Document	Document Title
US09486272B2	Force feedback device and method for catheters An ablation apparatus includes a flexible probe adapted for insertion into a heart of a living subject. The probe has a distally disposed ablation electrode to be brought into contact with a target tissue in the heart, and has facilities for measuring contact force with the target tissue. The apparatus includes a transmitter, operative to transmit an indication of the contact force to a wearable device having an actuator operative to haptically stimulate the operator responsively to the indication.
US09486271B2	Method and apparatus for identification using capacitive elements A surgical instrument and related method are provided. The surgical instrument includes a housing, a cable, and an identifying circuit. An end-effector is coupled to the housing for treating tissue. The cable extends from the housing and is configured to couple the surgical instrument to a generator. The identifying circuit includes a plurality of capacitive elements disposed on the surgical instrument. The plurality of capacitive elements is readable by the generator.
US09486270B2	Methods and apparatus for bilateral renal neuromodulation Methods and apparatus are provided for bilateral renal neuromodulation, e.g., via a pulsed electric field, via a stimulation electric field, via localized drug delivery, via high frequency ultrasound, via thermal techniques, etc. Such neuromodulation may effectuate irreversible electroporation or electrofusion, necrosis and/or inducement of apoptosis, alteration of gene expression, action potential attenuation or blockade, changes in cytokine up-regulation and other conditions in target neural fibers. In some embodiments, neuromodulation is applied to neural fibers that contribute to renal function. In some embodiments, such neuromodulation is performed in a bilateral fashion. Bilateral renal neuromodulation may provide enhanced therapeutic effect in some patients as compared to renal neuromodulation performed unilaterally, i.e., as compared to renal neuromodulation performed on neural tissue innervating a single kidney.
US09486269B2	Electrosurgical systems and cartridges for use therewith A cartridge for use with an electrosurgical system includes a housing, a conduit, and a conductor. The housing includes a path defined therein. The conduit is disposed at least partially within the housing such that the path is configured to position at least a portion of the conduit within the housing. A chamber of the path is configured to dampen shock forces on the conduit. The conductor is adapted to transmit energy is disposed within the housing. At least a portion of the conductor is disposed at least partially within the housing.
US09486263B2	Screw implant and system and method for locking a screw in an implant plate A plate system and method comprising a plate and a screw having an integral resilient lock. The screw comprises a head that has a portion that is adapted to be compressible as it is screwed into bone using a tool. After the screw head is received in the plate and the tool is removed therefrom, the screw head decompresses or expands into a locking or receiving area, thereby locking the screw in the plate. The plate is adapted to have at least one or a plurality of detents or lips for cooperating with at least a portion of the screw head to retain the screw in the plate and prevent it from withdrawing therefrom.
US09486262B2	System and method for minimally invasive clavicle plate application A bone fixation plate, comprises an elongated body contoured to conform to the anatomy of a clavicle, the elongated body comprising a head at a first end and a shaft extending therefrom to a second end, the second end further comprising a reduced diameter tapered tip configured to permit insertion of the elongate body through a minimally invasive incision formed adjacent the clavicle. The bone fixation plate also comprises a first plate hole extending through the shaft from a proximal face to a distal face, the first plate hole formed as a combination hole and a second plate hole extending through the head from the proximal face to the distal face, the second plate hole being threaded.
US09486251B2	Spinous process fixation system and methods thereof An implantable device may comprise a barrel, the barrel having an upper portion and a lower portion. The barrel may be configured to transition from a collapsed form having a first height to an expanded form having a second height and wherein the second height is greater than the first height. The implantable device may further include an actuator assembly disposed in the barrel, the actuator assembly comprising a front ramped actuator in engagement with the barrel, a rear ramped actuator in engagement with the barrel, and a central screw that extends from the rear ramped actuator through the front ramped actuator. The implantable device may further comprise a first plate and a second plate.
US09486242B2	Surgical access device including gimbal seal with self-centering mechanism A surgical access device includes a seal assembly having a seal housing and a gimbal mount disposed within the seal housing, the seal housing defining a central longitudinal axis and having a longitudinal passage for receiving at least one surgical object therethrough and the gimbal mount adapted for angular movement relative to the central longitudinal axis. The surgical access device also includes at least one centering unit configured to engage at least a portion of the gimbal mount. The at least one centering unit is configured to center the longitudinal passage of the seal assembly with the central longitudinal axis.
US09486241B2	Trocar seal assembly A trocar for performing a procedure on a patient. The trocar has a hollow cannula with a distal end and a proximal end. The trocar also has a housing with a distal end attached to the proximal end of the cannula and a proximal end having a wall attached thereto. The wall has an aperture therethrough. The trocar further includes a seal assembly disposed within the housing. The seal assembly includes a first substantially rigid ring, a second substantially rigid ring, and a plurality of layered elastomeric members compressed therebetween. The first ring has a plurality of distally extending protrusions extending from a distal surface thereof, and the second ring has a plurality of proximally extending protrusions extending from a proximal surface thereof.
US09486240B2	Inflatable instrument for transanal minimal invasive surgery An inflatable assistive surgical instrument for transanal minimal invasive surgery, having a sheath that expands after inflation, is disclosed. The inflated sheath is cylindrical-shaped, and a notch is formed on the wall of the cylindrical sheath to expose the tissue of the colon wall for surgical operation. The inflatable sheath has an inflation nozzle for connecting with an inflating tube. The inflatable sheath disclosed in the present invention can fully achieve the expected effects and requirements and shows an extraordinary efficiency of the surgical operation, in comparison with the prior arts where the present invention is not adopted. The present invention also improves the quality and the success rate of surgical operation, and is highly appraised by the colorectal surgeons reduces the cost for single use.
US09486239B2	Subintimal re-entry device A subintimal recanalization catheter, including an elongate shaft including a first tubular member and a penetration member slidably disposed in a lumen of the first tubular member. The penetration member includes a distal tip positioned proximal of a distal nose of the first tubular member. The distal nose of the first tubular member includes a ramp and a guide wire lumen extending through the distal nose of the first tubular member. Longitudinal movement of the penetration member relative to the first tubular member causes the penetration member to contact the ramp to direct the distal tip of the penetration member away from the first tubular member.
US09486238B2	Minimally invasive surgical clamps, assemblies and methods A minimally invasive surgical assembly broadly includes an outer tube which has an outer diameter of 3.0 mm or smaller, and a coaxial surgical instrument having a shaft which extends through the outer hollow tube. The coaxial surgical instrument includes end effectors at the end of the shaft. The end effectors include spring arms and wire frame clamp elements defining fenestrations. The spring arms are biased to an open position such that when the end effectors of the surgical instrument extend out of the outer tube they open, and they are closed by relative movement of the outer tube over them. The wire frame clamp elements are biased to an open position such that when they extend out of the outer tube they open and they are closed by relative movement of the outer tube over them.
US09486237B2	Methods and devices for cutting tissue A method of removing material from a blood flow lumen generally includes providing a device having a cutting element and an opening, advancing the device through the blood flow lumen to a site where material is to be removed, forcing the opening toward a wall of the site where material is to be removed, and moving the cutting element and the opening so that material in the blood flow lumen is cut by the cutting element and directed into the opening for removal as the cutting element and opening are moved through the blood flow lumen. In some embodiments, the device may be deflected or bent to force the opening toward a wall to remove material. The cutting element may be rotatable and may have an axis that is movable, that is not parallel to the longitudinal axis of the device, or both.
US09486232B2	Endoscopic cutting instruments having improved efficiency and reduced manufacturing costs Minimally invasive endoscopic cutting instruments having improved efficiency, access and reduced manufacturing costs are described herein. In particular, the present invention describes means for eliminating or modifying the distal end axial bearing surfaces so as to reduce manufacturing costs as well as the opportunity for galling and metal shedding. The present invention further describes an improved hub attachment method that may further or alternatively reduce overall manufacturing costs. The present invention yet further describes means and methods for improved bendability in the field, which, in turn, enables improved access to remote surgical targets.
US09486231B2	Tool with a clasp useful for implanting a penile prosthetic cylinder A tool for implanting an inflatable penile prosthetic cylinder includes a barrel and a clasp. The barrel extends from a proximal end to a distal end and has a solid central portion bounded by a curved exterior perimeter of the barrel. The clasp has a proximal end that is attached to the tool and a distal end that is free to move away from and towards the barrel. The clasp has an interior surface located adjacent to the curved exterior perimeter of the barrel and an exposed exterior surface opposite of the interior surface. The interior surface of the clasp is spaced a distance away from the barrel at locations between the proximal end and the distal end of the clasp. The interior surface of the clasp touches the barrel at the distal end of the clasp.
US09486230B2	Percutaneous aneurysm inversion and ligation Devices and methods for percutaneously treating and removing aneurysms or other anomalous tissue associated with vascular, intestinal, or other body tissue.
US09486229B2	Methods and devices for excision of tissue Various apparatus and methods for excising tissue are described therein. In certain variations, a method of excising a target tissue mass from a subject, may include advancing an elongate instrument having an opening at its distal end into a subject. A cutting element, e.g., a snare or loop, may be advanced from the distal end of the elongate instrument, wherein the cutting element may be configured to cut tissue. The cutting element may be positioned near the target tissue mass. The cutting element may be actuated, e.g., expanded or deployed, and may perform energy based or mechanical cutting of a section of tissue encapsulating the target tissue mass. The cut section of tissue and the target tissue mass encapsulated therein may be removed from the subject.
US09486228B2	Osteotomy below the tibial tuberosity by multiple drilling Surgical devices, kits and methods of using thereof are described. Generally, the surgical kit includes an osteotomy guide device and/or a bone spacer guide device. The surgical kit can be used in a surgical method for correcting a malalignment of the knee joint that involves performing a fibular osteotomy and/or a tibial osteotomy, and/or administering stem cells. Generally, the osteotomy guide device is configured to allow drilling to occur around the tibia and across a horizontal cross-sectional plane of the tibia so that a direction of each of the drill holes that are formed in the tibia is substantially parallel to or on the same horizontal cross-sectional plane of the tibia. The osteotomy guide device allows drilling to be conducted efficiently and accurately.
US09486225B2	Exclusion of the left atrial appendage A device for excluding the left atrial appendage (LAA) includes first and second members, each with first and second ends. The second ends are connected by a hinge. The first ends interlock to close the device about the LAA. The members are shaped such that they can exclude the LAA without causing the development of necrotic tissue. If desired, a flexible cover can be provided and the first and second members can be disposed within the cover. If such a cover is used, it will contact the LAA in order to cushion the contact between the members and the LAA and minimize the tendency of the LAA to bleed. The invention also includes methods for using the device to exclude the LAA.
US09486213B2	Drive mechanism for articulating tacker A tacker for applying a rotary tack, including a drive shaft coupled to a trigger assembly, wherein operating the trigger assembly causes rotation of the drive shaft, a distal portion of the drive shaft passing into an articulated arm that holds rotary tacks, wherein upon operation of the trigger assembly, the drive shaft rotates to cause deployment of the tacks distally out of the articulated arm, and wherein the drive shaft includes a cable on which are located a plurality of axially spaced drive links that transfer rotational motion of the drive shaft to rotation of the tacks.
US09486211B2	Method for implanting soft tissue A suture construction and method for forming a suture construction is disclosed. The construction utilizes a suture having an enlarged central body portion defining a longitudinal passage. First and second ends of the suture are passed through first and second apertures associated with the longitudinal passage to form a pair of loops. Portions of the suture lay parallel to each other within the suture. Application of tension onto the suture construction causes constriction of the longitudinal passage, thus preventing relative motions of the captured portions of the suture.
US09486208B2	Meniscal repair systems and methods A device for repairing a tear in a portion of tissue comprises a proximal actuator portion, a transfer needle extending distally from the proximal actuator portion and a catch needle extending distally from the proximal actuator portion. A suture needle is disposed in the transfer needle, and is extendable from the transfer needle toward the catch needle and retractable from the catch needle toward the transfer needle. An extendable catch plunger is disposed in the catch needle for capturing suture therein when it is transferred from the transfer needle. A retractable insertion sheath is provided for covering the transfer needle and the catch needle when the device is inserted into a procedural site. A depth limiting apparatus limits the depth of insertion of the needle into the procedural site.
US09486207B2	Suture anchor eyelet with suture loader Techniques and reconstruction systems for knotless tissue fixation using a driver with a cannulated interference device or fixation device preloaded on the shaft of the driver. An eyelet, adjustable in size, is formed of a loading suture provided at the distal end of the driver shaft. A working suture attached to the tissue to be fixed is passed through the eyelet. The size of the eyelet is adjusted by the user once the working suture is passed through the eyelet, to capture the working suture with the eyelet. The cannulated interference device is then advanced down the shaft to secure the working suture in a bone socket.
US09486205B2	Surgical devices The present disclosure relates to a surgical device including a shaft having an outer member and an inner member slidably received within the outer member, a handle coupled to the shaft, and a means for providing movement to the inner member coupled to the inner member. A method of tissue repair is also disclosed.
US09486203B2	Latching anchor device An anchor that secures to a connector as part of an anchor assembly is disclosed. The proximal anchor includes a pair of spaced apart prongs which join together at a slot inception. The prongs are shaped and sized of a configuration to define a catch or latching structure. The prongs are configured to capture and deform the suture between the protrusions and prevent the suture from disengaging from the slotted anchor device once engaged.
US09486197B2	Two-part access assembly An assembly for accessing a body cavity through an opening in tissue is provided. The access assembly includes a flexible outer sleeve configured to be received through an opening in tissue. The outer sleeve defines a passageway therethrough. The access assembly further includes an inner core configured for selective reception within the passageway of the outer sleeve. The inner core defines at least a first lumen configured to receive a surgical instrument therethrough.
US09486195B2	Surgical retractor having lifting capability A surgical retractor includes a pair of small grips that are disposed at the ends of arms that can be moved toward or away from each other. The grips engage and separate the sides of an incision that has been made in a patient. A lifting mechanism that can be attached to one of the arms enables one side of the incision to be raised relative to the other side of the incision. The lifting mechanism includes a clamp that can be connected to the retractor and a foot that is connected to the clamp and which is movable relative thereto. The foot is engageable with the patient such that extension of the foot causes a selected grip to be raised. Retraction of the foot permits the selected grip to be lowered. In the preferred embodiment, the foot is disposed at one end of a notched rack; a rotatable pinion is in contact with the notches to extend and contract the rack; and a pivotally movable pawl permits movement of the rack in one direction and prevents movement of the rack in the other direction.
US09486193B2	Procedural sheath securement device and methods A procedural sheath holding device includes a base member and a securing member. The base member is positionable in contact with an outer skin surface adjacent to an incision. The securing member is attached to the base member and includes a securing portion operable to releasably secure a procedural sheath in a fixed axial position relative to the skin surface when a vascular closure device is inserted through the procedural sheath to seal the incision. The securing member may be pivotal relative to the base member.
US09486186B2	Biopsy device with slide-in probe An exemplary ultrasound biopsy device includes a probe and a holster. The probe is insertable into the holster to form a completed assembly. To assemble the probe to the holster, the probe is initially slid laterally onto the holster and then slid forward to latch the probe into engagement with the holster. The holster is coupled to a vacuum control module by one or more conduits and a power cable. The conduits and/or power cable may be retracted into the vacuum control module. The probe of the biopsy device includes a blade assembly at the distal end. The blade assembly comprises a blade that snaps onto a nosecone via a pair of resilient notched ends. A frictional fitting needle cover can be inserted over the needle and blade assembly to protect the user from the sharp blade.
US09486175B2	Phase contrast imaging apparatus An x-ray imaging system includes an x-ray source, an x-ray detector including a plurality of detector strips arranged in a first direction of the x-ray detector. Each detector strip includes a plurality of detector pixels arranged in a second direction of the x-ray detector. A phase grating and a plurality of analyzer gratings including grating slits are disposed between the x-ray source and detectors. The x-ray source and the x-ray detector are adapted to perform a scanning movement in relation to an object in the first direction, in order to scan the object. Each of the plurality of analyzer gratings (162) is arranged in association with a respective detector strip with the grating slits arranged in the second direction. The grating slits of the analyzer gratings of the detector strips are offset relative to each other in the second direction.
US09486173B2	Systems and methods for adjustable view frequency computed tomography imaging An imaging system includes a computed tomography (CT) acquisition unit and a processing unit. The CT acquisition unit includes an X-ray source and a CT detector configured to collect CT imaging data of an object to be imaged. The X-ray source and CT detector are configured to be rotated about the object to be imaged and to collect a series of views of the object as the X-ray source and CT detector rotate about the object to be imaged. The processing unit is operably coupled to the CT acquisition unit and configured to control the CT acquisition unit to vary a view duration for the views of the series. The view duration for a particular view defines an imaging information acquisition period for the particular view, wherein the series of views includes a first group of views having a first view duration and a second group of views having a second view duration that is different than the first view duration.
US09486163B2	Silicon-vacancy-doped nanodiamonds for molecular and cellular imaging An imaging agent for detecting analytes in a biological environment includes functionalized, silicon vacancy center-containing nanodiamonds. Individual nanodiamonds of the imaging agent include at least one silicon vacancy center. The at least one silicon vacancy center can emit light having a wavelength in a narrow band in response to illumination having any wavelength in a wide range of wavelengths. The nanodiamonds are functionalized to selectively interact with an analyte of interest. The nanodiamonds can additionally include other color centers, and the imaging agent can include a plurality of sets of nanodiamonds having detectably unique ratios of silicon vacancy centers to other color centers. The silicon vacancy centers in the nanodiamonds can have a preferred orientation enabling orientation tracking of individual nanodiamonds or other applications. A method for detecting properties of the analyte of interest by interacting with the imaging agent is also provided.
US09486162B2	Spatial needle guidance system and associated methods Methods and apparatus for positioning a elongate hollow member at a desired location in a body in a medical procedure are provided. A position marker is removably disposed within a sheath. The sheath may be disposable. The sheath and enclosed position marker may be inserted into a lumen of a member to be positioned. The position in space of the position marker may be monitored by a position sensor to provide real-time information regarding a position of the member. The spatial relationship between the position marker and member may be fixed by securing the mounting member to the sheath and securing the sheath to the member.
US09486159B2	Device and method for superimposing patterns on images in real time, particularly for guidance by location The invention relates to a device for superimposing known patterns, characteristic of a region, on (real) images of said region. The device comprises , a memory in which patterns are stored, which are representative of a selected region, of known position and orientation with relation to a common reference and processing means, for determining a pattern representative of the selected portion in the memory, on receipt of the designation of at least one portion of an observed image of the selected region, taken at a selected angle and at least one representative attribute of said region, taking account of the attribute selected, then superimposing the determined pattern on the selected portion of the image taking account of the selected angle.
US09486150B2	Method of signal enhancement for ECG devices An embodiment of the invention comprises a method of monitoring cardiac electrical activity with two or more ECG devices and computing an enhanced cardiac electrical signal from the cardiac electrical signals obtained from the two or more ECG devices. Electrodes of the two or more ECG devices are positioned in a manner to provide an electrical potential difference that is large enough to give useful information about a given ECG signal. The method further includes recommending addition of a supplemental ECG device when it is determined that the one or more of the existing ECG devices are inadequate for providing cardiac electrical data that identifies a specific cardiac event.
US09486146B2	Detecting tumorous breast tissue in a thermal image What is disclosed is a system and method for detecting cancerous tissue in breast tissue using a thermal image. In one embodiment, the present tumor detection method involves selecting a region of interest in the thermal image to be processed for breast cancer screening. Thereafter, a percentage of pixels p1 in the selected region having a temperature Tpixel1, where T1≦Tpixel1≦T2, is determined. A percentage of pixels p2 in the selected region having a temperature Tpixel2, where T3≦Tpixel2, is determined. A ratio p 3 = P edge / P block is also determined, where Pedge is a number of pixels around a border of a suspected tumor within the selected region, and Pblock is a number of pixels in a perimeter of the selected region. A decision fusion rule R, as more fully disclosed herein, is utilized to determine, based on these determination whether tissue within that region is cancerous, or non-cancerous, or is suspicious of being cancerous.
US09486135B1	Amusement park ride with adjustable thrill level An amusement park ride having a car with seating options above a track, below the track or adjacent to the track such that a rider may experience different thrill levels depending on the position of the car in relation to the track. The car may have a swiveling arm to position the car above, lateral to, or below the track. Alternatively, ride may have multiple cars arranged above, lateral to, or below the track for the rider to choose which position to ride in. In lieu of or in addition to the car seating options, the may have adjustable shoulder restraints that allow the rider to use the shoulder restraints or not. The shoulder restraints may be flexible or rigid, but rotatable from an upright configuration to a sideways configuration.
US09486134B2	Ophthalmologic imaging apparatus and ophthalmologic image processing apparatus An ophthalmologic imaging apparatus that can follow up imaging for acquiring a cross sectional image by referring to a front image of an eye acquired in the past and scanning the same position as before with light, includes: a photographing part configured to photograph the eye and acquire a front image thereof; a cross sectional image forming part configured to scan the eye with light and form a cross sectional image thereof; a storage configured to store a first front image of the eye and a second front image acquired in follow up imaging executed with referring to the first front image; an information obtaining part configured to analyze the first and second front images and obtain misregistration information between these front images; and a calculator configured to calculate an evaluation value of an error in a scanning position in the follow up imaging based on the misregistration information.
US09486133B2	Surgical access system and related methods A surgical access system comprising a tissue dilation assembly and a tissue retraction assembly, both of which may be equipped with one or more electrodes for use in detecting the existence of (and optionally the distance and/or direction to) neural structures. A retractor assembly for creating an operative corridor to a spinal surgical target site is disclosed, comprising: a retractor body and a plurality retractor blades extending generally perpendicularly to the retractor body, the retractor body being operable to separate the at plurality of retractor blades relative to each; and a supplemental retractor blade assembly attachable to at least two of the plurality of retractor blades, the supplemental retractor blade assembly comprising an elongated supplemental retractor blade and a crossbar connector, the crossbar connector configured to be attached to said at least two retractor blades while engaging the supplemental retractor blade.
US09486129B2	Method and apparatus for cleaning an endoscope An apparatus for cleaning an endoscope that may include a handle, a rod insertable into a channel of an endoscope, the rod including a first end and a second end, the first end of the rod being attachable to the handle, a wiping tip insertable into the endoscope channel and attachable to the second end of the rod, and a wiping surface attachable to the wiping tip.
US09486122B2	Mop base Improved mop base capable of using both surfaces of a normal mop arranged parallel to one another.
US09486119B2	Toilet bumper A bumper assembly comprising a first member configured to engage a portion of the toilet or bidet attachment; and a resilient second member coupled to the first member; wherein the first member is more rigid than the second member and includes at least one catch configured to selectively engage a recess of the toilet or bidet attachment to detachably couple the first member to the toilet or bidet attachment.
US09486116B2	Dispenser for rolled product There is provided herein a dispenser for a rolled product which has a center bore, comprising: a casing having walls and having a top with an opening; a first fastening means disposed on a first inner wall of said casing; a second fastening means disposed on a second inner wall of said casing, wherein said first inner wall is opposite said second inner wall, and said first fastening means is opposite said second fastening means; and an axle fastened to said first and second fastening means, wherein said axle can rotate when fastened.
US09486111B2	Bath safety rail A bath safety rail for being engaged to and disengaged from a bath surface. The bath safety rail includes a base, a handle on the base, first and second suction cups opposing the handle, cam followers on the suction cups that extend into the base, and cams in the base to engage and draw up the cam followers and suction cups to thereby create suction. The handle is two-piece where the pieces are separated by a handle plane, where each axis of each suction cup is in the handle plane.
US09486106B2	Device and method for retrieving a capsule from a beverage production apparatus The invention aims to provide a device and a method for retrieving efficiently a capsule from a receptacle of a beverage production apparatus. In particular, the device allows retrieving a used capsule in safe conditions and without waiting time. The beverage production apparatus comprises a receptacle (1) with a cover (3) for receiving a capsule (2) containing beverage ingredient. The device comprises capsule extracting and guiding means consisting of a clamp (6) having members (6′, 6″) arranged on each lateral side of the cover (3) of the receptacle. The capsule (2) is provided with a rim (8) around its upper edge which is directed upwards when the capsule is inserted in the receptacle (1). At opening of the cover of the receptacle, the clamp (6) is activated in such a way to position its members under the rim (8) of the capsule which is lifted thanks to a spring (4) at the bottom of the capsule.
US09486092B2	Twist-tie dispenser refill A twist-tie dispenser refill comprises a twist-tie cluster and a base. The twist-tie cluster includes a top cluster portion. The base includes a top portion, which is generally U-shaped and forms an opening configured and arranged to receive the top cluster portion of the twist-tie cluster. The base also includes a rear portion that defines mounting members used for mounting the base to a fixture.
US09486085B2	Boiler for hot water heating mats A boiler for hot water heating mats, including: a hot water heating tank having a hot water discharging port, a hot water recovering port, and an electric heater; a hot water storage tank connected to the hot water heating tank, with a water charging port, an air exhausting port, a hot water inlet port and a hot water outlet port; a hot water discharging check valve; and a hot water recovering check valve. The heater is installed horizontally or inclinedly, and the interior space of the hot water heating tank is divided into a hot water heating chamber and a hot water discharging chamber. To ensure the heater remains partially submerged in water, the hot water discharging port may be formed at a height higher than the lower surface of the heater or a retaining wall may be installed on the bottom of the hot water heating tank.
US09486083B2	Floating lounge with improved back support According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a recreational floatation device comprising a body portion comprising an inflatable member having a first inner perimeter surrounding a first inner area, a first support portion comprising a layer of material extending through the first inner area and attached to the inflatable member at its first inner perimeter to support a user of the device, a back support member located within said first inner area, a hinge mechanism coupled to the back support member and the first inner perimeter and configured to allow the back support member to rotate between a first position, wherein a substantial portion of the back support member extends generally away from the first inner area, and a second position, in which the back support member lies substantially within the first inner area.
US09486079B2	Chair with seat depth adjustment and back support An office chair including a linking mechanism between a movable chair seat and a pivotable chair back. The mounting arrangement between the chair back and the chair seat includes swing arm assembly that is pivotally connected to the chair seat. When the chair seat moves forward, the swing arm assembly moves with the chair seat and causes the chair back to pivot and move relative to a stationary support arm. The stationary support arm includes a curved support face that moves within a movement slot formed on the swing arm assembly. The movement slot includes a roller that helps guide relative movement between the two components. The chair seat includes a thigh support portion that allows the user to adjust the seat depth as desired.
US09486076B2	Table with nesting top A table may be sized and configured to nest with another table to reduce a height of a plurality of stacked tables in a nested configuration. The table may include a table top with a receiving portion disposed at least proximate an intersection of an upper surface and a sidewall. The table top may also include a lip and a lower portion of the lip may include a contact surface that is sized and configured to contact an upper surface of an adjacent, nested table. The lower portion of the lip may also include an engaging portion that is sized and configured to be disposed in a receiving portion of an adjacent, nested table. The contact surface and the engaging portion may be directly adjacent to each other in the lower portion of the lip.
US09486072B1	Lap support device Devices are provided that can be positioned on a user's lap and, when so positioned, provide a stable, comfortable surface to support a pet. The devices include a resilient body configured to be positioned around the user's thighs and having a central supporting surface.
US09486069B2	Vibration-damped furniture piece in the form of a table A furniture piece in the form of a table comprises a table frame with two table leg structures, which are connected to one another by at least one connecting brace. Fastening brackets for fastening the connecting brace are provided on the table leg structures. The table frame has a vibration-damping device that operates between the connecting brace and at least one fastening bracket in order to damp lateral vibrations of the furniture piece.
US09486058B1	Tool vest A wearable upper-body garment has a plurality of first webbings secured to the garment front panel in a substantially parallel relation, each of the plurality of first webbings defining at least one passageway between the webbing and the front panel with the passageways extending perpendicular to the webbing. The first webbings extend upwardly and outwardly from a sternal region on the front panel that divides the garment front panel into a right half and a left half.
US09486051B1	Nail clipper apparatus A nail clipper apparatus including a nail clipper and a pair of elongated gripping members attachable to each other with a spring loaded hinge. A bottom end of each of a pair of tension rods is mounted to an upper arm of an actuating lever of the nail clipper, and a top end of each of the pair of tension rods is attached to a bottom surface of a lower gripping member of the pair of gripping members. A top side of a push rod is attached to an upper gripping member of the pair of gripping members, and a bottom side of the push rod is slidably disposed atop the upper arm of the actuating lever. Each of an open position and a closed position of the pair of gripping members coincides with an open position and a closed position of the nail clipper.
US09486048B2	Hair styling device In a hair styling device comprising a heating unit (11), and a unit capable of engaging a detachable holder (21) with a hair treatment agent, whereby in the presence of the detachable holder (21), the detachable holder (21) covers the heating unit (11), a detector detects the presence of the detachable holder (21), and a temperature of the heating unit (11) in the presence of the detachable holder (21) is automatically set higher than a corresponding temperature in the absence of the detachable holder (21).
US09486044B1	Reverse folding umbrella A reverse folding umbrella includes a cane body and a umbrella body; the cane body including a shaft and a handle; the umbrella body including a hollow tube, outer and inner fabric; the hollow tube having a grip disposed in one end thereof, and a top notch disposed in opposite end thereof; the top notch having a plurality of upper ribs connected around a peripheral edge thereof; one end of the upper ribs connected with reverted ribs; the reverted ribs connected with lower ribs; the lower ribs connected around a peripheral edge of a runner; the reverse folding umbrella that has the function of rain or sun shelter and walking cane.
US09486041B2	Jewellery item A jewellery item, or a gold, silver, or costume jewellery item, accessories and the like include an annular band having a predetermined width and a plurality of modular elements of an elongated shape, at least one of the modular elements being connected to at least three additional modular elements by at least three connection points, the modular elements being hinged with each other about each connection point such that the jewellery item is adjustable between a contracted condition and an extended condition, wherein the width has different values along the overall extension of the jewellery item.
US09486038B1	Apparatus that fits into the eyelets of lace up footwear and permits a closure means alternative to laces A substantially cylindrical member having a stepped diameter and a lower portion dimensioned to fit snugly into the lace eyelets of a lace-up shoe (footwear, including a sneaker, e.g.). The upper end includes a circumferential groove which is adapted to receive an elastic member such as a rubber band, O-ring, or the like. The lower may be bifurcated to facilitate insertion into the shoe eyelets. As illustrated, the lower end is double bifurcated at right angles. According to one embodiment, the invention is sold as a kit which includes enough members to fill all of the eyelets of a shoe and enough elastic members to match. According to other embodiments: a pair of shoes are sold with the invention pre-installed; the invention is permanently installed; the cylindrical members and the elastic members are provided in different colors; the tops are adorned with three dimensional decorations.
US09486036B1	Shoe and method of manufacture A shoe, and method of manufacture, including (i) a shoe upper having an arrangement of holes in the bottom surface, (ii) an outer sole having an arrangement of holes corresponding to the arrangement of holes in the bottom surface of the shoe upper, and (iii) an inner sole disposed within the shoe upper, the inner sole having a plurality of pegs that extend from its bottom surface that are arranged in alignment with the arrangement of holes in the shoe upper and outer sole when the inner sole is disposed within the shoe upper, each peg extending downwardly through its associated hole in the shoe upper and the outer sole, so that, in the preferred embodiment, the bottom surface of each peg is exposed to, and forms part of, bottom surface of the shoe.
US09486027B2	Connection assembly for adjoining a peripheral with a host wearable device A connection assembly for adjoining a peripheral with a host wearable device. Embodiment of the assembly can be a hardhat with an accessory connection slot allowing for both mechanical and electrical attachment of various accessories such as earphones, video display, headlamp, welder's face shield.
US09486023B1	Artificial hair apparatus and method An artificial hair apparatus comprises: a front region comprising an inner front surface, an outer front surface, a first mesh section and a second mesh section, the first mesh section comprising a first hair parting channel comprising a first predetermined length and a second hair parting channel comprising a second predetermined length, the first hair parting channel and the second hair parting channel protruding into the second mesh section such that the first predetermined length is different from the second predetermined length; a top region adjacent to the front region comprising an inner top surface and an outer top surface; a rear region adjacent to the top region comprising an inner rear surface and an outer rear surface; and a plurality of side regions adjacent to each of the front region, the top region and the rear region comprising an inner side surface and an outer side surface.
US09486018B2	Torso cooling unit for personal wear A cooling unit that can be used with or without a garment, such as a ballistic vest, that covers a user's torso when worn by the user. The cooling unit includes a fan for blowing ambient air; a manifold for distributing to the torso the air that is blown by the fan; and a hose for connecting the fan to the manifold. The manifold may be formed of three overlying panels that are secured together, including an outer panel, a central panel, and an inner panel that is closest to the user's torso when the cooling unit is being worn. No modification of the vest is necessary to accommodate the cooling unit.
US09485995B2	Method for the production of baked goods and plant for the automatic production of baked goods A plant for the automatic production of baked goods using a dough strand has a kneading device to knead dough from prepared starting products. An extruder is used to extrude the dough to form the dough strand. A portioning device is used to divide the dough strand into dough strand portions of a predetermined weight. A post-preparation device is used to finish the baked goods from the dough strand portions. The post-preparation includes the supplying of the dough strand portions to associated receivers in at least one transporting mould, fermenting the dough strand portions in the transporting mould and baking the fermented dough strand portions. The result is a production plant with an increased throughput in the production of baked goods and simultaneously a plant outlay which is as low a possible.
US09485987B2	Aqueous suspended agricultural chemical composition The present invention provides an aqueous suspended agricultural chemical composition comprising an agricultural chemical active ingredient, an alkyl naphthalene sulfonate formalin condensate and one or two or more compounds selected from the group consisting of an alkyl sulfate, a polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether sulfate, an alkyl phosphoric acid and a salt thereof, a polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether phosphoric acid and a salt thereof, and a polyoxyalkylene alkyl ether acetic acid and a salt thereof. The aqueous suspended agricultural chemical composition suppresses the crystal growth of the agricultural chemical active ingredient, and has an excellent effect on pest control and an excellent storage stability.
