of the devices is configured to, based on the frequency of the clock signal, transfer the data for the corresponding request on the bus. A summer receives the requests and based on a number of the requests being in an asserted state during a first period of time, generates the summation signal. A first module, based on the summation signal, increases a second period of time that a first request is in an asserted state. The second period of time is increased to include or overlap the first period of time. The summer, as a result of the increase, generates the summation signal further based on the first request.
US09423812B2	Current mode boost converter using slope compensation A boost converter circuit that includes a power supply, an inductor coupled to the power supply to receive current from the power supply, a diode coupled to receive current from the inductor and coupled to provide current to a load as an output, an inductor switch coupled to a node between the inductor and the diode for selectively switching current from the inductor anyway from the diode, and a ramp circuit. The ramp circuit is coupled to the node between the inductor and the diode, and is configured to selectively sample a voltage at the node between the inductor and the diode via a sampling switch and use the sampled signal to produce a stabilization ramp to stabilize the output.
US09423807B2	Switching power converter Exemplary embodiments are related to a switching power converter. A device may include a switching unit configured to receive an input voltage and convey an output voltage. The device may further include a feedback path including a pulse-width modulator having an input directly coupled to the output voltage and configured to convey a signal to the switching unit.
US09423805B2	Wall-mounted controller with a removable portion An example wall-mountable HVAC controller may include a controller module and a wall plate, with a hinge that allows the controller module to rotate relative to the wall plate. The hinge may provide an end stop that limits the rotation of the controller module relative to the wall plate, and/or may allow the controller module to be freely pulled away and disengaged from the wall plate if desired.
US09423798B2	Method for positioning a mobile robot and a mobile robot implementing the same First and second positioning devices disposed at first and second stationary locations transmit first and second pilot signals, respectively. Transmission coverages of the first and second pilot signals have an area of overlap. When a mobile robot moves to the area of overlap, the mobile robot determines first angular orientation information between the mobile robot and the first positioning device, and second angular orientation information between the mobile robot and the second positioning device. The mobile robot then determines an initial position of the mobile robot based on the first stationary location, the second stationary location, the first angular orientation information, and the second angular orientation information.
US09423796B2	Bot having high speed stability An autonomous transport vehicle for transporting items in a storage and retrieval system is provided. The autonomous transport vehicle includes at least two drive wheels and a controller, where each drive wheel is independently driven and a drive wheel encoder is disposed adjacent each drive wheel. The controller, in communication with the drive wheel encoders, is configured to determine a kinematic state of the autonomous transport vehicle within the storage and retrieval system based on incremental data from the drive wheel encoders only and independent of drive wheel slippage.
US09423792B2	Method for suppressing interference In a method for suppressing interference in a controlled variable in a control circuit, in which the actuating variable is the useful signal, the controlled variable is detected continuously, at two successive sampling instants in each case, the values of the controlled variable are subtracted, and if the absolute amount of the difference deviates by a predefinable setpoint value, at least one control parameter is modified, in such a way that the response of the actuating variable to the interference is minimized.
US09423790B2	Apparatus and method for self-tuning a processing system A method and apparatus is disclosed for automatically adjusting a recovery time for a processing system to recover from an idle mode to a normal operation mode in order to improve the efficiency of resource utilization, such as energy consumption. The processing system can be one that is used in semiconductor manufacturing, and include a process tool supported by an auxiliary device, such as a vacuum pump or abatement device. A number of parameters can be controlled to adjust the recovery time of the auxiliary device. One or more of those parameters can be increased or decreased based on comparison between a measured, actual recovery time and a predetermined, target recovery time, at the end of each recovery cycle. As such, the actual, measured recovery time can gradually converge with the predetermined, target recovery time, thereby optimizing the resource utilization of the processing system.
US09423788B2	Automatic method for milling complex channel-shaped cavities Methods and devices for milling a channel-shaped cavity by a five-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machine by selecting a workpiece to be machined, determining cutting tool flow along the channel-shaped cavity, determining cutting tool in-depth penetration, determining a trochoid path, and determining auxiliary movements.
US09423782B2	Motor drive device Motor drive device (30) according to the present invention includes operation pattern generator (1), position and speed controller (23), load characteristic compensator (24), and load characteristic measurement unit (7). Operation pattern generator (1) increases an absolute value of acceleration, at which a motor speed or a motor position is changed, in each operation pattern. Load characteristic measurement unit (7) measures the load characteristic to set load characteristic compensator (24) when torque command indicator is less than or equal to a torque limit value. Load characteristic measurement unit (7) ends the measurement of the load characteristic without setting load characteristic compensator (24) when the torque command indicator is greater than the torque limit value.
US09423768B2	Image forming apparatus and tandem type photosensitive unit An image forming apparatus is described. An image forming apparatus may include an image forming apparatus body and a tandem type photosensitive unit slidable with respect to the body, wherein the unit includes: a frame; a plurality of photosensitive bodies; a plurality of developer cartridges, including developer carriers, detachably mountable on the frame; and a pressing portion provided on the frame for pressing each of the cartridges so that the developer carrier thereof is directed toward the corresponding photosensitive body, each of the cartridges is pivoted to be movable to an imaging position pressed by the pressing portion and a detached position released from the pressing by the pressing portion, and the body is provided with an abutting portion abutting the cartridge located on the detached position thereby pivoting the cartridge and moving the same to the imaging position when the unit is mounted on the body.
US09423763B2	Exposure unit covering member configuration for an image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus includes a casing, a photosensitive member, a developing unit, an exposure member including a light emitting element array, a covering member, and a cover operation mechanism. The developing unit includes a developer carrying member configured to carry a developer supplied to the photosensitive member. The exposure unit is configured to expose the photosensitive member to form a latent image on the photosensitive member. The covering member is configured to move between a cover position where the covering member covers the exposure member between the photosensitive member and the exposure member and a retracted position where the covering member is retracted from between the photosensitive member and the exposure member. The cover operation mechanism is configured to hold the covering member in the retracted position at least when the exposure member forms the latent image on the photosensitive member.
US09423762B2	Image forming apparatus with frame having hollowly-formed connecting frames An image forming apparatus, including image forming units, a pair of frames, an optical scanner, a metal-made first connecting frame, a resin-made second connecting frame, is provided. The first and second connecting frames are formed to be hollow and are coupled to the paired frames at both ends thereof along an axial direction of rotation axes of photosensitive drums contained in the image forming units. The first connecting frame accommodates the optical scanner in the hollow space.
US09423756B2	Electrophotography-based additive manufacturing system with reciprocating operation An additive manufacturing system for printing a three-dimensional part using electrophotography, the additive manufacturing system comprising a rotatable photoconductor component, first and second development stations configured to develop layers of materials on a surface of the rotatable photoconductor component while the rotatable photoconductor component rotates in opposing rotational directions, and a platen configured to operably receive the developed layers in a layer-by-layer manner to print the three-dimensional part from at least a portion of the received layers.
US09423754B2	Image forming apparatus A flat cable (301) is disposed along a direction of reciprocating movement of a carriage (122), and is configured to input a synchronization signal to a board mounted on the carriage (122). A conductive plate (311) is supported by a casing (331) such that, when portions of the flat cable (301) face each other as a result of the flat cable (301) being bent according to the reciprocating movement of the carriage (122), the conductive plate (311) is interposed between the facing portions of the flat cable (301). An elastic member (312) is configured to electrically connect the conductive plate (311) and a ground member (321), and has a substantial inductance component that absorbs vibration generated in an image forming portion (140) or an image reading portion (120).
US09423744B2	Image forming apparatus and method of controlling entry to power save mode thereof An image forming apparatus controls entry to a power save mode based on an operation state of an external interface device when an operation state of a removable user interface unit satisfies a condition for entering the power save mode.
US09423740B2	Image forming apparatus with fixing portion having exciting coil configured to cause rotatable member to generate heat by electromagnetic induction heating An image forming apparatus includes (i) a feeding portion; (ii) an image forming portion; and (iii) a fixing portion. The fixing portion includes: (iii-i) a rotatable member; (iii-ii) an exciting coil configured to cause the rotatable member to generate heat by electromagnetic induction heating; (iii-iii) a magnetic flux suppressing member configured to suppress a part of magnetic flux acting from the exciting coil to the rotatable member; and (iii-iv) a motor for moving the magnetic flux suppressing member depending on a width size of the sheet; and (iv) a controller configured to variably control a feeding interval of the sheet by the feeding portion so that a number of times of movement per unit time of the magnetic flux suppressing member is not more than a predetermined value when image formation of a plurality of sheets different in width size is continuously effected.
US09423739B2	Endless belt for fixing, fixing device, and method for producing endless belt for fixing An endless belt for fixing includes a base layer made of nickel, wherein the base layer includes a first layer, a second layer, and a third layer provided between the first layer and the second layer, and a toner parting layer provided on the base layer, wherein a content rate of an element for enhancing hardness in the first layer and the second layer is lower than that in the third layer.
