Document	Document Title
US09862072B2	Double-side polishing method The invention provides a double-side polishing method including first polishing at a high polishing rate, second polishing at a low polishing rate, dividing a straight line extending between the outermost circumferences of the wafer through the center into prescribed sections, and optically measuring a cross-sectional shape of the sections; applying a weight predetermined for each section to the cross-sectional shape to quantify flatness of each section; and determining polishing conditions of the first and second polishing in subsequent polishing on a basis of the quantified flatness, wherein a beam diameter of a measurement apparatus used to measure the cross-sectional shape of outermost sections is smaller than that used to measure the cross-sectional shape of the other section. The method can measure the shape of the wafer up to its outermost circumference with high precision without reducing productivity, and improve the flatness of the entire wafer including its outermost circumference.
US09862056B2	Welding torch with a fixing element for the gas nozzle, said element being capable of extension; process control method for a welding system equipped with said welding torch; gas nozzle for said welding torch; and contact tube for said welding torch The invention relates to a single- or multi-wire welding torch (6), more specifically to a laser-hybrid single- or multi-wire welding head provided with the welding torch (6) which can be connected to a welding device via a hose pack and consists of several parts such as a torch handle, a tubular welding torch housing, a contact housing, a contact tube for each welding wire (21a, 21b), a gas nozzle (2) etc., wherein an internal insert (28) for receiving the contact tube(s) (20a, 20b) and the gas nozzle (2) is mounted in an end area of the welding torch housing. A fixing element (30) made at least partially of a flexible material is placed on the internal insert (28) or on the housing (2) for producing as required an, in particular, gas-tight connection between said internal insert (28) and the gas nozzle (2) pushed thereon. This connection can be established by the spatial extension of the fixing element. A method for the process control of a robot welding system, a gas nozzle cap and a gas nozzle (2) for a welding torch (6) are also disclosed.
US09862053B2	Systems and methods for detecting non-operating thyristors in welding systems A welding system includes a power supply coupled to a power source and configured to receive a power signal. The power supply includes power conversion circuitry having one or more silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCRs) and configured to rectify the power signal to generate a DC signal for use in providing welding power. The welding system also includes an SCR detection system configured to receive a signal indicative of an inductor current of the DC signal and a signal indicative of a voltage of the DC signal. The SCR detection system is further configured detect a non-firing, open, or shorted SCR in the one or more SCRs based on the inductor current and the welding voltage of the DC signal.
US09862049B2	System and method of welding system operator identification A welding system including a processor configured to receive a first set of welding data of a live welding session corresponding to welding parameters, arc parameters, or any combination thereof, a memory configured to store the received first set of welding data, and an operator identification system coupled to the processor and to the memory. The operator identification system includes an input device configured to receive a first identifier input from a first operator that performs the welding session and a second identifier input from a second operator. The operator identification system is configured to determine an identity of the first operator based at least in part on the first identifier input, to verify the identity of the first operator based at least in part on the second identifier input, and to associate the received first set of welding data with the first identifier input.
US09862046B2	Hybrid article, method for forming hybrid article and method for closing aperture A hybrid article is disclosed including a coating disposed on and circumscribing the lateral surface of a core having a core material. The coating includes about 35% to about 95% of a first metallic material having a first melting point, and about 5% to about 65% of a second metallic material having a second melting point lower than the first melting point. A method for forming the hybrid article is disclosed including disposing the core in a die, forming a gap between the lateral surface and the die, introducing a slurry having the metallic materials into the gap, and sintering the slurry, forming the coating. A method for closing an aperture of an article is disclosed including inserting the hybrid article into the aperture. Closing the aperture includes brazing the hybrid article to the article, welding the aperture with the hybrid article serving as weld filler, or a combination thereof.
US09862028B2	Method of supporting a part A method of supporting a part with particulate shape retaining media, the method including placing the part on a bed of the particulate shape retaining media, fluidizing the particulate shape retaining media until the part penetrates therein, and vibrating the bed of particulate shape retaining media to compact the particulate shape retaining media around the part. The part may be a green part to be debound in a powder injection molding process. Fluidization may be performed through vibrations at a different frequency than the compaction.
US09862012B2	Apparatus for forging a hollow body from a pre-perforated hollow block An apparatus for forging a hollow body from a pre-perforated hollow block includes forging tools that can be driven radially in relation to a forging axis, a clamping head which is displaceable on a guide bed in the direction of the forging axis and includes collet chucks for the hollow block, and a mandrel carriage which is arranged on the side of the clamping head facing away from forging tools, which is displaceable independently of the clamping head along the guide bed, and whose mandrel bar provided with the forging mandrel penetrates the clamping head coaxially to the forging axis. In order to provide advantageous constructional conditions the mandrel carriage includes an axial actuating drive for the mandrel bar and can be coupled in a tension-proof manner to the clamping head.
US09862006B2	Systems for levitating a metallic tray A system for processing solar cells is disclosed which includes a separation module for separating a processing frame from solar cells that are fed along a conveyance line. The processing frame can be separated without requiring manual lifting of the processing frame by feeding the processing frame and solar cells into a magnetic roller system. The magnetic roller system can gradually lift the processing frame away from the solar cells and divert the processing frame to a separate roller system. The solar cells can remain on the main conveyance line for further processing.
US09862004B1	Method and system for producing gluten-free oats A method and system for removing foreign grains from oat grains to establish gluten-free oats, i.e., oat grains having gluten levels below 20 ppm and, more preferably, below 10 ppm, relies upon performing a series of mechanical differentiation operations on a combination of grains, including oats and foreign, or gluten containing, grains. The various operations include aspiration, width grading and length grading steps, as well as a late stage density separating step. The resulting oats can be used to make a wide range of gluten-free oat food products, including cereal and granola products.
US09862001B2	Dispensing device A dispensing device includes a drive unit, a detector and a controller. The drive unit is configured to operate a material dispenser. The detector is configured to detect a velocity of the material sensor. The controller is programmed to maintain the material dispenser at a constant velocity based on the velocity detected by the detector.
US09861996B2	Deposition apparatus and tray holder A deposition apparatus includes a deposition source; a rotatable dome provided with an opening which covers the source; a first lever provided outside of the dome; and a tray holder including a frame including a first rotating member and a rotating part including a second rotating member and being attached to the frame such that the rotating part rotates with the second rotating member around an axis supported by the frame. The rotating part includes work-holding trays arranged around the axis, the tray holder is installed on the dome such that a side of one of the trays covers the opening, the first rotating member is rotated by the first lever during rotation of the dome, and the second rotating member is rotated with the rotating part by the first rotating member so as to change the tray a side of which covers the opening to another one.
US09861993B2	Structure of gyrating nozzle head spray gun A gyrating nozzle head spray gun includes grip including air inlet, valve seat, gas-delivery tube connected to valve seat and terminating in mating connection screw rod and trigger operable for letting external compressed air go into air inlet and gas-delivery tube, attachment tube connected to mating connection screw rod of the gas-delivery tube, gyrating nozzle head assembly including gas-supply tube connected to mating connection screw rod and suspended in attachment tube, bearing, cap, linking module and gyrating nozzle head mounted on one end of the gas-supply tube, and water-delivery tube having one end extended bottom of coupling hole of gas-delivery tube and connected to water tank for sucking in water and opposite end thereof inserted through gyrating nozzle head for ejecting fluid for creating mist of fine droplets upon ejection of compressed air through the gas-supply tube and oblique jet hole and central axle hole of the gyrating nozzle head.
US09861991B2	Control system for a decanter centrifuge A torque sensing device capable of measuring the force exerted by a torque arm on a lever is positioned between the torque arm and the lever. The torque arm is connected to the pinion of a planetary gearbox for rotating the bowl and screw conveyer of a decanter centrifuge at different speeds. The torque sensing device measures the torque between the pinion gear and the planetary gearbox. The sensor can be connected to a controller which can reduce the flow of the liquid/solid mixture to the decanter centrifuge thereby/reducing the torque and avoiding substantial damage to the planetary gearbox.
US09861990B2	High voltage connection for sparse material A filter assembly for an active field polarized media air cleaner includes a conductive screen that conducts a high voltage therethrough, a probe that delivers voltage to the conductive screen, and a conductive patch adhered to the conductive screen. The probe delivers the high voltage to the conductive screen through the conductive patch.
US09861977B2	Multi-acid polymers and methods of making the same A multi-acid monomer disclosed herein has the formula wherein R is one or more units of a non-SO2F or non-SO2Cl portion of a polymer precursor in sulfonyl fluoride or sulfonyl chloride form, X is a non-sulfonyl halide group of a multi-sulfonyl halide compound having a minimum of two acid giving groups, and Y is remaining sulfonyl halide groups of the multi-sulfonyl halide compound.
US09861956B2	Photocatalytic coating composition Provided by the present invention is a photocatalytic coating composition which can express excellent visibility during application work and further can, owing to its excellent physical properties, form a homogeneous photocatalyst coated film having uniform thickness on a surface of a substrate. The photocatalytic coating composition which is basic and comprises photocatalyst particles, a basic dye, a layered silicate, and a dispersion medium. The basic dye enhances visibility of the part where the photocatalytic coating composition is applied so that the applied part can be easily distinguished from the unapplied part by the difference in appearance. After application work, color of the basic dye disappears by photolysis with a solar light or by decomposition with a photocatalyst. The layered silicate suppresses color change of the basic dye over time and stably keep color tone of the same.
US09861948B2	Shell and tube oxidation reactor with improved resistance to fouling The present disclosure relates to a single shell open interstage reactor (“SSOI”). The SSOI comprises a first reaction stage, an interstage heat exchanger, an open interstage region, and a second reaction stage. The SSOI may be configured for upflow or downflow operation. Further, the open interstage region of the SSOI may comprise a supplemental oxidant feed. When the open interstage region comprises a supplemental oxidant feed, the SSOI may further comprise a supplemental oxidant mixing assembly. Processes for producing acrylic acid through the oxidation of propylene are also disclosed.
US09861947B2	Reactor inlet vapor velocity equalizer and distributor The invention relates to distributing feed vapor more evenly across the interior space of a reactor vessel utilizing a distributor pipe at the inlet end that initially directs the flow of reactants through a flange plate and a series of ring plates. The ring plates are physical spaced such that vapor along the wall of the inlet is mildly obstructed by the flange plate and the ring plates cause the vapor to alter course temper down any diverse velocities that may create hot spots within the catalyst bed. At the end of the distributor pipe is a deflector which directs the feed vapor upwardly and outwardly in the head space of the reactor vessel.
US09861936B2	Device for membrane distillation Device for producing pure water, where the water to be purified is caused to be membrane distilled using one or more units (1), wherein each of the units comprises a space which on its one side comprises a first disc-shaped wall (4,4′) and on its other side a membrane (3,3′) through which gaseous water can pass but not liquid water, and a second disc-shaped wall (5,10), which walls are disposed on different sides of and at a distance from the membrane, wherein water is led in between the first wall (4,4′) and the membrane (3,3′), and wherein the second wall (5,10) is caused to be colder than the water. The invention is characterized in that the first disc-shaped wall (4,4′) is also a membrane through which gaseous water can pass but not liquid water, in that two adjacent membranes (3, 4; 3′ 4′) are supported by a common frame (6), in that the space between the membranes is provided with an inlet opening (7,7′) for water to be purified and an outlet opening (8,8′), in that the second wall (5,10) is a part of a chamber (9) formed by two parallel walls, in that the chamber is provided with an inlet opening (11,11′) for water which is colder than the water to be purified and provided with an outlet opening (12,12′), and in that chambers (9,9′) are arranged in parallel with the membranes at both sides of the frame (6).
US09861935B2	Membrane distillation device The invention relates to a membrane distillation device, comprising at least one condensation/evaporation stage, which comprises at least one condensation unit and at least one evaporation unit and to which vapor is fed and through which a liquid to be concentrated flows, wherein each condensation unit comprises a first vapor chamber that is bounded at least partially by a condensation wall and to which the fed vapor is supplied and each evaporation unit comprises a second vapor chamber that is bounded at least partially by a vapor-permeable, liquid-tight membrane wall, and in each condensation/evaporation stage at least one flow channel is provided, which is formed between such a condensation unit and such an evaporator unit adjacent to said condensation unit and which conducts the liquid to be concentrated, and thus the liquid to be concentrated is heated by means of the condensation wall, and vapor arising from the liquid to be concentrated enters the second vapor chamber through the membrane wall. At least one condensation/evaporation stage is expanded by an integrated apparatus for preheating the liquid to be concentrated, which apparatus comprises at least one additional vapor chamber, to which the vapor fed to the condensation/evaporation stage is supplied and in which the vapor is condensed, whereby the liquid to be concentrated is preheated.
US09861934B2	Cyclonic injector and method for reagent gasification and decomposition in a hot gas stream A system for vaporizing and optionally decomposing a reagent, such as aqueous ammonia or urea, which is useful for NOx reduction, includes a cyclonic decomposition duct, wherein the duct at its inlet end is connected to an air inlet port and a reagent injection lance. The air inlet port is in a tangential orientation to the central axis of the duct. The system further includes a metering valve for controlling the reagent injection rate. A method for vaporizing and optionally decomposing a reagent includes providing a cyclonic decomposition duct which is connected to an air inlet port and an injection lance, introducing hot gas through the air inlet port in a tangential orientation to the central axis of the duct, injecting the reagent axially through the injection lance into the duct; and adjusting the reagent injection rate through a metering valve.
US09861933B2	Method and apparatus for extracting carbon dioxide from air A method and apparatus for extracting CO2 from air comprising an anion exchange material formed in a matrix exposed to a flow of the air, and for delivering that extracted CO2 to controlled environments. The present invention contemplates the extraction of CO2 from air using conventional extraction methods or by using one of the extraction methods disclosed; e.g., humidity swing or electro dialysis. The present invention also provides delivery of the CO2 to greenhouses where increased levels of CO2 will improve conditions for growth. Alternatively, the CO2 is fed to an algae culture.
US09861930B2	Apparatus and method for evaporating waste water and reducing acid gas emissions An apparatus for evaporating waste water and reducing gas emissions includes an evaporator device configured to receiving a portion of flue gas emitted from a boiler unit and waste water to directly contact the flue gas with the waste water to cool and humidify the flue gas and to dry solid particulates within the waste water. In some embodiments, the waste water may be a component of a mixture formed by a mixer device prior to being contacted with the flue gas to humidify and cool the flue gas and dry solids within the waste water. An alkaline reagent as well as activated carbon can be mixed with the waste water prior to the waste water contacting the flue gas. Solid particulates that are dried within the cooled and humidified flue gas can be separated from the flue gas via a particulate collector.
US09861927B2	Introduced in adsorption filter for inhaled halogenated anesthetics for cardiopulmonary circulation bypass Improvements introduced in adsorption filter for inhaled halogenated anesthetics for cardiopulmonary bypass. It relates to an adsorption filter (10) of the type pertaining to the field of medical devices, more specifically, used to adsorb inhaled halogenated anesthetics that are eliminated through the output of the membrane oxygenators (20) of the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit (CPB); said filter (10) contains a hollow reservoir (11) for preservation of adsorber elements (ED) of the activated charcoal type (30), said reservoir (11) being of tubular cylindrical form, and it receives on one of the free extremities (11a) a cover (12) whose internal diameter (d1) is greater than the external diameter (d2) of the cylindrical reservoir (11), so as to produce an access chamber (C1) for the input of the inhaled anesthetic (AI) that, in turn, penetrates through a tubular member (12a) in the central portion of the cover (12), where a tube (Tb1) for connection with the oxygenator device (20) is installed.
US09861926B2	Canister for containing an active material A canister including a canister body containing a bottom wall and at least one sidewall with inner and outer sidewall surfaces and an upper rim, and a closing element containing a top wall with an outer surface and an inner surface, and a fixing portion surrounding the top wall. The top wall or the bottom wall or at least one sidewall include a membrane region with a predetermined permeability. The fixing portion includes an elevated or recessed snap portion around its outer periphery shaped to correspond to the inner sidewall surface of the sidewall of the cylindrical canister body and form a snap connection with the canister body. The closing element is fixed to the canister body such that the outer surface of the top wall does not extend beyond the upper rim of the sidewall of the canister body.
US09861922B1	Mating interface between air intake housing and air filter Mating interfaces between an air intake housing and an air filter are disclosed. According to one embodiment, an air filter assembly having a mating interface for coupling an air intake housing to the air filter may include an air filter having an exterior, an interior, and outlet; and a mating interface coupled to a circumference of the outlet of the air filter. The mating interface may include an opening for receiving an end of an air tube that is in communication with the interior of the air filter; and a groove in a surface of the mating interface for press-fit receiving a first opening an air filter housing that surrounds the air filter.
US09861918B2	Filter medium The invention relates to a filter medium having a filter fabric on an upper side and a support fabric on a lower side, wherein the filter fabric and the support fabric have different yams and together take the form of a double weave, wherein the filter fabric has a pore count of 4000/cm2 or greater, preferably 5000/cm2.
US09861917B2	Spin-on filter assembly A filter assembly that includes a filter body defining a mouth, a filter element disposed in the filter body, and a seal disposed on the mouth. The seal has a seal body defining a center axis. The seal body has an axial surface perpendicular to the center axis and an outer annular surface revolved about the center axis. A portion of the outer annular surface defines at least one of an arcuate and a substantially frustoconical shape.
US09861916B2	Liquid recovery filter A liquid recovery filter assembly for recovering filtered liquid trapped within a core or downstream side of a filter element. Multiple embodiments each include a recovery port and a recovery filter in fluid communication with the core or downstream side of the filter element. The recovery port is opened following filtration operations to permit and to facilitate filtered liquid to flow from a downstream or outlet port, thus allowing recovery of liquid remaining in the filter core or downstream side following filtering operations. The recovery filter permits the introduction of pressurized gas to force the filtered liquids from the filter assembly without compromising the sterility and/or non-contaminant condition of the liquid. Additional aspects include exchangeable filter cartridges or filter elements in single and multi-round configurations, embodiments with aspiration tubes and dip tubes and still others with hydrophilic/hydrophobic recovery filters that function as filters and as valves for the recovery port.
US09861914B1	Debris catcher A method of discharge and a debris catching device for connection to a discharge pipe of a tank of a septic truck where the device includes a fitting to connect to the pipe and an exposed catcher connected to the fitting such that the catcher has fingers in a spaced relation from an output port of the fitting. The fingers span in spaced relation to each other and allow septage expelled from the fitting to pass through the catcher and onto a field where the truck is moving forward.
US09861911B2	Thickener dilution tube One or more dilution tubes for increasing the dilution of pulp as it enters a thickener are provided. One or more pipes, referred to here as dilution tubes, can be added to sides of a feed pipe of a thickener. One end of a dilution tube can open to a tank of the thickener, and the other end can open into the feed pipe. As pulp flows through the feed pipe, low pressure suction can be created that pulls water from the tank, through the dilution tube, and into the feed pipe. The water pulled in through the dilution tube can increase the dilution of the pulp. A highly diluted pulp can contact a flocculent efficiently and lead to a high settling rate in a thickener. Accordingly, the use of dilution tubes can increase the efficiency of a thickener.
US09861908B2	Process for continuous recovering (meth)acrylic acid and apparatus for the process This disclosure relates to a method of continuous recovery of (meth)acrylic acid and an apparatus used for the recovery method. The method of continuous recovery of (meth)acrylic acid according to the present invention may effectively remove scum, thus enabling stable operation of the continuous process.
US09861904B2	Motorized toy system A motorized toy system includes a toy implement that may be manipulated. The toy implement has a bin and an auger chute. The auger chute is hingedly coupled to the toy implement. The auger chute is positionable between a deployed position and a stored position. The bin may contain particles. A dispensing unit is coupled to the toy implement. The dispensing unit is operationally coupled between the bin and the auger chute. Thus, the dispensing unit may selectively urge the particles outwardly from the auger chute.
US09861894B2	Dynamic personalized location and contact-aware games According to one exemplary embodiment, a method for personalizing a game executed by an electronic device is provided. The method may include collecting a plurality of user data. The method may also include determining at least one input/output option. The method may then include selecting a game template from a plurality of available game templates based on the collected plurality of user data and the determined at least one input/output option. The method may further include configuring the electronic game based on the selected game template, the collected plurality of user data, and the determined plurality of input/output options. The method may also include executing, by the electronic device, the configured electronic game.
US09861892B2	Music game which changes sound based on the quality of players input A game recording medium allows a player to enjoy a game without damaging a feeling as if the player played a musical instrument or conducted an orchestra even when the player cannot perform an operation input matched with an indication sign. Time is counted with a start of playing a piece of music and an indication sign is displayed on a time axis. When the indication sign reaches a criterion line, a sensed input operation is analyzed. The analysis result is determined on the basis of a criterion value corresponding to the indication sign. When it is determined a proper operation is not performed, music change information is specified on the basis of the analysis result and the criterion value, and a pitch, a tempo, and the like of the music data are controlled on the basis of the specified change information.
US09861887B1	Multi-platform gaming systems and methods A multi-media interactive play system has a number of play elements situated in a variety of play environments or play media. The play elements are linked to a common record of participant performance, progress, character attributes, etc. The participant's performance in the play elements determines the play elements to which the participant may proceed as well as the play parameters of the play element in which the participant is currently involved. The play elements are thus interlinked to define a sequence or path network along which the participant advances. By advancing through the play elements the participant carries out a plot, story, theme, etc. that attaches a significance to the successful completion of a given play element or elements. Also disclosed in a variety of play elements suitable for use in the system, an example of a plot or theme that may be carried out by the system, and a send/receive radio frequency network that may be used to track play participants in a play center.
US09861868B2	Adaptable putter head An adaptable putter head that can be easily configured by a golfer for use in training or competitive play is described. The adaptable putter head comprises a center piece and two wings rotatably attached to the center piece. The center piece and wings include a central face and wing faces, respectively. In an extended position, the central face and wing faces form a continuous surface for striking a ball in competitive play. In a retracted position, the central face provides a striking surface with less surface area and the putter head has a lower moment of inertia for skill training and practice.
US09861859B2	Golf ball dimple profile Golf ball dimples having a cross-sectional profile shape defined by the product of a base profile and one or more weighting functions are disclosed.
US09861858B2	Monofin, tail and method A monofin, mermaid tail, and method of applying the tail and monofin to increase swimming efficiency and/or aesthetics.
US09861856B1	Computerized exercise apparatus A training, rehabilitation, and recovery system comprises an exercise apparatus including a user interface member coupled to a plurality of links and joints, brakes capable of resisting movement of at least a subset of the links or joints, and sensors capable of sensing movement at the joints or the user interface member. The system also includes a processor configured to receive from the sensors positional data of the links or joints over an initial movement of the apparatus by a user, from which positional coordinates of the user interface member are calculated and a reference trajectory is established. An end space is defined based on the reference trajectory. Over a subsequent movement of the apparatus by the user, the processor receives additional positional data and determines a completion of a repetition based on the positional coordinates of the subsequent movement and the defined end space.
US09861841B1	Fall protection device A fall protection device adapted to be connected to a safety belt is provided, including a frame forming a containing space, a shaft lever provided on the frame, a retard member, and a rotary drum. The retard member is pivotally provided on the shaft lever rotatably, which is received in the containing space, and has a friction surface. The rotary drum is fitted around the retard member, and has an outer surface and an inner surface; the outer surface is adapted to be winded by the safety belt, and the inner surface faces to the friction surface. In a first operating state, the retard member and the rotary drum rotate coaxially. In a second operating state, the rotary drum rotates relative to the fixed retard member. A rotational friction is generated between the friction surface and the inner surface, which slows down the rotational speed of the rotary drum.
US09861838B2	One-way valve A one-way valve for use in the inhalation and/or exhalation flowpath of respiratory protection equipment comprises a housing 1 defining a conduit and a circumferential array of three flexible flaps 2 each extending inwards from the conduit wall and in the direction away from the inlet end I of the valve. Under a pressure differential in the opening direction of the valve each flap is adapted to flex outwards towards the conduit wall and under a reverse pressure differential the free edge 5,5 of each flap is adapted to press in sealing contact with respective portions of the free edges of the neighboring flaps.
US09861837B2	Lift for stealth cell towers Systems and methods for providing lifting workers up cell towers are disclosed. The system is useful on “stealth” cellular towers that do not have external ladders or climbing pegs for aesthetic reasons. The system can include a cable, a system of pulleys, and an internal or external winch. The cable can include a counterweight to enable the cable to be paid out from a storage position at the top of the tower down to the ground under its own weight. Workers can attach a harness or a basket to the cable. The winch can then pull the cable, worker, and/or basket to the top of the tower. The winch can be installed on site or can be provided by an on-site service vehicle. The system can also include a fall arrest system to prevent falls in the event of a component failure.
US09861829B2	Cold plasma electroporation of medication and associated methods A method and device to apply a cold plasma to a substance at a treatment surface of a patient to cause electroporation of the substance into cells of the patient. The substance can be previously applied to the treatment surface. Alternatively, the substance can be placed in a foam-like material within a tip that passes the cold plasma from the cold plasma device to the treatment area. The tip can be a cannula device with an aperture at the distal end. The cannula device can also have apertures along a portion of the length of the cannula device.
US09861827B2	Implantable medical devices having multi-cell power sources An implantable medical device includes a low-power circuit and a multi-cell power source. The cells of the power source are coupled in a parallel configuration. The implantable medical device includes both a low power circuit that is selectively coupled between the first and second cells and a high power output circuit that is directly coupled to the first and second cells in a parallel configuration. An isolation circuit is coupled to the first cell, the second cell and the low power circuit to maintain a current isolation between the first cell and the second cell at least during delivery of current having a large magnitude to the high power output circuit.
US09861821B2	Therapeutic window determination A therapeutic window for at least one electrode of a medical system may be determined based on a volume of tissue expected to be activated (“VTA”) by electrical stimulation delivered by the at least one electrode. In some examples, a processor determines the therapeutic window for a particular electrode by at least determining an efficacy threshold based on the VTA expected to result from the delivery of electrical stimulation according to a set of electrical stimulation parameter values including the stimulation parameter at the efficacy threshold, and determining an adverse-effects threshold based on the VTA expected to result from the delivery of electrical stimulation according to a set of electrical stimulation parameter values including the stimulation parameter at the adverse-effects threshold.
US09861815B2	Interventional medical systems, tools, and subassemblies A tether subassembly, which may be employed by a tool that deploys an implantable medical device, includes a test segment for verification of adequate fixation of the device at an implant site. When the device is located in proximity to a distal opening of the tube, a tether first length extends through an attachment structure of the device and within an elongate tube of the tool, a tether second length extends alongside the tether first length within the tube, and the test segment is located in proximity to the distal opening. The test segment is configured so that only a tug force, applied to the tether first length, and greater than or equal to a predetermined force, can pull the test segment through an aperture, either of the delivery tool or of the device. The predetermined force corresponds to a minimum adequate fixation force for the device.
US09861814B2	Medical electrical lead having biological surface and methods of making and using same An implantable electrical lead suitable for left sided cardiac placement, the implantable medical electrical lead having an external blood contacting surface having an external coating including a monolayer of at least one biological agent that promotes endothelialization covalently attached to a polymeric lead surface.
US09861802B2	Catheters, catheter systems, and methods for puncturing through a tissue structure A percutaneous catheter system for use within the human body and an ablation catheter for ablating a selected tissue region within the body of a subject. The percutaneous catheter system can include two catheters thai are operatively coupled to one another by magnetic coupling through a tissue structure. The ablation catheter can include electrodes positioned within a central portion. The ablation catheter is positioned such that the central portion of a flexible shaft at least partially surrounds the selected tissue region. Each electrode of the ablation catheter can be activated independently to apply ablative energy to the selected tissue region. The ablation catheter can employ high impedance structures to change the current density at specific points. Methods of puncturing through a tissue structure using the percutaneous catheter system are disclosed. Also disclosed are methods for ablating a selected tissue region using the ablation catheter.
US09861798B2	Extension tubes for balloon catheters A balloon catheter may include a multi-lumen tube having an inflation lumen and a guide wire lumen. The multi-lumen tube may include a proximal end and a distal end and may terminate at a distal tip. The catheter may include an extension tube extending distally from the distal tip of the multi-lumen tube and a dilatation balloon disposed about the multi-lumen tube and the extension tube. The distal tip of the multi-lumen tube may be under the balloon.
US09861792B2	Medical component insertion device including a retractable needle An insertion device for use in assisting with the placement of a medical device within the body of a patient is disclosed. For example, the insertion device can be employed to assist with the placement of an introducer, which provides a conduit for insertion of a catheter into the body. In one embodiment, the insertion device comprises a needle that is removably disposed within a bore defined by the medical device, and a needle retraction assembly. The needle retraction assembly can position the needle in any one of a first position wherein a distal tip of the needle is disposed a predetermined distance distal to a distal end of the medical device, a second position wherein the needle distal tip is disposed distal but proximate to the distal end of the medical device, and a third position wherein the needle distal tip is retracted within the medical device bore.
US09861791B2	Low-profile intravenous catheter device An intravenous catheter device and system includes: (a) a medical tubing connector at a first end of the intravenous catheter device; (b) a length of flexible, non-kinking, supported medical tubing, a first end of the non-kinking tubing being connected to a first end of the medical tubing connector; (c) an intravenous catheter portion having a first end attached to a second end of the non-kinking tubing, the non-kinking tubing extending between the intravenous catheter portion and the tubing connector; and (d) a cylindrical-shaped cuff attached to a fast outside end portion of the intravenous catheter portion, and a second outside end portion of the non-kinking tubing; wherein a central channel of the intravenous catheter portion is in fluid communication with a channel of the non-kinking, flexible tubing when the intravenous catheter device is in use. This simplified abstract is not intended to limit, and should not be interpreted as limiting, the scope of the claims.
US09861783B2	Transcarotid neurovascular catheter An interventional catheter for treating an artery includes an elongated body sized and shaped to be transcervically introduced into a common carotid artery at an access location in the neck. The elongated body has an overall length such that the distal most section can be positioned in an intracranial artery and at least a portion of the proximal most section is positioned in the common carotid artery during use.
US09861773B2	Communication between personal vaporizing inhaler assemblies A personal vapor inhaling unit is disclosed. An electronic flameless vapor inhaler unit that may simulate a cigarette has a cavity that receives a cartridge in the distal end of the inhaler unit. The cartridge brings a substance to be vaporized in contact with a wick. When the unit is activated, and the user provides suction, the substance to be vaporized is drawn out of the cartridge, through the wick, and is atomized by the wick into a cavity containing a heating element. The heating element vaporizes the atomized substance. The vapors then continue to be pulled by the user through a mouthpiece and mouthpiece cover where they may be inhaled.
US09861767B2	Syringe A syringe includes a syringe outer tube including a tubular-shaped outer tube main body configured to be filled with a liquid, a reduced diameter section located at a distal end of the outer tube main body in a projecting manner, and configured to allow the liquid to pass therethrough, the reduced diameter section having an outside diameter that is smaller than a diameter of the outer tube main body, and a ring-shaped lock adapter concentrically disposed at an outer circumferential portion of the reduced diameter section and configured to fix a mating member connected to the reduced diameter section; and a cap including a cap main body mounted on the syringe outer tube and configured to seal the reduced diameter section in a liquid-tight manner when the cap main body is in a mounted state, a ring-shaped mounting section disposed at a proximal end side of the cap main body and mounted on an outer circumferential portion of the lock adapter, and a breaking section that forms a link between the cap main body and the mounting section and that is configured to release the link by breakage.
US09861763B2	Safety syringe One embodiment is directed to a pre-filled safety syringe system, comprising a syringe body; a plunger tip positioned within the syringe body; a needle assembly removably coupleable to the distal end of the syringe body such that a medicinal fluid may be transferred through a retractable needle coupled to a needle housing comprising the needle assembly upon insertion of the plunger tip relative to the syringe body; and a plunger control assembly coupled to the plunger tip and configured to facilitate manual insertion of the plunger tip relative to the syringe body; wherein upon insertion and release of the plunger tip, a retraction load coupled between the syringe body and the plunger tip causes the plunger tip to be proximally withdrawn, pulling the retractable needle proximally relative to the needle housing to a safe locked and retracted state.
US09861762B2	Safety syringe One embodiment is directed to a safety syringe system, comprising a syringe body; a plunger tip positioned within the syringe body; a needle assembly removably coupleable to the distal end of the syringe body such that a medicinal fluid may be transferred through a retractable needle coupled to a needle housing comprising the needle assembly upon insertion of the plunger tip relative to the syringe body; and a plunger control assembly coupled to the plunger tip and configured to facilitate manual insertion of the plunger tip relative to the syringe body; wherein the needle assembly comprises a needle housing member removably coupled to the retractable needle and also removably coupled to a needle cover, the needle cover providing a relatively large geometric guiding surface for aligning a proximal end of the retractable needle as it is guided into fluidic contact with the fluid reservoir of the syringe body.
US09861757B2	Injection device with an end of dose feedback mechanism An injection device with a dose delivering mechanism being adapted to provide a non-visual, e.g. audible and/or tactile, feedback signal when a set dose has been at least substantially injected. A first and a second part of the injection device are adapted to perform a relative rotational movement with respect to each other. The relative rotational movement causes at least two parts of the injection device to abut or engage, and this abutment or engagement causes the non-visual feedback signal to be generated. A very distinct and precise feedback is provided as compared to prior art axial solutions because the generation of the feedback signal is initiated by the relative rotational movement.Feedback signal may be generated by a change in a rotational velocity of at least one part, e.g. by changing the pitch of a threaded portion or by engaging a non-rotating part and a rotating part, thereby causing the non-rotating part to start rotating. May alternatively be generated by building up and releasing a tension.The injection device is suitable for injecting insulin.