US09485985B2	Triggerable support package for seeds A system for enhancement of crop production includes a triggerable seed support package. The triggerable seed support package has a payload including seed enhancement material, where the payload is configured to be released in response to a trigger.
US09485982B2	Game call having different passages A game call may include a mouth piece and a plurality of passages coupled to the mouthpiece. There is a difference between the passages. The game call is operable to generate sound that resembles or simulates the vocal sound of an animal.
US09485978B1	Pivoting fishing rod holder for a kayak A pivoting fishing rod holder for a kayak having a structure pivotally holding a pair of existing fishing rods, the structure comprising, a pair of identical L-shaped mounts configured for spaced apart mounting to the existing kayak, a pair of identical upright members, pivotally affixed to the L-shaped mounts, a tubular rod holder affixed at an angle to a distal end of each upright member, the angle within a range of about 20-45 degrees upwardly from a horizontal, a pair of diametrically opposed rounded insets disposed within each holder outer end, and a horizontal crossbar connecting the distal ends.
US09485976B1	Telescoping multi-line fishing device The telescoping multi-line fishing device including multiple fishing lines within an alternately expandable and collapsible structure that provides two telescopic sections connected to a center cylindrical casing with propeller power. Each section provides sliding tubes rotatably and slidably connected to each other. A quartet of spool housings in each section provides user settable timed fishing line and weighted leader release from a capsule. The spool housings features slow line extraction with automatic retraction upon a sharp tug from a fish. The fishing lines provide user set timed release. The device includes reeled retrieval.
US09485973B2	Bait bridle A bait bridle is uniquely designed to connect a hook to bait while allowing the entire hook to be exposed for enhanced hooking capabilities and free movement of the bait. The addition of a small elastic band to the hook end of the bridle holds the hook firmly in place, yet allows easy removal when desired. The re-usable bridle system of the present invention can be switched from one hook to another hook with no damage to bait or the bridle. The bridle system of the present invention allows for free movement of the bait and full exposure of the hook. The bait bridle can be easily opened and closed to placement or removal of bait with the bridle on or off the hook.
US09485971B2	Fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase (Fah)-deficient pigs and uses thereof Described herein is the generation of Fah+/− heterozygote pigs by homologous recombination and somatic cell nuclear transfer, and a method for producing Fah−/− homozygote pigs. The Fah-deficient pigs of the disclosure can be used for a variety of research and therapeutic purposes, such as for the expansion of human hepatocytes, and as large animal models of hereditary tyrosinemia type 1, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
US09485968B2	Beehive system A beehive comprises a main housing, a primary entrance housing that is rotatably attached to the main housing, and a rotation element for rotating the main housing about its rotational axis between vertical and horizontal positions. The main housing includes chambers for holding honey frames and brood frames. The primary entrance housing includes a primary entrance slot that allows ingress and egress of bees into and out of the primary entrance housing. A primary entrance tube connects the main housing to the primary entrance housing. The primary entrance tube provides a path of travel for bees to move between the primary entrance housing and the main housing. In this configuration, the bees may freely move from the exterior of the beehive, through the primary entrance slot into the primary entrance housing, and through the primary entrance tube into the chambers of the main housing.
US09485961B2	Fold up pet bowl or fountain pedestal A collapsible pedestal is disclosed for use with a pet dish or fountain. The pedestal is made of several releasably attached legs. Preferably, all of the legs are of a substantially identical design. Each leg has a coupling hub that may be a pair of hinged, knuckle connection such that the legs may be freely rotatable. The pedestal can be collapsed into a collapsed condition, which accounts for a lesser volume than when the pedestal is in an operating condition. Additionally, the pedestal may be configured to be inverted such that different cradles can be used, each cradle configured to accommodate a bowl, dish, fountain, or other object of varying shapes or designs. Additional legs can be added to an existing pedestal.
US09485954B2	Spinach hybrid 51-324 The present invention relates to the field of plant breeding and more particular to the development of a spinach plant that expresses a new resistance pattern against downy mildew (Peronospora farinosa f. sp. Spinaciae) strains Pf1-Pf12 and isolate PfsUA441), methods and compositions relating to plants, progeny, seeds and derivatives thereof and plants, progeny, seeds and derivatives thereof having all the morphological, physiological and/or genetic characteristics thereof.
US09485938B2	Plants and seeds of corn variety CV063063 According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the corn variety designated CV063063. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CV063063, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CV063063 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to corn seeds and plants produced by crossing plants of variety CV063063 with plants of another variety, such as another inbred line. The invention further relates to the inbred and hybrid genetic complements of plants of variety CV063063.
US09485935B1	Soybean variety XB29AM14 A novel soybean variety, designated XB29AM14 is provided. Also provided are the seeds of soybean variety XB29AM14, cells from soybean variety XB29AM14, plants of soybean XB29AM14, and plant parts of soybean variety XB29AM14. Methods provided include producing a soybean plant by crossing soybean variety XB29AM14 with another soybean plant, methods for introgressing a transgenic trait, a mutant trait, and/or a native trait into soybean variety XB29AM14, methods for producing other soybean varieties or plant parts derived from soybean variety XB29AM14, and methods of characterizing soybean variety XB29AM14. Soybean seed, cells, plants, germplasm, breeding lines, varieties, and plant parts produced by these methods and/or derived from soybean variety XB29AM14 are further provided.
US09485926B2	Pepper hybrid SV3301HW The invention provides seed and plants of pepper hybrid SV3301HW and the parent lines thereof. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of pepper hybrid SV3301HW and the parent lines thereof, and to methods for producing a pepper plant produced by crossing such plants with themselves or with another pepper plant, such as a plant of another genotype. The invention further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. The invention further relates to parts of such plants, including the fruit and gametes of such plants.
US09485923B2	Elastomeric emitter and methods relating to same An irrigation drip emitter, and methods relating to same, are provided for delivering irrigation water from a supply tube to an emitter outlet at a reduced and relatively constant flow rate. The emitter having at least one movable member for compensating for fluctuations in supply line fluid pressure. In one form the movable member includes a tapered baffle section movable between a first position wherein fluid is allowed to flow over the tapered baffle section and a second position wherein fluid is prevented from flowing over at least a portion of the tapered baffle section and the tapered baffle section effectively lengthening the extent of a pressure reduction passage. In another form, first and second movable members are provided for compensating for such pressure fluctuations. In another form, a plurality of inputs are provided which are movable between first and second positions to compensate for such pressure fluctuations.
US09485916B2	Agricultural baler needle stabilizer An agricultural baler including a base unit, a plurality of ground engaging devices supporting the base unit and at least one tie system mounted to the base unit. The at least one tie system including a needle moveable relative to the base unit and a needle stabilizer. The needle stabilizer attached to the base unit with the needle stabilizer contacting the needle over a portion of the movement of the needle.
US09485914B2	Method and system for sensing a position of a vehicle or guiding a vehicle with respect to one or more plant rows A first sensor is associated with the first arm to provide a first sensor signal response indicative of a first position or first movement of the first arm with respect to the first row. A second sensor is associated with the second arm to provide a second sensor signal response indicative of a second position or second movement of the second arm with respect to the first row, or second row. A data processor is adapted to estimate a center point of the first row or a center point between the first row and the first row, or second row based on targeting substantial symmetry in the first sensor signal response and the second sensor signal response as an indication that a longitudinal axis of the vehicle is aligned with the center point, for example.
US09485913B2	Converging drum and stripper arrangement A mowing implement includes an improved crop and forage material converging arrangement for a wide mowing implement equipped with a rotary cutter bar and powered converging drums. One or more stripper elements are mounted for rotation with one or more converging drums so as to limit the tendency for cut material to wrap around the converging drums, and to more consistently transfer the cut material to the material discharge zone. Each stripper element can be located and dimensioned to sweep a path a near an adjacent converging drum and pass in close proximity to an auger of the mowing implement to effectively guide and converge material. Each stripper elements can be an oblong plate configured and arranged to strip cut material from an adjacent converging drum and deflect the stripped material towards a material discharge zone of the implement.
US09485912B2	Tree location sensing system for agricultural tree harvesters A system for sensing the location of a tree trunk relative to an orchard harvester, which includes a body, including a distance sensor mounted on the body, a boom movably connected to the body, a tree shaker head having two opposed jaws and rotatably connected to the boom and a programmable controller in communication with the distance sensor, the controller programmed to manipulate the angle at which the distance sensor measures distance as determined by a measured height at which the shaker head jaws will clamp a proximate tree.
US09485910B2	Blade rotor for a mower and mower having such a blade rotor A blade rotor includes a mower disk, at least one mowing blade, at least one bearing pin mounted on the mower disk for pivotable mounting of the mowing blade, and a spring plate arranged on the mower disk for retaining the mowing blade on the bearing pin. In order to facilitate maintenance work when replacing the bearing pin, the invention proposes to provide a mounting hole in or on the mower disk, into which mounting hole the bearing pin can be screwed from a side of the mower disk facing away from the spring plate, wherein a threaded region and a retaining region are formed on the bearing pin, and the retaining region can be introduced through the mounting hole and brought into engagement with the spring plate when the bearing pin is screwed in.
US09485901B2	Drill/planter blade with concave edge A seed planting apparatus has a first disc is rotatably disposed about a first axis which is substantially perpendicular to a line of travel. A following trenching device has a second disc rotatably attached along a second axis transverse to the line of travel but not parallel to the first axis. A third disc is rotatably attached along a third axis which is transverse to the line of travel but not parallel to either the first axis or the second axis. At least one of the first, second and third discs has a first side has an outer periphery and a second side has an outer periphery. The second side is spaced from the first side and has a larger diameter than the first side. A transition surface between the outer periphery of the first side and the outer periphery of the second side being annular and concave.
US09485900B2	Agricultural implement plug detection A plug detection system for an agricultural implement with a ground-engaging tool may include a rotational speed sensor, a ground speed sensing system, and a controller. The rotational speed sensor may be configured to detect a rotational speed of the ground-engaging tool. The ground speed sensing system may be configured to detect a ground speed of the agricultural implement. The controller may be in communication with the rotational speed sensor and the ground speed sensing system and may be configured to determine a threshold rotational speed based on the ground speed and send an alert signal when the rotational speed is below the threshold rotational speed.
US09491893B2	Display device A display device, comprising a display panel, a back surface enclosure disposed on a back surface side of the display panel and comprising a concave portion formed in a concave shape on a display panel side, and a heat generating component disposed between the display panel and the back surface enclosure, wherein the concave portion comprises a plurality of holes that release heat from the heat generating component to an outside of the display device.
US09491886B1	Compute and networking function consolidation An apparatus for compute and networking operation in a rack-mounted device are provided herein. An exemplary apparatus may include a compute substrate, a networking substrate, and a bridge substrate. The compute substrate may include a processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor. The networking substrate may be separate from the compute substrate and include control processor, and an Ethernet switch communicatively coupled to the control processor. The bridge substrate may be communicatively coupled to the compute substrate and the networking substrate, and include at least two high-speed signal traces, the high-speed signal traces being at least one differential pair, the high-speed signal traces being communicatively coupled to the compute substrate and the networking substrate.
US09491885B2	Multiple drive sled in a storage array An apparatus as associated method contemplating a housing and a midplane supported by the housing having a midplane connector. A printed circuit board (PCB) having a PCB connector is selectively connectable to the midplane connector. A plurality of data storage devices are arranged on the printed circuit board in a staggered pattern, each electrically connected to the PCB connector via a respective electrical trace in the PCB.
US09491874B2	Display apparatus There is provided a display apparatus including a display that has a display face on which an image is displayed, a back chassis that is disposed on a side opposite to the display face of the display, and a cover film that is positioned in a state in which the cover film reaches the back chassis from the display face, one end of the cover film being attached to at least a portion of an outer circumferential portion of the display. The display is held by the cover film.
US09491872B2	Box-shaped electrical switchgear cabinet sealed with a cover for a wind turbine A box-shaped electric control cabinet is provided which can be closed by a cover and which is used to receive electric components and devices for a blade angle adjustment drive (pitch drive) of a wind energy power plant, by means of which one or more rotor blades of the plant can be rotated about the blade axis. The control cabinet includes at least two cabinet segments, and specific electric components and devices are associated with respectively each module according to its function. The cabinet segments can be associated with and/or assigned to respectively different electric components and devices, with which, combined as a part function, different total functions and/or embodiment forms of the control cabinet can be produced or are producible.
US09491863B2	Mounting system that maintains stability of optics as temperature changes An optical system comprises a detector to determine one or more intensities of light impinging on one or more locations of the detector and an optical element to redirect light towards the detector along a detection axis. The detector and optical element are coupled together by three or more substantially flat flexures respectively defining three or more flexure planes parallel to the detection axis.
US09491862B2	Method for producing a printed circuit board consisting of at least two printed circuit board regions, and printed circuit board In a method for producing a printed circuit board consisting of at least two printed circuit regions, wherein the printed circuit board regions each comprise at least one conductive layer and/or at least one device or one conductive component, wherein printed circuit board regions to be connected to one another, in the region of in each case at least one lateral surface directly adjoining one another, are connected to one another by a coupling or connection, and wherein, after a coupling or connection of printed circuit board regions, at least one additional layer or ply of the printed circuit board is applied over the printed circuit board regions, the additional layer is embodied as a conductive layer, which is contact-connected via plated-through holes to conductive layers or devices or components integrated in the printed circuit board regions.
US09491858B2	Circuit board This wiring board is provided with: a plurality of metal wires disposed upon an insulating substrate; and a transparent adhesive agent layer which is disposed upon the metal wires, and which is in direct contact with the metal wires. The metal wires include: a first metal wire which has a pulse signal supplied thereto; and a second metal wire which has a fixed electric potential applied thereto. The pulse signal has a reference level identical to the fixed electric potential, and has a pulse train in which a plurality of pulses having a pulse width of not more than 3 msec are arranged, the integral time of the pulses in a period of 600 seconds being less than 60 seconds.
US09491857B2	Wiring connection structure, terminal portion, parallax barrier substrate, and touch panel There is provided a wiring connection structure connecting a transparent conductive film formed on a main surface of a transparent substrate having the main surface and a metal wiring formed on the main surface and made of a metal material, wherein the metal wiring is formed to extend from the main surface onto the transparent conductive film and to cover the transparent conductive film.
US09491847B2	Multilayer ceramic electronic component and board having the same A multilayer ceramic electronic component includes: a board including first and second contact terminals disposed on one surface thereof to be spaced apart from each other and first and second external terminals disposed on the other surface thereof to be spaced apart from each other; a multilayer ceramic capacitor including first and second external electrodes including first and second connection portions disposed on opposite end surfaces of a ceramic body and first and second band portions extending from the first and second connection portions to portions of one surface of the ceramic body and connected to the first and second contact terminals, respectively; a sealing part enclosing the multilayer ceramic capacitor on the board while exposing one ends of the first and second contact terminals; and first and second connection terminals connecting the ends of the first and second contact terminals to the first and second external terminals, respectively.
US09491845B2	Controlled power dissipation in a link path in a lighting system In at least one embodiment, a lighting system includes a link path power dissipation circuit to actively and selectively control power dissipation of excess energy in a switching power converter of the lighting system. The link path power dissipation circuit dissipates power through a link path of the switching power converter by controlling a link current of the switching power converter. In at least one embodiment, the controller controls the link path power dissipation circuit to limit the link current with a current source and dissipate power in the current source. In at least one embodiment, the link path power dissipation circuit includes a switch to limit the link current and dissipate power in the link path.
US09491840B2	Electrostatic discharge protection apparatus and process In a process, at least one circuit element is formed in a substrate. A conductive layer is formed over the substrate and in electrical contact with the at least one circuit element. Electrostatic charges are discharged from the substrate via the conductive layer.
US09491817B2	LED driving circuit In one embodiment an LED driving circuit can include: (i) a rectifier circuit configured to receive an AC input power supply through a TRIAC, and to generate a bus voltage; (ii) a driving current generator configured to convert the bus voltage to a constant driving current and an output voltage to drive an LED load; and (iii) a current distribution circuit coupled between a positive pole and a negative pole of the bus voltage, where the current distribution circuit is configured to sample an input current to generate a sense signal, and to compare the sense signal against a voltage reference signal that represents an expected input current, so as to regulate the input current according to the voltage reference signal.
US09491816B1	LED tube for directly replacing instant-start fluorescent tube The present invention discloses an LED tube for directly replacing an instant-start fluorescent tube, comprising a LED string module and a rectifying circuit used for current conversion, wherein the two input ends of the LED string module are connected with the two output ends of the rectifying circuit; the LED tube further comprises a high voltage absorption circuit, wherein the high voltage absorption circuit is used for preventing the impact on the LEDs caused by high voltage when the tube is started, and tube input ends are connected with the two input ends of the rectifying circuit through the high voltage absorption circuit. The high voltage absorption circuit is used for absorbing high voltage output when the instant-start ballast is started, so as to effectively prevent the impact on the LEDs caused by the high voltage when the tube is started. The tube can be used to directly replace an instant-start fluorescent tube without any change of the original fluorescent tube circuit.
US09491806B2	Heatable transparency An aircraft transparency has a heatable member to remove fog, ice and snow from the outer surface of the transparency. The heatable member includes a pair of spaced parallel bus bars with the ends of the bus bars offset from one another, and a coating including a plurality of spaced segments of an electrically conductive coating electrically connecting the bus bars. The ratio of the major diagonal to the minor diagonal is in the range of greater than 1 to 1.25 to more uniformly heat the coating and the outer surface of the transparency.
US09491801B2	Dynamic multi-access wireless network virtualization We disclose systems and methods of dynamically virtualizing a wireless communication network. The communication network is comprised of heterogeneous multi-RAT mesh nodes coupled to a computing cloud component. The computing cloud component virtualizes the true extent of the resources it manages and presents an interface to the core network that appears to be a single base station.
US09491799B2	Small base station for mobile communication system The present invention discloses a base station, the size of which is reduced and which is to be adopted in a mobile communication system. The disclosed small base station includes: a polyhedral housing; an antenna unit disposed on the widest surface of the outer surface of the housing; a first board arranged on any outer surface of the housing; and two or more boards which are arranged in an upright state with the first board and which are arranged to face three or more outer side surfaces of the housing, respectively.
US09491798B2	Communications system There is provided a communications system (10) comprising a plurality of base stations (12), a central station (16) and a fiber optic communications network (14). Each base station (12) comprises a shelter (20) for a passenger awaiting transport, the shelter (20) having a wireless network access point (22). The central station (16) is arranged to facilitate communication between each base station (12) and a communications network (18) and the fiber optic communications network (14) is arranged to facilitate communication between each base station (12) and the central station (16).
US09491797B2	Methods and systems for multi-directional time preservation distribution in multi-communication core devices A system and method for the distribution of time signals is available for devices with multiple communication cores. An embodiment may or may not use a centralized manager for the management of time preservation. When a communication core in a multiple communication core device requires timing information, it may request the time information from another communication core or from the centralized manager. The centralized manager, if present, can obtain time information from an external source or from one of the communication cores. The result can be reduced power consumption at a lower cost.
US09491790B2	Communication control method, communication node, and mobile node A technique is disclosed in which an MN (mobile node) 100 notifies, to a CN (correspondent node), home network connection information indicative of whether or not it is currently in connection with a home network which has allocated its own plurality of HoAs (home addresses), an address of each HA (home agent) and an ID of each HA in a state associated with the plurality of HoAs. Based on the information received from the MN, the CN grasps the home network with which the MN is currently in connection and makes an inquiry about the condition of the HA and sets an appropriate HoA, judged on the basis of the grasping result or the inquiry result, as a destination address of a packet to be transmitted to the MN.
US09491782B2	Method and apparatus for managing multiple timing advance groups in mobile communication system supporting carrier aggregation A method and apparatus for managing multiple Timing Advance Groups (TAGs) operating with different timings are provided for use in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. The method for managing multiple TAGs at a base station of a wireless communication system supporting carrier aggregation according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes categorizing a plurality of carriers into at least one TAG according to a predetermined rule, assigning a TAG index to each TAG, transmitting the TAG index to a terminal, generating a Timing Advance Command (TAC) for synchronization, and transmitting the TAC to the terminal in a random access process. The method and apparatus for managing TAGs according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention is capable of informing of the timing advance group to which each carrier belongs and managing multiple timing advance groups efficiently without signaling overhead.
US09491774B2	Method and device for providing content casting services A method and device for content casting services using Wi-Fi communication are disclosed are provided. The device includes a first band communication module for communicating with external devices over a first frequency band and a second band communication module for communicating with external devices over a second frequency band. The method includes detecting occurrence of a cast request event indicating content delivery, selecting, upon detection of the cast request event, a first external device possessing the indicated content, receiving the content from the selected first external device through the first band communication module, and transmitting the received content to a second external device through the second band communication module.
US09491773B2	Interference management for different wireless communication technologies Systems and methodologies for avoiding interference with disparate communication technologies when allocating and/or utilizing wireless communication resources are provided. Access points can generate resource assignments for mobile devices based on resources utilized by disparate communication technology devices. The resource assignments may avoid the disparate communication technology resources, allocate narrow bands over the disparate communication technology resources, and/or avoid or limit allocations in a measurement gap during which disparate communication technology devices communicate. Mobile devices can provide information to the access points, such as a communication technology to avoid interfering or resources utilized by devices of the disparate communication technology. This information can be acquired by receiving signals from the devices and/or detecting presence of the devices. In addition, a mobile device can reduce transmission power over resources used by the disparate communication technology.
US09491764B1	Mesh network adjustment Methods, apparatuses, and systems relating to narrow beam communications and wireless networking are disclosed. Exemplary methods for wireless networking and communications may include identifying a geographic area, receiving location data relating to the geographic area, receiving network performance data, analyzing the location data and the network performance data, identifying a first access point in the geographic area based at least in part on the analyzing, and adjusting a narrow beam communication device a predetermined amount relating to the first access point based at least in part on the analyzing.
US09491761B2	Full duplex communication system using disjoint spectral blocks The invention involves utilizing pieces of disjoint spectral blocks. In one embodiment, a frequency division duplex approach is used, where each spectral block is utilized solely for either uplink or downlink communications. In another embodiment, a time division duplex approach is used, where each spectral block is time divided and uplink and downlink communications are assigned to different time slots within the same spectral blocks. In another embodiment, a code division duplex approach is utilized, where uplink and downlink communications are assigned different codes/hopping patterns within a same spectral block.
US09491749B2	Radio communication method, radio communication system and radio base station To appropriately allocate radio resources to downlink control information, in the enhanced downlink control channel, a radio communication method in which a radio base station transmits downlink control information to each user terminal via an enhanced downlink control channel frequency division multiplexed with a downlink shared data channel is provided. The method includes generating the downlink control information in eCCE unit, the eCCE being made up with a plurality of eREGs, and mapping the downlink control information in eREG unit to a plurality of resource regions for the enhanced downlink control channel. Each eREG is made up with a plurality of REs, and the radio base station performs mapping to each of the resource regions in such a manner that the enhanced resource element groups (eREGs) are uniform in number of resource elements. The REs that make up 1 eREG are distributed to a plurality of OFDM symbols.
US09491743B2	Method for transmitting control information and apparatus for same The present invention pertains to a wireless communication system. Particularly, the present invention relates to a method for transmitting uplink control information and an apparatus for the same, wherein the method comprises the steps of: selecting one uplink control channel resource corresponding to a plurality of HARQ-ACKs, from a plurality of uplink control channel resources; and transmitting a bit value corresponding to the plurality of HARQ-ACKs through the use of the selected uplink control channel resource.
US09491742B2	Radio reception apparatus, radio transmission apparatus, and radio communication method Where first and second reference signals for a first and second communication system, respectively, are transmitted, resources that affect a reception apparatus compatible only with the first communication system can be minimized, and the throughput can be prevented from being deteriorated. As resources for a reference signal CSI-RS for LTE-A, last half symbols in a time direction of a resource unit RB/Sub-frame defined in a frequency-time domain are used, and the CSI-RS is allocated in a position up to the last two symbols or in the last symbol, or the like, of a particular RB/Sub-frame and transmitted when a reference signal 4RS for LTE is transmitted to a reception apparatus in addition to transmitting CSI-RS for LTE-A. The reception apparatus receives CSI-RS allocated in the last half symbol of RB/Sub-frame based on CSI-RS allocation information, measures channel quality by using this CSI-RS, and transmits and reports feedback information.
US09491739B2	Header type notification for co-existence of legacy header and new headers on same radio link The exemplary embodiments of this invention generally relate to message header-type notification that, for example, enables the co-existence of a legacy header type with one or more new header types on a same radio link. In one non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, a method includes: determining a type of medium access control (MAC) header to transmit in a MAC transmission; setting a value of a notification field in a resource allocation message based on the determined type of MAC header; and transmitting the resource allocation message. In another non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, a method includes: receiving a resource allocation message having a notification field; and using a value of the notification field to determine a type of medium access control (MAC) header for a MAC transmission.
US09491738B2	Managing downlink and uplink resources for low cost user equipments Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for assigning resources for low cost user equipments (UEs). A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE) is provided. The method generally includes determining a first bandwidth, within a second bandwidth, for resources available for downlink data transmissions, wherein the first bandwidth is smaller than the second bandwidth, determining a third bandwidth for resources available for uplink transmissions, wherein a bandwidth for resources available for uplink transmissions is different than the bandwidth for resources available for downlink transmissions, wherein the third bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth, and communicating with a network using the determined downlink and uplink resources.
US09491728B2	Method and device for implementing automatic compensation for asymmetric delay of 1588 link A method and device for implementing a compensation for an asymmetry delay of a 1588 link are provided. The method comprises: measuring and calculating a value of an asymmetry delay of the 1588 uplink/downlink; performing an asymmetry delay compensation when the value of the asymmetry delay exceeds a set synchronization offset range; and continuing a normal 1588 time synchronization if the value of the asymmetry delay does not exceed the set synchronization offset range; and implementing the automatic compensation for the asymmetry delay of the 1588 link. The above-mentioned scheme can correct the asymmetry delay automatically, and ensure the quality of 1588 time synchronization.
US09491719B2	Method, system and apparatus for power headroom report Embodiments of the present invention relate to wireless communication technology field, especially relate to a method, system and apparatus for power headroom report, for the use of power headroom report when a User Equipment (UE) aggregates carriers under different enhanced NodeBs (eNBs). Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for power headroom report, including: a user equipment which aggregates resources of multiple network equipment determines power headroom information; said user equipment sends said power headroom information to at least one of the network equipment participating in aggregation. Because the user equipment which aggregates resources of multiple network equipment reports the power headroom information to at least one of the network equipment participating in aggregation, sequentially the power headroom information is enabled to be reported when the UE aggregates carriers under different eNBs, multiple eNBs further can obtain the power headroom information in the case of inter-eNBs-aggregation, and resource scheduling is enabled.
US09491710B2	Uplink transmission power and bit rate control Joint uplink transmission power and bit rate control is provided. Data bits are received by a network Node B on an enhanced dedicated channel, E-DCH, from a user equipment, UE. End-user quality of service, QoS, for the received data bits is estimated. System coverage at a radio receiver of the network Node B is estimated. The estimated end-user QoS and the estimated system coverage represent a current working point of the UE. The current working point of the UE is related to a preferred working point. As a result thereof a transmission power control, TPC, command and a scheduling grant, SG, is determined for the UE so as to move the current working point towards the preferred working point and thereby adjust uplink transmission power and bit rate.
US09491705B2	Radio frequency method for recharging a wireless telephone When the charge of a battery in a mobile telephone is less than a predefined level, a recharge request message or notice is wirelessly transmitted to a charging module. In response, the charging module begins transmitting a radio frequency signal. The mobile telephone receives the radio frequency signal and extracts energy therefrom which is used to recharge the battery. When the charge of the battery is greater than a predetermined level, recharging the battery terminates and a termination message is wirelessly transmitted to the charging module, which responds by discontinuing transmission of the radio frequency signal.
US09491704B2	Methods and apparatus for controlling power consumption in an electronic device with a communication subsystem An electronic device has a communication subsystem with a power saving mode and an active mode. The communication subsystem is set to switch between the power saving mode and the active mode depending on thresholds of communication traffic. The settings for the thresholds depend on the activity detected on the electronic device.
US09491700B2	Method by which stations operating in power save mode in wireless LAN systems transmit and receive frames, and apparatus for supporting same The present invention relates to a method by which a station (STA) which operates in power save mode in a wireless LAN system transmits and receives frames. The method includes the steps of: obtaining a channel access authority on the basis of at least one slot time, wherein each slot time is the unit time when a channel is maintained in an idle state for a channel access by the STA; transmitting a power save (PS) poll frame requesting the transmission of a buffered frame to an access point (AP); and receiving a response frame from the AP in response to the PS poll frame. The length of each slot time is set to be longer than the transmission time of the PS poll frame.
US09491698B2	Faster cell selection Methods and apparatus are described for performing cell selection for reducing an initial acquisition time between a user equipment (UE) and a network entity, comprising measuring a signal from a cell, the signal including at least one system information block (SIB), wherein the at least one SIB includes a plurality of cell selection threshold values; attempting to decode the at least one SIB; determining, in response to successfully decoding the at least one SIB, whether one or more measurements of the signal pass or fail a cell selection criteria check that includes the plurality of cell selection threshold values; determining, in response to the cell selection criteria check failing, whether the plurality of cell selection threshold values are within range of a plurality of corresponding minimum network threshold values; and performing a cell selection procedure on the cell in response to determining that the plurality of cell selection threshold values are within range of the plurality of corresponding minimum network threshold values.
US09491691B2	Bluetooth assisted cooperative WiFi scan and roam According to various aspects, exemplary embodiments are disclosed of systems and methods related to Bluetooth assisted cooperative scan and roam for wireless networks. In an exemplary embodiment, a cooperative scan and roam Bluetooth system generally includes one or more Bluetooth nodes configured to transmit node roam table data and/or a universally unique identifier (UUID) to one or more client devices having a stored client roam table and connected to at least one of multiple access points of a wireless network. This allows the one or more client devices to update their stored client roam tables based on the transmitted node roam table data and/or roam table information obtained from a server and/or cache including multiple roam tables, based on the UUID.
US09491686B2	Virtual private networking with mobile communication continuity In general, a mobile virtual private network (VPN) is described in which service provider networks cooperate to dynamically extend a virtual routing area of a home service provider network to the edge of a visited service provider network and thereby enable IP address continuity for a roaming wireless device. In one example, a home service provider network allocates an IP address to a wireless device and establishes a mobile VPN. The home service provider network dynamically provisions a visited service provider network with the mobile VPN, when the wireless device attaches to an access network served by the visited service provider network, to enable the wireless device to exchange network traffic with the visited service provider network using the IP address allocated by the home service provider network.
US09491684B2	Density-aware zone-based packet forwarding in vehicular networks A method for multi-hop forwarding of data packets in vehicular ad-hoc networks is disclosed. Each node knows both its own and the destination's geographical coordinates. The coordinates of the one-hop neighbors are obtained from periodically broadcast Cooperative-Awareness Messages (CAMs). The method comprises the following distributed coordination scheme, executed by each node upon receiving a packet: i) computing the set of candidate forwarders; ii) ranking the candidate forwarders according to an utility metric; iii) forwarding the packet after a period of time proportional to its rank if top-ranked, dropping the packet otherwise. The base utility metric used for ranking forwarders is the inverse of the distance to the destination. Moreover, an extension is disclosed where this metric is replaced by the inverse of the expected number of packet transmissions to reach the destination. The latter metric is calculated based on spatial connectivity information cooperatively collected by nodes in the network.
US09491679B2	Network handover optimization The invention is directed to systems, methods and computer program products for managing handover of a terminal on a network. An exemplary method comprises: receiving sensor data associated with the terminal; receiving time data associated with the terminal; predicting a journey of the terminal based on at least one of the sensor data and the time data; generating a mobility map based on the predicted journey; and transmitting the mobility map to the network.
US09491674B2	Apparatus, system, and method for performing WiFi and cellular handover using device-specific values An apparatus, system, and method for performing handover of a mobile station (MS) between a base station (BS) and an access point (AP) are described. In one embodiment, the MS may receive one or more threshold values for reporting measurements to the BS. The MS may convert the threshold values to device-specific threshold values. The MS may determine one or more network quality values associated with the AP. The MS may compare the network quality values to the device-specific threshold values. In response to the network quality values exceeding the device-specific threshold values, the MS may convert the network quality values to calibrated network quality values. The MS may provide the calibrated network quality values. The MS may perform handover from the BS to the AP based on providing the calibrated network quality values to the BS.
US09491670B2	User equipment, method for performing handover, base station, and radio communication system A mobile station in a wireless communication network. The mobile station including a radio communication unit that communicates with a first base station via a plurality of component carriers, and a control unit that controls the radio communication unit to initiate a handover procedure to a second base station after receiving at least one handover command.
US09491666B2	Methods for handling PS and CS communication service Methods for handling PS and CS voice services between a mobile communication device and a service network are provided. The method includes providing, by the service network, a first type of communication service to the mobile communication device and concurrently receiving, by the service network, a service request message to request for establishment of a second type of communication service, determining, by the service network, whether any type of communication service is an emergency service, and declining, by the service network, the type of communication service that is not the emergency service, wherein the service network only supports one type of communication service to the mobile communication device at one time.
US09491663B2	Wireless communication system, wireless base station, wireless terminal, and communication control method A wireless terminal receives information about classes from a wireless base station which manages a class of a indicator used to determine a handover for the wireless terminal, transmits information about the indicator to the wireless base station when it is determined that the class of the indicator is changed to a different class on the basis of the received information about the classes, and does not transmit the information about the indicator to the wireless base station when it is determined that the class of the indicator is not changed on the basis of the received information about the classes.
US09491646B2	Measuring device and a method for measuring a signal with several component signals A measuring device for measuring a signal with a first component signal and at least one second component signal comprises a high-frequency processing device, which is embodied to mix the signal in order to form an intermediate-frequency signal and to digitize the latter in order to form a digital composite signal. The measuring device further comprises a digital mixer, which is embodied to generate a first digital composite test signal and a second digital composite test signal subject to a displacement of the frequency of the digital composite signal. Moreover, the measuring device comprises a digital filter, which is embodied to filter the first digital composite test signal in order to form a first digital test signal and to filter the second digital composite test signal in order to form a second digital test signal.
