US07817501B2

A mechanism for setting a clock hand indicates for example a date in defined positions of a scale. The mechanism includes a cam disc and a first rake which is connected to the cam disc in a force-transmitting manner and has teeth which engage into the teeth of a pinion and transmit a force. A second rake has teeth that engage into the teeth of the pinion. The second rake exerts a force on the teeth of the pinion that is opposite to the force exerted by the first rake exerts on the pinion. The first rake and the second rake are arranged so as to overlap, and the second rake can be borne pivotally around the first axle. The embodiment has the advantage that it is space-saving and the rakes stabilize one another mutually.
US07817498B1

The time measuring and indication device is an invention that automatically measures and indicates elapsed time and is adapted to be connected to an IV or like medical apparatus. The device measures time by means of measuring the flow of a fluid having a known fluid flow rate. Prior to actuation, the device displays a first indicia such as the word “GOOD”, and after actuation and a predetermined lapse of time, the device displays a second indicia such as the word “EXPIRED”. The device further includes a means to halt or stop the time measuring function and to permanently display the elapsed period of time once the time measuring function is stopped. The time measuring and indication device further includes a means to prevent use of an apparatus such as an IV or like medical apparatus to which the device is attached, without activating the time measuring function of the device.
US07817496B2

In the first embodiment, the inventive sensor comprises first and second antennas, a pulse generator provided with two outputs, wherein the first output thereof is connected to the input/output of the first antenna and the second output is connected to the input/output of the second antenna. The output circuit of the sensor consists of two detectors, wherein the input of the first detector is connected to the input/output of the first antenna and the input of the second detector is connected to the input/output of the second antenna. The output of the first detector is connected to the first input of a differential amplifier whilst the output of the second detector is connected to the second input thereof. The output of the differential amplifier is connected to the low frequency filter and to a feedback device whose output is connected to one of the inputs of the differential amplifier. The output of the low frequency filter is connected to a comparator input. In the second variant, the input circuit of the sensor consists of two detectors each of which is provided with two inputs. The first output of the pulse generator is connected to the input/output of the first antenna and to the second input of the first detector. The input/output of the first antenna is connected to the first input of the second detector whilst the second output of the pulse generator is connected to the second input of the second detector though a delay circuit.
US07817495B2

A technique includes representing actual measurements of a seismic wavefield as combinations of an upgoing component of the seismic wavefield and ghost operators. Interpolated and deghosted components of the seismic wavefield are jointly determined based at least in part on the actual measurements and the representation.
US07817493B2

A semiconductor memory apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention includes a delay enable unit that generates a delay enable signal in response to an external ODT signal and an idle signal, a delay selecting unit that outputs the idle signal or a delay idle signal, which is obtained by delaying the idle signal by a first delay time, in response to the delay enable signal, and a DLL clock control unit that generates a control signal in response to the idle signal or the delay idle signal during a slow power down exit mode.
US07817488B2

An electronic device is capable of monitoring internal components to predict changes in processing power needs. When a prediction is made, a clock control circuit can be instructed to increase the clock signal frequency in response to a predicted increase in processing power needs, or decrease the clock signal frequency in response to a predicted decrease in processing power needs. The control circuit can further balance other clock signal frequencies in order to satisfy constraints such as a power supply constraint.
US07817458B2

A hybrid memory system having electromechanical memory cells is discussed. A memory cell core circuit has an array of electromechanical memory cells, in which each cell is a crossbar junction at least one element of which is a nanotube or a nanotube ribbon. An access circuit provides array addresses to the memory cell core circuit to select at least one corresponding cell. The access circuit is constructed of semiconductor circuit elements.
US07817455B2

A one-time-programmable-read-only-memory (OTPROM) is implemented in a two-dimensional array of aggressively scaled suicide migratable e-fuses. Word line selection is performed by decoding logic operating at VDD while the bit line drive is switched between VDD and a higher voltage, Vp, for programming. The OTPROM is thus compatible with and can be integrated with other technologies without a cost adder and supports optimization of the high current path for minimal voltage drop during fuse programming. A differential sense amplifier with a programmable reference is used for improved sense margins and can support an entire bit line rather than sense amplifiers being provided for individual fuses.
US07817452B2

A phase shifted H-bridge resonant converter with symmetrical currents includes, a DC storage cap (31), four switches (1-4) with a parallel turn off network consisting of diodes (5-8), capacitors (9), (11), (14), (16), resistors (10), (12), (13), (15). The subsequent output of switches (1-4), is arranged in series with DC blocking caps (17-18), connected to a low mutually coupled inductor (32), an AC resistive load, capacitor (19), resistor (20) across inductor (32), with capacitors (22), (23) that comprise a resonant tank circuit, and is connected to the primary of transformer (21) wherein the interaction between the two coils of the low mutually coupled inductor (32) provides symmetrical currents within the switches and resonant tank circuit. Further, output rectification may be arranged by use of secondary winding of transformer (21), diodes (24-27), filter inductor (28), filter capacitor (29), and load resistor (30).
US07817451B2

A switchgear cell having a group of connection is disclosed, with the group of connection having a first and a second controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch and a capacitor. In order to reduce the stored electrical energy and to save space, the group of connection can have a third, fourth, fifth and sixth controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch and the first controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch can be connected back-to-back in series with the second controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch, the third controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch can be connected back-to-back in series with the fourth controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch, the capacitor can be connected to the connection point of the first controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch to the second controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch and to the connection point of the third controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch) to the fourth controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch, the fifth controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch can be connected to the connection point of the first controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch to the second controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch, and to the fourth controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch, and the sixth controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch can be connected to the connection point of the third controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch to the fourth controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch and to the second controllable bidirectional power semiconductor switch.
US07817446B2

Disclosed a switching power supply circuit of current resonance type including: a switching element; an LC resonance circuit to resonate current flowing through the switching element; and a detection circuit to perform a detection associated with an output current amount on the basis of an operation timing of the switching element and a voltage under resonating operation of the LC resonance circuit.
US07817438B2

A transceiver module including an adaptor and a PCB is provided. The PCB, connected with the adaptor, has a first signal layer, a second signal layer and a singular ground layer wherein the singular ground layer is set between the first signal layer and the second signal layer. The first signal layer includes a first transmitter circuit region and a first receiver circuit region. The second signal layer includes a second transmitter circuit region and a second receiver circuit region. The singular ground layer includes a ground portion of a third receiver circuit electrically connected with the ground signals of the first and the second receiver circuit region. Beside, the projection area of the singular ground layer onto the first signal layer substantially covers the first transmitter the first receiver circuit region. The ground portion of the third receiver circuit is electrically connected with a ground of the adaptor.
US07817424B2

A heat sink assembly includes an air duct, a heat sink and a fan. The air duct defines an air guiding channel therein. The heat sink is configured to contact a heat source to dissipate heat from a heat source. The heat sink includes a plurality of heat pipes. The heat sink is placed on one side of the air guiding channel, and the heat pipes contacts the air duct to transmit heat to the air duct. The fan is placed on the other side of the air guiding channel to communicate with the heat sink via the air duct. The fan forces air to flow through the air guiding channel to the heat sink to dissipate heat on the air duct and the heat sink.
US07817417B2

A baffle manages airflow through optionally mounted electronic components by using flexible members formed to extend to empty connectors and flex away from the connectors to accommodate electronic components mounted to the connectors.
US07817416B2

A mounting apparatus is provided for mounting a fan in a chassis defining an exhaust opening in an end wall thereof. The mounting apparatus includes a frame adapted to receive the fan, and be inserted into or drawn out of the chassis via the exhaust opening. The frame includes at least one resilient lock plate. The at least one resilient lock plate releasably abuts against the end wall of the chassis to prevent the frame sliding out of the chassis.
US07817414B2

An electronic device bearing seat includes a casing, a hook, a first resilient element, an ejector, a second resilient element, a pivot, a connecting rod and an ejecting button. The casing has a first opening and a second opening. The hook is movably provided in the first opening and includes a first withstanding post and a recess. The first resilient element is disposed between the casing and the hook. The ejector is movably provided in the second opening and is detachably fastened in the recess. The ejector includes a second withstanding post. The second resilient element is disposed between the casing and the ejector. The shaft is disposed in the casing. The connecting rod is rotatably disposed at and passed by the pivot and pushes against the first and second withstanding post. The ejecting button is movably disposed on the casing and abuts against the connecting rod.
US07817410B2

A display screen turning apparatus includes a plate-shaped support shaft, a display screen support member, including a sectorial first hole, provided on the side of a display screen, serving as the rotation center, of the plate-shaped support shaft and a base support member, including a sectorial second hole, provided on the side of a base, while a first root portion of the sectorial first hole is arranged on the upper side of the first hole, a second root portion of the sectorial second hole is arranged on the lower side of the second hole, and a first side surface of the plate-shaped support shaft is inclined by a prescribed angle with respect to a vertical direction to come into contact with a first inner side edge of the sectorial second hole of the base support member when the display screen is vertically arranged with respect to a horizontal plane along with the display screen support member.
US07817404B2

A capacitor includes a metal case having an opening, a capacitor element accommodated in the metal case, an electrolyte accommodated in the metal case, and a sealing rubber sealing the opening of the metal case. The sealing rubber seals the opening of the metal case while the sealing rubber is compressed to have a stress applied thereto. The stress is not lower than 0.5 MPa and not higher than a predetermined maximum value. This capacitor prevents the electrolyte from leaking, thus having high reliability.
US07817401B2

A wearable suit apparatus incorporating one or more user-operated solid state tesla coils includes a full body clothing article constructed of integrated, conductive shielding material. An on board power supply such as a battery pack powers the one or more solid state tesla coils, which are connected to the suit such that the entire suit is held at or near the same potential as the base of the secondary coil(s) of the SSTC(s), thereby protecting the wearer from injury from the high voltage.
US07817399B2

A first voltage-to-current converter converts a difference voltage between a command voltage and a reference voltage into a current. A second voltage-to-current converter converts a difference voltage between a positive output terminal and a negative output terminal of a PWM drive apparatus into a current. A low-pass filter is connected to a connection point between an output terminal of the first voltage-to-current converter and an output terminal of the second voltage-to-current converter. An amplifier amplifies a difference voltage between a voltage at the connection point and a reference voltage. A PWM modulator PWM-modulates an output voltage of the amplifier. A drive section drives a load in accordance with an output signal of the PWM modulator.
US07817386B2

An ESD protection circuit suitable for applying in an integrated circuit with separated power domains is provided. The circuit includes a P-type MOSFET coupled between a first circuit in a first power domain and a second circuit in a second power domain. A source terminal of the P-type MOSFET is coupled to a connection node for connecting the first circuit and the second circuit. A gate terminal of the P-type MOSFET is coupled to a positive power line of the second power domain. A drain terminal of the P-type MOSFET is coupled to a negative power line of the second power domain. A body terminal of the P-type MOSFET is also coupled to the connection node.
US07817384B2

A motor control module designed to control operation of a plurality of different motors in a plurality of different tools a power tool uses an electronic clutch in the module in conjunction with a mechanical clutch in the tool to protect the tool against an overload event. The module is adapted to implement methods to provide aural and/or tactile feedback to a tool user as a warning of an impending or current fault condition in the tool. The module can prevent power from inadvertently turning on either after an overload event has cleared with the tool plugged in and its power switch on, or after plugging in the tool within the power switch on. The control module is adapted to provide torque control for the power tool, to estimate tool motor temperature and to inform a tool user when a servicing need in the tool is required.
US07817379B2

A suspension for disc drive has a load beam, a flexure, and a slider. The slider is mounted on a tongue portion of the flexure. When a disc rotates, air flows from an air inflow end (leading side) toward an outflow end (trailing side), whereupon an air bearing is formed between the disc and the slider. A dimple is provided on the distal end portion of the load beam. The slider is supported by the dimple so as to be swingable in a pitch direction and a roll direction. The dimple is formed in a position shifted to the trailing side from the center of the slider. The shorter the length of the load beam, the greater the amount of the shift is.
US07817366B1

A read-channel module includes a variable-gain amplifier (VGA) module, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) module, an amplitude measuring module, a gain adjusting module, and a zero phase start (ZPS) module. The VGA module has a variable gain, amplifies input signals, and generates amplified signals. The ADC module converts the amplified signals from analog to digital format and generates samples. The amplitude measuring module receives N of the samples and measures amplitudes of the N samples, where N is an integer greater than 1. The gain adjusting module communicates with the amplitude measuring module and selectively adjusts the variable gain of the VGA module based on the amplitudes. The zero phase start (ZPS) module communicates with the amplitude measuring module, receives the samples, and selectively generates phase information from the samples based on the amplitudes.
US07817348B2

A zoom lens is provided and includes: in order from an object side of the zoom lens, a first lens group adapted to be fixed during power-varying of the zoom lens, the first lens group having a positive power and including in order from the object side, a negative lens, a reflecting member that bends an optical path thereof, and a biconvex lens of a positive lens made of a resin material and having at least one aspherical surface; a second lens group adapted to move during the power-varying, the second lens group having a negative power and including two lenses; a third lens group adapted to be fixed during the power-varying and including one positive lens; and a fourth lens group adapted to move during the power-varying and during focusing of the zoom lens, the fourth lens having a positive power and including in order from the object side, a cemented lens having a positive power, and a negative lens made of a resin material and having at least one aspherical surface and a concave surface on an image side of the fourth lens.
US07817342B2

A two-element f-θ lens used for a micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) laser scanning unit includes a first lens and a second lens, the first lens is a biconvex lens, the second lens is a meniscus lens of which the concave surface is disposed on a side of a MEMS mirror, at least one optical surface is an Aspherical surface in both main scanning direction and sub scanning direction, and satisfies special optical conditions. The two-element f-θ lens corrects the nonlinear relationship between scanned angle and the time into the linear relationship between the image spot distances and the time. Meanwhile, the two-element f-θ lens focuses the scan light to the target in the main scanning and sun scanning directions, such that the purpose of the scanning linearity effect and the high resolution scanning can be achieved.
US07817337B2

The present invention generally relates to a laminated image panel and a fabrication method thereof for projecting images projected from an image optical engine, on a screen by reflecting and/or transmitting the images. The laminated image panel in accordance with the present invention comprises front elements, rear elements disposed in opposition to the front elements, sealants for forming a predetermined cell by mutually bonding opposed rim parts of the front elements and the rear elements and for sealing the front and rear elements by separating the front elements from the rear elements at certain intervals, and a diffusing medium injected into the cell and uniformly diffusing the projection images in transparent and/or semitransparent state. The diffusing medium is created, in a predetermined ratio, by mixing a water-soluble polymeric material that forms a transparent solution by being dissolved in water, a light curable hydrophilic monomer having hydrophilicity and a high dispersion in water, a photoinitiator for inducing a polymerization by interacting with the light curable hydrophilic monomer, and a solvent.
US07817331B2

A vertical comb electro-static actuator for rotating a micro-electro-mechanical micro-mirror device about a tilt axis or rotation. The rotor comb fingers of the comb drive extend from a sub-frame of the micro-mirror, which includes a prestressed layer for bending the rotor comb fingers at an angle to the substrate and mirrored platform, enabling the platform, the hinges, the rotor comb fingers and the stator comb fingers to be formed in the same layer, i.e. the same etching step.
US07817328B2

An energy efficient, thermochromic device that may be used to allow sunlight or solar radiation into a building or structure when sunlight is absent or at high sun angles and substantially blocks solar radiation when sunlight is directly on the window.
US07817325B1

An electro-optic element includes an electro-optic crystal having a birefringent property, and in which a refractive index distribution is generated in accordance with an intensity of an electric field caused inside, a pair of intensity modulating electrodes for applying a voltage for varying the birefringent property of the electro-optic crystal, a pair of scanning electrodes for applying a voltage for varying the refractive index distribution of the electro-optic crystal, and a polarization selection member provided at least on a side of a laser beam emission end face out of a laser beam entrance end face and the laser beam emission end face of the electro-optic crystal, and for selectively transmitting a part with a specific vibration direction out of a light beam emitted from the electro-optic crystal.
US07817316B2

A scanning apparatus for transparent documents includes a scanner which includes a host and a lid pivotally coupled with the host, and a transparent document holding module which is located between the host and the lid, and includes a main body and a light guide element which is located on the periphery of the main body. The host has an optical module for scanning. The optical module includes a plurality of lighting units and a first attraction element. The main body aims to hold a transparent document. The light guide element includes a second attraction element attracted to the first attraction element. When the light guide element is moved with the optical module, the direction of light projecting to the transparent document is altered. Thus when the light guide element is moved with the optical module along a track, scanning of images on the transparent documents can also be accomplished.
US07817313B2

An image scanner includes first and second carriages, a body, a power source, a power supplier, and a tensioner. In the first carriage moving at a predetermined speed, a light source emits light onto an original. A first mirror deflects the light reflected by the original. In the second carriage moving at a half speed of the first carriage, second and third mirrors deflect the light deflected by the first and second mirrors, respectively. The body holds the first and second carriages. The power source drives the light source. The power supplier is connected to the power source and the light source to supply power from the power source to the light source. The tensioner provided on the second carriage contacts the power supplier at a position outside an optical light path and applies tension to the power supplier.
US07817304B2

Bleed widths are set for finishing pages. Bleed regions including the finishing pages are determined based on the set bleed widths for the finishing pages, and the size of the finishing page. The allocation of manuscript data is determined to align the center of the manuscript data to be allocated to that of each determined bleed region.
US07817293B2

A printer system stores a trace of a printer job in storage that is either local or accessible to the printer system. A remotely implemented tool accesses the stored printer job trace. The tool includes a graphical interface that displays the printer commands in the printer job trace in a human readable format. The commands may be displayed in a first window of the interface. In one embodiment, the interface includes a second window where details of a command selected or highlighted in the first window are displayed. The tool may be implemented as a secure web browser that requires password verification to access the printer job trace. The tool may include the ability to replace confidential print data with generic or non-confidential data. The tool might further be able to display text that is embedded in a printer job trace command in ASCII and EBCDIC format.
US07817292B2

Print time management program product capable of calculating and indicating to the user the printing completion time with accuracy by causing a computer to execute processing including a step of transmitting to an external apparatus a request for transmission for print processing time information for jobs in a print queue, a step of receiving the print processing time information transmitted from the external apparatus in response to the request for transmission of the print processing time information and a step of displaying printing completion time for print data to be processed based on the received print processing time information.
US07817283B2

Various systems and methods for analysis of optical pulses are provided. In one embodiment, an optical system is provided having an optical axis. The optical system includes a two-dimensional diffraction grating positioned along the optical axis, and a spectral filter positioned along the optical axis after the two-dimensional diffraction grating. The spectral filter is angularly offset about a vertical transverse angle associated with the optical system. The diffraction grating is angularly offset about the optical axis relative to the spectral filter, and an optical capture device positioned after the spectral filter.
US07817280B2

Disclosed are a method and system for performing device identification and a medical device susceptible to identification using interference patterns for performing device identification. A source signal may be directed from an energy source towards the surface of a device for reflection therefrom. An interference pattern may be detected from the surface of the device, such as by a sensor. A determination as to whether a match exists between the representation of the interference pattern and a stored representation of an interference pattern may be performed. If a match exists, the device may be identified based on the stored representation of the interference pattern. Otherwise, a representation of the interference pattern may be stored and a unique identifier may be assigned to the stored representation of the interference pattern.
US07817278B2

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectrometer sensor apparatus for measuring a property of an analyte substance that can be adsorbed on a surface by directing a beam of incident radiation on the apparatus at an incident angle relative thereto, receiving a beam of reflected radiation off the apparatus, and measuring dips in reflected radiation as a function of incident angle or wavelength, the dips being indicative of resonances in the apparatus. The SPR spectrometer comprises a conductive layer having a first side which receives incident radiation, and having a second side opposite to the first side; and a dielectric stack having first and second sides opposite to each other, the first side being in contact with the conductive layer, the second side for receiving an analyte sample to be disposed thereon. The dielectric stack includes a plurality of dielectric layers having respective thicknesses and indices of refraction, each successive one of the plurality of dielectric layers having an index of refraction which is alternatingly higher than, and lower than, the indices of refraction of adjacent ones of the plurality of dielectric layers. The plurality of dielectric layers including a first dielectric layer at the first side of the dielectric stack, and a last dielectric layer at the second side of the dielectric stack, the last dielectric layer having a boundary surface for contacting the received analyte sample, and having an index of refraction so as to achieve total internal reflection (TIR) at the boundary surface.
US07817264B2

In a method for preparing focus-adjustment data for a focusing lens system of an optical defect-inspection apparatus, a wafer having a plurality of defects is positioned in place with respect to a focal plane defined by the focusing lens system at a positioning step, and the detects on the wafer are optically and electronically detected at a detecting step. Then, defects having a predetermined size are extracted among the detected defects at extracting step, and a number of the extracted defects is counted as defect-number data. The positioning, detecting, extracting and counting steps are repeated whenever the focus-adjustment wafer is relatively shifted from the focal plane by a predetermined distance, and a defect-number distribution is produced based on the defect-number data thus obtained.
US07817261B2

A method and apparatus of detecting a defect by inspecting a specimen in which a surface of a specimen on which plural patterns are formed is illuminated with an elongated shape light flux from one of plural directions which are different in elevation angle by switching an optical path of the light flux emitted from an illuminating light source in accordance with a kind of defect to be detected. Plural optical images of the specimen illuminated by the elongated shape light flux are captured with plural image sensors installed in different elevation angle directions by changing an enlarging magnification in accordance with a density of the pattern formed on the sample in an area irradiated with the illuminating elongated shape light flux. A defect on the specimen is detected by processing the images captured by the plural image sensors.
US07817256B2

A personal authentication method is provided that includes imaging, on an image sensor as a laser speckle using an optical system, light reflected from a blood vessel layer in subcutaneous and internal tissues when a laser beam is expanded and made to irradiate a finger pad, calculating a quantity that represents the rate of change with respect to time of the amount of light received for each pixel of the laser speckle, obtaining a finger pad blood flow map as a two-dimensional map of the numerical values, and comparison-checking the blood flow map against pre-registered data of individuals, wherein using a near-infrared laser beam or using this in combination with a visible laser beam, comparison-checking against pre-registered data of individuals is carried out using a pattern reflecting a fingerprint occurring within the finger pad blood flow map obtained from reflected light and, observed superimposed thereon, an internal tissue blood flow distribution pattern, and there is also provided a device used for the method.
US07817249B2

An exposure method which includes illuminating a first object formed with a pattern to be transferred with a first light beam to expose a second object with the first light beam through the first object and a projection optical system; and irradiating the first object and at least one portion of the projection optical system with a second light beam having a wavelength range that is different from that of the first light beam to correct image forming characteristics of the projection optical system.
US07817247B2

A CD-pitch dependency for a lithographic pattern printing process is related to the spectral intensity distribution of radiation used for projecting the pattern. A CD-pitch dependency can vary from one system to another. This can result in an iso-dense bias mismatch between systems. The invention addresses this problem by providing a lithographic apparatus including an illumination system for providing a projection beam of radiation, a projection system for projecting a patterned beam onto a target portion of a substrate, and a substrate table for holding the substrate, with a controller to provide an adjustment of the spectral distribution of radiant intensity of the projection beam. The adjustment of the spectral intensity distribution is based on data relating to an iso dense bias, and comprises a broadening of the spectral bandwidth or a change of shape of the spectral intensity distribution.
US07817242B2

Positional information (an estimate value in which a linear component of positional deviation amount is corrected) of each shot on a wafer is calculated by a statistical computation using actual measurement values of positional information of a plurality of sample shots on the wafer (step 488). And, a variation amount of a non-linear component of positional deviation amount is calculated at predetermined intervals with respect to each of a plurality of measurement shots including the sample shots (step 496), and judgment is made about the necessity of update of correction information based on magnitude of the calculated variation amount of a non-linear component of each measurement shot area (step 498). Therefore, comparing with the case when actual values of positional information of all shots on the wafer are obtained at least once in each lot in order to update a correction value, the number of shots subject to positional information measurement and the measurement time can be reduced without fail.
US07817233B2

In an embodiment of the invention for an OCB (Optically Compensated Bend)-mode liquid-crystal display (LCD) device, retardation and/or a predetermined voltage range, from which a voltage applied to pixels in a viewing area is selected, is set for the each pixel or for the pixels in each region of the viewing area such that: the luminance on each pixel monotonously increases or decreases with increase of voltage in the predetermined voltage range; the luminance in central portion of the viewing area becomes minimum at black displaying.
US07817232B2

A liquid crystal display apparatus containing an image sensor, which comprises a liquid crystal display part comprising an active matrix circuit, a peripheral driver circuit for driving the active matrix circuit, and a sensor part, integrated on one substrate, wherein the sensor part is sealed and protected with a sealing part and a counter substrate.
US07817230B2

A liquid crystal display device is provided that includes: first and second substrates; a gate line of a double layer having a first transparent conductive layer and a second opaque conductive layer on the first substrate; a first insulation film on the gate line; a data line crossing the gate line to define a pixel region, the pixel region having a transmissive area and a reflective area; a thin film transistor connected to the gate and data lines; a pixel electrode having the first conductive layer in the pixel region and a second conductive layer along the boundary of the first conductive layer; a storage upper electrode to form a storage capacitor by overlapping with the gate line the first insulation film there between; a transmission hole to expose the side of the storage upper electrode and a drain electrode of the thin film transistor by passing through the first insulation film and a second insulation film on the thin film transistor; a reflective electrode connected the second conductive layer of the pixel electrode with the drain electrode and the storage upper electrode through an edge portion of the transmission hole; and a liquid crystal layer between the first and second substrates.
US07817229B2

In a transflective type LCD provided with a transparent region and a reflection region in each pixel, when an irregular film 11 is formed on an active matrix substrate 12 to form irregularities of a reflection electrode film 6, the irregular film 11 is specifically formed to almost the same film thickness in both the transparent region and the reflection region to provide substantially the same inter-substrate gap in these two regions so that they may have almost the same V-T characteristics and also the reflection electrode film 6 made of Al/Mo is formed so as to overlap with a transmission electrode film 5 made of ITO all around an outer periphery of the transmission electrode film 5 by a width of at least 2 μm, thus suppressing electric erosion from occurring between the ITO and Al substances at the edge of the transmission electrode film 5.
US07817225B2

Disclosed herein is a backlight unit which has high utilization efficiency over the entire visible wavelength band. The backlight unit includes a reflective polarization splitter to allow a light of a surface light source to emit therethrough. The reflective polarization splitter includes a plurality of wires arranged in a wire grid shape. With this structure, when light of the surface light source passes through the wires, the wires passes only a certain polarized light, for example, s-polarized light having a vibration plane vertical to a longitudinal direction of the lattice wires therethrough, while reflecting other polarized components of the light according to the reflection coefficient of the wires.
US07817222B2

A display device includes a display panel, a first printed circuit board, a first flexible printed wiring board connected to the display panel and the first printed circuit board, a second printed circuit board, a second flexible printed wiring board connected to the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board, and a frame member on which the first printed circuit board and the second printed circuit board are mounted. The display device also includes a film shaped member which overlaps a surface of the first printed circuit board which faces the frame member and projects from an end portion of the first printed circuit board toward the second printed circuit board along the second flexible printed wiring board.
US07817212B2

Provided are a laser video projector having a multi-channel acousto-optic modulator, and a method and circuit for driving the laser video projector. The laser video projector includes a light generating portion, an optic modulator, an optic combining portion, and an optic scanning portion. The light generating portion emits light to be used to project a video image. The optic modulator modulates the light incident from the light generating portion by using the video signal. The optic combining portion combines modulated light beams emitted from the optic modulator. The optic scanning portion scans light incident from the optic combining portion on a screen. The optic modulator has six or more optic modulation channels so that a plurality of red light beams, a plurality of green light beams, and a plurality of blue light beams incident in a state suitable for optic modulation are simultaneously modulated. Accordingly, limitations in the performance of an optic modulator and an optic scanner can be overcome. Also, a laser video projector can be made small. In addition, the degree of freedom for arranging components increases and the components can be well arranged. Furthermore, a video image of high brightness can be realized.
US07817209B2

A buffer delays an input luminance signal by a 1-frame period. A screen unit motion detection section determines whether an image indicated by the input luminance signal is a moving image or a static image by a screen unit, and outputs a gradual determination result from the static image to the moving image. A subtracter outputs a differential signal obtained by subtracting the input luminance signal from the luminance signal delayed by the 1-frame period. A pixel unit motion detector detects motion of a pixel unit and outputs a detection result by using a plurality of level values within a predetermined range. A limiter limits the differential signal in accordance with the determination result of the screen unit motion detector. An adder adds an output signal of the multiplier and the input luminance signal together.
US07817205B2

Camera arrangement, in particular for use in a motor vehicle, including a printed circuit board with an image sensor and an objective lens carrier, and an objective lens for projecting an image onto the image sensor, the objective lens being connected by connecting means to the objective lens carrier, the connecting means being one or more ball segment-shaped housing sections which are provided terminally of the objective lens and which are held in a cylindrical bore of the objective lens carrier, the connecting means being suitable for sliding the objective lens relative to the image sensor as well as pivoting it, and a method for the adjustment of a camera arrangement according to the invention.
US07817202B2

An image processing method is provided for detecting the position of a specific subject from a movie and combining a display of detection result indicating the detected position with the movie. The image processing method includes a step of determining, depending on a display time of the detection result, whether the detection result should be continuously displayed, when the subject cannot be detected during the display of the detection result combined with the movie.
US07817196B1

Techniques for modifying data of an image that can be implemented in a digital camera, video image capturing device and other optical systems are provided to correct for Image image shading variations appearing in data from a two-dimensional photo-sensor. These variations can be caused by imperfect lenses, non-uniform sensitivity across the photo-sensor, and internal reflections within a housing of the optical system, for example. In order to correct for these variations, a small amount of modification data is stored in a small memory within the camera or other optical system, preferably separate correction data for each primary color. Image data from individual pixels are corrected on the fly by interpolating individual pixel corrections from the stored modification data, at the same rate as the image data is being acquired, so that the correction takes place without slowing down data transfer of picture data from the image sensor.
US07817195B2

An apparatus and method of automatic conversion to a digital zoom mode allow a digital zoom to be executed by automatically converting from a high-resolution mode that does not support a digital zoom to a highest resolution mode supporting the digital zoom when a digital zoom key is pushed. The apparatus includes a key pad having a digital zoom key, a video processing unit for processing video data from the camera unit to determine a resolution and execute a digital zoom function, and a control unit for controlling the video processing unit to convert a resolution mode that does not support the digital zoom function to a highest resolution mode among resolution modes supporting the digital zoom function and execute the digital zoom function when the digital zoom key is pressed in the resolution mode that does not support the digital zoom function.
US07817180B2

Some embodiments provide an architecture for establishing multi-participant video conferences. This architecture has a central distributor that receives video images from two or more participants. From the received images, the central distributor generates composite images that the central distributor transmits back to the participants. Each composite image includes a set of sub images, where each sub image belongs to one participant. In some embodiments, the central distributor saves network bandwidth by removing each particular participant's image from the composite image that the central distributor sends to the particular participant. In some embodiments, images received from each participant are arranged in the composite in a non-interleaved manner. For instance, in some embodiments, the composite image includes at most one sub-image for each participant, and no two sub-images are interleaved.
US07817177B2

An optical scanning device includes a light source, a deflector that deflects a light beam from the light source, a first optical system that guides the light beam to the deflector, a second optical system that guides the light beam from the deflector to a surface to be scanned, and a housing that holds the light source and the deflector. At least one optical element included in the first optical system or the second optical system is attached to the housing via an intermediate member. The optical element is adjustable with respect to the intermediate member. The number of directions in which the optical element can be adjusted is two or more.
US07817171B2

A control section is disclosed which divides a display screen into small regions, evaluates the relative brightness of each of the small regions in accordance with color data to be inputted as color data by which each pixel is displayed, and determines whether or not the display screen has a first small region that is brighter than the other small regions by a predetermined degree. Furthermore, the control section causes a first generating device to generate gradation data for use in the first small region, and causes a second generating device to generate gradation data for use in the other small regions. Even if the second generating section receives the same color data as the first generating section does, the second generating section limits the luminance of a W sub-pixel as compared to the first generating section. With this, the first small region can be displayed more strikingly brightly, so that a clearer, more realistic, and more appealing image can be displayed. This makes it possible to realize a display apparatus capable of displaying a clearer, more realistic, and more appealing image.
US07817163B2