US09861755B2	Spring driven injection device The present invention relates to a torsion spring driven injection device for delivering multiple set doses of a liquid drug from a cartridge by moving a plunger forward inside the cartridge. The torsion spring (134) applies a rotational torque onto a drive member (120) engaging a piston rod (115) which is then driven forward by this rotation. The piston rod driver can be coupled and de-coupled from the torsion spring mechanism. In the de-coupled position, the piston rod driver is freely rotatable and can thus rotate if the piston rod is moved axially. A further torsion arrangement (124) is preferably provided such that a torque is build up between the piston rod driver and the housing whenever the piston rod is moved backwards. This torsion arrangement urges the piston rod driver to rotate in a direction bringing the piston rod forward into abutment with the plunger.
US09861741B2	Tubeless fluid delivery device A tubeless fluid delivery device, comprising a controller (11) and a pump (12) combined with the controller (11). The controller (11) comprises a first housing having a first built-in circuit. The first housing is provided with a first engagement portion and a first insertion portion electrically connected to the first built-in circuit. The pump (12) comprises a second housing having a second built-in circuit, a drug storage cylinder, a piston, a push rod, a driving means and a battery. The second housing is provided with a second engagement portion correspondingly engaged with the first engagement portion and a second insertion portion electrically connected to the second built-in circuit. The second insertion portion is correspondingly inserted in the first insertion portion to realize electrical connection. The present disclosure solves the problem that a drug fluid infusion device in the prior art has complex operation, large size and high cost.
US09861721B2	Systems and methods for performing the bacterial disinfection of a fluid using point radiation sources A system for disinfecting a fluid, including: a flow cell including one or more inlet ports and one or more outlet ports, wherein the flow cell is configured to communicate a fluid containing a biological contaminant from the one or more inlet ports to the one or more outlet portions through an interior portion thereof; and one or more point radiation sources disposed about the flow cell, wherein the one or more point radiation sources are operable for delivering radiation to the biological contaminant; wherein an interior surface of the flow cell is operable for reflecting the radiation delivered to the biological contaminant by the one or more point radiation sources; and wherein the interior surface of the flow cell is operable for reflecting the radiation delivered to the biological contaminant by the one or more point radiation sources such that a radiation intensity is uniform throughout the interior portion of the flow cell. In one exemplary embodiment, the flow cell is an integrating sphere. Optionally, the system also includes a photocatalyzing material disposed on at least a portion of the interior surface of the flow cell.
US09861700B2	Natural biocomposite powder prepared from pichia pastoris biomass, method of preparation and its use as excipient The present invention concerns a natural biocomposite powder prepared from the biomass of yeast Pichia pastoris, comprising chitin-glucan complex (CGC) and mannose-containing polysaccharides. In a second aspect, the invention concerns the method of preparation of the natural biocomposite powder. The invention also concerns the method to obtain Pichia pastoris biomass with increased CGC content, as well as increased chitin to glucan content in the CGC. Finally, the invention concerns the use of the natural biocomposite powder, prepared from the cell wall of yeast Pichia pastoris by the method according to the invention, as excipient in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics or food industries.
US09861689B2	Vaccination with immuno-isolated cells producing an immunomodulator Provided herein are vaccine compositions containing at least one retrievable biocompatible macrocapsule containing immuno-isolated allogeneic cells that secrete an immunomodulator such as GM-CSF (granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor) and an antigenic component such as autologous tumor cells or infectious agents. Also provided are kits and pharmaceutical compositions containing the vaccine compositions as well as methods of use thereof for therapeutic or preventative vaccination against tumors or infectious agents.
US09861684B2	Formulation of a blood composition that is rich in platelet and/or growth factors and contains gelled proteins, and a method for its preparation Formulation comprising, or derived from, an initial blood composition, wherein the formulation is rich in platelets and/or growth factors and proteins originating from the initial blood composition, and wherein the proteins are in a gelled state. The invention also refers to method for preparing the formulation, comprising the steps of heating and then cooling the initial blood composition at certain temperatures and times. Among other advantages, the formulation in accordance with the invention is biocompatible and biodegradable, presents the desirable biological or medical properties provided by the presence of platelets or growth factors, and also presents high dimensional stability over time.
US09861683B2	Therapeutic agent preparations for delivery into a lumen of the intestinal tract using a swallowable drug delivery device Embodiments of the invention provide swallowable devices, preparations and methods for delivering drugs and other therapeutic agents within the GI tract. Many embodiments provide a swallowable device for delivering the agents. Particular embodiments provide a swallowable device such as a capsule for delivering drugs into the intestinal wall or other GI lumen. Embodiments also provide various drug preparations that are configured to be contained within the capsule, advanced from the capsule into the intestinal wall and degrade to release the drug into the bloodstream to produce a therapeutic effect. The preparation can be operably coupled to delivery means having a first configuration where the preparation is contained in the capsule and a second configuration where the preparation is advanced out of the capsule into the intestinal wall. Embodiments of the invention are particularly useful for the delivery of drugs which are poorly absorbed, tolerated and/or degraded within the GI tract.
US09861680B2	Immunomodulators The present disclosure provides novel macrocyclic peptides which inhibit the PD-1/PD-L1 and PD-L1/CD80 protein/protein interaction, and thus are useful for the amelioration of various diseases, including cancer and infectious diseases.
US09861679B2	Method of treating cancer The present invention provides a method of treating cancer in a subject wherein the method comprising administering to the subject an IAP antagonist and a p38 and/or a MK2 inhibitor.
US09861670B2	Stabilized cream formulations comprising sandalwood oil Provided herein are cream formulations comprising sandalwood oil, an antioxidant and a phosphate buffer. Also provided are methods of making and using the formulations. Further provided herein is a method of treating a skin disorder in a subject by administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a cream formulation comprising sandalwood oil, an antioxidant and a phosphate buffer, wherein the subject has a skin disorder or is at risk of developing a skin disorder.
US09861665B2	Use of UVE bacteria for growth promotion in animals The present invention relates to the use of F4+ non-pathogenic Escherichia coli strains to promote growth in an animal. The present invention also relates to the use of such strains to homogenize growth among a herd of animals. More specifically, the animal(s) of interest in the present invention are those wherein growth promotion or growth homogenization are desired goals, such as animals reared for meat production. The present invention further relates to a method for promoting growth of an animal as well as a method for homogenizing growth among a herd of animals.
US09861649B2	Surfactant lipids, compositions thereof, and uses thereof The invention generally relates to methods to inhibit inflammation or pathogen infection by administering at least one anionic lipid or compositions comprising at least one anionic lipid to an individual. The invention also relates to methods to prevent or inhibit respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection by administering at least one anionic lipid or compositions comprising at least one anionic lipid to an individual. The invention further relates to compositions comprising randomly mixed surfactant lipids and methods to produce the compositions.
US09861648B2	Osteoclast inhibitors for knee conditions Oral dosage forms of osteoclast inhibitors, such as zoledronic acid, in an acid or a salt form can be used to treat or alleviate pain or related conditions, such as knee pain.
US09861643B2	System and method for diagnosis and treatment This invention relates the use of cortisol blockers (glucocorticoid receptor [GR] antagonists) for the treating or preventing treatment resistant prostate cancer, treating or preventing neoplasia, and treating or preventing infection related to acute or chronic injury or disease.
US09861632B2	Methods and compositions for safe and effective treatment of erythema Improved methods and compositions for safe and effective treatment of erythema or a symptom associated with erythema in a subject are described. The methods involve topically applying to an affected skin area a topical composition comprising about 0.3% to about 10% by weight of brimonidine and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
US09861631B2	Methods and compositions for safe and effective treatment of erythema Improved methods and compositions for safe and effective treatment of erythema or a symptom associated with erythema in a subject are described. The methods involve topically applying to an affected skin area a topical composition comprising about 0.3% to about 10% by weight of brimonidine and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
US09861629B1	Opioid abuse deterrent dosage forms Described herein are oral abuse deterrent pharmaceutical compositions, methods for making the same, and methods for treating pain by administering the pharmaceutical composition to a subject in need thereof. In particular, an oral abuse deterrent pharmaceutical composition comprising a soft capsule and a controlled release matrix comprising oxycodone are described.
US09861628B2	Buprenorphine-wafer for drug substitution therapy The present invention relates to oral pharmaceutical dosage forms comprising buprenorphine with the dosage form releasing buprenorphine instantly upon oral, preferably sublingual, application of the dosage form. The present invention also relates to the use of such dosage forms for treating pain in a human or animal or for drug substitution therapy in drug-dependent human subjects.
US09861626B2	Anti-malarial agent The present invention aims to prevent and/or treat malaria using an antimalarial drug comprising, as an active ingredient, a metal chelator represented by the following formula (I), (III), (IV), (V), (VI), or (VII), such as tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine.
US09861625B2	Methods and compositions for treating cancer through inhibition of PI3K Provided herein are methods for treating cancer relating to inhibition of PI3K, as pharmaceutical compositions comprising a PI3K inhibitor and a PAK1 inhibitor.
US09861618B2	Thiazoles as modulators of RORγt The present invention comprises compounds of Formula I wherein: R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R7, R8, and are defined in the specification. The invention also comprises a method of treating or ameliorating a syndrome, disorder or disease, wherein the syndrome, disorder or disease is rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis. The invention also comprises a method of modulating RORγt activity in a mammal by administration of a therapeutically effective amount of at least one compound of Formula I.
US09861617B2	Compositions of 1,2,4-oxadiazole benzoic acid compounds and methods for their use Novel 1,2,4-oxadiazole benzoic acid compounds, methods of using and pharmaceutical compositions comprising an 1,2,4-oxadiazole benzoic acid derivative are disclosed. The methods include methods of treating or preventing a disease ameliorated by modulation of premature translation termination or nonsense-mediated mRNA decay, or ameliorating one or more symptoms associated therewith.
US09861611B2	Formulations of water-soluble derivatives of vitamin E and soft gel compositions, concentrates and powders containing same Provided herein are compositions that contain water-soluble vitamin E derivative mixtures (compositions), such as tocopheryl polyethylene glycol succinate (TPGS), TPGS analogs, TPGS homologs and TPGS derivatives. The water-soluble vitamin E mixtures contain mixtures of dimers and monomers of the vitamin E derivative. Provided are products containing the water-soluble vitamin E derivative mixtures, including capsules, soft gel compositions, pre-gel compositions, emulsions and powders.
US09861609B2	Chemical engineering processes and apparatus for the synthesis of compounds The present invention provides methods for producing cannabinoids and cannabinoid analogs as well as a system for producing these compounds. The inventive method is directed to contacting a compound according to Formula I or Formula II with a cannabinoid synthase. Also described is a system for producing cannabinoids and cannabinoid analogs by contacting a THCA synthase with a cannabinoid precursor and modifying at least one property of the reaction mixture to influence the quantity formed of a first cannabinoid relative to the quantity formed of a second cannabinoid.
US09861608B2	Methods for delivering cromolyn Methods of delivering cromolyn to a patient in need thereof, methods of treating amyloid-associated conditions and inflammatory or allergic lung diseases, and blister packs and kits comprising cromolyn are described.
US09861605B2	Enriched injectable emulsion containing selected fatty acid triglycerides A composition including a triglyceride containing glycerol which is esterified with three fatty acids, wherein the three fatty acids include at least one fatty acid selected from caprylic acid, capric acid, α-linolenic acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and docosapentaenoic acid. The total amount of caprylic acid, capric acid, a-linolenic acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and docosapentaenoic acid is greater than 60%, based on the total weight of the fatty acids in a base or starting emulsion. The various physical mixtures of triglycerides containing the primary therapeutic fatty acid can be blended to form pre-defined amounts for the treatment of various acute pathological conditions.
US09861604B2	Coriolus versicolor extracts, methods of isolating biologically-active compounds, and uses thereof The subject invention provides efficient and convenient methods of isolating 9-oxo-10E, 12E-octadecadienoic acid methyl ester (9-KODE methyl ester) from C. versicolor. In addition, the subject invention provides therapeutic uses of Coriolus versicolor extracts, biologically-active chemical substituents isolated from C. versicolor, as well as 9-KODE methyl ester and related compounds. In a preferred embodiment, the subject invention can be used to inhibit the metastatic spread of cancer cells.
US09861600B2	Methods and compositions for treating and identifying compounds to treat age-related macular degeneration treatment The present invention provides methods for treating or limiting development of age-related macular degeneration, as well as methods for identifying compound suitable for such use.
US09861597B2	Gluconate-based compositions as a neonate anticonvulsant The present invention is drawn to the treatment of neonatal patients exhibiting convulsion comprising administering a composition comprising a gluconate complex, wherein said gluconate complex lacks a divalent cation such as sodium gluconate.
US09861594B2	Treatments for attention and cognitive disorders, and for dementia associated with a neurodegenerative disorder The present invention provides a method of treating or preventing an attention and/or cognitive disorder in a subject in need thereof, comprising administering to the subject a compound useful within the invention. The present invention further provides a method of treating or preventing dementia associated with a neurodegenerative disorder in a subject in need thereof, comprising administering to the subject a compound useful within the invention.
US09861585B2	Osmotic floating tablets The present invention relates to an osmotic floating tablet comprising: (i) an inner core comprising a drug, one or more low density polymers, and one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipients; and (ii) an outer osmotic coating surrounding the inner core that is substantially permeable to surrounding fluids and substantially impermeable to the drug. The present invention also relates to processes for the preparation of said tablets.
US09861584B2	Tamper resistant controlled release dosage forms In certain embodiments, the present invention is directed to a solid controlled release dosage form comprising: a core comprising a first portion of an opioid analgesic dispersed in a first matrix material; and a shell encasing the core and comprising a second portion of the opioid analgesic dispersed in a second matrix material; wherein the amount of opioid analgesic released from the dosage form is proportional within 20% to elapsed time from 8 to 24 hours, as measured by an in-vitro dissolution in a USP Apparatus 1 (basket) at 100 rpm in 900 ml simulated gastric fluid without enzymes (SGF) at 37 C.
US09861582B2	Pharmaceutical formulation containing gelling agent Disclosed in certain embodiments is a controlled release oral dosage form comprising a therapeutically effective amount of a drug susceptible to abuse together with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipients; the dosage form further including a gelling agent in an effective amount to impart a viscosity unsuitable for administration selected from the group consisting of parenteral and nasal administration to a solubilized mixture formed when the dosage form is crushed and mixed with from about 0.5 to about 10 ml of an aqueous liquid; the dosage form providing a therapeutic effect for at least about 12 hours when orally administered to a human patient.
US09861581B2	Granulate for the formulation of orodispersible tablets This invention relates to a granulate comprising mannitol and sorbitol in a weight ratio of between 70:30 and 97:3. This invention also relates to the use of a granulate in the preparation of orodispersible tablets, to the orodispersible tablets obtained with a granulate and to a process of for producing a granulate.
US09861580B2	Method of making a dry powder pharmaceutical composition A method of making active pharmaceutical ingredient particles with surface-modified nanoparticles deposited on the particles' surfaces, the method comprising: providing a plurality of media particles having surfaces with the surface-modified nanoparticles deposited on the surfaces; mixing the plurality of media particles with the active ingredient particles, both of which are in dry form, to provide active ingredient particles having surfaces with the surface-modified nanoparticles deposited on the surfaces; and separating the plurality of media particles from the active ingredient particles having surfaces with the surface-modified nanoparticles deposited on the surfaces is disclosed.
US09861579B2	Foamable formulation The present invention provides DMSO-containing foamable formulations, methods for preparation, and methods of treatment. The formulations can provide good permeability and bioavailability at the target site. Preferably, the formulations are useful for treating osteoarthritis. In one embodiment, the invention provides a foamable formulation for topical use, said formulation comprising DMSO, polyalkylene glycol alkyl ether, an active agent, a monohydric lower alcohol, a diol, and water. Preferably, the active agent is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, such as diclofenac sodium or ibuprofen.
US09861577B2	Orally disintegrating tablet It is an object of the present invention to provide an orally disintegrating tablet that has desirable oral disintegrability and excellent tablet hardness, a process for producing the same, and the like.The present invention provides an orally disintegrating tablet comprising: at least one diluent selected from D-mannitol, lactose, trehalose, xylitol, maltitol, and erythritol; a drug; a disintegrant; and at least one binder selected form methacrylic acid copolymer S, methacrylic acid copolymer L, methacrylic acid-ethyl acrylate copolymer, ethyl acrylate-methyl methacrylate copolymer, and methyl methacrylate-butyl methacrylate-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate copolymer.
US09861574B2	2-fluoro-modified RNAs as immunostimulators Methods of inhibiting the growth of cells or inducing cell death by contacting the cells with or introducing into the cells a composition including a 5′ triphosphate, 2′ fluoro-modified pyrimidine non-linear single stranded RNA at least 17 nucleotides long with a least 3 base pairings or a 5′ triphosphate, 2′ fluoro-modified double stranded RNA at least 17 base pairs long in an amount effective to inhibit cell growth, induce cell death or induce cytokine production by the cells. The methods also include administration of the compositions to a subject. The subject may have a proliferative disorder or infectious disease and administration of the compositions provided herein may treat the disorder or disease.
US09861573B2	Combination of plant extracts to improve skin tone Disclosed is a composition and methods of its use for whitening skin or evening out skin tone, wherein the composition includes dried navy (haricot)-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) powder or an aqueous extract thereof.
US09861571B2	Soap bar formulations with improved skin softness comprising nonionic polymer structuring system The invention relates to bars which provide specific combinations and amounts of nonionic polymer, polyol, short chain fatty acid and solid particles. These specific combinations provide both improved sensory and improved fragrance delivery.
US09861562B2	Occlusive personal care composition Described herein, are compositions comprising a soluble quaternary ammonium polymer/polyphosphate complex made by combining ingredients comprising a quaternary ammonium polymer and polyphosphates having 2 or more phosphate units. Methods of making and using these compositions are also described.
US09861549B2	Mobility assistance device A mobility assistance apparatus includes first and second frames positioned on left and right sides of a user; a hinge arm mechanism coupled to the first and second frames; and a harness or a walking seat coupled to the frames to transfer at least a portion of the user's body weight from the legs and to transfer weight through the user's hip or pelvis to the first and second frame enabling the user to stand or walk for an extended period without requiring the user's arms to hold the frame.
US09861548B2	Method and system for converting and reconstructing signal, method and apparatus for converting original signal, and method for reconstructing original signal Disclosed herein is a method of converting and reconstructing a signal, including: at a data generator, acquiring signal-analyzed data from an original signal, wherein the signal-analyzed data includes at least one feature point acquired from the original signal; transmitting and receiving the signal-analyzed data and at least one reference data corresponding to the signal-analyzed data; and reconstructing the original signal based on the signal-analyzed data and the at least one reference data to acquire a reconstructed signal.
US09861543B2	Datalogger in hospital or care bed A communication system for exchanging data between an actuator system and an external device, e.g. an operation where the communication system under the form of a gateway and a transcoder interprets the information in a bidirectional stream of data and distributes the information to both ends. The communication system is furthermore provided with a logger function, where the signals that are sent out to both sides of the gateway, are stored in a memory, so that the actions and signals that lead to an alteration on the actuator can later be reconstructed.
US09861540B2	Slippage control The present disclosure may relate to a computer readable medium containing instructions that include obtaining a first signal corresponding to an idler roller guide speed, obtaining a second signal corresponding to a tire speed, and obtaining a third signal corresponding to a motor speed. The instructions may also include comparing the idler roller guide speed to an idler threshold based on a relationship between the idler roller guide speed, the tire speed, and the motor speed and comparing the motor speed to a motor threshold based on the relationship. The instructions may additionally include, based on one or both of the idler roller guide speed exceeding the idler threshold and the motor speed exceeding the motor threshold, determining that a slippage has occurred, and in response to the slippage, initiating a corrective action.
US09861538B2	Emergency lift and transport system A mechanical lift features the low profile of a traditional wood and cloth cot stretcher allowing patients to be easily rolled or moved upon a flat surface. An integrated mechanical lift system then lifts a patient to a raised position without need for manual lifting. The lift allows patients to be moved and transported without back strain to health care workers or first responders. The lift may be raised by the mechanical movement or expansion of a piston.
US09861527B2	Robust laser cutting methods for ophthalmic surgery A method and apparatus for performing ophthalmic laser surgery using a pulsed laser beam is provided. The method includes establishing an initial cutting pattern comprising a plurality of original photodisruption points, establishing an enhanced cutting pattern comprising a plurality of enhanced photodisruption points selected to decrease potential adverse effects due to patient movement and having increased density over a fixed area as compared with the plurality of original photodisruption points, and performing an ocular surgical procedure according to the enhanced cutting pattern. Enhanced cutting patterns may include circular cuts around the periphery of a capsule, vertical side cuts for lens fragmentation, raster lamellar cuts, and grid lamellar cuts. Each photodisruption point in the initial cutting pattern and the enhanced cutting pattern comprises a laser target point.
US09861525B2	Drug-delivery pumps and methods of manufacture Embodiments of method of manufacturing an implantable pump, including providing an upper layer comprising a dome structure for housing a drug chamber and a cannula in fluid communication with the drug chamber, providing a middle deflection layer adjacent the drug chamber, providing a bottom layer comprising electrolysis electrodes, and bonding the upper layer, middle deflection layer, and bottom layer to form the pump.
US09861523B2	Ophthalmic surgical device for accessing tissue and for performing a capsulotomy A surgical device and procedure are provided for smoothly and easily accessing tissue to perform microsurgery, including a capsulotomy of a lens capsule of an eye. The device includes a handpiece with a tip for insertion into an incision in the cornea of the eye. A sliding element is disposed within the handpiece and a suction cup is mounted to the sliding element. The sliding element can be translated to move the suction cup into and out of the handpiece. A compression mechanism associated with the suction cup and the handpiece compresses the suction cup for deployment through the tip of the handpiece. The suction cup can expand inside the anterior chamber into a cutting position on the lens capsule. A cutting element mounted to the suction cup is used to cut a portion of the lens capsule and to remove the portion from the eye.
US09861520B2	Device, system and method of removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells Devices, systems and methods for removing heat from subcutaneously disposed lipid-rich cells are disclosed. In selected embodiments, suction and/or heat removal sources are coupled to an applicator. The applicator includes a flexible portion and a rigid portion. The rigid portion includes a thermally conductive plate and a frame coupling the thermally conductive plate and the flexible portion. An interior cavity of the applicator is in fluid communication with the suction source, and the frame maintains contiguous engagement between the heat removal source and the thermally conductive plate.
US09861519B2	Apparatus and methods for titrating caloric vestibular stimulation A device for delivering caloric vestibular stimulation to an individual, includes: (a) an earpiece configured to be at least partially insertable into the ear canal of the individual for delivering a first thermal stimulus; (b) an input unit for receiving a user input indicating efficacy of said first thermal stimulus, and (c) a controller operatively associated with said earpiece and said input unit for: (i) controlling said earpiece to provide said first thermal stimulus, and (ii) receiving a signal corresponding to the user input and generating a control signal to control the earpiece and delivering a subsequent thermal stimulus different from said first thermal stimulus. In some embodiments, each thermal stimulus is an actively controlled time varying waveform stimulus.
US09861514B2	Apparatus for storing and dispensing condom wrappers As apparatus for storing and dispensing condoms is provided. The apparatus comprises a body includes a base for receiving a stack of condom wrappers, and an opening for accessing a condom wrapper, the opening including a guide for adjacent a side of the opening. The apparatus also includes a cutting assembly having a blade configurable in an extended position for cutting an edge of the condom wrapper as the condom wrapper is pulled through the opening. The guide configured to deform and/or displace a condom within the condom wrapper laterally away from the blade so that the blade does not cut the condom as the condom wrapper is pulled through the opening, wherein the guide has a gap with a gap height less than a thickness of a rolled condom and wherein at least a portion of the gap is closer to a center of the opening than the blade.
US09861508B2	Short pulse laser machining of polymers enhanced with light absorbers for fabricating medical devices A method of laser machining a polymer construct to form a stent that includes a bioresorbable polymer and an absorber that increases absorption of laser energy during laser machining. The laser cuts the tubing at least in part by a multiphoton absorption mechanism and the polymer and absorber have a very low absorbance or are transparent to light at the laser wavelength.
US09861506B2	Reduced wire profile stent Methods and apparatuses of stents with likely reduced rates of tissue perforation are provided. Some embodiments include reducing the profile of a portion of the stent using a wire profile reduction electropolishing bath and/or other wire profile reduction means.
US09861499B2	Gripping device with switchable opening modes A gripping device that comprises a first moveable jaw and a second fixed jaw is disclosed. The gripping device has a handle operatively engaged to the first moveable jaw and a connecting link operatively engaged to the first moveable jaw. The connecting link is positioned in at least one of a first position or a second position. The change in the position of the connecting link allows the gripping device to have either a default closed position or a default open position, which can be defined by voluntarily-open or voluntary-close modes of operation, respectively. The first moveable jaw moves in either of the modes of operation. The change in the mode of operation is accomplished through use of a connecting link that is passed through a singularity during the switching process to achieve the different output positions and directions.
US09861498B2	Intervertebral implant with integrated fixation A surgical instrument and method are provided for removal of a spinal implant from the intervertebral disc space. The instrument includes a carriage body for interfacing with the implant, a housing for interfacing with the vertebrae, and a handle portion having a first portion rotatably coupled with a proximal end of the housing and a second portion rotatably engageable with a proximal attachment portion of the carriage body. A central passage of the housing extends between the proximal end and a distal engagement surface of the housing. The central passage is dimensioned to mate with the carriage body. Rotation of the handle portion about an axis causes translational movement of the carriage body along the axis. A modular inserter/distractor apparatus and method and an anchor remover and method are also provided.
US09861495B2	Lateral interbody fusion devices, systems and methods According to some embodiments, a method of inserting a lateral implant within an intervertebral space defined between an upper vertebral member and a lower vertebral member includes creating a lateral passage through a subject in order to provide minimally invasive access to the intervertebral space, at least partially clearing out native tissue of the subject within and/or near the intervertebral space, positioning a base plate within the intervertebral space, wherein the base plate comprise an upper base plate and a lower base plate and advancing an implant between the upper base plate and the lower base plate so that the implant is urged into the intervertebral space and the upper vertebral member is distracted relative to the lower vertebral member.
US09861486B2	Instruments and methods for locating a femoral mechanical axis An instrument for locating a femoral mechanical axis and identifying the locations of at least three points in space in relation to the center of a femoral head, the instrument including a base member, an extension arm clamp translationally and pivotally attached to the base member, an extension arm translationally and pivotally attached to the extension arm clamp, a swiveling arm pivotally attached to a distal end of the extension arm, the swiveling arm including a lateral locator member at a proximal end and a medial locator member at a distal end, a bracket pivotally attached to the swiveling arm, and a locating arm removably attached to the bracket, the locating arm including a middle locator member.
US09861484B2	Anterior cruciate ligament substituting knee implants The present disclosure provides knee prostheses that replicate at least a portion of the function of an individual patient's anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). An exemplary knee prosthesis includes a femoral component configured to be implanted on the distal end of the patient's femur and a tibial component configured to be implanted on the proximal end of the patient's tibia. In extension, the femoral component and the tibial component may cooperate to limit anterior movement of the tibial component relative to the femoral component. In flexion, the femoral component may be free to rotate relative to the tibial component.
US09861482B2	Dental bone implant and implant method A dental bone implant constituted of: a superstructure sized and shaped to fit tightly to a periodontal alveolar bone, the superstructure constituted of: a first face arranged to face a surface of the periodontal alveolar bone; a second face, opposing the first face; and a plurality of perforations extending from the first face to the second face, and non-solidified bone augmentation material deposited within the plurality of perforations, wherein the perforations are of a size sufficient to secure the non-solidified bone augmentation material deposited within the plurality of perforations.
US09861479B2	Methods of delivery of flexible heart valves A prosthetic heart valve can include a valve frame having a wireform portion and a stent portion. The wireform and stent portions can be undetachably coupled together via a plurality of upright struts so as to form a one-piece prosthetic heart valve frame. Alternatively, a self-expanding wireform portion and a balloon-expandable stent portion can be coupled together via one or more leaflets and a subassembly having a flexible leaflet support stent and a sealing ring. The wireform portion can include cusps and commissures configured to support a plurality of leaflets. The prosthetic valve can be radially collapsible for minimally invasive and/or transcatheter delivery techniques. Disclosed embodiments can also provide flexion of the wireform portion (e.g., of the commissures) in response to physiologic pulsatile loading when the valve is implanted in a patient's native valve annulus. Methods of making and using prosthetic heart valves are also disclosed.
US09861477B2	Prosthetic heart valve square leaflet-leaflet stitch A prosthetic heart valve provided herein can include at least two leaflets being secured together along aligned edges thereof by a stitch of a single thread. The stitch includes at least one loop extending through a first aperture, around the aligned edges, and back through the first aperture.
US09861465B2	Method for forming a tissue construct and use thereof The present invention relates to a method for forming a tissue construct having a composite structure. The method includes providing a biodegradable substrate, wherein the substrate is adapted to allow deposition or growth of a plurality of cells; providing a vascularized layer comprising a plurality of blood vessels therein; and adhering the vascularized layer to the substrate.
US09861463B2	Implants and methods of implanting the same In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a support member and a suture. The support member is configured to provide support to a portion of a body of a patient. The support member has a first end portion and a second end portion. The first end portion of the support member is configured to be disposed within a body of a patient. The suture is removably coupled to the first end portion of the support member and is configured to extend through an incision in the body of the patient from a location within the body of the patient to a location outside of the body of the patient.
US09861461B2	Stabilizer for the transvaginal placement of a midurethral sling A sling for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) may be placed and stabilized using a midurethral sling stabilizer. First, a sling may be placed beneath the urethra in a position to support the urethra, without tension. The midurethral sling stabilizer may then be inserted in a manner where the distal end partially encompasses and stabilizes the sling through a partial aperture and stabilizes the sling in a desired position, without tension. Once the sling is stabilized in the desired position, the sheath may be removed from the sling.
US09861457B2	System and method for effective planning, visualization, and optimization of dental restorations A method for planning, visualizing, and/or optimizing dental restoration on the pre-prepared teeth of a patient. The method includes obtaining 3D digital models of the pre-prepared teeth and the prepared teeth, and aligning these 3D models. A CAD model of a dental restoration for the prepared teeth is designed based on the 3D digital model of the pre-prepared teeth.
US09861454B2	Apparatus for temporomandibular joint-related corrections of tooth position The invention relates to an apparatus for temporomandibular joint-related corrections of tooth position, taking into account a variant of the registration or construction of the bite predetermined by the user.The invention is characterized in that a base module extending at least on the occlusion-bearing part of one side of the jaw is supported in an intermaxillary manner and has cavities formed by a setup technique to accommodate teeth, by means of which the tension forces necessary for tooth movements can act on the teeth, in that the base module has a three-dimensionally defined jaw support designed in accordance with specifications of the user, and in that the jaw support is formed by bite blocks and/or interceptors which have cavities filled with a filling material of predeterminable elasticity.
US09861449B2	Radiopaque marking implement This disclosure provides marking implements for making radiopaque markings, and methods of using the same.
US09861441B2	Microwave surface coagulator with retractable blade An ablation instrument having an ergonomic handle that includes an actuator adapted to selectively extend and retract a blade that is pivotably mounted within an aperture assembly coupled to the housing by a shaft. The shaft extends distally from the handle and includes a coaxial feedline, a wire conduit disposed along a longitudinal axis of the shaft, and a pull wire disposed within the wire conduit and having a proximal and a distal end, wherein a proximal end of the pull wire is operably coupled to the actuator. The aperture assembly is coupled to a distal end of the shaft and includes a reflector having a closed upper portion, and an open lower portion from which the blade may be extended for use. Also disclosed is an ablation system that includes the above-described ablation instrument, a source of ablation energy, and optionally, a source of coolant for cooling the shaft and aperture assembly.
US09861439B2	Choked dielectric loaded tip dipole microwave antenna A microwave antenna assembly is disclosed. The antenna assembly includes a feedline having an inner conductor, an outer conductor and an inner insulator disposed therebetween. A radiating portion is also included having an unbalanced dipole antenna including a proximal portion and a distal portion that are of different lengths. The proximal portion includes at least a portion of the inner conductor and the inner insulator and the distal portion includes a conductive member.
US09861436B2	Ablation catheters and systems including rotational monitoring means The present disclosure provides an improved ablation catheter. In particular, the present disclosure provides an improved renal denervation ablation catheter and system including a catheter handle and a means for tracking, monitoring, and/or recording the circumferential angular history of the renal denervation ablation catheter handle. The renal denervation ablation catheters in accordance with the present disclosure are well-suited for use with a renal denervation ablation system that can record the circumferential angular history of the renal denervation catheter handle, and hence the circumferential angular ablation history of the catheter electrode within a vessel, and use this data in combination with other known information to estimate the percent circumferential denervation of the vessel.
US09861434B2	Operation device for performing procedure on lumen in body An operation device for performing a procedure on a lumen in a body comprises: a single protection tube formed of a flexible material; first and second tube members provided in the protection tube; and first and second clamp-type effectors respectively provided at respective front ends of the first and second tube members, wherein operational wires, respectively, are inserted into the first and second tube members to connect the clamp-type effectors positioned at the front ends thereof with first and second manipulation handles positioned at rear ends thereof, wherein the first and second clamp-type effectors are manipulated by moving the operational wires using the first and second manipulation handles in front or rear directions, and wherein electric lines are connected with the first and second clamp-type effectors to electrothermally treat a lesion portion in the body.