US09491645B2	Method and apparatus for wireless network data collection A method on an electronic device for a wireless network is described. A first set of unique wireless access point IDs is collected. A second set of unique wireless access point IDs is collected. The first set and the second set are compared to determine intersecting wireless access point IDs and non-intersecting wireless access point IDs of the second set. If the number of intersecting wireless access point IDs meets an intersection threshold for the first set, the non-intersecting wireless access point IDs of the second set are added to the first set. A confidence level is updated for the unique wireless access point IDs of the first set that correspond to the intersecting wireless access point IDs. Geographic information is determined for the unique wireless access point IDs of the first set that meet a confidence threshold.
US09491640B2	Method and system for switching working mode for backward compatible broadband wireless network The disclosure discloses a method and a system for switching a working mode for a backward compatible broadband wireless network, in order to solve the technical problem of switching between each working mode when various compatible modes based on different channelized sets exist in the broadband wireless network. In the disclosure, an access point (AP) indicates its current working mode by a system configuration message; the AP instructs a non-AP associated with the AP to switch a working mode by a mode switching message or a frame exchange sequence; and the non-AP switches the working mode according to instruction information included in the mode switching message or the frame exchange sequence after receiving the mode switching message or the frame exchange sequence. Through the scheme of the disclosure, a wireless point can be switched between each working mode when various compatible modes based on different channelized sets exist in the broadband wireless network, thereby setting up a broadband wireless network supporting backward compatibility.
US09491635B2	Architecture for simultaneous spectrum usage by air-to-ground and terrestrial networks A network for providing air-to-ground (ATG) wireless communication in various cells may include an in-flight aircraft including an antenna assembly, a plurality of ATG base stations, a plurality of terrestrial base stations. Each of the ATG base stations defines a corresponding radiation pattern, and the ATG base stations are spaced apart from each other to define at least partially overlapping coverage areas to communicate with the antenna assembly in an ATG communication layer defined between a first altitude and a second altitude. The terrestrial base stations are configured to communicate primarily in a ground communication layer below the first altitude. The terrestrial base stations and the ATG base stations are each configured to communicate using the same radio frequency (RF) spectrum in the ground communication layer and ATG communication layer, respectively.
US09491626B2	Enhanced data interface for contactless communications Embodiments of the invention are directed at an enhanced data interface (EDI) for contactless communications between a mobile application operating on a mobile device and an access device (e.g., contactless reader) that allows for enhanced verification between the mobile device and access device. One embodiment of the invention is directed to a method. The method comprises a mobile device receiving a request for available applets from an access device and providing a list of available applets including trusted applet identifiers and untrusted applet identifiers to the access device. The method further comprises receiving a selection of an untrusted applet identifier from the list and an entity identifier associated with the access device, validating that the access device is authorized to access credentials associated with the selected untrusted applet identifier using the entity identifier, and providing the credentials associated with the selected untrusted applet identifier to the access device.
US09491615B2	Detection of collisions of radio coverage cell identifiers Additional information is included in or used to generate a positioning reference signal to enable detection of a cell identifier “collision” between two different cells associated with two or more base stations. In one example embodiment, a user equipment terminal detects the collision using the additional information included in or used to generate positioning reference signals sent by two or more base stations and reports the collision to the network, and the network resolves the collision by assigning a different cell identifier to one of the colliding cells.
US09491612B2	Method and apparatus for controlling inter-PLMN handover to CSG cell A method and apparatus for controlling inter-PLMN handover based on CSG lists of equivalent PLMNs is provided. A method for receiving subscriber information of a terminal at a Mobility Management Entity (MME) includes transmitting an update location request message for the terminal to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), and receiving an update location acknowledgement message with the subscriber information of the terminal from the HSS, wherein the update location request message comprises a list of equivalent Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs) among which the MME supports inter-PLMN handover of the terminal. The method and apparatus for controlling inter-plan handover to a CSG cell according to the present invention is characterized in that a control apparatus of a core network acquires the allowed CSG lists for determining a User Equipments (UEs) capability of access to a CSG cell and determines whether to permit inter-PLMN handover based on the allowed CSG lists.
US09491608B2	Wireless communication device, wireless communication system, wireless communication method and program Provided is a wireless communication device which includes a function information transmitting unit for transmitting, via a wireless communication network, function information relating to a function of the wireless communication device, a function information receiving unit for receiving function information transmitted from another device, a function information comparison unit for comparing the function information of the wireless communication device and the function information received from such other device, and a function determination unit for determining which of the wireless communication device and such other device is to play a function of an access point, based on a result of the comparison by the function information comparison unit.
US09491604B2	Method and system for placing an emergency phone call from a mobile communication device to an enterprise A method and system are provided for speed-dialing an emergency phone call, from a mobile communication device to an enterprise, based on enterprise location data and a selected enterprise emergency-response service. Enterprise location data can be based on prior interaction between a token, uniquely associated with the mobile communication device, and an enterprise electronic location system. Upon termination, possibly automatic, of a first emergency phone call, a second emergency phone call, to an alternate emergency-response service, can be enabled or automatically dialed.
US09491598B2	Methods and apparatus for communicating messages between mobile communications devices and internet enabled devices Methods and apparatus for allowing a mobile device user to forward one or more messages which are received on the user's mobile device, to a television or a set top box are described. The user is able to view the forwarded messages on the television and can also reply to such received messages from the television. The methods and apparatus may be implemented using a message forwarding application installed on a user's cell phone and a server responsible for forwarding messages and replies between the user's Internet capable TV or set top box and mobile telephone. To the party sending a message, replies appear to have originated from the user's cell phone making the use of the service transparent to individuals other than the user to which the message is sent. Message received and sent logs are maintained in the user's phone so the message record is complete.
US09491588B1	Systems and methods for mobile device location verification using beacons A computer-implemented method performed in a computerized system incorporating a central processing unit, a localization signal receiver and a memory, the computer-implemented method involving: receiving at least one localization signal using the localization signal receiver; measuring a strength of the received localization signal; using the central processing unit to extract a key from the received localization signal; determining a location based at least on the measured strength of the received localization signal; and validating the determined location using the extracted key. The localization signal may be provided by one or more beacons, such as iBeacons, which may be placed at various locations within a building. The key may be randomly generated and periodically transmitted to the beacons to prevent replay attacks. A ticket issued by a near field communication (NFC) device may be used for additional location validation to prevent tunneling and collusion.
US09491578B1	Wireless tracking device A wireless tracking device including a housing unit, a central processing unit disposed within the housing unit, a battery pack disposed within the housing unit, a GPS chip disposed within the housing unit, a light emitting diode disposed on a front surface of the housing unit, and a speaker disposed on the front surface of the housing unit. The central processing unit, the battery pack, the light emitting diode, the alarm, and the speaker are in operational communication with each other. The GPS chip is configured to transmit a signal to a tracking application of a receiver. The tracking application is configured to provide the geographical location of the housing unit to which the GPS unit is attached in real time.
US09491570B2	Electronic device, control method, and control program According to one of aspects, an electronic device includes a connecting module, and a controller. The connecting module is configured to wirelessly connect to a second device. The controller is configured to cause the connecting module to wirelessly connect to the second device in a first mode or in a second mode. In the first mode, the second device connects slavery to the electronic device. In the second mode, the electronic device connects slavery to the second device.
US09491569B1	Method of and apparatus for homogenizing expected data-harvest yields A method of homogenizing expected data-harvest yields, the method comprising: selecting a population of data-sources; selecting a quantity of data as a data-harvest maximum, Hmax; and dividing the population into a set of groups according to the data-harvest maximum Hmax such that: each group includes at least one data-source; and each group generates an expected data-harvest yield, Hyield, that is less than or equal to the data-harvest maximum Hmax, Hyield≦Hmax.
US09491563B1	Pre-provisioning mobile application acquisition and utilization A method of provisioning a wireless device for use with a wireless carrier network includes receiving an initial provisioning request that includes an identifier associated with the wireless device which is not yet authorized for use on the wireless carrier network beyond provisioning of the wireless device. A determination is made that the wireless device is data-ready. Data-ready wireless devices may be configured to download and execute mobile applications. The wireless device is provided with access to a download for a mobile application configured to provision the wireless device over the wireless carrier network when installed and executed by the wireless device. Registration information is received from the mobile application being executed by the wireless device via the wireless carrier network. The registration information is provided to a provider of the wireless carrier network for provisioning the wireless device on the wireless carrier network.
US09491553B2	Method of audio signal processing and hearing aid system for implementing the same In a method of audio signal processing, a hearing aid system is configured to: collect sound information of a surrounding environment of the hearing aid system; capture an image of the surrounding environment of the hearing aid system; perform a directional signal processing operation on the sound information so as to generate an output audio signal; the output audio signal containing an extracted voice signal that comes from an area corresponding to a location of a target object in the image; and output the output audio signal.
US09491547B2	Audio playing system and audio playing method An audio playing method is applied to at least one wireless speaker, at least one mobile terminal, and a cloud server. The method includes sending a wireless signal within a coverage area of the wireless speaker, the wireless signal being detected by the speaker when the speaker is in proximity to the mobile terminal. The first identification information of the wireless speaker and second identification information of the mobile terminal are obtained, and control signals indicating the first and the second identification information is transmitted to the cloud server. Audio files corresponding to the second identification information are decoded into an audio stream and the audio stream is transmitted to the one or more wireless speakers which correspond to the first identification information included in the control signal.
US09491546B2	Electronic device and audio-data transmission method An audio-data transmission method for an electronic device is provided. The method includes determining whether or not a plurality of external data sounds and a plurality of external identification sounds are received. The external data sound and the external identification sound are respectively on a data frequency range and an identification frequency range that is different from the data frequency range. The external identification sound includes N sounds of predetermined frequencies wherein N is a positive integer larger than one. When not receiving the external data sound and the external identification sound simultaneously transmitted by at least one external electronic device, the electronic device transmits a plurality of data sounds and a plurality of identification sounds. The data sound and the identification sound are respectively within the data frequency range and the identification frequency range. The identification sound includes the sounds of predetermined frequencies.
US09491543B1	Method and device for improving audio signal quality in a voice communication system A device and a method to improve quality of a signal in a lossy communication system are disclosed. One or more samples of the signal are received from a first and second microphone transducers. The received samples are processed and filtered to obtain a processed signal. A voice activity detector is provided for iteratively identifying speech regions and non-speech regions of the signal. All samples received by the microphones are continuously monitored and quality of each sample is improved by reducing or eliminating the noise detected in the non-speech regions of the processed signal.
US09491533B2	Earphone device An earphone device includes a housing having a driver unit, and a sound guide tube mounted on a front surface of the housing to protrude from the front surface, in which the sound guide tube is disposed at a position deviated from a center position of the housing.
US09491528B2	Communication management in an optical network A communication resource in a network environment analyzes upstream communications received over multiple passive optical networks. The upstream communications are received from multiple client devices in different passive optical networks. Based on analysis of the upstream communications, via an active or passive approach, a corresponding communication resource detects in which of the multiple passive optical networks each of the client devices reside. A scheduler resource can be configured to use the class information as a basis to schedule subsequent upstream communication, avoiding occurrence of optical beat interference.
US09491522B1	Methods, systems, and media for presenting supplemental content relating to media content on a content interface based on state information that indicates a subsequent visit to the content interface Mechanisms for presenting recommended media content items are provided. In some implementations, a method comprises: receiving a request for supplemental content relating to a program being presented by a media device; causing a content interface to be presented on a mobile device; identifying the program that is being presented on a media device; determining keywords associated with the program; obtaining and storing supplemental content items corresponding to the program based on the keywords; causing the content interface to present a first supplemental content item; receiving state information associated with the mobile device that indicates a subsequent visit to the content interface; and causing the content interface to present a second supplemental content item based on the state information.
US09491521B2	Trick play seek operation for HLS converted from DTCP A process to enable trick play operations is provided for HLS streaming video that has been converted by a system from DTCP. The system server provides a modified SEEK operation when an HLS GET message is received from an HLS client player. For the process, a DLNA header is provided from the HLS client player by including it in the HLS GET message. The HLS client also provides a DLNA RANGE REQUEST that requests a range of chunks making up a video desired and a seek point from where a seek operation is needed. The HLS server recognizes the DLNA header of the HLS GET message and DLNA RANGE REQUEST and obtains a range of chunks making up an extent of the recorded video using metadata fields. The server then generates a new HLS playlist with identification of the chunks and keytag corresponding to the seek operation. The server will provide chunks from the seek point and a rolling playlist to identify chunks and keytag from the seek point.
US09491512B2	Video-on-demand content delivery method for providing video-on-demand services to TV service subscribers A video-on-demand (VOD) content delivery system has a VOD Application Server which manages a database of templates for presentation of video content elements of different selected types categorized in hierarchical order. A web-based Content Management System receives content uploaded online in file formats with metadata for title and topical area, and automatically converts it into video data format compatible with the VOD content delivery system indexed by title and topical area. A User Interface for the system delivers listings data to the viewer's TV indexed by title and topical area specified by the uploaded metadata.
US09491510B2	Methods and systems for stream management for a digital video recording device An exemplary method includes a stream management system that detects a request for any device included in a media processing system to receive a media stream provided by a television service. In response, the stream management system determines that a digital video recording (“DVR”) device included in the media processing system is already receiving and recording a maximum number of media streams that the DVR device is allowed to concurrently record. In response to this determination, the stream management system performs a status check with respect to the media streams being received and recorded by the DVR device in order to determine whether one of the media streams may be dropped by the DVR device so that the DVR device can instead receive and record the media stream identified in the request. Corresponding systems and methods are also described.
US09491509B2	Assessing digital content across a communications network The present invention relates generally to a method of providing an on-line assessment of digital content, such as video clips (10), across a network, such as the internet. In general terms the steps involved an this embodiment of the methodology include: 1. presenting a stimulant video clip (10); 2. providing means for rating the video clip in real time, in this example a rating bar (12) and slider (14) driven by a computer peripheral device (not shown); 3. collecting rating data relevant to the viewed video clip such as (10).
US09491502B2	Methods and systems for application rendering and management on internet television enabled displays Methods and systems are provided for enabling presentation of supplemental application content to display devices while particular content is rendered on the display device. One example method includes receiving a request, at a server, to register a display device. The display device has hardware for communication over the Internet with the server that is further configured to provide applications for rendering on the display device. The display device further includes hardware for communication with a broadcast television provider that provides broadcast content to the display device. The method also includes registering the display device with the server. The registering includes receiving attributes of the display device. Also included is receiving information, at the server, regarding content rendered on the display device, and sending to the display device application data for at least one of the applications of the display device. The application data is correlated the content rendered on the display device.
US09491499B2	Dynamic stitching module and protocol for personalized and targeted content streaming A system for dynamically rendering streaming content is provided. It includes a protocol and a dynamic stitching module to provide a personalized and targeted delivery of play list items responsive to a request made by a player. The protocol inquires the player for user profile information and includes it as part of a request to an adproxy. The inquiry requests the adproxy for recommended content based on the user profile information. The dynamic stitching module, in response to the recommended content from the adproxy then creates a manifest that is specific to the player for rendering a personalized content on the player. The manifest indicates a streaming preference for content fulfillment based on the recommended content via a redirect method or a proxy method. Other embodiments are disclosed.
US09491492B2	Playing pay-per-view program at set-top box connected to one-way broadcast-only RF coax network after receiving passkey targeting identifier of that set-top box from user A hospitality media system includes a plurality of set-top boxes (STBs) coupled to a radio frequency (RF) coax network. Each STB has an identifier for identifying the STB. A content source broadcasts media content to the STBs utilizing the RF coax network and an update server distributes software data to the STBs. The software data causes a particular STB to perform a media function customized for the particular STB according to the identifier of the particular STB.
US09491491B2	Run-mode based coefficient coding for video coding A video coding device is configured to code coefficients of residual blocks of video data. When a coefficient of a transform unit of video data has a scan order value that is less than a threshold and when the coefficient is the last significant coefficient in a scan order in the transform unit, the video coding device may execute a function to determine a mapping between data for the coefficient and a codeword index value, and code the data for the coefficient using a codeword associated with the codeword index value. The video coding device may comprise a video encoder or a video decoder, in some examples.
US09491490B1	Facilitating environment-based lossy compression of data for efficient rendering of contents at computing devices A mechanism is described for facilitating environment-based lossy compression of data for efficient rendering of contents at computing devices. A method of embodiments, as described herein, includes collecting, in real time, sensory input data relating to characteristics of at least one of a user and a surrounding environment. The method may further include evaluating the sensory input data to mark one or more data portions of data relating to contents, where the one or more data portions are determined to be suitable for compression based on the sensory input data. The method may further include dynamically performing, in real time, the compression of the one or more data portions, where the compression triggers loss of one or more content portions of the contents corresponding to the one or more data portions of the data. The method may further include rendering the contents to be displayed missing the one or more content portions, where the missing of the one or more content portions from the contents is not apparent to the user viewing the contents via a display device.
US09491464B2	Controlling a video content system by computing a frame quality score According to examples of the presently disclosed subject matter, a method of controlling a video content system can include: obtaining a current input frame and a preceding input frame from an input video sequence and obtaining a current degraded frame and a preceding degraded frame from a degraded video sequence corresponding to the input video sequence; computing a first differences value from the current input and the preceding input frames and a second differences value from the current degraded frame and the preceding degraded frame, comparing the first and second differences values, giving rise to an inter-frame quality score; computing an intra-frame quality score using an intra-frame quality measure that is applied in the pixel-domain of the current degraded frame and the current input frame and providing a configuration instruction to the video content system based on a quality criterion related to the inter-frame and the intra-frame quality scores.
US09491459B2	Base layer merge and AMVP modes for video coding A method of decoding video data includes receiving syntax elements extracted from an encoded video bitstream and determining a candidate list for an enhancement layer block. The syntax elements include information associated with a base layer block of a base layer of the video data. The candidate list is determined, in a base-layer inter-layer prediction mode, based only on motion information associated with the base layer block. The enhancement layer block is in an enhancement layer of the video data. The candidate list includes a merge list or an AMVP list. A syntax element can be received that indicates whether to apply the base-layer inter-layer prediction mode.
US09491458B2	Scalable video coding prediction with non-causal information Prediction information for a current block in an enhancement layer may be determined based at least in part on base layer information obtained by coding a base block in a base layer beneath the enhancement layer. This base block may occur in a position in the base layer such that it is co-located with a non-causal block in the enhancement layer (e.g., a block that occurs after the current block in the coding order of the enhancement layer). The prediction information determined for the current block may be used to code the current block (e.g., encoding or decoding the current block).
US09491453B2	Measurement position determination apparatus, image display system, and non-transitory computer readable medium A measurement position determination apparatus includes a creation unit, a measurement unit, and a determination unit. The creation unit creates display image data for displaying a reference image and a comparison image on a display screen. The reference image includes one achromatic image, and the comparison image is formed by arranging two or more images including a chromatic image. The measurement unit measures the reference image and the comparison image in a sub-area on the display screen. The reference image and the comparison image are displayed on the display screen in accordance with the display image data. The determination unit determines a measurement position of the measurement unit on the display screen in accordance with measurement results obtained by measurement of the reference image and the comparison image using the measurement unit.
US09491442B2	Image processing device and mobile computing device having the same In an example embodiment, an image processing device includes a pixel array including pixels two-dimensionally arranged and configured to capture an image, each of the pixels including a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements and an image data processing circuit configured to generate image data from pixel signals output from the pixels. The image processing device further includes a color data processing circuit configured to extract color data from the image data and output extracted color data. The image processing device further includes a depth data extraction circuit configured to extract depth data from the image data and output extracted depth data. The image processing device further includes an output control circuit configured to control the output of the color data and the depth data.
US09491438B2	Method and apparatus for communicating using 3-dimensional image display Provided is a communication method using a three-dimensional (3D) image display device. In the communication method, motion information is determined using a motion image obtained by photographing a user's motion indicating the user's request in relation to an opposite party, distance information indicating the distance between the user who is moving and the 3D image display device is determined, and then, the user's request is determined based on the motion information and the distance information.
US09491433B2	Moving image distribution server, moving image playback apparatus, control method, and recording medium A moving image distribution server sets an evaluation pixel for each of blocks that it divided a first screen into, and specifies a screen coordinate and a depth value, in a second screen acquired before the first screen, for a rendering object rendered on the evaluation pixel. It compares a depth value of the screen coordinate and a depth value of the rendering object rendered on the evaluation pixel, and determines that inter-frame coding will be performed with the second screen for a block for which the 2 depth values are considered to be the same. It transmits, to a external device, coding details information including the viewpoint information of the first screen, a depth buffer of the first screen, and information indicating whether or not blocks of the first screen are to be inter-frame coded.
US09491427B2	Method and apparatus for recording video image in a portable terminal having dual camera A method for recording video is provided that includes outputting a first video stream captured by a first camera of portable terminal; entering into a comment recording mode while the first video stream is being captured; while in the comment recording mode: outputting the first video stream concurrently with a second video stream that is captured by a second video camera of the portable terminal, and generating sync data for a future synchronization of the first video stream with the second video stream; and exiting the comment recording mode and storing the generated sync data in a memory.
US09491424B2	System and method using silicon cooler for mobile projector A system and its design variations using heat pump to generate useful warm and cool usages for multi functional mobile projector is exposed; the purpose is two folds: first is to reduce the excessive heat, in order to increase the brightness; the second is to reuse the energy, so to extend the functionalities. The key component used is silicon based heat pump, which can convert the electrical energy to heat energy. Different shaped heat or cool fins are designed to match the multiple use cases. One sample implementation using digital serial interface is described in details.
US09491421B2	Image pickup unit and electronic apparatus There is provided an image pickup unit capable of suppressing occurrence of false color and color mixture and acquiring a color image with high image quality. The image pickup unit includes: an image sensor including a plurality of pixels and acquiring an image pickup data; a variable filter provided on a light receiving face of the image sensor, and transmitting a selective wavelength; and a filter drive section (a wavelength selection circuit and a system control section) driving the variable filter and thereby setting its transmission wavelength. By acquiring the image pickup data while time-divisionally switching the transmission wavelength of the variable filter, pixel data corresponding to the transmission wavelength of the variable filter are acquired in a temporally-successive manner.
US09491418B2	Method of providing a digitally represented visual instruction from a specialist to a user in need of said visual instruction, and a system therefor The present invention provides a method of providing a digitally represented visual instruction from a specialist (2) operating a visual instruction device (4) to a user (6) in need of the visual instruction in relation to an object of interest (8) and a system therefore. In the method a first video stream comprising images of the object of interest is recorded by a first mobile device (12) associated with the user. The first video stream is sent (22) to a second mobile device (18) associated with the specialist. A second video stream comprising the visual instruction device is recorded by the second mobile device and a foreground/background segmentation operation and a background replacement operation is performed on the second and first video stream to provide a third video stream comprising images of the visual instruction device with the first video stream as background. The third video stream is sent (28) to the first mobile device and is displayed essentially simultaneously on first and second displays on both mobile devices allowing the user, by viewing the first display, to be instructed by the specialist and the specialist, by viewing the second display, to operate the visual instruction device properly in relation to the object of interest. An alternative method using a projection device in the first mobile device and systems corresponding to the methods are also provided.
US09491403B2	Modification of images based on orientation An image can be sensed at a first device. The image can have a first orientation. A second orientation expected by or associated with a second device can be determined. The image can be modified so that the image has the second orientation if the first orientation differs from the second orientation. The modified image can be transmitted to the second device.
US09491390B2	Method and system for implementing correlated multi-sampling with improved analog-to-digital converter linearity A method of implementing Correlated Multi-Sampling (CMS) in an image sensor with improved analog-to-digital converter (ADC) linearity starts with an ADC circuitry included in a readout circuitry that generates a plurality of uncorrelated random numbers used as a plurality of ADC pedestals for sampling image data. A Successive Approximation Register (SAR) included in the ADC circuitry stores a different one of the ADC pedestals before each sampling of the image data. The ADC circuitry samples an image data from a row a plurality of times against plurality of ADC pedestals to obtain a plurality of sampled input data. The ADC circuitry converts each of the plurality of sampled input data from analog to digital, which includes performing a binary search using the SAR. Other embodiments are also described.
US09491384B2	Solid imaging device including photoelectric conversion unit and TDI transfer unit In a solid-state imaging device 1, an overflow gate (OFG) 5 has a predetermined electric resistance value, while voltage application units 161 to 165 are electrically connected to the OFG 5 at connecting parts 171 to 175. Therefore, when voltage values V1 to V5 applied to the connecting parts 171 to 175 by the voltage application units 161 to 165 are adjusted, the OFG 5 can yield higher and lower voltage values in its earlier and later stage parts, respectively. As a result, the barrier level (potential) becomes lower and higher in the earlier and later stage parts, so that all the electric charges generated in an earlier stage side region of photoelectric conversion units 2 can be caused to flow out to an overflow drain (OFD) 4, whereby only the electric charges generated in a later stage side region of the photoelectric conversion units 2 can be TDI-transferred.
US09491382B2	Clamping method An imaging device includes an effective pixel region outputting an effective pixel signal, a first shielded pixel region outputting a shielded pixel signal before the effective pixel signal is output, and a second shielded pixel region outputting a shielded pixel signal after the effective pixel signal has been output. In the device, in a steady state, frame clamping is performed using a clamping reference value generated from the pixel signals of the second shielded pixel region. A frame in a transition state in which the optical black signal level of the imaging device changes is subjected to frame clamping using a clamping reference value generated from the pixel signals of the first shielded pixel region.
US09491380B2	Methods for triggering for multi-camera system A system may include one or more camera modules each containing one or more image sensors. The system may be configured to capture images from light spectra outside the visible band. Therefore, the pixel integration times, and frame rates of the one or more image sensors may be unique and distinct. An image sensor may respond to a trigger control signal by beginning integration of a subset of pixels some duration after an appropriate trigger control signal transitions from low to high. The image sensor may output the frame captured by the pixels a predetermined duration after the trigger control signal transitions, to ensure a deterministic response. Pixels used to generate the image of a subsequent frame may begin integrating during the readout of the current frame. The pixels may be integrated for exactly their programmed integration time, even when the frame rate is varied.
US09491371B2	Method and device for configuring photographing parameters The present disclosure discloses a method and a device for configuring photographing parameters, which relate to the field of terminal device technology. The method for configuring photographing parameters in a main device includes: acquiring photographing parameters, which include at least an output color temperature and an output time, for configuring a supplemental device with a flashlight component capable of adjusting color temperature according to a currently set photographing mode; and transmitting the photographing parameters to the supplemental device through a wireless data network, such that the supplemental device sets an output color temperature and an output time of the flashlight component in the supplemental device according to the photographing parameters when photographing. In the present disclosure, the accuracy of the output color temperature of the supplemental device, which supplements light during photographing using multiple terminal devices, is improved, and the quality of the photograph captured is also improved.
US09491370B2	Methods and apparatuses for providing guide information for a camera The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for providing guide information for a camera. An image is collected through the camera. The image includes a subject illuminated by a light source. An optimized direction is determined for the light source relative to the subject. Guide information is generated that specifies an adjustment of the light source relative to the subject for achieving the optimized direction for the light source. The generated guide information is outputted to provide a visual, audible, or tactile indication.
US09491368B2	Information obtaining and viewing device, data processing method thereof, and non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program This information processing device (100) comprises: a video data acquisition unit (102) that sequentially acquires video data resulting from a portion of an imaging subject being imaged by an imaging unit; an image recognition unit (104) that detects that a portion of a pre-registered image is included in the video data, and recognizes the images therein; an appended data extraction unit (108) that extracts the respective appended data of each image from an appended data storage unit (106) that stores appended data corresponding to each of a plurality of recognized images; an appended data display unit (110) that displays the extracted appended data of each image at each relevant image position of the video data; and a display control unit (112) that, in accordance with a user operation, switches from a process that successively displays a synthesized video, which is on the basis of synthesized video data, at the display unit of a portable terminal, to a process that, as a still image at the display unit of the portable terminal, fixedly displays the synthesized video at the point in time corresponding to the user operation.
US09491358B2	Imaging device for performing image processing based on photographing direction An imaging device according to the present disclosure includes: an axially rotatable imaging unit; a detector that detects a photographing direction of the imaging unit; a processor that performs image processing on image data generated by the imaging unit; and a controller that changes a setting method of an image processing parameter depending on the photographing direction detected by the detector, the image processing parameter being given to the image data by the processor.
US09491357B2	Image-processing system and image-processing method in which a size of a viewing angle and a position of a viewing point are changed for zooming An image-processing system includes a receiver which receives an input value defining an output range, a generator which generates a three-dimensional model having a target image attached to a three-dimensional conformation, a decision part which decides a position of a viewing point and a viewing angle in accordance with the input value, and a projector which projects the three-dimensional model from the viewing point, wherein the decision part changes a range of a target image inside a viewing field by changing the viewing angle preferentially when the input value is in a first range, and changes the range of the target image inside the viewing field by changing the viewing point preferentially when the input value is in a second range which is a wider-angle side than that of the first range.
US09491352B2	Imaging device, signal processing method, and signal processing program There is provided a lens-exchangeable imaging device that is capable of correcting an output signal of a pixel for phase difference detection at high speed and with high precision. A camera main body 200 includes a correction method selection unit 174 that selects any of a method in which the output signals of all the pixels for phase difference detection that are included in a solid-state imaging element 5 are interpolation-corrected by an interpolation correction processing unit 172 and a method in which the output signals of all the phase difference detection are gain-corrected by a gain correction processing unit 171, according to lens information that is acquired from a lens device 100, and an image processing unit 175 that corrects the output signal of the pixel for phase difference detection, using the selected method.
US09491343B2	Lens driving assembly and electronic apparatus having the same A lens driving assembly includes a cam barrel having an opening in an outer circumferential surface thereof and that rotates around an optical axis, a front barrel accommodated in the cam barrel and that moves in an optical axis direction corresponding to rotation of the cam barrel, and a first lens group assembly that pivots between a home position that is deviated from the optical axis and an alignment position that is aligned with the optical axis, in which the first lens group assembly moves through the opening between the home position and the alignment position according to the rotation of the cam barrel and an elastic force.
US09491342B2	Camera module for vehicle vision system A camera module for use in a vision system for a vehicle includes a housing portion, a lens holding portion and a securing element. The housing portion at least partially houses circuitry of the camera module and includes a first mating surface and a first perimeter flange around the first mating surface. The lens holding portion at least partially houses a lens assembly of the camera module and includes a second mating surface and a second perimeter flange around the second mating surface. The securing element is disposed along the first and second perimeter flanges and overlaps opposite surfaces of the first and second perimeter flanges to secure the housing portion relative to the lens holding portion.
US09491340B2	Micro-electro-mechanical system based device for adjusting aperture and manufacturing method thereof A micro-electro-mechanical system based device for adjusting aperture and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. The system includes: an opaque deformable aperture ring, multiple groups of conductive deformable crossbeams and conductive structs; and one or more fixed parts. In each group, each conductive deformable crossbeam corresponds to a conductive struct. The conductive deformable crossbeams and the conductive structs are arranged around the deformable aperture ring and spaced from each other. The conductive deformable crossbeams are suspended in the air, their inner edges are connected with an external edge of the deformable aperture ring, and their external edges are connected with the fixed parts. The conductive structs are connected with the fixed parts and remain stationary. Electrostatic force between the conductive deformable crossbeam and the conductive struct causes the deformable aperture ring to be stretched and rotate, so that area of an inner bore of the deformable aperture ring is changed.
US09491335B2	Camera module The present invention relates to a camera module, the camera module including a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) mounted with an image sensor, an auto focusing unit installed thereinside with at least one lens and fixed at an upper side of the PCB for auto focusing a focus of an image transmitted to the image sensor, a shield can formed with a through hole at a position corresponding to that of the lens and so formed as to wrap the PCB and the auto focusing unit as well, and a shock absorber installed at an upper circumference of the shield can to form a buffer space between the shield can and the auto focusing unit.
US09491323B2	Information processing apparatus, image forming system, and method for controlling an information processing apparatus An information processing apparatus has: a data communication portion for communicating with a first image forming apparatus holding an authentic prime key within the same local network, and a second image forming apparatus within the same local network; a storage portion for storing a key generation program for issuing an activation key based on the prime key; and a control portion for acquiring the prime key from the first image forming apparatus on receiving an activation request from the second image forming apparatus, generating the activation key for use on the second image forming apparatus, and transmitting the activation key to the second image forming apparatus.
US09491321B2	Image reading apparatus that performs shading correction, method of controlling the same, and storage medium An image reading apparatus that makes it possible to reduce the influences of dirt on a white reference chart itself, stripes caused by dust, and the like, and thereby generate accurate data for shading correction. An image processor performs shading correction on image data read by a reader unit. The read image data is compared with threshold values set for each pixel, and a pixel which is out of a range of the threshold values is determined as a singular point pixel. Data of a pixel determined as a singular point pixel is interpolated from data around the singular point pixel. Data of a pixel which is not determined as a singular point pixel is adopted as valid shading correction data. An operation controller controls the number of effective sampling lines from start to termination of sampling to be performed.
US09491319B2	Display control device customizing content based on client display A display control device includes an acquiring unit that acquires a display request of display information including a display item with respect to a device; a first storage unit that stores therein a minimum item size that is a minimum value of an item size of the display item displayed on a display screen on which the display information is to be displayed; an item size determination unit that sets, based on a screen size of the display screen, an item size of the display item when displayed on the display screen, to an item size that is equal to or larger than the minimum item size; and a display information generating unit that generates the display information including the display item having the set item size.
US09491314B2	Voltage boost for ET modulator There is disclosed a voltage supply stage comprising an input supply voltage, a first (102) and second (104) switch connected in series, the first (102) and second (104) series-connected switches being connected in parallel with the input supply voltage between first and second terminals of the input supply voltage, a third (106) switch and capacitor connected in series, the series-connected third (106) switch and capacitor being connected in parallel with the first (102) switch, a fourth (108) switch connected between the connection of the third switch and the capacitor and an output, and a fifth (110) switch connected between the output and a terminal of the input supply voltage, wherein: in a first phase of operation, the first and the fourth switch are closed, and the second, third and fifth switches are open; in a second phase of operation, the second, third and fifth switches are closed, and the first and fourth switches are open; and the duty cycle of the first and second phases is controlled such that the average voltage on the output varies between 0 volts and twice the input supply voltage.
