Document	Document Title
US09997518B2	Low resistive electrode for an extendable high-k metal gate stack In one embodiment, a method of making a semiconductor device includes: forming a substrate; forming an nFET transistor and a pFET transistor on the substrate; wherein forming the nFET transistor comprises first depositing several first layers in and along the inner sidewalls of a trench on the substrate, then depositing a conductive metal comprising cobalt on the several first layers; wherein forming the pFET transistor comprises first depositing several second layers in and along the inner sidewalls of a trench on the substrate, then depositing a conductive metal comprising cobalt on the several second layers.
US09997517B2	Power semiconductor device having fully depleted channel regions A power semiconductor device is disclosed. In one example, the device includes a semiconductor body coupled to a first load terminal structure and a second load terminal structure. An active cell field is implemented in the semiconductor body. The active cell field is surrounded by an edge termination zone. A plurality of first cells and a plurality of second cells are provided in the active cell field. Each first cell includes a first mesa, the first mesa including: a first port region and a first channel region. Each second cell includes a second mesa, the second mesa including a second port region. The active cell field is surrounded by a drainage region that is arranged between the active cell field and the edge termination zone.
US09997513B1	Package including a plurality of stacked semiconductor devices having area efficient ESD protection A multi-chip device can include stacked semiconductor devices including a top and bottom semiconductor device. The top semiconductor device can include a first circuit. The bottom semiconductor device can include a first through via and a first ESD protection circuit electrically connected to an external electrical connection of the device. The first ESD protection circuit can include a first ESD protection structure. The first through via can provide an electrical connection through the bottom semiconductor device between the external electrical connection and a first terminal of the first circuit, which can be free of an electrical connection to an ESD protection circuit having the first ESD protection structure.
US09997508B2	Integrated photo detector, method of making the same An integrated photo detector with enhanced electrostatic discharge damage (ESD) protection. The integrated photo detector includes a first photodiode formed in the SOI substrate and associated with a first p-electrode and a first n-electrode. Additionally, the integrated photo detector includes a second photodiode formed in the SOI substrate associated with a second p-electrode and a second n-electrode forming a capacitance no larger than a few femto Faradays. Moreover, the integrated photo detector includes a first electrode and a second electrode disposed respectively on the SOI substrate. The first/second electrode is respectively connected to the first p/n-electrode via a first/second metallic layer patterned with a reduced width from the first/second electrode to the first p/n-electrode and connected to the second p/n-electrode via a first/second metallic wire to make a parallel coupling between the first photodiode and the second photodiode with an ESD threshold of about 100V.
US09997507B2	Semiconductor assembly and method of manufacture A monolithically integrated semiconductor assembly is presented. The semiconductor assembly includes a substrate including silicon (Si), and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor device is fabricated on the substrate. The semiconductor assembly further includes at least one transient voltage suppressor (TVS) structure fabricated in or on the substrate, wherein the TVS structure is in electrical contact with the GaN semiconductor device. The TVS structure is configured to operate in a punch-through mode, an avalanche mode, or combinations thereof, when an applied voltage across the GaN semiconductor device is greater than a threshold voltage. Methods of making a monolithically integrated semiconductor assembly are also presented.
US09997494B2	Three-dimensional silicon structure for integrated circuits and cooling thereof Embodiments of a three-dimensional silicon structure for integrated circuits and cooling thereof are described. In one aspect, a device includes a silicon substrate having a first primary side and a second primary side opposite the first primary side. The first primary side includes a circuit structure disposed thereon. The second primary side includes a plurality of fins monolithically formed thereon.
US09997489B2	Coated bond wires for die packages and methods of manufacturing said coated bond wires A bond wire having a metal core, a dielectric layer, and a ground connectable metallization, wherein the bond wire has one or more vapor barrier coatings. Further, the present invention relates to a die package with at least one bond wire according to the invention.
US09997488B2	Copper-based alloy wire and methods for manufaturing the same A copper-based alloy wire made of a material selected from the group consisting of a copper-gold alloy, a copper-palladium alloy and a copper-gold-palladium alloy is provided. The alloy wire has a polycrystalline structure of a face-centered cubic lattice and consists of a plurality of equi-axial grains. The quantity of grains having annealing twins is 10 percent or more of the total quantity of the grains of the copper-based alloy wire.
US09997484B2	Semiconductor device and manufacturing method of the same A semiconductor device includes a wiring substrate, a first semiconductor element, a second semiconductor element, a bump, a bonding portion, and a resin portion. The second semiconductor element is between the wiring substrate and the first semiconductor element. The bump is between the first and second semiconductor elements and electrically connects the first and second semiconductor elements. The bonding portion is between the first and second semiconductor elements, bonds the first semiconductor element to the second semiconductor element, and has a first elastic modulus. The resin portion has a second elastic modulus higher than the first elastic modulus. The resin portion is between the first and second semiconductor elements. The first semiconductor element is between a second portion of the resin portion and the wiring substrate. A third portion of the resin portion is overlapped with the first and second semiconductor elements.
US09997478B1	Circuits and antennas integrated in dies and corresponding method Circuits and antennas integrated in dies and corresponding method. The circuits and the antennas are positioned on the front surface and the back surface of the substrate respectively, but both are electrically coupled to the shared ground of the substrate. To maintain the mechanical strength of the die, some dummy metals are positioned on the back surface of the substrate and positioned around but separated away the antennas. Further, to reduce the potential side effects induced by the induced current, some ground balls are positioned on one or surfaces of the substrate.
US09997473B2	Chip package and method for forming the same A chip package including a substrate is provided. The substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite thereto. The substrate includes a sensing or device region which is adjacent to the first surface. A recess is in the substrate. The recess extends from the second surface towards the first surface, and vertically overlaps the sensing or device region. A redistribution layer is electrically connected to the sensing or device region, and extends from the second surface into the recess. A method of forming the chip package is also provided.
US09997472B2	Support for long channel length nanowire transistors A nanowire device includes a first component formed on a substrate and a second component disposed apart from the first component on the substrate. A nanowire is configured to connect the first component to the second component. An anchor pad is formed along a span of the nanowire and configured to support the nanowire along the span to prevent sagging.
US09997459B2	Semiconductor device having a barrier layer made of amorphous molybdenum nitride and method for producing such a semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body having a front face, a back face and an active zone at the front face. A front surface metallization layer having a front face and a back face is disposed over the semiconductor body so that the back face of the front surface metallization layer faces the front face of the semiconductor body and is electrically connected to the active zone. An upper barrier layer made of amorphous molybdenum nitride is disposed on the front face of the front surface metallization layer.
US09997458B2	Method for manufacturing germamde interconnect structures and corresponding interconnect structures Method for forming an interconnect structure, comprising the steps of: forming a recessed structure in a dielectric material on a substrate; at least partially filling said recessed structure with a metal chosen from the group consisting of copper, nickel and cobalt; introducing the substrate in a CVD reactor; bringing the substrate in the CVD reactor to a soak temperature and subsequently performing a soak treatment by supplying a germanium precursor gas to the CVD reactor at the soak temperature, thereby substantially completely converting the metal in the recessed structure to a germanide.
US09997454B2	BEOL vertical fuse formed over air gap A method of forming an electrical device that includes forming a first level including an array of metal lines, wherein an air gap is positioned between the adjacent metal lines. A second level is formed including at least one dielectric layer atop the first level. A plurality of trench structures is formed in the at least on dielectric layer. At least one of the plurality of trench structures opens the air gap. A conductive material is formed within the trenches. The conductive material deposited in the open air gap provides a vertical fuse.
US09997451B2	Semiconductor device including a porous dielectric layer, and method of forming the semiconductor device A semiconductor device includes a porous dielectric layer formed on an interconnect layer and including a recessed portion, a conductive layer formed in the recessed portion, and a conformal cap layer formed on the porous dielectric layer and on the conductive layer in the recessed portion, an upper surface of the porous dielectric layer being exposed through a gap in the conformal cap layer. Porous dielectric material is protected by back-filled pore fillers or leave-in porogens from process integration such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). The pore fillers or porogens are removed after CMP and Cap process to achieve low capacitance. A self-aligned cap protects the conductor metal from exposing the severe conditions during the pore filler or porogen removal process.
US09997446B2	Semiconductor package including a rewiring layer with an embedded chip A semiconductor package includes a substrate, a rewiring layer, a plurality of semiconductor chip stack structures, and a second semiconductor chip. The rewiring layer is disposed on an upper surface of the substrate. The rewiring layer includes a concave portion. The semiconductor chip stack structures include a plurality of first semiconductor chips. The first semiconductor chips are disposed on the rewiring layer. The first semiconductor chips are spaced apart from each other in a horizontal direction. The second semiconductor chip is disposed within the concave portion. The second semiconductor chip is configured to electrically connect each of the plurality of semiconductor chip stack structures to each other.
US09997445B2	Substrate interconnections for packaged semiconductor device A “universal” substrate for a semiconductor device is formed of a non-conductive substrate material. A uniform array of conductive pillars is formed in the substrate material. The pillars extend from a top surface of the substrate material to a bottom surface of the substrate material. A die flag may be formed on the top surface of the substrate material. Pillars underneath the die flag are connected to pillars beyond a perimeter of the die flag with wires. Power and ground rings may be formed by connecting rows of pillars that surround the die flag.
US09997442B1	Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same A semiconductor substrate includes an interconnection structure and a dielectric layer. The dielectric layer surrounds the interconnection structure and defines a first cavity. The first cavity is defined by a first sidewall, a second sidewall, and a first surface of the dielectric layer. The first sidewall is laterally displaced from the second sidewall.
US09997439B2	Method for fabricating an advanced routable quad flat no-lead package An improved leadframe assembly for use in a quad flat no lead (QFN) package is described along with a method of fabricating both the leadframe assembly and the QFN package. The leadframe assembly comprises an etch-stop layer formed on a topside of a substrate and a routing layer (or trace) formed on a topside of the etch-stop layer. The etch-stop layer prevents etching of an underside of the routing trace and the leadframe assembly may also comprise a top plating layer formed on a topside of the routing layer and which prevents etching of the topside of the routing trace.
US09997426B2	Thermally enhanced semiconductor package with thermal additive and process for making the same The present disclosure relates to a thermally enhanced semiconductor package, which includes a module substrate, a thinned flip chip die over the substrate, a first mold compound component, and a thermally enhanced mold compound component. The first mold compound component resides over the module substrate, surrounds the thinned flip chip die, and extends above an upper surface of the thinned flip chip die to form a cavity over the upper surface of the thinned flip chip die. The thermally enhanced mold compound component includes a lower portion filling a lower region of the cavity and residing over the upper surface of the thinned flip chip die, and an upper portion filling an upper region of the cavity and residing over the lower portion. A first average thermal conductivity of the lower portion is at least 1.2 times greater than a second average thermal conductivity of the upper portion.
US09997412B1	Methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming on a substrate gate electrodes extending in a first direction and spaced apart from each other in a second direction, forming capping patterns on the gate electrodes, forming interlayer dielectric layer filling spaces between adjacent gate electrodes, forming a hardmask on the interlayer dielectric layer with an opening selectively exposing second to fourth capping patterns, using the hardmask as an etch mask to form holes in the interlayer dielectric layer between the second and third gate electrodes and between the third and fourth gate electrodes, forming a barrier layer and a conductive layer in the holes, performing a first planarization to expose the hardmask, performing a second planarization to expose a portion of the barrier layer covering the second to fourth capping patterns, and performing a third planarization to completely expose the first to fourth capping patterns.
US09997406B2	Columnar interconnects and method of making them Disclosed herein is an interconnect structure, including: a dielectric material layer having a cavity having a height, width and length within a dielectric material layer wherein the width is less than or equal to about 100 nanometers and the height to width ratio is less than or equal to about 2.5; a diffusion barrier liner layer disposed in the cavity on the dielectric material; an optional crystallization seed layer disposed on the diffusion barrier liner layer; and a conductive material disposed on the crystallization seed layer when present and filling the opening. When the crystallization seed layer is not present the conductive material is disposed on the diffusion barrier liner.
US09997403B2	Metal layer tip to tip short Techniques relate to forming an integrated circuit. Trench contacts are formed on top of at least one source and drain of an intermediate structure. An interlayer dielectric is formed on top of the intermediate structure. A trench is cut through the interlayer dielectric, through at least one of the trench contacts, down to a shallow trench isolation area. The trench is filled with a filling material. Upper contacts are formed on top of the trench contacts in the interlayer dielectric. A first metal layer pattern is patterned such that a separation is formed by a filling material width of the filling material. First metal layers are formed according to the first metal layer pattern, where tips of the first metal layers are aligned to the filling material that fills the trench, such that the tips of the first metal layers are separated by the filling material width.
US09997398B2	Methods of forming one or more covered voids in a semiconductor substrate Some embodiments include methods of forming voids within semiconductor constructions. In some embodiments the voids may be utilized as microstructures for distributing coolant, for guiding electromagnetic radiation, or for separation and/or characterization of materials. Some embodiments include constructions having micro-structures therein which correspond to voids, conduits, insulative structures, semiconductor structures or conductive structures.
US09997390B2	Semiconductor manufacturing method and laminated body A semiconductor manufacturing method according to a present embodiment includes forming a supporter on a second surface of a semiconductor substrate opposite to a first surface to be ground of the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor manufacturing method includes thinning the thickness of the semiconductor substrate by grinding the first surface. In the semiconductor manufacturing method, the supporter contains a resin.
US09997387B2	Purge device, purge system, purge method, and control method in purge system A purge device configured to purge the inside of a storage container storing a product with purge gas includes a plurality of placing units, each configured to place the storage container thereon, a plurality of supply pipes configured to supply purge gas to the storage container placed on the corresponding placing unit, a main pipe connected to the supply pipes and configured to supply the purge gas to the supply pipes, and an MFC configured to adjust the flow rate of the purge gas in the main pipe.
US09997376B2	Encapsulated dies with enhanced thermal performance The present disclosure relates to enhancing the thermal performance of encapsulated flip chip dies. According to an exemplary process, a plurality of flip chip dies are attached on a top surface of a carrier, and a first mold compound is applied over the top surface of the carrier to encapsulate the plurality of flip chip dies. The first mold compound is thinned down to expose a substrate of each flip chip die and the substrate of each flip chip die is then substantially etched away to provide an etched flip chip die that has an exposed surface at the bottom of a cavity. Next, a second mold compound with high thermal conductivity is applied to substantially fill each cavity and the top surface of the second mold compound is planarized. Finally, the encapsulated etched flip chip dies can be marked, singulated, and tested as a module.
US09997363B2	Method for producing semiconductor piece, circuit board and electronic device including semiconductor piece, and method for designing etching condition A method for producing a semiconductor piece includes forming a first groove portion of a front-surface-side groove by anisotropic dry etching from a front surface of a substrate, forming a second groove portion of the front-surface-side groove, the second groove portion being located below and in communication with the first groove portion and having a width wider than a width of the first groove portion, and thinning the substrate from a back surface of the substrate up to the second groove portion. The second groove portion is formed by changing an etching condition of the anisotropic dry etching during the formation of the front-surface-side groove so that the width of the second groove portion is wider than the width of the first groove portion.
US09997359B2	Semiconductor device with rear-side insert structure A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body and a rear side insertion structure. The semiconductor body has a first surface at a front side and a second surface parallel to the first surface at a rear side, an active area and an edge termination area separating the active area from an outer surface of the semiconductor body. The outer surface connects the first and second surfaces, and element structures in the active area are predominantly formed closer to the first surface than to the second surface. The rear side insertion structure extends from the second surface into the semiconductor body in the edge termination area.
US09997357B2	Capped ALD films for doping fin-shaped channel regions of 3-D IC transistors Disclosed herein are methods of doping a fin-shaped channel region of a partially fabricated 3-D transistor on a semiconductor substrate. The methods may include forming a multi-layer dopant-containing film on the substrate, forming a capping film comprising a silicon carbide material, a silicon nitride material, a silicon carbonitride material, or a combination thereof, the capping film located such that the multi-layer dopant-containing film is located in between the substrate and the capping film, and driving dopant from the dopant-containing film into the fin-shaped channel region. Multiple dopant-containing layers of the film may be formed by an atomic layer deposition process which includes adsorbing a dopant-containing film precursor such that it forms an adsorption-limited layer on the substrate and reacting adsorbed dopant-containing film precursor. Also disclosed herein are multi-station substrate processing apparatuses for doping the fin-shaped channel regions of partially fabricated 3-D transistors.
US09997342B2	Method and device for mass spectrometric analysis of biomolecules using charge transfer dissociation (CTD) Provided herein are devices, systems, and methods of CTD mass spectrometry analysis of biomolecules.
US09997340B2	RF-only detection scheme and simultaneous detection of multiple ions A mass spectrometer apparatus and method for conducting simultaneous MS/MS analysis including: a device to select a precursor ion having a specified m/z; a gas-filled collision cell; an RF-only multipole mass spectrometer, the mass spectrometer having a generator attached thereto for generating at least two auxiliary AC fields in the RF-only multipole mass spectrometer; a gate for providing a repulsive DC or AC barrier downstream to an exit of the RF-only multipole mass spectrometer; an ion detection system situated downstream from the DC or AC barrier for measuring an ion current derived from ions that overcome the repulsive barrier. The mass spectrometer may also be configured so that each of the auxiliary AC fields are generated by the introduction of individual auxiliary AC frequencies and each frequency is amplitude modulated at a unique frequency.
US09997339B2	Sputtering apparatus and substrate processing apparatus A sputtering apparatus includes a shutter unit, a plurality of target holders, and a substrate holder which can rotate about an axis perpendicular to a surface on which a substrate is held. The shutter unit includes a first shutter having first and second apertures and a second shutter having third and fourth apertures. The plurality of target holders are arranged on a first virtual circle centered on the axis, with the arrangement intervals between the plurality of target holders on the first virtual circle including at least two types of arrangement intervals.
US09997338B2	Method for operating a pulsed arc source This invention relates to an arc-based method for the deposition of insulating layers and to an arc-based method for low-temperature coating processes, in which an electric arc discharge, ignited and applied on the surface of a target in an arc source, is simultaneously fed a direct current and a pulsed or alternating current.The invention further relates to an arc source in which the target is connected to a power supply unit that encompasses either a minimum of one pulsed high-current power supply 18, 18′ and an additional power supply 13′, 18″, or a power supply 21, 21′, 22 designed with switchable combinatorial circuitry.
US09997337B2	Plasma processing method and plasma processing apparatus The invention provides a plasma processing apparatus and a dry etching method for etching a multilayered film structure having steps with high accuracy. The plasma processing apparatus comprises a vacuum reactor, a lower electrode placed within a processing chamber of the vacuum reactor and having a wafer to be etched mounted on the upper surface thereof, bias supplying units and for supplying high frequency power for forming a bias potential to the lower electrode, a gas supply means for feeding reactive gas into the processing chamber, an electric field supplying means through for supplying a magnetic field for generating plasma in the processing chamber, and a control unit for controlling the distribution of ion energy in the plasma being incident on the wafer via the high frequency power.
US09997333B2	Sub-pulsing during a state A method for achieving sub-pulsing during a state is described. The method includes receiving a clock signal from a clock source, the clock signal having two states and generating a pulsed signal from the clock signal. The pulsed signal has sub-states within one of the states. The sub-states alternate with respect to each other at a frequency greater than a frequency of the states. The method includes providing the pulsed signal to control power of a radio frequency (RF) signal that is generated by an RF generator. The power is controlled to be synchronous with the pulsed signal.
US09997330B2	Method for optimizing fluid flow across a sample within an electron microscope sample holder A support for an electron microscope sample includes a body defining a void for receiving a first micro-electronic device, and a first gasket positioned about the first surface. The first gasket further defines an arm extending at an angle away from a horizontal extending through the first micro-electronic device. In operation, the first micro-electronic device is installed onto the first gasket and the arm engages an outer facing side of the first micro-electronic device to grip the first micro-electronic device.
US09997329B2	Evaluation method, correction method, recording medium and electron beam lithography system An evaluation method according to an embodiment is to evaluate a precision of an aperture formed with multiple openings, and includes steps of forming a first evaluation pattern based on evaluation data using multiple electron beams generated by electron beam that has passed through the aperture, dividing the aperture into multiple regions, each of the regions including the multiple openings and defining the multiple divided regions, forming a second evaluation pattern based on evaluation data using the electron beam that has passed through a first divided region among the multiple divided regions, comparing the first evaluation pattern with the second evaluation pattern, and evaluating the precision of the aperture based on the comparison result between the first evaluation pattern and the second evaluation pattern.
US09997322B2	Electrode assemblies, plasma generating apparatuses, and methods for generating plasma Electrode assemblies for plasma reactors include a structure or device for constraining an arc endpoint to a selected area or region on an electrode. In some embodiments, the structure or device may comprise one or more insulating members covering a portion of an electrode. In additional embodiments, the structure or device may provide a magnetic field configured to control a location of an arc endpoint on the electrode. Plasma generating modules, apparatus, and systems include such electrode assemblies. Methods for generating a plasma include covering at least a portion of a surface of an electrode with an electrically insulating member to constrain a location of an arc endpoint on the electrode. Additional methods for generating a plasma include generating a magnetic field to constrain a location of an arc endpoint on an electrode.
US09997311B2	Motorized vacuum circuit breaker assembly A vacuum circuit breaker (VCB) assembly includes a single motor configured to rotate at least one rotor, a VCB having a breaking mechanism configured to control current flow through the VCB and a first electromagnetic clutch configured to selectively engage the at least one rotor with the breaking mechanism to charge the breaking mechanism. The VCB assembly also includes an undercarriage configured to support the VCB assembly and to move the VCB assembly from a first position to a second position and a second electromagnetic clutch configured to selectively engage the at least one rotor with the undercarriage to drive the undercarriage.
US09997309B2	Touch control keyboard A touch control keyboard includes a plurality of keycaps, a plurality of touch key parts, a plurality pairs of conductive distributions, a first circuit board, and a second circuit board. An upper part of each keycap includes a touch key part having a coupling capacitor. The touch key parts and the pair of conductive distributions and the first circuit board are electrically connected. The first circuit board detects the coupling capacitors of the touch key parts by using the pair of conductive distributions to generate a first key signal. The second circuit board detects keystrokes of the keycaps to generate a second key signal.
US09997302B2	Electrical component having an electrically conductive central element An electrical component may include an electrically conductive element and electrical insulation that at least partially surrounds the element and without contact. A heat pipe may be surrounded by the insulation at least at one end and may partially protrude from the insulation, wherein the part of the heat pipe protruding from the insulation protrudes closer to the central element than the insulation.
US09997291B2	Wireless power supply apparatus, filter unit and power supply apparatus for robot using the filter unit A wireless power supply apparatus includes a power reception coil, an actual load and an auxiliary load. The power reception coil functions as a repeater for receiving electric power in a non-contact manner by magnetic resonance with a power transmission coil to which electric power is supplied from a power supply unit and relaying transfer of the electric power from the power transmission coil. The actual load is connected to the power reception coil and is powered by the electric power received by the power reception coil. The auxiliary load is inserted parallel to the power reception coil and the actual load and forms a closed circuit with the power reception coil when supply of the electric power to the actual load is interrupted to be in an open state.
US09997288B2	Electronic component An electronic component includes a body and a coil. The body includes first to fourth insulator layers composed of an anisotropic magnetic material, an internal magnetic circuit composed of an isotropic magnetic material and an external magnetic circuit composed of an isotropic magnetic material. The second and third insulator layers cover an upper surface and a lower surface of the coil from a z-axis direction. The internal magnetic circuit and the external magnetic circuit are adjacent to each other in a direction orthogonal to the z-axis direction. In addition, a direction of easy magnetization of the anisotropic magnetic material used in the first to fourth insulator layers is orthogonal to the z-axis direction.
US09997281B2	Chip resistor and method for manufacturing the same A chip resistor includes an upper electrode provided on a substrate, a resistor element connected to the upper electrode, and a side electrode connected to the upper electrode. The side electrode, arranged on a side surface of the substrate, has two portions overlapping with the obverse surface and reverse surface of the substrate, respectively. An intermediate electrode covers the side electrode, and an external electrode covers the intermediate electrode. A first protective layer is disposed between the upper electrode and the intermediate electrode, and held in contact with the upper electrode and the side electrode. The first protective layer is more resistant to sulfurization than the upper electrode. A second protective layer is disposed between the first protective layer and intermediate electrode, and held in contact with the first protective layer, side electrode and intermediate electrode.
US09997277B1	Indefectible cable and manufacturing process thereof An indefectible cable comprises a cable jacket with cable cores arranged in an inner cavity thereof and a metal ring sleeved on an outer wall thereof. Both ends of the cable jacket are fixedly connected with an anti-extrusion device respectively, through which the cable cores are led out from through-holes. The anti-extrusion device has a metal housing with plastic lining. With the arrangement of a buffer device, the externally applied pressure on the cable is relieved to reduce the damage thereof.
US09997273B2	Enzymatically-degummed oil and uses thereof An electrical device containing an enzymatically-degummed vegetable oil is disclosed. Also disclosed are methods for insulating and cooling a transformer using enzymatically-degummed vegetable oils, and methods for adding an enzymatically-degummed vegetable oil to an enclosure of an electrical device. Further disclosed are processes for making dielectric fluids using enzyme-degumming of vegetable oils or using enzyme-degummed vegetable oils as the starting material for the process.
US09997268B2	EUV-mirror, optical system with EUV-mirror and associated operating method An EUV mirror (1000) has a mirror element which forms a mirror surface of the mirror. The mirror element has a substrate (1020) and a multilayer arrangement (1030) applied on the substrate and having a reflective effect with respect to radiation from the extreme ultraviolet range (EUV). The multilayer arrangement has a multiplicity of layer pairs having alternate layers composed of a high refractive index layer material and a low refractive index layer material, has an active layer (1040) arranged between a radiation entrance surface and the substrate and consisting of a piezoelectrically active layer material, the layer thickness (z) of which active layer can be altered by the action of an electric field, and has an electrode arrangement to generate the electric field acting on the active layer.
US09997267B2	Nuclear reactor target assemblies, nuclear reactor configurations, and methods for producing isotopes, modifying materials within target material, and/or characterizing material within a target material Target assemblies are provided that can include a uranium-comprising annulus. The assemblies can include target material consisting essentially of non-uranium material within the volume of the annulus. Reactors are disclosed that can include one or more discrete zones configured to receive target material. At least one uranium-comprising annulus can be within one or more of the zones. Methods for producing isotopes within target material are also disclosed, with the methods including providing neutrons to target material within a uranium-comprising annulus. Methods for modifying materials within target material are disclosed as well as are methods for characterizing material within a target material.
US09997264B2	Enhanced nuclear sump strainer system In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a strainer system for use in a nuclear sump. The strainer system of the present invention includes at least one primary strainer module which defines a primary strainer/filter surface. In the strainer system, the primary strainer surface of the primary strainer module has a debris interceptor which is cooperatively engaged thereto, and may be outfitted with one or more pressure released or activated membranes. In a loss of coolant accident, the debris interceptor, alone or in combination with the pressure activated membrane(s), is adapted to reduce the differential pressure experienced across the strainer system in nuclear power plants with medium to high fiber loads.
US09997262B2	Integral reactor pressure vessel tube sheet A thermal control system for a reactor pressure vessel comprises a plate having a substantially circular shape that is attached to a wall of the reactor pressure vessel. The plate divides the reactor pressure vessel into an upper reactor pressure vessel region and a lower reactor pressure vessel region. Additionally, the plate is configured to provide a thermal barrier between a pressurized volume located within the upper reactor pressure vessel region and primary coolant located within the lower reactor pressure vessel region. One or more plenums provide a passageway for a plurality of heat transfer tubes to pass through the wall of the reactor pressure vessel. The plurality of heat transfer tubes are connected to the plate.
US09997261B2	Systems and methods for forming and maintaining a high performance FRC Systems and methods that facilitate the formation and maintenance of new High Performance Field Reversed Configurations (FRCs). An FRC system for the High Performance FRC (HPF) includes a central confinement vessel surrounded by two diametrically opposed reversed-field-theta-pinch formation sections and, beyond the formation sections, two divertor chambers to control neutral density and impurity contamination. A magnetic system includes a series of quasi-dc coils axially positioned along the FRC system components, quasi-dc mirror coils between the confinement chamber and the adjacent formation sections, and mirror plugs between the formation sections and the divertors. The formation sections include modular pulsed power formation systems that enable FRCs to be formed in-situ and then accelerated and injected (=static formation) or formed and accelerated simultaneously (=dynamic formation). The FRC system further includes neutral atom beam injectors, a pellet injector, gettering systems, axial plasma guns and flux surface biasing electrodes.
US09997258B2	Using non-volatile memory bad blocks A system for using bad blocks in a memory system is proposed. The system includes accessing an identification of a plurality of bad blocks and corresponding error codes which, for example, were generated during a manufacturing test and stored on the memory integrated circuit. The system determines which blocks of the plurality of bad blocks to test for being still usable and which blocks of the plurality of bad blocks not to test for being still usable based on corresponding error codes. For each bad block that should be tested, a test from a plurality of tests is chosen based on the corresponding error code in order to determine if the bad block is still usable. Those blocks determined to be still usable are subsequently used to store non-mission critical information.
US09997256B2	Semiconductor memory devices and methods of testing open failures thereof Semiconductor memory devices are provided. The semiconductor memory device includes an input/output (I/O) drive controller, a data I/O unit and a data transmitter. The input/output (I/O) drive controller generates drive control signals and an input control signal for driving first and second global I/O lines in a first test mode or a second test mode. The data I/O unit drives the first global I/O line in response to an input data when a write operation is executed in the first test mode. The data transmitter transfers the data on the first global I/O line onto first and second local I/O lines to store the data on the first global I/O line in a memory cell array portion when the write operation is executed in the first test mode. Related methods are also provided.
US09997253B1	Non-volatile memory array with memory gate line and source line scrambling A memory device includes a memory array arranged in rows and columns. The memory array may have at least four non-volatile memory (NVM) cells coupled in the same column of the memory array, in which each NVM cell may include a memory gate. The first and second NVM cells of the at least four NVM cells may share a first source region, and the third and fourth NVM cells may share a second source region. The memory gates of the first and second NVM cells may not be electrically coupled with one another, and the first and second source regions may not be electrically coupled with one another. Each of the first and second source regions may be electrically coupled with at least another source region of the same column in the memory array.
US09997249B2	Data storage device and flash memory voltage protection method thereof A data storage device includes a flash memory, a voltage detection device, and a controller. The flash memory is arranged to store data. The voltage detection device is arranged to detect a supply voltage received by the data storage device. The controller is configured to receive write commands from a host, and perform a prohibition mode when the supply voltage is outside a predetermined range, wherein the write command is arranged to enable the controller to write the flash memory, and the controller is further configured to disable all of the write commands received from the host in the prohibition mode.
US09997248B2	Semiconductor memory device and method of operating the same Provided herein may be a semiconductor memory device and a method of operating the same. The semiconductor memory device may include a memory cell array including a plurality of memory blocks, each including dummy cells coupled to dummy word lines and normal memory cells coupled to normal word lines, and a peripheral circuit configured to perform an erase operation on a memory block selected from among the plurality of memory blocks. The semiconductor memory device may include control logic configured to control the peripheral circuit so that a pre-program voltage pulse is applied both to the dummy word lines and to the normal word lines, and dummy word line voltages to be applied to the dummy word lines may be respectively controlled while an erase voltage is applied to a common source line of the selected memory block.
US09997247B2	Memory devices having source lines directly coupled to body regions and methods Memory devices, memory cell strings and methods of operating memory devices are shown. Configurations described include directly coupling an elongated body region to a source line. Configurations and methods shown should provide a reliable bias to a body region for memory operations such as erasing.
US09997244B1	RRAM-based authentication circuit A memory device includes a memory array comprising a plurality of bits, wherein each bit comprises two memory cells each having a variable resistance; a formation circuit, coupled to the plurality of bits, and configured to cause a first memory cell of a first bit to be at a low resistance state; and an authentication circuit, coupled to the plurality of bits, configured to designate a logical state to the first memory cell of the first bit and use the logical state of the first memory cell of the first bit to generate a physically unclonable function (PUF) signature.
US09997223B2	Semiconductor device including metal-oxide-semiconductor disposed in a column decoder region A semiconductor device may be provided. The semiconductor device may include a first power line located in a memory cell array region. The semiconductor device may include a second power line located in a column decoder region. The semiconductor device may include a third power line formed in a layer different from the first power line and the second power line, configured to couple the first power line to the second power line. The semiconductor device may include a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor located below the third power line.
US09997219B2	Memory macro and method of operating the same A memory macro includes a first set of memory cells, a second set of memory cells, a third set of memory cells, a set of retention circuits and a set of conductive lines. The second set of memory cells arranged in a first row arranged in a second direction. The third set of memory cells arranged in a first column arranged in a first direction. The set of retention circuits is configured to supply a second voltage value of a second supply voltage to the first set of memory cells during a sleep operational mode. The set of retention circuits is responsive to a set of control signals, and arranged in a second column arranged in the first direction. The set of conductive lines extend in the second direction, and coupled to the set of retention circuits and the voltage supply node of the first set of memory cells.
US09997209B2	Power-failure protection method and solid state drive Provided are a power failure protection method and solid state drive (SSD). The SSD comprises: a power-failure detection device, for monitoring in real time whether the power supply is abnormal; a power-failure protection device performs a power-failure protection operation when the power supply is monitored to be abnormal: breaking a connection with a host system bus, an SSD internal clock breaking from a system bus clock and writing data in the SSD cache into a storage unit of the SSD by using the SSD internal clock. The technical solution ensures completion of the data protection operations by utilizing a remaining capacity, thus ensuring data integrity.
US09997206B2	Disc drive actuator assembly with bearing cooling Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed toward a disc drive actuator assembly including an e-block, a plurality of bearings, and one or more heat transfer components. The heat transfer component(s) operates to conductively draw heat from the plurality of bearings through the e-block, and convectively dissipate the heat into an atmosphere in contact therewith. The heat transfer component(s) mitigates temperature rise of the bearings during operation of a disc drive, thereby mitigating bearing lubricant outgassing from within the bearings.
US09997203B2	System and method for streaming and recording video Dynamic buffering of streaming temporal video is disclosed. In at least one embodiment, a non-transitory memory is provided for storing machine instructions that are to be executed by a computer. The machine instructions may implement the following functions: streaming temporal video having a current incomplete segment and first and second sequential frames, the first sequential frame having a first time value and time index, and the second sequential frame having a second time value and time index; dynamically buffering the current incomplete segment to store data associated thereto and a current incomplete segment buffer; recording the temporal video starting at the second sequential frame; calculating a first adjusted time offset based on the second time value and the first and second time indices; and generating a video segment including the current incomplete segment data and video data from the streaming temporal video based on the first adjusted time offset.