A method and system for rendering a desktop on a computer using a composited desktop model operating system are provided. A composited desktop window manager, upon receiving base object and content object information for one or more content objects from an application program, draws the window to a buffer memory, and takes advantage of advanced graphics hardware and visual effects to render windows based on content on which they are drawn. The frame portion of each window may be generated by pixel shading a bitmap having the appearance of frosted glass based on the content of the desktop on top of which the frame is displayed. Legacy support is provided so that the operating system can draw and render windows generated by legacy applications to look consistent with non-legacy application windows.
US07817156B2

A hook processing module 400 hooks and preempts a specific drawing command issued by an application program 122, and draws an image in an image data storage area 106b within the RAM 106 according to the acquired drawing command. VNC server 130 acquires the image from the image data storage area 106b, and transfers the acquired image to a projector via a network.
US07817152B2

A image processing apparatus has a first data generation unit which generates triangular data by making straight line contours and curved contours triangles by analyzing the straight line contours and the curved contours with respect to vector format graphic data, a second data generation unit which generates stencil data from the triangular data, and a third data generation unit which generates raster format graphic data with reference to the stencil data.
US07817149B2

In a semiconductor circuit of a current output type, when display is performed by plural semiconductor circuit in one display panel, luminance unevenness for each block with a different semiconductor circuit occurs due to fluctuation in the semiconductor circuits.In current output stages 14a and 14b, current mirror circuits are constituted at both ends of a chip, and a reference current to be a reference of gradation display is supplied from both the ends. Moreover, by increasing a resistance value of a gate line of the current mirror circuit of distributing a current to each output, deviation of a transistor threshold value in the chip was compensated for, and output currents at left and right ends were matched. Moreover, reference currents were made the same by connecting resistors for reference current generation 11c to 11f each other at least between semiconductor circuits connected side by side, and fluctuation of current values across all semiconductor circuits decreased to 1% or less, whereby unevenness which occurred in boundaries of chips could be eliminated.
US07817143B2

A function input method for providing in advance to a user information on a function to be executed when the user presses a button to execute a specific function in a portable terminal, such as a cellular phone, and a button input apparatus using the same. The method includes: receiving a button input when the user presses one of a plurality of buttons; determining whether a mode of the button input is a touch mode or a click mode; and displaying a preview image of a function corresponding to the pressed button if the button input mode is the touch mode and executing the function corresponding to the pressed button if the button input mode is the click mode.
US07817142B2

An imaging apparatus 10 includes a lower housing 11, an upper housing 21, a lower LCD 12, an outer camera, a plurality of buttons 14A to 14E, and a touch panel 13. The lower housing 11 has a horizontally long shape. The upper housing 21 has a horizontally long shape, and a long side of the upper housing 21 is connected to an upper long side of the lower housing 11 such that the lower housing 11 and the upper housing 21 are foldable. The lower LCD 12 has a display screen which is provided in an inner surface of the lower housing 11. The outer camera is provided in an outer surface of the upper housing 21, and located at an end of the outer surface of the upper housing 21 which is opposite to a connection portion where the upper housing 21 is connected to the lower housing 11. The plurality of buttons 14A to 14E are provided on an inner surface of the lower housing 11 and on both sides of the display screen in a horizontal direction of the lower housing 11. The touch panel 13 is provided on the display screen.
US07817139B2

According to one embodiment, a membrane switch includes an insulating sheet provided with a first sheet portion having a first contact, a second sheet portion having a second contact, and a fold-back portion having a fold line. The fold-back portion has a conductor pattern which crosses the fold line. A gap in which the conductor pattern is to be situated is defined inside the fold-back portion by folding the fold-back portion of the insulating sheet along the fold line so that the first contact and the second contact face each other. The gap is filled with an adhesive having electrical insulating properties and water-repellent properties. The adhesive covers the conductor pattern.
US07817128B2

A driving circuit applies, to scanning electrodes of a liquid crystal panel with a memory effect, a scanning voltage composed of zero and a positive or negative unipolar voltage waveform, and also applies, to signal electrodes, a signal voltage composed of zero and a unipolar voltage waveform having the same polarity as that of the scanning voltage. Further, image data is displayed at a pixel of the liquid crystal panel with a memory effect during a plurality of scanning periods, such that the polarities of the voltages applied between the scanning electrode and the signal electrode at a portion forming a pixel of the liquid crystal panel with a memory effect during a first scanning period and during a subsequent period of the plurality of periods are inverted.
US07817124B2

A liquid crystal display panel includes a plurality of sub-pixels, a plurality of thin film transistors, a plurality of data lines, and a plurality of gate lines. Each of the sub-pixels have first and second gray scale regions which are split up and down and have different areas, the first and second gray scale regions of one sub-pixel having a staggered arrangement with respect to those of an adjacent sub-pixel. Thin film transistors are connected to the first and second gray scale regions so that the first gray scale regions are driven when one of gate lines is driven and the second gray scale regions are driven when another gate line is driven.
US07817106B2

A portable phone has a main LCD and a SW-LCD, provided on a path of light to be transmitted by the main LCD, which electrically switches between (i) an image to be seen in a single image display mode and (ii) an image to be seen in a multiple image display mode. Furthermore, a first polarization plate serving as a reflective polarization plate is provided between the SW-LCD and the main LCD, and a second polarization plate is provided on a front surface side of the SW-LCD. The SW-LCD has a liquid crystal layer to which a voltage is applied in the multiple image display mode. With this, an image displayed by an image display can be seen from a front direction. In addition, the image displayed by the image display means is blocked by the second polarization plate when the image is seen from the an oblique direction, and outside light from the oblique direction is reflected by the first polarization plate, so that a mirror surface display is carried out.
US07817104B2

An augmented reality apparatus and method in which the direction of a camera is adjusted to be consistent with a direction toward which a user faces and an augmented reality image is realized for a subject image incident from the adjusted camera direction. The augmented reality apparatus includes a viewing angle determination module which determines a viewing angle of a user, an image input module which receives an image of one or more subjects within the viewing angle of the user, an image synthesization module which generates a synthesized image by synthesizing the subject image with a digital image, and a display module which displays the synthesized image.
US07817097B2

A method for fabricating a microwave horn antenna in which a thermoplastic sacrificial layer is mounted to a thermoplastic horn layer. A heated horn embossing plate having at least one horn shaped embossing element is then moved into the horn layer so that the horn element penetrates through the horn layer and extends partially into the sacrificial layer thus forming a horn opening in the horn layer complementary in shape to the horn element. The horn layer and sacrificial layer are then separated from each other and the horn opening and at least a portion of the back surface of the horn layer is covered with a metal coating. A thermoplastic wave guide layer formed by embossing wave guide channels into the layer is covered with metal and attached to the back side of the horn layer to form the antenna. Alternatively, a portion of the horn and the remaining portion of a microwave channel are formed in both a first and second thermoplastic section. These portions of the microwave guide channel and horn are then coated with a metal material and the sections are secured together in a facing relationship so that the horn portions and wave guide channel portions on both the first and second sections register with each other.
US07817095B2

A tight-fitting garment comprising a dipole resonator which is adapted to vary its length and/or shape in conformity with the length and/or shape variations of a person wearing the garment. The length and/or shape of the resonator determines the resonance frequency which can be detected by a reflection analyzer. The dipole resonator comprises at least one elastic core around which a conductive wire is wound. The dipole resonator is further suitable to elastically deform along with the tight-fitting garment.
US07817092B1

The unknown location of an electromagnetic transmitter is determined by receiving the radiation at plural sensors distributed over an area. Received power is determined at each sensor, and normalized by taking ratios of powers from the various sensors. A plurality of transmitter locations are hypothesized, and losses from each hypothesized location to each sensor are estimated or measured. The losses are normalized. The differences between the normalized powers and normalized losses are integrated, and the mean-square values determined. The location at which the mean-square value is minimum is deemed to be the location of the transmitter.
US07817088B2

Techniques are provided for improving hybrid automatic repeat request retransmissions techniques in a beamformed multiple-input multiple-output wireless communication environment. At a first device comprising a first plurality of antennas, a plurality of beamforming weight vectors are applied to a corresponding plurality of signal streams for simultaneous transmission to a second device having a plurality of antennas. A determination is made whether the plurality of signal streams need to be retransmitted from the first device to the second device. When a retransmission needs to be made, an order in which the plurality of beamforming weight vectors are applied to the plurality of signal streams is switched for a retransmission attempt of the plurality of signal streams from the first device to the second device.
US07817076B2

A multiple mode digitization system for a non-destructive inspection instrument which makes use of a multiplexing circuit and a single set of analog to digital converters to efficiently digitize analog test signals from a plurality of inputs. In the preferred embodiment, each of the analog to digital converters in the system is driven with an independent and separate clock signal, allowing for propagation delay compensation among the plurality of test signals as well as interleaved sampling such that custom sampling rates can be used for each input without the need for more than one clock frequency. In an alternate embodiment, phase adjustments on the sampling clocks are used only for interleave sampling, and digital filters are used to provide signal propagation delay compensation.
US07817062B1

An operation of drilling an earth borehole uses a drilling rig, a drill string of drill pipes having its generally upper end mechanically coupleable with and suspendable from the drilling rig, a drive string portion of the drill string, mechanically coupleable with the topmost drill pipe of said drill string, and a drive mechanism mechanically coupleable with the drive string for rotating the drive string and the drill string. A system for generating electric power in the region of the drive string includes an electric generator, which includes a rotating generator component mounted on said drive string for rotation therewith and a stationary generator component mounted on a stationary portion of the drilling rig. The rotating generator component produces electric power in the region of the drive string.
US07817056B2

A device and a method for differentiating between a person sitting on the seat surface of a vehicle seat and an object such as, for example, a child seat. The device has a cushion provided with weight sensors which are distributed over the seat surface in a plane manner, first weight sensors being arranged in a central region and second weight sensors being arranged on the edge of the seat surface. At least one central weight sensor is differentiated from a plurality of second weight sensors on the edge of the seat surface in that it always emits a comparatively low sensor signal when subjected to the same weight load.
US07817055B1

A galvanic ground isolator adapter protects against galvanic corrosion on a boat when a boat power system is connected to a shore power system. A ground isolation assembly in the ground connection between the two system grounds prevents current from passing between the two system grounds when the voltage difference between the two is low. When the voltage difference exceeds a preset value, the ground connection is established. The adapter is entirely contained within a rigid housing with a male plug at one end and a female socket at the other end. In this form it can be simply connected to a power cord that is normally used in connecting the shore and boat power systems. It may be provided with a locking mechanism that prevents it being removed once it is attached. It may be supplied with a sonic alarm to indicate when current is flowing in the ground connection.
US07817041B2

A security tag assembly and security system associated therewith to prevent the unauthorized removal of merchandise from a given area, such as a retail establishment. The security tag assembly comprises a base and at least one attachment member removably connected in an operative position on the merchandise being protected. A locking assembly including a locking member is structured to restrict detachment of the attachment member and is forcibly disposed out of movement restricting relation to said connector member when the base and the attachment member are separated. A detachment assembly and a data registering processor may include a two-way communication link which facilitates processing of the merchandise data disposed on the security tag assembly, such that the purchasing of the merchandise and the removal of the security tag assembly can be effectively accomplished without jeopardizing the security of the merchandise being sold.
US07817028B2

A system and method for driving LED vehicle lights is provided, for diving an LED taillight and brake light, an LED reversing light and an LED direction indicator. The system and method uses direction indicator controller to receive the direction indicator enabling signal generated by vehicle light power controller and generate an direction indicator control signal to an enabling switch controller to avoid the flasher frequency of the direction indicator from being affected by the lighted taillight and brake light and reversing light so as to provide the driving capability that can stabilize the flasher frequency of the direction indicator.
US07817023B2

Acquired wheel information such as temperature data and inflation pressure data is surely transmitted from a transmitter in a status where the transmitter is not located in a dead space, by controlling timing wherein the transmitter acquires the wheel information, a transmission time width and transmitting timing of the data to be transmitted from the transmitter by radio.
US07817016B2

A combination light and sound producing fixture and combination screw-in light with speakers element is disclosed where the fixture is installed in a wall or ceiling or on a wall or ceiling. The light bulb/speaker can be screwed or secured into a standard light bulb socket. The sound producing elements is a coaxial arrangement of speakers having a low frequency transducer and one or more high frequency transducers that can be directed to emit sound in a particular direction. The fixture or bulb may further include digital signal processing to modify the sound to account for obstructions in or near the fixture. The surface of the sound transducer can be reflective in nature to provide focusing or diffusion of the light from the lighting elements. The lighting elements are incandescent, fluorescent or low voltage LED type that may include adjustment for lighting intensity and color.
US07817013B2

A system for providing stand-off biometric verification of a driver of a vehicle while the vehicle is moving and/or a person on foot at a control gate, including an RFID vehicle tag reader, an RFID personal smart card reader and a facial detection and recognition (verification) system. The driver carries a RFID personal smart card that stores personal information of the driver and a face template of the driver. The vehicle carries a RFID vehicle tag that stores information regarding the vehicle. When the vehicle approaches the control gate, the RFID vehicle tag reader reads data from the RFID vehicle tag and the RFID personal tag reader reads data from the RFID personal smart card. The facial detection and verification system scans and reads a facial image for the driver. All the data and facial images detected by the readers are sent to a local computer at the control gate for further processing (final face verification). The local computer at the control gate decodes and retrieves the face template from the data read from the RFID personal smart card.
US07817011B2

In a chip type variable electronic part including an insulating substrate, and an adjustment rotor made of a metal plate rotatably mounted on an upper surface of the insulating substrate, in which the rotor is constituted of a first plate formed in a bowl shape to receive a screwdriver that rotates the rotor, and a second plate superposed on an upper surface of the first plate and integrally coupled thereto via a fold-back joint, and the second plate includes a screwdriver engagement hole perforated therein for the screwdriver to be fitted in, the fold-back joint is bent downward from an upper surface of the second plate, thereby preventing deformation of the fold-back joint when the rotor is rotated with the screwdriver.
US07816989B2

A differential amplifier includes a first differential pair formed by transistors of a first conductivity type, to receive input signals and output first differential-mode currents, a first current amplifier section to output a first output source current and a first output sink current to a first output terminal and a second output terminal, respectively, based on the first differential-mode currents, a second differential pair formed by transistors of a second conductivity type, to receive the input signals and output second differential-mode currents, and a second current amplifier section to output a second output source current and a second output sink current to the first output terminal and the second output terminal, respectively, based on the second differential-mode currents.
US07816986B2

A PWM signal drives a pair of output transistors connected in series between a supply line and ground so that a push-pull current is output toward a speaker via a coil from a point connecting both output transistors. A current limiting resistor has one end connected to the supply line and between the other end and ground is provided a control transistor. Furthermore, a comparator compares the supply line voltage and a reference voltage and turns on the control transistor when the supply line voltage is higher than the reference voltage in the comparison result thereof.
US07816984B2

A lookup table generation method for a predistorter comprises sending a first single tone signal with a maximum expected amplitude to a channel simulation device including the power amplifier, estimating a closed loop gain and a closed loop phase of the power amplifier according to the first single tone signal and a first simulation output signal generated outputted by the channel simulation device, sending a plurality of single tone signals to the channel simulation device, each single tone signal having an amplitude different from all others of the plurality of single tone signals and lower than the maximum expected amplitude, generating a plurality of predistortion parameters according to the closed loop gain, the closed loop phase, the plurality of single tone signals and a plurality of simulation output signals outputted by the channel simulation device, and storing the plurality of predistortion parameters in a lookup table of the predistorter.
US07816977B2

Core voltage generator including a comparison unit configured to compare a reference voltage with a feedback core voltage to output a difference between the reference voltage and the feedback core voltage, an amplification unit configured to output a core voltage by amplifying an external power supply voltage according to an output signal of the comparison unit and a mute unit configured to maintain a voltage level of an output terminal of the amplification unit at a ground voltage level when the output of the core voltage is interrupted.
US07816966B1

A system includes an input device, an output device, a mechanical chassis, a printed circuit board, and a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a mechanical package, and a semiconductor die. The semiconductor die includes a semiconductor layer, a plurality of metal layers, a clock distribution network that distributes a clock signal within the die, and an economy precision pulse generating circuit. The economy precision pulse generating circuit includes a pre-charge circuit, a gate-to-the-partial-jam-latch-keeper circuit, a partial-jam-latch-keeper circuit, and a pull-down-against-the-up-keeper circuit. A source clock signal is derived from the clock signal. The source clock signal is provided to a first input of a logical AND circuit, the pre-charge circuit, and the gate-to-the-partial-jam-latch-keeper circuit. A common storage node is connected to a second input of the logical AND circuit. The logical AND circuit outputs an output pulse. The output pulse is fed back to the pull-down-against-the-up-keeper circuit.
US07816961B2

Embodiment of the present invention relate to a method for receiving a first signal, determining a first characteristic of the first signal, the characteristic being a time based characteristic, receiving a second signal and processing the second signal through a predetermined range of delay elements, an initial minimum number of delay elements in the predetermined range being adjustable, the processed second signal having a second characteristic substantially corresponding to the first characteristic of the first signal.
US07816942B2

A high-speed universal serial bus (USB) transceiver includes a voltage-mode architecture for generating a USB signal. The voltage mode architecture reduces power consumption by reducing the current requirements for high-speed USB communications. The USB transceiver can include a reference voltage generator, a resistive element, and a switching element for completing and breaking a circuit including the reference voltage generator, the resistive element, and a data pin of a USB port to generate half of the differential USB signal (e.g., the D+ signal). A similar circuit can be used to generate the other half of the differential USB signal (i.e., the D− signal). The resistive element can be a set of parallel resistors in the transceiver, with the set of parallel resistors being specifically selected from a larger population of resistors to provide the specified resistance (45Ω±10%) in the USB transceiver.
US07816941B2

A termination impedance control circuit is capable of controlling a dynamic ODT operation in a DDR3-level semiconductor memory device. The termination impedance control circuit includes a counter unit configured to count an external clock and an internal clock to output a first code and a second code, respectively, and a dynamic controller configured to enable a dynamic termination operation by comparing the first code with the second code in response to a write command and disable the dynamic termination operation after a predetermined time, determined according to a burst length, has lapsed after the dynamic termination operation is enabled.
US07816937B2

An apparatus for testing an object includes a test chamber, a guiding member, testing units and a transferring unit. The test chamber is configured to receive the object. The guiding member is arranged extending along a first direction in the test chamber. The testing units are movably connected to the guiding member to test electrical characteristics of the object. The transferring unit is arranged in the test chamber to load the object into one of the testing units and unload the object from one of the testing units. The testing units may be transferred to a position for repair without suspension of the apparatus. The object may be tested using another testing unit while the other testing unit is being repaired.
US07816913B2

A rotation angle detecting unit includes a pedal arm rotated by the pedal force transmitted from an accelerator pedal, an urging device urging the pedal arm in an opposite direction from a direction, in which pedal force is applied to the pedal arm, a pedal rotor engaging the pedal arm to transmit urging force of the urging device to the pedal arm, and a rotation angle detecting device detecting the rotation angle of the accelerator pedal. The rotation angle detecting device includes a movable part attached to the pedal rotor and thereby displaced together with the pedal rotor, and a stator that outputs an electric signal, which is associated with a rotational position of the pedal rotor due to one of magnetic and electric interactions with the movable part.
US07816907B2

An integrated circuit includes an output terminal to be coupled to a light-emitting diode, an output circuit coupled to the output terminal, the output circuit being configured to supply an operating signal to the light-emitting diode, a measuring circuit coupled to the output terminal and a control circuit coupled to the measuring circuit. The measuring circuit is configured to sense on the output terminal a signal value outside an operating regime of the light-emitting diode, the signal value being a voltage below a forward voltage of the light-emitting diode or a current below a threshold current of the light-emitting diode. The control circuit is configured to configure at least one function of the integrated circuit when the signal value as sensed by the measuring circuit corresponds to a voltage below the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode or a current below the threshold current of the light-emitting diode.
US07816906B2

A method is provided for determining the anisotropy of alignment of a random array of 1-D conductive elements (e.g., carbon nanotube or silicon nanowire) formed on a substrate. A pattern of a plurality of electrodes are arranged on the substrate containing the 1-D conductive elements and a plurality of electrical property measurements are performed in a plurality of different directions between the plurality of electrodes. The plurality of measurements are combined together to generate a total measurement sum of electrical property measurements between the various electrodes. The measured electrical property is determined between a selected pair of the plurality of electrodes along a selected direction extending between the selected pair of electrodes. The anisotropy of alignment of the 1-D conductive elements on the substrate along the selected direction is determined based on a ratio of the measured electrical property between the selected pair of electrodes versus the total measurement sum.
US07816897B2

An electronic circuit. The electronic circuit includes a pass transistor having a channel coupled between an input node and an output node. An error circuit is coupled thereto and configured to control the amount of current flowing through the pass transistor. The electronic circuit may further include a feedback node. A current limiting circuit is coupled to both the feedback node and the error circuit. The current limiting circuit is configured to limit an amount of current provided to the pass transistor by the error circuit based on a on a feedback voltage present on the feedback node and a current through a current mirror circuit, and therefore limits the output current provided by the electronic circuit.
US07816887B2

The present invention relates to a battery charger for charging multiple types of portable equipments, comprising a charging pin housing including a plurality of charging spring pins having a predetermined distance therebetween; a moving motor for detecting an insertion of a battery and sliding the charging pin housing inward and outward; and a charge controller for suspending an operation of the moving motor when a contact of a charging terminal of the inserted battery to two or more charging spring pins of the plurality of the charging spring pins are detected during the sliding of the charging pin housing, and for quick-charging the battery through the two or more charging spring pins connected to a charging circuit. In accordance with the present invention, a discharged battery of a portable equipment may be charged easily regardless of a difference between sizes, polarities and positions of terminals of the battery of different portable equipments including mobile phones.
US07816885B2

Multiple function current-sharing charging systems and methods are provided. Where first and second rechargeable power supplies are connected to a charging system, a first charging current is provided to the first rechargeable power supply and a second charging current is provided to the second rechargeable power supply. Upon detection of a predetermined charge level of one of the rechargeable power supplies, a third charging current is provided to the first rechargeable power supply and a fourth charging current is provided to the second rechargeable power supply.
US07816883B2

In a return-to-zero stepping sequence for a stepper motor that drives the pointer of a gauge, steps that could potentially cause the pointer to flutter are modified. At least the initial potential flutter step of the stepping sequence is divided into sub-steps to progressively attenuate the motor torque, the motor is deactivated during intermediate potential flutter steps, and at least the final potential flutter step of the stepping sequence is divided into sub-steps to progressively re-apply the motor torque.
US07816882B2

A method for protecting an electronic apparatus driven by a DC motor and a detection circuit for detecting positioning signals thereof. The electronic device includes an optical encoder, a code strip, and a DC motor. While moves along the code strip, the optical encoder outputs a first positioning signal and a second positioning signal for the control of the DC motor. The method includes the steps described below. First, states of the first and second positioning signals are detected. If the states of the first and second positioning signals are normal, the DC motor is controlled according to the first and second positioning signals. If the first positioning signal or the second positioning signal is abnormal, a preventive method is performed.
US07816869B2

A plasma display panel in which a first substrate having a protective layer formed thereon opposes a second substrate across a discharge space, with the substrates being sealed around a perimeter thereof. At a surface of the protective layer, first and second materials of different electron emission properties are exposed to the discharge space, with at least one of the materials existing in a dispersed state. The first and second materials may be first and second crystals, and the second crystal may be dispersed throughout the first crystal.
US07816855B2

A LED device is provided having a diffuse reflective surface which includes an LED chip emitting light, a reflector cup having the LED chip arranged at a bottom surface thereof and having an angled surface which diffusely reflects the light emitted by the LED chip, and a light conversion material provided in the reflector cup for converting the light emitted by the LED chip into visible light rays. The light-conversion material is spatially separated from the LED chip by a length equal or greater than the maximum length of the LED chip.
US07816850B2

A display device includes a plurality of gas discharge tubes sandwiched between a front support plate and a rear support plate. A plurality of signal electrodes are formed on the rear support plate to extend along the longitudinal direction of the gas discharge tubes. The signal electrodes are divided into a plurality of groups. The distance between adjacent ones of the signal electrodes in each group has a first distance. The distance between adjacent ones of the signal electrodes between adjacent groups has a second distance that is larger than the first distance. Thus, a space may be provided between the two adjacent gas discharge tubes of the respective adjacent groups.
US07816848B2

A surface-conduction electron emitter includes a substrate, two electrodes disposed on the substrate and parallel to each other, and a plurality of line-shaped carbon nanotube elements fixed on at least one electrode. One end of each carbon nanotube element points to the other electrode. An electron source using the surface-conduction electron emitter includes a substrate, a plurality of electrodes disposed on the substrate and parallel to each other, and a plurality of line-shaped carbon nanotube elements fixed on at least one electrode. One end of each carbon nanotube element points to the other electrode.
US07816833B2

A method and device for using radial relative displacement between a magnet and coil to generate electricity from fluid motion. The device includes a support structural component, a movable magnetic structure, a rotating structural component, and bearings. The movable magnetic structure is coupled to the support structural component. The rotating structural component rotates relative to the support structural component. The bearings are coupled to or disposed with the rotating structural component. The rotation of the rotating structural component results in forces applied by the bearings on the movable magnetic structure and movement of the movable magnetic structure.
US07816830B2

A permanent magnet apparatus (10) for achieving electrical performance is provided. The apparatus (10) includes a cylindrical stator assembly (12) having a plurality of stator pole assemblies (92) and a cylindrical rotor assembly (14) having a plurality of rotor pole assemblies (20). Each stator pole assembly (92) includes a wire coil (102) and a laminated stack (98) of axially aligned stator segments (100). Each of the stator segments (100) has a center-post portion (106) that is detachably engaged to a back-iron portion (104). Each rotor pole assembly (20) is provided with a laminated stack (28) of axially aligned rotor segments (30) to which is secured a permanent magnet (32). Preferably, the stator pole assemblies (92) are secured to a base plate (26) by fastening rods (74) and the stator assembly (12) includes stacks (156) of back-iron portions (104) where each stack (156) is positioned to abut two stator pole assemblies (92). The rotor pole assemblies (20) are preferably secured to a rotor plate (24) by fastening rods (74) and magnet retention-stops (66,68) defined by stacked rotor segments (28,84) frictionally support the permanent magnet (32). The apparatus (10) is most desirably operated as a low-shaft-speed, permanent magnet alternator.
US07816829B2

A dual motor has a shaft and a first motor connected to the shaft. The first motor is a standard electrical motor receiving voltage steps. The first motor provides a rotational force to the shaft when the voltage is applied. A second motor is also connected to the shaft, and the second motor is a permanent magnet motor comprising a flexible member connected to the shaft at a flexible member inside end. The permanent magnet motor also has an inside magnet mounted to a flexible member outside end, and the inside magnet moves relative to the shaft. The permanent magnet motor also has an outside housing. An outside magnet is mounted to the outside housing, and stepped voltage application flexes the flexible member. Optionally, stepped voltage application flexes the flexible member so that the outside magnet rotates relative to the inside magnet.
US07816826B2

A machine has a rotor, that can be rotated about an axis, with a superconductive winding that is coupled in a heat-conducting manner to a central coolant area of a fixed heat conducting body proturding into a hollow of the rotor via a winding carrier and a heat contact gas. The coolant area forms a line system with the line parts thereof, that are laterally connected thereto, and a condenser area of a cold unit, in which a coolant circulates in the line system as result of a thermosiphon effect. To maintain the supply of coolant to the central coolant area, even when the rotor encounters difficulties, the coolant area is provided with a lining of a porous material, preferably a sinter material, having high thermal conductivity.
US07816825B2

A cooling gas ventilation chimney is provided for enhancing the heat transfer of an end region of a dynamoelectric machine. The dynamoelectric machine includes a rotor having a plurality of radial slots. A plurality of coils are seated in the radial slots, and the coils form a plurality of radially stacked turns. The ventilation chimney includes one or more chimney slots defined in at least a portion of the radially stacked turns. The chimney slots extend in a substantially radial direction to the rotor, and some of the chimney slots have an axial or circumferential length different from other chimney slots.
US07816823B2

A cooling device of an electric motor for a vehicle for receiving cooling air into the electric motor through a suction port according to the rotation of a rotor shaft on which a rotor core, which is disposed opposite to a stator core, is installed. The cooling device includes an air volume regulating mechanism regulating a cooling air volume received therein through the suction port according to an ambient temperature. Since the cooling air volume received in the cooling device through the suction port is regulated according to the ambient temperature, the cooling of the electric motor can be optimized, and noise generated can be efficiently reduced according to the ambient temperature.
US07816822B2

A motor includes: a rotor having permanent magnets in which N-poles and S-poles are alternately arranged in the circumferential direction; seven stator pole groups, each of which has a plurality of stator poles arranged in the circumferential direction, the stator pole groups being arranged with the circumferential and axial positions of the stator poles in one stator pole group being offset from those of other stator pole groups; and a plurality of loop windings formed in the circumferential direction and arranged at positions adjacent to the plurality of stator pole groups in the rotor shaft direction.
US07816821B2

A varnish impregnation state determination method for determining a varnish impregnation state of a core assembly that is formed by disposing a coil inside a slot of a motor core and impregnating the coil and an interior of the slot with a varnish, including applying an alternating current voltage between the motor core and the coil to determine tan δ that serves as a dielectric dissipation factor; and determining that the varnish impregnation state of the core assembly is normal when a value of the tan δ is equal to or smaller than a predetermined non-defective article reference value.
US07816819B2

A motor having a rotor in which a rotor magnet is fixed on the outer peripheral surface of a rotor body. The motor is configured so that the support shaft portion is formed of a material having a self-lubricating property, and a first sliding surface of the support shaft portion is supported rotatably. Also, the motor is configured so as to have a metallic motor casing, a rotor provided in the motor casing to drive a motor shaft projecting from the motor casing through a shaft hole in an end wall portion, a stator provided around the rotor in the motor casing to rotationally drive the rotor, a cover member provided to close the other end opening of the motor casing, and a connector body integrally formed of a resin so as to seal the other end opening of the motor casing from the outside of the cover member.
US07816813B2

A method and apparatus for paralleling engine generators. One or more closed transition transfer switches (CTTSes) are coupled to two or more engine generators. A system controller is programmed to operate the one or more CTTSes so that each of the generators provides an emergency power and so that the generators may simultaneously supply emergency power to the power bus.
US07816806B2

A power supply device of the present invention includes a switching element and a switch that operate so that when a primary DC voltage source of the device is in a voltage drop state, the power of a secondary auxiliary voltage source thereof is mixed with the power of the DC voltage source in a balanced manner and supplied to a load. This structure can reduce the maxim amount of power storage necessary for the auxiliary voltage source and thus the number of power storage elements necessary for the auxiliary voltage source. Thus, a smaller power supply device can be provided.
US07816802B2

A electricity generating assembly includes a plurality of rotatable fan blades. A generator is connected to the plurality of fan blades to convert rotation of the fan blades into electricity. A plurality of shutters surround the plurality of fan blades. The plurality of shutters are movable between a first position in which said plurality of shutters are open to allow access to the plurality of fan blades and a second position in which the plurality of shutters are closed to prevent access to the plurality of fan blades. A motor is connected to the plurality of shutters to move the plurality of shutters between the first and second positions.
US07816801B2

A protection circuit for a wind turbine generator that includes a PWM Brake that works in conjunction with known Brake Relays is disclosed. The Brake Relay is used to short the generator output terminals at a first threshold voltage. The PWM Brake includes one or more switching devices, coupled across the generator output. The PWM Brake is under the control of a PWM Brake Control Circuit which actuates the PWM Brake at a second threshold voltage that is relatively lower than the first threshold voltage. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the PWM Brake Control Circuit includes a novel speed sensing circuit for providing a signal representative of the speed of the turbine generator The novel speed sensing circuit eliminates the need to mount a speed sensor on the pole top mounted turbine generator. As such, the need for adding cabling from the pole top mounted wind turbine generator is eliminated. The novel speed sensing circuit provides a signal representative of the rotational speed of the turbine generator based upon the duty cycle of a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal that is derived from the drive signal developed by the PWM Control Circuit. This signal is used to alternatively actuate and close the Brake Relay to minimize actuation of the centrifugal switch.
US07816800B2