US09491308B1	Telecommunication price-based routing apparatus, system and method Aspects of the present disclosure relate to telecommunications networks, processing and routing calls between networks, a computing system and methodologies for optimizing pricing particularly in situations with massive amounts of data, processing call volume data, deseasonalizing data, minutes of use data, establishing and distributing pricing data for use in routing decisions, among other features and advantages.
US09491303B2	Call setup using voice over the internet protocol (VoIP) A method of performing call setup in a system comprises an origination telephony network, a termination telephony network and a packet switched data network interconnecting therebetween comprises steps of implementing call setup across the two telephony networks by SS7 protocol and implementing call setup within the packet switched data network by H.323 protocol. In particular, the call setup in the data network is not started until information of the resources status in the termination telephony network is available. A novel gateway is provided to implement the method, which comprises both SS7 capabilities and H.323 functionalities.
US09491295B2	System and method for selecting agent in a contact center for improved call routing An agent selection system for selecting agents during call routing in a contact center is provided. The agent selection system includes a data mining module to mine agent related data from preconfigured resources e.g., social networking sites. The agent selection system further includes a profile module to build one or more agent profile based on the mined agent related data. The agent selection system further includes a mapping module configured to map a customer profile in a customer work request with the one or more agent profile. The agent selection system further includes a selection module to select an agent for handling the customer work request based on mapping between the customer profile and the one or more agent profile.
US09491293B2	Speech analytics: conversation timing and adjustment Agents of a contact center often encounter conversational delays when speaking with a customer. These delays may be introduced by transmission delays, which include the distance between the agent and the customer, and processing delays, such as those introduced by systems and processes within a contact center. By providing an agent with information based on the amount of the delay, the agent can be prompted to overtalk the customer by a target amount. As a result, the customer may experience a more natural conversation with the agent. Furthermore, if a customer prefers more or less of a delay, such as based on their cultural norms, the delay may be modified to account for those cultural norms and better accommodate the conversational preferences of a diverse customer base.
US09491292B2	Methods and systems for storage and retrieval of originating caller location information in an emergency services system Methods and systems for the storage and retrieval of originating caller location information in an emergency services system are disclosed. Subscriber information from a telephone service provider is received by a NG-911 service provider, the subscriber information including a subscriber telephone number and an associated subscriber address. The service provider generates geo-spatial coordinates corresponding to said subscriber address and stores the subscriber information and the corresponding geo-spatial data in a geographic information system (GIS) database, indexed at least according to said subscriber telephone number. In response to a query from a PSAP relating to an emergency service call originating from the subscriber telephone number, the NG-911 service provider queries the GIS database for the originating telephone number and returns the geo-spatial coordinates and the associated subscriber address.
US09491291B1	Systems and methods for institutional messaging Methods and systems for automating messaging in an institutional setting by assigning a resident of an institution a control mechanism, providing the resident access to a messaging system via a telecommunications system, and providing one or more message options to the resident as a function of the resident's control mechanism.
US09491285B2	Technique for performance management in a mobile communications network A technique of generating statistics for a performance metric of a mobile communications network is presented. The performance metric depends on at least a first parameter and a second parameter, wherein the first and second parameters each can be categorized in two or more non-overlapping sets of parameter values. Different combinations of first and second parameter value sets are defined. A method implementation of the technique comprises receiving performance metric values, first parameter values and second parameter values. A particular performance metric value is associated with the first and second parameter values prevailing when the particular performance metric value was acquired. The method further comprises identifying groups of performance metric values for which the associated first and second parameter values match the first and second parameter value sets of an individual combination, and generating the performance metric statistic from the identified groups of performance metric values.
US09491284B2	Call termination on OTT network This invention relates to a method of seamlessly connecting over-the-top and traditional telecommunication network networks including receiving by a telecommunications service provider from a calling party a dialed number of a called party; communicating by the telecommunication service provider the dialed number to an over-the-top servicer provider; checking by the over-the-top service provider whether it can terminate the call; and communicating the checking results to the telecommunication service provider, wherein the telecommunication service provider is capable of rerouting the call in case of failure in a manner that is seamless to both the calling party and the called party.
US09491280B2	Phone A phone, comprising: a touch panel; a voice receiver; and a controller, coupled to the touch panel and the voice receiver, and operable to disable a touch function of the touch panel when the voice receiver detects a conversation.
US09491265B2	Network communication protocol processing optimization system A protocol processing system includes a plurality of communication interfaces. A control head-end is operable to receive a protocol processing engine identifier over a network through one of the communication interfaces from an external system. A plurality of optimized protocol processing engines are coupled to the control head-end, and the control head-end is operable to select a first optimized protocol processing engine from the plurality of optimized protocol processing engines that is identified by the protocol processing engine identifier. In response to being selected, the first optimized protocol processing engine handles communications between an application processing system and the external system. The first optimized protocol processing engine may be an optimized TCP/IP stack that receives operating system data through a first communication interface from the application processing system and sends network communication data over the network through the second communication interface to the external system.
US09491261B1	Remote messaging protocol Processes and systems are disclosed for a remote messaging protocol that combines application data and reliability information into a three-packet handshake exchange. Each packet may comprise message information indicating an initial packet, or an acknowledgement packet, along with a unique identifier for identifying responses to the initial message. Time-to-live and retransmission timers may be used in order to increase reliability of the protocol.
US09491259B2	Collectively loading programs in a multiple program multiple data environment Techniques are disclosed for loading programs efficiently in a parallel computing system. In one embodiment, nodes of the parallel computing system receive a load description file which indicates, for each program of a multiple program multiple data (MPMD) job, nodes which are to load the program. The nodes determine, using collective operations, a total number of programs to load and a number of programs to load in parallel. The nodes further generate a class route for each program to be loaded in parallel, where the class route generated for a particular program includes only those nodes on which the program needs to be loaded. For each class route, a node is selected using a collective operation to be a load leader which accesses a file system to load the program associated with a class route and broadcasts the program via the class route to other nodes which require the program.
US09491256B2	Method and device for personalizing a multimedia application A method for personalizing a multimedia application includes receiving, from a module of the multimedia application, a request for a multimedia output, wherein the request is of a type; providing user data of a user of the multimedia application, the user data being representative of a personal taste of the user; and determining a multimedia output depending on the type and the user data.
US09491250B2	Systems, methods, and apparatus to identify media presentation devices Systems, methods, and apparatus to identify media presentation devices are disclosed. An example method includes receiving registration data from a panelist, the panelist being associated with a first network device and a second network device, the first and second network devices associated with a same public Internet protocol address. Associating respective ones of the first and second network devices with respective ones of at least two pseudo domain name service (DNS) servers, wherein the pseudo DNS servers do not provide domain name-to-IP address translation. Crediting the first network device with accessing media when a domain name service query is received at the first pseudo DNS server from the public Internet protocol address. And crediting the second network device with accessing media when the domain name service query is received at the second pseudo DNS server from the public Internet protocol address.
US09491249B2	Integrating offsite activities related to chat and text messaging with online data records Various systems and associated methods for tracking chats, text messages, and other user interactions. The process generates at least one identifier, distributes at least one identifier to at least one system, uses the at least one identifier to associate interactions with network-based content across different entities, whereby at least one interaction is anonymous. The method involves receiving a request sent to a database stored on a computer readable medium in response to online activity and any collected or known user information, creating a record thereof in response to the request, generating an identifier associated therewith, generating a code corresponding thereto, and using the identifier to associate an incoming text message, chat, resulting financial transactions, follow-on activities, etc. with associated online activity and user information. The association happens through remote communication with a system that receives and sends the incoming text message or chat requests.
US09491248B2	Real-time analytics of web performance using actual user measurements A method for real-time capture of actual user experiences on a website, web application or mobile app includes receiving, in first servers, one or more beacons, each containing data items. Each beacon is generated in real-time from a user session. The data items are aggregated in one or more first sets of N data buckets associated with each of the first servers. Each of the first servers transmits the data items of each of the N data buckets to a second server over a network, which further aggregates the data items received in one or more sets of N data buckets corresponding to and identically configured as the data buckets of the first servers. The corresponding data contents of the one or more second sets of N data buckets is aggregated into one or more final sets of N data buckets used in generating a real-time analytic dashboard.
US09491238B2	Rapid client-side component processing based on component relationships A client database manager can cause a memory of a client device on a client side of a network to store a first component, a second component, and a relationship value representing a dependent relationship between the first component and the second component. A client processing module can cause a processor to receive, after the storing, a request to process the first component at the client device. The client database manager can send to the server side of the network a request for an update of at least one of the first component or the second component. The client processing module can cause the processor to process at the client device, before receiving a response to the request for the update from the server side of the network, at least a portion of the first component and at least a portion of the second component based on the relationship value.
US09491235B2	Method and apparatus to maximize return on investment in hybrid cloud environment Exemplary embodiments improve return on investment in hybrid cloud environment. In one embodiment, a computer comprises: a memory; and a processor operable to manage two types of clouds, which are private and public clouds, by using information stored in the memory, and to manage migration of a set of an application and a data between a first type of clouds and a second type of clouds of the two types of clouds, the application running on a server of the first type of clouds, the data to be read or written by the application and being stored in a storage system of the first type of clouds. The processor manages the migration of the set of the application and the data between the first type of clouds and the second type of clouds based on resource utilization of resources including at least one of the server or the storage system.
US09491220B2	Systems and methods for adapting mobile multimedia content delivery service The invention relates to a system and method for adapting mobile multimedia content delivery service to enhance the quality of experience of one or more users. This invention involves identifying all the contexts from different domains associated with the mobile multimedia content delivery service that can impact on the quality of experience of the end user. The invention maps the contexts with the quality of experience impactors. Based on this information an abstract adaptation model is created to define basic rules of adaptation. This model also defines the threshold for adaptation and also the different adaptation actions corresponding to different contexts. This model can be transformed into an implementable adaptation model taking real time constraints into consideration. The available contexts in real time are mapped with the contexts present in the abstract model and then decision making module decides when to adapt and how to adapt the multimedia content.
US09491218B2	Systems and methods for learning MSS of services The virtual Server (vServer) of an intermediary device deployed between a plurality of clients and services supports parameters for setting maximum segment size (MSS) on a per vServer/service basis and for automatically learning the MSS among the back-end services. In case of vServer/service setting, all vServers will use the MSS value set through the parameter for the MSS value set in TCP SYN+ACK to clients. In the case of learning mode, the backend service MSS will be learnt through monitor probing. The vServer will monitor and learn the MSS that is being frequently used by the services. When the learning is active, the intermediary device may keep statistics of the MSS of backend services picked up during load balancing decisions and once an interval timer expires, the MSS value may be picked by a majority and set on the vServer. If there is no majority, then the highest MSS is picked up to be set on the vServer.
US09491216B2	Broadcast media streaming with customized playlist insertion method and system A method, system and server for customizing a broadcast media stream for delivery to a client associated with a user via a communication network. The broadcast media stream comprises a plurality of content segments, such as hosted segments, which are separated by a plurality of musical, informational or generic segments. During streaming the plurality of musical, informational or generic segments are modified based on one or more user preferences such that there content matches more closely the preferred content of the user.
US09491213B2	Fragment server directed device fragment caching The media stream delivery system encodes and fragments media streams into numerous media stream fragments maintained on fragment servers. Devices obtain fragments to reconstruct media streams including live real-time media streams for playback on the devices. A device may perform caching of media stream fragments so that particular fragments need not be accessed again from a fragment server. A fragment server or even a content provider can analyze and monitor characteristics of media streams, viewing behavior, content popularity, etc., to identify fragments for caching at the playback devices. Caching indicators along with time period indicators may be included in the media stream fragments.
US09491212B2	Method for streaming media and media controller Embodiments provide a method for streaming media and a media controller. The method includes: receiving, by a media controller, a media streaming request sent by a user equipment, and allocating an index to the user equipment, wherein the index is used to indicate an address of a corresponding buffer in the media controller to which data to be streamed is stored; binding the streaming request and the index of the user equipment and storing in a table, and sending the them to a media server so that the media server controls, according to the table, a storage device to send the data to be streamed to an address of a buffer corresponding to the index; and receiving then streaming the data to be streamed that is requested by the streaming request to the corresponding user equipment by querying the table.
US09491207B2	Prompting social networking system users to provide additional user profile information A social networking system presents questions to a user on an interface associated with the social networking system to elicit information about the user that is missing from the user's profile or is otherwise outdated. The questions are selected based on a number of factors, such as the need for or value of the information item, probability of a response, or cost of collecting the information item. In presenting the selected question, the social networking system prompts a user for information about the user in a an interface associated with a page from the social networking system, an application external to the social networking system, or using a push notification or prompt. The questions may be formatted in various ways, such as an explicit question, confirmation, a selection of responses, or social context to encourage the user to respond to the question.
US09491203B2	Service based release of a subscriber registrar server from a signalling path in an internet protocol communication network A method of and servers for establishing a signalling path (20) for a communication session between a calling party (2) and a called party (11) in an Internet Protocol, IP, communications network. The signalling path (20) between the calling party (2) and the called party (11) is established via at least one subscriber registrar server (32) and at least one application server (30) invoking at least one service for the communication session. Dependent on the type of service, if capable for taking over control of the communication session, the at least one subscriber registrar server (32) may be at least partly released from the signalling path (20) for the at least one invoked service.
US09491185B2	Proactive containment of network security attacks One embodiment disclosed relates to a method of proactive containment of network security attacks. Filtering parameters corresponding to a specific system vulnerability are determined. These parameters are distributed to network infrastructure components, and the network infrastructure components examine packets using these parameters to detect occurrence of an attack. Once an attack is detected, the network infrastructure components take action to inhibit the attack. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US09491181B2	Social web of objects According to exemplary embodiments, networked object management software, devices, systems and methods are described which use social mapping principles to streamline interactions between users and their networked objects, as well as between the networked objects themselves. Friendship relationships are established, by a network management system, between a plurality of the networked objects, each of the plurality of networked objects being associated with a use. When the network management system receives a task request, it can then assign the requested task to one of the plurality of networked objects which has a capability to perform the requested task and which also has an established friendship relationship with the user.
US09491173B1	Alternative techniques for processing wireless communication backhaul A method, system, and computer-readable media are provided for transmitting wireless data across a coaxial cable. In one aspect, a set of computer-readable media provides a method that includes receiving a request from a mobile device for data and transmitting the data across a coaxial cable to a cable modem. The method further includes sending the data to the mobile device through a base station, wherein the base station communicates with the cable modem in order to receive the data.
US09491170B2	Authenticating customers and managing authenticated sessions Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for authenticating customers of an organization and managing authenticated sessions of various customers are presented. Some aspects of the disclosure provide ways for a customer of an organization to authenticate using a mobile computing device, such as the customer's personal mobile device, when interacting with the organization in various contexts, such as when accessing an automated transaction device or when interacting with an agent of the organization during an in-person session or during a teleconference session. In some arrangements, the customer's authentication status, which may be established on the mobile computing device and which, in some instances, may be verified based on the location of the mobile computing device, may be carried over from the mobile computing device to another computing device or system, such as an automated transaction device or a teller terminal device, which may be used by an agent of the organization.
US09491167B2	Voice authentication system and method A method for maintaining a voiceprint utilizable to authenticate a user comprises associating a trainable universal background model with the user. A voiceprint for the user is generated utilizing the trainable universal background model and at least one enrollment voice sample provided by the user. The trainable universal background model is subsequently trained with additional voice samples provided by the user post enrollment that satisfy predefined adaptation criteria. The voiceprint is regenerated responsive to a change to the trainable universal background model.
US09491162B2	Technique for controlling loss and theft of remote radio equipment in a cellular ad hoc network The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for controlling loss and theft of a radio equipment of a base station in a cellular communications network. In one embodiment, a radio equipment of a base station of a cellular communications network includes a radio subsystem configured to wirelessly transmit and receive radio signals for the cellular communications network, a local wireless interface, memory, and a controller. During commissioning of the radio equipment, the controller is configured to receive a physical location of the radio equipment and an access password for the radio equipment from a wireless device via a local wireless connection between the radio equipment and the wireless device established via the local wireless interface. The controller is configured to store the physical location of the radio equipment and the access password for the radio equipment in the memory of the radio equipment.
US09491158B2	Authentication system, authentication method, information processing apparatus An authentication system includes a device; and an information processing apparatus connected to the device. The device includes a state management unit that manages an authentication state in the device and causes the device to enter a log-out state; and a first communication unit that transmits an authentication scheme available in the device to the information processing apparatus when the device enters the log-out state. The information processing apparatus includes a second communication unit that receives the authentication scheme; a generation unit that generates a log-in screen based on screen setting information corresponding to the received authentication scheme; and a display controller that controls to display the log-in screen on a display unit.
US09491154B2	Document, method for authenticating a user, in particular for releasing a chip card function, and computer system A document having a non-volatile memory area for storing a secret identifier that has a first n-digit character sequence from a predefined character set; a random generator for selecting at least one character from the predefined character set for replacement of at least one character of the first character sequence, such that a second n-digit character sequence is defined as a result of this replacement; a volatile memory area for storing the at least one selected character; a display device for displaying the at least one selected character; an interface for inputting a third character sequence; and a processor element for authenticating the user to the document, wherein the processor element is configured to access the non-volatile memory area and the volatile memory area in order to read the second character sequence and check for a match between the second and third character sequences in order to authenticate the user.
US09491152B2	Data transmission apparatus, data transmission method, and non-transitory computer readable medium A data transmission apparatus having an authentication mode in which user authentication is required in order to transmit data and a non-authentication mode in which data may be transmitted without requiring user authentication includes an authenticating unit that authenticates a user, an address acquiring unit that acquires a destination that is a transmission destination of data and that is associated with the user who is authenticated, a history information acquiring unit that acquires history information that is a group of destinations that have been used previously, and a display that displays the destination, which is associated with the user who is authenticated, as a destination of data in the case where the authenticating unit performs user authentication successfully in the authentication mode and that displays a destination that is included in the history information as a candidate for a destination of data in the non-authentication mode.
US09491141B2	Incoming redirection mechanism on a reverse proxy A system is provided for filtering packets. The system includes: a filter for determining, by applying a set of at least one filtering rule, whether a packet is permitted to be routed towards a receiving entity. The system includes a verification element for verifying validity of an authentication token included in a request received by the filtering system and adds, to the set, after receiving an initial request, a so-called top-level filtering rule, permitting the routing, towards the verification element, of at least one packet received via a predetermined communication port of the device, in which the source address is identical to the source address of the initial request, regardless of the source communication port of the subsequent request. A routing element routes a subsequent request including a valid authentication token towards a receiving entity of the subsequent request.
US09491135B1	Sub class C reverse domain name system zone compilation A subnetted class C internet protocol (IP) address domain name system (DNS) reverse zone file compiling server. The server comprises a memory, a processor, and an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, generates a class C IP address DNS reverse zone file associated with the starting class C internet protocol address based on the parsing of the plurality of subnetted class C IP address DNS reverse zone files, wherein the class C IP address DNS reverse zone file comprises an entry for each of assigned internet protocol addresses, wherein each entry for each of the assigned internet protocol addresses directly maps a domain name to an internet protocol address and does not indicate a DNS canonical name type.
US09491131B1	Push composer Composing a push notification is disclosed. A first selection comprising at least an operating system of a first device is received. An interface configured to receive, from a user, instructions associated with the push notification is provided. At least a portion of the instructions is used to graphically render to a user how a display interface of the first device would display the push notification, in a first state, if it was received by that instance.
US09491122B2	Systems and methods for server and switch failover in a black core network A black core network system and method, wherein the system includes a ciphertext network, a server having a bonding module and a plurality of network interfaces, a plurality of encryptor devices and one or more routers, wherein each router is connected through one or more of the server network interfaces to the server and through one or more encryptor devices to the ciphertext network. The server establishes, in the bonding module, a server gateway for each server network interface, selects a first network interface as primary link and a second server network interface as backup link, and sends routing metric information out through the primary link and the backup link, wherein sending includes sending metric information indicating that the cost of routing through the primary link is less than the cost of routing through the backup link. When the server receives, from one of the one or more routers, an indication that there is a link failure on the primary link, the server manipulates the server gateway for the second server network interface to direct traffic for the primary link out the second server network interface, wherein the second link becomes the new primary link and the server sends routing metric information out through the new primary link to the second router.
US09491121B2	Controllable virtual link aggregation internet protocol forwarding Embodiments of the invention relate to controllable virtual link aggregation Internet Protocol (IP) forwarding. One embodiment includes forming a first virtual link aggregation (vLAG) between a first pair of switches for a first system that implements virtual router redundancy protocol (VRRP). A second vLAG is formed between a second pair of switches for a second system that implements VRRP. A VRRP role is forwarded by each switch of the first pair of switches and the second pair of switches to one another. The VRRP role is synchronized between each of the first pair of switches and the second pair of switches. VRRP packets are forwarded to particular switch ports of the first pair of switches and the second pair of switches.
US09491120B2	Method for crosstalk and power optimization in silicon photonic based switch matrices Crosstalk can be suppressed in photonic switching fabrics by activating unused photonic elements in a manner that manipulates the inactive connections and inhibits the propagation of cross-talk over the switching fabric. For example, unused photonic elements can be set to a cross or bar configuration to block first and second order crosstalk from propagating to the output ports, thereby reducing noise in the output signals. All of the unused elements can be activated in order to maximize crosstalk suppression. Alternatively, fewer than all of the unused elements may be activated to achieve a balance between crosstalk suppression and power conservation. Photonic switch architectures can be configured to use pre-determined cross-talk suppression maps (e.g., patterns of activated unused cells) for the various switching configurations, which may be computed using a recursive algorithm.
US09491119B2	Network management systems for use with physical layer information One exemplary embodiment is directed to a network management system that uses physical layer information in performing a network management function. Another exemplary embodiment is directed to a method of tracking channel compliance using physical layer information.
US09491117B2	Extensible framework to support different deployment architectures A method for managing services and resources across a plurality of deployment architectures is described. The method begins by defining a profile corresponding to a deployment architecture. Each profile is defined according to a meta-model. The meta model comprises a service object representing a service that is accessible over a network, resource objects representing resources consumed by the service, inter-relationships between the service and resources, inter-relationships between the resources. For each profile, a topology is generated based on the profile. The topology includes the resources used to perform a task.
US09491109B2	Extended priority for Ethernet packets A network device includes a packet ingress configured to receive packets from a network, and a packet processor configured to identify a first packet of the received packets as a double VLAN tagged packet with an extended priority profile. The packet processor is also configured to determine, based on P bits distributed among M bits of a first priority field associated with a first VLAN tag and N bits of a second priority field associated with a second VLAN tag, the extended priority profile of the first packet from among a group of possible extended priority profiles that is larger than a first group of possible priority profiles associated with the first priority field and larger than a second group of possible priority profiles associated with the second priority field. The packet processor is also configured to process the first packet according to the determined extended priority profile.
US09491105B2	Method and apparatus for adaptive fast start in link aggregation In one embodiment, a period between periodic transmissions of protocol data units (PDUs) used to form or maintain a link aggregation group is initially set to a fixed value. When a stress condition is detected, the period between periodic transmissions of PDUs is increased from the initial value. When the stress condition is determined to have eased, the period between periodic transmissions of PDUs is reduced back toward the fixed value.
US09491096B2	Network apparatus, control method thereof, control program and packet network system A switching process includes an SRAM/CAM storing registration data including a forwarding database used for packet-forwarding and a DRAM storing packet data. The registration data including the forwarding database of the SRAM/CAM for packet-forwarding is stored into the DRAM as a copy of the registration data, and the registration data of the DRAM is used to refresh the registration data of the SRAM/CAM for a predetermined time interval. A data error in the SRAM/CAM caused by a soft-error is rewritten to normal data by periodical refreshing so that data is guaranteed with relatively low cost and the reliability of the network apparatus is improved.
US09491090B1	Methods and apparatus for using virtual local area networks in a switch fabric In some embodiments, a switch module is configured to receive from a first edge device a multicast data unit having a VLAN identifier. The switch module is configured to select a set of port modules based on the VLAN identifier. The switch module is configured to define an unmodified instance of the multicast data unit for each port module from the set of port modules. The switch module is configured to send the unmodified instance of the multicast data unit to each port module from the set of port modules, such that each port module applies a filter to the received instance of the multicast data unit to restrict that received instance of the multicast data unit from being sent to a second edge device via that port module if the second edge device is associated with a VLAN domain different than a VLAN domain of the first edge device.
US09491088B2	Distributed system and method for sharing capacity in an ad-hoc network A system is provided for sharing capacity in a communications network comprising a set of nodes sharing common resources, where the nodes are able to be connected by pairs via communications links. Each node is capable of locally holding at least one set of triplets (k, l, Nkl) which associates, with each link (k, l), an expiration time Nkl representing the date until which the associated link may be considered as unused. The nodes are furthermore configured for periodically exchanging, according to a predefined period p, control messages over a set of links, each control message sent over a given link by a node comprising the sets of triplets held locally by the node and which correspond to the links that are in conflict with said given link.
US09491085B2	Methods and apparatus to route control packets based on address partitioning Methods and apparatus to route control packets based on address partitioning. A disclosed example method includes receiving a packet in a server, determining the packet is a control packet, forwarding the packet to a processor, identifying via the processor an address prefix of the packet, accessing a forwarding table and determining via the processor at least one of a router or an outgoing interface that corresponds to the identified address prefix, transmitting the packet from the processor to the server via the outgoing interface, and statically forwarding the packet from the server to the router based on an interface that received the packet from the processor.
US09491083B2	Systems and methods of test packet handling The present disclosure may include a method of handling test packets in an apparatus with a first unit communicatively coupled with a second unit. The method may comprise designating a test packet with type information, the type information indicating whether the test packet is handled by the first unit, the second unit, or either unit. The method additionally may include setting one or more bits of a register of the first unit to select whether the first unit will handle all of the test packets with type information designating either unit. The disclosure further includes associated systems and apparatuses.
US09491079B2	Remote monitoring and controlling of network utilization A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by processors, cause the processors to perform: at a management computer, receiving, from a gateway located in a managed network, device information about devices in the managed network; for a particular device: determining a match between the device capabilities of the particular device and features of a particular network software application configured to control the particular device, and determining a particular protocol endpoint configured to communicate control instructions from the particular network software application to the particular device; receiving, from the gateway, aggregated data that reflects network utilization by the devices located in the managed network; for the particular device: based at least in part on the aggregated data, using the particular network software application, determining control instructions for the particular device; causing the particular protocol endpoint to transmit the control instructions for the particular device to the device.
US09491074B2	Method, apparatus, and system for detecting connectivity The present invention discloses a method, an apparatus, and a system for detecting connectivity. A node receives connectivity detection request information; determines, according to nicknames of target nodes, whether the is one of the target nodes; if the node is one of the target nodes, sends connectivity detection reply information to a source node; if the node is not one of the target nodes, performs corresponding processing according to a value of a hop count and whether the node is on a path that is in the multicast distribution tree and is from the source node to any one of the target nodes. With the present invention, a source node is capable of receiving only a feedback of a node on a true path, thereby making it easier to identify a path.
US09491067B2	Timeout for identifying network device presence Systems and techniques relating to identifying the presence of a network device are described. A described technique includes receiving, from the cache engine, a traffic flow and a series of notification signals, each indicating a presence of the cache engine, calculating a timeout value based on at least a time difference of two consecutive notification signals of the series of notification signals, updating, based on the calculated timeout value, a predetermined timeout period to an updated timeout period, and determining an absence of the cache engine when the updated timeout period that immediately succeeds the receiving of the series of notification signals elapsed without receiving an additional notification signal from the cache engine.
US09491064B2	System and method for providing dynamic provisioning within a compute environment The disclosure relates to systems, methods and computer-readable media for dynamically provisioning resources within a compute environment. The method aspect of the disclosure comprises A method of dynamically provisioning resources within a compute environment, the method comprises analyzing a queue of jobs to determine an availability of compute resources for each job, determining an availability of a scheduler of the compute environment to satisfy all service level agreements (SLAs) and target service levels within a current configuration of the compute resources, determining possible resource provisioning changes to improve SLA fulfillment, determining a cost of provisioning; and if provisioning changes improve overall SLA delivery, then re-provisioning at least one compute resource.
US09491053B2	Transparent auto-negotiation of ethernet A system for negotiating Ethernet link settings between interconnected nodes in a network having an Ethernet protocol stack that includes a PCS sub-layer with an auto-negotiation function. The system comprises connecting an intermediate device coupled between two network nodes via optical or copper interfaces, with the link settings between each node and the connected intermediate device being the same, thereby bypassing the auto-negotiation of the PCS sub-layer in the intermediate device. The intermediate device may transparently send negotiation messages from each node to the other during the link negotiation phase without interacting with those messages. Instead of the intermediate device, a single form pluggable (SFP) device may be connected between the two network nodes via optical or copper interfaces on the network side and via an SFP slot on the device side.
US09491050B2	Systems and methods for infrastructure template provisioning in modular chassis systems Systems and methods for provisioning the infrastructure of modular information handling systems, such as modular blade server chassis systems, using one or more pre-defined templates. IT service templates may be initially loaded and present in local memory or storage of a modular information handling system to define the system infrastructure configuration that ship with the modular chassis platform, or may be later downloaded or otherwise received in local memory or storage later from an external source after system installation to specify the desired end-state of the system infrastructure configuration.
US09491045B2	Method and apparatus for improving the efficiency of resource utilisation in a communications system The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for requesting a transport policy for a bearer of a session in a communications system (100) A transport policy requesting node (500) according to the invention comprises an event handling mechanism (505) adapted to detect a triggering event triggering the selection of a transport policy for the bearer of a service; a transport policy selection mechanism (525) adapted to select a transport policy and transmit a policy request indicative of the transport policy to a policy decision function, and a context information handling mechanism (515, 520) adapted to receive information relating to a context relevant to the service. The context information can be used as a trigger for the selection of a transport policy, and/or as a basis for the selection of a transport policy.
US09491040B2	Determination and display of LUN encryption paths A management station which manages the encryption devices in a SAN to set up encrypted LUNs. In setting up the encryption, the source and target ports are identified, along with the target LUN. LUN serial numbers used to identify unique LUNs. As paths to a given LUN are defined, the management station compares the path to existing paths and provides an indication if there is a mismatch in the encryption policies or keys being applied to the LUN over the various paths. This allows the administrator to readily identify when there is a problem with the paths to an encrypted LUN and then take steps to cure the problem. By determining the paths and then comparing them, the management station greatly simplifies setting up multipath I/O to an encrypted LUN or access by multiple hosts to an encrypted LUN.
US09491016B2	Equalization processing apparatus, wireless communication terminal, and equalization processing method An equalization processing apparatus includes a correlation matrix generating unit. The correlation matrix generating unit calculates a correlation value between a plurality of paths of a received signal coming from the paths based on a correlation pattern selected from a plurality of correlation patterns indicating combinations of the numbers of correlation chips as arbitrary chips to be used for calculation of the correlation value among all the chips of the received signal and identification numbers of the correlation chips so as to generate a correlation matrix that is applied to equalization processing on the received signal.
US09491014B1	Compact duty modulator Switching logic receives an input signal and a frequency divided signal and generates switching signals. A delay modulator receives the switching signals and generates a high output when a first node voltage is greater than a second node voltage and low output otherwise. An XOR gate receives the delay modulator's output and the frequency divided signal and produces a final output that is high when one of them is low and the other high and low otherwise. A duty ratio of the final output depends on a ratio of a slope of the first node voltage to a slope of the second node voltage.
US09491011B2	Methods and systems for transmitting data by modulating transmitter filter coefficients A signaling system supports main and auxiliary communication channels between integrated circuits in the same direction over a single link. An equalizing transmitter applies appropriate filter coefficients to minimize the impact of intersymbol interference when transmitting the main data over a communication channel. The transmitter modulates at least one of the filter coefficients with the auxiliary data to induce apparent ISI in the transmitted signal. A main receiver ignores the apparent ISI to recover the main data, while an auxiliary receiver detects and demodulates the apparent ISI to recover the auxiliary data. The auxiliary data may be encoded using spread-spectrum techniques to reduce the impact of the auxiliary data on the main data.
US09490999B2	Single-wire communications using iterative baud learning Systems and techniques for single-wire communications are described. A described technique includes detecting transitions on a single-wire bus that are produced by a host device; determining an estimated baud rate of the host device based on the transitions by approximating a bit transition rate associated with the transitions by iteratively adjusting a charging rate of a capacitor to match the bit transition rate; and communicating with the host device based on the estimated baud rate.
US09490998B1	Network-based remote control The subject matter of the present disclosure can be implemented in, among other things a computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for causing a programmable processor to receive, by a server, a first message from a remote control that is distinct from and external to the server, wherein the first message includes a remote control identifier and control information for controlling one or more functions of at least one device other than the remote control. The instructions also cause the programmable processor to retrieve, by the server, a controlled device identifier that uniquely identifies a controlled device that is distinct from and external to the server. The instructions also cause the programmable processor to send a second message from the server to the controlled device identified by the controlled device identifier to control an operation of the controlled device.
US09490990B2	Method and apparatus for machine-to-machine event data recording According to example teachings herein, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) event recording function records M2M events for a Network Services Capability Layer (N-SCL) in an M2M network. In an example configuration, the recording function considers certain M2M information elements as mandatory for recording with respect to a given M2M event, while others are optional according to configuration information that controls M2M event recording. Each such recorded M2M event includes a number of M2M information elements that are mandatory, and optionally includes one or more additional information elements. In at least one embodiment, the mandatory M2M information elements allow M2M network events to be correlated with corresponding events in an access network used to access the M2M network. The recorded M2M events can be also correlated at the M2M service layer to fulfill certain billing needs, for catering to the potentially large number of diverse applications that can utilize the M2M network.