US09861433B2	Helical-shaped ablation catheter and methods of use The present disclosure provides ablation catheters that are constructed such that they may be inserted into the body and into a target blood vessel in a linear conformation and subsequently changed into a helical conformation using a pull wire secured to the ablation catheter prior to an ablation procedure to allow electrodes present on the ablation catheter to contact the wall of the blood vessel. After the ablation is complete, the helical-shaped ablation catheter may be returned to its linear conformation by reversing the tensioned pull wire for extraction from the body.
US09861430B2	Vessel sealer and divider An endoscopic bipolar forceps includes an elongated shaft having opposing jaw members at a distal end thereof. The jaw members are movable relative to one another from a first position wherein the jaw members are disposed in spaced relation relative to one another to a second position wherein the jaw members cooperate to grasp tissue therebetween. The forceps also includes a source of electrical energy connected to each jaw member such that the jaw members are capable of conducting energy through tissue held therebetween to effect a seal. A generally tube-like cutter is included which is slidably engaged about the elongated shaft and which is selectively movable about the elongated shaft to engage and cut tissue on at least one side of the jaw members while the tissue is engaged between jaw members.
US09861428B2	Integrated systems for electrosurgical steam or smoke control A medical device includes an end effector configured to apply bipolar energy to target tissue along a working portion thereof and a fluid control system to control the flow of a fluid produced when the end effector applies the bipolar energy to heat the target tissue. The fluid control system includes a fluid path element defining a fluid path, a distal fluid port configured to intake the fluid adjacent to the working portion of an end effector for transport through the fluid path, and a proximal fluid port configured to intake the fluid transported through the fluid path and to exhaust the transported fluid.
US09861427B2	Electro-surgical system, an electro-surgical device, and a method for operating an electro-surgical system An electro-surgical system (100) with an optical feedback functionality for performing electro-surgery on tissue (200) of patient. An electro-surgical device (105) has an electrode portion (110) with an optical guide (114) integrated therein. An optical unit (160) performs optical characterization of tissue type and/or condition, and is arranged for performing an analysis of the tissue type and/or condition. A control unit (170) generates a feedback control signal (FEEDCON) based on the analysis of the tissue type and/or condition, optical guide allows inspecting the tissue that is e.g. just a few millimeters ahead of the electrode portion (110) performing e.g. the cutting. As a result of the fast and reliable analysis performed by the spectrometer in the optical unit according to the present invention, the system can proactively react to what kind of tissue is in front of the electro-surgical portion i.e. the ‘blade’ of the electro-surgical device or the electro-surgical ‘knife’.
US09861425B2	System and method for using resonance phasing for measuring impedance A return electrode monitoring (REM) system for an electrosurgical system is disclosed. The REM system includes circuit components or circuitry for monitoring the magnitude of an interrogation or drive signal, and one or more electrode pads including one or more pairs of split electrode pads. The REM system, while sweeping an interrogation signal over or across a frequency range, monitors the magnitude of the interrogation signal. The REM system determines if there is a frequency shift in the interrogation signal. If there is a frequency shift, the REM system determines the frequency shift and uses it to calculate a reactance value of the impedance. The complex impedance can then be determined. The complex impedance, or at least the reactance value, can be used to determine the capacitive coupling between the patient and pad interface.
US09861413B2	Screws for generating and applying compression within a body A compression screw system, said compression screw system comprising: a compression screw comprising a shaft, a screw thread formed on said shaft at a distal location, and a bone-engaging feature formed on said shaft at a proximal location, wherein at least a portion of said shaft disposed between said screw thread and said bone-engaging feature is capable of being stretched; and a holding element connectable to said compression screw for releasably holding said at least a portion of said shaft in a stretched condition.
US09861412B2	Bone anchoring element A bone anchoring element comprising a shaft (2) for anchoring in a bone, with a plurality of barb elements (7) arranged in at least one helical line around the shaft axis (M) is described, wherein said barb elements are elastically movable relative to the shaft. The bone anchoring element (1) is easy to press into a core hole bore in a bone. The barb elements (7) act in a similar manner as do the threads on a conventional bone screw and thus provide for depth positioning. Moreover, the barb elements at the same time secure the bone anchoring element and prevent it from sliding-out.
US09861411B2	Bone screw, and bone fixation system and method A bone screw for pelvic bone fixation, the bone screw comprising an elongate body having a first end which is threaded for engaging at least one bone in the pelvic region, a second end comprising a screw head, and at least one opening across the length of the elongate body for adjustably receiving a fastening means to limit movement of the bone screw away from the engaged bone in use, wherein the at least one opening is shaped such that the position of the fastening means relative to the elongate body of the bone screw can be adjusted. A system for bone fixation in the pelvic region includes the bone screw and the fastening means.
US09861409B1	Method and apparatus for fracture reduction during internal fixation of distal radius fractures An apparatus for treating a fracture of the distal radius of a patient, having a pivot pin configured to engage the radius at an attachment point distal to the fracture, and a handle assembly configured to engage the pivot pin dorsal to the patient's hand is presented. The pivot pin is configured to insert through and fixedly engage at least a portion of the distal fracture bone fragment associated with the radius. The handle assembly, once coupled to the pivot pin, provides adjustment of the position of the distal fracture bone fragment.
US09861406B2	Bone fixation system A bone fixation system has a bone implant with an implant body. The implant body defines an upper surface, a bone-facing surface spaced from the upper surface along a transverse direction, and at least one aperture defined by an inner wall. A bone fixation element is configured for insertion at least partially through the aperture. The bone fixation element defines a proximal end and a distal end spaced from the proximal end along a central axis. The bone fixation element has a head and a shaft that extends relative to the head toward the distal end. The head defines a first ridge, a second ridge spaced from the first ridge, and a groove disposed between the first and second ridges. The groove can receive at least a portion of the inner wall to couple the bone fixation element to the bone implant.
US09861404B2	Devices, systems and methods for re-alignment of bone A bone re-angling device may be used in performing an osteotomy. The re-angling device may be a generally wedge-shaped body. The re-angling device maybe coupled to the bone using a fixation member.
US09861403B2	Method for pivoting a fastener An intramedullary rod for use with a fastener to repair a femur includes an elongate nail extending along a longitudinal axis and having a stem and a head. The head is provided with an aperture extending along an axis at an angle to the longitudinal axis for receiving the fastener. A mechanism is carried by the head for pivoting the axis of the aperture from a first angled position relative to the head to a second angled position relative to the head. A method for using the rod and fastener is provided.
US09861397B2	Vertebral attachment device and method A vertebral attachment system and method for retaining a spinal vertebra (25) on a rod (2) employ a device (1) including a body (3) for attachment to the rod, a flexible strip (4) for linking the vertebra to the attachment body and a means (5) for adjustably locking the flexible strip on the attachment body. The attachment body (3) is made of a single part having a U-shaped cross-section, for passing the rod between the bottom wall (10) of the U and the adjustable locking means. The adjustable locking means (5) consists of a linking part (18) connecting the opposite ends of the two arms (6, 7) of the U, arranged such as to compress the rod against the wall. The arms (6, 7) each include a recess (14) opposite thereof, located on the bottom side of the U, for passing the two ends of the strip between the bottom and the rod in order to form a loop for attachment to a vertebra.
US09861392B2	Dynamic spinal fixation system, method of use, and spinal fixation system attachment portions Spinal fixation systems including a member, a first attachment portion, a second attachment portion, and an intermediate portion. The first attachment portion is attached at a superior end of the member and includes a first opening. The second attachment portion is attached at an inferior end of the member and includes a second opening. The intermediate portion connects the first and second attachment portions. The spinal fixation systems may also include a relief in at least one of the first opening and the second opening. The systems may also include a third attachment portion with a third opening and an intermediate portion with a first and a second elastic mechanism. The first elastic mechanism connects the first and third attachment portions and the second elastic mechanism connects the third and second attachment portions. Surgical methods for inserting the spinal fixation systems in a patient are also disclosed.
US09861390B2	Non-fusion scoliosis expandable spinal rod A growing rod for mounting between attachment mechanisms that are secured to anatomical structures of a patient having scoliosis. The growing rod includes an outer housing and an inner housing disposed within the outer housing. The inner housing includes a magnet assembly including a magnet having a first pole and a second pole and a gear reduction mechanism coupled to the magnet. A first rod is secured to the inner housing and a second rod is secured to the outer housing. The gear reduction mechanism reduces an output rotation of the magnet to rotate a driver that operates to move the inner housing along a longitudinal axis with respect to the outer housing.
US09861388B2	Receiving part for coupling a bone anchor to a rod and bone anchoring device with such a receiving part A receiving part for coupling a bone anchor to a rod is provided, where the bone anchor includes a shank for anchoring to a bone or a vertebra. The receiving part includes a first end and a second end, the second end being connected to the shank, a bore extending from the first end into the receiving part for receiving a fixation device, the bore having a bore axis, and a recess for receiving a rod, the recess being open at the first end of the receiving part for allowing insertion of the rod and having opposing sidewalls on at least one side of the bore. When a rod is inserted into the recess, a longitudinal axis of the rod extends substantially perpendicular to the bore axis. A resilient retention element is provided on at least one of the opposing sidewalls, where the resilient retention element is deflectable toward the at least one sidewall when the rod is inserted.
US09861386B2	Hair restoration A surgical apparatus for hair removal surgery includes an extraction module, a visualization component and a bridging component. The extraction module includes independently controllable coring and clipping devices. The visualization component acts to align a target hair follicle with the extraction module. The extraction module also includes at least one independently controllable suction port. The instrument also includes a dissection module having a tissue separating device.
US09861377B2	Unfocused electrohydraulic lithotripter Electrohydraulic lithotripters comprising a plurality of electrohydraulic probes are disclosed. Each probe of the plurality of probes comprise a first electrode and a second electrode positioned at a distal end of the probe such that when the probe is discharged, an electric arc between the first electrode and the second electrode produces a shockwave that radiates from the distal end of the probe. A first probe and a second probe of the plurality of probes may be configured to discharge simultaneously or sequentially.
US09861371B2	Surgical tool A medical instrument comprising: (a) a first joint comprising a first member and a second member, the first member configured to be repositionable with respect to the second member in a first degree of freedom; (b) a second joint operatively coupled to the first joint, the second joint comprising a third member and a fourth member, the third member configured to be repositionable with respect to the fourth member in a second degree of freedom; (c) a pair of repositionable jaws operatively coupled to the first joint and the second joint; (d) an occlusion clip detachably mounted to the pair of repositionable jaws; and, (e) a controller operatively coupled to the first joint, the second joint, and the pair of repositionable jaws, the controller including a first control configured to direct repositioning of at least one of the first member and the second member, and a second control configured to direct repositioning of at least one of the third member and the fourth member, and a third control configured to direct repositioning of the pair of repositionable jaws.
US09861367B2	Anvil assembly delivery systems An anvil assembly suitable for trans-oral delivery includes an anvil head configured to receive a retrieval suture that is separable from the anvil head following delivery of the anvil assembly. An anvil delivery assembly includes the anvil assembly, a delivery assembly secured to the anvil assembly, and a retrieval suture selectively secured to the anvil assembly for retrieving the anvil assembly.
US09861366B2	Ejecting assembly for a surgical stapler An end effector includes first and second jaws, a drive screw, a lead screw nut, and a drive beam. The drive screw is disposed within the first jaw. The lead screw nut defines a threaded bore that receives the drive screw. The lead screw nut is advanced along the drive screw as the drive screw is rotated in a first direction and is retracted along the drive screw as the drive screw rotates in a second direction. The drive beam is releasably coupled to the lead screw nut when the lead screw nut is in a retracted position. As the lead screw nut is advanced the drive beam is pulled by the lead screw nut. The drive beam is decoupled from the lead screw nut as the lead screw nut is advanced such that the lead screw nut is advanced relative to the drive beam.
US09861353B2	Devices, systems, and methods for attaching soft tissue to bone tissue A suture anchoring device for fixing a soft tissue to a bone tissue is disclosed that enables the exchange of sutures between anchors after implantation. The suture anchoring device may include a body that is inserted into the bone tissue, a suture exchange fitting situation within a passage formed within the body, and one or more pre-loaded sutures looped through the suture exchange fitting and projecting proximally from a proximal opening formed in the body. Surgical kits and surgical methods for performing various repair procedures using one or more suture anchoring device are also disclosed.
US09861348B2	Chitosan and polyethylene glycol copolymers and methods and devices for using same for sealing a vascular puncture A sealant is provided for sealing a puncture through tissue that comprises an elongate first section including a proximal end, a distal end, and a cross-section sized for delivery into a puncture through tissue, and a second section extending from the distal end of the first section. The first section may be formed from a freeze-dried hydrogel that expands when exposed to physiological fluid within a puncture. The first section comprises chitosan and at least one additional polymer. The second section may be formed from a solid mass of non-freeze-dried, non-cross-linked hydrogel precursors. The precursors are in an unreactive state until exposed to an aqueous physiological environment, whereupon the precursors undergo in-situ crosslinking with one another to provide an adhesive layer bonded to the first section. The second section may further comprise chitosan. Apparatus and methods for delivering the sealant into a puncture through tissue are also provided.
US09861344B2	Ovulation day estimation apparatus, ovulation day estimation method and storage medium in which ovulation day estimation program is recorded According to an embodiment, a server detects temperature increase in basal body temperature measured later relative to basal body temperature measured earlier between chronologically adjacent pieces of basal body temperature data, among basal body temperature data between a menstruation starting day and a next menstruation starting day; and estimates an ovulation day on the basis of the detected temperature increase.
US09861340B2	Ultrasound probe An optical fiber guides light output from a light source to an ultrasound probe. The ultrasound probe includes a light guiding section that guides the light from a light input end, which is optically coupled with the optical fiber to a light output end provided in the vicinity of ultrasonic transducers. The light guiding section has a first light guiding portion that includes the light input end, and a second light guiding portion that includes the light output end. The first light guiding portion is formed by glass, and magnifies input light. The second light guiding portion is formed by resin, and emits the light toward a subject from the light output end.
US09861339B2	Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus Disclosed is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including a main body, at least one input/output unit coupled to one side of the main body to input data to the main body or to output data transmitted from the main body, and a connection unit to connect the input/output unit and the main body to each other. The connection unit includes plural first connection members, each of which is connected at one end thereof to the main body and at the other end thereof to at least a portion of the input/output unit and has a variable length to move the input/output unit relative to the main body, and at least one second connection member coupled to the first connection members and at least one of the main body or the input/output unit so as to come into contact with the same at a point to support load of the input/output unit.
US09861332B2	Tomographic image generation device and method, and recording medium An image obtaining unit obtains a plurality of projection images by imaging a subject with different radiation source positions. A pixel value projecting unit projects pixel values of the projection images on coordinate positions on a desired slice plane of the subject based on the positional relationship between the radiation source position with which each projection image is taken and the radiation detector, while preserving pixel values of the projection images, to obtain a plurality of slice plane projection images. A positional misalignment correcting unit corrects positional misalignment between the slice plane projection images. A pixel value calculating unit generates a tomographic image from the slice plane projection images having been subjected to the correction of the positional misalignment.
US09861329B2	X-ray apparatus and method of capturing X-ray image An X-ray apparatus includes: a source configured to emit X-rays to an object; a detector configured to detect the X-rays that have penetrated the object; an arm configured to connect the source to the detector and move centering on a stand fixed to a bottom; a controller configured to control a movement of the arm so that the controller changes a direction of the X-rays, which are radiated to the object, and the arm rotates on the stand to move the detector in a first direction, to obtain images for a plurality of parts of the object; and an image processor configured to obtain the images for the plurality of parts of the object based on the X-rays detected by the detector.
US09861325B2	Restoring CT scan data A method for restoring CT scan data is disclosed. The method may comprise: building a data collecting model with respect to a specific direction of a detector based a response curve of the detector. In some examples, the specific direction can indicate a channel direction and a slice direction of the detector. During a CT scanning, based on the data collecting model, X-ray intensity values detected by the detectors in the specific direction can be acquired. A function can be determined such that it satisfies the data collecting model, a continuity condition and a boundary condition, An X-ray intensity value can be obtained by substituting the coordinate value of a point in the specific direction into the function.
US09861320B2	Method and apparatus for evaluating exercise capability based on heart rate Provided is a method and apparatus for evaluating an exercise capability, the method including monitoring a heart rate of a user, setting a detection area to measure an exercise capability of the user based on the monitoring and body information of the user, and detecting a feature point for evaluating the exercise capability from the detection area.
US09861319B2	Noncontact three-dimensional diffuse optical imaging of deep tissue blood flow distribution The present invention provides for three-dimensional reflectance diffuse optical imaging of deep tissue blood flow distribution that removes the need for probe-tissue contact, thereby allowing for such technology to be applied to sensitive, vulnerable, damaged, or reconstructive tissue. The systems utilize noncontact application and detection of near-infrared light through optical lens and detection through a linear array or two-dimensional array of avalanche photodiodes or a two-dimensional array of detectors provided by charge-coupled-device (CCD). Both further feature a finite-element-method (FEM) based facilitation to provide for three-dimensional flow image reconstruction in deep tissues with arbitrary geometries.
US09861313B1	Via and trench filling using injection molded soldering A method includes forming one or more trenches in a first substrate, forming one or more vias in a second substrate, aligning at least a first trench in the first substrate with at least a first via in the second substrate, and sealing the first substrate to the second substrate by filling the first via and the first trench with solder material using injection molded soldering.
US09861306B2	Systems and methods for parenterally procuring bodily-fluid samples with reduced contamination The present invention is directed to the parenteral procurement of bodily-fluid samples. The present invention is also directed to systems and methods for parenterally procuring bodily-fluid samples with reduced contamination from dermally-residing microbes. In some embodiments, a bodily-fluid withdrawing system is used to withdraw bodily fluid from a patient for incubation in culture media in one or more sample vessels. Prior to withdrawing bodily fluid into the one or more sample vessels for incubation, an initial volume of withdrawn bodily fluid is placed in one or more pre-sample reservoirs and is not used for the incubation in culture media.
US09861296B2	Ingestible probe with agent delivery An improved device which is introduced into the intestinal tract of a living organism and which operates autonomously therein, adapted to deliver one or more therapeutic agents. In one embodiment, the probe communicates wirelessly with a portable electronic device outside the organism in order to receive commands to deliver the therapeutic agent, or perform other functions while the probe is within the intestinal tract.
US09861294B2	Marker delivery device with releasable plug A marker delivery device includes an elongated delivery cannula which has a distal end section, an inner lumen and a discharge opening in the distal end section in communication with the inner lumen. A plunger is slidably disposed within the inner lumen of the elongated delivery cannula. The plunger has a distal end. At least one elongated fibrous marker body is pre-formed prior to being inserted into the inner lumen of the elongated delivery cannula. The at least one elongated fibrous marker body is slidably disposed within the inner lumen of the elongated delivery cannula at a location distal to the distal end of the plunger. The pre-formed at least one elongated fibrous marker body includes a fibrous material compressed and impregnated with a binding agent and freeze dried in the compressed condition. A releasable plug is disposed within a distal portion of the inner lumen and distal to the at least one elongated fibrous marker body.
US09861290B1	Wireless medical sensor system A wireless biometric lead set in which one or more biometric sensors are hermetically sealed in a package. The lead set may contain multiple such sensors and packages, with other components to operate the lead set, such as a power source, a transmitter, and a charging device. Such a lead set may be sterilized for reuse and may be configured to easily fit into existing medical facility work flows. The lead set may automatically, associate with a specific monitoring device. That monitoring device may selectively process data transmitted from the associated lead set. Further, low power operation may be achieve via multiple operating modes, such as modes in which no actions are performed, samples are taken and accumulated, or accumulated samples are transmitted. An interface device may allow the lead set to be used with a conventional monitoring device.
US09861280B2	Physiological sensor pod and charging unit A physiologic sensor pod comprises a housing including first and second electrodes on a bottom surface thereof, and a third electrode on a top surface thereof. Within the housing is a battery, a battery charging circuit, an ECG sensor circuit, switch circuitry, and a controller adapted to control at least a portion of the switch circuitry. When the switch circuitry is in a first configuration the first and second electrodes are connected to the battery charging circuit. When the switch circuitry is in a second configuration, the first and second electrodes are connected, respectively, to first and second inputs of the ECG sensor circuit. When the switch circuitry is in a third configuration, one or both of the first and second electrodes is/are coupled to a first input of an ECG sensor circuit and the third electrode is coupled to a second input of the ECG sensor circuit.
US09861274B2	Method for assisting visual exploration for an individual suffering from a retinal condition resulting in a scotoma A method of assisting visual exploration for individuals suffering from a retinal condition resulting in a scotoma and, more particularly, a method S for assisting visual exploration by such an individual of a digital image on a display device, the method including: —recognizing, using shape recognition software, at least one object contained in an object area of the digital image, —determining a blind area in the image, corresponding to a position of the scotoma in the field of vision of the user looking at the image, —if the blind area and the object area are detected to be in close proximity to each other, applying image processing to the image consisting in highlighting the object area for the user.
US09861272B2	Apparatus, systems, and methods for performing laparoscopic surgery Apparatus, systems, and methods for laparoscopic abdominal surgery are disclosed. For example, a system or kit is provided for performing a procedure within a surgical space within a patient's body that includes a plurality of tool heads, and a tool head carrier including features for removably receiving one or more tool heads, the tool head carrier sized for introduction through a trocar or other port into a surgical space. The system or kit may also include a surgical tool including a tool shaft introduceable into the surgical space and including features for securing a tool head to the tool. Optionally, the tool head carrier may include a clip for securing the tool head carrier to an endoscope.
US09861265B2	Pneumoperitoneum apparatus A pneumoperitoneum apparatus includes: an insufflation conduit for pneumoperitoneum; an endoscope connection tube connecting the insufflation conduit for pneumoperitoneum; an insufflation flow rate measuring section that measures an insufflation flow rate as a measured flow rate; a set flow rate setting section that sets the measured insufflation flow rate to a target set flow rate; an insufflation flow rate adjusting section; an adjustment value storing section that if the measured flow rate is equal to the target set flow rate, stores the adjustment value for the insufflation flow rate adjusting section; and a control section that if the measured flow rate varies to a value that is equal to or below a threshold value after the measured flow rate reaches the target set flow rate, performs control to set the adjustment value read from the adjustment value storing section for the insufflation flow rate adjusting section.
US09861264B2	Rigid endoscope A rigid endoscope includes a first insertion section extending along longitudinal directions, a first needle defining an outer edge of a first opening, and a first functional section provided in a vicinity of the first opening of a first lumen, and configured to perform some part of functions. The rigid endoscope includes a second insertion section extending along the longitudinal directions, and located apart from the first insertion section in directions perpendicular to the longitudinal directions, a second needle defining an outer edge of a second opening, and a second functional section provided in a vicinity of the second opening of a second lumen, and configured to perform some part of the functions different from the functions performed by the first functional section.
US09861262B2	Catheter using optical fiber and camera The present invention relates to a catheter using an optical fiber and a camera, into which the camera for lighting and the optical fiber for lighting are built so that the camera can be used during an internal examination and treatment amid irradiation of light by the optical fiber. According to the present invention, the diameter of a shaft can be minimized while forming a hole in the shaft for the camera, the optical fiber, a wire, and medicine to be inserted, and the camera, the optical fiber, and a distal end of a medicine injection tube are driven at the same time and in the same manner following the driving of the wire so that internal imaging, light irradiation, and medicine injection can be performed with accuracy.
US09861259B2	Dishwasher Disclosed herein is a dishwasher. The dishwasher includes a main body, a tub placed within the main body to receive dishes therein, and an air brake mounted to one lateral surface of the tub. The air brake includes a communication hole communicating with the tub to allow air to be introduced into the tub or to be discharged from the tub, a guide rib configured to guide air, introduced through the communication hole, upward of the air brake, and a vent formed in a lateral surface of the air brake to allow air to be discharged outward from the air brake or to allow outside air to be introduced into the air brake, the vent being located below the guide rib to prevent hot air from being discharged from the air brake.
US09861256B2	System for supplying washing inputs and washing machine provided with system for supplying washing inputs The present invention relates to a system for supplying washing inputs comprised by at least one hydraulic circuit comprising at least one water inlet pipe (2), at least one reservoir (3) of inputs and at least one inputs outlet pipe (4). It is further provided at least one water spreader (5) associated with at least one water inlet pipe (2) and at least one containment structure (6) associated with at least one inputs outlet pipe (4). According to the present invention, at least one gap (V1) is arranged between the front wall (31) of at least one reservoir (3) of inputs and the front wall (61) of at least one containment structure (6), at least one spraying means (51) of at least one water spreader (5) is directed to at least one gap (V1) arranged between the front wall (31) of at least one reservoir (3) of inputs and the front wall (61) of at least one containment structure (6), and it is generated at least one flow of inputs between the front wall (31) of at least one reservoir (3) of inputs and the front wall (61) of at least one containment structure (6).
US09861249B2	Dishwasher and a method for controlling the same A dishwasher is provided. The dishwasher may include a tub forming a washing space, a sump collecting washing water, a tank forming a storage space outside the tub, a motor generating a dynamic force to supply the washing water collected in the sump to the tank, and a controller incrementally increasing a water level of the tank by intermittently driving the motor.
US09861248B2	Optical sensor for water-air detection A sensor and a method of manufacture of a sensor includes a light interface portion comprising first and second walls, where a cavity is provided between the first and second walls, and where the first wall is configured such that at least a portion of light is totally reflected at the first wall when the sensor-external medium is water, and at least a portion of light is coupled out when the sensor-external medium is air, and a portion of light is coupled out and a further portion of light is totally reflected by the first wall when the sensor-external medium comprises foam. Light that is reflected by the first wall is directed toward a second wall, and reflected at the second wall to be directed to a light receiving element.
US09861246B2	Unitary cleaning device having onboard replaceable cleaning pad and onboard replaceable cleaning solution A device for cleaning debris from a target surface. The device has a handle for gripping by a user, a hole in the handle which removably receives a replaceable container of cleaning solution and a flat surface which removably receives a cleaning pad. This device may be extruded from a monolithic piece of material, cut to length. The resulting device is unitary, inexpensive and durable. The pad/cleaning solution may be replaced when depleted and replaced with a new pad/cleaning solution or may simply be replaced with a new pad/cleaning solution as may be more suitable for a particular cleaning task. The device may be foam, which provides for an inexpensive construction material and convenient, ergonomic gripping.
US09861245B2	Reversible color-changing sanitizer-indicating nonwoven wipe A nonwoven wipe having a reversible sanitizer indicator for multiple uses and recharges is provided. The nonwoven wipe includes a cloth-like nonwoven fabric coated with a reversible color-changing ink formulation. During use, the nonwoven wipe is impregnated with a quaternary ammonium compound-based sanitizer. When the level of free quaternary ammonium compound falls below a threshold level, the color-changing ink formulation changes from a first color to a second color, indicating the need to recharge the wipe. When the nonwoven wipe is recharged with sanitizer solution, the color-changing ink formulation changes back to the first color.
US09861240B2	Battery removal for a vacuum cleaner A vacuum cleaner includes a vacuum component defining an aperture, and a hand vacuum including a removable battery. The hand vacuum is in removable engagement with the vacuum component, and the battery is removable from the hand vacuum through the aperture while the hand vacuum remains in engagement with the vacuum component.
US09861236B2	Towel warmer for use in conjunction with a hot tub A retrofittable towel warmer for use with a hot tub preferably comprises a flexible conduit portion which is attachable to one of the jets of the hot tub together with a rigid thermally conductive portion which is detachably mountable on an exterior mast support. There is also preferably provided an exterior housing surrounding the thermally conductive portion designed to provide maximum thermal contact with the cloth material to be heated. The entire unit may be immersed in the hot tub or pool water when not in use. In an alternate embodiment a container having a thermally absorptive medium is provided in a structure which is easily mounted on the mast. In an alternate embodiment a container having a thermally absorptive medium is provided in a structure which is easily mounted on a supporting mast.
US09861228B1	Structurally efficient, reduced material folding stand for a chafing dish A collapsible chafing dish stand includes a rim that holds the chafing dish pan; a first leg formed into a first geometric shape having two ends each pivotally coupled to the rim; a second leg similarly formed with two ends each pivotally coupled to the rim; a first cross bar and a second cross bar each formed into a select geometric shape, and pivotally coupled to the first leg and the second leg, respectively; and a hook to releasably couple the first cross bar to the second cross bar to secure the first and second legs in a support position. The improved configuration permits manufacture of a stand with fewer wire bends, simplified hinges and hook, simplified coupling of cross bars, and simplified geometric shapes, all of which combine to minimize material usage, and be more economically producible in a highly competitive marketplace, while retaining structural integrity.
US09861227B2	Infusion unit for a machine for making beverages The present invention relates to an infusion unit forming a hollow inner space that receives inserted elements, characterized in that it consists of a reinforcement belt that defines the hollow inner space of the infusion unit, said belt including means for taking up the forces generated while infusing on at least one inserted element, the reinforcement belt further including receiving means for each of said elements. The invention also relates to a machine container as well as to a machine with one such infusion unit, and similarly to a method for assembling at least one element to be inserted into an infusion unit. The invention can be used in all types of infusion machines, in particular EXPRESSO coffee machines.
US09861219B2	Patterning for constructable utensil A system and method for reducing manufacturing costs of patterned constructible utensils and improving their constructability. One constructible utensil includes a set of scores (e.g., a quad of scores including an outer pair and an inner pair, a single such pair, or other number of scores) that are shaped to converge when moving from a bowl-region towards the handle portion. The scores do not intersect but stop and produce various alterations in the converging score pattern. These alterations in the converging pattern help with propagation of a bowl-forming fold responsive to a constructing manipulation of the handle portion (e.g., folding, bending, and other operation on the handle portion and one or more scores on the handle portion).
US09861217B1	Art clamp A clamp adapted to retain paintings which includes a female piece rotatably connected to a male piece. The proximal end of the female piece includes a sloped locking shoulder which engages a distally extending horizontal flange in the proximal end of the male piece in order to lock the clamp.
US09861207B2	Wave springs and cushioning articles containing the same Cushioning articles such as mattresses can include a three dimensional wave spring core. The wave spring includes a polymeric lattice spring structure including a plurality of alternating layers stackedly arranged to define a height of the wave spring, wherein each one of the alternating layers is defined by a single strand having one or more upward and downward undulations, wherein the alternating layers are arranged such that an upward undulation of one layer is connected to a downward undulation of the other layer to define a cell configured to receive a compressive force, wherein the lattice structure has a sinusoidal shape when viewed top down and is configured to have three dimensional structure.
US09861206B2	Mattress toppers combining foam and pocket coil layers A mattress topper includes a pocket coil pad having a top surface and a bottom surface. The pocket coil pad includes a plurality of pockets, each pocket having a compressible coil that moves independently of the other compressible coils of the pad. The mattress topper includes a first foam pad overlying and connected with the top surface of the pocket coil pad, and a second foam pad overlying and connected with the bottom surface of the pocket coil pad. The compressible coils are joined together by a fabric covering that holds the compressible coils together as a unitary structure. The compressible coils have a height of about ¼ inch or greater. The pocket coil pad and the first and second foam pads cover an area that is the same size such as single, twin, queen, king, and California king sizes.
US09861205B2	Armrest mechanism for a chair An armrest for a chair includes a first slideable member moveably positioned within a support post and a second slideable member moveably positioned within the support post. The first slideable member is moveably positioned within a channel of the second slideable member such that the first slideable member is moveable relative to the second slideable member. An actuator is connected to the first and second slideable members. The actuator can optionally be included that is actuatable from a locked position to an unlocked position. The first and second slideable members are immovable within the post when the actuator is in the locked position and the first and second slideable members are moveable within the post when the actuator is in the unlocked position.
US09861192B2	Liftable table A liftable table has a table frame, a fixing board, a lifting device, and a table board. The table frame has a main frame and a holding seat. The holding seat is deposited on the main frame. The fixing board is mounted on the main frame. The lifting device is deposited on the holding seat and has a driving set and at least one crossing set. The crossing set is extended from or folded in the receiving space of the holding seat, and is connected to and driven by the driving set. The table board is deposited on the crossing set to move upwardly or downwardly. A user views and operates a computer put on the table board with a sitting or a standing posture, and this prevents the user from using the computer with the sitting posture for a long time and avoids damages to the user's health.
US09861187B2	Self-righting toothbrush A self-righting toothbrush includes a medial section disposed between head and tail sections. The head section mounts a set of frontwardly extending bristles. The tail section has a rearwardly extending asymmetry. The medial section has a pivot surface whose center of rotation defines a pivot point on a longitudinal neutral pivot axis. The pivot surface allows the toothbrush to pivot about the neutral pivot axis when the toothbrush is placed on a support surface. The head and tail sections have respective centers of mass. In a non-bristles up position, the head and tail section centers of mass are spaced from the neutral pivot axis on opposite sides thereof. Due to a moment imbalance dominated by the tail section center of mass, there is a net rotational moment about the neutral pivot axis that induces the toothbrush to pivot about the neutral pivot axis to a bristles up position.