An electric generating system including a frame configured to couple to a tether system and at least one power generation module mounted to the frame. The at least one power generation module includes a holding structure attached to the frame, a rotating structure, including a rotor shaft, configured to rotate relative to the holding structure, a rotor attached to the rotor shaft, and a plurality of motor/generators attached to the holding structure, each including a drive shaft configured to engage with the rotor shaft. The electric generating system is configured to operate in a first mode wherein the motor/generators are configured to receive electrical energy from the tether system and drive the drive shafts to create a torque on the rotor shaft to thereby rotate the rotor and create lift to fly the electric generating system to an operating position within an air stream, and to operate in a second mode wherein the rotor is configured to be rotated by the air stream to provide lift to maintain the electric generating system within the air stream and to create a torque on the rotor shaft to thereby rotate the rotor shaft and the rotating structure so that the torque from the rotor is transmitted to the motor/generators via the drive shafts to generate electrical energy which is provided to the tether system.
US07816795B2

Synchronization between command and address signals commonly coupled to a plurality of memory devices to be operated in parallel and a clock signal coupled to the memory devices is achieved, while suppressing an increase in the clock wiring length. A semiconductor device has a data processing device mounted on a wiring substrate and a plurality of memory devices accessed in parallel by the data processing device. The data processing device outputs the command and address signals as a first frequency from command and address terminals, and outputs a clock signal as a second frequency from a clock terminal. The second frequency is set to multiple times of the first frequency, and an output timing equal to or earlier than a cycle starting phase of the clock signal output from the clock terminal can be selected to the command and address signals output from the command and address terminals.
US07816792B2

One or more embodiments are related to a semiconductor structure, comprising: a semiconductor chip; a conductive layer comprising at least a first conductive pathway and a second conductive pathway spacedly disposed from the first conductive pathway, the first conductive pathway electrically coupled to the chip, at least a portion of the first conductive pathway disposed outside the lateral boundary of the chip, at least a portion of the second conductive pathway disposed outside the lateral boundary of the chip; and a conductive interconnect disposed outside the lateral boundary of the chip, the conductive interconnect electrically coupling the first conductive pathway to the second conductive pathway.
US07816785B2

An improved thermal interface material for semiconductor devices is provided. More particularly, low compressive force, non-silicone, high thermal conductivity formulations for thermal interface material is provided. The thermal interface material comprises a composition of non-silicone organics exhibiting thermal conductivity of approximately 5.5 W/mK or greater and a compressed bond-line thickness of approximately 100 microns or less using a compressive force of approximately 100 psi or less.
US07816784B2

Disclosed are PQFN semiconductor die packages for high-voltage, high-power applications, systems using the packages, and methods of making the packages. An exemplary package comprises a leadframe, a semiconductor die disposed on the leadframe, and a heat sink member disposed on the semiconductor die and the leadframe and integrated into the molding material of the package. The heat sink member has an electrically insulating substrate with a high breakdown voltage, and one or more conductive layers disposed on a first surface of the substrate that electrically interconnect the semiconductor to one or more leads of the leadframe.
US07816782B2

A wiring substrate for mounting semiconductors is provided with an insulation film, wires formed in the insulation film, and a plurality of electrode pads that electrically connect to the wires through vias. The electrode pads are provided to have their surfaces exposed to both of the front surface and the rear surface of the insulation film, and at least a part of the side surface of the electrode pads is buried in the insulation film. The insulation film is formed by forming electrode pads on the respective two metallic plates, thereafter, laminating an insulation layer and wires on the respective metallic plates to cover the electrode pad, and adhering the insulation layers to each other for integration, and thereafter, removing the metallic plates.
US07816778B2

A device is disclosed which includes a flexible material including at least one conductive wiring trace, a first die including at least an integrated circuit, the first die being positioned above a portion of the flexible material, and an encapsulant material that covers the first die and at least a portion of the flexible material. A method is disclosed which includes positioning a first die above a portion of a flexible material, the first die including an integrated circuit and the flexible material including at least one conductive wiring trace, and forming an encapsulant material that covers the first die and at least a portion of the flexible material, wherein at least a portion of the flexible material extends beyond the encapsulant material.
US07816776B2

A stacked semiconductor device and a method of forming a serial path of the stacked semiconductor device are provided. The stacked semiconductor device includes a plurality of chips each having a first internal circuit for receiving an input signal, performing a designated operation and outputting an output signal. Each of the chips includes a serial bump disposed at the same position on one surface of each of the chips, receiving the input signal and transferring the input signal to the first internal circuit, and a serial through-silicon via (TSV) disposed at a position symmetrical to the serial bump with respect to a center of the chip to penetrate the chip, and receiving and transferring the output signal. Here, the chips are alternately rotated and stacked, so that the serial TSV and the serial bumps of adjacent chips contact each other. According to the stacked semiconductor device and method, a plurality of chips having the same pattern are rotated about the center of the chips and stacked, so that a parallel path and a serial path can be formed.
US07816770B2

To hermetically seal a cavity in a microelectronic component, a cap located in a sealing device is positioned above the orifice opening into the cavity. The cap plastically deforms to seal the cavity. The sealing device includes a cavity permitting the cavity of the microelectronic component to be filled. The sealing device slides along the component so as to be positioned opposite either the filling cavity, or the cap.
US07816760B2

A semiconductor structure and a related method for fabrication thereof include an isolation region located within an isolation trench within a semiconductor substrate. The isolation region comprises; (1) a lower lying dielectric plug layer recessed within the isolation trench; (2) a U shaped dielectric liner layer located upon the lower lying dielectric plug layer and partially filling the recess; and (3) an upper lying dielectric plug layer located upon the U shaped dielectric liner layer and completely filling the recess. The isolation region provides for sidewall coverage of the isolation trench, thus eliminating some types of leakage paths.
US07816753B2

An optical device with an iridium oxide (IrOx) electrode neural interface, and a corresponding fabrication method are provided. The method provides a substrate and forms a first conductive electrode overlying the substrate. A photovoltaic device having a first electrical interface is connected to the first electrode. A second electrical interface of the photovoltaic device is connected to a second conductive electrode formed overlying the photovoltaic device. An array of neural interface single-crystal IrOx nanostructures are formed overlying the second electrode, where x≦4. The IrOx nanostructures can be partially coated with an electrical insulator, such as SiO2, SiN, TiO2, or spin on glass (SOG), leaving the IrOx distal ends exposed. In one aspect, a buffer layer is formed overlying the second electrode surface, made from a material such as LiNbO3, LiTaO3, or SA, for the purpose of orienting the growth direction of the IrOx nanostructures.
US07816752B2

In a solid state imaging device which includes a photodiode in the upper part of a silicon substrate and a MOSFET active region separated from the photodiode by a device isolation region, the width of the device isolation region is smaller in its lower part than in its upper part.
US07816748B2

The absorption of moisture from a wall surface of an apertured part formed in an interlayer insulating film in accordance with a light-receiving part of a light detector is minimized and deterioration of wiring in the interlayer insulating film is prevented. A position that corresponds to a light-receiving part 52 of a wiring-structure layer 90 obtained by layering an Al layer and an interlayer insulating film composed of SOG or another material is etched, and an apertured part 120 is formed. A silicon nitride film 130 is then deposited on a side-wall surface and bottom surface of the apertured part 120 via CVD. The silicon nitride layer 130 prevents moisture from infiltrating the wiring-structure layer 90.
US07816746B2

A spin-tunnel transistor having a tunnel barrier layer formed of an antiferromagnetic material which is exchange coupled with a first or second ferromagnetic metal layer of a base B formed adjoining to the antiferromagnetic material, so as to fix magnetization of the adjoining ferromagnetic layer. The base B includes a nonmagnetic metal layer which is formed between the first and second ferromagnetic metal layers and decouple magnetization coupling between the first and second ferromagnetic metal layers. The base B is formed between a collector and an emitter to form tri-terminal device. Those spin-tunnel transistor may be used as a sensor of a magnetic reproducing head used in a hard disk drive.
US07816741B2

The semiconductor device of the present invention has a body layer of a P-type impurity region formed on an N− layer of an N-type impurity region. A plurality of trenches is formed through the body layer from the main surface thereof. A gate insulating film and a gate electrode are formed in each trench. A contact layer of a P-type impurity region and an emitter layer of an N-type impurity region are formed on the main surface of the body layer. A plurality of floating ring layers of P-type impurity regions is formed on the main surface of the N− layer, being spaced apart from the body layer. A well layer of an N-type impurity region is formed between the body layer and N− layer in an area contained in the body layer in plane view.
US07816709B2

Composites of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and a ceramic support (e.g., silica) comprising a small amount of catalytic metal, e.g., cobalt and molybdenum, are described. The particle comprising the metal and ceramic support is used as the catalyst for the production of the single-walled carbon nanotubes. The nanotube-ceramic composite thus produced can be used “as prepared” without further purification providing significant cost advantages. The nanotube-ceramic composite has also been shown to have improved properties versus those of purified carbon nanotubes in certain applications such as field emission devices. Use of precipitated and fumed silicas has resulted in nanotube-ceramic composites which may synergistically improve the properties of both the ceramic (e.g., silica) and the single-walled carbon nanotubes. Addition of these composites to polymers may improve their properties. These properties include thermal conductivity, thermal stability (tolerance to degradation), electrical conductivity, modification of crystallization kinetics, strength, elasticity modulus, fracture toughness, and other mechanical properties. Other nanotube-ceramic composites may be produced based on Al2O3, MgO and ZrO2, for example, which are suitable for a large variety of applications.
US07816708B2

In a semiconductor chip in which external connection pads are arranged in three or more rows in a staggered configuration at the peripheral portion thereof, a first pad which is arranged in the outermost row is used as a power supply pad or a ground pad for an internal core circuit. To the first pad, a second pad which is arranged in the second outermost row is connected with a metal in the same layer as a pad metal. The resistance of a power supply line to the internal core circuit has a value of the parallel resistance of a resistance from the first pad and a resistance from the second pad, which is by far lower than the resistance from the first pad. Therefore, it is possible to prevent circuit misoperation resulting from an IR drop in the power supply of the internal core circuit.
US07816704B2

A method for packaging a light emitting element includes a step of providing a carrier formed with an anode electrode and a cathode electrode, a step of providing a light emitting object by utilizing a light emitting diode chip having a positive and negative electrodes, a step of directly contacting the carrier and the light emitting diode chip to establish electrical communication among the anode and cathode electrodes and the positive and negative electrodes, and a step of firmly bonding the carrier and the light emitting diode chip by which to simplify assembling procedure and further to reduce manufacturing cost and enhance production efficiency.
US07816694B2

A light emitting semiconductor device is provided, wherein the light emitting semiconductor device comprises a substrate, a plurality of flip chips, a heat conductive board and an insulating board. These flip chips are electrically connected on the substrate. The heat conductive board has a protruding portion used to support the substrate. The insulating board has a plurality of connecting pads and an opening, wherein the protruding portion is sheathed in the opening, so as to expose the substrate. The exposed substrate is then electrically connected to the connecting pads.
US07816688B2

An upper part of a SIC substrate 1 is oxidized at a temperature of 800 to 1400° C., inclusive, in an oxygen atmosphere at 1.4×102 Pa or less, thereby forming a first insulating film 2 which is a thermal oxide film of 20 nm or less in thickness. Thereafter, annealing is performed, and then a first cap layer 3, which is a nitride film of about 5 nm in thickness, is formed thereon by CVD. A second insulating film 4, which is an oxide film of about 130 nm in thickness, is deposited thereon by CVD. A second cap layer 5, which is a nitride film of about 10 nm in thickness, is formed thereon. In this manner, a gate insulating film 6 made of the first insulating film 2 through the second cap layer 5 is formed, thus obtaining a low-loss highly-reliable semiconductor device.
US07816685B2

An object of the present invention is to provide a structure of a thin film circuit portion and a method for manufacturing a thin film circuit portion by which an electrode for connecting to an external portion can be easily formed under a thin film circuit. A stacked body including a first insulating film, a thin film circuit formed over one surface of the first insulating film, a second insulating film formed over the thin film circuit, an electrode formed over the second insulating film, and a resin film formed over the electrode, is formed. A conductive film is formed adjacent to the other surface of the first insulating film of the stacked body to be overlapped with the electrode. The conductive film is irradiated with a laser.
US07816683B2

In an array substrate and a display apparatus, a gate line receives a gate pulse during a present 1H period and a data line receives a pixel voltage having a polarity inverted at every frame. When a thin film transistor is turned on in response to the gate pulse during the present 1H period, a pixel electrode receives the pixel voltage through the thin film transistor during the present 1H period. A pre-charging part pre-charges the pixel electrode to a common voltage that is a reference voltage of the pixel voltage in response to a previous gate pulse during a previous 1H period.
US07816682B2

By increasing an interval between electrodes which drives liquid crystals, a gradient of an electric field applied between the electrodes can be controlled and an optimal electric field can be applied between the electrodes. The invention includes a first electrode formed over a substrate, an insulating film formed over the substrate and the first electrode, a thin film transistor including a semiconductor film in which a source, a channel region, and a drain are formed over the insulating film, a second electrode located over the semiconductor film and the first electrode and including first opening patterns, and liquid crystals provided over the second electrode.
US07816669B1

A light emitting system includes a polymer mixture, and a plurality of nanocrystals occupying a predetermined portion of the polymer mixture. The polymer mixture includes at least two polymers that phase-segregate. Method(s) for controlling nanocrystal distribution within the light emitting device are also disclosed.
US07816663B2

A silicate phosphor prepared from Mg2Me+20.5Ln3Si2.5O12-2yN−3yF−1y, in which Me+2=Ca, Sr, Ba, Ln=Sc, Lu, Er, Ho, excited by one single ion or an ion pair of d, f-elements such as Ak+n=Cu+1, Ce+3, Eu+2, Ag+1, Mn+2. The phosphor has a cubic garnet architecture prepared by solid phase synthesis, and radiates at green, green-yellow, yellow-orange spectrum regions. When mixed with (Y,Gd,Ce)3Al5O12 substrate-based phosphor, the compound mixture has warm white radiation and color temperature T<4000K with high luminous intensity and high luminescence efficiency. The invention also provides a warm white semiconductor using the silicate phosphor.
US07816659B2

A layer of resistivity-switching metal oxide or nitride can attain at least two stable resistivity states. Such a layer may be used in a state-change element in a nonvolatile memory cell, storing its data state, for example a “0” or a “1”, in this resistivity state. Including additional metal atoms in a layer of such a resistivity-switching metal oxide or nitride compound decreases the current required to cause switching between resistivity states, reducing power requirements for an array of memory cells storing data in the resistivity state of such a layer. In various embodiments a memory cell may include a layer of resistivity-switching metal oxide or nitride compound with added metal formed in series with another element, such as a diode or a transistor.
US07816654B2

In apparatus for superresolution microscopy or microlithography, wherein a spot in the specimen to be examined or in the microlithographic medium is raised to an excited state by a first pulse of light, and a second pulse of light reduces the excitation in the peripheral parts of the spot to increase the resolution of the instrument, a method whereby the wavelength of the second pulse in the specimen or medium is the same as the wavelength of the first pulse, thereby allowing the cost and complexity of the apparatus to be lowered.
US07816635B2

A stowable wing structure incorporates a wing having a span equal to a fuselage length and movable from a stowed position longitudinally aligned with the fuselage to a deployed position perpendicular to the fuselage. A pivot offset laterally from a centerline of the fuselage and aft from a symmetry point on the centerline with a corresponding offset forward toward the leading edge from a chord centerpoint on the wing allows rotation of the wing from the stowed position to the deployed position with the rotation resulting in an aft position of the chord center point relative to the fuselage symmetry point.
US07816633B2

A method and associated instrument are disclosed for increasing the sequential rate at which a series of microwave assisted chemical reactions that potentially generate high pressure can be carried out. The method includes the steps of opening a pressure-resistant valve on a microwave-transparent pressure-resistant vessel to define a unpressurized pathway through the valve into the vessel, inserting a tube through the pathway in the valve and into the vessel, transferring at least one composition into the vessel through the tube, removing the tube from the vessel and from the pathway in the valve, closing the valve to seal the vessel against pressure release, and exposing the vessel and its contents to microwave radiation. The instrument includes a source of microwave radiation, a cavity in microwave communication with the source, an attenuator that forms at least a portion of the cavity, a pressure-resistant microwave-transparent reaction vessel having portions in the cavity and portions in the attenuator, a pressure-resistant valve on the mouth of the vessel, a reciprocating tube for passing through the valve and into the vessel when the valve is open, and means for mechanically inserting and retracting the tube through the valve and into the vessel when the vessel is in the cavity and the attenuator.
US07816630B2

A device and a method for receiving ceramic heating elements (PTC elements, cold conductors) in a heating device use an insulating frame and at least one contact plate held by the latter and on which the heating elements can be placed. The contact plate is frictionally held in the frame. According to the method, at least on the contact plate side remote from the heating element reception side is molded on or sprayed a layer of the following materials: plastic, polymer ceramic, ceramic.
US07816629B2

A vacuum heating device comprises: a pot body having an inner casing and an outer casing; a vacuum space being formed between the inner casing and the outer casing; a heat source installed at a lower outer side of the inner casing; a pot cover installed at a top of the pot body; the pot cover having a vent hole; the pot cover tightly covering the receiving space of the inner casing so as to have a preferred heat preservation effect; and an energy supply device for actuating the heat source to generate heat to heat the inner casing. The energy supply device is a conductor body which is connected to the heat source. Or the energy supply device is an electromagnetic generator installed at a lower side of the pot body.
US07816625B2

Previous methods for the production of a hole in a component are very time-consuming and expensive, as special lasers having ultra short laser pulse lengths are used. The inventive method varies laser pulse lengths and ultra short laser pulse lengths are used exclusively in the region which is to be removed, wherein it is possible to have a noticeable influence on through flow and/or out-flow behavior. This, for example, the inner surface of a diffuser of a hole, which can be produced in a precise manner using ultra short laser pulse lengths.
US07816619B2

A process for manufacturing carbon nanotubes, including a step of creating an electric arc in an electric field between a carbonaceous anode and a carbonaceous cathode under conditions effective to produce the carbon nanotubes, wherein the carbonaceous anode and the carbonaceous cathode are immersed in dielectric liquid serving as a dielectric, coolant and for providing an oxygen-free environment. Preferably, one of the electric discharge machining dielectric oils is used as dielectric liquid. Preferably, an electric discharge machine is used to immerse the electrodes in the dielectric liquid, create an electric field, induce the arc, and adjust the gap between the electrodes thus optimizing the yield of carbon nanotubes. The process is cost-effective, easy to implement, and provides high-quality carbon nanotubes while eliminating the need for dedicated equipment and catalysts.
US07816609B2

A wired circuit board is provided having a reinforced part thickened to ensure a high rigidity when it is used, while having the reinforced part thinned for easy handling when it is not yet used to prevent a cost increase and a productivity reduction. When the wired circuit board is used, a folding portion is valley-folded to laminate a reinforcing portion on a second connecting portion to contact the back surface of a fourth reinforcing plate of the reinforcing portion with the back surface of a second reinforcing plate of the second connecting portion. This achieves to reinforce the second connecting portion with the second reinforcing plate and the reinforcing portion and ensure a high rigidity by thickening the reinforced part. Since the reinforcing portion is supported in the same plane as a wired circuit portion via the folding portion before it is used, the reinforced part can be thinned and easy handling is achieved.
US07816608B2

A substrate for inspecting a thickness of contacts at least includes a dielectric layer, a first metal layer, and a second metal layer. The first metal layer which includes a circuit region and a testing region is formed on an upper surface of the dielectric layer, and the circuit region has a plurality of contacts. The second metal layer which has a hollowed region is formed on a lower surface of the dielectric layer, and the hollowed region is aligned with the testing region of the first metal layer to avoid the interference when the testing region is inspected.
US07816605B2

A connection device for cables having an elongated, cylindrical body with first and second ends, a termination interface member attached to each end of the elongated cylindrical body, wherein the elongated, cylindrical body is made of a flexible, cylindrical substrate member extending between the termination interfaces, with a plurality of elongated tension members helically wound about the exterior of the flexible substrate member, the ends of the tension members being attached to respective termination interface members.
US07816603B2

A capsule housing has at least three housing sections, extends along an axis, and has a substantially tubular-shaped frame. The housing sections are connected together on the front side thereof and they surround a receiving chamber on the inside. The inside has an electric circuit device. The receiving chamber has a smaller transversal cross-section than the respective cross-section in the region of the second and the third housing section in the region of the first housing section which connects the second and the third housing sections.
US07816580B2

The present invention relates to methods for promoting somatic embryogenesis from a tissue or organ of a plant, by overexpressing a Wuschel gene in said tissue or organ. In one embodiment, such overexpression can be used as a silent selectable marker for transgenic plants. In another embodiment, such expression can be used to confer apomixis to a plant. In another embodiment, such overexpression can be used to create haploid plants, which can be used to produce dihaploid plants.
US07816578B2

The present invention provides novel transgenic nonhuman mammals capable of producing human sequence antibodies, as well as methods of producing and using these antibodies.
US07816576B2

The invention relates to a method for producing unsaturated hydrocarbons. According to said method, in a first step, a hydrocarbon, especially a mixture which contains alkanes, essentially no water, and can contain water vapour, is continuously guided through a first catalyst bed provided with standard dehydration conditions. Liquid water, water vapour and a gas containing oxygen are then added to the reaction mixture obtained in the first step and, in a second step, the reaction mixture obtained is then continuously guided through another catalyst bed for oxidising hydrogen and for further dehydrating hydrocarbons. The first catalyst bed can be heated and the heating in the first step is then preferably regulated in such a way that an essentially isothermic operating mode is created.
US07816566B2

The invention concerns a 3-alkylated crystallized (1R,4S)-p-menthan-(3)-ol derivative, of formula A or B, wherein: either when R<2> represents hydrogen or a methyl radical, R<1> represents a —(CH2)n-OH where n can be 1, 2 and 3, or when R<2> represents a hydroxy radical, R<1> represents a methyl radical or a —(CH2)n-OH group where n can be 1, 2 and 3. The invention also concerns methods for preparing same, and perfume, cosmetic or food compositions containing said derivative.
US07816555B2

The present invention relates to compositions of peroxycarboxylic acid that have reduced odor compared to conventional peroxycarboxylic acid compositions, methods employing these reduced-odor compositions, and methods of making these compositions. Typically, the reduced-odor compositions include an amine oxide surfactant.
US07816551B2

An adiponitrile/methylglutaronitrile preparation process includes distilling a reaction stream to obtain stream 3 depleted in pentenenitriles (bottom product) and stream 4 enriched in pentenenitriles (top product); extracting stream 3 obtaining stream 6 enriched with extractant (top product) and stream 7 depleted in extractant (bottom product); distilling stream 6 obtaining stream 8 comprising the catalyst (bottom product) and stream 9 comprising the extractant (top product); distilling stream 7 obtaining stream 10 (bottom product) and stream 11 comprising the extractant (top product); distilling stream 10 obtaining stream 12 comprising catalyst degradation products, at least one promotor, adiponitrile and methylglutaronitrile (bottom product) and stream 13 comprising pentenenitriles (top product); distilling stream 12 obtaining stream 14 comprising catalyst degradation products and the promotor(s) (bottom product) and stream 15 comprising adiponitrile and methylglutaronitrile (top product); distilling stream 15 obtaining stream 16 comprising adiponitrile (bottom product) and stream 17 comprising methylglutaronitrile (top product).
US07816549B2

A compound which has thermal stability and moderate vaporizability and is satisfactory as a material for the CVD or ALD method; a process for producing the compound; a thin film formed from the compound as a raw material; and a method of forming the thin film. A compound represented by the general formula (1) is produced by reacting a compound represented by the general formula (2) with a compound represented by the general formula (3). The compound produced is used as a raw material to form a metal-containing thin film. [Chemical formula 1] (1) [Chemical formula 2] (2) [Chemical formula 3] Mp(NR4R5)q(3) (In the formulae, M represents a Group 4 element, aluminum, gallium, etc.; n is 2 or 3 according to cases; R1 and R3 each represents C1-6 alkyl, etc.; R2 represents C1-6 alkyl, etc.; R4 and R5 each represents C1-4 alkyl, etc.; X represents hydrogen, lithium, or sodium; p is 1 or 2 according to cases; and q is 4 or 6 according to cases).
US07816544B2

The present invention provides new strategies for the synthesis of compounds of the rocaglamide family and related natural products. In particular, the new biomimetic synthetic approach involves photochemical generation of an oxidopyrylium species from a 3-hydroxychromone derivative followed by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of the oxidopyrylium species to a dipolarophile. This approach can be used for the formation of adducts containing an aglain core structure. Methods for the conversion of aglain core structures to aglain, rocaglamide and forbaglin ring systems are also provided. The present invention also relates to the use of rocaglamide/aglain/forbaglin derivatives for the manufacture of medicaments for use in the treatment of cancer or cancerous conditions, disorders associated with cellular hyperproliferation, or NF-κB-dependent conditions.
US07816542B2

The invention provides a novel class of compounds, pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds and methods of using such compounds to treat or prevent diseases or disorders associated with abnormal or deregulated TPO activity, particularly diseases or disorders that involve thrombocytopenia.
US07816541B2

The present invention provides a process for selectively producing an enantiomer at position 4 of an optically active compound in the cross aldol reaction of pyruvic acid and indole-3-pyruvic acid. The process comprises the step of reacting pyruvic acid with indole-3-pyruvic acid in the presence of an optically active α-amino acid containing a secondary amine and a metal ion.
US07816539B2

A subject of the present Application is novel derivatives of benzimidazole and imidazopyridine which have a good affinity for certain sub-types of melanocortin receptors, in particular the MC4 receptors. They are particularly useful for treating pathological conditions and diseases in which one or more melanocortin receptors are involved. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing said products.
US07816536B2

Disclosed are 4-substituted and 7-substituted indoles, benzofurans, benzothiophenes, benzimidazoles, benzoxazoles, and benzothiazoles. Also disclosed are methods for making 4-substituted and 7-substituted indoles, benzofurans, benzothiophenes, benzimidazoles, benzoxazoles, and benzothiazoles, including those having the formulae. The methods include contacting a 4-substituted-6,7-dihydro indole, benzofuran, benzothiophene, benzimidazole, benzoxazole, or benzothiazole compound or a 7-substituted-4,5-dihydro indole, benzofuran, benzothiophene, benzimidazole, benzoxazole, or benzothiazole compound with a vinyldiazo compound in the presence of a dirhodium catalyst.
US07816530B2

Disclosed are new dihydropteridinones of general formula (I) wherein the groups L and R1-R5 have the meanings given in the claims and specification, the isomers thereof, intermediates and processes for preparing these dihydropteridinones and the use thereof as pharmaceutical compositions.
US07816528B2

A 2-(N-methyl-N-methanesulfonylamino)pyrimidine compound of the formula (3): [R is a hydrocarbyl group], is prepared by the steps of: (I) reacting an isobutyrylacetate ester with 4-fluorobenzaldehyde and urea in the presence of a protonic compound and a metal salt; (II) oxidizing the reaction product of the step (I); (III) reacting the oxidation product of the step (II) with an organic sulfonyl halide or an organic sulfonyl anhydride; and (IV) reacting the reaction product of the step (III) with N-methyl-N-methanesulfonamide.
US07816527B2

Kits including novel fluorescent derivitization reagents for labeling an aldehyde- and/or ketone-containing target substance in a sample are described. In one embodiment kits are provided the novel fluorescent derivitization reagents of which have the following formula: wherein Q is carbonyl, thiocarbonyl, or sulfonyl, and R5 is -L-Z; L is arylene, or a C1-6 perfluoroalkylene; Z is a carbonyl hydrazide, hydrazide, sulfonyl hydrazide, or a thiocarbonyl hydrazide; R11-R14 are independently H, C1-16 alkyl, C1-6 alkylamino, amino, or halogen; and R21-R24 are independently H, C 1-6 alkyl, C 1-6 alkoxy, C1-6 perfluoroalkyl, C1-6 alkylamino, di(C2-12-alkyl)amino, amino, carboxy, cyano, halogen, hydroxy, nitro, phenyl, sulfo, or -L-Z. The kits and reagents described are particularly useful for labeling glycoproteins or glycopeptides, nucleic acids, and lipopolysaccharides in electrophoresis gels.
US07816525B1

Process for the preparation of tetrahydropterin and tetrahydropterin derivatives by hydrogenating pterin and pterin derivatives with hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenating catalyst, in which the hydrogenation is carried out in a polar reaction medium and metal complexes that are soluble in the reaction medium are employed as the hydrogenation catalysts. The process is suited to the hydrogenation, particularly asymmetric hydrogenation, of folic acid, folic acid salts, folic acid esters, folic acid ester salts or dihydroforms thereof, with the proviso that in the event of using folic acid, carboxylic acid salts thereof or dihydroforms thereof the reaction medium is aqueous, and in the event of using folic acid esters, folic acid ester salts or dihydroforms thereof the reaction medium is an alcohol. The process opens up straightforward access to achiral and chiral pterin derivatives.
US07816523B2

This application relates to a substituted hydroxyphenyl ketone compound of formula I, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, a pharmaceutical composition thereof and its use in treating migraine. This application also relates to processes for preparing a compound of formula I, and intermediate compounds useful therein.
US07816520B2

The invention relates to 5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazinic compounds of general formula (I), wherein identical or different R1, R2, R3 and R4 represent a hydrogen, fluoride, chloride or bromine atom, C1 to C12 linear or branched alkyl, C1 A C18 linear or branched hydroxy, alkoxy poly(ethoxy)-alkoxy with a C1 to C4 alkyl fragment and an ethoxy number ranging from 1 to 4, amino or mono or di-alkylamino with a C1 to C4 alkyl fragment group, X is ortho-, meta- or paraphenylene, 4,4′-biphenylene, 2,4- or 2,6- or 3,4- or 3,5-pyridinylene, 2,2′-bipyridinylene, meta- or paraphenylenediamino, ethylenediamine, 2,2′-piperazinylene, diacyl of formula -(R4CO)2-, wherein r represents a phenyl radical, a 3 to 10 carbon, phenanthrene or anthracene atoms alkyl chain except 1,4-bis(5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)benzene of 2,4-bis(5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)pyridine and of 2,6-bis(5,6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)pyridine, to cosmetic compositions containing said compounds and to the use thereof in the form of sun filters or light-protective agents.
US07816518B2

The present invention relates to the use of a compound of formula (I) in the manufacture of a pharmaceuticals composition for cell death by photo activation therapy and the use of the compounds in the prevention and/or treatment of cancer.
US07816515B2

Processes are disclosed for the purification and recovery of polysaccharide gums from an aqueous solution, particularly xanthan gum from a fermentation broth. An aqueous solution of at least one polysaccharide gum is mixed with a non-solvent stream comprising water and a subprecipitant level of a non-solvent of the polysaccharide gum. The mixture is concentrated to increase the polysaccharide gum concentration, and optionally undergoes a heat treatment. Additional non-solvent is added to the concentrated mixture to precipitate the polysaccharide gum. The precipitated gum is dried after being separated from the liquid component of the mixture. The removed liquid component can be recycled to the earlier step in the process in which the polysaccharide gum solution is mixed with the non-solvent stream.
US07816513B2

The present invention provides a method for producing an inosine derivative represented by the following general formula (1) including the steps of subjecting an inosine derivative of general formula (3) to dithiocarbonylation and carrying out radical reduction of the obtained compound. According to the present invention there can be produced compounds useful as anti-AIDS drugs on industrial scale. wherein R1 may be the same or different and are each benzyl group, benzhydryl group or trityl group, each of which may have a substituent in general formulas (1) and (3).
US07816512B2