US09997201B2	Method and apparatus for video compression of multiple instances using index frames The system provides a method and apparatus for writing a unique copy of data associated with each of a plurality of individual users, without the need for storing duplicate copies of the entire data file. The system provides for creating an unusable copy of a portion of the data that is to be shared by all users of the complete data. The system will store and optionally encrypt and/or watermark a unique copy of the remainder portion of the data for each unique user. When accessed from storage, the system will combine the shared portion with the unique remainder to reconstitute the entire file for access by the user. Deleting the unique remainder associated with a particular user makes all of the data useless to that user. In one embodiment, the system first compresses the entire data file using index frames and delta.
US09997175B1	Electric arm lifting and turntable's auto-stop assembly of record player An electric arm lifting and turntable's auto-stop assembly of a record player is revealed. A record player is disposed with a power-driven turntable, a rotatable and movable arm disposed on one side of the turntable, a lift mechanism used for pushing against and moving the arm upward, and a sensor. The arm is moveable over the turntable. The sensor is arranged at an arm rotating shaft of the arm and used for sending a signal while detecting that the arm is moved to a lift point over the turntable. The lift mechanism is activated to move the arm upward and the turntable is stopped simultaneously for protecting a needle on the arm while the sensor detects that the arm has been moved from the turntable to the lift point.
US09997172B2	Voice activity detection (VAD) for a coded speech bitstream without decoding A system, method and computer program product are described for voice activity detection (VAD) within a digitally encoded bitstream. A parameter extraction module is configured to extract parameters from a sequence of coded frames from a digitally encoded bitstream containing speech. A VAD classifier is configured to operate with input of the digitally encoded bitstream to evaluate each coded frame based on bitstream coding parameter classification features to output a VAD decision indicative of whether or not speech is present in one or more of the coded frames.
US09997169B2	Image-based techniques for audio content A method includes receiving, at a device from a first media device, audio data and image information indicating vibrations of an object. The vibrations are caused by sound in vicinity of the object. The method includes generating audio information based on the image information. The method includes filtering the audio data based on the audio information to generate audio content associated with the first media device. The method further includes transmitting the audio content from the device to a second media device.
US09997167B2	Jitter buffer control, audio decoder, method and computer program A jitter buffer control for controlling a provision of a decoded audio content on the basis of an input audio content is configured to select a frame-based time scaling or a sample-based time scaling in a signal-adaptive manner. An audio decoder uses such a jitter buffer control.
US09997163B2	Apparatus and method realizing improved concepts for TCX LTP An apparatus for decoding an encoded audio signal to obtain a reconstructed audio signal is provided. The apparatus includes a receiving interface, a delay buffer and a sample processor for processing the selected audio signal samples to obtain reconstructed audio signal samples of the reconstructed audio signal. The sample selector is configured to select, if a current frame is received by the receiving interface and if the current frame being received by the receiving interface is not corrupted, the plurality of selected audio signal samples from the audio signal samples being stored in the delay buffer depending on a pitch lag information being included by the current frame.
US09997157B2	Knowledge source personalization to improve language models Systems and methods are provided for improving language models for speech recognition by personalizing knowledge sources utilized by the language models to specific users or user-population characteristics. A knowledge source, such as a knowledge graph, is personalized for a particular user by mapping entities or user actions from usage history for the user, such as query logs, to the knowledge source. The personalized knowledge source may be used to build a personal language model by training a language model with queries corresponding to entities or entity pairs that appear in usage history. In some embodiments, a personalized knowledge source for a specific user can be extended based on personalized knowledge sources of similar users.
US09997152B2	Sound generator for mounting on a vehicle to manipulate vehicle noise A sound generator (100) mounts on a vehicle to manipulate vehicle noise originating from a vehicle operated by an internal combustion engine. The sound generator (100) includes a casing (110), a loudspeaker (120), and at least one pressure compensation valve (130). The loudspeaker (120) and the casing (110) together thereby enclose a volume (115). Further, the pressure compensation valve (130) couples the volume (115) enclosed by the loudspeaker (120) and the casing to an outside of the casing (110). The pressure compensation valve (130) thereby extends through a plane in which the loudspeaker (120) is located. A system (200) for manipulating sound waves propagating through exhaust systems of vehicles driven by an internal combustion engine uses the above sound generator (100).
US09997146B2	Drum assembly having internal light pattern display capability A drum assembly includes a drum, a stimulus processor assembly and a light pattern display generator. The drum includes a drum shell that at least partially defines a drum interior. The stimulus processor assembly receives a stimulus, generates an input signal, and converts the input signal to an output signal. The light pattern display generator receives the output signal from the stimulus processor assembly. The light pattern display generator generates a light pattern display in response to the output signal. Additionally, the light pattern display generator projects the light pattern display at least partially within the drum interior. The light pattern display generator can include one or more of an animation laser, a hologram projector and a lumin disk. The stimulus can be generated by the drum or by a source remote from the drum.
US09997145B1	Hammer pick A hammer pick that provides a musician the ability to strum a string instrument with a pick and smoothly switch to striking the strings of the instrument with a hammer. A pick and a hammer are coupled in the device such that the musician can pluck or strike the strings by repositioning a hand holding the hammer pick. The pick is held in a pick holder that connects to the hammer by a spring and an adjustable post. The musician plucks with the pick between a thumb and index finger and slightly rotates the hand allowing the hammer to strike one or more strings to produce a different tone from the instrument.
US09997141B2	Display system and method supporting variable input rate and resolution A display system includes a pixel array, a data buffer and a display driver. In a particular embodiment the data buffer receives and stores frames of image data and provides the frames of image data to the pixel array. The display driver overwrites an entire frame of image data on the data buffer during some frame times and selectively overwrites a portion of a frame of image data, leaving another portion of the frame of image data in the data buffer, during other frame times.
US09997134B2	Chromatic Calibration of an HDR display using 3D octree forests Methods and systems for calibrating devices reproducing high dimensional data, such as calibrating High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays that reproduce chromatic data. Methods include mapping input data into calibrated data using calibration information retrieved from spatial data structures that encode a calibration function. The calibration function may be represented by any multidimensional scattered data interpolation methods such as Thin-Plate Splines. To efficiently represent and access the calibration information in runtime, the calibration function is recursively sampled based on guidance dataset. In an embodiment, an HDR display may be adaptively calibrated using a dynamic color guidance dataset and dynamic spatial data structures.
US09997133B2	Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer-readable recording medium An image processing method is provided. The image processing method includes: converting a color reproduction target of an input image according to a color gamut of a target display device; generating a file of the input image of which the color reproduction target is converted; and storing the file of the input image.
US09997129B2	Circuit device, electro-optical device, and electronic apparatus A circuit device includes a grayscale voltage generation circuit that generates a plurality of grayscale voltages, a data processing unit that performs data processing of first color component display data to third color component display data, and a drive unit that drives a display panel based on the first color component display data to the third color component display data that are subjected to the data processing and the plurality of grayscale voltages that are used in common for the first color component display data to the third color component display data. The data processing unit performs grayscale correction processing on at least one color component display data of the first color component display data to the third color component display data in a grayscale correction range.
US09997126B2	Display device having improved electromagnetic interference characteristics A display device includes a timing controller configured to receive an image data signal and a plurality of clock signals and to generate a scan clock signal and a plurality of data clock signals, a scan driver configured to receive the scan clock signal, and a data driver configured to receive the data clock signals. The clock signals include first to nth clock signals, and the data clock signals include first to nth data clock signals generated from the first to nth clock signals (n≥2), the first to nth clock signals having differing frequencies and the first to nth data clock signals having differing frequencies. Whenever a predetermined number of frame periods has elapsed, the timing controller halts transmission of one of the first to nth data clock signals to the data driver, and begins transmission of another one of the first to nth data clock signals thereto.
US09997110B2	System and methods for thermal compensation in AMOLED displays Disclosed is a circuit and technique to determine the temperature of an AMOLED display in order to calibrate programming data signals. The temperature of selected pixels of a plurality of pixels in an AMOLED display is measured via one of several disclosed methods. A thermal sensor for the selected pixels may be used. A measurement of output voltage data may be used to estimate temperature. A finite element analysis model may be used based on consumed power of the selected pixel. The temperature data for the selected pixel is then interpolated to the neighboring non-selected pixels to estimate the temperature of those pixels.
US09997101B2	Gate scan circuit, driving method thereof and gate scan cascade circuit A gate scan circuit is provided, which can include a first and a second control units, a first and second output units, and a first capacitor. The first control unit can control a voltage at a first node based on clock signals and an input signal. The second control unit can control a voltage at a second node based on a clock signal and a power source signal. The first and second output units can output a clock signals or power source signals based on the voltage at the first or second node. The first capacitor can include a first terminal receiving the second power source signal and a second terminal connected to the second node. The gate scan circuit may output two scan signals within one circuit, thereby narrowing the frame.
US09997099B2	Display device The inventors found out that in the case of performing a low gray scale display in which a very small amount of current is supplied to a light emitting element, variations in threshold voltages of driving transistors become notable since the gate-source voltage is low. In view of this, the invention provides a display device in which variations in the threshold voltages of the driving transistors are reduced even in the low gray scale display, and a driving method thereof. According to the invention, a gate-source voltage of the driving transistor is set higher in the low gray scale display than that in the high gray scale display. As one mode to achieve this, different power source lines are provided for the low gray scale display and the high gray scale display and their potentials are set to be different.
US09997098B2	Organic light emitting diode display device and driving method of the same An organic light emitting diode display device includes a display panel including pixels that each include an organic light emitting diode; a logo area detection unit detecting a logo area of the display panel; and a data signal modulation unit applying a first data signal to at least one pixel in the logo area during at least one frame and applying a second data signal to the at least one pixel in the logo area during another frame, wherein a first brightness corresponding to the first data signal is higher than a reference brightness of the at least one pixel in the logo area, a second brightness corresponding to the second data signal is lower than the reference brightness, and an average of the first brightness and the second brightness every frame is equal to the reference.
US09997094B2	Display devices A display device comprises a display substrate, first interconnections, second interconnections, a driving circuit and a polarizing plate. The display substrate includes a bend portion which is curved with respect to an axis parallel to a first direction. The first interconnections extend in the first direction and are on the display substrate. The second interconnections are on the display substrate, connected to the first interconnections and extend in a second direction different from the first direction. The driving circuit is electrically connected to the first interconnections and the second interconnections and provides driving signals to the first interconnections and thesecond interconnections. The polarizing plate is on the display substrate and overlaps the first interconnections and the second interconnections.
US09997092B2	Presentation system with movable display devices The present system and method provides for a new digital media paradigm enabling tight choreography of motion, content and, time able to be presented on a variety of hardware platforms consisting of robotic control of a multiplicity of display screens in the form of a movable array of 2 or more LCDs, LEDs, OLEDs, etc., with the movement and placement of each display achieved by one multi-axis manipulator arm mechanism. Motion control is achieved through software programmed onto one or more controller systems, and the corresponding tools necessary for creative visual designers to produce content meeting this new paradigm are also proposed. Each arm/display screen combination is kept aware of its positioning in physical space, relative to the positioning of each and every other arm/display screen at all times, in order to prevent collisions. The pre-programmed software control takes the form of a choreographed playlist of movements, content, and time that match the desired positioning of the array of display screens, in order to achieve the desired dynamic presentation of custom-produced digital content that will be presented across the array, in a fully coordinated fashion.
US09997086B1	Handheld communication device and method(s) of use A handheld communication device is described. Embodiments of the handheld communication device include, but are not limited to, a device for the hearing impaired that may be implemented in two modes. A first mode may be implemented when the device user interacts with another individual face to face. The second mode can be implemented when the device user wants to communicate with one or more other users each having a handheld communication device.
US09997080B1	Decentralized air traffic management system for unmanned aerial vehicles An unmanned aircraft system includes an aircraft control system that enables the safe operation of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles in the same airspace, through the use of a decentralized air traffic management system. The decentralized air traffic management system is robust against loss of communication between the unmanned aerial vehicle and does not require a centralized ground control system to coordinate the vehicles.
US09997079B2	Commercial and general aircraft avoidance using multi-spectral wave detection This disclosure is directed to a detection and avoidance apparatus for an unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) and systems, devices, and techniques pertaining to automated object detection and avoidance during UAV flight. The system may detect objects within the UAV's airspace through acoustic, visual, infrared, multispectral, hyperspectral, or object detectable signal emitted or reflected from an object. The system may identify the source of the object detectable signal by comparing features of the received signal with known sources signals in a database. The features may include, for example, a multispectral signature emitted or reflected by the object. Furthermore, a trajectory envelope for the object may be determined based on characteristic performance parameters for the object such as cursing speed, maneuverability, etc. The UAV may determine an optimized flight plan based on the trajectory envelopes of detected objects within the UAV's airspace.
US09997074B2	Display apparatus and vehicle having the same A display apparatus in a vehicle, the display apparatus including a sensor configured to acquire vehicle periphery information; a wireless processor configured to transmit and receive information on a virtual traffic signal to and from another vehicle; a display; and a processor configured to detect another vehicle having a possibility of intersection from the vehicle periphery information, generate the virtual traffic signal based on a position relationship between the vehicle and the other vehicle, and display the generated virtual traffic signal on the display.
US09997065B2	Remote control using passive components A receiver includes: a wireless local area network (WLAN) router; wherein the receiver is configured to receive data from a remote control and to generate commands to be transmitted to one or more devices via an interface of the WLAN router.
US09997055B2	Social alarm system with location detection in a dwelling A social alarm system provides location detection within a dwelling. A personal radio trigger unit is carried by a client and transmits an alarm signal in response to a triggering event, such as by a manual alarm button or an automatic fall detection circuit. A client unit is operable to receive the alarm signal and initiate an alarm call to a remote monitoring center over a communications network. A plurality of radio receptor nodes monitor the wireless RF transmissions from the personal radio trigger to report respective received signal strength values. A location finder unit determines a location of the personal radio trigger, by using absolute error calculations and/or shape error calculations against previously recorded known locations in the dwelling.
US09997052B1	Cell phone recovery device The cell phone recovery device is configured for use with a personal data device. The cell phone recovery device establishes a wireless communication link between the cell phone recovery device and the personal data device The cell phone recovery device to monitors the span of the distance between the cell phone recovery device and the personal data device. Should the span of the distance between the cell phone recovery device and the personal data device exceed a previously determined threshold, the cell phone recovery device generates an audible alarm. The cell phone recovery device comprises a first logic module and a first communication module. The first communication module is electrically connected to the first logic module. The first communication module establishes and maintains the wireless communication link between the cell phone recovery device and the personal data device.
US09997043B2	Comprehensive system and method of universal real-time linking of real objects to a machine, network, internet, or software service Methods of connecting or linking real objects to machines or the virtual world in real time utilizing a device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a wireless tag attached to an object in communication with an electronic device, such as a cellular phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, or watch, monitors and updates the position of a wireless tag locally and on a machine/network/cloud. Methods of using a wireless tag in safety, loss/theft prevention, healthcare, tracking, advertising and marketing, education, games, finance, payment, and athletic are disclosed. In another embodiment, methods of providing an application programming interface and/or a software development kit based on the devices are provided, allowing software developers the ability to create their own programs or applications on top of the disclosed system is disclosed. Methods of allowing developers to distribute and/or monetize applications developed through the application programming interface and/or a software development kit are also disclosed.
US09997038B2	Smoke detection apparatus, method for detecting smoke and computer program A smoke detection apparatus 1 is proposed, the smoke detection apparatus 1 being able to be connected to at least one monitoring camera 2 which is designed to record images of a monitoring area, the monitoring area comprising at least one stationary contrast pattern object 3, having an evaluation device 5, the evaluation device 5 being designed to detect the at least one contrast pattern object 3 in the images transmitted by the monitoring camera 2, the evaluation device 5 evaluating a change in the contrast pattern object 3 in the images as at least one smoke detection feature in order to detect smoke, the evaluation device 5 being designed to evaluate a contrast deviation between an upper contrast pattern section 4a and a lower contrast pattern section 4b of the at least one contrast pattern object 3 in at least one of the images as the at least one smoke detection feature.
US09997035B1	Acoustic security system and method A security system includes a transducer within a monitored space responsive to audio signals therein. An analog-to-digital converter couples the transducer to the input of a digital signal processor. Time-staggered digital samples are stored, and are each multiplied by the current sample in a corresponding series of multipliers, and accumulated in a like series of accumulators. Accumulated sums, generated by the series of accumulators during known, undisturbed periods, are stored. During active monitoring, the processor compares currently generated accumulated sums to the previously stored accumulated sums generated during undisturbed periods. The processor creates an alarm signal when current values for the accumulated sums do not correspond to accumulated sums previously stored during undisturbed periods.
US09997020B2	Local jackpot system appearing global in nature and global prize management system and method of use A local jackpot system for land-based and online casinos. The jackpots comprise a continuous pool of ‘Experiences You Can't Buy’ prizes. Examples include: (a) a trip on a private jet with the soccer team of FC Barcelona, (b) a trip on a private yacht with one or more Formula 1 drivers during the Grand Prix of Monaco, (c) a shopping trip with Paris Hilton, (d) a dinner with George Clooney or (e) an acting scene in the next Hollywood blockbuster. The local jackpot system is configured to appear global in nature. Each client may be managed separately and can be customized via an internet connection. A monitoring application/module/system is installed with the purpose of monitoring and setting up local clients and broadcasting winning events globally. One or more random number generators (“RNGs”) run on each client such that prize selection is accomplished randomly at each client.
US09997016B2	Parallel AI hybrid gaming system A parallel AI hybrid game that allows a player to play a hybrid game against an Artificially Intelligent Non-Player Character (AI NPC). In operation, the player and the AI NPC utilize different respective pseudo random or random number generators to generate respective wagering outcomes.
US09997015B2	Coordinating game events between a stationary wagering game machine and a portable machine A set of one or more processor units detects occurrence of a first game event during a wagering game presented at a stationary wagering game machine. In response to detecting the occurrence of the first game event, the set of one or more processor units presents a second game event at a portable machine. In addition, a control input may be received at the portable machine. The portable machine communicates an indication of the control input, which causes occurrence of a third game event at the stationary wagering game machine.
US09997010B2	Electronic gaming device with external lighting functionality Examples disclosed herein relate to a gaming device including a memory, a processor, a display, a plurality of display areas located on the display, and a plurality of external lights located at an outer area of a front surface of the electronic gaming device. The plurality of external lights forming a u-shape with a left side, a right side, and a bottom where each of the left side, the right side, and the bottom includes a first light column, a second light column, and a third light column. The gaming device including a processor that initiates a base game via the plurality of display areas located on the display.
US09997008B2	Reel device for a gaming machine A gaming machine includes: a reel having an outer circumferential surface on which symbols are lined up; a reel driving mechanism which rotates the reel to rearrange the symbols; a magnet which is provided in the reel driving mechanism to change an external magnetic field in accordance with the rotation of the reel; a magnetic force detecting mechanism which detects a magnetic force of the external magnetic field so as to output a magnetic force detection signal; a reel setting unit by which the magnetic force detection signal and arrangement positions of the symbols are associated with one another; and a reel drive control unit which controls the reel driving mechanism so that the symbols are rearranged in a predetermined arrangement based on the magnetic force detection signal and the arrangement positions of the symbols.
US09997001B2	Electronic access control and location tracking system A method and system that allows authorized individuals access into controlled access locations and the ability to grant temporary and limited access to guests into these locations. The method and system allows for navigational services to be provided to members and guests, and real-time tracking and confirmation to members and administrators that guests have arrived at their destination and did not enter any unauthorized areas. The method preferably can work through a system of wireless radio, sound and/or light-based beacons communicating with member and guest's electronic devices. Members and administrators can send one or more temporary electronic access keys to a guest's smartphone or other electronic device. Wireless radio, sound and/or light-based beacons provide an access control and location tracking system with real-time data about the member and guest whereabouts, allowing for the confirmation and tracking.
US09997000B2	Door unlocking system and door unlocking method An electronic key actively executes wireless communication following a keyless entry communication and passively executes wireless communication following a RFID communication. A vehicle control device is mounted on a vehicle and actively executes wireless communication following each of the keyless entry communication and RFID communication. An ECU/BCM unlocks a door by communicating with the electronic key using the keyless entry communication and issues a password to the electronic key in relation to this action. When a door knob or handle is pulled, an RFID-IC acquires the password issued by the ECU/BCM from the electronic key using the RFID communication and unlocks the door by authenticating the acquired password.
US09996992B2	Vehicular event monitoring system A method and system for gathering, storing, and retrieving information from vehicular information sources in the vicinity of an event involving a vehicle is provided. Information is captured using sensors associated with a vehicle. The sensors may monitor systems within the vehicle and the external surroundings of the vehicle. Information is recorded for a selected period of time and then tagged. The tagged information is transmitted and received using one or more radio frequency (RF) capable devices. The information is stored in a storage device and is automatically reviewed to determine if an event involving a vehicle occurred during a selected period of time. If an event has occurred, the stored information may be placed in an account accessible by a user. If the event is an accident, the stored information and newly gathered information may be automatically forwarded to a first responder in near real time.
US09996990B2	Enhanced vehicle bad fuel sensor with crowdsourcing analytics A fuel analysis system is described configured to assist vehicle drivers/users in preventing damage to their vehicles caused by bad fuel. Bad fuel can leave a driver and passengers stranded on the road in need of emergency road side service, and in many instances, results in permanent damage to the vehicle. The disclosed fuel analysis system describes an enhanced bad fuel sensor system that measures a delta in vehicle operation data to identify and in many instances, pre-emptively alert, a user of a vehicle of bad fuel. The fuel analysis system may use crowdsourcing through aggregation of refueling event profile records from a plurality of vehicles' telematics devices to increase the accuracy with which bad fuel is detected.
US09996981B1	Augmented reality system Systems and methods are disclosed for recommending products or services by receiving a 3D model of a product; capturing a reference object with a predetermined dimension in an environment where the product is to be placed using a mobile camera; determining one more dimensions of the environment relative to the predetermined dimension of the reference object; scaling the 3D model of the product based on dimensions of the environment and the product; and generating an augmented or virtual reality display of the product in the environment.
US09996979B2	Augmented reality technology-based handheld viewing device and method thereof An augmented reality technology-based handheld viewing device and a method thereof. The device includes a video collecting unit, which is used for capturing a real scene; an intelligent computing terminal, which is used for identifying a two-dimensional code to obtain code value information and space position information, then placing a preset virtual scene according to the space position information, and generating a viewing frame; a voice output unit, which is used for outputting voice information corresponding to the virtual scene; and a liquid crystal display screen. Compared with the prior art, the handheld viewing device can generate a virtual environment that highly matches the real scene and has vivid visual sense, hearing sense, touching sense, force sense, dynamic sense and can realize direct interaction between a user and virtual three-dimensional environment. For a child, more sensory stimulation is available, learning efficiency is improved, and the teaching with pleasure is achieved.
US09996972B1	User/object interactions in an augmented reality environment An augmented reality environment allows interaction between virtual and real objects. By monitoring user actions with the augmented reality environment various functions are provided to users. Users may buy or sell items with a gesture, check inventory of objects in the augmented reality environment, view advertisements, and so forth.
US09996969B2	Dynamically creating and presenting a three-dimensional (3D) view of a scene by combining color, brightness, and intensity from multiple scan data sources A method, system, and computer program product provide the ability to dynamically generate a three-dimensional (3D) scene. A red green blue (RGB) image (in RGB color space) of the 3D scene is acquired. The RGB image is converted from RGB color space to a luminance (Y) and chrominance (UV) image in YUV color space (hat includes Y information and UV information). Reflectance information of the 3D scene is acquired from a laser scanner. Based on a blending function, the luminance information is blended with the reflectance information resulting in a blended YUV image. The blended YUV image is converted from YUV color space into RGB color space resulting in a blended RGB image that is output.
US09996966B2	Ray tracing method and apparatus A ray tracing method includes determining whether acceleration structure traversal data of a previous ray similar to a received ray is stored in a traversal cache, and reading the stored acceleration structure traversal data, and performing image rendering based on the read acceleration structure traversal data, based on a result of the determining.
US09996964B2	Apparatus, method and computer program for generating cartoon content An apparatus for generating cartoon content includes a cut input controller configured to control inputting of a signal of adding a cut comprising one or more layers; an effect input controller configured to control inputting of a plurality of effects applied to a first layer among the one or more layers and receiving of property information such that directing of the plurality of effects interact with each other; and a cut generator configured to determine at least one of a directing start time, a directing end time, and a directing speed of the plurality of effects such that the plurality of effects interact with each other and are displayed, and generate a first final cut such that the plurality of effects are expressed according to the property information, wherein the effect input controller enters an input that sets the property information of the plurality of effects to be synchronized with the plurality of effects, and wherein the cut generator generates the first final cut such that a directing start time, a directing end time, or a directing time of a first effect among the plurality of effects is synchronized with a directing start time, a directing end time, or a directing time of one or more effects excluding the first effect.
US09996963B2	Devices, frameworks and methodologies for enabling user-driven determination of body size and shape information and utilisation of such information across a networked environment A scanning booth with a user interface. The interface receives user identification or registration data and provides instructional prompts for the user to assume various predefined positions, stances and postures. Image data of each pose is captured using scanning devices in the booth. A three dimensional avatar is generated based on the mapping or morphing of image data to a generic avatar model. Data from the generated model is transmitted to a server where it is stored in a database for later account application in, for example, garment sizing, display or fitting, or health monitoring.
US09996959B2	Systems and methods to display rendered images A computer-implemented method to display a rendered image is described. A base image is obtained. A rendered image is obtained. The rendered image is matched to a location on the base image. The rendered image is overlaid onto the base image at the location to generate a set of layered images. The set of layered images is displayed.
US09996957B2	Mosaic display system using open and closed rectangles for placing media files in continuous contact A method and system for displaying a dynamic mosaic of media files, the method comprising: receiving media files, determining a fill direction, constructing a layout, determining an edge set from the media files previously placed on the layout, determining a trailing edge, and adjacent edges, constructing a set of closed rectangles an open rectangle from the trailing edge and adjacent edges, providing a first set of frames by iteratively attempting to fill up to one closed rectangle from the set of closed rectangles, providing a second set of frames by filling the open rectangle by placing one searched media file in the open rectangle if no closed rectangle in the set of closed rectangles can be filled, and inserting one of the first set of frames and the second set of frames into a current layout before updating a current edge set based on the inserted frames.
US09996955B2	Analytics visualization Systems, device and techniques are disclosed for analytics visualization. A selection of a data set may be received. A first visualization associated with the data set may be generated. A selection of a first data subset of the data set may be received. A second visualization associated with the first data subset of the data set may be generated. The second visualization may be visually linked to the first visualization with a first visual link. A selection of a second data subset of the data set may be received. A third visualization associated with the second data subset of the data set may be generated. The third visualization may be visually linked to the first visualization with a second visual link and displayed simultaneously with the second visualization.
US09996954B2	Methods and systems for dynamic display of a trace of a physiological parameter Methods and systems are presented for displaying physiological information with a physiological monitor. A physiological parameter, for example oxygen saturation, is computed from a received physiological signal, for example a PPG signal. At least one metric associated with the received physiological signal is determined, for example a statistical measure of uncertainty associated with the determined physiological parameter. Display parameters are determined, for example a width parameter, based on the metrics and a trace of the computed physiological parameter for a subject is displayed. In some embodiments, the width of the displayed trace may be varied based on the width parameter. In some embodiments, additional or alternative characteristics of the displayed trace may be varied based on respective display parameters. The variations in characteristics of the displayed trace may provide dynamic graphical representations of, for example, the uncertainty associated with determined values of the physiological parameter.
US09996943B2	System and method for analyzing features of a human face using one or more overlay facial grids The present invention generally relates to human facial feature analysis. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate a system and method for utilizing one or more overlay grids in conjunction with imagery of a human face in order to analyze beauty and attractiveness of the face in the underlying imagery. In a preferred embodiment, the system utilizes computerized image capture features and processing features to analyze a human face in relation to a plurality of overlay grids in order to identify and empirically measure beauty and attractiveness based on the alignment of said overlay grids with specific features (e.g., nose, lips, eyebrows) of the human face and whether a successful fit exists with specifically defined Hayduke facial grids or by how close the individual's facial features align with specifically defined Hayduke facial grids.
US09996934B2	Device with an adaptive camera array The invention relates to a method comprising obtaining a desired field of view (FOV) for an image arranged to be captured, determining a required field of view (r_fov) of the FOV for each active camera sensor of a camera array having a field of view (fov), comparing the r_fov and the fov, and determining a bend angle between adjacent camera sensors to achieve the FOV by camera sensors of the camera sensor array, if the r_fov is less than or equal to the fov. The invention further relates to an apparatus, a system and a computer program product that perform the method.
US09996931B2	Method for calibrating camera measurement system In a calibration method a ring-shaped jig is disposed on a machine tool workpiece. The optical axis of a camera is aligned parallel to an axis of the machine tool. The jig is photographed with the horizontal or the vertical direction of the camera aligned with an axial direction other than the signal direction of the machine tool. The circumferential shape of the jig in the photograph is extracted as a contour. The center position of the jig in the image is calculated from the contour while all distortion correction coefficients in tangential and radial directions are ignored and set to zero. The displacements of the main point of the camera are set to zero. The translation distance, which is an external parameter of calibration, is calculated based on the center position of the jig in the image and the known three-dimensional center position of the jig.
US09996923B2	Methods and apparatuses for dermatological feature tracking over multiple images Methods and apparatus are disclosed that assist a user such as a doctor to track changes that occur in features of a subject's skin as the skin features evolve over time. Such a tracking can be done for images captured under different imaging/lighting modalities, by different image capture devices, and/or at different points in time. Methods and apparatus to automatically identify and track the unconstrained appearance/disappearance of skin features are disclosed.
US09996920B2	Automated detection and repositioning of micro-objects in microfluidic devices Methods are provided for the automated detection of micro-objects in a microfluidic device. In addition, methods are provided for repositioning micro-objects in a microfluidic device. In addition, methods are provided for separating micro-objects in a spatial region of the microfluidic device.
US09996918B2	Method for distinguishing pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein, and method for quantifying blood vessels using same A method for distinguishing between pulmonary arteries and pulmonary veins and a method for quantifying blood vessels are disclosed. The method for distinguishing between pulmonary arteries and pulmonary veins includes: forming a set of pulmonary vessels for points corresponding to pulmonary vessels, wherein each of the points of the set of pulmonary vessels has weight information; forming a tree from the points of the set of pulmonary vessels by using the weight information; and distinguishing between the pulmonary arteries and the pulmonary veins by separating the tree into a plurality of regions. The method for quantifying blood vessels includes: extracting blood vessels as a three-dimensional set of voxels based on medical images of an organ; finding the voxels of blood vessels included in a region of interest of the organ; and quantifying length information of the blood vessels by using the found voxels.
US09996911B2	Image processing device and related image compression method An image processing device and a related image compression method are applied to filter the fixed pattern noise of an image. The image compression method includes applying characteristic value calculation to the image along a predetermined direction to generate a series of characteristic values, comparing a pixel matrix of the image with the series of characteristic values, and acquiring a difference matrix according to a comparison result. The foresaid difference matrix can be compressed to indicate as a compression datum of the image.
US09996903B2	Super-resolution in processing images such as from multi-layer sensors Pixels of an array capture values for an input image. The captured values correspond to pixel center points of the pixels that captured the values. Additional values about the input image may be further computed from the captured values. These additional values may correspond to additional center points, which can be different from any of the pixel center points. An output image may be constructed from the captured values plus the additional values. These values may be stored together and/or displayed together as the output image. Embodiments are applicable to images such as from multi-layer sensors. Since the output image can be created from a higher total number of values than those captured by the available number of pixels, such image processing can be called super-resolution, and can be applied to image processing within imaging devices, for still pictures, video and motion pictures, and so on.
US09996901B2	Displaying representative images in a visual mapping system Embodiments provide systems and methods for generating a street map that includes a position identifier that identifies a location on the street map. The method and system may also generate and display a plurality of images representative of the location of the position identifier. A user may interact with a position identifier or one of several scroll icons to view images of other locations on the street map and/or to obtain driving directions between two locations.
US09996895B2	Image display system, information processing apparatus, and image display method An image display system is provided that includes an information processing apparatus and a terminal apparatus that receives a wide-angle image from the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus includes a region determining unit that determines a region of the wide-angle image that is viewed less frequently than other regions of the wide-angle image, a reduction unit that deletes the region determined as less frequently viewed by the region determining unit from the wide-angle image to generate a reduced wide-angle image, and a first transmitting unit that transmits the reduced wide-angle image generated by the reduction unit to the terminal apparatus. The terminal apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives the reduced wide-angle image from the information processing apparatus, and an image display unit that displays the reduced wide-angle image on a display device.
US09996893B2	Display apparatus constituting multi display system and control method thereof A display apparatus constituting a multi display system is provided. The display apparatus includes an input connector to receive input of an image, a processor to process an image corresponding to the display apparatus from the input image, a display to display the processed image, and an output connector to transmit the input image to an adjacent display apparatus connected to the display apparatus, and the processor, in response to an image input through the input connector being changed to a second connector from a first image, processes an image corresponding to the display apparatus from the second image, and controls the display to display the processed second image based on a synchronization signal of the first image.
US09996891B2	System and method for digital watermarking A digital watermarking system and method are disclosed. In one respect, the disclosed digital watermarking includes generating an extracted signal by applying a watermark extractor to an original image, generating a mixed signal by mixing the first signal with a periodic watermark signal using a local weighting factor for the periodic watermark signal that attenuates a strength of the watermark signal in proportion to a pixel luminance level, and replacing the extracted signal in the original image with the mixed signal to generate a marked image, wherein the watermark signal is extractable from the marked image using the watermark extractor.
US09996890B1	Detection of items According to an aspect, a system comprises at least one processor, a memory, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions. The stored instructions are executable to cause the at least one processor to: receive a digital image that represents an object scanned by a detection device, determine a region of the digital image that is likely to contain an item, transform the region of the digital image to an embedding, classify, based on the embedding, the region as containing a known class of known item, and responsive to classifying the region as containing the known class of item: generate a graphical representation based on the known class of item.