US09490983B2	Encryption and decryption of visible codes for real time augmented reality views A method of decrypting an encrypted message. The method comprises storing a wearer decryption code in a memory of a wearable mobile device having a head-worn augmented display which generates an augmented reality view for a wearer of the wearable mobile device, capturing using the wearable mobile device a video sequence including at least one frame imaging a visible code using an image sensor of the wearable mobile device, processing the video sequence to identify the visible code, decrypting the visible code using the wearer decryption code to create an decrypted content, and presenting the decrypted content on top of at least some of the visible code in the augmented reality view.
US09490980B2	Authentication and secured information exchange system, and method therefor Identity based encryption (IBE). An IBE server assigns a private and public key pair to a client device based on a unique identification of the client device. To establish an encrypted session with the client device a server device requests the client device's public key from the IBE server. Authentication of the client and the server by the IBE server is based on credentials or a token. Assigned keys are securely stored in an embedded trusted platform provided in the client device.
US09490975B1	Information assurance for networked systems A system and method are disclosed for information assurance for networked systems. The system and method involve a quantum key distribution (QKD) source, a gimbaling device, a receiver, and a sender. The QKD source is mounted on the gimbaling device, and the QKD source propagates energy into an oversized spot beam. The receiver and the sender are within optical communication of each other. The gimbaling device performs pointing acquisition tracking only as necessary to keep the receiver located within the oversized spot beam. When the receiver is located within the oversized spot beam, the QKD source performs a QKD function. In one or more embodiments, the gimbaling device is mounted on a mobile platform. In some embodiments, the mobile platform is mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In other embodiments, the mobile platform is mounted on a small ground vehicle.
US09490973B1	System and method for managing cryptographic keys In various implementations, a first device retrieves, from a memory, encrypted data encrypted using a first key. The first device transmits, to a second device, a request for an encrypted first key, where the encrypted first key is generated by encrypting the first key using a second key. The first device receives the encrypted first key. The first device transmits, to an identity and access management device (IAM), a request for an encrypted second key, where the encrypted second key is generated by encrypting the second key using a third key. The first device receives the encrypted second key. The first device decrypts the encrypted second key using the third key, decrypts the encrypted first key using the decrypted second key, and decrypts the encrypted data using the decrypted first key. The first device deletes, from its cache, the decrypted first key after a period of time.
US09490968B2	CDR voter with improved frequency offset tolerance An improved clock data recovery circuit is provided which provides lower bit error rates and faster locking times. In an embodiment, the circuit includes a voter having one or more voter inputs. The voter may generate up votes indicative of a recovered clock having a negative phase offset relative to a given voter input, or down votes indicative of the recovered clock having a positive phase offset. The circuit may include a comparator configured to output a phase adjustment signal and a tie signal. The circuit may further include an M-depth shift register and a multiplexer configured to select either the phase adjustment signal or an output from the shift register as a multiplexer output. The circuit may further include a flip-flop that generates a phase adjustment output signal. The shift register may receive the phase adjustment output signal at a data input of the shift register.
US09490959B2	Method for transmitting channel state information in wireless access system and terminal therefor Disclosed is a method for transmitting channel state information (CSI) in a wireless access system supporting carrier aggregation/multiple cells and a terminal therefor. Specifically, the method comprises the steps of: if a collision occurs between starting points of periodic CSI reports for first and second cells, calculating the number of resource elements using the biggest bit size among CSI bit sizes for first and second cells; adjusting the bit of the CSI with the highest priority among the CSIs of the first and second cells to match the biggest bit size; transmitting, to the base station, the adjusted bits of the CSI with the highest priority, which have been mapped to the calculated resource element.
US09490950B2	Method for transmitting reference signal for terminal demodulation in radio mobile communication system, and apparatus for implementing the same The present invention relates to a method for transmitting a data demodulation reference signal in a radio mobile communication system. The method comprises: a step for generating a sub-frame including the data demodulation reference signal, and a step for transmitting the generated sub-frame. The 1st and 2nd demodulation reference signal pattern groups include plural demodulation signal patterns orthogonal to each other, and are differentiated from each other with regard to time-frequency resources. In the data demodulation reference signal, demodulation reference signal patterns which are respectively orthogonal to each other M (M≦N) and N−M times are respectively included in the 1st and 2nd demodulation reference signal pattern groups if the rank is N.
US09490948B2	Method and apparatus for video aware bandwidth aggregation and/or management A communication network's bandwidth may be managed using bandwidth management (“BWM”) and/or bandwidth aggregation (“BWA”) techniques. For example, packets of traffic may be inspected to identify a video stream and/or video sub-streams. The video sub-streams may be partitioned for transmission. For example, the video sub-streams may be partitioned based on a characteristic and/or policies associated therewith. One or more radio access technologies (“RATs”) may be selected for transmitting the video sub-streams. The one or more RATs may be selected according to one or more policies for managing the bandwidth associated with the video. The video sub-streams may be transmitted via a single RAT or a plurality of aggregated RATs.
US09490945B2	Method of establishing multiple links with multiple component carriers A method of establishing multiple links with multiple component carriers comprises establishing a first link corresponding to a first component carrier by performing an RRC procedure, to a mobile device, wherein the type of the first RRC procedure is an RRC connection establishment procedure, a handover procedure, or an inter-RAT handover procedure; and establishing at least a link corresponding to at least a component carrier other than the first component carrier by performing a second RRC procedure which is initiated by transmitting a first RRC message to the mobile device via the first link, to the mobile device, wherein the type of the second RRC procedure is an RRC connection reconfiguration procedure or a handover procedure, and the first link established by the first RRC procedure and the at least a link established by the second RRC procedure are configured with the same C-RNTI for PDCCH receptions.
US09490943B2	Method for receiving or transmitting downlink signal and apparatus for same The method for receiving a downlink signal in a wireless communication system, according to one embodiment of the present invention, comprises: receiving, from a base station, a candidate seed list and downlink control information for the generation of a sequence of a downlink demodulation reference signal, wherein a seed value is selected from the candidate seed list on the basis of seed value indicating information contained in the downlink control information and the sequence of the downlink demodulation reference signal is generated by using the selected seed value. The candidate seed list may include a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifiers and virtual cell identifiers related to the plurality of HARQ process identifiers.
US09490940B2	Method and apparatus for providing transmission relay using soft symbol estimation An approach is provided for relaying signals. A signal is received over a communication link and demodulated. Soft symbols are estimated based on probability information corresponding to the demodulated signal. The demodulated signal is remodulated based on the soft symbols. A relay signal is output based on the remodulated signal.
US09490939B2	Apparatus and method for calculating transmission control protocol checksum Disclosed herein is an apparatus and method for calculating a TCP checksum. An apparatus for calculating a TCP checksum includes a data division unit for dividing content to be transmitted into two or more primary data fragments by a unit of a preset byte. A first checksum calculation unit calculates first checksums for the primary data fragments, respectively. A second checksum calculation unit calculates a second checksum for secondary data to be inserted into a data area of the TCP segment using the first checksums. Accordingly, in TCP-based networks, a checksum calculation procedure is improved upon transmitting static content, so that a static content transfer rate occupying most of TCP-based network traffic can be improved.
US09490936B2	Digital broadcast system for transmitting/receiving digital broadcast data, and data processing method for use in the same The present invention is directed to a digital broadcast system and a data processing method. A broadcast signal in which mobile service data and main service data are multiplexed is transmitted and received. Then, in a broadcasting receiver, the program table information including information about a service or a program of an ensemble is parsed according to an identifier of the ensemble in which the mobile service data are multiplexed, in the received broadcast signal. And a mobile service is outputted by using the mobile service data and the parsed program table information.
US09490931B2	Muxponder and method of converting a plurality of tributary optical communications signals having a first bit rate into an optical line signal having a second, higher bit rate A muxponder comprising: modulation format conversion apparatus comprising: first and second inputs each arranged to receive an amplitude modulated tributary optical signal carrying a communications traffic bit stream; first and second optical to electrical signal conversion apparatus each arranged to receive a respective tributary optical signal and to convert it into a corresponding tributary electrical signal carrying the communications traffic bit stream; a delay element arranged to synchronize the communications traffic bit streams; and an optical IQ modulator arranged to receive an optical carrier signal and the tributary electrical signals. The optical IQ modulator having an in-phase arm and a quadrature arm, each arm being arranged to receive one of the tributary electrical signals such that each tributary electrical signal drives the respective arm of the optical IQ modulator to encode the communications traffic bit streams onto the optical carrier signal in a multilevel modulation format.
US09490924B2	Prompting method and wireless device A prompting method utilized in a wireless device is disclosed. The prompting method includes obtaining a signal strength value corresponding to a wireless system; and outputting a prompting signal, the prompting signal having a prompting signal characteristic for reflecting the signal strength value.
US09490920B2	Test station for testing wireless electronic devices A system, method, and testing station for testing wireless network devices. The testing station includes a control system configured to control parallel testing of the wireless network devices. The testing station includes one or more computing devices in communication with the control system. The one or more computing devices are configured to perform testing of each of the wireless network devices in response to commands from the control system. The testing station includes a number of testing chambers configured to isolate the wireless network devices from outside radio frequency signals.
US09490919B1	Method and apparatus for priority based coexistence arbitration A coexistence system including a first transceiver module, an interface, a second transceiver module, and an arbitration module. The first transceiver module, in a first network device, is configured to generate at least one first request signal. The first transceiver module operates according to a first wireless communication standard. The at least one first request signal requests transmission or reception for the first transceiver module. The interface is configured to generate a first priority signal based on the at least one first request signal. The first priority signal indicates a first priority level of first data signals corresponding to the at least one first request signal. The second transceiver module, in the first network device, is configured to (i) generate at least one second request signal, and (ii) generate a second priority signal. The second transceiver module operates according to a second wireless communication standard. The at least one second request signal requests transmission or reception for the first transceiver module. The second priority signal indicates a second priority level of second data signals corresponding to the at least one second request signal. The arbitration module is configured to (i) based on the first priority level and the second priority level, arbitrate the at least one first request signal and the at least one second request signal, and (ii) based on the arbitration of the at least one first request signal and the at least one second request signal, selectively connect antennas to the first transceiver module and the second transceiver module in one of multiple configurations.
US09490917B2	Derived receive signal processing Apparatus for and method of processing radio frequency signals, the method including: obtaining a signal indicative of a first frequency (e.g. by obtaining a sample of a transmitted signal), the first frequency being a frequency of the transmitted signal; and using the signal indicative of a first frequency, establishing a second frequency depending on the first frequency, the second frequency being a frequency to which to tune a filter for filtering a received signal. An antenna for receiving and/or transmitting a signal may be a co-site antenna with respect to at least one other antenna.
US09490914B2	Electronic device and its wireless network communication method A wireless network connection method is provided, in which a first priority level of a first electronic device is determined according to the performance of the first electronic device. A first identification sound of a frequency band of a total frequency band is transmitted, and the frequency band corresponds to the first priority level. A second identification sound from a second electronic device is received. A second priority level of the second electronic device is determined according to the second identification sound. The second priority level is compared with the first priority level. When the second priority level is higher than or equal to the first priority level, the transmission of the first identification sound is stopped. When the second priority level is lower than the first priority level, the transmission of the first identification sound is kept until a host is assigned to implement wireless internet connections.
US09490911B2	High-bandwidth underwater data communication system An apparatus is described which uses directly modulated InGaN Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or InGaN lasers as the transmitters for an underwater data-communication device. The receiver uses automatic gain control to facilitate performance of the apparatus over a wide-range of distances and water turbidities.
US09490907B2	Optical receiver and detection method The integrated optical receiver module includes a plurality of PDs each converting an optical signal to a current signal, and outputs a current signal selected from a plurality of current signals. The RSSI circuit converts the current signal into a voltage signal, outputs a first amplified signal obtained by amplifying the voltage signal by a first gain, and outputs a second amplified signal obtained by amplifying the voltage signal by a second gain larger than the first gain. The MCU outputs a first selection signal to the integrated optical receiver module to acquire intensity of the first amplified signal with respect to all of the current signals in a predetermined order, outputs a second selection signal to the integrated optical receiver module to acquire intensity of the second amplified signal with respect to all of the current signals in the ascending order of the acquired intensity of the first amplified signal, and derives intensity of each of the optical signals from the acquired intensity of the respective second signals.
US09490890B2	Base station signal matching device for distributed antenna system A base station signal matching device is a base station signal matching device mounted in a distributed antenna system for amplifying a received base station signal and transmitting the amplified base station signal to a user terminal. The base station signal matching device includes a first unit for generating first and second branch base station signals by using a power division function based on the base station signal, and transmitting the second branch base station signal to a third unit, and a second unit for matching the first branch base station signal to be suitable for signal processing of the distributed antenna system.
US09490889B2	Antenna diversity and beamforming coexistence method and machine readable media An antenna diversity and beamforming coexistence method applied to a wireless communication device which supports both a transmitter/receiver (TX/RX) antenna diversity mechanism and a beamformer/beamformee mechanism includes the following steps: determining whether a plurality of wireless link partners linked to the wireless communication device respectively support the beamformer/beamformee mechanism and generating a determination result accordingly; and determining whether to enable/disable the TX/RX antenna diversity mechanism of the wireless communication device and to enable/disable the beamformer/beamformee mechanism of the wireless communication device according to the determination result; wherein when the beamformee mechanism is determined to be disabled, controlling the wireless communication device to transmit a default value in response to a received beamforming protocol packet.
US09490883B2	Method, apparatus and computer program for controlling a wireless device A double structured codebook is described that has a wideband codebook portion C(W1) and a frequency-selective codebook portion C(W2). Portion C(W2) is characterised in that for at least one rank index RI, each codeword of C(W2) is uniquely distinguished over all other codewords of C(W2) by at least two beam selection vectors per layer. A device (UE, eNB, etc) utilises the at least two different beam selection 10 vectors per layer to uniquely select a codeword W2 from C(W2) (404); and constructs a pre-coder W from the selected codeword W2 and from another codeword W1 selected from the wideband codebook portion C(W1) for signalling channel conditions (406). An additional co-phasing term for ensuring orthogonality can be utilised with the beam selection vectors per layer to uniquely select the codeword from C(W2), and the two different beam selection vectors per layer correspond to different polarizations (410).
US09490882B1	Composite sounding for MIMO beamforming in a wireless home network A wireless access point including: a sounding mode module, a sounding matrix generator, a sounding aggregator, and a beamforming expansion module. The sounding mode module determines whether a number of communication streams supported by the WAP matches the number of streams contained in a sounding response from a station, and initiates a composite set of an integer “N” soundings when those capabilities do not match. The sounding matrix generator generates “N” linearly independent spatial mapping matrices each associated with a corresponding one of the set of composite soundings. The sounding aggregator aggregates a plurality of partial beamforming matrices received from the targeted station node in response to the composite soundings. The beamforming expansion module expands the aggregated beamforming matrices into a full beamforming matrix for spatially mapping downlink communications between the WAP and the targeted station node.
US09490879B2	Uplink control signaling in cellular telecommunication system A method, apparatus, and computer program for controlling allocation of control message fields in uplink transmission in a cellular telecommunication system are presented. Uplink control message fields are allocated to the resources of a physical uplink shared traffic channel according to an uplink transmission scheme selected for a user terminal. The control message fields are allocated so that transmission performance of the control messages is optimized for the selected uplink transmission scheme.
US09490877B2	Communication device A communication device may establish at least one type of connection among a first type of connection and a second type of connection which are according to a particular protocol defined in an NFC standard based on a current state of the communication device and a current state of an external device. The first type of connection may be a connection in which the communication device operates as a server and the external device operates as a client. The second type of connection may be a connection in which the communication device operates as a client and the external device operates as a server. The communication device may communicate the target data with the external device by using the established connection. The contents of the communication may be different in response to which type of connection is established.
US09490870B2	Signal transmission arrangement with a transformer and signal transmission method In accordance with an embodiment, a sender circuit is configured to be coupled to a receiver circuit and generate a drive signal dependent on a data input signal received by the sender circuit at a first input and dependent on at least one drive signal generation parameter. The sender circuit is further configured to adjust the at least one drive signal generation parameter dependent on a feedback signal received at a second input.
US09490864B2	Coordinated signal reception across integrated circuit boundaries A wireless electronic device having first and second baseband processors is provided. In one suitable arrangement, radio-frequency power splitters and adjustable low noise amplifiers may be form in the receive paths. The use of power splitters allow signals associated with the first and second baseband processors to be received in parallel. In another suitable arrangement, radio-frequency switches are used in place of the power splitters. The states of the switches may be controlled using at least one of the first and second baseband processors. The use of switches instead of power splitters requires that wake periods associated with the first baseband processor and wake periods associated with the second baseband processor are non-overlapping. To ensure minimal wake period collision, a wake period associated with the second baseband processor may be positioned at a midpoint between two successive wake periods associated with the first baseband processor.
US09490863B2	Provision of linearity enhancement for RF communication devices A switch is provided, the switch including one or more banks of transistors fabricated on a substrate, wherein body terminals of the transistors in each bank are configured to be individually controlled to have respective body voltages. The values of the body voltages are determined to provide optimum linearity of power transfer by changing properties of the substrate with respect to the properties of the substrate when the body voltages are commonly biased at a value.
US09490845B2	Code design and high-throughput decoder architecture for layered decoding of a low-density parity-check code A low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoder may receive LDPC coded data. The LDPC decoder may perform a decoding iteration associated with decoding the LDPC coded data. The decoding iteration may be performed by processing a group of layers. Each layer may include a corresponding set of check node elements, and may be processed by causing each check node element, of the set of check node elements corresponding to the layer, to update a set of variable node elements, connected to the check node element and associated with the LDPC coded data, based on a check node function associated with the check node element. The decoding iteration may be performed such that each layer is processed in parallel, and such that each check node element updates the corresponding set of variable node elements in parallel. The LDPC decoder may provide a result of performing the decoding iteration.
US09490844B1	Syndrome computation in a layered low density parity check decoder Apparatuses and methods associated with instant syndrome computation in a layered LDPC decoder are described. In one embodiment an apparatus includes a first hardware layer configured to compute a first group of syndrome values from one or more bit values in the codeword and a second hardware layer configured to compute a second group of syndrome values from one or more bit values in the codeword. The apparatus also includes a first physical memory associated with the first hardware layer and configured to store the first group of syndrome values until the syndrome values change due to a change in a codeword bit value. The apparatus also includes a second physical memory associated with the second hardware layer and configured to store the second group of syndrome values until the syndrome values change due to a change in a codeword bit value.
US09490843B2	Low density parity check encoder having length of 64800 and code rate of 2/15, and low density parity check encoding method using the same A low density parity check (LDPC) encoder, an LDPC decoder, and an LDPC encoding method are disclosed. The LDPC encoder includes first memory, second memory, and a processor. The first memory stores an LDPC codeword having a length of 64800 and a code rate of 2/15. The second memory is initialized to 0. The processor generates the LDPC codeword corresponding to information bits by performing accumulation with respect to the second memory using a sequence corresponding to a parity check matrix (PCM).
US09490835B2	Modulation circuit and modulation method with digital ELD compensation A modulation circuit includes a digital quantizer and a compensation circuit. The digital quantizer is utilized to receive and truncate a digital quantizing input signal for generating a digital quantizing output signal. The compensation circuit compensates for a time delay of the modulation circuit and generates a compensation output signal. The digital quantizing input signal is generated by subtracting the compensation output signal from a digital integration output signal to compensate for the time delay before truncating the digital quantizing input signal.
US09490824B1	Phase-locked loop with frequency bounding circuit A phase-locked loop (PLL) for generating an oscillating signal includes a frequency bounding circuit. When a frequency of the oscillating signal is greater than a first threshold value, which is greater than a maximum normal operational frequency of the PLL, the frequency bounding circuit forces a charge pump to discharge a loop filter until the oscillating signal frequency is less than a second threshold value that is within the normal operational frequency range of the PLL. When the frequency of the oscillating signal is less than a third threshold value, which is less than a minimum normal operational frequency of the PLL, the frequency bounding circuit forces the charge pump to charge the loop filter until the oscillating signal frequency is greater than a fourth threshold value that is within the normal operational frequency range of the PLL.
US09490819B2	Auto frequency calibration for a phase locked loop and method of use An apparatus comprises a code generator configured to generate a coarse tuning signal and a reset signal based on a reference frequency and a phase difference signal. The apparatus also comprises a digital loop filter configured to generate a fine tuning signal based on the phase difference signal. The apparatus further comprises a voltage control oscillator configured to generate an output signal based on the coarse tuning signal and the fine tuning signal. The apparatus additionally comprises a divider configured to generate a divider frequency based on a divider control signal and the output signal. The phase difference signal is based, at least in part, on the divider frequency, and the divider is configured to be reset based on the reset signal.
US09490818B2	Cancellation of delta-sigma quantization noise within a fractional-N PLL with a nonlinear time-to-digital converter A fractional-N phase-locked loop (PLL) includes a nonlinear time to digital converter that generates a digital representation of a phase error corresponding to a time difference between a feedback signal of the fractional-N PLL and a reference signal. A nonlinear quantization noise cancellation circuit supplies a correction signal to ensure that the generated digital representation has reduced quantization noise. The correctional signal may be applied in the analog or digital domain.
US09490814B2	Configurable IC having a routing fabric with storage elements Some embodiments provide a configurable IC that includes a configurable routing fabric with storage elements. In some embodiments, the routing fabric provides a communication pathway that routes signals to and from source and destination components. The routing fabric of some embodiments provides the ability to selectively store the signals passing through the routing fabric within the storage elements of the routing fabric. In this manner, a source or destination component continually performs operations (e.g., computational or routing) irrespective of whether a previous signal from or to such a component is stored within the routing fabric. The source and destination components include configurable logic circuits, configurable interconnect circuits, and various other circuits that receive or distribute signals throughout the configurable IC.
US09490796B2	Power-on-reset and supply brown out detection circuit with programmability A low-power wideband Power-on-Reset (PoR) and supply brown out detection circuit is proposed, wherein a technique for accurately controlling the PoR trip points and hysteresis voltage is presented. The PoR circuit includes a CMOS circuit with asymmetric rise and fall delays for monitoring wideband supply voltage transients including supply brown out. Being a non-bandgap and non-comparator based circuit, it consumes a very small power and Si area.
US09490790B2	Digital pulse reject counter A system and method are provided for filtering noise from a pulsed input signal comprising cyclically producing a change in an output signal only if changes in an input signal occur at least a desired time after a respective immediately previous change in the input signal, and otherwise rejecting the changes in the input signal; and counting the rejected changes in the input signal. More than one duration or frequency may be used for the filtering, enabling classification of noise by frequency. Resulting counts may be used to determine rates of occurrence of noise for evaluation of performance of equipment, installation of the equipment, and changes in performance over time.
US09490764B2	Fast automatic gain control (AGC) for packet based systems A method and apparatus for use in a packet based wireless communication system for reducing automatic gain control (AGC) convergence time at a receiver are described. A radio frequency (RF) signal is received. The RF signal includes a sequence of a plurality of pre-defined power levels at a beginning of a preamble of the RF signal. Statistics for each of the plurality of pre-defined power levels at the beginning of the preamble of the RF signal are computed. An appropriate gain for a variable gain amplifier (VGA) is then computed based on the computed statistics for each of the plurality of pre-defined power levels and a-priori information related to transmission power differences between the plurality of pre-defined power levels of the sequence.
US09490761B2	Device for balancing the rise and fall slew-rates of an operational amplifier An amplifier includes a pair of transistors connected in a differential stage, and a bias current source connected to a common node of the differential stage. A slew-rate compensation circuit is configured to derive from the common node a dynamic compensation current during a phase in which the voltage of the common node varies.
US09490754B2	High-frequency drain power supply to decrease power dissipation in class-AB power amplifiers The present invention relates to the control of power amplifiers in order to enhance the efficiency of the amplifier by tracking the envelope of input signal and applying the same envelope into the drain voltage of a last stage power transistor. This invention can be used in each and every wireless communication transmitter, since there is definitely a power amplifier in the last part of the transmitter before the antenna, and every power amplifier has limited power performance, depending on type of modulation, due to its input-output curve. We are aiming to enhance the power utility of power amplifiers in different applications through introducing a new method and circuit for supplying power into a power amplifier, wherein the power supplied to the drain of the power amplifier is made to follow the envelope of the transmitted RF signal. Embodiments of the invention provide for a drain power supply module to drive the drain of a power amplifier, wherein an array of parallel amplifiers is controlled, depending on the envelope, to switch at different phases.
US09490738B2	Sensorless motor drive vector control Disclosed examples include methods, computer readable mediums and motor drive power conversion systems for sensorless speed control of a motor driven by an inverter through an intervening filter, a transformer and a motor cable, in which sensorless vector control is used to regulate the motor speed based on a speed feedback value computed according to voltage or current values associated with the motor drive using an observer having formulas and impedance parameters of the filter, the transformer, the motor cable and the motor.
US09490728B1	Magnetoelectric energy harvesting An energy harvesting device for harvesting energy from a moving structure includes a housing allowing transmission of magnetic fields therethrough. A piezoelectric material capable of a phase transition and a magnetostrictive material capable of a structural change when subjected to a magnetic field are mechanically coupled to each other in the housing. An adjustable pre-stress means is positioned between the housing and the combination of the piezoelectric and magnetostrictive materials. Electrical contacts are positioned on the piezoelectric material. A magnet is mounted on the moving structure. The housing is mounted in sufficient proximity to the magnet for the magnetic field of the magnet to induce the structural change in the magnetostrictive material.
US09490719B2	System and method for a power converter According to an embodiment, a power supply controller includes a first controller, a second controller, a transformation circuit, a switch signal generator. The first controller is configured to provide a first control parameter based on a first power supply measurement signal and the second controller is configured to provide a second control parameter based on a second power supply measurement signal. The transformation circuit is configured to provide a first switching control parameter dependent on both the first control parameter and the second control parameter, and to provide a second switching control parameter dependent on both the first control parameter and the second control parameter. The switch signal generator is configured to generate switching signals that depend on both the first switching control parameter and the second switching control parameter.
US09490716B2	Isolated converter with initial rising edge PWM delay A power converting device includes a transformer, a first switch coupled to a primary winding of the transformer, a PWM controller which generates a first PWM signal for controlling conduction and non-conduction of the first switch and which generates a control signal that leads the first PWM signal, a rectifier-filter circuit which rectifies an induced voltage generated by a secondary winding of the transformer, a second switch coupled to the secondary winding, and a synchronous rectifier controller which controls conduction and non-conduction of the second switch, and which controls, according to the control signal, the second switch to become non-conductive prior to conduction of the first switch.
US09490714B1	Switching power supply A bypass switch is connected in parallel to an inductor of a power supply circuit for a control circuit connected to an auxiliary coil, and an output voltage detection circuit connected to the auxiliary coil detects a load state of the secondary side of a transformer. In a control circuit, an error amplifier and a capacitor generate a voltage (an error signal) corresponding to the load state from the difference between a voltage sampled from a signal detected by the output voltage detection circuit by a sample and hold circuit and a reference voltage. A comparator switches the switch OFF when the load is heavy and switches the switch ON when the load is light. This makes it possible to ignore the effect of the inductor when the load is light, and therefore only the heavy load state needs to be considered to keep the output voltage of the secondary side adjusted appropriately.
US09490713B2	Power supply A DC/DC converter 10 of the present invention is provided with a constant-voltage power supply circuit 11; a SENSE+ terminal; a SENSE−/OCPSEL terminal pulled up to a predetermined voltage VL through a pull-up resistor R8; and a controller 14 for controlling the constant-voltage power supply circuit 11, wherein the controller 14 controls the output voltage Vout of the constant-voltage power supply circuit 11 on the basis of a potential difference between the SENSE+ terminal and the SENSE−/OCPSEL terminal, on the condition that the voltage of the SENSE−/OCPSEL terminal is lower than a threshold voltage, and sets predetermined control parameters on the basis of the voltage of the SENSE−/OCPSEL terminal, on the condition that the voltage of the SENSE−/OCPSEL terminal is equal to or higher than the threshold voltage.
US09490704B2	System and methods for controlling secondary side switches in resonant power converters Control methods for resonant converters offer improved performance in resonant converters that operate with a wide input-voltage range or a wide output-voltage range (or both) by substantially reducing the switching-frequency range. Reduction in the switching frequency range is achieved by controlling the output voltage with a combination of variable-frequency control and time-delay control. Variable-frequency control may be used to control the primary switches of an isolated resonant converter, while delay-time control may be used to control secondary-side rectifier switches provided in place of diode rectifiers. The secondary-side control may be implemented by sensing the secondary current or the primary current (or both) and by delaying the turning-off of the corresponding secondary switch with respect to the zero crossings in the secondary current or the primary current.
US09490692B2	Circuit and method of correcting a power factor for AC direct lighting apparatus A circuit for correcting a power factor for an AC direct lighting apparatus that includes a valley signal generating unit configured to receive a full-wave rectified AC input voltage signal and configured to compare an internal reference voltage signal and the AC input voltage signal to generate a valley signal, a reference voltage control unit configured to receive the generated valley signal and count clock cycles of an internal clock to detect a frequency of the AC input voltage signal and configured to determine a frequency of a drive current to control a reference voltage signal based on the determined frequency of the drive current and a reference voltage control clock generating unit configured to generate a pulse width modulation signal associated with a pulse width of the reference voltage signal and configured to generate the reference voltage control clock signal based on the generated pulse width modulation signal and the controlled reference signal. Thus, the circuit may control a phase of a drive current and adjust a variation of the reference voltage signal to improve the power factor of the circuit.
US09490680B2	Power generator power generation facility In a power generation facility, there are provided a plurality of diesel engines, a plurality of turbochargers driven by exhaust gas from the diesel engines, a plurality of power generators connected to the plurality of turbochargers, a plurality of converters for converting AC power generated by the plurality of power generators to DC power, one inverter for converting the DC power outputted from the plurality of converters to AC power, and a main controller for controlling the converters in accordance with the AC power from the inverter, by which stable electric power can be generated.
US09490675B2	Stator of motor having insulation structure for separation of stator winding groups Disclosed is a stator of an EPS motor, the stator including a stator core including a plurality of teeth protrusively formed toward a center of an inner circumferential surface, a plurality of coils wound on the teeth at a predetermined counts, an insulator coupled to an upper surface and a bottom surface of the stator core to insulate the coil from the stator core, and an insulation tube situated nearest to a coil wound on an adjacent stator core and inserted into a coil wound on an outmost side of the teeth.
US09490673B2	Rotor of magnet-assisted reluctance motor and brushless motor A rotor includes S-pole and N-pole magnets which are arc-shaped in cross-section. Each pole has three magnets. Each magnet is embedded in the rotor in such a way that a convex side portion thereof faces center Or of the rotor. Distance Rs between center Os of circular arcs of S-pole magnets and center Or of the rotor is different from distance Rn between center On of circular arcs of N-pole magnets and center Or of the rotor (Rs≠Rn). The ratio of the two distances is 0.92 (Rs/Rn=0.92). An outer peripheral section of an innermost-layer S-pole magnet is disposed in such a way as to protrude into an adjacent pole zone N1 or N2 from a pole zone S1 or S2.
US09490664B2	AC power strip device having interchangeable control modules A power strip assembly may include a power strip having a housing that includes multiple sockets for receiving power plugs and that includes a connection interface. Multiple control modules are interchangeably attached to the connection interface, each configured to control a different function or functions with respect to the sockets. One such function may include providing timing for a period of time for which power is supplied to a socket. Another function may include to meter or record power consumed by respective sockets, or to provide remote control capability of the sockets. Multiple switches may be connected with respective sockets that determine whether the power strip or a connected control module controls a function with respect to the respective sockets. A control actuator may be connected with each switch, that when actuated, forces control to pass from the main power source to the control module.
US09490660B2	Methods, systems, and apparatus for datacenter power distribution Methods, systems, and apparatus for electrical power distribution are described. One or more conditions of power provided from one or more fuel cells and one or more fuel cell bypass devices are monitored. At least one of the one or more fuel cell bypass devices is configured to provide power from a first alternate power source to a first electrical device if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is not satisfied and to allow power to be provided from at least one of the one or more fuel cells if the monitored power condition of the one or more fuel cells is satisfied. A static transfer switch is configured to provide power based on one or more monitored power conditions.
US09490638B2	Electrical power transmission system and electrical power output device A power transmission system having a first resonant element with a resonant frequency, a signal generator that generates an electrical power signal with a predetermined frequency that is the same as the resonant frequency of the first resonator, and a driven element that supplies the electrical power signal to the first resonator via magnetic field resonance coupling. A second resonator having a resonant frequency approximately the same as that of the first resonator can be positioned to receive the power from the first resonator. A magnetic coupling circuit can be magnetic field resonance couple to the first and second resonators for transferring the electrical power signal between them.
US09490627B2	Magnetizing inrush current suppressing device According to one embodiment, a magnetizing inrush current suppressing device includes, a first closing unit closes the circuit-breaker at the notable phase by the first phase determined by the first-phase determination unit, a second-phase determination unit determines a second phase at which the notable phase detected by the notable phase detection unit from the three-phase AC voltage measured by the power-supply-side voltage measurement unit becomes a zero point after the first phase determined by the first-phase determination unit, and a second closing unit closes the circuit-breaker at two phases other than the notable phase by the second phase determined by the second-phase determination unit.
US09490623B2	Capacitvive load overcurrent detection system and method An overcurrent detection circuit and method for one or more capacitive loads includes sensing current being supplied to the one or more capacitive loads to thereby generate a sensed current, and sensing a voltage rate of change across the one or more capacitive loads to thereby generate a differentiator output. The differentiator output is added to a fixed reference setpoint to thereby generate an overcurrent setpoint. The sensed current is compared to the overcurrent setpoint, and an overcurrent trip signal is supplied when the sensed current is greater than or equal to the overcurrent setpoint.