Efficient sequence specific gene silencing is possible through the use of siRNA technology. By selecting particular siRNAs by rational design, one can maximize the generation of an effective gene silencing reagent, as well as methods for silencing genes. Methods, compositions, and kits generated through rational design of siRNAs are disclosed including those directed to nucleotide sequences for proto-oncogene MET.
US07816508B2

The invention concerns promoters, in particular for the expression of genes and/or coding sequences in vaccinia viruses such as Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA). The invention further concerns expression cassettes comprising said promoter, vectors comprising said expression cassettes as well as pharmaceutical compositions and vaccines.
US07816504B2

The invention generally relates to polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) polyketide synthase (PKS) systems isolated from or derived from non-bacterial organisms, to homologues thereof, to isolated nucleic acid molecules and recombinant nucleic acid molecules encoding biologically active domains of such a PUFA PKS system, to genetically modified organisms comprising PUFA PKS systems, to methods of making and using such systems for the production of bioactive molecules of interest, and to novel methods for identifying new bacterial and non-bacterial microorganisms having such a PUFA PKS system.
US07816501B2

This invention is directed to compositions comprising a linked acceptor moiety.
US07816490B2

Isolated peptide fragments of the conserved regulatory domain of NFAT protein capable of inhibiting protein-protein interaction between calcineurin and NFAT, or a biologically active analog thereof are described. Isolated polynucleotides and gene therapy vectors encoding such peptide fragments are also described. In addition, methods for treating immune-related diseases or conditions and methods for high throughput screening of candidate agents are described. Pharmaceutical compositions are also provided.
US07816480B2

The present teachings provide silole-based polymers that can be used as p-type semiconductors. More specifically, the present teachings provide polymers that include a repeating unit of Formula I: wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5R6, Z, x, and x′ are as defined herein. The present teachings also provide methods of preparing these polymers, and relate to various compositions, composites, and devices that incorporate these polymers.
US07816462B2

A process for adhesively bonding a substrate, using an adhesive comprising a polymer binder and a crosslinker compound I comprising carbodiimide groups, wherein the compound comprising carbodiimide groups is obtainable by reacting a) carbodiimides of 1,3-bis(1-methyl-1-isocyanatoethyl)benzene, 1,4-bis(1-methyl-1-isocyanatoethyl)benzene or a mixture thereof with b) polyalkylene oxides having at least two isocyanate-reactive groups, preferably at least two hydroxyl groups, and c) if appropriate, further compounds reactive with a) or b).
US07816448B2

A hot melt pressure sensitive adhesive composition includes ABA block copolymer(s), a midblock resin, a plasticizer, and optionally, an endblock resin. The A block is derived from styrene and B block is derived from butadiene or its hydrogenated version. The block copolymer(s) has an average styrene content of from about 15% to about 35%, an average diblock content of no less than about 20%, and an average solution viscosity of less than about 1,000 cps.
US07816443B2

Cured rubber compositions with reduced divalent metal levels and improved physical properties are prepared using methods that limit or avoid a deleterious side reaction, and that make activator compounds available only during cure and not earlier during mixing. Specifically, the presence of activator soap (or of components that can form the activator soap in situ) and silica filler together is avoided or minimized in process steps where the temperature would tend to be above 100° C. or 110° C. The use of ZnO for example can be reduced by as much as 90˜95% in a typical rubber compound.
US07816440B2

A flame retardant includes magnesium-hydroxide particles that contain at least one transitional metal compound. The at least one transitional metal compound is at least one compound selected from a group consisting of copper compound, cobalt compound, nickel compound, zinc compound and titanium compound. The at least one transitional metal compound is contained in the magnesium-hydroxide particles with the content of 100 to 1000 mass ppm in terms of metals. In addition, the total content of the copper compound, the cobalt compound and the nickel compound is 1000 mass ppm in terms of metals or less while the total content of the zinc compound and the titanium compound is 1000 mass ppm or less.
US07816438B2

To provide a polyamide resin composition which inhibits generation of a gas, formation of decomposition products and discoloration of molded articles even under high molding temperature conditions, is excellent in incombustibility and toughness, and heat resistance in a reflow soldering step being required for surface mounting. The present invention provides a flame-retardant polyamide composition comprising 20 to 80% by mass of polyamide (A), 5 to 40% by mass of a flame retardant (B), 0.01 to 0.45% by mass of an antimony compound (C) and 0.5 to 10% by mass of a salt of zinc or calcium (D).
US07816425B2

A surfactant selected from an acrylate-modified polydimethylsiloxane or a polyether-modified polydimethylsiloxane is used, together with at least a colorant and a UV-curable organic diluent, in a non-aqueous UV-curable ink composition suitable for ink jet printing. The use of this type of surfactant prevents the ink composition from causing the loss of more than 5% of the nozzles in an ink jet print head and enables the composition to provide a hole to area ratio of no more than 0.05. The present ink compositions have particular application in the printing of packaging for foodstuffs.
US07816424B2

Provided are: a biodegradable plastics composition which controls a biodegradation rate with a synergistic controlling effect on three components, adjusts a hydrolysis rate, and shows significantly improved weatherability; a molded article of the composition; and a method of controlling the biodegradation rate of a biodegradable plastics. The biodegradable plastics composition includes: a biodegradable plastics; and a carbodiimide compound, an ultraviolet ray absorbent, and an antioxidant to be blended as essential ingredients into the biodegradable plastics, and the molded article of the composition is also provided.
US07816421B2

A radiation curable powder coating composition for preparing low gloss coatings, comprises as a binder a mixture of 30 to 90 weight % of one or more (meth)acryloyl group containing amorphous polyester resins having an unsaturated equivalent weight of more than 700 g/double bond and 10 to 70 weight % of one or more (meth)acryloyl group containing acrylic copolymers having an unsaturated equivalent weight of less than 700 g/double bond.
US07816420B2

A radiation curable powder coating composition for preparing low gloss coatings, comprises as a binder a mixture of 30 to 90 weight % of one or more (meth)acryloyl group containing amorphous polyester resins having an unsaturated equivalent weight of more than 700 g/double bond and an isophthalic acid content of from 65 to 100 weight %, calculated on all the acids, and 10 to 70 weight % of one or more (meth)acryloyl group containing acrylic copolymers having an unsaturated equivalent weight of up to 1250 g/double bond.
US07816398B2

The invention provides conjugates of fatty alcohols and pharmaceutical agents useful in treating cancer, viruses, psychiatric disorders. Compositions, pharmaceutical preparations, and methods of preparation of the fatty alcohols-pharmaceutical agent conjugates are provided.
US07816395B2

The present invention relates to a compound represented by the following formula: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, or a solvate thereof, or a combination thereof, wherein R1, R2, and X are as defined herein. Compounds of the present invention are useful as progesterone receptor modulators.
US07816391B2

A compound of formula (I): and pharmaceutically-acceptable salts thereof wherein the variable groups are defined within; their use in the inhibition of 11βHSD1, processes for making them and pharmaceutical compositions comprising them are also described.
US07816389B2

14-O—[(((C1-6)Alkoxy-(C1-6)alkyl)-phenylsulfanyl)-acetyl]-mutilins, 14-O—[(((C1-6)Mono- or dialkylamino-(C1-6)alkyl)-phenylsulfanyl)-acetyl]-mutilins, 14-O-[((Hydroxy-(C1-6)-alkyl)-phenylsulfanyl)-acetyl]-mutilins, 14-O-[((Formyl-(C0-5)-alkyl)-phenylsulfanyl)-acetyl]-mutilins, 14-O-[((Guanidino-imino-(C1-6)alkyl)-phenylsulfanyl)-acetyl]-mutilins, 14-O-[((Ureido-imino-(C1-6)alkyl)-phenylsulfanyl)-acetyl]-mutilins, 14-O-[((Thioureido-imino-(C1-6)alkyl)-phenylsulfanyl)-acetyl]-mutilins, 14-O-[((Isothioureido-imino-(C1-6)alkyl)-phenylsulfanyl)-acetyl]-mutilins and their use as pharmaceuticals.
US07816379B2

The present invention relates to novel derivatives of oxazolidinone, a method thereof and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the derivatives for use in an antibiotic. The oxazolidinone derivatives of the present invention show inhibitory activity against a broad spectrum of bacteria and lower toxicity. The prodrugs, prepared by reacting the compound having hydroxyl group with amino acid or phosphate, have an excellent efficiency on solubility thereof against water. Further, the derivatives of the present invention may exert potent antibacterial activity versus various human and animal pathogens, including Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococi, Enterococci and Streptococi, anaerobic microorganisms such as Bacteroides and Clostridia, and acid-resistant microorganisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium. Accordingly, the compositions comprising the oxazolidinone are used in an antibiotic.
US07816360B2

The present invention is concerned with novel aryl piperidine or piperazine compounds substituted with certain 5-membered heterocycles having apoB secretion/MTP inhibiting activity and concomitant lipid lowering activity. The invention further relates to methods for preparing such compounds, pharmaceutical compositions comprising said compounds as well as the use of said compounds as a medicine for the treatment of hyperlipidemia, obesity and type II diabetes. The invention further relates to methods for preparing such compounds, pharmaceutical compositions comprising said compounds as well as the use of said compounds as a medicine for the treatment of atherosclerosis, pancreatitis, obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and type II diabetes.
US07816357B2

The present application describes compounds according to Formula I, pharmaceutical compositions comprising at least one compound according to Formula I and optionally one or more additional therapeutic agents and methods of treatment using the compounds according to Formula I both alone and in combination with one or more additional therapeutic agents. The compounds have the general Formula I. including all prodrugs, pharmaceutically acceptable salts and stereoisomers, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, m and n are described herein.
US07816350B2

The present invention relates to a compound of formula I, or a pharmaceutically acceptable acid salt thereof. The invention further relates to the use of such compounds in the treatment of hyperproliferative skin disorders, viral infections, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, restenosis, polycystic kidney disease, graft rejection, graft versus host disease and gout, or for psoriasis, parasitoses such as those caused by fungi or protists, or Alzheimer's disease.Further aspects of the invention relate to the use of such compounds in the inhibition of cell proliferation, in the induction of apoptosis, to modulate the activity of adrenergic and/or purinergic receptors or to suppress immunostimulation. The invention also relates to the use of 2,6,9-trisubstituted 8-azapurines in maintaining mammalian ooctyes at the germinal vesicle stage.
US07816345B2

Novel cyclic phosphoramidate prodrugs of drugs of formula I their use in delivery of drugs to the liver, their use in enhancing oral bioavailability, and their method of preparation are described.
US07816340B2

An oral, immunostimulating material for mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles comprising an immunostimulating amount of an alginate having a M content of at least 40% and an acceptable carriers.
US07816330B2

This invention relates to substituted benzimidazole-O-glucosides, benztriazole-O-glucosides, and benzimidazolone-O-glucosides, compositions containing them, and methods of using them, for example, for the treatment or prophylaxis of diabetes and Syndrome X.
US07816310B2

A personal care composition having at least one hydroxyalkylurea (HAU) optionally in combination with at least one other moisturizing agent. The at least one HAU, alone or together with the at least one moisturizing agent, provides not only the perception of moisturization, but also actual increased moisturization efficacy. When the two are used in combination in a personal care composition, they are provided in a synergistically moisturizing effective ratio to provide that perception of moisturization and increased moisturization efficacy. Such personal care compositions provide an enhanced smooth feel as well as enhanced flexibility, elasticity, suppleness and firmness without leaving a heavy or greasy feel.
US07816308B2

Disclosed herein is a composition comprising: A) a lubricant; and B) a mixture of antioxidants, wherein said mixture is prepared by the partial condensation of an alkylated diphenylamine with an aldehyde or ketone in the presence of an acidic catalyst to yield at least one acridan of the general formula: wherein: R1, R2, R3, and R4 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C3 to C32 alkyl, and C3 to C32 alkenyl, provided that at least one of R1, R2, R3, and R4 is not hydrogen, and R5 and R6 are independently selected from the group consisting of C1 to C20 hydrocarbyl and hydrogen; wherein, at the termination of said condensation, residual alkylated diphenylamine is not separated from the acridan product.
US07816307B2

The invention relates to a novel self-lubricating solid material; to a method of preparing such a material from a powder mixture; to said powder mixture; and to mechanical parts made of said novel material. Said powder mixture comprises a powder of a metal alloy that is a precursor for the matrix of said material, particles of a first solid lubricant such as CeF3 that are for insertion in said matrix without reacting with said metal alloy, and particles of a second solid lubricant such as WS2 or MoS2 for reacting with a component of said metal alloy during sintering of the powder to form a lubricating phase. Said material can be used for fabricating a bushing that is to receive a root of a variable-pitch vane of an airplane turbojet compressor.
US07816297B2

Disclosed is a method of processing a polycrystalline nanoparticle. The method includes exposing a polycrystalline nanoparticle that includes at least two metal oxide crystallites bonded to each other to a chemical composition that includes a catalyst in order to at least partially separate the at least two metal oxide crystallites of the polycrystalline nanoparticle at an interface thereof.
US07816290B2

The invention relates to a nonwoven mat as half-stuff which contains a high performance thermoplast as melt fiber and a reinforcing fiber, and also a method for producing a nonwoven mat of this type and fiber composites produced from the nonwoven mat.
US07816281B2

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes the steps of forming a silicon oxide film on a silicon substrate, and forming a silicon nitride film on the silicon oxide film. The step of forming the silicon nitride film includes the steps of growing a first silicon layer having a thickness larger than a thickness of a monoatomic silicon layer, nitriding the first silicon layer to form a first silicon nitride layer, growing a second silicon layer on the first silicon layer on the first silicon nitride layer, and nitriding the second silicon oxide layer to form a second silicon nitride layer.
US07816266B2

The invention concerns a method of forming a copper portion surrounded by an insulating material in an integrated circuit structure, the insulating material being a first oxide, the method having steps including forming a composite material over a region of the insulating material where the copper portion is to be formed, the composite material having first and second materials, annealing such that the second material reacts with the insulating material to form a second oxide that provides a diffusion barrier to copper; and depositing a copper layer over the composite material by electrochemical deposition to form the copper portion.
US07816263B2

Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a thin film transistor having high resolution and high pattern accuracy with high production efficiency. Particularly disclosed is a method for manufacturing a thin film transistor wherein there is prevented deterioration of semiconductor properties in a plating step for electrode formation. This method is characterized in that a source electrode or a drain electrode is formed by such a process wherein a protective film is formed on an organic semiconductor layer, then a plating catalyst pattern is formed thereon by supplying a liquid containing a plating catalyst, and then a plating agent is brought into contact with the pattern.
US07816262B2

An embodiment of a system and method produces a random half pitched interconnect layout. A first normal-pitch mask and a second normal-pitch mask are created from a metallization layout having random metal shapes. The lines and spaces of the first mask are printed at normal pitch and then the lines are shrunk to half pitch on mask material. First spacers are used to generate a half pitch dimension along the outside of the lines of the first mask. The mask material outside of the first spacer pattern is partially removed. The spacers are removed and the process is repeated with the second mask. The mask material remains at the locations of first set of spacers and/or the second set of spacers to create a half pitch interconnect mask with constant spaces.In an embodiment, the half pitch interconnect mask is used to create a metallization interconnect layer with area of constant spacing and area of metallization. In an embodiment, an insulating dielectric is left unetched in the areas of constant spacing, and a conductor is deposited inside the etched out areas.
US07816261B2

The present invention relates to improved metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) devices with stress-inducing structures located at the source and drain (S/D) regions. Specifically, each MOSFET comprises source and drain regions located in a semiconductor substrate. Such source and drain regions comprise recesses with one or more sidewall surfaces that are slanted in relation to an upper surface of the semiconductor substrate. A stress-inducing dielectric layer is located over the slanted sidewall surfaces of the recesses at the source and drain regions. Such MOSFETs can be readily formed by crystallographic etching of the semiconductor substrate to form the recesses with the slanted sidewall surfaces, followed by deposition of a stress-inducing dielectric layer thereover.
US07816258B2

An electro-optic device substrate includes a base and a TFT element having a source region and a drain region disposed on the base. The TFT element includes a silicon layer in the source region or the drain region, and the silicon layer at least partially includes a silicided portion. The electro-optic device substrate also includes a metal wire connected to the silicided portion of the silicon layer.
US07816257B2

In a method of forming an integrated circuit device, an opening is formed extending through a first and a second insulating layers and through a semiconductor layer therebetween to a surface of a substrate. The opening includes a recess in a sidewall thereof between the first and second insulating layers adjacent the semiconductor layer. A conductive plug is formed on the sidewall of the opening and on the surface of the substrate and laterally extending into the recess between the first and second insulating layers to contact the semiconductor layer. The semiconductor layer may be selectively etched at the sidewall without substantially etching the first and second insulating layers at the sidewall of the opening to form the recess between the first and second insulating layers. Related devices are also discussed.
US07816254B2

A film-forming method for forming a metal film on a substrate by a sputtering process includes the steps of depressurizing a processing space, in which deposition of the metal film is caused by the sputtering process, applying a DC bias voltage between the substrate and a target disposed in the processing space so as to face the substrate, and igniting plasma by introducing secondary electrons to the processing space from a secondary electron source.
US07816244B2

A semiconductor device includes: an n-transistor including a first gate insulating film made of a high-dielectric-constant material and a first gate electrode fully silicided with a metal, the first gate insulating film and the first gate electrode being formed in this order over a semiconductor region; and a p-transistor including a second gate insulating film made of the high-dielectric-constant material and a second gate electrode fully silicided with the metal, the second gate insulating film and the second gate electrode being formed in this order over the semiconductor region. If the metal has a work function larger than a Fermi level in potential energy of electrons of silicon, a metal concentration of the second gate electrode is higher than that of the first gate electrode whereas if the metal has a work function smaller than the Fermi level of silicon, a metal concentration of the second gate electrode is lower than that of the first gate electrode.
US07816243B2

A semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same are described. A substrate having a PMOS area and an NMOS area is provided. A high-k layer is formed on the substrate. A first cap layer is formed on the high-k layer in the PMOS area, and a second cap layer is formed on the high-k layer in the NMOS area, wherein the first cap layer is different from the second cap layer. A metal layer and a polysilicon layer are sequentially formed on the first and second cap layers. The polysilicon layer, the metal layer, the first cap layer, the second cap layer and the high-k layer are patterned to form first and second gate structures respectively in the PMOS and NMOS areas. First source/drain regions are formed in the substrate beside the first gate structure. Second source/drain regions are formed in the substrate beside the second gate structure.
US07816242B2

A semiconductor device includes a plate of semiconductor layer, an insulator layer formed on the plate of semiconductor layer and brought into contact with the plate of semiconductor layer by at least two adjacent faces, a thickness of the insulator layer in the vicinity of a boundary line between the two adjacent faces being larger than that of the insulator layer in a region other than the vicinity of the boundary line, and a band of conductor layer formed facing a middle portion of the plate-like semiconductor layer via the insulator layer.
US07816236B2

Chemical vapor deposition methods use trisilane and a halogen-containing etchant source (such as chlorine) to selectively deposit Si-containing films over selected regions of mixed substrates. Dopant sources may be intermixed with the trisilane and the etchant source to selectively deposit doped Si-containing films. The selective deposition methods are useful in a variety of applications, such as semiconductor manufacturing.
US07816234B2

As a base substrate, a substrate having an insulating surface such as a glass substrate is used. Then, a single crystal semiconductor layer is formed over the base substrate with the use of a large-sized semiconductor substrate. Note that, it is preferable that the base substrate be provided with a plurality of single crystal semiconductor layers. After that, the single crystal semiconductor layers are cut to divide the single crystal semiconductor layers into a plurality of single crystal semiconductor regions by patterning. Next, the single crystal semiconductor regions are irradiated with laser light or heat treatment is performed on the single crystal semiconductor regions in order to improve the planarity of surfaces and reduce defects. Peripheral portions of the single crystal semiconductor regions are not used as semiconductor elements, and central portions of the single crystal semiconductor regions are used as the semiconductor elements.
US07816229B2

A semiconductor device is provided which includes a semiconductor substrate having a first surface, an active area and a peripheral area. The semiconductor device further includes least one channel stop trench formed in the semiconductor substrate, wherein the channel stop trench extends from the first surface at least partially into the semiconductor substrate and is arranged between the active area and the peripheral area. At least one electrode is arranged in the channel stop trench. The semiconductor substrate includes at least a peripheral contact region, which is arranged in the peripheral area at the first surface of the semiconductor substrate. A conductive layer is provided and in electrical contact with the electrode arranged in the channel stop trench and in electrical contact with the peripheral contact region. The conductive layer is electrically connected to the semiconductor substrate merely in the peripheral area and electrically insulated from the semiconductor substrate in the active area.
US07816228B2

In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a planar type transistor and a fin type transistor, a substrate having a first region and a second region is partially to form an isolation trench defining an isolation region and an active region. An insulation layer liner is formed on sidewalls of the isolation trench in the first region and the second region. An isolation layer fills an inner portion of the isolation trench. The insulation layer liner is partially removed to expose an upper surface of the substrate in the gate region of the first region, and an upper surface and sidewalls of the substrate in the gate region of the second region. A gate oxide layer and a gate electrode are formed on the exposed substrate.
US07816225B2

Methods and apparatus provide for forming a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structure, including subjecting a implantation surface of a donor semiconductor wafer to an ion implantation step to create a weakened slice in cross-section defining an exfoliation layer of the donor semiconductor wafer; and subjecting the donor semiconductor wafer to a spatial variation step, either before, during or after the ion implantation step, such that at least one parameter of the weakened slice varies spatially across the weakened slice in at least one of X-and Y-axial directions.
US07816222B2

A semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same are provided. The semiconductor device includes cylinder type bottom electrodes connected to a contact plug formed over a semiconductor substrate, and a supporting pattern formed between the cylinder type bottom electrodes, wherein a portion of sidewalls of the bottom electrodes is higher than the supporting pattern and the other portion of the sidewalls of the bottom electrode is lower than the supporting pattern.
US07816215B2

A semiconductor device manufacturing method comprises: forming a gate insulative film on a semiconductor substrate by: forming a first nitride film on the substrate; forming a first oxide film and a second oxide film, the first oxide film being between the substrate and the first nitride film, the second oxide film being on the first nitride film; and nitriding the second oxide film to form, on the first nitride film, one of either: a second nitride film or an SiON film; and forming a gate electrode on the gate insulative film; wherein the equivalent oxide thickness of the gate insulative film is equal to or less than 1 nm.
US07816203B1

A method is provided for fabricating a semiconductor device having a gate electrode overlying a gate insulator. The method, in accordance with one embodiment, comprises depositing a layer of spin on glass overlying the gate electrode, the layer of spin on glass comprising a substantially UV opaque material. The layer of spin on glass is heated to a temperature less than about 450° C., and all subsequent process steps in the fabrication of the device are limited to temperatures less than about 450° C.
US07816201B2

A semiconductor device according to an example of the present invention includes a first semiconductor region of a first conductivity type, a first MIS transistor of a second conductivity type formed in the first semiconductor region, a second semiconductor region of a second conductivity type, and a second MIS transistor of a first conductivity type formed in the second semiconductor region. A first gate insulating layer of the first MIS transistor is thicker than a second gate insulating layer of the second MIS transistor, and a profile of impurities of the first conductivity type in a channel region of the second MIS transistor has peaks.
US07816199B2

A method of forming a semiconductor structure includes providing a substrate having a first feature and a second feature. A mask is formed over the substrate. The mask covers the first feature. An ion implantation process is performed to introduce ions of a non-doping element into the second feature. The mask is adapted to absorb ions impinging on the first feature. After the ion implantation process, an annealing process is performed.
US07816198B2

A semiconductor device and method of manufacturing thereof. The semiconductor device has at least one NMOS device and at least one PMOS device provided on a substrate. An electron channel of the NMOS device is aligned with a first direction. A hole channel of the PMOS device is aligned with a different second direction that forms an acute angle with respect to the first direction.
US07816195B2

A TFT having a high threshold voltage is connected to the source electrode of each TFT that constitutes a CMOS circuit. In another aspect, pixel thin-film transistors are constructed such that a thin-film transistor more distant from a gate line drive circuit has a lower threshold voltage. In a further aspect, a control film that is removable in a later step is formed on the surface of the channel forming region of a TFT, and doping is performed from above the control film.
US07816193B2

A method for fabricating a pixel structure of a liquid crystal device is provided. The method comprises providing a substrate defining a thin film transistor (TFT) region and a display region thereon. An opaque conductive layer is formed on the TFT region, and a transparent pixel electrode is formed on the display region. A patterned photoresist passivation layer is formed by backside exposure process on the TFT region, wherein the opaque conductive layer serves as the photo-mask during the backside exposure process. The photoresist passivation layer is subjected to a middle bake process to be reflowed, resulting in a complete covering of the opaque conductive layer.
US07816189B2

A very high density field programmable memory is disclosed. An array is formed vertically above a substrate using several layers, each layer of which includes vertically fabricated memory cells. The cell in an N level array may be formed with N+1 masking steps plus masking steps needed for contacts. Maximum use of self alignment techniques minimizes photolithographic limitations. In one embodiment the peripheral circuits are formed in a silicon substrate and an N level array is fabricated above the substrate.
US07816178B2

The invention claimed is a packaged semiconductor device with dual exposed surfaces and a method of manufacturing the device. A thermal clip and one or multiple source pads are exposed on opposite ends of the device through a nonconductive molding material used to package the device. The thermal clip and source pad can be either top or bottom-exposed. The gate, source and drain leads are exposed through the molding material, and all leads are coplanar with the bottom-exposed surface. The device can have multiple semiconductor dies or various sized dies while still having a single, constant footprint. The method of manufacturing requires attaching the semiconductor die to a thermal clip, and then attaching the die with the attached thermal clip to a lead frame. The resulting device is then molded, marked, trimmed and singulated, in this order, creating a packaged semiconductor device with dual exposed surfaces.
US07816177B2

In a semiconductor device, via holes are formed around a chip buried in a package, one end of a conductor filled in the via hole is covered with a pad portion exposed to the outside, and a wiring layer connected to the other end of the conductor is formed. The portion (pad portion) of the wiring layer which correspond to the conductor is exposed from a protective film, or an external connection terminal is bonded to the top of the pad portion. Electrode terminals of the chip are connected to the wiring layer, and the opposite surface of the chip is exposed to the outside.
US07816163B2

The present invention concerns a radiation-emitting semiconductor body with a vertical emission direction, a radiation-generating active layer, and a current-conducting layer having a current-blocking region and a current-permeable region, the semiconductor body being provided for a vertically emitting laser with an external resonator, and the external resonator having a defined resonator volume that overlaps with the current-permeable region.
US07816149B2

A nanobioprocessor for protein and cell therapy comprises a selectively coated quantum dot having selected band gap energies, characteristic absorption, emission spectra and outer coatings for therapy and diagnostic purposes in biophotonics and nanomedicine, and an electromagnetic radiation and detector source configured to remotely heat and/or selectively excite the quantum dot to associate with target specific misfolded or anomalous proteins, diseased cells and tissue.
US07816142B1

A system for testing multiple samples for the presence of lead includes a plurality of vessels, a plurality of plungers, a housing for removably storing the plurality of vessels, and a retainer for holding the plurality of plungers so that each of the plungers may be inserted into a respective vessel simultaneously. In order to use the system of the present invention, a sample is placed within each of the plurality of vessels and a reagent, such as nitric acid, is added to each sample. Each sample is then heated in a separate heating device and a filtering means, such as a cotton ball, is inserted into each vessel. Each plunger then pushes its respective cotton ball into its respective vessel simultaneously so that each liquid sample is located adjacent the top of each vessel. The plungers are removed and the housing is then placed into an analyzer.
US07816137B2

Since the multipotent progenitor/stem cells isolated and cultured from the cord blood-derived mononuclear cells according to the method of the present invention are capable of differentiating into several types of cells including neurons, osteoblasts, myoblasts, endothelial cells, hepatocytes and dendritic cells, they can be effectively used for a cell therapy, a cell restoration technique or an organ production.
US07816134B2

The present invention provides methods for inducing, maintaining and expanding CTL (cytotoxic T cell) having an antigen-specific cytotoxic activity at a high level, which is useful in the adoptive immunotherapy, by using as an effective ingredient at least one compound selected from the group consisting of acidic polysaccharides, acidic oligosaccharides, acidic monosaccharides, and salts thereof. The above-mentioned compounds include fucoidans, heparins, alginic acid, chondroitin sulfate A, chondroitin sulfate B, pectic acid, hyaluronic acid, degradation products of fucoidans, sulfated glucose, sulfated fucose and salts thereof.
US07816117B2

The invention provides composition and methods for producing proteins of interest which comprise at least one disulfide bond, include proteins which in their mature form do not contain disulfide bonds, but whose precursor molecule contained at least one disulfide bond. The methods employ a host cell modified to more efficiently produce properly folded disulfide bond containing proteins. The host cells generally contain a mutation in one or more reductase genes, and can be further genetically modified to increase their growth rate, and are further optionally modified to increase the expression of a catalyst of disulfide bond formation. Host cells, methods for u sing such to produce proteins of interest, proteins of interest produced by these methods are within the scope of the invention.
US07816112B2

The invention relates to a diffusion membrane for an enzyme-based sensor, a sensor comprising the diffusion membrane as well as the use of the enzyme-based sensor for the detection and/or determination of a substance, in particular an enzyme substrate, e.g., glucose.
US07816111B2

The present invention is directed to glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) polypeptides that have enhanced GDH activity and/or thermostability relative to the backbone wild-type glucose dehydrogenase polypeptide. In addition, the present invention is directed to a polynucleotide that encodes for the GDH polypeptides of the present invention, to nucleic acid sequences comprising the polynucleotides, to expression vectors comprising the polynucleotides operatively linked to a promoter, to host cells transformed to express the GDH polypeptides, and to a method for producing the GDH polypeptides of the present invention.
US07816105B2

Disclosed are a fluid absorber, a method for preparing a fluid absorber, and a method for absorbing fluid from the skin. The disclosed method for preparing a fluid absorber generally comprises the steps of selecting a starch and an enzyme for hydrolysis of the starch, determining a fluid absorption optimum hydrolysis level for the starch, and enzymatically hydrolyzing the starch to approximately the optimum level thus determined. The starch alternatively may be hydrolyzed with acid hydrolysis without the use of an enzyme catalyst. The disclosed method for absorbing fluid from the skin includes the step of applying a fluid absorbing effective amount of a fluid absorber thus prepared. Absorption properties of the fluid absorber of the invention are comparable to or exceed those of commercially available skin fluid absorbers, such as talc and unmodified corn starch.
US07816099B1

An assay and kit for determining the activity of an enzyme such as kinase, ATPase and GTPase is disclosed. The assay and kit are useful in drug screening to select modulators of such an enzyme.
US07816098B2

The present invention describes methods for the preparation of protein arrays of full length proteins. The use of such arrays in screening methods is also described.
US07816097B2

A nucleic acid sequence encoding Mammastatin, a specific mammary cell growth inhibitor. Mammastatin is encoded by a single nucleic acid sequence and has an approximate molecular weight of 44 kDa in its inactive, non-phosphorylated form. Normal mammary cells express functional phosphorylated forms having approximate molecular weights of 53 kDa and 49 kDa. Metastatic mammary cells either do not express Mammastatin at all, or do not express the 53 kDa or 49 kDa, phosphorylated forms. Mammary cancer cells are inhibited in their growth by the administration of phosphorylated mammastatin.
US07816096B2

Buffered assay solutions for performing 1) binding or 2) functional assays on GPCR arrays, along with methods for their use are described. The buffered assay solution has an underlying composition having: a buffer reagent with a pH in the range of about 6.5 to about 7.9; an inorganic salt of either a monovalent or divalent species, at a concentration from about 1 mM to about 500 mM; and optionally a combination of: c) a blocker reagent at a concentration of about 0.01 wt. % to about 2 wt. % of the composition, or d) protease-inhibitor at a concentration of about 0.001 mM to about 100 mM. In an embodiment for functional assay uses, the composition is modified to also include a GTP-analogue, a guanosine 5′-diphosphate (GDP) salt, and/or an anti-oxidant reagent.
US07816073B2