US09861181B2	Hanging chair A hanging chair that includes an upper frame member, a lower frame member, and a plurality of upright supports. The upper frame member is connectable to an external support structure and having a top plate and a bottom plate. The lower frame member has a top plate and a bottom plate. Each upright support having a first end and a second end. The first end of each upright support is connected to the upper frame member between the top plate and the bottom plate of the upper frame member. The second end of each upright support is connected to the lower frame member between the top plate and the bottom plate of the lower frame member. The plurality of upright supports are pivotally moveable between a collapsed position, where the plurality of upright supports are pivoted toward one another, and an expanded position.
US09861179B2	Sport chair backpack Revealed invention relates to a backpack for carrying portable chairs, and/or selected equipment comfortably on the back of a person. Shoulder harness support straps secure it to the back of an individual and the waist harness support transfer the weight to the hips. People attending sporting events, concerts, picnics, or camping many time have an uncomfortable job of carrying several portable chairs, and/or selected equipment, slung over their shoulders for a considerable distance. The bulk and weight of carrying more than one portable chair, and/or selected equipment becomes a frustrating task. Especially if one has to carry up to six chairs, and/or selected equipment, or other items. The Sport chair backpack has six designated locations for chairs, and/or selected equipment to be securely and comfortable, carried over a long distance. Shoulder harness support straps secure it to the back of an individual. Waist harness support transfers the weight to the hips.
US09861170B1	Rolling suitcase that converts to a luggage cart A suitcase includes a kit to convert the suitcase to a luggage cart. A typical rolling suitcase additionally includes at least three sockets provided in spaced relation in the major bottom wall of the suitcase base and open to an outside of the suitcase, and at least three stem casters, each stem caster having a wheel rotatable in a housing and a stem attached to the housing, the stem being configured to be removably secured in one of the at least three sockets. When the at least three stem casters are secured in the at least three sockets and the bottom wall of the suitcase base is arranged facing the ground with the wheels of the at least three stem casters touching the ground, the suitcase is useable as a luggage cart by piling at least one further suitcase over the suitcase lid.
US09861159B2	Article of footwear comprising a sole member with apertures An article of footwear includes an upper and a sole structure with a sole member. The sole member can be manufactured using a cushioning sole system that provides different cushioning characteristics to a sole member using varying patterns of apertures. A user's foot morphology and/or preferences may be used to design the sole member. The sole member can include a set of apertures that are formed along various surfaces of the sole member.
US09861157B1	Shoe covering A shoe covering may include an interior member and an exterior member. The interior member may be configured to be positioned adjacent a shoe outsole during use. The exterior member may be configured to be positioned adjacent a ground surface during use. The shoe covering may be configured such that it may be relatively easily engaged with/disengaged from a shoe. An aspect of the shoe covering may be configured to provide the user with increased traction, comfort, cushioning, and/or protection of spikes on the shoe as compared to use of a shoe without the shoe covering engaged with the shoe.
US09861148B2	Process for creating transitory colored hair for hair extensions and wig hair A process for creating transitory colored hair that is composed of two different colored hair groups having different length hairs in each hair group, and the hair groups are combined then the top one-third (⅓) combined hair is dyed or color processed. First, hair group 1 is obtained consisting of hair strands 12 inches to 24 inches in length and color processed to color A. Next, hair group 2 is obtained consisting of hair strands approximately two-thirds the length of hair group 1, which is color processed to color B. Hair group 1 and hair group 2 are combined into one hair piece. Then, the top one-third segment of combined hair is color processed to color B. Optionally, the top one-third segment of the combined hair groups can be color processed to color C.
US09861143B2	Blanket to protect body from harsh environmental conditions A blanket that may include a layer of material with trapezoidally shaped notches in two opposite sides of the material. An upper panel of the material may be configured to wrap around a user's upper legs with the user in a sitting position, and a lower panel of the material may be configured to wrap around the user's lower legs. Fasteners removably attach right and left edges of the lower panel together. A method of covering a portion of a user's body with a blanket may include placing the blanket on the user with an upper panel of the blanket over the user's upper legs, and a lower panel of the blanket over the user's lower legs, wrapping left and right edges of the lower panel around the user's lower legs, thereby surrounding the user's lower legs with the lower panel.
US09861132B2	Atomizer and electronic cigarette having same An exemplary atomizer of an electronic cigarette includes an atomizing tube and an atomizing assembly arranged in the atomizing tube. The atomizing assembly includes a ceramic tube and a heating element. The heating element is in contact with an inner surface of the ceramic tube. The ceramic tube defines a plurality of liquid absorption hole.
US09861130B2	Atomizing assembly, atomizer and electronic cigarette having same An exemplary atomizing assembly includes a heating component, a holder, an electrode, and a cover. The heating component includes a liquid conducting element and a heating element in contact with the liquid conducting element. The holder includes two arms extending from a first end thereof. The two arms and the cover cooperatively define a receiving space. The heating component is received in the receiving space. The electrode is arranged in the holder and is insulated from the holder. Two ends of the heating element are connected with the holder and the electrode respectively. The holder further includes a connection part arranged at an opposite second end, and the connection part is configured for detachably engaging with an external component.
US09861127B2	Electronic cigarette and electronic cigarette device The present invention relates to an electronic cigarette and an electronic cigarette device, the electronic cigarette includes: a main rod with a nozzle configured at its one end, wherein, the main rod is further configured with a projection assembly at its another end away from the nozzle, the projection assembly includes a projection light source, a slide unit configured in front of the projection light source and a light source control unit connected with the projection light source to control operation of the projection light source; the slide unit includes a slide and a locking groove for insertion of the slide, and the locking groove is defined by two parallel and spaced glasses; the light source control unit includes a light source control circuit and a light source control switch connected with the light source control circuit. The electronic cigarette has a function of projecting various image light-shadows.
US09861123B2	Smoking article and a method of manufacturing a smoking article A smoking article comprises a first filter section, and a second filter section located downstream of the first filter section. The first filter section comprises a material with a first pressure drop per unit length, the second filter section comprises a material with a second pressure drop per unit length, and the second pressure drop per unit length is greater than the first pressure drop per unit length. The smoking article comprises a ventilation system configured to selectively provide ingress of a variable level of ventilating air.
US09861122B2	Shelf-stable, preservative-free liquid beverage enhancer products A liquid beverage enhancer product including a shelf-stable highly concentrated liquid flavor and color solution including at least 10% non-water solvents with humectant properties including propylene glycol, glycerol, ethanol and other alcohols. The liquid beverage enhancer product in combination with beverages or non-beverage food products. A method of enhancing a beverage by adding a liquid beverage enhancer product including a shelf-stable highly concentrated liquid flavor and color solution having at least 10% non-water solvents with humectant properties to a beverage, and enhancing the flavor and color of the beverage. A method of enhancing milk, milk substitute beverages, and protein containing products, by adding the liquid beverage enhancer product having a pH of greater than 4.6 to milk, milk substitute beverages, or protein containing products, and enhancing the flavor and color of the milk, milk substitute beverages, or protein containing products without curdling.
US09861105B2	Methods and compositions for controlling nematode pests Transgenic plants expressing a Vip3 protein have been found to be efficacious against plant-infesting nematodes. Disclosed are methods of controlling nematode populations using transgenic plants expressing Vip3 protein.
US09861080B1	Pet tracking device The present invention is generally directed to a pet tracking device that receives and transmits wireless signals indicative of the location of the pet tracking device. The pet tracking device has a body including a power source and electrical circuits located within a housing and at least one hoop antenna extending outwardly from a surface of the housing. The at least one hoop antenna also functions as a collar attaching location for affixing the pet tracking device to a pet worn collar.
US09861072B2	Animal cage litter composition, especially suitable for cats The object of invention is an animal cage litter composition, especially suitable for cats, in the form of compacted and/or ground down sunflower hulls, in the amount from 1% to 100%, preferably 100%, with addition of the known binder, in the amount from 0% to 50%, and/or the known filler, in the amount from 0% to 80%, in the total mass of compacted sunflower hulls.
US09861071B2	Composite absorbent particles Composite particles and methods for making the same. An absorbent material is formed into a particle. An optional performance-enhancing active is coupled to the absorbent material before, during, or after the particle-forming process, homogeneously and/or in layers. Additionally, the composite absorbent particle may include a core material. Preferred methods for creating the absorbent particles include a pan agglomeration process, a high shear agglomeration process, a low shear agglomeration process, a high pressure agglomeration process, a low pressure agglomeration process, a rotary drum agglomeration process, a mix muller process, a roll press compaction process, a pin mixer process, a batch tumble blending mixer process, an extrusion process, and a fluid bed process.
US09861070B2	Self-propelled animal-shed vehicle for removing manure and an assembly of such an animal-shed vehicle and an animal-shed floor Self-propelled animal-shed vehicle for removing manure from a floor, and comprising a frame, a manure pick-up device, and a manure collecting bin, wherein the manure pick-up device comprises a rotating, continuous manure pick-up belt, at least two reversing parts, around which the belt can be rotatably moved, and a drive for moving the manure pick-up belt around the reversing parts, wherein the manure pick-up device during use keeps the manure pick-up belt in contact with the floor by means of a bottom reversing part, and wherein the drive is configured to move the manure pick-up belt at a peripheral speed, in such a manner that the manure pick-up belt moves from a bottom side of the bottom reversing part to a top side of the reversing part along the reversing part. Such a vehicle can keep an animal-shed floor clean in a very efficient manner. The invention also provides an assembly of such an animal-shed vehicle and an animal-shed floor which is configured to separate manure which lands thereon into solid droppings and urine.
US09861063B1	Maize hybrid X13H969 A novel maize variety designated X13H969 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof are produced by crossing inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant by crossing hybrid maize variety X13H969 with another maize plant are disclosed. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X13H969 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X13H969, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X13H969. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X13H969.
US09861058B1	Maize hybrid X08H734 A novel maize variety designated X08H734 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof are produced by crossing inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant by crossing hybrid maize variety X08H734 with another maize plant are disclosed. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X08H734 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X08H734, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X08H734. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X08H734.
US09861055B1	Soybean variety XR39U15X The invention relates to the soybean variety designated XR39U15X. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety XR39U15X. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety XR39U15X and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety XR39U15X with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
US09861054B1	Soybean variety XR36Z15X The invention relates to the soybean variety designated XR36Z15X. Provided by the invention are the seeds, plants and derivatives of the soybean variety XR36Z15X. Also provided by the invention are tissue cultures of the soybean variety XR36Z15X and the plants regenerated therefrom. Still further provided by the invention are methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the soybean variety XR36Z15X with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods.
US09861041B2	Load sensor for an agricultural baler An agricultural baler system includes a bale chamber, a compressing device and at least one sensor. The compressing device is coupled to the bale chamber and periodically compresses gathered crop material in the bale chamber. The sensor is coupled to the bale chamber and it produces a signal. The signal contains information that includes the load on at least one of the compressing device and the density of the forming bale.
US09861032B2	Leveling tool bar Representative implementations of devices and techniques provide a tool bar comprising a structure having a plurality of sections arranged in geometric forms. The geometric forms may change shape to keep a tool that is attached to the structure in a desired position while the tool bar is being used on uneven terrain, such as on a hillside or while the tool bar is rotated or pivoted at an angle with respect to the direction of travel. Changing the shape of the geometric forms can also result in rotating the tool attached to the structure with respect to the tool bar.
US09861021B2	Dual function vibration isolation and handle swivel A walk behind power equipment device includes a frame (or housing), an engine supported at least in part by the frame or housing, a mobility assembly operably coupled to the frame and to the engine to provide mobility of the walk behind power equipment device responsive to operation of the engine, a working assembly and a handle assembly. The working assembly is operably coupled to the frame and to the engine to facilitate performance of a working function of the walk behind power equipment device responsive to operation of the engine. The handle assembly is operably coupled to the frame via a handle coupler to provide steering inputs responsive to which the mobility assembly moves the walk behind power equipment device via a handle apparatus of the handle assembly. The handle coupler is configured to provide at least vibration isolation and handle apparatus orientation adjustment.
US09867313B2	Transmitter and electronic device According to one embodiment, a transmitter includes a housing, an internal member, a first unit, and a second unit. The internal member is fixed to the housing. The internal member forms a first area and a second area inside the housing. The first area communicates with an outside of the housing. The second area is liquid-tightly partitioned from the first area. The first unit is in the housing. The first unit includes a first heat sink and a first circuit. The first heat sink is at least partially in the first area. The first circuit is in the second area. The second unit is in the housing. The second unit includes a second heat sink and a second circuit. The second heat sink is at least partially in the first area and facing the first heat sink. The second circuit is in the second area.
US09867307B2	Information processing apparatus An information processing apparatus includes a lower unit having a circuit board on which first electronic components are mounted and also having a chassis in which the circuit board is mounted at a bottom, an upper surface of the chassis being open; and an upper unit having a tray member detachably attached to the chassis and also having second electronic components mounted at a bottom of the tray member, the upper unit being stacked on the lower unit; wherein the upper unit has a connector board attached to the tray member, having a first and a second connectors, the first connector being fitted to a board-side connector on the circuit board, the second connector being electrically connected to the second electronic components, and an opening is formed at the bottom of the tray member, the first connector and the board-side connector being mutually fitted through the opening.
US09867304B2	Cable retainer for set top box lead dress An electronic device assembly comprises an electronic device having a bottom and back side, wherein the bottom includes apertures and the back side includes a panel jack for connecting to cables; and a cable retainer having a base and a back upstanding wall extending from the base. The base is attached to the bottom of the electronic device. The back upstanding wall faces the back side, the back upstanding wall is spaced from the back side, and the back upstanding wall has slots for supporting the cable.
US09867297B2	Storage device According to one embodiment, a storage device includes an enclosure, and a circuit board assembly in the enclosure. The circuit board assembly includes a first circuit board, a second circuit board opposed to the first circuit board, a third circuit board opposed to the second circuit board, a first connector connecting the first and second circuit boards to each other, a second connector connecting the second and third circuit boards to each other, and is offset to the first connector in a plane direction, a first spacer between the first and second circuit boards, and a second spacer between the second and third circuit boards. The first spacer includes a support body at a position opposed to the second connector and in contact with the first and second circuit boards.
US09867288B2	Semiconductor memory card, printed circuit board for memory card and method of fabricating the same A printed circuit board for a memory card includes an insulating layer; a mounting part on a first surface of the insulating layer, the mounting part being electrically connected to a memory device; and a terminal part on a second surface of the insulating layer, the terminal part being electrically connected to an external electronic appliance, wherein a same metal layer having a same property is formed on exposed surfaces of the mounting part and the terminal part.
US09867287B2	Low dielectric resin composition with phosphorus-containing flame retardant and preparation method and application thereof The invention belongs to the technical field of low dielectric resin compositions, and discloses a low dielectric resin composition with phosphorus-containing flame retardant and a prepreg, resin film, laminate and printed circuit board prepared therefrom. The composition comprises the following components: (A) phosphorus-containing flame retardant; (B) vinyl compound. The phosphorus-containing flame retardant has a structure as shown in formula (I). In the present invention, diphenylphosphine oxide is derivatized, and prepared a phosphorus-containing flame retardant, which has no reactive functional groups, has better dielectric properties, and has high melting point, and upon combining with a vinyl compound, a resin composition is obtained, and a laminate having low thermal expansion ratio, high heat resistance, high glass transition temperature, and low dielectric constant and dissipation factor, can be made from the resin composition, and can effectively achieve the flame resistance effect of UL94 V-0 without using halogen-containing flame retardant, and can be used in the preparation of prepregs, resin films, resin coated coppers, flexible resin coated coppers, laminates and printed circuit boards.
US09867284B2	Warpage control with intermediate material A mounting device for mounting electronic components, wherein the mounting device comprises an electrically conductive structure having a first value of thermal expansion in at least one pre-defined spatial direction, an electrically insulating structure having a second value of thermal expansion in the at least one pre-defined spatial direction being different from the first value and being arranged on the electrically conductive structure, and a thermal expansion adjustment structure having a third value of thermal expansion in the at least one pre-defined spatial direction, wherein the third value is selected and the thermal expansion adjustment structure is located so that thermally induced warpage of the mounting device resulting from a difference between the first value and the second value is at least partially compensated by the thermal expansion adjustment structure.
US09867278B2	Capacitor component and capacitor component mounting structure Laminated ceramic capacitors include ceramic layers and inner electrodes that are alternately laminated. The inner electrodes are laminated in the same lamination direction, and a first outer electrode and a second outer electrode are electrically connected to the inner electrodes. In a mounting process, the laminated ceramic capacitors are mounted on a mounting surface such that the inner electrodes are perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the mounting surface.
US09867273B2	Printed circuit, thin film transistor and manufacturing method thereof A printed circuit, a thin film transistor and manufacturing methods thereof are provided. The printed circuit includes a plurality of metal nanostructures and a metal oxide layer. The metal oxide layer is disposed on a surface of the metal nanostructures and fills a space at an intersection of the metal nanostructures. The metal oxide layer disposed on the surface of the metal nanostructures has a thickness of 0.1 nm to 10 nm.
US09867268B2	Cooling plasma torch nozzles and related systems and methods In some aspects, nozzles for a plasma arc torch can include a first body having a first end, a second end, and a longitudinal axis; and a second body disposed about a portion of the first body to complement the first body, the second body defining a set of channels formed on an internal surface shaped to form a set of liquid flow passages between the first body and the second body, the second body at least partially defining at least one inlet and at least one outlet to the set of liquid flow passages.
US09867267B2	Extreme ultraviolet light source device An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source device includes a source droplet generator for generating source droplets as a target source for generating extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light and for injecting the source droplets to a collector, a light irradiator for directing a detection light to an injection path of the source droplets, a light detector for detecting the detection light blocked by the source droplet, and a source droplet controller electrically connected to the light detector and the source droplet generator for analyzing the detection light to determine whether a satellite of the source droplet is generated or to determine a size of the generated satellite and for controlling a formation of a stream of source droplets based on the determination result.
US09867262B2	Lamp equipment having multi-modes bluetooth module and mode switching method of the bluetooth module Lamp equipment having a LED, a driver and a bluetooth module is disclosed. The driver is connected to the LED to control thereof, and the bluetooth module is connected to the driver for receiving power. The bluetooth module supports a mesh-network mode and a beacon mode and switches between this two modes periodically. When working under the mesh-network mode, the bluetooth module is able to execute peer-to-peer transmission with other bluetooth modules within its transmission range, and adjusts its beacon mode's status and beacon content based on received command and data. When working under the beacon mode, the bluetooth module is able to broadcast the beacon content, so as to push message externally and provide micro-location function for the outside.
US09867261B2	Light emitting device with dimming visible light communication function and interaction device applying for visible light A light emitting device with a dimming visible light communication function and an interaction device applying for visible light are provided. The light emitting device with the dimming visible light communication function comprises a luminance adjusting unit, a control circuit and a light emitting device. The luminance adjusting unit outputs a luminance adjusting signal according to luminance adjusted by a user. The control circuit coupled to the luminance adjusting unit outputs a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal according to the luminance adjusting signal. The light emitting device outputs visible light, receives the PWM signal, and is turned on or off according to states of a logic high voltage and a logic low voltage of the PWM signal. In an idle mode, the PWM signal operates at a first frequency. In a light communication mode, an operating frequency of the PWM signal is changed according to transmitted data.
US09867258B2	Lighting device with ambient light sensor A lighting device may be implemented to automatically adjust a projected light level based on ambient lighting conditions detected at a sensor. In one example, a lighting device includes a light source adapted to project light. The lighting device also includes a sensor adapted to provide illumination measurements based on ambient light detected by the sensor including at least a reflected portion of the projected light. The lighting device also includes a controller adapted to select a range of illumination levels and adjust the projected light based on the provided illumination measurements to transition the projected light through a plurality of projected light levels until at least a new illumination measurement provided by the sensor is within the range of illumination levels. Additional devices and related methods are also provided.
US09867245B2	Electronic circuit for driving LED strings so as to reduce the light flicker LED strings cascaded to one another are driven by an electronic circuit that includes regulation modules and a brightness-compensation module. The regulation modules carry out in sequence a current-regulation phase, in which they regulate the current that flows in the corresponding LED strings. The regulation module includes: a compensation regulator coupled to a compensation LED string and to a capacitor and a generator that generates an electrical quantity indicating the luminous flux emitted by the LED strings and by the compensation LED string. The compensation regulator regulates a current that flows in the compensation LED string as a function of the electrical quantity, discharging the capacitor through the compensation LED string.
US09867243B2	Reduction of harmonic distortion for LED loads Apparatus and associated methods reduce harmonic distortion of a excitation current by diverting the excitation current substantially away from a number of LEDs arranged in a series circuit until the current or its associated periodic excitation voltage reaches a predetermined threshold level, and ceasing the current diversion while the excitation current or voltage is substantially above the predetermined threshold level. In an illustrative embodiment, a rectifier may receive an AC (e.g., sinusoidal) voltage and deliver unidirectional current to a string of series-connected LEDs. An effective turn-on threshold voltage of the diode string may be reduced by diverting current around at least one of the diodes in the string while the AC voltage is below a predetermined level. In various examples, selective current diversion within the LED string may extend the input current conduction angle and thereby substantially reduce harmonic distortion for AC LED lighting systems.
US09867241B2	Dimming module and solid state lighting device A dimming module and a solid state lighting device are shown. The dimming module includes a rectifying circuit, a first driving circuit, and a processing circuit. The rectifying circuit is configured to convert an AC voltage to a rectified voltage. The first driving circuit is configured to receive the rectified voltage to provide a first current so as to drive a first lighting module. The first driving circuit includes a first switch. The first switch turns ON or OFF selectively according to a first control voltage signal so as to control the first current. The processing circuit is configured to receive a dimming command, and adjust the first control voltage signal according to the dimming command. The first control voltage signal is configured to control a phase delay angle and a duty cycle of the first current.
US09867232B2	Heating element and process heater A heating element for heating gases to high temperatures includes at least one tube arranged for the flow of gas to be heated and an electrical heating wire in the tube, which transfers heat to the gas flowing past. A process heater and a corresponding heating element are provided to permit generation of gas temperatures up to 1000° C. or above and having a lifespan 10 times longer than conventional heating coils. The heating wire is formed as a heating rod extending along the tube axis, whose maximum clear distance to the inner wall of the tube does not exceed a value of 10 mm over at least 80% of the circumference and/or at least 80% of the overlapping length of the tube and heating rod.
US09867231B2	Multi-mode terminal and handover method for multi-mode terminal A multi-mode terminal includes: a power management chip, a digital baseband chip, a first radio frequency chip, a second radio frequency chip, a first card socket, a second card socket, a first clock source and a second clock source, wherein the power source management chip is connected to the digital baseband chip, the first card socket and the second card socket; the digital baseband chip is further connected to the first card socket and the second card socket, and is connected to the first radio frequency chip and the second radio frequency chip; the first clock source is connected to the first radio frequency chip; the second clock source is connected to the second radio frequency chip, a clock path is further connected between the first radio frequency chip and second radio frequency chip, and the first radio frequency chip provides an output clock to the second radio frequency chip.
US09867227B2	Method, device, and system for indicating discontinuous data scheduling A method for indicating discontinuous data scheduling includes receiving discontinuous reception (DRX) indication information on an Iur interface; and sending discontinuous scheduling indication information to a base station according to the DRX indication information. A communication system and a radio network control device for implementing the method are also provided.
US09867211B2	Method and communication apparatus for acquiring scheduling information of neighbouring cell base station The present disclosure relates to methods and a communication apparatus for acquiring scheduling information of neighboring cell eNodeBs in a wireless communication network.
US09867209B2	Radio resources configuration signaling in a wireless network Aspects described herein relate to configuring radio resources of a control channel for use by base stations and wireless devices. According to some embodiments, one or more control messages may be transmitted by a base station and/or received by a wireless device. The control messages may comprise configuration parameters for the radio resources of the control channel. Exemplary configuration parameters may include an indication of one or more subframes in a frame on a carrier, an indication of a starting symbol corresponding to the control channel in the one or more subframes, and one or more frequency resource parameters for non-overlapping sets of resource blocks in the one or more subframes.
US09867207B2	Simultaneous scheduling request transmission in dual connectivity Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, an apparatus may be configured to receive a first scheduling request transmission for a first cell group, and a second scheduling request transmission for a second cell group, determine one of the first scheduling request and the second scheduling request to have a higher priority and another one of the first scheduling request and the second scheduling request to have a lower priority, and process the scheduling request having a higher priority without processing the scheduling request having a lower priority. An apparatus may be configured to combine a configuration of a first scheduling request for a first cell group and a second configuration of a second scheduling request for a secondary cell group in a system radio bearer, and transmit the SRB to a user equipment to process the first scheduling request and the second scheduling request.
US09867193B2	Transmission device, reception device, communication system, and communication method A transmission device that generates control information including 3-bit information and transmits a physical downlink shared channel, a reference signal for demodulation of the physical downlink shared channel, and the control information, wherein, in a case that all codewords which are mapped to the physical downlink shared channel are enabled, among a first value to an eighth value indicated by the 3-bit information, the third value to the eighth value indicate that the number of layers is from 3 to 8 respectively, and the first value and the second value indicate that the number of layers is equal to 2, and the first value indicates that the scrambling identity for the reference signal is equal to 0 and the second value indicates that the scrambling identity is equal to 1.
US09867192B2	System and method for beam selection using multiple frequencies A method for operating a UE includes receiving, by the UE during an initial access sequence, a plurality of first inbound beams each transmitted by a communications controller in a different transmit direction over a first carrier, where the first inbound beams have a different subcarrier frequency range from each other, generating values of a receive metric in accordance with the first inbound beams, selecting one of the first inbound beams in accordance with the receive metric values, transmitting, by the UE, an indication of the selected first inbound beam, and receiving, by the UE, a second inbound beam transmitted by the communications controller in a transmit direction in accordance with the indication of the selected first inbound beam, where the second inbound beam has a second subcarrier frequency range of the first carrier that is different than a first subcarrier frequency range of the selected first inbound beam.
US09867190B1	System and method for signal boost in an LTE network A method for improving LTE connectivity in known trouble areas is disclosed. The method includes receiving, at an eNodeB, a communication message from a mobile device and determining a first timing advance (TA) information associated with the communication message received from the mobile device. Based on the first TA information it is determined if the mobile device is located in an area susceptible to a communication failure. Upon determining that the mobile device is located in the area susceptible to the communication failure, messages are temporality transmitted from the eNodeB to the mobile device at an increased power level.
US09867181B2	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.
US09867161B2	Method and apparatus for supporting positioning for terminals in a wireless network Techniques for supporting positioning for terminals in a wireless network are described. In an aspect, positioning may be supported by a location server that can reside in different entities. In one design, the location server may obtain positioning information (e.g., measurements) for a target device via a common positioning protocol. The location server may use the common positioning protocol regardless of where it resides and may communicate with other entities via this protocol. The location server may determine location information (e.g., a location estimate) for the target device based on the positioning information. In another aspect, positioning may be supported by transporting multiple positioning messages together. In yet another aspect, positioning may be supported by transporting a positioning message containing multiple parts defined by different organizations. In yet another aspect, positioning may be supported with shared measurement data units and/or shared assistance data units that may be applicable for different positioning methods.
US09867151B2	Packet structure A source node in a multihop network determines whether to transmit in a channel based on whether the channel is occupied by a packet transmission with a large number of relays; whether the source node is in the data tones back-off zone; and the source node is in the busy tone back-off zone. A multihop network transmits a packet including a RACH area and a hop number. The RACH area includes a list of subcarriers. A source node in the network dynamically determines the size of the RACH area. A node in the network performs an open-loop transmit power control.
US09867146B2	Systems and methods for dual-connectivity operation A user equipment (UE) is described. The UE determines that dual-connectivity is configured with more than one cell group. The UE also determines if guaranteed power is configured for one or more cell groups. The UE further determines if a total scheduled transmission power of the cell groups exceeds a maximum allowed transmission power of the UE. The UE additionally determines a priority of uplink control information (UCI) types and channel types among the one or more cell groups. The UE also determines if at least one of channel conversion and partial UCI dropping can be applied on one or more cell groups. The UE additionally determines a power allocation of the uplink channel to be transmitted. The UE transmits UCI and channels on the cell groups.
US09867142B2	Transmit power management design and implementation In some aspects, the disclosure is directed to methods and systems for intelligent transmit power management. Output power levels may be dynamically determined responsive to REM measurements, user equipment (UE) signal reports, information received from other cells (e.g. via X2 application protocol (X2AP) or other such communication protocols), or any combination of these or other information in an iterative level conditioning and limit checking process.
US09867141B2	Hot spot device having power control function and power control method A radio communications power control method which can be applied in a hot spot device acquires a first signal power and a first noise power of a first channel by which the hot spot device communicates with a base station, and calculates a first signal-to-noise ratio between the first signal power and the first noise power. The device acquires a second signal power and a second noise power of the first channel when the hot spot device functions, and calculates a second signal-to-noise ratio between the second signal power and the second noise power. A difference is calculated between the first signal-to-noise ratio and the second signal-to-noise ratio, and if the second ratio is greater than the first ratio by a preset reference value, a power of the electromagnetic wave of the hot spot device is reduced to a target value.
US09867140B2	Random access techniques for fixed devices in mobile broadband networks Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, a fixed device performs a cell search to search for one or more cells on a network and determines a transmit power level to communicate with one of the cells of the network. The fixed device sets a frequency of updating the transmit power level for communication with a cell on the network, wherein the frequency of updating the transmit power level is reduced for the fixed device with respect to a mobile device.
US09867125B2	Systems for enabling modular mobile electronic devices A system for enabling a modular mobile electronic device including a module communication network enabling data transfer between modules of the modular mobile electronic device, a module power network enabling power transfer between modules of the modular mobile electronic device, a set of module interfaces removably and mechanically coupling modules of the modular mobile electronic device to the modular mobile electronic device, and a supervisory controller communicatively coupled to the module communication network and electrically coupled to the module power network.
US09867115B2	Efficient beacon transmission and reception A control point, such as a laptop, phone, wireless access point, or other device, transmits beacons to receiving stations in a wireless network. The control point may reduce power and bandwidth consumption by transmitting beacons with smaller payloads and/or less frequently to sectors with no associated stations. The stations, which may include laptops, phones, or other devices may reduce power consumption be powering on their antennas when beacons may be transmitted to their sectors.
US09867110B2	Service type selection in wireless network This document discloses methods, apparatuses, and computer programs for selecting and providing a terminal apparatus of a wireless network with services. The terminal apparatus selects a wireless apparatus to provide the terminal apparatus with at least a first service. Then, it causes transmission of an association request to the wireless apparatus, wherein the association request comprises at least one information element indicating whether the request relates to provision of the first service without a second service or to provision of both the first service and a second service, wherein the second service is different from the first service and is subjected to the presence of the first service. Upon approval acquired from the wireless apparatus, the at least said first service is received from the wireless apparatus.
US09867098B2	Wi-Fi calling using SIP-IMS handset and evolved packet data gateway Wi-Fi calling using a mobile device and an evolved packet data gateway (ePDG) is described herein. For example, a mobile device may determine whether any LTE coverage is available, whether data roaming is available, whether a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN) is available, and whether a DNS query to a visited ePDG (VePDG) is successful. The mobile device may connect to the VePDG responsive to a determination that LTE coverage is available, that data roaming is available, that a VPLMN is available, and that the DNS query to the VePDG is successful. Otherwise, the mobile device may connect to a home ePDG (HePDG).
US09867095B2	Method for switching data between plurality of communications systems and apparatus therefor A method for switching data between a plurality of communications systems according to the present invention is characterized by including the steps of: receiving a message from a first communications system having generated at least one data radio bearer (DRB) with a terminal for switching data to a second communications system; switching data to the second communications system based on the message; and carrying out data communication with the base station of the second communications system after switching data, wherein the message contains the information of all DRBs generated in the terminal or the information for indicating whether to keep the information of at least a particular one of the DRBs generated in the terminal, and the data switching operation is performed according to the information.
US09867092B2	Detection and inhibition of multiple consecutive inter-RAT ping-pong handovers There are provided measures for detection and inhibition of multiple consecutive inter-RAT ping-pong handovers (also called handover bounces). Such measures exemplarily include detecting multiple consecutive ping-pong handovers of a communication endpoint between two radio access technologies, wherein a ping-pong handover includes a handover from one of said two radio access technologies to the other of said two radio access technologies and a handover from the other of said two radio access technologies to the one of said two radio access technologies, and causing immediate inhibition of certain handovers of said communication endpoint.
US09867086B2	Transpositional modulation communications between devices Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining, by a first device, that a second device is within range for direct communications and that the second device is capable of performing transpositional modulation (TM) communications. Determining to use transpositional modulation to send data to the second device. Sending the data to the second device using a TM signal.
US09867083B2	Wireless network controller load balancing In one embodiment, a method includes selecting at a network device, seed access points from a plurality of access points and assigning each of the seed access points to a wireless network controller. The seed access points join the assigned wireless network controllers before the remaining access points join the wireless network controllers. Each of the remaining access points is associated with one of the seed access points and joins the same wireless network controller as the seed access point. An apparatus and logic are also disclosed herein.
US09867081B1	Optimizing radio frequency (RF) coverage in remote unit coverage areas in a wireless distribution system (WDS) Embodiments of the disclosure relate to optimizing radio frequency (RF) coverage in remote unit coverage areas in a wireless distribution system (WDS). A control circuit is configured to selectively determine at least one selected remote unit group comprising two or more remote units selected from a plurality of remote units in the WDS. A first remote unit in the selected remote unit group is configured to transmit an RF signal. The control circuit is configured to determine a first prediction deviation and a second prediction deviation, respectively. The control circuit determines correction factor(s) for selected correction point(s) based on the first prediction deviation and the second prediction deviation. The control circuit optimizes RF coverage in coverage area(s) based on the determined correction factor(s), thus improving RF performance and capacity of the WDS.