US09490614B2	Wire tray for a wire harness A wire tray configured to support and route wires of a wire bundle between electrical components includes tray walls defining a channel configured to receive corresponding wires of the wire bundle. The tray walls includes a first side wall, a second side wall opposite the first side wall and a bottom wall extending between the first and second side walls. A cover is hingedly coupled to the first side wall. The cover extends across a top of the channel between the first and second side walls. The cover has a primary latch latchably coupled to the second side wall. The cover has a secondary latch engaging the first side wall to secure the cover to the first side wall.
US09490611B2	Universal load control cabinet A universal load control module may include a power supply that operates over a wide voltage range, a microcontroller, and one or more functional control blocks. A functional control block may include a dimmer circuit for controlling a lighting load that provides reverse phase cut mode dimming, forward phase cut mode dimming, and hybrid phase cut mode dimming, as well as thermal protection. One or more universal control modules may be housed in a cabinet that include a cabinet control module. The cabinet may include additional thermal protection measures.
US09490604B2	Solid-state laser with multi-pass beam delivery optics A laser system including two laser amplifier modules, each comprising a solid-state laser gain material (LGM) disk, and a multi-pass optical assembly comprising a plurality of relay mirrors. The relay mirrors are grouped in two relay mirror groups. Individual relay mirrors are arranged to pass a laser beam from the first LGM disk to the second LGM disk and back to the first LGM disk, and so on. The laser beam is amplified with each pass through the LGM disk. The relay mirrors may be arranged to repeat the process of passing the laser beam to and from the two LGM disks arbitrary number of times until the desired laser beam amplification is attained. At that point, the laser beam may either released from the laser system, reflected back causing it to retrace its path through the system. This configuration increases the effective gain and improves laser power extraction.
US09490603B2	Laser apparatus and method of controlling laser apparatus A laser apparatus may comprise: a laser chamber configured to include a laser gain medium; a pair of electrodes disposed in the laser chamber; an energy detector configured to measure pulse energy of laser beams outputted by discharging between the pair of the electrodes; an optical element disposed on a light path of the laser beams; and a controller configured to calculate an integration value of absorption energy at the optical element, and determine whether the integration value exceeds a lifetime integration value of the optical element based on the pulse energy of the laser beams.
US09490593B2	Connecting plugs to jacks of electronic devices Disclosed are exemplary embodiments of plugs and related methods. In an exemplary embodiment, a plug generally includes a connector configured for insertion into a jack of an electronic device. The plug also includes an offset member whereby the plug is configured to fit snugly relative to a protective case of the electronic device.
US09490589B2	Differential signal connector capable of reducing skew between a differential signal pair A differential signal connector includes a plurality of pairs of signal contacts, a plurality of ground contacts, and an insulating housing holding the signal contacts and the ground contacts. On a first connection side for connection to a connection partner, the ground contacts are arranged on both sides of each pair of signal contacts so that a contact array of a fixed pitch is formed. On a second connection side for connection to a board, the ground contacts are arranged spaced apart from each other in a first row, while the pairs of signal contacts, which are adjacently arranged on both sides of the ground contact on the first connection side, are arranged so as to be allocated in a second row and a third row located on both sides of the first row so that the pairs of signal contacts are arranged zigzag on the second connection side.
US09490586B1	Electrical connector having a ground shield An electrical connector includes a front housing and a plurality of contact modules stacked side by side along a rear side of the front housing. Each contact module comprises a housing frame, multiple signal conductors and ground conductors held in the housing frame, and a ground shield coupled to an outer side of the housing frame. The housing frame is formed by a first shell member abutting a second shell member at an interface. At least one of the shell members defines multiple openings that align with the ground conductors held in the housing frame. The ground shield includes ground tabs that extend through the openings and engage the ground conductors to electrically connect the ground shield and the ground conductors. Broad sides of the signal conductors and the ground conductors are oriented orthogonal to the interface between the first and second shell members.
US09490585B2	Electrical connector with imprived grounding bar An electrical connector includes an insultive housing and defining a base seat and a mating portion extending from the base seat. A plurality of conductive terminals are retained in the mating portion and include a plurality of differential signal terminal pairs and grounding terminals, each conductive terminal defines a contacting portion disposed on the mating portion, a retaining portion fixed to the base seat and a connecting portion extending outside of the base seat, the contacting portion of each grounding terminal has a free end extending toward the inside of the mating portion and abutting against a first grounding bar. A second grounding bar defines a base portion and a plurality of abutting portions extending from the base portion and abutting against the retaining portions of the grounding terminals. The first grounding bar and the second grounding bar are connected by a bridging portion thereof.
US09490584B2	Flippable electrical connector A plug connector mateable with the receptacle connector, includes an insulative housing enclosed in a metallic shell, defining a receiving cavity to receive the mating tongue, and equipped with a plurality of contacts on opposite sides in the vertical direction. A latch forms a pair of locking heads extending into two opposite lateral sides of the receiving cavity to lock with a shielding plate embedded within a mating tongue of the complementary receptacle connector during mating. The plug connector is equipped with a pair of locking screws symmetrically located by two sides of the metallic shell and aligned with the pair of locking heads in the transverse direction, and the receptacle connector is equipped with a pair of screw holes to receive the pair of locking screws in a locked manner.
US09490583B2	LVDS connector An LVDS connection comprises: a plurality of conductive terminals, an insulative housing, a shielding housing, and a first plastic body, each conductive terminal comprising a base portion and an elastic contact portion, and the insulative housing comprising a base body and base body end portions, wherein the plurality of conductive terminals are respectively inlaid and are insert molding on the base body, and the elastic contact portion extends out of a front side face of the insulative housing in a suspension manner. The plurality of conductive terminals and the insulative housing are inlaid and thus insert molding. The shielding housing comprises the first housing, the second housing, and the bending portion, wherein the bending portion is bent to form a receiving space with the first housing and the second housing. The insulative housing is assembled in the receiving space.
US09490580B2	Receptacle connector A receptacle connector includes a first terminal assembly, a second terminal assembly mounted on the first terminal assembly with front parts of second terminals being located over front parts of first terminals, a tongue board assembly mounted between the first terminal assembly and the second terminal assembly, and an insulating housing molded outside the first terminal assembly, the second terminal assembly and the tongue board assembly. The tongue board assembly includes an insulating body positioning the front parts of the first terminals and the second terminals in bottom and top faces thereof. Front ends of the first terminals and the second terminals are exposed outside top and bottom faces of a tongue board of the insulating housing, wherein the tongue board together with the front ends of the first terminals and the second terminals are about a horizontal center plane of the tongue board.
US09490578B2	Electrical connector assembly having guiding means An electrical connector assembly includes: a first connector including a mating section, a first magnetic element having a cavity, and a number of first contacts accommodated in the mating section and the cavity; a second connector for mating with the mating section, the second connector including a second magnetic element and a number of second contacts accommodated in the second magnetic element; and an anti-mismating structure located at a front end of the second connector. The structure includes a number of anti-mismating elements and an anti-mismating hole surrounded by the anti-mismating elements for receiving the mating section. The anti-mismating hole is asymmetric in one of an up-to-down direction and a left-to-right direction, and the periphery of the mating section corresponds to the anti-mismating hole.
US09490572B2	Electrical plug connector The invention relates to an electrical plug connector including a plug and a coupling in which radially spring elastic annular contact lamellas are arranged. In order to prevent corrosion when the plug and the coupling are made from different materials the invention proposes a tin plated bushing in the coupling in which bushing the contact lamellas are arranged.
US09490570B1	Connector having a floating structure A connector is mateable with a mating connector along a mating direction. The connector comprises a stationary housing, a movable housing and a cable member. The movable housing is movable relative to the stationary housing in a predetermined plane perpendicular to the mating direction. The cable member includes a contact, a terminal and a wire. The contact is held by the movable housing. The wire includes core wires which are helically twisted together. One of opposite ends of the wire is fixed to the contact, and a remaining one of the opposite ends of the wire is fixed to the terminal. The movable housing has a regulation portion. The contact has a regulated portion. The regulation portion regulates a rotation of the regulated portion in the predetermined plane.
US09490568B2	Connector with TPA A connector is provided with a terminal position assurance (TPA) member that secures a terminal within a channel provided in a base. The TPA member can be secured to the base with a hinge that extends substantially a width of the base. The TPA member and the base can be formed as a one-piece molded part.
US09490566B2	Terminal holder A terminal holder is provided for connecting a cable to a connector or another cable. The terminal holder includes a base plate configured to be held proximate an end of the cable. The base plate includes an edge. Terminal sleeves extend from the edge of the base plate for holding cable terminals of the cable and connector terminals of the connector or of the other cable. The terminal sleeves have internal passages extending from a cable end to a connector end. The internal passage is configured to receive a corresponding cable terminal therein through the cable end. The internal passage is configured to receive a corresponding connector terminal therein through the connector end such that the corresponding cable terminal and the corresponding connector terminal are engaged in electrical contact with each other within the internal passage.
US09490563B2	Female connector with improved contact area A terminal includes a terminal connection part into which a tab is inserted, a leaf spring portion arranged in the terminal connection part and deflected by the tab to be inserted, and a tab clamping projection wall extending in a tab insertion direction at a position spaced apart from the leaf spring portion and clamps the tab between itself and the leaf spring portion. The leaf spring portion has a spring side projection protruding toward the tab clamping projection wall. The tab clamping projection wall has a projecting portion with a width smaller than that of the tab clamping projection wall and which protrudes toward the leaf spring portion and extends in the tab insertion direction. The projecting portion is formed in a curved shape that is spaced from the tab at a position of the spring side projection and is close to the tab at front and rear positions.
US09490562B2	Reduced diameter hyperboloid electrical contact A hyperboloid contact socket comprises a tubular body of conductive material having at one end an entrance aperture and cavity for receiving a mating pin terminal, and an integral termination extending from the opposite end of the tubular body. The tubular body contains a plurality of conductive wires attached at their inner ends to the inner surface of the tubular body at or near the bottom of the cavity by a press fit plug. The outer ends of the conductive wires are fastened to the tubular body by being wrapped around a reduced diameter section at the open end of the tubular body and secured by a press fit ring. The conductive wires are disposed within the tubular body in an angular disposition to form the shape of a single sheet hyperboloid.
US09490555B1	System or connector for voltage bus structures A first bus structure comprises a first outer conductive layer and a first inner conductive layer separated by a an first dielectric layer. A second bus structure comprises a second outer conductive layer and a second inner conductive layer separated by a second dielectric layer. An outer sleeve electrically connects the first inner conductive layer to the second inner conductive layer. An inner sleeve electrically connects the first outer conductive layer to the second outer conductive layer. A fastener extends through the inner sleeve to clamp or compress the first outer conductive layer and the second outer conductive layer toward each other.
US09490551B2	Fitting equipped electrically conductive sheet A fitting-equipped electrically conductive sheet and a connection fitting configured to electrically connect to another member, in which both a low connection resistance and a high fixing strength are easily achieved. The connection fitting has a crimp section that is crimped to an edge section of the electrically conductive sheet material. The crimp section includes a pair of plate-shaped holding sections between which the edge section of the sheet material is sandwiched, and a folded-back section that connects them. One of the pair of plate-shaped holding sections has a band-shaped recess on an outer surface of an intermediate region between the folded-back section and the opposite edge section, the band-shaped recess being band-shaped by being more strongly crimped to the sheet material than other parts.
US09490550B2	Aluminum-based terminal fitting Provided are an aluminum-based terminal fitting in which a Sn layer has high peel resistance, and a terminal connecting structure of an electric wire provided with the terminal fitting. The aluminum-based terminal fitting includes a wire barrel portion (110) for connection to a conductor (210) constituted by aluminum or an aluminum alloy and provided in an electric wire (200), and a fitting portion (female fitting portion (130) or male fitting portion (140)) provided to extend from the wire barrel portion (110) and electrically connected to a separate terminal fitting. A Sn layer formed directly on a base material constituting the terminal fitting is provided on the contact region in the fitting portion.
US09490548B2	Wireless device with antenna array and separate antenna An apparatus (e.g., a wireless device) includes an antenna array and a separate antenna. The antenna array includes a plurality of antenna elements having a first antenna beam. The separate antenna includes an antenna element having a second antenna beam. The antenna element of the separate antenna is separate from the antenna elements of the antenna array. The antenna array and the separate antenna are active at different times in an operational mode. The antenna array may transmit and the separate antenna may be inactive in a transmit mode. The separate antenna may receive and the antenna array may be inactive in a receive mode. The antenna array may receive and the separate antenna may transmit in a test mode. Alternatively, the antenna array may transmit and the separate antenna may receive in the test mode.
US09490540B1	Patch antenna A terrestrial transceiver is described, which is operable for exchanging RF signals with communication satellites. The transceiver has a patch antenna sensitive to signals within an L-Band RF range and operable for providing a gain to the RF signals. A metallic reflector of a characteristic dimension is operable for shaping a pattern of the RF gain of the patch antenna. A printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) has a dielectric substrate, an electronic component disposed upon the substrate, and a hole penetrating the substrate and disposed substantially within a central region thereof. Based on the dimension characteristic of the reflector and on a positioning and/or a dimension of the hole, the RF gain diverges over an angle from a boresight of the patch antenna.
US09490532B2	Antenna device and array antenna device An antenna device includes: a cavity part 1 composed of a metal conductor having an opening closed in a bottom; a first excitation circuit 10 superposed and disposed on the upper surface of the cavity part 1, and including inside thereof a first power feeding probe 13 and a first transmission line 14 that feeds electric power to the first power feeding probe 13, and radiating a radio wave of a first polarized wave; and a second cavity part 30 and a third cavity part 50 superposed and disposed on the upper surface of the first excitation circuit 10, and composed of a metal conductor having open holes, and further includes, above the first excitation circuit 10, a matching element 45 composed of a conductor.
US09490526B2	Wireless communication antennas in computer displays A liquid crystal display screen of an electronic device is formed on a glass substrate. The glass substrate has an active display area with liquid crystal display elements disposed thereon. The active display area is bordered by an edge area of the glass substrate. Antenna elements are disposed in the edge area of the substrate. The antenna elements are coupled to wireless communications circuitry in the electronic device.
US09490524B2	Spring boot for a mobile antenna A spring boot for use with an antenna comprises a cylindrical main body having an annular flange at the lower end thereof, and an annular rim at the upper end thereof. The flange has a plurality of mounting holes therethrough. The interior of the spring boot is hollow and is configured to match the shape of the antenna spring. When installed, the spring boot is fitted over the spring, and seated on an antenna mount, encircling the spring. Fasteners are installed through the mounting holes on the flange to affix the spring boot to corresponding bores in the mount. A washer is positioned atop the rim and is fixed between the antenna core and the spring. This configuration effectively constrains the spring boot between the core and the mount, so as to provide added damping to the antenna spring.
US09490520B2	Broadband directional coupler A broadband directional coupler for measuring a power of a forward or returning high-frequency signal on a coaxial line provides a voltage splitter comprising a first resistor, a second resistor and a third resistor. The first connection of the first resistor is connected to an inner conductor of the coaxial line, the second connection of the first resistor and the first connection of the second resistor are connected to a measuring unit. The first connection of the third resistor is connected to an outer conductor of the coaxial line and to the second connection of the second resistor. The second connection of the third resistor is connected to a ground. The third resistor is annular in shape and arranged concentrically to the inner conductor in a plane orientated orthogonally relative to the inner conductor.
US09490519B2	Transmission line transformer antenna The present invention is drawn a transmission line transformer that uses specifically displaced beads of impedance increasing material on the coaxial transmission lines. The beads of impedance increasing material greatly reduce induced back currents on the outer surfaces of the coaxial transmission lines, which reduces losses and improves performance. The specific displacement of the beads enables the coaxial transmission lines to be compactly disposed within a heat sink.
US09490509B2	Motor vehicle with battery cooling system A motor vehicle includes at least one battery module configured to be cooled by compressed gas. The battery module has a cooling system which has an accumulator for compressed gas that can be fed to the battery module for cooling. A control device controls supply of gas from the accumulator to the battery module in dependency of at least one output value from at least one sensor configured to measure a current output from the battery module.
US09490507B2	Li-ion battery thermal runaway suppression system using microchannel coolers and refrigerant injections A battery management system with thermally integrated fire suppression includes a multiplicity of individual battery cells in a housing; a multiplicity of cooling passages in the housing within or between the multiplicity of individual battery cells; a multiplicity of sensors operably connected to the individual battery cells, the sensors adapted to detect a thermal runaway event related to one or more of the multiplicity of individual battery cells; and a management system adapted to inject coolant into at least one of the multiplicity of cooling passages upon the detection of the thermal runaway event by the any one of the multiplicity of sensors, so that the thermal runaway event is rapidly quenched.
US09490505B2	Electrode assembly including separator for improving safety and lithium secondary battery including the same The present invention relates to an electrode assembly including a separator and a lithium secondary battery including the same for improving safety. The electrode assembly including a positive electrode, a negative electrode and a separator further includes a gasification material possibly being electrolyzed at a certain voltage to generate a gas. Since the electrode assembly and the lithium secondary battery including the same include the gasification material possibly being electrolyzed at the certain voltage to generate the gas, the safety of the battery may be increased. Since the gasification material is coated on the surface of the separator not on the electrode, the resistance increase of the battery may be restrained and the capacity lowering of the battery may be remarkably decreased. The lifetime of the battery is good.
US09490493B2	Manufacturing method of fuel cell, fuel cell and fuel cell system In order to define the power generation performance of a monitor cell, a manufacturing method of a fuel cell including a plurality of ordinary cells and a monitor cell configured to have a greater pressure loss of hydrogen gas than a pressure loss of the ordinary cell comprises the steps of: (a) specifying an upper limit voltage in a voltage range of the monitor cell; (b) specifying a lower limit voltage in the voltage range of the monitor cell; (c) determining an upper limit value and a lower limit value in a range of pressure loss of the hydrogen gas in the monitor cell, based on the upper limit voltage and the lower limit voltage; and (d) manufacturing the monitor cell, such that the pressure loss of the hydrogen gas in the monitor cell is limited to the range of pressure loss.
US09490485B2	Laminated electrically conductive sheet, producing method thereof, current collector, and bipolar battery A method for producing a laminated electrically conductive sheet includes the steps of preparing a support board, forming an electrically conductive layer at one side in a thickness direction of the support board, and transferring the electrically conductive layer onto at least one surface in the thickness direction of a resin-containing layer containing a resin.
US09490484B2	Binder for storage battery device To provide a binder for a storage battery device, whereby good adhesion in an electrode and flexibility are obtainable, and it is possible to realize good charge and discharge characteristics when used for a secondary battery.A binder for a storage battery device, which is made of a fluorinated copolymer comprising structural units (a) derived from tetrafluoroethylene and structural units (b) derived from propylene, wherein the molar ratio (a)/(b) is from 40/60 to 50/50, and the total of the structural units (a) and (b) is at least 90 mol % in all structural units.
US09490480B2	Molecular precursors for lithium-iron-containing cathode materials Lithium-iron molecular precursor compounds, compositions and processes for making a cathode for lithium ion batteries. The molecular precursor compounds are soluble and provide processes to make stoichiometric cathode materials with solution-based processes. The cathode material can be, for example, a lithium iron oxide, a lithium iron phosphate, or a lithium iron silicate. Cathodes can be made as bulk material in a solid form or in solution, or in various forms including thin films.
US09490475B2	High energy cathode for a battery An electrode for an electrochemical cell including a metal fluoride containing active electrode material and an intrinsically conductive coating wherein the coating is applied to the active electrode material by heating the mixture for a time and at a temperature that limits degradation of the cathode active material. The active material can be a hybrid material formed from the reaction of a metal fluoride and a metal complex.
US09490473B2	Stabilized anode for lithium battery and method for its manufacture Disclosed is an anode for a lithium battery comprising a body of carbon, such as graphitic carbon, having a layer of a Group IV element or Group IV element-containing substance disposed upon its electrolyte contacting surface. Further disclosed is an anode comprising a body of carbon having an SEI layer formed thereupon by interaction of a layer of Group IV element or Group IV element-containing substance with an electrolyte material during the initial charging of the battery.
US09490469B2	Rechargeable battery having fuse A rechargeable battery includes: a plurality of electrode assemblies each including first and second electrodes; a case accommodating the electrode assemblies; a cap assembly coupled to the case and including a terminal; and a first current collector coupling the terminal with the first electrodes of the electrode assemblies. The first current collector includes a terminal connector coupled to the terminal and a plurality of electrode connectors, each of the electrode connectors being coupled to a respective one of the first electrodes, and a plurality of first fuses, each of the first fuses being between the terminal connector and a respective one of the electrode connectors and having a substantially constant cross section between the terminal connector and the respective one of the electrode connectors.
US09490466B2	Terminal attachment structure A terminal attachment structure allows a terminal to be firmly and closely fixed to a terminal attachment plate in a stable state even under external vibrations or impact, and a joint surface can be flatly finished without a difference in level between the terminal and the terminal attachment plate. The terminal attachment structure has the terminal attachment plate including a polygonal groove portion and a through hole formed in a center of the groove portion, and the terminal including a flange that has the same polygonal shape as that of the groove portion, a leg part that extends from a lower surface of the flange and inserts into the through hole, and a terminal main body that extends from an upper surface of the flange. After the flange is fitted into the groove portion, the leg portion is flattened to fix the terminal to the terminal attachment plate.
US09490458B2	Electric vehicle battery with temperature control A battery is provided, comprising: a battery housing having at least one opening end; a battery cover sealing the at least one opening end; an electric core received in the battery housing, which comprises at least one heat-conducting tube having at least an end penetrating through the battery cover; and an electrolyte filled in a space formed by the battery housing with the battery cover.
US09490454B2	Method for producing a high efficiency organic light emitting device having a transparent composite electrode comprising a film of conductive nanowires, carbon nanoparticles, light scattering nanoparticles, and a polymer support A method for producing high efficiency organic light emitting devices, that have an organic semiconductor active layer sandwiched between electrodes where at least one of the electrodes is a film of conductive nanowires, carbon nanoparticles, light scattering nanoparticles and a polymer support. The light scattering nanoparticles can be incorporated in the conductive nanowires, carbon nanoparticle or polymer support elements of the electrode. The second electrode can be identical to the first to provide a symmetrical device or can be a conductive paste or metal layer. The entire process, including the formation of both of the electrodes, the emissive polymer layer, and the substrate, may be carried out by solution processing.
US09490453B2	Quasi-crystal organic light-emitting display panel and method for simulating optical efficiency of the same A quasi-crystal organic light-emitting display panel including a first electrode layer, an organic light-emitting layer, a second electrode layer, a buffer layer, a 10-fold quasi-crystal layer and a package cover is provided. The organic light-emitting layer is located on the first electrode layer. The second electrode layer is located on the organic light-emitting layer. The buffer layer is located on the second electrode layer. The 10-fold quasi-crystal layer is located on the buffer layer. The package cover is located on the 10-fold quasi-crystal layer. A method for simulating optical efficiency of the quasi-crystal organic light-emitting display panel is also provided.
US09490452B2	Light-emitting organic component A light-emitting organic component is specified, comprising—an organic active region (3), in which light is generated during the operation of the component, and—an uneven light exit surface (6), through which at least part of the light generated in the organic active region (3) emerges from the component, wherein—a multiplicity of optical structures (7) which optically influence the light passing through and/or impinging on them are arranged at the uneven light exit surface (6).
US09490451B2	Light-emitting element and light-emitting element manufacturing method A light-emitting element includes: a first electrode; a light-emitting functional layer that is provided on the first electrode, and includes a conductive layer as an uppermost layer thereof; a second electrode that is provided on the conductive layer, and has an undesired opening that corresponds to a region of the conductive layer; and a first passivation layer that is provided on the second electrode except on a periphery of the opening. The region of the conductive layer is oxidized. The light-emitting functional layer includes an organic light-emitting layer, and the conductive layer is provided above the organic light-emitting layer.
US09490449B2	Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method for manufacturing the same An organic light-emitting display apparatus includes: a substrate, and an organic light-emitting device disposed on the substrate. The organic light-emitting device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and an intermediate layer including at least an organic emission layer. In addition, the organic light-emitting display apparatus further includes a thin film encapsulating layer disposed on the organic light-emitting device. The thin film encapsulating layer includes at least one inorganic film including a low temperature viscosity transition (LVT) inorganic material. The LVT inorganic material includes tin oxide and at least one of boron oxide (B2O3), bismuth oxide (Bi2O3), barium oxide (BaO), and ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (NH4H2PO4).
US09490447B2	Organic light emitting diode display device and method of fabricating the same An organic light emitting diode display device according to an embodiment includes: a first substrate having a pixel region; a first electrode in the pixel region on the first substrate; an emitting layer on the first electrode; and a second electrode on the emitting layer, the second electrode including a metal layer having a thickness smaller than about 300 Å.
US09490443B2	Light emitting display device and method for fabricating the same A light emitting display device and a method for fabricating the same. The light emitting display device includes a substrate, a first electrode arranged on the substrate, a first insulating film arranged on the substrate and including a first opening that exposes a portion of the first electrode, a second insulating film arranged on the first insulating film and including a second opening that exposes the first opening, a light emitting layer including a light emitting material arranged on the exposed portion of first electrode while also being in contact with the first insulating film and a second electrode arranged on the light emitting layer, wherein a difference in wetting between the first electrode and the first insulating film with respect to the light emitting material is lower than a difference in wetting between the first electrode and the second insulating film with respect to the light emitting material.
US09490435B2	Iridium complex and organic light-emitting device including the same Provided are an iridium complex represented by Formula 1 below and an organic light-emitting device including the same. Descriptions of substituents of Formula 1 are the same as described in the detailed description of the present specification.
US09490426B2	Multiple bit per cell dual-alloy GST memory elements In various embodiments, a memory cell for storing two or more bits of information includes two series-connected memory storage elements composed of programmable materials having different melting points, enabling independent programming of the storage elements via different current pulses.
US09490420B2	Polymer foam-based piezoelectric materials and method of manufacture Thermally stable piezoelectric polymer foams (ferroelectrets) with high piezoelectric activity for sensing and actuation. The invention further includes a method of fabricating such foams in an environmentally friendly manner.
US09490416B2	Piezoelectric drive circuit A piezoelectric drive circuit includes a first circuit which applies a voltage to the piezoelectric element and includes a plurality of transistors. A second circuit removes the residual current of the piezoelectric element and includes a plurality of transistors, and among the transistors included in the first circuit and the second circuit, transistors operated by an input signal are simultaneously turned ON/OFF by receiving the same input signal. Thus, when using a piezoelectric element as the air valve, it is possible to reduce leakage of air.
US09490414B2	Fully integrated thermoelectric devices and their application to aerospace de-icing systems A thermoelectric module and methods for making and applying same provide an integrated, layered structure comprising first and second, thermally conductive, surface volumes, each in thermal communication with a separate respective first and second electrically conductive patterned trace layers, and an array of n-type and p-type semiconducting elements embedded in amorphous silica dielectric and electrically connected between the first and second patterned trace layers forming a thermoelectric circuit.
US09490408B2	Injection molded microoptics A wafer-scale apparatus and method is described for the automation of forming, aligning and attaching two-dimensional arrays of microoptic elements on semiconductor and other image display devices, backplanes, optoelectronic boards, and integrated optical systems. In an ordered fabrication sequence, a mold plate comprised of optically designed cavities is formed by reactive ion etching or alternative processes, optionally coated with a release material layer and filled with optically specified materials by an automated fluid-injection and defect-inspection subsystem. Optical alignment fiducials guide the disclosed transfer and attachment processes to achieve specified tolerances between the microoptic elements and corresponding optoelectronic devices and circuits. The present invention applies to spectral filters, waveguides, fiber-optic mode-transformers, diffraction gratings, refractive lenses, diffractive lens/Fresnel zone plates, reflectors, and to combinations of elements and devices, including microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and liquid crystal device (LCD) matrices for adaptive, tunable elements. Preparation of interfacial layer properties and attachment process embodiments are taught.
US09490404B2	Flip-chip light emitting diode package module and manufacturing method thereof The instant disclosure relates to a flip-chip LED package module and a method of manufacturing thereof. The method of manufacturing flip-chip LED package module comprises the following steps. A plurality of LEDs is disposed on a carrier. A packaging process is forming a plurality of transparent lens corresponding to LEDs and binding each other by a wing portion. A separating process is proceeding to form a plurality of flip-chip LED structures without the carrier. A bonding process is proceeding to attach at least one flip-chip LED structure on the circuit board.
US09490403B2	Color converting element and light emitting device including the same Disclosed are a color converting element and a method for manufacturing the color converting element. The disclosed color converting element includes: first wavelength conversion cells spaced apart from one another; and second wavelength conversion cells arranged among the first wavelength conversion cells. The first and second wavelength conversion cells are made of a material containing glass. The color converting element of the disclosed technology is configured in that color converting cells having different color converting characteristics are periodically arranged, when the color converting element is applied to a color converting glass material which may improve thermal and chemical durability of white LEDs, thus minimizing the degradation of efficiency or luminance caused by an interaction between color converting phosphors or active ions and allowing for ease of adjustment of color rendering index.
US09490395B2	Nanostructure semiconductor light-emitting device A nanostructure semiconductor light-emitting device includes a base layer formed of a first conductivity-type semiconductor, a first material layer disposed on the base layer and including a plurality of openings, a plurality of light-emitting nanostructures, each of which extends through each of the plurality of openings and includes a nanocore formed of a first conductivity-type semiconductor, an active layer and a second conductivity-type semiconductor shell layer, sequentially disposed on the nanocore, a filling layer disposed on the first material layer, wherein the filling layer fills spaces between the plurality of light-emitting nanostructures and a portion of each of the plurality of light-emitting nanostructures is exposed by the filling layer, a second conductivity-type semiconductor extension layer disposed on the filling layer and covering the exposed portion of each of the plurality of light-emitting nanostructures, and a contact electrode layer disposed on the second conductivity-type semiconductor extension layer.
US09490394B2	Semiconductor light-emitting device A semiconductor light-emitting device comprises an epitaxial structure comprising a first semiconductor stack, a second semiconductor stack, and an active layer between the first semiconductor stack and second semiconductor stack for emitting a light; and a main light-extraction surface on the first semiconductor stack, wherein the light passes through the main light-extraction surface. The main light-extraction surface comprises a first light-extraction region, a second light-extraction region, and a maximum near-field luminous intensity. The distribution of the near-field luminous intensity in the first light-extraction region is between 70% and 100% of the maximum near-field luminous intensity, the distribution of the near-field luminous intensity in the second light-extraction region is between 0% and 70% of the maximum near-field luminous intensity. A ratio of an area of the first light-extraction region to an area of the second light-extraction region is between 0.25 and 0.45.
US09490390B2	Method of manufacturing light emitting element that includes formation of an insulating layer A light emitting element for flip-chip mounting having a flat mounting surface which allows a decrease in the width of the streets of a wafer. In the light emitting element, the insulating member filling around the bumps and flattening the upper surface is formed with a margin of a region with a width which is equal to or larger than the width of the streets on the dividing lines, so that at the time of dividing the wafer along the dividing lines, the insulating member is not processed, which allows designing of the streets with a small width.
US09490382B2	Solar module and manufacturing method therefor A solar module is provided which has improved output characteristics. The solar module (1) includes a first protecting member (21), a second protecting member (22), a first solar cell (10a) and a second solar cell (10b), and a first wiring member (11A). The first solar cell (10a) and the second solar cell (10b) are arranged between the first protecting member (21) and the second protecting member (22). The first wiring member (11A) electrically connects the first solar cell (10a) to the second solar cell (10b). A first conductive member (17a) is arranged on the same surface of the first solar cell (10a) as the second protecting member (22). The tip of protrusion portions (11c) formed on the surface of the first wiring member (11A) and the first conductive member (17a) are connected electrically by welding.
US09490373B2	Solid-state imaging device and electronic apparatus with improved storage portion There is provided a solid-state imaging device including a pixel array portion in which multiple unit pixels are arranged on a semiconductor substrate, the multiple unit pixels each including a photoelectric conversion portion generating and accumulating a light charge based on a quantity of received light and a charge accumulation portion accumulating the light charge, wherein at least part of an electrode closer to an incidence side on which light enters the unit pixel of the charge accumulation portion, is formed with a metal film functioning as a light blocking film.
US09490371B2	Nonvolatile memory devices and methods of fabricating the same A nonvolatile memory device includes a gate structure including inter-gate insulating patterns that are vertically stacked on a substrate and gate electrodes interposed between the inter-gate insulating patterns, a vertical active pillar connected to the substrate through the gate structure, a charge-storing layer between the vertical active pillar and the gate electrode, a tunnel insulating layer between the charge-storing layer and the vertical active pillar, and a blocking insulating layer between the charge-storing layer and the gate electrode. The charge-storing layer include first and second charge-storing layers that are adjacent to the blocking insulating layer and the tunnel insulating layer, respectively. The first charge-storing layer includes a silicon nitride layer, and the second charge-storing layer includes a silicon oxynitride layer.
US09490362B2	Semiconductor device production method and semiconductor device A semiconductor device production method includes a first step of forming a planar silicon layer on a silicon substrate and forming first and second pillar-shaped silicon layers on the planar silicon layer; a second step of forming a gate insulating film around the first and second pillar-shaped silicon layers, forming a metal film and a polysilicon film around the gate insulating film, controlling a thickness of the polysilicon film to be smaller than a half of a distance between the first and second pillar-shaped silicon layers, depositing a resist, exposing the polysilicon film on side walls of upper portions of the first and second pillar-shaped semiconductor layers, etching-away the exposed polysilicon film, stripping the third resist, and etching-away the metal film; and a third step of forming a resist for forming a gate line and performing anisotropic etching to form a gate line and first and second gate electrodes.
US09490349B1	Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which includes the steps of forming a gate stack structure made up of a floating gate, an inter-poly dielectric, a control gate and a metal layer on a substrate, forming a conformal liner on the gate stack structure, covering a mask layer on the liner, where the mask layer is lower than the metal layer so that a portion of the liner is exposed, and performing a nitridation treatment to transform the exposed liner into a nitrided liner, so that at least the portion of the metal layer in the gate stack structure is covered by the nitrided liner.
US09490347B2	Capping dielectric structures for transistor gates The present description relates to the field of fabricating microelectronic transistors, including non-planar transistors, for microelectronic devices. Embodiments of the present description relate to the formation a recessed gate electrode capped by a substantially void-free dielectric capping dielectric structure which may be formed with a high density plasma process.