US09423735B2	Fixing device A fixing device may include an endless belt and a nip member in contact with an inner peripheral surface of the endless belt. The fixing device may further include a backup member that nips the endless belt together with the nip member. The fixing device may include a contact member disposed opposite the backup member with the nip member therebetween. The contact member may be in contact with the nip member. The contact member may include a first portion that extends across a width of a maximum image forming area and a second portion positioned outside the width of the maximum image forming area and inside a width of the nip in an axial direction of the endless belt. A heat transfer coefficient per unit dimension between the nip member and the second portion may be smaller than that between the nip member and the first portion.
US09423729B2	Image forming apparatus and heat fixing device provided in the same An image forming apparatus includes an endless belt, a heater, a first temperature sensor, and a second temperature sensor. The endless belt is configured to circularly move about a rotational axis extending in an axial direction. The endless belt has a center portion and end portions in the axial direction, and defines an internal space and an outer peripheral surface. The heater is configured to heat the endless belt. The first temperature sensor is positioned at the center portion and in the internal space. The second temperature sensor is positioned at one of the end portions and facing the outer peripheral surface.
US09423725B2	Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus being capable of commonalizing a control signal for lighting of static eliminators, and controlling the static eliminators with a single port of CPU. The image forming apparatus includes a main body control part controlling image formation; a nip separation mechanism separating an intermediate transfer belt from color photosensitive drums; a separation control part driving nip separation mechanism on a separation control signal inputted from main body control part; a monochrome static eliminator comprised of a monochrome light guide body and a monochrome light source irradiating light on its end face; color static eliminators comprised of color light guide bodies and color light sources irradiating light on their end faces; and an irradiation location shifting mechanism shifting irradiation location of light emitted from color light source from end face of color light guide body when intermediate transfer belt is separated from color photosensitive drums.
US09423722B2	Toner cartridge, image forming unit, and image forming apparatus Provided is a toner cartridge comprising: a toner storage case configured to store toner; and an auger screw rotatably supported in the toner storage case and configured to convey the toner stored in the toner storage case, wherein the toner storage case comprises: a first supporting portion that rotatably supports a downstream end along a toner conveyance direction of the auger screw; a second supporting portion that rotatably supports an upstream end along the toner conveyance direction of the auger screw; a discharge port provided at a downstream side along the toner conveyance direction and below the first supporting portion so as to discharge therefrom the toner conveyed by the auger screw; and an inclined portion that is provided above the discharge port and inclines by a predetermined angle from a plane perpendicular to a rotating shaft of the auger screw toward an upstream side along the toner conveyance direction.
US09423716B2	Charge roller The present disclosure discloses a new charge roller particularly but not exclusively for charging a photoconductive element in a liquid electro-photograph (LEP) image-forming apparatus. The charge roller includes a cured composition of an aromatic diisocyanate, a polycarbonate polyester polyol, a matte agent, a surface energy modifier, and a conductive agent.
US09423715B2	Roller member, roller supporting mechanism, and image forming apparatus A roller member used in an image forming apparatus includes a metallic shaft, and the metallic shaft includes a cylindrical portion formed of a metallic plate, and a projecting portion projecting outward from end surfaces of the cylindrical portion, wherein end portions of the metallic plate each include a straight portion, projections, and depressions, the projections on the one end portion engage the depressions on the other end portion, the depressions on the one end portion engage the projections on the other end portion, and the straight portions on both end portions oppose each other, a straight area is positioned on an end portion of the cylindrical portion, a projection and depression area is located adjacent to the straight area, and a projecting amount of the projection with respect to the straight portion is smaller than a projecting amount of the projection with respect to the depression.
US09423699B2	Substrate holder, lithographic apparatus, device manufacturing method, and method of manufacturing a substrate holder A substrate holder for a lithographic apparatus has a planarization layer provided on a surface thereof. The planarization layer provides a smooth surface for the formation of an electronic component such as a thin film electronic component. The planarization layer may be provided in multiple sub layers. The planarization layer may smooth over roughness caused by removal of material from a blank to form burls on the substrate holder.
US09423698B2	Illumination optical apparatus and projection exposure apparatus An illumination optical apparatus illuminates an object with illumination light. The apparatus includes a birefringent member having different thicknesses of a birefringent material at different incidence positions such that illumination light incident on the birefringent member in a first linear polarization state having a single polarization direction is in a second linear polarization state on a pupil plane, the second linear polarization state having a polarization direction being substantially coincident with a circumferential direction about an optical axis of the illumination optical apparatus.
US09423695B2	Lens module comprising at least one exchangeable optical element An optical system has a housing with a mount and an opening to a receiving region, the receiving region being located within the housing and including the mount. At least one optical element is inserted into and removed from the receiving region through the opening, and at least one gas supply device provides a flow of gas in the receiving region. An associated method of inserting or removing an optical element into or from a receiving region in a housing is also disclosed.
US09423687B2	Mask plate, method for fabricating array substrate using the same, and array substrate Embodiments of the invention provide a mask plate, a method for fabricating an array substrate using the mask plate, and an array substrate. The mask plate is used for fabricating the array substrate by a stitching exposure. The mask plate comprises 2n+1 mask patterns successively arranged and parallel to each other, where n is any natural number, each mask pattern includes a light-shielding pattern corresponding to a portion of a data signal line on the array substrate. The light-shielding patterns of two adjacent mask patterns are discontinuous, and the portions on both sides of the light-shielding pattern of the mask pattern located in the middle of the mask plate are asymmetric.
US09423681B2	Projection-type display apparatus having a laser light source A beam, expansion unit is configured to expand a beam of laser light emitted from a laser light source into an ellipse. A beam irradiation position moving unit is configured to translate a mirror by a driving unit to sequentially move the laser light expanded into the ellipse on the surface of an integrator in a minor-axis direction of the ellipse. A reflective liquid crystal device is configured to modulate the laser light. A projection lens is configured to project the laser light modulated by the reflective liquid crystal device.
US09423679B2	Projection unit and method for controlling the projection unit A projection unit may include a reflector-lamp arrangement which is designed to emit light during operation, wherein the light radiates toward an aperture, wherein a setting unit is provided, with which a light intensity distribution of the emitted light is adjustable relative to the aperture, wherein the light intensity distribution is adjusted depending on a period of operation of the lamp, and/or a measuring unit is provided, with which at least part of the light intensity distribution is detectable, wherein the light intensity distribution is adjusted relative to the aperture depending on a change in the light intensity distribution.
US09423676B2	Lighting unit and image projector A lighting unit and an image projector that cool a drive source that drives a color wheel favorably and prevents dust from collecting on the color wheel are provided. The lighting unit includes a color wheel that divides light from a light source into colors different from each other time-divisionally, a drive source that drives the color wheel such as a color motor, and an optical device that illuminates light that passes through the color wheel on an image generating device such as a DMD that generates a projection image. The lighting unit includes a cooling device that draws heat from the drive source to cool the drive source.
US09423672B1	Camera stand having constant resistance for a portion of a range of motion along an axis of rotation This application discloses a stand assembly that includes a receiving element for physically receiving a module, and a base assembly for supporting the receiving element. The receiving element further includes a module holding structure, an extended portion, and a first fastener structure coupled to an end of the extended portion. The base assembly includes a base, and a second fastener structure coupled to the base at a joint and configured to mate with the first fastener structure. The first fastener structure and the joint are configured to respectively provide a first degree of freedom of motion and a second degree of freedom of motion of the receiving element with respect to the base. The movement of the receiving element at the first degree of freedom has substantially consistent resistance through first part of a first full range of motion associated with the first degree of freedom of motion.
US09423669B2	Method and apparatus for camera autofocus based on Wi-Fi ranging technique Methods and apparatus for capturing an image using an automatic focus are disclosed herein. In one aspect, a method is disclosed which includes communicating, using a camera, with a wireless device via a wireless communication network. The method further includes determining a distance between the camera and the wireless device using the wireless communication network and adjusting a focus of the camera based upon the determined distance. Finally, the method includes capturing an image using the adjusted focus of the camera. In some aspects, this method may be done on a smartphone or digital camera which includes Wi-Fi capabilities.
US09423668B2	System and method using capacitors to power a camera having a motion sensor A method and apparatus relates to systems powered by energy stored in capacitors. The capacitors may be charged using any desired power source. In one example, a camera system uses a combination of solar panels and a capacitive network to power the camera system with minimal required maintenance.
US09423665B2	Ambient light adjustment apparatus, method and system An ambient light adjustment (ALA) apparatus, a method and a system therewith are proposed. The ALA apparatus includes a main body having a plurality of edges, one or more light sources, a light blocking layer and a controller. The light source is mounted on at least one edge of the ALA apparatus. The main body comprises at least one light guide plate. The light blocking layer is disposed over a surface of the main body. The controller is coupled to the light source and the light blocking layer. The ALA apparatus further comprises at least one sensor coupled to the controller. The controller controls the light characteristics of the light source and/or the light blockage levels of the light blocking layer to adjust ambient light characteristics, according to a sensed result by the sensor or sensors.