Cell membrane maintenance of red blood cells and platelet concentrates is improved by the addition of 1 mM-10 mM L-carnitine and derivatives. This improvement allows extension of the period of viability of packed red blood cells and platelet concentrations beyond current periods. Additionally, the materials so treated exhibit extended circulation half life upon transfusion to a patient. Improvements in membrane maintenance achieved by this method permit irradiation of sealed containers of blood products so as to substantially sterilize and destroy leukocytes in the same.
US07816070B2

A substrate having a photoresist film, capable of easily performing immersion lithography with high precision and stability, is provided. A surface tension of the substrate in a periphery region is lower than that of the substrate in a rest region. Immersion liquid supplied onto the photoresist film hardly leaks out, and the bubbles hardly occur in the immersion liquid.
US07816062B2

In an exposure process or etching process, an image feature amount useful for estimating a cross-sectional shape of a target evaluation pattern, process conditions for the pattern, or device characteristics of the pattern is calculated from an SEM image. The image feature amount is compared with learning data that correlates data preliminarily stored in a database, which data includes cross-sectional shapes of patterns, process conditions for the patterns, or device characteristics of the patterns, to the image feature amount calculated from the SEM image. Thereby, the cross-sectional shape of the target evaluation pattern, the process conditions of the pattern, or the device characteristics of the pattern are nondestructively calculated.
US07816049B2

A direct liquid feed fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) including an anode electrode and a cathode electrode respectively disposed on either side of an electrolyte membrane. A conductive anode plate and a conductive cathode plate which respectively face the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, and have flow channels therein. Stripe-shaped hydrophilic members are formed on the cathode electrode, cross the flow channels of the conductive cathode plate, and transfer water from the flow channels to the conductive cathode plate. The conductive cathode plate is hydrophilic.
US07816048B2

A condenser condenses an unused exhaust gas exhausted from a fuel cell and recovers water, condensation-capacity detection means always monitors the condensation capacity of the condenser, control means controls an output of heat-transport-medium circulation means, stores the exhaust heat of the fuel cell in heat-using means when a sufficient condensation capacity is left, and stops the heat-transport-medium circulation means to complete exhaust-heat recovery when the condensation capacity lowers. Moreover, a fuel cell, a cooling pipe through which a first heating medium of carrying the heat of the fuel cell circulates, a cooling-water pump of circulating the first heating medium, and a fuel-cell-temperature detector of detecting the temperature of the fuel cell are used to operate a cooling-water pump until the temperature detected by the fuel-cell-temperature detector becomes a predetermine threshold value or less even after supply of a fuel and an oxidant to the fuel cell is stopped.
US07816037B2

The invention provides an anode material for lithium ion secondary battery using a coated graphite powder as a raw material, which is coated thermoplastic resin of a carbonization yield of ≦20 wt % in a proportion of ≦10 parts by weight the carbonized material per 100 parts by weight graphite powder. Coating with thermoplastic resin increases the accumulative pore volume by ≦5%, relative to the uncoated powder, and results in pore sizes of 0.012-40 μm via mercury porosimeter method. Calculated with the BJH method as viewed from desorption isotherm, the coated graphite powder has a mesopore volume ≦0.01 cc/g or ≦60% of the pore volume of the uncoated graphite powder. This coated powder also has an average particle size ranging from 10-50 μm measured by a laser-scattering-particle-size-distribution measuring device, and a standard deviation to the average particle size (σ/D) ratio of ≦0.02.
US07816018B2

An organic electroluminescent material having the formula and an organic electroluminescent material used for electroluminescent devices is characterized by emission with a high luminance, high illuminant efficiency, low drive voltage, favorable color purity and high thermal steadiness. The hydrogen atom, halogen atom, cyanide group, alkyl group, alkylidene group, cycloalkane group, alkoxy group, amino group, aromatic hydroxy group, alkylaryl group as a substitutive group are used. Not only may it increase the material's glass transition temperature and inhibit the phenomenon of molecular split but also cause this organic electroluminescent device to show a high level of steadiness.
US07816010B2

A black matrix for a color filter and its method of manufacture include: forming the black matrix in a predetermined shape on a substrate to define a plurality of pixel regions: forming a light shade layer on the substrate, the light shade layer being formed of an ink-philic black material; and forming a Carbon NanoTube (CNT) layer on an upper surface of the light shade layer.
US07816007B2

To provide the spherical carbon particles having a novel structure different from the conventional carbon particles, uniform in shape, well dispersible in solvents and easy to handle.Spherical carbon particles of 5 nm to 100 μm in diameter having a void or voids enclosed by the carbon crystal wall, which particles have such a structure that the carbon crystal ends are exposed or the carbon net plane is looped at least at a part of the outer periphery of the particles, and an aggregate of spherical carbon particles of 5 nm to 100 μm in diameter having a void or voids enclosed by the carbon crystal wall, which aggregate has such a property that the ratio of the spherical carbon particles having a radial ratio in the range of 1.0 to 1.3 is not less than 40% by number.
US07815998B2

Articles are disclosed, comprising a polymer foam layer having a first surface and an opposite second surface; a plurality of cells between the first surface and the opposite second surface of the polymer foam layer, wherein the thickness of the polymer foam layer between the first surface and the opposite second surface is 1.0 to 1.5 times the average height of the plurality of cells; and a plurality of magnetic, electrically conductive particles aligned into a plurality of mutually isolated chains that essentially continuously span the foam between the first surface and the opposite second surface of the polymer foam layer. The foams are useful as gaskets for electromagnetic shielding, grounding pads, battery contact conductive spring elements, and the like.
US07815996B2

A polyester film that possesses both reduced gloss and reduced haze is achieved. The film includes at least one sub layer including talc and at least one core layer. The surface layer has a lower melting point temperature than the core layer.
US07815995B2

A textured fabric having at least one surface that contains peaks and valleys is provided. Greater than about 90% of the peaks and less than about 10% of the valleys are disposed with a treatment composition, the treatment composition comprising a latex polymer. In one embodiment, for example, the textured fabric is a hydraulically entangled composite fabric formed from a spunbond nonwoven web and pulp fibers. When coated onto the fabric, the treatment composition may form a thin film layer on the fiber surface that prevents fibers or zones of fibers from breaking away from the surface as lint. Further, because the coating is applied only to the peaks, the valleys may remain free of the latex polymer and substantially maintain the absorbency of the uncoated fabric.
US07815994B2

The invention provides a method for producing a porous body comprising: a starting material mixing step of mixing ceramic particles serving as an aggregate and a sintering aid which includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of rare earth elements, alkaline earth elements, Al and Si such that the amount of the sintering aid is about 1.0% by weight or less relative to the total amount of the ceramic particles and the sintering aid to form a puddle; and a molding and firing step of molding the puddle into a molded body and firing the molded body.
US07815986B2

The invention relates to polymeric resin blends containing polyelectrolyte resins blended into a polymer or copolymer matrix. Specifically, the polyelectrolyte resins are (co)polymers without hydrolyzable groups. The matrix polymer is a tough, and highly chemical-resistant (co)polymer, preferably a fluoropolymer. The polymeric resin blend is useful for forming films, and especially films useful for MEAs for use in fuel cells.
US07815978B2

A method for manufacturing a papermaker's or industrial fabric requires the application of a polymeric resin material onto preselected locations on a base substrate using an array which deposits the polymeric resin material in droplets having an average diameter of 10μ (10 microns) or more. The preselected locations, for example, may be knuckles formed by the interweaving of the yarns making up the fabric or interstices between the yarns. The purpose of such precise application of the resin is to control functional properties of the fabric, such as permeability and abrasion resistance. The polymeric resin material is set by means appropriate to its composition, and, optionally, may be abraded to provide the polymeric resin material above the surface plane of the base substrate with a uniform thickness.
US07815975B2

A catheter and method of making a catheter are disclosed in which the catheter is highly flexible and yet resistant to crushing and kinking. The catheter is made by applying rings of hard polymer material along the tubular shaft as the catheter is manufactured. The catheter thus has a plurality of hard polymer rings formed at spaced locations along its length, and soft segments between the hard polymer rings that allow the catheter to remain very flexible. The hard polymer rings improve the radial strength of the catheter and make the catheter resistant to crushing and kinking.
US07815970B2

The present invention provides methods of preparing Group III-nitride films of controlled polarity and substrates coated with such controlled polarity films. In particular, the invention provides substrate preparation steps that optimize the substrate surface for facilitating growth of a Group III-polar film, an N-polar film, or a selectively patterned film with both a Group III-polar portion and an N-polar portion in precise positioning. The methods of the invention are particularly suited for use in CVD methods.
US07815956B2

A combination of one or more non-nutritive sweeteners, a sugar alcohol and D-tagatose are included in a reduced-calorie beverage or food product to achieve a taste substantially similar to that of a full-calorie beverage or food product. The combination is suitable for use in reduced-calorie frozen carbonated beverages. Preferably, the one or more non-nutritive sweeteners include one or more steviosides, a Stevia glycoside, a derivative of a Stevia glycoside, a glycoside of steviol, or a Lo Han Guo extract.
US07815951B2

The invention is related to a method for producing a steamed, exploded, and fermented dietary fiber, comprising the steps of: subjecting a hemicellulose-containing plant resource to a steam treatment followed by an explosion treatment (2.5 Mpa, 70 seconds); mixing wheat bran into this steamed and exploded material; adjusting water content of this mixture to about 50%; subsequently preparing koji with the use of a koji fungus; adding water to the koji thus obtained; mixing the steamed and exploded material into a koji dispersion wherein koji is dispersed into water; adjusting water content of this mixture to about 50%; subsequently fermenting the mixture. This method produces a useful material as a food material and a health supplement, by a simple process, with efficiency, and at a low cost.
US07815943B2

A composition for use in cardiovascular therapy includes transfer factor. The transfer factor may be nonmammalian transfer factor, such as that derived from eggs, or mammalian transfer factor, such as that derived from colostrum. The composition may also include one or more of the following: an LDL receptor-binding element; a blood flow-enhancing element; a cholesterol reducing element; a fat oxidation prevention element, and an antioxidant. Treatment methods include enlisting the immune system of a subject receiving therapy to attack pathogens that cause inflammation of blood vessels or to otherwise reduce inflammation of blood vessels.
US07815942B2

Disclosed are pharmaceutical preparations of R(+)-N-propargyl-1-aminoindan salts having enhanced content uniformity, processes for preparation of the compositions, and their uses.
US07815941B2

Nucleic acids are prepared by dissolving compounds containg them in a suitable solvent or solvent system and forming microspheres from the resulting solution. The microspheres are administered to an individual as protection from conditions where delivery of nucleic acids is useful, such as in treatment of autoimmune disease.
US07815940B2

An oral pharmaceutical dosage form comprises pharmacologically effective amounts of an acid susceptible proton pump inhibitor or a salt thereof, an H2 receptor antagonist or a salt thereof and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. The dosage form is capable of raising gastric pH to above 4 within two hours after administration and to keep it at that level for at least 4 hours. Also disclosed is a method of manufacture of the dosage form, its use in treating dyspepsia and infection by Helicobacter pylori, and a method of treating disorders associated with gastric acid secretion.
US07815937B2

The invention provides a composition useful for making oral dosage forms capable of dissolving in the mouth in less than 40 seconds without the need for a conventional super disintegrant and having a friability of less than 1%; wherein the composition includes liquiflash particles and an excipient mass. A preferred excipient mass according to the invention contains a directly compressible inorganic salt; a cellulose derivative or a combination of a directly compressible inorganic salt and a cellulose derivative. Preferably, the liquiflash particles and the excipient mass are combined in proportions such that the active ingredient remains substantially within the microspheres when the composition is compressed to obtain a dosage form having a hardness of 20 to 50 N. The compositions of the invention allow for the fabrication of oral dosages having improved hardness and friability.
US07815936B2

The use of granular materials based on pyrogenically produced silicon dioxide in pharmaceutical compositions, the pharmaceutical compositions per se, as well as an adsorbate consisting of the granular material and at least one further substance selected from pharmaceutical active constituents and auxiliary substances, and the production of such adsorbates, are described.
US07815926B2

An implant for articular cartilage repair includes (1) a three-dimensional body formed of cancellous bone having a demineralized section that contains bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP's) that are released by the demineralization but retained in the body, and (2) a cartilage layer formed on a surface of the demineralized section. The cartilage layer is formed by a method including the steps of (a) isolating chondrocytes from articular cartilage of a donor; (b) cultivating the isolated chondrocytes in a medium; (c) suspending the cultivated chondrocytes in agarose; (d) adding the cultivated chondrocytes to the demineralized section of the body, whereby the cultivated chondrocytes are stimulated by the BMP's retained in the body; and (e) incubating the cultivated chondrocytes to form a plurality of layers of chondrocytes on the demineralized section, wherein the plurality of layers of chondrocytes forms the cartilage layer.
US07815925B1

A hair spray formula for use on styled, wet or dry hair utilizing disiloxane for fast drying. The formula has a low VOC content to meet state regulations. The formula provides static control, UV protection and prevents the need for extensive re-spraying which can fade, load or dull the hair color.
US07815923B2

Described are graft materials suitable for implantation within a patient including isolated tissue material remodeled in a body cavity. Also described are methods of treating a patient that include implanting these materials and prosthetic devices comprising these materials within the patient's body.
US07815918B2

A number of immunologically active agents are described, including an isolated protein or polypeptide that includes the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, immunogenic conjugates containing either the protein or polypeptide, a full-length Pneumocystis kexin, or a full length Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA), antibodies recognizing the protein or polypeptide or the immunogenic conjugates (particularly the epitope of SEQ ID NO: 1), and nucleic acid molecules that encode the protein or polypeptide, as well as DNA constructs, expression vectors, and host cells that contain the nucleic acid molecules. Disclosed uses of the antibodies, immunogenic conjugates, and DNA constructs include inducing passive or active immunity to treat or prevent pathogen infections, particularly by a Pneumocystis organism, in a patient.
US07815907B2

The present invention relates to antibodies and antigen-binding portions thereof that specifically bind to insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR), which is preferably human IGF-IR. The invention also relates to human anti-IGF-IR antibodies, including chimeric, bispecific, derivatized, single chain antibodies or portions of fusion proteins. The invention also relates to isolated heavy and light chain immunoglobulin molecules derived from anti-IGF-IR antibodies and nucleic acid molecules encoding such molecules. The present invention also relates to methods of making anti-IGF-IR antibodies, pharmaceutical compositions comprising these antibodies and methods of using the antibodies and compositions thereof for diagnosis and treatment. The invention also provides gene therapy methods using nucleic acid molecules encoding the heavy and/or light immunoglobulin molecules that comprise the human anti-IGF-IR antibodies. The invention also relates to gene therapy methods and transgenic animals comprising nucleic acid molecules of the present invention.
US07815901B2

Disclosed herein is a method for treating keratinous fibers comprising coating the keratinous fibers with a reducing agent, rinsing the keratinous fibers, coating the keratinous fibers with a cosmetic composition comprising at least one non crystalline or semi-crystalline fixing polymer, and/or at least one cerid, and/or at least one sterid, raising the temperature of the keratinous fibers, and coating the keratinous fibers with an oxidizing agent. This method may make it possible to achieve a hair style with an excellent hold which is durable over time.
US07815898B2

The present invention provides medicaments useful for reducing phosphorus serum level, especially in those subjects affected from hyperphosphatemia. More specifically, the present invention relates to pharmaceutical compositions to be administered by oral route in fasting periods, in order to absorb phosphorus compounds from fluids of the enteric tract, especially from saliva.
US07815896B2

Disclosed is a newly identified and characterized type III secretion system in Aeromonas salmonicida. The invention also encompasses the use of components of the novel secretion system in immunoprotection against A. salmonicida infection, as well as other diagnostic and therapeutic uses thereof.
US07815891B2

A hydrogen manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing hydrogen by utilizing heat generated in a nuclear plant. The apparatus has a heat exchanger or steam reformer to be brought into contact with cooling water containing tritium produced from the nuclear plant and a tritium permeation suppressing ceramic coating at least either the outer surface or the inner surface of the heat exchanger or steam reformer for suppressing permeation of tritium. Instead of coating with a tritium permeation suppressing ceramic, a structure prepared by combining at least two types of materials having different crystal structures may be used.
US07815878B1

An air freshener device includes an open-cell, polyurethane foam body having a scent material interspersed in the foam body that is capable of diffusing out of the foam, and a flexible cover surrounding and conforming to the foam body having at least one hole in the cover to facilitate the release of scent. The foam body can be flexible and compressible, and also resilient and returnable to its original configuration. The flexible cover can have a fabric shell that is soothing to the touch, and may also have a non-porous inner liner to contain the scent material and prevent it from migrating out of the foam body. In addition, the air freshener can have a freestanding, self-supported, three-dimensional shape, and can be fashioned into the shape of a common sports ball, such as a baseball.
US07815866B2

A reaction vessel with a bottom drain opening supporting a selected unpressured head of fluid by the surface tension of the fluid. A device processing zone includes a support for spaced rows of reaction vessels, passages communicating with their drain openings of supported vessels, and a pressure source for selectively draining fluid through the drain openings. Generally horizontal bar magnets are supported for selected vertical movement between the vessel rows. A dispensing head has X discharge openings selectively positionable over X selected reaction vessels. A metering pump mechanism selectively meters X a selected quantity of fluid a bulk supply (where X is at least four), and selectively pumps the metered selected quantities through the drain openings to the selected reaction vessels. Methods of drawing fluid from the vessels using the pressure source, and moving the magnets to form a pellet of analyte are also included.
US07815863B2

An improved cartridge for holding a fluid sample with a small volume is disclosed herein. The cartridge has a test chamber and a vestibule through which the test fluids are inserted into the test chamber. Improved grips are flared-out to aid manipulation. The handle portion is reinforced to prevent flexing, and a prefabricated trough along the edge of the land surface prevents introduction of the adhesive into the region for analysis. The cartridge has a stopper having a dual sealing mechanism, which seals the test chamber inlet between the vestibule and the test chamber, and the mouth of the vestibule so that when the stopper is in place, the test chamber is closed to the admission of air or other contaminants. The vestibule is similarly closed against escape of the overflow from the test chamber. The stopper is composed of a single elastomer. An improved locking mechanism has two flexible walls on either side of the handhold that locks into their respective keepers on the cartridge to provide a secure lock. Additionally, an improved method for loading the cartridge allows for an even distribution of magnetically responsive particles contained within a fluid sample to be viewed in an array through the optically clear land surface portion of the cartridge.
US07815862B2

Various exemplary methods (800, 900, 1000, 1100) are directed to determining wafer thickness and/or wafer surface characteristics. An exemplary method (900) includes measuring reflectance of a wafer and comparing the measured reflectance to a calculated reflectance or a reflectance stored in a database. Another exemplary method (800) includes positioning a wafer on a reflecting support to extend a reflectance range. An exemplary device (200) has an input (210), analysis modules (222-228) and optionally a database (230). Various exemplary reflectometer chambers (1300, 1400) include radiation sources positioned at a first altitudinal angle (1308, 1408) and at a second altitudinal angle (1312, 1412). An exemplary method includes selecting radiation sources positioned at various altitudinal angles. An exemplary element (1650, 1850) includes a first aperture (1654, 1854) and a second aperture (1658, 1858) that can transmit reflected radiation to a fiber and an imager, respectfully.
US07815848B2

A corrosion resistant alloy is provided which includes, in percent by weight: (a) 16 to 24% Ni; (b) 18 to 26% Cr; (c) 1.5 to 3.5% Mo; (d) 0.5 to 1.5% Si; (e) 0.001 to 1.5% Nb; (f) 0.0005 to 0.5% Zr; (g) 0.01 to 0.6% N; (h) 0.001 to 0.2% Al; (j) less than 0.2% Ti; and (k) less than 1% Mn, trace impurities, and the balance Fe. Articles, such as flexible automotive exhaust couplings, including the present alloys are also provided.
US07815845B2

To degas a molten metal, a receptacle containing the molten metal and a layer of slag over the molten metal is positioned in a chamber, and the chamber is evacuated. As the pressure in the chamber reduces, gas is generated at the interface between the molten metal and the slag, which causes the slag to foam. To inhibit overflowing of slag from the receptacle, a gauge outputs a signal indicative of the level of the surface of the slag, and the rate of evacuation of the chamber is reduced to reduce the rate of gas generation.
US07815844B2

A method for coating an inorganic substrate with an inorganic coating from low viscosity suspensions, and the articles produced thereby.
US07815842B2

The vinyl-type conducting polymer precursor is dissolved in solution containing volatile solvent such as methanol, and the precursor fibers are produced by electrospinning. The vinyl-type conducting polymer fibers are produced by heat treatment of the precursor fibers at certain temperature and time in a vacuum or in an inert gas atmosphere, or by zone reaction method, followed by doping with dopant.
US07815836B2

A packaging apparatus for optical-semiconductors includes a mold base having a longitudinal receiving space, an encapsulating module attached to the mold base, and a fixing member attached to the encapsulating module. The bottom of the mold base has at least one air-vent and the mold base has a predetermined width. The encapsulating module includes a plate engaged with the mold base, a plurality of molding bodies penetrating the plate and received in the receiving space, and a plurality of supporting members connected to the molding bodies. The fixing member has a plurality of holding slots to hold the supporting members so that the supporting members are more stable. Furthermore, the width of the mold base is optimized with the dimension of a furnace so that the production rate is increased and the stability of the packaging structure is improved.
US07815834B2

An apparatus and method for making a mold or mold face includes a container having at least one opening. The apparatus also includes a flexible membrane that is retained to the container that extends across the opening of the container. The apparatus for making a mold further includes support media that is disposed within the container along with a vacuum valve that is connected to the container.
US07815828B2

A method for manufacturing thermoplastic resin expandable granules comprising the steps of: injecting a blowing agent under pressure into a thermoplastic resin which is melted in an extruder; extruding the melted resin containing the blowing agent as an extrudate from a plurality of small holes in a die attached to a distal end of the extruder directly into a coolant liquid, and directly cutting the extrudate by high-speed rotary blades; and cooling and solidifying the extrudate by contacting with the coolant liquid, and thereby obtaining the expandable granules wherein the melted resin containing the blowing agent passing through land parts of the small holes of the die is extruded such that a shearing speed is 12,000 to 35,000 sec−1, and an apparent melt viscosity of the resin is 100 to 700 poise.
US07815822B2

A method and an apparatus for producing a pattern forming sheet efficiently. The method and apparatus for producing a sheet having a first pattern formed on at least one side by a first roll forming die and a second pattern formed by a second roll forming die is characterized in that the rotational angular speeds of the first and second roll forming dies are substantially equalized and relative positional variation of the first and second patterns is substantially minimized by synchronizing the phases of the periodic positional variation caused by the rotation of the rolls.
US07815821B2

A dielectric fluid comprising hydrocarbon liquid admixed with an ester-based compound, wherein the ester-based compound is present in an effective amount to impart breakdown inhibiting properties to a paper insulation material when the dielectric fluid is in contact with the paper material.
US07815813B2

An end point detection method in the case where a catalyst arranged in a treatment chamber of a gas phase reaction processing apparatus is heated at high temperature by supplying electric power thereto and the treatment is carried out by cracking a reaction gas by the catalyst heated at high temperature, comprises the steps of supplying the electric power to the catalyst from a constant current source, detecting electric potential difference between both ends of the catalyst, performing primary differentiation of the detected electric potential difference, and determining an end point of the treatment based on obtained primary differential value.
US07815809B2

A method for conductivity calculation in a treatment fluid downstream a filtration unit in a blood treatment apparatus is provided. The conductivity calculation is then used for clearance and fistula flow determination. A flow of treatment fluid is created in the filtration unit; a change in the conductivity of the treatment fluid at the inlet of the filtration unit is imposed to cause an induced conductivity change in the fluid at the outlet of the filtration unit; a predetermined number of conductivity values Cdo downstream from the filtration unit are measured. The measured conductivity values define a curve the pattern of which is estimated by means of one interpolating mathematical function in an interval of time after the occurrence of the induced conductivity change; a characteristic measuring time tcalcclr is determined. The value of the interpolating mathematical function at the characteristic measuring time tcalcclr represents the conductivity value Cdo2 of the treatment fluid downstream from the filtration unit after the induced conductivity change.
US07815800B2

A refuse/oil removing device and a refuse/oil recovery bag are provided which can remove refuse and oil contained in drainage discharged from a restaurant in a simple manner without contact with the refuse and oil. A support base of a support unit is disposed in the interior of a grease trap at a position higher than the water level. A recovery bag is attached to the support unit and plural layers of bag portions of the recovery bag are put on the support base. The bag portions are each formed of a material which permits the adhesion of oil thereto and a large number of water passing holes are formed in each of the bag portions. Drainage is introduced inside the innermost one of the plural layers of bag portions and is passed through the bag portions, allowing refuse and oil to adhere to the bag portions. In this way, the job of replacing the recovery bag can be simplified and the amount of oil accumulated within the grease trap can be decreased.
US07815798B2

A discrete drop dispensing device comprises a substrate comprising an upper surface and a lower surface and orifices extending from the upper surface to the lower surface, adapted to receive a fluid at a flow rate. The discrete drop dispensing device also comprises an oscillator disposed adjacent to the substrate and configured to vibrate the substrate to expel drops having a substantially equal volume of the fluid. The flow rate is substantially identical to a drop dispensing rate. A method and a device for performing liquid chromatography are also described. The method comprises automatically adjusting the drop dispensing rate to a change in the flow rate or a change in a composition of a mobile phase of the fluid.
US07815792B2

A process and catalyst for the selective hydrodesulfurization of a naphtha containing olefins. The process produces a naphtha stream having a reduced concentration of sulfur while maintaining the maximum concentration of olefins.
US07815782B2

A physical vapor deposition target assembly is configured to isolate a target-bonding layer from a processing region. In one embodiment, the target assembly comprises a backing plate, a target having a first surface and a second surface, and a bonding layer disposed between the backing plate and the second surface. The first surface of the target is in fluid contact with a processing region and the second surface of the target is oriented toward the backing plate. The target assembly may include multiple targets.
US07815780B2

A device for removing mineral deposits from the electrode of a pool chlorinator cell, which has a housing with liquid inlet and outlet ports and in which the electrode is submerged, has: (a) a container having an opening, with this opening being affixed proximate an aperture that is placed in the housing, (b) an ultrasonic membrane which covers the aperture, (c) an ultrasonic transducer mounted in the container and coupled to the membrane in such a manner so as to cause specified, ultrasonic vibrations in the membrane and throughout the liquid contained in the housing, and (d) a frequency modulated power source that drives the transducer. In a preferred embodiment, this device is powered such that the energy projected to the electrodes is in range of 100 to 200 watts and the flux of energy supplied to the membrane is in the range of 4 to 25 watts per square inch of membrane surface area.
US07815778B2

A polishing pad includes at least one conductive polishing element supported by a compressible under layer having conductive patterning therein, the conductive patterning adapted to permit coupling of a potential to the conductive polishing element; a guide plate above the compressible under layer, the guide plate having a hole through which the polishing element passes and further having a cathodic element connected thereto; and a slurry distribution layer adhered to the guide plate opposite the compressible under layer. The polishing pad may further include a proton exchange membrane placed over the cathodic element. A semiconductor wafer having a metal film thereon may be polished using the polishing pad by placing the wafer in contact with the polishing element, applying anodic current to the polishing element and cathodic current to the cathodic element, and polishing with an anodic solution. For copper films, a sulfuric acid-copper sulfate solution may be used.
US07815776B2

A method and an apparatus for desalinizing raw water are disclosed. The method can include wicking the raw water into a porous material by capillary action and heating the raw water in the porous material with a heating element to form water vapor. The water vapor then can be condensed to form purified water. The apparatus can include a chamber for holding raw water, a heating element, a sheet of porous material and a chamber for collecting water vapor evaporated from the raw water in the porous material.
US07815775B2

A method for coke removal in delayed coker drums is provided. The method comprises the steps of draining from the drum of substantially free-flowing coke, performing a vibration signature analysis on the drum to identify whether and where any coke remains attached to the interior wall of the drum after the draining step, and cutting the coke from the areas identified by the signature analysis step.
US07815767B2

A plasma processing apparatus of the present invention can reduce a manufacturing cost of the apparatus and a footprint by decreasing a load applied to a device for varying a distance between electrodes in comparison with a conventional apparatus and, at the same time, easily meet a scaling up of a substrate to be processed. A lower electrode and an upper electrode are installed inside a vacuum chamber. Provided at a lower electrode supporting member are openings for operating the upper electrode by using a driving mechanism installed outside the vacuum chamber. An intermediate ring is installed at bellows for air-tightly sealing the openings. Further, the intermediate ring is connected to a connecting member connected to an upper electrode supporting member and the driving mechanism.
US07815762B2

A method of forming an introducer sheath having a crease-free tapered distal tip portion. A mandrel is provided having an outer configuration comprising an elongated body and a tapered distal tip portion. A generally tubular inner liner comprising heat shrinkable PTFE, is positioned over the mandrel. The inner liner is heat shrunk to the outer configuration of the mandrel, in a manner that avoids the formation of creases along the inner diameter of the liner. A reinforcing member is positioned over a length of the inner liner, and an outer jacket is positioned over the reinforcing member and the inner liner. The liner, reinforcing member, and outer jacket are heated in a heat shrink enclosure, whereby the outer jacket melts and bonds to an outer surface of the inner liner.
US07815757B2

The oxide film thickness of the steel material surface (dH2O+do2) is made to become 15 nm or less where post-treatment after water-cooling is not needed by suitably setting the conditions of the water-cooling start temperature (Ti), water-cooling end temperature (To), steel material thickness (d), concentration of solute oxygen in the cooling water (Do), and cooling rate (CR) in the equation of dH2O+do2=7.98×10−4(Ti−To)dDo+{5.50×10−3(Ti2−To2)−6.51(Ti−To)}/CR.
US07815751B2

The invention provides a method and composition for coating a ferrous metal surface with a zirconium/vanadium conversion coating which is substantially free of an organic film forming composition and tannins. The method is a low temperature method which contemplates an aqueous conversion coating composition which is low in phosphates and which comprises zirconium, vanadium, fluoride, as well as phosphate ions in a ratio and a concentration effective for providing a conversion-coated ferrous metal surface.
US07815748B2

An apparatus for cleaning vessels stacked on racks with a minimum of head clearance. The cleaning apparatus has a drive unit with a turbine wheel connected to a multi-stage gear train. The output motion of the gear train connects through an angular transmission within a fluid conveying elbow to a rotatable housing having a rotatable nozzle angularly assembled thereto. The elbow has a pressure channel and a suction channel there through. The length of the apparatus from the elbow to the housing is short enough to be passed into the bunghole of a vessel, e.g. a wine barrel, while racked. A flexible suction hose is connected to a suction line in the apparatus for removing spent cleaning fluid from within the vessel.
US07815747B2

A system for washing a stream of eggs which are uniformly distributed on m feed rows of a transport device and assume well-defined positions thereon, comprising—a feeding section, having, at least at the location of the washing of the eggs, m feed rows with the eggs on diabolos which are attached to cross axes whose ends are connected to endless chains, a washing device through which the eggs on the feed rows are passed and washed,—a dirt detection device for testing the washed eggs for residues of dirt, whereby, according to a well-determined procedure carried out by, for instance, a computer, each egg is assigned a dirt grade, while the washed eggs are passed on the feed rows along the detection device, a discharge device to which are allocated, in accordance with and following said procedure, those eggs whose dirt grade has exceeded a predetermined limit, and which discharges them as dirty eggs from the feed rows, while the other eggs proceed as clean eggs on a follow-on conveyor virtually from the discharge device, the follow-on conveyor being composed of n rows, and—a replacing device for replacing these discharged eggs into the feed section, wherein the discharge device discharges the dirty eggs immediately after the detection device and returns them along at least a single return row, parallel to and in upstream direction relative to the feed rows, and the replacing device replaces these discharged dirty eggs virtually immediately before the washing device. Such a system enables far-reaching optimization of the associated washing process.
US07815745B2

A heater-mounting structure of a dish washer includes a sump housing for storing a washing water inside, and a heater disposed inside the sump housing. A heating portion of a heater is disposed inside the sump housing and bent at least one times.
US07815741B2