US09490344B2	Methods of making transistor devices with elevated source/drain regions to accommodate consumption during metal silicide formation process Disclosed herein are various semiconductor devices with dual metal silicide regions and to various methods of making such devices. One illustrative method disclosed herein includes the steps of forming an upper portion of a source/drain region that is positioned above a surface of a semiconducting substrate, wherein the upper portion of the source/drain region has an upper surface that is positioned above the surface of the substrate by a distance that is at least equal to a target thickness of a metal silicide region to be formed in the upper portion of the source/drain region and forming the metal silicide region in the upper portion of the source/drain region.
US09490338B2	Silicon carbide semiconductor apparatus and method of manufacturing same A silicon carbide vertical MOSFET having low ON-resistance and high blocking voltage is provided. For this, a first deposition film (2) of low concentration silicon carbide of a first conductivity type is formed on the surface of a high concentration silicon carbide substrate (1) of a first conductivity type. Formed on the first deposition film (2) is a second deposition film (31) that comprises a high concentration gate region of a second conductivity type, with a first region removed selectively. A third deposition film (32) formed on the second deposition film, which comprises a second region that is wider than the selectively removed first region, a high concentration source region (5) of a first conductivity type and a low concentration gate region (11) of a second conductivity type. A low concentration base region (4) of a first conductivity type is formed in contact with the first deposition film (2) in the first and second regions.
US09490327B2	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes: a semiconductor substrate; an n-type SiC layer provided on one side of the semiconductor substrate; a p-type first SiC region provided in the n-type SiC layer; a metallic second SiC region provided in the p-type first SiC region, the second SiC region containing at least one element selected from the group of Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Sc, Y, La, and lanthanoid; a gate electrode; a gate insulating film provided between the gate electrode and the n-type SiC layer, the gate insulating film provided between the gate electrode and the first SiC region; a first electrode provided on the second SiC region; and a second electrode provided on a side of the semiconductor substrate opposite to the n-type SiC layer.
US09490314B1	High-throughput deposition of a voltage-tunable dielectric material High-throughput deposition of a voltage-tunable dielectric material onto a substrate comprising a conductive electrode is provided. Respective gradients in at least two grain size defining parameters of the deposition are simultaneously provided, the respective gradients occurring for a first time period thereby producing a smoothly changing columnar crystalline habit of the voltage-tunable dielectric material. When the first time period has ended, the deposition continues for a second time period where the grain size defining parameters are held constant. In particular, the smoothly changing columnar crystalline habit of the voltage-tunable dielectric material is intentionally distorted by simultaneously providing the respective gradients in the in at least two grain size defining parameters of the deposition.
US09490304B2	Method of manufacturing organic EL device, organic EL device and electronic apparatus An organic EL device according to the present application includes a substrate, a plurality of organic EL elements arranged on the substrate, the plurality of organic EL elements including an organic light-emitting layer interposed between an anode and a cathode, a plurality of connection terminals disposed on the substrate, a sealing layer covering the plurality of organic EL elements such that the plurality of organic EL elements lie between the substrate and the sealing layer, and an organic layer formed above the sealing layer. The organic layer and the sealing layer have an opening portion that exposes at least one of the plurality of connection terminals.
US09490300B2	Complementary carbon nanotube neuron device A method for forming a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate structure, which includes a carbon nanotube supported by two support structures on a substrate. The carbon nanotube includes a first portion and a second portion having different conductivity types. A multi-layer film structure is formed surrounding the carbon nanotube, the multi-layer film structure including a conductive material layer sandwiched between two dielectric layers. A plurality of first electrodes are formed surrounding the multi-layer film structure surrounding a channel region of the first portion, and a plurality of second electrodes are formed surrounding the multi-layer film structure surrounding a channel region of the second portion. A third electrode is formed to contact one end of the carbon nanotube, and a fourth electrode is formed to contact the other end of the carbon nanotube. A fifth electrode is formed and coupled to a center portion of the carbon nanotube.
US09490289B2	Image sensing device and camera An image sensing device includes a plurality of photoelectric conversion portions. The device further includes a semiconductor substrate having a first surface for receiving incident light and a second surface on an opposite side to the first surface, the photoelectric conversion portions being provided therein, a first non-metal region arranged on a second surface side and arranged at a position at least partially overlapping with the photoelectric conversion portions, a second non-metal region arranged to be in contact with a side surface of the first non-metal region, and a reflection layer arranged on an opposite side of the first non-metal region to the semiconductor substrate. A refractive index of the first non-metal region is higher than a refractive index of the second non-metal region.
US09490276B2	Display backplane and method of fabricating the same There is provided a TFT backplane having at least one TFT with oxide active layer and at least one TFT with poly-silicon active layer. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, at least one of the TFTs implementing the circuit of pixels in the active area is an oxide TFT (i.e., TFT with oxide semiconductor) while at least one of the TFTs implementing the driving circuit next to the active area is a LTPS TFT (i.e., TFT with poly-Si semiconductor).
US09490265B2	Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same A semiconductor device is disclosed. The semiconductor device includes: a substrate having a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor thereon, and an oxide semiconductor transistor adjacent to the MOS transistor. Preferably, the MOS transistor includes a first gate structure and a source/drain region adjacent to two sides of the gate structure, and the oxide semiconductor transistor includes a channel layer and the top surface of the channel layer is lower than the top surface of the first gate structure of the MOS transistor.
US09490264B2	Device having a contact between semiconductor regions through a buried insulating layer, and process for fabricating said device The invention relates to a semiconductor device produced on a semiconductor-on-insulator substrate that includes a thin layer of semiconductor material separated from a base substrate by a buried insulating layer, the device including a first conducting region in the thin layer, a second conducting region in the base substrate and a contact connecting the first region to the second region through the insulating layer. The invention also relates to a process for fabricating such semiconductor devices.
US09490259B2	Anti-fuse, anti-fuse array and method of operating the same An anti-fuse, an anti-fuse array and a method of operating the same are disclosed. The anti-fuse array includes: an active region formed in a semiconductor substrate; a slit region formed at both edge portions of the active region in a first direction; a plurality of select gates extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction of the active region, and coupled to a select word line; a plurality of first program gates spaced apart from the select gates, formed over the active region isolated by the slit region, and coupled to a first program word line; a plurality of second program gates spaced apart from the select gates, formed over the active region isolated by the slit region, and coupled to a second program word line; and a bit line perpendicular to the select word line.
US09490248B2	Power cell, power cell circuit for a power amplifier and a method of making and using a power cell A power cell including an isolation region having a first dopant type formed in a substrate. The power cell further includes a bottom gate having a second dopant type different from the first dopant type formed on the isolation region and a channel layer having the first dopant type formed on the bottom gate. The power cell further includes source/drain regions having the first dopant type formed in the channel layer and a first well region having the second dopant type formed around the channel layer and the source/drain regions, and the first well region electrically connected to the bottom gate. The power cell further includes a second well region having the first dopant type formed around the channel layer and contacting the isolation region and a gate structure formed on the channel layer.
US09490236B2	Light-emitting device and lighting device provided with the same A light-emitting device capable of ensuring an electric connection between a light-emitting element and an electrode without generating any problem in practical use, by both connecting methods with a solder and a connector, and a lighting device provided with the light-emitting device are provided. The light-emitting device according to the present invention has a plurality of LED chips, and a soldering electrode land and a connector connecting electrode land electrically connected to the chips, on a ceramic substrate. The soldering electrode land is formed of a first conductive material having a function to prevent diffusion to a solder, and the connector connecting electrode land is formed of a second conductive material having a function to prevent oxidation.
US09490235B2	Light emitting devices, systems, and methods Light emitting devices, systems, and methods are disclosed. In one embodiment a light emitting device can include an emission area having one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted over an irregularly shaped mounting area. The light emitting device can further include a retention material disposed about the emission area. The retention material can also be irregularly shaped, and can be dispensed. Light emitting device can include more than one emission area per device.
US09490232B2	Electronic apparatus and method for fabricating the same An electronic apparatus includes a first electronic part with a first terminal, a second electronic part with a second terminal opposite the first terminal, and a joining portion which joins the first terminal and the second terminal. The joining portion contains a pole-like compound extending in a direction in which the first terminal and the second terminal are opposite to each other. The joining portion contains the pole-like compound, so the strength of the joining portion is improved. When the first terminal and the second terminal are joined, the temperature of one of the first electronic part and the second electronic part is made higher than that of the other. A joining material is cooled and solidified in this state. By doing so, the pole-like compound is formed.
US09490228B2	Anisotropic conductive film including conductive adhesive layer and semiconductor device connected by the same An anisotropic conductive film includes a conductive adhesive layer including conductive particles and insulating particles, and an insulating adhesive layer not including conductive particles. In the anisotropic conductive film, the conductive particles and the insulating particles of the conductive adhesive layer have a total particle density of 7.0×105/d2 to 10.0×105/d2 (particles) per square millimeter (mm2) (where d is a diameter of the conductive particles in μm).
US09490215B2	Organic light-emitting display device and method for manufacturing organic light-emitting display device Provided are an organic light-emitting display device and a method for manufacturing the same. A flexible substrate of the organic light-emitting display device is bent across a bend line and includes a first area, a first bending area adjacent to the first area, a second bending adjacent to the first bending area, and a second area adjacent to the second bending area. A wiring is formed over the first area, the first bending area, the second bending area, and the second area of the flexible substrate to electrically connect a display unit formed in the first area and a pad unit formed in the second area. A first alignment key is formed over the flexible substrate, and a second alignment is formed over the flexible substrate. The first alignment key is positioned to overlap the second alignment key with the flexible substrate bent across the bend line.
US09490213B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof The reliability of wirings, each of which includes a main conductive film containing copper as a primary component, is improved. On an insulating film including the upper surface of a wiring serving as a lower layer wiring, an insulating film formed of a silicon carbonitride film having excellent barrier properties to copper is formed; on the insulating film, an insulating film formed of a silicon carbide film having excellent adhesiveness to a low dielectric constant material film is formed; on the insulating film, an insulating film formed of a low dielectric constant material as an interlayer insulating film is formed; and thereafter a wiring as an upper layer wiring is formed.
US09490212B2	High quality electrical contacts between integrated circuit chips Methods and structures of connecting at least two integrated circuits in a 3D arrangement by a zigzag conductive chain are disclosed. The zigzag conductive chain, acting as a spring or self-adaptive contact structure (SACS) in a wafer bonding process, is designed to reduce bonding interface stress, to increase bonding interface reliability, and to have an adjustable height to close or eliminate undesirable opens or voids between two integrated circuits.
US09490210B2	Electrical interconnection structure and fabrication method thereof An interconnection structure fabrication method is provided. The method includes providing a substrate; forming a conductive film with a first thickness and having a first lattice structure and a first grain size, wherein the first thickness is greater than the first grain size; and performing an annealing process to change the first lattice structure of the conductive film to a second lattice structure and to change the first grain size to a second grain size. The second grain size is greater than the first grain size, and the first thickness is greater than or equal to the second grain size. The method also includes etching portion of the conductive film to form at least one conductive layer; etching portion of the conductive layer to form at least one trench having a depth smaller than the first thickness in the conductive layer to form an electrical interconnection wire and conductive vias; and forming a dielectric layer covering the substrate, sidewalls of the conductive layer, and the trench.
US09490209B2	Electro-migration barrier for Cu interconnect Integrated circuit devices and method of forming them. The devices include a dielectric barrier layer formed over a copper-containing metal interconnect structure. The dielectric barrier layer inhibits electro-migration of Cu. The dielectric barrier layer includes a metal-containing layer that forms an interface with the interconnect structure. Incorporating metal within the interfacial layer improves adhesion of the dielectric barrier layer to copper lines and the like and provides superior electro-migration resistance over the operating lifetime of the devices.
US09490208B2	Semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip, a dielectric substrate, and bonding wires. The dielectric substrate includes wiring patterns formed on a surface and a ground metal layer formed on a back side. The semiconductor chip includes an active element and a drain pad that is connected to an output end of the active element. Wiring pattern is formed at a position closer to the drain pad than wiring pattern, wiring pattern and the ground metal layer constitute a first capacitative element, and wiring pattern and the ground metal layer constitute a second capacitative element. The drain pad is connected to wiring pattern through bonding wire, and connected to wiring pattern through bonding wire. Bonding wire and the first capacitative element constitute a high-pass matching circuit.
US09490204B2	Noise shielding techniques for ultra low current measurements in biochemical applications A device having an integrated noise shield is disclosed. The device includes a plurality of vertical shielding structures substantially surrounding a semiconductor device. The device further includes an opening above the semiconductor device substantially filled with a conductive fluid, wherein the plurality of vertical shielding structures and the conductive fluid shield the semiconductor device from ambient radiation. In some embodiments, the device further includes a conductive bottom shield below the semiconductor device shielding the semiconductor device from ambient radiation. In some embodiments, the opening is configured to allow a biological sample to be introduced into the semiconductor device. In some embodiments, the vertical shielding structures comprise a plurality of vias, wherein each of the plurality of vias connects more than one conductive layers together. In some embodiments, the device comprises a nanopore device, and wherein the nanopore device comprises a single cell of a nanopore array.
US09490203B2	Capacitor in post-passivation structures and methods of forming the same A device includes a metal pad and a passivation layer having a portion overlapping the metal pad. A capacitor includes a bottom capacitor electrode underlying the passivation layer, wherein the bottom capacitor includes the metal pad. The capacitor further includes a top capacitor electrode over the portion of the passivation layer; and a capacitor insulator including the portion of the passivation layer.
US09490200B2	Semiconductor device Disclosed is a semiconductor device having a structure capable of reducing the self-inductance of internal wiring. The semiconductor device includes: a lower board having a lower conductor layer formed on the surface thereof; a switching element bonded to the lower conductor layer in an element bonding area; a terminal bonded to the lower conductor layer in a terminal bonding area; an upper board stacked on the lower board in a board bonding area between the element bonding area and the terminal bonding area, and having an upper conductor layer on the surface thereof; and a switching element connecting member which connects the switching element with the upper conductor layer.
US09490190B2	Thermal dissipation through seal rings in 3DIC structure A die includes a semiconductor substrate, a through-via penetrating through the semiconductor substrate, a seal ring overlying and connected to the through-via, and an electrical connector underlying the semiconductor substrate and electrically coupled to the seal ring through the through-via.
US09490188B2	Compute intensive module packaging A package for a multi-chip module includes a top cold plate and a bottom plate whose perimeters are in thermal communication so the plates together completely encase the module except for a connector passing through the bottom plate. The cold plate has copper tubing pressed into a groove formed in a serpentine pattern. The perimeter of the cold plate has thermal conduction fins which mate with thermal conduction slots in the perimeter of the bottom plate. Thermal interface material is disposed in gaps between the plates and chips on the module, the gaps having dimensions controlled by support ribs of plates which abut the module substrate. The cold plate is used on the hottest side of the module, e.g., the side having computationally-intensive chips such as ASICs. A densely packed array of these packages can be used in a central electronic complex drawer with a shared coolant circulation system.
US09490186B2	Limiting adjustment of polishing rates during substrate polishing A method of controlling polishing includes polishing a region of a substrate at a first polishing rate, measuring a sequence characterizing values for the region of the substrate during polishing with an in-situ monitoring system, determining a polishing rate adjustment for each of a plurality of adjustment times prior to a polishing endpoint time, and adjusting a polishing parameter to polish the substrate at a second polishing rate. The time period is greater than a period between the adjustment times and the projected time is before the polishing endpoint time. The second polishing rate is the first polishing rate as adjusted by the polishing rate adjustment.
US09490185B2	Implant-induced damage control in ion implantation An ion implantation system is provided having an ion implantation apparatus configured to provide a spot ion beam having a beam density to a workpiece, wherein the workpiece has a crystalline structure associated therewith. A scanning system iteratively scans one or more of the spot ion beam and workpiece with respect to one another along one or more axes. A controller is also provided and configured to establish a predetermined localized temperature of the workpiece as a predetermined location on the workpiece is exposed to the spot ion beam. A predetermined localized disorder of the crystalline structure of the workpiece is thereby achieved at the predetermined location, wherein the controller is configured to control one or more of the beam density of the spot ion beam and a duty cycle associated with the scanning system to establish the localized temperature of the workpiece at the predetermined location on the workpiece.
US09490178B2	Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes preparing a semiconductor substrate having a first and a second voltage device portion, each including a first and a second conductive type MOS region, forming a first gate insulating layer on the first and the second voltage device portion, removing the first gate insulating layer from the first conductive type MOS region of the first voltage device portion to expose a part of the semiconductor substrate, forming a first semiconductor layer on the first conductive type MOS region of the first voltage device portion, and removing the first gate insulating layer from the second conductive type MOS region of the first voltage device portion to expose a part of the semiconductor substrate.
US09490169B2	Method of forming vias in silicon carbide and resulting devices and circuits A method of fabricating an integrated circuit on a silicon carbide substrate is disclosed that eliminates wire bonding that can otherwise cause undesired inductance. The method includes fabricating a semiconductor device including a Group III-V semiconductor layer on a surface on a silicon carbide substrate, wherein the semiconductor device defines at least one via through the silicon carbide substrate and the epitaxial layer.
US09490164B1	Techniques for forming contacts for active BEOL In one aspect, a method for forming a contact to a device is provided which includes the steps of: forming a conformal etch stop layer surrounding the device; forming a dielectric layer over and covering the device; forming a contact trench in the dielectric layer, wherein the contact trench is present over the device and extends down to, or beyond, the etch stop layer; exposing a contact region of the device within the contact trench by selectively removing a portion of the etch stop layer covering a top portion of the device; and filling the contact trench with a conductive material to form the contact to the device. Other methods for forming a contact to a device and also to BEOL wiring are provided as are device contact structures.
US09490152B2	Asymmetrical chamber configuration A production tool includes a chamber, a heater in the chamber, and a pumping outlet on a side of the heater. A pumping liner is in the chamber and encircling the heater. The pumping liner and the heater have a first gap therebetween and a second gap therebetween. The second gap is different from the first gap, and the second gap is farther away from the first pumping outlet than the first gap.
US09490150B2	Substrate support for substrate backside contamination control Embodiments of substrate supports are provided herein. In some embodiments, a substrate support may include a first aluminum plate for supporting a substrate, the first aluminum plate having a plurality of heating elements embedded therein to provide a plurality of heating zones; a second aluminum plate disposed beneath and supporting the first aluminum plate; a third aluminum plate disposed beneath and supporting the second aluminum plate; a non-metallic ring disposed atop the first aluminum plate; and a plurality of spacers having an upper portion disposed above a surface of the first aluminum plate, wherein the non-metallic ring and the plurality of spacers support the substrate above the first aluminum plate.
US09490148B2	Adhesion promoter apparatus and method A structure comprises a substrate having a plateau region and a trench region, a reflecting layer formed over a top surface of the trench region, a first adhesion promoter layer formed over the reflecting layer, a bottom cladding layer deposited over the first adhesion promoter layer, a core layer formed over the bottom cladding layer and a top cladding layer formed over the core layer.
US09490133B2	Etching apparatus A system and method of etching a semiconductor device are provided. Etching solution is sampled and analyzed by a monitoring unit to determine a concentration of components within the etching solution, such as an oxidant concentration. Then, based upon such measurement, a makeup amount of the components may be added be a makeup unit to the etching solution to control the concentration of the components within the etching system.
US09490129B2	Integrated circuits having improved gate structures and methods for fabricating same Integrated circuits with improved gate structures and methods for fabricating integrated circuits with improved gate structures are provided. In an embodiment, a method for fabricating an integrated circuit includes providing a semiconductor substrate with fin structures. A gate-forming material is deposited over the semiconductor substrate and fin structures. The method includes performing a first etch process to etch the gate-forming material to form a gate line having a first side and a second side. The first side and second side of the gate line are bounded with material. The method includes performing a second etch process to etch a portion of the gate line bound by the material to separate the gate line into adjacent gate structures and to define a tip-to-tip distance between the adjacent gate structures.
US09490118B2	Method for manufacturing germanium epitaxial layer and method for manufacturing device using the same A method for manufacturing a germanium (Ge) epitaxial layer is provided. First, a substrate is provided. Then, a first deposition process is performed to deposit a first Ge epitaxial film on the substrate. Next, a first annealing process is performed on the first Ge epitaxial film. Following that, a second deposition process is performed to directly deposit a second Ge epitaxial film on the first Ge epitaxial film. Thereafter, a second annealing process is performed on the second Ge epitaxial film, wherein the Ge epitaxial layer includes the first Ge epitaxial film and the second Ge epitaxial film, and a thickness of the Ge epitaxial layer is greater than 0.5 microns.
US09490112B2	System and method for characterizing ions using a superconducting transmission line detector A system and method for characterizing incident ions are provided. The method includes positioning a transmission line detector to receive incident ions, the transmission line detector comprising a superconducting meandering wire defining a detection area for incident ions, and applying a bias current to the transmission line detector. The method also includes detecting a first signal produced in the transmission line detector due to an ion impacting the detection area, and detecting a second signal produced in the transmission line detector due to the ion impacting the detection area. The method further includes analyzing the first signal and the second signal to characterize the ion. In some aspects, the method further includes identifying a delay between the first signal and the second signal to determine, using the identified delay, a location of the ion on the detection area.
US09490108B2	Indium target and method for manufacturing same Provided are an indium target capable of achieving a high deposition rate while suppressing the occurrence of arcing, and a method for manufacturing the indium target. In the process of solidification at the time of melting and casting an indium ingot, ultrasonic vibration is applied to molten indium liquid which is at least in a state immediately before solidification, and thereby, coarsening of the grain size is suppressed. Thus, an indium target is provided An indium target in which an overall average grain size is 10 mm or less; for the grains observed from a cross-section parallel to a thickness direction, a ratio of an average grain size in a direction parallel to the thickness direction with respect to an average grain size in a direction perpendicular to the thickness direction is 0.7 to 1.1; and pores with a pore size of 50 μm or greater exists at a density of 1 pore/cm3 or less.
US09490105B2	Plasma processing apparatus and method A plasma processing apparatus includes a first and second electrodes disposed on upper and lower sides and opposite each other within a process container, a first RF power application unit and a DC power supply both connected to the first electrode, and second and third radio frequency power application units both connected to the second electrode. A conductive member is disposed within the process container and grounded to release through plasma a current caused by a DC voltage applied from the DC power supply. The conductive member is supported by a first shield part around the second electrode and laterally protruding therefrom at a position between the mount face of the second electrode and an exhaust plate for the conductive member to be exposed to the plasma. The conductive member is grounded through a conductive internal body of the first shield part.
US09490101B2	System and method for scanning an object A system for scanning an object, the system may include (a) charged particles optics that is configured to: scan, with a charged particle beam and at a first scan rate, a first region of interest (ROI) of an area of the object; detect first particles that were generated as a result of the scanning of the first ROI; scan, with the charged particle beam and at a second scan rate, a second ROI of the area of the object; wherein the second scan rate is lower than the first scan rate; wherein first ROI differs from the second ROI by at least one parameter; detect second particles that were generated as a result of the scanning of the second ROA; and (b) a processor that is configured to generate at least one image of the area in response to the first and second particles.
US09490099B2	System and method for multi-source X-ray-based imaging An imaging module includes a plurality of cathodes and respective gates, each cathode configured to generate a separate beam of electrons directed across a vacuum chamber and each gate matched to at least one respective cathode to enable and disable each separate beam of electrons from being directed across the vacuum chamber. A target anode is fixed within the vacuum chamber and arranged to receive the separate beam of electrons from each of the plurality of cathodes and, therefrom, generate a beam of x-rays. A deflection system is arranged between the plurality of cathodes and the target anode to generate a variable magnetic field to control a path followed by each of the separate beams of electrons to the target anode.
US09490094B2	Overcurrent protection apparatus An overcurrent protection apparatus that is connectable to a battery control unit to protect the battery control unit from an overcurrent. The overcurrent protection apparatus includes a fuse member that is provided with a fuse and a fusible wire that is connected in series to the fuse. The fusible wire is made of a conductor that has a melting point lower than that of copper, and has a fusing current value that is higher than that of the fuse. The fuse member is connected in series to the battery control unit.
US09490092B2	Circuit breaker A circuit breaker includes a housing, wiring boards and terminals disposed within the housing, wherein the terminal comprises a screw, a press board and a wire trap provided with a incoming line hole and a wiring space; the screw passes through a threaded hole on the top end face of the wire trap to contact the press board which is able to lift up and down and is embedded in the wire trap; the wiring board traverses the wire trap, and divides the wiring space of the wire trap into two independent wiring spaces; a first line hole is provided on the housing at a position above the screw of the terminal; and the press board and the wire trap perform a relative displacement with the wiring board under the action of the screw, to compress the two independent wiring spaces so as to realize the connection between wires. In the circuit breaker, with the wiring board as a boundary, the wiring space of the wire trap is divided into two independent wiring spaces, realizing a hybrid junction of commonly used wires while realizing the hybrid junction wiring function of single-strand wires with different diameter.
US09490087B2	Retractable keyboard keys A laptop computer comprising a keyboard including a bezel having a plurality of key openings and a plurality of key holding features configured adjacent to the plurality of key openings on a bottom side of the bezel. The laptop computer also includes a plurality of keycaps having a touch surface for receiving a press force, each keycap positioned within a respective one of the plurality of key openings. The laptop computer also includes a chassis having a plurality of planar-translation effecting mechanisms each supporting a respective one of the plurality of keycaps such that, in response to receiving the press force, the respective keycap moves in a press direction and a second direction orthogonal to the press direction from an unpressed position toward a pressed position.
US09490080B2	Negative electrode for power storage device and power storage device A decomposition reaction of an electrolyte solution and the like caused as a side reaction of charge and discharge is minimized in repeated charge and discharge of a lithium ion battery or a lithium ion capacitor, and thus the lithium ion battery or the lithium ion capacitor can have long-term cycle performance. A negative electrode for a power storage device includes a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode active material layer which includes a plurality of particles of a negative electrode active material. Each of the particles of the negative electrode active material has an inorganic compound film containing a first inorganic compound on part of its surface. The negative electrode active material layer has a film in contact with an exposed part of the negative electrode active material and part of the inorganic compound film. The film contains an organic compound and a second inorganic compound.
US09490075B2	Method for fabricating solid electrolytic capacitors The instant disclosure relates to an improved method for the production of solid electrolytic capacitor, comprising the following steps. First, provide an insulating substrate. Next, form a plurality of conducting gels including aluminum powder on the insulating substrate. Thirdly, execute a high-temperature sintering process to metalize the conducting gels to form a plurality of aluminum plates. Next, form a dielectric layer on every aluminum plate. Then form an isolation layer on every dielectric layer to define an anodic region and a cathodic region. Lastly, form a conductive layer on the dielectric layer of every cathodic region, thus defining a solid electrolytic capacitor unit.
US09490066B2	Method for producing ceramic electronic component In order to prevent the ingress of moisture into a void section of a component main body of a ceramic electronic component, at least the component main body of the ceramic electronic component is provided with water repellency using a water repellent agent. The water repellent agent is dissolved in a supercritical fluid such as, a supercritical CO2 fluid, as a solvent to provide at least the component main body with water repellency. After providing the water repellency, the water repellent agent on the outer surface of the component main body is removed. As the water repellent agent, a silane coupling agent may be used.
US09490062B2	Chip electronic component A chip electronic component may include: a magnetic body including an insulating substrate; internal conductive pattern parts disposed on at least one surface of the insulating substrate; external electrodes disposed on the magnetic body and connected to the internal conductive pattern parts; and an additional magnetic layer disposed on a bottom surface of the magnetic body and covering portions of the external electrodes disposed on the bottom surface of the magnetic body.
US09490060B2	Laminated coil component A laminated coil component includes a magnetic body part made of a Ni—Zn-based ferrite material and a coil conductor containing Cu as a main component, which is wound into a coil shape, and the coil conductor is embedded in the magnetic body part to form a component base. The component base is divided into a first region near the coil conductor and a second region other than the first region. The grain size ratio of the average crystal grain size of the magnetic body part in the first region to the average crystal grain size of the magnetic body part in the second region is 0.85 or less. The molar content of CuO in the ferrite raw material is set to 6 mol % or less, and firing is performed in a reducing atmosphere in which the oxygen partial pressure is an equilibrium oxygen partial pressure of Cu—Cu2O or less.
US09490059B2	Coil component, method for manufacturing the same, and coil electronic component A coil component has a wound coil, a coil magnetic body, and an exterior body. The coil magnetic body has a magnetic core inside winding of the wound coil. The exterior body covers a surface of the coil magnetic body. This coil component has a mount surface, and a thermal conductivity in a direction parallel to a surface of the exterior body is greater than a thermal conductivity in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the exterior body.
US09490057B2	Integrated magnetic module An integrated magnetic module includes a first auxiliary circuit board, a second auxiliary circuit board, a first transformer, a second transformer and at least one inductor. The second auxiliary circuit board and the first auxiliary circuit board are arranged side by side. The first transformer is disposed on the first auxiliary circuit board. The second transformer is disposed on the second auxiliary circuit board. The at least one inductor is arranged between the first transformer and second transformer, and electrically connected with the first auxiliary circuit board and the second auxiliary circuit board.
US09490054B2	Seed layer for multilayer magnetic materials A magnetic element is disclosed wherein a composite seed layer such as TaN/Mg enhances perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in an overlying magnetic layer that may be a reference layer, free layer, or dipole layer. The first seed layer is selected from one or more of Ta, Zr, Nb, TaN, ZrN, NbN, and Ru. The second seed layer is selected from one or more of Mg, Sr, Ti, Al, V, Hf, B, and Si. A growth promoting layer made of NiCr or an alloy thereof may be inserted between the seed layer and magnetic layer. The magnetic element has thermal stability to at least 400° C.
US09490049B2	Wire harness, method for manufacturing wire harness, and protective member An object is to form a protective member such that its inner circumferential surface portion is hard and its outer circumferential surface portion is soft. A wire harness includes a wire harness main portion that includes at least one electrical wire, and a protective member. The protective member is formed by a laminate, which is obtained by overlaying an inner circumferential non-woven member and an outer circumferential non-woven member, being hot-pressed into a shape that covers at least a portion of the wire harness main portion, and the inner circumferential surface portion is harder than the outer circumferential surface portion.
US09490048B2	Electrical contacts in layered structures Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to structures comprising a nanostructure layer that includes a plurality of transparent conductors and coating layer formed on a surface thereof. In some embodiments, the coating layer includes one or more conductive plugs having outer and inner surfaces. The inner surface the plug is placed in electrical communication with the nanostructure layer and the outer surface forms conductive surface contacts proximate an outer surface of the coating layer. In some embodiments, the structure includes a polarizer and is used as a shielding layer in flat panel electrochromic displays, such as liquid crystal displays, touch panels, and the like.
US09490036B2	Control rod A control rod for a nuclear boiling water reactor is described. The control rod has a longitudinal centre axis and control rod blades, each control rod blade having a first and a second side and being substantially parallel to the longitudinal center axis. Each control rod blade comprises an absorber material which extends from a first absorber end to a second absorber end, the distance between the first absorber end and the second absorber end defining an active length. The control rod blades are provided with distance means on the first and second sides of the control rod blades, the distance means extending a distance of at least a third of the active length of the control rod blade.
US09490033B2	Auto-blow memory repair In an example embodiment, a method may include collecting, at a controller within an integrated circuit, defect information indicative of defects identified during a built-in self-test (BIST) operation performed on plural memories embedded within the integrated circuit. Fuses within the integrated circuit may be blown based on the defect information collected automatically and without software intervention. The fuses blown may be used to inform a built-in self-repair (BISR) operation performed on the plural memories.
US09490031B2	High-speed address fault detection using split address ROM High-speed address fault detection is described that uses a split address ROM (read only memory) for address fault detection in split array memory systems. In one aspect, a disclosed embodiment includes separate arrays of memory cells having a plurality of wordlines and being configured to be accessed based upon a wordline address. Two or more separate address ROMs are also provided with each address ROM being associated with a different one of the separate arrays and being configured to provide outputs based upon only a portion of the wordline address. Detection logic is coupled to the outputs from the address ROMs and is configured to provide one or more fault indicator outputs to indicate whether an address fault associated with the wordline address has occurred. The outputs form the address ROMs can also be used for wordline continuity fault detection. Other embodiments are also described.
US09490027B2	Anti-fuse type one-time programmable memory cell array with plurality of unit cells, each made of a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor structure without a selection transistor and method of operation the same An anti-fuse type one-time programmable (OTP) memory cell array includes a plurality of unit cells which are respectively located at cross points of a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, a well region shared by the plurality of unit cells, a plurality of anti-fuse gates respectively disposed in the plurality of columns to intersect the well region, a plurality of source/drain regions respectively disposed in portions of the well region between the plurality of anti-fuse gates, and a plurality of drain regions respectively disposed in portions of the well region located at one sides of the anti-fuse gates arrayed in a last column, which are opposite to the anti-fuse gates arrayed in a first column. Each of the unit cells includes one anti-fuse transistor having a MOS transistor structure without a selection transistor.
US09490021B2	Semiconductor device The semiconductor device may include a memory block including a memory string electrically coupled between a bit line and a common source line, the memory string including source select transistors and memory cells configured to operate in response to operating voltages applied to select lines and word lines coupled to the memory cells and the source select transistors. The semiconductor device may include an operation circuit configured to apply a source voltage to the common source line for an erase operation, and to control floating states of the select lines and the word lines. The operation circuit may be configured to set the select lines to a floating state after the source voltage starts to increase from a precharge level to an erase level.
US09490014B2	Method and system for accessing a flash memory device An apparatus, system, and computer-implemented method for controlling data transfer between a plurality of serial data link interfaces and a plurality of memory banks in a semiconductor memory is disclosed. In one example, a flash memory device with multiple links and memory banks, where the links are independent of the banks, is disclosed. The flash memory devices may be cascaded in a daisy-chain configuration using echo signal lines to serially communicate between memory devices. In addition, a virtual multiple link configuration is described wherein a single link is used to emulate multiple links.