US09423662B2	Thin film transistor, array substrate and display device The present invention provides a thin film transistor, an array substrate and a display device, relating to the field of display technology, for solving the problem that a source/drain electrode metals and a gate metal may be short-circuited in the manufacturing process of an existing bottom-gate thin film transistor. The thin film transistor of the present invention comprises: a gate formed on a substrate, the gate being connected with a gate line; and a semiconductor layer formed on the gate and the gate line, at least a part of the semiconductor layer extends in the direction parallel to the substrate to exceed the edge of the gate. The array substrate of the present invention comprises the thin film transistor, and the display device comprises the array substrate. The present invention may improve the yield of the bottom-gate thin film transistor.
US09423658B2	Liquid crystal display panel, display device and electric apparatus A liquid crystal display panel, a display device and an electric apparatus are disclosed. The liquid crystal display panel including a color filter substrate and an array substrate; pixel electrodes, common electrodes and an insulator layer that separates the pixel electrodes and the common electrodes are provided on the array substrate; a plurality of first protruding structures in an upward protruding direction and a plurality of second protruding structures in a downward protruding direction are provided inside the insulator layer; the first protruding structures and the second protruding structures are disposed alternately, the pixel electrode and the common electrode are respectively formed on the first protruding structures and the second protruding structures. The pixel electrodes and the common electrodes are formed on the protruding structures that are disposed alternately, so that the transmittance of the liquid crystal display panel is increased, and picture display quality of the liquid crystal display panel is improved.
US09423654B2	Liquid crystal display and manufacturing method thereof A liquid crystal display may include a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer comprising liquid crystal molecules that are interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, a first electrode disposed on the first substrate, an insulating layer disposed on the first electrode, a second electrode disposed on the insulating layer, a third electrode disposed on the second substrate, and an alignment layer disposed on any one of the second electrode and the third electrode. The second electrode comprises a fine slit structure, and at least one of the liquid crystal layer and the alignment layer comprises a sub-alignment substance.
US09423647B2	Display device with mirror function A display device includes a display panel and a polarization conversion panel disposed on the display panel. The polarization conversion panel has two or more display area regions that are independently drivable in order to implement either a reflection mode or transmissive mode in each of those regions and thus enabling pattern implementation. The polarization conversion panel includes: a reflective polarizer disposed on the display panel; an absorptive polarizer facing and spaced apart from the reflective polarizer; a lower electrode(s) layer disposed on the reflective polarizer; an upper electrode(s) layer disposed on the absorptive polarizer; and liquid crystals disposed between the upper and lower electrode layers. At least one of the upper and lower electrode layers includes a respective plurality of independently drivable sub-electrodes.
US09423632B2	Contact lenses for refractive correction Ophthalmic lenses for correcting refractive error of an eye are disclosed. Ophthalmic lenses include a deformable inner portion and a deformable peripheral portion. When disposed over the optical region of an eye, the inner portion is configured so that engagement of the posterior surface against the eye deforms the posterior surface so that the posterior surface has a shape diverging form the refractive shape of the epithelium when viewing with the eye through the ophthalmic lens. The rigidity of the inner portion is greater than the rigidity of the peripheral portion and the ophthalmic lenses are configured to allow movement relative to the eye upon blinking of the eye and to be substantially centered on the optical region of the cornea following the blinking of the eye. Methods of correcting refractive errors of an eye such as astigmatism or spherical aberration using the ophthalmic lenses are also disclosed.
US09423619B2	Head mounted display and method of outputting a content using the same in which the same identical content is displayed A HMD (head mounted display) and its methods are discussed. In one embodiment, the HMD includes a processor which can detect a first marker of a augmented reality image within a view angle region of the HMD, and determine a location state of the first marker, the location state including a first state in which the first marker is located within the view angle region of the HMD and a second state in which the first marker is located beyond the view angle region. When the location state of the first marker is switched from the first state to the second state, the processor can start displaying the augmented reality image on a display unit, and when the location state of the first marker is switched from the second state to the first state, the processor can stop displaying the augmented reality image on the display unit.
US09423618B2	Viewing device comprising a combiner with variable reflection factor The general field of the invention is that of optical viewing systems comprising a display and a tilted optical plate arranged above this display and forming therewith substantially a dihedron. The system according to the invention comprises means for adjusting the reflection coefficient of the said tilted optical plate along an axis perpendicular to the axis of the dihedron and up to a variable height so as to ensure the total reflection of a first part of the image displayed by the display and the partial reflection of a second part of the image displayed by the display, complementary to the first part. The insertion of optical components between the display and the optical plate makes it possible to modify the distance of the display image reflected by the optical plate.
US09423609B2	Actuator, light scanner, image display device, and head mount display An actuator includes: a movable plate; a first axial member adapted to swingably support the movable plate around a first axis; a reflecting section fixed to the movable plate, and having a reflecting surface adapted to reflect light; and a coil disposed on an opposite surface of the reflecting section to the reflecting surface.
US09423608B2	Multidimensional rotary motion apparatus moving a reflective surface and method of operating same A rotary motion controller controlling the motion of a mirror in a projection system is described having a mounting element coupled to a support member. A two-axis coupling is provided with at least two input shafts coupled to two drive mechanisms. A channeled portion is provided in a second of the two input shafts through which the support member extends there through and is guided thereby and where the at least one support member is coupled to the first input shafts via an input coupling coupled to and driving the support member and a control input controlling the position of the at least two input shafts. A method of controlling a mirror in an underwater projection system is also provided along with a method of operating a controller for an underwater projection system.
US09423598B2	Zoom lens and optical apparatus A zoom lens includes a first lens group having a positive refractive power, a second lens group having a negative refractive power, a third lens group having a positive refractive power, and a fourth lens group having a positive refractive power. The fourth lens group includes a first sub-lens group having a positive refractive power, a second sub-lens group having a negative refractive power, and a third sub-lens group. During zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end, the first lens group and the first and third sub-lens groups are stationary in an optical axis direction relative to the image plane, the second and third lens groups move in the optical axis direction, and the second sub-lens group moves in the direction of the optical axis. During focusing from an infinite-distance object to a close-range object, the second sub-lens group moves in the optical axis direction.
US09423596B2	Retrofocus-type wide angle lens and imaging apparatus A retrofocus-type wide-angle lens consists of a negative first lens-group, a positive second lens-group, and a positive third lens-group in this order from an object-side. The first lens-group consists of a positive meniscus-lens with its convex surface facing the object-side and three negative meniscus-lenses with their convex surfaces facing the object-side in this order from the object-side. The second lens-group includes two cemented lenses, and a lens closest to an image-side in the second lens-group is one of the at least two cemented lenses. The third lens-group consists of a 3a-th lens-group, which consists of a positive meniscus-lens with its convex surface facing the object-side and a negative meniscus-lens with its convex surface facing the object-side, and a 3b-th lens-group, which includes at least two cemented lenses and has positive refractive power as a whole, in this order from the object-side.
US09423585B2	Fiber optic connectivity system A fiber optic connectivity system for fiber optic cable management comprising a main chassis surrounding an interior cavity and including a main opening and a plurality of access points; a door assembly adjacent to the main opening including at least one mounting accessory aperture that is sized and configured for engaged receipt of a mounting accessory component, and said door assembly being selectively positionable between a closed position and an open position for accessing the interior cavity; a tray supported on a rail on the interior facing surface of the main chassis, and the tray being selectively slideable upon the rail; a plurality of grommets each being integrally secured within a respective one of the access points, and each of the grommets being sized and configured for passage of at least one cable therethrough; and an adapter bracket on the tray being sized and configured for accommodating at least one fiber optic adapter plate thereon.
US09423572B2	Optical connector and method for manufacturing optical connector An optical connector includes an optical waveguide having multiple cores for propagating light arranged in a width direction, a connector body including a distal end reference surface that contacts a distal end of the optical waveguide, a first reference surface that contacts a first surface of the optical waveguide, a lens array that face the multiple cores, and an opening, and a positioning member that is mounted to the opening, the positioning member including a pressing part that contacts a second surface of the optical waveguide and presses the optical waveguide to the first reference surface, and a first positioning part that contacts a first side of the optical waveguide in the width direction.
US09423566B2	Optical modulator and optical transmitter An optical modulator includes a Mach-Zehnder optical waveguide that includes a pair of parallel waveguides, and a two-input-one-output optical coupler that couples light output from the parallel waveguides; a branching waveguide that branches a portion of light output from the optical coupler; and a light receiving unit that receives the light output from the branching waveguide. Orientation of an output end of the branching waveguide is angled toward the light receiving unit, to be oblique with respect to the parallel waveguides, and orientation of an output end of the optical coupler is angled toward a side opposite to that of the output end of the branching waveguide, to be oblique with respect to the parallel waveguides.
US09423551B2	Backlight assembly and display apparatus having the same A backlight assembly includes a light emitting part including a light source configured to generate a light having a first color and a phosphor disposed on the light source and having a second color, an optical filter part configured to filter a light from the light emitting part and a color conversion member disposed adjacent to the optical filter part and having a third color. A wavelength of the third color is shorter than a wavelength of the second color.
US09423549B2	Surface illuminant device A surface light source device capable of obtaining uniform and high brightness emitted light is disclosed. The surface light source device can include a light source (11) that emits light; a light guiding plate (12) that guides light from the light source that is incident on a rear surface side thereof or a side surface side thereof and emits the light from a front surface side thereof; and a diffusion plate (14) disposed on the front surface side of the light guiding plate that diffuses the incident light from the light guiding plate to a front surface side thereof. The diffusion plate can be made from nonwoven fabric with an areal weight of not less than 0 g/m2 and not more than 40 g/m2.