US09867065B2	OTFS methods of data channel characterization and uses thereof Fiber, cable, and wireless data channels are typically impaired by reflectors and other imperfections, producing a channel state with echoes and frequency shifts in data waveforms. Here, methods of using OTFS pilot symbol waveform bursts to automatically produce a detailed 2D model of the channel state are presented. This 2D channel state can then be used to optimize data transmission. For wireless data channels, an even more detailed 2D model of channel state can be produced by using polarization and multiple antennas in the process. Once 2D channel states are known, the system turns imperfect data channels from a liability to an advantage by using channel imperfections to boost data transmission rates. The methods can be used to improve legacy data transmission modes in multiple types of media, and are particularly useful for producing new types of robust and high capacity wireless communications using non-legacy OTFS data transmission methods.
US09867053B2	Coexistence of LTE-U with WiFi and/or another LTE-U system in unlicensed spectrum Techniques are described that provide for the collaborative co-existence of LTE-U base stations and access points associated with technologies, such as WiFi, that use unlicensed frequency spectrum. In one implementation, a LTE-U device may select a frequency block, in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, based on measured signal strengths and decoded Master Information Blocks (MIBs) that are broadcast in the unlicensed frequency spectrum. The LTE-U device may initiate communications via the selected frequency block by transmitting a MIB that includes a token identifier field that identifies the selected frequency block.
US09867050B1	Ultrasonic audio transmission of wireless LAN information A system and method of regulating access to a short-range wireless communications network using an ultrasonic audible signal includes: receiving a handheld wireless device identifier at a short-range wireless network from a handheld wireless device that is within a communication range of the short-range wireless network; determining that the handheld wireless device is authorized to access the short-range wireless network using the handheld wireless device identifier; and broadcasting an audio signal at an ultrasonic frequency through an audio system, wherein the audio signal includes information used by the handheld wireless device for authentication to the short-range wireless communications network in response.
US09867042B2	Radio frequency identification technology incorporating cryptographics Disclosed is a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag comprising: an RFID functional portion configured to enable wireless communication between the RFID tag and an RFID reader; a data processing functional portion with asymmetric cryptographic capability; and a power source configured to power the data processing functional portion.
US09867041B2	Methods and systems for determining protected location information based on temporal correlations The systems and methods can provide location privacy protection by incorporating temporal correlations of a user's locations. The method may include obtaining a first location of a user of a mobile user device. The method may further include determining one or more probable locations of the user for a time period from historical location information. The method may further include determining a reference location based on the first location and/or the one or more probable locations. The method may include determining a set of location(s) defining a bounded region based on the one or more probable locations and/or the reference location and privacy parameter(s) associated with the user. The method may include determining a second location from the bounded region and determining protected location information based on the reference location and the second location. The method may include communicating the protected location information.
US09867033B2	Standardized control of wireless devices A disclosed service for managing mobile and wireless communication devices (MWCDs) includes enabling a server to generate a standard remote configuration command (RCC) and enabling a transmitter coupled to the server to transmit the RCC wirelessly. The RCC configures a feature on a first MWCD of a first supplier and a second MWCD of a second supplier. The RCC may disable one or more of a set of selected MWCD peripheral devices. For example, the RCC may disable an MWCD camera, an MWCD microphone, and/or an MWCD speaker. In some embodiments, the RCC transitions the MWCD to a restricted state in which the MWCD is unable to record multimedia content including audio and video content. In these embodiments, the RCC may configure one or more of the features on each of a set of MWCDs within a defined geographic region.
US09867031B2	Mobile communication system, mobile station, switching station, and location registration method for mobile station A decrease is realized in network load caused by a change in selection of location registration device or an increase or decrease in the number of installations, on a circuit switching network side. A mobile communication system includes a mobile station, a packet switching station, and a plurality of location registration devices that perform location management of the mobile station. With respect to the mobile station, after one location registration device is already selected from among the plurality of location registration devices, when the mobile station performs location registration, an NRI (Network Resource Identifier) included in a TMSI (Temporary Mobile Station Identifier) is transmitted to the packet switching station. The packet switching station makes a request for location registration with respect to the one location registration device, based on the NRI.
US09867016B2	System and method for locating a mobile phone with moveable wireless beacons The invention addresses the problem of efficiently locating a target device such as a mobile phone, by directing the movement of moveable wireless beacons along a search pattern, using the target device as a moveable wireless beacon detection device. Preferably, the target device is equipped with a WiFi and/or Bluetooth radio and the moveable wireless beacons are WiFi-equipped and/or Bluetooth-equipped mobile phones in possession of first responders. To locate a target device, the WiFi and/or Bluetooth radios in the moveable wireless beacons are activated such that they transmit a unique identifier. As moveable wireless beacons report their locations and as the target device reports updated beacon detection information, movement directions are determined and sent to the moveable wireless beacons to coordinate an efficient search of the target device. Once at least one moveable wireless beacon is detected by the target mobile phone, updated movement directions are provided to the moveable wireless beacon to direct them toward the target device.
US09867007B1	Fine distance determination for user equipment (UE) that are served by wireless repeater chains A wireless communication network determines a fine distance between a wireless base station and User Equipment (UE). The wireless communication network comprises a wireless repeater chain that is coupled to the wireless base station and that serves the UE. The wireless base station determines Round Trip Delay (RTD) between the wireless base station and the UE. The wireless base station determines if the RTD indicates that the UE is beyond a wireless base station range. The wireless base station determines if the wireless base station serves a wireless repeater chain. If the UE is beyond the wireless base station range and the wireless base station serves a wireless repeater chain, then the wireless base station determines a number of repeater hops between itself and the UE. The wireless base station then determines the fine distance between itself and the UE based on the number of wireless repeater hops.
US09867002B2	Wireless communication device mountable on mobile object, monitoring control system of wireless communication device mountable on mobile object, monitoring control method of wireless communication device mountable on mobile object, and remote control center A wireless communication device mounted on a mobile object, the mobile object including: a mobile communication unit that is able to connect to a mobile communication network; and a wireless network connection unit that provides a wireless network connection service based on the mobile communication network connected by the mobile communication unit, the wireless communication device includes: a satellite positioning unit configured to acquire position information on the wireless communication device based on a satellite positioning system; and a control unit configured to control a connection state of the wireless network connection service based on the position information acquired by the satellite positioning unit.
US09867001B2	Identifier for device location within wireless communication systems A wireless communication device (WDEV) includes a communication interface and a processor, among other possible circuitries, components, elements, etc. to support communications with other WDEV (s) and to generate and process signals associated with such communications. The WDEV supports first communications with a first other WDEV and supports second communications with a second other WDEV. The WDEV processes the first communications and the second communications to determine whether the first other WDEV and the second other WDEV are substantially co-located at a physical location. When not co-located, the WDEV processes the first communications and the second communications based on at least one of a ranging or a location protocol to determine location information of the WDEV. Alternatively, when co-located, the WDEV stores information that indicates co-location of the first other WDEV and the second other WDEV.
US09867000B2	Dynamic geofence based on members within In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving, via a first portable electronic device, contextual information and a geolocation relating to a first user in a network-based system and receiving, via a second portable electronic device, contextual information and a geolocation relating to a second user in the network-based system. A common element in the received contextual information relating to the first and second users is identified.In response to an identification of the common element, a boundary for a geofence is defined based on the geolocation of the first or second user. The geolocation of the first or second user is automatically monitored and the boundary of the geofence is dynamically adjusted based on the identified common element and a change in the geolocation of the first or second user. In one example, the boundary of the geofence is redefined to exclude at least one member from a population of the geofence.
US09866997B2	Systems and methods for geo-location based message streams Systems and methods are provided for communicating virtual messages through a location-based message stream for different mobile device users. A geo-fenced area surrounding a desired geographic location for a virtual message stream is generated based on parameters received from a first user. The parameters include at least one message to be sent to one or more recipients via the message stream. When a mobile device of a second user located within the generated geo-fenced area is detected and the second user is determined to be one of the message recipients, the message from the message stream is transmitted to the detected mobile device of the second user.
US09866996B1	Method and system for content delivery with a beacon Embodiments of a method and system for improving delivery of content to a user device can include: determining a resource identifier comprising beacon data associated with a beacon, wherein the resource identifier is associated with a content identifier identifying the content; broadcasting the resource identifier from the beacon to the user device; processing a resource request from a verifying entity, the resource request associated with the resource identifier; and transmitting a response to the resource request based on the first content identifier.
US09866995B2	Location based information service application A method and system for providing audio information on geographical elements at a geo-location by receiving, at a server, geo-location coordinates of a mobile device; selecting audio files comprising information on the geographical elements located within a predetermined radius of the geo-location; sending the audio files to the mobile device; storing the audio files in a memory on the mobile device; and playing the audio files on the mobile device. The method and system may also periodically receive the geo-location coordinates of the mobile device and compare the received geo-location coordinates to previously received geo-location coordinates to determine if the device has moved to a different geo-location.
US09866991B2	System and method for secure pairing of bluetooth devices A mobile device includes a Bluetooth transceiver, the Bluetooth transceiver being in an idle power state when not securely paired to a second Bluetooth transceiver of a peripheral device. The mobile device further includes an audio interface, the audio interface coupled to the Bluetooth transceiver, the audio interface configured to connect to a second audio interface of the peripheral device. The mobile device is configured to establish an out-of-band audio communication channel to the peripheral device by connecting the audio interface to the second audio interface, the mobile device configured to exchange Bluetooth authentication data with the peripheral device via the out-of-band audio communication channel in response to transitioning to an operating state, the mobile device configured to initialize the Bluetooth transceiver with the Bluetooth authentication data to establish an authenticated and cryptographically protected in-band Bluetooth communication channel allowing the mobile device to be securely paired with the peripheral device.
US09866981B2	Micro speaker with capacitors formed by conductive segmented diaphragm and pole plate A micro speaker is disclosed. The micro speaker includes a vibration system including a diaphragm and a voice coil for driving the diaphragm, the diaphragm including a conductive dome and a suspension surrounding the conductive dome; a magnetic circuit system including a lower plate, a first magnetic part on the lower plate, a second magnetic part on the lower plate, a pole plate attached to the first magnetic part, one of the first and second magnetic part being a permanent magnet for forming a magnetic gap. The conductive dome includes a number of units for forming capacitors together with the pole plate for outputting electrical signals according to vibrations of the diaphragm and for detecting real-time replacement of the diaphragm.
US09866979B2	Mobile microphone system and method A method centrally controls communication at a single venue. Information, at least at the venue, is provided to attendees at the venue for transmitting electronic signals to the central communication point. At least one electronic communication transmission from an attendee who has access to the central communication point is enabled to have at least part of the transmission broadcast at the venue or allow open communication from the attendee to be broadcast at the venue. The personal mobile communications device of an attendee is used as a microphone over wireless telephone networks or local wireless communication networks.
US09866976B2	Hearing aid system with an aligned auditory perception According to an embodiment, a hearing aid system is disclosed. The system includes a first auditory unit and a second auditory unit, where each unit is configured to be worn by a user. The first auditory unit provides a first auditory perception to the user and utilizes a first working principle. The second auditory unit provides a second auditory perception to the user and utilizes a second working principle. The first auditory unit and/or the second auditory unit are configured to process a related parameter value, received from the user, for a parameter. The processing of the related parameter value results in obtaining an aligned auditory perception between the first auditory perception and the second auditory perception.
US09866972B2	Micro-electro-mechanical acoustic transducer device with improved detection features and corresponding electronic apparatus Described herein is a MEMS acoustic transducer device provided with a micromechanical detection structure that detects acoustic-pressure waves and supplies a transduced electrical quantity, and with an integrated circuit operatively coupled to the micromechanical detection structure and having a reading module that generates at output an audio signal as a function of the transduced electrical quantity. The integrated circuit is further provided with a recognition module, which recognizes a sound activity event associated to the transduced electrical quantity. The MEMS acoustic transducer has an output that supplies at output a data signal that carries information regarding recognition of the sound activity event.
US09866971B2	Method for manufacturing thermal bimorph diaphragm and MEMS speaker with thermal bimorphs The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a thermal bimorph diaphragm and a MEMS speaker with thermal bimorphs, wherein the method comprises the steps of: thermally oxidizing a substrate to obtain an insulating layer thereon and providing a metal layer on the insulating layer; providing a sacrificial layer on the metal layer; providing a first thermal bimorph layer on the sacrificial layer; providing a second thermal bimorph layer on the first thermal bimorph layer; providing a metal connecting layer at the positions on the metal layer where the sacrificial layer is not provided; forming corresponding back holes on the substrate and the insulating layer and releasing the sacrificial layer; forming the thermal bimorph diaphragm which is warped with the first thermal bimorph layer and the second thermal bimorph layer after the sacrificial layer is released.
US09866965B2	Auto-configurable speaker system Various aspects of a speaker system and a method for auto-configuration of the speaker system is disclosed herein. The speaker system includes an electronic device, which reproduce a first audio in a first speaker configuration. A first sound reproduction device is detected within a pre-defined range of the electronic device. Based on the detection, the first audio is communicated to the first sound reproduction device by the electronic device. The first speaker configuration is modified to a second speaker configuration to reproduce the communicated first audio at the first sound reproduction device.
US09866961B2	Multi-channel loudspeaker enclosure with laterally projecting wings and method for orienting and driving multiple loudspeakers A multi-channel loudspeaker enclosure and display support stand incorporates left speaker system and right speaker system integrally in a winged center channel enclosure 16. The multi-channel “winged” loudspeaker system enclosure includes a plurality of loudspeaker drivers mounted within baffles defining a plurality of compartments or sub-enclosures. The loudspeaker system enclosure has “wings” projecting laterally from a central pedestal support. The wings define bottom surfaces which provide a virtually invisible location for down-firing left and right side mid-bass drivers 601, 620, 640 (see, e.g., FIG. 12). In the multi-channel “winged” loudspeaker system of the present invention, the center channel speaker units, left channel speaker units and right channel speaker units each include one or more speaker drivers configured and driven to provide superior acoustic summation with the down-firing midbass drivers and with an optional subwoofer placed in a separate enclosure configured as a pedestal support.
US09866958B2	Accoustic processor for a mobile device An acoustic processor for a mobile device is described the mobile device comprising a speaker including a speaker membrane, the speaker membrane having a first speaker membrane side and second speaker membrane side opposite the first speaker membrane side, a mobile device housing for providing a first acoustic path between the first speaker membrane side and the exterior of the mobile device and a second acoustic path between the second speaker membrane side and the exterior of the mobile device, the acoustic processor being configured and arranged to sense a signal on an acoustic processor input, the signal being induced on at least one terminal of the speaker in response to acoustic waves process the induced signal to discriminate between acoustic waves from different directions; and output the processed signal on an acoustic processor output.
US09866957B2	Sound collection apparatus and method There is provided a sound collection apparatus, including a directionality formation unit configured to form a directionality in a direction of a target area for input signals from a plurality of microphone arrays, a target area sound extraction unit configured to correct a delay between a target area and each of the microphone arrays, and a power of a target area sound component for an output from the directionality formation unit, suppress a non-target area sound by using each output after correction, and extract a target area sound, an area sound enhancement filter formation unit, and an area sound emphasis unit.
US09866947B2	Dual-microphone headset and noise reduction processing method for audio signal in call The present invention discloses a headset, a terminal, and a method for processing an audio signal based on the headset and the terminal. The method for processing an audio signal includes: acquiring, by a first microphone of a headset in a call process, a first audio signal including a call voice and background noise, and acquiring, by a second microphone of the headset in the call process, a second audio signal including the background noise; and transmitting, by using an external plug of the headset, the first audio signal and the second audio signal to a noise reduction chip built in a terminal, so that the noise reduction chip performs noise reduction processing on the first audio signal according to the second audio signal.
US09866945B2	Antennas for wireless earbuds An accessory such as a wireless earbud may have an antenna for transmitting and receiving wireless signals. A housing for the earbud may have a main body portion and an extended portion that forms a stalk protruding from the main body portion. The earbud may have a speaker aligned with a speaker port in the main body portion. The antenna may have an elongated shape and may extend along the stalk. The stalk may have a plastic housing wall portion. The antenna may be formed from first and second metal traces on opposing sides of a printed circuit substrate. The first metal trace may form an antenna resonating element arm and may lie between the substrate and the plastic housing wall portion. The second metal trace may be a ground trace. A feed for the antenna may be located at a juncture between the main body portion and the stalk.
US09866940B2	Waterproof headphones A variety of different implementations of waterproof headphone designs are disclosed as well as techniques for producing the same. The disclosed headphones may include one or more features which increase the buoyancy of the headphones.
US09866933B2	Narrow profile speaker configurations and systems A narrow profile speaker unit comprises at least one speaker outputting sound towards an internal surface and through a duct with an output terminus, such as a slot, having a narrow dimension, effectively changing the cross-section of the speaker's audio output wave. A pair of speakers may face one another, outputting sound towards a common output slot. Multiple pairs of speakers may be used to form an inline speaker unit for increased sound output. A slotted speaker unit may include multiple speakers facing the same direction, towards a groundplane or reflecting surface, and having parallel apertures for allowing sound radiation. The speaker units may be integral with or attached to electronic appliances such as desktop computers or flatscreen devices, or may be used in automobiles or other contexts.
US09866918B2	Wireless access point with digital television capabilities In some embodiments a wireless access point receives digital television content. The digital television content is transmitted in a wireless manner over a wireless network of the wireless access point. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US09866917B2	Method and system for providing a content notification for a set-top box A method and system for providing a content notification for a set-top box is disclosed. An embodiment is disclosed that receives security information at a web portal and the security information has identification information for a user assigned to a set-top box, services a request to create a content notification preference for the set-top box at the web portal in response to successful entry of security information, determines media content received by the set-top box and the media content selected for display, determines the content notification preference associated with the set-top box, the content notification preference has a content notification rule to monitor media content received by the set-top box, and sends a content notification to a recipient based on the content notification preference.
US09866908B2	Apparatus for transmitting broadcast signals, apparatus for receiving broadcast signals, method for transmitting broadcast signals and method for receiving broadcast signals The present invention provides a method of transmitting broadcast signals. The method includes, pairing with a companion device; receiving a PDI (Profiles, Demographics, Interests) table via broadcast signals, wherein the PDI table includes plural PDI questions related to personal interests for interactive contents, wherein the PDI table includes an ID identifying the PDI table; obtaining an answer for at least one of the PDI questions; storing the obtained answer in the PDI table; and delivering the PDI table having the obtained answer to the paired companion device.
US09866907B2	Television advertisement tracking A method of television advertisement tracking is described. The method may include identifying an electronic advertisement that is playing on a television. The method may also include storing an identifier of the advertisement in an electronic data storage. The method may include identifying, by the processing device, an activity of a user on a client device. The method may also include determining, by the processing device, an effectiveness score of the advertisement with respect to the user based on the activity of the user on the client device. The method may include storing the effectiveness score of the advertisement in association with the identifier of the advertisement.
US09866902B2	Social sharing and unlocking of reactions to content Viewers of a video content item may provide reaction videos, that show the viewer's reactions to a content item while the viewers view the content item. The reaction videos may be provided to a friend, or other member of a social circle of the viewers, when the friend views the content item. The reaction videos may be locked until the friend provides consent to have his or her reaction captured while watching the content.
US09866897B2	Information processing apparatus, video recording reservation supporting method, and computer program An information processing apparatus includes: a video recording reserving section configured to reserve video recording of a program in response to an operation performed by a user; and a comment posting section configured to post a comment on a predetermined website offering a predetermined webpage, the comment being supplemented with a uniform resource locator (URL) indicative of the program of which the video recording has been reserved on the information processing apparatus, the URL causing a video recording reservation screen for the program to be displayed when selected on a screen of the predetermined webpage displayed on another apparatus.
US09866892B2	IR pairing for RF4CE remote controls Systems, apparatus, and methods for pairing information appliance devices, such as set-top boxes and/or set-back boxes (the “set-top/back boxes”), to wireless remote control devices. The systems, apparatus, and methods allow the pairing between a set-top/back box and a remote control device to be made to be stateless, thereby facilitating the arbitration of subsequent pairings of the remote control device with one or more set-top/back boxes on a communications network, by a server computer communicably coupled to the respective set-top/back boxes over the communications network.
US09866890B2	Method and apparatus for providing linking service between vehicle AVN system and smartphone based on virtualization framework Disclosed are a method and apparatus for providing a linking service between a vehicle AVN system and a smartphone based on a virtualization framework. An apparatus for providing a linking service between a vehicle audio video navigation (AVN) system and a smartphone, includes a host operating system for managing an operation and a state of a host process and AVN application, and managing hardware resources included in the apparatus for the host process and AVN application, a guest operating system for managing an operation and a state of a guest process/the smartphone linkage application, and a hypervisor for emulating the hardware resources according to a control signal of the host operating system to allocate a virtualized hardware resource to the guest operating system. Therefore, the present disclosure has an advantage of continuously providing an existing AVN function irrespective of an error of a function of linking a vehicle AVN system and a smartphone.
US09866884B2	Social television system A method includes receiving a request associated with a secondary event orchestrator to schedule a secondary event to be concurrently broadcast with a primary video program. The secondary event is based on the primary video program. The method includes scheduling, by a processing device, the secondary event in an interactive media guide (IMG). The method also includes receiving requests or subscriptions for the secondary event from at least one user device based on the scheduled secondary event in the IMG, and providing support for the concurrent broadcast of the secondary event.
US09866875B2	Low complexity entropy-encoding/decoding method and apparatus Entropy encoding and entropy decoding of image data are respectively performed whereby context modeling is performed on a context unit of blocks of the image data based on a context model of a previously encoded or decoded block.
US09866864B2	Moving picture decoding device, moving picture decoding method, and moving picture decoding program A motion vector predictor candidate constructing unit performs prediction based on a motion vector of one of coded blocks neighboring a coding target block in the same picture as the coding target block, constructs a plurality of motion vector predictor candidates, and adds the motion vector predictor candidates to a motion vector predictor candidate list. A motion vector predictor candidate number limiting unit limits the number of motion vector predictor candidates added to the motion vector predictor candidate list to a maximum candidate number according to a size of a prediction block. A motion vector predictor selecting unit selects a motion vector predictor from the motion vector predictor candidate list. A coding unit codes information representing an index of the selected motion vector predictor in the motion vector predictor candidate list.
US09866863B1	Affine motion prediction in video coding A block of a video frame may be predicted and decoded using a local affine motion prediction scheme. At least three points within the video frame are selected, each point being adjacent to a respective corner of the current block to be encoded. For each point, a motion search is performed for a template block centered about the point within a reference frame to find a template reference block. The template reference block has a center point that forms an anchor point pair with the corresponding point adjacent to the current block. Using coordinates of the anchor point pairs, affine coefficients for an affine transformation are generated. Using the affine transformation, a prediction block for the current block is generated and used to encode the current block within a bitstream. Providing the local affine motion prediction scheme can improve the prediction of certain blocks with complex motion, increasing compression.
US09866862B2	Motion vector reference selection through reference frame buffer tracking Encoding or decoding a video signal includes determining multiple candidate motion vectors for a current block, the candidate motion vectors including a first motion vector used to predict a collocated block within a first frame. A reference frame identifier associated with the first motion vector can be compared to a reference buffer index of a reference frame used to predict the current block of a second frame. On the condition that the reference frame identifier is the same as the reference buffer index, the first motion vector is advanced ahead of remaining ones of the multiple candidate motion vectors.
US09866857B2	Sample array coding for low-delay The entropy coding of a current part of a predetermined entropy slice is based on, not only, the respective probability estimations of the predetermined entropy slice as adapted using the previously coded part of the predetermined entropy slice, but also probability estimations as used in the entropy coding of a spatially neighboring, in entropy slice order preceding entropy slice at a neighboring part thereof. Thereby, the probability estimations used in entropy coding are adapted to the actual symbol statistics more closely, thereby lowering the coding efficiency decrease normally caused by lower-delay concepts. Temporal interrelationships are exploited additionally or alternatively.
US09866835B2	Borehole image compression Devices and methods for obtaining borehole images at a surface installation while a borehole-imaging downhole tool is logging a borehole are provided. One such method may involve, while the downhole tool is disposed in the borehole, obtaining a first borehole image at a first depth of investigation using the borehole-imaging downhole tool. Compression electronics may compress the first borehole image to obtain a first compressed borehole image. Compressing the first borehole image may involve exploiting a symmetry characteristic of the first borehole image to increase compression efficiency or exploiting a similarity of the first borehole image with a second borehole image to increase compression efficiency, or both. The compressed borehole image then may be efficiently transmitted to the surface installation via a telemetry system.
US09866834B2	Adaptive filtering based upon boundary strength An image decoding apparatus that includes a motion compensation prediction circuit configured to conduct motion compensation prediction for each of blocks to be decoded by using the reconstructed image, an inverse transformation circuit configured to conduct inverse orthogonal transformation for the data of the blocks to be decoded, and a determination circuit configured to determine a filtering strength and whether or not to conduct filtering, with respect to each of the boundaries. In addition, the determining circuit is configured to determine filtering is conducted when at least one of the two adjacent blocks is intra-coded, and filtering is not conducted when both of the two adjacent blocks are not intra-coded, a non-zero transformation coefficient is not coded in both of the two adjacent blocks, the two adjacent blocks are predicted by the same reference frame, and an absolute value of a difference between motion vectors of the two adjacent blocks is smaller than a specified threshold value.
US09866826B2	Content-adaptive multi-focal display A multi-focal display represents a 3-dimensional scene by a series of 2-dimensional images located at different focal planes. The locations of the focal planes are selected based on an analysis of the three-dimensional scene to be rendered by the multi-focal display.
US09866815B2	3D object segmentation Disclosed are a system, apparatus, and method for 3D object segmentation within an environment. Image frames are obtained from one or more depth cameras or at different times and planar segments are extracted from data obtained from the image frames. Candidate segments that comprise a non-planar object surface are identified from the extracted planar segments. In one aspect, certain extracted planar segments are identified as comprising a non-planar object surface, and are referred to as candidate segments. Confidence of preexisting candidate segments are adjusted in response to determining correspondence with a candidate segment. In one aspect, one or more preexisting candidate segments are determined to comprise a surface of a preexisting non-planar object hypothesis. Confidence in the non-planar object hypothesis is updated in response to determining correspondence with a candidate segment.
US09866813B2	Autostereo tapestry representation Representation and coding of multi-view images are carried out through tapestry encoding. A tapestry comprises information on a tapestry image, a left-shift displacement map and a right-shift displacement map. Perspective images of a scene can be generated from the tapestry and the displacement maps. The tapestry image is generated from a leftmost view image, a rightmost view image, a disparity map and an occlusion map.
US09866812B2	Video data processing method and device for display adaptive video playback A video data processing method and/device for display adaptive video playback are disclosed. The video data processing method includes receiving video data and dynamic range mastering information including dynamic range related information of the video data from a source device via an interface, and playing the received video data back. The dynamic range mastering information includes electro optical transfer function, EOTF, type information for identifying an EOTF used for the video data.
US09866805B2	Digital image processing and systems incorporating the same A spectrally mosaiced digital image is provided with missing color data imputed for each pixel. Circuitry is provided that is configured to perform at least a portion of the calculations related to demosaicing a high dynamic range image.
US09866804B2	Broadcast signal transmission apparatus, broadcast signal reception apparatus, broadcast signal transmission method, and broadcast signal reception method The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for transmitting and receiving a broadcast signal including signaling information. One embodiment of the present invention may provide a broadcast signal transmission method comprising the steps of: generating a media stream by encoding media data; generating signaling information signaling the media stream; multiplexing the generated media stream and the signaling information; and transmitting a broadcast signal including the multiplexed media stream and the signaling information. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the signaling information may include meta data on the media stream.
US09866796B2	Imaging apparatus, imaging method, and computer-readable recording medium An imaging apparatus includes: an imaging unit that generates image data containing a subject image; a part dividing unit that divides the subject image into a plurality of parts; a changed-image data generating unit; a display control unit that allows a display unit to display an avatar image; a touch panel that accepts a user operation that changes a positional relationship between a plurality of resions contained in the avatar image; a positional relationship storage unit that stores positional relationship information related to the positional relationship between the plurality of resions changed according to the user operation; and an imaging control unit that allows a recording unit to record the image data, based on the positional relationship information and a positional relationship between the plurality of parts.
US09866794B2	Portable presentation system and methods for use therewith A method and assembly for sharing information in a conference space, the assembly comprising a display configuration including presentation surface area juxtaposed within the conference space for viewing by an audience, the surface area including at least first and second adjacent presentation sub-spaces, a processor programmed to perform the steps of presenting an interface on the surface area useable to generate session images within at least one of the sub-spaces, the interface including a panel section in which a separate panel icon for each of the session images created during a session is presented, the interface further including a separate space on the surface area associated with each of the sub-spaces, the interface facilitating selection and dragging of panel icons to locations associated with the sub-spaces to control the images presented in each of the sub-spaces, wherein, when a panel icon is dragged to a space, an image currently associated with the sub-space is replaced at the sub-space.
US09866780B1	Pixel information recovery by oversampling a comparison of pixel data and a noise signal An exemplary electronic light processing cell uses a photo sensor unit to provide an analog electrical output proportional to an amount of light impinging on the photo sensor. A noise source provides a noise output that is compared by a comparator, during a plurality of times during a frame of an image, with the analog electrical output to generate a binary digital output representative of each comparison. A digital counter counts the binary digital outputs during the frame and stores a count at the end of a frame where the value of the stored count is proportional the light impinging the photo sensor. The value of the stored count is adapted for use by an image processing unit to render an image.
US09866775B2	Digital double sampling method, a related CMOS image sensor, and a digital camera comprising CMOS image sensor A digital double sampling method, a related complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, and a digital camera comprising the CMOS image sensor are disclosed. The method includes generating first digital data corresponding to an initial voltage level apparent in a pixel in response to a reset signal, inverting the first digital data, outputting a detection voltage corresponding to image data received from outside of the CMOS image sensor, and counting in synchronization with a clock signal, starting from an initial value equal to the inverted first digital data, and for an amount of time responsive to a voltage level of the detection voltage.
US09866768B1	Computer vision qualified infrared temperature sensor Plant canopy images and temperature are acquired with a wireless computer vision instrument, and the temperature data are qualified and pixels within the image are classified. The instrument includes sensors for measuring plant radiation due to canopy temperature and an imaging sensor which collects data over four bands, a microprocessor to receive and store and process measured data from the sensors, and a wireless transmitter for transmitting data from the microprocessor to a remote receiver. The data are used to detect plant stress and canopy cover percentage and to qualify temperature data accordingly. The data from the sensors provide information for decision support algorithms related to the initiation of automatic irrigation scheduling as a function of crop canopy cover and water stress, the qualification of temperature data used in automatic irrigation scheduling algorithms, and the detection of diseased crops for the purpose of withholding irrigations when yield potential is compromised.
US09866765B2	Devices, methods, and systems for visual imaging arrays Computationally implemented methods and systems include capturing a scene that includes one or more images, through use of an array of more than one image sensor, selecting a particular portion of the scene that includes at least one image, wherein the selected particular portion is smaller than the scene, transmitting only the selected particular portion from the scene to a remote location, and de-emphasizing pixels from the scene that are not part of the selected particular portion of the scene. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.
US09866763B2	Auto-iris control method An auto-iris control method, including setting a target luminance value of an auto iris; collecting an image at a current moment and calculating a luminance value of the image collected at the current moment; comparing the target luminance value with the luminance value of the image collected at the current moment; comparing an absolute value of the luminance difference at the current moment with a preset luminance difference threshold, determining a status of the auto iris at the current moment, and using a corresponding proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm to calculate a direct current control voltage at the current moment; and adjusting an action of the auto iris according to the calculated direct current control voltage.
US09866754B2	Power management in an eye-tracking system An imaging device adapted to provide eye-tracking data by imaging at least one eye of a viewer, wherein: the imaging device is switchable between at least an active mode and a ready mode; the imaging device is configured, in the active mode, to use active eye illumination, which enables tracking of a corneal reflection, and to provide eye tracking data which include eye position and eye orientation; and the imaging device is configured, in the ready mode, to reduce an illumination intensity from a value the illumination intensity has in the active mode.
US09866747B2	Optical displacement measurement system, imaging condition optimization method, and imaging condition optimization program There are provided an optical displacement measurement system, an imaging condition optimization method, and an imaging condition optimization program which facilitate setting of an optimal imaging condition. States of a plurality of imaging parameters for setting an imaging condition are set by an imaging setting unit. When the set state of any of the plurality of imaging parameters is changed, a plurality of pieces captured image data according to respective imaging conditions are generated by a light receiving unit. Profile data indicating a profile shape is generated by a profile generation unit based on each piece of generated captured image data. Based on each piece of generated profile data or captured image data corresponding to the profile data, a degree of reliability of a profile shape indicated by the profile data is calculated by a reliability calculation unit.
US09866739B2	Systems and methods for transmitting and receiving array camera image data Systems and methods for transmitting and receiving image data captured by an imager array including a plurality of focal planes are described. One embodiment of the invention includes capturing image data using a plurality of active focal planes in a camera module, where an image is formed on each active focal plane by a separate lens stack, generating lines of image data by interleaving the image data captured by the plurality of active focal planes, and transmitting the lines of image data and the additional data.