US09996883B2	System for risk mitigation based on road geometry and weather factors A method is disclosed for mitigating the risks associated with driving by assigning risk values to road segments and using those risk values to select less risky travel routes. Various approaches to helping users mitigate risk are presented. A computing device is configured to generate a database of risk values. That device may receive accident information, geographic information, vehicle information, and other information from one or more data sources and calculate a risk value for the associated road segment. Subsequently, the computing device may provide the associated risk value to other devices. Furthermore, a personal navigation device may receive travel route information and use that information to retrieve risk values for the road segments in the travel route. An insurance company may use this information to determine whether to adjust a quote or premium of an insurance policy. This and other aspects relating to using geographically encoded information to promote and reward risk mitigation are disclosed.
US09996874B2	Character personal shopper system Shopping assistance using an interactive character is provided on a shopping device in a retail store. Input requesting assistance from a character displayed on the shopping device is received on the shopping device. The input is processed. A response is determined based on the input and a character personality profile for the character displayed. The response is generated through the character on the shopping device, providing shopping assistance.
US09996871B2	Systems, methods, and mobile computing devices for purchase of items and delivery to a location within a predetermined communication range Systems, methods, and mobile computing devices for purchase of items and delivery to a location within a predetermined communication range are disclosed. According to an aspect, a mobile computing device includes a first communications module having a predetermined communication range and configured to receive an indication of one or more items for purchase and delivery to a location within the predetermined communication range. The mobile computing device also includes a user interface and an item ordering manager. The item ordering manager is configured to receive user input via the user interface for selecting one or more of the items for purchase and delivery to the location within the predetermined communication range. The item ordering manager is also configured to use the communications module to communicate identification of the one or more of the items to a second communications module within the predetermined communication range.
US09996869B2	Methods and systems for providing personal shopping services A method and system for providing personal shopping assistance via a computing device includes hosting a database of information regarding a customer, hosting a database of information regarding a personal shopper, and associating the customer with the personal shopper. The personal shopper is provided the ability to recommend at least one of a product or a service relevant to the customer and receiving an indication of the purchase of the recommended product or service by the customer. An incentive system may provide a reward to the personal shopper based upon the purchased product or service, including a commission or other reward. The system may be implemented on a desktop and/or mobile device as desired to provide flexibility in implementation.
US09996862B2	Point of sale email-based e-commerce An e-commerce system includes a mobile device and a server. The mobile device produces or is configured to respond to an indicator of a product or service. The mobile device sends a first message to the server in response to the indicator. The mobile device receives a second message in response to the sent first message. The mobile device receives a user input based on the received second message. The mobile device sends a third message to a server in response to the user input. A user of the mobile device is provided the product or service based on the sent third message.
US09996859B1	Method, apparatus, and computer readable medium for providing a self-service interface Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable media for programmatically generating and/or revising promotion offers for a merchant based on one or more merchant self-service indicators. In providing such functionality, the system can be configured to, for example, facilitate registration and verification of merchant identities, determine promotion content and parameters based on merchant self-service indicators, and monitor and analyze promotion offers for merchants with similar merchant self-service indicators. The system may determine the relative successfulness of a promotion offer for a merchant and/or category of merchant. In some embodiments, the system may be further configured to revise the promotion offer programmatically and/or upon receiving the merchant's approval of the programmatically generated proposed edits to the promotion offer.
US09996844B2	Age-targeted online marketing using inferred age range information Particular embodiments of the invention are directed to generating marketing-based age range products based at least on inferred data regarding the age of various network users. The age range products may be used for age-targeted online marketing.
US09996834B2	Systems and methods for settling chargeback transactions A chargeback settlement processing (CSP) computer system for determining a gain or loss in a chargeback transaction is provided, that includes a memory device and a processor in communication with the memory device. The processor is programmed to transmit to a payment card network for settlement at least one chargeback transaction file corresponding to at least one received chargeback transaction, associated with an original transaction settled using a first currency exchange rate. The at least one chargeback transaction file includes a unique file identifier. A reconciliation message received from the payment card network includes at least one settlement amount, determined at a second currency exchange rate, for the at least one chargeback transaction and the unique file identifier. The at least one chargeback transaction file is matched to the at least one settlement amount, using the unique file identifier, to determine whether a net gain or a net loss occurred.
US09996831B2	Mobile wireless payment and access Embodiments of systems, methods, and devices are disclosed for enabling wireless mobile devices to be automatically detected and used as fare media on vehicles in a transit and/or transportation system. Embodiments include detecting a wireless mobile device and utilizing a unique identifier of the wireless mobile device to track a transit user's entry to and exit from a transit vehicle. Embodiments further include causing the wireless mobile device to display a fare payment indicator, allowing the transit user to use the wireless mobile device to show proof of payment if so solicited by a fare inspector. A corresponding fare can be calculated and paid for in a variety of ways.
US09996822B2	Systems and methods for identifying hidden talent A candidate assessment system reviews gaming data from a plurality of players to determine how well those players fit a particular job opening. The system uses one or more interpretation metrics to derive skill sets for each player by analyzing game attribute data from game scenarios played by the player. Each interpretation metric is generally unique, allowing the candidate assessment engine to derive a player's skill sets in markedly different ways.
US09996821B2	Consumer demand-based inventory management system In some embodiments, methods and systems of managing products at a retail sales facility include scanning a product in a stocking cart at the retail sales facility using a hand-held electronic device including a processor. At least two of the following three functions may be performed based on the scanning of the product. First, the stocking cart may be audited by comparing scanned data to data contained in an inventory management database. Second, a determination of whether the item is on a pick list may be made, which may include determining a demand for the scanned product to arrive at a decision whether to store the product in the stock room or place it on a shelf on the sales floor. Third, if the item is to be stored in the stock room, a determination of whether identical items are stored in bins in the stock room may be made.
US09996820B2	Systems and methods for detecting missing labels Described in detail herein are methods and systems for detecting missing or miss positioned labels. The system can include a portable scanning device to scan machine-readable elements included on labels at a first and second location. The portable scanning device can detect the acceleration and the cumulative change between the first and second location. The portable scanning device or a computing system can determine the distance between the first and second location based on the acceleration data. The computing system can place a data point on a map of an estimated location of the location of the first scan and the location of the second scan.
US09996817B2	Managing requests for in-person transactions Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, are described that receive, from a device, a request to obtain an amount of physical items from an account, the account defining a total quantity of the physical items able to be obtained from the account, and the account being maintained across multiple locations at which the physical items are stored. The request is transmitted to at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations. Inventory availability information is received from the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items, including information regarding availability of the amount of physical items, and availability of a combination of differently-sized subunits of physical items that satisfy the requested amount. The inventory availability information is then transmitted to the device.
US09996813B2	Systems and methods for creating and using a hybrid-digital mailbox A method, electronic device, and computer-readable storage medium are provided for populating a calendar. In one embodiment, a method is provided for receiving tracking data regarding a delivery item, calculating an expected delivery date for the delivery item, identifying one or more deadlines associated with the delivery item, based on the tracking information, and automatically populating a user's calendar with the expected delivery date and the one or more deadlines.
US09996809B2	Apparatus and method for tracking and gathering information associated with assets A method for automatically tracking assets and gathering information associated therewith is disclosed. Such a method includes attaching a tracking beacon to an asset and wirelessly monitoring, with an asset tracking system, a location of the asset using the attached tracking beacon. The method further enables a user to manually input information associated with the asset using an input element (e.g., button, directional switching device, touchscreen, etc.) incorporated into the tracking beacon. The method wirelessly transmits the information from the tracking beacon to the asset tracking system. A corresponding system and computer program product are also disclosed herein.
US09996806B2	Modeling an enterprise Computer implemented methods, apparatuses, and compute program products for modeling an enterprise are provided. Embodiments include providing to a user, by an enterprise modeling controller, a user interface comprising an icon carousel and a drop area interface for moving selected icons from the icon carousel. The icon carousel contains a plurality of icons, where each icon of the plurality of icons represents a particular solution component configuration. Embodiments also include for each icon within the drop area interface, identifying a corresponding solution component configuration and configuration data associated with the solution component configuration. Embodiments also include generating based on the configuration data associated with the identified solution component configurations one or more integration patterns indicating data processing relationships of the identified solution component configurations. Embodiments also include generating an enterprise model based on the identified solution component configurations and the one or more integration patterns.
US09996804B2	Machine learning model tracking platform Some embodiments include a machine learner platform. The machine learner platform can implement a model tracking service to track one or more machine learning models for one or more application services. A model tracker database can record a version history and/or training configurations of the machine learning models. The machine learner platform can implement a platform interface configured to present interactive controls for building, modifying, evaluating, deploying, or compare the machine learning models. A model trainer engine can task out a model training task to one or more computing devices. A model evaluation engine can compute an evaluative metric for a resulting model from the model training task.
US09996801B2	Microwave-free control of a superconductor-based quantum computer Physical superconducting qubits are controlled according to an “encoded” qubit scheme, where a pair of physical superconducting qubits constitute an encoded qubit that can be controlled without the use of a microwave signal. For example, a quantum computing system has at least one encoded qubit and a controller. Each encoded qubit has a pair of physical superconducting qubits capable of being selectively coupled together. Each physical qubit has a respective tunable frequency. The controller controls a state of each of the pair of physical qubits to perform a quantum computation without using microwave control signals. Rather, the controller uses DC-based voltage or flux pulses.
US09996799B2	Migrating a legacy system by inferring context-sensitive business rules from legacy source code A method and associated systems automatically convert source code of a legacy computer program into a target application by generating an intermediary, context-sensitive, business-process model that represents logic of the legacy system. A set of business rules are inferred from the source code. Each rule is modified by a first generation of additional conditions inferred from context of the source code and of the rule. The rule continues to be further refined by successive generations of context-dependent conditions, identifying each generation of conditions from the context of the preceding generation. This procedure repeats until no more levels of context can be identified. The rule is then imported into the business-process model as a logical data structure. Logic represented by the resulting model is used to generate source code of the target application.
US09996792B2	Data carrier The present invention relates to a data carrier, especially a security document, such as an identification card, comprising authentication data comprising personalized data, the data carrier comprising a first side and a second opposite side, and a plurality of layers comprising personalized data, a transparent recording layer, a transparent plastic upper layer and an opaque layer between the recording layer and the upper layer. To make the data carrier very difficult to forge and to enable that it can be manufactured with ordinary machines and without need of expensive materials, the opaque layer comprises a window a first piece of authentication data of said authentication data being divided between said plurality of layers so that the first piece of authentication data is to at least one part thereof, provided above or on the first side of the opaque layer facing the upper layer, at least a rest part of the first piece of authentication data being in the form of laser engraved markings beneath the window and provided in the recording layer, or in a plurality of transparent recording layers of said plurality of layers.
US09996791B2	Radio frequency identification enabled mirrors A radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled mirror includes a mirror comprising a reflective layer. The reflective layer comprises at least one layer of a metallic material. At least one portion of the reflective layer is removed to form a booster antenna from a remaining portion of the reflective layer. A dielectric coating is applied to the mirror where the reflective layer was removed. The RFID-enabled mirror further includes an RFID chip coupled to the booster antenna.
US09996790B2	Multilayer wiring coupling dual interface card carrier-band module A multilayer wiring coupling dual interface card carrier tape module is provided, including: a carrier tape base layer, an electrode diaphragm layer, a tuning capacitance layer, a radio-frequency identification coil layer, a bonding pad and a via hole. One surface of the carrier-band base layer is the front surface of the carrier-band module, and the other surface of the carrier-band base layer is the back surface of the carrier-band module. The electrode diaphragm layer and the tuning capacitance layer are located on the front surface of the carrier-band base layer, and the radio-frequency identification coil layer and the bonding pad are located on the back surface of the carrier-band base layer. The bonding pad is arranged according to a pin position of a chip. Hole metallization processing is conducted on the via hole for realizing an electrical connection between the electrode diaphragm layer and the bonding pad.
US09996780B2	Specific bar code and forming method of the same The present disclosure discloses a specific bar code and a forming method of the bar code, comprising: forming without a particular order on the printing stock: at least a one-dimensional bar code and color information and/or grayscale information in an area corresponding to the one-dimensional bar code, which are superimposed on the printing stock, respectively, wherein data information is generated by identifying the color information and the grayscale information; and if acquired by a portable electronic device having an image capture function, identifying the one-dimensional bar code and the color information and/or grayscale information, respectively, wherein a false positive ratio of identifying the one-dimensional bar code is less than 40%. By superimposing colorful background on the one-dimensional bar code, the present disclosure expands the coding capacity and implements one-code-for-one-article identification so as to bring additional values to vendors for applications such as traceability of one code for one article, while maintaining the features of one-dimensional bar code.
US09996777B1	Image forming system, server, information processing method, and image forming apparatus that decrease paper jam Provided is an image forming system that reduce a paper jam. The system includes an image forming apparatus and a server to manage the image forming apparatus. A paper jam information receiving part in the server receives paper jam information transmitted from the image forming apparatus. A paper jam information analyzing part analyzes paper jam information. A paper jam information analyzing part generates feed-setting changing information when the feed number of the recording paper in the paper feed source where the paper jam occurred corresponds to a threshold and another paper feed source with same settings of a recording paper is present. Feed-setting changing information is information instructed to change into the respective paper feed source. A feed-setting changing information transmitting part transmits feed-setting changing information to the image forming apparatus.
US09996774B2	Printers and methods of controlling same A method of controlling a printer to print a pattern using a number of print head dies, each print head die including a number of nozzle trenches wherein each one of the number of nozzle trenches is associated with a different color, wherein the nozzles of neighboring dies overlap in respective overlap zones, the method comprising applying masks to the nozzles of neighboring dies in the respective overlap zones to distribute, in the overlap zones, the pattern to be printed between the nozzles of the respective neighboring dies, wherein the masks, in the overlap zones, retain the order in which the nozzles of selected nozzle trenches associated with a selected one of the colors are fired.
US09996773B2	Face recognition in big data ecosystem using multiple recognition models A system trains a facial recognition modeling system using an extremely large data set of facial images, by distributing a plurality of facial recognition models across a plurality of nodes within the facial recognition modeling system. The system optimizes a facial matching accuracy of the facial recognition modeling system by increasing a facial image set variance among the plurality of facial recognition models. The system selectively matches each facial image within the extremely large data set of facial images with at least one of the plurality of facial recognition models. The system reduces the time associated with training the facial recognition modeling system by load balancing the extremely large data set of facial images across the plurality of facial recognition models while improving the facial matching accuracy associated with each of the plurality of facial recognition models.
US09996772B2	Detection of objects in images using region-based convolutional neural networks A transformed image is received. The transformed image includes an other-than-visible light image that has been captured using a transformation device. A region of the transformed image is isolated, the region being less than an entirety of the transformed image. By applying to the region a convolutional Neural Network (CNN) which executes using a processor and a memory, and by processing only the region of the transformed image, an object of interest is detected in the region. Upon detecting, an indication is produced to indicate the presence of the object of interest in the region.
US09996768B2	Neural network patch aggregation and statistics Neural network patch aggregation and statistical techniques are described. In one or more implementations, patches are generated from an image, e.g., randomly, and used to train a neural network. An aggregation of outputs of patches processed by the neural network may be used to label an image using an image descriptor, such as to label aesthetics of the image, classify the image, and so on. In another example, the patches may be used by the neural network to calculate statistics describing the patches, such as to describe statistics such as minimum, maximum, median, and average of activations of image characteristics of the individual patches. These statistics may also be used to support a variety of functionality, such as to label the image as described above.
US09996762B2	Image processing method and image processing apparatus An image processing apparatus performs an image recognition process, such as pattern matching or contour detection, on image data supplied from an image pickup device, and stores history data of the image recognition process in an external storage apparatus. In this case, an extraction image is extracted from an extraction region determined in accordance with the image recognition process performed on the input image data and is stored in the external storage device as history data. Furthermore, the history data logged in the external storage device may include a compressed image that is obtained by compressing, using lossy compression, the entire image data subjected to the image processing performed by the image processing apparatus.
US09996761B2	Image cropping Briefly, embodiments disclosed herein relate to image cropping, such as for digital images, for example.
US09996749B2	Detecting contextual trends in digital video content Computerized methods and systems, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, may detect events shown within digital video content captured by one or more video cameras during a prior time period, and predict an occurrence of an additional event during a future time period based on time-varying patterns among the detected events. For example, a computing system may detect events shown within digital video content captured by one or more video cameras, and may establish a predictive model that identifies one or more time-varying patterns in event parameter values that characterize the detected events within the prior time period. Based on an outcome of the predictive model, the computing system may determine an expected value of one of the event parameters during the second time period.
US09996747B2	System and method for ground based inspection of wind turbine blades A ground based wind turbine blade inspection system and method consists of a thermal imaging camera configured to detect propagating defects by acquiring thermal imaging data from a wind turbine blade when it is substantially at thermal equilibrium with respect to surrounding air and analyzing the thermal imaging data with a processor to identify thermal effects associated with latent defects caused by internal friction due to cyclic gravitational stresses and wind loads during normal turbine operation. The system permits latent defects to be identified using a ground-based in situ inspection before they become visually apparent, which allows repairs to be made economically while the blade is in place.
US09996741B2	Systems and methods for classifying objects in digital images captured using mobile devices In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a digital image captured by a mobile device; and using a processor of the mobile device: generating a first representation of the digital image, the first representation being characterized by a reduced resolution; generating a first feature vector based on the first representation; comparing the first feature vector to a plurality of reference feature matrices; classifying an object depicted in the digital image as a member of a particular object class based at least in part on the comparing; and determining one or more object features of the object based at least in part on the particular object class. Corresponding systems and computer program products are also disclosed.
US09996737B2	Method and system for automatically recognizing facial expressions via algorithmic periocular localization This disclosure provides a method and system for automatically recognizing facial expressions at variable resolutions of video. According to one exemplary method, facial expressions are detected, extracted and classified from a video sequence based on an automatic localization of the periocular region associated with a detected and extracted face.
US09996735B2	Facial recognition Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for performing facial recognition. In one aspect, a method includes accessing a first digital photograph. A first face template is generated for each face detected in the first digital photograph. Second user identifiers that are associated with a first user identifier are determined. A digital photograph index of photographs, user identifiers, and areas in the digital photographs in which a face of a user identified by user identifier is located is accessed. Second user identifiers are selected, and second face templates are generated from the faces of the user the digital photographs. First face templates that match second face templates are identified, and for each first face template that matches a second face template, data is generated specifying the area in the first digital photograph in which the face of the second user is located.
US09996728B2	System and method for partial fingerprint enrollment and matching using small size fingerprint sensors A system and a method for enabling a fingerprint registration on a mobile device are provided. The mobile device includes a fingerprint registration unit configured to receive at least one first image of a fingerprint input in a first orientation, receive at least one second image of the fingerprint input in a second orientation, and generate a fingerprint image by stitching the at least one first image with the at least one second image such that the first orientation and the second orientation are substantially perpendicular to each other.
US09996727B2	Method and device for detecting moving objects such as fingerprints and corresponding computer program product A method for acquiring the image of an object, such as a part of a hand, that is rolled on a detection surface. The method comprises acquiring the image on an area on which the object is rolled that is located within the detection surface.The method comprises: detecting an initial position of the object positioned on the detection surface; and locating the rolling area within the detection surface as a function of the initial position in which the object has been positioned on the detection surface.
US09996726B2	Feature identification using an RGB-NIR camera pair Disclosed are systems, apparatus, devices, methods, computer program media and products, and other implementations, including a method that includes capturing an RGB image of a hand of a person, capturing a near infrared (NIR) image of the hand, and determining geometrical features of the hand based on the captured RGB and NIR images. In some embodiments, determining the geometrical features may include determining from extracted image data for the hand one or more values representative of relative spatial features for the hand such as one or more of, for example an angle between a first pair of two fingers in the extracted image data for the hand, and/or a relative distance or length for a second pair of fingers in the extracted image data for the hand. In some embodiments, the method may further include determining identity of the person based on the determined geometrical features of the hand.
US09996723B2	Methods of storing a set of biometric data templates and of matching biometrics, biometric matching apparatus and computer program There is provided a method of storing a set of biometric data templates, which emanates from a biometric object, among a plurality of biometric data templates, wherein each biometric data template comprises biometric data from only a part of a biometric object. The method comprises aligning biometric data templates with each other in view of the biometric object of the plurality of biometric data templates which comprises partially overlapping biometric data with at least one other biometric data template; determining the set of biometric data templates to be stored; and storing the set of biometric data templates. The determining of the set of biometric data templates to be stored comprises assigning a matrix of cells covering at least partially the aligned biometric data templates; determining, for each of the aligned biometric data templates, cells comprising distinguishable biometric data; and determining a combination of biometric data templates which comprises an amount of cells comprising distinguishable biometric data which fulfil a predetermined criterion. A method of biometric matching is also disclosed, and also a biometric matching apparatus and a computer program.
US09996722B2	Biometric feature identification device and method A biometric feature identification device includes a substrate, an electrode layer, and a switch and trace layer. The electrode layer is arranged at one side of the substrate and has a plurality of electrodes. The switch and trace layer has a plurality of switches and a plurality of traces. The switches are provided to divide the plurality of electrodes sequentially or dynamically into at least one sensing electrode group and a plurality of deflection electrode groups corresponding thereto. Each sensing electrode group corresponds to at least two deflection electrode groups. Each sensing electrode group has at least one electrode for sensing. Each deflection electrode group has a plurality of electrodes for deflection.
US09996720B2	Indicia reading terminal processing plurality of frames of image data responsively to trigger signal activation There is described a decodable indicia reading terminal which in one embodiment can capture and process a certain (e.g., a first) and a subsequent (e.g., a second) frame of image data, wherein the certain and the subsequent frames have different imaging attributes. In one embodiment the attributes between certain and subsequent frames are differentiated in that the certain frame represents light incident on pixels of a first image sensor and the subsequent frame of image data represents light incident on pixels of a second image sensor spaced apart from the first image sensor.
US09996705B2	Determining potential sharing of private data associated with a private network domain to improve data security Techniques for determining potential sharing of private data are described herein. The techniques may include identifying content having computer readable access rules associated with a private domain of a social network, and identifying private data of the content. A potential share of the content outside of the private domain is detected and a search of the potential share to determine whether the potential share is associated with the private data is performed. The techniques may also include detecting a match between the potential share and the private data.
US09996691B1	Using signals from developer clusters Systems and techniques are provided for the mining signals from developer clusters in an application ecosystem and the creation of rules to proactively ban applications when they are submitted to the application ecosystem. Applications may be received. Each application may be associated with a developer account that submitted the application to an application ecosystem. Signals may be extracted for one of the applications from one of the applications and the developer accounts. A banned prevalence percentage may be determined for the signal. A signal rule may be generated from the signal based on the banned prevalence percentage for the signal. The signal rule may be stored.
US09996686B2	Password retrieval system and method involving token usage without prior knowledge of the password A method for managing a master password on a network device, the method stored as a set of instructions executable by a computer processor to: store the master password in a first file in a memory of the network device; store the master password in a second file in the memory of the network device; encrypt access to the first file using a first password; encrypt access to the second file using a second password; send the second password and an identifier associated with the network device over a communications network to a registration server, the registration server configured for storing the second password for subsequent retrieval by the network device; when the first password is unavailable, send a password retrieval request including the identifier; receive the second password configured as a one-time use password; decrypt access to the second file to retrieve the master password; and, initiate a reset process for subsequent storage of the master password in the memory of the network device.
US09996672B2	Systems and methods of treatment using intervention and tasking determination Devices, systems, and methods for use in managing patient treatments utilizing pharmaceutical or therapeutic compounds. Methods include accessing one or more fields of information relating to any of a patient, physician and drug treatment and relating the one or more fields, or combination thereof, to a particular attribute or outcome. By analyzing the one or more fields of data in relation to the attribute or outcome, the system determines suitability of an intervention(s) and tasks the intervention(s) to one or more entities to facilitate the desired attribute or outcome. In certain aspects, the system facilitates identification of complex relationships and trends between seemingly unrelated fields of information and outputs information for use in an intervention or various other purposes according to the attribute or outcome desired by the user.
US09996671B2	Method for providing reliable non-invasive diagnostic tests Method for providing a reliable non-invasive diagnostic test of the presence and/or severity of a disease, and associated software and expert system includes: a. collecting a diagnostic index, called Initial Index, preferably a score, b. calculating the Dispersion Index of the collected Initial Index, c. analyzing the reliability of each data by identifying if at least one data of index collected in step a) is an abnormal, inconsistent and/or a non-homogeneous data, or is responsible for a greater decrease in the Dispersion Index than that observed with other data, d. if a data is an abnormal, inconsistent and/or non-homogeneous data, or a data lowering a Dispersion Index, generating an Event Alert, e. if an Event Alert is generated, calculating new indexes, f. replacing the Initial Index including an abnormal, inconsistent and/or non-homogeneous data or a data affecting the Dispersion Index, with an Alternative, Estimated or a Mixed Index.
US09996669B2	Intelligent discovery of medical devices by a programming system Techniques for automatically identifying medical devices, e.g., implantable medical device, using wireless communications in order to communicate with the medical devices are described. For instance, a programming system securely discovers a set of medical devices which have the capacity to communicate using wireless communication links. The programming system may then apply one or more search heuristics to identify a set of discovered medical devices that are likely to be a medical device with which a user desires to interact. When the user selects the desired one of the identified medical devices, the programming system launches a device interaction application associated with the desired medical device. The user may use the device interaction application to interact with the desired medical device.
US09996666B1	Physician scheduling systems for matching medical providers and patients In one embodiment, a matching-engine system may receive a set of physician-selection parameters from an administrator. The physician-selection parameters may comprise a range of acceptable performance-scores and experience-scores for physicians. The matching-engine system may receive, from a user, a search query comprising a geographic location of the user, a preferred date and time for an appointment, and a user-specified symptom or a user-specified treatment. A first set of physicians may be determined based on a geographic location of each physician, a performance-score associated with the physician with respect to a base-concept associated with the search query, and an experience-score associated with the physician with respect to the base-concept. A second set of physicians is identified from the first set based on one or more physician preferences, the preferred date and time, and an indication of whether the physician is available at the preferred date and time.
US09996659B2	System and method for arranging equipment in a data center A system and method for providing a layout of equipment in a data center, the equipment including a plurality of equipment racks, and at least one rack-based cooling provider. In one aspect, the method includes receiving data regarding airflow consumption for each of the plurality of equipment racks and cooling capacity of the at least one cooling provider, determining a layout of the data center, displaying the layout of the data center. In the method determining a layout can include pairing each equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks with another equipment rack of the plurality of equipment racks based on airflow consumption of each of the plurality of equipment racks to create a plurality of pairs of equipment racks, arranging the pairs of equipment racks to form a two-row cluster of equipment racks based on the airflow consumption value of the equipment racks.
US09996658B2	Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes obtaining a design layout for a target layer of an optical proximity correction process, the design layout including a first block and a second block being a repetition block of the first block, dividing the design layout into a plurality of patches, performing the optical proximity correction process on the patches of the first block, applying corrected patches of the first block to the patches of the second block, respectively, forming a correction layout by performing the optical proximity correction process on boundary patches of the second block, fabricating a photomask corresponding to the correction layout, and forming patterns on a substrate corresponding to the photomask. Each of the patches is a standard unit on which the optical proximity correction process is performed.
US09996655B2	Skeleton I/O generation for early ESD analysis A design flow of an integrated circuit may include a skeleton input/output (I/O) generation stage during which information about ESD protection circuitry and rails but not functional circuitry of the I/O cells of the integrated circuit is generated. The information may be used in an ESD analysis stage to generate performance characteristics of the ESD protection circuitry. Results of the ESD analysis may then be used to design optimized ESD protection circuitry along with the rest of the circuit components of the I/O cells. In this way, the design of ESD protection circuitry may be optimized without having to redo a completed I/O cell design and significantly delay the design flow before tapeout.
US09996653B1	Techniques for optimizing dual track routing The subject technology provides a method and apparatus for performing dual track routing. A pair of signal traces is routed in between two rows of contacts and at least one of the signal traces is modified to satisfy a routing restriction. The modification of the signal trace includes three trace segments that deviate the signal trace away from the source of the routing restriction.
US09996652B2	Incremental register retiming of an integrated circuit design A first circuit design description may have registers and combinational gates. Circuit design computing equipment may perform register retiming on the first circuit design description, whereby registers are moved across combinational gates during a first circuit design implementation. An engineering-change-order (ECO) of the first circuit design may result in a second circuit design. The differences between the first and second circuit designs may be confined to a region-of-change. The circuit design computing equipment may preserve the results from the first circuit design implementation and re-use portions of these results during the implementation of the second circuit design. For example, the circuit design computing equipment may preserve the register retiming solution from the first circuit design implementation for portions of the second circuit design that are outside the region-of-change and incrementally create graphs that allow to incrementally solve the register retiming problem during the second circuit design implementation.
US09996639B2	Topography simulation apparatus, topography simulation method and recording medium In one embodiment, a topography simulation apparatus includes a division module to divide a calculating area for calculating topography of a substance into cells and express the topography using filled cells and vacant cells, and a calculation module to calculate a filling rate for a target cell based on processing rates for its neighboring cells. The calculation module calculates, based on the processing rates for the neighboring cells, contributing rates of the neighboring cells contributing to the filling rate for the target cell. The calculation module calculates, based on the contributing rates of the neighboring cells, the filling rate for the target cell. One of the contributing rates of the neighboring cells of the target cell depends on whether another neighboring cell of the target cell is a first cell whose filling ratio belongs to first range or a second cell whose filling ratio belongs to second range.
US09996633B2	Device for creating facility display data, facility display system, and program for creating data for facility display A facility display data creating device is provided. The device includes: a first processing unit that retrieves a first facility information group from a first database; a second processing unit that retrieves a second facility information group from a second database; a third processing unit that determines whether any of facilities indicated by the first facility information group corresponds to any of the facilities indicated by the second facility information group; and a fourth processing unit that creates display data to display facility information by combining and sorting the first and second facility information groups in an order of distance from a predetermined position, and that creates the display data to display the facility information of the corresponding facilities adjacently to each other and independently of the order of distance on condition that the corresponding facilities are determined.
US09996627B2	Point of presence distribution mechanism for digital content objects Particular embodiments of the present invention are related to a point-of-presence distribution system mechanism facilitating distribution and use of digital content, ad content and revenue generation opportunities.
US09996626B1	Selection of content item recommendations based on user search results Techniques are described for selecting content items in various manners, such as by selecting product-related content items for display to consumer users. The content items may include advertisements or other promotional materials, and the selecting may be performed as part of determining particular promotional materials to display to particular users in particular situations, such as to accompany search results. In addition, the selecting of particular content items may be based on categorization of products indicated in search results and/or based on search terms used in searches performed on retail web sites. Particular content items are then selected based on the categorization, which may be for products distinct from those indicated in the search results, and may then be displayed with or otherwise in association with the search results.
US09996621B2	System and method for retrieving internet pages using page partitions A system for and method for providing pages, more specifically a system includes a server configured to receive a query and an engine that is able to retrieve a set of pages by first retrieving a partition that contains them.
US09996620B2	Continuous content refinement of topics of user interest Techniques are disclosed for a user interface that provides active assistance to discover, investigate, refine and save multiple topics of interest, i.e., a topic incubator where user interests are discovered, quickly developed to maturity and preserved. Each topic may have an independent topic interface with independently suggested topics. In each topic interface, users may control topic development by selecting saved topics, dynamically suggested topics and manually entered topics. Suggested topics may be based on saved interests, related interests and/or browsed content. Suggested topics may differ between topic interfaces and may change with topics. Suggested topics may be continuously refined or updated based on existing topics, changed topics, selected suggested topics and selected content. Users control treatment of selected topics individually or as refinements of (combinations with) other topics to create compound topics. Users replace or refine existing topics in existing topic interfaces or branch off topics into additional topic interfaces.
US09996606B2	Method for determining condition of category division of key performance indicator, and computer and computer program therefor Embodiments include determining a condition of category division of a key performance indicator. Aspects include dividing multiple pieces of workflow execution information into a division number for the type of the key performance indicator and generating a graph for each of the multiple groups after the division, from workflow execution information belonging to the group. Aspects also include calculating graph edit distances for respective two arbitrary graphs and generating a new group by merging two graphs having the shortest graph edit distance. Aspects further include calculating a graph edit distance for the new group and repeating the generation of the new group and the calculation of the graph edit distance for the new group, until the graph edit distance is equal to or more than a certain fixed edit distance.
US09996605B2	Managing data within a temporal relational database management system Disclosed aspects include a temporal relational database management system initiating a set of operations. A set of columns in a transaction time temporal table is identified for change categorization. A change categorization model is constructed. The change categorization model is based on a set of changes with respect to the set of columns in the transaction time temporal table. The change categorization model uses a cluster analysis technique. Based on the change categorization model, a group of change categories for a set of rows coupled with the set of columns in the transaction time temporal table is determined. Based on the change categorization model, a first change category of the group of change categories is established in a first row of the set of rows.
US09996603B2	Detecting homologies in encrypted and unencrypted documents using fuzzy hashing Techniques are provided for automatically detecting homologies between documents based on structural characteristics. Various statistics relating to the COS structure of a PDF document are compiled. The statistics are input into a rolling hash function to generate a digital fingerprint of the document. Fingerprints from two similar documents will have small edit distances between them, and can therefore be classified similarly or provided as results to a fingerprint-based search. For example, an unclassified document may be classified in the same class as a representative document where the fingerprints of the two documents have a small edit distance between them. Since the structure of the document is used instead of the text content or renderings, it is possible to operate on encrypted documents. Further, representative elements of a particular class of documents can be selected for comparison against a target document for improved resolution of the results.
US09996597B2	Unified mapreduce framework for large-scale data processing According to some embodiments, a method for processing input data comprises creating a MapReducer object corresponding to a MapReduce environment; and receiving, by a MapReduce interface, a plurality of input parameters comprising the input data; a mapper function; a reducer function; and the MapReducer object; and using the MapReduce interface to process the input data by one or more processors in the MapReduce environment using the mapper function and the reducer function. According to some embodiments, the method further comprises creating a second MapReducer object, wherein the second MapReducer object corresponds to a second MapReduce environment; receiving, by the MapReduce interface, the second MapReducer object in place of the first MapReducer object; and utilizing the MapReduce interface to process the input data by the one or more processors in the second MapReduce environment using the mapper function and the reducer function.