US09423524B2	Oil-based mud imager with a line source A resistivity imaging device uses a line source in conjunction with an array of measure electrodes to reduce sensitivity to tool standoff when use in a borehole with oil-based mud.
US09423522B2	Communication systems for water vehicles Various technologies described herein are directed to a method that includes deploying a plurality of wave gliders in a seismic survey area, where the plurality of wave gliders has one or more seismic sensors coupled thereto for acquiring seismic data. The method may also include deploying at least one source vessel in the seismic survey area, where the at least one source vessel has one or more sources coupled thereto and a central communication unit disposed thereon. The method may then include positioning the plurality of wave gliders according to an initial navigation plan. The method may further include monitoring a relative position of a respective wave glider in the plurality of wave gliders with respect to other wave gliders in the plurality of wave gliders and with respect to the at least one source vessel.
US09423510B2	Scintillation detector for improved PET performance A radiation detector for a radiation imaging system, wherein the detector comprises photosensors, arranged to receive light emitted from an array of scintillator elements. The scintillator elements absorb radiation, such as gamma rays, and emit light. Using Anger arithmetic and crystal decoding, the position of each scintillation event is determined from the relative fractions of light detected by each of the photosensors. Selectively shaping the top surface, i.e., the surface closest to the photosensors, of each scintillator element in the array, the direction of light emission from each scintillator element can be optimized such that the fraction of light detected by each photosensor is optimally distinct for each position in the array of scintillator elements. The top surface of at least one of the scintillator element array is not parallel with the bottom surface of at least one of the scintillator.
US09423504B1	Arrow head tracking device A tracking device configured to hold a GPS tracking apparatus and a battery is adapted to engage an arrow shaft at the junction of the arrow shaft and an arrow head. In use, GPS data is displayed upon a personal electronic device to enable tracking stricken game.
US09423503B2	Borepath analyzer A tracker used to analyze a desired borepath prior to horizontal directional drilling operations. The tracker analyzes an amount of interference present at a plurality of different frequencies at multiple locations along the borepath and maps a plot of the interference at the different frequencies. The lower the point on the plot, the less interference present at that frequency at the location analyzed. The tracker summarizes the overall interference along the desired borepath for the different frequencies analyzed and will recommend a preferred frequency. An operator may program the beacon prior to boring operations to emit a beacon signal at the preferred frequency. The operator may also tune the tracker to receive the preferred frequency. The tracker and beacon may then communicate during boring operations at the preferred frequency in order to detect the position of the beacon underground relative to the tracker.
US09423501B2	Satellite radio navigation system with remote architecture Station for receiving satellite radio navigation signals having first wideband transceiver for receiving a specific signal transmitted by a transmitter/receiver and extracting therefrom at least one user radio navigation signal, a first centralized configured for determining a measurement of pseudo distance and a centralized calculator for calculating navigation information (PVT), the reception station having a first reference channel for receiving radio navigation signals having a directional antenna for forming a channel, a second processor for processing the radio navigation signal received by the directional antenna for forming a channel and a calculation unit that is suited to performing an improvement in reliability, an integrity check and authentication of the navigation information (PVT).
US09423495B1	Ship-based over-the-horizon radar A ship-based over-the-horizon (OTH) radar system provides mobile, persistent, wide-area air and ship surveillance across large ocean expanses and in anti-access/area denial (A2AD) environments. A transmit ship may include a log-periodic antenna (LPA) array adapted for use on a ship and a receive ship may include a plurality of monopole or dipole whip antennas. The transmit/receive antenna is fronted by a ground screen, which can be sized taking into account the sea as a naturally reflective surface. The transmit/receive ship can include advanced software to compensate for ship movement and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) techniques can be employed to includes the effective size of the radar receiver aperture. A modular design, using standard commercial container ships and shipping containers, allows for rapid deployment/stowage of radar equipment. Related methods are also described.
US09423489B2	Near field navigation system A near field navigation system is equipped with a base segment provided on a base structure. The base segment includes at least four transmitters. Each transmitter is provided with a base antenna and the base antennas are positioned relative to each other at known distances. A user segment is provided on a user structure, the user segment including at least one receiver, at least one user antenna connected to the receiver, and a processing unit connected to the receiver. The receiver and each of the transmitters together form distance measuring units and the processing unit is adapted to calculate the relative three-dimensional position data of the user structure with respect to the base structure on the basis of distance data obtained from the distance measuring units.
US09423488B2	Method and system for user equipment location determination on a wireless transmission system Neighbor cell hearability can be improved by including an additional reference signal that can be detected at a low sensitivity and a low signal-to-noise ratio, by introducing non-unity frequency reuse for the signals used for a time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement, e.g., orthogonality of signals transmitted from the serving cell sites and the various neighbor cell sites. The new reference signal, called the TDOA-RS, is proposed to improve the hearability of neighbor cells in a cellular network that deploys 3GPP EUTRAN (LTE) system, and the TDOA-RS can be transmitted in any resource blocks (RB) for PDSCH and/or MBSFN subframe, regardless of whether the latter is on a carrier supporting both PMCH and PDSCH or not. Besides the additional TDOA-RS reference signal, an additional synchronization signal (TDOA-sync) may also be included to improve the hearability of neighbor cells.
US09423487B2	Systems and methods for pursuit governance in a monitoring system Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and method for supporting enhanced target pursuit. As an example, a system is disclosed that includes a monitoring device including: a location determination circuit and a controller circuit. The location determination circuit is operable to identify a location of the monitoring device. The controller circuit is operable to: receive a request to modify a schedule of location updates from a standard mode schedule to a pursuit mode schedule, where the standard mode schedule calls for updating the location of the monitoring device at a lower rate than the pursuit mode schedule; and cause an increase in the rate of updating and reporting the location in accordance with the request to modify.
US09423479B2	Split gradient coil and hybrid systems using same A generally cylindrical set of coil windings includes primary coil windings and shield coil windings at a larger radial position than the primary coil windings, and an arcuate or annular central gap that is free of coil windings, has an axial extent of at least ten centimeters, and spans at least a 180° angular interval. Connecting conductors disposed at each edge of the central gap electrically connect selected primary and secondary coil windings. In a scanner setting, a main magnet is disposed outside of the generally cylindrical set of coil windings. In a hybrid scanner setting, an annular ring of positron emission tomography (PET) detectors is disposed in the central gap of the generally cylindrical set of coil windings.
US09423462B1	Relay testing device and methods for testing relays A testing device for a relay includes an enclosure for containing a circuit that includes at least one electrical socket adapted for selective engagement with a connector of the relay, a power source, a testing indicator LED adapted to convey a testing results indication, a power switch, and a testing IC adapted to run a series of tests on the relay when the relay is engaged with the at least one socket. In use, with the connector of the relay engaged with the at least one socket, power may be applied to the circuit such that the testing IC runs the series of tests on the relay by alternately activating and deactivating the coil power lines and measuring the resulting state of the armature line, the normally open signal line, and if available the normally closed signal line of the relay.
US09423459B2	Taps with class T0-T2 and T3, T4(W), and T5(W) capabilities Topology discovery of a target system having a plurality of components coupled with a scan topology may be performed by driving a low logic value on the data input signal and a data output signal of the scan topology. An input data value and an output data value for each of the plurality of components is sampled and recorded. A low logic value is then scanned through the scan path and recorded at each component. The scan topology may be determined based on the recorded data values and the recorded scan values.
US09423456B2	Parallel test device and method A parallel test device and method are disclosed, which relates to a technology for performing a multi-bit parallel test by compressing data. The parallel test device includes: a pad unit through which data input/output (I/O) operations are achieved; a plurality of input buffers configured to activate write data received from the pad unit in response to a buffer enable signal, and output the write data to a global input/output (GIO) line; a plurality of output drivers configured to activate read data received from the global I/O (GIO) line in response to a strobe delay signal, and output the read data to the pad unit; and a test controller configured to activate the buffer enable signal and the strobe delay signal during a test mode in a manner that the read data received from the plurality of output drivers is applied to the plurality of input buffers such that the read data is operated as the write data.
US09423454B2	Test circuit and semiconductor apparatus including the same A test circuit of a semiconductor apparatus includes a plurality of pads, a pattern generator configured to generate at least one internal test pattern in response to at least one pattern select signal, and a plurality of test units configured to transmit the at least one internal test pattern through the plurality of pads in response to a self test mode signal, and to compare the at least one test pattern received via the plurality of pads with the at least one generated internal test pattern and generate at least one test determination value based on the comparison.
US09423447B2	Measurement apparatus and method A method and apparatus for extracting the contents (39) of voids (13) and/or pores present in a semiconductor device to obtain information indicative of the nature of the voids and/or pores, e.g. to assist with metrology measurements. The method includes heating the semiconductor wafer to expel the contents of the voids and/or pores, collecting the expelled material (41) in a collector, and measuring a consequential change in mass of the semiconductor wafer (29) and/or the collector (37), to extract information indicative of the nature of the voids. This information may include information relating to the distribution of the voids and/or pores, and/or the sizes of the voids and/or pores, and/or the chemical contents of the voids and/or pores. The collector may include a condenser having a temperature-controlled surface (e.g. in thermal communication with a refrigeration unit) for condensing the expelled material.