A reactor for hydrolytic splitting of cellulose under high pressure and heat has an inlet and outlet each with a cross-sectional area smaller than the cross-sectional area of the reactor. The pressure and heat in the reactor forms a cellulose plug within the inlet and the outlet. The inlet plug stops cellulose from escaping out the inlet. Cellulose begins to breakdown under heat, pressure, and if required an acid or a lubricant. The outlet plug slows downstream movement of cooking cellulose. Cellulose may be pre-treated by the addition of water, a weak acid, a lubricant, or a combination of the foregoing. The outer surface of the plug cooks faster than the inner core of the plug, becomes a liquefied slurry, and slides faster towards the outlet than the inner core.
US07815736B2

An apparatus for supporting a single crystal during Czochralski crystal pulling below a thickened crystal neck has lower bearing surface(s) with a central opening inscribable with a horizontal circle of diameter D1, centered on a vertical axis, the bearing surface(s) connected by connecting element(s) to minimally one securing element for securing to a crystal pulling lifting device, the connecting elements arranged to provide a clear-space in the region above the bearing surface(s) in which a circle of diameter D2 centered on the vertical axis (D2>D1) is inscribable over a length of the vertical axis. The unitary apparatus is useful for crystal ingot growth by immersion into the semiconductor melt prior to growth of a Dash neck and a thickening of the Dash neck. The apparatus is then raised to support the crystal by bearing against the bottom of the thickening.
US07815734B2

Provided are a thin film transistor and method of fabricating the same, in which an amorphous silicon layer is formed on a substrate, a capping layer containing a metal catalyst having a different concentration according to its thickness is formed on the amorphous silicon layer, the capping layer is patterned to form a capping layer pattern, and the amorphous silicon layer is crystallized, such that the density and position of seeds formed at an interface between the amorphous silicon layer and the capping layer pattern is controlled, thereby improving the size and uniformity of grains, and in which polycrystalline silicon of desired size and uniformity is selectively formed at a desired position by one crystallization process, resulting in a thin film transistor having excellent and desired properties.
US07815731B2

A fluid loss additive for hydraulic cement which includes at least two highly hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol resins having different molecular weights, or a polyvinyl alcohol resin composition having a broad molecular weight distribution. The fluid loss additive is suitable for use in cement slurries which may be subjected to elevated temperatures, as is common in oil and gas drilling operations. By way of the invention, cement slurries are provided which have improved fluid loss properties at high temperatures, while maintaining manageable rheologies that are conducive to mixing, pumping, and the like across a broad range of temperatures.
US07815730B2

Polymerization of siloxane is improved using a gypsum-based slurry that includes stucco, Class C fly ash, magnesium oxide and an emulsion of siloxane and water. This slurry is used in a method of making water-resistant gypsum articles that includes making an emulsion of siloxane and water, then combining the slurry with a dry mixture of stucco, magnesium oxide and Class C fly ash. The slurry is then shaped as desired and the stucco is allowed to set and the siloxane polymerizes.The resulting product is useful for making a water-resistant gypsum panel having a core that includes interwoven matrices of calcium sulfate dihydrate crystals and a silicone resin, where the interwoven matrices have dispersed throughout them a catalyst comprising magnesium oxide and components from a Class C fly ash.
US07815729B2

The method for recycling construction and demolition fines involves using mixed fines from construction and demolition debris that would otherwise be disposed of at landfills as an ingredient in cement or concrete. The mixed fines contain a plurality of materials selected from the group consisting of asphalt, plastics, ceramics, fiberglass and batt insulation, soil, dust, drywall, wood, plaster, paper, cardboard, dirt. The fines may also contain particles of recyclable materials, such as concrete, bricks, mortar, metals, glass, and the like. The fines may range in size from microns up to 6 inches in at least one direction. The recycler may incorporate the fines into a concrete mix for bulk sale to commercial enterprises, or may himself form precast, lightweight concrete products, such as decorative columns, pedestals and table bases, trim moldings and cornices, door surrounds, etc.
US07815709B2

An electro-hydrometallurgical process that extracts zinc from electric furnace dust (EAF dust) to produce zinc of high purity and fine particle size, including leaching EAF dust with an alkaline solution to form a zincates solution, separating the liquid and gangue in the zincate solution; inertizing the gangue, purifying the liquid by cementation and separating the liquid from precipitated solids; purifying the zincate solution obtained from the cementation by adsorption, at least partially evaporating the resulting pure solution, bleeding at least a fraction of the concentrated solution obtained; crystallizing at least a fraction of the concentrated solution, electro-depositing zinc from the concentrated solution; and separating washing and drying deposited Zn.
US07815707B2

A powder metallurgical composition for making compacted parts is provided. Such composition comprises iron or an iron based powder, and a binder comprising a drying oil and a drying agent. In a preferred embodiment graphite also is present.
US07815706B2

A method for recovering platinum group elements comprises charging into a closed electric furnace and melting, together with flux components and a reducing agent, a platinum group element-containing substance to be processed and a copper source material containing copper oxide, sinking molten metal of primarily metallic copper below a molten slag layer of primarily oxides, and enriching the platinum group elements in the molten metal sunk below, and is characterized in that molten slag whose copper content has decreased to 3.0 wt % or less is discharged from the electric furnace and that the copper source material charged into the electric furnace is a granular copper source material of a grain diameter of not less than 0.1 mm and not greater than 10 mm.
US07815702B2

A multi cyclone collector with an improved structure is disclosed for providing the highest number of second cyclone collector (300) by disposing a plurality of second cyclone collector (300) in a non circular shape (400) arrangement along a first cyclone collector, thereby increasing collecting efficiency.
US07815700B2

A device, system and method of mixing two fluids are described herein. A gaseous first fluid is distributed through a distribution zone to a mixing zone by a bundle of pipes parallel to an axis inside which the first fluid is uniformly distributed. A second fluid is uniformly distributed outside the pipes in the distribution zone. The mixing zone is separated from the distribution zone by a pipe-plate supporting the pipes. The pipe-plate has slits or openings to uniformly discharge the second fluid in an axial flow direction into the mixing zone. The pipes extend beyond the pipe-plate into the mixing zone to partialize an outlet flow of the first fluid. In one aspect, the pipes have different lengths to partialize the outlet flow. In another aspect, a terminal portion of the pipes partializes the outlet flow axially, radially, transversally or a combination thereof in the mixing zone.
US07815693B2

Piezoelectric ultracapacitor is disclosed capable of converting the kinetic energy of ordinary motion into an electrical potential. The piezoelectric ultracapacitor of the present invention may be used in various contexts, including power generation, switching and control and memory.
US07815692B1

A hair coloring composition comprises a N,N′-alkylurea, a hair dye, and a solvent.
US07815685B2

An orthopaedic joint prosthesis which is intended for the replacement of damaged or diseased joints of the human or animal body comprises a first component with a rounded head portion and a second component which comprises a hollow cup for receiving the head portion of the first component. The radius of curvature of one or both of the bearing surfaces changes varies that the bearing surface has a spherical portion at the pole and a space between the bearing surfaces which increases in size towards the lip of the cup.
US07815678B2

An accommodating intraocular lens (AIOL) including a biasing mechanism for elastically deforming an elastically deformable shape memory disk-like optical element for affording the AIOL a natural positive diopter strength for near vision. The AIOL is intended to be implanted in a human eye such that relaxation of its ciliary body causes its capsular diaphragm to apply an accommodation force for overcoming the biasing mechanism to reduce the AIOL's natural positive diopter strength for distance vision.
US07815676B2

An apparatus and method for endovascular removal of a cardiac valve having at least two valve cusps is disclosed. The apparatus is insertable through a blood vessel to access the cardiac valve. The apparatus includes a first catheter assembly for insertion into a blood vessel, deployable cutting means for cutting at least one valve cusp of the cardiac valve, and a deployable filter assembly disposed adjacent the distal end of the first catheter assembly. The first catheter assembly has a longitudinal axis and a distal end. The cutting means is attached to the distal end of the first catheter assembly. The filter assembly is operable to collect the severed valve cusps and is collapsible for removal from the blood vessel with the severed valve cusps retained therein.
US07815670B2

Medical devices and related systems and methods.
US07815664B2

Systems and methods are provided for spinal stabilization with flexible elements and other elements engaged to the vertebrae. Also provided are instruments and methods for insertion of the flexible stabilization elements and other elements and for reduction of displacement between adjacent vertebrae in a minimally invasive surgical approach.
US07815661B2

A method of treating a vein comprises accessing a vein at an access point spaced from a sapheno-femoral junction. A bioabsorbable fibrous body is implanted into the vein through the access point. The body is moved in the vein toward the sapheno-femoral junction.
US07815657B2

A corneal surgical apparatus for incising a cornea in a flap shape, includes: a body portion; and a cutting head unit that is movable back and forth with respect to the body portion and includes a blade holder for holding a blade oscillationally. The cutting head unit includes a cornea applanater mounted through an applanater support for applanating the cornea substantially flatly, the cornea applanater moving forward as the cutting head unit moves forward, and the applanater support includes a movable portion for moving the cornea applanater in a direction apart from the blade holder.
US07815656B2

The invention provides a method of providing an endovascular bypass. The method includes the steps of inserting an elastic needle carrying a guidewire adjacent an ostium via a catheter and extending the needle through a branch vessel wall. The method continues by extending the needle through the extravascular space and inserting the needle through a main vessel wall to create an opening. The needle is retracted, leaving the guidewire in place. A bypass stent graft is inserted along the guidewire to provide a pathway between the branch vessel and the main vessel, and the inserted bypass stent graft is expanded. The branch vessel is occluded between the ostium of the bypass stent graft and the main vessel, and a main stent graft is inserted in the main vessel proximate the opening in the main vessel wall.
US07815636B2

Various methods and devices are provided for surgically treating tissue. In one embodiment, the device can include a shaft having proximal and distal ends and a conductive tip disposed within the distal end of the shaft and movable between a first and second position. In the first position, the conductive tip is disconnected from a conductive contact which is adapted to communicate with an energy source. In the second position, the conductive tip is in contact with the conductive contact such that energy can be delivered from an energy source through the conductive contact to the conductive tip. The conductive tip can have a variety of shapes and sizes, but in one exemplary embodiment, the conductive tip is a blunt tip. The conductive contact can include at least one lead extending therefrom and adapted to communicate with an energy source.
US07815635B2

The invention relates to a catheter, provided with an elongated body with an electrically conductive first end, wherein through said body at least one live wire extends which is connected to said first end and a channel for feeding a cooling fluid through said body, which channel is provided, in or near said first end, with at least one outlet opening and wherein, in said first end, a temperature sensor has been arranged, while said channel is thermally insulated from said first end.
US07815628B2

A medical device includes at least four layers including a first material and a second material having a different stiffness than a stiffness of the first material, wherein at least one of the layers varies in thickness axially along the device.
US07815624B2

A medical device including a catheter having a first component having a first color and a wall thickness and a second component having a second color different from the first color and a wall thickness. The first component and the second component are joined by a lap weld having a wall thickness such that the wall thickness of the lap weld is greater than the first component wall thickness and also greater than the second component wall thickness. The first component wall thickness is spaced apart from the lap weld and the second component wall thickness is spaced apart from the lap weld. The first component is disposed over the second component and the first color is selected from the group consisting of blue, green, orange, yellow, or purple.
US07815618B2

A closed drainage system for irrigating colostomy bags wherein the bag is irrigated and cleaned while in its operable position associated with the person. More specifically, the invention mounts a manifold within the colostomy bag with an access to a water pressure from outside, the manifold providing a spray dispersion of fluid, or water preferably, at the top of the bag and gravity then drips it down through the bag and out the open bottom, preferably with the residue of the bag being washed out by the water and passing into a toilet where the user flushes the bag to completion of cleaning with all residue from the bag passing into the toilet. A water source from the toilet itself, or other suitable water supply, provides the pressured water to the manifold inside the top of the colostomy bag.
US07815600B2

A rapid-exchange balloon catheter or stent delivery system, for medically treating a patient, has a proximal hub, a balloon, and an improved shaft design. The catheter shaft has a tubular outer body that includes a hypotube extending from the catheter proximal end to a position at or near the proximal leg of the balloon. An inner tubular body defines a guidewire lumen and extends from a distal guidewire port at the catheter distal end to proximal guidewire port located between the balloon and the proximal hub. The hypotube has an aperture for accepting the inner body proximal end and a circumferential cut pattern. The cut pattern adds flexibility and may have any desired shape, including a spiral, a helical undulating path, or an overlapping serpentine path with inflection points, for example. The proximal guidewire port may be positioned on or in between the individual portions of the cut pattern.
US07815594B2

Provided is a tampon applicator having one or more insertion indicators to gauge and/or control the insertion depth of a tampon. The one or more insertion indicators may be located on the tampon applicator barrel, plunger, tampon, removal string, or any combinations thereof. As a result of the one or more insertion indicators, a woman can adjust the insertion depth of the tampon to her body's requirements ensuring leakage protection, comfort, or both.
US07815592B2

This invention comprises a flexible ocular device for implantation into the eye formed of a biocompatible elastomeric material, foldable to a diameter of 1.5 mm or less, comprising a fluid drainage tube having at one end a foldable plate adapted to locate the device on the inner surface of the sclera in a suprachoroidal space formed by cyclodialysis, said drainage tube opening onto the disc at one end and opening to the anterior chamber when implanted into the eye at its other end, so as to provide aqueous pressure regulation. Also provided are methods for the treatment of glaucoma utilizing the flexible ocular device, and an ocular pressure spike shunt.
US07815590B2

Devices and methods for altering gaseous flow within a lung to improve the expiration cycle of an individual, particularly individuals having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The methods and devices create channels in lung tissue and maintain the patency of these surgically created channels in tissue. Maintaining the patency of the channels allows air to pass directly out of the lung tissue which facilitates the exchange of oxygen ultimately into the blood and/or decompresses hyper-inflated lungs.
US07815586B2

Adjustable restraint includes a plantar plate surrounded by a peripheral element about which a plurality of supports can be positioned; a support system attachable to that plate or element for providing vertical and horizontal support; and a lower leg securing housing. The housing is attachable to the support system through adjustable fastener(s) such it can be adjusted vertically and secured in position with respect to the plantar plate. A sole portion of the plantar plate may be removable. The support system can include first support(s) and second support(s) attachable to the plate or element, and, through first adjustable fastener(s) and second adjustable fastener(s), respectively, the first adjustable fastener(s) and second adjustable fastener(s) be attachable to the housing.
US07815575B2

An ultrasonic monitor implemented on a PCB includes a transmission medium. The transmission medium may be biocompatible and implemented as an oil-based transmission medium, a gel pad, or a combination thereof. Ultrasonic signals are transmitted between the ultrasonic monitor and a living subject through the transmission medium. An air gap is formed in the PCB underneath transducer elements to provide for more efficient signal transmission. The entire ultrasonic monitor may be encapsulated in plastic, a transmission medium, or both to provide water resistant properties.
US07815573B2

A description is given of a method of spectral analysis of a radio frequency ultrasonic signal reflected by a structure subjected to echographic examination, comprising the steps of: a) transmitting an ultrasonic excitation signal into a portion of said structure under examination; b) receiving a radio frequency response signal from said structure; c) applying a time-frequency transform to said radio frequency response signal, dividing the radio frequency response signal into a plurality of frequency bands; d) calculating a local spectral parameter from the values of the time-frequency transform.
US07815570B2

A methodology and system for lysing adipose tissue including directing ultrasonic energy at a multiplicity of target volumes within the region, which target volumes contain adipose tissue, thereby to selectively lyse the adipose tissue in the target volumes and generally not lyse non-adipose tissue in the target volumes and computerized tracking of the multiplicity of target volumes notwithstanding movement of the body.
US07815567B2

An incrementally adjustable wound retractor, which provides access to a body cavity, includes an inner ring having a diameter greater than the desired diameter of the wound incision, an outer ring having an annular axis and a diameter greater than the desired diameter of the wound incision, and a flexible sleeve disposed in a generally cylindrical form between the inner and outer rings. The outer ring includes first and second circular tubes spaced apart axially with each including a lumen having a rigid, noncompliant split hoop placed therein. The outer ring may be rolled over itself and around the annular axis to retract the sleeve with sufficient force to stretch the incision to the desired diameter. A gel cap seal may be coupled to the outer ring outside of the biological body to seal the opening produced by the wound retractor between the body cavity and outside the body cavity.
US07815561B2

A breast brachytherapy applicator providing a stable semi permanent/permanent in dwelling platform that is configured to replicate anatomically the excised cancer bed and allows for a more precise anatomically correct delivery of limited field radiation treatment. This device may be used to reconstitute a resected tissue space to its pre-operative size and shape to 1) facilitate the accurate and precise delivery of adjunctive breast brachytherapy following breast cancer surgery and 2) prevent/decrease post-operative deformity as a result of surgical resection, whether for benign or malignant disease, and in particular after radiation treatment of malignant disease in the post lumpectomy patient.
US07815540B2

A transmission is disclosed having an input member, an output member, three planetary gear sets, a plurality of coupling members and a plurality of torque transmitting devices. Each of the planetary gear sets includes a sun gear member, a planet carrier member, and a ring gear member. The torque transmitting devices include five clutches and one brake arranged within a transmission housing.
US07815537B2

Structures of automatic vehicle transmissions are described which have a planetary gear train connected to an input shaft. The planetary gear train is connected through a CVT variable speed drive that includes two variable speed drive shafts and through at least one gear pairing to an output shaft. Rotationally fixed connections corresponding to different gear ranges are producible between shafts of the transmission through gear pairings and or shaft connections provided with clutches.
US07815535B2

A drive (A) for imparting rotation about an axis (X) includes an axial flux motor (4) having a stator (38) and a rotor (44), an output drive element (8), an epicyclic gear system (6) located between the rotor of the axial flux motor and the drive element. The gear system is located within and surrounded by the motor, thus rendering the drive highly compact along its axis.
US07815531B1

A lacrosse head having stringing channels useful for improving a strung lacrosse head is disclosed.
US07815520B2

A putter head comprising a body having an open, frame-like structure having an improved mass distribution for optimizing the moment of inertia and placement of the center of gravity. The body includes a front portion, a rear portion, toe and heel portions extending between and interconnecting respective ends of the front and rear portions, and a central portion interconnecting the front and rear portions along the longitudinal axis of the body. A first main opening of the body is bounded by the toe portion, the central portion, and part of the front portion. A second main opening of the body is bounded by the heel portion, the central portion, and part of the front portion. The heel and toe portions desirably are formed with respective elongated openings extending substantially the entire lengths of the heel and toe portions.
US07815510B2

A driving disc with a hub and a disc rim which are rotatably supported inside one another, with at least two wound wire springs which are mounted substantially coaxially relative to the hub and disc rim and whose one end is secured in the direction of rotation relative to the hub and whose respective other end is secured in the direction or rotation relative to the disc rim.
US07815505B2

Methods and apparatus for representing game arrangements by a single number, typically an integer, are described. These game arrangements can be applied to most any game including essentially all games played on gaming machines. Conversions can be made between symbolic representations of game arrangements and numeric representations of game arrangements. These conversions can be made using “ordering factors” such as game symbols and positions of such game symbols.
US07815502B2

The field of the invention relates generally to lotteries and gaming, and more particularly, to systems for conducting casino-based gaming. After a player subscribes to play multiple games on a video gaming machine, the player may choose to finish playing the games elsewhere. The video gaming machine may then determine the outcomes for the games yet to be played and then may issue a ticket to the player.
US07815494B2

A sander comprises a body member molded of polypropylene to which a soft pad member is integrally molded or directly bonded thereto. Preferably, the material comprising the pad member is of a thermoplastic elastomer material, such as Santoprene®. Significantly, when the pad member is molded directly to the body member, the pad has internal dimensions only slightly larger than the external dimensions of the body member so that, when the body member is located within the confines of the pad member, a secure fit is formed between these two members, without any space between them. Further, the respective dimensions of the body member and pad member give the sander a thick, one-piece appearance in side and end views. The pad member may also include a plurality of openings which help provide a “spongy” effect to the user, smoothing the peaks and reaching the valleys of an uneven surface upon which the sander is utilized.
US07815492B2

A surface treatment method that enables a surface of an electrostatic chuck to be smoothed, so as to improve the efficiency of heat transfer between the surface of the electrostatic chuck and a substrate. The electrostatic chuck is provided in an upper portion of a susceptor provided in a chamber of a substrate processing apparatus. In the surface treatment of the electrostatic chuck, a sprayed coating film is formed on the surface of the electrostatic chuck, next the surface of the electrostatic chuck is ground by bringing into contact therewith a grindstone, then the surface of the electrostatic chuck is ground flat by bringing into contact therewith a lapping plate onto a surface of which is sprayed a suspension, and then the surface of the electrostatic chuck is ground smooth by bringing into contact therewith a tape of a tape lapping apparatus.
US07815475B2

A connector assembly of complex shape has a connector body with possesses a plurality of distinct surfaces both parallel and intersecting. Laser directed structuring is used to form patterns of conductive traces on the surfaces of the connector body and raised ribs are formed along the traces and interposed between them to form channels that encompass at least portions of the traces. The raised ribs increase the time in which plating solution can dwell over the laser excited areas and also form abrasion barriers to prevent abrasion for the conductive traces during the plating thereof.
US07815474B1

A probe connector includes an insulating housing and a probe pin assembly. The insulating housing has a base defining a front surface. The front surface has an inserting hole extending frontward and rearwards. A mounting platform is integrally surrounded a rear surface and two lateral surfaces of the base, with a top thereof lower than a top of the base. The mounting platform has a groove in alignment with and communicating with the corresponding inserting hole. The probe pin assembly mounted to the inserting hole comprises a cylindraceous barrel, an elastic element received in the barrel, and a plunger mounted to the barrel and exposing from an open end of the barrel. A closed end of the barrel is integrally formed with a soldering portion protruding opposite to the plunger and received in the groove for being soldered to a printed circuited board (PCB) when the PCB is mounted to the mounting platform.
US07815472B2

The present disclosure relates to a jack assembly including a jack mount having a front side and a rear side. A jack of the assembly is adapted to be slidably mounted in a jack receiving region of the jack mount. The jack assembly also includes a plurality of cross-connect contacts, and a rear interface assembly. The rear interface assembly includes a dielectric cover piece and a plurality of rear connectors that project outward from the dielectric cover piece.
US07815466B2

In one embodiment, an interface module is provided for connecting a plurality of signal paths to a high signal density interface. The interface module includes a board having axial conductor receptacles. The axial conductor receptacles have at least one ground via extending through the board to an interface side of the board and a shield receiving hole in the board extending into the board from a cable side of the board. At least a portion of the at least one ground via being exposed within the shield receiving hole, the shield receiving hole having a plating therein contacting the portion of the at least one ground via exposed within the shield receiving hole. The axial conductor receptacles have a plated center conductor receiving hole in the board, which extends to a signal via. The signal via extends from the center conductor hole to the interface side of the board. A non-plated hole in the board is located between the plated center conductor hole and the shield receiving hole.
US07815464B2

A storage device has a memory module, a cover, and light-transmission elements. In one such storage device, a cover has light-transmission elements extending from opposing exterior surfaces of the cover. In a configuration of the memory module and the cover, the light-transmission elements are optically coupled to the light source.
US07815463B2

A spring-force connection with a current rail piece with at least two mutually independent clamping points which interact with in each case one spring end for clamping electrical conductors is described. The current rail piece has on both sides of a center piece two end pieces bent away in each case from the center piece, the interior angle of which end pieces is located in the bending area on the same top of the current rail piece. The end pieces in each case have conductor through-openings into which associated clamping springs are inserted, wherein the clamping springs are supported with one clamping spring end on the current rail piece and, in the conductor-less inoperative state rest with the other clamping spring end on a clamping point formed at the associated conductor through-opening.
US07815460B2

A connector with an anti-loose fastening device has a housing, a socket module mounted inside the housing, and a plug module. The housing has a front opening for the plug module to insert in the socket module so as to electrically connect therewith. The housing has an elastic finger. The elastic finger has a tooth extending downwardly from one end thereof, and an inwardly slanted surface facing the front opening. When the plug module inserts in the socket module, the tooth of the elastic finger inserts in a recess formed on the plug module so as to prevent the plug module from disengaging with the socket module inside the housing.
US07815458B2

The present invention relates to a power source coupling for connecting two power coupling parts (5, 6): a first power coupling part (5) which is mounted on a first component (1) so as to be longitudinally displaceable and has a first connecting plate (16) with one or more first power coupling elements (18), and a second power coupling part (6) which is mounted on a second component (4) so as to be displaceably mounted between a first and a second position. The second power coupling part (6) has a second connecting plate (17) with one or more second power coupling elements (19) which are able to cooperate with the first power coupling elements (18) when the first power coupling part (5) is in the first position. A protective element (51) is provided on the first power coupling part (5) so as to be adjustable in position, and which in the first position of the power coupling part (5) covers the first power coupling elements (18) when the second power coupling part (6) is not attached, and in the second position of the power coupling part (5) is in an open position.
US07815440B2

An electrical contact comprises an upper contact pin, a lower contact pin and a spring enveloping between the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin. The upper contact pin has an upper contacting portion and a guiding portion, and the lower contact pin is coupled to the upper contact pin and has a lower contacting portion and a main portion extending from the contacting portion. The main portion of the lower contact pin includes two elastic arms, and each elastic arm has a first and a second locking protrusions engaging with a slot defined on the guiding portion of the upper contact pin respectively to reliably connect the upper contact pin and the lower contact pin.
US07815439B2

The invention relates to an insulation displacement plug-in connector for telecommunications and data technology, comprising a housing (45) and a number of contact elements (43), wherein the contact elements (43) each comprise an insulation displacement contact (54) for connecting cores and a pin contact (53) for making contact with a printed circuit board, wherein at least one extension (55) is arranged between the insulation displacement contact (54) and the pin contact (53).
US07815434B2

The invention provides a dental coating kit with high adhesiveness to teeth that contains a primer composition including an acidic group-containing polymeric monomer (a), water (b) and a water-soluble solvent (c) and a surface smoothing composition including a polyfunctional polymeric monomer (f), a volatile solvent (g) and a photopolymerization initiator (h); and a dental coating kit with high adhesiveness to teeth and minimally suffering from chipping and peeling off that contains a primer composition including an acidic group-containing polymeric monomer (a), water (b) and a water-soluble solvent (c), a coating composition including a polymeric monomer (d) and a photopolymerization initiator (e), and a surface smoothing composition including a polyfunctional polymeric monomer (f), a volatile solvent (g) and a photopolymerization initiator (h). Either dental coating kit is particularly useful as a kit for preventing stain and color return of a bleached tooth.
US07815433B2

The invention relates to an improved dental tool drive arrangement for a handpiece with a drive head, the tool drive arrangement permitting length adjustment of the tool in the drive head by concentrically supporting the tool in the drive head at any position from a fully inserted position to a maximum retracted position. The tool drive arrangement preferably includes a tool and a rotatable tool supporting element for concentrically supporting the tool from the fully inserted to the maximum retracted position, the tool preferably including a maximum retraction indicator for indicating to a user when the tool has been retracted to the maximum retraction position. This provides a significant advantage over the prior art by allowing a user to adjust the exposed length of a rotatable tool, preferably a dental bur, without exceeding safe operating limits. The invention also relates to an improved drive spindle which allows depth adjustment of a tool in a dental handpiece while maintaining efficient torque transfer and concentricity during high speed rotation.
US07815432B2

A cigarette lighter has a removable fuel cartridge with a reservoir for holding flammable liquid fuel, a valve for controlling the flow of fuel into and from the reservoir, an ignition actuator for causing ignition of the fuel, a nozzle for causing the ignited fuel to form a lighting flame, and a valve actuator that cooperates with the ignition actuator to open the valve as the ignition actuator is actuated. The reservoir has a transparent portion which is aligned with a window in the lighter housing to allow external observation of the fuel level in the reservoir. The transparent portion includes indicia for gauging the amount of fuel. The indicia is structurally contoured to provide means for engaging the reservoir to remove the fuel cartridge from the lighter.
US07815423B2

A scroll compressor includes a housing, a non-orbiting scroll member including a first spiral wrap, and an orbiting scroll member including a second spiral wrap. The first and second spiral wraps are interleaved to define at least one moving fluid pocket that decreases in size as it moves from a radially outer position to a radially inner position. A vapor-injection system may include a shell fitting in fluid communication with a fluid passageway of the non-orbiting scroll member via a vapor injection tube. The vapor injection tube may be fixed for movement with the non-orbiting scroll member for communicating vapor into the moving fluid pockets.
US07815418B2

A shroud includes a body portion 5B, a mount 7 positioned at a center of the body portion 5B and supporting rotary vane wheel driver 6, and multiple support beams 10 radially extending from the mount 7 and joining the mount 7 and the body portion 5B, where each of the support beams 10 becomes thicker from an upstream side of a flow direction of air toward a downstream side thereof, and an edge portion 10ti of each of the support beams 10 on the downstream side of the flow direction of the air discharged by the rotary vane wheel 8 is oriented in a direction parallel to a rotation axis of the rotary vane wheel 8, and the edge portion on the upstream side is oriented in a direction opposite to a rotation direction of the rotary vane wheel 8.
US07815409B2

A method for joining bodies by melting down a joining element. The joining element acts on a surface of one of the bodies and penetrates the surface as a result of a directed force. Once in a penetrated condition, a mechanical excitation is generated such that during further penetration of the joining element into the one body, the advance is maintained through the directed force and the melting down is maintained through the mechanical excitation. Molten or melted material is hydraulically displaced into the bodies.
US07815404B2

A liner for a transverse trough of a coil-transport railway car for cushioning a coil and for preventing lateral creep of the load during transport. Each sloping wall of a transverse trough is lined with at least one liner to prevent lateral creep in both transverse directions. Each liner is comprised of a horizontal bottom base or support layer, from which upwardly project a plurality of spaced-apart, flexible fingers or ribs. The fingers or ribs of the liner of the invention may be oriented leftward or rightward in direction of cant, and oriented such as to face or incline toward the centerline of the transport vehicle, and behave or act as leaf springs. When the load of coil is placed onto the liner of the present invention, the fingers thereof serve as the load-bearing surface, and bend or deflect in accordance with the weight of the load, to thereby support the load of coil. In addition, those remaining fingers or ribs not deflected by the load and immediately adjacent to the coil at either end, act as leaf springs to resist any side-to-side, lateral movement of the roll or coil, as would otherwise occur due to vibration and shock imparted during transport.
US07815396B2

A wave generating apparatus and method in which a chamber is at least partially submerged beneath a body of water in a pool and is connected to a gas supply for at least partially filling the chamber with gas, displacing water in the vicinity of the chamber. A vent valve is arranged to vent gas rapidly from the chamber so that the water level in the vicinity of the chamber falls, forming a wave trough. A wave reflecting wall is positioned in the pool adjacent the chamber and in the vicinity of the wave trough formation so as to reflect the wave away from the chamber and across the body of water. The chamber may have a flexible wall for displacing water or may be a rigid chamber communicating with the water through a submerged passageway. This apparatus forms a wave trough followed by a wave peak which travels across the pool.
US07815383B2

The compact toothbrush (10) has a handle that is designed so that the toothbrush (10) can be held within a user's open palm. The toothbrush's lower portion (12) has a substantially triangular contour. The toothbrush has a bristled head (14) and an oppositely disposed support rib (26). The support rib extends along the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush from an upper edge of the toothbrush's head (14), to a central region of the toothbrush's lower portion. The lower portion of the toothbrush handle has first and second opposed, outwardly flared side edges (30, 32) that are joined together at the lower edge (34) so that the lower portion has a substantially V-shaped cross-sectional contour. The user cups the toothbrush (10) in the palm of his hand and extends two fingers adjacent to the support rib to stabilize the toothbrush (10) while brushing his teeth.
US07815370B2

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for detecting temperature threshold events in an aftertreatment device. The system may include an aftertreatment device configured to treat an exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine and a temperature responder disposed within a region of interest of the aftertreatment device. The temperature responder is configured to melt at a threshold temperature. The system may further include two access points electrically coupled to the temperature responder and an observation module configured to measure an electrical resistance value across the two access points. The observation module detects the melting of the temperature responder based on the electrical resistance value measured across the access points. In alternate embodiments the observation module is included within an engine control module (ECM) or a service tool.
US07815366B2