US09996589B2	Holistic federated ranking algorithm Techniques are disclosed for generating a unified ranking of search results received from a plurality of distinct search resources. A computing system executing a federated search application receives a set of ranked search results from multiple search resources (e.g., web-based search engines, public databases and catalogs, etc.). Each search result identifies an item and includes metadata characterizing the item. The federated search application determines a unified ranking for the items identified in the search results that preserves a relative ranking of each set of items, such that a result for a given item is ranked above other results for items in the associated set of items is ranked above the other results in the unified ranking.
US09996587B1	Systems and methods for obtaining segment specific feedback Systems and methods are provided for obtaining feedback associated with specific segments of a work. In some embodiments, a content provider may make one or more segments of the work available to commentators to provide feedback associated with a particular segment. The feedback may include ratings and/or comments. In some embodiments, feedback scores may be calculated using the feedback. Alternatively or additionally, content providers and/or other commentators may evaluate feedback provided by commentators. These evaluations may be used to calculate a commentator reputation score. Some feedback scores may be based at least in part on commentator reputation scores. In some embodiments, comparisons of feedback may be generated. For example, the comparisons may be based at least in part on feedback associated with one or more segments that is filtered based on demographic criteria that divide commentators into groups.
US09996583B1	Differential recursive evaluation of recursive aggregates Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for performing differential recursive evaluation of recursive aggregates. One of the methods includes receiving an original recursive expression that defines tuples belonging to an output relation, wherein the original recursive expression has a recursive aggregation construct, the recursive aggregation construct having a range and a recursive term. An aggregates delta rule is applied to the initial delta expression to generate a final delta expression having an existential term and a gamma term. The existential term is evaluated to generate tuples related by the range and tuples in the delta relation, and the aggregation construct is evaluated using tuples generated by the existential term as the range of the aggregation construct. The output relation is updated including adding to the output relation any tuples newly generated by evaluating the final delta expression.
US09996581B2	Real-time saved-query updates for a large graph A system for automatically updating saved query results for a graph responsive to a graph update is disclosed. The system may identify a target constraint responsive to an update to the data graph. The system may use an index of constraints organized by edge. The target constraint specifies a path in a data graph that includes an edge specified in the update. The system may determine a state for the target constraint by traversing the graph via the path and determine based on the state, whether a member node represents a change to the saved query result. The system may then update a saved query result for the query using the member node identified during the traversal in accordance with the change.
US09996578B1	Method of ensuring near real-time transaction integrity with rollback of committed transaction upon detection of incorrect transaction processing after the commit An identical request to process a transaction is initiated at multiple nodes or multiple applications, and the results are committed. Subsequent to the commit, indicia regarding the outcome of the processing are compared, and the transaction is rolled back if the comparison indicates that the processing was incorrect.
US09996576B2	Updating progression of performing computer system maintenance A method, computer program product, and computer system for updating progression of performing computer system management. A computer system receives a log-on of a change implementer onto a managed computer system and searches a change request on a managing computer system. In response to that the change request is found, the computer system receives from the change implementer a command with a current date and time and matches the command to one or more tasks within the change request. In response to determining that the command matches the one or more tasks, the computer system updates start dates and times of the one or more tasks. And, in response to that the one or more tasks are completed, the computer system updates stop dates and times of the one or more tasks.
US09996568B2	Index maintenance based on a comparison of rebuild vs. update A method, system and computer program product for index maintenance in a computer system comprising a plurality of nodes, a database, and an index to the database. In one embodiment, the method comprises, for a defined period of time, building a snapshot of selected change requests received by the nodes to change the database. After this defined period of time, a selection is made, based on specified criteria, whether to rebuild a new index to the database, or to add entries to a current index. When the selection is to rebuild a new index, the new index is rebuilt based on data in the database and in the change requests in the snapshot. When the selection is to add entries to a current index, entries are added to the current index based on data in the database and in the change requests in the snapshot.
US09996564B2	Managing database object placement on multiple storage devices A method, information processing system, and computer program storage product optimize the placement of database objects on a multiplicity of storage devices. A set of database objects are placed on a first storage device in a multiplicity of storage devices. Each storage device comprises differing characteristics. A query workload is run on the set of database objects that have been placed on the first storage device. Profiling information associated with the query workload that is running is collected. A subset of database objects is selected from the set of the database objects to be stored on a second storage device. The subset of database objects is stored on the second storage device and all remaining database objects in the set of database objects on the first storage device.
US09996558B2	Method and system for accessing a set of data tables in a source database Embodiments relate to accessing a set of data tables in a source database. A set of table categories is provided for tables in the source database and a set of metrics is provided. For each table of the set of the data tables: the set of metrics is evaluated, the evaluated set of metrics is analyzed, and the table is categorized into one of the set of table categories using the result of the analysis. Information indicative of the table category of each table of the set of tables is output, and in response, a request to select data tables of the set of data tables is received according to a part of the table categories for data processing. A subset of data tables of the set of data tables is selected using the table categories for performing the data processing on the subset of data tables.
US09996556B2	Modification of images and associated text A computer-implemented method includes receiving an image. The image includes one or more objects and one or more text portions. The computer-implemented method further includes identifying the one or more objects. The computer-implemented method further includes, for each of the one or more objects identified, extracting an object tag. The computer-implemented method further includes, for each of the one or more text portions, extracting a text tag. The computer-implemented method further includes, for each text tag, determining whether the text tag describes any of the one or more objects based on the object tag extracted from each object to yield a determination. The computer-implemented method further includes, responsive to the determination: performing an image process to that of the one or more objects, and performing a text process to that of the one or more text portions. A corresponding computer program product and computer system are also disclosed.
US09996554B2	Search apparatus, search method, and storage medium A search apparatus comprises a determining unit configured to determine a plurality of attributes of an object designated in a first image, and determine a plurality of attributes of an object that is different from the designated object; and a search unit configured to search a second image for the designated object in accordance with a search condition based on the plurality of attributes of the designated object and the plurality of attributes of the object that is different from the designated object.
US09996549B2	Method to construct a file system based on aggregated metadata from disparate sources A system and method for constructing a file system based on aggregated metadata from disparate sources is described. The system scans basic attributes of files in a file system, extended attributes of the files in the file system, and application-specific attributes of files that are managed by corresponding applications in the file system. The system generates an aggregate metadata library for the corresponding files based on the basic attributes, extended attributes, and application-specific attributes and builds a unified file system based on the aggregate metadata library.
US09996540B2	System and method for maintaining consistent points in file systems using a prime dependency list According to one embodiment, a request is received for obtaining a consistent point of data stored in a file system of a storage system having a plurality of storage units. In response to the request, retrieving a prime dependency list from a first prime segment stored in a first of the storage units, where the prime dependency list includes information identifying at least a second prime segment stored in a second of the storage units. The first and second prime segments collectively form a prime segment representing a consistent view of the file system. Each of the prime segments listed in the prime dependency list is ascertained in an attempt to generate the consistent point of data.
US09996539B1	Data protection and long term retention A method, system and computer product, comprising creating a file system on a LUN of a storage array, taking a snapshot of a second LUN at a first point in time, stored on the storage array, creating a file in the file system, and copying the snapshot into the file.
US09996530B1	Determining NCCs and/or using the NCCs to adapt performance of computer-based action(s) Systems, methods, and computer readable media related to determining whether a compound is a non-compositional noun compound (“NCC”). Some implementations are additionally or alternatively directed to using determined NCCs to adapt performance of one or more computer-based actions such as indexing or otherwise annotating electronic resources (e.g., web pages or other Internet resources), processing search queries, identifying and/or ranking electronic resources in response to search queries, identifying and/or ranking search query suggestions for search queries, etc.
US09996526B2	System and method for supplementing a question answering system with mixed-language source documents Embodiments can provide a computer implemented method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement a mixed-language question answering supplement system, the method comprising receiving a question in a target language; determining the question cannot be answered using a target-language only corpus; applying natural language processing to parse the question into at least one focus; for each focus, determining if one or more target language verbs share direct syntactic dependency with the focus; for each of the one or more verbs sharing direct syntactic dependency, determining if one or more target language entities share direct syntactic dependency with the verb; determining one or more Abstract Universal Verbal Types associated with each verb; for each of the one or more Abstract Universal Verbal Types, determining whether a dependency between a source language entity and a source language verb is of the same type as the dependency between the target language verb and the target language entity; if the dependency is similar, returning the source language entity as a member of a set; populating the set of returned source language entities for each focus in the target language question; identifying one or more parallel passages wherein all core arguments are matched; for each parallel passage: identifying the presence or absence of oblique nominal arguments; and measuring the precision of the oblique nominal arguments in the parallel passages against those present in the target language question; and returning an answer to the target question in the target language based on a scoring of the parallel passages based on the accuracy of their respective oblique nominal arguments.
US09996525B2	System and method for supplementing a question answering system with mixed-language source documents Embodiments can provide a computer implemented method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement a mixed-language question answering supplement system, the method comprising receiving a question in a target language; applying natural language processing to parse the question into at least one focus; for each focus, determining if one or more target language verbs share direct syntactic dependency with the focus; for each of the one or more verbs sharing direct syntactic dependency, determining if one or more target language entities share direct syntactic dependency with the verb; determining one or more Abstract Universal Verbal Types associated with each verb; for each of the one or more Abstract Universal Verbal Types, determining whether a dependency between a source language entity and a source language verb is of the same type as the dependency between the target language verb and the target language entity; if the dependency is similar, returning the source language entity as a member of a set; and if the set is full, returning an answer in the target language to the question in the target language.
US09996521B2	Validation of formulas with external sources A method validates a formula within a spreadsheet. A formula type, of an identified formula from a spreadsheet, is identified. A database of known accurate formulas, whose type matches a formula type of the identified formula within the spreadsheet, is identified and located. A determination is made as to whether the identified formula from the spreadsheet matches a known accurate formula from the database. In response to the identified formula from the spreadsheet failing to match the known accurate formula from the database, a predefined action is initiated.
US09996517B2	Audio input of field entries One embodiment provides a method, including: accessing, using a processor, a form comprising at least one fillable field; receiving, from an audio input device, audio input from a user; identifying, using a processor, a fillable field associated with the audio input; and providing input, based on the audio input, to the fillable field associated with the audio input. Other aspects are described and claimed.
US09996515B2	Collaboration using multiple editors or versions of a feature A system is provided in which access to documents and collaboration across varied platforms and feature versions is supported. A conversion and merge services is described that enables a client device to display documents irrespective of the original file format and re-integrate into the original document the modifications of the displayed document. The displayed document (as a whole or in parts) can be imported and converted to the file format of the original document before the changes are compared and merged into the original document. A set of application programming interfaces are also provided that perform certain tasks, such as highlight, comment, or format.
US09996514B2	Decoupling and relocating bookmarks and annotations from files Disclosed are various examples for generating, storing, and loading references separate from a file. A request can be received to generate a reference for a file. A data object can be generated corresponding to the reference. The data object can include characteristics of the file proximate to an area in the file associated with the reference. The data object can be stored in a data store associated with the file. The file and reference can be loaded and rendered. The position of the reference within the file can be determined based on a stored data object.
US09996506B2	Identifying fonts using custom ligatures A method for identifying a font displayed within an electronic document. In one embodiment, the method includes a computer processor identifying a string of two or more characters that correspond to a custom ligature within an electronic document, wherein the custom ligature is associated with at least one character of the electronic document. The method further includes accessing a font library associated with the electronic document. The method further includes identifying a font file within the font library that corresponds to the at least one character of the electronic document that is associated with the custom ligature. The method further includes identifying a glyph within the identified font file that corresponds to the custom ligature. The method further includes substituting the identified glyph into the electronic document to replace at least the custom ligature. The method further includes displaying the substituted glyph within the electronic document.
US09996502B2	High-dimensional systems databases for real-time prediction of interactions in a functional system Computerized techniques can be used for algorithmically determining the composition of elements in a functional system represented in n-dimensional space using a logical data model. Functional attributes can be assigned to an element corresponding to a data entity in a logical data model that comprises at least two fields ordered by a set of interrelationships among at least two elements in the underlying functional system, the interrelationships corresponding to functional properties of a process converting a set of input elements to a set of output elements
US09996499B2	Scalable and programmable processor comprising multiple cooperating processor units A processor comprises a plurality of processor units arranged to operate concurrently and in cooperation with one another, and control logic configured to direct the operation of the processor units. At least a given one of the processor units comprises a memory, an arithmetic engine and a switch fabric. The switch fabric provides controllable connectivity between the memory, the arithmetic engine and input and output ports of the given processor unit, and has control inputs driven by corresponding outputs of the control logic. In an illustrative embodiment, the processor units may be configured to perform computations associated with a key equation solver in a Reed-Solomon (RS) decoder or other type of forward error correction (FEC) decoder.
US09996498B2	Network memory Communication apparatus includes a host interface for connection, via a host bus, to a host processor and a host memory, which is mapped to an address space of the host bus, and a network interface, configured to transmit and receive packets over a network. A local memory is configured to hold data in a memory space that is not mapped to the address space of the host bus. Packet processing circuitry, which is connected between the host interface and the network interface and is connected to the local memory, is configured to receive from the network interface a packet carrying a remote direct memory access (RDMA) request that is directed to an address in the local memory, and to service the RDMA request by accessing the data in the local memory.
US09996497B2	Method and device for processing graphics A method for processing graphics is provided. The method includes: establishing streams corresponding to graphic layers drawn by at least one application; adding a one-shot signal to the end of the last stream of the streams; packaging the streams with the one-shot signal to form a packet; and transmitting the packet to a display interface unit (DIU).
US09996493B2	Semiconductor device and memory system A semiconductor device capable of communicating with a host apparatus includes a symbol generation unit, a coding unit, and a transmission unit. The symbol generation unit includes a random number generation circuit and generates a symbol according to a random number generated by the random number generation circuit. The coding unit performs 8b/10b coding for the symbol. The transmission unit transmits the symbol coded by the 8b/10b coding unit to the host apparatus.
US09996489B2	Memory aggregation device The invention relates to a memory aggregation device for storing a set of input data streams and retrieving data to a set of output data streams, the memory aggregation device comprising: a set of first-in first-out (FIFO) memories each comprising an input and an output; an input interconnector configured to interconnect each one of the set of input data streams to each input of the set of FIFO memories according to an input interconnection matrix; an output interconnector configured to interconnect each output of the set of FIFO memories to each one of the set of output data streams according to an output interconnection matrix; an input selector; an output selector; and a memory controller.
US09996484B1	Hardware acceleration for software emulation of PCI express compliant devices A system that provides virtualized computing resources may include an enhanced PCIe endpoint device on which an emulation processor emulates PCIe compliant hardware in software. The endpoint device may include host interface circuitry that implements pointer registers and control and status registers for each of multiple transaction ring buffers instantiated in memory on the device. In response to receiving a transaction layer packet that includes a transaction, packet steering circuitry may push the transaction into one of the buffers, dependent on the transaction type, a routing identifier for an emulated device to which it is directed, its traffic class or other criteria. The transaction may be processed in software, emulating the hardware device. The host interface circuitry may generate response completion packets for configuration requests and non-posted transactions, and may return them according to PCIe ordering rules, regardless of the order in which they were processed on the endpoint device.
US09996467B2	Dynamically adjusting the number of flows allowed in a flow table cache Some embodiments provide a physical forwarding element that dynamically adjusts the number of flows allowed in a flow table cache. In adjusting, the physical forwarding element initially sets the maximum number of flows allowed in the cache. From the flow table cache, the physical forwarding then iterates through the set maximum number of flows and records the length of time it took to iterate through the flows. Based on the duration, the physical forwarding element then automatically adjusts the size of the flow table cache by increasing or decreasing the number of flows allowed in the cache. Alternatively, the physical forwarding element may choose to keep the cache size the same based on the duration.
US09996461B1	Dynamic differential compression for storage device look-up table A method for storing data on a storage device includes receiving data to be stored and a logical address for storing the data. A physical address is determined and the data to be stored is stored at the determined physical address. A table that associates logical addresses with physical addresses is examined to determine a difference relationship between the determined physical address and a corresponding physical address for one of other logical addresses. Information representing the determined physical address is stored in the table, in association with the received logical address, as a function of the determined difference relationship. A data storage device includes controller circuitry and memory for storing a lookup table that associates logical addresses with physical addresses. The controller circuitry operates in accordance with the method.
US09996460B2	Storage device, system including storage device and method of operating the same A method of operating a storage device according to an exemplary embodiment includes receiving a first target value and a second target value of a plurality of target values respectively corresponding to a first operating parameter and a second operating parameter of a plurality of target values of operating parameters from a host, loading a first existing value and a second existing value of a plurality of existing values of the first operating parameter and the second operating parameter, processing a machine learning algorithm using the first target value, the second target value, the first existing value and the second existing value to generate an adaptive schedule, and executing the background operation based on the schedule.
US09996459B2	Reclaiming of sequential storage medium Software for reclaiming a sequential storage medium that includes: copying all active data blocks in a first part of sequentially written data on a first sequential storage medium, to a second sequential storage medium, the first part extending from a first intermediate position to an end of the sequentially written data; and defining all data blocks in a second part of the sequentially written data on the first sequential storage medium, to be a new sequentially written data, the second part extending from a beginning to a second intermediate position of the sequentially written data, and excluding the active data blocks copied to the second sequential storage medium.
US09996455B2	Virtual storage address threshold for freemained frames Address-based thresholds for freemained frames are used to determine retention actions. Based, at least in part, on a comparison of a number of freemained frames for an address space against a threshold of freemained frames for the address space, freemained frames can be retained or rejected and/or the threshold can be adjusted.
US09996452B2	Test case generation for uncovered code paths Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, computer program products, and systems to increase code coverage. Embodiments of the present invention can receive a copy of source code and data associated with a sample execution of a set of instructions specified by the copy of the source code. Embodiments of the present invention can insert, into the set of instructions specified by the copy of the source code, an instruction that corresponds to a code statement that precedes an untraversed code path within the received copy of the source code. Embodiments of the present invention can execute the set of instructions that include the inserted instruction and provide an option to redirect execution of the set of instructions at the inserted instruction. Embodiments of the present invention can generate a test case that increases code coverage based on the redirected execution of the set of instructions.
US09996443B2	User action duration In one implementation, a system for user action duration includes a monitor engine to monitor a number of async operations to be loaded on a user interface, a detection engine to determine a repeating async operation from the number of async operations that has a pattern of repeating timeouts, a removal engine to remove the repeating async operation from the number of async operations, and a calculation engine to calculate a total time for the remaining number of async operations based on a total timeout of each of the remaining number of async operations.
US09996439B2	Self-error injection technique for point-to-point interconnect to increase test coverage Various aspects describe an on-chip, hardware error-generator component. In some cases, the hardware error-generator component connects to a data path between two components contained within a same chip. Upon receiving an error simulation input, the hardware error-generator component modifies data being transmitted on the data path by inserting a data pattern that simulates an error condition. Alternately or additionally, the hardware error-generator randomly alters one or more of the transmitted data bits.
US09996431B2	Architecture and apparatus for advanced arbitration in embedded controls A method of arbitrating conflicting outputs in a redundant control system. Execution data of a task executed by each controller in the redundant control system is recorded. The execution data includes an initial timestamp of each execution stream, identification of critical functions in each execution stream, and parameter values used by the critical functions. A path executed by each controller is identified based only on the critical functions executed for each execution stream. The recorded execution data of each executed path is applied to an arbitration module. An output result from one of the respective controllers selecting, by an arbitration module, based on the recorded execution data of each executed path. The output result of the selected controller is communicated to a next module for further processing.
US09996429B1	Mountable container backups for files A file stored in a volume on a client is backed up in a mountable format by creating on the client a template virtual volume that corresponds to the volume in which the file is stored. A set of file extents occupied by the file is identified. A file extent in a backup stream is identified. If the file extent is not within the set of file extents, the template virtual volume is accessed to backup a data block associated with the virtual volume. If the file extent is within the set of file extents, the file is accessed to backup a data block of the file.
US09996426B1	Sparse segment trees for high metadata churn workloads Methods, systems, and apparatus for providing data storage services of a storage system are described. In one embodiment, a first file representing a first full backup including data and metadata describing the data is cached as a first segment tree having a plurality of layers of nodes in a tree hierarchy. A second file representing an incremental backup of the first full backup is cached as a second segment tree in the cache memory device. The second segment tree describes changes of the data and the metadata of the incremental backup in view of the data and the metadata of the first full backup without caching any of nodes of the first segment tree again. The first and second segment trees are collectively used to represent a second full backup based on the incremental backup and the first full backup.
US09996418B2	Error-correction encoding and decoding A data encoding method includes storing K input data symbols; assigning the symbols to respective symbol locations in a notional square array, having n rows and n columns of locations, to define a plurality of k-symbol words in respective rows; encoding the words by encoding rows and columns of the array dependent on a product code having identical row and column codes, each being a reversible error-correction code of dimension k and length n=2n′, thereby to define a codeword, having n2 code symbols corresponding to respective locations of the array, of a quarter product code defined by CQ={X−XT−(X−XT)F: X∈C} where X is an n by n-symbol matrix defining a codeword of the product code, XT is the transpose matrix of X, and (X−XT)F is a reflection of matrix (X−XT) in the anti-diagonal thereof.
US09996407B2	Methods for data acquisition systems in real time applications A system may include a processing unit executing program instructions (SW), a data acquisition (DAQ) hardware device for acquiring sample data and/or generating control signals, and host memory configured to store data samples and various data associated with the DAQ and processor operations. The DAQ device may push HW status information to host memory upon being triggered by predetermined events taking place in the DAQ device, e.g. timing events or interrupts, to avoid or reduce SW reads to the DAQ device. The DAQ device may update dedicated buffers in host memory with status data on any of these events. The status information pushed to memory may be read in a manner that allows detection of race conditions. Interrupts generated by the DAQ device may be similarly handled. Upon generating an interrupt, the DAQ device may gather information required to handle the interrupt, and push the information into system memory, along with information identifying the interrupt. SW may read system memory for this information, and handle the interrupts as required without having to query the DAQ device.
US09996403B2	System and method for providing message queues for multinode applications in a middleware machine environment A middleware machine environment can provide message queues for multinode applications. The transactional middleware machine environment includes a message control data structure on a message receiver and a heap data structure in a shared memory that is associated with the message receiver. The message sender operates to write a message directly into the heap data structure, and to maintain metadata associated with the message in the message control data structure. Furthermore, the message control data structure can be a ring structure with a head pointer and a tail pointer. Additionally, the message receiver resides on a server that is connected with a plurality of clients, with each of said clients keeping a private copy of the message control data structure. Also, the message receiver can support concurrent access to the message control data structure associated with the message receiver.
US09996398B2	Application processor and system on chip An application processor includes a first core and a second core. The first core is configured to implement a scheduler which monitors a workload of a task of the first core, and the first core is further configured to implement an idle checker which determines whether the second core is idle.
US09996396B2	Cross architecture virtual machine migration Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for transferring a virtual machine from a first server to a second server. A first enhanced system translator executing on the first server includes a first virtual machine interface to interface with a first instance of the virtual machine on the first server and a first convert state component. A second enhanced system translator executing on the second server includes a second virtual machine interface to interface with a second instance of the virtual machine and a second convert state component. The first convert state component converts a state of the first instance of the virtual machine to a first instruction set architecture and the second convert state component converts the first instructions set architecture to a second instruction set architecture for use by the second instance of the virtual machine to run on the second server.
US09996392B2	Idle time service In embodiments of an idle time service, it can be determined that processing on a device is in an idle state. An execution duration of applications that are scheduled to be executed by a processor of the device can then be extended to reduce power consumption by the device. In other embodiments, it can be determined that an application configured to execute on a device is a background application. The execution duration of the background application can then be extended to reduce power consumption by the device.
US09996386B2	Mid-thread pre-emption with software assisted context switch Methods and apparatus relating to mid-thread pre-emption with software assisted context switch are described. In an embodiment, one or more threads executing on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) are stopped at an instruction level granularity in response to a request to pre-empt the one or more threads. The context data of the one or more threads is copied to memory in response to completion of the one or more threads at the instruction level granularity and/or one or more instructions. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.
US09996384B2	Virtual machine homogenization to enable migration across heterogeneous computers Described is a technology by which a virtual machine may be safely migrated to a computer system with a different platform. Compatibility of the virtual machine may be checked by comparing the virtual machine's capabilities against those of the new platform. To ensure compatibility, when created the virtual machine may have its capabilities limited by the lowest common capabilities of the different platforms available for migration. Computer systems may be grouped into migration pools based upon similar capabilities, and/or a virtual machine may be mapped to certain computer systems based upon capabilities needed by that virtual machine, such as corresponding to needed performance, fault tolerance and/or flexibility.
US09996382B2	Implementing dynamic cost calculation for SRIOV virtual function (VF) in cloud environments A method, system and computer program product are provided for implementing dynamic cost calculation for a Single Root Input/Output Virtualization (SRIOV) virtual function (VF) in cloud environments. A management function periodically queries the SRIOV adapter for activity statistics for each assigned virtual function. The management function builds a usage heuristic based on the resource usage statistics. The management function calculates dynamic cost for the SRIOV VF based on the resource usage statistics. Calculated dynamic costs for the SRIOV VF are provided to a virtual function user and users are enabled to scale their VF resources. The VF resources are selectively scaled-up and scaled-down responsive to user input based upon VF resource usage.
US09996379B2	Program execution without the use of bytecode modification or injection A method for registering a plurality of callbacks. The method may include receiving at least one callback function in a virtual machine, which includes a plurality of callback registration information. The method may include registering each at least one received callback function in a virtual machine tool interface within the virtual machine to a list of callback functions for an event based on the plurality of callback registration information. The method may include monitoring the virtual machine for an occurrence of the event. The method may include determining the event has occurred. The method may also include generating a local frame for each at least one registered callback function within the list of callback functions for the determined event. The method may include executing each at least one registered callback function based on each generated local frame associated with each at least one registered callback function.
US09996367B1	Cognitive screen sharing with contextual awareness A method for cognitive screen sharing protection is provided. The method may include, in determining a screen sharing session of a client computing device associated with a user has been initiated, receiving, by a processor, a plurality of pertinent state data associated with the client computing device. The method may also include assigning an initial binary status to at least one display window of at least one open application on the client computing device. The method may further include, in determining a change has occurred to the screen sharing session, updating each assigned binary status. The method may also include detecting an undesirable sharing situation on the client computing device based on the updated binary status of the at least one display window. The method may further include performing a precautionary action based on the detected undesirable sharing situation.
US09996361B2	Byte and nibble sort instructions that produce sorted destination register and destination index mapping A processor comprises a first register to store a plurality of data items at a plurality of positions within the first register, a second register, and an execution unit, operatively coupled to the first register and the second register, the execution unit comprising a logic circuit implementing a sort instruction for sorting the plurality of data items stored in the first register in an order of data item values, and storing, in the second register, a plurality of indices, wherein each index identifies a position associated with a data item stored in the first register prior to the sorting.
US09996356B2	Method and apparatus for recovering from bad store-to-load forwarding in an out-of-order processor Apparatus and method for detecting and recovering from incorrect memory dependence speculation in an out-of-order processor are described herein. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: executing a first load instruction; detecting when the first load instruction experiences a bad store-to-load forwarding event during execution; tracking the occurrences of bad store-to-load forwarding event experienced by the first load instruction during execution; controlling enablement of an S-bit in the first load instruction based on the tracked occurrences; generating a plurality of load operations responsive to an enabled S-bit in first load instruction, wherein execution of the plurality of load operations produces a result equivalent to that from the execution of the first load instruction.
US09996354B2	Instruction stream tracing of multi-threaded processors A method and apparatus for tracing instruction streams for a multi-threaded processor are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a last thread register configured to store a thread index that indicates a last executed thread, a tracing memory configured to store, within each of a plurality of storage locations, state information corresponding to a dispatch cycle for a multi-threaded processor, and a tracing control module configured to provide the state information to the tracing memory. The state information includes instruction information and a previous thread index. The state information may also include a flip bit that is used to determine a current insertion point within the tracing memory. A corresponding method is also disclosed herein.
US09996352B1	ROM-code programmable digital signal processor Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with a processor that includes selectively enabled features are described. According to one embodiment, a processor includes a plurality of processing routines embedded within the processor that when executed cause the processor to implement corresponding processor features. The processor includes a processor engine configured to determine whether a processing routine of the plurality of processing routines is enabled based, at least in part, on a corresponding value in a control register. The processing engine is configured to selectively execute the processing routine based, at least in part, on whether the value indicates that the processing routine is enabled.
US09996350B2	Hardware apparatuses and methods to prefetch a multidimensional block of elements from a multidimensional array Methods and apparatuses relating to a prefetch instruction to prefetch a multidimensional block of elements from a multidimensional array into a cache. In one embodiment, a hardware processor includes a decoder to decode a prefetch instruction to prefetch a multidimensional block of elements from a multidimensional array into a cache, wherein at least one operand of the prefetch instruction is to indicate a system memory address of an element of the multidimensional block of elements, a stride of the multidimensional block of elements, and boundaries of the multidimensional block of elements, and an execution unit to execute the prefetch instruction to generate system memory addresses of the other elements of the multidimensional block of elements, and load the multidimensional block of elements into the cache from the system memory addresses.
US09996348B2	Zero cycle load A system and method for reducing the latency of load operations. A register rename unit within a processor determines whether a decoded load instruction is eligible for conversion to a zero-cycle load operation. If so, control logic assigns a physical register identifier associated with a source operand of an older dependent store instruction to the destination operand of the load instruction. Additionally, the register rename unit marks the load instruction to prevent it from reading data associated with the source operand of the store instruction from memory. Due to the duplicate renaming, this data may be forwarded from a physical register file to instructions that are younger and dependent on the load instruction.
US09996341B2	Infrastructure for the automation of the assembly of schema maintenance scripts A method and apparatus to build a migration package. According to one embodiment of the invention, a plurality of programming elements are developed and stored in a configuration repository. The configuration repository also includes metadata used to describe each of the programming elements. Selected programming elements are placed in a set of one or more migration scripts to be stored in the migration package. The set of migration scripts may include a master configuration file and a driver file.
US09996340B2	Identifying user managed software modules A computer program product for identifying user managed software modules includes program instructions for: receiving a request for a directed load of a software module into memory, wherein the request includes an address; storing the software module at the address in the received request; adding a name and an address range of the stored software module to a data structure identifying software modules that have been loaded into memory via directed loads; receiving a query that includes an input module name or an input address range; and responsive to determining that the input module name or input address range of the received query is not stored in one or more data structures identifying one or more software modules that have been loaded into memory without directed loads, searching the data structure identifying software modules that have been loaded into memory via directed loads for the respective query.
US09996332B2	Accurately estimating install time Timing parameters that influence an install time interval for installing a product on computing machines in a test environment in accordance with an installation configuration option are identified. A test value of the timing parameter and a test value of the install time are determined for each of the computing machines. The test values of the timing parameter and the install time determined for the sample computing machines are analyzed to determine an install time calculation expression for the installation configuration option. For installation in accordance with the installation configuration option in a normal operating environment, a current value of each of the timing parameters of the predetermined install time calculation expression for the installation configuration option. The install time interval in the normal operating environment is estimated based on the current value of the timing parameters and the install time calculation expression.
US09996330B2	Deployment process plugin architecture A system, a method, and a computer program product for deploying objects are disclosed. A file containing a plurality of artifacts for deploying during runtime of an application is defined. At least one dependency for at least one artifact in the plurality of artifacts is determined based on the defined file. A database object for implementation during runtime of the application is created based on the determined dependency. At least one change to the database object during runtime of the application is implemented. The artifact is deployed during runtime of the application based on the implemented change to the database object.
US09996328B1	Compiling and optimizing a computer code by minimizing a number of states in a finite machine corresponding to the computer code Methods and systems for compiling codes from programming languages into programming languages are disclosed. An example method may include acquiring a first code written in a first language. The method allows generating, based on the first code, a first deterministic finite state machine (DFSM). The method includes optimizing the first DFSM to obtain a second DFSM. The method includes generating, based on the second DFSM, a second code. The second code can be written in a second language. Generating the first DFSM includes parsing the first code into a first abstract syntax tree (AST), translating the first AST into a first non-deterministic finite state machine (NFSM), and converting the first NFSM into the first DFSM. Generating the second code includes translating the second DFSM into a second NFSM, translating the second NFSM into a second AST, and recompiling the second AST into a second code.
US09996322B2	Dynamically generated user interface A system and method for facilitating automatically adjusting a user interface display screen or portion thereof. An example method includes determining context information associated with data, wherein the data is maintained in accordance with a data model; generating a signal when the context information changes; and employing the signal to automatically configure one or more characteristics of a user interface architecture, resulting in an adjusted user interface architecture. The context information may include information specifying one or more attributes relating to the data model. Generating may further include analyzing the one or more attributes to determine a modification to be made to the user interface architecture and then rendering a user interface display screen based on a modified user interface architecture.
US09996320B2	Fused multiply-add (FMA) low functional unit An example processor includes a register and a fused multiply-add (FMA) low functional unit. The register stores first, second, and third floating point (FP) values. The FMA low functional unit receives a request to perform an FMA low operation: multiplies the first FP value with the second FP value to obtain a first product value; adds the first product with the third FP value to generate a first result value; rounds the first result to generate a first FMA value; multiplies the first FP value with the second FP value to obtain a second product value; adds the second product value with the third FP value to generate a second result value; and subtracts the FMA value from the second result value to obtain a third result value, which can then be normalized and rounded (FMA low result) and sent the FMA low result to an application.
US09996292B2	Memory system and operation method thereof A memory system includes: a non-volatile memory device including a normal region in which Most Significant Bits (MSBs) and Least Significant Bits (LSBs) stored in memory cells are accessed simultaneously, a hot region in which MSBs stored in memory cells are accessed, and a cold region in which LSBs stored in memory cells are accessed; and a memory controller controlling the non-volatile memory device, Herein, the memory controller includes: a read/write counter that counts the number of read operations and the number of write operations that are performed for each of logical cluster to thereby produce a counting result; and a region selector that maps each logical cluster to one among the normal region, the hot region and the cold region based on the counting result to thereby produce mapping data.
US09996286B2	Data storage system, process and computer program for such data storage system for reducing read and write amplifications The present disclosure relates to a data storage system, and processes and computer programs for such data storage system, for example including processing of: managing one or more metadata tree structures for storing data to one or more storage devices of the data storage system in units of blocks, each metadata tree structure including a root node pointing directly and/or indirectly to blocks, and a leaf tree level having one or more direct nodes pointing to blocks, and optionally including one or more intermediate tree levels having one or more indirect nodes pointing to indirect nodes and/or direct nodes of the respective metadata tree structure; maintaining the root node and/or nodes of at least one tree level of each of at least one metadata structure in a cache memory; and managing I/O access to data based on the one or more metadata structures.