US09423444B2	Identifying defective electrical cables A method includes coupling an electrical cable, including multiple wires, to circuitry including a resistor bank connected to the wires. A gain of the circuitry is measured including the cable. Based on the measured gain, one or more of the wires in the cable that are defective are identified. An indication of the defective wires is output.
US09423443B2	System and method of detecting and locating intermittent and other faults Data associated with at least one building condition or status is sensed by one or more sensors. The data from these sensors may be sent over a data bus and received by the central computer. In addition, a modulated signal may be transmitted by one or both of the transmitters across the data bus. The modulated signal is received at the receiver, which analyzes the received modulated signal, and determines whether an intermittent fault has occurred on the data bus based upon the analyzing. For example, the receiver may compare the received signal to an expected pattern and when a discrepancy exists, an intermittent fault is determined to exist. The receiver may also determine the location of the fault based upon the analysis.
US09423441B2	Integrated circuit having receiver jitter tolerance (“JTOL”) measurement An integrated circuit capable of on-chip jitter tolerance measurement includes a jitter generator circuit to produce a controlled amount of jitter that is injected into at least one clock signal, and a receive circuit to sample an input signal according to the at least one clock signal. The sampled data values output from the receiver are used to evaluate the integrated circuit's jitter tolerance.
US09423436B2	Method and apparatus to assess the thermal damage caused to a PCD cutter using capacitance spectroscopy A method and apparatus for non-destructively determining the wear resistance of an ultra-hard polycrystalline structure after being coupled to a downhole tool using capacitance measurements. The apparatus includes a capacitance measuring device having a positive and negative terminal, a leached component comprising a polycrystalline structure that has been coupled to a downhole tool, a first wire, and a second wire. The first wire electrically couples the positive terminal to a surface of the leached component and the second wire electrically couples the negative terminal to a surface of the downhole tool. The capacitance is measured for the leached component one or more times and compared to a calibration curve that shows a relationship between capacitance values and wear resistance, thereby allowing determination of an estimated wear resistance for the polycrystalline structure.
US09423426B1	Sampling and control circuit board for an inertial measurement unit A circuit board that serves as a control and sampling interface to an inertial measurement unit (“IMU”) is provided. The circuit board is also configured to interface with a local oscillator and an external trigger pulse. The circuit board is further configured to receive the external trigger pulse from an external source that time aligns the local oscillator and initiates sampling of the inertial measurement device for data at precise time intervals based on pulses from the local oscillator. The sampled data may be synchronized by the circuit board with other sensors of a navigation system via the trigger pulse.
US09423425B2	Side-channel analysis apparatus and method based on profile A side channel analysis apparatus based on a profile includes a waveform collection unit configured to collect leaked information from a target device of a side channel analysis; and a preprocessing unit configured to preprocess a waveform data correspond to the leaked information collected from the waveform collection unit before analyzing same. Further, the side channel analysis apparatus includes an analysis unit configured to analyze the waveform data preprocessed in the preprocessing unit; and a profile configuration unit configured to make each process of the waveform collection unit, the preprocessing unit, and the analysis unit into a process and configure a profile for managing each process by connection of each process.
US09423422B2	Oscilloscope probe having output clamping circuit A probe for a measurement instrument comprises an input terminal configured to receive an input signal from a device under test (DUT), an output terminal configured to transmit an output signal to a measurement instrument, and a clamping circuit disposed in a signal path between the input terminal and the output terminal and configured to clamp an internal probe signal between an upper clamping threshold and a lower clamping threshold to produce the output signal, wherein the clamping circuit operates with substantial gain and amplitude linearity throughout a range between the upper clamping threshold and the lower clamping threshold.
US09423415B2	Sensor state determination system This sensor state determination system is a sensor state monitoring system capable of accurately determining whether or not a detecting sensor used with a railroad vehicle is in an abnormal state. This system includes: a detecting sensor capable of detecting a physical value acting upon the railroad vehicle; and an electronic control device. A monitoring sensor equivalent to the detection sensor is installed at a position equivalent to the position of the detection sensor. The electronic control device is provided with a determination means (coherence calculation section, state determination section) that computes, based on a first signal detected by the detecting sensor and a second signal detected by the monitoring sensor, a coherence value indicating a correlation between the signals. The electronic control device determines that the detecting sensor is in an abnormal state if the coherence value is smaller than a preset abnormality determination value.
US09423408B2	Apparatus and process for treating biological, microbiological and/or chemical samples A process for treating samples of biological, microbiological and/or chemical material, comprising at least a step of arranging a plurality of samples of biological, microbiological and/or chemical material on a corresponding plurality of housing seats (4) of a transportable support body (3) of a support device (2), further comprising a step of projecting (3) onto the support body (3) at least a light signal (18), during the step of arranging the plurality of material samples, at the effective position or housing seat or seats (4) wherein each sample of material is arranged, such as to guide the positioning or to indicate the positioning visibly.
US09423405B2	Trimethylamine compounds as risk predictors of cardiovascular disease Methods of characterizing a test subject's risk of having or developing cardiovascular disease are provided. The methods include using an analytic device to determine levels of choline-related trimethylamine-containing compounds such as trimethylamine N-oxide, choline, or betaine in a biological sample obtained from the subject and comparing the levels of the choline-related trimethylamine-containing compound in the subject's biological sample to a control value. The test subject's risk of having cardiovascular disease is then characterized as higher if the levels of the choline-related trimethylamine-containing compound are higher than the control value. Also provided are methods of identifying a subject at risk of experiencing a complication of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and methods of evaluating the efficacy of a cardiovascular therapeutic agent in a subject with cardiovascular disease using levels of choline-related trimethylamine-containing compounds.
US09423403B2	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) biomarkers and uses thereof Methods, compositions, and kits for predicting whether a subject with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or at risk of developing COPD is likely to have progressive COPD are provided. Methods, compositions, and kits for predicting whether lung function is likely to decline in a subject with COPD or at risk for developing COPD are also provided.
US09423393B2	Analytical test cartridge; and, methods An analytical test cartridge is provided. The analytical test cartridge can be used for medical analyses of liquid samples removed from a patient, for example blood. The analytical test cartridge is configured to provide for titration experiments. An example of a titration experiment that can be performed with the arrangement, is titration of heparin with protamine. Methods of assembly and use are provided.
US09423390B2	Cetane number estimation device In order to estimate the cetane number of a fuel, fuel injection is executed by controlling the driving of a fuel injection valve by a prescribed amount. The amount of change in the rotation of a diesel engine generated in response to the fuel injection is detected, and the cetane number of the fuel is estimated on the basis of this amount of change in the rotation. The actual amount of fuel injected from the fuel injection valve is detected, and when the difference between the amount actually detected and the prescribed amount is equal to or greater than a threshold value, the execution of the fuel cetane number estimation process is restricted.
US09423388B2	Particle analyzing device An explosive detection apparatus capable of maintaining high availability even in an environment containing a large amount of foreign substances is achieved. The explosive detection apparatus includes means for sequentially replacing a plurality of collection thermal vaporization filters 2 for collecting, heating, vaporizing particles, which have been prepared in advance. The explosive detection apparatus also includes a preheating unit 52 for preheating an unused filter, and sealing is performed by a seal portion between the plurality of filters.
US09423386B2	Method for ion detection A method for detecting a chemical species includes providing in a vessel an acidic sample containing an ionic chemical species to be measured where a substrate of the species to be formed is ionizable by radiant energy provided by a photoionization detector in detector system and a headspace above the acidic sample, adding a preselected reducing agent to the aqueous sample and forming an ionizable chemical gas species in the aqueous sample where the ionizable chemical gas species evolves out of the aqueous sample and into the headspace forming a gas sample, moving the gas sample containing the ionizable chemical gas species from the headspace of the vessel out of the vessel and through a precolumn, and moving the gas sample containing the ionizable chemical gas species from the precolumn into one of (1) a detector system or (2) an oxygen-retaining column before the detector system.
US09423384B2	Method transfer between fluidic devices considering deviations from ideal behavior An apparatus (200) for deriving an operation mode from a first fluidic device to a second fluidic device, wherein the first fluidic device has a first target operation mode (300) representing a desired behavior of the first fluidic device and has a first real operation mode (304) representing the actual behavior of the first fluidic device, wherein the second fluidic device has a second target operation mode (312) representing a desired behavior of the second fluidic device and has a second real operation mode (314) representing the actual behavior of the second fluidic device, the apparatus (200) comprising a first determining unit (202) adapted for determining the first real operation mode (304) based on the first target operation mode (300) and based on a preknown parameterization (302) of the first fluidic device, and a second determining unit (204) adapted for determining the second target operation mode (312) based on the determined first real operation mode (304) and based on a preknown parameterization (306) of the second fluidic device.