US09866732B2	Synchronizing data between personal and timecode devices Syncing a personal device to a timecode generator can include acquiring media data with a personal device, receiving, using a timecode module, timecode data over an RF network, transmitting a timecode package including the timecode data to the personal device, decoding the timecode package to obtain the timecode data, and embedding the timecode data into a media stream including the acquired media data.
US09866725B2	Image processing system, information processing apparatus, and recordable medium An image processing system comprises a generating unit that reads documents and generates a read image including document images; an extracting unit that extracts each of the document images; a character recognizing unit that performs character recognition processing on each the document images; a determining unit that determines whether first information and second information have a pair relationship, the first information being any one of recognition results obtained on one side of the document images, and the second information being any one of recognition results obtained on the other side of the document images; and a registering unit that registers pieces of information for the recognition results corresponding to the one side and to the other side respectively including the first information and the second information which are determined that both pieces of information have the pair relationship, as information for a piece of the documents, in a storage unit.
US09866724B2	Pixel perturbation for transmission of meta-information Techniques disclosed herein provide an approach using pixel perturbation to transmit information. In one embodiment, a pixel perturbation engine perturbs pixels of an image to encode meta-information therein. In particular, the perturbation engine may perform controlled perturbation of pixel bits which are unlikely to affect visual quality are perturbed, such as perturbing the least significant bits in one or more channels of a RGB or YUV image. Higher order bits may also be perturbed in color channels such as the blue or UV channels that the human eye is less sensitive to. To mitigate loss of information, the information may be encoded using error correcting codes. After the image having meta-information encoded therein is transmitted to a client device, the meta-information may be recovered and used to determine performance of the virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI) system.
US09866721B2	Information processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable medium for file distribution to servers An information processing apparatus includes a memory, an electronic file obtaining unit, an attribute information obtaining unit, and a display. The memory stores server information in which servers are associated with confidentiality information and charge information. The electronic file obtaining unit obtains an electronic file. The attribute information obtaining unit obtains attribute information including confidentiality information about the electronic file. The display displays, in accordance with the server information and the attribute information, a server satisfying a confidentiality level that is adequate to save the electronic file and the charge information about the server.
US09866703B2	Method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for aiding emergency response Presented are a method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for aiding emergency response. The method includes receiving, by a processor, a plurality of data corresponding to a geographic location from a plurality of data sources. The method further includes aggregating, by the processor, the plurality of data. The method still further includes determining, by the processor, a first profile and a second profile based on the aggregated plurality of data. The method can conclude with transmitting, by the processor, the first profile to a plurality of user equipments and the second profile to at least one user equipment, wherein the at least one user equipment is different from the plurality of user equipments.
US09866700B2	Conference system and process for voice activation in the conference system Conference systems are used for example in discussions and usually comprise a plurality of delegate units with microphones, whereby in a discussion each discussion participant uses his own delegate unit. Usually the delegate units have a switch or the like, that allows the participant in front of the delegate unit to request, that his microphone is activated, so that the speech of the participant is input in the conference system and amplified by the conference system. A conference system comprising (1) a plurality of delegate units (2), each delegate unit (2) having a microphone (5) for receiving an audio signal from a surrounding, a central service module (3) handling a plurality of contribution channels, whereby the audio output of the contribution channels contribute to an amplified audio output of the conference system (1) is proposed, whereby each delegate unit (2) is adapted to send a request for a contribution channel commit to the central service module (3), whereby the central service module (2) is adapted to grant the request and to allocate a contribution channel to the requesting delegate unit (2), thus setting the requesting delegate unit i in an active state A, whereby the delegate unit (2) is adapted to trigger the request by voice activation, whereby the request is triggered in case at least a first trigger condition is fulfilled defining that the audio signal level of one of the delegate units (2) as a possible requesting delegate unit i is higher than an individual test value for each other delegate unit (2) in the active state A, whereby the individual test value is an estimated audio signal level of the possible requesting unit i resulting from an audio or speech signal provided to the other active delegate units (2).
US09866698B2	Dynamic call control A request to establish a voice communications session between a user of a telephonic device and an interactive voice response (IVR) system of a call handling system is received by a dynamic call control engine. A resource requirement for the voice communications session is determined. Resource usage data for multiple call handling systems is accessed by the dynamic call control engine. A particular call handling system from among the multiple call handling systems is selected based on the resource usage data and the resource requirement. A connection to be set up between the telephonic device and the particular call handling system to allow the user of the telephonic device to participate in the voice communications session with an IVR system of the particular call handling system is enabled.
US09866694B2	Systems and methods for state awareness across communication channels and statefully transitioning between communication channels A system may provide state awareness across communication channels and statefully transition a user between a source channel and a destination channel. A method may include storing a unique identifier associated with the user and data associated with the user, retrieving the data associated with the user based upon the user identifier and in response to the user entering the destination channel that is different from the source channel, and populating the data associated with the user in the destination channel. The destination channel may include a display of a customer service representative, and the populating may occur automatically. Furthermore, the method may include placing a call to a telephone number associated with the user in response to at least one of: the user answering a requisite number of questions in the source channel and the user requesting a transition to a voice destination channel.
US09866683B1	Utilizing SIP messages to determine the status of a remote terminal in VOIP communication systems There is a growing problem in correctional facility telecommunications systems in which parties on a voice call may connect inmate callers with restricted parties. Prison communication systems monitor calls to prevent such activity, but in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) environments such systems may fail to detect this activity. The present disclosure provides details of a system and method for using SIP messages common in VoIP environments to detect illicit activity initiated by a party on a voice call within a controlled environment. Scenarios are detected in which a called party connects an inmate caller to a restricted party via three-way call conferencing, call forwarding, or other call features. Corrective actions are then taken when such activity is detected, such as call blocking or alerting officials illicit activity is occurring.
US09866673B2	Methods and systems of managing accident communications over a network Systems and methods are configured to detect the occurrence of accidents, and to collect, process, and distribute accident related data. The accident related information may include location information, accident image information, and/or other information. Optionally, upon detection of an accident, emergency contacts of a user involved in the accident may be automatically notified of the accident. Data may be imaged using a camera of a mobile device, barcode locations may be identified, and barcodes may be decoded.
US09866671B1	Tracking activity data between wearable devices paired with a companion device A set of wearable devices, each paired with a companion device, are configured to cumulatively maintain data about physical activities even though a user may switch between wearing them over a period of time. For example, a streak of workouts over many days can be maintained while the user switches between two watches over that period of time.
US09866670B2	Mobile geographic application in automotive environment A portable device is configured to provide geographic information to a head unit of a vehicle equipped with a display device. One or more processors determine a user context related to a geographic location and detect that the portable device has been communicatively coupled to the head unit of a vehicle. The one or more processors transmit to the head unit, without an express user command, a request that the head unit accept data from the portable device for output via the display device. In response to receiving an indication that that the request has been granted, the one or more processors cause information related to the geographic location to be displayed via the display device, without an express user input at the portable device.
US09866665B2	Method for operating a communication system, and communication system The invention relates to a method for operating a communication system, comprising the steps: Providing a chip card, in particular a SIM card, in a communication device of a motor vehicle, said chip card including a user identification for dialing into at least one mobile communication network; storing a device identification of a mobile phone in the communication device of the motor vehicle; establishing a mobile communication link between the mobile phone and the communication device of the motor vehicle using the user identification stored on the chip card if a predetermined activation action has been detected on the mobile phone and it has been determined that the device identification of the mobile phone is stored in the communication device of the motor vehicle. The invention furthermore relates to a communication system.
US09866661B2	Deformable mobile terminal Provided is a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal includes a display unit outputting an image, a front case seated on a front surface of the display unit, a rear case disposed at a rear side of the front case, and a leaf spring disposed between the front case and the rear case to provide an elastic force to the front case, thereby changing a curvature of the front case.
US09866659B2	Waterproof presskey structure and waterproof mobile phone utilizing same A waterproof presskey structure includes a shell, a button or presskey, and an elastic element. The elastic element and the shell can be assembled together with gum, the presskey is movably assembled to the shell and matches with the elastic element. The elastic element comprises a tubular structure having an elastic wall. The elastic wall is arched, and the elastic wall projects out towards within the tubular structure. For the arched elastic wall stretches under pressure from the button or presskey, an assembly of the elastic element and other parts is not affected, the elastic element cannot be separated from the shell due to the gum failing, and water resistance between the presskey and the shell is increased.
US09866655B2	Server initiated multipath content delivery Described herein are—among other things—systems, methods, and apparatus for accelerating and increasing the reliability of content delivery by serving objects redundantly over multiple paths from multiple servers. In preferred embodiments, the decision to use such multipath delivery is made on the server side. A content server can modify or generate a given web page so as to invoke multipath, e.g., by injecting markup language directives and/or script instructions that will cause the client device to make multiple requests for a given object on the page. Preferably the multiple requests are made to separate content servers in separate points of presence. The teachings hereof may be advantageously implemented, without limitation, in intermediary servers such as caching proxy servers and/or in origin servers.
US09866640B2	Cookie based session management An enterprise software system access manager saves cookies for users' sessions on client devices but creates server-side sessions on the fly when needed for the users to access certain features, when there is a constraint on the client device, or due to application policies. The server-side session objects can have references to the client-side cookies and can have key-value pairs added to them instead of the associated cookie.
US09866639B2	Communication apparatus, information processor, communication method, and computer-readable storage medium According to one embodiment, a communication apparatus communicates with a partner apparatus through a network. The communication apparatus comprises a protocol analyzing unit that analyzes a transmission frame or a reception frame, the transmission frame being generated by an external CPU and being transmitted to the partner apparatus, the reception frame being received from the partner apparatus. The communication apparatus comprises a connection information managing unit that allocates a storage area in which connection information is stored, in a predetermined storing apparatus that can be accessed by the CPU, when a connection establishment request is detected from the transmission frame or the reception frame as a result of the analysis by the protocol analyzing unit, the connection information being used while being shared with the CPU. The protocol analyzing unit notifies the CPU of information indicating the storage area allocated by the connection information managing unit.
US09866638B2	Session-return enabling stateful web applications Mechanisms for allowing allow multi-session capability and session-return enabling stateful web applications include providing a start URL of a requested portal page with an “External Session ID” (ESID). The ESID is an argument that is different between the two instances of the application (on the same page), and leads to different/independent sessions in the server. When a user returns to the same page, the ESIDs are passed again with the individual application requests, and the server can then logically reconnect to the proper session and allow the user to continue. The ESID can be used to return to an application after the user has previously left to go to another application and then desires to come back, or even when the user closed the browser and restarts the application later.
US09866635B2	Unified data ingestion adapter for migration of industrial data to a cloud platform A cloud gateway device facilitates collection of industrial data from one or more data sources on the plant floor and migration of the collected data to a cloud platform for storage and processing. The cloud gateway device collects historical, live, and/or alarm data directly from industrial devices networked to the gateway device, formats and encapsulates the data with customer-specific header information, and sends the resulting data packets to a cloud platform for processing by cloud-level analytics services. To keep local memory requirements low, the cloud gateway device supports store-and-forward functionality in the event of a communication loss to the cloud platform, whereby the collected industrial data is redirected to an external data storage repository until communication to the cloud platform is reestablished.
US09866633B1	System and method for eliminating performance impact of information collection from media drives Embodiments described herein can avoid such speed degradations caused by performance monitoring. According to one embodiment, a media drive monitoring device can issue a command that does not penetrate reservations at the drive. If the drive is reserved, the drive will return a reservation conflict (“RC”) or other status indicating the previous reservation. The monitoring device can continue to issue the command to the drive until the drive responds in a manner that indicates that it is no longer reserved. The monitoring appliance can then issue a command to collect information from the drive (e.g., the Log Sense command or other command).
US09866627B2	Federated uptake throttling In a first enterprise joined in a distributed, federated network of second enterprises, a system is provided for managing data flow between enterprises, the system including a data management server in the first enterprise having access to sets of rules for managing data flow to and from the first enterprise, a first data interface in the first enterprise dedicated to data transfer to a paired second dedicated data interface at a neighboring second enterprise in the federation, wherein the first data interface manages data sent to the second interface and/or data incoming from the second interface according to the sets of rules for managing data flow.
US09866623B2	System and method for optimizing inter-node communication in content distribution network The invention relates to communication between computers such as servers within a content distribution network, where the communication is carried over the Internet in which bandwidth usage and cost are of concern, and particularly to a system and method for optimizing inter-node communication in a content distribution network. The method includes: generating a mutable warm dictionary for a specific domain according to a current inter-node communication; generating a fixed warm dictionary for the specific domain from the mutable warm dictionary; and performing the next inter-node communication for the specific domain according to the fixed warm dictionary.
US09866620B2	Transfer of files with arrays of strings in soap messages A method of transferring files in a data-processing network using a current node within the network includes reading an outbound content and outbound characteristics of an outbound file. An outbound message is created having outbound strings including a first set of the outbound strings representing the outbound characteristics and a second set of the outbound strings representing the outbound content. The outbound message is sent to a receiver node within the network. An inbound message is received from a sender node within the network. The inbound message has inbound strings including a first set of the inbound strings representing inbound characteristics and a second set of the inbound strings representing inbound content. An inbound file having the inbound content is stored, and the inbound characteristics are applied to the inbound file.
US09866619B2	Transmission of hierarchical data files based on content selection A method, a computer program product, and a computer system for transmitting a hierarchical data file from a first computer device to a second computer device. The first computer device receives a request for transmitting a first hierarchical data file. The first computer device modifies the first hierarchical data file based on a rule based filter. The first computer device receives from the second computer device a list of unique variables whose contents differ from contents in an existing file on the second computer device. The first computer device sends to the second computer device the contents of the unique variables. The contents of the unique variables are saved on the second computer device in a second hierarchical data file. The second hierarchical data file comprises pointers linking to contents of variables that are not the unique variables in the existing file.
US09866609B2	Methods and apparatus for premises content distribution Apparatus and methods for transfer and management of protected content in a network. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises server and renderer devices including, for example, consumer premise equipment (CPE) having a content handler application adapted to run thereon. The content handler directs requests for content, directs searches of a device's storage, and directs transfers of content into the device as well as within the device. The content handler may, in another embodiment, be adapted to include a scheduler entity which maintains a schedule of upcoming content, and is adapted to maintain and manage requests for the upcoming content by reserving tuner resources. The content handler may be further adapted to implement authentication and authorization procedures.
US09866608B2	Processing continuous multi-period content In one example, a device includes one or more processors configured to determine that a manifest file for media content indicates that the media content includes a first period and a second period, that the manifest file indicates that the first and second periods are continuous, and that advertisement media data is available for insertion between the first and second periods, select a first adaptation set in the first period based at least in part on characteristics signaled for the first adaptation set, retrieve media data of the first adaptation set based on the selection of the first adaptation set, retrieve the advertisement media data, and retrieve media data of a second adaptation set in the second period that the manifest file indicates is associated with the first adaptation set based on the selection of the first adaptation set and store the retrieved media data to a memory.
US09866600B2	Method and apparatus for joining electronic conference According to the present invention, even while a chat opening process is in progress, users can join chats by means of a simple procedure from a video game machine. Once a chat has been opened, an invitation signal can further be transmitted to other chat guests. A video game machine of an expected guest receiving the invitation signal displays a screen prompting the guest to enter the chat room, and the expected guest can join the chat by transmitting an enter room signal to a database. At this time, a chat answer signal indicating that the expected guest accepts the invitation from a chairman is transmitted from the expected guest to the chairman.
US09866597B2	Ambient communication session In general, this disclosure describes techniques for initiating a communication session when a user indicates she or he is available to participate in the communication session. In one example, a method includes receiving, by a first communication device, an indication that a user is available to participate in a communication session that enables communication between different communication devices. Responsive to receiving the at least one signal, the communication session may be initiated in an inactive mode at the first communication device. The first communication device may receive a request from a second communication device to participate in the communication session. Responsive to receiving the request, the communication session may be switched from the inactive mode to an active mode.
US09866590B2	Processing information based on policy information of a target user An information processing apparatus includes a policy acquisition unit configured to acquire a policy on disclosure of information on a target user; a collection unit configured to collect attributes that may be related to the target user from public information disclosed on a network to create an attribute set related to the target user; and a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the attribute set satisfies the policy.
US09866589B1	Management of actions initiated by applications in client devices A client device identifies an action being performed using a first application in the client device. The client device identifies that the first application is not authorized to be used to perform the action. In response, the client device identifies a second application that is authorized to perform the action. The client device also facilitates the second application being used to perform the action.
US09866580B2	Forecasting and classifying cyber-attacks using neural embeddings A first collection including a first feature vector and a Q&A feature vector is constructed. A second collection is constructed from the first collection by inserting noise in at least one of the vectors. A third collection is constructed by crossing over at least one the vectors of the second collection with a corresponding vector of a fourth collection, migrating at least one of the vectors of the second collection with a corresponding vector of a fifth collection, or both. Using a forecasting configuration, a vector of the third collection is aged to generate a changed feature vector, the changed feature vector containing feature values expected at a future time. The changed feature vector is input into a trained neural network to predict a probability of the cyber-attack occurring at the future time.
US09866574B1	Protected data type handling awareness Protected data type classes are provided for performing operations on protected data types. A fact manifest is generated for a software package that utilizes the classes at build time. The fact manifest describes the protected data types used by the software package. The fact manifest can be used to deploy the software package only to hosts that are authorized to handle the specified protected data types. The fact manifest can also be utilized to create a protected data type usage graph that identifies the hosts that handle protected data, the type of protected data handled, and the network connections between the hosts. The protected data type classes can also generate data at runtime identifying the runtime usage of protected data. The protected data type usage graph can also specify the runtime usage of protected data by the hosts.
US09866572B2	Monitoring use of a sensor of a computing device Monitoring use of a sensor of a computing device. A sensor obtains information from an environment of the computing device. A co-processor provides functionality for the sensor, and at least one channel connects the co-processor to a central processing unit (CPU) of the computing device. Sensor data transmission is monitored over the at least one channel to determine when a transmission of data changes from a low data transmission mode to a high data transmission mode, and an alert is activated when the transmission of data is in the high data transmission mode.
US09866570B2	On-vehicle communication system An on-vehicle communication system, performing message authentication using transmitter and receiver codes that are message authentication codes respectively generated by a communication data transmitter and receiver, includes a first ECU, connected to an on-vehicle network, configured to have, among mutually different first and second encryption keys, only the first one and verify, by using the receiver code generated using the first one, the transmitter code assigned to the communication data received; a second ECU, connected to the on-vehicle network, configured to have at least the first one and transmit communication data to which the transmitter code generated using the first one is assigned; and a third ECU connected to the on-vehicle network and a network outside a vehicle, configured to have only the second one among the first and second ones and generate the transmitter or receiver codes using the second one when making communication over the on-vehicle network.
US09866560B2	Secure data access Technologies are generally disclosed for methods and systems for providing secure document storage and retrieval services. In an example embodiment, a method includes receiving an exclusive address at which to send secure links, receiving a request to store a document, storing the document with a remote storage service, receiving location information from the remote storage service, transmitting the location information at which the document is stored to the exclusive address, and updating the location information dynamically.
US09866559B2	Method for opening a session of a machine belonging to a machine set A method for opening a session of a first machine using a session checking service for the first machine and a second machine, including a security service, includes receiving a request to open a session on the first machine, the request including a user identification information item; verifying that the identification information item is associated with an identification data item of the second machine in a repository; checking that the user has the right to open the session on the first machine; if the verification and check are positive, sending a session status modification request of the second machine to the security service of the second machine; if the session status of the second machine is modified, sending a request to authorize opening of the session to the first machine; and storing the identification information item associated with an identifying data item of the first machine in the repository.
US09866557B2	Method and nodes for authorizing network access The embodiments herein relate to a method performed by an AAA server (103) for enabling authorization of a wireless device (101) to access a first network (100a) while simultaneously accessing a second network (100b) which the wireless device (101) is currently accessing. The AAA server (103) determines that the wireless device (101) requests access to the first network (100a). The AAA server (103) transmits, to a HLR (105), information associated with the first network (100a). The AAA server (103) receives, from the HLR (105), network profile data associated with the wireless device (101). Based on the received information, the AAA server (103) authorizes the wireless device (101) to access the first network (100a).
US09866552B2	Network authentication of a geo-fenced volume Provided is a method for managing a software defined network using a software control layer to regulate a geo-fenced volume. The software control layer can use a Global Positioning System (GPS) including a range of latitudes, a range of longitudes and a range of altitudes. A resource within the geo-fenced volume can be assigned a location using the GPS coordinates. The resource can be managed by external applications that are operating through the software control layer. To determine an access of a device to the geo-fenced volume, the GPS coordinates, are gathered as a geographical location of the device. A user profile can be accessed to determine an access path of the user. Depending on the geographical location of the device a first condition can be generated based on the device being within the geo-fenced volume. A network permission can be granted to the device based on the first condition.
US09866541B2	Communication control apparatus, communication control method, and recording medium A communication unit and a controller are included, the communication unit being configured to communicate with a communication apparatus using a first communication procedure in which authentication of the communication apparatus is performed in order to retain a communication session with the communication apparatus and using a second communication procedure that does not require authentication of the communication apparatus in order to communicate with the communication apparatus, the controller being configured to perform, using the first communication procedure and the second communication procedure, control under which it is determined whether a communication session with the communication apparatus is to be retained and perform control under which a limit is put on retaining of the communication session with the communication apparatus through the second communication procedure in a case where the communication apparatus is not authenticated as a certain communication apparatus through the first communication procedure.
US09866538B2	Data decryption circuit and associated method A data decryption circuit for decrypting a current encrypted data packet is provided. The current encrypted data packet includes a header and a payload. The data decryption circuit includes an operation unit and a decryption calculation unit. The operation unit generates first data according to the header and a pseudo-random number, second data according to a session key and a constant, and length information and start position information of the payload according to the header. The operation unit generates the first data, the second data, the length information and the start position information by executing a program code. The decryption calculation circuit, coupled to the operation unit, generates a decryption key according to the first and second data, retrieves the payload from the current encrypted data packet according to the start position information and the length information, and decrypts the payload by the decryption key.
US09866536B2	Privacy preserving registry browsing A method, system, and computer-readable memory containing instructions include requesting a tokenizing authority to provide a tokenized string that represents a domain name, using the tokenized domain name string to perform a lookup against a database of registered tokenized domain name strings, determining whether the tokenized domain name string exists in the database, and returning results based on the existence of tokenized domain name strings and optionally variants thereof. The method, system, and computer-readable memory may further include returning an encryption key corresponding to an encrypted record of information related to the domain name corresponding to the tokenized domain name string.
US09866534B2	Computer ecosystem providing privacy and tracking in sharing user-generated content Methods and apparatus are disclosed for securely sharing user-generated content using DRM principles, and for tracking statistics of content viewing. In this way, a user can generate protected content that can still be shared among friends on, e.g., a social network.
US09866518B1	Introduction and communication system A communication system to facilitate introduction and communication of two of the user's acquaintances, regardless of which contact information the user has on file for each individual. The system improves upon the current existing forms of contact lists and communication which require an individual to introduce people either in person or through one consistent form of media which both acquaintances must have. The application itself is also able to format the messages and covert them so that each individual receives the message in the form that they prefer to be contacted. Likewise, the two individuals can continue to communicate with each other using the introducer's original chain without having to download the application themselves.
US09866510B2	Coordinated notifications across multiple channels A server system can provide coordinated event-based notifications to a target user across multiple notification channels. The selection of channels for a particular notification can be based on the type of event underlying the notification, user preferences related to delivery of notifications, and the like. The sending of notifications in different channels can be coordinated so that notifications in different channels are sent at different times, and sending of any given notification can be made to depend on whether the notification (or the underlying event) has already been acted on, as well as on user preferences related to delivery of notification. Some notifications can be sent without delay and/or unconditionally.
US09866508B2	Aggregating and presenting recent activities for synchronized online content management systems Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for aggregating and presenting recent activities for online synchronized content management system are disclosed. The system can identify recent events that are associated with a user account in a content management system. The recent events may refer to events or activities that have occurred within a threshold time duration in the past, across one or more client devices that are associated with the user account. The recent events may be about creating, modifying, viewing, accessing, renaming, deleting, or sharing of content. The system can aggregate two or more events in those recent events into one aggregated event when they meet a criterion, such as folder location similarity, time proximity, file type similarity, file name similarity, geographic proximity, user preference, etc. The system can then present the aggregated recent events at one of the client devices.
US09866504B2	Identifying end users in need of technical assistance A method for identifying at least one participant involved in an electronic communication who is in need of technical assistance is provided. The method may include monitoring the electronic communication according to a plurality of predetermined conditions. The method may also include determining if the plurality of predetermined conditions is satisfied. The method may further include identifying the at least one participant who is in need of technical assistance based on the plurality of predetermined conditions being satisfied. The method may also include flagging the identified at least one participant for at least one follow-up action.
US09866499B2	Apparatus and methods for multimode internetworking connectivity This invention presents a digital network system able to concurrently provide multimode internetworking connectivity session over a plurality of disparate network systems, from User Premise Device (UPD) to NSP, CSP or ASP network gateways, and providing a plurality of internetwork environment. The invention also provide the methods for the support of the following internetworking connectivity services, concurrently:—a) public and shared-media Internet services; b) MPLS-enabled and IP-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) services; c) hybrid network system connection sessions among disparate connection-oriented and connectionless network systems; and d) end-to-end, connection-oriented, and circuit-switching connection sessions for VDMI-based application services through digital transceiver, be it xDSL or VCC-based land-line or wireless medium.
US09866496B2	Methods and systems for allocating and de-allocating delivery groups across multiple server farms The embodiments are directed to methods and apparatuses for pairing delivery group machines with one or more server farms in computing networks. The methods and apparatus can allocate machines in a delivery group across one or more server farms in a manner that maximizes efficiency through better computer resource usage. The methods and apparatuses select a server farm having a largest available capacity, and allocate machines from a delivery group to the server farm. If the quantity of delivery group machines exceeds the server farm capacity, the remaining machines are allocated to a second server farm. The methods and appliances also provide for de-allocating server farms, by selecting a server farm with the least allocated capacity, and de-allocating one or more delivery group machines from the selected server farm to reduce the number of utilized server farms.
US09866492B2	Localized congestion exposure A method for localized congestion exposure within a local loop in a cellular network that is performed by a localized congestion exposure receiver node of the local loop. The method includes receiving downlink packets destined for a downstream user device. The downlink packets have headers that indicate a level of congestion experienced by the downlink packets. The headers also indicate a level of expected downstream congestion declared by an upstream node. The method also includes forwarding the downlink packets to the downstream user device through a wireless connection. The method further includes sending packets upstream that have feedback indicative of the level of congestion experienced by the downlink packets and any congestion experienced within the localized congestion exposure receiver node.
US09866481B2	Comprehensive bottleneck detection in a multi-tier enterprise storage system Embodiments of the present invention provide approaches (e.g., online methods) to analyze end-to-end performance issues in a multi-tier enterprise storage system (ESS), such as a storage cloud, where data may be distributed across multiple storage components. Specifically, performance and configuration data from different storage components (e.g., nodes) is collected and analyzed to identify nodes that are becoming (or may become) performance bottlenecks. In a typical embodiment, a set of components distributed among a set of tiers of an ESS is identified. For each component, a total capacity and a current load are determined. Based on these values, a utilization of each component is determined. Comparison of the utilization with a predetermined threshold and/or analysis of historical data allows one or more components causing a bottleneck to be identified.
US09866480B1	Hash range lookup command A novel hash range lookup command is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, a method includes (a) providing access to a hash table that includes hash buckets having hash entry fields; (b) receiving a novel hash lookup command; (c) using the hash lookup command to determine hash command parameters, a hashed index value, and a flow key value; (d) using the hash command parameters and the hashed index value to generate hash values (addresses) to access entry fields in a selectable number of hash buckets; (e) comparing bits of the entry value in the entry field to bits of the flow key value; (f) repeating (d) through (e) until a match is determined or until the selectable number of hash buckets and entries have been accessed; and (g) returning either an address of the entry field containing the match or a result associated with the entry field containing the match.
US09866477B2	System and method for high-performance, low-power data center interconnect fabric A system and method are provided that support a routing using a tree-like or graph topology that supports multiple links per node, where each link is designated as an Up, Down, or Lateral link, or both, within the topology. The system may use a segmented MAC architecture which may have a method of re-purposing MAC IP addresses for inside MACs and outside MACs, and leveraging what would normally be the physical signaling for the MAC to feed into the switch.
US09866475B2	Systems and methods for forwarding traffic in a cluster network The present invention is directed towards forwarding network packets in a cluster network. A predetermined identifier may be inserted into a Media Access Control (MAC) ID field of an Ethernet header of a packet to distinguish various types of traffic. Newly received packets may be identified due to the absence of the identifier. The identifier may be added to the source MAC ID field of the Ethernet header of the packet, and the packet may be distributed to cluster nodes for processing via an inter-node communication bus. Thus, received packets with the identifier in the source MAC ID field may be identified as steered for processing by an internal node of the cluster. After processing the packet, the internal node may transmit the processed packets via the inter-node bus with a destination MAC ID including the identifier.
US09866473B2	Stateful services on stateless clustered edge In order to enable dynamic scaling of network services at the edge, novel systems and methods are provided to enable addition of add new nodes or removal of existing nodes while retaining the affinity of the flows through the stateful services. The methods provide a cluster of network nodes that can be dynamically resized to handle and process network traffic that utilizes stateful network services. The existing traffic flows through the edge continue to function during and after the changes to membership of the cluster. All nodes in the cluster operate in active-active mode, i.e., they are receiving and processing traffic flows, thereby maximizing the utilization of the available processing power.
US09866466B2	Simulating real user issues in support environments Methods, systems, and computer-readable and executable instructions are provided for simulating real user issues in support environments. Simulating real user issues in support environments can include providing stored data related to a real user issue associated with an application to a support device having the ability to modify the application, the stored data can include network traffic associated with a user device in a live environment and inputs provided via the user device. Simulating real user issues in support environments can include causing the support device to simulate the real user issue using the stored data.
US09866465B2	Method of controlling packet transmission interval According to an aspect of present invention provides method of controlling a packet transmission interval, method comprising, comparing a preset delay ratio with number of packets transmitted, transmitting packets until number of packets transmitted becomes equal to or greater than delay ratio, calculating a delay request time when number of packets transmitted becomes equal to or greater than delay ratio, generating a signal for suspending packet transmission during calculated delay request time, suspending packet transmission according to generated signal and calculating a gap time based on a difference between a time when suspension of packet transmission was terminated and packet transmission was started and updating the delay ratio using the calculated gap time and initializing the number of packets transmitted.
US09866459B1	Origin failover for live streaming Techniques are described for automatically migrating client devices away from unreliable origin stacks in ways that mitigate potentially negative impacts on the user experience. Multiple origin stacks are provisioned in parallel to provide encoded versions of the same broadcast content for streaming to client devices. Each of the origin stacks is monitored to ensure that it is operating correctly. When an origin stack fails or becomes unreliable, each of the client devices involved in a session corresponding to the unreliable stack is provided with the information it needs to establish a new session corresponding to another one of the stacks.
US09866456B2	System and method for network health and management A system and method for network health and management. Intelligent assessments of a current or new network configuration can be performed based on a health of the network that is derived using health messages that are indicative of the utilization of one or more forwarding tables in a plurality of network switches.
US09866453B2	Method, apparatus, and packet analyzing system A method includes receiving a first packet, the first packet being including a first packet identifier and a first error detection code, storing first information indicating the first packet identifier and second information indicating the first error detection code, receiving a second packet, the second packet being including a second packet identifier and a second error detection code, comparing the second packet identifier and the second error detection code with the first information and the second information, respectively, in response to a determination that the second packet identifier corresponds to the first information and the second error detection code corresponds to the second information, discarding the second packet, in response to a determination that at least one the second packet identifier and the second error detection code does not correspond to the first information and the second information, providing the first packet and the second packet for a packet analysis.
US09866439B2	Communications system, management apparatus, and communication setting method A first setting information notification unit notifies a management apparatus via a relay apparatus of first setting information. A setting information generation unit generates third setting information from the first setting information and second setting information. For example, the setting information generation unit generates the third setting information by complementing the first setting information with the second setting information that is preliminarily stored in a setting information storage unit. A communication confirmation unit confirms communication based on the third setting information between a first communication apparatus and a second communication apparatus. A second setting information notification unit notifies the relay apparatus, the first communication apparatus, and the second communication apparatus of the third setting information.
US09866438B2	Method and system for service group management in a cable network A cable modem termination system (CMTS) may determine, for a plurality of cable modems served by the CMTS, a corresponding plurality of SNR-related metrics. The CMTS may assigning the modems among a plurality of service groups based on the SNR-related metrics. For any one of the modems, the CMTS may configure physical layer communication parameters to be used by the one of the modems based on a SNR-related metric of a service group to which the one of the modems is assigned. The physical layer communication parameters may include one or more of: transmit power, receive sensitivity, timeslot duration, modulation type, modulation order, forward error correction (FEC) type, and FEC code rate. The CMTS and the modems may communicate using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) over a plurality of subcarriers, and the physical layer communication parameters may be determined on a per-subcarrier basis.