US09996276B2	Memory system, memory controller and control device According to one embodiment, a memory system includes, as an example, a temperature information receiver that receives temperature information; and a gradient determining unit that determines a gradient related to a temperature increase, based on the temperature information about a plurality of temperatures received by the temperature information receiver.
US09996275B2	Calculating cutover time in a copy-free transition of storage objects A transition tool estimates a cutover time in a copy-free transition of storage objects. The transition tool determines how many storage objects of each type of storage object there are to transition from a source storage system to a destination storage system. The transition tool can measure an operation time for both the source storage system and the destination storage system. The transition tool can estimate an export duration using the source storage system operation time, the number of each type of storage object, and a number of operations for that type of storage object. The transition tool can estimate an import duration using the destination storage system operation time, the number of each type of storage object, and a number of operations for that type of storage object. A total cutover time can then be calculated from the export and import durations.
US09996273B1	Storage system with data durability signaling for directly-addressable storage devices A storage system in one embodiment comprises at least one processor, a processor memory, an input-output controller, and a directly-addressable storage device having volatile memory and non-volatile memory. The input-output controller generates a plurality of write commands in conjunction with storage of data in the storage system, the write commands including at least a first write command comprising the data and a second write command comprising one or more interrupts. If an address of a given one of the write commands falls within a specified interrupt group window, the write command is copied to the directly-addressable storage device so as to provide at least one of the one or more interrupts to that storage device. The directly-addressable storage device responds to receipt of the interrupt by writing data from the volatile memory to the non-volatile memory and generating a corresponding additional interrupt to the processor.
US09996270B2	Storage in tiered environment with cache collaboration Various embodiments for managing data by a processor in a multi-tiered computing storage environment. Input/Output (I/O) statistics are examined from each of cache and device drivers in the computing storage environment. Based on the I/O statistics, a ranking mechanism is applied to differentiate data between at least a cache rank and a Solid State Drive (SSD) rank. The ranking mechanism migrates data between the cache rank and SSD rank such that storage space in the cache rank is reserved for those of the plurality of data workload types having a greater adverse effect on a storage performance characteristic if stored in the SSD rank than if those workload types were stored in the cache rank.
US09996266B2	Physical address management in solid state memory A storage system includes a memory controller connected to a solid state memory device and a read status table that tracks a pending read from the solid state memory device and a physical address of the solid state memory device that is associated with the pending read. The memory controller releases the physical address for reassignment when the read status table indicates that no pending reads are associated with the physical address. In certain embodiments, the read status table may be included within the memory controller. In certain embodiments, subsequent to the release of the physical address, erase operations may erase data at the physical address and the physical address may be reassigned to a new logical address by ensuing host write operations.
US09996262B1	Method and apparatus to abort a command Systems and methods are disclosed to abort a command at a data storage controller, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, an apparatus may comprise a data storage controller configured to receive an abort indicator from a host device, generate an abort tracking indicator at a receiving unit configured to receive commands from the host device, monitor to determine when the selected command is received at the receiving unit based on the abort tracking indicator, and abort the selected command when the selected command is received at the receiving unit. In some embodiments, the data storage controller may generate an abort tracking indicator at a completion unit configured to notify the host device of completed commands, and monitor for the selected command at the completion unit based on the abort tracking indicator.
US09996256B2	Method for erasing electronic handwriting on a clipboard A method for erasing electronic handwriting on a clipboard includes: the coordinates of each handwriting point of the electronic handwriting are made to correspond to writing pressure on the clipboard and are stored, and the color depth of each handwriting point is made to be proportional to the writing pressure at the handwriting point; the coordinates of each erase point, on the clipboard, contacted by the eraser are made to correspond to erasing pressure applied to the clipboard by the eraser via the erase points; determining whether the coordinates of the erase points are the same as one of the coordinates in the handwriting points, and if so, then determining the color depth at that erase point according to a first non-negative rule; otherwise, the color depth at the erase point is the background color depth of the clipboard.
US09996254B2	Hidden application icons A user device may include a touchscreen, a storage device, and a processing device. The storage device stores native applications and their corresponding icon data. The icon data includes an icon, a location of the icon on a launch screen, a flag indicating whether the icon is hidden or visible, and an unlocking instruction. The processing device may display the launch screen via the touchscreen whereby the launch screen displaying one or more icons. The processing device monitors the touchscreen and receives user input at an unpopulated screen location occupied by a hidden icon. The processing devices receives a user instruction at the unpopulated screen location, verifies the user instruction with the unlocking instruction associated with the icon. When the user instruction is verified, the processing device can display the hidden icon or may launch the native application corresponding to the hidden icon.
US09996252B2	Display device for executing plurality of applications and method of controlling the same In one aspect, method is provided for controlling a display device, comprising: displaying, on a touchscreen display, a first window executing a first application and a second window executing a second application; receiving, at the touchscreen display, a first command input to the first window and a second command input to the second window; determining whether the first command and the second command are received simultaneously; dispatching, by a processor, the first command; and dispatching, by the processor, the second command.
US09996237B2	Method and system for display of visual information A method for displaying a map location of a camera providing video information, the method comprising: causing presentation on a screen of a display device of a map of a monitored area indicating a determined number of acquisition devices located in the monitored area; receiving via an input device a command to display visual information acquired by the acquisition devices; causing the map on the screen to be partially replaced by a shutter comprising frames amounting to the determined number each of which present the visual information acquired by one of the acquisition devices; performing a gesture indicating a video frame containing the video information; and identifying a camera location on the map, wherein the camera location corresponds to the source of the video information.
US09996219B2	Display control apparatus, method and program, and storage medium storing program A system control unit displays, on a display unit, a menu screen corresponding to an operation mode designated through a mode change-over switch, and sets various conditions for the operation mode according to operation on an operation unit. The system control unit displays a predetermined menu item in a selected state on an initially opened menu screen. When a menu screen subjected to setting change is opened, the system control unit displays a menu item subjected to setting change last time in the selected state. A table indicating a menu item to be displayed in the selected state is stored in a nonvolatile memory.
US09996212B2	User terminal apparatus and controlling method thereof A user terminal apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a display which displays a screen, a storage which stores at least one template for defining a layout according to which a plurality of application windows is arranged on the screen, a user interface which receives a user command, and a controller which controls the display to arrange and display the plurality of application windows based on a template selected by the user command from among the at least one template on the screen.
US09996202B2	Electronic device including ITO electrode pattern and manufacturing method thereof An electronic device having an electrode pattern for a touch sensor is provided. The electronic device include a touch sensor; and a touch key that is formed at a position corresponding to the electrode pattern for the touch sensor and corresponds to a touch region. The electrode pattern is an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) pattern.
US09996201B2	Touch panel having improved visibility and method of manufacturing the same A touch panel having improved visibility is provided. The touch panel includes a window part, at least one ultraviolet (UV) resin layer attached to a bottom surface of the window part, and a display part including a touch sensor film module attached to a bottom surface of the at least one UV resin layer such that the UV resin layer prevents refractions and reflections of light.
US09996196B2	Touch determination by tomographic reconstruction A touch-sensitive apparatus comprises a panel configured to conduct signals from a plurality of peripheral incoupling points to a plurality of peripheral outcoupling points. Actual detection lines are defined between pairs of incoupling and outcoupling points to extend across a surface portion of the panel. The signals may be in the form of light, and objects touching the surface portion may affect the light via frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR). A signal generator is coupled to the incoupling points to generate the signals, and a signal detector is coupled to the outcoupling points to generate an output signal. A data processor operates on the output signal to enable identification of touching objects. The output signal is processed (40) to generate a set of data samples, which are indicative of detected energy for at least a subset of the actual detection lines. The set of data samples is processed (42) to generate a set of matched samples, which are indicative of estimated detected energy for fictitious detection lines that have a location on the surface portion that matches a standard geometry for tomographic reconstruction. The set of matched samples is processed (44, 46) by tomographic reconstruction to generate data indicative of a distribution of an energy-related parameter within at least part of the surface portion.
US09996195B2	Line segment update method for electro-optic displays A touch screen electro-optic display is arranged such that upon a touch being detected on the display surface, the display surface surrounding the touch “blinks” by being driven to a different optical state, then back to its original state. A second method uses a display having a pen or stylus which can draw lines upon the display. A first line segment is detected and its area updated using a first drive scheme having short waveforms. The area of a second line segment is updated using the first drive scheme. Thereafter, the areas of both line segments are updated using a second drive scheme different from the first drive scheme.
US09996192B2	Array substrate, method for repairing touch line, and display panel An array substrate, a touch line repairing method as well as a display panel are provided. The array substrate includes a plurality of touch electrodes, a plurality of touch lines, a first repairing line, a second repairing line and at least one third repairing line. The touch lines and the touch electrodes are in one-to-one correspondence and are electrically connected. The first repairing line and the second repairing line are arranged in the same layer, and are not arranged in the same layer with the touch lines. The first repairing line and the second repairing line intersect each touch line. The at least one third repairing line is arranged in the same layer with the touch lines, and intersects the first repairing line and the second repairing line. The repairing lines can be used for repairing the disconnected touch lines, so that the production yield is enhanced.
US09996185B2	Preventing the automatic display of an onscreen keyboard One embodiment provides a method, including: detecting, using a processor, an input method editor application is running on a device; detecting, using a processor, a data entry field is active; and responsive to detecting the input method editor application is running and the data entry field is active, suppressing, using a processor, an on screen keyboard from being displayed on a display device.
US09996184B1	Touchscreen accessory and software for motion-disabled users An accessory helps motion-disabled users operate a touchscreen device via an extra-software-layer running on the CPU of the device. The accessory may take the shape of a glove, stylus or thimble. The accessory has a circuit that selectively engages and disengages the electrical connection between the user and the touchscreen based on mode and/or user/transducer interaction to send extra information from the user to the extra-software layer. A controller in the accessory generates unique timing patterns of connection and disconnection which the extra-software layer reconstructs by computing statistics from motion-event timestamps. The extra-software layer uses one or more (x,y) coordinates to compute an (x′,y′) coordinate, which is shown on the pixel display. With (x′,y′) and the reconstructed-timing pattern in the extra-software layer, the user may separately 1) choose (x′, y′) non-destructively (leave unaltered the internal state of an underlying application) and 2) invoke an action associated with that (x′,y′).
US09996182B2	Method and system for recognizing confirmation type touch gesture by touch terminal The present invention relates to touch technology and provides a method and a system for recognizing a confirmation type touch gesture by a touch terminal. The method includes step A of further determining whether a vibration signal indicative of an occurrence of the confirmation type touch gesture is detected when the touch terminal detects a valid touch event on a touch screen, and step B of recognizing the valid touch event as a true confirmation type touch gesture if the determination result of step A is yes. The present invention has the following advantages: when detecting a valid touch event, the present invention further determines whether there is a suggestive vibration signal associated with the touch gesture operation. Only when both the touch event and vibration signal are detected, the valid touch event is considered as the true confirmation type touch gesture operation. Therefore, the recognition result is more reliable.
US09996180B2	Determining process to be executed based on direction of surface in which vibration-applied surface faces and application state An information processing apparatus (2000) includes a plurality of surfaces. A vibration detection unit (2020) detects a vibration applied to the information processing apparatus (2000). An operation surface detection unit (2040) detects an operation surface, which is a surface to which a vibration is applied, based on the vibration detected by the vibration detection unit (2020). An apparatus state detection unit (2060) detects a state of the information processing apparatus (2000). An application state detection unit (2080) detects a state of an application. A process determination unit (2100) determines a predetermined process to be executed, based on the operation surface detected by the operation surface detection unit (2040), the state of the information processing apparatus (2000) detected by the apparatus state detection unit (2060), and the state of the application detected by the application state detection unit (2080).
US09996178B2	Touch display panel A touch display panel includes a display structure and a touch structure. The display structure includes pixels having a first pitch P1. The touch structure includes a touch layer having slits and dummy clefts. The slits and the dummy clefts have a second pitch P2 and a third pitch P3, respectively. Two adjacent vertices of each slit define a line segment having a length Ly.A first moire ratio (MR1) defined as P ⁢ ⁢ 2 P ⁢ ⁢ 1 satisfies: 20.7%×A1+8.5%×B1−3%≤MR1≤12.7%×A1+16.5%×B1+3%, wherein A1 is an integer from 0 to 3, B1 is an integer from 1 to 3, and 0≤B1−A1≤1. A second moire ratio (MR2) defined as P ⁢ ⁢ 3 P ⁢ ⁢ 1 satisfies: 20.7%×A2+8.5%×B2−3%≤MR2≤12.7%×A2+16.5%×B2+3%, wherein A2 is an integer from 0 to 3, B2 is an integer from 1 to 3, and 0≤B2−A2≤1. An arrangement ratio (LR) defined as Ly P ⁢ ⁢ 1 satisfies: (2C+1)×25%−20%≤LR≤(2C+1)×25%+20%, wherein C is an integer from 0 to 11.
US09996176B2	Multi-touch uses, gestures, and implementation A tablet PC having an interactive display, which is touchscreen enabled, may be enhanced to provide a user with superior usability and efficiency. A touchscreen device may be configured to receive multiple concurrent touchscreen contacts. The attributes of the multiple concurrent touchscreen contracts may be mapped to operations performed on the computing device. As a result, a user can trigger the execution of the toggle accessibility aid operation and the screen rotation operation with greater convenience. Moreover, the tablet PC may be configured to map an operation to a hand gesture or input.
US09996174B2	Imaging device with review display control function A camera according to the present invention includes a touch display section in addition to an imaging section. During review display where a captured image is displayed on a display panel (a monitor screen) of the touch display section for a predetermined amount of time after imaging every time the imaging section performs imaging, when a touch operation is performed on a touch panel of the touch display section, a control section controls a method of performing the review display (for example, a review display time) according to the state of the touch operation.
US09996166B2	Gaming device with rotatably placed cameras A method to identify positions of fingers of a hand is described. The method includes capturing images of a first hand using a plurality of cameras that are part of a wearable device. The wearable device is attached to a wrist of a second hand and the plurality of cameras of the wearable device is disposed around the wearable device. The method includes repeating capturing of additional images of the first hand, the images and the additional images captured to produce a stream of captured image data during a session of presenting the virtual environment in a head mounted display (HMD). The method includes sending the stream of captured image data to a computing device that is interfaced with the HMD. The computing device is configured to process the captured image data to identify changes in positions of the fingers of the first hand.
US09996163B2	Wearable device positioning based control A method and system for positioning based device control. The method includes receiving device control instructions associated with function control of a device based on a positioning of a wearable hardware device of a user. Communications between the device and the wearable hardware device are synchronized and a position signal indicating a current position of the wearable hardware device with respect to a body of the user is received. In response, a command associated with controlling a specified function of the device is received and a command is executed resulting in the specified function of the device being modified.
US09996162B2	Wearable sensor system for providing a personal magnetic field and techniques for horizontal localization utilizing the same A wearable sensor system is disclosed that provides a measurable magnetic field that changes horizontally within the range of motion of human limbs. The wearable sensor system includes a magnetic sensing device, and one or more magnet devices that provide the measurable magnetic field with a strength exceeding the Earth's magnetic field. To this end, the magnetic sensing system provides a “personal” magnetic field about a user, with that magnetic field traveling with the user and overpowering adjacent interfering fields. The wearable sensor system may include a sensor arrangement that measures a strength of the personal magnetic field and field direction to perform horizontal localization, and may send a representation of a same to a remote computing device to cause an action to occur. Some such actions include output of pre-recorded or synthesized musical notes, for example.
US09996160B2	Method and apparatus for gesture detection and display control A device includes a display and one or more motion sensors configured to track positions of two or more feature points of an object when the object is used to perform a gesture at a position remote from the display, and generate, based on the tracked positions of the feature points, sequential position data that indicates a relative position of the feature points with respect to each other and to the display. The device includes circuitry configured to determine, based on the sequential position data, whether the gesture corresponds to one of a plurality of predetermined input operations, and execute processing related to the predetermined input operation when a correspondence is determined. The circuitry is configured to determine whether the gesture corresponds to the predetermined input operation based on variations in the relative positions of the feature points with respect to each other and to the display.
US09996159B2	Arrangement, method and computer program for controlling a computer apparatus based on eye-tracking A computer apparatus is associated with a graphical display presenting at least one GUI-component adapted to be manipulated based on user-generated commands. An event engine is adapted to receive an eye-tracking data signal that describes a user's point of regard on the display. Based on the signal, the event engine produces a set of non-cursor controlling event output signals, which influence the at least one GUI-component. Each non-cursor controlling event output signal describes a particular aspect of the user's ocular activity in respect of the display. Initially, the event engine receives a control signal request from each of the at least one GUI-component. The control signal request defines a sub-set of the set of non-cursor controlling event output signals which is required by the particular GUI-component. The event engine delivers non-cursor controlling event output signals to the at least one GUI-component in accordance with each respective control signal request.
US09996158B2	Electronic display with a relief Introduced here are methods and systems to create a relief on an electronic display. In one embodiment, the relief is created by micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) placed above a cover layer of the electronic display. Each MEMS when activated can protrude or depress, thus creating the relief on the electronic display. In another embodiment, the relief is created by a plurality of resistors placed beneath the cover layer. The cover layer is made out of an elastically deformable material that, when heated, expands, thus creating a protrusion on the electronic display. Each resistor when activated heats a section of the cover layer, causing the cover layer to protrude.
US09996152B2	Interface apparatus In an interface apparatus for presenting a force sense at a remote place or in a virtual space to a user, the number of motors for exerting force upon fingers of the user is decreased. The interface apparatus includes a first arm and a second arm for being attached to the thumb and a finger other than the thumb, respectively. A motor includes a motor main body supported for rotation, and a rotary shaft that relatively rotates with respect to the motor main body. The rotary shaft is connected to the second arm. The motor main body is connected to the first arm so as to impart rotation thereof to the first arm.
US09996150B2	Enabling augmented reality using eye gaze tracking Methods and apparatus relating to enabling augmented reality applications using eye gaze tracking are disclosed. An exemplary method according to the disclosure includes displaying an image to a user of a scene viewable by the user, receiving information indicative of an eye gaze of the user, determining an area of interest within the image based on the eye gaze information, determining an image segment based on the area of interest, initiating an object recognition process on the image segment, and displaying results of the object recognition process.
US09996139B2	Memory system and management table According to one embodiment, the memory system includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, a data buffer, a volatile memory for storing a management table uniquely associates the user data with an address of the physical storage region of nonvolatile semiconductor memory, a controller that carries out a force quit process for writing the user data stored in a data buffer, the management table stored in volatile memory into the nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and a storage battery. The controller starts the force quit process prior to the power supply of the internal power supply regulator is switched from an external power supply to the storage battery.
US09996134B2	Method to avoid over-rebooting of power supply device A method to avoid over-rebooting of a power supply device comprises Step 1: receiving a power-good signal generated by a power supply device working normally; Step 2: checking whether the power-good signal is received; if no, demanding the power supply device to reboot; and Step 3: recording a count of rebootings of the power supply device; after the power supply device reboots, checking again whether the power-good signal is received; if yes, letting the power supply device keep on working and resetting the count of rebootings; if no, demanding the power supply device to reboot again, accumulating the count of rebootings, and checking whether the count of rebootings is greater than a limited count of rebootings; if yes, forbidding the power supply device to reboot. Thus is solved the problem that a power supply device whose abnormality cannot be removed by rebooting may damage the information device.
US09996114B2	Plastic frame, display device and assembling method thereof Disclosed is a plastic frame, a display device and an assembling method thereof. The plastic frame includes: a limiting part, formed into a shape of rectangle and defining an area for fixing a display screen; and a supporting part, extending perpendicularly to the limiting part to support the display screen. The display screen includes a first panel and a second panel which is laminated to the first panel. The plastic frame further includes a fixing unit arranged between the limiting part and the display screen, and a fixing surface of the fixing unit is in contact at least with a side surface of the first panel. The plastic frame according to the disclosure can more stably fix the display screen, thereby preventing damages of the display screen due to impacts on the plastic frame.
US09996106B2	Dual display panel mount accessory One embodiment provides a mount accessory, including: a central part having a centrally located hinge; two long edges that are hingedly attached to the centrally located hinge and extend from the central part; each of the two long edges including a ledge having a connector therein; and a centrally located connector disposed in the central part. Other aspects are described and claimed.
US09996105B1	High precision event timing in network devices Systems and methods are provided for determining a clock time associated with an event at a higher precision than is attainable by a main clock signal. A system includes a plurality of processing modules distributed across an integrated circuit, a main clock signal being transmitted to ones of the plurality of processing modules at a main clock frequency. A plurality of sub-cycle frequency resolution modules are disposed in corresponding ones of the processing modules, the sub-cycle frequency modules generating sub-cycle phase indicators at a frequency that is greater than the main clock frequency, the sub-cycle frequency resolution modules being configured to receive the main clock signal and to determine a clock time of an event based on a combination of the main clock and the sub-cycle phase indicators.
US09996100B2	Current reference circuit and semiconductor integrated circuit including the same A current reference circuit and a semiconductor IC including the current reference circuit, the current reference circuit including a proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) current generator configured to generate, in an output branch, a first current proportional to a temperature; and a current subtractor configured to generate a reference current by subtracting a second current generated based on a current flowing in an internal branch of the PTAT current generator, from the first current flowing in the output branch. The second current is set to have a same temperature-based change characteristic as the first current and a level different from a level of the first current.
US09996096B2	Power control device with calibration features The present invention is directed to an electrical wiring device that includes a variable control mechanism configured to regulate power to the at least one electrical load by way of a control knob being user settable between a first adjustment stop and a second adjustment stop. A regulation circuit is configured to establish a pre-determined load power setting when the calibration button is actuated when the regulation circuit is in the calibration mode.
US09996083B2	System and method for navigation assistance A system and method are provided for navigation correction assistance. The method provides a vehicle with a camera and an autonomous navigation system comprising a navigation buoy database and a navigation application. The navigation application visually acquires a first navigation buoy with an identity marker and accesses the navigation buoy database, which cross-references the first navigation buoy identity marker to a first spatial position. A first direction marker on the first navigation buoy is also visually acquired. In response to visually acquiring the first direction marker, a first angle is determined between the camera and the first spatial position. A first distance may also be determined between the vehicle and the first navigation buoy using visual methods or auxiliary position or distance measurement devices. Then, in response to the first spatial position, the first angle, and the first distance, the spatial position of the vehicle can be calculated using trigonometry.
US09996068B2	Intelligent wireless and wired control of devices A system is provided in which a microcontroller is connected to a household unit, which is controlled by the microcontroller. The microcontroller is connected to wireless unit, so that the household unit may be controlled wirelessly (e.g. from a smart phone, tablet computer, laptop, and/or personal computer). In an embodiment, the household unit is a circuit breaker or a bank of circuit breakers that protect various devices in the house from faults in the power lines. In an embodiment, the household unit includes a switch, such as a solenoid for turning off an electrical appliance. In an embodiment, the household unit has various settings that may be set remotely, via sending wireless signals to the microcontroller.
US09996062B2	Motor control apparatus, motor control method, program, and recording medium The present invention implements a model-tracking motor control apparatus for stabilizing behavior of a controlled object. The control apparatus (1) includes: a motor control part (20), generating a driving torque instruction value used to enable the servo motor (2) to perform driving based on a detection value of an encoder (4) that performs detection on a rotational state of a servo motor (2); and a model control part (10), generating a model torque instruction value, and outputting the model torque instruction value to the motor control part (20), where the model control part (10) has a model torque limiter (104) that limits the model torque instruction value within a first limit range.
US09996053B2	Nano- and micro-replication for authentication and texturization Embodiments herein relate to forming nano- and/or micro-replication directly embossed in a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy comprising a metal alloy by superplastic forming of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy at a temperature greater than a glass transition temperature (Tg) of the metal alloy.
US09996046B2	Cleaning device and image forming apparatus In accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, a cleaning device includes a conveying member and a plurality of scraping pieces. The conveying member has a rotating shaft and a spiral blade formed around the rotating shaft. The conveying member is configured to be rotated around an axis to convey a toner removed from an image carrier in a direction of the axis. The plurality of scraping pieces are arranged in the direction of the axis. The plurality of scraping pieces are configured to be turnable so as to alternately come into contact with the rotating shaft and the spiral blade to scrape the toner adhered on the rotating shaft. A width of the scraping piece in the direction of the axis is equal to or below ½ of a gap between the adjacently arranged scraping pieces in the direction of the axis.
US09996043B2	Image forming apparatus and method for control of suction of air passed through fixing unit An image forming apparatus has a printing section, a cooling mechanism, a suction adjustment mechanism, and a controller. The printing section includes a fixing unit for heating a sheet having a toner image put on it, and discharges the sheet after fixing. The cooling mechanism includes a suction port, a blower motor for rotating a fan, and a blowing duct for blowing air onto the sheet. The suction adjustment mechanism moves a suction adjustor between an open position where the suction port is open and a shut position where the suction port is closed. The controller moves the suction adjustor the closer to the shut position the smaller the set thickness of the sheet.
US09996040B2	Image forming apparatus Image formation is properly performed by suppressing an influence on a transfer property in the image formation due to variation in a toner particle charge amount. An image forming apparatus comprises a developing device for performing development using developer including a charged toner particle, a toner supply container for supplying the toner particle to a development unit, and a CPU for controlling a toner particle amount supplied to the developing device. The CPU calculates a toner consumption amount consumed by the development. Then, from the result, the CPU calculates a toner supply amount which makes the toner charge amount in the developing device constant. Then, the CPU supplies the toner of the calculated amount to the developing device.
US09996033B2	Image forming apparatus and control method for fixing device According to an embodiment, a method of controlling a fixing device includes heating a heat unit to a predetermined temperature, and while the heat unit is being heated to the predetermined temperature, rotating a pressure unit that is configured to be moved between a contact position, a separation position, and a semi-contact position. The pressure unit is positioned at the semi-contact position after the heat unit is heated to the predetermined temperature. The pressure unit is moved from the semi-contact position to the contact position before transporting a medium between the heat unit and the pressure unit. The pressure unit is moved from the contact position to the separation position via the semi-contact position after a fixing operation on the medium is completed.
US09996031B2	Authenticity information carrier coupled to flow stimulator in cartridge A cartridge (1) to connect to a printer, the cartridge comprising a powder reservoir (2), a carrier (5) holding authenticity information (7, 9), a powder flow stimulator (3) in or near the reservoir (2), coupled to the carrier (5) so that a first stimulator movement displaces at least part of the carrier (5).
US09996022B2	Optical scanning device and image forming apparatus An adjustment method of an optical scanning device, in which an uppermost position at an incident surface of the image forming lens, through which a light beam being deflected and scanned passes, and a lowermost position at the incident surface of the image forming lens, through which a light beam being deflected and scanned passes, are detected in a height direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction in an effective range corresponding to a latent image formation target range on the scanning target surface, and a center height between the uppermost position and the lowermost position is allowed to approximately coincide with a height of a bus line of the image forming lens at the incident surface of the image forming lens.
US09996005B2	Reflective optical element and optical system for EUV lithography In order to reduce the negative influence of reactive hydrogen on the lifetime of a reflective optical element, particularly inside an EUV lithography device, there is proposed for the extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray wavelength region a reflective optical element (50) having a reflective surface (60) with a multilayer system (51) and in the case of which the reflective surface (60) has a protective layer system (59) with an uppermost layer (56) composed of silicon carbide or ruthenium, the protective layer system (59) having a thickness of between 5 nm and 25 nm.
US09995994B2	Image pickup apparatus An image pickup apparatus includes a main mirror holder rotating between a mirror down position in an image pickup optical path and a mirror up position outside the image pickup optical path in accordance with drive of a mirror driving unit, which drives in accordance with rotation of a motor, a sub mirror holder being supported by the main mirror holder to abut against the main mirror holder positioned at the mirror up position, and a driving pin rotating in accordance with the drive of the mirror driving unit and rotating the main and sub mirror holders. The driving pin includes an abutting part that abuts against the mirror driving unit while the mirror driving unit drives. The abutting part is provided with a reduction structure to reduce a bound of the sub mirror holder when the main mirror holder reaches the mirror up position.
US09995989B2	Shutter device and image-capturing apparatus A shutter device includes: a substrate having an opening; a first light-shielding member that moves from a first position outside the opening of the substrate to a second position outside the opening to shield the opening, the second position being different from the first position; a second light-shielding member that partly shields the opening while moving from the first position to the second position; a first moving member that has a protrusion moving along a hole provided in the substrate to move the first light-shielding member; a second moving member that is coupled to the second light-shielding member and moves together with the second light-shielding member; and a third moving member, located outside a movement range of the protrusion during the second light-shielding member being located in the first position, that is coupled to the second light-shielding member and moves together with the second light-shielding member.
US09995987B1	Composite particles and method for making the same A composite particle is provided that includes a base particle and a plurality of hydrophilic oligomeric groups extending from an exterior portion of the base particle, the base particle including a cross-linked polyurea and at least one of a pigment and a dye. The cross-linked polyurea may form a network throughout the base particle. A method of making the composite particle includes providing either a solution containing a dye or a dispersion containing a pigment in a water-dispersible polyfunctional isocyanate dissolved in a water-miscible solvent, forming an emulsion of the solution/dispersion in water, agitating the emulsion while the polyfunctional isocyanate is converted into a cross-linked polyurea, and separating the composite particle containing the cross-linked polyurea and the dye/pigment from the emulsion.
US09995983B2	Liquid crystal device According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal device includes a first substrate including a first electrode and a second electrode opposed to the first electrode, a second substrate opposed to the first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer including liquid crystal molecules held between the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the second electrode is positioned closer to the liquid crystal layer than is the first electrode and has a polygonal-shaped first opening including at least one projection, and the liquid crystal layer indicates transparency when no voltage is applied thereto and indicates scattering when a voltage is applied thereto.
US09995974B2	Liquid crystal display A liquid crystal display includes a first substrate, a gate line disposed on the first substrate and extending parallel to a major horizontal reference line of the display, and a plurality of pixel unit cells disposed on and tesslating a display area of the first substrate where each unit cell includes a first field generating electrode and a second field generating electrode with an insulating layer interposed therebetween, wherein a first one of the first and second field generating electrodes has a plurality of cutouts defined therein for producing corresponding liquid crystal domains, the plurality of cutouts each including a first inclined edge portion forming a first angle with the vertical reference line and a second inclined edge portion forming a second angle with the vertical reference line that is different from the first angle, wherein a ratio of a length of the first inclined edge portion to a length of the cutout is about 80% or more, and the density of the plurality of pixels is about 200 PPI or more.
US09995972B2	Display device A display device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventive concept includes: a first insulation substrate; a thin film transistor; a pixel electrode; a second insulation substrate; and a common electrode. The pixel electrode includes a first subpixel electrode including a first horizontal stem portion and a first vertical stem portion perpendicular thereto at one end of the first horizontal stem portion and a second subpixel electrode including a second vertical stem portion and a second horizontal stem portion perpendicular thereto at one end of the second horizontal stem portion, a plurality of regions in which arrangements of liquid crystal molecules are respectively different are divided by the first horizontal stem portion, the first vertical stem portion, the second horizontal stem portion, and the second vertical stem portion, and each of the plurality of regions has a longest vertical length of less than about 100 μm.
US09995971B2	Pixel structure and liquid crystal display panel A pixel structure having a substrate, an insulating layer and a pixel electrode is disclosed. The pixel electrode has first sub-electrodes and second sub-electrodes. The first sub-electrodes are arranged on a first region of the insulating layer and spaced apart from each other, and the second sub-electrodes are continuously disposed on a second region of the insulating layer. The first region is a flat region of the insulating layer, and the second region is a grooved region of the insulating layer.
US09995970B2	Manufacturing method of a liquid crystal device comprising an alignment film formed under reduced pressure The object can be achieved by the following structure. A material whose value of fracture toughness is greater than or equal to 1.5 [MPa·m1/2] is used for a base substrate and a counter substrate which hold a liquid crystal material therebetween; a first sealant containing liquid crystal contaminants at less than or equal to 1×10−4 wt % is provided so as be in contact with the liquid crystal material and to surround the liquid crystal material seamlessly; the second sealant is provided to surround the first sealant; and the base substrate and the counter substrate which hold the liquid crystal material therebetween using the first sealant and the second sealant are bonded with a bond strength of greater than or equal to 1 [N/mm2].
US09995965B2	Liquid crystal display device In an FFS liquid crystal display device, viewing angle characteristics are further improved. In an FFS liquid crystal display device, the alignment axis of a first alignment film of a first substrate and the alignment axis of a second alignment film of a second substrate are directed in the same direction. At least two of an upper polarizer, a lower polarizer, or a retardation plate 160 satisfy conditions below. (1) The absorption axis of the upper polarizer forms an angle of one to 45 degrees inclusive with the alignment axis. (2) The absorption axis of the lower polarizer forms an angle of 91 to 135 degrees inclusive or forms an angle of 45 to 89 degrees inclusive with the alignment axis. (3) The extension axis of the retardation plate 160 forms an angle of one to 45 degrees inclusive with the alignment axis.
US09995961B1	Display apparatus with reflective structure A display apparatus is provided. The display apparatus includes a light source. The display apparatus includes a display target configured to receive light from the light source. The display target displays an image using at least a portion of the light received from the light source. The display apparatus includes a first reflective structure configured to reduce an outgoing angle of at least a portion of the light from the light source. The display apparatus includes a second reflective structure configured to longitudinally translate at least a portion of the light from at least one of the light source and the first reflective structure toward the display target.
US09995956B2	Integrated fully-sealed liquid cryatal screen and manufacturing process for same A manufacturing process for an integrated fully-sealed liquid crystal screen is disclosed. Components sequentially arranged are adhered to each other into a whole by a solid ultraviolet flexible adhesive, the components comprising a screen protecting glass, a liquid crystal screen set, a support frame and a rear glass cover plate and an edge lighting type backlight module being nested in the support frame. The touch and display integrated screen manufactured by the process is fully-sealed, waterproof, damp-proof and ultrathin, all gaps of the screen protecting glass or the touch screen set, a liquid crystal display screen set and the side lighting type backlight module are eliminated, the image definition is improved, and also the brightness can be reduced to achieve a remarkable energy-saving effect.