In the present invention, a heating plate is divided into a plurality of regions. Integrated values of temperature fluctuations in each of the regions when a substrate is mounted on the heating plate in a normal state without extraneous matter are collected. A Mahalanobis reference space in the discriminant analysis method is formed based on the integrated values at normal time. During actual heat processing, an integrated value of temperature fluctuation of each of the regions when the substrate is mounted on the heating plate is then detected, so that a Mahalanobis distance about the integrated value during the processing is calculated based on the integrated value during the processing and the Mahalanobis reference space obtained in advance. Whether or not there is extraneous matter on the heating plate is determined by comparing the calculated Mahalanobis distance to a predetermined threshold value.
US07815362B2

A device for cutting/shearing in a process vessel (1) product clusters and/or materials (3) into smaller particles and dispersing them in a liquid product bulk (4) or for mixing in the process vessel liquid products with each other that are difficult to mix. The device has an electric motor (13) arranged out-side the process vessel and, driven by the same by magneto drive, a processing unit (12) positioned inside the process vessel. The processing unit comprises a stationary inner part (14) and, rotatable about this, an outer part (15), the inner and outer parts having the shape of substantially concentric rings (16, 17) arranged with a close fit to each other and having a plurality of through slotshaped shearing recesses (18) opposing each other. The products that are to be cut/shorn and/or mixed are suppliable to the area of the common centre axis (20) of the rings and are thrown out through the shearing recesses while being shorn into pieces in order to leave the processing unit through the ring of the outer part, which ring also contributes to rotating the products in the process vessel around the processing unit.
US07815355B2

Direct-lit backlights and associated methods and components are disclosed in which a transflector that partially transmits and partially reflects incident light is shaped to form at least one concave structure facing a back reflector of the backlight. This provides at least one recycling cavity therebetween, the at least one recycling cavity substantially filling the output area of the backlight. At least one light source is disposed behind the output area to inject light into each cavity, and can be positioned in the recycling cavity or behind an aperture in the back reflector. The cavities are preferably shallow and wide, having a width-to-depth ratio of at least 5 or 10, and can provide uniform brightness and color at the output area with sparsely distributed light sources and in a thin profile backlight.
US07815345B2

A vehicle-purpose lighting tool is featured by comprising: a light-conducting member having a front light-emitting plane, a rear plane having a concave/convex shape, and a side edge plane; and a light source arranged at a position opposite to the side edge plane; in which within external light which is entered via the front light-emitting plane into the light-conducting member, a portion of the external light which is directly traveled to the side edge plane is totally reflected on a boundary plane of the side edge plane portion; a plurality of reflecting portions are formed on the rear plane and are coupled to each other via a coupling portion in such a direction that the reflecting portions are separated apart from the side edge plane side; and distances between the plurality of reflecting portions and the front light-emitting plane are changed in a discontinuous manner along the separating direction.
US07815340B2

Provided is an optical element (dichroic mirror) including a mirror surface transmitting a part of an incident light beam therethrough and reflecting the other part of the incident light beam. A target cutoff wavelength, which indicates a boundary wavelength between a wavelength band of a desired transmission light beam and a wavelength band of a desired reflection light beam, is defined, the mirror surface includes a plurality of slant regions, each of the plurality of slant regions includes a reference position at which a cutoff wavelength reference value, which determines whether a light beam having a reference incidence angle should be transmitted or reflected, indicates the target cutoff wavelength, and in each of the plurality of slant regions, the cutoff wavelength reference value is set to be a shorter or a longer wavelength than the target cutoff wavelength, based on a distance from the reference position.
US07815333B2

A solar LED lamp includes an envelope having a seat, a first sleeve extending from the seat and a second sleeve extending from the first sleeve. An LED lamp is received in the second sleeve of the envelope. The LED lamp includes a heat sink and a plurality of LEDs attached to the heat sink. A solar panel covers the second sleeve of the envelope for collecting solar energy and converting the solar energy to electrical energy. A storage battery is accommodated in the first sleeve of the envelope for reserving the electrical energy from the solar panel and providing electrical energy to the LED lamp. A solar controller controls the solar panel to convert the solar energy to the electrical energy or not.
US07815331B2

A lighting apparatus for attachment to an umbrella pole comprising, at least one arm having a first arm section, a second arm section, and a first hinged connection between a first end of said first arm section and a first end of said second arm section, an attachment means having a second hinged connection to a second end of said first arm section and securable to said umbrella pole, a connection means having a third hinged connection to a second end of said second arm section and slideably connected around the umbrella pole, and a lighting means on said at least one arm configured and disposed for illumination underneath said lighting apparatus wherein said hinge means, attachment means and connection means are configured and located to permit the at least one arm to move from an extended position away from the umbrella pole to a closed position substantially parallel to the umbrella pole.
US07815330B2

A backlight assembly, which can provide enhanced light emitting efficiency, and a display device, are provided. The backlight assembly includes a light generating unit comprising a substrate and a point light source connected to the substrate, and a receiving container positioned to receive light from the light generating unit, the receiving container comprising an embossing that corresponds to the point light source.
US07815325B2

A vehicle side mirror includes: a housing attached to a vehicle and holding a mirror; and a cover member being attachable to the housing, the cover member and the housing forming an integral outer shape of the vehicle side mirror when the cover member is appropriately attached to the housing. The cover member includes a cover-side identification part, and the housing includes a housing-side identification part which allows the cover member being paired with the housing to be appropriately attached to the housing, and which prevents the cover member not being paired with the housing from being appropriately attached to the housing, in cooperation with the cover-side identification part.
US07815320B2

The present invention aims to provide an antiglare light diffusing member utilizing internal diffusion and surface diffusion in combination, wherein a surface haze value mainly representing the degree of the surface diffusion and an internal haze value mainly representing the degree of the internal diffusion are easily adjusted independently from each other. An antiglare light diffusing member comprising an antiglare light diffusing layer comprising a binder matrix and a particle A and a particle B on a transparent base material, wherein the difference between the refraction index of the particle A and the refraction index of the binder matrix is less than 0.02, and the difference between the refraction index of the particle B and the refraction index of the binder matrix is in the range of 0.03-0.20.
US07815309B2

A bifocal plastic lens having a bench lens and a small lens with different refractive powers. The small lens not protruding above a surface of the bench lens, a boundary between the constituent lenses being difficult to see. The small lens may be provided on a preparatory lens member including the small lens. Alternatively, the preparatory lens member has a concave portion for a small lens molding surface. A resin having a higher refractive index than a resin constituting other portions of the lens is adhered to a surface provided with the small lens or the concave portion to be the small lens molding surface in the preparatory lens member, and is cured and integrated.
US07815307B2

The present invention provides glasses having temples adjustable in length according to physical conditions of a user. The glasses comprise a main body including lenses, temples formed with ear-holding parts at rear ends curvedly and grooves at front ends, hinge elements foldably connection the temples to the body part, insert elements fitted and fixed into the groves of the temples and formed with screw holes, and control screws axially inserted into the hinge elements to rotate freely and screw-coupled in the screw holes of the insert elements to move the temples to and fro.
US07815304B2

A paper stacking unit and an image forming apparatus having the same, the paper stacking unit including: a base frame supporting a print media, a cover pivotally connected to the base frame and supporting the print media together with the base frame, and a plate connected to the cover for auxiliarily supporting the print media.
US07815301B2

The object of the present invention is to provide a water-based pigment dispersion containing a pigment, a dispersing agent, a resin emulsion, and water, the water-based pigment dispersion is subjected to a heat treatment. The present invention also provides a water-based pigment ink containing the water-based pigment dispersion, a dispersing agent, a resin emulsion, and water.
US07815299B2

An ink cartridge includes a frame having an opening formed therethrough, and at least one film connected to the frame. The frame and the at least one film define an ink chamber therein. The film comprises a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion, and the second portion is positioned between the first portion and the third portion, and the first portion and the third portion are raised with respect to the second portion. A line intersecting a peak of a first end of the first portion and a peak of a second end of the first portion is slanted with respect to a center line of the opening, and a line intersecting a peak of a first end of the third portion and a peak of a second end of the third portion is slanted with respect to the center line of the opening.
US07815294B2

The liquid ejection head includes: a plurality of ejection ports which eject liquid; a plurality of pressure chambers which are respectively connected to the ejection ports; a plurality of piezoelectric elements which respectively deform the pressure chambers, the piezoelectric elements being arranged on sides of the pressure chambers opposite to sides thereof where the ejection ports are formed; a common liquid chamber which supplies the liquid to the pressure chambers, the common liquid chamber being arranged on the sides of the pressure chambers opposite to the sides thereof where the ejection ports are formed; a plurality of wiring members which have electrodes for driving the piezoelectric elements, respectively, each of the wiring members being formed in such a manner that at least a portion thereof rises through the common liquid chamber in a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane on which the piezoelectric elements are arranged; and a drive circuit which drives the piezoelectric elements, the drive circuit being arranged on a wall of the common liquid chamber opposite to a side thereof where the piezoelectric elements are arranged, wherein the electrodes and the drive circuit are composed and covered integrally with resin.
US07815293B2

An ink-jet head, including: a flow-passage unit having a laminated structure with a plurality of plates and including a plurality of nozzles, a common ink chamber, and a plurality of individual ink flow-passages each of which communicates the common ink chamber with a corresponding one of the plurality of nozzles and in each of which a pressure chamber having an opening open in a surface of the flow-passage unit is provided; and an actuator fixed to the surface of the flow-passage unit so as to close the opening of the pressure chamber and operable to change a volume thereof, wherein the plurality of plates include an outermost plate nearest to the actuator and at least one plate contiguous to the outermost plate, wherein the pressure chamber is formed by a plurality of pressure-chamber-forming holes respectively provided in the outermost plate and the at least one plate so as to communicate with each other, and wherein the outermost plate has a smallest thickness among the plurality of plates.
US07815288B2

The present invention provides an ink jet printing apparatus capable of improving reliability of an electrical connecting portion between a carriage side and head cartridge side. When an ink tank is mounted on a head cartridge, a hook of a set lever is obstructed to be operated in a lock releasing direction by a restricting surface of the ink tank. This prevents the head cartridge from being removed from the carriage, and maintains an electrical connecting condition between the carriage and the head cartridge. Therefore, for removing the head cartridge, it is necessary to remove the ink tank.
US07815287B2

A fluid ejection device includes one or more digital data storage arrays having plural EPROM cells. A method for affirming performance adequacy of EPROM cells in the one or more arrays includes the steps of identifying a reference cell in each array, measuring a selected performance criterion for the reference cells, obtaining a reference criterion value, and evaluating the actual performance of at least one cell in each array with respect to the reference criterion value.
US07815286B2

The mist ejection head comprises: a nozzle ejecting a liquid in a form of a mist; a liquid chamber connected to the nozzle; an ultrasonic wave generating element which is disposed on a side wall of the liquid chamber and which generates an ultrasonic wave in such a manner that the ultrasonic wave is applied to the liquid inside the liquid chamber; and a reflector having a reflecting surface which reflects the ultrasonic wave generated by the ultrasonic wave generating element in such a manner that the ultrasonic wave is directed toward a center of the liquid chamber and concentrated at a focal point situated in a vicinity of the nozzle inside the liquid chamber.
US07815283B2

A printer comprising a carriage, a guide rail and a print surface, the carriage being movable along the guide rail and carrying a printhead that faces the print surface and is movable in a direction normal to the plane of the print surface, wherein a stop or brake mechanism responsive to a movement of the printhead in said direction normal to the plane of the print surface is provided and adapted to stop the movement of the carriage.
US07815281B2

An image forming device comprises an ink reservoir that contains a reservoir ink. The ink reservoir is arranged to provide the reservoir ink to an included print element by means of an included ink supply channel. A print element ink thus is supplied to the print element. When a fault condition is detected that indicates a likelihood of a freezing of the print element ink, the print element is de-primed by forcing the print element ink to evacuate, discharge, withdraw or flow from the print element by means of the ink supply channel. The fault condition comprises any of a loss of power, a power-down process or a print element temperature being less than or equal to a threshold value.
US07815277B2

An image recording device include a control section. The control section circulates the ink in the ink path by section of a circulation driving section, sets at least one of the heads selected based on a temperature of the heads as a temperature measurement head, and controls the temperature of the ink based on an output value from a corresponding one of the temperature sensors provided in the temperature measurement head.
US07815275B2

Preferably, test-patterns print on separate, multiple print-medium cards, each including a ramp with colors graded along a certain direction—and, superimposed on the ramp, a candidate add-on colorant. Ramps preferably are printed in so-called “customer colors”, common in snapshots and particularly snapshot regions that include sky. Positions or amounts of the candidate add-on colorant canvass a likely range of values that optimize camouflaging or suppression of a banding artifact (due to seams in the pagewide array) that is extended along the same certain direction. For each seam and each “customer color” used, an operator holds up several cards for comparison, selecting the best one to three. Operators thus can evaluate candidate colorant patterns in context of many different tones of the sky and other customer colors. Preferably banding suppression is integrated with linearization: at each seam a series of linearization tables is smoothly interpolated between measurement-based tables for adjacent inkjet dice.
US07815267B1

An insert element for a drawer slide to assist in a drawer closure. A support member of generally rectangular form may be sized for positioning in a drawer slide element. A slide member may be slidably mounted on slide pins that may be attached at each end to a slide pin flange at a back end and an engagement end of the support member. A spring may be disposed on each of the slide pins intermediate the engagement end and the slide member. A shaft may be disposed at a first end in a roller slot formed longitudinally in a base of the support member and the roller slot may have a lock slot. A second end of the shaft may be disposed in a slide roller slot formed laterally in the slide member and a shaft retainer may be disposed between the support member and the slide member.
US07815258B2

A vehicle seat having a seat cushion and a seat back which are movably connected to one another by a vehicle seat support mechanism and which are also movably mounted to a support floor by said vehicle seat support mechanism, said vehicle seat being movable between a normal in-use position and a stowed position, said stowed position being located rearwards from said normal in-use position and said seat back, when said vehicle seat is in its stowed position, being located at a relatively lower height than when said vehicle seat is in said normal in-use position. When the vehicle seat is moved to its stowed position, a seat assembly can be converted from a 3-seater to a 2-seater condition for instance.
US07815256B2

A vehicle seat (1) having a squab (2) and the backrest (3) may be provided with a child squab or booster cushion (4). Various elements are provided on the seat which may move in response to the child squab (4) being provided. A first element that may move is a guide (10) which guides part of a seat belt (7). The guide (10) moves inwardly towards the central axis (8) of the seat. Other moveable restraints may be lateral restraints (62,63) which move forwardly from the backrest of the seat to be located to either side of the torso of a child occupying the child squab (4) and head restraints (64,65) which may move forwardly from the head rest.
US07815251B2

An under-body frame of a vehicle may include a floor constituting a lower part of a vehicle, rear side frames installed at both side ends of a rear portion of the floor, mounting brackets which are installed in front of wheel arch portions of the rear side frames, respectively, and in and to which front ends of trailing arms of a rear suspension device are inserted and fixed, and/or a rear cross member installed to extend across the floor from a side of the floor to the opposite side of the floor and having both ends fixed to the mounting brackets which are installed at opposite sides, respectively. With the under-body frame, it is possible to increase fixation security of a trailing arm of a suspension device and enhance safety of inside parts of a vehicle when a rear impact occurs.
US07815246B2

A cab includes a cab frame forming the cab, an outer roof configured to cover the cab frame from above and to be fastened to the cab frame from above, a seal mount protruding downwardly from an edge of the outer roof, and a seal material including a body portion having a recess for receiving the seal mount. The periphery of the body portion of the seal material has a seal lip for contacting the cab frame for sealing, and a drain groove for draining water entering between the seal material and the cab frame.
US07815243B2

An assembly carrier for installation into a motor vehicle includes a large-area carrier body molded at least partially from fiber-reinforced plastic, fastening points, which are provided on the carrier body, for fastening functional components of a motor vehicle to the carrier body, and a gate mark which projects from the carrier body and which represents a section of the path along which the molding compound for molding the assembly carrier was conducted into a cavity, which forms the carrier body, of a molding die. The gate mark has at least one longitudinally extended gate section which is curved in cross section through the carrier body and the gate mark and whose longitudinal sides which are situated opposite, and which face away from, one another run in each case along a curved path and merge in each case along the respective path into the carrier body.
US07815240B2

A motor vehicle is provided having front and rear roof panels and which can be moved from in use to stowed positions to change the style of the motor vehicle from a two box style to a convertible or pick-up style. A stowage mechanism for the rear roof panel having two interlinked four bar linkages is disclosed which allows a small linear actuator to produce the range of displacement required to stow the rear roof panel.
US07815237B2

An instrument panel for a vehicle includes an IP substrate and an IP skin with foam disposed there between. The instrument panel may include openings for receiving accessories. The IP skin material may extend into the opening. The portion of the skin material extending into the opening may include a opening datum. A cover for the opening in the instrument panel may include one or more datum ribs. When the cover is inserted in the opening in the instrument panel, the datum rib engages with the opening datum pushing the cover towards the instrument panel thereby improving the fit of the cover in the instrument panel.
US07815225B2

A combination sealing and restraint system for an as-cast ductile iron fitting is shown for both sealing and preventing separation of an iron pipe fitting and a mating male pipe. A ring-shaped body is installed within a mating groove provided in a mouth region of the as-cast fitting after the fitting has been cast at the manufacturing plant. The ring-shaped body carries a gripping member with teeth on an inner surface thereof which are initially angled away from an outer surface of a mating male pipe. The teeth are forced into engagement with the exterior surface of the mating male pipe as the pipe joint at the fitting is assembled. The teeth are oriented to allow movement of the male pipe in a first direction relative to an end opening of the fitting during assembly, but to resist movement in a opposite direction after the fitting joint has been assembled. The ring-shaped body also includes a relatively flexible portion formed of an elastomer which forms a sealing member with the mating male pipe.
US07815223B2

A fuel tank trailer has a fuel tank supported on the bed of the trailer, and a secondary containment wall surrounding the fuel tank to provide an open secondary containment region. A drain valve controls the flow of fuel and water collecting in the secondary containment region. A fuel separation filter separates the fuel from any water draining from the secondary containment region.
US07815219B2

Sensor system for sensing pressure applied to a seat by an occupant of the seat and for controlling deployment of an airbag which includes a bladder defining a chamber and which is adapted to be arranged in a seat portion of the seat, and a pressure sensor for measuring a pressure in the chamber. Deployment of the airbag is controlled based at least in part on the pressure in the chamber measured by the pressure sensor. A control module may be provided to control deployment of the airbag so that when the pressure sensor generates a signal based on the measured pressure in the chamber and provides the signal to the control module, the control module controls deployment of the airbag based on the signal.
US07815210B1

The present trailer hitch assembly addresses the problem of lost tongue weight support and towing capacity when a person adds an extension to a trailer hitch for adding a slide-in camper to a truck or for moving a trailer back a little to increase the turning radius. Generally, when such an extension is utilized, the towing capacity of the vehicle to which the extension is attached is downgraded, due to the lengthening of the overall trailer hitch assembly and lack of structural support. Disclosed herein is a trailer hitch assembly that addresses this problem by providing extra structural support to boost this lack of structural support.
US07815208B1

A structure for laterally moving a folded folding bicycle includes a front assembly for wheeling laterally and a rear assembly for wheeling laterally comprising a sleeve secured to a seat stay and having a substantially J-shaped opening having an upward directed notch at a lower end, a support tube, an auxiliary wheel rotatably secured to the support tube, and a threaded lever. The support tube is inserted through the sleeve and the elastic member and the lever is driven through an upper end of the opening into the support tube to slidably secure the support tube to the sleeve with an elastic member biased between the top of the support tube and the sleeve. After folding the bicycle the lever slidably pushes downward until entering the notch to be locked therein so as to change orientation of the auxiliary wheel to be perpendicular to that of the rear wheel.
US07815207B2

A rear wheel suspension system for a two-wheeled vehicle is provided. The suspension system includes a rear frame pivotally connected to a main frame by at least an upper linkage and a lower linkage. The linkages are positioned such that the pivotal connection between the rear frame and the lower linkage is forward of the pivotal connection between the main frame and the lower linkage. Further, the rear wheel suspension system includes a biasing member such as a spring or shock absorber which allows the suspension to absorb impacts resulting from obstacles or irregularities in the surface of a terrain.
US07815201B2

A dolly assembly for use in towing a disabled vehicle, preferably including a main tube with a dolly wheel mounted at each end, and a method of using same. In one preferred embodiment, the main tube is capable of selective expansion or contraction along its longitudinal axis, to facilitate adjustment and placement of dolly axle assemblies connecting opposed, generally parallel dolly assemblies. Force leveraging mechanisms may be used to aid the selective expansion or contraction of the main tube, such as ratchet or rack and pinion mechanisms. In an alternative embodiment, and for ease in transport, the dolly assembly may be pivotably collapsed along its main tube about either a vertical or horizontal axis.
US07815191B2

An open rectangular prism with rotating cubes on dowel rods, two 12-sided dice, and three 20-sided dice invented with an accompanying method of use to function as a game to assist students in remembering the basic math facts including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
US07815186B2

A cartridge includes a base, a tray and a latching element. The base has a boss. The tray is slidably mounted on the base. The base has a cartridge spring corresponding to the tray. The cartridge spring provides the tray a resilient force. The latching element has an eccentric hole that receives the boss of the base. A spring connects the latching element to the base so that the latching element can secure the tray to the base or release the tray from the base. It enhances the retaining of the tray so that even when the cartridge is impacted by an external force, the tray can still be kept closed. The cartridge of the invention provides advantages such as being highly stable, having fewer components, is easy to assemble, and costs less than prior art models.
US07815183B2

A device (10) for extracting and feeding sheets from two trays, comprising a first tray (20) to contain a first ream (21a) of sheets (21), a second tray (30) to contain a second ream (31a) of sheets (31), and a feeding member (50, 53, 53a, 53b) for extracting and feeding one sheet (21, 31) at a time from said first ream (21a) or from said second ream (31a), wherein the two trays (20, 30) are positioned one on top of the other on the same side of the feeding member (50), and the second tray (30), in an intermediate position between the first tray (20) and the feeding member (50), comprises a fixed wall (32, 32a, 32b), to support the second ream (31a), which is configured in order to define an opening or cooperation zone (41) between the first tray (20) and the feeding member (50), so that, when the second ream is not present in the second tray (30) the feeding member (50, 53, 53a) and the first ream (21a) are intended to cooperate in contact with each other, through said cooperation zone (41) in order to extract and feed a sheet (21) from the first ream (21a) contained in the first tray (20). The device of the invention has a compact, inexpensive structure and is realized with a limited number of parts, and guarantees an accurate and silent functioning, reliable in time.
US07815170B2

A knife gate valve includes a reinforced valve seat which prevents displacement of the valve seat when the valve is opened and closed. The valve includes a valve body defined by a first and second body halves. The valve halves are assembled to define a flow path, a knife gate channel and a seat channel. A knife gate is disposed between the body halves and is adapted to traverse the gate channel. The knife gate is configured to be in an open position to allow process flow through the valve and a closed position to prevent process flow through the valve. A seat assembly is positioned within the channel guide and is defined by a horizontal segment, a pair of vertical segments and a lower segment. The seat assembly is compressed between the first and second valve body halves. At least one reinforcing plate is disposed within a portion of the horizontal segment, such that the horizontal segment maintains its rigidity when the knife gate traverses the seat assembly.
US07815168B2

A medical valve transitions between an open mode that permits fluid flow, and a closed mode that prevents fluid flow. To that end, the valve has a housing with an inlet and an outlet, and a rotating member with a member channel. The rotating member is rotatable to cause the valve to transition from the closed mode to the open mode after insertion of a medical implement into the inlet. The member channel fluidly communicates the inlet and the outlet when in the open mode. The medical valve also has a resilient member biasing the rotating member toward the closed mode. The rotating member slides along the resilient member when rotating between the open mode and closed mode.
US07815166B2

An electrodynamic drive of a compact design is provided, particularly for a respiration system dispensing valve. The electrodynamic drive has a velocity measuring system that is uncoupled from the electrodynamic drive. The velocity measuring system is provided directly above a moving coil system, wherein the velocity measuring system has a short-circuit sleeve (15) for forming a separate magnetic circuit (221).
US07815165B2

A present invention is advantageously applied to a purge valve for purging evaporated fuel stored in a canister to an intake pipe of an engine. The purge valve has a fluid passage connecting an inlet port and an outlet port, and a normally closed valve port that is selectively opened by operation of an electromagnetic actuator is disposed in the fluid passage. A barrier pillar is disposed in the fluid passage between the inlet port and the valve port to suppress transmission of pulsating waves generated in the purge valve to the canister. Flow resistance of the barrier pillar is higher in a reverse flow direction from the valve port to the inlet port than in a normal flow direction from the inlet port to the valve port. The transmission of the pulsating waves is well suppressed by the barrier pillar while allowing a smooth flow from the canister into the purge valve.
US07815163B2

A noise suppression wedge for a butterfly valve comprises a wedge-shaped structure having a plurality of fingers and a plurality of slots. The noise suppression wedge is positioned in contact with the butterfly plate and reduces noise by disrupting the flow through the valve.
US07815159B2

A vehicle seat sliding apparatus includes a first rail adapted to be fixed to any one of a vehicle floor and a seat; and a second rail adapted to be fixed to the other one of the vehicle floor and the seat. The second rail includes an in-rail functional portion formed at an end portion of the first rail in terms of the longitudinal direction so as to project into an internal space formed by the first rail to achieve a predetermined function; a recessed portion formed around the in-rail functional portion in association with the formation of the in-rail functional portion; and a protector adapted to be mounted on an end portion of the first rail in terms of the longitudinal direction and cover the end portion thereof. The protector is formed with a projection adapted to fit the recessed portion to couple the protector and the first rail.
US07815146B2

A fixed sized bell rocket nozzle is lined with a layer of combustible material that is ignited during launch ignition and burns to outgas into the rocket exhaust for spatially variably confining the exhaust and perfecting an effective variably sized altitude compensating exhaust nozzle that maximizes lift during the launch of a spacecraft into orbit.
US07815137B1

A fishing reel is provided having a pair of opposed sidewalls with a spool holding fishing line rotatably supported between the sidewalls. The spool is freely rotatable in a first direction to release fishing line from the bottom portion of the spool, and is mechanically rotatable in a second direction opposite to the first direction to retrieve the fishing line and to wind the line back onto the spool. A handle crank is provided for imparting rotation to the spool in the second direction by rotation of the crank in the same, second direction.
US07815136B2

The present invention includes a cutting wheel device for grinding materials, the cutting wheel comprising a plurality of discrete plates mounted on an axle and cutting heads positioned between the plates. The cutting heads having a portion extending beyond the periphery of the plate. Secondary cutters are attached to the cutting head to project over an adjacent discrete plate for keeping debris from lodging between adjacent cutting heads.
US07815132B2

A coating material dispensing device includes an orifice for coupling to a reservoir for the coating material. The orifice is surrounded by a surface including at least one wall defining at least one groove. The reservoir includes a complementary surface including at least one wall defining at least one groove. The at least one groove and at least one wall surrounding the orifice respectively receive and are received in the at least one wall and at least one groove of the complementary surface of the reservoir to provide a labyrinth seal between the orifice and an exterior surface of the coating material dispensing device.
US07815131B2

An injector, especially for an accumulator injection device, comprises an inlet connection (8), a leakage connection (3) and an electric connection (7). The leakage connection (3) and the electric connection (7) are embodied as a single-piece injection component (2), wherein the component is directly injection-moulded onto the injector (1).
US07815127B2

A humidity control method and apparatus that can be utilized to provide humidity control within an enclosed assembly such as a disc drive. The apparatus includes a container that is at least partially formed of a material through which water vapor can freely move. The apparatus also includes a humidity-controlling mixture that comprises at least one salt and a superabsorbent polymer. The humidity-controlling mixture is enclosed within the container.
US07815126B2

Methods and systems for enabling contactless communications with a contactless card are disclosed. A contactless card may include a contactless interface activation mechanism that includes one or more sense contacts, a processor, and a processor-readable storage medium in communication with the processor. The processor-readable storage medium may contain programming instructions for performing one or more applications. The processor may be in a protected state in which the processor is prevented from performing the instructions for at least one application in the processor-readable storage medium unless a load is placed on at least one sense contact.
US07815116B2

An electronic tagging system for tagging a plurality of luggage items transported through a transportation system. The system includes a plurality of electronic-ink display labels coupled to a plurality of luggage items. Each electronic-ink display label displays graphical indicia representative of information relating to the status of the luggage item within the transportation system. One or more activation modules are provided throughout the transportation system for transmitting electromagnetic data signals to electronic-ink display labels and providing instructions to updateable electronic-ink display labels employed in the determination of graphic indicia to be displayed on electronic-ink display labels. Each electronic-ink display label employs an addressable display assembly including a layer of electronic ink including a bi-stable non-volatile imaging material. The electronic-ink display label includes an integrated circuit structure having a storage element for storing instructions, programs and data, and a programmed processor in communication with storage element. A signal receiving structure receives electromagnetic signals from the activation module, using the antenna structure. The electronic-ink display label displays graphical indicia representing information which changes as the associated luggage item moves through the transportation system.
US07815100B2

Systems and methods of owner application control of an electronic device are provided. Owner application control information is stored on the electronic device and/or one or more remote servers. Owner application control information is consulted to determine if one or more required applications are available for execution on the electronic device. If not, one or more required applications not available are downloaded and installed. This could be in a manner transparent to the user of the electronic device. If one or more required applications are not available on the electronic device, the device can be functionally disabled in whole, or in part, until one or more required applications are available.
US07815092B2

A staple pocket arrangement on the anvil portion of a surgical stapler device includes pairs of staple pockets corresponding to each one of a plurality of staples to be closed. The staple pockets may have a generally triangular shape when viewed from above. Each respective staple leg is received at a longitudinal end of the staple pocket that provides a relatively wide target area for receiving the staple leg to eliminate or at least minimize the likelihood that a staple leg will miss the staple pocket due to, e.g., misalignment between a first jaw of the surgical stapler having the anvil and a second jaw of the surgical stapler having a cartridge configured to fire the staples. The staple pockets may be arranged in rows, each row of staple pockets being longitudinally offset from another row, such that each staple pocket in a first row of staple pockets is nested with a staple pocket from an adjacent row of staple pockets to make more efficient use of space on the anvil.
US07815089B2

A fastener gun includes a housing having a plunger and a power spring for driving a fastener into a workpiece, and a trigger arm pivotally attached to the housing at a trigger pivot. One end of the trigger arm lifts the plunger to bias the power spring when the trigger arm pivots in a first direction toward the housing. A member contacting the trigger arm is provided that moves away from the trigger pivot as the handle moves toward the housing, so that force is applied at different locations on the trigger arm when the handle is squeezed, increasing the mechanical advantage of using the fastener gun.
US07815086B2

A nailing machine is provided with a nailing machine body 1 in which a contact arm 16 is arranged so as to slide along a nose portion 10, and a plurality of contact noses 2(3) having different inside diameters. The contact noses 2(3) can be mounted to and dismounted from a lower end of the contact arm 16, and nails having different diameters can be used by exchanging the contact noses 2(3). The inside diameter of the nose portion 10 is so formed as to fit to a large nail 21 having the largest head diameter among the nails to be used. A diameter of a driver 5 is so formed as to fit to the contact nose 2(3) for a small nail 22 having the smallest head diameter. A conical pipe portion 25 which is upwardly enlarged in diameter for guiding a nail tip is formed in an upper part of the contact nose 2(3). An upper end of this conical pipe portion 25 is so formed as to have a larger diameter than that of the nose portion 10.
US07815085B2

A combustion type driving tool including a combustion chamber frame which is provided in a housing, and can move in one direction and in the other direction thereby to define a combustion chamber when it has moved in the other direction, moving means which can select either of a manual operation valid state and a manual operation invalid state, and permits the combustion chamber frame to move in the other direction by manual operation, only in the manual operation valid state, and a link mechanism. The link mechanism has a connection part 81 connected to the combustion chamber frame at its one end, an operation part which can be pressed at its other end, and a rotation shaft provided between the connection part and the operation part and extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to a moving direction of the combustion chamber frame to be selectively positioned, wherein the operation part rotates around the rotation shaft when it is manually pressed, and the connection part can move in the other direction.
US07815082B1