US09423377B2	Device for detecting at least one gaseous analyte and method for the production thereof A device for detecting at least one gaseous analyte comprises a detection section including a semiconductor substrate and at least one sensor element, which is arranged on the semiconductor substrate. The at least one sensor element includes two electrodes and a solid electrolyte layer arranged between the electrodes. The device also comprises a protective cap configured to cover the at least one sensor element, and at least one temperature-control unit configured for temperature control of the protective cap. The at least one temperature-control unit is arranged on the protective cap. The protective cap is formed from a semiconductor material. The device further comprises a diffusion section having a plurality of passage openings for the gaseous analyte arranged at least in a partial section of the protective cap.
US09423375B2	Integrated circuit with nanowire sensors comprising a shielding layer, sensing apparatus, measuring method and manufacturing method An integrated circuit (100) comprising a substrate (110); an insulating layer (120) over said substrate; and a first nanowire element (140a) and a second nanowire element (140b) adjacent to said first nanowire element on said insulating layer; wherein the first nanowire element is arranged to be exposed to a medium comprising an analyte of interest, and wherein the second nanowire element is shielded from said medium by a shielding layer (150) over said second nanowire element. A sensing apparatus including such an IC, a sensing method using such an IC and a method of manufacturing such an IC are also disclosed.
US09423373B2	Method for detecting biochemical oxygen demand The present invention provides a method for detecting biochemical oxygen demand. Active sludge, surface water, domestic waste water, or industrial waste water comprising microorganism is taken as a water sample with microorganism in the method provided by the present invention. The water sample with microorganism is cultivated to obtain a microorganism film. The blank water sample and the target water sample are made to pass through the microorganism film respectively. The dissolved oxygen reduction current values of the blank water sample and the target water sample are detected. The difference value between the dissolved oxygen reduction current value of the target water sample and that of the blank water sample is obtained. On the basis of the difference value and the predetermined standard curve, the biochemical oxygen demand of the target water sample is acquired. The method provided by the present invention adopts active sludge, surface water, domestic waste water, or industrial waste water comprising microorganism as the water sample with microorganism. The environmental adaptability of the prepared microorganism film is strong, so that one or more of tap water, well water, atmospheric water, or ground water may serve as medium to maintain the physiological activity with no need of providing a buffer solution system.
US09423370B2	Use of capacitance to analyze polycrystalline diamond A method, system, and apparatus for non-destructively characterizing one or more regions within an ultra-hard polycrystalline structure using capacitance measurements. The apparatus includes a capacitance measuring device having a positive and negative terminal, a leached component comprising a polycrystalline structure, a first wire, and a second wire. The leached component includes a first surface and an opposing second surface. The first wire electrically couples the positive terminal to one of the surfaces of the leached component and the second wire electrically couples the negative terminal to the other surface of the leached component. The capacitance is measured one or more times and compared to a calibration curve to determine an estimated leaching depth within the polycrystalline structure. A data scattering range is ascertained to determine a relative porosity of the polycrystalline structure or the leaching quality within the polycrystalline structure.
US09423365B2	T2-cutoff determination using magnetic susceptibility measurements Systems and methods for determining T2 cutoff are described. T2 cutoff can be derived from magnetic susceptibility measurements. By providing a depth curve of T2cutoff, improved permeability estimations from NMR can be generated. By combining a magnetic susceptibility tool and an NMR tool, a dynamic T2cutoff can then be provided, together with the standard NMR log, according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments the improved permeability estimations can be provided automatically and in real time at the wellsite.
US09423359B2	Wafer charging electromagnetic inspection tool and method of using An electromagnetic inspection tool which includes a stage configured to support a wafer having a first surface and an emitter configured to emit electromagnetic waves to be incident on the first surface. The electromagnetic inspection tool further includes a detector configured to detect electromagnetic waves returned from the first surface and a charging mechanism configured to charge the first surface. A method of electromagnetically inspecting a wafer which includes loading a wafer having a first surface onto a stage and emitting electromagnetic waves to be incident on the first surface. The method further includes detecting electromagnetic waves returned from the first surface and charging the first surface prior to detecting the electromagnetic waves returned from the first surface.
US09423356B2	Illumination apparatus and inspection apparatus An illumination apparatus comprising, a light source that emits a laser beam, a lens array on which the laser beam is illuminated, a plurality of element lenses having a diameter greater than or equal to the laser beam are arranged in the lens array, the lens array being rotatable around an optical axis of the laser beam, wherein the two lens arrays are arrayed in an optical axis direction of the laser beam, andthe element lenses in each lens array are arranged such that a boundary between the element lenses adjacent to each other radiates from a rotation center of the lens array and a direction in which the element lens of one of the lens arrays traverses the optical axis of the laser beam is orthogonal to a direction in which the element lens of the other lens array traverses the optical axis of the laser beam.
US09423348B2	Absorbance spectrum scanning flow cytometry The present invention provides systems and methods for analyzing the excitation spectra of fluorescent particles in a flowing stream. The system uses a white light laser and color separation optics to provide a spatially-distributed, continuous color-spectrum excitation light system that is used to illuminate a region of a flowing stream. A particle that passes through the detection region traverses the full dispersed spectrum of excitation light, and the fluorescence emissions from the particle are continuously measured as it passes through the detection region. The measured fluorescence emissions at each wavelength of excitation light, which changes through full spectrum of the excitation light as the particle passes through the detection region, provides the excitation spectrum of the particle.
US09423337B2	Method and apparatus for determining concentration using polarized light An apparatus and method for determining the concentration of chiral molecules in a fluid includes a first polarizer configure to polarize light in substantially a first plane to provide initially polarized light. A second polarizer is capable of polarizing the initially polarized light in a plurality of planes, at least one of the plurality of planes being different from the first plane, to provide subsequently polarized light. One or more receivers are included for measuring an intensity of the subsequently polarized light in one or more of the plurality of planes.
US09423336B2	Systems and methods for particle sensing and characterization Systems and methods are provided for sensing and characterizing small particles, and in particular blood cells suspended in a liquid medium. Exemplary systems include a volumeter conduit having a central region of higher electrical resistivity disposed between a first and second distal region of lower electrical resistivity, and a current source and sensing circuit module in electrical connectivity with the first and second distal regions. The module provides an electrical excitation current to the first and second distal regions to establish a particle-sensitive zone within the conduit, and detects current changes occasioned by particles of the biological sample passing through the particle-sensitive zone.
US09423331B2	Method of determining the energy content of a methane-rich gas mixture A method of determining energy content using a specific gravity meter double calibrated to measure both molecular weight and relative density.
US09423330B2	Method of determining the non-propagation threshold of fatigue cracks at high frequency A method of determining the non-propagation threshold of fatigue cracks at high frequency, wherein cyclic loading is exerted on at least one testpiece having an elliptical hole in a testpiece zone, the elliptical hole having a notch at one end and the testpiece being held between two rigid masses with two rigid pre-stress plates being arranged on either side of the at least one testpiece and each fastened at its two ends to the two rigid masses, which cyclic loading is at a frequency that is selected as being equal to the resonant frequency of the assembly including the testpiece, the masses, and the stress plates, so as to generate a fatigue crack from the notch, and then once it has been observed that the crack has stopped propagating, the final length of the crack is measured and a chart is used to determine the non-propagation threshold.
US09423328B2	Apparatus and method for testing cushioning components An apparatus for testing a cushioning component for a body part includes a jig that has a three-dimensional anatomical shape. A base is configured to support the cushioning component. An actuator is operatively connected to at least one of the jig and the base and is activatable to move said one of the jig and the base toward and away from the other of the jig and the base to repeatedly contact the cushioning component and the jig with one another. An electronic controller has a processor that executes a stored algorithm. The algorithm has a test condition substantially equivalent to an expected in-use condition of the cushioning component. The electronic controller activates the actuator to move the jig and/or the base according to the algorithm. A method of testing a cushioning component is implemented.
US09423327B2	Apparatus and method for processing biological material The application discloses an apparatus and method for processing biological material, including a suspension of cells.
US09423326B1	Method of obtaining simulated pore water The method of obtaining simulated pore water includes: mixing cement with a quantity of water and waiting a period of time for water-soluble salts in the cement to dissolve; filtering the mixture; evaporating an aliquot of the filtrate; weighing solids obtained by evaporating the aliquot to determine total dissolved solids or salts in the aliquot; weighing the remaining filtrate and measuring its volume; determining the mass of total dissolved solids in the remaining filtrate; determining the mass of water in remaining filtrate; determining the mass of water that would be in the remaining filtrate if the mix had been prepared with a desired W/C ratio; evaporating any difference between the mass of the remaining filtrate and the mass that would be present at the desired W/C; and collecting the filtrate remaining as simulated pore water for the desired W/C ratio which may be used for a variety of different applications.