US09995954B2	Liquid crystal display device A conductive film stuck to a transparent conductive film of a liquid crystal panel is protruded along a display surface and the protruded part is formed as non-adhesive so that the protruded part is not stuck to the members other than the liquid crystal panel. The protruded part contacts with a conductor on the front frame side so as to electrically connect the transparent conductive film of the liquid crystal panel and the front frame. When the liquid crystal panel moves, the conductive film can move in a direction in parallel to the display surface by following the liquid crystal panel, which prevents deterioration of the conductive film. Therefore, no excessive force works on the stuck part between the transparent conductive film and the conductive film. It solves the exfoliation issue of the conductive film, and the transparent conductive film can be electrically connected to the front frame stably.
US09995952B2	Driving method of liquid crystal display panel Disclosed is a driving method of a liquid crystal display panel. Area division is implemented to obtain at least three division areas for individually providing a compensation signal voltage to each division area according to the difference of the actual brightnesses and the target brightnesses, and with the compensation signal voltage, implementing enhancement to a data signal voltage corresponded with a sub pixel, of which a difference of the data signal voltage (V+) in a positive polarity driving cycle or the data signal voltage (V−) in a negative polarity driving cycle and the common voltage (VCOM) is smaller, and implementing abatement to a data signal voltage corresponded with a sub pixel, of which a difference of the data signal voltage (V+) in the positive polarity driving cycle or the data signal voltage (V−) in the negative polarity driving cycle and the common voltage (VCOM) is larger.
US09995951B2	Methods of patterning and making masks for three-dimensional substrates The present invention provides a method of making a mask for patterning a three-dimensional substrate. A mandrel includes a form machined in a surface corresponding to a shape of the substrate. A layer of material is deposited in a first region of the form and a metal layer is deposited in a second region of the form. A portion of the mandrel is subsequently removed. The present invention also provides a method of patterning a three-dimensional substrate with a mask.
US09995944B2	Optical stacks for sparkle reduction Optical stacks including a grating structure that generates diffraction in two in-plane dimensions. The optical stacks may include two gratings, which may be one-directional or two-directional, or may include a single two-directional grating. The optical stacks include particles selected to give controlled diffusion of light. The optical stacks are suitable for reducing sparkle in displays.
US09995943B2	Phase difference plate and manufacturing method thereof, display device A phase difference plate, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device are provided. The phase difference plate includes: a substrate; and a plurality of strip-shaped regions with an equal width, formed on the substrate and made of liquid crystal photoalignment material, wherein strip-shaped regions in which liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal photoalignment material are aligned in a horizontal direction and strip-shaped regions in which liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal photoalignment material are aligned in a vertical direction are arranged alternately along an arrangement direction, the horizontal direction is a direction parallel with the substrate and the vertical direction is a direction perpendicular to the substrate.
US09995942B2	Autostereoscopic 3D display device An autostereoscopic 3D display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured to set the width of a viewing diamond to a/n times (where a and n are natural numbers satisfying the condition: a
US09995940B2	Laminated alignment structure for eyecup assemblies in a virtual reality headset An eyecup assembly includes an electronic display element of a head-mounted display (HMD), a transparent plastic frame, an eyecup of the HMD, and a coupling interface. The plastic frame is laminated to the electronic display element and includes a center portion and a peripheral portion. The center portion includes an optical component and the peripheral portion including at least two protruding alignment structures. The eyecup includes alignment structures coupled to the at least two protruding alignment structures on the frame. The coupling interface interfaces with an alignment system. The alignment system is configured to align the eyecup assembly to the electronic display by adjusting a position of the electronic display relative to the eyecup so that a test image displayed by the electronic display after transmission through the optical component in the frame and an aperture of the eyecup is within a threshold value of a reference image.
US09995938B2	Spectacle lens for a display device that can be fitted on the head of a user and generates an image A spectacle lens for a display device can be fitted on the head of a user and generate an image. The spectacle lens can be constructed with several shells including an outer shell and an inner shell which is joined to the outer shell, wherein a curved channel shell, which includes a curved first reflecting surface and a curved second reflecting surface, is arranged between the outer and inner shell. The light guiding channel includes at least one section of the channel shell and the two reflecting surfaces on which the light bundles are reflected for guiding from the coupling-in section to the coupling-out section.
US09995937B2	Transparent sound dampening projection screen The invention generally provides a transparent projection screen material with sound dampening properties and methods for using a screen to manipulate light and sound. Methods and materials of the invention can improve live sound and sound recordings by inhibiting ambient sound from reaching listeners or microphones and reducing feedback.
US09995934B2	Spectacle lens for a display device that can be fitted on the head of a user and generates an image, and display device with such a spectacle lens A spectacle lens for a display device that can be fitted on the head of a user and generate an image guides light bundles of pixels of the generated image, which are coupled into the spectacle lens via the coupling-in section of the spectacle lens, in the spectacle lens by reflections on the rear side and a reflecting surface lying opposite this to the coupling-out section and coupling them out of the spectacle lens via the coupling-out section. A splitter layer reflects a portion of light bundles reflected by the rear side towards the rear side and transmits a portion, wherein after reflection on the rear side the reflected portion strikes the splitter layer again and there, once again, is partially reflected towards the rear side and partially transmitted. The transmitted portions strike the facets are coupled out of the spectacle lens through the splitter layer and the rear side.
US09995921B2	Surface adhering lens A lens structure includes an elastomer formed as a lens. The lens has a planar surface and a curved surface opposed to the planar surface. The elastomer of the lens structure may be formed of a base polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material. When the lens structure is applied proximate to a camera sensor array of an electronic device, such as a cell phone or a tablet, the combination can function as microscope. By altering parameters of the lens, such as the radius of curvature, it is possible to achieve a wide range of magnification.
US09995919B2	Method and configuration for the optical detection of an illuminated specimen A method for the optical detection of an illuminated specimen, wherein the illuminating light impinges in a spatially structured manner in at least one plane on the specimen and several images of the specimen are acquired by a detector in different positions of the structure on the specimen. An optical sectional image and/or an image with enhanced resolution is then calculated. The method includes generating a diffraction pattern in the direction of the specimen in or near the pupil of the objective lens or in a plane conjugate to the pupil. A phase plate with regions of varying phase delays is dedicated to the diffraction pattern in or near the pupil of the objective lens or in a plane conjugate to said pupil, and different phase angles of the illuminating light are set.
US09995918B2	Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus including the same Provided is a zoom lens, including, in order from an object side to an image side: a first lens unit having a positive refractive power; a second lens unit having a negative refractive power; a third lens unit having a positive refractive power; a fourth lens unit having a positive refractive power; a fifth lens unit having a negative refractive power; and a sixth lens unit having a positive refractive power, in which an interval between the first lens unit and the second lens unit is increased during zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end, an interval between adjacent lens units is changed during zooming, and the lens shapes of lenses included in the first lens unit are appropriately set.
US09995910B1	Optical assembly for a compact wide field of view digital camera with high MTF An optical assembly for a point action camera or other compact digital camera having a wide field of view, includes multiple lens elements, including at least one lens element that has an aspheric lens surface. The optical assembly is configured to provide a field of view in excess of 120 degrees. The optical assembly has a modulation transfer function (hereinafter “MTF”) at the Nyquist frequency that is above 0.3 and a MTF at half Nyquist frequency that is above 0.5 across the wide field of view.
US09995908B2	Optical imaging lens system, image capturing unit and electronic device An optical imaging lens system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens element, a second lens element, a third lens element and a fourth lens element. The first lens element with positive refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof. The second lens element has negative refractive power. The third lens element with positive refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof. The fourth lens element with negative refractive power has an object-side surface being convex in a paraxial region thereof and an image-side surface being concave in a paraxial region thereof, the image-side surface of the fourth lens element has at least one convex critical point in an off-axial region thereof, and the two surfaces thereof are both aspheric. The optical imaging lens system has a total of four lens elements.
US09995906B2	Optical image capturing system A four-piece optical lens for capturing image and a four-piece optical module for capturing image are provided. In order from an object side to an image side, the optical lens along the optical axis includes a first lens with refractive power; a second lens with refractive power; a third lens with refractive power; and a fourth lens with positive refractive power; and at least one of the image-side surface and object-side surface of each of the four lens elements are aspheric. The optical lens can increase aperture value and improve the imagining quality for use in compact cameras.
US09995896B2	Optical fiber ribbon and optical fiber cable housing optical fiber ribbon Provided is an optical fiber ribbon capable of achieving higher density and reduction in diameter and accurately placing optical fibers in V-shape grooves in a fusion machine without failure. The optical fiber ribbon 1 includes three or more of optical fibers 2 arranged in parallel and connecting portions 3 connecting adjacent two optical fibers 2 together, the connecting portions 3 being intermittently provided in each of a ribbon longitudinal direction and a ribbon width direction. The connecting portions 3 are each formed in such a manner as to fill resin into a gap S formed between adjacent two optical fibers 2, and both surfaces of the respective connecting portions 3 are each formed into a recess having a concave shape curved toward a center of the gap S to separate from lines 4,5 each connecting contact points of the optical fibers 2 when being placed on a horizontal surface.
US09995894B2	Semiconductor device with optical and electrical vias The method comprises providing a semiconductor substrate, which has a main surface and an opposite further main surface, arranging a contact pad above the further main surface, forming a through-substrate via from the main surface to the further main surface at a distance from the contact pad and, by the same method step together with the through-substrate via, forming a further through-substrate via above the contact pad, arranging a hollow metal via layer in the through-substrate via and, by the same method step together with the metal via layer, arranging a further metal via layer in the further through-substrate via, the further metal via layer contacting the contact pad, and removing a bottom portion of the metal via layer to form an optical via laterally surrounded by the metal via layer.
US09995893B2	Optical-electrical hybrid module There is provided an optical-electrical hybrid module including a substrate on which a plurality of optical communication modules are arranged, the plurality of optical communication modules transmitting or receiving an optical signal through an optical fiber cable and performing conversion between the optical signal and an electrical signal. A shield case covering the optical communication modules includes a surface inclined in a direction away from a position in which the optical fiber cable is mounted to each optical communication module.
US09995886B2	Cable connector An embodiment includes a cable connector that includes a connector housing, a fiber support structure, and a latch structure. The connector housing defines a housing cavity. The fiber support structure is attached to the connector housing and extends therefrom in a first direction. The fiber support structure defines a fiber cavity configured to receive a fiber subassembly. The latch structure is attached to the connector housing at a first end and extends therefrom in the first direction. The latch structure is separated in a second direction from the fiber support structure and includes a ramped surface at a second end. The ramped surface displaces the latch structure in a direction opposite the second direction in response to a force in a direction opposite the first direction and does not include a release structure configured to disengage the latch structure from latch tabs of a communication module.
US09995883B2	Optical adapter module with managed connectivity A connection module includes a module body and a module circuit board arrangement. The module body defines a first port and an open first end providing access to the first port. The module circuit board arrangement extends across the open first end within a peripheral boundary defined by the module body. The module circuit board arrangement includes at least a first contact set that extends into the first port of the module body; an electronic controller that is electrically connected to the first contact set; and a circuit board connector facing outwardly from the module board arrangement. Example connection modules include optical adapters and electrical jacks.
US09995879B2	Dynamic spatial-mode allocation in an under-addressed optical MIMO system The outage probability in an under-addressed optical MIMO system may be reduced by configuring a spatial-mode coupler at a transmitter and/or a spatial-mode separator at a receiver to dynamically change its spatial-mode configuration on a time scale that is shorter than the channel coherence time. Provided that the MIMO system employs an FEC code that has a sufficient error-correcting capacity for correcting the amount of errors corresponding to an average state of the MIMO channel established between the transmitter and receiver, this relatively fast dynamic change tends to reduce the frequency of events during which the number of errors per FEC-encoded block of data exceeds the error-correcting capacity of the FEC code.
US09995876B2	Configurable compact photonic platforms Compact photonics platforms and methods of forming the same are provided. An example of a compact photonics platform includes a layered structure having an active region along a longitudinal axis, a facet having an angle no less than a critical angle formed at least one longitudinal end of the active region, and a waveguide having at least one grating coupler positioned in alignment with the angled facet to couple light out to or in from the waveguide.
US09995867B2	Light source, backlight module and display apparatus The present disclosure provides a light source, a backlight module and a display apparatus. The light source includes: a light emitting diode chip; and a fluorescent powder layer arranged to face towards the light emitting diode chip and configured to receive a first light emitted from the light emitting diode chip and to emit a second light with a wavelength different from that of the first light, wherein the light emitting diode chip and the fluorescent powder layer are moveable with respect to each other such that quantity of fluorescent powder in the fluorescent powder layer excited by the light emitted from the light emitting diode chip increases or decreases. In the above solution, the light emitting diode chip and the fluorescent powder layer are movable with respect to each other, so as to adjust color temperature of backlight conveniently.
US09995857B2	System, apparatus, and method for displaying an image using focal modulation A system (100), apparatus (110), and method (900) for displaying an image (880). The light (800) in the image (880) is modified by a tuning assembly (700) to possess more than one focal point (870). Thus a single image (880) can include multiple depth regions (860). Each depth region (860) can be comprised of light (800) possessing a distinct focal point (870). The tuning assembly (700) can be implemented in the form a tunable lens (710), a tunable lens array (720), a movable lens (730), or a deformable mirror (740).
US09995852B2	Cover member for exhibit item or display Provided is a cover member for an exhibit or display element which makes an exhibit or display element visible as if nothing existed between the exhibit or display element and the viewer and can protect the exhibit or display element. The cover member (3) for an exhibit or display element includes a transparent substrate (31a) and an antireflection film (31b) formed on at least one surface of the transparent substrate. The cover member (3) for an exhibit or display element has a luminous reflectance of 0.5% or less.
US09995847B2	Airborne particulate source detection system A method comprises receiving data associated with a detection of the odor, the data associated with the detection of the odor comprising a location of the detection of the odor and a time of the detection of the odor, retrieving weather data corresponding to the detection of the odor, the weather data including a wind speed and direction in the location of the detection of the odor at the time of the detection of the odor, calculating a location of the source of the odor as a function of the location of the detection of the odor, the time of the location of the odor and the wind speed and direction in the location of the detection of the odor, and outputting to a user on a display a graphical representation of a likely area that includes the location of the source of the odor.
US09995846B2	Ultrasonic cleaning of marine geophysical equipment Various methods and apparatuses for facilitating cleaning of submerged geophysical equipment using sound waves transmitted at ultrasonic frequencies are disclosed. In some embodiments, one or more transducers may be configured to transmit sound at one or more ultrasonic frequencies. The sound at ultrasonic frequencies may be transmitted in the vicinity of submerged geophysical equipment, such as a sensor streamer towed behind a survey vessel. Obstructions (e.g., barnacle larvae) adhering to surfaces of the geophysical equipment may be loosened or removed altogether when ultrasonic transmissions occur within its vicinity. The transducers used to transmit the ultrasonic frequencies may be implemented in various ways, such as being attached to a remote operated vehicle, a cleaning unit, or as being an integral component of the geophysical equipment.
US09995839B2	Method for determining at least one physical parameter using a sensor unit In a method for determining at least one physical parameter, a sensor unit which is activated by at least one periodic excitation (1.4) is provided, wherein the sensor unit has at least one detection region in which changes of the parameter in the surroundings of the sensor unit lead to output signal (1.7) from the sensor unit. The sensor unit is wired such that if there are no changes of the parameter in the detection region the output signal (1.7) is a zero signal or virtually a zero signal at the output of the sensor unit, whereas if there are changes of the parameter in the detection region the output signal (1.7) is a signal that is not zero and has a specific amplitude and phase. In a closed control loop, the non-zero signal in the receive path is adjusted to zero using a control signal to achieve an adjusted state even in the presence of changes of the parameter in the detection region. The control signal is evaluated in order to determine the physical parameter. The output signal (1.7) from the sensor unit is reduced substantially to the fundamental wave of the excitation (1.4) and the output signal (1.7) is controlled to zero in the entire phase space by means of at least one pulse width modulation. A temperature-stable, fully digital measuring system is provided as a result of the fact that the at least one pulse width modulation itself generates a correction signal with a variable pulse width and possibly a variable phase which is then added to the output signal (1.7) from the sensor unit and the output signal is thereby controlled to zero in the entire phase space, wherein the pulse width of the correction signal and/or the phase of the correction signal is/are determined by the deviations of the output signal (1.7) from zero.
US09995836B2	Overboard system for deployment and retrieval of autonomous seismic nodes Embodiments of systems and methods for deploying and retrieving a plurality of autonomous seismic nodes from the back deck of a marine vessel using an overboard node deployment and retrieval system are presented. The overboard system may comprise one or more overboard wheels that are actively powered to move in response to changes in movement of the deployed cable. The overboard system may comprise a first overboard wheel with a plurality of rollers and a second overboard wheel configured to detect movement and/or changes in a position of the deployment line. The overboard system may be configured to move the first overboard wheel in response to movement of the second overboard wheel. In addition, the first overboard wheel may comprise at least one opening or pocket configured to hold a node while the node passes across the wheel. Other seismic devices may also pass through the overboard system, such as transponders and weights attached to the deployment cable.
US09995830B2	Scintillation event localization in a radiation particle detector A method for scintillation event localization in a radiation particle detector includes providing a plurality of scintillator element locations (2′) configured to emit a burst of photons responsive to a radiation particle being absorbed at the scintillator element location (2′). A burst of photons emitted by the scintillator element location (2′) is detected with a photosensor (5). The photosensor (5) includes an array of single photon avalanche diodes configured to break down responsive to impingement of a photon. Breakdown data (30) is acquired indicative of which of the single photon avalanche diodes are in breakdown. Predetermined photosensor sensitivity data (20, 40) assigns single photon avalanche diodes to groups. Each group is assigned to exactly one scintillator element location (2′). Finally the number of single photon avalanche diodes in breakdown is determined for each group individually to identify the scintillator element location (2′) that emitted the burst of photons.
US09995828B2	Generating acoustic quiet zone by noise injection techniques A quiet zone generation technique for acoustic/audio signals is proposed for mitigation of selected noise or interferences over limited areas in free space by injecting the very acoustic noise, interference, or audio feedback signals via iterative processing, generating quiet zones dynamically. This creates undesired noise-free quiet zones. Optimization loops operating iteratively to electronically process cancellation signals consist of three interconnected functional blocks: (1) an acoustic injection array, consisting of pick-up arrays to obtain the interference signals, beam forming networks for element weighting and/or re-positioning, and array elements for noise injections, (2) a diagnostic network with strategically located probes, and (3) an optimization processor with cost minimization algorithms to calculate element weights for updating.
US09995825B2	Distance measurement device, distance measurement method, and distance measurement program A distance measurement device includes an imaging unit, an emission unit, a light receiving unit, a derivation unit which derives a distance to the subject based on a timing at which directional light is emitted and a timing at which reflected light is received, an execution unit which executes at least one of focus adjustment of an imaging optical system with respect to the subject or exposure adjustment prior to imaging by the imaging unit, and a control unit which performs control such that the timing at which at least one of focus adjustment or exposure adjustment is executed by the execution unit and the timing of a distance measurement by the emission unit, the light receiving unit, and the derivation unit are synchronized and performs control such that transition is performed to a state where actual exposure by the imaging unit is possible after the distance measurement is completed.
US09995824B2	Methods and system to assist search for lost and submerged objects Devices and methods for aiding a large area search for submerged objects such as aircraft. A searcher transmits interrogation signals to be received by a device at the target object. The interrogation signals have a long range relative to that of returned signals. The target device responds with a ping signal modified to be more easily found by means of information contained in the interrogation signal. The information may be inherent in the nature of the received signal or data encoded and embedded by the searching device. The target device may use a microprocessor to do complex operations using the information from the interrogation signal and other information. Detection of a weak ping is facilitated by such means as being beamed in the direction of the interrogation, arriving at a predictable time, or having parameters adapted to values requested by the searcher.
US09995823B2	Systems and methods for utilizing compressed sensing in an entertainment system The present disclosure provides systems and methods for using compressed sensing for imaging an object for use in combination with an entertainment or infotainment device. For example, the system may utilize a few—(e.g., 1, 2, 3 . . . ) pixel imaging sensor to obtain coarse image data from each of a plurality of subregions of a region of interest. Compressed sensing techniques may then be used to estimate a higher resolution image of the region of interest using the coarse image data from the plurality of subregions.
US09995815B2	Energy metering system and method for its calibration An energy metering system includes a plurality of sensors arranged in proximity to circuit breakers of a distribution panel for sensing a magnetic field in the area of the circuit breakers and providing corresponding sensor data. The system further includes a data processing system for converting the sensor data of the plurality of sensors into electrical load information for a plurality of electrical circuits protected by corresponding circuit breakers. The system further includes a calibration unit configured to determine at least a reference voltage and a reference current of at least one circuit. The data processing system is configured to calibrate a relationship between the sensor data and the load information based on the reference voltage and reference current determined by the calibration device in a calibration mode of the energy metering system.
US09995814B2	Method for compensating for propagation inhomogeneities for a temporal reflectometry signal A method for compensating for the propagation inhomogeneities in a time-domain reflectogram measured for a given cable comprises the following steps, executed in an iterative manner: injecting a test signal into the cable, measuring the reflection of the test signal to form a time-domain reflectogram, identifying at least a time portion of the time-domain reflectogram comprising at least one amplitude peak corresponding to a propagation inhomogeneity, subtracting the identified time portion of the reflectogram, divided by the signal reflection coefficient at the injection point, from the test signal, and replacing the test signal with the result of the subtraction.
US09995810B2	Apparatus and method for decreasing bio-effects of magnetic gradient field gradients A magnetic field generator includes a power source and a segmented or un-segmented coil connected to the power source to generate a time-varying magnetic field. Energy is applied to the coil so that the coil generates a time-varying magnetic field gradient with a magnitude of at least 1 milliTesla per meter and a rise-time of less than 1000 microseconds. The coil may be comprised of overlapping, non-overlapping or partially overlapping coil segments that may individually energized to further improve the operating characteristics of the coil to further decrease bio-effects in magnetic resonance imaging through the use of reduced pulse lengths and multi-phasic magnetic gradient pulses.
US09995807B2	Control unit and method to monitor a data acquisition of magnetic resonance image data In a control method and control unit to monitor a data acquisition of magnetic resonance image data of an imaging area located in a measurement volume of a magnetic resonance apparatus, an RF excitation pulse is radiated by an RF transmission/reception device of the magnetic resonance apparatus, raw data are acquired after a time after the radiated excitation pulse, by means of the RF transmission/reception device, and store the raw data, the raw data are transmitted to a monitoring unit and (a) through (c) are repeated while switching different gradients for spatial coding by readout of k-space corresponding to the imaging area along trajectories that are predetermined by the switched gradients, up to a termination criterion that is predetermined by the monitoring unit.
US09995805B2	Magnetic field homogeneity adjustment method, magnet device, and magnetic resonance imaging apparatus A computer executes: calculating a first volume distribution (v.d.) of magnetic materials on a shim tray, based on a first magnetic field strength distribution (m.f.s.d.) in a magnetic field space (S3); acquiring a first composite distribution (c.d.) representing a volume by addition of volumes of magnetic materials for each region of the shim tray, and positions of the regions (S5); calculating a virtual m.f.s.d. created by magnetic materials supposed to be arranged as in the first c.d. (S8); calculating a second m.f.s.d. by addition of the first m.f.s.d. and the virtual m.f.s.d. (S9); calculating a second v.d. of magnetic materials on the shim tray, based on the second m.f.s.d. (S3); acquiring a second c.d. representing a volume by addition of volumes of magnetic materials for each region, and positions of the regions (S5); and displaying the positions of regions and the volumes in the first c.d. and second c.d. (S10).
US09995804B2	System and method for locating a gradient coil A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system includes an MRI magnet (100) including a bore (101) and having a magnetic field and a gradient coil (400) disposed within the bore and having an isocenter (404). A first location within the MRI magnet is determined with respect to a first predetermined reference surface of the MRI magnet, the first location representing a center (104) of the magnetic field. A second location within the gradient coil is determined with respect to a second predetermined reference surface of the gradient coil, the second location representing the isocenter. When the gradient coil is installed within the bore, the second predetermined reference surface abuts the first predetermined reference surface. The first predetermined reference surface is adjusted to an adjusted position, the adjusted position being determined as a function of the first location and the second location and corresponding to a position of the first predetermined reference surface at which the first location coincides with the second location when the gradient coil is installed within the bore.
US09995803B2	Auto-tune- and-match coils for human whole-body imaging and method A progressive series of five new coils is described. The first coil solves problems of transmit-field inefficiency and inhomogeneity for heart and body imaging, with a close-fitting, 16-channel TEM conformal array design with efficient shield-capacitance decoupling. The second coil progresses directly from the first with automatic tuning and matching, an innovation of huge importance for multi-channel transmit coils. The third coil combines the second, auto-tuned multi-channel transmitter with a 32-channel receiver for best transmit-efficiency, control, receive-sensitivity and parallel-imaging performance. The final two coils extend the innovative technology of the first three coils to multi-nuclear (31P—1H) designs to make practical human-cardiac imaging and spectroscopy possible for the first time at 7 T.
US09995799B2	System and method for magnetic characterization of induction heating wires A system for magnetic characterization of an induction heating wire including a conductor having a first end and a second end longitudinally opposed from the first end, wherein the induction heating wire extends along a portion of the conductor and is electrically isolated from the conductor, an alternating current power source electrically coupled with the conductor to pass an electric current between the first end and the second end, a current sensor positioned to sense the electric current, a sensing wire including a first lead and an opposed second lead, wherein the sensing wire defines a first loop having a first polarity and a second loop having a second, opposite polarity, the second loop being connected to the first loop at a crossover, and wherein the induction heating wire extends through the first loop, and a voltage sensor positioned to sense a voltage across the first lead and the second lead.
US09995798B2	MLU based magnetic sensor having improved programmability and sensitivity A magnetic sensor device for sensing an external magnetic field includes a plurality of MLU cells, each MLU cell having a magnetic tunnel junction including a sense layer having a sense magnetization freely orientable in the external magnetic field, a storage layer having a storage magnetization; and a tunnel barrier layer between the sense layer and the storage layer. The magnetic sensor device includes a stress inducing device configured for applying an anisotropic mechanical stress on the magnetic tunnel junction such as to induce a stress-induced magnetic anisotropy on at least one of the sense layer and the storage layer. The stress-induced magnetic anisotropy induced by the stress inducing device corresponds substantially to a net magnetic anisotropy of the at least one of the sense layer and the storage layer. The magnetic sensor device can be programmed easily and has improved sensitivity.
US09995794B2	Methods for testing a battery and devices configured to test a battery A method for testing a battery may be provided. The method may include: bringing the battery to a pre-determined voltage; determining a parameter of the battery, the parameter of the battery including at least one of an entropy of the battery at the pre-determined voltage or an enthalpy of the battery at the pre-determined voltage; and determining an ageing history of the battery based on the determined parameter.
US09995787B2	Apparatus and method for manufacturing substrates A substrate manufacturing apparatus includes a test apparatus including a test handler module for performing a test process on a substrate. The test handler module may include a conveyor unit to transfer a substrate, a handler unit for performing a test process on the substrate, and a transfer unit for transferring the substrate between the conveyor unit and the handler unit. The conveyor unit may include a feed conveyor and a discharge conveyor spaced apart from the feed conveyor.
US09995786B2	Apparatus and method for evaluating semiconductor device An apparatus for evaluating a semiconductor device includes: a chuck stage; an insulating substrate; a plurality of probes; a temperature adjustment unit; an evaluation/control unit; and a probe position/temperature inspection device including an inspection plate, a thermo-chromic material, a photographing unit, and an image processing unit. The photographing unit photographs a color-change image of the thermo-chromic material in a state in which distal end portions of the plurality of probes are pressed against the upper surface of the inspection plate. The image processing unit performs image processing to the color-change image to calculate in-plane positions and temperatures of the distal end portions of the plurality of probes.
US09995784B2	Method and circuit for determining faults in appliances A washing and/or drying appliance circuit system having an electric load, first and second power supply terminals, first and second switching elements operable for coupling/decoupling the power supply terminals to terminals of the electric load, a control unit for operating the switching elements, and a conditioning arrangement. The conditioning arrangement has a unidirectional signal flow element coupled between the first supply terminal for receiving a supply signal and the second load terminal, and an impedance arrangement coupled between the first load terminal and the control unit. With the first and second switching elements in the opened-states the first supply terminal, the unidirectional signal flow element, the electric load and the impedance arrangement define a conductive path providing a check signal to the control unit. The control unit is configured for determining a fault in the circuit system based on the check signal.
US09995782B2	Insulation problem detection apparatus An insulation problem detection apparatus includes a microcomputer configured to: control a voltage detecting circuit to measure an insulation resistance of a vehicle based on a voltage at which a capacitor in the vehicle is charged, the microcomputer controlling the voltage detecting circuit to connect the capacitor in series to a power supply mounted in the vehicle and a ground of a body of the vehicle to measure the voltage at which the capacitor is charged; obtain a total voltage of the power supply from an external apparatus that is external to the microcomputer when the insulation resistance of the vehicle is measured by the voltage detecting circuit; and detect whether there is an insulation problem of the vehicle based on (i) the total voltage of the power supply obtained from the external apparatus and (ii) the insulation resistance of the vehicle measured by the voltage detecting circuit.
US09995778B1	Sensor apparatus An improved sensor apparatus for developing a signal related to an inductive sensor in a resonant circuit are disclosed. This improvement is realized by adding a known capacitance to the resonant circuit and comparing the resulting natural resonance frequency to the frequency without the known capacitance. In this way a measure of the resonant capacitance is developed to correct the sensor signal for the effect of any changes in that capacitance. One disclosed embodiment adds an electronically variable capacitance which is adjusted to yield a constant capacitance that produces a sensor signal insensitive to variations in the resonant circuit capacitance. The resonant capacitance measurement may also provide an indication of another sensor state, such as temperature or pressure, which may be used to further correct for temperature or pressure sensitivities in the sensor signal. The invention is extended by juxtaposing the inductance for capacitance in the sensor resonant circuit.
US09995771B2	Shunt resistor A shunt resistor, at least a part of which has a resistive element with pre-set resistivity, is configured to bridge between two electrodes and detect a current value of a current flowing between the electrodes by detecting a voltage drop in the resistive element. The shunt resistor includes two connecting parts affixed to the electrodes via a conductive adhesive, respectively, and the connecting parts electrically connected to the affixed electrodes, a bridging part bridging between the connecting parts by being extended from one of the connecting parts to the other one of the connecting parts, and two bonding wires used to detect a voltage drop in the resistive element. The bonding wires are bonded to the bridging part.
US09995750B2	Methods of detecting and measuring glutamine and analogues thereof, and methods related thereto Method for the detection of glutamine and its analogs are provided by the present disclosure. Also provided are methods for measuring the levels of glutamine and its analogs, including diagnostic methods. Further provided are methods that utilize glutamine analogs for the synthesis of colored pigments and other useful agents. The methods comprise the use of a nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) under conditions to produce an indigoidine or indigoidine-related pigment.
US09995749B2	Method for detecting a target analyte There is method for detecting the presence or absence of a target analyte in a sample comprising the steps of: allowing an inorganic fluorescent particle to conjugate with a detection biomolecule that is bound to said target analyte, if present in said sample, said target analyte additionally being bound by a capture biomolecule immobilized on or within a nanostructure; and detecting the fluorescence emitted by said inorganic fluorescent particle, said nanostructure being capable of generating a surface plasmon resonance effect when excited by a light source to substantially increase the fluorescence emitted by said inorganic fluorescent particle, wherein the detected fluorescence indicates the presence of said target analyte in said sample.
US09995748B2	Biomarkers for prostate cancer comprising interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor alpha and soluble tumor necrosis factor-alpha receptor 1 The disclosure provides methods of using biomarkers to improve diagnosis of forms of prostate. The method includes testing a biological sample from an individual for a interleukin-8 (IL-8), Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) and soluble tumor necrosis factor-α receptor 1 (sTNFR1), and may further include testing for prostate serum antigen (PSA). Use of these markers in combination provides tests that are more sensitive and specific than PSA in differentiating benign versus malignant prostate disease and/or localized CaP versus metastatic CaP and show that the specificity and sensitivity of a PSA-based CaP diagnosis can be significantly enhanced by measuring IL-8, TNF-a and sTNFR1.
US09995747B2	Specific monoclonal antibodies of the antigen M of the human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and use thereof in a diagnostic method The invention relates to murine monoclonal antibodies corresponding to monoclonal antibodies secreted by cell lines of hybridomas denominated 3G8/C11 and 7G4/A12, and which react against the antigen M of hMPV. Said antibodies do not compete with each other for the binding site for binding to the antigen, nor do they impede the simultaneous binding thereof to the antigen. Said monoclonal antibodies can be used for tests for the detection, diagnosis and/or determination of infection by hMPV.
US09995741B2	Complex for detecting target material and method of detecting target material using the same The present disclosure relates to a complex for detecting a target material comprising upconverting nanoparticles; and at least one target material specific aptamer-quencher, connected through a linker with the upconverting nanoparticles, a method of preparing the same, a kit for detecting a target material comprising the same, and a method of detecting a target material using the same.According to the present disclosure, different target materials in samples can be quantified or detected accurately based on luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET) of the upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) excited by a near infrared (NIR) light source.
US09995740B2	Method of determining temperature and method of detecting a target peptide Disclosed is a method of determining whether a temperature of a sample has reached a predetermined temperature. The method comprises the steps of: mixing an albumin-containing sample with a peptide reagent comprising a peptide for temperature determination; heating the mixture; detecting an optical change of the mixture; and determining whether the temperature of the mixture has reached the predetermined temperature based on the detection result of the optical change. In the method, a dissociation constant (Kd) of binding of the peptide for temperature determination to albumin is 500 μM or more, and the peptide for temperature determination comprises a first labeling substance and a second labeling substance.
US09995739B2	Protein detection via nanoreporters The invention provides methods, compositions, kits and devices for the detection of proteins. In some embodiments, the invention allows for multiplexed protein detection.
US09995737B2	Method to identify disease resistant quantitative trait loci in soybean and compositions thereof The present invention is in the field of plant breeding and genetics, particularly as it pertains to the genus, Glycine. More specifically, the invention relates to a method for screening soybean plants containing one or more quantitative trait loci for disease resistance, species of Glycine having such loci and methods for breeding for and screening of Glycine with such loci. The invention further relates to the use of exotic germplasm in a breeding program.