US09866424B2	Business services dashboard Novel tools and techniques are provided for implementing a business services dashboard. In some embodiments, a method might comprise defining relationship(s) between at least one technology service and at least one business service provided by an enterprise, and receiving data associated with real-time technical events corresponding to changed conditions in one or more technology services utilizing at least one technology asset. Each defined relationship might indicate a dependence on the one or more technology services by one or more business services. The method might further comprise identifying, based on the defined relationship(s), one or more business events that impact the one or more business services of the enterprise, as a result of the changed condition. Business user views and technical user views might be generated and sent to user devices associated with respective business and technical group users. Corresponding system and apparatus may be provided.
US09866415B1	Frequency shift keying (FSK) demodulator and method therefor A method of operating frequency shift keying (FSK) demodulator for demodulating symbols includes providing current and previous buffered portions of an input signal to correlation circuits of the FSK demodulator, where each buffered portion persists for a symbol duration time period. The correlation circuits output first correlation metrics that indicate a likelihood of whether the buffered portions match a respective target pattern. The first correlation metrics are combined into a set of first correlation results, which are delayed by at least the symbol duration time period. The current and next buffered portions are provided to the correlation circuits, which output second correlation metrics that are combined into a set of second correlation results. The set of second correlation results are combined with the delayed set of first correlation results to produce a demodulation decision that indicates a most likely symbol value encoded in the current buffered portion.
US09866405B2	Method and system for preventing MAC addresses learning in a provider backbone network (PBBN) The present invention provides a method and system for preventing MAC address learning in Provider Backbone Bridge Network (PBBN). In one embodiment, this is accomplished by receiving data frames from at least one operator/client at the first PBB network which has to be communicating to the second PBB network, adding forward path learning information from the received data frames in the first PBB network and translating backbone MAC source address of the received data frame at the first PBB network by replacing the backbone MAC source address with a BEB backbone MAC address, thereby preventing of backbone MAC address learning of the first PBB network in the second PBB network.
US09866403B2	Leveraging a femtocell network for premises management or monitoring The disclosed subject matter relates to an architecture that can leverage femtocell network infrastructure in order to facilitate premises management or monitoring. In particular, the architecture can leverage the local presence of a home nodeB (HNB) located at a premises associated with a subscriber in order to aggregate, process and/or distribute various state information that can be collected at the premises.
US09866399B2	Binding nearby device to online conference session A meeting server receives a request to join an online conference session from a first device at a first location. The first device is associated with a user account. The meeting server then determines at least one second location corresponding to at least one second device also associated with the user account. Responsive to a determination that the second location is within a predetermined distance of the first location, the meeting server transmits a command to mute the second device.
US09866398B2	Pattern coalescing for remote wake-enabled applications In various embodiments, methods and systems for managing wake-enabled transport connections of wake-enabled applications is provided. A set of ports is designated as a wake-enabled port set. An operating system (OS) of a computing device running applications plumbs the multiport wake pattern to the one or more network interface controllers (NIC) of the computing device. A wake-enabled application acquires a port from the wake-enabled port set. The OS makes a determination that the application is wake-enabled and as such, assigns a port, from the wake-enable port set, to the wake-enabled application. Upon receiving a packet at the NIC, a determination is made whether the packet corresponds to a wake-enabled transport connection based on comparing the packet to the multiport wake pattern. Upon matching the packet to the multiport wake pattern, the NIC communicates with the OS to wake a portion of the wake-enabled application associated with the wake-enabled transport connection.
US09866384B2	Media detection of encrypted tunneled data A system that performs encrypted media detection for real-time communications (“RTC”) establishes a tunnel by a tunneling server with a tunneling client of a user equipment (“UE”). The system receives a request from the UE to enable the encrypted media detection for the tunnel and sends a response back to the UE to indicate that the encrypted media detection is enabled for the tunnel. For each encrypted frame transmitted over the tunnel, the system stores corresponding data that includes at least one of a payload size, an inter-frame delay or a payload entropy. Based on stored corresponding data, the system determines if the encrypted frame includes an encrypted media data frame.
US09866383B2	Key management for privacy-ensured conferencing In one embodiment, a device in a network establishes a trust relationship between the device and a key management service. The device receives keying information from the key management service based on the established trust relationship. The device applies a digital signature to media data for a conference using the keying information, whereby the device is designated as a speaker of the conference. The device provides the signed media data to one or more conference participant devices. The one or more conference participant devices use the signed media data to validate that the media data was signed by the designated speaker of the conference.
US09866380B2	Wireless device and method for rekeying with reduced packet loss for high-throughput wireless communications Embodiments of a wireless device and methods for rekeying with reduced packet loss in a wireless network are generally described herein. In some embodiments, during rekeying operations a new key for reception may be installed early (i.e., prior to receipt of a rekeying confirmation message). The use of the new key for transmission may be delayed until after receipt of the rekeying confirmation message. The early installation of the new key for reception may allow both the new key and old key to be active at the same time for use decrypting received packets to reduce packet loss during rekeying operations. The rekeying confirmation message may be the fourth message of a four-way handshake for rekeying. In some embodiments, two key identifiers may be alternated between four-way handshakes to prevent deletion of the old key.
US09866375B2	Multi-level key management A key manager provides a way to separate out the management of encryption keys and policies from application domains. The key manager may create cipher objects that may be used by the domains to perform encryption or decryption, without exposing the keys or encryption/decryption algorithms to the domains. A master key managed by the key manager may be used to encrypt and decrypt the domain keys that are stored under the control of the key manager. The key manager supports the rekeying of both the master key and the domain keys based on policy. Multiple versions of domain keys may be supported, allowing domains to access data encrypted with a previous version of a domain key after a rekeying.
US09866370B2	Configurable ASIC-embedded cryptographic processing engine Architecture for embedding a cryptographic engine in a processor is disclosed. An ASIC processor is embedded with a programmable processing core, such as an FPGA, with the key register and I/O registers remaining in fixed logic.
US09866368B1	Method and apparatus for time tracking in OFDM wireless communication systems In a mobile wireless communication system a client terminal needs to continuously maintain its receive and transmit operations in time alignment with the serving base station timing. A client terminal may initially achieve the timing alignment with the serving base station through the cell search procedure. Subsequently, as a client terminal may move toward or away from a serving base station, it may need to continuously track its timing to remain time aligned with the serving base station. In Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems, one of the commonly used methods for time tracking may be the Cyclic Prefix (CP) correlation. When the length of the CP is small, the reliability of the CP correlation may be low, especially when the signal quality is poor. A method and apparatus are disclosed that use the initial synchronization signals for time tracking for improved performance and reduced complexity.
US09866365B2	RF structure of user terminal for supporting multi-carrier aggregation and various communication radio access technologies According to one embodiment of the present specification, a user terminal is provided. The user terminal can comprise: a tunable antenna capable of adjusting a band; a diplexer connected to the tunable antenna to synthesize and separate sub-carriers; one or more antenna switches connected to the diplexer to synthesize and separate low-band sub-carriers and middle-band and high-band sub-carriers; and a sub-carrier processing unit connected to the one or more antenna switches to synthesize and separate a plurality of low-band sub-carriers, a plurality of middle-band sub-carriers and a plurality of high-band sub-carriers. A low-noise amplifier can be connected to the sub-carrier processing unit in order to prevent an increase in a reception sensitivity loss and a noise index occurring on a reception path of the diplexer, the one or more antenna switches and the sub-carrier processing unit.
US09866358B2	Reference signals design for time tracking in LTE-A Time tracking in current communication systems may be traditionally based on common reference signals (CRS). However, in certain communication systems, CRS-based time tracking may be impossible to implement due to an absence of CRS in certain subframes or carriers. CRS-based time tracking may also be inappropriate to implement in certain communication systems such as a coordinated multipoint (CoMP) system where control and data may arrive from different cells, and therefore, a UE may assume a wrong cell for CRS-based time tracking. Accordingly, methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for wireless communication are provided in which additional UE specific reference signals (UE-RS) and/or channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) are made available to the UE so that the UE may have improved channel estimation and/or time tracking performance.
US09866356B2	Data distribution method and device A data distribution method and a data distribution device are described. The method includes parsing a GTPU message from a user terminal to obtain a Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) request message for requesting a resource, and determining whether the data request mode of the HTTP request message is an HTTP compression mode; when the determination result is that it is an HTTP compression mode, directly sending the HTTP request message to a server; otherwise, setting the data request mode of the HTTP request message as an HTTP compression mode and then sending the message to the server; setting the data format of an HTTP response message sent by the server as a data format fitting the data request mode of the HTTP request message and sending the response message to the user terminal. In this way, the consumption of backhaul bandwidth and the consumption of air interface bandwidth can be reduced significantly.
US09866352B2	Method, device and storage medium for improving distance measure equipment interference resisting capability of LTE system A method for improving a Distance Measure Equipment (DME) interference resisting capability of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system are described in the present disclosure; at an LTE User Equipment (UE) side, the method includes that: a symbol level DME interference result is obtained, and a scheduling message is sent according to the obtained symbol level DME interference result or according to the obtained symbol level DME interference result and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) scheduling situation of a current subframe; at an LTE evolved Node B (eNB) side, the method includes that: the received scheduling message is detected, and a subframe is scheduled according to the received scheduling message. The present disclosure also discloses a UE, an eNB and two computer storage media for improving the DME interference resisting capability of the LTE system.
US09866339B1	Method and apparatus for securing clock synchronization in a network Aspects of the disclosure provide a method. The method includes generating a first message having a plurality of fields according to a precision time protocol, encapsulating one or more fields of the first message into a first encapsulation, preparing a first packet that includes the first message and the first encapsulation, and transmitting the first packet through a network.
US09866337B2	System and method of occupancy estimation utilizing transmitted signals A method estimating number of occupants in a region includes receiving at one or more receiving unit a signal or signals transmitted from one or more transmitting units, wherein the transmitting units are not associated with the one or more occupants located in the region. In addition, the method includes measuring one or more attributes of the received signal for a duration of time and calculating an occupancy estimate based, at least in part, on the measured attribute of the received signal.
US09866323B2	Techniques for optical wireless communication Optical wireless communication techniques are described and claimed. In one embodiment, the disclosure relates to method and apparatus to provide optical signaling with visible light having variable pulse position modulation (VPPM). The optical signal includes a Start Frame Delimiter (SFD) which indicates beginning of an asynchronous optical signaling. The VPPM signaling includes a lower frequency time varying amplitude component that when subsampled by a low frame rate camera results in alias induced flicker or blinking. Such signals are quickly recognizable as signals with modulated data. In another embodiment, the disclosure provides a system, device and method for decoding a Start Frame Delimiter (SFD) to indicate arrival of incoming VPPM optical data.
US09866321B2	Data transmission system for automated material handling system Provided is a data transmission system for automated material handling system in that, in the automated material handling system for transferring the products in course of manufacturing in the semiconductor manufacturing process or the liquid crystal display manufacturing process etc. to each manufacturing station, it switches the communication between the unmanned automatic transfer vehicle and the manufacturing station to the optical communication or the RF communication in readiness for the communication failure between the unmanned automatic transfer vehicle for master and the manufacturing station for slave, it transmits various input and output state data including the communication log data to the higher control system for master or the management computer system of slave/wireless data transmitter-receiver for slave by means of the master and/or slave device through the wire and wireless transmission and reception communication, thereby quickly coping with the operation error through the data analysis.
US09866318B2	Method, apparatus, and system for adjusting emission parameter of laser in WDM-PON A method includes monitoring a power value of output light of the laser and a power value of reflected light, obtaining an insertion loss value according to the power value of the output light, the power value of the reflected light, and a parameter of a Faraday rotation reflector, obtaining a bias current value according to the insertion loss value, and adjusting the power value of the output light of the laser using the bias current value. The insertion loss value is obtained by detecting the power value of the reflected light obtained after the output light of the laser is reflected. Because the insertion loss value is a power loss value, of the output light of the laser, on a one-way link between the laser and the Faraday rotation mirror.
US09866307B2	Method for transceiving data symbol using antenna correlation in wireless access system which supports massive antenna A method and device for transmitting data symbols using an antenna correlation in a wireless access system supporting multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) operations. The method includes: receiving, from a receiving end, grouping information of a plurality of antennas for supporting the MIMO operations, where the grouping information includes information on the two selected antenna subgroups; selecting two antennas of which a correlation is highest from the two selected antenna subgroups respectively for transmitting the data symbols; and transmitting different data symbols through each of the two selected antennas of the two selected antenna subgroups on an identical time frequency resource. Here, antennas with a highest correlation are grouped into two or more antenna subgroups. Also, two antenna subgroups, of which a correlation is lowest from the two or more antenna subgroups, are selected among the two or more antenna subgroups by the receiving end.
US09866306B2	Signal generating method and signal generating device A transmission method for transmitting a first modulated signal and a second modulated signal in the same frequency at the same time. Each signal has been modulated according to a different modulation scheme. The transmission method applies precoding on both signals using a fixed precoding matrix, applies different power change to each signal, and regularly changes the phase of at least one of the signals, thereby improving received data signal quality for a reception device.
US09866298B2	Method for MIMO receiver determining parameter for communication with MIMO transmitter A parameter determination method and a MIMO receiver are disclosed, wherein the parameter determination method estimates a channel correlation with respect to a plurality of REs using information about channels of the plurality of REs included in a resource region allocated by a MIMO transmitter; determines a downlink signal rank taking account of the channel correlation; and transmits information about the determined rank to the MIMO transmitter.
US09866290B2	Apparatus and methods for multi-user simultaneous transmission The embodiments provide a method implemented by a first station (STA) for transmitting a frame to an Access Point (AP) as part of an uplink multi-user simultaneous transmission. The method avoids unintentional beamforming at the AP. The method includes receiving a first frame from the AP, where the first frame includes scheduling information for scheduling a simultaneous uplink transmission for the first STA and one or more other STAs, generating a second frame having a common part and a user-specific part, where the second frame is to be transmitted simultaneously with other frames according to the scheduling information, determining a cyclic shift value to be applied to the common part, where the cyclic shift value is determined to be different from one or more cyclic shift values to be applied by each of the other STAs, applying the cyclic shift value to the common part and transmitting the second frame to the AP.
US09866286B1	Positional tracking assisted beam forming in wireless virtual reality systems Embodiments of the present disclosure support a head-mounted display (HMD) wirelessly coupled to a console. The HMD includes a positional tracking system, a beam controller and a transceiver. The positional tracking system tracks position of the HMD and generates positional information describing the tracked position of the HMD. The transceiver communicates with a console via a wireless channel, in accordance with communication instructions, the communication instructions causing the transceiver to communicate over one directional beam of a plurality of directional beams. The beam controller determines a change in the positional information. Based on the change to the positional information, the beam controller determines a directional beam of the plurality of directional beams. The beam controller further generates the communication instructions identifying the determined directional beam, and provides the communication instructions to the transceiver.
US09866281B2	Wireless power transmission apparatus and method therefor The present invention relates to a wireless power transmission apparatus and a method therefor. The present invention provides a wireless power transmission apparatus including: a power transmission module; a first communication module; a second communication module; and a controller for searching out a first wireless power reception device performing wireless power transmission/reception, transmitting a second magnetic field signal of a second frequency band through the power transmission module, sensing a second response signal to the second magnetic field signal through the second communication module, and searching out a second wireless power reception device performing wireless power transmission/reception by means of the second frequency band according to whether the second response signal is received.
US09866280B2	Mobile communication device with wireless communications unit and wireless power receiver A mobile communication device having a wireless power receiver and wireless communications unit, in which inductors of the communications unit and the power receiver are in close proximity to each other, is provided. The mobile communication device includes a wireless communications unit including a first inductor configured to transmit and receive data via inductive coupling, and a wireless power receiver. The wireless power receiver includes a second inductor which is disposed above the first inductor and receives power via inductive coupling, a ferrite shield disposed between the first inductor and the second inductor, and a compensator disposed between the first inductor and the ferrite shield. Compensator is adapted to compensate for variations in the inductance of the first inductor caused by the ferrite shield.
US09866273B2	Apparatus and method for accessing network Disclosed are a network access device and method for improving data transmission efficiency without replacement of a home network or additional pairing. A network access device is connected to a control server through an external wideband network and connected to at least one end point through at least one cable. Such a network access devices includes an interface module configured to couple with the network, at least one domain master connected to the at least one end point, an adaptation module configured to convert G.hn signals to Ethernet signals between the domain master and the interface module, and a processor configured to control the interface module and the at least one domain master. The processor communicates with the control server through an external wideband network to check status of the home network and provisions the home network in real time.
US09866265B2	High frequency circuit module in which high frequency circuits are embedded in a multilayer circuit substrate A high frequency circuit module is provided with: a multilayer circuit substrate; a first high frequency switch that switches connection of an antenna; a transmission filter; and reception filters. Either the transmission filter or the reception filters, or both, and the first high frequency switch are embedded in the multilayer circuit substrate, and ground conductors are formed in a conductive layer facing embedded electronic components.
US09866258B2	Universal receiver The invention is a universal receiver that addresses the problem of collecting consumption data from multiple types of utility metering wireless devices that use different and often proprietary protocols where such parameters are unknown to the system owner. The universal receiver automatically detects unknown AMR/AMI broadcasts utilizing know parameters for typical AMR/AMI signals and executing a decoding algorithm that includes series of RF parameter detection, signal characterization, signal decoding, and data qualifying techniques with minimal or no involvement needed by a user.
US09866255B1	Smart phone case and wallet The smart phone case and wallet is a protective case that is able to protect a smart phone or other electronic device while doubling as a wallet. The smart phone case and wallet is constructed of a first member and a second member that attach to one another via a hinge. The smart phone case and wallet includes a strap that extends from a side of the second member, and which includes a locking armature on a distal end. The locking armature is able to be inserted into a locking receptacle provided on an outer surface of the first member in order to lock the protective case in a closed position. The first member includes a wallet compartment provided on an inner surface of the first member as well as a wallet flap. The wallet flap is sandwiched between the first member and the second member in order to compartmentalize the portion dedicated to a protective case from the portion dedicated to a wallet.
US09866251B2	Gesture detection to pair two wearable devices and perform an action between them and a wearable device, a method and a system using heat as a means for communication The present disclosure relates to devices and methods for initiating execution of actions and for communicating information to a user, and more particularly, to initiating execution of predefined actions in wearable devices and communication devices based on gestures made with the wearable devices and/or heat applied to a surface of the wearable devices. According to an aspect, the method relates to, in the wearable device, detecting a first, in the first wearable device predefined, gesture of the first wearable device, broadcasting a first signal comprising information associated with the first gesture, receiving, from a second wearable device, a second signal comprising information associated with a second gesture and initiating execution of a, in the first wearable device predefined, first action based on the first signal and the second signal.
US09866250B2	Adaptive maximum power limiting using capacitive sensing in a wireless device An apparatus for satisfying Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) compliance criteria including a first capacitance sensor, a second capacitance sensor, a memory, and a processor. The memory is configured to store pre-established proximity regions that include a free space region of proximity based on baseline capacitance measurements obtained from the sensors when no human body is proximate a wireless device and a first region of proximity based on initial capacitance measurements obtained from the sensors when the human body is spaced apart from the wireless device by a first predetermined separation distance. The processor is configured to instruct a radio frequency (RF) transmitter to operate at a first output power when subsequent capacitance measurements received from the sensors are within the free space region of proximity and at a second output power, less than the first output power when the subsequent capacitance measurements are within the first region of proximity.
US09866244B2	Electromagnetic couplers for multi-frequency power detection Multi-output electromagnetic couplers configured to detect multiple frequencies simultaneously, and devices and systems including same. In one example a multi-output electromagnetic coupler includes a main coupler transmission line extending between and electrically connecting an input port and an output port, a first coupled line section configured to couple electromagnetic power in a first frequency band from the main coupler transmission line to provide a first coupled output signal at a first coupled port, and a second coupled line section configured to couple electromagnetic power in a second frequency band from the main coupler transmission line to provide a second coupled output signal at a second coupled port simultaneously with the first coupled output signal being provided at the first coupled port.
US09866243B2	Forward error correction codeword synchronization method, device, and system Embodiments of the present invention provide a forward error correction codeword synchronization method, device, and system. The method is: sending, by a central office device, synchronization information of an FEC codeword to a terminal device by using a management channel, where the information includes information about an agreed location of an FEC codeword, and the information about the agreed location of the first FEC codeword indicates a location that is of the first FEC codeword and is corresponding to data at an agreed location of an agreed time-frequency resource block; and receiving, by the terminal device, the synchronization information that is of the FEC codeword and is sent by the central office device, and adjusting a status parameter of an encoder or a decoder according to the information, so as to complete codeword synchronization. The embodiments of the present invention are used for FEC codeword synchronization.
US09866238B1	Incremental analog to digital converter with efficient residue conversion An incremental analog to digital converter for digitizing an analog voltage including an Mth order delta sigma modulator, an Mth order digital decimation filter, a controller, and a digital combiner. The controller operates the modulator to convert the analog voltage into multiple digital samples, and operates the digital decimation filter to convert the digital samples into a preliminary digital output value. The controller further operates the delta sigma modulator during a residue phase for M clock cycles in which the modulator provides a digital residue value. The digital combiner combines the preliminary digital output value with the digital residue value to provide an initial digital output value. For an Mth order system, only M additional cycles are needed to extract the residual value to increase the resolution of the digital output by an amount based on the resolution of a modulator quantizer.
US09866231B2	Interleaved successive approximation register analog to digital converter In an example, the present invention provides an analog to digital converter device for a high speed data transmission from 1 GS-s to 100 GS-s, although there can be other variations. In an example, the device has an input receiver device coupled to a transimpedance amplifier. In an example, the transimpedance amplifier is coupled to an input stream of data at 10 GHz to 100 GHz, or other variations.
US09866227B1	Sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter including loop filter having components for feedback digital-to-analog converter correction Some embodiments include apparatus and methods using an integrator in a loop filter of a sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) located on a feedback path of the ADC, the DAC including output nodes coupled to input nodes of the integrator, and a comparator including input nodes to receive signals from output nodes of the integrator, and an output node to provide information during calibration of the DAC.
US09866226B2	Analog-to-digital conversion with noise injection via wavefront multiplexing techniques An analog-to-digital conversion system includes a first processor, a bank of N analog-to-digital converters, and a second processor. The first processor receives M input signal streams, performs a wave-front multiplexing transform that includes a first set of wave-front vectors on the M input signal streams in analog domain and outputs concurrently N mixed signal streams, M and N being integers and N≧M>1. The N analog-to-digital converters convert the N mixed signal streams from analog format to digital format and output concurrently N digital data streams. The second processor receives the N digital data streams, performs a wave-front de-multiplexing transform that includes a second set of wave-front vectors on the N digital data streams in digital domain and outputs concurrently N output data streams such that the N output data streams include M output data streams that correspond respectively to the M input signal streams.
US09866225B2	Digital phase-locked loop supply voltage control Some embodiments include apparatuses and methods having a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) in a digital phase-locked loop (PLL) and a control loop. The DCO can generate an output signal having a frequency based on a value of a digital information. The control loop can adjust a value of a supply voltage of the DCO based on the value the digital information. Additional apparatuses and methods are described.
US09866223B2	Clock recovery circuit, related clock and data recovery circuit, receiver, integrated circuit and method A clock recovery circuit includes an oscillator to generate a clock signal. The oscillator varies a frequency of the clock signal as a function of a control signal. The clock recovery circuit has a phase tracking control loop to determine the phase error between the reference signal and the clock signal, and vary the control signal as a function of the phase error. The phase tracking control loop has a linear region for phase errors in the range between −π and +π, thereby creating a cycle slippage event when the phase error exceed said range. The clock recovery circuit includes a cycle-slippage detector which determines whether the phase error reaches or approaches +π or −π. In case the phase error reaches or approaches +π or −π, the cycle-slippage detector acts on the control signal in an effort to avoid that said phase tracking control loop leaves said linear region.
US09866222B2	System and method for synchronizing multiple oscillators using reduced frequency signaling An embodiment method for voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) control includes detecting a first VCO output signal of a first VCO. The first VCO output signal has a first VCO output frequency. The method also includes determining a first down-scaled signal in accordance with the first VCO output signal. The first down-scaled signal has a first down-scaled frequency that is reduced by a fixed ratio relative to a current value of the first VCO output frequency. The method also includes modifying the first VCO output frequency using a first phase lock loop (PLL) in accordance with the first down-scaled signal and an oscillating reference signal, and detecting a second VCO output signal of a second VCO. The second VCO output signal has a second VCO output frequency. The method also includes modifying the second VCO output frequency in accordance with the second VCO output signal and the first down-scaled signal.
US09866221B2	Test circuit to isolate HCI degradation Embodiments are directed to a system for synchronizing switching events. The system includes a controller, a clock generator communicatively coupled to the controller and a delay chain communicatively coupled to the controller. The delay chain is configured to perform a plurality of delay chain switching events in response to an input to the delay chain. The controller is configured to initiate a synchronization phase that includes enabling the clock generator to provide as an input to the delay chain a clock generator output at a synchronization frequency, wherein the clock generator output passing through the delay chain synchronizes the plurality of delay chain switching events to occur at the synchronization frequency resulting in a frequency of an output of the delay chain being synchronized to the synchronization frequency of the clock generator output.
US09866220B2	Timing device A timing method and a timing device are disclosed. A Gray code count output may be obtained by performing a Gray code count on a basic clock. Then m number of sub-clocks may be obtained by separately performing a phase shift on a least significant bit output of the Gray code count output, where a phase difference φ between each of the m number of sub-clocks and the least significant bit output may satisfy: φ=n×α and φ≠90°, 180° may be divisible by α with no remainder, and n may be an integer greater than 0 and less than 180°/α. If 90° is divisible by α with no remainder, m=180/α−2; and if 90° is divisible by α with a remainder, m=180/α−1. When a predetermined event occurs, a timing result of the predetermined event may be obtained according to the Gray code count output value, outputs of the m number of sub-clocks, a period of the basic clock, and the α.
US09866217B2	Voltage level shift circuit for multiple voltage integrated circuits A voltage level shift circuit comprises a first pair of transistors and a second pair of transistors. A first transistor of the second pair of transistors is coupled with an input signal terminal. A second transistor of the transistors of the second pair of transistors is coupled with an inverted input signal terminal. The transistors of the second pair of transistors are cross-coupled with the transistors of the first pair of transistors. The voltage level shift circuit also comprises a third pair of transistors. The transistors of the third pair of transistors are coupled with the transistors of the first pair of transistors and the transistors of the second pair of transistors. A first transistor of the third pair of transistors is directly coupled with an output signal terminal and second transistor of the third pair of transistors is directly coupled with an inverted output signal terminal.
US09866216B1	Biasing circuit for level shifter with isolation A circuit includes a biasing circuit that includes a diode stack coupled to a first node. The biasing circuit can output a biasing signal on the first node. The biasing circuit also includes a transistor, a timer component and a current source. An input of the timer component is coupled to receive an isolation signal. The current source is configured to inject current for a period of time into the diode stack in response to a transition of the ISO signal between a first voltage and a second voltage. The biasing circuit also is configured to output a signal to a level shifter to hold an output of the level shifter in a known state for a specified amount of time after power-up of the circuit for proper operation of the level shifter.
US09866214B2	Composite device and switching power supply This invention provides a composite device and a switching power supply. The composite device integrates therein a first enhancement-mode MOS device and a depletion-mode MOS device, and comprises: an epitaxial region of a first doping type; a first well region and a second well region formed in parallel on the front side of the epitaxial region; a first doped region of the first doping type formed within the first well region; a gate of the first enhancement-mode MOS device; a second doped region of the first doping type formed within the second well region; a channel region of the first doping type, wherein the channel region extends from a boundary of the second well region to a boundary of the second doped region; and a gate of the depletion-mode MOS device. The switching power supply includes the composite device above. This invention can decrease the process complexity, reduce the chip area and cost, and may be applicable to high power scenarios.
US09866212B2	Tuning capacitance to enhance FET stack voltage withstand An RF switch to controllably withstand an applied RF voltage Vsw, or a method of fabricating such a switch, which includes a string of series-connected constituent FETs with a node of the string between each pair of adjacent FETs. The method includes controlling capacitances between different nodes of the string to effectively tune the string capacitively, which will reduce the variance in the RF switch voltage distributed across each constituent FET, thereby enhancing switch breakdown voltage. Capacitances are controlled, for example, by disposing capacitive features between nodes of the string, and/or by varying design parameters of different constituent FETs. For each node, a sum of products of each significant capacitor by a proportion of Vsw appearing across it may be controlled to approximately zero.
US09866211B2	Protection device for a semiconductor switch, and method for operating a protection device for a semiconductor switch The invention relates to a surge protection device for a semiconductor switch with an improved response behavior. The protection device comprises a dynamic component together with a static component and a capability to analyze switch operations on the semiconductor switch. The dynamic component of the surge protection device activates in the event of a low surge, but is time-limited, however, with respect to the response behavior. Furthermore, the response of the dynamic component of the surge protection device can also be limited such that a response occurs only after switch operations on the semiconductor switch.
US09866205B2	Level conversion device and method A device is disclosed that includes a level shifter and a selector. The level shifter includes a first current limiter. The level shifter is configured to generate a first output signal at a first terminal of the first current limiter, and to generate a second output signal at a second terminal of the first current limiter according to a first input signal. The selector configured to selectively transmit one of the first output signal and the second output signal according to the first input signal.
US09866203B1	High reliability power tuners High reliability impedance tuners used in high power measurements suffer fast heating and consequently thermal expansion of the central conductor, which has a very small mass and is thermally isolated from the tuner housing. This leads to false measurements or catastrophic tuner failure (short) of either the DUT or the tuner. A method is introduced for allowing the center conductor to expand linearly without deforming and risking loss of accuracy first and catastrophic failure later. Practical tests have shown significant thermal behavior improvement.
US09866198B2	Resonator element, resonator, electronic device, electronic apparatus, and moving object A resonator element includes a substrate that vibrates in a thickness shear vibration, a first excitation electrode that is provided on one main surface of the substrate and has a shape in which at least three corners of a virtual quadrangle are cut out, and a second excitation electrode that is provided on the other main surface of the substrate, and a ratio (S2/S1) of an area S1 of the virtual quadrangle and an area S2 of the first excitation electrode satisfies a relationship of 69.2%≦(S2/S1)≦80.1%.
US09866196B2	Quasi-differential RF power amplifier with high level of harmonics rejection A quasi-differential amplifier with an input port and an output port. The amplifier has a phase shifter network with a first port connected to the input port, a second port, and a third port. A first amplifier has an input connected to the second port of the phase shifter network, and an output, and a second amplifier has an input connected to the third port of the phase shifter network, and an output. A balun circuit includes a first differential port connected to an output of the first amplifier, a second differential port connected to an output of the second amplifier, and a single-ended port. An output matching network is connected to the single-ended port of the balun circuit and to the output port.
US09866195B2	Antenna device A stray capacitance is generated between an antenna element and a ground electrode. A capacitance detection circuit detects the stray capacitance. An antenna matching circuit, is provided along a wireless communication signal path, which is a transmission path between the antenna element and a feeder circuit. A feedback control circuit transmits a control signal to the variable matching circuit on the basis of a detection result of the capacitance detection circuit in accordance with the stray capacitance. The capacitance detection circuit includes a constant current source and a timing circuit to measure the time taken to charge the antenna from the constant current source and for the voltage to reach a predetermined voltage.
US09866192B2	Filter component with windingless magnetic toroidal core Filter component having a windingless magnetic toroidal core with an opening, a toroidal core housing in which the toroidal core is fastened using a snap-on mechanism, wherein the filter component is designed such that a conductor can be run windinglessly through the opening of the toroidal core fastened in the toroidal core housing.
US09866184B1	Degenerated transimpedance amplifier with wire-bonded photodiode for reducing group delay distortion An integrated circuit includes a degeneration network configured to improve group delay across one or more variations, wherein the degeneration network includes a transimpedance amplifier with one or more degeneration inductors. The transimpedance amplifier further includes one or more transistors, and the one or more degeneration inductors are connected after at least one emitter of the one or more transistors.
US09866182B2	MRAM-based pre-distortion linearization and amplification circuits A circuit has a magnetic device to produce a pre-distorted signal from a sinusoidal input signal. The magnetic device has physical attributes selected to produce characteristics of the pre-distorted signal. A power amplifier is coupled to the magnetic device. The power amplifier processes the pre-distorted signal to produce an output signal with reduced nonlinear behavior associated with the power amplifier.
US09866181B2	Power amplification circuit and transmitter Embodiments for a power amplifier that can increase a low-frequency resonance frequency are provided. The power amplifier includes a power amplifying transistor die, a first metal oxide semiconductor capacitor, a direct current decoupling capacitor, and an output matching network, where: a drain of the power amplifying transistor die is connected to a first end of the first metal oxide semiconductor capacitor by using a bonding wire, and a second end of the first metal oxide semiconductor capacitor is grounded; the drain of the power amplifying transistor die is directly connected to the output matching network by using a bonding wire; a source of the power amplifying transistor die is grounded; the first end of the first metal oxide semiconductor capacitor is connected to one end of the direct current decoupling capacitor by using a bonding wire; and the other end of the direct current decoupling capacitor is grounded.
US09866177B2	System and method for a low noise amplifier An embodiment described herein includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) including a plurality of separate input terminals, a plurality of transistors, and an output network coupled to a first reference terminal and a single output of the LNA. Each transistor includes a conduction path and a control terminal coupled to one of the plurality of separate input terminals. The output network is also coupled to the conduction path of each of the plurality of transistors.