US09423324B1	Machine for preparing an asphalt sample by polishing the surface of the sample and associated method A machine (10) for preparing a sample asphalt material (74) for testing includes a rotatable shaft (22) carrying a disc (28) adapted to engage the sample (74). A channel (26) which communicates with a source of water is formed in the shaft (22). A plate assembly (16) having a predetermined weight carries the shaft (22). An actuator assembly (18) moves the plate assembly (16) upwardly and releases the plate assembly (16) so that it is allowed to move downwardly so that the disc (28) contacts the sample (74) with only the weight of the plate assembly (16) being applied to the sample (74). The disc (28) is made of a rubber material and receives the water from the channel (26) through aperture (72) which communicates with slots (44) on the side of the disc (28) facing the sample (74). As a result, water is produced to the interface between the disc (28) and the sample (74) as the disc (28) rotates to polish the sample (74) and prepare it for testing.
US09423321B2	Tire testing machine Provided is a tire testing machine including: a spindle shaft that rotatably attaches a tire as an inspection target thereto; a tire outer shape measurement sensor that moves close to the tire or moves away from the tire and detects a deformation amount of an outer shape and a diameter of the tire attached to the spindle shaft; and a collision preventing sensor that includes a probe formed in a linear material and a contact detecting portion detecting a state where the probe contacts the tire in order to prevent the tire outer shape measurement sensor from colliding with the tire, wherein the probe has a bent or divided shape in order to ensure a wider contact detecting range contacting the tire.
US09423316B2	Optical reflectometer with loss and/or reflectance profile view There is provided an optical reflectometric method and system for characterizing an optical fiber link, wherein events in the fiber optic link under test are identified and values of parameters characterizing the events (e.g. location, insertion loss and reflectance) are extracted from an analysis of one or more reflectometric measurements performed on the optical fiber link. A loss profile and/or a reflectance profile are then constructed. The loss and reflectance profiles are typically displayed on screen or otherwise graphically represented for an operator to be able to appreciate the measurement results at a single glance.
US09423315B2	Duplex pressure transducers A transducer baseplate includes a base, a protrusion extending from the base along a longitudinal axis, a pair of opposed transducer receptacles defined within the protrusion, and respective pressure plena. The pressure plena are separated by a plenum wall, each plenum being in fluid connection with an area external to the protrusion through a respective pressure line. The pressure lines provide a direct fluid path to their respective receptacles.
US09423310B2	Bicycle crank arm with sensor system A crank arm is provided that includes a crank body, a sensor support member and at least one sensor. The crank body has an axle mounting portion. The sensor support member is member attached to the crank body, and has an axle support portion that is configured to support an axle. The at least one strain sensor is disposed on the sensor support member.
US09423306B2	Method and apparatus for wavefront sensing A method of measuring characteristics of a wavefront of an incident beam includes obtaining an interferogram associated with the incident beam passing through a transmission mask and Fourier transforming the interferogram to provide a frequency domain interferogram. The method also includes selecting a subset of harmonics from the frequency domain interferogram, individually inverse Fourier transforming each of the subset of harmonics to provide a set of spatial domain harmonics, and extracting a phase profile from each of the set of spatial domain harmonics. The method further includes removing phase discontinuities in the phase profile, rotating the phase profile, and reconstructing a phase front of the wavefront of the incident beam.
US09423297B2	Optical device with optical element and sensor for sampling light Optical devices (100) that contain a sensor (140) are described. More particularly, optical devices that contain a light source (120), cavity (110) and sensor (140), in which the optical device (100) may provide an optimal light output from an output surface (112) of the cavity (110) based on various characteristics of the light are described. Additionally, methods of making and using such optical devices as well as arrays of such optical devices are disclosed.
US09423286B2	Liquid level sensing apparatus and method Provided is a apparatus for sensing a liquid level reliably based solely on an analog process even if a liquid held in a container boils, causing the liquid level to fall. A liquid level sensing apparatus includes: a probe selection unit configured to select a probe whose heater is to be activated from among the plurality of probes; an input unit configured to receive an output of the temperature sensor of the probe selected by the probe selection unit, the output being received as a temperature signal directly in the form of an analog quantity; a signal processing unit configured to output a processing signal of the temperature signal in synchronization with activation of the heater; a calculation unit configured to arithmetically process the temperature signal and the processing signal and output a result; a gas/liquid discrimination unit configured to discriminate whether the detecting point exists in a gas phase or a liquid phase based on the output result of the arithmetic processing; and a display unit configured to indicate a discrimination result produced by the gas/liquid discrimination unit.
US09423281B2	Self-calibrating single track absolute rotary encoder A rotary encoder includes a single read-head and a circular scale. The encoder is self-calibrated by acquiring calibration samples with the read-head for rotational angles of the circular scale, and estimating spatial frequency and spatial distortion parameters of the encoder from the calibration samples.
US09423271B1	Glide path information generating and presenting device and methods A present novel and non-trivial system and methods for generating and presenting glide path information are disclosed. A symbology generator may be configured to receive first data representative of a desired glide path (“DGP”); receive second data representative of first glide path deviation or third data representative of at least aircraft position; determine second glide path deviation as a function of the DGP and the aircraft position if the second data is not received; and generate symbology data as a function of the DGP and the first glide path deviation or second glide path deviation, where the symbology data is representative of a glide path angle reference cue comprised of a desired glide path deviation indicator. The desired glide path deviation indicator may be comprised of a single geometric symbol or a pattern of a plurality of geometric symbols.
US09423263B2	Method and apparatus for recommending content based on a travel route An approach for rendering one or more graphical elements associated with one or more content items recommended for consumption during travel based on travel times associated with one or more travel routes is described. A content item recommendation platform determines travel times associated with travel routes. The content item recommendation platform determines content recommendations, content items, or a combination thereof based, at least in part, on a comparison of the travel times and duration times associated with the content recommendations, the one or more content items, or a combination thereof. The content item recommendation platform further causes, at least in part, a rendering of a user interface depicting one or more icons, one or more markers, one or more graphical elements, or a combination thereof associated with the content recommendations, the content items, or a combination thereof along the travel routes based, at least in part, on the comparison.
US09423262B2	User-controlled alternative routing A user may indicate a preference of a route when alternative routes are available between an origin and a destination. The mapping system may enable a user to identify a region, a point or a set of points to help control, guide or otherwise influence the determination of a route favored by the user. While the identified region, point or set of points may be included in the route, the identified region, point or set of points need not necessarily be included in the route.
US09423261B2	Path curve confidence factors In one embodiment, navigational features of a navigation device are activated or deactivated according to the accuracy of the geographic data. The navigation features may be predictive features related to upcoming portions of a path curve. The path curve is compared to measured data. For example, a first curve is accessed from a map database and a second curve is based on measured position data collected while traversing the path. The first curve and the second curve correspond to the same geographic area. A difference of an attribute between a section of the first curve and a section of the second curve is used to assign a confidence factor to the section of the first polycurve based on the difference. The attribute may be heading, position, curvature, or another aspect of the path curves.
US09423249B2	Biometric measurement systems and methods In various embodiments, the present disclosure provides a method of generating crop biometric information in field conditions that includes scanning top surfaces of various plant crown structures of a plurality of plants in one or more rows of plants within a field to collect scan data of the crown structures. Additionally, the method includes converting the scan data into a high spatial resolution 3-dimensional field contour map that illustrates an aggregate 3-dimensional field contour of the scanned plants. The method further includes extracting, from the high spatial resolution 3-dimensional field contour map, biometric information relating to the plants in each of one or more selected rows of the scanned rows of plants.
US09423247B2	Positioning graphic component for substrate detection and method of manufacturing the same The present disclosure discloses a positioning graphic component for substrate detection and a method of manufacturing the same. The positioning graphic component for substrate detection comprises at least two layers of metal layer patterns and an insulation layer placed between any two layers of metal layer patterns. The present disclosure solves the problem of the occurrence of an incomplete positioning graphic component due to incomplete coverage by the insulation layer in processing TFT LCDs, thus improving the yield.
US09423223B2	Missile for implanting actuator in a room or building A new form of missile, for implantation of an actuator within a wall or building, is provided. In some aspects of the invention, the missile comprises an enclosed actuator, deployed upon successful implantation of the missile in a target wall. Preferably, the missile comprises stops and piercing grips to secure the missile within the target wall, and encourage the proper degree of penetration and a mounting position enabling the deployment of the actuator(s) comprised within the missile. In some embodiments, the actuator can be remotely actuated by control system and user commands.
US09423210B2	Holster support The invention generally concerns the field of the accessories for fire-arms with which police officers, military men, private armed surveillance services and the like are equipped, More precisely the invention is directed to a system for connecting a holster or also a similar accessory to different wearing harnesses for carrying said holster or accessory. The support comprises a base plate, rotating disc to which the holster is fastened, locking means to releasably fix the disc in a selected angular position, and lever means pivotal with the plate for providing an abutment to said disc that prevents its separation from the plate.
US09423207B2	Pistol recoil reduction device A recoil reduction apparatus is provided. The recoil reduction apparatus includes an elongated body. The elongated body has a first end and a second end. The first end may include a handle engaging surface. The handle engaging surface secures against a handle of a pistol. The second end includes a chest stop. The chest stop rests against a user's chest while firing the pistol. Therefore, the chest absorbs some of the recoil of the pistol making the pistol less intimidating.