US09995736B2	Preparation and use of nucleated red blood cell simulating particles and hematology control mixtures The present disclosure provides a nucleated red blood cell simulating particle, which may be leukocytes bound to a fluorescent-staining inhibitor capable of stably binding to the nucleus or a nucleic acid in a cell so as to reduce the binding capacity of the particles to a fluorescent dye during their detection. The present disclosure also provides a method for preparing nucleated red blood cell simulating particles, including the following steps: (a) obtaining purified leukocytes; (b) suspending the leukocytes in a cell treatment solution containing a fluorescent-staining inhibitor which stably binds to the nucleus or a nucleic acid in a cell, and (c) washing the obtained product. The present disclosure also provides a hematology control mixture containing the nucleated red blood cell simulating particles. In addition, the present disclosure describes the use of the nucleated red blood cell simulating particles and the hematology control mixtures comprising the same, for the quality control of a blood cell analyzer.
US09995730B2	Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) Activity Reporter Cell Line The present invention relates to the construction of a new hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) responsive reporter gene construct, the genetic constructs and vectors containing the same. Further, the present invention relates to a stable cell line comprising the HIF responsive reporter construct, as well as methods and uses of the inventive constructs and cell lines to identify modulators of HIF activity.
US09995728B2	Quadruplex method The invention relates to a new method of determining in a sample the presence, absence or concentration of one or more target analytes, such as micro-ribonucleic acids (microRNAs or miRNAs). The invention may therefore relate to a multiplex assay for determining the presence or absence of each target analyte in a group of multiple analytess. The invention uses one or more probes comprising a quadruplex and transmembrane pores.
US09995720B2	Plug-in NOx sensor snorkel for reading optimization under packaging constraints A snorkel assembly for reading optimization of a sensor, wherein the snorkel assembly may be configured to be positioned around and spaced apart from the sensor. The snorkel assembly may include an upstream side and a downstream side. The snorkel assembly may include a cup section and a tube section extending from the cup section. The tube section may include an inlet opening on the upstream side of the snorkel assembly. The cup section may include an exhaust opening on the downstream side of the snorkel assembly.
US09995716B2	Method for determining boiler tube cold side cracking and article for accomplishing the same Disclosed herein is a scanning device for performing ultrasonic nondestructive testing of a tube, comprising a housing; the housing having bottom surface that is concavely curved with cavities to accommodate a waveguide assembly and an encoder assembly; where the waveguide assembly comprises a waveguide and a probe that are in communication with one another; the waveguide having at least one surface that is contoured to match an outer surface of the tube; where the waveguide facilitates the transmission of ultrasonic signals into the tube generated by the probe; and where the encoder assembly comprises a spring loaded wheel that contacts the tube; and where the encoder assembly provides a signal indicative of a location of the probe relative to a position on the tube as the scanning device is moved in a direction of a longitudinal axis of the tube.
US09995709B2	Substrate modification method Provided is a substrate modification method that enables improvement of reproducibility in measurement with use of capillary electrophoresis. The substrate modification method includes immobilizing, to a substrate surface, at least two types of modification groups selected from three types of modification groups that are a type of a modification group having one functional group, a type of a modification group having two to nine functional groups, and a type of a modification group having ten or more functional groups.
US09995706B2	Amperometric gas sensor The disclosed invention relates to an amperometric gas sensor for measuring the concentration of an analyte, comprising: a solid support; and a working electrode in contact with the solid support; wherein the analyte comprises a dopant which when in contact with the solid support increases the electrical conductivity of the solid support. A sterilization process employing the amperometric gas sensor is disclosed.
US09995703B2	Device similar to electrochemical camera and method for producing device A device for detecting chemical or biochemical substances in fluids for use in an electrochemical camera. The device includes a first carrier having a sensor array with a plurality of electrochemical sensors. A second carrier includes a porous layer having at least one functional region, in which specifically binding capturing molecules are immobilized. The at least one functional region is arranged directly adjacent to at least one non-functionalized region. Assigned to the at least one functional region and the at least one non-functionalized region are several sensors of the sensor array, for use as the electrochemical camera.
US09995694B2	Traveling wave spot probe Various examples of methods and systems are provided for traveling wave spot probes. In one embodiment, among others, a traveling wave spot probe includes one or more antennas positioned proximate to a coated surface. The one or more antennas can be configured to excite a surface traveling wave moving over an area under test by launching radio frequency (RF) energy at approximately a grazing angle to the coated surface under test. The one or more antennas can be positioned on a base placed proximate to the coated surface. The base can define the area of the coated surface under test. In another embodiment, a method for non-destructive testing of a coated surface includes positioning one or more antennas proximate to a coated surface and exciting a surface traveling wave over an area under test by transmitting RF energy via at least a portion of the one or more antennas.
US09995692B2	Systems and methods of controlling a manufacturing process for a microelectronic component Systems and methods for controlling manufacturing processes for microelectronic components are provided. In an exemplary embodiment, a method includes determining a specification range for a desired parameter. The microelectronic component is processed in a manufacturing tool, and a trace data set is recorded during the processing. An estimated trace data parameter is determined with the trace data set, and a first measured value of the microelectronic component is measured in a measurement tool. An estimated desired parameter is determined using the first measured value and the estimated trace data parameter, and the manufacturing process is adjusted when the estimated desired parameter is outside of the specification range.
US09995688B2	Use of superhydrophobic surfaces for liquid agglutination assays This invention relates to the use of thermodynamically incompatible surfaces in agglutination assays for the express purpose of using the sample as a key component of the detection instrument. Specifically, the invention relates to formation of a lense and a virtual container for rapid mixing via thermal energy by a sample liquid disposed on a superhydrophobic surfaces, and a subsequent specific analyte or overall protein concentration assay using particles agglutination for use in the industrial, environmental, and clinical laboratory test fields.
US09995678B2	Quantitative assessment of soil contaminants, particularly hydrocarbons, using reflectance spectroscopy Apparatus and method for efficiently assessing the results of reflectance spectroscopy on a soil sample to determine the presence of contaminants in the soil, by constructing a model based on analysis of known samples. The model may be constructed using an all possibilities approach and data mining techniques, on a range of samples, for example of different kinds of soil without pollutants and with different levels of pollutants. The Disclosure relates both to the construction of the model and to its use in the field in analyzing soil contaminants.
US09995673B2	Flow cell A flow cell including a flow cell bod having a flow path formed therein; an optically transmissive member disposed at a part wherein light from the light source is incident into, or emitted from, the flow path; a shock absorbing member that is disposed between the optically transmissive member and the cell body; an elastic member, made from a metal material, for pressing the optically transmissive member toward the cell body side; and a fastening tool, attached to the cell body, for positioning the elastic member.
US09995662B2	Single cell capture with polymer capture films The present invention provides methods, systems, assemblies, and articles for capturing single cells with a polymer capture film. In certain embodiments, the polymer capture films comprise a plurality of individual channels with top and bottom openings, where the channels are dimensioned such that a single cell is: i) is captured inside the channel, partially or substantially occluding the channel, when negative pressure is provided to the bottom opening; or ii) is captured by the top opening, but does not enter the channel, when negative pressure is provided to the bottom opening. In some embodiments, the channels of the polymer capture film align with the wells of a multi-well chip such that the cell, or the contents of the single cell, may be transferred to a corresponding well.
US09995656B2	Forensic device for collecting a sample The present invention relates to a forensic device suitable for acquisition and storage of biological samples, comprising in an air tight container (1) a water soluble layer (10) which is adhered to a flexible layer (11) by a water impermeable adhesive layer (12), wherein the air tight container (1) comprises a cover (2) defining a storage compartment (3) and a base (4) having attached thereto a protrusion (5) which extends from the base (4) inside said storage compartment (3). Further, the present invention relates to the use of the forensic device to acquire and store a biological sample.
US09995631B2	System and method to monitor semiconductor workpiece temperature using thermal imaging An improved system for measuring the temperature of a plurality of workpieces in a rotating semiconductor processing device is disclosed. Because silicon has variable emissivity in the infrared band, a temperature stable, high emissivity coating is applied to a portion of the workpiece, allowing the temperature of the workpiece to be measured by observing the temperature of the coating. Further, by limiting the amount of coating applied to the workpiece, the effect of the coating on the intrinsic temperature of the workpiece and the surrounding semiconductor processing device may be minimized. The temperature of the workpieces is measured as the workpieces pass under an aperture by capturing a thermal image of a portion of the workpiece. In certain embodiments, a controller is used to process the plurality of thermal images into a single thermal image showing all of the workpieces disposed within the semiconductor processing device.
US09995630B2	Unevenness inspection apparatus and unevenness inspection method An unevenness inspection apparatus includes circuitry that is configured to obtain a pickup image of a test object and modify a chroma value of a pixel in the pickup image to correct a gain of the pickup image associated with the pixel for generating a color unevenness inspection image. The circuitry is configured to generate a luminance unevenness inspection image based on the pickup image and calculate an evaluation parameter using both of the color unevenness inspection image and the luminance unevenness inspection image. The circuitry is configured to perform unevenness inspection using the calculated evaluation parameter, which is calculated based on unevenness visibility for both color and luminance.
US09995629B2	Static fourier transform spectrometer A static Fourier transform spectrometer is disclosed that includes a beam splitter, a mirror device, and a collection optic. The beam splitter divides an input light beam into a first arm and a second arm, wherein the first arm is reflected by the beam splitter and the second arm passes through the beam splitter, wherein the first arm extends to the converging optical unit without deflection after reflection at the mirror device, wherein the second arm extends to the converging optical unit without deflection after passing through the beam splitter, and wherein the collection optic merges the first arm and the second arm for interference.
US09995616B2	Fluid level monitoring system A fluid level monitoring system for a container defining a chamber includes first and second flexible interdigital capacitive sensors located at first and second ends of the chamber and disposed about a longitudinal axis of the chamber. The first and second flexible interdigital capacitive sensors are configured to be immersed, at least in part, within a fluid contained in the chamber. The fluid level monitoring system further includes a controller disposed in operative communication with the first and second flexible interdigital capacitive sensors, to determine a level of the fluid in the chamber based, at least in part, on an average of measure of parameters received from the first and second flexible interdigital capacitive sensors.
US09995609B2	Single wrapped sensor flow meter A signal processor receives a signal containing information about a sensor that is spirally wrapped at a known pitch or separation down a pipe having a flow; and determines a flow velocity based at least partly on the information contained in the signal received by applying an autocorrelation function that depends on a relationship between the time between a repeating pattern and the known pitch or separation of the spirally wrapped sensor. The signal processor provides a corresponding signal containing information about the flow velocity. The sensor includes a strain sensor, including a piezo-electric polymer strain sensor fabricated from PVDF, and/or two or more equally spaced spirally wound sensors. The determining includes correlating output signals of two or more equally spaced spirally wound sensors to determine a time delay, and determining the flow velocity based on the time delay and the known pitch or separation.
US09995608B1	Pitot-static tester kit The pitot-static tester kit is adapted for use with pitot based measurement equipment. The pitot-static tester kit tests the static pressure pitot static tube for leaks in situ. The pitot-static tester kit is a kit that simultaneously tests the pitot tube and the hose of a tube assembly selected from the group consisting of the stagnation pressure pitot static tube assembly and the static pressure pitot static tube assembly. The selected tube assembly is placed under pressure from an externally provided test set and the pitot-static tester kit then tests the pitot tube and the hose of a selected tube assembly for leaks. The pitot-static tester kit comprises a first adapter plug, a second adapter plug, a cleaning medium, a surfactant solution, a flashlight, and a cloth.
US09995607B2	Flow rate measuring unit and flow rate control unit A flow rate measuring unit, comprising a housing, which is composed of at least two housing parts that can be connected to one another and in which a flow passage extends, which branches off into a measuring channel branch and at least one bypass channel branch, wherein a substrate comprising a sensor system is disposed in the measuring channel branch. According to the invention, the flow passage includes a channel widening chamber in which an insert plate stack composed of at least two insert plates is disposed, which each include at least one plate-longitudinal recess extending in the longitudinal direction as the measuring channel branch and/or as the bypass channel branch. The insert plates are provided as insert parts for the channel widening chamber.
US09995604B2	Optical sensor An optical sensor (10) comprises an optical cavity defined by a dielectric body and responsive to one or more physical environmental conditions, and a waveguide (70) having a terminal end spaced apart from the optical cavity such that light is optically coupled from the terminal end of the waveguide (70) to the optical cavity. The waveguide (70) is arranged such that, in use, it is maintained at a first temperature that would not damage the optical coupling to the optical cavity when the dielectric body is maintained at a second temperature sufficient to damage the optical coupling to the optical cavity.
US09995602B2	Time grating linear displacement sensor based on alternating light field A time grating linear displacement sensor based on an alternating light field, comprising a fixed pole plate and a movable pole plate, wherein the upper part and the lower part of the fixed pole plate are respectively provided with a row of square fixed pole plate light-transmitting surfaces which are uniformly distributed; the upper part and the lower part at the rear of the fixed pole plate are respectively provided with one group of light-emitting devices; the upper part and the lower part of the movable pole plate are respectively provided with two semi-sinusoidal movable pole plate light-transmitting surfaces; and four light-sensitive receiving units are fixed on the movable pole plate, the photoelectric receiving surfaces of the light-sensitive receiving units covering the movable pole plate light-transmitting surfaces. The two groups of light-emitting devices respectively provide an alternating light field. The movable pole plate moves relative to the fixed pole plate.
US09995588B2	Quantifying anomalous behavior by identifying anomalies at subtrajectories Methods and arrangements for identifying at least one anomaly in a path taken by a plurality of objects. A plurality of trajectories are input, wherein each trajectory comprises a data set indicative of a path taken by a plurality of objects from a starting point to an ending point, wherein the starting point and ending point are substantially similar for each trajectory. A plurality of sub-trajectories within the input trajectories are identified. There are identified, within the plurality of sub-trajectories, a set of sub-trajectories that are anomalous when compared to other sub-trajectories within the plurality of sub-trajectories, wherein the anomalous sub-trajectories deviate from a predetermined standard. A maximal anomalous sub-trajectory is identified from among the identified set of anomalous sub-trajectories. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein.
US09995587B2	System to develop topographical data A system to develop topographical data in a mapping database is herein presented. The system includes: a memory including one or more executable instructions and the mapping database; a controller configured to read and execute the one or more executable instructions; a sensor configured to determine when the vehicle encounters a road surface feature and subsequently send a surface-variation signal including a topographic coordinate update corresponding to the road surface feature. The executable instructions enable the controller to: receive the surface-variation signal from the sensor; and collaborate with the mapping database to develop the topographical data with the topographic coordinate update.
US09995586B2	Method and apparatus for identifying geographic locations Embodiments of the present invention provide a computer-implemented method for assigning identifiers to geographic locations within digital map data, comprising selecting a region within the map data, dividing the region into a first plurality of cells each uniquely addressable by an identifier of a first length, selecting a portion of the region and dividing the portion into a second plurality of cells each uniquely addressable by an identifier of a second length, wherein the second length is shorter length than the first length and a geographic location within the portion of the region may be uniquely identified by an identifier of the first length and an identifier of the second length.
US09995584B1	Driving patterns One or more devices in a data analysis computing system may be configured to receive and analyze acceleration data corresponding to driving data, analyze the acceleration data, and determine driving patterns and associated drivers based on the data. Acceleration data may be collected by one or more mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, and/or on-board vehicle systems. Drivers associated with driving trips may be identified based on the acceleration data collected by the mobile devices. In some cases, driving patterns may be determined based on the acceleration data before and after stopping points during driving trips, and the driving patterns may be compared to a set of previously stored driving patterns associated with various different drivers.
US09995579B2	Long base inclinometer with optical measurement A tiltmeter to measure a variation in inclination of a structure from a given starting position. The tiltmeter has two pots, each pot contains an identical volume and identical height of an identical liquid. A communication device connects the two pots and allows the liquid to flow between the two pots by the principle of communicating vessels. Two optical measuring devices are provided, one optical measuring device per pot. Each optical measuring device measures a variation in height of the level of liquid in the associated pot. The optical measuring devices are fiber optic devices coupled to a common light source.
US09995577B2	Measuring system and operating method thereof A measuring system includes a smart terminal and a measuring device. The smart terminal includes a first power source module, a first processor, a first wireless communication unit and a memory. The measuring device includes a measuring module, a second power source module and a second wireless communication unit. The measuring system may include one or more applications to provide a rich set of functionalities.
US09995559B2	Anti-rocket system A counter-flying object system comprising a sensor array including at least one active sensor configured to detect and track the flying object, and a missile launcher configured to launch an interceptor to intercept the flying object, wherein upon launching of the interceptor, the sensor array is configured to determine the location of the interceptor and send said object and interceptor locations to a control system, the control system being configured to provide mission data to the interceptor based on said object and interceptor locations for guiding the interceptor toward the flying object and activating a fragmentation warhead on or in the vicinity of said flying object when a lethality criteria is met.
US09995558B2	Weapon control system and control method thereof A weapon control system includes a base, a frame rotatably coupled to the base and rotatable around a first rotation axis, a first actuator rotating the frame with respect to the base, a first weapon rotatably coupled to the frame and rotatable around a second rotation axis in a direction crossing the first rotation axis, a second actuator rotating the first weapon with respect to the frame, a rotating support rotatably coupled to the frame and rotatable around a third rotation axis in a direction crossing the first rotation axis, a third actuator rotating the rotating support with respect to the frame, a second weapon rotatably coupled to the rotating support and rotatable around a fourth rotation axis in a direction crossing the third rotation axis, a fourth actuator rotating the second weapon with respect to the rotating support, and an actuator controller controlling the first actuator, the second actuator, the third actuator, and the fourth actuator.
US09995556B2	Folding firearm and related methods A firearm includes a receiver, a forearm pivotally attached to a distal end of the receiver, and a barrel having a barrel extension. A proximal end of the barrel and the barrel extension are secured within the forearm such that the barrel and barrel extension are pivotable with the forearm relative to the receiver between a first assembled position and a second folded position. The firearm further includes a locking mechanism for securing the forearm, barrel, and barrel extension to the receiver in the first assembled position. The forearm, barrel, and barrel extension may be secured to the receiver in the first assembled position for use of the firearm, after which the firearm may be folded for storage and/or transportation.
US09995546B2	Adjustable gas block Systems and methods for an adjustable gas block are described. Systems may include an adjustment subassembly. The adjustment subassembly may include a valve stem end with a front-most portion larger in diameter than the rear-most portion and a boss extending from the forward portion of the valve stem end; a valve ring surrounding the boss of the valve stem end; a valve threaded portion for receiving the boss of the valve stem end and having a threaded portion; and a valve rotator coupled to the valve threaded portion for adjusting the flow of gas. Systems may include a gas block assembly. The gas block assembly may include a gas block through hole; a first duct to direct pressurized gas from a barrel to a plenum; a second duct to direct a regulated volume of gas to a gas operating system; a seat valve to control the regulated volume of gas to the gas operating system; and a gas block threaded portion for coupling to the valve threaded portion. The adjustment subassembly may be coupled to the gas block assembly.
US09995545B2	Buffer and spring assembly for a firearm The present disclosure provides a buffer kit or assembly for an AR-15, M16, M4 carbine, SR-25, AR-10 and LR-308 type firearm with enhanced fatigue resistance. The buffer assembly includes a weighted buffer, a spring, and a buffer tube. The spring is helically shaped and is formed from multiple wire strands. The stranded wire spring has a greater nominal wire diameter, in comparison to prior art single wire springs, and thus the stranded wire spring itself has a smaller internal diameter. The shoulder of the weighted buffer is provided with a reduced diameter to accommodate the smaller internal diameter of the stranded wire spring.
US09995543B2	Charging handle with exhaust ventilation A charging handle includes a shaft, a front end that is operably coupled to a firearm bolt carrier, and a head that is located on an opposite end of the shaft from the front end. One or more ventilation features may be located in a first half of the length of the shaft proximate to the front end of the charging handle to prohibit exhaust that travels from the front end along the upper surface and/or side surfaces of the shaft from reaching the rear of the firearm and/or the head of the charging handle.
US09995540B2	Tank structure for header-plate-less heat exchanger In order to reliably eliminate gaps between a core and a tank arranged at both ends of a header-plate-less heat exchanger, and thus to ensure air-tightness and liquid-tightness of the tank, an upper fitting part and a lower fitting part of the tank protrude from a side plate part, and are deformable in the thickness direction, and those portions respectively make contact with and fit onto the inner surface of the uppermost and the lowermost tube, with the fitting parts being integrally soldered and secured.
US09995534B2	Heat exchanger In a heat exchanger, a second fluid flowing space communicating with second tubes is formed to be divided from a first tank space within a tank unit forming a first tank space that collects or distributes a refrigerant. The tank unit is defrosted by a coolant flowing in the second fluid flowing space, which is higher in temperature than the refrigerant flowing in the first tank space. With this configuration, heat from the second fluid flowing in the second fluid flowing space included in the tank unit is effectively transferred to a portion of the tank unit which is likely to be frosted.
US09995529B1	Temperature-regulating containment system Disclosed herein are embodiments of a temperature-regulating containment system for actively heating or cooling a liquid to a desired liquid temperature, the temperature-regulating containment system comprising: a container having an internal cavity defined by a sidewall upwardly extending from a bottom wall; a heating element disposed beneath the bottom wall; a chamber disposed beneath the bottom wall, the chamber adjustable between an unfilled condition and a filled condition in which the chamber is filled with a heat transfer medium; and a cooling element disposed beneath the chamber. When the liquid temperature is below the desired liquid temperature: the chamber adjusts to the unfilled condition, and the heating element provides heat to the bottom wall. When the liquid temperature is above the desired liquid temperature: the chamber adjusts to the filled condition, and the cooling element removes heat from the bottom wall.
US09995527B2	Refrigerator having locking device for ice bucket and method for installing locking device for ice bucket There is provided a refrigerator having a locking device for an ice bucket and a method for installing a locking device for an ice bucket. A refrigerator having a locking device for an ice bucket, comprising: a main body; a storage space within the main body; an ice space configured to be disposed inside the main body, and partitioned from the storage space, and having a front opening; an ice bucket comprising an ice storage part which stores ice generated within the ice space; and a cover member which is disposed in front of the ice storage part to cover a front of the ice space and configured to be slidably installed in the ice space; and a locking device configured to lock the ice bucket within the ice space to prevent the ice bucket from being drawn out of the ice space by itself.
US09995525B2	Low-temperature automated storage for laboratory samples with automated access The storage comprises, from the bottom to the top, a low temperature storage zone, for storing the samples, a handling zone, housing at least part of an automatic transport device, and an access zone, where the user can enter for maintenance. A separating wall consisting of removable panels insulates the access zone, for the rooms below it. A peripheral housing, contains a peripheral chamber for temporarily storing the samples at slightly higher temperatures. A liquid nitrogen container, is used to feed dry gas to the storage zone and to maintain it under slight overpressure for preventing the entry of moisture.
US09995524B2	Methods, apparatuses, and systems for cooling Embodiments of the present disclosure include methods, apparatuses, and systems for cooling. Embodiments include a cooling system comprising a mobile container, conveyor system, and sensor feedback system. Container includes at least a first, second, and third section. First section holds at least one pallet containing produce. Second section includes a cooling mechanism to cool the produce within the at least one pallet to an optimal temperature. Third section includes the cooling mechanism to maintain the cooled produce in the at least one pallet at the optimal temperature. Conveyor system may be used to convey the at least one pallet across the cooling system. Sensor feedback system is configured to continuously measure and track at least the weight of the at least one pallet and temperature of the produce within the at least one pallet as the at least one pallet is conveyed across the cooling system.
US09995523B2	Refrigerator with icemaker and method of operating based on a variation in the amount of stored ice A refrigerator includes an icemaker, an ice bank that is configured to store ice released from the icemaker, a weight sensor configured to measure a weight of the ice bank, and a controller configured to determine, based on weight measurements measured by the weight sensor, a variation in amount of ice stored in the ice bank during a set time period, and adjust an ice determination reference value based on the determined variation in the amount of ice stored in the ice bank during the set time period.
US09995521B2	Heat exchanger for use in cooling liquids A heat exchanger has at least one inlet and outlet to permit circulation of refrigerant therethrough. Each heat exchanger includes a plurality of thin sections of material arranged between a pair of thin flat outer plates. Each of the thin sections of material is comprised of parallel flow paths, allowing for the refrigerant to flow through the inlet, then from one section to the next, and finally out the outlet. The arrangement of the sections of parallel flow paths allows for the refrigerant to come into contact with the majority of the inside wall of the outer plates, allowing for maximum heat exchange. In use for cooling liquids, the heat exchangers are arranged within a frame and brought into contact with the liquid to be cooled. When the heat exchangers are used to cool liquid sufficiently to produce ice crystals, a rotating scraping device sweeps across the surface of the heat exchanger, removing any ice crystals that have formed.
US09995519B2	Hemisphere ice making Provided is a method of making an ice structure including the steps of: providing a mold having at least two mold portions; extending two supporting rods between the at least two mold portions; extending a drive rod from each of the at least to mold portions; chilling the at least two mold portions using at least one cooling source; delivering a flow of water such that water flows over the at least two mold portions; forming ice structure segments within the at least two mold portions; and contacting the ice structure segments to fuse them together to form the ice structure.
US09995514B1	Refrigeration apparatus and method A refrigeration apparatus that employs a refrigerant compressor has an expansion device coupled between an evaporator and a condenser. A first heat exchanger has (a) a main passage coupled between the evaporator and the inlet of the compressor, and (b) a complementary passage. This first heat exchanger may be a serpentine pipe inside a tank. A second heat exchanger has (a) a principal passage coupled between the condenser and the outlet of the compressor, and (b) an auxiliary passage. This second heat exchanger may be an inner and outer pair of coaxial pipes. The complementary passage of the first heat exchanger is coupled between a fluid pump and the auxiliary passage of the second heat exchanger. The auxiliary passage of the second heat exchanger is coupled between the fluid pump and the complementary passage of the first heat exchanger. A controller can operate the fluid pump based on measured parameters such as outside ambient temperature or compressor outlet pressure.
US09995511B2	Magnetic refrigeration system with improved flow efficiency A magnetic refrigeration system provides flow-balanced channels between fluid control valves and the magnetocaloric beds to eliminate inefficiencies caused by unequal utilization of the magnetic beds from flow variations.
US09995510B2	Pulse tube cooler system with force-compensated rotary valve line A connecting device in a pulse tube cooler system branches such that a first line branch (11) has a first flexible line segment (4a) and a second line branch (12) has a second flexible line segment (4b), the flexible line segments being arranged in parallel with and offset from one another. The flexible line segments each have a front segment end (17, 18) and a rear segment end (19, 20), the front segment end (17) of the first flexible line segment (4a) and the rear segment end (20) of the second flexible line segment (4b) are rigidly connected to one another, the rear segment end (19) of the first flexible line segment (4a) and the front segment end (18) of the second flexible line segment (4b) are rigidly connected to one another, and there is no continuous rigid connection between the control valve and the cold head.
US09995507B2	Systems for cost-effective concentration and utilization of solar energy The present invention is primarily directed to cost-effective systems for using large reflective elements that track the sun on two axes to concentrate solar energy onto a receiver that can convert the sun's optical energy to a form usable for extensive displacement of combustion of fossil fuels. The structures of the tracker frame, tracking mechanism and tracker supports are co-optimized with the optical elements and the receiver for high efficiency, low cost, and ease of assembly, making moderate and large-scale implementations cost-competitive with fossil fuels for peak power, and, with suitable storage, for base-load power and dispatchable peaking power in sunny locations. Improvement to small-tracker two-axis systems and one-axis tracking systems that focus in two dimensions are also included, as are improvements in systems for space-based solar power.
US09995506B2	Cable drive system for solar tracking A cable drive system for solar tracking for solar array systems. The cable drive system employs one or more cables wound around a drive pulley of a drive device and one or more driven pulleys of respective rotatable solar assemblies of the solar array system. The system may use a tension device such as a spring or weight that returns the solar array system to an initial position at the end of the day. The drive device may be an active or passive solar tracker. The disclosed techniques of rotating solar panels are flexible, inexpensive, and reliable. The techniques can apply to any solar technology that benefit from following the sun.
US09995505B2	Transportable air heater A transportable combustion air heater comprises a transportable supporting frame, a housing fixed to the frame, a cylindrical combustion chamber arranged in housing, a cylindrical annular thermal exchange channel formed around the combustion chamber, an external heating chamber defining an annular fume channel around the thermal exchange channel, in which one or more transversal guide walls are arranged in the external heating chamber, which guide walls lengthen flow paths of the fumes in the annular fume channel from fume inlet openings to an exhaust fume opening.
US09995499B2	Electronic device controller with user-friendly installation features Various arrangements for installing or configuring an electronic device are presented. The device may determine which wire connectors of a set of one or more wire connectors have a wire attached. A user inquiry may be output based on the electronic device identifying the wire connector with which the wire has been connected. The electronic device may be operated based on the response to the user inquiry and the electronic device identifying the wire connector with which the wire has been connected.
US09995498B2	Monitoring apparatus and monitoring method A monitoring apparatus includes an information obtaining unit that obtains, from a target VAV air conditioning system to be monitored, a room temperature and a variable air volume; a room temperature display processing unit that displays, in a form of a graph, the room temperature obtained from the target VAV air conditioning system to be monitored; a controllable range calculating unit that calculates a length of a bar of a bar graph indicating a controllable range on the basis of the variable air volume; and a controllable range display processing unit that displays the bar graph including the bar having the length calculated by the controllable range calculating unit such that the bar graph is overlapped with the room temperature.
US09995491B2	Oven with at least one illuminated oven cavity The present invention relates to an oven with at least one illuminated oven cavity (10). The oven cavity (10) comprises a top wall (12) with at least one embossing (22). The embossing (22) is arranged in a front portion of the top wall (12). The embossing (22) includes a surface section (24) with a cutout for latching a light emitting element (28) with a light source (38). The light source (38) is provided for generating a light cone (30). The embossing (22) includes an edge (26) in front of the surface section (24). Said edge (26) extends downwards and covers the light source (38) of the light source element (28), so that the light cone (30) is directed to the interior of the oven cavity (10). Alternatively, a bigger part of the light cone (30) is directed to the interior of the oven cavity (10) and a smaller part of the light cone (30) is directed to a lower part of an opening in the front side of the oven cavity (10).
US09995488B2	Combustion chamber and a method of mixing fuel and air in a combustion chamber A combustion chamber including a first fuel injector and a second fuel injector, the first and second fuel injectors being arranged to inject fuel into a mainstream flow of air with the second fuel injector arranged downstream of the first fuel injector. A method of mixing fuel and air in a combustion chamber, including injecting fuel into a mainstream flow of air with a first fuel injector; injecting fuel into the mainstream flow of air with a second fuel injector, which is arranged downstream of the first fuel injector; injecting fuel into the mainstream flow with the first fuel injector such that the resulting mixture between the first and second fuel injectors has an equivalence ratio less than the lean flame stability limit; and injecting fuel into the mainstream flow with the second fuel injector such that a combustion zone is provided downstream of the second fuel injector.
US09995487B2	Method for repairing fuel nozzle guides for gas turbine engine combustors using cold metal transfer weld technology A fuel nozzle guide for a combustor of a turbine engine includes an annular base with a hub section, the hub section at least partially formed of a Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) weld and a method and system therefor.
US09995485B2	Articulating hold down mechanism for a furnace A hold down mechanism for releasably securing a refractory lining to a furnace. The hold down mechanism can comprise plate segments that form a composite plate. The plate segments can comprise a first plate segment structured to articulate relative to a second plate segment. Furthermore, a gap in the hold down mechanism can be structured to adjust in response to a thermal condition of the composite plate, such as thermal expansion or thermal contraction of at least one plate segment. The composite plate can also comprise an articulation plate pivotally coupled to at least one of the first plate segment and the second plate segment via a pivot and/or a slot and pin engagement. The composite plate can further comprise a third plate segment and a second articulation plate pivotally coupled to at least one of the second plate segment and the third plate segment.
US09995474B2	LED filament, LED filament assembly and LED bulb A LED filament includes a frame; two metal electrodes, respectively disposed on two sides of the frame; a LED chip assembly, comprising a plurality of LED chips disposed inside the frame and electrically connecting to the two metal electrodes respectively; and a gel comprising phosphor, wrapping the LED chip assembly and parts of the metal electrodes inside the frame.
US09995473B2	LED lamp with a flexible heat sink An LED lamp uses a flexible metal fabric as a heat sink. At least one light emitting diode is attached to a circuit board that is mounted on a heat conducting member. The flexible heat sink is attached to the heat conducting member, such that heat generated by the light emitting diode and circuit board is conducted to the flexible heat sink. The flexible heat sink can be deformed to fit in a variety of spaces. The flexible heat sink dissipates the heat generated by the LED lamp without the need for a fan. The flexible heat sink may be made from braided copper fabric.
US09995472B2	Arc modular LED light fixture A modular lighting fixture includes a housing having a front panel, the front panel having a radius of curvature, and a plurality of LED modules disposed adjacent the front panel, each LED module having a heat sink, an LED source mounted to the heat sink, and a lens disposed over the LED source, the lens capable of refracting light emitted by the LED source into a desired distribution pattern. The plurality of LED modules produce a concentrated illuminated area at a pre-determined distance from the front panel as determined by the radius of curvature of the front panel.
US09995465B2	Surface-mounted pluggable wiring insert key, driving power source box, and detachable modular LED lamp A surface-mounted pluggable wiring insert key capable of being used for connecting structural parts of multiple strands of weak-current flexible wires, a driving power source box formed by using the surface-mounted pluggable wiring insert key, and a detachable modular LED lamp provided with the driving power source box structure. A damaged driving power source and other damaged assemblies can be conveniently replaced, abandonment of an LED chip having a long service life or even a whole LED lamp can be prevented, the designed structure is simple, and tin soldering is not required, thereby saving resources, greatly reducing use cost, and facilitating the popularization of the LED lamp.
US09995464B2	Interior light and method of manufacture An interior light, in particular for shelf or display case illumination, includes an adjustment unit, which has a lens; a main body, which has a cylindrical recess inside which a lighting means is arranged; at least one guide which is provided on the recess and extends parallel to a cylinder axis of the recess; and latch means which are arranged in the region of the recess and have a plurality of latching stages, the adjustment unit having mating latch means which can latch to the latch means and guide means for guiding the adjustment unit in the guide; the guide means being arranged in each case at different positions within the guide when the mating latch means latch to the different latching stages, and a different distance being set between the lighting means and the lens in each case.
US09995457B1	Multicolor illumination for a single panel display source A display system for providing multicolor light patches for illuminating display images includes at least one light source for providing a light, at least one light pipe having an input end and an output end for allowing the light to enter via the input end and exit via the output end, and at least one color interface coupled to the output end of the at least one light pipe. The at least one color interface includes at least one color material and each color material has a different color characteristic. Light passing through the color material creates an illumination patch associated with the color characteristic of the color material. The display system further includes an optical device coupled with the at least one color interface and configured to receive the illumination patches, combine the illumination patches, and cause a combined illumination patch to be projected as a display image.