A U-lock holder mounted over the rear wheel of a bicycle and attached to the seat post for storing a U-lock—the U-lock to be available for securing the bicycle to a post or, on which are placed packages when it is required to transport the package on the bicycle.
US07815080B2

A hanger includes at least one pinch-grip attached to the hanger for receiving an article for hanging. The pinch-grip includes first and second components extending substantially vertically from the hanger and cooperatively defining a pivot axis, each of the components including an upper end extending above the pivot axis and a lower end extending below the pivot axis. A spring force biases the lower ends together to a closed position and permits separation of the lower ends to an open position by pivotal movement of at least one of the upper ends towards the other upper end. A releasable lock can be activated to hold the lower ends of the components in the open position.
US07815074B2

A counter mounted dispensing system includes a bottle support under a counter and a product container having a collar key. The product container is received by the bottle support and held thereby without the need for relative rotational movement between the product container and the bottle support. The product container thus may have a cross-sectional shape that prohibits the product container from being rotated at the location of receipt, typically due to contact between the container and a wall or the sink basin. An alignment skirt on the bottle support ensures that the product container is properly oriented for receipt, and a release ring in the bottle support engages the collar key on the product container to releasably hold the product container.
US07815071B2

Apparatuses and methods for dispensing cards and other items. In one embodiment, a card dispensing apparatus includes at least first and second card hoppers and a movable card carriage. The card carriage is movable between a first position proximate to the first card hopper and a second position proximate to the second card hopper. The card carriage is configured to receive a first card from the first card hopper when in the first position and a second card from the second card hopper when in the second position. In one aspect of this embodiment, the card carriage can dispense at least the first card into a card outlet chute when the first card has been sufficiently read by a card reader. Alternatively, the card carriage can dispense the first card into a card escrow chute when the first card has not been sufficiently read by the card reader.
US07815062B2

The invention relates to a closure system constituted of a closure cap, preferably produced by plastic injection molding, and a container part that is provided with a mouth, likewise preferably produced from a plastic material. The closure cap can be screwed onto the container part and the system is provided with a tamper evidence mechanism that has to be actuated twice to be overcome. The aim of the invention is to improve said tamper evidence mechanism and its handling. For this purpose, the tamper evidence mechanism comprises an actuation tab having a twist-lock feature and being freely cut on the closure cap, and a counter-projection. Said counter-projection can be overcome by acting upon the actuation tab and is molded onto the container upstream of the counter-thread configured on the container part.
US07815058B2

A tool rack includes a frame having two sidewalls and two slots are defined through the two sidewalls. A plurality of first recesses are defined in the frame and a rod having second recesses is connected between the two sidewalls. A restriction member is connected to the frame and two distal ends of the restriction member are movably engaged with the slots of the frame. The restriction member includes third recesses which are located in alignment with the first recesses so that the tools are engaged with the first, second and third recesses. A stop plate extends from a distal end of an inside of each third recess so as to prevent the tools from disengaging from these recesses. When shifting the restriction member, the stop plates are moved away from the first recesses so that the tools can be picked out from the tool rack.
US07815056B2

Disclosed are devices and methods for supporting glass sheets during a thermal treatment process, such as heat treating, to maintain the physical geometry of the glass sheets. The device can comprise means for separating adjacent glass sheets to prevent them from touching. The separating means can comprise a separation comb having projections and channels configured for receiving the glass sheets, separating rods configured to be positioned between the glass sheets, or a combination of separation combs and separating rods.
US07815055B2

A bicycle storage system for storing a bicycle, comprising: (i) a first flange to support a lower surface of a bicycle frame, the frame rotating about this first flange under the weight of the rear of the bicycle; and (ii) a second flange to contact an upper surface of that frame to prevent further rotation of the frame about the first flange, the flanges being arranged to then securely hold the frame. The first and the second flanges may be formed into a single, sinuous edge of a hollow cylindrical unit; this unit may be sized to store bicycle accessories.
US07815054B2

A filter device includes at least one filter element (10) housed in a filter housing (22) and connected for the flow of fluid by fluid connections (30, 36) to a fluid device, in particular in the form of a hydraulic tank (40), using a connector device (44). A plunger valve arrangement is achieved, whereby the connector device (44) is provided with at least one longitudinally-displaceable blocking piece (46). In the blocking position, the blocking piece blocks the provided fluid connections (30, 36). After displacement into an open position, it releases the fluid connections. A blocking or releasing of the fluid connections in a rapid operation process is permitted to carry out a filter element exchange for the used filter medium.
US07815050B2

A combination product/napkin package is provided. A package includes a product wrapper and a finger wiping patch. The product wrapper comprises a sheet of flexible film that is foldable around the product and has edges sealable around a periphery to enclose and seal the product therein. The finger wiping patch is a textured surface of foaming ink absorbent resin, tacky resin, or a textured material applied to the wrapper at a position outside the sealed product.
US07815048B2

A gaming chip holder and cup holder in one integrally molded device. A generally cylindrical center cup holder section surrounded by semi cylindrical poker style chip holders placed about the circumference of the cup holder area. An area without the chip holders is replaced with an integrally molded handle to facilitate the transportation of the beverage and poker chips from table to table and about the casino in a controlled and organized manner. This handle is formed in such a way as to allow the chip and cup holder device to be slid under the typical poker table bumper pad as to further insure against spillage and to conserve space on the poker table. The chip and cup holder device is also stackable unto itself.
US07815034B2

A device for grouping individually packaged goods which are fed in a substantially closed stream by the means of conveyance along a transport plane, and grouped by at least one divider finger which can be introduced from below transversely to the transport plane into the stream along the conveyance direction, where, for the at least one divider finger, a motor drive provided which is capable of carrying out in a free and adjustable manner a movement of the at least one divider finger transversely to the transport plane (z-direction) independently of the movement along the conveyance direction (y-direction) and vise versa.
US07815032B2

Roller assemblies for transporting and laterally shifting pipe section, or joints, on oil and gas exploration and production laybarges, drilling/production vessels and platforms, and pipe spooling yards are disclosed. The roller assemblies comprise rollers that are capable of being tilted to facilitate lateral shifting of the pipe sections or joints. The roller assemblies comprise a frame, a tilting assembly, a roller frame pivotally connected to the tilting assembly and the frame, and a roller rotatably connected to the roller frame by an axle. The tilting assembly lifts one end of the roller frame to tilt the roller.
US07815031B2

Storage matrixes associated with storage and retrieval systems and methods are provided to automate the process of handling a mixed inventory of palletized and containerized items. In one embodiment, the storage matrix comprises a storage matrix comprising a plurality of stationary cell modules and a plurality of carriers. The outer row cell modules comprise a plurality of motors configured to move the respective carrier bi-directionally within the storage matrix and is also configured to stabilize the respective carrier when the carrier is moving or at a stationary position. The inner row cell modules comprise at least one motor configured to move the respective carriers uni-directionally within the storage matrix and also comprises at least one ferrous metal plate configured to stabilize the respective carrier when the carrier is moving or at a stationary position.
US07815019B2

The present invention provides a braking mechanism comprising a brake cable set, a spring, a connector, a pair of brake shoes, a brake band, a base, and a brake drum. The brake cable set makes the connector move downwards upon braking, such that the connector coupled to the pair of brake shoes rotates to contact the brake band and thus cause friction, whereby achieving the object of braking.
US07815013B2

An energy absorber for use in a personal fall arresting system. The absorber contains upper and lower webbings which are each two ply members. The back ply of the upper webbing is mounted adjacent to the face ply of the lower webbing with said webbing being of about equal length and width. Exterior tear elements run back and forth sinusoidally between attachment points on the face ply of the upper webbing and the back ply of the lower webbing. Interior tear elements run back and forth sinusoidally between attachment points on the back ply of the upper webbing and the top ply of the lower webbing.
US07815009B1

A golf cart actuating system includes a golf cart that includes a seat assembly vertically spaced from a foot rest wall. A support wall extends between the foot rest wall and the seat portion. A direction rod extends through the support wall. The direction rod is rotated to a first position to select forward movement and rotated to a second position to select rearward movement. A bracket is attached to the foot rest wall. A pivot member is pivotably coupled to the bracket. A crank is attached to the direction rod. A lifting post is attached to and extends between the crank and the pivot member. A control post is attached to and extends upwardly from the pivot member. Movement of the control post away from or toward the seat assembly alternates the direction rod from the first position to the second position.
US07815003B2

A motorized vehicle is of a type which is used to travel on snow and which is equipped with at least one ski and one caterpillar track. The motorized vehicle comprises: handlebars (2) which are solidly connected to a chassis (3) of the vehicle (1); a pair of skis (4) which are solidly connected to the chassis (3) and which are not symmetrical in relation to the longitudinal and transverse axes thereof, the width of each ski decreasing from front to rear and the outer side (5) being curvilinear; and a platform (6) for a standing user, the width of the platform being greater than the maximum distance separating the two skis (4).
US07814991B2

A method and apparatus for drilling a subterranean formation or material utilizing a drilling apparatus which includes a drill string having a leading end and a trailing end and having a bottom hole assembly connected with the leading end. The bottom hole assembly includes a drill bit and an externally threaded screw section. In operation, the drill bit is rotated, forming material cuttings and an opening in the subterranean formation, and the threaded screw section is rotated within the opening, forming a helical groove in the subterranean formation.
US07814990B2

A rotary drilling apparatus and method for drilling subterranean formations, including a body being provided with at least one cutter thereon exhibiting reduced, or limited, exposure to the formation, so as to control the depth-of-cut of the at least one cutter, so as to control the volume of formation material cut per rotation of the drilling apparatus, as well as to control the amount of torque experienced by the drilling apparatus and an optionally associated bottomhole assembly regardless of the effective weight-on-bit are all disclosed. The exterior of the drilling apparatus may include a plurality of blade structures carrying at least one such cutter thereon and including a sufficient amount of bearing surface area to contact the formation so as to generally distribute an additional weight applied to the drilling apparatus against the bottom of the borehole without exceeding the compressive strength of the formation rock.
US07814984B1

A tiller with a removable tine rotor is provided. The tiller comprises a cavity formed by a top deck and end plates. The end plates comprise rotating spindles rotatably attached to the end plates. A gearbox translates rotation from a tractor to one of the rotating spindles. A tine rotor extends between the spindles and rotates to till soil. The tine rotor is releasably connected to the spindles within the cavity, such that the tine rotor is removable from the tiller without disassembly of the end plates.
US07814979B2

Methods and apparatuses for severing a wellbore tubular, the apparatus, in certain aspects, including: a first member movable toward a tubular to be severed; a second member with a second blade disposed opposite to the first member and movable toward the tubular; a first blade on the first member having a projection projecting from a center of a blade body with point structure on the projection for puncturing the tubular and cutting surfaces on the projection for cutting the tubular; and cutting surfaces, as needed, on the blade body adjacent the projection for cutting the tubular.
US07814974B2

A system for production of petroleum from an earth formation is provided. The system includes: at least one injection borehole for injecting a thermal source into the formation; at least one production borehole for recovering material including the petroleum from the formation; and at least one drainage borehole intersecting a portion of the at least one production borehole. Methods of recovering petroleum from an earth formation and creating a petroleum production system are also provided.
US07814957B2

A door assembly having a multi-panel door connected to a casing that is inserted into a structure opening. The multi-panel door can be operated by a control assembly operatively coupled to the casing and the multi-panel door. The multi-panel door can be a bi-fold door having an upper panel and lower panel operatively coupled together. The upper panel can be pivotally coupled to the casing at one end and pivotally coupled to a portion of the lower panel at its other end. The control assembly can control movement of the door between an open position and a closed position.
US07814953B2

A rotary labelling machine comprises a carrousel that can be pivotally driven by a carrousel motor and a plurality of container stations supported by said carrousel, wherein each container station comprises a container-holder plate and a plate motor suitable to rotate the plate about its own axis, carrousel sensor means detecting the movement of the carrousel and generating a reference signal representative of the carrousel angular position, a plurality of local control units. Each control unit is connected with one of the plate motors, respectively, and is configured to receive and process the reference signal and generate a control signal specific for said plate motor. Signal propagation means are connected to the carrousel sensor means and to the local control units to propagate the reference signal to each of the local control units.
US07814942B2

A fuel dispensing apparatus for dispensing fuel to a motor vehicle tank comprises a fuel dispensing means, a vapor recovery system for recovering vapor from the motor vehicle tank, and a monitoring system for monitoring the functioning of the vapor recovery system. The monitoring system is arranged to shut off the fuel dispensing means in case of detection of a malfunction in the vapor recovery system. The monitoring system comprises a temperature sensor. The monitoring system is arranged to, in case the temperature measured by the temperature sensor lies in a predetermined temperature range, ignore any detected malfunction and refrain from shutting off the fuel dispensing means.
US07814932B2

A vacuum pressure regulator system for use in association with a vacuum system in which a vacuum is employed for healthcare purposes, for assisting in monitoring and regulating the vacuum pressure, and having a manual pressure control valve to adjust the treatment vacuum pressure supplied to the patient, a vacuum pressure sensor to sense the treatment vacuum pressure for the patient in the system, and producing a treatment vacuum pressure signal, a sampling circuit which intermittently samples the pressure signal generated by the pressure sensor and generate sampling signals, an electrically powered pressure display circuit, and digital pressure display, for receiving the sampling signals and providing a visible display, and, a non-mains power supply.
US07814925B2

Under emergency, a valve body displaced from a closed position to an open position in association with melting of a fuse member receives resultant of pressing forces of a primary pressure of gas guided through a primary port in an opening direction in a state where the valve body is disposed at the position closer to the open position including a fluid driving start position between the closed position and the open position. The valve body receives smaller resultant of the pressing forces of the primary pressure in the opening direction in a state where the valve body is disposed at the position closer to the closed position than to the fluid driving start position than the resultant of the pressing forces received by the valve body in the state where the valve body is disposed at the position closer to the open position including the fluid driving start position.
US07814920B2

A canopy for a stationary covering device in accordance with the present invention comprises a cover that has a vertex point. The vertex point can be characterized by a fixed uppermost point or tip, at the highest culminating point of the canopy from which the cover projects. According to the invention, the cover includes unequal extensions from the vertex point. As such, the vertex point comprises an asymmetrically positioned vertex point. More specifically, the canopy of the invention is rotatable around a fixed longitudinal axis that is elevated from the ground. In this way, the canopy provides an adjustable coverage zone for a pre-determined stationary area beneath it when it is either rotated or tilted, and located at a suitable elevated level relative to the ground, from a first canopy position to a second canopy position.
US07814917B2

An add-on hairbrush for people, pets and livestock comprises a brush base with an internal cavity that includes a connection means. A vessel that houses a composition, liquid or powder, containing active ingredients is attached to the brush base. The composition containing active ingredients is transferred to the internal cavity of the brush base for release directly onto the hair during brushing. Delivery of the liquid/powder is activated during brushing through automatic deformation of a flexible deformable membrane or through manual depression of a deformable brush cover. The flexible deformable membrane includes bristle elements and delivery apertures or spray elements that carry and align with central spray apertures of spray elements for delivery of the composition containing active ingredients onto the hair. The vessel can act as a handle, and is a separate tube or container, that is preferably squeezable for transfer of the composition to the brush base.
US07814916B2

An implantable marker, instruments for implanting the marker and method for implanting the marker are described. The implantable marker comprises a housing with an outer surface providing a bone anchor and having a cavity within which a marker detectable by a tracking system is secured. The kit includes a guide instrument having a guide channel for receiving an implantable marker, an insertion tool receivable within the channel and having a distal end for releasably engaging an implantable marker, and an implantable marker receivable within the channel. The insertion tool is operable to drive the implantable marker into the bone. The method includes puncturing the skin with an instrument, driving the implantable marker into the bone and withdrawing the instrument, leaving the marker implanted within the bone.
US07814915B2

A dermatological treatment method includes directing laser energy having a wavelength of 2.79 μm onto skin. According to disclosed methods, the energy can function to ablate a first portion of epidermal tissue, coagulate an underlying second portion of epidermal tissue, and promote collagen formation in tissue of the underlying dermis. In an exemplary treatment apparatus, a laser using a YSGG gain medium is mounted in a handpiece. The handpiece may include a two-axis scanner to allow for uniform scanning of the energy over the tissue surface.
US07814906B2

In a method for nasal ventilation and relevant apparatus, particularly for flow-synchronized neonatal assisted ventilation, wherein F(t) is a signal proportional to the ventilation flow, the following steps are performed: (a) inspiration, having a time length Ti, during which air is introduced at an inspiration pressure; (b) expiration, having a time length Te, during which the introduction of air is interrupted; (c) return to step (a); with a flow threshold Ftr, during the expiration step (b) the following steps are provided: (b1) a waiting step having a time length γ before activation of computation of the leakages; and (b2) a step of leakage computation, having a time length δ, so that γ+δ=Te, wherein if a normalized signal F′ (t), obtained by a processing by way of an algorithm of the surveyed signal F(t), exceeds the threshold Ftr, a spontaneous respiration activity is detected and the inspiration step (a) is reactivated.
US07814903B2

A safety device integrated into a respiratory system that includes an oxygen mask having a cup-shaped rigid portion overlying a face mating portion to define a respiratory envelope that is adapted to sealingly engage over the mouth and nose of a user. An integrated control circuit includes an externally mounted connection block and a circuit looping through the respiratory envelope. A hands-free, mouth-activated switch is located within the cup-shaped rigid portion and is electrically coupled to the control circuit.
US07814902B2

A conventional respiratory nebulizer has an emergency medication dose storage system delivering the stored medication dose directly to the nebulizing chamber with a single impulse of manual force to a simple mechanical delivery system, thereby making the nebulizer useable in two steps: (a) opening the medication capsule with a simple opening action; and (b) inhaling the nebulized medication. The nebulizer can be operated without disassembling the nebulizer housing so as to expose the nebulizing chamber and without manually opening the liquid medication container and, without spillage and without manual pouring of the liquid medication directly into the nebulizing chamber, and without reassembling the nebulizer housing before positioning the inhaler mouthpiece in the mouth so as to inhale the nebulized medication. The delivery system includes a slicing blade to sever the capsule and a looped paddle follower to move the severed portion out of the way of fluid flow.
US07814900B2

A dispenser (1) comprises a can (2) and body (3). The can is an aluminum extrusion with a valve crimped into its mouth, the valve having an outlet spout (4). The crimped region (5) of the can surrounding the valve has a lesser diameter than the can has through the main part (6) of its length. The body has a mouthpiece (11) with a pivotal cover (12) drivingly connected to a cam (13). This bears on the underside of junction member (14), into a socket (15) of which the spout 4 fits. A breath actuated dose release mechanism (16) is provided. The body has a tubular section (7) for receiving the necked down region (5) of the can. A printed paper label (21) is wrapped around the joint between the body and the can to unite the can to the body in position such that when the cover is opened, a dose is dispensed by the cam (13) lifting the junction member and depressing the spout.
US07814895B2

Improved methods including providing a frame saw system having multiple blades for cutting slabs of masonry materials. The improved methods allow for cutting masonry materials into slabs having surface small deviations. A process for cutting masonry blocks of granite, marble, rock, and the like, also includes positioning a support structure of a unifying material perpendicularly across the blade of the frame saw, wherein the support structure is adhered to at least one of the blades for keeping the blades in fixed relative positions, subjecting the block to a sawing operation using the frame saw, and at least substantially removing the support structure as the blades become submerged in the block.
US07814890B2

An injector for fuel includes a passage for receiving fuel at an above-atmospheric first pressure, a pressure amplifier and an injection valve which is settable in an open position and a closed position. The injection valve includes a piston element, a closing chamber and an opening chamber. To inject fuel, the pressure amplifier generates a higher second fuel pressure in the opening chamber so that the valve element moves towards an open position and fuel is injected. To end injection of fuel, the high pressure in the opening chamber is reduced and the closing chamber is connected to the fuel source at the first pressure so that the valve is moved towards the closed position by a combined force created by the first pressure and the spring.
US07814874B2

A camshaft (cam) phaser control system for an engine includes a first camshaft having a first target wheel. A second camshaft has a second target wheel. A cam position sensor detects said first and second target wheels and generates camshaft position data based on said first and second target wheels.
US07814872B2

An engine is disclosed. In one implementation, the engine includes a camwheel mounted to an output shaft. Eighteen cylinder-enclosed pistons are positioned in a circular plane about the camwheel such that the radius of the circular plane and the camwheel are coplanar. Lobes integrally formed on the camwheel define a guiderail including a continuously, substantially sinusoidal surface biased for rotation in the direction of the rotary motion of the output shaft. Drive bearings associated with each piston engage and maintain contact with the guiderail. The rotary motion is obtained by transferring the displacement of the plurality of pistons from respective top dead center positions and bottom dead center positions to the guiderail, thereby rotating the camwheel and output shaft.
US07814860B2

An adhesive-spreading unit includes a set of rollers, each of which rotates at a higher speed than the preceding one, the first roller being in contact with a tank of adhesive and the last roller sliding in contact with a film on which the adhesive is to be deposited. The unit also includes devices for distancing the rollers from one another and bring them into contact when the film has been loaded into a machine, and a single actuator unit for moving the rollers. The actuator, during the first stage of its travel, brings a rubber-clad roller into contact with the first roller, and during the second part of its travel moves the two rollers to bring the rubber-covered roller into contact with a third roller, which transfers the adhesive to the film and vice versa.
US07814853B2

The forced air cavity and control system for watercraft provides a source of compressed air against the hull, the compressed air being distributed via a pivotally adjustable air scoop mounted proximate the front of the boat, to which is connected a series of conduits (air passageways) leading downwardly from the housing. The conduits exit at openings in a V-shaped step in the hull of the watercraft to emit high pressure air against the hull to thereby reduce friction caused by hull contact with the water. A hydraulic ram operably connected to the air scoop provides a means of pivotal adjustment. A plurality of ice runners is provided on the bottom of the watercraft to increase stability of control under reduced water friction conditions.
US07814852B2

An article of footwear includes an upper that is at least partially formed from a base layer and thread sections that lie adjacent a surface of the base layer. The thread sections are positioned to provide structural elements that, for example, restrain stretch in directions corresponding with longitudinal axes of the thread sections. In some configurations of the footwear, a first portion of the thread sections may extend between forefoot and heel regions of the footwear, and a second portion of the thread sections may extend vertically. An embroidering process may be utilized to position the thread sections on the base layer.
US07814846B2

A method includes producing deposition conditions in a collection area above a reactant liquid containing one or more catalyst metals. The reactant liquid is maintained under conditions in which atoms of the catalyst metal may escape from the reactant liquid into the collection area. A suitable carrier gas is directed to traverse a surface of the reactant liquid and flow along a collection path that passes over a collection surface in the collection area. This flow of carrier gas is maintained so that escaped atoms of catalyst metal are entrained in the gas traversing the surface of the reactant liquid and are deposited on the collection surface prior to or concurrently with nanocarbon structure formation at the collection surface.
US07814845B2

A device for gasifying biomass waste has two each of primary chambers, fume transfer vents, mixing chambers which accept fumes from the primary chamber, afterburner chambers in fluid communication with the mixing chambers, and an exhaust duct. Each secondary burner produces an initial heating flame within a vertical portion of the respective afterburner chamber, and secondary chambers are in fluid communication with the afterburner chambers. Heated gases from the afterburner chambers cause heating of the secondary chambers. A portion of each primary chamber has a heat conductive floor superimposed over the respective secondary chamber, and the partition between the primary chambers is heat conductive, so that conductive and convective heating of the primary chambers occurs.
US07814844B2

A table may include a table top that is constructed from blow-molded plastic and the table top may include a generally downwardly extending lip. The lip may include reinforcement portions that are sized and configured to increase the strength, rigidity, resilience and/or flexibility of the lip and/or the table top. The table top may include one or more depressions and the depressions may have different characteristics in different directions. For example, the depressions may have an elongated length and the depressions may have increased strength along its length. Advantageously, the different characteristics of the depressions and/or reinforcement portions may be used to create a table top with increased and/or uniform strength, rigidity, resilience and/or flexibility.
US07814837B2

The invention relates to ammunition for hunting guns.The bullet is of the type comprising an internal shaft (4) with a rigidity equal to or greater than that of the body of the bullet, disposed in a hole drilled in the body of the bullet along its axis, and this internal shaft (4) is set back from the orifice (8) of the hole, the latter, situated on the axis, has a smaller diameter than that of the internal shaft (4), and the wall of the ogival head (3) of the bullet body (2) comprises one or more deformation notches close to the orifice of the hole.Applicable to the improvement of the terminal efficiency of small, medium or large caliber hunting guns with the caliber of the gun or undersizes.
US07814836B2

A blank cartridge (1) comprises a cartridge casing (2) with a first primer (18); a piston (9) with a head (10) and an arm (11); and an expansion chamber located between said primer (18) and the head of the piston (10), wherein, following detonation of the primer, the piston slidably displaces substantially within the casing (2) of said cartridge (1).
US07814828B2

A stencil stretcher frame unit comprises a stencil stretcher frame for stretching a printing stencil, the stencil stretcher frame including a seat; a protective device accommodated in the seat and holding the stencil stretcher frame, the protective device including a plurality of protective bars configured to hold the printing stencil in a plane and to accommodate a circumferential edge of the printing stencil so as to cover the circumferential edge along a circumference of the printing stencil, adjacent ones of the plurality of protective bars being supported on each other at respective end areas of the protective bars so as to allow a relative movement with respect to each other; and a joining device configured to fasten the protective device to the stencil stretcher frame.
US07814826B2

Machines for making bales of disgregated materials, including a compacting chamber in which a pressing member moves towards and away from a stopping point for compacting the disgregated materials, the chamber having a larger lower surface which has a substantially flat surface provided with runoff holes, smaller surfaces each having a frame which serves as an attachment flange, an output door arranged to move in a vertical direction irrespective of whether the pressing plate has reached the stopping point, wherein the capacity of the chamber is variable to accommodate a possible excess in the disgregated materials introduced into the chamber to be compacted, and a telescopic box having on at least one of its walls through holes located in the proximity of the door.
US07814818B2

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is directed to a modular saw guard system for a power saw of the type which has a table top, a rotatable circular saw blade that is vertically adjustable relative to the table top, wherein the system comprises a riving knife mechanism releasably mounted to the saw rearwardly of the blade, and being configured to be adjustable between retracted and extended positions relative to the blade, a blade guard mechanism that is releasably mounted to the riving knife mechanism and a kickback prevention mechanism that is releasably mounted to the riving knife mechanism when the riving knife mechanism is at least in its extended position, the kickback prevention mechanism being configured to engage a work piece as it is being cut by the blade and apply resistance to prevent the work piece from being expelled in the reverse direction.
US07814816B2

A power tool includes a housing assembly having a first housing portion and a second housing portion supported for pivoting movement relative to the first housing portion about a pivot axis. The first housing portion supports a motor. The second housing portion includes a chuck for supporting a tool element. The power tool also includes a gear supported within the housing assembly for rotation relative to at least one of the first and second housing portions about the pivot axis. The gear is operable to transfer drive force from the motor to the tool element.
US07814813B2

A hydrostatic-mechanical transmission having a radial piston motor (1) with a crankshaft (2) which drives a spur gear (7). A transmission housing comprises three housing portions which define two separate spaces. The spur gear arrangement is located in one of the spaces while the radial piston motor is located in the other space.
US07814811B2

An articulated robot having a low lowest posture, a long up-down stroke, and such rigidity that the predetermined positional accuracy can be secured is provided.It includes a first arm (42) which is rotatable about a first horizontal axis (43), a second arm (44) which is rotatable about a second horizontal axis (45) at the other end of the first arm (42), a third arm (46) which is rotatable about a third horizontal axis (47) at the other end of the second arm (44), an up-down table (48) which is rotatable about a fourth horizontal axis (49) at the other end of the third arm (46), a fourth arm which is rotatable about the first horizontal axis (43) and rotatable about the second horizontal axis (45) at its other end, a first parallel link mechanism (53), a second parallel link mechanism (56), and a third parallel link mechanism (58).
US07814788B2

An apparatus and method for determining the level of liquid in a container in an analytical instrument, typically an automated analytical instrument in a laboratory. The apparatus comprises: (a) an electrically conductive support; (b) an electrically conductive platform rising up from said electrically conductive support, said platform capable of supporting at least one container that is capable of containing a liquid, said platform having an area less than that of the electrically conductive support; (c) an electrically conductive element, such as, for example, the electrically conductive tip of a probe, the distance between the electrically conductive platform and the electrically conductive element capable of being reduced or increased by relative movement between the electrically conductive element and the electrically conductive platform; and (d) a capacitance sensor coupled to the electrically conductive element (c) and arranged to provide an electrical signal representing the capacitance.
US07814784B1

A device for guiding the helmsman and crew of a sailing vessel in steering a correct point of sail course relative to the true wind by knowing the numerical compass degrees for every point of the compass rose for every point of sail. The device employs two dials coupled together to present the direction of the true wind in compass points to the point of sail on both a starboard tack and port tack in numerical compass degrees. This manual operated computer calculates the compass reading for all points of sail.
US07814777B2

The present invention relates to a photo-acoustic device (100) for photo-acoustic analysis of a sample such as exhaled human breath. The device includes a sample cell cavity (102) for containing the sample (116), a first light source (130) outside the sample cell cavity for emitting a first modulated light beam (114) at a wavelength in an absorbing range of the searched component. The first light beam is led into the cavity through a transparent cavity wall (106). The searched gas component absorbs the first light beam and first acoustic waves are thus generated which are picked up by the microphone (110). The microphone also picks up background acoustic waves caused by the laser light beam going trough the cavity wall. The device is further equipped with a noise cancellation system (120, 122) that generates a second set of acoustic waves in anti-phase with the background acoustic waves.
US07814776B2

Methods for sensing and building sensors provide for adding nanotubes to a sensor to improve characteristics such as the Q-factor associated with the sensor. Mass loading and damping characteristics of micromachined quartz crystal resonators on which a thin film of debundled single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) has been deposited are disclosed. An absolute mass sensitivity of ˜100 fg was experimentally measured by monitoring the continuous desorption of gases from SWNT surfaces in a vacuum ambient.
US07814775B2

Apparatus of easily controlling the Z-position of the probe used in a microprobe analyzer. The apparatus has: (A) a holder, (B) a reference body having a reference surface that is at the same height as a surface of a sample, the reference body being placed on or in the holder, (C) a probe-positioning device for bringing the probe into contact with the reference surface, (D) a controller for controlling motion of the probe-positioning device in the Z-direction, (E) position-measuring apparatus for measuring the Z-coordinate of the probe at which it is in contact with the reference surface, (F) a memory for storing a positional coordinate outputted by the position-measuring apparatus, and (G) probe contact detection apparatus for detecting that the probe is in contact with the reference surface.
US07814769B2

A drum type washing machine including a balancer capable of rapidly reducing vibration of a spin tub. The drum type washing machine includes a spin tub which is rotated by receiving rotational force from a driving motor through a rotating shaft, a rear balancer having an annular shape and being coupled to the spin tub, and a shaft flange provided at a center portion thereof with the rotating shaft and coupled to the spin tub so as to uniformly transfer the rotational force to the spin tub. The rear balancer is supported on a rear surface of a rear cover by the shaft flange. Thus, the balls accommodated in the balancer are prevented from moving out of the balancer, even if the balancer is broken due to long-period use.
US07814768B2

The invention relates to a textile product treating apparatus, in particular washing machine (1), drying apparatus or refreshing apparatus, comprising a main body (2) of the apparatus including a washing, drying and/or refreshment device; and a handheld ultrasonic cleaning device (10) comprising an ultrasonic transducer and an ultrasonic wave emitting surface, wherein the ultrasonic cleaning device is connected by a flexible hose (11) to the main body (2). According to the invention a treatment area (6) is provided covering at least a portion of the top unit (3) of the main body (2) and adapted to place a textile product (15) to be treated thereon.
US07814762B2

A refrigerator includes an ice dispenser, a discharge chute, and a cover for the discharge chute. A flat portion of the cover conforms to the discharge chute, the flat portion being flexible to a flexed position to actuate a switch and thereby operate the ice dispenser such that ice is discharged into the discharge chute.
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