US09423193B2	Lock interface insert for machine gun bolt assembly An insert for a gun bolt according to an example of the present disclosure includes, among other things, a gun lock interface insert sized to be fixedly secured in a gun bolt. The gun lock interface insert includes a first guide structure and a second guide structure extending from a main body. The main body defines a first engagement surface and a second engagement surface. The first engagement and second engagement surfaces space apart the first guide and second guide structures. Each of the first engagement and second engagement surfaces is configured to selectively engage a breech lock. A method of repairing a bolt assembly is also disclosed.
US09423191B2	Fastener assembly and method for heat sink mounting Method and assembly for attaching a heat sink to a heat source surface associated with a printed circuit board or other component having a heat source. A fastener assembly may include a push pin with a barbed, bifurcated end arranged to be inserted through an opening of the printed circuit board and thereby secure the heat sink to the printed circuit board. A stopper may be headless, be separable from the push pin, and have a portion, such as a barrel-shaped element, positionable in a throughbore of the push pin that supports the bifurcated end so that movement of the barbed portions toward each other is resisted, thereby securing engagement of the barbed portions with the printed circuit board.
US09423188B2	Molded plastic objects having an integrated heat spreader and methods of manufacture of same Embodiments are directed to a molded plastic object that includes at least one vapor chamber within the plastic object. A wicking material is in contact with at least a portion of an inner wall of the vapor chamber. A working fluid located within the vapor chamber is configured to distribute heat from warmer regions of the plastic object to cooler regions of the plastic object. In some embodiments, the molded plastic object is part or all of a solid inkjet printhead.
US09423186B2	Heat-dissipating device The present invention provides a heat-dissipating device including a heat sink and a heat pipe. The heat sink has an end surface provided with a trough. The trough has an open side and a closed side. The heat pipe has a heat-absorbing surface and a heat-conducting surface corresponding to the open side and the closed side respectively. The heat-conducting surface and the heat-absorbing surface are not brought into contact with the heat sink. The heat is directly absorbed by the heat pipe and then conducted to the heat sink for dissipation. With this arrangement, heat resistance of the heat-dissipating device is reduced to improve the heat-dissipating effect thereof.
US09423185B2	Heat transfer device A heat transfer device that allows high-accuracy temperature management of an entire piping system. The heat transfer device transferring heat to the piping system through which a fluid flows includes: a high heat conductive heat transfer block surrounding the piping system; a heat pipe embedded in the heat transfer block along an extension direction of the piping system; and a heater applying heat to the heat pipe. The heat transfer block includes a plurality of divided blocks dividable along the extension direction of the piping system.
US09423182B2	Roller hearth furnace and method for heating workpieces The invention relates to a roller hearth furnace for heating workpieces, comprising at least one furnace chamber for receiving the workpieces, the chamber having at least two lateral furnace walls. At least one transport roller for transporting the workpieces through the furnace chamber is arranged inside the furnace chamber, and each of the furnace walls has at least one opening through which the transport roller can be guided. At least one rolling bearing unit is arranged on each of the outer sides of the furnace walls, said rolling bearing unit being designed to accommodate and support the transport roller outside the furnace chamber. The roller hearth furnace comprises a flushing system for the rolling bearing unit, said flushing system being designed to conduct a flushing gas through the rolling bearing unit, wherein the flushing gas can be conducted from a side of the rolling bearing unit facing away from the furnace wall through the rolling bearing unit and through the opening of the furnace wall into the furnace chamber of the roller hearth furnace. The invention further relates to a method for heating workpieces in such a roller hearth furnace.
US09423175B2	Flexible NGL recovery methods and configurations A natural gas liquids plant uses a demethanizer and a deethanizer in a two-column or single column configuration that can be used for ethane recovery and ethane rejection. During ethane recovery, 95% ethane recovery and 99% propane recovery are achieved, while during ethane rejection the sales gas Wobbe Index requirement is maintained while maintaining 95% propane recovery. A residue gas recycle exchanger is most preferably configured to use the demethanizer overhead product to either cool a portion of the residue gas and a portion of the feed gas during ethane recovery, or to cool a portion of the feed gas using two distinct heat transfer areas to produce a feed gas reflux at significantly lower temperature.
US09423173B1	Single beverage freezable container A container for accepting and retaining bottles or cans for the purpose of insulating or bringing them to a desired temperature range is disclosed. A preferred embodiment includes a hollow upper section with an internal cylindrical portion that has an upper edge. The upper section includes an internal frusto-conical section with a slotted aperture that commences from the cylindrical portion and extends away from the cylindrical portion. The device also includes a hollow base section that is adapted for engaging the upper section. The arrangement accommodates cans as well as bottles, and allows drinking from either type of container while retaining the container.
US09423172B2	Energy-saving optimized control system and method for refrigeration plant room An energy-saving optimized control system for a chiller plant room comprises an industry control computer, a flow sensor, a temperature sensor, an outdoor temperature and humidity sensor, a three-phase active power transmitter, a water pump variable speed driver and a cooling tower fan variable speed driver, which are respectively connected with a programmable controller, wherein the programmable controller communicates with the industrial control computer through an industrial Ethernet; and an RS485 communication interface module is connected with chillers and communicates with the industrial control computer through a ModBus protocol. An energy-saving optimized control method for a chiller plant room is also provided. By establishing a mathematical model of the relationship between the energy consumption and operation parameters of each equipment in the refrigeration plant room and combining the real-time cooling loads and weather parameters, the operating state of each equipment is adjusted so as to reach the lowest operating energy consumption of the whole chiller plant room under the premise of meeting the cooling loads.
US09423162B2	Thermoelectric temperature control unit A thermoelectric temperature control unit having at least one first Peltier element, which includes a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface is disposed adjoining or opposite the second surface, wherein the first surface of the Peltier element is connected to a first cover plate and the second surface is connected to a second cover plate, wherein heat can be supplied at least via one of the cover plates and dissipated via the other cover plate, wherein at least one of the cover plates has a variable material thickness along one or both of the extension directions thereof, whereby at least one region having a maximal material thickness and one region having a minimal material thickness are formed.
US09423161B2	Use of energy harvested by adaptive cooling and energy harvesting arrangements for information technology Arrangements for the use of energy harvested by adaptive cooling and energy harvesting arrangements for use in information technology and other heat-producing equipment are disclosed. The arrangements provide for cooling and energy harvesting subsystems, each of which can operate in isolation and can be interconnected with additional subsystems in peer and hierarchical relationships. Each subsystem comprises at least one thermoelectric device capable of acting as a thermoelectric cooler and as a thermoelectric generator, a control system, and electronics controlled to selectively configure the thermoelectric device in at least in a thermoelectric cooler operating mode and in a thermoelectric generation operating mode. The thermoelectric device can incorporate quantum-process and quantum-well materials for higher heat transfer and thermoelectric generation efficiencies. The arrangement is configured so that the harvested energy is used for a function by the article of heat-producing equipment, including charging a backup battery, or for cooling operations.
US09423156B2	Reflector element for a solar heat reflector and the method for producing the same Reflector element (1) for a solar collector including a not mechanically flexed monolithic glass pane (2) of heat treated glass which due to its enhanced resistance properties becomes self-supported without requiring the presence of any kind of frame member or device to maintain its shape at the normal utilization temperatures. The reflector element is substantially parabolic and can be provided with at least one bore (3) for a fixing element to fix the reflector element (1) to a supporting structure.
US09423150B2	Steam cooker A coupling device for attaching an external heat source to a high-throughput steam cooker enables the steam cooker to be used with a wide variety of heat sources and fuels. The coupling device includes a heat flow chamber that provides efficient, effective heat transfer from the heat source to a heat sink in thermal communication with the steam cooker, thereby facilitating steam generation in a steam cooker assembly. The heat source may be a liquid-fueled heat source to facilitate transport and storage of fuel to remote locations.
US09423143B2	HVAC actuator with light indicator An HVAC actuator includes an output shaft rotatable between first and second end positions and a drive mechanism to selectively drive the output shaft toward the first end position. The actuator may include a light source within its housing and a window to provide visibility of the light from the light source to an observer. An aperture member may be situated between the light source and the window and be configured to move as the output shaft is rotated. The aperture member may have spaced openings that transmit the light to the window at a plurality of positions of the output shaft such that the aperture member may cause the appearance of blinking of the light through the window as the output shaft is rotated toward the first end position. One of the openings may be configured to be in registration with the light source at the first end position.
US09423135B2	Combustor having mixing tube bundle with baffle arrangement for directing fuel A combustor includes a tube bundle that extends radially across at least a portion of the combustor. The tube bundle includes an upstream surface axially separated from a downstream surface, and a plurality of tubes extend from the upstream surface through the downstream surface to provide fluid communication through the tube bundle. A barrier extends radially inside the tube bundle between the upstream and downstream surfaces, and a baffle extends axially inside the tube bundle between the upstream surface and the barrier.
US09423134B2	Bundled tube fuel injector with a multi-configuration tube tip A bundled tube fuel injector includes a fuel plenum that is defined within the bundled tube fuel injector and a plurality of pre-mix tubes that extend downstream from the fuel plenum substantially parallel to one another. Each pre-mix tube includes an end portion and a radially extending end surface. The bundled tube fuel injector further includes a tube tip that is fixedly connected to the end portion of a corresponding pre-mix tube.

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