US09995453B2	Lamp bulb with internal reflector An LED illumination apparatus includes a substrate, a light source disposed on a top side of the substrate, a cover unit configured to cover the light source, and a reflector configured to extend from inside the cover unit towards the upper substrate, such that light generated by the light source illuminates an area below a bottom side of the substrate.
US09995443B2	Apparatus for adjusting the orientation of a movable photovoltaic lamppost A photovoltaic system includes a trailer, a solar panel, a battery, a lamppost, a turret, a shackle, a horizontal position-adjusting unit and an orientation-retaining unit. The trailer includes a cage supported on a chassis. The solar panel is supported on the cage. The battery is supported on the chassis and electrically connected to the solar panel. The lamppost includes a lamp supported thereon and electrically connected to the battery. The turret rotationally connects the lamppost to the chassis. The shackle is provided around the lamppost. The horizontal position-adjusting unit movably connects the shackle to the cage. The orientation-retaining unit retains the lamppost in a desired orientation relative to the shackle.
US09995435B2	Method for hindering non-authorised withdrawal of a liquid from at least one offtake conduit connected to a main conduit for the transport of the aforementioned liquid, in particular a mixture of hydrocarbons and water Method for hindering the non-authorized withdrawal of a liquid from at least one offtake conduit connected to a main conduit for the transport of the aforementioned liquid, in particular a mixture of hydrocarbons and water, the main conduit having an inlet port and at least one outlet port between which the liquid flows, the method comprising the step of: introducing a plurality of solid objects into the main conduit through the at least one inlet port, the plurality of introduced solid objects having weight, dimensions and density such as to be transportable towards the at least one outlet port by the main flow of the liquid and such as to be able to be possibly captured by the offtake flow of the liquid directed towards the offtake conduit, and such as to be able to possibly at least partially obstruct such an offtake conduit.
US09995427B2	Frame supported height adjustable pylon A height adjustable pylon and supporting frame assembly is provided. The frame includes two frame members meeting at a corner with the frame members being generally co-planar and the pylon being urged into the corner so as to extend at generally right angles to a plane including the two frame members. A fastener assembly has two end portions each anchored relative its associated frame member so as to extend transversely to it. The fastener assembly includes an intermediate saddle portion engaging a surface of the pylon that is directed outwardly relative to the corner with the pylon being urged into the corner when the fastener assembly is tightened to engage the pylon and lock it axially relative to the frame members in a selected position. Preferably, the frame members each form two upper and two lower frame members of two trusses. Lower ends of the pylons may support the assembly.
US09995425B2	Removable and reusable insulation wrap for pipe, hoses, and fixtures A reusable insulation wrap for insulating and protecting an article, the wrap comprising a multilayer insulation member having a nylon protective layer adapted to be abrasion and moisture resistant to prevent damage to the other layers, a polymerized chloroprene stretchable layer adapted to resist moisture and having first and second edges and sized to closely encircle the article, a closed cell foam insulative layer, a foil reflective layer affixed to the closed cell foam adapted outside thereof, a flame retardant and an ultraviolet protectant in one of the layers and a hook and loop fastener adapted to cooperatively engage and maintain desired position on the article, whereby, the wrap is stretched around the article to fit snugly in place minimizing influence of the outside environment including temperature fluctuations, moisture, and debris on the article.
US09995423B2	Pipe repair kit A pipe repair apparatus is provided. The pipe repair apparatus includes a cap. The cap includes a cylinder shape having a front edge forming an opening into the cap, a rear edge forming an opening into the cap, and at least a first side edge and a second side edge. The cap may further include a cap flange formed at the front edge having a first bend in a direction towards a central longitudinal axis of the cap and a second bend in a direction away from the central longitudinal axis of the cap. The cap is sized to fit over a pipe so that the first side edge overlaps the second side edge. A clamp secures the cap to the pipe.
US09995412B2	Long-throw microfluidic actuator A microfluidic device includes a three-dimensional slat structure having a plurality of interstices configured to generate a high power, high flow rate of fluids by electroosmotic flow. The microfluidic device includes a housing for holding and moving fluids through the slat structure, and a plurality of electrodes that generate an electric field within the plurality of interstices.
US09995407B2	Integrated safety device for self-propulsion gas systems A safety device for a cylinder holding gaseous fluids under pressure is disclosed. The safety device has a device body in which a passage is defined for a fluid; the passage extends from an entry aperture, suitable for being placed in fluidic communication with a cylinder, to an exit aperture. An obturator air tightly engages the passage, the obturator is movable from a first position, in which it indicates the presence of fluid at a pressure below a first predefined pressure threshold value, inside the cylinder, and a second position, in which it indicates the presence of fluid at a pressure above the first predefined pressure threshold value inside the cylinder. At least one temperature and/or pressure-sensitive relief device is positioned in the obturator in such a way that, upon exceeding a predefined temperature threshold or upon exceeding a second predefined pressure threshold, the relief device opens the passage for the fluid and permits the flow of fluid from the entry aperture towards the exit aperture.
US09995406B2	Valve device A valve device includes a body in which a gas flow passage is provided; and a check valve provided in the gas flow passage, the check valve including a poppet and a valve seat. The poppet excluding a block portion is in a form of a hollow shaft, the block portion being located at a distal end of the poppet and having a taper shape, and the poppet has at least one side hole that provides communication between an inside and an outside of a portion of the poppet, the portion being in the form of the hollow shaft. The at least one side hole extends obliquely with respect to a central axis line of the poppet such that the at least one side hole extends along a gas flow direction inclined with respect to a direction in which the poppet moves when the check valve opens.
US09995403B2	Ball valve with dual sealing structure A dual sealing ball valve comprises a valve body, conduit line connectors coupled to both sides of the valve body, a hollow ball disposed in the valve body, a sheet holder mounted on an inner circumferential surface of at least one of the conduit line connectors, a main sheet tightly contacting the ball around an inlet of the hollow ball, and an elastic sheet mounted on the front surface of the sheet holder. The sheet holder includes a sheet ring supporting the main sheet and the elastic sheet in a front direction, supporting the elastic sheet towards the main sheet, and pushed in the front direction by a pressurizing retainer and a sheet cap coupled to the sheet ring and contacting the main sheet to pressurize the main sheet in a rear direction and towards the elastic sheet.
US09995396B1	Outwardly sealing pumping seal assembly A seal assembly is for sealing between a shaft and a body rotatable about an axis extending through the shaft and includes an annular elastomeric sealing member disposeable within the body bore and coupleable with the shaft. The sealing member has a centerline coaxial with the shaft axis and a radially-outwardly extending, generally annular lip sealingly engageable with an inner circumferential surface of the bore or of a member disposed within the bore so as to define a seal interface. The sealing lip is configured to displace fluid within the sealing interface generally axially out of the interface when the hub rotates about the shaft. Preferably, the sealing member is coupled with an inner casing and disposed within an outer casing, the seal lip sealing against the outer casing inner surface, and a second sealing lip is coupled with the outer casing and seals against the inner casing outer surface.
US09995388B2	Control device and control method for continuously variable transmission A control device for a continuously variable transmission, which sets a target input rotational speed, or a target value of an input rotational speed of the continuously variable transmission mounted on a vehicle, such that a speed ratio is changed in a stepped manner and which controls the continuously variable transmission such that the input rotational speed becomes equal to the target input rotational speed.
US09995384B2	Hydraulic control device for an automatic transmission A hydraulic control device for an automatic transmission includes a shut-off valve arranged between a first pressure adjusting device and a respective shifting element cylinder of a plurality of shifting elements. In the first shifting position of the shut-off valve, the first pressure adjusting device is hydraulically connected to the respective shifting element cylinder through the shut-off valve. In the second shifting position of the shut-off valve, the shifting element cylinder is sealed by the shut-off valve relative to the first pressure adjusting device. The shut-off valve is an releasable check valve. The releasable check valve includes a check valve and an unblocking device. The unblocking device is actuatable by a control pressure from a second pressure adjusting device.
US09995383B2	Hydraulic system of vehicle transmission device A hydraulic system of vehicle transmission device is provided. A heat exchanger configured downstream is used to cool working oil discharged from a torque converter, and the working oil is supplied, as lubricating oil, to a lubricating system hydraulic circuit. On the other hand, excess oil flowing out of a regulator valve for regulating line pressure returns to an input side of an oil pump through a recycle oil path. A bypass oil path is disposed in a manner of branching from the recycle oil path and connecting to an input side of the heat exchanger. A control mechanism is disposed, and when hydraulic pressure at the side of the recycle oil path is higher than that at the side of the heat exchanger, the bypass oil path is opened to guide oil at the side of the recycle oil path to the input side of the heat exchanger.
US09995382B2	Method for determining timing of oil filling for a ball screw A method for determining timing of oil filling for a ball screw can determine whether the oil film in a specific time period is sufficient, falling or insufficient, and then know the optimum timing of oil filling, by comparing the sum of the slope values within respective time periods with a predetermined value. The method is further capable of determining the timing of oil filling even when the rotation speed of the ball screw changes. The method includes a step of signal acquisition, a step of converting signal, a step of defining and saving eigenvalues, a step of calculating eigenvalues, and a step of determining oil filling.
US09995379B2	Driving module and motion assistance apparatus including the same A driving module including a driving source configured to generate power, a rotary rod connected to the driving source to rotate by receiving the power from the driving source, a power conversion block coupled with the rotary rod to be straight-line-driven in a longitudinal direction of the rotary rod in response to a rotation of the rotary rod, and a power transmission unit configured to operate in response to a driving of the power conversion block is disclosed.
US09995369B2	Automatic transmission In an automatic transmission, the control part controls the engaging mechanisms and recognizes the rotational speed of a drive source and a stop request for the drive source. The automatic transmission changes the rotational speed of the input member to transmission gear ratios by the planetary gear mechanism and the engaging mechanisms so as to freely output the rotation from the output member. The engaging mechanisms include a switching mechanism switchable between a fixed state and a reverse rotation preventing state in which a normal rotation of a corresponding element among the elements of the planetary gear mechanism is allowed and a reverse rotation thereof is prevented. The control part switches the switching mechanism in a state in which the stop request for the drive source is not recognized and the rotational speed of the drive source is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.
US09995367B2	Pendulum assembly for a crankshaft pendulum having cast-in near net shape hardened inserts A pendulum crankshaft for an internal combustion engine includes a pendulum crankshaft having pendulum crank rolling path inserts that are cast into the component during the casting process. The rolling path inserts are positioned in a mold prior to casting. By including the rolling path inserts in the component during the molding process, the need to press the rolling path insert into the component after the component is cast is thus avoided, thereby eliminating the resulting stresses that would otherwise result. Machining and subsequent heat treatment are unnecessary. The component can be one or both of the crankshaft pendulum and the pendulum carrier. The rolling path may be formed from a metal such as sintered powdered metal. The flowable material may be a metal such as iron. The resulting component is free of stress regions, such as on the carrier strap, that normally result from methods that involve press-fitting the rolling path insert into the component.
US09995355B2	Cone brake friction surface coating An exemplary cone brake device includes a brake drum and a thermal sprayed coating deposited and bonded to the outer surface. The thermal sprayed coating is configured to engage a friction lining when one of the brake drum and the friction element is moved toward the other of the brake drum and the friction element, so as to decrease the speed of an aerospace propeller.
US09995354B2	Systems and methods for clamping force estimation in electromechanical brake systems An electromechanical brake system may include an electromechanical actuator with a servo motor. A current control is electronically coupled to the servo motor. A resolver is configured to detect an angular velocity and an angular position of the servo motor. A converter may be configured to convert the angular velocity into a linear velocity and the angular position into a linear position. An intelligent observer may also be configured to estimate a load force of the electromechanical actuator based on the linear position and the linear velocity.
US09995344B2	Capacitance measurement in a bearing A bearing arrangement includes a bearing having an inner race and an outer race and a plurality of rolling elements arranged between the inner and outer race such that the first race is rotatable relative the second race; bearing lubricant arranged within the bearing to lubricate the rolling elements. The bearing arrangement provides a first electrically conductive portion and a second electrically conductive portion, the first and second electrically conductive portion being electrically insulated and arranged such that at least a portion of the bearing lubricant is located between the first and second electrically conductive portion; and a capacitance meter having a first electrode connected to the first electrically conductive portion and a second electrode connected to the second electrically conductive portion, configured to measure a capacitance between the first ring and the second ring to determine a water content in the lubricant based on the measured capacitance.
US09995343B2	Rolling bearing A rolling bearing includes an inner ring, an outer ring, a plurality of balls, and a cage that holds the balls. The inner ring is a rotating ring, and the outer ring is a fixed ring. An annular groove for creep suppression is formed in a fitting surface of the rolling bearing that is fitted on a mating member to which the outer ring is attached. The annular groove has a groove main body portion and inclined groove portions located on opposite sides of the groove main body portion in an axial direction and formed to be shallower than the groove main body portion such that the depth of each of the inclined groove portions increases toward the groove main body portion. The inclined groove portions come into contact with the mating member when the outer ring is elastically deformed by a radial load received from the balls.
US09995323B2	Drive unit of a fluid-actuated linear drive and method for its manufacture A drive unit of a fluid-actuated linear drive includes a piston rod, an annular drive piston seated coaxially on the piston rod and a buffer sleeve which is likewise seated coaxially on the piston rod. These components are secured to one another by one and the same common welded joint. Furthermore, a method for the manufacture of such a drive unit and a fluid-actuated linear drive equipped with such a drive unit is proposed.
US09995311B2	Centrifugal fan A centrifugal fan is provided that includes a main plate configured to be rotated about a rotational axis, a shroud, having a suction opening, and a plurality of blades arranged in a circumferential direction between the main plate and the shroud to allow air suctioned in through the suction opening to flow from a front edge to a rear edge of each blade. Assuming a first cross section, a second cross section, a third cross section, and a fourth cross section of each blade sequentially taken at layers from the shroud to the main plate, a front edge of the first cross section is located farther from the rotational axis than a front edge of the fourth cross section, and a rear edge of the first cross section is located closer to the rotational axis than a rear edge of the fourth cross section.
US09995308B2	Electric machine powered by exciting armature The invention relates to an electric rotary machine including: a shaft of a rotor rotating about an axis, a fan carried by the shaft of the rotor, and a motor for driving the fan, allowing modulation of the relative rotational speed of the fan in relation to the shaft of the rotor.
US09995281B2	Drive and method for operating such a drive A drive of an energy generation system with a drive shaft (9) has an electrical machine (8) which is connected to a power system (10), and a differential gear mechanism (3) with three drives and outputs, wherein a first drive is connected to the drive shaft (9), an output is connected to the electric machine (8), and a second drive is connected to a differential drive (6) which is connected via a frequency converter (7) and optionally a transformer (5) to the power system (10). The electric machine (8) can be connected to the frequency converter (7) and as result full converter mode can continue to be operated at relatively low wind speeds.
US09995276B2	Control of wind turbines in response to wind shear A wind turbine is controlled in response to an estimate of vertical and/or horizontal wind shear. A tilt moment is estimated from flapwise and edgewise blade bending moments, azimuth and blade pitch positions and used to estimate vertical wind shear. A yaw moment is also estimated from flapwise and edgewise blade bending moments, azimuth and pitch position and used to estimate horizontal wind shear. A tip speed ratio is determined from an estimate of wind velocity over the rotor plane and is used to set a blade pitch angle which is passed to a blade pitch controller. The pitching may be collective or individual. In the latter case, the tip speed ratio is determined from a plurality of rotor plane positions to derive a cyclic pitch reference for each blade.
US09995262B2	Fluid injection valve A fluid injection valve has a valve needle and an electromagnetic actuator assembly with a pole piece and an armature. The valve needle includes a retainer element for limiting an axial displacement of the armature with respect to the valve needle in a first axial direction. The pole piece has a central opening with a step so that it has a first section in which a first portion of the retainer element is arranged and a second section for receiving a second portion of the retainer element. The first section of the central opening has a smaller cross-sectional area than the second section.
US09995260B2	Bi-fuel vehicle A bi-fuel vehicle has an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) to provide motive power to the vehicle by combustion of a liquid fuel and gas-phase fuel. The vehicle has a dual fuel tank including a liquid fuel tank to receive liquid fuel, contain the liquid fuel, and supply the liquid fuel for combustion in the ICE. The vehicle has a pressurizable gas-phase fuel tank defined by a wall. A gas-phase fuel is permeable through the wall. The pressurizable gas-phase fuel tank is to receive the gas-phase fuel, contain the gas-phase fuel, and supply the gas-phase fuel for combustion in the ICE. A shell envelops the pressurizable gas-phase fuel tank and defines an interior space of the liquid fuel tank. The wall is in fluid communication with the interior space. The interior space is to receive the permeated gas-phase fuel.
US09995258B2	Fuel supply device and control method A fuel supply device includes a sub fuel tank disposed in a return fuel line, a pressure reduction valve, and a recirculation cutoff valve. When an internal combustion engine stops, the fuel supply device opens the pressure reduction valve and closes the recirculation cutoff valve. Due to this first transfer state, a liquefied gas fuel in a common rail is transferred to the sub fuel tank. Thereafter, the fuel supply device closes the pressure reduction valve and opens the recirculation cutoff valve. Due to this second transfer state, the liquefied gas fuel in the sub fuel tank is transferred to a main fuel tank. The fuel supply device repeatedly alternates between the first and second transfer states to collect the liquefied gas fuel from the common rail to the main fuel tank.
US09995250B2	Exhaust gas heat exchanger The invention relates to an exhaust gas heat exchanger for transferring heat between the exhaust gas of a combustion engine of a motor vehicle and a coolant. The exhaust gas heat exchanger has a housing with connections for supplying and discharging coolant. According to the invention, one connection is formed by a pipe section which has a joining surface, formed on the outer circumference thereof, for fixing on the housing of the exhaust gas heat exchanger and a transfer opening, which is aligned transversely to the longitudinal axis (LA) of the pipe section and communicates with a passage opening in the housing.
US09995246B2	Thrust reverser for nacelle of aircraft turbofan A thrust reverser for a nacelle of an aircraft turbojet engine includes at least one movable thrust reverser cowl, a means for locking the cowl, a variable section outlet nozzle, and at least one actuator including an actuator rod. The thrust reverser is provided with a resilient coupler comprising a body which is rigidly connected to the thrust reverser cowl and a resilient return and abutment device that engages with the actuating rod of the actuator such as to resiliently return the nozzle to a neutral position. The return device is calibrated such that, when the cowl is unlocked, the return device opposes the relative movement of the actuating rod relative to the cowl, such as to enable the movement of the cowl and the nozzle, and when the cover is locked, the actuator drives the actuating rod against the return device to enable the movement of the nozzle.
US09995244B2	Heat energy recovery system A heat energy recovery system includes an evaporator, a superheater, an expander, a power recovery device, a condenser, a pump, and a controller. The controller includes: an engine load calculation section; a maximum rotation speed determination section for determining a maximum rotation speed of the pump which is obtained when a pinch temperature reaches a target pinch temperature, based on a relational expression representing a relationship between the engine load and the maximum rotation speed, and an engine load; and a rotation speed regulation section for regulating the rotation speed of the pump in such a way as to allow the degree of superheat of the working medium flowing into the expander to be equal to or greater than a reference value, and to allow the rotation speed to be equal to or less than a maximum rotation speed determined by the maximum rotation speed determination section.
US09995243B2	Engine cover An engine cover for covering an engine including: a cover body configured to cover the engine from above; and at least one fixing part projecting from the cover body toward an engine side and being configured to be attached to the engine side, wherein the cover body and the fixing part are integrally formed of an urethane foam, and the fixing part has an infirm portion formed at a periphery thereof so that the fixing part is configured to be deformed toward a specific direction due to the infirm portion upon input of a load to the cover body.
US09995239B2	Engine An engine of the invention includes an engine main unit having cylinders, an intake line, an exhaust line, a supercharger, a turbo sensor detecting a rotational speed of the supercharger, a control device controlling, based on signal from the turbo sensor, an operating state of the engine main unit that has a correlation with the rotational speed of the supercharger, and a crank angle sensor detecting a rotation angle of a crankshaft. The control device recognizes timings at which the cylinders are in a top dead center state based on detection signals of the crank angle sensor and, also, makes a disconnection judgment for the turbo sensor at non-top dead center timings that are within one combustion cycle of the engine main unit and at which none of the plurality of cylinders are in a top dead center state.
US09995226B2	Control device for vehicle A control device causes the engine to start with a throttle valve being set to a first throttle position when required power required in an engine is smaller than a first threshold value and a detected fuel pressure detected by a low-pressure fuel sensor is lower than a second threshold value. The control device causes the engine to start with the throttle valve being set to a position larger than the first throttle position when the required power is smaller than the first threshold value and the detected fuel pressure is higher than the second threshold value. With this structure, a control device for a vehicle can be provided which allows intermittent operation of the engine with reduced variation in air-fuel ratio.
US09995222B2	High temperature disk conditioning system A gas-circulation system for conditioning a disk of an aircraft may comprise a first takeoff port configured to extract a combusted gas and a second takeoff port configured to extract an uncombusted gas. A first valve may comprise an inlet in fluid communication with the first and second takeoff ports and an outlet of the first valve in fluid communication with the disk.
US09995212B2	Free piston engine An internal combustion engine for providing a linear reciprocating movement of an output shaft along a longitudinal axis. The engine has a double sided cylinder that is bounded by an engine head at each side of the cylinder. An exhaust unit is positioned at each side of the cylinder. A piston is positioned within a cylinder inner space and freely slides with respect to the cylinder along the longitudinal axis. Two piston rods are aligned with the longitudinal axis. Each piston rod is connected at a different side of the piston. Each of the piston rods has exhaust openings.
US09995193B2	Mixer with swirl box for a vehicle exhaust system A vehicle exhaust system includes a mixer and a doser that sprays a reducing agent into the mixer to be thoroughly mixed with engine exhaust gases prior to introduction of the mixture into a downstream exhaust component. The mixer includes an upstream baffle with at least one inlet opening and a downstream baffle with at least one outlet opening. An outer peripheral wall surrounds the upstream and downstream baffle and includes a doser opening. A doser is mounted at the doser opening and is configured to spray a reducing agent into an area between the upstream and downstream baffles. A deflector is positioned between the inlet opening and the doser opening to protect spray at the doser opening from direct impact with exhaust gas from the inlet opening, and an impactor is positioned adjacent the deflector and faces the doser opening.
US09995191B2	Oil feed member and lubricant feed mechanism for engine provided with same There is provided an oil feed member capable of preventing lubricant from being excessively fed from an oil feed member to lubrication portions of valve gears, and a lubricant feed mechanism for an engine provided with the same. An oil feed member for feeding lubricant to lubrication portions of valve gears for opening and closing intake valves and exhaust valves of an engine, the oil feed member including: an upper panel member and a lower panel member laid over each other; and an oil feed passage formed by recessing laid surfaces of the upper panel member and the lower panel member, wherein the oil feed passage includes basis oil passages formed on a downstream side, and an introduction oil passage formed on an upstream side and having a smaller lubricant flow area than that of the basis oil passages.
US09995188B2	Oil control device for fully variable hydraulic valve system of internal combustion engine The present invention relates to a valve train mechanism and a fuel supply system of internal combustion engine, and particularly relates to an oil control device of a hydraulic fully variable valve system of the internal combustion engine. This device connected with the hydraulic valve system of internal combustion engine, the device consists of a housing, a rotary valve, a hydraulic accumulator and a transmission mechanism. The rotary valve, the hydraulic accumulator and the transmission mechanism are installed in the housing. The rotary valve consists of a rotary valve shaft and a rotary valve sleeve. The hydraulic accumulator consists of an accumulator piston, an accumulator spring, an end cover, a sealing seat ring and a rubber gasket and is installed in the cavity at one end of the housing. An accumulator chamber is provided between the rotary valve and the hydraulic accumulator. The transmission mechanism consists of a transmission gear, a gear shaft and a cross slide coupling. The transmission gear is installed on the gear shaft, while the gear shaft is connected with the rotary valve shaft through the cross slide coupling. The present invention can replace a high-frequency solenoid valve, it is applicable to use with hydraulic fully variable valve system of single-cylinder and multi-cylinder internal combustion engines. And the present invention has the advantages of simple structure, reliability, good manufacturability and low cost.
US09995187B2	Intake valve apparatus for use with a combustion engine and methods of use and manufacture thereof Some embodiments are directed to a valve assembly for use with a combustion engine. The valve assembly can include a valve stem having a plunger end, and a valve head having a stem portion disposed along a central axis and connected to the plunger end of the valve stem. The valve head can have a hollow interior portion defining interior floor and ceiling surfaces, and include ribs that extend between the interior floor and ceiling surfaces. The ribs can also extend radially around the central axis of the valve head from the stem portion to an outer circumference of the hollow interior portion. Additionally, the ribs can be configured such that a majority of an upper surface of each rib contacts the ceiling surface.
US09995186B2	Method and system for releasing catching of locking pin A method for releasing a catching of a locking pin may include a control application step of releasing the locking pin from a locking pin hole by an electronic control unit (ECU) so that a catching phenomenon of the locking pin due to friction force into a rotation direction of a cam is prevented, and a cam shaking prevention control logic alternately performing, by the ECU, a holding control stopping a rotation of the cam and a rotation control of the cam into a target direction so that it is prevented that the cam is rotated in a direction which is opposite to a rotation target direction of the cam when the releasing of the locking pin is completed.
US09995184B2	Arrangement for coupling two components that can move relative to each other in a switchable valve train component for an internal combustion engine An arrangement for coupling two components that can move relative to each other in a switchable valve train component for an internal combustion engine is provided, with a coupling element (3) that can be moved for coupling the components with a flattened coupling surface (5) for contacting a corresponding locking contour. The locking contour has recesses (7) in which the coupling element (3) can engage so that it can move in contact with the locking contour for coupling with its coupling surface (5) in a position slightly rotated relative to a predetermined coupling position.
US09995183B2	Valve actuating device and method of making same Tools and methods for indenting and assembling a switching rocker arm assembly having an inner arm, an outer arm and a latch. The tools and methods are directed to eliminating requirements for matched sets of components of rocker arm assemblies so that the assembled indented parts have desired latch lash tolerances. The tools used include fixtures and clamps for indenting kidney-bean shaped passages in an outer arm that mount a pivot axle of the outer arm. The tools used may also include a fixture and clamps for indenting a latch shelf of the inner arm. Indenting the inner arm and outer arm using these methods and fixtures results in switching rocker arm assemblies that fit together, and when assembled into a valve, have a desired latch lash.
US09995181B2	Exhaust impingement cooling An exhaust impingement cooling device for reducing heating effects of an exhaust plume on an impinged surface. An exhaust nozzle exit screen is positioned across an exhaust plume flow path, and includes a plurality of flowpath diverging apertures that spread at least a portion of an exhaust plume that is being emitted along the exhaust plume flow path from an exhaust plume source. Flow control jets are arrayed within the exhaust plume flow path in respective positions where their operation will augment the flow of exhaust plume gases through the screen, thereby increasing the momentum and mixing of the exhaust plume with cooler ambient air.
US09995180B2	Non-circular aft nacelle cowling geometry A nacelle for a turbofan propulsion system that extends along a centerline includes a forward cowling and an aft cowling. To improve the fit of a turbofan propulsion system in the space between the wing and ground of a fixed-wing aircraft, the aft cowling of the nacelle is modified. The aft cowling has a non-circular cross-sectional geometry disposed in a plane substantially perpendicular to the centerline. The non-circular cross-sectional geometry includes a radially recessed section disposed between first and second curved sections. The first and the second curved sections each have a radius that is greater than a radial distance between the centerline and a center point of the radially recessed section.
US09995177B2	Self cleaning debris filter for fan drive gear system A pump system for a gas turbine engine has at least one pump. At least one valve has an outlet and at least one inlet is fluidly connected to the at least one pump. A geared architecture is positioned within a bearing compartment. The geared architecture is configured to receive lubricating fluid from the outlet of the at least one valve, a self-cleaning filter is positioned downstream of the at least one valve and upstream of the geared architecture. A gas turbine engine and a method are also disclosed.
US09995172B2	Turbine nozzle with cooling channel coolant discharge plenum A turbine nozzle includes an airfoil that extends in span from an inner band to an outer band where the inner band and the outer band define inner and outer flow boundaries of the turbine nozzle. At least one of the inner band and the outer band defines a plurality of cooling channels formed and a coolant discharge plenum beneath a gas side surface of the corresponding inner or outer band that is in fluid communication with the cooling channels. The coolant discharge plenum is formed within the inner band or the outer band downstream from the cooling channels and upstream from a plurality of coolant discharge ports.
US09995170B2	System and method for heating components of a heat recovery steam generator A system for heating one or more components of a heat recovery steam generator that includes a heat-transferring conduit that fluidly connects a high-pressure section of a flow path to a low-pressure section of the flow path. The flow path is defined by a housing of the heat recovery steam generator and configured to direct a heat-containing medium. The heat-transferring conduit is configured to receive the heat-containing medium from the flow path such that the heat-containing medium flows through the heat-transferring conduit via a pressure differential between a first pressure of the heat-containing medium at the high-pressure section and a second pressure of the heat-containing medium at the low-pressure section. The heat-transferring conduit is further configured to heat the one or more components of the heat recovery steam generator via directing the heat-containing medium to be in heating contact with the one or more components.
US09995166B2	Turbomachine including a vane and method of assembling such turbomachine A vane for a turbomachine includes a pressure surface and a suction surface opposite the pressure surface. The pressure surface and the suction surface define a width therebetween. The vane also includes a first end. The first end includes a distal portion, a proximal portion, a pressure surface first portion, and a suction surface first portion. At least one of the pressure surface first portion and the suction surface first portion slope away from the other of the pressure surface first portion and the suction surface first portion such that the width increases from a first end minimum width at the proximal portion to a first end maximum width at the distal portion.
US09995165B2	Blade outer air seal having partial coating A blade outer air seal member includes a distinct body that has two circumferential sides, a leading edge and a trailing edge, and a gas path side and a radially outer side opposite the gas path side. A ceramic coating is initially disposed on a portion of the gas path side. The ceramic coating includes a forward coating portion and an aft coating portion. The gas path side has a bare area axially separating the forward coating portion and the aft coating portion. The bare area excludes any of the ceramic coating. One or more cooling passages have an outlet that opens at the bare area. The cooling passage extends in the body in an axial direction under the ceramic coating.
US09995161B2	Modular turbocharger clearance seal A turbocharger shaft is sealed with respect to the bore of the bearing housing at the turbine wheel end by one or more shaft seal rings. Conventionally these rings are seated in annular grooves provided in the shaft behind the turbine wheel. Problems can arise with this conventional shaft seal arrangement, particularly where the turbocharged engine has an engine brake valve located downstream of the turbine, and the back pressure in the exhaust line, and thus in the turbine wheel housing, can reach 7 bar. The inventive shaft seal design avoids grooves, and makes it possible to assemble a seal with ring seals with higher wear resistance and thus to maintain the seal's effectiveness over heavy use.
US09995156B2	Turbomachine vane having an airfoil designed to provide improved aerodynamic and mechanical properties A turbomachine vane including a plurality of vane sections stacked along a radial axis, each vane section extending along a longitudinal axis between a leading edge and a trailing edge, and along a tangential axis between an active surface and a passive surface, the vane sections being distributed according to longitudinal and tangential distribution laws defining positioning of respective centers of gravity thereof in relation to the longitudinal and tangential axes according to a height of the vane extending from a foot of the vane to a top thereof. Each of the longitudinal and tangential distribution laws involves a change in direction of the slope at between 90% and 100% of the height of the vane.
US09995152B2	Hollow fan blade with extended wing sheath A fan blade for a turbomachinery fan and methods for fabricating a fan blade for a turbomachinery fan are disclosed. The fan blade for a turbomachinery fan includes an airfoil having a leading edge and a trailing edge in a chordwise direction, a tip and a root in a spanwise direction, a suction side and a pressure side. The fan blade includes a sheath including a solid portion that covers the leading edge of the airfoil, a first wing attached to the suction side of the airfoil, and a second wing attached to the pressure side of the airfoil. Construction of the fan blade includes one or more hollow cavities between the suction side and the pressure side of the airfoil.
US09995149B2	Structural configurations and cooling circuits in turbine blades A turbine blade having an airfoil defined by a concave shaped pressure side outer wall and a convex shaped suction side outer wall that connect along leading and trailing edges and, therebetween, form a radially extending chamber for receiving the flow of a coolant. The turbine blade may further include a rib configuration that partitions the chamber into radially extending flow passages. The rib configuration may include a camber line rib having a wavy profile. The wavy profile may include at least one back-and-forth “S” shape.
US09995143B2	Geared axial multistage expander device, system and method Method, system and axial multistage expander including a casing and a plurality of stages. A stage includes a stator part connected to the casing and having plural statoric airfoils, and a rotor part configured to rotate relative to the stator part and having plural rotoric airfoils. The axial multistage expander also includes a support mechanism connected to the casing and configured to rotatably support the rotor part. Rotoric airfoils of at least one stage of the plurality of stages are configured to rotate with a speed different from rotoric airfoils of the other stages. The stator part, the rotor part and the support mechanism of the plurality of stages are provided inside the casing.
US09995142B2	Rotor of a rotary cylinder A rotor for a rotary cylinder includes a body having a tube and a plate which has the first end integrally formed to the tube, and the second end of the plate extends radially relative to the tube. The plate is a solid plate and has a curved outer periphery. A first recessed area is defined in each of the top and the bottom of the plate. A waist is formed to the plate and located between the first and second ends of the plate. A resilient coat is coated to the body and includes a Y-shaped seal portion along the curved outer periphery of the plate so as to be movably in contact with the inside of the cylinder.
US09995137B2	Service tool for cutting bit assembly A tool includes an actuator assembly, a rod, a first nut, and a second nut. The actuator assembly includes a cylinder, a ram, and a bore extending through the cylinder and the ram. The cylinder includes an internal chamber supporting the ram, a first end, a second end, and a reaction surface positioned proximate the first end. The ram is movable relative to the cylinder and positioned adjacent the second end of the cylinder. The rod extends through the bore of the actuator assembly. The first nut is selectively coupled to one of a first end of the rod and a second end of the rod, and defines a first dimension larger than the bore width of the bit block. The second nut is selectively coupled to the other of the first end of the rod and the second end of the rod, and defines a second dimension less than the bore width.

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