US09866175B1	Rotated field effect transistor topology amplifier An apparatus includes multiple field effect transistors and multiple wires. An input wire may be configured to transfer an input signal along an axis. The field effect transistors may be configured to generate a pair of intermediate signals by amplifying the input signal. Multiple gates of the field effect transistors may be configured to receive the input signal. A topology of the gates may be rotated to be perpendicular to the axis. The field effect transistors may be located in two rows mirrored about the axis. Intermediate wires may be configured to transfer the intermediate signals parallel to the axis. A collection wire may be configured to transfer the intermediate signals toward each other and generate an output signal by combining the intermediate signals. An output wire may be configured to transfer the output signal parallel to the axis and away from the field effect transistors.
US09866174B2	Resonant frequency divider design methodology for dynamic frequency scaling A dynamic rotary traveling wave oscillator circuit includes plurality of multi-output spot-advancing blocks (MOSABs) forming a main-loop and a plurality of multi-input spot-advancing blocks (MISABs) forming a sub-loop. Depending on a desired division ratio, a connection connects blocks on the MOSABs and MISABs to create the desired division ratio.
US09866168B2	Flexible photovoltaic modules having junction box supporting flaps Provided are flexible photovoltaic modules having flaps for supporting junction boxes. Junction boxes are used for making electrical connections to photovoltaic cells sealed inside the modules. A flap may be formed by one or two flexible sealing sheets extending beyond the boundary of the photovoltaic cells. A junction box is attached to the front surface of the flap. In certain embodiments, a flap is formed by one sealing sheet, such as a back side sheet. Materials of the back side sheet may be different from materials of the front side sheet and be selected to ensure support to the junction box. Additional support to the junction box may be provided by extending one of its edges in between the two sealing sheets. This edge extension or other features may be used for mechanical protection of electrical leads extending between the junction box and photovoltaic cells.
US09866151B2	Electrostatic chuck, glass substrate processing method, and said glass substrate An electrostatic chuck that enables high speed and high quality processing of a plate to be processed, and in which the weight of a base member is reduced and the strength thereof increased so as to maintain the flatness of the base member and prevent the plate to be processed from falling; a glass substrate processing method; and said glass substrate. An electrostatic chuck (1) provided with a base member (2) and an electrostatic suction layer (3). The base member (2) is formed by a lower-surface plate (20), side-surface plates (21-24), and an upper-surface plate (25), and has a part (4) for a plurality of individual structures configured therein. The part (4) for a plurality of individual structures has a honeycomb structure that is caused by regular hexagonal tubes (40) and enables the weight of the base member (2) to be reduced and the strength thereof increased.
US09866150B2	Magneto-caloric power generation equipment A magneto-caloric power generation equipment comprising at least one magneto-caloric power generation unit; the magneto-caloric power generation unit comprises two supports provided in a correspondingly connected manner; a rotor, a stator and a heating and cooling device; the supports are provided with an axle seat A, the rotor is provided with an axle seat B, an accommodating space is provided between the two supports, and the rotor is provided in the accommodating space; the rotor comprises an annular support, wherein both sides of the annular support are provided with an even number groups of hard magnet fixing grooves; the hard magnet fixing grooves of two sides of the annular support are provided in a staggered manner, and an annular accommodating groove is formed in the even groups of hard magnet fixing grooves on the same side of the annular support.
US09866149B2	Method and apparatus for enabling floating touch screen haptics assemblies A system that includes an actuator amplification apparatus and a push pull actuator disposed on or within the actuator amplification apparatus. The actuator amplification apparatus is configured to receive a push pull actuator. The actuator amplification apparatus includes a body fixture configured to attach the actuator amplification apparatus to a fixed mass, an output interface to attach the actuator amplification apparatus to a moving mass, and an integral amplification mechanism. The integral amplification mechanism of the actuator amplification apparatus amplifies a force output by the push pull actuator to the moving mass. The integral amplification mechanism includes a plurality of linkages or an integral lever arm. The actuator amplification apparatus may include stabilizers configured to limit movement of the push pull actuator. In an embodiment, the fixed mass is a dashboard frame of an automobile and the moving mass is a floating haptic touch screen assembly.
US09866146B2	Enhanced flyback converter A DC/DC flyback converter that exhibits reduced switch and transformer voltage stresses in comparison to known flyback converters. The flyback converter also employs soft switching. Embodiments of such flyback converters may be used, without limitation, in electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. A front-stage of the flyback converter comprises a DC/AC step-down circuit that may be separately used for various purposes.
US09866139B2	Inductive power transfer converter A bidirectional inductive power transfer (IPT) power converter comprising a cycloconverter, coupled to an AC port, and a resonant circuit, coupled to the cycloconverter, for storing energy and coupling energy to an IPT port.
US09866128B2	Semiconductor device and switching power supply device A semiconductor device including a first filter, a second filter, a first comparison circuit, a second comparison circuit and an AND circuit. The first filter generates a first output signal by performing first filtering processing on an input signal of the semiconductor device, the first filter having a first time constant. The second filter generates a second output signal by performing second filtering processing on the first output signal, the second filter having a second time constant different from the first time constant. The first comparison circuit compares the first output signal with a first threshold voltage, to thereby output a first level signal. The second comparison circuit compares the second output signal with a second threshold voltage, to thereby output a second level signal. The AND circuit performs an AND operation on the first and second level signals.
US09866127B2	Electrical power converting device An electrical power converting device includes: a converter circuit part that includes a switching circuit and a transformer and converts a voltage between a voltage on a high voltage power source side and a voltage on a low voltage power source side in an unidirectional or bidirectional manner; a filter circuit part that is connected to a low-voltage side of the converter circuit part and includes an inductor and a capacitor; a control circuit board on which a control part is mounted, the control part controlling the switching circuit; and a metal housing in which an interior space of the housing is divided into a first accommodation space and a second accommodation space by a partition wall including a cooling liquid flow path, wherein the converter circuit part is arranged in the first accommodation space, and the filter circuit and the control circuit board are arranged in the second accommodation space.
US09866120B2	Power conversion device A power conversion device including: an energy storage unit which receives and stores voltage of a self-power-feeding device; and a bypass unit drive device which, when voltage of the self-power-feeding device becomes smaller than a predetermined lower limit value, causes a bypass unit to perform short-circuiting operation by power stored in the energy storage unit. Thus, by appropriately setting the above voltage lower limit value as a threshold value for the short-circuiting operation, it becomes possible to swiftly and reliably perform short-circuiting protection operation even if a cell converter has failed, thus it is possible to always safely continue the operation of the power conversion device.
US09866113B1	Multilevel buck converter with a flying capacitor and charge pump Methods and apparatus for flying capacitor balancing in multilevel converters are disclosed. Example flying capacitor balancing circuitry can include voltage difference sense and control circuitry and duty cycle timing adjustment circuitry. The voltage difference sense and control circuitry can generate a compensation control signal for the duty cycle timing adjustment circuitry.
US09866099B1	Adaptive high-side gate drive for ringing mitigation in switching power converters A power converter includes a high side device, a low side device connected to the high side device at a switch node, an inductor connected to the high side device and the low side device at the switch node, and a high side driver. The high side driver is configured to drive a gate of the high side device at a first current for a first period of time. In response to the first period of time ending, the high side driver is configured to step down the first current for a second period of time. In response to the second period of time ending, the high side driver is configured to drive the gate of the high side device at the first current.
US09866098B2	Serially connected inverters A photovoltaic power generation system, having a photovoltaic panel, which has a direct current (DC) output and a micro-inverter with input terminals and output terminals. The input terminals are adapted for connection to the DC output. The micro-inverter is configured for converting an input DC power received at the input terminals to an output alternating current (AC) power at the output terminals. A bypass current path between the output terminals may be adapted for passing current produced externally to the micro-inverter. The micro-inverter is configured to output an alternating current voltage significantly less than a grid voltage.
US09866097B2	High speed turbine A number of configurations of a high speed electromagnetic turbine (1300) are discussed. The turbine (1300) includes a housing (1301) includes at least superconducting coil (1307) for the generation of a magnetic field, the coil being retained within a cryogenic envelope of a cryogenic body (1306). The turbine (1300) includes also includes rotor assembly including one or more rotors (13091), (13092), (13093), (13094), (13095) and (13096) positioned on shaft (1310). The rotor being received within the bore (1308) formed between the interior walls of the body (1306) such that it is immersed in the magnetic field. As the current is passed through the rotor assembly the induced force due to the interaction of the current with the magnetic is translated into a torque on the shaft (1310).
US09866091B2	Motor apparatus for vehicle A motor apparatus for a vehicle includes a motor unit, an inverter unit, a case, and a pump. The case has a motor space accommodating the motor unit, two or more inverter spaces each accommodating the inverter unit, and a cooling passage. The inverter spaces are provided adjacent to the motor space via respective walls, and each accommodating at least one of the capacitor, the power converter, and the control circuit. The cooling passage includes a first cooling part configured to cool the power converter and a second cooling part configured to cool the capacitor. A length of the cooling passage from a discharging part of the pump to the first cooling part is made shorter than a length of the cooling passage from the discharging part to the second cooling part.
US09866088B1	Combination electric generator with electric clutch A generator and clutch assembly is disclosed for use in a vehicle and includes a rotatable input, an electric generator in a generator housing, a clutch rotor by driven by the rotatable input, and an electric clutch and brake assembly which may be integrated with the generator housing. A field coil may be mounted to an external surface of the generator housing. The generator and clutch may be offset and connected by means of a transfer system having a transfer housing, wherein a field coil is mounted to an external surface of the transfer housing.
US09866085B2	Generator motor wedge with wide arm span and reduced stress levels A wedge for use in an electric machine has a central leg and arms extending in both circumferential directions. The wedge has a radially outer full surface defining a cylindrical aperture through an axial length, and ledge surfaces at each axial end of the full surface. A curved merging portion on an outer surface of the arms merges into a curved contact surface. A rotor, a machine and a method are also disclosed.
US09866081B2	Motor rotor assembly and motor comprising the same A motor rotor assembly including: a rotor core, a plurality of permanent magnets, and end plates. The permanent magnets are disposed on the rotor core, and the end plates are disposed at two end surfaces of the rotor core, respectively. A plurality of grooves is disposed at the outer edge of the top surface of the end plates, a plurality of convex columns protrudes from the bottom wall of the end plates.
US09866075B2	System for optical wireless power supply A system incorporating safety features, for optical power transmission to receivers, comprising an optical resonator having end reflectors and a gain medium, a driver supplying power to the gain medium, and controlling its small signal gain, a beam steering apparatus and a controller to control at least the beam steering apparatus and the driver. The controller responds to a safety risk occurring in the system, by outputting a command to change at least some of the small signal gain of the gain medium, the radiance of the optical beam, the power supplied by the driver, the scan speed or the scan direction and position of the beam steering apparatus, or to register the scan pose which defines the location of said optical-to-electrical power converter. The controller may also ensure a high overall radiance efficiency, and may warn of transmitted power not received by a targeted receiver.
US09866074B2	Integrated circuits for transmitting wireless power, receiving wireless power, and/or communicating wirelessly The disclosed technology relates to wireless communication and wireless power transmission. In some implementations, the disclosed technology is directed to an integrated circuit having a transmitter that transmits radio frequency (RF) based wireless power and receives signals for detecting the location of a client device. The disclosed technology is also directed to an integrated circuit for a client device that receives power from the transmitter and transmits beacon signals, which the transmitter can use to locate the client device.
US09866066B2	Wireless power transfer via electrodynamic coupling Wireless power transmission (WPT) systems are provided. According to an embodiment, the WPT system uses one or more power transmitting coils and a receiver for electromagnetically coupled wireless power transfer. The electrodynamic receiver can be in the form of an electrodynamic transducer where a magnet is allowed to oscillate near a receiving coil to induce a voltage in the receiving coil, a piezoelectric transducer where the magnet causes a vibrating structure with a piezoelectric layer to move, an electrostatic transducer where movement of the magnet causes a capacitor plate to move, or a combination thereof. An alternating magnetic field from the transmitting coil(s) excites the magnet in the receiver into mechanical resonance. The vibrating magnet then functions similar to an energy harvester to induce voltage/current on an internal coil, piezoelectric material, or variable capacitor. Embodiments utilize magnetic coupling and electromechanical resonance for safe, spatially distributed, low-frequency power delivery to portable devices.
US09866064B2	Apparatus and method for monitoring substation disconnects and transmission line switches An apparatus and method for continuously monitoring substation disconnects and transmission line switches to detect improper closing of the disconnects or switches is disclosed. The method includes the step of providing an apparatus adapted to measure, process, and transmit data associated with a disconnect or switch. The method further includes the steps of positioning the apparatus on or in close proximity to the disconnect or switch, using the apparatus to collect data of the disconnect or switch and processing the data for transmission to a remote receiver, and transmitting the processed data to a remote receiver.
US09866063B2	Fault-tolerant power distribution systems for a modular power plant Fault-tolerant power distribution systems for modular power plants are discussed. The systems enable the transmission of a portion of the power generated by a modular power plant to remote consumers. The systems also enable the local distribution of another portion of the generated power within the power plant. The various fault-tolerant systems enable the plant to continuously, and without degradation or disruption, transmit power to remote consumers and distribute power within in the power plant in the event of one or more faults within the distribution system. The various embodiments include redundant power-transmission paths, power-distribution module feeds, switchgear, and other hardware components. Such redundant transmission paths and hardware enable the systems to continuously, and without degradation or disruption, transmit power to remote consumers and locally distribute power to the power plant when one or more faults occur within one or more of the redundant power-transmission paths and/or hardware components.
US09866059B2	Wireless power transmission device and wireless power transmission method The wireless power transmission device is a wireless power transmission device which wirelessly transmits electric power between a power-transmitting coil and a power-receiving coil, and which includes: a metal member; a power supply unit which supplies the electric power to the power-transmitting coil; a measurement unit which measures a relative position of the power-receiving coil with respect to the power-transmitting coil; and a control unit which controls the power supply unit. The control unit adjusts the electric power based on the relative position measured by the measurement unit, so that an amount of induced current flowing through the metal member is decreased.
US09866055B2	Automatic scheme to detect multi-standard charger types Techniques are described herein for detecting one of multiple (e.g., at least three) charger types that may be connected to a portable device. In response to detecting a charging device (e.g., a charger) of a particular charger type, the portable device is configured to charge its battery by drawing the maximum voltage and/or current that is/are allowed by the particular charger type. In an example embodiment, a portable device detects a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection to a charging device and determines whether the charging device conforms to a first, second, or third charger type based on voltages on data lines of the USB connection. The portable device then charges its battery at maximum charging power available from the charging device according to the third charger type.
US09866052B2	Secondary battery charging system and method, and battery pack Even after the battery reaches the last stage of the end of life, the use can be continued. A charging system includes battery pack and charger. During the charge of lithium-ion secondary battery, charge control unit calculates the full charge capacity maintaining rate, sets a first charge current value on the basis of the full charge capacity maintaining rate, and charges the battery. When lithium-ion secondary battery reaches the last stage of the end of life, charge control unit sets a second charge current value lower than the first charge current value set based on the full charge capacity maintaining rate, and charges the battery.
US09866049B2	Battery warm up system and method for warming up battery using the same A battery warm up system according to the present disclosure includes an open signal receiving unit to receive a door open signal for opening a door of a vehicle, a temperature measuring unit to measure a temperature of a battery pack connected to a starter of the vehicle, a control unit to output a forced discharging start signal by referring to information associated with the temperature measured by the temperature measuring unit when the door open signal is received by the open signal receiving unit, and a forced discharging circuit unit to force a plurality of battery modules constituting the battery pack to be discharged in response to the forced discharging start signal.
US09866038B2	Wireless power transmission system A power transmission apparatus includes capacitors connected in series between an active electrode and a passive electrode. A power reception apparatus includes capacitors connected in series between an active electrode and a passive electrode. When a capacitance between the active electrodes is represented by Caa, a capacitance between the passive electrodes is represented by Cpp, and reactances of the capacitors are represented by X1, X2, X3, and X4; the active electrodes, the passive electrodes and the capacitors are configured such that Cpp/Caa=X1/X2=X3/X4 and Cpp≧Caa are satisfied. Thus, a wireless power transmission system capable of stabilizing an operation of a load circuit in the power reception apparatus is provided.
US09866035B2	Rotatable coupling A rotatable coupling includes an input housing rotatably coupled to an output housing by a tube fixed to the output housing and on which tube the input housing rotates. The coupling includes two magnetic flux concentrators disposed about the tube and defining therebetween an annular cavity, a first concentrator fixed to the input housing and a second concentrator fixed to the output housing, such that relative rotation of the housings causes relative rotation of the concentrators on either side of the annular cavity. The coupling includes concentric coils disposed within the annular cavity that permit power transfer across the coupling, a first coil fixed to the input housing and a second coil fixed to the output housing; an emitter fixed to the input housing; and a receiver fixed to the output housing and positioned to receive the signals from the emitter during the relative rotation of the housings.
US09866034B2	Power transfer unit, method for power transfer, and receiver This power transfer unit includes a power supply portion and a control portion, and the control portion acquires proper voltage ranges of a plurality of receivers and sets a supply voltage value in a common range among the proper voltage ranges.
US09866031B2	Method and apparatus for power control According to one embodiment, a power control apparatus includes a receiving unit, an environment-data acquiring unit, and a calculation unit. The receiving unit receives, from a power supplying side, a power-consumption reduction request for reducing power consumption at a power demanding side. The environmental data acquiring unit acquires, from the power demanding side, environmental data representing environmental state of the power demanding side. The calculating unit calculates a power-reduction value based on the environmental data, in response to the power-consumption reduction request.
US09866030B2	Automatic voltage regulation for photovoltaic systems A photovoltaic system includes solar cells and photovoltaic inverters configured to convert direct current generated by the solar cells to alternating current. Grid voltage at the point of interconnection (POI) of the photovoltaic system and the power grid is measured and compared to a setpoint. A control signal is generated based on the measured grid voltage. The control signal is provided to the photovoltaic inverters. The control signal is adjusted to cause the photovoltaic inverters to generate or absorb reactive power to respond to transient grid voltage changes.
US09866028B2	Power control apparatus, power control method, program, and energy management system A power control apparatus includes: a first conversion apparatus that applies DC/DC conversion to direct current power from a power generator for generating power using natural energy, and outputs the resultant power; a second conversion apparatus that applies DC/DC conversion to the power output from the first conversion apparatus and charges a power storage unit with the resultant power, and also applies DC/DC conversion to power from the power storage unit and discharges the resultant power; a third conversion apparatus that supplies alternating current power to a power system and an alternating current load by applying DC/AC conversion to the power output from the first conversion apparatus and/or the power discharged by the second conversion apparatus; and a controller that causes the second conversion apparatus to perform the discharge so that the power output from the third conversion apparatus is higher than power consumed by the alternating current load.
US09866026B2	Method of managing electric power, power management device and program A method of managing electric power for managing power, within a group, said power is to be used by a first user with a power storage system and a second user without the power storage system, the method including: (a) collecting data regarding load power of the first user and the second user and calculating total load power within the group; (b) determining whether the total load power is equal to or greater than a peak cut power; (c) determining whether a value of [total load power−peak cut power] is smaller than the load power of the first user when determination in the step (b) is Yes; and (d) causing the power storage system to discharge at the value of [total load power−peak cut power], when determination in the step (c) is Yes.
US09866021B2	Load power device, system and method of load control and management employing load identification A load power device includes a power input, at least one power output for at least one load, a plurality of sensors structured to sense voltage and current at the at least one power output, and a processor. The processor provides: (a) load identification based upon the sensed voltage and current, and (b) load control and management based upon the load identification.
US09866016B2	Multiport power converter with load detection capabilities Power converters are provided that convert alternating current (AC) power to direct current (DC) power. A power converter may have multiple ports. Each port may have an associated connector with multiple power and data terminals. When an electronic device is connected to a given port, the electronic device draws DC power from the power converter. To ensure that the capacity of the power converter is not exceeded when multiple devices are connected to the ports of the power converter, the power converter may actively monitor its ports for active loads. Load detection circuitry can determine what number of ports are active. Control circuitry can compute a per-port available DC power level based on the number of active ports and can provide this information to connected devices.
US09866014B2	Electronic device with shared EOS protection and power interruption mitigation In an embodiment, an electronic device comprises a shared electrical over-stress (EOS) protection circuit. The shared EOS protection circuit may be coupled between a power input terminal and ground terminal to provide an EOS current path from the power input terminal to the ground terminal, and coupled between the output terminal and the ground terminal to provide an EOS current path from the output terminal to the ground terminal. The electronic device may also include a power interruption mitigation circuit to provide power to the electronic device during interruptions or fluctuations in external power.
US09866012B2	Method and system for reporting faults and control in an electrical power grid A system and method for reporting and control in an electrical power distribution grid including a plurality of sensor devices forming a sensor network are disclosed. Each sensor device monitors and measures attributes of line current for an associated electrical power distribution line at a selected location. Control sensor devices will have control capabilities in addition to its monitoring and measurement capabilities. The sensor devices can detect a fault in a branch of the power grid and send control and fault detected messages to an adjacent upstream sensor on a wireless network comprising a plurality of contention access and contention free time slots wherein a number of the contention free time slots is equal to or greater than a number of sensors in the plurality of sensors.
US09866002B2	Recessed support for hidden sockets A recessed support, preferably in a recessed box, for hidden sockets, comprises a front face from which a recessed compartment extends which is destined to house electric plugs inserted in the sockets and which has an inclined lateral wall on which at least an electrical socket is afforded. A slidable cover is associated to the front face, which is constrained to the body of the support by guide and sliding means so as to be slidable between a closed position for covering the compartment and an open position which uncovers the compartment. Also present are a first and a second blocking screw of the socket to the inclined lateral wall; both the first and the second blocking screw in turn comprise: a stem having at least a threaded portion; a screwing head having a transversal dimension that is greater than the stem; the stem being interposed between the cover in the closed position and the head.
US09865992B2	Method for mode control in multimode semiconductor waveguide lasers One embodiment is a wide stripe semiconductor waveguide, which is cleaved at a Talbot length thereof, the wide stripe semiconductor waveguide having facets with mirror coatings. A system provides for selective pumping the wide stripe semiconductor waveguide to create and support a Talbot mode. In embodiments according to the present method and apparatus the gain is patterned so that a single unique pattern actually has the highest gain and hence it is the distribution that oscillates.
US09865991B2	Laser device with optical isolator Disclosed herein is a technology of effectively interrupting light reflected from a wavelength selective filter so as not to be fed back to a laser diode chip in a semiconductor laser package having a function of adjusting a relative intensity ratio of a signal of “1” and a signal of “0” using an optical filter. Since an optical interruption device according to the present invention may effectively interrupt a light feedback to the laser diode chip by adjusting characteristics of a 45 degree partial reflection mirror in an existing TO-can type laser device having the 45 degree partial reflection mirror and additionally disposing one λ/4 waveplate, unlike an optical isolator according to the related art using an existing Faraday rotator, the signals of “1” and “0” may be effectively adjusted in a TO-can type laser device having a small volume, thereby improving a function of communication.
US09865987B1	Second harmonic generation in resonant optical structures An optical second-harmonic generator (or spontaneous parametric down-converter) includes a microresonator formed of a nonlinear optical medium. The microresonator supports at least two modes that can be phase matched at different frequencies so that light can be converted between them: A first resonant mode having substantially radial polarization and a second resonant mode having substantially vertical polarization. The first and second modes have the same radial order. The thickness of the nonlinear medium is less than one-half the pump wavelength within the medium.
US09865986B2	Coherent combining pulse bursts in time domain A beam combining and pulse stacking technique is provided that enhances laser pulse energy by coherent stacking pulse bursts (i.e. non-periodic pulsed signals) in time domain. This energy enhancement is achieved by using various configurations of Fabry-Perot, Gires-Tournois and other types of resonant cavities, so that a multiple-pulse burst incident at either a single input or multiple inputs of the system produces an output with a solitary pulse, which contains the summed energy of the incident multiple pulses from all beams. This disclosure provides a substantial improvement over conventional coherent-combining methods in that it achieves very high pulse energies using a relatively small number of combined laser systems, thus providing with orders of magnitude reduction in system size, complexity, and cost compared to current combining approaches.
US09865985B1	Widely tunable infrared source system and method A system and method for tuning and infrared source laser in the Mid-IR wavelength range. The system and method comprising, at least, a plurality of individually tunable emitters, each emitter emitting a beam having a unique wavelength, a grating, a mirror positioned after the grating to receive at least one refracted order of light of at least one beam and to redirect the beam back towards the grating, and a micro-electro-mechanical systems device containing a plurality of adjustable micro-mirrors.
US09865982B1	Environmentally robust and compact mode-locked laser A mode-locked laser has optical components integrated into a single apparatus and interrelated via optical free-space coupling. The laser optical cavity path is reduced to less than ten meters, primarily composed of optical gain fiber. A Fabry-Perot filter is matched to the laser pulse repetition frequency. Utilizing a Fabry-Perot filter within the laser optical cavity suppresses supermode spurs in the phase noise spectrum; thereby reducing total timing jitter.
US09865981B2	Fiber laser packaging Packaging for a fiber laser includes a conduit surrounding the fiber laser and a thermally conductive compound filling a gap between the fiber laser and the conduit setting the fiber laser within the conduit. The fiber laser may have a substantially circular first cross section having a first diameter and the conduit may have a substantially circular second cross section having a second diameter larger than the first diameter of the fiber laser. The conduit may have a splice window cut out from a wall of the conduit and optical potting compound may fix a portion of the fiber laser under the splice window.
US09865980B2	Multi-node server platform A multi-node server platform including a cubby chassis and at least one multi-server sled. The cubby chassis includes partitions defining a plurality of sled positions. The multi-server sled includes a chassis having a vertical sidewall and a horizontal bottom wall with an open top and an open side. A side-plane PCB is mounted to the vertical sidewall and a plurality of dividers are attached to the bottom wall and oriented perpendicular to the side-plane PCB. One or more server cards are connected to the side-plane PCB and are supported the plurality of dividers. The server cards include a server PCB having a first side facing the bottom wall and an outward facing second side enclosing the open top of the sled chassis. A cover is coupled to the horizontal bottom wall to enclose the open side of the sled chassis and help direct airflow across the server cards.
US09865972B2	Electrical connector with spring clip A connector assembly including a connector body with a spring clip including a first free end for engaging a side wall of an electrical box upon installation. During insertion of the connector body the first free end is deformed so as to permit further insertion. Once the connector body is fully inserted, the spring clip cooperates with a lug on the connector body to hold the connector assembly onto the electrical box.
US09865954B2	Plug connection A plug connection having a first plug with a first contact piece and a second plug with a second contact piece. In the plugged state of the plug connection, the contact pieces are axially in contact with one another in a spring-biased manner. The first contact piece has a three-dimensionally curved end face, while the second contact piece has a flaring depression in the end face thereof such that an annular contact zone is formed between the contact pieces.
US09865951B2	Connector for flexible printed circuit board An electrical connector includes an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts retained in the insulative housing, a fastener and a first sealing ring. The insulative housing has a rear section extending backwardly. The rear section has a rear space and a first peripheral wall around the rear space. Each contact has a connecting leg extending into the rear space. The fastener has a mating section to engage with the rear section and a board receiving chamber extending therethrough along a front to back direction. The fastener has a fixed position on the insulative housing, and as moving the fastener to the fixed position, the connecting legs are pressed into the board receiving chamber for electrically connecting with the flexible printed circuit board, and the first sealing ring is sealed around the junction of the contacts and the flexible printed circuit board.
US09865940B2	Direct plug-in compression spring terminal with retaining spring A direct plug-in compression spring terminal includes a bus bar for contacting an electrical conductor, and a clamping spring for fastening the electrical conductor in the direct plug-in compression spring terminal, wherein the clamping spring has a clamping arm that can be pivoted in a clamping direction about a clamping axis, and an actuating device for pivoting the clamping bar. In an open state, in which the electrical conductor can be inserted into the direct plug-in compression spring terminal, the clamping arm is pivoted against the clamping direction against a restoring force of the clamping spring. In a clamping state, in which the electrical conductor is clamping in the direct plug-in compression spring terminal, the clamping arm is pivoted in the clamping direction by the restoring force of the clamping spring. In the open state, the actuating device is locked in the direct plug-in compression spring terminal and additionally clamped to the clamping arm.
US09865934B2	Ultra-wideband extremely low profile wide angle scanning phased array with compact balun and feed structure A phased array antenna comprising a dielectric superstrate material, a ground plane material, a plurality of dipole structures located between the superstrate and ground plane materials, and a plurality of balun and matching networks in electrical communication with the plurality of dipole structures, wherein the phased array antenna is adapted to achieve a bandwidth of at least about 7:1.
US09865932B2	Cell and electromagnetic band-gap structure A cell that configures an electromagnetic band-gap structure, comprises a first flat conductor and a second flat conductor arranged opposing each other, a first coupling conductor that is positioned between the first flat conductor and the second flat conductor, is that electrically connected to the first flat conductor, and that has an end that is not connected to the second flat conductor, a second coupling conductor electrically connected to the first flat conductor and the second flat conductor, and a first conductor strip electrically connected to an end of the first coupling conductor and the second coupling conductor.
US09865927B2	Sensor pad to capacitively couple to an antenna module An example computing system may include a proximity sensor including a sensor pad with a tail and an antenna to capacitively couple to the tail to increase a bandwidth of the antenna.
US09865921B2	Directional multi-band antenna There is disclosed a directional multi-band antenna comprising: a primary reflector, at least one secondary reflector, a multi-layer dielectric layer selectively reflective or transmissive of incident radiation according to wavelength, the layer being provided at the surface of either the primary or the secondary reflector, an RF unit comprising a collocated sensor and transmitter, an Optical unit comprising a collocated sensor and transmitter, arranged such that the primary reflector is for passing signals between the secondary reflector and the environment, the secondary reflector is firstly for passing signals between the primary reflector and the RF unit, and secondly for passing signals between the primary reflector and the Optical unit and arranged such that the antenna is operable to transmit or receive, RF or Optical signals, along a common beam axis.
US09865918B2	Sliding radome with support structure A radome includes a shell defining an internal volume. A track is coupled to the shell, and the track allows the shell to move axially between an open position and a closed position. A support structure is coupled to the shell, and the support structure moves from a collapsed position to an expanded position.
US09865917B2	Wireless handheld devices, radiation systems and manufacturing methods A radiating system for transmitting and receiving signals in first and second frequency regions includes a radiating structure, a radiofrequency system, and an external port. The radiating structure has first and second isolated radiation boosters coupled to a ground plane layer. A first internal port of the radiating structure is between the first radiation booster and the ground plane layer, and a second internal port is between the second radiation booster and the ground plane layer. A distance between the two internal ports is less than 0.06 times a wavelength of the lowest frequency. The maximum size of the first and second radiation boosters is smaller than 1/30 times the wavelength of the lowest frequency. The radiofrequency system includes two ports connected respectively to the first and the second internal ports of the radiating structure, and a port connected to the external port of the radiating system.
US09865913B2	Communication terminal and card antenna module A communication terminal in which a card antenna module is loaded into a terminal casing including an antenna is operated such that a degree of coupling between a terminal-casing-side antenna and a module-side antenna is minimized and that a module-side antenna has a desired frequency characteristic. The communication terminal includes a terminal casing including a terminal-casing-side antenna, and a card antenna module loaded into the terminal casing. The card antenna module includes a coupling coil which is disposed at a position close to the terminal-casing-side antenna and which is coupled with the terminal-casing-side antenna via a magnetic field, and a module-side antenna which is disposed at a position more distant from the terminal-casing-side antenna than the coupling coil.
US09865912B2	Universal ceiling antenna mount A universal ceiling antenna mount may include a plate having a first side and a second side. The plate may include at least one antenna adapter hole, at least one mounting post attached to the second side of the plate, and at least one stem having a top open end and a bottom open end. The bottom open end of the stems may attach to the second side of the plate over the antenna adapter holes. A top plate having at least one hole and at least one mounting hole may sandwich a ceiling tile with the second side of the plate and be secured. At least one coaxial antenna cable may be connected to a top side of mount. At least one antenna may be connected to a bottom side of the mount.
US09865907B2	Cooling mechanism for batteries using L-V phase change materials A 3-D “phase change heat exchange” structure and method are used in a rechargeable battery to dissipate heat from surfaces of the battery cells and lower the temperature inside the battery cells. The battery cells are placed inside an enclosure and spaced apart from each other with free spaces in between. A liquid to vapor phase change material (L-V PCM) is provided inside the enclosure. A hydrophilic thin film or wick or fiber structure is provided on the cell surfaces to help form a thin liquid layer of the L-V PCM over cell surfaces. During operation, the L-C PCM is evaporated at the cell surfaces and condenses back to a liquid either on the battery enclosure or in an external heat exchanger, and drips back on top of the cells. The designs extend the battery life and improve the battery performance significantly.
US09865901B2	Battery system and method for connecting a battery to the battery system A battery system and method for connecting a battery to the battery system are disclosed. In one aspect, the battery system includes at least one first battery, a second battery, a first switch configured to connect the second battery in parallel to the first battery and a second switch and a resistor connected in series and configured to connect the second battery in parallel to the first battery. The first switch and the second switch are connected in parallel. The battery system further includes a battery management system (BMS) configured to turn on the second switch so as to connect the second battery to the first battery. The BMS is further configured to turn off the second switch and turn on the first switch when the difference in voltage between the second battery and the first battery reaches a predetermined value.

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