US09490006B2	Time division multiplexed multiport memory In some embodiments, a time division multiplexing (TDM) circuit is configured to receive an external clock signal and generate an internal clock signal that has at least one pulse during a clock cycle of the external clock signal. An address selector is configured to select a current address before a first time within one of the at least one pulse, and select a next address starting from the first time to generate a selected address. An address storage element is configured to receive the selected address from the address selector and provide a passed through or stored address. The provided address is the current address substantially throughout the one of the at least one pulse. A single-port (SP) memory is configured to access at least one SP memory cell at the address provided by the address storage element in response to the internal clock signal.
US09490001B2	Semiconductor memory device that controls refresh period, memory system and operating method thereof A semiconductor memory device includes a cell array and a refresh controller coupled to the cell array. The refresh controller is configured to insert at least one insertion refresh address in a first refresh address sequence based on address information about the cell array to generate a second refresh address sequence and to apply the second refresh address sequence to the cell array, such that selected cells may be refreshed more frequently without increasing an overall refresh rate.
US09489999B2	Magnetic tunnel junction resistance comparison based physical unclonable function A method includes coupling a first magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element and a second MTJ element to a comparison circuit. The method also includes comparing, at the comparison circuit, a first resistance of the first MTJ element to a second resistance of the second MTJ element. The method further includes generating a first physical unclonable function (PUF) output bit based on a result of comparing the first resistance to the second resistance.
US09489998B1	Magnetic junctions having a magnetoelastic free layer programmable using spin transfer torque A magnetic junction and method and programming the magnetic junction are described. The magnetic junction has a free layer, a reference layer, and a nonmagnetic spacer layer between reference and free layers. The free layer is switchable between stable magnetic states when a write current is passed through the magnetic junction. The free layer has a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy exceeding its out-of-plane demagnetization energy a quiescent state. The free layer has a magnetostriction such that the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy changes in the presence of a programming voltage applied for the magnetic junction, canting that the magnetic moment by at least five degrees from its quiescent direction. The programming voltage is at least 0.1 volt and not more than 2 volts. The nonmagnetic spacer layer is an insulating tunneling barrier layer and/or the magnetic junction includes an additional insulating layer adjacent to the opposite interface of the free layer.
US09489983B2	Low bandwidth consumption online content editing Various embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for low bandwidth consumption online content editing, where user-created content comprising high definition/quality content is created or modified at an online content editing server according to instructions from an online content editor client, and where a proxy version of the resulting user-created content is provided to online content editor client to facilitate review or further editing of the user-created content from the online content editor client. In some embodiments, the online content editing server utilizes proxy content during creation and modification operations on the user-created content, and replaces such proxy content with corresponding higher definition/quality content, possibly when the user-created content is published for consumption, or when the user has paid for the higher quality content.
US09489981B2	Successive initialization of television channel recording In various arrangements, a television receiver system for successive initialization of television channel recording is presented. The system may include a control processor, configured to determine a plurality of television channels are configured to begin recording at a same time. The control processor may transmit a first request for recording of a first television channel of the plurality of television channels. The system may include a tuning management processor, configured to configure a first recording of the first television channel in response to the first request. The tuning management processor may also transmit an acknowledgement to the control processor following the first recording of the first television channel being configured. The control processor may, in response to receiving the acknowledgement, transmit, to the tuning management processor, a second request for recording of a second television channel of the plurality of television channels.
US09489979B2	Image processing apparatus for time-lapse moving image, image processing method, and storage medium An image capture apparatus includes a photographic scene selection section and a parameter setting section. The photographic scene selection section selects a photographic scene. The parameter setting section independently sets, according to the photographic scene selected by the photographic scene selection section, each of a photographing parameter relating to time-lapse photography that captures images at a predetermined interval and generates a moving image with a shorter playback time than photographing time, and a playback parameter relating to playback of a time-lapse moving image photographed at the photographing parameter.
US09489970B2	Magnetic head and magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus A magnetic head of an embodiment includes a stack, side shields, and a first and a second magnetic shield. The stack includes a pin layer having a fixed magnetization direction, a first free layer having a magnetization direction to change in accordance with an external magnetic field, a second free layer antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled with the first free layer and having a magnetization direction to change in accordance with the field, and an antiferromagnetic layer exchange-coupled with the second free layer. A magnetic field is applied from the side shields to the first and second free layers, and a direction of the magnetic field is substantially parallel to the magnetization direction of one of the first and second free layers and substantially antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the other, and a magnetic volume of the one is larger than a magnetic volume of the other.
US09489969B1	Magnetic head including a main pole and a write shield to provide improved write characteristics without compromising the function of the write shield A magnetic head includes a main pole, a write shield and a gap section. The write shield includes a leading shield having a top surface opposed to a bottom end of the main pole. The gap section includes a leading gap section for separating the leading shield from the bottom end of the main pole. The leading gap section is formed using a first nonmagnetic layer and a second nonmagnetic layer. The first nonmagnetic layer has a first front end located closest to but at a distance from the medium facing surface. The second nonmagnetic layer has a second front end located in the medium facing surface.
US09489968B2	Thermally-assisted magnetic recording head A thermally-assisted magnetic recording head of the present invention includes: a stacked-layer structure including a first yoke, a second yoke, a first coil, a second coil, and a waveguide; a plasmon generator; a magnetic pole; and one or more contact pillars connecting the first coil in series to the second coil. Here, one or both of the first coil and the second coil include a plurality of wiring patterns connected in parallel.
US09489966B1	Discreet emergency response A vehicle system includes a microphone programmed to capture sounds in a passenger compartment of a vehicle and output a sound signal. A speech analyzer analyzes the sound signal for distressed speech and for action words. The speech analyzer outputs an alert signal if distressed speech and action words are detected. A processing device receives the alert signal and initiates contact with an emergency service provider in response to the alert signal.
US09489963B2	Correlation-based two microphone algorithm for noise reduction in reverberation Embodiments are directed towards providing speech enhancement of audio signals from a target source and noise reduction of audio signals from a noise source. A coherence between a first audio signal from a first microphone and a second audio signal from a second microphone may be determined. A first gain function may be determined based on real components of a coherence function, wherein the real components include coefficients based on the previously determined coherence. A second gain function may be determined based on imaginary components of the coherence function. And a third gain function may be determined based on a relationship between a real component of the coherence function and a threshold range. An enhanced audio signal may be generated by applying a combination of the first gain function, the second gain function, and the third gain function to the first audio signal.
US09489954B2	Encoding and rendering of object based audio indicative of game audio content In some embodiments, a method (typically performed by a game console) for generating an object based audio program indicative of game audio content (audio content pertaining to play of or events in a game, and optionally also other information regarding the game), and including at least one audio object channel and at least one speaker channel. In other embodiments, a game console configured to generate such an object based audio program. Some embodiments implement object clustering in which audio content of input objects is mixed to generate at least one clustered audio object, or audio content of at least one input object is mixed with speaker channel audio. In response to the program, a spatial rendering system (e.g., external to the game console) may operate with knowledge of playback speaker configuration to generate speaker feeds indicative of a spatial mix of the program's speaker and object channel content.
US09489943B2	System and method for learning alternate pronunciations for speech recognition A system and method for learning alternate pronunciations for speech recognition is disclosed. Alternative name pronunciations may be covered, through pronunciation learning, that have not been previously covered in a general pronunciation dictionary. In an embodiment, the detection of phone-level and syllable-level mispronunciations in words and sentences may be based on acoustic models trained by Hidden Markov Models. Mispronunciations may be detected by comparing the likelihood of the potential state of the targeting pronunciation unit with a pre-determined threshold through a series of tests. It is also within the scope of an embodiment to detect accents.
US09489936B2	Ultrasonic transducer An ultrasonic transducer as an important part of an ultrasonic flow meter is described, with a transducer housing and with a transducer element, the transducer housing having an ultrasound window and a housing tube, the transducer element being made for sending or receiving ultrasonic waves and being either near the ultrasound window of the transducer housing or away from the ultrasound window of the transducer housing, there being a relatively soft mechanical coupling system and the mechanical coupling system having preferably at least one weakly coupled mechanical resonator. The ultrasonic transducer is improved with respect to the prevention of the transmission of housing waves by there being a second soft mechanical coupling system.
US09489934B2	Method for selecting music based on face recognition, music selecting system and electronic apparatus A method for selecting music based on face recognition, a music selecting system and an electronic apparatus are provided. The method includes the following steps: accessing a database to retrieve a plurality of song emotion coordinates corresponding to a plurality of songs; mapping the song emotion coordinates to an emotion coordinate graph; capturing a human face image; identifying an emotion state corresponding to the human face image, and transforming the emotion state to a current emotion coordinate; mapping the current emotion coordinate to the emotion coordinate graph; updating a song playlist according to a relative position between the current emotion coordinate and a target emotion coordinate, wherein the song playlist includes a plurality of songs to be played that direct the current emotion coordinate to the target emotion coordinate.
US09489928B2	Adjustment of monitor resolution and pixel refreshment based on detected viewer distance Techniques are disclosed for improving energy efficiency of displays, and in particular, displays capable of selective refresh. In an embodiment, the techniques include adjusting the effective resolution of a display based on the viewer's distance from the display. The effective resolution adjustment can be accomplished by, for example, grouping individual pixels or blurring the display buffer (or both pixel grouping and blurring) based on the viewer's distance from the display. Such an adjustment has the effect of creating enlarged pixels from a plurality of smaller pixels. In any such cases, each of the enlarged pixels (also called macro-pixels) can then be selectively refreshed based on changes from the previous frame. In addition, even if one of the macro-pixels has changed from the last frame, it also need not be refreshed if the viewer would not perceive that change given a subtle or otherwise unperceivable difference in intensity.
US09489927B2	Information processing device for controlling direction of display image and control method thereof Information indicating a posture of the information processing device is periodically detected. When the posture of the information processing device indicated by the information has changed, the first display change unit rotates the image displayed on display unit. At this time, determination is made whether or not to cancel the rotation of the image by the first display change unit. If it is determined to cancel to rotate the image, the second display change unit changes the direction of the image to display on the display section to the direction to which the image was directed before it was rotated by the first display change unit.
US09489919B2	System and method for primary-matched color gamut mapping This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, to map color of an input image pixel to a corresponding device element of a display device capable of displaying a plurality of device primary colors associated with the display element. The color mapping method includes dividing the display color gamut associated with the display device into a plurality of segments including a plurality of display colors. The input color gamut is also divided into a plurality of segments corresponding to the plurality of segments of the display color gamut. The color mapping further includes identifying a segment of the input color gamut including the image pixel color; determining a corresponding segment of the display color gamut; and assigning a display color that is a weighted combination of the colors included in the determined segment of the display color gamut.
US09489916B2	Processing method of an external-image device A processing method of an external-image device includes the following steps. A first number of basic area-updating requests are received, wherein each of the basic area-updating requests corresponds to an image-updating area. The first number of basic area-updating requests are generated by an electrical device and correspond to an updating content of a displayed image. The image-updating areas corresponding to the first number of basic area-updating requests are calculated to integrate the image-updating areas to a second number of transmission-image areas. The second number of transmission-image areas are transmitted to the external-image device through an external video adaptor.
US09489913B2	Flexible display apparatus and control method thereof A flexible display apparatus is provided. The flexible display apparatus includes: a display configured to display an object on a screen; an actuator configured to provide shape deformation to the display; and a controller configured to determine deformation information for reconfiguring and displaying the object, control the actuator to provide the shape deformation according to the determined deformation information, and control the display to reconfigure the displayed object and display the reconfigured object.
US09489910B2	Display device A display device includes a display panel including gate lines, data lines, and pixels connected to the gate lines and the data lines, a data driver configured to apply data voltages to the pixels through the data lines, and a common voltage generator configured to apply first and second common voltages to the pixels. The pixels connected to odd-numbered gate lines of the gate lines are connected to the data lines disposed at a first side thereof, the pixels connected to even-numbered gate lines of the gate lines are connected to the data lines disposed at a second side thereof, and the common voltage generator is configured to apply the first common voltage to the pixels connected to the odd-numbered gate lines and apply the second common voltage to the pixels connected to the even-numbered gate lines.
US09489906B2	Driving structure of liquid crystal display panel, liquid crystal display panel, and driving method thereof The present disclosure discloses a driving device for liquid crystal display panel, a liquid crystal display panel, and a driving method thereof, said driving device comprising: a plurality of scanning lines, a first control circuit, a second control circuit, and a third control circuit. According to the present disclosure, three control circuits are added to the driving device of the liquid crystal display panel, whereby normal two dimensional display can be realized without additional cost being added therein. The black frame insertion technology for eliminating the cross-talk phenomena during three dimensional display can be used, i.e., the dual-gates, which are used for reducing the influence of high frame rate on the charging of the liquid crystal panel, can be turned on simultaneously.
US09489902B2	Liquid crystal display device In a liquid crystal display device (100) according to an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of color display pixels (CP) include three or more pixels (P) which exhibit different colors. The pixels (P) include a first sub-pixel (SP1) electrically connected to a first source bus line (SA) via a first TFT (T1) and a second sub-pixel (SP2) electrically connected to a second source bus line (SB) via a second TFT (T2). The control circuit (15) is configured to generate a first display signal voltage and a second display signal voltage that are to be supplied to the first sub-pixel (SP1) and the second sub-pixel (SP2) of a pixel (P) based on a grayscale level to be exhibited by the pixel (P) and grayscale levels to be exhibited by two or more remaining pixels (P) included in a color display pixel (CP) to which the pixel (P) belongs that are indicated by an input display signal, and output the generated first and second display signal voltages to the first source bus line (SA) and the second source bus line (SB), respectively.
US09489898B2	LED boost converter and backlight LED driver device using the same The present disclosure discloses an LED boost converter and an LED backlight driver using the same. The LED boost converter comprises an inductive boost circuit used in different display modes for boosting an input voltage to a working voltage necessary for the operation of LED in a current display mode; a detecting circuit used in different display modes for selecting different detecting resistors for the different display modes so as to provide different detecting currents in the inductive boost circuit; and a controller used for providing a pulse width modulation signal so as to drive the inductive boost circuit, and for detecting whether a detecting voltage corresponding to the detecting current exceeds a reference voltage. The present disclosure can avoid possible element failure or abnormal protection in the 3D display mode by arranging a detecting circuit in the LED boost converter so as to offer detecting resistors corresponding to the working currents of the 2D display mode and the 3D display mode respectively.
US09489897B2	System and methods for thermal compensation in AMOLED displays Disclosed is a circuit and technique to determine the temperature of an AMOLED display in order to calibrate programming data signals. The temperature of selected pixels of a plurality of pixels in an AMOLED display is measured via one of several disclosed methods. A thermal sensor for the selected pixels may be used. A measurement of output voltage data may be used to estimate temperature. A finite element analysis model may be used based on consumed power of the selected pixel. The temperature data for the selected pixel is then interpolated to the neighboring non-selected pixels to estimate the temperature of those pixels.
US09489896B2	Gate driving circuit and gate driving method, gate driver on array (GOA) and display device The present disclosure provides a gate driving circuit which can be applied in a display panel. The gate driving circuit may include a driving signal output unit, provided with a storage capacitor; a driving control unit, configured to sample an input signal in a first period of each scanning cycle, control the driving signal output unit to output a first gate driving signal which is configured to turn on thin film transistors (TFTs) in a display panel in a second period of each scanning cycle, and control the driving signal output unit to output a second gate driving signal which is configured to turn off the TFTs in the display panel by using the storage capacitor across which a voltage difference is within a predetermined range in a third period of each scanning cycle; and a compensating unit, configured to maintain the voltage difference across the storage capacitor to be within the predetermined range in the third period of each scanning cycle.
US09489888B2	Organic light emitting display device and method of driving the same to include a compensation strategy applied during different time periods A method of driving an organic light emitting display device includes sensing characteristics of driving TFTs of pixels to generate sensing data at a power-on time when the organic light emitting display device is powered on, merging initial compensation data and the sensing data at the power-on time to compensate for the characteristics of the driving TFTs of all the pixels, displaying an image in a driving mode and sequentially sensing characteristics of driving TFTs of a plurality of pixels in units of one horizontal line in real time during a blank interval between frames, and sequentially compensating for the characteristics of the driving TFTs of the pixels in units of one horizontal line in real time by using a real-time sensing data generated by real-time sensing.
US09489887B2	AMOLED microdisplay device with active temperature control An active-matrix organic light-emitting diode microdisplay device having a temperature control system including a temperature sensor and a control means for regulating the temperature of the OLED. The temperature is regulated by a bias transistor within the circuit, operating as a function of the temperature of the panel, such that low panel temperatures cause an increase in voltage of the bias transistor which draws a higher current through the top voltage drive transistor for self-heating the area surrounding the OLED.
US09489876B2	Method of inspecting pixel array substrate and apparatus for inspecting pixel array substrate An inspection method including following steps is provided. A pixel array substrate including a plurality of pixel units is in contact with a photoelectric inspection device. A plurality of electrical signals is inputted to the pixel units of the pixel array substrate and the photoelectric inspection device. Based on an optical property of the photoelectric inspection device, the pixel units of the pixel array substrate are being examined on whether they are normal or not. Moreover, an inspection apparatus realizing the inspection method is also provided.
US09489868B2	Device for simulating the operation of a medication delivery device A simulation device for simulating the operation of a medication delivery device comprises a housing (1) and a moveable element (4) partly disposed in the housing (1). The moveable element is moveable from a first position to a second position.
US09489862B2	Music theory casino fundamentals game The invention is a game that contains several tactile pieces that can be manipulated to explain the fundamentals of music theory. The musical game hardware/teaching aids collectively called “Music Theory Casino Fundamentals Game” includes a scale isolator board, circle of 5ths spin wheel, 60 key cards, 1 wild card, 9 (or more) step tiles, major and 3 forms of minor formula flat board insert, accidental game pieces, 8-sided die containing the numbers 0-7, sharp/flat coin and harmonic/melodic coin. The teaching aids resemble game hardware found in gambling casinos and provide the user with a “game like” feel while they learn the fundamentals of music theory.
US09489851B1	Landing signal officer (LSO) information management and trend analysis (IMTA) system Embodiments in accordance with the invention provide a Landing Signal Officer (LSO) Information Management and Trend Analysis (IMTA) system for electronically capturing landing performance data related to aircraft approaches and landings in an IMTA application residing on a portable electronic device (PED) and for automatically generating performance data and trend analysis of the data. In one embodiment, data is input by user, such as an LSO, to one or more context sensitive graphical user interfaces displayed on a touch screen PED. Data entered to and generated by the IMTA application can be further communicated to and updated by external computer systems and appended with additional data and/or video available from external computer systems.
US09489843B2	Map provision server and map provision method In order to enable information about dangers from the perspective of users using various means of transportation to be collected, a map provision server (1) is equipped with: a data acquisition unit (11) that acquires from multiple vehicles (20) driving information (FCD) containing instances of sudden braking and the locations where the sudden braking occurred; a dangerous location identification unit (121) which, on the basis of the acquired driving information, identifies dangerous locations (41) where many instances of sudden braking have occurred; and a posting column generation unit (122) that places the dangerous locations (41) on a map and generates a posting column (60) capable of receiving postings from users and associated with the dangerous locations (41) placed on the map. The map on which the dangerous locations (41) have been placed is provided to a user terminal (4).
US09489842B2	Method for choosing a traffic route A system for identifying a fastest possible travel route is disclosed. A traveler data processor collects traffic speed data and associates the traffic speed data with road segments. The road segments collectively represent one or more possible travel routes from a start point to an end point. A forecast engine determines a predicted travel time for each of the road segments based on, for example, the traffic speed data for each of the road segments. A routing engine determines the fastest possible travel route from the start point to the end point. The fastest possible travel route is the possible travel route from the one or more possible travel routes with the shortest predicted travel time.
US09489827B2	System and method for distributing content in a video surveillance network A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes creating a key from a hash of a resource identifier associated with a video object; storing the video object in a distributed hash table with the key; and replicating the video object in the distributed hash table based on a redundancy factor associated with the video object. In more particular embodiments, the method can include fragmenting the video object into segments; creating sub-keys with a hash of resource identifiers associated with each of the segments; storing the segments in the distributed hash table with the sub-keys; and replicating the segments in the distributed hash table based on the redundancy factor.
US09489821B2	Device and method for monitoring the presence of an item Exemplary methods and systems for monitoring presence of an item or items are disclosed herein. An exemplary method may be carried out by a monitoring device having a processor and a memory, and may involve determining that presence data associated with an item meets one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to a list of items whose presence is monitored in a particular context, and based on determining that presence data associated with the item meets the one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context, adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context.
US09489816B2	Portable patient monitoring system profile switchover Portable patient monitoring systems are provided that include profiles that can be selectively overwritten with profiles stored in or otherwise accessible by docking stations that can mate with the portable patient monitoring systems. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.
US09489815B2	Apparatus for use in a fall detector or fall detection system, and a method of operating the same There is provided a method of operating a fall detector, the method comprising, on detecting a fall event by a user of the fall detector, measuring at least one physiological characteristic of the user; and using the measurement of the at least one physiological characteristic to determine whether to expedite an alert that the user has fallen. An apparatus comprising a processor that is configured to perform the method described above is also provided.
US09489813B1	System for location in environment and identification tag A system for location of animals and/or objects in an environment includes a signal processing and signal generation system consisting of electromagnetic tags on animals (or other objects) in an environment (typically a three dimension outdoor natural environment) where the animals or objects are physically present at arbitrary locations, and an electro-magnetic signal generating, signal receiving, and signal processing system that can move through or in relation to the environment. The system can compute the location and identity of the animals or objects based on signals received from their associated tags, including the calculated location of the ID tags, which function as “Reader-Locators.” The calculated location is enhanced by information about the environment provided by maps, satellite photos, GPS, GIS and/or other data specific to the probability of the location of the animals or objects within certain regions of the environment. The system includes a physical and electromagnetic modeling operation that is interactive with the environmental information derived from the actual environment, either historically or in “real-time” as the monitoring process occurs.
US09489812B2	Active infrared sensor Methods and systems are described for monitoring a monitored space. An example computer-implemented method for monitoring a monitored space includes periodically emitting with an active infrared sensor a modulated infrared signal into a monitored space being monitored by a home automation system, receiving with the active infrared sensor the modulated infrared signals reflected from objects in the monitored space, and determining at least one of whether a number of objects in the monitored space have changed and whether any of the objects are moving.
US09489801B2	Community gaming experience A gaming environment may provide a user with a community gaming experience by providing, via a first interface at a first gaming machine, a display of a wagering game to a first player; determining an initial game outcome for a play of the wagering game by the first player, wherein the initial game outcome is a losing game outcome; based on the losing game outcome by the first player, receiving, from a second player, a selection of an option to wager on a final game outcome, the final game outcome being based in part on the losing game outcome; displaying, via a second interface at a second gaming machine, the final game outcome to the second player; and providing an award to the second player based on the final game outcome.
US09489797B2	Intermediate credit hybrid gaming system An intermediate credit hybrid game that awards a player an intermediate credit. The intermediate credit is awarded to the player on the based on an outcome of a wager that was made in a gambling game but triggered by the player's play of a skill-based entertainment game. The intermediate credit may be converted by the player into an in-game resource within the entertainment game.
US09489796B2	Modifying wagering games based on secondary-participant data A wagering game system and its operations are described herein. In some examples, the operations can include connecting the wagering game system to client devices via the network communication interface. The operations can further include detecting an electronic indication of wagering game activity performed via a first of the client devices. A first user account is associated with the first of the client devices. The operations can further include determining, via an electronic game processing unit, that a second user account, associated with a second of the client devices, is indicated in the first user account as a social contact. The operations can further include automatically increasing, via the electronic game processing unit, a chance that a first casino wagering game associated with the second of the client devices will result in a winning outcome based on the wagering game activity performed via the first of the client devices.
US09489788B1	Luggage locking device and baggage handling method Disclosed herein is an electronic luggage locking device and airline baggage handling method mainly characterized by ease-of-use, enhanced security and efficiency by utilizing proximity access-gaining and authentication technologies, a plurality of sensors, embedded electronic storage and retrieval of luggage information. The luggage locking device is incorporated with an electronic communication system enables interactions with other sensor modules within the luggage, external smart devices and airline transport systems to form an unitary baggage handling system. The baggage handling system contents a method using application software and capable of indicating and communicating the said luggage information and locational identification within an airline transport systems.
US09489781B2	Systems and methods for utilizing telematics data A computer system and method for performing predictive analytics on telematics data regarding an entity. The computer system having a memory configured to store instructions and a processor disposed in communication with the memory. The processor upon execution of the instructions is configured to receive telematics data regarding an entity and analyze the received telematics data to identify a pattern of behavior. A behavioral conclusion and/or meaning is then determined for the entity based on analysis of the received telematics data.
US09489776B2	Gen II meter system Apparatus for controlling and monitoring vehicle parking meter systems wherein a plurality of programmable single space parking meters enable the resetting of time upon a vehicle departure and the occurrence of any other operational parameter; multiple low power microprocessors for monitoring and initiating changes in the logic for all the devices monitoring the parking meter spaces; a plurality of specialized microprocessors for monitoring the system to assure reliable operation thereof; a master operational microprocessor connected to each of the additional low power microprocessors for monitoring of and control of any changes in the logic to establish new operating parameters for the low power microprocessors; a centralized operational controller accessible to parking personnel to monitor and control the space monitoring units from a remote location; a pass-through radio frequency communication device for passing messages from the centralized operational controller to and from each space monitoring unit by way of the internet; and a power supply comprising a rechargeable battery receiving a charge from any combination of high energy density-low current battery and/or a solar panel mounted onto the power supply.
US09489774B2	Three dimensional user interface in augmented reality Technologies are generally described for a three dimensional user interface in augmented reality. In some examples, a method for generating a virtual object in a display area may include generating a first virtual object in the display area with use of at least two viewing cones generated by a display. The method may further include receiving spatial data that relates to a location of a real object in the display area and determining that the real object is interfering with at least one of the viewing cones. The method may further include generating a second virtual object corresponding to the first virtual object. The second virtual object may be located between the display and the location of the real object.
US09489773B2	Caching support for visual search and augmented reality in mobile networks A visual search and augmented reality are performed in a communication system that includes an Internet network attached to a mobile network. Data related to objects that are geographically related to at least one intermediate node is stored in at least one intermediate node in the mobile network. This involves transmitting a request for metadata from a user equipment in the mobile network towards the Internet network via the at least one intermediate node. The request comprises object recognition data related to an object geographically related to the at least one intermediate node. The request is de-tunnelled and intercepted in an intermediate node of the at least one intermediate node.
US09489760B2	Mechanism for facilitating dynamic simulation of avatars corresponding to changing user performances as detected at computing devices A mechanism is described for facilitating dynamic simulation of avatars based on user performances according to one embodiment. A method of embodiments, as described herein, includes capturing, in real-time, an image of a user, the image including a video image over a plurality of video frames. The method may further include tracking changes in size of the user image, the tracking of the changes may include locating one or more positions of the user image within each of the plurality of video frames, computing, in real-time, user performances based on the changes in the size of the user image over the plurality of video frames, and dynamically scaling an avatar associated with the user such that the avatar is dynamically simulated corresponding to the user performances.
US09489754B2	Annotation of map geometry vertices Some embodiments provide a method for a mapping service. The method receives a set of road segments for a map region. For each road segment in the set, the method generates a geometry that includes a set of vertices that define a boundary for the road segment. The geometries are included as part of a map tile for the map region. The map tiles are for downloading to user devices that render map presentations using the geometries. For several of the vertices, the method stores data with the vertices that specifies for the device at least one aspect of rendering the road for the map presentation.
US09489748B2	Image processing apparatus and method, image processing system, and non-transitory computer readable medium An image processing apparatus includes the following elements. An image information obtaining unit obtains image information concerning a first image. A position information obtaining unit obtains first position information indicating a representative position of a specified region which has been specified by a user from the first image as an image region to be subjected to image processing. A region detector detects the specified region from the first position information. An image processor performs image processing on the specified region.
US09489744B2	Parameterized model of 2D articulated human shape A novel “contour person” (CP) model of the human body is proposed that has the expressive power of a detailed 3D model and the computational benefits of a simple 2D part-based model. The CP model is learned from a 3D model of the human body that captures natural shape and pose variations; the projected contours of this model, along with their segmentation into parts forms the training set. The CP model factors deformations of the body into three components: shape variation, viewpoint change and pose variation.The CP model can be “dressed” with a low-dimensional clothing model, referred to as “dressed contour person” (DCP) model. The clothing is represented as a deformation from the underlying CP representation. This deformation is learned from training examples using principal component analysis to produce so-called eigen-clothing. The coefficients of the eigen-clothing can be used to recognize different categories of clothing on dressed people.The parameters of the estimated 2D body can be used to discriminatively predict 3D body shape using a learned mapping approach. The prediction framework can be used to estimate/predict the 3D shape of a person from a cluttered video sequence and/or from several snapshots taken with a digital camera or a cell phone.
US09489742B2	Apparatus, method and computer-readable recording medium for detecting moving object using depth map An apparatus, a method and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for detecting a moving object using a depth map is provided. The apparatus includes a segment image generator unit that generates a segment image to distinguish each object using a depth image of a current input frame; a background image generator unit that generates a current background image by applying a moving average method to the depth image and a background image of a previous input frame; and a moving mask generator unit that generates a moving mask by comparing the depth image with the current background image to thereby find moving parts in the depth image.
US09489738B2	System and method for tracking non-visible structure of a body with multi-element fiducial A monitoring system tracks the non-visible structure of a body in three dimensions. A tracker obtains image information of the object and instruments in its vicinity, all bearing 3D tracking markers. A controller spatially relates image information with previously obtained scan data of the object revealing non-visible structure of the object. For the scan a fiducial reference detectable in the scan is removably attached to a location on the object. The scan data and image information is used by the controller to provide the user with real time information on the relative 3D locations and orientations of instruments and non-visible structure of the body. In a further embodiment the monitoring system may be used to model and track changes in the body itself. In other embodiments, a model of the body and instruments is used to track contemplated actions and warn about possibly inappropriate instrument procedures.
US09489735B1	Multiplexed temporal calibration for event-based cameras Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for calibrating an event-based camera are presented. One example method includes the steps of receiving a calibration image comprising intensity information for a set of image elements defining the calibration image; iteratively, until a threshold number of different image elements have been projected: selecting a portion of the calibration image corresponding to a subset of image elements of the set of image elements, the subset comprising less than all image elements in the set of image elements, and comprising at least one image element not previously selected; projecting the selected portion of the calibration image onto a sensor of the event-based camera; detecting, by the sensor, the selected portion of the calibration image; generating a set of detected pixels corresponding to the detecting; and discontinuing projection of the selected portion; and determining, for a position of the event-based camera, at least one calibration parameter using the generated sets of detected pixels.
US09489733B2	Query-specific generation and retrieval of medical volume images Methods and a system are disclosed for providing a mechanism for searching and extracting three-dimensional regions of interest in image archives. In at least one embodiment, a textual search query serves as input and is processed in order to provide a newly generated query-specific volume image, including computed sub-volumes covering the anatomical structure the query refers to. The query is input via a graphical search interface and the sub-volumes are outputted also via the graphical search interface.
US09489732B1	Visual attention distractor insertion for improved EEG RSVP target stimuli detection Described is a system for improved electroencephalograph (EEG) rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) target stimuli detection through visual attention distractor insertion. A first RSVP sequence is created comprising a set of image chips. The image chips are a combination of target images containing target events and non-target images containing comment events. A number of visual attention distractors to optimize target event detection is determined, and the determined number of visual attention distractors is inserted into the first RSVP sequence to generate a second RSVP sequence. The second RSVP sequence is reordered to generate a third RSVP sequence. The third RSVP sequence is presented to a user, and an EEG signal is received from the user. Finally, the EEG signal is decoded to identify a true target event via a P300 detection in the EEG signal.
US09489722B2	Method and apparatus for implementing image denoising A method for implementing image denoising is provided. The method includes: calculating a tangent value of each pixel; determining whether a modulus value of the tangent value of each pixel is less than a preset threshold, if yes, determining a corresponding pixel as a non-boundary point of the image, and performing bilateral filter on a pixel determined as a non-boundary point of the image and pixels which are around the pixel and of which distances to the pixel are less than or equal to a first filtering radius; and if not, determining a corresponding pixel as a boundary point of the image, and performing bilateral filter on a pixel determined as a boundary point of the image and pixels whose distances along tangent directions and opposite directions of the tangent directions to the pixel are less than or equal to a second filtering radius.
US09489721B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium An image processing apparatus includes a selection unit, a pixel number setting unit, a determination unit, and a processing unit. The selection unit selects at least a pixel that is different from a pixel of interest in an image based on a similarity between a pixel value of the pixel different from the interest pixel and a pixel value of the interest pixel. The pixel number setting unit sets a number of pixels to be selected. The determination unit determines, from a pixel selected by the selection unit and based on whether a number of selected pixels has reached the set number of pixels, at least a pixel to be used in predetermined processing. The processing unit performs the predetermined processing on the interest pixel using a pixel value of the pixel determined by the determination unit.
US09489706B2	Device and algorithm for capturing high dynamic range (HDR) video Embodiments are directed towards enabling digital cameras to digitally process a captured a Low Dynamic Range image sequence at a real time video rate, and to convert the image sequence into an High Dynamic Range (HDR) image sequence using a pipelined architecture. Two or more image frames are captured using different exposure settings and then combined to form a single HDR output frame in a video sequence. The pipelined architecture operate on adjacent image frames by performing an image alignment, an image mixing, and a tone mapping on the adjacent image frames to generate the HDR image sequence.
US09489703B2	Test management Computing resource and mobile test reader are disclosed. Computing resource receives from external entity related to test at least one parameter relating to test result generation of test belonging to certain manufacturing batch, and transmits at least one parameter to at least one mobile test reader. Mobile test reader receives from computing resource at least one parameter, configures test reader application with received at least one parameter, takes, with digital camera controlled by test reader application configured with at least one parameter, image data depicting output area test, and transmits test use feedback to computing resource.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10